There is no point in discussing what testing program best provides accountability if the tests do not actually measure any of the things we want schools to be accountable for.

The measure was not on the Majority Leader's weekly schedule for action, but sources said it could be called to the floor as early as Wednesday.

The pending departure of Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, the speaker of the House seems to have lit a fire under negotiations on reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

High school teacher Kateryna Haggerty explains how visual aids in her classroom help her English-language learner students write more confidently.

Are you smarter than a teacher in 1966? Take this real test, taken from the "Equality of Educational Opportunity" report, to find out how you fare.

No studies have focused on the financial impact of fellowship training in pediatrics.

The results from this study can be helpful to current pediatric residents as they contemplate their career options. In addition, the study may be valuable to policy makers who evaluate health care reform and pediatric workforce-allocation issues. (Read the full article)

Prior to the Affordable Care Act of 2010, 34 states enacted laws extending eligibility for parents’ health insurance to adult children. Few studies have examined their impact; a single study found no change in insurance 1 year after enactment.

States that expanded parents’ insurance eligibility to young adults were associated with higher rates of insurance coverage, identification of a personal clinician, physical exams, and lower forgone care due to cost. The Affordable Care Act may similarly improve access to care. (Read the full article)

Rare diseases in childhood can be debilitating and require lifelong care. Since 1983, the Orphan Drug Act incentives have stimulated the development and significantly improved the availability of treatment products for patients with rare diseases.

We report an increasing pediatric orphan product designations and approvals from 2000 to 2009. The trend indicates that the Orphan Drug Act has continued to address this important unmet need. (Read the full article)

Infantile hemangiomas have a period of rapid growth in early infancy. Most hemangioma growth is completed by 5 months of age, but the majority of patients are not seen by a specialist until after the growth phase is complete.

The most rapid hemangioma growth is between 1 and 2 months of life, much earlier than previously believed. Patients with high-risk hemangiomas should be followed closely, and treatment initiation should be considered before or during the most rapid growth phase. (Read the full article)

Policies that govern nutrition standards of foods and beverages sold outside of federal meal programs ("competitive foods") have been associated with adolescent weight status in a small number of cross-sectional studies and pre-post analyses in individual states.

This longitudinal analysis of 6300 students in 40 states provides evidence that state competitive food laws are associated with lower within-student BMI change if laws contain strong language with specific standards and are consistent across grade levels. (Read the full article)

National asthma treatment guidelines include the recommendation that all asthma patients receive a written asthma action plan. No previous study has sought to examine the readability, suitability, and content of asthma action plans within a nationally representative sample.

Although variability was found across written asthma action plans, and improvements in readability, suitability, and content are needed, there were also many common elements that would support a move to a single universal standard action plan. (Read the full article)

When research involving children is determined to present greater than minimal risk but no potential for direct benefit, permission is required from both parents, unless one is not reasonably available. These requirements are variably understood and applied, and guidance is lacking.

In a study on newborn screening, a sizeable percentage of fathers were not reasonably available, reflecting complexities of parental status and family relations. Guidelines developed in this project may provide tools for researchers and institutions to apply in other contexts. (Read the full article)

Screening for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) using the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) improves early detection and long-term prognosis of ASD. Reducing the false-positive rate may increase implementation of screening for ASDs.

The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, Revised with Follow-up (M-CHAT-R/F), simplifies wording of the original M-CHAT. The current validation study indicates that the M-CHAT-R/F improves the ability to detect autism spectrum disorders in toddlers screened during well-child care visits. (Read the full article)

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is an important risk factor for neonatal jaundice in Nigeria. It is associated with severe hyperbilirubinemia among infants exposed to icterogenic agents. Elevated bilirubin levels have occasionally been demonstrated in G6PD-deficient infants without exposure to icterogenic agents.

Even without exposure to known icterogens, G6PD-deficient infants have a more rapid hematocrit decline and higher bilirubin levels than their G6PD-intermediate and G6PD-normal counterparts throughout the first week of life. (Read the full article)

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency remains a global as well as a North American burden for extreme hyperbilirubinemia and kernicterus and is often unpredictable during the first few days after birth. Newborn screening for this enzyme deficiency is not universally available but debated.

Point-of-care screening, using digital microfluidics, provides accurate, low blood volume, and affordable technology for rapid newborn glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase enzyme screening that could guide clinicians before infants’ discharge from well-child nurseries and meet existing American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendations. (Read the full article)

Smartphones and tablets are good alarm clocks, but these apps make them great.

A richer chat experience was rolled out by Valve last year on PC, but now it's being joined by a 'modernized chat experience' for iOS and Android devices.

A South African working abroad, able to save R36 000 per month, hopeful that he will continue these earnings, seeks the best investment strategy. Investment expert Elian Wiener responds.

If you contracted the coronavirus at work, you may be able to claim for temporary or permanent disability, depending on how you were affected - but you will have to prove that you did, in fact, become ill at work.

Improvement and innovation have different rules, expectations, and risks. The key is knowing which game you're playing, but getting the balance right between fostering innovation and fighting for equity may be the challenge of our time.

Even the most promising education innovations often struggle to gain traction. In a new paper, New Classrooms CEO Joel Rose identifies three barriers to innovation and what to do about them.

Three national educational funders explain a new program that is highlighting innovative practices in schools around the country.

Academic gender gaps in reading and math follow different paths as American students move from their school years into adulthood, according to new federal data.

Female teachers, principals, and superintendents in Pennsylvania earn significantly less money than their male counterparts, a new study shows.

A new brief from the Brookings Institution poses the question: Is overrepresentation of women in the teaching force negatively affecting boys' achievement?

Source: www.nbcnews.com - Saturday, May 09, 2020
The U.S. unemployment rate reached 14.7 percent for April - the worst monthly rate since the Great Depression. The White House has projected optimism, saying they expect the economy to rocket upward once coronavirus restrictions are lifted. But many experts think that is not a realistic expectation.

How the UEFA HatTrick scheme has helped build new stadia and training facilities in Sweden.

Countries that score highest on an international measure of student achievement tend to have these three things in common when it comes to professional development for teachers.

Many teachers are tapped to teach physics without prior training or experience. A new study explores a possible solution.

The justices hear arguments Nov. 12 on the Trump administration's effort to end deportation relief under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, in a case pitting the administration and GOP-leaning states against a host of education and advocacy groups.

The furore surrounding the arrival of over 200 Cuban medical doctors in South Africa to fight the coronavirus has highlighted a failure on the part of the SA government to explain the nature and drivers of our country’s relationship with Cuba, says Mills Soko.

Handyman Vincenzo Perugia walked out of the Louvre with a rolled-up painting under his smock. What ensured should be a lesson to us all, says Hannes Viljoen.

Even before the recent news of the season’s first confirmed spotted lanternfly hatches in the Philadelphia region, homeowners in many parts of Pennsylvania were gearing up for their annual battle with the destructive pest.

Burundi’s year-long crisis has not gone away. It started with President Pierre Nkurunziza’s determination to claim a third term, trampling over the constitutional arrangements that ended a decade-long civil war. Press freedom is a major casualty of the new strife; but the turmoil has also transformed the way in which Burundians get information. For better or worse, social media has filled the vacuum left by the shutting down of the most popular radio stations and forcing out of many of the country’s professional journalists.

β-lactam resistance in Staphylococcus aureus limits treatment options. Stp1 and Stk1, a serine-threonine phosphatase and kinase respectively, mediate serine-threonine kinase (STK) signaling. Loss of function point mutations in stp1 were detected among laboratory passaged, β-lactam resistant S. aureus strains lacking mecA and blaZ, the major determinants of β-lactam resistance in the bacteria. Loss of Stp1 function facilitates β-lactam resistance of the bacteria.

Despite the worldwide re-emergence of the chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and the high morbidity associated with CHIKV infections, there is no approved vaccine or antiviral treatment available. We here aim to identify the target of a novel class of CHIKV inhibitors i.e. CHVB series. CHVB compounds inhibit the in vitro replication of CHIKV isolates with 50% effective concentrations in the low micromolar range. A CHVB-resistant variant (CHVB^res) was selected that carried two mutations in the gene encoding nsP1 (responsible for viral RNA capping), one mutation in nsP2 and one mutation in nsP3. Reverse genetics studies demonstrated that both nsP1 mutations were necessary and sufficient to achieve ~18-fold resistance, suggesting that CHVB targets viral mRNA capping. Interestingly, CHVB^res was cross-resistant to the previously described CHIKV capping inhibitors from the MADTP series, suggesting they share a similar mechanism of action. In enzymatic assays, CHVB inhibited the methyltransferase and guanylyltransferase activities of alphavirus nsP1 proteins. To conclude, we identified a class of CHIKV inhibitors that targets the viral capping machinery. The potent anti-CHIKV activity makes this chemical scaffold a potential candidate for CHIKV drug development.

UEFA.com studies the statistics to find out which players are predicted for big Matchday 7 totals.

Noy shares her journey of experiencing God's love for herself and forgiving the community that persecuted her family.

The onus is on you to uncover any defects before you buy, writes Angelique Ruzicka.

Geopolitical factors and economic uncertainty make some investors shift away from equities into what they perceive to be the safety of higher-quality bonds.

The South African Payroll Association has been inundated with queries regarding their expected annual bonuses in December.

Fin24 asked financial experts how they would grow R10 000 in the new year. Here's what they said.

Noy shares her journey of experiencing God's love for herself and forgiving the community that persecuted her family.

With iOS 13.1 and iPadOS, Apple adds an Audio Sharing feature that lets you share with a friend what you're listening to on your Apple AirPods or select Beats headphones.

Yes, there are still portable music players in 2019, and we don't just mean the iPod touch. The question is whether you need one, and if so, which is the best MP3 player to buy?

4K is the resolution standard for televisions now, but we're starting to see 8K TVs trickle out. How much better is 8K, and is it worth waiting for?