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Grade retention, the practice of holding a student back in the same grade, has been a controversial topic in the United States for decades. English learners, a growing population in US schools, are consistently identified for grade retention more often than their English-only counterparts. The purpose of this study is to test the impact of grade retention on a set of language learning outcomes (reading, listening, and writing) for English language learners over a seven-year period. The data was collected in a large urban school district in the south-central region that serves predominantly Spanish speaking natives. Retained students were matched with non-retained students for a quasi-experimental control group using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) techniques. Multilevel growth models, with time (level 1) nested within students (level 2), were applied to these two groups to estimate the effect of grade retention on their longitudinal trajectory for each language learning outcome. We found that after 7 years, matched-promoted students had higher levels of English proficiency than retained peers in all three domains: listening, reading, and writing.

While achievement gaps have been well-established, much remains to be understood about the manner and extent to which school leadership either increases or decreases student access to opportunity to learn. The current study uses nationally representative samples of U.S. and Flemish students in Grade 4 from the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS2011) to test a series of structural equation models. U.S. and Belgium have contrasting academic tracking (formal vs informal) systems and Gini Index scores (economic inequality). Flemish schools had no significant paths between student family resources, instructional leadership, and learning; however, for the U.S., we found a negative path across these measures. This current study extends the instructional leadership literature by demonstrating that school leaders can implement goals intended to close achievement gaps but instead might unintentionally exacerbate them.

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between teachers' perception of their work, their intent to leave their current position, and their realized turnover at the height of the federal accountability policy era in the United States. The study uses a framework of teacher de-professionalization and demoralization operationalized by teacher responses to the Schools and Staffing Surveys and Teacher Follow-up Surveys from the National Center for Education Statistics. We tested the relationship of de-professionalization and demoralization to turnover with two competing structural equation models for teachers who cited accountability policies as a factor in their employment decision, and those who did not. We find that teacher worry and stress associated with demoralization is a significant predictor of intent to leave in both groups of teachers. However, teacher worry and stress is only a significant predictor of teachers. leaving the profession and moving schools in teachers who cite accountability policies as a factor in their employment decision. These findings demonstrate a relationship between teachers' perceptions of accountability policies, perception of their working conditions, and turnover. These results have important implications for policy makers and educational leaders as the U.S. transitions from the No Child Left Behind era to the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act.

BackgroundTelehealth (telemedicine and telepharmacy) services increase access to patient services and ensure continuity of care. However, few studies have assessed factors that influence patients’ willingness to use telehealth services, and we sought to investigate this. ObjectiveThis study aims to examine respondents’ (aged between 45 and 75 years) willingness to use telehealth services (telepharmacy and telemedicine) and the correlates of the willingness to use telehealth services. MethodsWe administered a cross-sectional national survey of 1045 noninstitutionalized US adults aged between 45 and 75 years in March and April 2021. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to identify demographic and health service use correlates of self-reported willingness to use telehealth services. ResultsOverall willingness to use telemedicine was high (674/1045, 64.5%). Adults aged 55 years and older were less willing to use telemedicine (aged between 55 and 64 years: odds ratio [OR] 0.61, 95% CI 0.42-0.86; aged 65 years or older: OR 0.33, 95% CI 0.22-0.49) than those younger than 55 years. Those with a regular provider (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1-1.02) and long travel times (OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.03-2.98) were more willing to use telemedicine compared to those without a regular provider and had shorter travel times, respectively. Willingness to use telemedicine services increased from 64.5% (674/1045) to 83% (867/1045) if the service was low-cost or insurance-covered, was with their existing health care provider, or was easy-to-use. Overall willingness to use telepharmacy was 76.7% (801/1045). Adults aged older than 55 years were less willing to use telepharmacy (aged between 55 and 64 years: OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.38-0.86; aged 65 years or older: OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.15-0.37) than those younger than 55 years. Those who rated pharmacy service quality higher were more willing to use telepharmacy (OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.03-1.09) than those who did not. ConclusionsRespondents were generally willing to use telehealth (telemedicine and telepharmacy) services, but the likelihood of their being willing to use telehealth decreased as they were older. For those initially unwilling (aged 55 years or older) to use telemedicine services, inexpensive or insurance-covered services were acceptable.

Teacher satisfaction is a key affective reaction to working conditions and an important predictor of teacher attrition. Teacher evaluation as a tool for measuring teacher quality has been one source of teacher stress in recent years in the United States. There is a growing body of evidence on how to evaluate teachers in ways which support their growth and development as practitioners. For this study, we inquired: What is the relationship between supportive teacher evaluation experiences and U.S. teachers' overall job satisfaction? To answer this question, we employed a multilevel regression analysis to multiply-imputed data on U.S. lower-secondary teachers' experiences from the 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). We found a small, positive relationship between the perceptions of supportive teacher evaluation experiences and U.S. secondary teachers' satisfaction after controlling for other important teacher and school characteristics and working conditions. Further, teachers who felt their evaluation led to positive changes in their practice had higher satisfaction. Teachers whose primary evaluator was a fellow teacher as opposed to the principal also had higher satisfaction on average. We discuss the implications of these findings for school leaders as well as future teacher evaluation policy.

Many school educators struggle to reconcile the onslaught of mandatory and competing, top-down policies. Educators must merge policies into a singular plan that reflects the local stakeholders' goals and values. Given the federal and state accountability movement, schools are forced to build capacity around the use of on-site data and research literature to study if interventions are improving outcomes. For capacity building and to implement reform, schools must have the appropriate resources and understand how to distribute them equitably. Therefore, available resources and their distribution must be tracked alongside the progress of interventions. The purpose of this evidence-based practice article is to integrate these discrete areas of research literature into a framework that educators can follow for cohesive school improvement.

The purpose of this study is to examine changes in teachers' perception of their work during key periods of the accountability and assessment policy movement in the United States. We utilize a teacher perception of deprofessionalization and demoralization framework operationalized using the restricted Schools and Staffing Surveys data sets from 1993-1994 through 2011-2012 to examine changes in teachers' perception of their work. Using multiple group hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) we find that teacher deprofessionalization and demoralization increased from the state- to federal-level accountability periods. We also find that there are significant predictors of deprofessionalization and demoralization at the teacher level and school level.

This study evaluated water quality, growth, and partial budget analysis (PBA) for Penaeus vannamei, comparing super-intensive Biofloc Technology (BFT) and Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS). The 69-day trial used 100 L units with two treatments (RAS and BFT), each with three replicates. Shrimp were initially reared in a 30-day nursery to a weight of 0.10 ± 0.04 g and then stocked at 500 shrimp m−3. Biofloc growth in BFT was promoted by maintaining a C:N ratio of 15:1, adding dextrose when total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) reached 1 mg L−1. Probiotics (3 g m−3) were administered daily to both groups. TAN levels in BFT initially spiked but stabilized after 36 days. Vibrio abundance was initially higher in RAS, but by the end of the trial, it was higher in BFT. Final weight, weekly growth ratio, and yield were greater in BFT, whereas feed conversion ratio (FCR) and water use were higher in RAS. Survival rates were 83.33% in BFT and 88% in RAS. BFT achieved a superior net benefit/cost compared to RAS. Although RAS more effectively controlled nitrogenous compounds, BFT exhibited better growth performance, with higher final weights, lower FCR, and better Vibrio management. The partial budget analysis indicated an economic advantage for BFT, with a net positive benefit of $2270.09 when shifting from RAS to BFT due to lower operating costs and higher shrimp yield. Among these two sustainable production systems, BFT was more productive while utilizing less natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to extend the literature on cultural reproduction theory and schools by problematizing the relationship between student background and student achievement. Using Program for International Student Assessment 2012 data, we analyze a series of random effects analyses of covariance to test the relationship between student social and cultural capital variables and student opportunity to learn (OTL) in math class for US 15-year-olds. By examining the relationship between student capital and OTL, we call attention to the role of schools in providing differential learning experiences to students, which helps to explain disparate achievement outcomes. Findings support the cultural reproduction perspective by demonstrating that students who have more access to normative education-based resources outside of school and academically aligned social networks tend to report more opportunities for problem solving and student-oriented instruction during math lessons. These results can help practitioners and policymakers identify and address patterns of stratification and inequity in schools.

For many countries, inequitable access to rigorous content and instruction at the early grades leads to the low academic performance for students with fewer resources at home. One way to assess these inequities, and identify possible mediators, is to consider the role of instructional leadership as a means for schools to set educational goals for teachers and students which might direct how learning is accessed. This study examines the extent that instructional leadership influences the mediated relationship between students' home resources and opportunity to learn on math reasoning skills across a set of 53 participating countries. We applied a two-level structural equation model to data from the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Using a nationally representative sample of schools and nested students for each participating country in TIMSS 2011, we demonstrate the variation in the extent and direction of these relationships by country context. For a few countries, instructional leadership mediated the relationship between home resources and opportunity to learn on math reasoning skills.