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This article analyzes the work of human rights defenders in 12 states in Mexico, who accompany cases of feminicides and disappearances in a context of a security crisis. Using focus group methodologies, we obtained qualitative information on their experiences. The findings indicate that current state policies, based on institutionalized feminism, fail to adequately address the diversity of women's needs. A transversal approach that considers the variety of experiences and voices of women defenders is suggested to combat gender violence more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use event history analysis on an aggregate dataset from 1997 to 2018 to understand the state-level antecedents associated with the adoption of test-based grade retention policies. Findings indicate that the educational conditions of a state to be more predictive of retention policy adoption than the political, economic, and geographic measures. In particular, a greater share of Black students in a state, lower fourth grade NAEP reading proficiency rates, and larger student enrollments in the early grades were all associated with increased odds of grade retention policy adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disparities in maternal-child health outcomes by race and ethnicity highlight structural differences in the opportunity for optimal health in the United States. Examples of these differences include access to state-level social policies that promote maternal-child health. States vary in their racial and ethnic composition as a result of the complex history of policies and laws related to slavery, Indigenous genocide and relocation, segregation, immigration, and settlement in the United States. States also vary in the social policies they enact. As a result, correlations exist between the demographic makeup of a state's population and the presence or absence of social policies in that state. These correlations become a mechanism by which racial and ethnic disparities in maternal-child health outcomes can operate. In this commentary, we use the example of 3 labor-related policies actively under consideration at state and federal levels (paid parental leave, paid sick leave, and reasonable accommodations during pregnancy) to demonstrate how correlations between state demographics and presence of these state policies could cause or exacerbate racial and ethnic disparities in maternal-child health outcomes. We conclude with a call for researchers to consider how the geographic distribution of racialized populations and state policies could contribute to maternal-child health disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leveraging the state's dual enrollment program, Georgia policymakers introduced a novel postsecondary pathway called "Option B" that allows students to bypass many traditional high school graduation requirements by completing sub-baccalaureate credentials for career and technical education instead. Given the distinctiveness of this policy, high school counselors play an important role in its implementation as "street-level bureaucrats." Drawing on sensemaking theory, this qualitative study examines how counselors consider the feasibility of the new pathway and for whom it serves best. Results suggest that there is disagreement between policymakers and street-level bureaucrats regarding the appropriate extent of postsecondary expansion for high school students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of black labour at the South African gold mines has conventionally been punctuated by three great African strikes, in 1920 (often obscured by the great white mine-worker strike of 1922), 1946 and 1987. The strikes of 1920, 1946 and 1987 (as well as the great white strikes of 1913 and 1922) have all attracted considerable scholarly attention. Yet a more limited black strike in 1913 has seldom, if ever, been recalled, despite its crucial importance for formulating racial policy at the gold mines, buried as it was in the violent defeat of white miners and their cohorts. This paper takes up the challenge of understanding management and state responses to collective (black and white) mine-worker struggles during the decade from 1913 to the early 1920s and assessing outcomes for worker participants, white and black alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The legal system of Bangladesh does not directly acknowledge industrial killing in the form of penal offenses and thus is not equipped with a solid legal avenue to ensure justice for the victims. This article attempts to discuss industrial killing in Bangladesh through four particular incidents, the current domestic framework for preventing industrial killings, and common law countries' legislations as best practices. Also, it reminds the state obligation under the provisions of international law. This qualitative study uses applied techniques from the professional constituency that deal with law reform research (socio-legal research/ "law in context") from a labor rights lens. This study finds that recurring events of industrial killings come with a manifold threat to labor rights. The most immediate risk it poses is that it clashes with the workers' right to life. Therefore, the recommendation is highly focused on the obligation under international law. It also focuses on legislative changes in punishing the offenders involved in industrial killings as part of its progressive realization of the duty to respect, protect and fulfill human rights obligations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English learner (EL) education is widely conceived as services for immigrant-origin students, however nearly one in ten American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students are classified in school as EL. Title III of the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015) defines EL eligibility differently for Indigenous, compared to non-Indigenous, students with implications for who is identified as an EL and how best to serve their academic and linguistic interests. This study presents findings from a 50-state review of Indigenous EL identification policy. We find that states fall into four categories ranging from no differentiation in Indigenous EL identification to clear differentiation. We describe each of these four categories and conclude with reflections on how this wide variation in state policies has implications for Indigenous students' educational resources and experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss the main findings in the Special issue on Pastoralism in South Asia from the eight papers based on research conducted in the Himalayan region of South Asia. An overview is presented of pastoralism in the Himalayan region, including India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan. Drawing parallels with the global stresses to pastoralists, papers in this special issue highlighted three sets of contemporary stresses to the pastoralists of the Himalayan region viz. (a) lack of herding labour, associated changing aspirations of youth and decline in traditional knowledge systems; (b) continued stresses from the state and between the formal and informal institutions; and (c) climatic stresses and associated impacts on the rangeland and livestock health. A synthesis of findings from all eight case studies suggests how the issues around pastoral livelihoods and rangeland management in the Himalayan region are entangled across social, political and ecological dimensions. However, instead of only being impacted by the stresses, the pastoral communities are showing adaptations to various kinds of uncertainties and variabilities. Based on these findings from across eight sites in the Himalayan region, we argue that understanding of the problems as well as proposed solutions from the policymakers should be tailored according to the particular social, political and ecological contexts. Other than the issues given prominence in this special issue, the role of markets and social security are some of the other important concerns to be addressed in the region, which can be best addressed by creating an interface between pastoralists and policymakers, practitioners and the government, while making the best use of pastoral knowledge and their way of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, states enacted multiple policies to reduce in-person interactions. Scholars have speculated that these policies may have contributed to adverse mental health outcomes. This study examines potential associations between states’ COVID-19 physical distancing policies and working-age (18–64) adults’ self-reported mental health. Mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, worsened mental health, and sought treatment for anxiety or depression) are from the National Wellbeing Survey collected from working-age adults in the United States (U.S.) February 1 to March 18, 2021 (N = 3,804). Data on 12 state policies are from the COVID-19 U.S. State Policy Database. Analyses included logistic regression and Bayesian group index modeling, which identified sets, or “bundles,” of policies that were associated with each mental health outcome. Multiple policies (both separately and in bundles) were associated with adverse mental health outcomes, with certain policies (closures and curfews on retail and other businesses) being particularly important. A one-month increase in exposure to respective model-derived physical distancing policy bundles was associated with a 36% increase in the odds of reporting that COVID-19 worsened one’s mental health (odds ratio [OR] = 1·36; 95% credible interval [CRI] = 1·01 to 1·80), a 6% increase in the odds of meeting the clinical threshold for anxiety (OR = 1·06; CRI = 0·99 to 1·16), and a 15% increase in the odds of seeking treatment for anxiety or depression (OR = 1·15; CRI = 1·02 to 1·49). To accurately understand the role of states’ COVID-19 policies on mental health during the pandemic, researchers must consider how collections of policies might influence outcomes.

A signature item that beleaguers most teachers is classroom management. Recognizing the futility of punitive classroom management within school discipline practices, Weinstein and colleagues forged culturally responsive classroom management (CRCM). While nearly 20 years of scholarship highlights the importance of teachers employing CRCM to reduce their reliance on punitive discipline approaches, which are disproportionally skewed against students of color, there exists a gap between educational research and educational policies concerning the use of CRCM in schools. We employed a critical policy analysis to determine the existence of CRCM in student code-of-conduct policies, across all 50 states. Our findings highlight an absence of CRCM in states' policies, and limited support for the incorporation of CRCM in schools and school districts. Ultimately, an opportunity awaits stakeholders (teachers, school districts, education preparation programs, and policymakers) to reform educational policies and the tools teachers can employ to affirm and sustain students' learning environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) offers states increased flexibility in how they identify, rank, label, and support underperforming schools. Initial reviews of state ESSA plans, however, suggest that identification and labeling policies have remained relatively unchanged. In this study, we analyze all state ESSA plans to systematically determine how states' identified Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) schools and the criteria they set for those schools to exit CSI status. We describe our findings through the theory of institutional isomorphism, noting the many ways states responded similarly to ESSA. We close by considering what the lack of innovation in response to ESSA flexibility might mean for the future of educational policy and the implications for schools identified as underperforming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have documented large discrepancies between mass preferences and policies in U.S. states consistent with theories that highlight the oversized influence of affluent Americans on policymaking. In this note, we replicate and extend a recent such study (Simonovits, Guess, and Nagler, 2019) to assess how policy bias evolves in time. Specifically, relying on novel data and methods, we construct measures of minimum wage preferences and compare them to observed policies in each state for the years of 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2021. We demonstrate that, averaged across states, policy change closely tracked a pronounced increase in preferences for higher minimum wages, but the size of policy bias remained relatively stable. However, this national pattern hides an increasingly polarized policy landscape: in many states, insufficient responsiveness led to an increasing deviation between preferences and policies, while in other states policy changes--larger than preference changes--closed initial policy bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Materiales para la Historia del Deporte is the property of Polytechnic University of Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Substantial economic disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic upended daily life and contributed to a widespread symptom of psychological distress during this period. Disruptions also led to more concerns about future stressful events related to financial hardship, or economic-related anticipatory stress, with the potential to undermine mental health. Although prior research provides ample evidence that state policies can impact mental and physical health, it has not considered how state policy contexts reduce adverse psychological outcomes stemming from economic-related anticipatory stress. The present study uses national survey data from the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey (April 2020–October 2020) to examine the extent to which state policy contexts moderate the association between economic-related anticipatory stress and depression/anxiety. We find that states with stronger social safety nets weakened the impact of anticipatory stress on depression/anxiety. This finding held for different types of anticipated economic hardships (i.e., reduced income, difficulty paying rent, difficulty affording food), as well as for policies that existed prior to COVID-19 and policies enacted in response to COVID-19. Findings provide strong evidence that state policies may buffer against poor mental outcomes for people who even anticipate facing economic uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic. We provide insight into how state policy contexts can shape individual experiences in ways that impact the mental health outcomes of the United States population.

Starting with the liberal projects of modern nation-state formation, our territory had to be desertified to imagine, build and sustain this process. To challenge these policies and their narratives, it becomes necessary to rewrite new fictions. We begin by examining the figure of the taperas, legacy of the 19th century modernizing project, as a dynamic component of the landscape and, at the same time, as a critical device waiting to be questioned and exhumed as a surviving trace. In this way, the encounter among the poetic traces in the Quiñihual railway station, the vital traces that inhabit the LincoRln desert's Tapera del desierto and the map that emerges between them, interrupt and destabilize the story imposed in the territory of the province of Buenos Aires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify the role of state policies in empowering youth from the point of view of a sample of youth in rural and urban areas of Dakahlia Governorate. The results of the field study concluded that the role of state policies in empowering youth at the economic level was moderate, while its role in social empowerment was weak, as well as with regard to political and cultural empowerment. The statistical test also showed that there were statistically significant differences between the rural and urban sample in favor of the rural sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background In the United States (U.S.), several states have laws that allow individuals to obtain driver’s licenses regardless of their immigration status. Possession of a driver’s license can improve an individual’s access to social programs, healthcare services, and employment opportunities, which could lead to improvements in perceived mental and physical health among Latinos living in the U.S. Methods Using Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data (2011–2019) for Latinos living in the U.S. overall (immigration status was not available), we compared the average number of self-reported perceived poor mental and physical health days/month, and general health status (single-item measures) before (January 2011-June 2013) and after implementation (July 2015-December 2019) of immigrant-inclusive license policies using interrupted time-series analyses and segmented linear regression, and a control group of states in which such policies were not implemented. We also compared the average number of adults reporting any perceived poor mental or physical health days (≥ 1 day/month) using a similar approach. Results One hundred twenty-three thousand eight hundred seven Latino adults were included; 66,805 lived in states that adopted immigrant-inclusive license policies. After implementation, average number of perceived poor physical health days significantly decreased from 4.30 to 3.80 days/month (immediate change = -0.64, 95% CI = -1.10 to -0.19). The proportion reporting ≥ 1 perceived poor physical and mental health day significantly decreased from 41 to 34% (OR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.80–1.00) and from 40 to 33% (OR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.74–0.94), respectively. Conclusions Among all Latinos living in the U.S., immigrant-inclusive license policies were associated with fewer perceived poor physical health days per month and fewer adults experiencing poor physical and mental health. Because anti-immigrant policies can harm Latino communities regardless of immigration status and further widen health inequities, implementing state policies that do not restrict access to driver licenses based on immigrant status documentation could help address upstream drivers of such inequities.

This research sought to develop an initial understanding of how mandated policies related to lockdown safety drills are enacted in response to active shooter scenarios within PK-Grade 12 public schools. In light of a scant research base exploring the effectiveness and impacts of such policies and procedures, we explored the question, What are school counselors' lived experiences with lockdown drills?. Using a phenomenological design, we interviewed 26 school counselors from five school districts from the Southeastern United States during the 2019 academic year. Findings center around four key themes: Awareness of School Violence, Necessity and Variability in Preparation, Paradox of Safety, and Communication as Support and Challenge. We will discuss the tensions, or push and pulls/contradictions, that are a part of both drills and actual incidents across these themes. To conclude, we present recommendations for further research and policy to support informed, reflexive action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the role of adult facilitators in supporting student voice efforts for educational policy change. Using case study and Accidental Ethnography data, we explore the actions that adult facilitators take to support student voice efforts in policy spaces. Our findings include that adults (1) intentionally shift power to students, (2) help students understand the power of their voice, and (3) help students to resist and overcome tokenization. We discuss our findings in the context of power and helping historically unpowerful groups exercise policy voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Every Student Succeeds Act's evidence requirements mandate the use of research in the selection of school improvement interventions, with the aim of ensuring that schools and districts invest their efforts and funding more wisely. This study of eight states presents three different approaches to the evidence requirements: using lists of pre-sanctioned evidence-based interventions, training schools and districts to evaluate the research supporting potential interventions, and building local evidence of effectiveness. Through interviews with state administrators, I show how each approach relied on different understandings and prioritizations of research rigor and local relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Race to the Top (RTTT) program incentivized states to use innovation for systemwide improvement of student outcomes, but little is known about how RTTT-funded innovation was sustained after the RTTT program ended. This mixed-methods study examined state and district approaches to sustaining an international innovation called lesson study, a teacher-driven, collaborative, inquiry-based teacher learning process imported from Japan and promoted statewide in Florida. While the state's role in sustaining lesson study was limited, we found that districts that integrated lesson study into the district instructional system through a clear expectation and strategic adaptation, supported school and teacher ownership of lesson study practice, and provided necessary support and funding were more likely to sustain lesson study. In contrast, the districts that focused on implementation fidelity and district-led facilitation eventually phased out lesson study. Policy implications for sustaining federally funded professional development innovations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Colombia, since 1900s, some Afro-descendant populations are classified as an ethnic group, akin to indigenous communities. This classification has included, especially within the Comisión de la Verdad report, to recognize Afro-descendants as ethnic people, a view widely shared among activists, scholars, and NGOs. The process of ethnicization, distinct from race, involves traditionalizing and communalizing these populations from the Pacific region. Recent shifts have involved racialized ethnicism, combining racial markers with cultural traditionalized differences under a regime of victimhood, reflecting complex, overlapping transformations rather than straightforward successions. This article analyzes these evolving legal and political conceptions of blackness over the past three decades, highlighting the nuanced shifts in state policies and imaginaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades, we have witnessed a surge in publicly funded pre-K programs in the United States. Today, policy makers in 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted them. Combining information from twelve datasets, we use event history analysis (EHA) to examine the influence of a set of predictors on states' decisions to adopt public pre-K. Findings indicate that party dominance in the legislature, legislative professionalism, and unemployment rates are associated with pre-K adoption; regional proximity to previously adopting states is also significant. The authors discuss implications for policy makers and advocates considering future legislative action in the early childhood education sector, including the expansion of pre-K eligibility requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High school course selection can affect student outcomes in high school, college, and beyond. Policymakers therefore must consider whether policies affecting course selection may have unintended consequences for students with different levels of preparation. We use regression discontinuity analysis to examine the impact of Florida's College and Career Readiness Initiative on high school coursetaking and subsequent success in college-level courses. To determine which students were most likely to comply with and benefit from the FCCRI, we run subgroup analyses based on students' course-taking histories, finding that the initiative was beneficial for some students but may have had inadvertently harmed others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative case study examines how board members make sense of federal accountability policies and how their sensemaking shapes their use of assessment data as a policy instrument. Deviating from previous work on practitioner sensemaking, the participants' interpretations of assessments did not align with their ensuing use of the data. Furthermore, board members' use of assessment data diverged from both federal and state messaging, illustrating board members' synthesis and adaptation of external messaging into a locally driven narrative. As the nation has shifted to state accountability systems under Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the findings provide insights to policymakers and practitioners to support local implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the 2015 passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the oversight of language policy in U.S. schools shifted from federal to state governance. Although the education of students officially designated as English learners (ELs) has historically been grounded in federal law, we argue that ELs' educational experiences are also largely influenced by societal attitudes toward immigrants and immigration. Using a critical policy analysis (CPA) approach, we examine how 12 states' immigrant policy contexts are associated with the EL educational policies articulated in their ESSA implementation plans. We find that states' demographic and immigrant policy contexts combine to produce four distinct approaches toward EL education, from departing to approaching equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Social Sciences Research / Sosyal Bilimler Arastirmalari Dergisi is the property of ODU Journal of Social Sciences Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

With U.S. classrooms increasingly characterized by linguistic diversity, policies mandating teacher training around English learning have proliferated. Recent federal oversight prompted Massachusetts to implement an initiative to endorse its 70,000+ teachers in Sheltered English Immersion (SEI). While policy research has productively emphasized teachers as policy interpreters within such initiatives, almost no research exists on the role teacher educators play in the policy interpretive process. Therefore, this study documents how teacher educators across Massachusetts interpreted and operationalized the SEI endorsement policy. Drawing on document and interview analysis, findings highlight key experiences, contextual factors, and ideological dispositions that informed participants' policy interpretations. Instructors navigated tensions between their own goals to affirm linguistic diversity and the monolingual orientations produced through the state's recently overturned English-only policy. These findings demonstrate the affordances of examining the role of language ideologies in policy interpretation, with implications for large-scale language policy initiatives and educational policy interpretation more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines different state approaches to educational accountability in response to the Every Student Succeeds Act. Cluster analysis reveals three groups of states with similar indicator weights and rating systems, and principal component analysis identifies two dimensions underlying these clusters. We find that state-level demographics are correlated with the types of assessment policies adopted by states: policy liberalism is associated with putting greater weight on school quality and student success, while economic variables are associated with traditional performance measures, such as graduation rates and testing. These clusters reveal different approaches to measuring accountability and prioritizing different kinds of information, which can in turn influence the nature of education politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

States diverge widely when it comes to education funding choices, leading to substantial differences in how much states spend on schooling, the role of local versus state revenue sources, and relative differences among districts in funding levels. Prior studies have documented that Democratic party control of state governments appears to be associated with higher levels of spending on K-12 education, but beyond that we know little about how political ideology is related to patterns of education funding allocation by states. This study examines this question using a nationwide dataset of school district expenditures from 1999 to 2015. The results indicate that states that are more politically liberal tend to provide more funds (per pupil) to local districts. More liberal states also provide relatively more favorable distributions to districts that are more urban and have larger Black student populations, in addition to perhaps rewarding districts with higher local property tax rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intermediary organizations play an increasingly important role in public policy related to higher education, particularly related to the completion agenda. This study addresses strategies employed by intermediary organizations to communicate to policymakers regarding college completion. Using rhetorical analysis, we examine 72 documents to deconstruct their arguments. Findings show that intermediaries employ the rhetorical elements of ethos, pathos, delivery, and idiom to present information and advocate preferred policy solutions. Importantly, organizations communicate messages differently based on their orientation toward the researcher or policymaker communities. Intermediary organizations aligned more closely with researchers rely more on empirical evidence and neutral tones, whereas organizations aligned more closely with policymakers utilize more idiomatic language, visually engaging document design, and nonempirical sources of evidence. Rhetorical analysis can enable researchers, intermediaries, and policymakers all to work more clearly and carefully in the higher education policy arena and, in so doing, strengthen the bridge between the two communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the 2019 general election, the Prime Minister claimed that leaving the EU would enable him to 'get Brexit done' and introduce policies to "level up" inequalities in a post-EU UK. There still is, however, considerable uncertainty as to exactly what the government means by this, though it seemingly includes reducing differences in economic performance and opportunities between North and South in England, how it will achieve this goal and how 'levelling up' relates to the policy objective of restoring national economic growth, and with the added complication of also seeking a transition to a zero-carbon green economy and society. This ambition to 'level up' became even more challenging as COVID-19 both further revealed and reinforced existing deep socio-spatial inequalities. A more fundamental question is whether such an ambition is realisable within the context of a capitalist economy. Even so, despite the ambiguities and uncertainties surrounding it, 'levelling up" is undoubtedly a politically important message, directed at those voters, newly converted to the Conservative vision and who caused the former 'red wall' of Labour support partially to crumble. Some of these constituencies had not returned a Conservative MP for decades, others had never before returned a Conservative to Parliament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conversion therapies are any treatments, including individual talk therapy, behavioral (e.g. aversive stimuli), group therapy or milieu (e.g. "retreats or inpatient treatments" relying on all of the above methods) treatments, which attempt to change an individual's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. However these practices have been repudiated by major mental health organizations because of increasing evidence that they are ineffective and may cause harm to patients and their families who fail to change. At present, California, New Jersey, Oregon, Illinois, Washington, DC, and the Canadian Province of Ontario have passed legislation banning conversion therapy for minors and an increasing number of US States are considering similar bans. In April 2015, the Obama administration also called for a ban on conversion therapies for minors. The growing trend toward banning conversion therapies creates challenges for licensing boards and ethics committees, most of which are unfamiliar with the issues raised by complaints against conversion therapists. This paper reviews the history of conversion therapy practices as well as clinical, ethical and research issues they raise. With this information, state licensing boards, ethics committees and other regulatory bodies will be better able to adjudicate complaints from members of the public who have been exposed to conversion therapies.

Research documents a wage penalty for mothers compared to childless women. We demonstrate there is also an occupational status penalty to motherhood. Interrogating supply- and demand-side explanations of the motherhood penalty from the life course perspective, we formulate and test original hypotheses about the short-term and long-run career implications of parity-specific births. We analyze longitudinal data from the European Community and Household Panel for 13 European countries and eight time points between 1994 and 2001. Our fixed-effects models show that status losses for a first birth are not just short-term but accumulate over the career. The timing of a birth in a woman’s life course matters only for older women, who experience a significant penalty to third births. Although the personal strategies that women use to minimize the career costs of motherhood (e.g., having only one child) prove ineffective, our cross-national evidence shows that public policies are linked to the motherhood penalty in occupational status.

Norway is known to be among world leaders in gender equality and this is supported by increasing volumes of research in this field. However, there is sparse empirical evidence about the views and experiences of immigrants on gender equality. Consequently, this study sought to provide an 'outsider's perspective' on gender equality by engaging with immigrants living in Norway. This study presents findings from in-depth interviews with 27 immigrants living in Stavanger, Norway on their views and experiences of gender equality. Data from the interviews were analysed based on the constructivist grounded theory approach. The study's findings revealed that the participants perceived equal rights at home and in the workplace, through state policies and women's independence, as major indications of gender equality. Although the study suggests that gender equality appears to flourish in Norway, multiculturalism and feminization emerged as challenges towards achieving gender equality in Norwegian society. To address these challenges, it is important for Norwegian society to acknowledge the existence of multiculturalism and engage with it appropriately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, Venezuela was recognized as a country with solid government food safety policies, science-based legislation, clear national food security goals, strict standards for domestic food production and imports, and a system of institutions committed to ensuring safety and quality along each step of the food chain. Major institutions that aimed to insure people's welfare, nutrition and food availability, and safety were created between 1936 and 1949. Remarkable progress was achieved in terms of control of tropical maladies and fight against hunger and malnutrition. The National Institute of Hygiene set the standards for food safety and the continuous surveillance of available foods. The National Codex Alimentarius Committee was officially created in 2001. Nowadays, the situation has dramatically deteriorated as indicated by a severe decline of national food production and a strong dependence on food imports, whose prices make them inaccessible to the majority of Venezuelans. In response to the humanitarian crisis, the government created a food program, the so-called Local Supply and Production Committee (CLAP), to distribute basic foods at reduced prices but with clear intentions of social and political control of the population. Currently, CLAP products come from government imports at a preferential exchange rate. Under the umbrella of an economic emergency decree, many food safety regulations and surveillance protocols have been relaxed or eliminated, often resulting in the acquisition of low-quality items that do not meet Venezuelan food preferences or quality standards. The objective of this work is to describe, through the Venezuelan case, how the food security infrastructure of a country can be dismantled. We address (1) the development of institutions dedicated to promoting food security and nutrition and the recent dismantling of the sector; (2) the creation, characteristics, and weakness of the CLAP program; and (3) the current food insecurity crisis and the attempts to provide humanitarian help to the Venezuelan population.

This qualitative case study explored the teachers' and administrators' perceptions of a newly implemented teacher evaluation policy in a high-stakes testing state, and how this policy impacted their motivation. Five science teachers and their immediate supervisors were interviewed, and their perceptions were analyzed through motivational theories of incentivizing career behaviors. Findings suggest the overarching goal of improving teacher practice through accountability was facilitated by intrinsic motivation and challenged by weaknesses in policy design. These tensions could be mediated by localized control that improves stakeholder agency, peer learning communities, and the adoption of more reliable evaluation metrics. Implications for teacher buy-in of evaluation policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview of recent changes to state-level dyslexia legislation. It begins by applying a variant of Kingdon's multiple streams approach to explain how the dyslexia education "policy window" came to be opened. The article then describes the most likely effects and side effects of the new laws. Likely short-term effects include (a) a greater focus in schools on dyslexia screening and intervention, (b) greater use of multitiered systems of support and explicit instruction, and (c) changes in teacher preparation and training. Possible long-term effects include a reconceptualization of what constitutes "normal" school practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]