Teacher perspectives on the impact of high-stakes testing on students with disabilities : a grounded theory study

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 1997 (IDEA), No Child Left Behind Act 2001 (NCLB), and Every Child Succeeds Act 2015 (ESSA) has changed how public schools adapt to standards and accountability systems for all students, including students with mild-to-significant cognitive disabilities. Federal legislation has changed the focus of teaching and learning since the implementation of NCLB. This movement has altered the way students with disabilities are compared to their same-age peers. High-stakes testing has generated numerous challenges for educators, administrators, parents, and students across the nation. Increased pressure has been placed on schools to achieve Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), based on participation and proficiency rates in English language arts and math for all students, including students disabilities. The purpose of this study was to understand how North Dakota general education teachers were adapting to the federal legislative requirements that high-stakes testing placed on curriculum and instructional practices for students with disabilities. NCLB not only mandated access to general education curriculum for students with disabilities during high-stakes testing, but it also held students with disabilities to higher standards. The study findings indicated that teachers felt pressured into making instructional decisions based on high-stakes testing. As a consequence, teachers were spending more time on test preparation, students with disabilities were exposed to a less rigorous curriculum, teachers felt less in control of making decisions regarding curriculum and instructional practices in their classrooms, and teachers were unable to deploy strategies that supported Universal Design of Learning

Structuring a Teacher Education Program for Faculty Collaboration and Second-Order Change

The purpose of this paper is to describe the structure and functions of an integrated elementary special education undergraduate teacher program (Integrated Elementary/Special Education Teacher Education Program, ITEP). By abandoning our old “enhancement model” of teacher education, we redesigned our program into a “merged model.” We examine this restructuring from the perspective of first- and second- order change, and we discuss the obstacles we found that prohibit meaningful second-order change. Finally, we briefly discuss how our experiences in designing ITEP and our state’s devastating fiscal crisis have affected our teacher-education programs and nudged us into more authentic second-order changes

Photo Policière: Representations of Female Police Officers in Police Procedurals written by Chrystine Brouillet, Vicki Delany and Louise Penny

"L'image que l'on donne/ N'est pas toujours la bonne" Les Cowboys Fringants, “Les Hirondelles” Malgré les changements dans le traitement des femmes au fil des décennies, les vraies policières continuent de souffrir des injustices de la part de leurs supérieurs masculins, ainsi que de la communauté qu'ils ont juré de protéger. Tant que la fiction reflète la réalité, on peut s'attendre que le genre de la polar du type policier démontrera non seulement les injustices entre les sexes, mais aussi les façons différentes que les victimes féminin y répondre. Comme des vrais policières, les détectives féminins fictifs sont trop souvent des victimes, même quand elles sont les protagonistes, même si leurs auteurs sont des femmes. Preuve de la discrimination contre les femmes policières réelles et fictives seront explorées dans cette thèse en regardant l'histoire des romans policiers, à travers des études de cas réels impliquant des policiers féminins réelles, ainsi que l'analyse de certains personnages clés dans les textes de discussion par Chrystine Brouillet, Vicki Delany et Louise Penny. En conséquence, il sera démontré que les images projetées par les agents de polices féminins réels et fictifs, quelles ne sont pas toujours bonnes, sont de plus en plus varié à la suite du mouvement féministe et en raison de la résistance littéral et imaginaire aux stéréotypes sexistes. Même si elles sont maintenant les protagonistes, les femmes détectives fictionaux faire face aux un réduction du l'agence et sont soumisent aux attentes différentes de genre que leurs homologues masculins. Aspects de l'inégalité des sexes présents dans les sociétés occidentales d'aujourd'hui se glissent dans la fiction et agir dans une manière pas toujours possible dans la monde réalité. Parfois, les situations sexistes sont résolu dans fiction, malgré le fait qu'ils existent toujours dans les vies quotidien de certaines femmes policiers. Les stéréotypes autour qu'est-ce que ça veut dire d'être policier causent des injustices du genre et existent souvent simultanément avec des images de femmes qui nient ces mêmes stéréotypes. La représentation de la femme policière est donc multiples, les stéréotypes reproduit, mélangé, ou effacé complètement. Masculinity is still regarded as the embodiment of strength and heroism and the female body, weakness and victimization. Philippa Gates, Detecting Women, 282 Despite changes in the treatment of women over the decades, policewomen continue to suffer gender injustices at the hands of their male superiors, as well as from the community they are sworn to protect. The injustices they face are publicized by such media as the CBC, though often in an exaggerated fashion. As fiction often reflects reality, one can expect that the genre of the police procedural will demonstrate not only such gender injustices but also various ways victims respond to them. Like real policewomen, fictional female detectives are too often victims even when they are the protagonists, and even when their author is a woman. Evidence of the victimization of real and fictional policewomen will be explored in this thesis by looking at the history of detective fiction, and through real case studies involving real female police officers, as well as the analysis of certain key characters in focus texts by Chrystine Brouillet, Vicki Delany, and Louise Penny. As a result, it will be shown that the images projected by actual and fictional female police officers, while not always positive ones, are becoming more varied as a result of the feminist movement and as a result of literal and imaginary resistance to sexist stereotypes. Despite having moved into a protagonist position, fictional female detectives all too often have reduced agency and different gendered expectations than their male counterparts. Aspects of gender inequity present in Western societies today creep into fiction and are played out in ways not always possible in reality. Sometimes, sexist problems present in the fictional texts are resolved despite the fact that they still exist in certain policewomen's everyday lives. Stereotypes of what a police officer should be function in ways that reflect and reproduce gender injustices and often exist simultaneously with images of women that resist and oppose these same stereotypes. The representation of policewoman is thus multiple, reproducing stereotypes, blurring them, or erasing them altogether

Patient preferences for adjuvant radiotherapy in early breast cancer are strongly influenced by treatment received through random assignment

Objective: TARGIT‐A randomised women with early breast cancer to receive external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) or intraoperative radiotherapy (TARGIT‐IORT). This study aimed to identify what extra risk of recurrence patients would accept for per‐ ceived benefits and risks of different radiotherapy treatments. Methods: Patient preferences were determined by self‐rated trade‐off question‐ naires in two studies: Stage (1) 209 TARGIT‐A participants (TARGIT‐IORT n = 108, EBRT n = 101); Stage (2) 123 non‐trial patients yet to receive radiotherapy (pre‐treat‐ ment group), with 85 also surveyed post‐radiotherapy. Patients traded‐off risks of local recurrence in preference selection between TARGIT‐IORT and EBRT. Results: TARGIT‐IORT patients were more accepting of IORT than EBRT patients with 60% accepting the highest increased risk presented (4%–6%) compared to 12% of EBRT patients, and 2% not accepting IORT at all compared to 43% of EBRT pa‐ tients. Pre‐treatment patients were more accepting of IORT than post‐treatment pa‐ tients with 23% accepting the highest increased risk presented compared to 15% of post‐treatment patients, and 15% not accepting IORT at all compared to 41% of pre‐ treatment patients. Conclusions: Breast cancer patients yet to receive radiotherapy accept a higher recurrence risk than the actual risk found in TARGIT‐A. Measured patient preferences are highly influenced by experience of treatment received. This finding challenges the validity of post‐treatment preference studies

Examining the Feasibility of Partnering with Cooperative Extension to Advance Statewide Physical Education Policies in Oregon

Optimizing physical education (PE) is a proven approach to increase children’s physical activity. Oregon law requires elementary schools to provide PE for \u3e 150 minutes/week. One strategy to meet the required minutes is for classroom teachers to deliver PE, which is permissible using curricula aligned to national PE standards. Be Physically Active 2Day (BEPA 2.0) is a unique classroom-based physical activity brain break curriculum aligned to PE standards. We evaluated the effectiveness of training school faculty to use BEPA 2.0 via a unique partnership with Cooperative Extension. Extension trainers (ET) were trained by a BEPA 2.0 Master Trainer (MT). School faculty were subsequently trained by ET (n = 94) and MT (n = 58). Participants completed post-training surveys to assess confidence, comprehension, and self-efficacy to implement BEPA 2.0. Survey scores were compared between MT and ET groups using the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test. There were no differences between MT and ET training groups in perceived confidence, comprehension, or self-efficacy to implement BEPA 2.0 after training. ET were as effective as MT, indicating the train-the-trainer approach is a promising strategy to enhance BEPA 2.0 dissemination. Cooperative Extension partnerships may be an overlooked mechanism to enhance physical activity promotion efforts

Elevation of lung glutathione by oral supplementation of L‐2‐oxothiazolidine‐4‐carboxylate protects against oxygen toxicity in protein‐energy malnourished rats

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154537/1/fsb2006012011.pd

Undergraduate students’ perceptions of community engagement: A snapshot of a public research university in Canada

Students who participate in regular community engagement (CE) often experience benefits in different areas of their lives. Many academic institutions have implemented action plans to increase CE within the student population. At the University of Calgary, Canada, this is done primarily through its broader Eyes High strategy. As there remains a gap in the literature about students' perceptions of CE and their awareness of university CE strategies, this study aims to identify undergraduate students’ awareness of the Eyes High strategy, attitudes towards and levels of engagement, and challenges and potential methods to increase CE participation. Data was collected through a voluntary online survey (n=528). Participants were recruited through posters, social media, online faculty platforms and by faculty members. Survey results indicated students lacked knowledge regarding the Eyes High strategy. It was noted that students’ knowledge, attitudes and practices of CE increased as they spent more time at the university. The top perceived challenges to CE were lack of time, accessible information, support and incentives. To increase accessibility and student participation, we suggest introducing the Eyes High Strategy and CE activities early to the undergraduate population through workshops, credit-based courses and/or professional development requirements. Our data suggests that students are not well informed about the Eyes High strategy. There is thus a need for the university to build a campus-wide, student-informed initiative to proactively engage students. This research will serve as a gateway to further explore communicative methods that might better convey university priorities to students

Working Together: Building K-12/College Mentor Partnerships to Support Students with Learning Differences

In an interactive discussion with audience members, presenters will share ideas for developing positive mentor-mentee partnerships between K-12 schools and colleges; discuss the impact of two recently established mentor partnerships, as well as perspectives from college student mentors and K-12 teachers of student mentees with learning differences; collaboratively examine data to discuss potential program adaptations; and provide mentoring activities that audience members can utilize

Triacylglycerol synthesis by PDAT1 in the absence of DGAT1 activity is dependent on re-acylation of LPC by LPCAT2

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The <it>Arabidopsis thaliana dgat1 </it>mutant, <it>AS11</it>, has an oil content which is decreased by 30%, and a strongly increased ratio of 18:3/20:1, compared to wild type. Despite lacking a functional DGAT1, <it>AS11 </it>still manages to make 70% of WT seed oil levels. Recently, it was demonstrated that in the absence of <it>DGAT1</it>, <it>PDAT1 </it>was essential for normal seed development, and is a dominant determinant in <it>Arabidopsis </it>TAG biosynthesis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Biochemical, metabolic and gene expression studies combined with genetic crossing of selected <it>Arabidopsis </it>mutants have been carried out to demonstrate the contribution of <it>Arabidopsis </it>PDAT1 and LPCAT2 in the absence of DGAT1 activity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Through microarray and RT-PCR gene expression analyses of <it>AS11 </it>vs. WT mid-developing siliques, we observed consistent trends between the two methods. <it>FAD2 </it>and <it>FAD3 </it>were up-regulated and <it>FAE1 </it>down-regulated, consistent with the <it>AS11 </it>acyl phenotype. <it>PDAT1 </it>expression was up-regulated by <it>ca </it>65% while <it>PDAT2 </it>expression was up-regulated only 15%, reinforcing the dominant role of <it>PDAT1 </it>in <it>AS11 </it>TAG biosynthesis. The expression of <it>LPCAT2 </it>was up-regulated by 50-75%, while <it>LPCAT1 </it>expression was not significantly affected. <it>In vitro </it>LPCAT activity was enhanced by 75-125% in microsomal protein preparations from mid-developing <it>AS11 </it>seed <it>vs </it>WT. Co-incident homozygous knockout lines of <it>dgat1</it>/<it>lpcat2 </it>exhibited severe penalties on TAG biosynthesis, delayed plant development and seed set, even with a functional PDAT1; the double mutant <it>dgat1/lpcat1 </it>showed only marginally lower oil content than <it>AS11</it>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Collectively, the data strongly support that in <it>AS11 </it>it is <it>LPCAT2 </it>up-regulation which is primarily responsible for assisting in PDAT1-catalyzed TAG biosynthesis, maintaining a supply of PC as co-substrate to transfer <it>sn</it>-2 moieties to the <it>sn</it>-3 position of the enlarged <it>AS11 </it>DAG pool.</p

Subcutaneous Sarcoid Nodules: A Dermatologic Presentation of Systemic Sarcoidosis for Primary Care Physicians

Sarcoidosis is a multisystem granulomatous disease primarily characterized by pulmonary manifestations. Extrapulmonary involvement in sarcoidosis is well documented and common, but isolated extrapulmonary involvement is rare at around 10% of cases at the time of diagnosis. Cutaneous presentations vary significantly, with erythema nodosum being the most common. Since extrapulmonary symptoms most likely suggest systemic involvement, any way to identify sarcoidosis early is paramount. We present a case of a 63-year-old Caucasian female with multiple palpable 0.5-3cm nodules under the skin of the bilateral forearms, left hand, and lower extremities. A biopsy of a lesion revealed numerous sarcoidal phenotype granulomas without necrosis surrounded by a mild lymphocytic infiltrate. Imaging confirmed calcified mediastinal, hilar, and sub-carinal lymph nodes, as well as revealed scattered calcified and non-calcified granulomas in the upper lung fields. Treatment is not always required, and this patient’s subcutaneous nodules resolved with a single course of steroids. Therefore, it is vital for primary care providers to maintain a high index of suspicion for sarcoidosis with various dermatological findings, as it may be the presenting symptom for sarcoidosis and allow early recognition, monitoring, and intervention