High school students’ perception of school climate following a district-wide equity and inclusion program implementation

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of an equity and inclusion program on students’ perception of their school culture and examine if differences in their perceptions depend on school attended and their ethnicity. The intent of this analysis is to identify if an equity and inclusion program can positively influence students’ perception of their school culture. This ex-post facto study utilized data collected during the 2018-2019 school year in a large school district in the southwestern region of the U.S. Participants of this study included 10-12 grade students at two study high schools within the district and totaled 1031. The schools selected for this study were chosen because of their differences in student populations. One school serves a majority white student population while the other a majority of students of color. Student perception data were gathered utilizing a 20-question school climate survey administered at the beginning and end of the first year of the district’s implementation of the district-wide equity and inclusion program. The survey consisted of Likert-scaled questions about school climate and students answered indicating their level of agreement with corresponding statements. The design of this study was a quantitative analysis of students’ mean pre- and post-survey scores to determine if there was a significant difference in scores reported after the students were exposed to the program. Research Question 1 aimed to identify if there was a difference in students’ perceptions of their school climate following completion of the equity and inclusion program. The study revealed that there was a significant difference in the mean survey scores with an overall decrease in students’ perception of their school environment. Research Question 2 addressed any differences in students’ perceptions of their school climate following the completion of the equity and inclusion program by study school. The data at both study schools showed a significant difference in the mean survey scores identifying a decrease in students’ perceptions of their school environment. Research Question 3 again focused on the differences in students’ perceptions of their school climate following the completion of the equity and inclusion program by ethnicity. Although Asian students did not see a significant difference in their survey scores, Black, Hispanic, Multiple Race, and White students all experienced a significant decrease in their post-survey scores. Additional analysis was performed and illustrated that only White students who attended the predominately white school saw a significant decrease in their survey scores, while Black, Hispanic, and White students at the school with a predominate population of students of color saw their scores significantly decrease. When evaluating the findings, students in general had a less positive perception of their school climate after the implementation of the district-wide equity and inclusion program

Individualized iterative phenotyping for genome-wide analysis of loss-of-function mutations

Next-generation sequencing provides the opportunity to practice predictive medicine based on identified variants. Putative loss-of-function (pLOF) variants are common in genomes and understanding their contribution to disease is critical for predictive medicine. To this end, we characterized the consequences of pLOF variants in an exome cohort by iterative phenotyping. Exome data were generated on 951 participants from the ClinSeq cohort and filtered for pLOF variants in genes likely to cause a phenotype in heterozygotes. 103 of 951 exomes had such a pLOF variant and 79 participants were evaluated. Of those 79, 34 had findings or family histories that could be attributed to the variant (28 variants in 18 genes), 2 had indeterminate findings (2 variants in 2 genes), and 43 had no findings or a negative family history for the trait (34 variants in 28 genes). The presence of a phenotype was correlated with two mutation attributes: prior report of pathogenicity for the variant (p = 0.0001) and prior report of other mutations in the same exon (p = 0.0001). We conclude that 1/30 unselected individuals harbor a pLOF mutation associated with a phenotype either in themselves or their family. This is more common than has been assumed and has implications for the setting of prior probabilities of affection status for predictive medicine

Individualized Iterative Phenotyping for Genome-wide Analysis of Loss-of-Function Mutations

Next-generation sequencing provides the opportunity to practice predictive medicine based on identified variants. Putative loss-of-function (pLOF) variants are common in genomes and understanding their contribution to disease is critical for predictive medicine. To this end, we characterized the consequences of pLOF variants in an exome cohort by iterative phenotyping. Exome data were generated on 951 participants from the ClinSeq cohort and filtered for pLOF variants in genes likely to cause a phenotype in heterozygotes. 103 of 951 exomes had such a pLOF variant and 79 participants were evaluated. Of those 79, 34 had findings or family histories that could be attributed to the variant (28 variants in 18 genes), 2 had indeterminate findings (2 variants in 2 genes), and 43 had no findings or a negative family history for the trait (34 variants in 28 genes). The presence of a phenotype was correlated with two mutation attributes: prior report of pathogenicity for the variant (p = 0.0001) and prior report of other mutations in the same exon (p = 0.0001). We conclude that 1/30 unselected individuals harbor a pLOF mutation associated with a phenotype either in themselves or their family. This is more common than has been assumed and has implications for the setting of prior probabilities of affection status for predictive medicine

Curfews and delinquency in major American cities.

In 1972, the Board of Trustees of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency called for the abolishment of municipal curfew ordinances. This article examines whether curfews have withered away as called for by supporters of the noninterventionist juvenile justice reform model, or whether they have flourished as part of the alternative get tough reform movement. The findings show that 59 of the 77 American cities with 1992 populations of more than 200,000 now have curfews. In one 5-year period (1990-1994) 26 of these 77 major cities adopted curfews for the first time. Key issues of curfew implementation are discussed