School Status Research Articles

Psychosocial and behavioral problems of children and adolescents in the early stage of reopening schools after the COVID-19 pandemic: a national cross-sectional study in China

This study aims to explore the psychosocial and behavioral problems of children and adolescents in the early stage of reopening schools. In this national cross-sectional study, a total of 11072 students from China were naturally divided into two groups based on their schooling status: reopened schools (RS) and home schooling (HS) group. The psychosocial and behavioral functioning were measured by Achenbach Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and compared in these two groups. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to explore the independent predictors associated with the psychosocial and behavioral problems. Our results showed that the students in the RS group had more adverse behaviors than that of HS group. The RS group had the higher rates of parent-offspring conflict, prolonged homework time, increased sedentary time and sleep problems (all p < 0.001). When separate analyses were conducted in boys and girls, the RS group had the higher scores for (1) overall behavioral problems (p = 0.02 and p = 0.01), internalizing (p = 0.02 and p = 0.02) and externalizing (p = 0.02 and p = 0.004) behaviors in the 6–11 age group; (2) externalizing (p = 0.049 and p = 0.006) behaviors in the 12–16 age group. Multivariable regression showed parent-offspring conflict and increased sedentary time were the most common risk factors, while physical activity and number of close friends were protective factors for behavior problems in RS students (p < 0.01 or 0.05). The present study revealed that students’ psychosocial and behavioral problems increased in the early stage of schools reopened unexpectedly. These findings suggest that close attention must be paid and holistic strategies employed in the school reopening process of post-COVID-19 period.

Feeling Displaced, Enacting Resistance: Race, Place, and Schooling in the Face of Gentrifying Forces

Detroit is a dynamic city with a dynamic history, yet it has come to symbolize both White flight (beginning in the 1940s and accelerating in the late 1960s) and Black flight (beginning in the 1990s and reaching its apex in 2000). While Detroit’s Black population continues to decline, its White population increased by 22% between 2010 and 2015. Along with these shifting demographic trends comes shifting residential and educational landscapes that amplify the racial, economic, and spatial inequalities marking present-day Detroit. Drawing upon the literature of human geography and sociology of education, and utilizing GIS software, we overlay the mapping of demographic realities with the mapping of human stories. As a case study of how a non-profit, public charter school can be a vehicle for resisting gentrification, this paper examines the role of “place” in one school’s navigation of an increasingly gentrified Detroit and its commitment to primarily serving youth of its neighborhood. Using a multimodal and multiscalar approach, we find evidence of endogenous gentrification, intergenerational topophilia, and the school enacting resistance within a dialectic of its market-driven charter school status.

What Are the Maternal Factors that Potentially Intervenes in the Nutritional Composition of Human Milk?

Background: To evaluate the potential factors associated with the nutritional composition of human milk of puerperal women. Methods: cross-sectional study, conducted between March 2016 and August 2017, with 107 women, selected in a Tertiary Health Care Tertiary Health Facility of the Unified Health System (SUS) in the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro. Data were collected two months after delivery. The dependent variable of the study was the nutritional composition of human milk. We divided the independent variables into hierarchical levels: distal (age, schooling, parity and pregestational nutritional status), intermediate (number of prenatal visits and gestational weight gain) and proximal (alcohol consumption, smoking, diabetes mellitus and hypertension). For data analysis, we applied the multiple linear regression, centered on the hierarchical model. Only the variables associated with the nutritional composition of breast milk remained in the final model at a 5% level of significance. Results: The nutritional composition of human milk yielded by women with pregestational overweight, smokers and hypertensive had higher amounts of lipids and energy. Conversely, women with gestational weight gain below the recommended had lower amounts of these components. Conclusion: The evaluation of factors associated with the nutritional composition of human milk is extremely important to assist post-partum care practices. In this study, we observed that lipid and energy contents were associated to pregestational nutritional status, gestational weight gain, smoking and hypertension.

Are schools digitally inclusive for all? Profiles of school digital inclusion using PISA 2018

This study used international student achievement data from the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 to identify the profiles of school digital inclusion (SDI). In digitally inclusive schools, students who live in the digital era benefit from digital technology and a digitally enhanced educational environment without alienation and exclusion. We compiled profiles of SDI by conducting a latent profile analysis on data from 27 countries. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine whether a school's socioeconomic status and type could predict its likelihood of fitting a particular profile across SDI subgroups. Schools were categorized in terms of low-, medium-, and high-level digital inclusion. Socioeconomic status and type of school were significant predictors of profile membership. Based on the results, the practical implications for promoting SDI include digital infrastructure as a prerequisite, teachers' confidence in using digital technology and instructional competence, and the digital skills of teachers and students.

Negative Social Ties: Prevalence and Consequences

Recent decades have seen a surge of interest in negative ties and the negative aspects of social relationships. Researchers in different fields have studied negative ties and their consequences for various individual outcomes, including health and well-being, social status in schools and other organizations, and job performance and satisfaction, but they have mainly done so in disconnect. The result is a dearth of theoretization, manifested in a multitude of concepts and measures, that has made synthesis difficult and left numerous questions unanswered. By critically assessing these literatures, this review maps unresolved issues and identifies important lacunae in current investigations of negative ties. It is organized around three key issues: What are negative ties? How prevalent are they and where do they come from? And what are their consequences? The review concludes by proposing an agenda for future research.

Precision exercise medicine: predicting unfavourable status and development in the 20-m shuttle run test performance in adolescence with machine learning

ObjectivesTo assess the ability to predict individual unfavourable future status and development in the 20m shuttle run test (20MSRT) during adolescence with machine learning (random forest (RF) classifier).MethodsData from a...

Junior high school students’ risk perception of earthquakes in Bandung City

This study aims to determine students’ risk perceptions of earthquakes of junior high school students in Bandung City and whether factors such as gender, school location and school status affect their risk perceptions of earthquakes. A questionnaire on risk perceptions was given to 128 junior high school students in six schools in Bandung City. Based on data analysis using the independent t-test, there is a significant difference in risk perception between male and female students where female students (73.48) have a higher average risk perception score than male students (70.50). However, school location and school status do not affect risk perceptions since the results of the independent t-test showed no significant difference. This is because both are external factors, while the perception of risk is influenced by internal factors. In addition, among the risk perception components, the perception component towards disaster risk reduction has the highest value and the perception component toward risk potential has the lowest value. This indicates that the perception component towards disaster risk reduction gave the greatest contribution to the risk perception and junior high school students in Bandung City need to increase their risk perception of potential earthquakes.

Study on the Operation Status and Improvement Plans for Graduate Schools

The purpose of this study is to analyze the current status and actual conditions of management and operation of graduate schools within general universities in Korea. In order to analyze the current status and actual condition of graduate schools, 5 areas comprised of 26 items were organized and implemented based on the CIPP evaluation model. The analysis was conducted on the research subjects of 106 graduate schools out of 185 (57.3%). The results of the survey found that Private universities account for approximately 70% of graduate degree programs in Korea, and they are evenly distributed across the country, providing opportunities and accessibility to graduate education. In this process, most of the regulations for major graduate school academic systems are in place. In order to improve the quality of graduate schools in the future, first, it is necessary to review the upward adjustment of the credits required for graduation. Second, there needs to be efforts to manage the quality of theses, and third, there needs to be improvement of the education conditions and support system for graduate schools. Fourth, there is a need to improve the administrative expertise of graduate schools.

Classification and Prediction of Students’ GPA Using K-Means Clustering Algorithm to Assist Student Admission Process

Background: Student admission at universities aims to select the best candidates who will excel and finish their studies on time. There are many factors to be considered in student admission. To assist the process, an intelligent model is needed to spot the potentially high achieving students, as well as to identify potentially struggling students as early as possible.Objective: This research uses K-means clustering to predict students’ grade point average (GPA) based on students’ profile, such as high school status and location, university entrance test score and English language competence.Methods: Students’ data from class of 2008 to 2017 are used to create two clusters using K-means clustering algorithm. Two centroids from the clusters are used to classify all the data into two groups: high GPA and low GPA. We use the data from class of 2018 as test data. The performance of the prediction is measured using accuracy, precision and recall.Results: Based on the analysis, the K-means clustering method is 78.59% accurate among the merit-based-admission students and 94.627% among the regular-admission students.Conclusion: The prediction involving merit-based-admission students has lower predictive accuracy values than that of involving regular-admission students because the clustering model for the merit-based-admission data is K = 3, but for the prediction, the assumption is K = 2.

Leadership style for Thailand 4.0 of school administrators affecting the implementation of the educational quality assurance system of schools at the secondary education level within the jurisdiction of Bangkok under a new educational quality assurance fr

This research aimed to 1) study and compare the leadership styles for Thailand 4.0 among school administratorsclassified by school status and size within the jurisdiction of Bangkok 2) study and compare operations in the educational qualityassurance system of secondary schools within the jurisdiction of Bangkok under the new educational quality assuranceframework classified by school status and size and 3) study the predictive power of the leadership style for Thailand 4.0 of schooladministrators impacting the implementation of the education quality assurance system under the new education qualityassurance framework, classified by school status and size within the jurisdiction of Bangkok affecting the implementation of theeducational quality assurance system of schools within the jurisdiction of Bangkok. The sample was 201 school administratorsand teachers. The research instruments were questionnaires. The research found that the leadership style for Thailand 4.0 withinthe jurisdiction of Bangkok of school administrators was at high level. The comparative results classified by overall status showedthat there was a statistically significant difference in style at .01 levels. When compared from the overall school size classificationwithin the jurisdiction of Bangkok, there was a statistically significant difference in style at the .05 level (2). The implementationof the educational quality assurance system at secondary schools within the jurisdiction of Bangkok under the new educationalquality assurance framework was at high level. The comparative results classified by overall status showed that there was astatistically significant difference in style at .01 levels. When compared by size of schools within the jurisdiction of Bangkok,there was a statistically significant difference at .05 levels (3). The results of a predictive power analysis of leadership style forThailand 4.0 among school administrators found that there were five components capable of forecasting operations in theeducation quality assurance system under the new framework for quality assurance for secondary schools within the jurisdictionof Bangkok under the new educational quality assurance framework, at 89% considere

Evaluation of the Motivation Status of Enterprises and Higher Vocational Schools Participating in Modern Apprenticeship and Its Key Influencing Factors Based on Artificial Neural Network

During the reform of talent training mode, higher vocational schools must promote and apply modern apprenticeship to meet the needs of intelligent manufacturing. However, most enterprises and schools differ greatly in the participation enthusiasm and implementation motivation for modern apprenticeship. To enhance the participation motivation, it is critical to correctly evaluate the motivation status of enterprises and schools participating in modern apprenticeship, and analyze its key influencing factors. For this reason, this paper employs the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to evaluate such motivation status. Firstly, a Modern Apprenticeship Motivation Status (MAMS) evaluation model was established, along with its evaluation index system (EIS). Then, differences in the motivation status were compared from seven aspects. After that, an improved backpropagation (BP) neural network was built to construct and optimize the MAMS prediction model. Finally, the constructed model was proved valid through experiments.

‘How much freedom do we have?’ The perceived autonomy of secondary school EFL teachers in Indonesia

This article presents the findings of a study measuring perceptions of teacher autonomy of practitioners of English as a foreign language (EFL). This study also sought to identify areas in which Indonesian secondary schools need to improve to enable teachers to enjoy a greater degree of freedom while completing teaching-related activities. Additionally, it aimed to explore correlations between practitioners’ perceptions of teacher autonomy and their gender, school location, school status and teaching experience. This was a mixed-methods study comprising a sequential explanatory design with two consecutive stages: quantitative and qualitative. The data were gathered using two instruments: a closed-ended questionnaire and a focus group. The sample consisted of 185 (74 male and 111 female) Indonesian secondary school EFL teachers, recruited using convenience sampling. The findings indicated that teachers’ sense of autonomy in relation to seven specific areas of their work was relatively high. Specifically, they perceived themselves to have a considerable amount of autonomy with respect to teaching methodology, instructional materials, course content, assessment, and, more recently, lesson planning. However, they expressed disappointment at being excluded from the decision-making process regarding the school curriculum. The findings also revealed that teachers expected more school support in relation to teaching facilities and professional development. The article concludes by considering several key implications for school management teams regarding the need to foster teacher autonomy among English language practitioners.

Understanding student decision-making about VET as a pathway: an Australian study

ABSTRACT Although vocational education and training (VET) can lead to lucrative and fulfilling careers and plays a vital role in skilling workers for contemporary workplaces, it continues to have a low status in schools, among parents, and in the wider community. Many countries are now seeking to enhance the status of VET to increase its uptake by school leavers. The study reported here investigated factors that shape students’ decisions about post-school options and their views about promoting VET as a viable post-school option. Interview and survey data from 176 students from 11 schools and three VET institutions located in metropolitan and regional communities are discussed here. Their decision-making is influenced mainly by the information they received from familiars (i.e. parents, teachers, and friends). They suggest more detailed information about the utility and status of VET and occupations it serves may assist young people to consider it as a viable option.

Evaluation of the Motivation Levels of Physical Education Teachers

A number of psychosocial determinants have been associated with a significant proportion of teachers with adjustment problems and low levels of motivation. The motivation of physical education teachers is a critical factor in their approach to students and in achieving lesson outcomes. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the motivation levels of physical education teachers in terms of some variables. In the study, based on the descriptive survey model, physical education teachers were compared according to the variables of gender, age, marital status and type of school. The sample of the study consists of 206 physical education teachers working in secondary schools and high schools in Aksaray, Karaman and Konya provinces of our country. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation scales were used to collect research data. According to the results of the study, the extrinsic motivation levels of the teachers were found to be partially low. The extrinsic and general motivation of physical education teachers working in private schools is very low. According to the findings of the study, the motivation levels of physical education teachers differ according to the variables of gender, age, marital status and type of school.

Sex differences in total brain volume in a cognitively unimpaired elderly population

IntroductionAlthough a large number of studies have shown brain volumetric differences between men and women, only a few investigations to date have analyzed brain tissue volumes in representative samples of the general elderly population.ObjectivesWe investigated differences in gray matter (GM), white matter (WM) and intracranial volumes (ICVs) between sexes in individuals above 66 years old using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).MethodsUsing FreeSurfer version 5.3, we automatically obtained the ICVs, GM and WM volumes from MRI datasets of 84 men and 92 women. To correct for interindividual variations in ICV, GM and WM volumes were adjusted with a method using the residuals of a least-square-derived linear regression between raw volumes and ICVs. We then performed an ANCOVA comparing men and woman including age and years of schooling as confounding factors.ResultsWomen had a lower socioeconomic status overall and fewer years of schooling than men. The comparison of unadjusted brain volumes showed larger GM and WM volumes in men. After the ICV correction, the adjusted volumes of GM and WM were larger in women.ConclusionsAfter the ICV correction and taking into account differences in socioeconomic status and years of schooling, our results confirm previous findings of proportionally larger GM in women, as well as larger WM volumes. These results in an elderly population indicate that brain volumetric differences between sexes persist throughout the aging process. Additional studies combining MRI and other biomarkers are warranted to identify the hormonal and molecular bases influencing such differences.

General Intelligence and Socioeconomic Status as Strong Predictors of Student Performance in Latin American Schools: Evidence From PISA Items

Numerous technical—scientific reports have demonstrated that student performance variability is linked to several factors, especially socioeconomic factors. For a century, differential psychology has shown that students’ socioeconomic level has little or no relevance in the explanation of student performance variation when the intellectual factor is considered. Here we present a study on a student samples (N= 1264) aged 13 to 16 yrs, enrolled in 32 schools from five Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru). A short version of the PISA test (composed by 16 items) and five cognitive measures were administered, in addition to a socioeconomic questionnaire. Multilevel analysis (marginal models) indicated that general intelligence (g-factor) and socioeconomic school status were robust predictors, and the students’ socioeconomic status very little accounted for the variation in the PISA test. This study concludes that education policy must incorporate individual differences in intelligence, beyond socioeconomic variables, as an important predictor variable in student performance studies.

Social Determinants of Health and Well-Being of Adolescents in Multicultural Families in South Korea: Social-Cultural and Community Influence.

Objectives: Adolescents in multicultural families (AMFs) are exposed to numerous stressors and face environmental vulnerability within the family, school, and community systems, which may affect their health and well-being. Concrete discussion on policies is lacking due to insufficient data on the levels of well-being of AMFs in South Korea. This study aimed to investigate social-cultural and community factors affecting their well-being.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with a convenience sample of 206 AMFs (aged 13–18 years) from 16 general schools and three multicultural schools across eight large cities. AMFs completed a self-administrative questionnaire assessing well-being, individual factors (acculturative stress, health behavior), social and community factors (social support, sense of community), and environmental factors (school type, economic status). Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.Results: Social support and sense of community significantly and directly affected well-being. The economic status and type of school had an indirect effect on well-being, whereas the effect of acculturative stress was not significant. Factors significantly affecting adolescents' well-being were social support, sense of community, economic status, and type of school.Conclusion: Addressing well-being may be the strategy leading AMFs to grow into healthy adults. These results could help educators, health professionals, and policymakers to identify ways to enhance the well-being of AMFs.

The Relationship between Nutritional Status and Physical Fitness in Pilot International Standard School (RSBI) at the Level of Junior High School in Padang

The problem of this research is the low of level of physical fitness of students of Pilot International StandardSchool (SMP level) in Padang. It happened because of lack of nutrional status and physical activity.The purpose of this research is to reveal the correlation between nutrional status and physical activity,individually and in group. This research is Quantitative Reaearch that used correlational technique continuedby counting the contribution of independent variables to dependent variables. The accessible population ofthis research was all male students (448) of RSBI school in Padang, academic year 2011/2012. The sampleof this research was 67 students or 15% of accessible population by using proportional technique of randomsampling. The instrument of this research to measure physical fitness (Y) was Multistage Running Test(Tes MRT) ; Nutrional Status (X1) with the measure of weight and age converted to Classification Tableof Society Nutritional Status, Directorate of Community Nutrition, Department of Health of Republic ofIndonesia 1999 ; and Psysical Activity (X2) with questionaire. The results of the research are: (1).Thereis a significant relationship between nutrional status and physical fitness and contributed for 12.00% . (2).There is a significant relationship between physical activity and physical fitness and contributed for 26.00%.(3). There is a significant relationship between nutritional status and physical activity and contributed for29.00%. Thus, it can be concluded that increasing the psysical fitness of RSBI students in Padang can bedone by increasing Nutrional Status and Psysical Activity individually and in group.

Unequally Safe: Association Between Bullying and Perceived School Safety and the Moderating Effects of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Grade Level

Guided by the social–ecological, social identity, and social misfit theories, the present study examined the gender, racial/ethnic, and grade-level differences of students’ perceived school safety and their associations with bullying victimization and school-wide bullying using a sample of 25,896 students from 114 public schools. Results of hierarchical linear regression modeling suggested that the negative association between individual-level bullying victimization and perceived school safety was stronger among White than Black students, and stronger among middle school than high school students. The negative association between school-wide bullying and perceived school safety was stronger in middle schools than in elementary schools. The perception of school safety also varied across racial/ethnic groups. The findings highlight the ecological influences of school-wide bullying and bullying victimization on student school safety perception. They also highlight the importance of understanding students’ perceptions of racial/ethnic identity, membership, and social status in schools when developing interventions that promote school safety. Impact Statement The findings highlight the ecological influences of school-wide bullying and bullying victimization on school safety at both the student and school levels. They also highlight the importance of understanding students’ normative perceptions of racial/ethnic identity, membership, and social status in schools when developing racially/ethnically responsive and grade-level specific strategies that promote school safety and alleviate the negative influences of bullying on students’ perceived school safety. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2020.1860427

Childhood Factors and Dental Caries in the Permanent Dentition: Findings of an 8-Year Study Under a Nationwide School Dental Service

ObjectiveThis study, using a retrospective analysis of nationwide dental records of school-going children over 8 years, aims to identify childhood factors associated with dental caries incidence in the permanent dentition up to adolescence. MethodsStudents studying in primary and secondary schools in Singapore are eligible for free basic dental care under the nationwide School Dental Service (SDS). All available dental records, general health records, and sociodemographic data from 2009 to 2017 were extracted as anonymised records, for a full cohort of 29,617 students that were enrolled in Primary 1 in 2009. Multiple logistic regression and modified Poisson regression were applied to identify risk factors for caries incidence in the permanent dentition over 8 years. ResultsCaries occurred in the permanent dentition of 9389 (31.7%) students in the 8 years. Risk of caries incidence in the permanent dentition was associated with baseline caries in the primary (risk ratio [RR]: 1.88; 95% CI: 1.81, 1.95) and permanent (RR: 1.54; 95% CI: 1.47, 1.61) dentition, tooth hypoplasia (RR: 1.58; 95% CI: 1.49, 1.68), and poor baseline oral hygiene (RR: 1.07; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.12). Sociodemographic predictors of caries incidence include a lower socioeconomic status, Chinese ethnicity, female gender, and enrolment in nonmainstream schools or schools in the Eastern and Western regions of Singapore. ConclusionsBoth clinical and sociodemographic factors in childhood are associated with caries incidence in the permanent dentition and can be used for structuring dental service provision and identifying caries-susceptible individuals and groups for early prevention and intervention.