Local Norms and Gifted and Talented Identification in Arkansas: Can it Help Improve Student Diversity?

In the past decades, the gifted and talented (G/T) community has wrestled with an important question about improving equity: How can we best use research to increase student diversity in G/T education? There are many suggestions for answering this question but using local norms, where students are selected based on comparisons with others from a similar school context using traditional measures, has attracted much attention. In some districts, using local norms and universal screening has greatly improved student diversity, whereas, in other districts, the findings have been unclear. Thus it seems useful to study local contexts. In this study, we leveraged Arkansas’ administrative data to answer a similar question: “Would using district/school assessment norms improve student diversity in G/T identification in Arkansas?” We found no consistent evidence that using district/school norms would improve racial and programmatic diversity (i.e., special education students, English language learners, and students from low-come and minority backgrounds). We still urge school districts, however, to consider employing local norms in identifying G/T students as it would limit human errors in identification and increase the alignment between students’ academic aptitude and G/T services, especially for students of racial and demographic groups that the current system has identified successfully

The Implementation Of ISO9000 In Vietnam: Case Studies From The Footwear Industry

Following the implementation of "doi moi" or economic renovation policies in Vietnam in the late 1980s, State-Owned Enterprises have been forced to compete in a market economy environment. This new focus on competition necessitates a change in the quality management system. Looking at the process of ISO 9000 implementation in two Vietnamese footwear companies, this article examines the effect of different interpretations by top management of the need for and commitment to ISO 9000 certification. The results suggest that management attitude plays an important role in determining the process and impact of ISO implementation

Gifted Education in Arkansas: A Longitudinal Study of Gifted Status and Academic Growth

This study assesses the effectiveness of gifted programs in Arkansas by leveraging student-level achievement and demographic data of students who scored at or above the 95th percentile on state assessments in third grade. We follow five independent cohorts of these high-achieving students through eighth grade and examine the difference between the longer-term academic performance of the students that were exposed to gifted and talented services compared to similarly high achieving peers that were not identified as gifted. Using regression analyses controlling for student and district characteristics, we find that students who received gifted services demonstrated statistically significantly greater academic growth on mathematics and literacy achievement across the time period examined than similarly high achieving peers that were not identified as gifted. The study is among the few research studies conducted on gifted education programs across the state. We discuss these findings in the context of the gifted programming literature and conclude with policy suggestions

Drawing identity: Beginning pre-service teachers’ professional identities

© 2015, Western Australian Institute for Educational Research Inc. All rights reserved. Developing a professional teacher identity can be complex as pre-service teachers engage with a process informed by their previous experiences of teachers and teaching, by learning in their pre-service course, by field placements, and by societal expectations. Using drawing as the method for gathering data, pre-service teachers in an Australian university were asked, prior to their first professional experience, to draw themselves as the teacher they hoped to become. Drawings (N=125) were coded according to the presence or absence of teacher, students and artefacts of teaching. Representations indicated that pre-service teachers identified themselves as teachers who would conduct enjoyable learning experiences, have positive relationships with their students and who were confident in themselves as a teacher. There was little evidence of the potential complexities or challenges of teaching, raising a dilemma for teacher educators in how to prepare pre-service teachers for the reality of the workplace while maintaining their positive approach

What Can we Learn about Improving Gifted Identification by Studying how Accurate the Process is in Arkansas?

How might we improve gifted and talented (G/T) identification by learning about the process in Arkansas (AR)? In this study, we examined the accuracy of the gifted identification process in AR by comparing the degree to which students who were academically talented in the top 5% on the 3 rd grade state assessment in reading and mathematics in AR were identified for G/T. Across five years of independent cohorts, we replicate the finding that roughly 30% of the students in the top 5% in both reading and mathematics on the 3 rd grade state assessment are not identified as G/T. Multivariate models indicate that high achieving students participating in the Federal Free/Reduced Lunch program were 11 percentage points less likely to be identified as G/T. Our study has policy implications for AR’s G/T screening strategies, and more broadly for G/T identification of low-income and historically marginalized groups. Using student achievement on the 3rd grade state assessment in reading and mathematics as a ‘universal screening’ tool could help these students receive the academic services they need to develop their talent to the fullest

Local Norms and Gifted/Talented Identification in Arkansas

In this brief, we summarize recent research from OEP examining if using school- or district-level norms from state assessments would increase the racial and programmatic diversity of Arkansas students identified as Gifted and Talented (G/T). Using ten years of administrative data to analyze the outcomes of a local norms approach compared to the current G/T identification strategies, we find no consistent evidence that using a local norms approach for G/T identification would improve racial or programmatic diversity

Helminth eggs die-off and nutrients : human excreta storage experiment

Are the current practices of handling human excreta for agricultural purposes by farmers in Vietnam good enough?This study set up an excreta storage experiment to research how to inactivate Ascaris lumbricoides eggs and stillmaintain the nutrient value of human excreta

Faculty development in family medicine education: what is needed?

A growing number of countries are embracing graduate training in the specialty of Family Medicine as a core component of global health systems reform. One significant challenge for new programs is to adequately prepare for educational excellence and leadership. Promising residents are often encouraged to remain in their program as faculty, but may not have had the benefit of specific training in teaching, curriculum development, learner assessment or educational leadership. Faculty Development is a potential avenue to providing these skills to new Family Medicine Faculty and to encourage new graduates to consider teaching. We are currently seeking to further clarify what the current needs and future possibilities are for Family Medicine Faculty Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Effect of vitamin D supplementation on selected inflammatory biomarkers in older adults: a secondary analysis of data from a randomised, placebo-controlled trial

Observational studies have suggested that 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels are associated with inflammatory markers. Most trials reporting significant associations between vitamin D intake and inflammatory markers used specific patient groups. Thus, we aimed to determine the effect of supplementary vitamin D using secondary data from a population-based, randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial (Pilot D-Health trial 2010/0423). Participants were 60- to 84-year-old residents of one of the four eastern states of Australia. They were randomly selected from the electoral roll and were randomised to one of three trial arms: placebo (n 214), 750 μg (n 215) or 1500 μg (n 215) vitamin D3, each taken once per month for 12 months. Post-intervention blood samples for the analysis of C-reactive protein (CRP), IL-6, IL-10, leptin and adiponectin levels were available for 613 participants. Associations between intervention group and biomarker levels were evaluated using quantile regression. There were no statistically significant differences in distributions of CRP, leptin, adiponectin, leptin:adiponectin ratio or IL-10 levels between the placebo group and either supplemented group. The 75th percentile IL-6 level was 2·8 pg/ml higher (95 % CI 0·4, 5·8 pg/ml) in the 1500 μg group than in the placebo group (75th percentiles:11·0 v. 8·2 pg/ml), with a somewhat smaller, non-significant difference in 75th percentiles between the 750 μg and placebo groups. Despite large differences in serum 25(OH)D levels between the three groups after 12 months of supplementation, we found little evidence of an effect of vitamin D supplementation on cytokine or adipokine levels, with the possible exception of IL-6