Balancing Student Sex Education Needs with Community Preferences: A Qualitative Study in Rural Indiana

Background and Purpose: Rural youth experience high rates of teen pregnancy. Despite this increased health risk, little data exist on evidence-based sex education programs (EBPs) in rural communities. Using the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, and Sustainment (EPIS) framework, we describe the challenges and community-derived solutions in implementing an EBP in rural Indiana schools, providing insight on rural EBP implementation. Methods: As part of a larger federally funded implementation project, an abstinence focused EBP (Making a Difference! and Guiding Good Choices) was taught at middle schools located in twelve counties in rural southern and eastern Indiana. Three community agencies implemented the curriculum over three years. Afterwards, SH and CM conducted interviews of the agency partners (n=13) and of key school stakeholders (n=6). Interviews were conducted via Zoom, audio-recorded, transcribed, field notes written, and all data analyzed using thematic analysis. Codes were developed from the EPIS framework and included outer contexts of communities, inner contexts of schools, preparation activities, implementation, and potential sustainability. We asked participants to identify challenges and solutions. Results: Challenges and solutions were mapped onto the EPIS framework. Outer context challenges included religion, conservative communities, outside agencies, and parenting beliefs. Inner context challenges included lack of teacher and administrator support. Preparational challenges included lack of communication with parents, lack of community outreach, and lack of parent education. Implementational challenges included teaching a 60-minute lesson in 45 minutes and classroom engagement of schoolteachers. Sustainment challenges included teacher discomfort with the topic. Community-derived solutions included building community trust before implementation, providing information to parents, inviting administrators to observe, offering a student question box, and training school staff to implement the program. Conclusion and Potential Impact: Many challenges emerged during implementation because of perceived lack of preparation. Future implementation of EBPs in rural communities should focus more on aspects of exploration and preparation.

Teachers’ Perceptions of Educational Administers’ Support for Inclusive Education

This paper investigates the perceptions of teachers in Saudi Arabia About educational administers’ support of inclusive education. The goal of this study is to provide a baseline of information for the ministry of education to enhance their professional development plan for administers and teachers to adopting inclusive education for the purpose of increasing the number of students with disabilities in general education settings. The results in this study were almost converged between agreement and disagree with slightly more respondents agreeing that administrator support of inclusive education was present. The inferential results indicated a statistically significant difference between respondent degree area and recognition of administrator support of inclusive education. Significant differences occurred for both school and district administrators. Also, another statistical difference was found between respondent teaching grade and their recognition of administers’ support of inclusive education.

The More Divided Academy: Did the Fall of the Faculty and the Rise of the All-Administrative University Increase Racial Conflict in Higher Education?

Despite efforts to redress racial grievances, American’s most progressive institutional sector, higher education, suffers racial incidents with disturbing frequency. We hypothesize that one explanation lies in the bureaucratization of higher education. Various trends have led to what Benjamin Ginsberg calls “the fall of the faculty” and “the all-administrative university.” We hypothesize that insulated from students and responsive to national employment markets, administrators adopt policies promoting the short-term appearance of successful integration, and driven by ideology. Faculty, in contrast, may focus on long-term student well-being, acknowledging policy tradeoffs. Using the North American Academic Survey Study ( n = 1,643 faculty and 808 administrators), we construct statistical models of attitudes toward race-based undergraduate admissions and faculty hiring. Contrary to predictions, both faculty and administrators offer nuanced support for affirmative action acknowledging potential tradeoffs. Further, ideology better explains faculty than administrator support. Implications are discussed.

Special Educators’ Working Conditions in Self-Contained Settings for Students With Emotional or Behavioral Disorders: A Descriptive Analysis

Special education teachers (SETs) who teach students with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) in self-contained settings are often less qualified, more stressed and burned out, and more likely to leave teaching than other SETs, resulting in a less effective workforce teaching students with significant behavioral and academic needs. Working conditions are a lever by which outcomes can be improved for SETs in these settings, yet the extant research on SETs’ working conditions in self-contained settings is scarce; no researchers have comprehensively examined these SETs’ working conditions using a national sample. To fill this crucial gap in the literature, we surveyed a national sample ( n = 171) of SETs serving students with EBD in self-contained classes. We describe findings in terms of the working conditions that SETs experienced—social (e.g., administrator support, paraprofessionals, professional development) and logistical (e.g., instructional grouping, instructional resources, planning time)—providing implications for research, policy, and practice.

Increasing Physical Activity in Schools: Strategies for School Health Practitioners

Background. Colorado passed House Bill 11-1069 in 2011 requiring all public elementary schools to provide students with a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity (PA) per school day (Physical Activity Expectation in Schools, 2011). The purpose of this article is to describe the results of a 3-year initiative to increase opportunities for PA and to provide recommendations for school health practitioners implementing similar programming. Intervention. In 2014, 13 school districts were funded to increase student PA during school hours and before and after school hours. Intervention activities spanned all components of the Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program framework. An evaluation was conducted to estimate the number of schools providing at least 30 minutes of PA a day. A mixed methods evaluation design was implemented that included tracking the number of minutes of PA provided before, during, and after school and semistructured interviews with school health coordinators. Results. In Year 1, an average of 48 minutes of PA were provided per day. By the end of year 3, the average minutes of PA doubled to 90 minutes per day. Teachers and staff identified professional development and administrator support as key components to incorporating more PA throughout the school day. Conclusions. Health promotion interventions in schools can increase access to PA opportunities for students. Sustainability of PA efforts in schools is dependent on funding to support professional development for teachers and staff and building administrative support for school-based PA.

Evolving roles of scientists as change agents in science education over a decade: SFES roles beyond discipline-based education research

To what extent have positions for science education specialists as change agents within science departments persisted and evolved over the past decade? We addressed this question by studying a population of Science Faculty with Education Specialties (SFES) first described in 2008. SFES are university science faculty who engage in undergraduate science education, K-12 science education, and/or research in science education. Compared to a decade ago, SFES are now more prevalent and more likely to be formally trained in science education. Many identify as discipline-based education researchers (DBER) but assert that their SFES and DBER roles are nonequivalent. SFES have garnered university administrator support through varied science education activities, and these insights into the evolving role of scientists in science education have implications for many stakeholders.

Perceptions toward academic library app implementation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of Kuwait University students majoring in the social sciences, faculty members and academic librarians toward mobile library applications (apps), which are not currently available. These technologies are highly desirable for students, but many libraries struggle to properly implement them. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative survey questionnaires were distributed to 400 undergraduate students, of which 184 valid and completed questionnaires were collected. In addition, three focus groups were conducted with social sciences graduate students, academics and librarians to further explore attitudes and perspectives toward library apps. Findings A majority of respondents (62 per cent) visited the academic library less than five times per month or never, but a smaller majority (57 per cent) also preferred to use a combination of computers and mobile devices to access library information. The most desirable student uses for library apps involved access to basic information or services such as library hours, book renewal or catalog searches. Most potential barriers to student use of library apps received low scores; only slow internet speed was considered a significant problem. Focus group discussions clarified that major concerns regarding the implementation of library apps included the potential cost, knowledge, training and administrator support for these efforts. Originality/value This study highlights the unique interest in, and barriers to, library app implementation at Kuwait University, while providing an informative structure for similar studies and considerations elsewhere.