Acumen's latest exciting venture has seen us acquire a well-established Lancashire firm of financial advisers and welcome their team into the fold. This next evolutionary chapter not only broadens our geographical scope in the North West but also deepens our talent pool to 120 years' worth of combined industry experience.
"Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together," said James Cash Penney, founder of US department store chain, JCPenney. That is a sentiment we wholeheartedly subscribe to here at Acumen. It is the combined forces of hard work, strategic foresight, calculated risk taking, fortuitous timing and – above all – an unwaveringly client-centric approach that has propelled Acumen Financial to where we are now.
Where we are now is a highly respected firm that manages £240 million worth of funds, having overseen an unprecedented 60 percent growth over the last 18 months. We have a talented team of financial advisers and support staff, whose ranks have now grown to 17 in all. Plus, we now have two office locations – our main headquarters in Burscough and our newly acquired office in Pilling, Lancashire.
Back in May, Angela Maher, Managing Director at Acumen Financial, said her goal was to "continue to build this company and spread the word about Acumen across the North West region and beyond." True to her word, the business has duly gone on to acquire Pilling financial advisers, Wyre Investment and Financial Management, an acquisition that not only gives Acumen a strategic new satellite office in the Wyre borough of Lancashire (between Preston and Lancaster) but also the chance to welcome experienced adviser Liz Warren and support executive Jayne Clarke to our team.
Liz has more than 30 years' experience in all aspects of financial planning and advice. After graduating in 1981, she went to work for Assicurazioni General, a large Italian insurance company, in Johannesburg, for three years. On her return to the UK, she took a post at Standard Life, where she was based for over ten years. In 1995, Liz established Wyre Investments, initially as the advisory arm of an accountancy practice but later becoming fully independent.
"I have a wide range of clients, from multinational businesses to private individuals looking for help in running their finances, a lot of whom have been with me since the business was initially set up," Liz said. "I have really enjoyed fostering relationships with clients over a long period of time, which has been one of the most rewarding parts of building the business.
"I firmly believe that everyone should understand how financial products work and be comfortable with what they are investing in," she added.
Liz's work encompasses tax planning, investment and pension planning, as well as advice on life assurance and protection products, retirement benefits, occupational pensions, mortgages and later life advice and much more.
In keeping with Acumen's intrinsic values, Liz is committed to "providing personal service, building relationships with clients from private individuals to international corporations, and helping them all to achieve their goals". A regular volunteer at Citizens Advice Bureau, Liz is married with two daughters. In her spare time, she loves to travel and play golf.
Another key member of the Wyre Investments team to join Acumen is support executive, Jayne Clarke. Jayne also spent an extensive portion of her career at Standard Life, working her way up to section head of new business processing. After more than a decade of dedicated service, she left to have her two children before joining Wyre Investments in 1997.
Jayne is responsible for the day to day running of the office and is the friendly voice that welcomes every call. In her spare time, Jayne plays tennis for a local team and enjoys keeping fit, swimming and taking her dog for a walk.
Needless to say, we are very excited about this new chapter in Acumen's history and we warmly welcome Liz and Jayne to the Acumen family.
For more information about any of our high-quality products and services, please contact Acumen Financial Partnership today on 0151 520 4353 or email info@acumenfinancial.co.uk.


The South Plains Honor Flight from Lubbock, which took World War II and Korean War veterans to Washington, was a huge success. Flights were halted in Kansas when the program director of Central Prairie Honor Flights was charged with stealing more than $100,000. The non-profit that oversees the flights should change the way donated money is held.


Gary was not only an accomplished sculler but also loved racing in sweep boats, particularly King's Cup eights. Not only did he love it, but also those who joined him In these boats. The 1988 King's Cup crew was beginning to look like a scullers eight, stroked by Peter Antonie, Gary in the two seat and Hamish McGlashan reserve.
Matt commenced his rowing at Ballarat and Clarendon College before joining Wendouree Ballarat Rowing Club. Being a 'proud Ballarat Boy', Matthew has fond memories of 1997 for a number of reasons. It was the first all-Ballarat Victorian crew racing in the Penrith Cup with Rob Richards, Tim Wright and Anthony Edwards. The same crew won the National Championship lightweight four in a cracker of a race. They were bow ball to bow ball all the way down the course with another Victorian based crew including Stuart Peile, Andrew Lane, Stuart Purves and Darren Balmforth. He regards the win against such strong competition with three close mates as "simply fantastic". Also in 1997 he had another superb race, at the Lucerne World Cup in the lightweight pair final together with Tasmanian Andrew Butler. The crew moved into the lead from the 1000 and secured the silver in a photo finish. Well done Matt.
Emily, now Emily Carmody, started rowing at Ballarat Grammar School which then was located at Wendouree Ballarat boatshed. She was inspired by seeing 1996 Atlanta Olympian Anthony Edwards around the shed and progressed to club rowing in the same manner as he had done.
Anthony had an uncomfortable time in Beijing as he rowed with a broken rib. His attempt at open sculling in 2002 in the Interstate Championships was going well until the 1000m mark when the bigger scullers came to the fore. Anthony is currently the development officer of Rowing Tasmania.
Tim commenced his rowing at Ballarat High School in 1985 as a cox. He was introduced to the sport by his father who was then coaching his older brother. After 3 years of coxing, he commenced rowing at the age of 15. He has continued his interest in the sport as a rowing umpire and also as a regatta official at Ballarat regattas.
The Wendouree Ballarat Rowing Club would like to thank Andrew Guerin for all of his work and the Australian Rowing History web site.


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Rein van der Kamp (Meppel, 16 juli 1979) is een Nederlands oud-basketballer.

Carrière
In 2001 begon Van der Kamp als betaald basketballer bij Landstede Basketbal uit Zwolle. Hij groeide in de eerste jaren uit tot een vaste waarde in het team. In 2005 bereikte hij met Landstede de finale van de play-offs. Deze werden verloren van de Demon Astrounts met 4-0. Samen met zijn tweeling-broer Wim van der Kamp speelde hij bij Landstede tot 2005. In het seizoen 2005/2006 tekende van der Kamp een contract bij Eiffeltowers Den Bosch, in de tijd dat hij in Den Bosch speelde werd hij ook een geselecteerd voor het Nederlands basketbalteam waar hij 26 keer voor uitkwam. Met Eiffeltowers werd hij in 2006 en 2007 landskampioen. Na 3 jaar vertrok van der Kamp en tekende een contract bij De Friesland Aris. Na 3 jaar vertrok van der Kamp weer bij Leeuwarden en keerde terug bij Landstede waar hij in het seizoen van 2010-2011 voorlopig zijn laatste wedstrijd als prof heeft gespeeld. Van september 2011 tot november 2012 was hij assistent-coach bij Landstede naast Herman van den Belt. Tot 2016 speelde hij voor de amateurvereniging Red Giants in Meppel.

Nederlands basketballer

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45m 135m 45m to 135m
From classic and best-selling family favorites to new and heartwarming seasonal comedies, our Christmas plays and musicals are brimming with holiday spirit.
Christmas, Virtually
By Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus.
Product Code: CS7000
Comedy | Drama | Farce | Satire
Recommended For: Elementary School | Middle School | High School | College | Community
Cast Size: 3 to 10m., 3 to 15w., 1 to 11 either gender.
Approx. Run Time: 65 min.
This online theatrical event is designed to be rehearsed and performed on Zoom. These 12 delightful scenes range in tone from sweet and silly to heartfelt to poignant. Dealing with life during the holidays, everyone can relate to what these characters are going through. From a famous reindeer in therapy because of his nose, to a soldier sending a holiday message home, to Hanukkah struggling to find meaning in the Christmas blitz, this show can be reordered, trimmed, cut and adapted to YOUR audience. Just because we can't be together doesn't mean we can't have Christmas, Virtually. Learn More
Min. Royalty Rate: $90/perf
Script use: - Reading/Preview Auditions Classroom Study Performance
A Dickens Carol
By Ned Crowley.
Product Code: DH3000
Recommended For: High School | College | Community | Professional
Cast Size: 5 to 6 m., 5 to 6w., 2 either gender.
A Dickens Carol re-imagines the story of Scrooge from Dickens' point of view. It's 1842 Victorian London, and Dickens has become embittered towards life. In a way, he has become a bit of a Scrooge, a character he has yet to even create! But on a cold Christmas Eve, his fortunes take a turn when a train crash sends Dickens into the icy Kent river. There, he is visited by three spirits who lead him on a journey that transforms his life and inspires him to write his most celebrated work ever. Learn More
Scrooge and the Ghostly Spirits
Book, music and lyrics by Douglas Post. Based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
Product Code: S2X000
Cast Size: 10 to 25m., 8 to 25w.
Limited Livestream Rights Available
It is Christmas Eve and everyone in London is finding merriment in the season except for the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge. This musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic tale strips the story down to its essence while adding 17 songs that speak to the heart and to the holidays. It follows the transformation of a man of business into a person who truly understands that mankind is his one and only business. Learn More
By Peter Manos.
Product Code: S4B000
Recommended For: Middle School | High School | College | Community
Cast Size: 3m., 4w.
It is December of 1818 in the small Austrian village of Oberndorf bei Salzburg. Now in the midst of a blizzardy cold winter, an assistant priest and a poor schoolmaster strive to lift the spirits of the congregation. But the already ailing church organ is destroyed through a misunderstanding by the schoolmaster's autistic son, who then runs away from home. In the midst of this turmoil, the schoolmaster and priest come together to produce the world's most beloved Christmas song, "Silent Night." Learn More
The Charitable Sisterhood Christmas Spectacular
By Bo Wilson.
Product Code: CR4000
Recommended For: Community
Cast Size: 5w.
The Charitable Sisterhood is back, and they're getting ready for Second Trinity's annual Christmas show, but they're having trouble staying focused because someone has stolen the baby Jesus figure from his place in the nativity scene. Will the show go on, and what kind of show will it be? The fun doesn't let up until the hilarious revelation at the show's climax, which leaves the audience and the sisterhood filled with the very best spirit of the Christmas season. Learn More
A Gift to Remember
Adapted by Joseph Robinette. Based on the book Can This Be Christmas? by Debbie Macomber.
Product Code: GD2000
Recommended For: High School | Community
Cast Size: 6m., 8 to 11w., extras if desired.
No Livestream Rights Available
On Christmas Eve, during a snowstorm, a group of strangers are trying to reach their destinations in time for the holidays. When engine trouble on their train forces them to disembark and take shelter at a small depot, the former strangers begin to bond as they realize the memory of this night will be a gift to remember. Learn More
A Good Old-Fashioned Big Family Christmas
By Pat Cook.
Recommended For: High School | College | Community
As the huge Christmas party with the whole family nears, suddenly everyone is on their best behavior. The husbands, the wives, even the kids. Everybody is being good…too good. Is it possible to be TOO good? This party has more intrigue behind it than a whole host of spy novels and all the traditional Christmas standbys are utilized as the family tries to throw A Good Old-Fashioned Big Family Christmas. Learn More
Little Scrooge
By Patricia Barry Rumble. Based on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
Product Code: LL4000
Recommended For: Elementary School | Middle School | TYA
Cast Size: 2 to 4m., 3 to 7w.
In this extremely creative, kid-friendly adaptation of the Charles Dickens' classic, The Ghost of Christmas Past (a surfer dude), the Ghost of Christmas Present (a beautiful spirit with an attitude) and the Ghost of Christmas Future (an eerie figure in white) help young Eben Scrooge to discover the true meaning of Christmas. Learn More
By Philip Grecian. Based upon his play and the novel by Charles Dickens.
Product Code: CQ4000
Cast Size: 6 to 18m., 5 to 11w.
The original Dickens story is all here in this familiar tale told as a radio drama onstage, complete with sound effects and music cues, minimal costuming and a simple set. The storyteller begins, transforming into the mean and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge as he speaks. Throughout, the storyteller remains in the Scrooge characterization as the other actors narrate in their natural voices while assuming new voices and dialects, becoming every character in the tale. Learn More
A Christmas Story, The Musical
Book by Joseph Robinette. Music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Based on the motion picture A Christmas Story distributed by Warner Bros., written by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown and Bob Clark, and upon In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash written by Jean Shepherd. Produced with permission of Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures and Dalfie Entertainment.
Product Code: CD2000
Recommended For: Community | Professional
Cast Size: 15m., 10w. May expand to 20+m., 15+w.
Approx. Run Time: 120 min.
Set in the 1940s, this musical based on the holiday movie classic, follows 9-year-old Ralphie and his quest for the perfect Christmas gift—an Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot Range Model air rifle. Rebuffed at every turn with a similar echoing response, Ralphie plots numerous schemes to achieve his desperate desire for the coveted BB gun. Learn More

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Our studio is based in the north-east of Poland, where we live close to wild nature. When we found out about the Villa Bosund project, we immediately knew that it was a perfect match. The settings are hauntingly beautiful. It was a great pleasure to work with such a diverse environment.We were inspired by the connection between the modern architecture and the forest. The large window surfaces introduce nature and light into the house. It feels like you can almost touch the trees when you are sitting in your living room. This thought led us from the very beginning.
Despite the modern technology, the building blends in perfectly with its settings. We tried to capture this in our visualisations. The view from the sea shows perfectly that there is almost no boundary between the building and the forest. The project required custom-made plant models. We had to get familiar with the local vegetation. We are curious by nature, and that is why we love these kinds of challenges. They are also great opportunities to learn new things.
Nature turned out to be an element of the building. We worked on the finest furniture pieces and carefully selected natural finishes. The overall colour combination and interior details were truly impressive. That is why it was a pleasure to work on the camera compositions. It was hard to select the best views, because they were all special.
If you value the highest quality and you would like to disconnect from the noise of the world, Villa Bosund is the perfect escape.


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Rick Wagoner is stepping down
Apparently, the Obama administration has asked Rick Wagoner to step down as part of his deal with the administration:
The chairman and chief executive of General Motors, Rick Wagoner, is resigning, just hours before President Obama was expected to unveil his rescue plans for G.M. and the ailing American auto industry, a person close to the decision said Sunday.
Mr. Wagoner was asked to step down, and agreed to do so, as part of G.M.'s restructuring agreement with the Obama administration, according to an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement has not been made yet.
Rick Wagoner is no managerial genius, but I'm not sure this will actually help much. GM is caught in the jaws of its own structural problems--labor costs, yes, but also its corporate culture, its legacy physical plant, and so forth. Perhaps most perniciously, GM is the victim of a brain drain--it's difficult to recruit top talent to a dying firm, especially when it's located in a dying industry.
On the other hand, it can hardly hurt. And the symbolism, both to the taxpayer and the employees, is important. GM can't be given vast sums without some visible sign of serious change. Let's hope the new CEO actually brings some, rather than providing window dressing for a continuation of business as usual.
Megan McArdle is a columnist at Bloomberg View and a former senior editor at The Atlantic. Her new book is The Up Side of Down.


Frequently I am gathering information about Useful Excel Keyboard Shortcuts, Which is used by typing some function keys for Windows with the help of Keyboard. Some time ago I started documenting and writing down (what is growing to be) an extremely comprehensive list of Excel shortcuts and function keys for Windows.
You can also download cheat sheet for free by clicking here.
Move active cell clockwise in selection – Ctrl + .
Apply number format – Ctrl + Shift + !
Can we ask you a favor? Can you please share these Useful Excel Keyboard Shortcuts with your friends if it's useful to you? Thanks!
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Mediaroom Optimizing the route of your transport
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Optimizing the route of your transport
The volume of road freight transport is growing. By now, it has grown to a considerable extent. As a result, there is a high environmental pollution because of CO2 emissions and a large burden on the transport routes. But we can improve the situation: Empty runs of trucks are a huge problem on European roads. They are a natural consequence of flows of goods due to changing and asymmetric customer requirements. Improving the utilization of trucks, it is not only the environment that benefits.
With the introduction of the eco-tax in Germany between april 1999 and 2003, the share of empty miles of domestic trucks fell from around 26 to under 20 percent. Owing to the ecological tax reform, there was now a levy on energy consumption to protect the environment, which made freight transports more expensive. Since january 2005, there exists also a toll for trucks. It applies to all trucks with a gross vehicle weight of more than 7,5 tonnes on all federal highways.
In the last ten years, however, the share of empty runs and miles of German trucks has risen again: Of more than 400 million truck rides in the last year, around 37 percent of them were empty runs. Therefore, every third truck on the road is unloaded. This is due to suboptimal route planning. For instance, if a truck delivers goods from Munich to a storage or transition point in Rome, it then has to drive to the next loading point – without freight. Such empty runs cost time, fuel and money. It would be ideal if the truck takes a delivery on its way back. But this is unusual.
Using network effects
Via route optimization, truck utilization can be significantly improved. A platform can be used to combine several transport orders in one route. The more carriers and customers a logistic company has, the greater the chance of getting orders together in the best possible way. These so-called network effects make road freight transport more efficient from an economic and ecological point of view. This minimizes CO2 emissions and prevents empty runs as much as possible.
Additionally, digitalization can help making transports faster, cheaper and more climate-friendly. With digital live-tracking, short-term route changes are possible and transports can be optimally controlled. Using a software, sennder can profit from the network effects and ensure optimal route planning. We can thus contribute to a better capacity utilization of trucks and to a environmentally friendly freight transport.
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Q: How do I run a Jenkins job on a weekend, AFTER another job has completed? I have a job in Jenkins that I only want to run on Saturday, but it must only be ran after another job is finished (this is a report job, so data must be in place).
I understand how to use the Jenkins con expressions, but can I chain that in sequence with another job?  The idea being once the first job is completed, the date is checked.  If it's Saturday, run the second job.
Can Jenkins do that, or is it something I need to write via a script?

A: You can use Jenkin's Flexible Publish Plugin to set conditional build step:
https://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/Flexible+Publish+Plugin

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Explosion in Harlem sets New York City on edge
By Matt Phillips
Published March 12, 2014 This article is more than 2 years old.
At least three people are dead and more than 50 people were injured by an explosion and building collapse in uptown Manhattan's East Harlem district, The New York Times reports. Among the wounded were three children and a 15-year-old reported to be in critical condition, according to the Guardian.
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio said that the explosion was the result of a gas leak.
"For weeks we've been smelling gas," 21-year-old Ashley Rivera, who lives nearby, told the Daily News. "We saw people flying out of the window. … Those are my neighbors."
Here is an image of the site before and after the incident.
Below are photos from the scene:
The building collapse is adjacent to a rail line used by a regional commuter railroad, the Metro North.
Here is live video of the site:


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Volume 14, Number 9—September 2008
Pediatric Parapneumonic Empyema, Spain
Retrospective Analysis of IPD Cases
RIS [TXT - 2 KB]
citations of this article
EID Journal Metrics on Scopus
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More articles on Pneumonia
Ignacio Obando , Carmen Muñoz-Almagro, Luis A. Arroyo, David Tarrago, David Sanchez-Tatay, David Moreno-Perez, Sahar S. Dhillon, Cristina Esteva, Susanna Hernandez-Bou, Juan J. Garcia-Garcia, William P. Hausdorff, and Angela B. Brueggemann
Author affiliations: Virgen del Rocio Children's Hospital, Seville, Spain (I. Obando, L.A. Arroyo, D. Sanchez-Tatay); Sant Joan de Deu Hospital, Barcelona, Spain (C. Muñoz-Almagro, C. Esteva, S. Hernandez-Bou, J.J. Garcia-Garcia); Spanish Reference Laboratory for Pneumococci, Madrid, Spain (D. Tarrago); Carlos de Haya Children's Hospital, Malaga, Spain (D. Moreno-Perez); University of Oxford, Oxford, UK (S.S. Dhillon, A.B. Brueggemann);; GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Rixensart, Belgium (W.P. Hausdorff);
Pediatric parapneumonic empyema (PPE) has been increasing in several countries including Spain. Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major PPE pathogen; however, antimicrobial pretreatment before pleural fluid (PF) sampling frequently results in negative diagnostic cultures, thus greatly underestimating the contribution of pneumococci, especially pneumococci susceptible to antimicrobial agents, to PPE. The study aim was to identify the serotypes and genotypes that cause PPE by using molecular diagnostics and relate these data to disease incidence and severity. A total of 208 children with PPE were prospectively enrolled; blood and PF samples were collected. Pneumococci were detected in 79% of culture-positive and 84% of culture-negative samples. All pneumococci were genotyped by multilocus sequence typing. Serotypes were determined for 111 PPE cases; 48% were serotype 1, of 3 major genotypes previously circulating in Spain. Variance in patient complication rates was statistically significant by serotype. The recent PPE increase is principally due to nonvaccine serotypes, especially the highly invasive serotype 1.
Pleural effusions occur in at least 40% of children hospitalized with bacterial pneumonia. Occasionally, the infectious agent invades the pleura to cause pediatric paraneumonic empyema (PPE) (1), characterized by the presence of pus. Although rarely associated with fatalities in industrialized countries, PPE often results in prolonged hospitalization and surgical intervention, and patients are at risk for serious and long-lasting illness (2,3).
An increasing incidence of PPE has been reported in several countries since the mid-1990s (2–6), but it is not clear why. Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most frequently found microorganism in most recent reports. However, conventional microbiologic culture methods have low sensitivity, usually because of antimicrobial pretreatment before sterile-site sampling. Consequently, the contribution of antimicrobial drug–susceptible serotypes might be higher than reported estimates. Molecular and antigen detection-based techniques, including direct molecular typing of culture-negative pleural fluid (PF) samples (7), can be useful adjuncts in defining the contributory role of different microorganisms and pneumococcal serotypes to PPE etiology (4,8).
Our study's goal was to prospectively investigate the molecular epidemiology of pneumococcal PPE among children admitted to 3 of the largest tertiary-care pediatric hospitals in Spain. There were 4 objectives: 1) identify the serotypes and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) genotypes causing PPE and determine whether a temporal change in the circulating genotypes could explain the recent increase; 2) determine whether the causal genotypes were only associated with PPE or also caused other invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in the same population, or were carried by healthy children; 3) compare serotypes and genotypes recovered from northern and southern Spain in the context of regional differences in 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) uptake; and 4) identify any differences between highly invasive serotypes and more opportunistic serotypes with respect to epidemiology and inflammatory markers.
Prospective and Retrospective Identification of PPE Cases
PPE cases involving all children <18 years of age at Sant Joan de Deu Hospital Barcelona, Spain, were prospectively enrolled beginning October 1, 2003. PPE patients <14 years of age admitted to Virgen del Rocío Children's Hospital (VRCH) in Seville and Carlos de Haya Children's Hospital (CHCH) in Malaga were prospectively enrolled beginning January 1, 2005. The study period extended to June 30, 2006, in all locations for molecular analyses and through December 2006 for trend analyses. Eligible patients were identified through notification by attending physicians or by clinical microbiology laboratories when a sterile site sample was pneumococcal culture or pneumolysin (ply) positive. Participating centers served a pediatric referral population of 607,796 (9% of the corresponding Spanish population).
PPE was defined according to published criteria (6). Requirements for thoracocentesis, decortication, administration of fibrinolytics, and antimicrobial drug therapy were determined according to usual clinical practice. Patients with PPE not requiring thoracocentesis or surgical decortication were excluded, as were cases with PF analysis consistent with a transudate. Thoracocentesis was performed by pediatric surgeons, except for acutely ill patients who were tapped in the emergency department or intensive-care unit. PF specimens were sent for routine microbiologic culture and biochemical analysis; remaining fluid was frozen at –80ºC for further molecular testing. Clinical, demographic, and outcome data were collected by using a standardized case report form.
To identify temporal trends, we also retrospectively identified PPE cases at VRCH and CHCH during 1998–2004 using International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, codes for empyema (510.0 or 510.9) and chart review. PPE definition and patient exclusion criteria were the same as those used in the prospective study.
Nasopharyngeal Carriage Study
From January 2005 through June 2006, nasopharyngeal (NP) swab specimens were obtained from 635 children 6 months to 6 years of age attending 4 primary healthcare centers for well-child visits and 2 hospital emergency rooms in Seville. Exclusion criteria were chronic medical condition, moderate to severe acute process including fever >39ºC, lower respiratory tract infection, vomiting, dehydration, or other ill appearance. The study was conducted according to World Health Organization recommendations (9)
Written informed consent was obtained from parents or legal guardians of participating children before thoracocentesis or nasopharyngeal swabbing. Hospital ethics committees approved the studies.
IPD cases from patients at VRCH and CHCH during 2001–2006 were retrospectively ascertained from microbiology department databases of both centers and confirmed by chart review. Viable pneumococcal isolates were serotyped (70% of cases) by the Spanish Reference Laboratory of Pneumococci and genotyped by MLST (61% of cases).
Testing of PF Samples
Pneumococci were identified by using microbiologic and molecular genotyping methods; susceptibility testing was performed by agar dilution (10), and Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute interpretive criteria were used to define susceptibility (10). Culture-negative PFs were assayed for the presence of the pneumolysin (ply) gene, by using a real-time PCR in Barcelona adapted from Corless et al. (11) and a published assay (12) in Seville. Conventional serotyping using the Quellung method was performed where possible; culture-negative or incompletely genotyped PFs were serotyped by using a real-time PCR that targets different capsular locus genes (13). DNA was extracted from PFs by using 20% wt/vol Chelex-100 resin (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA, USA) in Barcelona and the Nucleospin kit (Clontech Laboratories, Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA) in Seville.
Molecular Genotyping
MLST was performed by using standard methods (14), with the exception of a change in PCR primers for the gdh, recP, xpt genes when genotyping PFs directly; in the PCR amplification step, first-round primers from a nested PCR (15) were substituted for standard MLST primers to increase sensitivity. Allele and sequence type (ST) designations were made by using the MLST website (www.mlst.net).
Statistical analyses were performed by using SPSS for Windows version 14.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Reported p values were 2-tailed, and the level of significance was set at 0.05. Analysis of categorical variables was performed with the χ2 test and Fisher exact test, as appropriate. Continuous variables were compared by analysis of variance followed by a Bonferroni test for multiple comparisons. When data were not normally distributed, we used the Kruskal-Wallis test and conducted posterior comparison between individual groups using the Mann-Whitney U test with the Bonferroni correction. IPD potential was estimated by using a standard odds ratio and Mantel-Haenszel confidence intervals (16).
Overall PPE Trends
Figure 1. Annual number of pediatric parapneumonic empyema (PPE) cases among children <14 years of age admitted to Seville and Malaga hospitals from 1998 to June 2006 (combined prospective and retrospective data) and...
In Seville and Malaga, the annual number of PPE cases increased 13-fold (5 to 66 cases) during 1998–2006 (Figure 1). In Barcelona, the annual number of PPE cases increased from 11 cases in 2004 to 62 cases in 2006 (data before October 2003 were not available). Over these study periods, no obvious changes in referral patterns, overall pediatric population, guidelines for evaluating children with fever, pneumonia or PPE, or recommendations for performing diagnostic thorachocentesis in children with PPE were found. Table 1 describes the demographic characteristics of the 208 PPE patients prospectively enrolled during the molecular analysis study period (n = 98, Seville and Malaga; n = 110, Barcelona). There were no deaths.
Microbiologic Evaluation
Figure 2. Microbiologic characteristics of pleural fluid (PF) specimens from pediatric parapneumonic empyema (PPE) case-patients. *Streptococcus pyogenes (6), Staphylococcus aureus (3), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (2), Escherichia coli (1), Streptococcus mitis (1), Peptostreptococcus spp. (1)....
Sixty-seven (32%) patients had positive blood and/or PF cultures for any pathogen, and S. pneumoniae was isolated from 53 (79%) of these cases (Figure 2). In 51 of these, a pneumococcal serotype could be identified via the conventional Quellung reaction. Evidence of pneumococcal infection in 99 (84%) of 118 culture-negative PF samples was found on the basis of ply or wzg gene detection. PPE cases, diagnosed only by ply or wzg PCR, were significantly more likely to have received antimicrobial drug therapy before PF aspiration than patients with culture-positive pneumococcal PPE (92% vs. 53%; p<0.0001). Of the 99 culture-negative PF samples, 67 (65 ply-positive/wzg-positive and 2 ply-negative/wzg-positive) had a sufficient sample to enable serotype testing by PCR. In 52 of these samples, a serotype could be identified. Thus, a pneumococcal serotype was identified in 103 PF samples (Figure 2).
In addition, a predicted serotype based on MLST genotyping was established for 2 cases with negative PCR results and 6 cases for which neither conventional nor PCR-based serotyping was possible (Figure 2). Such predictions were possible because there is a strong relationship between serotype and MLST genotype for most genotypes (16–18; www.mlst.net), with the exception of a small number of well-known genotypes that are associated with different serotype variations.
Eighty-one PF samples were fully genotyped, and 18 were partially genotyped (>4 alleles), by MLST. An ST was identified for 31 of the 99 culture-negative/ply-positive PPE. Among these 31 cases, there was full concordance between MLST data and PCR results for confirmation of predicted serotypes (Figure 2). Eighteen PF samples were partially genotyped by MLST: 2 were presumptive serotype 1 pneumococci based on 5–6 loci matching ST228; 1 was a presumptive serotype 5 based on 5 loci matching ST1223; 7 were genotyped at >4 loci and serotyped by PCR (serotype 1, n = 5; serotype 7F and 19A, n = 1 each); and 8 samples were partially genotyped at >4 loci (indicating presence of a pneumococcus), but PCR serotyping was either negative or not performed. Samples with predicted serotypes based on incomplete genotyping data were not included in further analyses.
Serotype Distribution
Ten serotypes were identified among the 111 PPE cases with tentatively assigned or confirmed serotyping information (Table 2). Non–PCV7 serotypes caused 96 (89%) cases of PPE, including serotype 1, which was detected in 48% of the patient samples. Although a significantly higher proportion of PPE was caused by 7F in Seville and Malaga than in Barcelona, the contribution of other serotypes by region was not significantly different (Table 2). PCV7 uptake among PPE patients was significantly higher in Seville and Malaga than Barcelona (40% vs. 22%, p = 0.005), but there were no significant regional differences in vaccination status among children infected with serotype 1 (28% vs. 22%, p = 0.63).
Eight (15%) of 53 cultured pneumococci were intermediately penicillin resistant and 4 (8%) were resistant at high levels. Serotype 1, 3, 5, and 7F pneumococci were uniformly susceptible to penicillin and significantly more common among culture-negative than culture-positive PF samples (89% vs. 71%, p = 0.02).
Genotyping by MLST
Eighty-one PF samples were fully genotyped; 26 STs were identified (Table 3). Three of the major serotype 1 STs (18), ST228, ST304 and ST306, were identified, although ST228 was only detected in Seville and Malaga, and ST304 only in Barcelona (Table 3). Serotypes 5 and 7F were represented by globally distributed genotypes ST289 (Colombia5-19) and a closely related single-locus variant, ST1223; and ST191 (Netherlands7F-39), respectively.
Six of 7 serotype 14–positive PF samples were ST156 (Spain9V-3). Genotypic diversity among the serotypes in this study was greatest for serotype 19A; 5 unrelated STs were detected, including ST81 (Spain23F-1). Such variants of ST81 have also previously been detected.
IPD and Nasopharyngeal Carriage in Seville and Malaga
During 2001–2006, 180 cases of IPD involving children <14 years of age were diagnosed with IPD at Seville and Malaga hospitals, and 126 isolates were available for serotyping; 110 of these isolates were also genotyped. Twenty-three percent (29/126) of all IPD was due to serotype 1. Over this period, there was a statistically nonsignificant increase in the proportion of IPD cases due to serotype 1: 17% (2001–2003) vs. 27% (2004–2006), p = 0.19.
Twenty-four serotypes were identified; 10 serotypes caused both PPE and other IPDs (Table 4), and 14 serotypes caused only other IPDs (6B, 11, 13, 15A, 16, 18C, 22, 23A, 23B, 23F, 24, 33, 34, and 38). Serotype 1 isolates were almost exclusively associated with pulmonary disease, including bacteremic pneumonia (12/29, 41%) and PPE (15/29, 52%). The 3 major serotype 1 PPE genotypes were also found among this collection of serotype 1 IPD isolates, although ST304 was no longer detected after 2002 and ST306 was first detected in 2003. A retrospective analysis of serotype 1 invasive isolates submitted to the Spanish National Reference Laboratory since 1990 showed ongoing circulation of ST228 and ST304, but ST306 was only detected once before 2000 (1998; unpub. data).
Serotype 14 was the second most common IPD-causing serotype, with an overall prevalence of 17% (23% in 2001–2003 and 12% in 2004–2006; p = 0.12). The major serotype 14 genotype (ST156) identified in PF samples was also detected throughout the entire 2001–2006 period among carriage isolates and in culture-positive IPD cases, mainly causing pulmonary disease (Table 4). Ten (8%) cases of culture-positive IPD were due to serotype 7F, 9 of which were detected after 2004. ST191 was the only serotype 7F genotype in IPD and NP carriage.
Serotype-Specific Differences in Clinical Epidemiology, Inflammatory Markers, and Outcome
PPE-associated serotypes were divided into 3 groups: 1) serotypes 1, 5, 7F, and 14, consistently associated with the highest estimates of serotype-specific high invasive disease potential (HIDP) (16,17,19); 2) serotype 3 alone; and 3) serotypes 6A, 9V, 19A, and 23F, which have a low invasive disease potential (LIDP) (16,17,19). Odds ratio estimates of invasive disease potential demonstrate as much as 60- to 120-fold variation between the most invasive (1, 4, 5, 7, 14, 18C) and the least invasive (3, 6A, 15, 23F) serotypes/serogroups (16,19).
PPE cases with HIDP serotypes were older than those with LIDP serotypes (median ages 56 and 24 months, respectively; p = 0.0001) (Table 5). Among HIDP PPE cases, 74% were due to serotypes 1 (n = 53) and 5 (n = 9) and comprised children >36 months of age, whereas serotype 14 (n = 9) only caused PPE in patients <36 months of age (data not shown; p = 0.0001). Serotype 3 PPE was associated with significantly more complications than PPE caused by HIDP and LIDP serotypes combined (p = 0.004). No other characteristics differed significantly between individual groups (Table 5).
In this study, we used molecular techniques to sensitively evaluate PPE epidemiology among a large number of patients in geographically diverse locations of Spain. There was evidence of pneumococcal infection in most of the culture-positive and culture-negative cases of PPE, which was mainly associated with nonvaccine serotype 1 followed by 3, 5, 7F, and 19A, as well as vaccine serotype 14. Serotypes 1, 3, and 14 in particular are well-known PPE-associated serotypes (2,4,7,20,21). Antimicrobial drug–susceptible serotypes 1, 3, 5, and 7F were overrepresented in culture-negative PF samples, pointing to an important potential bias in PPE surveillance when surveillance is based solely on conventional microbiologic culture methods. Infection with serotype 3 was a risk factor independently associated with PPE complications, a finding also seen in a US study (22).
Serotype 1 has also been the most prevalent IPD serotype among Spanish children <14 years of age, representing 5%, 11%, and 27% of all culture-positive pediatric IPD isolates sent to the Pneumococcal Reference Laboratory in 1997, 2003, and 2006, respectively (23). However, the increase in serotype 1 disease cannot easily be explained by a vaccine effect, in part because PCV7 coverage was relatively low in both regions for much of the study period. Registered in Spain in June 2001, PCV7 had a low initial uptake that increased to a reported coverage of 34%–45% in 2004–2005 (24,25).
In addition, increased PPE incidence largely caused by serotype 1 was reported in the United States and the United Kingdom in the decades before PCV7 introduction in 2000 and late 2006, respectively (4,6,20). Previous studies have suggested that the high year-to-year variability of serotype 1 and 5 disease may represent large-scale outbreaks of a cyclical nature (26–28).
However, the observation in this study that 2 of the 3 MLST genotypes of serotype 1 (ST228 and ST304) had been "resident" in Spain at least since 1990 indicates that serotype 1 PPE increases in Spain were likely not due to a recent introduction of a specific clone. In general, MLST analyses demonstrated that the recent increase in PPE was mainly due to pneumococcal STs previously described to be present in Spain and other European countries for some years (18,27,29–31).
Our study has several limitations. First, the limited study period did not enable a longer-term analysis of PPE epidemiology. Second, our analyses relied exclusively on serotype identification and MLST genotyping, neither of which detects differences in virulence factors apart from the serotype. Genetic factors independent of the capsule have been associated with invasiveness and disease severity (17,32,33). Third, other factors that may also modulate the epidemiology of PPE (e.g., differences in case ascertainment between the retrospective and prospective studies, viral infections, or climatic patterns [34]) were not evaluated. Fourth, it remains difficult to evaluate the PCV7 impact because reliable written immunization registries detailing the number of administered doses are lacking, and thus vaccine coverage figures mainly come from parent reporting. Finally, the results obtained here may not apply to less severe pneumonia cases, whose etiology may be qualitatively different.
Unfortunately, PCV7 has a serotype coverage of only 11%–14% (including the cross-reactive 6A) in the population of PPE patients. However, conjugate vaccines containing serotypes 1, 5, and 7F, such as the newly developed 10-valent pneumococcal Haemophilus influenzae protein D conjugate vaccine candidate (35), could increase the serotype coverage for PPE up to 80%; the subsequent addition of serotypes 3 and 19A in vaccine candidates currently in development would add an additional 18% of coverage (35). Finally, continued epidemiologic surveillance with molecular diagnostic techniques will be crucial to understanding this serious pediatric disease.
Dr Obando is an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, of the University of Seville (Spain). His research interests include the epidemiology and treatment of pediatric infectious diseases with a special focus on pneumococcus and respiratory viruses.
We thank Manuel Antonio Fernández Fernandez, Ana Porras González, Ana Barcia Ramirez, Rafael Torronteras, Maria José Gil Dominguez, Ingeborg Mateos, and Amadeu Gene for contributions to the nasopharyngeal carriage study and laboratory work. We also thank Asuncion Fenoll for performing conventional serotyping and sharing unpublished epidemiologic data, and Juan Polo for technical assistance in statistical analysis.
This research was supported by Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (PI050924 and CP05/00068), the Spanish Pneumococcal Infection Study Network (G03-103) and the Spanish Network for the Research in Infectious Diseases (REIPI RD06/0008) of the Spanish Ministry of Health, and GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals. L.A.A. was supported by Fundacion CajaSol and D.S.-T. was supported by Consejería de Salud from the Andalusian Government.
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Figure 1. Annual number of pediatric parapneumonic empyema (PPE) cases among children <14 years of age admitted to Seville and Malaga hospitals from 1998 to June 2006 (combined prospective and retrospective data)...
Figure 2. Microbiologic characteristics of pleural fluid (PF) specimens from pediatric parapneumonic empyema (PPE) case-patients. Streptococcus pyogenes (6), Staphylococcus aureus (3), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (2), Escherichia coli (1), Streptococcus mitis (1), Peptostreptococcus spp....
Table 1. Demographic characteristics of 208 patients with PPE enrolled during the molecular analysis study period
Table 2. Pneumococcal serotypes identified among pleural fluid samples
Table 3. Sequence types and serotypes among 81 pneumococci detected in pleural fluid
Table 4. Contribution of PPE-associated serotypes and STs to IPD, Seville and Malaga, 2001–2006, and nasopharyngeal carriage in children <6 years of age, Seville†
Table 5. Characteristics of children hospitalized with PPE, by serotype category, excluding patients with serious underlying disease (n = 3)
Table of Contents – Volume 14, Number 9—September 2008
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Obando I, Muñoz-Almagro C, Arroyo LA, Tarrago D, Sanchez-Tatay D, Moreno-Perez D, et al. Pediatric Parapneumonic Empyema, Spain. Emerg Infect Dis. 2008;14(9):1390-1397. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1409.071094
Obando I, Muñoz-Almagro C, Arroyo LA, et al. Pediatric Parapneumonic Empyema, Spain. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 2008;14(9):1390-1397. doi:10.3201/eid1409.071094.
Obando, I., Muñoz-Almagro, C., Arroyo, L. A., Tarrago, D., Sanchez-Tatay, D., Moreno-Perez, D....Brueggemann, A. B. (2008). Pediatric Parapneumonic Empyema, Spain. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 14(9), 1390-1397. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1409.071094.
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Didymosphaeria celata är en lavart som först beskrevs av Curr., och fick sitt nu gällande namn av Pier Andrea Saccardo 1882. Didymosphaeria celata ingår i släktet Didymosphaeria och familjen Didymosphaeriaceae.   Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

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in the groin at Medelin Bridge about 4 miles from Vera Cruz.
force of the musket ball was slowed by silver coins in his pocket.
from his groin wound.  A son was born two weeks later.
Barbary remained a widow and lived in Sevier County.
lifetime.  5th mother to have next years meat out of his hogs.


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Posts by Joseph Sunde
Joseph Sunde is an associate editor and writer for the Acton Institute. His work has appeared in venues such as The Federalist, First Things, The City, The Christian Post, The Stream, Charisma News, Juicy Ecumenism, Ethika Politika, Made to Flourish, and the Center for Faith and Work. Joseph resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife and four children.
"GM is Alive" and American Enterprise is on the Ropes
Joseph Sunde | September 13, 2012 | Economics
"GM is alive, and Osama bin Laden is dead," said President Obama in his recent speech at the Democratic National Convention. The crowd responded with resounding cheers, energetically waving signs bearing the same slogan. Now, just a week later, bumper...
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Joseph Sunde is an associate editor and writer for the Acton Institute.
Charles Murray and the Virtue of Industriousness
Joseph Sunde | July 20, 2012 | Society
I have already provided some thoughts on Charles Murray's new book, "Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010," related to the broader implications of his argument that our country is experiencing an "inequality of human...
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Joseph Sunde | June 15, 2012 | Faith
Data-visualization guru Hans Rosling recently gave a fascinating TED talk contemplating the relationship between religion and babymaking. (For more examples of his wizardry, see here and here.) Watch the full lecture below: As usual, Rosling does a nice job of...
Entrepreneurs Need More Than Just Capital
Joseph Sunde | May 25, 2012 | Economics
In a recent interview, Malik Fal, managing director of Endeavor South Africa, outlines some key challenges for South African entrepreneurs, as well as some suggested solutions (HT): South Africa has its own unique issues when it comes to to battling poverty and...
Charles Murray, Bill Maher and Materialism
Joseph Sunde | May 3, 2012 | Society
Charles Murray's new book, "Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010," has been making waves in typical Murray fashion. Murray, W.H. Brady scholar at AEI, argues that America has, over the past 50 years, experienced a new class divide between...


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Polychoerus parvus är en plattmaskart som beskrevs av Achatz, Hooge och Tyler 2007. Polychoerus parvus ingår i släktet Polychoerus och familjen Convolutidae. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

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Last Updated: Sep 28, 2022 11:34 AM
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Like so many schools around the country, Roosevelt International Middle School in San Diego is grappling with the complexity—and responsibility—of ensuring that each student has the opportunity to access the most rigorous academic coursework. Our school offers an International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program with a dual-language pathway. Nearly 70 percent of our students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, 14 percent are a part of our special education program, and nearly 65 percent are Hispanic.
We are dedicated to creating pathways to rigor for all learners because we know that closing achievement gaps has to start with closing opportunity gaps. The course schedule is how we translate our aspirations into practice. A school's schedule, after all, reflects far more than its instructional priorities.
At Roosevelt, we are building a student-centered master schedule with equity and opportunity at its core. It relies on technology to manage a multiplicity of considerations that marry student needs with organizational capacity. We want to ensure access not just to rigor, but to the academic interventions and supports that will enable students to succeed.
What does this look like in the classroom? We build strategic groupings around students who receive special education services or who are English-language learners (ELLs). We build balanced, heterogeneous classroom rosters of students with mixed ability levels, providing opportunities for students to learn from and with each other. And we build common planning time into the schedule, enabling teachers to collaborate and take advantage of professional learning communities.
Three years ago, I shifted my approach toward a student-centered master schedule. I worked to account for student needs and student grouping while largely developing the schedule "by hand." This process took me many months, including summertime, to plan. To ensure I had the appropriate student information, I assembled an array of spreadsheets, files, folders, and reports. When I learned about master scheduling technology, I initially saw it as a time-saving tool: An administrator would press a button, and the computer would randomly assign students to a class. I was not interested in this kind of "time-saving" without intentionality.
But, as it turns out, technological supports can be more than a tool for simply saving time. The right tool, I realized, could enable us to incorporate our school values and priorities into the master scheduling process. Scheduling software could allow us to better understand the trade-offs that directly impact teachers and students.
Do our ELL and special education students have access to the same advanced courses, with the proper staffing and instructional support, as their peers?
Is there ethnic and socioeconomic demographic parity in enrollment for our most advanced courses, or are we "tracking" low-income and minority students into less advanced courses?
Are we providing students equal access to the schedules most aligned with their academic goals, or is our scheduling process driven by the needs of the most advanced students?
As a middle school, we are focused on preparing our students for the rigor and demands of high school and beyond. We want to make sure that students are successful if they choose to take AP, IB, and honors classes in high school. This isn't for the faint of heart, and it is not a process with a well-defined start and end point. Not only do we need to monitor for potential constraints, we need to keep in mind how we maintain overall school demographic heterogeneities in the courses.
Often, schools set out to create a schedule that maximizes opportunity, but that ultimately falls into the well-worn trap of "shadow tracking"—a phenomenon in which students become informally grouped together on a single academic track. The limitations of the schedule wind up sorting students into academic pathways that may not prepare them for high-level coursework and postsecondary success.
School leaders must intentionally examine the impact of this prioritization on the rest of the staffing, rosters, and section placements. Otherwise, the result may be a schedule in which honors and nonhonors students do not interact during the school day, in which the course requests of nonhonors students are less likely to be fulfilled, or in which students are likely to be enrolled either entirely in honors or entirely in nonhonors courses.
In many cases, a school may commit to designing a master schedule that ensures students who take multiple honors courses can also enroll in elective classes. Oftentimes, this academic sorting falls along ethnic and socioeconomic lines, exacerbating social segregation as well as opportunity and achievement gaps. At Roosevelt, we offer some art and music electives as an extra class period beyond the typical school day, allowing more students to take advantage of these programs. Only a schedule built with an active eye toward maximizing choice and diversity can avoid these traps.
The platform we have been using at Roosevelt, called Abl Master Scheduler, provides us with an opportunity to carefully identify which classes and which sections specific students should be grouped in, and to balance classes based on student needs and staffing resources.
For example, we group students identified with special education needs per their individualized education programs and work to maintain a roster of about 20 percent of such students per classroom. Additionally, we build rosters in which 25 percent of the class is Gifted and Talented Education (GATE)-identified or high achieving, and 30 percent consists of ELLs. In this way, the scheduling technology not only allows us to balance our classrooms, but it also ensures that each classroom remains diverse enough so that students can learn from each other, and with each other.
Early on, I knew this process would require input and insights from our entire team: teacher leaders from every department, counselors, IB coordinator, and administrative staff. I asked them all to consider the same set of questions. Are we providing an experience aligned with our vision for all of our students, or just some of our students? Looking at our master schedule in its current form, as well as our student achievement data, is our master schedule truly structured to maximize learning opportunities for all students, and is it responsive to student needs? What can we do differently? These questions have remained our guiding inquiries throughout this process.
My team had—and continues to have—many great ideas not only about how to use the schedule to better educate our students, but also about the importance of strategic staffing and balanced teaching assignments. It was vital to intentionally build preparation time into the schedule for teachers to collaborate; this allows them to focus on sharing instructional strategies, monitor student learning, and design lessons together.
At the high school level, students have far greater opportunities to exert agency over their schedules. But, in the middle school context, the schedule is even more important. The problem is that the schedule is a jigsaw puzzle, and it is a Herculean task for administrators to get every piece to fit perfectly. It is a task worth undertaking, however.
When you build a master schedule around student needs, the schedule itself becomes a learning tool, providing all students with the opportunity for success—and helping students better prepare for high school and beyond.
Christina Casillas is the principal of Roosevelt International Middle School in San Diego.
Engage teachers and the leadership team representing all content areas in gathering input, reflecting on the current master schedule, and reviewing student data. Share the process of developing a student-centered master schedule grounded in equity and access.
Examine student needs through a data-informed approach. Leverage a variety of data sources, including academic performance, course requests, and special programs (special education, GATE, ELL) to get a complete picture of student needs, the composition of class rosters, and course offerings.
Ensure you remain focused on your priorities and overall school vision. All decisions must be made with student needs at the core. The master schedule process is about organizing and coordinating your resources to enhance learning and promote academic excellence for all students. These important decisions must be guided by our key values as schools and educational leaders.
Want to chat about master schedules? Tweet Christina @casillas_DrC.