Archive | April, 2012

The International Baccalaureate program as a way to save struggling schools

In The International Baccalaureate program and vocational students, moi said this:

There is an “arms race” going on in American Education. More people are asking whether college is the right choice for many. The U.S. has de-emphasized high quality vocational and technical training in the rush to increase the number of students who proceed to college in pursuit of a B.A. Often a graduate degree follows. The Harvard paper, Pathways to Prosperity argues for more high quality vocational and technical opportunities:

The implication of this work is that a focus on college readiness alone does not equip young people with all of the skills and abilities they will need in the workplace, or to successfully complete the transition from adolescence to adulthood. This was highlighted in a 2008 report published by Child Trends, which compared research on the competencies required for college readiness, workplace readiness and healthy youth development. The report found significant overlaps. High personal expectations, self-management, critical thinking, and academic achievement are viewed as highly important for success in all three areas. But the report also uncovered some striking differences. For instance: while career planning, previous work experience, decision making, listening skills, integrity, and creativity are all considered vital in the workplace, they hardly figure in college readiness.

Click to access Pathways_to_Prosperity_Feb2011.pdf

There is a reluctance to promote vocational opportunities in the U.S. because the is a fear of tracking individuals into vocational training and denying certain groups access to a college education. The compromise could be a combination of both quality technical training with a solid academic foundation. Individuals may have a series of careers over the course of a career and a solid foundation which provides a degree of flexibility is desired for survival in the future. See, Why go to college? https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/why-go-to-college/

https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/the-international-baccalaureate-program-and-vocational-students/

Claudia Rowe has written the Seattle Times article, Can more rigorous academics help Rainier Beach?

Rarely have the stakes been so high at Seattle’s Rainier Beach High School:

Student enrollment continues to plummet. Test scores continue to droop. And whispers of imminent closure abound.

But with 1,700 teenagers in Rainier Beach’s attendance zone, most of them now traveling out of the neighborhood to get their education, Seattle needs the beleaguered South End high school to succeed as never before — and in a big way.

The answer?

Parents at Rainier Beach believe it lies in a rigorous academic program created in Switzerland for the children of diplomats. And if they earn the necessary certification, Rainier Beach will become Seattle’s next International Baccalaureate World School, a place where college-bound students take a rigorous slate of advanced courses and test their performance against some of the most privileged young people on earth.

You could call it a Hail Mary pass for survival.

The IB program, as it is known, has a track record of saving schools previously written off, using teens’ natural impulse toward challenge and questioning to ignite an interest in education on their terms. This has worked in places like inner-city Chicago and in the poorer areas of California’s Central Valley, where teachers have seen many once-struggling students blossom as school leaders.

Closer to home, the IB has already effected similar turnarounds in Tacoma, and in Seattle, at Ingraham and Chief Sealth high schools.

But the high-minded, internationally focused program also forces confrontation with uncomfortable realities: IB’s college-prep focus tends to attract whiter, more affluent families; it requires academic skills that many students entering Rainier Beach do not possess. And at a high-poverty school like Beach, its price alone could be a deal-breaker — no matter how talented the students.

“When I saw that it cost over $700 to take the tests, I was like, ‘Whoa!’ ” said Kaeleabe Teferi, 17, a senior at Ingraham, which has been offering the IB for a decade. “I don’t qualify for free-and-reduced lunch, but it was still kind of a hard-sell with my parents.”

Kaeleabe is one of the few black students in line for an IB diploma at Ingraham this year, a fact he shrugs off and attributes to the dearth of black youth enrolled in honors classes, which act as a feeder system for the program.

But an image of elitism clings to the International Baccalaureate and remains a concern for parents at Rainier Beach, well aware that their students are — in numerous ways — not typical IB kids.

“It’s a predominantly white program — that’s what you see when you look at the literature, all white faces,” said Carlina Brown, president of Beach’s parent-teacher-student association.

“So I was like, ‘How am I going to present this to parents who are almost entirely black?’ ”

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018096833_rainierbeachib29m.html

Other Seattle schools who have started International Baccalaureate programs have had some success according to Rowe.

Tamar Lewin has a great article in the New York Times which describes the International Baccalaureate program. In International Program Catches On In U.S. Schools Lewin reports:

The alphabet soup of college admissions is getting more complicated as the International Baccalaureate, or I.B., grows in popularity as an alternative to the better-known Advanced Placement program.

The College Board’s A.P. program, which offers a long menu of single-subject courses, is still by far the most common option for giving students a head start on college work, and a potential edge in admissions.

The lesser-known I.B., a two-year curriculum developed in the 1960s at an international school in Switzerland, first took hold in the United States in private schools. But it is now offered in more than 700 American high schools — more than 90 percent of them public schools — and almost 200 more have begun the long certification process.

Many parents, schools and students see the program as a rigorous and more internationally focused curriculum, and a way to impress college admissions officers.

To earn an I.B. diploma, students must devote their full junior and senior years to the program, which requires English and another language, math, science, social science and art, plus a course on theory of knowledge, a 4,000-word essay, oral presentations and community service….

“Our students don’t have as much diversity as people in some other areas, so this makes them open their eyes,” said Deb Pinkham, the program’s English teacher.

The I.B. program is used in 139 countries, and its international focus has drawn criticism from some quarters.

Some parents say it is anti-American and too closely tied to both the United Nations and radical environmentalism. From its start in 1968 until 1976, the program was financed partly by Unesco. It is now associated with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and until recently it endorsed the Earth Charter, a declaration of principles of sustainability that originated at the United Nations.

“When there is a program at the school with a specific agenda, which in this case is the United Nations agenda, I have a problem with it,” said Ann Marie Banfield, who unsuccessfully opposed the adoption of the I.B. program in Bedford, N.H.

Others object to its cost — the organization charges $10,000 a year per school, $141 per student and $96 per exam — and say it is neither as effective as the A.P. program nor likely to reach as many students.

“We have 337 kids, and 80 of them take at least one of our 16 A.P. classes,” said John Eppolito, a parent who opposes the planned introduction of the I.B. in Incline Village, Nev. “If we switched to the I.B., the district estimates that 15 kids would get a I.B. diploma in two years.”

I.B. opponents have created a Web site, truthaboutib.com, to serve as a clearinghouse for their views.

Many schools, and many parents, see the I.B. partly as a way to show college admissions offices that students have chosen a rigorous program, with tests graded by I.B. examiners around the world. …[Emphasis Added]

One of the educators interviewed in the Lewin article observed that the IB program might be better suited for kids who are more creative and either are not as good or do not like to memorize. There shouldn’t be a one size fits all in education and parents should be honest about what education options will work for a particular child. Even children from the same family may find that different education options will work for each child.

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Tags: Can more rigorous academics help Rainier Beach?, Curriculum, International Baccalaureate, International Program Catches On In U.S. Schools, Rainier Beach HS, Rigorous Education

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Categories Dr Wilda

Children and swearing

29 Apr

Natalie Angier wrote a fascinating 2005 New York Times piece, Almost Before We Spoke:

Yet researchers who study the evolution of language and the psychology of swearing say that they have no idea what mystic model of linguistic gentility the critics might have in mind. Cursing, they say, is a human universal. Every language, dialect or patois ever studied, living or dead, spoken by millions or by a small tribe, turns out to have its share of forbidden speech, some variant on comedian George Carlin’s famous list of the seven dirty words that are not supposed to be uttered on radio or television.

Young children will memorize the illicit inventory long before they can grasp its sense, said John McWhorter, a scholar of linguistics at the Manhattan Institute and the author of “The Power of Babel,” and literary giants have always constructed their art on its spine.

“The Jacobean dramatist Ben Jonson peppered his plays with fackings and “peremptorie Asses,” and Shakespeare could hardly quill a stanza without inserting profanities of the day like “zounds” or “sblood” – offensive contractions of “God’s wounds” and “God’s blood” – or some wondrous sexual pun.

The title “Much Ado About Nothing,” Dr. McWhorter said, is a word play on “Much Ado About an O Thing,” the O thing being a reference to female genitalia.

Even the quintessential Good Book abounds in naughty passages like the men in II Kings 18:27 who, as the comparatively tame King James translation puts it, “eat their own dung, and drink their own piss.”

In fact, said Guy Deutscher, a linguist at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands and the author of “The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind’s Greatest Invention,” the earliest writings, which date from 5,000 years ago, include their share of off-color descriptions of the human form and its ever-colorful functions. And the written record is merely a reflection of an oral tradition that Dr. Deutscher and many other psychologists and evolutionary linguists suspect dates from the rise of the human larynx, if not before.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/20/science/20curs.html?pagewanted=all

To the consternation of many parents, their children use bad words or swear.

Kid’s Health has a great article about swearing, Swearing – using bad words:

What is swearing?

Swearing is a way of speaking that some people use to express their feelings of anger, annoyance, and frustration, or when they want to hurt someone else’s feelings. Sometimes people swear because they think it is smart or funny.Swear words can be: slang words used to describe something a person is too embarrassed to talk about racist or sexist words used to hurt someone’s feelings words used to criticise or put someone down

words that are blasphemous [say blass-fee-mus] which means words that are about someone’s god or religion being used as swear words.

Swearing is not okay

In public

Around young children

In school

Around older people

In the cinema or other public places like shopping centres and sports grounds

In church, synagogue, mosque or other holy place

On television or radio

Anywhere there are other people who can be upset by swearing.

http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetailsKids.aspx?p=335&np=287&id=1538

In order to guide children toward more appropriate language and behavior, parents must talk to their children about swearing.

Sierra Filucci has written a great Common Sense Media article, 5 Ways to Talk to Your Kids About Swearing — and Why:

What kids intuitively understand is that words are powerful, and certain words make a big impact. My son certainly felt the impact of the language that the birthday party gamers were using. Explaining to him why the kids were using those words — to shock, to feel older, to get attention — took a bit more time.

5 Ways to Talk to Kids About Swearing — and Why

Think time and place. What might be no big deal at your house could be offensive at your best friend’s place. Remind kids to keep their audience in mind when they’re speaking. The language you use when texting your best buddy can be a bit looser than the words you use in a classroom or when speaking to Grandma on Skype.

Expand your own vocab. You can almost always find a substitute for a curse word. Encourage kids to check out a thesaurus and find some creative alternatives to common curses or different ways to describe the feeling that’s making them want to curse. (My son is saying “peanut butter” instead of “dummy.” I tend to use “fig” a lot when I’m frustrated.)

Words can hurt. Being called a name like “bitch” or “jerk” can sting. And just like it’s not OK to hit someone or bully them, it’s not OK to curse at someone to hurt them. Point out when TV characters call each other names, and ask kids how they could have handled the situation differently.

Language reflects on you. Maybe some of your kids’ friends think cursing makes you cool, but the reality is that someone who curses a lot tends to look immature and not at all classy. Remind kids to keep that in mind, especially when they’re sending their language out into the world on social networks, online communities, etc.

Limit exposure. Check out the “language” sections of our media reviews to help select TV shows, movies, games, etc. that keep the language within your comfort level. Find out how to turn off comments or access to chat rooms if kids are seeing inappropriate language on the web. (Learn more about handling swearing.)

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/new/5-ways-talk-your-kids-about-swearing-and-why

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
Mark Twain

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
Nelson Mandela

Use what language you will, you can never say anything but what you are.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Resources:

Why Kids Curse http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89127830

swearing_school_age.html

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Tags: 5 Ways to Talk to Your Kids About Swearing -- and Why:, Almost Before We Spoke, Children and Swearing, Swearing, Swearing - using bad words:, What Is Swearing

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Categories Dr Wilda

New report takes community colleges to task

26 Apr

In Helping community college students to graduate moi said:

Going to a community college is one way to reduce the cost of college.

The Lumina Foundation provides the following statistics:

Forty-six percent are 25 or older, and 32 percent are at least 30 years old. The average age is 29.
Fifty-eight percent are women.
Twenty-nine percent have annual household incomes less than $20,000.
Eighty-five percent balance studies with full-time or part-time work. More than half (54 percent) have full-time jobs.
Thirty percent of those who work full time also attend classes full time (12 or more credit hours). Among students 30-39 years old, the rate climbs to 41 percent.
Minority students constitute 30 percent of community college enrollments nationally, with Latino students representing the fastest-growing racial/ethnic population.

Source: The American Association of Community Colleges, based on material in the National Profile of Community Colleges:Trends & Statistics, Phillippe & Patton, 2000.

Many of those attending community college will need a variety of assistance to be successful in their academic career. https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/helping-community-college-students-to-graduate/

Jennifer Gonzalez reports in the Education Week article, Multiyear Study of Community-College Practices Asks: What Helps Students Graduate?

The first of three reports, “A Matter of Degrees: Promising Practices for Community College Student Success” was released last week. It draws attention to 13 strategies for increasing retention and graduation rates, including fast-tracking remedial education, providing students with experiential learning, and requiring students to attend orientation.

The strategies specified in the report are not new. In fact, many of them can be found at two-year colleges right now. But how well those strategies are working to help students stay in college and graduate is another matter. The report found peculiarities among responses on similar topics, suggesting a disconnect between institutions and students, while also raising questions about how committed institutions are to their own policies and programs.

For example, 74 percent of students said they were required to take academic-placement tests, but only 28 percent said they used materials or resources provided by the college to prepare for those tests. While 44 percent of participating colleges report offering some sort of test preparation, only 13 percent make test preparation mandatory, the report said.

Also, 42 percent of part-time students and 19 percent of full-time students work more than 30 hours per week. More than half care for dependents. But only 26 percent of entering students reported that a college staff member counseled them about how many courses to take while balancing commitments outside of class.

Colleges need to figure out a way to better align their programs and policies with the needs and realities of their students, Ms. McClenney says. The report found a sizable gap between the percentage of students who plan to graduate and those who actually do, suggesting that what colleges think works may not be helping retain and graduate students. In fact, fewer than half (45 percent) of entering community-college students actually graduate with either a certificate or associate degree within six years after enrolling at an institution, according to the report….

Minding Our campus has an article by Mark Bauerlein about a report which is highly critical of the effectiveness of community colleges.

In The Community Colleges: High Promise, High Drop-Out Rates, Bauerlein reports:

The problem is stated bluntly in this report from the American Association of Community Colleges, entitled, “Reclaiming the American Dream: Community Colleges and the Nation’s Future.” The report contains an overly-dramatic framing, with dire assertions such as this opening in the Executive Summary: “The American Dream is imperiled. Upward mobility, the contract between one generation of Americans and the rest, is under siege.” But the basis for the report is undeniable. A section on “Student Success” notes that only 46 percent of community college students pursuing a degree or certificate earn one, transfer to a four-year college, or are still enrolled after six years. Worse, “Nearly half of all community college students entering in the fall term drop out before the second fall term begins.”

There is more. About 60 percent of community college students need remedial course work. Only a fraction (25-39%) of students manages to transfer to a four-year institution. For students who do succeed, too many of them opt for dead-end fields: “Reports suggest an overabundance of both adult and younger students planning to enroll in low-demand fields, and a corresponding shortage of students planning to enroll in high-demand fields paying a family-supporting wage.” Indeed, the authors observe, “Estimates indicate employment opportunities for just 3% of students planning on enrolling in fields such as personal services, employment-related services, regulation and protection, crafts, and the creative and performing arts.”

The report develops several recommended “institutional responses” to improve these abysmal results, including focusing on student success as well as student access, making faculty members think less individualistically and more collectively, and making the curriculum less fragmentary and more cumulative. But while these changes are all intramural, the best driver of improvement is, in fact, off-campus, as three examples of community-college success demonstrate a few pages later. There, we read about community colleges as “entrepreneurs,” each one partnering with local businesses to link education directly to employment. City Colleges of Chicago works directly with Rush University Medical Center and Midway airport to provide a pipeline of graduates tailored to their needs. Jefferson Community and Technical College in Kentucky has teamed up with UPS, the latter helping cover tuition and textbook costs while the former provides coursework designed to meet UPS’s job openings. And Walla Walla Community College has altered its curriculum to match the region’s tremendous growth in wine-making, the College now operating a commercial winery run by the students themselves. http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2012/04/the_community_colleges_high_promise_high_dropout_rates.html

The report has several strategies to improve the performance of community colleges.

Here is a portion of the press release:

Transforming Community College System Key to U.S. Competitiveness

Milestone Report Outlines 7 Specific Recommendations for the Future

ORLANDO – Today, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) released a report that calls for dramatic changes to America’s community colleges to ensure U.S. competitiveness. The report outlines seven specific recommendations for reforming the country’s community college system in its new report, Reclaiming the American Dream: A Report from the 21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges.

The report’s counsel center on the “Three Rs” of reform: Redesign, Reinvent and Reset. These are defined as a redesign of students’ educational experiences, a reinvention of institutional roles, and a resetting of the system to create partnerships and incentives for student and institutional success….

In a rapidly changing America and a drastically reshaped world, the Commission notes, sustaining the American Dream is at risk. The ground beneath the nation’s feet has shifted so dramatically that community colleges – which had their greatest growth period to respond to societal needs in the 1960s and 1970s – need to re-imagine their roles and the ways in which they work. A highly educated population is fundamental to economic growth and community colleges play a significant role in ensuring the American dream. Stepping up to this challenge will require dramatic redesign of these institutions, their mission, and, most critically, their students’ educational experiences.

The report’s recommendations are:

1. Increase completion rates of community college credentials (certificates and associate degrees) by 50 percent by 2020, while preserving access, enhancing quality, and eradicating attainment gaps associated with income, race, ethnicity, and gender.

2. Dramatically improve college readiness: by 2020, reduce by half the numbers of students entering college unprepared for rigorous college-level work, and double the rate of students who complete developmental education programs and progress to successful completion of related freshman-level courses.

3. Close the American skills gaps by sharply focusing career and technical education on preparing students with the knowledge and skills required for existing and future jobs in regional and global economies.

4. Refocus the community college mission and redefine institutional roles to meet 21st-century educational and employment needs.

5. Invest in support structures to serve multiple community colleges through collaboration among institutions and with partners in philanthropy, government and the private sector.

6. Target public and private investments strategically to create new incentives for educational institutions and their students and to support community college efforts to reclaim the American Dream.

7. Implement policies and practices that promote rigor, transparency, and accountability for results in community colleges.

The report also includes implementation strategies for each of the seven recommendations.

Additional resources:

Reclaiming the American Dream full report: http://www.aacc.nche.edu/AboutCC/21stcenturyreport/21stCenturyReport.pdf

Report Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ijzdohq15fs

Report website: http://www.aacc.nche.edu/AboutCC/21stcenturyreport/index.html

http://www.aacc.nche.edu/AboutCC/21st_century/Documents/AACC_Report_Press_Release.pdf

Given the numbers of students attending community college and the population demographic, more must be done to help this students graduate.

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Tags: Community Colleges, High Drop-Out Rates, Multiyear Study of Community-College Practices Asks: What Helps Students Graduate?, Reclaiming the American Dream A Report from the 21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges., The Community Colleges: High Promise, The Lumina Foundation

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Categories Dr Wilda

Rural schools

25 Apr

A significant number of children attend rural schools. According to the Rural Assistance Center, the definition of a rural school is:

Question: What is the definition of a rural and/or small school?

Answer: According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the definition of rural schools was revised in 2006 after working with the Census Bureau to create a new locale classification system to capitalize on improved geocoding technology and the 2000 Office of Management and Budget definitions of metro areas that rely less on population size and county boundaries than proximity of an address to an urbanized area. Small schools do not necessarily mean rural, and rural does not mean small. A small school could be an urban school with a decreasing population. Rural schools can be large due to the center school concept where students are bused in to one school to save on costs. Some schools are considered small when compared to the mega-schools of several thousand that are common in some districts. A small school could be one designed to accommodate a specific population of students and their unique needs or a private school. Rural and/or small schools have similar needs and concerns.

According to The Condition of Education in Rural Schools (U.S. Department of Education, 1994), ‘few issues bedevil analysts and planners concerned with rural education more than the question of what actually constitutes “rural”.’ In the Federal Register published December 27, 2000, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced the Standards for Defining Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas. These new standards replace and supersede the 1990 standards for defining Metropolitan Areas. OMB announced definitions of areas based on the new standards and Census 2000 data in June 2003. The lack of a clear, accepted definition of “rural” has impeded research in the field of rural education. When defining the term rural, population and remoteness are important considerations as these factors influence school organization, availability of resources, and economic and social conditions.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, the definition of “small rural schools” are those schools eligible to participate in the Small Rural School Achievement (SRSA) program. SRSA includes districts with average daily attendance of fewer than 600 students, or districts in which all schools are located in counties with a population density of fewer than 10 persons per square mile, AND all schools served by the districts are located in a rural area with a school locale code of 7 or 8.

http://www.raconline.org/topics/schools/schoolsfaq.php

Rural schools face unique challenges.

Jeremy Ayers reports in the Center for American Progress report, Make Rural Schools A Priority:

One in five students attends a rural school, and more than half of all school districts and one-third of all public schools are in rural areas. Rural student enrollment grew 15 percent between 2002 and 2005, an increase of 1.3 million students. That compares to only 1 percent growth in nationwide enrollment during the same time period.

Definitions of “rural” vary. The U.S. Census Bureau defines rural areas by their geographic distance from urban centers, and as communities that contain fewer than 2,500 people. The Department of Education defines rural schools as those located in districts with fewer than 600 students. Some rural education advocates identify rural schools as those residing in communities with fewer than 2,500 residents, following the Census classification, but also argue for including schools in towns up to 25,000 people. The exact definition matters less than the realization that a large number of rural schools exist and face unique challenges and opportunities. Then there are “frontier” schools that may have only dozens of students, located in very remote or isolated parts of the country such as Alaska, Appalachia, the prairies of the Plains states, and the Mountain West.

Many rural areas of the country contain concentrated poverty, just as urban areas do. Rural schools face particular difficulty in recruiting and retaining teachers and principals. Rural schools continue to lag behind others in Internet access, and rural high schools are not able to provide advanced coursework such as AP and IB classes in the way more urban and suburban areas do. Research on rural education has, at times, been underfunded or not encouraged. And, overall, rural areas have experienced shrinking tax bases, shifting local economies, and brain drain among young people who move to more urban areas after high school graduation.

Download this brief (pdf)

Read this brief in your web browser (Scribd)

Jeremy Ayers is the Senior Education Policy Analyst at American Progress.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/08/rural_schools.html

One of the significant challenges faced by rural schools is complying with “No Child Left Behind.”

Education Week has an interesting issue brief, Rural Education:

More schools were in rural locations than in either cities or suburbs in 2009-2010, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Based on data from the “Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey,” slightly more than 33 percent of regular elementary and secondary public schools nationwide were in locations classified as rural by NCES (2009b). In all, over 24 percent of public school students attended rural schools that year. In about half of the states, students in rural areas make up a majority of the public elementary and secondary school population.

Those high numbers, combined with the potential advantages of small schools and the challenges that rural schools face in meeting certain mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, have prompted experts to realize that rural education merits increased attention and policy consideration.

It is important to keep in mind that rural schools differ greatly from one another. But as a group, students in these schools have generally scored as well as or better than non-rural students on standardized tests (Loveless, 2003; Williams, 2003; Fan & Chen, 1999). Average test scores on the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) showed that 4th and 8th grade students in rural schools perform at similar levels in reading, science, and mathematics to their suburban peers and better than their urban peers (National Center for Education Statistics, 2007).

However, the nationwide picture obscures achievement levels that, in fact, vary greatly from state to state. Rural students perform significantly better than non-rural students in some states, but significantly poorer in others. Such differences seem to be linked to variances in a wide range of school factors, such as instructional resources and advanced course offerings (Lee & McIntire, 2000). The spread of high-speed Internet access and development of online learning programs in several states and districts has helped expand opportunities and access to resources for rural students in recent years.

Slightly more than 33 percent of regular elementary and secondary public schools nationwide are in locations classified as rural by the National Center for Education Statistics.

The makeup of student populations in rural schools differs considerably across the country as well. As a whole, rural students are predominantly white (75 percent); approximately 10 percent are black, and about 11 percent are Hispanic, according to 2007-08 data from NCES (2010).

While the typical rural school has a smaller proportion of students receiving free or reduced-price lunches compared to the typical urban school (Loveless, 2003), some rural areas struggle with extreme poverty. According to 2009 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, 24.2 percent of rural children across the nation live below the federal poverty level, up from 19 percent in 2000 (Mattingly & Stransky, 2010).

Studies in several states have shown that small schools and districts can overcome the adverse effects of poverty on student achievement and narrow the achievement gap between poor students and their more affluent peers (Johnson, 2004; Johnson, Howley, & Howley, 2002; Bickel & Howley, 2000). Such findings are particularly relevant in rural education, where the average school serves approximately 338 students (National Center for Education Statistics, 2009c).

Despite research that points to advantages of small schools, however, many rural schools and districts have been forced to consolidate with other schools and districts to cut costs. Between 1930 and 2000, consolidation reduced the number of U.S. school districts by 91 percent and the number of schools by 67 percent, while the number of students increased by 83 percent in that time (Howley & Howley, 2001)…

Rural schools have long struggled with attracting and retaining teachers. A nationwide survey of rural school superintendents conducted by the American Association of School Administrators and the Appalachia Educational Laboratory found the superintendents identified low salaries and social and geographic isolation as the main factors responsible for their difficulties in recruiting and retaining teachers (Schwartzbeck et al., 2003).

According to the NCES report “Status of Education in Rural America, 2007,” the average base salary for teachers in rural areas was $44,000, well below the national average of $49,600, and trailing the average salaries for teachers in towns, $45,200; suburbs, $54,200; and cities at $51,200 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2009a). Small rural schools also heavily rely on teachers to teach more than one subject area (Schwartzbeck et al., 2003).

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires states to raise all student performance up to the “proficient” level on state tests by the 2013-14 school year. Individual schools must meet state “adequate yearly progress,” or AYP, targets toward this goal for their overall student populations and certain subgroups such as low-income students, black students, English-language learners, etc.

The law poses particular problems for small rural schools that have tiny numbers of students who take state tests each year. In such schools, a relatively small amount of test data determines whether the school meets AYP targets. Some experts feel that because of this, small schools and districts face the potential of being misidentified as failing or in need of improvement. They suggest that states raise the minimum number of tests-takers for AYP purposes. But the same experts also caution that such a solution could mean that small schools that need help would not be included in the accountability system, and could slip through the cracks (Jimerson, 2004a; Jimerson, 2004b).

http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/rural-education/

The Council of State Governments studies rural schools.

The Council of State Governments‘ report, Rural Schools: Federal Expenditures & State Perspectives has the following key findings:

Key Findings

1. Rural schools and districts are at a significant disadvantage when seeking Title I funding.

2. Rural Education Achievement Program funds help only a small portion of rural schools and districts.

3. Rural schools due to infrastructure or staffing shortages find it difficult to compete for competitive grants.

4. Rural schools do not receive preferential federal funding, even though it costs more to educate rural students.

5. Low state funding, leads to low federal funding. This means that if Utah spends $5,521 per pupil while Rhode Island spends $13,410 per pupil, Rhode Island will receive the larger allocation even after controlling for the cost of living in that states.8

6. Distance learning and integrating technology into the classroom is a costly necessity. In the face of school consolidation and increased competitiveness in the college application process, rural schools and districts must provide more schooling options and more advanced courses, if they want their students to succeed.

7. The recruitment and retention of highly qualified teachers is an issue for rural schools. Rural schools tend to employ teachers who teach more than one core subject, are miles from the nearest university or college and who may be paraprofessionals, all of which makes hiring and retaining qualified teachers a challenge.

8. Pockets of rural students exist everywhere in the United States and their composition varies ethnically, racially, socioeconomically, and in English proficiency. There is no one way to address all rural communities.

http://www.csgdc.org/memberservices/documents/RuralSchool-FederalExpendituresandStatePerspectives.pdf

Because a significant number of children attend rural schools, rural schools must receive the resources to educate their children.

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Tags: Rural Education, Rural School, Rural Schools: Federal Expenditures & State Perspectives, The Council of State Governments, What is the definition of a rural and/or small school?

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Categories Dr Wilda

Beware of diploma mills

24 Apr

Tara Siegel Bernard has a great article in the New York Times about researching career training to see if a particular option is a good choice. In Making Career Development Pay Bernard advises:

IN shaky economic times, going back to school needs to be treated like any other investment: you need to weigh the potential returns while closely managing the costs.

Paula Hogan, left, a financial planner, and Jane Schroeder, a career counselor, in Ms. Hogan’s office.

So before you enroll in a program, you should ask the same sorts of questions that a portfolio manager might ask when analyzing conventional investments, like stocks: Am I buying a reputable credential? What is demand like in the field I’m interested in? What is the earnings potential? What are the long-term prospects? And how can I minimize my expenses?

The more radical the shift in careers you contemplate, the more research you should do. You might, for example, visit O*Net OnLine, a Web site maintained by the Labor Department, to check out salaries or estimates of employment opportunities for different professions.

Or you might test the waters in a field you are interested in. See if you can find an employee to shadow, making sure to ask questions about the job, the satisfactions, the downsides and industry trends.

“They will tell you the truth in your area before you put any money down on schools,” said Beverly Baskin, executive director of BBCS Counseling Services, a career counseling firm in Marlboro, N.J.

Even better, see if you can find a job, even part time, or an internship in the field you plan to pursue. If no paid positions are available, considering volunteering, if that is permitted.

Bernard has some excellent resources for researching the career decision. The decision to re-train for a new career or to go back to school for additional training should be thoroughly researched. After the decision is made, then any school or training program should be researched to ensure that it is accredited and licensed.

Jennifer Williamson has written a great article, Six Signs Your Online School is a Diploma Mill for Distance Education.Org:

There are two common types of diploma mills. The first will simply mail you a degree for a fee of a few hundred dollars. They sometimes ask to see your resume first, and will pretend to vet you for “life experience credit.” Of course, everybody who applies gets enough life experience credit to earn an entire degree.

The second type will actually require some work, but it will be minimal. Your dissertation may be five pages long instead of fifty, and you’ll be able to earn a degree in months, not years. These diploma mills are a bit more dangerous than the first type, because they more closely resemble legitimate schools. However, there are still a few warning signs:

Lightning-Fast Degrees

It should take you four years to earn an undergraduate degree, two or three years to earn a Master’s degree, and another three to five—depending on the subject—to earn a Ph.D. Many diploma mills claim you can earn degrees in months, not years. Be cautious if a school you’re considering is making this claim.

Bogus Accreditation

Legitimate schools are reviewed by accreditation agencies: third-party nonprofits that hold schools to rigorous standards. There are six regional accreditors, and it’s best to go to a school that lists one of these as its accrediting agency.

Many online schools are accredited by one of a long list of national agencies in the U.S. instead. National accreditors are not always considered as rigorous as regional accreditors, but they are still legitimate.

The Council of Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) maintains a database of legitimately accredited schools. You can also check our list of regional, national, and known illegitimate accreditors. If the accrediting agency listed by your school is in the third category—or if it isn’t on this list at all—it’s probably a diploma mill.

They Charge per Degree

Legitimate schools charge per credit hour, per course, or per semester. Diploma mills often charge by degree. Some offer discounts if you order a second degree, which a legitimate school would never do. A small handful of legitimate schools do offer programs for a flat fee, but it’s rare.

It’s Easy To Get Credit For Life Experience

Some diploma mills will ask you to send in your resume, and will give you almost unlimited credits for life experience. In some cases, you can get all the credits you need for a degree through life experience. Just pay the school’s fees—usually a few hundred dollars or so—and they’ll mail you a degree.

This is tricky, because legitimate schools offer life experience credits as well. But it’s very rare to be able to earn your entire degree through life experience credit—and impossible with a post-graduate degree.

In addition, they’ll ask to see more than your resume to prove your competence. Legitimate schools will ask you to assemble a prior learning portfolio, write personal essays, take standardized tests, or undergo an interview process to determine whether you’ve really earned those life experience credits.

The Work Required Is Minimal

If you’re required to read a few articles, write a few simple papers, and hand in a five-page dissertation at the end, it’s not likely you’ve learned enough to earn a legitimate degree.

The School Is Located In A State With Little Regulation

Some states make it easier for diploma mills to operate than others. Alabama, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, and Wyoming are all common locations for diploma mills, because of loopholes in local law or lax regulation. Of course, there are many legitimate schools located in these states as well. But if your school looks suspicious already, check to see if it’s based in one of these states. If it is, it may be a bad sign.

http://www.distance-education.org/Articles/Six-Signs-Your-Online-School-is-a-Diploma-Mill-30.html#.T5RbdgbZ8tI.email

Ulinks has 16 Key Questions to Ask a Vocational School:

Before visiting the vocational school or trade school

Is the vocational school or trade school you are considering accredited by a reputable accrediting agency?
Is the vocational school or trade school properly licensed in the state in which it is operating?
What are the admissions requirements and how does it compare to similar vocational schools and trade schools?
Do other schools allow students to transfer credit from the vocational school or trade school you are considering?
What is the crime rate like at the vocational school or trade school you are considering and how does it compare to other schools
Does the vocational school or trade school have any complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau, the Department of Consumer Affairs, or the Department of Education?
Are the fees being charged by a vocational school or trade school in-line with the fees at other comparable schools?
What do potential employers in your chosen industry think about vocational school or trade school programs you are researching and would they hire graduates from that school?

While visiting the vocational school or trade school

Do the vocational school instructors seem knowledgeable and do they teach effectively?
Do students enrolled in the vocational school or trade school you are considering like the programs and recommend it?
Do current students feel that they are learning what they need to know to get a good job in the future?
What do current students say about the instructors on campus?
Have students had any issues or problems with the school, the curriculum, the instructors, or the facilities?
What do the current students like the most and the least about the vocational school or trade school?
What percentage of students successfully complete their programs?
Is it possible to obtain a list of past students whom you can contact?

During periods of crisis or uncertainty the scam artists emerge and try to take advantage of the unsuspecting. Before making a decision about any school, students, parents, and guardians must research the options.

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Tags: 16 Key Questions to Ask a Vocational School, Diploma Mills, Making Career Development Pay, opnline education, Six Signs Your Online School is a Diploma Mill, Vocational Education, Vocational School

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Categories Dr Wilda

Television cannot substitute for quality childcare

23 Apr

Your toddler not only needs food for their body and appropriate physical activity, but you need to nourish their mind and spirit as well.

There are several good articles which explain why you do not want your toddler parked in front of a television several hours each day. Robin Elise Weiss, LCCE has a very good explanation of how television can be used as a resource by distinguishing between television watching and targeting viewing of specific programs designed to enhance learning. In Should Babies and Toddlers Watch Television? Weiss comments about the effects of young children and television. MSNBC was reporting about toddlers and television in 2004.

In the MSNBC report, Watching TV May Hurt Toddlers’ Attention Spans the following comments were made:

Researchers have found that every hour preschoolers watch television each day boosts their chances — by about 10 percent — of developing attention deficit problems later in life.

The findings back up previous research showing that television can shorten attention spans and support American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations that youngsters under age 2 not watch television.

“The truth is there are lots of reasons for children not to watch television. Other studies have shown it to be associated with obesity and aggressiveness” too, said lead author Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a researcher at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle.

The issue is whether prolonged television watching affects a child’s brain development.

Nancy Shute is reports in the US News article, TV Watching Is Bad for Babies’ Brains

Babies who watch TV are more likely to have delayed cognitive development and language at 14 months, especially if they’re watching programs intended for adults and older children. We probably knew that 24 and Grey’s Anatomy don’t really qualify as educational content, but it’s surprising that TV-watching made a difference at such a tender age.

Babies who watched 60 minutes of TV daily had developmental scores one-third lower at 14 months than babies who weren’t watching that much TV. Though their developmental scores were still in the normal range, the discrepancy may be due to the fact that when kids and parents are watching TV, they’re missing out on talking, playing, and interactions that are essential to learning and development.

This new study, which appeared in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, followed 259 lower-income families in New York, most of whom spoke Spanish as their primary language at home. Other studies examining higher-income families have also come to the same conclusion: TV watching not only isn’t educational, but it seems to stunt babies’ development.

Background television is also not good for the development of a child.

Even television in the background can be harmful for kids. Alexandra Sifferlin writes in the Time article, TV On in the Background? It’s Still Bad for Kids:

Too much television can be detrimental for kids’ development, even when they’re not plopped directly in front of the screen. And your kids might be getting more exposure to such background TV than you think, a new study finds.

The researchers found that the average American kid was exposed to 232.2 minutes of background television per day — when the TV was on, but the child was engaged in another activity. Younger children and African-America children were exposed to the most background television on average.

“We were ready and willing to accept that the exposure would be high, but we were kind of shocked at how high it really was,” says study author Matthew Lapierre, a doctoral candidate and lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. “The fact that kids are exposed to about four hours on average per day definitely knocked us back on our heels a bit…”

Previous research has found that exposure to background television is linked to lower attention spans, fewer and lower-quality parent-child interactions and reduced performance in cognitive tasks, the authors said in the study.

The current findings came from data gathered in a nationally representative telephone survey of 1,454 American parents with at least one child between the ages of 8 months and 8 years. The parents were asked about how often their TV was on when no one was watching and whether their child had a TV in their bedroom.

“For every minute of television to which children are directly exposed, there are an additional 3 minutes of indirect exposure, making background exposure a much greater proportion of time in a young child’s day,” the authors say in the study.

What they found even more concerning was that kids under 2 and African-American children are exposed to 42% and 45% more background TV, respectively, than the average child.
http://healthland.time.com/2012/04/20/tv-on-in-the-background-its-still-bad-for-kids/#ixzz1svpJx5S1

Education Week also reports on the effects of background television.

Sarah D. Sparks reports in the Education Week article, Is Television the New Secondhand Smoke?

Prior research suggests background television can have a “chronic disruptive impact on very young children’s behavior.” Studies have linked background television to less focused play among toddlers, poorer parent-child interaction, and interference with older students’ ability to do homework.

“For every minute of television to which children are directly exposed, there are an
additional 3 minutes of indirect exposure, making background exposure a much greater
proportion of time in a young child’s day,” the study noted.

“Considering the accumulating evidence regarding the impact that background television exposure has on young children, we were rather floored about the sheer scale of children’s exposure with just under 4 hours of exposure each day,” Lapierre said in a statement on the study. Lapierre and his fellow researchers recommended that parents, teachers and early childcare providers turn off televisions when no one is watching a particular program and that parents prevent children from keeping a television in their rooms.

It’s easy to think about this as just one more alarm about how our modern media environment is ruining our kids. Yet the more interesting take-away from this field of research is how critical it is for children to learn actively and socially. Children learn from adults speaking to, with and around them, and from actively engaging with their world.

Anything that limits or distracts from that active interaction can be a problem, but not an insurmountable one. For example, researchers at the University of Washington’s Learning in Formal and Informal Environments, or LIFE, Center, is doing some fascinating work on the potential benefits of interactive media. There’s also been some interesting work on using video conferencing to read with children.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2012/04/is_television_the_new_secondha.html?intc=es

If watching television is not an appropriate activity for toddlers, then what are appropriate activities? The University of Illinois Extension has a good list of Age-Based Activities For Toddlers

See, How to Have a Happier, Healthier, Smarter Baby

Parents must interact with their children and read to them. Television is not a parental substitute.

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Tags: Is Television the New Secondhand Smoke?, Should Babies and Toddlers Watch Television?, Television and children, Television and children Should Babies and Toddlers Watch Television?, TV On in the Background It’s Still Bad for Kids:, TV Watching Is Bad for Babies' Brains

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Categories Dr Wilda

Differential college tuition

22 Apr

According to a March 13^th 2011 SF Gate with Bloomberg Business report, 57% of universities now use differential tuition:

57%

That’s the portion of U.S. public research universities using differential tuition – the practice of charging different amounts to students based on their area of study. The trend is hitting business-school students especially hard, with an increasing number of colleges looking to squeeze money from what’s seen as a more lucrative field. Eighteen schools have adopted differential tuition in the past three years alone, according to a study by Glen Nelson, chief financial officer for the Arizona Board of Regents.http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/12/BUP11I9GUU.DTL#ixzz1siLfO9zU

A recent survey finds that more universities are considering differential tuition.

Scott Jaschik writes in the Inside Higher Ed article, The Rise of Differential Tuition:

A longstanding tradition in American higher education — that undergraduates are charged the same tuition, regardless of major — is eroding, especially at doctoral universities.

That is the finding of a new survey by the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute. Researchers checked the websites of every public institution that awards bachelor’s degrees, and then surveyed some of the institutions identified as having differential rates. A total of 143 public colleges or universities were found to now have differential tuition policies. That figure includes 29 percent of bachelor’s institutions, 11 percent of master’s institutions, and 41 percent of doctoral institutions….

Other findings of the new survey include the following:

At doctoral and master’s institutions, differential tuition is generally based on a student’s field of study, but at bachelor’s institutions, differential tuition is equally likely to be based on how far along students are in their programs (with juniors and seniors charged more than others, for example).

The most common majors facing extra charges are business, engineering and nursing.

Since public colleges and universities started to adopt variable tuition policies, the number doing so has gone up steadily, with no years from 1980 on showing a decline in the number of institutions with variable tuition.

The Cornell Institute’s report does not take a stand on whether differential tuition is a sound policy. But it questions whether so many institutions should be embracing a policy about which relatively little is known (except that it seems to generate revenue).

“The process by which differential tuition policies have arisen and been have spread across American public higher education institutions has not been examined,” the report says. “Neither has there been any research on the possible consequences of differential tuition policies. For example, does differential tuition by major influence students’ choice of majors? Do higher tuition levels for upper-level students affect students’ persistence and graduation rates? If such effects exist, are they larger for students from lower-income families and how do such effects interact with state and institutional financial aid policies?”: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/02/21/study-finds-increasing-numbers-public-colleges-differential-tuition#ixzz1siNxXhMq

Daniel de Vise is reporting in the Washington Post that Chancellor Gordon Gee of Ohio State University is considering differential tuition.

In Ohio State’s Gordon Gee proposes “differential” tuition, de Vise reports:

A recent survey by the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute, reported in Inside Higher Ed, found 143 public institutions that had differential tuition policies, meaning that they charge different rates for students with different majors.

Differential tuition is most common in doctoral institutions, the report found, with the highest surcharges in nursing, business and engineering, all fields that reward students with relatively high pay.

Tuition surcharges can be controversial, but they might also be the only way an institution such as Ohio State can tactfully recoup some of the money it’s losing by subsidizing the education of in-state students.

A quick read of the Ohio State Web site suggests that the institution already charges varying fees for students in different majors and programs. But the basic undergraduate tuition appears to be fixed. Ohio residents pay $19,926 in tuition and living expenses this year, for an education that costs closer to the $35,000 paid by nonresidents.

There has been much talk of how universities might recover the money they’re losing in an era of declining state support. The usual answer is to raise tuition; but schools that enact steep increases get pushback from parents and politicians.

Another tack is to jack up tuition for nonresidents and to increase their numbers on campus, because nonresidents generally pay the full cost of their study. But this can upset resident students, who find it correspondingly harder to get in.

Some higher-education thinkers have proposed progressive tuition: charging families on a sliding scale according to each one’s ability to pay. Top private universities already do this, in effect, with blanket need-based aid policies.

But Gee doesn’t think progressive tuition would work in Ohio. One of Ohio State’s peers, Miami University, already tried progressive tuition and gave it up after a few years.

“I’m a low tuition guy,” Gee said. At $9,711, Ohio State tuition is lower than the rate at Penn State or Michigan, but higher than at the University of Maryland. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/ohio-states-gordon-gee-proposes-differential-tuition/2012/04/20/gIQAzGxhVT_blog.html

Higher Education funding has been decreased during the current financial calamity. Colleges are looking at shifting more costs to students.

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Tags: 57% of universities now use differential tuition, College Affordability, College Tuition, CollegeAccess, Differential College Tuition, Ohio State’s Gordon Gee proposes “differential” tuition, The Rise of Differential Tuition:

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Categories Dr Wilda

Sexual assault on college campuses

21 Apr

For many college students, college brings more freedom and fewer restrictions than they may have been accustomed to during their high school years. Many college students are naive about the consequences that can arise from certain social situations.

The Crisis Connection reports the following statistics about rape on campus

60% of male college students “indicated some likelihood of raping or using force in certain circumstances.”

Men in fraternities appear to engage in more non-physical coercion and use of drugs and alcohol as a sexual strategy than do independents.

Every 21 hours there is another rape on an American college campus.

90% of all campus rapes occur under the influence of alcohol.

Men are more likely than women to assume that a woman who drinks alcohol on a date is a willing sex partner. 40% of men who think this way also believe it is acceptable to force sex on an intoxicated woman.

Alcohol use at the time of the attack was found to be one of the four strongest predictors of a college woman being raped.

43% of college men admit using coercive behavior to have sex, including ignoring a woman’s protest; using physical aggression; and forcing intercourse; 15% acknowledged they had committed acquaintance rape; 11% acknowledged using physical restraint to force a woman to have sex.

College rape victims receive external physical injuries in over 47% of all rapes.

Of the college woman who are raped, only 25% describe it as rape.

Of the college women who are raped, only 10% report the rape.

College women are most vulnerable to rape during the first few weeks of the freshman and sophomore years.

One in twelve college-age men admit having fulfilled the prevailing definition of rape or attempted rape, yet virtually none of these men identify themselves as rapists.

34% of completed rapes and 45% of attempted rapes take place on campus. Almost 60% of the completed campus rapes that take place on campus occur in the victim’s residence, 31% occur in another residence, and 10% occur in a fraternity.

3/4 of off-campus rapes and 7/8 of on-campus rapes involved perpetrators who were known to the victims.

78% of the men identified (as rapists) were an acquaintance, friend or boyfriend of the victims.

Most rapes occur on the weekend.

A key factor in many college rapes and sexual assaults is the involvement of alcohol and the fact that the victim may be intoxicated or possibly drugged.

Justin Pope of AP has a provocative article, For colleges, rape cases a legal minefield:

A closed- door encounter between two college acquaintances. Both have been drinking. One says she was raped; the other insists it was consensual. There are no other witnesses.

It’s a common scenario in college sexual assault cases, and a potential nightmare to resolve. But under the 40-year-old federal gender equity law Title IX — and guidance handed down last year by the Obama administration on how to apply it — colleges can’t just turn such cases over to criminal prosecutors, who often won’t touch them anyway. Instead, they must investigate, and in campus proceedings do their best to balance the accused’s due process rights with the civil right of the victim to a safe education.

Lately, though, the legal ramifications of such cases are spilling off campus, with schools caught in the middle.

Colleges that do too little about sexual assault could lose federal funds. The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights is currently investigating a dozen colleges and universities over their response to sexual violence (documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show schools that have recently agreed to take steps to resolve OCR complaints over Title IX policies include universities such as Notre Dame, Northwestern and George Washington).

Meanwhile, judgments in Title IX lawsuits against colleges, usually brought by accusers, are soaring. Compounding the fear: In some such cases, college administrators may be found personally liable.

But when colleges do take action against accused students, those students are increasingly lawyering up themselves, suing for breach of contract and negligence. And in at least two recent cases, in Tennessee and Massachusetts, male students have tread novel legal ground by alleging violations of their own Title IX protections against gender discrimination, arguing a college’s sexual assault policies or procedures were unfairly stacked against men.http://news.yahoo.com/colleges-rape-cases-legal-minefield-160157309.html;_ylc=X3oDMTNuY2dpcDJmBF9TAzIxNDYzNzIyODQEYWN0A21haWxfY2IEY3QDYQRpbnRsA3VzBGxhbmcDZW4tVVMEcGtnAzdlYmE1MjVmLTFjNGEtM2RmNi04MDg1LWU3MjNmMjA0OWNmNQRzZWMDbWl0X3NoYXJlBHNsawNtYWlsBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

Quite often sexual assaults occur in connection with alcohol use and binge drinking. Womens Health has some good information about date rape drugs

What are date rape drugs?

These are drugs that are sometimes used to assist a sexual assault. Sexual assault is any type of sexual activity that a person does not agree to. It can include touching that is not okay; putting something into the vagina; sexual intercourse; rape; and attempted rape. These drugs are powerful and dangerous. They can be slipped into your drink when you are not looking. The drugs often have no color, smell, or taste, so you can’t tell if you are being drugged. The drugs can make you become weak and confused — or even pass out — so that you are unable to refuse sex or defend yourself. If you are drugged, you might not remember what happened while you were drugged. Date rape drugs are used on both females and males.

What are date rape drugs?

What do the drugs look like?

What effects do these drugs have on the body?

Are these drugs legal in the United States?

Is alcohol a date rape drug? What about other drugs?

How can I protect myself from being a victim?

Are there ways to tell if I might have been drugged and raped?

What should I do if I think I’ve been drugged and raped?

For more information

If you are drinking, always keep your drink within view and if there is any question, don’t drink it. The “buddy system” or having friends go out with you is especially good for college freshman. Remember, better safe than sorry.

Cynthia Mc Fadden has an excellent Nightline report about college sexual assaults.

In Many Campus Victims Stay Quiet or Fail to Get Help Mc Fadden reports:

The Center for Public Integrity conducted a 12-month probe into sexual assault on college campuses that was completed earlier this year. The investigation found that students will often keep quiet when they are sexually assaulted because they blame themselves for what happened, don’t realize that what happened to them was a crime or fear that their assailants or others will strike again if they report them….

If you are a college student and you believe you have been a victim of rape on
campus, tell someone immediately.

Contact your local rape crisis center, victim advocacy legal organization or rape hotline to find out about your school’s procedures. Often these organizations can be found through your campus police department or health services. You should also go to the hospital or local health clinic and have a rape kit, through which physical evidence is gathered, performed.

Title IX of the Civil Rights Act grants the right to equal access to education. If you believe your school has violated Title IX, or has failed to offer “an equitable policy on sexual assault prevention and response,” you can file a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education. The episode, Rape on Campus A Shocking Reality may be viewed at the Nightline site.

A Canadian web site has some really good advice in the article, Date Rape – NO Means NO!

Myths

Rape is committed by crazed strangers.
A woman that gets raped deserves it, especially if she agreed to go to the man’s house or a ride in his car.
Women who don’t fight back haven’t been raped.
If there is no gun or knife, you haven’t been raped.
It’s not really rape if the victim isn’t a virgin.
If a woman lets a man buy her dinner or pay for a movie or drinks, she owes him sex.
Agreeing to kiss or neck with a man means that a women has agreed to have sex with him.
When men are sexually aroused, they need to have sex or they will get “blue balls”.

Reality

Most women are raped by “normal” acquaintances.
No one, male or female, deserves to be raped. Being in a man’s house or car does not mean a woman has agreed to have sex with him.
You have been raped when you are forced to have sex against your will, whether you fight back or not.
It’s rape whether there are weapons or not, you own diminished physical or mental state, the weight of his body to overcome you.
Rape is rape, even if the woman isn’t a virgin, even if she is willingly had sex with the same man before.
No one owes sex as a payment to anyone else, no matter how expensive the date.
Everyone has the right to say “no” to sexual activity, regardless of what has proceeded it and to have the “no” respected.
Men don’t physically need to have sex after becoming aroused anymore than women do. Men are still able to control themselves even after becoming sexually excited

What to look for and How to protect your self!!

Keep your drink with you or with a good friend that you can trust.

Watch how the people are acting around you – does any thing look specious.

Don’t accept open drinks.

Don’t party alone, have someone with you to make sure nothing happens.

Have you heard street names of the drugs mentioned in other people’s conversations?

There is a test strip like litmus paper, to test you drinks for date rape drugs.

www.drinksafetech.com

You wake up not remembering the night before.

Here are some signs to look for:

Bruises or soreness in the genital area, anal area, bruises on the inner and/or outer thighs,

Defensive bruising on your wrists and forearms

Used condoms, traces of semen or vaginal fluids on clothes, body or nearby furniture.

Ask people about the night before, if you know you had little to drink were they saying that you were pretty hammered. This is a good indication that you were drugged.

Do you feel that you had very real dreams?

What do you do now?

Get help!

Try not to urinate or wash or change your cloths before getting help, you might destroy evidence of your rape

Being raped may mean that you could have gotten pregnant, a std or even aids,

Go to your Dr. or clinic and get tested

Get professional guidance to help you though any emotional or mental trauma that you may have.

http://teenadvice.about.com/library/weekly/aa062502a.htm

http://www.4woman.gov/faq/rohypnol.htm#6

Every one has different experiences after being raped:

Emotional trauma is a very common result of being raped – please get help

Fear -of being alone, of men

Problems having a normal sexual relationship

Depression

Not being able to trust

Diseases – stds, aids

Physical symptoms of stress

Embarrassed

Guilt

Denial

http://daterape4.tripod.com/daterape1.htm

Tags: College Rape, Date Rape - NO Means NO!, For colleges rape cases a legal minefield:, Many Campus Victims Stay Quiet or Fail to Get Help, Rape, Rape on Campus A Shocking Reality, Sexual Assault, statistics about rape on campus

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Categories Dr Wilda

College Board’s ‘Big Future’: Helping low-income kids apply to college

19 Apr

In 3rd world America: The economy affects the society of the future, moi said:

One of the major contributors to poverty in third world nations is limited access to education opportunities. Without continued sustained investment in education in this country, we are the next third world country. All over the country plans are being floated to cut back the school year or eliminate programs which help the most disadvantaged. Alexander Eichler reports in the Huffington Post article, Middle-Class Jobs Disappearing As Workforce Shifts To High-Skill, Low-Skill: Study:

America is increasingly becoming a place of high- and low-skill jobs, with less room available for a middle class.

A new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that over the past 30 years, the U.S. workforce has shifted toward high-paying jobs that require a great deal of education — jobs in the legal, engineering or technology industries, for example — and toward low-paying jobs that require little schooling, like food preparation, maintenance and personal care.

What haven’t fared so well are the industries in the middle, like sales, teaching, construction, repair, entertainment, transportation and business — the ones where a majority of Americans end up working.

In 1980, these middle-level jobs accounted for 75 percent of the workforce. By 2009, that number had fallen to 68 percent. In the same span of time, low- and high-skill jobs had each grown as a percentage of the workforce.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/middle-class-jobs_n_1105502.html?ref=email_share

So what future have the Goldman Sucks, cash sluts, and credit crunch weasels along with we don’t care, we don’t have to Washington Georgetown and Chevy Chase set – you know, the the “masters of the universe” left those on a race to get through college? Lila Shapiro has the excellent post, Trading Down: Laid-Off Americans Taking Pay Cuts and Increasingly Kissing Their Old Lives Goodbye at Huffington Post:

This government, both parties, has failed to promote the kind of economic development AND policy which creates liveable wage jobs. That is why Mc Donalds is popular for more than its dollar menu. They are hiring people.

https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/3rd-world-america-the-economy-affects-the-society-of-the-future/

The College Board announce the “Big Future” program:

College Board Introduces BigFuture.org, a Free Comprehensive College Planning Resource

The Education Conservancy, Educators and Students Collaborated in Effort to Help Overcome Obstacles to College

NEW YORK, April 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — On April 10, the College Board introduced BigFuture, its new free comprehensive college planning Web resource, at a panel discussion in Washington, D.C. The site was created with the Education Conservancy and in consultation with students and educators to help make the college planning process simpler and more accessible. At the “Big Future™: Narrowing the Gap Between College Aspiration and Enrollment” panel,education, government and not-for-profit thought leaders discussed ways to help students, especially those from low-income backgrounds or who are the first in their families to aspire to college,overcome obstacles to higher education.

“BigFuture is a major investment by the College Board to help improve the college planning process for students and families, and to provide more equal access to expert guidance,” said Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board. “Through our advocacy work to increase college completion rates in the United States, we have identified providing better college information and planning services to all students, with a special focus on low-income students, as one of 10 key recommendations for success. We’re excited about this collaboration with the Education Conservancy because it combines trusted guidance and reliable data with innovative and engaging technology.”

Lloyd Thacker, director of the Education Conservancy, moderated the panel, which included Zakiya Smith, senior advisor for education at the White House Domestic Policy Council; Daniel Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators; Brian Sponsler, associate director of research and evaluation for the Institute for Higher Education Policy; Laura Schifter, senior education and disability advisor on the Committee on Education and the Workforce; Rep. George Miller (D-CA); and Pat Martin, assistant vice president of the College Board’s National Office of School Counselor Advocacy. The event was hosted by the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center.

“The success of the BigFuture project reflects the special value collaboration can deliver to improving education,” said Thacker. “At its best, college admission is an interactive, educational process. Students learn about college; colleges learn about students; successful matches are made; college education in America becomes a reality for all who aspire to it. This site represents a significant step forward in establishing an admission system that exemplifies the best that education has to offer.”

BigFuture.org is a new Web experience that leverages new technologies to engage students online in the way they want to be engaged. This new resource combines guidance, tools and information to make college planning easier to navigate and help students overcome barriers that make college seem out of reach. BigFuture features interactive tools and content, including real student video stories and personalized action plans.

BigFuture replaces the College Board’s previous college planning website, which was a trusted resource and one of the most highly trafficked college planning websites available, used by more than six million students and parents each month. “This launch represents a new phase in the College Board’s service to students, building on more than 100 years of work aimed at expanding access to higher education,” Caperton said.

About the College Board
The College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of over 6,000 of the world’s leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. Each year, the College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success — including the SAT® and the Advanced Placement Program®. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators and schools. For further information, visit www.collegeboard.org.

About the Education Conservancy
The Education Conservancy (EC) is a not-for-profit organization committed to improving college admission in the public interest. Established in 2003, the EC directs national attention to the harmful effects of college rankings and other commercial influences in college admission, highlights the educational importance of college admission, orchestrates collaboration among colleges to serve the needs of students, and develops college planning resources for students, families and counselors. The EC’s work has been made possible through the generous support of philanthropic organizations and hundreds of schools, colleges and individuals. For more information, visit www.educationconservancy.org.

###

Contact:
College Board Communications Department
212-713-8052
communications@collegeboard.org

See, Admissions 101: Will new tool help low-income students tackle admissions?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/admissions-101-will-new-tool-help-low-income-students-tackle-admissions/2012/04/18/gIQAVGl8QT_blog.html

Education Week had this take on “Big Future” in the article, College Board Launches New Web Resource for Students by Caralee Adams:

The material was developed in collaboration with an advisory group of educators and Education Conservancy, a nonprofit based in Portland, Ore., focused on improving the admissions process.

This idea was to create an interactive, user-friendly resource in response to concerns that the college-admissions process is becoming increasingly complex and access to expert counseling is unequal. “All students deserve access to good guidance information and top-notch online information,” says Ben-Yoseph. “The goal to make the college process more accessible, simple, and easier to navigate.”

Students can get to much of the information on BigFuture without signing up, but to create a plan or save your work, users do need to create an account. Those with College Board accounts can use their existing user names and passwords. (College Board’s privacy policy states that it does not sell student names or their related information, except through the optional Student Search Service program.)

Rather than being static and listing 10 things to do each year in high school, BigFuture starts the process by asking the user some questions and tailoring the action to the individual’s interests.

When searching for colleges that match a student’s interest on BigFuture, the user can sort by filters such as location, majors, sports, diversity, and cost and give each a weight of importance on a sliding scale. College-profile information of nearly 4,000 institutions is collected by the College Board in its Annual Survey of Colleges. Note: The price includes tuition and fees, but not room and board.

Information throughout the site is provided in nugget-sized tips and one-minute videos with student stories such as how they decided about going to school in a city, what role extracurricular activities played in deciding a major, and putting together a financial-aid plan for college. There are also videos from experts addressing topics of college planning.

College Board envisions the audience for BigFuture to be as young as 8th graders. The content can be applicable for students of any age interested in higher education, said Ben-Yoseph. The hope is that the tool will be engaging enough that it is used across a student’s entire high school career and by school guidance counselors.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/college_bound/2012/03/college_board_launches_new_web_resource_for_students.html

The best way to eliminate poverty is job creation, job growth, and job retention. The Asian Development Bank has the best concise synopsis of the link between Education and Poverty For a good article about education and poverty which has a good bibliography, go to Poverty and Education, Overview There will not be a good quality of life for most citizens without a strong education system. One of the major contributors to poverty in third world nations is limited access to education opportunities. Without continued sustained investment in education, we are the next third world country.

Choosing the right college for you https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/choosing-the-right-college-for-you/

Producing employable liberal arts grads https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/producing-employable-liberal-arts-grads/

Remedial education in college https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/remedial-education-in-college/

Why go to college? https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/why-go-to-college/

Tags: Big Future, College Access, College Admission, College Board, College Board Launches New Web Resource for Students, Middle-Class Jobs Disappearing As Workforce Shifts To High-Skill Low-Skill Study, Trading Down: Laid-Off Americans Taking Pay Cuts and Increasingly Kissing Their Old Lives Goodbye

Comments 5 Comments
Categories Dr Wilda

Location, location, location: Brookings study of education disparity based upon neighborhood

18 Apr

In 3rd world America: Money changes everything, moi said:

The increased rate of poverty has profound implications if this society believes that ALL children have the right to a good basic education. Moi blogs about education issues so the reader could be perplexed sometimes because moi often writes about other things like nutrition, families, and personal responsibility issues. Why? The reader might ask? Because children will have the most success in school if they are ready to learn. Ready to learn includes proper nutrition for a healthy body and the optimum situation for children is a healthy family. Many of societies’ problems would be lessened if the goal was a healthy child in a healthy family. There is a lot of economic stress in the country now because of unemployment and underemployment. Children feel the stress of their parents and they worry about how stable their family and living situation is.

Sabrina Tavernise wrote an excellent New York Times article, Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Say:

It is a well-known fact that children from affluent families tend to do better in school. Yet the income divide has received far less attention from policy makers and government officials than gaps in student accomplishment by race.

Now, in analyses of long-term data published in recent months, researchers are finding that while the achievement gap between white and black students has narrowed significantly over the past few decades, the gap between rich and poor students has grown substantially during the same period.

“We have moved from a society in the 1950s and 1960s, in which race was more consequential than family income, to one today in which family income appears more determinative of educational success than race,” said Sean F. Reardon, a Stanford University sociologist. Professor Reardon is the author of a study that found that the gap in standardized test scores between affluent and low-income students had grown by about 40 percent since the 1960s, and is now double the testing gap between blacks and whites.

In another study, by researchers from the University of Michigan, the imbalance between rich and poor children in college completion — the single most important predictor of success in the work force — has grown by about 50 percent since the late 1980s.

The changes are tectonic, a result of social and economic processes unfolding over many decades. The data from most of these studies end in 2007 and 2008, before the recession’s full impact was felt. Researchers said that based on experiences during past recessions, the recent downturn was likely to have aggravated the trend.

“With income declines more severe in the lower brackets, there’s a good chance the recession may have widened the gap,” Professor Reardon said. In the study he led, researchers analyzed 12 sets of standardized test scores starting in 1960 and ending in 2007. He compared children from families in the 90th percentile of income — the equivalent of around $160,000 in 2008, when the study was conducted — and children from the 10th percentile, $17,500 in 2008. By the end of that period, the achievement gap by income had grown by 40 percent, he said, while the gap between white and black students, regardless of income, had shrunk substantially.

Both studies were first published last fall in a book of research, “Whither Opportunity?” compiled by the Russell Sage Foundation, a research center for social sciences, and the Spencer Foundation, which focuses on education. Their conclusions, while familiar to a small core of social sciences scholars, are now catching the attention of a broader audience, in part because income inequality has been a central theme this election season. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/education/education-gap-grows-between-rich-and-poor-studies-show.html?emc=eta1

Teachers and schools have been made TOTALLY responsible for the education outcome of the children, many of whom come to school not ready to learn and who reside in families that for a variety of reasons cannot support their education. All children are capable of learning, but a one-size-fits-all approach does not serve all children well. Different populations of children will require different strategies and some children will require remedial help, early intervention, and family support to achieve their education goals.

Brookings Institute announces a new study:

Housing Costs, Zoning, and Access to High-Scoring Schools Jonathan Rothwell, Associate Fellow and Senior Research Analyst, Metropolitan Policy Program The Brookings Institution

April 19, 2012 —

As the nation grapples with the growing gap between rich and poor and an economy increasingly reliant on formal education, public policies should address housing market regulations that prohibit all but the very affluent from enrolling their children in high-scoring public schools in order to promote individual social mobility and broader economic security.

View our interactive feature to find data on test scores, housing, and income »

Go to the profiles page for detailed statistics on your metropolitan area »

An analysis of national and metropolitan data on public school populations and state standardized test scores for 84,077 schools in 2010 and 2011 reveals that:

Nationwide, the average low-income student attends a school that scores at the 42nd percentile on state exams, while the average middle/high-income student attends a school that scores at the 61st percentile on state exams. This school test-score gap is even wider between black and Latino students and white students. There is increasingly strong evidence—from this report and other studies—that low-income students benefit from attending higher-scoring schools.

Northeastern metro areas with relatively high levels of economic segregation exhibit the highest school test-score gaps between low-income students and other students. Controlling for regional factors such as size, income inequality, and racial/ethnic diversity associated with school test-score gaps, Southern metro areas such as Washington and Raleigh, and Western metros like Portland and Seattle, stand out for having smaller-than-expected test score gaps between schools attended by low-income and middle/high-income students.

Across the 100 largest metropolitan areas, housing costs an average of 2.4 times as much, or nearly $11,000 more per year, near a high-scoring public school than near a low-scoring public school. This housing cost gap reflects that home values are $205,000 higher on average in the neighborhoods of high-scoring versus low-scoring schools. Near high-scoring schools, typical homes have 1.5 additional rooms and the share of housing units that are rented is roughly 30 percentage points lower than in neighborhoods near low-scoring schools.

Large metro areas with the least restrictive zoning have housing cost gaps that are 40 to 63 percentage points lower than metro areas with the most exclusionary zoning. Eliminating exclusionary zoning in a metro area would, by reducing its housing cost gap, lower its school test-score gap by an estimated 4 to 7 percentiles—a significant share of the observed gap between schools serving the average low-income versus middle/higher-income student. As the nation grapples with the growing gap between rich and poor and an economy increasingly reliant on formal education, public policies should address housing market regulations that prohibit all but the very affluent from enrolling their children in high-scoring public schools in order to promote individual social mobility and broader economic security.

Downloads

Download the full paper

1.97 MB PDF

Download the appendix

151 KB PDF

See, Study Links Zoning to Education Disparities http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/04/19/29zoning.h31.html?tkn=WZZFADpJ4QDbHYgGkErxvyM40vV%2B6oC2KKaZ&cmp=clp-edweek

In The next great civil rights struggle: Disparity in education funding, moi said:

If one believes that all children, regardless of that child’s status have a right to a good basic education and that society must fund and implement policies, which support this principle. Then, one must discuss the issue of equity in education. Because of the segregation, which resulted after Pless v. Ferguson, most folks focus their analysis of Brown v. Board of Education almost solely on race. The issue of equity was just as important. The equity issue was explained in terms of unequal resources and unequal access to education.

People tend to cluster in neighborhoods based upon class as much as race. Good teachers tend to gravitate toward neighborhoods where they are paid well and students come from families who mirror their personal backgrounds and values. Good teachers make a difference in a child’s life. One of the difficulties in busing to achieve equity in education is that neighborhoods tend to be segregated by class as well as race. People often make sacrifices to move into neighborhoods they perceive mirror their values. That is why there must be good schools in all segments of the city and there must be good schools in all parts of this state. A good education should not depend upon one’s class or status.

https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/the-next-great-civil-rights-struggle-disparity-in-education-funding/

The growing class divide: Parents taking out loans for kindergarten and elementary school education https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/the-growing-class-divide-parents-taking-out-loans-for-kindergarten-and-elementary-school-education/

Tags: and Access to High-Scoring Schools, Brookings Institute, Education Disparity, Education Equality, Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor Studies Say, Funding Education Equitably, Housing Costs, Zoning

Comments 4 Comments
Categories Dr Wilda

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The International Baccalaureate program as a way to save struggling schools

Children and swearing

Swearing is not okay

Swearing: school-age children http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/swearing_school_age.html

New report takes community colleges to task

Rural schools

Beware of diploma mills

The Work Required Is Minimal

If you’re required to read a few articles, write a few simple papers, and hand in a five-page dissertation at the end, it’s not likely you’ve learned enough to earn a legitimate degree.

The School Is Located In A State With Little Regulation

Before visiting the vocational school or trade school

While visiting the vocational school or trade school

Television cannot substitute for quality childcare

Differential college tuition

Sexual assault on college campuses

College Board’s ‘Big Future’: Helping low-income kids apply to college

College Board Introduces BigFuture.org, a Free Comprehensive College Planning Resource

The Education Conservancy, Educators and Students Collaborated in Effort to Help Overcome Obstacles to College

Producing employable liberal arts grads https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/producing-employable-liberal-arts-grads/

Remedial education in college https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/remedial-education-in-college/

Why go to college? https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/why-go-to-college/

Location, location, location: Brookings study of education disparity based upon neighborhood

Housing Costs, Zoning, and Access to High-Scoring Schools Jonathan Rothwell, Associate Fellow and Senior Research Analyst, Metropolitan Policy Program The Brookings Institution

Download the full paper

Download the appendix

The great class divide: Arts education disappearing in poorer schools https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/the-great-class-divide-arts-education-disappearing-in-poorer-schools/

The growing class divide: Parents taking out loans for kindergarten and elementary school education https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/the-growing-class-divide-parents-taking-out-loans-for-kindergarten-and-elementary-school-education/

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Swearing is a way of speaking that some people use to express their feelings of anger, annoyance, and frustration, or when they want to hurt someone else’s feelings. Sometimes people swear because they think it is smart or funny.Swear words can be: slang words used to describe something a person is too embarrassed to talk about racist or sexist words used to hurt someone’s feelings words used to criticise or put someone down
		words that are blasphemous [say blass-fee-mus] which means words that are about someone’s god or religion being used as swear words.

	In public
	Around young children
	In school
	Around older people
	In the cinema or other public places like shopping centres and sports grounds
	In church, synagogue, mosque or other holy place
	On television or radio
	Anywhere there are other people who can be upset by swearing.