Free Online Public Schools for Tennessee Students

Free Online Public Schools for Tennessee Students Tennessee offers resident students the opportunity to take online public school courses for free; indeed they can get their entire education via the internet. Below is a list of no-cost virtual schools currently serving elementary and high school students in Tennessee. To qualify for the list, schools must meet the following qualifications: classes must be available completely online, they must offer services to Tennessee residents, and they must be funded by the government. Tennessee Virtual Academy The Tennessee Virtual Academy is for students who are in kindergarten through eighth grade. The tuition-free school offers courses in six core subjects and is specifically geared toward students with minds that might wander when traditional classes are too slow as well as minds that get lost in the shuffle, (and) minds that need a little more time, according to the academys website. Additionally, the school notes that its program features: State-certified teachers, who are available online and by phoneIndividualized curriculum, which covers both the core subject areas and electivesOnline planning and assessment tools, resources, and hands-on materials ranging from textbooks to microscopes, from rocks and dirt to illustrated classic children’s stories.A supportive school community, which organizes fun and informative monthly activities where parents, students, and staff share their successes, difficulties, and helpful hints K12 K12, which as the name implies is for kindergarten through 12-grade students, is in many ways like a brick-and-mortar school, in that it: Does not charge tuitionUses state-certified or -licensed teachersFollows Tennessee state education requirements for standards and assessmentsResults in a high school diploma upon completion But, K12 notes that it differs from traditional brick-and-mortar classrooms in that: Students receive individualized education and personalized one-to-one support.Classes do not take place in a building but rather at home, on the road, or wherever an internet connection can be found.Parents and students communicate with their teacher via online classrooms, email, and phone, (but also sometimes in person). K12 is a full-time program that follows the traditional school-year calendar. You can expect that your child will spend 5 to 6 hours per day on coursework and homework, the virtual program says on its website. But students are not always in front of a computer- they also work on offline activities, worksheets, and projects as part of the school day. Tennessee Online Public School (TOPS) Founded in 2012, Tennessee Online Public School is part of the Bristol, Tennessee City Schools system and is a statewide public virtual school serving Tennessee students in grades nine to 12. TOPS notes that it is accredited by AdvancED and uses Google Apps for Education to provide students with cloud-based services and email as well as Canvas, an open-access learning website that offers courses in a variety of areas. Families do not pay tuition for a student to attend an online public school, TOPS notes, but adds: Common household items and office supplies like printer ink and paper are not provided. Other Options The Tennessee Department of Education promotes online schooling and notes that parents can enroll their children in online virtual schools that are not based in Tennessee. However, parents need to ensure that the school has a legitimate accreditation status and provide evidence to the local school district that their child is enrolled in an accredited online school. The school must be accredited by one of the following regional accrediting agencies: AdvancEDSACS CASI – Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School ImprovementNCA CASI – North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement.NWAC – Northwest Accreditation CommissionMiddle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA)MSCES – Middle States Commission on Elementary SchoolsMSCSS – Middle States Commission on Secondary SchoolsNew England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and affiliates (e.g., SAIS)National Council of Private School Accreditation (NCPSA) Note that many online schools do charge hefty fees, but there are just as many virtual schools that are free to public school students. If you find a virtual out-of-state school that sparks your interest, be sure to check for potential costs by typing tuition and fees in the school websites search bar. Then, fire up your PC or Mac and start learning online- for free.

What Hiring Managers Really Think of Tattoos in the Workplace

What Hiring Managers Really Think of Tattoos in the Workplace Approximately 14% of the American population have at least one tattoo.  Tattoo culture is on the rise  and the trend has finally made it’s way into mainstream society. Despite this new found popularity, there still seems to be a stigma regarding tattoos in the workplace. According to Skinfo.com, People with tattoos are more likely to have limited career potential and are less likely to get hired. In fact, there are no laws in place protecting people with tattoos from discrimination. And it’s not just hiring managers either. Skinfo also found that 43% of people feel that visible tattoos in the workplace are inappropriate.Luckily, large companies such as IKEA, Target, Google, and UPS are more tattoo friendly.So if you have tattoos, how do you go about finding and keeping a job? Skinfo has compiled an infographic on everything you need to know about tattoos in the workplace. You can use this to plan for the good, the bad, and the ugly. Good luck!Source:[BusinessInsider ]

Israeli Palestinian Conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Israeli Palestinian Conflict - Essay Example Looking up at the conflict amid the Israel and Palestine as a nation, major problem occurred by the involvement of the United States. Before 1948, Jews and Palestine both used to live in the similar land, known to be Palestine. After the war of 1948 and 1949, the land, Palestine, was divided into three main parts, therefore, the West Bank, sate of Israel and the Gaza Strip. The division of land was done due to the decision made by the United Nations. In the beginning, the land was supposed to be divided into two parts, Arabs and the Jewish. After the unfortunate war of 1949, forces of Israel achieved control over the lands and a peace agreement was signed which created borders according to the decision of UN. Although, peace have never settled on the lands and there have been a variety of disputes over who control what parts of the land. Since 1967, Israel took control over Jerusalem and used its control to establish settlements and supported its civilians to move or inhabit the coun try. After the outbreak of the war in 1949, solution was never found and on the other hand, the Israel feels that they are the ones who should rule the lands but their status is yet to be determined. In June 1945 accompanied with an indirect rebelliousness of the British White Paper, restricted the Jewish immigration into the state for over 75,000 people and after that the President Truman send a proposal which stated that 100,000 European Jewish should be admitted at very instance. Truman was warned by the British that it would anger the Arabs but however, they accepted the proposal anyway. After few years, in 1948, Truman was advised to distinguish the State of Israel. After few minutes of the announcement, the United States recognized the newly formed Nation. According to Arabs, at that time, they thought that the United States was on the side of the Israel and this perception due to the actions taken by the United States has made it difficult to find a solution for the Israel and Palestine conflict. At first, the United States was very slow to provide military help to the new nation of Israel. After the Second World War, the attention of the United States directed towards the rising world power known to be Soviet Union. The problems and conflict of the Israel at that time were not of too much concern for the U.S. However, when Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula in 1958 from Egypt, the United States did not take side of the Israel but pressurized them to call back their troops from there. Apart from U.S. pressurization, there were a lot of many other threats that influenced Israel to move back. All through the 1950s and 1960s, level of assistance from United States was very low but in 1967, financial help for Israel went up to $13 million but however, it was soon altered. In the sixth day of war in 1968, the United States provided $76 million which increased for more than $800 by the end of 1971. In 2001, $2.82 billion plus with the military assistance was offered to the Israel. Additionally, $60 million was given for the resettlement of the refugees and $250 million for stabilizing the budget of Department of Defense as well as $85 million for accused interest. "Unquestionably, Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. aid since World War II. Estimates

Educational Service Journal Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Educational Service Journal - Assignment Example The Floor was dusty, and the walls were made of mud. In my class, I did not have students with a special need but nearly all the students were communicating in the mother tongue. The school students had a unique culture of punishing students, for example, if a student made noise in class; he was to carry a pan having all the utensils in and run all around the field five times. This culture did not value all students, and I was of a different race I would not be comfortable in the school. During classes and on playgrounds, students divided themselves basing on their cultures. Yes, in peers there was a bigger discrimination rate, and if anything that will bring them is done then they will interact. The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meeting are held, and parents are involved and shown how their children are stuck in cultural values. The school at large struggles with the eradication of culture by mingling the students in class and within the playgrounds among the varying cultural disposition. This attempt by the school has helped much because there was a smaller cultural difference in the whole school. In any normal class, boys get boredom faster they seem not to corporate anymore compared to their colleagues; girls. When it reaches that point, I let them go and play for some minutes. Girls do cooperate actively with each fully. Girls are hyperactive, and whenever any question is asked, they are the first to answer and when given an assignment they finish in time. Boys and girls do not play together; they stay separate and play separately. With time, this trend will change when they have reached certain age levels. Equality is a uniform factor, so when dealing with either boys or girls, dealing with them in the same discipline should apply to treatment, treat them equally without any favor. The school culture and the official curriculum do not promote cultural awareness.  

Southern Stereotypes Essay Example for Free

Southern Stereotypes Essay Grotesque roams in the South whereby grace transformed into violence it becomes realization. In 1955, Flannery O’Connor wrote Good Country People, where she uses the distorted side of humans to aware the reader of the powerful reality of spirituality. Mostly the characters are used to represent grotesque. A female character in particular that O’Connor uses is Joy Hulga, a rather fanatical character who denies Southern stereotypes and is a â€Å"virgin ogre† who is a misfit. Southern belles are the way in the south that will have a place to fit. In this particular story O’Connor uses females to demonstrate a Southern social code. The society where these ladies are placed is one where a lot is expected. â€Å"The Southern Belle grows up (in genteel style), gets married (becoming a Southern lady), and like the larger American culture’s stereotypical woman, fulfills her highest destiny when she is wife and mother† (Pierce 1). Carramae has the attributes to truly be a southern belle who is a blonde that at age fifteen had come to be both a wife and a mother. Then on the other side her sister, Glynese an eighteen year old redhead with many admirers. Glynese wasn’t one to settle for crumbs she was worth a ’36 Plymouth and to get married by a preacher. Both â€Å"Glynese and Carramae are both fine girls,† (O’Connor 5) that any mother would be proud to be affiliated with and brag about and any man ready to escort such pretty ladies. â€Å"These Southern ladies are caricatures of normal girls who court young men, marry, and produce children† (Westling 518) representing the ways of a fine South. Unlike fine girls Joy Hulga denies the traditional Southern stereotypes of women. A common stereotype that O’Connor expresses is beauty within the exterior. Joy Hulga is always being compared to Glynese and Caramae and mostly because they are the belles while Joy Hulga is â€Å"a large blonds girl who has an artificial leg† (O’Conor 1). Joy Hulga has never fulfilled or fitted in a normal role or even danced, â€Å"any woman who fails to fulfill these roles is typically portrayed as either laughable, pathetic, or terrifying (and, in some cases, all of the above† (Pierce 1). She is now characterized as a thirty-two year old lady, whose life has passed beneath her eyes with no chance of a normal southern life converting her into a bitter egocentric person. She walks around stomping in a sluggish matter transmitting a depressing atmosphere. Aside from not having exterior beauty she has a Ph. D in philosophy. Any mother could brag about her daughter becoming a teacher but never a daughter who obtained a Ph. D. Due to the extent education she has she becomes an atheist. Since she thinks that she knows the truth about salvation, it brings herself into thinking she is superior than people because they haven’t opened their eyes to understand that there is no real salvation. â€Å"She looked at nice young men as if she could smell their stupidity† (O’Conor 3). Jo Hulga’s exterior and mindset juxtapose Southern life. Joy-Hulga’s very extensive character denies the Southern life who becomes a â€Å"virgin ogre† that is a misfit. O’Connor uses grotesque to establish characters creepy qualities. She has given Joy Hulga a distorted side to deny Southern stereotypes. It’s realism or just grotesque.

Trascedental Challenge :: Essays Papers

For my transcendental challenge, I chose to spend twenty minutes a day outside in a park. I did nothing but observe me surroundings. I observed the children playing, and the pedestrians going about their businesses and the nature. My original thoughts on this challenge were that it was great waste of time especially due to the freezing weather. I thought I had much better things to do and greater priorities. I even believed it would be boring so I doubted whether I should have done it or not. The thought of a great reward in the end or a possible lesson or discovery about life made me choose to start my challenge. I first wondered whether walking to the park was part of the challenge. On one hand the park was about five minutes away and the round trip in itself would cover half the time of my daily challenge. The trees and people I passed could have also been a part of observing nature and I believed I could have made some observations on my walk. On the other hand I was not still in one place because I was moving and the passing cars distracted me so I was not away from technology. I decided that it would not be fair to make a decision, being so biased, and I would decide after the results of my first ten minutes. I arrived at the park on this first day and sat on the first bench available. I sat with a frowned face. My first observation twenty seconds later was how the cold wind blasting on my face reminded me of how much I already hated this challenge yet liked the class responsible for it. My first thought was to count the number of trees. I counted sixteen trees and decided to examine the biggest of them all. I worked my way up from the giant trunk, to the long branches, to the highest leaf. I saw this tree as a home to animals such as squirrels and birds. Although they were not present at the time, I could imagine them climbing and flying in. I went home twenty minutes later smiling with an internal picture of squirrels and birds living in harmony. So I had decided that the round trip should not have been included in the challenge. On day two, after reviewing my notes, I realized I was imagining animals when I should have been observing them.

Consumer Buying Behavior Essay

Abstract: ‘Consumer is king’ –the statement carries profound truth in it. Today the success of any firm depends upon the satisfaction of consumers. For satisfying the consumers the firm should know about the behavior of the consumers. In these circumstances understanding consumer is a very difficult task because of the changing technology, innovation, and changes in life style. Researchers conducted many research in this area, and they given only few suggestion, but there is no final conclusion. As per the ideas given by the researchers, there are two factors influencing the consumers such as intrinsic and extrinsic factors. It is difficult to classify consumers by conventional demographic factors and unless their thought process and buying behavior are fully understood, decisions on product designs and packaging, branding and distribution channels are likely to be misplaced. With the inevitability of change looming large over the horizon, Indian companies must le arn from their western counterparts; not only to identify the sources, timing and direction of the changes likely to affect India, but also the new competencies and perspective that will enable them to respond to these changes, comprehensively and effectively. Look more:  the consumer buying process begins when essay This study mainly focus on understanding the external factors like demographic, social, cultural ,price, quality ,product attributes etc for buying toothpaste. The market share of any product is highly determined by the purchasing behavior of the consumers. Following study is conducted by the researcher to find out the behavior of the consumers, to analyze the preference of consumers, & consumer awareness. Descriptive research design was adopted and the data is collected through primary and secondary sources. The method adopted for conducting survey is questionnaire; Simple random sampling technique was adopted for selecting the consumers. Key words: Consumer behavior, Toothpaste buying pattern, Toothpaste awareness, Promotion impact, Attribute impact. 1. Introduction Consumer behavior is stated as the behavior that consumer display in searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products, services and ideas that they expect will satisfy their needs. The study of consumer behavior is concerned not only with what consumers buy, but also with why they buy it, when and how they buy it, and how often they buy it. It is concerned with learning the specific meanings that products hold for consumers. Consumer research takes places at every phase of consumption process, before the purchase, during the purchase and after the purchase. According to Philip Kotler defined consumer behavior as â€Å"all psychological, social and physical behavior of potential customers as they become aware of evaluate, purchase, consume and tell other about products and services†. The scope of consumer behavior includes not only the actual buyer and his act of buying but also various roles played by different individuals and the influence they exert on the final purchase decision . Individual consumer behavior is influenced by economic, social, cultural, psychological, and personal factors. 1.1 Consumer purchase decision A decision is the selection of an action from two or more alternative choices. Consumer decision to purchase the goods from the available alternative choice is known as â€Å"consumer purchase decision†. The various options of the consumer may be classified into five main types of decisions. They are what to buy, how much to buy, where to buy, when to buy, how to buy. The participants in the buying decisions may be classified as the initiator, influencer, decider, buyer and users. The marketing people should initiate the participants in the purchase decision to make the purchases of the product at different marketing strategies. There are number of reasons why the study of consumer behavior developed as separate discipline. Marketers had long noted that consumer did not always act or react, as marketing theory would suggest. The size of the consumer market in the country was vast and constantly expanding: millions of dollars were being spent on goods and services by millions of people. Consumer preferences were changing and becoming highly diversified. 1.2 Indian Oral Care Industry Many people in India still clean their teeth with traditional products like Neem twigs, salt, ash, tobacco or other herbal ingredients. Average all India per capita consumption of toothpaste is a dismal 82gms.The dentist to population ratio is a critically low 1:35000 in the country. This results in low oral hygiene consciousness and widespread dental diseases. Less than 15% of the Indian toothpaste users brush twice a day. Colgate and Hindustan Lever together account for over 85% of the organized toothpaste market. Red and Black toothpowder still accounts for 35% of the toothpowder market. In toothpowders, Colgate and Dabur are the leading players sharing between them 75% of the market 2. Review of literature 2.1 Consumer behavior Consumer behavior has been always of great interest to marketers. The knowledge of consumer behavior helps the marketer to understand how consumers think, feel and select from alternatives like products, brands and the like and how the consumers are influenced by their environment, the reference groups, family, and salespersons and so on. A consumer’s buying behavior is influenced by cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. Most of these factors are uncontrollable and beyond the hands of marketers but they have to be considered while trying to understand the complex behavior of the consumers. In this study, the researcher emphasizes the importance of lifestyle and its impact on the buyer behavior. 2.2 Consumer Personality Factors There are two factors mainly influencing the consumers for decision making: Risk aversion and innovativeness. Risk aversion is a measure of how much consumers need to be certain and sure of what they are purchasing (Donthu and Gilliland, 1996).Highly risk adverse consumers need to be very certain about what they are buying. Whereas less risk adverse consumers can tolerate some risk and uncertainty in their purchases. The second variable, innovativeness, is a global measure which captures the degree to which consumers are willing to take chances and experiment with new ways of doing things (Donthu and Gilliand, 1996).The shopping motivation literature is abound with various measures of individual characteristics (e.g., innovative, venturesome, cosmopolitan, variety seeking), therefore, innovativeness and risk aversion were included in this study to capture several of these traits. Measures by Donthu and Gilliland (1996) were used to measure innovativen ess and risk aversion. 2.3 Perception: Perception is a mental process, whereby an individual selects data or information from the environment, organizes it and then draws significance or meaning from it. 2.4 Perceived fit Perceived fit is an attitudinal measure of how appropriate a certain channel of distribution is for a specific product .Morrison and Roberts (1998) found that consumer’s perception of the fit between a service/product and a channel is very influential in determining whether they will consider using that channel for a specific service. In fact, perceived fit was found to be more important than consumer’s preferences for the distribution method or service. 2.5 Product Class knowledge Product class knowledge is a measure of consumers perceptions of how much they know about a specific class of products (eg.,cars)This type of measure is consistent with what Brucks(1985) called subjective knowledge, that is, consumers self-perceptions of knowledge levels. This is often contrasted with objective knowledge, which is what consumers actually know. Park and Lessing (1981) proposed that subjective knowledge provides a better understanding of consumers decision making processes because consumers level of confidence in their search and decision making behavior, independent of their objective knowledge. 2.6 Product type Past research indicates that consumers purchase and channel decisions might be influenced by the type of product being investigated (Cox and Rich 1964:Lumpkin and Hawes 1985;Morrison and Roberts 1998:Papadopoulos 1980:Prasad 1975:Sheth 1983: Thompson 1971). In particular ,these authors state that certain products might be more appropriate for one channel or another, which ultimately influences consumers channel preference and choice. 2.7 Quality It is our aim to provide the best product for the consumer and we believe that if the products have quality the consumer will pay the price, says Amal pramanic, regional business director .Oral-B 2.8 Packaging Packaging establishes a direct link with the consumers at the point of purchase as it can very well change the perceptions they have for a particular brand. A product has to draw the attention of the consumers through an outstanding packaging design. Earlier packaging was considered only a container to put a product in, but today, research in to the right packaging is beginning at the product development stage itself. Packaging innovation has been at the heart of Dabur’s attempt to rap with the urban consumers. It spends large sums annually on packaging research.-â€Å"We have been laying emphasis on aesthetics, shelf appeal and convenience for consumer’† says Deepak Manchandra, manager packaging development 2.9 Promotion The greatest challenge faced by companies today is holding and increasing their market share and value. This is always a strenuous exercise and one of the tools for the same is marketing. There is no specific game rule available for using these marketing tools .The reason is: each promotional tool has its own characteristics. 2.10 Familiarity with a channel Consumer’s familiarity with a channel is a measure of the general experience they have with purchasing products through specific channels (i.e.. catalog, internet, and bricks-and-mortar retailer). Through frequent use consumers should become accustomed to using the channel, which reduces their apprehension and anxiety in purchasing products through the channel. 2.11 Brand Awareness According to Rossiter and Prey (1987), brand awareness precedes all other steps in the buying process. A brand attitude cannot be performed, unless a consumer is aware of the brand. In memory theory, brand awareness is positioned as a vital first step in building the bundle of associations which are attached to the brand in memory (Stokes, 1985). 2.12 Family influence A family exerts a complex influence on the behaviors of its members. Prior family influence research has focused on intergenerational rather than intergenerational influence in consumer generationalisation. As has been compellingly demonstrated, parents influence children (Moore, Wilkie, and Lutz2002; Moschis 1987).Yet, consumption domains clearly exist where sibling efforts may also be exerted 2.13 Shopping motives Shopping motives are defined as consumer’s wants and needs as they relate to outlets at which to shop. Two groups of motives, functional and nonfunctional, have been proposed by Sheth (1983). Functional motives are associated with time, place, and possession needs and refer to rational aspects of channel choice. Whereas nonfunctional motives relate to social and emotional reasons for patronage. The functional motives included: convenience, price comparison, merchandise assortment. The nonfunctional motives entail: recreation.