Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Management - Essay Example Organizational culture can have a significant impact on employee behavior and performance. First of all, if an employee is well-aware about the culture of the organization he works in; he would have a complete understanding about how things work, what is the working style, the system, norms and beliefs residing in the minds of its people, it would be easy to work in the organization. Once he understands the environment well and is settled and comfortable, he can perform to his maximum. Organizational culture also generates commitment in an individual, which leads to shared goals to be achieved mutually (Hellriegel and Slocum 432). There is evidence that shows that corporate culture does affect performance. For instance, if we compare Japanese and American management methods, the success of Japanese is shown by their strong culture emphasizing on employee participation, open communication, security and equality (Cumming and Worley). A study of productivity was conducted in research de partments of UK university which showed a strong relationship between productivity and organization cultures emphasizing team work and employee involvement (Cumming and Worley). Can the culture of an organization be changed to increase performance? Culture of an organization may not be perfect to current needs of the market. It might not be comfortable for the workforce to work in that culture. It might not lead to achieving best performance in terms of product quality and service for customers. In such a case, culture of the organization should be changed keeping your motives ahead of you (Hellriegel and Slocum 432). During 1980s, in US, many organizations started changing their cultures in order to meet the customer’s expectations in a better way. During late 1990s, organizations began to evaluate how well they fit into expectations of workforce (Hellriegel and Slocum 432). As a senior leader in an organization what can you do to change the culture and in turn increase perf ormance of the business? (Wade and Recardo 62) As a senior manager, I can look into the following things in order to change the culture: -Change chain of command -Bring flexibility in the system. -Emphasize on teamwork -Involve employees at all levels. As an HR leader in an organization what can you do to change the culture and in turn increase performance of the business? Culture is a result of technology, process and organizational architecture. An HR manager should first identify where the problem lies. As an HR manager, I can change the architecture and communication in order to change the culture in an organization. If I feel the workforce wants more flexible style of working, I can bring into decentralization by: -Reducing layers of management. -Making sure information is available at the lower level personnel. A few other strategies may also be applied to change culture in order to increase employee behaviour and productivity: -Modify the reward system. -Aggressive use of tec hnology to make the processes more efficient (Wade and Recardo) . What impact on performance can a coaching culture have on an organization? Accelerating or getting the maximum out of something, is a practice that managers should often observe. Coaching is a tool which makes a good thing even better (Gorrell and Hoover). In 2008, a study was conducted by American Management Association to see the impact of coaching on performance. It was found that nearly 60 percent of North Americans

Mobile Computing and Wireless Communications for Construction projects Assignment

Mobile Computing and Wireless Communications for Construction projects - Assignment Example For the entire human race their society went through a complete revolution with the emergence of information and communications technology just a few decades back. Construction and Management is one of the numerous fields that have been benefitted immensely by Information and Communications technology. Not only have the methods of construction been perfected by technology, the ability to communicate in the real time environment among locations physically located at far off places was a revolutionizing factor indeed. The present day construction companies’ scenario is such that highly specialized network infrastructure and special communication needs have become integral for their survival. This is owing to the intricate and advanced nature of the projects that have been taken up by the technology equipped construction companies. The general infrastructure is such that the main hub or the headquarters of the construction company is located in a main city. This construction hub is equipped with the smartest telecommunication technologies so as to remain perfectly in contact with construction points at spread out physical locations. Some construction points may be this far that they may not lie under any physical wired private or public networks or even wireless network coverage area. These construction site offices are often present at the termination of the area that is being constructed. The activities within the entire construction area may be far off from the construction office sites and construction may continue sometimes even for months and years. The movements of staff and managers between ‘different sites’ and ‘between the headquarter and sites’ are intermittent and take place at regular intervals. The terrain of the construction sites is often such that the land is physically irregular with ongoing digging and other groundwork. It is under such circumstances that the

The Influence of Mother Teresa

The Influence of Mother Teresa Mother Teresa was born as Agnes Bojaxhiu. Since, childhood she was committed towards the work performed by the missionaries. She took the name Teresa when she joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns in 1928 and dedicated herself towards (poverty), remain without possessions, (Chastity) to remain pure in mind and body and promised to obey her religious superiors (Obedience). Mother Teresa was embodied with vision, compassion, dedication and an excellent power to inspire others. Influencing others with her work was the main characteristic that differentiated her from the other leaders of the century. At a very early age Mother Teresa was taught to feed the poor, help those in need and to donate money to those less fortunate than her own family. Agnes was a determined and strong follower of cause as taught to her by her father, a nationalist .Agnes was also a member of Soldality of the Blessed Virgin Mary where letters from missionaries were often read. Hearing about thousands of deaths in India due to lack of hunger, incurable diseases, poverty inflamed Mother Teresas mind and soul. Her passion to serve the needy people grew along her age and she finally left her home at the age of 19 and joined The Sisters Of Loreto in Ireland. After coming to India in 1929 Mother Teresa enjoyed her occupation of teaching at St. Marys, Darjeeling but her passion to help the poor was still very much alive. Mother Teresa even after becoming The Principal of St. Marys knew that her home was not within the walls of the convent rather it was outside the bounded line of the school with the poor. Inspirational Day, 10th Sept 1946 as perceived by Mother Teresa was the day when she finally realized the meaning of her birth and at once she left her position at St. Marys to help the poor. On August 16th 1948, at the age of thirty-seven, after getting the permission from The Holy Father of Catholic Church ,Teresa removed the black veil and habit of the Order of Loreto and donned a white cotton sari, with three stripes of blue and walked through with nothing but blind, total faith, to begin her new life. The first thing she did was that she travelled Patna to study nursing, the knowledge for which she knew she would have a definite need, if she were to help the sick and poor. She learned how to give injections, measure the doses of medicines, deliver babies, and perform simple first aid. Mother Teresa started her work in Calcutta with just 5 Rs. in her pocket. The first main attainment was when she was able to gather 30 students for her own set-up school in which she taught them by writing on the ground with the help of a stick. After teaching, she and her students from St. Mary who were very much touched by her examples on love and care joined her in the activity of begging food for the poor. Mother and her students took the same diet as the poor. They collected food by going to church with tin pans and asking people not to throw the left over food. Not only food Mother and her followers also begged and prayed on regular basis in front of the medical suppliers to obtain the medical supplies for free that were very much needed. Soon many nuns joined Mother Teresa and devoted their lives towards serving the poor. Mother and the Sisters moved into a building, called Kalighat, the House of the Destitute and Dying allotted to them by the Government of India. At first the citizens feared that Mother was here to change the religion of people but,there was no attempt to do this and slowly after a long-suffering effort on the part of the Sisters and Mother, they were hopefully able to gain the trust of the Indian people. Their main aim was to care for their needs. When people died they were buried according to their own faith. Thousand of people had contracted leprosy at that time, a disease which measured in almost epidemic proportions. Leprosy was a horrible contagious disease, but treatable. Mother Teresa along with the help of other sisters established a leper town for the sufferers where they and their families could live in a clean, safe place and learn skills that would enable them to support themselves. In 1984, the Missionaries of Charity Fathers was founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta with Fr. Joseph Langford, to combine the work of the missionaries of Charity with the ministerial priesthood wherein a new vow to give whole hearted and free service to the poorest of the poor was introduced. It was better known as the home of joy for the sick children. Missionaries cared not only for the poor but for the refugees, ex-prostitutes, mentally ill, those suffering from various diseases like AIDS, Leprosy and also took care of the aged people. Separate homes were made for separate people.eg 19 homes in Kolkata alone were established for women, orphaned children ,people suffering from AIDS, leper colony etc. These services were provided to people regardless of their religion. Apart from Missionaries of Charity ,Place of the Immaculate Heart, Town of Peace, etc were some of her few contributions by Mother Teresa to the mankind. A leader is not only the one who just influences or motivates his/her followers but, also has the courage to face each and every situation that acts as a hurdle in his/her objective. Mother Teresa was a true leader in every sense. In order to serve the poor she reached the unreached. This was proved in 1982 when Mother Teresa and her followers rescued 37 children trapped in front of line hospital by brokering a temporary cease fire between the Israeli army and the Palestine Guerillas. She along with the Red Cross workers travelled through the war zone to the devastated hospital to evacuate the young patients. The spending of the charity money received was criticized by some to which Mother stated that No matter who says what, you should accept it with a smile and do your own work.. She believed only in the contact with God through serving people. The version found written on the wall in Mother Teresas home for children: People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway. Mother Teresa in the late 19th century had become a world famous personality as she travelled around the world to help those in need.1991was the first time when she returned to her hometown and opened a missionaries of Charity Brothers in Tirana, Albania. By 1996, almost 517 missions in more than 100 countries were operated by her with the help of other sisters brothers. Over the years Mother Teresas missionaries of Charity grew from twelve to thousands serving the poorest of the poor in 450 centers around the world. Mother Teresa did not focus on the donated money for the elimination of poverty or improving the condition of her small homes established for the needy but also on opening new convents and increasing the missionaries work. On March 13, 1997, six months before Mother Teresas death, Sister Mary Nirmala Joshi was selected the new Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity. Her death was mourned in both secular and religious communities. Her recognition in India:- She was awarded the Padma Shri Award in 1962 by The Govt of India. She continued to receive major Indian Awards such as Jawaharlal Nehru award and Ratna award. During her life she faced many criticisms from the Bhartiya Janta Party, Vishwa Hindu, Giriraj Kishore but, at the same time she gained recognition from various renowned personalities such as President Pratibha Patel. She said of Mother Teresa clad in a white sariwith a blue border, she and the sisters of Missionaries of Charity became a symbol of hope to many the aged, the destitute, the unemployed, the diseased, the terminally ill, and those abandoned by their families. Her Reception in rest of the world:- In 1962, Mother Teresa was awarded the Philippines based Rawon Magsaysay Award for International understanding, given for work in South East Asia. She was even presented with the Presidential Medal Of Freedom at a White House ceremony in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan. Since her death Mother Teresa has progressed rapidly along the steps towards sainthood. She was even awarded civilian awards such as Balzan Prize for promoting peace, humanity brotherhood and the Albert Scheweitzer International Prize. she was a rare and unique individual who lived long for higher purposes. Her life-long devotion to the care of the poor, the sick, and the disadvantaged was one of the highest examples of service to our humanity. As stated by Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan and She is the United Nations. She is peace in the world. As said by The former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Pà ©rez de Cuà ©llar . Missionaries of Charity To those who say they admire my courage, I have to tell them that I would not have any if I were not convinced that each time I touch the body of a leper, a body that reeks with a foul stench, I touch the same Christ I receive in the Eucharist. Mother Teresa International charity Her Influence on others:- Marlenes Bio Marlene T. Elias, Newbury Park, California, formerly of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, is a noted Gospel singer, entertainer, songwriter, speaker, performer and freelance writer. Marlene, who was an entertainer on the East Coast, happily put aside a career to become a wife and mother. She and her husband, Tony, became parents of three daughters and one son. Eventually, after the children were grown, Marlene returned to her love of music, playing the piano and organ and becoming a soloist for Masses at the familys parish, St. Julie Billiart Catholic Church. Soon she performed at civic functions, entertained at local clubs and for a while Marlene was lead vocalist with a dance band, The Swing Sounds, featuring music reminiscent of the Big Band Era. In 1984 Marlene released her first Gospel album entitled In His Name, which led to Marlenes appearance on KIHS, Los Angeless new Catholic TV station as a guest singer on a new show called Heart of the Nation, where she was featured for over a year. She has since done two videos featuring songs shes written, appearing with Patrick Wayne, Barbara Valentine, Jack Knight and other guest celebrities. During the 1984 Olympics, Marlene was chosen to sing the National Anthem and God Bless America. Many other celebrity benefits followed, where she joined some of the best known entertainers, such as Danny Thomas, George Burns, Bob Hope, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Martin Sheen to name a few. She and her daughter, Annie Gabriel, a film producer, recently worked with Elliot Gould at a prayer service in Hollywood, to encourage members of the Screen Actors Guild to come to the peaceful settlement of an anticipated strike. Marlene was kept busy, as she performed at other charitable benefits for Hospice, St. Anns Maternity Home (for unwed mothers), homeless shelters, ACCW, the Greater Los Angeles Archdiocesan functions and Masses celebrated by the late Cardinal Manning, Cardinal Mahoney, many Bishops and clergymen from around the country. But Marlene was to experience a deep spiritual awakening, when in October of 1987, in the company of her brother, Monsignor John Esseff of Scranton, Pennsylvania, she visited with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India. So great was the touching experience, that upon her return, she began sharing her life-changing journey with people from various churches and civic clubs, through slides she had taken. Marlene says that all of her other accomplishments pale in comparison to the meeting of and close friendship with Mother Teresa. For ten years this friendship blossomed and grew, as the two women met, spoke, prayed and corresponded. In addition, the Lord sent Marlene albums of music inspired by this saintly woman. Shes traveled across the country and around the world with her beautiful message of love, becoming a spokesperson for Mother Teresa. Marlene has presented over 800 talks, with slides and music, bringing the message of Mother Teresa to See Jesus in everyone and to be Jesus to all those we meet. There seems to be a never-ending thirst for the legion of stories about Mother Teresa, especially the first-hand stories of this legendary and humble woman. In 1995, Marlene was privileged to be asked by Mother Teresa to sing at the dedication of a new home for unwed mothers in Washington, D.C. Mother Teresa received this home anonymously through the efforts of Hillary Clinton. Though they are diametrically opposed on the abortion issue, they both agreed to have the babies adopted. This ceremony was attended by Mrs. Clinton, Cardinal Hickey and Mayor Marion Barry. At the Mass of dedication, Marlene presented Mother Teresa with a Monstrance and a Chalice for the new homes chapel and sang, Am I My Brothers Keeper? On September 5, 1997, Marlene was saddened to hear of the death of her dear friend. The Sisters remembered the promise that Marlene made to Mother Teresa, to sing two of the songs Marlene had written, which Mother Teresa especially chose for her funeral. With a little help from her friends, Marlene was able to make the trip to India to fulfill that promise. Marlene sang, Am I My Brothers Keeper and See Jesus at Mother Teresas funeral on September 13, 1997. On October 19, 2003, the Beatification of Mother Teresa by His Holiness Pope John Paul II. By request of Sister Fatima and Sister Nirmala Marlene was asked to sing at two private Masses for the Sisters. Her brother was concelebrant at the Mass of Thanksgiving following the beatification. To date, Marlene has written two albums of inspirational music and one single, an anthem for the homeless, all inspired by this saint. In all, Marlene has recorded six albums of spiritual music, which she recently combined on six CDs and cassettes tapes. Through the years, a portion of the proceeds has gone to the Missionaries of Charity. This will continue. Marlene has had first person articles published in Columbia Magazine, Scene Magazine, Catholic Golden Age Magazine, The Catholic Light, The Tidings, Ligourian Magazine, Marian Helpers Bulletin, St. Anthonys Messenger Le Brigand, a French Jesuit Publication, News Chronicle, Daily News, Sunday Independent, Sharing Ideas, an international speakers magazine as well as other publications. Marlenes photo of Mother Teresa and the Beggar, which appeared on the cover of Catholic Golden Age, won best color photo award. Five of her songs won awards in the Hollywood Song Jubilee. Marlene hopes that through her music, writing and speaking, she, like Mother Teresa, can become a beacon of light in a dark world, leading souls to Christ. Using Mother Teresas message of doing even the small task with the greatest love, we can change hearts, and with that love, light the way to Jesus. Reception in the rest of the world President Ronald Reagan presents Mother Teresa with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony, 1985 In 1962, Mother Teresa received the Philippines-based Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding, given for work in South or East Asia. The citation said that the Board of Trustees recognizes her merciful cognizance of the abject poor of a foreign land, in whose service she has led a new congregation.[60] By the early 1970s, Mother Teresa had become an international celebrity. Her fame can be in large part attributed to the 1969 documentary Something Beautiful for God, which was filmed by Malcolm Muggeridge and his 1971 book of the same title. Muggeridge was undergoing a spiritual journey of his own at the time.[61] During the filming of the documentary, footage taken in poor lighting conditions, particularly the Home for the Dying, was thought unlikely to be of usable quality by the crew. After returning from India, however, the footage was found to be extremely well lit. Muggeridge claimed this was a miracle of divine light from Mother Teresa herself.[62] Others in the c rew thought it was due to a new type of ultra-sensitive Kodak film.[63] Muggeridge later converted to Catholicism. Around this time, the Catholic world began to honor Mother Teresa publicly. In 1971, Paul VI awarded her the first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize, commending her for her work with the poor, display of Christian charity and efforts for peace.[64] She later received the Pacem in Terris Award (1976).[65] Since her death, Mother Teresa has progressed rapidly along the steps towards sainthood, currently having reached the stage of having been beatified. Mother Teresa was honoured by both governments and civilian organizations. She was appointed an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia in 1982, for service to the community of Australia and humanity at large.[66] The United Kingdom and the United States each repeatedly granted awards, culminating in the Order of Merit in 1983, and honorary citizenship of the United States received on 16 November 1996. Mother Teresas Albanian homeland granted her the Golden Honour of the Nation in 1994.[56] Her acceptance of this and another honour granted by the Haitian government proved controversial. Mother Teresa attracted criticism for implicitly giving support to the Duvaliers and to corrupt businessmen such as Charles Keating and Robert Maxwell. In Keatings case she wrote to the judge of his trial asking for clemency to be shown.[37]HYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa#cite_note-Frontline-55[56] Universities in both the West and in India granted her honorary degrees.[56] Other civilian awards include the Balzan Prize for promoting humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples (1978),[67] and the Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975).[68] In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace. She refused the conventional ceremonial banquet given to laureates, and asked that the $192,000 funds be given to the poor in India,[69] stating that earthly rewards were important only if they helped her help the worlds needy. When Mother Teresa received the prize, she was asked, What can we do to promote world peace? She answered Go home and love your family. Building on this theme in her Nobel Lecture, she said: Around the world, not only in the poor countries, but I found the poverty of the West so much more difficult to remove. When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread, I have satisfied. I have removed that hunger. But a person that is shut out, that feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person that has been thrown out from society-that poverty is so hurtable [sic] and so much, and I find that very difficult. She also singled out abortion as the greatest destroyer of peace in the world.[70] Towards the end of her life, Mother Teresa attracted some negative attention in the Western media. The journalist Christopher Hitchens has been one of her most active critics. He was commissioned to co-write and narrate the documentary Hells Angel about her for the British Channel 4 after Aroup Chatterjee encouraged the making of such a program, although Chatterjee was unhappy with the sensationalist approach of the final product.[58] Hitchens expanded his criticism in a 1995 book, The Missionary Position.[71] Chatterjee writes that while she was alive Mother Teresa and her official biographers refused to collaborate with his own investigations and that she failed to defend herself against critical coverage in the Western press. He gives as examples a report in The Guardian in Britain whose stringent (and quite detailed) attack on conditions in her orphanages [include] charges of gross neglect and physical and emotional abuse,[72] and another documentary Mother Teresa: Time for Change? broadcast in several European countries.[58] The German magazine Stern published a critical article on the first anniversary of Mother Teresas death. This concerned allegations regarding financial matters and the spending of donations. The medical press has also published criticism of her, arising from very different outlooks and priorities on patients needs.[37] Other critics include Tariq Ali, a member of the editorial committee of the New Left Review, and the Irish investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre.[71] Her death was mourned in both secular and religious communities. In tribute, Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan said that she was a rare and unique individual who lived long for higher purposes. Her life-long devotion to the care of the poor, the sick, and the disadvantaged was one of the highest examples of service to our humanity.[73] The former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Pà ©rez de Cuà ©llar said: She is the United Nations. She is peace in the world.[73] During her lifetime and after her death, Mother Teresa was consistently found by Gallup to be the single most widely admired person in the US, and in 1999 was ranked as the most admired person of the 20th century by a poll in the US. She out-polled all other volunteered answers by a wide margin, and was in first place in all major demographic categories except the very young

Octavia Butlers Kindred vs. Harriet Jacobs Incidents In The Life of a

Octavia Butler's Kindred vs. Harriet Jacobs' Incidents In The Life of a Slave Girl According to 'the conventions for slave narratives', it is possible to categorize Kindred by Octavia Butler as a slave narrative. However, the circumstances that take Dana back in time are imaginative and fantastical compared to slave narratives such as Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. While reading Kindred, one doesn't really get the experience of the slaves, but how Dana feels as she participates in slave times. Compared to the lives of slaves, her life is much easier and she has the luxury of knowing she is not and never was a slave. In contrast, Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl is a direct portrayal of slavery through the eyes of a slave. Although the viewpoints are very different, there are similarities in their experiences and in the way each responds and fights for their freedom. The first parallel exists in how both Dana and Jacobs are taught to view themselves. Jacobs states, ? I was born a slave; but never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away? (Jacobs 7). Jacobs? father allowed her the freedom to grow up happy and unfettered by slavery. Once she did realize she was a slave, her mistress further encouraged independent thought with kind treatment and by teaching Jacobs to read. Therefore Jacobs had little worries about slavery for the first twelve years of her life. Dana grew up in 20th century America, where life for African-Americans is drastically changed. She never had to worry about slavery nor gave it much thought beyond what she read in books or learned in classes. She is even married to a white man. When transported back in time she is truly perplexed by the treatmen... ...wn time where slavery doesn?t exist, and Jacobs, desperate to save her children and give them freedom. As stated earlier, Jacobs and Dana experience slavery from very different perspectives. Dana is well educated and prior to going back in time, has only read about slavery, while Jacobs, although literate, is born into slavery and knows nothing else. Yet these major differences do not change the veneer of slavery. Both are considered property and both had to endure and watch others endure unimaginable cruelties. It seems only natural that the similarities in their experiences produced similarities in how they reacted and how they escaped to freedom. Works Cited: Butler, Octavia E. Kindred. Boston: Beacon, 1988. Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Ed. Jean Fagan Yellin. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1987.

An American novelist Essay

An American novelist, historian, and literary historian-that was Alfred Bertram Guthrie, Jr. Having shown an excellent writing style and due to his love of Montana he went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for his fiction The Way West in 1959. This book mainly talks about Dick Summer’s return to the Wild West to guide some settlers on the hard journey to Oregon through a dangerous trail (Joseph, Guthrie, & Peter, 1959, 18). A. B. Guthrie wrote with a unique sense of style, skill, artful simplicity and eloquent sentiment and these are all apparent in the opening, the discovering, the settling, the emergent and the exploiting of the American West. At the point in his life when he was merely a university graduate in journalism, he pioneered the hard knowledge that has helped young novelists ascend to greater heights. Guthrie gave much of himself and his time to advise young writers just as Professor Theodore Morrison, his mentor, did for him. Guthrie’s ability to pay attention to historical accuracy, his love of nature, an unfailing ear for dialect and realistic dialogue and the skill to create unforgettable characters that readers easily adapt to care about are the traits that set him aside from other writers. The distinctiveness of his ability to frame vivid, tightly compressed scenes in which those characters intermingle is pure intellect (Joseph, Guthrie, & Peter, 1959, p. 31). In defining the American experience, Guthrie’s The Big Sky is a big aid in attempting to understand the conflict during this time. It provides descriptive evidence of the attitude of pioneers, the readiness of the pioneers, the empathy for the land that fur-trappers and backwoodsmen had during that time and how all the diverse people merged to form a nation. Guthrie’s most outstanding accomplishment is demonstrated in his ability to affirm the range, complexity, and the intensity of the colonization of the Missouri and Columbia drainage basins by real people which was his large subject (Joseph, Guthrie, & Peter, 1959, p. 45) . Work Cited Joseph Howard, A. B. Guthrie & Peter Hurd. Montana: High, Wide, and Handsome. Yale University Press, 1959, 18, 31, 45

Politics of Global South Essay

Africa continent is currently facing huge transitional moments. The colonization process never stopped after the imperial western governments that ravaged these continent, African countries are still struggling with the adoption of the western systems and ideologies of governance and politics away from their traditional forms of socio-political ands socio-economic lives. This shift has caused wars, tensions, drifts, disagreements, alienations, political instability among other untold disasters in the continent. ( David Seddon & Leo Zeiling), in his report on the protests in Africa between the working class struggle and popular protests over the last forty years argue that the form and content of class relations that developed in the period of nationalist struggle and early national development have been fundamentally restructured by the process of globalization. The nationalist struggle was fighting for freedom dictatorial forms of government. The late 1979’s saw greater wave of wide s[read popular protests and resistance around the world including Africa. These strikes, marches, demonstrations and riots were characteristic of a wave of protests and resistance which usually involved a variety of social groups and classes. This did not always take place under a working class or trade unions banner or working class leadership such as experienced in Kenya in the early 90s while fighting for the multi-party system of governance. According to ( David Seddon & Leo Zeiling) these protests were of greater political scheming and direction and were increasingly aimed at governments and regimes and economic policies. Governments’ failure to ensure communities welfare and safeguard material welfare and rights of the citizens led to growing demands for democracy and political change. This movement coincided with increasing deployment by major capitalist states and international agencies of a discourse of democratization and good governance as necessary for economic and social development. However, this intervention opened door for the neo colonial imperialism after promising the removal of regimes that accommodated dictators and autocrats. It was like jumping from a flying pan to boiling pot. This new order became pronounced in the 1990s and grew through the decade and was manifest in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This provoked a third wave of protest involving greater degree of international organization while at the same time social movement with a notable ‘anti-capitalist’ politics emerged from north America countries spreading even to Africa. This period also saw the birth of an oppositional movement of a deeper and more threatening kind with the foundation of deep rooted pursuit and anger, frustrations, prepared to use violence to achieve its objectives. These groups are parts of radical Muslims like the al-Qai’da. The relationship between the social forces representing the interest of capital and those that opposed the actual pattern of development in Africa was not given much attention in the debates that touched on the transformation of Africa. Global adjustment shifted the focus of African nations from concentrating on development to reform agendas that facilitated the foreign capital investment and easier access for these international agencies to acquire raw materials and markets. This was done at the collaboration of some politicians but also there were cases of forced collaboration. This is evident in Zimbabwe where international aid and trade barriers had been imposed because the president/ government refusal to cooperate with the western interests. This was aided further by the weak social structures which were affected by conflicts, wars and complex political emergencies, HIV/AIDS and misguided intervention of the non governmental organizations (NGO’S). The popular forces include the urban and rural working classes who are stripped of the control and ownership of means of production, peasant and tenant farmers, retailers and petty commodity producers who sell their labor in the informal or formal sector. Their preoccupation is survival and putting food on the table. These share a consciousness of their interdependency and common vulnerability and constitute the relative surplus population looked upon as a reserve of an army of labor. The diversity of classes has never been the cause of political decay but is a mark of the normal condition in the context in which capitalism evolves. The cynism expressed by post-modernists towards political change goes to political activism and liberation. The post-modernist conception power no longer denotes coercion and oppression, resistance and struggle but it also becomes a fluid, pervasive yet contingent force derived from the interplay of different discourses. For example Cameroon had a comprehensible political economy but still had chaotic plurality where no purposeful liberation and resistance. ]as the waves and protests ravaged Africa , popular classes especially in urban areas were severely affected by the adjustments but they did not suffer quietly but they struggled, resisted and protested. The World Bank at the time said that Africa did not need less government only but also a government that concentrates its efforts less on the direct interventions and more on enabling others to be productive. The role of NGO’s in governance and poverty alleviation has been identified as critical in building of Africa, meeting the millennium development goals and the sustainable development goals. However, these non state actors backed by the United Nations and other powerful development partners; the relationship between the developing countries and the western was coined to mean partners in development. These NGOs and other right groups check on the governments’ accountability although their role has been questioned. They represent the values and interest of the funding agencies and do not touch on the real issues that ravage the common people in Africa. Despite increased role of NGOs, there is an increase rate of poverty and no tangible development that has occurred inmost parts of Africa. The involvement of civil societies most of which borrow their values from neo-liberalization movements may have contributed more to the wave of violence experienced in the continent rather than calming such waves. References David Seddon & Leo Zeiling. â€Å"Class & Protest in Africa: New Waves. † Review of African Political Economy. 2005.

The Picture Of Dorian Grey Essays - The Picture Of Dorian Gray

The Picture Of Dorian Grey Essays - The Picture Of Dorian Gray The Picture Of Dorian Grey The Picture of Dorian Grey This story is about wanting to stay young and not knowing the consequences of such a desire. Everything starts out in Basil Hallward's studio. Basil is a painter that is obsessed with Dorian Grey, a young beautiful gentleman that catches everyone's eye. On this particular day, Basil is accompanied by Lord Henry, one of his close friends. Dorian posses for a portrait and then retires to the garden with Lord Henry. They talk about youth and its great importance, about how it shouldn't be taken for granted, etc. When the picture is finished, Dorian makes a simple wish. He asks for his picture to grow old instead of him. Dorian keeps the picture and is fond of his new friend, Lord Henry. They go everywhere together and Henry teaches Dorian new things about life that he never knew existed. Dorian falls in love with an actress from the lower sides of London. But after she messes up in one of her plays, he despises her and decides never to see her again. He goes home and realizes that his picture has changed, it had grown old. The next day he is told that the actress he used to admire had committed suicide. Dorian fells no sorrow and Lord Henry tells him to take it as if it were just part of a play, a tragic scene that had come to a dramatic end. He realizes that his stupid wish had come true, so he decides to hide the painting so no one else can see it. As the years go by, people start to hate the once beloved Dorian Grey. Rumors are spread that he is a bad influence and that evil follows him wherever he goes. Many people don't believe that nonsense, and are still blown away by his ravaging good looks. They can't believe that such a handsome man can do such terrible things. Then one night, Basil visits him. They have a chat about the reputation that Dorian is getting on the streets. Basil tells him that such affairs, as he had been known to be a part off, were bad for the soul. Dorian tells him he no longer has a soul, and decides to show him the picture he once had painted of him. The picture had become horrid, old, and had lost all the beauty it once possessed. Basil is amazed and can't believe his own eyes. Dorian becomes mad at him, he blames him for all that has happened in his life, for he was the one that started the whole thing. Dorian takes a knife and stabs his good friend to death. The next day he gets rid of the body and of all the evidence that can link him to the murder. Dorian continues his life as if nothing had ever happened. A couple of days later, he is confronted by James Vayne, the actress's brother, the one he had sent to her death 18 years before. He wants to kill him for what he had done, but his good looks and his young face save his life. Now everywhere he goes he is afraid of being killed, until one day he goes hunting with a friend, and they shoot Vayne by mistake. Dorian feels without troubles and decides to make good instead of evil. He goes home and stabs the painting that had caused him all this pain. A chilling cry is heard, and his servants enter the room. They find the picture hanging on the wall, as beautiful as it ever was, and their master lying dead on the floor. He had changed into an old horrid figure and was stabbed to death. This book was an excellent choice because it had a very interesting way of looking at life. At the beginning I thought it would be the usual story, but then as the plot unwraps, one can't leave the book for a second. You always want to know what will happen to Dorian Grey. Grey is an amazing character, at the start he was just blooming like a flower, but under the influence of Lord Henry, he matures and becomes a creature of evil. He realizes his mistakes

All the Kings Men, by Robert Penn Warren

All the Kings Men, by Robert Penn Warren Free Online Research Papers Summary: All the King’s Men was written by Robert Penn Warren and published in 1946. It is about a politician named Willie Talos, who becomes the governor of a state somewhere in the South. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1947, and was made into a movie in 1949. Willie Talos suddenly becomes well known throughout his state because of the collapse of a schoolhouse. He had warned the people not to use that contractor, who was known to use inferior materials, but no one listened to him. When the schoolhouse collapsed, killing three children, Willie’s idea that state government made some kind of secret agreement with the contractor was brought to many people’s attention. Sadie Burke and Tiny Duffy, working for another candidate, convince Willie to run for governor so the votes for the others would be split. When Willie finds out, he is furious, and makes an emotional speech that the crowd loves. But he drops out of the election, and campaigns against Sadie and Tiny’s candidate. Four years later, Willie becomes governor and hires Jack Burden as an addition to his pack of political cronies, which already includes Tiny Duffy, lieutenant-governor, and Sugar-Boy, Willieâ €™s reckless driver and bodyguard. Jack Burden is a reporter who admires Willie Talos. Jack is also a historian, having studied American history at the state college where he also researched and started to write the biography of Cass Masters, one of Jack’s ancestors. Jack is used by Willie to research his opponents and find unpleasant facts about them. Response: Throughout the book, the story shifts in time. The main time periods are the present, three years ago, and fourteen years ago. Although this can be a little confusing, it makes it easy to see the changes in Willie’s personality. He goes from being quiet, careful, and always honest, to a bullying governor who is seeking revenge on the Judge for not supporting him. Summary: Judge Irwin makes himself an enemy of Willie by backing an opposing candidate, and Jack is asked to â€Å"dig up some dirt† on him. But Jack hesitates, since he has known the judge his whole life. The judge was like a father to him. But he decides that there is probably nothing to find, since the judge has such a good reputation. Willie knows better. He says that everyone has some secret, and the judge is no exception. After Jack had researched the judge for seven months, he discovers that Judge Irwin had once accepted a bribe, and that Joel Stanton, the governor and the father of Jack’s childhood friends Adam and Anne Stanton, had covered it up. Jack hopes that he never has to reveal this. But when Willie wants Adam to become the director of his new hospital, Jack has to tell Adam to persuade him. Willie’s free hospital is his plan for helping the poor of the state and boosting his own popularity. Willie’s actions become more dishonest by the day. Response: Jack has always liked the judge, and is shocked to learn that he took a bribe. Despite his claims that the purpose of the free hospital is to help the poor people in the state, it seems that Willie is building to more for himself. He wants to be remembered as good for the state. Summary: Sam MacMurfee, a powerful enemy for Willie, threatens Willie with a paternity suit against Tom, Willie’s son, if Willie runs for the Senate. After trying several ways to stop him, Willie remembers the research Jack had done on Judge Irwin, who has the power to control MacMurfee’s threats. Willie orders Jack to blackmail the judge into helping him. Jack obeys Willie, telling Judge Irwin that if he does not help Willie, people will find out about his bribe. Instead of bending to Willie’s will like Jack, Judge Irwin kills himself. In the commotion following Judge Irwin’s death, Jack learns that Judge Irwin was his real father. Willie strikes a deal with Gummy Larson, a building contractor and friend to MacMurfee. Willie gives Larson the contract to build the hospital, and Larson persuades MacMurfee to drop the case on Tom. Response: Here is more proof that Willie would stop at nothing to get what he wants. Jack obeys Willie and threatens the judge, causing him to commit suicide. Jack seems to be more of a puppet than a person. Judge Irwin once called him Willie’s â€Å"body servant† after seeing Willie tell Jack to get him a drink, and Jack going to obey blindly. Summary: Just as things were looking alright for Tom, he has an accident playing football and is paralyzed. This causes Willie to take a long look at his life, and what has happened to him since he got into politics. He cancels all the plans for the hospital, which angers Tiny Duffy. To get even with Willie, Tiny tells Adam that his sister Anne is Willie’s mistress. Adam is furious and shoots Willie. Then Sugar-Boy, loyal to Willie as always, kills Adam. Willie, unable to recover from the serious wound, dies a few days later. Now Jack is trying to figure this all out, and make sense of his own life. He marries Anne and finishes the biography of Cass Mastern. Response: If this novel has a moral at all, it’s probably about power and truth. Power changed Willie and caused him to do things that he’d never have dreamed of doing before he got into politics. Truth and the fear that people would find the truth caused Adam to kill Willie and Judge Irwin to commit suicide. Morality is probably a big part of it, too. The main idea at the end of the book was that if you drop your morals, everything else goes, too. Research Papers on All the King's Men, by Robert Penn WarrenUnreasonable Searches and SeizuresWhere Wild and West MeetHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoBringing Democracy to AfricaPETSTEL analysis of IndiaHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Essay19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenCapital Punishment

How To Use Blog Comments For Content Marketing

How To Use Blog Comments For Content Marketing If youve been visiting some of the bigger blogs lately, youll notice an interesting trend: no more blog comments. Copyblogger  and  Michael Hyatt  are a couple  of the more popular bloggers who have pulled comments from their blogs. Other bloggers have entered the debate on why you should and shouldnt include comments with blog posts, or even the value of participating in blog comment sections. Weve even entered the fray, coming out with 10 reasons to have blog comments. What if we took a different look at the venerable blog comment tradition and viewed it as a form of content marketing? In some way, taking part in a blog comment section  is of similar  quality of some of the most common venues of content marketing. How To Use #Blog Comments To Become A Better Content Marketer  via @JulieNeidlinger Blog comment systems are much different than they used to be. Systems like Disqus and Livefyre act like a social network. Each user has a profile, and a record of all their comments across all the blogs theyve commented on that use these systems. Users can follow profiles, and vote on comments that they deem as valuable. Blog comments can also be fueled by social networks themselves, such as Facebook or Google+. In this way, participating in blog comments is quite similar as participating on a social network Blog Comments To Network And Connect Old school bloggers who were blogging years ago will fondly remember (and in some cases, not so fondly) the many connections they made in blog comment sections. Before there was social media, a blog comment section was the place to talk about a blog post. If you wanted to share it, you brought it back to your blog and packaged it for your readers. Now, social media has brought that to an end somewhat. For most blogs, the comment sections aren't as active, nor are they used the same way. Nevertheless, participating in a blog comment section is a way to find new bloggers to follow, and a way for them to find you. It also makes sense that you would meet and converse with people in the comments of a blog on a topic you were both interested in when otherwise, you'd not have connected. Blogs now are particularly niche-focused, making it more likely that you will meet relevant people you ought to network and connect with in the comments. You may never see them, otherwise, in social media. You might not end up in the same forum as they. But you are likely reading the same top blogs. Use #blog comments to connect with peers. Treat it like #socialmedia with unique  insights.Blog Comments For Generating Ideas A blog comment section is a fabulous place to get ideas for your next post. In fact, I've even written posts in response to discussions I've had in a blog comment section when I feel as if I need to flesh out my thoughts in greater detail. Then, once the post is finished, I go back to the discussion I was having and share the link and note that I wrote about it on my blog. As a blogger, the conversations happening in a blog comments section reveal more about what people want to read about than any daily perusal of your RSS feed reader. A feed reader tells you what other bloggers think ought to be written. A blog comment section has the questions and thoughts people are telling you they want written. When we published a post called How To Actually Plan Your Blog And Save A Ton Of Time, Ella had a great question for us. We used that inspiration from her blog comment to write a post called How To Start A Blog When You Have Absolutely No Audience to answer her question (and then we let Ella know when it launched). This is particularly the case on a popular industry blog, where people are turning to the expert for help. They will ask for clarification and help. Why not write a post and be that help? Pay attention to the words other blog commenters are using when they ask questions or comment, so that you use those same words in your own blog posts. Use #blog comments to find your best blog ideas. #bloggingBlog Comments Can Build Your Reputation There are some content marketers who don't actually  have a blog. They write on social media, such as Google+, participate in niche forums, or they focus their efforts on being a serious blog commenter. They build a reputation as an expert based on what they say in these non-blog locations. Reputation building can happen off of your blog. When people start to see your name across blocks in your industry, and see that you are leaving great comments, they remember. Your blog comments are building your reputation as someone with knowledge and expertise. People take notice. It may lead to requests for guest blog posts, an interview, or other avenues to participate in content marketing. Frankly, a knowledgeable post stands out in a blog comment section in this day and age. There is such a thing as building a bad reputation, of course.  One thing I do, when reading a cantankerous comment on a blog, is click on the commenter's name. If it is a comment system such as Disqus, I can quickly see what kind of comments they generally leave, and I assign them a reputation. Some people only leave comments to say disagreeable things. Even if they have their own blog and it is filled with great content, I'm not going to bother. The comments you are leaving are building your reputation. Make it a good one that shows you are knowledgeable and even-handed, instead of a disagreeable jerk with little to add to the conversation. Write knowledgeable and even-handed #blog comments, instead of being a disagreeable jerk.Blog Comments As Your Side Blog Depending upon how thoughtful and how much time you put in the comments section of a blog (going beyond the not-so-helpful "great post!"), you could view a blog comments section as a secondary method for blogging. We've talked about syndicating and repurposing your content on sites such as Medium.com, LinkedIn, et. al. In a sense, the blog comment section of a high-traffic blog can do some of the same. If you have written a great post that would really fit into the conversation in a comments section of a blog post, rework your blog post into a summary and share it in the comments section. This is better than simply saying "I wrote a post about this: http://blahblah.com" because people are tired of spammers leaving links without explanation in the comment section. Getting your content on Medium and LinkedIn works well because you expose it to a new audience. The same goes for a blog comment section, as long as you trim it down and provide a tidy quick-read summary. If you want to include the link at the end, you might say "I've talked about this in a bit more detail on my own blog" and use an inline link so it is visually appealing and seems less like link spam. Provide a unique perspective in #blog comments and link to a post to  flesh out the idea.Blog Comments As Your Daily Routine Most content marketers have a particular daily routine that they use to get ideas, stay active, and stay knowledgeable in their niche. These routines usually involve going through the day's RSS feeds in a reader, planning upcoming content on their editorial calendar, responding to social media, and so on. Why wouldn't you also block out time to leave one or two long comments on relevant blogs? That ought to be a part of your regular routine, too, if you are trying to build a reputation and a following. We talk a lot about long-form blog posts. Let's consider its cousin: long-form blog comment. You don't have to write a 1,000 word blog comment every day, but you can certainly leave a few paragraphs of relevant content to  meet other commenters and earn the appreciation of the blog owner where you left your comment.

Individual property rights on Canadian Indian reserves Essay

Individual property rights on Canadian Indian reserves - Essay Example The aim of this review is to allow for all of this by critically reviewing the article in question, including facts and arguments that are presented by the author, counter arguments from others, as well as any and all other key and related issues in this regards. This is what will be dissertated in the following. The first thing to make note of is the actual title of this article, which is Individual Property Rights on Canadian Indian Reserves; from the title alone, we are able to get a rather detailed idea of what the article itself is going to be about. The title overtly specifies the topic as well as the main idea that is going to be represented within the article, and not only does the title itself rouse interest and create a wanting to read further on, but as well it does more than merely imply the subject, as we are told directly from the title of the article alone that we are going to be learning about the individual property rights in regards to the Canadian Indian reserves. ... Once we begin into the article, we can see that the main idea is basically stated within the first paragraph, as the first sentence of the entire article reads "Many Indian reserves in Canada, particularly but not only in the three prairie provinces, have no formalized individual property rights" (Alcantara & Flanagan, 2002: 5). Clearly, from this alone we can get at least a remote grasp on the matter of the article, as we can see that the authors are stating that most of the Indian reserves in Canada do not have any formalized individual property rights, and obviously this is - and in the future will be even more - incredibly problematic. The authors use various factual experiences and instances of different people in order to express the main point of their article, and the placement of their main idea creates much interest, because it compels you to wonder more about the individual property rights in regards to the Canadian Indian reserves, as well as the solutions - if any - whic h exist in this regards. One of the most poignant facts that the authors state within the first couple pages of the article is that of how "According to Joe v. Findlay (1981, 122 DLR 3d 377), interest in reserve land is held in common by the band as a whole and not by individual members (Nicola Band et al v Trans-Can Displays et al 2000 BCSC 1209, para 127). An individual can gain an interest in the land only under the procedures described in sections 20-29 of the Indian Act". (Alcantara & Flanagan, 2002: 5). Another one of the most major points that the authors make in this article is about how although the people living on the Canadian Indian reserves

Enterprise in action Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Enterprise in action - Essay Example Effectual logic takes advantage of unexpected events in the market. On the other hand, causal logic entrepreneurs engage actively in exploring existing opportunities and are capable of building their future upon them. These investors are able to correlate between one variable and the other and interpret the future depending on the consequence that one variable has over the other. When it comes to basis for taking action, effectual logic investors do not make goals at the beginning but the goals tend to emerge in the course of action. In contrast, causal logic is goal oriented, their means of achievement is determined by a set of goals, and objectives that they strive to satisfy. Causal logic entrepreneurs are driven into investment by the fact of maximizing on risk adjusted to the returns. Effectual logic entrepreneurs will limit their investment to a certain level of their acceptance in order to give them a chance to participate again next time. Effectual logic is more flexible but less secure while causal logic is not flexible but secure to some extent (Stuart Reed,

U.S. Supreme Court review of Gideon v. Wainwright Essay

U.S. Supreme Court review of Gideon v. Wainwright - Essay Example No history of the right to counsel could be complete without a discussion of Gideon v. Wainwright - one of the best-known and most significant right to counsel decisions rendered by the Supreme Court. The Warren Court's landmark 1963 opinion in Gideon revisited the issue confronted twenty years earlier in Betts v. Brady - the scope of an indigent defendant's constitutional entitlement to government-provided assistance in state court. The Gideon Court's straightforward, unanimous holding constituted the last major step in the historical expansion of the constitutional right to counsel in America. Its forceful reasoning elevated the status of the right to counsel to new heights, giving it an honored place as the most fundamental of all rights guaranteed to the accused.Mr. Gideon was charged with the crime of breaking and penetrating a poolroom with the aim to commit a misdemeanor. He appeared in court without an attorney. Because he could not afford to have a lawyer, he claimed that th e judge appoint counsel. The judge did not accept the request, informing him that Florida law permitted appointed counsel only in capital cases. In the trial that followed, Gideon made an opening statement, cross-examined government witnesses, called his own witnesses, declined to testify, and made a short closing argument. The jury found him guilty, and he was sentenced to five years in prison. The Florida Supreme Court denied a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. To reconsider the issue resolved in Betts v. Brady, the Supreme Court granted review. The Court first observed that the facts of Betts and Gideon were so similar that the holding of Betts, if still good law, would require rejection of Gideon's contention that he had a due process entitlement to appointed counsel. The Court then declared, however, that after reconsidering the Betts holding, it had decided that it should be overruled. According to the Gideon Court, the fundamental nature of the right to counsel had been established in Powell v. Alabama - ten years before Betts was decided. Although the Powell Court had limited its holding to the particular circumstances of the case, "its conclusions about the fundamental nature of the right to counsel [were] unmistakable" (cited in Van Gerven 97). Moreover, in subsequent cases, including Johnson v. Zerbst, the Court had made it clear that the assistance of counsel was " 'necessary to insure basic human rights of life and liberty.' " By failing to acknowledge that the assistance of counsel is always essential for a fair trial and concluding that the " 'appointment of counsel is not a fundamental right,' " the Court's opinion in Betts v. Brady "made an abrupt break with its well-considered precedents" (ibid.). In so doing, it had erred. Precedent was not the only reason to declare Betts misguided. "[R]eason and reflection" also led to the "obvious truth" that "in our adversary system of criminal justice, any person haled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him" (cited in Garcia 70). After all, the government deems it essential to have lawyers prosecute criminal cases, and few criminal defendants who can afford them "fail to hire the best lawyers they can get." These are "strong[] indicationsat lawyers in criminal courts are necessities, not luxuries." From the start, American law has put "great emphasis on procedural and substantive safeguards designed to assure fair trials before impartial tribunals in which every defendant stands equal before the law. This noble ideal cannot be realized if the poor man charged with crime has to face his accusers without a lawyer to assist him" (cited in Alfieri 1459). As the Powell Court had observed, the righ t to be heard would mean little if it did not include the right to be heard through counsel. Even intelligent laypersons lack the legal skill and knowledge required to adequately defend against accusations. Although they may in fact be innocent, they

Motivation. What Is The Best Way To Motivate Employees Research Paper

Motivation. What Is The Best Way To Motivate Employees - Research Paper Example Motivation is considered a key factor in increasing efficiency in business. As a result, motivated employees will exert their dynamism to accomplish their purposes and goals. According to Sultan, Sarwat he said,†for an employee to be motivated, he or she perceived that their wants are being met. Thus, the satisfaction of the employee represents an indispensable dimension of the motivational process (Sarwat, 2013); a satisfied individual would certainly contribute positively to the realization of organizational goals and objectives. A dissatisfied employee may not only contribute but can even act in such a way that the realization of such goals and objectives could be completely destroyed, this underlines the importance of employees’ satisfaction to the organization† (Anka, 1988). Lack of motivation will cause numerous problems such as; reducing the annual income, exit of the organization if given the opportunity, produce low quality work, and unsatisfying results o f any productions. This causes work to become a stressful place, and it may transform into a nightmare. For instance, according to Rebecca Maxon (1999), â€Å"Three out of every four American workers describe their work as stressful and the problem is not limited to these shores, in fact, occupational stress has been defined as a global epidemic by the United Nations' International Labor Organization, while the physical effects of this epidemic are often emphasized; the economic consequences also are alarming. Workplace stress costs U.S. employers an estimated $200 billion per year in absenteeism, lower productivity, staff turnover, workers' compensation, medical insurance and other stress-related expenses, considering this, stress management may be business's most important challenge of the 21st century†. Therefore, the environment of any workplace does matter for increasing production and limiting its costs, managers are the tools to help improve their employees’ per formance. Although, a lot of business analysts disagree with each other on determining the best method to motivate employees, from offering promotions to working less hours, I firmly believe that if managers provide a clean and safe environment for their employees within the consideration of welfare, thoughts, and appreciations of their hard work, and offer high wages they will create a productive, functional, successful workplace for each other.   To emphasis how clean and safe environments are relevant in motivating employees at their workplace, a lot of companies have started to renew their policies. These policies focused on what exactly they can develop to build a sociable, truthful, creative, and friendly atmosphere for their workers. Also, the courtesy of spending more money on their facilities to be more presentable and eligible enough to remain a satisfying place for their workers could be beneficial. Therefore, employees are seeking these modifications badly so they can be more inspired and enthusiastic about their jobs, consequently, managers and supervisors are responsible for building a clean and safe environment for their workers. The consequences of ignoring this key factor will lead employees to be unwilling to produce more for the business, which will create critical problems between them and their managers. This leads to an unsatisfied workplace environment that could exaggerate employees’ attitudes about leaving their jobs. According to Kori Rodley’s (2010) article about how important the work environment is to employee turn-over, she said â€Å"When employees expect a certain type of environment and get something very different, problems can result, those

RHETORICAL ANALYSIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

RHETORICAL ANALYSIS - Essay Example One of the most important parts of being rhetorically strong is understanding the arguments that another side will use against you, anticipating those arguments and countering them before they are made. This is the way that you convince people of new things, the fundamental point of rhetoric. The bumper sticker â€Å"I shouldn’t have to press 1 for English† completely fails to do this – there are many reasons that a person should have to press 1 for English – in fact, if the person who has this bumper sticker lives in Southern California, there is a chance they should be pressing 2 for English – because English is not the most dominant language in some parts of the country. There are certainly many people who would agree with the sentiment â€Å"I shouldn’t have to press 1 for English† – but there are also surely many people who would disagree to that statement. The point of rhetoric is to convince new people, not simply pander to one’s base. This bumper sticker, because of its lack of anticipation and argument, would fail to convince anyone who does not already agree with it, which means that it is fundamentally rhetorically

ACUTE ABDOMINAL PAIN IN ADULTS AND CHILDREN Assignment

ACUTE ABDOMINAL PAIN IN ADULTS AND CHILDREN - Assignment Example The symptoms of acute abdominal pain are nausea and vomiting. Other indications include guarding which is the contraction of abdominal muscles and when pressure is applied to the abdomen. There would be rigidity of the abdominal muscles or rebound tenderness, an increase in severe pain and discomfort when pressure is being applied to the localized area of the abdomen. The patient also has increased white blood cell count. In older patients, presentation delays, coexistent of disease and social and physical barriers complicate acute abdominal pain presentation (Nabi, 2011). There are several diagnostic methods in evaluation of acute abdominal pain. Laboratory tests are done on the blood and urine specimen. The ultrasound is used in the evaluation of abdominal spaces with sound waves while the Computer Tomography (CT) scan is an x-ray technique using a computer program to develop detailed images. The ultrasound and CT are reliable in detecting common diagnoses causing acute abdominal pain. However, the ultrasound misses more cases than CT scan that is more sensitive (van Randen, Lameris, van Es, van Heessewijk, van Ramshorst, Ten, Bouma, van Leeuwen, Bossuyt, Stoker, Boermeester, & OPTIMA Study Group, 2011). Multi-detector CT can be used in evaluating patients with acute abdominal pain. It is an extremely CT noninvasive method for acute abdominal pain diagnosis and management. In the plan of care for patients with acute abdominal pain, the nurse has a key role in the assessment, history taking and management. Assessment is done through physical examination and acquiring diagnostic data. A comprehensive assessment of pain including onset, location, characterization, duration, onset, frequency, quality, and intensity should be performed. Factors such as fear, fatigue and lack of information should be reduced to eliminate factors that may increase the

RHETORICAL ANALYSIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

RHETORICAL ANALYSIS - Essay Example One of the most important parts of being rhetorically strong is understanding the arguments that another side will use against you, anticipating those arguments and countering them before they are made. This is the way that you convince people of new things, the fundamental point of rhetoric. The bumper sticker â€Å"I shouldn’t have to press 1 for English† completely fails to do this – there are many reasons that a person should have to press 1 for English – in fact, if the person who has this bumper sticker lives in Southern California, there is a chance they should be pressing 2 for English – because English is not the most dominant language in some parts of the country. There are certainly many people who would agree with the sentiment â€Å"I shouldn’t have to press 1 for English† – but there are also surely many people who would disagree to that statement. The point of rhetoric is to convince new people, not simply pander to one’s base. This bumper sticker, because of its lack of anticipation and argument, would fail to convince anyone who does not already agree with it, which means that it is fundamentally rhetorically

Network Simulator Essay Example for Free

Network Simulator Essay INTRODUCTION IEEE 802.11 is the de facto standard for WLANs. It specifies both the medium access control (MAC) and the physical (PHY) layers for WLANs. The MAC layer operates on top of one of several physical layers. Medium access is performed using Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance. However, simple CSMA is susceptible to the hidden node problem, especially in so called ad hoc networks where a node may communicate directly with every other node in range or using intermediate nodes as relays otherwise. Hidden nodes cause costly packet collisions and thus significantly affect network performance. In order to combat the hidden node problem, a mechanism known as Request to Send/Clear to Send (RTS/CTS) handshake is often used. RTS/CTS mechanism is supported in the IEEE 802.11 family of standards. The RTS/CTS mechanism was initially proposed in a protocol called Multiple- Access with Collision Avoidance (MACA). From a network point of view, one of the primary reasons for using the RTS/CTS mechanism is to avoid network congestion resulting from frequent packet collisions. Figure 1 depicts a conceptual â€Å"throughput versus Packet Size† curve for a network. In the presence of congestion, the throughput goes to zero as the Packet Size is increased beyond a certain value. A properly designed network, on the other hand, maintains the maximum throughput as the Packet Size goes to infinity. LITERATURE REVIEW The IEEE 802.11 standard includes an optional feature of the RTS/CTS (Request to Send/Clear to Send) function to control station access to the medium when collisions occur due to the hidden node. This option is also known as virtual carrier sensing. Through the proper use of RTS/CTS, you can fine-tune the operation of your wireless LAN since it solves the hidden node problem and provides additional protection against collisions. If you enable RTS/CTS on a particular station, it will refrain from sending a data frame until the station completes a RTS/CTS handshake with another station, such as an access point. A station initiates the process by sending a RTS frame. The access point (AP) or another station receives the RTS and responds with a CTS frame. The station must receive a CTS frame before sending the data frame. The CTS also contains a time value that alerts other stations to hold off from accessing the medium while the station initiating the RTS transmits  its data. Thus, the use of RTS/CTS reduces collisions and improves the performance of the network if hidden nodes are present. SIMULATION ENVIRONMENT We use Ns-3 as simulation tool. NS-3 is built using C++ and Python and scripting is available with both languages. The ns-3 library is wrapped to python thanks to the pybindgen library which delegates the parsing of the ns-3 C++ headers to gccxml and pygccxml to generate automatically the corresponding C++ binding glue. These automatically-generated C++ files are finally compiled into the ns-3 python module to allow users to interact with the C++ ns-3 models and core through python scripts. Graphical visualization of raw or processed data collected in a simulation is graphed using Gnuplot tool. Our experimental done in Ubuntu 11.10 with installation of all needed tools. Simulation environment based on the command below, sudo apt-get install build-essential g++ python mercurial NS-3 is available in (linux, osx, cygwin, mingw) and we deploy Development version: http://code.nsnam.org/ns-3-dev. The development version is usually stable; a lot of people use it for daily work. RESULT ANALYSIS The results analysis are based on the following factors * Enabling and disabling RTS/CTS * Protocol bases, either UDP or TCP * WLAN standards which are IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g * Variation of Throughput, Packet Loss Ratio, Delay with Packet Size and Wifi Nodes. From the graphs below result obtained through the following * Disabling and enabling RTS/CTS * UDP protocol used * IEEE 802.11b standard used * Variation of Packet Size (500-2200) Considering the second result with use of TcpTahoe, TcpNewReno, TcpReno and UDP transport protocols with the following * Disabling and enabling RTS/CTS * UDP protocol used * IEEE 802.11b standard used * Variation of Packet Size Fig. Tahoe 1 Fig. Tahoe 2 Fig. Tahoe 3 Fig. Reno 1 Fig. Reno 2 Fig. Reno 3 Fig. Newreno 1 Fig. Newreno 2 Fig. Newreno 3 Considering the third result for different IEEE802.11 standards (802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g). * Disabling and enabling RTS/CTS * TCP protocol used * IEEE 802.11a/ IEEE 802.11b/ IEEE 802.11g standard used * Variation of Wifi Nodes Fig. 802.11a (i) Fig. 802.11a (ii) Fig. 802.11a (iii) Fig. 802.11b (i) Fig. 802.11b (ii) Fig. 802.11b (iii) Fig. 802.11g (i) Fig. 802.11g (ii) Fig. 802.11g (iii) CONCLUSION From the result analysis obtained above, it is clearly seen that IEEE 802.11a has better performance compared to other wireless standards due to the following reasons; * Provides maximum data rate of about 54 Mbps. * It operates in 5GHz ISM band. * It is not subjected to interference from other products designed , * It is characterized with higher throughput * It is suited for connectivity provision over densely populated user environment Also from the result analysis above, TCP Tahoe is the best TCP variant due to the following facts; * It is characterized by fast retransmit. * It is characterized by fast recovery. * Reduce congestion window REFERENCES 1. E. Ayanoglu, S. Paul, T. F. LaPorta, K. K. Sabnani, and R. D.Gitlin, â€Å"AIRMAIL: A link-layer protocol for wireless networks,† ACMACM/Baltzer Wireless Networks J., vol. 1, pp. 47–60, Feb. 1995. 2. A. Bakre and B. R. Badrinath, â€Å"Handoff and system support for indirectTCP/IP,† in Proc. 2nd Usenix Symp. Mobile and Location-IndependentComputing, Apr. 1995. 3. S. Keshav, â€Å"REAL: A Network Simulator,† University of California at * Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA, Tech. Rep., 1988. * 4. V. Naoumov and A. Gross, â€Å"Simulation of Large Ad Hoc Networks,† In Proceedings of the 6th ACM Workshop on Modeling, Analysis, and * Simulation of Wireless and Mobile Systems, 2003.

Strategies to decrease recidivism

Strategies to decrease recidivism Recidivism is one major problem facing various societies across the world. It involves acts committed by people which involve repeating undesirable behaviors after being trained or treated to extinguish the behavior or experiencing negative consequences due to the behavior. Recidivism is common with criminal behavior or substance abuse but for purposes of this paper, we will focus on criminal behavior. Recidivism is a behavior which is linked to psychopathy which is gratification enjoyed after committing an aggressive, sexual or criminal act by a person. Psychopaths hardly learn from past mistakes and they are likely to repeat them in future. In the United States, recidivism among prisoners is a serious problem facing prison institutions. Statistics show that on average, 58% of female prisoners and 68% of male prisoners are rearrested after being released from prison. Of these, 39% of females and 53% of males are sent back to prison again (Bleich, 2000). This is a serious threat to r ehabilitation purpose of prisons since it appears that prisons are failing in their objective of rehabilitating prisoners. The environment inside prisons is not conducive for rehabilitation most of the times since crimes are committed even inside prisons. There are also environmental factors outside prisons which make it a challenge for prisoners to be accepted by the society after serving their terms. These too contribute to the high rates of recidivism. It is important to assess the factors which contribute to the high recidivism rates and the solutions to the same. This will enable prison institutions to succeed in their rehabilitative role which they play in society. This paper will address criminal recidivism and suggest solutions for the same. Scholarly journals will be used to support theories advanced. The discussed issues will be summarized at the end. Purpose of prisons in US justice system The prison institution plays a crucial role in any society. In the US justice system, the prison system plays various roles. The first major role is rehabilitation. Prisons offer people convicted of crimes a second chance to learn from their mistakes and change. It provides prisoners with an environment where they can learn new skills which will enable them to earn a decent livelihood once they are released from prison. More importantly, the prison environment is meant to assist prisoners to reflect on their lives and seek ways which they may co-exist peacefully with the society. Mental and physical health professionals are present to assist prisoners with this objective. Another important role played by prisons is punishment and deterrence. Punishment is meant to discourage the prisoners and other members of society from committing a similar offence. Different forms of punishments vary according to crimes committed and usually the worse the crime, the heavier the punishment received by the prisoner. Punishment varies from strokes to hard labor depending on the sentence given. This role of prisons is very important since it deters other members of society from committing offences. Punishment is likely to discourage other people from engaging in criminal activities and this ensures the society lives in peace and harmony. Another important role played by the prison system is ensuring justice for victims of crime. This is an important role in any judicial system since the law is founded on equity and justice. Victims who are hurt in one way or another ought to receive justice in order to view society as fair. Although in many cases, especially capital offences such as murder, do not compensate the victim for loss suffered, prisons ensure victims have closure since the people who commit the offence are normally punished. Finally, prisons are meant to protect the general public from people who are a threat to their property or lives. Some criminals such as serial killers or rapists are psychopaths who would not stop committing the crimes unless they are rehabilitated. Prison removes such people from the streets and rehabilitates them, making society a safer place to live. This fosters unity and peace within society. Current conditions in US prisons The current conditions in the US prisons are different from the ideal environment which would facilitate rehabilitation. Prisoners live in poor conditions which are overcrowded and where crime thrives in spite of it being a prison institution. According to Farrington and Nuttall (2001), the largest prisons in the US which are Texas and California have experienced an eight fold increase in a number of prisoners in the past three decades. However, funding for these facilities has hardly increased; a situation which has made it difficult to cater for the needs of the prisoners. The US has only about 5% of the world population yet its prisons have more than 25% of the worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s prisoners, which shows the magnitude of the problem. The increase in crime in the US over recent years coupled with crime recidivism is largely to blame for the congestion in prisons in the United States. Congestion in these prisons largely defeats their major role which is rehabilitation. Congestio n makes it difficult for prisoners to access individualized attention from counselors or health care professionals who would assist them with their mental and physical needs. Congestion also makes prisoners interact with people from different backgrounds at close proximity and this may make them develop undesirable habits such as physical confrontations, substance abuse or sexual molestation. When such occur, it is difficult for authorities to detect them on time and to take the necessary action to discourage the vices. Another problem which is inherent in modern US prison environments is social vices and criminal behavior. Many prisoners engage in crimes within prison due to influence from peers or collaboration with unethical prison wardens. These crimes include substance abuse, immoral behavior or violent acts against each other. There are established drug rings inside many prisons and prisoners have access to drugs as long as they can access funds to finance the same. Many prisoners who have drug problems are taken to prison instead of drug rehabilitation facilities and they continue abusing these drugs inside prison. Corruption within prison allows some wardens to assist prisoners in accessing drugs. This defeats the central role of prisons which is rehabilitation. Finally, poor finance of prison systems makes it difficult for prison systems to teach prisoners skills which would be useful to the outside world. Since many prisoners commit crimes out of desperation and due to lack of employment, when they are released without these crucial skills they find themselves forced to commit illegal activities to survive and they end up in prison again. These problems inside modern US problems should be addressed if criminal recidivism is to drastically reduce. Programs which seek to reduce recidivism in US prisons Although many prisons do not have adequate facilities and personnel to undertake programs which reduce prison recidivism, there are a few prisons which have developed programs to deal with the problem. Most of these programs aim at rehabilitating prisoners in order to make them fit back into society. They include educational programs which address the adverse effects of substance abuse or violence in society. For instance, in Alaska, there is a program known as Probation Accountability with Certain Enforcement which aims ate reducing recidivism among people who have been put on probation (Wilson, 2003). This program aims at making people on probation on the importance of probation and the consequences of breaking probation conditions. It is specifically targeted at people with problems satisfying probation conditions. In California and Texas, there are various programs aimed at educating prisoners on the adverse effects of gang culture and substance abuse in society. The programs aim at ending gang culture and substance abuse through making offenders aware of the harm they cause to society when they engage in the vice. In most states, there is also program geared towards providing life skills to inmates in prison in order to allow them to practice decent professions when they leave prison. Although such programs are under-funded, they teach prisoners skills such as carpentry, IT skills, mechanics, hair dressing, appliance repair, building and other skills. This is one of the most efficient ways to reduce crime recidivism since they empower inmates to become independent once they leave prison facilities. Current approaches to protect the public upon a prisoners release There are various approaches which states take to ensure that crime recidivism is reduced and that the public is protected from ex-prisoners upon their release. The first approach involves liaising with employment agencies to ensure such prisoners acquire decent employment. This is a very effective strategy since once prisoners are independent; they are less likely to engage in crime. States usually have programs which link skills learned by prisoners in prison with employment opportunities present in society. Another strategy which is used by many states involves probation. Probation is meant to safeguard the public against criminals through supervision of inmatesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ behaviors after release to ascertain whether they have reformed. This is a relatively ineffective strategy since it does not aim at helping the inmate reform but is meant to protect the public from harm (Roger, 2004). Addressing the causes of crime recidivism is the most effective approach to dealing with the problem. Finally, a few states hold discussion with communities and develop ways to integrate prisoners into society. It involves talking to community leaders, religious leaders and non-governmental organizations and developing a positive attitude towards released convicts. It assists such prisoners to live with their families and find employment opportunities in order to prevent engaging in crime. This is also another effective approach to reducing crime recidivism although it is not effectively implemented in many states. Recommendations to end recidivism upon release of inmates Although some of the programs currently being implemented to reduce crime recidivism in society are effective, more needs to be done to discourage this trend. The first steps should be to rehabilitate prisoners in prison and teach them skills which would make them economically independent once they leave prison institutions. This can only be done effectively if the problem of overcrowding, substance abuse and immoral activities among other crimes is addressed in prison. Strict laws which deter involvement in crime by prison wardens or prisoners should be passed and such laws should be punitive to discourage the crimes. In order to deal with overcrowding, adequate financing should be provided y the state to build more prisons to reduce overcrowding in prisons. In addition, alternative forms of punishments for petty offenders which include probation should be enforced in order to reduce the prison population in the United States. Once crime and overcrowding are addressed in prisons, prisoners will have access to healthcare practitioners to cater for their physical and mental needs. In addition, they will have access to training opportunities which will empower them once they leave prison. More funds should be allocated by states and the central government to ensure that there is enough facilities and personnel to rehabilitate prisoners and empower them with life skills. Prisoners who have substance abuse problems should have access to rehabilitation centers which address their problems since mere incarceration in prison does not help them end their addiction. Psychopaths should also have access to mental health experts who will use medication and alternative therapies to treat these mental disorders. Once prisoners have reformed and they have been imparted with these skills, it is important to cultivate a positive image in society so that they may be embraced and integrated back into society. This should involve dialogue with the community and religious leaders as well as their families in order to offer them support in beginning a new life. Once the prisoners are embraced back into society, they are less likely to commit a crime again. However, in addition to acceptance, by society, they should have employment opportunities which assist them to meet their daily needs. This is the best way to ensure that they do not engage in crime. Since they will already have skills, the state and correction facilities should collaborate in seeking opportunities where the prisoners can practice the skills which they have learned. They should be provided with financial and mental support by their families and community once they begin their careers in order to ensure that they succeed in life. Summary and conclusion Prison recidivism has been seen to b a major problem which faces the US prison system. Many prisoners who are released from prison end up committing a crime again due to several reasons. The major causes of prison recidivism are lack of skills which prisoners may use to empower themselves once they leave prison, inadequate physical and mental support from health care practitioners and counselors, high crime rates in prison and overcrowding in prison. Prison facilities are overcrowded and expose prisoners to crime within prison walls, a fact which makes it difficult for them to be integrated back into society once they are released. Although there are various programs which are currently being implemented by different prisons to reduce crime recidivism, these programs are few and under-funded. As a result, many prisoners do not benefit from them. In order to solve the problem of prison recidivism in US prisons, overcrowding and crime in prison should be first tacked through prison expansion, alternative rehabilitation forms and passage of harsh laws which guard against crime in prison. Once this is addressed, prisoners should have access to personnel, facilities and training which will satisfy their needs and impart them with skills in line with the rehabilitation objective. Finally, the society should accept them back through dialogue with families and community leaders who should provide moral and financial support to inmates. The state and correction facility should ensure that such prisoners have access to employment opportunities in line with their skills in order to empower them to be independent. Once these steps are taken, prisoners will have no reason to revert back to crime and the problem of crime recidivism will be solved once and for all.

Do children recognize more words looking at them up and to the left Ess

In order for the principle of looking up and to the left of a word to work, NL says that there are two main ideologies that need satisfying. Firstly, the subject must be right handed, and secondly, he must be a visual learner. However, similar to the studies of Loiselle and Malloy, the present researcher has worked on the premise that between 60 and 70% of the population is right handed Emes et al (2005), Malone (2003), Heaton et al (2008) and Holliday (1999), and would have, therefore, expected that the hypothesis be true in approximately 23 of the 33 right handed subjects used. Out of this study’s sample of 36, the data showed that only 6 had results that concurred with the hypothesis. As a discrete figure, this could be perceived as showing some evidence to support the hypothesis, yet, 18% could not be considered statistically significant to render it conclusive. This figure became less significant in support of the hypothesis as the children who recalled these words also recalled words shown to the front. When subtracting the results from the controlled variable, the greatest margin was just two words, and this was found in just two children. Interestingly, although this may seem an insignificant amount, it correlated with the results from the research of Loiselle and Malloy, who concluded that the NL principle helped improve visual memory recall by 25%. To illustrate this similarity in results, the present researcher calculated that the difference of recognising 2 more words from the controlled variable to be 20%. Could this mean Loiselle and Malloy studies data proved significant enough evidence to conclude this NL principle worked? The statistics in fig. 1 revealed that the present researcher’s hypothesis was not ... ...to be shrouded by mystery, but strangely, NL trained people do not appear to want to demystify the principle and enhance its credibility. While the VAK in schools may still be enjoying popularity, an alarming thought is that, while it has been endorsed, and compartmentalised children without adequate research into its effectiveness. It is, therefore, concluded that once the good feeling stimulus is taken away from the NL principle of recognising words by looking at them up and to the left, what remains is that the field of vision is insignificant to it, but the basic principle that ‘the brain thinks in terms of images’ remains, Butler-Bowden (2005: 180).This research closes on the thought that Cricket Kemp’s NL principle may actually be based upon hypnotherapy techniques, and, if used by accredited trainers could be a manipulative tool rather than a strategy.

?It is wrong to try and convert people to your religion.? :: essays research papers

There are many different views to this statement within the Christian faith.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Christian church believes in religious freedom, but they believe that Christianity is the only religion with complete truth, whereas the other religions only contain some truth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One view is of exclusivism. This is the â€Å"old† accepted way. To be â€Å"saved† people must hear and respond to the Christian message. It is the duty of Christians to convert people in order to save them. In Matthew it is said, â€Å"Go make disciples of all nations†. This is a direct instruction for people to go and convert people to Christianity. They believe that the Bible is the word of God, and you can only reach salvation by following Jesus. Jesus said in John 14:6, â€Å" I am the way to truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me†. This shows that you must follow Jesus’ teachings to get to heaven, and by converting people they are helping them get to heaven. An example of this is with Jahovah’s Witnesses. They believe that it is their duty to save people. They believe that they should spread the word to those who have not heard of the religion, so they have a chance to follow it. They do th is by going from house to house to try and find these people and talk to them about God.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another view is of inclusivism. This is the more modern view for Christians. They believe that everybody is born with Gods grace and the ability to be saved. They believe that if you are following another religion and you have not heard of Jesus then you will still go to heaven as you are trying to find the truth. They still believe, however, that Christianity is the only religion, which is complete truth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another Christian view is based on John 14:2. Jesus says, â€Å"In my Father’s house there are many rooms†. Some Christians believe that this means that heaven accepts different religions, so conversion is not needed. They believe that every religion has truth, and all lead to belief in God.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another view is of pluralism. Hindus follow this view. They believe that all religions are pathways to enlightenment.

Preschool Assessment Essay

This paper addresses the many questions the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation has received about testing four-year-olds. Our reasons for sharing this paper with early childhood practitioners, policymakers, and parents is three-fold: (a) to provide basic information about the terms and issues surrounding assessment; (b) to add an empirical and pragmatic perspective to what can sometimes be an impassioned debate; and (c) to affirm our commitment to doing what is best for young children and supporting those who develop the programs and policies that serve them. High/Scope believes child assessment is a vital and necessary component of all high quality early childhood programs. Assessment is important to understand and support young children’s development. It is also essential to document and evaluate how effectively programs are meeting their educational needs, in the broadest sense of this term. For assessment to occur, it must be feasible. That is, it must meet reasonable criteria regarding its efficiency, cost, and so on. If assessment places an undue burden on programs or evaluators, it will not be undertaken at all and the lack of data will hurt all concerned. In addition to feasibility, however, assessment must also meet the demands of ecological validity. The assessment must addresses the criteria outlined below for informing us about what children in real programs are learning and doing every day. Efficiency and ecological validity are not mutually exclusive, but must sometimes be balanced against one another. Our challenge is to find the best balance under the conditions given and, when necessary, to work toward altering those conditions. Practically speaking, this means we must continue to serve children using research-based practices, fulfill mandates to secure program resources, and improve assessment procedures to better realize our ideal. This paper sets forth the criteria to be considered in striving to make early childhood assessment adhere to these highest standards. Background The concern with assessment in the early childhood field is not new. Decades of debate are summarized in the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) publication Reaching Potentials: Appropriate Curriculum and Assessment for Young Children (Bredekamp & Rosegrant, 1992). This position statement has just been expanded in a new document titled Early Childhood Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evaluation: Building an Effective, Accountable System in Programs for Children Birth through Age 8 (www. naeyc. org/resources/position_statements/pscape. asp). 1  What is new in this ongoing debate is the heightened attention to testing young children as a means of holding programs accountable for their learning. Assessment in the Classroom (Airasian, 2002) offers the following definitions: Assessment is the process of collecting, synthesizing, and interpreting information to aid classroom decision-making. It includes information gathered about pupils, instruction, and classroom climate. Testing is a formal, systematic procedure for gathering a sample of pupils’ behavior. The results of a test are used to make generalizations about how pupils would have performed in similar but untested behaviors. Testing is one form of assessment. It usually involves a series of direct requests to children to perform, within a set period of time, specific tasks designed and administered by adults, with predetermined correct answers. By contrast, alternative forms of assessment may be completed either by adults or children, are more open-ended, and often look at performance over an extended period of time. Examples include objective observations, portfolio analyses of individual and collaborative work, and teacher and parent ratings of children’s behavior. The current testing initiative focuses primarily on literacy and to a lesser extent numeracy. The rationale for this initiative, advanced in the No Child Left Behind Act and supported by the report of the National Reading Panel (2000), is that young children should acquire a prescribed body of knowledge and academic skills to be ready for school. Social domains of school readiness, while also touted as essential in a series of National Research Council reports (notably Eager to Learn, 2000a and Neurons to Neighborhoods, 2000b), are admittedly neither as widely mandated nor as â€Å"testable† as their academic counterparts. Hence, whether justified or not, they do not figure as prominently in the testing and accountability debate. This information paper responds to questions being asked of early childhood leaders about the use and misuse of testing for preschoolers 3 to 5 years old. This response is not merely a reactive gesture nor an attempt to advance and defend a specific position. Rather, the paper is intended as a resource to provide information about when and how preschool assessment in general, and testing and other forms of assessment in particular, can be appropriately used to inform policy decisions about early childhood programming. As a framework for providing this information, High/Scope accepts two realities. First, testing is, will be, and in fact always has been, used to answer questions about the effectiveness of early childhood interventions. Since early childhood programs attempt to increase children’s knowledge and skills in specific content areas, evaluators have traditionally used testing, along with other assessment strategies, to determine whether these educational objectives have been achieved. Second, program accountability is essential, and testing is one efficient means of measuring it. Numerous research studies show that high quality programs can enhance the academic and lifetime achievement of children at risk of school failure. This conclusion has 2 resulted in an infusion of public and private dollars in early education. It is reasonable to ask whether this investment is achieving its goal. Testing can play a role in answering this accountability question. With this reality as a background, this information paper proceeds to address two questions. First, given the current pervasive use of testing and its  probably expansion, when and under what conditions can this type of assessment be used appropriately with preschool-age children? That is, what characteristics of tests and their administration will guarantee that we â€Å"do no harm† to children and that we â€Å"do help† adults acquire valid information? Second, given that even the most well-designed tests can provide only limited data, how can we maximize the use of non-test assessments so they too add valuable information over and above that obtained through standardized testing procedures? General Issues in Assessment Uses of Child Assessment  Assessment can provide four types of information for and about children, and their parents, teachers, and programs. Child assessment can: 1. Identify children who may be in need of specialized services. Screening children to determine whether they would benefit from specific interventions is appropriate when parents, teachers, or other professionals suspect a problem. In these cases, assessments in several related domains are then usually administered to the child. In addition, data from parents and other adults involved with the child are considered in determining a diagnosis and course of treatment. 2. Plan instruction for individuals and groups of children. Assessment data can be used by teachers to support the development of individual children, as well as to plan instructional activities for the class as a whole. In addition, information on developmental progress can and should be shared with parents to help them understand what and how their children are learning in the classroom and how they can extend this learning at home. 3. Identify program improvement and staff development needs. Child assessments can provide formative evaluation data that benefit program and staff development. Findings can point to areas of the curriculum that need further articulation or resources, or areas where staff need professional development. If children in the classroom as a whole are not making progress in certain developmental domains, it is possible that the curriculum needs revision or that teachers need some additional training. In conducting formative evaluations, child data are best combined with program data that measure overall quality, fidelity to curriculum implementation standards, and specific teaching practices. 4. Evaluate how well a program is meeting goals for children. It is this fourth purpose, sometimes called outcome or summative evaluation, that is the primary focus of this paper. 3 Note that it is the program, not the child, who should be held accountable. Although data may be collected on individual children, data should be aggregated to determine whether the program is achieving its desired outcomes. These outcomes may be defined by the program itself and/or by national, state, or district standards. How the outcomes are measured is determined by the inextricable link between curriculum and assessment. Ideally, if a curriculum has clear learning objectives, those will drive the form and content of the measures. Conversely, thoughtful design of an appropriate assessment tool can encourage program developers to consider what and how adults should be teaching young children. Reliability and Validity Any formal assessment tool or method should meet established criteria for validity and reliability (American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council of Measurement in Education, 1999). Reliability is defined as how well various measurements of something agree with each other, for example, whether a group of similar test items or two observers completing the same items have similar results. Validity has several dimensions. Content or face validity refers to how well an instrument measures what it claims to measure; ecological validity refers to the authenticity of the measurement context; and construct validity deals with the measure’s conceptual integrity. In assessing young children, two aspects of validity have special importance—developmental validity and predictive validity. Developmental validity means that the performance items being measured are developmentally suitable for the children being assessed. Predictive validity means the measure can predict children’s later school success or failure, as defined by achievement test scores or academic placements (on-grade, retained in grade, or placed in special education) during the elementary grades. Over the longer term, predictive validity can even refer to such outcomes as adult literacy, employment, or avoiding criminal activity. In Principles and Recommendations for Early Childhood Assessments, the National Education Goals Panel (1998) noted that â€Å"the younger the child, the more difficult it is to obtain reliable and valid assessment data. It is particularly difficult to assess children’s cognitive abilities accurately before age 6† (p. 5). Meisels (2003) claims â€Å"research demonstrates that no more than 25 per cent of early academic or cognitive performance is predicted from information obtained from preschool or kindergarten tests† (p. 29). Growth in the early years is rapid, episodic, and highly influenced by environmental supports. Performance is influenced by children’s emotional and motivational states, and by the assessment conditions themselves. Because these individual and situational factors affect reliability and validity, the Panel recommended that assessment of young children be pursued with the necessary safeguards and caveats about the accuracy of the decisions that can be drawn from the results. These procedures and cautions are explored below. 4 Testing. Appropriate Uses of Testing Standardized tests are used to obtain information on whether a program is achieving its desired outcomes. They are considered objective, time- and cost-efficient, and suitable for making quantitative comparisons. Testing can provide valid data when used appropriately and matched to developmental levels. Moreover, tests can act as teaching tools by providing a window into what children already know and where they need more time, practice, and/or help to improve. Creating a valid assessment for young children is a difficult task. It must be meaningful and authentic, evaluate a valid sample of information learned, be based on performance standards that are genuine benchmarks, avoid arbitrary cut-off scores or norms, and have authentic scoring. The context for the test should be rich, realistic, and enticing (Wiggins, 1992). It is therefore incumbent upon the creators of assessment tools to design instruments that—unlike artificial drills— resemble natural performance. If these conditions are met, young children are more likely to recognize what is being asked of them, thus increasing the reliability and validity of the results. Criteria of Reliable and Valid Preschool Tests Both the content and administration of tests must respect young children’s developmental characteristics. Otherwise the resulting data will be neither reliable nor valid. Worse, the testing experience may be negative for the child and perhaps the tester as well. Further, the knowledge and skills measured in the testing situation must be transferable and applicable in real-world settings. Otherwise the information gathered has no practical value. To produce meaningful data and minimize the risk of creating a harmful situation, tests for preschool-age children should satisfy the following criteria: 1. Tests should not make children feel anxious or scared. They should not threaten their selfesteem or make them feel they have failed. Tests should acknowledge what children know—or have the potential to learn—rather than penalizing them for what they do not know. 2. Testing should take place in, or simulate, the natural environment of the classroom. It should avoid placing the child in an artificial situation. Otherwise, the test may measure the child’s response to the test setting rather than the child’s ability to perform on the test content. 3. Tests should measure real knowledge in the context of real activities. In other words, the test activities as well as the test setting should not be contrived. They should resemble children’s ordinary activities as closely as possible, for example, discussing a book as the adult reads it. Furthermore, tests should measure broad concepts rather than narrow skills, for example, alphabetic and letter knowledge sampled from this domain rather than familiarity with specific letters chosen by the adult. 5 4. The tester should be someone familiar to the child. Ideally, the person administering the test would be a teacher or another adult who interacts regularly with the child. When an outside researcher or evaluator must administer the test, it is best if the individual(s) spend time in the classroom beforehand, becoming a familiar and friendly figure to the children. If this is not feasible, the appearance and demeanor of the tester(s) should be as similar as possible to adults with whom the child regularly comes in contact. 5. To the extent possible, testing should be conducted as a natural part of daily activities rather than as a time-added or pullout activity. Meeting this criterion helps to satisfy the earlier standards of a familiar place and tester, especially if the test can be administered in the context of a normal part of the daily routine (for example, assessing book knowledge during a regular reading period). In addition, testing that is integrated into standard routines avoids placing an additional burden on teachers or detracting from children’s instructional time. 6. The information should be obtained over time. A single encounter, especially if brief, can produce inaccurate or distorted data. For example, a child may be ill, hungry, or distracted at the moment of testing. The test is then measuring the child’s interest or willingness to respond rather than the child’s knowledge or ability with respect to the question(s) being asked. If timedistributed measurements are not feasible, then testers should note unusual circumstances in the situation (e. g. , noise) or child (e. g. , fatigue) that could render single-encounter results invalid and should either schedule a re-assessment or discount the results in such cases. 7. When repeated instances of data gathering are not feasible (e.g. , due to time or budgetary constraints), an attempt should be made to obtain information on the same content area from multiple and diverse sources. Just as young children have different styles of learning, so they will differentially demonstrate their knowledge and skills under varying modes of assessment. For example, a complete and accurate measure of letter knowledge may involve tests that employ both generative and recognition strategies. 8. The length of the test should be sensitive to young children’s interests and attention spans. If a test is conducted during a regular program activity (e. g. , small-group time), the test should last no longer than is typical for that activity. If it is necessary to conduct testing outside regular activities, the assessment period should last 10–20 minutes. Further, testers should be sensitive to children’s comfort and engagement levels, and take a break or continue the test at another day and time if the child cannot or does not want to proceed. 9. Testing for purposes of program accountability should employ appropriate sampling methods whenever feasible. Testing a representative sample of the children who participate in a program avoids the need to test every child and/or to administer all tests to any one child. Sampling strategies reduce the overall time spent in testing, and minimize the chances for placing undue stress on individual children or burdening individual teachers and classrooms. 6 Alternative Child Assessment Methods Alternative forms of assessment may be used by those who have reservations about, or want to supplement, standardized tests. These other methods often fall under the banner of â€Å"authentic† assessments. They engage children in tasks that are personally meaningful, take place in real life contexts, and are grounded in naturally occurring instructional activities. They offer multiple ways of evaluating students’ learning, as well as their motivation, achievement, and attitudes. This type of assessment is consistent with the goals, curriculum, and instructional practices of the classroom or program with which it is associated (McLaughlin & Vogt, 1997; Paris & Ayres, 1994). Authentic assessments do not rely on unrealistic or arbitrary time constraints, nor do they emphasize instant recall or depend on lucky guesses. Progress toward mastery is the key, and content is mastered as a means, not as an end (Wiggins, 1989). To document accomplishments, assessments must be designed to be longitudinal, to sample the baseline, the increment, and the preserved levels of change that follow from instruction (Wolf, Bixby, Glenn & Gardener, 1991). Alternative assessment can be more expensive than testing. Like their counterparts in testing, authentic measures must meet psychometric standards of demonstrated reliability and validity. Their use, especially on a widespread scale, requires adequate resources. Assessors must be trained to acceptable levels of reliability. Data collection, coding, entry, and analysis are also time- and cost-intensive. This investment can be seen as reasonable and necessary, however, if the goal is to produce valid information. Alternative child assessment procedures that can meet the criteria of reliability and validity include observations, portfolios, and ratings of children by teachers and parents. These are described below. Observations In assessing young children, the principal alternative to testing is systematic observation of children’s activities in their day-to-day settings. Observation fits an interactive style of curriculum, in which give-and-take between teacher and child is the norm. Although careful observation requires effort, the approach has high ecological validity and intrudes minimally into what children are doing. Children’s activities naturally integrate all dimensions of their development—intellectual, motivational, social, physical, aesthetic, and so on. Anecdotal notes alone, however, are not sufficient for good assessment. They do not offer criteria against which to judge the developmental value of children’s activities or provide evidence of reliability and validity. Instead, anecdotal notes should be used to complete developmental scales of proven reliability and validity. Such an approach permits children to engage in activities any time and anywhere that teachers can see them. It defines categories of acceptable answers rather than single right answers. It expects the teacher to set the framework for children to initiate their own activities. It embraces a broad definition of child development that includes not only language and mathematics, but also initiative, social relations, physical skills, and the arts. It is culturally sensitive when teachers are trained observers who focus on objective, culturally neutral descriptions of behavior (for example, â€Å"Pat hit Bob†) rather than subjective, culturally loaded 7 interpretations (for example, â€Å"Pat was very angry with Bob†). Finally, it empowers teachers by recognizing their judgment as essential to accurate assessment. Portfolios One of the most fitting ways to undertake authentic, meaningful evaluation is through the use of a well-constructed portfolio system. Arter and Spandel (1991) define a portfolio as a purposeful collection of student work that tells the story of the student’s efforts, progress, or achievement in (a) given area(s). This collection must include student participation in selection of portfolio content, the guidelines for selection, the criteria for judging merit, and evidence of student self-reflection (p. 36). Portfolios describe both a place (the physical space where they are stored) and a process. The process provides richer information than standardized tests, involves multiple sources and methods of data collection, and occurs over a representative period of time (Shaklee, Barbour, Ambrose, & Hansford, 1997). Portfolios have additional value. They encourage two- and three-way collaboration between students, teachers, and parents; promote ownership and motivation; integrate assessment with instruction and learning; and establish a quantitative and qualitative record of progress over time (Paris & Ayres, 1994; Paulson, Paulson, & Meyer, 1991; Wolf & Siu-Runyan, 1996; Valencia, 1990). â€Å"Portfolios encourage teachers and students to focus on important student outcomes, provide parents and the community with credible evidence of student achievement, and inform policy and practice at every level of the educational system† (Herman & Winters, 1994, p. 48). The purposes for which portfolios are used are as variable as the programs that use them (Graves & Sunstein, 1993; Valencia, 1990; Wolf & Siu-Runyan, 1996). In some programs, they are simply a place to store best work that has been graded in a traditional manner. In others, they are used to create longitudinal systems to demonstrate the process leading to the products and to design evaluative rubrics for program accountability. There are also programs that merely have students collect work that is important to them as a personal, non-evaluative record of their achievements. When portfolios are not used to judge ability in some agreed-upon fashion, they are usually not highly structured and may not even include reflective pieces that demonstrate student growth and understanding. Portfolios are most commonly thought of as alternative assessments in  elementary and secondary schools. Yet they have long been used in preschools to document and share children’s progress with parents, administrators, and others. For portfolios to be used for program accountability, as well as student learning and reflection, the evaluated outcomes must be aligned with curriculum and instruction. Children must have some choice about what to include in order to feel ownership and pride. Portfolios should document the creative or problem-solving process as they display the product, encouraging children to reflect on their actions. Conversations with children about their portfolios engages them in the evaluation process and escalates their desire to demonstrate their 8 increasing knowledge and skills. Sharing portfolios with parents can help teachers connect school activities to the home and involve parents in their children’s education. Teacher Ratings Teacher ratings are a way to organize teacher perceptions of children’s development into scales for which reliability and validity can be assessed. Children’s grades on report cards are the most common type of teacher rating system. When completed objectively, report-card grades are tied to students’ performance on indicators with delineated scoring criteria, such as examinations or projects evaluated according to explicitly defined criteria. In these ways, teacher ratings can be specifically related to other types of child assessments including scores on standardized tests or other validated assessment tools, concrete and specific behavioral descriptions (e. g. , frequency of participation in group activities, ability to recognize the letters in one’s name), or global assessments of children’s traits (e. g. , cooperative, sociable, hard-working). Research shows that teacher ratings can have considerable short- and long-term predictive validity throughout later school years and even into adulthood (Schweinhart, Barnes, & Weikart, 1993). Parent Ratings Parent ratings are a way to organize parent perceptions of children’s development into scales for which reliability and validity can be assessed. Soliciting parent ratings is an excellent way for teachers to involve them as partners in the assessment of their children’s performance. The very process of completing scales can inform parents about the kinds of behaviors and milestones that are important in young children’s development. It also encourages parents to observe and listen to their children as they gather the data needed to rate their performance. An example of the use of parent ratings is the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) study, in which parents’ ratings of their children’s abilities and progress were related to measures of classroom quality and child outcomes (Zill, Connell, McKey, O’Brien et al. , 2001). Conclusion Recent years have seen a growing public interest in early childhood education. Along with that support has come the use of â€Å"high stakes† assessment to justify the expense and apportion the dollars. With so much at stake—the future of our nation’s children—it is imperative that we proceed correctly. Above all, we must guarantee that assessment reflects our highest educational goals for young children and neither restricts nor distorts the substance of their early learning. This paper sets forth the criteria for a comprehensive and balanced assessment system that meets the need for accountability while respecting the welfare and development of young children. Such a system can include testing, provided it measures applicable knowledge and skills in a safe and child-affirming situation. It can also include alternative assessments, provided they too meet psychometric standards of reliability and validity. Developing and implementing a balanced approach to assessment is not an easy or inexpensive undertaking. But because we value our children and respect those charged with their care, it is an investment worth making. 9 References Airasian, P. (2 002). A ssessment in the classroom. New Y ork: Mc Graw-H ill. American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council of Measu rement in E ducation. (1 999). S tanda rds for edu cationa l and psy cholog ical testing. W ashington, DC: American Psychological Association. Arter, J. A. , & Spande l, V. (199 2). Using p ortfolios of stud ent work in instru ction and a ssessment. E ducational Measurement Issues and Practice, 36–44. Brede kamp, S. , & Rosegra nt, T. (Ed s. ) (1992 ). R eaching Potentials: Appropriate Curriculum and Assessment for Young Children . Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children. Graves, D . H. , & Sun stein, B. S. (19 92). P ortfolio p ortraits . New Hampshire: Heinemann. Herma n, J. L. , & W inters, L. (199 4). Portfo lio research: A slim collection . E duca tional Lea dership , 5 2 (2), 48–55. McLa ughlin, M. , & Vogt, M . (1997) . P ortfolios in teacher education . Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association. Meisels, S. (2003, 19 March). Can Head Start pass the test? E ducation Week , 2 2 (27), 44 & 29. National A ssociation for the Educa tion of Yo ung Childre n and Na tional Assoc iation of Ear ly Childhoo d Specia lists in State Dep artments of E ducation (2 003, N ovemb er. E arly Childhood Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evaluation: Building an Effective, Accountable System in Programs for Children Birth Through Age 8 . ) Washin gton, DC : Authors. Av ailable online at www. naeyc. org/resources/position_statements/pscape. asp. N ational E ducation G oals Pane l. (1998). P rinciples and rec ommen dations for early childh ood assessm ents. Washington, DC: Author. National R eading P anel. (200 0). T eaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washin gton, DC : National In stitute of Child Health and Human Developm ent, National Institutes of Health. National R esearch C ouncil. (20 00a). E ager to learn : Educating our preschoo lers. W ashington, DC: National Academy P ress. National R esearch C ouncil. (20 00b). N eurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development. Washington, D C: National Acad emy Press. Paris, S. G . , & Ayers, L. R . (1994) . B ecom ing reflective s tudents a nd teach ers with po rtfolios and authen tic assessment. Washington DC: American Psychological Association. Paulson, F. L. , Paulson, P. R. , & Meyer, C. A. (1991). What makes a portfolio a portfolio? E duca tional Lea dership , 48 (5), 60–63. Schweinha rt, L. J. , Barne s, H. V. , & Weika rt, D. P. (19 93). S ignificant benefits: The High/Scope Perry Preschool study through age 27 . Ypsilanti, MI: High/Sco pe Press. Shaklee, B . D. , Barb our, N. E ., Ambros e, R. , & H ansford, S. J . (1997) . D esigning and using portfolios. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Valencia , S. W. (1 990). A portfolio ap proach to classroom reading asse ssment: Th e whys, whats an d hows. T he Reading Teacher , 4 3 (4), 338–340. Wiggins, G . (1992) . Creating tests wo rth taking. E duca tional Lea dership , 4 9 (8), 26–33. Wolf, D. , Bixby, J. , Glenn, J. , & Gardner, H. (1991). To use their minds well: Investigating new forms of student assessment. In G. Gran t (Ed. ), R eview of research in education, V ol 17 ( pp. 31–74). Washington D. C. : American Educational Research Association. Wolf, K . , & Siu-Run yan, Y.(19 96). Po rtfolio purpo ses and po ssibilities. J ournal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 40 (1), 30–37. Zill, N. , Conn ell, D. , Mc Key, R. H . , O’Brien, R . et al. (2001 , January). H ead Start FACES: Longitudinal Findings on Pro gram P erforma nce, Third Progres s Report. W ashington, DC: Administration on Children, Youth and Families, U. S. Depa rtment of Health and H uman Services. 10 High/Scope Assessment Resources High/Scope has developed and validated three preschool assessment instruments. Two are for children, one focusing specifically on literacy and the other more broadly on multiple domains of development. The third measure is used to assess and improve the quality of all aspects of early childhood programs. These alternative assessments are described below. Early Literacy Assessment In the Fall of 2004, High/Scope will release the Early Literacy Assessment (ELA), which will evaluate the four key principles of early literacy documented in the Early Reading First Grants and the No Child Left Behind legislation: phonological awareness, alphabetic principle, comprehension, and concepts about print. Evaluation will take place in a meaningful context that is familiar to children.