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Despite its inherent transformational capacity, day-to-day educational practices have not changed since the late 19th Century, resulting in processes that do not uphold democratic values. (Sizer, 1984; Wood, 2005). This study seeks to answer the following research question: how did an educational leader use the Coalition of Essential School's (CES) model to develop institutional norms to address social inequity? The Coalition's termination in 2017 prompts concern; if a nonprofit organization committed to "student-centered, equity-driven learning" cannot persist, education and democracy are in jeopardy (What We Do, 2017). The Common Principles (2017) and the works of Sizer (1984) and Wood (2005) were used to triangulate the in-depth qualitative interview of Dr. Wood. Three themes emerged from such data: understanding the Common Principles, living the Common Principles, and equity with the Common Principles. These findings ultimately reveal a growing disparity between ideals, implementation, and outcomes. Consequently, active democratic citizen preparation rests with all of us, all facets of education and other societal institutions.

Many students in rural U.S. schools are experiencing trauma and adverse childhood experiences due to circumstances relating to the opioid crisis. A moral imperative presents itself to school principals and other educational leaders to make context-specific decisions that are responsive to the trauma experienced by the students in their schools. This case study investigated the lived experiences of 12 rural school leaders from five school districts in Appalachian Ohio. Specifically, we examined their experiences with?opioid-related issues in their schools. This research recognizes the needs of school principals and assistant principals as they lead in a time of challenges and chaos due to opioid-related issues. As a focus of our analysis, which prioritizes a crisis leadership approach, we examined principals engaging in a practice of bricolage to "make do" in the midst of the ongoing crisis. This collective case study presents critical cases through in vivo themes that emerged from the data: 1) "No Longer Surprised," 2) "Going Down the Rabbit Hole," 3) "I Don't Know What Could Prepare You," and 4) "We Made Decisions We Thought Would Help." The implications consider ways in which practitioners, preparation programs, and policy makers can reconsider professional preparation, ongoing trainings, and funding models to integrate opioid awareness and crisis response capacity.

Background Approximately half of American adults do not meet recommended physical activity guidelines. Face-to-face lifestyle interventions improve health outcomes but are unlikely to yield population-level improvements because they can be difficult to disseminate, expensive to maintain, and inconvenient for the recipient. In contrast, Internet-based behavior change interventions can be disseminated widely at a lower cost. However, the impact of some Internet-mediated programs is limited by high attrition rates. Online communities that allow participants to communicate with each other by posting and reading messages may decrease participant attrition. Objective Our objective was to measure the impact of adding online community features to an Internet-mediated walking program on participant attrition and average daily step counts. Methods This randomized controlled trial included sedentary, ambulatory adults who used email regularly and had at least 1 of the following: overweight (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 25), type 2 diabetes, or coronary artery disease. All participants (n = 324) wore enhanced pedometers throughout the 16-week intervention and uploaded step-count data to the study server. Participants could log in to the study website to view graphs of their walking progress, individually-tailored motivational messages, and weekly calculated goals. Participants were randomized to 1 of 2 versions of a Web-based walking program. Those randomized to the “online community” arm could post and read messages with other participants while those randomized to the “no online community" arm could not read or post messages. The main outcome measures were participant attrition and average daily step counts over 16 weeks. Multiple regression analyses assessed the effect of the online community access controlling for age, sex, disease status, BMI, and baseline step counts. Results Both arms significantly increased their average daily steps between baseline and the end of the intervention period, but there were no significant differences in increase in step counts between arms using either intention-to-treat or completers analysis. In the intention-to-treat analysis, the average step count increase across both arms was 1888 ± 2400 steps. The percentage of completers was 13% higher in the online community arm than the no online community arm (online community arm, 79%, no online community arm, 66%, P = .02). In addition, online community arm participants remained engaged in the program longer than no online community arm participants (hazard ratio = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.25 - 0.90, P = .02). Participants with lower baseline social support posted more messages to the online community (P < .001) and viewed more posts (P < .001) than participants with higher baseline social support. Conclusion Adding online community features to an Internet-mediated walking program did not increase average daily step counts but did reduce participant attrition. Participants with low baseline social support used the online community features more than those with high baseline social support. Thus, online communities may be a promising approach to reducing attrition from online health behavior change interventions, particularly in populations with low social support. Trial RegistrationNCT00729040; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00729040 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5v1VH3n0A)

This qualitative study used in-depth interviews to investigate the perceptions of school leaders about developing and maintaining school-university partnerships with a local regional university in rural school districts. The professional development school (PDS) model provides meaningful learning experiences for teacher candidates by providing sustained and embedded field experiences in an authentic teaching environment. Participants were current and/or former administrators in the local/regional school-university partnership. All participants were former teachers who later became principals, superintendents, and/or district directors who were well prepared to inform the research questions. Data collected were categorically aggregated and analyzed using coding that resulted five themes: (1) development and value of early partnerships, (2) rural context, (3) school-community culture, (4) teacher perception and participation, and (5) important considerations of initiating the partnership.

This case explores the complexities of how consolidation perpetuates stereotypes among different social classes in a rural Appalachian school setting. Examined are the experiences at the intersection of social class in rural U.S. school districts when two communities--one affluent and one underresourced--are consolidated. We present a nuanced critical incident that focuses on how school leaders perceive and address students' experiences with tracking and stereotyping--particularly at a middle school level where elementary schools from diverse backgrounds attend school together for the first time.

We present a basic principle and good practices of the rheology of polymers, particularly for teachers or lecturers at colleges or universities for educational purposes, as well as for beginner researchers who may refer to this article as their self-learning resources. Basic consideration of the experimental methods using parallel-plate oscillatory rheometer and step-by-step guidelines for the estimation of the power law dependence of storage, G′ and loss, G″ modulus as well as the estimation of the relaxation time at f cross G′−G′′ ${f}_{\,\mathrm{cross}}^{\,{G}^{\prime }-{G}^{\prime \prime }}$ at terminal zone using various approaches such as commercial graphical software, manual graphical approach and commercial rheometer software are highlighted. Good practices for data interpretation using different approaches are described and compared where the outcomes revealed the manual graphical approach or commercial graphical software yield comparable results with the commercial rheometer software. In order to have better insight, several examples and exercises which are applicable for teaching and self-learning activities are also provided.

This study seeks to understand the perspectives of children who work with teacher candidates in classrooms that partner with clinically based teacher preparation programs. Researchers interviewed 32 third- and fourth-grade students who work with teacher candidates. The study presents the little-heard voices of children, who spend considerable time with teacher candidates during clinical field experiences and whose perspectives contribute meaningfully to what is known about implementation of clinically based teacher preparation. The findings reveal that children perceive that teacher candidates have a positive impact on student learning outcomes and school culture by providing needed emotional and behavior support, contributing to lowered student-teacher ratios, and increasing perceptions of a safe school environment. The findings fill a void in the research literature and inform implementation of effective clinically based teacher preparation programming.

This qualitative study investigates the ability of teachers that have completed their clinical experience--i.e., teacher preparation--in a school grounded in Deweyan theory to maintain a democratic practice. As such, the study focused on educators that were graduates of a school-university partnership program, known as CARE--Creating Active, Reflective Educators. Data were collected to address the following research question: "To what extent can former CARE students practice democratic education in their current public-school teaching environment?" Interviews conducted with current school teachers and leaders that were former CARE program students. Responses were audio-recorded and transcribed, then coded and organized into thematic units to report findings.

This research study examines how instructional time is allocated while early childhood teacher candidates are present in mentor teachers' classrooms as part of clinically-based teacher preparation. Researchers conducted 44 observations in 16 mentor teachers' classrooms in three public school districts. The observations were quantified and analyzed to shed light on the nature of co-teaching, instructional decision-making, and student-teacher ratios during clinically-based field experiences. The findings reveal that overwhelmingly mentor teachers and teacher candidates use their time together to engage in co-teaching, which creates lower student-teacher ratios and allows for more flexible groupings of students. The study contributes meaningfully to what is known about effective implementation of clinically-based field experiences and suggests implications for positively impacting student learning outcomes.

Simple Summary: This manuscript reports on an outbreak of joint infections in an organic broiler breeder flock in Austria, associated with two types of bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus lentus. The clinical picture of the affected chickens included weakness, lethargy, and difficulty walking, with some birds succumbing to the infection. Detailed examinations revealed severe joint inflammation and damage. Laboratory analyses confirmed the presence of both bacteria, with tests showing resistance to many antibiotics. This study underscores the importance of recognising and understanding less common bacteria like S. lentus, which are not frequently reported but can seriously impact poultry health. The findings highlight the need for thorough bacterial identification in outbreaks to improve disease management and prevention strategies. Staphylococcus species are widespread in poultry environments and can cause various infections, often when the host's defences are compromised. This manuscript reports on a co-infection of chickens with Staphylococcus lentus and Staphylococcus aureus associated with an outbreak of arthritis, synovitis, and osteomyelitis in an organic broiler breeder flock in Austria. Clinically, the affected flock showed weakness, lethargy, lameness, and increased mortality. Post-mortem examinations identified purulent arthritis and femoral head necrosis. Bacteriological analysis using MALDI-TOF MS identified both S. aureus and S. lentus in the affected joints. Antibiotic resistance testing revealed significant resistance, particularly in S. lentus. Histological analysis showed severe inflammation and bacterial colonies in the joints. While S. aureus is a common pathogen in poultry, S. lentus is less frequently reported. This study emphasises the need for detailed bacterial characterisation in outbreaks to better understand the role of less common pathogens like S. lentus. Further research is necessary to elucidate the impact of S. lentus on poultry health and its role in causing arthritis and synovitis, highlighting the importance of comprehensive investigation in such outbreaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]