Making the Grades

Making the Grades PDF

Author: Todd Farley

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Published: 2011-01-01

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1609944739

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In this alternately amusing and appalling exposé of the standardized test industry, fifteen-year veteran Todd Farley describes statisticians who make decisions about students without even looking at their test answers; state education officials willing to change the way tests are scored whenever they don't like the results; and massive, multi-national, for-profit testing companies who regularly opt for expediency and profit over the altruistic educational goals of teaching and learning. Although there are absurd moments--as when Farley and coworkers had to grade students based on how they described the taste of their favorite food-- the enormous importance of standardized tests in the post “No Child Left Behind” era make this no laughing matter. “This book is dynamite! The nice personal voice makes it utterly accessible and enticing, wholly apart from the terribly important ammunition it provides to those of us in the `testing wars' at national and local levels.”—Jonathan Kozol, author of Savage Inequities

Your Score

Your Score PDF

Author: Anthony Davenport

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2018-01-09

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 1328694658

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“Does a phenomenal job of pulling back the curtain and giving you a first-hand peek inside the hidden, often frustrating, world of credit scoring.”—Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, New York Times bestselling author ofZero Debt A healthy credit score is essential for a healthy financial life. But the precise mechanisms used to determine our credit scores are shrouded in mystery. Consumers aren’t usually told how their score is being used by all kinds of companies and banks to dictate financial terms that will strongly affect their daily lives. So when consumers interact with the world of credit, they do so from a position of weakness. With this revelatory guide, Anthony Davenport aims to change that. Finally, here is a consumer-friendly road map for understanding and navigating the secretive world of consumer credit. Davenport reveals where your credit score comes from, how to improve, maintain, or rescue it, and how to avoid hidden credit pitfalls. Your Score is an accessible manual designed to help you take control of your credit score and better navigate all the important financial decisions in your life. “Anthony Davenport not only understands credit, but truly believes everyone should be empowered to understand it for themselves. You won’t find this level of honest information anywhere else.”—Tiki Barber, cohost of Tiki & Tierney and former NFL running back “This is a masterful work . . . The time it takes to read this book will produce extraordinary returns.”—Mark Gerson, chairman, Gerson Lehrman Group “Davenport offers a handy, one-stop guide to understanding—and fixing—your credit score . . . A clearheaded, must-read guide for anyone looking to decode the most influential number of them all.”—Publishers Weekly

A Perfect Score

A Perfect Score PDF

Author: Kathryn Hall

Publisher: Center Street

Published: 2016-09-13

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 1455535788

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A lively husband and wife team recounts their twenty-year climb from amateur winemakers to recipients of an almost unheard-of perfect score from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate. Kathryn and Craig Hall launched themselves head first into Napa Valley 20 years ago with the purchase of an 1885 winery and never looked back. Since the couple's purchase of their debut winery, their critically acclaimed HALL Wines and WALT Wines have become fixtures of the California wine industry, winning numerous accolades including a coveted 100-point "perfect score." A PERFECT SCORE weaves a vibrant tale of the HALL brand's meteoric rise to success, Napa Valley's tug-of-war between localism and tourism, and the evolving nature of the wine industry as a whole. Readers who love a good glass of wine will find much to savor in the Halls' expert account of the art, soul, and business of a modern winery.

The Legacy

The Legacy PDF

Author: Elle Kennedy

Publisher: EKI

Published: 2021-09-21

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 1990101054

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The international bestselling Off-Campus series returns with a collection of four novellas by New York Times bestselling author and TikTok sensation Elle Kennedy! This brand-new installment provides the much-anticipated answer to the question: Where are they now? Four stories. Four couples. Three years of real life after graduation… A wedding. A proposal. An elopement. And a surprise pregnancy. Life after college for Garrett and Hannah, Logan and Grace, Dean and Allie, and Tucker and Sabrina, isn't quite what they imagined it would be. Sure, they have each other, but they also have real-life problems that four years at Briar U didn't exactly prepare them for. As it turns out, for these four couples, love is the easy part. Growing up is a whole lot harder. Come for the drama, stay for the laughs! Catch up with your favorite Off-Campus characters as they navigate the changes that come with growing up and discover that big decisions can have big consequences…and big rewards. *THE LEGACY is an 85,000-word novel that is made up of four novellas.

Knowing the Score

Knowing the Score PDF

Author: David Papineau

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2017-05-02

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0465094945

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In Knowing the Score, philosopher David Papineau uses sports to illuminate some of modern philosophy's most perplexing questions. As Papineau demonstrates, the study of sports clarifies, challenges, and sometimes confuses crucial issues in philosophy. The tactics of road bicycle racing shed new light on questions of altruism, while sporting family dynasties reorient the nature v. nurture debate. Why do sports competitors choke? Why do fans think God will favor their team over their rivals? How can it be moral to deceive the umpire by framing a pitch? From all of these questions, and many more, philosophy has a great deal to learn. An entertaining and erudite book that ranges far and wide through the sporting world, Knowing the Score is perfect reading for armchair philosophers and Monday morning quarterbacks alike.

Keeping Score

Keeping Score PDF

Author: Mark Graham Brown

Publisher: Amacom

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 9780814403273

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"Every quality-conscious organization needs to measure critical data, but many businesses waste time tracking and reviewing non-essentials. This innovative book shows how to concentrate on the few key measures that indicate a firm's true performance. It focuses on the areas considered vital in the Baldrige Quality Award criteria, the premiere model for evaluating overall quality. Readers will learn to select and use the right metrics for measuring financial, operational, and quality efforts, as well as longer-term measures such as customer and employee satisfaction, supplier performance, product/service quality, and environmental compliance. This guide will help them: * evaluate their current approaches to measurement * select the right metrics * collect and report data more efficiently and usefully * use the information to promote teamwork and strategy"

Power Score

Power Score PDF

Author: Geoff Smart

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2015-06-16

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 0345547357

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ghSMART, the bestselling team behind Who: The A Method for Hiring, returns with a breakthrough formula for how the best leaders and teams deliver results. “ghSMART is the world’s top firm for helping leaders hire talented teams and run them at full power. Nothing is more important.”—Marshall Goldsmith, bestselling author of Mojo and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There “The most useful book about leadership.” That is what we hope you and your team will say after finishing Power Score. Is your team running at full power? Only 10 percent of leaders run their teams at full power. The formula you are about to learn is based on the most extensive research of its kind, spanning more than 15,000 careers with over 9 million data points. The idea has been battle-tested for more than two decades by leaders in every major industry. It works. Successful leadership starts with three key questions: 1. Priorities—Do we have the right priorities? (Only 24 percent of leaders do.) 2. Who—Do we have the right people on the team? (Only 14 percent of leaders do.) 3. Relationships—Do we have the right relationships that deliver results? (Only 47 percent of leaders do.) Learn how to calculate your team’s Power Score, and how to improve each of the three key areas of leadership. Learn what to do, and what not do, from compelling statistics and inspiring stories of those leaders who have succeeded and those who have failed. You may be surprised how easy it is to read this little book. And you may be even more surprised by how fast this approach will boost your team’s results. When you dial up your team’s Power Score, you will make a greater impact as a leader, help your team earn more money for your cause (whatever your cause may be), and enjoy greater career success. Praise for Power Score “Shaking distrust out of an organization is hard. But the payoff is immense. Bravo to Smart, Street and Foster for sharing their ideas about how to make that happen.”—Forbes “[Power Score] offers insights on improving in each dimension and inspiration. It’s written briskly, in a question-and-answer format that keeps ideas clear and concise. The book’s a winner and maybe you will be too if you try its approach.”—The Globe and Mail “The power score is the secret sauce that gives the group the information needed to fix problems. The authors provide plenty of guidance presented in an accessible Q&A format.”—Success “I wouldn’t be surprised if Power Score became the new go-to guide for leadership. Effective teams are key in everything from healthcare to business to government to nonprofits, and this book will help organizations change the conversation about getting results.”—Atul Gawande, New York Times bestselling author of Being Mortal and The Checklist Manifesto “Smart, Street, and Foster have turned more than twenty years of research on leadership into a practical, systematic approach for getting results.”—Frederick W. Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of FedEx Corporation “My entire team applied the principles of Power Score and has enjoyed explosive growth as a result. Even better, I am having more fun as a leader than ever before.”—Jeff Booth, chief executive officer and founder of BuildDirect

Keeping Score

Keeping Score PDF

Author: Linda Sue Park

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2010-03-08

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 0547394454

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A historical novel from Newbery medalist Linda Sue Parks about life, faith, and America's favorite pastime: baseball. Both Maggie Fortini and her brother, Joey-Mick, were named for baseball great Joe DiMaggio. Unlike Joey-Mick, Maggie doesn’t play baseball—but at almost ten years old, she is a dyed-in-the-wool fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Maggie can recite all the players’ statistics and understands the subtleties of the game. Unfortunately, Jim Maine is a Giants fan, but it’s Jim who teaches Maggie the fine art of scoring a baseball game. Not only can she revisit every play of every inning, but by keeping score she feels she’s more than just a fan: she’s helping her team. Jim is drafted into the army and sent to Korea, and although Maggie writes to him often, his silence is just one of a string of disappointments—being a Brooklyn Dodgers fan in the early 1950s meant season after season of near misses and year after year of dashed hopes. But Maggie goes on trying to help the Dodgers, and when she finds out that Jim needs help, too, she’s determined to provide it. Against a background of major league baseball and the Korean War on the home front, Maggie looks for, and finds, a way to make a difference. Even those readers who think they don’t care about baseball will be drawn into the world of the true and ardent fan. Linda Sue Park’s captivating story will, of course, delight those who are already keeping score. This historical novel is from Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park, whose beloved middle grade books include A Single Shard and A Long Walk to Water.