text:
I am listening to a media call on this new report by the Stanford Graduate School of Education and the Economic Policy Institute.
On the call, Richard Rothstein, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, calls the use of international test data to vilify U.S. student performance has been "misleading and exaggerated."
He and Martin Carnoy, a professor of education at Stanford, disaggregated the data used in the international comparison by social class and came up with a far more nuanced picture of U.S. performance.
But here is the official summation:
Socioeconomic inequality among U.S. students skews international comparisons of test scores, finds a new report released today by the Stanford Graduate School of Education and the Economic Policy Institute. When differences in countries' social class compositions are adequately taken into account, the performance of U.S. students in relation to students in other countries improves markedly.
The report, "What do international tests really show about U.S. student performance?" also details how errors in selecting sample populations of test-takers and arbitrary choices regarding test content contribute to results that appear to show U.S. students lagging.
In conducting the research, report co-authors Martin Carnoy, a professor of education at Stanford, and Richard Rothstein, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, examined adolescent reading and mathematics results from four test series over the last decade, sorting scores by social class for the Program on International Student Assessment (PISA), the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and two forms of the domestic National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
Based on their analysis, the co-authors found that average U.S. scores in reading and math on the PISA are low partly because a disproportionately greater share of U.S. students comes from disadvantaged social class groups, whose performance is relatively low in every country.
As part of the study, Carnoy and Rothstein calculated how international rankings on the most recent PISA might change if the United States had a social class composition similar to that of top-ranking nations: U.S. rankings would rise to fourth from 14th in reading and to 10th from 25th in math. The gap between U.S. students and those from the highest-achieving countries would be cut in half in reading and by at least a third in math.
"You can't compare nations' test scores without looking at the social class characteristics of students who take the test in different countries," said Carnoy. "Nations with more lower social class students will have lower overall scores, because these students don't perform as well academically, even in good schools. Policymakers should understand how our lower and higher social class students perform in comparison to similar students in other countries before recommending sweeping school reforms."
The report also found:
There is an achievement gap between more and less disadvantaged students in every country; surprisingly, that gap is smaller in the United States than in similar post-industrial countries, and not much larger than in the very highest scoring countries.
Achievement of U.S. disadvantaged students has been rising rapidly over time, while achievement of disadvantaged students in countries to which the United States is frequently unfavorably compared – Canada, Finland and Korea, for example – has been falling rapidly.
But the highest social class students in United States do worse than their peers in other nations, and this gap widened from 2000 to 2009 on the PISA.
U.S. PISA scores are depressed partly because of a sampling flaw resulting in a disproportionate number of students from high-poverty schools among the test-takers. About 40 percent of the PISA sample in the United States was drawn from schools where half or more of the students are eligible for the free lunch program, though only 23 percent of students nationwide attend such schools.
With each release of international test scores, many education leaders assert that American students are unprepared to compete in the new global economy, largely because of U.S. schools' shortcomings in educating disadvantaged students.
"Such conclusions are oversimplified, frequently exaggerated and misleading," said Rothstein, who is also senior fellow at the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute of Law and Social Policy at the University of California – Berkeley School of Law. "They ignore the complexity of test results and may lead policymakers to pursue inappropriate and even harmful reforms."
Carnoy and Rothstein examined test results in detail from the United States and six other nations: three of the highest scorers (Canada, Finland and South Korea) and three economically comparable nations (France, Germany and the United Kingdom). In cases where U.S. states voluntarily participated in the TIMSS for 8th grade mathematics, the researchers compared trends in these states' scores with trends in 8th grade mathematics on the NAEP.
The researchers show that score trends on these different tests can be very inconsistent, suggesting need for greater caution in interpreting any single test. For example, declining trends in U.S. average PISA math scores do not track with trends in TIMSS and NAEP, which show substantial math improvements for all U.S. social classes
Carnoy and Rothstein say that the differences in average scores on these tests reflect arbitrary decisions about content by the designers of the tests. For example, although it has been widely reported that U.S. 15 year-olds perform worse on average than students in Finland in mathematics, U.S. students perform better than students in Finland in algebra but worse in number properties (e.g., fractions). If algebra had greater weight in tests, and numbers less weight, test scores could show that U.S. overall performance was superior to that of Finland.
The report comes as the administrators of TIMSS are preparing to make public more detailed data underlying 2011 test results, following last month's release of average national scores. PISA plans to release detailed data on its 2012 test in December 2013. Carnoy said that he and Rothstein will then be able to supplement their present report by comparing the most recent TIMSS and PISA results by social class across countries. He invites other researchers to conduct similar analyses, to see if their findings confirm those of the present report.
–from Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
January 15th, 2013
12:31 pm
So, "we're doing a worse job of maintaining economic parity and educating poorer students" is our justification for doing poorly? Great! Proud to be an American! I'm very skeptical. It seems denying these results is justification by educrats to maintain the status quo.
January 15th, 2013
12:35 pm
Just another article to try to defend why American students are so dumb. Blame it lack of money, phones, cars, clothes, etc. Basically anything and everything is at fault except the student.
January 15th, 2013
12:43 pm
guest, I don't think it is "blaming" other things besides student effort. Everyone knows some poor folks who work very hard to OVERCOME the effects of poverty and lack of parental education. But, for many students, the effects of their parents' (you fill in the blank laziness, lack of education, poor decision-making, etc) is a difficult task to climb over. More difficult, say, than showing up rested, well-fed, well-provided-for, read-to, having tons of parental time and effort invested since before birth.
January 15th, 2013
12:49 pm
One of the "precursor" traits to serious sociopaths is the torture and cruelty to pets and small animals. They get pleasure from this. Of course, when you design a video game where you can see your opponents brains blown out of his skull, who needs to do real cruelty to an animal. You get the same jolt. Did the video game CAUSE the insanity – NO, but it compounds the problem.
Do I think these games should be banned – I honestly don't know. But I DO think it is hypocritical to ban child pornography because it is a danger to society and still leave those FPS killing games. To me there is no difference.
January 15th, 2013
12:50 pm
"these students don't perform as well academically, even in good schools"
This is a job for MORE SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS man!!!!!
January 15th, 2013
12:50 pm
You can agree that thousands of "poor" kids do well and achieve greatness, right? If so, then ALL "poor" kids can. It's just a matter of how much they want it, and in today's society, they are taught not to work hard because they're poor, a minority, etc.
January 15th, 2013
12:50 pm
Sorry, somehow jumped to the wrong blog.
January 15th, 2013
12:53 pm
I look forward to reviewing the report's methodology further. To me, you take all these reports with a grain of salt. I just have to look at the composition of students at the elite colleges and universities to know how far behind we have fallen. I also know from the composition of students I have interviewed for my alma mater the past 20 years to see that we are falling behind.
Data or no data, our achievement gap is far too wide and needs to be fixed. What I cannot support is research that folks will use to indicate our public education system is not sub-standard. As a college professor to tell you how much time they spend on remedial work because their freshmen come in unprepared because they did not get the foundation in K-12.
January 15th, 2013
12:59 pm
there is so much wrong here…
1-the basic premise is flawed to support a predetermined (ie, we crap on the poor) outcome.
2-after decades in higher ed working at the most international student body, my observations are international students ARE far and away ahead of ours
3-we attempt to educate everybody – most nations don't
4-we take a perverse pride in demanding lower standards for our children. most of the rest of the world demands higher standards. familiar with the Asian F concept?
5-BS on our poor can't do it. I saw it daily for decades. Its got zero do to with income, everything to do with desire.
January 15th, 2013
1:03 pm
You can agree that thousands of "poor" kids do well and achieve greatness, right? If so, then ALL "poor" kids can. It's just a matter of how much they want it, and in today's society, they are taught not to work hard because they're poor, a minority, etc
January 15th, 2013
1:08 pm
@Bootney, surprisingly, I largely agree with you : ) I would just add that "desire" can be fixed. A combination of school and community support can fix "desire." I have seen it first hand with strong enrichment programs that focus on social & emotional learning.
January 15th, 2013
1:17 pm
one of the very most rewarding days of the year at GPC was graduation day. it may not seem like much to most people, graduating from a 2 year school. but for most of the graduates, even in this day/age, it was the first time anyone in their family graduated college.
they carried not only their hopes and dreams, but that of entire families, occasionally communities.
they got it done in large part due to desire and hard work.
and BTW: most of the star students were either direct immigrants or 1st generation US.
January 15th, 2013
1:18 pm
two major quotes which apply here
1-poverty is a mental disease
2-those who say it can't be done are often passed by those who are doing it
January 15th, 2013
1:20 pm
@ maureen
I didn't see any mention of the effects of sugar mama students.
did I miss something?
January 15th, 2013
1:56 pm
Didn't Bracey try to tell us this?
January 15th, 2013
2:50 pm
Ummm, am I the only one who has never heard of any of these tests? Who are they giving them to? Please tell me after all these years someone didn't notice that more poor students from the US were taking these tests! Perhaps it is proof that the US education system really is failing…. SMDH
January 15th, 2013
3:27 pm
It has long been shown that socio-economic status is one of the major reasons behind a student's success, or lack of, in school. This study proves what many of the educational psychologists, analysts, etc… have been saying all along; remove that factor from our test scores and we rank far higher in the international rankings than the reformists (i.e. educational privateers) want you to believe. You see, they want you to believe how dire our educational system is so that it opens the door to those who see an opportunity to make a mint at the expense of our students. Watch the documentary "The Shock Doctrine" to understand how those in power seek to scare the general public with cries of "the sky is falling" so that they will willingly oblige to accept the new, quick-fix remedy (and guess who gains to profit by peddling such a remedy? The very ones who create and stir up the fear of parents, etc…) I am not saying that there are things in our public schools that don't need to be fixed but instead of investing (and I don't mean solely in monetary terms), but the currently fashionable method of disinvesting in our schools and putting them into the hands of privateers is not the way to go.
January 15th, 2013
4:24 pm
So the perceptions of universities that entering freshmen can't function at university level … and of employers that young hires lack basic math and communication skills … are without merit?
Gee, wonder what the teachers' unions think of all this?
January 15th, 2013
5:27 pm
Just got through writing a chapter for our book entitled, "Family Income is Predictive of Academic Achievement." I have been writing articles on this for years. Free and Reduced lunch counts always correlate with academic achievement. When the scores of students from very low performing urban schools (it's almost always urban schools) are factored in, then the scores of the rest of the country pretty much align with the much-heralded Finland. But, what do we do with the urban schools? Our educrats just keep letting the students act like thugs and abuse the teachers. The educrats actually blame the teachers for the low scores because they don't have the guts to grab the bull by the horn and establish discipline in these war zone schools.
January 15th, 2013
5:28 pm
"disaggregated the data used in the international comparison by social class "
I sure would like to know how they did that, but that's one long report.
January 15th, 2013
5:29 pm
Why are my comments always "awaiting moderation"? Are they that explosive? Ha!
January 15th, 2013
5:29 pm
I suppose you are one of those people who believe that everyone can be a doctor too.
January 15th, 2013
5:42 pm
Atlanta Mom,
What's wrong with all kids trying to achieve the most they can? If they don't get into medical school they have a nice major and go get their Ph.D. You represent what is wrong with this country's mindset. You probably believe we shouldn't push kids too hard bc good ole Obama will help out. Besides, it's not fair someone else got into medical school and I didn't, right?
January 15th, 2013
5:46 pm
Hey sneak peek into education,
If the U.S. also removes the test scores for the lower 50%, we would also score higher.
January 15th, 2013
6:20 pm
10:10 Why do you keep obsessing about teacher unions? the one is Britain has 300,000 members and been there for 150 years.
January 15th, 2013
6:21 pm
Yes, Fan. Departed friend Jerry Bracey DID pull the data apart from past multinational comparisons and point out that when those from the same economic levels are compared, our public schools did quite well indeed. Detractors claiming U.S. education a failure conveniently ignore the fact that we have a FAR higher percentage of kids in poverty than the "competing" countries.
Here's a recent very short piece by Stephen Krashen citing Jerry's work:
The first piece I noticed from Jerry on poverty was in 1999 (but I'd guess he started much earlier). Later, in responding to Reid Lyons, obviously untrained in data analysis or research method, who claimed on the basis of international tests that American schools were failing, Jerry noted:
"No they're not. Some are, no doubt. But in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, American kids in low poverty schools stomped the top-ranked Swedes. Even kids in schools with up to 50% of the students in poverty attained an average score that, had they constituted a nation, would have ranked 4th. Only American students attending schools with 75%+ poverty scored below the international average of the 35 participating countries."
Bottom line is that according to the data available, many American public schools are far and away the best in the world. Georgia's legislature, however, seems bound and determined to make sure that's no longer the case.
10:10 and others like: Please remove your dunce hats. NObody, including those in our NOT unions (you still haven't been able to learn the incredibly simple fact that this is a right to work state?) argues that we don't need to do better with our high poverty students who yes indeed have trouble when entering college. One of the major goals of our society has been to break the "poverty cycle." Too bad we voters don't elect representatives who get that.
Ah, much too long. Last: BEST piece I've seen on poverty and schooling is David Berliner's in TCR: "Effects of Inequality and Poverty vs. Teachers and Schooling on America's Youth" http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=16889 (Sorry, not a freebie)
January 15th, 2013
6:27 pm
AM: Several ways to collect socioeconomic data: sometimes it's just by self-report (not a good one – kids don't know how much mom and dad make); frequently the data are aggregated from school records from which the sample students are drawn. None of it's perfect, but the statistical error averages out over large numbers. Big work like we're discussing usually asks for school record data.
January 15th, 2013
7:26 pm
The authors of this article needed to take it one step further. Stratify the population by race AND socioeconomic factors. My hypothesis would be that the kids of the same race and socioeconomics would fare well with each other across nationalities.
What if there is a racial "achievement gap" between the races in other countries. What will the politically correct blame it on then?
January 15th, 2013
8:23 pm
I know I never gave socioeconomic information to my children's school. I do remember one of my children coming home after some standardized test asking what our household income was (no response to that question).
Are we once again basing this on "free and reduced" lunches?
And…………this information also had to be obtained in the other countries as well.
Maybe I'll scan the executive summary over the weekend and see if I can spot it.
January 15th, 2013
9:21 pm
Informative video about history of Prussian schooling circa 1850, i.e. what lead to compliant public ready to be enthusiastic for doctrine of a "slow and steady march to a police state." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okPnDZ1Txlo
January 15th, 2013
9:29 pm
Whoa! Horace Mann circa 1840 talked about "blind allegiance to arbitrary power. Yow. That sounds way too familiar in the present school management structure.
It is apparent to me that any serious studier of U. S. government schools K-12 education need be learn-ed in the works of Horace Mann, from which the whole thing sprung. From the year 1846, https://learn.usf.edu/bbcswebdav/users/ljohnso2/3604/Readings/Mann_10th.htm
January 15th, 2013
10:45 pm
[...] "Socioeconomic inequality among U.S. students skews international comparisons of test scores, finds a new report released today by the Stanford Graduate School of Education and the Economic Policy Institute. When differences in countries' social class compositions are adequately taken into account, the performance of U.S. students in relation to students in other countries improves markedly." | via Get Schooled [...]
January 15th, 2013
10:51 pm
@ Jerry Eads: If you're going to be insulting, at least have someone help you be clever about it.
And do drop by the National Education Association's website. They seem under the impression they are indeed a union—which makes their dues payers here in Georgia (100% of GAE members) union members, does it not?
And there is much more to unions than local workplace militancy.
January 16th, 2013
12:13 am
10:10 why you being so one sided? because you do not know. I can see your point about the national political. And slay GAE as they are a fake org like all of them in that no one in Georgia protects worker rights to basically not be abused and bouced around like a ping pong ball. That is what you are missing. Historically, unions are for safety reasons not for grouping as a gang to screw the managers out of money, or be a manipulate co-opted political force. I think that is what you are objecting an too and sounds good and you should be specific, but you have no business to throw out the safety and worker protection part, and that is the part the teachers care about, and in Georigia teachers need worker safeguards because they a lot of administrators who order teachers around and I do not mean in a good way. I mean "Pack up your classroom and move it over here" and three months later "Pack up your classroom again and move it over here." In other words, WORKER HARASSMENT and you missed that part of it. That's the real core of unions, is to protect workers from unreasonable rough treatment.
January 16th, 2013
8:53 am
Don't think the performance of international students in our colleges is relevant for comparing school systems. Those are their brightest, most ambitious students. And they may be in a state school while our brightest, most amibitious tend to be at Ivy League schools. And there are more than 4 times the number of Chinese and Indians as Americans.
January 16th, 2013
9:29 am
@10:10 – the unions that you constantly whine about helped to bring about sweeping changes to the landscape of american but in a good way- child labor laws, women's rights, shorter working week, health and safety in the workplace, health-care benefits, and leave for new moms.
What kind of person would decry these things as being bad for the good of our nation? You still would like to see children being used for cheap labor in the workforce? You would still like to see workers being forced to work endless hours during the week (without overtime pay) and with no weekends off? You would still like to see unsafe working conditions that lead to loss of life or workers being maimed? You would still like to see a woman's right to have a small amount of time (and yes, it's so minimal) of time off after she becomes a new mom?
Sounds like you have shown your true colors.
January 16th, 2013
10:34 am
My gripe with the teachers' union is that it is at least as much about raising money for the Democrat Party and thus protecting union dues revenues—than about workplace protections. http://goo.gl/bNdPt
And its anti-reform, anti-parental choice stances are unconscionable.
January 16th, 2013
10:39 am
@ sneak:
Here's the link to the NEA's political slush fund dollars I was actually looking for: http://goo.gl/rtJIZ
January 16th, 2013
1:00 pm
S. Downey has provided a good review of Carnoy and Rothstein's report.
The report disaggregates student "class" into 6 subgroups. Subgroups "1″ ("Lowest") and "2″ are categorized as "Disadvantaged", while subgroups "5″ and "6″("Highest") are deemed "Advantaged".
Of the U.S. PISA-taking students 38% were Disadvantaged, compared to 18% in the top-3-scoring nations (aggregate of Canada, Finland and Korea), and 29% in "similar to U.S. post-industrial" countries (aggregate of UK, France and Germany).
Of the U.S. students, 18% were categorized as Advantaged, vs. 28% for the top-3-scoring, and 23% for the "similar to U.S." aggregate countries.
In all individual countries, Advantaged (Groups and 6) students outscored, substantially, their Disadvantaged schoolmates.
Therefore given the U.S.'s having the highest proportion of Disadvantaged students among compared countries, and the lowest proportion of Advangated students, one would conclude that at least part of the U.S.'s lower-than-other developed nations' scores can be attributable to socioeconomic class-profile disparities between nations.
How did the authors generate 6 social-class sub-groups? This is a key question.
The OECD collects information on test-takers' parents' levels of education completion, occupations,
at-home resources such as a desk for home study, having one's own bedroom, household quietude, a dictionary, poetry books, works of art at home, #'s of household computers, cell phones, TVs, cars, et al. (See report's "Part IV", below Table 13 for a complete list of OECD 's parameters, how they are relatively weighed is unknown).
The authors chose to use as a "social class proxy", the amount of shelf-space devoted to book storage at home, reported by test-takers in their test questionnaires, which the authors then "converted" to #s of books at home.
Social-Class 1 => 0-10 books in the home, Class 2 11-25, Class 3 26-100, Class 4 101-200, Class 5 201-500, Class 6 >500 books in the home.
The authors admit that students' estimates of shelf space devoted to book storage may be subject to some inaccuracy, and that the authors' own conversion of students' shelf space estimates to numbers of books may be confounded by the "thinness vs. thickness" of home books–for example, Koreans [and other East Asians] may tend to own relatively more paperbacks than "cloth" bound books, than Westerners, so children's shelf-space estimates, where accurate, may not generate accurate book-number "conversions". [My own note: pirated Chinese textbooks are usually printed in very thin semi-translucent "rice" paper, as well.]
In summary, Carnoy and Rothstein use, as their primary social-class proxy, family literacy levels, i.e. love (or lack thereof) of learning through reading at home. This may be the report's "take-home lesson".
Not to trivialize, and certainly not to pooh-pooh the Stanford-Berkeley scholars' report, which contains much useful information, but it is pretty common knowledge that homes with many books, parents who consistently read to their younger children at bedtime, take them to the library often (children's section to start), help them obtain library cards, and encourage them to read instead of watching the "boob tube", tend to produce advanced-reading ability children.
January 16th, 2013
1:23 pm
Thank you home-tutoring parent.
That was certainly not what I expected for social-class identification, but it's an interesting way to do it.
January 16th, 2013
1:57 pm
@10:10 – your argument doesn't hold weight when the schools that are unionized generally are the ones that outperform the non-unionized schools. Oh dear, that flies in the face of your argument that unions thwart educational success for children. The fact that they donate to the democratic party is a also moot-look at the money that was thrown at the elections by the oligarchs of our time; koch bros, rupert murdoch, et al, with hopes of pushing their ALEC-ridden agenda to put public education into the hands of the private sector-not because they care about children; it's all about the money. If unions didn't exist, the powers to be would have the general workforce working for peanuts in the worst of working conditions so that they can maximize their profits.
January 16th, 2013
2:13 pm
PISA data have been troubling for many years.
On a somewhat positive note, Carnoy and Rothstein demonstrate that disadvantaged (Class 1 and 2) 15 y/o's PISA Reading and Math scores have risen since 2000, by about 18-20 points, or approximately 6%.
Our disadvantaged students outperform France's, and Germany's, and U.K's disadvantaged students in Reading. For Math, our scores are equal (to Germany& UK) or slightly higher (than France's). (See report's figures B1 and C1, and, for number crunchers' satisfaction, accompanying tables 9A and 12A)
On a less sanguine note, our disadvantaged students' Reading and Math scores significantly lag Canada's, and Finland's, and Korea's disadvantaged students' scores. (See figures B2 and C2.)
In the 2009 test, the U.S. vs. Top-3's "gaps" were smaller than 2000. Simple lines-extrapolation suggests a potential full-catchup in Reading could occur in the next 10-20 years, with Math catchup taking somewhat longer. However, scores can and have dropped at times, so catching up is not assured. But overall, our disadvantaged students' scores are trending upward, whereas other countries' not so much, so gap-elimination is conceivable.
Unfortunately, our schools aren't doing as well with advantaged social-class students. We need to address them because they are our future innovators, inventors, entrepreneurs, managers and leaders.
The bad news is that our Class 5 and 6 students' PISA Reading and Math scores are statistically the same in 2000 and 2009. Our Reading scores are the same, or nearly so, relative to the Top 3 countries, but the Math score gaps are significant. Our scores dropped from 2000 to 2003, and from to 2006. They have subsequently "rebounded" to 2000 levels, but will have to keep rising (while the Top 3's stagnate or fall) to eliminate the "gaps".
January 16th, 2013
4:09 pm
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which created PISA, is, as you may infer from the spelling, a chiefly European-led endeavor.
Our government's National Center for Education Statistics has information on the test.
Interested readers can even "take a test sampling" of PISA questions, click "Sample Assessment Questions".
I did this. There are 12 "Items" (reading passages, some with accompanying figures) with 22 accompanying "Questions", and 30 specific total response opportunities.
The test uses Systeme Internationale ("SI" aka "metric") measurement units. This could be disadvantageous for American students, in the context that even if SI units are taught in school, our students don't use them in ordinary daily life, so they're not "deeply ingrained" as they are in international students.
Aside from this, the PISA is a refreshing change from our standardized tests, because the questions require thinking. At least that was what I found. For example, a very smart student can't just eyeball-recognize correct answer choices and whip through 4 questions per minute, or even 1 per minute.
The information given is generally complex. For example in a "Movie" question about three 15 year olds' consensually selecting a movie to go see, during a vacation week, a table of 6 movies, their weekday and weekend showtimes, and age-ratings is presented. Constraints include the boys' going to an appropriate age-rated movie (3 of the 6 movies), two boys having to attend other matters on three of the vacation days, one boy having already seen one of the 3 allowed movies and rejecting the prospect of a second watching, parental theater pick-up before 10 PM, and different evening-show times, one of them being too late.
So what can they see, and when can they all go to see it?
It's a reasonable "real world activities" problem. Only about half the students here and internationally specified the 3 movies the boys "should consider watching" and when presented one specific movie, with 5 day/date choices, 1 out of 3 students here and internationally could not identify the correct choice!
There is a problem involving a travel from point A to point B on a city-train system, shown as a "map", with three intercrossing lines shown, giving three possible route choices. Each line has multiple stations, with travel cost being charged for each station reached from the starting one (not including the starting station), 1 zed per, and uniform interstation travel time, 2 minutes between stations, specified. Time for changing lines is given, 5 minutes.
The question requires pencilling-marking the fastest and cheapest route, and specifying the cost and time required. All three choices require two train changes, so one only has to count stations shown, and find which route has the fewest, multiply this by 2 min per station travel time, add 10 minutes for train changes, and the fare is # of stations passed/reached in zed.
Only 5.5% of Americans got this fully correct, and only 11.2% of international students did.
This question is arguably "biased towards" kids who live in cities with extensive interconnecting commuter-rail and/or bus systems, who would intuitively "get" the question from their own "real world" experience.
Finally, OECD provides many old-test questions to participating schools, along with guidance on the test's principle objectives. Teachers are free to show the test questions to students, and have them work on them. It would not surprise me in the least if schools in Finland, Korea, Japan, Shanghai, Canada and elsewhere practiced for the test, and focused on the concepts embedded in the tests. As the test is primarily used to evaluate nations, not individual schools or students, at least by the OECD, "test-prepping" may quite conceivably be a national undertaking in the highest-performing countries.
I think, based on the sample questions on the nces.gov website, and others on oecd.org's website, the test is reasonable, overall, I would even say superior to the NCLB/NAEP, and SAT/ACT/GRE bubble-fill tests and sample questions I have seen. (Yes, I know SAT has added some "free response" math questions, and SAT and ACT have writing tests, but the test questions remain mostly bubble-fill.)
Whether PISA, or more precisely, a PISA analog, should be adopted here (Australia has a PISA-emulating national exam), and whether our schools' curricula should be overhauled to teach PISA's principles, are questions that are worth at least asking and exploring by our education community.
I do not say this because, "We must catch up! The 'Asian Tigers', Finns and Canadians are leaving us behind!" but rather because excelling in PISA requires critical thinking, juggling multiple facts and ideas, grappling with cognitive challenges, and experiencing interesting insights.
January 16th, 2013
4:17 pm
erratum: "principle objectives" should be "principles and objectives", although "principal objectives" is a reasonable alternative.
January 16th, 2013
4:24 pm
"Unfortunately, our schools aren't doing as well with advantaged social-class students"
Is this the natural result of our "No child gets ahead" mentality?
January 16th, 2013
5:51 pm
There were some disconcerting data in the 2003 PISA's "Problem Solving" test results. (This was added for one year to the regular Reading Literacy, Mathematics Literacy and Science Literary tests.)
Information can be found at
It appears that OECD excludes scores above 95th and below 5th percentile, in each country, in calculating believing that this "outlier" data may inordinately affect "national mean scores". This is important because you can do the following:
See the website's Figure 2.5, on page 44.
The top of each nation's score-band is its 95th percentile score.
The first black "arrowhead" represents the 90th percentile.
Brown-red arrowhead is the 75th percentile.
Black hyphen within a gray "button" is 50th percentile.
This allows one to exclude the bottom half of a distribution, i.e. the lowest 50% of test takers' scores.
Now, for the remaining 50% of students (top-half scores) a new scores distribution is established. If the original distribution is Gaussian (normal, "camel's hump"), the new one is not: it is widest at its new bottom.
However, this population still has a 90th percentile. It is the old distribution's 95th percentile. To wit, if there were 100 students, there were 5 students above the 95th percentile. Now there are still 5, but the "population" has been reduced to the top 50 students, the top 5 students are "top-tenth". now.
This means that after dumping the U.S.'s bottom-half performers, the top new tenth cutoff for the U.S. would still be lower than the full-nation top-tenth cutoff for 12 nations (their black arrows).
Now examine Figure 2.3 on page 41.
It is not absolutely clear, but the bars here would appear to represent ALL students, with students scoring at level 2 and 3 proficiency being represented above the "0″ line, and students scoring at level 1 or below level 1 shown below this line.
In Finland, Korea, Hong Kong and Japan approximately 27-35% of their students score "level 3″.
In the U.S., approximately 12% score "level 3″.
Now, eliminating the bottom half of U.S. students (which leaves a small percentage of level 1 students, and no below-level-1 students), our level 3 students would comprise 24% of our remaining population. Still less than Finland and Korea, marginally, and well less than Hong Kong and Japan's full populations. In essence, or new population would have very few Disadvantaged students, comprising almost certainly a smaller percentage of the new population than the other four nations' full-population-based Disadvantaged student percentages, yet they would still beat us in terms of percentages of their populations scoring at the highest level. In problem solving.
Given trends in U.S. Advantaged students' Math scores since 2003, which are up slightly, we might be doing better in problem solving, although the two tests' scores do not entirely correlate.
But the a priori odds are high that we would still substantially trail the top 4 countries in level 3-difficulty problem solving, if today's 15 y/o's took the test, because as of 2009, our Advantaged students made only miniscule gains in essential-to-problem-solving reading-skills, as well as math-skills tests, since 2003 (see Carnoy and Rothstein Figs. B1 and C1).
January 18th, 2013
5:31 am
Atlanta Mom,
"No child gets ahead" is a landmine. If I may gingerly trapse near it without stepping on it…
After 1st grade, we moved to a new city that had semester-scheduling, and enrollment was age based. Instead of being placed in first-semester 2nd grade, they skipped me to second-semester (in the fall) due to my age date. Then I did first-semester 3rd grade in winter and spring.
We moved again, to a conventional-schedule school. I retook first-semester 3rd grade. Ca. October, they administered a strange test to us. It had long-division problems, and figure-association problems. I must have done well, because the principal called my mom in and said,
"Your child is eligible to be skipped up to 4th grade. We don't necessarily recommend this, because it might be stressful… you choose."
Unfortunately, my mom never told me. She had not been a great student. She told the principal to leave me in third grade. She never considered that making me retake first-semester 3rd grade was "remedial education" that I did not need. But then neither did the principal consider this. Nor did he advise (my mom recounted this meeting a couple years after the event) that I could be placed in 4th grade, and if I didn't adjust well, I could be returned to third grade, to encourage my mom to try it. I was counterproductively held back. I know this because the following year I was placed in a 4th-6th grade mixed class, and did fine. When we moved again the following year, I was placed in 5th grade, second track, and was completely bored. The school never sought my old school's transcripts or state-assessment test scores. The following year I was placed in the whole-city "gifted" program with kids from five different neighborhood schools.
I have heard of public school students who have been skipped as many as three, or even four years. Most of them seem to have attended public school before WWII, but occasionally I read of a 14-15 year old entering college today, I never witnessed this. It is my understanding that many educators think it may harm kids' "socialization".
I have personally talked to people who say their AP classes are open to 11th and 12th graders, but not younger. Yet I have seen College Board AP reports that show small numbers of public school 9th graders taking Calculus AB, and even smaller numbers taking Calc BC (and doing well on the exams). Some schools apparently offer AP World History primarily to 9th graders. I haven't seen any reports of 9th graders taking AP English Language, but my suspicion is that thousands of students (a small percentage of high schoolers) could do fine in it. Some could do fine in the more difficult English Literature course.
Fundamentally, if younger children were allowed to skip 1 or 2 or 3 grades, then take AP courses early, we could conceivably make hs graduation at age 17, with several AP credits, feasible for our 90th-93rd percentile ability students. For our 94th-97th ability students, graduation at age 16, for 98th-99th percentile students, graduation at age 15 are reasonable. This would save states billions of dollars, and AP credits would shorten students' college times to 3 years, and for some, even 2 years and save them and their parents a lot of money (and states would save money too for public university attending early graduators). Or kids could stay 4 years and earn double or triple major degrees.
Most PhD programs try to promote 5 year completion, as most standard student-stipend grants are for this period. 7 year stints happen, albeit with faculty and administrative consternation. Four year stints are not rare. Three year stints are very rare, but brilliant extremely hard-working students pull them off from time to time. (They tend to make accelerated tenure, and earn full professorships in their mid-30s.)
In medical schools, once in a blue moon a student will graduate in 3 years. Med schools have mulled the notion of shortening the term, to deal with budget constraints, and 6-year B.S./M.D. programs successfully operate in several states.
So, to your point, schools that offer a large portfolio of AP courses are already successfully enabling students to earn a semester, a full year, or even three semesters of college credit, and early graduation. For a year's credit and matriculation as a sophomore, students need 7-8 APs, and acceptable test scores (3's in state universities, 4's in some elite private ones.)
Most larger communities also offer International Baccalaureate programs. Although IB is designed provide basic college preparation, not high-level acceleration, with a primary mission to "create a more peaceful world by fostering human mutual respect and cooperation", IB has in recent years developed college credit courses. At the private IB Diploma schools, for example AIS, which serve internationally stationed businesspeople and diplomatic staffs' families, higher-ability students can take up to 4 Higher Level courses. Most public IB-programme high schools are restricted to offering 3 maximum HL courses, due to large disadvantaged minority-student enrollments, and these students struggle to handle 3 college-credit courses, so 4 is viewed to be "too hard" for them. This is reasonable for the minority students, apparently. It does however hold back very talented but non-affluent white and Asian-American students in communities whose public districts use IB as an integration "magnet" and offer few AP courses in the same or other schools, students who could pass 6, 7, or 8 (or more) AP courses and save thousands of dollars in college-attendance costs, if given the opportunity to enroll in many AP courses in public schools.
In any event, in summary, schools are providing some opportunities for kids to shorten their college stays and lessen expenses. At graduate level, acceleration occurs.
But the public education system is nowhere close to providing invaluable, student-centric optimized academic acceleration opportunities to very gifted and extraordinarily gifted children, opportunities that would be challenging and inspiring to them, opportunities that would save their families and taxpayers huge amounts of money, opportunities that would accelerate talent flow into our economy, and enable these young people to make productive contributions to it.


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Categories > Cartoons > Class of the Titans
Fifty Snapshots of a Descendant of Achilles14 Reviews
In which herein lie fifty snippets from Archie's life, at least up until the first year at Olympus High School. All major characters are featured, as well as considerable ArchiexAtlanta.
My characterization of Archie's mother is clearly based on Thetis to some degree, and a number of ideas in the sentences are ones I plan on expanding on in future stories. This was mostly a writing excercise for me to actually think about the character and his background a bit more before launching into writing a full-fledged multi-chapter story, which I'm currently in the planning stages of.
There are interactions with at each of the other heroes, and yes, there are quite a few Archie/Atlanta moments, I suppose. I really didn't get creative with the shipping here. This took about six hours to write-out, I think?
Disclaimer: 'Class of the Titans' and all related characters are property of Studio B Productions, Nelvana, and Teletoon. The story itself belongs to the author. It is also a work of fanfiction, and no profit is generated from it.
Fifty Snapshots of a Descendant of Achilles
Fair Play
Archie hated doing almost anything remotely competitive with Neil, even if he was on his team -- it was so unfair that real talent, actual skills, and years of practice could lose out that often to sheer dumb luck.
When he was seven, he found it difficult to walk on his right heel for the first time, and his mother had taken him to the doctor for an x-ray to see if there was anything wrong with the bones in his ankle.
He liked Atlanta very much in the same way Achilles probably liked Patroclus, but even so, he wasn't quite sure about the part where they'd have to mix their ashes together after death.
Jay was to blame, really -- it was his fault for suggesting that all girls liked flowers, and it was his fault for not warning him that dandelions and purple loosestrife probably weren't the best cheap alternative for a girl volunteering with the Green Alliance.
Hat Box
Archie scoffs at Jay and Herry and calls them dorks for wearing salad bowls as helmets when playing war as boys, but he'd never admit that he did the exact same thing with one of his mother's hat boxes.
The others boys at elementary school made fun of him for wearing a leg brace and liked to pick him last for basketball, at least until he could jump higher than any of them ever could, even with years of practice.
For most children, memories of summer vacations at the beach meant sandcastles swallowed by the tide and collecting seashells under the hot summer sun, not being abducted by a crazy sea nymph claiming to be your many-times great-grandmother and thinking you look best in a dress.
Mom's always said you'll be greater than your father ever was, and from what she's said about him, it doesn't sound like too difficult a task.
Archie's so used to his saliva having a slight coppery tang to it that it feels just a little odd when it doesn't.
'Theresa, you may think kaleidoscopes are nice to look at, but only Herry could be amused by a baby's toy like that for so long.'
Primary Colors
Most of his wardrobe was of some shade of blue, his hair was already naturally red, and yellow was a sissy colour, so by process of elimination, the only dye he could really use was purple, which was at least not pink.
In one of those 'chick flicks' he wouldn't be caught dead at, a scene where the main couple gets trapped and must wait to be rescued would an ideal moment for the two to engage in all sorts of romantic hijinks -- in Archie's case, Atlanta was much more content with making a futile attempt at finding a way out than sitting and bonding while waiting for help.
Archie was sure that having a bloodline traced back to swift-footed Achilles would mean he'd have the upper-hand in a duel against the descendant of Hector, not the other way around.
He'd said he'd give Neil a scar if he wanted one to show-off so badly, but it'd just been one of his usual thoughtless outbursts -- besides, it wasn't his fault that Neil startled easily and accidentally nicked himself with the triple-blade shaving razor while mowing those girly legs of his.
Achilles may have been the most beautiful and stunning Argive at Troy with his fair hair and broad shoulders, but there was hardly anything about Archie's pale pointy face, violently violet near-mullet, and a nose too overgrown to excuse as 'nobly Roman' that gave the impression of being classically heroic in appearance.
Whenever someone asked him about why he never unzipped his favourite blue sweater, he always muttered something about just liking it that way and leaving it at that, though the truth was that he'd never been able to get the zipper unstuck and he damn well wasn't going to ask anyone for help with something like that.
Between riding a griffin several thousand miles in the air without a safety harness, huddling in a submersible a few hundred kilometres beneath the sea, and being strapped to the backseat of a prototype jet piloted by a teenager without a G2 driver's license yet, Archie was quite sure that the method of transportation he was most comfortable with was walking with both feet cemented to the ground.
Archie doesn't consider himself to be even remotely Greek despite being a descendant of the greatest warrior in Greek mythology, and his spring holiday in Thessaly makes him feel more like yet another tacky foreigner tourist than a hero coming home again.
Archie opened one of the windows in his bedroom and yawned as a griffin flew past the building across the street.
'I'm a natural, I don't have to try to be the best (unlike some people).'
Black Cloud
Atlanta liked to tease him about having a little black cloud following him around as a constant companion, and he was definitely not amused when Jay thought it would be funny to nickname it Patroclus.
If he couldn't ask Atlanta out on a date in-person, he figured the next best thing would be to give her a call on her PMR, though there was that nasty little problem of his finger somehow always hitting the cancel button before he could say anything.
Even with his lack of aesthetics, Archie could tell that the pendant that had mysteriously appeared on his desk overnight was of an intricate design, but whoever bought it for him should have known that real men don't wear necklaces.
Thanks to Neil, the only orange juice anyone could find at the brownstone was the freshly-squeezed sort with the little bits of pulp that would get stuck between your teeth, and while no one else seemed to mind, it drove Archie -- probably the only person to ever like their juice from concentrate -- crazy.
If you'd told him at the time that the timber wolf he had tickled and been bitten by was really Lycaon reincarnated, he wouldn't have believed you.
He's never been sick in his life and he never will be, and he can't help but feel every so slightly smug when a big strong guy like Herry can be brought down so easily by a common cold and a case of the sniffles.
Archie thought all girls would have soft hands like his mother's, and Atlanta surprises him when he discovers she probably has more callouses on her fingers than he does.
Only a descendant of Achilles who was otherwise immune to diseases and nearly invincible could be put out of commission temporarily by stubbing his heel against a coffee table.
Arachne's spider silk clings like a film of dried craft glue between his fingers, but his stomach feels airy and weightless when his hands stick for a moment too long to Atlanta's as she helps him off the ground.
'But Arch', you'll never have hair as wonderfully smooth, silky, and shiny as mine -- but who does? -- if you keep dyeing it that disgusting purple, unless you use this all-natural herbal shampoo imported from Milan and endorsed by yours truly,' Neil says with a smile as he shoves a bottle into your hand, which you toss into the first trashcan you can find.
Archie always thought that Jay and Theresa were way too sappy with their cuddling, hand-holding, and dinner-with-a-movie followed by watching the sunset dates, and he's glad that Atlanta's the kind of girl who thinks combat-training and comparing battle scars were the best ways to bond during their times-off.
'I thought you said only losers and dweebs read poetry,' says a voice that sounds disastrously like Atlanta's as a hand that looks just like hers snatches the book from between your fingers while you wish you inherited Thetis' shape-shifting abilities.
As helpful as Hope had been in the battle against the plague from Pandora's Box, and as pleasant an abstract concept she was, the others couldn't help but find her the fault of the annoyingly hopeful high Archie had been in for at least a week after the fight at the reservoir.
'Jay, I don't think Cronus is a morning-person, and neither am I,' Archie whines, smothering himself with a pillow and wishing the other boy would sleep-in more often on the weekend.
Odie thought it would be an 'enlightening educational experience' for the two of them to visit the ruins of Troy together over the summer, but during the explorations, Archie couldn't help but feel vaguely creeped-out by the possibility that he was trampling over his ancestor's ashes every second step.
Archie's daydreamed about what his first real kiss with a conscious Atlanta would be like -- it's usually on the mouth, but he sometimes thinks the cheek may be a bit more appropriate -- but when it finally comes, the last he expected was to get a mouthful of hair as she turned around to see who'd stumbled on them.
Archie never took detailed notes in class like Odie would, nor did he colour-code them as Theresa did, because, of course, he was perfect enough to do well on tests without being a complete dork about it (or so he thought).
In most cases, the average person would go to the Underworld only once at the end of their lifetime for an extended visit, not once to retrieve Orpheus' lyre, another to pluck Persephone's sacred flower, and Zeus knew how many more times before the inevitable long-term stay at the Elysian Fields.
It's supposed to be for his own good, but Archie's pretty damn sure that having Herry hold him upside-down by the ankles over the edge of the dock isn't going to get him over his fear of water anytime soon.
Keep Out
The door to Archie's bedroom at the brownstone was decorated with a single 'KEEP OUT' sign written in giant blood-red letters, but it never seemed to stop Herry from cheerfully barging in to ask if he could borrow an extra pencil.
Jay would never hear of it even though he has the strongest background in Greek mythology and the nature of the gods, but Archie sometimes asks Atlanta and maybe Neil if they're necessarily on the right side (if there is one), what with the gods being as fickle and jealous as they are.
Archie's mother never seemed to have grown out of the separation anxiety stage of childhood, and he sometimes wondered how she hadn't tracked him down to New Olympia and dragged him back home for his own safety yet.
The great thing about tracking giant homicidal monsters from Greek mythology was that they always left an easy trail to follow, often involving uprooted trees, footprints large enough to use as wading pools, and the occasional screaming masses of panicking citizens.
'You can't really expect me to believe you're the real Ares,' Archie says, still cross about being abducted without a proper explanation, 'unless you're going to tell me that part of the iIliad/i with you covering seven acres was just a joke.'
Judging by how long dinner took, Poseidon must have argued and bantered with Archie for at least an hour before coming to his senses and just carrying him back to his underwater palace.
For someone who found destroying a deadly plague, outrunning a forty-feet tall robot, and sparring with giants easy, telling a girl that he liked her in that way was surprisingly difficult.
Archie hated neckties, but he would rather strangle himself with one of those than wear a sundress and have 'Achilles at Skyros' jokes made at his expense again.
He hated it when Theresa's sixth sense was right, which it always was -- one, it was always something bad, and two, he'd outgrown believing in superstitions ages ago, and he didn't like to think he may have been wrong to do so.
Only in New Olympia could you be taught by the exact same teacher your many-times great-grandfather had a few thousand years ago, and have that teacher be half-man and half-horse.
'We go back in time to the war against the Titans, defeat Cronus like the prophecy said we would, and save the world, yet we're stuck out here seeing if we have enough change to take a bus back to school?'
Additional Author's Notes: I don't think most of the mythology references need to be explained here -- we all know about Achilles and Patroclus here, I'm assuming, as well as Hector, Thetis holding onto Achilles by the ankles as she dipped him into the Styx, cross-dressing at Skyros, etc. -- though one I'll explain a few.
For 'Flower', while not a mythology reference, it's probably good to know that dandelions and purple loosetrife and considered to be invasive species, and therefore an environmental hazard. 'Father' is a reference to the prophecy Prometheus knew about that said that Thetis would give birth to a son who would be greater than his father. That explains why Zeus married her off to Peleus, thus preventing the potential overthrow of the Olympians if Zeus had slept with her. For 'Homeland', Peleus and Achilles were from a part of Thessaly, and in 'Bite', Lycaon was a rather wicked mortal who fed Zeus human flesh and thus got turn into a wolf as a punishment.
'Sides' is kind of referring to how each generation of the gods is obsessed with maintaining power -- Cronus' era was actually the best era of all, so it's always made me wonder that the gods on the show are really just trying to keep themselves in power more than anything. I don't like how 'Liar' came out, but if I'm remembering the 'Iliad' correctly, there's a part where Ares falls down and covers seven acres of land. For 'Education', Achilles was one of Chiron's students at Mount Pelion.
That is all for notes this time, I think.

subset: commoncrawl


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SHEBOYGAN, WI (WHBL) - A Sheboygan man who attacked another man with a baseball bat last January is going to prison. 25 year old Andrew Kunstman was sentenced recently by Judge James Bolgert in Sheboygan County Court to 3 years in prison to be followed by three years extended supervision. Kunstman forced his way into a home in the 500 block of Michigan Avenue and beat his former girlfriend's husband with the aluminum bat. The victim suffered a concussion and severe head laceration. Kunstman told investigators he would have killed him if he hadn't been pulled off by the man's wife.
Rush Limbaugh Show 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Email: email@example.com Call: 1.800.282.2882


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Automakers are grappling with the mobility needs of tomorrow, changing their strategies according to customer needs worldwide. Consumers want value for money at all price points, with traditional notions of ownership evolving. High- growth markets still value the vehicle as a status symbol with many of these car buyers participating for the very first time. In more mature markets, the growth in actual miles driven per person is declining and alternatives such as car-sharing options and the adoption of more flexible models are prevalent.
These trends are industrywide. Urban youths across markets are seeking car-sharing options. Customization, innovation, and sustainability are key, along with in-car connectivity and smart features. The auto sector is evolving, weighing tech must-haves versus nice-to-haves. Many global automakers are now embedding technologies that would have launched with their premium brands first but have opted to directly offer in their high-volume vehicles. Other considerations shaping auto brands' outlook:
Shifting populations
The recent influx of people into big cities has compelled brand owners to take urban mobility concepts seriously. Demographic trends such as the "down-aging" of older but more active and plugged-in consumers are forcing brands to ask themselves: How can brands actively connect with the younger end of the spectrum while remaining desirable for the youthful older generation?
The evolution of luxury
Consumption is changing, too, as quality of life begins to outweigh (in some markets) status and luxury. On the one hand, there's a desire for the exceptional and the exclusive; on the other, a disdain for excess and waste. As time spent enjoying the sensual pleasures of the driving experience becomes a luxury in and of itself, car brands must address the diverging needs of consumers, especially those truly seeking the luxury automotive experience—not to mention luxury car buyers in fast-moving markets. Everything must be re-evaluated—the choice/purchase process, the range of services offered, supply chain and sustainability metrics, partnerships, managing the brand experience, and digital and social marketing.
A new kind of brand leader
The successful auto brand leader must inspire employees, sales partners, manufacturers, partners, stakeholders—and, of course, customers. The automobile industry is undergoing a transformation, and the CEO and the CMO must point to the horizon in 2023. That's where the opportunities lie, and it's also where the greatest rewards will be reaped. That is where each brand must go to ensure it stays relevant in its sector.
— Michel Gabriel (email@example.com) is Managing Director, Interbrand Zürich.
Andrew Martschenko (email@example.com) is Senior Director, Strategy, Interbrand New York


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SPECIAL OFFER: - Limited Time Only!
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Glug, glug, glug. That's the sound of pounds being poured on. Studies show that we're chugging 411 liquid calories daily, almost 130 more than we consumed in 1990, and all those sips are adding up. "We don't compensate for what we drink by cutting back on food," says Barry Popkin, PhD, a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "We still eat the same amount." So slurp a whipped coffee drink at breakfast, a few cans of soda in the afternoon, and a couple of cocktails with dinner and you've just doubled your calorie intake -- and your chances of weight gain -- without realizing it. "Sipping versus chewing changes how our bodies recognize and process the calories we take in," Popkin explains. Some experts suspect that eating, which involves munching and crunching, sends signals to the brain that trigger satiety. "Drinks don't require as much effort to consume, so it's easy to overdo them," says Bonnie Taub-Dix, RD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. You can still enjoy your faves and not gain an ounce: Just follow our sip-smarter guide.
Hit the Bottle
A water bottle, that is. The old eight-cups-a-day rule no longer has merit, researchers say, because we get plenty of H2O from other sources, including fruits, vegetables, coffee, and tea. But sipping at least a few glasses of water daily can deliver some serious benefits, including weight loss. "Thirst can masquerade as hunger, so a lot of times we eat when really our bodies just need water," says Keri Glassman, RD, author of The O2 Diet. To tell the difference, drink a glass of water and wait 15 minutes. If your stomach is still grumbling, have a snack. If not, you were probably dehydrated.


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CASA (Court Appointment Special Advocates) of San Mateo County's annual Auxiliary Garden Party took place on August 24, 2014 in a private garden in Hillsborough to raise funds for the organization, which partners caring adults with children currently under the court's protection.
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This guest post by Becky Beaupre Gillespie, co-author of a wonderful new book, powerfully says what I wish for every mom. Personally, fighting the demon of perfectionism helps me every day. Power to the Imperfect!
By Becky Beaupre Gillespie
My grandma wanted to be a lawyer. She was ambitious, creative, vivacious and smart — she had what it took.
Except this: She was a young woman in the late 1930s, and her father thought pursuing a law degree was unrealistic and, worse, inappropriate. So she never went to law school.
She did, however, insist upon earning a bachelor's degree and working for a few years as a journalist; after all, she'd never been one to go down without a fight. But when she became a mom in 1947, Betty Luker Haverfield bowed to tradition — she gave up that career she'd wanted so badly and became a housewife.
Flash forward several decades, and here I am: part of the first generation to reap the full benefits of the women's movement. I'm a mom and a journalist, and I have more choices than Betty could ever have imagined. I grew up hearing, "You can be anything." And, like so many of my peers, I took it mean that I had to be, and do, everything.
Perfectionism is our generation's greatest liability when it comes to balancing work and motherhood. That's what Hollee Schwartz Temple and I learned when we surveyed 905 working moms for our new book, Good Enough Is the New Perfect: Finding Happiness and Success in Modern Motherhood (Harlequin Nonfiction, Spring 2011). The "constant need to be the best at everything" outweighed all other factors, including financial pressures, inflexible bosses, and spouses who didn't contribute enough at home.
But Hollee and I also discovered that the women who were willing to define success on their own terms — to let go of outside expectations and make choices that inspired their passions and fit their own families' needs — were able to overcome this hurdle. These women, who told us that "being the best is not important" as long as they were "good enough and happy," were more satisfied with their choices. They were less likely to feel they'd sacrificed too much and half as likely to describe their marriages as a "disaster" or "not very good." And what's more, they'd given up remarkably little ground at work to achieve this state of contentment.
These Good Enoughs weren't settling or stopping short of the finish line. They were deliberately picking the finish line they wanted to cross. They'd given up (or perhaps never embraced) the Never Enough attitude that left some of their peers racing for an unattainable goal and feeling as though they'd failed to measure up. Instead, they focused on the things that mattered to them, and they channeled their energy in a way that brought them even greater success.
For me, this meant giving up my job as a newspaper reporter so I could spend more time with my daughters — and then gradually rebuilding my writing career in a way that fit my priorities and made me feel whole. For Hollee, it meant leaving a career as a litigator at a top-tier law firm so she could teach legal writing — and, eventually, pursue her dream of writing a book. For others, the changes were even simpler. Some found their New Perfect by giving themselves permission to let the house get messy, or refusing to sign up for every volunteer request at school, or simply accepting that there are many "right" ways to be a mom. The answer is different for each of us.
We have more choices than previous generations of women. And my wish for all moms this Mother's Day is that we'll have the courage to identify our unique talents, honor our own passions, and reject the idea that there's some "perfect" way to blend motherhood and career.
I want us to choose.
From Nancy: How do you choose to be a "Good Enough Mom?" Add a comment – when we share about this we help all moms.


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Police in Lancaster County have charged a 19-year-old man with purposely crashing his car in hopes of killing his girlfriend.
Police said Benjamin Klinger intentionally drove his car more than 100 miles per hour into a guardrail on Route 283 south near Strickler Road on December 4.
Police said he then suffocated the victim by sitting on her while her face was in the ground. Klinger faces numerous charges, including homicide and homicide by vehicle.


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DAKA Wood or Coal Burning Furnace 42,000-105,000 BTU 521FB$849.97
This DAKA Furnace burns wood or soft coal (with the addition of coal grate kit, not included) to produce up to 105,000 BTU to heat your entire home or shop. Built to last, this furnace features a fire box constructed of 3/16in. thick steel plating, firebrick lining and a heavy-duty cast iron fire door with an easy-to-operate handle. Infinitely-adjustable heat settings provide convenient heat control. The high-quality Dayton blower features a 1/10 HP permanent split capacitor motor and sealed ball bearings for trouble-free performance. There are also two 8in. warm air outlets on top of unit.
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- Ash pan assembly with gasket
- Instruction/assembly manual
- 3/16in. thick steel plating
- Firebrick lining
- Heavy-duty cast iron fire door with an easy-to-operate handle
- Infinitely-adjustable heat settings
- High-quality Dayton blower with 1/10 HP permanent split capacitor motor and sealed ball bearings
- Two 8in. warm air outlets on top
- Firebox is 18in.H
- To burn coal, furnace requires Soft Coal Shaker Grate Kit (not included)
- Not for sale in California and Washington
- Not to be installed in mobile homes
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Specifications Heating Capability (sq. ft.) 2,600 Mobile Home Approved No BTU 42,000 to 105,000 Blower Included Yes Blower 550 Blower Power Supply (Volts, Amps) 120V, AC 15 amps Heat Settings Infinitely adjustable Thermostat Included Yes Igniter None Full Load Run time (Hours) up to 10 Fuel Type Wood/Coal Max. Log Size Accepted (L in.) 22 Flue Collar Size (in.) 6 Stove Pipe Included No Door Opening W x H (in.) 11 x 11 Firebox Size W x D (in. 14 X 22 Clearance from Side Wall (in.) 18 Clearance from Rear Wall (in.) 32.5 Clearance from Corner (in.) 32.5 EPA Exempt Yes Dimensions W x D x H (in.) 24 x 40 1/2 x 44 EPA Certified No
US Stove Ashley Wood Circulator Heater BEC95$799.00
The BEC95 is a high performance wood circulator that is more efficient and cleaner burning than most other circulators on the market. It offers a non-catalytic, trouble-free, operating system that is thermostatically controlled. It offers an easy access ash pan that makes clean up a breeze and a lift top with positive safety latch to use its auxiliary cooking surface. Tested and certified to U.L. 1482 by Warnock Hersey International for greater peace of mind and safety assurance. It is safe, durable, and versatile.
- Installation materials are NOT included (i.e. floor protector, chimney connector, thimble, radiation shield, flue)
- This is a WOOD burning stove ONLY!!!
- Heavy duty, cast iron grates are more durable, for longer life and more complete combustion
- Non-electric, bi-metallic thermostat provides automatic comfort control without needing electricity
- Cooking surface with a lift top lid and positive safety latch EPA exempt
- Firebrick lined for long life and combustion efficiency
- Tri-air induction for hotter fire, greater efficiency, and less creosote accumulation
- Optional add-on, automatic blower with manual override increases air circulation and extends heat to more rooms
- Flue collar size: 6"
- Not approved for use in mobile or modular homes
- Not available for sale in WA and CA
Capacities Amounts Fuel Wood Heating Capacity Up to 1,900 Sq. Ft. Log Length 24" BTUs Up to 110,000 Depth w/blower 26" Depth w/o blower 21.25" Width 33.5" Height 34.25"
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Century Heating High-Efficiency Wood Stove Fireplace Insert EPA Certified CB00005$719.97
The CW2500 is a high efficiency, EPA certified wood insert. With its standard blower and large fire viewing area, it will revive your old masonry fireplace and warm up the inside of your house.
Specifications: Firebox dimensions 12 3/4" D x 20 3/8"W x 9 5/8"H Maximum log length 20" Door opening dimensions 19" W x 8 1/4"H Type of Door Single, glass with cast iron frame (16 1/2" x 9" Overall Dimensions 28 3/4" W x 22 5/8"H x 8"D USA standard (safety) UL 1482 Maximum output - EPA test wood 57,800 Maximum output - seasoned cord wood 65,000 Type of Fuel Wood Recommended Heating Area (sq. ft.) 500 - 1,800 Steel thickness (top) 3/16" Optimum efficiency 76% Recommended chimney diameter 6" Warranty Limited 5 years
NOTE: Requires the addition of faceplate AC04000: SKU 21013177
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Vogelzang Mountaineer 104,000 BTU Wood Stove VG650ELG$699.97
This Vogelzang "The Mountaineer" Wood Stove combines beauty and efficiency to give you an exceptional wood-burning stove at a great price. Heavy-gauge 3/16in. plate steel Mountaineer accepts 22in. logs. Air wash ceramic glass offers a clear view of the fire. The Mountaineer is fully firebrick lined, with a large ash pan for easy ash removal. Adjustable high speed blower (included) directs warm air into room. Sturdy pedestal base with pewter trim accents satin black finish.
Please Note: This is an EPA exempt Stove and therefore this item is not for sale in CA, WA and OR. Customers are responsible for checking local codes and regulations prior to purchase.
- Heavy-gauge 3/16in. reinforced plate steel with firebrick lining
- Cast iron feed door with large 19in. x 8in. ceramic safety glass window
- Sturdy pedestal base with pewter trim edge caps
- Adjustable high speed blower
- Large ash drawer for easy ash removal
- Cast iron damper collar
- Cool touch spring handle
- Safety tested to UL standard 1482
- Cannot be installed in mobile homes
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Specs Heating Capability (sq. ft.) 2,000 Mobile Home Approved No BTU Output 104,000 Blower Included Yes Blower (CFM) 100 Blower Power Supply (Volts, Amps) 110 Heat Settings No Thermostat Included No Igniter Manual Full Load Run Time (Hours) 6-8 Max. Log Size Accepted (L in.) 22 Flue Collar Size (in.) 6 Door Opening W x H (in.) 22 x 11 Firebox Size W x D (in.) 23 x 14 Clearance from Side Wall (in.) 25 Clearance from Rear Wall (in.) 26 Clearance from Corner (in.) 19 EPA Certified Yes Dimensions W x D x H (in.) 28 x 20 x 30
Campbell Hausfeld 1HP Barn and Fence Airless Paint Sprayer-PS290D$609.97
- Sprayer and selected tips/filters are designed for the type of paints most often used for barn and fence
- Powerful 1 HP induction motor for difficult to spray coatings
- Two 50-ft high pressure hoses, plus a 5-ft whip hose allow for 105-ft of extended pressure hose reach
- 5-ft whip hose and swivel fitting connects to gun for improved flexibility and ease of gun orientation
- Professional spray gun with spare 50 mesh filter
- 415 spray tip minimizes overspray and waste; perfect for Post, Rails, and Crossbuck boards
- 517 spray tip maximizes flow and spray pattern
- Large pneumatic tires for ease of movement on rough, uneven terrain
- 0.44 GPM Airless Sprayer - PS290D
- (1) Spray Gun with 0.19-in and 0.15-in Tips
- (2) 50-ft High Pressure Hoses
- 5-ft Whip Hose
Pacer Pumps G Series Three Phase E-Curve Electric Drive Pump 1-1/2/2ELD2.0C$629.97
Self-priming centrifugal, glass reinforced Noryl construction, stainless steel internal and external fasteners, EPDM O-rings, integral Noryl shaft sleeve, dual 1-1/2" female and 2" male threaded suction and discharge connections, built-in polypropylene basket strainer, close-coupled to an electric motor, mounted on polypropylene baseplate.
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THREE PHASE 230/460 VOLT, 3450 RPM, TEFC Curve Port Size Req'd HP Volt Model A 1-1/2" / 2" 0.5 1 GNOK 1-1/2/2AL D.5C B 1-1/2" / 2" 0.75 1 GNOK 1-1/2/2BL D.75C C 1-1/2" / 2" 1 1 GNOK 1-1/2/2CL D1.0C D 1-1/2" / 2" 1.5 1 GNOK 1-1/2/2DL D1.5C E 1-1/2" / 2" 2 1 GNOK 1-1/2/2EL D2.0C
Pacer Pumps S Series 2" H-Curve 3 Phase Electric Drive Pump SE2HL D3.0C$619.97
Pacer Pumps' S Series Self-Priming Centrifugal pumps are lightweight, chemically resistant pumps for general service on water, salt water, waste water, mild acids and bases. They feature non-metallic solution contact or stainless steel internal fasteners; Viton®, ethylene propylene or Buna O-rings and gasket with stainless steel external fasteners. The pumps are molded of tough, glass-reinforced polyester, polypropylene or Ryton®. Polyester models are available with or without lined volute for abrasion resistance.
All pumps include a built-in check valve, feature easy servicing and during pumping, a self-cleaning double volute keeps pump free of settled solids.
- Choice of materials: pump constructed of: polyester, polypropylene or Ryton®. Suitable elastomers, and stainless steel or non-metallic fasteners for resistance to chemical attack
- Choice of drives: electric motor, gasoline driven, hydraulic or pneumatic driven
- Close-coupled, long-coupled or pedestal mounted
- Built-in check valve
- Flow rates: to 280 U.S. GPM or 120 ft. TDH @ 60 Hz (to 883 LPM or 25.4m TDH @ 50 Hz)
- Suction lift to 25 ft. (7.6m) vertical
- 1 1/2", 2" or 3" ports, NPT, BSP available in polyester only
Learn More
THREE PHASE, 230/460 VOLT, TEFC Curve Port Size Req'd HP RPM Max. Spec. Gravity Model A 1 1/2" 1/2 1750 1 SE1-1/2AL H.5C C 2" 1 1750 1 SE2CL H1.0C E 2" 2 3450 1.17 SE2EL D2.0C H 2" 3 3450 1 SE2HL D3.0C J 2" 5 3450 1 SE2JL D5.0C L 3" 5 3450 1 SE3LL D5.0C
Arrow Woodhaven 10' x 14' Shed WH1014$689.97
Add attractive storage space to your yard with our wood-grain Woodhaven steel storage building. The Woodhaven offers an economical storage solution for your tools, grill, lawn mower, patio furniture and more.
- Easy do-it-yourself assembly
- Durable baked-on enamel finish
- Sturdy electro-galvanized steel
- Floor kit sold separately.
Model Number WH1014 Nominal Size 10' x 14' Storage Area 129 sq. ft. Interior Dimensions 118 1/4" W x 157 1/2" D x 86 5/8" H Wall Height 62" Door Opening 55 /2" W x 60" H Foundation Size 121" W x 160 1/4" D
Pacer Pumps T Series 3" D-Curve Pedestal Mount Pump TE3DBB CTSS$849.97
Self-priming centrifugal, glass reinforced polyester housing, non-metallic impeller, volute and wearplate coating, stainless steel housing clamp and internal fasteners, Buna-O-rings and check valve, oil lubricated single mechanical seal with hard silicon carbide faces, cast iron pedestal with solid stainless steel shaft. 2" pump has 3/4" shaft. 3" pump has 1-1/8" shaft.
Learn More
EPDM elastomers not available on these pumps. Curve Port Size Req'd HP RPM Weight Model B 2" 0.75 1750 37# TE2BBB CSS K 2" 5 3450 37# TE2KBB CSS D 3" 1 1750 56# TE3DBB CTSS M 3" 7.5 3450 56# TE3MBB CTSS
Luma Comfort 26" Commercial Misting Fan MF26B$749.97
Designed specifically for commercial, industrial and agricultural applications, the Luma Comfort MF26B 26" Commercial Misting Fan covers 1,000 square feet and can lower ambient air temperatures by as much as 30° - 45°F. This heavy-duty misting system is constructed of heavy-gauge, anticorrosive metal and is the most powerful model in the Luma Comfort misting fan line.
The MF26B is a high-velocity centrifugal misting system that consists of a powerful water pump and non-clogging misting plate. The large-capacity, self-contained water tank holds up to 4.4 gallons of water at once and lasts up to 5 hours on high speed on one tank fill. The Luma Comfort MF26B Commercial Misting Fan's fan head also oscillates 90° to cover larger areas at once.
Additional features include 3 fan speeds, adjustable misting flow, integrated carry handles and rolling casters.
Technical Specifications:
- Color: Black
- Dimensions: 17.3" x 26" x 76.6"
- Weight: 89 lbs.
- Electrical: 110V-120V / 60 Hz / 287W
- Fan Head Size: 26"
- Coverage Area: Up to 1,000 square feet
- Maximum Run Time: 5 hours on high
- Tank Size: 4.4 gallons
- Fan Speeds: 3
- RPMs: 1400/1500/1700
- Noise Level (dB): 68/69/72
- Temperature Drop: 30° - 45°F
- Warranty: 1 year manufacturer's warranty
- Covers up to 1,000 sq. ft.
- Designed for commercial, agriculture & horticulture applications
- Constructed of heavy-gauge, anticorrosive metal
- Centrifugal misting system eliminates the problem of clogged nozzles
- Quiet, high-efficiency fan motor
- Adjustable misting flow with fully-insulated seal around the pump
- Oscillating fan head covers a wide area
- Adds moisture to dry environments
- 5-hour maximum run time


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City of Bel Aire
Bel Aire Park
Bel Aire Park is the most visible, centrally located park in the city. This 1.5-acre park is located just south of the fire station on Woodlawn between 37th and 45th streets. Bel Aire Park has a sand playground area that includes a dolphin sculpture, a spring rider toy, and a swing set for ages 2-5. A play system with rubber safety surfacing, multiple slides and equipment is geared for children ages 5-12. Bel Aire Park also features a tennis court and basketball court. The addition of a new shelter and irrigation system make Bel Aire Park the most frequently used park in Bel Aire.


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Adam Cooper
Adam Cooper joined The Age in 2011 after a decade with AAP, the country's news service. Email or tweet Adam with your news tips.
Quiney call-up timely reminder for fringe Vics
Adam Cooper Victoria hopes Rob Quiney's selection will encourage others to fight for spots in team.
Siddle backs Bird to set Sri Lanka's feathers flying at MCG
Adam Cooper THE memory of Sachin Tendulkar's shattered stumps will reinforce Peter Siddle's plan to be patient at the MCG in the second Test against Sri Lanka, possibly alongside rookie Jackson Bird.
Starc puts the Ashes before IPL riches
Chloe Saltau, Adam Cooper MITCHELL STARC will reject offers worth up to $500,000 to play in next year's Indian Premier League because he wants to be in peak condition for the Ashes.
Starc keen, but rest talk goes on
Chloe Saltau and Adam Cooper Left-armer to keep out of IPL and concentrate on Tests - but will he play at the MCG?
Protecting those golden arms is a top priority
Adam Cooper It's not only cricket's fast bowlers who have to be rotated.
Australia names three new faces for SCG
Adam Cooper Australia named three uncapped players in their squad for the third cricket Test against South Africa at the SCG, which starts Saturday.
Proteas aim to wag tail like Australia
Adam Cooper South Africa will aim to draw inspiration from the frustration they have copped from Australia's tail this series in order to save the second cricket Test .
Hayden gets backing from Nielsen, Hussey
Adam Cooper Australia insist out-of-sorts opener Matthew Hayden is not ready to retire and wants to take part in their two major tours of 2009.
Australia unsure on attack for MCG Test
Adam Cooper Australia will consider entering the crucial second cricket Test against South Africa without a specialist spinner, according to coach Tim Nielsen.
Vic selectors tell White to take a rest
Adam Cooper Victorian captain Cameron White will sit out the Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania as part of the Bushrangers' plan to manage their skipper.
Cameron White urged to bowl himself more
Adam Cooper & Adrian Warren Victorian captain Cameron White has been urged to bowl himself more if he wants to secure a place in the Australian Test side as a leg spinning allrounder.
Australia could play two allrounders
Adam Cooper, Jim Morton, Adrian Warren & David Beniuk Australia will consider re-vamping their side to play allrounders Shane Watson and Andrew Symonds together for the first time in the cricket Test against NZ.
Vics confident about Champions League
Adam Cooper Victoria are confident they can take their peerless Twenty20 cricket form to the world stage when they compete in the Champions League in India next month.
Fast bowling worries for Vics, NSW
By Adam Cooper and Greg Buckle Victoria are in dress rehearsal mode for Saturday's one-day cricket final, but will use Wednesday's clash against NSW to determine if parts are up for grabs.
Vics 'must bat better come crunch time'
By Adam Cooper Victorian captain Cameron White says he and his fellow batsmen can't let their bowlers shoulder all the workload in Wednesday's one-day game against Queensland.
Headaches for India against Victoria
By Adam Cooper A second-string Victorian attack and rain provided India with their share of headaches on the opening day of the first match of their Australian tour.
India to do their own thing: Shipperd
By Adam Cooper Victorian cricket coach Greg Shipperd has resisted the temptation to urge India to make a game of their three-day tour match.
Hodge out of Vic side with back injury
By Adam Cooper Brad Hodge has been ruled out of Victoria's one-day cricket match against Tasmania at Bellerive Oval because of a back injury.


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She Wants Revenge
She Wants Revenge is a darkwave duo hailing from Los Angeles, California who formed in 2005. The band is comprised of Justin Warfield and Adam 12. Accompaniment members TommySheWants and Scott Ellis join them on stage. Most notably, they have been joined on tour with the likes of The Psychedelic Furs, Echo & The Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, Placebo and Pixies. She Wants Revenge's music is hard to emcompass into a single genre or sound.
You can view a complete profile for She Wants Revenge over at last.fm.


text: 000 FXUS63 KPAH 160831 AFDPAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 331 AM CDT Tue Sep 16 2014 .SHORT TERM /Today through Thursday/... Issued at 330 AM CDT Tue Sep 16 2014 Main concern today is the widespread post-frontal stratus and its effect on temps. At 08z...the back edge of the stratus extended from northern Missouri across the KSPI area of Illinois to far northwest Indiana. The back edge of the stratus is making slow southward progress around 10 to 15 knots...which brings the clearing line to KMVN around 19z. This timing is considerably slower than previously expected. As a result...temps will be lowered slightly. The clearing trend will likely accelerate by this afternoon as daytime heating increases mixing heights. Even so...southeast zones may not clear out until late in the day. Any lingering stratus/stratocu should dissipate or move south of the area early this evening. The overnight hours should be mainly clear...except for increasing mid clouds over southeast Missouri. It looks like a pretty good setup for patchy ground fog late tonight...especially near bodies of water. This is the start of the climatological fall fog season. Will introduce mention of fog in the forecast for late tonight. Lows will be very near the dew points...around 50 degrees. Main concern Wednesday into Wednesday night is the potential for clouds/light rain in association with a northwest to southeast oriented baroclinic zone. This feature is evident in the 00z gfs 900-800 mb frontogenesis fields. Most of the model guidance indicates the bulk of the moisture and rain will stay west of the Mississippi River. This includes the 00z ecmwf. The 00z nam and gfs bring some qpf into western KY and southern IL on Wednesday. At the very least...expect periods of broken to overcast clouds to spread into west KY and southern IL during the day. Whatever rain occurs will be very light...with qpf less than a tenth of an inch. Pops will be no higher than slight chance east of the Mississippi River...rising to chance in southeast Missouri. Southwest Indiana and the Pennyrile region of Kentucky will remain dry. Once again...clouds may keep temps a little lower than most guidance...especially over se Missouri. Thursday should be a mainly sunny day as 500 mb ridging builds in the wake of the departing 500 mb trough. Strong surface high pressure over the northeastern states will produce a seasonably cool and dry easterly flow. .LONG TERM /Thursday night through Monday/... Issued at 330 AM CDT Tue Sep 16 2014 The 00Z GFS, ECMWF, and GEM are in good agreement synoptically through the extended portion of the forecast, which leads to a fairly high confidence forecast. Surface high pressure will be loosening its grip on the region as ridging aloft builds over the region Thursday night through Saturday. Meanwhile, a rather compact storm system will form over the central Plains, and ultimately move southeast through our region, along with a cold front, Saturday night into Sunday. Surface high pressure and cyclonic northwest flow aloft can be expected next Monday. The remnants of Tropical Storm Odile get caught up in this developing storm system in all 3 models, so there is likely to be some enhanced mid and upper-level moisture available with it. The problem is a lack of low-level moisture return and steep mid-level lapse rates. Showalter Indices do become negative, so there will be some meager elevated instability, but would be surprised to see anything approach severe limits. The low-level jet in the GFS cranks up to 50kts Saturday night, which results in some very high 0-3km storm-relative helicity values, but there is little chance of surface-based convection, especially with the 06Z-18Z passage of the front and storm system. The primary concern is likely to be locally heavy rainfall, with precipitable water values around 1.9". The ECMWF is not quite as strong with the upper-level storm system and hangs the front up over west Kentucky and southwest Indiana into Sunday evening. This could lead to some training which could lead to a greater heavy rainfall potential. The GFS and GEM are more progressive and would pose little heavy rainfall potential. Will confine 40ish PoPs to the Saturday night to Sunday night periods, with primarily a Sunday cold frontal passage. Temperatures will trend warmer early on, maxing out a few degrees above normal on Saturday, and then fall back below normal Sunday and Monday. && .AVIATION... Issued at 1149 PM CDT Mon Sep 15 2014 The drier and faster solution proposed by the GFS numerical guidance appears to be occuring at this time. With that in mind, began the forecast period with IFR conditions along and immediately behind the cold front. Rapidly improve conditions after 12z with VFR conditions dominating the rest of the forecast. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. MO...NONE. IL...NONE. IN...NONE. && $$ SHORT TERM...MY LONG TERM....DRS AVIATION...MY


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The CLIMB Program is a unique alternative to the traditional method of pursuing a college degree. It is designed specifically for adults who want to complete their college degree in classes coordinated with their schedules while continuing to work.
Adult learners have the opportunity to study with other adults who share similar interests and concerns. Together they form an academic support group, drawing from their own personal, professional, and technical backgrounds as they follow an intense program of classes and individual study.
The CLIMB Program serves the needs of adult learners, helping them assess personal values and increasing their effectiveness within their organizations. For further information, please read below, or visit the links in the navigation section of this page (to the left).
Classes are taught in seminar and workshop style with materials centered on organizational, behavioral, supervisory and interpersonal skills, and computer based management problems. Classroom assignments include outside readings and projects and writing of papers on selected topics. You will earn 33 semester hours in 52 weekly, four-hour class sessions. You will also design, implement, and evaluate a project related to your vocation. This project will assist you in learning problem-solving techniques, research design and methodology, report writing and/or computer design. The completed report is presented to your class. It is then submitted to the college, and perhaps to your employer.
To enter the CLIMB Program, the applicant should be a 23-year old adult with a minimum of 60 transferable semester (90 quarter) hours of credit from a regionally accredited college/university or an earned Associate Degree. Substantial work experience, responsibilities in supervisory and/or program development are essential. Note: Credit from non-regionally accredited colleges will not transfer.
Wilberforce University recognizes that learning occurs in many environments. As a part of the course work, a portfolio that centers on learning and competencies will be developed. The portfolio will contain information on your previous college work, military, professional and/or other verifiable college-level learning. It is possible to earn 45 semester hours through portfolio assessment. The Wilberforce University faculty and staff are responsible for the life learning assessment.
Wilberforce University admits students to all prorams and activities, and administers all educational, employment, and other policies, without discrimination because of race, color, sex, religion, national or ethnic origin, or handicap.


text:
News by topic
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Visits the OPCW
The Deputy Foreign Minister for International Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H.E. Mohammad Mehdi Akhoundzadeh, visited the OPCW last week and met with OPCW Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü.
The Director-General provided a briefing for the Deputy Minister on the status of implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), including the destruction of global chemical arsenals and the OPCW's efforts to achieve CWC universality. He also expressed appreciation to the Deputy Minister for Iran's dedication of a monument to victims of chemical weapons that was unveiled last week in the garden of the Technical Secretariat.
The Deputy Minister affirmed Iran's commitment to the Convention and support for the work of the OPCW. The Director-General commended Iran for its continuing commitment and support.
Categories: Asia, Parliamentarians
For further information, please contact Michael Luhan, Head, OPCW Media & Public Affairs. Tel: + 31 (0) 70 416 3710 or +31 (0)6 5356 8512 or email@example.com | ORGANISATION FOR THE PROHIBITION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS, Johan de Wittlaan 32, 2517 JR The Hague, The Netherlands
More news
Third Assistance and Protection Training Course for Instructors from States Parties to the CWC in Africa
The third assistance-and-protection training course for instructors from States Parties to the CWC in Africa was been jointly organised in Tshwane by the Technical Secretariat and the South Africa Council for the...19 September 2014Full story
Course on Assistance and Protection Against Chemical Weapons Held in Finland
A basic training course on assistance and protection against chemical weapons was held at the Crisis Management Centre (CMC) in Kuopio, Finland from 8 to 12 September 2014 and attended by 18 participants from 16 State...16 September 2014Full story
International Training for National Authorities in Receiving CWC Inspections Held in The Hague
The OPCW and the National Authority of the Kingdom of The Netherlands co-organised a 4-day training course for personnel of National Authorities involved in receiving inspections under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which...16 September 2014Full story
H.E. Mrs Adia Sakiqi (Albania)
H.E. Mrs Adia Sakiqi of the Republic of Albania presented her credentials to the Director-General on 15 September 2014.15 September 2014Full story
Third OPCW International Assistance and Protection Course for Instructors Conducted in The Hague
The Third OPCW Assistance and Protection Training Course for Instructors was conducted from 27 August to 3 September 2014 at OPCW Headquarters in cooperation with the National Authority of The Netherlands. The course...12 September 2014Full story
Tunisian Foreign Affairs Minister Visits the OPCW
The Tunisian Foreign Affairs Minister, H.E. Mr. Mongi Hamdi, visited the OPCW Technical Secretariat in The Hague on Wednesday, 10 September 2014 and met with the Director-General, Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü. The Director-General...11 September 2014Full story
H.E. Mr Urs Breiter (Switzerland)
H.E. Mr Urs Breiter of the Swiss Confederation presented his credentials to the Director-General on 11 September 2014. 11 September 2014Full story
OPCW Fact Finding Mission: "Compelling Confirmation" That Chlorine Gas Used as Weapon in Syria
The fact-finding mission (FFM) appointed by the OPCW Director-General to examine alleged uses of chlorine gas as a weapon in Syria has found information constituting "compelling confirmation" that a toxic chemical was used...10 September 2014Full story
National CWC Awareness Workshop and Mock Industry Inspection Exercise Held in Myanmar
The OPCW, in cooperation with the Governments of Japan and Malaysia, conducted a three-day National Awareness Workshop and two-day mock industry inspection activity in Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon, Myanmar from 25 to 29 August...09 September 2014Full story
H.E. Dr Joe Tony Aidoo (Ghana)
H.E. Dr Joe Tony Aidoo of the Republic of Ghana presented his credentials to the Director-General on 5 September 2014. 05 September 2014Full story
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text:
Natural Pearls Necklace with 800 Gold Pendant on Flickr.
Via Flickr:
This natural pearls necklace with the 800 gold pendant was bought in Europe, and is available for sale, so far. We keep this as a nice piece of jewelry for the future.
Our company GOLD REFINERY LTD, purchases scrap gold, old gold, gold bars, gold bullion, but also gold jewelry from all over the world. We are the buyer, seller and intermediary for gold and diamonds.
For contact information:
Brutal Simplicity Theme