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Monday, June 23, 2014

Mobile Dental Clinics - Health Services & School Nursing (CA Dept of Education)

Mobile Dental Clinics - Health Services & School Nursing (CA Dept of Education):



Mobile Dental Clinics





Information and guidance on mobile dental facilities for school administrators when entering into contracts with private dental vendors.
Oral health has a significant impact on a student's ability to achieve in school. Poor oral health results in absence from school, significant pain that makes it difficult for students to focus on schoolwork, sleep deprivation, interference with eating, speech difficulties, and slowed social development.
Many children and families struggle to access comprehensive and affordable dental care. Bringing oral health services to schools can be an efficient, cost-effective method to reach children and families that do not have a reliable and consistent source of care. Preschools and kindergarten through grade twelve schools are considering permitting oral health professionals to bring preventive and treatment services on-site. Dental services can be delivered in schools with stationary equipment, in a room in the school building using portable equipment, or in mobile vans that park at the schools.
The following resources were compiled to assist school districts considering contracting with a mobile/portable dental care provider to meet the oral health needs of their students.

Policy

Promoting Oral Health for California's Students External link opens in new window or tab.
Policy brief from California School Boards Association (CSBA) explaining the role of school districts in promoting oral health among students.  

Guidelines

Community Oral Health Resources External link opens in new window or tab.
Information from the California Dental Association including guidance on mobile dental facilities for school administrators when entering into contracts with private dental vendors.
Integrating Oral Health into School Health Programs and Policies External link opens in new window or tab. (PDF)
Produced by the CSBA and the Dental Health Foundation, provides background information, policy development tools and other strategies for addressing students' oral health needs.
Mobile and Portable Dental Services in Preschool and School Settings: Complex Issues External link opens in new window or tab. (PDF)
Overview of the complex issues that confront communities and states around mobile and portable dental care provided in educational settings such as preschools, Head Starts, and kindergarten through twelfth grade schools. 
School-Based Dental Services Guidelines For School Districts External link opens in new window or tab. (PDF)
Assists school districts when considering contracting with a mobile/portable dental care provider to meet the oral health needs of their students.

Governance

California Business and Professions Code (SB 562, 2013) Section 1657 External link opens in new window or tab.
Allows the Dental Board of California to regulate portable dental units to help ensure that patients who receive care by providers, using portable dental units at a community site, get comprehensive care, and are connected to a local dental provider if the provider using the portable dental unit cannot provide all the care a patient needs.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

Sample MOU External link opens in new window or tab. (PDF)
For school districts to use and tailor to fit their specific needs.

Insurance Enrollment Information

Buying Children's Dental Coverage Through the Marketplace External link opens in new window or tab. (PDF)
Parent's buying guide for children’s dental coverage in a state's health insurance market place.

Kindergarten Oral Health Assessment

Oral Health Assessment
Information related to California Education Code Section 49452.8, which requires public school students to have an oral health assessment no later than May 31 of their first year of school enrollment. Also includes sample parental notifications available in multiple languages.

Additional Resources

Best Practice Approaches for State and Community Oral Health Programs External link opens in new window or tab. (PDF)
The Coordinated School Health Program (CDC researched-based model) is a planned, organized set of health-related programs, policies, and services coordinated to meet the health and safety needs of kindergarten through twelfth grade students at both the school district and individual school levels.
Mobile-Portable Dental Manual External link opens in new window or tab.
Five chapters provide important questions, considerations, recommendations and evaluation strategies to help make decisions about programs using mobile vehicles, portable equipment, or a combination system. 
Organization for Safety, Asepsis, and Prevention External link opens in new window or tab.
Recommendations for safe delivery of oral care outside the dental office, including site analysis and infection control checklist.
Questions: Coordinated School Health & Safety Office | schoolhealth@cde.ca.gov | 916-319-0914 
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Men Explain Things to Teachers - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

Men Explain Things to Teachers - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:



Men Explain Things to Teachers

By Nancy Flanagan on June 23, 2014 1:31 PM

Just finished Rebecca Solnit's excellent collection of essays, which begins with the title piece, Men Explain Things to Me, her well-known article on being patronized by men who don't have a clue that they consistently underestimate female accomplishments and intelligence.
I hear ya, Rebecca. And I have my own "men explain things to me" stories. Here's one: 
I am the (freebie) afternoon keynote at a gathering of exemplary teachers in a Midwestern state. I have some things in common with the audience, all of whom have won awards for outstanding teaching, and about 90% of whom are women. The  (expensive) morning keynoter is a well-known national figure and author, speaking on his new (best-selling) book. 
The first thing that bothers me is that he hasn't bothered to customize his slide deck. Clearly, he last did this presentation in Arizona, because all the slides refer to the AIMS testing. He doesn't notice this, at first. When someone asks "What does AIMS mean?" he tells them to substitute the acronym for their statewide assessments--which he doesn't know, offhand. 
There are some viable ideas in his presentation--about professional learning groups and small, reachable goals. But then he puts up a slide asserting that students who aren't reading at grade level should be pulled from art, music, physical education and recess for remedial work--not just for a day or two, but until they reach grade level.  I look around the room--a few teachers look as if they might find this idea debatable, but most of them have their eyes down. It's just another conference, just another expert telling them how to teach the children they know well, how to pump up those scores.
I am not, technically, part of this audience--I am an observer, there to do a separate presentation in the afternoon. But I can't believe nobody's questioning what seems like a problematic strategy. The Men Explain Things to Teachers - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:
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6-23-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):





LA Unified teachers, on average, rank 5th nationally in salary
LA Unified teachers are the fifth-highest paid among the nation’s largest school districts, according to the latest data collected by the National Council for Teacher Quality (NCTQ). The top four are districts for paying teachers with a bachelor’s degree and five years of experience are Chicago ($62,046), New York ( $52,278), Hawaii ($50,728) and Houston ($47,273), with LA Unified next, at $46,794
by Yana Gracile / 0min 


Commentary: Vergara decision on tenure — and our union
Cartoon by David Granlund I came to education out of the business world. Before entering the classroom, I was making my way up the corporate ladder at a Fortune 500 company. But then, over 15 years ago, I realized that I wanted a job where “success and advancement” would mean changing more lives, not just earning more money. That’s why I came into teaching, and why I stay. So as someone who deeply
by Ron Taw / 7min 


LAUSD board may wait for new member before electing president
Incumbent Board President Dr. Richard Vladovic In its final meeting of the 2013-14 fiscal year, the LA Unified school board may decide to break tradition by delaying the annual vote for board president. Normally, board members elect a new leader for the coming year during a summer meeting prior to the start of the next academic year. But the members may push back this year’s vote until after the A
2 by Vanessa Romo / 6min hide  //  save
Morning Read: LA program helps foster youths graduate
Program helps L.A. County foster youths become high school grads A program in Los Angeles County has been aiming to reverse against aspirant graduates living in the foster care system. It began as a pilot program in Supervisor Gloria Molina’s Eastside district in 2008 and expanded countywide two years ago. Under the initiative, a group of social workers tracks the academic progress of foster child
2 36min 


6-21-14 This Week in LA - School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD
LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):LAUSD may create the nation’s largest saxophone ensemble everLAUSD just might create the largest saxophone ensemble ever tomorrow at the Make Music Los Angeles celebration to commemorate the 200th birthday of Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone. Make Music LA, a city-based nonprofit, along with the dist
by mike simpson / 8h 




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The real path to quality, equitable and adequate schooling (hint – It’s not Vergara!) | School Finance 101

The real path to quality, equitable and adequate schooling (hint – It’s not Vergara!) | School Finance 101:



The real path to quality, equitable and adequate schooling (hint – It’s not Vergara!)

Posted on June 23, 2014
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The blogging has been sparse lately because my head is buried in really cool and important projects these days. My apologies to those anxiously awaiting glib, sarcastic updates and smackdowns on issues such as the Vergara case (where the logical fallacies run wild – more later if I ever get the chance) or the multitude of nonsensical reports that continue to flow out of beltway think tanks.
Here’s a quick summary on a topic I’ve addressed previously – but with some new studies included – That is, what do we really know about the importance of school finance reforms – equitable and adequate distribution of resources – for providing the necessary underlying conditions for equitable and adequate system of elementary and secondary schooling?
Over the past several decades, many states have pursued substantive changes to their state school finance systems, while others have not. Some reforms have come and gone. Some reforms have been stimulated by judicial pressure resulting from state constitutional challenges and others have been initiated by legislatures. In an evaluation of judicial involvement in school finance and resulting reforms from 1971 to 1996, Murray, Evans and Schwab (1998) found that “court ordered finance reform reduced within-state inequality in spending by 19 to 34 percent. Successful litigation reduced inequality by raising spending in the poorest districts while leaving spending in the richest districts unchanged, thereby increasing aggregate spending on education. Reform led states to fund additional spending through higher state taxes.” (p. 789)
Evaluating whether state school finance systems, or reforms to those systems lead to increases in spending generally, or targeted to children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds is of little relevance in the absence of evidence supporting effectiveness of such reforms.   There exists an increasing body of evidence that substantive and sustained state school finance reforms matter for improving both the level and distribution of short term and long run student outcomes. A few studies have attempted to tackle school finance reforms broadly applying multi-state analyses The real path to quality, equitable and adequate schooling (hint – It’s not Vergara!) | School Finance 101:
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6-23-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Love Letters to the BATS

With A Brooklyn Accent:








An American Tragedy: The Humiliation and Displacement of Veteran Teachers
Every day, i get an email or Facebook message from a teacher somewhere in the United States who has been driven our of their job by a school administrator after more than 20 years of loyal service to the profession, often with great distinction. These teachers have worked in all kinds of schools; have taught a wide variety of subjects, have sometimes been coaches, librarians and school counselors.
by Mark Naison / 22min 


3 Reasons Why the Deal Between Gov Cuomo, the Legislature and NYSUT is Unacceptable

1. There is entirely too much testing in New York State. The fact that 3rd graders have to sit through six days of testing in ELA and Math is unconscionable. That is more testing than people endure to get into Law School, Medical School, Business School and even to pass the Bar. You don't change that you are sanctioning child abuse.2. The absurd test security provisions regarding testing in New Yo
by Mark Naison / 4min 




6-21-14 With A Brooklyn Accent: Love Letters to the BATS
With A Brooklyn Accent:Public School Failure- “The Big Lie” on Which Current Education Policy RestsAs someone who has worked in the Bronx for the last 45 years, it drives me crazy to hear business leaders and politicians denounce public schools as the one failed institution in an otherwise thriving society. Hello! During the 1970′s, when factories in the Bronx closed, business districts shuttered,
by mike simpson / 29min 
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6-23-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:







Dangerous Racist Fool Proves Himself to be Dangerous Racist Fool
Below is a post from 2011 that gives a little background on why this recent outing of right-wing serial blog commenter could not have happened to a more awful person.John Huppenthal, Dangerous Racist FoolSchools Matter September 28, 2011With every brief and successive generation of Tea Party spokesmen and nutjob officials, particularly in Arizona, the current ones make the previous ones seem like
2 by Jim Horn / 23min 


Whole Brain Teaching, the Latest Lucrative Quackery for Repackaged Rote Learning
There is a respectable body of literature on brain-based learning, but it has nothing to do with the current testing factory craze, Whole Brain Teaching (WBT).  WBT represents the same centuries-old memorization and recitation techniques duct-taped to repeated displays of loud chanting and clapping, with some primitive behavior mod thrown to give this latest chain gang craze the thinnest veneer of
by Jim Horn / 10min 


The Hastening Demise of Common Core: PARCC Down to 15 Members; Smarter Balanced, 22
Tennessee done.  Next likely to be Mississippi and North Carolina.  TN Parcc Withdrawal and Attachment
by Jim Horn / 17min 


Former Student Sees KIPP As "a cancer"

This student graduated from KIPP in the early 2000s:KIPP at its core means well but it is a cancer, one that threatens children with Machiavellian methods and punishments that are unneccessary.
by Jim Horn / 41min 


6-22-14 Schools Matter
Schools Matter: Learning About Liberty in a Charter Chain GangThis KIPP knock-off, Nashville Prep, has had numerous complaints about the severity of its penal pedagogy and abuse.  Here it is cleaned up for the cameras, i. e., minus the screaming and humiliation and silence.  If you find this disturbing, you have to remember that this is what they are most proud of--this is as good as it gets.by Ji
by mike simpson / 15h 




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Gene Glass v. Chetty and Kane |

Gene Glass v. Chetty and Kane |:



Gene Glass v. Chetty and Kane



 Following the Vergara v. California decision now two weeks ago (see three recent VAMboozled posts about this court decision here, here, and here), one of my mentors and still friends/colleagues – Gene Glass, Regents’ Professor Emeritus at ASU – wrote the following on his twitter and Facebook account about Raj Chetty’s and Tom Kane’s testimonies, testimonies that played key roles in the judge’s (unfortunate) decision ruling teacher tenure as unconstitutional.

Testimony in Vergara by Harvard profs. Does anybody–other than Judge Treu–really believe these guys?! Amazing! — These dudes must be in love with their production functions. How anyone but a know-nothing judge could buy this stuff is amazing to me. A bad teacher costs a class of 28 kids $1.4 Million in life-time earnings. Really? What do a couple of lousy economists cost society?
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Glass then followed up with a comment: “Aristotle in Nichomachean Ethics: “We must not expect more precision than the subject-matter admits.” (Chp. 3)…after which a Facebook Gene Glass v. Chetty and Kane |:
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State of charter schools: How Michigan spends $1 billion but fails to hold schools accountable | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

State of charter schools: How Michigan spends $1 billion but fails to hold schools accountable | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:



State of charter schools: How Michigan spends $1 billion but fails to hold schools accountable


What the Free Press found

A yearlong Free Press investigation of Michigan’s charter schools found wasteful spending, conflicts of interest, poor performing schools and a failure to close the worst of the worst. Among the findings:

 Charter schools spend $1billion per year in state taxpayer money, often with little transparency.

 Some charter schools are innovative and have excellent academic outcomes — but those that don’t are allowed to stay open year after year.

 A majority of the worst-ranked charter schools in Michigan have been open 10 years or more.

 Charter schools as a whole fare no better than traditional schools in educating students in poverty.

 Michigan has substantially more for-profit companies running schools than any other state.

 Some charter school board members were forced out after demanding financial details from management companies.

 State law does not prevent insider dealing and self-enrichment by those who operate schools.

Unique web content
You can find Web-only stories, video interviews, documents and a statewide database with academic results that will be posted Thursday.
 Coming Thursday: Searchable database of every charter school in Michigan, academic performance and comparison with traditional schools.

Weak state oversight allows secrecy, abuses
Sunday, June 22: Charter management companies flock to Michigan, which — unlike some other states — requires little transparency or accountability in the rapidly growing number of charter schools.
Some private interests have scammed system
Monday, June 23: Insiders have enriched themselves, thanks to Michigan’s ineffective conflict-of-interest laws.




School board power often limited to a rubber stamp
Tuesday, June 24: Critics say many boards are not independent — and some have been punished when they asked too many questions.
Pro charter school group wields increasing power
Wednesday, June 25: The Great Lakes Education Project aggressively lobbies on behalf of charter schools — and punished one lawmaker who defied its agenda.



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