NMDA receptors (NMDARs) and AMPA receptors (AMPARs) in amygdala nuclei and the dorsal hippocampus (dHipp) are critical for fear conditioning. Enhancements in synaptic AMPAR expression in amygdala nuclei and the dHipp are critical for fear conditioning, with some studies observing changes in AMPAR expression across many neurons in these brain…

Many students have experienced author visits, but one K-4 elementary school aimed to meet its school improvement goal to motivate writers through a yearlong collaboration with a published children's book author/illustrator, Ryan Hipp. This article details the positive components of the yearlong collaboration that included three in-person sessions…

The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics of effective professional learning communities while learning their impacts on staff members. The study also discovered the role of educational leaders during an effective implementation of professional learning communities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff members of an…

Single prolonged stress (SPS) has been used to examine mechanisms via which stress exposure leads to post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. SPS induces fear extinction retention deficits, but neural circuits critical for mediating these deficits are unknown. To address this gap, we examined the effect of SPS on neural activity in brain regions…

In cocaine use disorder, relapse can be elicited by drug-associated cues despite long periods of abstinence. The persistence of drug-associated cues in eliciting drug seeking suggests enduring changes in structural and functional plasticity, which may be mediated by basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF, FGF2). Stimulant drug use increases bFGF…

This mixed-methods study examined what reform efforts are happening in high schools where students are demonstrating high academic growth, investigating the practices and behaviors principals are implementing within these schools, and determining if, and how, the six dimensions of PLCs (Hord, 1997; Hord & Tobia, 2012) are being implemented in…

This qualitative exploratory case study uses phenomenology to conduct an investigation of teacher collaboration and teacher empowerment within a Professional Learning Community (PLC) at a Title 1 elementary school. This study examined the experiences of five elementary and three administrators to learn about their perspectives on teacher…

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) impact students in substantive ways. These standards move beyond textbooks to emphasize hands-on inquiry focused on real-world phenomena -- making students, rather than teachers, the primary actors in the NGSS science classroom. The six-year NGSS Early Implementers Initiative has supported a group of…

This study employed the explanatory sequential mixed-methods design to assess the effectiveness of PLCs in Ghanaian basic schools. Using proportional stratified random sampling technique, the study selected 650 respondents (400 teachers and 250 headteachers) from the basic schools in five regions of Ghana for the quantitative phase of the study.…

This study investigated specific attitudes and beliefs, related to the concepts of peace education, of participants in an "Introductory, basic help increase the peace program" (HIPP) workshop. Pre- and post-workshop ratings showed significant differences on two important attitudinal variables: first, the importance of being familiar with the…

For decades, mandates have driven the way we educate our students. Seemingly ever since the inception of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), schools across the nation have struggled to meet federal standards for student success. However, when many schools still failed to show a significant amount of achievement, they became labeled "Priority"…

This applied dissertation was designed to determine the impact a planned intervention, or participants' engagement in lesson study practices, had on teacher morale and professional learning communities within a public high school located in the Southeastern part of the United States. A review of a yearly teacher survey conducted by the district's…

This research shows the development and influencing factors of high school English teachers' evaluation of professional learning community in Changchun, China. Followed Olivier and Hipp & Huffma's research, the teacher professional learning community evaluation questionnaire was developed by the researchers. 422 English teachers in Changchun…

The main purpose of this study is to adapt and validate the Professional Learning Communities Assessment Revised (PLCA-R) by Olivier, Hipp, and Huffman within the context of Turkish schools. The instrument was translated and adapted to administer to teachers in Turkey. Internal structure of the Turkish version of PLCA-R was investigated by using…

NGSS Early Implementers is a four-year initiative created to help eight California school districts and two charter management organizations, supported by WestEd's K-12 Alliance, implement Next Generation Science Standards. The Initiative focuses on NGSS implementation in grades K-8 and incorporates the integrated course model (preferred by the…