Alabama School Research Articles

Impact of School Gardens on Nutrition Education Among Limited-Income Communities in Alabama.

We sought to determine the impact of school gardens and nutrition education on student fruit and vegetable consumption from limited-income communities in Alabama. Third grade students at 99 Alabama schools with and without gardens on-site were randomized to receive either nutrition education or to a wait-list control group. Multi-level models were used to assess the effects of treatment and control with and without school gardens. Students attending schools with gardens demonstrated highest consumption of fruits and vegetables prior to treatment. Nutrition education alone translated into significant dietary improvements. Both gardens and education translated into greatest dietary improvements. Devising financially accessible, practical, and culturally relevant ways to improve student health through garden and nutrition education may help improve student diet. Forming comprehensive Extension, SNAP-Ed, and school collaboration to support gardens, nutrition education, and healthy school policies and systems can be a way to support and sustain healthy student learning environments. Combined gardening and nutrition education is associated with increases in fruit and vegetable consumption among majority rural, Southern students from limited-resource communities.

Medical students' reproductive health perspectives: Pre- and post-Roe v Wade reversal.

The ability to make informed decisions about reproductive health is a cornerstone principle of the practice of prenatal medical genetics. Unfortunately, these reproductive health decisions have become entangled in the current, contentious political climate. This debate reached an inflection point in 2022 with Dobbs v. Jackson when the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) overturned the national right to abortion previously established in Roe v. Wade. This decision prompted a reassessment of the opinions of medical students on reproductive health and abortion. Our study focused on a medical school in Alabama, a conservative state that enacted a restrictive abortion ban following the Dobbs ruling. Two surveys, conducted in 2015 and 2022, explored students' viewpoints on reproductive health topics, including abortion. The comparison revealed a significant shift toward more pro-choice perspectives among medical students. Notably, religious affiliation did not consistently align with opinions, as many Christian students supported pro-choice views. Our results suggest that medical students' reproductive health opinions at our institution have shifted to a more pro-choice position over the last decade.

Revolution by Law: The Federal Government and the Desegregation of Alabama Schools

Revolution by Law: The Federal Government and the Desegregation of Alabama Schools

A Learning Ecology Perspective of Energy Literacy among Youth: A Case Study from Alabama High Schools

Developing energy literacy and pathways for youth to clean energy careers are vital for sustainable development, aligning with various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), from climate action to quality education. Despite the increasing focus on nurturing energy-literate youth, there is a lack of comprehensive insights into how students develop their energy literacy within diverse learning environments. This study addresses the research question of what factors across various learning environments play a significant role in the development of energy literacy among youth. To address the research question, we develop a conceptual framework for understanding the development of energy literacy among high school students based on a learning ecology perspective. Focusing on students’ energy literacy, encompassing information search, attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge of energy, we examined the influence of school-based clean energy program participation, virtual information sources, and interactions with peers and family. Furthermore, we conducted an empirical analysis to identify factors associated with energy literacy among high school students from Alabama high schools. The student sample was intentionally recruited from case study high schools in Alabama that implemented a clean energy education pilot project. This sample includes both program participants and non-participants who completed pre- and post-program surveys, resulting in a total of 189 survey responses. Findings indicate a positive association between the school-based clean energy program and a significantly higher increase in energy-related information searches among program participants compared with non-participants. The virtual learning setting, especially video platforms, was also significantly associated with students’ energy-related information searches and positive attitudes toward energy. Findings also indicate that family relationships and pre-existing STEM interests significantly determine youth energy literacy. These findings provide valuable insights for the development and expansion of future energy education programs. If the energy education program incorporates these crucial learning factors and establishes an interconnected learning environment, the convergence of multiple learning aspects within the program can foster a synergistic learning ecosystem for youth energy literacy.

Revolution by Law: The Federal Government and the Desegregation of Alabama Schools by Brian K. Landsberg (review)

Revolution by Law: The Federal Government and the Desegregation of Alabama Schools by Brian K. Landsberg (review)

About the Authors

Other| July 01 2023 About the Authors Music and the Moving Image (2023) 16 (2): 55. https://doi.org/10.5406/19407610.16.2.05 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Permissions Search Site Citation About the Authors. Music and the Moving Image 1 July 2023; 16 (2): 55. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/19407610.16.2.05 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressMusic and the Moving Image Search Advanced Search gillian b. anderson is a musicologist and orchestral conductor who has restored, reconstructed, or commissioned scores for over fifty mute films for performances with orchestras throughout Europe and North and South America. A number of her scores are available from Criterion Films and from the Museum of Modern Art. Her books include Music for Silent Films 1898–1929: A Guide and the translation of Ennio Morricone and Sergio Micelli's Composing for the Cinema. Her edition of the score for Way Down East (D. W. Griffith, 1920) is forthcoming from the AMS in its series Music of the United States of America. www.gilliananderson.itchristy thomas adams is an assistant professor of musicology at the University of Alabama School of Music. Her research focuses on the intersection between Italian opera and emerging media technologies at the turn of the twentieth century, with broad interests in the history of media technologies and the... You do not currently have access to this content.

Revolution by Law: The Federal Government and the Desegregation of Alabama Schools by Brian K. Landsberg

<i>Revolution by Law: The Federal Government and the Desegregation of Alabama Schools</i> by Brian K. Landsberg

A call to create evidence-based mental health promotion interventions for youth that are equitable across ethnic/racial subgroups: Advocates 4-ALL Youth.

Adolescents from historically racial and ethnic minoritized and low-income communities have higher rates of early-life and chronic difficulties with anxiety and depression compared to non-Hispanic White youth. With mental health distress exacerbated during and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need for accessible, equitable evidence-based programs that promote psychological well-being, strengthen one's ability to adapt to adversity, and build self-efficacy prior to adolescence. An evidenced-based resiliency-focused health coaching intervention was adapted using a health equity implementation framework to meet the needs of a Title I elementary school in rural Alabama (AL) that serves over 80% Black and Hispanic students. To ensure that the program met local community needs while maintaining core program educational activities, all adaptations were documented utilizing a standard coding system. Leveraging an existing academic-community partnership with Auburn University and a local AL school district, a new program, Advocates 4-All Youth (ALLY), was created. Three major adaptations were required: (1) the use of local community volunteers (ALLYs) to deliver the program versus health coaches, (2) the modification of program materials to meet the challenge of varying levels of general and health-related literacy, and (3) the integration of the Empower Action Model to target protective factors in a culturally-tailored delivery to ensure key program outcomes are found equitable for all students. With continued increases in youth mental health distress, there is a need for the development of universal primary prevention interventions to promote mental well-being and to strengthen protective factors among youth from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. ALLY was created to meet these needs and may be an effective strategy if deemed efficacious in improving program outcomes.

The impact of COVID-19 on student health behavior in k-12 public schools in Alabama

COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the health behavior of students all over the world. This study aims to explain the critical role of COVID-19 in changing students’ health behaviors and to provide suggestions for improving students’ health by preventing the usage of harmful substances. This study uses data from the Alabama Department of Education, focusing on subject and enrollment data. Excel and SPSS are used to analyze the trend of the total number of students in each state with time, and the mean values of school data before and during COVID-19 are compared. People may expect that the pressure from the lockdown and studying online causes severe abuse of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco. However, this study finds an opposite conclusion that COVID-19 actually discouraged the use of those substances. The study shows that the total usage of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco illustrates a downward trend due to the blockade of COVID-19. However, after COVID-19 stabilized, the total amount of the three substances suddenly increased. In 2021-2022, there is a significant difference in the total amount used between k-6 and 7-9. These could be mainly explained by peer effect and parent controls which had less impact during covid-19 and became a dominant health effect factor after COVID-19. Finally, we give some suggestions for schools and parents to prevent the problem from worsening.

Outlier leadership in Alabama: resource challenged schools and principal practices

PurposeSchools in resource challenged communities require principal approaches that break patterns of low expectations and low student achievement. This study identifies Alabama’s “outlier” schools that have been consistently successful in attaining higher student outcomes than their neighboring schools despite their similar community conditions. Then, it describes the perspectives and practices of principals leading these outlier schools. The purpose of this paper is to discuss findings on principal leadership in five of Alabama's outlier schools.Design/methodology/approachIn a sequential, explanatory mixed-methods design, the authors first use state administrative data to identify which Alabama schools had better results than their peers as evidenced by standardized testing between 2016 and 2020. Then, through semi-structured interviews, they examine the beliefs and approaches of five principals who are currently leading an outlier school. The frame of contextual leadership provides a deeper understanding of how these principals navigate successful schools in the midst of challenging community influences.FindingsThe evidence demonstrated that (1) community factors of low education, high unemployment, single-parent households and generational poverty are associated with considerably lower levels of student growth and achievement; (2) measured school and community factors do not explain student growth and achievement in these outlier schools; (3) outlier principals have a realistic view of their community’s challenges but focus on supporting students through a context sensitive, relational approach that emphasizes assets over limitations.Originality/valueWhile research has attended to leadership in turnaround schools and effective schools, there is little literature on principals leading in positive outlier schools. This study contributes to the literature on school leadership in resource challenged contexts by identifying high performing, resource challenged schools and then showing the perspectives and practices of principals who lead in schools that have consistently achieved better than expected student outcomes. It extends the construct of “outlier leadership” in education and connects it to contextual leadership in schools.

Disciples of Christ and The University of Alabama School of Religion that Wasn’t

Disciples of Christ and The University of Alabama School of Religion that Wasn’t

Social Media Recruitment of Survivors Who Have Lost Someone to Suicide with Pain Following a Prescription Opioid Change

Reports have found associations between prescription opioid stoppage and suicide, without detail as to how such suicides happen. Psychological autopsies could be revelatory but require enlisting survivors who may distrust health systems. This pilot assessed the feasibility of using social media to recruit survivors. A multi-disciplinary team created a 45-item online survey for respondents reporting loss of someone to suicide after prescription opioid change. It includes 4 screeners (eg., Do you believe that someone close to you died by suicide after a change in pain medication?). Other items include relationship to the decedent and characteristics of the death. Recruitment involved postings on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, usually asking "Have you lost someone with pain to suicide?" Over 10 months, 48 respondents passed the screeners and reported both a gender (30 male, 18 female) and race (42 White, 6 Other) for a decedent, from 30 states. For these 48, 38 respondents were "confident" the death was an "intentional act". Among them, 31 affirmed that they "consider yourself to be in a family relationship" with the decedent, while 17 responded "No". Of those 31, 21 endorsed typical family relationships (eg. parent, spouse). However, 6 of 31 described the relationship as "friend", 4 as "self". Among 41 respondents, 35 said opioids had been reduced, but 2 said they had been increased, and 4 avowed not knowing. Of 45 who reached the end of the survey, 35 agreed to be contacted for future study. Public recruitment to engage people who have lost someone to suicide is possible. Respondents may include friends, family, and persons who have not died by suicide, but may be at risk. Formal research beyond pilot stage, as is planned, requires professional outreach, as well as safety plans to respond to persons who may be thinking about suicide. Funding provided via an internal grant from the University of Alabama's School of Medicine.

“Why Don’t They Just Move Closer?”: Adolescent Critical Consciousness Development in YPAR About Food Security

The aim of this paper is to explore high school students’ critical consciousness development in the context of youth participatory action research (YPAR) focused on food security at an alternative school in Alabama. The YPAR project took place in an elective agriscience class with 10 students (Seven Black, two white, one Latino) who were in the 10th to 12th grades. Utilizing data from researcher notes, classroom observations, and archival classroom documents, we present students’ YPAR project outcomes to share their research-driven solutions to food insecurity in their community. Vignettes of classroom dialogue are also constructed to illustrate moments of reflection in the YPAR context about food security. We present three “critical moments,” or instances of social analysis, to illustrate how students’ individual-level attributions occurred alongside teacher dialogue and student-led investigation of structural inequities in the community. Findings illustrate how students’ nonlinear critical consciousness development consisted of reliance on individual-level attributions in classroom dialogue co-occurring with systems-thinking activities and other YPAR project outcomes. This paper has implications for research on the imperfect and wavering nature of adolescent critical consciousness development in YPAR.

Quest for Healthy Schools: A Program Evaluation of School Wellness Efforts in SNAP-Ed Eligible Alabama Schools

Quest for Healthy Schools: A Program Evaluation of School Wellness Efforts in SNAP-Ed Eligible Alabama Schools

The Role of Pediatric Health-care Providers in Promoting Students' Asthma Health.

The Role of Pediatric Health-care Providers in Promoting Students' Asthma Health.

Vitiligo – Study In view of familial occurence

Vitiligo – Study In view of familial occurence

Assessing readiness to manage medical emergencies among dental students at four dental schools.

Dentists treat a wide range of patients, including patients with compromised health conditions. While rendering treatment, various medical emergencies can and do occur. To help increase the knowledge required to manage such emergencies, dental students must be trained while in dental school. This study aims to assess the level of medical emergency preparedness and knowledge among dental students at four dental schools. The participating dental schools were IUSD, Case Western Reserve University School of Dentistry, Marquette University School of Dentistry, and the University of Alabama School of Dentistry. Groups were designed to include 20 dental students from Years 1 to 4. Students were asked to fill out a survey and were then tested on 10 clinical medical emergency scenarios. A total of 331 dental students participated in the study. The scores based on 10 case scenarios presented with a range of 4.35-8.02. There was no statistically significant difference in the level of preparedness when dental schools were compared. However, Year 1 and Year 2 dental students had significantly lower total scores than those of Years 3 and 4. The students in Years 1 and 2 demonstrated less confidence in their current knowledge to manage medical emergencies. Satisfaction with the training received ranged from 38% to 84%. The results from this study indicate that students' preparedness to manage medical emergencies at these four dental schools is statistically similar. Additional yearly training could enhance students' preparedness in the management of medical emergencies in the dental setting.

Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, Segregation Forever? Racial and Economic Isolation and Dissimilarity in Rural Black Belt Schools in Alabama*

AbstractSchool racial and economic segregation trends in the United States have increased since the high point of school integration in the 1980s. Current scholarship rarely examines segregation trends in rural areas, especially in the rural Black Belt region of the southern United States. The Black Belt was the location of the leading events of the Civil Rights Movement and where white residents exhibited overt and violent resistance to Brown v. Board of Education. This landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case prohibited legally mandated racial segregation in schools. Our study examines patterns of racial and economic isolation and dissimilarity in the Alabama Black Belt to determine the contemporary nature of school and neighborhood segregation in the region. We use a Critical Race Spatial Analysis framework to conceptualize the study, and we show that segregation patterns have continued and, in some cases, worsened in the last three decades. The forces driving these patterns are different from in the past, stemming from student population changes rather than students' distribution within school districts. Based on these findings, we explain solutions that include implementing school enrollment policy changes alongside policies that incentivize population growth and economic development.

International collaboration for mutual benefit: a Southwest China and Southeast United States partnership

ABSTRACT China’s return to social work education, after a nearly 35-year absence, opened the door for partnerships like the 2012 China Collaborative partnership between the Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) Katherine A. Kendall Institute, the China Association of Social Work Education (CASWE) and the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW). The University of Alabama School of Social Work (UA SSW) was selected to participate in the collaborative and was connected to the Southwest China Region, specifically partnered with Yunnan University. This manuscript will share the strategies used to engage faculty and students from each partnering institution. Data collected by UA SSW over the five-year partnership will be utilised to contribute to the discussion of the extent to which Western knowledge and theory about social work education might usefully be applied to the Chinese context.

Relationships between Physical and Mental Health in Adolescents from Low-Income, Rural Communities: Univariate and Multivariate Analyses.

Environment (i.e., rural vs. urban) and socioeconomic status (SES) are moderating factors of physical (i.e., obesity and/or physical activity) and internalizing mental health (i.e., stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms) in adolescents. Relationships between physical and mental health have been shown in adolescents; however, research has not addressed these relationships in those from low-income, rural backgrounds. Thus, the present study characterized physical and mental health in rural, low-SES adolescents and investigated relationships between physical and mental health in this population. Data were collected from 253 10th and 11th-grade students from Title I schools in rural Alabama. Self-report measures of mental health, self-esteem, body image, and physical activity were obtained, in addition to functional fitness and physical health assessments completed at each school. Relationships between mental and physical health were assessed using Pearson correlations and multivariate data-driven cluster analysis. Positive correlations were observed between body composition and mental health symptoms, while negative correlations were observed between body image and mental health and body composition. However, sex differences were present in these relationships. The multivariate cluster analysis identified groups of individuals based on profiles of mental and physical health. This individual-level analysis identified students with greater mental and/or physical health burdens (n = 53 and n = 40) who may benefit from targeted interventions. Overall, these results provide evidence of elevated mental and physical health burdens among rural, low-income adolescents. Moreover, targeted programs are needed to provide education about the relationship between physical and mental health to reduce health burdens in both domains in this population.