Enriching Summer Work: An Evaluation of the Summer Career Exploration Program

To determine the impact of the Summer Career Exploration Program (SCEP), a privately funded summer jobs program for low-income teens, P/PV examined the lives of over 1700 applicants. These youth were randomly assigned to participate or to not participate in SCEP in the summer of 1999, and their outcomes were compared at four and twelve months after program application. Researchers found that implementation was strong, but program impacts were less impressive. While SCEPs participants got summer jobs at a substantially higher rate (92%) than the control group (62%), the programs ability to translate this large and immediate summer employment impact into intermediate gains (in terms of future plans, college enrollment, work success, sense of self-efficacy or reduced criminal activity) proved to be negligible. Although impacts were short lived, the report concludes that SCEP and similar programs have an important place in the larger mosaic of supports, programs and opportunities for young people

Collaborating at a Distance

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An Examination of the Impact of Organizational Restructuring on Identification Within Extension

Many Extension organizations enjoy strong Organizational Identification (OI) among personnel. But organizational change may negatively influence identification, and many Extension organizations have been changing the way they serve their publics. To examine the impact of change on OI, we compared Extension personnel\u27s OI scores following a major restructuring to OI scores gathered during a period of relative stability reported in previous research from another Extension organization. Findings indicated that OI scores were slightly lower following restructuring; however, the pattern of scores across four targets (Extension, program area, counties, and centers) remained constant, suggesting personnel will rarely identify with mid-level targets

Is the New Ecological Paradigm Scale Stuck in Time? A Working Paper

The most frequently used environmental attitude scale – the New Environmental Paradigm scale – may be woefully dated. The scale was designed to measure adherence to a paradigm of environmentally focused ethics and beliefs. However, scale items drawn on a not-yet-solidified worldview have led to issues of reliability and validity

Effect of Sample Handling and Storage on Ergovaline Concentration in Fresh Tall Fescue Samples

Ergovaline is an ergot alkaloid produced by an endophyte (Neotyphodium coenophialum Morgan-Jones and Gams), found in tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinacea=Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) and causes a range of disorders across livestock species. The concentration of ergovaline within a plant can vary by variety, management, time of year, location and weather conditions (Smith et al. 2009). Due to the significant economic impact of fescue toxicity in livestock, many samples are tested every year in research and diagnostic laboratories. Ergovaline is known to be unstable and affected by many variables; therefore sample handling is critical to obtaining accurate and consistent results. Currently, a number of laboratories in the United States can perform ergovaline analysis, but there is little information in the literature on how these results are affected by sample handling from the pasture to the laboratory or during storage of samples at the laboratory

Enriching Summer Work: An Evaluation of the Summer Career Exploration Program (Executive Summary)

This document summarizes the key findings of the Summer Career Exploration Program evaluation

The Mammalian Phenotype Ontology as a tool for annotating, analyzing and comparing phenotypic information

The Mammalian Phenotype (MP) Ontology enables robust annotation of mammalian phenotypes in the context of mutations, quantitative trait loci and strains that are used as models of human biology and disease. The MP Ontology supports different levels and richness of phenotypic knowledge and flexible annotations to individual genotypes. It continues to develop dynamically via collaborative input from research groups, mutagenesis consortia, and biological domain experts. The MP Ontology is currently used by the Mouse Genome Database and Rat Genome Database to represent phenotypic data

Universal Data System to Increase Staff Buy-In

Although PBIS has been implemented in many schools across the state, there is still a concern of making the system universal to help increase staff buy-in. Therefore, it is crucial that schools include the entire staff with the behavior expectations for all students in the school. It is also important for students to be rewarded for putting forth their best effort. Research shows that there are several products that can be purchased to allow a school to collect the data, reward points or implement incentives. However, there are cost efficient ways of implementing a school-wide data system. One strategy is to utilize the Google Suite for educators. Applications such as Forms and Sheets can be linked to provide instant access to data in real time for students and staff. Data presentations via Slides allow school teachers and administrators to analyze data to better serve their students. Teacher driven data collection also supports PBIS Tier I, Tier II and Tier III processes when implemented with fidelity. In our proposal presentation, we will discuss the importance of having a universal data system to evaluate the efficacy of PBIS practices. We will address how Google forms, Sheets, and Slides can be utilized to create a school-wide data system and can foster buy-in from staff, which can benefit the entire climate and culture of the school