Education Research in the Canadian Context

This special issue of the International Journal of Education Policy & Leadership (IJEPL), Research in the Canadian Context, marks a significant milestone for the journal. Throughout our twelve-year history, we have sought to publish the best research in leadership, policy, and research use, allowing authors to decide the topics by dint of their research. While this model still serves as the foundation for IJEPL content, we decided to give researchers a chance to engage in deeper conversations by introducing special issues. In our first special issue, researchers discuss their work within the scope of education policy, leadership, and research use within the Canadian context. While many aspects of leadership, teaching, and learning can be seen as similar across contexts, there are also issues of particular concern within national, regional, provincial, or local spheres, particularly when looking at policy and system changes. The researchers featured in this issue provide an important look into education in Canada.PolicyIn the policy realm, Sue Winton and Lauren Jervis examine a 22-year campaign to change special education assessment policy in Ontario, examining how discourses dominant in the province enabled the government to leave the issue unresolved for decades. Issues of access and equity play out within a neoliberal context focused on individualism, meritocracy, and the reduced funding of public services. While Winton and Jervis highlight the tension between policy goals and ideological contexts, Jean-Vianney Auclair considers the place of policy dialogues within governmental frames, and the challenge of engaging in broadly applicable work within vertically structured governmental agencies. One often-touted way to move beyondResearch useWithin the scope of research use, Sarah L. Patten examines how socioeconomic status (SES) is defined and measured in Canada, the challenges in defining SES, and potential solutions specific to the Canadian context. In looking at knowledge mobilization, Joelle Rodway considers how formal coaches and informal social networks nserve to connect research, policy, and practice in Ontario’s Child and Youth Mental Health program.LeadershipTurning to leadership, contributing researchers explored the challenges involved in staff development, administrator preparation, and student outcomes. Keith Walker and Benjamin Kutsyuruba explore how educational administrators can support early career teachers to increase retention, and the somewhat haphazard policies and supports in place across Canada to bring administrators and new teachers together. Gregory Rodney MacKinnon, David Young, Sophie Paish, and Sue LeBel look at how one program in Nova Scotia conceptualizes professional growth, instructional leadership, and administrative effectiveness and the emerging needs of administrators to respond to issues of poverty, socioemotional health, and mental health, while also building community. This complex environment may mean expanding leadership preparation to include a broader consideration of well-being and community. Finally, Victoria Handford and Kenneth Leithwood look at the role school leaders play in improving student achievement in British Columbia, and the school district characteristics associated with improving student achievement.Taken together, the research in this special issue touches on many of the challenges in policy development, application, and leadership practice, and the myriad ways that research can be used to address these challenges. We hope you enjoy this first special issue of IJEPL

Amplitude Reduction and Phase Shifts of Melatonin, Cortisol and Other Circadian Rhythms after a Gradual Advance of Sleep and Light Exposure in Humans

Background: The phase and amplitude of rhythms in physiology and behavior are generated by circadian oscillators and entrained to the 24-h day by exposure to the light-dark cycle and feedback from the sleep-wake cycle. The extent to which the phase and amplitude of multiple rhythms are similarly affected during altered timing of light exposure and the sleepwake cycle has not been fully characterized. Methodology/Principal Findings: We assessed the phase and amplitude of the rhythms of melatonin, core body temperature, cortisol, alertness, performance and sleep after a perturbation of entrainment by a gradual advance of the sleep-wake schedule (10 h in 5 days) and associated light-dark cycle in 14 healthy men. The light-dark cycle consisted either of moderate intensity ‘room ’ light (,90–150 lux) or moderate light supplemented with bright light (,10,000 lux) for 5 to 8 hours following sleep. After the advance of the sleep-wake schedule in moderate light, no significant advance of the melatonin rhythm was observed whereas, after bright light supplementation the phase advance was 8.1 h (SEM 0.7 h). Individual differences in phase shifts correlated across variables. The amplitude of the melatonin rhythm assessed under constant conditions was reduced after moderate light by 54 % (17–94%) and after bright light by 52 % (range 12–84%), as compared to the amplitude at baseline in the presence of a sleep-wake cycle. Individual differences in amplitude reduction of the melatonin rhythm correlated with the amplitude of body temperature, cortisol and alertness

Timing of circadian phase markers.

<p>Timing [h:min (n;SEM)] of Dim Light Melatonin Onset (DLMO), melatonin-upward, melatonin midpoint, and melatonin downward crossing, cortisol minimum, cortisol maximum, core-body temperature minimum, alertness and performance minimum at baseline (D2) and during the Constant Routine (CR) in the Moderate Light and Bright Light condition. Minima for Alertness and Performance are the minima of the circadian component.</p>###<p>p<0.001: D2 vs. CR;</p>§§<p>: p<0.01;</p>§§§<p>:p<0.001 Moderate Light vs. Bright Light during CR.</p><p>P values were derived from two factor Mixed Model ANOVA for those variables for which estimates were available at Baseline and During the CR or Students t-test for those variables for which estimates were available during the CR only.</p

Amplitude measures of circadian markers.

<p>Amplitude measures for melatonin (Mel), cortisol (Cort), core body temperature (Temp), alertness (Alert) and performance (Perf) on D2 and the CR separately for the moderate light and bright light treatment group. Melatonin height: pmol/L; Melatonin area under the curve (AUC) nmol/L*min; Melatonin width: h:min. Cortisol measures are in µg/dL, temperature measures in degrees Celsius, Alertness in mm and Performance in number of additions attempted.</p>##<p>p<0.01 CR vs. D2 per treatment group (see text for overall statistical significance for effect of Day (i.e. CR vs. D2). For core body temperature, alertness and performance data were not available (NA) during D2.</p

Examples of amplitude reduction.

<p>The plasma melatonin (filled symbols) and cortisol rhythm (open symbols) during the baseline day and SP2 and the constant routine (Day 9–10) in a bright light (1134) and moderate light (1141) treated subject. In both participants a reduction of the plasma melatonin amplitude as well as changes in the cortisol rhythm can be observed.</p

Average waveforms of circadian variables after moderate and bright light treatment.

<p>Time course of core body temperature, plasma melatonin, cortisol and subjective alertness during the constant routine in moderate light and bright light treated participants. Subjective alertness data were averaged per 2-h bins. All date are referenced to the projected wake time (22:00 clock-time). Box indicates the timing of the sleep episode on the previous day. Data represent means+/− SEMs.</p

Average waveforms of circadian variables and amplitude reduction.

<p>Average waveform of subjective alertness, plasma cortisol, core body temperature and plasma melatonin during a constant routine in participants with a reduction in melatonin amplitude >50% (closed symbols; n = 7) compared to those in whom the reduction was <50% (open symbols; n = 7). All data are aligned with the timing of the fitted minimum of the core body temperature rhythm. Error bars indicate 1 SEM.</p

Raster plot of the experimental protocol.

<p>During the two baseline days sleep episodes were scheduled from 00:00 to 08:00 Thereafter, the sleep-wake schedule was advanced gradually resulting in a 10 hour advance of the sleep-wake schedule. Sleep episodes on day seven and eight were scheduled from 14:00 to 22.00. During scheduled sleep episodes, participants were exposed to darkness (<0.02 lux). During waking hours the participants were exposed to ∼90–150 lux moderate light. During the bright light treatment episodes, the moderate light participants remained in moderate light, whereas the bright light treatment participants received ∼10,000 lux of light. Both moderate light and bright light treated participants participated in dim light work simulations.</p