Business Weblog

It’s no wonder that graduation season brings out a frenzy of shopping and graduation gift ideas from retailers and catalogs all over the world. One of the most interesting and unique companies we have located is Shades of Fun!. They have been online since 1999 and have been offering unusual graduation gifts since the year 2000. This clever company, whose core business is offering all styles of sunglasses, uses a basic black or white cheap sunglasses style as a base then decorates the sunglasses with all sorts of charms and trinkets that showcase the various subject studies in school. They create ‘themed sunglasses’ for graduating students! It’s so cool!

Almost all of the glasses feature a gold graduation cap and diploma charm along one side and a subject theme charm on the other side. A brushed gold charm showcasing a G-clef and a couple of music notes sets the tone for the music theme graduation gifts. This would be perfect for any student who is graduating with a music degree. For theater students, Shades of Fun! uses the comedy/tragedy mask to celebrate the acting school student. Film students or photography students will love the old time movie camera and still photography camera the New York-based company uses to set up their film student graduation gifts. The still camera on the side of the glasses makes for perfect photography student graduation gifts. And for computer technology students, an adorable little computer mouse is too cute to miss!

Parents and friends looking for sport related graduation gifts won’t be disappointed at Shades of Fun!, either! The company’s line of graduation gifts includes football themes, baseball themes, basketball as well as soccer theme graduation gifts. Cheerleaders are even celebrated with a jumping cheerleader charm, making the cheerleader graduation gifts from Shades of Fun! a perfect choice for an extra special graduation gift idea.

The ideas extend even further: there are law school graduation gifts, medical school graduation gifts and nursing school graduation gifts. For classes who would like to deck themselves out in the year of their graduation like they do in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, Shades of Fun! offers great low prices for bulk buying.

For general graduation gift ideas, there are two great choices: for girls, there is an item the company calls, ‘The Funky Graduation’ and boy is it fun! This style uses a wild cat eye shape black and white checkered frame as a base and uses a year-charm on one side, a burst of simulated champagne bubbles popping over the top of the frame and of course, the graduation cap on the other side of the sunglasses frame.

There are three additional fabulous features about the graduation gift ideas from Shades of Fun!

• Price
• Packaging
• Shipping Time

Price: all of the graduation gifts are under $15, that’s an excellent value

Packaging: Gift wrapping is FREE.

Shipping Time: Orders ship out within 48 hours, that’s a super fast turnaround time.

Visit them and see!

I missed this when it was first released, but the office of the DC Inspector General released an audit of the DCPS graduation requirements. Here’s the executive summary:

OVERVIEW
This report summarizes the results of the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) Audit of the District of Columbia Public Schools’ Graduation Requirements (OIG No. 06-2-25GA). The Superintendent of the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) requested that our Office conduct the audit in response to allegations made by a teacher at Woodrow Wilson Senior High School (Wilson SHS).

Our overall audit objectives were to: (1) evaluate the protocols, authorities, and practices for certifying students for graduation; (2) determine if senior high school graduates satisfied the graduation requirements; and (3) assess the accuracy of student recordkeeping and the procedures for securing student records.

CONCLUSIONS
This report contains four findings that detail the conditions found during our audit. In our first finding, we found that Wilson SHS officials allowed 17 students to graduate in June 2006 even though the students did not complete academic requirements. Students graduated without meeting the requirements because guidance counselors did not schedule students to attend required courses, and guidance counselors did not properly categorize courses. In addition, three graduates did not pass their required courses but were allowed to graduate, and one guidance counselor improperly granted credits to three graduates. As a result, we believe the 17 graduates did not acquire the necessary knowledge and skills required for high school graduation.

In our second finding, we found that Wilson SHS officials did not submit an accurate graduation list to the Superintendent. This condition occurred because Wilson SHS officials did not maintain the clearance forms used to certify each student’s eligibility to graduate. In addition, the College Bureau staff - instead of the guidance counselors - prepared the graduation list, even though guidance counselors are responsible for certifying students. As a result, the Superintendent reported an incorrect number of graduates to the Board of Education.

In our third finding, we found that Wilson SHS officials did not maintain sufficient documentation to support that graduating students completed community service requirements. Specifically, Wilson SHS officials did not maintain sufficient documentation for 36 graduates. This condition occurred because DCPS has not issued official community service guidelines, and guidance counselors were unaware of the unofficial guidelines. As a result, we could not verify that these 36 graduates completed the required community service hours or otherwise met all requirements for graduation.

In our last finding, we found that school officials may misinterpret DCPS’s graduation requirements and policies because DCPS does not have well-defined or documented requirements and policies in the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DCMR) and the Superintendent’s Directives. The lack of well-defined or documented requirements and policies increases the risk that school officials will not consistently apply graduation requirements.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
We directed nine recommendations to the Superintendent, DCPS that we believe are necessary to correct the deficiencies noted in this report. The recommendations, in part, center on:

* Establishing and implementing measures to ensure: (1) students complete the required Carnegie units prior to graduation; (2) transcripts accurately reflect earned Carnegie units; and (3) school officials follow the grade change procedures in the Faculty Handbook.
* Instituting reforms for safekeeping records and requiring school officials to conduct a final review of the graduation list prior to submitting the list to the Superintendent.
* Developing a community service directive and requiring school officials to periodically review student files.
* Establishing new policies or revising existing policies to clarify graduation requirements and to institute consistent graduation protocols.

In the world of tutoring, there are generally two types: home-based tutoring and center-based tutoring. While the latter generally costs less, the former is far more convenient, more effective, and is overall the better deal for your money. In this article we will look at several of the advantages of income or private tutoring and why you should choose it over tutoring programs that makes you go take classes at a learning center.
The most important advantage that private tutoring has over center-based tutoring in the one-on-one attention that the student gets. In a class of 30 or more people, the tutoring session can feel much like a regular classroom with a lecturer that seems far removed from the students. It is easy for the student to become uninterested and confused about what is being taught and questions that the student has may often go unanswered. This does not happen with in home tutoring, as an instructor will work with the student in a one-on-one basis and any questions that the student has will be addressed by the tutor.
The second advantage is that private tutoring can tailor the curriculum towards the individual student and set personalized goals. Center-based tutoring is often set up with the goal of helping the majority with the most common problems and fails to address the individual learning needs of each student. It cannot focus on the weaknesses of each student and use that as a starting point to build upon. This generic approach used by center-based tutoring is insufficient for students with special needs in one subject or area. The third advantage is that home tutoring can integrate a student’s tests and exams into its study plan. This will help children make an immediate impact on his or her grades. Since center-based testing often has large classes, it is impossible for them to take an individual’s test and exams into account. The last major advantage of private tutoring is the flexibility of schedule. While center-based tutoring has classes at certain times that you must work into your schedule, private tutoring will work around your schedule and set appointments at times that are convenient for you. If your on the go often, you will need the flexibility of private tutoring.
One service that emphasizes tutoring in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area is Crown tutoring services. This tutoring service provides highly specialized tutoring service for a variety of subjects. Crown tutoring combines all of the advantages of private tutoring with affordable prices and the highest quality of tutors available to make it the best choice for Philadelphia tutoring.