Raising Children in a Socially Toxic Environment by Dr. James Garbarino is a book for anyone interesting in studying the social environment of children. It's a book for educators who want to study the results of a poor environment and recognize the signs of it; it's for parents who want to know what's good and what's not so good for their children to see. And finally, it's for students like myself who are interested in learning just how much a child's environment affects a child's psyche and what they will grow up to be.
Most of us know that today's social environment is a danger to children. Without reading this book, we can figure out that today's world of violence, sex, pop, television, and gangster rap is not the best teachers to children. Dr. Garbarino obviously agrees about the danger of this environment but goes on to tell us why and….

High-Quality Elementary Education
hat ingredients go into a high quality education for elementary school children -- and what does the literature reveal? hat has been the impact of "No Child Left Behind" in terms of achieving that seemingly unachievable goal? These and other issues are covered in this paper.

Improving Elementary School Quality: Social-Emotional / Character Development

A research study in the peer-reviewed Journal of School Health reveals that a school-wide program involving a "social-emotional and character development education program" can "significantly improve" the quality of the education experience for elementary school children (Snyder, 2012, 11). The program, called "Positive Action," was conducted involving 20 elementary schools in Hawaii -- racially and ethnically diverse schools -- between the 2002-2003 school years and 2005-2006 school years.

In brief, the six-unit Positive Action (PA) program utilized in Hawaii involved 140 sessions -- lasting 15 to 20 minutes each -- per elementary grade per academic year (Snyder,….

Education of Abbasid
Today, the majority of high school students hope to finish college one day. This is a realistic dream for many, as there is an established education system that gives students a choice of career paths and training. The modern world if full of universities and training centers. However, the world was not always like this. Many centuries ago, education was limited to the privileged and even the privileged did not have many opportunities in learning. Today's existing modern educational system has been influenced by traditions of the past, particularly by the great advances that occurred during the Abbasid Dynasty in the Muslim world.

One of the achievements of Muslim culture during the Abbasid Dynasty was the widespread spread of literacy. Elementary education was almost universal, especially in the cities. Emphasis on the value of reading and writing stems from the very first revelations of the Qur'an, which mention how….

" Having said man's very nature to associate himself with other people all the more gives but rational explanation to why it is very important for the children, even during their elementary years in school, to develop their interpersonal skills. In different settings, excellent interpersonal skills have always led to excellent dyadic relationships and team dynamics, and therefore generating excellent outputs. As Hogan (2004) also articulated, our personalities determine how we can be leaders in our own right within the teams we belong to.
The elementary students - because of their young minds and fresh ideas - may need to be instructed how to deal with their personal needs as well as the needs of the people around them. they must learn how to interact people in a positive way. They must learn to understand the value of giving and sharing in the same way that they should learn how to….

colostate.edu/guides/research/casestudy/pop2a.cfm.
3. Hispanic, White Communities Forge Ties in Alabama (2003) a UA Center for Public Television and Radi9o Production. Online available at:

4. McDade, Sharon a. (2002) Definition of a Case Study. Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning - North Carolina State. Online available at http://www.ncsu.Edu/fctl/Programs/Instructional- Development/Teaching _Materials / CaseStudies/Materials / Case studyDefintion.pdf# search =%22 CASE%20STUDY % 3A%20DEFINIT ION%20OF %22.

5. UAB Wins $389,000 in Grants to Help Teachers Educate Non-English Speaking Children (200) UAB Media Relations. 27 Nov 200. Online available at http://main.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=46333.

6. English Language Development and Multicultural Education (2005) University of Alabama. Berkeley University Online available at http://crede.berkeley.edu/tools/directory2-/PDF/esl.pdf#search=%22Alabama%3A%20Elementary%20ESL%20SERVICES%22.

7. English as a Second Language (ESL) (2004) Baldwin County Public Schools; Bay Minette, Alabama. Online available at http://www.bcbe.org/Default.asp?DivisionID='824'&DepartmentID='958'.

8. UAB Wins $389,000 in Grants to Help Teachers Educate Non-English Speaking Children (200) UAB Media Relations. 27 Nov 200. Online available at http://main.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=46333.

9. Alabama (2006) KYTESOL Newsletter Vol. XXVI, No.2 Spring 2006. Online available at….

It is now recognized that individuals learn in different ways -- they perceive and process information in various ways. The learning styles theory suggests that the way that children acquire information has more to do with whether the educational experience is slanted toward their specific style of learning than their intelligence.
The foundation of the learning styles methodology is based in the classification of psychological types. The research demonstrates that, due to heredity factors, upbringing, and present circumstantial demands, different students have an inclination to both perceive and process information differently. These different ways of learning consist of: 1) concrete or abstract perceivers, where concrete perceivers acquire information through direct experience of doing, sensing, and feeling, and abstract perceivers, instead accept new ideas through analyzing, observing and thinking; 2) active or reflective processors -- active processors understand a new experience by immediately utilizing new information, and reflective processors analyze an….

" (Chan, East, Ali and Neophytou, 2002; p.6)
III. POST-WWII ENGLAND SCHOOLS

The work entitled: "Doing Comparative Education: Three Decades of Collaboration" relates the fact that the post-World War II world in England "left a series of emergencies for which immediate answers had to be found. There were shortages of staff, equipment and building..." (Eckstein, 1960) Eckstein additionally states: "Post-war legislation has generally been characterized by radical thinking and optimism. However, the euphoria brought by the end of a war is so often soon dissipated in the exhausting battle of the peace. At such a time, the ambitiously optimistic spirit of reconstruction may also be lessened. A more cautious planned expansion replaces the scheme for extensive reconstruction, ideas of reform have once again to vie with practices which are entrenched in the typical ways of thinking of a people. The educational legislation of the last five years or so has been characterized….

est Virginia's State education department has established English Language Proficiency ELP standards. A student is classified as an English Language Learner if their English proficiency is limited. In est Virginia a limited English proficient (LEP) is classified as such in accordance with the federal government definition as established by section Public Law 107-110, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
In addition once a student has been identified as an English Language Learner, they are assessed each year using the est Virginia Test for English Language Learners (ESTELL). These assessment measures the progress that the student has made during the school year. Students who score high enough can be identified as English Language Proficient (ELP). ESTELL is the tool that schools in est Virginia use to monitor ELL over time.

How are teachers informed of ELLs language proficiency status? hat accommodations do teachers make in daily assessments to ensure students….

This task can be performed with the support of animated movies. The teacher can introduce a certain character within the documentary, and seek the participation of the students for understanding of the traits and behavior of the particular character, and at the end of the day; the teacher can relate those traits with the essence of moral and ethical values. (Aristotle: (http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-arist.htm)
It is also important that the rights of the teachers are protected, and this can be achieved only if the teachers under their limited capacity are able to make and understand the students their importance and significance, not only within the premises of the school, but also in the society. This is an important aspect that has to be handled and treated with due diligence, because unless the teacher is successful in making their students respect them, it will be difficult to communicate and teach the students, otherwise.….

According to a British Study conducted on all students born in the first week of March 1958, and following them through adolescence and on until the age of twenty-three:
There were no average differences between grouped and ungrouped schools because within the grouped schools, high-group students performed better than similar students in ungrouped schools, but low-group students did worse. Students in remedial classes performed especially poorly compared to ungrouped students with similar family backgrounds and initial achievement. With low-group losses offsetting high-group gains, the effects on productivity were about zero, but the impact on inequality was substantial." (Gamoran 1992)

As Gamoran points out, grouping or "tracking" tended to accentuate a student's skills or lack thereof. High-ability students benefited from segregation, but low-ability students did even worse than before. And while low-ability pupils received no benefit whatsoever from the tracking system, neither did their schools. The net gain in performance among the….

Education Literature eview
Whenever the disturbing news of yet another school shooting shatters the adolescence of innocent teenagers, the national media, concerned parents and strained educators alike once again focus their collective attention on the epidemic of bullying which is crippling American schools. In the wake of the Columbine High School massacre which claimed 13 lives and the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings that killed 32 students and faculty, recent tragedies like that which occurred at Sandy Hook elementary bring the consequences of rampant bullying in schools back to the forefront of the national consciousness. Although the loss of life associated with these terrible incidents, and the erosion of self-confidence that results from unchecked bullying, are tragedies that cause society to collectively mourn, it is possible that the diminished safety of our nation's schools has also reduced the ability of modern students to achieve academic excellence. While a causal link between the….

Education
Apex Middle School, part of the wake county public school system in aleigh, NC has implemented a rigorous curriculum for grades 6, 7 and 8. The curriculum for Apex Middle School includes the following: Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Computer Education, Health and Physical Education (Wake, 2003). The objectives of each of these programs are stated below. The Apex Middle School curriculum and objectives outlined in this paper are similar to the curriculum and objectives for most public middle schools in NC. How does this differ from the middle school curriculum typically seen in New York middle schools?

According to the New York State Education Department, the objective or mission of educators is "That all students will meet or exceed high learning standards at the elementary, middle, secondary and continuing education levels" (NYSED, 2003). Major reform is currently occurring in New York. These reforms will have the potential to greatly….

What works for one child is not necessarily going to work for the next. So how can one promote the use of standardized tests as the only way to measure educational learning and success? The premise of the No Child Left Behind Act is very honorable. Each child should be taught by the best teachers that there are and each school should be held accountable for making sure that this occurs. But the measuring device that this act relies on is faulty. It places so much emphasis on the scores of the tests that all of the other educational ideas are being lost among the numbers.
eferences

Beveridge, Tina. (2010). No Child Left Behind and Fine Arts Classes. Arts Education Policy

eview. 111(1), p4-7.

Caillier, James. (2010). Paying Teachers According to Student Achievement: Questions

egarding Pay-for-Performance Models in Public Education. Clearing House. 83(2),

p58-61.

Derthick, Martha and Dunn, Joshua M. (2009). False Premises: The Accountability Fetish….

Education
Nature of Probable Research

The South Bronx section of New York is among the poorest and most diverse school districts in America. Crime and teenage pregnancy have plagued the primarily Hispanic and Afro-American Bronx community for decades. However, in recent years there has been a concerted effort to curb the dire social conditions and education system. For the purposes of our research we will focus on the efforts to improve the educational system through before school and after school programs.

The probable research will involve studying the effects of before school and after school programs on a low performing middle school in the South Bronx section of New York City. The research will examine the manner in which these programs have been implemented and the students that benefit from the programs. The investigation will also discuss the conditions present in some of the middle schools in the South Bronx and the educational….

That leads to some problems with the new software.
We don't purchase some of the neat things that you can get. Fortunately, a number of us pressed for projectors a few years ago, and we have them in each classroom. That makes it easier for us to use the computer to teach the whole class. We don't use smart boards or other tools, other than the computers and the projectors.

What is the set up in the elementary school setting regarding labs and stations?

We generally have one or two computers per class in the elementary schools. Sometimes the teachers use it to do internet research, or to play a DVD for their class. The teachers sometimes assign remedial work to some students, who work on the computer doing exercises during school hours.

A understand from my elementary school teaching friends that there are no computer labs, and that they only have a….