Make Your Job Summer Program: A Report to the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship

Make Your Job Summer Program condenses the material in NFTE's year-long high school curriculum into an intensive two-week course. Over the course of these two weeks, from 9-5 pm each day, students learn about businesses and entrepreneurship while simultaneously designing their business plans. At the end of the program, students present their business plans to a panel of judges to compete for seed money. At two of the 18 sites, NFTE also offered an 8- 10 week version of the program called Startup Summer. Startup Summer is for students who already participated in NFTE during the school year and takes the program a step further by helping them execute their business plans. Students in Startup Summer continue to receive support in launching their businesses into the school year. 378 students participated in the BizCamps and 77 participated in Startup Summer (at the Los Angeles and New York City sites). Although some sites had run NFTE-related summer programs in prior years, other sites were running the summer program for the first time. Two of these BizCamps (Girl Empower BizCamps) served female students exclusively.Our research examines both the impact and implementation of the program and considers:- the types of students who enrolled in the program and why;- how the students experienced the program;- the perceived match between program design and student backgrounds and abilities;- how staff understood the goals and expectations of the program;- the capacities and resources that supported implementation;- the challenges experienced in delivering the program; and- how the program was adapted across sites

School Closure in New York City

School districts and states have increasingly abandoned traditional school reform efforts in favor of simply closing low-performing schools. This movement reflects growing frustration among policymakers with the disappointing effects of previous school improvement policies, and the view that some schools may simply lack the capacity to undertake meaningful improvements. This paper focuses on arguably the most aggressive school closure policies in the nation--those in New York City. Over the past decade, New York City has closed over 100 schools. Using a longitudinal database of students and schools, I explore the implementation and effects of closure and reconstitution of middle schools in New York City, and assess the links between school closure and student academic development and behavior. My descriptive findings indicate that schools selected for closure have significantly lower school-average state test score exams and lower attendance rates compared to other middle schools for several years prior to closure, and that students who attend these schools are almost exclusively Hispanic and Black, more likely to come from low-income families, and more mobile than other middle school students in the district. I also find that students enter these middle schools already at a significant academic disadvantage. I examine characteristics of the reconstituted schools that replace the closed schools, and find that in terms of demographics, reconstituted schools enroll students similar to those served by the closed schools that they replaced. However, the reconstituted schools serve higher performing students with fewer absences and tardies in the year prior to enrolling in middle school. To assess the impact of school closure on student academic outcomes, I use propensity-score matching within a difference-in-differences framework. I find a small, positive effect of school closure on student test scores and rates of absences. As a robustness check, I conduct a second set of analyses using student fixed-effects models that produced similar results: students learn slightly less at chronically underperforming schools, compared to what would have happened had they attended an alternate school. School closure appears to be a somewhat effective in improving student academic outcomes. It is not clear, however, whether the policy is efficient given the small effects and the considerable disruption associated with the policy. Future research should examine the fiscal costs associated with closure, compared to costs of other policies with similar effects

Update on the Status of the Medicaid Prospective Payment System in the States

The Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000 replaced the traditional cost-based reimbursement system for federally-qualified health centers (FQHCs) with a new prospective payment system. States were also allowed to implement an alternative payment methodology (APM) as long as it did not pay less than what FQHCs would have received under PPS and the affected FQHC agreed to the APM. Although changes in payment policies were to take effect in 2001, states were slow to implement them and most only did so after one or two years. With little or no oversight by the federal government, the National Association of Community Health Centers began to monitor states\u27 activities, and in 2003, contracted the George Washington University to conduct an annual survey on the status of the Medicaid prospective payment system (PPS). The survey focuses on four aspects of the PPS system: 1) payment rate structure, 2) changes in the scope of services, 3) wrap-around payments and 4) perceived impacts of new payment program. No comparison with survey results from previous years are made due to varying sample of states responding

Multifaceted Promotion and Outreach of Banned Books Week Library Programming

Are you interested in how to better engage your community through marketing, outreach and social media? If yes, then download and listen to this narrated PowerPoint as we share our strategies for diversified and interactive library promotion. Through illustrating the Raynor Memorial Libraries’ Banned Books Week campaign, this presentation will deliver numerous strategies on how to reach your audience where they are and bring them into the library. Topics covered will include program development, cross-campus collaboration, creating an interactive LibGuide and displays, promoting events through campus media, and documenting the event through photos and videos

University of Maine Alumni Economic and Community Impact Report

Since 1940, the University of Maine has educated more than 125,000 people, helping them launch careers, start businesses, and contribute to communities near and far. The benefits of the learning and experiences that take place in Orono ripple across the state, reaching nearly every community, persisting for decades. This report presents the expansive economic and societal impacts of UMaine alumni in Maine. We surveyed thousands of former UMaine students at every stage of life. Here is what we learned

Endothelial Lipase Concentrations Are Increased in Metabolic Syndrome and Associated with Coronary Atherosclerosis

BACKGROUND: Endothelial lipase (EL), a new member of the lipase family, has been shown to modulate high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C) metabolism and atherosclerosis in mouse models. We hypothesized that EL concentrations would be associated with decreased HDL-C and increased atherosclerosis in humans. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Healthy individuals with a family history of premature coronary heart disease (n = 858) were recruited as part of the Study of the Inherited Risk of Atherosclerosis. Blood was drawn in the fasting state before and, in a subgroup (n = 510), after administration of a single dose of intravenous heparin. Plasma lipids were measured enzymatically, lipoprotein subclasses were assessed by nuclear magnetic resonance, and coronary artery calcification (CAC) was quantified by electron beam computed tomography. Plasma EL mass was measured using a newly developed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Median EL mass in pre-heparin plasma was 442 (interquartile range = 324–617) ng/ml. Median post-heparin mass was approximately 3-fold higher, 1,313 (888–1,927) ng/ml. The correlation between pre-heparin EL mass and post-heparin EL mass was 0.46 (p < 0.001). EL mass concentrations in both pre- and post-heparin plasma significantly correlated with all NCEP ATPIII-defined metabolic syndrome factors: waist circumference (r = 0.28 and 0.22, respectively, p < 0.001 for each), blood pressure (r = 0.18 and 0.24, p < 0.001 for each), triglycerides (r = 0.22, p < 0.001; and 0.13, p = 0.004), HDL cholesterol (r = –0.11, p = 0.002; and –0.18, p < 0.001), and fasting glucose (r = 0.11 and 0.16, p = 0.001 for both). EL mass in both routine (odds ratio [OR] = 1.67, p = 0.01) and post-heparin (OR = 2.42, p = 0.003) plasma was associated with CAC as determined by ordinal regression after adjustment for age, gender, waist circumference, vasoactive medications, hormone replacement therapy (women), and established cardiovascular risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: We report, to our knowledge for the first time, that human plasma EL concentrations, in both post-heparin and routine pre-heparin plasma, are significantly associated with metabolic syndrome features and with subclinical atherosclerosis. EL may be a pro-atherogenic factor in humans, especially in overweight individuals and those with metabolic syndrome

Popular music media literacy: A pilot study

The current study pilot tested a popular music media literacy website that was developed based on the final report of the APA Division 46 Task Force on the Sexualization of Popular Music (2018). The study hypothesized that popular music media literacy education would produce significant differences between the baseline assessment and post-literacy assessment for outcomes related to music reflecting real life, viewing the self as similar to music portrayals, music skepticism, level of engagement with music, and self-reported self-esteem. It was also hypothesized that participants would report favorable attitudes regarding the popular music media literacy website being tested. Participants included 52 emerging adult college students who completed the baseline assessment and the post-literacy assessments after reviewing the popular music media literacy website. At baseline, participants reported moderate levels of music as reflecting real life, viewing themselves as similar to music representations and self-reported self-esteem. Participants also reported high levels of music skepticism and engagement with music at baseline. Results indicated that the popular music media literacy website was effective in increasing general music skepticism. The implications for future research and next directions are discussed

Popular Music Media Literacy: A Pilot Study

The current study pilot tested a popular music media literacy website that was developed based on the final report of the APA Division 46 Task Force on the Sexualization of Popular Music (2018). The study hypothesized that popular music media literacy education would produce significant differences between the baseline assessment and post-literacy assessment for outcomes related to music reflecting real life, viewing the self as similar to music portrayals, music skepticism, level of engagement with music, and self-reported self-esteem. It was also hypothesized that participants would report favorable attitudes regarding the popular music media literacy website being tested. Participants included 52 emerging adult college students who completed the baseline assessment and the post-literacy assessments after reviewing the popular music media literacy website. At baseline, participants reported moderate levels of music as reflecting real life, viewing themselves as similar to music representations and self-reported self-esteem. Participants also reported high levels of music skepticism and engagement with music at baseline. Results indicated that the popular music media literacy website was effective in increasing general music skepticism. The implications for future research and next directions are discussed

Pheochromocytoma in a Twelve-Year-Old Girl with SDHB-Related Hereditary Paraganglioma-Pheochromocytoma Syndrome

A twelve-year-old girl presented with a history of several weeks of worsening headaches accompanied by flushing and diaphoresis. The discovery of markedly elevated blood pressure and tachycardia led the child\u27s pediatrician to consider the diagnosis of a catecholamine-secreting tumor, and an abdominal CT scan confirmed the presence of a pheochromocytoma. The patient was found to have a mutation in the succinyl dehydrogenase B (SDHB) gene, which is causative for SDHB-related hereditary paraganglioma-pheochromocytoma syndrome. Herein, we describe her presentation and medical management and discuss the clinical implications of SDHB deficiency