Discussion: Evaluating Early Childhood Teacher Quality—A Challenge

Many of those who discuss questions of excellence in early care and education are calling for well-educated, high-quality early childhood professionals. This call is clearly reflected in the readings for this week. What, in your opinion, defines a highly qualified early childhood teacher, caregiver, and professional? In light of the readings for this week, what are the implications of the call for “high-quality teachers” for you, as someone immersed in the study of the early childhood field?

By Wednesday:

Post

A statement, about 1 page in length, including the following:

• Reasons why the issue of defining and demanding quality/excellence is complex in respect to early childhood teachers and other professionals in the field
• At least three criteria that, in your opinion, should be used to evaluate a high-quality early childhood teacher
• An explanation of your reason(s) for choosing these criteria
• A specific reference to one or more resource(s) from this week that influenced your choice of criteria

3 Read and Respond questions

Individual or Team Reward?

Jack Hopson has been making wood furniture for more than 10 years. He recently joined Metropolitan Furniture and has some ideas for Sally Boston, the company’s CEO. Jack likes working for Sally because she is very open to employee suggestions and is serious about making the company a success. Metropolitan is currently paying Jack a competitive hourly pay rate for him to build various designs of tables and chairs. However, Jack thinks that an incentive pay plan might convince him and his coworkers to put forth more effort.

At Jack’s previous employer, a competing furniture maker, Jack was paid on a piece-rate pay plan. The company paid Jack a designated payment for every chair or table that he completed. Jack felt this plan provided him an incentive to work harder to build the furniture pieces. Sally likes Jack’s idea; however, Sally is concerned about how such a plan would affect the employees’ need to work together as a team.

While the workers at Metropolitan build most furniture pieces individually, they often need to pitch in and work as a team. Each worker receives individual assignments, but as a delivery date approaches for a preordered furniture set due to a customer, the workers must help each other complete certain pieces of the set to ensure on-time delivery. A reputation for on-time delivery differentiates Metropolitan from its competitors. Several companies that compete against Metropolitan have a reputation of late deliveries, which gives Metropolitan a competitive edge. Because their promise of on-time delivery is such a high priority, Sally is concerned that a piece-rate pay plan may prevent employees from working together to complete furniture sets.

Sally agrees with Jack that an incentive pay plan would help boost productivity, but she thinks that a team-based incentive pay plan may be a better approach. She has considered offering a team-based plan that provides a bonus payment when each set of furniture is completed in time for scheduled delivery. However, after hearing from Jack about the success of the piece-rate pay plan at his previous employer, she is unsure of which path to take.

(Minimum of 500 words for each question, this excludes the reference section at the bottom from your word count. You are also required to use a minimum of four scholarly external sources references. Use proper APA guidelines, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference, but APA guidelines encourage you to also provide the page number. Failure to do so will result in an incomplete with 0 points for the question)

1. Identify and describe at least three advantages of offering a piece-rate pay plan to the furniture builders at Metropolitan Furniture. (500 word minimum)

2. Identify and describe at least three advantages of offering a team-based incentive pay plan. (500 word minimum)

3. What do you think Sally should do? Explain your reasons for your recommendation. (500 word minimum)

mini-case 1-430-463 December 7, 2015

Arm & Hammer: Extending a Trusted Brand

Scenario:

Church & Dwight Company, Inc., is the world’s largest producer of sodium bicarbonate, also known as baking soda. Its Arm & Hammer® logo (see Exhibit 1) is one of the most recognizable trademarks in the United States, having earned the trust of consumers for over 150 years.

Church & Dwight consists of two divisions. Its specialty products division develops and markets sodium bicarbonate-based products and technologies for a variety of industrial, agricultural, and commercial uses. Its Armex brand of abrasives, for example, is used in cleaning, de-greasing, and de-painting applications.

Its consumer products division develops and markets a range of products sold within grocery, mass merchandiser, and drug store channels. Many of the products (household cleaners, pet care products, deodorants and antiperspirants, laundry products, and household deodorizers) carry the Arm & Hammer® name. However, it has also achieved prominence in several other product categories with such product lines as Trojan® condoms, Nair® hair remover, Brillo® scrubbing pads, and First Response® pregnancy kits.

However, research and development with sodium bicarbonate-based products remain the cornerstone of Church & Dwight. Consequently, the company is constantly attempting to exploit its significant product development and marketing expertise in order to launch new consumer products under the Arm & Hammer® brand.

Exhibit 1

Arm and Hammer Logo

Unauthorized reproduction and distribution is an infringement of copyright. Contact us for permissions: Permissions@WDIpublishing.com or 734-615-9553

Source: Wikimedia Commons. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ File:Arm_%26_Hammer_logo.svg>

Published by WDI Publishing, a division of the William Davidson Institute (WDI) at the University of Michigan.

©2015 John Branch. This case was written by John Branch, Lecturer of Marketing and Strategy, at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. This case was created to be a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either the effective or ineffective handling of a situation.=

Established at the University of Michigan in 1992, the William Davidson Institute (WDI) is an independent, non-profit research and educational organization focused on providing private-sector solutions in emerging markets. Through a unique structure that integrates research, field-based collaborations, education/training, publishing, and University of Michigan student opportunities, WDI creates long-term value for academic institutions, partner organizations, and donor agencies active in emerging markets. WDI also provides a forum for academics, policy makers, business leaders, and development experts to enhance their understanding of these economies. WDI is one of the few institutions of higher learning in the United States that is fully dedicated to understanding, testing, and implementing actionable, private-sector business models addressing the challenges and opportunities in emerging markets.

You are the director of instructional technology at a local middle school. Recently, several teachers have come to you for help in incorporating audiovisual technologies into their instruction. You decide to create a tutorial for them.  

Using Microsoft Word, create a three-page handout (excluding title and reference pages) that identifies at least four audiovisual technologies that can be used, along with examples of how each can be applied to instruction. Explain the benefits and challenges associated with each technology. Your handout should include separate title and reference pages, formatted according to APA style. You should reference at least two scholarly sources for this assignment.

Watch the “Hans Rosling–Religions and Babies” video in the Week 6 Electronics Reserve Readings Videos.

Create 10 to 12 Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides and address the following:

• Classify the different types of charts that Hans Rosling provides during his presentation.
• Summarize from the Hans Rosling video the peak average child per woman, and the population in year 2100.
• Explore and identify the options available in Excel to produce similar infographics to Hans Rosling.
• Create a sample data of child births per woman (obtain data from .gov website) for years 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010. Kevin
• Create a time series bar chart from the data uploaded in Excel.

Compose a minimum of 260 words in which you address a time series chart:

• Interpret how to create a Time Series Chart. Extend your chart to reflect the time series addition, and include chart snapshots in your explanation.

this is a group assignment so my part is only 2 slides done on the second bullet with speaker notes is : Summarize from the Hans Rosling video the peak average child per woman, and the population in year 2100.

(2012). TEDTalks: Hans Rosling—Religions and Babies (13:16) [Video File]. Films on Demand