District Personnel Research Articles

Assessing the cost of laparotomy at a rural district hospital in Rwanda using time-driven activity-based costing.

BackgroundIn low‐ and middle‐income countries, the majority of patients lack access to surgical care due to limited personnel and infrastructure. The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery recommended laparotomy for district hospitals. However, little is known about the cost of laparotomy and associated clinical care in these settings.MethodsThis costing study included patients with acute abdominal conditions at three rural district hospitals in 2015 in Rwanda, and used a time‐driven activity‐based costing methodology. Capacity cost rates were calculated for personnel, location and hospital indirect costs, and multiplied by time estimates to obtain allocated costs. Costs of medications and supplies were based on purchase prices.ResultsOf 51 patients with an acute abdominal condition, 19 (37 per cent) had a laparotomy; full costing data were available for 17 of these patients, who were included in the costing analysis. The total cost of an entire care cycle for laparotomy was US$1023·40, which included intraoperative costs of US$427·15 (41·7 per cent) and preoperative and postoperative costs of US$596·25 (58·3 per cent). The cost of medicines was US$358·78 (35·1 per cent), supplies US$342·15 (33·4 per cent), personnel US$150·39 (14·7 per cent), location US$89·20 (8·7 per cent) and hospital indirect cost US$82·88 (8·1 per cent).ConclusionThe intraoperative cost of laparotomy was similar to previous estimates, but any plan to scale‐up laparotomy capacity at district hospitals should consider the sizeable preoperative and postoperative costs. Although lack of personnel and limited infrastructure are commonly cited surgical barriers at district hospitals, personnel and location costs were among the lowest cost contributors; similar location‐related expenses at tertiary hospitals might be higher than at district hospitals, providing further support for decentralization of these services.

Keeping Black Children Pushed Into, Not Pushed Out of, Classrooms: Developing a Race-Conscious Parent Engagement Project

Black students in prekindergarten through Grade 12 (P-12) schools across the United States experience persistent educational disparities involving disproportionate disciplinary practices. This research study, using a qualitative methodological approach, describes and analyzes the impact of the Parent Mentor Program, which brings together Black parents, community members, school district personnel and university researchers working together to implement a race-conscious parent engagement project to transform the experiences of Black parents and Black children in the school district. Themes that emerged from the qualitative narratives include Black parents moving from marginalized outsiders to feeling accepted, teachers’ perspectives on the impact of the program, and the final theme—pushing kids into, not out of the classroom—which delineates the critical role of Black parents in addressing pervasive racialized disciplinary practices within school systems. Findings provide support for this culturally responsive innovative parent engagement program with Black parents based on a model that does not subscribe to a traditional framework of race neutrality and colorblindness situated in educational systems. This program instead proposes a race-conscious parent engagement model.

To Play or Not to Play: Equitable Access to Afterschool Programs for Students With Disabilities

In this case, a child with a spinal cord injury was denied access to an afterschool care program that her nondisabled siblings were allowed to attend because she did not meet “eligibility requirements.” Specifically, the independent contractor who ran the program mandated that students be able to function in an environment with a student to teacher ratio of 15:1. District personnel initially claimed that the decision to deny admission was not their responsibility because the program was not administered by the schools, while the contractor claimed that they could not hire additional personnel without district approval.

Free Appropriate Public Education and Endrew F. v. Douglas County School System (2017): Implications for Personnel Preparation

The purpose of this article is to examine the free appropriate public education (FAPE) requirements of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The authors first briefly examine the definition of FAPE in the IDEA. Second, they delve into the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in Board of Education v. Rowley and Endrew F. v. Douglas and how these decisions have affected the definition of FAPE. They next address the procedural, substantive, and implementation errors school district personnel often make when developing students’ special education programs. They offer suggestions on how faculty members can prepare their preservice teachers to understand and avoid these errors and develop educationally meaningful and legally correct special education programs that confer a FAPE.

District Practices Associated With Successful SWPBIS Implementation

Schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) is a widely implemented model for systematically supporting the social and behavioral development of students with and without disabilities, including those with and at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. Identifying district factors associated with SWPBIS implementation fidelity and improved student outcomes can assist district personnel with appropriate allocation of resources, including professional development and school-based implementation support. Due to the limited empirical support for district-level factors that influence school practices and student outcomes, this exploratory study was conducted with the goal of identifying characteristics associated with school districts that have a high proportion of schools implementing SWPBIS with fidelity and sustained positive student discipline outcomes. Six high-implementing districts were identified, and semi-structured interviews with district staff were then conducted to identify common features staff attributed to their district’s positive outcomes. Analysis of those interviews revealed eight themes including District Coordinator, Coaches, District Teaming, Internal Implementation Drivers, Leadership Buy-In and Support, District Data Infrastructure, Direct Support to Schools, and Communication. Limitations and implications are discussed.

National Assessment of Data Quality and Associated Systems-Level Factors in Malawi.

Routine health data can guide health systems improvements, but poor quality of these data hinders use. To address concerns about data quality in Malawi, the Ministry of Health and National Statistical Office conducted a data quality assessment (DQA) in July 2016 to identify systems-level factors that could be improved. We used 2-stage stratified random sampling methods to select health centers and hospitals under Ministry of Health auspices, included those managed by faith-based entities, for this DQA. Dispensaries, village clinics, police and military facilities, tertiary-level hospitals, and private facilities were excluded. We reviewed client registers and monthly reports to verify availability, completeness, and accuracy of data in 4 service areas: antenatal care (ANC), family planning, HIV testing and counseling, and acute respiratory infection (ARI). We also conducted interviews with facility and district personnel to assess health management information system (HMIS) functioning and systems-level factors that may be associated with data quality. We compared systems and quality factors by facility characteristics using 2-sample t tests with Welch's approximation, and calculated verification ratios comparing total entries in registers to totals from summarized reports. We selected 16 hospitals (of 113 total in Malawi), 90 health centers (of 466), and 16 district health offices (of 28) in 16 of Malawi's 28 districts. Nearly all registers were available and complete in health centers and district hospitals, but data quality varied across service areas; median verification ratios comparing register and report totals at health centers ranged from 0.78 (interquartile range [IQR]: 0.25, 1.07) for ARI and 0.99 (IQR: 0.82, 1.36) for family planning to 1.00 (IQR: 0.96, 1.00) for HIV testing and counseling and 1.00 (IQR: 0.80, 1.23) for ANC. More than half (60%) of facilities reported receiving a documented supervisory visit for HMIS in the prior 6 months. A recent supervision visit was associated with better availability of data (P=.05), but regular district- or central-level supervision was not. Use of data by the facility to track performance toward targets was associated with both improved availability (P=.04) and completeness of data (P=.02). Half of facilities had a full-time statistical clerk, but their presence did not improve the availability or completeness of data (P=.39 and P=.69, respectively). Findings indicate both strengths and weaknesses in Malawi's HMIS performance, with key weaknesses including infrequent data quality checks and unreliable supervision. Efforts to strengthen HMIS in low- and middle-income countries should be informed by similar assessments.

Mental Health Services, Free Appropriate Public Education, and Students With Disabilities: Legal Considerations in Identifying, Evaluating, and Providing Services

In the past few years, the provision of mental health services in public schools has received considerable attention. When students with disabilities are eligible for special education and related services under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), mental health services are required if such services are needed to provide students with a free appropriate public education (FAPE). That is, when a student’s individualized education program (IEP) team determines that he or she needs mental health services to receive a FAPE, a school district is required to provide these services. Our purpose is to discuss when school district personnel should identify, evaluate, and serve students with disabilities who may have mental health needs.

Describing the Status of Programs for the Gifted

Using three leveled surveys of school district personnel (elementary, middle, and high school), we collected data on the current status of practices and procedures in gifted education across the nation. Results from 1,566 respondents in separate school districts to questions relating to administration (staffing), identification of gifted students, curriculum and instruction, program delivery models, financing, program evaluation, teacher qualification requirements, and professional development document a national picture of current practice. In addition, we structured data collection procedures to assess the degree to which the NAGC Pre-K–Grade 12 Gifted Education Programming Standards are used to guide programming. The resulting picture of current practices was often a mirror of practices from 20 or more years ago, suggesting a need for a national dialogue focused on reshaping gifted education for the 21st century.

Bullying and Harassment of Students With Disabilities in Schools

Bullying is a common occurrence in U.S.’s schools and is currently at the forefront of national attention. Unfortunately, students with disabilities are frequently the targets of peer-on-peer bullying. The purpose of this article is to examine the legal ramifications when students with disabilities are bullied in school settings. We address court cases, state educational agency decisions, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) guidance, and Office of Civil Rights (OCR) rulings that have held that bullying may violate Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. School personnel must address the bullying of students with disabilities in a quick and efficient manner. In fact, these decisions show that when bullying is not stopped, school district officials and personnel may be subjecting their school districts to legal risks. We end by proposing how school district officials can develop legally sound policies for identifying, investigating, and responding to incidences of bullying of students with disabilities.

Professional learning community process in the United States: conceptualization of the process and district support for schools

As the Professional Learning Community (PLC) process becomes embedded within schools, the level of district support has a direct impact on whether schools have the ability to re-culture and sustain highly effective collaborative practices. The purpose of this article is to share a professional learning community conceptual framework from the US, and to highlight recent findings relating to district level support for the PLC process in schools. The professional learning community conceptual model is organized around five dimensions: shared and supportive leadership, shared values and vision, collaborative learning and application, shared personal practice, and supportive conditions. The overarching question guiding this qualitative research study is: How do school district personnel (central office staff) support schools in the professional learning community process? Findings reveal the importance of transformative and proactive district involvement, and the use of transparency, trust, accountability, and autonomy in school re-culturing. It was also found that developing leadership capacity, embedding professional development, and focusing the culture on student success were critically important. As districts provide support for the PLC dimensions and themes, school leaders will have a foundation of curricular strategies, collaborative skills, and necessary resources to serve teachers and students through continuous school improvement.

Navigating the Parent Involvement Terrain – The Engagement of High Poverty Parents in a Rural School District

This research explored parents’ perceptions of engagement experiences in the school life of their children. This qualitative study included a multi-site exploration of parents at two elementary public schools in an Appalachian school district. Participants for this inquiry included 16 high poverty parents for the individual and focus group interviews. Parents were identified as high poverty based on their child’s eligibility for free and reduced lunches under the U.S. National School Lunch Program. Interview protocols were designed to examine themes of school culture and climate, educational policy, and parental involvement. The research team collected interview transcripts from conversations with parents at the studied school sites.. In examining data from the transcripts, several prominent themes emerged as findings. These findings included the fact that a) parents were motivated to be involved in schools; b) parents grappled with constraints limiting their time to be engaged in schools; and c) issues emerged suggesting that there were attitudes of in-group marginalization amongst parents in the schools. Recommendations are provided for educational leaders, teachers, and other school district personnel.

Integration of irrigation district personnel with canal automation projects

Canal companies are adapting automation equipment to assist in the management of their canal systems and provide water to users at a near constant flow rate. Many of these canal companies have been motivated out of need to meet the water demands of their customers while limiting flow rate and depth fluctuations. Several canal automation schemes have been successful, while a few systems have had problems. After studying 179 canal automation projects, key points have been identified that contribute to the success of the automation systems. The most important factor is that the automation system has the support of the board of directors and the management personal. Other factors include a supportive automation company, use of simple, understandable sensors, and reliable equipment.

Keeping our Students Safe: Teacher’s Responsibility

During their lunch period, a second grade student began choking on his sandwich. A teacher noticed the student choking and walked with him to the office on the other side of the school. When the student and teacher got to the office, the school secretary performed CPR but the student had already passed out. 911 was called while the secretary continued to perform CPR. When the ambulance arrived, the EMTs also performed CPR and the student was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. When interviewed by the police and district personnel, the teacher who had escorted the student to the office said she did not perform the Heimlich maneuver because she had just discovered she was pregnant.

Blaming Mothers: A Disability Perspective

Blaming mothers is a longstanding cultural tradition in the United States. This article traces how mothers are often blamed by school district personnel when their children with disabilities face educational challenges. Using hearing officer decisions in special education cases, this article offers specific examples of how the blame the mother phenomenon occurs. Mothers are either too aggressive or too passive while school districts fail to offer children with disabilities an appropriate education.

Cultivating community: detailing school and community engagement under complex conditions

This article reveals the nature of actions, discussions and relationships which helped forge school-community partnerships for engaged student learning and wider community participation for students and families living under difficult socio-economic circumstances. Specifically, the article draws upon interviews with key personnel and staff involved in the establishment and enactment of a ‘Community Partnerships’ programme to help improve the opportunities for students attending a primary school serving a low socio-economic urban community in south-east Queensland, Australia. Drawing upon the notion of educational practice as a product of ongoing interactions between particular actions (doings), discussions (sayings) and relationships (relatings), which both constitute and are responsive to particular conditions or ‘architectures’ for practice, the article reveals how the conceptualisation, establishment and consolidation of the community partnerships programme was dependent upon specific ‘relatings’ between key district and school personnel, the actions/‘doings’ of these personnel and ongoing ‘sayings’/dialogue about their work. Collectively, these ‘doings’, ‘sayings’ and ‘relatings’ all helped to stimulate new conditions – ‘practice architectures’ – for improved opportunities for students and their families. Teacher education informed by such theorising of community partnerships as the product of specific actions, dialogue and relationship-building is vital for developing improved understandings of such interactions and partnerships over time.

Uptake of mass drug administration programme for schistosomiasis control in Koome Islands, Central Uganda.

IntroductionSchistosomiasis is one of the neglected tropical diseases targeted for elimination in Uganda through the Mass Drug Administration (MDA) programme. Praziquantel has been distributed using community resource persons in fixed sites and house-to-house visits; however the uptake is still below target coverage. In 2011/2012 MDA exercise, uptake stood at 50% yet WHO target coverage is 75% at community level. We assessed the uptake of MDA and the associated factors in Koome Islands, Central Uganda.MethodsIn March 2013, we conducted a mixed methods cross sectional study in 15 randomly selected villages. We interviewed a total of 615 respondents aged 18 years and above using semi structured questionnaires and five key informants were also purposively selected. Univariate and multivariate analysis was done. MDA uptake was defined as self reported swallowing of praziquantel during the last (2012) MDA campaign. We conducted key informant interviews with Ministry of Health, district health personnel and community health workers.ResultsSelf reported uptake of praziquantel was 44.7% (275/615), 95% confidence interval (CI) 40.8–48.7%. Of the 275 community members who said they had swallowed praziquantel, 142 (51.6%) reported that they had developed side effects. Uptake of MDA was more likely if the respondent was knowledgeable about schistosomiasis transmission and prevention (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.85, 95% CI 1.22–2.81) and reported to have received health education from the health personnel (AOR 5.95, 95% CI 3.67–9.65). Service delivery challenges such as drug shortages and community health worker attrition also influenced MDA in Koome Islands.ConclusionsUptake of MDA for schistosomiasis control in Koome was sub optimal. Lack of knowledge about schistosomiasis transmission and prevention, inadequate health education and drug shortages are some of the major factors associated with low uptake. These could be addressed through routine health education and systematic drug supply for the successful elimination of schistosomiasis on the islands.

Doug C. v. Hawaii Department of Education: Parental Participation in IEP Development

Parental participation is a crucial component of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. When developing students’ Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), school-based teams must place a high priority on involving students’ parents in a collaborative effort to develop their children’s educational programs and determine their placements. In this article, we examine Doug C. v. Hawaii Department of Education, a case in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed the central role of parents in the IEP decision-making process. This column outlines the facts of this case and discusses implications of this decision for school district personnel and IEP team members.

Developing leadership identity through critical reflection: voice, knowledge and advocacy

This article describes the leadership identity development of an American Latina teacher as she moves from the domain of her classroom outward to lead her grade level team, school leadership team and school district personnel. The leadership master’s degree programme is grounded in transformative learning theory, emphasizes social justice and equity, and employs systematic critical reflection. Through structured critical reflections over two years, Cecilia examines her own experiences as a student and teacher, interprets her individual educational journey in the context of broader societal patterns, and documents her development as a school leader. This case illustrates the power of critical reflection to integrate personal, cultural and professional experiences and promote leadership identity development of one woman of colour.

The Development and Applications of SAW RFID Technology

SAW (Surface acoustic wave) is an elastic wave, which spreads in the presence of solid half-space and the energy concentrates on the vicinity of the solid surface. SAW-RFID technology is purely passive and low cost, long reading distance and resistant to harsh environments. It has a wide use in the intelligent transportation, logistics management, access control systems, district personnel and vehicle management and other fields. This paper focuses on the principles of the SAW-RFID system, introduces some multi-recognition ways of the SAW-RFID system in detail and discusses the applications of SAW-RFID technology.

MULTI‐LEVEL CONSULTATION WITH AN URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT TO PROMOTE 9TH GRADE SUPPORTS FOR ON‐TIME GRADUATION

This case study documents a multi‐level consultation regarding a district‐led initiative, designed to increase the number of students starting 10th grade on track for on‐time high school graduation. The case study focuses on one neighborhood high school (9th grade student N = 440) in an urban district in the Intermountain West. Consultation occurred with teachers, teaching teams, support staff, school administrators, and district personnel. Data sources included consultation notes, observations, surveys, interviews, and district records. The findings included that students enter with various risk profiles that require immediate differentiation of supports, students’ entering risk profiles were not fully predictive of where they would be by the end of 9th grade, the consultation with teaching teams and teachers increased their ability to support student needs, and the systems‐level consultation led to significant building and district changes. Suggestions for the practice of school psychology and future research are given.