The effects of after-school physical activity and adult encouragement on adolescents

Includes bibliographical references

Learning from Experience: The Practice of Teachers with Dyslexia Working with Special Education Students in Massachusetts

This qualitative study sought to expand what is known about best practice for students with dyslexia in public schools. Despite its prevalence, there is confusion in the education field about what dyslexia actually is, how to identify it, and how to best remediate the difficulties associated with it. An untapped source of educational insight is teachers who have dyslexia and what they have gleaned from their experiences. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of 20 Massachusetts teachers with dyslexia as they reflected on their own experiences in special education. Utilizing semi-structured interviews that included critical incident questions, answers to the following research questions were sought: (a) What did teachers with dyslexia say they learned from their experiences in and out of the classroom setting with respect to self-concept, resilience, and their journey to becoming a teacher? (b) In what ways have teachers’ own experiences as learners and teachers with dyslexia influenced the ways that they currently practice? (c) In what ways did teachers with dyslexia perceive their learning disability affected their ability and capacity to teach students with dyslexia? Participants described traumatic experiences that resulted from teacher misinformation or late diagnoses. Results included strong support for increased teacher knowledge and understanding about dyslexia, including the variability and complexity of the profile, training in scientifically-based reading interventions and carefully chosen classroom placement, and recognition that dyslexia continues across the lifespan. Results were analyzed with feedback from four member check participants and input from three higher education dyslexia experts. The researcher made four conclusions: (1) Teacher training about the dyslexic profile is vital for all teachers; (2) All reading teachers must learn scientifically-based systematic phonetic reading approaches and access to such training must be improved; (3) Candidates and teachers with dyslexia have particular skill and empathy for working with students with dyslexia and should be supported; and (4) Teachers with dyslexia should have opportunities to share their voices in educational decision making

Evaluation of Educating Registered Nurses Prior to Implementing New Evidence-based Protocol: Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS)

Evidence-based protocols promote standardization of care and patient safety. The inclusion of major stakeholders is imperative to the success of implementation of a new protocol. The “Enhanced Recovery After Surgery” (ERAS) protocol was implemented at the Veterans Administration Medical Center – St. Louis prior to formal education of direct-care registered nurses (RNs), a major stakeholder group. Due to the lack of knowledge, the RNs who were expected to implement and adhere to the ERAS protocol were not prepared and displayed a lack of confidence. Subsequently, an educational training intervention was designed and executed with thirty-five RN participants. Prior to this training, a pre-test was administered followed by a post-test after the training. The data analysis reported a significant increase in knowledge of the correct ERAS protocol process among all the participants. An increase in confidence related to the correct implementation of the ERAS protocol was also shown among the participants. The outcome of this project implies that structured, program-specific training can impact the knowledge and perceived confidence of direct-care RNs to adhere to and correctly implement the ERAS protocol

Florida Orthodontist Participation as Medicaid Providers

Low-income families are usually unable to afford the cost of orthodontic treatment. The Medicaid program exists to assist these families’ access to medical and dental care, including orthodontics in children and adolescents with severe malocclusions. There exists a contrast between need and care-received, which is a product of several general factors. This study will examine the factors involved with orthodontist participation. Previous studies have indicated that low reimbursement rates and excessive paperwork are among the reasons that providers choose not to participate in Medicaid. New studies have identified factors that were accurately able to predict if a dentist is a Medicaid participant. Specific Aims 1. Describe the prevalence of Medicaid participation among orthodontists in the state of Florida. 2. Examine the determinants of Medicaid participation among Florida orthodontists. Significance This study may encourage public health policy changes that benefit orthodontists, patients, and communities. Our study shows the unified opinion of Florida orthodontists that the Medicaid program has a significant administrative burden, including a low reimbursement rate. This points to potential solutions to increase program participation, namely increasing the reimbursement rate and streamlining the process for case approval. Innovation To our knowledge, previous studies have not identified factors that predict Medicaid participation among Florida’s orthodontists. Research Plan This study used a survey distributed by e-mail and conventional mail to a every actively practicing orthodontist in Florida. A lottery-entry was offered as an incentive to encourage study participation. The survey consisted of questions in four different categories: practitioner demographics, practice demographics, the Perceived Barriers Scale and the Social Responsibility Scale. Results Our study found that past Medicaid participation was the only significant determinant of current Medicaid participation. We found few associations between orthodontists’ Medicaid participation and their sense of social responsibility to provide for the needs of underprivileged and minority populations. Conclusion Our study shows the unified opinion of Florida orthodontists that the Medicaid program has a significant administrative burden. The finding that past Medicaid participation is a predictor of current participation may suggest that the utilization of Medicaid covered orthodontics may increase if orthodontists receive early exposure to Medicaid’s processes, criteria, and practice implications

Replacing the Raise Your Hand to Speak Rule with New Social and Sociomathematical Norms in an Elementary Mathematics Classroom

This qualitative study documents the establishment of new social and sociomathematical norms in a second grade classroom. The teacher allowed students to speak directly to one another without having to raise their hands first during whole group mathematics instruction. Reform efforts in mathematics and the standards for mathematical practice contained in the Common Core State Standards call for students to discuss their reasoning with each other. Data were collected through interviews with the teacher and students, field notes, and video-recorded lessons over the course of 23 days. An online survey tool was utilized to share selected video of the teacher\u27s instruction. Initial professional development topics were chosen from research in mathematics education related to the social construction of understanding. Ongoing professional development was responsive to what occurred during instruction. The literature suggests that teachers often utilize traditional teaching methods and struggle to deviate from established patterns regardless of their desire to implement change. The teacher in this study learned that allowing students to talk openly provided him with insight into their mathematical conceptions and misconceptions. The students initially viewed mathematics as a set of rules to follow and exhibited the role of passive recipients of information. This changed as students were provided opportunities to participate in discussions and in doing so developed a new understanding of their role during mathematics lessons. Mathematical errors became a catalyst for communication and were viewed by students as opportunities for assisting their peers

Resiliency among secondary teachers serving at-risk populations: a phenomenological study

This phenomenological study sought to understand the experiences, perceptions, and behaviors of resilient secondary educators working with at-risk populations and contrast the lived experiences of resilient teachers with those of burned out teachers. The purpose of this study is to glean common themes and attributes of resilient teachers working in high-stress environments which will help current and future teachers and administrators combat workplace stressors and teacher burnout by understanding coping skills and/or modifying behaviors and mindsets. Secondary educators of at-risk populations have an almost impossible job educating adolescents. The vocation is filled with stressors: increased amounts of paper-work, lack of administrative support, high-stakes testing, un-manageable students. These stressors cause many teachers to experience burnout and/or leave the profession (Brackett, Palomera, Mojsa-Kaja, Reyes, & Salovey, 2010). However, within schools, there are those resilient teachers who continue to remain positive elements of the school culture and education students (Albrecht, Johns, Mounsteven, & Olorunda, 2009). This investigation strove to understand the commonalities of these teachers and the potential to bring that knowledge to the professional lives of their peers

No Fine End for a Modern Day Alice in Transit

To the reader---; How I live is a giant writing thing, even when I\u27m not writing. There is always breath, both shallow and deep, and somewhere, wet jackets, sides of the same world. It is about the blob, mostly because all of this has been written and said but for the ghost that follows me around. What matters most finds us when we are open, the way a flower opens up for the Sun I write because I don\u27t have a choice, the way Alice had to go through Wonderland before she could get out. What is left, having left Wonderland? But, wonder of course. Here is absolute necessity because \u27Writing, I feel, is an art, and artists, I feel, are human beings\u27 (e.e. Cummings). The blob, you see. Simultaneously, a giant sphere, all parts working at once. Nothing is fully separate. Don\u27t believe me? Neither do the bugs. Life is very serious, and strange, and funny. Go ask Alice. Because guess what, the bugs don\u27t believe her either; Let my truth be your truth, and then change it somewhere in the process, wherever you see fit. Things lie deeply wedged in the world, and none of me knows quite what the world is, just that it is. Just as you must be true, I have given myself to the world that wants me (as there are more than one when you take into account the wetness of imagination), because if I don\u27t, then what\u27s this life anyway? What\u27s this world? Peter Gabriel says, \u27If you don\u27t get given you learn to take, and I will take you.\u27 You ought to say this, Too \u27Tis better to be given over to something than to force myself into a mold because I want to fit somewhere amongst the made constructions that hold life together. I am only what I am in this poetry. It is about many things, this book.*; (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Topics and trends in finance research: what is published, who publishes it and what gets cited?

In this study we provide a detailed examination of the subject matter of finance research and its institutional features as it has evolved over the past two decades. Drawing on novel approaches from data science, we examine the content of more than 30,000 published papers. Overall, we find a striking lack of diversity in the topics investigated and the methodological approaches used. Almost all finance research is conducted using techniques from economics and mathematics, with virtually no use made of qualitative methods or interdisciplinary approaches. Looking at the developments of the discipline over time, we document an increase in the volume of corporate finance research and a variation in the topics covered following the financial crisis, although these changes appear to be reactive and trivial rather than paradigm shifts. We also provide a cartography of research in finance and its citation-based impact by the location of authors. Leading finance research is concentrated in elite US institutions, and has a disproportionately strong citation-based impact. Compared with other business and management sub-fields, citations in finance are heavily skewed towards the top journals as the latter generate almost twice as much impact as the lower rated outlets