Why Should Students Want to Do a Close Reading?

This article explores the issue of student interest in close reading. In particular, it raises questions about the limited focus on student engagement in much of the current discourse about close reading and considers how teachers might build and sustain the student interest necessary for literacy activity, especially close reading. Specifically, we draw on sociocultural perspectives on literacy and emerging findings from our own research on teachers\u27 work with the Common Core Standards to describe a set of classroom practices we believe hold promise for facilitating engagement in close reading, particularly among students from historically underserved communities

THE U.S. DAIRY INDUSTRY

Agribusiness,

Quality in Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care Settings

Currently, more than 60 percent of children in the United States under the age of 5 are in some type of non-parental child care on a regular basis (Johnson, 2005) and care by family, friends, and neighbors (FFN care) is the most common form of nonparental child care in the nation (Maher & Joesch, 2005; Sonenstein, Gates, Schmidt, & Bolshun, 2002; Snyder, Adelman & Dore, 2005). Infants and toddlers, regardless of family income or household structure, are predominantly cared for by family, friends, and neighbors. One state study in Minnesota, for example, found that 78 percent of children under the age of 3 were in FFN care (Chase, 2005). National studies show that nearly half of all children (under the age of 6) spend time in family, friend, and neighbor care (Boushey & Wright, 2004), and nearly a quarter of school-age children are cared for by FFN caregivers (Capizzano, Tout, & Adams, 2000; Snyder & Adelman, 2004). Recognizing the widespread use of FFN care, a number of national and state agencies have invested public funds to support the use and strengthening of family, friend, and neighbor care. For instance, since 1988 parents can use federal child care subsidies (through the Child Care and Development Fund) to pay for care by a FFN caregiver, and currently nearly a quarter (22 percent) of all children who receive federal child care subsidies use FFN care (U.S. Child Care Bureau, 2009). Additionally, more than 25 percent of states now fund quality improvement initiatives specifically aimed at family, friend, and neighbor child care (Porter & Rivera, 2005). New understanding of how the quality of various early childhood settings affects child outcomes has led to increased attention regarding quality at the state and federal levels and prompted policymakers, researchers, and parents to ask more careful questions about the quality of care across settings, including FFN care. To date, much of the research on the quality of child care has explored the quality of care offered in licensed child care settings (that is child care centers and family child care homes). Given that FFN caregivers are generally exempt from state regulation (depending on the state), only need to meet basic health and safety requirements to receive CCDF payments for providing care, and therefore not required to meet defined program standards, the quality of the care children are receiving in FFN care is of primary importance. This review examines the current research on the quality of family, friend, and neighbor care

Demographics of family, friend, and neighbor child care: Table of methods and findings

A table outlining the research methodologies, populations, sources of data, and findings of select studies on the provision and use of family, friend, and neighbor care in the United State

Demographics of Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care in the United States

A review of research on the characteristics of users and providers of family, friend, and neighbor care (FFN), and a review of research on FFN usage patterns by children's age

Demographics of Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care in the United States

A review of research on the characteristics of users and providers of family, friend, and neighbor care (FFN), and a review of research on FFN usage patterns by children's age

High Heat Tolerance is Negatively Correlated with Upper Thermal Tolerance Plasticity in North Eastern Pacific Nudibranch Mollusks

Rapid ocean warming may alter habitat suitability and population fitness for marine ectotherms. Susceptibility to thermal perturbations will depend in part on plasticity of a species’ upper thermal limits of performance (CTmax). However, we currently lack data regarding CTmax plasticity for several major marine taxa, including nudibranch mollusks, thus limiting predictive responses to habitat warming for these species. In order to determine relative sensitivity to future warming, we investigated heat tolerance limits (CTmax), heat tolerance plasticity (acclimation response ratio), thermal safety margins, temperature sensitivity of metabolism, and metabolic cost of heat shock in nine species of nudibranchs collected across a thermal gradient along the northeastern Pacific coast of California and held at ambient and elevated temperature for thermal acclimation. Heat tolerance differed significantly among species, ranging from 25.4°±0.5°C to 32.2°±1.8°C (x¯±SD), but did not vary with collection site within species. Thermal plasticity was generally high (0.52±0.06, x¯±SE) and was strongly negatively correlated with CTmax in accordance with the trade-off hypothesis of thermal adaptation. Metabolic costs of thermal challenge were low, with no significant alteration in respiration rate of any species 1 h after exposure to acute heat shock. Thermal safety margins, calculated against maximum habitat temperatures, were negative for nearly all species examined (−8.5°±5.3°C, x¯±CI [confidence interval]). From these data, we conclude that warm adaptation in intertidal nudibranchs constrains plastic responses to acute thermal challenge and that southern warm-adapted species are likely most vulnerable to future warming

Temperature and Salinity Sensitivity of Respiration, Grazing, and Excretion Rates in the Estuarine Eelgrass Sea Hare, Phyllaplysia taylori

Highly dynamic environments such as estuaries are home to organisms accustomed to wide fluctuations in environmental conditions. However, estuarine temperature and salinity conditions are expected to shift with climate change, potentially altering plant and animal physiology and consequently their ecological interactions. Phyllaplysia taylori, a sea hare that lives exclusively in nearshore eelgrass beds in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, is a positive ecological interactor with eelgrass by increasing eelgrass productivity through grazing removal of photosynthesis-blocking epiphytes. The central aim of our study is to understand how increasing temperature and salinity are likely to alter that ecological interaction. First, we determined salinity thresholds for survival of P. taylori at 20 °C (typical summer temperature) for 2 weeks, and found that significant mortality occurs at salinity below 25 ppt. Then, we determined respiration rate, grazing rate, and defecation rate of P. taylori following a crossed 2-week acclimation at typical summer low- and high temperatures (18 and 22 °C) and salinities (27 and 33 ppt). P. taylori respiration and grazing rates were elevated under low salinity and high temperature. To determine how P. taylori responds to very warm and extreme summer temperatures, we measured respiration rates at higher temperatures (26 °C—very warm summer and 30 °C—heat shock) and feeding rates following exposure to the 30 °C heat shock. Irrespective of acclimation salinity, P. taylori acclimated to 18 °C were more sensitive to heat shock, as they had a larger increase in respiration rate at 30 °C, and had reduced feeding rates following the 30 °C exposure, whereas there was no reduction in feeding rate in 22 °C acclimated specimens. This study provides the first data on the salinity and temperature sensitivity and metabolic physiology of P. taylori with relevance to their trophic position in the context of eelgrass ecosystems