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Discussions around assessment integrity often focus on the exam conditions and the motivations and values of those who cheated in comparison with those who did not. We argue that discourse needs to move away from a binary representation of cheating. Instead, we propose that the conversation may be more productive and more impactful by focusing on those who do not cheat, but who are tempted to do so. We conceptualise this group as being at risk of future cheating behaviour and potentially more receptive of targeted strategies to support their integrity decisions. In this paper we report on a large-scale survey of university students (n = 7,511) who had just completed one or more end of semester online exams. In doing so we explore students' reported temptation to cheat. Analysis surrounding this "at risk" group reveals students who were Tempted (n = 1379) had significant differences from those who Cheated (n = 216) as well as those who were Not tempted (n = 5916). We focus on four research questions exploring whether there are specific online exam conditions, security settings, student attitudes or perceptions which are more strongly associated with the temptation to cheat. The paper offers insights to help institutions to minimise factors that might lead to breaches of assessment integrity, by focusing on the temptation to cheat during assessment.

Thousands of buildings in Cleveland, Ohio were demolished or rehabilitated since the Great Recession in the 2000s. Recent evidence suggests removing vacant and decaying buildings reduces violent and firearm-involved crime. This study examines the dose-response relationship between demolitions, rehabilitations, and crime. We use Bayesian spatiotemporal models to estimate the association of interest for five types of crime outcomes: violent crimes, violent crimes involving a firearm, drug crimes, and crimes often associated with building vacancy. We estimate associations in quarterly time periods from 2012 through 2017 in 569 hexagons approximately the size of a neighborhood (2000 feet, approximately 610 m, in diameter), stratified by vacancy level. Across vacancy levels, the majority of our models do not identify statistically significant associations between demolition and rehabilitation dose and crime incidence. However, in some cases, we identify positive associations between demolition and crime. These associations generally appeared at higher levels of demolition (2 or 3 or more demolitions) in areas characterized by medium to high levels of vacancy. We also find that the presence of a property rehabilitation is associated with an increase in drug crimes in areas with medium levels of vacancy.

The role a geospace plume in influencing the efficiency of magnetopause reconnection is an open question with two contrasting theories being debated. A local-control theory suggests that a plume decreases both local and global reconnection rates, whereas a global-control theory argues that the global reconnection rate is controlled by the solar wind rather than local physics. Observationally, limited numbers of point measurements from spacecraft cannot reveal whether a local change affects the global reconnection. A distributed observatory is hence needed to assess the validity of the two theories. We use THEMIS and Los Alamos National Laboratory spacecraft to identify the occurrence of a geospace plume and its contact with the magnetopause. Global evolution and morphology of the plume is traced using GPS measurements. SuperDARN is then used to monitor the distribution and the strength of dayside reconnection. Two storm-time geospace plume events are examined and show that as the plume contacts the magnetopause, the efficiency of reconnection decreases at the contact longitude. The amount of local decrease is 81% and 68% for the two events, and both values are consistent with the mass loading effect of the plume if the plume's atomic mass is ∼4 amu. Reconnection in the surrounding is enhanced, and when the solar wind driving is stable, little variation is seen in the cross polar cap potential. This study illuminates a pathway to resolve the role of cold dense plasma on solar wind-magnetosphere coupling, and the observations suggest that plumes redistribute magnetopause reconnection activity without changing the global strength substantially.

The 15th annual "Education Next" survey investigates how Americans are responding to the worst pandemic since the influenza pandemic of 1919. In the realm of education, a desire for sweeping reform might well be expected, given the pandemic's particularly severe toll on K-12 schooling. While few children suffered serious illnesses, the effects of the pandemic on the nation's youth were nonetheless dramatic. Schools across the country were shuttered for months, some for more than a year. State-mandated testing, a tool for holding schools accountable, was largely abandoned. Remote instruction, implemented under crisis conditions, failed to live up to the claims of virtual-learning enthusiasts. Learning loss was severe, especially among children from low-income families. According to parents, children's friendships and social ties suffered. Even their physical fitness was put at risk. Obesity, drug abuse, mental health challenges, and teenage suicides appeared to be on the rise. In desperation, some parents shifted their children from district schools to private schools, homeschooling, and other options that provided more in-person learning. The authors ask what is the state of public opinion as parents and school leaders nationwide transition back to in-person schooling? Is the public demanding innovation that can make up for educational losses over the past year? Or do people want a quiet return to the familiar? This survey is a continuation of Education Next's long-standing annual poll of public attitudes on education issues. This year, they interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,410 adults. The survey repeats many questions asked in past surveys, making it possible to see how the pandemic has affected public opinion. As in previous years, the survey contains a number of experiments in which the sample is split into two or three groups at random and then each group is asked a variation on the same question. These experiments allow the researchers to gauge how different question wordings and the provision of additional information affect participants' responses.

The 15th annual "Education Next" survey, conducted in June 2021, yields a host of specific results that reveal one large fact about the current state of public opinion on American education: The public is cautious--extremely cautious. In the presence of a still-circulating COVID-19 virus, a large percentage of parents and the broader public want schools to take strong measures to keep children safe as they return to school. Yet many parents are not ready to risk the injection of a COVID vaccine into their child's arm, even as government agencies testify to its safety and effectiveness. In this article, the authors report on the 2021 follow-up survey to polls of parents of school-age children that was administered in May and November 2020, enabling them to track children's schooling experiences over the course of the pandemic. In late May and June, the authors interviewed a representative sample of 2,022 parents with children in kindergarten through 12th grade. Every parent then answered a series of questions about each of their children. The survey oversampled Black and Hispanic parents, as well as parents with children in private and charter schools, which allows more-precise comparisons between racial and ethnic groups and between school sectors.

Instructional videos are increasingly part of the teaching practices of educators across all sectors. The most common theoretical lens used to design and evaluate instructional videos has been to apply principles emerging from the cognitive theory of multimedia learning. However, these principles have been largely developed from research using instructional media other than videos. In addition, there is no comprehensive list of principles that have been shown to improve learning from instructional videos. Therefore, this paper seeks to identify principles of video design that are empirically supported in the literature. A systematic literature review was conducted, with a final analysis of 113 papers describing 28 principles. While some of the existing cognitive theory of multimedia learning principles, notably "coherence," "segmenting" and "learner control," have been found to improve learning from instructional videos in a variety of contexts, others, such as "redundancy" and "modality," are not supported. These findings serve as clear guidance to instructional designers creating educational video content. In addition to describing the breadth of research in the field, this paper also found that the development of the research field suffers from a lack of coherence and is in urgent need of clear nomenclature and improved reporting of media and research design.

The 2020 Education Next Survey reveals a paradox related to what American parents think about the quality of the instruction their children received after schools closed their doors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The parents of a substantial majority of school-aged children--71%--think their kids learned less than they would have in school. At the same time, parents of 72% of children say they are satisfied with the instruction and activities provided by schools during the closure. What experiences account for these seemingly contradictory opinions? And how did those experiences vary across social groups and the nation's district, charter, and private school sectors? Since schools closed, commentators have used a variety of methods to understand the likely implications of this episode for student learning and what it bodes for the future, from analyzing school districts' remote-learning plans to tracking reports of homeschooling on social media. Yet there is a lack of a thorough and systematic picture of what American families experienced during the pandemic. New data from the 14th annual Education Next public-opinion survey can help to close this gap. The survey was administered to a nationally representative sample of 1,249 parents with children in kindergarten through 12th grade whose schools closed during the pandemic, including oversamples of parents who identify as Hispanic and parents who identify as Black. These parents answered questions about each of their children whose school closed, including 2,147 children in total. Data was also gathered from a nationally representative sample of 490 K-12 teachers whose schools closed because of the pandemic, enabling the authors to compare what parents reported receiving to what teachers said they delivered.

President Joe Biden has made reopening a majority of K-8 schools for in-person instruction a priority for his administration's first 100 days, with the goal of getting more American students safely back into the classroom. Yet neither information gathered so far by researchers, nor data reported by the federal government and the states, can say where the nation stands with respect to that goal. Nearly halfway through the 2020-21 school year, it is unknown how American schools have adapted amid the pandemic--and what American families are experiencing as a result. In November and December 2020, the authors surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,155 American parents with children in kindergarten through 12th grade, including oversamples of parents who identify as Hispanic and parents who identify as Black. They also oversampled parents with children in private and charter schools, making it possible to compare their experiences with those making use of the traditional district sector. Each parent surveyed answered questions about the schooling experiences of each of their children in kindergarten through 12th grade, including 3,762 children in total. They also asked them a set of questions about schools and school policies in the United States in order to see if those experiences have altered parents' views (see sidebar Gauging the Pandemic's Effects on Parental Opinion). The data reveals that more than half of U.S. students are receiving instruction entirely remotely this school year, while 28% of students receive instruction that is fully in person. Of the 19% of students in hybrid models, in-person instruction varies from one to five days a week. The parents of most students remain broadly satisfied with the instruction and activities available from their children's schools, yet the parents of 60% of students report that their child is learning less than would be the case absent the pandemic. Satisfaction levels are highest--and reports of learning loss least common--for students attending school in person. The hybrid model appears to offer no advantage over fully remote instruction. The authors document large differences across sectors in the frequency of in-person instruction. Well over half of students enrolled in district and charter schools receive all their instruction fully remotely, while less than one quarter receive all of their instruction in person. The percentages are nearly reversed for children attending private schools: 60% receive instruction in person and just 18% receive their instruction remotely. They also provide the first evidence on the relationship between in-person instruction and the incidence of COVID. The availability and usage of in-person instruction is unrelated to COVID incidence at the start of the 2020-2021 school year, when most districts made their reopening plans. By November, however, students were most likely to be attending school fully in person in counties where the virus was spreading most rapidly.

For 14 years, the "Education Next" annual survey has tracked American opinion on education policy. This year's survey, administered in May 2020, provides an early look at how the experiences of the past few months as the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools nationwide may shape Americans' views on education policy going forward. The survey's nationally representative sample of 4,291 adults includes an oversampling of teachers and of those who identify themselves as Black and Hispanic and examines public opinion on issues at the core of education-policy debates as the U.S. heads into the height of the 2020 presidential campaign. The survey's top findings cover: (1) teacher pay; (2) school spending; (3) online education; (4) school choice; (5) opinion of public schools and teachers; (6) free college; and (7) populism and education policy.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are common in many eutrophic lakes and frequently associated with nutrient excesses, warm waters, and calm conditions. While HABs can also occur in oligotrophic waterbodies, bloom‐stimulating factors remain elusive for these ecosystems. Here, using a high‐frequency sensor platform supported by hydrodynamic modeling, we document a clearly linked sequence of three hydrodynamic events that immediately preceded each HAB event on Skaneateles Lake, NY during 2018. HABs were first preceded by interactions between internal waves in the thermal structure of the lake with the northern slope of the lakebed. These interactions disturbed sediments resulting in upwelling of nutrient‐rich sediment and possibly cyanobacterial cells into the lower water column. Next, moderate winds stimulated Langmuir circulation which facilitated the transport of material from the lower water column to well‐lit surface waters. Finally, the sequence culminated with a calm wind period, which is often classically associated with surface HAB formation. While individual steps in this sequence occurred independently and repeatedly throughout the year, the complete sequence occurred only eight times, immediately preceding each of the eight documented HABs. We empirically derive thresholds for and timing of the sequence to independently predict HAB occurrence and elevated cyanobacteria levels in the lake. The discovery of this specific and repeated event sequence and the identified thresholds provides the potential for forecasting of HABs days in advance. Ongoing climate change impacts, including increasing water column thermal stratification and changing wind speeds may alter the frequency, timing, and duration of this sequence and consequent HAB formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the 2020 presidential election campaign now underway, education-policy proposals previously at the edge of the political debate are entering the mainstream. Support for increasing teacher pay is higher now than at any point since 2008, and a majority of the public favors more federal funding for local schools. Free college commands the support of three in five Americans. Support for school vouchers has shifted upward, and tax-credit scholarships along the lines proposed by the current administration now command the support of a sizable majority of adults. These are just a few of the findings of the 13th annual "Education Next" survey of public opinion, administered in May 2019. The poll's nationally representative sample of 3,046 adults includes an oversampling of teachers, African Americans, and those who identify themselves as Hispanic. This year, for the first time, the authors also surveyed a sample of 415 high-school students and their parents. On several issues, the analysis teases out nuances in public opinion by asking variations of questions to randomly selected segments of survey participants. The authors divided respondents at random into two or more segments and asked each group a different version of the same general question. For example, half of the respondents were told--but not the other half--how much the average teacher in their state is paid before asking whether salaries should increase, decrease, or remain about the same. By comparing the differences in the opinions of the two groups, the authors are able to estimate the extent to which relevant information influences public thinking on teacher pay. This essay reports and interprets the poll's major findings.

Education's political landscape has shifted dramatically over the past year. To the consternation of most school-district officials, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos used the bully pulpit to promote charter schools, vouchers, and tax credits for private-school scholarships. To the distress of teachers unions, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an Illinois law requiring government workers who elect not to become union members to pay representation fees. To the chagrin of civil-rights groups, the U.S. Department of Education said that it was reviewing a letter sent to school districts by the Obama administration informing them that they were at risk of incurring a civil-rights violation if students of color were suspended or expelled more often than their peers. To the relief of Common Core enthusiasts, the politically charged debate over the standards moved to the back burner. And to the dismay of parents, teachers, and policymakers across the political spectrum, students demonstrated almost no gains in reading and math on the 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) over the 2015 test. All these events were consequential, but none penetrated into the thinking of the American public as sharply as did teacher strikes in six southern and western states. Those walkouts seem to have lent new urgency to teacher demands for salary raises and increased financial support for schools. The status of public opinion on these and other topics comprises the 12th annual "Education Next (EdNext)" survey of public opinion, administered in May 2018. The poll's nationally representative sample of 4,601 adults includes an oversampling of parents, teachers, African Americans, and those who identify themselves as Hispanic. This article reports findings on the topics of teacher salaries, school spending and the right to strike; teachers and teachers unions; school choice; school quality; racial and ethnic disparities in school discipline; and affirmative action.

Adiabatic motion is a fundamental reversible process for geomagnetically trapped particle populations, including particles comprising the ring current and radiation belts. During adiabatic motion, a particle's trajectory in configuration space responds to sufficiently slow changes in the magnetospheric magnetic field. Previous research has highlighted expected patterns in adiabatic motion, such as radial motion or the Dst effect. In this work, we introduce a method we call Invariant Matching for quantifying adiabatic motion between a pair of magnetospheres. This method can be applied to both simulation and semi-empirical magnetic field models, is computationally efficient, and in particular does not require tracing the particle trajectories. In this work, we use the Tsyganenko et al., Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 2005, 110 (TS05) magnetic field model, and present adiabatic motion between a storm commencement, the time of the storm's Dst minimum, and a nominal recovery time. We also analyze adiabatic motion which occurs in response to enhancements of individual major current systems (including the ring current, Chapman-Ferraro current, Birkeland current, and tail current). Our methodology yields vector fields quantifying the displacement of mirror points throughout the magnetosphere, prepared in a way appropriate for application to both outer radiation belt and ring current populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FOR 14 YEARS, THE EDUCATION NEXT ANNUAL SURVEY has tracked American opinion on education policy. We have gauged peoples views through the throes of the Great Recession, dramatic changes in [...]

BackgroundGenome-wide association studies have identified polymorphisms linked to both smoking exposure and risk of lung cancer. The degree to which lung cancer risk is driven by increased smoking, genetics, or gene-environment interactions is not well understood.MethodsWe analyzed associations between 28 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously associated with smoking quantity and lung cancer in 7156 African-American females in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), then analyzed main effects of top nominally significant SNPs and interactions between SNPs, cigarettes per day (CPD) and pack-years for lung cancer in an independent, multi-center case-control study of African-American females and males (1078 lung cancer cases and 822 controls).FindingsNine nominally significant SNPs for CPD in WHI were associated with incident lung cancer (corrected p-values from 0.027 to 6.09 × 10(-5)). CPD was found to be a nominally significant effect modifier between SNP and lung cancer for six SNPs, including CHRNA5 rs2036527[A](betaSNP*CPD = - 0.017, p = 0.0061, corrected p = 0.054), which was associated with CPD in a previous genome-wide meta-analysis of African-Americans.InterpretationThese results suggest that chromosome 15q25.1 variants are robustly associated with CPD and lung cancer in African-Americans and that the allelic dose effect of these polymorphisms on lung cancer risk is most pronounced in lighter smokers.

WITH THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN NOW UNDERWAY, education-policy proposals previously at the edge of the political debate are entering the mainstream. On the Republican side, the Trump administration has [...]

Events and leaders can generate feelings of anxiety that shape political attitudes and behavior in the short run. Yet, threats are often ephemeral, and existing literature does not show whether anxiety or its effects fade as easily as they rise. We address this gap by examining the persistence of anxiety toward the health and economic risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, we examine the duration of anxiety's role in information gathering as well as the role of information search on continued experiences of anxiety. To address these questions, we use a five-wave panel survey of a representative sample of adult residents of Louisiana, a state where the COVID-19 pandemic hit particularly hard but with uneven health and economic impacts. We find evidence confirming reinforcement of anxiety, in which feeling anxious at one point in time is associated with anxiety at subsequent points independent of continued threat exposure and individual heterogeneity in the propensity to feel anxious. We also find modest evidence that biased information seeking behavior accounts for some of this reinforcement. Additionally, we find mixed evidence for the persistence of anxiety's effects on political attitudes even after threat exposure subsides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The year 2016 marks the 10th anniversary of the "Education Next" poll on K-12 education policy, offering "Education Next" the opportunity to take a retrospective look at public opinion on this vital topic. In 8 of the past 10 years, "Education Next" has also surveyed teachers on the subject and has seen some interesting differences between the thinking of these educators and the public at large. This year, given that public opinion on many national issues is riven by partisan disparities, the authors compare and contrast the views of Republicans and Democrats. On many topics, the authors find that opinion has remained consistent over the past 10 years. The authors write that they see only slight changes in people's views on the quality of the nation's schools, for instance, or on federally mandated testing, charter schools, tax credits to support private school choice, merit pay for teachers, or the effects of teachers unions. But on other issues, opinions have changed significantly. Support for the Common Core State Standards has fallen to a new low in 2016. So has public backing for school vouchers--both those limited to low-income families and those made available to all families. Support for tenure has fallen, but approval for teacher salary hikes has climbed to levels not seen since the U.S. recession of 2008 among respondents not told about current salary levels. Over all, the authors present details of their seven main conclusions drawn from their multi year survey of public and teacher opinions on a broad range of educational issues.