March 20, 2006
New U-M Center for Genetics in Health and Medicine will help bridge the gap between science and medicine
ANN ARBOR, MI – One day in the not-so-distant future, a DNA test will be as much a part of an ordinary doctor’s visit as a blood pressure check. By scanning each patient’s unique genetic code, doctors will be able to predict which patients are most likely to develop a specific disease and select the most effective therapy for each patient.
Research advances in genetics have the potential to transform the practice of medicine. But to achieve that potential, laboratory scientists and clinical researchers must work together to make the difficult transition from scientific discovery to clinical practice.
To facilitate that transition, the U-M Medical School has created the Center for Genetics in Health and Medicine (CGHM). Funded with an initial $2.5 million grant from the U-M Medical School, the center’s overall mission is to enhance scientific interaction among U-M scientists and clinicians conducting genetics-related research in many different fields.
“Collaboration is the key to the future of genetic medicine, but our researchers are scattered in separate departments throughout the Medical School and across the University,” says Allen S. Lichter, M.D., Dean of the University of Michigan Medical School. “This center will bring U-M clinicians and scientists together to focus on complex interdisciplinary research questions. It will provide specialized core laboratory facilities and the expertise required for advanced genetics research. In addition, the center will help train the next generation of physicians and scientists.”
“Just five years after the draft sequence of the human genome was published, genetics is beginning to permeate all fields of medicine,” says Sally A. Camper, Ph.D., the James V. Neel Collegiate Professor of Human Genetics and chair of the U-M Department of Human Genetics.
“The ‘genomics era’ presents us with a remarkable opportunity to improve diagnosis, prevention and treatment of human genetic diseases and to identify the risk factors for common, complex diseases – such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer – which have both genetic and environmental components,” Camper says.
The link between genetics and medicine is fitting given the long and distinguished history of human genetics research in the U-M Medical School, according to Camper.
“The center will help us continue the legacy of James Neel, Lee Dice and other U-M visionaries who developed the field of human genetics and understood its seminal importance to medicine,” she says.
In 1956, Neel created the U-M Department of Human Genetics – the first academic department devoted to genetics at any medical school in the United States. Dice opened the first Hereditary Disease Clinic at U-M in 1941. Since then, many of today’s most prominent geneticists and physician-scientists have received their graduate or post-doctoral training at U-M.
One of Camper’s immediate goals for the Center for Genetics in Health and Medicine is to nurture promising graduate students, research fellows, medical students and genetic counseling students who are preparing for careers in medical genetics by providing new interdisciplinary educational programs and financial support.
“We just awarded our first CGHM fellowships to two outstanding post-doctoral research fellows,” Camper says. “And we hope to expand the fellowship program in the future.”
The first recipient of a one-year fellowship from the genetics research center was Mathilde Malapel-Body, Ph.D., a research fellow in pathology who will study the link between Crohn’s disease and genetic variation in a gene called NOD2. Malapel-Body will work with Gabriel Nunez, M.D., the Paul De Kruif Professor of Academic Pathology, in the U-M’s Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The second individual to receive a fellowship was Hee Chui Lee, Ph.D., a research fellow in geriatric medicine. Working with Ao-Lin Hsu, Ph.D. a professor of internal medicine, Lee will study genes that extend the lifespan of a worm called C. elegans.
Camper says the new research center will have a core group of 30 to 40 U-M researchers from clinical and basic science departments across the University, and a larger group of affiliate members. She also plans to recruit four to six additional investigators, all of whom will have joint appointments in genetics and clinical medicine. Camper will serve as interim director of the new center until a permanent director is hired.
Another immediate goal is to provide core laboratory support services and state-of-the-art technical facilities for use by researchers in the Medical School and across the University.
A Family Studies Core Facility, staffed by genetic counselors and administrative staff, will be developed to assist investigators with clinical research. Staff will identify and recruit families and individuals who are interested in participating in research, obtain informed consent and medical histories, and collect blood or tissue samples for genetic analysis.
A Genetic Analysis Core Laboratory will provide shared access to the expensive, high-tech equipment required to rapidly sequence and genotype blood and tissue samples for use in scientific and clinical research studies.
An internal faculty steering committee has been appointed to develop and implement plans for the Center for Genetics in Health and Medicine. The committee includes Goncalo Abecasis, D. Phil., associate professor of biostatistics; Thomas M. Glaser, M.D., associate professor of human genetics and internal medicine; Stephen B. Gruber, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of internal medicine, human genetics and epidemiology; Marci M. Lesperance, M.D., associate professor of otolaryngology; Donna M. Martin, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of human genetics and pediatrics and communicable diseases; Miriam Meisler, Ph.D., professor of human genetics; Richard R. Neubig, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and associate professor of internal medicine; Elizabeth M. Petty, M.D., associate professor of human genetics and internal medicine; Julia E. Richards, Ph.D., associate professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences and epidemiology; Wendy R. Uhlmann, M.S., genetic counselor in internal medicine; Jeffrey S. Warren, M.D., professor of pathology; and Beverly Yashar, Ph.D., assistant professor of human genetics.
Written by Sally Pobojewski
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Recent Press Releases


The Saharan dust storms thickening Britain’s smog and coating cars from Cornwall to Aberdeen will become increasingly strong in the coming years as a “nasty mixture” of drought, development and intensive farming in North Africa pushes up air pollution, a leading dust expert warned this week.
The rapid population growth in Western Sahel countries such as Chad, Niger, Mali and Mauritania in the past 20 to 30 years has prompted a surge in agriculture which has greatly increased the amount of dust, according to Dr Robert Bryant of Sheffield University.
He said there was every sign the trend – which has also seen cars in Devon, London and Northern Ireland covered in a fine reddish-brown dust and caused breathing difficulties in asthma and chronic bronchitis sufferers – would continue. “There has been a dramatic increase in some aspects of dust flux [emissions], which have doubled over the last 50 years.
“Population pressure alone is likely to exacerbate the problem and if current trends continue the amount could double again over the next 50 years,” said Bryant, a reader in dryland processes at the university.
Creating farmland generated dust because it often involves replacing the natural vegetation that keeps the soil in place, with a much sparser cover of crops that exposes the ground to the wind, he said.
Furthermore, as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of droughts, the amount of dust blown into the air would increase as more crops died and the soil became drier, Bryant said.
The growing population in the Sahara had also generated a huge rise in other types of pollution, such as emissions from power stations, cars and mining, he added.
“These other types of pollution get mixed up with the dust to create a nasty mixture that can include airborne diseases such as foot and mouth and the kind of extreme event that could have serious health implications for the UK,” Bryant said.
Foot and mouth disease is thought to have been caused by a cloud of infected dust blown from the Sahara.
Caroline Barrere, a retired journalist from Kensington staying in the Madeiran capital of Funchal, Portugal, said she saw a giant cloud heading towards Britain on Tuesday as she stood on the balcony of her hotel suite overlooking the sea.
“I’ve never seen a black, charcoal mushroom cloud so enormous. It was tinged orange-pink and I thought it was the end of the world. It was really thick and enormous, like Hiroshima – it was terrifying.”
In Britain, people continued to feel the impact of the elevated pollution.
The London Ambulance service reported a 14 per cent rise in calls for patients with respiratory issues as the city and much of the southeast experienced the maximum level of 10 on the air pollution index.
Mike McKevitt, head of patient services at the British Lung Foundation, said: “It would be surprising if we didn’t see an overall increase in the number of hospital admissions as a result of the pollution, certainly among people with respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.”
Prime Minister David Cameron came under fire for seeming to dismiss this week’s smog as entirely – rather than partly – generated by Saharan sand.
“I didn’t go for my morning run this morning. I chose to do some work instead. You can feel it. But it’s a naturally occurring weather pollution problem. It sounds extraordinary, Saharan dust, but that’s what it is,” he said.
His comments were in contrast to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “The high level of air pollution this week is due to a combination of local emissions, light winds, pollution from the continent and dust blown over from the Sahara.”
Labour’s environment spokes-woman Maria Eagle said: “[Cameron] is wrong to say our air quality crisis is due to just wind movement across continents. The real issue is the Government has no plan to address air pollution.”
– NZ Herald/The Independent


Increasingly, animal consciousness is being recognized by the scientific community, which could encourage the protection of animals on a global scale.
The most recent evidence of this shift comes from, the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness, a statement written by an international group of scientists from various fields. Although research on animal consciousness is hindered by the inability of animals to express their internal states, the group supports the notion that animals are unequivocally conscious.
"Non-human animals have the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates of conscious states along with the capacity to exhibit intentional behaviors," the declaration says. "Consequently, the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Non-human animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including octopuses, also possess these neurological substrates."
The group found striking similarities between animals and humans in regard to consciousness. "Birds appear to offer, in their behavior, neurophysiology, and neuroanatomy a striking case of parallel evolution of consciousness," the declaration says. "Moreover, certain species of birds have been found to exhibit neural sleep patterns similar to those of mammals, including REM sleep and, as was demonstrated in zebra finches, neurophysiological patterns, previously thought to require a mammalian neocortex."
Although the scientific community largely accepts animal consciousness, not everyone else believes that animals are conscious. As Philip Low of Stanford University announced to the group, "It might be obvious to everybody in this room that animals have consciousness; it is not obvious to the rest of the world." This declaration goes a long way in establishing a scientific argument for animal consciousness. It may be difficult to influence the world to act altruistically toward animals in the areas of science, food, and entertainment, but treating animals in a humane manner is now more important than ever.
Image by Bruce McKay Yellow Snow Photography, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.


1859 – Born on February 19th in Vik, Sweden. Swedish physicist and physical chemist known for his theory of electrolytic dissociation and his model of the greenhouse effect.
1878-1884 – Arrhenius attended the famous Cathedral School in Uppsala and then entered Uppsala University, from which he received a bachelor’s degree and a doctorate.
1886 – He was given the honorary title of docent at Uppsala University and awarded a travel stipend by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
1887 – Arrhenius’s main contribution to physical chemistry was his theory that electrolytes, certain substances that dissolve in water to yield a solution that conducts electricity, are separated, or dissociated, into electrically charged particles, or ions, even when there is no current flowing through the solution.
1894 – Married to Sofia Rudbeck, who was one of the first Swedish women to earn a bachelor’s degree in science from Uppsala University.
1895 – He became professor of physics at Stockholm.
1896 – He published in The Philosophical Magazine.
1900 – He also participated in drawing up the statutes of the Nobel Foundation.
1901 – Arrhenius was a member of the Nobel Committee for Physics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
1903 – He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
1905 – Arrhenius’s second marriage was to Maria Johansson.
1907 – Arrhenius’s work in immuno-chemistry, a term that gained currency through his book of that title published, was an attempt to study toxin-antitoxin reactions, principally diphtheria reactions, using the concepts and methods developed in physical chemistry.
1908 – His most successful venture into this genre was Worlds in the Making, originally published in Swedish and translated into several languages.
1927 – Died on October 2nd in Stockholm.


July 6, 2014 6:08:50 PM
You can imagine that some artists would have been popular had they come along at any time in history; others merely happened to strike the world's imagination at just the right time. In the latter category is certainly Shirley Temple, who brightened up for millions of moviegoers the gloom of the 1930s. There have been her autobiography and many appreciative biographies, but John F. Kasson's The Little Girl Who Fought the Great Depression: Shirley Temple and 1930s America (W. W. Norton) is different. In a series of essays, Kasson has chronicled not the life of the star (although he pays close attention to her life between 1931 and 1940 when she was most influential), but her effect on a troubled nation. Thus his book will be enjoyed by movie fans, especially Shirley fans, but it is also a larger overview of the sociology and politics of the times.
In fact, while the first chapter starts with the meeting and marriage of Shirley Temple's parents, it gives way to pages that have nothing to do with the Temples at all. It is a summary of the boom of the twenties followed by the bust of the thirties, with Herbert Hoover contrasted with Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Hoover had been soundly elected to the White House in 1928 (his first try at elected office), and had had decades of useful public service. He was a dour, unsmiling man, a serious technocrat who had helped resolve food shortages during the Great War and had brought relief to those whose lives were washed away when the Mississippi River flooded in 1927. A reporter described him: "Sedate, laconic, undramatic, berating nobody, asserting nothing that his laboriously gathered facts and figures would not sustain." This was a fine image when all was going well, and for Hoover's first years, things went well indeed. He certainly cannot be faulted for the Great Depression that descended upon him and the world, nor was it his fault that there was no quick turnaround while he remained in office, but his renowned ability to deal with calamities could do little in the financial crisis. When he tried to cheerlead and convince others that the crisis was being adroitly handled and that prosperity was just around the corner, his own natural taciturnity and sourness made him unconvincing. He proposed that what was really needed was a good big joke every ten days that everyone could enjoy, or a great poem, or a good song. "To the rapidly swelling army of the unemployed," writes Kasson, "such prescriptions seemed as helpful as tossing a drowning man a whoopee cushion instead of a lifesaver."
Still, he may have been onto something about the value of popular entertainment; that is what this book is about. Hoover's successor knew the value. Roosevelt seemed, unlike Hoover, like someone who could enjoy a good joke. He had a radiant smile that he sincerely flashed often, and it was the perfect opposite of Hoover's natural frown. Optimism and purpose were reflected in that smile. Roosevelt was a real performer himself; he took to the new medium of the radio and made it his own. He might have had a patrician accent, but so did a lot of movie performers, and so that was no obstacle. He had the gift of speaking to the people in their own terms, and analysis of the words he used in his Fireside Chats shows that he overwhelmingly used the same words his listeners used. Will Rogers, who was no slouch in speaking the people's language, said with approval, "He showed these radio announcers and our public speakers what to do with a vocabulary - leave it right in the dictionary where it belongs." He made people feel better; and when that other charming smiler Shirley Temple came along, she, too, made people feel better. FDR acknowledged that they were both agents in the same cause. "It is a splendid thing," he said, "that for just 15 cents, an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles."
Shirley's mother would tell the story of the great good luck of her daughter's discovery by the studios, but it wasn't like that at all. The mother had it all planned out; so had thousands of other mothers, we can suppose, but her plans were wildly successful. The mother enrolled three-year-old Shirley in dance class, and a couple of one-reel moviemakers saw her. She was offered a contract of $10 per day of filming the "Baby Burlesk" shorts, wherein she was able to sing and dance in scaled-down adult costumes. Her mother arranged for her to be seen by a better studio, and Fox Films gave her a singing and dancing role in Stand Up and Cheer! (1934), in which President Roosevelt invents a new cabinet position, "Secretary of Amusement," to cheer everyone up. Shirley does her part to bring cheer in the movie, as she was to do over and over again for six years in which she was the most popular of movie stars and one of the most famous people in the world. Even Anne Frank decorated the walls of her hideaway with Shirley's picture.
Little Shirley Temple didn't know what sociological functions she was pulling off, and maybe her studio bosses didn't, either. Of course they wanted to bring smiles, and they did, and they did increase a little bit the nation's quotient of optimism. The formula was simple, and Kasson says the head of 20th Century Fox, Darryl F. Zanuck, nailed it: "Keep her skirts high. Have co-stars lift her up whenever possible to create the illusion now selling so well. Preserve babyhood." Who could object to a baby, and one with such talent? Even when someone talked about Shirley in less-than-reverential tones, the admiration came out. Adolphe Menjou, who played the bookie Sorrowful Jones opposite Shirley in Little Miss Marker (1934) admitted, "This child frightens me. She knows all the tricks."
Little Shirley by dancing and singing, and, to be sure, smiling on screen warmed the hearts of the misers she played against, she reunited estranged couples, and she demonstrated that no matter how bad things were, we could sing and dance and smile our way out of them. That's the superficial message in her movies, and millions bought it. In his analysis of the films, though, Kasson finds bigger meanings. Shirley wasn't just about healing hearts. In movies like The Little Colonel or The Littlest Rebel (both 1935), she may have helped her nation come to terms with the Civil War which some people still remembered first hand. Her films were among the many Hollywood productions that glorified the Old South, and participated in the racism of the early twentieth century. She was paired with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and the two seem to have had genuine affection for each other. But the stereotypes in the story were too strong to break through; only because Robinson played a servant was he able to take the little white girl by the hand and show her how to dance.
The other great influence Shirley had, Kasson shows, was that she made people want to be good consumers. Of course audiences were eager to shell out their dimes for their tickets, but that was just the start. There is a fancy dress ball in Little Miss Marker and a big birthday party for Shirley in Baby Take a Bow and a blow-out Christmas in Bright Eyes. "As a model child, Shirley was also an exemplary consumer," writes Kasson. It wasn't just an artistic stance upon the screen. There were movie tie-ins, Shirley dolls, tableware, soaps, coloring books, and more; as I type these words, Ebay lists 2,500 different bits of Shirley memorabilia for sale. "Shirley Temple's films, products, and endorsements collectively stimulated the American consumer economy at a crucial time, so much so that to some she appeared to be a relief program all by herself," says Kasson.
She made a fortune before inevitably growing too old to play her familiar kid roles, and Kasson mentions in the final pages how she lead a useful non-movie life in her later years. That is not the subject of his book, but there is an interesting aspect of the adult Shirley Temple Black that leads one to grant that her strange and distorted upbringing did produce a sensible and thoughtful adult. Only at the urging of her husband did she come to an assessment of her finances, and she found that her father had bought expensive cars and speculated on risky businesses, and her mother had been able to dress fashionably and to bet at the racetracks, and that only pennies remained on every dollar she had brought them. For the rest of her parents' lives, she said nothing about this discovery. Just like in her movies, she was taking care of the grown-ups who should have known better.


Getting into Position: Lacrosse |
Players 8 and younger play with no goalie. Starting at 10U, players begin to learn the four basic positions, often spending equal time in each position to help them discover where they are happiest and most successful. As players grow older, they often spend more time and attention mastering the skills of one position.
Attackers spend their time on the offensive half of the field and are responsible for scoring goals. They rely on their teammates to stop the other team and pass them the ball.
Midfielders or “Middies” transition between offense and defense and do a little bit of everything. They are responsible for moving the ball from defensive to offensive players.
Defenders spend much of the game on the defensive half of the field attempting to stop the opposing offense using stick and body checks.
The goalie’s job is to block and catch shots using his body and stick.


- Resources & Research
This document may be printed, photocopied, and disseminated freely with attribution. All content is the property of the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership.
Leaders, policymakers, and systems developers seek to improve early childhood programs through data-driven decision-making. Data can be useful for informing continuous quality improvement efforts at the classroom and program level and for creating support for workforce development at the system level. Early childhood program leaders use assessments to help them understand their programs’ strengths and to draw attention to where supports are needed.
Assessment data is particularly useful in understanding the complexity of organizational climate and the organizational conditions that lead to successful outcomes for children and families. Several tools are available for program leaders to assess organizational structures, processes, and workplace conditions, including:
The Early Education Essentials is a recently developed tool to examine program conditions that affect early childhood education instructional and emotional quality. It is patterned after the Five Essentials Framework,7 which is widely used to measure instructional supports in K-12 schools. The Early Education Essentials measures six dimensions of quality in early childhood programs:
A recently published validation study for the Early Education Essentials8 demonstrates that it is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used to assess early childhood programs to improve teaching and learning outcomes.
For this validation study, two sets of surveys were administered in one Midwestern city; one for teachers/staff in early childhood settings and one for parents/guardians of preschool-aged children. A stratified random sampling method was used to select sites with an oversampling for the percentage of children who spoke Spanish. The teacher surveys included 164 items within 26 scales and were made available online for a three-month period in the public schools. In community-based sites, data collectors administered the surveys to staff. Data collectors also administered the parent surveys in all sites. The parent survey was shorter, with 54 items within nine scales. Rasch analyses was used to combine items into scales. In addition to the surveys, administrative data were analyzed regarding school attendance. Classroom observational assessments were performed to measure teacher-child interactions. The Classroom Assessment Scoring SystemTM (CLASS)9 was used to assess the interactions.
Early Education Essentials surveys were analyzed from 81 early childhood program sites (41 school-based programs and 40 community-based programs), serving 3- and 4-year old children. Only publicly funded programs (e.g., state-funded preschool and/or Head Start) were included in the study. The average enrollment for the programs was 109 (sd = 64); 91% of the children were from minority backgrounds; and 38% came from non-English speaking homes. Of the 746 teacher surveys collected, 451 (61%) were from school-based sites and 294 (39%) were from community-based sites. There were 2,464 parent surveys collected (59% school; 41% community). About one-third of the parent surveys were conducted in Spanish.
Data were analyzed to determine reliability, internal validity, group differences, and sensitivity across sites. Child outcome results were used to examine if positive scores on the surveys were related to desirable outcomes for children (attendance and teacher-child interactions). Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to compute average site-level CLASS scores to account for the shared variance among classrooms within the same school. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to group the scales.
The surveys performed well in the measurement characteristics of scale reliability, internal validity, differential item functioning, and sensitivity across sites. Reliability was measured for 25 scales with Rasch Person Reliability scores ranging from .73 to .92; with only two scales falling below the preferred .80 threshold. The Rasch analysis also provided assessment of internal validity showing that 97% of the items fell in an acceptable range of >0.7 to <1.3 (infit mean squares).
The Teacher/Staff survey could detect differences across sites, however the Parent Survey was less effective in detecting differences across sites. Differential item functioning (DIF) was used to compare if individual responses differed for school- versus community-based settings and primary language (English versus Spanish speakers). Results showed that 18 scales had no or only one large DIF on the Teacher/Staff Survey related to setting. There were no large DIFs found related to setting on the Parent Survey and only one scale that had more than one large DIF related to primary language. The authors decided to leave the large DIF items in the scale because the number of large DIFs were minimal and they fit well with the various groups.
The factor analysis aligned closely with the five essentials in the K-12 model. However, researchers also identified a sixth factor—parent voice—which factored differently from involved families on the Parent Survey. Therefore, the Early Education Essentials have an additional dimension in contrast to the K-12 Five Essentials Framework.
Outcomes related to CLASS scores were found for two of the six essential supports. Positive associations were found for Effective Instructional Leaders and Collaborative Teachers and all three of the CLASS domains (Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support). Significant associations with CLASS scores were not found for the Supportive Environment, Involved Families, or Parent Voice essentials. Ambitious Instruction was not associated with any of the three domains of the CLASS scores. Table 1. HLM Coefficients Relating Essential Scores to CLASS Scores (Model 1) shows the results of the analysis showing these associations.
Outcomes related to student attendance were found for four of the six essential supports. Effective Instructional Leaders, Collaborative Teachers, Supportive Environment, and Involved Families were positively associated with student attendance. Ambitious Instruction and Parent Voice were not found to be associated with student attendance. The authors are continuing to examine and improve the tool to better measure developmentally appropriate instruction and to adapt the Parent Survey so that it will perform across sites.
There are a few limitations to this study that should be considered. Since the research is based on correlations, the direction of the relationship between factors and organizational conditions is not evident. It is unknown whether the Early Education Essentials survey is detecting factors that affect outcomes (e.g., engaged families or positive teacher-child interactions) or whether the organizational conditions predict these outcomes. This study was limited to one large city and a specific set of early childhood education settings. It has not been tested with early childhood centers that do not receive Head Start or state pre-K funding.
The Early Education Essentials survey expands the capacity of early childhood program leaders, policymakers, systems developers, and researchers to assess organizational conditions that specifically affect instructional quality. It is likely to be a useful tool for administrators seeking to evaluate the effects of their pedagogical leadership—one of the three domains of whole leadership.10 When used with additional measures to assess whole leadership—administrative leadership, leadership essentials, as well as pedagogical leadership—stakeholders will be able to understand the organizational conditions and supports that positively impact child and family outcomes. Many quality initiatives focus on assessment at the classroom level, but examining quality with a wider lens at the site level expands the opportunity for sustainable change and improvement. The availability of valid and reliable instruments to assess the organizational structures, processes, and conditions within early childhood programs is necessary for data-driven improvement of programs as well as systems development and applied research.
Findings from this validation study confirm that strong instructional leadership and teacher collaboration are good predictors of effective teaching and learning practices, evidenced in supportive teacher-child interactions and student attendance.11 This evidence is an important contribution to the growing body of knowledge to inform embedded continuous quality improvement efforts. It also suggests that leadership to support teacher collaboration like professional learning communities (PLCs) and communities of practice (CoPs) may have an effect on outcomes for children.
This study raises questions for future research. The addition of the “parent voice” essential support should be further explored. If parent voice is an essential support why was it not related to CLASS scores or student attendance? With the introduction of the Early Education Essentials survey to the existing battery of program assessment tools (PQA, PAS, ECWJSI, ECWES, ECJSS and SEQUAL), a concurrent validity study is needed to determine how these tools are related and how they can best be used to examine early childhood leadership from a whole leadership perspective.
1 High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, 2003
2 Talan & Bloom, 2011
3 Curbow, Spratt, Ungaretti, McDonnell, & Breckler, 2000
4 Bloom, 2016
5 Bloom, 2016
6 Whitebook & Ryan, 2012
7 Bryk, Sebring, Allensworth, Luppescu, & Easton, 2010
8 Ehrlich, Pacchiano, Stein, Wagner, Park, Frank, et al., 2018
9 Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2008
10 Abel, Talan, & Masterson, 2017
11 Bloom, 2016; Lower & Cassidy, 2007
Abel, M. B., Talan, T. N., & Masterson, M. (2017, Jan/Feb). Whole leadership: A framework for early childhood programs. Exchange(19460406), 39(233), 22-25.
Bloom, P. J. (2016). Measuring work attitudes in early childhood settings: Technical manual for the Early Childhood Job Satisfaction Survey (ECJSS) and the Early Childhood Work Environment Survey (ECWES), (3rd ed.). Lake Forest, IL: New Horizons.
Bryk, A. S., Sebring, P. B., Allensworth, E., Luppescu, S., & Easton, J. Q. (2010). Organizing schools for improvement: Lessons from Chicago. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
Curbow, B., Spratt, K., Ungaretti, A., McDonnell, K., & Breckler, S. (2000). Development of the Child Care Worker Job Stress Inventory. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 15, 515-536. DOI: 10.1016/S0885-2006(01)00068-0
Ehrlich, S. B., Pacchiano, D., Stein, A. G., Wagner, M. R., Park, S., Frank, E., et al., (in press). Early Education Essentials: Validation of a new survey tool of early education organizational conditions. Early Education and Development.
High/Scope Educational Research Foundation (2003). Preschool Program Quality Assessment, 2nd Edition (PQA) administration manual. Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press.
Lower, J. K. & Cassidy, D. J. (2007). Child care work environments: The relationship with learning environments. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 22(2), 189-204. DOI: 10.1080/02568540709594621
Pianta, R. C., La Paro, K. M., & Hamre, B. K. (2008). Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
Talan, T. N., & Bloom, P. J. (2011). Program Administration Scale: Measuring early childhood leadership and management (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Whitebook, M., & Ryan, S. (2012). Supportive Environmental Quality Underlying Adult Learning (SEQUAL). Berkeley, CA: Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, University of California.


The world has witnessed an extensive number of disasters, each leaving its own unique scar on the landscape of history. Some of these catastrophes are more memorable due to their unforeseen consequences, one of them being massive power outages. So let’s look back at some of the largest blackouts that resulted from major disasters, and examine how being prepared with an independent power supply, like the quick power system, can offer some resilience in such times.
1. Northeast Blackout, 2003
One of the most significant blackouts in U.S. history occurred in the summer of 2003 when a software bug in an Ohio-based power company resulted in a massive power outage. The outage, affecting over 50 million people across eight states in the U.S. and Ontario, Canada, was initially triggered by a tree branch that fell on a power line.
2. Southern Brazil Blackout, 2009
The Itaipu Dam, responsible for providing power to both Brazil and Paraguay, was hit by a severe storm in November 2009, triggering a failure in the power lines. As a result, an estimated 87 million people in southern Brazil were left without power for several hours.
3. Indian Power Outage, 2012
India’s massive power failure in 2012 is one of the worst in world history. The two-day blackout affected over 600 million people, nearly half of India’s population, leading to a substantial shutdown of transportation and public services.
4. Hurricane Maria, 2017
This catastrophic hurricane wiped out the entire power grid of Puerto Rico, plunging the whole island into darkness for months. Hurricane Maria showed the world how extreme weather conditions could lead to prolonged periods of power outage.
5. Texas Winter Storm, 2021
In February 2021, Texas was hit by a severe winter storm causing power to be cut for more than 4 million Texans at the storm’s peak. The blackout, lasting several days, revealed the vulnerability of power grids to unexpected weather changes.
6. Japanese Tsunami and Fukushima Disaster, 2011
Following the severe earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant experienced a full meltdown, leading to massive blackouts and the displacement of more than 150,000 residents due to radiation fears. This disaster highlighted the threats that natural disasters pose to power supplies, especially in areas with nuclear power plants.
While these blackouts were brought about by various causes, they all underscore the importance of having a reliable independent power source. Relying solely on the power grid can leave us vulnerable during such unpredictable events. And that’s where solutions like the quick power system can help provide an alternative source of energy, ensuring a continuous supply even during blackouts.
As technology advances, it’s essential to understand the risks associated with relying solely on the traditional power grid. According to a study highlighted in this article, one common mistake people make when trying to save electricity is neglecting the potential of alternative energy sources. Likewise, another article lists some handy gadgets for outdoor trips, hinting at the convenience and peace of mind that portable, alternative power sources can provide in scenarios beyond just home use.
By learning from these massive blackouts, we can better prepare for future disasters, minimize our vulnerabilities, and ensure we’re never left in the dark.
The Impact of Blackouts
Blackouts, particularly large-scale ones, have far-reaching impacts that extend beyond merely disrupting our daily routines. They bring cities to a halt, affecting transportation, healthcare services, communication, and even water supply, as most of these systems depend on electricity to function. A study by the University of Cambridge in 2018 estimated that a nationwide blackout in the UK would cost the economy up to £1 billion per day. Additionally, these blackouts also reveal the vulnerability of our power infrastructure, highlighting the urgent need for more reliable and resilient systems.
The Role of Renewable Energy
With growing concerns about climate change and the vulnerability of our existing power grids, there’s a rising interest in renewable energy sources. Solar panels, wind turbines, and hydropower are increasingly being considered as viable alternatives to conventional power generation methods. These renewable energy sources are not only more environmentally friendly but, when used with appropriate storage systems, can also offer a certain degree of independence from the grid. This can prove to be invaluable during massive blackouts, providing a continuous power supply and minimizing disruptions.
The Importance of Preparedness
While we may not have control over when and where the next major disaster will strike, we can certainly equip ourselves to better handle such situations. A significant part of this preparedness involves ensuring a reliable power supply. An independent power system serves as a form of insurance, providing you with the necessary power in times of emergency. It’s not just about comfort or convenience; in some cases, it could be a matter of life and death, particularly for those reliant on electrically powered medical equipment. Being prepared with a backup power source can go a long way in minimizing the chaos and disruption caused by blackouts.


children moving from primary to secondary high school may find it hard to adjust to being taught more formally. They are suddenly expected to study a wider variety of subjects, to take on more responsibility and sometimes make a new circle of friendships. Involving changes like learning more and having less free time. For most children and young people going through a transition such as moving school can have an impact on their learning and achievements, sometimes affecting them academically. Suddenly a child is removed from their “comfort zone” and taken away from a familiar environment, from their friends and teachers etc. The child is completely thrown of track and put into a new environment which can be extremely difficult for a child or young person to adjust too. It can have affects on a child’s learning, self esteem and sometimes resulting in them no longer wanting to go to school, although some children and young people do adapt well to this type of transition.