Today's focus on high-stakes standardized tests has had a massive impact on education throughout America, and standardized test preparation is one of the ugly, open secrets of education. Ever since 2001 when President Bush signed into law No Child Left Behind (NCLB), a bipartisan reauthorization of Johnson's landmark Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, students have been bombarded with standardized tests from the earliest grades. Politicians believe these measures are the only way to remedy the perceived weaknesses in the education system because "stringent accountability mandates… [provide] vital levers of change, inclusiveness, and transparency of results" (Education Week, 2011, para. 15). Yet as time progresses, the quantity and importance of the exams increase to such proportions that, by the time students are in high school, their performance dictates whether they will graduate or attend college. While proponents of such exams say that they only test the skills that students ought to be learning anyway, the reality tends to be that teachers start to focus only on the specific questions the test will cover, and thereby lose the ability to provide full, comprehensive education. "Teaching to the test" is the much-maligned experience of most high schools. In order to combat the pressure students feel to perform and teachers feel to shortchange the learning experience, a "Build Your Own Adventure" manual designed around research-based principles demonstrated to improve student learning gains will allow students to focus on the key areas needed to improve test performance, demystify the test itself, and thus help students obtain score improvement. In so doing, students will not only perform better on standardized assessments, but ultimately be able to attend more elite colleges.

It is estimated that 50,000 individuals become newly infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) every year in the United States. HIV is a lentivirus that is primarily spread through sexual contact. If left untreated, this viral infection can lead to decreased CD4+ T cells, increased susceptibility to opportunistic infections, and eventually progression to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and death. HIV viral loads can be decreased to undetectable levels with the use of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). In 2012 the Food and Drug Administration approved cART therapy, Truvada (tenofovir/emtricitabine), for safe use as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). When detectable levels of drug are present in the blood stream of patients, there is up to a 92% relative risk reduction in HIV infection compared to placebo. The implementation of PrEP has the potential to decrease the incidence of new HIV infections in at-risk populations worldwide. Because PrEP treatment is relatively new (2012), there are many barriers to administration to patients. Increased risky sexual behavior, known as risk compensation, is one of the concerns providers cite as a reason against prescribing PrEP. Most publications on PrEP have described randomized controlled trials that focused on safety, efficacy, and to a lesser extent, risk compensation behaviors. Now that Truvada is widely available, researchers are starting to elucidate patients’ sexual habits while using PrEP in the outpatient settings. However, there is a need for more longitudinal research regarding the behaviors of individuals using PrEP, specifically to determine how often risk compensation occurs and under what conditions. This study will initiate a PrEP clinic at Boston Medical Center and run a 3 year, open-label randomized controlled trial of eligible men who have sex with men (MSM) patients, who either start PrEP immediately or are delayed by one year. It is hypothesized that condom usage will decrease among immediate PrEP participants compared to the delayed participants. The study aims to determine if risk compensation occurs in these patients by following condom usage, development of sexually transmitted infections, number of sexual partners, and number/type of sexual encounter. Secondary outcomes will include measurements of medication adherence and number of HIV-seroconverters. These data will be collected through surveys and laboratory testing. The resulting information will help medical professionals better understand the risks and benefits of PrEP and also how to implement it most effectively in the fight to reduce the worldwide HIV burden.

This project involved an analysis of the theoretical foundations for Indianapolis Prep; an alternative school for about 50 students ages 14 to 18 years who are on probation with the Juvenile Court of Marion County, Indiana. The accepted purpose of Indianapolis Prep is to prepare students to make a successful transition from the Juvenile Center through a transition academy and through a semester of success in a regular high school to high school graduation. For the population involved, the traditional path to a high school diploma is not viewed as the best alternative.Indianapolis Prep is part of the national “Cities in Schools” project; a project which appears to have the potential for making a substantial impact on the future direction of American education.The outcomes of the project were documented in various forms since the traditional format of preparing one large piece of writing with an introduction and a conclusion was inadequate. The process of the study served as an effective means for shaping the documentation of outcomes. The writer kept a journal of observations of Indianapolis Prep as well as one on reflections regarding her participation in the school. Compiling these writings into a summary produced an interesting anecdotal document of Indy Prep’s development in theory and in practice. This anecdotal record developed into an anthology of choice writings, proposals, reports, and poems and prose, all narrated and tied together with summarized journal writings.The following components were included in the creative project report:A statement of the creative project.A handout used by the “Cities in Schools” project to introduce and explain Propinquity, and organizational concept of interagency services.A description of the plan, implementation, and outcomes of the Sophomore Academy, a forerunner to Indy Prep.Examples of students’ poems and prose as well as writings of the investigator.An evaluative report of Indy Prep’s participation in the Ball State University staff development project. This report was compiled from observations, interviews, and notes on weekly SDP conferences and meetings, as well as information from monthly Ball State conducted workshops. Examples of contracts developed through the staff development program were included.A component of several essays in which thoughts and theories derived from various readings along with the writer’s experiences and study of Indy Prep were formulated and/or systematically organized.The final component was a bibliography of readings.

Title: Problems of basic playing football skills practice in children 6-8 years of age Objectives: The aim of the thesis is to map the playing skills practice problems in children 6-8 years of age in Czech Republic and to map the influence of sports preparation on their improvement. Another aim of this thesis is to compare the playing skills practice in particular divisions using the training units. In order to determine the playing skills training practice in individual sections, a qualitative method of training units observation and communication with coaches as open dialogue are used. Methods: Data for this thesis were collected using the method of document examination. Required information from various scientific publications dealing with the topic were gained using this method. I also used the method of direct observation of training units of various levels of performance of the divisions in South Bohemia. The Open Dialogue method was also used. Trainers of children 6-8 years of age were interviewed. Results: Results show the importance of proper leadership and content of the training units in particular performance levels. Interviews with trainers and observation of training units proved the positive influence of sports preparation and its inclusion in the training process of small football...

abstract: Teacher candidates completing their senior year student teaching practicum as part of the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University are expected to graduate as professional, high-quality teachers who are classroom-ready and dedicated to the profession. One lacking component of the program is the opportunity for teacher candidates to have personalized learning experiences that develop professional teacher identity in addition to the development of enhanced teaching skills. To address this, an intervention of an Action Research Project (ARP) was added to the final semester of the student teaching practicum. The goal of the project was to increase professional teacher identity, which would lead to increased teaching practices and a more favorable outlook on real-world problem solving in teaching elementary students. This mixed methods action research study included data collection methods to measure how integrating action research into a cohort-based student teaching experience improved teacher candidates’ teaching practices, how it affected their professional teacher identity and how they perceived the project contributed to the formation of their professional teacher identity. Frameworks that guided the study included principles from the Theory of Self-Organized Learning and Social Identity Theory. The participants of the study were seven teacher candidates completing their student teaching experience in an Arizona school district. Data gathered included teacher evaluation scores, results from a “Teacher Candidate Experience Questionnaire,” narratives collected from Teacher Learning Conversations and written responses on a Final Reflection. Results suggested that teacher candidates’ teaching scores either slightly improved or stayed the same following the intervention. Professional teacher identity increased through the integration of the project, while student identity decreased. Through narratives collected from the participants, observations of other teachers and classrooms emerged as the most impactful component of the intervention. Participants perceived that observations contributed to their growth as teachers by providing exposure to more diverse situations, prompting them to feel engaged and inspired, encouraging high expectations and fostering ways for them to make personal connections. Observing in other classrooms did not always provide the examples and structures the participants had hoped for, yet this disappointment also added value to their growth as teachers. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Administration and Supervision 2019

This thesis is based on the use of mathematical theories, modelling, and simulations to study the transmission dynamics of HIV/AIDS in the presence of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) in the MSM (men who have sex with men) population in the United States. A new deterministic model for HIV/AIDS that incorporates PrEP is designed and used to assess the population-level impact of the use of PrEP on the transmission dynamics within an MSM population. Conditions for the effective control (or elimination) and persistence of HIV/AIDS in the MSM population are determined by rigorously analyzing this model. Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis is carried out to determine the effect of the uncertainties in the parameter values on the response variable (the associated reproduction number) and to identify the top-five parameters that have the most effect on the disease transmission dynamics. Numerical simulations show that HIV burden decreases with increasing PrEP coverage. / October 2015

abstract: Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is any medical or public health procedure used before exposure to the disease causing agent, its purpose is to prevent, rather than treat or cure a disease. Most commonly, PrEP refers to an experimental HIV-prevention strategy that would use antiretrovirals to protect HIV-negative people from HIV infection. A deterministic mathematical model of HIV transmission is developed to evaluate the public-health impact of oral PrEP interventions, and to compare PrEP effectiveness with respect to different evaluation methods. The effects of demographic, behavioral, and epidemic parameters on the PrEP impact are studied in a multivariate sensitivity analysis. Most of the published models on HIV intervention impact assume that the number of individuals joining the sexually active population per year is constant or proportional to the total population. In the second part of this study, three models are presented and analyzed to study the PrEP intervention, with constant, linear, and logistic recruitment rates. How different demographic assumptions can affect the evaluation of PrEP is studied. When provided with data, often least square fitting or similar approaches can be used to determine a single set of approximated parameter values that make the model fit the data best. However, least square fitting only provides point estimates and does not provide information on how strongly the data supports these particular estimates. Therefore, in the third part of this study, Bayesian parameter estimation is applied on fitting ODE model to the related HIV data. Starting with a set of prior distributions for the parameters as initial guess, Bayes' formula can be applied to obtain a set of posterior distributions for the parameters which makes the model fit the observed data best. Evaluating the posterior distribution often requires the integration of high-dimensional functions, which is usually difficult to calculate numerically. Therefore, the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method is used to approximate the posterior distribution. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Applied Mathematics 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role that a small sample of prep-schools play in meeting the academic and behavioral needs of students who are at risk for poor academic and social outcomes as they transition from middle school to high school. The study examined the perspectives of teachers, students and families about their experiences with prep schools. A qualitative case research design was used in this research to gain a deeper understanding about the role of prep schools in the Southeastern region of Turkey. Teachers, students, mentors and parents were selected purposefully for the study as participants. Interviews, observations, and document analysis were used as a source of data. Based on the revealed qualitative data, the role of Reading Halls was represented under five themes and three sections. It is found that there are four main concerns about students including security, economic, academic, and behavioral concerns. These prep school type programs are non-profit organizations and aim to provide a safe environment for the students and teacher-family collaboration and play an important role. The program is supported with academic courses and social activities to address the concerns about the students.

This research evaluates the effectiveness of using carbon dioxide (CO2) pressurization to extend strawberry fruit prep shelf life for the eventual use in yogurt applications. In this experiment, CO2 treatments of 5, 15, and 25 pounds per square inch were used as a processing step to inactivate microorganisms, which in turn could aid in the preservation and maintenance of product quality during storage thus improving consumer acceptance of the yogurt. Microbial levels of the fruit prep treatments were monitored over a six-week period by enumerating aerobic plate counts and yeast and mold levels. The color, pH, and texture of the treatments were also evaluated throughout the duration of the study. Sensory attributes of the product were evaluated by formal sensory panel at the beginning of the study to gather consumer feedback on potential changes introduced by the treatment to the finished product. For sensory analysis, the different CO2 treatments of fruit prep were mixed with plain yogurt and given to panelists. The different treatments were taken from one homogenous mixture of fruit prep and then were randomly divided into five different treatment groups: a control group, a thermally processed group, and the three different pressure levels of CO2. Results from the experiment showed that carbonation does not negatively impact product overall acceptability. Shelf life results showed that CO2 treatments are not effective in maintaining or extending the shelf life of strawberry fruit prep when compared to a thermal treatment.

Research shows that educators working in General Education Development (GED) preparation classes lack research-based instructional practice. Current research further implies that using research-based instructional practices is beneficial to adult learners. The location of this study was a local public community college and satellite locations in a U.S. state on the East Coast that did not assess whether educators were using the research-based cooperative learning methods in GED prep classes. There was no known information to identify research-based instructional practices in GED prep classes. Therefore, the types of instructions educators used and whether educators were producing successful outcomes were both sought to be researched. This qualitative study explored instructional practices and successful GED outcomes. Johnson, Johnson, and Smith's cooperative learning method served as the conceptual framework for this study. Research questions addressed educators' experiences in facilitating and integrating cooperative learning and their need for supports to improve GED outcomes. Purposeful sampling was used to select 8 educators experienced in GED prep class to participate in interview questionnaires. Five of the 8 participants also completed face-to-face interviews. Data were collected from interviews and documents to determine a plan to construct a research-based tool for educators. Qualitative data were coded manually to extract themes. Findings of the study showed that educators working with adult learners did not report standard use of cooperative learning methods in GED prep classes. A workshop was created in order to help educators redesign instructional practices and provide a research-based tool to enhance adult learners' participation and improve GED outcomes.