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The 11/08/13 Joy Jar

As the holiday season begins and Christmas is not that far off, thoughts turn to the future. As long as one is breathing, one has a future. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is hope for the future.

Love God, hope for the future and have faith in yourself and people.
Jonathan Pelaez Yutan

Life is the ability to see what you can become before you realize what you’ve become, it is the hope for the future and the happenings of the past.
Frederica Ehimen

One should not brood on the past, one must hope for the future.
Jean Plaidy

Live for today, love for tomorrow, and laugh at all your yesterdays. Never regret the past, always hope for the future, and cherish every moment you have.
Nishan Panwar

The highest knowledge is to know that we are surrounded by mystery. Neither knowledge nor hope for the future can be the pivot of our life or determine its direction. It is intended to be solely determined by our allowing ourselves to be gripped by the ethical God, who reveals Himself in us, and by our yielding our will to His.
Albert Schweitzer

“The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.”
Abraham Lincoln quotes

Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present toward the future.”
Denis Waitley

“Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed.”
Wayne Dyer

My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there”
Charles F. Kettering

What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.
Agnes M Pharo

Tags: Dr Wilda, Hope, Hope for the Future, Joy Jar

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The 11/07/13 Joy Jar

8 Nov

Every day aside from the fact that God has given one another day to live, one should be thankful for their Blessings. Every person is Blessed, no matter their material circumstance because each day offers hope of a better day and better tomorrow. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ are the Blessings of each day.

A sunbeam to warm you,
A moonbeam to charm you,
A sheltering angel, so nothing can harm you.
Irish Blessing

May you live as long as you are fit to live, but no longer! or, may you rather die before you cease to be fit to live than after!
Philip Dormer Stanhope, 1749

Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.
Socrates

Be true to yourself, help others, make each day your masterpiece, make friendship a fine art, drink deeply from good books – especially the Bible, build a shelter against a rainy day, give thanks for your blessings and pray for guidance every day.
John Wooden

Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself, and know that everything in life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let us have patience and we soon shall see them in their proper figures.
Joseph Addison

What if you gave someone a gift, and they neglected to thank you for it – would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must truly appreciate what you already have.
Ralph Marston

The Bible is one of the greatest blessings bestowed by God on the children of men. It has God for its author; salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture for its matter. It is all pure.
John Locke

Envy is the art of counting the other fellow’s blessings instead of your own.
Harold Coffin

Of the blessings set before you make your choice, and be content.
Samuel Johnson

A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses.
Hippocrates

On the recollection of so many and great favours and blessings, I now, with a high sense of gratitude, presume to offer up my sincere thanks to the Almighty, the Creator and Preserver.
William Bartram

Tags: Blessings, Dr Wilda, Grace, Joy Jar

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The 11/06/13 Joy Jar

8 Nov

The ‘Joy Jar’ is a year-long exercise in finding something to be grateful for every day. It will end on December 25, 2013. During the year, moi has put hundreds of thought nuggets into the ‘Joy Jar.’ The only thing that ties the authors together is their individuality. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is individuality.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, but clones kind of get it wrong because we are promoting individuality and being proud of being yourself.
Brian Molko

A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that ‘individuality’ is the key to success.
Robert Orben

Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Resistance to the organized mass can be effected only by the man who is as well organized in his individuality as the mass itself.
Carl Jung

All greatness of character is dependent on individuality. The man who has no other existence than that which he partakes in common with all around him, will never have any other than an existence of mediocrity.
James F. Cooper

It is those who concentrates on but one thing at a time who advance in this world. The great man or woman is the one who never steps outside his or her specialty or foolishly dissipates his or her individuality.
Og Mandino

If a man is not faithful to his own individuality, he cannot be loyal to anything.
Claude McKay

Individuality is founded in feeling; and the recesses of feeling, the darker, blinder strata of character, are the only places in the world in which we catch real fact in the making, and directly perceive how events happen, and how work is actually done.
William James

It is a blessed thing that in every age some one has had the individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own convictions.
Robert Green Ingersoll

You lose your individuality a huge amount when you have no money, and I certainly had that experience.
J. K. Rowling

The reason most people don’t express their individuality and actually deny it, is not fear of what prime ministers think of us or the head of the federal reserve, It’s what their families and their friends down at the bar are going to think of them.
David Icke

In a society that tries to standardize thinking, individuality is not highly prized.
Alex Grey

Whatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it may be called and whether it professes to be enforcing the will of God or the injunctions of men.
John Stuart Mill

The four cornerstones of character on which the structure of this nation was built are: Initiative, Imagination, Individuality and Independence.
Eddie Rickenbacker

What is genius but the power of expressing a new individuality?
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

No one should part with their individuality and become that of another.
William Ellery Channing

Tags: Dr Wilda, Individuality, j k rowling, James F. Cooper, John Stuart Mill, Joy Jar, Og Mandino, Personality, William Ellery Channing, William James

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University of Georgia study: Teachers of color reduce African-American teen pregnancy rate

8 Nov

Moi wrote in New Harvard study about impact of teachers:
The Guide to Teacher Quality lists several key attributes of a quality teacher:

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT TEACHER QUALITY
• Experience is very important. The ability of a new teacher to support student learning
increases greatly during his/her first year of teaching and continues to grow through at least the
first several years of teaching (Clotfelter, Ladd & Vigdor, 2007; Clotfelter, Ladd & Vigdor, 2004;
Hanushek et al., 1998).
• Teacher attrition matters. Districts and schools with relatively high rates of teacher
attrition are likely to have more inexperienced teachers and, as a result, instructional quality
and student learning suffer (Alliance for Quality Teaching, 2008).
• Ability matters. Teachers with higher scores on college admission or licensure tests as well
as those from colleges with more selective admission practices are better able to support student
learning (Gitomer, 2007; Rice, 2003; Wayne and Youngs, 2003; Reichardt, 2001; Ferguson
& Ladd, 1996; Greenwald, Hedges & Laine, 1996).
• Teachers’ subject matter knowledge helps students learn. Students learn when their
teacher knows the subject, particularly in secondary science and mathematics (Floden &
Meniketti, 2006; Rice, 2003; Wayne and Youngs, 2003; Reichardt, 2001).
• Preparation and training in how to teach makes a difference. Knowing how to teach
improves student learning, particularly when a teacher is in his/her first years of teaching (Rice,
2003; Allen, 2003; Boyd, Grossman, Lankford, Loeb & Wyckoff, 2005).
• Teacher diversity may also be important. There is emerging evidence that students learn
better from teachers of similar racial and ethnic background (Dee, 2004; Dee, 2001; Hanushek
et al. 1998).
One of the important attributes is the subject matter knowledge of the teacher. These findings are particularly important in light of the study, The Long-Term Impacts of Teachers: TeacherValue-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood by Raj Chetty, Harvard University and NBER , John N. Friedman, Harvard University and NBER, and Jonah E. Rockoff, Columbia University and NBER Manuscript (NBER WP17699)
https://drwilda.com/2012/01/08/new-harvard-study-about-impact-of-teachers/

Ideally, parents would talk with their children about sexuality and pregnancy issues. Many children don’t have family support and teachers often fill the role of parent for many children.

April Reese Sorrow reported in the PhysOrg article, Minority teachers reduce African-American teen pregnancy rates:

Nationwide, 34 percent of girls get pregnant at least once before age 20, according to a study for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. In Georgia, 86 out of every 1,000 African-American girls age 15-19 and 58 of 1,000 white teens become pregnant. According to new research from the University of Georgia, increasing minority teachers can improve these health outcomes.

“African-American teachers drive down African-American teenage pregnancy rates,” said Vicky Wilkins, who co-authored a paper on the subject appearing in the October issue of the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.

Looking at Georgia public school data from 143 districts from 2002-2006, Wilkins and former graduate student Danielle Atkins compared teacher representation in high schools and teen pregnancy rates reported by district to the Georgia Department of Community Health. They found increasing the number of minority teachers decreases teen pregnancy among those populations.

“You do not see a decrease in teen pregnancy for African-American teenagers until you reach a critical mass of African-American teacher representation,” said Wilkins, who is an associate professor of public administration and policy in the UGA School of Public and International Affairs. “We identified 17.6 percent as the tipping point where the percentage of African-American teachers started to significantly lower the African-American teen pregnancy rate.”

Study findings show a 10 percent increase in African-American teachers would result in six fewer African-American teen pregnancies per district. Districts with 20 to 29 percent African-American teachers resulted in a significant decrease in teen pregnancy, 18.8 fewer pregnancies per 1,000 students.

“The number of pregnancies continues to drop as representation increases,” Wilkins said. “When there are few African-American teachers in a school, we observe no effect on African-American teen pregnancies.”

An increase in African-American teachers has no effect on teenage pregnancy rates among white students. Similarly, representation of white teachers has no effect onteenage pregnancy among white students. The results also reveal increased African-American student population, unemployment and higher white teen pregnancy rates are all associated with higher African-American pregnancy rates.

To further understand the influence of minority teacher representation, Wilkins and Atkins interviewed a convenience sample of 11 high school teachers and one school district administrator. Teachers represented several high schools, in both majority-majority and majority-minority settings. Asking about the influence teachers can have on student behaviors both inside and outside the classroom, discussions with teachers and the administrator offered insights into the influence that teachers have in educational and non-educational decisions of their students.
Interview results reveal race-match was important for role modeling with regard to non-educational outcomes.

“All of the African-American female teachers we spoke with shared example after example of both male and female African-American students asking questions about relationship choices and decisions,” Wilkins said.

Both male and female students would ask for advice on premarital sex, how to treat a girlfriend or boyfriend and about parenting. These questions often lead to frank discussions about contraception, pregnancy and risky behaviors.
http://phys.org/news/2013-11-minority-teachers-african-american-teen-pregnancy.html

Here is the press release from the University of Georgia:

Minority teachers reduce African-American teen pregnancy rates
November 5, 2013
Athens, Ga. – Nationwide, 34 percent of girls get pregnant at least once before age 20, according to a study for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. In Georgia, 86 out of every 1,000 African-American girls age 15-19 and 58 of 1,000 white teens become pregnant. According to new research from the University of Georgia, increasing minority teachers can improve these health outcomes.
“African-American teachers drive down African-American teenage pregnancy rates,” said Vicky Wilkins, who co-authored a paper on the subject appearing in the October issue of the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.
Looking at Georgia public school data from 143 districts from 2002-2006, Wilkins and former graduate student Danielle Atkins compared teacher representation in high schools and teen pregnancy rates reported by district to the Georgia Department of Community Health. They found increasing the number of minority teachers decreases teen pregnancy among those populations.
“You do not see a decrease in teen pregnancy for African-American teenagers until you reach a critical mass of African-American teacher representation,” said Wilkins, who is an associate professor of public administration and policy in the UGA School of Public and International Affairs. “We identified 17.6 percent as the tipping point where the percentage of African-American teachers started to significantly lower the African-American teen pregnancy rate.”
Study findings show a 10 percent increase in African-American teachers would result in six fewer African-American teen pregnancies per district. Districts with 20 to 29 percent African-American teachers resulted in a significant decrease in teen pregnancy, 18.8 fewer pregnancies per 1,000 students.
“The number of pregnancies continues to drop as representation increases,” Wilkins said. “When there are few African-American teachers in a school, we observe no effect on African-American teen pregnancies.”
An increase in African-American teachers has no effect on teenage pregnancy rates among white students. Similarly, representation of white teachers has no effect on teenage pregnancy among white students. The results also reveal increased African-American student population, unemployment and higher white teen pregnancy rates are all associated with higher African-American pregnancy rates.
To further understand the influence of minority teacher representation, Wilkins and Atkins interviewed a convenience sample of 11 high school teachers and one school district administrator. Teachers represented several high schools, in both majority-majority and majority-minority settings. Asking about the influence teachers can have on student behaviors both inside and outside the classroom, discussions with teachers and the administrator offered insights into the influence that teachers have in educational and non-educational decisions of their students.
Interview results reveal race-match was important for role modeling with regard to non-educational outcomes.
“All of the African-American female teachers we spoke with shared example after example of both male and female African-American students asking questions about relationship choices and decisions,” Wilkins said.
Both male and female students would ask for advice on premarital sex, how to treat a girlfriend or boyfriend and about parenting. These questions often lead to frank discussions about contraception, pregnancy and risky behaviors.
“Our discussions convinced us that, although any teacher can serve as a role model, African-American students seek out role models that look like them, particularly with regard to non-educational issues,” Wilkins said.
Wilkins has done previous research looking at how minority teachers increase educational benefits for minority students.
“I think we have to consider the broad impacts of minority teacher representation. It is an important consideration for hiring and training of teachers, and we have to be aware of the role that community and culture play in discussions of risky behaviors,” Wilkins said.
The full article is available online,http://jpart.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/02/14/jopart.mut001.abstract.

Every population of kids is different and they arrive at school at various points on the ready to learn continuum. Schools and teachers must be accountable, but there should be various measures of judging teacher effectiveness for a particular population of children.

Is there a ‘model minority’ ?? https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/06/23/is-there-a-model-minority/

Dropout prevention: More schools offering daycare for students https://drwilda.com/tag/high-schools-offer-day-care-services-for-teen-parents-to-prevent-dropouts/

Talking to your teen about risky behaviors https://drwilda.com/2012/06/07/talking-to-your-teen-about-risky-behaviors/

Many young people don’t know they are infected with HIV https://drwilda.com/tag/disproportionate-numbers-of-young-people-have-hiv-dont-know-it/

Title IX also mandates access to education for pregnant students https://drwilda.com/2012/06/19/title-ix-also-mandates-access-to-education-for-pregnant-students/

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Tags: " said Vicky Wilkins, " said Wilkins, " Wilkins said. "When there are few African-American teachers in a school, " Wilkins said. Both male and female students would ask for advice on premarital sex, " Wilkins said. The full article is available online, " Wilkins said. Wilkins has done previous research looking at how minority teachers increase educational benefits for minority students. "I think we have to consider the broad impacts of minority teac, 000 African-American girls age 15-19 and 58 of 1, 000 students. "The number of pregnancies continues to drop as representation increases, 000 white teens become pregnant. According to new research from the University of Georgia, 18.8 fewer pregnancies per 1, 1996). • Teachers’ subject matter knowledge helps students learn. Students learn when their teacher knows the subject, 1996; Greenwald, 1998). • Teacher attrition matters. Districts and schools with relatively high rates of teacher attrition are likely to have more inexperienced teachers and, 2001). • Preparation and training in how to teach makes a difference. Knowing how to teach improves student learning, 2001; Ferguson & Ladd, 2001; Hanushek et al. 1998). One of the important attributes is the subject matter knowledge of the teacher. These findings are particularly important in light of the study, 2003; Allen, 2003; Boyd, 2003; Reichardt, 2003; Wayne and Youngs, 2004; Dee, 2004; Hanushek et al., 2005). • Teacher diversity may also be important. There is emerging evidence that students learn better from teachers of similar racial and ethnic background (Dee, 2006; Rice, 2007; Clotfelter, 2007; Rice, 2008). • Ability matters. Teachers with higher scores on college admission or licensure tests as well as those from colleges with more selective admission practices are better able to support studen, 2013 Athens, 34 percent of girls get pregnant at least once before age 20, 86 out of every 1, according to a study for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. In Georgia, African-American students seek out role models that look like them, although any teacher can serve as a role model, and Jonah E. Rockoff, and we have to be aware of the role that community and culture play in discussions of risky behaviors, as a result, but there should be various measures of judging teacher effectiveness for a particular population of children. Related: Is there a ‘model minority’ ?? https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/06/23/is-th, Columbia University and NBER Manuscript (NBER WP17699) https://drwilda.com/2012/01/08/new-harvard-study-about-impact-of-teachers/ Ideally, discussions with teachers and the administrator offered insights into the influence that teachers have in educational and non-educational decisions of their students. Interview results reveal race-mat, Ga. - Nationwide, Grossman, Harvard University and NBER, Hedges & Laine, how to treat a girlfriend or boyfriend and about parenting. These questions often lead to frank discussions about contraception, http://jpart.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/02/14/jopart.mut001.abstract. Every population of kids is different and they arrive at school at various points on the ready to learn continuum. Scho, in both majority-majority and majority-minority settings. Asking about the influence teachers can have on student behaviors both inside and outside the classroom, increasing minority teachers can improve these health outcomes. "African-American teachers drive down African-American teenage pregnancy rates, instructional quality and student learning suffer (Alliance for Quality Teaching, John N. Friedman, Ladd & Vigdor, Lankford, Loeb & Wyckoff, Minority teachers reduce African-American teen pregnancy rates:, Minority teachers reduce African-American teen pregnancy rates: Nationwide, Moi wrote in New Harvard study about impact of teachers: The Guide to Teacher Quality lists several key attributes of a quality teacher: WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT TEACHER QUALITY • Experience is very impor, parents would talk with their children about sexuality and pregnancy issues. Many children don’t have family support and teachers often fill the role of parent for many children. April Reese Sorrow , particularly in secondary science and mathematics (Floden & Meniketti, particularly when a teacher is in his/her first years of teaching (Rice, particularly with regard to non-educational issues, pregnancy and risky behaviors. "Our discussions convinced us that, pregnancy and risky behaviors. http://phys.org/news/2013-11-minority-teachers-african-american-teen-pregnancy.html Here is the press release from the University of Georgia: Minority teachers reduce Af, representation of white teachers has no effect on teenage pregnancy among white students. The results also reveal increased African-American student population, representation of white teachers has no effect onteenage pregnancy among white students. The results also reveal increased African-American student population, teen pregnancies, Teen Pregnancy, teenage pregnancy, The Long-Term Impacts of Teachers: TeacherValue-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood by Raj Chetty, unemployment and higher white teen pregnancy rates are all associated with higher African-American pregnancy rates. To further understand the influence of minority teacher representation, University of Georgia, we observe no effect on African-American teen pregnancies." An increase in African-American teachers has no effect on teenage pregnancy rates among white students. Similarly, who co-authored a paper on the subject appearing in the October issue of the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. Looking at Georgia public school data from 143 districts from 2002-20, who is an associate professor of public administration and policy in the UGA School of Public and International Affairs. "We identified 17.6 percent as the tipping point where the percentage of Africa, Wilkins and Atkins interviewed a convenience sample of 11 high school teachers and one school district administrator. Teachers represented several high schools, Wilkins and former graduate student Danielle Atkins compared teacher representation in high schools and teen pregnancy rates reported by district to the Georgia Department of Community Health. They fo

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Harvard and Princeton study: Charter schools benefit low-income students

6 Nov

Moi wrote in A charter school for young entrepreneurs shows the diversity of charters: Charter schools invoke passion on both sides of the argument as to whether they constitute good public policy. A good analysis of the issues can be found at Public Policy Forum Charter Schools: Issues and Outlooks http://www.rockinst.org/pdf/public_policy_forums/2007-03-28-public_policy_forum_charter_schools_issues_and_outlook_presented_by_judy_doesschate_and_william_lake.pdf presented by Judy Doesschate and William Lake Another good summary of the arguments for and against school choice can be found at Learning Matters analysis which came from the PBS program , News Hour. In DISCUSS: Is School Choice Good Or Bad For Public Education? several educators examine school choice issues. http://learningmatters.tv/blog/web-series/discuss-is-school-choice-good-or-bad-for-public-education/8575/

A charter school for young entrepreneurs shows the diversity of charters

Brenda Cronin reported in the Wall Street Journal article, Charter School Benefits Extend Beyond Classroom:

The benefits of a charter school extend well beyond higher test scores and academic performance. Students at the Promise Academy in Harlem fared better than their peers in and outside the classroom, with lower rates of incarceration and teen pregnancy, new research shows.
Harvard’s Roland G. Fryer, Jr. and Princeton’s Will Dobbie tracked more than 400 sixth-grade students who won spots at the Promise Academy, a turbo-charged charter school in Harlem, through lotteries in 2005 and 2006.
For their paper, “The Medium-Term Impacts of High-Achieving Charter Schools on Non-Test Score Outcomes,” the economists tapped data from the Harlem Children’s Zone, the New York City Department of Education and the National Student Clearinghouse. They also followed the students throughout high school and compared survey results with non-lottery winners. They found strikingly improved “human capital” and diminished “risky behaviors” among lottery winners — but note that this particular school, and its supportive environment, may not be representative of other high-performing charter schools.
The Promise Academy, in New York City, offers a particularly intensive program for at-risk neighborhood students. The school is located in the Harlem Children’s Zone, a 97-block area that offers a host of programs to promote social well-being and advancement to low-income families. More than 8,000 youth and 5,000 adults benefit from HCZ programs each year.
Students at the Promise Academy have longer school days and school years than their counterparts elsewhere. They also have access to after-school tutoring and weekend classes for remedial help in math and English. Teachers at the school are evaluated and receive incentives to improve performance. The authors note that the school employs “extensive data-driven monitoring to track student progress and differentiate instruction, with students who have not met the required benchmarks receiving small-group tutoring.”
That focus appears to be yielding results: surveys completed by the students — who were paid between $40 and $200 to participate — show that teenage girls who won the school lottery were 12.1 percentage points less likely to be pregnant; boys who won the lottery to Promise Academy were 4.3 percentage points less likely to be in prison or jail than counterparts who didn’t land spots in the school. Lottery winners scored higher on math and reading exams; they also were more likely to take and pass exams in courses such as chemistry and geometry. They also were 14.1 percentage points more likely to enroll in college.
Other survey questions revealed little difference between Promise Academy students and those not at the school in areas such as mental health, obesity, or drug and alcohol use.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/10/30/charter-school-benefits-extend-beyond-classroom/?mod=wsj_valettop_email

Citation:

The Medium-Term Impacts of High-Achieving Charter Schools on Non-Test Score Outcomes
Will Dobbie, Roland G. Fryer, Jr
NBER Working Paper No. 19581
Issued in October 2013
NBER Program(s): CH ED LS
High-performing charter schools can significantly increase the test scores of poor urban students. It is unclear whether these test score gains translate into improved outcomes later in life. We estimate the effects of high-performing charter schools on human capital, risky behaviors, and health outcomes using survey data from the Promise Academy in the Harlem Children’s Zone. Six years after the random admissions lottery, youth offered admission to the Promise Academy middle school score 0.283 standard deviations higher on a nationally-normed math achievement test and are 14.1 percentage points more likely to enroll in college. Admitted females are 12.1 percentage points less likely to be pregnant in their teens, and males are 4.3 percentage points less likely to be incarcerated. We find little impact of the Promise Academy on self-reported health. We conclude with speculative evidence that high-performing schools may be sufficient to significantly improve human capital and reduce certain risky behaviors among the poor.

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Moi wrote in Study: Charters forcing public schools to compete and improve: Marc J. Holley, Anna J. Egalite, and Martin F. Lueken wrote in the Education Next article, Competition with Charters Motivates Districts:

But in order for this to happen, districts must first recognize the need to compete for students and then make efforts to attract those students, who now have the chance to go elsewhere. Since 2007, enrollment in charter schools has jumped from 1.3 million to 2 million students, an increase of 59 percent. The school choice movement is gaining momentum, but are districts responding to the competition? In this study we investigate whether district officials in a position to influence policy and practice have begun to respond to competitive pressure from school choice in new ways. Specifically, we probe whether district officials in urban settings across the country believe they need to compete for students. If they do, what is the nature of their response?
A small number of studies and numerous media reports have attempted to capture the reactions of public school officials to these new threats to their enrollments and revenues. A few reports of obstructionist behavior by districts stand out and have been chronicled in these pages by Joe Williams (“Games Charter Opponents Play,” features, Winter 2007) and Nelson Smith (“Whose School Buildings Are They, Anyway?” features, Fall 2012). Yet our evidence suggests that the dynamics described in Williams’s report of guerilla turf wars may be evolving in many locations to reflect new political circumstances and the growing popularity of a burgeoning charter sector.
To explore the influence of school choice on district policy and practice, we scoured media sources for evidence of urban public-school districts’ responses to charter competition. Our express purpose was to catalog levels of competition awareness and types of responses by public school officials and their representatives. Our search retrieved more than 8,000 print and online media reports in the past five years (since the 2007 Williams article) from 12 urban locations in the United States. We then reviewed minutes from school board meetings, district web sites, and other district artifacts to verify if, in fact, the practices and policies described in media reports have occurred.
We selected cities according to specific criteria. We chose three urban districts with high percentages of minority and low-income students (at least 60 percent on both counts) in each region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West). In addition, districts in our sample needed to have a minimum of 6 percent of students in choice schools, the level Caroline Hoxby identified as a threshold above which districts could reasonably be expected to respond to competitive pressure (see “Rising Tide,” research, Winter 2001). Finally, we sought to include cities across the range of choice-school market shares within each geographic region, so long as they were above the 6 percent threshold (see Figure 1)….
The ground war between charter schools and their opponents described by Joe Williams has begun to shift. As the charter sector continues to expand, some of its competitors appear to be changing strategy. Where school districts once responded with indifference, symbolic gestures, or open hostility, we are starting to see a broadening of responses, perhaps fueled by acceptance that the charter sector will continue to thrive, or by knowledge that many charters are providing examples of ways to raise academic achievement.
Traditional public schools are aware of the threats posed by alternative education providers, but they are analyzing the moves made by competitors and demonstrating that they may have the savvy to reflect, replicate, experiment, and enter into partnerships with school choice providers. This evidence suggests that while bureaucratic change may often be slow, it may be a mistake to underestimate the capacity of these bureaucratic institutions to reform, adapt, and adjust in light of changing environments. http://educationnext.org/competition-with-charters-motivates-districts/

The conclusion of the study was that charters were forcing public schools to compete in the marketplace. There is no one approach that works in every situation, there is only what works to address the needs of a particular population of children.

Study: Charters forcing public schools to compete and improve

Brookings report: What failing public schools can learn from charters? https://drwilda.com/2012/11/10/brookings-report-what-failing-public-schools-can-learn-from-charters/

Good or bad? Charter schools and segregation https://drwilda.com/2012/02/23/good-or-bad-charter-schools-and-segregation/

Focus on charter schools: There must be accountability https://drwilda.com/2011/12/24/focus-on-charter-schools-there-must-be-accountability/

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The 11/05/13 Joy Jar

6 Nov

Today is Election Day in the state of Washington. Moi is always amazed that elections come and go peacefully whether one is involved or interested. There is something to be said for a regular process for making decisions, even if not everyone is not happy with the outcome. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is Election Day.

“The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

l
“Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.”
Gore Vidal, Screening History

“A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.”
Theodore Roosevelt

“Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”
Abraham Lincoln

“When one with honeyed words but evil mind
Persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.”
Euripides, Orestes

“The ballot is stronger than the bullet.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves.”
Herbert Marcuse

Every election is determined by the people who show up.”
Larry J. Sabato, Pendulum Swing

In a society governed passively by free markets and free elections, organized greed always defeats disorganized democracy.”
Matt Taibbi, Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America

“In a democracy, someone who fails to get elected to office can always console himself with the thought that there was something not quite fair about it.”
Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War

To win the people, always cook them some savoury that pleases them.”
Aristophanes, The Knights

“…they say if you don’t vote, you get the government you deserve, and if you do, you never get the results you expected.”
E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly

The ruling power is always faced with the question, ‘In such and such circumstances, what would you do?’, whereas the opposition is not obliged to take responsibility or make any real decisions.”
George Orwell

“Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best”
Otto von Bismarck

Tags: Douglas Adams, Dr Wilda, Election, Election Day, Election Day in the state of Washington, Elections, Herbert Marcuse, Joy Jar, major problems, politics, theodore roosevelt

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I-Best adult education prepares adult education students for employment

5 Nov

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

The implication of this work is that a focus on college readiness alone does not equip young people with all of the skills and abilities they will need in the workplace, or to successfully complete the transition from adolescence to adulthood. This was highlighted in a 2008 report published by Child Trends, which compared research on the competencies required for college readiness, workplace readiness and healthy youth development. The report found significant overlaps. High personal expectations, self-management, critical thinking, and academic achievement are viewed as highly important for success in all three areas. But the report also uncovered some striking differences. For instance: while career planning, previous work experience, decision making, listening skills, integrity, and creativity are all considered vital in the workplace, they hardly figure in college readiness.
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news_events/features/2011/Pathways_to_Prosperity_Feb2011.pdf

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

The International Baccalaureate program and vocational students

Kavitha Cardozo of NPR reported in the article, How To Turn Adult Education Into Careers, Quickly:

From The Classroom To The Workplace
Students going through this program are pretty typical of what you’d find in any adult education class across the country. They’ve often dropped out of high school, have low levels of reading and math, many don’t speak English fluently.
Through this program, they can take college-level courses and earn certificates in any of the almost 200 courses offered, from medical billing to welding to building maintenance.
I-BEST programs teach students specific skills that employers value.
Millions of adults who grew up speaking a language other than English are still held back by their language skills..
Students at Shoreline Community College have just finished the theory portion of an auto mechanics class, where they learned about the physics of manual transmissions. Then it’s a quick change into overalls and the hands-on part begins.
This class isn’t child’s play though. Instructor Mark Hankins says students have to learn the complex systems of today’s cars so at the end of the program, “they can go out and do a brake job, they can do fluid replacement, they can do inspections.
“And those are the kind of jobs that there’s a big need for,” he says.
All I-BEST programs have to demonstrate that students can get jobs paying a living wage when they graduate. In most parts of Washington state, that’s $13 an hour.
C.J. Forza says his brain “just clicks with engines.” He dropped out of school in the 12th grade; he’s now 31. He loves cars so much he works part time in a mechanic shop already. Forza’s now learning the “why,” not just the “how,” of repairs.
“Instead of just guessing at what it is, I’m more able to figure out, OK, this issue can be caused by this, this or this,” he says.
Like most adults here, Forza is managing many responsibilities, without much money to hold his life together. But he sticks it out because he can see exactly what the connection is between this class and his career.
At the end of one year, Forza will have a certificate in general auto mechanics and will see his pay jump from $10 an hour to $15.
“I want to be the breadwinner of my family. I have a 3-year-old daughter that I need to raise. I want a career not a job,” he says.
‘Not Everybody Has Bootstraps’
Instructor Hankins says this program really does make a difference.
“I have a student that is now a general manager of a dealership, and I’m sure he’s making two or three times more salary than I am right now,” he says with a laugh.
It can take years before adults in typical adult education programs can take college courses. But what makes I-BEST unusual is that it shortens that time by bypassing the GED exam completely. Students in a Washington state community college program who earn an associate’s degree can receive a high school diploma retroactively.
I-BEST’s Erickson says that when people talk about the program’s success, they often focus on the numbers and the model and the research. But at its heart, she says, I-BEST is about giving people another chance.
“A lot of people will say, ‘Why can’t they just pull themselves up by their bootstraps?’ But not everybody has bootstraps or even boots,” she says.
Erickson says if we can create opportunities to get more people educated and into the workforce, why shouldn’t we?
http://www.npr.org/2013/11/02/241897572/how-to-turn-adult-education-into-careers-quickly?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=share&utm_campaign=

Here is a description of the Washington program from the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.:

Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training
(I-BEST)
________________________________________
Washington’s Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training Program (I-BEST) is a nationally recognized model that quickly boosts students’ literacy and work skills so that students can earn credentials, get living wage jobs, and put their talents to work for employers.
I-BEST pairs two instructors in the classroom – one to teach professional and technical content and the other to teach basic skills in reading, math, writing or English language – so students can move through school and into jobs faster. As students progress through the program, they learn basic skills in real-world scenarios offered by the job-training part of the curriculum.
I-BEST challenges the traditional notion that students must complete all basic education before they can even start a job-training program. This approach often discourages students because it takes more time, and the stand-alone basic skills classes do not qualify for college credit. I-BEST students start earning college credits immediately.
A Benefit to the Economy
Talent and skills determine the competitive edge in today’s economy, yet one out of every six people in Washington lacks the basic reading, writing and math skills to get living-wage jobs and meet the needs of employers. This segment of Washington’s population is growing quickly at the same time that most jobs now require college experience. By 2019, two-thirds of all new jobs in Washington State will require at least one year of college education.
In order to have a vibrant economy, Washington employers need access to skilled, credentialed workers and all residents need access to opportunities that allow them to earn a living wage.
In Washington’s 34 community and technical colleges, I-BEST pairs workforce training with ABE or ESL so students learn literacy and workplace skills at the same time. Adult literacy and vocational instructors work together to develop and deliver instruction. Colleges provide higher levels of support and student services to address the needs of non-traditional students. There are more than 170 approved programs, expanding each year since the 2006 launch of I-BEST. State Board staff provide colleges with technical assistance and information on best practices to ensure low-income students successfully complete integrated programs and find family wage careers.
Why I-BEST Was Developed
The SBCTC developed Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) to address the changing needs of employers and students. It tested traditional notions that students must first complete all levels of adult basic education before they can advance in workforce education training programs.
In Washington state, over half of the students come to community and technical colleges with the goal of getting to work. Research showed that students were not transitioning to higher levels of education.
“Only 13 percent of the students who started in ESL programs went on to earn at least some college credits. Less than one-third (30 percent) of adult basic education (ABE/GED) students made the transition to college-level courses. Only four to six percent of either group ended up getting 45 or more college credits or earning a certificate or degree within five years.”
Building Pathways to Success for Low-Skill Adult Students:
Lessons for Community College Policy and Practice
from a Longitudinal Student Tracking Study
(Prince, Jenkins: April 2005).
I-BEST moves students further and faster to certificate and degree completion. As a result, I-BEST was designed to directly transition into college-level programs and help students build skills that will move them forward.
The I-BEST Model
• I-BEST programs must include college-level professional-technical credits that are required of all students in the selected program and are part of a career pathway.
• All students must qualify for federally supported levels of basic skills education.
• Students must be pre-tested using CASAS (the standardized test used statewide to assess ABE and ESL students).
• An instructor from basic skills and an instructor from the professional-technical program must jointly instruct in the same classroom with at least a 50 percent overlap of the instructional time.
• Faculty must develop integrated program outcomes, jointly plan curriculum, and jointly assess student learning and skill development.
• I-BEST programs must appear on the demand list for the local area and meet a minimum set wage.
Questions about I-BEST?
Contact Louisa Erickson, SBCTC, lerickson@sbctc.edu or 360-704-4368.
Top of page
© 2013 Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.
http://www.sbctc.ctc.edu/college/e_integratedbasiceducationandskillstraining.aspx

There shouldn’t be a one size fits all in education and parents should be honest about what education options will work for a particular child. Even children from the same family may find that different education options will work for each student.

Resources:

Vocational Education Myths and Realities
http://www.fape.org/idea/How_it_works/voced_myths_8.html

Vocational Education in the United States, The Early 1990s
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs/web/95024-2.asp

Related:
The International Baccalaureate program and vocational students https://drwilda.com/2011/11/29/the-international-baccalaureate-program-and-vocational-students/
What is the National Association of Manufacturers ‘Skills Certification’ https://drwilda.com/tag/vocational-education-career-mapping/
Borrowing from work: Schools teach career mapping

Borrowing from work: Schools teach career mapping

Blogs by Dr. Wilda:

Tags: (IBCC), Career Mapping Eyed to Prepare Students for College., Choosing A Vocation: Finding Your Calling, College Preparation, College Readiness, How To Turn Adult Education Into Careers Quickly, I-Best, International Baccalaureate Program, Manufacturing Skills Certification System, NPR, Pathways to Prosperity, Technical Training, The Adult College Completion Network, The American Advertising Federation Mosaic Center, The IB Career-related Certificate, Tracking, Trying to save vocational education, Vocational Education, Vocational Education Career Mapping, Vocational Education NAM-Endorsed Manufacturing Skills Certification System, vocational opportunities, vocational students, Vocational Training College Access, Washington, workplace readiness

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The 11/04/13 Joy Jar

4 Nov

Today is the beginning of moi’s personal jubilee year. It begins with this Bible passage:

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “they are plans of good and not of disaster, to give you a future and hope.”
Jeremiah 29 verse 11

Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the ‘Jubilee Year,’

Here are some great passages about hope from Dance Lightly With Life:

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
– Albert Einstein

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
– Walt Disney

If you can dream it, you can do it.
– Walt Disney

While there’s life, there’s hope.
– Cicero

When the world says, “Give up,”
Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.”
– Anonymous

I don’t know the key to success,
but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
– Bill Cosby

When you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.
– Lee Ann Womack

Whoever is happy will make others happy too.
– Anne Frank

It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.
– Anne Frank

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
– Anne Frank

Hate destroys, Love builds.
Hate tears down, Love renews and creates.
Hatred holds no hope for the future.
Love creates Today as its own better future.
– Jonathan Lockwood Huie

A true friend is a source of strength and hope.
– Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.
– Zig Ziglar

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,
but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
-Thich Nhat Hanh

I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself.
For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness
is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.
– Martha Washington

Men cannot for long live hopefully unless they are embarked upon some great unifying enterprise – one for which they may pledge their lives, their fortunes and their honor.
– C. A. Dykstra

To be 70 years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be 40 years old.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Hopeful thinking can get you out of your fear zone and into your appreciation zone.
– Martha Beck

We all have possibilities we don’t know about.
We can do things we don’t even dream we can do.
– Dale Carnegie

Develop success from failures.
Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.
– Dale Carnegie

First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen?
Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst.
– Dale Carnegie

Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it… that is the quickest and surest way ever yet discovered to conquer fear.
– Dale Carnegie

Happiness doesn’t depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude.
– Dale Carnegie

Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.
– Martin Luther

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.
– Helen Keller

We can do anything we want to if we stick to it long enough.
– Helen Keller

Science may have found a cure for most evils;
but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all – the apathy of human beings.
– Helen Keller

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.
– Helen Keller

Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.
– Helen Keller

Life is either a great adventure or nothing.
– Helen Keller

Your success and happiness lies in you.
Resolve to keep happy, and your joy
and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.
– Helen Keller

Hope is like peace. It is not a gift from God. It is a gift only we can give one another.
– Elie Wiesel

Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings,
hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.
– Elie Wiesel

Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand.
– Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Hope is a waking dream.
– Aristotle

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted,
every hill and mountain shall be made low,
the rough places will be made straight
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
-Reinhold Niebuhr

If you’re alive, there’s a purpose for your life.
– Rick Warren

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.
– Emily Dickinson

Hope is patience with the lamp lit.
– Tertullian

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.
Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
– Helen Keller

Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.
– Helen Keller

It’s wonderful to climb the liquid mountains of the sky.
Behind me and before me is God and I have no fears.
– Helen Keller

There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.
– Albert Einstein

To eat bread without hope is still slowly to starve to death.
– Pearl S. Buck

To see a vibrant, exciting, and hopeful world, view the world through joyful eyes.
– Jonathan Lockwood Huie
http://www.dancelightly.com/hope-hopeful.php

Here is to the beginning of a year of great growth and accomplishment.

Tags: Accomplishment, Anne Frank, dale carnegie, Dance Lightly With Life, Dr Wilda, Growth, Helen Keller, Jonathan Lockwood, Joy Jar, Jr., Jubilee Year, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King

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Categories Dr Wilda

New federal guidelines for schools regarding student allergies

4 Nov

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…. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/22/us-peanut-allergy-idUSTRE72L7AQ20110322

More children seem to have peanut allergies.
See, More school battles about peanut allergies https://drwilda.com/tag/allergy/

Mike Stobbe of AP reported in the article, Feds post food allergy guidelines for schools:

ATLANTA (AP) — The federal government is issuing its first guidelines to schools on how to protect children with food allergies.
The voluntary guidelines call on schools to take such steps as restricting nuts, shellfish or other foods that can cause allergic reactions, and make sure emergency allergy medicine — like EpiPens — are available.
About 15 states — and numerous individual schools or school districts — already have policies of their own. “The need is here” for a more comprehensive, standardized way for schools to deal with this issue, said Dr. Wayne Giles, who oversaw development of the advice for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Food allergies are a growing concern. A recent CDC survey estimated that about 1 in 20 U.S. children have food allergies — a 50 percent increase from the late 1990s. Experts aren’t sure why cases are rising.
Many food allergies are mild and something children grow out of. But severe cases may cause anaphylactic shock or even death from eating, say, a peanut.
The guidelines released Wednesday were required by a 2011 federal law.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/30/school-allergy-guidelines_n_4177867.html?utm_hp_ref=email_share

Here is information from the Centers for Disease Control about the guidelines:

Food Allergies in Schools
Food allergies are a growing food safety and public health concern that affect an estimated 4%–6% of children in the United States.1, 2 Allergic reactions can be life threatening and have far-reaching effects on children and their families, as well as on the schools or early care and education (ECE) programs they attend. Staff who work in schools and ECE programs should develop plans for preventing an allergic reaction and responding to a food allergy emergency.
Voluntary Guidelines for Managing Food Allergies In Schools and Early Care and Education Programs [PDF – 10MB]
Food Allergy Guidelines FAQs [PDF – 163KB]
What is a Food Allergy?
A food allergy occurs when the body has a specific and reproducible immune response to certain foods.3 The body’s immune response can be severe and life threatening, such as anaphylaxis. Although the immune system normally protects people from germs, in people with food allergies, the immune system mistakenly responds to food as if it were harmful.
Eight foods or food groups account for 90% of serious allergic reactions in the United States: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, wheat, soy, peanuts, and tree nuts.3
Symptoms of Food Allergy in Children
Symptoms Communicated by Children with Food Allergies4
• It feels like something is poking my tongue.
• My tongue (or mouth) is tingling (or burning).
• My tongue (or mouth) itches.
• My tongue feels like there is hair on it.
• My mouth feels funny.
• There’s a frog in my throat; there’s something stuck in my throat.
• My tongue feels full (or heavy).
• My lips feel tight.
• It feels like there are bugs in there (to describe itchy ears).
• It (my throat) feels thick.
• It feels like a bump is on the back of my tongue (throat).
The symptoms and severity of allergic reactions to food can be different between individuals, and can also be different for one person over time. Anaphylaxis is a sudden and severe allergic reaction that may cause death.5 Not all allergic reactions will develop into anaphylaxis.
Food Allergies in Schools
• Children with food allergies are two to four times more likely to have asthma or other allergic conditions than those without food allergies.1
• The prevalence of food allergies among children increased 18% during 1997–2007, and allergic reactions to foods have become the most common cause of anaphylaxis in community health settings.1,6
• In 2006, about 88% of schools had one or more students with a food allergy.7

Treatment and Prevention of Food Allergies in Children
There is no cure for food allergies. Strict avoidance of the food allergen is the only way to prevent a reaction. However, since it is not always easy or possible to avoid certain foods, staff in schools and ECE programs should develop plans to deal with allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. Early and quick recognition and treatment of allergic reactions that may lead to anaphylaxis can prevent serious health problems or death.
Voluntary Guidelines for Managing Food Allergies In Schools and Early Care and Education Programs
In consultation with the U.S. Department of Education and a number of other federal agencies, CDC developed the Voluntary Guidelines for Managing Food Allergies in Schools and Early Care and Education Centers [PDF – 10MB] in fulfillment of the 2011 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act to improve food safety in the United States. Download Food Allergy Guidelines FAQs [PDF – 163KB].
The Voluntary Guidelines for Managing Food Allergies provide practical information and planning steps for parents, district administrators, school administrators and staff, and ECE program administrators and staff to develop or strengthen plans for food allergy management and prevention. The Voluntary Guidelines for Managing Food Allergies include recommendations for each of the five priority areas that should be addressed in each school’s or ECE program’s Food Allergy Management Prevention Plan:
1. Ensure the daily management of food allergies in individual children.
2. Prepare for food allergy emergencies.
3. Provide professional development on food allergies for staff members.
4. Educate children and family members about food allergies.
5. Create and maintain a healthy and safe educational environment.
References
1. Branum AM, Lukacs SL. Food allergy among U.S. children: trends in prevalence and hospitalizations. NCHS Data Brief. 2008;10:1-8.
2. Liu AH, Jaramillo R, Sicherer SH, et al. National prevalence and risk factors for food allergy and relationship to asthma: results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2006. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010;126(4):798-806.e13.
3. Boyce JA, Assa’ad A, Burks AW, et al; NIAID-Sponsored Expert Panel. Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of food allergy in the United States: report of the NIAID-sponsored expert panel. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010;126(suppl 6):S1-S58.
4. The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network. Food Allergy News. 2003;13(2).
5. Sampson HA, Munoz-Furlong A, Campbell RL, et al. Second symposium on the definition and management of anaphylaxis: summary report—Second National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease/Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network Symposium. Ann Emerg Med. 2006;47(4):373-380.
6. Decker WW, Campbell RL, Manivannan V, et al. The etiology and incidence of anaphylaxis in Rochester, Minnesota: a report from the Rochester Epidemiology Project. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2008;122(6):1161-1165.
7. O’Toole TP, Anderson S, Miller C, Guthrie J. Nutrition services and foods and beverages available at school: results from the School Health Policies and Programs Study 2006. J Sch Health. 2007;77:500-521.
Voluntary Guidelines for Managing Food Allergies In Schools and Early Care and Education Programs [PDF – 10MB]
Food Allergy Guidelines FAQs [PDF – 163KB]
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/foodallergies/

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.
A physical examination is important for children to make sure that there are no health problems. The University of Arizona Department of Pediatrics has an excellent article which describes Pediatric History and Physical Examination http://www.peds.arizona.edu/medstudents/Physicalexamination.asp The article goes on to describe how the physical examination is conducted and what observations and tests are part of the examination. The Cincinnati Children’s Hospital describes the Process of the Physical Examination http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/health/p/exam/
If children have allergies, parents must work with their schools to prepare a allergy health plan.

Resources:

Micheal Borella’s Chicago-Kent Law Review article, Food Allergies In Public Schools: Toward A Model Code http://www.cklawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/vol85no2/Borella.pdf

USDA’s Accommodating Children With Special Dietary Needs http://www.k12.wa.us/ChildNutrition/pubdocs/SpecialDietaryNeeds.PDF

Child and Teen Checkup Fact Sheet http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/fh/mch/ctc/factsheets.html

Video: What to Expect From A Child’s Physical Exam http://on.aol.com/video/what-to-expect-from-a-childs-physical-exam-325661948

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The 11/03/13 Joy Jar

3 Nov

Moi wrote about respect for life in The death cult of the secular ruling elite: Belgium to consider law to grant euthanasia for children, dementia patients https://drwilda.com/2013/11/02/the-death-cult-of-the-secular-ruling-elite-belgium-to-consider-law-to-grant-euthanasia-for-children-dementia-patients/

Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is respect for life.

Today’s thought nuggets come from United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Respect Life Program”

The measure of love is to love without measure.
~ Theme, Respect Life Program (2010)

Every human being, at every stage and condition, is willed and loved by God. For this reason, every human life is sacred. To deprive someone of life is a grave wrong and a grave dishonor to God. Because we are created in the image of God, who is Love, our identity and our vocation is to love. Pope Benedict has called this “the key to [our] entire existence.”
~ Flyer, Respect Life Program (2010)

We do not begin life as free and autonomous individuals. We are entirely dependent on others for our very existence. We are born into families—the “schools of love” where, over time, we learn to forgo the immediate satisfaction of every self-centered desire and we find true, lasting joy in bringing good and happiness to others.
~ Flyer, Respect Life Program (2010)

We will not be fit for heaven until we have learned to love one another as God loves us, as he radically demonstrated on the Cross. If we don’t learn to love sacrificially, we may not only fail in reaching heaven, we will make life on earth hellish for ourselves and others.
~ Flyer, Respect Life Program (2010)

How we care for an unexpected child, a parent suffering from cognitive impairment, or an infant with a disability does not reflect the degree of their humanity, but our own. We are as dependent on them as they are on us. There can be no compromise with the standard Jesus set and continually calls us to: The measure of love is to love without measure!
~ Flyer, Respect Life Program (2010)

It is clear that there is no moral requirement to utilize burdensome treatments that merely prolong the dying process. Unless the patient is very near death, however, the provision of nutrition and hydration, even by artificial means, should be administered as long as they can sustain life and alleviate suffering without imposing serious risks or side effects to the patient.
~ Marie T. Hilliard, PhD, “Caring for Each Other, Even Unto Death,” Respect Life Program (2010)

Today active interventions or omissions of basic care are proposed for ending the lives not only of the dying, but also patients suffering from a long-term cognitive disability, such as advanced dementia or a so-called persistent “vegetative” state. Some argue that patients who cannot consciously respond have lost their “human dignity.” This view is dangerously wrong: Human beings never lose their dignity, that is, their inherent and inestimable worth as unique persons loved by God and created in His image. People can be denied respect affirming that dignity, but they never lose their God-given dignity.
~ Marie T. Hilliard, PhD, “Caring for Each Other, Even Unto Death,” Respect Life Program (2010)

There are scientifically sound and surgically and medically effective ways to treat the causes of infertility in a thoroughly compassionate manner. There are doctors across the nation who have learned the art and science of looking into the causes of infertility and, as appropriate, addressing a couple’s condition medically, surgically, and psychologically.
~ John T. Bruchalski, MD, FACOG, “Hope for Married Couples who Want to Have a Child,” Respect Life Program (2010)

Many successful options exist for Christians who want a morally sound way to treat infertility, and who need help combating the sadness, frustration, and even anger that can come from the inability to “have a child.”
~ John T. Bruchalski, MD, FACOG, “Hope for Married Couples who Want to Have a Child,” Respect Life Program (2010)

Science has shown that reducing the number of babies born does not in itself solve political, economic, or environmental problems. Rather, reducing births often creates grave problems. Take Social Security and Medicare, for example. In the United States and other industrialized countries, these programs are difficult to sustain unless each generation of taxpaying workers is larger than the one that went before it.
~ Steven W. Mosher, “Make Room for People,” Respect Life Program (2010)

Birth rates have been in free fall in most of the developed world for some time now. Europe as a whole is averaging only about 1.3 children per couple. Some Asian countries, such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, are in even worse shape demographically. This birth dearth means that the work force and revenues are shrinking at precisely the same time that elderly citizens are growing in number—and demanding the retirement and health benefits they have long been promised.
~ Steven W. Mosher, “Make Room for People,” Respect Life Program (2010)

Jesus exhorts us to bend over the physical and mental wounds of so many of our brothers and sisters whom we meet on the highways of the world. He helps us to understand that with God’s grace, accepted and lived out in our daily life, the experience of sickness and suffering can become a school of hope. In truth, as I said in the Encyclical Spe salvi, “It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love” (n. 37).
~ Pope Benedict XVI, Message for the Eighteenth World Day of the Sick (2010)

In order to protect nature, it is not enough to intervene with economic incentives or deterrents. The decisive issue is the overall moral tenor of society. If there is a lack of respect for the right to life and to a natural death, if human conception, gestation and birth are made artificial, if human embryos are sacrificed to research, the conscience of society ends up losing the concept of human ecology and, along with it, that of environmental ecology. It is contradictory to insist that future generations respect the natural environment when our educational systems and laws do not help them to respect themselves.
~ Pope Benedict XVI, Charity in Truth (Caritas in Veritate), 51 (2009)

The social question has become a radically anthropological question, in the sense that it concerns not just how life is conceived but also how it is manipulated, as bio-technology places it increasingly under man’s control. In vitro fertilization, embryo research, the possibility of manufacturing clones and human hybrids: all this is now emerging and being promoted in today’s highly disillusioned culture, which believes it has mastered every mystery, because the origin of life is now within our grasp. We must not underestimate the disturbing scenarios that threaten our future, or the powerful new instruments that the “culture of death” has at its disposal.
~ Pope Benedict XVI, Charity in Truth (Caritas in Veritate), 75 (2009)

To the tragic and widespread scourge of abortion we may well have to add in the future the systematic eugenic programming of births. At the other end of the spectrum, a pro-euthanasia mindset is making inroads as an equally damaging assertion of control over life that under certain circumstances is deemed no longer worth living. Underlying these scenarios are cultural viewpoints that deny human dignity.
~ Pope Benedict XVI, Charity in Truth (Caritas in Veritate), 75 (2009)

[In vitro fertilization] further depersonalizes the act of generating a child, turning it into a technical process in a laboratory. This procedure is so far from a loving act of the spouses that it can even be used to conceive a child if neither of them is alive, for the body of neither one is involved in the act of generating this life once sperm and egg are obtained and stored. Because these embryos are deliberately created not in the nurturing environment of the mother’s body but in the poor substitute of a culture in a glass dish, the great majority of them die.
~ USCCB, Life-Giving Love in an Age of Technology (2009)

Often embryos not used in a first attempt at pregnancy are frozen and stored for future attempts. This also poses a serious risk to their lives. When their parents have as many live-born children as they want, or abandon their efforts to have a child through IVF, the remaining embryos are considered “excess” or “spare.” Some are thrown away as laboratory waste, while others are abandoned indefinitely in a frozen state or slated for experimental purposes. The current debate about killing embryonic human beings on a large scale to “harvest” their embryonic stem cells arose partly because IVF clinics produced so many “spare” embryos, creating a terrible temptation for researchers to find a “use” for these human beings no longer wanted by their parents.
~ USCCB, Life-Giving Love in an Age of Technology (2009)

Population and climate change should be addressed from the broader perspective of a concern for protecting human life, caring for the environment, and respecting cultural norms and the religious faith and moral values of peoples. Population is not simply about statistics. Behind every demographic number is a precious and irreplaceable human life whose human dignity must be respected.
~ USCCB, Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence, and the Common Good (2001)

[The new Washington State law legalizing assisted suicide] represents a dangerous new assault on the culture of life. Of special concern is the threat that legalizing assisted suicide poses for vulnerable persons, who are already at risk of marginalization by an individualistic and utilitarian perspective of life. Those most at risk from this dangerous change in public policy are elderly persons, those without adequate health care, people with disabilities and those with no family support system.
~ Bishops of Washington State, “Respecting Life at the End of Life” (2008)

[Abortion is] a defining issue not only personally but socially. Poverty can be addressed incrementally, but the death of a child is quite final. Capital punishment should be abolished because, among other reasons, we cannot be absolutely certain that an innocent man or woman will not be executed. In an abortion, one victim is always innocent.
~ Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago, “The Face of Evil: Demons and Death,” Oct. 1, 2000

Unfortunately in our culture we [are held] fast in a grip of deadly attitudes about human life, about the human person, especially in the moments of his or her beautiful but fragile beginnings and in the vulnerable times of old age and illness. There are some in our culture and in our country … who think that human civil institutions or some given human subject bestow the right to life. No! Not any of us can bestow the right to life. We can only recognize the right to life, uphold and defend it, and cherish its beauty.
~ Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, homily at the Opening Mass, National Vigil for Life, Jan. 21, 2010

It is not enough for us even to defend innocent human life. Of course, if we fail to do this, we fail in our most urgent task. But by good deeds of love and charity, we must build this active culture of life that is ready and capable of turning back hell itself. If we won’t put the abortionist out of business we are pitiable souls. If we don’t enact laws and work tirelessly to change human hearts so that life is forever reverenced and protected, we have not fought the good fight which is our charge as the Church Militant. As warriors we must first beat back the enemy. But then let us not forget that we are warriors for the victory of life!
~ Most Rev. Robert W. Finn, Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Address to Gospel of Life Convention, April 18, 2009

At every Mass, we should offer special prayers for our nation and her leaders, in order that the culture of death may be overcome and a civilization of love may be steadfastly advanced. All Catholics throughout the nation should take part in Eucharistic adoration and in the praying of the Rosary for the restoration of the respect for human life and for the safeguarding of the integrity of the family.
~ Most Rev. Raymond L. Burke, Prefect, Apostolic Signatura, Address to the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, May 8, 2009

No man is a problem. … No human being—no matter how poor or how weak—can be reduced to just a problem. When we allow ourselves to think of a human being as a mere problem, we offend his or her dignity. And, when we see another human being as a problem, we often give ourselves permission to look for expedient but not just solutions. The tragic history of the 20th Century shows that thinking like this even leads to “final solutions.”

For us, Catholics, therefore, there can be no such thing as a “problem pregnancy”—a only a child who is to be welcome in life and protected by law. The refugee, the migrant—even one without “papers”—is not a problem. He may perhaps be a stranger but a stranger to be embraced as a brother. Even criminals—for all the horror of their crimes—do not lose their God-given dignity as human beings. They too must be treated with respect, even in their punishment. This is why Catholic social teaching condemns torture and advocates for the abolition of the death penalty.
~ Most Rev. Thomas Wenski, Archbishop of Miami, homily at installation Mass, June 1, 2010

The real choice in accepting or rejecting a child with special needs is never between some imaginary perfection or imperfection. None of us is perfect. No child is perfect. The real choice in accepting or rejecting a child with special needs is between love and unlove; between courage and cowardice; between trust and fear. That’s the choice we face when it happens in our personal experience. And that’s the choice we face as a society in deciding which human lives we will treat as valuable, and which we will not.
~ Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap, Archbishop of Denver, “Address to Phoenix Catholic Physicians’ Guild,” Oct. 6, 2009

Working to end abortion doesn’t absolve us from our obligations to the poor. It doesn’t excuse us from our duties to the disabled, the elderly and immigrants. In fact, it demands from us a much stronger commitment to materially support women who find themselves in a difficult pregnancy.

All of these obligations are vital. God will hold us accountable if we ignore them. But none of these other duties can obscure the fact that no human rights are secure if the right to life is not. And unfortunately, abortion is no longer the only major bioethical threat to that right in our culture. In fact, the right to life has never, at any time in the past, faced the range of challenges it faces right now, and will face in the immediate future. Physician-assisted suicide, cloning, genetic engineering and developments in biotechnology will raise profoundly serious questions about the definition of “human nature” and the protection of human dignity in the years ahead.
~ Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap, Archbishop of Denver, “Why This Work Matters: Human Dignity and the Road Ahead,” March 9, 2010

Since the first century, the Church has addressed the moral evil of abortion and the killing of a defenseless baby in the womb. People who are casual about the sin of abortion and who choose to view it as a political issue rather than the serious moral issue that it is are guilty of violating the Fifth Commandment. You cannot be “pro-choice” (pro-abortion) and remain a Catholic in good standing. That’s why the Church asks those who maintain this position not to receive holy Communion. We are not being mean or judgmental, we are simply acknowledging the fact that such a stance is objectively and seriously sinful and is radically inconsistent with the Christian way of life.
~ Most Rev. Robert J. Carlson, Archbishop of St. Louis, “Before the Cross: Good Catholics Cannot Be Pro-Choice,” St. Louis Review, July 6, 2010

Mother Teresa said that Christ comes to us in the distressing disguise of the poor. She also said that it is a terrible poverty that a child must die so that people might live as they wish. Taken together, I believe that the poorest of the poor are those whose poverty lies in the loss of a child. We should consider them the face of Christ in our lives and help them with a kind word, a listening ear, a healing embrace. Only love can overcome the tragedy of abortion, and that love must begin with each of us.
~ Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight, Knights of Columbus, Address at the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Project Rachel

I do not mean to say that caring for the elderly and others is not a burden. It can be, sometimes significantly so. I am saying that bearing this burden is so central to being human that if we run from the burden, we not only disrespect the elderly and vulnerable, we dehumanize ourselves.
~ William E. May, PhD, “On Being a Burden to One’s Family,” Culture of Life Foundation Briefs,March 26, 2010

Families with lots of children are no longer considered examples of generosity, but rather irresponsibility. [Our culture says that] children with severe disabilities are not special angels sent to us by God, but drains on the economy; better that they were not born. And the elderly are burdens. But if we succeed in pushing away everyone who is dependent, then we’re left with ourselves, our ego-centric, sin-rationalizing, defensive, irritable and vain selves. If we never learn to give till it hurts, till the painful reality that we’re not the center of the universe sinks in, we will fail at marriage, at parenthood, at citizenship, even at simple neighborliness.

~ William E. May, PhD, “On Being a Burden to One’s Family,” Culture of Life Foundation Briefs, March 26, 2010
http://old.usccb.org/prolife/programs/rlp/2010/quotes.shtml

Tags: dementia patients, Dr Wilda, human dignity, John T. Bruchalski, Joy Jar, Pope Benedict, Pope Benedict XVI, Respect for Life, Respect Life Program, Steven W. Mosher, The death cult of the secular ruling elite: Belgium to consider law to grant euthanasia for children, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

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