BUILDING TEACHER CAPACITY AS A PATHWAY TO EQUITY FOR FIRST-GRADE SPANISH-SPEAKING ENGLISH LEARNERS: AN APPLIED RESEARCH STUDY

ABSTRACT The teaching of English Learners, one of the fastest-growing subgroups in American Public schools, is a task American classroom teachers are ill-equipped to handle. As students from a variety of language backgrounds move from metropolitan areas of the country to more rural locales educational leaders must equip teachers to integrate language acquisition with content instruction. Failure to do so will result in compounding learning gaps among English Learners as the language barrier prevents them from gaining content knowledge. Based in a Mississippi school with a growing population of English Learners comprising over a quarter of the school’s population, this action research study with program evaluation explored the training of classroom teachers in a variety of best practices for teaching English Learners. The results reveal specific strategies found to be successful in improving English Learners’ access to content knowledge as they work toward English language proficiency. The added influence of the COVID-19 pandemic rendered this study of specific value as it addressed how change initiatives can be impacted by external influences while still being successfully implemented

Comparison of CENEB and COHYST Hydrologic Models within a Common Domain in Central Nebraska

The Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (NDNR) has developed several hydrologic models to help effectively manage water resources in the state. These models guide water managers to allocate surface and groundwater supplies to a range of uses (irrigation, environmental protection, interstate water agreements) and evaluate the impacts of changes to the surface water-groundwater system (e.g., new wells, evolving recharge patterns). Two such models, the Central Nebraska (CENEB) model and the Cooperative Hydrology Study (COHYST) model cover north central and south central Nebraska, respectively, but the model domains overlap along a west-east strip between the Platte and Loup Rivers, enabling direct comparison of these two regulatory models. This investigation compared calibrated values of model parameters, predicted groundwater levels, and response to changes in recharge from the CENEB and COHYST models within the common area to assess similarities and differences in model construction and behavior. The models were found to differ in their distribution of hydraulic conductivity, specific yield, and head estimates, although their average values were similar. The two models responded very differently when stressed with additional recharge, with proportionally more recharge in CENEB allocated to storage rather than flux. Advisor: Erin Haacke

Migraines and Myocardial Infarction in Women

Background: Heart disease is the number 1 cause of death for U.S. women, myocardial infarction (MI) included. It has been established that ischemic stroke has a positive correlation with those who experience migraines, but there were no definitive studies saying that migraines cause all other cardiovascular related diseases, even though there is a common consensus that migraines are a vascular phenomenon. This systematic review focuses on the correlation between migraines and myocardial infarction particularly in women. Methods: An exhaustive search of available medical literature was conducted using MEDLINE-Ovid, Web of Science, and CINAHL databases. The following terms were searched as keywords: migraine, myocardial infarction, and women or female. Studies applicable to the topic of the association of migraines and myocardial infarction in women were included as long as they were in English, on human subjects, and prospective cohort studies. The quality of relevant articles was evaluated via the GRADE Working Group guidelines. Results: The initial search yielded 193 articles that were narrowed down to 3 prospective cohort studies by applying the eligibility criteria. Each study yielded odds ratios of having a MI in women with migraines compared to women without migraines. The Kurth et al, WHS, resulted in the hazard ratios of 1.94 (95% CI 1.27 to 2.95, P value 0.002) for active migraine with aura. The Kurth et al, NHS II, had an age adjusted hazard ratio of 1.79 (95% CI 1.52 to 2.10, P value Conclusion: Women who have migraines, especially those with aura, are at an increased risk of myocardial infarction compared to those without migraines. Providers should consider migraines in women as a positive risk factor for myocardial infarction. These findings should prompt research on the biological process of migraines and whether the treatments we use now can protect women from the increased risk. Keywords: Migraine, myocardial infarction, heart attack, women, female, and risk

Case Study of Lived Experiences: Three Male Peer Recovery Coaches at a Community-based, Spiritual, Residential Substance Abuse Recovery Program

Substance use disorder is one of the most universal clinical and public health concerns in the United States. A shift in the behavioral health field from short-term cures to long-term recovery found peer-based recovery services to be a notable asset. The peer recovery coach (PRC), experientially equipped through personal substance use disorder history and recovery, is the fastest growing role in peer services. Very limited research exists into the lived experience of PRCs and the impact of the PRC role on personal recovery. This investigation aimed to fill gaps in the literature related to PRCs’ lived experience and personal recovery. The theoretical orientation of the re-entry experience of an ex-offender into home, community, and work life supplied a framework for research into the re-entry experience of a PRC. The first research question was “What are the home, community, and work life re-entry experiences of a male PRC working at a community-based, spiritual, residential substance abuse recovery program?” The second research question explored how the home, community, and work life experiences influence PRCs’ present recovery. This qualitative case study collected data through semi-structured interviews. Data analysis themes demonstrated that the PRCs’ home, community, and work life experiences were residential stability, restored relationships, togetherness, recovery support, role, feelings, benefits, and challenges. Experiences that influenced personal recovery categorized as relationships, accountability, triggers, and recovery tools. PRCs, on a journey of personal recovery themselves, need clinical support; the findings of this study could strengthen clinical support systems

Supply-Side Education: Race, inequality, and the Rise of the Punitive Education State

The 1930s were dominated by an understanding that unemployment and inequality were primarily the result of structural failures of the market economy. However, the unraveling of New Deal liberalism throughout the 1940s and 1950s shifted ideological understandings of problems like unemployment, poverty and racial inequality to explanations focused on individual deficiencies. This development had dramatic consequences for federal education policy. Buttressed by a coalition of civil rights groups and educational organizations pushing for federal involvement in education, Democratic policymakers turned towards education as a cheaper and more effective replacement to earlier redistributive taxation and full employment policies. The success of this coalition in passing the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act meant that the institutions of the federal education state were designed with an eye towards solving poverty, unemployment, and racial inequality. This left public schools vulnerable to political attack as these social problems failed to disappear. By the end of the 1960s, Democratic politicians and civil rights groups began to call for greater accountability and punishment for schools that failed to live up to expectations. This critical view was eventually adopted by Republicans and conservative interest groups, who pushed for the introduction of market forces in public education as a necessary corrective. These earlier developments explain why punitive sanctions became the cornerstone of federal education policy, with particularly negative consequences for racial minorities and poor communities