...Education in America Why are we so far behind? 3/28/2013 Josh Bosh Pd.1 United States students are continuing to trail behind their peers in other nations, according to results from a key international assessment. Scores from the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment students in the U.S. performing about average in reading and science, and below average in math. Out of 34 countries, the U.S. ranked 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in math. Those scores are far behind the highest scoring countries, including South Korea, Finland, Singapore, China, and Canada. "This is an absolute wake-up call for America," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in an interview with The Associated Press. "The results are extraordinarily challenging to us and we have to deal with the brutal truth. We have to get much more serious about investing in education." The PISA exam is one of a handful of tests that compare educational levels across nations, and is considered to be the most comprehensive. The test focuses on how well students are able to apply their knowledge in math, reading and science to real-life situations. Some 470,000 students took the test in 2009 in 65 countries and educational systems, from poor, underdeveloped nations to the most wealthy. The United States' mediocre scores on the PISA exam have repeatedly been highlighted by the Obama administration and others pushing for education reform. Between 1995 and 2008, for example, the United...
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...QUARTER 2, 2012 CONSUMER CONFIDENCE, CONCERNS AND SPENDING INTENTIONS AROUND THE WORLD 91 Global consumer confidence index declined three points to 91 • Discretionary spending and saving decreased globally across all sectors • More than two-thirds (67%) of respondents changed spending habits to save on expenses • Concern for the economy and job security remained Global consumer confidence declined three index points to 91 in Q2 2012 amid a worsening Euro zone crisis, lackluster U.S. job growth and China’s downward GDP revision for 2012, according to consumer confidence findings from Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy. “Consumers are clearly proceeding with caution in relation to their spending intentions,” said Dr. Venkatesh Bala, chief economist at The Cambridge Group, a part of Nielsen. “Consumer confidence lost momentum in the second quarter as global events, including a worsening Euro zone crisis coupled with slowing growth rates in China and India, impacted financial markets and consumer sentiment in many parts of the world. As renewed volatility entered global markets, consumers reacted by reining in spending and consumption intentions.” In the latest round of the survey, conducted between May 4 and May 21, 2012, consumer confidence declined three points to 100 in Asia Pacific, four points to 88 in North America, and two points to 96 in Latin America. An increase of one point each in Middle...
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...INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT QUIZ NAME: CHALI MWAMBA QUESTION 1: Basic ideal types of political systems -explain each and give one country or region as an example to identify its political system. They are the following: ANSWER: A) Totalitarianism= a system where Only one representative party which exhibits control over every facet of political and human life -Power maintained by suppression of opposition -Dominant ideals include media censorship, political representation, denial of rights, and civil liberties An example is People’s Republic of China, North Korea, Burma, Cuba, Vietnam, Libya and Saudi Arabia as well as Kuwait. B) Democracy=a system of government in which all the people of a state or polity ... are involved in making decisions about its affairs, typically by voting to elect representatives to a parliament or similar assembly -Democratic society cannot exist without at least a two-party system -Once elected, representative is held accountable to electorate for actions (which limits power of government) Examples include -Germany, Ghana, Grenada, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kiribati, Latvia, Lithuania C) Dictatorship= A dictatorship occurs when one person has complete control of a nation. Dictators are often associated with brutality, violence and ruthlessness and typically use armed force and fear to keep citizens under control. -Examples include Belarus, Chad, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroun, Kazakhstan, Iran D)...
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...Explaining Student Performance Evidence from the international PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS surveys Final Report November 2005 Explaining Student Performance Evidence from the international PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS surveys Jens Henrik Haahr with Thomas Kibak Nielsen, Martin Eggert Hansen and Søren Teglgaard Jakobsen www.danishtechnology.dk jens.henrik.haahr@teknologisk.dk This study was carried out on behalf of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education and Culture. Views expressed represent exclusively the positions of the authors and do not necessarily correspond to those of the European Commission. Contents Index 1. .......................................................................................................................... 2 2. 3. 4. Executive Summary................................................................................................. 4 1.1. Education Systems and Basic Skills................................................................. 4 1.2. Student Background Characteristics and Basic Skills.................................... 10 1.3. School Characteristics and Basic Skills ......................................................... 13 1.4. Individual Student Characteristics and Basic Skills....................................... 17 1.5. New Analysis and Data Collection Activities................................................ 19 Introduction........................................................................................
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...dyadic observation that that has been described as the “closest thing we have to empirical law” in international relations. [1] Although what is meant by democratic peace is contested, and indeed as its validity as this essay will explore, the theory has been previously under Woodrow Wilson and more currently the Presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, a significant conceptual factor in the formation of American foreign policy.[2] Our aim is a democratic peace, a peace founded upon the dignity and rights of every man and woman. America acts in this course with friends and allies at our sides, yet we understand our special calling: this great republic will lead the cause of freedom. In light of this statement, ongoing U.S. policy and its likely persistence an examination and understanding of the democracy peace proposition is clearly with merit. This essay will look at the democratic peace proposition at a several levels of analysis: at the monadic level of interstate war on whether democracies generally are more peaceful and whether transitional democracies are more inclined to war; and at the intrastate level as to whether democracies experience more or less civil war. It will examine the validity of the proposition(s), reasons for is occurrence and postulate on what implication there may be for foreign policy? For consideration of the dyadic democratic peace proposition, it is fairly standard practice to accept the Correlates of War Project definition...
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...Explaining Student Performance Evidence from the international PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS surveys Final Report November 2005 Explaining Student Performance Evidence from the international PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS surveys Jens Henrik Haahr with Thomas Kibak Nielsen, Martin Eggert Hansen and Søren Teglgaard Jakobsen www.danishtechnology.dk jens.henrik.haahr@teknologisk.dk This study was carried out on behalf of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education and Culture. Views expressed represent exclusively the positions of the authors and do not necessarily correspond to those of the European Commission. Contents Index 1. .......................................................................................................................... 2 2. 3. 4. Executive Summary................................................................................................. 4 1.1. Education Systems and Basic Skills................................................................. 4 1.2. Student Background Characteristics and Basic Skills.................................... 10 1.3. School Characteristics and Basic Skills ......................................................... 13 1.4. Individual Student Characteristics and Basic Skills....................................... 17 1.5. New Analysis and Data Collection Activities................................................ 19 Introduction....................................................................
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...Socioeconomic status is a very real problem for children in American society. It affects many areas of their lives, but most importantly, it affects their education. For this reason, it is imperative that parents, teachers, administrators, and communities ban together to ensure that at-risk students from low socioeconomic backgrounds are given the same opportunities as those from a higher socioeconomic background. We can do this by eliciting the best teachers, quality schools, and administrators to instruct these disadvantaged children. We can also do this as parents by making sure that we have educational attainment as our goal for our children by providing different instructional avenues in the home to facilitate learning and desire for learning by our children. If all of these parts of the puzzle can be put in place correctly, then at-risk youth at least have an equal opportunity to succeed in this world of inequality that we all live. Equality in the public school system is a joke. In other words, it does not exist. There are certain criterion that must be met before schools can even start to be considered equal: “equal access, common curriculum, differential curriculum, desegregated schooling, and equality of results” (Riordan 2004, p. 2). In some underdeveloped countries, certain people are excluded from an education, from the poor to the women, it just depends. Another extent to where people are excluded is common curriculum. Even though this was set out for the...
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...NOKIA MARKETING PLAN PROJECT INTRODUCTION Nokia was founded in 1865 as a paper mill in Finland. It went on to establish it’s self as a renowned mobile phone manufacturer and one of the most powerful brands in the world. In 1992 Nokia shifted its focus to primarily telecommunications and appointed Jorma Ollila as its CEO. Six years later in 1998 Nokia had established it’s self as the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer with a turnover of 31 billion. In 2006, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo replaced Jorma Ollila as the CEO, but was not able to reverse the decline of Nokia’s market share especially in the high end segment. Competitors like Apple, Blackberry, HTC, Samsung, and phones using Google’s Android operating system captured market share from Nokia at an alarmingly increasing rate. By the end of 2010 Android was already the most widespread smart phone operating system in the world and Nokia’s market share in the smart phone segment had declined from 38 to 31 percent in one year (Sokala). In September 2010, the appointment of the Canadian Stephen Elop as the new CEO of Nokia aroused adversarial feelings among people since Elop became Nokia’s first CEO not to originate from Finland. Elop was hired to change the course of Nokia and to stop the declining trend in Nokia’s global market share especially in the smart phone segment. The first major decision was to start extensive cooperation with Microsoft in February 2011. VISION AND STRATEGY Nokia’s mission is simple: Connecting...
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...The campaign for suffrage - a historical background Today, all British citizens over the age of eighteen share a fundamental human right: the right to vote and to have a voice in the democratic process. But this right is only the result of a hard fought battle. The suffrage campaigners of the nineteenth and early twentieth century struggled against opposition from both parliament and the general public to eventually gain the vote for the entire British population in 1928. ------------------------------------------------- Who took part in the campaign? The first women's suffrage bill came before parliament in 1870. Soon after its defeat, in 1897, various local and national suffrage organisations came together under the banner of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) specifically to campaign for the vote for women on the same terms 'it is or may be granted to men'. The NUWSS was constitutional in its approach, preferring to lobby parliament with petitions and hold public meetings. In contrast, the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), formed in 1903, took a more militant view. Almost immediately, it characterised its campaign with violent and disruptive actions and events. Together, these two organisations dominated the campaign for women's suffrage and were run by key figures such as the Pankhurstsand Millicent Fawcett. However, there were other organisations prominent in the campaign, including the Women's Freedom League (WFL). These groups were often...
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...of the mantra that more guns mean more violence and fewer guns, therefore, mean less violence (Godwin 281). While the hearts and souls of the regulatory author are well placed, all too often the resulting debate is rooted in erroneous statistics and unrepresentative comparisons. To illustrate Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced Assault Weapons Ban legislation that would ban any weapon with a grip on the premise they are too easy to get and used too often for bad (Feinstein). The NRA states “the average annual number of background checks for the last five years, 2007-2011, is 25 percent higher than for NICS’ first five complete years, 1999-2003” (NRA). The NRA also states “In 2009 alone some 1,868,268 pistols were imported or exported by U.S. manufacturers, according to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) data (NRA). If the old mantra holds true overall crime should be on the rise; however, a 2011 FBI Uniform Crime Report shows violent crime is continuing a decade long downward trend and is down 3.8% from 2010. The recent massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary has overwhelmingly drowned any positive statistics. While this event is truly an unspeakable, horrible, tragedy eventually a reasonable person must put aside emotions, and really think about how to...
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...World retail Banking report 2012 Contents 3 4 7 Preface Key Findings Chapter 1: 8 12 21 Unlocking Pathways to Greater Customer Loyalty Customers Express Conflicting Sentiments toward Banks The Need for a Customer Experience Index The Growth of Mobile Banking 25 Chapter 2: At a Crossroads, Retail Banks Must Identify and Prioritize Core Strengths The Ground Beneath Banks Is Shifting Traditional Tactics Are Less Effective in the Current Environment The Way Forward: Extreme Measures for Extreme Times 26 28 32 40 41 Methodology About Us Preface Capgemini and Efma are pleased to present the 2012 World Retail Banking Report. Retail banks around the world are struggling to maintain their competitiveness in the face of severe external challenges. Massive debt loads are threatening the global economy, while stringent regulations put in place as a result of the financial crisis of 2008 are staunching traditional revenue streams. Customers, still distrustful of the industry, have become increasingly accepting of nonbank alternatives, and social media is giving them an opportunity to publicly explore them. More than ever, retail banks must strive to create stronger bonds with their customers. The 2012 World Retail Banking Report addresses this imperative by establishing a new framework for identifying and measuring success in retail banking. Specifically, our Customer Experience Index (CEI) offers a mechanism for accurately taking stock of the critical...
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...Georgetown Model United Nations Background Guide on LGBTQ Rights The Human Rights Council: The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system and a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly. The Human Rights Council, which replaced the former United Nations Commission on Human Rights, was created by the General Assembly on March 15 2006 by resolution 60/251 and it has as its designated meeting place, the UN Office at Geneva (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) It is made of up of 46 United Nations Member states which are elected by the UN General Assembly. The latter states are assigned with the responsibility of strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the world. They are elected by the majority of the members of the General Assembly of the United Nations through direct and secret ballot. The chosen members of the council serve for a period of three years and are not eligible for immediate re-election after serving two consecutive terms (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) Membership to the Council is based on equitable geographical distribution. The seats are allocated as follows: 12345African States: 13 seats Asian States: 13 seats Latin American and Caribbean States: 8 seats Western European and other States: 7 seats Eastern European States: 6 seats The Council as a whole has its main purpose grounded in addressing human rights violations around...
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...Introduction The aims of this assignment is evaluate Starbuck’s internal and external environment and by doing so, provide strategic recommendations based on the analysis. The following table is a summary of the cooperation. Name | Starbucks Corporation | Industries served | Coffeehouses, Restaurants | Geographic areas served | Worldwide | Headquarters | U.S. | Current CEO | Howard Schultz | Revenue | $ 14.9 Billion (2013) [25% Profit Gains] | Total no. of retail stores | 20,184 (2013) 13,279 in the United States | Employees | 200,000 (2013) | Main Competitors:Around the world | McDonald's Corp., Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc., Nestlé S.A., Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Costa Coffee, Caribou Coffee Company | Starbuck’s Global Footprint Table 1 SOURCE: The Washington Post, (2013), A coffee giant’s global footprint [ONLINE]. Available at:http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/world/a-coffee-giants-global-footprint/514/ [Accessed 12 March 14]. Starbucks’ External Environment Porter’s five forces Threat of new entrants: Medium-High New entrants could include local coffeehouses and companies like 7-eleven (more convenient than Starbucks) that offer new blends of coffee drinks. The entry barrier for the coffee industry is relatively low, even for premium coffee like Starbucks. Any large and well-funded company could be potential entrants. McDonalds, for instance, is able to quite easily add specialty coffee to their existing services and enter...
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...SUBSTITUTION OF PLASTIC BAG BY JUTE BAGCASE COMPANY REDQ Support on Sustainable Environment Thesis Tania Afrin Degree Programme in International Business International Marketing Management Accepted ___.___._____ __________________________________ SAVONIA UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES Business and Administration, Varkaus Degree Programme, option Degree Programme in International Business. BBA, International Marketing Management. Author(s) Tania Afrin Title of study SUBSTITUTION OF PLASTIC BAG BY JUTE BAG -CASE COMPANY redQ Support on sustainable development Type of project Date Pages Thesis April 2011 70 + 5 Supervisor(s) of study Executive organisation Anneli Savolainen Business and Administration Abstract Sustainable development is one of the most important issues in the world today. People can play an important role in the sustainable development in different ways regardless of their own position. This study focuses on finding out how plastic bags could be substituted by jute bags and how it would contribute to the sustainable development. In addition, the study focuses on answering the question if the idea of substituting plastic bags by jute bags would be a profitable business innovation. For the study, it was examined how some Finnish customers liked the jute bag as a shopping bag and what was their attitude towards sustainable issues. The information collected in connection with this thesis work will...
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...rate is determined by the simple rule of demand and supply in the foreign exchange market. The currency is free to fluctuate according to the changes in demand and supply of foreign currency. On the other hand fixed or pegged exchange rate is another type of exchange rate in which the price of exchange of a currency is fixed or pegged in terms of gold or another currency. There is complete government control in fixed exchange rate system as only government has the power to change it. The economists founded by the annual observations for 183 countries over the period of 1974 to 2000, using a long run Gross Domestic Product growth equation regarding the standard factors explaining differences in GDP growth per capita, such as initial GDP, Education, openness, and government spending. The economists with their past findings happen to find that economies with flexible exchange rates grow more rapidly than those with the fixed exchange rate regimes. The difference in the rate of growth of Gross Domestic Product per capita is substantial,...
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