PUTTING ‘PRE’ IN ‘SCHOOL’: THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF PRESCHOOL IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

This study examines whether the physical location of Pre-K programs—whether in elementary school buildings or stand-alone centers—leads to differences in student outcomes in elementary school. Over the past several decades, public investment in Pre-K programming has burgeoned. According to the National Institute for Early Education Research, 32 percent of all four-year-olds in the United States attend state-funded Pre-K programs (Barnett et al., 2016). As Pre-K programs are taken to scale across the United States, a key concern is ensuring that programs are high-quality and provide significant and persistent effects on children’s school readiness and early schooling outcomes. Researchers are working to identify the components that predict high-quality and effective Pre-K programs, including components such as teacher credentials and measures of classroom quality, so that policies can better promote high-quality programs. Unfortunately, research to date has revealed few consistent and reliable proxies for high-quality Pre-K programs. My dissertation seeks to further investigate potential components of high-quality Pre-K programs by studying the physical location of Pre-K settings—namely, whether or not Pre-K programs are located in elementary school buildings or stand-alone centers. In order to provide evidence on the role of the physical location of Pre-K programs on differences in student outcomes in elementary school, I use a concurrent, explanatory mixed-methods design that combines nationally-representative, quantitative data with in-depth, qualitative interview data from school administrators and teachers in North Carolina. The combination of quantitative and qualitative data enable me to provide a holistic analysis of the phenomena of the physical location of Pre-K programs by providing estimates of the effects of setting type on a range of student outcomes and also providing evidence on the potential reasons for the observed relationships. In the quantitative portion of this dissertation, I used nationally-representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study- Kindergarten Cohort of 2011 to estimate the impacts of school-based versus non-school-based Pre-K on a range of academic and social-emotional outcomes from kindergarten entry through the third grade. Enabled by the robust set of covariates available in the dataset, I use new propensity score weighting methods that ensure balance on observables between treatment and control groups. In the qualitative portion of this dissertation, I collected data from a convenience sample of elementary school administrators and teachers in central North Carolina to provide in-depth information about the physical location of Pre-K programs. Finally, I concluded my analysis by considering the merged quantitative and qualitative data to explore areas of convergence and divergence. From the quantitative analysis, I find little evidence that school-based Pre-K is predictive of differences in student outcomes in kindergarten through third grade. However, I do find suggestive evidence that co-location—wherein students who attend Pre-K in an elementary school building and remain in that building—have superior outcomes when compared to students who move to attend another elementary school after Pre-K. These findings largely cluster in the academic achievement domains. From the qualitative analysis, I find that there is significant variability between elementary schools in the extent to which schools engage with Pre-K programs in their buildings and support collaborative, vertically aligned environments. Together, these results indicate that the physical location of Pre-K programs, alone, is insufficient for differentiating program quality. I conclude this dissertation with a discussion of my findings in relation to the existing literature, highlight the limitations of my study, and discuss directions for future research in the area of Pre-K location and program quality.Doctor of Philosoph

Tomada de decisão baseada em dados na educação infantil: Evidência do programa Pre-K da North Carolina

The purpose of this study is to shed light on the use of data in early education settings—specifically, North Carolina’s Pre-K program. In this mixed-methods study, we draw upon in-depth interviews and survey data to examine (1) the types of data available to educators in Pre-K, (2) the ways in which data are intended to be used, (3) how data are reportedly used, and (4) the facilitators and inhibitors of effective data-driven decision making. Our findings reveal that Pre-K settings are data-rich environments, often with informal data collected through developmental screening tools and formative assessment systems. We find that engagement with and use of these data for instruction is variable. Finally, we find data sharing between grades is inconsistent, but an important factor predicting data sharing is co-location of Pre-K programs within elementary school buildings. We consider our findings in the context of existing academic literature and discuss the implications for policy and practice. Este estudio se centra en el uso de datos en entornos de educación in de la primera infancia, específicamente en el programa de Pre-K de North Carolina en los Estados Unidos. En este estudio de métodos mixtos, nos basamos en entrevistas en profundidad y datos de encuestas para examinar (1) los tipos de datos disponibles para educadores en Pre-K, (2) las formas en que se pretende utilizar los datos, (3) ) cómo se utilizan los datos, y (4) los facilitadores e inhibidores de la toma de decisiones efectiva basada en datos. Nuestros hallazgos revelan que los ajustes de Pre-K son entornos ricos en datos, a menudo con datos informales recopilados a través de evaluación de desarrollo y sistemas de evaluación formativa. Encontramos que la participación y el uso de estos datos para la instrucción es variable. Finalmente, encontramos que el intercambio de datos entre los grados es inconsistente, pero un factor importante que predice el intercambio de datos es la ubicación de los programas de Pre-K dentro de los edificios de las escuelas primarias. Consideramos nuestros hallazgos en el contexto de la literatura académica existente y discutimos las implicaciones para la política y la práctica.Este estudo enfoca o uso de dados em ambientes de educação infantil - especificamente, o programa Pre-K da North Carolina nos EUA. Neste estudo de métodos mistos, utilizamos entrevistas em profundidade e dados de pesquisa para examinar (1) os tipos de dados disponíveis para os educadores no Pré-K, (2) as maneiras pelas quais os dados se destinam a ser usados, (3) ) como os dados são usados, e (4) os facilitadores e inibidores de tomadas de decisões eficazes baseadas em dados. Nossas descobertas revelam que as configurações pré-K são ambientes ricos em dados, muitas vezes com dados informais coletados por meio de triagem de desenvolvimento e por meio de sistemas de avaliação formativa. Achamos que o envolvimento e o uso desses dados para instrução é variável. Finalmente, nós achamos que o compartilhamento de dados entre as notas é inconsistente, mas um fator importante que prediz o compartilhamento de dados é a localização dos programas pré-K nos edifícios das escolas elementares. Consideramos nossas descobertas no contexto da literatura acadêmica existente e discutimos as implicações para políticas e práticas

Which older people decline participation in a primary care trial of physical activity and why: insights from a mixed methods approach

This article is available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright 2014 Rogers et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Background: Physical activity is of vital importance to older peoples’ health. Physical activity intervention studies with older people often have low recruitment, yet little is known about non-participants. Methods: Patients aged 60–74 years from three UK general practices were invited to participate in a nurse-supported pedometer-based walking intervention. Demographic characteristics of 298 participants and 690 non-participants were compared. Health status and physical activity of 298 participants and 183 non-participants who completed a survey were compared using age, sex adjusted odds ratios (OR) (95% confidence intervals). 15 non-participants were interviewed to explore perceived barriers to participation. Results: Recruitment was 30% (298/988). Participants were more likely than non-participants to be female (54% v 47%; p = 0.04) and to live in affluent postcodes (73% v 62% in top quintile; p < 0.001). Participants were more likely than non-participants who completed the survey to have an occupational pension OR 2.06 (1.35-3.13), a limiting longstanding illness OR 1.72 (1.05-2.79) and less likely to report being active OR 0.55 (0.33-0.93) or walking fast OR 0.56 (0.37-0.84). Interviewees supported general practice-based physical activity studies, particularly walking, but barriers to participation included: already sufficiently active, reluctance to walk alone or at night, physical symptoms, depression, time constraints, trial equipment and duration. Conclusion: Gender and deprivation differences suggest some selection bias. However, trial participants reported more health problems and lower activity than non-participants who completed the survey, suggesting appropriate trial selection in a general practice population. Non-participant interviewees indicated that shorter interventions, addressing physical symptoms and promoting confidence in pursuing physical activity, might increase trial recruitment and uptake of practice-based physical activity endeavours.The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Research for Patient Benefit Programme (Grant Reference Number PB-PG-0909-20055)

Priming the Semantic Neighbourhood during the Attentional Blink

Background: When two targets are presented in close temporal proximity amongst a rapid serial visual stream of distractors, a period of disrupted attention and attenuated awareness lasting 200–500 ms follows identification of the first target (T1). This phenomenon is known as the ‘‘attentional blink’ ’ (AB) and is generally attributed to a failure to consolidate information in visual short-term memory due to depleted or disrupted attentional resources. Previous research has shown that items presented during the AB that fail to reach conscious awareness are still processed to relatively high levels, including the level of meaning. For example, missed word stimuli have been shown to prime later targets that are closely associated words. Although these findings have been interpreted as evidence for semantic processing during the AB, closely associated words (e.g., day-night) may also rely on specific, well-worn, lexical associative links which enhance attention to the relevant target. Methodology/Principal Findings: We used a measure of semantic distance to create prime-target pairs that are conceptually close, but have low word associations (e.g., wagon and van) and investigated priming from a distractor stimulus presented during the AB to a subsequent target (T2). The stimuli were words (concrete nouns) in Experiment 1 and the corresponding pictures of objects in Experiment 2. In both experiments, report of T2 was facilitated when this item was preceded by a semantically-related distractor

Maternal Alcohol Consumption During Pregnancy and Physical Outcomes up to 5 Years of Age: A Longitudinal Study

Aim To examine whether alcohol exposure in pregnancy affects weight and head circumference (HC) at birth and 5 years, and whether these effects are independent of cigarette exposure in pregnancy and social disadvantage. Study design The Mater-University Study of Pregnancy (MUSP) involves a prospective cohort of 8556 mothers who were enrolled at first antenatal visit. The quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption in early and late pregnancy and a measure of binge drinking in early pregnancy were recorded. Weight and HC were measured on children seen at birth and at 5 years. Level of cigarette use in early pregnancy and maternal age and level of education and family income were also measured. Results Light and moderate alcohol consumption in early or later pregnancy had no independent effects on weight or HC at birth or 5 years. Binge drinking in early pregnancy was not associated with restricted HC, and there was no effect modification by concurrent cigarette use in early pregnancy. An apparent effect of alcohol in late pregnancy on birth weight was due to confounding by cigarette use, with social risk being an independent predictor. Conclusion Alcohol ingestion up to moderate levels in pregnancy was not associated with deficits in either weight or HC at birth or at 5 years

The Effectiveness of Contract Farming for Raising Income of Smallholder Farmers in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: a Systematic Review

Contract farming is used by an increasing number of firms as a preferred modality to source products from smallholder farmers in low and middle-income countries. Quality requirements of consumers, economies of scale in production or land ownership rights are common incentives for firms to offer contractual arrangements to farmers. Prices and access to key technology, key inputs or support services are the main incentives for farmers to enter into these contracts. There is great heterogeneity in contract farming, with differences in contracts, farmers, products, buyers, and institutional environments. The last decade shows a rapid increase in studies that use quasi-experimental research designs to assess the effects of specific empirical instances of contract farming on smallholders. The objective of this systematic review was to distill generalised inferences from this rapidly growing body of evidence. The review synthesised the studies in order to answer two questions: 1: What is known about the effect size of contract farming on income and food security of smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries? 2: Under which enabling or limiting conditions are contract farming arrangements effective for improving income and food security of smallholders

Intrinsic transcriptional heterogeneity in B cells controls early class switching to IgE.

Noncoding transcripts originating upstream of the immunoglobulin constant region (I transcripts) are required to direct activation-induced deaminase to initiate class switching in B cells. Differential regulation of Iε and Iγ1 transcription in response to interleukin 4 (IL-4), hence class switching to IgE and IgG1, is not fully understood. In this study, we combine novel mouse reporters and single-cell RNA sequencing to reveal the heterogeneity in IL-4-induced I transcription. We identify an early population of cells expressing Iε but not Iγ1 and demonstrate that early Iε transcription leads to switching to IgE and occurs at lower activation levels than Iγ1. Our results reveal how probabilistic transcription with a lower activation threshold for Iε directs the early choice of IgE versus IgG1, a key physiological response against parasitic infestations and a mediator of allergy and asthma

Temperature Control of Fimbriation Circuit Switch in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli: Quantitative Analysis via Automated Model Abstraction

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) represent the predominant cause of urinary tract infections (UTIs). A key UPEC molecular virulence mechanism is type 1 fimbriae, whose expression is controlled by the orientation of an invertible chromosomal DNA element—the fim switch. Temperature has been shown to act as a major regulator of fim switching behavior and is overall an important indicator as well as functional feature of many urologic diseases, including UPEC host-pathogen interaction dynamics. Given this panoptic physiological role of temperature during UTI progression and notable empirical challenges to its direct in vivo studies, in silico modeling of corresponding biochemical and biophysical mechanisms essential to UPEC pathogenicity may significantly aid our understanding of the underlying disease processes. However, rigorous computational analysis of biological systems, such as fim switch temperature control circuit, has hereto presented a notoriously demanding problem due to both the substantial complexity of the gene regulatory networks involved as well as their often characteristically discrete and stochastic dynamics. To address these issues, we have developed an approach that enables automated multiscale abstraction of biological system descriptions based on reaction kinetics. Implemented as a computational tool, this method has allowed us to efficiently analyze the modular organization and behavior of the E. coli fimbriation switch circuit at different temperature settings, thus facilitating new insights into this mode of UPEC molecular virulence regulation. In particular, our results suggest that, with respect to its role in shutting down fimbriae expression, the primary function of FimB recombinase may be to effect a controlled down-regulation (rather than increase) of the ON-to-OFF fim switching rate via temperature-dependent suppression of competing dynamics mediated by recombinase FimE. Our computational analysis further implies that this down-regulation mechanism could be particularly significant inside the host environment, thus potentially contributing further understanding toward the development of novel therapeutic approaches to UPEC-caused UTIs

Deinococcus geothermalis: The Pool of Extreme Radiation Resistance Genes Shrinks

Bacteria of the genus Deinococcus are extremely resistant to ionizing radiation (IR), ultraviolet light (UV) and desiccation. The mesophile Deinococcus radiodurans was the first member of this group whose genome was completely sequenced. Analysis of the genome sequence of D. radiodurans, however, failed to identify unique DNA repair systems. To further delineate the genes underlying the resistance phenotypes, we report the whole-genome sequence of a second Deinococcus species, the thermophile Deinococcus geothermalis, which at its optimal growth temperature is as resistant to IR, UV and desiccation as D. radiodurans, and a comparative analysis of the two Deinococcus genomes. Many D. radiodurans genes previously implicated in resistance, but for which no sensitive phenotype was observed upon disruption, are absent in D. geothermalis. In contrast, most D. radiodurans genes whose mutants displayed a radiation-sensitive phenotype in D. radiodurans are conserved in D. geothermalis. Supporting the existence of a Deinococcus radiation response regulon, a common palindromic DNA motif was identified in a conserved set of genes associated with resistance, and a dedicated transcriptional regulator was predicted. We present the case that these two species evolved essentially the same diverse set of gene families, and that the extreme stress-resistance phenotypes of the Deinococcus lineage emerged progressively by amassing cell-cleaning systems from different sources, but not by acquisition of novel DNA repair systems. Our reconstruction of the genomic evolution of the Deinococcus-Thermus phylum indicates that the corresponding set of enzymes proliferated mainly in the common ancestor of Deinococcus. Results of the comparative analysis weaken the arguments for a role of higher-order chromosome alignment structures in resistance; more clearly define and substantially revise downward the number of uncharacterized genes that might participate in DNA repair and contribute to resistance; and strengthen the case for a role in survival of systems involved in manganese and iron homeostasis