A passionate plea to preserve and renew public education, The Death and Life of the Great American School System is a radical change of heart from one of America’s best-known education experts.
Diane Ravitchâformer assistant secretary of education and a leader in the drive to create a national curriculumâexamines her career in education reform and repudiates positions that she once staunchly advocated. Drawing on over forty years of research and experience, Ravitch critiques today’s most popular ideas for restructuring schools, including privatization, standardized testing, punitive accountability, and the feckless multiplication of charter schools. She shows conclusively why the business model is not an appropriate way to improve schools. Using examples from major cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, and San Diego, Ravitch makes the case that public education today is in peril.
Ravitch includes clear prescriptions for improving America’s schools:
leave decisions about schools to educators, not politicians or businessmen
devise a truly national curriculum that sets out what children in every grade should be learning
expect charter schools to educate the kids who need help the most, not to compete with public schools
pay teachers a fair wage for their work, not “merit pay” based on deeply flawed and unreliable test scores
encourage family involvement in education from an early age
The Death and Life of the Great American School System is more than just an analysis of the state of play of the American education system. It is a must-read for any stakeholder in the future of American schooling.
About this product: Wouldn't it be lovely to have a patch of corn, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and beans just steps from your kitchen door? Would you like to learn how to control your zucchini plant? Ed Smith, an experienced vegetable gardener from Vermont, has put together this amazingly comprehensive and commonsensical manual, The Vegetable Gardener's Bible. Basically, Ed and his family have been growing a wide variety of vegetables for years and he's figured out what works. This book, filled with step-by-step info and color photos, breaks it all down for you.
Ed's system is based on W-O-R-D: Wide rows, Organic methods, Raised beds, Deep soil. With deep, raised beds, vegetable roots have more room to grow and expand. In traditional narrow-row beds, over half the soil is compacted into walkways while a garden with wide, deep, raised beds, plants get to use most of the soil. In Ed's plan, growing space gets about three-quarters of the garden plot and only about a quarter is used for the walkway. Ed teaches you how to create raised beds both in a larger garden or in separate planked beds. One of the most important--and most often overlooked--aspects of successful vegetable gardening is crop rotation. Leaving a crop in the same place for years can deplete nutrients in that area and makes the crop more likely to be attacked by insects. Rotate at least every two years and your vegetables will be healthier and bug-free. There's also a good section on insect and blight control.
Before choosing what to grow, go through the last third of the book, where Ed takes a look at the individual growing, harvesting, and best varieties of a large number of both common and more exotic vegetables and herbs. Whether you are a putterer or a serious gardener, The Vegetable Gardener's Bible is an excellent resource to have handy. --Dana Van Nest
About this product: A lawyer and award-winning journalist offers a plain-English guide to a stressful topic, with examples from the estate plans of Paul Newman, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Michael Jackson and others. Set in the context of the current economy and tax law, the book is full of essential information about: protecting a spouse or partner, providing for young or disabled children, preserving retirement benefits, paying for education and health care, transferring a family business and designing a charitable legacy. To-Do Lists after each chapter leave no excuses for procrastinators.
KEEPING CURRENT The material in this book will be continually updated to reflect legal developments that might affect your estate plan. As changes occur, the pertinent sections of this book will be revised and available at the book Web site. You can register at the site to receive e-mail notifications of these changes.
An annotated Table of Contents, phrased in terms of personal or financial goals, doubles as a checklist: 1 Nothing Lasts Forever: Read this chapter even if you are hearty and clear-headed. 2 Who Gets What and How Much Is Enough? Read this chapter if you want to provide for specific people, charities or pets in your estate plan. 3 Beware the Tax Bite: Read this chapter if you have more than $3.5 million of assets or might some day. 4 Protect Your Spouse or Partner: Read this chapter if you are involved in any committed relationship. 5 What if? Provide for Young or Disabled Children: Read this chapter so you can anticipate their needs and make sure they will be nurtured. 6 Trusts - Not Just for the Wealthy: Read this chapter even if you think you don t need this very useful tool. 7 Preserve Retirement Accounts: Read this chapter if you have a retirement account, such as an IRA or a 401(k). 8 Be Smart About Life Insurance: Read this chapter whether or not you have life insurance. 9 Pay for Health Care and Education: Read this chapter if anyone you love could use help with these expenses, now or in the future. 10 Home Base - Factoring In Real Estate: Read this chapter if you own your primary residence or vacation home or might move to a different state. 11 Hidden Traps When Crossing Borders: Read this chapter if you or a family member is a citizen of another country, lives abroad or has foreign investments. 12 The Family Business - a Legacy or a Headache? Read this chapter if you have your own business or a share in a family-held enterprise. 13 Subsidize Friends or Family: Read this chapter if you would like to offer financial help to adult children, grandchildren, parents, siblings or others. 14 What You Can Do for Grandchildren: Read this chapter if you would like to provide a financial cushion for your descendants in the years ahead. 15 Give Now, Save Tax Later: Read this chapter if saving taxes is a high priority. 16 Make Lifetime Gifts Go Further: Read this chapter if you have the resources to transfer large sums of money while you are alive. 17 Your Charitable Legacy: Read this chapter if there are causes you care deeply about and would like to benefit now or later. 18 Roadblocks to Creditors: Read this chapter if you worry about being sued. 19 From Planning to Action: Read this chapter even if you already have lawyers and financial advisers whom you trust.
FROM THE INTRODUCTION: If the thought of doing an estate plan gives you goosebumps, you are not alone. But if you do not address thi
About this product: Weight Loss Cure book shares secrets for shedding pounds and keeping em off. Health expert Kevin Trudeau explains natural, diet-free methods for quickly andpermanently losing fat and inches without feeling hungry. Includes advice on organic food, exercise, adding muscle and internal cleansing. Hardcover, 256 pages.
Scary headlines and scarier statistics tell the story of a financial crisis on a scale not seen in decadesâcertainly not within the lifetime of most Americans. Moreover, this is a worldwide financial crisis. Financial institutions on both sides of the Atlantic have either collapsed or have been saved from collapse by government bailouts, as a result of buying securities based on American housing values that eroded or evaporated.
Now completely revised in paperback, The Housing Boom and Bust is designed to unravel the tangled threads of that story. It also attempts to determine whether what is being done to deal with the problem is more likely to make things better or worse.
About this product: Anyone who wants to turn their real estate practice into a highly successful business must understand the fundamental models that drive the best real estate agents in the industry. In The Millionaire Real Estate Agent these models are revealed and explained. This book represents the culmination of decades of real estate experience, research, and consulting, with case studies from some of the top millionaire agents in the U.S.
In this revolutionary handbook youll learn:
* Three key concepts that drive mega-agent production. * Essential economic, budgetary, organizational, and lead generation models that are the foundations of any high-achievers business. * The distinguishing characteristic of Millionaire Real Estate Agents--the way they think! * How you can get on the real estate career path to Earn a Million, Net a Million, and then Receive a Million dollars in annual income.
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent is not about quick fixes. It is about the innovative application of proven business techniques to the real estate industry. Isnt it about time you put your career on the path to becoming a Millionaire Real Estate Agent?
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