Parenting daughters to succeed

Parenting daughters to succeed:

"Raising teens today is a challenge. In many cases, raising teen girls today are more challenging. Struggling with peer pressure, appearances, hair, clothes and cliques - it never seems to end.

Parenting expert, and renown author, Dr. Michele Borba (BIG Book of Parenting Solutions) recently discussed this growing concern in teen culture.

The American Psychological Association's study confirms what many parents feared: All those raunchy, sexy girl messages do indeed have an negative impact on our daughters and are correlated eating disorders, lower self-esteem, and depression. The Today Show asked Michele Borba to address what parents can do to counter those negative messages."

Education Week: Spotlight on Parental Involvement

Education Week: Spotlight on Parental Involvement:

"View the complete collection of Education Week Spotlights.
Buy the Spotlight on Parental Involvement
(PDF) for $4.95"

The Education Week Spotlight on Parental Involvement is a collection of articles hand-picked by our editors for their insights on:
building relationships through home visits
math workshops for parents to encourage family learning
barriers to parental involvement
strategies for creating strong family-school-community relationships to benefit student learning
working with non-English speaking parents
enhancing parent engagement in high schools
professional development activities to build teachers' capacity to involve families
web resources on parental involvment
A great value! You get the eight articles below and a resource guide in a downloadable PDF.

Going Home
Teacher home visits can create positive connections among families and teachers, and help educators better understand students' and parents' needs, writes Larry Ferlazzo. August 5, 2009

Parents Schooled in Learning How to Help With Math
Interest is growing in math workshops for parents, which encourage them to take an active role in their children's learning and answer questions and concerns. February 23, 2009

Parents Show Strong Interest in School Involvement
Low-achieving schools are found to do little to reach out to families. October 23, 2008

Building the Parent-Teacher Relationship: Part I
Anne T. Henderson and Karen L. Mapp, are key voices in the national discussion on family engagement. In Part I, they address how to overcome obstacles in the parent-teacher relationship. First of two parts. May 6, 2008

Building the Parent-Teacher Relationship: Part II
Anne T. Henderson and Karen L. Mapp are key voices in the national discussion on family engagement. With input from their colleagues, Henderson and Mapp discuss strategies for teachers, parents, and administrators who are looking to build family-school partnerships.Last of two parts. May 14, 2008

Engaging Schools, Engaging Parents: The School-Community Partnership
In response to research showing a connection between parental involvement and student achievement, districts nationwide have launched initiatives to increase community engagement with schools. Yet many schools find it difficult to sustain parent involvement beyond the parent-teacher conference. September 4, 2009

CommentaryImprove Education From Day One: Leverage Parents
"For too long, schools have assigned parents the role of fundraiser and bake-sale booster. Let’s launch a national campaign that draws them more deeply into their children’s education,” say Bill Jackson & Leanna Landsmann. January 21, 2009

CommentaryThe Parent Factor:
"Telling children that school is valuable is a lot less effective than showing them it is by being involved in what they are doing there," says teacher Daniel Ordorica. January 5, 2009

Here are just a few of our recent Spotlights:

• Parental Involvement Useful tips on building family-school-community relationships, enhancing parent engagement in high schools, working with non-English-speaking parents, and encouraging family learning.

• Algebra A look at strategies to help students struggling in algebra, introducing algebra in the early grades, computer-aided instruction, and efforts to create common algebra assessments across states.

• Common Standards Insights on the Common Core effort to establish uniform expectations for the nation's students, the process of crafting draft standards, and expert Commentary on national content standards.

Other Spotlights our readers have recently found valuable:

• Classroom Management
• Reading Instruction
• ELL Assessment & Teaching
• Response to Intervention
• Tips for New Teachers
• Flu and Schools
• STEM in Schools
• Technology in the Classroom
• Inclusion and Assistive Technology

Big school districts lose big as students leave | StarTribune.com

Big school districts lose big as students leave StarTribune.com:

"At a time when state funding is precarious, Minnesota's largest school districts are losing thousands of students and millions of dollars to one of the state's most noteworthy innovations: open enrollment.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the first time open enrollment was a required school-choice option for large Minnesota school districts. While celebrated as a nation-leading school reform breakthrough, open enrollment is robbing some districts of their primary source of state funding: kids."

Court won't revive student's suit over grad speech - U.S. Politics & Government - SignOnSanDiego.com

Court won't revive student's suit over grad speech - U.S. Politics & Government - SignOnSanDiego.com:

"WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court won't revive a student's lawsuit against a school that punished her for talking about her religion during her high school graduation speech.

The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Erica Corder. She was punished for her 2006 speech at the Lewis-Palmer High School commencement in Monument, Colo.
School officials screened Corder's speech in advance but she changed her text, urging the audience to consider the Christian faith."

Denver school reforms approved amid turmoil - The Denver Post

Denver school reforms approved amid turmoil - The Denver Post:

"School reform plans in Denver got the go-ahead Monday night in a board meeting filled with surprises, tears and drama as it raised questions about board cohesiveness going forward.

The night was pivotal as the school board approved turnaround plans for six schools, put in a host of other reforms and saw the changing of the guard for three board seats.

Newly elected board member Andrea Merida caused immediate controversy when she refused to wait until after the reform vote to be sworn in with two others.

Instead, Merida went to a district court judge hours before the board meeting, armed with certified results from the Nov. 3 election, and took her oath."

Dispute leaves Detroit School of Arts TV studio idle | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Dispute leaves Detroit School of Arts TV studio idle detnews.com The Detroit News:

"Inside the Detroit School of Arts, students have big dreams to make movies, deliver hard-hitting broadcast news and star in their own talk shows.

But a contract dispute between Detroit schools and Detroit Public Television has kept the professional TV studios and equipment out of the hands of the students at the gleaming, six-story $122 million school that opened downtown four years ago.

Now, both sides have agreed to end the 10-year contract, freeing up opportunities for Michigan's burgeoning film industry and for students to learn from professionals, according to district spokesman Steve Wasko."

MPS plan gives mayor too much power, aldermen say - JSOnline

MPS plan gives mayor too much power, aldermen say - JSOnline:

"Two Milwaukee aldermen Monday questioned whether proposed legislation would give the mayor too much control over the Milwaukee Public Schools budget.

That legislation also will be the topic of a public hearing by the School Board at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday at the school district's central office, 5225 W. Vliet St.

The Legislature is considering a bill that would empower the mayor to appoint the MPS superintendent and grant the superintendent final authority over the district's budget, labor negotiations and school closings. Backers say the change is needed to improve student performance; opponents argue that it takes power away from the elected School Board."

Teachers make house calls to forge stronger partnerships - JSOnline

Teachers make house calls to forge stronger partnerships - JSOnline:

"Maplewood, Mo. — She pulls up in an orange Mini Cooper. Bold glasses, big smile.

But there are no spaces left in front of the Maplewood-Richmond Heights School District office, where Karen Kalish works to improve student achievement by way of parental involvement.
So she drives right up over a shallow curb, tucks her tiny car alongside the building and steps out into the summer humidity.

Kalish is here to train teachers in this St. Louis County district to act with similar boldness. She will help them leave their classrooms and enter the homes of their students, the place where parents and families hold the most authority."

Why men warrant a break on college admissions

Why men warrant a break on college admissions:

"It is hard to imagine that the controversies over how colleges pick their freshmen classes — the admissions 'black boxes' that all too often seem to prefer someone else's child — could get any hotter. But they are.

Topping the list of gripes are 'legacy' admissions — the students who get an extra boost because their daddy or granddaddy graduated from that college (and kicked more than a few bucks into the college coffers)."

New CPS admissions policy blasted as racist :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: City Hall

New CPS admissions policy blasted as racist :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: City Hall:

"A new admissions policy for elite Chicago public schools is little more than a plot to free up seats for middle-class white families tired of paying private school tuition, black aldermen charged Monday.

The new policy followed a federal judge's decision to void a 1980 desegregation consent decree that let CPS use race to decide admissions to the coveted schools. Now, census tracts, neighborhood income levels and other socio-economic indicators will be determining factors."

Class Sizes Rise in New York City, Mostly Because of Budget Cuts - NYTimes.com

Class Sizes Rise in New York City, Mostly Because of Budget Cuts - NYTimes.com:

"Propelled by budget cuts and enrollment increases, class sizes in the New York City public school system rose this year, with high school students and kindergartners in particular feeling the squeeze.

While class sizes went up in all grades in the past year — generally by slightly less than one student per class — increases were larger in major high school subjects. High school English classes now have an average of 26.4 students, up from 24.7 in 2008, according to preliminary figures from the Department of Education. High school science classes now have an average of 27.4 students, up from 26.1."

Crackpot schools - NYPOST.com

Crackpot schools - NYPOST.com:

"As long as Mayor Bloomberg is rolling up his sleeves for a brawl over the new teach ers-union contract, it's time for him to take a swing at another problem that's festered too long: the radicalization of New York's public schools.

A growing number of city schools aim to foster resentment and rage among the most uneducated students. Under the guise of 'social justice,' the fomenting of racial and socio-economic grievances has supplanted the teaching of basic skills. The result is an even wider gap in learning between the poorest minorities and other students."

The corruption of the curriculum is getting harder to conceal. In the wake of the ACORN scandals, it's more obviously problematic that ACORN is affiliated with three city schools -- including two in Brooklyn bearing the group's name: ACORN Community HS and the ACORN HS for Social Justice.

Karen Watts, the principal of the ACORN HS for Social Justice in Bushwick, seems sensitive to the group's bad publicity: She says ACORN no longer has any involvement with the school. But that's news to Debra Burgess, the school's parent coordinator -- who told me the school's "philosophy" is based around ACORN: "We do have to follow their philosophy, and their philosophy is 'reform and change.' "

Watts says she's aware of no political advocacy in the classroom. Latasha Farmer, an English teacher who lectures her students about the dangers of standardized testing and gentrification, is more candid. "Politics has always been part of the education system, period," says Farmer, whose school Web page shows a student decorating her classroom door with anti-war slogans.



Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/crackpot_schools_CiMhuJFndHG6dcsNDfH1ZK#ixzz0YRYG3PP2

Violence at D.C. charter schools prompts more police - washingtonpost.com

Violence at D.C. charter schools prompts more police - washingtonpost.com:

"D.C. officials have decided to give charter schools the same police protection as regular D.C. public schools after a two-month-long spate of violence near a charter school in Northeast Washington.

Educators and some officials had complained that the absence of regularly posted police officers at charter schools was putting students at risk. At Friendship Collegiate Academy in Northeast, at least eight students have been assaulted or robbed after class since September, and several large fights have broken out in front of the school. The violence quieted last month, although it didn't disappear, after police increased staffing in the area during dismissal time."

CCRI president among 3 finalists for job on Long Island | Rhode Island news | projo.com | The Providence Journal

CCRI president among 3 finalists for job on Long Island Rhode Island news projo.com The Providence Journal:

"Ray DiPasquale, president of the Community College of Rhode Island, is one of three finalists for the top job at the Suffolk County Community College in New York, the largest college in the SUNY community college system.

DiPasquale, 59, who became CCRI’s interim president in January 2006 and was officially appointed to the post later that year, earns $202,910 a year. He also has use of a car and a house on the Warwick campus as part of his compensation package. CCRI has 17,800 full-time-equivalent students on four campuses this year."

Parents' age and child’s autism risk » DoctorNDTV ....for the better health of Indians

Parents' age and child’s autism risk » DoctorNDTV ....for the better health of Indians:

"Children born to relatively older mothers or fathers may have a higher risk of autism than those with younger parents.

Autism spectrum disorders include several developmental brain disorders that, to varying degrees, hinder a person's ability to communicate and interact socially. The precise causes of autism are not fully understood, though researchers believe that genetic susceptibility plays a key role."

A Brief History of Jews in Public Schools | Cover Story | Jewish Journal

A Brief History of Jews in Public Schools Cover Story Jewish Journal:

"With the many LAUSD schools having spotty reputations, and given the array of private schools to choose from, Jewish support for Los Angeles public schools in recent years has been at best tepid. But that wasn’t always the case.

Jews in L.A. have had a long and textured relationship with the public education system. From the 1890s, when the city first established elementary and high school districts, through to the 1960s, public education was a mainstay of the Jewish community. But when school demographics began to shift as working class Latino and African American populations burgeoned, many Jewish families pulled out of public schools and migrated to the private realm."

Middle school teachers get help in closing achievement gap | Inland News | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California

Middle school teachers get help in closing achievement gap Inland News PE.com Southern California News News for Inland Southern California:

"Don Krasniak knows how difficult school can be for students speaking English as a second language. He grew up speaking Polish at home.

For the last 13 years, he has taught eighth-grade science at Mountain View Middle School in Moreno Valley. The majority of his students speak Spanish at home and some barely speak English. He sympathizes with the English learners, Krasniak said, but it takes more than sympathy to teach them. He and his colleagues need training.

'It's absolutely necessary for new teachers and old teachers alike,' he said. 'There are a lot of new, challenging classroom settings. There's a lot more diversity.'"

University Of California Experience Huge Applications After Shift In Admission Procedure

University Of California Experience Huge Applications After Shift In Admission Procedure:

"Dec. 01, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The authorities of the University of California have reported that there has been an onslaught in the number of applications this year. The largest higher education system in the country, the University obviously presents a lot of lucrative prospects for the students. The sudden rise in the number of applications has been attributed to the increase in the population that chooses to go for higher education. Also, this year, the University of California has made a shift in the admission procedure. Earlier, the admissions used to be on a non competitive basis. From the current academic year, it has shifted to a competitive examination based admission procedure."

Editorial: Spotlight shines on City Hall disarray - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

Editorial: Spotlight shines on City Hall disarray - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial Sacramento Bee:

"Amid disarray in City Hall, Sacramento's business leadership is rightly focused on the rifts within the City Council and the need to make sure the city's building department is run properly.
Yet a letter recently circulated by Steve Ayers, the CEO of Armour Steel Company, has created more questions than answers on where the business community is heading on these issues."
Does it want to be a unifying force? Or will it take an overly aggressive stance that could further divide the city?

In his letter to other business owners, Ayers noted that Mayor Kevin Johnson's ballot measure for "strong mayor" authority is a source of tension. The politics of this proposal, wrote Ayers, "is tearing the city council apart."

Ayers was a top supporter of Johnson's opponent, former Mayor Heather Fargo, so he may be overstating things a bit. Yet there's no doubt many on the council think Johnson is overreaching with his strong-mayor proposal. It's also encouraging that Ayers and other business leaders are interested in brokering a compromise that might avoid a costly ballot battle on this proposal.

Sacramento Press / Opponents say strong mayor initiative faces lawsuit

Sacramento Press / Opponents say strong mayor initiative faces lawsuit:

A group that opposes the “strong mayor” initiative says that a citizen is challenging the initiative through a lawsuit.

The group SAVE Sacramento announced it will hold a press conference about the lawsuit Tuesday at 10 a.m. at City Hall.

Detailed information about the lawsuit was unavailable at press time.

Mayor Kevin Johnson backs the initiative, which would provide him with many new powers.

Matt Kelly, executive secretary of the Sacramento-Sierra Building and Construction Trades Council, talked about the lawsuit Monday.