Preschool Literacy Essay

2 This paper is going to outline the myriad of benefits that high-quality preschool literacy programs will afford families, communities, school districts and the world. Today, numerous researchers are delving into HOW to establish an effective and successful pre-school program. In this paper, I hope to answer several questions: ? What is pre-school literacy? ? What benefits do participants in a preschool program receive? ? HOW do we go about establishing a high-quality pre-school literacy program? I am rather passionate about this area. Being a speech pathologist, literacy skills and communication skills are so interwoven it is difficult to separate them. I have to say that while going to school many years ago, we didn’t learn that much about literacy as it related to speech and language development. It is only recently that researchers and educators have identified the importance of how both developmental areas are linked. I feel that establishing successful and highly effective programs that incorporate family and child directed activities are crucial to the success of our young students. That being said, let’s explore pre-school literacy. What is preschool literacy? Most people hear the word ‘literacy’ and equate that with ‘reading’. This would be an adult analogy. For very young children, we don’t, nor should we, expect them to read! Early literacy skills refer to many different things, none of which is sitting down with Mom at the age of two and reading aloud for her. At the youngest ages, early literacy skills refer to children’s exposure and experience with books. The following list is derived from Schickendanz (1999) and Early Literacy (www. zerotothree. com) . It states that early literacy behaviors include: ? Book handling behaviors – handling and manipulating the book ? Looking and Recognizing- how are they paying attention to the book, pictures, words; demonstrating recognition of pictures, etc. ? Picture and Story Comprehension – Imitation of actions noted in a story, talking about a story ? Story-Reading Behaviors – verbal interactions with the books, imitating a pointing a finger at words and/or pictures. ‘Establishing strong early literacy behaviors is essential to literacy development and should be the focus of early language and literacy programs’ (Early Literacy, 2003) It is suggested that these skills develop naturally and unfold as a result of social interactions with parents and caregivers, rather than direct instruction. I agree with this statement wholeheartedly. Ideally, it is everyday interactions with infants and toddlers that include talking and book reading that help establish the crucial beginning stages of literacy development. I recently heard on a radio program (can’t cite it) that children between the ages of 0-3 years should hear approximately 30,000 words a day to build an effective vocabulary! Amazing. Todd Risley, co-author of Meaningful differences in the 3 everyday Experiences of young American children (Mangione, 2005), states that isn’t an intentional teaching of these behaviors but rather embedded in the social interactions. He believes, as do I, that oral language skills appear to be the basis of phonological processing skills, which is a strong indicator for reading readiness in kindergarten. As children move into the preschool realm, (typically described as ages 3 through 5), prereading skills are developing along a continuum, rather than as a set of discrete and separate skills. In the article Critical Issue: Addressing the literacy Needs of Emergent and Early Readers (www. ncrel. org), the authors made a very interesting point I’d like to share with you. They discussed the various stages of literacy development that are not relevant to this article, however, an important transition occurs when a child’s â€Å"‘reading’ of a story changes from sounding like oral language to sounding like written language. This demonstrates a change in ideas from thinking of reading as spoken words to understanding that reading is recreated from written text that has special wordings† (McGee & Richgels, 1996;Sulzby, 1991). It is the beginning of the child’s print recognition. With respect to specific pre-school literacy behaviors that we should see addressed in a high-quality preschool program, the most important would be: ? Oral Language- engaging in rich conversational exchange with students, developing oral vocabulary, reading aloud daily, having children develop their own stories by looking at pictures (Tomie DiPola books are excellent for this) ? General Knowledge – what prior knowledge are the student’s coming into school with that they share, encouraging questions and new experiences with in the classroom, ? Print Awareness- being exposed to various written materials, some repetition of early literacy behaviors, point/drag techniques while reading ? Alphabet knowledge – the ABC song, recognizing sounds that letters make, letter recognition. ? Phonological awareness- Increased awareness of the sounds of the letters and how to play with them through rhyme, segmenting, blending, ? Pre-writing skills – later stages of development and exposure to writing mediums (pen, pencil, crayon, markers, paint), using journals with self-made pictures, word walls. (Roskos, K; Christie, J, Richgels, D, www. naeyc. org) How do participants in high-quality preschool programs benefit? I think I could go on for days about the benefits of an excellent preschool experience. For the sake of brevity, I won’t! Numerous studies have been conducted to determine whether preschool programs are beneficial and cost effective. The majority of studies suggest the answer to that is an overwhelming YES. 4 The Chicago Child Parent Center (CPC), the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program and the Abecedarian Project are all examples of highly qualified preschool programs. The CPC is recognized by the US Department of Education as an exemplary early childhood program. A comparison of the benefits of these programs was conducted, yielding what I thought were incredible results. These programs have been in effect since the 1960’s, servicing low-income areas in Chicago and Michigan (Lee, J, www.ccsso. org). In a speech given by Dr. W. Steven Barnett of the National Institute for Early Intervention Research in 2006, three separate studies compared the results of participants enrolled in the above-mentioned preschool programs against a control group that wasn’t enrolled in any preschool program. Their longitudinal studies revealed amazing results, which are credited to the attending of the preschool programs. According to them, participants in the program (as compared with non-participants): ? Were less likely to be enrolled in special education ? Had a higher rate of high school completion ? Demonstrated higher test scores ? Were less likely to repeat a grade ? Had increased earning after completing high school ? Engaged in less criminal activities ? Had a lower incidence of smoking, pregnancy and abortion. These benefits did not stop at the poverty line. They also demonstrated that middle class children benefited from the experience as well. He discussed the well-known fact that disadvantaged children benefit more when they are in class with children from different socio-economic backgrounds. An analysis I found very interesting was that ‘For every dollar invested into the preschool programs described in this paper $7 is saved in public expenditures’ (Lee. www. ccsso. org). WOW, think what that could mean to a superintendent’s budget! When trying to determine whether a preschool program could benefit those in the middle class, the US Dept. of Education, NCES, (1997) article entitled Dropout rates in the United States:1995 determined that middle class children have fairly high rates of the problems that preschool reduces for low-income children. While benefits decrease gradually with an income increase, the overall benefits are greater when ALL children are exposed to PreK. In an evaluation of 5 state prek programs conducted by Barnett,W. S, Lamy, C. and Jung, K. (2005), results revealed that in all programs, whether universal or targeted, students demonstrated gains in language, literacy and math. While all students (various SES backgrounds) gained, the low-income students gained more. Soooooo†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 5 How do we go about establishing high-quality preschool literacy programs? In an ideal world with unlimited funding, it wouldn’t be too difficult. However, we don’t live in an ideal world and much needed financing is often diverted to other important (or not so important! ) causes. Really, what is more important than education? One resolution could be to emulate the success demonstrated by the Chicago and Michigan programs spoken about earlier in this paper. In Rockland County, some school disctricts already offer a district-based preschool program. This year, all districts were alloted slots to participate in a Universal PreK initiative. However, while that is an excellent start to establishing a much needed entity, a lot of work still exists. During my research gathering I read many, many articles that discussed the family-centered literacy approach. Such as at the CPC, involving the parents and providing them with strategies and useful techniques to help their children empowers them and makes them feel useful and successful. Without parental involvement at the preschool level, literacy development suffers. Since the institution of NCLB, many school disstricts are seeking wasys to provide needed support to their students without it becoming a ‘special ed’ component or target program. Instituting a universal prek program benefits all. Looking at the various achievement gaps that Dr. Barnett identified in his paper, while there is significantly more of an achievement gap at the lower SES levels, there are still marked gaps in the middle class level, thus further justifying why ALL students would benefit from the experience. In an effort to establish successful high-quality preschool programs in Texas, the retired CEO of Texas Instruments was aware of the huge impact the Perry Preschool Program had on its communities and he was eager to replicate that success in Texas. Therefore, after establishing a successful pilot program, the participants wanted to be able to spread the success throughout the state and a handbook â€Å"Improving Early Literacy of Preschool Children’ was developed for prekindergarten educators. The authors and editors really were able to target what a high-quality program looks like with suggestions on how to implement them into your existing programs. The following steps are indicated to improve a preschool program: ? Set goals ? Create an improvement plan ? Build a classroom library ? Train the teachers and encourage collaboration? Keep rack of student’s progress ? Inform and involve parents 6 ? Communicate with elementary schools the children will attend ? Measure and document results (Dougherty, 1999) All of these steps are so important to developing a program that is successful. It is hard to determine whether one step is more important than another. Personally, I really feel that if the teachers and the teaching assistants and/or aides are given the proper training, every interaction with a child will take on new meaning. The Margaret Cone Head Start Center in Southeast Dallas has serviced predominantly low-income populations. As part of their language enrichment program (LEAP), each teacher attends six weeks of instruction at the nearby university as well as several workshops a year. Because of these teacher trainings, Cone Center children have produced improved scores on a variety of tests targeting vocabulary, language skills and social skills. I believe that involving the parents as much as possible and having them in the classroom for a half-day a week or twice a month lets them see what is happening and provides modeling they can use at home. Obstacles that I can identify at this point to establishing high-quality preschool programs that ALL children can attend include: ? FUNDING ? Private preschool programs vs. school district based programs ? Consistent participation on the part of the parents ? Difficulty providing quality training programs for the teachers and teaching assistants/aides due to lack of funding, time, resources While I feel there are many excellent examples of qualified and successful preschool programs in Rockland County, we do not meet the needs of all the children of the preschool age. As CPSE chair, I am able to provide special education needs to many children that require it. However, there is great variability between the programs that we recommend students attend. Consistent high-quality preschool programs would be beneficial to ALL students involved, not just the special needs children. In conclusion, it is a well-documented fact that preschool literacy education benefits all children involved. The need lies in our ability to establish high-caliber programs that are consistent, with staff that is well trained and caring. I think if we can distribute the information about the long-term effects researched and prove to the masses (school boards! ) that the bottom line would be cost savings to the community, we might see some change. I look forward to that day! References 1. Schweinhart, L. J. Lasting Benefits of Preschool Programs ERIC Digest. ericdigests. org. Retrieved February 25, 2008, from http://www. ericdigests. org/1994/lasting. htm 2. Dougherty, C. , et al. Improving Early Literacy of Preschool Children – a Handbook for Prekindergarten Educators. Texas Instruments, 1999. 3. Lee, J. The Benefits of Preschool for High School and Beyond. Council of Chief State School Officers. Retrieved February 25, 2008, from http://www. ccsso. org 4. Roskos, K. A. , Christie, J. F. & Richgels, D. J. The Essentials of Early Literacy Instruction. National Association for the Education of Young Children. Retrieved February 23, 2008, from www. naeyc. org/resources/journal 5. Mangione, P. L. (2005). Creating Language and Literacy Experiences for Infants and Toddlers. PITC Graduate Conference. Berkeley, CA. 6. Johnson, D. & Sulzby, E. Critical Issue: Addressing the Literacy Needs of Emergent and Early Readers. North Central Regional Educational Library. Retrieved January 21, 2008, from http://www. ncrel. org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/reading/li100. htm 7. Barnett, W. (2006, Jan. 10). Research on the Benefits of Preschool Education: Securing High Returns from Preschool for All Children. New York, NY. 8. Brain Wonders. Early Literacy (2003). Zero To Three. Retrieved January 24, 2008, from www. zerotothree. org/BrainWonders

New Ideas Into Essay Samples Structure Never Before Revealed

New Ideas Into Essay Samples Structure Never Before Revealed The Honest to Goodness Truth on Essay Samples Structure There's, obviously, a limit on the variety of pages even our finest writers can produce with a pressing deadline, but usually, we figure out how to satisfy all the clients seeking urgent assistance. You may use the samples as a foundation for working out how to write in the proper style. Unique things to various folks, since the situation demanded. After discovering our website, you will no longer will need to bother friends and family with these kinds of requests. While the effect of vertical structure appears to exist the level of specialization still plays an extremely vital part in the provision of exclusive managerial solutions. The lower informational asymmetry may assist the practice of decision making and additionally help to produce increased information and offer more proficiency. This structure does a good deal for the total purpose of the epic. Thus, organizational structure is quite important today and it is crucial to grasp the performance of organizational structure will help to enhance the organizational performance consistently. Critical essays are absolutely common once you reach college, but you might not know just how to begin writing one. Please be aware that a few of these college essay examples could possibly be responding to prompts that are no longer being used. Students lead busy lives and frequently forget about an approaching deadline. Students must always remember that anIELTS essay sampleis extremely crucia l so as to find an education in the English-speaking nations. You see, the conventions of English essays are somewhat more formulaic than you may think and, in lots of ways, it can be as easy as counting to five. Essay writing skills is a tough and time-consuming undertaking. Students may purchase custom essay samples online and raise their odds of writing a superb paper. Most students don't know what an appropriate structure of an essay appears like, which is the reason why their writing skills leave a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, human interaction is still possible through the net and this essay disagrees technology ought to be dismissed because of this. Students often utilize search engines to answer a question and just copy the text from a site, in place of thinking about the question. Usually, they simply run over stimulus and prompt and begin to write immediately believing that they will save time this way. Sooner or later in the class of education, every student is going to have to compose essays, sooner or later. All the activities that are connected with each such function are put in the exact same unit. You should make certain you divide your primary body into structural segments, like subheadings and paragraphs so that it doesn't look so clustered and confusing to the reader. There are several sorts of structures that could get you a high score. Hence, you have to know the required basicsessay structure, specifically. It is very important to discover genuine sources which prov ide dependable and accurate information lest one's essay is full of lies and inaccurate info. In case the author is an individual, then their very first name is used first. Bridget's essay is quite strong, but there continue to be a couple little things that could be made better. Stephen's essay is quite effective. Although there's a consistent essay formula that will assist you to structure your essay and paragraphs, you will need to be careful of the various varieties of essay questions there are. Possessing an objective is indeed important to writing an adequate important essay and it is crucial to outline it clearly. The last portion of the simple essay structure is the conclusion. This essay structure example can help you produce a coherent and comprehensible essay which has a smooth flow and organized details. If you're to really gain from model essays, you want to understand how to read the techniques of the writer'. The introduction is part of an essay that sells the entire text to the reader. You may examine the extra info about how to compose an eye-catching essay introduction with a hook. Replace a number of the cliched language. Beginning an essay with a concise story has become the most common and effective of such techniques. To end the full essay, it's essential to make an overall concluding statement. The conclusion plays a critical role in the feeling it ties up the full essay. An essential essay conclusion isn't any different to other essay conclusions.

Essay on John Savage Desires What Makes - 1359 Words

Brave New World illustrates a world where everything that is morally right in our society, is wrong. Monogamy is sinful, massive orgies are not. Serious thinking is unnecessary because life has already been planned out. Hardships and stress can be solved with a few tablets of soma. This is the world which John Savage and others in the novel foolishly came to hate. All of the things that John Savage desires are the things that make our society unstable. Huxley uses John Savage to show the reader that this world is distopian, when this society is the closest example to a stable, utopian society. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Uninhibited sexual freedom provides happiness to this society’s citizens, the Fordians. Promiscuity is encouraged,†¦show more content†¦A current example of such a drug is marijuana. Users take this drug in order to lift themselves out of depression, or just for entertainment. The difference between Soma and marijuana is that soma is given out as a free daily ration. There are many people in our society that spend large amounts of money in purchasing these types of narcotics that are very dangerous and illegal. Soma, on the other hand, was developed by pharmacologists, so that use of the drug would not be harmful within reasonable dosages. As Mustapha Mond puts it, â€Å"†¦if ever by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there’s always some to give you a holiday from the facts. And there’s always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering. In the past you could only accomplish these things by making a great effort and after years of hard moral training. Now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half you morality about in a bottle.† (pg. 217) Soma is Christianity in pill form, as Mustapha Mond puts it. The user’s mind is cleared of hate, and replaced with love, harmony, and happiness. Instead of beating himself when he sins, he can take a gramme of soma and reconcile himself. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Stability is what makes the Fordian society utopian. Predestination is what makes the society stable. It may be unfair andShow MoreRelatedJohns Character Development A Brave New World1394 Words   |  6 Pagescan’t gain real acceptance from anywhere. John’s mother, Linda, is from the brave new world but gave birth to him in the savage reservation and her different behaviors based on the framework of the brave new world caused John’s isolation in the savage reservation. John decides to move to the brave new world and becomes popular in this society, but his identity, influenced by his â€Å"savage† culture, can’t be accepted by the community. His conflict with the brave new world finally forces him to try to changeRead MoreBrave New World By Aldous Huxley1293 Words   |  6 Pagescan’t gain real acceptance from anywhere. John’s mother, Linda, is from the brave new world but gave birth to him in the savage rese rvation and her different behaviors based on the framework of the brave new world caused John’s isolation in the savage reservation. John decides to move to the brave new world and becomes popular in this society, but his identity, influenced by his â€Å"savage† culture, can’t be accepted by the community. His conflict with the brave new world finally forces him to try to changeRead MoreJohn The Savage As A Dystopian Society1360 Words   |  6 PagesNew World, John The Savage has come to a part of the world he is not familiar with. This society is very different from the society he is use to; this dystopian society has mass-produced humans, so that everyone who is doing the same job is identical in appearance and skill level. John The Savage learns the hardships of being different and not quite understanding the World State’s way of living as the book progresses. In Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel A Brave New World, John the Savage, MustaphaRead MoreJane Austen s The Of The Bathroom 1174 Words   |  5 Pagesand be more sexually open because she has been with Henry for four months. Being with one single person for a certain amount of time is against the flow of society in terms of normal sexuality. Lenina then mentions that she was invited to visit a Savage Reservation by hypnopaedia specialist, Bernard Max. When Lenina sees Bernard in person to accept his invitation, Bernard brushes it off and asks that they talk about it alone another time. Hearing this, Lenina goes off to see Henry while BernardRead MoreExploration Of A Brave New World1131 Words   |  5 Pagesof a Brave New Individual Envision a world without despair, and everything is designed a specific way. Total freedom and perfection. Utopia is an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect. Values are the determining factor to what inhabits a perfect society. Does this pertain to individual freedom, or is freedom living by societal norms? Aldous Huxley exposes these factors through his futuristic literary masterpiece Brave New World. Society is controlled by caste systems, openRead MoreAnalysis Of Aldous Huxley s Brave New World 1433 Words   |  6 Pagesnovel to express his concerns over control by the government that would change the way society is portrayed. In a socially stabilized world, the ability to control the amount and function of humans is important or else there would not be civilization. What happens to those who act out of their designated roles? The first character introduced in Brave New World who deems himself different from everyone is Bernard Marx. In the caste system, he is on top of the pyramid as an Alpha Plus because he is differentRead MoreAnalysis Of Aldous Huxley s Brave New World 831 Words   |  4 Pagessuch John, Bernard, and Linda. Main Idea 1: John is a character from the Savage Reservation. When coming to World State he finds it difficult to adapt to the new society and how it works. Main Idea 2: Bernard is considered an outsider in the World State, due to his smaller appearance and his failure to be an alpha in the World State. Main Idea 3: Linda is an outsider due to her natural pregnancy and other problems that set her apart from the World State. Body Paragraph 1 Main Idea 1: John is consideredRead MoreAnalyzing Structure And Point Of View1494 Words   |  6 PagesBrave New World and to give the view of different characters in the book, for example the ideal citizens Henry Foster and Lenina Crowne, and Benard Marx who was more educated in the ways of civilization. The third part is to introduce John who was born in the Savage Reservation and the challenges he faced in the Brave New World. In these order, the reader can easily understand the flow of the story. The Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is written in third person limited. Aldous Huxley reveals theRead MoreThe Place I Am Referencing Is The World State From Aldous Huxley s Brave New World1483 Words   |  6 Pagesutopian society cannot achieve social stability. However, a new drug, Soma, does away with any negative emotions and makes life a â€Å"joyful place.† The place I am referencing is the World State from Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World. In the World State, citizens are stripped of emotion and the truth about their situation in order to achieve the social stability their leaders desire, but is their happiness really worth it if it is fake? Huxley presents the incompatibility of social stability andRead MoreAldous Huxley s Brave New World1334 Words   |  6 PagesWidely considered ahead of its time, Brave New World is one of the most influential novels regarding the destructive outcome of genetic and public manipulation through regime control. The story contrasts two worlds: the traditional world where the â€Å"savages† reside and the new World State: a negative utopia where unrestrained sexual freedom, reproductive technology, and mind numbing drugs run rampant. Aldous Huxley was born in England, July 26, 1894 to an elite family of revered social status (â€Å"Aldous†)

Best Minimalist Wordpress Theme And Why Use Minimal Themes...

Best Minimalist WordPress Theme and Why Use Minimal Themes By Peter Lawlor | Submitted On January 28, 2011 Recommend Article Article Comments Print Article Share this article on Facebook Share this article on Twitter Share this article on Google+ Share this article on Linkedin Share this article on StumbleUpon Share this article on Delicious Share this article on Digg Share this article on Reddit Share this article on Pinterest What is a minimalist WordPress theme? It s a theme that has little or no design and graphics. Essentially it s a naked theme that you can design from scratch. Most themes are fully designed. They re great if you like the design, more or less. Why use minimal themes? Because in some cases, it s faster to start creating and implementing a website design from scratch than changing a designed template. What s the best minimalist WordPress theme? Of course, any best determination is an opinion. You may agree or disagree. I like reading best of and best whatever articles because it s a starting point for me when researching for a product or service purchase. Therefore, I ll throw my two cents worth in the ring on what I think is the best minimalist WordPress theme. Prose by StudioPress is in my view, the best minimalist WordPress template. I base this opinion on two grounds: 1. It has a comprehensive built-in customization panel, and 2. It s actually a child theme that operates on the Genesis Framework. Reason #1: Prose has

“A Taste of Honey” by Shelagh Delaney Free Essays

In writing, â€Å"A Taste of Honey† in the year 1958, what impact did Shelagh Delaney desire to leave on her audience members and what type of technique did she use in connecting them? Shelagh Deleney wrote her plays for the upper and middle classed of people where individuals could find the scenes completely opposite to what they were familiar with and saw everyday in society. Delaney didn’t focus on families being what everyone conceived them as, where the family consisted of the head of the household or the dad, working for the family in order to earn a living and then the mother who stayed at home and cooked and cleaned and tended to the children. We learn at 123HelpMe. We will write a custom essay sample on â€Å"A Taste of Honey† by Shelagh Delaney or any similar topic only for you Order Now com that Shelagh Delaney tells us that, (p.1) â€Å"The stereotypical play was where the men worked and the women stayed at home, cleaning and cooking.† Delaney wanted to offer something entirely different to her audience and she used her vivid imagination to shock her audience members with families that were entirely, untraditional. â€Å"A Taste of Honey† (back cover) offers to enlighten us that, â€Å"A Taste of Honey† is â€Å"a sensational theatrical success in London. A Taste of Honey was written by Shelagh Delaney at the age of 18. The play prompted Graham Greene to say that it had â€Å"all the freshness of Mr. Osborne’s Look Back in Anger and a greater maturity.† Delaney’s play was successful because of her originality. Delaney is compared to another great writer and is even paid the compliment that her writing is more mature than that of someone who is more experienced in the writing field and who is much older than Delaney. Delaney’s writing style was mature because she wished to connect with her audience members and to achieve that she found it necessary to write with maturity and on topics that would appeal to those members who viewed her play. In the first act of Delaney‘s play it opens up with two character entering a room, carrying their belongings. (P. 1) Book Rags teaches us that, â€Å"The scene opens in a shabby apartment in Manchester, England, in 1956. Helen and her teenage daughter, Jo, enter loaded with bags. Helen is described as a semi-prostitute, but her men are her only known source of financial support.† Delaney also writes that, â€Å"The Boy is a black sailor who appears briefly, professing love for Jo. He asks her to marry him and gives her a ring. They spend a week together during Christmas, but then he leaves for a six month tour at sea.† The young author is able to demonstrate an extremely adult situation in an era where this type of behavior was not accepted in connecting with her audience and gaining their complete and undivided attention. To connect more closely with her viewers, Delaney used scenes that depicted more mature subject matter, in catching and maintaining their attention of the scenes in the play. Did Delaney’s audience respect her work as she linked with their personalities? We learn in her biography that a fan said, After seeing the first production of Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey in May 1958, Lindsay Anderson said of the play in Encore: â€Å"To talk as we do about new working-class audiences, about plays that will interpret the common experiences of today-all this is one thing and a good thing too.† It is evident that Delaney cast a spell on her audience while reeling them in and capturing their full attention. They go on further to mention about the play, â€Å"A work of complete, exhilarating originality.† Delaney gained tremendous acceptance with her play and many individuals viewed and thought there was nothing else like the work that Delaney provided. Susan Whitehead offers that, â€Å"But, how much better even, how much more exciting, to find such theatre suddenly here, suddenly sprung up under our feet!†(p. 55-60) Delaney offered an exciting escape from reality in her play where people could gather and take in the scenes that Delaney offered for entertainment in order to grasp the affection of her audience.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"A Taste of Honey† is full of situations where the author left her audience in a gasp at her incredible imagination and thoughts on what life would be like if it were flip-flopped to something that was completely different than one would ever guess it to be. She is remarkable in her attempt to form situations that impress upons one’s theories and attitudes toward rules in society. How to cite â€Å"A Taste of Honey† by Shelagh Delaney, Papers

Compare and Contrast of UK Health Care System with USA Healthcare Syst

Question: Compare and Contrast of UK Health Care System with USA Healthcare System? Answer: Introduction In the world, delivery system as well as organizational procedure of health care industry is one of the most popular topics for study (Bhandari, 2011). The popularity of selecting this topic is increased not only for needs and for requirement of health care for human but also for better understanding of delivery system and operational process of health care organization in the world. This particular essay firmly focuses of identifying the current delivery system and operational process of health care system in UK. In order to compare the health care system of UK, this study represents the health care system of US. The comparison is conduct in this essay based on the highlighted report on television, news programs, journals, articles, websites like NHS, social groups, etc. Comparison and Contrast between UK and US Health Care System Health Care system in UK and US In UK, healthcare is developed matter because the main cities like England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, etc have their own private as well as public health care fund system. Both the private and public health care system in UK works together with alternatives and treats the people holistically and complementarily. From the point of view of needs and requirements as well as payment from general taxation, each country in the world gives the public health care services to the residents of UK (Chernichovsky and Hanson, 2009). However, in UK the public health care service is larger rather than the private health care sector regarding funding, provisions like health insurance, employer scheme, direct payment, etc. According to Haynes et al. (2011), more than 8 percent of gross domestic products of UK is spent for the health care system. The top most health care service providers in UK is National Health Service (NHS). In the year of 2012, the publicity funded health care system of E ngland accounted the most department of Health budget that was 99.6 billion (Hollnagel, Braithwaite and Wears, 2013). The ten Strategic Health Authorities plays their role in managing the actual activity of health care organization in UK. The social care service of UK shares their responsibility with the National Health Service as well as with the local government (Hurren and Berlie, 2011). The General Practitioners of National Health Service system provides the primary care and makes referral the further service along with necessity. Apart from that, health care organization like hospitals provides more specialists care services including psychiatric illness, accidental cases, emergency cases. In USA, there are both private and public health care system like the other countries in the world. The unique method of US health care system is that there has dominance of private sector health care system over the public sector health care system (Burke, 2012). In the year of 2013, 67 percent people received insurance from private employer sponsored. Figure 1: Health Care Service in USA (Source: Prior et al. 2012, pp- 295) Apart from that, private sectors also served more than 10 percent purchased insurance to the permanent resident of United State. In the public insurance in US, 15 percent people enrolled in insurance programs like Medicare, Medicaid, etc (Jost, 2012). On the other hand, private insurance enrolled more than 18 purchased insurance in their insurance programs. Comparison and differentiation of Coverage in health care system of UK and US Service: In UK, National Heal Service covers the most preventative service as well as the impatient and outpatient care service (Hutton and Pang, 2005). Apart from that, NHS takes the responsibility of caring the drugs in inpatient and outpatient, mental care, rehabilitation, physicians, learning disabilities, etc. On the other hand, in US Medicare is the federal program that covers some disables individuals and aged 65. It is the single prayer program of the government of US. There is fours different part of Medicare of government in US. Part A covers the hospital service. Part B covers physician service (Prior et al., 2012). Medical Part C covers Medicare advantage and Part D offers prescription drug benefits. Cost Sharing: In UK, there are few cost sharing agreement for public health care service such as prescription for drugs that covers 6.85 for each prescription. The review report demonstrated that 88% prescription are exempted from charges. In US, the total expenditure on health is more than 23.11%. The most of the cost shares from the end of private sector. The cost sharing in US has certain impact on patient group (The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2013). Comparison and Differentiation of Delivery System Physicians: In UK, the National Health Care shows their responsibility to the department of health care. They take the responsibility primary care treatments for the local populations and permanents residents. The parliament of UK that placed at Westminster takes the responsibility of general policy and health legislation. Willis, Reynolds and Keleher (2009) argued that, government of UK control more than 85% primary care treatment of the NHS budget. In USA, S-CHIP takes the primary care of children whose families make too much money for Medicare instead of purchasing private health care. S-CHIP offers the financial structure as well as similar administration for health care service. Apart from that, Veteran Administration take the responsibility of conducting federal administration program for veterans (Tobin, 2011). Furthermore, the government owned VA hospitals in order to delivers the clinical service in better way. Comparison of funding of UK and US In UK, the total expenditure of NHS is 86%. The general taxation funded the 76% and national insurance contributions 19 and user charges 5%. NHS covers safety and privacy of 12% population and accounted 3% expenditure (Hurren and Berlie, 2011). For some service, people also pay directly for out-of-pocket such as care in private sector. The financing of health care centers in US has two stream of money such as collection of money for health care system and reimbursement of health care service providers (Welborn and Bullington, 2013). These two shares the private and public insurance in United Stated. Conclusion This essay concludes the factors of healthcare system of two different countries including United Kingdom and United State. Health care system of both countries pays income taxes to the government. In US, there is a payroll tax on employers as well as employees. However, in UK, there is a payroll tax for only employers. Reference List Bhandari, S. (2011). A hospital-based cost minimization study of the potential financial impact on the UK health care system of introduction of iron isomaltoside 1000.TCRM, p.103. Burke, L. (2012). Health care reform in the USA: Recommendations from USA and non-USA radiologists.World Journal of Radiology, 4(2), p.44. Chernichovsky, D. and Hanson, K. (2009).Innovations in health system finance in developing and transitional economies. Bingley, UK: Emerald. Haynes, S., Timm, B., Hamerslag, L. and Costello, S. (2011). PHP152 The Administrative Burden of Patient Access Schemes in the Changing UK Health Care System: A Follow Up Study.Value in Health, 14(7), p.A361. Hollnagel, E., Braithwaite, J. and Wears, R. (2013).Resilient health care. Farnham, Surrey, UK England: Ashgate. Hurren, K. and Berlie, H. (2011). Lorcaserin: An investigational serotonin 2C agonist for weight loss.American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 68(21), pp.2029-2037. Hutton, J. and Pang, F. (2005). PHP13 MULTIPLE APPRAISAL OF DRUGS IN THE UK HEALTH CARE SYSTEM.Value in Health, 8(6), pp.A184-A185. Jost, T. (2012). Eight Decades of Discouragement: The History of Health Care Cost Containment in the USA.Forum for Health Economics and Policy, 15(3). Prior, J., Rushton, C., Jordan, K. and Kadam, U. (2012). Comorbidity Cohort (2C) study: Cardiovascular disease severity and comorbid osteoarthritis in primary care.BMC Health Services Research, 12(1), p.295. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, (2013). Health-care associated infection: USA on the right track.The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 13(5), p.377. Tobin, K. (2011). Fast-food consumption and educational test scores in the USA.Child: Care, Health and Development, 39(1), pp.118-124. Welborn, C. and Bullington, K. (2013). Benchmarking award winning health care organizations in the USA.Benchmarking, 20(6), pp.765-776. Willis, E., Reynolds, L. and Keleher, H. (2009).Understanding the Australian health care system. Sydney: Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier.

KFC Case Analysis Essay Example

KFC Case Analysis Paper It is of critical importance that we develop a strong understanding of KFC’s current position and of the market in which it competes. The more comprehensive and well-founded our situational analysis is, the stronger our strategic marketing plan will be. I. The character and attractiveness of the U. S. food service and fast-food industries in 1994 The fast-food industry is considered a subsection of the food service industry, or rather a submarket within a broader market. This broader industry, the US food service industry, is in what is known as the maturity stage. Typically, the maturity stage exemplifies the following characteristics: Sales continue but at slower pace. Competition leads to decreased market share or prices. Competing products become very similar and differentiating product becomes both crucial and more difficult As a result, firms need to place their efforts into encouraging competitors’ customers to switch to their product offering, increase usage per customer and even convert non-users into customers. At this stage, the primary goal of a given firm is to maintain market share. The food service industry, as is the fast-food industry, is typified by franchising which became well-established in the early 1950s. The concept held and in 1994 there were over 550, 000 restaurants and food outlets in America. Although the industry in 1994 was slowing, that is not to say that it was not growing. Food service industry sales were forecast to surpass $275 billion and this had grown at an estimated compound annual rate of 3. 9% from 1988 till 1994. This billion dollar industry is dominated by the fast-food and full service segments who commanded annual sales of $86 billion and $85. billion dollars respectively. We will write a custom essay sample on KFC Case Analysis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on KFC Case Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on KFC Case Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The fast-food segment is prima facie, a very attractive one. Not only did the segment grow 5. 6%, outpacing almost all other food categories but its future is also promising with a forecast of 6. 3% growth in 1994. In addition, the share of industry sales by the fast-food industry has risen by 1. 8 years over the last 5 years showing market dominance and growth. When we consider the fast-food industry specifically, pizza, family restaurants and dinner houses are the winners if e assess growth. The chicken segment, in which KFC competes, grew only 4. 1% as demographics changed and the trend towards healthier eating gained momentum. Figure 1 illustrates the market share held by each of the fast-food categories. However, though there has been seemingly strong growth up until now, assessing market attractiveness inherently involves some element of forecasting as we need not only assess current attractiveness, but future scenarios as well. Consumer preferences in 1994 were changing. There was a move away from fried unhealthy food to healthier options As per the survey in 1994, consumers showed a desire for a greater variety of menu items In this time, consumers also began expecting greater value for their money. This will inevitably have implications on the price strategy pursued by a firm as it puts pressure on lowering price and developing a viable cost structure. Other things being equal, this detracts from market attractiveness as it presents new and problematic challenges for current and potential competing firms. II. The major competitors for KFC KFC’s competitors can be considered in the context of consumers’ purchasing and consumption behaviours. The consumer segments can be classified depending on the benefits sought by the consumer. These benefits include the convenience of a fast food chain such as KFC, the satisfaction resulting from consumption and the attractive prices of the products. The success of the fast-food industry can be partly attributed to its universal appeal of convenience for the consumer in satisfying the basic physiological need for food. KFC’s competitors can be ranked accordingly. Figure ranks the competitors of KFC from the most to least direct competition. Other Fast Food Chains such as McDonalds and Popeyes can be seen as KFC’s biggest competitors in the market as it too, has the competitive advantage of convenience for the consumer. Take away can be seen as less convenient as the time required in attaining the food is greater than fast-food and there is often a need to pre-order to ensure reduced waiting time. Take away is followed by restaurants, and Frozen Dinners, as they are more inconvenient and time consuming. The most indirect competition is meals that have to be cooked at home. When we assess competition in light of taste, competition can be divided into several groups: Chicken Chains: Chains offering a large variety including fried chicken Upscale Chicken Chains Chains that offer other fried products If the consumer segment purchases KFC for reasons of predominantly taste, Chicken Chains such as Popeyes and Chick-A-Fillet would be appropriately considered KFC’s main competitors. However the variety offered by such competitors as McDonalds and Hardees can not only satisfy the needs of the consumers that prefer fried chicken but also those with different preferences. Indirectly KFC is also competing with Fast Food Chains that do not offer fried chicken but does offer other fried products. The strong competition faced by KFC in the market of Fast Food, show that organisations such as McDonalds as the greatest threat. The distribution network of McDonalds and their large variety of meal offering quickly appeals to families. McDonalds offering of Value Meals and lower pricing strategy makes McDonalds an even larger threat to KFC in the market. III. The critical issues faced in 1994 In 1994, KFC Brand Development President Kyle Craig and KFC-USA were faced with several critical issues regarding the growth and development of KFC. Craig expressed that his main concern for KFC was the company’s ability to handle change in the future. However, there were many issues present that affected various aspects of KFC’s corporation, competition and customer. There were numerous critical issues that involved the KFC corporation. One of these issues was the growth of international operations and declining domestic restaurant construction. The expansion of free-standing restaurants was seen as particularly difficult due to the availability of sites and the cost of construction. Another issue affecting the corporation was that of store refurbishment. Due to the age of many KFC restaurants, the expenditure of significant financial resources was required to refurbish and update these older restaurants. Refurbishments were also required to accommodate consumer demand for faster service that included drive through and dine-in options. At the beginning of 1994, Craig noted that limited menu options and significant service problems presented considerable concerns for the business. The limited menu options would owe largely to changing consumer demands and the inability for KFC to stay current and focused. However, the service problems, which partly stem from the outdated systems and facilities in place at KFC, could be largely attributable to the takeover of KFC by PepsiCo in 1986. After acquiring KFC, PepsiCo set about restructuring the KFC organisation, reducing staff numbers and replacing KFC personnel with managers from PepsiCo. The culture at PepsiCo, which was characterised by performance, accountability and the drive for promotion, starkly contrasted the traditional KFC philosophy, which emphasised life-time employment, independence and a relaxed atmosphere. Conflict arose due to the differing organisational cultures and corporate restructuring resulted in morale issues for KFC employees. Employee morale would therefore present itself as a primary critical issue for Craig and KFC as feelings of uncertainty and the pressure to perform essentially hinder the quality of service provided. One other critical issue Craig and KFC were faced with regarding the corporation was that of product distribution and growing the KFC brand domestically. Domestic restaurant growth had slowed in the five years prior to 1994, largely due to the financial expenditure required to build traditional free-standing restaurants. Craig and KFC also faced difficulties with their franchise operations. Difficulties with franchises arose due to two issues. Expansion of franchise location due to contract stipulations was one issue (no new KFC units could be built within a 1. 5 mile radius of an existing KFC store). Where franchise owners had once felt independent of the reign of the corporation (this ultimately led to a stronger sense of devotion to the KFC organisation), new PepsiCo management emphasised tighter control over day-to-day operations, which angered many franchise owners. Some other critical issues that Craig and KFC faced involved meeting the demands of consumers and understanding new, niche consumer markets. By 1994, consumer expectations of the fast-food industry demanded -the provision of quick and efficient service -a greater variety of menu items -value for money -that fast food be available at more non-traditional outlets, for example, airports. Another issue faced by KFC was appealing to the needs of a more health conscious consumer, which would involve adding healthier products options to their menus. Critical issues that involved KFC’s competitors largely revolved around the menu items of various fast-food chains. Throughout the late 1980s, most of KFC’s competition was limited to other fast food chains that offered fried chicken. However, by 1994, KFC faced competition from non-fried chicken chains, primarily the sandwich chains, who had introduced fried chicken products to their menus. This issue was of great importance for Craig and KFC, as it meant they lost business to other fast food chains offering a greater variety of food items across a range of food segments. Another issue faced by Craig and KFC was the addition of new, upscale chicken chains to the market (for example, Boston Chicken and Kenny Roger’s Roasters). These new chains targeted a market niche not previously pursued by KFC, being higher income customers and health conscious customers. Essentially, in 1994, Kyle Craig and KFC-USA were faced with the problem of making the transition from an ‘old’ KFC to a ‘new’ KFC. Any business strategy to be formulated from there on needed to focus largely on the consumer. This would mean encompassing current consumer demands for healthier food options at lower prices, greater variety in food selection and a higher level of service and cleanliness in a greater variety of locations. IV. The industry’s key success factors The key factor within the fast food industry is convenience, and it is this that becomes the common denominator for all other factors in the overall managerial and marketing strategy behind fast food franchises. Pricing: Cheap pricing – appeals to younger demographic and general price perceptions (price aversion) of consumers. The cheap pricing is also implicitly reflective of fast efficient and convenient service as consumers expect less quality and care in their service for the money they have paid. Location: Popularity and breadth of franchising shows importance of location to securing market share. While fast food outlets were originally stores with drive-thru and dine-in facilities, they are becoming ever more prevalent in food courts and in the central business districts. Essentially this means that placing outlets within close locality of people ensures greater convenience. Speed and style of service/delivery: In survey 48% of the subjects said being in a hurry or wanting fast service as major factor in their choice. This means that there is a lower emphasis on the quality of the service offered as long as it is fast and efficient. Fast-food outlets offer drive-thru and home delivery so that customers can purchase their meal with minimal effort. Quality and Variety: Although customers do not expect great quality as the trade-off for fast, convenient service and a low price, they are becoming increasing demanding for a greater variety of foods to choose from. Franchises like McDonalds offer a wide range of foods from healthy options, vegetarian, chicken, beef and fish meals. It is McDonald’s ability to combine variety with convenience is one of the key factors behind its great success in the industry. Demography: Dominant growth of family restaurant chains and dinner houses is attributable changing demographic – move towards over 65s who eat out less often and tend to spend more time eating their meal, prefer sit-down restaurants and are more likely to choose more upscale restaurants such as dinner houses. Studies have shown that the 18-24 age group consume around 5 meals away from home compared to the rest of consumers-proving that they are a valuable component of the food-service industry. Essentially, the food service industry has developed itself to be highly compatible with that of the American lifestyle. Consumers are expecting more for less cost and the fast food industry has provided exactly this, cheap food for fast efficient service, a wide variety of choice that is of ever-increasing quality. V. Recommendations for KFC KFC has been around for a long time spanning over some five decades over which it has gained a strong foothold in the fast-food industry. As the market leader in fried chicken, it can be safe to conclude that KFC is in the maturity stage in the product life cycle. While it currently maintains a dominating presence in the industry, changes in consumer preferences, the entry of new fast food chains and their increasingly out-of-date marketing system threatens to send KFC into the decline stage of the Product Life Cycle unless the organisation takes on certain changes that keep KFC up to date with the current market. The recommendations for change can be directly correlated with the critical issues that KFC faces and are best analysed through the â€Å"4 Ps†, or product, price, placement and promotion, and the â€Å"3 Cs†, or rather competitor, consumer and corporation. Note however that there is significant overlap with the two analyses and in our endeavour to avoid repetition, aspects appropriately discussed in both of the models will only be discussed in one at the exclusion of the other. (i) Product KFC’s primary product is fried chicken and the meals on offer rarely deviate far from this base. By offering fried chicken, KFC has made a niche in the fast-food market devoted completely to chicken and is currently the market leader. This is reflective of KFC’s position on the product life cycle graph at the maturity stage as they have gained a strong foothold in the industry and have to continuously remain competitive. Firstly looking into offering a greater variety of choices that spans across food groups outside of chicken may potentially be a viable option. Expanding the menu across a range of food groups enables KFC to gain a later share of the take-away market. Consumers often walk into stores seeking take away, not necessarily seeking fried chicken in particular so offering a larger range of take-away foods makes KFC a more likely contestant in the choice for dinner. Should KFC choose to remain with the core product of chicken, they can still look into various options of differentiation for their product. Firstly, healthy options would appeal to the ever growing health conscious sector. This could entail menu options such as grilled chicken or barbeque chicken. After seeing the success of the golden rotisserie chicken, one can fairly assume that these options can be potentially profitable. KFC also lacked in meal deals at the time of the article, whereas some take-away outlets offered value meals, KFC merely had products on offer individually, which goes against the core demand from customers- convenience. Offering meal deals enables customers to make quick choices on various meal combinations. This leads to the final product option, within the meal deals, KFC should look at â€Å"kids meals† because young children can potentially make up a large portion of the consumer base. Offering value meals with toys attracts the 2-12 year old age bracket and these types of offerings would KFC on par with other competitors. (ii) Placement As KFC continues along the maturity stage in the product life cycle, the need for well thought out placement of new stores and the refurbishment of existing restaurants comes to the forefront of the organisation’s issues because the organisation is in danger of slipping into decline if it is seen as outdated and inconvenient by consumers. KFC should start off with their conventional free-standing restaurant layout and improve on it. With the old outdated buildings, KFC would improve the outlook as well as the convenience factor in their existing stores. This can be achieved through the installation of more drive-thru and dine-in areas which will minimise overcrowding at the counter. This effectively reduces the service time and increases convenience both of which are key factors critical to the success of KFC in the Take-away market. KFC acknowledged the high cost and difficulty in locating land on which to build new free-standing restaurants. But, with convenience as the key factor, KFC can take this drawback as an opportunity and look at new ‘unconventional’ placements of their products. This can include airports, food courts within shopping malls and in the central business district amongst city buildings. (iii) Price KFC should take advantage of their position at the maturity stage in the product life cycle and offer competitive prices that form a barrier to entry of new competition while emphasising their dominance as the chicken market leader. While convenience is the primary factor for consideration with take-away, consumers are becoming increasingly demanding and expectations for lower prices must be met to maintain or gain market share. Once again, offering ‘meal deals’ creates a sense of â€Å"value† for customers while increasing convenience. (iv) Promotion The primary focus within the promotion should be on the kids meals and meal deals because both implicitly offer good monetary value and convenience. The promotion of the new meal deals could be through the use of coupons, television advertising, radio promotions and importantly, the internet, which would provide a convenient access point of promotion through which the organisation can run various competitions and surveys. Through the internet, KFC can gather information on their consumer base and gain increasing recognition for virtually no cost. Furthermore, becoming active in CSR projects is a good promotion tactic as it helps stop the alienation of big corporate giants like KFC from the public and thus increases its good reputation amongst the community. CSR also helps to boost the morale and strengthen the internal culture of an organisation. The 3 C’s (minus material covered above) KFC is faced with changing consumer expectations. Areas including the improvement of provision of quick and efficient service, a greater variety of menu items, and value for money and availability at more non-traditional outlets require KFC’s immediate and committed efforts to address the dynamic expectations of consumers. One major change must be effected within the corporation. PepsiCo needs to create a more supportive structure and environment for franchise owners, and a softer approach to human resource management to encourage franchise parent relationships and possible synergies. A better internal culture whereby management of different levels communicate and address problems, as opposed to viewing other management as competitors could promote efficiency within the organisation and boost morale within the organisation, and in turn productivity. The above is a detailed ‘snapshot’ of the environment in which KFC and the industry at large participated in 1994. It is clear that Kyle Craig and KFC-USA are faced with significant issues but these are not without the potential for innovation and growth. From this analysis, objectives, strategy and positions can be developed to ensure KFC remains the powerful player that it is.