Instructional teacher job resources and student achievement in mathematics.

Research shows that teachers who are supported with job resources are more engaged regardless of the level of demands (Klusmann et al., 2008). Additionally, teachers who are engaged with their work are less likely to report their intention to leave the teaching profession (Klassen et al., 2012), which is particularly important for mathematics teachers who are in high demand (Sutcher, Darling-Hammond, & Carver-Thomas, 2016). Supporting employees with job resources is a commonly accepted practice in many professional fields (e.g., Christian, Garza, & Slaughter, 2011), yet is not a common practice in education (e.g., Bidwell, 2013; Gewertz, 2014; Layton, 2015; Rentner & Kober, 2014a). Current research on teacher work engagement and job resources has focused on big ideas like access to information and supervisory support (e.g., Hakanen, Bakker, & Schaufeli, 2006). However, a more specific set of instructional job resources that support educators’ engagement on a day-to-day basis needs to be examined, as well as their relationship to student achievement. This quantitative study examined indicators of instructional teacher job resources (ITJR) and the relationship between those resources and student mathematics achievement in grades 4-9. Data from The Gates Foundation’s MET Project were used to conduct Exploratory Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and Hierarchical Linear Modeling analyses. With the survey questions that were available in the dataset, the factors for mathematics ITJR that were identified were curriculum, professional development, instructional autonomy, and time to collaborate with colleagues. The relationship between teacher instructional autonomy and student achievement in mathematics for grades 4-8 was statistically significant, but not for grade 9. Relationship between student achievement and the other ITJR for all grades were not statistically significant. This study provides validity evidence for a 4-factor model of ITJR, which may provide administrators an operationalized understanding of how to support teachers. Specifically, administrators should look for ways to offer, communicate, and encourage instructional autonomy for their teachers given its relationship with achievement. Finally, if a model for teacher merit pay is being considered, teacher job resources such as ITJR, or at least instructional autonomy, need to be considered. Suggestions for future studies are included

Agreeing to Disagree: How Jew and Christians Read Scripture

Eighth Annual Lecture in Jewish-Christian Engagement [Speaker] Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, Vanderbilt University; Author, The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus; Co-Editor, The Jewish Annotated New Testament.https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/bennettcenter-posters/1318/thumbnail.jp

The Effect of Medicaid Abortion Funding Restrictions on Abortions, Pregnancies, and Births

This paper considers whether state Medicaid abortion funding restrictions affect the likelihood of getting pregnant, having an abortion, and bearing a child. Aggregate, state-level data and microdata from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) are applied in the empirical work. Changes in laws resulting from Supreme Court decisions create a natural experiment which is utilized to examine fertility behavior. Multivariate models controlling for state and, in the NLSY, personal characteristics are also estimated using alternative fixed effect specifications. We find that Medicaid funding restrictions are associated with a reduction in both the number of abortions and pregnancies, resulting in either no change or a reduction in births.

Man Versus Food: An Analysis of \u27Dude Food\u27 Television and Public Health

Contemporary food television has moved away from an instructional and cooking-centered model, to an entertainment and eating-focused one. However, public health researchers have not considered these shows in the wake of rising obesity rates. This thesis is concerned with the kinds of messages food television conveys about food and eating and is guided by three research questions: How are food and eating represented on the shows? How is health addressed? How do these shows work to create and promote a more acceptable popular discourse around unhealthy eating habits? Through an analysis of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, You Gotta Eat Here! and Man vs. Food Nation, I argue that these food shows downplay or reject entirely health concerns and provide conflicting information about food and health. Finally, by framing these shows within current public health debates on obesity, I discuss possible ways to better inform viewers about the health merits of foods featured on these shows

Heidegger on Anxiety and Normative Practice

I offer a new interpretation of Heidegger’s analysis of anxiety in Being and Time as an account of the relationship between individual agents and the public normative practices of their communities. According to a prominent recent interpretation, Heidegger’s discussions of anxiety, death and the “call of conscience” together explain how we can respond to the norms of our practices as reasons and subject them to critical reflection. I argue that this is only part of the story. Anxiety is an occasion for Dasein to take responsibility for its ongoing activity of interpreting the possibilities for living and acting made available by the normative practices of its community, which is presupposed and overlooked from the perspective of everyday Dasein. Public normativity underdetermines Dasein’s conception of what it would mean to take up any of the possibilities available in its world as a way of living its own life

Thirsty for Justice: A People's Blueprint for California Water

The report's first chapter analyzes the origins of environmental discrimination in California water policy. After an overview of how low income communities and communities of color have been historically left out of California water management, we analyze political, economic and social trends that produce the current exclusionary system and emerging policies and technologies that could further harm low-income communities and communities of color.In the second chapter, we provide an overview of what we term "water governance": who controls water supply and quality and what agencies are responsible for ensuring that people have enough clean water. We explain the current system of water governance, examine changing patterns in control over water, and provide examples of communities that face profound barriers to participating in water decisions. We conclude by discussing barriers within water regulatory entities that prevent community voices from entering into water decision-making.In the third chapter, we provide a picture of water-related environmental injustices that low-income communities and communities of color face on a daily basis. These communities' lack of access to safe, affordable drinking water and healthy watersheds exemplifies the health burdens many communities bear as a result of California's water policies.Our report concludes with policy recommendations for how to remedy some of the most pressing water concerns low-income communities and communities of color face, in order to guarantee the basic right to safe and affordable water

Development and implementation of take-home naloxone kit for patients admitted to the emergency department of a large tertiary care hospital

Title: Development and implementation of take-home naloxone kit for patients admitted to the emergency department of a large tertiary care hospital Authors: Myung Seon (Amy) Song, PharmD; Pamela Levine, PharmD, BCPS; Katharine F. Marshall, MD; Chelsea Harmon, PharmD Candidate 2020 Background/Purpose: In 2017, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared the opioid epidemic as a public health emergency as more than 70,000 people died from drug overdoses. Approximately 75% percent of unintentional opioid-overdose deaths occurred outside of a medical setting. In order to combat the opioid crisis, the US Surgeon General urged prescribers and pharmacists to increase access to naloxone for individuals who are at risk for opioid overdose. Community overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) programs have demonstrated that take-home naloxone kits are associated with reduced opioid-overdose death rates and are cost-effective. From January 2016 – June 2019, about 4,016 emergency department (ED) and urgent care visits in the Portland metropolitan area were identified to be due to opioid overdose. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates a continuing upward trend, making the ED a critical intervention point for providers and pharmacists to engage patients with at-risk of opioid overdose and provide evidence-based interventions such as take-home naloxone kit. The primary objective of this study is to develop and implement a pharmacist driven take-home naloxone kit protocol. The secondary objective is to increase access to naloxone by prescribing and dispensing kits to at-risk patients in the emergency department. Methods: A retrospective quasi-experimental, pre- and post-protocol analysis, will be used to compare the number of prescriptions written prior to implementation of protocol (April 1, 2017 to September 1, 2019) to the number of take-home naloxone kit dispensed post implementation of the protocol. Inclusion criteria include patients 18 years or older and admitted to ED for treatment of opioid overdose, or with risk factors of opioid overdose. The primary endpoint is number of naloxone prescription written and take-home naloxone kits dispensed. Results: Key stakeholders were identified and engaged in developing the protocol. Operational and cost consideration were reviewed. Various factors affected development and implementation of the study. Conclusions: Adaptation of parts of the study to take place in two large tertiary care hospitals. IRB status: Pendinghttps://digitalcommons.psjhealth.org/pharmacy_PGY1/1011/thumbnail.jp