Digital Collaboration and Classroom Practice: Educator Use of ARIS Connect

A major focus of the booming education technology sector is on products that aim to help teachers improve classroom practice. For their part, districts must figure out which of these resources will be most useful to schools. In New York City, the Department of Education developed its own Achievement Reporting and Innovation System (ARIS), which was rolled out in 2008. ARIS was an early effort at a system-wide data and teacher collaboration platform, and a major undertaking for the nation's largest school district. In 2011, the Research Alliance received a grant from the Spencer Foundation to investigate how this ambitious initiative played out in schools. Our first report focused on overall use and perceptions of ARIS. In the current phase of our study, we honed our focus onto ARIS Connect -- a component designed specifically to help educators improve their practice by sharing resources, posting questions, and giving one another feedback, both within schools and across the district. Our investigation sought to understand what educators thought of Connect, and whether, as its designers intended, Connect supported their ability to communicate with other educators and improve classroom practice. The study is based on two years of "clickstream" data, which tracks user visits to and navigation through ARIS. We also visited nine middle schools that recorded higher-than-average use of Connect, where we interviewed administrators and held focus groups with teachers. This report presents our findings, including insights on why educators did or did not use Connect; what might have made Connect more useful; and what external tools educators use for similar purposes

Bringing Together Mentoring, Technology, and Whole-School Reform: A First Look at the iMentor College Ready Program

The iMentor College Ready Program is a unique model that combines elements of school-based mentoring, whole school reform, and technology in an effort to help students develop the knowledge, behaviors, and skills needed to reach and succeed in college. It is an intensive, four-year intervention offered in schools that serve low-income students. Students are paired with volunteer, college-educated mentors and enrolled in an iMentor class led by a school-based iMentor employee.The program has four central elements: A whole school model, which aims to match all incoming 9thgraders with a mentor, and keep them engaged for their full high school careers;A college-readiness curriculum developed by iMentor, taught by iMentor staff in weekly classes, and reinforced during monthly events for mentees and mentors;A "blended" approach to developing relationships between students and their mentor. Students communicate with their mentor primarily through email, but also meet in person at the iMentor events; andA pair support strategy based on a case-management model for tracking mentee-mentor relationship development.The Research Alliance for New York City Schools is conducting an in-depth evaluation of the iMentor College Ready Program in eight New York City high schools. With support from the Social Innovation Fund, the Research Alliance is examining iMentor's roll-out and implementation in these schools, as well as its impact on a range of outcomes related to students' preparation for college. This report is the first in a series from our evaluation. It focuses on iMentor's first year of implementation, which targeted 9th graders in all eight schools. The report provides a detailed description of the four key components of the iMentor College Ready Program and assesses the implementation of these program elements against specific benchmarks established by iMentor. The report also presents a first look at iMentor's effects on 9th graders' outcomes, including their perception of adult support, their aspirations for the future, a set of important college-related "non-cognitive" skills, and several markers of academic achievement

Focus on Mentee-Mentor Relationships: The 10th Grade Implementation of iMentor's College Ready Program

The iMentor College Ready Program is a school-based mentoring program that aims to help students build the mindsets, skills, and knowledge necessary to enroll and succeed in college. iMentor works with partner high schools that serve low-income students, and places at least one full-time staff member in each partner school to help implement the program. In each school, iMentor engages in four key activities:Matching mentees and mentors,Supporting mentee-mentor pairs,Teaching college knowledge and non-cognitive skills through a weekly iMentor class, andProviding mentees and mentors opportunities to interact, in person and online.The Research Alliance is conducting an in-depth evaluation of the iMentor College Ready Program in eight New York City high schools. With support from the Social Innovation Fund, the Research Alliance is examining iMentor's roll-out and implementation in these schools, as well as its impact on a range of outcomes related to students' preparation for college.Focus on Mentee-Mentor Relationships examines how the College Ready program was implemented for 10th graders in all eight evaluation schools. According to iMentor's leaders, the development of close mentee-mentor relationships is the most important outcome for 9th and 10th grade students in the program, because these relationships will provide a foundation for the college readiness, application, and enrollment work that pairs take on in 11th and 12th grade. Therefore, this report focuses on the development of these relationships, as well as the overall quality of program implementation for 10th graders.The report provides a detailed description of the four key components of the iMentor College Ready Program and assesses the implementation of these program elements against specific benchmarks established by iMentor. It also assesses how specific types and quantities of interaction (e.g., emails, text messages, phone calls, in-person meetings) between mentees and mentors are associated with the closeness of their relationships

Connecting Teachers and Ed-Tech Developers: Lessons from NYC's Gap App Program

In 2011, with support from a federal Investing in Innovation grant, the NYC Department of Education launched Innovate NYC Schools. The initiative was designed to address two related challenges to effectively integrating education technology (ed-tech) into classrooms: First, procurement of ed-tech tools is often hampered by a disconnect between teaching and learning demands on one hand, and developers' supply of tools and services on the other. Educators are not always informed about the tools and interventions that are available, while developers may not fully understand students' and teachers' needs. Second, because the DOE's traditional procurement process via formal Requests for Proposals is lengthy, it may be prevent some developers from bidding, and technology that was brand new when an RFP was released may be outdated by the time it reaches schools.This report focuses on Innovate NYC's Gap App challenge and pilot program, which invited developers to submit an app aimed at solving a specific learning challenge. A number of the apps were then piloted in NYC public schools. During the pilot period, the apps were used in classrooms, and teachers had opportunities to provide feedback directly to developers, in an effort to help make the apps more useful.The report describes the design of the Gap App challenge and the implementation of the pilot program in schools. It then considers whether using a Gap App influenced the way participating teachers and students approached technology in the classroom and provides a set of lessons that may inform future Innovate NYC Schools projects or similar initiatives in other districts

Impact of a tobacco cessation intervention on adherence to tobacco use treatment guidelines among village health workers in Vietnam

Background Community health workers (in Vietnam referred as village health workers - VHWs) have potential to play a key role in expanding access to evidence-based tobacco use treatment. VHWs can help smokers quit by asking patients about tobacco use, advising them to quit, and offering cessation assistance (3As). We are conducting a NIH funded cluster randomized controlled trial comparing two strategies for implementing tobacco use treatment guidelines (TUTG) in commune health centers (CHCs) in Vietnam: brief provider counseling + self-help materials (BC) vs. BC + 3 sessions of in person counseling delivered by a VHW. This paper presents data on the effect of the intervention on VHWs' practice patterns and attitudes towards TUTG. Methods We examined changes in adherence to TUTG before and 12 months after the intervention with 89 VHWs working in 13 CHCs in Vietnam. Adherence to each of the 3As was measured using a 5-point likert scale: from 1-none (did not ask any patients in past month if they smoke), to 5-all or most of patients. Response scales of questions measuring attitudes and self-efficacy range from 1-strongly disagree to 4-strongly agree. Factor analysis was used to form two scales measuring attitudes and self-efficacy. Results The mean adherence level to each of the TUTG increased significantly: Asking about tobacco use increased from 1.79±0.57 to 2.61±0.96; advising to quit from 1.93±0.60 to 2.90±1.11; assisting from 1.53±0.62 to 2.65±1.19. Perceived barriers to treating tobacco use decreased significantly. Self-efficacy and attitudes towards TUTG improved significantly. Increased adherence to TUTG was associated with positive attitudes towards TUTG. Conclusions The implementation strategies were effective in improving VHWs' adherence to TUTG. Extending VHWs' role to include smoking cessation could offer a sustainable supporting resource for tobacco smokers who wish to quit

Emergency Providers' Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Hospice and Palliative Care: A Cross-Sectional Analysis Across 35 Emergency Departments in the United States

International audienc

Adaptation and Assessment of a Text Messaging Smoking Cessation Intervention in Vietnam: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

BackgroundText message (ie, short message service, SMS) smoking cessation interventions have demonstrated efficacy in high-income countries but are less well studied in low- and middle-income countries, including Vietnam. ObjectiveThe goal of the research is to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a fully automated bidirectional SMS cessation intervention adapted for Vietnamese smokers. MethodsThe study was conducted in 3 phases. In phase 1, we adapted the SMS library from US-based SMS cessation programs (ie, SmokefreeTXT and Text2Quit). The adaptation process consisted of 7 focus groups with 58 smokers to provide data on culturally relevant patterns of tobacco use and assess message preferences. In phase 2, we conducted a single-arm pilot test of the SMS intervention with 40 smokers followed by in-depth interviews with 10 participants to inform additional changes to the SMS library. In phase 3, we conducted a 2-arm pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 100 smokers. Participants received either the SMS program (intervention; n=50) or weekly text assessment on smoking status (control; n=50). The 6-week SMS program consisted of a 2-week prequit period and a 4-week postquit period. Participants received 2 to 4 automated messages per day. The main outcomes were engagement and acceptability which were assessed at 6 weeks (end of intervention). We assessed biochemically confirmed smoking abstinence at 6 weeks and 12 weeks. Postintervention in-depth interviews explored user experiences among a random sample of 16 participants in the intervention arm. ResultsParticipants in both arms reported high levels of engagement and acceptability. Participants reported using the program for an average of 36.4 (SD 3.4) days for the intervention arm and 36.0 (SD 3.9) days for the control arm. Four of the 50 participants in the intervention arm (8%) reset the quit date and 19 (38%) texted the keyword TIPS. The majority of participants in both arms reported that they always or usually read the text messages. Compared to the control arm, a higher proportion of participants in the intervention arm reported being satisfied with the program (98% [49/50] vs 82% [41/50]). Biochemically verified abstinence was higher in the intervention arm at 6 weeks (20% [10/50] vs 2% [1/50]; P=.01), but the effect was not significant at 12 weeks (12% [6/50] vs 6% [3/50]; P=.49). In-depth interviews conducted after the RCT suggested additional modifications to enhance the program including tailoring the timing of messages, adding more opportunities to interact with the program, and placing a greater emphasis on messages that described the harms of smoking. ConclusionsThe study supported the feasibility and acceptability of an SMS program adapted for Vietnamese smokers. Future studies need to assess whether, with additional modifications, the program is associated with prolonged abstinence. Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03219541; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT0321954