Developing Leadership Dispositions for Preparing Urban School Leaders in Chronically Low-Performing Schools

This study originated as an institutionally sponsored research residency conducted using utilization-focused evaluation (Patton, 2008) to investigate the nature of dispositional changes in candidates pursuing National Louis University’s M.Ed. and Ed.S. degrees leading to educational leadership (EDL) state certification in one large urban school district in a Southern state. The EDL program organized learning objectives intending to develop a specific knowledge base, an operational competency set, and, as this study’s focus, leadership dispositions related to preparing assistant principals and principals to lead effectively in chronically low-performing (CLP) schools. The inquiry cross-analyzed data at the intersection of the graduate program’s disposition-related learning objectives with 13 leadership dispositions identified in The Haberman Educational Foundation Star Urban Administrator Pre-Screener. EDL program faculty administered the pre-screener to EDL program candidates twice, yielding 187 matched pairs in pre-program and post-program administrations. Statistical analyses yielded a significant difference (improvement) in overall Haberman scores at the .01 alpha level, as well as an effect size considered (Cohen, 1969) to be a medium effect size. Faculty triangulated the data with interviews of alumni and faculty with experience in leading CLP schools, who affirmed that focus on leadership dispositions serves an important developmental role in an EDL program. The study appears to validate the measurable presence and dynamic changes in EDL candidate dispositions as an element of a graduate program focused on developing effective leaders of CLP schools

Taking Ownership: Our Pledge to Educate All of Detroit's Children

Excellent Schools Detroit represents a broad and diverse cross section of Detroit's education, government, civic and community, parent, organized labor, and philanthropic leaders who are committed to ensuring that all Detroit children receive the great education they deserve. This citywide education plan reflects months of discussions and deliberations by coalition members, as well as a series of six community meetings in November and December, youth focus groups, small group discussions with multiple stakeholders, and other outreach efforts. We appreciate the thoughtful recommendations from the many Detroiters who are as passionate as we are about the need to prepare all students for college, careers, and life in the 21st century

Convalescent plasma in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised controlled, open-label, platform trial

SummaryBackground Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatoryactions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19.Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospitalwith COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients wererandomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once perday by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatmentgroups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment andwere twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants andlocal study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to theoutcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treatpopulation. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936.Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) wereeligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomlyallocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall,561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days(rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days(rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, nosignificant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilationor death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24).Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or otherprespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restrictedto patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication

Identifying biogenic silica: Mudrock micro-fabric explained through charge contrast imaging

Visual inspection (optical microscope point counting) and silica abundance show that laminated shale from the Late Cretaceous of Colombia contains high levels of detrital quartz silt and sand particles. Closer examination using the charge contrast imaging (CCI) technique, however, illustrates that much of the quartz is authigenic micro-quartz, and thus not exclusively of detrital origin. In addition, many "sand" grains that otherwise appear to represent simple detrital quartz particles are actually of biogenic origin, representing the tests of agglutinated foraminifera, formed from cemented silt-sized quartz particles. Finally, CCI shows that original detrital grains have undergone authigenic modification, with both syntaxial overgrowths and micro-quartz. Without recognition of these features, the relative proportion of detrital quartz (sand) would otherwise be greatly overestimated, with important implications for environmental interpretation. Furthermore, the recognition of biogenic structures, including agglutinated foraminifera, provides additional environmental information that otherwise could be easily overlooked

Rep and PriA helicase activities prevent RecA from provoking unnecessary recombination during replication fork repair

The rescue of replication forks stalled on the template DNA was investigated using an assay for synthetic lethality that provides a visual readout of cell viability and permits investigation of why certain mutations are lethal when combined. The results presented show that RecA and other recombination proteins are often engaged during replication because RecA is present and provokes recombination rather than because recombination is necessary. This occurs particularly frequently in cells lacking the helicase activities of Rep and PriA. We propose that these two proteins normally limit the loading of RecA on ssDNA regions exposed on the leading strand template of damaged forks, and do so by unwinding the nascent lagging strand, thus facilitating reannealing of the parental strands. Gap closure followed by loading of the DnaB replicative helicase enables synthesis of the leading strand to continue. Without either activity, RecA loads more frequently on the DNA and drives fork reversal, which creates a chickenfoot structure and a requirement for other recombination proteins to re-establish a viable fork. The assay also reveals that stalled transcription complexes are common impediments to fork progression, and that damaged forks often reverse independently of RecA

Pyrite oxidation in shales: Implications for palaeo-redox proxies based on geochemical and SEM-EDX evidence

Pyrite oxidation in marine shales during weathering has been widely studied, however, the effects of this process on geochemical proxies commonly used to reconstruct ocean redox conditions, or the details of pyrite oxidation at the mineral grain scale, have not received much scientific attention. We conducted a four-week laboratory experiment designed to stimulate pyrite oxidation at shale outcrops, and to assess effects on the chemical phase of iron and sulphur in the samples both in bulk sediments (useful for comparison to palaeo-environmental geochemistry) and at a finer scale (to gain a better understanding of the nature of these changes). Geochemical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques provide evidence for pyrite oxidation, carbonate dissolution, and iron (oxyhydr)oxide formation during the experiment. The net effect of the experiment on the ratio of highly reactive iron phases (FeHR) to total iron (FeT) is minimal (≪0.03% difference), suggesting that this redox proxy behaves relatively conservatively during weathering. The effect of weathering on the ratio of pyrite-bound iron to highly reactive iron (FePY/FeHR), used to investigate the availability of sulphur, in contrast, is pronounced (up to 32.5% difference) due to the oxidation of pyrite and the precipitation of iron (oxyhydr)oxides in the shale samples. Electron microscopy provides evidence that iron (oxyhydr)oxides precipitated in situ as rims around cores of pyrite particles, “passivating” and protecting them from further oxidation. The quantification of these partly oxidised pyrite particles is now possible using a novel automated particle analysis method coupled to chemical mapping, developed in this study. We conclude that this method can be of wide use, both to quantify pyrite oxidation, and assess the significance of FePY/FeHR at measured in shale outcrop samples

Supplementary file 1: Workflow model for the digitization of mudrocks

Typical workflows based on the specific software used

Supplementary file 2: Workflow model for the digitization of mudrocks

Typical workflows based on the specific software used

Supplementary file 3: Workflow model for the digitization of mudrocks

Typical workflows based on the specific software used