When to Reign In Your Birth Team

As most of you know, I teach a 10-week course on natural childbirth.  The first night of class, the number one question is, "When do we go to the hospital?"  Line-upon-line here.  We don't hit that until Class 5!

Over the years, I've learned that this question is really asking, "When can the professionals take over?"  It usually is asked by a dad-to-be.  It's interesting to watch these expectant parents learn and grow.  Education and information is unbelievably empowering!  Several years ago, I was teaching "emergency" (ie. unattended) childbirth.  By the time we get to that point, we've spent countless hours together, watched more than a dozen birth videos, and everyone has a very good idea of what normal childbirth involves and what to do -- or not do!  I asked this particular father-to-be how he felt about the possibility of this happening.  I should preface his answer with the fact that he didn't speak to me until Class 5 and was totally depending on his mother-in-law to help his wife at the birth.  He despised that he was forced into attending this class.  So, when asked this question, I was amazed at his cool reply:  "On the one hand, totally terrified, but on the other -- bring it on!"  I should also mention that the mother-in-law didn't make it to the birth and they were only at the hospital for 22 minutes before the baby was born!

The answer to the question "When do we go to the hospital?" often changes as you get more information.  Let's back up for a minute.  You know how I feel about hiring a doula.  Do it.  Who are the people you are inviting to your birth?  A sister?  Mom?  Mother-in-law?  Other children?  Your best friend?  Do you call them all the minute you have your first "real" contraction?  Of course not.

There is nothing like being pregnant with your first baby.  Not that the other pregnancies and labors aren't exciting, but they are undeniably different.  You've done it before.  You have distractions now that you didn't have the first time around.  Regardless of what baby number this is, enjoy early labor with your spouse.  I love early labor!  Get into a rhythm together.  Figure out what works, what doesn't.  Practice different positions.  Nap.  Eat.  See a movie.  Enjoy this time together.

Everyone's labor is different.  You may have several hours of early labor -- this week I had a mom that did this for several days! -- or it may not exist at all.  You may jump right into active labor and need your doula right away.  There is no way to know beforehand. 

But let's assume that you do have early labor -- you are contracting regularly but are able to talk, walk, or sleep during and/or between contractions.  If your husband is sleeping, and it's 2:00 a.m., let him keep sleeping.  A lot of moms don't like it when I say that.  Here's the thing -- yes, labor is exhausting, but it's also exhausting for your birth team.  This often doesn't get a lot of sympathy from moms, but if your labor is on the longer side, you are going to need your birth team to be able to step it up, and they may not be able to if they are utterly exhausted.  If you don't need his help, let him keep sleeping.  You'll both be glad later.  You may find yourself enjoying those early contractions, just you and the baby.

As things progressively get harder -- and you feel like you need some extra help -- think about who you want to reign in.  Maybe it's your sister or mom or maybe it is your doula.  Whoever it is, be sure that you are ready for the help.  And perhaps even more importantly, be sure they will be a positive influence on your labor.  For example, the mom who is freaking out that you didn't go to the hospital with the first contraction or the minute your water broke may not be the best person to be with you and your husband.  She may not be someone you want at your birth at all!  In the end, if you don't need help yet, you may feel like a watched pot, which won't be good for your labor.

There's not a set time that is right for all couples.  I hate it when couples are told to head to the hospital when contractions are 5 minutes apart lasting 60 seconds.  You could do that for hours!  It's really hard to explain, but there will come a time in your labor that you will know who you need.  With my 2nd baby, I had no early labor and wanted my friend there immediately.  It was a very fast labor.  But with my 3rd and 4th babies, no one was there until about an hour before the birth, including our midwives.  But I knew when I needed them.

Again, it's hard to explain, but there will be an urgency felt to be with your birth team as labor progresses, whether you are in the hospital or at home.  This will be different for each woman.  Some women feel this urgency earlier than others.  This is their emotional relaxation -- how they feel about where they are giving birth, who is there, are their wishes being honored?  I remember with my first homebirth -- 3rd baby -- the minute the midwife walked through the door, I felt like crying.  I felt such a release.  She wasn't there more than an hour and my baby was born.  My body held back until my birth team was in place.

I often think of it as involving people according to their skill set:  my mom was needed because I needed help with the other kids (1st called).  She cleaned up, made food, changed sheets -- a good one to have around!  Anyone else helping out with the kids was next.  They'd usually help my mom too.  One of these people was usually on video duty.   As labor progressed, if I had a doula or doula-friend, they'd be called in to help me and David.  Your chiropractor is also a great person to call in for a period of time.  Eventually, you'll want someone to catch the baby, so either calling your midwife or heading to the hospital will be necessary!  You'll know when this time is.  You'll be very serious, eyes closed, not talking or smiling.  Some women will be sounding out contractions and others won't make a peep.  Either is fine.  One is not better than the other.

My ultimate answer to the question "When do we go to the hospital?"  Alright, here it is.  There will come a point when she (talking to dad because mom won't remember this or be thinking logically) will not want to walk anymore.  She will still get up and go to the bathroom when you encourage it, but she doesn't want to.  She has to wait till the end of a contraction to get up and she will move quickly so she doesn't get caught standing up during a contraction.  Contractions are stronger and longer when she stands up.  Still willing to move, but not wanting to.  This is usually a good time to mosey on down to your birth place or call in your midwife.  Labor is very well established at this point.

Most of all, enjoy your labor.  Choose your birth team carefully and reign them in as you need them.  So many women wish for a fast labor, not understanding how hard a fast labor is -- just to get it over with.  A longer labor is not a bad thing.  Like I always say, labor and birth serve as a bridge between pregnancy and becoming this baby's mother and father.  Enjoy it.  These hours are unlike any in your whole life.

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From http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/

A Broad Story from Seattle worth sharing...
http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/oops-i-did-it-again/

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The Gov. went to china and found the light???

Ahhh, good ole' China, the source of melamine-poisoned pet food and toys steeped in lead.  And now, the Gov. and the News Journal editorial board want Delaware to emulate "big red." 

So, let's talk about education in China and compare it with the United States.  A year before the Gov. visited China, the International Reading Association, headquartered in Newark, Delaware, led a delegation to China, visiting 7 of China's top schools. Here's an intro to their summary article, followed by some highlights that I've pulled out for readers:

http://www.reading.org/General/Publications/ReadingToday/RTy_April_2010/RTY-10Apr_china.aspx

International Reading Association (IRA) President–elect Patricia Edwards in November 2009 led a Language and Literacy Education delegation of 39 IRA members on a journey through China that focused on current and historical educational developments. The trip was sponsored by the People to People Citizen Ambassador Program, founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to promote peace among nations through "understanding and mutual respect between individuals."

The program facilitated professional meetings of K–12 teachers, literacy coaches, administrators, librarians, university professors, and a publishing representative with Chinese educators and administrators. The delegates, who represented 22 states, visited seven of China's top schools and universities across Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai.

For many delegates, this was their first trip to China, and it dispelled many of their preconceived notions about Chinese culture and education as they traveled throughout the country.

And now for some article highlights:

• China has a centralized education administration, as opposed to the decentralized system in the United States.  Chinese educators, however, talked regularly about reform efforts to decentralize decisions and curriculum planning, while the U.S. is moving toward national standards and a more centrally regulated model.
• Primary school in China consists of six grades, and junior secondary school consists of three grades, which completes the nine years of compulsory education in China. 
• Three additional years in senior secondary school are available for those planning to attend post-secondary education.
• On average, chinese girls receive approximately seven years of education instead of the compulsory nine.
• Teachers face social and national pressure to teach toward high-stakes assessments, which limits their instructional choices in the classroom.  Standardized tests also determine teachers' job security and perceived effectiveness.
• Standardized tests determine the number of years students may attend school, their future occupations, and their social status.
• Middle school students are required to pass tests to enter high school.  If not, they repeat middle school.  If they fail a second time, they are tracked into trade schools that focus on trades such as cooking, mechanics, or cosmetology.
• At the high school level, students must master English-language tests to enter postsecondary education.
  The greatest challenges are found in rural China, where migrant workers move for employment.  They are required to remain registered in their home province for social services such as health care and education.
• One of the major differences that delegates noted while visiting schools was the lack of special education teacehrs or classes for learners with special needs.  For students with more severe cognitive or physical impairments, there are special schools separate from the mainstream educational system.  Delegates were not invited to visit these schools.
• The majority of Chinese students graduate high school with a basic proficiency in English.  Because of the widespread teaching of English as a second language, Chinese students need higher levels of of proficiency to stand out among their peers.
• English is taught in homes and across all grade levels, however, rural students usually do not study English until middle school as opposed to their urban peers.
• "Prestigious schools" are used to deomonstrate exemplary teaching practices and lead the way in school reforms.  Many of the schools supplemented the core curriculum with technology, art, music, physical education, drama, and other electives.

Gum, anyone?

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BabyWise vs. Attachment Parenting

This topic got brought up in my Bradley class I am currently teaching. I can't stop thinking about it and decided maybe this is a better venue to express my thoughts on this topic.

Most of the people I know, or have known, that have "done" the Baby Wise method of parenting have gotten into it because other couples at their church do it. The people I have encountered have been interesting for me to observe. They tend to watch the clock instead of their baby. For example, baby is fussy, and instead of putting the baby to breast, mom looks at the clock and announces that he shouldn't be hungry yet, not for another 20 minutes! By the time she feeds him, he's hysterical.

I had someone in class explain how the method is actually suppose to work, and I must admit, if I didn't have children, I might think it sounds like it makes a lot of sense. Here's the idea: You want your baby to learn to get good sleep and sleep for longer periods of time, because, like adults, they will learn better, grow better, etc., if they get good rest. They talk about the possibility of developing ADHD and having learning difficulties when the child doesn't get enough rest. (Have you been to Walmart at 10:00 at night and seen all the crying kids and frustrated parents? I'd have to say that I agree -- kids should be in bed when they have school the next day.) You are not to let the baby fall asleep at the breast, but keep the baby awake longer so that he will sleep longer. Baby Wise also does not want baby to always breastfeed to go to sleep.

My favorite part though was not having a baby that is a "snacker." The idea is that if you "let" your baby breastfeed whenever he wants to, he isn't getting "good protein" -- WHAT?! Whoever came up with that has no idea how breastfeeding actually works. Baby gets "good protein" at every nursing, long or short. They advocate for the baby to have "meals" instead of "snacks." Dr. Sears, in The Baby Book, talks about all the different types of nursing babies. Having breastfed 4 babies for more than 7 years of my life, I will tell you that all babies are different. My first did not ever nurse for less than 40 minutes at a time. His little head would sweat like crazy. I'd have about an hour, maybe 1 1/2 hours, before we'd do it all again. He is my healthiest child!

My 2nd baby was finished with nursing five minutes after it began. She would go 3-4 hours between feedings. I could never have made her nurse longer. I would have had a very frustrated baby, not to mention a very frustrated mom. She slept more than any of our other babies. She was the only baby who would not fall asleep nursing. She wanted to be left alone to go to sleep. Sounds like what every parent hopes for, right? Think again. She was not a cuddler. She has been my only child prone to ear infections. She is almost 10 years old and very smart, a very deep thinker. She likes to spend her time alone and has lots of self-soothing techniques that have become very disruptive in her life -- so much so that we are seeking counseling. Don't leave your child to soothe herself. My "squeeky wheels" seem to have more "normal" ways of dealing with life. I don't want to see parents do this type of parenting on purpose.

My other two babies were more in a classic category, as far as breastfeeding.

Some babies, especially newborns, will want to breastfeed every 20 minutes! This is a good thing. You will establish a good milk supply. It is the frequency of breastfeeding, not the duration, that stimulates your milk-producing hormones. So, snacking is great! Babies have very intense sucking needs those first few weeks. This is not a coincidence. It helps establish a good milk supply if your baby is at the breast very often. You absolutely cannot spoil your newborn baby! What will spoil this wonderful relationship is giving your baby a pacifier or bottle. Babies are built to breastfeed and so is the mother! Let yourself enjoy this time by following your baby's cues. He will let you know exactly what he needs if you will listen to him and not some kooky book that tells you your baby needs to teach himself how to go to sleep.

As far as sleeping goes, you cannot force a baby, or anyone, to fall into certain sleep cycles. Sleeping is an absolute basic need. Food, water, sleep, shelter. Honestly, no one needs to be taught how to sleep. Babies have very different sleep cycles from other age groups. A good book to read on this topic is "Sweet Dreams" by Dr. Paul Fleiss.

I was completely obsessed with sleep with my first baby. And then one day, I was trying to make him take a nap, and my aunt said to me, "You know, he will sleep when he's tired. He must not be tired. Let's go play!" This was so freeing to me. He was 3 years old at the time. He quit taking naps shortly after that, but his bedtime was moved to an earlier time. He is such a great sleeper since I quit obsessing over it. He's 12.

We had a big sleep progression over the years. I wish we could have just started with baby #4. We never even set up a crib with her. When we had a crib, we felt obligated to use it. (Dr. Sears tells a story of being in a foreign country and was asked, "Is it true that American mothers put their babies in cages at night?) Yes, it is true.

Let me tell you about sleep with Darcy: I nursed my baby to sleep every time she was sleepy! I would never recommend not doing that. It was stress free. I knew she'd fall asleep and if she didn't, we'd try again later. I knew this was my only time of her life that we would have this opportunity. I loved to nurse my sweet baby to sleep, to smell her milky breath as her mouth opened once sleep came and extra milk ran down the side of her cheek. I never had to pick her up and take her to her bed. Our bed was her bed. I simply laid her down and felt her body mold to mine. Unless you have experienced this closeness to your baby, you just cannot understand or imagine the sweetness. David and I both treasured that time, knowing it is too short.

Darcy was never afraid of sleep. It was a comfortable, safe, warm, happy place to be. What is wrong with nursing your baby to sleep, even every time your baby is tired? Why is this frowned upon in our society? I promised, it will not last forever! You will not create a monster.

Our bed sits high up. We taught her early on how to get off the bed -- "feet first" was a phrase all of our kids learned early on. When she was very small, we would put a monitor on the bed and get there as soon as we heard her wake up.

There were some sleepless nights. Sometimes, she'd be wide awake in the middle of the night and want to talk. Sometimes she'd kick David in the back. Sometimes we slept in the "H" position. This would have happened no matter what bed she was in. It would be very easy to ignore her if she were in another room. Usually, however, she would simply nurse back to sleep. I was her mother in the daytime as well as the nighttime. We have a king-size bed, and really, that is a better investment than a crib.

I hear parents say they are afraid the baby will never leave their bed. Of course they will. When Darcy was about 20 months old, we were trying to get her used to sleeping in another bed in our bedroom. We were going on a Tim McGraw cruise in a few weeks and wanted things to be easier for my mom who would be staying with the children. That was such a stressful time to try to make her sleep somewhere she wasn't comfortable with. After a few weeks of trying, I decided it just wasn't time for her to be out of our bed. What a relief.

She moved into her sisters' bedroom when she was 28 months old. We talked about it beforehand and felt that she was ready. She did not try to come out of the bedroom even one time! Again, sleep was never scary for her. It was an easy transition. She quit breastfeeding around the same time. She'll be 4 in March and is still a great napper, which always takes place on my bed. It's my favorite time of the day to snuggle up with her and feel her breathing sync with mine as we drift off to sleep.

Let's go back to the Baby Wise idea of not letting your baby fall asleep at the breast. First of all, I say this is nearly impossible. There are some major problems with this philosophy. When I am talking with a breastfeeding mom who has a baby that is not gaining weight, the first thing I ask her is, "Who is ending the feedings?" The baby should be the one ending it, usually because he falls asleep! Mom should not be ending it because the longer the baby stays at the breast, the more hindmilk the baby is getting. This is the fat, or "dessert," after dinner. Baby needs this to grow. Second, mom's body produces a hormone called prolactin which the baby also receives during breastfeeding. It is often called "the mothering hormone" because it causes her to be calm, even sleepy. Same effect on baby. Why would any mother not want to have this wonderful hormone surging through her body and her baby? Again, I ask, why is it bad to let your baby fall asleep at the breast?

Follow your baby's cues. Don't be a clock watcher. Don't schedule your baby. Together, you will fall into a natural routine. Routines are great. Schedules, not so much. Think of what is best for your baby. If it's best for your baby, it's most likely best for you too in the long run, even if it seems inconvenient right now.

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NJ: If we want better jobs, we need better schools...

This isn't a message we are used to hearing. As the governor and Education Secretary Lillian Lowery point out, past assessments of our children's academic achievements have been less than honest.

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20101121/OPINION11/11210314

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Nations Report Card Releases Results of Seniors Pilot Study

Seniors' Reading and Math NAEP Scores on Rise

By Catherine Gewertz

Twelfth graders’ reading and mathematics scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress have improved only modestly in the past four years, according to results released today, prompting renewed recognition that too few students leave high school well equipped for a promising future.


Results of NAEP, often called “the nation’s report card,” show that between 2005 and 2009, the two most recent administrations of the exam, 12th graders’ average reading scores rose 2 points, from 286 to 288, on a 500-point scale.

Read the article above by clicking on it.
Learn more about the nations report card:  http://www.nationsreportcard.gov/

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Wow! Just Wow! A love letter to Albuquerquie Schools

From the Failing Schools Blog - on my blogroll at right

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Don't Hate, Collaborate, Real Reform happening in Denver Public Schools!

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A Kline I might like... Rep. pledges to check fed role in education

Published Online: November 16, 2010

Republican Leader on Education Pledges to Check Federal Role

Republican Rep. John Kline poses for a portrait in his Burnsville, Minn., office. A deficit hawk and retired Marine pilot, Kline believes it's time to pull Washington out of the nation's classrooms and stop using billions in federal dollars to bail out state education budgets.
Burnsville, Minn.

The smooth flight through Congress that President Barack Obama's education plans enjoyed could soon crash into Republican Rep. John Kline, a deficit hawk and retired Marine pilot who once carried the nation's nuclear launch codes for Ronald Reagan.

The Minnesota Republican expects to take over leadership of the House Education and Labor Committee when Congress reconvenes. He said it's time to pull Washington out of the nation's classrooms and stop using billions in federal dollars to bail out state education budgets.

"We have got to see if there is some way to fix it without putting the federal government in charge of everything," Kline said.

While outgoing committee chairman Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., was considered a natural ally of Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Kline's relationship with him promises to be more complicated.

Kline, 63, said he liked Duncan personally and supported many of his policies, especially the ones opposed by teachers unions. "I like charter schools. I like performance pay for teachers," he said, but "there's a lot of tensions we've got to work around."

Those tensions come from Kline's dislike of rising deficits and what he considers the creeping influence of Washington into areas best controlled by states. That friction could flare up when the committee takes up the overhaul of the No Child Left Behind law next year.

The 2002 law championed by President George W. Bush was "the largest intrusion of the federal government in public education, ever," Kline said. "We have bipartisan consensus that we need to fix it."

Obama presented his blueprint for re-writing the law in March with an emphasis on ensuring students are ready for college or a career when they graduate from high school, a departure from the current law's focus on getting students to perform at their grade level by 2014.

But Kline said that plan wasn't the answer because it gave Washington too much power. "It's an important part of the dialogue, but the reforms themselves won't look like the blueprint," he said.

For one thing, he said, Republicans don't like how the plan encourages states to adopt common education standards.

"These national standards too easily morph into national assessments which morph into a national curriculum," he said.

Finish this article HERE

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Are Boobies Coming to a School District Near You?



From: http://www.sundiego.com/keep-a-breast-i-love-boobies-bracelet-p-6575.html

 Breasts are like the first day of spring - typically the first sign that a daughter has embarked on her journey into womanhood.  Maybe that's why women love them so much.  Even those who hate their breasts (too big, too small, uneven) love them.  Few can imagine life without them.  And, perhaps, that's why breast cancer can be so devastating to its survivors.  My own family has eluded breast cancer thus far, but a dear friend is in for the fight of her life. 

Does the potential of losing your breasts change one's perspective of what we call them?  Can those of us who have never experienced this threat make an impartial judgement as to what names are irreverent or obscene?  Do you correct your daughter when she and her friends call their breasts "boobies?"  Do you correct your son?  Should a school district suspend a child for wearing a bracelet that says "I (heart) Boobies.  Keep a breast."  The debate is getting closer to Delaware with a new lawsuit in PA. 
 
From the News Journal:

Pa. school sued over 'boobies' ban


MARYCLAIRE DALE • Associated Press • November 15, 2010

 PHILADELPHIA — A free-speech lawsuit is being filed against a Pennsylvania school district that bans the popular "I (heart) boobies" bracelets.

The American Civil Liberties Union says the Easton Area School District ban violates students' First Amendment rights.

The suit filed Monday says two middle school students received in-school suspensions last month for wearing bracelets that say, "I (Heart) Boobies. Keep a Breast."

School officials call the rubber jewelry distracting and demeaning.

The ACLU says the bracelets are perhaps irreverent, but not indecent.

School districts in Wyoming, Florida and California have run into similar disputes.

The bracelets are sold by a California nonprofit to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer organizations.

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Lt. Gov. pushes districts to cut admin...

Delaware school districts balk at Denn's push to cut back on expenses

Lieutenant governor: More education, less administration
By NICHOLE DOBO • The News Journal • November 13, 2010
Lt. Gov. Matt Denn came with a message to Friday's meeting of New Castle County school boards and administrators: Reduce class sizes, move resources into classrooms and lower administrative spending.

Speaking to about 20 people at the monthly New Castle County Combined Boards of Education, he pointed to an April report his office drafted that showed some $28 million could be used for instruction if districts would downsize administrative costs.

His audience pushed back.

Describing the April report as "harmful" to school districts, Appoquinimink Superintendent Tony Marchio said it used flawed methodology and that districts were taken by surprise when the state released the administrative cost analysis. The districts want to work with the state before the next report is released, he said, adding that the April one "fed into this feeding frenzy on this notion" that there are too many administrators.

"The way that it came out was harmful to the districts," Marchio said.

Denn stood by his report.

"It may just be something that we disagree about," he said.

The report is part of an effort by Gov. Jack Markell and the state Department of Education to encourage districts to send more money into the classroom. The two districts with the highest spending on administrative expenses were Laurel (10.03 percent) and Appoquinimink (9.99 percent), according to the report. The districts that spent the highest percentages of their budgets on direct educational expenditures were Seaford (77.47 percent) and Caesar Rodney (77.27 percent).

The report shouldn't have been a surprise, Denn said, because a state House bill signed in 2009 requires the state to create an annual report that outlines district spending. He brushed off a suggestion at the meeting that he present the report in a "more positive than a negative way," saying he favors reporting in an "accurate way." He also disagreed that the report should be combined with test score data to show that some high-performing districts are getting good scores because of administrative spending. He did agree to meet with district officials to work on collaboration.

The report used spending data reported by districts. Districts report financial data broken down by categories. The government provides definitions for each category, with the intention of gathering it in a uniform way.
Marchio and other administrators said it's not fair to compare schools using those numbers. Some districts may report the same kinds of spending in different categories because each district makes some judgment calls on where to report the money. And there's a problem for some schools where administrative costs are inflated because of expensive programs for special-needs students.

Throughout the meeting, Denn urged the group to find ways to cut costs and solve problems without asking for more money from the state. In these economic times, there's no money to spare, and schools should shoulder some of the responsibility for finding efficiencies, he said.

States have been grappling with how to fund education initiatives in a weakened economy. The issue of administrative costs was addressed this week in New Jersey, where Gov. Chris Christie proposed caps for superintendent pay based on district enrollment -- a move that calls for significant pay cuts for current superintendents.

There's been no effort to push down a similar plan in Delaware. The message from the governor's office has focused on putting pressure on districts to come up with their own savings plans. At the same time, the state cut its own payroll by eliminating jobs through attrition.

Some at Friday's meeting expressed doubt that administrative spending cuts are feasible.

Decreasing administrative spending will be difficult given that the state has passed down new initiatives -- such as Common Core standards and the Race to the Top education reform program -- that have created more administrative work, said Judy Curtis, an assistant superintendent in Brandywine. She predicted that future reports will show increased administrative spending because districts have been tasked with making these statewide initiatives workable on a local level.

"That's not books and pencils ... and it's not work that can be laid on teachers or principals," Curtis said.

Brandywine School District Superintendent Mark Holodick said those trims do not come without consequences. His district, for example, decided to consolidate bus routes this year to follow a suggestion from the governor's office. Now, droves of parents are showing up at board meetings to complain fiercely that there are fewer neighborhood bus stops.

"It's easy to talk about saving money ... until it affects you," he said.

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Social Circumcising

We had a great meeting and discussion this week at the Tarrant County Birth Network meeting.  One of our topics was circumcision.  I've written quite a bit on the blog about circumcision, but I haven't addressed the social reasons that I hear so frequently regarding the decision.  So let's talk about them.  If I miss any, please comment below and we'll try to address them all.

If you have not read about the purpose of the foreskin previously, I want you to do that now.  Click here.

The foreskin is obviously not just a flap of skin.  It has many purposes.  So why are 50% of American males still being circumcised?  It's these social traditions or concerns that need to be addressed.


1.  We want him to to look like his dad.  A little boy looks no more like his dad than a little girl looks like her mother.  Things grow bigger and grow hair, which, in my opinion, is much more distracting than the foreskin!  Mostly, after the first couple of years of life, when does a boy ever see his father naked?  My 14-year-old intact son has no idea what his father looks like and vice versa.  Frankly, in my opinion, it's a really odd and disturbing argument.

2.  What about the locker room?  Won't he be made fun of?  Maybe 20, 30, 40 years ago, but with 50% of males not being circumcised, it becomes a matter of education in my opinion.  When my son went to 5th grade we knew he would be dressing out for PE.  We sat him down and told him about circumcision.  He was, to say the least, appalled -- very much the same way you were when you found out about episiotomies.  We explained that we researched it and felt there was no reason to do it and that most parents do it because of tradition.  He knows that those kids' parents probably just didn't know any better.  He politely thanked us for "not doing that" to him.

Last year, in 8th grade, I asked him if it was ever an issue, and he laughed.  He said, "No one is looking!  Creepy!"  As a side note, as a boy grows into a man, it becomes less and less obvious that he is not circumcised, especially when it is erect.  This is, again, in my opinion, an argument made by (jealous?) men envious of their intact friends who are, on average, 25% longer than the circumcised male.  Just saying.

3.  Isn't it cleaner to be circumcised?  There has been misconception about smegma, the tiny, white, ball-like substance that the foreskin produces.  In the past, by those that don't understand it's purpose, it's been thought to be unclean.  In fact, just the opposite it true.  The foreskin is self-cleaning, as smegma is antiviral and antibacterial.  No soap is required, just warm water in the shower, later, when the foreskin retracts on its own.  Next time you hear someone say in regards to circumcision, "I guess, as long as he is taught how to properly clean himself..." you can let them know that remaining intact is not unclean.  That is part of the misconception, created by a society that wanted males circumcised because they believed it prevented masturbation.  Seriously?  I guess when 20,000 nerve endings are removed...  Mostly, he'll just never know what he's missing.


4.  Circumcision was a law in the Old Testament so we should follow that law.  It must be noted that circumcision was nothing in the Old Testament like it is in America today!  Removing as much as 80% of the penile covering is not what was going on back then!  It was more like a nick in the foreskin.  Of course, circumcision is still a part of religions today, so I am mainly addressing those of the Christian faith at this point.  If you continue reading the New Testament, it's very clear that the law of circumcision, along with many other laws, were done away with through the blood of Christ.  I'll encourage you to search that out.  For my LDS readers, it is stated many other places as well -- The Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants.  

5.  Circumcision prevents being sexually active at an early age.  Seriously? 

6.  His future wife will think it's ugly and wish he was circumcised.   Who comes up with this stuff?  Very likely, she won't even know the difference.  I have friends that had no idea their husband wasn't circumcised until he told her. 

 7.  I'm leaving it up to my husband to decide.  Why?  It's not his penis in jeopardy!  Your baby cannot speak for himself and he needs his mother to advocate for him.  This is where we get into informed consent issues.  I'm convinced that one day a boy/man will sue his parents over this issue.  If you think that "he has a penis, he knows what it's like," it's a different time today than it was 30 years ago.  Parents are educating themselves and questioning (foolish) traditions.  This is surgery for your baby.  Both parents should be making this decision, not one or the other.  What about letting your son decide for himself?

8.  Better to do it now since he won't remember it.  Babies feel pain more acutely than adults, they just can't say so.  This argument also implies that it will have to be done later, which is highly unlikely.  See the argument below.

9.  It's better to do it now than later when it's more painful.  I compare this argument to elective cesarean (surgery that is not needed) and cesarean with an OB or midwife who has an extremely low cesarean rate (only doing surgery when it's truly required).   Some doctors or pediatricians have no idea about the intact male.  They try to pull the foreskin back at each appointment because they haven't researched it or know any better.  They are looking for things to go wrong.   We all know what happens when you have an OB like that -- you have surgery.  The same is true for an intact male.  It is very important that you have a pediatrician/family practice doctor who is up-to-date on the intact male.  If they are supportive of not circumcising (supportive, not compliant) and for whatever reason believes that your son needs to be circumcised (extremely rare), then you won't need to second-guess that decision.   It's always best to get more than one opinion, regardless.

10.  His brother(s) is circumcised, so we have to keep doing it.  Two wrongs don't make a right.  The cycle has to stop somewhere.  I've had guys in class tell stories about some of the boys in their families being circumcised and others not, and not once have they made it to be a big deal.  They all knew why some were and some weren't.  I even had one guy say that he and his brother didn't know that one was and one wasn't until they were adults and their mom was talking about it as they were making the decision for their baby.  As far as who is envious of the other, I can't help but think it will be the circumcised male that is envious of his intact brother.

Just a couple other things to touch on:  Female circumcision has been in the news quite a bit lately.  When we mentioned it the other day at our meeting, everyone cringed.  Why do we do that when we are talking about females, but not males?  Why?  It's the same thing.  Think about it.

I like to see parents take this bold step in protecting their sons.  Some are breaking tradition and bucking the system.  Chances are, if you are reading this blog, this isn't the only area you are breaking out of the mold!  When we chose not to circumcise our son, 14 years ago, we had no friends that didn't circumcise their sons.  As the months went by, we found out that most of his male cousins aren't circumcised either.  We found it was more prevalent than we had thought when we made the decision.  That is great, but it is so important that we share this information with expectant parents.

The 9th step to the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative is to discourage non-religious circumcision.  Discourage is an action word!

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From Seattle - A Super and her posse?

The State of Our School District


Posted by Riya Bhattacharjee on Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 4:23 PM

I had a rather awkward moment with Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson at her first State of the District address last night at Mercer Middle School. I'll get to that in a sec, first, the state of the district.

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/11/10/the-state-of-our-school-district

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I LOVE this Story! And it has nothing to do with education

Hah!  The Legend Lives!

I was Newark teenager in the 90s when the "cougars" first came to town.  Late in the 90s, I was spending the night in the front bedroom of my parents home not far from the residence of the infamous "cougar lady" - the dear heart and passionate Newarker, since passed on, who saw the cougar first.  There was a rental home just around the curve from my parents, the previous renters had been of the Gore line, and had recently been replaced by a rowdy crowd of UD students, then subject to the hazy glee of underage drinking and college parties.  At 3 am, I was staring woefully out the window, wishing the party away, when there in our front yard was the "cougar,"  or a giant pregnant raccoon.  I'm pretty sure it was a raccoon.  I donned acceptable wear and headed for the front yard.  It was gone.  So, I walked up the street to the former Gore residence, knocked on the door, and asked a student to turn the music down.  She did. 

Yes, it was certainly a raccoon.  Even after marrying my own dear heart, whose mother swears she saw the cougar in a tree in her North Wilmington home, I am still a non-believer!


Cougar sighting craze returning?


Published: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 8:44 PM CST

The sighting of a cougar early Wednesday morning was only the latest chapter of the story of the elusive cat in Delaware that dates back to the 1990s.

Sightings of the cats, also known as mountain lions or pumas, were reported in the 1990s and continued into 2002.

One story in the New York Times claimed the cat had escaped from an owner in Pennsylvania and had fled into Delaware. The Delaware Division of Fish & Wildlife declared that two or perhaps more cougars were roaming New Castle and perhaps Kent County, according to the website, cougar.net. They were believed to be feeding on deer and Canada geese. Sightings were also reported by State Park rangers at White Clay Creek and Lums Pond state parks in New Castle County. Sightings were also reported in the city of Newark.

Evidence included video, footprint and droppings. There have been no reports of attacks on pets or livestock.

Sightings have also been reported throughout the Delmarva Peninsula all the way to the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

The reports became so numerous that New Castle County Police assigned an officer in the mid 1990s to track the cat and capture it with a tranquilizer gun. The effort, which included bringing cougar hounds from Colorado, failed.

State wildlife officials have not ruled out the possibility that all animals that have been sighted either were freed or escaped from private owners.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports cougars need a lot of room, while noting that no evidence of a breeding population on the East Coast has been found. Males may occupy a range of more than 25 square miles and females between 5 and 20 square miles.

In the latest report, County Police said a 45 year-old man told them he was out walking his dog when it began acting "strange" and pulled toward a nearby wooded area, where he spied a cougar sitting underneath some trees.

The man said he called 911 and watched the cat for about eight minutes. The cougar, which he described as twice the size of his Boxer, then made a high-pitched growl and walked off into the woods, the man said.

Police searched the area, but found no signs of the animal.

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Long-term Impacts on Labor Market Outcomes via Career Academies

A June 2008 look at Career Academies and Impact on the Labor Market: There are several important notes to made in this evaluation and I have bolded/underlined each.  Academies range from 150-200 students, the results are based on the experiences of more than 1400 young people, 85% of whom were Hispanic or African American and the labor market impacts were concentrated among young men.  Read the Full Report Here:  http://www.mdrc.org/publications/482/full.pdf

Career Academies


Long-Term Impacts on Labor Market Outcomes, Educational Attainment, and Transitions to Adulthood
James J. Kemple with Cynthia J. Willner

Established more than 30 years ago, Career Academies have become a widely used high school reform initiative that aims to keep students engaged in school and prepare them for successful transitions to postsecondary education and employment. Typically serving between 150 and 200 students from grades 9 or 10 through grade 12, Career Academies are organized as small learning communities, combine academic and technical curricula around a career theme, and establish partnerships with local employers to provide work-based learning opportunities. There are estimated to be more than 2,500 Career Academies operating around the country.

Since 1993, MDRC has been conducting a uniquely rigorous evaluation of the Career Academy approach that uses a random assignment research design in a diverse group of nine high schools across the United States. Located in medium- and large-sized school districts, the schools confront many of the educational challenges found in low-income urban settings. The participating Career Academies were able to implement and sustain the core features of the approach, and they served a cross-section of the student populations in their host schools. This report describes how Career Academies influenced students’ labor market prospects and postsecondary educational attainment in the eight years following their expected graduation. The results are based on the experiences of more than 1,400 young people, approximately 85 percent of whom are Hispanic or African-American.
Key Findings

The Career Academies produced sustained earnings gains that averaged 11 percent (or $2,088) more per year for Academy group members than for individuals in the non-Academy group — a $16,704 boost in total earnings over the eight years of follow-up (in 2006 dollars).

These labor market impacts were concentrated among young men, a group that has experienced a severe decline in real earnings in recent years. Through a combination of increased wages, hours worked, and employment stability, real earnings for young men in the Academy group increased by $3,731 (17 percent) per year — or nearly $30,000 over eight years.

Overall, the Career Academies served as viable pathways to a range of postsecondary education opportunities, but they do not appear to have been more effective than options available to the non-Academy group. More than 90 percent of both groups graduated from high school or received a General Educational Development (GED) certificate, and half completed a postsecondary credential.

The Career Academies produced an increase in the percentage of young people living independently with children and a spouse or partner. Young men also experienced positive impacts on marriage and being custodial parents.

The findings demonstrate the feasibility of improving labor market preparation and successful school-to-work transitions without compromising academic goals and preparation for college. Investments in career-related experiences during high school can produce substantial and sustained improvements in the labor market prospects and transitions to adulthood of youth. In fact, Career Academies are one of the few youth-focused interventions that have been found to improve the labor market prospects of young men. At the same time, Career Academies have proven to be challenging to implement on a large scale with high levels of fidelity, and the evidence from this evaluation may not apply to programs that are partially implemented or that use only selected features of the Academy approach. Further research should be conducted to determine the effects of key Academy components.

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Philadelphia Academies - Where the Model for Small Learning Academies Began

In keeping with earlier blog post, I am continuing my research into Small Learning Academies, the projected instructional model for Christina's Glasgow High School as a part of the DOE's RTTT Partnership Zone.

It strikes me as odd that the Small Learninng Academies Model for High School began  in Philadelphia; yet, even with our close proximity to Philly, Delaware is forty years behind in attempting this form of educational intervention.  Here's some history and model highlights:

History (from http://www.academiesinc.org/info_presidents_message.html)

It was 1968. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were assassinated. Our cities were ablaze. Our nation was in crisis. Youth found no relevance or reassurance that what they were doing in school could change their future. The drop out rate in some high schools was 50%. The nation was asking how it could address the educational needs of students; how to steer them away from the negative forces of urban unrest and how to give them hope for a future where they could be contributing productive citizens.

One answer came from a handful of business and community leaders in Philadelphia. Charles Bowser, Executive Director of the Urban Coalition and Deputy Mayor, brought together the CEO’s of the Philadelphia Electric Company and Bell of Pennsylvania to work on ideas that could save their city from the worst of the racial unrest that was so devastating to cities like Chicago and Detroit. In seeking ways to help, they focused on the future—the children. They formulated a plan to bring business into the schools in a model that would engage both the student and the business partner in meaningful ways. What they didn’t realize at the time was that they were creating one of the most successful education reform efforts in the country.

In 1969, the first Academy opened at Edison High School with thirty 10th grade students. Called the Academy of Applied Electrical Science, the program was set up as an independent not-for-profit corporation with its own Board of Directors. Over the years, more Academies opened as independent entities. In 1988 the individual Academy programs relinquished their status as separate, tax-exempt, non-profit organizations and merged into the Philadelphia Academies, Inc.

California came first to study the model, then New York, then Florida. Soon the career academy model was everywhere. Today with some 3,000 academies in operation nationwide, they have evolved into one of the nation’s most widely adopted reform initiatives to address the major problems associated with large comprehensive high schools, particularly those in urban districts where more than half of the students do not graduate on schedule.
The career academy model has been researched, studied and scrutinized and recently named as one of only three evidence-based, in-school models that work. And it all started in Philadelphia –not by a think tank of educators but by a handful of community leaders who loved their city and knew they could make a difference by helping its children.


Academy Model

■Our Model
■The primary assumption in PAI’s model is that we can significantly change life and economic outcomes for young people by motivating them to learn through their own interests and real-world, career-connected experiences and curriculum. Embedded in the model are three core activities – programming that motivates, the active development of networks with caring adults, and local advocacy at a policy level for instructional and structural changes in secondary education.

■Our Role
■PAI serves as an intermediary, bringing the financial and human resources of the business community into Philadelphia public schools, providing work and life readiness skills, making connections to internship experiences, and offering scholarships that provide a path toward a productive life.
■We engage over 400 volunteers from the local business, labor, non-profit, and higher education communities in improving education and building 21st Century skills for Philadelphia public high school students.

■Our Numbers
■PAI serves over 4,500 students in 28 academy programs in 10 career areas. We work with 16 high schools.

■An Environment for Learning
■Each Academy program is housed in a large urban high school as a "school-within-a-school".
■An Academy’s curriculum is centered around a career theme to motivate students, connect the schools to business and community partners, and give students practical applications related to their studies.
■Academy enrollment should not exceed 250 students so that teachers have an opportunity to give adequate attention to the needs of each student.
■A team of teachers is selected from among the school’s faculty and an "Academy Coordinator" is chosen to lead the program and be accountable to the Academies, Inc. for the delivery of education and career services to students.
■Students are scheduled to attend classes together and are taught by a core group of teachers as part of their daily routine.
■There is contiguous space provided to create a sense of a defined community within the school, which includes an Academy office complete with direct telephone access, fax machines and other items necessary to run the program effectively.

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TCBN Meeting this Week -- Newborn Testing & Procedures including Circumcision

This Thursday, November 11th, is our monthly Tarrant County Birth Network meeting.  We meet on the Texas Wesleyan campus in the Sid Richardson building on the 2nd floor from 7:00-9:00 pm.   We invite all expectant couples to come learn about newborn testing and procedures, no matter where you are planning to give birth. 

We are excited to hear from Christy Martin, a member of TCBN and Certified Professional Midwife, speaking on newborn procedures under her care either in a birth center or your home.  We will also hear from a nurse from one of Tarrant County's hospitals as to what to expect with newborn testing and the different procedures that take place when the baby is born in the hospital.  When do these things take place?  Why is it done?  Are they optional?  Come find out.

We strongly encourage fathers-to-be to come to this meeting this week.  Very often, it is the dad who is with the baby at this very important time, and we want him to be informed about what is being done to his baby.

In addition, we will have a great discussion about circumcision at this meeting.  Again, I hope you'll encourage the men in your life to attend this meeting.  So often, brand new parents just go along with tradition -- testing, bottle feeding, immediate cord clamping, eye ointment, vaccinations, and of course, circumcision -- because they simply don't have the information about why these things are being done. You may find that one or both of you is not okay with certain procedures.   It's a lot for mom to have to go home and explain all this information to her husband, so just bring him with you!  Then, the two of you will be able to make informed decisions in regards to your newborn.

Last month, it was so fun to have all the babies and toddlers at our Babywearing meeting.  With all the kiddos, we had 75 people in attendance!  This month, however, we are back to our usual request:  Please only bring immobile lap-babies.  We hope that expectant couples can get the information they are looking for, and sometimes it gets quite noisy!  (Remember what it was like before you had children!)  I am on the prowl this week for a microphone for future meetings, so that will help tremendously. 

Just a reminder, it's only $25 for a Consumer Membership and there are some fantastic benefits offered by our Professional Members if you are a member of TCBN (pick up a Resource Guide to check them out). You can join online.  Thanks for your support of TCBN and Mother-Friendly maternity care.  See you Thursday.

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Partnership Academies in California

California Partnership Academies

State legislation launched the California Partnership Academies (CPAs) in 1984. Now operating in more than 200 comprehensive high schools, CPAs have been used as a model for high school reform in California and elsewhere. Academies typically feature multi-age learning groups, team teaching and career-based instruction. Teachers help students connect high school lessons to future employment scenarios. Several evaluations have found positive student effects associated with academies.  http://www.connectedcalifornia.org/about/downloads/CA_Partnerships.pdf

Program Overview


The Academy Model

The Partnership Academy Model is a three-year program, grades ten through twelve, structured as a school-within-a-school. There are currently 340 funded programs throughout California. The model, originating with the Philadelphia Academies in the late 1960s, spread to California in the early 1980s. Academies incorporate many features of the high school reform movement that includes creating a close family-like atmosphere, integrating academic and career technical education, and establishing viable business partnerships. Emphasis is also placed on student achievement and positive postsecondary outcomes. Academies have been carefully evaluated and shown to have positive impacts on school performance. Key components of the Academy model are:

CURRICULUM focused on a career theme and coordinated with related academic classes.
VOLUNTARY student selection process that identifies interested ninth graders.
TEAM OF TEACHERS who work together to plan and implement the program.
MOTIVATIONAL ACTIVITIES with private sector involvement to encourage academic and occupational preparation, such as: integrated and project-based curriculum, mentor program, classroom speakers, field trips, and exploration of postsecondary and career options.
WORKPLACE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES such as job shadowing, student internships, and work experience.

Curriculum and Career Focus

The career technical focus for an Academy is determined by an analysis of the local labor market, with an eye toward fields that are growing and healthy, that offer jobs with career "ladders", and that have companies willing to support the program. Career technical education is kept broad, focusing on industries rather than specific jobs in areas such as business technology, health, electronics, media, agribusiness, building trades, natural resources, finance, and retail trade. The integration of a standards-based academic and career-technical curriculum is a key ingredient.

Staffing
Teachers request to participate in the program and must be willing to work with "at-risk" students. Teachers are required to have a common planning period to meet regularly to:

Plan the program activities and curriculum.
Coordinate with business representatives.
Meet with parents.
Discuss student progress.

Student Selection
At least half of each new class must meet specific “at-risk” criteria to determine student eligibility. The remaining one half has no restrictions. The program is voluntary; students must apply, be interviewed, and be selected on the basis of need and interest. About 60-70 students are typically selected for entry each year, enough to comprise two sections of a sophomore class.

Business Involvement
Each Academy has a partnership with employers. Employer representatives:
Serve on an Academy steering committee that oversees the program.
Help to develop the career technical curriculum.
Provide speakers for Academy classes.
Host field trips to give students a perspective of the workplace.
Provide mentors who serve as career-related role models and personal points of contact in the field of training.
Provide internships and summer jobs for Academy students.

The Mentor Program
In the eleventh grade, Academy students are matched with mentors. Mentors are usually employees of participating businesses who volunteer to be a "career-related and/or caring adult" in the student's life.

Internship Program
After their junior year, students performing well enough to be on track for graduation are placed in internship positions. Students apply for these positions as they would in the open market; i.e., they prepare resumes, complete job applications, and have interviews. Companies make the hiring decisions.

Funding and Evaluation
Funding is performance based; only those students meeting the 80 percent attendance and 90 percent credit requirements qualify for funding. State grants must be matched 100 percent by both the receiving district and business partners. Annual evaluations consistently reflect improved student performance on attendance, credits, grade point averages, and graduation rates.

Funding Requirements


Following are the funding requirements for California Partnership Academy grants:

1. The district provides 100 percent match of state funds received in the form of direct and in-kind supports.
2. Participating companies or other private-sector organizations provide 100 percent match of state funds received in the form of direct and in-kind support.
3. State funds provided by the Partnership Academy program are only used for the development, operation, and support of Partnership Academies.
4. The Academy is established as a "school-within-a-school" with classes restricted to Academy students.
5. Academy teachers work as a team in planning, teaching, and troubleshooting program activities.
6. An advisory committee is formed that consists of individuals involved in Academy operations, including school district and school administrators, lead teachers, and representatives of the private sector. The advisory committee meets regularly.
7. During grades ten and eleven Academy students are provided instruction in at least three academic subjects that contribute to an understanding of the occupational field of the Academy and one career-technical class related to the Academy's occupational field.
8. Academy classes during twelfth grade may vary, but must include at least one academic and one career technical education class.
9. The school site class schedule limits Academy classes to Academy students with classes block scheduled whenever possible.
10. Students are provided with a mentor from the business community during the student's eleventh grade year.
11. Students are provided with an internship or paid job related to the Academy's occupational field or work experience to improve employment skills during the summer following eleventh grade or during the twelfth grade year.
12. Students are provided opportunities to engage in additional motivational activities with private sector involvement to encourage academic and occupational preparation.
13. Academy teachers have a common planning period to interchange student and educational information.

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One election won't fix our nation...

"Our leaders dictate almost every aspect of life to us. They dictate what our children are taught in school. It's called education reform, although some of the standards are not age-appropriate. Teachers have no say in what is taught and to whom, as it is mandated by the state..."

One election won't fix our nation

http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/article/20101107/OPINION02/11070310
BY JASON THOMPSON • November 7, 2010
Wouldn't it be nice if we all lived in a magical land where there were endless days of pixie dust and rainbows? It sounds unrealistic, doesn't it? Then why, might I ask, is it that our political leaders think a simple election can fix our struggling nation?

For the past several months, all we have seen and heard is candidates attacking their opponents. After all the backbiting and muckraking, I wonder if any candidate is worthy of my vote. It hardly seems like our votes mean anything anymore anyway. Just look back at the 2000 presidential election where a judge, not the voters, chose our president.

Unfortunately, the problem also trickles down to the influential people who support our candidates. Instead of donating to charitable organizations, food pantries or even a local hospital, corporate CEOs and others donate money to the major parties candidates' campaigns. You don't need me to explain why that happens.

Ask yourselves this question? Every time we get a newly elected official, do things ever really change? Let's see. Everything we buy, our earned income, our licensing for vehicles and driving privileges are all taxed. Even if you are lucky enough to own your own home, you still have to pay property taxes, and if you cannot pay those taxes, you will lose your home. But our government claims it hasn't got any money. Show of hands please to those who believe this. I think I've answered the question.

Our leaders dictate almost every aspect of life to us. They dictate what our children are taught in school. It's called education reform, although some of the standards are not age-appropriate. Teachers have no say in what is taught and to whom, as it is mandated by the state.

How long is it going to be before our government is telling us what to say and how to think. It seems as if it is only a matter of time before a new law will repeal the First Amendment. Until then, my fellow Ohioans and Americans, let me remind you of this little thing called a mouth. We all have one just below our noses, and we don't need a trustee, mayor, senator, representative, governor or president to speak for us.

Jason Thompson is a resident of Philo. He is a broadcaster for various independent pro wrestling shows and a recipient of the 2008 Muskingum County Red Cross Hometown Hero Award for Education.

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Kohl's Contest Raises Questions. Creative? Yes. Right? What do you think?

Published Online: November 3, 2010
Kohl's Contest Raises Questions

By Doris Hajewski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (MCT)
A Kohl's Corp. contest that gave a total of $10 million to 20 schools nationwide inspired intense campaigning and wound up being dominated by small religious schools, leading to questions about whether the well-intentioned competition was fair.

Featuring online voting on the company's Facebook page, the contest succeeded in mobilizing hundreds of thousands of parents across the country to talk about Kohl's during the back-to-school shopping season. But there also has been criticism of methods used by some of the top finishers to lure votes, such as raffling off iPads or reaching out to overseas voters.

Each school in the top 20 received $500,000. Jewish schools won 12 of the 20 spots, and six other winners were Christian or Catholic schools. Two were public schools.

"It wasn't fair," said William Henk, dean of Marquette University's College of Education, said of the raffles and international voting. "It was probably creative. But it doesn't seem like it was a fair thing to do."

Henk followed the controversy surrounding the contest on his blog, Marquette Educator.

Kohl's said the raffles and the votes from outside the U.S. were in compliance with contest rules.

"We saw several communities show ingenuity and creativity in raising support for their schools," said Vicki Shamion, senior vice president of public relations.

Kohl's held the giveaway to mark the 10th anniversary of its Kohl's Cares charity effort, coinciding with the department store chain's back-to-school marketing campaign. Each person could vote a total of 20 times, casting up to five votes per school, using a Facebook account.

Voters automatically became "fans" of Kohl's on Facebook, the social networking website, boosting the company's fan total to 2.7 million, from 1 million.

"They get more connections for future marketing campaigns," said Jan Owens, associate professor of marketing for Carthage College in Kenosha.

At the same time, Owens said, the gifts to schools resonate with parents and teachers.

"We were inspired by the amount of school spirit and community support we saw from students, teachers, parents and school supporters across the country during this contest," Shamion said.

Drumming Up Support

More than 11 million votes were cast, as parents and school administrators drummed up support for their schools. Parents set up laptops in shopping malls, at nearby colleges, at Starbucks, at entertainment events%mdash;anywhere they could log on. The volunteers would solicit people to vote for their schools, helping them to set up Facebook accounts if they didn't have one.

Lucas Christian Academy in Texas, the second-place finisher, found lots of votes at the FortyFest Christian rock concert at the Texas Motor Speedway.

Our Lady of the Presentation, a Catholic elementary school in Lee's Summit, Mo., that ranked third in the contest, had help from a nearby elderly living complex, John Knox Village, where some residents belong to the parish.

"We had little old ladies helping people at John Knox set up Facebook accounts," said Jodie Briggs, principal at Presentation.

Kohl's kept a running tally of the vote on its Facebook page throughout the contest, but after it ended last month, it did not post a list of the winners. Visitors to Kohl's Facebook page can search only for top vote-getters by state.

The company provided the list to the Journal Sentinel at the newspaper's request. No schools in Wisconsin were among the winners.

"We wanted it to be very local," said Julie Gardner, chief marketing officer for Kohl's, of the decision not to post the full winners list. "We felt like the localization piece was more important."

The top vote-getter was Lake High School, a public school in Millbury, Ohio, which was listed with 163,395 votes at the end of the contest. The school was destroyed in June by a tornado that killed the father of its valedictorian. The $500,000 prize from Kohl's will go toward a $24 million rebuilding project, said Principal Lee Herman.

Lake High was a sympathetic favorite among other front-running schools, who directed their extra votes to the school, Herman said.

"It was more the effort on the local media's part," Herman said. "As a school, we did nothing to promote this."

Lake High was the exception in that regard.

Some schools, including Pius XI High School, St. Marcus Lutheran and Racine Mitchell Middle School in Wisconsin, had administrators sitting on the roof to garner attention.

Some others did more. Mount Ellis Academy, a high school in Bozeman, Mont., that is affiliated with the Seventh Day Adventist church, used contests offering an iPad and a 30-minute helicopter ride as part of its successful effort to make the Kohl's top 20 list.

"We think of it as a miracle," said Darren Wilkins, principal of the 70-student high school.

The school, which is more than 100 years old, had been struggling to find ways to raise money to repair its failing sewer system. The big turning point for Mount Ellis was near the end of the contest, when the school was close enough to winning to draw support from the worldwide Seventh Day Adventist organization, Wilkins said.

"It really did end up going around the world," Wilkins said. Votes came in from Nepal, Malaysia and Japan, he said. In addition, a former exchange student from Pakistan drummed up support in his country, just as the floods there started.

After winning $500,000 from Kohl's, students at Mount Ellis ran a fundraiser for Pakistan.

Schools Form Partnerships

Motti Seligson, media relations spokesman for Chabad.org, a website that serves Jews worldwide, said the base of support for the 12 winning schools, most of them affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch organization, was local.

"It was really between the schools themselves," Seligson said.

Many of the winning schools formed partnerships at some point in the competition, asking their supporters to use extra votes for one or two other schools.

Charlotte Jewish Day School in Charlotte, N.C., for example, worked with Spartanburg Charter School, a public school in Spartanburg, S.C., marketing themselves as the only Southern schools with a chance to win, said Gale Osborne, development director for Charlotte Jewish. On the last day of the contest, the local Fox TV affiliate did live broadcasts from the school, urging viewers to vote. Both schools were among the 20 winners.

"The positive effect of the campaign is so much greater than the money," Osborne said. "The Jewish population in Charlotte is small. What happened is that it galvanized our community. By the end of the campaign, people were saying, 'How are we doing?' "

For parents at Darby Elementary in Northridge, Calif., however, the Kohl's contest brought frustration. Darby, which is part of the Los Angeles school district, was in 12th place at the end of the competition, but was eliminated after 35,000 votes for the school were disqualified. Kohl's has not explained the problem to the school, despite requests from parents posted on Kohl's Facebook page.

Sharon Docter, a Darby parent who worked on the campaign, said parents decided to try to win the money because of the school budget crunch.

"It feels like we were duped into providing free marketing for Kohl's and in the end they disqualified a significant number of our votes with no explanation," Docter said.

Two other schools, Yeshiva Achei Tmimim Academy in Worcester, Mass., and United Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Brooklyn, N.Y., also were in the top 20 at the contest's end, but were not certified as winners.

"Kohl's engaged a third-party organization to verify adherence to contest rules and regulations including voting accuracy," Shamion said. "The organization used the same contest criteria and verified votes for all schools. Any votes determined invalid per rules and regulations were not counted, per contest rules, therefore changing the final vote count. While many schools that exhibited a strong sense of spirit did not win, Kohl's congratulates all of the participants that displayed an inspiring sense of community throughout the contest."

"What we were hoping to do was to get a lot of engagement with our customers," Gardner said. "At the end of the day, we accomplished what we hoped."

THE WINNERS ARE ...

Kohl's Cares $500,000 winners:
• Lake High School, Millbury, Ohio
• Lucas Christian Academy, Lucas, Texas
• Our Lady of the Presentation, Lee's Summit, Mo.
• Pius X High School, Lincoln, Neb.
• Hebrew Academy, Huntington Beach, Calif.
• Good Shepherd Christian Academy, Fairfax, Va.
• Cheder Menachem, Los Angeles, Calif.
• Bais Chaya Mushka School, Los Angeles, Calif.
• Mount Ellis Academy, Bozeman, Mont.
• St. Clement Coptic Orthodox Christian Academy, Nashville, Texas
• Charlotte Jewish Day School, Charlotte, N.C.
• JETS-Jewish Educational Trading School, Granada Hills, Calif.
• Chabad Hebrew Academy, San Diego, Calif.
• Hebrew Academy Community School, Margate, Fla.
• Rohr Bais Chaya Academy, Tamarac, Fla.
• Silverstein Hebrew Academy, Great Neck, N.Y.
• Netan Eli Hebrew Academy, Reseda, Calif.
• Jewish School of the Arts, North Palm Beach, Calif.
• Spartanburg Charter School, Spartanburg, S.C.
• Sha'arei Zion Ohel Bracha, Forest Hills, N.Y.

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TFA rooting in Delaware...

Job Description


SMD, Regional Growth, Strategy & Development (Delaware)

Primary Location : Delaware Team : Regional Teams

Description

Position Summary

The Senior Managing Director (SMD), Regional Growth, Strategy & Development is responsible for maximizing the impact of our relationships with community partners, particularly our district and school partners, and for maximizing the reach and impact of Teach For America in Delaware. SMD, Regional Growth, Strategy and Development will play an important role in driving our strategy to reach our 2015 goals and maximizing the impact of Teach For America in the state. This SMD will report directly to the executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Region.

About Teach For America

Teach For America is the national corps of top recent college graduates who commit to teach for at least two years in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in the effort to expand educational opportunity. Our mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting the nation's most promising future leaders in the effort.

In the 2009-10 school year, over 7,300 first- and second-year Teach For America corps members will teach in 35 regions across the United States. Since 1990, Teach For America corps members have reached approximately 3 million students. Nearly 17,000 Teach For America alumni are working in education and many other fields, where they continue to advocate for students and families in low-income communities. While only 1 in 10 corps members say they were interested in the teaching profession before joining Teach For America, more than two-thirds of our alumni remain in the field of education.

We are a high-growth, outcomes-oriented organization, with a $189 million budget and close to 1,200 staff. We operate in an entrepreneurial environment, maintain focus on quantitative measures, and are committed to continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Growth Strategy

•Design and implement a human, political and intellectual capital strategy for the region

•Building strong external relationships with partners, including local graduate schools, school districts, nonprofit organizations, political training programs, and charter management organizations.

•Networking with local organizations and community leaders

•Appropriately prioritize district and school partnerships

•Keep an eye towards expansion opportunities

•Identify and manage strategic local and community relationships to deepen and broaden our impact

•Potentially work effectively with local media outlets and national communications team to elevate our presence in DE

District and School Cultivation and Stewardship

•Develop and execute the regional strategy for cultivating school and district partners by managing the relationships with HR/placement contacts

•Cultivate and maintain relationships and alliances (along with the program team) with leaders in partner schools, charter school partners, and partner districts to deepen understanding and investment in our organization and to strengthen the partnership

•Manage a cultivation portfolio of new and existing placement partners

•Develop cultivation materials to share with partners

Placement

•Coordinate and execute the placement strategy to ensure all corps member are placed by the first day of the school year

•Manage placement process with HR/placement contacts

•Conduct all corps member district/charter assignments and appropriately distribute corps members across the region

•Regularly identify vacancies - both teacher positions for corps members and leadership opportunities for alumni - by maintaining regular communication with districts, schools, corps members and the alumni team

•Plan and manage key placement events, such as May Site Visit

•Develop messaging for any placement related issues

Development

•Grow and maintain a sustainable, diversified local funding base that will include gifts from individuals, corporations, and foundations; district and local public funding; and possibly an annual benefit dinner

•Cultivate and ensure the ongoing engagement and support of a portfolio of influential individual, corporate, and foundation donors

•Develop and evolve a strategy for maintaining and growing public support, from district, local, and state sources

Qualifications

Candidate Profile and Experience Prerequisites

•Bachelor's degree required

•4-5 years work experience and experience building district/school relationships and managing back-office operations preferred

•Proven ability to build and leverage relationships

•Excellent organization, detail-orientation and project management skills

•Ability to thrive in results-oriented, fast-paced and entrepreneurial environment

•Ability to work flexibly and balance both long-term and short-term projects

•Exceptional strategic-thinking and operational skills

•Strong communication and interpersonal skills

•Strong results orientation with proven record of achieving ambitious goals

Benefits and Salary

Salary for this position is competitive and depends on prior experience. In addition, a comprehensive benefits package is included.

Anti-Discrimination Policy and Commitment to Diversity

Teach For America seeks individuals of all ethnic and racial backgrounds to apply for this position. We are committed to maximizing the diversity of our organization, as we want to engage all those who can contribute to this effort.

Application Requirements and Process

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Please submit your resume and one-page cover letter with your application.

To link directly to this job listing, please use the following address http://teachforamerica.taleo.net/careersection/01/jobdetail.ftl?&job=10731

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Is Laurel's McCoy on his way out?

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20101104/NEWS03/11040369
 

Delaware schools: Rumor of chief's ouster has Laurel concerned

McCoy not addressing rumors board won't renew his contract

By DAN SHORTRIDGE • The News Journal • November 4, 2010

Laurel community leaders and residents say they are upset by rumors suggesting that the school board may not renew the contract next month of schools Superintendent John McCoy.

McCoy, hired in 2008 from Chester Upland School District in Pennsylvania, has led the district through a financial scandal involving the former finance director, now a convicted felon, and a narrow but successful passage of a massive schools rebuilding referendum...

http://frankcalio.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/show-support-for-superintendent/

November 1, 2010


SHOW SUPPORT FOR SUPERINTENDENT

Filed under: Education — Frank Calio @ 9:19 pm

Residents of Laurel, business people, teachers, administrators, your attendance and show of support for Superintendent Dr. John McCoy is urged for the special board meeting Wednesday evening at the LHS auditorium, 6:00.

Mr. McCoys contract is up for renewable in December and the board needs to know in light of rumors his contract may not be renewed, of the support for the outstanding performance and dedication he has given our school district.

Please set aside time for the future of our kids.

Please Link back to Calio's blog for a wealth of comments from Laurel readers!

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A Professor Lashes Out at Ed Reform!

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If this is what other countries are doing, then the US is WAY OFF THE MARK!

From the Answer Sheet Blog, A Survial Guide for Parents (and Everyone Else), published in the Washington Post: 
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/


What other countries are really doing in education

My guest is Sean Slade, director of Healthy School Communities, part of the Whole Child Initiative at ASCD, an educational leadership organization.

By Sean Slade

Are we moving forward or chasing our own tail?

As the education reform debate continues – and is fueled by educational documentaries, educational forums and manifestos - let’s take a moment to look at what these countries that we are propping up on a pedestal. For a while now we have been told that the United States is falling behind and that we must catch-up.

As Education Secretary Arne Duncan said last Aug. 25:

Today, there are many different approaches to strengthening the teaching profession -- both here in America and in countries that are outperforming us such as Finland and Singapore.

Our competitors in other parts of the world recognize that the roles of teachers are changing. Today, they are expected to prepare knowledge workers, not factory workers, and to help every child succeed, not just the [ones who are] easy to teach.

If this is our goal then – to catch up with the rest of world - how do we get there? A logical step would be to at least look closely at educational underpinnings of the countries most commonly cited - Singapore, Finland and Canada - and replicate.

Let’s take a quick look at what these countries are actually doing:

SINGAPORE
Prime Minister Lee of Singapore (Aug. 29, 2010):

"I think we should do more to nurture the whole child, develop their physical robustness, enhance their creativity, shape their personal and cultural and social identity, so that they are fit, they are confident, they are imaginative and they know who they are.

"Every child is different, every child has his own interests, his own academic inclinations and aptitudes and our aim should be to provide him with a good education that suits him, one which enables him to achieve his potential and build on his strengths and talents. Talent means talent in many dimensions, not just academic talent but in arts, in music, in sports, in creative activities, in physical activities.

"We need to pay more attention to PE, to arts and music and get teachers who are qualified to teach PE and art and music.

"Give each one a tailored and holistic upbringing, so you get academic education, moral education, physical education, art and a sense of belonging and identity. We aim to build a mountain range with many tall peaks but with a high base, not just a single pinnacle where everybody is trying to scramble up one single peak. And we are realizing this vision."

FINLAND
Timo Lankinen, Director-General, Finnish National Board of Education (Sept. 13, 2010):

"We are not actually talking a lot about numeracy or literacy, the agenda for change is more about increase of the arts and physical education into curriculum, and the highlight of 21st century skills or as we call them citizen skills.

"We have relatively small class sizes so there is the possibility to individualize that attention for each children (sic) ability to personalize ... but we have questions to ask ourselves, do we enable teachers and students to flourish enough, for example giving them individual aspirations, and engaging students so that there will be more experiential learning.

"Looking at basic education and success in PISA [Program for International Student Assessment] results, we have to bear in mind that children also participate in early childhood education ... which is mainly through play and interaction.

"We will be great when every student and stakeholder says for example ‘I love school’ and ‘I’m doing well in school’ – so it’s not only the subject knowledge we are seeking after."

CANADA
Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario, Canada, Sept. 13, 2010:

"It doesn’t matter how much money you invest, it doesn’t matter how much you want change -- you won’t get results unless you enlist your teachers in the cause of better education.

"We have worked hard to build a positive, working relationship with our teachers. We do not engage in inflammatory rhetoric. We do not use our teachers as a political punching bag. Public bickering undermines public confidence.

"Policy development and implementation happen in dialogue with our education partners.

"We don’t always agree, but I am reminded of some of the best political advice I ever received. I got it from my mother, on my wedding day, she said: 'Whatever happens, keep talking.'

"So we keep talking to our teachers. I make it clear to them, and all our education partners, that our pursuit of improvement will be relentless. And there is no place to hide."

To summarize:
*More emphasis on the whole child, physical education, the arts, fostering talents and citizen skills.
*Less emphasis on numeracy and literacy or testing
*Greater respect for teachers, the profession and their role as partners in educational reform.

I wonder if these people would be interested in putting together a manifesto?

Follow my blog every day by bookmarking washingtonpost.com/answersheet. And for admissions advice, college news and links to campus papers, please check out our Higher Education page at washingtonpost.com/higher-ed Bookmark it!
By Valerie Strauss
November 2, 2010; 9:56 AM ET

Categories: Guest Bloggers, Sean Slade
Tags: arne duncan, education finland, education singapore, finland, finland schools, finland teachers, singapore, teachers

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Students Tout In-School Cellphone Use

Students Tout In-School Cellphone Use
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2010/10/speak_up_study_students_want_m.html


By Ian Quillen on October 29, 2010 10:40 AM
1 Comment
Recommend

Newly released results find that more than 60 percent of 6th- through 12th-graders surveyed said allowing the use of their own mobile devices in school would improve the use of technology in schools. Among students with smartphones, that number rose to 78 percent.

The study, which builds upon data gathered in 2009 as part of the Speak Up National Research Project from Project Tomorrow, also finds that student smartphone use has more than tripled among high school students since 2006, rising to 31 percent of students in grades 9-12. As for other wireless devices, 67 percent of high school students had access to at least a cellphone without Internet access, and 85 percent had access to an MP3 media player.

Meanwhile, 62 percent of parents indicated they would "likely" be willing to purchase a mobile device for their child's educational use, according to results published in association with online education company Blackboard.

Both high school and middle school students said they'd be most likely to use the devices to look up information online or communicate with classmates. But more than half of high schoolers also said they'd use them to take notes or record lectures, receive academic e-mail reminders, collaborate on class projects, organize their work, and even communicate with teachers via instant messages, text messages, or chats.

The new release follows one by Project Tomorrow in late June that showed 27 percent of high school students surveyed to be enrolled in at least one online course, and 33 percent of parents surveyed having experienced an online course for work or pleasure.

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