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This article provides empirical findings associated with the perceptions of faculty, staff, and administrators regarding a decision to reclassify a metropolitan university's athletics program from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I. A survey is developed that asks respondents about their perceptions of the current state of the athletics program, how the reclassification decision affected those perceptions, and about the process and outcomes of the reclassification decision. In general, the results indicate a generally favorable view by these stakeholders with the reclassification decision.

In 2005, a group of faculty who work in the field of teacher education and are invested in social justice formed a group to examine how teacher preparation programs address (or often do not address) LGBTQ lives and issues. Concern about the invisibility of LGBTQ people, movements in education, and a commitment to changing the current state of affairs propelled their gathering. Their conceptual framework for this project emerged from a desire to transform the oppressive systems of normativity, particularly heteronormativity, that constrain human flourishing and self-determination. Heteronormativity, the structures "that legitimize and privilege heterosexuality and heterosexual relationships as fundamental and "natural" within society," is pervasive in most institutions, including K-12 schools and universities. To challenge this invisibility in teacher education, the group consisting of between four and 12 members who represent 10 Illinois colleges and universities, became affiliated with the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance (the Alliance) and established the Pre-Professional Preparation Project, or P Project. They conducted an investigation from the position of a prospective student with access to the Internet, as looking at college and university websites is one of the fastest, easiest, and most increasingly popular ways to access information about these institutions and their teacher education programs. In other words, they conducted an electronic assessment (e-assessment) of all 57 Illinois teacher education programs. They then organized these data to create a snapshot of the state context for LGBTQ university students, generally, and prospective teachers, specifically. They chose to convey their findings via report cards. They called this project and their eventual report, released in 2009, "Visibility Matters." Because their purpose is, at least in part, to advocate for greater LGBTQ presence and visibility, they returned to the college and university websites one year later. "Visibility Matters 2010," released on May 4, 2010, recognizes those institutions that have shown improvement as well as includes their first look at social worker preparation programs in the state. This article examines the P Project which was intended to catalyze social change by highlighting institutionalized oppression associated with sexual- and gender-based differences. (Contains 5 notes.)

The Midwest Expansion of the Child-Parent Center Education Program (MCPC) is a pre-K to 3rd grade intervention program aimed at improving economically disadvantaged children's school success by enhancing continuity in instruction and increasing parental involvement. Opened in Chicago in the 1960s, this school reform model has undergone significant changes and is currently being expanded in five demographically heterogeneous school districts in Illinois and Minnesota. This article describes the collaborative process that has contributed to effective implementation of the expansion project within at-risk communities. Three themes of collaboration are emphasized: (a) improving the quality of data, (b) establishing and maintaining implementation fidelity, and (c) using research to inform practice. We discuss lessons learned from our partnerships with a number of collaborators including those involved with implementing the pre-K program, researching and evaluating the project, and providing professional development to teachers. Consideration is given to advancing the field of implementation science by successfully initiating and enhancing exemplary partnerships in comprehensive school reforms through effective research design.

Scaling of evidence-based practices in education has received extensive discussion but little empirical evaluation. We present here a descriptive summary of the experience from seven states with a history of implementing and scaling School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) over the past decade. Each state has been successful in establishing at least 500 schools using SWPBIS across approximately a third or more of the schools in their state. The implementation elements proposed by Sugai, Horner, and Lewis (2009) and the stages of implementation described by Fixsen, Naoom, Blase, Friedman, and Wallace (2005) were used within a survey with each element assessed at each stage by the SWPBIS coordinators and policy makers in the seven states. Consistent themes from analysis of the responses were defined and confirmed with the surveyed participants. Results point to four central areas of state "capacity" as being perceived as critical for a state to move SWPBIS to scale (administrative leadership and funding, local training and coaching capacity, behavioral expertise, and local evaluation capacity), and an iterative process in which initial implementation success (100-200 demonstrations) is needed to recruit the political and fiscal support required for larger scaling efforts.

This article recounts how a university-community collaborative challenged prevailing assumptions about parents as barriers to the provision of gender and sexuality information to their children, allowing for the recognition of parents as critical stakeholders and partners in sexual literacy work with youth. We provide evidence that parents' support for inclusive sexuality education uniquely situates them to educate and advocate for young people around these issues, and in so doing we hope to disrupt the rhetoric that casts parents in the United States as solely gatekeepers when it comes to young people's access to information about the broad spectrum of human sexuality.

We report results from an experimental study that tested the effectiveness of dissemination interventions to improve implementation of smoking cessation guidelines in maternal and child public health clinics. We additionally examine individual clinic results for contextual explanations not apparent from the experimental findings alone. Twelve clinics in Illinois were randomized to three dissemination strategies: (i) core dissemination (provision of the 2000 Public Health System Clinical Practice Guideline and a tested smoking cessation program, including program supplies and training), (ii) core dissemination and access to telephone counseling and (iii) core dissemination, telephone counseling access and outreach visits to clinics. Implementation outcomes were post-dissemination improvements over baseline in the percent of smokers reporting receipt/exposure to (i) provider advice, (ii) self-help booklet, (iii) videos, (iv) posters and (v) an adjunct intervention. Results showed significant increases in the percent of smokers receiving a booklet (overall) and an adjunct intervention (Groups 2 and 3). There were no increases in smoker-reported provider advice or videos and poster exposure. Examination of individual clinic findings showed that seven clinics accounted for all the experimental effectiveness. Smoker-reported provider advice to quit also increased in these clinics. Type of clinic and the absence of disruptive events distinguished clinics with and without effective dissemination outcomes.

This study examined a typology of adaptive and maladaptive behaviors of 2,552 ethnically diverse early adolescents who attended sixth grade in public schools and lived in disadvantaged communities. Behavioral adjustment of adolescents was measured by teacher ratings using the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC). Although typologies of children based on the BASC have been available in the literature for the past decade, little research exists on typologies of adolescents using the same instrument. The present study extended into early adolescence previous classification works focusing on childhood. A series of cluster analyses supported a seven-cluster solution: well-adapted, average, adaptive skills deficits, internalizing problems, mildly disruptive, disruptive behavior problems, and severe problems. Results appear similar to prior investigations with unique features reflecting the high-risk characteristics of the current sample. Implications of this research are discussed with regard to prevention and intervention efforts implemented within the schools. (Contains 2 tables.)

Although individuals low in self-control are more likely to engage in antisocial and criminal behavior, few studies have investigated its sources. Gottfredson and Hirschi argue that primary caregivers are largely responsible, whereas Wikstrom and Sampson contend that self-control is partially a function of neighborhood context. Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, the authors assessed neighborhood effects on children's self-control. They found significant variation in self-control between neighborhoods, but it accounted for a small amount of the total variance. In the initial model, neighborhood structural characteristics had direct effects on self-control, but after taking into account individual-level characteristics, they became nonsignificant. Furthermore, parenting variables exhibited significant and consistent effects on self-control. The authors consider the theoretical implications of the findings, address limitations, and provide suggestions for future research. (Contains 3 tables and 19 notes.)

This study examined parenting and peer predictors of physical dating violence perpetration during early adolescence and tested moderation among these predictors and gender. Participants were 2,824 ethnically diverse sixth-grade students with a recent boyfriend/girlfriend who was part of a multisite, longitudinal investigation of the development and prevention of violence among middle school students. Those students who reported having a boyfriend/girlfriend reported significantly more drug use and delinquent activity and were more likely to be male. Twenty-nine percent of youth with a boyfriend/girlfriend reported perpetrating physical aggression against their boyfriend/girlfriend. Parenting and peer variables were significant predictors of physical dating violence. However, gender moderated the association between parenting practices and physical dating violence, with parental monitoring inversely linked to dating violence for boys and parent support for nonaggression inversely linked to dating violence for girls. Parent support for aggression also moderated the association between peer deviancy and reported perpetration. Finally, gender moderated the interaction between peer deviancy and parent support for nonaggressive solutions. (Contains 4 footnotes, 1 table, and 3 figures.)

The purpose of this study was to replicate the analysis made by D. Verstegen and L. Driscoll in "The Illinois Dilemma" (2008) utilizing the actual allocations to districts resulting from the funding formula in Illinois for the 2004-2005 school year to understand the influence of adjusted values on determinants of fiscal equity. The results of a study by the Illinois Education Research Council (IERC) showed that actual, unadjusted values revealed a more fiscally inequitable system than reported by Verstegen and Driscoll as determined by the calculations traditional to school finance. For example, where Verstegen and Driscoll reported a range per pupil of $16,620 for all districts, IERC found a range of $28,578 per pupil. Illinois' multiple district configurations influenced the analysis. Illinois has three basic types of school districts--elementary, high school, and unit (K-12) districts. Elementary districts, which represent 26.5% of the state's pupil count, contributed the greatest influence on the inequitable findings. Furthermore, IERC's study found ten elementary districts--representing just 0.29% of all pupils in Illinois--had considerable influence on fiscal equity, as evidenced by the range per pupil for all district types dropping to $9,468 from $28,579 when they were excluded from the analysis. The study concludes that researchers must acknowledge the efforts that states employ to address additional funding for populations of interest, that policymakers must insist on both adjusted and unadjusted figures, and that an Illinois-specific and comprehensive report is needed which includes analyses of both General State Aid (the funding formula) and categorical aid which is outside the formula. (Contains 2 figures, 5 tables, and 28 footnotes.)

The low representation of culturally, linguistically, and ethnically diverse (CLED) and high-poverty students in gifted and talented programs has long been an area of concern. This qualitative study investigated methods to increase successful participation of CLED students in gifted programs across the nation. Twenty-five programs were selected for inclusion in the study. Of those, 7 programs were selected for in-depth site visits that included interviews with administrators and teachers, as well as observations. Data suggested five categories that contributed to the successful identification and participation of CLED students in gifted programs. These categories included modified identification procedures; program support systems, such as front-loading (identifying high-potential children and providing opportunities for advanced work prior to formal identification); selecting curriculum/instructional designs that enable CLED students to succeed; building parent/home connections; and using program evaluation practices designed to highlight avenues to CLED students' success. (Contains 3 tables.)

Objective: Whether parents could be taught to use behavior-analytic child-management skills. Method: Eleven parents typically labeled as difficult to train participated in one of two experimental parent-training programs at child-welfare agencies within the city of Chicago. Four classes of desirable parenting skills were recorded by observers during parent-child interactions in diverse settings, and the data were analyzed in single-subject designs. Results: Training produced improvements in the parenting skills observed. Follow-up observations occurring up to 6 months after training revealed that the parents continued to use these skills, sometimes at levels better than during their training. Conclusions: Behavioral parent training is an effective strategy for teaching parents with deficient parenting skills. Recommendations for conducting parent training with this population are discussed. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

Describes the development of reciprocal teaching--an instructional procedure originally designed to improve poor readers' text comprehension--and its application in Springfield, Illinois, schools. Research is clustered into three types of studies: effectiveness, efficiency, and feasibility. Program implementation, evaluation, and success factors are detailed. Includes eight references. (MLH)

Abstract Low academic performance in high school and increasing drop-out rates are major issues in the United States. While curricula and instruction clearly impact academic performance, less is known about how the outdoor environment surrounding the school impacts performance. In this study, we examined the association between tree cover density in school surroundings and school-level academic performance of public high schools in Illinois, US (N = 624). Performance data, extracted from the Illinois Report Card provided by the Illinois State Board of Education, included ACT scores, four-year graduation rates, college readiness and freshman-on-track. The tree cover density in school surroundings was derived from the 2011 National Land Cover Database canopy product. The appropriate ordinary least squares (OLS) or simultaneous autoregressive (SAR) models were fitted to test the associations between canopy cover and the students' performance. We found that tree cover density within a 1-mile radius of high schools was positively associated with ACT scores, college readiness, and nearly significantly associated with freshman-on-track, even after controlling for factors known to influence academic performance. However, tree cover density was not significantly correlated with four-year graduation rates. Testing the effects of different buffer distances, tree cover density at 0.5-mile and 1-mile buffer distances showed a stronger association with ACT scores and college readiness. Freshman on track was correlated with tree cover density at all distances, except the 2-mile buffer distance. Our findings contribute to an emerging body of evidence showing that tree cover density is positively associated with adolescents' academic performance, suggesting the importance of forestry management in school surroundings in support of learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emigration behavior by female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is an important attribute of population dynamics in Illinois. The factors influencing the process of selecting a new home range are largely unknown, yet may affect hunting success, other interactions with human activities, and deer social behaviors. Twenty-five radio-marked dispersing (N = 14) and migrating (N = 11) female white-tailed deer (4 adults, 7 yearlings, 14 fawns when marked) were followed from 3 sites (2 in central and 1 in northern Illinois) to the home ranges selected for parturition and fawn rearing. Dispersing deer (i.e., those making one-way movements to a new home range) moved an average of 44.9 ± SE 6.4 km whereas migrators (i.e., those moving to a new range) moved 14.0 ± SE 7.2 km from their natal ranges. Females moved rapidly in nearly a straight line to their new home range readily crossing roads, rivers, and under high tension power lines on their journey. Females marked in east-central and northern Illinois where forest cover totaled <5% of the landscape, selected sites with greater forest cover, grasslands, forest patch size and density, and total patch richness than were available in random locations. Habitats selected by females in west-central Illinois where more forest cover was available did not differ from random sites. Parturition ranges (used May 15-July 15) at all 3 sites contained fewer houses and roads and more forest patches compared with the natal ranges and the larger new range (used May 15-October 1). Migrating females survived longer than dispersing females, but female life span and fawn survival were not significantly affected by the habitat composition of the new home ranges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raccoons (Procyon lotor) were livetrapped and marked during 1989-1993 in an agriculturally dominated landscape in Brown County, west-central Illinois. Densities averaged 4.5 per km2 with males dominating in the younger age classes (< 2 yrs) and females in older raccoons. Breeding rates averaged 46% for yearling females and 87% for adult females, with yearlings contributing about 20% of annual production. Juvenile survival rate averaged 74% between birth and 6 months. Both sexes continued to gain body weight into their 3rd year with males consistently heavier (P < 0.03) than females. Males lost body condition in winter while females remained in a more stable condition throughout the year. Dispersal behavior was more pronounced in males. Females of all age classes remained on the study area somewhat longer (P > 0.05) than males. Males were more likely to die from hunting and trapping causes while females were more likely than males to die of disease. Seasonal home ranges were similar for both sexes (P < 0.05) but male ranges averaged somewhat larger areas. We found no evidence that west-central Illinois raccoons were territorial as a paired removal experiment showed no attempt by the remaining member of each pair to make directed movements into a vacated range. Our study animals appeared to be above average in weight and condition, to be breeding at a level consistent with a healthy condition and to be generally under-harvested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the struggles of women residents of the Wentworth Gardens public housing in Chicago, Illinois in resisting development projects by the government and the business sector on the site. One example is their activism in resisting a project plan for a baseball stadium at the site. The history of the public housing is also presented.