Therefore, formal education serves a number of purposes that can help a person succeed.
However, life experience can be as valuable as formal education and in fact is just as necessary. A person cannot learn everything in school. There are some lessons that cannot be taught in the classroom. The best example is traveling. A person can only learn about other cultures when traveling. Reading about other cultures offers some helpful background information and facts about the language and history. However, no amount of formal education about a culture can teach someone what it feels like to interact with people from that society. Another example of why life experience is just as important as formal education is interpersonal communications. In school students meet many people from different backgrounds but cannot socialize in the classroom. Their social interactions take place after school. Students of all ages need to learn proper behaviors,…...

Evidence-Based Leadership
As a grade school principal evidence-based leadership requires that I implement learning strategies that have been adequately researched and proven to be successful and effective with the population my school serves. Evidence-based leadership also requires that I continuously gather feedback and data regarding my leadership activities and my effectiveness within my school's environment. As a grade-school level principal in an underperforming urban school I have many opportunities to use evidence-based leadership to improve our school's instructional design and to monitor and enhance my own performance as the lead administrator. Two areas in which this has been particularly useful is the development of literacy programs in our school and the improvement of internal communications between the administrative team and the staff at our school.

When I entered as the lead administrator at my school site I was charged with the project of assessing our reading and English Language Arts (ELA) program.…...

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References

Steve Fleischman. Moving to Evidence-Based Professional Practice. Improving Professional Practice. March 2006. 63(6) pp 87-90. Web. 25 October, 2011

Principals Australia Incorporated. 2010. The L5 Frame and evidence-based leadership. Web. 25, October, 2010

http://www.principalsaustralia.edu.au/LL_APAPDC_STANDARDS

Early childhood education, from preschool to kindergarten, is a critical time. Of this fact, the research is almost completely conclusive. Ample evidence supports preschool as being one of the predicating factors of a child's later academic success. Unfortunately, not all children have equal access to preschool and pre-kindergarten programs. As Bridges (n.d.) also points out, research on preschool's efficacy in helping students reach higher academic achievement later in life is spurious and not necessarily valid. Amid all the "exaggerated claims about the effects of preschool," what emerges as fact and what is fallacy (Bridges, n.d., p. 195)? This review of literature, however small, attempts to answer this question by focusing on situational and contextual variables that impact preschool effectiveness.
Although early research on the efficacy of preschool was wrought with problems related to internal and external validity, Bridges (n.d.) claims that later studies offered more sensible research designs and methods. These…...

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References

Barnett, W.S. & Hustedt, J.T. (2003). Preschool: The Most Important Grade. Educational Leadership. April 2003.

Bracey, G.W. & Stellar, A. (2003). Long-term studies of preschool: Lasting benefits far outweigh costs. Phi Delta Kappan, June 2003.

Bridges, M. (n.d.). Which children benefit from preschool? Chapter 6 in ?

Chien, N.C., Howes, C., Pianta, R.C., Burchinal, M., Ritchie, S., Bryant, D.M., Clifford, R.M., Early, D.M. & Barbarin, O.A. (2010). Children's classroom engagement and school readiness gains in prekindergarten. Child Development 81(5): 1534-1549.

A teenager's ability to thrive in his/her social circle may have more to do with innate qualities such as companionship than looks or talents, attributes that are commonly associated with popularity.
Whereas peer relationships can clearly have a positive role in social development, there are certain types of peer orientation that can also be detrimental. There are some teenagers who are extremely orientated to their peers to the extent that they break parents' rules, sacrifice school performance, undermine their talents, and even hide positive areas of their lives in order to maintain their peer relationships (uligni et al., 2001). This is the type of peer orientation that parents commonly object to and for good reason. Extremely peer oriented teenagers often feel that they have to stand out and hence seek problem behavior-oriented peer groups such as those that regularly skip class, abuse alcohol, and use drugs (uligni et al., 2001).…...

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For parents who may be concerned about their child's troubled peer relationships or peer orientation, much can be learned from these documented evidences on child social development. Parents must understand that problems such as bullying, deviant behavior, association with problematic peer groups, and the like are often processes that evolve over time and involve an interplay between many early risk and protective factors (Schwartz, et al. 2000, Fuligni et al., 2001). While some of these factors are temperamental in nature (e.g. non-assertiveness, submissiveness), many of them are also parental control related. For instance there is evidence to suggest that maternal over-protectiveness can be a factor in the bullying of submissive and passive victims (Olweus, 1993 in Schwartz et al., 2000). Similarly, excessive parental control during the teenage years can drive adolescents to place greater importance on their peer relationships rather than their parents (Deveraux, 1970, in Fuligni et al., 2001). On the other hand, a complete lack of parental control or support can also lead adolescents to seek more advice from their peers and thus be more influenced by them rather than their parents (Bonfrenbenner, 1967; Condry and Simon, 1974; and Steinberg, 1987; in Fuligni et al., 2001). Hence, parents must try to exert a developmentally appropriate level of control on their children and learn to adjust their relationship with them to accommodate their child's increasing level of maturity.

Parents should encourage their children to cultivate friendships within peer groups that are achievement oriented, wherever they may be found - in school, a sports or hobby club, church, work, etc. Studies show that association with healthy peer groups such as these are less likely to result in children showing problem behavior and low academic achievements in the latter adolescent years (Fuligni et al., 2001). Parents should also try to promote closeness in the family (e.g. By having meals or doing simple things together). Family cohesion has been shown to buffer the effects on adolescents who may be involved with deviant peers and is hence a protective factor for possible problematic behavior (Fuligni et al., 2001).

This paper has described the many roles that friendships and peer groups can play in a child's social development. The impact of these relationships is especially significant during the volatile teenage years, a critical transitional stage when children have to renegotiate relationships with their parents while at the same time seek acceptance from their peers. Friendships can either make or break a child and the important role of parents lies in giving them age-appropriate freedom and control; providing a supportive, cohesive home environment; and encouraging their children to associate with peer groups that have a positive influence.

The idea is that imposing a concentration of coursework in reading, writing and arithmetic will make us more competitive with the world and better prepared for the future. According to Robinson, what the policymakers have failed to take into account is that the world is changing faster than ever in our history. He believes that the best hope for the future is to develop a new paradigm of human capacity to meet a new era of human existence. e need to create environments where every person is inspired to grow creatively in order to meet the challenges that lie ahead.
Edward de Bono (2005) notes that not only is the amount of information students learn during the time they are at school very limited, much of the knowledge they acquire while at school is quickly outdated. On the other hand, access to all kinds of information has become incredibly easy.…...

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Works Cited

Brautigan, Richard. "The Memoirs of Jesse James." Rommel Drives Deep into Egypt. New York: Dell, 1970.

de Bono, Edward. "Creativity at School: Is it even Possible?" Learning and Thinking. April, 2005. Teaching Expertise. 16 September 2010.

Geist, Eugene and Jennifer Hohn. "Encouraging Creativity in the Face of Administrative Convenience: How our Schools Discouage Divergent Thinking." Education. Vol. 130, Issue 1 (Fall 2009): 141-150. 15 September 2010.

Robinson, Ken. Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. New York: Viking Penguin, Penguin Group USA, 2009.

, 2007).
The use of the Cognitive Tutor not only enriches students' experience at the academic task-level but also impacts the teachers' instructional practices and relationship with her students (Level 3) A district-wide survey of high school teachers using the program reveals that the Cognitive Tutor allows them more time to provide individual assistance to students; gives them the opportunity to adjust their instructional practices as a result of students progressing in problem solving; and makes Algebra more interesting and relevant to students (Schneyderman, 2001). These views imply that the use of the program makes teaching less burdensome in the sense that the teacher acts as facilitator of learning rather than instructor, which is one of the arguments for educational technology in general.

Due perhaps to the wide acceptance of the use of Cognitive Tutor and other instructional software in American classrooms, the "No Child Left Behind" Act called for the U.S.…...

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Research evidence on implementation factors may suggest some explanations for the above findings. First, there are teacher-related issues. Technology products places demands on teachers' time and skills as they have to prepare the product, transfer the students to computer labs, maintain the technology, and monitor and help students as they use the software (Dynarski et al., 2007). Many teachers also feel that they have a significant need for professional development on how to manage classroom activities that integrate computer technology (Adelman et al. 2002 in Dynarski et al., 2007). In the ED study, although teachers underwent training and were confident at the end to use the products in their classes, their confidence dropped to some degree after they began using the products in the classroom (Dynarski et al., 2007). This may have been due in part to technical difficulties, which is another implementation factor issue. For instance, computer access may be limited, hardware can be unreliable, computer networks unstable, and technical support inadequate (Cuban, 2000 and Culp et al., 2003, in Dynarski et al., 2007). In the ED study, however, technical difficulties were considered "minor" as they were easily corrected or worked around (Dynarski et al., 2007).

These observations show how the other levels of school organization may affect the success of novel learning tasks and instructional design. Specifically, the teacher's belief about her efficacy and classroom management practices (Level 3) can send implicit and explicit messages to her students, that in turn may influence their academic performance (Eccles and Roeser, 1998). Hence, one of the recommendations of the ED study is to evaluate a second batch of students with the same teachers' implementing the products in their classroom. They hope to see the effect of teachers having prior experience and improved skills in using the products on students' performance (Dynarski et al., 2007). School resources (Level 5) in terms of adequate materials and technical capacity are also thought to be important for children's learning (Eccles and Roeser, 1998). Hence, it would be worthwhile to include recommending the upgrade of school computer networks and labs for Phase 2 of the ED study.

In summary, computer software such as the Cognitive Tutor can be beneficial for middle school and older students to improve their academic outcomes in challenging subjects like Math. For younger students such as those in grade school, the effectiveness of some computer software seems to be influenced by teacher and school factors. Although there is conclusive evidence from an ED study that reading and mathematics software don't significantly impact the performance of grade school and some middle school students, it could be worth addressing these contextual factors in a sequel study to re-evaluate the findings.

Teaching at the university level and at the grade school level can be vastly different. Institutional differences account for the largest part of the disparities between these ostensibly similar careers, but methodological differences also exist. Teaching is considered the primary focus of the grade school teacher's career, whereas university professors are often academic scholars rather than educators and teaching for such people is far less important than academic research.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, one in four Americans are enrolled in educational institutions. Education is the largest industry in the country, accounting for nearly 12 million jobs. Most of these people teach at the grade school level. Teaching is considered a trade rather than a profession: teachers are usually unionized. Teaching positions constitute almost half of all educational services jobs and require at least a bachelor's degree. Most school districts give their employees incentives to pursue further education; typically…...

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Howard Gardner; Reflections on multiple intelligences: myths and messages. Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 77, 1995 help students delve more deeply into subjects introduced in elementary school. Middle and secondary school teachers specialize in a specific academic subject, such as English, mathematics, or history, or a vocational area, such as automobile mechanics, business education, or computer repair. Some supervise extracurricular activities after school and help students deal with academic problems and choose courses, colleges, and careers.

Special education teachers work with students - from toddlers to those in their early 20s - who have a variety of learning and physical disabilities. Most special education teachers are found at the elementary school level. Using the general education curriculum, special education teachers modify instruction to meet a student's special needs. They also help special education students develop emotionally, be comfortable in social situations, and be aware of socially acceptable behavior.

Postsecondary teachers, or faculty as they are usually called, generally are organized into departments or divisions, based on subject or field. They teach and advise college students and perform a significant part of our Nation's research. They also consult with government, business, nonprofit, and community organizations. They prepare lectures, exercises, and laboratory experiments; grade exams and papers; and advise and work with students individually. Postsecondary teachers keep abreast of developments in their field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues and businesses, and participating in professional conferences. They also do their own research to expand knowledge in their field, often publishing their findings in scholarly journals, books, and electronic media..

Utilization of the data and collection of the data should be one of the main aims of the policy makers. The data can be used by the policymakers in order to develop the policies and implement these in order to make sure that improvement can be ensured (Basch, 2011, p. 9).
3. One of the main roles that can be played by the policy makers includes reviewing the policies that have already been designed for the schools. How these previous policies have played roles in an improvement of academics of the children, their environments and their health are important parts of the review by the policymakers. It is important that funding is collected for the issues that affect health and academics of children.

4. The policymakers should make sure that the importance of school-based health clinics that can play roles in looking after the needs of the students.

Great levels of differences…...

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References

Basch, C. (2011). Executive Summary: Healthier Students Are Better Learners. Journal of School Health 81, pp. 4-107.

Bruzzese, J., Sheares, B.J., Vincent, E.J., Du, Y., Sadeghi, H., Levison, M.J., Mellins, B.R., and Evans, D. (2011). Effects of a School-based Intervention for Urban Adolescents with Asthma: A Controlled Trial. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. April 15, 2011 183, pp. 998-1006.

Gall, G., Pagano, M.E., Desmond, S., Perrin, J.M., and Murphy, J.M. (2000). Utility of Psychosocial Screening at a School-based Health Center. Journal of School Health 70, pages 292 -- 298.

Geierstanger, P.S., Amaral, G., Mansour, M., and Walters, R.S. (2004). School-Based Health Centers and Academic Performance: Research, Challenges, and Recommendations. Journal of School Health 74, pages 347 -- 352.

Schools and Education
Over the last several years, the field of education has been facing tremendous challenges. This is because of shifts in how they address a host of issues and there are changing demographics of students. These are all signs of broader social implications which are having an effect on individual performance and their ability to adapt with a variety of situations. (Rury, 2013)

Evidence of this can be seen with observations from Rury (2013) who said, "e live in a time of considerable social and political turmoil, marked by economic uncertainty that has directly touched the lives of millions of Americans. Deep divisions and critical problems, as a range of issues are debated fervently, extending from economic policy, to poverty and inequality. If there is anything everyone seems to agree upon it the growing importance of education for the future. ithout expanding our present knowledge and abilities, it is unlikely…...

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Works Cited

Ballantine, Jeanne. 2012. Schools and Society. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Hendrix, L. (2013). Education and Society. (Educational Autobiography).

Morris, Edward. 2012. Learning the Hard Way. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Rury, John. 2013. Education and Social Change. New York: Routledge.

Schools in the 21st century are very different from the one-room schoolhouses that once dotted the American landscape. Today a single school can house thousands of students at various grade levels and many schools integrate the latest technologies into their curriculums. With this being understood, it will be interesting to see how school curriculum will change in the future. The purpose of this discussion is to examine how schools will change in the future as it pertains to technology. The discussion will also focus on the introduction of schools as social anchors, that are both moral and purposeful.
Schools of the future

Indeed technology will continue to play a large role in schools of the future. Educators will continue to incorporate technology into the curriculum. According to Caldwell and Hayward (1998) "schooling at the upper secondary level will become more complex and diverse, with multiple providers; combined with advances made possible by…...

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Bibliography

Briefing paper on Emerging Issues and Best Practices -- Introduction. Retrieved April 19, 2005 from;  http://www.arc.org/gripp/publicEducation/grippPublicEducPg06.html 

Florida Virtual School: The Future of Learning? A Forum Brief -- October 18, 2002. American Youth Policy Forum. Retrieved April 19, 2005 from;  http://www.aypf.org/forumbriefs/2002/fb101802.htm 

Caldwell, B.J., & Hayward, D.K. (1998). The Future of Schools: Lessons from the Reform of Public Education. London: Falmer Press.

Huskey, B.L., & Wiley, R. (1993, August). Using Public Education Campaigns to Build Community Partnerships. Corrections Today, 55, 154+.

For school retention, the major reason for support of this was academic achievement. If the child does not meet the set benchmarks for performance, the decision-making panel simply agreed to retention of the student. There was no formal assessment system for this decision process.
These results were supported by the result of the study conducted by Hong and audenbush (2006)

who found that student achievement were used in state and district schools to decide social promotion vs. school retention instead of formal systems of assessment of student performance. According to these findings, the schools that used academic achievement as the main criterion for social promotion did not bother to understand how the decision affected the student for who the decision was being made and the other students in general. The findings of these authors showed that these were very important aspects in the general performance of the school itself and the…...

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References

Bali, V.A., Anagnostopoulos, D., & Roberts, R. (2005). Toward a Political Explanation of Grade Retention. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 27(2), 133-155. doi: 10.2307/3699523

Hong, G., & Raudenbush, S.W. (2005). Effects of Kindergarten Retention Policy on Children's Cognitive Growth in Reading and Mathematics. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 27(3), 205-224. doi: 10.2307/3699569

Hong, G., & Raudenbush, S.W. (2006). Evaluating Kindergarten Retention Policy: A Case Study of Causal Inference for Multilevel Observational Data. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 901-910. doi: 10.2307/27590770

Jacob, B.A., & Lefgren, L. (2009). The Effect of Grade Retention on High School Completion. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 1(3), 33-58. doi: 10.2307/25760170

They predict age and gender variations relate to bullying concerns. Of the 25 cartoons implemented in the study, two depict characters with different shades of skin color where skin color appeared to be an issue. One cartoon relating to sexual orientation was not used in several countries. Smith et al. report Olweus to assert bullying to be characterized by the following three criteria:
1. It is aggressive behavior or intentional "harmdoing"

2. which carried out repeatedly and over time

3. In an interpersonal relationship characterized by an imbalance of power. (Smith et al., 2002, p. 1120)

In their study, Smith et al. (2002), participating researchers in the 14 countries to completed the following

1. Listed and selected bullying terms as well as social exclusion in the applicable language.

2. Used fundamental focus groups with participating children to confirm usage and extensive comprehensive of terms.

3. Using cartoons, sorted tasks to describe ways terms relating to bullying…...

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REFERENCES

Anti-Bullying programs for schools. (2009). NoBully.com. Retrieved March 3, 2010 from  http://www.nobully.com/index.html 

Beaty, L.A., & Alexeyev, E.B. (2008). The Problem of School Bullies: What the Research Tells Us. Adolescence, 43(169), 1+. Retrieved March 3, 2010, from Questia database:  http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5026476147 

Beran, T.N., Tutty, L. & Steinrath, G. (2004). An evaluation of a bullying prevention program for elementary schools. Canadian Journal of School Psychology. Vol. 19, Iss. 1/2, p. 99

116 . Retrieved March 3, 2010 from  http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1188387401&Fmt=4&clientId=9269&RQT=30

These issues of professionalism and innovation seem to be a major problem in many public schools in America. In recent years these issues have come to light as teachers have been disciplined and even fired for their interactions with students that have been unprofessional and even criminal at times. Teachers have an ethical responsibility to act professionally and when they fell to do so the ability of students to excel academically is also compromised.
The aforementioned authors also mention the lack of innovation that often occurs as a result of using democratic methods. One of the reasons why school choice is even an issue is because the curriculums that have been implemented in public schools lack variety. Part of the reason for this lack of innovation has to do with bureaucracy and government mandates such as the No Child Left Behind Act. This particular act stifles innovation because many teachers…...

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Works Cited

Cullen, J.B. Brian A. Jacob and Steven D. Levitt (2005) The impact of school choice on student outcomes: an analysis of the Chicago Public Schools. Journal of Public Economics. 89 (5-6):729-760

Hastings, Justine S. Thomas J. Kane Douglas Staiger (2005) Parental Preferences and School Competition: Evidence from a Public School Choice Program .Yale Economic Applications and Policy Discussion Paper No. 10

Moe, Terry. 2001. Schools, Vouchers and the American Public. Washington: Brookings Institution Press

Sikkink, D., Emerson M.O. (2008) School choice and racial segregation in U.S. schools: The role of parents' education. Ethnic and Racial Studies 31(2): 267-293

Transportation

Students who are bussed to a larger school can use the time to be productive; reading, homework, etc.

1.5-2 hours per day of commuting is unacceptable for students and will eat into their family and work time.

Opportunities

A larger school will provide greater opportunity for social networks, sports, music, drama, and more extracurricular activities.

Loss of community will make the younger students uncomfortable as well.

Academics

A larger school will provide greater academic opportunities for the HS students in preparation for university; there are more resources available.

The student to teach ratio will change and the students will be part of just another large classroom.

Thus, the question really comes down to potential. Neither side can equivocally state that the future of the students will be better or worse; there are arguments for both as well as the possibility that the solution will be quite positive for some, not so positive for others. Clearly, there needs to…...

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REFERENCES

Cary, S. (2003). A Beginner's Guide to the Scientific Method. New York: Wadsworth.

Cresswell, J. (2003). Research Design. New York: Sage.

Groves, R. a. (2003). Introducing Political Philosophy. New York: Icon Books.

Hatton, J. (1996). Science and Its Ways of Knowing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Benjamin Cummings Publishers.

, 1999). In many areas of the country this may be very accurate.
Another problem that comes into the picture where obesity in children is concerned is that many parents must work very long hours today to pay bills and have money for what their family needs (Mokdad, et al., 1999). ecause of this, many children are latchkey kids and are not watched as closely by their parents as they used to be (Mokdad, et al., 1999). Children used to come home from school and go and play with others, but many now live in neighborhoods where this is unsafe or where there are no children their age so they remain inside watching TV or playing video games and snacking on whatever is available (Mokdad, et al., 1999).

If there is healthy food in the house this is often not a problem, but many households are full of potato chips, candy, soda,…...

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Bibliography

Anderson, J.G. (1987). Structural equation models in the social and behavioral sciences: Model building. Child Development, 58, 49-64.

Arlin, M. (1976). Causal priority of social desirability over self-concept: A cross-lagged correlation analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 267-272.

Averill, P. (1987). The role of parents in the sport socialization of children. Unpublished senior thesis, University of Houston.

Bandura, a. (1969). A social-learning theory of identificatory processes. In D.A. Goslin (Ed.), Handbook of socialization theory and research (pp. 213-262). Chicago: Rand McNally.