Portland Public Schools: From Data and Decisions to Implementation and Results on Dropout Prevention

Many school district leaders, particularly those in urban areas, struggle to reduce dropout rates, but find themselves overwhelmed by the dimensions of the problem. There are, however, a few districts making notable progress towards reducing the number of dropouts and ensuring that students earn high school diplomas in a timely manner.One of these is the Portland, Oregon, Public Schools (PPS). In the course of a single calendar year (2007-2008) PPS began to have a positive impact in addressing its dropout problem. How? The key was gathering data that illuminated the true scope of the problem, identifying predictive indicators to spot high risk students, and then marshalling teachers, administrators and support services to focus on those individual students entering 9th grade who were at the highest risk of dropping out of high school

Animal rights & human identity: a polemical quest for authenticity

This thesis examines the hypothesis that The conflict between animal advocates and animal users is far more than a matter of contrasting tastes or interests. Opposing world views, concepts of identity, ideas of community, are all at stake' (Jasper & Nelkin 1992, 7). It is based on a year of anthropological fieldwork with a group of animal rights activists. The aim of the study is to develop an understanding of how these activists construct and experience community and a personal and shared identity which reflects their own world view which is in contestation with that of mass society, whilst remaining part of mass society. Analysis of activists' life histories and their discourse and practice highlights the activists attempts to negotiate a discrete identity of themselves through a sense of community in their interactions with mass society, using animals to think themselves authentically human. This analysis contextualises Levi-Strauss's proposition that 'animals are good to think' within post-industrial Britain and links the activists's search for difference to an existential angst created by the conditions of contemporary life. Ever expanding communications in the post-industrial world present individuals with many opportunities for expressing identities of differing kinds in differing situations, but animal rights activists exhibit a need for structure and constancy in the formation of identity. They are reacting against a world where the constant and knowable appear redundant. The narratives and actions of the activists are investigated highlighting the areas of community, personal and shared identity and world view by analysis of their processes of rejection, reformation, construction and competency in their search for an authentic sense of identity predicated upon their own model of authentic humanness. It is contextualized within a background of the continuing discourse over the condition of humanity beginning with the periods of industrialisation and urbanisation of modem Britain

Holding the line: A slow movement towards a critical professional development for community educators

Professional development is a fundamental, if sometimes, overlooked aspect of nurturing high quality adult education. Creating genuine and engaging spaces for such development presents a number of challenges for organisers in any one of Ireland’s sixteen Education and Training Board’s community education services who work with a tutor body that are contractually and occupationally precarious and geographically dispersed. In December 2016 a group of adult and community education practitioners came together for a day-long professional development workshop, entitled ‘Deepening Practice’ in which they critically reflected on their values, philosophies, challenges and opportunities as educators. The workshop was creatively recorded by the graphic harvester, Eimear McNally, as a series of hand-drawn, wall-postered images (Figs. 1-7). In what follows Susan Cullinane, a Community Education Facilitator who was also a participant on the day, and Jerry O’Neill, the workshop co-facilitator, engage in an asynchronous reflective dialogue about the process and significance of the workshop that aspired to be part of a slow move towards a critical and creative professional development space for ETB educators

South Korean University Lecturers’ Opinions About Initial Teacher Education in Gifted Education

Despite the importance of initial teacher training, no primary education courses in South Korean universities provide a compulsory course in gifted education and elective courses are limited. Individual in-depth interviews with seven lecturers of gifted education courses were conducted to elicit their opinions about initial teacher education in gifted education. The lecturer interviewees suggested that there should be more of an emphasis on gifted education in initial teacher education programs. They also emphasized the importance of practical teaching experience with gifted students. The expansion of initial teacher education in gifted education in South Korea has the potential to improve preservice teachers’ understanding gifted students, ultimately improving the outcomes of this population

Risk and protective factors for suicidality among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) young people, from countries with a high global acceptance index (GAI), within the context of the socio-ecological model: A scoping review

Introduction: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) young people experience higher prevalence rates of suicidality than their heterosexual and/or cisgender peers. However, there is limited research that can inform suicide prevention efforts. Our aim was to synthesize quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research on risk and protective factors among LGBTQ+ young people, from countries with a high Global Acceptance Index.Methods: A scoping review guided by Arksey and O'Malley's five‐stage framework, using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐analysis Extension for Scoping Reviews protocol. Five databases and grey literature were searched for relevant studies. Identified factors were clustered by thematic type, according to the socio‐ecological model to identify empirical trends and knowledge gaps. The mixed methods appraisal tool was used for quality assessment of studies. Results: Sixty‐six studies met our inclusion criteria. Overall, 59 unique risk factors and 37 unique protective factors were identified. Key risk factors include past suicidality, adverse childhood experiences, internalized queerphobia, minority stress, interpersonal violence, bullying, familial conflict, and anti‐LGBTQ+ policies/ legislation. Key protective factors include self‐affirming strategies, adult/peer support, at‐school safety, access to inclusive healthcare, family connectedness, positive coming out experiences, gender‐affirming services and LGBTQ+ inclusive policies and legislation.Conclusions: Overall, our findings affirm that multiple risk and protective factors, at all levels of the socio‐ecological model, interact in complex, unique and diverse ways upon suicidality among LGBTQ+ young people. Implications for suicide prevention are discussed. Further empirical studies are required, particularly at the communities, policies, and societal levels of the socio‐ecological model, and these studies should include a focus on protective factors and significant within‐group differences

Statistical downscaling with spatial misalignment: Application to wildland fire PM2.5_{2.5} concentration forecasting

Fine particulate matter, PM$_{2.5}$, has been documented to have adverse health effects and wildland fires are a major contributor to PM$_{2.5}$ air pollution in the US. Forecasters use numerical models to predict PM$_{2.5}$ concentrations to warn the public of impending health risk. Statistical methods are needed to calibrate the numerical model forecast using monitor data to reduce bias and quantify uncertainty. Typical model calibration techniques do not allow for errors due to misalignment of geographic locations. We propose a spatiotemporal downscaling methodology that uses image registration techniques to identify the spatial misalignment and accounts for and corrects the bias produced by such warping. Our model is fitted in a Bayesian framework to provide uncertainty quantification of the misalignment and other sources of error. We apply this method to different simulated data sets and show enhanced performance of the method in the presence of spatial misalignment. Finally, we apply the method to a large fire in Washington state and show that the proposed method provides more realistic uncertainty quantification than standard methods

Fostering Application Opportunites for the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission

The NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission will provide global observations of soil moisture and freeze/thaw state from space. We outline how priority applications contributed to the SMAP mission measurement requirements and how the SMAP mission plans to foster applications and applied science