Evaluating Intradistrict Resource Allocation and its Implications for Equity: A Case Study

Financial and human capital resources play a vital role in the ability of a school to fulfill its mission of educating students. Access to these resources varies - and this variation is often due to districts\u27 allocation of resources among schools. Research on equity often disregards this concern and focuses attention on differences among district-wide revenue sources. My dissertation explores the implications for equity of intradistrict resource allocation through an examination of school disparities and district practices in a mid-sized urban school district. First, I establish a comprehensive equity framework which joins together principles of adequacy and vertical equity. Then, using financial, personnel, student enrollment/ demographic, and student achievement and behavior data from the Allentown, Pennsylvania School District (ASD), I employ a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods to ascertain how resources are directed to schools in accordance with the comprehensive equity framework. I describe resource allocation using horizontal equity statistics and I provide context by evaluating the relationship between student outcomes and attending a particular school. Subsequently, I test: adequacy, looking at school outcomes for the entire student population and various subgroups with higher needs; vertical equity, identifying how inputs are allocated differentially based on schools\u27 characteristics and demographics; and, comprehensive equity, a construct incorporating both adequacy and vertical equity designed to measure the justness of the district\u27s approach to resource allocation. I also measure the portion of resource allocation in unexplained by vertical and comprehensive equity and conduct a simulation of weighted student funding. Qualitative analysis, comprised of interviews with district administrative personnel - at the central office and in schools - provides context and the rationale for district resource allocation policies. Overall findings uncover a misalignment between school-level student needs and resources in the ASD. Results are strongest when considering human capital resources, including teacher effectiveness and teacher efficacy. Based on my findings, I conclude that the ASD does not achieve comprehensive equity in school year 2009-2010. This case study provides a window into equal educational opportunity within school districts and offers a template for districts seeking to determine the extent to which they are serving students equitably

Chilling the Right to a Jury Trial: The Unconstitutionality of Jury Costs

This thesis examines jury costs—extra court costs charged to convicted defendants if they exercised their constitutional right to a jury trial. Constitutional arguments against charging these fees are outlined in the broader context of indigency and criminal justice reform. Practical solutions to end the charging of jury fees are offered

DEVELOPING AND LAUNCHING AN ONLINE HUB TO FACILITATE THE EXCHANGE OF RESEARCH KNOWLEDGE IN EDUCATION: THE CASE OF THE OERE

This paper outlines the process by which the Ontario Education Research Exchange (OERE), part of the Knowledge Network of Applied Education Research, developed and launched an online hub of education research summaries to facilitate greater use of research by stakeholders in the field of education. The project is an effort in knowledge mobilization funded by the Ontario Ministry of Education to help increase the use of research to inform policy and practice in Ontario. The paper begins with an outline of the background and history of the project. Next, the three main components of the project are outlined— collecting/writing the summaries and creating the inventory, putting together the peer review process, and creating the online hub for storing and sharing the summaries and facilitating the peer review process. This paper provides useful information that can be translated to similar projects with the goals of summarizing, storing, and/or sharing research with a broad audience

The Use of a Quantitative Fusion Assay to Evaluate HN–Receptor Interaction for Human Parainfluenza Virus Type 3

AbstractSialic acid is the receptor determinant for the human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPF3) hemagglutinin–neuraminidase (HN) glycoprotein, the molecule responsible for binding of the virus to cell surfaces. In order for the fusion protein (F) of HPF3 to promote membrane fusion, HN must interact with its receptor. In addition to its role in receptor binding and fusion promotion, the HPF3 HN molecule contains receptor-destroying (sialidase) activity. The putative active sites are in the extracellular domain of this type II integral membrane protein. However, HN is not available in crystalline form; the exact locations of these sites, and the structural requirements for binding to the cellular receptor, which has not yet been isolated, are unknown. Nor have small molecular synthetic inhibitors of attachment or fusion that would provide insight into these processes been identified. The strategy in the present study was to develop an assay system that would provide a measure of a specific step in the viral cycle—functional interaction between viral glycoproteins and the cell during attachment and fusion—and serve to screen a variety of substances for inhibitory potential. The assay is based on our previous finding that CV-1 cells persistently infected (p.i.) with HPF3 do not fuse with one another but that the addition of uninfected CV-1 cells, supplying the critical sialic acid containing receptor molecules that bind HN, results in rapid fusion. In the present assay two HeLa cell types were used: we persistently infected HeLa-LTR-βgal cells, assessed their fusion with uninfected HeLa-tat cells, and then quantitated the β-galactosidase (βgal) produced as a result of this fusion. The analog α-2-S-methyl-5-N-thioacetylneuraminic acid (α-Neu5thioAc2SMe) interfered with fusion, decreasing βgal production by 84% at 50 mM and by 24% at 25 mM. In beginning to extend our studies to different types of molecules, we tested an unsaturated derivative of sialic acid, 2,3-dehydro-2-deoxy-n-acetyl neuraminic acid (DANA), which is known to inhibit influenza neuraminidase by virtue of being a transition-state analog. We found that 10 mM DANA inhibited neuraminidase activity in HPF3 viral preparations. More significantly, this compound was active in our assay of HN–receptor interaction; 10 mM DANA completely blocked fusion and βgal production, and hemadsorption inhibition by DANA suggested that DANA blocks attachment. In plaque reduction assays performed with the compounds, the active analog α-Neu5thioAc2SMe reduced plaque formation by 50% at a 50 mM concentration; DANA caused a 90% inhibition in the plaque reduction assay at a concentration of 25 mM. Our results indicate that specific sialic acid analogs that mimic the cellular receptor determinant of HPF3 can block virus cell interaction and that an unsaturated n-acetyl-neuraminic acid derivative with affinity to the HN site responsible for neuraminidase activity also interferes with HN–receptor binding. Strategies suggested by these findings are now being pursued to obtain information regarding the relative locations of the active sites of HN and to further elucidate the relationship between the receptor-binding and receptor-destroying activities of HN during the viral life cycle. The quantitative assay that we describe is of immediate applicability to large-scale screening for potential inhibitors of HPF3 infection in vivo

Developing Effective Principals: What Kind of Learning Matters?

Effective principals can generate better outcomes for the teachers, students and the schools they lead. But great principals don't grow on trees; they receive high-quality development and ongoing support.In this report, researchers synthesize two decades of research on principal pre-service preparation and professional development and describe results of their own additional studies. They find that high-quality learning programs for future and current principals are associated with improved outcomes such as princip?als' feelings of preparedness, teacher satisfaction and retention, and student achievement.  Evidence also suggests that a focus on equity-oriented leadership has the potential to improve principals' ability to meet the needs of diverse learners.The research was led by Linda Darling-Hammond, who was also lead author of an influential report?, released 15 years ago, describing the key characteristics of effective principal preparation and professional development.  The report finds that high-quality pre-service preparation programs have common elements:Rigorous recruitment of candidates into the program;Close school district-university partnerships;Groupings of enrollees into cohorts;Experiences where candidates apply what they learn, guided by experienced mentors or coaches; andA focus on important content, with the five most important areas being leading instruction, managing change, developing people, shaping a positive school culture and meeting the needs of diverse learners.Mentoring and coaching were influential and valuable for current principals, along with collegial learning networks and applied learning, the report finds.Researchers found via a national survey that principals' access to high-quality learning opportunities appears to have improved over the last decade, with more than two-thirds of principals today reporting having had at least minimal access to learning across the five key content areas. At the same time, there are clearly gaps. One example: "Few principals have access to authentic, job-based learning opportunities during preparation, and high-quality internships are still relatively rare," the report says. In addition, access to learning opportunities varies greatly across states and by school poverty level, an indicator that also tends to reflect the racial demographics of a school. Principals in high-poverty schools were much less likely to report that they had professional development on important topics including redesigning schools for deeper learning and designing professional learning opportunities for teachers and other staff, for example. And only 10 percent of principals in high-poverty schools reported having had a mentor or coach in the last two years versus 24 percent in low-poverty schools.Across the country, most principals reported wanting more professional development in nearly all topics, but faced obstacles in pursuing learning opportunities, including lack of time and insufficient money.The authors emphasize that state policies can make a difference in the availability and quality of leadership preparation programs. In states and districts that overhauled standards and used them to inform principal preparation, learning opportunities, and assessment, there is evidence that the quality of principal learning has improved.To foster high-quality principal learning, the authors suggest that policymakers can:Develop and better use state principal licensing and program approval standards;Fund statewide efforts, such as leadership academies, paid internships and mentor training; andEncourage greater attention to equity by, for example, allocating professional development resources to schools that need them most or funding high-quality preparation for prospective principals of high-poverty schools.The report is the third of three research syntheses commissioned by Wallace. The first, released in February 2021, examined the critical role of principals in student learning and other outcomes. The second examined the increasingly important role of assistant principals and was released in April 2021.