Planning a comprehensive staff development program

Directing an early childhood education program is a backbreaking, stressful endeavor. The successful administrator learns to manage time so as to squeeze the completion of infinite tasks into a finite daily time frame. Budgeting, paper work or unexpected conflict resolution often take priority over work with the staff or the curriculum. Staff development efforts are often limited.Jeffrey Trawick-Smith is an Assistant Professor at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willmantic     

Creatine kinase activity weakly correlates to volume completed following upper body resistance exercise

In the current study, we examined the relationship between serum creatine kinase (CK) activity following upper body resistance exercise with a 1- or 3-min rest between sets. Twenty men performed two sessions, each consisting of four sets with a 10-repetition maximum load. The results demonstrated significantly greater volume for the 3-min condition (M = 4156 kg, SD = 867, for 3 min; vs. M = 3503 kg SD = 759, for 1 min; p < .001), with no significant differences in delta CK activity between conditions (p = .574). Nevertheless, there was a weak correlation between the delta CK activity and total volume of exercise completed (r = .55 with a 1-min rest, and r = .45 with a 3-min rest). Therefore, the volume following upper body resistance exercise correlates weakly with serum CK levels, irrespective of rest interval length between sets.     

Testing the double-deficit hypothesis in an adult sample

The double-deficit hypothesis of dyslexia posits that reading deficits are more severe in individuals with weaknesses in phonological awareness and rapid naming than in individuals with deficits in only one of these reading composite skills. In this study, the hypothesis was tested in an adult sample as a model of reading achievement. Participants were parents of children referred for evaluation of reading difficulties. Approximately half of all participants reported difficulty learning to read in childhood and a small subset demonstrated ongoing weaknesses in reading. Structural equation modeling results suggest that the double-deficit hypothesis is an accurate model for understanding adult reading achievement. Better reading achievement was associated with better phonological awareness and faster rapid automatized naming in adults. Posthoc analyses indicated that individuals with double deficits had significantly lower reading achievement than individuals with single deficits or no deficits.