Forest plots in reports of systematic reviews: a cross-sectional study reviewing current practice.

BACKGROUND: Forest plots are graphical displays of findings of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Little is known about the style and content of these plots and whether published plots maximize the graphic's potential for information exchange. METHODS: We examine the number, style and content of forest plots presented in a previously studied cross-sectional sample of 300 systematic reviews. We studied all forest plots in non-Cochrane reviews and a sample of forest plots in Cochrane reviews. RESULTS: The database contained 129 Cochrane reviews and 171 non-Cochrane reviews. All the Cochrane reviews had forest plots (2197 in total), and a random sample of 500 of these plots were included. In total, 28 of the non-Cochrane reviews had forest plots (139 in total), all of which were included. Plots in Cochrane reviews were standardized but often contained little data (80% had three or fewer studies; 10% had no studies) and always presented studies in alphabetical order. Non-Cochrane plots depicted a larger number of studies (60% had four or more studies) and 59% ordered studies by a potentially meaningful characteristic, but important information was often missing. Of the 28 reviews that had a forest plots with at least 10 studies, 3 (11%) had funnel plots. CONCLUSIONS: Forest plots in Cochrane reviews were highly standardized but some of the standards do not optimize information exchange, and many of the plots had too little data to be useful. Forest plots in non-Cochrane reviews often omitted key elements but had more data and were often more thoughtfully constructed

University supervisor perspectives of the remote observation of graduate interns

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte\u27s College of Education offers a 100 % online teacher licensure program. One component of the licensure program is the Graduate Internship, which involves the observation of graduate interns\u27 teaching. With many current and potential students located in more remote areas of the state, the remote observation of graduate interns (ROGI) was developed. Although a technology-based solution to observation barriers, evaluation of the remote observation process was necessary for larger programmatic expansion. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative study was to describe from the experiences of university supervisors who had conducted remote observations for 1 year. Researchers sought to understand, from an administrative perspective, what was gained or lost in substituting ROGI for traditional face to face observations. Drawing from interview data, researchers explore four university supervisors\u27 feelings about their experiences with ROGI, perceptions of the utility and limitations of ROGI, as well as their comfort in facilitating technology-mediated observations. Additionally, researchers describe university supervisor preferences in comparing face to face observations with ROGI, and examine from university supervisor experiences whether or not they believe the teaching internship semester can be effectively facilitated with technology. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Preparing Secondary Social Studies Teachers to Help English Language Learners Develop Academic Language and Social Studies Disciplinary Literacy

Teacher educators are responsible for teaching pre-service teachers how to integrate culturally and linguistically responsive instruction within the context of Common Core State Standards. This chapter focuses on what teacher educators need to know about preparing social studies pre-service teachers to work effectively with English Language Learners (ELLs) in secondary social studies classes. Successful teachers of ELLs in social studies incorporate a variety of methods to help students interact with complex text, while engaging in inquiry and higher-order thinking. The authors share research-based instructional strategies they use with pre-service teachers and provide examples from the edTPA© (Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity (SCALE)) portfolios and ESOL lessons of two successful pre-service teachers who taught social studies to ELLs