Archive | 2012

Peanut and other allergies: Are we our brother’s keeper

Moi wrote about allergies in Food allergies can be deadly for some children:

If one is not allergic to substances, then you probably don’t pay much attention to food allergies. The parents and children in one Florida classroom are paying a lot of attention to the subject of food allergies because of the severe allergic reaction one child has to peanuts. In the article, Peanut Allergy Stirs Controversy At Florida Schools Reuters reports:

Some public school parents in Edgewater, Florida, want a first-grade girl with life-threatening peanut allergies removed from the classroom and home-schooled, rather than deal with special rules to protect her health, a school official said.

“That was one of the suggestions that kept coming forward from parents, to have her home-schooled. But we’re required by federal law to provide accommodations. That’s just not even an option for us,” said Nancy Wait, spokeswoman for the Volusia County School District.

Wait said the 6-year-old’s peanut allergy is so severe it is considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

To protect the girl, students in her class at Edgewater Elementary School are required to wash their hands before entering the classroom in the morning and after lunch, and rinse out their mouths, Wait said, and a peanut-sniffing dog checked out the school during last week’s spring break….

Chris Burr, a father of two older students at the school whose wife has protested at the campus, said a lot of small accommodations have added up to frustration for many parents.

“If I had a daughter who had a problem, I would not ask everyone else to change….

The Spokesman-Review of Spokane reported on the death of a child from a severe reaction to peanuts. See, New peanut butter Cheerios triggers anger from parents http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-parenting/post/new-peanut-butter-cheerios-triggers-anger-from-parents/2012/01/09/gIQAqm0rlP_blog.html?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost https://drwilda.com/2012/01/09/food-allergies-can-be-deadly-for-some-children/

Piper Weiss of Shine is reporting in the article, Peanut butter and jelly sandwich sparks controversy: Can we really ban nut products from schools?

In Viola, Arkansas, a debate is heating up, after a student had his peanut butter and jelly sandwich confiscated at lunchtime. The school has a no-peanut-products policy due to a few students with allergies, so the teacher helped the little boy get a new lunch and sent home a note explaining the situation to his mom….

That note didn’t go over well, apparently. Soon after the incident, a ‘School Nut Ban Discussion’ group was launched on Facebook by parents conflicted over the policy.

5 peanut myths debunked

Some parents believe allergy-free students shouldn’t have to cater to a few kids’ health sensitivities, particularly if it means cutting out healthy or low-cost snacks packed in their own child’s lunchbox.

The mom who packed the confiscated PB&J sandwich thinks kids with allergies should learn “how to manage the problem” rather than live inside a “bubble,” according to a local news report.

Other parents of special needs kids feel like they’re playing second fiddle to those with allergies. “There are some autistic children that will only eat a PB&J sandwich or nothing at all,” one parent opposing the ban argued on Facebook.

According to the Viola District Superintendent John May, this is the first push-back on a policy in place in his school for some time.

“The policy is in place to protect those with a severe, life threatening problem,” May told Area Wide News, a Missouri-based news site. “Until we figure out something else, it would be foolish to drop the policy.”

Snack ideas for kids with nut allergies

Over the span of a decade, reports of kids with peanut allergies have spiked by 18 percent, according to the CDC. Today, about 1 in 25 children suffer from the condition, and about 18 percent of them have had attacks in school. As a result, school-wide peanut bans have doubled in the past two years. But they haven’t come without a fight….

A child’s well-being may have triggered the debate, but at the core of the conflict is a turf war. Is one parent’s concerns about their own child interfering with the way other kids are raised? Some parents of allergic kids know being unpopular comes with the territory….

Back in Viola, parents are looking for a compromise within the elementary school–hoping for a middle-ground approach some other institutions have taken. As opposed to banning nuts, some schools require all their teachers to be trained in using EpiPens, a life-saving device used in severe allergic attacks. Separating nut-eaters from non-nut-eaters in the lunchroom is another way to protect kids and raise awareness among students.

The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, a nut allergy advocacy group, believes compromise is better for kids with allergies than an outright ban. “What we want is everyone always thinking there could be a possibility (of an allergic reaction) and be on guard for it,” the group’s founder, Anne Munoz-Furlong, told the Associated Press. http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/pb-38-j-worst-weapon-kid-bring-school-215000284.html;_ylc=X3oDMTNtbnBlZ2dtBF9TAzk2NzE1MjIzMQRhY3QDbWFpbF9jYgRjdANhBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi1VUwRwa2cDMTk5OTc4NTQtNzE3NC0zN2VmLWIyNzctMWZhYWJmZTBlMWY1BHNlYwNtaXRfc2hhcmUEc2xrA21haWwEdGVzdAM-;_ylv=3

Kids With Food Allergies has some excellent resources. http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/resourcespre.php?id=62&title=Peanut_allergy_avoidance_list&gclid=CJTC7sfLuLICFWdxQgodxHcAJQ

Kids With Food Allergies recommends the following 10 TIPS TO A HEALTHY STUDENT-SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP:

1. Pick your battles.

Many issues will arise. Non-negotiable ones will need to be dealt with immediately. Negotiable ones let you work to keep your child safe, while also allowing the school to accomplish what they are trying to accomplish.

2. Provide solutions.

If your child’s principal wants all students to bring in milk jugs for an arts and crafts project, ask if your child’s class can bring in water jugs (or orange juice, lemonade or iced tea jugs instead). Planning in advance can work for class parties, too. If your child’s teacher wants to throw an ice cream party, ask if water ice or a safe sorbet could work instead. Many times, activities that appear to be blatant disregard for your child’s situation are caused by a lack of education about food allergies. Explain the severity of the situation to your child’s teacher and/or school officials, or offer to find an expert to present the topic of food allergy at a teacher meeting. Offer alternative suggestions so teachers consider asking you for advice prior to the event!

3. Smile and stay calm (if only for appearances).

It’s true. You really do catch more bees with honey. If you have a give-and-take relationship with the school and show appreciation when events go right, they will be more apt to help you next time.

4. Get support.

You can’t do this alone. Involve your spouse, family, friends and people you trust. Sometimes a nurse from the allergist’s office will agree to accompany you to meetings or speak to a group. If this is possible, make sure you are on the same page first—with regard to diagnosis and treatment as well as your expectations of the school.

5. Get it in writing.

Make sure you trust and feel confident in your child’s allergist, and try to keep your relationship a positive one. Get the best possible documentation you can from your allergist.

6. Keep your child’s self-esteem in mind.

Always consider what is in the best interest of your child. Sometimes it is healthier for you to forfeit a conflict now, so that you don’t alienate someone who could help you down the road. There are many creative ways to allow your child to participate safely without changing the activity for the rest of the class.

7. Become an expert in substitutions.

Have your child’s teacher tap your very creative brain any time food is used in a lesson. Then, be observant and creative. Next time a teacher wants to use washed-out cream of mushroom soup cans to hold the scissors, suggest washed-out Play-Doh containers…and provide them, if possible.

8. Grow a thick skin.

Your child’s teacher may try their hardest to convince parents not to send their child in with a peanut butter cup or Cheetos for a school snack. But, sadly, there will always be one or two people who are difficult to convince. It’s not an excuse; it’s reality. Try not to take it personally.

9. Show you care.

Let other parents know that you would make the same accommodations for their child—and follow through. Sometimes the school is responding to outside pressure from parents who insist on keeping the school “normal.” Showing that you are a team player can alleviate the pressure.

10. Say “Thank you” when things go right.

Food allergy awareness greeting cards can be used to express appreciation and thanks to school staff.

Show your heartfelt appreciation any time another parent, child, teacher or school staff member goes out of their way to help make life easier for you or your child. If the classroom keeps special snacks all year long to help keep your child safe, sponsor a “thank you” party, safe snack or game time at the end of the year. Send flowers or a card to the principal or school nurse. Donate a food allergy book to the school library. Or start out a meeting by thanking the attendees for being there to listen and help. http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/resourcespre.php?id=155&title=10_tips_for_dealing_with_food_allergies_at_school

It requires a great deal of tact and give and take on the part of parents and the school to produce a workable situation for students, the child with the allergy, and parents.

Resources:

Michael Borella’s Chicago-Kent Law Review article, Food Allergies In Public Schools: Toward A Model Code

USDA’s Accommodating Children With Special Dietary Needs

Child and Teen Checkup Fact Sheet

Video: What to Expect From A Child’s Physical Exam

Dr Wilda says this about that ©

Tags: 10 TIPS TO A HEALTHY STUDENT-SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP:, Children and Allergies, Food Allergies, Kids With Food Allergies, New peanut butter Cheerios triggers anger from parents, Peanut Allergies, Peanut Allergy Stirs Controversy At Florida Schools, Peanut butter and jelly sandwich sparks controversy Can we really ban nut products from schools?

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Categories Dr Wilda

Review of the Brookings study on vouchers by National Education Policy Center

14 Sep

Moi has posted quite a bit about vouchers. Moi discussed vouchers as one element of school choice in Given school choice, many students thrive:

The Center for Education Reform defines School Choice

The term “school choice” means giving parents the power and opportunity to choose the school their child will attend. Traditionally, children are assigned to a public school according to where they live. People of means already have school choice, because they can afford to move to an area according to the schools available (i.e. where the quality of public schools is high), or they can choose to enroll their child in a private school. Parents without such means, until recently, generally had no choice of school, and had to send their child to the school assigned to them by the district, regardless of the school’s quality or appropriateness for their child.

School choice means better educational opportunity, because it uses the dynamics of consumer opportunity and provider competition to drive service quality. This principle is found anywhere you look, from cars to colleges and universities, but it’s largely absent in our public school system and the poor results are evident, especially in the centers of American culture – our cities. School choice programs foster parental involvement and high expectations by giving parents the option to educate their children as they see fit. It re-asserts the rights of the parent and the best interests of child over the convenience of the system, infuses accountability and quality into the system, and provides educational opportunity where none existed before.

Many school choice issues are also discussed in the school choice section.

School Choices has information about School Vouchers https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/university-of-arkansas-study-finds-milwaukee-voucher-students-go-to-college-at-higher-rate/

The Brookings Institute (Brookings) has released the report, The Effects of School Vouchers on College Enrollment: Experimental Evidence from New York City. See also, Vouchers Help African American Students Go to College http://educationnext.org/vouchers-help-african-american-students-go-to-college/ and New Research on the Impact of Vouchers http://www.nationalreview.com/agenda/314852/new-research-impact-vouchers-reihan-salam

https://drwilda.com/2012/08/23/given-school-choice-many-students-thrive/

Sara Goldrick-Rab has written Review of The Effects of School Vouchers on College Enrollment: Experimental Evidence from New York City:

Here is the press release for the review:

Brookings Study Does Not Support Claim that Vouchers Boosted College Enrollment

Contact

William J. Mathis, (802) 383-0058, wmathis@sover.net
Sara Goldrick-Rab, (608) 265-2141, srab@education.wisc.edu

URL for this press release: http://tinyurl.com/8deema8
BOULDER, CO (September 13, 2012) – A recent Brookings Institution report that looked at college enrollment rates of students attending voucher schools in New York City acknowledged no overall impacts of the vouchers on college attendance, but its authors trumpeted large, positive impacts for a subgroup of the voucher students: African Americans.
A new review of the report, however, questions the claim of a strong positive impact even for that group.

The Effects of School Vouchers on College Enrollment: Experimental Evidence from New York City was written by Matthew Chingos and Paul Peterson and published jointly by Brookings and by the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard.

It was reviewed for the Think Twice think tank review project by professor Sara Goldrick-Rab of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The review is published by the National Education Policy Center, housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education.

The report examines college enrollment rates of students participating in an experimental voucher program in New York City, which in the spring of 1997 offered 3-year scholarships worth up to $1,400 annually to low-income families.

In her review of the Brookings report, Goldrick-Rab observes that the study identifies no overall impacts of the voucher offer, but that the authors “report and emphasize large positive impacts for African American students, including increases in college attendance, full-time enrollment, and attendance at private, selective institutions of higher education.”

This strong focus on positive impacts for a single subgroup of students is not warranted. Goldrick-Rab notes four problems:

There are no statistically significant differences in the estimated impact for African Americans as compared to other students;

There is important but unmentioned measurement error in the dependent variables (college attendance outcomes) affecting the precision of those estimates and likely moving at least some of them out of the realm of statistical significance;

The authors fail to demonstrate any estimated negative effects that could help explain the average null results; and

There are previously existing differences between the African American treatment and control groups on factors known to matter for college attendance (e.g., parental education).

“Contrary to the report’s claim, the evidence presented suggests that in this New York City program, school vouchers did not improve college enrollment rates among all students or even among a selected subgroup of students,” Goldrick-Rab writes.

Consequently, this new study’s contribution to discussions of education policy is the opposite of what its authors intend. Goldrick-Rab concludes that the report “convincingly demonstrates that in New York City a private voucher program failed to increase the college enrollment rates of students from low-income families.”

Find Sara Goldrick-Rab’s review on the NEPC website at:
http://nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/review-vouchers-college

The Effects of School Vouchers on College Enrollment: Experimental Evidence from New York City, by Matthew M. Chingos and Paul E. Peterson, is on the web at
http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2012/08/23-school-vouchers-harvard-chingos.

The Think Twice think tank review project (http://thinktankreview.org) of the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) provides the public, policy makers, and the press with timely, academically sound reviews of selected publications. NEPC is housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education. The Think Twice think tank review project is made possible in part by support provided by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice.

The mission of the National Education Policy Center is to produce and disseminate high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. We are guided by the belief that the democratic governance of public education is strengthened when policies are based on sound evidence. For more information on the NEPC, please visit http://nepc.colorado.edu/.

This review is also found on the GLC website at http://www.greatlakescenter.org/.

Citation:

Review of The Effects of School Vouchers on College Enrollment: Experimental Evidence from New York City

The Effects of School Vouchers on College Enrollment: Experimental Evidence from New York City

Matthew M. Chingos and Paul E. Peterson

Brookings Institute

August 23, 2012

Sara Goldrick-Rab (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

September 13, 2012

Press Release →

This Brookings report examines college enrollment rates of students participating in an experimental New York School Choice Scholarships Foundation Program, which in the spring of 1997 offered 3-year scholarships worth up to $1,400 annually to low-income families. The study identifies no overall impacts of the voucher offer, but the authors report and emphasize large positive impacts for African American students, including increases in college attendance, full-time enrollment, and attendance at private, selective institutions of higher education. This strong focus on positive impacts for a single subgroup of students is not warranted. There are no statistically significant differences in the estimated impact for African Americans as compared to other students; there is important but unmentioned measurement error in the dependent variables (college attendance outcomes) affecting the precision of those estimates and likely moving at least some of them out of the realm of statistical significance; the authors fail to demonstrate any estimated negative effects that could help explain the average null results; and there are previously existing differences between the African American treatment and control groups on factors known to matter for college attendance (e.g., parental education). Contrary to the report’s claim, the evidence presented suggests that in this New York City program, school vouchers did not improve college enrollment rates among all students or even among a selected subgroup of students.

Review Download

There is no magic bullet or “Holy Grail” in education. There is only what works to produce academic achievement in each population of children. That is why school choice is so important. Moi does not have the dread of a well-defined voucher program targeted at at-risk children. The tax credit program is entirely a horse of a different color and should be discouraged.

What is the Indiana voucher program? https://drwilda.com/2012/08/26/what-is-the-indiana-voucher-program/

Are tax credits disguised vouchers? https://drwilda.com/2012/06/17/are-tax-credits-disguised-vouchers/

University of Arkansas study finds Milwaukee voucher students go to college at higher rate https://drwilda.com/2012/03/05/university-of-arkansas-study-finds-milwaukee-voucher-students-go-to-college-at-higher-rate/

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Tags: Brookings, Review of The Effects of School Vouchers on College Enrollment Experimental Evidence from New York City:, School Choice, The Center for Education Reform, The Effects of School Vouchers on College Enrollment Experimental Evidence from New York City, Vouchers, Vouchers Help African American Students Go to College

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Categories Dr Wilda

The importance of the National Assessment of Educational Progress

12 Sep

Moi wrote in What, if anything, do education tests mean?

Moi received a review copy from Princeton University Press of Howard Wainer’s Uneducated Guesses. The publication date was September 14, 2011. In the preface Wainer states the goal of the book, “It deals with education in general and the use of tests and test scores in support of educational goals in particular.” Wainer tries to avoid not only the policy, but the ethical analysis of the analysis of the improper use of tests and test results by tightly defining the objective of the book at page four. The policy implications of using tests and test results to not only decide the direction of education, but to decide what happens to the participants in education are huge. Moi wonders if Wainer was really trying to avoid the unavoidable?

For moi, the real meat of the book comes in chapter 4. Wainer says:

In chapter 3 we learned that the PSAT, the shorter and easier version of the SAT, can be used effectively as one part of the selection decision for scholarships. In this chapter we expand on this discussion to illustrate that the PSAT also provides evidence that can help us allocate scarce educational resources…. [Emphasis Added]

Wainer examines the connection by analyzing and comparing test results from three high school districts. Those schools are Garfield High School in L.A., the site of the movie “Stand and Deliver.” La Canada High School in an upscale L.A. Suburb and Detroit, a very poor inner city school district. The really scary policy implication of Wainer’s very thorough analysis is found at page 44, “Limited resources mean that choices must be made.” Table 4-4 illustrates that real life choices are being made by districts like Detroit. What is really scary is that these choices affect the lives of real human beings. Of course, Wainer is simply the messenger and can’t be faulted for his analysis. According to Wainer, it is very tricky to use test results in predicting school performance and his discussion at page 53 summarizes his conclusions.

Perhaps the most chilling part of Wainer’s book is chapter 8 which deals with how testing and test results can adversely impact the career of a teacher when so-called “experts” incorrectly analyze test data. It should be required reading for those who want to evaluate teacher performance based upon test results.

Overall, Uneducated Guesses is a good, solid, and surprisingly readable book about test design, test results, and the use of test results. The truly scary part of the book describes how the uninformed, unknowing, and possibly venal can use what they perceive to be the correct interpretation to make policy judgments which result in horrific societal consequences.

Wainer makes statistics as readable as possible, because really folks, it is still statistics.

Here is the full citation for the book:

Uneducated Guesses: Using Evidence to Uncover Misguided Education Policies

Howard Wainer

Cloth: $24.95 ISBN: 9780691149288

200pp.

https://drwilda.com/2011/11/27/what-if-anything-do-education-tests-mean/

Many do not know about the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Here is a description of the test:

NAEP Overview

NAEP: A Common Yardstick

What NAEP Does—and Doesn’t—Report

Who Runs NAEP?

NAEP Assessments: National, State, TUDA, and Long-Term Trend

How Do I Find…? (More Information on NAEP)

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/

Here are some FAQs:

Frequently Asked Questions

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a program with many components—from developing subject-area questions, to selecting schools to participate, to reporting the results. Given its complexity, NAEP receives a variety of questions from visitors to the website; these special pages have been developed to provide answers to some of the most common questions.

If you have additional questions about school selection and NAEP sample design, see FAQs on sampling issues.

Parents whose children are selected for NAEP will find answers to their questions in the Information for Parents section, also available in Spanish.

There are also FAQs selected for educators, and FAQs for students.

The website for The Nation’s Report Card has FAQs related to the very latest release, such as numbers of students participating, inclusion rates, changes in student demographics, and more.

Several special studies are supported with FAQs:

Black-White Achievement Gaps and Hispanic-White Achievement Gaps

Mapping State Proficiency Standards onto NAEP Scales

Measuring Status and Change in NAEP Inclusion Rates

National Indian Education Study

If you can’t find the answer to your question on any of our FAQ pages, please click Contact NAEP on the left.

General Questions

What is NAEP?

NAEP, or the National Assessment of Educational Progress, produces the Nation’s Report Card, to inform the public about the academic achievement of elementary and secondary students in the United States. Sponsored by the department of Education, NAEP assessments have been conducted periodically in reading, mathematics, science, writing, U.S. history, civics, geography, and other subjects, beginning in 1969. NAEP collects and reports academic achievement at the national level, and for certain assessments, at the state and district levels. The results are widely reported by the national and local media, and are an integral part of our nation’s evaluation of the condition and progress of education.

For more general information about NAEP, read the NAEP Overview.
For technical information about NAEP, consult the NAEP Technical Documentation.

What is the difference between state NAEP and national NAEP?

The NAEP sample in each state is designed to be representative of the students in that state. At the state level, results are currently reported for public school students only and are broken down by several demographic groupings of students. When NAEP is conducted at the state level (i.e., in mathematics, reading, science, and writing), results are also reported for the nation. The national NAEP sample is then composed of all the state samples of public school students, as well as a national sample of nonpublic school students. If there are states that do not participate, a certain number of schools and students are selected to complete the national-level sample.

For assessments conducted at the national level only, samples are designed to be representative of the nation as a whole. Data are reported for public and nonpublic school students as well as for several major demographic groups of students.

Read technical information about the differences in the sample selection for state and national assessments in NAEP Assessment Sample Design.

What are the goals of the NAEP program?

NAEP has two major goals: to compare student achievement in states and other jurisdictions and to track changes in achievement of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-graders over time in mathematics, reading, writing, science, and other content domains. To meet these dual goals, NAEP selects nationally representative samples of students who participate in either the main NAEP assessments or the long-term trend NAEP assessments.

For technical aspects of reporting student achievement, see Analysis and Scaling for NAEP.

Is participation in NAEP voluntary?

Federal law specifies that NAEP is voluntary for every student, school, school district, and state. However, federal law also requires all states that receive Title I funds to participate in NAEP reading and mathematics assessments at fourth and eighth grades. Similarly, school districts that receive Title I funds and are selected for the NAEP sample are also required to participate in NAEP reading and mathematics assessments at fourth and eighth grades. All other NAEP assessments are voluntary. Learn more about NAEP and why participation is important.

Are the data confidential?

Federal law dictates complete privacy for all test takers and their families. Under the National Assessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act (Public Law 107-279 III, section 303), the Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is charged with ensuring that NAEP tests do not question test-takers about personal or family beliefs or make information about their personal identity publicly available.

After publishing NAEP reports, NCES makes data available to researchers but withholds students’ names and other identifying information. The names of all participating students are not allowed to leave the schools after NAEP assessments are administered. Because it might be possible to deduce from data the identities of some NAEP schools, researchers must promise, under penalty of fines and jail terms, to keep these identities confidential.

For technical details, read about Questionnaires and Tracking Forms and Non-Cognitive Items in Student Booklets.

Who are the students assessed by NAEP?

The national results are based on a representative sample of students in public schools, private schools, Bureau of Indian Education schools, and Department of Defense schools. Private schools include Catholic, Conservative Christian, Lutheran, and other private schools. The state results are based on public school students only. The main NAEP assessment is usually administered at grades 4 and 8 (at the state level) plus grade 12 at the national level. The long-term trend assessments report national results (in mathematics and reading only) for age samples 9, 13, and 17 in public and nonpublic schools.

For technical details, read about the NAEP Assessment Sample Design.

Who evaluates NAEP?

Because NAEP findings have an impact on the public’s understanding of student academic achievement, precautions are taken to ensure the reliability of these findings. In its current legislation, as in previous legislative mandates, Congress has called for an ongoing evaluation of the assessment as a whole. In response to these legislative mandates, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has established various panels of technical experts to study NAEP, and panels are formed periodically by NCES or external organizations, such as the National Academy of Sciences, to conduct evaluations. The Buros Center for Testing, in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts/Center for Educational Assessment and the University of Georgia, more recently conducted an external evaluation of NAEP.

For technical aspects of reporting student achievement, see Analysis and Scaling for NAEP.

How do I know what publications are available from NAEP and how do I get them?

The NAEP Publications page is accessible via the Publications link at the top of every screen.

Printed copies of NAEP publications can be ordered by contacting:
http://edpubs.ed.gov
Phone: (877) 4-ED-PUBS (433-7827)
TDD/TTY: (877) 576-7734
Mail: Ed Pubs, U.S. Department of Education, P.O. Box 22207, Alexandria, VA 22304
Para español, llame al (877) 433-7827

It is important to understand what the NEAP is because there are attempts to use the test as a predictive tool.

Sarah D. Sparks reports in the Education Week article, Can NAEP Predict College Readiness?

College Indicators

For college, at least, there are signs NAEP performance may be linked to how well a student will do in initial coursework. Researchers from WestEd, a San Francisco-based research group working under contract to the governing board, found that the 12th grade reading and math tests cover content very similar to that of the SAT.

Moreover, a 2009 study of more than 15,000 12th graders who took both the national assessment and the SAT showed that performing at the proficient level on the math NAEP was associated with an 80 percent chance of earning 500 points out of a possible 800 on the math portion of the SAT, and that the proficient level in reading was associated with a 50-50 chance of scoring 500 on the SAT verbal test.

The SAT has internally pegged a score of 500 to earning at least a B-minus in freshman-level college courses.

NAEP 12th grade content less closely mirrored that used in the ACT, the nation’s other major college-entrance exam; in particular, some arithmetic and applied-math items on the ACT would be covered in more depth on the 8th grade than the 12th grade NAEP in math. NAEP has not been able to compare its performance levels to those in the ACT, though Ms. Orr said the board plans to do so during the 2013 studies, which will also include more state-specific analyses.

Individual states’ data are likely to be critical, North Carolina’s Mr. Fabrizio said, because course requirements vary widely from state to state and even between college systems within the same state.

Hazy Work Picture

The connection between NAEP and preparation for careers that don’t require a four-year college degree is much more tenuous.

The governing board found less overlap between NAEP 12th grade content and that covered on the career-related WorkKeys test, also by ACT Inc. Last spring, panels of professional trainers in five careers—computer-support specialists, automotive master technicians, licensed practical nurses, pharmacy staff, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning technicians—could not agree on what proficiency level on NAEP would indicate a student was ready for his or her field.

They did agree, however, that most of the content on the test wouldn’t say much about students’ potential in those fields.

For example, “there are hardly any test items in the pool at 12th grade that are applied, based on some use of mathematics rather than theoretical stuff,” said Jeremy Kilpatrick, a co-author of the study and a mathematics education professor at the University of Georgia in Athens. “Where there were such items, the career and technical people were really happy to see that—but most times they looked at the questions and said, ‘This is not relevant to what we want.'”

The assessment governing board will try to bring more clarity around job skills next year, with an analysis that compares the skills and knowledge covered in job-training programs in the five career areas with the math and reading content in the 12th grade NAEP tests.

Still, Ms. Orr was less hopeful about whether NAEP will be useful for gauging career readiness. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/09/12/03nagb.h32.html?tkn=WYYFs6Fvb3qWQ7tlD%2B4kB4B80di2bmJy6Rje&intc=es

Moi wrote about testing in More are questioning the value of one-size-fits-all testing:

The goal of education is of course, the educate students. Purdue University has a concise synopsis of Bloom’s Taxonomy which one attempt at describing education objectives:

Bloom’s (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives is the most renowned description of the levels of cognitive performance. The levels of the Taxonomy and examples of activities at each level are given in Table 3.3. The levels of this taxonomy are considered to be hierarchical. That is, learners must master lower level objectives first before they can build on them to reach higher level objectives. http://education.calumet.purdue.edu/vockell/edPsybook/Edpsy3/edpsy3_bloom.htm

See, Bloom’s Taxonomy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_Taxonomy More and more people are asking if testing really advances the goals of education or directs testing’s objectives, which may or may not be the same as the goals of education. https://drwilda.com/2012/02/20/more-are-questioning-the-value-of-one-size-fits-all-testing/

Complete College America report: The failure of remediation https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/complete-college-america-report-the-failure-of-remediation/

What the ACT college readiness assessment means https://drwilda.com/2012/08/25/what-the-act-college-readiness-assessment-means/

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Tags: ACT, ational Assessment of Educational Progress, Bloom's Taxonomy, Can NAEP Predict College Readiness?, NAEP, SAT, Testing, Uneducated Guesses

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Categories Dr Wilda

OECD study: U.S. lags behind in preschool enrollment

11 Sep

Moi discussed preschool education in The state of preschool education is dire:

Preschool is a portal to the continuum of life long learning. A good preschool stimulates the learning process and prompts the child into asking questions about their world and environment. Baby Center offers advice about how to find a good preschool and general advice to expectant parents. At the core of why education is important is the goal of equipping every child with the knowledge and skills to pursue THEIR dream, whatever that dream is. Christine Armario and Dorie Turner are reporting in the AP article, AP News Break: Nearly 1 in 4 Fails Military Exam which appeared in the Seattle Times:

Nearly one-fourth of the students who try to join the U.S. Army fail its entrance exam, painting a grim picture of an education system that produces graduates who can’t answer basic math, science and reading questions, according to a new study released Tuesday.

Many children begin their first day of school behind their more advantaged peers. Early childhood learning is an important tool is bridging the education deficit. https://drwilda.com/2012/04/10/the-state-of-preschool-education-is-dire/

Lesli A. Maxwell reports in the Education Week article, Study Finds U.S. Trailing in Preschool Enrollment a new study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD):

According to the Paris-based OECD’s “Education at a Glance 2012,” a report released today, the United States ranks 28th out of 38 countries for the share of 4-year-olds enrolled in pre-primary education programs, at 69 percent. That’s compared with more than 95 percent enrollment rates in France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Mexico, which lead the world in early-childhood participation rates for 4-year-olds. Ireland, Poland, Finland, and Brazil are among the nations that trail the United States.

The United States also invests significantly less public money in early-childhood programs than its counterparts in the Group of Twenty, or G-20, economies, which include 19 countries and the European Union. On average, across the countries that are compared in the OECD report, 84 percent of early-childhood students were enrolled in public programs or in private settings that receive major government resources in 2010. In this country, just 55 percent of early-childhood students were enrolled in publicly supported programs in 2010, while 45 percent attended independent private programs.

“The United States is still pretty far behind much of the rest of the industrialized world,” in terms of publicly supported early-childhood opportunities, Andreas Schleicher, OECD’s deputy director for education and the special advisor on education policy to the secretary-general of the OECD, said in a briefing. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/09/11/04oecd.h32.html?tkn=YZXFRtH3UunPt9e%2B5ZodvlLULKTdt47aFyK8&cmp=clp-edweek

Here are the key findings from the OECD study:

KEY FINDINGS

Equity

Young women are five percentage points more likely than young men to become better educated than their parents (40% compared with 35%), while young men are more likely than young women to have lower educational attainment than their parents (15% compared with 11%).

The educational attainment of mothers has a stronger impact on students’ reading performance than the primary language at home or the proportion of immigrant students in a school.

Across OECD countries, more than one-third of immigrant students attend schools with the highest concentrations of students with low-educated mothers. In the European Union, more than half do.

Education spending

On average, OECD countries spend USD 9 252 annually per student from primary through tertiary education: USD 7 719 per primary student, USD 9 312 per secondary student and USD 13 728 per tertiary student.

The share of private funding for tertiary education increased between 2000 and 2009 in 18 out of 25 countries. The share increased by 5 percentage points on average, and by more than 12 percentage points in the Slovak Republic (from 8.8% to 30%) and the United Kingdom (from 32.3% to 70.4%).

An increasing number of OECD countries are charging higher tuition fees for international students than for national students, and many also differentiate tuition fees by field of education, largely because of the difference in the public cost of studies.

Between 2000 and 2009, in 24 of the 29 countries for which data are available, expenditure per primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary student increased spending by at least 16%. The increase exceeded 50% in Brazil, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Korea, Poland, the Slovak Republic and the United Kingdom. By contrast, in France, Israel and Italy, this expenditure increased by only 10% or less between 2000 and 2009.

School environment

Salaries for teachers with at least 15 years of experience average USD 35 630 at the pre-primary level, USD 37 603 at the primary level, USD 39 401 at the lower secondary level and USD 41 182 at the upper secondary level.

Teachers’ salaries increased in real terms in most countries between 2000 and 2010. In Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Portugal and Scotland, salaries increased by at least 20%. In the Czech Republic (primary and lower secondary levels) and in Turkey, salaries doubled over the past decade. Only in France and Japan did teachers’ salaries decrease in real terms, by more than 5%.

The number of teaching hours per teacher in public schools in 2010 averages 782 hours per year in primary education, 704 hours in lower secondary education, and 658 hours in upper secondary education. This is little changed from 2000 but has changed dramatically in a few countries. It increased by more than 25% in the Czech Republic at the primary level and in Portugal and Spain at the secondary level.

Some two-thirds of teachers and academic staff are women on average in the OECD, but the proportion of female teachers decreases as the level of education increases: ranging from 97% at pre-primary to 41% at tertiary level.

58% of primary teachers are at least 40 years old on average in OECD countries. The proportion exceeds 70% in the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Sweden. At secondary level, 63% of teachers are at least 40, and 70% or more in Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany and Italy. http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/educationspendingrisingbutaccesstohighereducationremainsunequalinmostcountriessaysoecd.htm

http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/educationspendingrisingbutaccesstohighereducationremainsunequalinmostcountriessaysoecd.htm

Citation:

Education at a Glance 2012: OECD Indicators

‌ Download PDF

Published: 11 Sept 2012

No. pags: 570

Education at a Glance 2012: OECD Indicators

The 2012 edition of Education at a Glance enables countries to see themselves in the light of other countries’ educational performance.

Highlights

Chapter A

The output of educational institutions and the impact of learning

Indicators on educational attainment and graduation, gender and equity, and the economic, labour market and social outcomes of education

Chapter B

Financial and human resources invested in education

Indicators on national and per-student spending on education, higher education costs and support, and how resources are spent

Chapter C

Access to education, participation and progression

Indicators on access to education, early childhood education, international students, transitions from school to work, and adult learning

Chapter D

The learning environment and organisation of schools

Indicators on teachers, teacher salaries, teaching time, class size, school decision-making, and examinations

Additional Material

Highlights; Corrigendum; Coding of Missing Data; Annexes; Glossary; Education Database

http://www.oecd.org/edu/eag2012.htm#press

Our goals should be: A healthy child in a healthy family who attends a healthy school in a healthy neighborhood. ©

Think small, Not small minded ©

Money spent on early childhood programs is akin to yeast for bread. The whole society will rise.

Resources:

Why Preschool Matters?

Why Preschool is Important?

The Benefits of Preschool

Will Preschool Education Make a Child Ready for Kindergarten

Preschool, Why it is the Most Important Grade

National Conference of State Legislatures Resources on Kindergarten

Education Commission of the States, Full Day Kindergarten: A Study of State Policies in the United States

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Tags: Education at a Glance 2012, OECD, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Preschool, Study Finds U.S. Trailing in Preschool Enrollment

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Categories Dr Wilda

Making time for family dinner

10 Sep

Although, the recent New York Times by Ann Meier and Kelly Musick questions whether it is the family dinner or some other dynamic within a given family that produces well-being and security in children, others feel differently. See, Is the Family Dinner Overrated? http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/opinion/sunday/is-the-family-dinner-overrated.html Jeanie Lerche Davis writes in the WebMD article, Family Dinners Are Important: 10 reasons why, and 10 shortcuts to help get the family to the table, which was reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD:

“One of the simplest and most effective ways for parents to be engaged in their teens’ lives is by having frequent family dinners,” says Joseph Califano Jr., chairman and president of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA).

CASA recently reported on a national phone survey of 1,000 teens and 829 parents of teens. Eating dinner as a family helped kids in many ways. It helped them get better grades, and kept them away from cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana, and more.

10 Benefits of Family Dinners

Toting up all the benefits of frequent family dinners:

Everyone eats healthier meals.

Kids are less likely to become overweight or obese.

Kids more likely to stay away from cigarettes.

They’re less likely to drink alcohol.

They won’t likely try marijuana.

They’re less likely to use illicit drugs.

Friends won’t likely abuse prescription drugs.

School grades will be better.

You and your kids will talk more.

You’ll be more likely to hear about a serious problem.

Kids will feel like you’re proud of them.

There will be less stress and tension at home.

10 Tips for Organizing Family Dinners

Don’t let this mission feel daunting! Even the simplest meals — like order-in pizza — qualify as family dinners. The goal is to get everyone to the dinner table and to spend quality time together – not to force Mom into June Cleaver or Carol Brady mode. Here are tips on pulling it off:

Set a goal. Twice a week, perhaps? Build from there.

Keep it simple. Family meals don’t have to be elaborate. Work salads and vegetables into meals. Focus on familiar favorites, like chili or frittatas.

Be prepared. Keep ingredients for healthful meals on hand, including plenty of fruits and vegetables.

Keep healthy ‘appetizers’ on hand. Stock the kitchen with fresh fruits, nuts, and low-fat cheese — stuff the kids can snack on after school, instead of chips.

Get the family involved. Let kids help prepare meals and set the table.

Use the crock pot. Put everything together before leaving for work in the morning. You’ll come home to the delicious smell of a cooked meal.

Pick up take-out, order pizza, or eat out. It still counts as quality time spent together.

Avoid portion distortion. Keep serving sizes under control, whether you’re at home or eating out.

Make it enjoyable. Leave the serious discussions for another time. Family meals are for nourishment, comfort, and support.

Set the mood. Play soothing music. Put flowers on the table. Light a candle. Create a relaxing environment.

Here’s another hint — no TV allowed, no phones answered! This is time for listening to each other, sharing the day’s stories, and nurturing the family connection. http://children.webmd.com/guide/family-dinners-are-important

A group, The Family Dinner.Org., is promoting the concept and practice of family dinners.

The Family Dinner.Org Project recommends:

FAQ

by Anne Fishel, Ph.D

The Importance of Eating Together

Why should we eat dinner together more often?
Most American families are starved for time to spend together, and dinner may be the only time of the day when we can reconnect, leaving behind our individual pursuits like playing video games, emailing and doing homework. Dinner is a time to relax, recharge, laugh, tell stories and catch up on the day’s ups and downs, while developing a sense of who we are as a family.

Do family dinners have any scientific benefits?
Over the past 15 years researchers have confirmed what parents have known for a long time: sharing a family meal is good for the spirit, the brain and the health of all family members. Recent studies link regular family dinners with many behaviors that parents pray for: lower rates of substance abuse, teen pregnancy and depression, as well as higher grade-point averages and self-esteem. Studies also indicate that dinner conversation is a more potent vocabulary-booster than reading, and the stories told around the kitchen table help our children build resilience. The icing on the cake is that regular family meals also lower the rates of obesity and eating disorders in children and adolescents. What else can families do that takes only about an hour a day and packs such a punch?

Finding Time

How many nights a week should we try to eat dinner together?
Researchers find that families who eat dinner together five nights a week reap great benefits, but there is no magic number, nor is dinner inherently preferable to other meals. If your family finds breakfast or weekend lunches easier meals for a gathering, then these could also “count.”

We’re just so busy. How can we find the time to cook and eat together?
Time is certainly one of the biggest obstacles to families gathering for dinner. One good strategy is to cook a big batch of soup or a double batch of a casserole over the weekend, and then freeze some to make weekday dinners easier. Some meals can be thrown together quickly with help from store-bought ingredients, like pre-cut veggies, or a pre-made pizza dough. There are also many recipes that take less than 15 minutes. Please see the Food section of our website for ideas.

If you think of family dinner as a time to nourish your family, prevent all kinds of problems, increase your children’s cognitive abilities, and provide pleasure and fun that they can build on for the rest of their lives, a nightly meal is an efficient use of time.

Is it wrong to eat dinner in front of the television?
Making a steady diet of eating family dinners in front of the TV would certainly interfere with the pleasures and benefits of conversation. Researchers have found that meals eaten in front of the TV do not carry the same mental health benefits as those eaten “unplugged.” Certainly, it would be fine occasionally to watch a special program while eating a family meal. In addition, talking about a program as a family could provide benefits as well.

Food and Cooking

As long as we sit together and eat, does it really matter what we’re eating?
I think it’s hard to argue with the idea that feeding your family nutritious food is a good idea! This not only makes your children healthier as they grow right now, but it encourages healthy eating once they are living on their own. Some families enjoy experimenting with different menus, others like keeping a routine so that Monday night is for pasta, Tuesday for tortillas and so on. Some children like to share in the menu planning and the cooking, so the food becomes a central part of the family’s identity. For other families, the food is really secondary to other aspects of the meal, like the conversation.

How much help should I reasonably expect from my family in preparing dinner? In cleaning up? Do I have to do this all myself?
Most children like to help and should be encouraged to do so. The trick is figuring out which tasks are developmentally right for your child. Even young children can be asked to sprinkle a seasoning, stir a stew, or rinse vegetables. Elementary-aged kids can set and clear the table, pour the drinks and be involved in some food preparation.

Many adolescents view cooking as an avenue of self-expression and may relish the idea of making a meal or a portion of a meal. Sharing in all the tasks of dinner—grocery shopping, menu planning, cooking, serving and cleaning up—only makes this more of a family event. If someone is feeling overburdened, the roles and tasks should be reexamined and distributed more equitably. Everyone’s dinner will be enhanced by more members contributing and by no single member feeling resentful.

What types of meals should I make to get my kids more involved in dinner?
Prepare a meal that gives kids something to do. For example, my children loved to pull the basil leaves off their stems. To make a quick pesto sauce, we’d put them into a food processor with a clove of garlic, salt, Parmesan cheese and olive oil. Any meal that calls for ingredients that kids can peel, mash, or sprinkle is a good one.

Simple dishes that kids can customize also encourage participation. Parents might make crepes, tacos, or even a pot of chicken rice soup, which kids can add their favorite toppings to, like chopped carrots or peppers, roasted garlic or sliced cheese.

It’s also fun to choose foods that are brightly colored, like the colors in their crayon boxes. This is eye-catching and makes dinner preparation even more interesting.

Tips for Conversation

What are some conversation suggestions for younger children?
Even if they’re unable to have longer conversations, younger kids like to be included in dinnertime chit chat. Sometimes, a simple “What did you do today?” will result in fun answers about what the child saw on a walk or did during playtime. Asking kids to describe their favorite games, cartoons, or toys will also spark their interest and generate engaged responses. You might ask, “What can your favorite toy or cartoon character do that you’d like to do?”

Additionally, images and photos are great conversation starters. If you have a photo that you don’t mind getting messy, try bringing it to the dinner table and asking your child to describe what he or she sees. If it’s a family photo, the child may ask who’s in the picture and what they’re doing. This could lead to a fun discussion about different family members and their lives.

Children love telling and hearing about stories of their parents, grandparents and their ancestry. You could also try kicking off a story with one of the following questions:

“Do you know the story about how your parents met?”

“Do you know how your name was chosen, or how your parents’ names were chosen?

“Do you know some of the lessons that your parents learned from good or bad experiences they had during their childhood?”

“Do you know some of the jobs that your parents had when they were young?”

What is the earliest story you know about an ancestor?

Our one-line conversation starters are also great for kids this age. Asking your child, “If you could be an animal, what would you want to be, and why?” is a wonderful way to begin a lively exchange….

Resources

FAQ

Goal Sheet

Dinner Log

Dinner Tips

Links

http://thefamilydinnerproject.org/

Parents have more influence on their children’s values and beliefs than most are willing to exercise. You need to support your children’s dreams, not yours. You need to explain to them why they must finish school, get a vocation or craft which will support them. If your value system does not encourage premarital sex, be honest with them about practical reasons why. First, you need a good discussion about sex. Next, you need to talk candidly about sexually transmitted diseases and the emotional consequences of random, casual “hooking-up” sex. Of course the Sex in the City crowd will tell you there are absolutely no consequences to random sex. Really, I observe a lot of people. What about the depression and the self-medication of alcohol and /or drugs? Most people want to form strong intimate attachments with others. “Hooking-up” more often than not promotes attachment disorder In my observations, I have never seen a truly happy skank/ho.

Because people have free will, even the best parents will have children who make mistakes and yes, some of them will have children without a permanent and stable relationship. Some so identified “progressives” will attribute this lapse not to individual free will, but the fact that the message of morality is a failure. It is not. People learn lessons at different speeds, some sooner, some later. Remember the lesson of the Prodigal Son

Resources:

8 Reasons to Make Time for Family Dinner http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20339151,00.html

The Family Dinner Deconstructed http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18753715

The Magic of the Family Meal http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1200760,00.html

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Tags: Family Dinner, Family Dinners Are Important 10 reasons why and 10 shortcuts to help get the family to the table, Family Meal, Is the Family Dinner Overrated?, The Family Dinner.Org

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Categories Dr Wilda

Fordham Institute study: Spending and special education

10 Sep

Lyndsey Layton has an interesting article in the Washington Post, Academic success in special education not linked to spending, study finds:

The amount of money spent by school districts on special education varies greatly around the country, and some districts that spend less than others are getting better academic results from students, according to a study released Wednesday.

The study, sponsored by the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute, suggests that some districts are overspending on special education, which has become a growing segment of school budgets around the country.

If all districts spent the median amount on special education, it would save $10 billion a year, according to the study, which was written by Nathan Levenson, a consultant and former school superintendent.

Levenson gathered data from 1,400 districts representing more than one-third of K-12 students in the United States, making it the largest and most detailed collection of special education staffing and cost data available.

“There’s not a lot of research around spending in special education because I think it’s a topic that makes lots of people uncomfortable,” Levenson said. “No one wants to balance budgets on the backs of very needy children.”

Levenson focused on 10 pairs of school districts in five states — Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Ohio and Texas. The districts that made up each pair were roughly the same size, with equal numbers of special education students and similar demographic characteristics.

In each pair, one district had higher achievement among its special education students while spending as much or less than the other district.

“People think intuitively that more spending must mean better outcomes,” Levenson said. “This paper shows that is just not true.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/academic-success-in-special-education-not-linked-to-spending-study-finds/2012/09/04/b8865018-f6bf-11e1-8253-3f495ae70650_story.html

See, Could Cutting Special Ed. Spending Improve Student Achievement? http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/speced/2012/09/a_new_analysis_of_special.html

Citation:

Boosting the Quality and Efficiency of Special Education

By Nathan Levenson / September 5, 2012

Foreword by Chester E. Finn, Jr. , Michael J. Petrilli

Download the study

Here is what Chester Finn and Michael Petrilli say about the study in the Flypaper piece, Maintenance of inefficiency:

The roadblock? A federal “maintenance of effort” (MOE) requirement in the Individuals With Disabilities Act (IDEA, the federal special-education law) that handcuffs states and districts by requiring that special-ed spending never decline from one year to the next. In times of plenty, this mandate discourages efforts to make productivity gains; when revenues shrink, it means that special-education spending will consume an ever-growing slice of school budgets.

For one brief shining moment, Secretary Duncan appeared ready to end the MOE silliness. Then he caved to the powerful special-education lobby, which refused to accept anything other than expenditures escalating into perpetuity.

While economic realities alone should be reason enough to jettison requirements that dictate a spend-spend-spend approach to special ed, a new Fordham study by Nathan Levenson provides an even more compelling reason for doing away with MOE: Spending more on special ed simply may not do much for kids.

How is this possible? While public education is never very hospitable to innovation, efficiency, or productivity boosters, special education has generally been downright hostile. Despite statutory and regulatory tweaks from time to time, our approach hasn’t really changed since the federal law was passed more than thirty-five years ago, even as so much else in K–12 education has changed in important ways. That does not, regrettably, mean our traditional approach has worked well. Indeed, change is desperately needed in this corner of the K–12 world, as any look at the (woeful) achievement data or (skyrocketing) spending data for special-needs students demonstrates. To oversimplify just a bit, general (i.e., “regular”) education is now focused on academic outcomes, but special education remains fixated on inputs, ratios, and services.

That’s a shame, since the same basic dysfunctions that ail general education afflict special education too: middling (or worse) teacher quality; an inclination to throw “more people” at any problem; a reluctance to look at cost-effectiveness; a crazy quilt of governance and decision-making authorities; a tendency to add rather than replace or redirect; and a full-on fear of results-based accountability. Yet the fates (as well as the budgets) of general and special education are joined. In many schools, the latter is the place to stick the kids who have been failed by the former—a major cause of the sky-high special-education-identification rates in many states and districts. Further, there exists in many locales the unrealistic expectation that every neighborhood (and charter) school should be able to serve every youngster with special needs at a high level.

Enter Levenson, former superintendent of the Arlington (MA) Public Schools. In his new study, Boosting the Quality and Efficiency of Special Education, he and his team identified school districts that get similar (or superior) results for special-education students as their peer districts, yet do so at significantly lower cost. They are doing right by kids and right by the bottom line. Both at once. And their practices are eminently imitate-able.

Levenson & co. also developed a national database on special-ed spending—the largest and most detailed ever built. It contains information from almost 1,500 districts, representing 30 percent of U.S. schoolchildren. The database shows that special-education spending and staffing vary wildly—much more so than it does for regular education. Principally driving this variation are huge district-to-district differences in staffing levels.

Some districts hire almost three times more special-ed teachers (per thousand students) than do others. The difference for paraprofessionals (teachers’ aides) is greater than four times. Levenson calculates that, if the high-spending districts adjusted their staffing levels in line with national norms, the country could save (or redirect) $10 billion annually. That’s not chump change! For example, it’s more than twice the total sums invested (over multiple years) in Race to the Top.

The potential for additional savings—and better services for kids—is greater still. To its discredit, longstanding federal law bars the teams that develop Individualized Education Programs for disabled pupils from considering the cost of the interventions and services that they are recommending. Untangling federal barriers to efficiency and effectiveness in special education is the job of Congress—yet no one in Washington seems the least bit interested in tackling an IDEA reauthorization anytime soon. That’s a huge mistake.

Levenson draws on his research to offer a few simple, but assuredly not simplistic, solutions. Make general education better, he says, so that fewer kids get directed into special education. Once youngsters are in special education, design interventions for them that take cost-effectiveness into account—a benefit both for the kids and for the taxpayer. Focus on recruiting better teachers, not more teachers (and aides, specialists, etc.)—for general and special education alike. And scrupulously manage their caseloads. http://www.edexcellence.net/commentary/education-gadfly-daily/flypaper/2012/maintenance-of-inefficiency.html#body

The Huffington Post highlights key findings of the report.

In the article, Special Education Spending Reduction To National Median Could Save Districts $10 Billion: Study, the Huffington Post reports:

According to Levenson’s report, there are federal law barriers that prevent officials from making special education more cost effective. For instance, the “maintenance of effort” provision of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) prohibits districts from considering cost when selecting services and interventions provided under a disabled child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). As such, the costs are not shared with the staff making special education decisions, thereby impeding them from choosing the more efficient option.

Levenson outlines four additional policy recommendations for improving special education outcomes and efficiency — three at the federal/state level, and one at the local level.

An end to maintenance of effort requirements.

Preserving and strengthening the Elementary and Secondary Education Act’s (ESEA) subgroup accountability and reporting, including those provisions pertaining to students with special needs. While the current accountability mechanisms of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have many shortcomings and unintended consequences, it is important not to throw out the baby with the bath water. It is critical to measure the achievement of students with disabilities and hold districts accountable, lest we return to complacency regarding low achievement.

Permitting greater flexibility in the use of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funds.

At the local level, that districts carefully manage pupil loads for special education teachers. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/05/districts-could-save-10-b_n_1858345.html

There are different disabilities covered by the Disabilities Education Act.

The U.S. Department of Education has a website which discusses federal law at http://idea.ed.gov/explore/home The National Center for ADHD has a good synopsis of the disabilities law.

IDEA also grants increased parental participation and protection for students.

Who qualifies?

Children between the ages of 3 and 21, who meet the eligibility criteria in one of thirteen qualifying disabilities and who require special education services because of the disability can qualify for services under IDEA. The categories of disabilities are; autism, deaf/blind, deafness, hearing impaired, mental retardation, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, serious emotional disturbance, specific learning disabilities, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment including blindness, and other health impairment. To be eligible, a student must have a disability that adversely affects her or his educational performance and must need special education in order to receive an appropriate education.

How can IDEA help my child?

Children who qualify under IDEA are provided with services and accommodations individualized to their needs. At its most basic IDEA entitles a child suspected of having a disability to a comprehensive evaluation by a multi-disciplinary team provided at no cost to parents. If the child is determined to need special education and related services an Individual Education Program (IEP) will be implemented based on the specific needs of the child as decided by the team, including parents.

Once covered under an IEP, students with disabilities are re-evaluated at least every three years and their IEP is reviewed whenever a change in placement occurs, which is often annually as transferring from grade to grade is considered a change in placement.

Additionally, students covered under IDEA are granted other protections and safeguards. Suspension for 10 cumulative days within the school year may result in a Manifestation Determination to decide if a link exists between the child’s behavior and her or his disability. If a child covered under IDEA is suspended or expelled, she or he is still entitled to special education services. In the event that parents disagree with the school’s decision and request an impartial due process hearing, the “stay-put” provision will be enacted ensuring that the child remains in her or his current educational placement until administrative proceedings conclude. Exceptions include when the child brings a weapon or drugs to school or is determined to be a danger to her or himself or others. http://www.help4adhd.org/education/rights/idea

Moi discussed learning disabilities in Survey: Most people don’t know what a learning disability is. https://drwilda.com/2012/09/02/survey-most-people-dont-know-what-a-learning-disability-is/

Once a learning disability has been diagnosed there are steps parents can take to advocate for their child. Scholastic has great advice for parents in the article, Falling Behind With a Learning Disability. http://www.scholastic.com/resources/article/learning-disability/ Schools often test children to determine whether a child has a learning disability. Often parents may want to have an independent evaluation for their child.

PBS’ Reading Rockets has great information for parents who want an independent test for their child in the article, Having Your Child Tested for Learning Disabilities Outside of School. http://www.readingrockets.org/article/4529/

Resources:

Early warning signs of a learning disability http://www.babycenter.com/0_early-warning-signs-of-a-learning-disability_67978.bc

How to know if your child has a learning disability http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/advice/how-to-know-if-your-child-has-a-learning-disability/2012/05/08/gIQAvzLvAU_story.html

If You Suspect a Child Has a Learning Disability http://www.ncld.org/parents-child-disabilities/ld-testing/if-you-suspect-child-has-learning-disability

Learning Disabilities in Children http://www.helpguide.org/mental/learning_disabilities.htm

Learning Disabilities (LD) http://nichcy.org/disability/specific/ld

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Tags: Academic success in special education not linked to spending study finds, Boosting the Quality and Efficiency of Special Education, Could Cutting Special Ed. Spending Improve Student Achievement?, Falling Behind With a Learning Disability, Having Your Child Tested for Learning Disabilities Outside of School, IDEA, Maintenance of inefficiency, PBS’ Reading Rockets, Special Education, Special Education Spending, Special Education Spending Reduction To National Median Could Save Districts $10 Billion Study

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Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Report: Improving access to school lunches

9 Sep

In School lunches: The political hot potato, moi said:

There are some very good reasons why meals are provided at schools. Education Bug has a history of the school lunch program

President Harry S. Truman began the national school lunch program in 1946 as a measure of national security. He did so after reading a study that revealed many young men had been rejected from the World War II draft due to medical conditions caused by childhood malnutrition. Since that time more than 180 million lunches have been served to American children who attend either a public school or a non-profit private school.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (Agriculture Department) has a School Lunch Program Fact Sheet

According to the fact sheet, more than 30 million children are fed by the program. Physicians for Responsible Medicine criticize the content of school lunch programs

In Healthy School Lunches the physicians group says:

Menus in most school lunch programs are too high in saturated fat and cholesterol and too low in fiber- and nutrient-rich fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes (see PCRM’s 2008 School Lunch Report Card). Major changes are needed to encourage the health of the nation’s youth and to reverse the growing trends of obesity, early-onset diabetes, and hypertension, among other chronic diseases, in children and teens.

A 2003 General Accounting Office (GAO) reached the same conclusion. See, School Lunch Program: Efforts Needed to Improve Nutrition and Encourage and Healthy Eating

The school lunch program is crucial for the nutritional well-being of many children. Catholic Online is reporting in the article, Nearly 15 percent of the U.S. population was on food stamps for month of August:

It was a harsh indicator of hard times here in the United States. Nearly 15 percent of the U.S. population relied on food stamps for the month of August, as the number of recipients hit 45.8 million. Food stamp rolls have risen 8.1 percent in the past year. The Department of Agriculture reported these startling new figures, that fly in face that the pace of growth has slowed from the depths of the recession….

Mississippi reported the largest share of food stamps recipients, more than 21 percent. One in five residents in New Mexico, Tennessee, Oregon and Louisiana were also food stamp recipients.

http://www.catholic.org/business/story.php?id=43506

For many children who receive a free breakfast and/or a free lunch that means that they will not go hungry that day. See, Taking the Congressional Food Stamp Challenge [UPDATED] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-jan-schakowsky/taking-the-congressional_b_1072739.html

Education is the key for moving individuals, families, and communities out of poverty. In an ideal world, children would arrive at school ready-to-learn. Children who are hunger have a much more difficult time focusing in school. For a really good discussion of the effects of poverty on children, read the American Psychological Association (APA), Effects of Poverty, Hunger, and Homelessness on Children and Youth:

What are the effects of child poverty?

Psychological research has demonstrated that living in poverty has a wide range of negative effects on the physical and mental health and wellbeing of our nation’s children.
Poverty impacts children within their various contexts at home, in school, and in their neighborhoods and communities.
Poverty is linked with negative conditions such as substandard housing, homelessness, inadequate nutrition and food insecurity, inadequate child care, lack of access to health care, unsafe neighborhoods, and underresourced schools which adversely impact our nation’s children.
Poorer children and teens are also at greater risk for several negative outcomes such as poor academic achievement, school dropout, abuse and neglect, behavioral and socioemotional problems, physical health problems, and developmental delays.
These effects are compounded by the barriers children and their families encounter when trying to access physical and mental health care.
Economists estimate that child poverty costs the U.S. $500 billion a year in lost productivity in the work force and spending on health care and the criminal justice system.

Poverty and academic achievement

Poverty has a particularly adverse effect on the academic outcomes of children, especially during early childhood.
Chronic stress associated with living in poverty has been shown to adversely affect children’s concentration and memory which may impact their ability to learn.
School drop out rates are significantly higher for teens residing in poorer communities. In 2007, the dropout rate of students living in low-income families was about 10 times greater than the rate of their peers from high-income families (8.8% vs. 0.9%).
The academic achievement gap for poorer youth is particularly pronounced for low-income African American and Hispanic children compared with their more affluent White peers.
Underresourced schools in poorer communities struggle to meet the learning needs of their students and aid them in fulfilling their potential.
Inadequate education contributes to the cycle of poverty by making it more difficult for low-income children to lift themselves and future generations out of poverty. http://www.apa.org/pi/families/poverty.aspx

https://drwilda.com/2011/11/03/school-lunches-the-political-hot-potato/

Unfortunately, not all eligible children are part of the school lunch program.

Nate Frentz and Zoë Neuberger write in the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Report, Key Steps to Improve Access to Free and Reduced-Price School Meals:

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a well-established federal program that provides school children with a nutritious lunch every school day. In recent years, free and reduced-price school breakfasts and lunches have been especially beneficial for children from low-income families that are struggling to afford nutritious food in the midst of a severe economic downturn. The program is also a reliable source of nutritional support for particularly vulnerable children, such as children in foster care or who are homeless, runaway, or migrant, all of whom are automatically eligible for free meals in school.

The school lunch program has a strong track record of serving eligible children; children in households with income at or below 130 percent of the poverty line are eligible for free meals and children in households at or below 185 percent of the poverty line are eligible for reduced-price meals. But some eligible low-income children still miss out on meals that could foster healthy development and learning. Thanks in part to policy changes in recent years, school meal programs have made gradual progress in simplifying the enrollment process with the goal of reaching more eligible children. Still, some families are unaware of the program or face other barriers to participation such as complex forms or limited English proficiency. Even among children who are eligible for free school meals without having to apply, as many as one in seven fail to receive certification.[1]

State and local program administrators can take steps to improve program access for eligible children in several key areas. This paper highlights helpful resources and describes six key opportunities for advocates and program administrators to ensure that all eligible children are certified quickly and easily for free or reduced-price school meals:

Reaching more children in households receiving SNAP benefits (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps) by improving direct certification data matching

Reaching eligible children who receive other means-tested public benefits by expanding direct certification data matching

Reaching children in foster care and homeless, migrant, and runaway children by strengthening processes to directly certify them

Eliminating access barriers by simplifying applications and subsequent communications

Ensuring year-long enrollment by retaining eligible children throughout the school year

Providing free meals to all children in high-poverty schools by utilizing the new community eligibility option

State and local administrators and advocates can use this paper to identify access barriers in their schools and take steps to eliminate them during the coming school year. By planning ahead, they also can make more substantial changes for future years. A checklist of key steps to consider is followed by more detailed descriptions of each.

Checklist of Steps to Improve Program Access

To Improve Direct Certification for Children in Households Receiving SNAP Benefits

Regularly assess progress toward reaching all children in households receiving SNAP benefits

Refine the data matching process

Use any available data to reach all children in the household

Conduct matches as often as possible and develop the capacity to look up individual children

Regularly provide training and guidance for staff

To Expand Direct Certification for Children Receiving Other Means-tested Benefits

Apply to participate in the Medicaid direct certification demonstration project

Strengthen direct certification for children in households receiving TANF cash assistance or FDPIR benefits

To Strengthen Direct Certification for Children in Foster Care and Homeless, Migrant, and Runaway Children

Use data from the state or local child welfare agency to directly certify children in foster care

Use the automatic notification a school receives when a child enters foster care or changes foster homes as the basis for direct certification

Strengthen the direct certification process for homeless, migrant, and runaway children who have been identified by appropriate officials

Complete an application on behalf of an individual child — especially an unaccompanied youth — who is known to be eligible, but whose family has not applied

To Simplify Applications and Encourage Eligible Families to Apply

Provide materials in a language and at a level that parents can understand

Ask only for information necessary to determine eligibility

Reduce the potential for applicants to make calculation errors

Include school meals information in routine contacts with families and communities throughout the school year to encourage newly eligible families to apply

To Retain Eligible Children Throughout the School Year

Eliminate temporary approvals

For children who enroll during the school year, rely on the previous eligibility determination if it can be obtained promptly or conduct a new certification — using direct certification or a new application

Conduct direct verification

For applications that cannot be directly verified, accept the least burdensome form of reliable documentation and clearly explain to parents what they must provide

To Utilize the Community Eligibility Option

Apply to USDA to implement community eligibility during the 2013-2014 school year

For subsequent school years, implement community eligibility in schools or districts that serve predominantly low-income students

Related

Checklist of Steps to Improve Program Access (2pp.)

Related Areas of Research

Food Assistance

Child Nutrition and WIC

Food Stamps

Welfare Reform/TANF

PDF of this report (22pp.) http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3826

See, School Lunches: Report Outlines Steps To Streamline Access To Free And Reduced-Price Meals For Eligible Children http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/06/report-outlines-steps-to-_n_1862392.html?utm_hp_ref=education

Hungry children have more difficulty in focusing and paying attention, their ability to learn is impacted. President Truman saw feeding hungry children as a key part of the national defense.

Resources:

Keeping our children healthy, hunger-free By Dr. Joe Thompson

http://thehill.com/special-reports/healthy-america-september-2011/182803-keeping-our-children-healthy-hunger-free

Hunger in America: 2011 United States Hunger and Poverty Fact, World Hunger Education Service

http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/us_hunger_facts.htm

Congress Pushes Back On Healthier School Lunches, Fights To Keep Pizza And Fries by Mary Clare Jalonick http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/15/congress-pushes-back-on-h_1_n_1094764.html?ref=education

What is a food hub? https://drwilda.com/2012/09/03/what-is-a-food-hub/

Do kids get enough time to eat lunch? https://drwilda.com/2012/08/28/do-kids-get-enough-time-to-eat-lunch/

School dinner programs: Trying to reduce the number of hungry children https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/school-dinner-programs-trying-to-reduce-the-number-of-hungry-children/

School lunches: The political hot potato https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/school-lunches-the-political-hot-potato/

The government that money buys: School lunch cave in by Congress https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/the-government-that-money-buys-school-lunch-cave-in-by-congress/

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Tags: Child Poverty, Effects of Poverty Hunger and Homelessness on Children and Youth:, Healthy School Lunches, history of the school lunch program, Hunger, Key Steps to Improve Access to Free and Reduced-Price School Meals, low-income children, School Lunch Program, School Lunch Program Fact Sheet, School Lunch Program: Efforts Needed to Improve Nutrition and Encourage and Healthy Eating, School Lunches, School Lunches Report Outlines Steps To Streamline Access To Free And Reduced-Price Meals For Eligible Children

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Getting real about homework

9 Sep

Moi wrote about homework in Pros and cons of homework:

Vicki Abeles directed a very popular documentary, “The Race to Nowhere.” John Merrow, education correspondent for PBS writes in the Huffington Post article, ‘Race to Nowhere:’ It’s no ‘Waiting for ‘Superman’, ‘ but it’s Honest:

By now it seems we have all reviewed “Waiting for ‘Superman’,” but what’s surprising is that WFS is just one of four or five movies about education now out. A few weeks ago I reviewed WFS, and now I’ve decided to review the rest of them, beginning with “Race to Nowhere,” the 2009 film made by first-time director (and angry parent) Vicki Abeles.

“Race to Nowhere” is a film about how schools and parental pressure are affecting students’ mental and emotional wellbeing. WFS portrays our schools as undemanding; “Race to Nowhere” says the opposite — that we are killing our kids, figuratively and sometimes literally….

Some moments in “Race to Nowhere” just jump off the screen. One that I found particularly compelling: a young woman speaking on a panel asks her audience to identify the worst question a parent can ask his or her child. Turns out, she says, it’s a one-word question. Just

“And?” As in this circumstance:
Child: “I’m taking three honors courses.”
Parent: “And?”
Child: “Well, I have the lead in the school play.”
Parent: “And?”
Child: “I made the volleyball team.”
Parent: “And?”You get the picture. The parents are never satisfied, and the child can never relax. Life for these students is nothing but stress and unrealistic expectations. The world the film conjures up is all too familiar: students are expected to perform and produce but aren’t given time to play. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-merrow/race-to-nowhere-its-no-wa_b_751330.html

See, Why ‘Race to Nowhere’ documentary is wrong http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/why-race-to-nowhere-documentary-is-wrong/2011/04/03/AFBt27VC_blog.html

Kenneth Goldberg, a clinical psychologist with 35 years of professional experience working with children, adolescents and adults writes in the Washington Post about homework. He is also the author of “The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.” In Why Some Kids Can’t Do Homework And What Teachers Should Do About It, Goldberg writes:

Parents do not send their children to school planning to challenge the system. They are eager for their children to learn and they want to help out if they can. They expect their children will comply. Often, it works. Sometimes, it does not.

Too often, we look at homework noncompliance as a problem of motivation when the fact is that these children simply cannot do the work (or at least do all of the work). These children need homework relief, and, above all, they need for their parents to call the shots….

You may also like:

Why homework is counterproductive

The insanity of too much homework

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/why-some-kids-cant-do-homework-and-what-teachers-should-do-about-it/2012/06/03/gJQAl3cGBV_blog.html

There are benefits for some children to have homework, with limitations to the amount of time needed to complete the homework. https://drwilda.com/2012/06/03/pros-and-cons-of-homework/

John Henrehan of FOX5 News reports in the story, Gaithersburg Elementary School abolishes homework:

Gaithersburg Elementary School has abolished homework. Instead, students are being asked to read a book for about 30 minutes a night.

When Stephanie Brant came aboard as principal two years ago, she and her staff conducted a review of homework assignments.

“We really started evaluating the work that we sent students home with,” explained Principal Brant. “We started looking, and really, it was a lot of worksheets. And the worksheets didn’t match what we were doing instructionally in the classroom. It was just: we were giving students something because we felt we had to give them something.”

So, Brant got permission from the school district to implement a radical experiment: the only homework assigned here is reading….

At Gaithersburg Elementary, students are allowed hall passes to go to the library every day, and they wind up reading many more books.

Principal Brant knows this “reading only” homework policy runs a risk, but so far, the standardized test scores remain solid. In the most recent round of Maryland proficiency exams (2010-2011), fifth graders at Gaithersburg Elementary School scored about 72 percent proficiency in math and about 81 percent proficiency in reading.

What makes those scores particularly impressive is the student body at Gaithersburg Elementary is largely poor and comes from homes where English is not the primary language. About 70 percent of the students come from non-English speaking homes. And 82 percent of the students come from homes where family income is so low that the students are eligible for a free or subsidized lunch.
http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/19477877/gaithersburg-elementary-school-abolishes-homework#.UEpOtLZ3idE.email#ixzz25zSGDNpB

There are pros and cons to whether homework is necessary.

In Is homework a necessary evil? Moi said:

For many students and parents who are high achievers, homework is a pressing issues. Peter Dewitt’s Education Week article, The Homework Debate outlines the issues:

Homework, if given at all, needs to be engaging for a student. If the student is the only one completing it at home, then it should certainly be student-centered because that will increase the likelihood that it will get done at all. The point, however, is to not give students something to do at night as busy work, because they can find their own engaging activities which can be more important to their development than homework.

Things to Remember:

The same homework assignment can take a short or long period to complete depending on the ability of the student

Not all home environments are conducive for completing homework

Students who struggle in school will continue to struggle on homework. The magic of a higher reading ability or math ability doesn’t happen when they walk in their house

Just because the teacher or parent had homework when they were younger doesn’t mean the students have to have homework as well. If educators want students to change with the times, their assignments have to change with the times as well.

Test prep should never be given for homework. It’s boring and sends the message that all the school thinks about is achieving high marks on a test.

Sometimes parents want to help their children with homework but may not know the “right” way or newest way of doing it, which could be counterproductive to getting it done correctly.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2012/02/the_homework_debate.html

https://drwilda.com/2012/04/07/is-homework-a-necessary-evil/

There are certain populations of children who will benefit from homework assignments.

Education is quite often a one-size-fits-all approach. Each population of children is different and education strategies MUST be designed to address the needs of the child. For some children whose backgrounds are not as enriched as others; it may mean homework is necessary to bring them up to grade level. Education programs must be tailored to the needs of each child.

Homework Help http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/school/homework_help.html

Homework Tips for Parents http://www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/involve/homework/homeworktips.pdf

Tags: Gaithersburg Elementary School abolishes homework:, Homework, Homework Tips for Parents, Pros and Cons of Homework, The Homework Debate, The Homework Trap How to Save the Sanity of Parents Students and Teachers, The Race to Nowhere, Why Some Kids Cant Do Homework And What Teachers Should Do About It

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Manhattan Institute study: Evidence that ‘value-added modeling’ may be effective

8 Sep

In New Jersey may eliminate teacher tenure, moi discussed teacher tenure:

A good basic description of teacher tenure as found at teacher tenure. James gives the following definition:

WHAT IS TENURE?

Tenure is a form of job security for teachers who have successfully completed a probationary period. Its primary purpose is to protect competent teachers from arbitrary nonrenewal of contract for reasons unrelated to the educational process — personal beliefs, personality conflicts with administrators or school board members, and the like.

WHAT PROTECTION DOES TENURE OFFER THE PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER?

The type and amount of protection vary from state to state and — depending on agreements with teachers’ unions — may even vary from school district to school district. In general, a tenured teacher is entitled to due process when he or she is threatened with dismissal or nonrenewal of contract for cause: that is, for failure to maintain some clearly defined standard that serves an educational purpose.

Time has a good summary of the history of teacher tenure at A Brief History of Tenure One of the best concise defenses of K-12 teacher tenure is from Cleolaf’s blog at Why K12 Teachers Need Tenure Cleolaf points toward insufficient teacher assessment and evaluation as a prime cause of problems with teacher tenure. Research confirms that good principals are key to high performing schools. Good principals are also the key in Cleolaf’s view to making a tenure system work.

Another view of teacher tenure is found at Teacher Tenure: A Life Sentence for Kids This paper begins with the following case:

In 1986, after school administrators in the El Cajon School District in California spent years documenting the more than 400 reasons for why high school English teacher Juliet Ellory was an unfit teacher, the district finally succeeded in firing her. It cost the district more than $300,000 and eight years of preparing and litigating the case.

According to the overwhelming evidence against her, Ms. Ellory “hardly ever lectured, gave baffling assignments, belittled students and ignored repeated efforts by the high school principal to get her to improve.”1 Ellory’s tenure status had protected her from automatic dismissal. Though stories such as this one do not depict the average K-12 teacher, they are sufficiently widespread to provoke criticism and concern about the state of our public schools, as well as skepticism regarding the actual benefits of teacher tenure.

A key component of reforming teacher tenure is an improved evaluation system for teachers, which focuses on improving traits that produce student achievement.

Teacher Evaluation

The Center has produced a report, which focuses on teacher evaluation.Teacher Evaluation Proper evaluation seems to be key to both addressing many problems teacher tenure was developed to protect from faulty evaluation of a teacher and to improve the quality of those in the teaching profession. Evaluation is just one component, however. New teachers need a proper induction into the profession and mentors to help them hone their skills and methods of teaching. If problems emerge, teachers need proper training and coaching to progress. https://drwilda.com/2012/01/16/new-jersey-may-eliminate-teacher-tenure/ Marcus A.Winters, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute has written the Civic Report, Transforming Tenure: Using Value-Added Modeling to Identify Ineffective Teachers.

Here is the executive summary for Transforming Tenure: Using Value-Added Modeling to Identify Ineffective Teachers:

Executive Summary

Public school teachers in the United States are famously difficult to dismiss. The reason is simple: after three years on the job, most receive tenure—after a brief and subjective evaluation process (typically, a classroom visit or two by an administrator or another teacher) in which few receive negative ratings. Once tenured, teachers are armored against efforts to remove them, and most do not face any serious reevaluation to ensure that their skills stay up to standard. With this traditional approach, tenured teachers sometimes lose their positions for insubordination, criminal conduct, gross neglect, or other reasons—but almost never for simply being bad at the job.

This state of affairs protects teachers (both good and bad) quite well but is clearly harmful to students. The effects of a poor teacher, research has shown, haunt pupils for years afterward. Being assigned to such a teacher reduces the amount that a student learns in school and is associated with lower earnings in adulthood (in part because having an inadequate teacher makes a child more likely to have an early pregnancy and less likely to go to college). An education system that protects bad teachers does a grave disservice to the children in its care.

In recent years, some school districts have experimented with changes in tenure rules. They seek the power to remove ineffective teachers and, in some jurisdictions, to reevaluate teachers throughout their careers.

A keystone of this reform movement is the replacement of subjective evaluation with quantifiable measures of each teacher’s effectiveness. The quantitative method is known as value-added modeling (VAM), a statistical analysis of student scores that seeks to identify how much an individual teacher contributes to a pupil’s progress over the years. The use of VAM in teacher evaluations is growing, but the method remains extremely controversial. Critics often claim that it does not and cannot measure actual teacher quality.

This paper addresses that claim. Part I analyzes data from Florida public schools to show that a VAM score in a teacher’s third year is a good predictor of that teacher’s success in his or her fifth year. Having established that VAM is a useful predictive tool, Part II of the paper addresses the most effective ways that VAM can be used in tenure reform.

VAM is not a perfect measure of teacher quality because, like any statistical test, it is subject to random measurement errors. So it should not be regarded as the “magic bullet” solution to the problem of evaluating teacher performance. However, the method is reliable enough to be part of a sensible policy of tenure reform—one that replaces “automatic” tenure with rigorous evaluation of new candidates and periodic reexamination of those who have already received tenure.

About the Author

Marcus A. Winters is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. He conducts research and writes extensively on education policy, including topics such as school choice, high school graduation rates, accountability, and special education. Winters has performed several studies on a variety of education policy issues including high-stakes testing, performance-pay for teachers, and the effects of vouchers on the public school system. His research has been published in the journals Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Education Finance and Policy, Economics of Education Review, Teachers College Record, and Education Next. His op-ed articles have appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, the New York Post, the New York Daily News, the Weekly Standard, and National Affairs. He is often quoted in the media on education issues. Winters received a B.A. in political science from Ohio University in 2002, and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Arkansas in 2008.

Citation:

Civic Report

No. 70 August 2012

Transforming Tenure: Using Value-Added Modeling to Identify Ineffective Teachers

Marcus Winters, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_70.htm

TAP defines ‘value-added evaluation.”

According to TAP ‘value-added evaluation’ is:

Understanding Value-Added Analysis of Student Achievement

What is Value-Added Analysis?
Value-added analysis is a statistical technique that uses student achievement data over time to measure the learning gains students make. This methodology offers a way to estimate the impact schools and teachers have on student learning isolated from other contributing factors such as family characteristics and socioeconomic background. In other words, value-added analysis provides a way to measure the effect a school or teacher has on student academic performance over the course of a school year or another period of time.

Academic Attainment v. Academic Growth
Academic attainment is the level of achievement a student reaches at a point in time (e.g., on the state standardized test given at the end of any given school year). Usually referred to by a specific numerical score or standard of achievement (e.g., basic, proficient, advanced, etc.), academic attainment levels are what are typically used to rate school and/or teacher performance.

In contrast academic growth is the amount of academic gain or progress a student makes over a period of time (e.g., on the state test given over several grades). Value-added analysis is a methodology to measure academic growth and attribute it to the impact the school or teacher has had on student learning.

Benefits of Using Value-Added Analysis
Value-added analysis provides a more useful indicator of school and teacher performance than looking at student attainment levels, which is commonly used in public education today, for several reasons.

First, value-added analysis provides a more accurate way to measure student academic progress. Value-added analysis tracks the same student over time and compares his/her test scores over several years. In contrast, systems like Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) look at the fourth grade math scores for one year, for example, and compare them to the fourth grade math scores from the previous year. This yields an inaccurate comparison because the groups of students may be significantly different from year to year (Braun, 2005).

Second, value-added analysis provides a measure for how much of an impact the school and individual teachers have on student achievement. Looking at the attainment level of a school or classroom on a state test provides little information about the impact the school or teacher has had on the final score as compared with other influences on student achievement like family background and socioeconomic status. By judging only one score, it is difficult to identify how much of that score was influenced by factors outside of the school as compared to other factors that can be controlled within the school (e.g., the contributions of the teacher and school).

Third, when student achievement is tied to accountability systems, value-added analysis provides a fairer method to measure school and teacher impact on student achievement because it takes into account where a student started the school year academically and how much that student grew. Judging a school’s or teacher’s performance by looking at student academic attainment levels is unfair because some students may enter a teacher’s classroom already at high levels of achievement — or conversely, several grade levels behind their peers. Without considering the academic growth teachers and schools are able to make with their students, some teachers and schools may inaccurately be attributed with making a significant impact while others may be unfairly penalized.

How TAP Schools Use Value-Added Data
School districts that are implementing TAP district-wide often use value-added data to identify schools, grades and content areas that have or have not increased student achievement. These data help district officials plan how to target professional development so that it is most effective for teachers and schools. Districts can also use these data to identify effective teachers and administrators who can be utilized as mentors for others at schools that have not made significant academic gains.

At the school level, TAP leadership teams utilize value-added data to address the instructional needs of teachers both at the individual and group levels. By analyzing teacher value-added scores and comparing them to a teacher’s evaluation scores (based on observations of classroom instruction), leadership teams are able to identify “best practices” that are having a positive impact on student achievement. Leadership teams can then share these best practices with other teachers during weekly cluster group meetings (professional learning communities) to promote effective instruction. Leadership team members also use comparative data to conference with teachers on a one-on-one basis and inform the development of teachers’ individual professional growth plans to reach instructional goals.

At the classroom level, teachers analyze the value-added data from their own students by subgroups (such as high, medium and low performing students) to identify trends in their own instruction. The data may reveal that their instruction is targeted more to a specific subgroup and, as a result, teachers make adjustments in their instruction. This data analysis process allows teachers to meet the needs of all students more effectively and support the individual academic growth of their students regardless of their ability level. http://www.tapsystem.org/policyresearch/policyresearch.taf?page=valueadded

Brookings Institute wrote about ‘value-added models’ in a 2010 report.

Steven Glazerman, Dan Goldhaber, Susanna Loeb , Stephen Raudenbush, and Douglas Staiger wrote in the article, Evaluating Teachers: The Important Role of Value-Added:

The evaluation of teachers based on the contribution they make to the learning of their students, value-added, is an increasingly popular but controversial education reform policy. We highlight and try to clarify four areas of confusion about value-added. The first is between value-added information and the uses to which it can be put. One can, for example, be in favor of an evaluation system that includes value-added information without endorsing the release to the public of value-added data on individual teachers. The second is between the consequences for teachers vs. those for students of classifying and misclassifying teachers as effective or ineffective — the interests of students are not always perfectly congruent with those of teachers. The third is between the reliability of value-added measures of teacher performance and the standards for evaluations in other fields — value-added scores for individual teachers turn out to be about as reliable as performance assessments used elsewhere for high stakes decisions. The fourth is between the reliability of teacher evaluation systems that include value-added vs. those that do not — ignoring value-added typically lowers the reliability of personnel decisions about teachers. We conclude that value-added data has an important role to play in teacher evaluation systems, but that there is much to be learned about how best to use value-added information in human resource decisions. http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports/2010/11/17-evaluating-teachers

The key point is the use of ‘value-added modeling’ may or may not be useful.

Resources:

Leading mathematician debunks ‘value-added’ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/leading-mathematician-debunks-value-added/2011/05/08/AFb999UG_blog.html

Evaluating Value–Added Models for Teacher Accountability http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2004/RAND_MG158.pdf

The National Institute for Excellence in Teaching recommends the following:

Comparisons Among Various Educational Assessment Value-Added Models
William L. Sanders, Presented at “The Power of Two” National Value-Added Conference, October 16, 2006
This paper discusses the differences between value-added models as well as their advantages and disadvantages.

FORUM: “Accountability Gains: Are we measuring achievement gains accurately enough?”
Education Next (2002) No. 2
This forum includes four articles by Dale Ballou, Anita A. Summer, Jay P. Greene and Donald R. McAdams discussing the pros and cons of value-added measurement of student achievement.

Research Brief: The Promise and Peril of Using Value-Added Modeling to Measure Teacher Effectiveness
RAND Corporation (2004)
This brief summarizes the findings of a longer research report, “Evaluating Value-Added Models for Teacher Accountability,” by Daniel F. McCaffrey, Daniel M. Koretz, J.R. Lockwood and Laura S. Hamilton (2004), which compares several value-added models and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of using such methodology for both diagnostic and accountability purposes.

Roundtable Discussion on Value-Added Analysis of Student Achievement: A Summary of Findings
The Working Group on Teacher Quality (2007)
Summarized from a roundtable discussion held in October 2007 among policymakers, researchers and practitioners, this document presents major themes, findings and lessons learned in value-added analysis of student achievement. The purpose of the discussion was to create a broader understanding of how value-added analysis of student achievement can be used as an indicator of teacher effectiveness and the implications this has for policy and practice.

Using Student Progress to Evaluate Teachers: A Primer on Value-Added Models
Henry I. Braun (September 2005)
This policy perspective provides reader-friendly information on the more technical issues associated with value-added modeling.

Value-Added Modeling: The Challenge of Measuring Educational Outcomes
Barbara Elizabeth Stewart (2006)
This article provides a summary of the history, definition, strengths and weaknesses of value-added modeling.

Websites

Battelle for Kids
Battelle for Kids is a non-profit organization based in Ohio, whose activities include helping districts and schools use value-added data to improve their instruction.

Houston Independent School District’s Accelerating Student Progress, Increasing Results & Expectations (ASPIRE) Program
This website provides information on the value-added model used in Houston Independent School District’s ASPIRE program. The site includes a guide to value-added for parents and families.

Report: Measuring teacher effectiveness https://drwilda.com/2012/06/13/report-measuring-teacher-effectiveness/

Tags: A Brief History of Tenure, Evaluating Teachers The Important Role of Value-Added, TAP, Teacher Evaluation, Teacher Tenure, Teacher Tenure A Life Sentence for Kids, Transforming Tenure Using Value-Added Modeling to Identify Ineffective Teachers, Understanding Value-Added Analysis of Student Achievement, Value-added modeling, Why K12 Teachers Need Tenure

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Categories Dr Wilda

Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine study: Kids with autism more likely to be bullied

6 Sep

In Autism and children of color, moi said:

The number of children with autism appears to be growing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides statistics on the number of children with autism in the section Data and Statistics:

Prevalence

It is estimated that between 1 in 80 and 1 in 240 with an average of 1 in 110 children in the United States have an ASD. [Read article]

ASDs are reported to occur in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups, yet are on average 4 to 5 times more likely to occur in boys than in girls. However, we need more information on some less studied populations and regions around the world. [Read article]

Studies in Asia, Europe, and North America have identified individuals with an ASD with an approximate prevalence of 0.6% to over 1%. A recent study in South Korea reported a prevalence of 2.6%. [Data table ]

Approximately 13% of children have a developmental disability, ranging from mild disabilities such as speech and language impairments to serious developmental disabilities, such as intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, and autism. [Read article]

Learn more about prevalence of ASDs »

Learn more about the ADDM Project »

Learn more about the MADDSP Project »

On this Page

Prevalence

Risk Factors and Characteristics

Diagnosis

Economic Costs

References

Related Pages

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html

In order for children with autism to reach their full potential there must be early diagnosis and treatment. https://drwilda.com/2012/03/27/autism-and-children-of-color/

Science Daily is reporting in the article, Study Details Bullying Involvement for Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder:

A study based on information collected from 920 parents suggests an estimated 46.3 percent of adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder were the victims of bullying, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, a JAMA Network publication….

The prevalence of bullying involvement for adolescents with an ASD was 46.3 percent for victimization and was “substantially higher” than the national prevalence estimates for the general adolescent population (10.6 percent). The rates of perpetration of bullying (14.8 percent) and victimization/perpetration (8.9 percent, i.e. those who perpetrate and are victimized), were about equivalent to national estimates found among typically developing adolescents, according to the study results.

Victimization was related to having a non-Hispanic ethnicity, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, lower social skills, some form of conversational ability, and more classes in general education. Perpetration was correlated with being white, having attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and getting together with friends at least once a week. Victimization/perpetration was associated with being white non-Hispanic, having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and getting together with friends at least once a week, the results indicate.

“Future interventions should incorporate content that addresses the core deficits of adolescents with an ASD, which limits their verbal ability to report bullying incidents,” the authors comment. “Schools should incorporate strategies that address conversational difficulties and the unique challenges of those with comorbid conditions.”

The authors also concluded: “Inclusive classrooms need to increase the social integration of adolescents with an ASD into protective peer groups while also enhancing the empathy and social skills of typically developing students toward their peers with an ASD and other developmental disabilities.” http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120903221126.htm

Citation:

Bullying Involvement and Autism Spectrum Disorders Prevalence and Correlates of Bullying Involvement Among Adolescents With an Autism Spectrum Disorder ONLINE FIRST

Paul R. Sterzing, PhD, MSSW; Paul T. Shattuck, PhD; Sarah C. Narendorf, PhD, MSW; Mary Wagner, PhD; Benjamin P. Cooper, MPH

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. Published online September 03, 2012. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2012.790

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Published online September 2012

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ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT | METHODS | RESULTS | COMMENT | AUTHOR INFORMATION | REFERENCES

Objectives To produce nationally representative estimates for rates of bullying involvement among adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), to compare population estimates with adolescents who have other developmental disabilities, and to identify social ecological correlates of bullying involvement.

Design Nationally representative surveys from 2001.

Setting United States.

Participants Parents of adolescents with an ASD, principals of the schools they attended, and staff members most familiar with their school programs.

Main Exposure Autism spectrum disorders.

Main Outcome Measures Parent report of victimization, perpetration, and victimization/perpetration within the past school year.

Results The prevalence rates of bullying involvement for adolescents with an ASD were 46.3% for victimization, 14.8% for perpetration, and 8.9% for victimization/perpetration. Victimization was related to having a non-Hispanic ethnicity, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, lower social skills, some form of conversational ability, and more classes in general education. Correlates of perpetration included being white, having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and getting together with friends at least once a week. Victimization/perpetration was associated with being white non-Hispanic, having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and getting together with friends at least once a week.

Conclusions School-based bullying interventions need to target the core deficits of ASD (conversational ability and social skills) and comorbid conditions (eg, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder). Future bullying interventions also need to address the higher rates of victimization that occur in general education settings by increasing social integration into protective peer groups and increasing the empathy and social skills of typically developing students toward their peers with an ASD.

Journal Reference:

Sterzing PR, Shattuck PT, Narendorf SC, Wagner M, Cooper BP. Bullying Involvement and Autism Spectrum Disorders: Prevalence and Correlates of Bullying Involvement Among Adolescents With an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2012; DOI: 10.1001/archpediatrics.2012.790

There are signs that a particular child may be vulnerable to bullying.

In School bullying: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency report, moi wrote:

The Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency has issued the report, Bullying in Schools: An Overview by Ken Seeley, Martin L. Tombari, Laurie J. Bennett, and Jason B. Dunkle. Among the study’s findings are:

Bullying is a complex social and emotional phenomenon that plays out differently on an individual level.

Bullying does not directly cause truancy.

School engagement protects victims from truancy and low academic achievement.

When schools provide a safe learning environment in which adults model positive behavior, they can mitigate the negative effects of bullying.

Any interventions to address bullying or victimization should be intentional, student-focused engagement strategies that fit the context of the school where they are used.

The report makes the following recommendations:

Increase student engagement.

Model caring behavior for students.

Offer mentoring programs.

Provide students with opportunities for service learning as a means of improving school engagement.

Address the difficult transition between elementary and middle school (from a single classroom teacher to teams of teachers with periods and class changes in a large school) (Lohaus et al., 2004).

Start prevention programs early.

Resist the temptation to use prefabricated curriculums that are not aligned to local conditions.

Increase Student Engagement

Bullied children who remain engaged in school attend class more frequently and achieve more. Challenging academics, extracurricular activities, understanding teachers and coaches, and a focus on the future help keep victimized children engaged in their education (Bausell, 2011). Schools, administrations, and districts that wish to stave off the negative effects of bullying must redouble their efforts to engage each student in school. Typical school engagement strategies include (Karcher, 2005):

• Providing a caring adult for every student through an advisory program or similar arrangement.

Carefully monitoring attendance, calling home each time a student is absent, and allowing students the ability to make up missed work with support from a teacher.

Adopting and implementing the National School Climate Standards from the National School Climate Council (2010).

Promoting and fostering parent and community engagement, including afterschool and summer programs.

Providing school-based mentorship options for students. http://www.ojjdp.gov/pubs/234205.pdf

See, School Bullying Report Makes Recommendations To Address Issue, Support Victims http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/17/school-bullying-report-ma_n_1155250.html?ref=email_share

Hurting people often hurt other people.

Joyce Meyer

https://drwilda.com/2011/12/20/school-bullying-office-of-juvenile-justice-and-delinquency-report/

Father’s age may be linked to Autism and Schizophrenia https://drwilda.com/2012/08/26/fathers-age-may-be-linked-to-autism-and-schizophrenia/

Tags: Autism, Bullying in Schools An Overview, Bullying Involvement and Autism Spectrum Disorders Prevalence and Correlates of Bullying Involvement Among Adolescents With an Autism Spectrum Disorder, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, School Bullying Report Makes Recommendations To Address Issue Support Victims, Study Details Bullying Involvement for Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder, The Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

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Categories Dr Wilda

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1. Pick your battles.

2. Provide solutions.

3. Smile and stay calm (if only for appearances).

4. Get support.

5. Get it in writing.

6. Keep your child’s self-esteem in mind.

7. Become an expert in substitutions.

8. Grow a thick skin.

9. Show you care.

10. Say “Thank you” when things go right.

Brookings Study Does Not Support Claim that Vouchers Boosted College Enrollment

Contact

William J. Mathis, (802) 383-0058, wmathis@sover.net Sara Goldrick-Rab, (608) 265-2141, srab@education.wisc.edu

What is NAEP?

What is the difference between state NAEP and national NAEP?

What are the goals of the NAEP program?

Is participation in NAEP voluntary?

Are the data confidential?

Who are the students assessed by NAEP?

Who evaluates NAEP?

How do I know what publications are available from NAEP and how do I get them?

College Indicators

Hazy Work Picture

What , if anything, do education tests mean? https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/what-if-anything-do-education-tests-mean/

Complete College America report: The failure of remediation https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/complete-college-america-report-the-failure-of-remediation/

What the ACT college readiness assessment means https://drwilda.com/2012/08/25/what-the-act-college-readiness-assessment-means/

Education at a Glance 2012: OECD Indicators

Education at a Glance 2012: OECD Indicators The 2012 edition of Education at a Glance enables countries to see themselves in the light of other countries’ educational performance.

10 Benefits of Family Dinners

10 Tips for Organizing Family Dinners

FAQ

8 Reasons to Make Time for Family Dinner http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20339151,00.html

The Family Dinner Deconstructed http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18753715

The Magic of the Family Meal http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1200760,00.html

How to know if your child has a learning disability http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/advice/how-to-know-if-your-child-has-a-learning-disability/2012/05/08/gIQAvzLvAU_story.html

If You Suspect a Child Has a Learning Disability http://www.ncld.org/parents-child-disabilities/ld-testing/if-you-suspect-child-has-learning-disability

Learning Disabilities in Children http://www.helpguide.org/mental/learning_disabilities.htm

Learning Disabilities (LD) http://nichcy.org/disability/specific/ld

Checklist of Steps to Improve Program Access

Related

Related Areas of Research

Congress Pushes Back On Healthier School Lunches, Fights To Keep Pizza And Fries by Mary Clare Jalonick http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/15/congress-pushes-back-on-h_1_n_1094764.html?ref=education

School dinner programs: Trying to reduce the number of hungry children https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/school-dinner-programs-trying-to-reduce-the-number-of-hungry-children/

School lunches: The political hot potato https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/school-lunches-the-political-hot-potato/

The government that money buys: School lunch cave in by Congress https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/the-government-that-money-buys-school-lunch-cave-in-by-congress/

Understanding Value-Added Analysis of Student Achievement

Websites

Study: Teacher merit pay works in some situations https://drwilda.com/2012/07/27/study-teacher-merit-pay-works-in-some-situations/

Report: Measuring teacher effectiveness https://drwilda.com/2012/06/13/report-measuring-teacher-effectiveness/

Prevalence

On this Page

Bullying Involvement and Autism Spectrum Disorders Prevalence and Correlates of Bullying Involvement Among Adolescents With an Autism Spectrum Disorder ONLINE FIRST

ABSTRACT

Father’s age may be linked to Autism and Schizophrenia https://drwilda.com/2012/08/26/fathers-age-may-be-linked-to-autism-and-schizophrenia/

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William J. Mathis, (802) 383-0058, wmathis@sover.net
Sara Goldrick-Rab, (608) 265-2141, srab@education.wisc.edu

Education at a Glance 2012: OECD Indicators

The 2012 edition of Education at a Glance enables countries to see themselves in the light of other countries’ educational performance.