Dual Enrollment Policies and Practices

The James Irvine Foundation joins educators and policymakers across the country who share a growing interest in the potential of dual enrollment. In particular, when high school students take college courses to earn transferable college credits, how are they positioned to succeed in college and career? How can we expand this opportunity to a broader range of students? Irvine's Youth program seeks to help increase the number of low-income youth in California who complete high school on time and attain a postsecondary credential by age 25. To ensure access to better educational and economic opportunities for a diverse group of students, our funding supports multiple pathways to the same destination: success in high school, college and careers. The multiple pathways approach integrates rigorous academics with demanding career and technical education, comprehensive student support services and relevant work-based learning opportunities, so that all high school students are prepared for both college and career. Research suggests that career-focused dual enrollment programs can improve secondary and postsecondary academic outcomes for a variety of students. In this context, the Concurrent Courses initiative was created to demonstrate the feasibility of using dual enrollment to enhance career and technical education pathways -- particularly for low-income youth who are struggling academically or who are within populations historically underrepresented in higher education. The Concurrent Courses initiative is being managed by the Community College Research Center (CCRC) housed at Teachers College, Columbia University. We would like to thank and recognize the authors of this brief: Joanne Wang Golann, who is a Senior Research Assistant and Katherine L. Hughes, who is the Assistant Director for Work and Education Reform Research at CCRC. The authors conducted extensive research on the dual enrollment environment in California in preparation for Concurrent Courses. This brief shares their analysis with the field to clarify the opportunities and challenges for supporting promising pathways to college

Different Approaches to Dual Enrollment: Understanding Program Features and Their Implications

Examines program features, challenges, and benefits of secondary-postsecondary partnerships that allow high school students to take college courses for credit, with a career-focused strategy for engaging underperforming students. Includes recommendations

Broadening the Benefits of Dual Enrollment: Reaching Underachieving and Underrepresented Students with Career-Focused Programs

A three-year study tracking outcomes for thousands of students across California shows that careerfocused dual enrollment programs can provide important benefits for those who are underachieving and underrepresented in higher education. Programs of this type, which allow high school students to take college courses and earn college credit, were once offered almost exclusively to high-achieving students seeking greater academic challenge

It's Not Just the ATMs: Technology, Firm Strategies, Jobs, and Earnings in Retail Banking

The authors examine trends in job content and earnings in selected jobs in two American banks. Firm restructuring and technological changes resulted in higher earnings for college-educated workers. The banks followed different strategies in implementing these changes for lower-skill jobs, with different effects on bank tellers in particular. The authors conclude that technology enables workplace reform but does not determine its effect on jobs and earnings; these effects are contingent on managerial strategies. This focus on organizational processes and managerial strategy provides a complementary approach to accounts of growing inequality that center solely on the role of individual skills and technological change.

Size of supernumerary teats in sheep correlates with complexity of the anatomy and microenvironment.

Supernumerary nipples or teats (polythelia) are congenital accessory structures that may develop at any location along the milk line and have been implicated in the pathogenesis of mastitis. We describe the anatomy and histology of 27 spontaneously occurring supernumerary teats from 16 sheep, delineating two groups of teats - simple and anatomically complex - according to the complexity of the anatomy and microenvironment. Anatomically complex supernumerary teats exhibited significantly increased length and barrel diameter compared with simple supernumerary teats. A teat canal and/or teat cistern was present in anatomically complex teats, with smooth muscle fibres forming a variably well-organised encircling teat sphincter. Complex supernumerary teats also exhibited immune cell infiltrates similar to those of normal teats, including lymphoid follicle-like structures at the folds of the teat cistern-teat canal junction, and macrophages that infiltrated the peri-cisternal glandular tissue. One complex supernumerary teat exhibited teat end hyperkeratosis. These anatomical and histological features allow inference that supernumerary teats may be susceptible to bacterial ingress through the teat canal and we hypothesise that this may be more likely in those teats with less well-organised encircling smooth muscle. The teat cistern of anatomically complex teats may also constitute a focus of milk accumulation and thus a possible nidus for bacterial infection, potentially predisposing to mastitis. We suggest that size of the supernumerary teat, and relationship to the main teats, particularly in the case of 'cluster teats', should be considerations if surgical removal is contemplated.British Veterinary Association Animal Welfare Foundation (BVA AWF) Norman Hayward Fun

Comparison of Intraoperative Fluoroscopy to Postoperative Weight-Bearing Radiographs Obtained 4 to 6 Weeks After Bunion Repair With A Chevron Osteotomy

Background: During operative treatment of bunions, an attempt is made to correct the hallux valgus angle (HVA) and the intermetatarsal angle (IMA). In this study, the HVA and the IMA were measured using intraoperative C-arm fluoroscopic images obtained during surgical treatment of a bunion with chevron osteotomy. These angles were again measured using weight-bearing radiographs obtained 4 to 6 weeks postoperatively. Methods: At our institution, we reviewed medical records of patients who underwent a bunion repair with chevron osteotomy between January 2013 and October 2017. A total of 26 feet from 24 patients were included. Three authors (ALP, TMH, and RAM) measured the HVA and IMA using intraoperative fluoroscopic images and postoperative weight-bearing radiographs (4 measurements per foot; total, 104 measurements). The authors were blinded to their previous angular measurements and to measurements made by the others. An intraclass correlation coefficient was calculated for the HVA and IMA measurements between groups (ie, intraoperative fluoroscopic images and postoperative radiographs) to determine interobserver reliability. We compared the angles measured by the authors between groups and used a paired t test for statistical evaluation. Results: Interobserver difference of the HVA and IMA was low between intraoperative fluoroscopic images and postoperative weight-bearing radiographs (0.98 and 0.79; 0.78 and 0.95, respectively). The measured IMAs were relatively consistent between groups (6.21° and 6.37°, respectively); only two patients had a difference \u3e 3°. There was a greater difference in HVAs between groups (11.5° and 14.2°, respectively). In 11 feet, the HVA was \u3e 5° (range, 5.3-12.7°) in the postoperative radiograph compared to the fluoroscopic image. In one foot, we noted a 7° decrease of the HVA on the postoperative radiograph. The average difference of HVA between groups was 2.6° (P \u3c 0.0001), whereas the IMA was 0.16° (P = 0.002). Conclusions: Interobserver measurements of the HVA and IMA were reliable on both the intraoperative fluoroscopic images and the postoperative weightbearing radiographs. The IMA was similar between groups; however, the HVA was often greater on the postoperative weight-bearing radiographs

Impact of the national rotavirus vaccination programme on acute gastroenteritis in England and associated costs averted.

BACKGROUND: Introduction of infant oral rotavirus vaccination in the UK in July 2013 has resulted in decreased hospitalisations and Emergency Department (ED) visits for acute gastroenteritis (AGE), for both adults and children. We investigated reductions in AGE incidence seen in primary care in the two years after vaccine introduction, and estimated the healthcare costs averted across healthcare settings in the first year of the vaccination programme. METHODS: We used primary care data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink and age-stratified time-series analyses to derive adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRRa) for AGE in the first two years of the post-vaccination era (July 2013-April 2015) compared to the pre-vaccination era (July 2008-June 2013). We estimated cases averted among children aged <5years in the first year of the vaccination programme by comparing observed numbers of AGE cases in 2013-2014 to numbers predicted from the time-series models. We then estimated the healthcare costs averted for general practice consultations, ED visits and hospitalisations. RESULTS: In general practice, AGE rates in infants (the target group for vaccination) decreased by 15% overall after vaccine introduction (IRRa=0.85; 95%CI=0.76-0.95), and by 41% in the months of historically high rotavirus circulation (IRRa=0.59; 95%CI=0.53-0.66). Rates also decreased in other young children and to a lesser degree in older individuals, indicating herd immunity. Across all three settings (general practice, EDs, and hospitalisations) an estimated 87,376 (95% prediction interval: 62,588-113,561) AGE visits by children aged <5years were averted in 2013-14, associated with an estimated £12.5million (9,209-16,198) reduction in healthcare costs. CONCLUSIONS: The marked decreases in the general practice AGE burden after rotavirus vaccine introduction mirror decreases seen in other UK healthcare settings. Overall, these decreases are associated with substantial averted healthcare costs

Comparing substance use outcomes by sexual identity among women: Differences using propensity score methods

Background: Differences in alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) use by sexual identity vary across samples of women recruited using different sampling methods. We used propensity score (PS) weighting methods to address two methodological questions: (1) Do disparities between sexual minority women (SMW) and heterosexual women persist when differences in risk and protective factors are similarly distributed between groups, and (2) Does accounting for SMW-specific resiliency factors impact differences between non-probability samples of SMW? Methods: Four samples included SMW from a longitudinal study with a nonprobability sample (n = 373), a national general population panel sample (n = 373), and a national LGBTQ-specific panel sample (n = 311), as well as a national probability sample of heterosexual women (n = 446). Between-groups analyses using double-robust PS weighted models estimated differences in ATOD use under hypothetical conditions in which samples have similar risk and protective factors. Results: After PS weighting, imbalance in confounders between SMW and heterosexual samples was substantially reduced, but not eliminated. In double-robust PS weighted models, SMW samples consistently had significantly greater odds of drug use than heterosexuals, with odds from 8.8 to 5.6 times greater for frequent marijuana use and 4.8–3.2 greater for other drug use. Few differences between SMW samples in ATOD outcomes or other variables remained after PS weighting. Conclusion: Relative to heterosexual women, disparities in marijuana and other drug use among SMW are evident regardless of sampling strategy. The results provide some reassurance about the validity of large nonprobability samples, which remain an important recruitment strategy in research with SMW