Ever wonder why there is such a big gap in the number of students who succeed in comparison to those who do not? The duality of educational experiences that permeate our secondary schools leads to one group of students heading into post-secondary education, while others either receive terminal degrees or drop out. This updraft/downdraft phenomena occurs because time, talent, and monies tend to drift into the 'updraft' group's educational arena, leaving the 'downdraft' students and teachers with less time to teach, fewer qualified teachers, and fewer supporters. This book provides a set of tools to assist schools and communities in reallocating their resources more effectively. Using school 'artifacts,' educators can collect the data and information needed to make better decisions and leverage what they have, equitably. The process of collecting, analyzing, and acting on the data described promotes more strategic decision-making about school resources. Samples of data and analyses around master schedules, student schedules, curriculum guides and other 'artifacts' inside the school and district are provided. Recommended for anyone seeking ways to understand the problems inside the public schools and ways to find solutions.

As models of the Earth/atmosphere system and observations become ever more sophisticated, and concerns about climate change and societal impacts of extreme weather and its forecasting grow, understanding the role of clouds in the atmosphere is increasingly vital. Cloud Dynamics, Second Edition provides the essential information needed to understand how clouds affect climate and weather. This comprehensive book examines the underlying physics and dynamics of every specific type of cloud that occurs in the Earth's atmosphere, showing how clouds differ dynamically depending on whether they occur over oceans or mountains, or as parts of atmospheric storms, such as thunderstorms, tropical cyclones, or warm and cold fronts. Covering both the microphysical and macrophysical aspects of clouds, the book treats all of the physical scales involved in cloud processes, from the microscale of the individual drops and ice particles up to scales of storms in which the clouds occur. As observational technology advances with increasingly sophisticated remote sensing capabilities, detailed understanding of how the dynamics and physics of clouds affect the quantities being measured is of paramount importance. This book underpins the work necessary for proper interpretation of these observations, now and in the future. - Provides the holistic understanding of clouds needed to pursue research on topics vital to life on Earth - Provides in-depth understanding of all types of clouds over all regions of Earth, from the poles to the equator - Includes detailed physical and dynamical insight into the entire spectrum of clouds populating Earth's atmosphere

This book focuses on the dynamics of clouds and of precipitating mesoscale meteorological systems. Clouds and precipitating mesoscale systems represent some of the most important and scientifically exciting weather systems in the world. These are the systems that produce torrential rains, severe winds including downburst and tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning, and major snow storms. Forecasting such storms represents a major challenge since they are too small to be adequately resolved by conventional observing networks and numerical prediction models.Key Features* Key Highlights of This Text* Provides a complete treatment of clouds integrating the analysis of air motions with cloud structure, microphysics, and precipitation mechanics* Describes and explains the basic types of clouds and cloud systems that occur in the atmosphere-fog, stratus, stratocumulus, altocumulus, altostratus, cirrus, thunderstorms, tornadoes, waterspouts, orographically induced clouds, mesoscale convection complexes, hurricanes, fronts, and extratropical cyclones* Presents a photographic guide, presented in the first chapter, linking the examination of each type of cloud with an image to enhance visual retention and understanding* Summarizes the fundamentals, both observational and theoretical, of atmospheric dynamics, thermodynamics, cloud microphysics, and radar meteorology, allowing each type of cloud to be examined in depth* Integrates the latest field observations, numerical model simulations, and theory* Supplies a theoretical treatment suitable for the advanced undergraduate or graduate level

This book presents descriptions of numerical models for testing cumulus in cloud fields. It is divided into six parts. Part I provides an overview of the problem, including descriptions of cumulus clouds and the effects of ensembles of cumulus clouds on mass, momentum, and vorticity distributions. A review of closure assumptions is also provided. A review of "classical" convection schemes in widespread use is provided in Part II. The special problems associated with the representation of convection in mesoscale models are discussed in Part III, along with descriptions of some of the commonly used mesoscale schemes. Part IV covers some of the problems associated with the representation of convection in climate models, while the parameterization of slantwise convection is the subject of Part V.