Standardized Test Scores and Their Use in College Admissions Decisions

Standardized Test Scores and their use in College Admissions Decisions PURPOSE The purpose of this proposal is to examine current and future Iowa State University admissions decisions processes. At the present time most colleges, including Iowa State use a combination of standardized test scores, high school class rank, high school grade point average, and essays to make decisions on admissions. All of the above are good determinants of a student’s possible success in college, except standardized test scores. Standardized tests discriminate against minorities and are not a good overall indicator of a student’s potential. For these reasons and others, Iowa State should not use standardized test scores when making admissions decisions. BACKGROUND Since America’s college system began, someone has had the responsibility of deciding who gets into a college and who does not. Colleges and universities must draw the line somewhere as to who has the opportunity to become more educated and who gets a full-time job at McDonald’s. This decision-making process has always been a difficult job and has become even more difficult in recent years as competition in higher education gets tougher. College admissions departments have come up with a system which combines indicators such as standardized test scores, high school class rank, grade point average, and essays. Different schools put different amounts of emphasis on these gauges but most use some mixture of them. In recent years many schools have begun to put more emphasis on standardized test scores. Almost all college bound students now take entrance exams like the ACT or SAT. These tests supposedly indicate how "smart" a student is and how successful they would be in colle... ...f schools, ranging from small liberal arts colleges to large public universities, have made the switch. Most report many benefits with "no drop-off in the academic quality of their applicants" (FairTest). Colleges and universities could make this decision for themselves or the change could come thorough a statewide policy. For example in Texas, starting in 1998, students applying to public universities who were in the top 10 percent of their graduating high school class, do not have to take the ACT or SAT (State Colleges). A policy such as this is another example of a possible way to emphasize high school achievement rather than test scores. The no standardized test policy should be implemented at Iowa State University as soon as possible. Beginning with the incoming freshman class of 2001, standardized tests should not be used as a tool in admissions decisions.

Returning to School Essay

Pregnant at seventeen and no foundation of stability, I dropped out of school to prepare to raise my child. I then began to struggle and had a hard time making ends meet, so at that time I got on track to seek help and guidance. I started the process to get enrolled in school but backed out due to finding out at nineteen I was expecting my second child. I finally went back to school and got my GED and graduated my program in summer of 2010. I walked across the stage to receive my diploma carrying my son Joziah Jah’Von (5 months) and holding my daughter Ajiona Amory’s hand (2 years). I was very proud and felt extremely accomplished. The importance returning to school will have on my life is that I will be able to provide a stable life for my children, become successful and self-fulfilled through a career in business, and rise above the negative expectations some people have of me. Being a young mother of two children, I had a rough time finding childcare and being comfortable with strangers caring for my babies. I tried to find work but wasn’t able to find flexible hours. I was at a hard spot in my life. I didn’t know what step to make. I enrolled in cosmetology school and did the best at my classwork and tests but my attendance was poor due to unreliable sitters. I ended up withdrawing from the program to be a mother to my children. Two years later I am now a mother to three intelligent, beautiful, amazing children. I want nothing but the best for them so I’ve decided to make the best move to better our futures and got back on the wagon and got my head back in the books. Returning to school is the best decision I could’ve made for my family. We now have a chance at success and stability. Not having much stability present in my childhood is why I want more for my children. Growing up in a broken home, constantly moving, my mother struggling to make ends meet, and not having happy memories; was miserable. As a child, I always promised myself I’d do whatever it took to make sure my children never had to experience what I did. But I feel I failed my babies, because it has taken me so long to get on track and we have been in a struggle. I am upset that I allowed them to experience not having stability in their lives. But things will now be different. Ajiona Amory, Joziah Jah’Von and Marcella Pamela are my life, my reason for living, my everything and I will give them the best of the best. I am dedicated and devoted to my family; I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure they have the greatest lives I can possibly give them. I want my daughters and my son to be happy and have what they need. I never want to see them wanting or needing anything. My children and I have struggled enough throughout the years, it’s our time to rise above and live the lives we deserve. School will help me to do so and I want stop until they have it all. Education is one of the keys that will open many doors for us. By furthering my education it will help me to get a good job so that I won’t struggle to make ends meet and it will help to keep stability in our lives. With the struggles and lack stability I now am ready to be successful and do what needs to be done for my family. I, Angelique, have always wanted and dreamt of being the successful business type. I’ve always wanted to wear the fancy suits and the sexy heels, while carrying a leather brief case. It’s something I just never stopped wanting, no matter what other careers came my way. Desiring to be successful and have power, respect and money; I knew a good career was the only way. There is no room for trial and error. I got 100 percent devotion and motivation to fulfill my dream get the job I’ve always wanted and I deserve to have. Nothing will stand in my way; I’m on the rise to the top. Majoring in business and management is the start to our new life, new beginnings, new ways and new accomplishments. Finally with striving to have a good professional career and stability, I am ready to prove everyone wrong. I have always had family, friends, and others downing and doubting me, telling me I’ll never amount to nothing nor be a somebody. Not having the support and extra push from the ones that you think love and care for you really take a toll on you in every aspect of life and emotion. But dwelling will hold you back. Yes I have failed myself by not following through with things I have started but I had my reasoning-‘s. I taught myself to take the positive and negative criticism and shift what you can use out and just toss the unnecessary shit aside and keep moving forward. If you sit and ponder on why no wants to see you succeed and why they strive to see you fail, it will eat you alive and stop you from doing what it is that you want to do. It will disable you to be motivated and crush your dreams and dedication. Never let someone reserve space in your mind to the point it stops your life. If they hate they hate. Stand up, smile and strive for the top and don’t stop until you’ve reached it. Prove that you can be who you want to be and that they can’t stop your shine. I as a single mother will keep moving forward and never again let a negative empower me and my life. Indeed, while I have made mistakes, and they pierced my will power to stay motivated these failures also made me work harder to succeed. Being a young mother is very hard and has its ups and downs. But just because I now have major responsibilities on my hands doesn’t mean I won’t be able to travel smooth roads throughout life. I will cross the bumps and dips in life but its normal; everyone goes through it here and there. It now has showed me that it’s okay to fall off the horse a few times but it is most important for me to get up and keep trying until I get it right and succeed. Returning to school was the best choice I could make for not only myself but for my children. Wanting nothing but the best for my family I decided to make the best move to better our futures and got up, got back on the wagon and got my head back in the books. Now having a chance at success and stability, we are happy and anxiously waiting to rise above the negative and evil.

Bringing the constitutional presidency to life

The constitutional president in the United States of America is the president who has been elected by the citizens of the republic on majority votes. Bringing to the constitutional presidency to life is bringing the custom of electing presidents who would lead the country according to the constitution. Constitutional presidency The constitutional president leads the country in accordance to the powers that he has been given by the constitution and has a duty to lead the cabinet businesses.The president is the overall leader of the country is therefore responsible of hiring and firing cabinet. A constitutional president get to the position of presidency after the voting process has taken place as has been dictated by the constitution. No one has powers to ruin the presidents powers, may it be the civil or religion leaders. The president may use the religious believes of the country’s customs to dictate the undelegated power as he should understand the law of God and the law of nature in order to help him make such decisions.A constitutional president may make decisions of his freewill without consulting the delegates, such decisions may include amnesty of some petty crime victims and authorization of a bill to be passed as law for that to be a custom of the country in favor of the society. A constitution president is allowed to vie for the seat as many times as the constitution would allow him, he runs for a given number of times in which he shall not exceed if the constitution does not allow. Reference: Milis, D. & Nelson, T. (1979) American presidency, NY, Oxford University press

Case Study About Ebola Essay

Throughout this world over the course of centuries, there were many deadly diseases and plagues that killed people or killed an entire population. From the black plague to chickenpox, disease have a huge impact on the population and countries as a whole. Just recently, the virus, Ebola, has made its way through countries across the world and have killed many people. Some people do not know what exactly Ebola is or how it kills people, but people need to discover the importance of the disease and how we as people are preventing it. Ebola is a hemorrhagic virus, part of the virus family called Filoviridae, that consists of 5 other Ebola diseases. Ebola started in the Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo with an infectious person. The infected person then spread the virus to thousands of people which lead to between 1,552 to 1,716 cases of Ebola. What causes this virus among many people are blood on a human as well as bodily fluids of infected or sick animals. Once these fluid s are in or affect the human body, the virus Ebola will infect the whole body of an individual. The symptoms of the virus Ebola are active two to three weeks after contracting the virus. Some common symptoms of Ebola are a very high fever, sore throat, muscle pain, as well as a headache. The high fever weakens the body to perform at an all time low and it is hard for the patient to move around or communicate. After the basic symptoms occur, more complex and harsher conditions come on to the patient. The patient would soon feel very sick and begin to vomit, develop a harsh rash, and develop a lot of very painful diarrhea. One scientist on the virus Ebola describes the virus: â€Å"Ebola then turns the insides of its host into jelly: you begin to vomit black junk which is basically your dissolved liver and internal organs.†. Though we live in a modern technological and medical world, there is no treatment to be found to fully cure an infected human being. Some people in the world have not fully treated the disease by tried abnormal treatments. People infected my go on oral rehydration therapy (salty/sweet water diet) or drink intravenous fluids. The virus is so deadly, that its kills nearly 50 to 90 percent of its patients infected with the virus. Because there is no treatment, there are only way to prevent the disease from starting or spreading. The way the disease can not spread or develop is by checking animals (origin of disease) for infections or making sure not fluids make contact with human skin. Along with checking animals,  humans need to wear protective gear to check, kill, and correctly dispose of the animal or people with Ebola. Many believe a quarantine has done a good job to separate the virus from virus-free people. Some people in the Congo believe that just washing the hands may prevent the virus from attacking a human. Although countries have come a long way in preventing the disease, the disease had made it was closer to other countries and has found a way into the United States. There have been a handful of United States citizens who have been affected but have been â€Å"cured†. One case has been found in Texas when a man has not realized he was infected until three weeks later. Because Ebola is a harsh, developing disease across the country and is growing concern, the United States and other coun ty’s organizations have come to fight the disease. Before the virus, Ebola, has spread into the United States and friendly countries, the United States stepped up to fight the deadly disease. The current president, Barack Obama, has taken a huge to step to help fight the disease while other foreign problems, like Isis or Syria, has started over the last couple of months. Some ways the United States has been involved in fighting the disease is by sending in thousands of soldiers. By sending in soldiers, the virus Ebola can be obtained more easily and create less of the spread. Also, the United States has also planned and announced the 22 million dollar project to create hospitals to station and help patients fight Ebola. This hospital will contain 100 beds and 500 health care providers per week. What other countries, international aid organizations, and the UN have done to fight the disease is provide health care systems. Although the health care systems are to help the patients, the systems failed miserably and collapsed under the strain of the virus, Ebola. Also, other countries like Britain, have send more than 40 troops and humanitarian staff members to help cure and c onstruct hospitals to fight the disease. At last, how do we develop health care infrastructures? One main position of creating health care infrastructures will focus on the people in poverty and helping them become distant from the disease. If we can eliminate the poverty community from Ebola, we can decrease the spread of it. At last, what we as people need to do is to donate or help out the system in which would put a huge dent and impact into cures and preventions for viruses such as Ebola. Although the disease is deadly, two principles can be applied to the deadly disease called Ebola.  Two principles that apply to the virus Ebola are human dignity and common good. Human dignity is something that can be taken away. One thing that can be taken away from Ebola patients is assisted or mandatory death. Common Good is for the benefit and interest of all. One action that benefits and interests all is to find a cure for the disease. In conclusion about Ebola, the rise of Ebola has started in our country and we need a way to find to cure Ebola around the world.

Critically analyse the benefits of a cross-curricular approach to Essay

Critically analyse the benefits of a cross-curricular approach to learning and teaching within KS2 - Essay Example (Skills framework) It lays stress on guidance towards multiple intelligences, learning styles, thinking skills, assessment for learning, and approaches to marking of pupil’s work.† (ACCAC, 2004, p. 32) The obligations of an individual towards society at large are inculcated in the child during this stage. (Barnes, Jonathan M, p. 8) Basically, the national curriculum is divided into 4 key stages based on the students’ age and educational attainment. As soon as the child reaches the age of 3 years, he or she is required to go through an early learning program. Specifically the National Curriculum for students between the age of nine to eleven, or the Key Stage 2, is designed to allow the primary school teachers to be guided on the learning topics they need to teach the students. (ACCAC, 2002). At the end of Key Stage 2, these students are required to participate in the national test and teacher assessment in English, Math and Science. The tests must focus on the range of KS2 levels. (ACCAC, 2004, p. 34) The emphasis now being cross-curricular approach, the teacher must critically analyze well in advance its benefits in the learning and teaching of Key Stage 2 (KS2) students. It is very important for the teacher to assess and examine the purpose behind the promotion of cross-curricular approach in strengthening the learning and teaching techniques for KS2 students because this is the year when children start getting acquainted with the three R’s. (ACCAC, 2002, p. 4) Additionally, the Curriculum highlights the need to focus on skills along with knowledge content so that the child gets maximum exposure to application of knowledge wherever possible. Learning material in both English and Welsh languages must be appropriately complemented and available to ensure language barriers do not obstruct students and teachers’ requirements. (ACCAC, 2004, p. 36) There is a

How I Dress and Customize Myself Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How I Dress and Customize Myself - Essay Example My dressing manifests the decency, the body exposure, and the minimum dressing requirements that my religion and culture accepts. Indeed, my personal beliefs and values also define the tightness and type of clothes that I should put on. Actually, I put on clothes that will not expose or outline my body since that is against my personal beliefs and values. I dress to achieve and maintain my dignity and to respect mu cultural values. I also dress to support my personal belief of being joyful every day since that gives me energy for the day. I also dress to express my love for style. Personally, I do not envy body adornment like tattoos because I have a personal belief that they do not reflect decency, they are against my cultural values, and are equally painful. Nevertheless, I put on watches to support my personal belief of keeping time. I also have a personal belief of drawing attention and hence I dress to be stylish and attract attention. RESPONSE 2 I make these dressing and body a dornment to express my emotions. Moreover, my dressing decisions and choices seek to justify my beliefs and values. At the same time, I make these choices to abide by the lessons that my parents have taught me for years. Indeed, I seek to copy my parents’ dressing tastes as they reflect our cultural values. I also make these choices to avoid the recurrence of my own life experiences where my dressing embarrassed me. Additionally, in my dressing I present my class and respect for others. My choices also seek to dress appropriately for the occasion and venue where places like class, church, workplace, and sports ground require different clothing choices. Moreover, I make these choices for the sake of my health and manners where body adornments like tattoos maybe unhealthy and undignified. I also dress to achieve my professional requirement of decency. RESPONSE 3 Indeed, my dressing and body adornment have changed over the years. The surrounding, my parents, and peers influenced my dressing and body adornment choices. As I moved from one college to another, this changed my environment as well as my experiences on dressing. Indeed, I moved to a place where the dressing was more liberal than my hometown and I had to adapt to that norm. My experience of people who are no afraid to express their beliefs through dressing also motivated me to change my dressing for purposes of expressing my personal beliefs and values. As such, I have changed my dressing to reflect the local dressing ways. My peers have also changed my way of dressing as I sought to identify with them. Indeed, over the years I have had different peers with different dressing styles, which I have respectively adopted. I have also been copying my parents dressing which have changed overtime but remained decent. Moreover, as l grow and mature I gained the capacity to make my own dressing decisions, which manifest in the changes in my dressing. Ultimately, when I got a corporate job, I had to change my dressing choices thus reflecting how my dressing has changed over the years. RESPONSE 4 The core beliefs and values in my family were dignity, professionalism, decency, and emphasis on respectable and appropriate dressing. Ideally, dressing and body customization communicated these beliefs and values. My parents wore nice and decent clothes to work which reflected their professionalism and respect for others. They put on shirts, trousers, and skirts that reflected their decency and dignity. Moreover, even during holidays and outings, my parents always dressed appropriately and I had to adopt their dressing behavior as it maintained our core beliefs and values. Additionally, my parents never had tattoos because they believed that tattoos did not reflect

Power electornic lab 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Power electornic lab 4 - Essay Example Two types of power inverters are used according to the applications; voltage source inverters (VSI) and current source inverters (CSI) (Sen, 1997). A voltage source inverter (VSI) converts a DC voltage into an AC voltage, which has a distinctive square wave formation. In the similar manner, a CSI converts the DC into AC with a distinctive square wave formation. In the experiment, a further discussion, calculation and results are discussed to evaluate the functional characteristics of the voltage source inverter. The waveform generated by the voltage source inverter in given below. UPS (Uninterruptible power supply) make utilization of the DC/AC inverter with batteries as the DC source. UPS is mostly utilized as the emergency backup power to maintain the data in computer data systems, maintain undisturbed communication channel, emergency power for homes and offices and selective machines at industries in case of primary power source loss. Ups are also used to correct the condition of under voltage and over voltage in electrical systems. The safety function is used in computer data systems, medical instruments and systems UPS is also referred to reduce harmonic distortion. In this experiment, UPS is tested with different kinds of resistive and inductive loads. UPS is evaluated according to the dissimilar load circumstances in the experiment. In this experiment, both simulation UPS investigation software as well as the real physical investigation in inverter systems is carried to evaluate the performance characteristics of the UPS. The two tests will then be compared to evaluate the operation of the UPS. It is quite clear from the above results that as the load increase the output voltage of the UPS drops. On the other hand, with similar inductive and resistive loads, the voltage drop is more with inductive load that is about 6.64