Characterization of spironolactone and metabolites derivatized using Girard's reagent P using mass spectrometry and ion mobility spectrometry.

RATIONALE: Spironolactone is a steroidal drug prescribed for a variety of medical conditions and is extensively metabolized quickly after administration. Measurement of spironolactone and its metabolites remains challenging using mass spectrometry (MS) due to in-source fragmentation and relatively poor ionization using electrospray ionization. Therefore, improved methods of measurements are needed, particularly in the case of small sample volumes. METHODS: Girard's reagent P (GP) derivatization of spironolactone was employed to improve response and provide an MS-based solution to the measurement of spironolactone and its metabolites. We performed ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS) and ion mobility spectrometry (IMS)-high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) to fully characterize the GP derivatization products. Analytes were studied in positive ionization mode, and MS/MS was performed using nonresonance and resonance excitation collision-induced dissociation. RESULTS: We observed the successful GP derivatization of spironolactone and its metabolites using authentic chemical standards. A signal enhancement of 1-2 orders of magnitude was observed for GP-derivatized versions of spironolactone and its metabolites. Further, GP derivatization eliminated in-source fragmentation. Finally, we performed GP derivatization and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS) in a small volume of murine serum (20 µL) from spironolactone-treated and control animals and observed multiple spironolactone metabolites only in the spironolactone-treated group. CONCLUSIONS: GP derivatization was proven to have advantageous mass spectral performance (e.g., limiting in-source fragmentation, enhancing signals, and eliminating isobaric analytes) for spironolactone and its metabolites. This work and the detailed characterization using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS/MS) and IMS serve as the foundation for future developments in reaction optimization and/or quantitative assay development.

Exploring early educator burnout and process quality in a statewide sample.

Building on literature linking educators' psychosocial well-being to early education and care quality, this study analyzed early educators' (N = 648) reports of burnout across a range of group-based care types in one state and examined the relation of burnout to setting quality. Confirmatory factor analysis showed the burnout measure, a self-reported emotional exhaustion scale, had a one-factor structure and adequate internal consistency among educators working in a range of early education and care settings. Measured by the scale, educators on average reported infrequent feelings of burnout. There were small but statistically significant differences in burnout scores by setting type, with Head Start educators on average reporting modestly more frequent burnout symptoms than educators in community-based centers (ß=0.29,b = 0.30, SE = 0.13, p = 0.014) or family childcare settings (ß=0.57,b = 0.60, SE = 0.14, p < 0.001). Only one significant association was observed between educators' self-reported burnout scores and setting quality after accounting for educator and setting characteristics: a negative association with child involvement (ß =  - 0.09,b = -0.04, SE = 0.02, p = 0.03). These findings contribute to the field's understanding of burnout as a component of educator well-being and provide initial insight about targeting supports to improve educator well-being.

An ecological view of executive function in young children: Variation in and predictors of executive function skills over one school year.

For many years, researchers studied executive functions (EFs) in the laboratory with a focus on understanding an individual child's development and brain processes in a controlled environment. Building on this foundational research, there is a growing interest in EFs in the context of a child's dynamic, social world, and the contextual and compositional factors influencing EF development. This paper provides a descriptive view of EFs in 1112 K-3 children from six schools in Phoenix, AZ, USA. The study's goals were to examine (1) variation in EF scores between and within schools and classrooms, (2) predictors of variation in children's spring EF scores, and (3) individual and compositional predictors of children's spring EF scores. Our findings indicate greater variation in children's EF within schools than between, with very little or no variation arising from differences between schools. Though we observed greater variation within classrooms than between them, a notable amount of variance in children's spring EF scores appears to arise from differences between classrooms. Classroom-level variables, including a fall leave-out classroom mean (without the students' own score) and the number of children in the top or bottom grade-level quartiles in each classroom, were significant predictors of variation in spring EF scores as well as in fall to spring changes in EF. In some cases, the classroom variables were stronger predictors than individual fall scores. Findings suggest that understanding variation and cultivating growth in EF skills requires intervention, measurement, and analytic approaches that extend beyond the individual to include compositional features of the classroom environment. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Variation in children's EF scores (n = 1112 children) was greater within schools (n = 6 schools) than between, with very little or no variance arising from differences between schools. While variance was greater within classrooms than between (n = 67 classrooms), a notable amount of variance in children's spring EF scores appears to arise from differences between classrooms. Classroom-level variables (e.g., leave-out mean, number of children in the top or bottom grade-level quartiles in each classroom) were significant predictors of variation and of changes in spring EF outcomes. In some cases, the classroom variables were stronger predictors of spring EF than individual fall scores.

A randomized phase 2 study of neoadjuvant carboplatin and paclitaxel with or without atezolizumab in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) - NCI 10013.

Atezolizumab with chemotherapy has shown improved progression-free and overall survival in patients with metastatic PD-L1 positive triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Atezolizumab with anthracycline- and taxane-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy has also shown increased pathological complete response (pCR) rates in early TNBC. This trial evaluated neoadjuvant carboplatin and paclitaxel with or without atezolizumab in patients with clinical stages II-III TNBC. The co-primary objectives were to evaluate if chemotherapy and atezolizumab increase pCR rate and tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) percentage compared to chemotherapy alone in the mITT population. Sixty-seven patients (ages 25-78 years; median, 52 years) were randomly assigned - 22 patients to Arm A, and 45 to Arm B. Median follow up was 6.6 months. In the modified intent to treat population (all patients evaluable for the primary endpoints who received at least one dose of combination therapy), the pCR rate was 18.8% (95% CI 4.0-45.6%) in Arm A, and 55.6% (95% CI 40.0-70.4%) in Arm B (estimated treatment difference: 36.8%, 95% CI 8.5-56.6%; p = 0.018). Grade 3 or higher treatment-related adverse events occurred in 62.5% of patients in Arm A, and 57.8% of patients in Arm B. One patient in Arm B died from recurrent disease during the follow-up period. TIL percentage increased slightly from baseline to cycle 1 in both Arm A (mean ± SD: 0.6% ± 21.0%) and Arm B (5.7% ± 15.8%) (p = 0.36). Patients with pCR had higher median TIL percentages (24.8%) than those with non-pCR (14.2%) (p = 0.02). Although subgroup analyses were limited by the small sample size, PD-L1-positive patients treated with chemotherapy and atezolizumab had a pCR rate of 75% (12/16). The addition of atezolizumab to neoadjuvant carboplatin and paclitaxel resulted in a statistically significant and clinically relevant increased pCR rate in patients with clinical stages II and III TNBC. (Funded by National Cancer Institute).

Executive function, self-regulation skills, behaviors, and socioeconomic status in early childhood.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Prior research has established steep socioeconomic status (SES) disparities in children's cognitive skills at kindergarten entry. Yet, few studies have had comprehensive, multi-informant data to examine SES-related differences in foundational social and emotional skills and executive function. The objective of the current study is to systematically examine SES-related differences in young children's executive function (EF), self-regulation skills, and behaviors. METHODS: The current study analyzed data on 2,309 young children from the Early Learning Study at Harvard (ELS@H). Multi-method (direct-assessment and reports) and multi-informant (parents and early education and care educators) information on children's executive function, self-regulation skills, and internalizing, externalizing, and adaptive behaviors were used. A parametric framework employing Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation was used to quantify the size of the SES-related differences in this set of children's foundational social-emotional skills. RESULTS: On average, there were differences of 0.24-0.45 SD for EF, 0.22-0.32 SD for self-regulation skills, and 0.27-0.54 SD for behaviors favoring children from the highest SES quartile of the distribution of SES relative to children from the lowest quartile. The SES-related differences were consistent across direct assessment, parent reports, and educator reports. Some differences were larger for older children relative to their younger counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate a need for comprehensive intervention efforts well before kindergarten entry aimed at closing early disparities in children's foundational social and emotional skills and executive function.

Chromatin interaction maps identify Wnt responsive cis-regulatory elements coordinating Paupar-Pax6 expression in neuronal cells.

Central nervous system-expressed long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are often located in the genome close to protein coding genes involved in transcriptional control. Such lncRNA-protein coding gene pairs are frequently temporally and spatially co-expressed in the nervous system and are predicted to act together to regulate neuronal development and function. Although some of these lncRNAs also bind and modulate the activity of the encoded transcription factors, the regulatory mechanisms controlling co-expression of neighbouring lncRNA-protein coding genes remain unclear. Here, we used high resolution NG Capture-C to map the cis-regulatory interaction landscape of the key neuro-developmental Paupar-Pax6 lncRNA-mRNA locus. The results define chromatin architecture changes associated with high Paupar-Pax6 expression in neurons and identify both promoter selective as well as shared cis-regulatory-promoter interactions involved in regulating Paupar-Pax6 co-expression. We discovered that the TCF7L2 transcription factor, a regulator of chromatin architecture and major effector of the Wnt signalling pathway, binds to a subset of these candidate cis-regulatory elements to coordinate Paupar and Pax6 co-expression. We describe distinct roles for Paupar in Pax6 expression control and show that the Paupar DNA locus contains a TCF7L2 bound transcriptional silencer whilst the Paupar transcript can act as an activator of Pax6. Our work provides important insights into the chromatin interactions, signalling pathways and transcription factors controlling co-expression of adjacent lncRNAs and protein coding genes in the brain.

In Vitro Nasal Tissue Model for the Validation of Nasopharyngeal and Midturbinate Swabs for SARS-CoV-2 Testing.

Large-scale population testing is a key tool to mitigate the spread of respiratory pathogens, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, where swabs are used to collect samples in the upper airways (e.g., nasopharyngeal and midturbinate nasal cavities) for diagnostics. However, the high volume of supplies required to achieve large-scale population testing has posed unprecedented challenges for swab manufacturing and distribution, resulting in a global shortage that has heavily impacted testing capacity worldwide and prompted the development of new swabs suitable for large-scale production. Newly designed swabs require rigorous preclinical and clinical validation studies that are costly and time-consuming (i.e., months to years long); reducing the risks associated with swab validation is therefore paramount for their rapid deployment. To address these shortages, we developed a 3D-printed tissue model that mimics the nasopharyngeal and midturbinate nasal cavities, and we validated its use as a new tool to rapidly test swab performance. In addition to the nasal architecture, the tissue model mimics the soft nasal tissue with a silk-based sponge lining, and the physiological nasal fluid with asymptomatic and symptomatic viscosities of synthetic mucus. We performed several assays comparing standard flocked and injection-molded swabs. We quantified the swab pickup and release and determined the effect of viral load and mucus viscosity on swab efficacy by spiking the synthetic mucus with heat-inactivated SARS-CoV-2 virus. By molecular assay, we found that injected molded swabs performed similarly or superiorly in comparison to standard flocked swabs, and we underscored a viscosity-dependent difference in cycle threshold values between the asymptomatic and symptomatic mucuses for both swabs. To conclude, we developed an in vitro nasal tissue model that corroborated previous swab performance data from clinical studies; this model will provide to researchers a clinically relevant, reproducible, safe, and cost-effective validation tool for the rapid development of newly designed swabs.

An ecological perspective on early educator well-being at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Early educator well-being is increasingly understood as a critical ingredient of high-quality early education and care. The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened educator well-being by exacerbating existing stressors and introducing novel stressors to all aspects of early educators' lives, and early educators have had differential access to resources to cope with these new circumstances. Using survey data collected between April and June 2020 with a sample of 666 early educators in community-based center, family child care, Head Start, and public school prekindergarten programs across Massachusetts, we document the pandemic's initial influence on educators' sense of well-being. Adopting an ecological perspective, we consider educator-, program-, and community-level factors that may be associated with reported changes in well-being. Most educators indicated that their mental and financial well-being had been affected. These changes were not systematically associated with most contextual factors, although there was clear evidence of variability in reported impacts by provider type. These findings underscore the need to support educator well-being, as well as to create policy solutions that meet the heterogeneous needs of this essential workforce.

An observational approach for exploring variability in young children's regulation-related skills within classroom contexts.

Prior work has conceptualized children's executive function and self-regulation skills as relatively stable across short periods of time. Grounded in long-standing contextual theories of human development, this study introduces a new observational tool for measuring children's regulatory skills across different naturally occurring situations within early childhood classrooms. Using 460 observations of 91 children (M age = 5.54 years) in 16 socio-demographically diverse Prekindergarten and Kindergarten classrooms, we found that this tool-the Regulation-Related Skills Measure (RRSM)-reliably captured observed dimensions of young children's attention control and inhibitory control, but failed to appropriately represent more "internal" regulatory processes (e.g., working memory). Associations between the RRSM and other measures of children's executive function and self-regulation (i.e., direct assessments, adult reports) were low to moderate (r = 0.03 to 0.44), suggesting these tools are likely to be complementary in that they provide overlapping but ultimately distinct information regarding children's regulatory performance. Finally, results suggested substantial within-child variation in regulatory behaviors across different situations within the classroom, with the same children demonstrating consistently stronger attention control and inhibitory control during transitions than during either teacher- or student-directed activities. These findings underscore the situationally-dependent nature of children's self-regulatory performance, with implications for both theory and practice. Future research is needed to replicate these findings in more diverse, representative samples of children.

Changes in Children's Behavioral Health and Family Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and associated public health measures have influenced all aspects of life for children and families. In this study, we examine changes in children's behavioral health and families' well-being at the start of the pandemic. METHOD: We used longitudinal data on 2880 children from 1 US state collected over 3 waves to compare family and child well-being before and after a state-wide stay-at-home advisory set in March 2020. We descriptively examined levels and changes in 4 child behavioral health outcomes (externalizing, internalizing, adaptive, and dysregulated behaviors) and 4 family well-being outcomes (parental mental health, parental stress, parent-child relationship conflict, and household chaos) across the preshutdown and postshutdown periods. Fixed effects regression models were used to predict within-child and within-family differences in preshutdown and postshutdown outcomes. RESULTS: Fixed effects analyses showed children's externalizing (0.09 points; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.05-0.13), internalizing (0.04 points; 95% CI, 0.01-0.08), and dysregulated (0.11 points; 95% CI, 0.06-0.16) behaviors increased after the shutdown, whereas children's adaptive behaviors declined (-0.10 points; 95% CI, -0.15 to -0.05). Parental mental health issues (0.22 points; 95% CI, 0.17-0.27), parental stress (0.08 points; 95% CI, 0.03-0.12), parent-child relationship conflict (0.10 points; 95% CI, 0.04-0.16), and household chaos (0.10 points; 95% CI, 0.05-0.14) all increased relative to preshutdown levels. CONCLUSION: Many children experienced declines in behavioral health and many families experienced declines in well-being in the early months of the public health crisis, suggesting the need for family-focused and child-focused policies to mitigate these changes.

In Vitro Nasal Tissue Model for the Validation of Nasopharyngeal and Mid-turbinate Swabs for SARS-CoV-2 Testing.

Large-scale population testing is a key tool to mitigate the spread of respiratory pathogens, as in the current COVID-19 pandemic, where swabs are used to collect samples in the upper airways (e.g. nasopharyngeal and mid-turbinate nasal cavities) for diagnostics. However, the high volume of supplies required to achieve large-scale population testing has posed unprecedented challenges for swab manufacturing and distribution, resulting in a global shortage that has heavily impacted testing capacity world-wide and prompted the development of new swabs suitable for large-scale production. Newly designed swabs require rigorous pre-clinical and clinical validation studies that are costly and time consuming ( i . e . months to years long); reducing the risks associated with swab validation is therefore paramount for their rapid deployment. To address these shortages, we developed a 3D-printed tissue model that mimics the nasopharyngeal and mid-turbinate nasal cavities, and we validated its use as a new tool to rapidly test swab performance. In addition to the nasal architecture, the tissue model mimics the soft nasal tissue with a silk-based sponge lining, and the physiological nasal fluid with asymptomatic and symptomatic viscosities of synthetic mucus. We performed several assays comparing standard flocked and injection-molded swabs. We quantified the swab pick-up and release, and determined the effect of viral load and mucus viscosity on swab efficacy by spiking the synthetic mucus with heat-inactivated SARS-CoV-2 virus. By molecular assays, we found that injected molded swabs performed similarly or superiorly in comparison to standard flocked swabs and we underscored a viscosity-dependent difference in cycle threshold values between the asymptomatic and symptomatic mucus for both swabs. To conclude, we developed an in vitro nasal tissue model, that corroborated previous swab performance data from clinical studies, with the potential of providing researchers with a clinically relevant, reproducible, safe, and cost-effective validation tool for the rapid development of newly designed swabs.

Evaluating the Impact of a Targeted Approach Designed to Build Executive Function Skills: A Randomized Trial of Brain Games.

This paper reports results from an impact study of Brain Games (BGs), a classroom-based intervention designed to build preschool and school-aged children's executive functions (EFs) and related self-regulation skills. The study employed a classroom-randomized, experimental design with 626 students in 36 pre-K through fourth grade classrooms in charter schools in a mid-sized urban district. In one set of models with child covariates, children in intervention classrooms showed marginal positive impacts on regulation-related behaviors, attention control and impulsivity, and negative effects on global EF and marginal increases in discipline problems. A second set of models with a smaller sample and both child and classroom covariates included indicate positive impacts of BGs on global EFs, prosocial behavior, and attention control and impulsivity. There were no significant impacts on the teacher-student relationship as reported by the teacher or on direct assessments of inhibitory control, short term and working memory, or another measure of global EF in either set of models. These promising findings offer a signal that implementation of targeted, easy to implement intervention approaches in classroom contexts can influence children's regulation-related and prosocial outcomes, but this signal should be investigated further with larger and more tightly controlled designs.

Innovations in Social and Emotional Learning Research and Practice: Building from Evidence and Applying Behavioral Insights to the Design of a Social and Emotional Learning Intervention in Northeast Nigeria.

Recent studies suggest that social and emotional learning (SEL) programming has the potential to be effective in conflict-affected regions, yet evidence is limited, and findings to date are mixed. One hypothesis about why SEL interventions in education in emergencies (EiE) settings have not generated the anticipated results is that the SEL content and materials have not been sufficiently localized to the context, leading to poor cultural relevance or fit. A second hypothesis is that SEL program demands tend to be high and capacity for implementation is low, undermining sustainability and impact. The current study addresses these challenges by investing in locally driven SEL content and design as a way to ensure that SEL materials are grounded in local values and needs, culturally appropriate, relevant to the specific context, and feasible to implement. The study draws on the developmental and prevention sciences as well as the field of behavioral insights to test evidence-based interventions intended to encourage desired behaviors around uptake and implementation. This paper documents the activities conducted during the project's design phase, including landscape research, creation of initial prototypes, design workshops and rapid prototyping, and field testing. Findings suggest that using local values, practices, and framing in SEL programming increases relevance and appropriateness for the Northeast Nigeria setting. Furthermore, targeted behavioral insights interventions increased the uptake, habitual and regular use, as well as correct implementation of SEL activities. The findings contribute to the emerging literature on the cultural variability of SEL and the need to consider the context when designing and implementing programs in any setting.

Getting Developmental Science Back Into Schools: Can What We Know About Self-Regulation Help Change How We Think About "No Excuses"?

Research from education, psychology, and human development indicates that social and emotional skills are essential to success in school, work, and life, and that high-quality social and emotional learning (SEL) programs can benefit students' mental health, academic achievement, and behavioral outcomes. While many schools are adopting an SEL approach, there remains a concerning gap between SEL research and policies and practices related to discipline and behavior management. Following the No Child Left Behind Act and education reform driven by a culture of high-stakes standardized testing and accountability benchmarks, there has been an increase in elementary schools adopting a "no excuses" model of education. This model is characterized by extended time in school, highly structured in-service teacher training, frequent assessments, and "zero tolerance" policies to strictly manage and control children's behavior. These behavior policies are problematic as they run counter to what research tells us about children's social and emotional development. Reactive and exclusionary discipline policies inhibit children's abilities to build and practice self-regulation skills and jeopardize the relationships between students and teachers. The developmental science perspective on children's regulatory skills suggests that the early years of school are a central context for developing and practicing self-regulation with the support of educators and peers. Research also indicates that warm, caring, reciprocal relationships based on trust are critical to learning and development. Yet, this research base is often overshadowed by pressures to improve standardized achievement scores or misinterpreted in the form of hyper-vigilance about children's behavior in the classroom. Finally, the "no excuses" approach to behavior management is used disproportionally in schools serving low-income students of color and thus may contribute to unequal rates of suspensions and expulsions, both of which are linked to negative developmental outcomes later in life. This is particularly true for students who have experienced trauma, in part because the act of social exclusion is often re-traumatizing. This article summarizes research on self-regulation, trauma, and developmental relationships, highlights potential consequences of "no excuses" policies and practices in schools, and presents an alternative view of learning environments which promote effective self-regulation skills in young children.

An Integrated Model of Regulation for Applied Settings.

A growing body of research explores the ways in which regulatory skills are important contributors to school readiness, school success, and other positive developmental outcomes in childhood and throughout the lifespan. Research and theory suggest that children with strong regulatory skills may be better equipped to manage the complex academic, social, and emotional demands of early learning and school environments; and alternatively, deficits in regulatory skills can lead to problems in school adjustment, academic outcomes, and other measures of well-being. In this paper, we bring together two regulation-related research traditions: executive function (EF) and effortful control (EC). We highlight the common features of EF and EC and their key differences. Building on findings from these two research traditions, we propose an integrated model of regulation for school-based interventions and other applied settings that can serve as an organizing framework for a broad set of skills across the cognitive, social, and emotion domains that are critical to school success. Using a developmental psychopathology framework, we illustrate how an integrated model of regulation can inform more nuanced and targeted approaches to research, policy, and intervention for both special and universal populations. We end the paper with a set of recommendations for the next decade of developmental and prevention research focused on self-regulation.

Social centrality and aggressive behavior in the elementary school: Gender segregation, social structure, and psychological factors.

In this paper, we build on key findings in the sociological literature regarding different patterns of association between social centrality and overt aggressive behavior in the context of same-and-cross gender social interactions. We explore these associations in a population of urban elementary school students ( Age ^   = 8.62 , SD = 0.69, N = 848), while addressing claims that the role of psychological factors is overstated in this literature. Our results indicate that, on average, social centrality is positively associated with aggressive behavior for boys, but negatively for girls. We also find a moderating effect indicating that the proportion of male peers with whom participants are reported to hang around, as well as their own gender play a role in the association between social centrality and aggression. These findings are discussed in the context of an ecological perspective on human development in which interactions among individuals, their social groups, and key environments are viewed as central to shaping developmental pathways.

Dissimulation strategies on standard neuropsychological tests: A qualitative investigation.

OBJECTIVE: Most previous studies in the area of malingering neuropsychological deficits have focused on the development and validation of measures to detect falsification of symptoms or suboptimal performance. The present study employs qualitative methods to investigate strategies employed by individuals attempting to feign cognitive impairment. This study aims to achieve a richer and more detailed understanding of the phenomenon of feigning. METHOD: Detailed semi-structured interviews were administered to 15 non-neurological individuals instructed to feign cognitive impairment on a standard neuropsychological test battery. The interviews, which considered the strategies used and the thinking underlying participants' choices, were subjected to Thematic Analysis. RESULTS: Thematic Analysis revealed three main organising themes. Participants described Using Strategies, on specific tests and generally across the battery, Having a Rationale for their decisions and spontaneously commented on their Experience of the Task. CONCLUSION: The findings of the present study reveal numerous potentially useful identifiers of feigning strategies, including many not previously reported. The resulting themes point to the development of more effective methods for detecting feigned cognitive impairments and could have a significant impact on the way that neuropsychological testing sessions are conducted.

The Influence of Conduct Problems and Callous-Unemotional Traits on Academic Development Among Youth.

The present study attempted to address developmental differences within the large group of youth with conduct problems through an examination of the relationship between callous-unemotional traits and academic outcomes in an effort to expand the field's understanding of heterogeneity in outcomes associated with behavior problems. Data were collected from a cohort of 3rd grade students (N = 942; 51 % female; 45.6 % Hispanic/Latino, 41.1 % Black/African American, 4.7 % Non-Hispanic White; mean age = 8.07 years) in eighteen public elementary schools, as well as their parents and teachers. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that callous-unemotional traits were associated with lower quality student-teacher relationships and worse performance on standardized math and reading exams over and above the effects of conduct problems. These findings suggest that school-based interventions may be particularly effective in ameliorating some of the deficits noted within this subset of youth exhibiting conduct problems. This finding has important policy implications as the field of developmental science attempts to design and enrich programs that focus on improving social-emotional learning.