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Target: President Barack Obama
Goal: Stop federal support for hate group claiming religious affiliation.
The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas is a fundamentalist sect preaching the literal word of the Bible in the form of national hate protests against homosexuals, soldiers, and other groups. Under the guise of a religious affiliation, the Westboro Baptist Church hate group has enjoyed the perks of being a tax-exempt organization. Please sign this petition and demand that President Obama revoke the Westboro Baptist Church's tax-exempt status as their mission is to spread hate rather than religion.
The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is infamous for its offensive protests of sensitive events like funerals, graduations, rallies, and other events where large groups of diverse people conjure. Their tagline, "God Hates Fags," is just one of the many sayings they display during protests. Some others include, "Thank God for Dead Soldiers," "AIDS Cures Fags," and "God Blew Up the Troops." Beyond picketing and spreading hate, the WBC also restricts membership to the community and reportedly serves as a tax shelter for its family's operations.
Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. WBC clearly violates this prohibition in their harassment and politicking of politically charged events like soldier funerals and gay rights rallies. The IRS has the power to revoke the church's 501(c)(3) status if it finds WBC is operating for "mostly nonreligious purposes". Take one look at the WBC website, found at godhatesfag.com, and you wouldn't even know the page represented a religious organization.
The hate crimes committed by Westboro Baptist Church are hurtful and insulting. The organization does nothing to improve its community, no charity work or fundraising. Beyond holding a service once a week, it seems WBC is more of a fearful, hate filled excuse for a tax deduction than it is a place of worship. Please sign this petition and demand that Westboro Baptist Church loose their tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) charity.
Dear President Obama,
Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) has been spreading hate with the help of the federal government for years. As a 501(c)(3) charity, WBC is able to reap the benefits of having a tax exempt status. Basically, they are given a financial break in order to better spread their message of "God Hates Fags."
It is deplorable that their tax exempt status has remained despite the in-your-face protests against homosexuals, American soldiers and other groups. Yielding signs that read "Thank God for AIDS," "AIDS Cures Fags," and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers," the WBC fundamentalist sect ruins countless funerals, gay rights rallies, and other events that celebrate life and diversity. The WBC website, found at godhatefags.com, includes an ongoing tally of the "people whom God has cast into hell since you loaded this page". The WBC statistics also list a set-in-stone 0 representing the "nanoseconds of sleep that WBC members lose over your opinions and feeeeellllliiiiiings." There is no mention of community service or charity projects amongst the picket schedules and list of sister sites, which include GodHatesIslam.com, GodHatesTheWorld.com, and PriestsRapeBoys.com.
Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Westboro Baptist should loose their tax-exempt status based on their opposition to political campaigns as part of their protesting and picketing. WBC should also loose their tax-exempt status for existing as a mostly nonreligious organization. Take one look at their past actions and current website and you will be shocked by the lack of religious guise used to promote their sentiments.
Please strip the Westboro Baptist Church of their tax-exempt status and stop funding national hate crimes.
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: revistacruce via Yahoo


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Best Of :: La Vida
We never know when the fever will hit us (someone cue Peggy Lee) -- the fever for Mariscos Playa Hermosa's camarónes culichi, or shrimp in green tomatillo sauce. And once we've got the fever, nothing will do but to make a beeline to this humble little place and snarf up a serving of that tangy ambrosia, which includes melted jack cheese and fat, fresh shrimp, with a side of rice and tortillas. Tomatillos may be our favorite member of the nightshade family. When you buy them fresh, they look like jolly green figs, with a paperlike covering over a mini-tomato that has a sticky skin. Inside they're mushy, full of seeds, with a taste somewhat like a green apple. But turned into a sauce, their flavor intensifies, as does their color, and the result is polish-your-plate-with-tongue good. A lot of Mexican eateries make it, but we're partial to Mariscos Playa Hermosa's because it doesn't try to get all precious with it, as do some spots. Rather, Mariscos' is straightforward and immensely satisfying, curing us of "tomatillo fever." Well, at least for the moment.
In the interest of our gaming-themed "Best of," we wanted, dear reader, to find you the best cockfight in town. But The Man cried fowl. You can't find a legal cockfight in AZ anymore, although we hear there's still some action on the west side of Phoenix. Anyhow, we don't want to recommend anything that would hurt a chicken, short of a trip to KFC. But as far as "good" games go, we found Dulceria Pico Rico, a Mexican game store on 16th Street. DPR carries several versions of Loteria (Mexican bingo), as well as the Mexican version of Chutes 'n' Ladders, called Serpientes y Escaleras, and Pin the Tail on the Donkey, er, Burro. Even if you're bummed about not catching a cockfight, there's something very satisfying about winning the pot in Loteria. Victory tastes like chicken.
Silvana Salcido Esparza, owner and executive chef of Barrio Cafe, is proud of the series of tattoos that decorate her right leg. For her, tattooing isn't just the trendy thing to do, but a way of expressing and paying homage to her culture. "I didn't start getting tattoos until I was 35," says Esparza, who's now 45. "So it's not like I'm some kid who runs into the tattoo shop and runs out half an hour later with a new tattoo." In fact, Esparza reports that her tattoos took countless hours of conceptualization, and they are all original designs, featuring images of Toltec warriors, Nahuatl women, a Mexican eagle, the Day of the Dead calavera dressed as a chef, and a Mayan corn god. Each tattoo has a special meaning for Esparza. "In my culture, we believe that corn is life, and it denotes a new beginning and sustenance," she says. "And it's also associated with food, which is such a big part of my culture." Esparza's tattoo of Nahuatl women grinding corn comes from artist Diego Rivera's Mercado mural, and she chose the design for its suggestions of feminine power. "The woman signifies everything for the Mexican culture," she says. "Everything is centered around the mother." Most of the work was done by various tattoo artists in Mexico City, except for the Mayan corn god, a local job. Eventually, Esparza says, the series of tattoos will become a full leg sleeve, brought together by images of corn. We don't think that's corny at all.
We've had a lot of margaritas in our day, but we must admit to doubling our intake after discovering what the addition of a little prickly pear juice can do to such an already perfect drink. And nobody in the Valley does prickly pear margaritas better than the surprisingly low-key bar at this posh resort in far north Scottsdale. Unlike lesser prickly pear margaritas, there is nothing syrupy or heavy about these purplish-pink babies; they're possessed of a perfect light tartness. The only drawback: The resort is so far from civilization, and the drinks go down so smoothly, you're probably going to have to book a room.
The blender has done for margaritas what the automatic transmission did for sports cars. Why do people pay top dollar for high-end tequila, then ask the barkeep to blanderize it with pulverized ice? As Frank Sinatra was prone to say when given more than two cubes in his whiskey tumbler, "What do I look like, a figure skater?" If you want a Slurpee, go to 7-Eleven. If you want an honest margarita -- one with real bite -- head to Richardson's, where there's no blender, or sweet-and-sour mix, to get in the way of a good thing. Richardson's knows the recipe for pure refreshment on a hot summer day: good tequila and fresh-squeezed lime juice with a dash of Triple Sec poured into a glass filled with ice (cubes!) and rimmed with salt. That's it, nothing more. Alter this recipe even a smidgen and you may be drinking a cocktail, but it ain't a margarita.
Some folks like their margaritas on the rocks, just as some folks enjoy a 10-inch spike to the upper thorax. Those rocks-in-their-heads margarita masochists will argue that frozen margaritas are an abomination thought up by girly men. Back in the day, they'll point out, we didn't have blenders, so margaritas would have been served chilled or on the rocks at best. Perhaps, but then there's this little thing known as "progress," of which we're so fond. Since the invention of the margarita back in the 1930s, progress has come to improve our lives with such marvels as air conditioning and frozen margaritas, both of which are available for your pleasure at Z'Tejas. Its eight-ounce Chambord margarita is particularly wicked -- a blend of Sauza Gold, triple sec and sweet and sour, swirled into Chambord liqueur that makes them so potent that imbibers are cut off after three drinks. While the knuckle-draggers are sipping theirs on the rocks (and probably trying to start a fire with two sticks), we'll be on our third Chambord maggie, enjoying a lovely yet profound buzz.

subset: commoncrawl


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Determinants of Student Achievement: New Evidence from San Diego
- Abigayle Carr
- 1 years ago
- Views:
1 Determinants of Student Achievement: New Evidence from San Diego Julian R. Betts Andrew C. Zau Lorien A. Rice 2003 PUBLIC POLICY INSTITUTE OF CALIFORNIA
2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Betts, Julian R. Determinants of student achievement : new evidence from San Diego / Julian R. Betts, Andrew C. Zau, Lorien A. Rice. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN: Students California San Diego Social conditions 20th century. 2. Academic achievement Social aspects California San Diego. 3. Educational indicators California San Diego. 4. San Diego City Schools Evaluation. I. Zau, Andrew. II. Rice, Lorien, III. Public Policy Institute of California. IV. Title. LC205.5.C2B '09794'98 dc Copyright 2003 by Public Policy Institute of California All rights reserved San Francisco, CA Short sections of text, not to exceed three paragraphs, may be quoted without written permission provided that full attribution is given to the source and the above copyright notice is included. PPIC does not take or support positions on any ballot measure or state and federal legislation nor does it endorse or support any political parties or candidates for public office. Research publications reflect the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff, officers, or Board of Directors of the Public Policy Institute of California.
3 Foreword In the 2001 school year, the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) launched a program of reform known as the Blueprint for Student Success. This ambitious and controversial reform calls for a districtwide intervention program to help students who are falling behind in their grade. The blueprint includes multiple interventions, including peer coaches, extended-length English classes, supplemental class options, reduced class sizes, summer school, and grade retention. Part of the controversy over the program lies in the broad sweep of its approach, both in the number of children affected and the number of options available. Many studies of student achievement in California have used state-level data. But few have used student-level data that link student performance to the resources available in the classroom. In 2000, PPIC entered into an agreement with SDUSD to provide the research and financial support necessary to format, collect, and analyze the student, teacher, and classroom data necessary to provide an accurate portrait of what affects student achievement in San Diego. This report by Julian Betts, Andrew Zau, and Lorien Rice is the first product stemming from this collaboration. It examines in unprecedented detail the determinants of individual student gains in achievement in SDUSD between fall 1997 and spring This research also provides an important baseline against which to compare student achievement after the blueprint s implementation in fall Future PPIC reports will directly assess the effect of the blueprint by extending the database from spring 2000 to the date of the study then undertaken. These data will provide new insights into the detailed effects of the blueprint to all who are interested in the success of this program of reform. This report provides some important new baseline findings about the interaction between students, their peers, and their teachers that will prove critical for understanding those effects. First, teacher education, credentials, experience, and subject authorization can make a difference iii
4 in student outcomes on tests, but the effects are neither as systematic nor as large as some may believe. Second, an individual student s rate of learning appears to be strongly and positively influenced by the initial achievement of students in his or her grade. And third, as has been found in earlier studies, the daunting achievement gaps between students do not appear to be created primarily by the schools as they now exist. Taking everything else into account, income and socioeconomic status still matter, and they matter a great deal. PPIC has made a significant and long-term investment in working with SDUSD because it was clear from the beginning of this project that the blueprint presented a rare, if not unique, opportunity to look carefully at a major educational reform effort close up, without the usual critique that the reform is either too narrow or poorly implemented. Future reports will build on the current pre-blueprint work to provide an analysis of the reform effort itself. Second, it was also clear that the lack of systematic student-level data in California is a serious obstacle to an objective understanding of what is happening at the classroom level in schools throughout the state. K 12 education is the largest item in the state budget, but we have no simple statistic to tell us what works and what does not. Finally, our intent, in working with the district, is to ensure a strong, factual underpinning to the various debates that will doubtless emerge over school quality and the achievement gap in California s public schools. PPIC is committed to the collection and dissemination of such facts and to the hope that the presentation of the facts at the student, teacher, and classroom level will make a real contribution to the reform of education in California and the rest of the nation. We are grateful to SDUSD for the opportunity to make this contribution and to the spirit of collaboration that has been present over the past three years. We are optimistic that these findings will help San Diego and other school districts throughout the state come to grips with the daunting challenges before them. David W. Lyon President and CEO Public Policy Institute of California iv
5 Summary Statewide surveys by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) have consistently shown that the quality of California s schools tops the list of the public s concerns about problems in California. These surveys have shown that the public is particularly uneasy about the lack of fully qualified teachers in the state s schools. The public wants to see California schools improve and is aware of inequalities across state schools in both student achievement and the resources put into each school. In light of public concerns about the quality of K 12 education, this report uses a detailed database from San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) to pursue three goals: to examine the nature of school resource inequalities, to explore trends in student achievement with a focus on the achievement gap among schools and demographic groups, and, most important, to provide detailed statistical estimates of which school and classroom factors have the most influence on the rate at which student achievement increases. Several organizations, including PPIC, have produced studies that use California s statewide database on school resources and student achievement to explore one or more of the above three questions. These reports have already produced useful policy insights. However, existing statewide datasets have severe limitations, especially when researchers attempt to answer what is probably the most important question from our list: What factors have the greatest effects on rates of student achievement? The central weakness of the state database is that the unit of observation is a grade level in a given school. If test scores rise for grade 5 students at a certain school between 1999 and 2000, we cannot tell whether this gain reflects a true improvement in school quality or merely reflects variations in the background of the two successive cohorts of grade 4 students. A second and related problem is that we cannot directly study the relative effect of class size and teacher qualifications on v
6 student performance, because we do not know which students are assigned to a given teacher or even the actual class size experienced by an individual student. A third drawback of the state database is that it collects only limited information on teacher qualifications. Given these limitations with the statewide database, we address the policy questions listed above by compiling and analyzing a large studentlevel dataset from SDUSD, the second-largest school district in California. The resulting database overcomes all three limitations inherent in studies that use the state s databases. Not only do we observe gains in student achievement between years, but we can also control for the changing composition of the student body. In addition, we link individual students with their teachers in each subject, allowing us a much more detailed evaluation of the links between teachers qualifications and their students progress. We have also developed a much richer characterization of teacher qualifications than is possible using the statewide databases. In addition, by compiling data on each classroom, we know the class size experienced by each student and, perhaps even more important, the characteristics of each student s classroom peers. The Link Between Poverty and School Resources in San Diego Schools We begin our analysis by exploring how school resources vary with respect to the affluence of schools students. By school resources we do not mean funding per pupil but rather the actual people and facilities that go into running a school. Class size is one example of a school resource. But arguably the most important school resource is teachers and the many dimensions of their training, including years of teaching experience, their official teacher certifications and subject authorizations, their highest academic degree, and their field(s) of study at college. When school resources are defined in these ways, there emerges a strong negative link between the level of disadvantage among students and the school resources that they receive (Betts, Rueben, and Danenberg, 2000). To address this issue in San Diego, we divided students into five approximately equal groups, determined by the vi
7 percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals in their schools. We found that students in the lowest socioeconomic status (SES) schools were far more likely to be minorities, to have English Learner (EL) status, and to have parents with relatively little education. The largest inequalities across San Diego schools relate to teacher qualifications in elementary schools. Figure S.1 gives just one example, showing that in the most affluent group of schools (quintile 1), teachers have two and a half times as many years of teaching experience as in the most disadvantaged group of schools (quintile 5). Furthermore, we found that teachers in the most affluent schools are twice as likely to hold a master s degree and are 10 percent more likely to hold a full credential than are teachers at the lower SES schools. However, at the secondary level we found less strong relationships between student SES and school resources. We found some evidence that in middle and high schools, math and English teachers in low-ses schools are less likely to hold a full authorization to teach in their subject. We also found that these teachers were relatively less likely to hold a master s degree, although the gaps are smaller than in elementary schools Years of teaching experience SES Quintile (5 = schools with highest share of students eligible for meal assistance) 5 Figure S.1 San Diego Elementary School Teachers Average Years of Teaching Experience and SES Quintile of School, vii
8 On the other hand, we found little link between student disadvantage and class size across schools and, if anything, students in low-ses schools on average had slightly smaller classes in middle and high school. What Is Happening to Student Achievement in San Diego? To examine student achievement in more detail, the rest of the report focuses on individual students scaled scores in California s normreferenced state test, the Stanford 9. This measure of test scores allows for meaningful comparisons across students at a point in time as well as comparisons of gains in achievement over time. We examined scores by grade, first for the entire pool of students and then separately by students demographic groupings. We divided students in numerous ways by the SES quintiles of the schools that they initially attended in , by race, by EL vs. Englishlanguage-fluent status, and by gender. We divided schools into five SES groups determined by the percentage of students at the school eligible for meal assistance. Figure S.2 shows initial mean reading scores in spring 1998 by the SES quintile of schools. (Results for math are highly similar.) In all grades, the gap in achievement between students in the most and least disadvantaged schools is strikingly large. The bottom and top lines show mean achievement for students in the most disadvantaged and least disadvantaged schools, respectively. A first important observation from this figure is that students, from very early in their educational experiences, appear to exhibit large variations in achievement that are systematically linked to poverty. A second observation from the figure is the extent to which students in the less affluent schools fall behind. For instance, if one traces a series of horizontal lines over the figure, it appears that grade 2 reading achievement in the most affluent schools is not matched by students in the least affluent schools until they reach grade 4. Because the average rate of improvement in test scores decelerates in higher grades, these gaps in grade equivalents become even higher in middle and high schools. For instance, the average reading achievement in grade 10 in the most disadvantaged schools lies viii
9 Score Quintile 1 Quintile 2 Quintile 3 Quintile 4 Quintile Initial grade Figure S.2 Spring 1998 Reading Scores, by SES Quintile of School and Grade (5 = schools with highest share of students eligible for meal assistance) somewhere between mean achievement in grades 5 and 6 in the most affluent schools. By any standards, these gaps are shocking. However, it is important to realize that other research suggests that the achievement gaps depicted in this figure are not unique to SDUSD, or to California for that matter. What about gains in achievement? If disadvantaged students start their school years less well prepared to learn, it stands to reason that they will only fall further behind as time goes by. To test this idea, we followed the same set of students used for Figure S.2 over the next two years, examining relative gains in test scores between spring 1998 and spring Figure S.3 shows the results. Achievement among all groups rose substantially but with the largest gains among students who initially were in the lower grades. This may reflect the fact that in the higher grades, teachers devote less attention specifically to reading skills and more to subject matter in diverse subject areas. Figure S.3 also yields a more subtle, but at least as important, finding. Students who in 1998 were in the lowest SES quintile of schools ix
10 80 Mean two year gain Quintile 1 Quintile 2 Quintile 3 Quintile 4 Quintile Initial grade Figure S Gains in Reading Scores, by SES Quintile of School and Grade (5 = schools with highest share of students eligible for meal assistance) improved their reading performance significantly more than did students in higher SES quintiles of schools. In other words, the achievement gap related to student disadvantage narrowed between 1998 and The two dominant patterns that we have described large gaps between groups that emerge even as early as grade 2 and a narrowing of the gaps over time are also quite apparent when we divide students not by SES but instead by race or language status. Indeed, no matter how we divide students socioeconomically, by free or reduced-price meal eligibility, by race, or by language status, we always find the same pattern of narrowing in the achievement gap. The only exception is the blackwhite gap in math achievement, which barely narrowed between the two years. Overall, the reductions in gaps are substantial. For example, the initial gap in reading achievement between students at the most and least affluent fifths of schools narrowed by 15.2 percent in reading and 11.1 percent in math between 1998 and x
11 We also examined the gap in achievement between male and female students. In contrast to the gaps we observe by SES, race, and language, any gender gaps in achievement are quite small, and there is no consistent pattern of widening or narrowing of any gaps over time. Estimating the Determinants of Gains in Student Achievement The patterns in school resources and student achievement outlined above are both suggestive and confusing. On the one hand, schools in less affluent areas tend to have less experienced, less educated teachers who are less likely to hold full credentials, and these are the schools that have the lowest test scores. However, over time, we found that students in these schools tended to improve their achievement more than did students in more affluent areas. These two ways of looking at the data imply quite different things about whether school resources such as teacher qualifications matter for student achievement. To assess the link between school resources and student learning more rigorously, we estimated a series of models that attempt to explain gains in individual students performance over time, as a function of detailed personal, school, classroom, and teacher characteristics. We conducted separate analyses of the determinants of gains in reading and math achievement in elementary, middle, and high schools in San Diego between the and school years. Several features of the analysis distinguish our approach from the approaches used in statewide studies: We model achievement of individual students. We examine gains in achievement, not levels, because it is gains that are most likely to be caused by the current school year environment. A major potential problem in all statistical models of achievement is that the models do not include factors that in reality do determine student achievement. We minimize the potential for this problem in a number of ways: We take account of a much richer variety of teacher characteristics than is possible using statewide data. xi
12 We take account of the possibility that a student s rate of learning is influenced by the average achievement of those in his or her class or grade. We take account of all unobserved factors that are constant during 1998 to 2000 that relate to individual students, their home zip codes, and their schools. One example of unobserved factors is parents involvement in school activities, at the level of the individual student or the entire school, to the extent that this remains constant across the years. The Determinants of Gains in Achievement The regression results can be summarized both in terms of which variables were statistically significant and in terms of the estimated size of the effect of the explanatory variables on gains in reading and math achievement. One result that appeared meaningful in almost every model that we estimated had to do with the time a student spent at school rather than with school resources themselves. Specifically, the percentage of days a student was absent was a strong negative predictor of each student s gain in achievement in math and reading. Perhaps the next most consistent finding across all of the models we estimated was that an individual student made much more academic progress in school years in which he or she was surrounded by peers in his or her grade who had high scores on the prior spring s test. A strong but less consistent finding was that the average initial test scores of a student s peers in his or her classroom also influenced his or her learning. These effects probably work through a number of channels, which can be categorized into the direct effect of a strong peer group (through direct interaction in the classroom and hallway) and indirect effects (such as the increased rigor which a teacher may introduce into a class that is particularly strong). These effects do not merely reflect the student s own prowess, or average school quality, because we statistically control for all unobserved characteristics of both students and schools that are fixed over time, as well as many observable characteristics of each xii
13 student, his or her teacher, and school. Rather, the effects are statistically identified by changes from one year to the next in the achievement of individual students classmates and grade-mates. Another finding that seems fairly robust is that class size does influence student learning in reading in the elementary grades. But in spite of considerable variations in class size in middle and high schools, we found no evidence that class size matters in these higher grade spans. Turning to teacher qualifications, our statistical approach involved testing whether a given type of teacher was more or less effective than a teacher in the comparison group, consisting of teachers with a bachelor s degree in education, a full credential, and ten or more years of experience, with no language certification such as a Crosscultural Language and Academic Development (CLAD); and either no university minor, a minor in other, or a minor in education. At the middle and high school levels, we additionally assigned a full subject authorization in math or English to math and English teachers in the comparison group. Do these measures of teacher qualifications matter for student learning? Our answer is a qualified yes. We certainly found many instances in which the achievement of students responded positively to higher teacher qualifications. But in most cases, we found no significant difference between less than fully credentialed, relatively inexperienced teachers and teachers in our comparison group. Overall, teacher qualifications appear to affect gains in student achievement sporadically. However, the effects vary between elementary, middle, and high schools as well as between math and reading achievement. Comparing results across grade spans, a pattern does emerge: class size appears to matter more in lower grades than in upper grades, whereas teacher qualifications such as experience, level of education, and subject area knowledge appear to matter more in the upper grades. Figures S.4 through S.6 give a better idea of the frequency with which key variables were statistically significant predictors of students gains in reading and math at the elementary and high school levels and the relative size of the predicted effects. xiii
14 Reading Math 15 Change (%) % of days absent Grade peer scores Class peer scores Class size Interns, 0 1 Emergency, 0 1 Master s degree Figure S.4 Predicted Percentage Change in the Rate of Learning Among Elementary School Students Figure S.4 shows the effect of key variables on students rate of learning in reading and math in elementary schools. The vertical axis in this figure shows the percentage by which student learning is predicted to change with a given change in classroom or teacher characteristics. In this bar chart, a bar that reached 100 percent would mean that the given intervention was predicted to exactly double the average gain in scaled score points observed in the sample. In many cases, we show the predicted effect of an interquartile change in a given classroom or student characteristic. Suppose that we had 100 observations and ranked them by a classroom characteristic. Then the interquartile change is the change in this characteristic between the 25th and 75th observations, or between the 25th and 75th percentiles. In cases where we found no statistically significant relation between a factor and a student s gain in achieivement, we omit the corresponding bar in Figures S.4 through S.6. The first pair of bars shows that an interquartile (25th to 75th percentile) increase in the percentage of days a student is absent is negatively related to gains in students math and reading achievement. xiv
15 The next two sets of bars suggest that the initial achievement of peers in the student s classroom and grade appear to be strongly related to student learning in math. The changes simulated in these cases are interquartile changes in peer group test scores, which are likely to be observed if a student switches schools. More conservative estimates that use the median actual year-to-year change in peers test scores for individual students suggest changes in achievement growth on the order of 1 2 percent. Class size appears to matter for learning in reading but not math. The predicted effects of an interquartile increase of about 12 students in class size are to reduce gains in reading by about 6 percent. As shown, a few measures of teacher credentials/teacher experience are similarly, and in a few cases much more strongly, related to student learning. But these results are sporadic most of our measures of teacher credentials and teacher experience are not statistically significant and the results vary between reading and math. Math achievement seems to suffer when elementary school students are taught by interns with 0-1 years of experience. It is puzzling to note that student gains in both math and reading are predicted to be higher when students are taught by a teacher with an emergency credential and 0-1 years of experience instead of by a fully credentialed teacher with ten or more years of experience. Finally, we find evidence that teachers with a master s degree are marginally more effective in promoting gains in math achievement. All in all, the elementary school results seem much more powerful with regard to the effect of student absences, peer effects, and class size than they are with regard to teacher qualifications. Figures S.5 and S.6 show the predicted effects of changing various aspects of the high school student s environment. Figure S.5 considers factors apart from teacher qualifications. Again, student absences are a factor in determining math achievement. Interquartile changes in the grade-level peer scores are predicted to have large effects on gains in math achievement. Overall, in middle and high schools, we found that the size of the grade-level peer effects is much larger than what we found in elementary schools. At the same time, we found that classroom peer xv
16 Reading Math Change (%) % of days absent Grade peer scores Class peer scores % of time absent Number of classes taken, 0 1 Number of classes taken, > 2 Figure S.5 Predicted Percentage Change in the Rate of Learning Among High School Students, by Absenteeism, Peer Scores, and Courses Taken Reading Math Change (%) Emergency Master s Ph.D. Supplemental Board resolution Figure S.6 Predicted Percentage Change in the Rate of Learning Among High School Students, by Teacher Credentials, Education, and Authorization xvi
17 scores were less likely to be significant predictors of student learning in middle and high schools than in elementary schools. One explanation for these patterns could well be that in middle and high school, students typically switch classrooms during the day, changing their peers from one class to the next. Perhaps in this environment it is less the achievement of peers in the math class that affects a student s improvement in math ability than it is the average achievement of peers in all of his or her classes in the grade. Figure S.5 also shows evidence that high school students who take 0-1 math classes per year increase their math scores about 20 percent less than do students who take two or more (semester-long) math courses. Figure S.6 shows the predicted effects of changing teacher qualifications at the high school level. What immediately jumps to the reader s attention is that what matters for math achievement and reading achievement are quite different. For reading achievement, students appear to gain if their English teacher holds a master s or Ph.D. in any field and to lose if their teacher holds an emergency credential. For math achievement, what appears to matter most is the level of math authorization that the math teacher holds. In these simulations our default math teacher holds a full math authorization, signifying that he or she has taken all of the college math courses recommended by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC). The next two highest levels of subject authorization are the CCTC s supplementary authorization followed by the board resolution. It appears that for math at the high school level, the level of subject authorization is important. In sum, at the high school level, two patterns stand out with regard to teacher qualifications. First, the effects of specific types of teacher qualifications are quite variable across subjects. Second, when a given teacher qualification does matter at the high school level, the predicted effects are very large. Although we do not show them in this summary, middle school results are very similar in both regards. Although space limitations prevent us from presenting results for English Learners, several important points emerged from our analysis. First, we should not assume that given aspects of the classroom environment affect EL and other students in the same way. Typically, xvii
18 the patterns were quite different. For example, at the elementary school level the effects of changing class size or peer group achievement appear to be twice as large for EL students as for students taken as a whole. Second, across all three grade spans we found little evidence that teachers with CLAD, Bilingual-CLAD (BCLAD), or equivalent certifications that are designed to help teachers instruct English Learners were associated with faster gains in achievement among these students. Although we have learned a great deal about the San Diego Unified School District, do these lessons hold any value for districts elsewhere or for policymakers in Sacramento? We believe that the answer is yes. We performed a detailed analysis of test scores, class size, teacher qualifications, and student demographics that compared San Diego with the other largest school districts in California as well as schools in California taken as a whole. Differences exist among the large districts, but overall they bear strong similarities in terms of demographics, teacher qualifications, class size, and student achievement. Perhaps most important, all districts in California operate under the same set of ground rules and financing formulas established by the state government. This increases our confidence that at the very least the broad lessons learned from San Diego will hold relevance for other districts around the state. Policy Lessons The seeming paradox that in San Diego the least advantaged students improved their scores by the greatest amount between 1998 and 2000 in spite of having less qualified teachers than average has been partly resolved by our regression results. In essence, teacher education, credentials, experience, and subject authorizations can make a difference, but the effects are neither as systematic nor as big as some might believe. In some respects, administrators should be reassured to learn that a less than fully credentialed teacher sometimes appears to be as effective as a fully credentialed teacher. California spends roughly $100 million a year on the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) program, which aims to provide assistance to teachers in their first and second years of teaching. This and related programs might successfully integrate inexperienced teachers into the classroom. In addition, SDUSD has adopted a peer coach program to train teachers in the latest xviii
19 instructional techniques, which may be particularly helpful for novice teachers. Similarly, the result that middle and high school English and math teachers with less than a full subject authorization often are just as effective as fully authorized teachers should come as reassuring news, given that it is difficult for a district to ensure that all of its teachers have exactly the right mix of college courses as mandated by the CCTC. The one major exception to this rule was high school math teachers, in which case subject authorization level appears to matter tremendously. The evidence that teacher experience and credentials have less effect on gains in student achievement than some may think is particularly important given the grim new financial reality facing most California school districts as a result of California s large budget deficits. In San Diego, the district tackled its budget problem in early 2003 by offering early retirement incentives. These incentives led approximately one in ten teachers to opt for retirement. The district plans to replace these teachers with less highly experienced teachers who will be paid less. It seems likely that the short-run effect of this mass retirement will be to make schools less effective simply because of the loss of institutional memory. However, our results suggest that after one or two years, many of the relatively inexperienced recruits may be far more effective teachers than some would believe. Although the measured effect of teacher qualifications varies substantially by subject and grade span, overall we did find sporadic evidence that in certain cases teacher qualifications matter significantly, especially in the higher grades. In light of these findings, what can be done to equalize teacher qualifications between schools in disadvantaged and more affluent areas? The strong relationship between student poverty and teacher qualifications appears to be related to clauses in the district s collective bargaining agreement. The agreement requires that schools with teaching vacancies limit their choice from the pool of qualified applicants to the five candidates with the most district seniority. This contract clause, in conjunction with the apparent preferences of teachers to move to schools in relatively affluent areas, generates some relatively severe inequalities in teacher qualifications across San Diego s schools. The xix
20 reason is simply that more affluent schools currently have no option but to hire the most highly experienced teachers who apply for one of their coveted openings. Therefore, one possibility would be to relax first-right-of-transfer clauses in the district s collective bargaining agreement, because these restrictions militate against the need for inner-city schools to retain highly experienced and qualified teachers. A related possibility would be to redesign the wage schedule for teachers to allow for salary bonuses to teachers with certain skill sets who agree to teach in schools with a shortage of qualified teachers in certain areas. This innovation would represent a major reform to the structure of teacher pay in California. To succeed politically such a reform would probably have to be presented as a pay increase for many teachers that would not decrease the pay of any teacher. Clearly, the current budget situation in California suggests that this reform cannot be implemented in a major way until California has solved its budget problems. One of the many achievement gaps identified by this report is the one between EL and English-language-fluent students. In separate models for EL students, we discovered that at the elementary school level, class size reduction appeared to be twice as effective at improving reading achievement for EL students relative to students overall. Although we did not find evidence that teachers with CLAD or BCLAD certificates were unusually effective with EL students, a number of different measures of teacher qualifications, such as whether the teacher held a master s degree, in some cases were associated with higher gains in EL student achievement. Although our limited sample size of EL students has limited the precision of our estimates, all of these resource issues related to English Learners deserve continued attention. Policymakers also should be interested in one of the most consistent findings in this study that an individual student s rate of learning appears to be strongly and positively influenced by the initial achievement of students in his or her grade, and with somewhat less consistency by that of students in his or her classroom. This finding holds great policy relevance. Obviously, ability grouping within the school will affect each student s peers. Similarly, students who volunteer xx
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Cosy apartment block Atlas IV, 5 storeys. In the resort 300 m from the centre of Salou, in a central, busy position, 400 m from the sea, 400 m from the beach. For shared use: swimming pool (10 x 8 m, 01.06.-30.09.). Outside shower. In the house: lift. Parking (limited number of spaces). Supermarket 150 m, restaurant 100 m, bar 50 m, bus stop, sandy beach 200 m. Golf course 2 km. Nearby attractions: Parque temático PORTAVENTURA, Parque aquático AQUOPOLIS 3 km, Spa AQUUM 3 km, Karting 2 km, Paintball 8 km.
2-room apartment 37 m2 on 4th floor, practical furnishings: living/dining room 15 m2 with 1 sofa bed (130 cm), TV and radio. Exit to the terrace. 1 room 10 m2 with 1 double bed (135 cm). Kitchenette (4 hotplates, micro wave) with bar. Hip bath/WC. Small terrace. Terrace furniture. View of the swimming pool. Facilities: washing machine.
Hotel Lifts
Hotel Microwave
Hotel Parking
Hotel Swimming Pool
Hotel Television
Room Washing Machine


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Status: Completed
Viewed: 284
Summary: [From ShoujoMagic]: Juuna's uncle gets her to enroll in the school where he's principal. The only problem is that it's an all boys school! With all those rabid guys around, Juuna needs someone to protect her. In comes Shibuki to be her bodyguard...but Juuna wants him to do more to her body than just guard it!


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The Beauty Junkie Photographer
Ruca LoveModel Female Prescott, Arizona, US
My MM URL: http://www.modelmayhem.com/rucaloveeee
Mayhem # 3227048
About MeWhat can I say? I'm a small town girl with big dreams! Soon to be a cosmetologist graduate and I'm determined to make my mark in the beauty industry. My style isn't defined under a category in hope to adapt myself to all sorts of genres. I may not have any experience but I know I have the look and I will do my best. I can also do my own hair and make up during shoots. If interested, contact me! Let's make things happen!
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Becky's Funfair Special is a 31st episode of Season 5 for Shining Time Station. Orignal aired in March 30, 1998.
Becky's plan to go to funfair, but Stacy, Schemer, Billy, and Mr. Conductor told them that she and her friends plan to go to anywhere else. Becky needs to collect the colorful balloons and she accidently smashes into BJ. Becky collects some Balloons to take her delight to the clown.
- Mr. Conductor (RS)
- Stacy Jones
- Schemer
- Billy Twofeathers
- Barney the Purple Dinosaur
- Baby Bop the Green Dinosaur
- BJ the Yellow Dinosaur
- Dan
- Becky
- Kara
- Juan (Played by Michael Krost)
- Kim (Played by Erica Rhodes)
- Robert (Played by Angel Velasco)
- JB King
- Tito Swing
- Tex
- Rex
- Didi
- Grace the Bass
Jukebox Band Songs
- She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain
Thomas Stories Segment
- Pop Goes the Diesel and Diesel's Devious Deed (Both told by Ringo Starr)
- Barney has his Season 3 voice and Late 1993/1994-1997 costume.
- Baby Bop has her Season 2-3 voice and 1997-1998 costume.
- BJ has his Season 3 voice and 1997-1998 costume.
- Mr. Conductor appears in the funfair.
- After the opening, Becky would wake up on her bed at her house and get dress to go to Indian Railroad Station.
- At the end of this episode, Becky would goes to sleep on her bed at her house about 9:30 PM. KatieCadet1's A Lullaby for Becky (Danielle Marcot) video could be used.
- The Barney costume is also used in this episode also seen in "Barney's Musical Scrapbook".
- The Barney voice is also used in this episode also see in "Barney's Imagination Island".
- The Baby Bop costume is also used in this episode also seen in "Barney's Halloween Party".
- The Baby Bop voice is also used in this episode also see in "Barney's Fun & Games".
- The BJ costume is also used in this episode also seen in "E-I-E-I-O".
- The BJ voice is also used in this episode also see in "Up We Go!"
- The Barney and Friends Season 4 Music Arrangement used in this home video were silimar to the ones from "Late 1996-1997 Season 3" and "Season 4" episodes.
- Becky wore a same hairstyle in "Mr. Conductor Gets Left Out" and same clothes in "Mr. Conductor's Fourth of July".
- This episode also similar to the Thomas the Tank Engine episode, Rosie's Carnival Special/Rosie's Funfair Special.


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We help you find a Swanscombe french horn teacher. French Horn lessons are a great way to begin a stimulating new hobby, acquire a new skill and attain confidence in french horn. Try our service to find Swanscombe french horn tutors and determine which best matches your needs so you can start your french horn lessons in Swanscombe today!
This is the only place to contact Swanscombe french horn teachers in the UK, helping you find Swanscombe french horn lessons in your area and Swanscombe teachers to help with any instrument like piano, violin or guitar. We can help you find Swanscombe french horn lessons or a Swanscombe french horn teacher to prepare for french horn exams and improve your french horn skills! We order Swanscombe french horn tutors local to you by their lesson prices and proximity to you.
If you are a french horn tutor wishing to offer french horn tuition services in Swanscombe or throughout the UK, please register with First Tutors: Music or find out more about us here. Becoming a Swanscombe french horn tutor is a fantastic way to improve your own skills by giving french horn tuition while helping others, all in Swanscombe!


text: Michael Tomlinson played a Republican Congressman in the episode The Portland Trip. Retrieved from "http://westwing.wikia.com/wiki/Michael_Tomlinson?oldid=17797" Ad blocker interference detected! Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers Wikia is not accessible if you've made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected. Categories: Actors Add category Cancel Save


text: Tonight's the night! Be sure to tune into Grimm at 10:00pm Eastern on NBC! I am so excited! Are you? What are you looking forward to the most? Retrieved from "http://grimm.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:QueenBuffy/Tonight_Grimm_returns!_Are_you_excited%3F!?oldid=26730" Ad blocker interference detected! Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers Wikia is not accessible if you've made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected. Category: Blog posts


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Water Well Drilling
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Family owned and operated since 1963, Tampa Well Drilling has one of the finest reputations in the industry built on quality and dependability. Most of our business is through word of mouth from over 50 years of satisfied customers who recommend us.
Contact us to request an estimate on our water well drilling services.


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Now that Thanksgiving has passed, the holiday season has officially begun. It's the time for holiday decorations, Christmas carols, and, this year at Victoria Mansion, a combination of the two. This year's Christmas at Victoria Mansion theme is "Deck the Halls: the Carols of Christmas," and there has never been a better time visit this lavish Portland mansion.
Featured in our latest title, New England's Historic Homes & Gardens, Victoria Mansion is one of the finest surviving examples of mid-nineteenth-century American architecture and a perfect holiday getaway.
Designed specifically to flaunt their wealth, Victoria Mansion, the most costly residence built in Maine as of 1860, was built as a summer home for Ruggles Morse and his wife, native Mainers who had since moved to New Orleans. Though they visited soon after its completion in 1860, they were unable to summer there again until after the Civil War. Visitors to the mansion may notice that the main hall ceiling depicts only three of the four virtues. Since Morse, a hotelier in New Orleans, made his fortune wining and dining, Temperance is missing. Damaged by a hurricane in 1938 and scheduled for demolition in 1940 (to be replaced by a gas station!), the mansion was saved by Dr. William H. Holmes and his sister, Clara, who turned it into a museum. Today, the mansion, a National Historic Landmark, is a historic house museum and a preservation success story, with 90 percent of its original décor intact.
While regular-season tours are offered from May to October, holiday tours begin the day after Thanksgiving and last through early January. Each year, the mansion decorates for Christmas according to a different theme. Take a look at New England's Historic Homes & Gardens to see the holiday decorations of years past, and then make a trip to the mansion to see this year's theme: "Deck the Halls: the Carols of Christmas." Each room's decorations have been inspired by a different Christmas carol from the Victorian period. They have confirmed on their Facebook page that "I Saw Three Ships" and "Here We Come A-Wassailing" are represented; visit the house to see what other carols were chosen! Go on December 2 if possible to take advantage of Five Dollar First Fridays: tickets will only be $5, the mansion will stay open until 8:30pm, and real, non-alcoholic wassail will be served!
If you Go….
Victoria Mansion
109 Danforth Street
Portland, Maine 04101
Drive time from Boston: 2 hours
Curious about the Morse family and their extravagant Portland mansion? Pick up a copy of New England's Historic Homes & Gardens at one of these local bookshops:
Longfellow Books, 1 Monument Square, Portland
Annie's Book Stop, 295 Forest Avenue, Portland
Nonesuch Books, 50 Market Street, South Portland
Get fueled up and ready for a big day exploring Portland at the following cafes and restaurants:
Coffee By Design, 620 Congress Street or 67 India Street, Portland
Duckfat for some amazing sandwiches and fries, 43 Middle Street, Portland
Hot Suppa, for a unique and delicious meal any time of the day, 703 Congress Street
Eat great food amongst funky art at Local 188, 685 Congress Street
This post is part of a larger series celebrating the sites included in our latest title, New England's Historic Homes & Gardens, by Kim Knox Beckius with photography by William H. Johnson. See recent posts on the William Cullen Bryant Homestead, Hildene, and the Mark Twain House for fun fall and early winter getaway ideas!


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Nelson Tang
MBA Candidate, University of Washington Michael G. Foster School of Business
Location: Seattle WAShare profile
In my career, I've led teams, managed vast resources, and excelled in high-stress, high-consequence situations with no training. I flourished in one of the most challenging consulting jobs in the world, helped develop and field multi-million dollar products that could have exploded (but didn't), and led organizational change without any formal authority. I've led teams of peers, superiors, contractor personnel, and civilians...in organizations as large as an acquisition program office or as small as a two-vehicle convoy in Afghanistan. I am currently working on my full-time MBA at the University of Washington Michael G. Foster School of Business with an expected graduation date of June 2016. While my background is in Operations and Project Management, I'm interested in concentrations in Marketing and Entrepreneurship.
Work ExperienceEdit
Interests & GroupsEdit
- snowboarding
- hiking
- travel
- beach volleyball
- rock climbing
- mountain biking
- snowboarding
- beach volleyball
- rock climbing/bouldering
- ultimate frisbee
- Foster Marketing Association
- Business Communications Club
- Sports Business Club
- Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club
Education HistoryEdit
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If the talk is about Shah Rukh Khan, you can bet on some out-of-the-box talk! And this time he does it again. In Delhi, the 'Badshah of Bollywood' was once again at his witty best as he shared his "aspiration" of becoming a porn star. Talking about his unique ambition, SRK said, "I always wanted to be porn star. I am going to work with all the optimism and clarity to be a porn star".
When asked where this inspiration arose from, he said, "I have always been a huge fan of Sylvester Stallone who was a porn star before becoming Hollywood superstar."
Shah Rukh, famous for his outrageously funny remarks did tickle the funny bone of the audience who were in for a laugh riot after listening to the actor. And it was like an icing on the cake when the actor said, "I will take my flag and put it up in America after becoming the biggest porn star of the world."
It all started when Arindam Chaudhuri, read excerpts from his book and gave example of Stallone`s determination and his journey from a porn star to becoming one of the Hollywood`s icons. He also referred how Akio Morita, founder of Sony, Japanese electronics giant, started the company with a dream to have his country`s flag flutter high on the soils of US. "You see that is what happens with students like me who take all the wrong things from best of the examples given to them," Shah Rukh joked. Source


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I have been really wanting riot to buff up the logic and ai/ui in bot processing. Because beginner and intermediate bots are honestly too easy. I dont really want to go into a normal match and look like a noob when trying out a new champ, but then again, i dont want to get nothing out of grinding to learn the chap against easy AI opponents, so is there any damn way that riot could make more of a "Simulation Mode" for those who want to learn to counter, jungle, and overall learn champions easier? Plus, this would eliminate "I wanna try out [insert]" or "first time [insert]" and then they start to feed. Not to mention free week noobs would have no excuse, so this isnt too bad of a idea. You can finally learn how to outlane top against Yorick and Jayce! you can figure out how to beat Kat in mid as a basic APC! the list just keeps going on. Tell me what you guys think.
EDIT: Simulation mode wouldnt be like, more advanced bots, it would be a much more customizable version of custom. Were you could choose the methods the bots do things like playstyle: passive, passive-aggressive, aggressive, hyper-aggressive. You could also modify who lanes with who, and how the champions themselves act like, target prioritization(who they would attack first if everyone was in a fight) and also make them were they stand and fight you, instead of running after a certain amount of damage has been dealt Also choose how they build, and place which items you want them to build for. I thought it would be a good idea, plus riot focus more on improving IT instead of the basic bots, considering its hard to make the bots as you guys said "realistic".


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Get ready for the supply side slide! Oil bloat may get the bull's goat as we are entering the weakest demand period of the year. Oil prices continue their downside move as Obama gets into a trade war with China and the dollar starts to show some signs of life. Oil bulls are now on the ropes as it gets harder to dismiss a global over supply. The 68 dollar a barrel area is the key as the oil bulls want you to focus on anything except current supply.
How high are supplies? Well if you want to believe OPEC, they are the highest they have ever been. OPEC says that oil supply forward demand cover in OECD Counties (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) stand at a record 61 days. That is 6 more days of coverage that the average for the last five years and according to Iran's Oil Minister, it's a record.
Whether it's a record or not, the key is we are well supplied. Just more evidence that oil is being supported by the dollar and market demand hopes. Of course at some point hope has to become a reality or prices will have to adjust accordingly.
And it is not just oil that is over supplied as we go into winter it is we are over supplied on distillates as well. Linda Rafield at Platt's points out that total OECD distillate inventories at the end July stand at 596.8 million barrels which is up 14.6 million barrels since last month and a build of 65.3 million barrels year-over-year. The truth is we have more oil and heating oil than we are probably going to need. In other words, it may take an ice age to remove the frost off the bull's tails.
For oil this is bringing in the contango, encouraging less storage going forward. In the short term, as the storage play becomes less attractive, we should see some of that floating oil in storage come to market. That could add to the glut and drive down prices. For oil the market, it needs to close below $68 and if it does we could see a washout to $59. This should be a great time to do option plays as well.
Trade war! Obama declared war on China trade putting tariffs on Chinese made tires. And despite warnings from Washington, China decided to retaliate. Who is following WTO rules and who is not? China said it would ban US chicken imports as well as imports of chicken and auto products. If this escalates more it can have a dramatic impact on many commodities! Stay tuned!
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Rain again this weekend, boo.
I really wanted to do something outdoors with the kids this weekend, but it looks like rain again for the second weekend in a row. I'm so bummed.
With the weather being weird around the country right now I am curious, have your plans been changed by this whacky weather?
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About Melissa
Birth: December 31
On Moms.com since: Mar 3, 2014
I am a single mom of two fantastic kiddos that I love to pieces. Currently in school working towards my teaching degree. You can find me most days on www.mommathoughts.com when I am not here chit chatting! :)


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Sai Moreshwar Resort, Lonavala
Sai Moreshwar Resort At Turning of Hotel Fariyas, Mumbai-Pune Highway Road, Lonavala – 410401 Maharashtra, India.
Sai Moreshwar Resort Details
Located near the Pune-Mumbai Highway, Sai Moreshwar Resort is a three star hotel in Lonavala. It offers you a pure and natural atmosphere making your holiday trip worthy and memorable.
Clean and hygienic rooms for both small and large families at affordable rates are available here. Take a break from your tight schedule and visit Sai Moreshwar which is an all time best location to relax and re-energize.


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Author | Abhijeet Mukherjee | Saturday, Jun 16,2007 6:43 PM
RP Singh, quit MH One News on June 6 as Chief Operating Officer after an association of seven months. On the other hand, Pankaj Shukla, Associate Editor, Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) TV, has now joined MH One News Channel as Executive Producer. MH One recently came into the foray of news after its successful stint as a music channel.
Singh has more than 26 years of experience in media and had an integral role in shaping up MH One News and bringing it to its present position. Singh had earlier worked in The Times of India, The Observer and Zee News before joining the channel. He worked for nine years in Zee News in different capacities.
Singh was also associated with noted journalist Dilip Padgaonkar and Arvind Nath. He has also worked for 'Subah Savere', and the 13-episode historical series 'India Invented' on Doordarshan.
"My responsibilities to help build up the new channel is complete and now I am in a mood to rest. At the moment, I have not decided to join anywhere. I would think about joining after a vacation of a month or so," said Singh.
Meanwhile, Shukla will be reporting to Alka Saxena, CEO and Editor-In-Chief, MH One News, and will be part of the channel's core team. Commenting on Shukla's appointment, Saxena said, "While he was at Zee News as Deputy Executive Producer, Pankaj launched most of the highest TRP generating programmes. He brings in a variety of experience with him, from news to programming to production."
Shukla was earlier associated with Zee News, where he planned and directed some of the most popular shows.


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Anthony Beresford
Professor Anthony Beresford is Programme Director for the MSc International Transport at Cardiff University. and Director for the suite of Masters Programmes within the Logistics and Operations Management Section. Anthony has travelled widely in an advisory capacity within the ports and transport fields in Europe, Asia and North America. He co-authored Lloyd's Maritime Atlas of World's Ports and Shipping Places, 15th and 16th Editions which is recognised as the Standard Work in its field. His work with the United Nations has been widely recognised.
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Anthony Beresford, Stephen Pettit
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Published: March 2017, Paperback,