Higher School Certificate Research Articles

Investigating the Level and Factors of Speaking Anxiety among High Performing School Students

English is mandatory for Malaysian students from standard one until form five. The subject per se has been one of the prerequisites to pass Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and to attain a high school certificate. Regardless of the long years formally learning and acquiring the language within the classroom walls especially, many still fail to speak fluently. Furthermore, the issue of low English proficiency among Malaysians has been one of the primal causes of unemployment in the country. In terms of an individual’s speaking performance, it is found that anxiety during speaking a particular language can cause mental barriers that will prevent learners from speaking fluently. This quantitative study examined the levels of speaking anxiety of Form 1 students towards the English language and the contributing factors towards English-speaking anxiety. 138 Form 1 students took part and completed an adapted 33-item English Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (ELCAS) questionnaire. The questionnaire was then analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for the mean and frequency values. The results show that 56.5% of the Form 1 students have moderate levels of English-speaking anxiety. It is also found that the highest contributing factor towards the students’ speaking anxiety is Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) with a mean of 2.59. In conclusion, English proficiency level, and socioeconomic as well as geographical factors influence the level of speaking anxiety among ESL learners in Malaysia.

Factors influencing the organizational engagement of village health volunteers, after the COVID-19 Outbreak in Phayao Province

Village health volunteers (VHVs) play a crucial role in promoting health advancements and enhancing community well-being. This cross-sectional descriptive study explores the factors that influence organizational engagement among VHVs in Phayao Province. Data were gathered from 400 volunteers using Krejcie and Morgan’s formula and analyzed through a questionnaire. Analytical methods included descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product-moment correlation, and multiple linear regression. The findings revealed that the majority of volunteers were female (77%), aged between 41-60 years (62.3%), married (81.3%), with over ten years of experience (61%), and had educational levels of high school or vocational certificate (46.8%). Most were agriculturists (63.5%), with incomes below 5,000 baht (54%), and served as general members (74.5%) in a single role (78.8%), primarily under the provincial administrative organization (54%). The scores for motivational factors, quality of life, and organizational engagement were high. Responsibility, the nature of work, and respect were identified as significant predictors of organizational engagement, accounting for 51.1% of the variance. These findings were statistically significant (R = 0.715, R Square = 0.511, P-value < 0.001). Based on these results, organizations are encouraged to ensure appropriate working conditions and respect to enhance engagement among village health volunteers.

Prioritized but declining: an analysis of student participation in Asian languages courses in secondary school 2001–2021

AbstractThe need for proficiency in Asian languages has been identified as vital for Australia’s regional prosperity, but in the absence of a national language policy and national data collection, languages study has continued to deteriorate at alarming levels. This article analyses recent data for trends in participation in ‘priority’ Asian languages, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, and Korean NSW High School Certificate (HSC) courses from 2001–2021. In 1994, these languages were first identified by the government as “priority” Asian languages and of considerable importance for Australia’s future prosperity. This study analyses disaggregated HSC data to examine trends in individual languages and courses. The overall finding in this study is that despite the considerable funding, there has been no significant improvement in Beginner, Continuers, In-context, or Literature courses: 2001 had 4.25% of HSC students studying one of the priority Asian languages, but in 2021 this figure dropped to 3.43%. This detailed analysis reveals possible reasons for this and explores the role of community language schools (CLS) in supporting the study of priority Asian languages. This study finds that disaggregated state-level and local data analysis is essential to inform national policy evaluation and future policy planning. Without consistent data collection, policy evaluation, and the development of evidence-based approaches to language education, Australian language education will continue to flounder.

The Validity of Pre-Service Teachers’ WASSCE Results in Predicting Academic Performance at the Presbyterian College of Education

In line with international best practices, countries across the globe are intensifying their teacher education institutions to train world-class teachers to feed their schools. Against this background, this research work tried to determine how robust the admission process at the Presbyterian College of Education, Akropong, is. This is because admitting students into the College of Education is the first step in ensuring a sound teacher training program. The study was quantitative and used secondary data; that is, students' West Africa Senior High School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) entry results against their Final GPA at the College of Education were used for the data analysis. The analysis proved that those who entered the College of Education with good grades from the Senior High School exited with good GPAs, and the inverse was true. The researcher recommends that the college move beyond the regular training and put in measures to ensure that most students can improve their performance to be at par with the current demands of a world-class teacher.

Schooling opportunities for 5-year-olds: some early origins of high school achievement

In many countries, school attendance starts on a fixed date. In contrast, New Zealand uses rolling admissions and children can start school throughout the year, right after their fifth birthday. However, children turning five during a school holiday need to wait until the start of the following teaching term. This system generates an exogenous variation in the amount of time spent in primary school and enables us to estimate the causal effects of early schooling, independent from the effects of age. Using rich microdata on all high school leavers in New Zealand from 2009 to 2016, we find that an additional month of early schooling increases the probability of achieving a top high school certificate by 6% and qualifying for university entrance by 5%. These are large long-term effects.

Exposure to Islamophobia: The impacts of an increased risk of bullying victimization on human capital

We use the shock caused by terrorist attacks on the US on September 11, 2001, to study the short- and long-term consequences of exposure to Islamophobia in high-school-aged youths. Our estimates show an immediate sharp increase in rates of identity-based bullying against Arab/Muslim youths relative to youths of other ethnic groups during the years 2001-2003. We also find exposure to Islamophobia increased school dropout rates by 4.11% among US-born male youths of Arab-Muslim origin, which is a large effect from a baseline of 4.6% of school dropout rate in the affected population. In the long term, however, we find no significant effect on educational attainment among the affected population. The data suggest Arab-Muslim male youths born in 1989 were 8.34% more likely to resort to GED tests as a means of obtaining high school credentials after the attacks. We find full-time male workers born in 1984 earn 12.8% less than similar workers who were unexposed to Islamophobia. Moreover, full-time male Arab-Muslim workers born between 1983 and 1985 are between 9% and 12.5% more likely to be in the first quintile of the state-of-residence-year-wage distribution than similar workers who were not exposed to Islamophobia.

Do linguistically diverse migrants dominate advanced mathematics? Comparing Greater Sydney with the rest of New South Wales

This study uses ethnic capital theory to explore access to secondary mathematics education among linguistically diverse (LD) migrants in metropolitan and regional New South Wales, Australia. Administrative data from over 50,000 students who completed their Higher School Certificate in 2017 were analysed using multilevel logit regressions and marginal effects. The results indicate that, in Greater Sydney, all linguistically diverse first-generation youth took mathematics courses at higher rates than their peers. So did second-generation migrants from Asian backgrounds. Furthermore, considerably larger proportions of students who spoke East Asian, Indo-Aryan, or Arabic languages studied advanced mathematics. Even when only parents spoke these languages at home, their Australian-born children took advanced mathematics more often. Yet, these second-generation students were less overrepresented than those fluent in parental languages. The paper discusses the potential consequences of LD migrant concentration in Greater Sydney, stressing the importance of equitable mathematics education in metropolitan and regional areas.

The Protagonist’s Struggles in Ahmad Fuadi’s Novel Ranah 3 Warna

This article is the result of a research work on the protagonist’s struggle depicted from Ahmad Fuadi’s novel Ranah 3 Warna. The aims of this research are to reveal the protagonist’s struggles depicted in the novel and to analyze how the protagonist manage his struggles to achieve his goals. The theory applied in this research is adopted from several theories of struggle particularly Krisnananda (2005). The study applied qualitative research method in the process. The finding shows that the three motives of struggle namely struggle for existence, struggle for survival and struggle for power are found in the data. The struggle for existence covers the protagonist’s struggle to get the Senior High School Certificate and to get admission to the State University. The struggle for survival is the protagonist’s struggle to earn his living after the death of his father. The struggle for power covers two aspects namely his struggle for his career as an author and his struggle for the selection of student’s exchange to the United States. Thus, the theory selected does match the data of the study

Breaking New Ground in Palliative Care: Examining the Impact of Al Ain - Palliative Care Outreach Program on Patients With Advanced Cancer in the United Arab Emirates.

Introduction This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Palliative Outreach Program in improving the quality of palliative care for patients with advanced cancer in a Tertiary Hospital in the Al Ain region of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods & Material One hundred patients who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study and administered the patient version of the Consumer Quality (CQ) Index Palliative Care Instrument to assess their perception of the quality of care they received. The demographics, diagnosis, and questionnaire responses were analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the Palliative Outreach Program. Results A total of one hundred patients met the criteria for the study. Most patients were above 50, female, female, Non-Emiratis, and had high school certificates. The top three cancer diagnoses were breast (22%), lung (15%), and head & neck (13%). The patients reported high levels of support from their caregivers regarding physical, psychological, and spiritual well-being, as well as information and expertise. The mean scores for most variables were favorable, except for information (mean = 2.9540, SD= 0.25082) and general appreciation (mean = 6.7150, sd = 0.82344). Overall, the patients rated the care they received positively, with high mean scores for physical/psychological well-being (mean = 3.4950, SD = 0.28668), autonomy (mean = 3.7667, SD= 0.28623), privacy (mean = 3.6490, SD = 0.23159), and spiritual well-being (mean =3.7500, SD = 0.54356). The patients would recommend their caregivers to others in similar situations. Discussion The findings demonstrate that the Palliative Outreach Program effectively improves the quality of palliative care for patients with advanced cancer in the UAE. The CQ Index Palliative Care Instrument proved a novel method for assessing palliative care quality from patients' perspectives. However, there is room for improvement in providing more favorable information and general appreciation outcomes. Caregivers should focus on all areas to enhance their physical/psychological well-being, autonomy, privacy, spiritual well-being, expertise, and general appreciation of their patients. Conclusion In conclusion, the Palliative Outreach Program is an effective intervention to improve the quality of palliative care for patients with advanced cancer in the UAE. The patients reported high levels of support from their caregivers in all aspects of care, except for information and general appreciation. These findings provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of palliative care interventions and highlight the need for continued efforts to improve the quality of care for patients with advanced cancer.

Factors Affecting Opinion of Women Regarding the Use of Epidural Anesthesia During Labor in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia.

Objectives Epidural anesthesia (EA) is one of the most popular and efficient techniques for labor pain relief. Women's preferences and awareness about EA have been investigated worldwide through various studies. The level of awareness varies from region to region in Saudi Arabia. Consequently, the aim of this study is to understand the views of women regarding EA in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia and how this affects decision-making with regard to EA. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia from July-September, 2021, through a self-administered online questionnaire. The study included Saudi females aged 18 years and older living in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25.0 (Released 2017; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States). A p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results A total of 499 participants were included in the study. Nearly half of them were between the age of 25-35 years (46.9%, n = 234). The mean of the awareness score was 3.66 with SD=1.491. It was observed that age was related to awareness. Women older than 45 years of age were found to be less aware. Additionally, the number of children these women had further affected their awareness; those who had four children or more tended to be less aware. The effect of regular antenatal care visits was clear, as pregnant women who maintained regular antenatal care visits showed more awareness. As for income, there was a notable increase in awareness with an increase in income. Participants who had had a previous delivery with EA were found to be more aware. Likewise, educational status also impacted their awareness. Women with a high school certificate or below were found to be less aware.Lastly, it was observed that a majority of the participants chose not to request an EA upon their next delivery (60.5%, n = 302). Conclusion The results demonstrated that awareness of EA in the study area is acceptable. The most important predictors for awareness about EA were age, educational status, income, number of children, regular antenatal visits, and previous delivery with EA. It was concluded that women who were aware were more likely to take EA.

A cross-sectional study on food safety knowledge and practices among food handlers in tertiary and second circle institutions in Ho municipality, Ghana.

In recent years, incidences of food poisoning have been reported in some schools across the country. However, little attention has been paid to the hygiene practices of food vendors in the schools. This study, therefore, investigates the food safety knowledge and practices of food vendors catering for tertiary and second cycle students in the Ho municipality. The piloted and validated questionnaire used to sample 608 respondents revealed that the majority of the respondents sampled were female (76.0%), between the ages of 26 and 40 (51%), married (47.4%), and have tertiary or senior high school certificate (60.7%). They have been in business for not more than 2 years (36.2%) and had neither food safety (62.3%) nor good manufacturing practice (81.9%) training. However, they have sufficient knowledge in food safety regarding purchasing, storage, cooking and reheating, and personal hygiene, but exhibited poor knowledge and practice of food temperature control protocols. Both Kendall's tau-b coefficient correlation and linear regression model revealed a significant positive correlation between food safety knowledge and practices of the vendors. Nevertheless, regular training and monitoring are necessary to enable the vendors to fully implement the food temperature control protocols, which is one of the major causes of food poisoning in the country.

Teacher training pathways for competency based curriculum (CBC) in the university education in Kenya

The education reform in Kenya recommended phasing out of the 8-4-4 education system to embrace the 2-6-3-3-3 competency based curriculum (CBC). The embraced curriculum has three learning pathways or pillars at senior secondary and university education. The three pathways are Talent Pillar, Languages and Social Sciences Pillar, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) pillar. The Higher Education Curriculum Framework (HECF) and universities are yet to provide clear policy guidelines for training teachers and align their skill and competencies with the CBC curriculum framework. The phenomenon is compounded by the fact that, the Ministry of Education through teacher service commission without any empirical data suggested the bedrock of education training programs, the Bachelor of education arts (B. Ed, arts) and Bachelor of Education science (B.Ed. arts) programs to be eradicated in favor of Bachelor of Arts (B.A) and Sciences (B.Sc.) as the pathways to teaching profession through a Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE). The Teachers Service Commission is championing multi-tasking competences where those graduates teaching in secondary schools should be trained to teach more than the traditional two teaching subjects. The Basic Education Curriculum Framework (BECF) has categorized Junior and Senior Secondary School levels which the training of teachers in the university education program must align itself with. While students study all the compulsory subjects in junior secondary, they branch to specialize in their preferred pathways at senior secondary levels. The recruitment of students to both public and private universities for teaching career is based on high school credentials that have now to consider talent including talents in sports, creative and performing arts. The study was designed to explore the teacher training programs embracing talent for university education in order to address both the needs of Junior and senior secondary schools under the three pillars embraced in the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) in Kenya.

Post-Traditional Students’ Perceptions of Mattering: The Role of Faculty and Student Interaction

A post-traditional learner is a student who has at least one of the following characteristics: is financially independent, delayed enrollment, employed full-time, enrolled part-time, has children, obtained a GED or high school certificate, and/or is a single parent. This study addresses how faculty-student interactions influence post-traditional students’ perceptions of mattering. The purpose of this study was to explore the student’s perceptions of mattering within faculty and post-traditional students’ relationships. In addition, this research used existing characteristics to describe students on a post-traditional spectrum as minimally, moderately, or highly post-traditional. This study seeks to discover the relationship between post-traditional learners and interactions with faculty members. Mattering is a feeling that one matters to another individual or that one is concerned with another’s well-being. This study found that post-traditional students rated their perceptions of mattering as moderately high regarding faculty-student relationships. Additionally, post-traditional students did not differ in their perceptions of mattering based on the amount of post-traditional characteristics they possessed.

P08-09 The promotion of walking through nudging. Evaluation of the app „Time2Walk“

BackgroundWalking is an appropriate mode to increase or maintain the physical activity behavior. However, physically inactive adults often need support in order to increase their physical activity level. The aim of the presentation is to inform about the nudging framework within the app Time2Walk, the recruitment of the study participants for both time points, and the development of the walking behavior over time.MethodsThe study participants were recruited via social media, press releases, advertising material and personal contacts. A pre-post single group study design was applied using an online questionnaire before and after the intervention.The intervention refers to a not so distant dystopian future where the city Graz (Austria) suffers from pollution, traffic chaos as well as climate change. Via regular walking as well as visiting places such as parks or other points of interest the users of the app were rewarded with tokens and could contribute to reversing the pollution. Four different types of behavioral nudges were applied during the use of Time2Walk in order to motivate people to walk more: awareness-raising (information about health and traffic related effects), social (information about guided walking tours), rewarding (token-based rewards), and stabilizing (daily walking targets) nudges.The app was developed as a central hub for conveying the nudges and for raising the players' awareness. By means of Wilcoxon-tests, changes in behavior categories were investigated.ResultsThree hundred and forty seven people registered and 145 (42%) filled in the first questionnaire: 65% women, mean age 32 years (SD ±11) and 57% > high-school certificate. Of those, 31 (21%) filled in the the questionnaire a second time. Based on the stages of the Transtheoretical Model as well as on subjective assessment of the weekly walking behavior participants significantly raised their frequency of walking (20% increased walking from 4 or less days/week to ≥ 5 days/week).ConclusionsDifferent interdisciplinary expertise is essential for the development of the app-prototype including the nudging framework. Despite push-notifications, reminders through the newsletter and social media the response rate was low. In general, the nudging framework was successful in the increase of the perceived walking behavior.

Dividing practices: Senior English and social inequality in New South Wales

The role and significance of schooling in maintaining and renewing social disadvantage is particularly evident in upper secondary education, and especially so in the high-stakes final examination at the end of Year 12. This paper focusses on Senior English in this context, with specific regard to the Australian state of New South Wales. Building on a recent study of the outcomes of the Higher School Certificate (HSC) in 2017, it analyses what the data reveal about the relationship between Senior English and social inequality in this instance. It does so with reference to a brief account of the history of English teaching and senior secondary curriculum policy in New South Wales and also, comparatively, a now well-established comprehensive study of senior secondary schooling in Victoria. It concludes with some implications of this account for further investigations of Senior English and subject English more generally, as well as of the social meaning of senior secondary education in Australia, in particular with regard to the nexus between curriculum and assessment, knowledge, and power.

Factors Responsible for Poor Performance of Students’ in English Language in the West Africa Senior High School Certificate Examination in Ghana Senior High School, Tamale

The poor performance of students in English language in the West Africa Senior High School Certificate Examination in Ghana Senior High School, Tamale is a great concern to key stakeholders of the School. Many factors are responsible for this poor performance. This study therefore seeks to establish the factors responsible for poor performances of students in English language. The investigation collected information on factors responsible for the poor performance of students in English language in the West Africa Senior High School Certificate Examination and the ranking of these factors. It revealed that the factors include: non-availability of qualified teachers, attitude of teachers in teaching English Language, students’ attitude to studying English Language, use of teaching and learning materials, allocation of time for teaching English language and methods of teaching English Language. It was also observed that non-availability of qualified teachers of English language (40%) ranked highest while students attitude to the study of English language and the allocation of time for teaching English language on the schools time table ranked lowest (5%) Keywords: factors, poor, performance, responsible DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/89-03 Publication date: June 30 th 2022

Effectiveness of A Video Awareness Programme regarding Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder among Primary School Teachers and Parents of selected schools in Guntur (Dt), Andhra Pradesh

Background: Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the popular neuro developmental disorder among kids, adolescents and in adults. The main Objective of the study isto assess the effectiveness of a video awareness programme regarding Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among primary school teachers and parents of primary school children.Materials and Methods: A pre experimental, one group pre-test and post-test research design was adopted for this study. The study was conducted in selected schools of Mangalagiri, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh. Fifty subjects of primary school teachers and sixty subjects of parents were selected by using convenient sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was developed to collect the sociodemographic data and Knowledge on Attention Deficit Disorders scale (KADDS) was used to assess the effectiveness of Video awareness programme regarding ADHD. Results: The findings of the study shown that Majority (62%) of the primary school teachers had bachelor’s degree in elementary education. Where as in parents’group majority (53%) of the parents had high school certificate. In primary school teachers, the mean score of pre-test was 16.78±3.78, and post-test mean score was 31.5±2.74, the obtained ‘t’ value (t=20.84, df = 49). In parents of primary school children group,the pre-test mean score was 15.06±3.91 and post-test mean score was 28.11±4.35, the obtained ‘t’ value (t=17.64, df= 59). The chi-square shown that there was a significant association between the primary school teachers pre-test level of knowledge with their (χ2=6.04) age, (χ2=8.7) education level,in parents of primary school children, there was a significant association between pre-test level of knowledge with their education level (χ2=19.64), family income (χ2=5.49). Conclusion:The study concluded that the level of knowledge was improved after administration of Video. Thus, Video is an effective strategy which can help in improving the level of knowledge among primary school teachers and parents of primary school children.

Biopsychosocial factors influencing the occurrence and recurrence of preterm singleton births among Australian women: A prospective cohort study

IntroductionIn Australia, 8.6% of all births are premature, and this figure has relativelyincreased by 10% in the past decade. A range of biological, psychological, and socialfactors have previously been identified as predictors of preterm birth using cross sectionaldata; however, this lacks ascertainment of a cause-and-effect relationship.This study harnessed the power of longitudinal cohort data by investigating pretermbirth among women prospectively followed for 19 years using a comprehensiveframework that examines biological, psychological, and social factors concurrently. MethodsData from 5,292 women (11,256 newborns) who reported singleton birthsbetween 1996 and 2015 in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health wereincluded. ResultsThe prevalence of preterm birth was 8.5% for first-births and 5.9% for allbirths.The recurrent preterm birth rate was 9.5% . Risk factors for first preterm birthswere chronic hypertension (OR 2.34; 95% CI: 1.67-3.27), gestational hypertension (OR2.87; 95% CI: 2.22-3.72), gestational diabetes (OR 1.66; 95% CI: 1.14-2.41),menarche before 12 years (OR 1.36; 95% CI: 1.02-1.82) and history of miscarriage(OR 1.35; 95% CI: 1.01-1.79). Risk factors for all preterm births were a history ofpreterm birth (OR 2.33; 95% CI: 1.46-3.70), menarche before 12 years (OR 1.33; 95%CI: 1.00-1.77), not being partnered (OR 1.31; 95% CI: 1.02-1.69), chronic hypertension(OR 2.02; 95% CI: 1.45-2.82), gestational hypertension (OR 3.22; 95% CI: 2.43-4.25),gestational diabetes (OR 1.67; 95% CI: 1.16-2.41), and asthma (OR 1.40; 95% CI:1.14-1.72). Premature birth was less likely for second or later births (OR 0.44; 95% CI:0.36-0.55) compared to first births. Premature birth was also less likely for women whocompleted a university degree compared to women with a high school certificate (OR0.73; 95% CI: 0.57-0.94). ConclusionFurther development of multi-sectoral policies for chronic diseaseprevention and reducing social inequalities is required to prevent preterm birth inAustralia.

Knowledge and perceptions of outpatients regarding upper respiratory tract infections and awareness of an Antibiotics Smart Use campaign in Thailand

AbstractIntroductionThe Antibiotic Smart Use (ASU) campaign, including educating the public in appropriate antibiotic use for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs), has been conducted for several years in Thailand. This study's main objectives were to examine knowledge and perceptions of antibiotics for URTIs in outpatients.MethodsA cross‐sectional survey was conducted at a 500‐bed tertiary care teaching hospital, using a self‐administered questionnaire directly distributed to people waiting for dispensed medicines in the out‐patient department.ResultsOf the 400 returned questionnaires, 61% of respondents (N = 243) had a history of antibiotic use. Nearly 70% (N = 270) had received antibiotic information. Posters promoting the ASU campaign had been seen by 65% (N = 259), of whom 70% (N = 182) had read the poster. Knowledge regarding antibiotics was generally poor, higher knowledge (2.6–3.2‐fold increase) was associated with middle‐aged compared to younger people (58.4% vs 31.2%, p = 0.004), people with a bachelor’s degree rather than a junior high school certificate (67.5% vs 14.3%, p = 0.020), and people receiving antibiotic information rather than not receiving information (84.4% vs 15.6%, p = 0.022). The perceived necessity for antibiotics for various respiratory symptoms was moderate, with lower expectations in those who have a high level of antibiotic knowledge and have read an ASU poster.ConclusionOverall knowledge of antibiotics was found to be low. However, perceptions of the necessity for antibiotic use in URTIs were encouragingly positive. Continuous promotion of ASU campaigns to limit antibiotic use is still necessary but may require adaptation to ensure accessibility for the wider public.

Developing Effective Recruitment Strategies for African American Men to Earn Alternative High School Credentials

African American men have among the worst high school completion rates of any population in the United States. The consequences of dropping out of school are serious and include high levels of unemployment and incarceration. Attempts at recruiting these men to return to complete a high school credential have not been broadly successful, and the current study was designed to identify the best ideas and practices of recruiting African American men into high-school equivalency completion programs. Using a snowball-generated sample of eight adult education program directors, interviews were conducted to identify strategies and approaches for recruiting African American men. Ultimately, program directors comments resulted in three broad categories of successful recruitment: using personal relationships that connect with men where they are, strategically using social media and online resources that are directly targeted toward these men, and utilizing the relationships and support networks of African American church communities. Responding program directors also stressed the need to meet these men at the physical and psychological places where they are, recognizing that these points of contact can and will change as the men age and face different personal circumstances. The findings provide key information for high-school equivalency program directors as they construct purposeful recruitment plans that also include measures for assessing the effectiveness of their recruitment campaigns.