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Disordered fibrous matrices, formed by the random assembly of fibers, provide the structural framework for many biological systems and biomaterials. Applied deformation modifies the alignment and stress states of constituent fibers, tuning the nonlinear elastic response of these materials. While it is generally presumed that fibers return to their original configurations after deformation is released, except when neighboring fibers coalesce or individual fibers yield, this reversal process remains largely unexplored. The intricate geometry of these matrices leaves an incomplete understanding of whether releasing deformation fully restores the matrix or introduces new microstructural deformation mechanisms. To address this gap, we investigated the evolution of matrix microstructures during the release of an applied deformation. Numerical simulations were performed on quasi-two-dimensional matrices of random fibers under localized tension, with fibers modeled as beams in finite element analysis. After tension release, the matrix exhibited permanent mechanical remodeling, with greater remodeling occurring at higher magnitudes of applied tension, indicative of the matrix preserving its loading history as mechanical memory. This response was surprising; it occurred despite the absence of explicit plasticity mechanisms, such as activation of inter-fiber cohesion or fiber yielding. We attributed the observed remodeling to the gradient in fiber alignment that developed within the matrix microstructure under applied tension, driving the subsequent changes in matrix properties during the release of applied tension. Therefore, random fibrous matrices tend to retain mechanical memory due to their intricate geometry.

Direct-ink writing leverages the rheological complexity of yield-stress fluids to construct complex geometries, particularly those with large gaps across internal structures. However, extensional rheological properties have rarely been considered in work that studies rheology-printability correlations. Here, we test our hypothesis that extensional properties correlate with drawability, a key indicator of printability that signifies speed robustness, printing resolution, and gap-spanning performance. We formulated cementitious suspensions using hydroxyapatite (HAp) particles, independently tuning them for yield stress and extensibility, two crucial rheological properties, and test-printed. To enhance extensibility, we incorporated hydroxypropyl methylcellulose as a polymeric modifier, but this enhancement may decrease as yield stress increases, presenting a challenge in materials design. We modulated particle interactions to achieve a wide range of yield stress and extensibility, allowing for rigorous testing of our hypothesis. This approach created inks with high extensibility and high yield stress, generally considered mutually exclusive properties. We evaluated correlations between drawability and key rheological properties, finding the strongest positive correlation with extensional failure strains (strain-to-break) rather than yield stress. We establish a bijective property-manufacturing relationship (one-on-one mapping of shear yield stress to buildability and extensional strain-to-break to drawability) by combining our findings on drawability with previous studies on buildability. This relationship provides a comprehensive framework for designing high-performance inks that can be self-supporting, capable of high-speed printing, and allow gap-spanning features.

Public schools have a long-established practice of conducting screening assessment of students as they enter kindergarten. The purpose of this study, conducted in spring 2021 by the Maine Education Policy Research Institute at the request of the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs, is to gain a current list of the assessment tools that public schools are using to evaluate their incoming kindergarten students. Early childhood education provides a critical foundation for students' future learning, and schools work hard to identify students' needs as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Kindergarten assessment is also an area of heightened interest for researchers and policymakers who seek high-quality data on the readiness of the youngest learners as they enter the K-12 system.

Recent policy conversations have discussed the possibility of narrowing the grade span of Maine's Elementary Education teaching endorsement. The certificate currently qualifies an individual to teach math, science, English Language Arts, or social studies from grades K through 8 and has been proposed to be changed to grades K (or possibly pre-K) to 6. At the top end of the K-8 grade span (grades 7 and 8) the primary concern about the current certification requirements is that the minimum academic preparation is inadequate to ensure deep knowledge of the middle school curriculum. The staffing challenges are different at the lower end of the K-8 grade spectrum. Public schools are increasingly offering public pre-kindergarten programs to four-year-old students. However, the elementary K-8 credential does not qualify a candidate to teach at 3 the preschool level; they must have an Early Childhood Teacher certificate to cover ages birth to five. This creates the opposite problem where the elementary endorsement is not flexible enough to allow a school to shift staff as needed between preschool and kindergarten grade levels unless they hold multiple endorsements. This article examines the credentials of public school teachers in Maine to see how many are certified under an Elementary Education (Grades K-8) teaching endorsement, and what additional endorsements teachers hold.

The goal of the study was to better understand how instruction to students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) was delivered during remote learning this past spring and during the fall semester of the 2020-21 school year, and how these vulnerable students have been impacted. Research questions looked at special education teacher impressions of what was effective, the challenges in delivery of remote education, and how student academic progress was affected. Special education teachers and special education directors were also asked how to best help students who fell behind and what additional resources or supports they needed. Teachers reported that most students' well-being and academic progress was lower than expected during emergency remote learning in the spring of 2020. However, special education teachers noted that this fall there were some students who were doing much better in remote learning than they had in traditional learning. They reported having students whose academic progress in school in the fall was greater than expected, and that these outnumbered the students who saw a decline in academic progress. Overall, students' well-being in the fall was similar to pre-pandemic. The most commonly perceived benefits of remote learning for their students with an IEP were more individualized learning (47%, n=66), students feeling less social/peer pressure (44%, n=62), and parent/caregivers better understanding how their student learns (41%, n=58).

Larval settlement in wave-dominated, nearshore environments is the most critical life stage for a vast array of marine invertebrates, yet it is poorly understood and virtually impossible to observe in situ. Using a custom-built flume tank that mimics the oscillatory fluid flow over a shallow coral reef, we show that millimeter-scale benthic topography increases the settlement of slow-swimming coral larvae by an order of magnitude relative to flat substrates. Particle tracking velocimetry of flow fields revealed that millimeter-scale ridges introduced regions of flow recirculation that redirected larvae toward the substrate surface and decreased the local fluid speed, effectively increasing the window of time for larvae to settle. In agreement with experiments, computational fluid dynamics modeling and agent-based larval simulations also showed significantly higher settlement on ridged substrates. These findings highlight how physics-based substrate design can create new opportunities to increase larval recruitment for ecosystem restoration.

In response to recent anecdotal reports that Maine is experiencing heightened staff shortages, this study was designed to understand the current and future issues facing recruitment, induction, and retention of teachers and administrators in Maine's public schools. This report includes analysis of current administrative data on teacher and administrator demographics as well as data from surveys of current and former teachers and administrators in Maine schools. The descriptive picture of current staffing patterns--compiled from state-level staffing data--was designed to provide comparisons to prior data reported in a 2001 task force report in order to determine whether the circumstances have worsened since that time. Survey questions were designed to further illuminate the potential reasons for Maine's current challenges in recruiting and retaining educators. The teacher and administrator surveys upon which much of this report was based were conducted in January 2020. The administrative and survey data analysis were completed in February and a preliminary report was compiled, on track for a planned delivery and legislative briefing in late March. However, the emergency shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted that schedule, and subsequently delayed finalizing the report. Concerns were also raised about the impact of pandemic conditions on the data since the educators participating in the survey would undoubtedly have responded quite differently if the same questions were asked after school shutdowns occurred. The authors explored the possibility of revisiting some of the key survey questions in the summer of 2020 to see how perspectives may have changed in the intervening months. Ultimately, it was decided that the data are valuable as collected as they represent a pre-pandemic snapshot of Maine's workforce conditions. To increase the relevance of the report to inform policymakers' most immediate and pressing needs, the final section of the report (conclusions and policy implications) was re-written before final publication to incorporate consideration of their changed importance in the present circumstances. Teacher administrative data analyzed for this report has confirmed that the demographics of Maine's workforce have indeed changed in the past 20 years.

This study was conducted in order to examine Grow-Your-Own teacher preparation programs in the state. The initial project description was as follows: "Describe K-12 / institutes of higher education (IHE) partnerships to "Grow Your Own" (GYO) teachers. How are the programs designed, what are the partner roles, and what are the perceived outcomes of this approach?" GYO programs are defined as, "a variety of strategies that aim to recruit teachers from local communities in hopes that the pool of candidates…will be more likely to stay teaching in the community" (Valenzeula, 2017). This project used a case study research design to explore teacher preparation programs in the state of Maine. At the outset of this project, researchers at the Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) developed a list of programs in the state that seek to develop teachers, beyond the traditional programs found in universities. Key informants for each of these programs were identified and then invited to participate in interviews for this study. Interviews were conducted in person or by video-conference with district administrators and university personnel, or other key stakeholders, who are involved in one of the identified partnerships for teacher preparation. This study has several key findings, which are broken into three overarching sections: (1) Structure of the Maine Teacher Preparation Programs; (2) Challenges and Barriers for Maine Programs; and (3) Perceived Outcomes of the Maine Programs. Overall, the study concludes that there are promising possibilities for GYO programs in Maine. While the teacher preparation programs reviewed for this study draw on some elements of GYO programs, there are places where policymakers could consider actions to support these hybrid programs and/or the establishment of true GYO programs.

In response to requirements of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Maine enacted a rule requiring all schools to have a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) in place by 2012 for a general education, pre-referral system of student support. The purpose of this system, generally termed Response to Intervention (RtI) by many practitioners, was to increase student achievement and decrease the growing number of students referred for special education services. It was anticipated that the system would also reduce overall costs for student support by providing early interventions. The Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) was asked by the Maine Legislature to conduct a study of RtI or MTSS behavioral programs in Maine schools. The goal of the study is to improve the state's understanding of the current practices, challenges, and supports needed through descriptive portraits of Maine schools' MTSS programs. This can help to inform future policy changes that would help schools to implement robust programs, and also help Maine districts to learn from what others are doing. In early conversations to recruit schools for this study it became clear that curriculum leaders and superintendents in southern Maine also expressed an independent desire for more information about the ways in which districts are designing, implementing, and evaluating RtI or MTSS in their schools. Given the overlap with the purpose of the legislative study, the scope of the work was expanded to include more schools to allow a broader depiction.

For the past several years, attention has turned toward reviewing and reframing the curricular pathways in math for students, particularly at the postsecondary level. Focus has shifted not only to math preparedness, but also to redefining the curricular pathways that lead to academic and career success. In higher education, the central principle involves redefining and reorganizing coursework around defined pathways, based on academic and career interests of students. For K-12 institutions, the math pathways reforms have less clear implications. One key organization working in this area--both nationally and in Maine--is the Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The Dana Center has been partnering with the Maine Community College System (MCCS) for several years now, and has supported their progress toward implementing math pathways reforms. For this project, Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) researchers in the Center for Education Policy, Applied Research, and Evaluation (CEPARE) were asked to describe and summarize the "mathematics pathways" movement which is currently underway in the state of Maine, as well as in other states across the country. This study of the math pathways movement is designed as a mini-case study to document the status of the reform in progress. Findings review math pathways as a potential means of promoting individualized student learning and career readiness, of clarifying math expectations, and of reducing the need for remedial coursework at the post-secondary level. The successes of and challenges facing individual institutions--from MCCS, to the state universities, to K-12 institutions--are also reviewed. Other challenges, including mitigating issues with tracking and ownership of the reforms, are discussed. The report concludes with recommendations for policymakers.

Like most states, Maine is facing staffing shortages. Recent Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) studies have documented--both quantitatively and qualitatively--some of the challenges that schools face in filling teacher positions. In this report the authors focus on the supply of educators and assess the feasibility of using administrative data from the certification system to identify shortage areas. Specifically, they combine certification and staff data to quantify the number of certificate holders who are working in their endorsement area, working in education outside of their endorsement area, or not working in Maine's education sector (i.e. potentially available for hire) to get a rough sense of demand and supply. They give special attention to teacher shortage areas including math, science, special education, world languages and English language acquisition.

The shortage of special education teachers is a persistent problem in Maine. In addition to the shortage of individuals prepared to work as special education teachers, there is also a need to support special education students in the general education classroom. The majority of students who are identified with disabilities spend most of their time in classrooms with general education teachers. Yet, general education teachers' preparation to work with the special education students in their classrooms is limited. In order to address the need for teachers who are prepared and qualified to work with students with disabilities, the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs commissioned this study by the Maine Education Policy Research Institute as part of its 2018-2019 work plan. The purpose of this study is to examine dual general and special education and "Grow Your Own" approaches to teacher certification. To that end, this report begins by providing a review of relevant published research, followed by an overview of the components of teacher credentialing, requirements for general and special education teacher certification in Maine, and information about the current teacher certification pathways and programs in Maine. This is followed by descriptions of new approaches to teacher preparation that Maine might consider in order to address the need for certified special educators and general educators who are better prepared to work with students with disabilities. This background information is followed by profiles of dual certification and Grow Your Own teacher preparation models and education policies and programs in other states that are designed to address the shortage of qualified teachers who are prepared to meet the needs of students with disabilities. In conclusion, possible education policy implications for Maine are identified.

The question of how to best meet the social and emotional needs of PreK students in Maine has been a legislative focus in recent years, including two attempts to convene legislative task forces to restructure the provision of special education services for children aged 3 to 5. This Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) study sought to address the research gap on PreK special education inclusion. Specifically, this study sought to learn more about current practices and views regarding the inclusion of special education students in public PreK programs, what challenges schools and teachers face in serving these children, and what additional resources such as training, equipment or personnel are needed to serve these students effectively. Research questions guiding this study included: (1) What are the school's current practices regarding PreK special education inclusion; (2) What challenges are there in identifying and serving students with challenging behaviors or special needs within the PreK program; (3) What additional resources do schools need to identify and serve the needs of students with special needs in their PreK programs; and (4) What impacts do schools perceive from their participation in Maine's Public Preschool Inclusion Cohort Training and Technical Assistance program? This small exploratory study used qualitative research methods including interviews with district and school administrators and PreK teachers and coordinators from four schools and three districts participating in the MDOE's Public Preschool Inclusion Project. A total of eight interviews were conducted involving 12 individuals in fall 2018. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Data analysis included case summaries of each school around the research questions, and identification of themes and patterns across the four participating schools. Findings are described in this report related to the broad research questions framing this inquiry While this study may not have identified the full range of PreK education practices nor all challenges schools face, the authors feel confident that the findings are fairly representative of experiences and concerns shared by other schools in the state. Interview questions for the study are appended.

As a response to the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) federal statute, Maine enacted a rule requiring all schools to provide additional support to students who are not on track for meeting state learning standards beginning in 2012. One intent of the requirement was to improve student achievement, and another was to reduce the number of children who are identified as having special educational needs and thus require an Individualized Education Plan. Recent policy discussions, including the 2018 report of the Task Force to Identify Special Education Cost Drivers and Innovative Approaches to Services, have raised the question of how well schools implementing Response to Intervention (RTI) programs. The study found that most schools (83%) are using a universal screening assessment to identify students who need academic support. Elementary and middle schools are more likely to administer universal screening (92% and 85% respectively) than high schools (59%). A number of practitioners in schools without RTI programs or universal screening processes reported that classroom teachers were uncomfortable with providing behavior supports and escalated problems to special education staff before first trying general classroom strategies. This suggests that many classroom teachers would benefit from additional training and practice with evidence-based behavior strategies, and that this may also lessen the workload for special education teachers. The authors concluded that RTI academic and behavioral support programs are well on their way to being embedded in Maine schools, and practitioners cited numerous positive initial impacts on students and teachers. However, additional support is needed for all Maine districts to improve their programs and thus be able to offer supportive opportunities to their students.