A Personal Post

Hello.  My name is Donna Ryan.  I am the writer of this blog.  I have strong opinions on many topics.  I am not shy about sharing them.  I encourage others to do the same.  I love a good dialogue, but I insist that it remain cordial.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am not mean, just outspoken.  I will never delete a comment someone makes here unless they are being rude to someone else other than myself.  I do, however, delete my own comments quite frequently!

I have had a pretty good life.  I'll be 40 in January and I count my blessings.  I have had some obstacles in my life, including getting booted out of my house when I was 16.  I was quite the rebel, with a boyfriend 5 years older than myself.  I was a two-pack-a-day smoker and just could not ever get along with my dad.  I caused a lot of problems between my parents.  So, I went to Indianapolis to live with my aunt and uncle.  I was arrested for shoplifting just 6 days after I moved there.  My aunt and uncle had been my legal guardians for just 55 hours.  Can you imagine?

As it turns out, this was one of the best things that ever happened to me.  I developed a wonderful relationship with them, my relationship improved with my parents, and I found a bit of direction in my life.  I lived with them for over 2 years.

I barely graduated from high school, but did go on to get a Bachelor's degree in Broadcasting.  I was involved in an emotionally abusive relationship for a period of time in college, but shortly after that, I met my husband-to-be.  That changed my life forever.  Truly, I married the greatest guy on the planet.

I joined The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and my life is forever changed.   I waited for David while he served a mission in Quebec.  He was gone for 2 years and we got married in the Salt Lake Temple two days after he got home.  Despite being apart from David for 2 years, the hardest thing I ever did was quit smoking.  Through that process, however, I learned that my Father in Heaven loves me and is so mindful of my needs.  It was the most spiritual experience of my life.

My relationship with my dad was never perfect, but it did improve over the years -- as he matured, I often joked.  He died in June 2006 of a massive heart attack at the age of 66.   He had had a series of heart attacks in 2001 right after 9/11, but after receiving 7 stints, he seemed to do better.  I received (and continue to receive) great comfort through the Holy Ghost when he died.  I also took comfort knowing that I am not the only person to experience loss.  Everyone will go through this.  For whatever reason, that made it easier to bear.

I am so grateful for the experiences that I have had -- good and bad.  They have made me who I am.  They have built confidence in myself, in my self-esteem.  I don't know where I learned the coping skills that I have, but I feel pretty resilient.   Life goes on and will get better, no matter how hard things are at a certain time in life.  I believe that and I live like that.  I like life.

How is this related to my blog?  If you've made it this far through my ramblings, I'll tell you.  When I wrote my post last week about doulas, people twisted everything I had to say to get all worked up and offended.  Why?  I wasn't writing to the doulas.  I was writing to the couples who are committed to having a natural birth.  I was slammed for keeping statistics, for crying out loud!  If we don't keep statistics, how will we know how we are doing, if we are making a difference, and where we need to improve?  Statistics say a lot!  I was called arrogant and an obnoxious snob.  I am not necessarily "a sensitive type" as someone said to me recently, but I am human and I do have feelings.  

I'd like to explain briefly why I do what I do, as there as been speculation this week.  When I was pregnant with my first baby, I remember looking down at my belly, watching it grow, and being scared to death of how the baby was going to come out.  I was 25 years old.  I was scared of labor and scared of birth.  I wanted the epidural.  I didn't want to know anything.  I trusted my doctor.  My labor was the typical American birth.  I didn't feel anything.  One minute I was pregnant and the next minute I had a baby in my arms (after the respiratory team paid him a visit for meconium staining, of course) .  It had very little to do with me.  I was scared to death to take this little person home from the hospital. 

Through a series of events, I did things differently with baby number 2.  We took a Bradley class and prepared ourselves.  We hired a midwife.  We had a dear friend attend our birth with us, supporting us and encouraging us as we labored and birthed without medication.  It was a life-transforming experience!  Was it hard?  Of course.  And that's what made it so amazing!  I DID IT!  Talk about building confidence.  I went on to have a water birth at home before getting my Bradley certification.  I have since also certified with the International Childbirth Education Association, or ICEA.

I have taught Bradley for over 7 years now, serving nearly 200 couples.  (For those interested, I have worked as a doula at a number of births, but didn't particularly enjoy it.  It was exhausting work.  I do, however, have a certificate as a Bradley Doula.  I am trained, but I choose to only educate.)  I have literally seen women transformed by their birth experience.  They were shy and withdrawn before, but are full of confidence after doing this thing that everyone in their life told them they couldn't do.

Fear governed my actions before learning about the process of labor and birth.  I believe this is why women trust their doctors and want an epidural -- fear of the unknown.  Fear of the pain.  Education was incredibly huge for me.  Knowing and understanding this process made it less scary.  After Vena was born, I remember thinking, "If I can do this, anyone can do this!"  And I 100% believe that.  We are not victims!  I mean, you can let yourself be a victim of anything, I suppose.  I could still be dwelling on the fact that my parents kicked me out of the house nearly 24 years ago, but why?  Things happen in life.  So much good came of it as the years went by.

Back to my doulas, I'm terribly sorry that there were people worked up over what I had to say.  I am not going to justify what I said.  I stand by my list.  I think its pretty good.  I also expect couples to think for themselves.  I don't have to tell them to ask if their doula has had a baby!  They will do that on their own!  I have stepped back this week and really thought about why I have picked the doulas to work with that I have.  They all have different qualities and none of them meet all the "criteria" I listed in the post.

I asked one of my preferred doulas -- the one that had a very difficult labor and recovery this summer -- about why she isn't vocal about her birth experience.  I've never heard her refer to the experience as "traumatic," just hard.  When I asked her about it this week, she responded by saying that if she went around talking about how hard it was, all the while encouraging people to have an unmedicated birth, they'd think she was crazy!  They would all be begging for the epidural!  She is not a victim of her birth.  She has become stronger because of it, not dwelt on not having the perfect birth she had hoped for.  I am so proud of her.

I mentioned several times in my follow-up comments that it's about attitude.  Not just attitude about birth, I've decided.  They all have a positive attitude about life.  Yes, life is unpredictable and sometimes even seems unfair.  But how are you going to deal with it?  Will you be a victim of circumstance?  Or will you overcome?  All of the doulas I recommend are and have been smart, fun, positive women -- women I would want at my birth.  Women I am proud to call friends and colleagues.  They know if intervention or medication is required, and they are able to help their (my) client through that experience -- not become a victim of the experience.  This is the quality that I find most desirable in "my" doulas.

I do what I do because I believe that birth is an amazing experience.  I believe in women.  I believe that all women should have a doula by their side as they give birth.  I've said this many times.  I am saying this as the writer of Banned From Baby Showers, a Bradley instructor, a mother of 4 children.  My life isn't perfect, but it's pretty darn good.  Or maybe I just think that.

[Continue Reading]

Comment Rescue: Seattle Watch Out! It's aLIVE!

Frederika Jenner has left a new comment on your post "Seattle Public Schools Community Blog Looks at TFA...":


Seattle needs to watch out. We already know what it takes to get TFA into Delaware schools. It happened to Red Clay. Here's what I posted on the Seattle blog:

"Just in time for halloween: It..is..aLIVE! It wants to suck your blood! Let's get our butts down to the school board meeting on Wednesday. Bring the garlic, mirrors and the sunlight of rationality."

This is perfect, and I and other local union leaders wish that we had known that TFA was making in-roads into Delaware before they got their fangs into our legislators and the former Red Clay superintendent signed a contract for a three-year gig with TFA. We would have been down there lobbying our legislature not to pass changes in the teacher licensing laws that then allowed TFA into our schools. By the end of next school year, Red Clay will have paid an additional $240,000 for the privilege of hiring a total of twelve TFA corps members to work in our schools. The Wilmington NJ continues to cast TFA corps members as volunteers in our schools when nothing could be further from the truth. Meanwhile the TFAers each get a full teacher salary and full teacher benefits, as well as a free masters degree in educational leadership--NOT A TEACHING DEGREE--and a handy $8500 stipend at the end of their two years to further their educations. And, what do we get? We get twelve inexperienced, untrained, uncertified, unqualified college graduates to teach our students when we don't even have a teacher shortage. Plus, we get 12 out-of-work or newly graduated trained teachers who do not get a job, and our PROFESSION takes another hit. I am profoundly concerned about the deprofessionalization of teaching--my own 38-year career-choice and profession. Teaching is not a job that can be done well by just anyone.

We got snookered. Do not let it happen to your schools.

[Continue Reading]

Seattle Public Schools Community Blog Looks at TFA

A recent comment cited  http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/. The purpose is to "Debate the issues facing Seattle Public Schools, share your opinions, read the latest news. Organize and work for high quality public schools that educate all students to become passionate, lifelong learners."


They've got quite a few contributers and have been blogging education issues since 2006.  Their most recent post on TFA is rather thoughtful and I felt worth sharing:  http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/2010/10/hard-to-say-when-board-has-made-me-this.html

Here's a snippet:

And, if you read the so-called action report, well, TFA is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Are they kidding me? So what was my central question before? What is the problem they are trying to solve? Is there a shortage of teachers? No. From the item: 

We believe that the larger our candidate pool, the more likely that we will hire the best teachers for our classrooms.

OHHHH. That's the problem, not a big enough candidate pool.

Why TFA?

TFA’s mission is to help eliminate educational inequity by enlisting the nation’s most promising future leaders in the effort.

So is by bringing TFA to SPS, the district is admitting to educational inequity because they haven't put the best teachers we have in struggling schools?

TFA, through its vetting process, has found that most promising future leaders.

That's a pretty big full-of-ourselves statement. Here's another one:

Our region is a finalist for the organization’s new site selection process.

Wheee! We are so lucky

What is needed to bring them here?

To expand into the Puget Sound Region TFA requires district partners, funding, and university partners.

Well, we know who the district is. Funding? Well now, that's an interesting thing because the Superintendent told me, in front of other parents at the NE coffee chat that the district DID have the money. But wait for it...

Check out the post for the rest of the story:
http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/2010/10/hard-to-say-when-board-has-made-me-this.html

[Continue Reading]

Delaware Gets Credit for First Steps...

Published Online: October 25, 2010

States Set Widely Varying 'Proficiency' Bars
By Sarah D. Sparks

‘Short Selling’ Students


Gary W. Phillips, the AIR’s vice president and chief scientist, who wrote the report, called state-proficiency standards “the educational equivalent of short selling.”

“Rather than betting on student success,” he said in the report, “the educators sell the student short by lowering standards.”

Student-Expectation Gap

A comparison of 4th grade students scoring at the proficient level in math on 2007 state assessments vs. an internationally benchmarked common standard show dramatic differences in what is considered proficient. Of all states, only Massachusetts had more students perform at the proficient level on international standards than on state standards.

For comparison, Mr. Phillips points to two winners in the federal Race to the Top grant competition: Massachusetts and Tennessee. Massachusetts’ bar for 8th grade math proficiency is two full standard deviations above Tennessee’s proficiency bar; that gap, the study found, represents more than four grade levels’ difference between proficient 8th graders in the two states. Tennessee changed its achievement standards this year, but such gaps remain among all states.

Read the Whole Artcle HERE

And Here's the AIR REPORT

[Continue Reading]

USDOE Website is a Treasure Trove - You never know what you might find:

Small Learning Academies are receiving much attention these days, as states work to address failing high schools and high drop-out rates.  At C&E 1st, we'll be devoting some posts to this instructional model as Christina's own Glasgow High transitions into the Partnership Zone and our design team works to create and implement a reform plan that includes such academies.   If Glasgow's PZ plan is approved by the State BOE (and is currently a work in progress not yet due to DOE nor ready for approval by the CSD BOE), Christina will likely need to explore the availability of supporting funding.  They could join the ranks of NJ, CA, FL, AK and more in receiving substantial support for the initiative (HERE for RECIPIENTS).  While PZ schools and their districts (and there will be more added to the four announced this year - DOE promised 10 schools in total) plan to implement new instructional models, we must be cognizant that RTTT funding will go away and as such, consider the long-term survivability of these plans.

Program Office: Academic Improvement and Teacher Quality Programs

CFDA Number: 84.215L
Program Type: Discretionary/Competitive Grants

Program Description

The Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) program awards discretionary grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) to support the implementation of SLCs and activities to improve student academic achievement in large public high schools with enrollments of 1,000 or more students. SLCs include structures such as freshman academies, multi-grade academies organized around career interests or other themes, "houses" in which small groups of students remain together throughout high school, and autonomous schools-within-a-school, as well as personalization strategies, such as student advisories, family advocate systems, and mentoring programs.

TYPES OF PROJECTS

Grants are awarded for up to 60 months to LEAs that apply on behalf of large public high schools. Projects integrate the implementation or expansion of SLCs with improvements in curriculum and instruction, and other activities to raise student academic achievement.

Additional Information

The SLC program is authorized under Title V, Part D, Subpart 4 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) (20 U.S.C. 7249), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

[Continue Reading]

The 9th Grade Bulge and the 10th Grade Dip

"The transition into high school is a critical point in the educational pipeline, and ninth-grade can be characterized as one of its leakiest junctures." (Corinne Herlihy, Policy Brief: State and District-Level Support for Successful Transitions Into High School, National High School Center, betterhighschools.org)

The 9th Grade Bulge and The 10th Grade Dip

"Students’experiences in their first year of high school often determine their success throughout high school and beyond. However, more students fail ninth grade than any other grade.

"Students who are promoted to tenth grade, but who are off track—as indicated by failed grades, a lack of course credits or a lack of attendance during their ninth-grade gateway year—may have already missed the opportunity to get on a graduation track." (Elizabeth Williams and Scott Richman, AIR, The First Year of High School: a Quikc Stats Fact Sheet, National High School Center, betterhighschools.org)

Growing Bulge


"School enrollment numbers also highlight where what Johns Hopkins University researchers Robert Balfanz and Nettie Legters call school "promoting power" is weakest. Grade enrollment numbers for the past 30 years show the transition between grades 8 and 10 is increasingly difficult for many students.

"Compared with enrollment numbers in 8th grade, 9th-grade enrollments are larger than ever. If students are progressing on time through the education pipeline, student enrollment in any particular grade should be about the same as enrollment in the previous grade. Such is the case in most of the grades. However, 9th-grade enrollment relative to 8th-grade enrollment belies this expectation. Enrollments are increasingly bunching up in grade 9. As of 2001, 13 percent more students were enrolled in grade 9 than in grade 8 the previous year nationwide, while the bulge can be much larger for some states. For example, in Florida, as many as 32 percent more students were enrolled in grade 9 than in grade 8 the previous year.

"The largest dip in enrollment from one year to the next is now between grades 9 and 10. As grade 9 enrollment has increased relative to grade 8, student progress from grade 9 to grade 10 has become more constricted. Nationally, as of 2001, while 10th-grade enrollment was between 11 and 12 percent smaller than 9th-grade enrollment the previous year, the difference was much higher in some states. For example, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia and Texas have grade 10 enrollments that are 20 percent smaller than the grade 9 enrollment the previous year. In contrast, prior to the mid-1980s, between 2 and 5 percent of 9th graders failed to progress to 10th grade, and the loss of students from the pipeline was most pronounced after grade 11.

"When we place the rise in grade 9 enrollment alongside the fall in grade 10 enrollment, the 9th-grade bulge becomes apparent. This bulge has grown most dramatically in the past two decades, first in the context of the standards movement that followed the publication of "A Nation at Risk" in 1983, then again as states introduced test-based school accountability programs and student graduation testing in the 1990s. In 2000, 9th-grade enrollment numbered 440,000 more than grade 8 enrollment and 520,000 more than grade 10 enrollment.

"Increasing attrition of students between grades 9 and 10 and higher enrollments of students in grade 9 relative to grade 8 reflects the fact that more students nationally are being flunked to repeat grade 9. This pattern bodes ill for future graduation rates as the 9th-grade bulge becomes an ever-narrowing bottleneck. As reported by researchers Lorrie Shepard and Mary Lee Smith in Flunking Grades: Research and Policies on Retention, repeating any grade undermines academic achievement and contributes to dropping out. More recent evidence from Texas and Philadelphia likewise shows that persistence to 12th grade is dramatically lower for students repeating grade 9." (Anne Wheelock, Jing Miao, The ninth-grade bottleneck: an enrollment bulge in a transition year that demands careful attention and action, School Administrator 2005)

Solutions?

1.  9th Grade Academies?

Around the country, restructuring 9th grades into small learning communities similar to interdisciplinary teacher teams that characterize many middle schools and downsizing high schools to 400 students or less are emerging as strategies for improving holding power. According to education researchers Jacqueline Ancess and Suzanna Ort Wichterle, more personalized learning in settings with high teacher-student ratios can help make school completion a reality for more students.

In the small schools they have studied, consistent teacher-student relationships and assignments designed to develop students' habits of mind are key to holding students to graduation. The explicit goal of making students "graduate-able" helps guard against such schools from becoming another guise for the district's low track. Still, districts should take care that such schools do not triage the easiest-to-teach students into small schools, leaving the neediest students in larger, less personal settings.


Likewise, school leaders should heed the note of caution sounded by Mary Anne Raywid and Gil Schmerler, researchers with considerable experience in alternative schools, who note that ongoing success of such schools requires district leadership to sustain support for such models, apply bureaucratic and union rules flexibly, define accountability standards broadly, and protect new alternatives from pressure to become like all other schools or evolve into a dead-end program. (Anne Wheelock, Jing Miao, The ninth-grade bottleneck: an enrollment bulge in a transition year that demands careful attention and action, School Administrator 2005)

2.  Support Services?

"Consider a range of support services to strengthen the transition from eighth to tenth grade.

Many students stuck in 9th grade already are overage for their grade, and when they fall behind, another grade retention is unlikely to help. Extra academic support offered early and often during the school year and before students fail, rather than after, can both improve course passing rates and strengthen student motivation to persist in school. In addition, students with learning difficulties who also struggle with attendance or behavioral problems need support that goes beyond academics to progress through 9th grade." (Wheelock and Miao)

3. Summer School?

"Districts can strengthen the transition between 8th and 9th grade by offering summer school to rising 9th graders, not as a remedial program but as a program to accelerate students' progress and help them begin to accumulate credits for graduation prior to 9th grade. In some cases where school feeder patterns are established, 8th-grade teachers may move into the high school to join a 9th-grade team to reduce 9th-grade anonymity." (Wheelock and Miao)

4. In-Class Supports?

During the 9th-grade year itself, schools may work to prevent course failure through in-class supports like making audiotapes available to students who can listen as they complete assigned readings. An extra period during the day where 9th graders receive re-teaching or double-time learning in specific subjects or afterschool homework centers staffed by teachers who monitor students and help them with incomplete assignments can improve course-passing rates. (Wheelock and Miao)

5. Engagement?

Some schools make direct instruction in study skills part of the 9th-grade curriculum or assign vulnerable 9th graders to 12th-grade buddies trained to tutor and counsel students in time management. Others work with community-based organizations to train struggling 9th graders to tutor younger students, thereby strengthening students' commitment to completing high school. Still others train volunteer adults from the community or recruit college students from teacher preparation programs to work as writing coaches in the school-based writing lab. (Wheelock and Miao)

6. Parental Connection?

While some students may fail 9th grade for academic reasons, others fail for lack of support in meeting attendance or disciplinary standards. To address these problems, school leaders can designate a parent involvement coordinator as the contact person to work with parents in each school, conduct orientation meetings about attendance and discipline for families before school starts, meet with new families arriving during the school year, and make home or workplace visits to families of chronically absent students. School leaders also can collaborate with community-based organizations to expand the resources available to monitor student attendance and behavior through personalized contracts with students, rewarding students for improvement.  (Wheelock and Miao)

7. Revise district and school policies and practices that may undermine school engagement?

No Child Left Behind legislation has generated considerable worry that pressure on districts and schools to look good on statistical measures contributes to fiddling with enrollments. However, many state- and district-based accountability policies that penalize or reward high schools for gains on 10th-grade tests already may be incentive enough to retain larger numbers of students in 9th grade to prop up test scores or to overuse certain discharge codes to enhance graduation rates. As we note, educators must begin to address problems by reporting data in transparent ways.

We suggest that education leaders consider alternatives to grade retention in every grade across each district to reduce the number of students who arrive in 9th grade already overage for their grade. Like retention in 9th grade, retention in kindergarten, elementary or middle school undermines both achievement and motivation and contributes to truancy and discipline problems.

Compared with retention, providing services when students need them in a school climate organized around the principle that "everyone has to get it" will produce more positive results. At the same time, accountability reporting of test scores, along with retention, attendance and graduation rates, should not trigger high-stakes rewards or penalties. Instead, a press for school improvement should come from school quality reviews that focus on assessing the quality of student work in the context of trends in other indicators.  (Wheelock and Miao)

You can keep reading Wheelock and Miao here:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JSD/is_3_62/ai_n13467088/pg_6/?tag=content;col1

[Continue Reading]

So, How is Tenn. spending its RTTT Money?

Sunday, Oct. 24, 2010

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/oct/24/race-to-top-grant-aids-more-local-schools/
Race to Top grant aids more local schools
By: Kelli Gauthier

Under recent federal education reform efforts -- first No Child Left Behind and now Race to the Top -- Howard School of Academics and Technology has gotten the greatest amount of state and federal attention and money, because for years it has failed to meet benchmarks under NCLB, a classification that came with extra resources but also with partial state control and a mandate to improve.

Although Howard still will receive almost $700,000 per year for the four years of the Race to the Top grant -- and next year will be taken over by the state Department of Education if it doesn't show significant improvement -- new levels of accountability under U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's Race to the Top creation also will give a financial boost to schools such as Hixson High.

With Race to the Top, Duncan and President Barack Obama wanted to target public schools that had met Adequate Yearly Progress -- which Hixson has done -- but still were "persistently low-achieving."

Hixson falls into that category -- known as Tier II -- because its math scores over the past five years are in the lowest 5 percent of non-Title I high schools in the state. About 85 percent of the school's students scored at or above grade level in math standardized tests in 2009, records show.

Plan rewritten

To be eligible for the money, Couch had to rewrite her school's improvement plan to show exactly how the money would help Hixson perform better academically. Because money has not yet been released from the Tennessee Department of Education, Hamilton County Schools fronted Couch the money to pay for:

* A curriculum coach to work with teachers on how to teach in 90-minute blocks and how to pace lessons;
* A graduation coach to work with students on course-credit recovery to increase the school's graduation rate;
* An in-school suspension monitor so students who are being disciplined can still be in school, learning;
* A full-time college access coordinator to get students focused on postsecondary schooling.

When the rest of Couch's money comes through, she hopes to hire an additional English teacher to alleviate overcrowding, bring in business people and retirees to offer tutoring, and to update technology.

Although she knows it's likely Hixson won't be able to continue paying for the added positions once the grant money is gone, she believes the four years will be worth it, and, she hopes, enough to see sustainable growth.

"Once they're gone, I'll be short that position ... but they're positions all [high school principals] wish we had full time," she said.

In addition to Hixson, state officials have identified 10 "focus schools" that each will receive $6,000 per year for the next four years. Each school is in the third or fourth year of not meeting annual goals, or making Adequate Yearly Progress.

Tennessee Department of Education spokeswoman Amanda Maynord Anderson said the money for the focus schools is a "stop-gap measure" to ensure the schools don't get worse.

Hamilton County Schools Chief Financial Officer Tommy Kranz said that, as of last week, he was still waiting for the money to be released from the state.

One of the focus schools is Central High. Principal Finley King said he plans to use his money to provide stipends to some of his teachers. In exchange, they will provide before- and after-school tutoring and credit recovery classes.

Central has failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress because of its graduation rate, which was 79.3 percent in 2009, the last year for which data is available. King believes the extra help outside the school day will help more students make it to graduation.

King said he also will continue emphasizing his ninth-grade academy.

"One of the key ingredients to getting a kid to graduate is making them successful in ninth grade," he said. "If you can get a kid to go from ninth grade to 10th grade, they will graduate."

RACE TO THE TOP


The following Hamilton County schools will receive a portion of Tennessee's Race to the Top grant. Race to the Top was funded through President Barack Obama's stimulus package.

* Achievement School District: $666,000 per year, for four years
Howard School of Academics and Technology

* Tier II school: $600,000 per year, for four years
Hixson High School
* Focus schools: $6,000 per year, for four years
Calvin Donaldson Elementary
Central High
Clifton Hills Elementary
East Ridge Middle
Lookout Valley Middle-High
Ooltewah High
Orchard Knob Middle
Red Bank High
Sequoyah High
Soddy-Daisy High
Source: Tennessee Department of Education

[Continue Reading]

The Other RTTT Round 1 Winner - Tennessee has its own Business Round Table

http://www.wrcbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13183526
Gov. Bredesen compares education reform to statewide disaster


Posted: Sep 20, 2010 10:59 AM EDT
Updated: Sep 27, 2010 2:54 PM EDT

CHATTANOOGA (WRCB) – Governor Phil Bredesen says higher educational standards are necessary to providing a competent workforce in the future.

Comparing current education standards to a statewide disaster, Governor Bredesen told Chattanooga education, civic and business leaders "we need to come together on this."

"Raising standards in the classroom is the most important thing we can do to make sure students are career- and college-ready," said Bredesen, who co-chairs Achieve Inc., a national organization committed to high standards. "But higher standards mean harder tests, and maybe lower test scores in the short term."

Governor Bredesen admits it "will be uncomfortable at first," but says parents and educators need to "hang on to the original notion" of what higher standards mean in the long term.

According to the Governor, Tennessee's efforts to ratchet up academic standards in public schools began in 2007 when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce gave the state an 'F' for lack of high standards and assessments in the classroom.

"We are doing our children no favors by telling them they are proficient, only to be told the truth when they get to college," says the Governor.

Modeling the new higher standards off of states such as Massachusetts, Governor Bredesen says Tennessee students will be more competitive in the workforce.

Governor Bredesen pointed out that the time of graduating from high school and going straight to work for a factory no longer exists in the 21st Century. Noting that Volkswagen has the same expectations as a community college, Governor Bredesen said "We need to make sure students have those options available to them."

As part of the address, Governor Bredesen acknowledged the founding of the First to the Top Coalition, a statewide alliance of 30 businesses, community and education groups committed to education reform.

The First to the Top Coalition launched the "Expect More, Achieve More" campaign in July to help arm parents with the knowledge they need to understand the results and then to engage their child and seek assistance in increasing their academic performance.

First to the Top Coalition members:
•AT&T Tennessee

•Benwood Foundation
•Ayers Foundation
•Blount Education Initiative
 BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee
•Chamber of Commerce (Johnson City-Jonesborough-Washington County)
•Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce
•Cornerstone Foundation of Knoxville
•HC*Excell
•Hospital Alliance of Tennessee
•Hyde Family Foundations
•Kingsport Area Chamber of Commerce
•Knoxville Chamber
•Memphis Tomorrow
•Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce
•Niswonger Foundation
•Powell Companies
•Public Education Foundation
•Public School Forum of East Tennessee
•Stand for Children
•State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE)
•Tennessee Association of Broadcasters
•Tennessee Business Roundtable
•Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association
•Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry
•Tennessee Department of Education
•Tennessee Education Association
•Tennessee Hospitality Association
•Tennessee Jobs Coalition
•Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents
•Tennessee PTA
•Tennessee School Boards Association
•Tennessee Urban League Affiliates
•United Ways of Tennessee

[Continue Reading]

The Doula -- or "Dude-la" -- Post

Some of you might remember reading about one of my couples that accidentally gave birth at home last year.    The plan was to have their doula - who was at the birth - have a doula-in-training shadow her at this upcoming hospital birth.  Frank, the father-to-be, referred to the student doula as "the dude-la" -- she was to be his doula!  His "dude-la" was actually at another birth when Nancy gave birth at home, much to Frank's dismay.  I wish I could take credit for coining this term, but I have to give credit where credit is due.  It makes me laugh every time I think of it.

I always have a couple of doulas that I refer my students to, usually for a bargain price, as my students are usually very prepared for labor and birth.  A bit less work for her -- certainly less educating on her part.  I am very picky about who those doulas are.  Like lactation consultants, doulas are not all created equal.  I knew of a doula in Albuquerque that had a 90% epidural rate! Certainly not the doula I wanted for my students!

The first question I always ask is why she wants to be or why she became a doula.  I am amazed at how many women become doulas because of a personal traumatic birth experience.  They want to help other women not go through what they went through.  That is totally respectable, but not necessarily who I want at my couple's births.  She will often be defensive and looking for things to go wrong.  Her "bad" birth experience led her down this road and she is, in my opinion, trying to right a wrong.

I have been writing about the birth team a lot lately -- doulas, midwives, and OBs.  I've decided that it is 50% of the "requirement" to having a happy birth experience.  Education is great, an absolute must, but if you are surrounded by people who do not believe in your ability to birth your baby without medication or intervention, you likely will not be doing so, no matter how prepared you and your partner are.

If I were looking for a doula, these are things I would want to know:


Has your doula given birth?  (It is hard for someone who has not gone through labor and birth to understand the thoughts that go through a woman's head during labor.)


Where did she give birth and why did she choose that location? (If you are planning a homebirth and you are hiring a doula who has only given birth in a hospital, you might ask her why she chose to not birth at home.  She may, deep down, be fearful of birth.  Or maybe it was an issue with insurance.  Or maybe her husband was too fearful.  Find out why she birthed where she did.)

Did she have medication or intervention?  (When the going got tough, how did she handle contractions?  What seems to be her general attitude about medications and interventions in labor?  Does she really believe that these things are usually not needed?  On the flip side, is she willing to use intervention if required?  Does she recognize that sometimes a woman may need intervention or medication?)


Has she ever been "overdue" and how did she deal with that?  (A woman will naturally doubt her body's ability to start labor on its own towards the end of pregnancy.  Having an encouraging doula by her side, reminding her that her baby and body knows just when the time is right, is crucial.  The "overdue" woman is bombarded with questions of when she is going to finally induce, and her doula will be her rock in refusing induction.)


How long were her labors?  (There is an emotional tug-of-war here.  Most women hope for a short labor, but that is often much harder, physically, than a longer one.  A long labor is not only physically challenging, but very mentally difficult.  It's just interesting to hear her perspective on length of labor.)

What is her c-section rate?  Epidural rate?  (Some things are obviously out of her control, but if her rates are higher than you think they should be, she may not know how to really help a laboring woman - which may be a physical or mental issue.  If she doesn't know her rate, ask her to figure it out.  You'll be doing her a favor, trust me.  She should know this information if she's never figured it out.  If her rates are high, she can evaluate what she can/should do differently, and if they are low, it will help her in talking to potential clients.)


Where is her favorite place to doula?  Hospital, home, or birth center? (Listen to her answer on this one.  This tells you who is the most supportive of doulas at a birth.  It's usually the places where she feels like she has the freedom to work with a couple and her opinions and experience is valued.  These are usually good places to birth.  If a doctor or hospital is not at the top of her list, it's usually because they have policies and procedures in place that make it hard for her to really help you. They are usually resentful of her presence and feel that she is interfering with their work.)


Does she have backup with similar rates and philosophies?  (I don't want certain doulas at my student's births, so I want my doulas-of-choice to have doulas backing them up with similar styles and philosophies.  Things come up in life, and your doula could have the flu the day you start labor.  Ask about her backups.  You will all be more comfortable if you know these things in advance.)
  

Does she have "time limits" of being away from home (nursing baby, child care, husband's job, etc.)?  This is one reason I don't doula.  I have lots of kids, all attending different schools.  I don't let them ride the bus, so I spend half my day in the car.  I don't live near family to depend on either.   Oh yeah, and I have a husband with a demanding job.  Lastly, I don't have the patience necessary to be good doula!  If she does have "time limits" she may be very distracted.  Know what the issues are and how she deals with them.  For example, she may need to pump breastmilk every 4 hours during your labor.  If you are fine with that, great.  If that will drive you crazy, she's not the doula for you.)

Lastly, ask her what she literally brings to a birth? (One of "my" doulas is a massage therapist so she doesn't bring a lot of physical items to a birth.  She brings her hands, ready to work.  She knows acupressure points that stimulate labor and actively uses them throughout labor.  Other doulas have a bag that they bring, full of "birth toys" to help throughout labor.) 

It's nice to know what your doula brings to a birth, both literally and figuratively.

I hope this list helps you in your search for a doula.  They are such an important part of the birth team.  I see more epidurals and c-sections at births without a doula than those than have a doula.  And if your husband is resistant and wants the job all to himself, start calling the doula a "dude-la" and remind him that she is there as much for him as she is for you!

[Continue Reading]

Ginger Gibson to leave the News Journal - for New Jersey - thanks to O'Donnell coverage!

Now that's politics!  I love it.  Ginger gets a leg up in the career world because O'Donnell and staffers behave like children.  COD has certainly made this an election worth watching (and voting in - but no sayin' who I am voting for.)  Back in the day, when I was a journalism student at UD, Amy Grossberg had a baby in a hotel room in Newark and the international media descended on the little city to sniff out the story  I remember a smart guy, Leo Shane III, one helluva student reporter, who got some major cred to add to his resume for his amazing coverage of the Grossberg-Peterson story.  And Leo's really made his mark in the ensuing years, staying true to his craft (bio below). 

So, C&E 1st wants to take this opportunity to wish Ginger Gibson good luck in New Jersey.  I didn't get to know Ginger personally, but I liked her tenacity.  Here's to holding Gov. Christie accountable.  Heard today that's he's offered Michell Rhee, ousted DC Ed Chancellor, a job in his administration.  Facebook money and Rhee, Ginger will be in journalism heaven!

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20101022/OPINION11/10220306/From-the-editor-Gathering-the-news-in-a-rough-and-tumble-Senate-campaign


Leo Shane III -
Leo Shane has worked at Stars and Stripes since 2004, covering Capitol Hill and the White House. His beats include legislation affecting military policy and veterans issues. His work also includes overseas coverage of military operations in Afghanistan in July-August 2006, Chile and Ecuador in April 2007, and Iraq in August-September 2008.

In 2010 he was part of a team of reporters at the paper who received the Polk Award for stories on the military's practice of profiling and evaluating journalists in Afghanistan in an attempt to steer coverage of the war.

Prior to his work at Stripes, Leo covered state and local politics for newspapers in Ohio, Illinois and Philadelphia. He is a 1998 graduate of the University of Delaware.



Contact information:
shanel@stripes.osd.mil

[Continue Reading]

If Kimber taught critical thinking skills, would he have been rated "highly effective?"

Education Matters: Efficiency is only skin deepBy Dan Kimber

October 22, 2010

There is a memorable character from the movie "Teachers," Mr. Ditto, who reminds me of a few teachers I had in school and, I must add, a few I have known over the years as colleagues.

In the movie this fellow got his name by starting each and every class by having designated students distribute the day's handout while he sat at his desk with a newspaper propped up in front of him. At the end of the class all papers were collected by a student and placed on the desk of the teacher, who still had his face buried in the newspaper.

At the end of the movie, Mr. Ditto has a heart attack and dies at his desk with his newspaper still propped up, and the students throughout the day, following their routine, were unaware of their teacher's demise.

Aside from the dark humor in this depiction was a painful reality that there are some very, very bad teachers in our system of education. The point was made, however exaggerated, that in the end, the students were as completely oblivious to Mr. Ditto as he had been to them.

I'm sure that most of you reading this can recall some lousy teachers you had in the course of your education. The question of what constitutes good and bad teachers has received a good deal of attention lately in our nation, more so than any time that I can recall in my career.

The questions being asked are not new, but the answers get a little tricky: How to assess teachers? How to remove the bad ones, how to reward the good ones, and who should be given the power to do either?

Tenure for teachers is also coming under greater scrutiny, with proponents seeing it as necessary job protection and critics charging that it makes it impossible to get rid of bad teachers.

Assessment of teachers is increasingly being based on standardized test scores, and that has indeed stirred the pot of controversy in and out of schools. The L.A. Times' decision to publish teacher scores and then rank their effectiveness accordingly, with New York schools now following suit and other states looking to do the same, is, to say the least, an ominous trend.

There are a number of reasons why most teachers are against this that have nothing to do with their apprehension of being outed as a bad teacher.

Just to illustrate one of those reasons, let's consider Teacher X and Teacher Y. Teacher X bases her entire instruction on drilling the standards into the brains of her students. She teaches social studies and displays all 150 of the standards around the room. Virtually all of her time is spent on rote drills and test preparation, and when the week of state exams arrives, her students outperform Teacher Y, who spends most of his time trying to get his kids to think critically and delve more deeply into the subject matter.

Teacher X is acclaimed as "highly effective," and Teacher Y is judged "less effective."

A few months after the exam, the students in Teacher X's class have forgotten 95% of everything they were taught, an understandable consequence of rote learning, while the students in Teacher Y's class were curious to know more, and their retention was far greater. But guess which teacher will be held up as an exemplary model and likely be conducting seminars and in-services. Guess which one will be asked to change his ways.

The Mr. Dittos of my profession are far and few between, but they do exist. To the extent that they are protected by tenure and supported by teachers unions, it is a problem that needs to be addressed. We need a fair and expedient process for terminating teachers who are clearly ineffective. But crunching test scores is only a tiny bit of the picture and likely a misleading one at that.

Most teachers I've known are not afraid of authentic evaluation and welcome suggestions for improvement, but make no mistake, teachers are evaluated every day by about 150 students whose special needs and various learning abilities go well beyond content areas and curriculums to tax teachers' skills in ways that are not measured by standardized test scores.

If the singular goal of public education is building perfect test scores, I can foresee the day that we teachers become obsolete altogether and are replaced by more efficient dispensers of education. They will be more knowledgeable, will adhere perfectly to centralized mandates and will deliver consistent, on-task, pre-programmed lessons to their students. They will require no salary or medical benefits, they won't form unions, and there will be no need to worry about their individuality or personal style getting in the way of inculcating standards.

The circuit boards and computer chips and video screens that now play a supporting role in education may indeed take the lead in the not-too-distant future, whereupon our children will be more efficiently standardized and programmed, and in the end, resembling more and more their "highly efficient" new teachers.

DAN KIMBER taught in the Glendale Unified School District for more than 30 years. He may be reached at DKimb8@sbcglobal.net.


http://www.glendalenewspress.com/news/opinion/tn-gnp-kimber-20101022,0,2560466.story

[Continue Reading]

Thanks to 'Superman' even Taiwan mocks US Schools

Rest assured, you don't need a dual language degree to understand this video... 

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/Superman-The-Cartoon-105494188.html

[Continue Reading]

One in the hand is worth two in the bush...

DOE appoints Director of Teacher Leader Effectiveness Unit...

PETER SHULMAN


The Broad Residency Class of 2005-2007
Current Organization: Delaware Department of Education
M.B.A., The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
M.S., Education, University of Pennsylvania
B.A., Economics, University of Michigan

Peter Shulman was recently appointed as leader of the Teacher Leader Effectiveness Unit (TLEU) for the Delaware Department of Education. In this role, he will work to implement a diversity of human capital initiatives as outlined in both Delaware's award-winning Race to the Top Application and their state education reform plan. Shulman previously served as administrative director for human resources for Miami-Dade County Public Schools where he supervised the district's employee services division as well as takes a lead role in human capital reform. During his Residency, Shulman served as executive director of business operations for the district. Prior to the Residency, Shulman served as the vice president of operations for Cityfeet.com, a real estate technology company that he co-founded in 1999. Previously, he worked as a financial analyst at Rockwood Realty Associates, a real estate investment bank specializing in transactional services. Shulman holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in business administration from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Shulman participated in The Broad Residency in Urban Education Cohort 2005, serving his two-year Residency in Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

[Continue Reading]

Oh, the tangled web we weave...

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20101021/NEWS/101021012/FBI+raids+home+of+NJ+school+superintendent++finds+it+empty

FBI raids home of NJ school superintendent, finds it empty


Gannett/The (Cherry Hill, N.J.) Courier-Post • October 21, 2010

SEASIDE PARK, N.J. — FBI agents failed to arrest Toms River Regional School Superintendent Michael J. Ritacco at 6 a.m. today when then found his home dark and empty...

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20101021/NEWS/101021012/FBI+raids+home+of+NJ+school+superintendent++finds+it+empty

[Continue Reading]

Kindles in High School, Tech Surprises

Kindles at High School Bring Praise, Surprises
http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2010/10/19/04mct_flkindle.html
By Stephen Thompson, Tampa Tribune (MCT)
Clearwater, Fla.


Social studies teacher Kathy Biddle was giving a lecture recently when she noticed a handful of students fiddling with their Kindles, the hand-held devices Clearwater High School made available to all its students at the beginning of the year.


Biddle stopped her lesson. She scolded her charges, telling them to focus on what she was saying. She thought they were texting their friends or looking at Facebook. They weren't. The students were taking notes on Biddle's lecture, using a feature on the electronic book-reader called 'My Clippings.' They then instructed the rest of the class how to do it.


It was an illuminating moment, one of many in the month since Clearwater High became one of the first schools in the nation to give every student a Kindle. The experiment is being closely watched by school districts across the country.


Until then, teachers and administrators at Clearwater High envisioned the students using the Kindle just to access downloaded textbooks, or for research. With its Internet access, students can plug in a term on Google, as Biddle's World History students did last week, and read the results.


No one thought the students' fingers were nimble enough to take notes on the Kindle's tiny keyboard.


Since the Kindles were distributed, just over a month ago, to some 2,100 students at Clearwater High, there have been some nice surprises and some glitches, mostly minor, school administrators say. Some kinks still need to be worked out, they add, but by and large the devices have been a success.

The students say the same thing.


Sophomore Josh Jones, 16, said he's been using his Kindle almost every day. "It's like having a mini-computer in your hand," he said.


It took two days to distribute the devices in mid-September, and on the second day, so much text was being downloaded onto them that the school district got a call from AT&T, the company whose wireless service Amazon now uses for its Kindle.

"We crashed the system," Clearwater High Principal Keith Mastorides says with a sheepish grin.

For now, the English and math textbooks are on the Kindles, along with the The Tampa Tribune, the St. Petersburg Times and a handful of novels, Mastorides says. Other subjects, like social studies and science, will be available in the years ahead.

Up to 100 parents at first balked at having their children assigned a Kindle, said John Just, assistant superintendent for management information systems for the school district. Perhaps they didn't want to take responsibility for the $177.60 device, or they didn't think their child was responsible enough, he said.

In any event, some of them appear to be coming around, Just said. Mastorides and his staff are distributing two to three Kindles a day to students whose parents initially didn't want them having one.

Anyone agreeing to take the Kindles had two options: accept one without insurance and risk paying $177.60 for a lost, stolen or damaged device, or pay $20 for an insurance policy with a $25 deductible, the principal said.

Sixty percent of the students took out the insurance policy, Mastorides said, and since then 20 claims have been filed, he said.

Taking care of the devices has been a concern.

A student might shove his Kindle into his backpack up against another electronic device, such as a cell phone, and the Kindle screen becomes demagnetized, with lines or dark spots, Just said.

The Kindles are still under warranty, and the district is working with Amazon to address the problem, Just said. Still, students appear to need some instruction when it comes to taking care of their Kindles, though, even now, it's obvious they like them much more than they do their textbooks.

Some students are making their own Kindle cases, Just said. One Best Buy sold out all of its cases after the students started getting the devices, he said.

Another problem is that roughly 10 students tried to customize their Kindles to their own needs by de-authorizing the Pinellas schools account embedded on the device so they could download their own books or use their credit cards to buy books. Amazon is immediately alerted to the changeover, and the students have been spoken to, Just said.

As for using the devices to access inappropriate web sites, the devices are formatted so students cannot access pornography even if they wanted to. "Playboy.com doesn't even come up," Just said.

One morning last week, almost all of Mrs. Biddle's students in her honors World History class had their Kindles out in class as part of a project, using Google to research the differences and similarities between Athens and Sparta.

Jenna Troiso finds herself using her Kindle to find translations for Spanish words, and Tyler Bush says he gets his work done faster with the Kindle. It gives one access to more information that is contained in a book, and it's easier to get the information from a Kindle than it is from a book, the 15-year-old said.

"You don't have to flip pages," he said. "It's just there."

Jazmyn Rivera points out you can't get paper cuts with a Kindle. She said it was easier to get used to the Kindle than she had expected.

Before, students wanting to access the Internet at Clearwater High would have to wait in line at the school library for a desktop. Not now, said Chris Houghton, 16. "It's nice being able to go on the Internet in class," he said.

There are some slightly irritating aspects to the Kindle, the students say.

A user has to completely download one page before switching to another. Otherwise the page freezes. It's also harder to highlight a passage for future reference. And the Kindles don't work particularly well if they are not kept properly charged, the students say.

But these are minor quibbles.

"Just bring it out of your bag and do anything you want to do on it," said Samantha Foster, 15. "It's kind of nice."

Teachers have noticed another nice aspect: By the end of the class, after using their Kindles, the students have jotted down four times as much information regarding Athens and Sparta as their predecessors did last year using textbooks, Biddle said.

[Continue Reading]

Housing Policy is School Policy - A longitudinal study

Housing Policy Is School Policy


By Richard D. Kahlenberg

In recent weeks, the nation’s education reform community has been enthralled by Davis Guggenheim’s film “Waiting For ‘Superman,’” which disparages teachers’ unions and celebrates the lotteries used to get into high-poverty charter schools. ("'Superman' and Solidarity," this issue.) The empirically dubious message is that the nonunion character of charter schools will save low-income students, even though only 17 percent of charter schools outperform regular public schools.

New research, however, suggests that what really works is winning a different kind of lottery: the one jurisdictions like Montgomery County, Md., hold to provide a chance for low-income public-housing students to live in upper-middle-class neighborhoods and attend superb (and unionized) public schools.

The Maryland district’s schools, in suburban Washington, are nationally acclaimed for promoting both excellence and equity in education. Affluent Montgomery County students perform very well academically, and the district’s low-income and minority students outperform comparable groups in the state, making the system one of five finalists for the prestigious Broad Prize in education this year.

Much credit has appropriately been given to the district’s investment of substantial extra resources in its lowest-income schools, but the county also has a long-standing inclusionary housing policy that allows low-income students to live in middle- and upper-middle-class communities and attend fairly affluent schools.

Thus, Montgomery County offers an interesting experiment: Do low-income students perform better in higher-poverty schools that receive greater resources, or in more-affluent schools with fewer resources? Which matters more for low-income students: extended learning time, lower class size, and intensive teacher-development programs—all made available in Montgomery County’s higher-poverty schools—or the types of advantages usually associated with wealthier schools, such as positive peer role models, active parental communities, and strong teachers?

In a just-released Century Foundation study by Heather Schwartz, an associate policy researcher at the RAND Corp., the results are unmistakable: Low-income students attending lower-poverty elementary schools (and living in lower-poverty neighborhoods) significantly outperform low-income elementary students who attend higher-poverty schools with state-of-the-art educational interventions. By the end of elementary school, Schwartz finds, public-housing students in the lowest-poverty schools cut their initial, sizable math-achievement gap with nonpoor students in the district by half. For reading, it was cut by one-third. In math, students in public housing achieved at 0.4 of a standard deviation higher in more-affluent schools than in less-affluent ones, which is substantially larger than the 0.1 effects size often found for educational interventions. The study, “Housing Policy Is School Policy,”did not specifically measure the effect of the inclusionary housing program on the achievement of middle-class students, but Montgomery County’s nonpoor students are among the highest-achieving in the state and the nation.

For the rest of the story and access to the supporting documents go here :  http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/10/20/08kahlenberg_ep.h30.html?tkn=TPMFAfOIKivSN3%2Fll591ajs%2FTM2suzIFuXj3&cmp=clp-edweek

[Continue Reading]

The OB at 38 weeks

I am not out to make anyone a bad guy here.  OK, maybe a little.  I have worked as a Natural Childbirth Educator for long enough to make some generalities and feel pretty comfortable with saying them.  I am fully aware that there are exceptions to what I am about to say, but they are so few and far between.  I hope what I am about to say will be listened to and not just heard.

There are two types of maternity care:  the Medical Model and the Midwifery Model.  Briefly, the Medical Model perceives pregnancy, labor, and birth as a disaster waiting to happen;  something a woman needs to be rescued from.  Medicine improves upon the "natural" process.  Labor is all about the cervix and birth canal, always looking for something to go wrong.

The Midwifery Model of Care, on the other hand, trusts a woman's body to grow her baby, start labor at the appropriate time, and labor without time constraints.  A midwife takes into consideration, not just the cervix and birth canal, but the entire woman and her environment.  Birth is as much mental as it is physical.  Medical doctors almost always ignore this fact, usually because the hormones are not working properly when a woman has an epidural.  They just don't see natural normal birth often enough to know what to do -- or more appropriately, what not to do! 

So when couples come to take my Bradley class, I worry about those that have an OB.  And rightfully so.  Most of them will see the light and switch to a midwife, but sometimes the couple is fed so many lines by their OB and hospital nurses, they don't switch, believing their doctor is different. 

From the L&D nurses:

"We have birth balls, showers, tubs, squat bars, dim lights -- everything you want for your natural birth."  (In labor, these things are nowhere to be found.  Only one room has a tub that works, no one can find the squat bar, lights are bright so the doctor can see -- it's all about him, right?  The atmosphere is not what was promised.)


Some of my favorite lines from OBs are:

"As long as everything is going fine, you can do whatever you want."


"As long as your water isn't broken, you can walk around as much as you want."


"We can do intermittent monitoring as long as baby is handling labor okay."

"We don't need to talk about induction unless you are more than a week past your due date."  (No one thinks they will be 'overdue' when they are pregnant.  No one.  They believe this won't apply to them.)


Don't these sound great?  I've got a great OB, right?  Did you hear the clause in each statement?  Remember, an OB is trained to look for things to go wrong.  Statements like these pacify the pregnant woman at monthly/weekly appointments because it seems like she is hearing what she wants to hear.  The problem is, an OB can make up all kinds of reasons to keep you on a monitor in labor, or restrict food and water, or induce labor for a million different reasons.  Seeing this as often as I do, a local doula called this the "Bait and Switch."

Something happens at 38 weeks with an OB, where all-of-a-sudden pregnancy becomes very dangerous.  The placenta starts to deteriorate, amniotic fluid levels rapidly drop, blood pressure is through the roof, and vaginal exams must be done to ensure that your body knows what to do.  Oh yeah, and your baby is getting much too big to fit through your pelvis.  We either need to look at inducing right away or just scheduling a c-section to save you from having to go through the trials of labor.  You'll probably just end up with surgery anyway.

I wish I was making this stuff up.  I'm not.  I see it all the time.  If you stay with an OB who makes "reassuring" statements with a clause and you ignore these red flags, and then you have a c-section, you will always wonder if you really "needed" surgery.  If you change care, even at 39 weeks, to a midwife who trusts birth and encourages you along the way, and then end up with surgery, then you probably did need it. 

I recently had a mom who changed care from an OB at 39.3 weeks to a group of CNMs.  Her baby was over 10 pounds and she pushed for nearly 4 hours.  She had back labor most of her labor and did have an epidural.  Had she stayed with the OB, I am 100% certain she would have had surgery.  Her previous hospital has a 60% c-section rate and they would never have allowed her to push that long.  Sure, she did not have an unmedicated birth, but the switch saved her from surgery.  A good move.

Be on the lookout for these statements from your OB.  The end of pregnancy is so exciting.  You are about to meet your baby for the first time!  A good care provider will reassure you that your baby and body know just when the time is right for labor to begin.  Your care provider should fill you with reassurance, not fear.  And that, really, is the difference between a good care provider and a bad one.

[Continue Reading]

NBC's School Pride Reviewed

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117943837.html?categoryid=32&cs=1
School Pride

(Series -- NBC, Fri. Oct. 15, 8 p.m.)

By BRIAN LOWRY

A Compton, Calif., middle school gets a makeover in the Peacock’s new reality skein 'School Pride.

With: Tom Stroup, Susie Castillo, Kym Whitley, Jacob Soboroff.

Capitalizing on concern about the beleaguered state of public education, NBC's "School Pride" takes an increasingly disheartening tack for reality TV -- namely, offering facile, feel-good solutions to complex problems. In this case, that means school-renovation projects, one venue at a time, culled from "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's" instant-gratification playbook, down to the arbitrary (as in seven- to 10-day) deadlines. Sorry, but schools don't need self-styled SWAT teams -- as the Scooby gang refers to themselves -- parachuting in to save the day. They need money, political will and community engagement. Class, and show, dismissed.

Ah, and what a gang it is, consisting of a former Miss USA (Susie Castillo), a comic (Kym Whitley), a self-described journalist (Jacob Soboroff, who's worked for AMC News) and "team leader" Tom Stroup.
"It's time to fix our broken schools," Stroup announces at the outset, apparently oblivious to how charged "community organizer" has become on the political right by referring to their larger task in those terms.
The quartet initially descends on a middle school in Compton, Calif., followed in the second and third weeks by missions to elementary schools in Louisiana and Tennessee.

The basic template, however, remains unchanged throughout: a major rebuilding project, which inevitably offers scads of product-placement opportunities for companies like exterminator Orkin, Home Depot, People magazine, and yes, even a field trip to Universal Studios. Wow, a lesson in Corporate Synergy 101 -- and our schools win too!
Improving education is certainly a laudable goal and a timely topic, as evidenced by the documentary "Waiting for Superman." Yet the cynicism underlying this heavily scored exercise is difficult to ignore. Beaming, screaming kids, after all, and a teary-eyed adults -- from the beauty queen to the teachers -- make great visuals for TV. (A&E's "Teach: Tony Danza," which spends seven episodes at the same high school, is a more patient variation on this basic ploy.)
Soboroff seems positively amazed in the premiere when he lands an interview with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, asking who and what was responsible for the school's dilapidated condition. The not-exactly-press-shy governor rattled off a laundry list of factors: "Labor, special interests, a lack of parent participation, a lack of funding. Clearly, I would say government."
Hey, his term's almost up. Let's give him a show. Maybe that will at least have more substance to it.

Produced by Denise Cramsey -- a graduate of the aforementioned "Extreme Makeover" -- and actress Cheryl Hines, "School Pride" is quite reminiscent of "Three Wishes," another uplifting if short-lived program the Peacock network tried Fridays five years ago.

Then again, they do say those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it.

Camera, Scott Farquharson; music, David Vanacore; casting, Melanie Hodges. 60 MIN.

[Continue Reading]

I heart Boobies? Do You?

Really?  I have to thank the News Journal for this rose-colored nip.  Is school the appropriate place to love your breasts?  Is it less approppriate to love your "boobies?" What if it's in the name of breast cancer awareness? 

Laramie, Wyoming school officials are taking on the mammaries, the bazongas, and the jugs as they are challenged to balance a dress code with the right to free speech.  Will the bee stings triumph? or will the puppies be caged?  Read on to find out...

Cancer bracelets raise debate over school codes


By BOB MOEN • Associated Press • October 15, 2010


LARAMIE, Wyo. — A $4 rubber bracelet meant to raise breast cancer awareness has done that and more: Students nationwide are wearing the "I (heart) boobies" wristbands, and running afoul of school administrators.
Schools from California to Florida have banned the bracelets because they believe the "boobies" language is inappropriate.

The bracelets are marketed by a California-based nonprofit created to raise breast cancer awareness among youth. The Keep A Breast Foundation has sold 2 million of the bracelets so far, with the money going to breast cancer research and education programs.

The group believes a bracelet with a catchy, envelope-pushing slogan such as "I (heart) boobies" is a better way to teach kids about breast cancer than more traditional methods like pink ribbons...

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20101015/NATIONAL/101015008/Cancer+bracelets+raise+debate+over+school+codes

[Continue Reading]

Christina Resolves, An Unusual Step for a School Board

Dear Christina,
Christina changes slowly.  And those changes are often reactionary.  It's the nature of recovery.  It's the culture of education in the United States today.  When something goes awry, it's easy to cast the first stone, to blame the USDOE, the DeDOE, the School Board, the administration, the classroom teacher, the parent ... It's much harder to chart the course of correction, to complete the systems of self-assessment, to accept the responsibility of our role and our own complacency and it's even harder to do so in the public's eye.

As I wrote the initial version of the following resolution, I submerged myself in research.  The first, most basic, question was just how does one write a resolution?  With all due respect for the wonderful educators who touched my life and shaped my future, my BA of English never required this level of competency.  And though I consider my education classical and critical in nature, I became very aware of my own deficits.  These are the deficits we depart to our children.  And this became the starting point for my resolution.

In long term care, where I began my career, the truly great facility looks upon the maximum federal requirement, as the minimum foundation of good care.  It builds upon what the law requires to create heightened standards.  I know of only facility in Delaware that has achieved Medicaid's gold standard, five stars, for creating a comprehensive level of management where the federal maximums are the daily minimums.  They've exceeded compliance.  This is hard work. And that work was the second foundation of my resolution - a generalization that can and should be applied to education - we must exceed compliance if we are to enable our children to grow.

I know I am not the first to get this resolution out to the public, Transparent Christina and Kilroy beat me again.  But, as the writer, I knew that I wanted to provide to you, the reader, the voter, some explanation of what led me to offer this resolution to the board, who, with some debate and amendments, embraced the spirit of the motion by 6-0.  In the end, I offered a document that became a collaborative work, a foundation for exceeding compliance, because compliance is simply not enough.  And while we are working hard to achieve compliance, we are working harder to exceed it.  This is what education demands of its leaders.  This is the heart of my work for Christina.  And with the board leading, this will become the heart of Christina.

And if you have not yet read it, here it is:

Whereas, the Christina School District Board of Education is the elected governing body of the Christina School District whose mission in accordance with Board Policy 01.05, Statement on District Accountability, is to improve student achievement and eliminate racial socio-economic achievement gaps by supporting teaching and learning in the classroom;


Whereas, the board lauds the Governor of Delaware, Jack Markell for signing into law on the 17th of June, 2010, HB 328 with HA/1, an act to amend Title 14 of the Delaware Code Relating to Exceptional Persons, a bill that requires courts, administrative tribunals, school districts, and schools to use the definition of “free and appropriate education” with respect to disabled children that has been enumerated for this region of the country by the United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Ridgewood Board of Education v. N.E., 172 F. 3d 238(3d. Cir. 1999);


Whereas, the Board recognizes that the Christina School District’s special education population, as a whole, has historically failed to meet its proficiency targets in Math and ELA; as evidenced by the 2010 DSTP testing data which confirms that students with disabilities in grades 2 through 10 not only failed to meet or exceed the standard in Reading but further fell by 9 percentage points from 2009 to 2010 and further reveals that only 32% of special education students scored 3 or higher on the DSTP in Reading and Mathematics in 2010;


Whereas, the board acknowledges the adoption of the new statewide measurement of achievement, the Delaware Comprehensive Assessment System, DCAS, and the subsequent higher standards integrated into DCAS as approved by the Delaware State Board of Education,


Whereas, the CSD Board, in accordance with Board Policy 01.02, Statement on Management Oversight, has charged the superintendent with overseeing the district’s major systems, which include but are not limited to Human Resources and Curriculum and Instruction;


Whereas, the board has received numerous complaints of irregular, atypical, and inadequate hiring practices, the board stipulates that its oversight in the administrative hiring process is limited by the superintendent’s contract commencing on July 1, 2009 which cedes to the Superintendent administrative authority and responsibility for the assignment, reassignment or transfer of all personnel other than the assistant superintendents and deputy superintendent.


Whereas, the board recognizes the de-facto Turnaround status of two district schools as a result of failed efforts to win School Improvement Grants and the resulting destabilization through high employee turnover and the recent inclusion of two district schools in the Governor’s Partnership Zone which has the potential to result in continuing destabilization;


Whereas, the board acknowledges that the failing status of many of its schools does not reflect on the current leadership of those schools, but is the result of repeated administrative turnover and a historical lack of administrative support and oversight;


Be it resolved on this date, October 12th, 2010, The Board directs the Superintendent in accordance with Board Policy 01.02, Statement on Management Oversight, to enact the required annual review of the performance of all major management systems using metrics proposed by the Superintendent and approved by the Board and commencing with Human Resources.


The Board further resolves to direct the Superintendent to review the Integrity of all major management systems, where a review has not been completed within the past three years, in accordance with Board Policy 01.02 and further directs the superintendent to provide all documents generated regarding these reviews to the board for consideration.


Lastly, the Board affirms that the Christina School District can and will become a destination district for all children regardless of ability where the emphasis is on teaching and learning, curriculum and instruction where the maximum regulatory requirements are viewed as a minimum foundation for the achievement and success and; where all children are of intrinsic value, where a love of learning is cultivated and success is celebrated and; where students who are need of special education services are provided those services by the most dynamic and dedicated leaders who have the demonstrated the ability to convey their own educational and experiential strengths through our many dedicated teachers, specialists and professionals to our children who will succeed in the attainment of their goals whether they are academic, vocational, or self-determined domains and specialties.


Adopted 10.12.2010 by the Christina School District Board of Education




Sincerely,

Elizabeth

[Continue Reading]

Let's Talk About Sex...

Published Online: October 13, 2010


Helena, Mont., School Board OK's Revised Sex Ed. Plan

Helena, Montana
A Helena schools sex education plan that caused an uproar from parents who argued it taught too much too soon was approved Tuesday night after school officials made several changes aimed at easing criticism.

School officials first unrolled the plan last summer—before quickly withdrawing it amid a torrent of public outrage that it was too graphic and exposed children to more than they needed to know.

The revised plan, still the focus of plenty of criticism at a recent public hearing, removes such proposals as teaching children in the first grade that people of the same gender can love each other. District trustees approved the plan on a 6-3 vote.

The new version also makes sure that starting in fifth grade, educators are clear that abstinence from sex is a "healthy choice" and "the only 100 percent effective way" to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

The changes weren't enough for many conservative and religious parents who argued sex education should largely be done at home.

Other parents countered that school is the appropriate place for students to learn scientific information on the topic. They argued children of all ages need to know more about how to protect themselves from sexual abuse, disease, unwanted pregnancy and other issues.

Only a relatively small portion of the 66-page health curriculum deals with sex education, but that portion by far received the most attention.

.School Superintendent Bruce Messinger told district trustees Tuesday night the changed plan "reflects the values and expectations of the Helena community and will provide quality, comprehensive health education for all students." He plans to develop specific curriculum that will be available at the start of the next school year.

MORE HERE: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/10/12/381507mtmontanasexeducation_ap.html

[Continue Reading]

Delaware Teen Knocks Over Portable Toilet With Boy Inside « CBS Philly – News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of Philadelphia

Delaware Teen Knocks Over Portable Toilet With Boy Inside « CBS Philly – News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of Philadelphia

[Continue Reading]

Police Charge Newark Bully

Police charge 14-year-old in 'bully' attack


By ROBIN BROWN • The News Journal • October 11, 2010


 A 14-year-old, described by police as “the worst kind of bully,” is charged with forcing a 7-year-old boy into a portable toilet that he then pushed over, covering the younger boy in waste.

“This is the most disturbing case of bullying I’ve ever seen,” New Castle County police Senior Cpl. Trinidad Navarro said. “It’s just terrible ... victimizing a boy half his age.”

The teen was charged with unlawful imprisonment, assault and harassment in the weekend attack near Newark.

More Here:  http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20101011/NEWS/101011031/Police-charge-14-year-old-in-bully-attack

[Continue Reading]

Want an Unmedicated Birth -- Or Even Just a Vaginal Birth? Hire a Midwife and a Doula

I have recently had a bad run -- lots of cesareans and epidural births.  I've thought about them a lot over the last several days and weeks, and there are some significant numbers that I want to share.

Up to now, my stats have been about 79% of people that take my class give birth without medication.  14% have a cesarean, and about 7% have an epidural, the majority of the time to avoid a c-section.

These last few months have been the worst statistics I've had in over seven years of teaching.  It's hard for me to put this out there, but I've gone back about 4 months to include a couple of classes and several DVD couples.  There are some interesting things to note, and I hope this improves future outcomes.

In the last 4 months, I've had 23 couples give birth.
10 had unmedicated vaginal births.
5 had epidurals (but still had a vaginal birth).
8 had c-sections. 

Let's break this down, starting with the 10 unmedicated vaginal births.  (This is what everyone was shooting for.)
6 hired midwives (mix of CNMs and CPMs).
4 hired an OB.
6 hired a doula.

Of the 5 epidural births:
3 had a midwife.
2 had an OB.    
Only one of these women hired a doula.  
It should be noted that a few of these women started with OBs and switched to midwives.   Length of labor and/or pushing would have certainly resulted in c-sections had they stayed with their original OBs and hospitals.
 

Of the 8 c-sections:
2 had a midwife.
6 had an OB.
Only 2 of these women hired a doula, and only one had her doula present.
Obviously, these c-sections happened for a variety of reasons, some valid, some not-so-much.  Can't ignore that 80% were with OBs.  Honestly question if they would have happened with a midwife.

Summary:  If you want an unmedicated birth, your birth team is crucial.  All the education in the world won't matter if you have a doctor who is determined that you or your baby "need" a c-section.  As for a doula, the statistics speak for themselves.  A woman who has the support of another woman in labor will almost always have a better outcome, or at least feel better about doing all that she could do to prevent having an epidural or a c-section. 

If you are birthing in a hospital, you need to hire a midwife instead of an OB and you need a doula by your side.  End of story.

[Continue Reading]

1 School, 4 Deaths Attributed to Bullying

Bullying Kills Again...
Mentor, Ohio


Sladjana Vidovic's body lay in an open casket, dressed in the sparkly pink dress she had planned to wear to the prom. Days earlier, she had tied one end of a rope around her neck and the other around a bed post before jumping out her bedroom window.

The 16-year-old's last words, scribbled in English and her native Croatian, told of her daily torment at Mentor High School, where students mocked her accent, taunted her with insults like "Slutty Jana" and threw food at her.

It was the fourth time in little more than two years that a bullied high school student in this small Cleveland suburb on Lake Erie died at his or her own hand—three suicides, one overdose of antidepressants. One was bullied for being gay, another for having a learning disability, another for being a boy who happened to like wearing pink.

Now two families—including the Vidovics—are suing the school district, claiming their children were bullied to death and the school did nothing to stop it. The lawsuits come after a national spate of high-profile suicides by gay teens and others, and during a time of national soul-searching about what can be done to stop it.

If there has been soul-searching among the bullies in Mentor—a pleasant beachfront community that was voted one of the "100 Best Places to Live" by CNN and Money magazine this year—Sladjana's family saw too little of it at her wake in October 2008.


Suzana Vidovic found her sister's body hanging over the front lawn. The family watched, she said, as the girls who had tormented Sladjana for months walked up to the casket—and laughed.

"They were laughing at the way she looked," Suzana says, crying. "Even though she died."

Read More HERE

[Continue Reading]

I prefer not to take your tests...

Trackback to:
http://transparentchristina.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/i-prefer-not-to-take-your-tests-bartleby-the-scrivener-2011-melville/

Thanks TP for finding such a creative project!

[Continue Reading]