Environmental Characteristics and Student Physical Activity in PE Class: Findings From Two Large Urban Areas of Texas

Background:Physical education (PE) classes provide opportunities for children to be active. This study examined the associations between specific environmental characteristics (teacher characteristics; class size, duration and location; and lesson context) and elementary school-aged children’s moderate-to-vigorous activity (MVPA) during PE.Methods:Environmental characteristics and student activity levels were measured in 211 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade PE classes in 74 Texas public schools using SOFIT direct observation.Results:Students engaged in less than half their PE class time in MVPA (38%), while approximately 25% of class time was spent in classroom management. Percent time in MVPA was significantly higher in outdoor classes compared with indoors (41.4% vs. 36.1%, P = .037). Larger (P = .044) and longer (P = .001) classes were negatively associated with percentage of MVPA and positively correlated with time spent in management (P < .001).Conclusions:Findings suggest that children’s activity may be influenced by environmental factors such as class size, location, and lesson contexts. These findings hold important policy implications for PE class organization and the need for strategies that maximize children’s MVPA. Further research is needed to test the causal association of these factors with student MVPA.

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Special Need Students in the Struggle for the Character of Schooling in America

International Journal of Educational Reform ◽

10.1177/105678791702600402 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 273-289

Author(s):

Lenford C. Sutton ◽

Jane A. Beese ◽

Tiffany Puckett

Keyword(s):

Public Schools ◽

School Choice ◽

Education Reform ◽

Student Performance ◽

Urban Areas ◽

The United States ◽

Policy Implications ◽

School Vouchers ◽

Free Enterprise ◽

Elementary And Secondary Education

One of the most contentious issues over American educational reform is government sponsorship of school vouchers and tax credits in elementary and secondary education. Voucher advocates have long believed that public schools have little interest in education reform which diminishes its monopolistic position in the public education enterprise which effectuates a system of escalating cost, inefficiencies, and unacceptable student performance. Also, they claim that in a nation historically devoted to free enterprise and equal education opportunity, the expansion of school choice opportunity is a natural progression. Conversely, voucher opponents posit that such programs are not only unconstitutional, but would also redirect valuable resources away from schools serving students with the greatest need. They view voucher policy as highly divisive in that it fosters government entanglement with churches and serves as a catalyst for the re-segregation of public schools, further amplifying educational inequality. High-profile public battles over school vouchers in the United States have mainly focused on poor and minority children served by public schools in large urban areas. On the other hand, school choice for special need students, though expanding significantly, has not received as much attention. This article reviews the legal history of private contracting for special education services, describes the current choice programs for students with disabilities, recounts the legal challenges, discusses policy implications, and considers its formulation in the context of the largest levels of inequality in American History.

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Classroom Management

European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies ◽

10.26417/ejms.v1i1.p201-210 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 201

Author(s):

Elida Kurti

Keyword(s):

Classroom Management ◽

General Education ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Educational Institutions ◽

Important Place ◽

Rural And Urban Areas ◽

Rural And Urban ◽

Intellectual Level

This paper aims to reflect an effort to identify the problems associated with the educational learning process, as well as its function to express some inherent considerations to the most effective forms of the classroom management. Mentioned in this discussion are ways of management for various categories of students, not only from an intellectual level, but also by their behavior. Also, in the elaboration of this theme I was considering that in addition to other development directions of the country, an important place is occupied by the education of the younger generation in our school environments and especially in adopting the methods of teaching and learning management with a view to enable this generation to be competitive in the European labor market. This, of course, can be achieved by giving this generation the best values of behavior, cultural level, professional level and ethics one of an European family which we belong to, not just geographically. On such foundations, we have tried to develop this study, always improving the reality of the prolonged transition in the field of children’s education. Likewise, we have considered the factors that have left their mark on the structure, cultural level and general education level of children, such as high demographic turnover associated with migration from rural and urban areas, in the capacity of our educational institutions to cope with new situations etc. In the conclusions of this study is shown that there is required a substantial reform even in the pro-university educational system to ensure a significant improvement in the behavior of children, relations between them and the sound quality of their preparation. Used literature for this purpose has not been lacking, due to the fact that such problems are usually treated by different scholars. Likewise, we found it appropriate to use the ideas and issues discussed by the foreign literature that deals directly with classroom management problems. All the following treatise is intended to reflect the way of an effective classroom management.

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Students’ attitude and sleep pattern during school closure following COVID-19 pandemic quarantine: a web-based survey in south of Iran

Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine ◽

10.1186/s12199-021-00950-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Keivan Ranjbar ◽

Hamidreza Hosseinpour ◽

Reza Shahriarirad ◽

Haleh Ghaem ◽

Khoubyar Jafari ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Schools ◽

Computer Games ◽

Urban Areas ◽

First Grade ◽

General Information ◽

School Closure ◽

Sleep Pattern ◽

Fars Province ◽

Sleep Patterns ◽

Online Questionnaire

Abstract Background School closure is one of the main policies of global health care strategies performed worldwide. Despite all benefits, there might be some threats for younger groups spending their time in quarantine. This study aims to determine the impacts of lockdown and school closure on children’s major lifestyle aspects, especially their leisure and sleep pattern during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods For the purpose of this study, an online questionnaire was distributed from 14th to 31st of March 2020 among the schools and students from the first grade to the 12th grade (before university) in Fars province, southern Iran. The questionnaire consisted of five sections which included data regarding the students’ general information, activity priorities, adherence to quarantine, attitude toward school closure, and sleep patterns. Results In our study, 20,697 filled questionnaires were received from the participants with an average age of 13.76 years; 29.7% of them were male, 80.6% were from urban areas, and 83.3% were from public schools. The overall first preference of students during school closure was mobile and computer games (30.1%), followed by studying (26.6%) and watching television (13.8%). Our results demonstrated that the majority of students adhered to social distancing and there was also a significant correlation among education levels and desire for schools to be closed till the end of the semester (P = 0.015). Also, regarding sleep patterns, the majority (53.5%) had above 12 h of sleep throughout the day. Conclusion It seems that lockdown following COVID-19 pandemic has changed various aspects of the students’ lifestyle remarkably, especially by increasing screen time and even sleep duration and pattern. We believe that certain strategies should be implemented by the Health and Educational Ministry to control not only the visible side effects of the quarantine period, but also the collateral consequences on their psychological and mental health.

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Addressing migrants’ well-being during COVID-19: An analysis of Chinese communities’ heritage language schools in Germany

Migration Studies ◽

10.1093/migration/mnaa033 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Zi Wang

Keyword(s):

Public Schools ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Social Life ◽

Heritage Language ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Information Access ◽

Well Being ◽

School Closure ◽

Vulnerable Groups ◽

Educational Programmes

Abstract The coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing lockdown affected social life in every regard. In critical times, the well-being of vulnerable groups is often at stake. Migrants represent a case in point because language barriers and the lack of social networks impede their seeking help from public institutions and information access. In migration policy and research, current attention overwhelmingly focusses on COVID-19’s impact on travel restrictions and healthcare. This article contributes a new perspective by demonstrating how migrants’ well-being needs (understood as emotions and sense of achievement) in education during the COVID-19-induced school closure were addressed by community educational organisations. Focussing on the Chinese community in Germany, data were collected in Chinese heritage language (CHL) schools from three urban areas. This article argues that CHL schools’ reaction to public schools’ closure had a positive impact on their members’ well-being. Such organisations achieved this by expanding their educational programmes during and after the lockdown. These measures ensured continuity in migrant children’s education beyond the realm of heritage language instruction, while enabling migrant parents to seek employment as the economy reopened. Overall, the results of this study underscore the potential of community organisations’ educational programmes in maintaining migrants’ well-being, especially in trying times.

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RURAL–URBAN MIGRATION AND CHILD SURVIVAL IN URBAN BANGLADESH: ARE THE URBAN MIGRANTS AND POOR DISADVANTAGED?

Journal of Biosocial Science ◽

10.1017/s0021932007002271 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 40 (1) ◽

pp. 83-96 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

M. MAZHARUL ISLAM ◽

KAZI MD ABUL KALAM AZAD

Keyword(s):

Rural Areas ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Urban Poor ◽

Child Survival ◽

Childhood Mortality ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Urban Migration ◽

Under Five ◽

Urban Migrants ◽

Urban Rural

SummaryThis paper analyses the levels and trends of childhood mortality in urban Bangladesh, and examines whether children’s survival chances are poorer among the urban migrants and urban poor. It also examines the determinants of child survival in urban Bangladesh. Data come from the 1999–2000 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. The results indicate that, although the indices of infant and child mortality are consistently better in urban areas, the urban–rural differentials in childhood mortality have diminished in recent years. The study identifies two distinct child morality regimes in urban Bangladesh: one for urban natives and one for rural–urban migrants. Under-five mortality is higher among children born to urban migrants compared with children born to life-long urban natives (102 and 62 per 1000 live births, respectively). The migrant–native mortality differentials more-or-less correspond with the differences in socioeconomic status. Like childhood mortality rates, rural–urban migrants seem to be moderately disadvantaged by economic status compared with their urban native counterparts. Within the urban areas, the child survival status is even worse among the migrant poor than among the average urban poor, especially recent migrants. This poor–non-poor differential in childhood mortality is higher in urban areas than in rural areas. The study findings indicate that rapid growth of the urban population in recent years due to rural-to-urban migration, coupled with higher risk of mortality among migrant’s children, may be considered as one of the major explanations for slower decline in under-five mortality in urban Bangladesh, thus diminishing urban–rural differentials in childhood mortality in Bangladesh. The study demonstrates that housing conditions and access to safe drinking water and hygienic toilet facilities are the most critical determinants of child survival in urban areas, even after controlling for migration status. The findings of the study may have important policy implications for urban planning, highlighting the need to target migrant groups and the urban poor within urban areas in the provision of health care services.

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Meeting the Challenges of Longitudinal Cluster-Based Trials in Schools: Lessons From the Chicago Trial of Positive Action

Evaluation & the Health Professions ◽

10.1177/0163278716673688 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 40 (4) ◽

pp. 450-482 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kendra M. Lewis ◽

David L. DuBois ◽

Peter Ji ◽

Joseph Day ◽

Naida Silverthorn ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Schools ◽

Low Income ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Statistical Power ◽

Student Mobility ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Study Planning ◽

Positive Action ◽

Cluster Randomized

We describe challenges in the 6-year longitudinal cluster randomized controlled trial (CRCT) of Positive Action (PA), a social–emotional and character development (SECD) program, conducted in 14 low-income, urban Chicago Public Schools. Challenges pertained to logistics of study planning (school recruitment, retention of schools during the trial, consent rates, assessment of student outcomes, and confidentiality), study design (randomization of a small number of schools), fidelity (implementation of PA and control condition activities), and evaluation (restricted range of outcomes, measurement invariance, statistical power, student mobility, and moderators of program effects). Strategies used to address the challenges within each of these areas are discussed. Incorporation of lessons learned from this study may help to improve future evaluations of longitudinal CRCTs, especially those that involve evaluation of school-based interventions for minority populations and urban areas.

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Physical activity levels during adventure-physical education lessons

European Physical Education Review ◽

10.1177/1356336x12440365 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 245-257 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Jeffrey Gehris ◽

Elizabeth Myers ◽

Robert Whitaker

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Public Schools ◽

Physical Education ◽

Vigorous Physical Activity ◽

Physical Development ◽

Activity Levels ◽

Instruction Time ◽

Physical Activity Levels ◽

The Mean

Adventure-physical education has been proposed to promote adolescents’ physical development, but little is known about physical activity levels during such lessons. Using the System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time, we observed students’ (ages 11–14 years) physical activity levels in co-educational classes during 43 adventure-physical education lessons at seven public schools. The mean percentage (±SD) of time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was 28.3% (±16.3%). The greatest percentage of lesson time was spent in two activities—high elements (24.1% ± 36.5%) and initiatives (22.3% ± 32.4%). When data were aggregated across all lessons, 40.0% of the time in high elements and 13.7% of the time in initiatives was spent in MVPA. Of all MVPA time, 31.5% occurred in high elements and another 12.6% in initiatives. Compared with traditional physical education lessons, less time is spent in MVPA during adventure lessons. Efforts to increase MVPA should target high elements and initiative activities.

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Teaching multilingual literacy in Ugandan classrooms: The promise of the African Storybook

Applied Linguistics Review ◽

10.1515/applirev-2020-2006 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Bonny Norton ◽

Juliet Tembe

Keyword(s):

Classroom Management ◽

Primary School ◽

Early Literacy ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Mother Tongue ◽

Collaborative Work ◽

Collaborative Study ◽

Rural And Urban Areas ◽

Link Type ◽

Eastern Uganda

AbstractFor over a decade, the authors have worked collaboratively to better understand and address the challenges and possibilities of promoting multilingual literacy in Uganda, a country of over 44 million people where over 40 African languages are spoken and English is the official language. This article focuses on the diverse ways that teachers promote early literacy in large multilingual classrooms, and how the innovative African Storybook digital initiative might support primary school teachers in both rural and urban areas. We begin the article with a description of our collaborative work on the African Storybook (http://www.africanstorybook.org/) and one of its derivatives, Storybooks Uganda (https://global-asp.github.io/storybooks-uganda/). Then, drawing on a collaborative study of primary school classrooms in eastern Uganda, we analyze four common strategies that Ugandan teachers use to promote multilingual literacy in their classrooms: the use of the mother tongue as a resource; songs and multimodality; translanguaging; and linguistic strategies for classroom management. We follow this with a discussion of a 2015 teacher education workshop in eastern Uganda, which illustrates how the African Storybook can help support Ugandan teachers as they navigate the challenges of large classrooms. We conclude that the African Storybook has much promise for addressing the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

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Objectively measured physical activity levels in physical education classes and body mass index (Niveles de actividad física medida objetivamente en las clases de educación física y el índice de masa grasa)

Retos ◽

10.47197/retos.v0i31.53502 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 271-274

Author(s):

Manuela Costa ◽

Tânia Oliveira ◽

Jorge Mota ◽

Maria Paula Santos ◽

José Carlos Ribeiro

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Body Mass Index ◽

Public Schools ◽

Physical Education ◽

Body Mass ◽

Vigorous Physical Activity ◽

The Body ◽

Activity Levels ◽

Relative Contribution ◽

Objectively Measured

Objective: The objective of this study was twofold. First, analyze physical activity (PA) levels during physical education (PE) with different durations (45 and 90 minutes) according to student’s obesity status. Secondly, we examine the relative contribution of 45 and 90 minutes PE (45PE and 90PE) for the compliance of the daily PA recommendations according to the body mass index (BMI). Methods: Four public schools were analyzed. The sample comprised 472 youngsters (266 girls) aged between 10 and 18 years old. PA was assessed using an Actigraph accelerometer. The participants were categorized as non-overweight (NOW) and overweight/obese (OW) according to the sex-adjusted BMI. Results: The proportion of Moderate and Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA) was lower than the 50% recommended by guidelines regardless the PE duration. Our data showed that only 26% of NOW and 13% of OW in the 45PE achieved the recommended levels while 17% of NOW and 11% of OW achieved the recommendation in 90PE. Overall, the 90PE had a higher absolute contribution for daily MVPA recommendations compliance than 45PE. Conclusion: During PE classes youngsters spent a reduced amount of time in MVPA, independently of their weight status.Resumen. Objetivo: Este estudio tiene un doble objetivo. En primero lugar, analizar los niveles de la actividad física durante la educación física con diferentes duraciones (45 y 90 minutos) de acuerdo con el estado de la obesidad de los alumnos. En segundo lugar, se analiza la contribución relativa de 45 y 90 minutos de la educación física para el cumplimiento de las recomendaciones diarias de actividad física según el índice de masa grasa. Métodos: cuatro escuelas públicas fueran analizadas. La muestra fue de 472 jóvenes (266 chicas) con edades entre los 10 y 18 años. La actividad física fue medida utilizando un acelerómetro Actigraph. Los participantes fueran clasificados como sin sobrepeso y con sobrepeso/obesidad de acuerdo con el índice de masa grasa ajustado al género. Resultados: La proporción de la actividad física moderada y vigorosa fue inferior al 50% recomendado por las recomendaciones independiente de la duración de la clase de educación física. Nuestros datos muestran que solo unos 26% de los niños sin sobrepeso y unos 13% de niñoss con sobrepeso/obesidad llegaron al los niveles recomendados en las clases de 45 min, mientras el 17% de los jóvenes sin sobrepeso y el 11% con sobrepeso/obesidad han logrado las recomendaciones en las clases de 90 min. En general, las clases de 90 min tienen una mayor contribución para cumplimiento de las recomendaciones diarias de actividad física moderada a vigorosa do que las clases de 45 min. Conclusión: Durante las clases de educación física los jóvenes tuvieran una cantidad reducida de tiempo en actividad física moderada a vigorosa, independiente de su estado de peso.

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Facilitators and Barriers of Teachers’ Use of Effective Classroom Management Strategies for Students with ADHD: A Model Analysis Based on Teachers’ Perspectives

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su132212843 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (22) ◽

pp. 12843

Author(s):

Anna Szép ◽

Slava Dantchev ◽

Martina Zemp ◽

Malte Schwinger ◽

Mira-Lynn Chavanon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Classroom Management ◽

Students With Disabilities ◽

Class Size ◽

Online Survey ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Path Model ◽

Extended Model ◽

Special Educational Needs ◽

Implementation Barriers ◽

Classroom Management Strategies

Students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often experience school-related difficulties. Although evidence-based classroom management strategies (CMS) are known to alleviate such problems, they are rarely implemented. The current study examined whether a path model including variables influencing the use of effective CMS developed by top-down methods can be replicated utilizing an open science method. An extended model including class size and experience with children with ADHD was also calculated. We further explored prominent implementation barriers. N = 336 in-service teachers completed an online survey. Perceived effectiveness, training on ADHD, perceived disruption, and affiliation with primary/special educational needs schools were important variables associated with the use of CMS. While class size was not correlated with the use of CMS, experience mediated by training revealed an indirect association with it. Class size, lack of time, and many students with disabilities were the most frequently reported implementation barriers. The implementation of effective CMS could thus be mainly enhanced by improving how effectiveness is perceived and by engaging teachers in ADHD-specialized training. Preparing teachers in how to cope with potential barriers should also be considered.

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