The Pros and Cons of Year-Round School

The Pros and Cons of Year-Round School Year-round school in the United States is neither a new concept nor an unusual one. Traditional school calendars and year-round schedules both provide students with about 180 days in the classroom. But instead of taking off much of the summertime, year-round school programs take a series of shorter breaks throughout the year. Advocates say the shorter breaks make it easier for students to retain knowledge and are less disruptive to the learning process. Detractors say the evidence to support this assertion is unconvincing. Traditional School Calendars Most public schools in America operate on the 10-month system, which gives students 180 days in the classroom. The school year typically begins a few weeks before or after Labor Day and concludes around Memorial Day, with time off during Christmas and New Years and again around Easter. This school schedule has been the default since the earliest days of the nation when the U.S. was still an agrarian society, and children were needed to work in the fields during the summer. Year-Round Schools Educators began experimenting with a more balanced school calendar in the early 1900s, but the idea of a year-round model didnt really catch on until the 1970s. Some advocates said it would help students retain knowledge. Others said it could help schools reduce overcrowding by staggering start times throughout the year.   The most common application of year-round education uses the 45-15 plan. Students attend school for 45 days, or about nine weeks, then take off for three weeks, or 15 school days. The normal breaks for holidays and spring remain in place with this calendar. Other ways to organize the calendar include the 60-20 and 90-30 plans. Single-track year-round education involves an entire school using the same calendar and getting the same holidays off. Multiple-track year-round education puts groups of students in school at different times with different vacations. Multitracking usually occurs when school districts want to save money. PeopleImages / Getty Images Arguments in Favor As of 2017, nearly 4,000 public schools in the U.S. follow a year-round schedule- around 10 percent of the nations students. Some of the most common reasons in favor of year-round schooling are as follows: Students tend to forget a lot during the summer, and shorter vacations might increase retention rates.School buildings unused in the summer are wasted resources.Short breaks provide time for students to receive enrichment education.Remediation can occur when it is most needed during the school year.Students get bored during the long break of summer.It gives families more options for scheduling vacations, rather than restricting travel to summertime.Other countries around the world use this system.Schools on year-round schedules can accommodate more students through multitracking. Rushay Booysen / EyeEm / Getty Images Arguments Against Opponents say year-round schooling hasnt proven to be as effective as its advocates claim. Some parents also complain that such schedules make it more difficult to plan family vacations or child care. Some of the most common arguments against year-round schools include: Studies have not conclusively proven the academic benefits.Students forget information just as easily with a three-week break as 10. Therefore, teachers on a year-round system end up with four periods of review instead of just one at a new school year.Summer programs such as youth camps suffer.Student summer employment becomes virtually impossible.Many older school buildings do not have air conditioning, making a year-round schedule impractical.Band and other extracurricular programs can run into problems scheduling practices and competitions, which often take place during the summer months.With multitracking, parents could have students at the same school on different schedules. School administrators considering year-round education should identify their goals and investigate whether a new calendar can help achieve them. When implementing any significant change, involving all stakeholders in the decision and the process improves the outcome. If students, teachers, and parents dont support a  new schedule, a transition could be difficult. Sources National Education Association staff. Research Spotlight on Year-Round Education. NEA.org, 2017. Niche.com staff. Schools Without Summer Break: An In-Depth Look at Year-Round Schooling. Niche.com, 12 April 2017. Weller, Chris. Year-Round School is Booming but Its Benefits Are Overhyped. BusinessInsider.com, 5 June 2017. Zubrzycki, Jacklyn. Year-Round Schooling Explained. Edweek.org, 18 December 2015.

Tech Resources for Early Childhood Educators

Tech Resources for Early Childhood Educators This is a self-guided tour of useful resources for early childhood educators to encourage thinking about how technology can be used in purposeful ways with young children. For a digital handout that accompanies this tour, please click here.   Examining the Possibilities with Kindergartners and Technology Here are three fun videos related to using technology in early childhood classrooms. Miss Nelson is MissingiPad Artwork Inspired by Peter Reynolds The DotIntegrating Technology in a Kindergarten Classroom Next, explore these sites for other ideas. Note that these teachers are using technology with students to create and publish. They are not using tech at lower levels on Blooms Taxonomy. Young children CAN do more sophisticated work!   The Connected Kinders: Turning iPad Experiments into Adventures in Innovative LearningGoing on a Bear Hunt Using QR CodesHow Kristi Meeuwse Teaches with an iPadTalking Animal ReportsEdutopias Resources for Using iPads in Grades K-2 Exploring iPad Apps iPads are amazing devices for content creation, not just consumption! Ideally, educators should strive to provide opportunities for student voice and choice, designing lessons and projects that allow students of all ages to create content. Heres a collection of apps are more focused on creation than consumption and if you havent seen Osmo, check out this device that using iPads to create really innovative learning games for kids.   Other places to find high quality ed tech materials: AppolearningGraphiteKindertownKinderchat Symbaloo Publishing with Young Children Publishing should be a universal activity in all early childhood classrooms. Check out the following iBook examples:   The Adventures of the Monkey and the Cat by KinderPris Ridge International SchoolConnecting Classrooms: Activities to Promote Global Collaboration by Ben SheridanFamily Time with Apps by the Joan Ganz Cooney FoundationGlobal Book: Schools Around the World by Kristen PainoGlobal Book: Shelters Around the World by Kristen PainoA Global iBook by Meg WilsonInspired Young Authors by Jane RossMy Pet Monster by Jason Sand and Others Building Your Own ECE Personal Learning Network Use social media to enhance your own learning and to connect to others. Here are a few suggestions to get started with connecting to other educators and learning from their best practices. First, join Twitter, and start following other ECE educators and organizations. Then, start participating in Kinderchat, a Twitter chat where kindergarten teachers come together to discuss relevant topics and share resources. Finally, start finding ideas for your classroom by perusing the following blogs and pinterest boards. Blogs Enabling EnvironmentsiTeach with iPadsPassion for EYFSTechnology in Early Childhood Pinterest Augmented RealityKid World CitizenKindergarten - iPadThe Kindergarten SmorgasboardPlayful Learning Investigating Making and Tinkering The Maker Education movement is growing within US schools. What does this look like in early childhood classrooms? Starting points for further exploration may include TinkerLab. Some early childhood classrooms are also exploring the possibilities of digital making through robotics and coding. Check out Bee-Bots, Dash and Dot, Kinderlab Robotics, and Sphero.   Connecting Globally The first step to connecting globally is to get connected yourself. Use social media to meet other teachers, and youll find that project opportunities will organically happen. Projects tend to be more successful when professional relationships are established first; people just seem to be more invested if connections happen first. If you are new to global projects, youll want to get to the point where youre co-designing experiences for students with virtual colleagues. In the meantime, join existing communities and projects in order to get a feel for the project design process. Below are a few starting points and exemplars: The Global Classroom ProjectHello Little World SkypersProjects by JenSkype in the ClassroomiEARN USA Thinking About PD and Additional Resources   Face to face professional development opportunities also an ideal way to participate in professional development. For early childhood specific events, we recommend the NAEYC Annual Conference and the Leveraging Learning  conference. For general ed tech information, think about attending ISTE and if youre interested in creative uses of technology and the Maker Movement, consider attending Constructing Modern Knowledge.   Also, the  Chicago-based Erikson Institute has a site devoted to the role of educational technology in early years classrooms.  This site is a unique resource dedicated to helping early childhood professionals and families make informed decisions about tech. Finally, weve curated a massive list of ECE resources in an Evernote notebook. Well be continuing to add to this, and are welcome to browse our collection!

My organization as a learning organization in obtaining parts for Research Paper

My organization as a learning organization in obtaining parts for military vehicles - Research Paper Example Wallace (92) suggests that all organizations should learn because without learning, organization will not survive especially in the current globalization era; an organization with a strong learning culture achieves effective business performance. Organization leaders may think that by getting their organization to learn is just a matter of articulating a clear mission or vision, offering right incentives or training employees, however, there is a lot that should be done in the face of intensifying global competitive environment where there is increased technology advancement and shift in consumption preferences. A successful learning organization should offer psychological safety to employees, encourage teamwork or team learning, manage culture, communicate effective and have a shared vision. Question 1: Characteristics of the Ideal Learning Organization One of the characteristics for the ideal learning organization is existence of a shared vision, which everyone should agree on. An ideal learning organization should have an effective shared vision, which guides them, but this should be agreed by everyone in the organization; this is vital because it will enable the organization to work together towards achieving the vision of the organization effectively. Secondly, people should openly communicate with others effectively without fear of criticism, as effective communication is the key aspect towards the success of an organization; therefore, communication should be openly and information should be conveyed well across the organization, as this will contribute to successful organizational performance. Thirdly, it is an organization where people discard their way of thinking and the standard routines they employ for performing their tasks or solving problems. In other words, an ideal organization is the one, which is ready or able to change its behaviors, and mid-sets as result of experience (Marquardt 45). Lastly, an ideal organizational learning is where there is teamwork or team learning. This is where people work and share information together through learning as a team in order to accomplish the organizational goals effectively. Teamwork is crucial in any organization because it contributes to effective decision-making and accomplishment of work faster; thus contributing to effective organizational performance. Question 2: The Observable Behaviors for Each Characteristic One of the observable behaviors for shared vision is that the organization engages everyone in creating a shared vision, which directs the organization towards achieving their stated goals. For instance, the sense of purpose begins with recruiting employees with effective skills and matches their values with the organizational values. For instance, some rules in the organization are implemented by shared behaviors, values and beliefs. Culture form the basis through which an employee operates within the organization context, and secondly, there is open communication an d everything across the organization is well communicated effectively. Thirdly, people are always ready to change their behaviors through constant learning. Moreover, there are significant changes because the organization has transformed and become an innovative working environment; thus improving in terms of performance. Lastly, there is effective teamwork because the work is accomplished within the stipulated period and people always learn together as a team.

Ethical Frame Work Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ethical Frame Work - Research Paper Example ct, performance and ethics of nurses is supposed to be guaranteed and information about the patient not to be divulged to anyone without the consent of the patient. In The National Health Service (Venereal Diseases) Regulations 1974 (Halsbury et al. 2010), which is in line the article, states that confidentiality can be breached for the purposes of treatment or prevention of that health condition. This is applicable to the case in the article where the patient’s medical condition required treatment and that could be done only with parent’s consent and hence that information about the cervical cancer had to be disclosed breaching the confidentiality code (Nathanson Feb 24th 2000). This was the ethical decision that the doctor had to make in order for the patient to receive treatment and proper care. The first step is to identify how that problem will affect the individual. In the case, if no treatment is offered and in time, the patient could spread it to others and she could also die. The second step is to identify who will be affected by the decision not to breach the confidentiality and in this case it’s the sex partners and parents. Then you should analyze the values of those to be affected and especially the parents in this situation because of the medical costs and responsibilities of the cancer. At this point make the decision which will be beneficial to the patient’s health condition, which means finally deciding on the course the course of action before it is too late for the patient. In this case, the doctor should convince the student about telling her parents for her own health safety and treatment (Jasper 2007). The ethical framework of decisions requires an individual to be very familiar with the issue under discussion, then think about it very carefully examining its pros and cons, decision on what to do should then follow, after which communication of the decision to the patient/ client is necessary and try to convince them about the

How We Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How We Change - Essay Example We have made this world a global village where it is more than just easy to move from one place to other in a matter of hours and communicate with each other in a blink. But, to gain something, we had to lose something and that something we lost to achieve this marvelous world of today is care for each other. Although we have every means of communication and stay connected, we have lost the will and time to say hello to our loved one. Peter Lovenheim in the article ‘wont you be my neighbor’ and William Deresiewicz in article ‘faux friendships’ most beautifully and with complete facts, describe these losses to mankind throughout its evolution and progression. Lovenheim describes our society of today in a way that it makes us all stop for a moment and think that ‘what and where we did something so wrong that we are at a stage of total societal collapse today. Although we have progressed and evolved a lot to provide us with all the facilities and necessities of life, we have no time to be with each other. We have the means as said by Lovenheim like internet, faster travelling routes and cheaper travelling expenses. We st ill find it so hard to meet each other in person and form a strong societal bonding. William Deresiewicz also explains the loss of mankind by stating that we, the men of 21st century are suffering from ‘facebook syndrome’. He states that because of so much advancement in technology, we are now dependent on it to communicate with each other. The author states by giving the example of friendships that we have forgotten to interact with each other on a more personal level. Friendships of today are limited to facebook and twitter etc. and it is the screen of our computers and smart phones that we are friends with rather than being friends with a real person. Both these articles show how the human species has changed over time. We have no time to be with each other and

Executive Compensation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Executive Compensation - Essay Example There is an ongoing public indignation over the idea that there are executives who are rewarded handsomely in firms that are experiencing financial losses, facilities closure and employee dislocations in the form of cuts in pay and benefits and forced terminations. At a time when the public is looking for someone or something to blame, is it correct to cap the current executive compensation in the US? This paper will explore this possibility and its impact on American capitalism, whether such a move would be beneficial or harmful to the economy. In the United States, the capitalistic system rewards high risks with high rewards and that executives are paid astronomical amounts for their skills and capabilities. The executive compensation in the US consist the total rewards received by the top-level executives of a corporation. These high-ranking officers include the chief executive officer (CEO), the chief operations officer (COO), the chief financial officer (CFO), as well as the other executives who hold the highest level of management in a firm. The total rewards, meanwhile, is generally consisted of salaries, bonuses, incentive payments, deferred compensation plans, stock options, and the direct provision of goods and services. The stock option for executives could surpass the worth the direct cash payments such as salaries and bonuses. Additional perks may include packages that consist housing, personal staff, transportation and other personal expenses of the top executives, which are normally shouldered by employees. A ccording to Alan Greenspan (2007), the former chairman of the US Federal reserve: A [US] CEO’s compensation has, on average, been tied closely to the market value of his or her firm†¦ CEO compensation at such large US corporations reportedly rose by 10 percent annually between 1993 and 2006, triple the 3.1 percent annual increase of earnings of private-company production or nonsupervisory workers. (p.

Politics of the Free Soil Party Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Politics of the Free Soil Party - Essay Example Thus, the parties are in a position of changing the voting patterns in the country since they express the sentiments shared by a particular proportion of the country’s population. On the other hand, most of these third parties do not last for a long period of time since their agenda might be adopted or fail to stand the test of time. One such short-lived party is the Free Soil Party active in the 1848 and 1952 presidential elections of the United States.1 William Leggett, George Henry Evans, and Thomas Morris, part of the group known as â€Å"Dissident Democrats,† were instrumental in the party’s formation by contributing certain arguments crucial in shaping the party’s ideologies. This expose elucidates the role each man played in the formation of the party and effectively identifies the man who greatly influenced the formation of the party and the role he played. Since the formation of the Free Soil Party is synonymous with the Dissident Democrats, it is important to understand the origin of this group. Andrew Jackson is one of the greatest presidents in the history of this country. During his era, commonly referred as the Jacksonian era, Americans felt that there were equal economic opportunities to all citizens. However, prior to his 1837 farewell speech, the president expressed his dissatisfaction with the Bank of the United States saying that it was mainly for the rich people in the country and foreign governments instead of focusing on every citizen of the country.2 Towards the end of his career, support for the outgoing president was high and consequently too was support for his handpicked successor illustrating a scenario that Democrats were one united front. However, discontent simmered across a section of Democrats with some questions some policies by Jackson. Nevertheless, the most surprising disquiet was the loud objection of a few Democrats on the party’s position towards slavery.3 The discontent arose from the p arties policies meant to curtail debate on abolitionism effectively robbing the crusaders of antislavery and its expansion of the most fundamental freedom of expression. While a section of the Democratic leadership lauded the mobs attacking abolitionists in their meetings and in newspapers, general disquiet simmered and effectively solidified support to counter the expansion of slavery.4 In effect, the counter movement to expansion of slavery has been crucial to the history of this country since their efforts led to the current American society that accepts and appreciates diversity. Three antislavery Democrats who broke away from their party in the 1930s were crucial to the formation of the Free Party, a splinter party of the Democratic Party. In this regard, these dissidents provided lines of arguments towards which the party would galvanize its ideals and use them to defend its stance. Of all the Jacksonian politicians, William Leggett was the most eloquent in arguing coherently against the centralized authority embodied by the monopolies, the Money Power, and the fanatical reformers.5 In this case, Leggett focused on arguing against concentrated power that was against the concepts that guide natural law and liberty. Thus, Leggett became the champion and hero to the class of producers that was against capitalism. Effectively, he applied this same ideal in his support for abolitionism after undergoing some form of conversion from being a supporter of abolition, to a firm and committed