Increasing the health care work force is critical to underserved communities. Unfortunately, students in these areas lack accessibility to the clinical experiences needed to get an introductory understanding of careers in health care. Therefore, a health care experience (HCE) course was created for undergraduate students that included didactic…

As school systems work to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, states continue to grapple with persistent teacher shortages, a lack of teachers of color in the workforce, and high turnover rates undermining recruitment efforts. Teachers' effectiveness and their likelihood of staying in teaching are strongly influenced by the quality of preparation…

The authors of this report aim to understand the health of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and labor market in the Appalachia region -- defined as the intersection of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia -- with a focus on the mining and extraction industry. This report is the third in a three-part series.…

To help students leave high school on a path toward success in the labor market, education policymakers and practitioners often focus on improving career and technical education (CTE) opportunities in high school. Understanding the alignment between high school CTE programs and the labor market is an important step in this process. To support CTE…

These are the appendixes for the report, "Assessing the Alignment between West Virginia's High School Career and Technical Education Programs and the Labor Market." The study found that 70 percent of West Virginia's long-term projected employment openings typically require some occupational preparation beyond a high school diploma but…

This second of five annual reports focuses on employment and wages in energy and advanced manufacturing-related industries and on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education indicators in the Appalachia Partnership Initiative (API) region, comprising twenty-seven counties in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Together,…

This first of five annual reports focuses on employment and wages in energy and advanced manufacturing--related industries and on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education indicators in the Appalachia Partnership Initiative (API) region. Together, these reports will capture trends over the next four years to (1) inform the…

Since 1998, educators at Wheeling Jesuit University's Challenger Learning Center and Center for Educational Technologies have created realistic live simulations of science and medical emergencies in which students act as astronauts, scientists or doctors to solve STEM problems such as diagnosing diseases, stopping epidemics, picking a safe…

In this article, occupational safety interventions for agriculture-related jobs, specifically in aquaculture, are reviewed. Maintaining quality of life and avoiding economic loss are two areas in which aquaculturists can benefit by incorporating safety protocols and interventions on their farms. The information in this article is based on farm…

One unique and critical element of Career Technical Education (CTE) pathways is that they offer learners exposure and access to authentic experiences inside and outside the classroom. For these opportunities to be guaranteed, industry must play a key role in the design, development and delivery of CTE pathways, including in rural communities. This…

Ten years ago, MDC's report, "The State of the South 2007: Philanthropy as the South's 'Passing Gear,'" (ED519455) examined how philanthropy can accelerate progress toward a South that is both equitable for all its residents and competitive with other regions of the country. A decade later, our second iteration, commissioned by the…

From 2001 to 2009, about 4.5 million students will report some type of educator misconduct during their K-12 schooling, and as many as 9 out of 10 cases may go unreported (Shakeshaft, 2007). Codes of ethical conduct have decreased misconduct cases within other helping professions. Since there has been an increased awareness of teacher behavior, 25…

The authors examine the ecological foundations of the thesis of a "code of honor" as an explanation for southern homicide. Specifically, they consider the effects of indicators of ethnic groups that migrated from herding economies (the Scotch-Irish), cattle and pig herding, and the relative importance of agricultural production across…

Purpose: The number of children requiring dysphagia management in the schools is increasing. This article reports survey findings relative to speech-language pathologists' (SLPs') training and self-rated confidence to treat children with swallowing and feeding disorders in the schools. Method: Surveys were completed by 222 SLPs representing…

The "Measuring College and Career Readiness" report for each state represents a snapshot of the ACT-tested graduates in the class of 2009 and focuses on their readiness for college and careers. Designed to inform policymakers and practitioners about selected indicators of effectiveness, the report is not intended to be comprehensive but…