A Comparison of School Climate Ratings in Urban Alternative and Traditional High Schools

We investigated whether there are significant differences in ratings of school climate from the perspectives of students, parents, and school staff across four types of urban secondary schools. Data originated from a school climate survey administered in a large urban Midwestern school district to students attending traditional and alternative high schools. We coded all high schools in the sample district into four school types, including traditional, innovative, behavior-focused, and academic remediation-focused. We analyzed data using linear mixed-model regression. Results showed statistically significant differences in specific dimensions of school climate across stakeholder groups and the four school types. Analysis of student data indicated ratings of Learning-Focused Environment are significantly lower in traditional schools. Analysis of parent data indicated ratings of Academic Preparation and Community Engagement are significantly higher in innovative alternative schools. Analysis of staff data indicated ratings of Staff Engagement are significantly lower in traditional schools. These findings suggest discrepant educational opportunities related to specific dimensions of climate according to school type

Social Competence in Urban Alternative Schools

This exploratory grounded theory study examined teacher perspectives of social competence in urban alternative high schools. Research questions elicited teachers’ conceptualizations of social competence and descriptions of how their views on students’ social-emotional behaviors influence pedagogy. The specific school context was behavior-focused alternative schools, which serve a disproportionate number of Black students and students with disabilities. Findings indicated urban alternative high school teachers highly value and prioritize within their classrooms the learning and application of specific social competencies perceived to influence post-high school employability. Implications are discussed

African American and disabled youth are overrepresented in behavior-focused and academic remediation schools

School districts in the US often have many different types of high schools - some are traditional neighborhood schools, while others are more innovative or focused on behavior or academic remediation. In new research Aaron B. Perzigian, Kemal Afacan, Whitney Justin, and Kimber L. Wilkerson examine the characteristics of students across these school types. They find that African American students, ..

Use of Legally Compliant IEPs for Inclusive Programming

The purpose of this article is to review major components of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) from the perspective that the IEP process serves to facilitate inclusive opportunities for students with disabilities. The IEP is a legally binding contractual agreement between a school district and a family, thus it is imperative for the process to be procedurally compliant and completed in a substantively meaningful manner consistent with the six key foundational principles of special education law (Turnbull, Stowe, & Huerta, 2007). An IEP is one of the foundational principles of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004, and this article will primarily focus on three legal criteria needed to develop a meaningful IEP

Evidence-based Interventions for Immigrant Students Experiencing Behavioral and Academic Problems: A Systematic Review of the Literature

The purpose of the present research review is to identify effective, high quality school-based interventions for immigrant students with disabilities or academic and behavioral problems. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to synthesize international research studies. Initial and criteriabased selection processes yielded six intervention studies published between 1975 and 2010. Two of the studies are academic interventions while four are behavioral interventions. Three studies were conducted in the United States while the remaining three in Israel, Canada, and Norway. The identified studies were evaluated against the quality indicators of special education research. Three experimental studies met the minimum criteria for acceptable methodological rigor. The results show an urgent need for methodologically robust intervention studies in the field of special education for immigrant students. Implications for research and practice are discussed

Characteristics of Students in Traditional Versus Alternative High Schools: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Enrollment in One Urban District

Urban school districts are comprised of many diverse high school environments including comprehensive neighborhood schools as well as a variety of smaller alternative models that focus on innovative practices, behavior remediation, or academic recovery. In terms of enrollment distribution, urban school districts are increasingly offering nontraditional school placement options for students presenting academic and behavioral difficulty or for students seeking specific curricular emphasis or pedagogy, including—but not limited to—use of school choice voucher programs. In this study, we examined student distribution across school types in one large urban district to investigate enrollment patterns with regard to gender, race, socioeconomic status, and disability status. The results of this cross-sectional analysis indicated significant disproportionality in student demographics within different school types, including overrepresentation of African American students, male students, and students with disabilities in restrictive and segregated alternative schools; overrepresentation of White students and female students in self-selected and innovative alternative schools; and underrepresentation of Hispanic and Asian students in remedial alternative schools. Implications of this disproportionality for policy and practice are discussed

Dependence of Bone Yield (Volume of Bone Formed per Unit of Cement Surface Area) on Resorption Cavity Size During Osteonal Remodeling in Human Rib: Implications for Osteoblast Function and the Pathogenesis of Age-Related Bone Loss

It is both a necessary and a sufficient condition for bone to be lost with age at any surface location that during remodeling the replacement of resorbed bone is incomplete. In both the ilium and the rib, the degree of such focal imbalance is smaller on the intracortical than on the endocortical or cancellous surfaces that are adjacent to bone marrow. The reason for this difference is unknown. To further examine this question, we measured various geometric variables in 1263 osteons in rib cross sections from 65 persons, including both sexes and age ranges 20 to 30 years and 60 to 70 years (four groups). Haversian canal (HC) area did not differ significantly between sexes or age groups. Percent osteonal refilling was close to 95% in all groups and did not differ between sexes but fell slightly with age. There was a very highly significant linear relationship between osteon bone area and (osteon area + HC area) in all groups, with coefficients of determination (r2) greater than 0.98. The regression slopes declined slightly with age in women but not in men. There was a very highly significant quadratic relationship between osteon bone area and osteon perimeter in all groups, with r2 values greater than 0.97. The ratio osteon bone area:osteon perimeter, an index of bone yield—the volume of bone deposited on each unit area of cement surface—was strongly related to osteon area and did not differ between sexes but was slightly less in the older groups. We conclude the following: (1) The high efficiency of intracortical remodeling in the rib is confirmed, with only trivial effects of age. (2) For HC area to be maintained within narrow limits and bone balance preserved, either initial osteoblast density or osteoblast capacity (the two determinants of bone yield) or, most likely, both must increase progressively with the size of the resorption cavity, suggesting that osteoblast recruitment (relative to available surface) and osteoblast lifespan increase with the volume of bone resorbed. (3) Intracortical remodeling in the rib is more efficient than marrow-adjacent remodeling at any site, possibly because of the different relationships to the circulation. In osteonal remodeling, all molecules released from resorbed bone must travel past the sites of osteoblast recruitment and operation, but in hemiosteonal remodeling, some molecules may not be subject to this constraint. (4) If marrow-adjacent remodeling became as efficient as rib intracortical remodeling, age-related bone loss would cease to be an important medical problem. © 2010 American Society for Bone and Mineral Researc

Problems of sampling and inference in the study of fluctuating dental asymmetry

Randomly distributed or “fluctuating” dental asymmetry has been accorded evolutionary meaning and interpreted as a result of environmental stress. However, except for congenital malformation syndromes, the determinants of human crown size asymmetry are still equivocal. Both a computer simulated sampling experiment using a combined sample size of N = 3000, and the requirements of adequate statistical power show that sample sizes of several hundred are needed to detect population differences in dental asymmetry. Using the largest available sample of children with defined prenatal stresses, we are unable to find systematic increases in crown size asymmetry. Given sampling limitations and the current inability to link increased human dental asymmetry to defined prenatal stresses, we suggest that fluctuating dental asymmetry is not yet established as a useful and reliable measure of general stress in human populations.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/37616/1/1330580306_ftp.pd

Fluctuating asymmetry in dental and mandibular nonmetric traits as evidence for childcare sex bias in 19th/20th century Portugal.

Fluctuating asymmetry, often considered a measure of developmental instability, was studied in the dental morphological traits of 600 individuals from among the poorest sectors of society in 19th-20th century Portugal. The aims are to identify and interpret any differences between: (1) males and females, and (2) patterns of distribution among teeth with different odontogenic timings, to assess if any sex bias existed in childcare. Dental and mandibular morphological traits were recorded using the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System. z-Ratios were used to compare summed absolute fluctuating asymmetry frequencies between sexes and age groups. Results from rank correlation coefficients ruled out directional asymmetry and antisymmetry, based on positive (>0.2) bilateral association of traits in larger samples. Sex differences were significant (z-ratio=3.128; p=0.0018), while age differences were not (z-ratio=-0.644; p=0.5196). Teeth forming after infancy tended to be more asymmetric in females. Potential reasons for the sex difference include: (1) greater female susceptibility to developmental instability, (2) greater male childhood mortality that yields lower fluctuating asymmetry in surviving males, and/or (3) cultural bias favoring male access to resources. Results suggest the latter hypothesis is most likely, as fluctuating asymmetry is enhanced during childhood, perhaps coinciding with gender role definitions. There seems to be no association between asymmetry and early mortality in males. A lack of parallels in prior research renders differential sex reaction to environmental stress dubious. This population may have favored male children in their access to appropriate conditions for development

A Comparison of School Climate Ratings in Urban Alternative and Traditional High Schools

We investigated whether there are significant differences in ratings of school climate from the perspectives of students, parents, and school staff across four types of urban secondary schools. Data originated from a school climate survey administered in a large urban Midwestern school district to students attending traditional and alternative high schools. We coded all high schools in the sample district into four school types, including traditional, innovative, behavior-focused, and academic remediation-focused. We analyzed data using linear mixed-model regression. Results showed statistically significant differences in specific dimensions of school climate across stakeholder groups and the four school types. Analysis of student data indicated ratings of Learning-Focused Environment are significantly lower in traditional schools. Analysis of parent data indicated ratings of Academic Preparation and Community Engagement are significantly higher in innovative alternative schools. Analysis of staff data indicated ratings of Staff Engagement are significantly lower in traditional schools. These findings suggest discrepant educational opportunities related to specific dimensions of climate according to school type