U.S. ranks near bottom of advanced nations in child wellness -- new report - The Washington Post

 U.S. ranks near bottom of advanced nations in child wellness -- new report - The Washington Post 

U.S. ranks near bottom of advanced nations in child wellness -- new report 

The United States ranks near the bottom of dozens of advanced nations in terms of the well-being of its children, according to a report with data from before the coronavirus epidemic.

The rankings were published by the United Nations Children’s Fund, known as UNICEF, which show that of 38 advanced countries for which data was compiled in a range of wellness markers, the United States was No. 36. (See ranking chart and full report below).

The Netherlands, Denmark and Norway topped the list, which takes into account data on the mental and physical health of children as well as their skills as measured by international exams. Mental well-being includes both life satisfaction as well as suicide rates; physical health includes rates of overweight and obesity as well as child mortality, and skills focuses both on proficiency in reading and mathematics as well as social skills.

But the report noted that in many of the advanced nations on the list, children are not doing well; in fact, in nearly half, more than 1 in 5 children live in poverty. Of 41 nations ranked on child poverty, the United States was fourth from the bottom.

In 11 of 41 countries, at least 5 percent of households do not have safely managed water, and high levels of air pollution still threaten the physical and mental health of children, who suffer the greatest harms.

Even before the covid-19 crisis, which presents new threats to child well-being, the report said the daily lives of millions of children in the world’s richest nations fell far short of what anyone would call a good childhood.

“They suffered stress, anxiety and depression, lagged behind their peers at school, and were physically unwell,” it says. “Living in a wealthy country did not bring them happiness. Nor did it guarantee them better health or education

(UNICEF 2020)

For the new rankings, data was analyzed from 41 advanced nations (though because of gaps in information, only 38 were ranked on the list below), and a broader view of child well-being was taken CONTINUE READING:  U.S. ranks near bottom of advanced nations in child wellness -- new report - The Washington Post 

Work Or Online Learning? Homeless Families Face An Impossible Choice : NPR

Work Or Online Learning? Homeless Families Face An Impossible Choice : NPR

Homeless Families Struggle With Impossible Choices As School Closures Continue

The closure of school buildings in response to the coronavirus has been disruptive and inconvenient for many families, but for those living in homeless shelters or hotel rooms — including roughly 1.5 million school-aged children — the shuttering of classrooms and cafeterias has been disastrous.

For Rachel, a 17-year-old sharing a hotel room in Cincinnati with her mother, the disaster has been academic. Her school gave her a laptop, but "hotel Wi-Fi is the worst," she says. "Every three seconds [my teacher is] like, 'Rachel, you're glitching. Rachel, you're not moving.'"

For Vanessa Shefer, the disaster has made her feel "defeated." Since May, when the family home burned, she and her four children have stayed in a hotel, a campground and recently left rural New Hampshire to stay with extended family in St. Johnsbury, Vt. Her kids ask, "When are we going to have a home?" But Shefer says she can't afford a "home" without a good-paying job, and she can't get a job while her kids need help with school.

For this story, NPR spoke with students, parents, caregivers, shelter managers and school leaders across the country about what it means, in this moment, to be homeless CONTINUE READING: Work Or Online Learning? Homeless Families Face An Impossible Choice : NPR

NYC Educator: If You Like the DOE, You'll Love Trump

NYC Educator: If You Like the DOE, You'll Love Trump

If You Like the DOE, You'll Love Trump

So the DOE now says that testing isn't, you know, mandatory for students, but that those who decline, "may be required to learn remotely" if they don't receive enough forms. Of course, that defeats the entire purpose of the testing program, as random samples are not self-selected. Also, that's absolutely not the agreement they made with UFT. UFT will now have to waste time and energy enforcing yet another agreement the DOE made but doesn't care to understand.

Anyway, if you like agreements that work like that, you need to vote for President Trump. He's out there saying there will be no relief bill until after he's re-elected. I'm old enough to remember 2016, when he said he would release his tax returns if he were elected. I remember him saying Mexico would pay for the wall. I remember him saying he had a great health plan that would protect those with pre-existing conditions. It turned out his plan was for everyone to get sick and die ASAP. 

In fact, he's still saying he has a plan. Meanwhile, 210,000 Americans are dead because he's failed to make a national plan to deal with COVID. Originally, he decided not to bother because it looked to his thugs like it would only affect blue states. That's us, of course. We didn't vote for him so we can all go to hell. I guess if you're sufficiently racist or xenophobic, Trump's willingness to give a wink and a nod and say that's fine is kind of comforting. 

Of course if you're a teacher, there are other reasons not to vote for Trump. Trump is a big supporter of so-called right to work, and if you aren't persuaded of that you need only look at the Janus case, which overturned Abood nationally and made union membership optional. After all, why should you pay dues when suckers like me will do it for you? Why shouldn't you enjoy benefits that the rest of us pay for? That's the Trump way. Who do you think pays for all those golf trips he takes? 

Here's the thing, though--when Abood was in force, individual states could opt out via "right to work." This weakened union and made it difficult for working people to organize. Less union means lower pay and fewer benefits for working Americans. That's precisely what CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: If You Like the DOE, You'll Love Trump

'I'm overwhelmed': Single parents navigate virtual learning - NonDoc

'I'm overwhelmed': Single parents navigate virtual learning

‘I’m overwhelmed’: Single parents navigate virtual learning

Succeeding in the world of virtual learning can be difficult for students. It can also be difficult for single parents who are now wearing the hat of caregiver, teacher and financial provider.

Home offices have been turned into makeshift classrooms, kitchen tables are now school desks and parents are doing extra planning around their usual work day to ensure that their children are still able to get the education they deserve.

Liz Turner has a third and fifth grader that attend Zarro International Elementary School, a sixth and eighth grader that attend Carver Middle School and a child in pre-k in Tulsa Public Schools. The children attend multiple Zoom meetings a day, four days a week, while completing all of their usual curriculum virtually.

Turner, however, also works full-time for a promotional company, and while her workplace is family oriented, she knows those allowances can only go so far.

“I am uniquely lucky in that my work is very understanding and family oriented, but anyone could lose their job basically,” Turner said. “It’s in the back of your mind: My work is great, they support families and they let me bring the kids in if they’re sick, but at the CONTINUE READING: 'I'm overwhelmed': Single parents navigate virtual learning

Teacher Tom: Teaching Children to Be Incompetent

Teacher Tom: Teaching Children to Be Incompetent

Teaching Children to Be Incompetent

In 1973, I was 11-years-old, living with my family in a suburb of Athens, Greece. My brother was 9 and our sister was not even four. We lived a couple of miles from the American Club, a place that ex-pats from English speaking countries congregated. We primarily frequented it to use the swimming pool, movie theater, and book store. Us boys were pretty much free to go there whenever we wanted and we thought nothing of hopping on our bikes to, say, check out the latest comic book offerings. Our little sister, we all thought without ever even saying it, was too young for such solo excursions.

One day as we played in our garden, she asserted that she knew how to get to the American Club all by herself. My brother and I, not always being the gentlest of older siblings, doubted her, but when she persisted, we challenged her to back up her boasting and lead us there, which she proceeded to do. This was not a direct course, it was rather one that required many twists and turns, and covered, like I said, a couple miles. We boys began by teasing her, but as she competently led our expedition farther and farther, our mockery turned to respect. She guided us all that way without one false turn.

I share this story as an example of how we regularly underestimate the capabilities of young children to understand and navigate the world. Indeed, that is one of the reasons we create what John Holt called the “walled off garden of childhood,” a place where we keep our children to protect them from the outside world: a place where we round CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Teaching Children to Be Incompetent

Even New Jersey, the State with the Best Funded Schools, Needs a 2nd Federal COVID-19 Relief Bill | janresseger

Even New Jersey, the State with the Best Funded Schools, Needs a 2nd Federal COVID-19 Relief Bill | janresseger

Even New Jersey, the State with the Best Funded Schools, Needs a 2nd Federal COVID-19 Relief Bill

In the midst of the COVID-19 recession, even New Jersey, the state with the nation’s best school funding system, can’t maintain its constitutional obligation without additional federal help through the relief package which was first proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives in May.  U.S. Senate Republicans have refused to consider a second COVID-19 relief bill through the whole summer and into the fall, but discussions had revived in recent days.  Just yesterday, however, President Trump seemed to kill any chance that a second federal relief package will be forthcoming before the November election.

In New Jersey, the state supreme court has held New Jersey’s legislature accountable for fulfilling its constitutionally defined responsibility to fund the state’s public schools.  In his 2013 book, Improbable Scholars, David Kirp, a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, describes the long series of decisions in New Jersey’s state constitutional case of Abbott v. Burke: “Beginning in the early 1990s, additional help came from an unexpected source—the New Jersey Supreme Court.  Over the past half-century, those justices have acquired a reputation for the boldness and controversiality of their opinions… None of the court’s decrees has made a bigger splash or taken a bigger bite out of the state treasury than the epic school finance case Abbott. v. Burke. In twenty-one decrees issued over the course of nearly three decades, the justices have read the state’s constitutional guarantee of ‘a thorough and efficient system of education’ as a charter of equality for urban youth. That 1875 provision, and the court in its historic 1990 ruling, Abbott II, meant that youngsters living in poor cities were entitled to an education as good as their suburban counterparts… Money cannot cure all the ailments of public education…. But the fact that New Jersey spends more than $16,000 per student, third in the nation, partly explains why a state in which nearly half the students are minorities and a disproportionate share are immigrants has the country’s highest graduation rate and ranks among the top five on the National Assessment of Education Progress, the country’s report card. The additional money also helps to account for how New Jersey halved the achievement gap between black, Latino, and white students between 1999 and 2007.” (Improbable Scholars, pp. 83-85)

However, pledges to rectify inequity depend on annual appropriations that sometimes don’t keep up with the promises. Even New Jersey has fallen behind in recent years.  While New CONTINUE READING: Even New Jersey, the State with the Best Funded Schools, Needs a 2nd Federal COVID-19 Relief Bill | janresseger

Laura Chapman: “GreatSchools” Rating System Is Funded by School Choice Billionaires | Diane Ravitch's blog

Laura Chapman: “GreatSchools” Rating System Is Funded by School Choice Billionaires | Diane Ravitch's blog

Laura Chapman: “GreatSchools” Rating System Is Funded by School Choice Billionaires

Laura Chapman, intrepid researcher, writes here about the billionaire and corporate money supporting the rating system for schools called GreatSchools. It clearly exists to promote school choice, not community cohesion or civic responsibility. GreatSchools recently announced that it would use “growth scores” to measure school quality, not just test scores, but the difference is miniscule, and the outcome is the same: to promote segregation and school choice by linking “school quality” and test scores.

Laura Chapman writes:

Great Schools is supported by income from Scholastic, Zillow and other advertisers, who pay for packages that can push up their page views or allow them to license the school ratings. The whole website functions as a tool to perpetuate redlining, charter schools, and advocates forf school choice.

Here are the largest financial pushers of the dubious ratings:

Walton Family Foundation, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Einhorn Family Charitable Trust, Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Trust, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

These big funders are offered a display of their logos. Other supporters are: CONTINUE READING: Laura Chapman: “GreatSchools” Rating System Is Funded by School Choice Billionaires | Diane Ravitch's blog

CURMUDGUCATION: CAP: It's the School System's Fault

CURMUDGUCATION: CAP: It's the School System's Fault

CAP: It's the School System's Fault

The Center for American Progress (CAP) is nominally a left-tilted thinky tank, but they have always been solidly on the side of reformsterism, backing charter schools and relentlessly stumping for the Common Core.

They're also fans of the narrow reformster view of education as a mill for churning out meat widgets, and here they are at it again in a post from mid-September (you know, about ten years ago) entitled "Preparing American Students for the Workforce of the Future." It's a pervasive reform idea--that the point of school is as vocational prep (and college is just vocational prep for higher-paying jobs).

And yes-- if schools were cranking out graduates who were completely unemployable, that would be a disservice to those students. But the notion that the years 1 through 18 (or even 22) should be focused simply on making yourself useful to your future employer is such a cramped, meager, joyless, shrunken version of what a human life can be-- Well, I could go on and on, but let's settle for this--no parents with resources to provide their child with more would settle for thirteen (or fourteen or fifteen) years of meat widget training.

But CAP leaps right in with "The United States has failed to prepare all students for college and their careers" and follows up by citing TNTP's Opportunity Myth, one of those non-research "reports" that reformy groups crank out so that other groups can cite them as if they contain actual research. I've discussed it at length elsewhere, so I'm not getting into it here--short form: it's not a good sign.

CAP throws in some chicken littling about the pandemic's effects on the US healthcare, economy and workforce, noting that Black and brown people are worst hit, and they're not wrong. But their CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: CAP: It's the School System's Fault

2021-22 State Board of Education Student Member Screening Committee Notice, SBE - (CA Dept of Education)

October 16, 2020 Screening Committee Notice, SBE - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education)

 2021-22 State Board of Education Student Member Screening Committee Notice, SBE 

Providing Safe Physical Activity During COVID-19 - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education) - https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/provsafephyactcovid19.asp

2021 Census Bureau Data for Area Eligibility - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education) - https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/censusdataareaelig2021.asp

State Board of Education Screening Committee Members

• Ilene Straus, Chair
• Ting Sun
• Jim McQuillen, Liaison to the California Association of Student Councils (CASC)

Meeting Notice: Screening Committee of the
State Board of Education

Friday, October 16, 2020
2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. ±

California State Board of Education
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88699057540
Meeting ID: 886 9905 7540

On March 12, 2020, Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-25-20 related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Executive Order allows state bodies covered by the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Act) to hold public meetings covered by the Act via web conferencing and audio conferencing. As such, the Select SBE Screening Committee meeting will be held via the format of video conferencing.

The purpose of this meeting is to conduct a paper screen of applications for the 2021-22 State Board of Education Student Member position and select 12 semi-finalists. The selected semi-finalists must attend the annual Student Advisory Board on Education conference where student delegates of the conference will select six candidates from the 12 semi-finalists. The SBE Screening Committee will meet in November to interview the six candidates and select three finalists for recommendation to the full State Board of Education at its November 2020 meeting.

Agenda

1. Call to order, Chair
2. Welcome and Introductions, Chair
3. Selection of 12 semi-finalists for consideration for the 2021-2022 State Board of Education Student Member
4. Adjournment

ALL TIMES ARE APPROXIMATE AND ARE PROVIDED FOR CONVENIENCE ONLY

THE ORDER OF BUSINESS MAY BE CHANGED WITHOUT NOTICE

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION FOR ANY INDIVIDUAL WITH A DISABILITY

Pursuant to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, any individual with a disability who requires reasonable accommodation to attend or participate in a meeting or function of the California State Board of Education (SBE), may request assistance by contacting the SBE Office, 1430 N Street, Room 5111, Sacramento, CA, 95814; telephone, 916-319-0827; and email sbe@cde.ca.gov.

For more information concerning this agenda, please contact Amy Bubbico, Staff Services Manager, California State Board of Education, at 1430 N Street, Room 5111, Sacramento, CA, 95814; telephone 916-319-0827; and email sbe@cde.ca.gov.This agenda is posted on the State Board of Education's Web site.

October 16, 2020 Screening Committee Notice, SBE - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education)

A VERY BUSY DAY Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

A VERY BUSY DAY

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

The latest news and resources in education since 2007

 

 

Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/10/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos.html

Two New Automatic Citation Generators

by Larry Ferlazzo / 3h

Here are two new additions to The Best Resources For Learning Research & Citation Skills : Anytime I’ve gone to Google Docs recently, I’m getting notified of a new citations feature it added. You can read about it at Easily add and manage citations in Google Docs. Bibcitation also just came out. Here’s a video about it:

Halloween & Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) Are Coming Up – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 3h

cocoparisienne / Pixabay Halloween and The Day Of The Day are coming up this month. You might be interested in: The Best Websites For Learning About Halloween & Day Of The Dead (I’ve just done a quick update and removed a fair number of “dead” links). The Best Movie Scenes For Halloween. The Best Resources For Helping Beginner ELLs Learn About Halloween & The Day Of The Dead The Best Teaching Res

“Nine Ways to Implement Culturally Responsive Teaching During Distance Learning”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 10h

Nine Ways to Implement Culturally Responsive Teaching During Distance Learning is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Four educators offer ways teachers can implement culturally responsive teaching during remote learning, including incorporating students’ lives into lessons. Here are some excerpts:

What Are Mistakes Teachers Make When Teaching ELLs?

by Larry Ferlazzo / 10h

Here’s an upcoming question-of-the-week at my Education Week Teacher column – I’ll look forward to your responses!

Check Out This 100 Year-Old PSA Video On Guarding Against The “Spanish Flu”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

shameersrk / Pixabay Here’s a colorized PSA from one-hundred years ago: Dr Wise is here to advise! As Britain fell under the grip of the Great Influenza of 1918-19, the Local Government Board (later the Ministry of Health) commissioned this dramatised public information film. Its hard-hitting message was designed to shock people out of their complacency towards this common illness and take preven

Here’s A Bunch Of “Fun Stuff” On Education – We Can All Use A Laugh!

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

geralt / Pixabay I have over 2,100 frequently revised and updated “Best” lists on just about every subject imaginable, and you can find them listed three different ways in three different places (see Three Accessible Ways To Search For & Find My “Best” Lists ). I’m starting to publish a series where each day I will highlight the “Best” lists in a separate category. Today, it’s on “Fun Stuff”: The

New TED-Ed Video & Lesson: “Why we need national parks”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

12019 / Pixabay The latest TED-Ed lesson and video is on “Why we need national parks.” I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Yosemite & Other U.S. National Parks .

Trump Cancels Stimulus Talks – Schools & Millions Hurt

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

geralt / Pixabay A few days ago, it looked another stimulus package – one that would provide schools with the money they need, along with support for millions of people – had a chance (see Great News: Odds Are Increasing That Schools May Get Billions In Next Stimulus! ). President Trump shot that down today. With luck, however, it will only be a temporary delay, and a Biden administration and a D

Fannie Lou Hamer Would Have Been 104 Years Old Today – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 14h

viarami / Pixabay Fannie Lou Hamer was born on this day 104 years ago… You might be interested in FANNIE LOU HAMER WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1917 – HERE ARE RELATED TEACHING & LEARNING RESOURCES . Good morning… On this day, civil rights activist, Fannie Lou Hamer was born. A fierce organizer, leader, for black liberation which included voting rights and women’s rights, farm ownership and food secur

Tuesday’s Must-Read Articles & Must-Watch Videos On School Reopening

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

moritz320 / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Now Taking the Stage in the Pandemic: The School Nurse is from The NY Times. 

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007