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Sunday, March 4, 2007

Fashion Design School Degrees

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Fashion Design School Degrees

The world of fashion design encompasses more than design. If you love the world of fashion and want to make your mark on it there are many other ways to do it other than to become the next Vera Wang.

Fashion design schools offer courses in fashion and retail management, fashion merchandising and fashion marketing.

If you can't design fashion but have an eye for putting the look together and knowing intuitively what the next "hot" look will be, perhaps you'd want to look into a fashion design school with an eye towards becoming a fashion purchasing manager in the retail sector.

Every big department store such as Nieman Marcus and Saks has fashion buyers. Everything that is in a department store that is offered for sale was picked out by a buyer.

These fashion purchasing managers or fashion buyers choose and buy the products that are sold in retail stores. Imagine for a moment attending the latest fashion shows in the US and Europe. Seeing first hand the latest fashion offerings of the big name couture design houses such as Lauren, Dior, Gaultier, or the ready-to-wear collections of Balenciaga and Herrera.

Don't think for one minute that the life of a fashion buyer or fashion purchasing agent is all glitz and glamour and hobnobbing. A fashion buyer must have a solid education and expertise in sales and store management.

Fashion buyers are usually graduates of a fashion design school and are hand selected by stores such as JC Penny to enter their training programs. They need a bachelor's degree in marketing and merchandising. Some stores require that a buyer hold an MBA.

There is a hierarchy that is followed in fashion buying. Generally stores will hire new employees as junior buyers to help associate buyers. A fashion buyer usually starts out responsible for one or two different fashion brands. It may take years of experience before associate buyers become senior fashion buyers.

Fashion Buyers must be able to develop strong working relationships with manufacturers reps. They must be able to negotiate prices and be able to communicate with a wide variety of people. Strong work ethic and a positive attitude are also required.

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Three Arizona Schools Candidates Hold Differing Views

Three candidates are running for the post of Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Arizona schools in the September 12th election. Current Superintendent Tom Horne is running as the unopposed Republican candidate, seeking his second term in office. Two Democrats are challenging Horne Slade Mead and Jason Williams. Mead is a sports agent, a former state senator, a former Kyrene School District board member, and a former Republican. Williams is a former middle school math and science teacher, and a former executive director of a nonprofit organization that recruits teachers for low-income and rural areas.

Two major issues that will be facing the newly elected superintendent are the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) tests and school vouchers.

AIMS. This year was the first to require all high school seniors in the Arizona schools to pass the AIMS test in order to graduate. The candidates have differing views on AIMS and its use.

Horne is a strong advocate of the graduation requirement, believing that it makes students accountable for what they learn. He commented that it makes Arizona schools students take their education seriously, because they will not be handed a diploma if they fake their way through school.

Williams would like the graduation requirement eliminated and to use AIMS as a benchmark for learning, gauging just how well Arizona schools students are retaining knowledge. He believes this would take the pressure off students, when used as a diagnostic tool. Williams disagrees with Horne concerning students taking learning more seriously because of AIMS. He noted that 15,000 students, who enrolled as Arizona schools freshmen in 2002, had dropped out of school before the Class of 2006 graduated.

Mead agrees with Williams that AIMS would make a better assessment tool for the Arizona schools and that the passing requirement for graduation be eliminated. He has stated that the current administration of AIMS is a hamwith only a passing grade requirement of 59 percent. A average student within the Arizona schools only need answer six mathematics questions correctly out of 56. He also would like to see AIMS administered as the state of Wyoming does its testing students take the test directly on a computer, the results are instantly scored, and then the scores are immediately sent to the teachers for evaluation.

School Vouchers. Another hot button for many educators, parents and the community are school vouchers, whereby some students may attend private schools funded by the taxpayers. Under a newly passed budget, that state has authorized $5 million in private school vouchers for disabled and foster-care students. All three candidates are opposed to vouchers for private schools.

Incumbent Horne stated that Arizona schools already are the leading proponent for parental choice in the nation, with charter schools, open enrollment policies, and tax credits. He noted that the Manhattan Institute ranks the Arizona schools as number one out of 50 in parental choice. He also pointed out that the state constitution prohibits the use of public funds for religious or private schools.

Because the state legislature already passed the use of school vouchers into law, Mead only stated his opposition to them and that, if elected, he would ensure that the Arizona schools accounted for every cent used for school vouchers.

Williams pointed out that private schools do not automatically do a better job than public ones. He sees the voucher system as a way of giving up on public education in the Arizona schools.

Though these are the two hot-button issues in this upcoming election, undoubtedly there are many more for which the parents and communities of the Arizona schools should be concerned. Ensure that you check out the three candidates and what they have to say about all of the issues and make your voice heard in September by voting for the candidate of your choice.

Three Boston Schools To Extend School Day For 2006-2007 Scho

In the fall of 2005, the Boston schools began exploring the education reform strategy of extending the school day for its middle schools. The extended school day gives students more time for learning at a crucial time in their education. The middle school years provide the much-needed preparation for students to enter high school, college and the workforce. Last year, the Boston schools applied for and was awarded a $40,000 planning grant for three schools.

The Boston schools have been awarded grants again this year for another three schools. These three Boston schools were among ten schools across the state that included five school districts. The other four districts are Cambridge, Fall River, Malden, and Worcester, who shared with the Boston schools a total of more than $2.2 million in implementation grants to extend the learning time at the ten schools.

The three Boston schools are:

Clarence R. Edwards Middle School in Charlestown;
Umana/Barnes Middle School in East Boston; and
James P. Timilty Middle School in Roxbury.

Beginning in September 2006, Edwards and Timilty middle schools will begin class at 7:20 a.m., Monday through Friday. They will end school at 4:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and at 11:40 a.m. on Friday. Umana/Barnes will begin classes at 7:35 a.m., Monday through Friday; end school at 4:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday; and end at 11:40 a.m. on Friday.

As with the schools last year, the Boston schools enlisted the assistance of Boston schools administrators, union representatives, teachers, counselors, principals, parents, and community partners. They worked together to develop the plans and implementation of the extended day at each school. Additionally, the non-profit organization, Massachusetts 2020, gave support to the planning and implementation process. The 2020 group is dedicated to expanding educational and economic opportunities for children and their families within the state of Massachusetts.

The Boston schoolsinterim superintendent, Michael Contompasis, noted that both the students and the teachers benefit from this extra school time. Students receive more classroom instruction time in the core academic subjects that are crucial for their success in high school and college. More time also will be available to students for tutoring, the arts, and recreation. Additionally, teachers are given more time for lesson planning, setting schedules, and for professional development activities.

The Massachusetts Department of Education provides the grants from its xpanded Learning Time to Support Student Successgrant program.

The Boston schools have more than 58,000 pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students at 145 schools. The hopes of all concerned is to continue to expand this reform strategy of extended school time; so that student achievement will continue to rise, with students being better prepared for high school, college and the workforce.

Three Houston Schools In TroublePublic Upset Over Possible

Three Houston schools have been persistently rated as unsatisfactory by state guidelines for three or more years. As with most school closing warnings across the nation, the parents, community, and elected officials with a political stake in the area are up in arms over the possibility.

Though parents want their children to attend schools within their own neighborhood, I believe the community must look at the cost of keeping these three schools open the students are failing, unable to meet the bare minimum requirements of the state! With their futures at risk, I would think that parents would want their children at better performing schools.

The Houston schoolsratings are based on statewide student achievement tests and the overall dropout and graduation rates of each school. If a proposed policy by the Texas Education Agency is adopted, then the state education commissioner will be able to close in the near future any school that is rated unsatisfactory for four consecutive years. Thus, Houston schools Superintendent Dr. Abelardo Saavedra is only preparing the public, in case the schools do not gain a satisfactory rating at the end of the 2006-2007 school year.

In 2005, Saavedra warned that Kashmere High School, Sam Houston High School, and McReynolds Middle School needed to improve their ratings or drastic measures would be taken. Privatization of the schools was mentioned then; however, the Houston schools currently are preparing for closing the schools, if they again are rated unsatisfactory.

During the last school year, the Houston schools changed administrators at several chronically unsatisfactory schools and a large percentage of the teaching staff at each school. Though tremendous improvement was seen at Kashmere, Sam Houston, and McReynolds, there was not enough progress made and they were again rated as unsatisfactory.

For the 2006-2007 school year, the Houston schools have developed a year-long campaign in hopes of saving the three schools. School hours will be extended in order to provide more instruction time to the students, top-rated teachers have been hired to co-teach in problem classes, and an educational achievement plan will be created for each student. All three schools for this year will be under the supervision of Dr. Karen Soehnge, the Houston schoolschief academic officer.

The Houston schools have looked at several strategies to save these schools. The ones they have implemented up-to-now have failed. If this current campaign fails as well, then the schools will be closed. It is a mprove immediatelyor lose the doorssituation for the schools, the students, and the educators.

All students deserve a quality education, and it is obvious that schools, which continue to be rated unsatisfactory, are not providing such. The Houston schools must do better for these children.

Friday, March 2, 2007

California Schools Audit Shows Excessive Spending And

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The human body art - beautiful woman artist pastes the chart
[人体艺术-美女艺术家贴图]
[人體藝術-美女藝術家貼圖]
[Искусствоо человеческого тела - красивейший художник женщинынаклеивает диаграмму]
[L'art de corps humain - la belle artiste de femme colle le diagramme]
[El arte del cuerpo humano - el artista hermoso de la mujer pega lacarta]

Superintendent of Instruction for the California schools, Jack Oonnell, initiated an audit more than a year ago into the fiscal concerns of the Options for Youth and Opportunities for Learning (OYO) schools. The OYO is a chain of independent study charter schools within the California schools system, which are privately run but funded by the state.

The OYO California schools serve students who have dropped out of the traditional high schools. They currently have about 15,000 students in 40 storefront locations across the state. These California schools students do most of their work at home, meeting with teachers twice a week. According to state records, student achievement test and high school exit exam scores are above average, as compared to other alternative high schools within the California schools system. According to a Los Angeles Times article of August 10th, only 11 percent of OYO students graduated during the 2003-2004 school year. The remainder of students that left school that year either dropped out, were expelled, or transferred to other schools.

The California schoolsaudit was conducted by the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, who concluded their analysis and presented their findings in a report that was released in August 2006. The audit cites accounting defects, overpayments by the state, conflicts of interest, nepotism, excessive compensation, and mixing private business concerns with public schools.

The OYO was founded and still operated by John and Joan Hall, former teachers from Hollywood High School. They have fully cooperated with the California schoolsaudit, but dispute most of the findings.

Some examples from the audit report are:

ccounting Defects and Overpayments. The Halls count each of their teachers as 1.92 full-time positions. Their spokesperson, Stevan Allen, stated that this is a common practice for charter schools in the California schools system and is a legitimate method for compensating school staff for longer days and year-round schedules. California schools superintendent Oonnell believes teachers should be counted only as one full-time position each. The auditors disagreed, citing that traditional California schools teachers spend much less time working each year than those at OYO. However, the auditors believed the 1.92 amount is inflated. This example, alone, accounts for more than half of the $57 million overpayment.

Additionally, the report noted several questionable expenses. One example of unrestrained spending, given by the Times was an $18,000 staff party held at Disneyland. Allen defended that event as an attempt at relationship building between staff members, who are scattered across the state. He noted that the costs was less than $50 per staff member.

onflicts of Interest and Mixing Private Business with Public Schools. Besides the charter schools, the Halls own and operate several private businesses that sell materials and services to schools. The Times noted that the Options in OYO was the nonprofit part of the setup, with the Opportunities part being for-profit. The audit calls this practice and setup into question.

xcessive Compensation. The audit also questions the combined salaries for the Halls, which is $600,000 annually. The report states that it may be excessive for the amount of time the couple actually works.

epotism. The Halls created a separate charity with $10.8 million of the California schoolsfunding, called Pathways in Education. The charity is run by their daughter, Jamie Hall. Little money has been spent toward education thus far.

The Halls contend that they previously had requested guidance on their operation from the California schools many times, but never received any response. Thus, they tried to follow California schools requirements as best they could with their understanding of the policies. Even Oonnell conceded that none of the cited practices are illegal.

The audit recommends the California schools should attempt to recover the $57 million in overpayment from the OYO. Oonnell has sent the report to the state attorney general office for review and any necessary action.

Candidate Ford Proposes New School Site For Chicago Schools

The old Brach plant is located at 401 N. Cicero, just north of Lake Street, in a community that has seen many of its Chicago schools closed and others placed on academic probation. The 30-plus-acre property has been vacant for three years.

LaShawn Ford is the owner of Ford Desired Real Estate and candidate for state representative of the 8th district. The democrat has an ambitious plan to use the Brach property for a new school.

In June of 2006, Ford convinced Chicago schoolsofficials to join him in a walkthrough of his plan at the site. Though he had prior permission for the walkthrough with the Chicago schoolsofficials, there was no one present to give them access through the 30-foot fence that surrounds the property. As with most politicians, Ford improvised by driving through a hole in the fencing to gain access.

Chicago schoolsofficials found that the property was close to Chicago Green Line, and it had some great parking space. Ford emphasized that a school located there could cater to many students from many areas of the city Chicago schoolsbuses could transport students in from different districts. The Chicago schoolsofficials saw that the location and amount of property could attract a multitude of students with diverse economical, cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

Ford further pointed out that the Chicago schools had recently invested $30 million into Austin High School for Renaissance 2010 upgrades. He noted that had they foregone those renovations, they could had invested in a new school at the Brach location that would provide much more to the Chicago schoolsstudents over the long term.

The biggest problem facing Ford ambitious plans for the Chicago schools is zoning. The old Brach plant sits in the city Protected Manufacturing District. That means that sites within the district can be used only for industrial development. When presented with other plans in the past, the city has been reluctant to rezone the area for commercial or residential development.

The second problem is financing. The property currently is listed at the Paine/Wetzel INCOR International web site for $10 million. The Chicago schoolsofficials have suggested that the best scenario would be for a donor to purchase the Brach property and give it to the Chicago schools for further development. Even this, of course, is contingent on whether or not the Chicago schools have enough surplus funds to build the school. The estimated cost of building is from $20 to $40 million. Of course, the perfect solution would be for donors to cover the cost of building, as well.

As it currently stands, Ford proposal is being considered by the Chicago schools. The Chicago schoolsofficials stated that further study on the project would be needed before any decisions could be made.

Los Angeles Schools Strongly Opposed To Takeover By Mayor Vi

There is currently legislation AB 1381 in the state legislature that, if passed, will give the okay to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to take over a subset of the Los Angeles schools. Recently, the mayor school reform team announced its latest round of changes to the bill in order to sidestep some possible problems to it passing.

Last month, according to the Los Angeles TimesAugust 8, 2006 article, Los Angeles Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry F. Miller made certain speculations about the bill. He believes, if the bill is passed, the following may occur:

Some power could shift from the City Council to Villaraigosa;
Additional costs may be incurred by the cities that are served by the Los Angeles schools; and
These same cities, as well as the Council of Mayors, could incur certain legal liabilities.

Legal responsibilities and costs could shift with the power, since the bill gives responsibility for the subset of Los Angeles schools directly to Villaraigosa, who dominates the Council of Mayors with an 80 percent vote. The Council of Mayors consists of Villaraigosa, representatives from the County Board of Supervisors, and representatives of 27 other cities that are served by the Los Angeles schools.

The recently announced changes to the bill are to placate the officials and representatives of the 27 other cities concerning Miller speculations, as well as protect the legislation from being defeated due to criticisms from opponents who are aligned with the Los Angeles schools officials, who are strongly opposed to the takeover.

The new language added to the bill does the following:

Budget administration for the Los Angeles schools will remain with the City Councils of the cities served by the school district, as it currently stands. This eliminates the possibility of additional costs being incurred by any of the cities served.

Responsibility for any lawsuits or legal issues will remain with the Los Angeles schools, even though Villaraigosa will be making most of the decisions. This ensures that the County of Los Angeles and the cities involved will be held blameless.

The takeover of the Los Angeles schools subset is now likened to a school district authorizing a charter school. It is hoped by Villaraigosa team that this language will sidestep the state constitution provision that requires public schools to be overseen by established school systems.

Kevin Reed, general counsel for the Los Angeles schools, was quite critical of the bill new language, especially concerning legal responsibility. He also said the comparison of Villaraigosa takeover to a charter school, which was developed by Villaraigosa legal advisor Thomas Saenz, was erroneous. Charter schools submit to more oversight than will Villaraigosa, if the bill becomes law.

Reed also pointed out a conflict of interest for Saenz, who is also an appointed board member of the County Office of Education. A spokesperson for the mayor said Saenz would resign, if the bill becomes law.

Villaraigosa has some backers for his bill, which will soon be reviewed by the legislature. The bill, however, has many questionable provisions in its language and many strongly opposed to it. Opposition comes not only from the Los Angeles schools officials, but also from many of the city representatives on the Council of Mayors, who already see Villaraigosa controlling too much of their concerns.