Duncan on Atlanta: Get Act Together

Published Online: January 31, 2011


Duncan Urges Atlanta Schools to Get 'Act Together'

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, second from left, speaks at Morehouse College in Atlanta on Jan. 31, where he encouraged students at the country's only all-male, historically black college to become teachers.

Atlanta

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan urged the Atlanta school board on Monday to get its act together after a major accrediting agency put the school district on probation.

Duncan said he met with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed before attending an event at Morehouse College. He said board members have "lost sight of why they were elected."

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools put the district on probation this month and urged it to take six steps by Sept. 30 to keep its accreditation. At issue is the city's splintered nine-member school board, which has fought bitterly in recent months, leading the association to conclude the group has failed to meet standards for governance and leadership.

Losing accreditation can strip the district of millions of dollars in grant money and could put the district of nearly 50,000 students at risk of not gaining admission to colleges.

The probation designation is rare for SACS. Of the roughly 5,000 districts nationwide the agency has accredited, only eight are currently on probation.

Key to saving the Atlanta system will be hiring a new superintendent. Outgoing Superintendent Beverly Hall's contract expires in June and the school board has pledged to launch a nationwide search for her successor.

"We're going to have to persuade a superstar to come to the city of Atlanta," Reed told a meeting of the Atlanta Press Club, adding that Duncan pledged his support in the search.

He said the Atlanta Public Schools accreditation situation has been a black eye on the city, raising concerns among the business and philanthropic community, as well as parents and public officials. Though SACS has given Atlanta Public Schools nine months to fix its issues, Reed said he thinks it can happen in six months.

"This is not a 9-month problem," he said.

The school system's woes have also attracted the attention of the state. Last week, Gov. Nathan Deal appointed two legislators as liaisons to keep him abreast of the school board's progress. Meanwhile, lawmakers have suggested they may offer legislative changes to the school board's charter in response to the crisis.

At the Morehouse College event, Duncan and filmmaker Spike Lee called for more black men to become teachers.

Just 2 percent of the nation's 3 million teacher workforce are black males, Duncan said. He said federal officials have an opportunity to diversify that workforce as more than a million teachers are expected to retire in the next decade.

The meeting comes a week after President Barack Obama's call during his State of the Union address for more people to become teachers.

Lee told the audience that teaching and being educated are not considered cool in the black community, and that perception needs to change.


More HERE: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/01/31/401875gtlantaschools_ap.html

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National Uptick: Lawsuits over bullying on the rise

Parents of Bullied Kids Hiring Lawyers, Suing School Districts

By Rene Stutzman, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla. (MCT)

Ned Charles IV has a form of cerebral palsy. The 15-year-old is in special-education classes. So was the boy who hit him, grabbed his neck and pushed him to the ground while waiting for a school bus two years ago at Tuskawilla Middle School.

Ned's parents are now suing the Seminole County School Board, alleging that the boy who hurt their son had bullied him for days and that the district should have stopped it.

Their suit is part of a growing trend in Central Florida and nationally: Parents are hiring lawyers and suing school districts, accusing them of letting schoolyard bullies frighten, intimidate and sometimes beat up their children.

More Here:  http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/01/31/20mct_flbullying.h30.html?r=502306637
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Meanwhile and much closer to home ...

Police: 7 Pa. high school students arrested for bullying
UPPER DARBY, Pa. — Police in Delaware County say seven teenagers have been arrested in connection with an assault in which a 14-year-old student was kidnapped and hung from a fence post, but not seriously hurt.

Read it here:  http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110131/NEWS/110131039/-1/updates/Police--7-Pa.-high-school-students-arrested-for-bullying

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Local-level Mass. School Board challenges State's embrace of Common Core

Published Online: January 31, 2011

Published in Print: February 2, 2011, as Local School Board in Mass. Seeks Rollback of Common Standards
Includes correction(s): January 31, 2011

Local Mass. School Board Seeks Standards Rollback


Bill Filed in State Legislature Considered Long Shot

By Catherine Gewertz
At the behest of a local school board, three lawmakers in Massachusetts have drafted a bill that would override the state board of education’s decision to adopt new common academic standards.

The measure is part of a long-shot effort by the Tantasqua Regional school board to unravel its state’s embrace of the Common Core State Standards Initiative and reverse its pledge to use common assessments designed for those standards. The bill seeks to retain Massachusetts’ own widely admired standards and its exam, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS.

The move marks the only known instance in the country of a local board challenging its state’s adoption of the standards, according to national groups that monitor state-level activity on the issue.

READ it all right here: 
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/02/02/19assess.h30.html?tkn=WMPFsszOdXOXtOZEjyVQ9TUSAlM2ZPO1b5S5&cmp=clp-edweek

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Taking Care of TCBN Business

If you live in or around Tarrant County (Fort Worth area), today is the deadline to get your birth story submitted for a book that the Tarrant County Birth Network is putting together.  All the submission information can be found here.  We want to hear from YOU!  All types of births will be selected for the book.

Our next TCBN meeting will be held next Thursday, February 10.  Same place and time.  Visit the website for more details if you have never joined us.  If you'd like to be included in our email list, please contact tarrantcounty@birthnetwork.org.

The topic for next week's meeting is "Is Your Care Provider Mother-Friendly?"  We will be reviewing the 10 Steps to the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative as set forth by the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS).  We will be hearing from two of the UNT Certified Nurse Midwives, Lindsay Kragle and Summer Latta, as well as Kim Watkins, Certified Professional Midwife.  All are members of the Birth Network.

Come hear what Mother-Friendly maternity care really means for the women and families of the Fort Worth area.  If you've looked through the TCBN Resource Guide, you've noticed that, with the exception of the UNT Midwives, all the midwives practice outside of a hospital setting, either in a birth center or home.  No other hospital group qualifies to be members of the Birth Network.  Why is that?  Come learn more about the care providers that truly provide Mother-Friendly care.  You have so many amazing care providers to choose from in and around Tarrant County.

Our door prize is amazing at this next meeting.  Alexa Gumm has been working on this, and I don't want to say too much, but ERGObaby has donated one of their baby carriers, worth $130.  Bring your pregnant friends and enjoy this evening with some amazing midwives.   Oh yeah, and everyone else is pretty amazing too!

Now get off here and get your birth story submitted!

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Tenn. RTTT/Teacher Eval Udpate - System still lacks specifics 6 months before launch

Published Online: January 27, 2011


Tennessee Teacher Evaluation System Still Lacks Specifics 6 Months Before Launch

By Julie Hubbard, The Tennessean, Nashville (MCT)

A new teacher evaluation system is set to kick in across the state in six months, even though parts of it haven't been written and principals haven't been trained how to use it.

Tennessee's legislature passed it a year ago as part of an education reform initiative that secured $500 million in federal Race to the Top grant money.

Critics said the old evaluation system, which monitored most tenured teachers once every five years, left too many ineffective teachers in the classroom too long, was vague and largely didn't help teachers improve. The new system will judge teachers and principals using student learning gains—called value-added scores—along with a prescribed checklist to determine their placement, pay and, ultimately, whether they will keep their jobs.

Forty-nine schools across the state, including some in Sumner County and Metro Nashville, are field-testing parts of the new system. But with many specifics still undecided, state officials say they hope educators will be patient.

READ THE REST HERE:  http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/01/27/19mct_tnteacherevals.h30.html?tkn=VPVFtubYNfU72f8P5fGPZ7GGppmPiUsOjNg4&cmp=clp-edweek

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Special Ed Court Decisions on the Rise

Special Education Court Decisions on the Rise
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/speced/2011/01/special_education_court_decisi.html


By Christina Samuels on January 28, 2011 9:24 AM

After two decades of decline, education litigation appears to be on the rise, with special education leading the way, according to an analysis from Lehigh University professor Perry A. Zirkel, an expert in special education law.

Zirkel's paper on his findings will appear in full in an upcoming issue of West's Education Law Reporter, but he walked me through the findings.

Using West's Key Number System, Zirkel tabulated state and federal court decisions by decades, starting in the 1940s. In the 1970s, state and federal education decisions combined reached a high of about 7,600 decisions, but dropped to about 7,300 decisions in the 1980s and under 7,000 decisions in the 1990s. When Zirkel counted the cases for 2000 through November 2010, he expected to see the same downward trend. Instead, the number was higher even than in the 1970s, at about 8,000 reported decisions.

The overall growth was attributable to federal courts; the level for the state courts continued its gradual decline in the most recent decade. As a result, the proportion of federal court cases was 45 percent of the overall total for 2000-10, as compared to 32 percent in the previous decade.

Digging further into the types of cases that were litigated, Zirkel found that, specifically, federal special education cases showed a dramatic increase—from 623 decisions in the 1990s to 1,242 decisions rendered between 2000-2010. Other types of education cases increased, but no other category grew as much.

Zirkel said he's not sure what to pin the increase on; his analysis did not look at the individual cases to identify common trends. But the rise doesn't appear to be driven by some shift in court sympathies; about 65 percent of special education lawsuits are won by the districts, and that proportion has held steady, he said.

"Something happened that was unexpected," he said. "Whether it's signaling a lasting trend is unknown, but it's raising a cautionary flag."

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Notice for Friday, Jan. 28

NOTICE FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 28


Schools Closed, Offices Open 1 Hour Late

All schools in the Christina School District will be closed on Friday, January 28, 2011 due to inclement weather conditions. Preschool Programs, Parents as Teachers Stay and Play, Continuing Education Classes, Adult Education Classes, and Distance Learning are also canceled. Offices will open 1 hour late.

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Early Dismissals for Christina

NOTICE FOR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26
Due to ongoing weather conditions, all schools in the Christina School District will have an early dismissal on Wednesday, January 26. Afternoon Preschool and Kindergarten are canceled. Parent As Teachers Stay and Play, Continuing Education classes, Adult Education classes and Distance Learning are canceled. All afternoon and evening activities are canceled.

Early Dismissal Times

Networks Program students will dismiss at 10:45 a.m.

Middle and High Schools will dismiss at 11:15 a.m.

Douglass, Parkway and Kingswood will dismiss at 11:15 a.m.

Wesleyan and Methodist Church Programs will dismiss at 12:00 p.m.

Sarah Pyle Academy (Morning session) will dismiss at 12:30 p.m.

• No afternoon session
• No twilight session

Elementary Schools – First-bell schools will dismiss at 12:30 p.m.

• Bancroft, Brookside, DAP-Brennen, Downes, Elbert-Palmer, Jones, Maclary, Marshall, McVey, Pulaski, Smith, Sterck (Elementary), Stubbs, West Park Place,  
• Sterck Parent/Child Program

Elementary Schools – Second-bell schools will dismiss at 1:45 p.m.

• Brader, Gallaher, Keene, Leasure, Porter, Wilson

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Jack be Nimble

Jack be nimble
Jack be quick
Jack jump over the candlestick

Jack don't know Jack

Jack be Nimble Rhyme


Nursery Rhyme & History
Origin and History to the words of Jack be nimble

The most commonly agreed origin for the Jack be nimble rhyme is the connection to Black Jack, an English pirate who was notorious for escaping from the authorities in the late 16th century hence Jack be nimble... The words of the Jack be nimble rhyme cannot be further analysed due to the brevity of the text of the lyrics but could be associated with the old tradition and sport of 'candle leaping' which used to be practised at some English fairs.
Lace Makers and Candle Leaping?

The tradition of candle-leaping originated from an old game of jumping over fires. This dangerous game was banned and replaced by the far less dangerous sport of Candle leaping. In Wendover there were lace-making schools ( a good excuse for using children as slave labour). Here it was traditional to dance around the lace-makers great candlestick and this led to jumping over the candlestick. Due to the cost of candles some employers only allowed the use of candles during the darkest months of the year and centred around Candlemas Day, known as the candle season. It is interesting to note that Jack be nimble is now being referred to as Jack b nimble - the influence of the modern day practise of texting! The first publication date for Jack be nimble is 1798.

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Boehner testing Obama?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/48087.html

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Part 1: A Mother's Story -- Exclusive Pumping

One of my readers, Anne, sent me an email this week with a story about how she has exclusively pumped breast milk for her son who was born with Down Syndrome.  I thought it would be great to share her story here.   This is part of her email:

I always wanted a natural birth but it wasn’t meant to be - I had a ruptured uterus early on in a previous pregnancy, so c-sections seem to be necessary for me.  And I’m okay with that, at least I can still carry a child.  I also didn’t get to breastfeed with my son for more than, oh, maybe a month – once per day if even that.  If I was lucky.  He was a preemie, and tube fed at first and is a special needs child. He has Down Syndrome and has the most unique amazing story to tell . . . but that’s a whole other seizures/nutrition story! LOL  Anyway . .  boy have I learned a lot!  How to stand up to the NICU nurses . . . and that women can pump long term if breastfeeding doesn’t work out (no thanks to the NICU nurses there - UGH!!!).  Even the pediatrician didn’t think I could make it pumping for more than a couple months.

I hope you'll enjoy her helpful hints here and there are mothers out there that will find her story encouraging.   Thanks, Anne, for allowing me to share your story.

"This is for all you Mama’s out there who find yourselves in the difficult position of wanting to breastfeed, but for whatever reason are unable to do so.  Doctors and nurses are too quick to offer formula to the baby who won’t (or can’t) latch.  I am here to tell you, there is another viable option!  It’s called exclusively pumping, or EP’ing for short. 

Doctors and nurses might tell you that you can try, but they will most likely tell you that you WON’T be successful at it, especially not long term.  They will tell you that your body will not respond to a pump, that a baby is much more efficient than a pump, and, well, why bother when you can go straight to formula?  Trust me, ladies, you don’t have to.  You CAN exclusively pump.  Long term, if you want to!  I’ve been doing it for 2 years for my son . . . yes TWO!

Let me give you a little background on our situation: my son, Kaiden, was born 6.5 weeks premature by emergency c-section due to an overly large placenta intent on evicting him (the c-section was necessary from a previous injury) and needed to be tube fed for the first few weeks.  The nurses never even gave me a choice, within hours of his birth, they walked in and said, which formula do you want to use, Enfamil or Similac?  Indignant, I told them I wanted him to have my breastmilk.  They said, well, we CAN wait for your milk, but we’d prefer to give him some food now, so choose one.  I admit, I caved and let them give him formula until I had colostrum to give him, which came in 10 hours after his birth.

By now, the nurses knew I wanted Kaiden to have my breastmilk and their only words of advice were that I needed to pump every 3 hours for 15 minutes around the clock.  That’s it, nothing more, no words of encouragement or more advice, no tips or tricks, nobody even took the time to show me how to use a breastpump.  They did bring in one of the hospital’s Medela Symphony pumps that I could use. It wasn’t too hard to figure out, but I hated that pump; trying to sit up and hold the horns in place while staying near a plug-in was hard on my post surgery body.  I had previously purchased a used Medela Pump In Style and gave that a try instead.  Unfortunately for me, I hadn’t gotten the suction tested when I bought it and as it turns out, that pump was a little too used (weak motor) and I threw it away after the first try.  My supportive husband, seeing me in so much discomfort, took me down to the lactation department and encouraged me to buy whatever pump I desired.  I chose the Medela Freestyle, a nice little portable unit.  It wasn’t cheap, but that pump has become like an extra body part over the last 2 years and was well worth the money spent.

If EP’ing looks like it might be the way to give your baby your breastmilk, let me give you some tips:

·         Invest in a good quality double electric pump. 

·         If you choose to buy a used pump, get the suction tested before you commit to buy!

·         Keep spare pump parts on hand.  The membranes/valve assemblies DO wear out and should be changed every 3 months to keep the suction at its best.

·         For working Mama’s, most workplaces are required to provide a private place for you to pump.  Check your state laws and with your employer.

·         You DO need to pump every 3 hours around the clock, for 15 – 20 minutes per session for the first 6 – 8 weeks.  No skipping sessions.  This establishes your supply just as breastfeeding does. 

·         Follow your baby’s feeding routine: Feed baby, pump, get some sleep.  Repeat. 

·         Do NOT skip nighttime pumping sessions until your baby sleeps thru the night.

·         Same as breastfeeding, be aware that what you eat affects your baby and you may need an elimination diet depending on your baby’s dietary needs.

·         Learn the proper way to hand express milk from your breasts, and do so after every pumping session to fully empty your breasts as possible.  In an emergency situation (like forgetting  your pump AND stored milk at home and your baby is hungry!) you can hand express what your baby needs.

·         Always keep a spare bottle/nipple in the diaper bag.  If you aren’t afraid to breastfeed in public, be warned, there are times you may need to pump and/or hand express in public.

·         You CAN exclusively pump long term.  It just takes a time commitment.

·         Keep up on your calories and fluid intake!  This is not the time to worry about your weight or figure.  Your body needs the extra calories and fluids to produce milk.

·         You may become obsessed with the amount of breastmilk you produce . . . nursing Mama’s don’t get to see the amount their baby eats, but you do.  Try not to get over-obsessed with it.

·         As your baby grows, your supply will naturally diminish.  It is typical to lose a little supply around the 6 – 9 month period, then again in the 9 – 12 month period.  As your baby begins to eat solids, they will eventually need less breastmilk so although it can be saddening, it really is okay to see your supply decrease.

·         If you are still pumping when your post-partum menstrual cycle returns, know that it may decrease your supply for a few days to a couple weeks.  Your milk supply may also follow your menstrual cycle – highest production around ovulation, lowest around your period.

·         Stress can diminish your supply, especially emotional stress.  While it’s near impossible to avoid such situations, you can be aware in advance that you will need to take extra care of yourself during these times by practicing relaxation techniques and not skipping meals.  Especially not skipping meals.

·         There are herbal supplements you can try if your milk supply isn’t what you’d like.  Mother’s Milk tea, fenugreek, blessed thistle, and fennel are just to name a few. 

·         There are internet forums just for EP’ing Mama’s, I recommend joining one for encouragement and support.

The goal of pumping so much is to build up an oversupply.  While this can be an issue for breastfeeding Mama’s, it can be your salvation.  You can freeze any extra milk to be used during growth spurts or low-supply days, and is a great way to be able to continue to give your baby your breastmilk for awhile after you have stopped pumping.

If you find you have too much milk, you may consider either reducing your pumps, or donating your extra milk to a needy baby.   Because of our special circumstances (which you can read more about in my blog if you wish) I ended up donating somewhere around 1200 oz of frozen milk. 

This is by no means all the tips & tricks you may learn, but it should give you a good start.  Never let anyone tell you that exclusively pumping is impossible!" If you'd like to read more about Anne's story, visit her blog, The Green Child Chronicles.

Two other friends will be sharing their stories over the next few weeks, too.  Alisa pumped for her son born with a severe cleft palate/lip, and Mellanie will be sharing her story of breastfeeding her daughter born with Kabuki Syndrome.  Both are touching and inspiring stories I hope you will enjoy.  I know these stories are near and dear to these mother's hearts and I appreciate their willingness to share them here. 

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Tribute: The world has lost another hero

Heaven has gained an angel...

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Ed News from Tucson and New York

Tucson School Board Won't Join Ethnic-Studies Lawsuit
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2011/01/tucson_school_board_wont_join.html
By Mary Ann Zehr on January 20, 2011 9:39 AM
The school board of the Tucson Unified school district won't join a lawsuit filed in federal court by Tucson teachers challenging the constitutionality of a new state law banning courses that promote solidarity among a particular ethnic group. Instead, the school board plans to file an appeal with the state of Arizona regarding the state's determination that its courses in Mexican-American studies violate the new state law.

The school board has passed a resolution supporting the courses and saying they are in compliance with the new state law. Teachers of the courses and the administrator for Tucson Unified's Mexican-American studies program, however, are taking the approach that the law violates the U.S. Constitution.

The New York Times published an editorial this week saying it is regrettable that the Tucson school board didn't join the lawsuit.

A sad note related to this issue is that the federal judge who was expected to review the federal case on ethnic studies was John M. Roll, one of the six people killed during the attack on Jan. 8 on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson. Richard M. Martinez, the lawyer representing the Tucson teachers and administrator who filed the lawsuit against the ethnic-studies ban, commended the judge for his fairness in comments to the New York Times in an article published soon after the shooting.

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Published Online: January 21, 2011


NYC Suspends Teacher Bonuses Program
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/01/21/399601nyteacherbonuses_ap.html?tkn=ZSUFddAusH7PKuyp3OcdMFIlqyhywjlJy4AT&cmp=clp-edweek

New York

New York City's Education Department is suspending a pilot program that awarded annual bonuses to teachers based on student performance.

The city says the program will be suspended as soon as this year's bonuses are given out. It says the program could restart if a study due late this spring shows it had a positive effect in schools.

Teachers at 26 schools will get bonuses this year. That's down from 160 schools last year.

The agency says the city's tight budget was one of the factors in the decision to end the program.

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http://transparentchristina.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/so-much-for-civility-in-delaware-billoberle-deldems-csd-boe/

http://transparentchristina.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/so-much-for-civility-in-delaware-billoberle-deldems-csd-boe/

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Porter Road Elementary School to be Named for Former State Representative William A. Oberle, Jr.

Porter Road Elementary School to be Named for Former State Representative William A. Oberle, Jr.


The Christina School District Board of Education has voted to name the current Porter Road Elementary School “William A. Oberle, Jr. Elementary School” beginning in August, 2011. The school is located off of Porter Road near Route 40 in Bear. Mr. Oberle recently retired from the Delaware House of Representatives after serving for 34 years as a representative of the 24th District in Newark.

Mr. Oberle is considered a true advocate for the children of the Christina School District, and throughout his service in the Delaware legislature he was a consistent supporter of initiatives that would increase the success of District students. He was instrumental in helping the District to secure funding for many capital projects, including Porter Road Elementary School and the new Delaware School for the Deaf.

Construction of Porter Road Elementary School was approved in 2002 and additional funding to complete the project was provided by a successful capital referendum held in November, 2007. The construction of this new elementary school allowed Christina to implement its approved Neighborhood Schools Plan: the Community Consensus Plan. The school opened in August, 2009. Construction on the new Delaware School for the Deaf will be completed this spring, and the school will open in August, 2011. Representative Oberle’s assistance in securing funding and supporting these projects was a key factor in their completion, and his efforts helped the Christina School District achieve the goals of implementing its Neighborhood Schools Plan and expanding services to deaf and hard of hearing children throughout the state.

On January 4, 2011, the Christina Board of Education voted to officially name Porter Road Elementary School William A. Oberle, Jr. Elementary School in recognition of Mr. Oberle’s many contributions to the Christina School District during his remarkable years of service. The name of the school will formally change at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, when a special dedication ceremony is planned.

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Rescheduled: Mind of A Bronx Teacher, Will Air 1/20/11

The Mind Of A Bronx Teacher

Date / Time: 1/20/2011 9:00 PM

Category: Education

Call-in Number: (917) 932-8721

THIS HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED AT THE LAST MINUTE DUE TO ILLNESS. THE SHOW WILL AIR JANUARY 20!!!!! The guest for January 18, 2011 will be the president of the Christina(DE)school board,John M. Young. John write a groundbreaking and informative blog,http://transparentchristina.wordpress.com He also can be found on Twitter @ED_in_DE John was only one of two board members to vote against acceptance the tentacles of RtTT. The Christina school district is Delware's largest school district and encompasses most of Wilmington and its suburbs. The superintendent of Christina is former District 16, Brooklyn Superintendent Dr. Marcia V. Lyles. Lyles is a graduate of the Bloom/Klein method of education deform. As always, the call in # is 917 932 8721

Upcoming Episodes



1/25/2011 9:00 PM - The Mind Of A Bronx Teacher

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Every Cookie Has A Mission - It's Cookie Time!

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The Next Generation -- The Old Lady Post

Last week on the news there was a report about college-aged kids and their desire for praise and compliments being stronger than the desire for sex, drugs, or alcohol.   I thought that was so crazy that they craved positive attention so much that it was a driving force in their lives.  It got me thinking about what possibly led up to that.

I've had some interesting conversations lately with a friend about this and related subjects.  These are some of my thoughts, and I may show my age quite a bit in this post, but I think it's important to have this dialogue in our homes.  Do we want to raise our children to be adults that are driven by the outward praise of others to feel good about themselves? 

First, when I was a kid, I wasn't really involved in sports.  I did ski and I played clarinet.  I was a cheerleader in 5th grade.  I got good grades, at least until high school.  I do not ever remember an awards ceremony for anything.  I don't remember my sister getting trophies for sports.  We just participated in different things.  We either excelled or we sucked.  That pretty much determined what we went on to do later.  We learned how to fail and how to get over it and move on.

My kids have all played soccer and even when they didn't score a single goal all season, the kids on the team all got a trophy, especially when they were little.  I think this is the most ridiculous statement to our children -- "Thanks for participating, and just for doing so, we are giving you a trophy."  What does that say to the teams or children that truly excel, the ones that really earned the trophy? 

At the risk of sounding like an old person, I see so much laziness in many young people today.  My younger kids all have awards ceremonies at the end of the school year.  They are very long, as the parents listen to all the awards of all the kids.  Some of these awards are truly praiseworthy, and others, frankly, are unbelievably stupid.  It's the participation awards that get me.  Why are we praising these kids for having the opportunity to participate in an activity?

Right about now is a great time to mention that my children are so far from perfect, and half the time I have no idea what I'm doing as their parent.  But I look at so many young people and know that I don't want my children to take what they have for granted.  I don't want them to feel like their value or self esteem comes from what other people think of them.

So this leads me to the question, is it a good thing that we are praising them for every little thing they do?  Will they ever learn how to deal with criticism?  Will they learn how to fail and how to succeed -- both with grace?

This friend I was talking with this week was telling me about a guy that her husband had hired to help him with a project.  He was 22 and insisted that he couldn't work at certain times (his girlfriend didn't like it), along with a number of stipulations for his boss!  Can you imagine telling your boss all the things you require in order to work for him?  He obviously felt "equal" to his boss, even superior.

This leads me to a side discussion concerning informality in our American culture.  Children being treated as "little adults."   They are not adults.  And children calling adults by their first name, in my opinion, is wrong.  It does not encourage respect and has a very negative effect on the respect children have for adults, or the lack thereof.   I could never have imagined calling my friends' mothers by their first names as a child.   That would have been incredibly disrespectful.  Even this migration to adding "Miss" in front of a first name, it just shows that we are more lax than we used to be.  It puts children and adults on the same level.  I understand with close family friends, but I believe it should not extend outside of that.  Before we moved to Texas, the schools my children were attending in NM were beginning to start using the "Miss" in front of their names instead of the formal "Mrs." and their last name.  I am relieved that our school district is "old-fashioned" and the children are even encouraged to use "ma'am" and "sir." 

Since I'm on a roll... 

Men don't wear suits to work anymore (OK, my husband does, but many are not required to anymore).  My dad would never have allowed his employees to not wear suits to work.  He was bothered by the shift to business casual and felt it was a huge mistake.  I think he was right.  He was a CPA and so is my husband. 

People wear jeans to church, like they are going to a BBQ or to the movies.  Dressing up shows respect.  Respect for our ourselves, our work and for our Lord.  Why do we have to be so relaxed about everything in our lives?  It spills over into disrespect for the things that really matter.

I also worry about this next generation not being able to communicate.  The texting and Facebooking is the main way my 14-year-old son communicates with nearly everyone.  We have many conversations about it, but it's hard for him to put it down.  I worry about addiction to these devices.  It's rude and disrespectful to answer a phone call or text while talking to someone else, and yet, we all do it. 

We all have so many distractions demanding our attention all the time.  We become consumed with me, me, me.  Not just the next generation, but all of us.  Fortunately, the older we are, the more we remember how it used to be.  This generation doesn't know how it was.  It's up to us, the ones who believe that more formality in our culture was a good thing.  Respect.  Dignity.  Thinking outside ourselves. Who's with me? Or is this what turning 40 does to you?

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The Mind Of A Bronx Teacher Guest Starring CSD President, John Young

The Mind Of A Bronx Teacher


Show Name: The Mind Of A Bronx Teacher

Date / Length: 1/18/2011 9:00 PM - 1 hr

Length: 1 hr

Description:

h:134508 s:1477218 The guest for January 18, 2011 will be the president of the Christina(DE)school board,John M. Young. John write a groundbreaking and informative blog,http://transparentchristina.wordpress.com He also can be found on Twitter @ED_in_DE John was only one of two board members to vote against acceptance the tentacles of RtTT. The Christina school district is Delware's largest school district and encompasses most of Wilmington and its suburbs. The superintendent of Christina is former District 16, Brooklyn Superintendent Dr. Marcia V. Lyles. Lyles is a graduate of the Bloom/Klein method of education deform. As always, the call in # is 917 932 8721

A little birdie also told me that Mr. Young may make a guest appearance this Sunday on Community Crossfire out of Wilmington, DE.  We are working on confirming this one.  C&E 1st

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Merrow: The Most Important Educator That Most of America Has Never Heard Of...

Joel Klein's Hidden Legacy

John Merrow, Education Correspondent for PBS NewsHour and author of The Influence of Teachers
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-merrow/joel-kleins-hidden-legacy_b_804827.html?ir=New%20York


Much has been made of Joel Klein's influence on New York City's public schools over his eight years as chancellor. Most of the words have been kind, and deservedly so. After all, he took on a huge and hidebound system and began whacking away on day one, pausing only occasionally to catch a breath.

Combative by nature, Mr. Klein could bristle at the drop of an inference. Always well prepared, Mr. Klein dazzled with numbers, and, when the numbers didn't support his case, he found other ways to attack.

His critics -- and there are many -- discount the academic achievements Mr. Klein boasted about, particularly after the flabby nature of the tests was exposed, leading to a re-grading of many public schools here. They say he was obsessed with test scores and didn't pay enough attention to genuine learning. He maintains that he was the first to raise doubts about the tests.

But even his critics ought to give him credit for longevity, tenacity and some genuine improvements. Graduation rates are up, and thousands of adolescents are now attending high schools where they are more than just a number. On his watch, the New York schools opened about 125 small high schools and are in the process shutting down dozens of 'dropout factories,' scary, huge places where most students were poorly served. Because he encouraged charter schools, thousands of kids, mostly poor and minority children, are now better served.

Mr. Klein also refused to let anyone say 'I taught it, but they didn't learn it,' and he wouldn't let teachers or administrators blame families or communities for academic failure.

It would be interesting to add up the number of times Mr. Klein trotted out his familiar accusation: that unions and their three-legged stool of tenure, seniority and lock-step pay are the chief obstacle to improvement. I heard it dozens of times, and I wasn't even covering him (although we did produce two profiles of the Chancellor for the NewsHour during his tenure).

Might his combativeness have gotten in the way from time to time? No question, and many hope that his successor adopts a new approach.

But -- and I have buried the lede -- the lasting legacy of Joel Klein might not be in New York City but elsewhere, in New Jersey, Baltimore, D.C., New Haven, Conn., Rochester, N.Y., and Christina, Del. In each of these places, someone closely connected with the chancellor became the top educator. In fact, all but Michelle Rhee in D.C. actually reported to Mr. Klein, and they worked closely when she led the New Teacher Project. As is well known, it was Mr. Klein who advised incoming D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty to hire her.


The others: Deputy Superintendent Christopher Cerf is now the state superintendent in New Jersey. Andres Alonso is superintendent in Baltimore. Garth Harries leads the schools in New Haven, J.C. Brizzard is superintendent in Rochester, and Marcia Lyles heads the Christina, Del. schools.

By my rough calculations, well over 1.5 million students are now in schools led by the five former deputies of Mr. Klein. Add to that Chancellor Rhee's 44,000 students in Washington, D.C., and Mr. Klein's 1 million-plus students for a total of 2.6 million students, give or take a few thousand.

Since our public schools currently enroll about 50 million students, that means that more than 5 percent of all US public school students were either directly or indirectly under his influence. I conclude that, in terms of his impact on schools and school systems, Joel Klein is the most important educator that most of America has never heard of.

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Just how do they come up with "best practices?"

The Worst of 'Best Practices' http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2011/01/the_worst_of_best_practices.html
By Roxanna Elden on January 14, 2011 8:09 AM

Note: Roxanna Elden, author of See Me After Class, is guest posting this week. Roxanna is a National Board Certified high school teacher and a member of the Teacher Leaders Network.

District, county, and state education offices are fond of sharing "best practices" through professional development. The idea is to spread the word about strategies that work in some schools so other teachers can use these strategies and get the same great results. There are times when it works this way. Unfortunately, things can get complicated when the same people who pick and distribute best practices are also responsible for checking whether they are being done correctly, and when none of those people are current teachers. Here's an example of how the sharing of best practices sometimes works once supervising offices get involved.

Phase one: A school seems to be successful in educating students in a given subject or demographic sub-group. Let's call this School A.

Phase two: A team of people who want to know what made School A successful descends upon the school. They sit in the classrooms. They ask questions. Then the team comes back with a report that says something like, "Teachers at School A are successful because they ask students to make their own test using fill-in-the-blank test questions. This is a research-based report."

Phase three: The information from the report is filtered through a series of people sitting in a quiet, student-less office. Materials are created. Packets are made.

Phase four: Packets with newly created materials are distributed at "best practices" training sessions throughout the district, county, or state. Teachers are advised that the district, county, or state "people" will be looking for evidence of implementation next time they come to observe. In the fill-in-the-blank question card example, evidence of implementation is to be demonstrated by displaying laminated copies of the question cards on classroom walls, although the questions are written in 10-point font that is too small to read from any student desk.

Phase five: Teachers at another school--let's call it School B--attempt to implement the research-based best practice. Here is an example of how that works using the fill-in-the-blank question cards:

• Phase 5.1: Teachers in School B distribute cards, which are aligned with current state benchmarks and contain fill-in-the-blank questions such as "How does _____ in paragraph ______ relate to ______ in paragraph _____." Teachers explain to students that they will be using these cards to write their own test questions based on the material. Students in School B rewrite the questions without filling in any of the blanks.

• Phase 5.2: A few teachers from School B re-teach the question card activity, explaining that students need to actually fill in the blanks of the question with information from the book. Students rewrite the questions, this time filling in blanks with meaningless information that does not show understanding of the questions or book.

• Phase 5.3: One teacher from School B spends multiple hours of personal time creating supplementary materials to make the question cards more understandable. The teacher shares these supplementary materials with other teachers at School B, who are all having similar problems with the cards.

• Phase 5.4: Teachers from School B re-teach the question cards again. Student work is still incoherent. The teachers realize that time spent explaining the question cards has taken away from time spent explaining the material that the questions are supposed to review.

• Phase 5.5: Teachers from School B put the task cards and supplemental materials away until next year, not knowing that the district will reshuffle all benchmarks at the end of the year and create new fill-in-the-blank question cards, which will make all teacher-created supplemental materials useless.

Phase six: The district, county, or state office of education redeploys the special ops "best practices" checkup team to School B. They note that some of the teachers in School B have taken the laminated question cards off their walls. In the report that follows, this "lack of implementation of best practices" is used to explain why School B is less successful than School A.

Phase seven: The teacher from School B runs into a teacher from School A at happy hour and asks for advice on using fill-in-the-blank question cards. The teacher from School A says, "I don't use fill-in-the-blank question cards. I just used them one day because the district was watching us, but then I stopped because the kids didn't get it."

• Phase 7.1: Teacher A is required to buy Teacher B a drink.

• Phase 7.2: While at happy hour, both Teacher A and Teacher B share classroom strategies that actually work.

The most effective professional development I ever attended was a summer program known as the Zelda Glazer Writing Institute (recently renamed the UM-MDCPS Glazer-Lorton Writing Institute). All of the instructors at the Institute are long-time teachers. They share what works for them, and attendees are encouraged to take away the ideas that will work in their own classrooms. No one strategy is advertised (or enforced) as a guaranteed fix, but it is the kind of genuine, comprehensive, non-insulting professional development that actually improves instruction. There is always a waiting list for the Zelda Glazer Writing Institute, even though it is unpaid, and two weeks long, and held during the summer.

If supervisors are serious about spreading the news on best practices--and they should be--there are two factors to take into consideration. First, even the best of "best practices" won't work in every classroom. Requiring "evidence of implementation" of any given strategy is more likely to force a dog-and-pony show for observers than it is to improve teaching. It's the professional development version of "teaching to the test." Second, the best professional development runs with, not against, the ways teachers spread ideas naturally.

Or, perhaps, districts could just send teachers to happy hour and let them share best practices over a few drinks. I volunteer to be part of the research.

--Roxanna Elden

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Tarrant County Birth Network Meeting Tonight -- Topic: Pre & Post-Natal Fitness

I know, I know, I should have put this up earlier.  Hopefully you've seen it elsewhere and are planning on coming.

Our topic tonight is Pre & Post-Natal Fitness.  Maggie Grayson, owner of Stroller Strides in Mansfield, Arlington, and Hurst, will be speaking.  If you've never heard her speak before, she is a delight.  So full of energy and passion for what she does.  She is also a homebirthing mama after a c-section with her first.  (She is currently pregnant with her 3rd.)

In addition, Michelle Huynh is a yoga teacher that will be sharing her wisdom with us on the subject.  In my world, she's quite famous.  I've had several students that take yoga from her and they all rave about her.  I'm looking forward to hearing from her tonight.

We are also starting to do door prizes and Alexa Gumm, Chapter Leader, is on this.  Girls, you can't believe the stuff she has gotten!  She's after some big things.  It's fun to see these products and support the vendors that support Mother-Friendly Childbirth by supporting the local organizations such as the Tarrant County Birth Network.  Michelle and Maggie have both generously contributed tonight, and Earth Mama Angel Baby has donated a beautiful postpartum gift as well.  

We are meeting on the campus of TWU at the Sid Richardson Building on the second floor by the elevator.   7:00 pm.  Refreshments are provided this evening by Simply Sweet Bakery.  As always, lap babies only.  Visit us online at www.tcbirthnetwork.org or on Facebook.  See you tonight!

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DOE Needs Parents, Will You Help?

posted 1/12/2011


DDOE is looking for parents to give imput to the Delaware Department of Education, Exceptional Children Resource Workgroup is looking for parents of school-age children with special needs to serve the:

Access to the General Education Committee

This group has a variety of purposes including: 1. Assistance and support in activities about access to general education curriculum; 2. Advise and give recommendations to the Delaware Department of Education; 3. Review best practices; 4. Network and share strategies and 5. Coordinate with other initiatives and activities.

One of the primary functions of the group is to advise and give recommendations to the Delaware Department of Education on two indicators from the State Performance Plan on Access to General Education Curriculum (across the entire spectrum of students with disabilities) and increasing the amount of access students have to the general education classroom. This group will focus on the achievement of all students on the State Assessment as well.

For more information contact: Karen Jones, Education Associate kjones@DOE.K12.DE.US
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Nev. students organize "Teacher Attack Day," Authorities Intervene

What do you think:  Did the punishment fit the crime?

'Teacher Attack Day' No Joke Amidst Recent Violence

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2011/01/teacher_attack_day_no_joke_amidst_recent_violence.html

By Liana Heitin on January 11, 2011 11:47 AM

Last week, six middle school girls in Nevada were arrested for planning to participate in a "Teacher Attack Day" organized through Facebook, according to the Associated Press.

One of the girls set up the Facebook page and invited 100 students at two middle schools to join in, and the other five responded with threats to specific teachers. They were all taken to juvenile hall but later released to their parents. The school suspended them for three to five days.

The girls claimed it was all a joke. The Facebook postings did not include specifics about weapons or how the attacks would be carried out, but they did include the words "die" and "attack," according to the AP. The parent of the girl who sent the invitation removed the posting from Facebook. Another parent brought it to the attention of the authorities.

"School shootings really happen. That's why we took it seriously," said Carson Middle School Principal Dan Sadler. "It's not OK, and it's not funny in this day and age if you're going to make a threat against a teacher."

The teachers targeted in the threats "were shocked," reported the AP, because the girls were good students who held leadership positions.

The Facebook postings are even more sobering and serious in light of recent events. The girls were arrested on the same day a 17-year-old in Omaha, Neb., opened fire at his high school, killing the assistant principal before taking his own life.

And the recent violence in Tucson, Ariz., which led to six deaths, has everyone at schools and other public venues on alert.

"Even if the six girls meant it as a joke, there's no way to know if the other students who accepted the invitation weren't going to carry out the attacks in some fashion," Carson City sheriff's Deputy Jessica Rivera told the AP.

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News 14 Carolina Special: CMS Under Review

From December 2010:

Hear CMS Superintendent Gorman, past and present school board members in a panel discussion on the status of CMS:

http://charlotte.news14.com/content/top_stories/634104/news-14-carolina-special--cms-under-review

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Duncan tells DE School Board Members to look to Charlotte-Mecklenburg...

On a conference call last week to Delaware's elected school board members, Sec. Duncan advised leaders to look to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District to find evidence that RTTT reforms work. 

Maybe that wasn't such a great idea:

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/01/12/397477nccharlotteteachers_ap.html?tkn=OYWFRhD8Tv7ujsy8nzPzBnF6o7sDQbqJ62pp&cmp=clp-edweek

Published Online: January 12, 2011



N.C.'s Largest City Might Cut 1,500 Education Jobs


Charlotte, N.C.

The school superintendent in North Carolina's largest city is recommending the elimination of more than 1,500 jobs to deal with a huge budget shortfall.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Peter Gorman on Tuesday recommended cutting hundreds of teachers and assistants to deal with an expected $100 million budget shortfall.

Gorman also proposed making the school day longer and eliminating a preschool program for more than 1,000 children.

The cuts represent about 9 percent of the school district's 16,000 employees. Gorman didn't say exactly how many teachers might be cut.

Some board members say they don't want to make the cuts, but have few options.

Gorman says the school district has cut or redirected $185 million during the past four years.

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Go here if you'd like to see what Mass Insight had to say about CM reform efforts: http://elizabethscheinberg.blogspot.com/2010/03/mass-insight-identifies-failures-of.html
Note: Mass Insight has removed the original pages regarding this evaluation from its website.

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More from Charlotte:  http://www.wbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13680267

CMS targeting transportation for drastic cuts


Posted: Dec 15, 2010 5:44 PM EST

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Charlotte - Mecklenburg school (CMS) district may yank transportation away from thousands of students to help fill a huge budget shortfall.

CMS is facing a potential $90 million budget gap. That's why it has asked the Transportation Department to cut about $5 million from its budget.

Here is what's on the table for discussion.

The district has recommended to eliminate transportation for students whose schools are within 1 1/2 miles from their home. If this is approved 51,000 students would have to walk to school. For some that would be a very dangerous trek to class. That move would save the district $6 -$8 million.

Another option would be to get rid of transportation for the district's more than 12,000 magnet school students. If the board votes for that, it would be a savings of $2.8 - $9.5 million.

The last option would be to adjust bells times for several schools. Start times would be later or earlier. This would allow buses to double up on routes. The move would save the district up to $3 million.

School officials warn cuts this year will not be pretty.

The school board will make their decision on which cut to make regarding transportation in January.

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The Future of School Boards -

Whatever might occur to alter governance, school boards will not vanish—even if, eventually, consolidation leaves fewer of them. By and large, the public wants local school boards, and state legislators are not about to eliminate them despite the flaws. The idea of governing from the grassroots adds to the appeal that boards have with the public. Too many Americans would consider any other arrangement undemocratic, however questionable their notions of democracy may be.  -  Gene I. Maeroff

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/01/12/15maeroff_ep.h30.html?tkn=VUVF3olb3t4L18v8RAmnJcAzo2FDh5s7HM5S&cmp=clp-edweek

Gene I. Maeroff is a senior fellow at Teachers College, Columbia University, and the president of the school board in Edison, N.J. He adapted these comments from his new book, School Boards in America: A Flawed Exercise in Democracy, which Palgrave Macmillan published in December 2010. More information is available at www.genemaeroff.com.

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NCCo School Board Elections - Current Candidates by District

STATE OF DELAWARE


DEPARTMENT OF ELECTIONS FOR NEW CASTLE COUNTY

2011 SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES & FILING DATES
http://electionsncc.delaware.gov/PubSchool/sch_file.shtml

APPOQUINIMINK SCHOOL DISTRICT
One At-Large Seat, expires 2016 – Walter Roshon (January 6, 2011)

BRANDYWINE SCHOOL DISTRICT
District “B” expires 2015 -
District “F” expires 2016 -

CHRISTINA SCHOOL DISTRICT
District "B" expires 2016 -
District "C" expires 2013 -
District "F" expires 2016 -

COLONIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
District "F" expires 2016 -

RED CLAY CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL DISTRICT
District "F" expires 2016 - James Buckley (Aug. 18, 2010)

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Congratulations to UD's Dr. Iva Obrusnikova! Thank You for your dedication to our children!

from the UDaily, http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2011/jan/aahperd-research-consortium-010711.html
Obrusnikova selected Research Consortium Fellow

10:17 a.m., Jan. 7, 2011----Iva Obrusnikova, assistant professor in the Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition at the University of Delaware, will be among 11 candidates to be inducted as Research Consortium fellows at the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) Convention and Exposition in San Diego on March 3.

She will join approximately 375 fellows in the consortium, a member group of over 5,500 research scholars and other members of AAHPERD who have a strong interest in research. Recognition as a fellow signifies the development of a focused research agenda with an accompanying publication track record in an area related to human health and physical activity.

Obrusnikova's research focuses on developing strategies for increasing physical activity and social interaction among children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders, particularly autism spectrum disorders (ASD). During the summer of 2010, she conducted a pilot study on the use of therapy dogs in a physical education class for children between the ages of 9-14 with ASD.

Obrusnikova joined the UD faculty in July 2006. She received her doctorate in kinesiology and adapted physical education from Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic, in 2004.

In nominating Obrusnikova, Susan Hall, deputy dean in the College of Health Sciences and professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, wrote: “As an assistant professor, Dr. Obrusnikova is early in her career, but I am confident that in time she will become recognized as one of the leaders in the sub-discipline of adapted physical education. I am also confident that with fellow status, Dr. Obrusnikova will be an even more active and contributing member of the Research Consortium.”

AAHPERD is the largest organization of professionals supporting and assisting those involved in physical education, leisure, fitness, dance, and health promotion. The mission of the AAHPERD Research Consortium is to advance, promote, and disseminate quality research within and across the disciplines and the professions served by AAHPERD.

Article by Diane Kukich

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Breastfeeding, Allergies, and Antibiotics

I was born in January 1971 -- yes, I'm turning 40 this month! -- which had the lowest breastfeeding initiation rate on record.  I can't really blame my mother for not breastfeeding.  It was the culture.  Women only breastfed if they were too poor to buy formula.  Women were told that formula was superior to breastmilk.  Much like today, women trusted their doctors and didn't question them.  As far as I know, my mom never even considered breastfeeding.  I did not receive even one drop of colostrum.

I love to read my baby book.  I was eating veal at 3 weeks of age.  Yes, veal.  I was loaded up on all kinds of baby food in that first year.

During the first 5 years of my life, I was in and out of the doctors offices regularly -- ear infections, croup, you name it.  I was hospitalized for croup and lived in a "bubble" for what-seemed-like-forever to a 5 year old.  I went through the allergy testing at the same age and started the joyous road to allergy shots for the next 7 years.  I'm not sure why they stopped doing them when I was 12, but it was perfect timing because I picked up smoking!  It was 1983 and everyone smoked -- everywhere!  Plus, I grew up in Santa Fe and it was artsy and cool.  I'm sure that was great for my lung development, since I already had oodles of problems.

When I was 18 or 19, I had an MRI and the doctor found that my sinus passages were completely white (they were supposed to be completely black) on the reading.  He asked if I did cocaine but I didn't.  Fast forward 20 years and my MRIs and cat scans all say the same thing.

I have suffered all my life with seasonal asthma and especially sinus infections.  I usually have about 5 or 6 per year.  Last year, I had 10 infections from October to July when I finally had sinus surgery.  Personally, it was the best move I've made towards better health. 

Let's talk about antibiotics for a minute.  I remember this being a big deal in the news a few years back -- the Superbug scare and antibiotics not being able to treat certain people because they are immune to antibiotics because they have been on them so much in their lifetime.  This is me!  In fact, last spring my allergist told me he hopes I never get really sick because he doesn't know if I could be treated.  I was on the strongest antibiotics possible at the time and could not get rid of the infections. (I have strong feelings about putting women who test positive for Group B Strep on antibiotics in labor just in case and then treating babies with antibiotics after birth just in case.  If there is a problem, you will know it in other ways.  Stop all the antibiotics!  Only use them when they are truly needed.)

Since the surgery, there have been a couple of times where I could tell I was starting an infection, but my ENT has me on a medicated sinus rinse (fellow sinus sufferers, you should know about this!) and it fights the infection because it's putting the antibiotic directly on the infection instead of traveling through the entire body trying to find the infection.  I wonder how I would have done if I'd been on that before the surgery...

I should add that I grew up in a very sterile environment.  My mom was a total clean freak -- still is.  I had all my immunizations.  I was probably not exposed to a whole lot of dirt, well, except that I grew up in the desert!  There are many factors to consider.  I believe, if I had been breastfed, I would not have as many problems as I do.  I also believe that starting all the solid foods at just a couple of weeks old really did a number on me as well.  My brother and sister do not have the allergy and asthma issues that I do.  I hate it when people say, "I wasn't breastfed and I turned out fine."  Sure, I'm fine, I'm surviving, although miserable half the time.  I think my brother and sister, while not allergy sufferers, have their own set of issues, would probably agree.   There is a big difference between surviving and thriving.

I really like my allergist, but for over two years we have argued over whether breastfeeding helps prevent allergies.  He has twins and I'm pretty sure his wife did not breastfeed because of his blase attitude towards it.  He insists that allergies are based on genetics.  Maybe.  My dad had allergies -- nothing like mine though.   I have always thrown back at my doctor that all of my kids have been exclusively breastfed -- no formula ever and all started solids at a late age, one at 9 months and another was over one year.  Why, with my allergies being so severe, if it's genetic, do none of my kids suffer from allergies?

So, I guess ultimately, I'll never know. There are things we can control and things we can't.  Babies can't control what kind of milk they get, but mothers can control what they feed their babies.  I only addressed allergies in this post, but the physical effects of breastfeeding are incredibly far-reaching and extensive.  Maybe another post for another day.  Mothers can control how early they introduce solid foods.  Mothers can control giving their babies and children antibiotics.  Rushing down to the pediatrician for an antibiotic every time your child is sick should not be taken lightly.

I have no doubt there will be people who comment here that they were breastfed and they still suffer from allergies.  Of course.  Again with the variables - how early and how often you received solid foods, did your mom supplement with formula, etc.  Food for thought -- how much worse off would you be if you had not been breastfed at all? 

Mothers, breastfeed your babies.  It's good for you, good for your baby (who will grow into an adult), good for the budget, good for the environment, good for humanity.  It's a no-brainer in the year 2011.

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BRANDYWINE SPECIAL NEEDS PTA SPECIAL EVENT

Monday, January 31, 2011

Meeting starts at 6:45 p.m., Presentation at 7:00 p.m.

Springer Middle School Library

2220 Shipley Road, Wilmington, Delaware 19803

Understanding Transition: an Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Mandate

 Are you unsure about your child’s future after they leave high school? Do you wonder whether your child will get a job or be able to live independently? Do you question whether your child is learning self-advocacy skills in school or what agencies and organizations are available for their support?

Come listen to experts about successful transition planning. Learn how the IEP team can develop a plan that includes appropriate transition activities, services and courses and the mission statement of IDEA which is further education, future employment and independent living.

Presenters:

Dale Matusevich, DOE, Education Associate Transition Services

Barbara Riley, DOL, Department of Vocational Rehabilitation

The time to plan for your child’s future is NOW!

For more information, contact Ellen Coulston at 798-4641 or visit www.BSNPTA.org.

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What really happened on that call with Arne Duncan...

Is going to be very subjective. I think every board member walked away with a different interpretation.  I personally considered live blogging the conversation, as I called in remotely.  That quckly became impossible (two kids home sick, my less than speedy typing skills, an at times bad connection, and I never asked anyone if I could.)  So, I took notes for about 75 percent of it. 

In the interest of the same transparency that Sec. Duncan spoke about with board members, I am now offering my notes up to the public.  You're not likely to learn anything that you didn't already know.  Nor can you consider these any kind of minutes.  But, I know that there are many curious minds out there who want to know what was discussed.  This is my interpretation:

2:05 pm
Okay, we're live.  Not a great connection. 

Sec. Lowery welcomes all of us. Some folks in are Dover for the conference call, others are calling in remotely.

Sec. Duncan (this is a paraphrase of his key points):

It's relatively easy to put reform plans on paper, a lot of courage to make the changes. He offers thanks school board members for their courage and acknowledges that "everyone must do things differently."

Duncan points out tht "Truly meaningful teacher evaluation that have been lacking, not just in Delaware but around the country." 

He tells boards that "We have to be willing to do things differently... Boards have to have those hard conversations... This will be critical for state and country."

The real hard work is a head.  Sec. Duncan talks alot about the courage that board members needs to have.

Operator  notes connection problems

Lowery:  Starts question period with  board members located in Dover. 
Question: A board member starts by talking about the access that Delaware board presidents have to DE Sec. of Ed.  this is a positive. Our boards have much better access than boards in other states.
Duncan:  "Lillian is a major superstar there."

Question from Dover:  Local board in DE are concerned about sustainability beyond NCLB and RTTT.

Duncan:  He expects "bipartisan authorization of NCLB this year"and as for RTTT - "in this for a long haul."  He states that his "Department is part of the problem.  We Haven't invested in success.  If all we do is formula-based programs won't see success."

Question from Dover:  "Thank You for sending OCR inspectors to my district."  We've made meaningful changes to code.  What they present to us will help us.  Met a couple of those guys.  And already moving forward.   Delaware is willing to offer "blistering criticisms" - its the only way we get bettter.  These (RTTT) reform models don't actually lend to results - How will that be different in DE partnership Zone?

Duncan: Some schools have been drop out factories for decades and  no one has done anything to change outcomes for students.  He states that we are deliberately being a distruptive voice b/c of staggering level of complacency.  He says there is sots of research behind the reforms.  A huge a amount of research that great teachers make a lot of change.  "In Education talent matters tremendously." 

To "Attract, retain and nurture great talent, you need great principals."  Great talent is important, but new talent is even more important.

"I think we will have amazing successes." 

Duncan says we "Have to look at things on a comprehensice nature." He urges distric's to look at Charlotte Mecklenburg.  They've been turning around schools longer than USDOE has.  Its "Systematic turnaround each year and getting results."

"At the end of the day its trying to get the most talent to those children and communities."

First Remote Question:  In light of us being repeatedly told that there will be no testing wariver for the DCAS- can we have embargo to keep data between boards, school chief, and sec. of ed.?  To Avoid distraction such as fighting with press or parents who move their children between schools after just the first year of data.

Duncan:  This is a question that many states are facing.  Tenn. NY State.  He says we are just starting to tell the truth.  "A lot of places do the dummy down standards.  What our job here is transparency.  ARe the conversation hard?  yes.  Are they difficult to have, yes.  ... But, you are absolutely on the right side of history."

Boards need to over communicate it.  Trying to bury it makes it harder to sustain the momentum we need. He talks alot about transparency here.

This is where my connection gets spotty and my notes start to falter.  I'm going from memory now:

Dover: Why did this conversation take so long to happen? Will it happen again? Also expressed concerned about the MOU.  It was an understanding, not a contract.  What we are doing now is not the same as the MOU. 

Duncan:  Says he can be available to have these conversations as often as needed.  Says he regrets not starting them sooner.

Dover: If you take more than four years to finish high school you're automatically counted as a drop-out  and the district is punished.

Duncan:  Thinks this is wrong.  He doesn't care how long it takes to graduate from high school.  If kids need more time, then they need more time.  What's important is graduating with skills for career or college.

Dover: Some schools in my district have the same abject poverty, yet they were not all chosen for the partnership zone.  What do we tell the families of those children, the ones across the street, whose schools don't receive the extra resources?

Duncan:   He says that we're finally "in the game."  This is just the beginning.  Delaware's Board Members are doing brave work. He proceeds into his closing remarks.

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New Edu-jargon and Can Washington State's Education System be Overhauled to mimic Delaware's? Should it?

Text in RED is MINE :)

Published Online: January 5, 2011
Wash. Gov. Calls for New Education Department

Olympia, Wash.

Gov. Chris Gregoire is pushing for a major overhaul of the state's education system, proposing the creation of a state Department of Education that would take over duties handled by the voter-elected state school superintendent and other agencies, and establishing a secretary of education.  (Sounds a lot like Delaware's, huh?)

Gregoire announced the plan Wednesday, part of her efforts to streamline government during the economic downturn.


The Democratic governor said consolidating Washington's education efforts — "from preschool to the Ph. D." — would save time and money, and improve outcomes for students. (I think Gregiore just coined the next fad in edu-jargon. P to Ph.D.)

"Today in our state, we do not have an education system," Gregoire said. "We have a collection of agencies that deal with the subject of education."

But the plan is not without opposition. (Thank Goodness!  Vocal edu-critics are a minority in Delaware.  There are a few stalwart voices out there that are willing to critique and criticize the edu-policy and edu-fallacy that is spill't forth from our elected and appointed leaders; however, the majority of voters continue in silence. )


State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn issued a stern statement saying he reports to the people, not Gregoire.

"The governor can create any staff position she wants. Her proposal, however, would require the state superintendent to report to a new secretary of education," Dorn said. "I am an elected official: My boss is the people of this state, not the governor. That is state law, explicit in Article III of the state constitution." (That's right, Randy. Don't forget it!)

Under Gregoire's plan, a new Education Department would absorb responsibilities currently held by an array of officials, including Dorn, who oversees public K-12 education in the state. The department would supervise the state's entire schooling system and would be headed by a secretary, reporting to the governor.

The education secretary would work with a state Education Council, whose members also would be appointed by the governor, and a K-12 education ombudsman. (Ahhh, appointments.  Appointments at this level create an insulated caucaus that is easy prey to group think.  Group Think was at the root of the Challenger Disaster.   Don't believe me?  Google It.  There's quite a breadth of research supporting this assertation. And while I caution that not everything you read on the internet is true, Group Think is a sad, decontructive reality that frequently results in disaster.)

But questions about whether Gregoire's plan is constitutional will have to be answered as the bills are written and debated. The state constitution establishes the state superintendent's office, and it's unclear how that clause affects having an elected official reporting to a cabinet-level appointment.


Dorn was quick to point that out in his statement.

Dorn said he supports consolidating commissions and eliminating agencies, but he says funding is the primary issues affecting public schools.  (I would suggest Dorn get to work on his own plan for consolidation of duplicate commissions and agencies.  If Washington's legislature is anything like Delaware's, he sure to see his elected position vanish.)

The governor, though, said there's nothing in the state constitution that precludes a cabinet-level appointment from having authority over the superintendent.

The president of the state's largest teachers union said Wednesday she is concerned about several elements of the governor's proposal, including having someone who is appointed, rather than elected, head the Education Department.

"With 40 percent of state budget going to education, it should be an elected position," said Mary Lindquist, president of the Washington Education Association. "You want someone there who is directly accountable for what happens in education." (Absolutely!)

Lindquist added she recognizes Gregoire's proposal comes from a place of economic desperation. And she said she looks forward to hearing more details, especially if there's some potential for saving money.


Finish the story here: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/01/05/396029wgregoireeducation_ap.html?tkn=PMQFFdbbcUwWneVbu0%2BjH0IRKmIbzTwq2yLc&cmp=clp-edweek

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New Law Labels Interns as "Highly Qualified" Teachers...

New Law Labels Interns 'Highly Qualified Teachers'

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/01/04/395869usinexperiencedteachers_ap.html?tkn=USMFIuNAoHopLc4XepLzSY8t7qqHBEjO%2BD64&cmp=clp-edweek


San Francisco
Civil rights advocates are blasting new federal legislation that allows states to classify teaching interns as "highly qualified" teachers and regularly assign them to schools with mostly poor, minority students.

The measure, which remains in effect until the end of the 2012-13 school year, was signed Dec. 22 by President Barack Obama as part of an unrelated federal spending bill.

The legislation nullifies a Sept. 27 decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that California illegally classified thousands of teachers in training as "highly qualified" in violation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Under that law, all students are supposed to be taught by "highly qualified" teachers who have earned state teaching credentials, but a 2002 Bush administration policy allowed states to give that status to interns working toward certification.

The San Francisco-based appeals court struck down that policy, siding with low-income families in Richmond, Hayward and Los Angeles that claimed that a disproportionate number of uncredentialed teachers were teaching in their schools.

That 2-1 ruling would have required districts to distribute teaching interns more evenly across schools and to notify parents when their child is not taught by a fully credentialed teacher, but the new legislation temporarily allows teachers in training to keep the "highly qualified" status.

Visit this blog.Rep. George Miller, the California Democrat who leads the House Education and Labor Committee, said the amendment was necessary because the 9th Circuit decision "could cause major and unpredictable disruptions to schools across the country if it was implemented before Congress can fully address issues of teacher preparedness, effectiveness and access."

But civil rights advocates who filed the lawsuit said the legislation will hurts the tens of thousands of mostly poor students of color who are taught by inexperienced teachers.

"With this amendment, Congress is really turning its back on low-income, minority students," said Tara Kini, a staff attorney with Public Advocates, a San Francisco-based nonprofit law firm that filed the lawsuit.

Kini also complained that the amendment was approved by Congress at the last minute and without debate.

"There was just no opportunity for the public to weigh in," Kini said Tuesday. "That's not how we should be making foundational education policy in this country."

The lawsuit claims that more than 10,000 interns were teaching in California public schools in 2007. About 62 percent of interns taught in the poorest half of California schools, and more than half were assigned to schools with at least 90 percent students of color.

The number of teaching interns has dropped to about 8,000 because state budget cuts have led to fewer teaching positions and fewer people are entering the teacher credentialing programs, Kini said.

Nationwide, more than 100,000 intern teachers are classified as "highly qualified," according to the lawsuit.

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Wesley College's Ed. Program Looses NCATE Accreditation

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110104/NEWS/110104029/Wesley-College-loses-education-program-accreditation

Wesley College’s education program has lost its accreditation from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, a gold standard for educator preparation and a requirement for teachers to obtain a license in Delaware.

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Did you see the Gorilla?

The Gorilla, the Basketball and the Future http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teacher_in_a_strange_land/2011/01/the_gorilla_the_basketball_and_the_future.html
By Nancy Flanagan on January 4, 2011 12:28 AM

Remember the gorilla video that everyone in education was chattering about, maybe five years ago? I went to three conferences in a row where someone showed this video in a presentation, generally drawing audience reactions somewhere between amazement and confusion.

If you haven't seen it, here's a synopsis: Six people, three in white shirts and three in black, are passing two basketballs back and forth. The viewer is instructed to count the passes made by players in white shirts. The six passers are in a relatively small area, in front of a bank of elevator doors; the space between passers (who are awkwardly moving around) is only a couple of feet. After a half-minute of pass-counting, a person in a gorilla suit enters the viewing area, moves into the center of the basketball action, beats its chest, then strolls off.

Supposedly, fewer than half of first-time viewers see the gorilla, so intent are they on counting passes. When told they've missed noticing a gorilla, they're stunned. It's called selective attention, the human inability to perceive all incoming stimuli at once, forcing us to choose which processing resources and points of focus will prevail.

The interesting thing here is not the results of the experiment. It's the way that different education presenters used the video clip. I first saw the video at a State Board of Education meeting. The point being made (I think) was that educators and education leaders were missing huge critical issues, because they were wearing policy blinders. A Big Scary Gorilla was looming, and school leaders were focused on minutiae, perhaps the very items on the Board's agenda.

Now that's a concept most veteran teachers can appreciate. Even though the video gorilla was obvious and visible to me, there are plenty of changes in educational practice that I didn't see coming, beginning with mandatory standardized testing of students in grades 3-8. Sweeping changes in educational practice and policy tend to come as a surprise to teachers, simply because they haven't been paying attention to the discourse or trends, what with recess duty, lesson plans, parent phone calls and trying to stay awake until the news.

I saw the clip used--with limited relevance, IMHO--to illustrate several ideas or issues, including teachers' purported reluctance to use technology, schools' inability to think past outdated habits, and in support of "data retreats" for schools (where, presumably, the basketball players represented clueless teachers attending to the wrong stuff, and the gorilla portrayed Important Student Data).

Well, you can only take a metaphor so far. As often as the clip was trotted out, I never heard anyone suggest that perhaps the video had little significance beyond the demonstrated fact that many people aren't particularly observant. Maybe there was no transferable grand nugget, no key message about dire outcomes if we can't see what's coming down the pike.

Gary Stager just posted an amusing piece about Famous Eduspeakers who make big bucks recycling ideas about "the future" that we've been hearing for decades: A doctor who practiced in 1900 wouldn't recognize most equipment or procedures in a modern hospital, but the American classroom hasn't changed much in a century. Everyone will have multiple jobs, and most of those jobs haven't been invented. Knowledge quadruples overnight. Kids use technology fluently and effectively; geezers can barely check their e-mail. And so on.

In spite of all the presenters who've made tidy fortunes standing in front of teachers repeating things like this, showing moody videos with minor-key soundtracks and coining phrases, the pace and direction of change in education are fairly random, dependent more on fluctuation in the political economy and available technologies than the result of creative thinking. You can't point to many instances of innovative vision and planning leading to spectacular results. The track record of educational prognosticators is pretty weak, and most "21st century education experts" spend their time critiquing schools and teachers for being behind the curve.

In the late 70s, I took a graduate class called "The Future of Education." We read a lot of Alvin Toffler and publications from the World Future Society about the coming revolution in education. A few of the forecasts from one of my textbooks (published in 1977):
• In the early 80s, education levels will have climbed to the point where 70% of the population has a high school diploma, and will continue to rise. Half of the workforce will hold prestigious white-collar jobs, and that percentage will also rise.

• The work week will be set at 35 hours by 1985.

• Great emphasis will be put on energy conservation, with the nation becoming energy self-sufficient by 2000. By 1990, the petroleum industry will be nationalized.

• By 1990, all schools will operate on a year-round plan. There will be a nationalized health care system. Vaccines will have conquered venereal disease, and drugs will increase the learning of developmentally delayed children.

• "New Breed" political leaders will combine Eastern ideologies with Western tactics, preferring shared and cooperative decision-making over power.

• By 2000, the average age of retirement will be 47, and weekly hours for leisure nearly doubled. Public schools will routinely provide recreational facilities for communities.

• Drugs will permanently raise the level of human intelligence by 2010.

Depressing, no?

Welcome to 2011, and watch out for the gorilla."

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