Improving school quality

The importance of secondary school education in molding learners into responsible citizens of tomorrow cannot be ignored or undermined. Secondary school education is the stepping stone for unlimited opportunities for learners to explore the career choices that they have to pursue further In their lives. Every year the performance of secondary schools In the final examination come under spotlight as soon as the results are published. Many schools in the previously disadvantaged communities perform poorly in the matrix examination each year.The main aim of this paper is suggest what needs to be done in order to ensure that pupils perform well in their final examinations given the knowledge of what teaching and learning means. As a starting point, the paper will define the process of learning and teaching. The factors that affect performance of pupils in relation to teachers will then be given. An outline of the suggestions that would result in improved performance will then lead to the end of the discussion.Quality refers to the standard when compared to other things of the same type. It shows the goodness or the worth. Quality is associated with efficiency, effectiveness, choice, excellence, equity and social Justice among other virtues that are designated as the alms of any system purporting to produce effective learning In good schools (Coleman, 1998). Academic performance refers to the level of attainment of learners In the external grade 12 examination.It refers to the performance of the school as well as the learners in the grade 12 examinations. It reflects both quality and quantity of the results obtained by the learners in the grade 12 examinations (Bastion, 1995). The management of a school has a very important ole to play in the transformation and development of a school (Thomas, 1992). It is the responsibility of the senior management of the school, the principal, to prepare the atmosphere for effective teaching and learning at the school.Within forma l models leadership is ascribed to the person at the apex of the hierarchy. It Is assumed that this individual sets the tone of the organization and establishes the major official objectives. In a school the person who Is holding the highest position Is the principal and has to play an effective role as a leader In the school. At the heart f school or any organizational life are leadership and management. It Is these aspects of school life that ensure that all other aspects are held together and developed.Leadership is the art of facilitating a school to do the right thing at the right time, while management is the discipline required to ensure that the school ‘does things right', or functions well (Thomas, 1992). The development of the school depends entirely on the ability of the leadership of the school. To transform and develop schools into efficient centers of excellence, visionary, hardworking and farsighted leaders are required. Effective organizations tend to be purpos eful and goal directed. The managers, departments, and the individual members work towards explicit goals and have a clear sense of direction.Schools without explicit aims and a Whole-School policy would not meet this criterion of effectiveness. The ability of schools to transform themselves to grow In strength or to have a strong sense of purpose and commitment Is to a great extent dependent on the quality of leadership in the school (Walsh, 1999). The principal provides the leadership to the principal becomes the lightning rod for every change and programmer that is implemented at the school and assumes a much more important role in the scheme of things.More than Just following policy, the position requires that the person be a planner, a leader, and a conciliator in order to be successful (Bastion, 1995). The leadership of the principal takes the anchor role in transforming and developing the school into a successful institution. The task of being the educational leader of the sc hool is one that calls for the best in the area of personal skills and requires the highest order of human and academic skills (Coleman, 1998).The leadership of the school is responsible for facilitating instructional activities and coordinating curriculum across the individual programmer and school levels for ensuring congruence through defining the school mission and goals, managing the instructional programmer s and promoting a positive school learning climate (Morrison, 1998). The core business of a school as an organization is the effective curriculum delivery. Teaching and learning are necessary if young people are to acquire personally enriching, economically necessary and socially desirable knowledge and skills.A school must have a positive environment to facilitate the effective curriculum delivery and the development of skills and values in learners. Without a proper learning environment, effective curriculum delivery cannot take place. The resources that are available at a school can positively influence the quality of the education provided. Our ability to develop the curriculum in the way that we wish to achieve our objectives as a school will, of course, depend on the resources that are available to us.However, it is extremely important that we ensure that the tail does not wag the dog, that the content of the education that we offer is to determined by the resources most easily available to us, as opposed to by the needs of our learners. Resources are everything at the school's actual or potential disposal to enable it to reach its objectives. Resources like human resource, physical resource and financial resource are the most important items required for the provision of quality education. Access to and control of resources are of central concern to any organization.In the school context these resources include finances, administrative equipment and materials, teaching equipment and materials and the school facilities themselves (Morrison, 1998 ). Teachers are invariably regarded as the prime resource in schools because of their central role in the teaching and learning process. The quality of the results produced will depend on the motivation and commitment of the educators who are working in a school. The quality of their work, and their motivation to perform well are related directly to the nature of the human resource management process.Where staff management is skilled and sympathetic, a successful organization is likely to result (Branded & Ginning, 1990). In a successful institution, the educators will be prepared to work beyond the normal required hours ND will be using this extra time for preparation and marking of the learners books. A school, which has no skilled, committed, innovative and resourceful staff, cannot provide quality education to the learners and may not produce quality results in the external examination.Therefore one of the prerequisites for any school to become efficient and to produce quality r esults is to have an efficient, dynamic, skilled, committed and knowledgeable human resource. Teacher is the main change agent necessary for bringing change in teaching and learning so, the school policy should eve provision for professional development program for teachers. Bonging (2001 : 53) also indicates the importance of teachers' concerns and say, â€Å"Change can be more successful if the concerns of teachers are considered†. Collaborative teaching and learning environment is a source of school effectiveness. So, the school management should encourage collaboration in school. The participation of the parents in the management of the education of the learners can positively influence the learning process of the learners. The principal has to utilize this influence and the nutrition of the parents effectively to improve the quality of results that are produced in the previously disadvantaged schools (Solidity & Bull, 1996).The role of parents to influence and persuade t heir children to be mentally prepared, to obtain quality education cannot be ignored or undermined. They are the role players who could lay a strong foundation and passion for quality education in the minds of their children, which will in turn assist the educators largely in providing quality education to their learners.

Writing Articles for SEO

Writing Articles for SEO Writing for publication on the Internet requires a slightly different approach than writing for print media. As Internet marketing and e-commerce continue to grow, businesses are discovering the opportunity to compete in a global market; all that is needed are the right designers and writers to make that happen. Such demand has created a new category in freelance writing, in which writers specialize in writing for publication on the Internet. In addition to understanding Internet trends and e-commerce marketing tactics, writers who publish online must be aware of one of the most common buzzwords in Web development and website administration: SEO, or Search Engine Optimization.The success of a website heavily depends on its visibility to the Internets major search engines, and oftentimes, the sites content is the primary factor that makes such visibility possible. Consequently, site developers incorporate content in the form of articles that are created using specific keywords. When a n Internet user enters a keyword, or keyword phrase, into a search engine, that search engine uses crawlers to find relevant websites containing those words. The mission, then, of an SEO writer is to create content that can be easily found by a search engines crawlers. It is technical writing at its best, and has proven to be one of the more effective methods of increasing traffic, and therefore more revenue, to a website.Article writers, whose primary purpose is for creating SEO content, find themselves in a unique position of balancing the craft of writing with a formulaic approach. Writing effective SEO articles entails an ability to determine the fine line between keeping the reader engaged and distributing keywords both frequently and subtly. Take for example the following passage:If you are seeking for online college degree program options, there are a variety of choices available to meet your specific goals. Many students are happy to discover that earning an online degree ca uses little to no interruption in their already hectic lives, and tend to benefit greatly from the career advancement a college degree offers. Earning your degree online has never been easier! Call us today to set up an appointment with one of our degree program counselors.The above paragraph is considered keyword heavy, with variations of a commonly used keyword phrase: online college degree program. The author incorporates some part of the phrase in each sentence without being too obvious about it, keeping the voice of the article as conversational and natural as possible. An average reader searching online for information about online college degree programs would find the article helpful, without necessarily realizing that it was written with the primary purpose of drawing Internet traffic to a particular website. That website might be one that serves as a portal for online schools offering degrees to nontraditional students, and this segment from an article listed on their site would help to attract a lot of business.In addition to frequently including the primary keyword, or keyword phrase, writing an effective SEO articles includes brainstorming similar keywords to match the original one(s). To do this, it is important to consider the possible Internet search queries of your intended audience. Continuing the above example, if a potential student is searching for schools in which he or she could earn an online college degree, other possible searches might include online degree programs, online universities, online colleges, and degrees from home. The SEO article writer would then incorporate these keyword phrases into the article to maximize the potential for more site traffic. Webmasters use such content-specific writing to attract particular audiences to their site; by doing so, they assure effective leads from Internet users who are looking for precisely what their site or business has to offer.After an author assures that keyword variation and freque ncy is abundant, the next consideration that an SEO article writer must have is concerning the length of the article. As a standard of practice, SEO articles are between 300 and 500 words in length. This number factors in the typical attention span of most Internet users, while allowing for enough keyword distribution to attract the attention of the search engine crawlers.Another consideration, although not the most important one, would be regarding format. SEO articles should contain short paragraphs- preferably two to four sentences in length. Most people tend to skim over material when they are surfing the Internet, and shortened paragraphs make it easier on the eye to do this. Extended-length paragraphs are not as easily read, and therefore are often avoided by the average Internet user. Although research provides multiple possibilities for this fact, some of the more commonly accepted explanations include the stress on the eye involved with reading a computer screen and the ent ertainment element associated with surfing the Internet.The final factor in creating SEO articles is to assure that each article is impeccably edited. In Internet commerce, as with any business, presentation and first impressions are key in attracting and maintaining clients. If an SEO article is poorly written, or contains multiple grammar and spelling errors, the website containing that article could be easily passed over as being unprofessional and amateur- two descriptors most Web designers would like to avoid. Many websites offer excellent pay and a steady flow of commissioned assignments to SEO article writers who can deliver quality content, while helping to build a companys online image and brand. With a knowledgeable and conscientious writer, the resulting SEO article can work to draw traffic and leads to a website for many years to come.

Picking Nits, Not Nicks

Picking Nits, Not Nicks Picking Nits, Not Nicks Picking Nits, Not Nicks By Maeve Maddox Apparently some modern speakers are happily unacquainted with head lice. This lack of knowledge may explain the confusion illustrated by the following examples: If you want to lose a friend, all you have to do is to continue to nick pick and find fault with everything that they do or everything that they say. My husband and I nick pick at everything at each other. How can I stop this? Gamers are great at nickpicking while avoiding actual analysis. Not sure if I’m only seeing negative stuff or I’m just nickpicking. What should I do? I feel Teacher is nickpicking on my son. The verb forms for the actions being described in these examples are nitpick and nitpicking. To nitpick is to find fault with every little thing, no matter how inconsequential. The expression derives from the literal act of looking for nits, which are quite small. As a former volunteer school â€Å"head checker,† I know what it is to comb through a child’s hair, strand by strand, looking for nits. nit (noun): The egg of a louse or other insect parasitic on humans or animals; specifically, the egg of a head louse when attached to hair. From the mid-1600s until the late 1700s, ostentatious wigs were fashionable among the wealthy. One of the most memorable passages in the diary of Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) references the pitfalls of patronizing a wigmaker who failed to boil the merchandise before delivery: â€Å"I did go to the Swan; and there sent for Jervas my old periwig-maker and he did bring me a periwig; but it was full of  nits, so as I was troubled to see it (it being his old fault) and did send him to make it clean.† Note: A periwig is a highly stylized wig still worn by British barristers and judges. (The adjective old is not a typo for own. This wasn’t the first time Jervas had sent Pepys an infested wig.) It’s not necessary to hyphenate nitpick or nitpicking. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Creative Writing 101Rules for Capitalization in TitlesHow Do You Determine Whether to Use Who or Whom?

Weapons and Arrest Authority of U.S. Federal Agencies

Weapons and Arrest Authority of U.S. Federal Agencies More than a few eyebrows were raised in 2010 when the U.S. Department of Agriculture bought 85 fully automatic submachine guns. However, the USDAÂ  is just one of 73 federal government agencies employing full-time law enforcement officers who are authorized to carry firearms and make arrests in the United States. Brief Overview According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics latest (2008) Census of Federal Law Enforcement Officers, the combined federal government agencies employ about 120,000 full-time law enforcement officers who are authorized to carry firearms and make arrests. That is roughly the equivalent of 40 officers per 100,000 U.S. residents. By comparison, there is one member of the U.S. Congress per 700,000 residents. Federal Law Enforcement Officers are authorized by law to perform four specific functions: conduct criminal investigations, execute search warrants, make arrests, and carry firearms.From 2004 to 2008, the number of federal law enforcement officers with arrest and firearms authority grew by 14% or about 15,000 officers. The federal agencies also employ nearly 1,600 officers in the U.S. territories, primarily in Puerto Rico. The Census of Federal Law Enforcement Officers does not include data on officers in the U.S. Armed Forces, or the Central Intelligence Agency and the Transportation Security Administrations Federal Air Marshals Service, due to national security restrictions.The number of Federal Law Enforcement Officers has increased rapidly in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Since the 9/11/2001 attacks, the ranks of Federal Law Enforcement Officers grew from about 88,000 in 2000, to about 120,000 in 2008. Front Line Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Excluding 33 Offices of Inspectors General, 24 federal agencies each employed more than 250 full-time personnel with firearm and arrest authority in 2008. Indeed, law enforcement is the main function of most of these agencies. Few people would be surprised to see field agents of the Border Patrol, FBI, U.S. Marshals Service or the Secret Service carrying guns and making arrests. The complete list includes: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (36,863 officers)Federal Bureau of Prisons (16,835)Federal Bureau of Investigation (12,760)U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (12,446)U.S. Secret Service (5,213)Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (4,696)Drug Enforcement Administration (4,308)U.S. Marshals Service (3,313)Veterans Health Administration (3,128)Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (2,636)Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (2,541)U.S. Postal Inspection Service (2,288)U.S. Capitol Police (1,637)National Park Service - Rangers (1,404)Bureau of Diplomatic Security (1,049)Pentagon Force Protection Agency (725)U.S. Forest Service (644)U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (598)National Park Service - U.S. Park Police (547)National Nuclear Security Administration (363)U.S. Mint Police (316)Amtrak Police (305)Bureau of Indian Affairs (277)Bureau of Land Management (255) From 2004 to 2008, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) added more than 9,000 officers, the largest increase at any federal agency. A majority of the CBP increase occurred in the Border Patrol, which added more than 6,400 officers during the 4-year period.Officers of the Veterans Health Administration need arrest and firearms authority because they provide law enforcement and protective services for over 150 VA medical centers located nationwide.At the Cabinet department level, component agencies of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, employed about 55,000 officers or 46% of all federal officers with arrest and firearms authority in 2008. Agencies of the Department of Justice (DOJ) employed 33.1% of all officers, followed by other executive branch agencies (12.3%), the judicial branch (4.0%), the independent agencies (3.6%) and the legislative branch (1.5%).Within the legislative branch, the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) employed 1,637 officers to provide police services for the U.S. Capitol grounds and buildings. With full law enforcement authority in the area immediately surrounding the Capitol complex, the USCP is the largest federal law enforcement agency operating wholly within the nations capital.The largest employer of federal officers outside of the executive branch was the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC). The AOUSC employed 4,696 probation officers with arrest and firearm authority in its Federal Corrections and Supervision Division in 2008. The Not-So-Obvious Federal Law Enforcement Agencies In 2008, another 16 federal agencies not so typically associated with police powers employed fewer than 250 full-time personnel with firearm and arrest authority. These included: Bureau of Engraving and Printing (207 officers)Environmental Protection Agency (202)Food and Drug Administration (183)National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (149)Tennessee Valley Authority (145)Federal Reserve Board (141)U.S. Supreme Court (139)Bureau of Industry and Security (103)National Institutes of Health (94)Library of Congress (85)*Federal Emergency Management Agency (84)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (62)Government Printing Office (41)National Institute of Standards Technology (28)Smithsonian National Zoological Park (26)Bureau of Reclamation (21) * The Library of Congress Police ceased operation in 2009 when its duties were assumed by the U.S. Capitol Police.Most of the officers employed by these agencies are assigned to provide security and protective services at the agencys buildings and grounds. Officers employed by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors provide security and protective services only at the Boards Washington, D.C. headquarters. Officers serving at the various Federal Reserve banks and branches are hired by the individual banks and were not counted in the Census of Federal Law Enforcement Officers. And the Inspectors General Finally, 33 of the 69 federal Offices of Inspectors General (OIG), including the Department of Educations OIG, employed a total of 3,501 criminal investigators with firearms and arrest authority in 2008. These 33 Offices of Inspectors General represent all 15 Cabinet-level departments, as well as 18 other federal agencies, boards and commissions.Among other duties, officers of the Offices of Inspectors General often investigate cases of improper, wasteful or illegal activities, including theft, fraud and wrongful use of public funds.For example, OIG officers recently investigated the General Services Administrations outrageous $800,000 team-building meeting in Las Vegas, and a series of scams being perpetrated against Social Security recipients. Are These Officers Trained? Along with training they may have received in the military or other law enforcement agencies, most federal law enforcement officers are required to complete training at one of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) facilities. In addition to training in basic to advanced law enforcement, criminology, and tactical driving, FLETCs Firearms Division provides intensive training in the safe handling and justifiable use of firearms.

Radiographer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7500 words

Radiographer - Essay Example LPCP developed systems to enable patients, registered with a London GP and who were approaching six months on the waiting list with a London NHS Trust, to be offered a degree of choice over when and where they received treatment. Patients who accepted choice of another hospital would be treated earlier than if they remained with their existing hospital and earlier than the government target waiting time. LPCP activity commenced in October 2002 and by June 2004, 22,500 patients had been offered choice and 15,000 had accepted treatment at another hospital. From the beginning of the Project, it was decided there should be an independent evaluation of performance against objectives. The evaluation focused on three areas, the patient experience (Picker Institute Europe), organizational change (Royal Holloway) and system wide impacts (University of York). In addition, a discrete choice experiment was conducted (King's Fund/RAND Europe) to examine patient attitudes toward different elements of choice". Thus Electronic Health Records (EHR) can bring about multifarious improvements in the healthcare efficiency which would lead to patient's satisfaction in the ultimate analysis. However time efficiency of physicians and nurses is the targeted variable in assessment of the system of collection of electronic records and the use of such a database. Associated variables are the safety and the overall quality of the offered healthcare. Literature has placed on record that EHR use is enhanced if the EHR system is capable of attaining high speed, ease of use and value added services such as the generation of the reports in a variety of desired formats. (Ammenwerth E,et al,2001;Bates DW et al,2003; Herbst K et al,1999; Rotman BL, et al., 1996). However the EHR systems are most evaluated through the user characteristics (Littlejohns P, et al, 2003; Rotich JK et al, 2003) and the training ease that is possible in such systems. Literature variedly emphasizes the need for the EHR systems to be f ormed after a through understanding of the underlying clinical structure and systems. (Ammenwerth E et al,2003);Beuscart-Zephir MC et al,2001; Kuhn & Giuse,2001;LaDuke S.,2001;Staccini P, et al,2001) In order to achieve a good fit of the information system with the clinical settings extensive documentation is required to be made. This documentation needs to take into account all possibilities and eventualities before it is put on steam. (Lau F, et al, 1998; Tierney WM et al, 1993; Tierney WM et al, 1994) While the above has been stated with the field of medical and health care in general in view; the same can be stated of even the evolving field of radiography where the information and electronic records

Informative abstract one page on the 8 of a mechanical heart with MLA Research Paper

Informative abstract one page on the 8 of a mechanical heart with MLA formatted work cited - Research Paper Example The task involves not just mimicking the mechanics of the heart but its interaction with the brain. The significance of heart is no less profound today, but now it assumes an aura of pragmatism with concern for healthfulness which has resulted in the development of the mechanical heart. In patients with advanced heart failure, their heart isnt strong enough to pump sufficient blood for normal activities, leaving them greatly fatigued and frequently bedridden with difficulty breathing. Mechanical heart pumps are designed to help the heart pump blood from the left ventricle to the aorta, increasing flow throughout the body. A mechanical heart is designed to reduce the total work load of a heart that can no longer work at its normal capacity. These hearts consist of equipment that pulses the blood between heart beats or use an artificial auxiliary ventricle (left ventricle assist device, LVAD) that pumps a portion of the normal cardiac output. Because such devices usually result in complications to the patient, they have generally been used as a temporary replacement until natural he arts can be obtained for transplantation. Two artificial hearts have been invented in the US, the Jarvik 7 and the AbioCor, but both have drawbacks: the first has wires that protrude through the skin, and the second can produce blood clots that can lead to stroke. The mechanical heart restores hemodynamic stability; raising blood pressure and helping vital organs recover, as much as possible, in preparation for a heart transplant.  For persons who are not heart transplant candidates, the mechanical heart has allowed prolonged time with family and friends, and time to enjoy desired activities.  Patients can even go home with a fully implanted mechanical heart. Advantages of the mechanical heart are that it is readily available and there is no need for immunosuppressive drugs, which can compromise renal

Obesity Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Obesity - Dissertation Example Obesity is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as a condition of increased body weight that is caused by an excessive accumulation of fat. Obesity has also been termed the new â€Å"epidemic† in both adults and children. In 1998 the World Health Organization (WHO) designated obesity as a global epidemic (Anrig, 2003). Healthcare professionals can measure the percent of body fat in children by using Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is calculated from a person’s height and weight and provides a reasonable indicator of body fatness and weight categories that may lead to health problems. Establishing healthy habits in youth can help prevent many health problems later on in life which will drastically reduce the costs of healthcare. For this reason many public health professionals are interested in working with school systems to reach children in school settings. If we look back over the past 50 years we can see dramatic changes in the way children play, eat meals, and soc ialize. Today lifestyles are busier but less active. (See table 1 in appendix A). Since 1950, the amount of nutritional information available to the public has roughly doubled every seven years. In the years between 1950 and 2000, â€Å"obesity rose by 214% until today, where 64.5 percent of adult Americans (about 127 million) are categorized as being overweight or obese† (Weiss, n.d.). Even though technology has taken away the need for most physical activity, there must be steps taken to provide cost effective solutions and provide a healthier lifestyle for children that will lead to healthy adults. The good news is that schools nationwide are becoming aware of this epidemic and are working with health professionals by taking steps to provide a healthy lifestyle for children. Schools can play an important role in improving the health of children and the adults they will become. Children generally attend school 5 days a week throughout the calendar year. During childhood and adolescent years habits develop that determine physical activity and eating habits. These health habits will determine the development of such diseases as cardiovascular, cancer and diabetes which are now major causes of premature death and disabilities in the United States and the Western World. Public Health professionals are very interested in funding school based programs that can provide a foundation for lifelong healthy behaviors and greatly reduce the burden of these preventable health conditions for both individuals and society as a whole. There is largely an unmet need for effective school-based programs that promote healthy behaviors. It has not been an easy task engaging these partnerships for many reasons, one being funding. With the embracing of these school based programs by public health professionals, it is imperative that these programs be rigorously evaluated to show effectiveness. To be considered effective these programs must undergo systematic measurement and an alysis using solid research methods and study designs. The Center for Disease Control’