University of Massachusetts Boston
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Defining Intellectual and Developmental Disability: A Comparative Overview Across Five National Datasets
Get PDFData Note 86 shares a comparative overview of the different definitions of intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) from five national data sources on employment outcomes: National Survey of State IDD Agency Employment and Day Services; Rehabilitation Services Administration; American Community Survey; National Core Indicators; and Social Security Administration. The goals of this Data Note are to provide clarity about how each data source defines the IDD population and support readers’ understanding of the results from each source
A Resource Guide for Inclusive Postsecondary Education for Students with Intellectual Disability
Get PDFThis guide is designed to introduce you to inclusive postsecondary education (IPSE), or college options for students with intellectual disability (ID). In this guide, you’ll find everything you need to know about IPSE in an easy-to-read format, with helpful tips, information, and resources from the Think College website. You will learn about what IPSE is, how colleges include students with ID, and how to find and apply to college, as well as pay for it
Exploring the Path That Has Led to a Fragmented Curriculum, Driven by High Stakes Testing, Sidelining Science
Get PDFThis paper explores the current state of science instruction in classrooms, particularly concerning the fragmented curriculum resulting from high-stakes testing and the subsequent side-lining of science education. The study examines the historical context, starting with the implementation of standardized tests such as MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) in 1998 and the subsequent impact of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. These reforms led to a punitive system for underachieving schools and a narrowing of instructional time for subjects other than math and English Language Arts (ELA). The focus on improving test scores resulted in limited time allocated for science instruction, with studies indicating that, on average, only 20 minutes per day is dedicated to science and social studies. The paper argues for a shift towards an integrated curriculum that nurtures the whole child and proposes integrating science and social studies content into ELA programs. By aligning units and themes, teachers can create opportunities for cross-disciplinary learning that enriches the ELA curriculum while supporting science education. The paper provides various models and examples to guide the implementation of curriculum integration, emphasizing the importance of hands-on science experiences and their contribution to reading skills and comprehension
Latinos in Massachusetts Selected Areas: Westfield
Get PDFWestfield has a population of 40,834, of whom 3,942 identify as Hispanic or Latino, according to the 2020 Decennial Census. The majority of the city identifies as non- Latino White (82.1%), while Latinos 9.7% are the second largest population; Black, Asian, and “other” populations make up the remaining 8.2%. The Latino share of Westfield’s population is lower than the statewide Latino share, which is 12.6%.
Westfield underwent significant population shifts between 2010 and 2020. The city’s population decreased by 0.6%, while the statewide population increased by 7.4%. The Latino population increase of 27.3% is lower than the statewide Latino population increase of 41.4% during this same time. The larger White population declined by 7.7%, while the smaller Asian population grew at a faster rate of 79.7%, and the Black population by a rate of 30.8%. Thus, the increase in the non-White populations helped minimize the city’s population decline.
The remainder of this profile uses 2017–2021 American Community Survey data to analyze the demographic and economic characteristics presented in this profile.
The Latino population in Westfield, as in neighboring Springfield, is dominated by Puerto Ricans, who number 3,431. Other smaller Latino populations include Dominicans (305), Peruvians, Hondurans, and Guatemalans though each of the last three groups numbers fewer than 20 persons. Statewide, the five largest Latino populations in Massachusetts in order of size are Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Mexicans.
Partly because the great majority of Latinos in Westfield are Puerto Ricans population, who are U.S. citizens, Westfield has a small foreign-born population, making up only 9.9% of the city’s residents. Only 4.6% of Latinos in Westfield are foreign-born, compared to 32.1% for the entire state. (Note that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens by birth, whether born on the island or the mainland.) By comparison, foreign-born make up 17.3% of the statewide population
Implementing an Augmented Perioperative Obstructive Sleep Apnea Pathway for Improvement of Perioperative Management in Patients Undergoing Elective Orthopedic Surgery
Get PDFBackground: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in the perioperative period is a frequently encountered complex clinical challenge that increases the risk for post-operative complications. Patients undergoing elective orthopedic surgery may be untreated for OSA or unaware of an increased risk for OSA at the time of scheduling an elective surgical procedure. Appropriate intervention for these patients is needed to decrease the risk of postoperative complications and increased morbidity and mortality.
Methods: The objective of this improvement project was to improve the care across the perioperative experience for patients with obstructive sleep apnea or at a high risk for obstructive sleep apnea through implementation of an augmented perioperative pathway.
Intervention: An augmented perioperative pathway that included preoperative respiratory therapy referrals was implemented for patients with OSA, or at risk for OSA undergoing elective surgery in order to improve the uptake of PAP device use during the perioperative period. The project aims were evaluated using descriptive statistics. Staff satisfaction with feasibility and value added of the pathway was evaluated using qualitative, descriptive analysis. PAP utilization and respiratory referrals were tracked and descriptive statistics were used to measure improvement post implementation.
Results: Five hundred and nine elective surgical patients were included in this project. Ninety nine percent (n=506) of surgical patients identified as high risk for OSA or diagnosed with OSA were placed on the augmented OSA pathway and 95.9% (n=488) were evaluated by respiratory therapy pre-operatively, exceeding the benchmark of 90%. When compared to pre- implementation data, sleep study referrals increased by ten percent with the implementation of the augmented perioperative pathway and 98.6% (n=502) of identified patients received diagnosis specific discharge teaching. Staff reported satisfaction with feasibility, value added, and interdisciplinary communication.
Conclusion: Implementation of the augmented perioperative OSA pathway increased pre- operative respiratory therapy evaluation of patients with OSA and at risk for OSA, home sleep studies and postoperative education specific to the diagnosis of OSA. The augmented pathway was well received by staff and was deemed to be feasible, added value to the care of this patient population and improved interdisciplinary communication across the multiple communicating perioperative services
We Resist, We Heal, We Transform: Exploring Youth of Color Journeys Towards Healing Justice in a Grassroots Organization in Urban Boston
Get PDFWhile many would say otherwise, the current system is not a broken one (Kaba, 2021). The colonial systems, frameworks, and theories we have in place are working exactly how they are supposed to: in favor of and in tandem with systems that seek to oppress marginalized communities. This realization calls for a shift, including shifts in research in ways that builds from below (Atallah & Dutta, 2021; Fernández, 2018; Tang-Yan, 2022). The current study aims to explicitly interrogate coloniality and colonial violence in a United States socio historical context, exploring youth of color development in conditions of adversity, looking at the ways that coloniality and colonial violence impact youth of color. The current literature in psychological sciences and related disciplines on the impact of centuries of colonial violence and ongoing coloniality and youth resistance and resilience often take a “whitestream” (Bell, 2018) – Eurocentric – approach. In this paper, this “whitestream” literature on youth development and resilience is reviewed before shifting to introduce frameworks on decolonial resistance and healing justice that will be engaged in the current study. This study aims to enact a decolonial turn both theoretically and methodologically. Decolonial theory and methods are linked to decolonial resistance movements and frontliners contesting coloniality in everyday lives (Atallah & Dutta, 2021). Youth-focused grassroots organizations can play pivotal roles in cultivating decolonial resistance processes, intergenerational resilience, and healing justice with youth of color who contest structural violence associated with coloniality and interrelated systems of oppression (e.g. Atallah, 2017; Burgess, Prescod, Bryan, & Chatters, 2021). The City School (TCS), located in Boston, Massachusetts, is a grassroots organization that provides youth-focused programming in the form of their Summer Leadership Program (SLP) for young people between fourteen and nineteen years of age. SLP’s curriculum engages leadership development pedagogies, healing justice practices, community building exercises, and critical education to support youth resistance and resilience journeys. This study aimed to explore and evaluate the situations in which TCS staff create conditions of healing justice in support of youth of color decolonial resistance and resilience journeys during the SLP. With the support of TCS leadership, semi-structured, individual interviews were completed with a total of 8 (N = 8) protagonists who were former or current staff members and youth members of TCS SLP. Utilizing situational analysis (Clarke, Friese, and Washburn, 2018), a qualitative method developed as an extension of grounded theory (Creswell, 2007), the findings were organized in a representation entitled The City School Fern of Collective Care & Decolonial Love: Making healing Imaginable for Young People. These findings explain the processes by which SLP staff and structures support the youths’ healing journeys in terms of 4 major themes: prioritizing youths’ feelings and vulnerabilities (facilitating healing at an individualized pace); uplifting youth’s value & humanity; practices of accompaniment, interdependence, and joy; radical love & (re)creating community and spaces of belonging. The study findings shed light on the complex multifaceted processes of healing- and justice-promoting youth-focused community practice. Findings contribute to abolitionist futures with the goal of visioning the creation of new ways of being, relating, and knowing. Results may be relevant to understanding the potential of grassroots, youth focused, organizations like The City School in fostering decolonial love and healing among youth of color. Results may also be relevant to education and curriculum development during a time where the integration of youth centered humanizing inclusive curricula are under threat. Understanding and applying these insights can have implications for addressing the impacts of coloniality, colonial violence, and intersecting systems of oppression on marginalized communities, particularly youth of color
Advancing Resiliency Planning in Boston\u27s Environmental Justice Communities: Introducing the Lived Experience of Dorchester\u27s Caribbean Elders
No full textIncreasing extreme heat conditions resulting from climate change has threatened cities worldwide. Previous decades have seen a dramatic increase in extreme heat events, attributed to climate change resulting in increases in heat morbidity and mortality. These trends have initiated considerable new research into the study of heatwaves and urban heat island effects (UHI). Despite this, urban heat resiliency remains a relatively unexplored area of planning theory and practice that has attracted limited scholarly attention within urban planning. The dangers posed by extreme heat have remained largely unseen, awareness of the human and economic devastation, and impacts on most marginalized communities are largely unknown. To address this problem, my dissertation incorporates a transdisciplinary, mixed methods approach that draws from theories of community engaged research, participatory action research, advocacy planning and decision sciences to generate data and gain insights that are applicable to extreme heat adaptation and mitigation planning in two of the most racially and socially marginalized communities in Boston. The study employs a methodological framework that combines quasi ethnographic methods (interviews and focus groups) with the analytical decision science approach ‘Value Focused Thinking’ to document the lived experiences of Dorchester’s Caribbean elders, who are one of Boston’s most vulnerable populations. The study engaged them as ‘experts’ in developing context appropriate heat adaptation and mitigation strategies for effective and socially responsible heat resilience planning that reflect Dorchester’s unique climate, weather, demographic profile, history, built environment and culture. My dissertation documents dynamic and heterogenous heat impacts among Caribbean elders related to a crumbling-built environment, physical immobility, financial insecurity, weakened social infrastructure and networks that negatively affect their heat vulnerability. These findings reflect the often-stated observation that heat is not a singular issue but rather a cascading, dynamic, and complex multilayered problem related to race, socio-economic conditions, age, health, and physical and social infrastructure. My dissertation also examines a range of resident’s heat adaptation and mitigation needs and preferences drawing upon their lived experiences and problem narratives using Value Focused Thinking. Based on residents’ needs and preferences, nine major policy themes were identified with subsequent planning actions to build heat resiliency for the most marginalized residents of Dorchester. Finally, I identified three major planning action strategies to build community resiliency to heat in Dorchester. While residents’ values, experiences, and knowledge are not always embedded in planning and policy, this approach highlights the significance of such research and prompts new ways to question how residents’ experiences might be integrated in the climate resiliency planning process
The Impact of Older Adult Health Status on Loneliness and Social Engagement: What Role Does Physical Activity Play?
No full textLoneliness and social isolation have become increasing concerns for public health, particularly among older adults. Loneliness is the subjective discrepancy between one’s desired and perceived social relationships, in both quantity and quality, whereas social isolation is the objective absence of social relationships or interactions. This research explored the relationships between health status and loneliness and health status and social engagement using physical activity as a mediator. Data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) Waves 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 (N = 6,416) were used to examine loneliness and social engagement. To understand differences in the same respondents over time, the 2012 and 2016 data waves were pooled (N = 3,145) and the 2014 and 2018 data waves were pooled (N = 3,271). The 11-item UCLA Loneliness Scale measures loneliness and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to construct three social engagement scales: civic and social engagement, family and child interactions, and friend interactions. Multiple imputation was used to account for missing data. Lagged dependent variable analysis, structural equation modelling, and interaction terms were used to test the variables of interest. Higher self-rated health at baseline was associated with decreased loneliness at follow-up (b = -0.02,
Aging in Berlin: A Community Needs Assessment
Get PDFThis report describes research undertaken by the Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging (CSDRA) within the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, on behalf of the Town of Berlin. The goals of this project were to investigate the needs, interests, preferences, and opinions of Berlin residents age 18 or older by engaging the community regarding their experiences and needs relevant to the Social Services alongside the Council on Aging’s objectives to serve the needs of all Berlin citizens 60 and older. The contents of this report are meant to inform the Town of Berlin, the Berlin COA together with Berlin Social Services (COA/SS), in addition to organizations that work with and on behalf of older residents of Berlin for the purposes of COA/SS mission fulfillment alongside planning and coordination of services for current and future needs of residents.The report will also help to build awareness about issues facing Berlin among community members at large.
A broad range of findings are reported in this document, highlighting the many positive features of Berlin as well as concerns expressed by residents. While many of our findings, and the recommendations that follow, intersect with the scope of responsibility of the Berlin COA/SS, it is understood that responding to many needs and concerns expressed in the community will require the involvement of other municipal offices or community stakeholders, and some will require substantial collaborative effort
“Each Heart Alone Knoweth Its Own Bitterness”: The Jackson Family in Clarke County, Virginia, from Enslavement to Jim Crow
Get PDFThis thesis examines the experiences of three generations of the Jackson family in Clarke County, Virginia, from approximately 1860 to 1915, covering the shift from enslavement to the Jim Crow period. Chapter One introduces the challenges with pre-existing publications on Clarke County and Virginia history. Chapter two focuses on the antebellum period and discusses what enslavement may have looked like in Clarke County. Chapter Three narrows the focus to Charles Jackson, Sr., the family patriarch, who was enslaved at New Market Plantation. Chapter Four looks at Charles Sr.’s son, Charles Jr., and the life he created for himself after enslavement. Chapter Five takes an in-depth look at three of Charles Jr.’s children and explores how their lives demonstrate different reactions to the Jim Crow South. Chapter Six focuses on the youngest of Charles Jr.’s children and explores the challenges she faced and the unconventional life she led