Highlighted publications
Possibilities and power during Early Head Start Home visits: Comparing family‐ and home visitor‐opened decision‐making
Hancock, C. L. (2024). Possibilities and power during Early Head Start Home visits: Comparing family‐ and home visitor‐opened decision‐making. Infant Mental Health Journal: Infancy and Early Childhood. Advance online publication.
Keywords
Decision-making
Discourse analysis
Early Head Start
Family partnerships
Home visiting
Mixed methods research
Decision-making by families and professionals about how to support children’s development is an integral aspect of home visits. This study investigated home visit decision-making in a US program for families experiencing poverty, Early Head Start (EHS), through the following questions: What types of decisions do home visitors and families make about children’s development during EHS home visits? How and to what extent do home visitors and families participate during these decisions? A convergent mixed methods research design was implemented to investigate participation through frequency counts and discourse analysis of home visit transcripts. Home visitor participants were four women, three white and one Black. Twelve families participated (12 mothers, 2 fathers). Parents identified as white (n = 8), Black (n = 3), and multiracial (n = 3; Black and white). One parent was a bilingual Arabic and English speaker. A total of 66 decisions about children’s development were identified, with 49 decisions initiated by home visitors and 17 initiated by families. Although families talked more and took on active roles when they initiated (i.e., opened) decisions, home visitors predominantly controlled decision-making. Quantitative and qualitative participation differed only in the beginning of family-opened decisions, and home visitors gradually took more control.
Impact of Sport Engagement and Social Support on the Health-Related Quality of Life of Youth Athletes With Physical Disabilities
Sur, M. H., Shapiro, D. R., & Martin, J. (2024). Impact of Sport Engagement and Social Support on the Health-Related Quality of Life of Youth Athletes With Physical Disabilities. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 1(aop), 1-18.
APAQ at Forty: Publication Trends
Martin, J. J. (2024). APAQ at Forty: Publication Trends. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 1(aop), 1-18.
Use of Psychological Skills Training
Munroe-Chandler, K., Ely, F., Loughead, T., Martin, J., & Beasley, V. (2025). Use of Psychological Skills Training. In K. Griggs (Eds.) Handbook of Applied Sports Science and Exercise in Disability Sports (1st Ed). (pp. xxx-xxx). New York, NY: Routledge Publishing.
Challenges and Stresses Experienced by Paralympic Athletes and Coaches
Beasely, V., Bastos, T, McDougall, H., & Martin, J. (2025). Challenges and Stresses Experienced by Paralympic Athletes and Coaches. In K. Griggs (Eds.) Handbook of Applied Sports Science and Exercise in Disability Sports (1st Ed). (pp. xxx-xxx). New York, NY: Routledge Publishing.
Clubhouse virtual programming: A trend analysis of member engagement patterns before, during, and after pandemic lockdown
Rice, K., Simaitis, G., & Pernice, F. (2024). Clubhouse virtual programming: A trend analysis of member engagement patterns before, during, and after pandemic lockdown. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 47(3), 200–208.
Keywords
Clubhouse
Mental illness
Virtual programs
Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on the mental health of individuals with serious mental illness, with restricting social gatherings and limiting access to essential community and psychosocial support services. For programs like clubhouses, adapting typically in-person programming to online settings led to the creation of virtual clubhouse programming that persists at many sites even after reopening. Although it has been documented how clubhouses adapted their programming online, it has not been investigated at the individual level how those programs were utilized over time, by different member cohorts, and how they persist in comparison to one another. Method: The present article presents descriptive and inferential statistics, analysis of variance, and secondary trend analysis of the Fountain House clubhouse in-person and virtual engagements of three member cohorts who enrolled in either three time periods before pandemic restrictions (the prior cohort), during pandemic restrictions (the pandemic cohort), and after lockdown restrictions (the reopening cohort). Result: Initial findings show that the prior cohort sustained their overall rate of engagement across time periods. The pandemic cohort had a significantly higher rate of engagement than the prior cohort within the during period but demonstrated a significant decrease in engagement rate between the during and after period. Prior and pandemic cohorts had statistically similar virtual and in-person engagement ratios in the after period, but the reopen cohort differed significantly with a predominant ratio of in-person engagements. Conclusions and Implications for Practice: Member engagement trends within in-person and virtual offerings across the three different pandemic related time periods indicate important considerations for the sustainability and innovation of clubhouse virtual programming.
Disaggregating between- and within-person associations of mastery and cognitive function: age as a moderator
Du, C., Wu, B., Peng, C. et al. Disaggregating between- and within-person associations of mastery and cognitive function: age as a moderator. BMC Geriatr 24, 722 (2024).
Keywords
Multilevel modeling
Cognitive functioning
Ahcging
Mastery may shape the way individuals cope with life challenges and influence cognitive function in later life. Mastery grows out of traumatic experience and could change over the life course. This study examined the within-person and between-person associations of mastery and cognitive function, and if these associations were moderated by age in the United States.
Asian diaspora theorizing: defying Racism~ Re-imagining alternate Nows~ Invigorating otherwise futures
He, M. F., Sharma, S., & Yu, M. (2024). Asian diaspora theorizing: defying Racism~ Re-imagining alternate Nows~ Invigorating otherwise futures. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 1-7.
Keywords
Asian diaspora
Interdisciplinary theorizing
Subaltern consciousness
AsianCrit
Unearthing and reconstructing schooling with multiply-marginalized disabled students through an intersectional sociospatial lens
Miller, A. L., & Pearson, H. (2024). Unearthing and reconstructing schooling with multiply-marginalized disabled students through an intersectional sociospatial lens. Race Ethnicity and Education. Advance online publication.
Keywords
Critical spatial theory
Educational research
Intersectionality
Multiply-marginalized disabled students
Sociospatial dialectic
Multiply-marginalized disabled students in PreK-12 and postsecondary schools have unique educational trajectories. Yet, their firsthand experiences are understudied. This conceptual paper explores the affordances and possibilities of using an intersectional sociospatial lens supported by arts-based and visual methods grounded in the lived experiences of multiply-marginalized disabled students to unearth and reconstruct educational policies, practices, and systems. We anchor with two questions: How does an intersectional sociospatial lens support research and policy grounded in the epistemologies, lived experiences, ontologies, and axiological commitments of multiply-marginalized disabled students? How does an intersectional sociospatial lens revisit, reimagine, and re-engage sociospatial conversations and experiences? To engage this dialogue, we present this blended framing and also review previous work. We highlight the merits of this existing scholarship while providing implications for future research and policy centering multiply-marginalized disabled students with an intersectional sociospatial lens.
Licensing whiteness: property, privilege, and (re)centering the politics of race within neoliberalism
Crowley, C. B., Powell, S., Reynolds, A., & Yu, M. (2024). Licensing whiteness: property, privilege, and (re)centering the politics of race within neoliberalism. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.
Critical race theory ought to be central to analyses of neoliberalism and its impact on contemporary educational landscapes in the United States. Neoliberalism finds grounding in the rule of law, particularly as it relates to the role of contracts, contractual relationships, and by extension forms of licensure. Parallel to this, critical race theory also finds conceptual grounding in law, most notably as it pertains to understandings of linkages between property rights and whiteness. We explore the implications of considering whiteness as an institutionally-sponsored, state-sanctioned form of licensed property. The identification of neoliberalism as a dominant form of institutionalized whiteness centers understandings of the racialized contractual terms operating discursively under the auspices of white supremacist neoliberal regimes. Though Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overturned the “separate but equal” principle in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), we argue that neoliberalism continues to operationalize the maintenance of racial inequity in US schooling.
Licensing whiteness: property, privilege, and (re)centering the politics of race within neoliberalism
Crowley, C. B., Powell, S., Reynolds, A., & Yu, M. (2024). Licensing whiteness: property, privilege, and (re)centering the politics of race within neoliberalism. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.
Critical race theory ought to be central to analyses of neoliberalism and its impact on contemporary educational landscapes in the United States. Neoliberalism finds grounding in the rule of law, particularly as it relates to the role of contracts, contractual relationships, and by extension forms of licensure. Parallel to this, critical race theory also finds conceptual grounding in law, most notably as it pertains to understandings of linkages between property rights and whiteness. We explore the implications of considering whiteness as an institutionally-sponsored, state-sanctioned form of licensed property. The identification of neoliberalism as a dominant form of institutionalized whiteness centers understandings of the racialized contractual terms operating discursively under the auspices of white supremacist neoliberal regimes. Though Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overturned the “separate but equal” principle in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), we argue that neoliberalism continues to operationalize the maintenance of racial inequity in US schooling.
The Pedagogy of Place in China’s Migrant Community
Yu, M. (2024). The Pedagogy of Place in China’s Migrant Community. ECNU Review of Education.
This article examines the curriculum and pedagogy of place for migrant children in China and advocates the recognition of migrant families’ and communities’ knowledge as necessary, relevant, and impactful curriculum. This article is based on a longitudinal qualitative study conducted in various migrant settlements in Beijing. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with migrant parents, teachers, and community activists and participant observations in schools, community meetings, and other gatherings in the communities. Data were coded on themes related to place-based connection, attachment, and belonging and then analyzed. Findings demonstrate that pedagogical practices can be developed to re-center the knowledge and experiences of Chinese migrant communities. This pedagogical work recognizes and reflects the undervalued and unrecognized knowledge of migrant communities while investigating the meaning of “place” for migrant children. This is the first study putting special emphasis on the discussion of what “place” means for migrants and what knowledge is worthwhile for their children in China. A key contribution of this article is that it documents the challenges and benefits of creating a place-based curriculum and pedagogy for migrant children as they construct a sense of belonging.
Ignored Subjectivity in the Informational Panopticon: Restricted Classroom Interaction Under Technical Discipline
Chang, Y., Gao, M., & Yu, M. (2024). Ignored Subjectivity in the Informational Panopticon: Restricted Classroom Interaction Under Technical Discipline. ECNU Review of Education.
This article aims to provide a portrait of classroom interactions supported by information technology and discuss the complex impact of technical elements on teaching and the time–space distance of student subjectivity in a technology-dominated world. Based on Foucault's panopticism, this study examines a smart classroom in East Asia to observe classroom teaching and learning processes; conducts semi-structured interviews with teachers, students, parents, and other stakeholders; and analyzes the hidden mechanism of the smart classroom on interaction from the perspective of perceivers. The smart classroom has the distinctive structural features of a Panopticon. Artificial intelligence, which coalesces cultural capital through technological authority, has a significant capital advantage over students, producing a false spectacle of efficient learning. Panoramic surveillance causes the “backstage” of students’ roles to be gradually consumed by the “front” and makes students exhibit “make-work” behavior. Refined information management mechanisms produce invisible digital walls that separate interactive groups, making it difficult for students to obtain sufficient information about the gestures and behaviors of their classmates to interact effectively. This study reveals the ignorance of human subjectivity in the orientation of instrumental rationality by understanding the expressions of witnesses.
Licensing whiteness: property, privilege, and (re)centering the politics of race within neoliberalism
Crowley, C. B., Powell, S., Reynolds, A., & Yu, M. (2024). Licensing whiteness: property, privilege, and (re)centering the politics of race within neoliberalism. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.
Critical race theory ought to be central to analyses of neoliberalism and its impact on contemporary educational landscapes in the United States. Neoliberalism finds grounding in the rule of law, particularly as it relates to the role of contracts, contractual relationships, and by extension forms of licensure. Parallel to this, critical race theory also finds conceptual grounding in law, most notably as it pertains to understandings of linkages between property rights and whiteness. We explore the implications of considering whiteness as an institutionally-sponsored, state-sanctioned form of licensed property. The identification of neoliberalism as a dominant form of institutionalized whiteness centers understandings of the racialized contractual terms operating discursively under the auspices of white supremacist neoliberal regimes. Though Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overturned the “separate but equal” principle in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), we argue that neoliberalism continues to operationalize the maintenance of racial inequity in US schooling.
Disrupting inequitable family-professional decision-making in EC/ECSE: Alternate possibilities through the humanist frame
Hancock, C. L., & Morgan, C. W. (2024). Disrupting inequitable family-professional decision-making in EC/ECSE: Alternate possibilities through the humanist frame. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education. Advance online publication.
Keywords
Family-professional partnerships
Decision-making
Power
Though families are recognized as educational decision-makers for their children, inequitable family-professional partnerships persist in early childhood and early childhood special education (EC/ECSE), particularly for marginalized families. In this article, we argue that to promote equitable decision-making and best meet the needs of young children from birth through age five and their families, EC/ECSE professionals can reframe family-professional partnerships through an alternate lens to disrupt and transform entrenched power dynamics. To this end, we first introduce two perspectives of knowledge and power, functionalism and humanism, and discuss how they contribute to decision-making in EC/ECSE. Then, we present a model to examine power and apply the model to contrast decision-making rooted in functionalist and humanist framings. To conclude, we provide recommendations for policy, research, and practice through the humanist frame.
Promoting educational equity for migrant children in China
Yu, M. (2024). Promoting educational equity for migrant children in China. In P. Downes, G. Li, L. Van Praag, & S. Lamb (Eds.),The Routledge International Handbook of Equity and Inclusion in Education (pp. 389-400). Routledge.
Keywords
Educational equity
Migrant children
Minjian society
Situating within the context of migrant communities’ social and political struggles in urban Chinese cities, this chapter aims to demonstrate the mobilization in migrant communities as community members and activists work to provide educational opportunities for migrant children. Although excluded from the urban public realm for decades, migrant communities in China’s large urban cities never stopped their mobilization toward providing education for their children and making their voices heard. Grassroots migrant organizations function as centers of collective actions that address the needs of the community and counter the deficit notions of migrant children and their families, by illuminating the powerful ways that community members and activists utilize various forms of community cultural wealth. The spaces created as a result of the collective actions encouraged the formation of a sense of solidarity among migrant children, their families, as well as activists from outside the communities. These activities not only challenged the stereotypes of migrant children and their families but also provided opportunities to mobilize people from outside the communities to support migrant children’s education.
Community-Based Education and Child Development Work for Migrant Children in China: A Multi-dimensional Citizenship Approach
Yu, M. (2024). Community-Based Education and Child Development Work for Migrant Children in China: A Multi-dimensional Citizenship Approach. Chinese Sociological Review.
Keywords
Community-based education
Migrant children
Multi-dimensional citizenship
The primary focus of this article is to investigate the impact of community-based efforts to provide education and child development programs and service in China’s migrant communities, specifically as it pertains to the prospects of addressing sociocultural and socioeconomic inequalities in education and child development in urban China. Building on frameworks of dimensions of citizenship, this article examines the work of migrant educator-activists who provide community-based education and child development service in Beijing’s migrant communities. Their efforts to address inequalities in child development for migrant children enrich the understanding of citizenship in the Chinese context.
Forging a Path to College Persistence: An Experimental Evaluation of the Detroit Promise Path Program
Brockman, S. L., Camo-Biogradlija, J., Ratledge, A., O’Donoghue, R., Baum, M. Y., & Jacob, B. (2024). Forging a Path to College Persistence: An Experimental Evaluation of the Detroit Promise Path Program. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 0(0), 01623737241230474.
Keywords
Community college coaching
High-need students
Persistence
Randomized trial
Detroit students who obtain a college degree overcome many obstacles to do so. This article reports the results of a randomized evaluation of a program meant to provide support to low-income community college students. The Detroit Promise Path program was designed to complement an existing College Promise scholarship, providing students with coaching, summer engagement, and financial incentives. The evaluation found that students offered the program enrolled in more semesters and earned more credits compared with those offered the scholarship alone. However, at the 3-year mark, there were no discernable impacts on degrees earned. This article examines systemic barriers to degree completion and offers lessons for the design of interventions to increase equity in postsecondary attainment.
Preparing the expert novice: Core practices for implementing blueprints for inquiry design
Brugar, K. A., Roberts, K. L., Allen, A., Ratcliff, K., & Capps, C. (2023). Preparing the expert novice: Core practices for implementing blueprints for inquiry design. Journal of Teacher Education, 74(5), 495-507.
Keywords
Inquiry
Social Studies
Pre-Service teachers
In this study we share the understandings and the reflections of pre-service teachers as they engage in focus group interviews about inquiry and Inquiry Design Model blueprints. These pre-service teachers first discussed their understanding of inquiry which was rooted in their university coursework. They then described their efficacy for implementing inquiry, generally, and the blueprint, specifically, in their current field placements and future classrooms. This envisioned implementation often involved adaptations of the blueprints. In an effort to understand and reconsider how pre-service teachers experience and learn about inquiry, this study can inform teacher educators to better support pre-service teachers to enact socially-conscious and developmentally-appropriate elementary social studies inquiry in their present and future classrooms.
Partnering for success: Text and peer engagement during paired reading
Roberts, K. L., Arya, P., Plond, Kathleen K. (2024). Partnering for success: Text and peer engagement during paired reading. Reading Teacher, 77(4), 453-461.
Keywords
Partner reading
Peer engagement
This article describes partner reading in a third-grade classroom. Though challenging, partner reading provides opportunities for students to engage with texts and each other in ways that support young readers.
COVID-19, online learning, and absenteeism in Detroit
Lenhoff, S. W., & Singer, J. (2024). COVID-19, online learning, and absenteeism in Detroit. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk.
Keywords
COVID-19
Attendance
Absenteeism
How much school students attend is a powerful indicator of their well-being and a strong predictor of their future success in school. Prior research has documented the myriad in-school and out-of-school factors that contribute to high levels of student absenteeism, many emerging from the root causes of poverty and disengagement. The shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic likely disrupted prior barriers to attendance and may have created new ones. This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study examined student absenteeism during the 2020–2021 school year in Detroit. We used administrative data to show whether and how attendance patterns changed, and we linked family survey and interview data to explain those patterns. We found that 70% of students were chronically absent, with 40% of parents reporting that computer problems contributed to absenteeism. While measures of socioeconomic disadvantage and computer/internet issues were associated with lower attendance and higher probability of chronic absenteeism, reported levels of hardship during the pandemic were not. Despite significant investment in technology, the district’s strategies for engaging students were not sufficient in overcoming economic hardships and the new challenges of online learning.
(Re)centering the Knowledge of Disabled Activists, Poverty Scholars, and Community Scholars of Color to Transform Education
Brown, L. X. Z., Dickens, B., Gray-Garcia, T., Kulkarni, S. S., McLeod, L., Miller, A. L., Nusbaum, E. A., & Pearson, H. (2023). (Re)centering the knowledge of disabled activists, poverty scholars, and community scholars of color to transform education. Disability Studies Quarterly special issue titled “Origins, objects, orientations: Towards a racial history of disability,” 43(1).
Keywords
Disabled activists
Poverty scholars
Community scholars of color
Community-university partnership
This duoethnography weaves the experiences and perspectives of disabled activists, poverty scholars, community scholars of color, and university- based scholars partnering on a teacher preparation professional development project that (re)centers disability and its intersections by (a) reconsidering who creates knowledge, (b) positioning disabled activists, poverty scholars, and community scholars of color as experts with pedagogical authority, and (c) providing opportunities for teacher candidates (current and future teachers) to learn from activists and scholars in accessible, online spaces. The experiences and perspectives of multiply marginalized disabled youth and adults are often ignored and/or discounted in teacher preparation programs. However, one way to re-zone and re-people disability studies in teacher education is by teaching and learning at the intersections of critical race studies and disability studies through cross-coalitional community-university partnerships.
Critical Thinking for Transformative Praxis in Teacher Education: Music, Media and Information Literacy, and Social Studies in the United States
Miller, R., Liu, K., Crowley, C. B., & Yu, M. (2023). Critical Thinking for Transformative Praxis in Teacher Education: Music, Media and Information Literacy, and Social Studies in the United States. Educational Philosophy and Theory.
Keywords
Critical thinking
Teacher education
Transformative praxis
The notion and practice of critical thinking (CT) has moved from its speculative formation by John Dewey to a standard element in teacher education curricula and standards. In the process, CT has narrowed its focus to the analysis and articulation of logical thought, and lost transformative value. In this paper, we examine the conception and implementation of CT in three teacher education domains primarily in the United States–music, media and information literacy, and social studies–asking how CT has deformed education in those domains, and how domain-specific approaches could reinvigorate CT. We further suggest refocusing the purpose of CT in teacher education on accomplishing transformative education for equity in school and society, by implementing a critically reflective, transformative praxis based on the insights of domain-specific approaches to CT.
Lessons, Innovation & New Knowledge in Science
Yarema, S. (2023). Driving Change in Science Education: Empowering Educators Detroit 2023. "Lessons, Innovation & New Knowledge in Science. 75"(2). 13-15.
Keywords
Science education
Science teaching practice
Advocacy
"Driving Change in Science Education: Empowering Educators" reported on a two-day convening, cosponsored by the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) and the Council of State Science Supervisors (CSSS), which was designed to bring teams of science educators and state-based advocacy groups together to collaboratively advance strong policy and practices in K-12 science education.
Can Nudging Mentors Weaken Student Support? Experimental Evidence from a Virtual Communication Intervention
Stacey L. Brockman (2023) Can Nudging Mentors Weaken Student Support? Experimental Evidence from a Virtual Communication Intervention, Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness.
Keywords
Mentoring
Behavioral intervention
Randomized control trial
This paper presents results from an experimental evaluation of an intervention designed to enhance virtual student support. During the 2019–2020 school year, randomly selected mentors in a school-based mentoring program received monthly reminders with tips for communicating with youth via text, email, and phone. Unexpectedly, the results showed that although the nudges did not impact the frequency of mentor outreach (student-reported), they reduced the rate at which students reached out (mentor-reported) and saw themselves as responsive to their mentors. Moreover, and possibly as a consequence, mentors who received the intervention felt less connected to students and less satisfied with their mentoring relationships, and treated students gained less than comparison students from the mentoring program as a whole in terms of their personal and attitudinal growth. The findings add important nuance to the evidence on how behavioral interventions in educational contexts operate. Although past studies find that nudges can support engagement in discrete tasks, these findings suggest that prescribing relational practices may be less effective. Thus, mentor supports must be carefully designed in order to yield the intended benefits for students.
Implementation Evaluation of Community-Based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Intervention for Refugee Newcomers in the United States
Im, H., Verbillis-Kolp, S., Atiyeh, S., Bonz, A. G., Eadeh, S., George, N., & Malluwa Wadu, A. (2023). Implementation evaluation of community-based mental health and psychosocial support intervention for refugee newcomers in the United States. Health & Social Care in the Community, 2023.
Refugee newcomers resettled in the United States face numerous challenges impacting their mental health and overall well-being. Despite extensive research on clinical interventions, multimodal interventions with peer-based group models in resettlement contexts remain scarce. Adopting a realist evaluation approach, this study aims to conduct a comprehensive implementation evaluation of a complex community-based mental health and psychosocial support (CB-MHPSS) group intervention, examining its mechanisms and processes while considering the interplay among context, implementing agents, and community settings. Qualitative and quantitative data on the implementation process were collected from 11 refugee agencies, involving trained resettlement staffers (n = 32) and refugee community facilitators (n = 31) who implemented the 31 CB-MHPSS psychosocial groups in 2021. The analysis included fidelity reports, process reflections, and follow-up survey responses, utilizing a structured template based on the CB-MHPSS Theory of Change (ToC) and Medical Research Council (MRC) guidance. Results of an in-depth exploration of complex relations between context and implementation processes reveal the vital role that adaptability to socio-ecological circumstances during the global coronavirus pandemic played in achieving successful implementation of psychosocial group interventions. Striking a balance between fidelity and refinement of intervention of the intervention curriculum emerged as crucial factors for aligning facilitation goals with newcomer needs. This approach maintained the integrity and appropriateness of the intervention, requiring implementers to utilize local knowledge of community resources and their understanding of lived experience of forced migrants and their within the community. Furthermore, exploring intervention barriers and facilitators revealed merits aligned with program change theories and areas for adjustment, while cataloged guidelines addressed community needs, showcasing competence beyond standard checkboxes. Strategic dissemination guidance provided by the central office in a supportive and nonintrusive manner facilitated uptake in a participatory and context-specific manner. This study emphasizes the importance of leveraging community partnerships and local knowledge to result in sustained improvements in the mental health and well-being of refugees.
Chinese Primary School Teachers’ Working Time Allocation after the Enactment of “Double Reduction” Policy: A Mixed-methods Study
Teng, J., Yang, Z., Yu, M., Crowley, C. B., Jing, X. (2023). Chinese Primary School Teachers’ Working Time Allocation after the Enactment of “Double Reduction” Policy: A Mixed-methods Study. Teaching and Teacher Education.
Keywords
Teachers’ working time
This study uses mixed methods to explore Chinese primary school teachers’ working time allocation after the enactment of the “Double Reduction” Policy. Data were collected from 364 questionnaires and six subsequent in-depth interviews. Findings reveal that despite having brought about some benefits, the “Double Reduction” Policy has increased Chinese primary school teachers’ working time. Moreover, the teachers’ working time is unevenly allocated, with disproportionately more time devoted to subject teaching and less time devoted to professional development. As a result, the nature of the different types of Chinese primary school teachers’ working time further affect the teachers’ perceived workload and work-related stress. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers receive greater support and time for their ongoing professional development.
A Mixed Methods Partner-Focused Cost and Budget Impact Analysis to Deploy Implementation Strategies for School-Based Prevention
Eisman A.B., Whitman J., Palinkas L.A., Fridline J., Harvey C., Kilbourne A.M., Hutton D.A. (Accepted for publication). A Mixed Methods Partner-Focused Cost and Budget Impact Analysis to Deploy Implementation Strategies for School-Based Prevention. Implementation Science Communications.
Keywords
Implementation science
Economic evaluation
Prevention
Background: Obtaining information on implementation strategy costs and local budget impacts from multiple perspectives is essential to data-driven decision-making about resource allocation for successful evidence-based intervention delivery. This mixed methods study determines the costs and priorities of deploying Enhanced Replicating Effective Programs (REP) to implement the Michigan Model for Health™, a universal school-based prevention intervention, from key shareholder perspectives.
Methods: Our study included teachers in 8 high schools across 3 Michigan counties as part of a pilot cluster randomized trial. We used activity-based costing, mapping key Enhanced REP activities across implementation phases. We included multiple perspectives, including state agencies, regional education service agencies, lead organization, and implementers. We also conducted a budget impact analysis (BIA, assessing the potential financial impact of adopting Enhanced REP) and a scenario analysis to estimate replication and account for cost variability. We used an experimental embedded mixed methods approach, conducting semi-structured interviews and collecting field notes during the trial to expand and explain the cost data and the implications of costs across relevant perspectives.
Results: Based on trial results, we estimate costs for deploying Enhanced REP are $11,903/school, with an estimated range between $8,263/school and $15,201/school. We estimate that adding four additional schools, consistent with the pilot, would cost $8,659/school. Qualitative results indicated misalignment in school and teacher priorities in some cases. Implementation activities, including training and implementation facilitation with the health coordinator, were sometimes in addition to regular teaching responsibilities. The extent to which this occurred was partly due to leadership priorities (e.g., sticking to the district PD schedule) and organizational priorities (e.g., budget).
Conclusions: Previous research findings indicate that, from a societal perspective, universal prevention is an excellent return on investment. However, notable misalignment in cost burden and priorities exists across shareholder groups. Our results indicate significant personal time costs by teachers when engaging in implementation strategy activities that impose an opportunity cost. Additional strategies are needed to improve the alignment of costs and benefits to enhance the success and sustainability of implementation. We focus on those perspectives informed by the analysis and discuss opportunities to expand a multi-level focus and create greater alignment across perspectives.