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It is a complex challenge to design education in emergencies responses that meet local needs, are sensitive to local culture, build on international guidelines for best practice, and use research-based methods. This paper presents lessons learned from the implementation of the Better Learning Program, a school-based response in Gaza that combined psychosocial and trauma-focused approaches, and discusses how international guidelines were incorporated.The Better Learning Program intervention was designed as a partially manualized,1 multi-level approach to help teachers, school counselors, and parents empower schoolchildren with strategies for calming and self-regulation. The stepwise approach first targeted all pupils, then pupils who reported having nightmares and sleep disturbances. The goal was to help these students regain lost learning capacity and strengthen resilience within the school community. The intervention was implemented in 40 schools over two and a half years, with a target group of 35,000 pupils. Teachers and school counselors reported that the combined psychosocial and trauma-focused approach was compatible with their educational perspectives. The approach appeared to enable teachers to be more proactive when teaching pupils affected by war. This paper concludes with reflections and lessons learned.

The Writing Program (WP) at Saint Louis University has striven to create a course that draws on a richer disciplinary understanding of writing and rhetoric. The standard course structure, from which instructors are asked to fashion their own syllabi, asks students to pursue a scaffolded semester-long project. As they pursue the scaffolded assignments, which result in 20-25 pages of writing, students continually rethink and revise their projects and the position(s) they might take. They are encouraged not just to learn but also to change their minds. The innovation in these assignments comes from reconceiving writing as the laboratory in which thinking occurs rather than the delivery system of the results of thinking (i.e., the familiar argumentative product). This approach grew as a response to a complex set of expectations, including the local curricular expectations, current disciplinary expectations, and departmental staffing changes. Because managing these expectations presented challenges for both the WP administrator (WPA) and instructors, this essay is written from the dual perspective of both: Paul (WPA) and Laura (the graduate instructor whose course is the essay's ultimate focus). Laura also will discuss how her approach to the course implemented and expanded upon the course's innovations in order to respond to: (1) programmatic assessment; (2) feedback from her colleagues across the WP; and (3) her own experiences teaching two sections of English 1900 in the 2017-2018 academic year.

Pherecydes of Syros' work is difficult to understand because of its fragmentary nature. A previously unexplored perspective on his work is to analyze how it was understood and used in Ptolemaic Alexandria, particularly by Eratosthenes and Callimachus. Eratosthenes' distinction between Pherecydes of Syros and Pherecydes of Athens (DL 1.119) has been used as a key piece of evidence that those two authors are, in fact, distinct. However, there has been little discussion of Eratosthenes' interest in these authors outside of that statement. Callimachus' interest in Pherecydes has also been ignored by both scholars of Pherecydes and scholars of Alexandrian poetry (except for brief references). Through this examination, I argue that Pherecydes of Syros was an important figure in discussions about the development of prose in Ptolemaic Alexandria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed-methods study investigated the pandemic's impact on gifted identification among Arkansas's demographic groups and gifted services. The provision of gifted services during the pandemic varied, leading to differences in instructional practices and technology access. Nomination and identification processes were disrupted, hindering the recognition of giftedness, especially among underrepresented populations, and this was reflected in the identification numbers. Participants indicated that the pandemic has led to decreased funding for gifted programs, reduced administrator support, less time for students to participate in gifted classes, and increased responsibilities for gifted teachers. These factors have left teachers feeling overwhelmed and resulted in decreased student engagement, more behavioral issues, and academic struggles. The diversion of resources and priorities away from gifted education further exacerbated the inequities in gifted programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper, and the inquiry from which it emerges, is situated in world-wide concern to increase the numbers of Aboriginal teachers in schools. In Canada, the population of Aboriginal young people is rapidly increasing. Yet, at the same time, the gap between the attainment of a university credential in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations is widening. Set against this background and these urgencies, our paper focuses on an experience resonating across the lives of six Aboriginal teachers in Canada of being excluded or silenced by dominant historical, institutional, and social narratives positioning them as not "real" teachers. As we inquire into these experiences in each teacher's life, we pay attention to the responsibilities revealed in each teacher's story. These responsibilities become visible by attending to intergenerational narrative reverberations, reverberations that maintain the historic narrative of colonization imposed on Aboriginal people and, reverberations poised to counter, to interrupt this dominant narrative, seeking to heal, to support and to sustain current and future generations of Aboriginal teachers as they compose their lives inside and outside of schools and universities. (Contains 8 notes.)

As public policies increasingly hold schools responsible for preventing school failure, experiences of other organizations that must operate with high reliability may be helpful. This article builds on previous studies of high reliability organizations to inquire how their strategies might inform efforts to improve reliability in loosely coupled professional organizations such as schools. The article draws on features of high reliability organizations to propose a three-part framework for fail-safe schools that includes (a) efforts to improve normal operations, (b) early detection of learning problems, and (c) rapid recovery from those problems, together with the school structures and cultures needed to support all three. Without assuming that the exact strategies used in very different organizations will work in schools, the article explores how high reliability organizations might serve as a metaphor that poses new questions for research, policy, and practice associated with school improvement and student learning.

Introduction: Dex® is an alkaline carbohydrate (CHO) drink used preoperatively in patients fasting for elective surgery. Its utilisation in patients awaiting emergency surgery is yet to be ascertained. We undertook a study assessing patient satisfaction relating to the introduction of Dex® in trauma patients in a Level 1 adult trauma centre. Methods: Patients fasting for surgery, and able to receive clear fluids in compliance with local guidelines, were eligible for inclusion. Patient satisfaction scores for predetermined variables were recorded via an interval observer scale prior to and following the introduction of Dex® to the trauma unit. Results: Prior to the introduction of Dex® 14 satisfaction evaluations were completed. A further 13 evaluations were returned after Dex® was made available. Post-traumatic amnesia accounted for some patients being unable to complete the evaluation. Patients who completed the satisfaction evaluations after Dex® was introduced reported higher satisfaction in all but two variables ('Headache' and 'Staff Annoyance'). 'Hunger' median scores were 7 (95% CI, 5–8) prior to the introduction of Dex® and 3 (95% CI, 2–6) after its' introduction (p =.004). 'Thirst' median scores were 7.5 (95% CI, 6–10) and 4 (95% CI, 3–8) prior to and after Dex® introduction, respectively (p =.018). Conclusion: No adverse events or theatre timing related issues were associated with the use of Dex®. A larger randomised study of CHO drink supplementation in trauma patients fasting preoperatively is warranted to further evaluate these satisfaction endpoints as well as the other variables investigated in this study. Postoperative evaluation of these markers should also be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examined the perceptions of 1,638 secondary individualized education program (IEP) meeting participants from 393 IEP meetings across 3 consecutive years. Results indicate significant differences between the survey answers and participant roles, when students did or did not attend their IEP meetings, and when different professional team members attended the meetings. Special education teachers talked more than all team members. Students reported the lowest scores for knowing the reasons for the meetings, knowing what to do at the meetings, and five other survey items. General educators rated themselves lowest on three of the survey questions. Student and general educator attendance at the IEP meetings produced value-added benefits for IEP team members, especially parents.

The program "Take Action" was used to teach six adolescents with mild to moderate mental retardation the skills they needed to attain their daily Individualized Education Program goals. Results indicate all students learned to attain their own daily goals and maintained these skills following withdrawal of teacher instruction. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Reforestation activities such as tree planting are important management tools to offset carbon emissions and restore forest ecosystem integrity. Severe wildfire activity, a key driver of forest loss, is increasing throughout the western United States (US) and creating an immense backlog of areas needing reforestation. Major financial investments and recent policy changes are expected to accelerate rates of tree planting, yet the broad-scale impact and efficacy of post-fire planting activities remain poorly understood. We quantified the outcomes of recent (1987–2022) post-fire plantings in the US Interior West using remotely sensed estimates of forest cover change and in-situ survival records (69,245 seedlings) spanning 297 unique fire events. Overall, planted areas gained forest cover 25.7 % more rapidly than environmentally similar, unplanted sites in the same fires, and planted seedling survival averaged 79.5 % (SD = 23.2 %) after one growing season. However, the effects of planting were highly variable over time and across environmental gradients. Forest cover gain and planted seedling survival were typically highest in cold, wet areas and when planting was followed by wetter-than-average years. Planting season also shaped outcomes, with late summer or fall plantings performing best on warm, dry sites, and spring plantings performing best in cold, wet areas. Forest cover gain was fastest in planting units that burned at low to moderate severity and had > 20 % post-fire forest cover in the surrounding area. Nearly half of all plantings were completed in such areas, where natural regeneration processes are most likely to promote forest recovery even without intervention. Here, we demonstrate that tree planting can enhance post-fire forest recovery rates at broad scales, though its effects are dependent on a range of environmental and operational factors. Our results help inform realistic expectations of planting outcomes, an issue of global relevance as such projects expand to achieve restoration and climate mitigation goals. • Tree planting is commonly used to achieve restoration and climate mitigation goals • Areas with post-fire tree planting show 25.7 % faster rates of forest regrowth • Survival of planted seedlings averaged 79.5 % after one growing season • Forest regrowth and seedling survival varied widely across the Interior West • Outcomes of post-fire plantings are likely to differ across environmental gradients [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a model transition program and curriculum, ChoiceMaker, which focuses on helping secondary students with disabilities learn those self-determination skills characteristic of successful individuals. The curriculum is organized around 37 self-determination concepts grouped into 7 areas. Student participation in the Individualized Education Program meeting is stressed. (DB)