How To Interview For Medical School

How To Interview For Medical School Your interview could be the deciding factor in your application process. Once you are awarded an interview, the school is prepared to admit you based on your past academic performance/accolades. At that point, its all about your interview. Here are some tips from Varsity Tutors to help you ace your interview. Dont try to sell yourself too much: Once youre in that interview seat, the school already knows your MCATscores, where you went to undergrad, how many hours of community service you boast, etcetc. They know youre intelligent and motivated on paper, now you need to prove yourself off paper. Be prepared: Most interviewers will ask a series of generic questions and a series of tough questions. However, most are not acting like cutting investigative journalists trying to expose your flaws, and there is never a right or wrong answer. Here are a few common, sample questions. You should either practice these questions or have pre-meditated answers. Generic questions: 1. What are your career plans and what led you to this decision? 2. Tell me about why you are interested in this program. 4. What was your favorite college course and why? 5. What do you hope to gain from this experience? 6. Tell me about a time when you demonstrated initiative. 7. What are your specific goals in medicine? Tougher questions: 1. How do you handle death? 2. What class did you struggle with most during you undergrad and why? 4. Describe how you can effectively deal with someone in crisis. 3. Say you only have time to save one persons life. Who would you choose between a 20-year-old drug addict and an 80 year-old-woman? Speak up: You dont have to yell at your interviewer, but if you are a quiet, soft-speaker he/she will believe youre unintelligent and lack confidence. Speak loudly and clearly to show youre confident and ready to succeed. Do not be too talkative. Never talk for more than 2-3 minutes consecutively. That gives you more than enough time to completely answer any question. Try to create a balanced dialogue with your interviewer, and give him/her a chance to talk. If youre droning on for too long, he/she will doze off, and that is the absolute last thing you want. Do not lie: If your interviewer really wants to, he/she could verify any factall the way down to what high school clubs you were in. Learn howMCAT tutorscan help you improve your chances of acceptance into a top med school. Find something non-academic to talk about: Youre not the first person your interviewer will ever meet withprobably not even the first person that day. So, please, for their sake spark up a conversation unrelated to academics. They will be delighted to talk about something different, and that will help you stand out. You could talk about famous landmarks, museums, architecture, tourists attractions, sports teams, restaurants, etc that are popular in the schools city. Also, you can never go wrong by bringing up the weather. Look the part: The obvious: wear something conservative and classy. Dark colored suits are appropriate. The not so obvious: look like you have a little money (even if you dont). Spend the $5 on a nice looking pen dont bring a cheap Bic or Papermate one. Buy a classy leather-bound portfolio to put your work samples in. Your interviewer will probably already have your file, but bring extra copies of work you have done. Again, spend the extra money and go to Kinkos to have them professionally print and bind your work samples. Youre interviewing for med school, not Burger King. Ask specific questions: The questions you ask are a direct reflection how interested you are in the school; so make them as thoughtful as possible. Try to frame your questions around specific topics. For example, avoid asking what the schools special programs are you should already know that. Instead, ask what sets that program apart from other schools or why it is so successful. Again, instead of asking if students have published research at this school, find a particular student who has and ask how he/she was able to do so, what classes he/she took, etc. Write a thoughtful thank you note: Former med school interviewers suggest sending an email 48 hours after your interview is best. Try to make your thank you letter as personalized as possible by including something you and your interviewer connected over or even laughed about. Do not try to sell yourself again. And if you say the school is your first choice, chances are, your interviewer will not believe you, which could harm your entire application process.

Changing Principals To Change Schools

Changing Principals To Change Schools Obama and Arne Duncan are trying to raise the bar for everyone in education teachers, administrators, and now principals.In an effort for full reform, they are now looking at principals, threatening to replace many of them, according to an article in the District Administration. The government is providing a $3.5 billion fund to underachieving schools if they meet certain achievement benchmarks. If schools fail to meet these benchmarks, then they will be forced to make major reforms or surrender their share of funding. Underachieving schools will be forced to replace their principal, half of their teaching staff, close down entirely and transfer students to higher-achieving schools or close down and reopen as a charter school to still be considered for the funding. About 74% of underachieving schools would be eligible for part of the $3.5 billion grant under the transformational model of reform. With this model, schools would have to let the government overhaul instruction, evaluation systems and other school operations. On top of all that, they would have to replace their principals Many education administrators are wondering where all the new principals will come from if many of them are laid off. A dearth of qualified replacements could simply lead to more problems, lasting for years. A 2009 study, Tenure and Retention of Newly Hired Principals in Texas states that about half of newly-hired high school principals stay for three years, and a 2003 report from the University of Washington, A Matter of Definition: Is There Truly a Shortage of School Principals? suggests that many superintendents said there is a lack of principals with the necessary, strong leadership qualities. The role of the principal will have to evolve heavily for America to enhance its education system. Principals will need to become proficient in data analysis to improve teachers performance, public relations skills to inform the community and parents about school achievements and employ best practices in education. These are skills that most qualified principals already have, but average and subpar principals will have to learn new skills and learn them rapidly. Many grassroots organizations have taken up this cause, creating training programs for principals.

To Cram or Not to Cram A Guide to the Week Before Your MCAT

To Cram or Not to Cram A Guide to the Week Before Your MCAT MCAT Medical School Admissions It has been close to a hundred days, or at least it feels that way. You’re a week away from something you have been anxiously planning and studying for, your Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). Students in this last week of studying often reach one of two emotional states: anxiety or exhaustion. In this article we will discuss how to best combat these two common stages in the study process and how to utilize that final week prior to taking your admissions test. Studying for almost three months for one test is no easy feat. It is easy to feel anxiety for most students, especially when they are behind on their study schedule or not meeting their goals. While a week out is cutting it pretty close in evaluating progress, it is important to evaluate these feelings as they come. Anxiety may be well founded and the student may want to consider postponing their test if there is a great disparity between their target scores or study schedule and how the student is actually performing. However, for most students this is not the case. The anxiety often comes from the looming threat of a big exam and the potential outcomes that come with it. Many students experiencing this launch into what I like to like to call “hyperdrive” mode or a “knee jerk reaction”. Students will tell me that they took multiple practice exams the week before, crammed and stayed up all night studying. While this may seem like a solution, it can lead to burnout and poor test performance. Cramming for a college final may have produced results in the past. But for an exam that tests your ability to integrate topics and apply knowledge like the MCAT as compared to discrete facts on a college final, cramming is often not beneficial. Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) agree that cramming does not work. Students who perform well despite their anxiety often report that they continued with their MCAT study schedule and reviewed as planned. Remember, the MCAT is a marathon not a sprint. In the same vein, students often exhaust themselves prior to their MCAT. Whether it is due to cramming the week before the exam or a long term study schedule without enough breaks, exhaustion can strongly impact exam performance. For students in this stage, it is essential to figure out the cause of exhaustion. Whether it is a personal event in your life or over-stimulation from studying, students should try to reflect on their current status to find the root of the issue. Many students also find ways to motivate themselves through the exam by scheduling something fun for the following day or even rewarding themselves with something they enjoy, whether it be food or retail therapy. Exhaustion can be completely debilitating and is something that students will face as medical students, residents, and even as attending physicians. Coping mechanisms developed now will ensure your ability to combat future problems. So now that you have addressed the two biggest issues in the final week of test preparation, how should you spend this last week prior to your exam? There are a variety of approaches to this week and anecdotally each medical student will tell you something slightly different. In my case, I spent the week prior to my exam lightly reviewing my own personal notes. I took my last practice exam two weeks prior to the MCAT because I did not want to exhaust myself by taking an eight-hour practice test prior to taking the actual MCAT. In addition, an adverse score two weeks prior to your MCAT can impact your mental status and affect future performance based on ‘pre-test jitters’. I also took practice passages throughout the week to maintain my timing, especially for the CARS section (check out Jack Westin’s blog if you need ideas for more MCAT practice passages). Overall, use this week to brush up on things that you have struggled with throughout your test prep and give it one last look before you exam so that it is fresh in your mind. Addressing these stages of your preparation and preparing as planned should put you on the right track to perform well on your exam. Best of luck! About the Author Jordan Salley is one of MyGuru's most accomplished MCAT tutors. Clickhereto learn more! Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jesscross/4092317144

Absenteeism and a Cooperative-Learning Attendance Policy for ESL

Absenteeism and a Cooperative-Learning Attendance Policy for ESL Absenteeism and Anxiety By Smash the Iron Cage (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons There are plenty of good reasons to skip class: if you have a contagious disease or have a doctor’s appointment that you cannot reschedule, if car trouble or bad weather interferes with your commute, or if you are flat broke and need to work an extra shift to make rent and avoid eviction. Most people would understand if you had to miss a lesson under these circumstances. Surprisingly, these are not the reasons most university students give for cutting class. Students at one university rated low-quality lectures as the most important reason, followed by deadlines for other academic work, the lecturer’s inability to entertain, a lack of sleep, and attendance  being  unnecessary due to the availability of lecture notes outside of class (Clay Breslow, 2006). These are the reasons students will admit to. But what about hidden reasons? Absenteeism and Anxiety If students skip their English as a Second Language (ESL) class frequently, it could be a sign of language anxiety. Other indications of anxiety related to learning a second language include coming to class late, arriving unprepared, avoiding speaking in English, not volunteering, and the apparent inability to answer even very simple questions (Oxford, 1999). Research has shown that speaking provokes more anxiety than any other form of communication (MacIntyre Gardner, 1991; McCroskey Richmond, 1982), with some speaking tasks provoking more anxiety than others. Koch and Terrell (1991) report that most students find oral presentations to be the most anxiety-inducing activities in an ESL course. With that in mind, teachers can reduce language anxiety by assigning fewer oral presentations, by employing ice-breakers, where students learn each other’s names on the first day, and by including lesson-warmers, such as a game to help students relax at the start of a lesson (Dornyei Malde rez, 1999). Students can reduce their own language anxiety just by coming to class. Greater frequency of language use is linked to lower levels of language anxiety (Baker MacIntyre, 2000). Absenteeism and Failure Reducing anxiety is only one good reason to attend your ESL course on a regular basis. There is another good reason: you might fail. Two studies (Colby, 2004; Newman-Ford, Fitzgibbon, Lloyd, Thomas, 2008) found that 80% attendanceâ€"attending only 12 classes in a 15 week semesterâ€"produced a 50% chance of failing lecture-based courses. A 70% attendance rateâ€"attending 11 classes in 15 weeksâ€"produced a 66% chance of failure. For interactive ESL courses, missing a single week made ESL students 3 times more likely to answer a content question incorrectly and caused a 7-8 times greater chance of getting the target structure wrong during a test (Fay, Aguirre, Gash, 2013). These are compelling statistics for going to class, so why do rational-minded students miss class? The truth is that it is difficult to be rational when comparing the immediate benefit of getting more time away from class and the remote danger of one missed lesson (Romer, 1994 as cited by Koppenhaver, 2006). Collaborative Learning A more immediate reason is that your classmates need you. They need you to come to class so that they can get to know you, and they need to get to know you before they can trust you. Only after they know you and trust you will you be able to work together efficiently and productively as a group. In other words, group productivity depends upon group cohesiveness (Evans Dion, 1991), and the cohesiveness of the group depends upon the amount of time group members spend together (Dornyei Malderez, 1999). Cutting class reduces the overall productivity of the team, reducing the ability of group members to learn from each other in collaborative learning environments.  Reseach shows that not only do absentee-prone students perform worse on their exams and homework assignments, their absence causes the other team members to score lower on their exams and homework as well (Koppenhaver, 2006). Oral Exams The problem becomes much  more acute  during interactive speaking exams, evaluations that require the active participation of one or more partners. English Second Language courses often employ collaborative speaking exams, where students are required to exchange information with each other using the target language. The interactivity makes for a more valid exam since competence in a second language is the ability to participate effectively in an exchange of meaningful and appropriate messages. However, since absentee-prone students come to the exam knowing less and producing more errors, their noticeably ill-prepared, ill-informed answers and incorrect grammar during the exam make them less effective conversational partners. Implicit Learning Research into implicit learning reveals another, less obvious way that absentee-prone students make exams more difficult for their partners. There is a tendency for people to reproduce a structure encountered in recent discourse, even if they do not notice that it was used (McDonough Mackey, 2008). In other words, what you hear, whether you consciously notice it or not, activates the area of your brain where related sounds, concepts, and  structures are stored, creating the tendency for you to want to repeat what you heard. This phenomenon is called priming, and you can see it at work in this fun experiment    (as suggested by Dornyei, 2009). Ask your friend to say the word “silk” five times and then ask him immediately afterward, “What do cows drink?” Most likely, your friend will say “milk” because the sound of the word “silk” and the concepts “cow” and “drink” activate the concept “milk” in your friends brain. A more logical answer to the question is â €œwater” since that is what cows drink most, but that is not what people tend to say. Now imagine that the target is not the word milk but a sentence containing the Present Perfect Progressive such as, I have been studying Diagnostic Imaging for two years. In the context of an exam, absentee-prone students are less likely to prime their partners to remember the complex grammar and specific vocabulary needed to pass the interactive exam. Attendance Policy Seeing how absenteeism negatively affects classmates explicit and implicit learning opportunities and performance on interactive exams, what policies should teachers and colleges put in place? If you think about the effect of absenteeism on individual students only, it is tempting to emphasize students’ right to self-direction, trusting in their capacity to make wise choices. Students will learn through trial and error that their attendance affects their success. However, in light of research into cooperative learning environments where students learn from each other, we know that cutting class is a bad choice for both the individual and the group. It would be irresponsible for teachers to adopt such a laissez-faire attitude, knowing how absentee-prone students reduce group productivity and negatively affect their partners performance on interactive exams. A collaborative-learning attendance policy would require the student who misses multiple cooperative learning activities in an English course to be ejected from the course permanently because of the negative effect their absence and subsequent return has on the group. Instead of saying, “You are an adult now. Do what you want,” ESL teachers should make it clear that cutting class is highly uncooperative behavior that harms the other students. To be consistent, if teachers are going to use collaborative-learning activities and evaluations in their classrooms, they should also set a collaborative-learning attendance policy. They should tell students on the first day of the semester, If you intend to cut class, do us all a favor and dont come back. References Baker, S. C., MacIntyre, P. D. (2000). The role of gender and immersion in communication and  second language orientations.  Language Learning,  (50), 311â€"341. Clay, T., Breslow, L. (2006). Why students don’t attend class.  MIT Faculty Newsletter,  18(4).  Retrieved from http://web.mit.edu/fnl/volume/184/breslow.html Colby, J. (2004). Attendance and attainment. Presented at the Fifth Annual Conference of the  Information and Computer Sciencesâ€"Learning and Teaching Support Network (ICN-LTSN),  University  of Ulster. Retrieved from http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/sysapl/www.ics.ltsn.ac.uk/events/conf2004/programme.htm Dornyei, Z. (2009).  The psychology of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University  Press. Dornyei, Z., Malderez, A. (1999). The role of group dynamics in foreign language learning and  teaching. In J. Arnold (Ed.),  Affect in Language Learning  (pp. 155â€"169). Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press. Evans, C. R., Dion, K. L. (1991). Group cohesion and performance: a meta-analysis.  Small Group    Research,  2(2), 175â€"186. http://doi.org/10.1177/1046496491222002 Fay, R. E., Aguirre, R. V., Gash, P. W. (2013). Absenteeism and language learning: does missing  class matter?  Journal of Language Teaching and Research,  4(6), 1184â€"1190. Koch, A., Terrell, T. (1991). Affective reactions of foreign language students to Natural Approach  activities and teaching techniques. In E. K. Horowitz D. J. Young (Eds.),  Language Anxiety:  From Theory and Research to Classroom Implications. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Koppenhaver, G. D. (2006). Absent and accounted for: Absenteeism and cooperative learning.  Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education,  4(1), 29â€"49. MacIntyre, P. D., Gardner, R. C. (1991). Methods and results in the study of anxiety in language  learning: A review of the literature.  Language Learning, (41), 85â€"117. McCroskey, J. C., Richmond, V. P. (1982). Communication apprehension and shyness: Conceptual  and operational distinctions.  Central States Speech Journal, (33), 458â€"468. McDonough, K., Mackey, A. (2008). Syntactic priming and  esl  question development.  Studies in  Second Language Acquisition, (30), 31â€"47. http://doi.org/10.10170S0272263108080029 Newman-Ford, L., Fitzgibbon, K., Lloyd, S., Thomas, S. (2008). A large-scale investigation into  the relationship between attendance and attainment: a study using an innovative,  electronic  attendance  monitoring system.  Studies in Higher Education,  33(6), 699â€"717. Oxford, R. L. (1999). Anxiety and the language learner: new insights.  In J. Arnold (Ed.)  Affect in   Language Learning  (pp. 58â€"67). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Please follow and like us:

4 Places to Look for Retail Jobs This Holiday Season

4 Places to Look for Retail Jobs This Holiday Season pexels.com USPS USPS can be a great place to work during the holiday season! They have a large variety of different jobs you can work from driving to customer service to mail handlers. According to Monster, they hire around 40,000 seasonal workers each year so you have a great chance to be hired when they are looking to hire so many new employees. Bryan, a driver for USPS, said, “The nice thing is that everybody likes to receive a gift. So, when their package arrives, they’re just glowing, they’re happy to see you, and it’s a nice feeling to know that this person wants me to come to see them and deliver their package.” HoneyBaked Ham Do not underestimate the power of ham, especially around the holiday season. Hundreds of thousands of hams are ordered from this company each year, if not millions, and it takes a lot of hands on deck in order to accommodate such a large number of orders. Monster reports that they hire up to 12,000 seasonal workers each year. And working there might be a really great stepping stone for you as the company is really focused on not just giving employees a job but tailoring their experience so that they really get something out of it. As their website says, “Part of our great culture is nurturing an environment where our associates can develop in their strength areas and grow in their personal and professional development. We have many career success stories where hourly field associates have gone on to multi-until and corporate leadership positions. We are looking for talented individuals to join our team.” pexels.com Amazon Last holiday season, Amazon hired more than 120,000 seasonal workers. 120,000 workers! That is a huge amount of seasonal workers, so there is no reason that you should not try and slip your application in to be considered for such a large pool of jobs. All you need to be eligible for such a position is to be over the age of 18 and have a high school diploma, GED, or another equivalent. The majority of college students should fit the criteria, so you are already halfway there! Amazon also usually hires in the following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. In a press release, Mike Roth, Amazon Vice President of Global Customer Fulfillment said, “Last year alone,  more than 14,000  seasonal employees  stayed on in regular, full-time positions after the holidays  and we expect to increase that number this year,” so you have a pretty good chance of retaining such a position if you want to! Target Target is a staple shopping stop for many college students, so why not work for a store and company you adore? In 2016, they hired more than 75,000 workers to work the holiday season. Last year, this is what the company’s chief stores officer, Janna Potts, had to say: “The Target team is famous for serving up exceptional shopping experiences. We can’t wait to welcome new seasonal team members on board to help us make the holidays extra bright for our guests. And new this year, all of our 1,800 stores will host dedicated hiring events in October, meeting with thousands of prospective candidates in just 48 hours.” These events will likely be springing up soon this fall too, so keep an eye out for that!

World`s Best Teacher - Tutor Hunt Blog

World`s Best Teacher World`s Best Teacher World`s Best TeacherSchools`World`s best teacher` says the arts can save pupils from gang crime A teacher from Alperton Community School in Brent has made the claim that art can help vulnerable young children avoid a lifetime of gang crime. Ms Zafirakou, teacher of art and textiles has said that arts subjects can guide children away from a life of knife and gang crime. Given the spike in both gun and knife attacks in London this year, her claim is a topical one, and certainly worth investigating. Ms Zafirakou voiced a cautionary note, saying that if funding to the arts are cut, and children are restricted from studying them, it could have dire consequences for both their mental health, and physical safety. She went on to say that after school art classes at Alperton have been instrumental in helping children be safe, both by keeping them off the streets, and giving them the confidence to see a different future than just one involving crime. `At Alperton Community School in Brent we have faced many challenges in combating the disenfranchisement that can render children susceptible to gang culture.` Many forms of art have been used as a form of therapy. Music especially has been thought to have a healing influence at least as far back as the Ancient Greeks. Pythagoras expounded the healing properties of certain musical intervals (such as the octave, perfect fifth and perfect fourth); and the writings of both Plato and Aristotle discuss the effect of music on human behaviour. Today music therapy is a major medicinal pursuit, with accomplished musicians from all over the world studying to become qualified practitioners in the science. The British association for music therapy is the accredited professional body for music in the UK, providing training and guidance for practitioners, along with raising awareness as to the benefits of music therapy. Therapy through the medium of painting - commonly known as `art therapy` is a growing field, and though less developed than music therapy, it is increasingly being recognised as a pursuit that can engender numerous health benefits. Writing has long been recognized as a method to alleviate mental stresses - the theory being that the act of writing down troubling thoughts can help the patient realise - clearly and distinctly - exactly what is causing them distress. Rather than a nebulous mass of vague concerns, they can express and distill certain sentiments that they perhaps couldn`t face up to. Putting the words down can be a cathartic precess, while seeing them on the page (or screen) in front of them can be a way of isolating, and focusing on the problem. Ms Zafirakou goes so far as to express the view that art can be used to build confidence, and help guide students away from the path of crime. `Arts subjects help children to clarify their ideas what is right and wrong? Who am I? What is my identity?` Only this week the government has announced that they will be supplying 96 million to support talented drama, music and dance students. The arts have already seen a huge investment over the last two years, and this additional pledge will increase the total funding to 496 million since 2016. Despite this substantial funding Ms Zafirakou has said that the money will have only peripheral impact upon the lives and education of `ordinary pupils` who previously only had limited experiences of the arts. Last month Ms Zafirakou was named the `World`s best Teacher` - collecting a cool $1 dollars in Dubai. It is the first time an UK teacher has won the much coveted title. She has said that children in her area face many complex challenges, which include street violence, and being recruited by gangs. The school where she teaches is cosmopolitan indeed, and has pupils that speak over 35 languages. She has expressed the view that studying art can help children`s mental health, saying in an interview: `These subjects are very challenging but quite relaxing. Students can get lost in them. They don`t want to leave the classroom because they are lost in the journey of their own art form. I see that as therapy. It helps them disconnect from their troubles and be in the moment.` `They are constantly stressing about what`s on social media, what will happen on their way home or when I put the key in the door, who will be there, is there food? For once they feel a sense of calm and peace.` I believe the arts have a vital place in today`s society - but if we want a nation of adults who can both appreciate, and contribute to the artistic scene, they must be introduced to the subject as children. Many people consider the arts to have little or no value beside more academic subjects - but great music, literature and painting can ratify our humanity, and let us feel the presence of, and sympathize with, another human being, who may have lived hundreds of years ago. When Churchill was asked to reduce the funding going to the arts during World War II, he responded `Then what would we be fighting for?` 22 months ago0Add a Comment

Basis Educational Group

Basis Educational Group Basis Educational Group BASIS.ed is a dynamic International educational network that manages world quality schools in three complementary markets: free, open-enrollment public charter schools; tuition-based domestic metro-area private schools; tuition-based international private schools. Our goal is to provide the widest possible access to our program in order to provide our graduates with the widest degree of choice in their future lives. All the schools in our network, public charter and private, domestic and international, are built upon the same pedagogic, curricular and cultural educational platform that is accredited by AdvancedED. BASIS.ed creates and manages the central curricular, assessment, teacher and manager training processes that make our student learning results possible. It also provides all back office support services to the schools: human resources, finance and accounting, marketing and IT. Our culture is driven by a relentless focus on the key factors that improve student learning: we monitor results to ensure that students and teachers are meeting the very high bar that we have set. Our cycle of performance measurements and program management allows the finest employees within BASIS.ed to advance, so that we have a standard to inspire quality in every school that we manage. Our Educational Vision We teach, its fun, its hard, its all about the future. Michael and Olga Block At the core of Michael and Olga Blocks educational vision is a belief that the goal of a great education is to provide students with choices, with unbounded opportunities, to send them to college and into their professional lives empowered by the broad and deep content knowledge and critical thinking skills that will enable them to craft their own futures. From the beginning their vision has been more ambitious than opening the best school in Tucson, or Scottsdale or even Arizona. It is to create a dynamic network of the finest schools in the world that can represent America at its best: a pre-K 12 fusion of creativity, innovation and rigorous experimentation and problem-solving that is the signature of such legendary intellectual communities as Bell Labs and the NASA Apollo program. Today this network of schools uniquely encompasses open-enrollment public charter schools across the nation, private schools in the major US metropolitan areas, and international schools. Whilst each type of school offers programs and facilities appropriate to the communities served, at the core of this dynamic network is a common mission: BASIS.ed is redefining education and leading the U. S. and the world in producing breathtaking learning results. The promise of this vision is that expert, passionate teachers inspire their students to fall in love with learning, with the satisfaction to be gained from hard work, with the joy of intellectual and creative effort and with the acceptance of struggle and failure as an inevitable part of a productive and stimulating life. Learning is BASIS.eds business. We manage some of the best schools in the world and we are working hard to ensure that more and more students will have access to the opportunity and choices we open for them in this uncertain, volatile world.