Virginia Department of Education

We propose a multimodal transformer for automatic classroom activity recognition that combines a background-suppressed Vision Transformer video model with a BERT-based transcript encoder. Each modality first predicts activity labels independently, and a cross-modal transformer then refines video predictions using aligned transcript cues. Evaluated on 50 hours of real-world K–12 classroom video and audio, our framework accurately classifies activities such as lecture, individual work, and group work, and consistently outperforms a strong video-only baseline. Per-frame F1 and cross-modal correlation analyses demonstrate that transcript signals substantially boost video recognition in authentic classrooms, highlighting the value of multimodal context for educational video analytics.

ABSTRACT This review explored the measurement and correlates of educational stability for students involved with the child welfare system. A search of 22 databases yielded 18 studies published from 2000 to 2022. Nearly 80% of studies explored three outcomes: academic performance, educational attainment, and mental and behavioral health. Only a third of the studies identified a significant relationship between instability and lower academic achievement or attainment. Results related to mental and behavioral health were mixed, yet most articles linked instability to an adverse outcome. Results underscore the importance of clearly defining stability, identifying its contributing factors, and prioritizing prevention to mitigate it.

Abstract Date Presented 04/03/2025 There is limited research on outcomes of mentorship programs for new and experienced clinicians. This study shows the subjective and objective improvements in job success that a mentorship program tailored to new hire experience levels can provide. Primary Author and Speaker: Erika Dobson Additional Authors and Speakers: Nicole Williams

Lankford, Harvey V., and Hannah Kimberley. Supplemental oxygen on the Annie Smith Peck Expedition of 1903 to 6,367 m (20,892 ft) Mount Sorata (Illampu). High Alt Med Biol. 26:227-235, 2025.-The 1903 expedition to 6,367 m (20,892 ft) Mount Sorata (Illampu) in Bolivia that was conceived, organized, and led by American mountaineer Annie Smith Peck appears to have been the first to take a supplemental oxygen apparatus to a great mountain. The expedition did not have heavy cylinders of compressed oxygen or closed-circuit rebreathers with chemically generated oxygen but took an apparatus to produce oxygen on the mountain apparently by a 19th century heated chlorate chemical method. Oxygen was to be manufactured in camp, stored in rubber bags, and used with an open-circuit breathing set while climbing. The equipment was taken, but once in Bolivia, a late change in plans resulted in a summit attempt on 6,427 m (21,086 ft) Ancohuma rather than Illampu on the twin-peaked Sorata massif. The summit attempt ended prematurely at 4,700 m (15,350 ft), and the oxygen system was not used. The present paper reviews some of the supplemental oxygen options that were available in 1903 and examines the Sorata expedition, a little-known part of the early history of mountaineering oxygen use.

Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental disability with global prevalence of one in 100 individuals. Poor access to interventions in both under-resourced regions of high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries has deleterious effects on the health and wellbeing of individuals with autism and their families. Our objective was to utilize a reciprocal innovation framework and participatory methods to adapt and co-develop a culturally grounded group-based wellbeing and naturalistic developmental behavioural intervention (NDBI) training program for caregivers of young children with autism to be implemented in Kenya and rural Indiana. This study was conducted within the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) program. An evidence-informed Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention (NDBI) previously utilized in Indiana was adapted and iteratively refined using the Ecological Validity Framework (EVF) by a team of US and Kenyan disability experts. Key adaptations to the program were made across the EVF domains of language, persons, metaphors/content, concepts, goals, methods, and context. Substantial cultural adaptations were made to the NDBI following the EVF model, including the addition of traditional Kenyan cultural practices, use of narrative principles, and focus on daily routines over play. Pepea, the adapted program, involves 10 group sessions covering content in basic education on autism, positive caregiver coping strategies, and behavioural skills training to promote child communication and reduce challenging behaviour. Key adaptations for Pepea were integrated back into a US NDBI caregiver training program. This study fills a critical gap by detailing the adaptation process of a caregiver wellbeing and naturalistic developmental behavioural training program for caregivers of children with autism in low-resource settings. Our next steps are to report on mixed-methods outcomes from pilot implementation. Our long-term goal is to apply these insights to advance sustainable and scalable autism intervention services across the globe.

En este trabajo se lleva a cabo una caracterización de los campos de golf de la provincia de Huelva desde tres puntos de vista: el grado de desarrollo de sus sistemas de gestión medioambiental, la visión de los responsables de los mismos acerca de las consecuencias de las prácticas medioambientales sobre la competitividad de la empresa, y la percepción de aquellos acerca de la influencia de una serie de factores de presión en la adopción de medidas medioambientales. La posible vinculación entre estos tres elementos también es tratada, encontrando una relación estadísticamente significativa y muy fuerte (positiva) entre el nivel de desarrollo del sistema de gestión medioambiental y el nivel de presión que ejercen los factores determinantes de la preocupación medioambiental de la empresa; no ocurriendo así con la percepción de la relación empresa-medioambiente.

In 2015, the Tanzanian government implemented a curriculum reform that focused instruction in Grades 1 and 2 on the “3Rs”—reading, writing, and arithmetic. Consequently, almost 80 percent of the instructional time in these grades was mandated towards foundational literacy in Kiswahili and numeracy skills. Other subjects such as English were no longer taught. Using student-level panel data, we evaluate the effect of this policy on learning outcomes using a difference-in-differences approach which leverages the variation in the timing of implementation across grade levels and cohorts impacted by the policy. We find that the policy increased learning by around 0.20 standard deviations in Kiswahili and math test scores one year after the start of the reform. Timely teacher training on the new curriculum was associated with even larger effects. Evaluating longer term outcomes, we find suggestive evidence that the reform decreased the dropout rate of children up to four years later. However, this was also accompanied with lower average passing rates in the national Grade 4 examination due to compositional changes as low-performing students became less likely to dropout.

There is a research-to-practice gap in the identification and use of evidence-based practices in special education. One way to better understand the persistent gap between research and practice and to inform professional development efforts is through gaining an understanding of teacher and paraprofessional perceptions. We conducted a survey study to identify paraprofessionals’ perceived skills and needs regarding categories of practices aligning with evidence-based practices for students with autism spectrum disorder. A total of 768 paraprofessionals completed the survey. We used descriptive statistics, one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs), post hoc analyses, and chi-square tests to analyze paraprofessionals’ responses. Paraprofessionals reported a range of responses and several of their responses differed significantly in relation to their experience and the population of students they supported. Findings suggest there is a need to individualize professional development based on both classroom and paraprofessional training needs. Future research is needed to determine how paraprofessionals’ perceptions align with their practice.

A trend has emerged across schools in the United States in which phonemic awareness is viewed as much more than a component of beginning reading instruction. This perspective argues that “phonemic proficiency”, evidenced by mastery with advanced tasks such as phoneme elision or substitution, is an important target for assessment and instruction well beyond initial grades. Daily phonemic awareness instruction outside of print are hallmarks of the perspective, which has influenced state policies on reading instruction. This paper evaluated the empirical and theoretical basis for advanced phonemic awareness training. Although promoted as evidence-based, proficiency on so-called advanced phonemic tasks is not more strongly related to reading or more discriminative of difficulties than other phoneme-level skills, not necessary for skilled reading, and is more likely a product of learning to read and spell than a cause. Additionally, reading outcomes are stronger when phonemic awareness is taught with print, there is no evidence that advanced phonemic awareness training benefits reading instruction or intervention, and prominent theories of reading development do not align with the claims. We conclude with implications for policy-makers and educators, and discuss how experimental research could address open questions about phonemic awareness instruction.