Proficiency Ratings Research Articles

Spatial analysis and mapping of malaria endemic-prone areas using environmental risk factors and spatial multi criteria decision analysis in the Northern Zone of Plateau State, Nigeria.

Compressive mapping and in-depth analysis of malaria vulnerability risk foci are important tools for strategic planning, vector surveillance, implementing necessary interventions, and managing scarce resources to combat the daunting challenges of malaria infections in Nigeria. The study utilized environmental risk factors and spatial multi-criteria decision analysis techniques to analyze and map the spatial variations in malaria-endemic prone areas within the Northern Zone of Plateau State. Analysis of the criteria's weights of environmental risk factors and the stratification of the malaria risk vulnerability revealed that high-risk areas covered a total of 4017.25 Km2, while low-risk areas covered 1294.83Km2, having a close resemblance to the corresponding ground conditions. The results showed that a significant 60% of the study areas were characterized by high risk of malaria transmission, particularly in most settlements around the Jos North, Jos South and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas. The malaria risk map's predictive abilities demonstrated a high level of accuracy, as indicated by the area under the curve score of 0.989. Furthermore, the risk map demonstrates a high-performance rate in identifying malaria hotspots, with a sensitivity of 98%, a proficiency rate of 54%, and a statistical significance confidence level ranging from 90% to 99% for identifying malaria hotspots and coldspots. The malaria risk analysis and mapping within the endemic prone areas of the Northern Zone of Plateau State not only equips policymakers with effective tools for identifying malaria foci but also offers a deeper comprehension of the appropriate intervention measures to be implemented.

Artificial intelligence generates proficient Spanish obstetrics and gynecology counseling templates

BackgroundEffective patient counseling in Obstetrics and gynecology is vital. Existing language barriers between Spanish-speaking patients and English-speaking providers may negatively impact patient understanding and adherence to medical recommendations, as language discordance between provider and patient has been associated with medication noncompliance, adverse drug events, and underuse of preventative care. Artificial intelligence large language models may be a helpful adjunct to patient care by generating counseling templates in Spanish. ObjectivesThe primary objective was to determine if large language models can generate proficient counseling templates in Spanish on obstetric and gynecology topics. Secondary objectives were to (1) compare the content, quality, and comprehensiveness of generated templates between different large language models, (2) compare the proficiency ratings among the large language model generated templates, and (3) assess which generated templates had potential for integration into clinical practice. Study designCross-sectional study using free open-access large language models to generate counseling templates in Spanish on select obstetrics and gynecology topics. Native Spanish-speaking practicing obstetricians and gynecologists, who were blinded to the source large language model for each template, reviewed and subjectively scored each template on its content, quality, and comprehensiveness and considered it for integration into clinical practice. Proficiency ratings were calculated as a composite score of content, quality, and comprehensiveness. A score of >4 was considered proficient. Basic inferential statistics were performed. ResultsAll artificial intelligence large language models generated proficient obstetrics and gynecology counseling templates in Spanish, with Google Bard generating the most proficient template (p<0.0001) and outperforming the others in comprehensiveness (P=.03), quality (P=.04), and content (P=.01). Microsoft Bing received the lowest scores in these domains. Physicians were likely to be willing to incorporate the templates into clinical practice, with no significant discrepancy in the likelihood of integration based on the source large language model (P=.45). ConclusionsLarge language models have potential to generate proficient obstetrics and gynecology counseling templates in Spanish, which physicians would integrate into their clinical practice. Google Bard scored the highest across all attributes. There is an opportunity to use large language models to try to mitigate the language barriers in health care. Future studies should assess patient satisfaction, understanding, and adherence to clinical plans following receipt of these counseling templates.

CPR Memory and Skill Degradation Among Non-Allied Healthcare Professionals

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation is defined by the Mayo Clinic as a lifesaving technique that is useful in many emergencies, such as a heart attack, stroke, choking, or drowning, in which someone’s breathing and heartbeat have stopped.Under the guidelines put forth by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) and the Emergency Cardiovascular Care Organization (ECC), the American Red Cross and American Heart Association currently require that an individual’s CPR certification be renewed every two years. However, data has suggested that non-allied healthcare providers, such as school-based personnel, may require more regular training to maintain required CPR proficiency levels. Four hundred non-allied healthcare professionals from a school district in central Georgia were CPR-certified under the American Heart Association (AHA) Heart-Saver curriculum. Participants included 153 males and 247 females from elementary, middle, and high school settings. Participants included administrators, teachers, coaches, and staff. Two tenured college professors from the School of Health and Human Performance were responsible for teaching and certifying study participants. Each of these professors possessed a minimum of five years of CPR certification experience with the American Heart Association. Course sizes were limited to 12-15 participants. All CPR certification courses were implemented under standardized, controlled circumstances. Following the initial certification, twenty-five percent of participants were randomly selected to be reassessed at either three, six, nine, or twelve months, respectively, to determine memory and skill degradation rates and patterns. Degradation of declarative and procedural knowledge was observed during subsequent retest sessions at each of the three-, six-, nine-, and twelve-month marks. Scores depreciated approximately 10% each three-month retesting period, to 88%, 79%, 69%, and 57%, respectively. Data suggest that after six months, participants failed to meet the AHA standards for demonstrating acceptable declarative and procedural knowledge related to CPR implementation. Due to the observed degradation in both declarative and procedural knowledge, it is apparent that a more periodic training and recertification process in CPR is required for school-based personnel. A more consistent and periodic approach to preparing school-based first responders may prove beneficial in maintaining CPR proficiency rates, which very well could save lives.

Weathering the storm: a descriptive examination of COVID era proficiency changes in charter schools

The COVID-19 pandemic imposed unprecedented disruptions on American education and contributed to profound learning loss. The stakes attached to learning loss are especially high for charter schools, whose survival and potential expansion or replication is heavily tied to test score performance. Using nationwide school-level proficiency data, this study examines achievement patterns in the charter sector between 2018–19 and 2020–21. Overall, it emerges that school proficiency rates in 2018–19 remained strongly predictive of proficiency rates in 2020–21. Still, certain notable patterns emerge from the data. Charters that serve more Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged students lost more ground. Moreover, charters affiliated with education management organizations experienced less learning loss than other types of charter schools.

Does Teacher Professional Development Improve Student Learning? Evidence from Leading Educators’ Fellowship Model

Teachers are the most important school-specific factor in student learning. Yet, little evidence exists linking teacher professional development programs and the strategies or activities that comprise them to student achievement. In this paper, we examine a fellowship model for professional development designed and implemented by Leading Educators, a national nonprofit organization that aims to bridge research and practice to improve instructional quality and accelerate learning across school systems. During the 2015–2016 and 2016–2017 school years, Leading Educators conducted its fellowship program for two cohorts of instructional leaders, such as department chairs, mentor teachers, instructional coaches, and assistant principals, to provide these educators ongoing, collaborative, job-embedded professional development and to improve student achievement. Relying on quasi-experimental methods, we find that a school’s participation in the fellowship program significantly increased student proficiency rates in English language arts and math on state achievement exams. The positive impact was concentrated in the first cohort and in just one of three regions, and approximately 80% of treated schools were charters. Student achievement benefited from a more sustained duration of participation in the fellowship program, varied depending on the share of a school’s educators who participated in the fellowship and differed based on whether fellows independently selected into the program or were appointed to participate by their school leaders. Taken together, findings from this paper should inform professional learning organizations, schools, and policymakers on the design, implementation, and impact of educator professional development.

Critical Thinking Skills and Reading Proficiency among the English Language Students of Public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Sulu

The sobering realization of the critical thinking and the difficulty in the language comprehension, specifically in English language piques the researcher's interest in learning more about the experiences of tertiary students majoring in English language studies at other public HEIs in Sulu. This study sought to investigate the significant difference in the extent of critical thinking skills and reading proficiency among the English language students. This study employed a variety of statistical techniques, including the adopted weighted mean, standard deviation, t-Test for independent samples, One-way ANOVA, and Pearson’s r test of correlation to analyze the reading comprehension and critical thinking skills among English language learners in Sulu's public HEIs throughout the 2023–2024 academic year. A surveyed has been conducted on 200 female students aged 20-21 from public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Sulu, revealing high critical thinking abilities and average reading proficiency ratings. Students' demographic profiles did not significantly influence their assessment of critical thinking or perceived reading proficiency. The study supports Anderson's Theory of Schema, which suggests that comprehension is an interactive process involving the reader's background knowledge and the text, requiring the ability to relate the material to one's own knowledge. The school administration will partner with language teachers to provide reading materials that enhance students' critical thinking skills and reading proficiency. Teachers must guide students to comprehend texts thoroughly, while parents play a crucial role in their children's future. Students will develop the ability to comprehend texts thorough through books and other reading materials provided by teachers. The objective of this study is to offer a foundation for upcoming researchers to enhance their own investigations on critical thinking abilities and reading competence within their field of study. The study will be conducted during the Academic Year 2023-2024 in Sulu province.

Ensuring Accuracy: Making the Case for Inter-rater Reliability in Hospital Acquired Infection Surveillance

Background: Infection preventionists (Ips) have self-reported surveillance as the most time-consuming job task (1,2). APIC’s MegaSurvey 2020 reported that 60% of Ips consider themselves proficient or expert within this competency domain (2). Accurate coding of health care acquired infections is critical to identifying epidemiologically significant events, using data to improve practice, and compliance with state and federal mandated CMS reporting (3,4). Validated case study scenarios were distributed to infection preventionists to better understand how experience level and time spent performing surveillance affects interrater reliability (IRR) in applying the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) surveillance definitions (5,6). Methods: Case study scenarios determined to have high item discrimination were added to an online test bank and distributed annually to Ips of varying experience levels and care settings as part of a mandatory training program (5). The test bank currently consists of forty-two validated questions. Each year, the participants receive approximately thirty questions, including twenty randomly selected from the test bank and ten beta scenarios under development. Only validated test bank scenarios are used to calculate the passing score of 85%. Participants are blinded to which questions are test bank scenarios versus beta scenarios. Additional information was gathered at the beginning of the test to determine CIC status, years of experience, and weekly hours spent doing surveillance. Data was analyzed for passing score on the first attempt for testing years 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Results: Thirty-six Ips passed the IRR test on the first attempt (33%). Of those who passed on the first attempt, twenty-nine (81%) were certified and twenty-two (61%) reported at least nine hours a week performing surveillance. Of the seventy-three Ips (67%) who did not pass on the first attempt, thirty were certified (41%) and sixty (82%) reported performing surveillance for 8 hours or less per week. Conclusion: The first-time pass rate for certified and non-certified Ips was 33%, markedly lower than the self-reported proficiency rate of 60%. The majority of Ips who passed on the first attempt were certified and spent at least nine hours per week performing surveillance. certified and non-certified Ips who did not regularly perform surveillance as part of their weekly job tasks were less likely to pass the test on the first attempt. Given the first-time pass rate among all participants is below optimal, establishing inter-rater reliability systems and ongoing surveillance education for Ips is crucial to ensure accuracy of publicly reported data.

Conventional Cytogenetic Analysis of Constitutional Abnormalities: A 20-Year Review of Proficiency Test Results From the College of American Pathologists/American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics Cytogenetics Committee.

The joint College of American Pathologists/American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics Cytogenetics Committee works to ensure competency and proficiency of clinical cytogenetics testing laboratories through proficiency testing programs for various clinical tests offered by such laboratories, including the evaluation of constitutional abnormalities. To review and analyze 20 years of constitutional chromosome analysis proficiency testing results (2003-2022), primarily utilizing G-banded karyograms. A retrospective review of results from 2003 through 2022 was performed, identifying challenges addressing constitutional disorders. The chromosomal abnormalities and overall performance were evaluated. A total of 184 cases from 161 proficiency testing challenges were administered from 2003 through 2022. Challenges consisted of metaphase images and accompanying clinical history for evaluation of numerical and/or structural abnormalities. Of the 184 cases, only 2 (1%) failed to reach an 80% grading consensus for recognition of the abnormality. Both cases illustrated the limitations of correctly characterizing some chromosomal abnormalities, including recombinant chromosomal abnormalities and isochromosome identification. In addition, 2 cases failed to reach a consensus for nomenclature reporting: 1 with an isochromosome and another with a duplication. This 20-year review illustrates the high rate of competency and proficiency of cytogenetic laboratories in the correct identification of constitutional chromosome abnormalities.

Effects of the “High Impact Leadership for School Renewal” Project on Principal Leadership, School Leadership, and Student Achievement

In this study, we designed an educational experiment to evaluate the High Impact Leadership for School Renewal project’s impact on principal leadership, school leadership, and student achievement. Principals in the experimental group reported statistically significantly greater improvement in principal leadership than their counterparts in the control group (Hedge’s g of 0.73), but teachers in the experimental and control groups showed no difference in their ratings of principal leadership. Teachers in the experimental group reported statistically significantly more improvement in school leadership than their counterparts in the control group (Hedge’s g of 0.53 on the scale of Orientation to School Renewal and 0.58 on the scale of Learning-Centered School Leadership), but principals in the two groups reported no difference in the growth in school leadership. Schools in the experimental group showed statistically significantly larger annual growth in English language arts proficiency rate (2.05 percentage points more annually). The implications of the findings were discussed in the context of leadership development programs for school improvement.

The effect of parents’ support, protean career orientation and self-perceived employability on the school-to-work transition

PurposeThe increasing complexity of global labor markets and work environments has made the school-to-work transition more difficult. We explore factors that influence important career outcomes for young adults in China as they transition from their university to the labor market. Specifically, we examine how protean career orientation, self-perceived employability, mother’s and father’s career support and human capital (English language proficiency) may influence career satisfaction and employment status during adulthood.Design/methodology/approachWe collected survey data in two waves, six months apart, and obtained English proficiency ratings from university records.FindingsFather’s and mother’s career support was significantly associated with protean career orientation and protean career orientation was significantly related to self-perceived employability. Self-perceived employability was significantly associated with career satisfaction and employment status. The career support-career satisfaction and career support-employment status relationships were fully mediated by protean career orientation and self-perceived employability. Contrary to expectations, the human capital variable of English language proficiency did not moderate the serial mediation involving either career satisfaction or employment status.Originality/valueBy integrating protean career theory, human capital theory and research on parental support, we offer an interdisciplinary contribution to the school-to-work transition literature. We also advance protean career theory by studying it as a mediating variable and by examining parental support as an antecedent of it.

Setting standards for a diagnostic test of aviation English for student pilots

Standard-setting is an essential component of test development, supporting the meaningfulness and appropriate interpretation of test scores. However, in the high-stakes testing environment of aviation, standard-setting studies are underexplored. To address this gap, we document two stages in the standard-setting procedures for the Overseas Flight Training Preparation Test (OFTPT), a diagnostic English test for ab initio pilots, aligned to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s Language Proficiency Rating Scale (LPRS). Performance-level descriptors (PLDs) were empirically generated in Stage 1 in collaboration with six subject matter experts (SMEs). These PLDs made explicit the correspondence between linguistic performance levels within the target language use domain and the ICAO scale. Findings suggest that the ICAO scale is not fine-grained enough to distinguish levels of linguistic readiness among ab initio pilots, nor does it adequately reflect the knowledge, skills, and abilities valued by SMEs within this domain. In Stage 2, 12 SMEs were recruited to set standards and were divided into two groups to investigate the replicability of Ebel method standard-setting procedures. Cut scores were determined for the OFTPT reading and listening tests, which were inferentially linked to the LPRS. There were no significant differences in the cut scores arrived at by both groups and reliability was excellent, suggesting that test users can have confidence in the standards set.

Result of a Pilot External Quality Assessment Scheme for Clinical Diagnosis of Inherited Metabolic Disorders in China.

We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic capabilities of Chinese laboratories for inherited metabolic disorders (IMDs) using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) on urine samples. Meanwhile, based on the result of the pilot external quality assessment (EQA) scheme, we hope to establish a standardized and reliable procedure for future EQA practice. We recruited laboratories that participated in the EQA of quantitative analysis of urinary organic acids with GC-MS before joining the surveys. In each survey, a set of five real urine samples was distributed to each participant. The participants should analyze the sample by GC-MS and report the "analytical result", "the most likely diagnosis", and "recommendation for further tests" to the NCCL before the deadline. A total of 21 laboratories participated in the scheme. The pass rates were 94.4% in 2020 and 89.5% in 2021. For all eight IMDs tested, the analytical proficiency rates ranged from 84.7% - 100%, and the interpretational performance rate ranged from 88.2% - 97.0%. The performance on hyperphenylalaninemia (HPA), 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase deficiency (MCCD), and ethylmalonic encephalopathy (EE) samples were not satisfactory. In general, the participants of this pilot EQA scheme are equipped with the basic capability for qualitative organic acid analysis and interpretation of the results. Limited by the small size of laboratories and samples involved, this activity could not fully reflect the state of clinical practice of Chinese laboratories. NCCL will improve the EQA scheme and implement more EQA activities in the future.

Research And Developing Mathematics Knowledge Child Development Perspectives, 2022

Proficiency in mathematics is critical to success academically, economically, and in life. Greater success in math is related to entering and completing college, earning more in adulthood, and making more optimal decisions concerning health. Knowledge of math begins to develop at a young age, and this early knowledge matters: Knowledge of math at or before school entry predicts outcomes in math and reading across primary and secondary school. More than one children struggle to learn math. For example, only 60% of fourth-grade and 55% of eighth-grade students in the United States performed at or above proficiency in math on the 2020 National Assessment of Educational Progress, and proficiency rates were even lower for African-American and Hispanic children and for children from low-income homes. More than one students do not master challenging math content. Developing strong knowledge about mathematics is important for success academically, economically, and in life, but more than one children fail to become proficient in math. Research on the developmental relations between conceptual and procedural knowledge of math provides insights into the development of knowledge about math. First, competency in math requires children to develop conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, and procedural flexibility. Second, conceptual and procedural knowledge often develop in a bidirectional, iterative fashion, with improvements in one type of knowledge supporting improvements in the other, as well as procedural flexibility. Third, learning techniques such as comparing, explaining, and exploring promote more than one type of knowledge about math, indicating that each is an important learning process. Researchers need to develop and validate measurement tools, devise more comprehensive theories of math development, and bridge more between research and educational practice.

Digital Book on Motor Development in Sports Education at Sriwijaya University

This research aims to produce a Digital-Based Teaching Book on Motor Growth and Development in the Sports Education Program at FKIP Unsri. The method used is Research and Development (RD), which aims to create a digital-based teaching book on motor growth and development. Sampling involved Physical Education students who had taken motor development courses. Data collection methods included validity tests, practicality tests, and effectiveness tests. Research instruments included validation sheets, questionnaires, and student learning outcome tests. Data analysis techniques involved validity, practicality, and effectiveness analysis. The findings revealed the book's high validity, as indicated by the research validator's results, with an average score of 4.27, classifying it as highly valid. According to student responses in the questionnaire, the book was considered highly practical, achieving a practicality score of 3.55, classified as very positive. Additionally, the student learning outcome test showed the digital-based teaching book on motor growth and development in the Sports Education Program at FKIP Unsri to be effective, with a high proficiency rate of 96.4%. In conclusion, this research confirms that the digital-based teaching book on motor growth and development in the Sports Education Program at FKIP Unsri is highly valid, practical, and effective for supporting learning activities, meeting high standards.

Power of Full-Time Certified School Librarians in Missouri

This study examines the impact of school librarian full-time equivalent (FTE) levels on student achievement in Missouri using state-level assessment data. The researchers obtained publicly available, aggregated data directly from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MO DESE) to conduct statistical analyses on multiple districts, years, and content areas. The dataset included data points from Missouri K-12 public schools over a nine-year period. The analysis utilized ANOVA and post-hoc tests to compare proficiency rates across FTE levels (no librarian, part-time librarian, and full-time librarian) for each school level and content area. Results indicated that schools with full-time librarians had significantly higher proficiency rates compared to schools with part-time or no librarians. Furthermore, the effect sizes demonstrated the positive impact of having a school librarian on student achievement across school levels and content areas. This study provides evidence supporting the importance of school librarians in enhancing student performance on state-level assessments.

An assessment of the simulated performance of basic clinical procedures by junior doctors during the first year of clinical practice

BackgroundUpon entering the healthcare system, junior doctors may lack the skills required to care for patients, and feel unprepared for their role, with considerable variation in the level of proficiency in the performance of particular clinical procedures.ObjectiveTo compare the performance and proficiency (self-report and observed) of the performance of nine basic clinical procedures.MethodsSeventeen interns were observed performing nine clinical procedures in a simulated setting in June 2021 (Assessment 1) and January 2022 (Assessment 2). The observers identified whether each step in the procedure was performed correctly, and provided an overall assessment of proficiency. The participants also rated their own level proficiency.ResultsAt Assessment 1 the number of steps performed correctly ranged from a mean of 41.9–83.5%. At Assessment 2 the number of steps performed correctly ranged from a mean of 41.9–97.8%. The most common median proficiency rating for Assessment 1 was ‘close supervision’, and was ‘indirect supervision’ at Assessment 2. There was a significant and large effect size in the improvement in performance from Assessment 1 to Assessment 2. Low correlations were found between observer and self-reported proficiency in performance of the procedures.ConclusionsThe large improvement in performance across the two assessments is encouraging. However, there is a need to address the variability in performance on graduation from medical school, and to ensure that any assessment of proficiency is not only reliant on self-report.

Proficiency Level and Challenges in Economics of Grade 10 Students in Selected Public Schools in Central Philippines

Aims: This paper assessed the level of proficiency in Economics of Grade 10 students in selected public schools in the Philippines during the school year 2022 in the areas of basic concepts of Economics, microeconomics, macroeconomics, and sectors of the economy and its policies when taken as a whole and grouped according to sex and grades. It also identified the challenges encountered by students in learning Economics. Lastly, it determined the difference in their proficiency level in Economics when grouped into demographics.&#x0D; Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted among Grade 10 junior high school students in Central Philippines during 2022.&#x0D; Study Design: The study utilized the quantitative design, particularly the descriptive-comparative approach.&#x0D; Methodology: The study was responded to by 304 stratified randomly sampled students using a validated and reliability-tested researcher-made test questionnaire and checklist. In assessing the study, it utilized the scale in ascending order: beginning, developing, approaching proficiency, proficiency, and advanced. In data analysis, mean, standard deviation, frequency count, percentage, rank, Mann-Whitney, and Kruskal Wallis were used.&#x0D; Results: Generally, the student's proficiency level in Economics (M=24.25; SD=6.43) was rated as approaching proficiency. The low areas with approaching proficiency ratings that need improvement are microeconomics (M=5.33; SD=2.02), macroeconomics (M=7.58; SD=2.84), and sectors of the economy and its policies (M=3.82; SD=1.71). Regarding the demographics, according to sex, the Economics proficiency of female (M=25.18; SD=6.11) and male (M=23.22; SD=6.64) students was approaching proficiency. Meanwhile, the student's proficiency level with a grade of 90-100 (M=27.02; SD=5.82) was proficient compared to other grades, 85-90 (M= 23.18; SD=6.64), 80-84 (M= 22.05; SD= 5.58), and 75-79 (M=22.17; SD= 3.66) which were approaching proficiency. On the one hand, the findings showed a significant difference in their proficiency level in Economics when grouped according to sex [U=9547.5, p=0.010] and grades in Economics [χ2(3) =31.377, p=0.000]. Lastly, grade 10 students encountered challenges in learning Economics regarding teacher, student, learner environment, resources, facilities, and subject factors.&#x0D; Conclusion: The findings imply a continuous improvement in instruction and the importance of programs and activities that encourage acquiring and developing proficiency in Economics. With the sustainable improvement in instruction intact, the student's proficiency in Economics is ensured.

Online Credit Recovery School-Level Enrollment: Intended and Unintended Consequences

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, online credit recovery (OCR) was the most popular use of distance learning in high schools in the United States. With high course failure rates during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, high schools have turned to OCR to help students recover lost credit. This study examined the potential consequences of increasing OCR enrollment at the school level using administrative data from North Carolina and found that increasing OCR enrollment is associated with higher rates of passing previously failed courses but with diminishing returns after about three-quarters of students who failed courses enrolling in OCR. Consistent OCR enrollment increases over four years is associated with higher graduation rates. Contrary to prior research, this study finds no evidence that school-level OCR enrollment increases are associated with lower test score proficiency rates. Using pre-pandemic data to help inform post-pandemic decision making, the results suggest that increasing OCR enrollment might address increased pandemic-induced course failure rates by expanding opportunities to re-earn course credit, but this would not necessarily translate to higher graduation rates.

The Adoption of Test-Based Grade Retention Policies: An Event History Analysis

We use event history analysis on an aggregate dataset from 1997 to 2018 to understand the state-level antecedents associated with the adoption of test-based grade retention policies. Findings indicate that the educational conditions of a state to be more predictive of retention policy adoption than the political, economic, and geographic measures. In particular, a greater share of Black students in a state, lower fourth grade NAEP reading proficiency rates, and larger student enrollments in the early grades were all associated with increased odds of grade retention policy adoption.

Fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness in L2 speech: Examining the role of visual and acoustic information in listener judgments

The purpose of the present study was to examine (a) the effects of audio-visual information and (b) the role of temporal measurements associated with the perceptual ratings of fluency, accentedness, comprehensibility, pronunciation, and oral proficiency in second language (L2) speech samples of International Teaching Assistants (ITAs). American undergraduate students randomly assigned to audiovisual and audio-only (without seeing the speaker) conditions rated the two-minute speech samples of five ITAs on a seven-point scale. For acoustic analysis, several temporal measurements were used that were hypothesized to have an association with the ratings. Findings revealed that listeners without visual information judged L2 speech as less fluent and more accented although no significant difference in comprehensibility was found. L2 speakers were also judged to have better pronunciation and higher oral proficiency when the recordings were presented in video mode. The findings further indicated that among the acoustic measures examined, articulation rate was found to be associated with perceptual ratings. Implications for ITA training and language testing and assessment are discussed.