Criminal Justice/Corrections Essay

Imprisonment is one of the many forms of punishment for commission of crimes in the United States. The length of time of imprisonment depends on the seriousness of the crime committed. The most serious crime of murder and homicide is punishable by life imprisonment and the felon will be confined in federal prisons. Those convicted with less serious crimes like misdemeanor offenses will be sentenced to shorter time in local or county jail or with sanctions in community corrections or halfway house. Overcrowding in jails and prisons has been a common sight in most of the correctional institutions in the United States. The nicnic. org. (2001) through a report from the GRACE Project of Volunteers of America revealed that â€Å"while 500,000 persons are admitted and released from state and federal prisons annually, twenty times that amount – over eleven million are admitted and released from jails annually†. This goes to show that at any given time of the year, the United States is maintaining and or feeding 10. 5 million inmates. The organization further revealed that jail populations grew at a lower rate of 275% since 1980 while the federal prison population increased by 427% in the same period. This unprecedented growth in inmate population is not expected and causing big budget deficit from the state level up to the federal level of government. In as much as the inmate population continue rising and only a small number over the years has left federal prisons due to completion of their imprisonment as punishment for their crimes, a big number of aging offenders which require higher spending due to their geriatric- related ailments complicated the problem. This paper aims to document the extent of the aging offenders population across the U. S. the reasons for the increase and the roblems associated with it. Furthermore, this paper will also offer solutions to the problems based from the documented causes and experiences of the different states in dealing with the problems. A number of states in the U. S. expressed alarm over the inescapable fact that in their effort to rid society of undesirable and lawless elements, their jails and prisons became jam-packed. Feeding and housing these inmates especially the aging offenders cost them a lot more, sacrificing their budget for education. The affected states realize the generally accepted fact that education should be more financially supported than prisoners as this is the proven most effective way to raise a new generation of responsible and law abiding citizens. West Virginia reported that prison population in this state exceeded the national average owing to its 9. 3% incarceration which is the highest among the U. S. states. The non-profit organization further reported that between 1994 and 2004, the inmate population in West Virginia increased from 2,392 to 5,032 or 110% increase. Thegrassrootleadership. org (n. d. reported that the state projected that by 2012, the inmate population will increase by 35% over that of 2004 level or a total of 6,774 inmates to feed and maintain. Although the increasing population of aging inmates is not mentioned, common sense will tell that the population is included since most of the aging population is sentenced to anguish in prisons for life. The state government in order to cope up with the unprecedented increase, spent $100 million to build new prisons. The organization further reported that in the last 10 years, the Division of Corrections of West Virginia tripled its expenditure. To this effect, the state has increased spending for inmates five times the amount for higher education and other social services. In absolute figures, according to grassrootleadership. org, the state of West Virginia appropriated $6,435 per full time college student and $19, 377 per person incarcerated by DOC. Inflation adjusted, the amount per college student is 33% higher than in 1994 while the amount per inmate increased 169% or five times the amount per student The grassrootleadership. g reported that West Virginia government consider the very strict policy of the state regarding sentencing and parole as the cause of this urge in inmate population. To minimize this effect, the state consider â€Å"Implementing a cap on the number of people incarcerated [†¦.. ], along with re-examining sentencing and parole policies in the state that can lead to an end of the soaring number of incarcerations. A thorough re- examination of the recent parole policy of the state is in order† (grassrootleadership. rg, n. d. conclusion, 2nd par. ). In addition to this strategy, the Day Report Center alternative which set aside incarceration for misdemeanor crimes in favor of community service, home incarceration nd boards created for reparation is also put in place. A saving of about $ 42-63 million per year can be realized from seven centers based from the Lee Day Report Center cost experience of $14. 00 per day per inmate. The state of Florida recognized the increasing number of aging offenders in their prisons. The Florida Correction Commission (n. d. eported that in 2000, The Florida Legislature instructed and required the Department of Corrections to establish and operate a facility for elderly inmates at the River Junction Correctional Institution in Chattahoochee. The Florida Correction Commission (FCC) further reported that the Florida Legislature required the Correctional Medical Authority (MDA) and the FCC to submit an annual report on the medical health status of aging offenders in the state administered and private institutions together with an examination of geriatric policies being implemented in other states. The FCC revealed that the cost of maintaining an elderly prisoner is three times the cost for a younger inmate. The reason for this is the geriatric problems associated with aging specially in a confined environment where depression always linger. The FCC further revealed that age 50 should be the starting point for elderly inmate definition. The FCC reported further that per their observation, there were three basic groups of older inmates, the first time offenders, the habitual or career criminals and those that has grown old in prison waiting for the end of their sentenced imprisonment. According to FCC, inmates 55 years and older on the average were suffering from three chronic health problems that require specialized and expensive treatment as in the case of about 15 to 25% of heir elderly inmates having mental health problems. For this reason, the aging inmates contributed greatly to their huge medical expenses. In the year 2000, the FCC reported that there were 5,082 aging offenders which represent 54. 9% increase from 1995 level. In June 2000 out of a total of 71,233 inmates, the number of 50 year and above offenders increased to 5,605. It is projected that by 2010, the Florida elderly inmates will swell to 8. % of the total inmates. The FCC further revealed from their survey that 62. 8% of the elderly inmates were prisoned due to violent offenses and therefore require longer imprisonment. The state of Florida recognizes the significance of the third type of aging patients or those who grew old in prison in addition to national and state laws requiring longer prison sentences as the contributing factor to rise of their aging offender population. The FCC reported that at present, no geriatric facility except for River Junction Correctional Institution in Chattahoochee is devoted to the aging offender population. The state government plans to segregate the older population according to geriatric health needs and the security level needed so that the number of ail guards can be adjusted especially in minimum security segregated group for economic reasons. The FCC further reported that the Florida Department of Elder Affairs develop a course on elderly abuse, neglect and exploitation to produce certified individuals to carry out preventive medical intervention so that elderly diseases will not become acute and more costly to cure. Studies were also being undertaken to release elderly inmates who does not pose danger to society anymore due to their frail stature. Lastly, the Florida state is conducting survey as to the ost they will incur and the economic benefits if their preemptive programs will be implemented. The state of Georgia is also not exempt in aging offender problem. The Associated Press (2000) revealed that in 1979, there were about 570 convicts aged 50 and up, increased to 3,050 in June 1999 and 5,000 in 2004. The Georgia prison officials estimated that the elderly inmates could swell to 9,000 by 2010. The Associated Press further reported that like in other states, the cost of maintaining the elderly offenders is becoming more and more costly. The newspaper revealed that healthcare cost for average Georgia prisoner now amounts to $8. 25 a day. For an elderly offender 50 years old and above, the cost is $27. 00 a day or about $10,000 a year. The newspaper continue saying that the elderly offenders in Georgia prisons represents about 6% of the whole inmate population but the expense in maintaining them amounts to 12% of the annual health care budget for inmates. This so because the elderly inmates require costly and more specialized health care practices owing to their special geriatric problems. Georgia prison fficials revealed that longer prison sentences, tighter parole approvals and the inevitable aging of those prisoners waiting for the completion of their terms contributed to the swelling population of aging offenders. In addition, the â€Å"The two Strikes and You’re Out† law (Associated Press, Elderly Inmates Swell, 13th par. enacted by Georgia in 1994 which punishes a felon who commit crime of armed robbery, aggravated child molestation and sodomy, aggravated sexual battery, rape and kidnapping to a mandatory 10 year sentence without parole. The newspaper added that a second violation of any of the six felonies or murder, the felon gets a andatory life sentence without parole. All of these resulted to stacking effect of offenders in jails until the whole population get grayer and larger and more costly to handle. Associated Press further reported that John Kerbs, a researcher on criminal justice from University of Michigan suggested selective decarceration to ease the problem of swelling aging offenders’ population in Georgia prison system. This includes more often officials’ parole review of elderly inmates , electronic monitoring of graying offenders in release programs that is closely supervised and edical paroles for chronic and terminally ill inmates. Based from available studies, the states of Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas share the same problem on aging offenders as the states we have discussed. However, not all states in the U. S. look at aging offenders with compassion and understanding. One such state is California. Times staff writer, Warren, J (2002) reported that the California Department of Corrections is well aware of the aging prison population. The state according to the writer is well aware of the fact that the cost of maintaining aging offender is thrice the cost of that of the younger inmates. Longer sentences and substantial decline in paroles were considered as the cause of the rise in number of aging inmates. The Times staff writer further stated that the state in this times of economic belt tightening faces a $24 billion deficit mainly because of the health care expenses of the graying inmate population. Despite this, the state of California is hesitant to implement cost cutting strategies unlike the other U. S. states. The felons, young and old are mixed in cells. Although the idea of segregation based on age, health status and security needed is being considered, that never got off the ground due to the fact that the Correction and state officials are against it. A typical day in the life of an aging offender is a struggle against extortion, insult, bullying and disrespect from the stronger and younger inmates. The correction officials claim that segregation require additional upfront cost in terms of new buildings and prison facilities and this have no room in a state with huge budget deficit. The prison officials laim that offenders did crimes to society and so they have to suffer the consequences in prison. The staff writer said that nobody in the state legislature is bent to be soft in treating offenders. They even passed a law called â€Å"Three strike and you’re out† law to address the problem of the habitual offenders. This law sentences a felon to life imprisonment with no parole provision on the third crime conviction regardless of the nature of the wrong doing. The writer revealed that the population of inmate in California federal prison as of 2002 is about 4% of the total inmates f 5,800 men and women. According to the writer California reported an expenditure of $676 million on medical care of inmates but decline how much is for the elderly. The author further stated that California prison officials conceded the fact that the elderly require a 24 hour hospice care, high cost cardiac care, costly organ transplants, expensive cancer treatment and closely supervised treatment for dementia. On the national perspective, the U. S. Bureau of Prisons total inmate health care expenditures from 1990 to 1999 amounted to $2. 7 billion (U. S. General Accounting Office, 000). The GAO office also recognizes the fact that aging inmate population contributed greatly to this expenditure. The BOP also consider the changes in sentencing laws like mandatory minimum sentencing and the habitual criminality conviction as contributory to graying of the federal prisons. To economize on health care expenditures with emphasis to aging offenders’ health care, the GAO consider several options. The GAO encourage the states’ prison officials to obtain discounts through bulk purchases of states’ prison system needs and privatizing health care services in some states. This will involve appointing specialized private hospitals as alternative to government run health care services in cases of mounting geriatric health care problems patterned after the â€Å"Medicare- based cap on payments† ( GAO 2000, Summary, 3rd par). This according to GAO will save the government about $6 million annually. The GAO also proposed payment of $2. 00 per request visit over the usual round of doctors. This co-payment scheme is aimed to reduce unnecessary medical visit requests by the inmate disrupting the busy doctors. The co-payment scheme will generate revenue of about $1 million annually. It has been documented that the most compelling problem of aging offenders is the inability of some states to deliver the needed medical care for their ailment. The Bureau of Prisons admitted that a number of states is not ready to tackle the rising population of elderly offenders in their prison system resulting to huge budget deficits. This is due to the fact that it cost three times higher to maintain elderly offender than a younger one and five times higher than the expense of a college student. The geriatric ailments are more expensive to cure. To check the inevitable increase of aging offenders’ number in the prison system, a systematic approach should be done. The sentencing and parole system should be soft in dealing with the elderly inmates. The prison should start with the segregation of the elderly based from the state of their health and their physical ability and capacity to do crimes to society. The terminally ill, frail and weak should be given medical parole and let them join the main stream of society. They have suffered a lot of physical and mental punishment in jail in exchange for the crime they have committed. Those who are still strong but behaving well in prisons should be given parole but will be required to report to Day Report Centers to determine the progress of their assimilation to the mainstream of society. Those having mental problems should be confined to hospice care centers under minimum security. The sickly but still able bodied should be separated from the rest and should pay $2 per requested doctor visit over the normal doctors’ daily round. The able bodied and wild ones should be housed separately and placed under strict security until they mellow down and complete their imprisonment sentence. The â€Å"two and three strikes and you’re out† law will take care of habitual offenders. Other cost control strategies proposed by GAO can be considered seriously by the states now that the aging offender problems were given full attention to further realize cost savings.. The recommendations are based on the philosophy of win- win strategy in decision making. Considering them will rid federal prisons of unnecessary huge expenses, give freedom to deserving aged inmates and let the states use the savings for education of the youth to produce a new generation of able- bodied and law-abiding citizens.

Functional Skills †Literacy Letter Writing Essay

I belong to a group called ‘Community Concern’. We as a group provide volunteers for community projects. I have recently seen the advert in the local paper about the old bus station being redeveloped and our group have all decided that we would like to volunteer to clean up the area before the work starts We have a lot of our own equipment, and we do supply things for this such as; Gardening equipment; †¢ Shovels †¢ Lawn movers †¢ Chainsaws †¢ Rakes †¢ Garden Forks †¢ Hedge trimmers and †¢ Leaf blowers General equipment; †¢ Buckets †¢ Yard brushes †¢ Paint †¢ Litter Pickers †¢ Gloves However, although we do provide this equipment there is on vital thing that we may need from the local council and that is a skip to put all the waste materials into once we’re done with it. I feel that this would be something we could discuss at a later time. Our group Community Concern are committed to improving the appearance of the local area and we feel that this project will strengthen the community and maybe even bring new people into the local area. Our Volunteers take pride in the work that they complete and are an asset to the group. They have completed a number of renovation projects over the years, the most recent being the re-decoration of the leisure centre a few weeks ago. I would like to thank you from all of us at Community Concern for taking the time to read this letter. And will leave you with our contact number in the hope that it would be possible to set up a meeting to discuss all the issues I have brought up today and hopefully to finalise some details and start planning the work!

Different Generations Speak Different Languages Essay

Different generations in the same country speak different â€Å"languages†? Sounds impossible, but it is indeed the case. Consider situations in which your mother does not understand what you say to your classmates, situations in which you cannot figure out what your mother refers by a simple abbreviation and situations in which your father cannot reflect your undertone of some words. Different generations speak different â€Å"languages†, causing conflicts and misunderstandings. According to the passage â€Å"What can words do and cannot do†, words have denotative meanings and connotation meanings. Denotative meanings are meanings defined by the dictionary, which cause little misunderstandings. On the other hand, connotative meanings are associated with personal experiences and are likely to cause conflicts. But in the context of communication between different generations, there are both likely to evoke misunderstandings. Some connotative meanings of words are so widely recognized by a certain generation or group of people, that they consider these meanings as denotative meanings. But these meanings are unknown to other groups and are not included in the dictionary. The word, â€Å"net†, for example, may mean â€Å"a trap made of netting to catch fish or birds or insects† in your grandfather’s dictionary but means â€Å"a computer network consisting of a worldwide network of computer networks that use the TCP/IP network protocols to facilitate data transmission and exchange† when you talk to your friends meet on the â€Å"net†. From this aspect, language of different generations do differ in the conception of words. Different generations may be confused by denotative meanings, not to mention by connotative meanings. â€Å"The connotative meaning of a word is the associations and overtones people bring to it. †¦When we hear a word, the thoughts and feelings we have about that word and about the person using it determine what that word ultimately means to us. † (â€Å"What can words do and cannot do†,Weaver, Understanding Interpersonal Communication, pp. 230-333 ) Consider the word â€Å"news† perceived by different generations. Your grandfather may reflect news as titles in printed newspaper or radio messages while your father form in his head the television correspondent and you, a teenager thinks of web-sites. These difference in language is brought by the development of social and technology. Words and phrases have their life cycle, there are times when certain words and expressions thrive and time when they die. It is not uncommon that older generations tend to use words, phrases and expressions that are seldom used by younger generation. Moreover, young people have the tendency to make expressions short. For example, instead of saying â€Å"good morning†, they say â€Å"morning†, instead of â€Å"lots of laughs†, they type â€Å"LOL† and so on. So next time when talking to your grandmother, use less abbreviations. Difference languages spoken by different generations giving rise to unavoidable misunderstanding, so bearing in mind that different person has varied perception of words and may not understand what you mean. Don’t be bothered to interpret in detail what you mean to be fully understood by other generations.

Music, Folklore,and Nationalism (Music Appreciation) Essay

Music, Folklore,and Nationalism (Music Appreciation) - Essay Example Musical nationalism as a separate movement emerged in the mid-19th century. Most frequently the movement is linked to Russia, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Scandinavian countries, and it is represented in the works of Smetana, Dvorak, Grieg, Sibelius, Glinka and The Five, including Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov.(Harvard Dictionary of Music) For the most part, the movement coincided with political changes in Europe of that time and the birth of new nations. Sometimes, unfortunately, national pride instigated by folklore and music that carries a note of nationalism, led nations on the wrong path. Richard Wagner, one of the greatest German composers, used folklore and history in his work a lot. Among his many admirers was Adolf Hitler. â€Å"Richard Wagner was Hitlers favorite composer. During World War I, it is reported, he carried Wagners music from Tristan in his knapsack. Often Hitler had Wagners music performed at party rallies and functions.†(fcit.usf.edu) Hitler’s admiration with Wagner was strengthened with composer’s political views and anti-Semitic writings during his life. When it comes to pointing at what element of music describes the best particular cultures, I believe it is the combination of factors. Folk melodies when quoted in classical music pieces have a strong effect. Some cultures rely heavily on specific instruments to express the tradition. Rhythm and harmony are important too. However, I believe that people feel most national pride when listening to folklore music if the music is strong, heroic and grandeur. It is not a coincidence that most national anthems are written in a way that appeals to feelings of belonging and unity. It is not a surprise that Nazi Germany adopted Wagner and his heroic and deeply Teutonic music. Folklore is not limited by boundaries between countries and nations. It travels along with people when they migrate. In that regard, United States, are a great example of how folklore have transcended over thousands

Sexuality Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sexuality - Research Paper Example Particularly, advertisement through billboards was considered by the research respondents to be most offensive of all mediums of advertisement. A number of French Reports have also emphasized upon the promotion of sex through advertisements, saying that the advertisements have used overtones of violence to degrade women and project bestiality and inferior role of women in sex. Such an attitude towards women creates a very distressed situation which should be immediately addressed so that dignity of those women on different levels could be restored. â€Å"Sexist advertising affects the shaping of people's identities and is counter-productive to society's goal of achieving gender equality† (â€Å"Sweden mulls ban†). This paper analyzes such an ad by Calvin Klein and discusses how the female model in the ad has been used as a source of sexual appeal for the audiences. In the end, there is a brief discussion of the guidelines that if followed, may help eradicate this practi ce. Women are being overly sexualized in different advertisements and fashion magazines, which is not only building negative perceptions about the character of women in the society but is also playing a role in derogating the society on moral grounds. Research done by sociologists lately suggests that sexploitation of women seen on the cover of one of the mainstream fashion magazines Rolling Stone suggests that women are far more potently targeted sexually than men over the last few years and such a negative attitude definitely does not deliver a positive message to the society at large. Sexploitation through advertisements in such an open manner not only holds very negative ramifications for understanding the concept of female dignity but also leads to exploitation of women. ... Sexploitation through advertisements in such an open manner not only holds very negative ramifications for understanding the concept of female dignity but also leads to exploitation of women. Media has definitely exploited women on many levels by portraying them as sexual objects so that product sales could be increased. As a result of such advertisements in which provocative images of women’s often partially clothed bodies are shown and female sexuality is used as an effective tool for gaining public attention and increasing product sales, a lot of pressure is put on common women to be sexually attractive and also sexually active (Media Awareness Network). In the advertisement by Calvin Klein for promoting its trademark unisex fragrance CK one (Lunch), a half naked girl is shown standing immediately against a male model who is also half naked so that their bodies are touching each other’s as well as their mouths. With one outstretched arm, the male model is seen grabbi ng the female model and holding a CK one perfume bottle in his hand. The image shown in this fragrance advertisement is no doubt very provocative and fraught with all kinds of sexual suggestions. Both models have been made to pose so proximal to each other that it seems more like a pornography ad than a fragrance ad. Women definitely get exploited by such kinds of advertisements which show no respect for female sex and also such media actions deliver very negative images to the people who start accepting such ideas and believe it is normal for a woman to act provocatively. Culture is especially targeted by such advertisements in which women are over-sexualized so that it is left badly mutilated because no culture can sustain if the society shows no respect for women. Respect in

Violence in the Media Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Violence in the Media - Term Paper Example This paper shall specifically discuss the thesis that the media is responsible for societal increase in violence. This thesis shall be discussed based on strong philosophical argumentation. A sympathetic consideration of both sides of the argument shall be presented with arguments towards one conclusion established. An identification of the ethical issues at hand shall also be considered. Body Violence in the media is apparent with the coverage of different violent events happening around the globe. The media holds a significant amount of responsibility in terms of its content and the impact of its content on their audience. The narrow cultural imaginings which may directly impact on the beliefs of those involved in political violence is very much ingrained in the wider cultural milieu where the media is an important, as well as an overwhelming part. And in these instances political violence is a kind of violence worthy of consideration (Held, p. 132). In instances when the media sup ports a culture of violence, this may also lead to a promotion of political violence, and all violent activities that coincide with it. Reports provide support for the argument that media in the US does promote a culture of violence (Held, p. 133). Held (p. 133) declares that there is a significant relationship between violence in the media, however attempts to blame the media for such violent acts are tantamount to efforts towards diverting attention and responsibility from the actual causes of violence. Those who are not predisposed to admitting the social issues of society find the media an easier excuse or target. However, Held (p. 134) believes that this would not change the fact that the media are partly to blame for the increased incidents and social injustice in the US. Even as the media refuses to own up to their responsibility in the outbreak of violence, their impact on the viewing public remains persistent. The media decides what sort of descriptions to give to violent a cts. A pertinent issue for the media is that the way they describe or label the violent activities is sometimes sensationalized or ‘tabloidized, ’making the violence seem grand or heroic. The media also often portrays sympathetic attitudes towards rebels or freedom fighters, and later such attitudes sends the wrong message to the people, making them think that it is acceptable to violently seek a redress for their grievances. In some ways, there is often a thin line between sympathy for these freedom fighters and sympathy for terrorists. Moreover, even the label ‘freedom fighters’ may be a problematic term because they make these people seem noble and heroic, where in fact, to their victims and to the governments they plague, there are nothing more than terrorists. The issue of terrorism or retaliation is also a major consideration in this case because some acts may again be labeled different by the media, and their labels can serve as basis for the peopleà ¢â‚¬â„¢s actions. The media deciding whether a certain act is terrorism or retaliation is filled with bias. However, responsibility for these labels and these acts cannot be avoided in the face of the actual negative influence that they potentially bring to the vulnerable population (Held, p. 134).

The Failure Of Sega Genesis CD Gaming System Essay

The Failure Of Sega Genesis CD Gaming System - Essay Example Finally, it concludes with the idea that the marketing function and its objectives, strategic plans and implementation cannot be over-emphasized ni any organization. Sega was originally founded in 1951 by American David Rosen in who permanently moved to Japan after WWII. The name Sega is a contraction of "Service Games", which Rosen's company adopted when it began producing arcade games and software for early game consoles like Atari 2600 and ColecoVision. By the 1980s, Sega had an American division which sold console software. Later on the company was sold to Japanese investors and officially became Sega Enterprises Ltd. During the mid-80s, Sega produced a series of hit games which made a lot of money for funding future development of Sega's own game consoles (Planet Dreamcast 2008). Various industry reports say that Sega's game consoles were technically superior than those of the competitors. But stiff competition in the 1990s, which had better product launches, marketing campaigns and more funds made the company decide to concentrate on software development for multiple platforms (Kent 2004). Year 2002 was a major shift for Sega as it moved out of the console manufacturing business. ... Today, Sega's main offices, Sega Corporation Japan, are located Tokyo. The company also operates Sega Europe Ltd. in London, Sega of America Inc. in San Francisco, California and Sega Australia in Sydney (Wikipedia 2008). Body Sega's downfall in the game console manufacturing business was caused by a series of unfortunate management, production and marketing decisions Starting in 1984, when Sega's Mark III was competing with Nintendo's very successful Famicom, Sega decided to follow Nintendo's lead of bringing their product to America. Re-christened Sega Master System, the American launch was a failure due to "poor marketing, bad timing, lack of third-party software developers, and the absence of a 'killer app' and lead to the Master System's demise (Planet Dreamcast 2008). One of the elements of marketing mix is product positioning which refers to the place a product offering occupies in consumers' minds relative to competing offerings. Sega's launch campaign for the Master System failed to communicate its benefits and the characteristics of the product that the target market desires. Sega would have done well if the product attributes it announced were perceived by consumers as being close to their ideal and were more ideal than the competitor's. Instead of allowing customers to position competing products by themselves, Sega's marketers should have planned to influence and shape consumers concepts and perceptions (Chapter 11). Planet Dreamcast reports that the Sega Master System (SMS) was technically superior than Nintendo's product and this does not seem to have been properly communicated. Moreover, the product development process for the SMS as intended for the US market seems to not have a comprehensive market requirements

Effective Classroom Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Effective Classroom Management - Research Paper Example However since effective classroom is a significant contributor to the learning and development of the students it is important to examine the issue in order to identify strategies that could make it easier for teachers. There are a multitude of strategies and approaches that have been put forward and tried over the years; but before going into the process of classroom management and strategies it is important to define what exactly the term means. Classroom management has been defined in various ways but it generally involves what the teacher practices to ensure order in the classroom. It addresses both the learning or academic environment in the classroom and also the behavioural aspects of the environment; so that it has a two-fold purpose and perhaps that is part of what makes it such a difficult task for the teacher. According to Beckles and Ellis (2003),classroom management is â€Å" a complex task consisting of planning lessons, providing a safe environment, teaching students and perhaps the most daunting task of all, appropriately responding to student behaviour problems† (p.23). Another definition states that â€Å"classroom management consists of a wide array of proactive, well-established and consistent techniques and practices† (Johnson et al, 2006). They posit that in order for teachers â€Å"to relate content effectively, the classroom must be well managed† (p.29). Additions to the definition of classroom management include that it â€Å"needs to encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in learning and self-motivation† (Burden 2003, cited in Reupert and Woodcock, 2010). ... (Reupert and Woodcock 2010). Many first- year teachers feel confident about their subject content and their instructional strategies; it is the classroom management that is of concern, according to Johnson et al (2006). They describe classroom management as involving classroom procedures and behaviour management. They explain that the classroom procedures are the practices that include academic, routine and special situations; for example academic routines include planning lessons and assessing students, routine situations involve organising the class especially the arrival and exit of students at beginning and end of day and for transitions during the day. Fire and disaster drills constitute special routines. The behaviour management should be proactive rather than reactive. They further point out that teachers need to be taught behavior management skills since they do not come naturally. Classroom management strategies. â€Å"Teachers’ actions in classrooms have twice the i mpact on student motivation as do school policies regarding curriculum, assessment, staff collegiality and community involvement† (Marzano and Marzano, 2003 p.6). These authors emphasise the important role teachers play in managing classroom effectively. As stated above, there exists a wide variety of strategies and suggestions for effective classroom management. On examining some of these a common thread is obvious. Marzano and Marzano (2003) outline the important components of classroom management as beginning the school year with a positive emphasis on management, arranging the room in a way that is conducive to effective management and identifying and implementing

Walker Percy's, The Loss of the Creature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Walker Percy's, The Loss of the Creature - Essay Example There are several instances in school where having a preformed mind about certain issues can deny a student the real pleasure and joy of going through the experiences. As a student, I have desires to achieve several things through my learning. For instance, I want to get high grades, get a good job, and be an important member of the society. The desire to achieve these objectives often seems to override the real experience of going through the education system, thereby depriving the system of its joy and wonderful experience. I tend mostly to focus on what will happen after my education, or after my tests, at the expense of trying to focus on the education itself and the values of the tests. Before joining school, my school, I had heard a lot about the school from former students. I had also conducted an online search of the school before submitting my application. This process helped me to have a preconceived idea about the school even before I was enrolled. Surprisingly, this is what most of the students do before the join their dream schools. According to Percy, The curiosity and desire to know about something can derail one from enjoying the experience of discovering the process. Preconceived ideas create social biases and prejudices, which can hamper critical thinking and proper decision-making. For instance, I may have overlooked other schools, which may have been better than my current school, due to the prejudice I had from my preconceived ideas. Percy also argues that human beings do not often appreciate the full value of their lives because they unintentionally adopt passive roles. It is almost as if human beings have lost their sovereignty and control of their experiences unintentionally. The loss of sovereignty can be seen when people create symbolic complexes, which undermine an individual’s ability to actively engage in issues. One example in which Percy uses to illustrate this loss is his description of a tourist couple that goes

Strategic Marketing and Marketing planning process Essay

Strategic Marketing and Marketing planning process - Essay Example Therefore, it can be said that the goal of strategic marketing is in defining the course the business should take in order to achieve its strategic goals. At the same time, unlike tactical marketing, which is focused on strategy implementation, strategic marketing involves actual development of the strategy to be implemented. Based on company’s business objectives, strategic marketing deals with determining who the potential customers are, why they would buy the product or service, what it would take them to purchase and so on (Ignite Marketing Group, LLC, 2009). Consequently, strategic marketing performs such functions as market research and segmentation, targeting, and positioning the product. Completed, these tasks then become the basis for conducting an effective marketing campaign, which, in order to be effective, have be well planned. The marketing planning process, therefore, is the process of planning a marketing campaign for the product or service on the basis of information gathered from market research. However, the very first data to consider in the process of marketing planning is the overall business’ goals and objectives, because the actual goal of marketing is to achieve the set goals (Rooney, 2004). On this matter White and Uva (2000) distinguish three levels of planning activities that help businesses in defining their marketing strategies. According to the authors (White and Uva, 2000), they are: However, the strategic marketing plan, being the link between organization’s objectives and practical implementation of chosen strategies, is an essential element of the planning process, because it determines particular and precise goals and strategies to be implemented to achieve those goals. The very first thing to define in the process of marketing planning is company’s mission, meaning its orientation in the market – what

Comparing Schools Essay Example for Free

Comparing Schools Essay This report provides advice on the collection and reporting of information about the performances of Australian schools. The focus is on the collection of nationally comparable data. Two purposes are envisaged: use by education authorities and governments to monitor school performances and, in particular, to identify schools that are performing unusually well or unusually poorly given their circumstances; and use by parents/caregivers and the public to make informed judgements about, and meaningful comparisons of, schools and their offerings. Our advice is based on a review of recent Australian and international research and experience in reporting on the performances of schools. This is an area of educational practice in which there have been many recent developments, much debate and a growing body of relevant research. Our work is framed by recent agreements of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), in particular, at its meeting on 29 November 2008: C OAG agreed that the new Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority will be supplied with the information necessary to enable it to publish relevant, nationally-comparable information on all schools to support accountability, school evaluation, collaborative policy development and resource allocation. The Authority will provide the public with information on each school in Australia that includes data on each school’s performance, including national testing results and school attainment rates, the indicators relevant to the needs of the student population and the school’s capacity including the numbers and qualifications of its teaching staff and its resources. The publication of this information will allow comparison of like schools (that is, schools with similar student populations across the nation) and comparison of a school with other schools in their local community. (COAG Meeting Outcomes) Our work also has been framed by the recently endorsed MCEETYA Principles for Reporting Information on Schooling (see Section 1. 4). Before summarising our specific recommendations, there are some general conclusions that we have reached from our review of international research and experience. The specific recommendations that follow are best understood in the context of these general conclusions: †¢ Vigilance is required to ensure that nationally comparable data on individual schools does not have the unintended consequence of focusing attention on some aspects of the purposes of schooling at the expense of other outcomes that are as important but not as easily measurable. Parents/caregivers and the public are interested in a broad range of information about schools, and nationally comparable data should be reported in the context of this broader information. †¢ Although it has become popular in education systems in some other parts of the world to use statistical models to develop ‘measures’ of school performance and to report these measures publicly in league tables, we believe that there are very v Reporting and Comparing School Performances  sound technical and educational reasons why school measures of this kind should not be used for public reporting and school comparisons. †¢ Related to this point, we are not convinced of the value of reporting ‘adjusted’ measures of student outcomes publicly. Measures of student outcomes should be reported without adjustment. †¢ To enable the comparison of unadjusted student outcomes across schools, we believe that a ‘like-schools’ methodology should be used. This methodology would allow parents/caregivers, the public, and education systems to compare outcomes for schools in similar circumstances. †¢ While point-in-time measures of student outcomes often are useful, it is difficult to establish the contributions that teachers and schools make to point-in-time outcomes. In general, measures of student gain/growth across the years of school provide a more useful basis for making judgements about the value that schools are adding. †¢ Measures of gain/growth are most appropriately based on measurement scales that can be used to monitor student progress across the years of school. The NAPLAN measurement scales are an example and provide educational data superior to that available in most other countries. Consideration should be given to developing national measurement scales for early literacy learning and in some subjects of the national curriculum. †¢ Initially reporting should build on the understandings that parents and the public have already developed. For example a school’s NAPLAN results should be reported in forms that are consistent with current NAPLAN reports for students. Although much work needs to be done in defining the most appropriate measures, the principle should be to build on the representations of data that are already familiar to people. Recommendations Our report makes the following specific recommendations: student outcome measures †¢ Nationally comparable data should be collected on the literacy and numeracy skills of students in each school, using NAPLAN (Years 3, 5, 7 and 9). †¢ Nationally comparable data should be collected on the tertiary entrance results of students in each senior secondary school. These data could be reported as the percentage of students achieving tertiary entrance ranks of 60 or above, 70 or above, 80 or above, and 90 or above (calculated as a percentage of the students achieving tertiary entrance ranks). †¢ Nationally comparable data should be collected on the percentage of students in each senior secondary school completing Year 12 or equivalent; the percentage of students applying to all forms of post-school education; and the percentage of students completing VET studies. vi Reporting and Comparing School Performances †¢ Nationally comparable data should be collected on the achievements of students in core national curriculum subjects (English, mathematics, science and history), beginning in 2010. National assessments could be developed initially at Year 10. †¢ Nationally comparable data should be collected on the early literacy learning of children in each primary school. These assessments will need to be developed and should be administered upon entry to school and used as a baseline for monitoring progress across the first few years of school. physical and human resources †¢ Nationally comparable data should be collected about sources and amounts of funding received by each school, including all income to the school from State and Commonwealth governments, as well as details of fees payable by parents, including those that are mandatory and any voluntary levies that parents are expected to pay. †¢ Nationally comparable data should be collected on the numbers and qualifications of teaching staff in each school. Basic data would include academic qualifications, details of pre-service teacher education, and details of any advanced certification (eg, Advanced Skills Teacher; Level 3 Teacher). student intake characteristics †¢ Nationally comparable data should be collected on the socio-economic backgrounds of students in each school. Data should be based on information collected at the individual student level, using at least parental occupation and, possibly, parental education levels, under the agreed MCEETYA definitions. †¢ Nationally comparable data should be collected on the percentage of students in each school of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander background under the agreed MCEETYA definition. †¢ Nationally comparable data should be collected on the percentage of students in each school identified as having a language background other than English (LBOTE) under the agreed MCEETYA definition. †¢ Nationally comparable data should be collected on the geo-location of each school using a 3-category scale: metropolitan, provincial, and remote. †¢ Nationally comparable data should be collected on the percentage of students in each school with special educational needs. A nationally agreed definition of this category will need to be developed. like-school comparisons †¢ In reporting student outcome data for a school, data for like-schools should be provided as a point of comparison. Like-schools will be schools in similar circumstances and facing similar challenges. †¢ In determining ‘like-schools’, account should be taken of the percentage of students with Indigenous backgrounds, the socio-economic backgrounds of the students in the school, and the percentage of students from language backgrounds other than English. vii Reporting and Comparing School Performances †¢ For each school separately, like-schools should be identified as the schools most similar to that school on the above characteristics (rather than pre-defining a limited number of like-school categories). †¢ Work should commence as soon as possible on the development of an appropriate like-schools methodology. public reporting †¢ For the purpose of providing public information about schools, a common national website should be used to provide parents/caregivers and the public with access to rich information about individual schools. †¢ The national website should provide information about each school’s programs, philosophies, values and purposes, provided by the school itself, as well as nationally comparable data, provided centrally. †¢ Nationally comparable student outcome data should, wherever possible, provide information about current levels of attainment (ie, status), gain/growth across the years of school, and improvement in a school over time. †¢ The complete database for each state/territory should be made available to the relevant state/territory departments of education and other employing authorities, enabling them to interrogate data for their schools and to make judgments about school performances using aggregated data and national summary statistics. We believe that almost all nationally comparable data collected centrally could be reported publicly. The exceptions would arise when the public reporting of data may have negative and unintended consequences for schools. For example, we can envisage negative consequences arising from the reporting of the socio-economic backgrounds of students in a school, or of the financial circumstances of struggling, small schools (both government and non-government). We also believe that data reported publicly should be factual data about a school, and not the results of secondary analyses and interpretations that are open to debate (eg, value-added measures). viii Reporting and Comparing School Performances 1. INTRODUCTION In education, good decision making is facilitated by access to relevant, reliable and timely information. Dependable information is required at all levels of educational decision making to identify areas of deficiency and special need, to monitor progress towards goals, to evaluate the effectiveness of special interventions and initiatives, and to make decisions in the best interests of individual learners. The focus of this  paper is on the provision and use of information about individual schools. The starting point is the observation that relevant and reliable information about schools is required by a range of decision makers – including parents and caregivers, school principals and school leadership teams, system managers and governments, and the general public – all of whom require dependable information that they can use to maximise opportunities and outcomes for students. 1. 1 Audiences and Purposes  Parents and caregivers require valid and reliable information to evaluate the quality of the education their children are receiving, to make informed decisions in the best interests of individual students, and to become active partners in their children’s learning. They require dependable information about the progress individuals have made (the knowledge, skills and understandings developed through instruction), about teachers’ plans for future learning, and about what they can do to assist. There is also considerable evidence that parents and caregivers want information about how their children are performing in comparison with other children of the same age. And, if they are to make judgements about the quality of the education their children are receiving, they require information that enables meaningful comparisons across schools. School leaders require reliable information on student and school performances for effective school management. Research into factors underpinning school  effectiveness highlights the importance of the school leader’s role in establishing an environment in which student learning is accorded a central focus, and goals for improved performance are developed collaboratively by staff with a commitment to achieving them. School managers require dependable pictures of how well students in a school are performing, both with respect to school goals for improvement and with respect to past achievements and achievements in other, comparable schools. Governments and system managers require dependable information on the performance and progress of individual schools if they are to exercise their responsibilities for the delivery of quality education to all students. Effective management depends on an ability to monitor system-wide and school performances over time, to gauge the effectiveness of special programs and targeted resource allocations, to monitor the impact of policies, and to evaluate the success of initiatives aimed at traditionally disadvantaged and underachieving sections of the student population. Accurate, reliable information allows system managers to measure progress against past performances, to identify schools and issues requiring special attention, to target resources appropriately, and to set goals for future improvement. 1 Reporting and Comparing School Performances 1. 2 Forms of Information Because there are multiple audiences and purposes for information about schools, the forms of information required for effective decision making are different for different stakeholders. Parents and caregivers require a wide range of information, including information relating to their immediate needs (eg, Is the school easily accessible by public transport? Does it have an after-school program? What fees and/or levies does it charge? ); the ethos of the school (eg, What evidence is there of bullying/harassment? What are the espoused values of the school? Do students wear uniforms? What level of discipline is imposed? Who is the principal? ); their child’s likely educational experience (eg, Who will be my child’s teacher next year? Will they be in a composite class? How large will the class be? Does the school have a literacy intervention program? What extra-curricular activities are provided? ); and the school’s educational results (eg, Does the school achieve outstanding Year 12 results? ). School leaders require other forms of information, including information relating to staffing and resources (eg, What resources are available for music next year? How many beginning children have special learning needs? ); the effectiveness of initiatives (eg, Is there any evidence that the extra class time allocated to literacy this year made a difference?); and academic results (eg, How many Year 5 students did not meet the minimum performance standard in Reading? Have our results improved since last year? Are we still below the state average? How did last year’s Year 12 results compare with those of the neighbouring school? ). System managers and governments require still other forms of information, including information to monitor system-wide trends over time, to evaluate the effectiveness of attempts to raise standards and close gaps, and to identify schools that are performing unusually well or unusually poorly given their circumstances. In general, the schoollevel information required by system managers and governments is less fine-grained than the information required by parents, teachers and school leaders. Figure 1 displays schematically various forms of information that could be made available about a school, either publicly or to specific audiences (eg, system managers). The forms of evidence represented in Figure 1 are: A: student outcome measures that a school could choose to report Most schools report a wide range of information about the achievements of their students to their school communities. This information is reported in school newsletters, local and community newspapers, school websites, and at school events. The information includes details of Year 12 results, analyses of postschool destinations, results in national mathematics and science competitions, language certificates, awards, prizes, extra-curricular achievements, community recognition, and so on. Most schools take every opportunity to celebrate the achievements of their students and to announce these achievements publicly. 2 Reporting and Comparing School Performances Figure 1. Forms of information that could be made available about a school B:a sub-set of student outcome measures on which it is agreed to collect nationally comparable data Within the set of student outcome information that might be reported for a school, there could be a sub-set of outcomes on which it was agreed to collect nationally comparable data. A reason for identifying such a sub-set would be to ensure some common measures to facilitate school comparisons – within a local geographical area, across an entire education system, nationally, or within a group of ‘like’ schools. Inevitably, nationally comparable data would be collected for only some of the outcomes that schools, parents and communities value. Performances on common literacy and numeracy tests in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are an example of nationally comparable data currently in this category. C. physical and human resources measures that a school could choose to report Schools provide information in various forms and to various audiences about their physical and human resources. Information of this kind includes details of staff qualifications and teaching experience, staff turnover rates, school global budgets, computers and other technology, newly constructed facilities, bequests, results of fundraising drives, and so on. Some of this information may be reported to the school community; some may be kept confidential to the school, education system or government departments. D: a sub-set of physical and human resources measures on which it is agreed to collect nationally comparable data Within the set of physical and human resources measures reported for a school, there could be a sub-set of measures on which it was agreed to collect nationally comparable data. For example, there have been recent calls for greater consistency and transparency in the reporting of school funding arrangements (Dowling, 2007; 2008) and for more consistent national approaches to assessing and recognising teacher quality (Dinham, et al, 2008). 3 Reporting and Comparing School Performances E. student intake measures that a school could choose to report Most schools have considerable information about their students. For example, they may have information about students’ language backgrounds, Indigenous status, socio-economic backgrounds, learning difficulties and disabilities. This information usually is reported only within education systems or to governments and is not reported publicly, although schools sometimes provide information to their communities about the range of languages spoken by students in the school, the countries from which they come, the percentage of Indigenous students in the school and the school’s special Indigenous programs, or the number of severely disabled students and the facilities and support provided for these students. F: a sub-set of student intake measures on which it is agreed to collect nationally comparable data. Within the set of student intake characteristics reported for a school, there could be a sub-set of measures on which it was agreed to collect nationally comparable data. Some progress has been made toward nationally consistent definitions and nationally consistent data collections on student background characteristics. G. all other information that a school could choose to make available Beyond information about student outcomes, student backgrounds and their physical and human resources, schools provide a range of other information to the communities they serve. 1. 3 Nationally Comparable Data Acknowledging the many purposes and audiences for information about schools, and the various forms that this information can take, the specific focus of this paper is on the collection and reporting of nationally comparable data for the purposes of evaluating and comparing school performances. In other words, the focus is on categories B, D and F in Figure 1. We envisage three broad uses of such data: †¢ use by parents and caregivers in judging the quality of educational provision and in making informed decisions in the best interests of individual students; †¢ use by school leaders in monitoring a school’s improvement and benchmarking the school’s performance against other, comparable schools; and †¢ use by education systems and governments in identifying schools that are performing unusually well or unusually poorly given their circumstances. As noted above, these three stakeholder groups are likely to have different needs. The ways in which nationally comparable data are analysed, combined and reported may be different for different purposes. We see the process of reaching agreement on the core data that should be available about a school as a national collaborative process, and see little value in arriving at different conclusions about these data for different parts of the country. 4 Reporting and Comparing School Performances 1. 4 Principles for Reporting The Principles for Reporting Information on Schooling (see pages 6-7) adopted by the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCCETYA) provide an important point of reference for any proposed collection and use of nationally comparable data on schools. These principles recognise the multiple audiences and purposes for information about schools, the need to collect broad evidence about student and school performances, and the desirability of monitoring intended and unintended consequences of reporting information on schools. Australian governments have undertaken to ensure that data provided for the purposes of comparing schools are reliable and fair and take into account the contexts in which schools work. Governments also have undertaken not to develop simplistic league tables of school performances. 1. 5 Structure of Paper This paper first considers the kinds of nationally comparable data that might be collected about schools for the purposes outlined above. We draw on national and international research and experience, attempt to anticipate the likely requirements of different audiences, and take into account what measures currently exist and what additional measures might be desirable in the future. Each of the three data categories in Figure 1 is considered in turn: †¢ †¢ †¢ student outcome measures physical and human resources measures student intake measures (sections 2-3) (section 4) (section 5) We then consider alternative ways of evaluating and comparing school performances. Two broad methodologies are discussed: †¢ †¢ the direct comparison of student outcomes the construction of measures of school performance (section 6) (section 7) Finally, we consider issues in reporting publicly on the performances of schools: †¢ †¢ audiences and purposes for reporting options for public reporting on schools (section 8) (section 9) 5 Reporting and Comparing School Performances MCEETYA PRINCIPLES FOR REPORTING INFORMATION ON SCHOOLING There is a vast amount of information on Australian schooling and individual schools. This includes information about the educational approach of schools, their enrolment profile, staffing, facilities and programs, and the education environment they offer, as well as information on the performance of students, schools and systems. Different groups, including schools and their students, parents and families, the community and governments, have different information needs. The following principles provide guidance on requirements for information on schooling, including the types of information that should be made readily available to each of the groups noted above. These principles will be supported by an agreed set of national protocols on the access to and use of information on schooling. Good quality information on schooling is important: FOR SCHOOLS AND THEIR STUDENTS. Principle 1: Schools need reliable, rich data on the performance of their students because they have the primary accountability for improving student outcomes. Good quality data supports each school to improve outcomes for all of their students. It supports effective diagnosis of student progress and the design of quality learning programs. It also informs schools’ approaches to provision of programs, school policies, pursuit and allocation of resources, relationships with parents and partnerships with community and business. Schools should have access to: †¢ Comprehensive data on the performance of their own students that uses a broad set of indicators †¢ Data that enables each school to compare its own performance against all schools and with schools of similar characteristics †¢ Data demonstrating improvements of the school over time †¢ Data enabling the school to benchmark its own performance against that of the bestperforming schools in their jurisdiction and nationally FOR PARENTS AND FAMILIES. Principle 2: Information about schooling, including data on the performance of individuals, schools and systems, helps parents and families to make informed choices and to engage with their children’s education and the school community. Parents and families should have access to: †¢ Information about the philosophy and educational approach of schools, and their staffing, facilities, programs and extra-curricular activities that enables parents and families to compare the education environment offered by schools †¢ Information about a school’s enrolment profile, taking care not to use data on student 1  characteristics in a way that may stigmatise schools or undermine social inclusion. †¢ Data on student outcomes that enables them to monitor the individual performance of their child, including what their child knows and is able to do and how this relates to what is expected for their age group, and how they can contribute to their child’s progress †¢ Information that allows them to assess a school’s performance overall and in improving student outcomes, including in relation to other schools with similar characteristics in their jurisdiction and nationally. 1 Any use or publication of information relating to a school’s enrolment profile should ensure that the privacy of individual students is protected. For example, where the small size of a school population or of a specific student cohort may enable identification of individual students, publication of this information should be avoided. 6 Reporting and Comparing School Performances FOR THE COMMUNITY. Principle 3: The community should have access to information that enables an understanding of the decisions taken by governments and the status and performance of schooling in Australia, to ensure schools are accountable for the results they achieve with the public funding they receive, and governments are accountable for the decisions they take. Students are an important part of our society and take up a variety of roles within it after leaving school. The community is therefore a direct and indirect consumer of the product of our schools, as well as providing the means of public funding. Information about schools in the public domain fulfils the requirement that schools be accountable for the results they achieve with the public funding they receive, including relative to other ‘like’ schools; it should also give the community a broad picture of school performance and a sense of confidence in our school systems. The community should have access to: †¢ Information about the philosophy and educational approach of schools, and their staffing, facilities, programs and extra-curricular activities that enables the community to compare the education environment offered by schools. †¢ Information about individual schools’ enrolment profile, taking care not to use data on student characteristics in a way that may stigmatise schools or undermine social inclusion †¢ National reporting on the performance of all schools with data that allows them to view a school’s performance overall and in improving student outcomes, including in relation to other schools with similar characteristics RESPONSIBLE PROVISION OF SCHOOLING INFORMATION Australian Governments will ensure that school-based information is published responsibly so that: †¢ any public comparisons of schools will be fair, contain accurate and verified data, contextual information and a range of indicators to provide a more reliable and complete view of performance (for example, information on income, student body characteristics, the spread of student outcomes and information on the value added by schools) †¢ governments will not devise simplistic league tables or rankings and will put in place strategies to manage the risk that third parties may seek to produce such tables or rankings, and will ensure that privacy will be protected. †¢ reports providing information on schooling for parents and families and the community will be developed based on research on what these groups want to know and the most effective ways the information can be presented and communicated. FOR GOVERNMENTS Principle 4: Governments need sound information on school performance to support ongoing improvement for students, schools and systems. Government also need to monitor and evaluate the impacts (intended and unintended) of the use and release of this information to improve its application over time. Good quality information on schooling enables governments to: †¢ analyse how well schools are performing †¢ identify schools with particular needs †¢ determine where resources are most needed to lift attainment †¢ identify best practice and innovation in high-performing schools that can be mainstreamed and used to support improvements in schools with poorer performance †¢ conduct national and international comparisons of approaches and performance †¢ develop a substantive evidence base on what works. This will enable future improvements in school performance that support the achievement of the agreed education outcomes of both the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs and the Council of Australian Governments. 7 Reporting and Comparing School Performances 2. STUDENT OUTCOMES Information about the outcomes of a school’s efforts is key information for parents and caregivers if they are to judge the quality of educational provision; for school leaders to monitor a school’s performance and improvement; and for education systems and governments to identify schools in need of additional support. However, schools work to promote many different kinds of outcomes for their students. For some schools, an important objective is to improve school attendance rates. For others, assisting students to make successful transitions into the workforce is a high priority. Some schools are more focused than others on supporting the social, spiritual and emotional development of students. Still others measure their success in terms of entry rates into highly sought-after university courses. Decisions about the outcomes to be reported publicly for schools are important because they influence judgements about how well individual schools are performing. This is particularly true when education systems and governments attempt to construct ‘measures’ of school performance: Perverse incentives can arise when the [school] performance measure has both a large impact upon actors and focuses on an aspect of schooling that does not reflect the true or overall purpose and objectives of schools. Unfortunately, this can be common in school performance measures if the performance measure is too narrowly defined. (OECD, 2008, 26).

Group Behavior and Processes Essay Example for Free

Group Behavior and Processes Essay GROUP BEHAVIOR AND PROCESSES Group behavior and processes in this paper is about a problem with a new low income government housing development and the illegal activities that have impacted the community in making the neighborhood unsafe. The author of this paper sees not only the different illegal groups behaviors as the problem in this scenario but also the behavior group that is supposed to be in charge of this low income government housing development as the problem also. This is the processes that the author of this paper would do to resolve a lot of these problems (Peak, 2012). WHAT KINDS OF INFORMATION WOULD YOU COLLECT TO ADDRESS PROBLEMS SUCH AS DRUGS, PROSTITUTION, AND VANDALISM? First you have to use the local law enforcement agency to come into this neighborhood and having them do round the clock undercover and stakeouts. Having the local law enforcement agency identify and keep accurate records on the main problem persons in the drug, prostitution, and vandalism issues. Also have the law enforcement agency document thoroughly everyone involved in doing illegal activity at the local convenience store that is close by. Try to make active narcotic buys, prostitution buys, and finding the  perpetrators in the vandalism problem and documenting them to make cases against each and every one in this small apartment unit neighborhood will help slow down and eventually alleviate the illegal activity in short order (Peak, 2012). You also need to identify all the bureaucrats involved in working at the low income government housing project. Find out with an external audit who makes the decisions in approving applications to move into this government housing unit and why their rules were broken allowing those with criminal records to move into this small 58 apartment housing unit. Once the external audit has found culpability, replace those involved in breaking the rules. Re-evaluate each and every application of those residents who have criminal records and place them in a separate file from the law abiding residents in the units.. (Peak, 2012). WHAT KINDS OF RESPONSES MIGHT BE CONSIDERED? The local law enforcement agency can take one apartment over and have a senior law enforcement officer move into the apartment and take up residence. By having an officer live in the apartment unit would give the residents a sense of stability in their unstable world. Having this form of community policing will get needed intelligence from residents to help fight the crime in this apartment unit. While patrol officers are patrolling the neighborhood they should each make it a point to stop at the convenience store for coffee stops and spend time on foot patrol in the area. Field interviews should be done with the individuals just hanging out. Make it known that law enforcement is in the area to stay. Monthly meetings need to be put together with the bureaucrats at the low income housing agency and law enforcement agency to keep each other informed on what is going on with these apartment units (Peak, 2012). WHAT TYPES OF ASSESSMENT WOULD YOU PERFORM? I would assess the local law enforcement agency with how much help are they giving the low income government housing agency for all their low income  housing units. The bureaucrats need to work together with the local law enforcement agency to eradicate the illegal activity. Once the local law enforcement agency has all the evidence they need to make cases, start the arrest process. When the arrest process takes place, eviction notices needs to go out to those with criminal records at the same time in coordination with the arrests. Once an apartment unit opens up the bureaucracy moves a new resident in with no criminal record and none on their childrens record. Every six months gradually going to once a year external audits need to assess the performance on the low income government housing agency to make sure the rules are being applied to make sure the safety of the residents are a priority (Peak, 2012). Reference Peak, J.K. (2012). _Justice Administration: Police, Courts and Corrections Management_ (7th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.

Skills Development and Team Work Analysis

Skills Development and Team Work Analysis Effective organizational performance is an aspect that every organization would like to achieve but how those organizations can generate a high performance. Teamwork must be one of the answers. This assignment provides some information and points out that why team work is important more than group work, and also demonstrates the way which team members interact in order to make their work process flow smoothly. Being a good team member, skills requirement is considered because personal skills can be useful in terms of develop a teams performance. Due to this consideration, this is my good chance to improve my skills by identifying some skills which need to be improved. Creating the personal development plan and doing a skills audit are tools which can help me to achieve my goal. As I am currently in the last term before doing my dissertation of the MBA course this assignment will show what I have developed so far and show how much I achieve my goals. This assignment is divided into th ree tasks as follows: Describe the different between team and group and Identify and critically reflect on the relationship between the objectives of significant operational task and my individual role and objectives. Moreover, this task will demonstrate and evaluate how I interacted with my colleagues and show my opinion in what I would do if I look back on the significant task and why I would do that. This part shows how I have developed my skills over the course through my personal portfolio This part shows the reflection on the process of my skills development 1. Working with a number of colleagues on a given project or significant operational task 1.1 The differences between team and group The word group and team usually are used interchangeably, but there are actually a number of differences between a team and a group depends on which part you have considered. Longman dictionary defined both words base on the word meaning : group defined as several people or things that are all together in the same place and team defined as a group of people who have been chosen to work together to do a particular job. Besides you can consider a difference between group and team by focusing on a relationship among members in group or team. Usually, members in a team are close to each other and their individual tasks are related to one another. Significantly, team donates more than one individual involve in goal-oriented joint action while group refer to informal clustering of more than one individual (Wilson A. 1998) and it goes beyond individual accomplishments. (Ruth Herman G.1940). In a group, members they are grouped together for administrative purpose only, some members might no t know each other before but working as a team, they work together because they got a team goal which is best accomplished with manual support and the relationship across individuals is obvious. (RDI handbook, 2009) The important factor which differentiates team from group is the interdependent among the team member in performing the team task (Saiyadain M.S, 2003) The team members are diverse in terms of various perspectives, personalities, status and role. 1.2 Significant operational task During my previous job, I was working in the hospitality sector, (In the small size hotel sector), as a general assistant in a hotels restaurant. On my operational task within the hotels restaurant, all staff were gathered to do our own individual task. As the explanation about team and group above, I think working with my colleagues on the significant operational task is close to a team concept. According to the team concept, goal-oriented joint action is a key point which indicates that we were working as team because we had a goal which we wanted to achieve by working together because our individual tasks are linked. Significantly, my team goal was to make sure that we satisfy customer needs and expectations with a high quality of service. In my team, there were thirteen staff who had a responsibility concern to a whole process of service delivery (e.g manager, kitchen staff, waiting staff,) As I mention above, having the same goal is the key which pulling all team members togethe r because all tasks in the whole work process are linked. In order to achieve the goal, we needed to go towards the same direction because teamwork is a joint action of a group member and each team members have to contribute their skills and opinion toward the team goal. Therefore, our team member, firstly, had to be aware and clear about the goals and understand individual roles and tasks. My main role was dealing with customers and make sure that they got the best service and other team members also got their particular task but every tasks were linked to one another. Working as team, leadership skills is very important. Leadership can be defined as the process of influencing and persuade others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it.(Gary Yukl, 2006) In the team we needed someone who can motivate and lead team members in to the right direction without any fear of any problems. Besides, working as team, we had to interact among members all the time to make our process flow smoothly in the right direction. 1.3 Interaction among team members Significantly, Interacting among team members is the key aspect which can affect to a whole performance because it helps the team to achieve the goal effectively. According to Longman dictionary, Interaction is defined as a kind of action which two or more objects can affect to each other. The contribution from members such as exchanging opinion, idea or knowledge can help the team perform more effective. (Beyerlein M. et al,. 2000) Generally, every team member develop the ways of interacting among members over the time, especially interpersonal communication among members because the effectiveness of a whole performance always depends on how well team members interact to one another. Often, autonomous teams are presented the best practice for increased performance (Hellenthal A. and Molleman E. 2008) because working as team, there exists no single in order to bring the best solution. The interaction such as how a team makes decisions, assigns work, and holds members accountable dete rmines team success, these are very important to consider in any team work. According to my work experience, all of the team members had to clear in mind and understand the teams goal, otherwise we might have been gone in a different direction. In our day-to-day job, we were assigned a task by a team leader. Basically, team leader was not the same member all the time, it depends on the situation. And in any decision making, there was always interaction among team members because in any decision-making everyone had to hold the responsibility for the decision which was finally made because we were working as team. All team members reserved a right to agree or disagree and showed our opinion directly towards our leader. Moreover, because of our tasks were linked and would have been effected to one another, therefore staff meeting which was hold every two week in order to give a chance for staff to apprise our performances and tried to find a solution for any particular problems. 1.4 Significant operational task and the real situation in my work place According to the theory of communication, (RDI hand book, 2009) effective communication within any organization is an aspect that organizations have to concern. Bad communication will inevitably lead to loss of income or worse. Basically, there are three basic types of communications; two-way communication is the one which is highly effective because both sender and receiver can give their feedback directly. Compare with my work experience, my team goal was meeting the customer expectation by delivering a good service. In day-to-day task, good communication skills would be very useful for working as team because in the whole process of working, we had to communicate with the team members all the time to make sure that we reached all customers expectation in terms of service quality. Generally, team members were assigned a task and address a daily goal by a leader every morning and the leader also allowed us to present our idea which might be useful for the team if there was a special event such as private party. During any day working, the most difficult situation was, when there was a special order and waiting staff had to transfer that order to a chef. We had to make sure that we meet the customers expectation. Apart from the day-to-day task, every two weeks, there was a meeting which made for all team members to discuss a whole performance in the past two weeks. Every team member would have got all information which was useful for improving the team performance such as feedbacks from customers which were collected directly from customers. We also got a chance to present our point of view and share our ideas and find the areas of agreement as the basis for collaboration. Personally, I think the way that the operational task was managed was reasonable and efficient, because good communication among team member was very important for working as a team. If I could manage this task, I would still maintain this good point about two-way communication but I would th ink more about staff commitment issue because all staff members were a part of the success and we should return some benefits back to staff for their hard work by appealing to them in terms of reward package such as salary, bonus, status and recognition. If we could win the staff commitment, staff would be happy to work towards the operational task and we would get the best performance from them. 2. Personal Portfolio Personal Development Plan is a tool which contains actions or aspirations oriented towards any of the following aims and it should be seen as a constant process involving enhancement and development of abilities, skills and knowledge (RDI handbook, 2009). Apparently, skills audit is important for everyone who would like to set up PDP. Skills audit is a tool which is designed to help you to identify your strengths, weaknesses and areas for development within various skills areas. (RDI handbook, 2009) Before I set up my PDP, I did a skills audit and four of important skills were chosen to be improved as the table below. Skills Audit According to the skills audit above, I identified my skills which needed to be improved and chose some activities to support me to improve my skills. There are four skills which I think they will be useful for my future career. Those skills are : 1. Leadership skills From my skills audit above I gave myself in a low rating and I thought I needed to improve this skill because this skill is very important skill for a manager. In the workplace manager should have an ability to motivate a team member to work toward a common goal and get the job done in order to make the over performance more effective and successful. For improving this skill, I set some activities such as participating in any group task (classroom) , reading a book Leadership skills for managers . During six months for improving leadership skill, I have been gaining a lot of knowledge and I got many chance to practice this skill. Significantly, I have leant how to persuade group members to agree with my idea and also learn how to be good leader in the group when we were assign the group task such as teams discussions and presentations during class assignments. I also learn from reading books which contain leadership articles. These books helped me to understand the differences betwee n manager and leader; how the leader is so important to very work project and it also teaches me how to be a good leader. 2. Prioritizing skills Prioritizing skills is important for manager because good manager is a person who manages to plan the schedule and divide time equally between tasks can be an asset for the organization. This skill basically was the skill which I gave myself a highest rating among all skills. In the past six months, I improve this skill a lot especially during the MBA course. Generally, there were many assignments which had to be submitted on time, therefore, this skill is very useful for me because I could prioritize all my works and working on the most important at each moment and could submit all my assignment on time. 3. Communication skills Communication skills are very important for working as a team. Working as a team, Bad communication will inevitably lead to loss of income or worse. My communication skills at the beginning of the course were not good enough. Language was my barrier because English is not my first language. Therefore, participating in any group task (classroom) was the activity which useful for improving these skills. During my course, I got many chance to improve my communication skills such as discussion class, work as a group and communicate to other group members. Furthermore, I have learnt a lot form the books about communication. In order to become a more effective communicator, I have learnt many different communications channels such as memos emails meetings teleconferencing instant messaging 4. Planning skills Planning skill is one of those skills which allows a manager to anticipate such issues and be prepared should they arise. My action plan for improving this skill were reading and researching articles or books which are related to an assignment. Over the past six months, I read a lot of books which were useful to my assignment such as the book about Human Resource Management, Managing Change, Marketing, Finance and operational management. Apart from reading, I did practice some exercises before the 24 hours assessment in Finance management. 5. Information technology (IT) Skills Not surprisingly, IT skills are very important in most parts of every workplace because IT skills are still in demand and IT may be the most important factor for long-term career success. From my skill audit above, I gave myself low rating because I got only basic ability about IT. Therefore, I planned to improve these skills by doing a lot of practicing in some computer applications which I already got the basic knowledge about such as Microsoft Excel, internet application. Furthermore, I have leant more about some computer applications which I had never used before such as Autofill with Formulae and functions. From the activities above which were use to help myself to improve my skills in many areas. After my plan reached the target date which was on April 2010, I will review the skills which were developed over the period of time by this following table : From the table above which it shows how much my skills have developed over six months. Basically, I divided my self- assessment into two periods (three months in each period). According to the first period of my self-assessment, I realized that all of those skills were developed gradually. It was because I had to adjust myself into new environment such as educational system and language which different from my country. Leadership skills- in the first period, I rated myself only 3 because I think I need more practicing and need more time to gain some experiences and after six months was over I rated myself 4 which is reasonably confident but need more practicing. Frankly, I think to be a good leader with a lot of confident, I need to keep practicing and leaning from mistakes in the past. Prioritizing skills- Before I started to improve this skill, I rated myself quite high (4) but after the first period was over, I still thought that my prioritizing skill did not improve much because I had to adjust myself to the new educational system. When the self-assessment was over, I think this skill was developed successfully. Communication Skills- These skills was difficult to be improved for me regarding to a language barrier. For the first period, therefore, I needed to practice very hard in both English skills and communication skills because both are linked. After the whole period was over, I think my communication skills were developed reasonably and I would like to practice and learn more to pull these skills to be my strength. Planning skills Although, this skill is quite simple and easy to succeed but being in MBA cause, planning skills was turned to be a bit difficult for me. Nevertheless, keeping myself on track and always focusing on the goal of my study, these made me improved this skill quickly. Therefore, I think this skill was developed successfully. IT skills Frankly speaking, I think these skills are the most difficult to be improve because there are many computer applications which take time to be understood. For the first period, I did not improve much on these skills because it was difficult to learn how to use some computer application by myself but within the second period, I got a chance to practice this skill more often with my classmate due to the financial management module. After six months were over, I think that even though I have improved this skill but I need more practicing and need more time to gain some experiences. According to my self- assessment for all of the skills above, I think I have developed those skills reasonably and successfully and those need to be practiced continuously in order to make them to be my strength and be useful for my future career 3. Reflection on the process of skills development According to the personal development plan, I chose five skills which I need to develop over my course. Firstly, leadership skills are the main skills which I need to develop. Leadership is defined as the process of influencing and persuade others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it.(Gary Yukl, 2006) and it is about persuading people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen (Kuozen J. et al., 2007). Leadership skills are very important for any teamwork because reaching a team goal needs someone who can lead and persuade team members through the right way whether it is difficult or not. As far as I am aware, my leadership skills have been improving because these skills need time to practice. Apparently, group work in the class helps me a lot by building my confidence and I am also learning form the many books about leadership such as Leadership skills for managers which help me to understand more about why leadership skills are important for manager job and how I can become a good leader. Secondly, Prioritizing skill, personally I thought this skill was very easy to be developed but in fact being in MBA course made me realized that there were many obstacles which prevented myself to achieve my goal such as being in a different educational system and language barriers. These obstacles made some of my work delayed but unfortunately, I am still on the track and be able to improve this skill successfully. Thirdly, Communication skills, well communicate among team members is a part of generating an effective team performance. As I have learnt so far during my class period, two-way communication is apparently more effective in practice because discussion in a classroom needs everyone in the class to be participated by sharing our ideas and I definitely got a chance to share my opinion and learn how to be a good listener at the same time. And I always use some techniques form the book, Stepladders to success for the professional which help me to perform in my class more efficiently because difference of ideas or opinion might lead us to groups conflict and it happened to me many times but these experiences help me to learn how to handle the problem. Fourthly , planning skills, according to the fact that I have to submit all of my assignments on time, therefore, planning such as what I had to do, which book I had to read etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦these help me to submit all of my assignments on time and I got a reasonable marks for all of them. This skill can apply to any activities which need to be done in a certain time. Lastly, IT skills which are important for a manager job in terms of using it to generate organizational reports. As far as I am concern, the spreadsheet (Excel software) is very important computer application which simulates a paper, accounting worksheet. According to the complication of the program, it has been taking me long time to learn and understand how it works, but practicing can help me to use this program more effective in the future. Conclusion In any areas of any business, person who has a potential skill is always required. Therefore, skills development is very important for any person who would like to get a good job. Generally, not only for a job seeker but it is for someone who needs to improve his/her skills in order to perform his/her task more effective. Personally, this personal skills development helps me to identify my ability and skills which I need to improve and motivate myself to achieve my goal by setting an action plan. Although, I have not achieved all my plans at this moment but I believe that if I keep follow my action plan, I will definitely reach my goal in the future. Appendices Personal Development Plan My Goal Which skills I need to improve? Actions Required Who or What Can Help Me? Target Date for Action To gain diversified business knowledge and expertise in order to be a potential manager in the future by Improving Some skills which are related to my goal 1. Leadership skills Participating in any group task (classroom) Reading a book Leadership skills for managers Classmates and a tutor By April 2010 2. Prioritizing skills Prioritize all my works, working on the most important at each moment. By April 2010 3.Communication skills Participating in any group task (classroom) Classmates and a tutor By April 2010 4.Planing skills Reading and researching article or book which are related to an assignment Tutor Submit Date 5. IT Skills Learning Some computer Applications which are related i.e. spreadsheet By April 2010 Skills Audit Knowledge and skills which I consider to be important for future job Ability Rating (1-5) Typical Description Tutors Comments 1.Leadership skills 2 Manager should have an ability to motivate a team member to work toward a common goal. Suthira has lead her teams discussions and presentations during class assignments and proved to be good team leader. 2. prioritizing skills 4 Good manager is a person who manages to plan the schedule and divide time equally between tasks can be an asset for the organization. During the course, Suthira has appreciated the importance of prioritizing in the achievement of assignments and tasks. 3.Communication skills 3 Working as a team, Bad communication will inevitably lead to loss of income or worse. Suthiras commands of spoken and written English have improved since starting the program. 4.Planning skill 3 Planning allows a manager to anticipate such issues and be prepared should they arise. Suthira has developed good planning skills. That appeared clearly during her preparations before classes commenced. 5. IT skills 2 IT skills are still in demand and IT may be the most important factor for long-term career success. TitleThe Interaction Between Task and TeamAuthorsAlex Hellenthal, Eric MollemanPublisherVDM Verlag, 2008