Using Transformational Leadership in the Era of No Child Lef essays

Using Transformational Leadership in the Era of No Child Lef essays Using Transformational Leadership in the Era of No Child Left Behind: Creating Teacher Leaders to Increase Reading Achievement There is a dearth of information to be found on the subject of how to raise achievement scores in low performing schools. Millions of dollars have been spent on various programs to address the needs of large at-risk populations: Reading First, Americas Choice, Success for All are just a few. Schools at the other end of the spectrum - those who are top performers receive recognition at the state as well as national levels. Those schools are the model schools that seem to have figured out the formula that no one wants to tinker with. But what about those schools in middle? Those schools who are neither low performing, nor in the top strata of the educational pile. They are good, but not quite good enough. They have come a long way, but still have lots of room for improvement. How does one keep that upward spiral going? What type of leadership does it take to maintain that forward momentum? And of course, the bigger question, in todays milieu of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and accountability, is how to keep those student scores going up so that we eventually meet that goal of 100% proficiency on high-stakes testing? This paper will attempt to answer these questions: what type of leadership is needed at the school level to continue raising achievement scores, specifically in the area of reading on the Criterion Referenced Test in the state of Georgia for the subgroup of Economically Disadvantaged students? My elementary school met the standards for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in each of the two previous years testing cycles: 2003 and 2004. We are not a Needs Improvement school based on NCLB guidelines. We do, however, have room for improvement. We still have about 20 students at each grade level who scored in Level 1 in Readin...

Issues-based feature story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Issues-based feature story - Essay Example It has been reported that the number of abortions in the United States of America is decreasing but in other countries illegal abortions stay steady. A latest report by the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice institute, states that the number of abortions fell from over 45 million in 1995 to fewer than 42 million in 2003. That drop is all the bigger given the 10 per cent growth in the worlds population over that period. Most of the decline is in countries where abortions are legal. Prohibitions on abortion are slowly coming towards moderation, though deprived countries stay much inflexible than prosperous ones. Previously, during the period from 1967 till 1973, one-third of the states in the US eased up on their criminal abortion laws. Nevertheless, the right to have an abortion in all the fifty states became accessible to the American women in 1973 when the Supreme Court overruled the remaining warning state laws with its decision in Roe v. Wade. As a result, the number of trained doctors in the procedure increased and a countrywide system of outpatient abortion treatment centers established that allowed women who would, until that time, have had an illegal abortion or would not have been able to get one by any means, to do so lawfully in a medical service. The 1973 decision disqualified any legislative intervention in the first trimester of pregnancy and put restrictions on what limitations could be approved on abortions in later stages of pregnancy. Opposition to abortions increased turning physical and even violent. Moreover, Roe vs. Wade states that women can abort the baby as long as it hasn’t become viable. Viability is defined by the Court as the potential to live outside the mothers womb, though with artificial aid, adding that viability is normally placed at about seven months or 28 weeks but can happen earlier i.e. even at 24 weeks. Dr. Neville Sender

Position Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 7

Position Paper - Essay Example 146). The supporters of this argument indicate that every day and every occasion is different from all the rest. It is, therefore, not right to expect that history will provide viable lessons for the present, let alone the future. My position on this issue is that there are lessons in history. My position is based on three arguments. First, the conditions that lead to a problem in the past are more often than not the same that cause its repeat later in life. Secondly, present problems often result from failures to recognize and handle historical signs of the same. Thirdly, if it is true that the present prepares for the future and that the present will be history in future, and then history will have lessons to give the future. The social structure of the world undergoes minimal changes over the years. This implies that what the cause-effect relationship of incidences and events in history happen to be the same in the present. For instance, the history of war indicates that the causes of the first and second world wars were economic inequality and the search for trade and military superiority. This was caused by the lack of economic corporation. When the First World War ended, the world leaders did not take enough concern to handle the causes and hence the Second World War was inevitable. In both, tension events preceded the war outbreak and fuelled the attacks (Crescenzi, Kathman, and Long, p. 236). Presently, these are the lessons that the world always consider in monitoring the economic and trade environment of the world. This control through the IMF and World Bank, established after WWII is a lesson from history. The implementation of the deductions from those lessons has seen the world through more than 60 years if relatively peaceful existence and lack of conflicts. With capitalism and globalization, the fight for economic superiority in the world is not expected to undergo changes. This implies that the lessons learnt from history will always be

System to Control Cars Anti-lock Braking System

System to Control Cars Anti-lock Braking System Giving reasons for your answer based on the type of system being developed, suggest the most appropriate generic software process model that might be used as a basis for managing the development of the following systems: A system to control a cars anti-lock braking system You could use Incremental or Spiral process models as safety is critical so you need a method that a lot of checks and balances at each stage. Incremental development is broken down into increments with each increment delivering part of the required functionality, where the user requirements are prioritized and the highest priority requirements are included in early increments however once the development is started, the requirements are frozen but can be used in later increments. Spiral process is represented as a spiral rather than as a sequence of activities with backtracking where each loop in the spiral represents a phase in the process. There are no fixed phases such as specification or design but loops in the spiral are chosen depending on what is required. Both Incremental and Spiral would achieve the goal of managing development for the cars anti-lock braking system however incremental development would be the most suited since it takes the allows for checks and balances throughout the life of the development. A virtual reality system to support software maintenance An evolutionary model seems to be an ideal solution for a virtual reality system, as the development team has two methods first is the exploratory development which works well with customers and to evolve a final system from an initial outline specification. Second is the throw-away prototyping with this method the objective is to understand the system requirements if the requirements are not fully laid out. A university accounting system that replaces an existing system Waterfall has formal structure to manage the process however the drawback is that it is difficult to accommodate changes after starting. But in the waterfall model you would go through a series of step to manage the large requirements, design and implementation requirements. Requirements analysis and definition System and software design Implementation and unit testing Integration and system testing Operation and maintenance An interactive system, running in kiosks in train stations, for railway passengers that find train times In this scenario the best approach would be evolutionary model using a throw away prototyping to find the requirements then switching to a waterfall model for a structured design and implementation. References Ian Sommerville, (2010) Software Engineering (8th edition), Chapter 4, 5 Pearson Education Lecture Notes (2010) Laureate Online Education University of Liverpool Seminar 1 Introduction to Software Engineering Study Lecture 1 Software Engineering, à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ All right reserved, 2002-2010

Marketing demographics Essay

The profile for the potential customers of Bob Bicycles consists of the following geographic, demographic, and behavioral factors: It is said that the immediate geographic target of the company is London. In terms of demographics, the company’s market segment includes male and female whose age ranges from 25 above. In a study conducted, it is noted that commuter cycling in the city is mainly dominated by white males with ages ranging from 25-44; this is because women is facing more barriers in cycling than men (See Figure 2). Most cyclists are also employers and employees who have seen the benefits of cycling with their health, economic and personal factors. As can be seen, children are not considered as a potential market since London is not allowing children to use bicycle for transport. Aside from this, other factors to be considered in the demographics of the potential customers of Bob includes the levels of bicycle usage, reasons for use, behavioral factors and geodemographic factors. Figure 2 Profile of Commute Cyclists 2006-2007 Behavior Factors. In terms of behavioral and cultural aspects, it can be said that Bob bicycles can be considered to have a big potential in London because of the high quality bicycles of Bob which meets the current trends in the bicycle market. In addition, there is a value attributed to the used of bicycle as a means of transport. There are various attitudes to cycling that should be considered by Bob in the London market (See figure 3). This result was based on the study conducted by TFL Omnibus Survey in 2007. Most of the perception of the individuals with regards to cycling is its economic, personal and health benefits. Figure 3 Attitude towards Cycling. Based on the analysis, it can be said that Bob’s plan of expanding his business in the London market, is very feasible and potential based on the current trends in business environment and the pool of demographics and potential target markets. Reference Automatic Traffic Count Data (2007). London Travel report 2007, 2007, TfL. Online available http://www. tfl. gov. uk/assets/downloads/corporate/London-Travel-Report-2007-final. pdf. Retrieve October 6, 2008. Heywood, C (2004). The Near Market for Cycling in London. Online available at http://www. tfl. gov. uk/assets/downloads/businessandpartners/cycling-market-report. pdf.retrieve October 6, 2008 Cycling Action Plan (2004). Creating a chain reaction – The London Cycling Action Plan. Online available http://www. tfl. gov. uk/assets/downloads/businessandpartners/cycling-action-plan. pdf. Retrieve October 6, 2008 Cycling and Motorbikes (2008). Online available at http://www. bbc. co. uk/london/content/articles/2005/06/14/cycling_inlondon_feature. shtml. Retrieve October 6, 2008 Synovate Ltd (2008). TfL Omnibus attitudes to cycling, 2007, Synovate. Online available http://www. tfl. gov. uk/assets/downloads/businessandpartners/cycling-training-effectiveness-results-summary-2008. pdf. retrieve October 6, 2008.

The Marginalization of Aboriginals in the Canadian Justice System

The original people to live in Canada have adapted the name Aboriginals. They were here before the European settlers discovered the continent of North America. When the Europeans arrived in Canada they brought with the many technological advances and customs that the Aboriginals did not know. Although you might think that this would be a very great thing for Aboriginals, it was not very good. The Europeans thought that the aboriginals were very hostile and treated them very badly.The Europeans tried to assimilate the Aboriginal’s culture and force them to become like the Europeanss. The Canadian justice system has marginalized the Aboriginals of Canada for many years. For the first couple hundred years there were many wars between the Europeans and the Aboriginals. But then things started to stabilize and the Aboriginals and the European settlers began to trade amongst one another and become more and more dependent on each other.However, beginning in 1964, immediately followin g the Royal Proclamation, the British began to gain more control over the Aboriginals. They signed numerous treaties with the Aboriginals for them to give up their land in exchange for a sum of money and small reserve lands specifically for the Aboriginal people. However the land the aboriginals were given was very poor and had bad soil which made it hard to farm. The idea of residential schools set out in 1846 and was put into action in the late 1890’s by the Department of Indian Affairs.The whole point of residential schools was deculturalization of aboriginals. However the government didn’t put it so bluntly. They would say that the aboriginals are put in a â€Å"white society† to learn how to become â€Å"better† Canadians. Not only did residential schools commit culture genocide but there was also lots of abuse at the schools. For example, estimates suggest that as many as 60% of the students died (due to illness, beatings, attempts to escape, or sui cide) while in the schools.They would be punished if they did not speak English even though many of the children didn’t know how. The schools were also very poorly funded by the government and the children were usually taught physical labour. Many of these issues have been solved and the government is still doing things today to help mend what they have done to the Aboriginals in the past. However Aboriginals are still very affected at what has been done to them. First Nation communities experience higher rates of violence, domestic abuse, sexual abuse: rape, incest, etc. lack of family and community cohesion, suicide, addictions, alcohol, food, health problem: diabetes, heart disease, obesity, poverty, unemployment, high school dropout (63% do not graduate), despair, hopelessness and more. The Aboriginal community has been marginalized by the Canadian Justice system which has affected them greatly. Hopefully the government will do everything they can to help aboriginal peopl e become healthy members of society and keep their cultures and beliefs.

Nathaniel Hawthorne Literature of Consience Essay

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s works established him as one of the most unique authors of the 19th century. With works such as The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne not only entertained his audience, he made them look at their own life and compare it to 17th century Puritan New England. He also brought readers to the realization of how harsh and difficult the period of American History was. Hawthorne’s unique style of writing and his ability to probe deep into the human conscience made him one of Early America’s most greatly admired authors. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The Hawthornes had already left their legacy with the town of Salem leaving Nathaniel Hawthorne a long rich history of ancestry in the town. In 1630, William Hawthorne made the Journey†¦show more content†¦nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;At the age of nine, one of the most significant events in Hawthorne’s life occurred. The typical New England boy, Hawthorne was very physically active and athletic. One fateful day, while Hawthorne was playing ball, he injured his foot. Not only was his foot damaged, but it grew together improperly and created a problem which would ail him for the rest of his life. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;After his accident, Hawthorne was confined to his bed because he had lost mobility. During this time, Hawthorne read many books that would became his favorites, and also have an impact on his writing. These books included Pilgrim’s Progress, by Bunyan, and Faerie Queen, by Spenser. He also enjoyed reading Shakespeare. When the condition of his leg improved, he put on small plays for his sister, who also admired Shakespeare. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;At this point in his life, Hawthorne became mildly reclusive because he had been accustomed to sitting inside reading all day due to the fact that he could not walk properly. He mostly confined himself to his room where he began writing. Hawthorne â€Å"founded† a hand-printed magazine, The Spectator, which include some of Hawthorne’s early literature. He filled his magazine with some of his personal humor. His most amiable times were spent in his â€Å"Printing Office† working on his magazine. This appears to be the first time Hawthorne became seriously