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College of Education News: Oct. 30, 2024

Students, staff and faculty members from Penn State's College of Education share recent research and career achievements.

 




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New Krause Pedagogical Innovation Lab officially dedicated with ribbon cutting

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Nov. 1 to officially dedicate the newest space in the Penn State College of Education — the Krause Pedagogical Innovation Laboratory.




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News24 Business | Lindt melted own 'excellence' claim in US lawsuit: reports

In a bid to dodge a US lawsuit, Swiss chocolatier Lindt & Sprungli has scuppered its own claims about the excellence of its products — a cornerstone of its marketing strategy.




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News24 Business | Transnet scrambles with equipment delivery as peak fruit exports loom

Transnet has said essential equipment, including rubber-tyred gantries and ship-to-shore cranes, will only arrive by the next peak fruit export season at the Cape Town Port.




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News24 Business | 200 electric Ubers coming to SA next year, starting in Joburg

Uber will bring 200 BYD electric vehicles onto its platform in South Africa, starting with a pilot in Johannesburg in 2025.




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News24 Business | Exec pay: Shoprite forced to engage unhappy shareholders

Investors holding more than a quarter of Shoprite shares opposed its executive pay, requiring SA's largest retailer to address dissenting shareholders' concerns.




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News24 Business | 'Food inflation has all but disappeared': Bidcorp flags record trading, 'excellent' SA result

Shares of Bidcorp, the food services giant founded by Brian Joffe, jumped almost 5% on Tuesday after it reported a record revenue performance for the four months to end October, including an "excellent" result from SA.




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News24 Business | FlySafair to interdict ruling that threatens international flights

FlySafair has filed an urgent application to interdict a ruling that threatens its international operations after it was found that the airline's shareholding structure violates foreign ownership regulations.




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News24 Business | Filipino giant says Maersk unit holds SA 'hostage', will appeal Durban port interdict

ICTSI said it will use all legal channels to make sure that a Maersk subsidiary, "is not successful in holding the Durban port, and indeed the South African economy hostage to their interests".




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News24 Business | Blue Ribbon owner Premier reports earnings jump but maize prices still a concern

Blue Ribbon and Snowflake owner Premier's interim earnings rose by almost a third on Tuesday as the group benefited from a focus on margin management, cost savings and continued investment in its assets.




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News24 Business | Lottoland wins round in battle against Google in South Africa

The Competition Tribunal issued an interim order that should allow online betting platform Lottoland access to Google Ads.




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News24 Business | SA arm of Ivor Ichikowitz's Paramount defence group files for business rescue

The South African operations of defence and aerospace company Paramount filed for business rescue amid a dispute with a drone manufacturer from the United Arab Emirates.




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News24 Business | MultiChoice sheds 1.8m DStv subscribers, loss doubles to R1.85bn

DStv and Showmax operator MultiChoice reported it shed over a tenth of its pay-TV subscriber base in its six months to end September, when its loss also doubled after it was battered by currency headwinds as well as its spend on streaming.




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News24 Business | Motsepe's SOLA Group wins first round in Renergen rights battle

An application to suspend development of the solar farm has been rejected, but another seeking more permanent relief is yet to be decided on.




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News24 Business | Deepfake drama's latest twist: Watchdog probes claims that agents have been lying about licence

SA's financial regulator is investigating allegations that agents of online brokerage Banxso, whose licence has been suspended, contacted clients claiming it has been "cleared".




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News24 Business | US investment banking giant caught out by weak rand

It took less than a week for one of Citigroup's recommended Trump trades to sink under water.




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News24 Business | Business brief | Mantengu digs up a profit; Shell prevails in landmark climate ruling

An overview of the biggest business developments in SA and beyond.




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News24 Business | Elon Musk is making a habit of joining Trump’s calls with leaders

Elon Musk surfaced once more in a round of phone calls US President-elect Donald Trump is making with world leaders, driving home the billionaire's outsized influence in the next administration.




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News24 Business | Court orders Nulaid owner Quantum to reinstate director it removed in boardroom war

Nulaid owner Quantum Foods has been ordered to reinstate a nonexecutive director it removed after requesting to see the legal advice it relied on in refusing a shareholders' meeting request for board changes.




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News24 Business | Growth-hungry Premier says it would even consider snapping up RCL, Libstar

Blue Ribbon and Snowflake owner Premier Foods is on the prowl for acquisitions, including the likes of JSE-listed food producers like Remgro-controlled RCL Foods, Libstar and RFG, if they ever become available.




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News24 Business | Trump names Elon Musk to role leading government efficiency drive

US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named Elon Musk to a role aimed at creating a more efficient government, handing even more influence to the world's richest man who donated millions of dollars to helping Trump get elected.




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News24 Business | GEPF says its annual investment return is 'satisfactory' - but write-offs climb

The Government Employees' Pension Fund delivered a return of 4.9% on investments for its members in the year to end-March.




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A Model for the Reading Crisis




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The Path to Fluent Reading: A Developmental Timeline

Some of the most important pre-literacy skills begin in infancy. This timeline shows examples of the milestones children meet on their path to fluent reading.




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Q&A Collections: Reading Instruction

All Classroom Q&A posts offering advice on Reading Instruction (from the past eight years!) are described and linked to in this compilation post.




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Response: 'Reading Logs' Can 'Kill Students' Love of Reading'

Mary Beth Nicklaus, Beth Jarzabek, Jennifer Casa-Todd, Jennifer Orr, and Leah Wilson contribute their thoughts on the use or nonuse of reading logs to document student reading at home.




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Reading

A meta-analysis of nearly three-dozen research studies published over the past decade finds that reading from paper has a small, statistically significant benefit on reading performance.




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Getting Reading Right

In a new ongoing series, Education Week will interrogate the cognitive science behind how young students acquire foundational reading skills, with a focus on grades K-2, and explore the challenges educators face in teaching kids to read.




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Don't Overlook Vowels in Reading Research




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'Getting Reading Wrong'




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Reading

While 77 percent of students agree that summer reading will help them, 20 percent report reading no books during the summer. The finding is part of Scholastic's biennial nationally representative survey of children ages 17 and younger and their parents. Thirty-two percent of children ages 15 to 17 s




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Lucy Calkins, Creator of Reading Workshop, Responds to 'Phonics-Centric People'

One of the giants of the literacy world is grappling with the recent push for the "science of reading"—and responding to critics who say her early reading program doesn't align to evidence-based practice.




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There Is No 'Reading War'




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Reading Workshop 'Unlikely to Lead to Literacy Success,' Researchers Say

A new report from Student Achievement Partners claims that the popular reading program from literacy giant Lucy Calkins doesn't align to evidence-based practice. The review is the first in a new series that will evaluate reading programs against the scientific research base.




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State Chiefs Champion 'Science of Reading' at Literacy Summit

At a roundtable discussion in Washington, D.C., leaders advocated for states to play a stronger role in championing science-backed instruction and translating research into practice, focusing on levers like teacher training, certification, and system-wide professional learning.




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Tennessee Seeks New Teacher, Principal Requirements in 'Science of Reading'

The Tennessee department of education is proposing unsually comprehensive legislation that will require all current and new K-3 teachers, and those who train them, to know evidence-based reading instruction.




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Biases Can Hurt Boys' Reading

Children adapt their attitudes toward reading to conform to their classmates' perceived gender stereotypes, in ways that put boys at a disadvantage, according to a new study in the journal Child Development.




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Reading Instruction 'Keeps Parents Up at Night': Advocates in Wis., Calif. Push for Changes

As schools apply more scrutiny to the methods and materials they use to teach early reading, educators and parents in some states have started to form new advocacy efforts—trying to pressure states and districts to adopt new approaches to teacher training and evaluating materials.




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Reading & Writing Instruction in the Age of the Coronavirus

Keep it simple, keep it flexible, and keep the routine familiar are among the suggestions three educators give in assigning students work while distance learning.




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National Education Policy Center, Deans' Group Take Aim at the 'Reading Wars'

The National Education Policy Center and Education Deans for Justice and Equity released a joint statement on Thursday, claiming that "there is no settled science of reading."




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Q&A Collections: Reading Instruction

All Classroom Q&A posts on Reading Instruction (from the past nine years!) are described and linked to in this compilation post.




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Lucy Calkins Says Balanced Literacy Needs 'Rebalancing'

A recent document signals a major change in instructional theory from the Reading Workshop creator, who previously pushed back on "phonics-centric people."




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Plitidepsin: a Repurposed Drug for the Treatment of COVID-19 [Commentary]

Finding antivirals to reduce coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) morbidity and mortality has been challenging. Large randomized clinical trials that aimed to test four repurposed drugs, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir-ritonavir, interferon beta 1a, and remdesivir, have shown that these compounds lack an impact on the COVID-19 course. Although the phase III COVID-19 vaccine trial results are encouraging, the search for effective COVID-19 therapeutics should not stop. Recently, plitidepsin (aplidin) demonstrated highly effective preclinical activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Its antiviral activity was 27.5-fold more potent than that of remdesivir (K. M. White, R. Rosales, S. Yildiz, T. Kehrer, et al., Science, 2021, https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/01/22/science.abf4058). Plitidepsin, a repurposed drug developed for the treatment of multiple myeloma, targets the host translation cofactor eEF1A. Plitidepsin has shown efficacy in animal models and phase I/II human trials. Although plitidepsin is administered intravenously and its toxicity profile remains to be fully characterized, this compound may be a promising alternative COVID-19 therapeutic.




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New Generations Project

Two years ago, one of the main networks of evangelical churches in France launched the Nouvelles Générations (New Generations) project to train young Christians for the work of ministry and to build up of the body of Christ.




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God stirs the hearts of French youth

French pastor believes that today a new generation in France is rising up with passion to serve God.




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Giving the gospel to theatregoers

A performing arts outreach team shares Christ with crowds gathered to watch their street performances every evening during the Avignon Festival.




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God at work in northeast France

God works in the hearts of those who attend an event at a local church in northeast France.




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The Lord worked in many ways!

Six OMers spent two weeks in the south of France sharing God's love with children as part of a large music festival.




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Farsi-speaking man receives Bible

God prompts a worker to take along a Farsi Bible during his day manning the literature stand so that a Farsi-speaking man can find the Truth.




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Sharing the good news with kids

In spite of fluctuating numbers, an OMer knows God is working in the hearts of those who attended the kids’ club and heard the gospel.