School Testing Situations

When it comes to drug and alcohol high school testing , what is more important: Protecting constitutional rights or protecting students? The consensus from students is surprising. There are just as many students for random drug testing as against and in some schools, more students are for random testing than not. The same opinion varies among parents, counselors, coaches and teachers.

There is a big majority of some schools’ who believe there is a big alcohol and a drug problem affecting students. Recent high profile court decisions have determined that it is unconstitutional to randomly test students for drugs and alcohol. The schools that were randomly testing students were testing students who were involved in extracurricular activities- meaning these students had the choice to participate, unlike regular classes required by law. Private schools also fell into this category.

Because the school is private, different laws and regulations differ from public, government-run schools, so they were able to randomly test students. The schools who were randomly testing students all acted on “reasonable cause,” like obvious evidence of increased drug or alcohol use on campus. Now, with recent constitutional cases, schools who were about to begin random alcohol/drug testing have postponed their program until further decisions by state and federal courts.

Students were previously tested using two different methods; urine testing and mouth swab tests for saliva testing. Previously, using either urine or the swabbing tests would only measure very recent alcohol or drug use. Now with EtG alcohol and drug testing, ethyl glucuronide testing, a sample now is able to test several days of prior alcohol and drug use, where it wasn’t possible before. Both urine and swabbing testing are intrusive and cost money to perform. Under current alcohol high school testing rules, a student who tested positive would not face criminal charges, but face varying lengths of suspensions from sports or other extra curricular activities. The student would still attend classes but also be required to attend an approved treatment program.

Hair alcohol testing is the latest and most accurate form of testing on the market today. With only an inch worth of scalp hair from a student, as much as 30 days of alcohol and drug use can be revealed using EtG testing. The instrument used for hair alcohol testing is called a liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, it is a sensitive machine used for testing the smallest of particles in a sample. Besides schools, lawyers, social workers and employers are finding that this type of hair alcohol testing is a far superior way to test someone for recent as well as past alcohol and drug abuse. Plus, hair alcohol testing is by far the least intrusive way to test someone’s metabolites.

Until there is a consensus in the U.S. courts over the rights of students with regards to random alcohol and drug testing, parents, teachers and coaches can only encourage students to abstain with the threat of other consequences or perhaps it will be a peer issue to threaten each other, “continue to abuse and we are all tested via police force, not just by a concerned counselor.”

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With due respect to the noble calling of teachers profession, I support the view that the teachers should be held accountable for low student test scores. In the modern days, with the increasing demand in wages and salaries of the employees, it also entails additional burdens and responsibilities in their duties and calls for better performance.

Whether it is private sector or public sector, the companies fix a target for their employees to achieve in a given period and their performance in a given period is also being compared and assessed with yet another performance which is either low or high and causes for such low or high performance is analyzed and shortcomings or loopholes if any among the employees are plugged. If particular employees are found to be lacking in the required skill or if they are found to be negligent, they are punished either by way of transferring them to some other departments or they are provided with additional facilities to improve their skills.

Similarly, with the increasing knowledge of science and technology and their faster pace in development, teachers as the torch bearers of knowledge, have to keep themselves updated with the modern trend. While in a company an employees’ performance is assessed through his output of work or by the manufactured products, we can judge a teachers’ performance and skill, only through the performance of his students through the actual marks scored by him or her in a test or an examination.

In other words, a teachers’ performance is invariably linked with the test performance of his or her students or a teachers’ skill and performance in his subject is directly proportional to the performance of his or her students in the tests conducted by him or her or conducted by a third party. When we proceed to analyze the results or the performance of a teachers’ students in a given test or exam, we categorize them into high or low.When a significant percentage of students scored poor or low marks or have failed in the exam, there may be umpteen number of reasons for the poor performance of the students like they had not prepared well for the test or exam, the paper was very tough and beyond the ken of an average student, but the ultimate reason being the teacher has not properly taught the subject, he or she has not properly coached them, he or she has not trained them or prepared them adequately towards the test or exam.

As a political party leader who was in charge of an election, owning responsibility for the poor performance of his party in the election, it is the moral responsibility of the teacher to own responsibility for the poor performance of the bulk of his students in a test or exam. Therefore, naturally it follows and the logical conclusion must be that the teachers should be held accountable for the low student test scores.

In view of his poor performance and being held accountable, the teacher should be punished either by way of transfer or by demoting him to the lower class. In some private schools in India, making the teachers accountable for the poor performance of their students, they are even being terminated from service. But in Government schools, despite of being saddled with power to supervise such eventualities, the educational officers invariably fail to take any action against such teachers.

But in my humble opinion, stringent laws should be made so as to fix up responsibility and accountability against such teachers, in the interest of students as well as the teaching fraternity.

There are many reasons the public education system should not impose mandatory drug testing. Firstly, if we want to maximize the benefits of education funding, this is a bad choice. There are plenty of textbooks that are outdated, special needs children being ignored, and poorly ventilated classrooms. Furthermore, some children take drugs that would show up on the test. Requiring a doctor’s note for the school’s drug testing wastes the time of extremely busy health professionals. Furthermore, doctors will be bothered by students who have “fatigue” or “stress” and are trying to get a prescription for illegal drugs. Again, this will waste time and resources.

Soft drugs are usually the most common in schools. The students doing these drugs often have greater problems that drove them to drug use in the first place. And frankly, plenty of students casually smoke marijuana and maintain an organized and successful life at home and at school. If your little Jannie starts doing drugs, you didn’t educate her properly about them. Children don’t automatically cave into peer pressure. They can’t be protected from everything. People need to be able to look at twenty other people and say “you can do what you want, but I’m not going to do that.” Really, it’s a classic case of people jumping off a bridge. If you think students can’t help but turn to drugs, you’d also think they could be pressured into jumping off bridges. Maybe we should look into mandatory psychiatric evaluations before allowing students to cross bridges?

Furthermore, people seem to think students somehow deserve to be treated differently because of their age. There is some truth to this, but drugs are a problem that is widespread in society. You might as well require drug testing for everyone. Again, this is a waste of money and ineffective for many reasons. Firstly, it’s possible to cheat drug tests. Secondly, many drug addicts won’t be saying “oh, you caught me so I’ll stop.” Someone who is addicted enough will go live on the street and quit school or work if it means they can continue their habit.

I don’t support drug use. I think people should be able to make their own choices. However, I don’t even think marijuana is a particularly healthy lifestyle choice, though it’s relatively harmless compared to many things people already do legally. Still, the research concerning how to reduce drug use consistently shows that legalization is effective. It also allows police to do more important things with their time than chase addicts.

There is something to be said for drug testing in certain cases. It has been shown that regularly subjecting known drug users to drug testing can reduce the usage of drugs. However, this is a gross invasion of personal privacy and is only justified in extreme situations. Frankly, society is too quick to throw every student under the bus. I never even drank in High School, and I would have been extremely angry if my school implemented mandatory drug testing. I probably would have refused.

If you want to keep drugs out of schools, dogs can be effective at determining the location of any drugs. However, subjecting the entire student body to embarrassing and invasive tests simply to discover that a few kids smoke pot seems like a waste of time. If serious drug problems are an issue, educate teachers. It’s pretty obvious when someone is a major drug user as opposed to a casual user of marijuana. Really, most student drug use is brought on by stress. Adding another stressful aspect to the lives of students is really unjustified. There are better ways to improve the lives of students.

And if we really care about health, we have to target even bigger problems. Obesity is rarely genetic. Presumably, someone who failed a drug test would be expelled for what? Putting their health at risk, supposedly. Obesity is even more dangerous. Should we expel obese children? The way to combat social problems is to address them. Punishing people for making mistakes has been shown in psychology to rarely produce results. Contrastingly, positive reinforcement consistently appears to best address problems when analyzed under experimental conditions.

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Why You Should Sit in the Front Row at School – It’s Important!

These are things I did when attending school, and it always helped me with learning, taking good notes, and more. Read more . . .

There is no reason to cheat off the student sitting next to you when you can tap his or her talents through the legitimate use of logistics. In other words, put up a good front by sitting in front of the class.

Here’s why!!

1. You will often meet brighter, even more ambitious students than yourself by sitting in the front row. it is true that the academically gifted are likely to plop down anywhere, but a higher percentage, row-wise, will be near the teacher. ( In college, graduate students inevitably gravitate in that direction.) Make friends with these people, play up to them, pat their heads, give them your full attention. It works.

2. Front row students are more likely to take good notes that you can borrow if you absolutely must miss class. If you don’t understand some of the lecture material and the teacher is usually busy after class, these students are the next best thing. Plus, they will be able to provide superior insight when trying to second-guess potential test questions.

3. You are less likely to fall asleep when sitting in the front row. Snoring is visible, noisy, and embarrassing. So is drooling on your desk.

4. By sitting up front, you give the teacher a chance to get to know you. If the teacher is at all approachable, you have, as they say, headed off the other students at the pass ( and passing, after all, is the name of the game). Clearly, if the teacher is prone to fits of gabbiness, then it is a simple matter to introduce yourself, and at the same time, remove yourself from the stigma of being just another face in the crowd.

5. When you sit in the front row, your confidence level will increase. Besides the obvious merit of no guilt trip for skipping out or falling asleep, it is likely you will feel more positive when studying for exams if you have attended and listened. A positive attitude can be critical in passing the threshold of trying, and thus, in passing the class.

It’s a good idea to choose your position in the front row next to a student that you are certain the teacher likes. Remember the childhood advice not to sit too close to the fire, or you would get burned? Well, a corollary is true: Sit by likable, bright students and you will get en-light-ened.

Here are more interesting articles that I recommend:

1. http://www.bukisa.com/articles/393492_how-to-brine-your-turkey-with-cranberry-juice-this-year

2. http://www.bukisa.com/articles/392824_glass-and-chrome-cleaner-save-money-make-your-own

3. http://www.bukisa.com/articles/392080_great-tricks-to-ace-that-next-school-tests

4. http://www.bukisa.com/articles/391714_is-youre-baby-teething-how-to-ease-the-pain

5. http://www.bukisa.com/articles/390929_men-how-to-tell-if-theyre-lying

6. http://www.bukisa.com/articles/390896_diet-and-weight-loss-scams-here-they-are

If you have any suggestions, or comments to this article, myself, and my readers would love to hear from you. It is our desire for you, and your family to have a lovely holiday season. Use the comment section below. It is our hope that you continue to walk with God, as I promise that God is already walking with you. Thank you for your time today, and God bless. Also if you are looking for unique, one of a kind hand made gifts please visit our shop at http://lakewhitneywoodshop.weebly.com You can contact me in my shop at tomcmoore@amerion.com Happy Holidays!!

GOOFY’S SKY SCHOOL TESTING

The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is a test in mathematics and English language for measuring aptitude of students for advanced study in business and management. If you are aiming to pursue graduate management programs from the reputed and established business schools, colleges and universities around the world, then you have to score good marks in GMAT test. Clearing GMAT test is easy if you take the help of the popular and recognized online education providers.

Taking the GMAT is one of the first steps in applying to business school. Along with your transcripts, letters of recommendation, personal statement, and resume, business schools use the GMAT to assess your readiness. The GMAT is given in a computer adaptive format (CAT) that gives you an easier or harder question depending on how you answer the previous one. You are not allowed to skip questions or change your answers, so practice is key to mastering this format. Here are some tips to finding free practice tests so you can raise your GMAT score.

When it comes to taking practice tests, many GMAT test takers fall into one of two categories. The first type is made up of students that think of practice tests as THE way to prep. These students will take practice test after practice test, sometimes taking up to four or more a week. The second group is made up of students that are afraid to take any practice tests. These students will exclaim, “I have not studied everything and will do terribly if I take a practice test.” With this mindset, these students will fail to take practice tests until perhaps the week or two before their actual exam.

So, which approach is correct? Not surprisingly, both of these mindsets are problematic. Test takers in the former group miss opportunities to focus their practice on their problem areas. This focused practice is essential to improving one’s GMAT score and simply taking additional tests will not help students improve their understanding of content.

On the other side, test takers who fail to take any practice tests until the last minute will not be prepared for the pressure of test day. Additionally, these students will not be used to the endurance needed to take a three and half hour exam.

This means, in order to successfully prepare for test day, students must find a happy medium between these two extremes. In order to gain both test taking experience and content specific review, those prepping for the GMAT should aim to take about one practice test per week. After taking each test, preppers should review all of the problems and then make sure to work in areas in which they missed questions over the course of the week. By following this system, you will be maximizing the effectiveness of your studies and on your way to a top GMAT score.

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Doubts often occur when deciding whether to take an online class or not. This is because how an online class works is still not fully imparted to all student bodies. Apparently, there are both advantages and disadvantages associated with such class system. And they must be considered before a beginner enrolls in it. So let’s not wait anymore and get to the business of knowing what those advantages and disadvantages are.

Advantages:

Learning better: It is much easier to gain detailed knowledge about a specific course online than on campus. How? In an online class you have to prepare for tests and quizzes by reading from the textbook. What this means is that you teach yourself. This instantly helps you learn more.

Saving gas money: The best thing about taking a class online is saving money on gas and maintaining car mileage. You do not require going to campus and thus you do not drive.

Discipline yourself: All tests and quizzes have specific due dates. Once these due dates are gone, the links of tests and quizzes instantly disappear. Therefore, you have to finish your reading in timely manner. This can enable you to become disciplined in your studies.

Plenty of time to do homework: In an online class, assignments are weekly. That is, each week there will be a few short assignments to be completed. Majority of the instructors give students seven days time to finish them. For bigger assignments, the due dates are even extended. So you can work on them at a slower pace.

Fair grade: Instructors in online classes cannot play hide and seek game with grades. This is because they are required to post all grades to a link called grade book in timely manner. Additionally, when the quizzes and tests are in multiple choice format their points are programmed before students take them. What this does is that once you finish them and hit the submit button your points will be calculated instantly by summation of correct answers and deduction of the wrong ones. And when it comes to tests and quizzes that require writing essays, after they are being graded the instructor has to post the correct answers to them. This allows students to see where in the essays they were wrong. So whatever grade you will get will be the fair display of your effort.

Disadvantages:

Technical issues on blackboard: This is by far one of the major disadvantages of online classes which can leave students helpless. Sometimes bugs end up invading the blackboard which can make navigation difficult or create malfunctions. The only way to get rid of this problem is to notify about it to the tech department of the university. However, if such dilemma occurs in the evening you have to leave it as it is and stay frustrated for not being able to finish the assignments. This is because in the evening the university’s IT department will be closed. Thus there will be no way you can reach them at the time for help.

No response from the instructor: some instructors feel that posting the assignments and waiting to grade them are the only two jobs they have in an online. Sometimes this does not let them take the students seriously. Consequently, they can take a longer time to respond to a question asked by a student to them through email or open discussion link. Other instructors can simply stay so busy in other classes that they totally fail to respond. This can be very troublesome especially a day before an assignment is due.

Need for being alert will cost you points: As mentioned earlier, there are always due dates for the submission of all completed assignments. Failing to follow through them can force you to skip a test or quiz. Moreover, sometimes the link to homework submission is also programmed to disappear. Therefore, there is high level of chance of getting zero on the assignment. What this means is that you have to be always alert on what is going on in the class. Additionally, you have to take the due dates seriously.

Downloading of software and understanding new ones: This is a problem that often occurs in math related online classes. Since there is no paper work in such system, instructors usually require students to do their math homework using software to be downloaded from the blackboard or CD that sometimes comes with the textbook. To do the homework, it is important to understand how this exact software works. And if you do not learn it there is no way you will be able to finish your homework. Unfortunately, if your computer is low in memory this downloading task can become a bad dilemma.

Some online classes are not seen as valid: Many universities and companies do not take all online classes much seriously. So you basically cannot take just any online class and get away with it. What this means is that before you enroll in one you have to find out whether it is fully accepted in other places or not. Also if you keep taking online classes you can be seen as lazy by the university or company you are interested in joining. Therefore, you have to still continue taking traditional on campus classes.

In conclusion, online classes have both good and bad qualities. But at the same time, those who already took them claim that they are much easier than the traditional classes. Yet the best way to understand whether you should take an online class or not is by researching on the course itself. That is, you need to ask your school to help you get information on whether the online version is accepted by others. Next you have to find out whether the instructor who teaches the course online is easy or hard. Last, try to get a hold of the class’ syllabus from its former student.

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