Statement on the Effects of Law Enforcement in School Settings

School-based law enforcement (SBLE) have become increasingly common in U.S. schools over recent decades despite the controversy surrounding their presence and lack of consensus around their associated benefits and harms. Drawing on the history and evidence base regarding SBLE, we advocate for an end to SBLE programs. Grounding our argument in principles of Community Psychology and positive youth development, we outline how the presence and actions of SBLE negatively affect individual students as well as school systems, with particularly harmful outcomes for students with minoritized and marginalized identities. Research on SBLE and school crime does not provide consistent evidence of positive impacts, and many studies find null effects for the relationship between SBLE and school crime or increases in crime and violence in schools. Though funding for SBLE is often prompted by high-profile acts of gun violence in schools, evidence suggests that SBLE neither prevents these incidents, nor lessens the severity when they do occur. Thus, we advocate for removing law enforcement from school settings and redirecting resources into inclusive, evidence-informed responses that are generally safer and more effective than SBLE. We close by outlining the policy landscape governing SBLE programs and ways communities can lobby for change

The Benefit of a Blended Education Approach in Patient Access Representative (PAR) Training: Didactic and Simulation

Division of Education and Traininghttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/edwk21/1014/thumbnail.jp

Developmentally Appropriate Educational Environments: Exploring the Impact of Student Autonomy and Interpersonal Relationships on Diverse Young Adolescents

School climate, broadly considered to be an individual's experience of school life, is especially important in early adolescence, when there is a known mismatch between the structure of middle schools and adolescents’ developing needs. Despite certain components of school climate being particularly developmentally salient in middle school, such as student autonomy and interpersonal relationships with peers and adults, not enough is known about the particular aspects of importance in these two areas, in order to better leverage them for school climate improvement. Further, historically marginalized students, such as students of color and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, often experience a school’s climate more negatively, making school climate an important educational equity issue. Additionally, research is limited on how climate functions in out-of-school spaces, such as extracurricular programs, where many adolescents spend significant time. Through three studies, this dissertations seeks to help address these gaps by expanding understanding of the impact of autonomy and interpersonal relationships on student outcomes, using approaches that are well suited to such research, but often underutilized: youth participatory action research (YPAR) and social network analysis (SNA), and including samples of majority low-income, Latine young adolescents. Designed in collaboration with a Title 1 middle school, Study One examines how students conceptualized school climate during the COVID-19 pandemic and how participating in a YPAR project impacted students’ feelings of belonging, mattering, and empowerment, as well as perceptions of school climate. Findings revealed that despite school climate including both at-home and in-person components during the spring of 2021, students felt the shared aspects of the school environment were the most salient and malleable to change through action research. Additionally, students had significant increases in their feelings of empowerment and mattering throughout their participation in the project. Using social network analysis, Study Two and Three explored how the peer and teacher-student relationships within a summer enrichment program relate to students’ feelings of belonging, mattering, connection, as well as perceptions of program climate. Both studies were conducted in collaboration with an out-of-school program focused on supporting would-be first generation college students. Results from Study Two revealed that higher amounts of close outgoing ties to peers were associated with higher feelings of mattering and connection, as well as more positive perceptions of program climate, and that students’ peer ties increased significantly over the summer. The findings from Study Three showed that ties to teachers also significantly increased over the course of the summer program and that higher amounts of outgoing ties to teachers were associated with stronger feelings of connection and more positive perceptions of program climate. Collectively, these three studies explore how young adolescents experience developmentally important areas of school climate – student autonomy and interpersonal relationships – using a sample of students who are often underrepresented in such research and including the less explored setting of out-of-school programs, offering directions for future research to improve school climate

Best friends, bad food, and bullying: How students’ school perceptions relate to sense of school belonging

A positive school climate and sense of school belonging can influence students\u27 academic outcomes and wellbeing in desirable ways. However, not enough is known about the aspects of school climate that influence students\u27 feelings of belonging and how gender, ethnicity, and grade may relate to those feelings. Via a self-administered survey, a diverse sample of middle school students (n = 1,226) reported what they perceived as the best parts of their school and the parts most in need of improvement, as well as their sense of belonging. Students\u27 perceptions of their school were aligned with the major areas of school climate: safety, relationships, teaching and learning, and institutional environment. These four areas were found to be predictive of sense of belonging to different degrees, such as listing relationships as needing improvement at the school being associated with lower scores in sense of belonging. Gender and grade were also found to be salient predictors of feelings of belonging, with seventh and eighth graders feeling less belonging than their sixth grade peers and girls having lower sense of belonging than boys. These findings affirm the importance of the school environment in influencing students\u27 feelings of being a part of their school

The mismatch of virtual instruction practices with young adolescents’ developmental needs

The COVID-19 pandemic caused schools to shift to virtual or hybrid instruction, thrusting young adolescents into a very different educational environment. Stage-environment fit theory outlines ways in which educational contexts may, or may not, meet the developmental needs of young adolescents. Yet little is known about how virtual environments fit the needs of middle schoolers. To assess this, we surveyed 430 middle school students in California during emergency distance learning. Open- and close-ended survey questions revealed the ways in which virtual schooling was not able to match the needs of these young adolescents. Student responses included challenges related to lack of connections with peers and teachers, difficulty working independently, and general mental health issues. Though limited, these results highlight the ways in which to consider developmental stages when altering school contexts in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such findings offer insights on how to adjust online practices so that they can better support the developmental needs of middle school students

The couch as a classroom: exploring the school environment of low-income Latine adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to uncover what the at-home educational environments of low-income Latine adolescents looked like during the COVID-19 pandemic and how these environments influenced students’ participation in their online classes. Additionally, the findings highlight students’ perspectives on their varied engagement in virtual instruction. Design/methodology/approach: Data for this study were collected via an online survey that included both open and close-ended questions. Students were able to share about their behaviors and comfort in their online classes, as well as provide photos of the areas from which they joined their online classes. Quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods were used. Findings: Many students in the sample expressed discomfort with themselves and their homes being seen on camera and shared having to juggle multiple responsibilities during online classes. Photos uploaded revealed that at-home educational environments often lacked the resources afforded by in-school instruction, with students joining classes from areas that may not be conducive to learning. Originality/value: Research has highlighted the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated existing issues of educational equity, but the systemic reasons for these inequities remain understudied. The results from this study highlight the ways in which disparate at-home learning environments may help to explain unequal engagement in online classes

Boundary Spanning Roles and Power in Educational Partnerships

Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) offer promising approaches to improve educational outcomes. Navigating boundaries between contexts is essential for RPP effectiveness, yet much work remains to establish a conceptual framework of boundary spanning in partnerships. Our longitudinal comparative case study draws from our experiences as graduate student boundary spanners in three long-term partnerships to examine boundary spanning roles in RPPs, with particular attention to the ways in which power permeates partnership work. Using qualitative, critically reflexive analysis of meeting artifacts and field notes, we found that our boundary spanning roles varied along five spectrums: institutional focus, task orientation, expertise, partnership disposition, and agency. Our roles were shaped by the organizational, cultural, relational, and historical features of the partnerships and contexts of interaction. We aim to promote the development of effective RPP strategies by leveraging the perspectives and positionality of graduate students in order to advance understanding of boundary spanning roles

“It’s All Connected”: Critical Bifocality and the Liminal Practice of Youth Work

Efforts to transform educational systems advocate for shifting and expanding the voices of those who generate research. This study was part of a project that brought together mathematics teachers, youth workers, and researchers to create equity-centered noticing frameworks for mathematics instruction. We explore youth workers’ understandings of the relationship between local educational equity problems and larger structural forces. By applying the framework of critical bifocality, we explore how youth workers demonstrate praxis where their pedagogical responses are animated by an understanding of the inherent linkages between broad social, economic, and political forces and educational equity issues in the local community

Quantitative assessment of visual microscopy as a tool for microplastic research: Recommendations for improving methods and reporting.

Microscopy is often the first step in microplastic analysis and is generally followed by spectroscopy to confirm material type. The value of microscopy lies in its ability to provide count, size, color, and morphological information to inform toxicity and source apportionment. To assess the accuracy and precision of microscopy, we conducted a method evaluation study. Twenty-two laboratories from six countries were provided three blind spiked clean water samples and asked to follow a standard operating procedure. The samples contained a known number of microplastics with different morphologies (fiber, fragment, sphere), colors (clear, white, green, blue, red, and orange), polymer types (PE, PS, PVC, and PET), and sizes (ranging from roughly 3-2000 μm), and natural materials (natural hair, fibers, and shells; 100-7000 μm) that could be mistaken for microplastics (i.e., false positives). Particle recovery was poor for the smallest size fraction (3-20 μm). Average recovery (±StDev) for all reported particles >50 μm was 94.5 ± 56.3%. After quality checks, recovery for >50 μm spiked particles was 51.3 ± 21.7%. Recovery varied based on morphology and color, with poorest recovery for fibers and the largest deviations for clear and white particles. Experience mattered; less experienced laboratories tended to report higher concentration and had a higher variance among replicates. Participants identified opportunity for increased accuracy and precision through training, improved color and morphology keys, and method alterations relevant to size fractionation. The resulting data informs future work, constraining and highlighting the value of microscopy for microplastics