Are you ready for the genetic revolution in education?

2021 ◽  
Vol 103 (2) ◽  
pp. 34-39
Author(s):  
Russell T. Warne
Keyword(s):  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Student Outcomes ◽  
Behavioral Genetics ◽  
Education Administration ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Polygenic Scores ◽  
Genetic Revolution ◽  
Genetic Technologies

Recent findings in behavioral genetics and technological advances have the potential to alter education administration in ways that were inconceivable just a decade ago. Specifically, new understandings about the heritability of educational outcomes and the ability to calculate polygenic scores that predict likely student outcomes could change how educators identify students who are eligible for specific services. Russell Warne explains where the science currently stands, describes the benefits and possible drawbacks of using genetic technologies, and suggests policies for applying these technologies in schools.

School as setting to create a healthy teaching and learning environment

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 200-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Lee ◽  
Robin Man-biu Cheung
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Student Outcomes ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Whole Student ◽  
Health And Well Being

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze how professional cultures in schools and school systems could improve the well-being of students, with a particular emphasis on teacher-health partnerships, which would not naturally occur without a specific intentional intervention. Implemented with a whole-school approach, the Health Promoting School (HPS) is one of the most effective intentional interventions to achieve improvements in both the health and educational outcomes of students through the engagement of key stakeholders in education and health to create a healthy physical/psycho-social environment. This paper emphasizes collaboration and the building of professional cultures in schools that share collective responsibility for the whole student. Design/methodology/approach Student outcomes in schools should include both academic and health and well-being outcomes that promote positive pathways throughout adulthood. This paper connects HPS research with policy analysis drawing on Hong Kong’s unique context as being at the top of the PISA rankings and striving toward a positive health culture and well-being in its schools. Findings Evidence has been gathered extensively about what schools actually do in health promotion using the HPS framework. The HPS framework has served to assist schools and authorities to concentrate on the gaps and affirm best practices. This paper also reports how teachers have created a professional and collegial community with health partners to address outbreaks of infectious diseases in schools and obesity in students. Practical implications The concept of HPS can serve as an ecological model to promote the positive health and well-being of students, fostering their personal growth and development, and as an alternate model for school improvement. Social implications This paper has highlighted that structured school health programs such as HPS could have positive effects on educational outcomes, while also changing professional cultures and communities in schools with an emphasis on students’ physical health, emotional health, social health, or spiritual health. The Assessment Program for Affective and Social Outcomes is used as a tool by schools in Hong Kong, reflecting the affective and social developments of the students in the school under review as a whole, and how they relate to the school. It resembles the core areas of action competencies, and school social environment; the two key areas of HPS. Originality/value Hong Kong is often analyzed from an educational rankings perspective. However, it offers broader lessons on educational change, as it has in recent years emphasized dual goals in student outcomes and professional communities – the importance of whole student health and well-being as a both a precursor and key component to the educational outcomes schools seek. Globally, very few schools are able to implement HPS in its entirety. Continuing development of HPS in Hong Kong would add value to international literature in terms of which types of data would influence adoption of HPS in which types of school and policy contexts.

Improving Indigenous student outcomes through improved teacher education: the views of Indigenous educators

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-152
Author(s):  
Tracy Woodroffe
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Student Outcomes ◽  
Cultural Shift ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Indigenous Student ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Australian Education ◽  
Specialist Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Educators

This article describes an alternative approach to improving Indigenous student outcomes through improved teacher education, expressed through the views of Indigenous educators. The strategies required relate to the need for a cultural shift within the current Australian education system identified by Indigenous educators. The research demonstrates how connections between Westernised education systems and knowledge of Indigenous educators provide a locus of potential for the improved educational outcomes of Indigenous students. Indigenous educators’ knowledge about teaching and their specialist knowledge about Indigenous content place them in a position of epistemological privilege. The vehicle for change in the interests of Indigenous students is teacher education, and the driving force of untapped potential is Indigenous educators.

Regulating Genetic Information—Exploring the Options in Legal Theory

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 425-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aisling de Paor
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Information ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Personalised Medicine ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Genetic Technology ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Genetic Technologies ◽  
Genetic Science

Ground-breaking genetic discoveries and technological advances have introduced a new world of genetic exploration, and technological advances have facilitated the discovery of the genetic basis of a myriad of diseases. Genetic testing promises to potentially revolutionise health care and offer the potential of personalised medicine. Genetic technology may also offer the means to detect potential future disabilities. In light of rapid advances in genetic science and technology, questions arise as to whether an appropriate framework exists to protect the interests of individuals, prevent the misuse of genetic information by interested third parties, and also to encourage further advances in genetic science. In consideration of rapidly advancing genetic technologies and the ethical and legal concerns that arise, this article examines the regulation of genetic information, primarily from a theoretical perspective. It explores the preferable mode of regulation and choice of regulatory frameworks in legal theory, including non-discrimination, privacy and property.

scholarly journals Diagnosing and Preventing Hearing Loss in the Genomic Age

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 233121651987898 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. McDermott ◽  
Leslie P Molina-Ramírez ◽  
Iain A Bruce ◽  
Ajit Mahaveer ◽  
Mark Turner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Congenital Hearing Loss ◽  
Sequencing Technology ◽  
The Past ◽  
Genomic Knowledge ◽  
Current State ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Genetic Hearing Loss ◽  
Genetic Technologies

Over the past two decades, significant technological advances have facilitated the identification of hundreds of genes associated with hearing loss. Variants in many of these genes result in severe congenital hearing loss with profound implications for the affected individual and their family. This review collates these advances, summarizing the current state of genomic knowledge in childhood hearing loss. We consider how current and emerging genetic technologies have the potential to alter our approach to the management and diagnosis of hearing loss. We review approaches being taken to ensure that these discoveries are used in clinical practice to detect genetic hearing loss as soon as possible to reduce unnecessary investigations, provide information about reproductive risks, and facilitate regular follow-up and early treatment. We also highlight how rapid sequencing technology has the potential to identify children susceptible to antibiotic-induced hearing loss and how this adverse reaction can be avoided.

STRIVE to improve educational outcomes: supporting students with disabilities in the general education classroom

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (16) ◽  
pp. 171-185
Author(s):  
Kristen S. Schrauben ◽  
Jamie Owen-DeSchryver ◽  
Sanja Cale
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Student Outcomes ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
School Settings ◽  
General Education Classroom ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Performance Teachers ◽  
Support Students

Increasingly, students with a variety of disabilities are being included in general education settings; however, many of these students have academic, behavioral, and social challenges that can interfere with their participation and performance. Teachers and school professionals supporting students with disabilities need effective and efficient strategies that can improve student outcomes. This paper describes a set of six domains of research-supported practices that can be implemented to support students. These practices are organized using the acronym STRIVE: Social supports, Teaching practices, Rewards and motivation, Independence, Visual supports, and Engagement. We include examples of how these practices can be used class-wide to support all students, and how they can be adapted to support specific students with disabilities. Practitioner-friendly applications and resources are included to support implementation within school settings.

scholarly journals Common health conditions in childhood and adolescence, school absence, and educational attainment: Mendelian randomization study

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Hughes ◽  
Kaitlin H. Wade ◽  
Matt Dickson ◽  
Frances Rice ◽  
Alisha Davies ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Genetic Liability ◽  
School Absence ◽  
Polygenic Scores

AbstractGood health is positively related to children’s educational outcomes, but relationships may not be causal. Demonstrating a causal influence would strongly support childhood and adolescent health as important for education policy. We applied genetic causal inference methods to assess the causal relationship of common health conditions at age 10 (primary/elementary school) and 13 (mid-secondary/mid-high school) with educational attainment at 16 and school absence at 14–16. Participants were 6113 children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Exposures were symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), depression, asthma, migraines and BMI. Genetic liability for these conditions and BMI was indexed by polygenic scores. In non-genetic, multivariate-adjusted models, all health conditions except asthma and migraines were associated with poorer attainment and greater school absence. School absence substantially mediated effects of BMI (39.9% for BMI at 13) and migraines (72.0% at 10), on attainment with more modest mediation for emotional and neurodevelopmental conditions. In genetic models, a unit increase in standardized BMI at 10 predicted a 0.19 S.D. decrease (95% CI: 0.11, 0.28) in attainment at 16, equivalent to around a 1/3 grade lower in all subjects, and 8.7% more school absence (95% CI:1.8%,16.1%). Associations were similar at 13. Genetic liability for ADHD predicted lower attainment but not more absence. Triangulation across multiple approaches supports a causal, negative influence on educational outcomes of BMI and ADHD, but not of ASD, depression, asthma or migraine. Higher BMI in childhood and adolescence may causally impair educational outcomes.

scholarly journals Separating Measured Genetic and Environmental Effects: Evidence Linking Parental Genotype and Adopted Child Outcomes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin W. Domingue ◽  
Jason Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Child Outcomes ◽  
Parental Genotype ◽  
Adopted Children ◽  
Socioeconomic Outcomes ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Polygenic Scores ◽  
Biological Children ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
Children's Schooling

AbstractThere has been widespread adoption of genome wide summary scores (polygenic scores) as tools for studying the importance of genetics and associated lifecourse mechanisms across a range of demographic and socioeconomic outcomes. However, an often unacknowledged issue with these studies is that parental genetics impact both child environments and child genetics, leaving the effects of polygenic scores difficult to interpret. This paper uses multi-generational data containing polygenic scores for parents (n=7,193) and educational outcomes for adopted (n=855) and biological (n=20,939) children, many raised in the same families, which allows us to separate the influence of parental polygenic scores on children outcomes between environmental (adopted children) and environmental and genetic (biological children) effects. Our results complement recent work on “genetic nurture” by showing associations of parental polygenic scores with adopted children’s schooling, providing additional evidence that polygenic scores combine genetic and environmental influences and that research designs are needed to separate these estimated impacts.

scholarly journals When Does Inter-School Competition Matter? Evidence from the Chilean “Voucher” System

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 525-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Gallego
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Student Outcomes ◽  
School Quality ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Budget Constraint ◽  
The Public ◽  
School Competition ◽  
Voucher Schools ◽  
Voucher System

Abstract I investigate the effects of voucher-school competition on educational outcomes. I test whether voucher-school competition (1) improves student outcomes and (2) has stronger effects when public schools face a hard-budget constraint. Since both voucher-school competition and the degree of hardness of the budget constraint for public schools are endogenous to public school quality, I exploit (i) the interaction of the number of Catholic priests in 1950 and the institution of the voucher system in Chile in 1981 as a potentially exogenous determinant of the supply of voucher schools and (ii) a particular feature of the electoral system that affects the identity of the mayors of different counties (who manage public schools) as a source of exogenous variation in the degree of hardness of the public schools’ budget constraints. Using this information, I find that (1) an increase of one standard deviation of the ratio of voucher-to-public schools increases test scores by just around 0.10 standard deviations; and (2) the effects are significantly bigger for public schools facing more binding minimum enrollment levels.

How should we theorize about justice in the genomic era?

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-125
Author(s):  
Colin Farrelly
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Methodological Issue ◽  
Genetic Discrimination ◽  
Ideal Theory ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Genetic Revolution ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Genomic Editing ◽  
New Inequalities

AbstractThe sequencing of the human genome and advances in gene therapy and genomic editing, coupled with embryo selection techniques and a potential gerontological intervention, are some examples of the rapid technological advances of the “genetic revolution.” This article addresses the methodological issue of how we should theorize about justice in the genomic era. Invoking the methodology of non-ideal theory, I argue that theorizing about justice in the genomic era entails theorizing about (1) the new inequalities that the genetic revolution could exacerbate (e.g., genetic discrimination, disability-related injustices, and gender inequality), and (2) those inequalities that the genetic revolution could help us mitigate (e.g., the risks of disease in early and late life). By doing so, normative theorists can ensure that we develop an account of justice that takes seriously not only individual rights, equality of opportunity, the cultural and sociopolitical aspects of disability, and equality between the sexes, but also the potential health benefits (to both individuals and populations) of attending to the evolutionary causes of morbidity and disability.

scholarly journals Estimation of Parental Effects Using Polygenic Scores

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jared V. Balbona ◽  
Yongkang Kim ◽  
Matthew C. Keller
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Behavioral Genetics ◽  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Relative Magnitude ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Polygenic Score ◽  
Genetics Research ◽  
Polygenic Scores ◽  
Genetic And Environmental Factors ◽  
Familial Environment

AbstractOffspring resemble their parents for both genetic and environmental reasons. Understanding the relative magnitude of these alternatives has long been a core interest in behavioral genetics research, but traditional designs, which compare phenotypic covariances to make inferences about unmeasured genetic and environmental factors, have struggled to disentangle them. Recently, Kong et al. (2018) showed that by correlating offspring phenotypic values with the measured polygenic score of parents’ nontransmitted alleles, one can estimate the effect of “genetic nurture”—a type of passive gene–environment covariation that arises when heritable parental traits directly influence offspring traits. Here, we instantiate this basic idea in a set of causal models that provide novel insights into the estimation of parental influences on offspring. Most importantly, we show how jointly modeling the parental polygenic scores and the offspring phenotypes can provide an unbiased estimate of the variation attributable to the environmental influence of parents on offspring, even when the polygenic score accounts for a small fraction of trait heritability. This model can be further extended to (a) account for the influence of different types of assortative mating, (b) estimate the total variation due to additive genetic effects and their covariance with the familial environment (i.e., the full genetic nurture effect), and (c) model situations where a parental trait influences a different offspring trait. By utilizing structural equation modeling techniques developed for extended twin family designs, our approach provides a general framework for modeling polygenic scores in family studies and allows for various model extensions that can be used to answer old questions about familial influences in new ways.

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