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The needless struggles of struggling readers: Progress monitoring
Howard Margolis EducationIn my many decades of critiquing special education evaluations, IEPs, and progress reports from various New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware schools, and in speaking to innumerable parents, teachers and other IEP team members, I’ve gained an overwhelming impression: Little, if any, valid progress monitoring occurs. Instead, many special education teachers and case managers rely primarily on their subjective memories to judge their students’ progress.
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Why black and brown students get inferior educations: Segregation
Patrick Gleeson EducationIn recent years, more energy has been devoted to the pros and cons of affirmative action than probably any other education topic. But these arguments on what should or shouldn’t be done to help black and brown students skirt a far more fundamental issue, which even liberal educators and politicians often avoid: why do black and brown students need affirmative action or any other kind of race-based help to enjoy the same level of success in college enjoyed by Asian students and white students? Underlying the answers to that question are two seemingly contradictory bodies of fact.
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Climate science’s growing bipartisan appeal
Michelle R. Matisons Civil & GovernmentFlorida became embroiled in an interesting controversy a few years back. It was widely reported that then-Gov. Rick Scott placed a cabinetwide moratorium on using climate change terminology. Now, in an informative about-face, the Sunshine State’s current governor, Ron DeSantis, has instituted a new climate science position held by Florida Chief Science Officer Dr. Tom Frazer. This position is just one example of the growing appeal of climate science across party lines.
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Court’s blockage of liver-sharing policy sparks conflict
Chelsea Adams Medical & Allied HealthcareA plan intended to correct regional inequities among liver transplant recipients is on hold after a lawsuit to block its implementation was filed by transplant centers in the South and Midwest. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has worked to create a new way of distributing organs since 2012. The plan calls for the most critically ill patients within a set geographic parameter to receive organs first. For example, if a liver became available in Nashville, the sickest patient within a 500 nautical-mile radius would receive it.
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Voice is the next step for smart policing
Bambi Majumdar Law Enforcement, Defense & SecurityThe annual Role of Technology in Law Enforcement Paperwork report is quite an eye opener. It shows how police officers are spending a lot of their time on paperwork and reporting, which prevents them from tackling cases or combating crime. It is no wonder that a vast majority want their departments to invest in smarter tools to help with incident reporting. The present systems are too slow and cumbersome and documentation processes are quite inefficient. One technology that can significantly help in this regard is voice.
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Business group believes Medicare for All healthcare is best
Seth Sandronsky Medical & Allied HealthcareSmall- and midsize-business owners do not like the current healthcare system. Just ask Dylan Dusseault, executive director of the Business Initiative for Health Policy (BIHP), in Washington, D.C. "Business owners want out of providing healthcare," he said via email to MultiBriefs. "The employer-sponsored system isn't working for them or their workers, but they're all being held hostage by rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs. BIHP was created to advocate for what business owners actually need: A Medicare for All healthcare system."
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Amazon set to descend on Lakeland, Florida, bringing jobs and planes
Matt Falcus Transportation Technology & AutomotiveLakeland’s Linder Airport in central Florida will soon be the focus of large cargo jets and thousands of extra workers after a deal to bring a new Amazon air cargo facility was approved. While the roar of the Blue Eagles and historic piston aircraft at this year’s Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In and Expo were still entertaining the crowds at the airport, the deal to bring Amazon in was entering its final stages.
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Can partnerships between public schools, universities help address the…
Bambi Majumdar EducationThe Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI) recent paper on teacher shortages states that the crisis is growing worse than ever in America. The real magnitude of the teacher shortage is even scarier when one considers the scarcity of credentialed teachers, more so in rural and low-income areas. One ray of hope comes from new school-university partnerships that aim to prepare future teachers by giving them real-life experience and, in the process, help fill funding gaps. One such example is the partnership between Ohio University and some of the state's school districts.
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The thrills and spills of e-scooters create a safety debate
Ryan Clark Transportation Technology & AutomotiveMy co-worker and I stood staring transfixed at the Bird e-scooter. It had been decided that if I were to write about the safety of these things, I’d have to at least ride one. I wanted to do it, but I didn’t want to do it. Images of my broken and balled up body weighed heavy on my mind. I remember asking, "Are these things even safe?" And as if answered by the universe, a young woman, wearing sun shades and earbuds — stone deaf and blind to the world — floated down the street in front of us on an e-scooter. Travelling at the speed of “whatever dude” she coasted by at 10 mph, in the middle of the street, with a caravan of irritated drivers honking their horns behind her.
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Pew report: Provider demand for accurate patient matching is high
Scott E. Rupp Healthcare AdministrationThe Pew Charitable Trusts is concerned with the ability to accurately match patients to their health records. According to healthcare providers surveyed, match rates are "far below the desired level for effective data exchange," said researchers at Pew, which collaborated with eHealth Collaborative on the report. Patient matching is the comparing of data from different health IT systems to verify if data sources match and belong to the same patient. Matching data completes the patient’s health history and medical care record. If data matches, that patient’s records are combined to eliminate duplication and confusion.
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