Standards Implementation in Kentucky: Local Perspectives on Policy, Challenges, Resources, and Instruction

This report examines select data from a survey administered to principals and teachers in the state of Kentucky during the spring of 2016. The results presented focus on responses about the state’s standards-based reform policies as described by the policy attributes (Porter, Floden, Freeman, Schmidt, & Schwille, 1988), the theoretical framework that undergirds C-SAIL’s research. The framework suggests that five attributes are related to successful policy implementation, and that the stronger each attribute is, the better implementation will be

Year 1 State Report: California

This report examines how the state of California approached college- and career-ready standards implementation during a time of transition. For the purposes of this report and in keeping with C-SAIL’s focus, the authors concentrate on implementation of California’s English language arts (ELA) and math standards

Teacher Implementation of College and Career-Ready Standards: Challenges & Resources

Because teachers are the primary implementers of college- and career-ready standards, C-SAIL examined the challenges teachers face in using the standards in the classroom, the resources they find to be most helpful, and their attitudes toward the standards. This brief examines these issues using 2016–2017 survey data from Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky

Standards Implementation in Texas: Local Perspectives on Policy, Challenges, Resources, and Instruction

This report examines select data from a survey administered to districts, principals, and teachers in the state of Texas during the spring of 2016. The results presented focus on responses about the state’s standards-based reform policies as described by the policy attributes (Porter, Floden, Freeman, Schmidt, & Schwille, 1988), the theoretical framework that undergirds C-SAIL’s research. The framework suggests that five attributes are related to successful policy implementation, and that the stronger each attribute is, the better implementation will be

How is policy affecting classroom instruction?

Five-plus years into the experiment with new “college- and career-ready standards” (of which Common Core is the most notable and most controversial example), we know little about teachers’ implementation and the ways policy can support that implementation. This paper uses new state-representative teacher survey data to characterize the degree of standards implementation across three states—Kentucky, Ohio, and Texas. We also investigate teachers’ perceptions of the extent to which the policy environment supports them to implement the standards. We find a great deal of variation in perceptions of policy, with Ohio teachers perceiving policy to be less supportive than Kentucky or Texas teachers. Teachers in all states are mostly implementing the content in new standards, but they are also teaching a good deal of content they should not—content that has been deemphasized in their grade-level standards. Perceptions of policy do not explain much of the variation in instruction, contrary to our theory. If greater attention is not paid to supporting teachers to implement the standards and reduce coverage of deemphasized content, we worry the standards will not have much effect

Biofabrication using recombinant spider silk proteins as a biomaterial

Biofabrication for applications in regenerative medicine is a rapidly expanding field. Remarkable about this approach compared to traditional approaches is its feasibility for larger scale production at high quality and reproducibility. However, there is a lack of process-compatible materials for biofabrication due to the need for mild, aqueous processing conditions. More specifically, the solvents used must have neutral pH, and salts in proper osmolality, temperatures used cannot be too high or low, and so forth. The recombinant spider-silk protein eADF4(C16) (engineered Araneus diadematus fibroin 4) is biocompatible, biodegradable and hypoallergenic and can be provided in large quantities with consistent material qualities. In order to overcome limitations in terms of cell adhesion and proliferation e.g. the integrin recognition sequence RGD was genetically introduced. eADF4(C16) and its variants can be fabricated into various types of scaffold. Morphologies produced from recombinant spider silk proteins include films, foams, fibers, particles, microcapsules and hydrogels. However, with the exception of thermally-gelled hydrogels, the established processes are not cytocompatible due to extreme physical (e.g. high voltages, high salt concentration) and/or chemical (e.g. toxic solvents) conditions. Thereby, current research with these recombinant proteins focuses on utilizing thermally-gelled hydrogel as bioinks to be used in biofabrication and optimizing current processing protocols for other morphologies to be cell-friendly

The Effect of Learning on the Function of Monkey Extrastriate Visual Cortex

One of the most remarkable capabilities of the adult brain is its ability to learn and continuously adapt to an ever-changing environment. While many studies have documented how learning improves the perception and identification of visual stimuli, relatively little is known about how it modifies the underlying neural mechanisms. We trained monkeys to identify natural images that were degraded by interpolation with visual noise. We found that learning led to an improvement in monkeys' ability to identify these indeterminate visual stimuli. We link this behavioral improvement to a learning-dependent increase in the amount of information communicated by V4 neurons. This increase was mediated by a specific enhancement in neural activity. Our results reveal a mechanism by which learning increases the amount of information that V4 neurons are able to extract from the visual environment. This suggests that V4 plays a key role in resolving indeterminate visual inputs by coordinated interaction between bottom-up and top-down processing streams

A Comparative Study of Murine Mast Cell Progenitors

This thesis is a comparative study of variables affecting differentiation and proliferation of progenitor cells from various embryonic and fetal tissue sites as they differentiate into mast cells. Embryonic stem cells from gestation day 4.5 (d4.5) differentiated exclusively into mast cells when cultured in semi-solid media with stem cell factor (SCF) and Interleukin-3 (IL-3). The same was true of d8-1 1 yolk sac cells and d8-1 1 cells from the embryo itself. However, culture with SCF and IL-3 of cells from dl4 fetal livers differentiated into mast cells, cells of the erythrocyte lineage and a few macrophages which may have been similar to the stromal cell found in the bone marrow that supplies iron to and removes the nucleus from erythrocytes. An rythrocyte-nurturing role for the fetal liver macrophages was substantiated by removing cells expressing Mac1, and sorting for cells expressing the early mast cell marker, Kit, resulting in cells that differentiated only into mast cells with SCF and IL-3. The variables affecting proliferation that were studied were brief incubation at very high cell density, and co-culture with fibroblasts. In addition, a few experiments were done to determine the mechanism of the effect of these variables on proliferation. High cell density incubation increased proliferation of yolk sac, fetal liver and bone marrow cells. The increased proliferation of yolk sac and bone marrow cells was attenuated by an inhibitor of the sodium-ionlhydrogen-ion exchanger, 5-(N,N-hexamethylene) amiloride (HMA). The exchanger was also found to play a role in the subsequent proliferation of mast cells from bone marrow cells co-cultured with fibroblasts since, if HMA was present during the first thirty minutes of contact, mast cell proliferation decreased by 75%. Using fluorescent imaging, activation of this exchanger was monitored by an increase in intracellular pH. Altogether these results demonstrate a growing concept in developmental biology regarding the normal stem cell in its niche (tissue site) and the effects of exogenous variables on it. They substantiate the concept that the differentiation path and proliferation of a stem cell depends both on its past history and on its future circumstances

Fabrication of multiphasic and regio-specifically functionalized PRINT ® particles of controlled size and shape

Using Particle Replication In Nonwetting Templates (PRINT®) technology, multiphasic and regio-specifically functionalized shape-controlled particles have been fabricated that include end-labeled particles via post-functionalization; biphasic Janus particles that integrate two compositionally different chemistries into a single particle; and more complex multiphasic shape-specific particles. Controlling the anisotropic distribution of matter within a particle creates an extra parameter in the colloidal particle design, providing opportunities to generate advanced particles with versatile and tunable compositions, properties, and thus functionalities. Owing to their robust characteristics, these multiphasic and regio-specifically functionalized PRINT particles should be promising platforms for applications in life science and materials science

Toward the PSTN/Internet Inter-Networking--Pre-PINT Implementations

This document contains the information relevant to the development of the inter-networking interfaces underway in the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)/Internet Inter-Networking (PINT) Working Group. It addresses technologies, architectures, and several (but by no means all) existing pre-PINT implementations of the arrangements through which Internet applications can request and enrich PSTN telecommunications services. The common denominator of the enriched services (a.k.a. PINT services) is that they combine the Internet and PSTN services in such a way that the Internet is used for non-voice interactions, while the voice (and fax) are carried entirely over the PSTN. One key observation is that the pre-PINT implementations, being developed independently, do not inter-operate. It is a task of the PINT Working Group to define the inter-networking interfaces that will support inter-operation of the future implementations of PINT services