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Adolescence is a critical period for developing social and emotional habits important for mental well-being (Kessler et al., 2005). Half of all mental health conditions start by age 14, and the average delay between onset of symptoms and intervention is eight to ten years (Wang et al., 2007). Youth with mental health conditions are particularly vulnerable to social exclusion, discrimination, stigma, educational difficulties, risk-taking behaviors, and worsening physical health. Youth often do not get the help they need due to ongoing stigma and barriers in accessing mental health treatment. For example, in Wisconsin, 30% of the population live in a county designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area (Health Resources & Services Administration, 2023).

We, four teachers in Ojibwe or majority-Ojibwe schools and three teachers in teacher preparation at a small ecologically focused liberal arts college, tell stories to reorient ourselves, centering place in ways accessible to our emerging practice. In these narratives, anchored in the seasons, we describe our challenges and successes in adapting education programs to better evoke the lifeways that predominate in our shared part of rural northern Wisconsin immersed in the lands of the Ojibwe. We relied on experiences, both ours and of Ojibwe learners, to illuminate the rhythms of our place and the seasons of learning defined by boreal forest, an inland sea, the sugar bush, and the wild rice harvest, in the hope of better outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous teacher candidates (and their future students) in our evolving program. This narrative work cobbles a frame enabling connection to create rural, fugitive, decolonized teacher preparation that centers respect, reciprocity, and agency.

This study explores the sense of belonging of rural middle and high school Latinx science students in Wisconsin. Between 2000 and 2015, the Latinx population was the fastest growing ethnic group in Wisconsin and increased by 95%. Yet, little is known about the experiences of these students in rural schools or their engagement in science learning. Our research contributes to addressing this knowledge gap and provides insights into Latinx student experiences relative to the science classroom and community. Our findings indicate that a primary determinant of Latinx science students' positive sense of belonging is a positive relationship with their teachers.

A popular alternative disciplinary framework from zero-tolerance school policies is restorative justice, which refers to a set of ideologies and practices that emphasize healing relationships in lieu of community exclusion. This work investigates the differences between ideological support for restorative approaches compared to program implementation. We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with school staff, including teachers, administrators, and security officials, at five urban high schools in the Chicago metropolitan region. Our findings highlight sharp divergences in buy-in for restorative justice and perceptions on the appropriateness of various disciplinary approaches, illuminating both barriers and opportunities towards schoolwide restorative justice program implementation.

High-performance computing (HPC) has become a strategic resource that drives innovation and economic growth. In addition, it is important to educate a workforce with advanced computational skills to maintain economic competitiveness. In this project, we studied 133 domestic and international university HPC centers to understand the status of HPC. Diverse operating models have been identified and analyzed. To explore the need for and challenges associated with HPC within Wisconsin, faculty and students within the University of Wisconsin System and personnel in local industries were surveyed; in addition, we engaged in conversations with university leaders and officials from government agencies. A strong need for HPC resources has been identified, as well as several serious challenges. A state-wide initiative, the Wisconsin Big Data Alliance, which requires legislative support, is recommended as the platform to foster public-private partnerships, drive scientific and technological innovations, and promote workforce development, leading to an efficient usage of computing resources.

Despite well-established health disparities between transgender and cisgender youth, state bills restricting gender-inclusive school supports and health care have dramatically expanded since 2019. While parental support for transgender youth strengthens healthy development, unsupportive parents contribute to suicidality and homelessness. This study examines (1) whether school climate and health gender inequities hold in Wisconsin, a politically contested state without nondiscrimination or bullying legislative protections for transgender youth, and (2) gender differences among adolescents who sought help when depressed or anxious.

Long-standing shortages of well-prepared special educators, especially within rural areas, have jeopardized positive outcomes for students with disabilities. In this multiple case study of administrators and special educators, the authors examined how individuals make sense of the special education teacher shortages in relation to the challenges of working in a rural school. Local contextual factors intersected with salary and state policies, highlighting how external, political factors affected districts' ability to attract and retain special education teachers. Chief among implications for research, policy, and practice is the need to attend to multipronged approaches that have the potential to mitigate economic barriers to special educator recruitment and retention in rural school districts.

Racial disproportionality in school discipline is an enduring systemic problem. This study is based on a collaboration with 14 school stakeholders: American Indian students, parents, community members, and educators at a high school in a community-driven problem-solving process called Indigenous Learning Lab (ILL). ILL members addressed the root causes of the racialized school discipline and created a new school discipline system. Using critical geography and decolonizing methodology as the theoretical and analytical framework, this study aimed to unpack the emergence of Thirdspace -- a space of resistance, possibilities, and hopes -- in ILL to address enduring racial disproportionality. Members challenged race-neutrality of data sense-making, mapped out dystopia, revitalized American Indian epistemology, and mapped out a real utopian vision of schooling.

Based on 1,364 children across Grades 1, 3, and 5, the present study explored the mutualism of (externalizing and internalizing) behavioral problems and language, and whether social skills explained such mutualism. The random intercept cross-lagged panel models were conducted to control for between-person level variance and to explore mutualism of variables on the within-person level. Results indicated the mutualistic coupling of language and externalizing behavioral problems from Grades 3 to 5. When including social skills in the model, only social skills and externalizing behavioral problems formed the mutualism from Grades 3 to 5; language only predicted behavioral problems and social skills in the early elementary stage (Grades 1-3). These results suggest that language and behavioral management early on are important investing skills for the development of language, behavior skills, and social skills. With development, social skills may become more important than general language skills to manage problem behaviors. These findings indicated that interventions targeting behavioral problems may need to adapt their focus as children develop: fostering general language abilities early on but shifting to building social skills in later grades.

Parents of individuals with autism face many challenges in accessing appropriate services and supports for their offspring. Parents also play vital roles in advocating for their offspring's rights and needs. Furthermore, despite advocacy programs becoming increasingly common, it remains unclear how to best foster advocacy among parents of individuals with autism. To this end, we examined the associations among knowledge, empowerment, and three types of advocacy activities (i.e. individual, peer, and systemic) among 185 parents of transition-aged youth with autism using structural equation modeling. Results show that empowerment has a greater impact on advocacy than knowledge. Significant direct and indirect effects of individual advocacy activities on peer advocacy activities, and peer advocacy activities on systemic advocacy activities were also confirmed. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Background: STEM achievement gaps affect marginalized students nation-wide. Environmental education (EE) does not currently nor historically represent a wide range of demographic backgrounds, and increasing concerns demonstrate the effects this can have on pedagogy of the field and the success of its students. Purpose: This research focuses on measures being reported by EE organizations in Wisconsin, and nearby regions, in their work to address diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) with consideration to inclusive practices, instructional materials, and overall pedagogy of EE. Methodology/Approach: In 2021, a web-based survey was emailed to 140 EE organization leaders and an updated version was emailed to 112 EE organization leaders in 2023. Responses were analyzed to determine the status of EE across the state and trends across years. Findings/Conclusions: The data does demonstrate a need for equity in EE, specifically supporting students with different learning needs or from underrepresented backgrounds. DEI initiative importance versus resources allocated is disjointed. Lack of consistent collection of demographic data leads EE organizations to fall short of DEI action. Implications: In order to better support learning and positive outcomes, it is significant that environmental educators reevaluate their practices to meet the needs of the growingly diverse students across the country.

Since 2017, hostile anti-LGBTQ+ educational bills rapidly expanded. Using traditional and critical policy analysis across three Midwestern states, we examine (1) whether state and local policymakers (n = 60) adopted trans-inclusive protections aligned with the 2017 federal "Whitaker" ruling, (2) the spread and scope of state and local educational policies concerning LGBTQ+ people, and (3) relationships between LGBTQ and critical race theory (CRT) curricular bills. We find policy erasure in states without pre-"Whitaker" gender-inclusive nondiscrimination laws and expanded efforts to ban LGBTQ+ students from educational opportunities, spaces, and curriculum. LGBTQ+ and CRT curricular bans overlapped. We discuss the implications of policymakers leaning into exclusion over gender reforms.

Schools are accountable for the academic outcomes of all students, including those with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine how educators perceived "achievement" and to explore the structures in place to support student success. Results indicated that a schoolwide approach worked to provide access before a student struggled compared with relying on the hard work of individual teachers.

Active teaching methods are believed to facilitate higher-order thinking skills and prepare allied health students for independent clinical decision-making. This quantitative, correlational study aimed to explain the relationships between student preferences for active over traditional methods and their beliefs, the frequency and positiveness of their experiences, and the extent of knowledge they have received regarding active and traditional teaching methods. Two hundred and thirty students completed a 53-item online survey. Students were enrolled in a Doctor of Physical Therapy, Masters in Speech-language Pathology, or Bachelor of Science Nursing program in one of seventeen participating institutions across a ten-state Midwest region. A combination of student knowledge, student beliefs, and positive student experiences with active over traditional methods predicted 72.5% (R[superscript 2] = 0.725, p = <0.001) of the variance of student preferences for active methods. When students have clarity about the expectations of active learning methods, how they benefit their learning, believe they are responsible for learning and take the initiative, and perceive a positive experience, they prefer active methods over traditional methods. The results inform health professional education programs with recommendations that influence pedagogical change to support faculty and prepare students for clinical practice, higher-order thinking skills, and workforce expectations.

The rising costs of course materials have higher education stakeholders seeking alternative models to the traditional course materials acquisition model. One model of interest is Inclusive Access. Inclusive Access has had a sudden rise in adoption across the country which has left gaps in the literature as to the effectiveness of such programs. A review of the literature on the effectiveness of Inclusive Access course materials models returned only four published studies. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of an Inclusive Access course materials model and its effects on student success rates at a Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC). WCTC provided student outcome data for 7110 students across six courses. The analysis documented significant differences between the before and after Inclusive Access samples for five of the nine categories examined. Black students (+12.80 %), Female students (+3.93%), and Students [greater than or equal to] Age 25 (+3.40%) had the largest increase in success rates when comparing the before and after Inclusive Access implementation populations.

Throughout the history of higher education, students have engaged in activism, demanding that institutions become more and more equitable. This study shares data collected across Big10 institutions through the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership regarding trends in activism involvement, activism behaviors, and social issues around which those behaviors were focused. Findings indicate that 1) overall, activism-related behaviors increased, and 2) issues about social identities and policies increased. By better understanding student activism, student affairs educators can adapt, change, and grow with student needs, especially working with and for student activists.

Future Forward is an early elementary literacy program which, through a family-school-community partnership approach, integrates one-on-one tutoring and family engagement to support literacy development at school and at home. In the 2020-21 school year, as part of an Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Mid-Phase grant, the impact of a modified Future Forward on reading achievement was tested with a randomized control study of students in nine schools. In the context of COVID-19, implementation was modified to support virtual tutoring. Although consistent in magnitude with other studies, the modified Future Forward program was not found to have a statistically significant impact on student achievement. Sample size limitations and implementation challenges, both resulting from COVID-19, hindered our ability to measure an impact. Even considering these challenges, we still found evidence that Future Forward had a positive impact on the reading achievement of Black students (0.34 standard deviations, p =0.095) and, even more so, Black male students (0.54 standard deviation, p =0.052).

While there has been a recent focus on developing programs to support educational research by community college anatomy and physiology instructors, there is not yet an established long-term community of practice (CoPs) in this particular area. Studies of long-term CoPs, particularly in STEM education, are few and far between. This study examines College in the Schools (CIS), a long-term community of practice for high school anatomy and physiology (A&P) educators in Minnesota and Wisconsin. In addition, this study highlights the factors that attract high school A&P teachers to CIS and the possibility of creating a similar CoP for community college (CC) A&P instructors focused on educational research. It was discovered that despite their varying reasons for joining, members of CIS and CC instructors tend to participate in CoPs similarly. As a result, A&P instructors from CC who are interested in educational research could benefit from a CoP structure similar to CIS over a longer period of time.

International student enrollment has become increasingly important in higher education financing as public appropriations for higher education and enrollments have declined. A critical consideration for U.S. public institutions -- in particular regional institutions that lack brand prestige -- is pricing. This research brief examines the methods regional public universities in Wisconsin and Minnesota used to lower tuition for international, degree-seeking undergraduates. The findings suggest that the institutions used multiple approaches to reduce international non-resident tuition and limit remissions length and renewal. Additionally, remission complexity and price uncertainty may influence perceptions of higher education affordability in the United States.

Purpose: The unanticipated changes in state legislation in Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee, and Wisconsin in 2011-12 significantly restricted or entirely prohibited the collective bargaining rights of teachers. Considering these institutional changes as a natural experiment, we examine the causal impact of weakening teacher unionization on districts' spending on teacher compensation. Research Methods/Approach: We merge two nationally representative data sets from the United States: the Local Education Agency (School Districts) Finance Survey (F-33) and the Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA) in 2009-16. We identify the effect of the institutional changes regarding teachers' unions by employing a difference-in-difference estimation and synthetic control method, exploiting district-level national data on spending on teacher compensation. Findings: We find that the antiunion institutional changes substantially reduced districts' spending on both teacher salaries and benefits. The negative impact is larger for the districts located at the bottom of the distribution of spending than for districts at the top. Implications: Our study suggests that the antiunion legal changes will raise income inequality among teachers, and the increased inequality in compensation among teachers may translate into greater performance gaps between students, if teachers receiving lower compensation are more likely to quit teaching or to move to districts that pay more. Therefore, the negative effects of the antiunion legal changes be even greater in the long run if the current trends persist.

Shifting to an inquiry-based practice can be challenging. How should teachers get started? How many times should teachers plan for inquiry? What do teachers do when students struggle with inquiry? How long does it take for students to buy in to the inquiry process? These kinds of questions, and the concerns that underlie them, can create an understandable inertia around instructional change. In this article, we show how one district's teachers are getting started by finding their inquiry groove in middle school. They began by designing three conceptual inquiry curricular loops for sixth, seventh, and eighth grades using the Inquiry Design Model (IDM).

Purpose: Using the framework of Adult Learning Theory, this study worked to uncover the composition of rural landowners' information sources and learner characteristics that impact information-seeking behavior among maple syrup producers in Wisconsin. Design: Regression models were used to analyze data from a survey targeted at Wisconsin maple syrup producers (N = 677). Findings: Maple syrup producers mostly learn through interactions with peers and underutilize expert resources, but opinion leaders and early adopters of new technologies are more likely to seek information through both formal and informal knowledge networks than maple producers who are not influencers in their community. Extrinsic motivation was associated with maple producers' tendency to engage in optimal knowledge acquisition, whereas intrinsic motivation was not. Practical implications: Professionals can optimize resources to design outreach programs and develop marketing strategies by targeting landowners based on their learner characteristics. Theoretical implications: Our research contributes to the adult learning literature and advances the theoretical understanding of micro-Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems by investigating the influence of different types of learning motivations on optimal knowledge acquisition. Originality/Value: This study identified landowner characteristics related to optimal knowledge acquisition and is the first to highlight the roles of family legacy and social norms as motivators that drive maple producers to acquire new skills and knowledge.

According to the author, "With Liberty and Justice for ALL: Multicultural ]Education in Wisconsin" is a most appropriate and befitting title for a National Association For Multicultural Education (NAME) conference in this moment -- an extraordinarily divided time -- in Wisconsin and U. S. history. As keynote speaker at this pre-voyage briefing, the author plans to share a few thoughts about the social structure and the aims of the society where the mission will take attendees to, to put in place multicultural education. NAME will be engaging in orchestrating plans for teaching and learning that are omitted and/or discouraged by many, whitewashed and/or misrepresented by many others, and taught and/or learned by few. To teach "liberty and justice for all" demands first acknowledging that the conceptualization and putting forth the idea ["liberty and justice for all"] was initially more exclusive than inclusive, in that only white men who own property were included. Black people, Indigenous people, and other People of Color, and all women were not included in the "All." Accomplishing what no one else has accomplish before -- Multicultural Education in all schools in Wisconsin -- demands putting into practice a harmonious working partnership between intercultural education and multicultural education at its highest conceptualization of social justice, where equality, equity, cultural recognition, persons with disability, economic differences, LBGTQ+ are included and flourishing in full blossom. The author's hopefulness is in part conditioned by the following: The belief America can be "that" America -- in spirit and action-- as the author states, we dream about where "We the People" is dedicated to the ideals -- as expressed in -- the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, with a special pride in the final five words of The Pledge of Allegiance -- acknowledging that a dichotomy existed between the authors' words stated within these documents and the authors' everyday actions.

While undocu/DACAmented students face many challenges in higher education, their lives demonstrate a tremendous amount of motivation, resilience, commitment, and perseverance. The literature on undocumented students has indicated that these students bring a vast array of assets to college -- assets that can be used to improve the campus and the experiences of undocu/DACAmented individuals. However, undocu/DACAmented student assets are often undervalued. In this critical qualitative study of testimonios with 15 undocu/DACAmented Latinx collegians, we examine how institutions utilize, underutilize, or exploit these students' assets to ask at what point acknowledging and recognizing students' assets turns into exploiting them. Our findings revealed these collegians hold myriad assets and institutions responded to those assets by sometimes acknowledging and rewarding them, failing to acknowledge these assets, or exploiting them. Recommendations for equitable and ethical recognition and collaboration with undocu/DACAmented collegians are provided.

The past few years have seen a rise in interest in local elected offices, specifically in school board seats. These seats hold unequivocal power over what school districts can do in terms of advancing equity and excellence in education. We explore one facet of what became a playbook of anti-equity efforts in school districts during the COVID-19 pandemic -- the 2021 school board recall attempts, which had quadrupled compared to any other year. Highlighting one successful recall and identifying similarities among these recall efforts, we argue that the these attempts were fueled by ideological differences and racial politics, which often served to disrupt equity efforts in education.

Gender minority (GM) students are at high risk for substance use and depression. This study explores the role of protective factors in reducing rates of substance use and depression based on high school surveys. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to evaluate the association between exposures and outcomes. Youth completed surveys in 2018 (n = 16,288) and in 2021 (n = 10,792). GM students reported exposure to protective factors less frequently than their cisgender peers: good financial status (88.6% vs. 96.5% in 2018 and 95% vs. 97.8% in 2021), feeling a sense of school/community membership, (mean score 2.7 vs. 3.0 in 2018 and 2.6 vs. 3.0 in 2021) or having two or more caring adults in their life (61.5% vs. 79.7% in 2018 and 64.2% vs. 80.6% in 2021). GM youth experienced risk factors more often than their peers including bias-based bullying (mean score: 0.6 vs. 0.2 in 2018, 0.5 vs. 0.2 in 2021); peer victimization (0.5 vs. 0.2 in 2018, 0.3 vs. 0.1 in 2021), and homelessness/foster care exposure (32.8% vs. 10.8% in 2018 and 15.8% vs. 6.6% in 2021). Several factors mitigated depression and substance use among GM students. GM youth experienced these protective factors less frequently than their peers.

American Indian students continue to experience marginalization in settler-colonial school systems in the United States. American Indian students receive disciplinary punishment more frequently and harshly than white peers. Overrepresentation of American Indian students in school discipline is a byproduct of a long history of oppressive settler-colonial schooling. To address racial disproportionality in school discipline, the Indigenous Learning Lab was enacted through building a university-school-family-community partnership at a rural high school. Learning Lab is a community-driven problem-solving process through which multiple school stakeholders take transformative actions, including identification of systemic challenges entrenched in the settler-colonial school system and design of a new, culturally responsive support system. White administrators and teachers, along with students, family, and community members from the local tribal nation, engaged in prefigurative political action as they participated in the collective design process of the new system. Prefiguration is a present embodiment of new social relations, allowing participants to try new decision-making structures that may lead to what can be considered possible futures. The purpose of this paper is to examine how school stakeholders exerted their collective agency to unpack systemic contradictions in the settler-colonial school system and design a new culturally responsive support system.

Purpose: From book challenges to anti-critical race theory and anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning legislation, US English teachers have been on the receiving end of a considerable amount of far-right conservative pushback. This study aims to explore the effects of conservative pushback on individual English teachers and their classroom practice. What pushbacks have individual English teachers faced? How has pushback impacted their teaching? What strategies have they developed for navigating pushback? Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative study explores secondary English teachers' reported experiences with conservative backlash as reported in 15 semi-structured interviews conducted between May 2022 and August 2023. Findings: Participants reported feeling the pressure of increased levels of pushback, and many reported censoring their book selections to avoid additional public scrutiny. At the same time, they also described a range of strategies they have developed for protecting themselves and their practice, such as codifying curriculum, increasing transparency, formalizing review processes for challenging books and strengthening their resolve to resist. Originality/value: This study offers a timely window on a pressing problem affecting the daily practice of English teachers in the USA.

This paper examines national, state, and local factors impacting the creation of a new dual language immersion program (DLI) program in a Midwestern school district, a relatively understudied regional context. Using a critical bifocal lens and an ethnographic case study methodology, we examined two main questions: first, why was the DLI program created in the focal school district? And second, what were the most salient factors that impacted the creation and implementation of the DLI program? The findings show the significance of analyzing the role of dissimilar social factors in the context of historical and contemporary local and national circumstances when implementing educational options like DLI programs. The evidence provided by this study helps to problematize unidimensional explanations regarding equity and the role of various social actors in the decision making process in school communities. This study highlights the importance of considering local issues from more comprehensive perspectives in bi/multilingual, multiracial, and multiethnic learning contexts.

There is growing evidence for the impact of arts engagement on later life cognition. However, confounding by socioeconomic factors may have led to an overestimation of this association. We analyzed data from 4,344 older adults in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. We measured participatory (e.g. painting, making music, crafts) and receptive (e.g. concert, play, museum) arts engagement separately. Participants completed six neurocognitive tests measuring two distinct domains of cognitive function (episodic/working memory and executive function/language) concurrently and seven years later. We used inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) to remove confounding by a range of demographic and socioeconomic factors. Engaging in participatory or receptive arts for up to one hour per week (but not more frequently) was associated with better subsequent executive function/language. Similarly, engaging in receptive arts activities for up to three hours per week (but not more frequently) was associated with better subsequent episodic/working memory. These effects were of similar sizes to doing vigorous physical activity for up to one hour per week. However, our findings also highlight key methodological issues when exploring the relationship between arts engagement and cognition that should be considered in future studies, including measurement bias, life-course stage, length of follow-up, variation in outcomes, attrition, and missing data.

Parent involvement is often cited as an essential component of effective dual language bilingual education (DLBE), yet we have limited understanding of the ways parents participate in DLBE or how parent experiences differ between Latinx and non-Latinx families, who often have different reasons for enrolling their children in bilingual programs. Addressing these gaps, this article presents findings from a national survey of parent engagement and satisfaction for Latinx and non-Latinx parents whose children attend DLBE programs in Catholic schools. Findings revealed that parents viewed their involvement as important, although they reported being more involved in participation-oriented activities (e.g. volunteering in the classroom) than engagement-oriented activities (e.g. co-developing academic initiatives). Latinx parents reported similar or higher levels of involvement than non-Latinx parents in all areas except for school leadership. Parent satisfaction was extremely high, with Latinx parents expressing slightly higher satisfaction than non-Latinx parents. While parents were largely satisfied with school communication, many reported that certain communication was only available in English. These findings led researchers to conclude that high levels of reported satisfaction, particularly from Latinx parents, might obscure equity issues and that DLBE schools must look beyond satisfaction to understand parent experiences and to cultivate more equitable parent engagement.

Drawing from Critical Latinx Indigeneities, this study explored how Kichwa Saraguro families are (re)creating their Indigeneity and reclaiming their Kichwa language in rural areas of Wisconsin. Using a subset of data gathered through ethnographic work, we report on interviews with 10 members of the Saraguro community as they described the practices they enact to teach and learn what it means to be Saraguro. Our findings revealed that in response to experiences marked by ethnoracial minoritization, Saraguro youth and families have developed home- and community-based pedagogies to continue reclaiming their Kichwa language, culture, and epistemology. These practices included the intergenerational communal teaching of Saraguro culture, Kichwa language-learning initiatives, and Saraguro-led events designed to educate broader communities. Saraguro parents and teenage children pointed to the myriad of practical and emotional benefits they received from local and transnational Saraguro networks. Recommendations for critical educational research on transnational Indigenous Latine/x communities are discussed here.

The purpose of this survey study was to investigate the perceptions of music teachers in the state of Wisconsin about their use of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) in music classrooms. One hundred seventy-nine music educators completed the survey. Music teachers indicated that many of them do not have access to student IEPs and that student IEP goals and objectives typically lack relevance to the music classroom. Teachers also reported limited use of IEPs to plan daily instructional activities and develop curriculum, and noted they needed more planning time to effectively implement IEPs.

Research Findings: This study proposes and tests hypotheses regarding the factors in public early-childhood education (ECE) policy that may explain local universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) policies. By analyzing district-level longitudinal data from the Wisconsin State Department and United States (U.S.) Census over two decades, the study examines the contextual factors associated with policy adoption. Among the three frames of ECE policy -- social welfare, education, and family services -- this study finds that the education frame, which emphasizes the goal of public ECE in improving all students' educational outcomes, is the primary motivation for UPK in Wisconsin. The social-welfare frame, which posits that public ECE supports poor families, also appears to be associated with Wisconsin UPK policies. Additionally, the results show that UPK was not introduced to provide more child care for working parents, indicating that the family-service frame does not explain UPK. Practice or Policy: Given the overlapping roles of public ECE policies, this study demonstrates that UPK has primarily been oriented toward educational objectives and provides insights for policymakers in deciding which policy to adopt based on local needs.

In the year since ChatGPT was released by OpenAI, librarians, instructors, and higher education administrators have grappled with generative artificial intelligence (AI) and its implications for teaching, learning, research, and writing. Drawn from informal conversations, professional observations, discussion groups, and professional development events, this article reports on the experience of learning about generative AI at one university. This article considers ways that educators may use AI tools and reasons to resist adopting generative AI tools, situating uses on a spectrum of acceptability.

The ethical guidelines for the American Evaluation Association and the principles of community-based participatory evaluation both state the importance of equitable stakeholder involvement. Regardless of the evaluation approach, however, evaluators are often confronted with gatekeepers, or those who control the access to stakeholders, information, or resources. Gatekeepers limit both the participation of key community members and, therefore, the exchange of relevant information related to the evaluation - a process called gatekeeping. Little research attention has been placed on studying gatekeeping, resulting in a dearth of knowledge about the influence of gatekeeping on stakeholder-engaged evaluations and social-structural dynamics that potentially perpetuate gatekeeping practices. In this article, we propose a gatekeeping influence theory grounded in the findings from 14 interviews. With a constructed theory of gatekeeping, we document the emergent social-structural and relational dynamics involved in stakeholder-engaged evaluation, with a focus on evaluations that include community partners and members.

Adverse health events within families can harm children's development, including their early literacy. Using data from a longitudinal Wisconsin birth cohort, we estimated the spillover effect of younger siblings' gestational ages on older siblings' kindergarten-level literacy. We sampled 20,014 sibling pairs born during 2007-2010 who took Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening-Kindergarten tests during 2012-2016. Exposures were gestational age (completed weeks), preterm birth (gestational age <37 weeks), and very preterm birth (gestational age <32 weeks). We used gain-score regression -- a fixed effects strategy -- to estimate spillover effects. A one-week increase in younger siblings' gestational age improved the older siblings' test score by 0.011 SD (95% confidence interval: 0.001, 0.021 SD). The estimated spillover effect was larger among siblings whose mothers reported having a high school diploma/equivalent only (0.024 SD; 95% confidence interval: 0.004, 0.044 SD). The finding underscores the networked effects of one individual's early-life health shocks on their family members.

This Brief Report presents an example of assessment validation using an argument-based approach. The instrument we developed is a Brief Assessment of Students' Mature Number Sense, which measures a central goal in mathematics education. We chose to develop this assessment to provide an efficient way to measure the effect of instructional practices designed to improve students' number sense. Using an argument-based framework, we first identify our proposed interpretations and uses of student scores. We then outline our argument with three claims that provide evidence connecting students' responses on the assessment with its intended uses. Finally, we highlight why using argument-based validation benefits measure developers as well as the broader mathematics education community.

Teachers set the tone for their classrooms, but what teacher beliefs shape students' sense of belonging? We investigate how teachers' mindsets--or their beliefs about learning and school--relate to adolescents' individual and collective reports of classroom belonging. Our pre-registered analyses include a multilevel design of how 1,200 US middle school students (ages 11-13; 50% female; 49% low income; 40% White, 30% Latinx, 13% Black, 9% Asian) and their teachers responded to surveys on educational mindsets. We find teachers' growth mindset and confidence in teaching positively relate to students' math class belonging--explaining between 30 and 40% of belonging among classes. Our data suggest a teacher's own sense of school belonging is unrelated to the belonging students feel in class, suggesting teachers' broad feelings of belonging may not influence students' specific classroom feelings of belonging as anticipated. These findings reinforce the notion that what teachers think and believe influence how students feel when in class.

The Recipe 4 Success preventive intervention targeted multiple factors critical to the health and well-being of toddlers living in poverty. This randomized controlled trial, which was embedded within Early Head Start home visits for 12 weeks, included 242 racially and ethnically diverse families (51% girls; toddler mean age = 2.58 years; data collected 2016-2019). Compared to parents in usual practice home visits, parents in Recipe 4 Success displayed greater sensitive scaffolding of toddlers' learning and more responsive food parenting practices (Cohen's d = 0.21-0.30). Toddlers in Recipe 4 Success exhibited greater self-regulation and had healthier eating habits (Cohen's d = |0.16-0.35|). Results highlight the value of Recipe 4 Success in promoting parent and toddler behavior change that could have life-long benefits.

Objective: Characterize college student COVID-19 behaviors and attitudes during the early pandemic. Participants: Students on two university campuses in Wisconsin. Methods: Surveys administered in September and November 2020. Results: Few students (3-19%) participated in most in-person activities during the semester, with eating at restaurants as the exception (72-80%) and attending work (35%) and parties (33%) also reported more frequently. The majority wore masks in public (94-99%), but comparatively fewer (42%) did so at parties. Mask-wearing at parties decreased from September to November (p < 0.05). Students attending parties, or consuming more alcohol, were less concerned and more likely to take COVID-19-associated risks. Conclusions: Students were motivated to adhere to COVID-19 prevention measures but gathered socially. Though there was frequent public masking, mask-wearing at parties declined in November and may represent pandemic fatigue. High-yield strategies for decreasing viral spread may include changing masking social norms and engaging with students about creative risk-reduction strategies.

Purpose: If PK12 administrators aspire to interrupt bias-based bullying, they need to understand their role in perpetuating structural and social inequality. The purpose of this study was to examine administrators': 1) awareness of gender-based bullying, 2) initial intentions to address bullying, and 3) actions that interrupted or perpetuated gender-based bullying. Methods: This qualitative study used a purposeful sample U.S. court cases and 36 interviews with administrators and policy consultants to explore PK12 leaders' understanding of gender-based bullying and actions to disrupt bullying. Findings: Our findings provide a more expansive definition of administrative bullying and brings attention to the personal complicity of educational leaders in perpetuating gender-based bullying. Administrators in this study modeled support for bullying through each of these four types of bullying -- by direct action, facilitated support, accommodating external stakeholders, and resisting efforts to educate themselves or others on issues related to gender-based bullying. All of these approaches allow bias and bullying to continue. The study also reveals how some leaders interrupt bullying by collaborating with students, parents, and community-based organizations. Implications: Policymakers, leadership preparation instructors, and PK12 administrators may be interested in how administrative behaviors perpetuate gender-based bullying. A lack of knowledge about leaders' personal complicity in bullying and about gender-diversity fundamentally interrupts two of the main roles of PK-12 leaders: implementing policies and leading instructional practices. The results of the study suggest the need for additional policies, procedures, and training to support leaders committed to interrupting gender-based bullying.

Inclusive education is now advocated as best practice in schools. However, the extent to which adolescents with severe disabilities access the abundant social and academic experiences available in general education classes remains uncertain. We conducted multiple observations of 146 U.S. high school students with severe disabilities (including intellectual disability, autism, or multiple disabilities), who were enrolled in at least one general education class. Peer interactions with classmates tended to be very infrequent for most students with severe disabilities. Moreover, rates of peer interaction were the lowest during large-group instruction and when students were sitting next to paraprofessionals or special educators rather than with their peers. Academic engagement also varied across students and was highest during small-group instruction, during 1-on-1 work with adults, and when students sat near their peers. Observations of a comparison sample of peers attending these same classes revealed striking overall differences in social and academic participation. We offer recommendations for research and practice aimed at bolstering inclusive education in high schools.

American Norwegian (AmNo), a moribund heritage variety of Norwegian spoken predominantly in the Upper Midwest of the US, licenses "wh"-infinitives (i.e. indirect questions), which are structures that are not acceptable in either standard Norwegian Bokmål or Norwegian dialects. Adopting a spanning-account of syntax (Blix, 2021; Julien, 2021; Svenonius, 2016), we propose that "wh"-elements in AmNo can encode covert modality (similar to what is found in English indirect questions). We discuss these results and their impact on our understanding of the nature of syntactic change and the interaction of spanning in combination with A'-movement in heritage language syntax.

There is a public health epidemic in adolescents' use of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDSs), also known as electronic cigarettes, vaping products, or JUULs. However, little is known about the level of knowledge school staff have about ENDS. The purpose of this study is to examine outcomes of a nurse-led educational intervention designed to increase school staff knowledge about ENDS. A descriptive, nonrandomly selected pre-test/post-test design was used with 125 Wisconsin school staff. Results revealed further educational needs of school staff in content areas including advertising to youth and flavoring of ENDS. Following the educational intervention, post-test results showed a significant overall improvement in participant knowledge scores. Recommendations include implementing nurse-led education about ENDS to a more diverse population of school staff. Providing nurse-led ENDS education to school staff offers an upstream, proactive approach for school nurses to help address this public health epidemic.

Internships are widely promoted high-impact practices that can have positive impacts on students' academic and post-graduate success, yet how specific features facilitate these outcomes is understudied. Instead, internships are often studied in terms of mere participation, without recognizing that these experiences are complex pedagogic spaces shaped by professional cultures and decisions about instructional design. In this sequential mixed-methods study we use sociocultural learning theory to interpret data from online surveys (n = 435) and focus groups (n = 52) with students at five institutions. Stepwise linear regression analyses of demographic and programmatic variables associated with intern satisfaction, developmental value, and career adaptability indicated that first-generation status, sex, race and income level, and supervisor behaviors were significantly associated with satisfaction and development. Analyses of qualitative data revealed that features of positive (clear communication, availability, feedback) and negative (unavailability, inattention to learning) supervision impacted student experiences. These findings reveal that internships should be designed with careful attention to task scaffolding, student autonomy and supervisor assistance, depending on the professional context and situation. These results highlight the need for colleges and employers to design internships as mentored and culturally shaped learning spaces, provide supervisor training, and consider the cultural backgrounds of students when matching them to internships.

Most biology undergraduates learn about mutations in multiple classrooms throughout their college career. Understanding personalised genome test results, genome editing controversies, and the appearance of new variants of viruses or antibiotic resistant bacteria all require foundational knowledge about mutations. However, the abstract nature of molecular processes surrounding mutations makes them one of the more difficult topics for students to understand and apply. Instructors need valid assessment tools to document student understanding and tailor their instructional methods to address student knowledge gaps. We describe here the development and validation of the Mutations Criterion Referenced Assessment (MuCRA). This formative assessment was developed through an iterative process involving expert feedback and student responses to both open-ended and multiple-choice questions. The final MuCRA is composed of 10 multiple-choice questions aligned with three learning objectives. The item difficulty for each question was between 0.32-0.65, while the discrimination index ranged from 0.31-0.75 and the reliability (KR20) for the MuCRA was 0.69. The congruence analyses demonstrated distractors are capturing student misconceptions in 9/10 questions. These data indicate that the MuCRA can be used to reliably assess student learning and common misconceptions about mutations.

Racial disproportionality in school discipline is an enduring systemic problem whose patterns change from one context to another. In order to develop systemic solutions that are responsive to local contexts, school stakeholders' collective, agentic actions toward systemic changes are essential. Utilizing a participatory systemic design process led by an urban high school community, this case study examines how "Learning Lab," an inclusive problem-solving process, fostered urban school stakeholders' transformative agency. Through structured decision-making and collaborative design activity, Learning Lab participants analyzed systemic contradictions in the school discipline system and developed a culturally responsive behavioral support system to address racial disproportionality in discipline outcomes.

High schools hold great potential as contexts within which educators implement evidence-based practices shown to change post-school outcomes for youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Unfortunately, educators feel unprepared to use transition and disability-focused evidence-based practices. Coaching, as an essential feature of effective professional development, is an important process for supporting educators in their development of competencies for use of these practices. To inform the use of coaching in complex high school settings, the model used by the Center on Secondary Education for Students with ASD to implement a comprehensive package of disability- and transition-focused interventions in 30 schools is described and coaching data analyzed to offer lessons learned for developing professional development supports for secondary school practitioners. Limitations and implications for research and practice are discussed.

Transitioning Together is a multi-family intervention designed to support families of adolescents on the autism spectrum as they prepare for the transition to adulthood. Questions remain regarding its wide-scale adoption and implementation in real-world settings such as high schools. We examined student, teacher, and school-level facilitators and barriers to adopting and implementing Transitioning Together at 30 public high schools across three US states that were participating in the intervention arm of a larger randomized trial, which provided training and coaching for implementation of comprehensive evidence-based autism programming. Seventeen of the 30 schools adopted Transitioning Together. Community socioeconomic status and pre-existing quality of programming for family involvement and transition planning significantly predicted intervention adoption. Thirteen of the 17 schools that adopted Transitioning Together did so with a high level of fidelity (>90%). The areas of fidelity that schools struggled with most related to session structure, facilitating problem-solving and dialogue, and collecting feedback from families. Findings highlight struggles and successes with real-world adoption of the intervention in its current form. Future research is needed to further examine how to facilitate adoption across public high schools and/or other service systems, while maximizing effectiveness, as well as reach to historically underserved autism spectrum populations.