Search

This brief documents the expansion of instructional specialist staffing in U.S. public school districts. We use data from the National Center of Education Statistics’ annual Common Core of Data to chart staffing trends in public school districts between 1997–1998 and 2012–2013. The number of instructional specialists per 1,000 U.S students doubled during that period, and the proportion of districts employing no specialists declined from nearly 20% to 7%. We suggest that specialists are poised to play a pivotal “professional sense-making” role as schools work to implement new instructional standards in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Institutions have developed professionalism policies to help guide physician social media behavior in light of professionalism lapses that have resulted in serious consequences. Prior research has gathered perspectives on online professionalism; however, the public's views remain poorly understood. Importantly, the impact of physician social media behavior on patient trust is unknown. Methods: To determine whether patients' trust might change based on their physicians' social media behavior, we conducted a cross-sectional survey across three U.S. cities ( n  = 491). The survey assessed patient trust using hypothetical scenarios. Results: Most respondents reported they would have less trust if their physician posted racist comments online, wrote a disrespectful patient narrative, appeared intoxicated in a photograph, or wrote profanity. Respondent age and education impacted change in trust. Conclusions: We conclude that physicians' social media behavior may affect patient trust. Better understanding of how physicians' online presence impacts their relationships with patients can help guide policy and inform educational efforts.