Education Research Report: When School-Based Nutrition Programs Involve Teachers, Staff, & Parents Kids Eat Healthier

Education Research Report: When School-Based Nutrition Programs Involve Teachers, Staff, & Parents Kids Eat Healthier:

When School-Based Nutrition Programs Involve Teachers, Staff, & Parents Kids Eat Healthier

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

Programs to promote healthy eating can substantially reduce the amount of unhealthy foods and beverages on school grounds if the programs focus on a school's specific needs and involve teachers, parents, staff, and administrators, according to a Kaiser Permanente Southern California study published in BioMed Central's open access journal International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

The Healthy Options for Nutrition Environments in Schools (Healthy ONES) study used a public health approach to change nutrition environments and policies in eight elementary and middle schools over a three-year period. 

Mathematics Achievement Gaps Between Suburban Students and Their Rural and Urban Peers Increase Over Time

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

In this study, from The Carsey Institute authors Suzanne Graham and Lauren Provost examine whether attending a school in a rural, urban, or suburban community is related to children’s mathematics achievement in kindergarten, and whether increases in mathematics achievement between kindergarten and eighth grade differ for children in rural, urban, and suburban schools. They also consider whether achievement differs by region of 

Changes in Children's Pretend Play Over Two Decades: More Imagination

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

There is growing recognition that children have less time to engage in play, and, concurrently, recent evidence suggests a decrease in divergent thinking ability in young children. This study investigated changes in pretend play ability during a 23-year period. The conclusion: Even though children have less time to play, cognitive processes that occur in play are continuing to develop.

Wait, What? - It’s so easy…I could do it on my head!

Wait, What? - Working to educate, persuade and mobilize through "perceptive and acerbic" observations about Connecticut Government and Politics:

It’s so easy…I could do it on my head!

by jonpelto

Can you believe we used to think that a superintendent’s job was really time-consuming and difficult

I certainly did.

Superintendents were responsible for overseeing the district’s schools, administrators and teachers, while managing the local board of education and serving as the champion for public education.

Certainly no reason to begrudge them their big salaries…

But now I realize I was way off base.

Why?

Because now we’ve got Paul Vallas, who for $229,000, is “transforming” Bridgeport’s schools, running a $1 million contract to turnaround schools in Illinois and leading a new partnership to sell “The Vallas Model” to school districts across the country.

And then there is Steven Adamowski, who is not only saving Windham’s Schools, but has now been given the responsibility to revolutionize the quality of education in New London

Abdul-Jabbar: More Opportunities to Turn Pro in Science Than in the NBA - High School Notes (usnews.com)

Abdul-Jabbar: More Opportunities to Turn Pro in Science Than in the NBA - High School Notes (usnews.com):

Abdul-Jabbar: More Opportunities to Turn Pro in Science Than in the NBA

By KELSEY SHEEHY

June 28, 2012 RSS Feed Print

American students lack the skills needed to compete globally in science, technology, engineering, and math. But the cause of that skills gap isn't our education system; it's our culture, inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen said Tuesday at the U.S. News 2012 STEM Summit.

"To think that it's a supply problem or that it's an education problem is ridiculous," Kamen said.

Undermining efforts to promote interest in STEM education is a culture that places sports stars and celebrities on pedestals, but makes scientists and engineers the butt of jokes, he added.

This is especially true in underserved minority communities, said 

Misleading GI Bill Site to Shut Down

College-bound military veterans may have an easier time finding truthful information about their benefits.

By KATY HOPKINS

June 28, 2012 RSS Feed Print

Military veterans can find GI Bill benefit information on the government-sponsored website.

Good news for military veterans trying to find a college: A prominent marketing site that may have lent more confusion than guidance is being shut down. 

GIBill.com, a marketing website, purports to offer guidance to military vets about financial aid benefits, and appears in Google search results close to the government-sponsored site, 

Texas business leaders accuse educators of ‘scaring mom’ about standardized tests - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Texas business leaders accuse educators of ‘scaring mom’ about standardized tests - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:

Texas business leaders accuse educators of ‘scaring mom’ about standardized tests

by Valerie Strauss

The backlash in Texas against excessive high-stakes standardized testing seems to be rattling business leaders, who have now blamed educators for panicking parents about the exams.
Laboring under the delusion that standardized tests are the key to “holding schools accountable” for student achievement, leaders of the Texas Coalition for a Competitive Workforce have warned that they will oppose future hikes in school spending if the testing regime in Texas is weakened, the Houston Chronicle reported in this story
Read full article >>

Keeping students safe: a bill even this Congress should be able to pass

by Valerie Strauss

There are some things which even this polarized Congress should be able to come together to accomplish.
One of those would be the Keeping All Students Safe Act, which would protect schoolchildren from abusive use of physical restraints and solitary confinement by mandating minimum safety standards in public schools.
Read full article >>

The Spruce Goose of education reform

by Valerie Strauss

This was written by David Gamberg, superintendent of schools in Southold Union Free School District in New York.


By David Gamberg
As educators throughout New York scurry to finish completing the behemoth of grand plans to “reform” educationfor the children of this state, one is reminded of the debacle in design known as The Spruce Goose.
Read full article >>

To Improve School Nutrition, Involve Teachers and Parents - Hispanically Speaking News

To Improve School Nutrition, Involve Teachers and Parents - Hispanically Speaking News:

To Improve School Nutrition, Involve Teachers and Parents

Junk-food ‘interventions’ decreased consumption of unhealthy foods and beverages by 30 percent.

To improve school nutrition and get children to eat healthier, involve parents, teachers and school administrators, new research finds.
Researchers from Kaiser Permanente Southern California looked at 400 students at eight elementary and middle schools who took part in a three-year study that examined the use of a public-health approach to improve nutrition.
During the study, the researchers worked with teachers and administrators at certain schools to improve nutrition practices. For example, they replaced food and beverage classroom rewards with non-food prizes and implemented healthy catering at school events and classroom celebrations.
For fund-raising events, they served healthy foods and beverages, awarded non-food prizes and had games such as a “prize walk” instead of a “cake walk.” The researchers noted that schools actually made more money through healthy events such as jog-a-thons than carnivals with

5 Tips for Teaching Teens About Money - Mark Hansen

As children blossom into young men and women, most insist on planning and running their own lives. Parents worry about all the basic essentials for their kids’ independent living, like housing, eating properly, staying warm, being careful at night and more. But most parents forget to teach their youngsters one of the most important lessons of all – financial responsibility. The resulting turmoil can spell disaster for a child’s future.
Consider this: The average young adult amasses $45,000 in debt by the time they turn 29, according to a recent PNC Bank report.
“This generation of 20-somethings was raised during an economically-thriving period,” says financial expert Mark Hansen, author of Success 101 for Teens(www.success101forteens.com). “Undisciplined spending habits, student and

Report: Untreated Mental Illness Lowers Life Expectancy by 25 Years in Latinos

Latinos living in California suffer great disparities in the services they receive for the prevention and treatment of mental illnesses, a new report said.
Community-Defined Solutions for Latino Mental Health Care Disparities, prepared by the Center for Reducing Health Disparities at the University of California, Davis, identified depression, anxiety disorders, and alcohol and drug abuse as the commonest problems in the Hispanic community.
“Untreated mental illnesses among Latinos lower their life expectancy by about 25 years,” the principal author of the study, Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, director of the UC Davis Center for Reducing Health Disparities and director of the Community Engagement program at the UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center, told Efe.
The expert said that, though some mental health problems become apparent at younger ages than other chronic 

Mixed Messages from Teach For America- Is Teaching a Prestigious Profession?

Mixed Messages from Teach For America- Is Teaching a Prestigious Profession?:

Mixed Messages from Teach For America- Is Teaching a Prestigious Profession?

by guest blogger

When I meet new people I like to do a small social experiment by either telling them, “I work with Teach For America” or leaving that out entirely and just telling them “I am a teacher.”  The difference in how people respond is amazing.  I must admit, at first as a kid right out of college I thought dropping the Teach-For-America line was great because girls would actually talk to me and even seemed impressed by my association with TFA.  When I told people I was a teacher and left out the TFA piece, you could almost see them start to wonder how bad my LSAT must have been to end up teaching!  Herein lies the problem: College graduates need to see that teaching is a profession to be proud of whether it is attached to TFA or not.
According to a recent press release, TFA is the top employer of graduating seniors from schools like Yale, University of California-Berkeley, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Howard University.  At first glance 

NYC Educator: Happy Summer Vacation, Here Are Two Classes' Worth of New Kids

NYC Educator: Happy Summer Vacation, Here Are Two Classes' Worth of New Kids:

Happy Summer Vacation, Here Are Two Classes' Worth of New Kids

by Miss Eyre

On the second to last day of school, the principal at my school got a phone call from a parent.  His daughter's charter school was being closed, and he'd received a letter in the mail saying that my school was to be his daughter's new school.  Could he, the father asked, come by to see the school and meet the principal?

My principal's response: Sure, come on down, we'll be happy to meet you.

My principal's next response, after hanging up the phone: WHAT LETTER

Later that day, Principal got an e-mail stating that about 

Missouri Education Watchdog: Is the Best Practice Educating Students on Body Image and Confidence from the UK or US Educational System?

Missouri Education Watchdog: Is the Best Practice Educating Students on Body Image and Confidence from the UK or US Educational System?:

Is the Best Practice Educating Students on Body Image and Confidence from the UK or US Educational System?

by stlgretchen

The UK government is providing parents with packs with information to help their children's body image about themselves.  From BBC News:

A pack to help parents educate children on how the media alters images and to inspire them to be confident in their bodies has had government backing.

Developed for six to 11-year-olds by not-for-profit organisation Media Smart, the pack contains before and after touched-up images of celebrities such as Britney Spears.

It also looks at how ideas of the "perfect" body have changed.

The government said it wanted the pack to "empower parents".

"Young people are being set an impossible standard by images in media

Gathering signatures for an elected school board. « Fred Klonsky

Gathering signatures for an elected school board. « Fred Klonsky:

Gathering signatures for an elected school board.

by Fred Klonsky

Gathering at the Logan Square monument to collect signatures to put an elected school board on the ballot in November.
Chicago is the only city in the entire state of Illinois that doesn’t allow its citizens to elect  their school board.
We can vote for the guys who filter our water.
Our ballot is often filled with dozens of names of people running for one kind of judge or another.
When I go sit at the voting machine and the judge list comes up I can either skip them or bring an endorsement list with me from one group or another. Many Chicago voters choose on the basis of the ethnicity of the 

Marion County School Board Passes Resolution on “Extensive” Testing | Scathing Purple Musings

Marion County School Board Passes Resolution on “Extensive” Testing | Scathing Purple Musings:

Marion County School Board Passes Resolution on “Extensive” Testing

by Bob Sikes

I hope Marion board member Ron Crawford wasn’t bowing to pressure and insisted on changing “high-stakes” to “extensive” in his board’s resolution on testing. It offers undeserved cover for Florida’s be-all, end-all test regime which prompted the state-wide movement. Moral justification for the “high-stakes” label exists in the fact that children’s test results affect adult’s jobs and school’s existence.  Few examples of hyper-exploitation exist like this anymore.
At any rate, Marion’s board acted in the same spirit that the growing number of boards across the state. And its members are equally exasperated. Writes Joe Callahan in the Ocala Star-Banner:

Marion County School Board member Bobby James said he was disappointed when he heard Education Commissioner Gerald Robinson’s response to these resolutions. In summary, 

Is Trust a Reasonable Default Position? - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Is Trust a Reasonable Default Position? - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

Is Trust a Reasonable Default Position?

by Deborah Meier

Dear Diane,
"Unpopular Mandate: Why do politicians reverse their positions?" by Ezra Klein in the June 25th New Yorkerintrigued me. First of all, he reminds us that even politicians do it a lot—Example No. 1 being their position on the healthcare mandate! But what he's tackling is that much of it is not simple opportunism, but sneaks up and soon becomes sincerely held. Not only by politicians, but the rest of us, too
His central argument is that it rests in part on a common human quality that is not wholly bad: the much-maligned "go along with," groupthink, et al. We can't all be experts on everything on which we have an opinion or about which we must exercise judgment so we call our neighbor or daughter (e.g., about this week's primary in 

Parents also get a Head Start | Jerry Large | The Seattle Times

Parents also get a Head Start | Jerry Large | The Seattle Times:

Parents also get a Head Start

Head Start serves children by helping their parents, too.

Jerry Large

Seattle Times staff columnist

 Head Start is a good place for parents to get an education. The always evolving program isn't just about kids.

Children are at its center, but if you want to help children thrive, it's best to have engaged, knowledgeable parents.

If you're one of those people whose response to school trouble or juvenile crime is to point to the parents, then you ought to champion early-education programs like Head Start that more and more are about the whole family.

Lori Pittman, one of the many parents who have benefited from Head Start, got to tell her story at the White House last week, because she is now helping other parents. Pittman was one of 11 people from around the country who were honored as Head Start "Champions of Change." I caught up with her this week as she was working 

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: A Simple Moment: Tremendous Impact! They Care That We Care!

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: A Simple Moment: Tremendous Impact! They Care That We Care!:

A Simple Moment: Tremendous Impact! They Care That We Care!

by Lisa M

I was cleaning out a folder in which I keep a lot of my "teacher stuff" from the last couple of years.  In it, I found a short essay I had written a few years ago in response to a question from Project Wisdom . When I read it, I thought how well it goes along with Angela Maier's concept, "#You Matter." This is what I wrote:


Over the years, I am proud to have become one of "those" teachers.  You know, the ones parents request every year. They request you because they have heard great things about you from other parents or your colleagues. Or maybe their child persuaded them that your class is where they wanted to be.


One moment in my teaching history stands out, a moment, out of so many, that I have not forgotten. It was the 

Graduation and dropout rates for the Class of 2011 - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools

Graduation and dropout rates for the Class of 2011 - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools:

Graduation and dropout rates for the Class of 2011

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012 at 11:33 am in No Comments

The four-year graduation rate in Oakland Unified rose about four points in the latest estimate released today by the California Department of Education. About 59 percent of students who started high school in 2007 graduated with their classmates in 2011. About 28 percent dropped out, and 12 percent were still enrolled in school when the data were collected.
Some Oakland high schools had dropout rates in the 40s. Life Academy and Metwest lost the lowest percentage of students among OUSD schools, though their dropout rates were still higher than 10 percent. Charter schools are listed separately; you have to call each of them up individually to see how they did.
This is the second year the state has followed a cohort of students — each, with a unique ID — through four 

Jersey Jazzman: Cuomo's Reformy Commission: Watch Out, NY Teachers!

Jersey Jazzman: Cuomo's Reformy Commission: Watch Out, NY Teachers!:

Cuomo's Reformy Commission: Watch Out, NY Teachers!

by Duke

Via Randi Weingarten, it seems the "New" New York Education Reform Commission had its first meeting today.Teachers and principals were not invited. Because if you had a medical reform commission, you would obviously exclude doctors and nurses. And if you had an air travel reform commission, you'd exclude pilots.  And if you had a baseball reform commission, you'd exclude baseball players. It just makes so much sense...

Of course, Weingarten is there, supposedly to advance the interests of teachers in her role as president of the AFT. Today, the divided the commission into three subgroups:

• New York’s Public Education System:
• Teacher and Principal Quality and School District Leadership: 
• Student Achievement and Family Engagement:

Except they didn't put Weingarten in the teacher group; she's in the first group, dealing with the systems 

Yong Zhao: Standardized test scores do not reflect teacher ability, school quality or a student's future - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Yong Zhao: Standardized test scores do not reflect teacher ability, school quality or a student's future - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.:

Yong Zhao: Standardized test scores do not reflect teacher ability, school quality or a student's future

"American education is not getting worse, it's always been bad."  

-Dr.Yong Zhao making the point that it's LESS bad than Asian education even though Asian countries may have higher PISA test scores (because we don't totally destroy spirit and confidence which are necessary for . . . )

VIDEO BELOW (start at 54:00 mark)

by C.J. Westerberg

I've been a fan of Dr. Yong Zhao since reading his last book, Catching Up or Leading the Way,  and he does not disappoint with this keynote from Tuesday's ISTE 2012 Conference.
Just start at the 54:00 mark - speech runs about 30 minutes.  (I will also be reading his upcoming book, World Class Learners:  Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students.)

Zhao spends most of his talk comparing Asian education to that of American education reform with some hilarious examples, along with the Asian-American Model Minority Myth.  Check it out.  He also talks about America's obsession with test scores and why the Asians are running away from that model.  He presents the confidence of the American student in a new light by 

Individuals, Not Corporations, Pick Up the Tax Tab for EITC Scholarships | The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center

Individuals, Not Corporations, Pick Up the Tax Tab for EITC Scholarships | The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center:

H.B. 1307 DRAMATICALLY OUTSOURCES PUBLIC EDUCATION

Funding Transferred Without Accountability of For-Profit Entities

                      

(Harrisburg, PA) – House Bill 1307, which will soon return to the House floor for further consideration, opens up the dramatic funneling of public tax payer funds to charter schools, wholly tax payer funded entities that are not required to meet any minimum accountability, transparency or mandatory ethical practice standards to or for the taxpayers who fund them year after year.

"As it stands now, this is simply a scheme to move hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from one of the nation's most historic and successful public education systems to private profiteers without even the pretense of government regulation," Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers said today.

Given the recent report of excessive profiteering in Pennsylvania charter schools recently released by Auditor General Jack Wagner and the $1 billion funding cuts impacting on school districts across the state, Jordan said the failure of HB 1307 to even address any of these regulatory issues is "reason enough to reject the measure and call for opposition to this legislation right now."

The Bill has previously been labeled "anti-taxpayer and anti-public school kids" because it encourages a dramatic expansion of charter schools to drain students away from urban and poorer communities and into charter and cyber schools while giving the State the new authority to impose the granting of for-profit charter management companies on local school districts.

This creates a massive unfunded mandate imposed on Pennsylvania school districts while stripping citizens of their local voice, vote, and control over how their local tax dollars will be spent.

"And we cannot forget," Jordan said, "when the smoke and mirrors on this outsourcing of public money to the private sector goes away,  the untold economic and educational  costs left behind will be carried by the taxpaying families of the students who are left behind, and the committed teachers and school employees into whose charge those kids are placed daily."

Individuals, Not Corporations, Pick Up the Tax Tab for EITC Scholarships

in 

• State Budget and Tax Policy

Corporations get triple dip deduction for contributions to private schools

June 25, 2012

Read the Full Policy Brief (PDF)

Read the Press Release

Read a Summary of HB 2468 (EITC Expansion)

Executive Summary

The EITC Is a Minimal Cost to Companies, Making It Costly to Individual PA Taxpayers “One of the major advantages of the EITC is that for Pennsylvania corporations, the taxpayer receives the benefit of both the credit AND the charitable contribution deduction, making the true out-of-pocket cost minimal in many circumstances.” EisnerAmper Accountants & Advisors, State and Local Tax Advisory, June 2009

Individual taxpayers are footing the bill for $9 out of every $10 of corporate contributions for private and parochial school scholarships made through Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC). 

The EITC allows businesses to recover 75% to 90% of the cost of contributing to an EITC-qualified organization. Companies can also take state and federal tax deductions for a “charitable” contribution, amounting to a “triple dip” tax reduction. 

Altogether, a company making a $300,000 annual EITC contribution over two years will pay only $20 a year in out-of-pocket costs. For a company that contributes to a prekindergarten scholarship (which yields an even more generous credit), the tax benefit can be more than the total value of the “contribution.” 

Companies Taking the EITC Credit Get a Triple Dip Tax Reduction

The result — a minimal cost to companies, a substantial cost to taxpayers, and a further reduction in funding to support the quality public schools that Pennsylvania needs to build its economy. 

The General Assembly is expected to vote on House Bill 2468 in late June, which will expand the EITC and create a new scholarship program – altogether raising the cost from $75 million in 2011-12 to $200 million in 2012-13.  Tax credits will be available to businesses on donations up to $400,000 in 2012-13 and up to $750,000 after that – up from the current $300,000 cap.

Proponents argue that expanding the EITC doesn’t affect the budget because companies pay the bill; however, the opposite is true.  Individual taxpayers will pay at least $9 of $10 in EITC funding.

The EITC program needs substantial program reform prior to any expansion.  It is a costly program with little accountability that allows businesses to direct other taxpayers’ money to favored organizations.  

Expanding the EITC now will drain more state revenue away from public schools at a time when many are laying off teachers, cutting kindergarten or prekindergarten, and eliminating courses.

Read the Full Policy Brief

Read a Summary of HB 2468 (EITC Expansion)

Gutierrez: "Pick Out The Immigrant" Speech on Arizona Law w/ Justin Bieb...

June 27, 2012 -- Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) discussed the Supreme Court decision in Arizona v. U.S., the case involving Arizona's SB1070 Show Me Your Papers law, on the floor of the House of Representatives today and provided a short quiz he called "Pick Out The Immigrant" with celebrity contestants like Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Jeremy Lin, Tony Parker, Geraldo Rivera, Ted Koppel, Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Sonia Sotomayor.