Are Atheist Clubs the Wave of the Future in Public School?

There are over 1 billion people all over the world learning English right now. Luckily for them, there are now, more than ever, a plethora of great resources on the Web to make this challenge easier.

Knowing English is beneficial in many ways, especially if you're looking for public school jobs. We've put together this guide to help students, from teens to adults, get the help they need to achieve their goals with learning English. We've divided the resources into five sections to help you find exactly what you want.

General - Vocab & Grammar - Listening & Reading - Business English - Writing

General

• Best TESOL/ESL/TESL/TOEFL Resources: This webpage is one of the most comprehensive ESL sites we have seen. This site offers very helpful links to English videos, vocabulary builders, quizzes, worksheets, tutorials and more. It truly is "Your One-Stop Shopping for Great Ideas and Help" for ESL. This site is maintained by Dr.Becker, an emeritus professor at the University of North Iowa.
• Activities for ESL Students: This site includes exercises, puzzles and quizzes to help students learning English as a second language. The content is contributed by teachers and categorized by language and difficulty level.
• Common Errors in English Usage: This is a companion site to Paul Brians' book of the same title. The site explains some of the most commonly misused and misunderstood aspects of English. For example, apostrophes are only used

Prompting an investigation into an extensive cheating scandal rocked Atlanta schools, public schools in the nation’s capital first came under fire for allegedly cheating on standardized tests. However, a comprehensive investigation into the Washington D.C. cheating issue has revealed that while cheating did occur in some classrooms, the issue was centralized to a small number of classes, rather than hundreds of schools, as previously thought. Still, evidence of any cheating raises questions about the validity of standardized testing and how those scores are used to determine funding, teacher raises and performance evaluations.

Three District of Columbia Schools Cited in Investigation

A report at USA Today states that just three D.C. schools have been found guilty of cheating on standardized tests known as the DC-CAS in April 2011. The reports were limited to three classrooms within these three schools, which represents a very small number of the 5,089 classrooms that actually took the tests. The findings were announced by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education.

“The confirmed cases of impropriety represent a very small percentage of public schools and classrooms in D.C.,” Hosanna Mahaley, superintendent of D.C. schools, told USA Today.

This video reports on cheating on standardized tests in the D.C. public schools.

The three schools were classified as “critical” as a result of the investigation, which meant there was solid evidence found of fraud or test tampering in

A new school year is filled with excitement and expectation for most children, but for those who are unsure whether they are prepared for the next grade, the time can also be filled with worry and trepidation. How can parents know definitively their children are ready to advance to the next step of their academic careers? There are several signs to watch for and many more tips parents can use to get their kids started on the right foot when the new school year begins.

Getting Started in Early Education – Separation, Focus, and Reading

The early years of school are an exciting time for children, but they can also be scary for some. To ensure your child is ready to enter the hallowed halls of academia, consider the following:

• Leaving Mom and Dad – Is your child ready to say goodbye to you every morning? If not, begin breaking those attachment ties down by enrolling your tot in a preschool or church program. According to Family Education, children entering Kindergarten should be happy away from home and be able to handle basic needs like bathroom trips on their own.
• Focusing on Tasks – Throughout the early years of school, children must learn to focus on tasks and see them through to completion. This process begins in Kindergarten with “circle time” and cut and paste projects and continues through first and second grade, with reading groups, math tests, and writing practice. Great Schools

With the alarming rise in violence at public schools across the country, zero-tolerance policies have become the norm. In theory, these policies should lead to safer schools, since they offer school administrators the ability to deal with infractions promptly and decisively. However, the practice of zero-tolerance policies is showing significant flaws in the system, and many are demanding reform in the rules that have proven to hurt students more than they protect them in some cases.

The Purpose of Zero-Tolerance Policies

The establishment of zero-tolerance policies began in the 1980s. At the time, these policies primarily dealt with major offenses involving weapons and drugs. The term was first introduced by the Reagan Administration when the President launched his War on Drugs. When the federal government passed the Drug-Free Schools and Campuses Act of 1989, zero-tolerance policies became the law.

According to the Detroit Free Press, zero-tolerance policies expanded with the federal Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994, which mandated that any student caught bringing a gun to school would be expelled for one year or longer. Students accused of violations were also to be referred to local law enforcement agencies. However, it wasn’t long before that zero-tolerance policy was expanded to encompass a host of infractions, from dress code violations to assaults on another student. At that point, many began to question the effectiveness of zero-tolerance policies, particularly in situations where the policy began to override common sense and the best interests of the