English Learners and Students with Disabilities: A Texas School District Perspective

Disproportionate enrollment of minorities in special education has been an equity issue in the United States for decades (Artiles, et al., 2010), often leading to case law and policy changes to provide corrective action. For example, in the 2004 amendments to the Individual with Disabilities Act (IDEA), the federal government mandated states to monitor such disproportionality. Despite years of examination, researchers have continued to explore complex issues of disproportionate enrollments because the problem persists despite policy and legal changes to the system. I examined English learners (Els) because the student group has not received as much attention in the literature, especially when compared to student race or gender (Waitoller et al., 2010). I extended current research of ELs in special education by exploring the relationship between ELs and special education, and how student or school characteristics play a role in determining special education qualification. Enrollment of any student population can be significantly impacted by, and varied, at localized contexts. To further current literature, I examined the local enrollment patterns of a large, urban school district in the Southwest from 2014-2018. The goals of the study were to (a) determine if there was a disproportionate enrollment of ELs in high-incidence categories of special education including specific; (b) determine if students were less likely or more likely to be classified as EL and a student with a disability (SWD) as their English-speaking peers, and (c) to determine the probability of a non-native English speaker qualifying as special needs in a large urban school district. I used composite indices, risk indices, logit regression, and multilevel probit modeling for the analysis. EL students were underrepresented and less likely to be enrolled in special education for all five years included in the study compared to their white and native English speaking peers. If EL students qualified for special education services, the EL students were most likely to have a disability of speech impairment. Further research should examine practices at the school level to determine if bias or exceptions are given to EL students before and during the special education qualifying process

Bilingual Education in Texas: Exploring Best Practices

This capstone team conducted an analysis of bilingual and English as a second language (ESL) practices in the state of Texas. Their analysis has three distinct parts. In the first part, the team developed four indicators of school success with respect to students who have limited English proficiency (LEP). In the second part, they developed a survey of teacher, classroom and program characteristics that they distributed to all elementary and middle schools with at least 30 LEP students. The final part of their analysis examined the relationship between their four measures of school success and the survey responses regarding instructional practices and program characteristics. The team found that there were no school-level differences in performance between teachers in bilingual education programs and teachers in ESL programs. They also found that consistent instruction in one language (either English or Spanish) was more effective for content learning than a mix of instructional languages, and that instructional methods identified as particularly effective by the existing bilingual/ESL literature are widely practiced in Texas

Assessment of immunogenicity of romiplostim in clinical studies with ITP subjects

Romiplostim is an Fc-peptide fusion protein that activates intracellular transcriptional pathways via the thrombopoietin (TPO) receptor leading to increased platelet production. Romiplostim has been engineered to have no amino acid sequence homology to endogenous TPO. Recombinant protein therapeutics can be at a risk of development of an antibody response that can impact efficacy and safety. Hence, a strategy to detect potential antibody formation to the drug and to related endogenous molecules can be useful. The immunogenicity assessment strategy involved both the detection and characterization of binding and neutralizing antibodies. The method for detection was based on a surface plasmon resonance biosensor platform using the Biacore 3000. Samples that tested positive for binding antibodies in the Biacore immunoassay were then tested in a neutralization assay. Serum samples from 225 subjects with immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) dosed with romiplostim and 45 ITP subjects dosed with placebo were tested for romiplostim and TPO antibodies. Prior to romiplostim treatment, 17 subjects (7%) tested romiplostim antibody positive and 12 subjects (5%) tested TPO antibody positive for pre-existing binding antibodies. After romiplostim exposure, 11% of the subjects exhibited binding antibodies against romiplostim and 5% of the subjects with ITP showed binding antibodies against TPO. The antibodies against romiplostim did not cross-react with TPO and vice versa. No cases of anti-TPO neutralizing antibodies were detected in romiplostim-treated subjects. The incidence of anti-romiplostim neutralizing antibodies to romiplostim was 0.4% (one subject); this subject tested negative at the time of follow-up 4 months later. No impact on platelet profiles were apparent in subjects that had antibodies to romiplostim to date. In summary, administration of romiplostim in ITP subjects resulted in the development of a binding antibody response against romiplostim and TPO ligand. One subject developed a neutralizing antibody response to romiplostim that impacted the platelet counts of this subject. No neutralizing antibodies to endogenous TPO were observed

Thrombocytogenesis by megakaryocyte; Interpretation by protoplatelet hypothesis

Serial transmission electron microscopy of human megakaryocytes (MKs) revealed their polyploidization and gradual maturation through consecutive transition in characteristics of various organelles and others. At the beginning of differentiation, MK with ploidy 32N, e.g., has 16 centrosomes in the cell center surrounded by 32N nucleus. Each bundle of microtubules (MTs) emanated from the respective centrosome supports and organizes 16 equally volumed cytoplasmic compartments which together compose one single 32N MK. During the differentiation, single centriole separated from the centriole pair, i.e., centrosome, migrates to the most periphery of the cell through MT bundle, corresponding to a half of the interphase array originated from one centrosome, supporting one “putative cytoplasmic compartment” (PCC). Platelet demarcation membrane (DM) is constructed on the boundary surface between neighbouring PCCs. Matured PCC, composing of a tandem array of platelet territories covered by a sheet of DM is designated as protoplatelet. Eventually, the rupture of MK results in release of platelets from protoplatelets

Review of \u3ci\u3eThe Cowboy: Representations of Labor in an American Work Culture\u3c/i\u3e By Blake Allmendinger

Of all the mythologies Americans have constructed for themselves, that surrounding the cowboy is among the most influential and persistent. Blake Allmendinger\u27s book attempts to correct this popularized myth by examining how cowboys represented themselves. The Cowboy argues that authentic cowboy culture is best defined as an expression of labor and its self-representation in art. While this is an interesting direction to take in itself, what especially recommends it is Allmendinger\u27s interdisciplinary method. He skillfully combines traditional historical and literary approaches with an examination of folkloric and pop culture sources to create a complex picture of an evolving culture

Willa Cather and Ralph Waldo Emerson: A literary conversation

This dissertation attempts to create a conversation between the work of Willa Cather and Ralph Waldo Emerson. By examining the way their writings developed, biographical parallels, and shared themes, metaphors, and rhetorical strategies, I show how the works of these two authors, when read side by side, resonate with meanings neither possesses in isolation. The works of Cather and Emerson progressed through four stages. The first phase, evident in Cather\u27s early short stories and in Emerson\u27s youthful letters and journals, was an acute awareness of and anxiety about the limitations fate places on human power. I examine the second phase, an optimistic affirmation of the individual self, by comparing Cather\u27s O Pioneers!, Song of the Lark, and My Ántonia to Emerson\u27s early essays, particularly “Nature”, “The American Scholar”, and “The Poet”. Emerson and Cather next passed through a stage of crisis and skepticism focused around the loss of human relationships. In examining this stage, I hold up A Lost Lady to “Montaigne; or, the Skeptic” and The Professor\u27s House to “Experience” and conclude that Cather and Emerson each came to believe that human relationships are always susceptible to misunderstanding and loss because no person can really know another. In the final phase, exemplified by Cather\u27s Death Comes for The Archbishop and Emerson\u27s “Fate”, Cather and Emerson turned from skepticism to faith. Each did this by hearkening back to the fatalism of their youth. This fatalism forced Emerson and Cather to give up their former belief in the power of the individual in return for a greater sense of order and purpose in the universe. Finally, with Obscure Destinies, Cather took a retrospective look at her career. Each story in the volume corresponds to a phase of her writing life—“Neighbor Rosicky” with affirmative idealism, “Two Friends” with skepticism, and “Old Mrs. Harris” with fatalism. Cather\u27s final position was neither celebratory nor despairing but indicated an understanding and acceptance of the intractably complex and ambiguous nature of human life