From Testing to Teaching: The Use of Interim Assessments in Classroom Instruction

The past ten years have witnessed an explosion in the use of interim assessments by school districts across the country. A primary reason for this rapid growth is the assumption that interim assessments can inform and improve instructional practice and thereby contribute to increased student achievement. Testing companies, states, and districts have become invested in selling or creating interim assessments and data management systems designed to help teachers, principals, and district leaders make sense of student data, identify areas of strengths and weaknesses, identify instructional strategies for targeted students, and much more. Districts are keeping their interim tests even under pressure to cut budgets (Sawchuk, 2009). The U.S. Department of Education is using its Race to the Top program to encourage school districts to develop formative or interim assessments as part of comprehensive state assessment systems. Much of the rhetoric around interim assessments paints a rosy picture, often with the ultimate claim that such measures will lead to increased student achievement. Much of the belief in the potential of interim assessments to improve student learning comes from the growing body of research on formative assessment. However, the majority of this research has not focused on interim assessments themselves, but rather practices that are embedded within classroom instruction. Very few studies exist on how interim assessments are actually used, by individual teachers in classrooms, by principals, and by districts. Furthermore, we know little about how teachers and other educators use the results from such assessments, the conditions that support their ability to use these data to improve instruction, or the interaction of interim assessments with other classroom assessment practices. Our study begins to fill that vacuum

Can Interim Assessments Be Used for Instructional Change

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the use of interim assessments and the policy supports that promote their use to change instruction, focusing on elementary school mathematics. The study looked at how 45 elementary school teachers in a purposive sample of 9 schools in 2 districts used interim assessments in mathematics in 2006-07. The study focused on teachers\u27 use of data in a cycle of instructional improvement; that is, how teachers gather or access evidence about student learning; analyze and interpret that evidence; use evidence to plan instruction; and carry out improved instruction. Authors conclude that interim assessments that are designed for instructional purposes are helpful but not sufficient to inform instructional change

lbrutinib (lmbruvica™) for Treatment of Mantle Cell Lymphoma

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare and moderately aggressive form of non-Hodgkin\u27s lymphoma (NHL) that predominantly presents at an advanced stage in older males. Patients often present with multiple involvement in the lymph nodes, blood, spleen, bone marrow and gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Some patients may be asymptomatic in early stages or present with an incurable, indolent (slow progressing) form, while other patients display rapid growth of more aggressive lymphomas. Overall survival for patients diagnosed with MCL is four to five years and treatment should be initiated in those who are symptomatic. Mantle cell lymphoma responds well to first-line treatment, but recurrent relapses are common, and no regimen has been proven superior for relapsed or refractory MCL. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved ibrutinib (lmbruvica™) as breakthrough MCL therapy. lbrutinib is a Bruton\u27s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor that interferes with malignant B-cell proliferation and survival. In a recent clinical study, ibrutinib proved to be a highly active monotherapy with a favorable toxicity profile in 111 patients with relapsed or refractory MCL. As an oral chemotherapy drug, ibrutinib has the potential to improve patient compliance. Additionally, specialty pharmacies dispensing ibrutinib will be able to play an important role in patient counseling and monitoring

Impact of Community Pharmacists on Management of Cancer Chemotherapy and the Resulting Side Effects

The severe side effects of chemotherapy negatively affect quality of life and may limit the amount of life-saving drug delivered to patients with cancer. These adverse events can be difficult to manage and evidence-based guidelines are lacking. Insufficient supportive care can amplify common side effects, such as chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), myelosuppression, alopecia, gastrointestinal effects and neuropathy. Therefore, it is important to recognize the most commonly dispensed chemotherapy agents and the side effects that accompany them. Community pharmacists, as easily accessible health care professionals, can provide valuable supportive care to help manage potentially debilitating side effects. However, a major limitation when managing side effects secondary to chemotherapy is the limited access to patient information in most community pharmacies. By allowing community pharmacists increased access to patient health records using technology, limitations experienced in practice can be averted and quality care provided

AP39, A Mitochondrially- Targeted Hydrogen Sulfide Donor, Exerts Protective Effects in Renal Epithelial Cells Subjected to Oxidative Stress in Vitro and in Acute Renal Injury in Vivo.

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The article is published in final form in Shock, DOI: 10.1097/SHK.0000000000000478This study evaluated the effects of AP39 [(10-oxo-10-(4-(3-thioxo-3H-1,2-dithiol-5yl) phenoxy)decyl) triphenyl phosphonium bromide], a mitochondrially targeted donor of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in an in vitro model of hypoxia/oxidative stress injury in NRK-49F rat kidney epithelial cells (NRK cells) and in a rat model of renal ischemia-reperfusion injury. Renal oxidative stress was induced by the addition of glucose oxidase, which generates hydrogen peroxide in the culture medium at a constant rate. Glucose oxidase (GOx)-induced oxidative stress led to mitochondrial dysfunction, decreased intracellular ATP content, and, at higher concentrations, increased intracellular oxidant formation (estimated by the fluorescent probe 2, 7-dichlorofluorescein, DCF) and promoted necrosis (estimated by the measurement of lactate dehydrogenase release into the medium) of the NRK cells in vitro. Pretreatment with AP39 (30-300 nM) exerted a concentration-dependent protective effect against all of the above effects of GOx. Most of the effects of AP39 followed a bell-shaped concentration-response curve; at the highest concentration of GOx tested, AP39 was no longer able to afford cytoprotective effects. Rats subjected to renal ischemia/reperfusion responded with a marked increase (over 4-fold over sham control baseline) blood urea nitrogen and creatinine levels in blood, indicative of significant renal damage. This was associated with increased neutrophil infiltration into the kidneys (assessed by the myeloperoxidase assay in kidney homogenates), increased oxidative stress (assessed by the malondialdehyde assay in kidney homogenates) and an increase in plasma levels of IL-12. Pretreatment with AP39 (0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 mg/kg) provided a dose-dependent protection against these pathophysiological alterations; the most pronounced protective effect was observed at the 0.3 mg/kg dose of the H2S donor; nevertheless AP39 failed to achieve a complete normalization of any of the injury markers measured. The partial protective effects of AP39 correlated with a partial improvement of kidney histological scores and reduced TUNEL staining (an indicator of DNA damage and apoptosis). In summary, the mitochondria-targeted H2S donor AP39 exerted dose-dependent protective effects against renal epithelial cell injury in vitro and renal ischemia-reperfusion injury in vivo. We hypothesize that the beneficial actions of AP39 are related to the reduction of cellular oxidative stress, and subsequent attenuation of various positive feed-forward cycles of inflammatory and oxidative processes.National Institutes of Healt

A multiwavelength campaign of active stars with intermediate rotation rates

Near-to-simultaneous ultraviolet and visual spectroscopy of two moderate nu(sin i) RS CVn systems, V815 Herculis (nu(sin i) = 27 km s(exp -1)) and LM Pegasi (nu(sin i) = 24 km s(exp -1)), are presented along with contemporaneous UBV (RI)(sub c) - band photometry. These data were used to probe inhomogeneities in the chromospheres and photospheres, and the possible relationship between them. Both systems show evidence for rotationally modulated chromospheric emission, generally varying in antiphase to the photospheric brightness. A weak flare was observed at Mg II for V815 Her. In the case of IM Peg, we use photometry and spectra to estimate temperatures, sizes, and locations of photospheric spots. Further constraints on the spot temperature is provided by TiO observations. For IM Peg, the anticorrelation between chromospheric emission and brightness is discussed in the context of a possible solar-like spot cycle

Investigating Ca II emission in the RS CVn binary ER Vulpeculae using the Broadening Function Formalism

The synchronously rotating G stars in the detached, short-period (0.7 d), partially eclipsing binary, ER Vul, are the most chromospherically active solar-type stars known. We have monitored activity in the Ca II H & K reversals for almost an entire orbit. Rucinski's Broadening Function Formalism allows the photospheric contribution to be objectively subtracted from the highly blended spectra. The power of the BF technique is also demonstrated by the good agreement of radial velocities with those measured by others from less crowded spectral regions. In addition to strong Ca II emission from the primary and secondary, there appears to be a high-velocity stream flowing onto the secondary where it stimulates a large active region on the surface 30 - 40 degrees in advance of the sub-binary longitude. A model light curve with a spot centered on the same longitude also gives the best fit to the observed light curve. A flare with approximately 13% more power than at other phases was detected in one spectrum. We suggest ER Vul may offer a magnified view of the more subtle chromospheric effects synchronized to planetary revolution seen in certain `51 Peg'-type systems.Comment: Accepted to AJ; 17 pages and 16 figure

Arene oxidation with malonoyl peroxides

Malonoyl peroxide 7, prepared in a single step from the commercially available diacid, is an effective reagent for the oxidation of aromatics. Reaction of an arene with peroxide 7 at room temperature leads to the corresponding protected phenol which can be unmasked by aminolysis. An ionic mechanism consistent with the experimental findings and supported by isotopic labeling, Hammett analysis, EPR investigations and reactivity profile studies is proposed