Academic literature on the topic 'Effective Demonstration Schools Grant Program'

Universities are exploring ways to better prepare teachers for the classroom and to keep them there. Building cohorts of pre-service teachers is one of the ways currently under scrutiny. The University of Memphis began a new cohort-based, grant-funded program entitled Recruitment and Retention through Reinvention of Teacher Education (3Rs) to prepare middle-school math and science teachers in the summer of 2006. This article presents the results of a qualitative study on the effects of a four-day experiential learning program on the development of the 3Rs cohort of middle school pre-service teachers. Participants indicated that their experience was an effective way to build a graduate student cohort. Close relationships with each other were developed and support from the faculty was noted. Few pressing concerns were voiced. Getting away for an overnight stay, focus on educational best practices, and demonstrating the need and importance of this experience were listed as essential to the program.

Louisiana requires schools to address designated educational standards at specific grade levels. Science is a challenging subject at the middle school level. A hands-on approach has been proven more effective than traditional classroom teaching. A program was developed by a cooperative effort between Louisiana Sea Grant and the LSU AgCenter Dept. of Horticulture within the Coastal Roots Nursery Program. Eight lesson plans were designed to meet 16 standards and 275 students in four schools. Pre- and post-test were given to each grade in addition to the Children's Attitude Toward Environment Scale (CATES). Additional pre- and post-test were given to classes not participating in the program. The evaluations tested both short and long term memory on material contained in the lesson plans. The data was analyzed by school, sex, and grade level.

Background and context: The home healthcare market in Jordan is nascent with little service offered. It suffers from a highly fragmented and underregulated landscape. The limited access to qualified trustworthy home care services, lack of professional home care training, and lack of home health care insurance coverage have added to the heavy in-patient bed demand and delayed hospital discharges especially for disabled or terminally ill patients. Aim: To establish a comprehensive national home care program to improve the delivery of palliative and home care services in Jordan, and to conduct a situational analysis and generate policy recommendations. Strategy/Tactics: We used multiple strategies to reach our objectives. 1. Expansion of home care services at King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC) to create a local demonstration project. 2. Building health care professional capacity by offering variety of educational programs. 3. Improving quality of service delivery by generating clinical practice guidelines, such as standards operating procedures and patient and family educational materials. 4. Use the pilot operational and financial data to generate an economic model to inform the development of similar home health care units in hospitals across Jordan. 5. National advocacy and building effective partnership with all related stakeholders to advance national policy. Program/Policy process: Between May 2016 and May 2017, 7818 home care visits were conducted by KHCC. For capacity building; 678 health care professionals were trained in palliative and home care, out of which 366 participants were females (54%). Palliative care was successfully recognized as a specialty by the Jordan Nursing Council and recognized as a subspecialty by the Jordan Medical Council. The palliative and home care standards of practice were included in the health care accreditation council. The analysis of economic evaluation data suggested that home care services decreased in-patient utilization and costs which is advantageous to a country with limited resources. As a result of the advocacy stream and a collaborative network, the national palliative and home care strategic framework was generated, and endorsed by the Ministry of Health. Outcomes: The NHCI resulted in a very successful pilot project and achieved specialty and subspecialty recognition. Furthermore, we were able to build the capacity of health care professionals and policy makers in the palliative and home care sector from public, private and academic institutions. In the advocacy and policy dimension, the Minister of Health officially approved and adapted the palliative and home care strategic framework that was developed by this initiative. What was learned: Cross-sector collaboration and effective partnership resulted in system change and policy advancement. Developing effective economic systems is essential in low resourced countries. The initiative was supported by a joint grant from the USAID and KHCC.

We describe an effort to improve the care of Medicaid and uninsured individuals through a three-way partnership between a Medicaid managed care insurer, front-line providers, and an academic university. The project provided annual funding over eleven years, for research, pilot programs, and demonstration projects. Projects were provider-driven in design and methods. The Medicaid-managed care insurer-funded proposals were vetted by a neutral university team experienced in grant writing and community-based research and scored by a community-based review panel. The grant program ran from 2007 to 2018, funding 41 projects, totaling USD 2,097,842. The partnership of an insurer, a university, and frontline providers was not only viable and sustainable for over a decade, but also flexible, free of project selection issues, and well-received by all stakeholders. Funded providers worked in both urban and rural settings and included hospitals, community non-profits, outpatient clinics, academic and community health partnerships, and public health agencies. The projects generally reflected common issues in the Medicaid and uninsured population needs, such as childhood obesity, and they were consistent with the targeted goals of the program. Broad health foci included child and/or maternal health, chronic conditions, mental health, preventive health, screening, system effectiveness, special populations including refugees, Latinos, and rural individuals, and substance use disorders. Details of the awarded grantee goals, the grants management process, and lessons learned from the partnership are presented. The partnership triad model was effective and stable, with each partner adding unique value. The use of the academic institution to administrate the program provided an arms-length relationship between the insurer and the providers in project selection and allowed assistance to less experienced researchers in community settings.

Science is a challenging subject to teach at the middle school level. The state of Louisiana requires public school teachers to plan their curriculum around Grade-Level Expectations or state mandated educational benchmarks. A program titled Horticulture in a Can has been designed to teach horticulture lessons to middle school students while targeting the state regulated grade-level expectations. All lessons use a hands-on approach as it has been proven more effective than traditional classroom teaching. Horticulture in a Can was developed by a cooperative effort between the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program and the LSU AgCenter's Department of Horticulture within the Coastal Roots Nursery Program. Eight lesson plans have been created to meet twenty-six Grade-Level Expectations for 463 students in 4 schools. Pre- and PostHorticulture tests were given to each class in addition to pre- and postChildren's Attitude Towards the Environment Scale (CATES). All tests were given to both treatment and control classes within each school. The evaluations tested both short and long-term memory on material contained in the lesson plans. The data was analyzed by school, treatment, sex, and grade-level.

Background: For oral health promotion, teenagers represent an important target group, given that appropriate personal oral hygiene and dietary behaviors are established during this period of life. Experiential learning is an educational approach where learning comes through experience. The aim of the Erasmus+ project “Youth Community-Based Oral Health Learning Model” was to assess the influence of a school-based experiential education program on oral health status, knowledge and behavior among a group of schoolchildren in Bucharest. Methods: This longitudinal interventional study started in 2015 and enrolled 120 adolescents from three public schools. At baseline, all subjects were clinically examined and received a questionnaire. They were split into two groups: the test group received three experiential lessons and control group benefited from a demonstration of tooth brushing technique. Results were presented for the test group, 76 schoolchildren, divided in two age groups: 13-14 years and 15-16 years. More children from the test group adopted twice-daily tooth brushing compared to the control group. The level of knowledge was good, but the role of a noncariogenic diet must be emphasized. Conclusions: The oral health program had positive effects on oral health knowledge and behavior among adolescents. The present study indicated that intervention using experiential learning involving dental students was effective in increasing oral health attitudes and behavior among adolescents from 13-16 years of age included in the study.

Abstract Objectives The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) offers complementary education programs to improve public health through improving nutritional behavioral habits in preschoolers in Washington D.C. This study examines the influence of the SNAP-Ed program on changing a set of positive nutritional behaviors in preschoolers to encourage healthier eating habits. These nutritional behavioral changes include recognizing, choosing, and consuming nutritious and healthy foods. Methods The SNAP-Ed program implemented nutritional education in 37 preschools, schools, and community centers located in Washington D.C for Fiscal Year 2019. During the program, the nutritional behavior of 1679 children aged 2 to 5 years old was examined before and after educational interventions. Interventions focused on the types and the related benefits of different groups of foods including fruits, vegetables, dairy, and whole grains. Designed questionnaires were filled out by 130 teachers based on their observations of the children's nutritional behavioral habits. Teachers were asked if children had an increase in the amount of food consumption from different groups. Children were also observed for an increase in independently choosing healthier foods. Results The SNAP-Ed program observed a positive change in all questions in comparison to the beginning of the program. According to the questionnaires, there were 75%, 75%, 78%, and 75% increases in the amount of fruits, vegetables, dairy, and whole grains preschoolers consumed, respectively. After the educational interventions, 78% of preschoolers showcased healthy food choices, 76% of them selected fruits and vegetables in the cafeteria and 75% of them brought fruits and vegetables as a healthy snack. Conclusions SNAP-Ed nutrition education positively changed preschoolers’ nutritional knowledge and established healthier eating habits. Further research, done in multiple states, is essential to enhance the knowledge of preschoolers nationwide. More research can also be done to examine how effective nutritional education was between SNAP eligible and non-eligible preschoolers. Funding Sources Congress, through the Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Grant Program in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: To build capacity for community engaged, translational research in faculty across the university. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Each year, the Community Engagement Research Core (CERC) of the Penn State CTSI invites applications for one to two Community Engagement Faculty Fellowships. Applicant teams are comprised of a junior or mid-level investigator seeking to expand their work into the CEnR arena under the mentorship of a senior investigator with expertise in community engaged scholarship. The fellow must develop a plan for the mentoring year, including a timeline, activities to be undertaken together, knowledge to be acquired, deliverables, and a budget. The funding supports two course releases or the clinical equivalent for the fellow, and a small budget to support the mentor’s research program. Proposals are evaluated using NIH scientific merit criteria. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We are in our second year of the fellowship program. Two highly qualified fellows are currently working with established community-based mentors. The 2017-2018 fellowship team showcases how an effective mentor-fellow partnership can help move a fellow’s work along the translational spectrum. By working with her mentor, our first fellow’s research has expanded from basic discovery science in a university hospital to development of a neonatal intensive care unit intervention to be employed with parents in the community. The 2018-2019 scholar, who utilized the community engagement research core (CERC) of the PSU CTSI in preparation of a PCORI grant, has since received the PCORI award and is working with her mentor to bring her innovative mental health screenings to the public schools. We are currently evaluating applications for the third year of the program, and please to have engaged applicants from across several Penn State campuses and disciplines. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: The fellowship is enjoying early success in terms of fellow productivity, expanding translational research expertise, and fueling interest across the Penn State campuses in community engagement research. Future work will focus on sustainability planning for this type of program, metrics for tracking success, and plans for integrating fellows into a growing community of engaged scholars at the university.

Abstract Objective – Collaboration and working in teams are key aspects of all types of librarianship, but library and information studies (LIS) students often perceive teamwork and group work negatively. LIS schools have a responsibility to prepare graduates with the skills and experiences to be successful working in teams in the field. Through a grant from the university office of assessment, the assessment committee at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Library and Information Studies explored their department’s programmatic approach to teaching teamwork in the MLIS curriculum. Methods – This research followed a multi-method design including content analysis of syllabi, secondary analysis of student evaluation of teaching (SET) data, and interviews with alumni. Syllabi were analyzed for all semesters from fall 2010 to spring 2016 (n = 210), with 81 syllabi further analyzed for details about their team assignments. Some data was missing from the dataset of SETs purchased from the vendor, resulting in a dataset of 39 courses with SET data available. Interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of alumni about their experiences with teamwork in the LIS program and their view of how well the LIS curriculum prepared them for teamwork in their careers (n = 22). Results – Findings indicate that, although alumni remembered teamwork happening too often, it was required in just over one-third of courses in the sample period (fall 2010 to spring 2016), and teamwork accounted for about one-fifth of assignments in each of these courses. Alumni reported mostly positive experiences with teamwork, reflecting that teamwork assignments are necessary for the MLIS program because teamwork is a critical skill for librarianship. Three themes emerged from the findings: alumni perceived teamwork to be important for librarians and therefore for the MLIS program, despite this perception there is also a perception that the program has teamwork in too many courses, and questions remain about whether faculty perceive teaching teamwork as important and how to teach teamwork skills in the MLIS curriculum. Conclusions – Librarians need to be able to collaborate internally and externally, but assigning team projects does not guarantee students will develop the teamwork skills they need. An LIS program should be proactive in teaching skills in scheduling, time management, personal accountability, and peer evaluation to prepare students to be effective collaborators in their careers.

Background Anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders have significant social and economic impacts, which are largely attributable to their early age of onset and chronic disabling course. Therefore, it is critical to intervene early to prevent chronic and debilitating trajectories. Objective This paper describes the study protocol of a CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials)-compliant randomized controlled trial for evaluating the effectiveness of the Mind your Mate program, a mobile health (mHealth) peer intervention that aims to prevent mental health (focusing on anxiety and depression) and substance use problems in adolescents. Methods Participants will consist of approximately 840 year 9 or year 10 students (60 students per grade per school) from 14 New South Wales high schools in Sydney, Australia. Schools will be recruited from a random selection of independent and public schools across the New South Wales Greater Sydney Area by using publicly available contact details. The intervention will consist of 1 introductory classroom lesson and a downloadable mobile app that will be available for use for 12 months. Schools will be randomly allocated to receive either the mHealth peer intervention or a waitlist control (health education as usual). All students will be given web-based self-assessments at baseline and at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. The primary outcomes of the trial will be the self-reported use of alcohol and drugs, anxiety and depression symptoms, knowledge about mental health and substance use, motives for not drinking, and willingness to seek help. Secondary outcomes will include positive well-being, the quality of life, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyses will be conducted using mixed-effects linear regression analyses for normally distributed data and mixed-effects logistic regression analyses for categorical data. Results The Mind your Mate study was funded by an Australian Rotary Health Bruce Edwards Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from 2019 to 2022. Some of the development costs for the Mind your Mate intervention came from a seed funding grant from the Brain and Mind Centre of the University of Sydney. The enrollment of schools began in July 2020; 12 of 14 schools were enrolled at the time of submission. Baseline assessments are currently underway, and the first results are expected to be submitted for publication in 2022. Conclusions The Mind your Mate study will generate vital new knowledge about the effectiveness of a peer support prevention strategy in real-world settings for the most common mental disorders in youth. If effective, this intervention will constitute a scalable, low-cost prevention strategy that has significant potential to reduce the impact of mental and substance use disorders. Trial Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12620000753954; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=379738&isReview=true International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/26796