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Using qualitative case study methods, we examine how educators describe continuous improvement and craft coherence for implementation. We find that educators attempted to build system-wide improvement capabilities, taking into consideration theories of action for continuous improvement and managing change given the realities of their local contexts. We identify educators' orientations for crafting coherence as a mechanism by which they attempt to integrate improvement strategies to their local contexts. Two bridging approaches to crafting coherence were found: weaving and stacking. By using the notion of developing coherence as craft, we extend the field's understanding of how leaders attempt to create shared meaning and practice throughout educational systems that are complex and dynamic. We discuss the implications for research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ensuring equitable opportunities and outcomes for all students is a top priority of many educators and policymakers across the globe. Data use can be an important lever for achieving equity, but how this can occur is not well understood. In this article, we draw upon knowledge gained in a decade of in-depth qualitative research to examine the ways in which data use helps to open or close doors for students. We discuss data use practices that influence equity goals: (1) accountability-driven data use and data use for continuous improvement; (2) using data to confirm assumptions and using data to challenge beliefs, and (3) tracking and flexible grouping to promote student growth. Along each of these dimensions, there are active decision makers, complex processes of data use at play, and a great deal of variation both within and across contexts. Ultimately, educators and policymakers are faced with critical choices regarding data use that can profoundly affect students’ daily educational experiences and trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple studies show that molecular genetic changes and epigenetic modifications affect the risk of cognitive disability or impairment. However, the role of epigenetic variation in cognitive development of neurotypical young children remains largely unknown. Using data from a prospective, community-based study of mother-infant pairs, we investigated the association of DNA methylation patterns in neonatal umbilical cord blood with cognitive and language development at 1 year of age. No CpG loci achieved genome-wide significance, although a small number of weakly suggestive associations with Bayley-III Receptive Communication scales were noted. While umbilical cord blood is a convenient resource for genetic analyses of birth outcomes, our results do not provide conclusive evidence that its use for DNA methylation profiling yields epigenetic markers that are directly related to postnatal neurocognitive outcomes at 1 year of age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]