Informing Writing: The Benefits of Formative Assessment

Examines whether classroom-based formative writing assessment - designed to provide students with feedback and modified instruction as needed - improves student writing and how teachers can improve such assessment. Suggests best practices

Innovation in teacher education: faculty members\u27 and assessment coordinators\u27 perceptions of electronic assessment systems

Electronic assessment systems (EASs) have proliferated teacher education programs in postsecondary education. Mostly, these systems facilitate candidate and program assessment through technology-mediated procedures, allowing for greater efficiency and accuracy in data collection and analysis. If implemented successfully, the work of individuals associated with teacher education programs from faculty members to assessment coordinators and beyond has the potential to benefit from utilizing the system for course-based and programmatic assessment, both of which are criteria for the accreditation of teacher education programs by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). This qualitative study explores the perceptions of faculty and assessment coordinators at three institutions of higher education as they relate to three different EASs. Such research is absent from current literature. However, limited research on EASs does exist, and this study contributes to that research within the context of teacher education programs and the innovation diffusion theoretical framework. To accomplish that, the research questions are addressed through the use of informal conversational and interview guide protocols, both suggested by Patton (2002), with the participants. Data analysis reflects the constant comparative method of qualitative data analysis (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), and the results of that analysis are presented in question-and-answer case study and cross-case analysis formats. These reporting methods present comprehensive results through thick descriptions (Patton, 2002) and discussions of cross-case themes, respectively. Results of this study lead the researcher to conclude that EASs are significant in teacher education programs, and the results reveal that the critical issues regarding EAS adoption relate to (1) technology mandates by NCATE, (2) the issues of change and innovation diffusion as they relate to individuals and organizations, and (3) the standardization effect of EASs on assessment

A novel EB-1/AIDA-1 isoform, AIDA-1c, interacts with the Cajal body protein coilin

BACKGROUND: Cajal bodies (CBs) are nuclear suborganelles that play a role in the biogenesis of small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs), which are crucial for pre-mRNA splicing. Upon nuclear reentry, Sm-class snRNPs localize first to the CB, where the snRNA moiety of the snRNP is modified. It is not clear how snRNPs target to the CB and are released from this structure after their modification. Coilin, the CB marker protein, may participate in snRNP biogenesis given that it can interact with snRNPs and SMN. SMN is crucial for snRNP assembly and is the protein mutated in the neurodegenerative disease Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Coilin knockout mice display significant viability problems and altered CB formation. Thus characterization of the CB and its associated proteins will give insight into snRNP biogenesis and clarify the dynamic organization of the nucleus. RESULTS: In this report, we identify a novel protein isoform of EB-1/AIDA-1, termed AIDA-1c, that interacts with the CB marker protein, coilin. Northern and nested PCR experiments reveal that the AIDA-1c isoform is expressed in brain and several cancer cell lines. Competition binding experiments demonstrate that AIDA-1c competes with SmB' for coilin binding sites, but does not bind SMN. When ectopically expressed, AIDA-1c is predominantly nuclear with no obvious accumulations in CBs. Interestingly, another EB-1/AIDA-1 nuclear isoform, AIDA-1a, does not bind coilin in vivo as efficiently as AIDA-1c. Knockdown of EB-1/AIDA-1 isoforms by siRNA altered Cajal body organization and reduced cell viability. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that specific EB-1/AIDA-1 isoforms, such as AIDA-1c, may participate in the regulation of nucleoplasmic coilin protein interactions in neuronal and transformed cells

In Vitro RNase and Nucleic Acid Binding Activities Implicate Coilin in U snRNA Processing

Coilin is known as the marker protein for Cajal bodies (CBs), subnuclear domains important for the biogenesis of small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) which function in pre-mRNA splicing. CBs associate non-randomly with U1 and U2 gene loci, which produce the small nuclear RNA (snRNA) component of the respective snRNP. Despite recognition as the CB marker protein, coilin is primarily nucleoplasmic, and the function of this fraction is not fully characterized. Here we show that coilin binds double stranded DNA and has RNase activity in vitro. U1 and U2 snRNAs undergo a processing event of the primary transcript prior to incorporation in the snRNP. We find that coilin displays RNase activity within the CU region of the U2 snRNA primary transcript in vitro, and that coilin knockdown results in accumulation of the 3′ pre-processed U1 and U2 snRNA. These findings present new characteristics of coilin in vitro, and suggest additional functions of the protein in vivo