Increasing Classroom Teachers\u27 Use of Linguistically Responsive Strategies to Support English Language Learners: A Mixed-Methods Study

With the dawn of the new decade, English Language Learner (ELL) populations began to grow in states without structures and professional learning to equip teachers to face the changing demographic of the classroom. In response to the growth of the knowledge gap between classroom teachers in South Carolina and their diverse classrooms, I conducted a study based on improvement science principles. As a long-standing ELL program coordinator, I experienced the need to increase linguistic responsiveness in classroom teachers on a daily basis. The application of the plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycle utilized mixed methodology to gather data to increase classroom teachers’ use of linguistically responsive strategies through professional learning communities. The professional learning increased awareness among the teachers of strategies that support their ELL students, and facilitate their English acquisition and academic knowledge. As a result of the PDSA cycle, three findings emerged: create professional learning opportunities, focus on teaching academic vocabulary, and promote scaffolds for teachers. The findings guided the recommendations that emerged from the study, which have local and state implications. Increasing the linguistic responsiveness of classroom teachers stands as a means to support classroom teachers’ ability to meet the educational needs of all students in public school classrooms

The short- and mid-term effect of dynamic interspinous distraction in the treatment of recurrent lumbar facet joint pain

Owing to failure to achieve positive long-term effects, the currently performed treatment methods for lumbar facet joint syndrome (LFJS) are still under debate. Interspinous distraction devices unload the facet joints. Thus, these devices might be an alternative surgical treatment method for LFJS. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical and radiological outcome of an interspinous distraction device for the treatment of LFJS. Subjects had verified single level LFJS at level L4–5. They received percutaneous facet joint denervation (PFJD). If pain persisted, they were offered implantation of an interspinous device (Coflex) and/or repeat PFJD. Clinical and radiological outcome was determined before and after PFJD or surgery up to 2 years afterwards in all cases. Forty-one patients with LFJS at L4–5 underwent PFJD. Twenty patients with persisting pain underwent a subsequent surgery for implantation of an interspinous device. Five patients with recurrent pain at 6–12 months opted for an additional PFJD. Three obese patients (body weight >100 kg) had persistent pain at 3 months after surgery and received additionally dorsal semi-dynamic stabilization. The clinical outcome improved significantly in the surgically treated patients; however, it did not differ compared with patients receiving PFJD only after 24 months. Radiological evaluation revealed a restricted range of motion (ROM) of the operated and an elevated ROM of the adjacent segment. Surgical or device-related complications were not observed. In conclusions, the implantation of an interspinous Coflex device in case of recurrent facet joint pain succeeds to improve facet joint pain in clinical short-and mid-term settings. However, it does not exceed the outcome of denervated patients