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Changing the test does not address other inequities in the U.S. education system, which result in real difference in college performance

Nor does Finland use standardized tests to compare and contrast primary and secondary school students and their schools. Assessment is carried out at the local level. Teachers determine the design and timing of the exams, which are used to monitor student progress

Furthermore, teachers are selected from the top ten percent of college students and teacher education students get funding to receive a free master’s degree from a Finnish university.

South Korea uses high stakes testing to determine high school and college admission. Social status, marriage eligibility and work prospects are all determined by the test outcomes. So, preparation for this test often begins at preschool. (Dalporto, South Korea’s School Success, n.d.). The testing culture is so intense that suicidal thoughts are high amongst low scorers on the exams (Wang, 2013).

Some believe that middle class South Koreans are emigrating to the U.S. to avoid this high stakes testing culture. Others believe the low birth rate in South Korea is also tied to the high stakes testing culture as well (Choi, 2009).

The steps that the College Board is taking to improve the SAT to align more with the common core seem to be a step in the right direction. At the end of the day, there needs to be emphasis placed on school equality and teacher quality as well because an improved test will not fix a broken school system.

A warmer planet directly affects postal workers, landscape workers, construction and sanitation workers, “and that means they need different kind of protection,” says Lipsig-Mummé. “These jobs will have to be done radically differently.”

All of that will affect work in different sectors, in more ways than we can imagine

In Bangladesh, considered ground zero for climate change, millions of farmers on the coast have left their villages and moved to the capital city of Dhaka because rising sea levels have devoured farmland and monsoon rains, on which farmers depend, are unpredictable.

At the other end, global warming can wipe out jobs completely, she says

Some jobs, on the other hand, will become more important as the earth grows warmer.

mergency workers such as firefighters, police officers and paramedics face genuine dangers in a warming climate.

“As I see it, there is potential to create thousands and thousands of well-paying green jobs … there is transportation, retrofitting of homes, energy efficiency,” he says.

And a dynamic economy isn’t created on paper or by central planning – it’s created by allowing the natural forces of capitalism to work.

In recent years, many political and socioeconomic barriers have slowly been removed, and huge technological advances have been made.

I'm exhilarated by what this means for me, the teachers in my building, and the students we teach. We have the power to make great strides with what we're given. The challenge will be how to take advantage of all this in the educational setting, and try to make sure our classrooms are flat."

SAIL, an outdoors superstore, opened in Cambridge creating over 130 jobs Retail Trade Job Creation ON Kasabonika Lake First Nation received an estimated $12M from the Government of Canada to upgrade the community's diesel generating station. Con-Pro Industries Canada Ltd. was awarded the contract and will begin construction in spring 2015. Construction Job Creation ON Atelka Inc. is adding 25 bilingual customer service agent positions at its call centre in Cornwall Administrative and Support, Waste Management and Remediation Services Job Creation ON Quebec-based clothing retailer La Maison Simons will open a store at the Rideau Centre in Ottawa in August 2016 Retail Trade Job Creation ON Highbury Canco Corporation is planning to expand its product line, which could result in 15 new jobs at its food processing plant in Leamington over the next few months. The company took over the Heinz plant in the summer 2014. Manufacturing Job Creation ON Cogeco Data Services Inc. is adding 20,000-sq.-ft. to its centre in Barrie by early 2015 Professional, Scientific and Technical Services Job Creation ON Construction began on the Advanced Composites Fabrication, Repair and Test Centre at Canadore College's Aviation Technology Campus in North Bay. The $6M facility is expected to be open by summer 2015. Construction Job Creation BC Northern Iron Corp. is expected to begin dewatering the former Griffith Mine North Pit in the Red Lake mining district at the end of April 2015 to determine the quality and quantity of iron ore remaining Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction Job Creation ON Retailer Reitmans (Canada) Limited will close its 107 Smart Set stores in Canada over the next 12 to 18 months, about 76 of which will be converted to other banners of the company. The total number of jobs affected in Ontario is currently unknown. Retail Trade Layoff ON

the TPP is the most ambitious in the short term. It is dominated by America and Japan and also includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Together these countries account for about 40% of global GDP, making it one of America's biggest potential free-trade agreements (FTAs).

the TPP is not just aimed at dismantling tariff barriers. It is also meant to tackle tough issues such as intellectual property, services, government procurement, labour and environmental standards. Since its members include economies such as Vietnam and Malaysia whose supply chains depend on cheap labour, negotiations were always likely to be tricky

TPP failure would be a disaster

There is still time for him and Mr Abe to rescue the trade talks. But unless Mr Obama leads from the front, America's own leadership in the Pacific will seem less convincing than he has repeatedly promised.

encourage workers to take responsibility for their own health, safety and wellness and contribute to creating a healthy work environment

create environments that make the healthy choice the easy choice

promote work-life balance and make work a healthy life experience

jobs are challenging

employees have adequate resources to do their job

Lower absenteeism

lexibility – allowing employees to have some capacity to adapt their workday to respond to family issues such as a child becoming ill or one who has special needs, school visits and parent-teacher interviews or special needs of elders. It typically includes family responsibility leave for employees. Supportive supervisors/managers whose management style values staff and is characterized by a desire to help employees achieve better balance between work and the rest of their lives. A culture that is family friendly - overall attitudes, beliefs, values and taken-for-granted ways of doing things that support work-family issues as legitimate workplace concerns, and as an opportunity to develop ‘new ways of working’.  Options include maternity, paternity, family and personal leave provisions. Alternative work arrangements – options are available to employees including daily or scheduled flex time arrangements, job-sharing, reduced hours, compressed work week, family leave options, part-time work, gradual retirement, telecommuting, other leaves and sabbatical options. Such alternative work arrangements are seen as ways of working, and employees using them are not sidelined, marginalized or belittled. Recognition of child and elder care issues including support for child care, providing access to a service regarding child or elder care, establishing on-site child care or, developing a consortium with other employers in order to provide emergency child care. This includes accommodating the needs of employees who are breastfeeding their children.

one day we'll hit the physical limits of how small traditional transistors can be. That's because once you hit the nanoscale, you're dealing with the bizarre world of quantum mechanics. In this world, matter and energy behave in ways that seem counterintuitive.

Electron tunneling is a bit like teleportation. When material is very thin -- the thickness of a single nanometer (about 10 atoms thick) -- electrons can tunnel right through it as if it weren't there at all.

beyond the nanoscale is the atomic scale, where you're dealing with materials that are only a few atoms in size.

it might mean that the advancements in microprocessor development will slow down and level off.

companies will likely find ways to improve microprocessor efficiency and performance, nonetheless.

It seems like microprocessor manufacturers will only be able to keep Moore's Law going for a few more years

Microsoft says that many businesses could save money by running programs in the cloud and they can make starting a technology business cheaper, since many services are pay-as-you-go.

Microsoft said that almost every business already uses one cloud-based service, whether it’s e-mail, a collaboration system or data storage

It’s a challenge of awareness.

Businesses have been bombarded with cautionary tales of data security breaches at companies such as Target, Home Depot and JPMorgan, and that’s contributing to a climate of uncertainty and trepidation around privacy.

cybersecurity is a real threat, there is a lot of unfounded fear in the market over the risks of cloud computing

revenues from commercial cloud services were up 128 per cent from the same time last year in its first quarter earnings on Oct. 23

Today's workers must use the tools of the Internet and marketing techniques to frame their skills and experiences in the best possible ways to avoid losing themselves in the pack

Freelancers are the second group of people who must aggressively market themselves.

There are two groups of people who are most interested in self marketing, inluding those candidates who are seeking jobs, looking for promotions, or trying to switch jobs

These independent contractors will need to self market continuously to keep clients aware of their brand, their abilities, and their reputation..

job seekers must identify what kinds of jobs they want, what their biggest strengths and weaknesses are, and how they are perceived professionally

The process of building a personal brand is labor intensive. Job seekers must constantly update blogs, respond to emails, maintain correspondence, and refine their overall image. Their self marketing plan should describe in clear language a systematic approach to the job hunt. It needs to identify daily tasks, key contacts, ongoing projects, and new networking opportunities, giving potential employees a clear sense of when, where, and how they will promote themselves.

At the outset, the self marketer needs to set goals for themselves.

In other words, keep it simple!

If in doubt, call the company and ask

If you are sending attachments, consider putting only your resume in an attachment and putting your cover letter in the body/text of the e-mail message.  Whatever you do, don't leave the body of the e-mail blank.  Otherwise the end result will be something like sending a photocopied resume; it will look like you though extra effort wasn't worth it (you don't really want a job with them; you just want any job).

The reason for this is that all information submitted gets stored into their database for easy retrieval later, automated e-mail replies, etc.  Much of the information you will enter can be copied and pasted from your regular word-processed resume but do read the forms carefully and be sure to provide the information they ask for.

Quality improves when more of the work that goes into a final product is done by people who are good at it.

The improvement is even greater when, as with TopCoder projects, people who are good at work compete with one another to get it.

power of the online “open innovation marketplace”

another major benefit of hyperspecialization: speed.

More generally, hyperspecialization can reduce clock time by assigning related tasks to different people who then accomplish them in parallel rather than serially.