Collaboration With the State Department of Health

COVID-19 disproportionately affected older adults, creating opportunities for experts in geriatrics and gerontology to support public policy. In Indiana, the Probari team, composed of a geriatrician and a team of nurses with geriatrics and palliative care expertise, supported the state government response to long-term care facilities during the pandemic. The team was involved in helping coordinate all staff testing (534 nursing homes) by the State Department of Health in June and in August, prior to the Federal mandated testing and the distribution of antigen machines. The Probari team also fielded surveys on behalf of the State regarding staff attitudes towards testing and willingness to be vaccinated, to inform state policy and resource efforts. In addition, Probari collaborated with the State Department of Health and the Indiana National Guard by training over 1600 service members to provide non-clinical support in nursing facilities, and monitoring and evaluating that 3 month deployment.

University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) in-house COVID-19 testing program

The pandemic caused by the spread of the virus SARS-CoV-2 threatened to severely disrupt the activities of student-athletes. (REF) In order to provide a safe environment for athletic competition, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) mandated testing of student-athletes. The goal was to rapidly identify student-athletes and the athletic staff member who either tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 or were in contact with individuals who tested positive. Rapid identification of infected individuals and their contacts allowed the University to implement quarantine standards and quarantine facilities quickly as needed. The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) developed an in-house testing program and was quickly able to meet the NCAA requirements, allowing UTA to continue its athletic participation with minimal forfeiture of scheduled games. The purpose of this paper is to report the implementation UTA’s COVID prevention program for the university’s athletic program. This program will provide valuable information to other universities’ planning for the management of COVID prevention in their athletic programs. Challenges and solutions are identified.

Characteristics of the opt-out movement: Early evidence for Colorado

Testing and accountability measures have continued to expand since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. In addition to school and district accountability, student test scores increasingly formed the foundation of teacher performance metrics. State participation rates exceeded the 95% minimum prescribed by law despite increasing opposition to many testing requirements. However, the rollout of the Common Core aligned PARCC tests in 2015 marked the start of a backlash against state mandated testing. The movement, commonly called opt-out, encouraged families not to participate in required tests. We use pooled OLS regression on statewide panel data from Colorado schools to examine school-level characteristics in one of the states with the largest declines in test participation. We find the prevalence of opt-out is largest in charter schools, suburban and rural areas, higher performing schools, and schools with a higher proportion of White students.

The Philosophy of Assessment in Music Education

Philosophies of assessment are rare, perhaps even more so in music education. This chapter, arranged in five “movements” intended to reflect various ways of examining assessment issues, considers prominent themes emerging from the music education assessment literature, such as accountability, authentic assessment, consequential validity, legitimacy, mandated testing, metaphor, power-knowledge, and self-determination. The author asks questions such as, To what extent should philosophical commitments be voluntary versus compelled? To what extent should music educators be able to collectively determine educative values and to what extent should others (policymakers, local communities) have a say in what should constitute valuable learning in music? A common theme throughout the chapter is the urge for caution and reflection so that well-intended assessment efforts do not undermine cherished goals for music education.

The Impact of State Testing on American Music Classrooms

This chapter examines the impact that state testing of both music and nonmusic subjects has had on American music classrooms. We sought to identify the effects the American educational assessment movement has had on music teaching and learning in classrooms and rehearsal halls. Beginning with an overview of the movement, and continuing with the response from teachers and students, the results of the assessment movement on teaching and learning are challenged. Our review suggests that state testing has had some positive effects on music education. Nonetheless, it is cautioned that a concerted effort must be made to ensure that state-mandated testing is used to benefit all programs and to promote learning in all areas.

A College-Community Collaboration: Fostering Developmentally Appropriate Practices in the Age of Accountability

Early childhood education faculty from a college collaborated with a local public school district to conduct a series of professional-development workshops for early childhood practitioners. The workshop series was designed to address pedagogical concerns identified by district administrators and teachers, as well as to help early childhood educators maintain developmentally appropriate practices in an increasingly standards-based, assessment-oriented climate, defined by the Common Core Standards and state-mandated testing. Participant survey responses indicated that, although all workshops were well received, participants found more value in the application-focused workshops than the content-focused workshops. In an evidence-based, educational climate, professional development opportunities tend to focus on initiatives designed to directly impact student learning outcomes. Yet, professional development initiatives that provide opportunities for teachers to broaden their knowledge and acquire new strategies and skills may also be beneficial. Thus, policies and practices associated with opportunities for teacher professional development should carefully consider practitioner and institutional needs and reflect a range of constituent-identified foci and goals, in order to productively meet the needs of both classroom teachers and their students.

School Climate, Student Engagement, and Academic Achievement: A Latent Variable, Multilevel Multi-Informant Examination

This study tested the authoritative school climate theory that schools characterized by high structure and student support have greater levels of student engagement and that these factors are associated with higher academic achievement, as indicated by school graduation rates and school performance on state-mandated testing. The model was tested through a multilevel multi-informant structural model on a statewide sample of 60,441 students and 11,442 teachers in 298 high schools. Consistent with the authoritative school climate model, both structure and student support were associated with higher student engagement in schools. Moreover, student engagement was directly associated with academic achievement and operated as an intervening factor. Results provide new evidence that an authoritative school climate is associated with high school academic achievement.

Transfusion-Transmitted Infections: an Update on Product Screening, Diagnostic Techniques, and the Path Ahead

ABSTRACT The mandated testing of blood components for infectious diseases, to prevent transfusion-transmitted infections (TTIs), began in the 1950s. Since then, changes in predonation questionnaires and advances in testing techniques have afforded more sensitive and specific tests for pathogens, in addition to allowing earlier detection. Given that these approaches have very low but detectable failure rates, the recent development and implementation of proactive pathogen reduction approaches is the new forefront of TTI prevention strategies. With globalization and the ability of pathogens to evolve rapidly, continuous redefining of testing standards and laboratory techniques is paramount for maintaining a safe blood supply.

Examining Mandated Testing, Teachers’ Milieu, and Teachers’ Knowledge and Beliefs: Gaining a Fuller Understanding of the Web of Influence on Teachers’ Classroom Practices

Background Much research has been done on the factors that influence teachers’ work. Yet the nature and scope of those factors, and their impact on teachers, remain unclear. Indeed, different literature bases on teachers’ work present different and often contradictory conclusions. For example, some researchers claim that mandated accountability testing exerts the greatest impact on teachers’ work. Yet other researchers claim that teachers’ knowledge and beliefs have an equally strong impact on their work, as does mandated testing. These contradictory findings in the research seem to happen at least in part because most research into teachers’ work only looks at one or two influences on that work and ignores how multiple factors work together to influence teachers’ work. Purpose Recognizing this background, this study examines three factors that influence teachers’ work: mandated accountability testing, teachers’ knowledge and beliefs, and teachers’ milieu. The article examines each factor, both individually and collectively, for their combined influence on teachers’ work. Setting This study was conducted at a public middle school in south Texas. Population Four social studies teachers participated in this study: 2 eighth-grade U.S. history teachers, 1 seventh-grade Texas history teacher, and 1 sixth-grade world cultures teacher. Research Design The study encompasses 5 years of weekly interactions with social studies teachers at the school. I logged approximately 450 hours of nonparticipant observations, made field notes and audio recordings of regular classroom activities, conducted 13 semistructured interviews and had numerous informal conversations with the teachers, and attended teachers’ department meetings. Open coding was used to closely analyze research texts. Findings The analysis finds that these three factors do not influence teachers’ work in isolation. Instead, they combine to form a complex “web of influence” on teachers’ work. The article crafts a narrative of these teachers’ experiences with these different factors and illustrates how the factors combine to impact their work. Conclusion This article holds implications for school leaders, policy makers, and teacher educators. In short, it offers evidence about the unintended consequences of not taking a holistic approach to school leadership, educational policy, and teacher education.