Beyond Programs: A Teacher's Role in Preventing Bullying - NEA Today

Beyond Programs: A Teacher's Role in Preventing Bullying - NEA Today:

Beyond Programs: A Teacher’s Role in Preventing Bullying

Bullying prevention programs do a good job of raising awareness and generating buy-in from school staff. However, programs can only do so much. For students to buy in, teachers, as first responders, must take the lead.

Beginning the school year with previews of the curriculum, overviews of rubrics and routines, expectations of homework, tardy policies, etc. is no longer adequate for creating a safe and supportive learning environment for kids. Ice breaker activities aren’t enough, either. Today’s teachers must be willing to engage in a direct dialogue with students about safety, concern, the freedom to make mistakes – and the opportunity to recover from those mistakes – respect, and acceptance. We must be willing to tell our own stories, share anecdotes, and assure students that we care about them, both corporately and as individuals.

The first day of school is a perfect time to share a bullying story of your own. As a K-2 student, I was picked on because of a speech impairment. When I spoke, the class whispered and giggled. Kids made sounds back to me at recess and lunch. Even relatives “teasingly” mimicked my inability to form the “S” sound correctly. As a result, I learned to use humor to divert attention from my speech to something else. I became the class clown as a way of coping. Thanks to a supportive and loving family, along with the outstanding work of a speech therapist, I was able to overcome the obstacle. Had I not, I very likely would never have become a teacher.

Why would a teacher use valuable class time to share a story like this? Aren’t there Beyond Programs: A Teacher's Role in Preventing Bullying - NEA Today:

Behind the Story: Diane Ravitch | KWBU

Behind the Story: Diane Ravitch | KWBU:

Behind the Story: Diane Ravitch

This week on Behind the Story we talk with Diane Ravitch, an education historian and researcher who also served as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education. In this episode, KWBU talks with Ravitch about her memories growing up in the Texas education system, her thoughts on No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, charter schools and the future of education. 

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30:03

Behind the Story: Diane Ravitch | KWBU:

Focus on testing in schools is misplaced: #tellusatoday

Focus on testing in schools is misplaced: #tellusatoday:
Focus on testing in schools is misplaced: #tellusatoday

A recent column suggested the Democratic Party is headed for a split over approaches to improve public education. Letter to the editor:

While I am flattered by commentary writer Richard Whitmire’s description of me, I take great exception with his characterization of what unions support and why (“Column: The Democrats’ great education schism”).

Our union calls out policies that have failed and promotes proven solutions, like engaging curriculum that includes music, art and career and technical programs; collaboration between educators and administrators; and community schools that provide much-needed services for disadvantaged children and families. We also believe, as does the public, that charter schools should be transparent and held accountable, just like other public schools.

The fixation on “test, punish and privatize” policies pushed by Education SecretaryArne Duncan and former New York State Education commissioner John King, who will be Duncan’s successor, has not worked. In New York, the opposition to King’s policies was organic, led by parents and educators throughout the state who were fed up with reducing kids to test scores. There may be healthy differences among Democrats over education policy, but I believe Hillary Clinton wants to listen to parents and teachers. That would be a step toward providing all children with the kind of rigorous, well-rounded education that will prepare them for career, college and life.

Randi Weingarten, president American Federation of Teachers; Washington, D.C.

POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media

USA TODAY

Column: The Democrats' great education schism

Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

Charter schools have so much clout because people such as Bill Gates and others who pushed high-stakes standardized testing as the way to improve public schools. Charters appear to “work” because they drill endlessly so that kids can pass standardized tests. Does passing these tests have anything to do with real learning or doing well in the real world? Of course it does not. And in the name of passing high-stakes testing, things such as art, music, recess and even sometimes social studies are getting cut.

— Chris Darling

Focus on testing in schools is misplaced: #tellusatoday:

Alfie Kohn on Universal ‘high-quality’ Pre-K | Seattle Education

Alfie Kohn on Universal ‘high-quality’ Pre-K | Seattle Education:

Alfie Kohn on Universal ‘high-quality’ Pre-K

But here’s the catch: Very few people are talking about the kind of education that would be offered — other than declaring it should be “high quality.” And that phrase is often interpreted to mean “high intensity”: an accelerated version of skills-based teaching that most early-childhood experts regard as terrible. Poor children, as usual, tend to get the worst of this.

Seattle Mayor Murray and Councilmember Tim Burgess “quality” pre-school programs are to open in 2016. Many of these classes will be taking valuable classroom space within the Seattle Public School system but I’ll save that for another post.

From the post Universal Pre-K in Seattle: Reasons to be cautious I wrote:

In the Mayor’s Preschool Program Action Plan, “quality assessments” will be linked to funding: “The efficacy evaluation will provide valid estimates of the effectiveness of the program in achieving its goal of improving children’s preparedness for kindergarten with sufficient precision to guide decisions about the program” (Mayor’s Plan page 18)

And there is to be a “prescribed curriculum” that the assessments will be 

Alfie Kohn on Universal ‘high-quality’ Pre-K | Seattle Education:

San Jose: DCP charter school to move to Southern Lumber site - San Jose Mercury News

San Jose: DCP charter school to move to Southern Lumber site - San Jose Mercury News:

San Jose: DCP charter school to move to Southern Lumber site

SAN JOSE -- A deal is nearly inked to acquire the former Southern Lumber site in San Jose's Alma neighborhood and allow Downtown College Preparatory charter school to renovate the old warehouse and move in by August.

In a creative swap involving no cash, the San Jose Unified School District would trade two of its parcels, one leased to a data center and the other housing an independent learning program, for the 3.4-acre site occupied for decades by the enormous, iconic hardware and building supply store and recently acquired by San Jose real estate developer Imwalle Properties.

Russ Rhodes loads lumber on to his truck at Southern Lumber, Thursday morning, May 28, 2015. The century-old, family run business in San Jose, Calif. recently announced it is closing. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) ( Karl Mondon )

If signed, the deal would end a yearlong bitter fight over DCP's location. The district had proposed moving the high school to a site across from San Jose High; DCP had dug in its heels about staying at its current location, the former Hester Elementary near the Rose Garden, and insisted it could not afford a proposed rent hike. Besides the high school, DCP operates a middle school in San Jose Unified and one in the Alum Rock School District.

"We are very excited," San Jose Unified school board member Pam Foley said. "It's a win-win agreement."

Imwalle representatives did not respond to requests for comment. But San Jose Unified officials said Friday that the developer agreed to swap its Southern Lumber parcel, which it purchased over the summer, for two district parcels totaling 2.5 acres and together worth an estimated $11.2 million. Once the trade is completed, the school district would lease the Southern Lumber site to DCP at the nominal sum of $1 annually, for 50 years.

Imwalle purchased the lumber site for $8.8 million, but it was recently appraised at $14 million, San Jose Unified Chief Business Officer Stephen McMahon said.

The district's school board approved terms of the lease with DCP in a closed session last San Jose: DCP charter school to move to Southern Lumber site - San Jose Mercury News:

Big Education Ape: Are School Closings Really Land Grabs? | Diane Ravitch's blog http://bit.ly/1LY3tn7


Big Education Ape: CURMUDGUCATION: Charter Real Estate http://bit.ly/1LY3w2t


Big Education Ape: Are School Closings Really Land Grabs? YES! | @ THE CHALKFACE http://bit.ly/1LY3wQ5

Teaching is Like an Abusive Relationship - You Only Stay for the Children | Cultured Vultures

Teaching is Like an Abusive Relationship - You Only Stay for the Children | Cultured Vultures:
TEACHING IS LIKE AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP – YOU ONLY STAY FOR THE CHILDREN

According to figures released by Labour this week, 50,000 teachers quit last year. The mother of a friend of mine summed up the current situation perfectly after yet another tearful phone call where her daughter was considering whether or not she should leave the profession:
‘You know, listening to you talking about work is like listening to someone who is in an abusive relationship. You know you don’t really want to be there. You know you are being treated badly. And yet you continue to stay stuck because of the effect it will have on the children.’

This week’s figures come as no surprise to me. I’ve worked at the same school for more than a decade and until just recently, the only reasons people left were to be promoted or retire. In the past year, however, I have seen three amazing colleagues leave teaching in the UK completely.

The first had been a Head of Department in art for more than twenty years. Not being a ‘core’ subject and therefore not affecting the school’s position in the league tables, her department was sidelined as unimportant. In an example of psychological stress made manifest, her inability to be ‘given a voice’ at work resulted in her physically losing her voice completely. She left the profession, and is now a full time artist.

The second was a brilliant teacher who had consistently excellent results but because he didn’t conform to the Ofsted mould, management put him under constant observation to try to force him to become the children’s television presenter they wanted him to be. He eventually decided he’d had enough and walked out. He now teaches abroad where they don’t care how the hell you teach as long as your results are good.

The third is a young teacher in his twenties who was appalled by the recent government Teaching is Like an Abusive Relationship - You Only Stay for the Children | Cultured Vultures:

Pornography and Relevance in Education | My Island View

Pornography and Relevance in Education | My Island View:

Pornography and Relevance in Education

When asked to define what Pornography in the public domain was, United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said: “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description [“hard-core pornography”], and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that”.

The point was that the term was too subjective with too many variables to specifically define it, but its existence should be obvious to the average thinking person. Of course there will always be those whose views are more conservative or more liberal on any interpretation, but the general consensus usually prevails.

I have written as many authors and bloggers have about what is relevant in education, yet the term “relevance” is too subjective with too many variables to specifically define it, but its existence should be obvious to the average thinking person. Of course there will always be those whose views are more conservative or Pornography and Relevance in Education | My Island View:

LAUSD'S PREMEDITATED "EGREGIOUS MISCONDUCT"- A CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY? - Perdaily.com

LAUSD'S PREMEDITATED "EGREGIOUS MISCONDUCT"- A CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY? - Perdaily.com:

LAUSD'S PREMEDITATED "EGREGIOUS MISCONDUCT"- A CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY?

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

How did the LAUSD School Board unanimously vote to fire famed teacher Rafe Esquith? The answer might surprise you as it is codified in law. According to The Brown Act section 54956.9 the board is compelled to side with the administration and district legal if there is even potential "exposure" to litigation as there is here for the wrongful termination, age discrimination, defamation, and other clear violations of LAUSD teachers' civil rights that LAUSD administration continues to engage in.

Simply stated, the Board only gets improper and/or false information from their administration and their expensive hourly outside attorneys, whose only desire is to cover up their own guilty of civil and criminal violations of law against the District and its employees. The LAUSD Board has no other mechanism for garnering correct information. Even if, as here, LAUSD administration is not carrying out Board Policy and Procedure and/or acting legally, no mechanism exists to correct purposeful administrative deficits and wrongdoing.

This relegates the LAUSD Board to the sole function of rubber stamping all LAUSD administrative actions, when administration asserts that the district might be subject to litigation.

Whether or not this potential litigation is justified or whether LAUSD has and continues to function in a self-serving and LAUSD'S PREMEDITATED "EGREGIOUS MISCONDUCT"- A CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY? - Perdaily.com:

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Crucial Voting for Seattle School Board

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Crucial Voting for Seattle School Board:

Crucial Voting for Seattle School Board

It happens every single time there are school board races - that it is VITAL to vote and get the right people on the Board.

I will admit that last time, in trying to find good candidates for a couple of races, I certainly got fooled.  I really thought that Sharon Peaslee and Marty McLaren were change agents.  They did present themselves that way even as I realized they really didn't know the district well. My vetting of them found two fired-up women ready to come in and ask hard questions.  Well, that really didn't happen (or it was piecemeal and uneven).

I read everything I could find online and attended five candidates forums.   

Here are my picks for School Board, some with comments and some I just decided that I will let the candidates' words speak for themselves.


District 6 - Leslie Harris.  (Public disclosure, we are friends.)  Harris is the only candidate running against an incumbent. 

Harris has gotten nearly all the endorsements that McLaren garnered in her first run.  Indeed, Harris points out that she herself (as did I) voted for McLaren the first time around.  But McLaren has shown herself to be more interested - it would seem - in working in a committee-style, "collaborating" than actually getting things done or showing real leadership.

That Harris has cultivated friendships that have led to her massive build-up of endorsements, both social and political, is a good thing.  I'll go old-school and say she has a very big Roledex that she says she won't hesitate to use for the good of the district. 

She will be the change agent that McLaren promised to be.  It is deeply Seattle Schools Community Forum: Crucial Voting for Seattle School Board:



Seattle Schools Community Forum: Who I'm Voting for to Sit on the Seattle City Council http://bit.ly/1ONR0HV

CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Shutting Down Special Ed

CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Shutting Down Special Ed:

PA: Shutting Down Special Ed

The Background 

Among the Duncan-Obama administration's beliefs about education, we find the belief that special ed is unnecessary.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has been pretty clear about this. He has argued that students with disabilities just need teachers who expect them to do well (Stop being dyslexic, Pat-- I believe in you!). The USED just this summer denied New York's request to use adapted testing for the Big Standardized Test-- students must take the test deemed appropriate for their chronological age and not their developmental level.  And all along, trundling down the regulatory highway, has been this:Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged; Assistance to States for the Education of Children with Disabilities, 

That regulation says basically that states may no longer make any kind of adaptations for any but "the most significant cognitive disabilities." Now all students must ride the same one-size-fits-all magical test unicorn, because many education policy leaders believe that expecting all students to do well on the same test will cause all students to succeed. If you want an uglier spin, you cold also say that the USED thinks that teachers are lying and making excuses for students with disabilities instead of teaching them. Here it is in government-ese:

The Department shares the goal that students with disabilities experience success. Removing the CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Shutting Down Special Ed:

When a Sac High teacher went against the Kevin Johnson team | Game to 100

When a Sac High teacher went against the Kevin Johnson team | Game to 100:

When a Sac High teacher went against the Kevin Johnson team

Through Kevin Johnson’s long history of sexual scandals, deniers and defenders have been eager to rush to Johnson’s side. One man who didn’t – and paid a price for it – was Erik Jones.

Back in 2007, Jones was a teacher at Sacramento High School. He said a 17-year-old student confided to him and several others that Johnson had sexually molested her. At the time Johnson served as a teacher, interim principal and head of St. HOPE Public Schools, which oversaw the Sac High charter school.

As mandated under state law, Jones filed a report of suspected child abuse with local authorities despite what he called pressure from school officials to remain silent. In the ensuing controversy, Jones resigned over the way the matter was handled by the school.

“St. HOPE sought to intimidate the student through an illegal interrogation and even had the audacity to ask me to change my story,” Jones wrote in his resignation letter, according to a Sacramento Bee story in 2008, when Johnson was making his initial run for mayor.

What happened, according to a compelling Bee story written by Terri Hardy and Dorothy Korber, was this: Johnson’s personal attorney and business partner, Kevin Hiestand, investigated the complaint for the campus and questioned the girl before police were called in by the teacher. The student recanted, and Sacramento police investigators, who never interviewed Johnson, later found “no merit” to the allegation and declined to pursue the case in part because the girl recanted.

The Bee story also noted that Hiestand was the spokesman for Johnson when he played When a Sac High teacher went against the Kevin Johnson team | Game to 100:

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Who I'm Voting for to Sit on the Seattle City Council

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Who I'm Voting for to Sit on the Seattle City Council:

Who I'm Voting for to Sit on the Seattle City Council

I view the City Council races in two ways. One, public education in Seattle.  I want people on the Council who know where the line is between the district running itself and the City's role in supporting that effort.

Two, livability in Seattle (which I think is becoming an issue as our growth shoots up like a firecracker.) 

I want progressives on the City Council so my choices are:

District 1 (SW) - Lisa Herbold  is a very strong candidate who is whip-smart and hard-working.  (I also like that Ms Herbold, having worked for Councilman Nick Licata for years, would know City Hall very well.)

District 2 (SE) - Tammy Morales.  There are many things to like/admire about Councilman Harrell but I find his work underwhelming.  That, coupled with some odd happenings at the 37th District endorsement meeting, make me believe it's time for change.

District 3 (Central) - Kshama Sawant.  Say what you will but she keeps people honest and she cares deeply about the average working person in this city.  We need that kind of counterbalance on the Council.

District 4 (Lake Union to Sand Pt) -  this is my region and I'm voting forMichael Maddux.  It's a good choice in this race and Rob Johnson is a nice guy but again, I want someone who will represent all of Seattle.  I think Seattle Schools Community Forum: Who I'm Voting for to Sit on the Seattle City Council:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Vouchers for private schools: This is what passes for 'school reform' in D.C.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Vouchers for private schools: This is what passes for 'school reform' in D.C.:

Vouchers for private schools: This is what passes for 'school reform' in D.C.

D.O.E.-- The Education Pentagon in D.C.

Posting from D.C. --Remember back in 2010 when Michelle Rhee was ruling the roost in D.C.? Rhee, with plenty of back-up from Arne Duncan and the Gates Foundation, became one of the superstars of the Waiting For Superman set, and D.C. was touted as the model for corporate-style, urban school reform. Duncan even used his position as Secretary of Education to stump for Rhee's patron, then-Mayor Adrian Fenty.

How the mighty have fallen. Rhee has left the world of corporate reform to go to work for a fertilizer company. After she was booted out of Washington came the revelations about her role in a major test-cheating scandal.

Spending this past week in the D.C. area has given me a closer look at Rhee's school reform legacy which goes hand-in-hand with the whitenizing of the District. In 2011, Washington’s black population slipped below 50% for the first time in over 50 years.

Not only is the city’s African American population shrinking — almost half of the District’s 650,000 residents are white — but it’s getting Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Vouchers for private schools: This is what passes for 'school reform' in D.C.:

Are School Closings Really Land Grabs? YES! | @ THE CHALKFACE

Are School Closings Really Land Grabs? YES! | @ THE CHALKFACE:

Are School Closings Really Land Grabs? YES!

Source: Are School Closings Really Land Grabs?

In some cases, they are, and it’s pretty easy to figure this out.

Our school in SE Washington, DC, for instance, was formerly in a building adjacent to highly coveted real estate: next to a DC Metro stop. As the area was slowly showing signs of gentrification, which haven’t completely materialized, commuter traffic on the subway would be very valuable. If you walk around newly gentrified neighborhoods in DC, you’ll see a common feature: condo buildings, mixed use development, anchored around Metro stops. The buildings will have a grocery store on the first floor, for instance, and apartments on top.

Our old building was slated for renovation. In the meantime, we were relocated to a swing space about a 1/2 mile away, which had us co-locating with a charter school. The original plan was to fix the old building and turn it over to the charter, with us eventually closed.

That didn’t happen. Now the charter is finishing up additions to their other campus. They’ll leave us, apparently, with the swing space because the money for renovations was stripped from the budget. Moreover, the late Mr. Berry did not want the property to stay as a school because it was more valuable as Are School Closings Really Land Grabs? YES! | @ THE CHALKFACE:

Controversy on critique of the “specialists.”

I posted this yesterday, roughly based on my experience with “specialists” in schools. The results have been mixed in terms of opposition to the concept and the contrary, that there is some room for analysis of the work that specialists do. Let me add some details to my perspective here. And if the reader finds complete and total inaccuracy with my claims, then by all means share with me your positive experiences in the comments.

I returned to the classroom a few years ago after eight years in higher education. While in academe, I became a forceful advocate for the preservation of a free and open public system of education. During my first four years as a graduate student, I had no idea what “education reform” actually meant. Then, as an assistant professor, I started to get the idea as I observed its impacts on student teachers. I became an active participant in the conversation surrounding education reform.

Now I’m putting my formerly activist money (or lack thereof) where my mouth is, doing the most difficult work that I’ve ever done. Teaching in a low-income, high-needs, inner-city school, one that co-locates with a charter, has changed me considerably. Even though I oppose nearly every tenet of education reform, I am no longer an unabashed booster for the public system. It deserves some measure of critique. And those like Controversy on critique of the “specialists.”

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Op-Ed: DICHOTOMY OF TODAY’S TEACHING, LEARNING

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Op-Ed: DICHOTOMY OF TODAY’S TEACHING, LEARNING:

Op-Ed: DICHOTOMY OF TODAY’S TEACHING, LEARNING

BY LARRY WHITE, SPECIAL TO THE STOCKTON RECORD  | HTTP://BIT.LY/1ONDGNX

Posted Oct. 17, 2015 at 5:00 PM  ::  Schools are in the business of educating students and operate on the principles that all students can learn and all students must learn.

This reflects a belief that education is not only important, it is mandatory. If society requires that individuals and institutions are equipped to improve our political, economic and social fabric, then an educated citizenry is essential.In far too many instances in education today, however, there seems to be a system in place that runs counter to this goal. In other words, expressing one thing in terms of objectives but implementing rules and procedures that are designed in a completely opposite manner. A dichotomy. Speaking out of both sides of the mouth at the same time.

Numerous examples serve to illustrate this point.

Recent research points out that students, especially teens, should not begin school until at least 8:30 a.m. Their internal clocks run on a different schedule than adults. They may not become tired until 11 p.m. or midnight. Teenagers also require more sleep than adults in order to function properly, about nine hours a night.

Yet, a majority of schools begin their day between 7 and 8 a.m. The early start times are in place to facilitate parent work schedules, bus transportation or after-school activities, such as athletics.

But the deeper point is students are losing sleep, which is not only unhealthy but also leaves them physically and mentally unprepared for learning.

Several other examples of this dichotomy relate to numbers. Students should be provided with the attention necessary to assist them with understanding the content, processes or skills to be successful learners. But many classrooms contain 30 to 40 students in a room, even in the primary grades, without additional paraprofessionals. Are those ratios going to enable the teacher to provide for the individual needs of their students? Effective teachers may be able to manage these size classes, but ensuring individual attention? Not likely.

School enrollments are another issue. The most appropriate school size for high schools, to maximize student learning and education need, is in the range of 650 to 850 students. Many high schools, however, number in the range of 2,000 to 3,000 students per school, sometimes even more.

In years past, a factory model might have served a purpose if we were training students to work on an assembly line. But today, students need development of 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Op-Ed: DICHOTOMY OF TODAY’S TEACHING, LEARNING:

Ms. Katie's Ramblings: The Ugly Truths of Choice and That Which Divides Us

Ms. Katie's Ramblings: The Ugly Truths of Choice and That Which Divides Us:

The Ugly Truths of Choice and That Which Divides Us

I spent the summer working on the Southwest side of Chicago-knocking on doors, organizing, and helping plan education justice events. I met amazing people who care deeply about equity, about justice, about improving the educational opportunity for their children.  I saw thousands come out in support of their neighborhood schools. I heard powerful testimonies of the great work happening inside the schools from students, teachers, staff, and parents. 

I had not spent a lot of time on the Southwest side before. There is so much good, so much community involvement, so much kindness. It was beautiful.

But I also saw a less attractive side of the area. The SW side has a growing Latino population which is expanding into once formerly white working class or working class sometimes poor Black communities. I saw the tensions as demographics change and the racism or prejudice that arises when people from different backgrounds mix. I met older Ms. Katie's Ramblings: The Ugly Truths of Choice and That Which Divides Us:



We Can't Talk About Discipline Without Discussing Mental Health

I try to follow closely the discussions around school discipline including zero tolerance or "no excuses" discipline policies, restorative justice, and the school-to-prison-pipeline. I applaud many of the groups of youth, youth workers, educators, and parents working to dismantle the StPP and implement more restorative practices in our schools, especially in schools serving low income Black and Latino students. There is no question that Black and Latino youth are being mistreated by racist and misguided discipline policies.

However, I feel there is a huge piece of the conversation that is missing: mental health. As we discuss student behaviors and appropriate contexts and reactions to those behaviors, I feel like we are glossing over the very real and very serious implications of trauma, depression, or other mental health effects that are exacerbated by poverty and racial oppression. Too many of our students and their families and communities are daily being bombarded by such incredible injustice and obstacles that the mental health toll comes out in their behaviors. Children and youth are responding in very normal and predictable ways to absolutely untenable circumstances. Poverty is often racialized in our city and poverty matters.

Back last fall, I finagled my way-by  practically begging my administration-to a CPS trainingWe Can't Talk About Discipline Without Discussing Mental Health 

Education Does Not Cure Poverty – It Cures Ignorance | gadflyonthewallblog

Education Does Not Cure Poverty – It Cures Ignorance | gadflyonthewallblog:

Education Does Not Cure Poverty – It Cures Ignorance

What good is an education?

Will it get you money? Will it make you rich?

No. Not really.

And that’s one of the biggest problems with American public school policy of the last 15 years. It misunderstands the purpose of the very thing it purports to promote.

Poverty is skyrocketing. It’s been on the rise for at least three decades, but since the economy collapsed in 2008, the ranks of the poor have swollen like an untreated wound left to fester and rot.

We could be doing something about that. We could be working on a jobs package – on something to get people back to work. Instead we crowd around unemployment data and clap each other on the back because on paper it looks like we’ve overcome this obstacle.

Unfortunately, we haven’t.

Since President Barack Obama took office, there have been less people out of workthan during the disastrous Bush years. However, most new jobs created since the Education Does Not Cure Poverty – It Cures Ignorance | gadflyonthewallblog:

BustED Pencils Trending News: Life Limits; Attacked; Futile | BustED Pencils

BustED Pencils Trending News: Life Limits; Attacked; Futile | BustED Pencils:

BustED Pencils Trending News: Life Limits; Attacked; Futile

The same, with the same at the same.  SAY WHAT?!

Diploma Options for Students with Developmental Disabilities

https://theoptoutfloridanetwork.wordpress.com/2015/10/04/options-for-students-with-developmental-disabilities/

Harsh is an understatement!

CSCU asks faculty for ‘unprecedented’ givebacks

http://ctmirror.org/2015/10/07/cscu-asks-faculty-for-unprecedented-givebacks/

Chanel M. Quintero (New York) puts the word “special” to a whole new level!  Her commitment to her “other babies” is to be applauded.  Way to bust those pencils!!

Why it’s ‘idiotic’ to force special education students to take standardized tests

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/10/05/special-education-teacher-why-its-idiotic-to-force-my-students-to-take-standardized-tests/

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BustED Pencils Trending News: Life Limits; Attacked; Futile | BustED Pencils: