Improving how schools engage families during the crucial 9th-grade year

2021 ◽  
Vol 103 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-43
Author(s):  
Martha Abele Mac Iver ◽  
Joyce Epstein ◽  
Steven B. Sheldon
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
High School ◽  
Family Engagement ◽  
Transition To High School ◽  
Critical Transition ◽  
Urban District ◽  
9Th Grade ◽  
Interactive Homework ◽  
Family Engagement Practices

Researchers Martha Abele Mac Iver, Joyce Epstein, and Steven Sheldon summarize the outcomes of their four-year partnership with an urban district aimed at improving the ways schools engage families during the critical transition to high school. They describe how schools put into practice the strategies learned in ongoing professional development, how family engagement practices changed, and what effects those changes had on students. Particular strategies include the use of an online parent portal and interactive homework assignments about the transition to high school.

Explaining the Variability in School Nurse Workload and Educational Outcomes

2021 ◽  
pp. 019394592110179
Author(s):  
Claire McKinley Yoder ◽  
Mary Ann Cantrell ◽  
Janice L. Hinkle
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
School Nurse ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Individual Student ◽  
Student Records ◽  
9Th Grade ◽  
Nurse Workload

This secondary analysis examined the variability in the effects of school nurse workload on individual student outcomes of 9th grade attendance, being on track to graduate, and high school graduation. A principal axis factor analysis of the variables underlying school nurse workload and a structural equation model of the latent construct school nurse workload in 5th grade and the three outcome variables was tested using data from student records ( N = 3,782). Two factors explained 82% of the variability in school nurse workload: acuity and volume factor and social determinants of health factor. The model had acceptable fit indices and school nurse workload explained between 35% and 52% of the variability in the outcomes with a moderate effect size (.6–.72). Creating school nurse workload assignments that maximize student educational outcomes may improve graduation from high school, which in turn increases the resources available for lifelong health.

scholarly journals On Track or Derailed? Race, Advanced Math, and the Transition to High School

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312098029
Author(s):  
Yasmiyn Irizarry
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Middle School ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Ninth Grade ◽  
Transition To High School ◽  
Performance Factors ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Racial Gaps ◽  
Accelerated Math ◽  
Research And Policy

Recent scholarship has examined how accelerated math trajectories leading to calculus take shape during middle school. The focus of this study is on advanced math course taking during the critical yet understudied period that follows: the transition to high school. Data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 are used to examine advanced math course taking in ninth grade, including both track persistence among students who took advanced math in middle school and upward mobility among students who took standard math in middle school. Results reveal sizable racial gaps in the likelihood of staying on (and getting on) the accelerated math track, neither of which are fully explained by prior academic performance factors. Interactions with parents and teachers positively predict advanced math course taking. In some cases, interactions with teachers may also reduce inequality in track persistence, whereas interactions with counselors increase such inequality. Implications for research and policy are discussed.

Building Professionals’ Capacity: The Cascading Coaching Model

2021 ◽  
pp. 109830072110392
Author(s):  
Moon Y. Chung ◽  
James D. Lee ◽  
Hedda Meadan ◽  
Michelle M. Sands ◽  
Ban Sleiman Haidar
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Family Engagement ◽  
Functional Relation ◽  
Professional Organizations ◽  
Probe Design ◽  
Intervention Package ◽  
Coaching Model ◽  
Behavior Analysts ◽  
Multiple Probe

The importance of family engagement in their children’s education and treatment is emphasized by researchers, professional organizations, and legislatures. Providing services with caregivers via telepractice has gained more support and is becoming especially timely due to the current pandemic and social distancing requirements. Professionals, such as board-certified behavior analysts (BCBAs), who work with caregivers with children with disabilities may benefit from receiving professional development on strategies for building better rapport with caregivers and coaching them to bring about maximum clinical efficacy. The current pilot study replicated an earlier study by Meadan et al. to examine the effects of the Coaching Caregiver Professional Development (CoCarePD) intervention package, in which BCBAs received training and coaching from researchers via telepractice, on their caregiver coaching practices. A single-case, multiple-probe design study across three BCBAs was conducted, and findings support a functional relation between the CoCarePD and BCBAs’ use of coaching practices.

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