Public Education Policies Research Articles

Unpacking the language demands in academic content and English language proficiency standards for English learners

ABSTRACT In U.S. K-12 public schools, educational policy and practice for English learner (EL) students center around two sets of academic standards: English language proficiency (ELP) standards and content standards such as in English language arts and mathematics. This study examined the types of language demands manifested in those standards in Grade 5. Additionally, we investigated perceptions of both general education and ESL teachers about the language demands in the standards and the challenges in implementing the standards with EL students. Overall, a large overlap was found between academic content standards (particularly, English language arts) and ELP standards in terms of language functions with a heavy emphasis on integrated language skills and interaction skills. The teacher data indicate there is a strong desire for professional learning to better understand the language demands in the standards and to support the systematic collaboration between content-area and ESL teachers. Implications for practice and research in addressing the language demands in academic standards for appropriate EL education are discussed.

Likelihood of Adolescents Trying Conventional or Electronic Cigarettes Varies with Their Use and Perception of Harm and Addictiveness of Other Tobacco Products, Including Cigars.

Developing a comprehensive understanding of tobacco product use among adolescents requires information about the use of conventional cigarettes; electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes); other tobacco products such as cigars, little cigars, and cigarillos (CCLCs); and smokeless tobacco. In particular, the use of products other than cigarettes may have important implications for additional smoking-related behaviors and the health of students and adolescents. The National Youth Tobacco Surveys for 2017, 2018, and 2019 were aggregated to analyze the characteristics of middle school and high school students who had used tobacco products, such as CCLCs. Information collected included age, sex, race, and perceptions about harm and addiction related to tobacco products. Multiple logistic regression models were used to evaluate the associations between having used conventional/e-cigarettes and having used CCLCs, while adjusting for the perceived harm of conventional/e-cigarettes, sex, age, and other risk factors. These combined surveys included 50,172 responses; 6836 respondents (13.6%) had tried CCLCs. Male students used these products more frequently than female students. Students in older age groups (15, 16, 17, and 18 and older,) had used these products more frequently than younger students. The odds for students in this CCLCs subgroup trying conventional cigarettes decreased in those who thought that conventional cigarettes could cause "some harm" or "a lot of harm." The odds for having tried e-cigarettes in the CCLCs subgroup decreased in those who thought that e-cigarettes could cause harm and increased in those who thought that conventional cigarettes could cause "little harm" or "a lot of harm." More than 10% of middle school and high school students have used CCLCs. The majority of students in this subgroup also have used either conventional cigarettes or e-cigarettes. Understanding possible harm with cigarette use is significantly associated with the reduced use of conventional and e-cigarettes, and using CCLCs independently contributes to the increased risk of using conventional and e-cigarettes. The frequent use of several tobacco products makes surveys in this age group more complicated and indicates that educational efforts and public policies regarding tobacco need to include all tobacco products.

Stimulasi Tumbuh Kembang Pada Anak Balita dengan Sosial Ekonomi Rendah Selama Pandemi Covid-19 : A Scoping Review

Stimulation of growth and development in children under five during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affects growth and development stimulation disorders. Disorders of growth and development in children under five can be influenced by families who have low socioeconomic status. Therefore, the government is expected to implement additional public health and education policies, especially for those in low-income families. The objective is to review the stimulation of growth and development in children under five with low socioeconomic status during the covid-19 pandemic. Scoping Review methode using the PRISMA-ScR framework; scoping review questions with the PICO framework; search for articles through relevant databases, namely Pubmed, Science Direct and Wiley, Critical Appraisal using the MMAT tool. Based on the 961 search results there are 10 articles that match the inclusion criteria in this study are as follows: original research articles, research studies using this approach qualitative and quantitative, articles published in English or Indonesian, articles published in the last 2 years in 2020-2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, in this review there are two main themes, namely socio-demographic and child-rearing patterns. Low socioeconomic and low income are factors that stimulate growth and development where the prospects for completion can achieve prosperity and prosperity in resource associations. Stimulation and food limitations are closely related to parenting patterns where parents can fulfill toddlers' nutrition and stimulate their intelligence. During the COVID-19 pandemic, health workers and cross-sectors sought to implement health and early public education specifically for low-income families. However, it is necessary to carry out further research related to low economic status, low income and limited food, because these are the main factors in decreasing growth and development stimulation of children under five during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Policy education in South Korea and Japan: similar beginnings but different directions?

ABSTRACT Examining the evolution of public administration and policy education in South Korea and Japan, this study analyzes how such education in the two countries has developed in response to social needs as well as socioeconomic and political changes. In both South Korea and Japan, public administration and policy education originated as a type of law education, but policy education in Korea has developed as a subdiscipline of social science that focuses on improving the ability of social problem-solving, while policy education in Japan evolved under the umbrella of law education longer than Korea and focuses mainly on training elite bureaucrats with a high level of management ability and capacity. The results of this diachronic comparative study of professional and institutional development as well as academic characteristics (i.e., curriculum and students) indicate that different political and social environments as well as educational backgrounds of faculty members have been primary drivers of the divergence of policy education in the two countries.

The Association between the Burden of PM2.5-Related Neonatal Preterm Birth and Socio-Demographic Index from 1990 to 2019: A Global Burden Study.

Background: Preterm birth (PTB) leads to short-term and long-term adverse effects on newborns. Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was positively related to PTB. However, the global annual average PM2.5 was three times than the recommended value in 1998–2014. Socio-demographic index (SDI) is a new indicator that comprehensively reflects the overall development level of a country, partly because of “the epidemiological transition”. Among other countries with higher and similar SDI levels, policy makers have the opportunity to learn from their successful experiences and avoid their mistakes by identifying whether their burdens of disease are higher or lower than the expected. However, it is unclear about the trends of the burden of PM2.5-related preterm birth in different countries and different levels of SDI regions. Additionally, the relationship between the SDI and the burden in 1990–2019 is also unclear. Methods: This was a retrospective study based on the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 (GBD2019) database from 1990 to 2019. The burden of PM2.5-related PTB was measured by the age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR), age-standardized disability-adjusted life years rate (ASDR), mortality rate, and the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). The annual percentage changes (APCs) and the average annual percentage changes (AAPCs) were used to reflect the trends over the past 30 years, which were calculated using a joinpoint model. The relationships between the ASMR, ASDR, and SDI were calculated using a Gaussian process regression. Findings: In 2019, the entire burden of PM2.5-related PTB was relatively high, where the ASMR and the ASDR were 0.76 and 67.71, increasing by 7.04% and 7.12%, respectively. It mainly concentrated on early neonates, boys, and on low-middle SDI regions. The increase in the burden of PM2.5-related PTB in low and low-middle SDI regions is slightly higher than the decrease in other SDI regions. In 2019, the burden varied greatly among different levels of SDI regions where ASMRs varied from 0.13 in high SDI regions to 1.19 in low-middle regions. The relationship between the expected value of the burden of PM2.5-related PTB and SDI presented an inverted U-shape, and it reached the maximum when SDI is around 0.50. The burdens in four regions (South Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, western sub-Saharan Africa, and southern sub-Saharan Africa) were much higher than the mean value. Boys bore more burden that girls. The sex ratio (boys:girls) of the burden showed a dramatically increasing trend in low SDI regions and a decreasing trend in middle SDI regions and high-middle SDI regions. These differences reflect the huge inequality among regions, countries, ages, and sex in the burden of PM2.5-related PTB. Conclusion: The overall burden of PM2.5-related PTB in 2019 was relatively high, mainly concentrated on early neonates, boys, and on low-middle SDI regions. It showed an increasing trend in low-middle and low SDI regions. The association between the burden and the SDI presented an inverted U-shape. It is very necessary to promulgate policies to prevent and control air pollution in countries with large and increasing exposure to PM2.5 pollution because it does not need action at an individual level. Focusing on public educational interventions, public and professional policies, and improving accessibility of prenatal care are other feasible ways for low and low-middle SDI countries. Policy makers should also appropriately allocate medical resources to boys and early newborns.

Protocol for a multicenter-cluster randomized clinical trial of a motor skills intervention to promote physical activity and health in children: the CHAMP afterschool program study

BackgroundPromoting health-enhancing and sustainable physical activity levels across childhood and adolescence contribute to positive health outcomes as an adult. This study will aim to: a) examine the immediate (pre- to post-intervention) and sustained (1-year post-intervention follow-up) effects of the Children’s Health Activity Motor Program-Afterschool Program (CHAMP-ASP) on physical activity, motor competence, and perceived motor competence relative to the comparison ASP, b) examine the immediate and sustained effects of CHAMP-ASP on secondary health outcomes, specifically health-related physical fitness (i.e., cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, percent body fat) and weight status compared to children in the comparison ASP, and c) determine if perceived motor competence mediates the effect of CHAMP-ASP on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.MethodsThis multicenter cluster randomized trial will be implemented by ASP staff and will be conducted in ASPs located in two city-based cohorts: East Lansing/Lansing and Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti, Michigan. Children (N = 264) who are K-2 graders will participate 35 min/day X 3 days/week for 19 weeks (1995 min) in their afterschool movement program (i.e., CHAMP-ASP vs. comparison). The research team will train ASP staff to implement the program, which will be delivered within the existing ASP offering. Measures of physical activity (accelerometer), motor competence (process and product measures of fundamental motor skills), health-related fitness, perceived motor competence, and anthropometry will be collected pre-, immediately post-, and one-year post-intervention. Random-effects models will be used to assess the clustered longitudinal effect of the intervention on outcome measures.DiscussionThe long-term goal is to provide a sustainable, ecologically-relevant, and evidence-based program during the early elementary years that can be delivered by ASP staff, is health-enhancing, and increases physical activity in children. Findings hold the potential to help shape public health and educational policies and interventions that support healthy development and active living during the early years.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT05342701.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval was obtained through the Health Sciences and Behavioral Sciences IRB, University of Michigan (HUM00208311). The CHAMP-ASP study is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Findings will be disseminated via print, online media, dissemination events, and practitioner and/or research journals.

The prevalence of and potential risk factors for Developmental Language Disorder at 10 years in the Raine Study.

This study sought to determine the prevalence of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) in Australian school-aged children and associated potential risk factors for DLD at 10 years. This study used a cross-sectional design to estimate the prevalence of DLD in Generation 2 of the prospective Raine Study. Participants included 1626 children aged 10 years with available language data. Primary outcomes included variables matching diagnostic criteria for DLD. Associations of other potential prenatal and environmental variables were analysed as secondary outcomes. The prevalence of DLD in this sample was 6.4% (n=104) at 10 years. This sub-cohort comprised 33.7% (n=35) with expressive language deficits, 20.2% (n=21) with receptive language deficits, and 46.2% (n=48) with receptive-expressive deficits. No significant difference in sex distribution was observed (52.9% male, p =0.799). Children who were exposed to smoke in utero at 18 weeks gestation were at increased risk of DLD at 10 years (OR= 2.56, CI = 1.23-5.35, p =0.012). DLD is a relatively prevalent condition in Australian children, even when assessed in middle childhood years. These findings can inform future research priorities, and public health and educational policy which account for the associations with potential risk factors.

Costa Rica (1821–2021): De la independencia a su bicentenario

Costa Rica (1821–2021): De la independencia a su bicentenario

Undoing Theory: Walking of Arrernte Country – Co-creating Knowledge and Meaning in Central Australia

Can educators and researchers rethink what theory does in public education so as not to repeat colonial theories and policies predicated on mis/conceptions of “terra nullius” and “terra incognita”? My initial concern as a teacher and administrator working in Northern Territory for over two decades, was the question: “What theories underpin public education policy directives and implementation plans?” Recently my focus has shifted to include what theory is and what it is doing in shaping whose lives (human and non-human) matter. The shift occurred because many theories appeared to perpetuate “more of the same” outcomes, specifically for Indigenous students and their communities. The shifts from what theory is to what theory is doing in the world occur through the daily rhythms – as a precedent of Arrernte practices – of walking Country. Through quotidian acts of walking, I begin to understand that theory is the inseparability of being, doing and thinking, what Barad’s agential realism calls “ethico-onto-epistem-ology”. To show how walking of country is doing theory, I diffractively read several texts (including the non-English and poetic). This gives a sense of what theory is doing in and of the specific matters it inhabits: Arrernte Country, colonisation, education policy directives, walking and creative expression. Theory is taken up through the ethics of those lives rendered un/thinkable, in/visible in public education in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). A diffractive approach in this context opens theory up, to express thinking differently with the commitment to unsettle education policy as a continued reflection of ongoing colonisation.

Educational policies in response to the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus in Latin America: An integrative documentary review

Educational policies in the face of the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus took an unexpected turn in Latin America. Virtuality constituted a key opportunity for the continuity of basic fundamental services in the citizen’s right to education. The objective of this research was to analyze the educational public policies adopted by governments in Latin America in the face of the pandemic. The methodology was an integrative documentary review of the main international organizations whose documents provided relevant information on the actions to be implemented in fourteen Latin American countries. The results obtained show that the priority was to reestablish the continuity of educational services using mass communication resources, such as radio, television, digital platforms, making visible the inequity in the access to the Internet at home. It was also identified a deficiency in the competencies and digital resources of the educational community, dis-crimination and inclusion of people with some type of disability or different languages, especially in urban or rural areas because they do not have technological means. It was concluded that the educational policies in Latin America proposed during the COVID-19 period were designed with-out a real situational diagnosis in each country, to meet the demands of urban and rural areas in an equitable manner with the will of governments, providing budgets and resources that benefit the educational community, as an achievement of state policies.

Outbreak control management: Lessons from SARS-CoV-2 infections in 2020-2022 in Hong Kong, an international municipality with high-frequency travelers.

The control management of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infections is one of the most challenges in the 21st century. By May 8th, 2022, SARS‐CoV‐2 has infected over 510 million people with 6.2 million death worldwide and over 1.2 million people with 9133 deaths in the fifth wave of infection in Hong Kong. The government responded rapidly in the early days of the 2020 outbreak, and the results were encouraging to control COVID‐19 outbreak unavailable of vaccine. The quick responses to the epidemic alerts, for example, public education and control policies, kept residents safe from infection in the city with such a high population density and large‐scale travelers. Nevertheless, the extremely high infectivity, Omicron variant infections, and the shortcomings of transmission control measures led to uncontrollable outbreak in 2022. The weak immunity groups, elderly and children, experienced a high hospitalization rate and mortality rate because of low vaccination rate. Currently, the infection is under well controlled. This study timely summarizes the challenges, policy, and lessons of SARS‐CoV‐2 outbreak control from 2020 to 2022. More importantly, the lesson and policy revealed from this study may be beneficial and applied to other cities with the outbreak of highly infectious SARS‐CoV‐2.

Políticas públicas de planeamento da rede escolar em Portugal: evolução das responsabilidades e opções municipais

Abstract The presentation of the Education charter in 2003 in Portugal as an instrument for future planning of school network represented the beginning of a different phase in public Education policies, seen as a necessary step towards the modernization of the primary school network. More than a decade later, at the start of a new cycle in public Education policies, a second phase of the reorganization of the public-school network began, with the revision of the Education charters. This paper aims to carry out a comparative analysis of these two periods, based on a qualitative research conducted in 34 municipalities in Central Portugal, featuring different realities, to identify the main differences and similarities and to determine the influence of territorial and human factors on the solutions adopted. It seems possible to conclude that new municipal actions have emerged that prioritize planning aimed at local specificities, in contrast to the previous approach, focused on compliance with central government stipulations.

COVID-19 as a Catalyst for Policy Change: The Role of Trigger Points and Spillover Effects

ABSTRACT This article understands COVID-19 as an eruptive event with severe effects on many policy fields beyond (public) health. Based on this assumption, we consider the pandemic as a catalyst for policy change across policy fields. For that reason, we suggest a new approach for conceptualising eruptive events as triggers that provoke far-reaching change and spillover effects in fields of policymaking. These are characterised by a complex problem structure – conceived of as clusters of trigger points – in need of intersectoral policymaking. Our approach suggests a mechanism of multi-dimensional spillover that initiates new dynamics to gridlocked policy processes by acting with regard to the most pressing trigger points. To test the concept, we take an explorative look at public health, educational policy and food and agricultural policy in Germany. The examples demonstrate how the concept of problem-related trigger points and spillover effects can be applied to analyse policy change across policy areas in pandemic times and beyond.

Public policy education in India: promises and pitfalls of an emerging disciplinary identity

ABSTRACT Despite the surge in global demand over the last few decades, the supply and design of public policy education has been notably concentrated within western and developed country contexts. The same era has not seen a comparable rise in public policy education and accreditation emerging from developing countries that are still unable to fully meet the existing domestic needs for these skills. In India, core public policy education is in its emerging, albeit promising stages. Drawing on several rounds of discussions with academic and administrative Heads of the Department for public policy in tertiary education institutes of India, this paper critically reviews three interrelated themes. Firstly, we illustrate the broad trends along which the discipline’s advancement has progressed, through changing policy and institutional contexts, and emerging policy analysis and public management challenges. Secondly, we explore the demand drivers for policy education and how they have been designed to respond to graduates’ career pathways and emerging job markets. Thirdly, we include a focus on the public policy and public administration faculty composition and their approach towards teaching public policy. Underlining these three emphases, we gauge the extent to which public policy programmes and schools have been influenced by external perspectives and approaches.

Mental health of children and adolescents with pre-existing psychiatric and developmental disorders during the first pandemic-related lockdown: A cross-sectional study in Greece

Since the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, concerns have been raised about the effects of the pandemic on youth with pre-existing mental health disorders. The present study aimed to explore change in emotional and behavioral symptoms (mood states) and daily behaviors during the lockdown in a clinical sample of children and adolescents in Greece. A cross-sectional survey, using the CoRonavIrus Health Impact Survey (CRISIS) Questionnaire, was completed by 738 parents of children and adolescents aged 2–18 years attending 12 outpatient child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) across four geographical regions in Greece. Participants reported at a single time-point on their children's mood states and daily behaviors 3 months prior to the pandemic and during the past two weeks, as well as on life changes during the spring 2020 lockdown. Using paired samples t-tests no change was found in mean mood states scores pre- and post-pandemic onset in all subgroups investigated. Using McNemar's test, we found that among individual mood states, some symptoms increased, and others decreased or remained stable. Additionally, participants did rate several of their daily behaviours as having overall worsened, e.g., reduced sleep or time spent outdoors during the lockdown, as compared to 3 months prior the pandemic. Longitudinal studies are needed to ascertain which factors buffer against deterioration of mental health among children with pre-pandemic psychiatric or developmental disorders, in order to inform public mental health and educational policy.

My experience with Paulo Freire's literacy method

The author presents a reflection on her work experience with Paulo Freire and his team in Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau. Still as an economics student in Lisbon, she remembers her literacy work with the Cape Verdean diaspora. As a member of PAIGC - African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, she would participate in the teams coordinated by Paulo Freire, always bearing in mind the complexity of literacy in these two new countries, which inherited a high level of illiteracy from the colonial period and as this would affect future public policies for Education. Keyword: Literacy; Paulo Freire; Cape Green; Guinea-Bissau, PAIGC;

School education and curriculum: Common National Curriculum Base and inclusive education

This study aims to foment reflections on School Education and the historical perspective of curriculum theories, within the institutions, having the Common National Curriculum Base (BNCC) as one of the references, while asking how Inclusive Education is placed in this construction that is thought of as an education for all. This is a documentary and bibliographic research that dialogues with authors who discuss the curriculum such as Ribeiro (2017), Arroyo (2014), among others. In conclusion, it was evident that it is worth reflecting on the current proposal of the BNCC, analyzing its foundations and the ideological aspects hidden in the content of the document, due to inconsistencies regarding the curricular thinking and its structuring for a curriculum that is fair, democratic, comprehensive and that serves everyone with inclusive public educational policies.

Education in multicultural contexts: Ethnoeducational and intercultural experience with an indigenous population from the Resguardo Embera Chami (Mistrato, Risaralda, Colombia)

Esta investigación educativa responde a la necesidad de estudiar el fenómeno de la educación intercultural desde la plurietnicidad y multiculturalidad de los diversos territorios y pueblos de Colombia a partir de un marco de referencia de tres grandes categorías: Educación indígena, Etnoeducación y Educación Intercultural. Como sistematización de experiencias pedagógicas, busca describir, analizar críticamente y comprender las dinámicas comunicativas y socioculturales que tienen lugar durante los procesos educativos y sociopedagógicos con las comunidades indígenas Embera Chamí del Departamento de Risaralda. La investigación, de corte cualitativo, se ha basado en la estrategia metodológica de sistematización de experiencias desde la reconstrucción general del proceso y el análisis interpretativo y crítico de los trabajos de grado de los participantes (como evidencias) de los aprendizajes significativos, a partir de una matriz propia para sistematización de experiencias sociopedagógicas en contextos interculturales: ETINDICU (Etnoeducación-indígena-intercultural). Las conclusiones y recomendaciones principales se centran en: a) el diseño y desarrollo de la política pública en educación, que tenga en cuenta las características propias de la educación indígena; b) proponer y avanzar en investigaciones socio-pedagógicas cualitativas desde la sistematización de experiencias contextuales y territoriales (Matriz ETINDICU; y c) formar y aumentar en participantes la profesionalización de la Licenciatura en Etnoeducación y Desarrollo comunitario.

Philosophical Leadership Values Sunan Gunung Jati Leaderships: Relevance for Leadership Moral Development in Indonesia

This research is proposed to study and understand more deeply and comprehensively about the philosphy’s values of Sunan Gunung Jati’s leadership, chiefly occurred in his ‘petatah-petitih’. And also, his leadership’s attitude, thereby forming its possibility and its relevance for ethic and moral leadership building in Indonesia recently, for at least it’s able to form a new spirit to construct the future of nation, which has higher moral and dignity. The essence of this research is to understand the characteristic of Sunan Gunung Jati’s leadership, also as a leader of saints, ruler of nation and leader of politic. This research is library research, the points are Sunan Gunung Jati’s leadership values which were written in any ancients’s manuscript and researches that existed before. Related with specific problems to reach philosophical understanding, the researchers conducted various interviews with figures who have capabilities on understanding the figure of Sunan Gunung Jati. In this case, the study involved the officers of Keraton Kasepuhan, Kanoman and Kacirebonan. For reaching comprehensive understanding and clearly, the study used trough analysis philosophical methods with perennial apporoaches. The result of this research is to explain the leadership figure of Sunan Gunung Jati. He was a leader who transcended and immanent. In his hands, they combined between political and spiritual powers. The combination political and spiritual power made him not only capable to control things that were related with spiritual and religious ceremony, but also capable to control things that were related with social and cultural fields, like economy, education, defense and security and public policies as well. This unique capability made him a successful leader, this occured by the construction of two Islamic civilization such as Cirebon and Banten. Most importantly are Sunan Gunung Jati’s leadership system, mostly found stature of models as a wise leader, and also moral messages in form of ‘petatah-petitih’, which is related with moral values and essential philosophy. Thereby those values chiefly formed in four principal teachings, like the teachings of faith and piety, discipline, wisdom, and about ethic. These four teachings besides having universal ethic, also has similarity with Pancasila’s values. Therefore, it is expected to provide strong foundation for Indonesian moral and leadership ethic based on national cultures and local wisdom.

Taking women on boards: a comparative analysis of public policies in higher education

ABSTRACT There is growing interest in the underlying mechanisms affecting female leaders in Higher Education (HE). This article compares four countries – Germany, Norway, Poland and Sweden to identify key structural conditions (enablers and barriers) for female representation in academia by studying the regulative framework of government policy. Two research questions are guiding the analysis: first, what (if any) policy instruments are chosen to increase the number of female leaders in HE? Second, to what extent does this choice of instruments mirror either sectorial logic (HE) or national policy styles? The empirical results of the article show that while processes of policy diffusion are observable at the sectoral level, gender equality policies and instrument choice differ considerably in the four countries under consideration. The article thus concludes that national policy styles need to be understood as enabling and disabling policy factors for gender equality in HE shaping the process of translating diffused models decisively.