What Special Educators Need to Know about Students with Learning Research Paper - 1

What Special Educators Need to Know about Students with Learning Disabilities - Research Paper Example With regards to the special education of the students with learning disabilities, some of these district policies usually find themselves in conflict with the CEC code of ethics. This creates a dilemma for both the teachers and the students under these policies. An example of such a conflict comes in with regards to the code of ethics outlining the disciplinary measures to be taken against students when they break the laws laid down by the institutions. According to the district policies, in the event of a discipline case, all the students are meant to receive the same kind of punishment without any form of biasness (Council for exceptional children, 2012). However, the code of ethics dictates that special consideration should be given to the students with learning disabilities. Their involvement in the disciplinary cases may not have been entirely their fault. This scenario presents a point of conflict between the district policies and the code of ethics. Another example is the evaluation of the students academically. This presents a conflict with the district policies, all the students are supposed to be evaluated on their merit based on the same rubric. However, the code of ethics clearly stated that these students with learning disabilities are supposed to be evaluated individually (Council for exceptional children, 2012). Their condition does not allow them to be evaluated on the same basis as other students. This presents a conflict in this issue. While looking at the characteristics of students with learning disabilities, it is very important that we do not overlook the fact that some of these students actually possess more than one of these characteristics. However, not all of the characteristics are commonly shared by the students.  

Education Essay Example for Free

Education Essay In United Kingdom and Europe, the adults and volunteers working around the school, paid or not, have various names: learning support assistant, classroom assistant, special needs assistant, but the most common term is the one of teaching assistant. The teaching assistants are very important in primary schools, so much that at the moment it is nearly impossible to imagine things running as efficiently as they do, without the help of the teaching assistants. In the present there is a big deficit in the number of teachers available in primary schools, especially in the number of men working close to children of a young age. Skilled teaching assistants bring a very valuable contribution to pupils achievements within the learning environment, but their main purpose states from their name, as the term of teaching assistant indicates their role of supporting the teacher and working under his guidance. This is done by supporting pupils during the teaching of the curriculum . Teacher assistants support the pupils by understanding their learning support needs. In order to do that, the teaching assistant needs to listen to the children, respect and value them. They will gain the sense of independence, with the help of the school staff, especially those working close to them, such as teacher or teaching assistant. The teaching assistant has to enable the pupils access to the curriculum at all times and to encourage them by using plenty of praise and rewards. Also, every pupil must participate fully in every lesson, and the teaching assistant must ensure that, by reminding pupils of teaching points made by the teacher, and also by organising them in appropriate play activities or games. Younger pupils should be encouraged to take turns and speak and to follow simple written instructions. The teaching assistant has to encourage the children to use the school library at all the time and also to use spelling aids, when necessary. All of these will encourage the pupils to gain the sense of independence and to develop their independent learning. The teaching assistant needs to ensure that the children knows, understands and applies class and school rules. The younger pupils should be able to make choices on their own about the books and to be able to select resources independently. Older pupils should be encouraged to develop their skills and to work independently when the case, to manage own reading book and help keeping reading record up to date. The teaching assistant must help the pupils work cooperatively and encourage them to use the library independently. Children should learn to use information from various sources and include references and to complete all tasks set in a given time. The teaching assistant must make sure that all the pupils have access to information from artefacts, charts, diagrams, and that they are able to organise and keep tidy their own work. The teaching assistant must provide support for the teacher, as stated from the term itself. The teacher takes full responsibility for the interactions that take place between pupils and the helping staff. The teaching assistant needs to provide general classroom help, including preparations of rooms, materials and equipment. The pupils need to be supervised by the teaching assistant and by the teacher, working together, as a team. Also, the teaching assistant needs to assist in monitoring the pupils progress as required by the school and in the production of teaching aids and preparation of work for pupils.

Factors Affecting Participation with Sustainability

Factors Affecting Participation with Sustainability Participation is an essential component of development and the degree of participation in development programs is a key determinant of success or failure. According to Bagherian et al. (2009) the activites and factors which contribute with success of particiption still unkown and remind a mystery. But some researchers and scholars studied peoples participation and affecting factors in development projects they found some key factors which affect people’s participation. There are a variety of factors affecting local participation in development programmes and projects such as economic, political, legislative, administrative, socio-cultural, and geographical factors. Furthermore, isolation and scattered habitat of the poor people; work load, especially for women, weak health condition, low level of education and exposure to non local information, weak leaders and lack of know-how to move in this direction in order to promote their interests. (Heck, 2003;Cohen Uphoff, 1980; UNDP , 2007; Oakley, 1991). Heck (2003) added some factors and constraints of implementing and support agencies: centralized planning, decision making and implementation, lack of skilled staff to promote participation and pressure from the side of implementing institution and supporting organizations to produce visible results quickly. Economic factors: Mohammad (2010) asserts that economic factors extremely affects peoples participation, which they are bound to live and adjusted. He added that socially poor, minorities and underprivileged communities rarely asked for participation in government lead programs and projects. For the best result, it could be crucial to consider and engage individuals and minorities from different levels in the leadership structure of the community. As Wall et al. (2005) cited that â€Å"Leaders must make every effort to recruit and involve people of both racial and ethnic diversity and with lower socioeconomic status as their interests and concerns should not be ignored† (155). Political factors: Political factors affect peoples participation in different ways. One of the main causes of apathetic situation of people participation in developing countries is political obstacle. Samad (2002) explained that beside of the socioeconomic stance, political background of stakeholders has been an influential factor in the form of participation consequence. He added that those stakeholders, who are politically, socially and economically dominate, for their own interest may frustrate the participation of others (cited in Mohammad, 2010). Heck (2003) stated that in number of countries the rural and urban elites influence the political and administrative structures to turn the policies in their favor. Socio-cultural factors: In some communities, culture directly affects people participation in development projects. Afghan community is one of them, which culture is a big challenge for minorities especially women’ participation. Likewise, Cohen and Uphoff (1980) hinted in their compressive model of people’s participation in rural development that culture is one of three big challenges which affect people’s participation in development initiatives. Beyond all these factors in some cases, people do not want to participate in development projects. For more effective participation some practical steps are very important which include: demanded-led idea for project or program, ensuring that the design is thought of as an investment in a successful outcome and thus given adequate time and other resources, the design incorporates specific activities and resources needed to implement participatory strategies, distinctly specifying the target group who and which groups to be participated and who will benefit, defining the type and level of participation to be achieved and selecting skilled team in participatory approaches (AusAID, 2010). Brahmi and Thakur (2011) undertook a study to find socio-economicfactors which affecting peoples participation in the Hariyali project in Himachal Pardesh, India. For study data were collected from 71 people who were involved in the project and 428 farmers through survey. The study findings showed total 22 factors noticed by respondents which affects people’s participation from these 22 factors 18 were socio-economic factors. The key factors were: lack of awareness about programmes, poor economic conditions, illiteracy, lack of faith in government programmes, village politics, subsidy culture, lack of exposure visits, low interest in money contribution, lack of demonstration and transparency. About 90 percent of the respondents perceived that lack of awareness (i.e. Knowledge of project concepts, objectives and their benefits, guidelines and responsibilities of the user group) were the most challenging factors. The study also revealed some program related factors such as lack of entry point activities, lack of flexibility in expenditure according to field conditions, variation in wage payments and lack of provision of advance payments. Similarly, Nxumalo and Oladele (2013) examined factors affecting farmers’ participation in agricultural program in Zululand district, South Africa. Three municipalities and 90 people were randomly selected. Data were collected through structured questionnaire, frequency count, percentages and the probit regression model were used for analysis. The study showed that farmers were inclined to participation, but luck of fund, unavailability of land, limited resources were major factors for participation. Bagherian et al. (2009) conducted a study to trace the factors which influencing local people’s participation in Watershed Management Programs (WMP) in Iran. Two hundred respondents were questioned through personal interview, correlation and multiple regression were employed for data analyses. The finding demonstrated that the level of people participation was moderate. Regression findings showed five factors had impact on the level of participation of people in this program. These factors were: level of people’s satisfaction of prior programs, people’s attitude toward WMP, people’s knowledge of WMP, their monthly income from alternative occupation and their expectations of WMP. Despite of many problems in Afghanistan two main obstacles have been encountered by National Solidarity Program (NSP) which highly effects people’s participation. First, security problems, due to ongoing conflict in some parts of the country, it has been difficult to contract facilitating people’s participation in such areas has been in danger. This has resulted in a slow pace of programme implementation. Second, local governments and elite of communities, in some regions have interfered in development projects which have brought obstacles for people’s participation (NSP, 2010). Dufour and Antezar (2003) carried out a research to analyze participation and consultation of affected populationin Nahrin district, Baghlan, Afghanistan. Data were collected from the local population, Afghan aid workers, international aid workers and the Afghan interim authorities. For data collection different tools were used such as interview with formal and informal focus groups, visits, participation in meetings, and review of secondary sources. The study showed some contextual factors, for instance security, geography, social characteristics, cultural factors and interference of local power holders. The key factors which affect sustainability have been grouped under nine main headings, namely: partner government and donor policies, local participation and ownership, management and organization, finance, awareness and training, technology, socio-culture, environment and external political and economical factors (AusAID, 2000). Sahee foundation[1](2008) conducted a study to find sustainability of rural development projects in Swaziland. Fifty six rural development projects were surveyed correlation had been tested, used the Kruskal-Wallis test and the Kendall Rank correlation. The findings revealed that the project is not an effortless way to earn wealth with little effort and input. People awareness about their responsibilities, working of knowledgeable persons hand to hand with other members of the project for achieving the common aim likely lead projects to sustainability. Furthermore, the study showed that cooperation between implementing NGOs, beneficiaries and local authorities were mostly satisfactory or even good. Despite of these positive points achieving stable membership was one of the big difficulties in most of the projects. In most cases the membership shrank until a small core group remained. Some projects ended because NGOs had stopped visiting projects after completion due to lack of fund a nd the beneficiaries had no possibility to improve their skills and develop their project. [1] Sahee: Sustainability for Agriculture, Health, Education and Environment (2008)

Economic Policy in Downtown Development :: essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the Heer’s Tower closed down in the 1960's, the downtown area of Springfield, MO. lost a major economic and entertaining element. Since then, Springfield has been planning and working to get back a lot of the status that it once had. The city government had to bring attractions and business in the form of new business’s to spur development to accommodate the 151,580 citizens that reside in the small city. Mayor Tom Carlson and City Manager Tom Finnie have been heading the projects with the help of large developing firms such as the UDA or Urban District Alliance, and hope that projects such as the redevelopment of Heer’s Tower, SMSU’s Innovation center, and College Station will add not only attractions for the mass of people flooding into Springfield each year, but also bring in hundreds of new jobs to boost the economy and help support a growing society. Over the next couple of pages an analysis of the current and future projects, as well as the non-quantitative benefits and effects on the surrounding community will be looked at to further explain why the project is on the community’s agenda.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tom Carlson calls the development of the downtown area, the â€Å"Center City.† â€Å"It will be a city within a city.† Not to long ago though Springfield was in a slump, after the huge factories of Zenith and GE went out of business, the only other major factory was Kraft. During the 1950's, These companies employed thousands of workers and once they were out of the picture the economy started to level out. The opportunity to have the Center City, started in the 1980's when sub-divisions around Springfield and surrounding towns, such as Nixa and Ozark, started booming. Since then, developer’s such as John Q. Hammons and new faces like Vaughn Post have sparked projects that have created a substantial buzz across the state. The developers took the idea of a new downtown and ran with it, using tax advantages such as state and historic tax credits, property tax abatement, gap financing and loans up to $40,000 to make facade improvements. Also, a low- interest loan program, using Community Development Block Grant Funds, has provided help for many business people. Since 1997, about $125 million has been invested in Center City.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  All of these tax breaks and policies have led to some astonishing developments in employment and economic gains.

Modern Management – GE MFP Matrix vs. BCG Matrix

Business Portfolio Analysis is a type of a planning system adopted by the organization (organizational strategy), which is similar to the manner in which investment portfolios are managed.   According to the business portfolio analysis, an organization would have to perform only sound activities and discard the unsound ones.   Business portfolio instruments are of two types, namely, the Boston-Consulting Group (BCG) Growth-Share Matrix and General Electric (GE) Multifactor Portfolio Matrix. Boston-Consulting Group (BCG) Growth-Share Matrix was developed by a popular production unit known as the BCG group and was aimed at helping the managers follow the market by developing an organizational strategy.   The strategy also helps to develop the market where the business survives.   The GE Multifactor Portfolio Matrix was developed by McKinsley et al who were basically consultants to the GE Company.   This strategy is mainly based on the attractiveness present in the market and the strengths of the organization.   This strategy is more advantageous than the BCG strategy as it tries to compensate for the limitations. In the BCG strategy, the organization is broken into portions such that each portions can develop an organizational strategy which could generate revenue (known as ‘strategic business units’ or ‘SBU’s’).   These SBU’s could be a division of a company or a production unit of a particular product or service.   The SBU’s have their own competitors, a manager in charge of the unit, and the management of the unit has to be planned with a strategy. Each of the unit is then placed on one of the four boxes (namely stars, question marks, dogs or cash cows) according to their characteristics.   Stars have a high-growth rate but require huge amounts of investments.   Cash cows occupy a huge market share and grow much more slowly.   Question marks are those units which have a high-growth rate but doubts whether the management would invest in them, exist.   Dogs are those units which have a small market share and grow at a much slower rate. On the other hand, the GE analysis rates the SBU’s according to the market attractiveness and the strengths of the business.   The firm has to determine each of these criteria based on the situation that exists.   Based on these criteria, circles appear on a graph in which business strengths are plotted against the market attractiveness.   The size of the circle varies according to investment in the market. THE BCG strategy does not consider the risks involved in developing the products, factors such as inflation and the predictable economic situations, and the pressure that exist from the ecosystem, politics and society.   The GE strategy helps to cover some of these pitfalls.   Several factors such as presence of competitors, growth rate of the industry, weaknesses of the competitors, etc, are considered in the GE strategy. References: Cresto, S. C. and Cresto, S. T. (2006). Chapter 3: Planning, Modern Management, (10th ed), New Jersey: Upper Saddle River, pp. 188-191.

History of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles

History of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles The Soviets, in retaliation for the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, boycotted the 1984 Olympics. Along with the Soviet Union, 13 other countries boycotted these Games. Despite the boycott, there was a lighthearted and happy feeling at the 1984 Olympic Games (XXIII Olympiad), which were held between July 28 and August 12, 1984. Official Who Opened the Games:  President Ronald ReaganPerson Who Lit the Olympic Flame:  Rafer JohnsonNumber of Athletes:  Ã‚  6,829 (1,566 women, 5,263 men)Number of Countries:  140Number of Events:  221 China Is Back The 1984 Olympic Games saw China participate, which was the first time since 1952. Using Old Facilities Rather than build everything from scratch, Los Angeles used many of its existing buildings to hold the 1984 Olympics. Initially criticized for this decision, it ultimately became a model for future Games. First Corporate Sponsors After the serious economic problems caused by the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, the 1984 Olympic Games saw, for the first time ever, corporate sponsors for the Games. In this first year, the Games had 43 companies who were licensed to sell official Olympic products. Allowing corporate sponsors caused the 1984 Olympic Games to be the first Games to turn a profit ($225 million) since 1932. Arriving by Jetpack During the Opening Ceremonies, a man named Bill Suitor wore a yellow jumpsuit, white helmet, and a Bell Aerosystems jetpack and flew through the air, landing safely on the field. It was an Opening Ceremony to remember. Mary Lou Retton The U.S. became enthralled with the short (4 9), exuberant  Mary Lou Retton  in her attempt to win gold in gymnastics, a sport that had long been dominated by the Soviet Union. When Retton received perfect scores in her final two events, she became the first American woman to win an individual gold medal in gymnastics. John Williams Olympic Fanfare and Theme John Williams, the famous composer for  Star Wars  and  Jaws, also wrote a theme song for the Olympics. Williams conducted his now famous Olympic Fanfare and Theme himself the first time it was played - at the 1984 Olympic Opening Ceremonies. Carl Lewis Ties Jesse Owens At the 1936 Olympics, U.S. track star Jesse Owens won four gold medals - the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter, the long jump, and the 400-meter relay. Nearly five decades later, U.S. athlete Carl Lewis also won four gold medals, in the very same events as Jesse Owens. An Unforgettable Finish The 1984 Olympics saw the first time that women were allowed to run in a marathon. During the race, Gabriela Anderson-Schiess from Switzerland missed the last water stop and in the heat of Los Angeles began to suffer from dehydration and heat exhaustion. Determined to finish the race, Anderson staggered the last 400 meters to the finish line, looking like she wasnt going to make it. With a serious determination, she made it, finishing 37th out of 44 runners.