Suspended Education: Urban Middle Schools in Crisis

Examines the rise in school suspensions; their effectiveness; the widening racial/ethnic discipline gap, especially for African-American boys; and the impact of suspensions on academic success and likelihood of incarceration. Makes policy recommendations

Out of School and Off Track: The Overuse of Suspensions in American Middle and High Schools

Analyzing data from over 26,000 U.S. middle and high schools, the report reveals profound disparities in suspension rates when disaggregating data by race/ethnicity, gender, and disability status. The report identifies districts with the largest number of "hotspot" schools (suspending 25 percent or more of their total student body), suggests alternatives that are already in use, and highlights civil rights concerns

Eliminating Excessive and Unfair Exclusionary Discipline in Schools Policy Recommendations for Reducing Disparities

All schools must be safe places for all members of the learning community. Schools have the right and indeed the responsibility to develop safe school climates to protect the safety of students and teachers, as well as the integrity of learning Yet the data indicate that it is relatively rare for students to pose a serious danger to themselves or others.In states like Texas, serious safety concerns trigger a "non-discretionary" mandatory removal, but these represent less than 5% of all disciplinary removals from school. While exclusion on grounds of safety is infrequent, students are routinely removed from school for minor offenses like tardiness, truancy, using foul language, disruption, and violation of the dress code.Of course, public school educators are also responsible for ensuring the integrity of the learning environment and attend to misbehavior that does not raise safety concerns. There is no question that there are circumstances where removing a student from a classroom is helpful to de-escalate a conflict, or to pursue an intervention outside the classroom with the support of an administrator, a counselor, parent(s) or community members. However, too many of our nation's public schools have moved away from reserving school exclusion only for the most serious offenses, and as a measure of last resort. Excessive suspensions and expulsions threaten educational opportunity, thereby undermining our national goals for closing academic achievement gaps for all children

Suspended Education in California

Analyzes data on risk of school suspension by race/ethnicity, gender, and disability status in nearly five hundred districts; highlights research showing suspensions to be ineffective and harmful; and calls for implementing evidence-based alternatives

Disturbing Inequities: Exploring the Relationship Between Racial Disparities in Special Education Identification and Discipline

This study examines whether exposure to novice teachers and risk for identification for special education predicated suspension rates. Identification as having emotional disturbance and specific learning disabilities were found to predict an increase in suspension rates for Black male students. The report's findings draw from 72,168 schools in nearly 7,000 school districts from nearly every state

NEPC Review: Understanding a Vicious Cycle: Do Out-of-School Suspensions Impact Student Test Scores?

A report from the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas examines the association between out-of-school suspensions and student test scores. Using dynamic and multilevel regression modeling of six years of school records from all K-12 public schools in Arkansas, the paper purports to estimate a causal relationship between exclusionary discipline and academic performance. It concludes, in contrast to prior work, that the number of days of suspension a student receives has a positive relationship to math and language arts test scores. However, the outcomes (end-of-year test scores) are measured at least a full year after the hypothesized causal factor (days suspended), and there is no control for days suspended in the year the test was taken. Consequently, the results do not reflect missed instructional time for the tested material or other associated mechanisms through which suspension might adversely affect test scores. The analyses also control for a large number of infractions that are strongly related to days of out-of-school suspension, which may produce biased results. The findings also have weak face validity, in light of the weight of evidence suggesting that exclusionary discipline and school absences have adverse effects on test scores, GPA, grade retention, and dropping out. For these reasons, the reviewers caution that this paper is not useful for policymakers. A response from the authors is below the review. The reviewers of &ldquo;Understanding A Vicious Cycle: Do Out-Of-School Suspensions Impact Student Test Scores?&rdquo; respond to criticisms of their review in two parts, Part I by Daniel Losen and Part II by Brea Louise Perry.</p

Altered sphingolipid function in Alzheimer's disease;:a gene regulatory network approach

Sphingolipids (SLs) are bioactive lipids involved in various important physiological functions. The SL pathway has been shown to be affected in several brain-related disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recent evidence suggests that epigenetic dysregulation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of AD as well. Here, we use an integrative approach to better understand the relationship between epigenetic and transcriptomic processes in regulating SL function in the middle temporal gyrus of AD patients. Transcriptomic analysis of 252 SL-related genes, selected based on GO term annotations, from 46 AD patients and 32 healthy age-matched controls, revealed 103 differentially expressed SL-related genes in AD patients. Additionally, methylomic analysis of the same subjects revealed parallel hydroxymethylation changes in PTGIS, GBA, and ITGB2 in AD. Subsequent gene regulatory network-based analysis identified 3 candidate genes, that is, SELPLG, SPHK1 and CAV1 whose alteration holds the potential to revert the gene expression program from a diseased towards a healthy state. Together, this epigenomic and transcriptomic approach highlights the importance of SL-related genes in AD, and may provide novel biomarkers and therapeutic alternatives to traditionally investigated biological pathways in AD.</p

CERT\u3csub\u3eL\u3c/sub\u3e Reduces C16 Ceramide, Amyloid-β Levels, and Inflammation in a Model of Alzheimer’s Disease

BACKGROUND: Dysregulation of ceramide and sphingomyelin levels have been suggested to contribute to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD). Ceramide transfer proteins (CERTs) are ceramide carriers which are crucial for ceramide and sphingomyelin balance in cells. Extracellular forms of CERTs co-localize with amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques in AD brains. To date, the significance of these observations for the pathophysiology of AD remains uncertain. METHODS: A plasmid expressing CERTL, the long isoform of CERTs, was used to study the interaction of CERTL with amyloid precursor protein (APP) by co-immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence in HEK cells. The recombinant CERTL protein was employed to study interaction of CERTL with amyloid-β (Aβ), Aβ aggregation process in presence of CERTL, and the resulting changes in Aβ toxicity in neuroblastoma cells. CERTL was overexpressed in neurons by adeno-associated virus (AAV) in a mouse model of familial AD (5xFAD). Ten weeks after transduction, animals were challenged with behavior tests for memory, anxiety, and locomotion. At week 12, brains were investigated for sphingolipid levels by mass spectrometry, plaques, and neuroinflammation by immunohistochemistry, gene expression, and/or immunoassay. RESULTS: Here, we report that CERTL binds to APP, modifies Aβ aggregation, and reduces Aβ neurotoxicity in vitro. Furthermore, we show that intracortical injection of AAV, mediating the expression of CERTL, decreases levels of ceramide d18:1/16:0 and increases sphingomyelin levels in the brain of male 5xFAD mice. CERTL in vivo over-expression has a mild effect on animal locomotion, decreases Aβ formation, and modulates microglia by decreasing their pro-inflammatory phenotype. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate a crucial role of CERTL in regulating ceramide levels in the brain, in amyloid plaque formation and neuroinflammation, thereby opening research avenues for therapeutic targets of AD and other neurodegenerative diseases

CERTL reduces C16 ceramide, amyloid-β levels, and inflammation in a model of Alzheimer’s disease

Background: Dysregulation of ceramide and sphingomyelin levels have been suggested to contribute to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Ceramide transfer proteins (CERTs) are ceramide carriers which are crucial for ceramide and sphingomyelin balance in cells. Extracellular forms of CERTs co-localize with amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques in AD brains. To date, the significance of these observations for the pathophysiology of AD remains uncertain. Methods: A plasmid expressing CERTL, the long isoform of CERTs, was used to study the interaction of CERTL with amyloid precursor protein (APP) by co-immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence in HEK cells. The recombinant CERTL protein was employed to study interaction of CERTL with amyloid-β (Aβ), Aβ aggregation process in presence of CERTL, and the resulting changes in Aβ toxicity in neuroblastoma cells. CERTL was overexpressed in neurons by adeno-associated virus (AAV) in a mouse model of familial AD (5xFAD). Ten weeks after transduction, animals were challenged with behavior tests for memory, anxiety, and locomotion. At week 12, brains were investigated for sphingolipid levels by mass spectrometry, plaques, and neuroinflammation by immunohistochemistry, gene expression, and/or immunoassay. Results: Here, we report that CERTL binds to APP, modifies Aβ aggregation, and reduces Aβ neurotoxicity in vitro. Furthermore, we show that intracortical injection of AAV, mediating the expression of CERTL, decreases levels of ceramide d18:1/16:0 and increases sphingomyelin levels in the brain of male 5xFAD mice. CERTL in vivo over-expression has a mild effect on animal locomotion, decreases Aβ formation, and modulates microglia by decreasing their pro-inflammatory phenotype. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate a crucial role of CERTL in r

Discipline Policies, Successful Schools, and Racial Justice

This research makes clear that unnecessarily harsh discipline policies are applied unfairly and disproportionately to minority students, dragging down academic achievement. The report documents a trend across the United States in which minority students routinely receive major penalties, including school suspensions, for minor school offenses. The materials also show how criminalizing kids detrimentally affects student learning, and criticizes the federal government’s minimal efforts to collect data in any uniform way on the large number of students kicked out of school.Also available at http://civilrightsproject.ucla.ed