Evaluation of over the counter medication knowledge and literacy in middle school and high school students

Over the counter (OTC) medications are commonly utilized by the public, including adolescents, to self-treat many conditions. Unfortunately, these products can be dangerous if not used safely and appropriately. Adolescents between 13 and 19 years old composed 7.32 percent of the human exposure cases reported to U.S. poison control centers in 2014. Among these cases, there were 53 fatalities involving pharmaceuticals. This is an age range where medication use becomes more independent and the education they receive throughout the school curriculum is unknown. This study was designed to evaluate OTC medication knowledge and literacy among middle and high school students

Identifying Effective Education Interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa: A meta-analysis of rigorous impact evaluations

The aim of this dissertation is to identify effective educational interventions in Sub-Saharan African with an impact on student learning. This is the first meta-analysis in the field of education conducted for Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper takes an in-depth look at twelve different types of education interventions or programs and attempts to not only present analytics on their relative effectiveness, but to also explore why certain interventions seem to be more effective than others. After a systematic literature review, I combine 56 articles (containing 66 separate experiments, 83 treatment arms, and 420 effect size estimates), and I use random-effects meta-analytic techniques to both a.) evaluate the relative impact of different types of interventions and b.) explain variation in effect sizes within and across intervention types. When I examine the relative pooled effect sizes of all twelve intervention areas, I find that interventions in pedagogical methods (changes in instructional techniques) have a higher pooled effect size on achievement outcomes than all other eleven intervention types in the full sample (e.g., school management programs, school supplies interventions, or interventions that change the class size or composition). The pooled effect size associated with these pedagogical interventions is 0.918 standard deviations in the full sample (SE = 0.314, df = 15.1, p = 0.01), 0.566 in the sample excluding outliers and including only randomized controlled trials (SE = 0.194, df = 11, p = 0.01), and 0.228 in a sample that includes only the highest quality studies (SE = 0.078, df = 5.2, p = 0.03). These findings are robust to a number of moderating factors. Using meta-regression, I find that on average, interventions in pedagogical methods have an effect size over 0.30 standard deviations (significant at the 5% level) greater than all other intervention areas combined, even after controlling for multiple study-level and intervention-level variables. Beyond this average effect, I show that studies that employ adaptive instruction and teacher coaching techniques are particularly effective. Further, while studies that provide health treatments or school meals have on average the lowest pooled effect size, I show that if these studies are analyzed using cognitive assessments (tests of memory and attention), health treatments actually produce a relatively large pooled effect size of 0.176 standard deviations (SE = 0.028, df = 2.18); this is particularly true of studies that either prevent or treat malaria. In addition, this meta-analysis examines the state of current education impact evaluation research in Sub-Saharan Africa and highlights both research gaps as well as differences in study design, methodology, and reporting of metrics by academic field. I find that the bulk of the research in this area comes from the field of economics (62%), followed by the fields of education (23%) and public health (15%). Further, the majority of this research has been conducted in a set of six countries: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Burkina Faso, and Madagascar, while rigorous evaluations of education programs have never taken place in others. Moreover, topics currently under rigorous study are not necessarily representative of the major issues facing many Sub-Saharan African school systems today. For example, there are no impact evaluations of multi-grade or multi-shift teaching and only one evaluation of a bilingual education program. This meta-analysis thus recommends a shift in the impact evaluation research agenda to include both a broader geographic and topical focus, as well as an increased emphasis on improvements in pedagogical methods, without which other interventions may not reach their maximum potential impact

Identifying Effective Education Interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa: A meta-analysis of rigorous impact evaluations

The aim of this dissertation is to identify effective educational interventions in Sub-Saharan African with an impact on student learning. This is the first meta-analysis in the field of education conducted for Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper takes an in-depth look at twelve different types of education interventions or programs and attempts to not only present analytics on their relative effectiveness, but to also explore why certain interventions seem to be more effective than others. After a systematic literature review, I combine 56 articles (containing 66 separate experiments, 83 treatment arms, and 420 effect size estimates), and I use random-effects meta-analytic techniques to both a.) evaluate the relative impact of different types of interventions and b.) explain variation in effect sizes within and across intervention types. When I examine the relative pooled effect sizes of all twelve intervention areas, I find that interventions in pedagogical methods (changes in instructional techniques) have a higher pooled effect size on achievement outcomes than all other eleven intervention types in the full sample (e.g., school management programs, school supplies interventions, or interventions that change the class size or composition). The pooled effect size associated with these pedagogical interventions is 0.918 standard deviations in the full sample (SE = 0.314, df = 15.1, p = 0.01), 0.566 in the sample excluding outliers and including only randomized controlled trials (SE = 0.194, df = 11, p = 0.01), and 0.228 in a sample that includes only the highest quality studies (SE = 0.078, df = 5.2, p = 0.03). These findings are robust to a number of moderating factors. Using meta-regression, I find that on average, interventions in pedagogical methods have an effect size over 0.30 standard deviations (significant at the 5% level) greater than all other intervention areas combined, even after controlling for multiple study-level and intervention-level variables. Beyond this average effect, I show that studies that employ adaptive instruction and teacher coaching techniques are particularly effective. Further, while studies that provide health treatments or school meals have on average the lowest pooled effect size, I show that if these studies are analyzed using cognitive assessments (tests of memory and attention), health treatments actually produce a relatively large pooled effect size of 0.176 standard deviations (SE = 0.028, df = 2.18); this is particularly true of studies that either prevent or treat malaria. In addition, this meta-analysis examines the state of current education impact evaluation research in Sub-Saharan Africa and highlights both research gaps as well as differences in study design, methodology, and reporting of metrics by academic field. I find that the bulk of the research in this area comes from the field of economics (62%), followed by the fields of education (23%) and public health (15%). Further, the majority of this research has been conducted in a set of six countries: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Burkina Faso, and Madagascar, while rigorous evaluations of education programs have never taken place in others. Moreover, topics currently under rigorous study are not necessarily representative of the major issues facing many Sub-Saharan African school systems today. For example, there are no impact evaluations of multi-grade or multi-shift teaching and only one evaluation of a bilingual education program. This meta-analysis thus recommends a shift in the impact evaluation research agenda to include both a broader geographic and topical focus, as well as an increased emphasis on improvements in pedagogical methods, without which other interventions may not reach their maximum potential impact

The Relationship Between Prior Experiences in Mathematics and Pharmacy School Success

Objective. To assess students’ pre-pharmacy math experiences, confidence in math ability, and relationship between experiences, confidence, and grades in math-based pharmacy courses. Methods. A cross-sectional survey of first year to third year pharmacy students was conducted. Students reported type of pre-pharmacy math courses taken, when they were taken [high school (HS) vs. college] and year of HS and college graduation. Students rated their confidence in math ability using the previously validated 11-item Fogerty Math Confidence Scale (Cronbach alpha=0.92). Math grade point average (GPA), Pharmacy College Admission Test quantitative (PCAT quant) scores, and grades (calculations and kinetics) were obtained from transcripts and school records. Spearman correlation and multivariate linear regression were used to compare math experiences, confidence, and grades. Results. There were 198 students who reported taking math courses 7.1 years since HS graduation and 2.9 years since their last schooling prior to pharmacy school. Students who took math courses with more time since HS/last schooling had lower calculations and kinetics grades. Students reporting having taken more HS math courses had better calculations grades. Students with higher math GPA, and PCAT quant scores also had higher calculations and kinetics grades. Greater confidence in math ability was associated with higher calculations grades. In multivariate regressions, PCAT quant scores and years since HS independently predicted calculations grades, and PCAT quant scores independently predicted kinetics grades. Conclusion. The number of pre-pharmacy math courses and time elapsed since they were taken are important factors to consider when predicting a pharmacy student’s success in math-based pharmacy school courses

The Impact on U.K. Acquirers of Domestic, Cross-border, Public and Private Acquisitions

We examine the announcement and post-acquisition share returns of 4,000 acquisitions by U.K. public firms during 1984-1998. We include acquisitions of domestic and cross-border targets, and of both publicly quoted and privately held targets. In acquisitions of domestic public targets, abnormal returns are negative over both the announcement and post-acquisition period. In acquisitions of cross-border public targets, abnormal returns are zero over the announcement period but negative over the post-acquisition period. In contrast, acquisitions of both domestic and cross-border private targets result in positive announcement returns and zero long run returns. The main difference between private and public acquisitions is that glamour acquirers experience negative announcement and long run returns in public acquisitions, whereas glamour acquirers do not under-perform in private acquisitions. Furthermore, whereas the under-performance of domestic public acquisitions is limited to acquirers using non-cash methods of payment, acquirers of domestic private targets that use non-cash methods do not under-perform. Overall, cross-border acquisitions result in lower announcement and long run returns than domestic acquisitions. In cross-border acquisitions involving high?tech firms both announcement and long run returns are positive, whilst non-high-tech cross-border acquisitions experience zero announcement returns followed by negative long run performance. Our results also suggest that, in cross-border acquisitions, the national cultural difference between the bidder and target countries has a significantly negative impact on long run returns. This paper replaces WP214.Mergers and acquisitions; acquirer share returns; Cross-border targets; private targets