Maximizing Literacy Instructional Potency in a Classical Education Charter School

Variable research spans several decades on how emergent readers should be taught. Literacy experts and governmental reports document evidence-based reading acquisition. Yet, a wide gap remains between the state of research and a professional understanding and application of how teachers should maximize daily literacy instruction in elementary classrooms. Teaching students how to crack the alphabetic code is crucial and forms the foundation for further reading acquisition as students mature. Robust scientific consensus overwhelmingly supports utilizing explicit, systematic phonics instruction in the initial stages of learning to read. Therefore, educators must prioritize strong foundational phonics skills in grades K-2 to help their learners become confident, successful readers. A comprehensive review of critical influences on reading in the early grades will enhance instructional adjustments for improving literacy instruction. Consequently, this action research study provides school leaders and teachers with the scientific, theoretical, and historical background to elevate K-2 instructional methods and promote evidenced-based literacy instruction. To improve student achievement and pedagogy, school leaders must empower teachers with professional learning opportunities to understand and apply the science of reading research so they may begin crafting relevant curricula that employ explicit, systematic phonics instruction in K-2 classrooms

Pressing Washington\u27s Wine Industry into the Twenty-First Century: Rethinking What It Means to Be a Winery

Washington’s wine industry is growing, and the ways in which Washington winemakers craft and sell their product are changing. Traditional “brick and mortar” wineries coexist with so-called “virtual wineries,” which typically purchase grapes from growers and contract with other wineries or custom crush facilities to access winemaking equipment. The virtual winery is an incubator model and contributes to the rich diversity of Washington’s wine industry. Washington’s current winery licensing statute, RCW 66.24.170, does not clearly apply to virtual wineries because it links the concept of a winery with a particular physical location and fails to delineate exactly what types of winemaking activities licensees must engage in. This statutory ambiguity causes confusion for winemakers and regulators. House Bill 1641, introduced in January 2011, seeks to remedy the confusion by dividing the current winery licensing statute into two classes: one for traditional wineries, and one for virtual wineries. The latter would be licensed not as producers of wine but as retailers. While well-intentioned, House Bill 1641 could negatively impact Washington’s wine industry by limiting virtual wineries’ access to consumers via interstate direct shipment. Unlike licensed wine producers, wine retailers presently lack Commerce Clause protection from state laws discriminating against direct shipment of out-of-state wine. Thus, this Comment argues that Washington should follow the example of Oregon and enact legislation amending RCW 66.24.170 to clearly license virtual wineries as producers

Flowers in three dimensions and beyond

textPattern formation in buckled membranes was studied along with the morphology of flowers formed at the tip of silicon nanowires and ripples formed in suspended graphene sheets. Nash's perturbation method was tested for a simple case where initial and final metrics embed smoothly and there is a smooth path from one surface to another and was found to work successfully. The method was tested in more realistic conditions where a smooth path was not known and the method failed. Cylindrical flower-like membranes with a metric of negative Gaussian curvature were simulated in three and four dimensions. These four dimensional flowers had 2 orders of magnitude less energy than their three dimensional counterparts. Simulations were used to show that the addition of a fourth spatial dimension did not relieve all bending energy from the cylindrical membranes. Patterns formed at the tip of silicon nanowires were studied and found to be of the Dense Branching Morphology type. The rate of branching is dependent on the curvature of the gold bubble on which they are grown. Graphene was simulated using the modified embedded atom method potential and buckles were found to form if the carbon bonds were stretched. An energy functional was found for the energy of a sheet with a metric different from that of flat space.Physic

Control of \u3cem\u3eListeria monocytogenes\u3c/em\u3e in Ready-to-Eat Meat Containing Levulinate, Lactate, or Lactate and Diacetate

Control of the pathogen Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat (RTE) meats is a major concern in the food industry. The objective of this study was to compare the growth of L. monocytogenes on refrigerated RTE meats containing sodium levulinate (4-oxopentanoic acid, a five carbon organic acid with GRAS status), sodium lactate, or a combination of sodium lactate and sodium diacetate. Turkey roll and bologna were prepared to contain (wt/wt) sodium lactate (2%); sodium lactate in combination with sodium diacetate (1.875% sodium lactate, 0.125% sodium diacetate); sodium levulinate (1, 2, or 3%); or no antilisterial additive. Samples were sliced, inoculated with a 5-strain cocktail (102 to 103 CFU/cm2) of L. monocytogenes, vacuum packaged, and stored at 2°C for 0-12 weeks. Triplicate packages of each treatment were analyzed bi-weekly for growth of the pathogen. Bacterial counts exceeded 105 CFU/cm2 in controls after 4 weeks in turkey and over 106 CFU/cm2 after 8 weeks in bologna. In turkey, L. monocytogenes showed significant growth in samples containing sodium lactate after 6 weeks(\u3e104 CFU/cm2) and after 8 weeks when used in combination with diacetate. Further, samples containing 1% sodium levulinate did not show significant growth of the pathogen for 10 weeks (~104 CFU/cm2), while those containing 2% and 3% levulinate inhibited growth for 12 weeks. In bologna, adding any antimicrobial inhibited growth for 12 weeks. Finally, Listeria-free samples of turkey roll and bologna, containing the various organic acid salts, were evaluated by members of consumer taste panels. Statistical analysis (ANOV A) showed that there were no differences in overall liking of samples of turkey roll (p = 0.19) or bologna (p = 0.42). In turkey, sodium levulinate was more effective at preventing growth of L. monocytogenes, while in bologna it was as effective as the current industry standards lactate and diacetate. Addition of levulinate did not alter the sensory acceptability of either product

What a successful Covid-19 vaccination campaign would look like

A COVID-19 vaccine appears to be the only way out of repeated lockdowns – yet in the UK and US, where trust in governments’ handling of the pandemic is already low, many people are minded to refuse it. Rebecca Forman and Lucy Thompson (LSE) set out what a proactive vaccination campaign would look like

Genetic Counseling Students’ Attitudes Towards Psychiatric Illness

Mental illness is very common, with some estimates that up to 50% of the population will experience a diagnosable mental illness in their lifetime (Moffitt et al., 2010). Because of this, genetic counselors are likely to come across mental illness in patients throughout their careers. Stigma towards mental illness is a well-documented phenomenon, both in society and in the healthcare field (Mann & Himelein, 2004; Nordt, Rӧssler, & Lauber, 2006; Reavley & Jorm, 2011). It is possible that estimates of negative attitudes and stigma collected from genetic counseling trainees in past studies are underestimates, as they have relied on measures of explicit bias (Feret et al., 2011; Low et al., 2018). By measuring participants’ implicit and explicit biases, this study aimed to gain a better understanding of attitudes towards mental illness held by genetic counseling trainees. We found that genetic counseling trainees held no implicit bias towards individuals with either physical or mental illness. This data suggests that underlying bias did not contribute to the unpreparedness reported by new graduates (Feret, Conway, & Austin, 2011a; Low, Dixon, Higgs, Joines, & Hippman, 2018), so genetic counseling trainees may be receptive to clinically relevant education pertaining to mental illness. These results could inform curriculum of genetic counseling programs and facilitate provision of services to this population