High-Stakes Accountability Systems: Creating Cultures of Fear

A phenomenological case study by Counsell (2007) explored and investigated the phenomenon of what happened as Florida’s A+ Plan intersected with the life histories of one beginning African American female third grade teacher and one veteran White female third grade teacher at demographically different school communities in one Florida school district. Habermas’ theory of communicative action served as an instructive framework used to examine and contemplate two key emerging trends based on lived experiences of the various social (communicative) actors. In addition to the beginning and veteran third grade teachers, other participating social actors included third graders, their parents, other third grade teachers and school principals at the beginning and veteran teachers’ schools as well as urban school teachers and personnel at urban schools in the same school district. Across the different social actors at each respective middle-income, low-income, and high-poverty school community, the emerging trends and patterns revealed: (a) a continuum of moral and ethical dilemmas specifically and (b) an overall continuum of fear in general. Social actors’ varied lived experiences with fear in relation to high-stakes testing illuminated the following: (a) a fear of speaking out; (b) a fear regarding children’s emotional welfare; (c) fear as it intersects with race; and (d) a fear of taking the test. From these testimonials, the continuum of fear toward the FCAT (according to third grade student reflections), proved to be the most serious (if not detrimental) consequence of Florida’s high-stakes accountability system. These insights can help guide and inform future accountability decisions under the new Every Student Succeeds Act

Harnessing the 4DEE Framework to Redesign an Introductory Ecology Course in a Changing Higher Education Landscape

As higher education undergoes rapid and fundamental change, eco-educators need to be prepared to promote the inclusion of the ecological sciences in the biological sciences curriculum of the future. Here, we present an instructional alignment for an introductory ecology course, which is informed by and integrated with the Four-Dimensional Ecology Education (4DEE) Framework. Our instructional alignment was created collaboratively among faculty involved in teaching the course and emphasizes the relevance and utility of the ecological sciences. We believe that this approach positions the ecological sciences for continued success and inclusion in the biological sciences curriculum of tomorrow

Harnessing the Four-Dimensional Ecology Education Framework to redesign an introductory ecology course in a changing higher education landscape

As higher education undergoes rapid and fundamental change, eco-educators need to be prepared to promote the inclusion of the ecological sciences in the biological sciences curriculum of the future. Here, we present an instructional alignment for an introductory ecology course, which is informed by and integrated with the Four-Dimensional Ecology Education (4DEE) Framework. Our instructional alignment was created collaboratively among faculty involved in teaching the course and emphasizes the relevance and utility of the ecological sciences. We believe that this approach positions the ecological sciences for continued success and inclusion in the biological sciences curriculum of tomorrow

High-Stakes Accountability Systems: Creating Cultures of Fear

A phenomenological case study by Counsell (2007) explored and investigated the phenomenon of what happened as Florida’s A+ Plan intersected with the life histories of one beginning African American female third grade teacher and one veteran White female third grade teacher at demographically different school communities in one Florida school district. Habermas’ theory of communicative action served as an instructive framework used to examine and contemplate two key emerging trends based on lived experiences of the various social (communicative) actors. In addition to the beginning and veteran third grade teachers, other participating social actors included third graders, their parents, other third grade teachers and school principals at the beginning and veteran teachers’ schools as well as urban school teachers and personnel at urban schools in the same school district. Across the different social actors at each respective middle-income, low-income, and high-poverty school community, the emerging trends and patterns revealed: (a) a continuum of moral and ethical dilemmas specifically and (b) an overall continuum of fear in general. Social actors’ varied lived experiences with fear in relation to high-stakes testing illuminated the following: (a) a fear of speaking out; (b) a fear regarding children’s emotional welfare; (c) fear as it intersects with race; and (d) a fear of taking the test. From these testimonials, the continuum of fear toward the FCAT (according to third grade student reflections), proved to be the most serious (if not detrimental) consequence of Florida’s high-stakes accountability system. These insights can help guide and inform future accountability decisions under the new Every Student Succeeds Act

Striking Deals : Concertation in the Reform of Continental European Welfare States

The reform of the welfare state entails changes in interdependent policy fields stretching from social policies to employment and wage policies. These linked policy fields are often governed by varying sets of corporate actors and involve different decision making procedures. Adaptation in one policy field is often uncoordinated with other policies, and can work at cross-purposes, produce negative externalities, or fail due to missing supporting conditions. The paper has two objectives. It first argues that renewed emergence of tripartite concertation is due to the need to co-ordinate policies across policy fields. Second, it evaluates the institutional factors which have facilitated concertation in some cases, but not in others. Using a similar country design, the paper compares four continental European countries with similar reform pressures but different reform trajectories: France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands.Die Reform des Wohlfahrtsstaates erfordert Veränderungen in interdependenten Politikfeldern, von der Sozialpolitik bis hin zur Beschäftigungs- und Lohnpolitik. Diese interdependenten Politikfelder werden von unterschiedlichen Konstellationen korporativer und politischer Akteure kontrolliert und sind unterschiedlichen Verfahren der Entscheidungsfindung unterworfen. Adaptionen in einem Sektor sind häufig nicht mit anderen politischen Entscheidungen koordiniert und können somit negative Auswirkungen haben oder aufgrund der ungünstigen Grundbedingungen fehlschlagen. In dem vorliegenden Discussion Paper wird zunächst argumentiert, daß die Notwendigkeit, politische Entscheidungen über die Grenzen der politischen Sektoren hinaus zu koordinieren, zu einer Renaissance dreiseitiger Konzertierung zwischen Tarifparteien und Regierungen geführt hat. Weiterhin werden die institutionellen Faktoren herausgearbeitet, die eine Konzertierung in einigen Fällen ermöglicht haben, in anderen jedoch nicht. Es werden vier Länder verglichen, die ähnliche Strukturen und Reformzwänge aufweisen, aber unterschiedliche Lösungswege gewählt haben: Frankreich, Deutschland, Italien und die Niederlande

A nonplanar slow rupture episode during the 2000 Miyakejima dike intrusion

Magmatic intrusions release extensional strain in the Earth's crust upon availability of magma. Intrusions are typically accompanied by earthquake swarms and by surface faulting that is often larger than what is expected from the magnitude of the induced earthquakes. The 2000 Miyakejima dike intrusion triggered the largest volcanic earthquake swarm monitored so far, with five Ml>6 earthquakes. We analyze the seismicity and deformation induced by the Miyakejima dike with the aim of constraining the timescale and mechanisms of slow strain release during the episode. In six earthquake bursts lasting few hours and migrating at 3c1 km h 121 we find candidates for slow earthquakes. Each burst nucleated at the tips of previous bursts, suggesting stress interaction. The variability of fault plane solutions indicates that the bursts occurred on a complex system of fractures, consistent with weakly consolidated surface layers strained by spatially inhomogneous stresses that change in time, such as those induced by a dike. Based on dislocation models, we find that deformation is best explained by aseismic slip (in addition to the seismic burst), with a moment 1.3 to 2.3 times larger than the earthquakes' seismic moment, and opening of 0.20 \ub1 0.07 m on the dike. The aseismic slip occurred over a few hours, with moment, duration, and migration velocity consistent with that of previously observed slow slip events. We argue that the seismic bursts are likely driven by slow slip, sharing most properties with tectonic slow slip events and swarms, but occurring on a set of nonaligned faults

How do occupational therapy curricula align with priorities identified by occupational therapists to prepare graduates for working in mental health?

All professional preparation programs need to ensure that university curricula remain reflective of current practice, and also prepare graduates for practice in the future. Upon formation, the Australia and New Zealand Occupational Therapy Mental Health Academics (ANZOTMHA) network identified that there was insufficient or poorly organised information available about how well current occupational therapy curricula prepared students for practice in the field of mental health. One of the first priorities established by ANZOTMHA was to undertake a program of research to examine this issue. The aim of this report is to summarise and integrate the outcomes of two inter-related studies to explore the extent to which current occupational therapy university curricula in Australia and New Zealand match educational priorities identified by practising occupational therapists in mental health

Mechanism of Neutralization of Herpes Simplex Virus by Antibodies Directed at the Fusion Domain of Glycoprotein B

Glycoprotein B (gB), the fusogen of herpes simplex virus (HSV), is a class III fusion protein with a trimeric ectodomain of known structure for the postfusion state. Seen by negative-staining electron microscopy, it presents as a rod with three lobes (base, middle, and crown). gB has four functional regions (FR), defined by the physical location of epitopes recognized by anti-gB neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). Located in the base, FR1 contains two internal fusion loops (FLs) and is the site of gB-lipid interaction (the fusion domain). Many of the MAbs to FR1 are neutralizing, block cell-cell fusion, and prevent the association of gB with lipid, suggesting that these MAbs affect FL function. Here we characterize FR1 epitopes by using electron microscopy to visualize purified Fab-gB ectodomain complexes, thus confirming the locations of several epitopes and localizing those of MAbs DL16 and SS63. We also generated MAb-resistant viruses in order to localize the SS55 epitope precisely. Because none of the epitopes of our anti-FR1 MAbs mapped to the FLs, we hyperimmunized rabbits with FL1 or FL2 peptides to generate polyclonal antibodies (PAbs). While the anti-FL1 PAb failed to bind gB, the anti-FL2 PAb had neutralizing activity, implying that the FLs become exposed during virus entry. Unexpectedly, the anti-FL2 PAb (and the anti-FR1 MAbs) bound to liposome-associated gB, suggesting that their epitopes are accessible even when the FLs engage lipid. These studies provide possible mechanisms of action for HSV neutralization and insight into how gB FR1 contributes to viral fusion. IMPORTANCE: For herpesviruses, such as HSV, entry into a target cell involves transfer of the capsid-encased genome of the virus to the target cell after fusion of the lipid envelope of the virus with a lipid membrane of the host. Virus-encoded glycoproteins in the envelope are responsible for fusion. Antibodies to these glycoproteins are important biological tools, providing a way of examining how fusion works. Here we used electron microscopy and other techniques to study a panel of anti-gB antibodies. Some, with virus-neutralizing activity, impair gB-lipid association. We also generated a peptide antibody against one of the gB fusion loops; its properties provide insight into the way the fusion loops function as gB transits from its prefusion form to an active fusogen

Deep crustal melt plumbing of Bárðarbunga volcano, Iceland

Understanding magmatic plumbing within the Earth’s crust is important for understanding volcanic systems and improving eruption forecasting. We discuss magma plumbing under Bárðarbunga volcano, Iceland, over a four-year period encompassing the largest Icelandic eruption in 230 years. Microseismicity extends through the usually ductile region of the Earth’s crust, from 7-22 km depth in a sub-vertical column. Moment tensor solutions for an example earthquake exhibits opening tensile crack behavior. This is consistent with the deep (> 7 km) seismicity being caused by the movement of melt in the normally aseismic crust. The seismically inferred melt path from the mantle source is offset laterally from the center of the Bárðarbunga caldera by ~12 km, rather than lying directly beneath it. It is likely that an aseismic melt feed also exists directly beneath the caldera and is aseismic due to elevated temperatures and pervasive partial melt under the caldera.Funding was by research grants from the NERC and the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program grant 308377 (Project FUTUREVOLC), and a number of graduate studentships from the NERC