Non-college-bound English learners as the underserved third: How students graduate from high school without being college- or career-ready

Not all high school students go to college. Yet, because there is currently such a dominant emphasis on “college for all,” preparing non-college-bound students for career-readiness has received short shrift. This issue is particularly important for English learners (ELs) because close to half of high school ELs do not advance to postsecondary education. Through a longitudinal ethnography of two underperforming, non-college-bound ELs, I examine how and why a relatively well-resourced school allowed these students to graduate without college- and career-readiness. I argue that although there were substantial structural inequalities that led to the under-education of the two ELs, educators at the school were largely unaware of such barriers and attributed the ELs’ underachievement to the students’ own deficits. I counter this institutional deficit orientation with alternative stories of student assets that illuminate the substantial strengths and talents that the focal ELs possessed, which, if recognized and integrated into their education, could have led to career-readiness.Accepted manuscrip

High-performing English learners’ limited access to four-year college

BACKGROUND: Currently, chances for English learners (ELs) to reach higher education in the U.S. are slim. Almost half of ELs do not attend postsecondary education (PSE), and access to four-year college is particularly limited. But we do not exactly know why. PURPOSE: To examine what inhibits ELs’ four-college access in the U.S., Bourdieu’s notion of habitus and a related concept of institutional habitus were used as the theoretical framework. RESEARCH DESIGN: A longitudinal, ethnographic investigation. The study tracked the college-choice experiences of two high-performing ELs who nonetheless elected to attend a local community college without applying to a single four-year institution. Data consist of interviews with the students and key staff members, classroom observations, and relevant documents. DATA ANALYSIS: The data on each EL were first qualitatively analyzed to create an overall picture of her college trajectory (within-case analysis); the cases were then compared with one another to identify common barriers to their college access (cross-case analysis). Data segments related to the school’s institutional habitus and the students’ individual habitus were extracted and coded, and patterns of the interplay between the two were identified. RESULTS: Three factors inhibiting ELs’ four-year college access were identified: (a) limited access to advanced-level college-preparatory courses; (b) underdeveloped college knowledge to effectively navigate college planning and application, and (c) linguistic insecurity about their English proficiency. The school’s institutional habitus highlighted ELs’ linguistic deficits and inclined educators to view highperforming ELs as community-college-bound. The students themselves internalized the deficit orientation and came to view community college as the only possible college choice for them. CONCLUSIONS: A fundamental reexamination of the deficit orientation to ELs’ linguistic and academic capabilities is necessary. ELs need to be placed in advanced college-preparatory courses commensurate with their abilities and provided with regular, frequent, and accessible college guidance

Peripheral or marginal participation?

For academically bound international students, university-based Intensive English Programs (IEPs) frequently function as an avenue to American undergraduate or graduate degree programs.  This qualitative study examined how one university-based IEP was preparing its academically bound international students and facilitating their transitions to matriculated study.  Lave and Wenger’s (1991) theory of Situated Learning was utilized to explore international students’ participation in the IEP as a community of practice and the IEP’s own marginality within the university structure.  We found that university-based IEPs can play a critical role in helping international students gain the competence and knowledge necessary to begin legitimate peripheral participation in degree programs.  However, the extent to which IEP students were able to participate in the larger university community was limited by the IEP’s own marginality in the university community and the fact that the IEP is ultimately not a discipline-specific community of practice.Published versio

New editors’ introduction

Accepted manuscrip

看護学部学生の国際的活動に関する意識調査

　本調査の目的は，本学看護学部学生の国際的活動に関する意識や期待，活動の実態を明らかにし，学部における国際的活動の方向性を検討することである．1年生から3年生264名を対象に無記名の自記式質問紙調査を行い回収率は18.9％であった．68％の学生が外国に関心があると回答したが国際交流への関心は54%と若干低かった．国際交流や異文化経験は将来看護職になる上で役立つと考えている学生は90%であり，医療や看護の視点で国際交流や異文化を学ぶことへ前向きであることが明らかになった．国際交流に関心がない理由は，興味がない，語学が苦手，外国が怖いなどがあげられた．本学の海外研修プログラムへの参加を希望しない学生は58%であり，理由は語学，経済，時間的余裕のなさ，関心のなさであった．一方、海外の病院や看護大学訪問の希望があり，海外の医療や看護に関心があることがわかった．これらから，語学，期間，費用，内容が研修参加に関する要因であり，今後の企画に考慮する必要がある．また，学内で文化の多様性を学ぶ機会を設けること，教育や研究における教員と海外研究者との交流を促進し，学生に還元していくことが重要である

早期離床に対する看護師の認識と課題 －プロジェクトＦの活動を通じて－

早期離床を院内に定着させることを目標に，看護部でプロジェクトＦを発足させ活動を行った．まず，現状把握のため看護師538名に対し早期離床の認識についてのアンケート調査を行った．有効回答は428名（有効回答率79.6％）から得られた．その結果，離床援助技術の卒後の教育は不十分で，ほとんどの看護師が体位変換や移乗を困難であると感じていた．また，早期離床に関する医師の指示や離床に関する記録が統一されていないことがわかった．早期離床を妨げる要因として，記録などの多忙な業務や，痛みや循環変動，複数のラインなど患者の要因が挙げられた．看護師が行う早期離床の現実と理想との間に大きな乖離があり，現状に満足していない状況が示唆された．調査の結果から，「離床援助技術の教育」「早期離床フローチャートの策定と運用」「離床に関する記録整備」を課題とし，組織をあげて改善への取り組みを行った．その経緯についても加えて報告する．In order to establish early mobilization in the hospital, the "project F" was created in the Nursing Department and activities were started. A questionnaire was held regarding early wake-up and valid response were obtained from 428 out of 538 people. According to the results, factors such as busyness due to nursing records were one of the reasons that hindered this. As a result, post-graduate education for mobilization skills was inadequate, and most nurses felt it was difficult to change positions or transfer. It was also found that doctors' instructions regarding early mobilization, and records related to mobilization, were not unified. Factors that hindered early mobilization included diligent work such as nursing records, patient factors such as pain and circulatory fluctuations, and multiple lines. There was a big divergence between the reality, and the ideals of early mobilization performed by nurses, suggesting that they are not satisfied with the current situation. Based on the results of the survey, the issues were "education of mobilization assistance technology", "development and operation of early mobilization flowchart", and "maintenance of records concerning mobilization", and the entire organization worked on improvement. We will also report on the process

乳幼児期における子育ての現状と看護職に対しての支援ニーズ －大学周辺のコミュニティの調査－

　本研究の目的は，大学周辺のコミュニティにおいて，乳幼児をもつ養育者が認識する子育ての現状および看護職への支援ニーズを明らかにし，今後の子育て支援への示唆を得ることである．保育園および幼稚園に通園する乳幼児の主な養育者と，大学が開催している乳幼児対象の育児サークルの参加者を対象に自記式質問紙調査を実施した．その結果，主な養育者以外に子育てに関わる者がいると回答した人が95%，配偶者が主に関わっており，大半が夫婦で子育てをしている状況であった．養育者の7～ 8割は同年齢の友人から情緒的・情報的サポートを受けており，道具的サポートは家族内から5割程度しか受けていなかった．今後希望する子育て支援として「子どもの預かり」「子ども・養育者同士の交流」がみられ，「保育園・幼稚園」の場での支援を希望していた．看護職に希望する支援は「病児保育」「病気や怪我の時の対応や相談」「健康に関する育児相談・情報提供」であった．今後，看護職は子どもが活動する施設の関係職者と協働して子ども・養育者へのケアを実践することが望まれる

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition)

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. For example, a key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process versus those that measure fl ux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process including the amount and rate of cargo sequestered and degraded). In particular, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation must be differentiated from stimuli that increase autophagic activity, defi ned as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (inmost higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium ) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the fi eld understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. It is worth emphasizing here that lysosomal digestion is a stage of autophagy and evaluating its competence is a crucial part of the evaluation of autophagic flux, or complete autophagy. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. Along these lines, because of the potential for pleiotropic effects due to blocking autophagy through genetic manipulation it is imperative to delete or knock down more than one autophagy-related gene. In addition, some individual Atg proteins, or groups of proteins, are involved in other cellular pathways so not all Atg proteins can be used as a specific marker for an autophagic process. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field

ESL Students Speak Up: Their Stories of How We are Doing.

This study explores the ESL curriculum as experienced by students, casting light on their side of the story. We invited three Japanese secondary-level students to discuss their experience of learning English and analyzed their stories in terms of Schwab's four curriculum commonplaces (learner, subject matter, milieu, and teacher). Our analysis reveals that for the students, learning English has to do with negotiating their identities in a new environment. The current ESL curriculum as it focuses on the development of academic skills may not be providing enough support to help them integrate into the school community. In the absence of such support, some students may run the risk of perpetuating their marginality in the school and prematurely reaching a plateau in their English acquisition. Some practical ideas to promote integration, some of which are already implemented in Canadian schools, are discussed in the light of these findings

Structure-Based in Vitro Engineering of the Anthranilate Synthase, a Metabolic Key Enzyme in the Plant Tryptophan Pathway

Rice (Oryza sativa) anthranilate synthase α-subunit, OASA2, was modified by in vitro mutagenesis based on structural information from bacterial homologs. Twenty-four amino acid residues, predicted as putative tryptophan binding sites or their proximal regions in the OASA2 sequence, were selected and 36 mutant OASA2 genes were constructed by PCR-based site-directed mutagenesis. Corresponding mutant proteins were synthesized in a combination of two in vitro systems, transcription with a bacteriophage SP6 RNA polymerase and translation with a wheat-embryo cell-free system. Enzymatic functions of the mutant proteins were simultaneously examined, and we found six mutants with elevated catalytic activity and five mutants with enhanced tolerance to feedback inhibition by tryptophan. Moreover, we observed that some sets of specific combinations of the novel mutations additively conferred both characteristics to the mutant enzymes. The functions of the mutant enzymes were confirmed in vivo. The free tryptophan content of mutant rice calli expressing OASA2 enzyme with a double mutation was 30-fold of that of untransformed calli. Thus, our in vitro approach utilizing structural information of bacterial homologs is a potent technique to generate designer enzymes with predefined functions