Comparing Leadership in Effective and Less Effective High Schools in Jamaica

Various strands of school effectiveness research have united around the understanding that school leadership is important to student outcomes. However, a rich and varied research literature and advancement in the conceptual and methodological underpinning of this research, the type of school leadership and how it works to influence student achievement remains a black box (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2006; Spillane, Halverson, & Diamond, 2001). Moreover, not much is known about how leadership is enacted and practiced in schools with varying record of performance in Jamaica. According to Scheerens (2001) developing countries can shake up and enliven school effectiveness research because they are able to highlight the ways that, partially culturally embedded, contextual conditions are relevant to the development of the field's knowledge base. Utilising a case study research design, this research investigates how principals lead in effective and less effective Jamaican high schools. It maps the leadership behaviours, approaches and priorities in five cases and gauges leadership’s role in facilitating those school conditions that have been linked to quality learning (e.g., quality of teacher pedagogy, school organisation, principals’ influence on teachers’ motivation and working conditions, school culture, the building of trust among teachers, promoting teacher collaboration, etc.). These school conditions are shown to be major conduits, through which leadership impacts student achievement indirectly (such as under, Hallinger and Heck’s, 1998 mediated-effects model). Therefore, the extent to which these conditions are honed and sustained within each case study school is examined. Leithwood and Jantzi (2006) framework outlining four broad categories of leadership (setting direction, developing people, redesigning the organisation and managing the instructional program) as well as the leadership practices associated with each, has been used as a comparative tool for analysis. Similarly, May, Huff and Goldring’s (2012) outline of the type of activities carried out by principals which are key to establishing the link between leadership and student achievement was also used as an analytical lens: (a) principals' involvement in framing and sustaining their schools vision or mission and planning specific goals and strategies for school improvement; (b) instructional leadership functions such as monitoring instruction and providing feedback, analysing student data, and supporting teachers' professional development; (c) their work to enhance the organizational and social structure in their schools; (d) their efforts to improve the culture and climate in their schools; and (e) their investment in their personnel by hiring and retaining qualified teachers. Data gathering methods included qualitative interview and unstructured observation, while constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2014) approach to data analysis has been employed to tease out and illuminate and findings. Findings suggest that leadership in more effective case study schools is able to communicate a sense of trust, autonomy and empowerment among teachers. Additionally, the practice of leadership in Jamaican schools was closely shaped by sociological factors such as its school’s history and context (families’ background and education, their socio-economic status, geographical location in terms of suburban or inner-city) than leadership frameworks independent of those contexts

Promise Clique Homology on weighted graphs is QMA1\text{QMA}_1-hard and contained in QMA\text{QMA}

We study the complexity of a classic problem in computational topology, the homology problem: given a description of some space $X$ and an integer $k$, decide if $X$ contains a $k$-dimensional hole. The setting and statement of the homology problem are completely classical, yet we find that the complexity is characterized by quantum complexity classes. Our result can be seen as an aspect of a connection between homology and supersymmetric quantum mechanics [Wit82]. We consider clique complexes, motivated by the practical application of topological data analysis (TDA). The clique complex of a graph is the simplicial complex formed by declaring every $k+1$-clique in the graph to be a $k$-simplex. Our main result is that deciding whether the clique complex of a weighted graph has a hole or not, given a suitable promise, is $\text{QMA}_1$-hard and contained in $\text{QMA}$. Our main innovation is a technique to lower bound the eigenvalues of the combinatorial Laplacian operator. For this, we invoke a tool from algebraic topology known as spectral sequences. In particular, we exploit a connection between spectral sequences and Hodge theory [For94]. Spectral sequences will play a role analogous to perturbation theory for combinatorial Laplacians. In addition, we develop the simplicial surgery technique used in prior work [CK22]. Our result provides some suggestion that the quantum TDA algorithm [LGZ16] cannot be dequantized. More broadly, we hope that our results will open up new possibilities for quantum advantage in topological data analysis

Books, Battles, and Buzzers: How Friendly Competition Fuels Motivation

Presentation slidesKahuku is known for sports and large supportive families. Understanding the inherent strengths of the community, the Kahuku Public and School Library harnessed the importance of friendly competition and parental participation to create Battle of the Books, an after-school, extra-curricular program for 1st-6th graders to make reading social. Similar to a quiz game show where teams of students compete for prizes to answer the most questions correctly about books from pre-selected reading lists, it is the only multi-school, face-to-face reading competition in Hawaiʻi for elementary school students. Learn about the obstacles, workarounds, outcomes and future plans for this program

Battle of the Books: Partnering to Promote the Love of Reading

Presentation slidesBattle of the Books is a Kahuku Public and School Library-led, after school, extra-curricular program for North Shore elementary school children that makes reading social. Now in its third school year, hear how this sports-like reading event at school and district levels not only sustains but empowers Koʻolauloa area students to be successful 21st century citizens. The event is a child’s version of a quiz game show where teams of students compete for prizes to answer the most questions correctly about books from pre-selected reading lists. Additionally, details will be shared about its evolution to be more reflective of Hawaii's keiki with its Pacific Islander book choices, its community impact as stakeholders work together to celebrate the love of literature, and the importance of working with many partners to make the long-term endeavor manageable for all

The Birth of Cool: How Kahuku Public and School Library is Leading the Way For Makerspaces and STEAM Programming in the Hawaii State Public Library System

Presentation slidesMakerspaces are ubiquitous in libraries throughout the continental U.S. and are popping up in both school and academic libraries in Hawaiʻi. The Kahuku Public and School Library is in the midst of creating a pilot Makerspace for the Hawaii State Public Library System. Hear about our journey into unknown territory as we begin to change the identity of our small, rural library into a thriving, co-laboratory to meet the needs of our community. We'll share how this project began and its process, how we are developing partnerships, avoiding potential pitfalls, and promoting our new resources and services to our patrons

Simulations of the OzDES AGN Reverberation Mapping Project

As part of the OzDES spectroscopic survey we are carrying out a large scale reverberation mapping study of $\sim$500 quasars over five years in the 30 deg$^2$ area of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) supernova fields. These quasars have redshifts ranging up to 4 and have apparent AB magnitudes between $16.8<r<22.5$ mag. The aim of the survey is to measure time lags between fluctuations in the quasar continuum and broad emission line fluxes of individual objects in order to measure black hole masses for a broad range of AGN and constrain the radius-luminosity ($R-L$) relationship. Here we investigate the expected efficiency of the OzDES reverberation mapping campaign and its possible extensions. We expect to recover lags for $\sim$35-45\% of the quasars. AGN with shorter lags and greater variability are more likely to yield a lag, and objects with lags $\lesssim$6 months or $\sim$1 year are expected be recovered the most accurately. The baseline OzDES reverberation mapping campaign is predicted to produce an unbiased measurement of the $R-L$ relationship parameters for H$\beta$, Mg II $\lambda$2798, and C IV $\lambda$1549. However, extending the baseline survey by either increasing the spectroscopic cadence, extending the survey season, or improving the emission line flux measurement accuracy will significantly improve the $R-L$ parameter constraints for all broad emission lines.Comment: Published online in MNRAS. 28 page

Moving Beyond Contact Precautions: Implementation of a <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> Screening and Decolonization Program

Background:Staphylococcus aureus–colonized hospitalized patients are at risk for invasive infection and can transmit S. aureus to other patients in the absence of symptoms. Infection isolation precautions do not reduce the risk of infection in colonized patients and are untenable in health systems with high rates of S. aureus colonization. Objective: We implemented an inpatient S. aureus screening and targeted decolonization program across hospital campuses to reduce transmission and invasive infection. We screen and decolonize for methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) because MSSA makes up more than half of all S. aureus isolated from clinical cultures in our health system. Methods: All medicine, pediatrics, and transplant patients receive S. aureus nares culture at admission and upon change in level of care for medicine, and at admission and weekly for pediatrics and transplant patients. All S. aureus–colonized patients receive decolonization with nasal mupirocin ointment and chlorhexidine baths. Two implementation frameworks guide our processes for S. aureus screening and decolonization: the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, to evaluate factors affecting implementation at different levels of the health system, and the Dynamic Sustainability Framework, to account for iterative changes as the hospital setting and patient population change over time. Implementation interventions focus on education of patients and bedside nurses who perform S. aureus screening and decolonization; utilization of the electronic health record to identify patients for screening and/or decolonization and avoid human error; and introduction of a clinical nurse specialist to oversee the program and to provide iterative feedback. Results: At baseline, 21% of patients had S. aureus colonization, 20% of which was MRSA, and the MRSA bloodstream infection rate was 0.06 per 1,000 patient days. After program implementation, there was no change in S. aureus colonization and the MRSA bloodstream infection rate fell to 0.04 per 1,000 patient days. Screening compliance improved from 39% (N = 1,805) of eligible patients in the 6-month period before the introduction of the clinical nurse specialist to 52% (N = 2,024) after the introduction of the clinical nurse specialist. In the same periods, decolonization increased from 18.6% to 41% of eligible patients. Conclusions: We used 2 implementation frameworks to design our S. aureus screening and decolonization program and to make iterative changes to the program as it evolved to include new patient populations and different hospital settings. This resulted in a large-scale, sustainable, health system program for S. aureus control that avoids reliance on infection isolation precautions.Funding: NoneDisclosures: Non

Changes in the genomic content of circulating Bordetella pertussis strains isolated from the Netherlands, Sweden, Japan and Australia: adaptive evolution or drift?

Abstract Background Bordetella pertussis is the causative agent of human whooping cough (pertussis) and is particularly severe in infants. Despite worldwide vaccinations, whooping cough remains a public health problem. A significant increase in the incidence of whooping cough has been observed in many countries since the 1990s. Several reasons for the re-emergence of this highly contagious disease have been suggested. A particularly intriguing possibility is based on evidence indicating that pathogen adaptation may play a role in this process. In an attempt to gain insight into the genomic make-up of B. pertussis over the last 60 years, we used an oligonucleotide DNA microarray to compare the genomic contents of a collection of 171 strains of B. pertussis isolates from different countries. Results The CGH microarray analysis estimated the core genome of B. pertussis, to consist of 3,281 CDSs that are conserved among all B. pertussis strains, and represent 84.8% of all CDSs found in the 171 B. pertussis strains. A total of 64 regions of difference consisting of one or more contiguous CDSs were identified among the variable genes. CGH data also revealed that the genome size of B. pertussis strains is decreasing progressively over the past 60 years. Phylogenetic analysis of microarray data generated a minimum spanning tree that depicted the phylogenetic structure of the strains. B. pertussis strains with the same gene content were found in several different countries. However, geographic specificity of the B. pertussis strains was not observed. The gene content was determined to highly correlate with the ptxP-type of the strains. Conclusions An overview of genomic contents of a large collection of isolates from different countries allowed us to derive a core genome and a phylogenetic structure of B. pertussis. Our results show that B. pertussis is a dynamic organism that continues to evolve.</p