Why does the ethnic and socio-economic composition of schools influence math achievement? The role of sense of futility and futility culture

Although a number of studies in many countries have investigated the impact of the ethnic and socio-economic composition of schools on academic performance, few studies have analyzed in detail how and why compositional features matter. This article presents an examination of whether pupils’ sense of futility and schools’ futility culture account for the impact of ethnic and socio-economic status (SES) composition of schools on the academic achievement of their pupils. Multilevel analyses of data based on a survey of 2,845 pupils (aged 10–12 years) in 68 Flemish primary schools revealed that higher proportions of immigrant and working-class pupils in a school is associated with lower levels of math achievement in both immigrant and native Belgian pupils. However, by analyzing at a deeper level, by taking control variables into account, our study found that the ethnic composition of the school no longer had a significant effect on pupils’ achievement, while the SES composition still did. Most importantly, our results indicated that the remaining impact of SES composition can be explained by pupils’ sense of futility and schools’ futility culture. The implications of these findings for educational policy are discussed

Perceived social norms of health behaviours and college engagement in British students.

The social norms approach is an increasingly widely used strategy of behaviour and attitude change that is based on challenging misperceptions individuals hold about their peers. Research to date has been carried out predominately in the US college system, with a focus on substance use behaviours. The aim of the current study was to explore peer perceptions of both substance use and other behaviours in a British student sample, as the first step in determining whether the social norms approach may be applicable within Europe. Students at eight further education colleges in the UK were surveyed on their personal and perceived peer health and college engagement behaviours and attitudes by means of a printed and online survey. Respondents reported a perceived norm of frequency of substance use that was higher than the reported norm. Results relating to the injunctive norms of substance use were mixed but demonstrated that the majority of respondents do not actively approve of tobacco, cannabis or other drug use. Respondents also reported a norm of academic engagement that was more positive than the perceived norm of their peers. The results relating to substance use are consistent with work conducted in the US college system, despite the differences in culture and legislation. In addition, the results indicate that there may be similar misperceptions around other areas of health and college engagement. This suggests that the social norms approach may be a viable method of behaviour change in UK students

Cross-validated stepwise regression for identification of novel non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor resistance associated mutations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Linear regression models are used to quantitatively predict drug resistance, the phenotype, from the HIV-1 viral genotype. As new antiretroviral drugs become available, new resistance pathways emerge and the number of resistance associated mutations continues to increase. To accurately identify which drug options are left, the main goal of the modeling has been to maximize predictivity and not interpretability. However, we originally selected linear regression as the preferred method for its transparency as opposed to other techniques such as neural networks. Here, we apply a method to lower the complexity of these phenotype prediction models using a 3-fold cross-validated selection of mutations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Compared to standard stepwise regression we were able to reduce the number of mutations in the reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitor models as well as the number of interaction terms accounting for synergistic and antagonistic effects. This reduction in complexity was most significant for the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) models, while maintaining prediction accuracy and retaining virtually all known resistance associated mutations as first order terms in the models. Furthermore, for etravirine (ETR) a better performance was seen on two years of unseen data. By analyzing the phenotype prediction models we identified a list of forty novel NNRTI mutations, putatively associated with resistance. The resistance association of novel variants at known NNRTI resistance positions: 100, 101, 181, 190, 221 and of mutations at positions not previously linked with NNRTI resistance: 102, 139, 219, 241, 376 and 382 was confirmed by phenotyping site-directed mutants.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We successfully identified and validated novel NNRTI resistance associated mutations by developing parsimonious resistance prediction models in which repeated cross-validation within the stepwise regression was applied. Our model selection technique is computationally feasible for large data sets and provides an approach to the continued identification of resistance-causing mutations.</p

Alcohol and cannabis use among adolescents in Flemish secondary school in Brussels: effects of type of education

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Research regarding socio-economic differences in alcohol and drug use in adolescence yields mixed results. This study hypothesizes that (1) when using education type as a proxy of one's social status, clear differences will exist between students from different types of education, regardless of students' familial socio-economic background; (2) and that the effects of education type differ according to their cultural background.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data from the Brussels youth monitor were used, a school survey administered among 1,488 adolescents from the 3rd to 6th year of Flemish secondary education. Data were analyzed using multilevel logistic regression models.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Controlling for their familial background, the results show that native students in lower educational tracks use alcohol and cannabis more often than students in upper educational tracks. Such a relationship was not found for students from another ethnic background.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Results from this study indicate that research into health risks should take into account both adolescents' familial background and individual social position as different components of youngsters' socio-economic background.</p

Exclusive radiotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer. A retrospective multicentric study

PurposeTo evaluate the daily practice of management of early inoperable lung cancer (stage I).Materials and methodsThe analysis was based on a questionnaire which was sent to participated centers. Between 1982 and 1994, 123 patients with an early stage I inoperable lung cancer were treated with definitive irradiation in the different institutions. The survival distributions were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. The following covarties were analyzed: age, gender, Karnofsky status, symptoms, diagnostic work-up, T stage, tumour size, tumour location, histology, respiratory and cardiac contra-indication. The univariate analysis was performed using log-rank test. Cox regression models were used to find the independent prognostic factors.Results: The 2 and 5-year survival rates were 34% and 8% respectively. The 5-year local failure rate was 42% for T1 and 82% for T2. In a multivariate analysis, the most important prognostic factors for survival were the performance status and the stage. After adjustment for these two covariates, the total dose delivered had no impact for the range of doses used in this series.ConclusionsOur poor data outlined the needs for better radiation technique and for a better staging system

The potential determinants of young people's sense of justice: an international study

This paper uses reports from 13,000 Grade Nine pupils in five countries to examine issues such as whether they were treated fairly at school, trust their teachers and adults in wider society, are willing to sacrifice teacher attention to help others, and support the cultural integration of recent immigrants. Using such reports as ‘outcomes’ in a multi‐stage regression model, it is clear that they are largely unrelated to school‐level pupil mix variables. To some extent, these outcomes are stratified by pupil and family background in the same way for all countries. However, the largest association is with pupil‐reported experience of interactions with their teachers. Teachers appear to be a major influence on young people's sense of justice and the principles they apply in deciding whether something is fair. The paper concludes by suggesting ways in which schools and teachers could take advantage of this finding