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An analysis of 16 health-related quantitative traits in approximately 350,000 individuals reveals statistically significant associations between genome-wide homozygosity and four complex traits (height, lung function, cognitive ability and educational attainment); in each case increased homozygosity associates with a decreased trait value, but no evidence was seen of an influence on blood pressure, cholesterol, or ten other cardio-metabolic traits. Parental relatedness link to height and intelligence This consortium meta-analysis of 102 cohorts and more than 350,000 individuals investigates the effects of homozygosity on traits of public health importance by observing contiguous homozygous segments (runs of homozygosity, ROH), which are inferred to be homozygous along their complete length. Focusing on 16 health-related quantitative traits, the authors find statistically significant associations between summed runs of homozygosity and four complex traits: height, forced expiratory lung volume in a second, general cognitive ability and educational attainment. In each case increased homozygosity associates with decreased trait value. No evidence was seen of an influence of genome-wide homozygosity on blood pressure and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, or ten other cardio-metabolic traits. Homozygosity has long been associated with rare, often devastating, Mendelian disorders 1 , and Darwin was one of the first to recognize that inbreeding reduces evolutionary fitness 2 . However, the effect of the more distant parental relatedness that is common in modern human populations is less well understood. Genomic data now allow us to investigate the effects of homozygosity on traits of public health importance by observing contiguous homozygous segments (runs of homozygosity), which are inferred to be homozygous along their complete length. Given the low levels of genome-wide homozygosity prevalent in most human populations, information is required on very large numbers of people to provide sufficient power 3 , 4 . Here we use runs of homozygosity to study 16 health-related quantitative traits in 354,224 individuals from 102 cohorts, and find statistically significant associations between summed runs of homozygosity and four complex traits: height, forced expiratory lung volume in one second, general cognitive ability and educational attainment ( P < 1 × 10 −300 , 2.1 × 10 −6 , 2.5 × 10 −10 and 1.8 × 10 −10 , respectively). In each case, increased homozygosity was associated with decreased trait value, equivalent to the offspring of first cousins being 1.2 cm shorter and having 10 months’ less education. Similar effect sizes were found across four continental groups and populations with different degrees of genome-wide homozygosity, providing evidence that homozygosity, rather than confounding, directly contributes to phenotypic variance. Contrary to earlier reports in substantially smaller samples 5 , 6 , no evidence was seen of an influence of genome-wide homozygosity on blood pressure and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, or ten other cardio-metabolic traits. Since directional dominance is predicted for traits under directional evolutionary selection 7 , this study provides evidence that increased stature and cognitive function have been positively selected in human evolution, whereas many important risk factors for late-onset complex diseases may not have been.

\"Educational Dilemmas uses cultural psychology to explore the challenges, contradictions and tensions that occur during the process of education, with consideration of the effect these have at both the individual and the collective level. It argues that the focus on issues in learning overlooks a fundamental characteristic of education: that the process of educating is simultaneously both constructive and disruptive\"-- Provided by publisher.

This book highlights the current ideas about the what, why and how of educational change and what these suggest about the essential issues that change policy makers and planners need to consider. It analyses international case studies of change initiatives to illustrate how the change process can be affected when such issues are insufficiently acknowledged or ignored. Finally the book introduces a number of key questions for educational change practitioners to consider when they find themselves responsible for the planning and/or implementation and/or monitoring of changes within an institution, a locality or a region. Educational change scenarios, from change within a single institution to local implementation of a national change, are used to show how answers to these questions can help change planners to closely match their implementation processes to their local contextual realities.

\"Assessment and evaluation have always been an integral part of the educational process. Quality and purposeful assessment can assist in students' learning and their achievement. In recent years, considerable attention has been given to the roles of educational measurement, evaluation, and assessment with a view to improving the education systems throughout the world. Educators are interested in how to adequately prepare the young generation to meet the ever-growing demands of the 21st century utilizing robust assessment methods. There has also been increased demand in accountability and outcomes assessment in schools to bridge the gap between classroom practices and measurement and assessment of learners' performance. This volume contains selected and invited papers from the First International Conference on Educational Measurement, Evaluation and Assessment (ICEMEA). Contributors are: Peter Adams, Derin Atay, Nafisa Awwal, Helen Barefoot, Patrick Griffin, Bahar Hasirci, Didem Karakuzular, Don Klinger, Leigh Powell, Vicente Reyes, Mark Russell, Charlene Tan, Bryan Taylor, and Zhang Quan\"-- Provided by publisher.

Two critical theories—both contemporaneous and complementary—in Western philosophy of education spanning the 1960s to the 1980s will first be explicated, and then their significant intellectual values will be discussed on the basis of such a comparative account. These two critical models are the practical theory of education in the Anglophone world (typically in the UK) and the critical theory of education in the Continental Germany. I will introduce them—namely, analytic practical educational theory and German critical pädagogik—one after another, by focusing on their complementary differences, involving characteristic rationalities, typical forms of criticism, corresponding ways of exercising criticalities, and frames of reference regarding the sources of their criticalities. Based on such distinctions and contrasts, I will in the final section argue for their inherent value of coexistence, their practical value in illustrating the unique construction of academic educational studies which has respectively developed in the Anglo-American world and in the Continental world. As an additional point about their epistemic value to understand educational knowledge and scholarship accumulated in the West, I will further argue that these two philosophical–critical theories of education in parallel constitute peak academic experiences. This is mainly because they are compelling evidence, demonstrating how differently yet legitimately the two camps of Western educational scholarships deal with the same issue of criticality in contrasting yet complementary ways.

Over the last 20 years, international attempts to raise educational standards and improve opportunities for all children have accelerated and proliferated. This has generated a state of constant change and an unrelenting flood of initiatives, changes and reforms that need to be ‘implemented’ by schools. In response to this, a great deal of attention has been given to evaluating ‘how well’ policies are realised in practice – implemented! Less attention has been paid to understanding how schools actually deal with these multiple, and sometimes contradictory, policy demands; creatively working to interpret policy texts and translate these into practices, in real material conditions and varying resources – how they are enacted! Based on a long-term qualitative study of four ‘ordinary’ secondary schools, and working on the interface of theory with data, this book explores how schools enact, rather than implement, policy. It focuses on: contexts of ‘policy work’ in schools; teachers as policy subjects; teachers as policy actors; policy texts, artefacts and events; standards, behaviour and learning policies. This book offers an original and very grounded analysis of how schools and teachers do policy. It will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students of education, education policy and social policy, as well as school leaders, in the UK and beyond. Stephen J. Ball is the Karl Mannheim Professor of Sociology of Education in the Department of Educational Foundations and Policy Studies at the Institute of Education, University of London, UK. Meg Maguire is Professor of Sociology of Education in the Department of Education and Professional Studies at King’s College London, UK. Annette Braun is a Lecturer in Sociology in the Sociology Department of City University, London, UK. Foreword or Introduction 1. Beyond implementation –Towards a Theory of Policy Enactment 2. Taking Context Seriously 3. Doing Enactment: People, Culture and Policy Work 4. Policy into Practice 5. Whatever happened to... 6. Policy Enactments – In Theory and Practice

6-12 teachers will discover how to integrate the tech requirements found within today's academic standards into their everyday curriculum. Perhaps your district provides current technology development for staff on a regular basis and has instructional coaches to help teachers infuse technology into their curriculum to meet various academic standards. But in reality, most districts don't have this kind of support. In this book (the second in a two-book series), you'll learn how to shift your instructional practice and leverage technology to meet today's curriculum education standards for grades 6-12. This book doesn't cover every 6-12 national standard, but identifies the standards with a technology component and provides resources and lessons to help you teach those standards effectively. This book includes: * Classroom-tested lesson ideas in English language arts, math, science and social studies mapped to ISTE and tech-related standards to support college- and career-readiness. * Lists of technology-embedded college- and career-readiness standards for each grade level, along with practical ideas and up-to-date resources (apps, software and websites) that can be used in meeting these standards. * Suggestions for addressing roadblocks to incorporating technology in the classroom. * Ways to incorporate staff development and parental support at the school level. * Access to a companion website with information on the tools referenced in the text. With the implementation of these strategies, you'll help your students become self-directed and critical readers, writers and thinkers so they're better prepared for the future! Audience: 6-12 educators, curriculum specialists, tech coordinators