Poverty and Stress Can Damage Children’s Lives
The latest research studies from Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child demonstrate how “toxic stress” can severely damage children’s minds.
Everyone needs to learn to deal with adversity, says Dr. Jack Shonkoff of the Harvard Center, and some stress is a good learning experience.
But the conditions associated with living in poverty harms children’s development.
“The same brain flexibility, called plasticity, that makes children open to learning in their early years also makes them particularly vulnerable to damage from the toxic stressors that often accompany poverty: high mobility and
Everyone needs to learn to deal with adversity, says Dr. Jack Shonkoff of the Harvard Center, and some stress is a good learning experience.
But the conditions associated with living in poverty harms children’s development.
“The same brain flexibility, called plasticity, that makes children open to learning in their early years also makes them particularly vulnerable to damage from the toxic stressors that often accompany poverty: high mobility and
Who Needs Poets? Why More Einsteins?
Pat Buoncristiani was a teacher and principal of a school in U.S. for many years. She now lives in her native Australia.
She raises important questions about how standardized testing, now ubiquitous, will affect creativity, curiosity, and critical thinking.
You will like her blog. She cares more about learning to think than learning to take tests.
She raises important questions about how standardized testing, now ubiquitous, will affect creativity, curiosity, and critical thinking.
You will like her blog. She cares more about learning to think than learning to take tests.
Advice to a Mother about Common Core:
A mother in North Carolina wrote for advice. Her daughter in first grade is studying algebra. Her teacher said it was the Common Core. The mother is baffled. She asked for help. Here is an informed response:
“I am responding to the blog entry from the mother in N.C. who is concerned about the Common Core Standards and their effects on her first grade child. I am an early childhood teacher educator–I’ve taught teachers of young children at Lesley University for over 30 years. I can tell you that the Common Core Standards for young children are developmentally inappropriate, not based on how young children learn, and in my opinion, causing a great deal of harm to young children all over the country (the standards have been adopted by almost all states). The
“I am responding to the blog entry from the mother in N.C. who is concerned about the Common Core Standards and their effects on her first grade child. I am an early childhood teacher educator–I’ve taught teachers of young children at Lesley University for over 30 years. I can tell you that the Common Core Standards for young children are developmentally inappropriate, not based on how young children learn, and in my opinion, causing a great deal of harm to young children all over the country (the standards have been adopted by almost all states). The
What Are You Going to Do to Change Obama’s Mind?
Joe Bower asks the right question: “What are you doing to make Obama rethink his education policies?”
Obama will never stand for election again.
He is free to do what he wants.
Congress has given him a free hand.
He knows what is right for his daughters.
He chose a great school with experienced teachers, small classes, a full curriculum, a library, the arts, and NO
Obama will never stand for election again.
He is free to do what he wants.
Congress has given him a free hand.
He knows what is right for his daughters.
He chose a great school with experienced teachers, small classes, a full curriculum, a library, the arts, and NO
If Baseball Were Like Race to the Top
I recently posted a hilarious item that asked what would happen if basketball leagues were run in accordance with the rules of No Child Left Behind.
John Thompson asks what would Major League Baseball look like if it were conducted in accordance with the requirements of Race to the Top and the School Improvement Grants.
Why this sudden interest in sports analogies? My guess is that education policy has become so insane that he
John Thompson asks what would Major League Baseball look like if it were conducted in accordance with the requirements of Race to the Top and the School Improvement Grants.
Why this sudden interest in sports analogies? My guess is that education policy has become so insane that he
Does Segregation Improve Test Scores?
Remember when school segregation was considered a terrible thing?
Maybe you are not old enough to remember.
I am. I remember. I attended racially segregated schools in Houston in the 1940s and 1950s.
It was not okay.
The Supreme Court said it was wrong.
No longer.
EduShyster has discovered that racial segregation has become normal in certain schools in
Maybe you are not old enough to remember.
I am. I remember. I attended racially segregated schools in Houston in the 1940s and 1950s.
It was not okay.
The Supreme Court said it was wrong.
No longer.
EduShyster has discovered that racial segregation has become normal in certain schools in
MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-16-12 Diane Ravitch's blog
Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] What Schools Should Do in Crisis Times by dianerav After the hurricane, Mayor Bloomberg was eager to reopen the city’s public schools as soon as possible for the 1.1 million children enrolled. He worried that they were “losing time” and had to get back to their studies, back to normal. The facts that many of the schools suffered damage, that many were turned into shelters, and that many children were in shock because of their experiences were irrelevant. It was back to the routine. In this brilliant post, ... more »