2,525 research outputs found
The Parents as Teachers Program: Its Impact on School Readiness and Later School Achievement
New research released by Dr. Edward Zigler, director emeritus of the Yale Center in Child Development and Social Policy and widely known as the "father of Head Start," explains how Parents as Teachers participation impacts children's readiness for school and performance on state performance assessments at the end of the early elementary years. The study assessed more than 7,000 Missouri children over a five-year period. The research confirms the value of Parents as Teachers participation and the direct role it plays on parenting practices that positively impact a child's learning. The most striking findings show that for poor children, high intensity participation in both Parents as Teachers and preschool appears to narrow the achievement gap at kindergarten entry and extends into third grade.A research summary is available to download. Contact the organization to learn how to access the full report
The potential for bias in principal causal effect estimation when treatment received depends on a key covariate
Motivated by a potential-outcomes perspective, the idea of principal
stratification has been widely recognized for its relevance in settings
susceptible to posttreatment selection bias such as randomized clinical trials
where treatment received can differ from treatment assigned. In one such
setting, we address subtleties involved in inference for causal effects when
using a key covariate to predict membership in latent principal strata. We show
that when treatment received can differ from treatment assigned in both study
arms, incorporating a stratum-predictive covariate can make estimates of the
"complier average causal effect" (CACE) derive from observations in the two
treatment arms with different covariate distributions. Adopting a Bayesian
perspective and using Markov chain Monte Carlo for computation, we develop
posterior checks that characterize the extent to which incorporating the
pretreatment covariate endangers estimation of the CACE. We apply the method to
analyze a clinical trial comparing two treatments for jaw fractures in which
the study protocol allowed surgeons to overrule both possible randomized
treatment assignments based on their clinical judgment and the data contained a
key covariate (injury severity) predictive of treatment received.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/11-AOAS477 the Annals of
Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
A Novel Solution to the Klein-Gordon Equation in the Presence of a Strong Rotating Electric Field
The Klein-Gordon equation in the presence of a strong electric field, taking
the form of the Mathieu equation, is studied. A novel analytical solution is
derived for particles whose asymptotic energy is much lower or much higher than
the electromagnetic field amplitude. The condition for which the new solution
recovers the familiar Volkov wavefunction naturally follows. When not
satisfied, significant deviation from the Volkov wavefunction is demonstrated.
The new condition is shown to differ by orders of magnitudes from the commonly
used one. As this equation describes (neglecting spin effects) the emission
processes and the particle motion in Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) cascades,
our results suggest that the standard theoretical approach towards this
phenomenon should be revised
Mental Health Presentation: An Instrument in Coach Education
While mental health is a prevalent and important topic in athletics, coaches often receive little to no training on how to recognize and manage mental health concerns or how to make good mental health a priority on their team. Thus, a mental health presentation that informs coaches at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) on the main mental health disorders and concerns in student-athletes and their management was conducted. An investigation on the main mental health concerns in student-athletes and the best practices for athletic staff when managing these concerns was done to properly create the presentation and accurately inform coaches. The methodology consisted of a Google Slides presentation that explains the prevalence and some of the possible signs and symptoms of each mental health disorder or concern followed by specific guidelines for various scenarios on which a mental health concern is brought to a coach’s attention. This presentation was presented to the coaches of fourteen athletic teams at UNC over three semesters (Spring 2021-Spring 2022). The conclusion of this presentation was that mental health literacy and the response to mental health in the athletic department at UNC was improved. This conclusion was evaluated through pre- and post-surveys that assessed changes in coaches’ mental health literacy and management skills. Since this project led to an improvement in mental health literacy and management skills, it could serve as a framework for mental health education at other universities to ensure more coaches receive proper mental health education in the future
- …