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Background: Multilingual learners have been overlooked and understudied in computer science education research. As the CS for All movement grows, it is essential to design integrated, justice-oriented curricula that help young multilingual learners begin to develop computational thinking skills and discourses. Purpose: We present a conceptual framework and accompanying design principles for justice-centered computational thinking activities that are language-rich, with the aim of supporting learners' agency and building their capacity over time to use computing for good in their communities. Setting: Our work takes place in a research-practice partnership centered in an elementary school in California with a significant multilingual Latinx population. Research Design: We have engaged in two cycles of design-based research with preservice and in-service teachers at an elementary school. Through analysis of one case study during the second and most recent cycle, we examined the potential of teachers using our design principles for supporting multilingual learners' language development through engagement in computational thinking. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that multilingual learners will engage in productive discourse when computational thinking lessons are designed to (1) be meaningfully contextualized, (2) position students as agentic learners, and (3) promote coherence over time. However, more research is needed to understand how teachers use these principles over time, and what additional supports are needed to ensure coordination between stakeholders to develop and effectively implement coherent learning progressions.

Assessing the preparation of preservice candidates for quality teaching, both for mainstream students and for ELs, requires reliable and valid assessments that pay close attention to context, process, and reflection, factors that traditional evaluations of teaching either ignore or undervalue. In this article, the authors focus on one high-stakes preservice teacher performance assessment designed to meet these guidelines. The Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT), currently used in 32 teacher preparation programs throughout California, is a comprehensive assessment of knowledge and skills in which candidates analyze and reflect on their own instruction and their students' learning during a "Teaching Event" in their student teaching placements. The authors document how eight elementary teacher candidates from teacher preparation programs throughout California discussed issues related to language and learning for ELs in their extensive written materials about their teaching and their students' learning submitted as part of their PACT Teaching Events. While candidates for elementary credentials can choose to complete a mathematics or a language arts/literacy Teaching Event, the authors focused on those candidates who chose mathematics. The authors focus on mathematics because it is often misunderstood to be a language-free endeavor and because it represents an area in which schools have failed many ELs and other students from non-dominant linguistic backgrounds. The authors argue that the PACT, beyond its function as a high stakes examination used for state licensing decisions, has the potential to provide important information that can serve as formative assessment and feedback for teacher candidates themselves, individual teacher educators, and teacher education programs as a whole. (Contains 1 table and 7 notes.)

Teacher education has struggled to better prepare beginning teachers for an increasingly diverse student population. This research examines the role that cooperating teachers play in developing multicultural/equity pedagogy knowledge and skills among student teachers. Five cooperating teachers working in California, USA, each of whom had extensive and successful experiences teaching multicultural/equity pedagogy curricula, were asked to describe how they encourage their student teachers to engage in the materials and strategies they promote. Generally, the cooperating teachers reported that their most successful student teachers were those who came to understand the difference between expecting high-quality work from their students and sympathizing and identifying with their students' plight as low-income Latino children. More specifically, they noted that student teachers had difficulty leading instructional conversations in small groups of students.

Examines three themes in the area of standards and accountability as they apply to the current condition of teacher education in California and elsewhere: why the teacher education standards movement has gained inertia so quickly, the consequences of standards on existing accreditation processes such as that of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, and issues of bias in paper-and-pencil tests of teaching knowledge. (SM)

Studies curriculum challenges by religious conservatives to the "Impressions" reading series in California. Many parents thought the series promoted satanism, witchcraft, and disrespect toward parents. Data from 22 school districts, 4 of which dropped the series, illustrate the complex nature of such challenges and highlight school district planning issues. (SLD)

Background: Many older adults with serious illness who depend on others for care have symptoms that are difficult to manage. Supporting caregivers in symptom assessment (SA) may reduce suffering. Objective: Pilot an SA-Toolkit for caregivers to assess older adults' symptoms at home. Design: Pilot study. Setting/Subjects: English-speaking patients ≥65 years of age and their caregivers from a home-based geriatrics program in San Francisco. Measurements: With multiple stakeholder input, we created a SA-Toolkit consisting of illustrations depicting symptoms, validated Faces Scale, and easy-to-use tracking system with phone numbers of family/friends/clinicians. At baseline and one week, we assessed change in patients' symptoms and caregivers' self-efficacy with SA (5-point scale) using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. We assessed acceptability at one week. Results: Eleven patient/caregiver dyads participated in the study. Patients were 84.7 years old (SD 5.7), 81.8% women, 27.3% non-white. From baseline to one week, mean number of symptoms decreased (3.7 [1.5] to 2.6 [1.8], p = 0.03). Specifically, patients with pain decreased from 63.6% to 36.4%, anxiety 54.6% to 18.2%, depression 45.5% to 27.3%, and loneliness 36.4% to 18.2%. Caregiver self-efficacy increased (4.6 [0.3] to 4.8 [0.3], p = 0.09). Patients found the symptom illustrations easy to use (8.7 on 10-point scale), but the Faces Scale less so (7.3/10) because it provided "too many choices." Caregivers liked the SA-Toolkit because it was easy to use; nearly all (10/11, 90%) would recommend it to others. Conclusions: The SA-Toolkit resulted in decreased symptom burden among patients and higher caregiver self-efficacy in SA. The SA-Toolkit is acceptable and may help reduce suffering in frail, older patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sum of urinary inorganic arsenic (iAs) and methylated arsenic (monomethylarsonate and dimethylarsi-nate (DMA)) species is the main biomarker of iAs exposure. Assessing iAs exposure, however, is difficult in populations with moderate-to-high seafood intakes. In the present study, we used subsamples from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (2000-2002) (n = 310) and the 2003-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (n = 1,175). We calibrated urinary concentrations of non-seafood-derived iAs, DMA, and methylarsonate, as well as the sum of inorganic and methylated arsenic species, in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and of DMA in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey by regressing their original concentrations by arsenobetaine and extracting model residuals. To confirm that calibrated biomarkers reflected iAs exposure but not seafood intake, we compared urinary arsenic concentrations by levels of seafood and rice intakes. Self-reported seafood intakes, estimated n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid levels, and measured n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid levels were positively associated with the original urinary arsenic biomarkers. Using the calibrated arsenic biomarkers, we found a marked attenuation of the associations with self-reported seafood intake and estimated or measured n-3 fatty acids, whereas associations with self-reported rice intake remained similar. Our residual-based method provides estimates of iAs exposure and metabolism for each participant that no longer reflect seafood intake and can facilitate research about low-to-moderate levels of iAs exposure in populations with high seafood intakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study to examine the effect of the minimum nurse-patient staffing legislation (AB 394) passed in California in 1999, on nursing population demographics. According to this law, a minimum number of licensed nurses must be assigned to a set number of medical-surgical patients. It was found that since implementation of the law, job satisfaction had increased amongst nurses. The need to offer non-pecuniary incentives such as career advancements was also highlighted.

California's minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratio law, the nation's first, was implemented in 2004. This study had two aims: (a) to evaluate the effect of the nurse-to-patient ratios law on nurse job satisfaction in order to advance the debate over the merits of nurse staffing law, and (b) to compare California nurses who were satisfied against those who were not, in order to facilitate the development targeted retention interventions based on empirical evidence. The sample's overall job satisfaction increased significantly as the years passed, suggesting the nurse-to-patient ratios law was associated with improvements in nurse satisfaction. Satisfied RNs were more likely to have a balanced and financially secure life that included a partner, children living at home, higher hourly wages, and higher income from sources other than a nursing job. Nurses working in direct patient care positions remained dissatisfied in larger proportions than those working in other types of positions, even after the nurse-to-patient ratios were implemented. More nurses are satisfied today than before the ratios; nevertheless, far too many nurses (18.5%) have job satisfaction scores that are neutral or worse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the 2004 California Board of Registered Nursing Survey, a two-stage least-square equation was estimated to examine the effect of wages on hours worked by female registered nurses. Wages were found to have a nonlinear effect on hours worked, with a backward bending supply curve. Wages had a positive effect on the average hours worked per week up to $24.99 per hour and a negative effect between $30.00 and $100.00 per hour when compared with the wage category of $25.00 to $29.99. Results suggest that wages are important to secure the labor supply but do not increase aggregate supply beyond a wage threshold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The polyphagous shot hole borer (PSHB) and the Kuroshio shot hole borer (KSHB) are newly invasive ambrosia beetles in California. They are vectors of the plant pathogen Fusarium euwallaceae (S. Freeman, Z. Mendel, T. Aoki, K. O' Donnell), the causal agent of Fusarium dieback in a broad host range that includes commercial avocados, landscape trees, and native tree species in urban and wildland environments. Management of these beetles using contact insecticides is challenging because the beetles spend little time outside their hosts. Trunk injection of systemic insecticides has been proposed as an alternative to contact treatments because insecticides can more effectively target the vascular tissues where the beetles establish their colonies. In this study, several field trials were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of trunk injections of the systemic insecticide emamectin benzoate in avocado trees. The uptake and persistence of emamectin benzoate were determined by quantifying residues in wood cores sampled at various heights within the trees where beetles would likely target. In conjunction with the field trials, a series of bioassays was conducted with a KSHB colony using an avocado-based artificial diet infused with the insecticide. The bioassays showed a dose-dependent effect of emamectin benzoate on the survival and development of the beetle in diet. We derived a tentative working threshold of 300 ng/g insecticide from the bioassay data that we subsequently used as a guide in evaluating the efficacy of the trunk injections. Emamectin benzoate established quickly within trees at the threshold concentration in the areas most vulnerable to attack and colonization by KSHB. Injection of the insecticide in a more dilute form promoted both faster uptake and more rapid establishment of effective concentrations than the undiluted form, thereby providing potential options in how the material is injected based on the levels of infestation of groves. • Threshold concentrations of emamectin benzoate were determined for KSHB using artificial diet. • Trunk injection delivered threshold concentrations to KSHB colonization sites. • The establishment of insecticide in avocado trees was improved when diluted formulation was injected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]