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Baby sign language

Michael Alison Chandler reported in the Washington Post article, Baby sign language more popular as parents aim to communicate:

Many babies don’t graduate from jabbering to meaningful extended dialogue until they are closer to 2 years old. A growing number of parents, eager to communicate with their babies sooner, are starting conversations with their hands.
American Sign Language is increasingly becoming a temporary way to bridge baby talk and conversational English….
Proponents say sign language promotes brain development and parent-infant bonding while giving babies a way to communicate their wants and needs a little earlier.
Starting at about 9 months, babies start using their hands and arms to communicate. They often learn to wave and clap and point, and their gestures increase as they begin to stand and walk, freeing their arms to move, said Brenda Seal, director of Gallaudet’s speech-language pathology program.
Babies can begin to imitate signs even if, as with babbling, they offer up a simpler version of the original.
Any kind of sign can come in handy, though, for parents desperate to understand the garbled demands of a frustrated toddler. (Oh, you want shoes! I thought you said juice!!)
“It was the fear of constant meltdowns that inspired me to do it,” said Christy Martinich, a new mom and wealth manager who hosted the class in her Alexandria living room this month.
Ladino told the group that babies can use signs to express more than basic needs. Long before she could string together sentences, Ladino’s daughter was making jokes, she said. At about 13 months, she smirked and signed “snakes” over a pile of spaghetti. Another time, she signed “bath” after dunking her Teddy Graham into a cup of water.
“One of the wonderful things about sign language is that you can peek into their minds and find out what they are thinking,” she said.
The growth of baby sign language is being fueled by a booming cottage industry of mostly mom-run businesses, with names such as Tiny Fingers and WeeHands, that offer lessons in yoga studios, living rooms and community centers.
Scores of books and hundreds of Web sites demonstrate signs suitable for baby mealtimes and bath time. Some teach American Sign Language, and some use other signs or gestures. More than 4 million viewers have clicked on the YouTube video “cute signing baby!,” which shows a 1-year-old in a highchair demonstrating dozens of signs at her mother’s prompting.
With some research to support their concerns, some parents worry that introducing signs or gestures competes for a baby’s attention and working memory and that it can potentially interfere with spoken-language learning.
But the most widely cited research shows the opposite to be true. A longitudinal study published in 2000 and funded by the National Institutes of Health showed that a group of babies who were exposed to signs or gestures along with talking scored better on multiple measures of language acquisition at 2 years old than children who were exposed to talking alone. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/baby-sign-language-more-popular-as-parents-aim-to-communicate/2013/07/28/6ad114a4-f0a4-11e2-9008-61e94a7ea20d_story.html

Citation:

Susan Goodwyn, Linda Acredolo, and Catherine Brown (in press). Impact of symbolic
gesturing on early language development. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior.

SUMMARY:

This is the article in which we present the most important findings from our NIH-sponsored longitudinal study of the impact on verbal development of purposefully enco uraging infants to use symbolic gestures. Standardized tests of both receptive and expressive language development had been administered at 11, 15, 19, 24, 30, and 36 months to both an experimental group of babies (Baby Signers) and two control groups. Results demonstrated a clear advantage for the Baby Signers, thereby laying to rest the most frequently voiced concern of parents – that Baby Signing might hamper learning to talk. In fact, the good news is that Baby Signing actually facilitates verbal language development.

Abstract Impact of Symbolic Gesturing on Early Language Development
Susan W. Goodwyn, Linda P. Acredolo and Catherine A. Brown
California State University, Stanislaus
University of California, Davis
San Diego State University
(2000) Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 24, 81-103. http://www.mybabycantalk.com/content/information/research/Impact%20of%20Symbolic%20Gesturing.pdf

As with any instructional technique, there are pros and cons of baby sign language.

Patricia Carlson posted the article, Baby Sign Language at Parents and kids Magazine:

There is plenty of evidence supporting baby sign language’s efficacy. “I’ve done sign with all my kiddos. It’s a great way to teach them to communicate calmly and effectively before they can articulate,” says mother of four, Alicia McDougall, of Maine. But like any trend, there are those who say it’s not worth the effort and can actually harm your child’s development. Here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of baby sign language.

PROS

Curbs frustration

It’s not uncommon for young children to cry, fuss, or even throw temper tantrums.

You may write it off as your child not knowing what he/she wants, but a more likely answer is that your child simply can’t communicate what he/she wants. You can eliminate a lot of that frustration by using baby sign language. “It gives them a way to communicate while they are working on their words and makes life much less frustrating for them,” says mom of five, Melissa Cyr, of Maine. By signing, your child has the ability to ‘tell’ you his/her need. No more guessing games!

Develops verbal skills

– Baby sign language works by matching a feeling or object with a word.

So it’s no wonder that babies start understanding language before they can actually say what they’re thinking. Parents say it’s encouraging to watch their child make the connection between a sign, a word, and finally the sound of that word. Here’s a neat example from dad David Madore of New Jersey: “My daughter would do the sign for ‘more.’ It had only been a few weeks of signing ‘more,’ and we were making the sign, and she looks at me, puts her hands down, and slowly works her mouth and sounds into saying the word, ‘more.’ So, her first word came as a result of signing.” After her initial skepticism, even speech pathologist Karen Rossignol has come on board. “I was antisign,” the mom from Maine says. “I thought it would delay his speech, but his speech is excellent.” Promotes understanding of emotions – Advocates say signing helps babies and toddlers not only match a movement to a need or an emotion, but eventually, it helps children identify what they’re feeling. This ability to understand what emotion they’re feeling and the appropriate way to express it is a big step for any child to make. Plus, it’s exciting for parents to see and offers another outlet for praise. “Nothing is cuter than seeing [my son] rub his tummy when he says “please,” says mother of two, Kirsten Jensen, of North Dakota.

CONS

Teaching time – It will take a consistent routine to teach your baby sign language. There are various methods available through your local hospital, books, the internet, or even ASL classes, but one thing they have in common is that they need to be regularly reinforced. That means using the word and the sign together most, if not all, of the time. This can be especially difficult for families where both parents work. Danielle Karpinos from Chicago says she didn’t see the point of teaching her daughter sign language – as long as she stayed cued in to her daughter’s demeanor and desires. “I figured out really early on what Anya wanted,” Karpinos says.

“Anya said her first word at about 10 months – it was ‘breakfast’.” But if you’re really keen on teaching your child sign language, you may be able to find a daycare that has signing as part of its curriculum.

Consistency – In addition to the time it takes to teach your child sign language, you may also need to teach other family members and friends, too.

Teaching your child to sign won’t do much good if those around him/her don’t keep up the routine.

This can lead to added frustration for your baby and his/her caretakers. For example, your baby can become confused or angry when he/she is signing a need and the person on the receiving end has no idea what the movement means.

Cost

– Depending on the method you choose to teach your baby sign language, it’s best to know that there may be a cost associated with it. A quick search on the internet reveals DVD’s starting at $20, seminars upwards of $45, and other package ‘deals’ retailing as much as $150. Marcy Tilas, a mom from Maine, says she didn’t like the marketing aspect of baby sign language programs, especially when some places, like hospitals, offer classes for free. “Do not, I repeat do not, invest in any “Baby Signs” line stuff being sold out there,” she warns. “It is creepy, and hard to follow.” Perhaps it’s best to research local and low-cost options before investing in costly programs.

Finally,

there is one area where experts and parents are divided on whether or not baby sign language is a good option when it comes to developing your child’s language use: children with disabilities.
http://www.bluetoad.com/display_article.php?id=433355

Should parents decide that baby sign language is appropriate for their child, Dr. Hoecker of the Mayo Clinic has some great advice.

Jay L. Hoecker, M.D. wrote in the Mayo Clinic article, Is baby sign language worthwhile?

Limited research suggests that baby sign language might give a typically developing child a way to communicate several months earlier than those who only use vocal communication. This might help ease frustration between ages 8 months and 2 years — when children begin to know what they want, need and feel but don’t necessarily have the verbal skills to express themselves. Children who have developmental delays might benefit, too. Further research is needed, however, to determine if baby sign language promotes advanced language, literacy or cognition.
To begin teaching your child baby sign language, familiarize yourself with signs through books, websites or other sources. To get the most out of your baby sign language experience, keep these tips in mind:
Set realistic expectations. Feel free to start signing with your child at any age — but remember that most children aren’t able to communicate with baby sign language until about age 8 months.
Keep signs simple. Start with signs to describe routine requests, activities and objects in your child’s life — such as more, drink, eat, mother and father. Choose signs that are of most interest to your child.
Make it interactive. Try holding your baby on your lap, with his or her back to your stomach. Embrace your baby’s arms and hands to make signs. Or carry your baby and make the sign on his or her body. Alternate talking and not talking while signing. To give signs context, try signing while bathing, diapering, feeding or reading to your baby. Acknowledge and encourage your child when he or she uses gestures or signs to communicate.
Stay patient. Don’t get discouraged if your child uses signs incorrectly or doesn’t start using them right away. The goal is improved communication and reduced frustration — not perfection. However, avoid accepting indiscriminate movements as signs.
Keep in mind that, as you teach baby sign language, it’s important to continue talking to your child. Spoken communication is an important part of your child’s speech development. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/baby-sign-language/AN02127

One positive thing about baby sign language is that it promotes communication and interaction between the parent and their child.

Resources:

Baby Sign Language: Does It Work?
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/baby-sign-language-does-it-work
Teaching Your Baby Sign Language Can Benefit Both of You
http://psychcentral.com/lib/teaching-your-baby-sign-language-can-benefit-both-of-you/0002423

Where information leads to Hope. © Dr. Wilda.com

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Blogs by Dr. Wilda:
COMMENTS FROM AN OLD FART© http://drwildaoldfart.wordpress.com/
Dr. Wilda Reviews © http://drwildareviews.wordpress.com/
Dr. Wilda © https://drwilda.com/

Tags: Baby Sign Language, Baby sign language more popular as parents aim to communicate, Communication, current-events, Impact of symbolic gesturing on early language development. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, Language, Parent and Child, research, science, Sign Language

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Harvard study: More children showing signs of adult illnesses like hypertension

16 Jul

Moi wrote in Study: Parental education reduces childhood obesity, but more physical activity may be needed:
The goal of this society should be to raise healthy and happy children who will grow into concerned and involved adults who care about their fellow citizens and environment. In order to accomplish this goal, all children must receive a good basic education and in order to achieve that goal, children must arrive at school, ready to learn. There is an epidemic of childhood obesity and obesity is often prevalent among poor children. The American Heart Association has some great information about Physical Activity and Children http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/Physical-Activity-and-Children_UCM_304053_Article.jsp#.TummU1bfW-c
Because many children are obese, they are at increased risk of adult diseases.

Alexandra Sifferlin reports in the Time article, Sick Before Their Time: More Kids Diagnosed With Adult Diseases:

Diabetes, obesity and elevated blood pressure typically emerge in middle-age, but more young children are showing signs of chronic conditions that may take a toll on their health.
The latest report on the trend, from researchers at Harvard Medical School found that children and adolescents are increasingly suffering from elevated blood pressure. Published in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension, the study showed a 27% increase in the proportion of children aged 8 years to 17 years with elevated blood pressure over a thirteen-year period.
The scientists compared over 3,200 children involved in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III in 1988-1994 to over 8,300 who participated in NHANES in 1999-2008. The national survey records health, eating and lifestyle behaviors of the volunteers. More kids in the recent survey were overweight, with larger waistlines than those in the previous cohort. And the children with body mass index (BMI) readings in the top 25% of their age group were two times more likely to have elevated blood pressure than the kids in the bottom 25%.
The kids did not have diagnosed hypertension, which requires a threshold of 140 -90, but elevated blood pressure — anything above 120-80 — at such young ages could prime them for hypertension later. “High blood pressure is dangerous in part because many people don’t know they have it,” said lead study author Bernard Rosner, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in a statement.
The results are only the latest to reveal the first signs of chronic conditions that normally don’t occur until middle-age, in children and teens.

Sick Before Their Time: More Kids Diagnosed With Adult Diseases

Citation:

Childhood Blood Pressure Trends and Risk Factors for High Blood Pressure
The NHANES Experience 1988–2008
1.Bernard Rosner,
2.Nancy R. Cook,
3.Stephen Daniels,
4.Bonita Falkner
+ Author Affiliations
1.From the Childhood Blood Pressure Trends and Risk Factors for High Blood Pressure, Boston, MA; Professor and Chairman, Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora CO (S.D.); and Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA (B.F.).
1.Correspondence to Bernard Rosner, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, 181 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115. E-mail stbar@channing.harvard.edu
Abstract
The obesity epidemic in children makes it plausible that prevalence rates of elevated blood pressure (BP) are increasing over time. Yet, previous literature is inconsistent because of small sample sizes. Also, it is unclear whether adjusting for risk factors can explain longitudinal trends in prevalence of elevated BP. Thus, we analyzed a population-based sample of 3248 children in National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III (1988–1994) and 8388 children in continuous NHANES (1999–2008), aged 8 to 17 years. Our main outcome measure was elevated BP (systolic BP or diastolic BP ≥90th percentile or systolic BP/diastolic BP ≥120/80 mm Hg). We found that the prevalence of elevated BP increased from NHANES III to NHANES 1999–2008 (Boys: 15.8% to 19.2%, P=0.057; Girls: 8.2% to 12.6%, P=0.007). Body mass index (Q4 versus Q1; odds ratio=2.00; P<0.001), waist circumference (Q4 versus Q1; odds ratio=2.14; P<0.001), and sodium (Na) intake (≥3450 mg versus <2300 mg/2000 calories; odds ratio=1.36; P=0.024) were independently associated with prevalence of elevated BP. Also, mean systolic BP, but not diastolic BP, was associated with increased Na intake in children (quintile 5 [Q5] versus quintile 1 [Q1] of Na intake; β=1.25±0.58; P=0.034). In conclusion, we demonstrate an association between high Na intake and elevated BP in children. After adjustment for age, sex, race/ethnicity, body mass index, waist circumference, and sodium intake, odds ratio for elevated BP in NHANES 1999–2008 versus NHANES III=1.27, P=0.069.
Key Words:
blood pressure
body mass index
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
nutrition surveys
pediatrics
sodium
waist circumference
Received December 10, 2012.
Revision received January 8, 2013.
Accepted May 13, 2013.
© 2013 American Heart Association, Inc.

The issue of childhood obesity is complicated and there are probably many factors. If a child’s family does not model healthy eating habits, it probably will be difficult to change the food preferences of the child. Our goal as a society should be:

A healthy child in a healthy family who attends a healthy school in a healthy neighborhood ©

University of Illinois Chicago study: Laws reducing availability of snacks are decreasing childhood obesity

University of Illinois Chicago study: Laws reducing availability of snacks are decreasing childhood obesity

New emphasis on obesity: Possible unintended consequences, eating disorders https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/new-emphasis-on-obesity-possible-unintended-consequences-eating-disorders/

Childhood obesity: Recess is being cut in low-income schools
https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/childhood-obesity-recess-is-being-cut-in-low-income-schools/

Where information leads to Hope. © Dr. Wilda.com
Dr. Wilda says this about that
Blogs by Dr. Wilda:
COMMENTS FROM AN OLD FART (c) http://drwildaoldfart.wordpress.com/

Dr. Wilda Reviews ©
http://drwildareviews.wordpress.com/
Dr. Wilda ©
https://drwilda.com/

Tags: American Heart Association, Childhood Blood Pressure Trends and Risk Factors for High Blood Pressure, Childhood Health, Childhood Illness, environment, harvard medical school, health, Hypertension, medicine, Obesity, Pediatrics, science, Sick Before Their Time More Kids Diagnosed With Adult Diseases, The American Heart Association

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Categories Dr Wilda

UCLA study:Youth Empowerment Seminar helps to relieve adolescent stress

15 Jul

Moi wrote in Schools have to deal with depressed and troubled children:
Both the culture and the economy are experiencing turmoil. For some communities, the unsettled environment is a new phenomenon, for other communities, children have been stressed for generations. According to the article, Understanding Depression which was posted at the Kids Health site:

Depression is the most common mental health problem in the United States. Each year it affects 17 million people of all age groups, races, and economic backgrounds.
As many as 1 in every 33 children may have depression; in teens, that number may be as high as 1 in 8.
http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/feelings/understanding_depression.html

Schools are developing strategies to deal with troubled kids. https://drwilda.com/2011/11/15/schools-have-to-deal-with-depressed-and-troubled-children/
A team of researchers has studied the Youth Empowerment Seminar.
Here is a description of the Art of Living Foundation which developed the Youth Empowerment Seminar:
Frequently Asked Questions about the Art of Living Foundation

Q: What are the goals of the Art of Living Foundation?
A stress-free and violence-free society; to encourage people from all backgrounds, religions, and cultural traditions to come together in celebration, meditation and service. To achieve these goals, we offer courses and humanitarian projects to eliminate stress from the mind and violence from society. Prevention is easier than cure: peaceful individuals do not contribute to conflict on an individual nor on a societal level. If people are materially poor or suffering from the effects of a natural disaster or war, their stress will be related to that. The International Art of Living Foundation offers material assistance or trauma relief. Take a look at some brief reports on our humanitarian activities, following the Tsunami and Kosovo conflicts. We offer education and empowerment programs so people can break the poverty cycle. On the other hand, those who are affluent may nevertheless be frustrated, depressed or simply wanting to grow spiritually in life. In the latter case, it is not material support that is needed but training programs like the Art of Living Part 1 course. These are for anyone who would like to learn some breathing techniques to release tension, and enable the individual to handle any challenge.
Q: What is the significance of the breath? Why is it so important?
Q: How long has the Art of Living Part I course been taught?
Q: What is a satsang? I noticed The Art of Living organizes events called satsangs where there is a lot of singing and dancing, like a party. It looks like a lot of fun, but what has that to do with stress relief or promoting human values?
Q: Is it a self development program or something spiritual?
Q: So, can anyone take part in a program?
Q: Where do the techniques come from? India? Yoga?
Q: How can I become a member of your organization?
Q: You often cooperate with the International Association for Human Values. What is the connection between the two organizations?
Q: How can I volunteer with your organization?
Q: In your press releases it is mentioned that your activities are ‘volunteer-based’? Why do so many people want to join in? What do they get out of it?
Q: What is meant by ‘seva’? You sometimes speak about it in your press releases.
Q: In your websites you speak about ‘spiritual’ values. Doesn’t that mean The Art of Living is a religious organization?
Q: How do the finances work? Some of your programs are paid, like the Part 1 course, and others like trauma relief support are sponsored by the organisation?
Q: What is the profile of the organization? Is the organization a charity? A training organization?
Q: You are a charitable organization – so why do you have course contribution for your courses?
Q: Is the ashram wheelchair accessible?
Q: Are there any rules and customs in the Ashram or on the program that I should be aware of?
http://www.artofliving.org/about-us-faq

Here is a basic description of the program:

The Youth Empowerment Seminar (YES!) is a dynamic and fun program that challenges teens to take responsibility for their life and provides a comprehensive set of practical tools for releasing stress, mastering emotions, and raising self-awareness. The program addresses:
Teens’ physical, mental, social, and emotional development
Breathing techniques to relieve stress and bring the mind into focus
Dynamic games and yoga
Practical knowledge to create awareness
Experiential processes to develop problem-solving strategies
Dynamic group discussions designed to help teens feel at ease in challenging situations, increase confidence, withstand criticism and peer pressure
http://www.artofliving.org/youth-empowerment-seminar-yes

Here is the press release from UCLA:

Note to teens: Just breathe
By Mark Wheeler July 09, 2013
In May, the Los Angeles school board voted to ban suspensions of students for “willful defiance” and directed school officials to use alternative disciplinary practices. The decision was controversial, and the question remains: How do you discipline rowdy students and keep them in the classroom while still being fair to other kids who want to learn?
A team led by Dara Ghahremani, an assistant researcher in the department of psychiatry at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior conducted a study on the Youth Empowerment Seminar, or YES!, a workshop for adolescents that teaches them to manage stress, regulate their emotions, resolve conflicts and control impulsive behavior. Impulsive behavior, in particular — including acting out in class, engaging in drug or alcohol abuse, and risky sexual behaviors — is something that gets adolescents in trouble.
The YES! program, run by the nonprofit International Association for Human Values, includes yoga-based breathing practices, among other techniques, and the research findings show that a little bit of breathing can go a long way. The scientists report that students who went through the four-week YES! for Schools program felt less impulsive, while students in a control group that didn’t participate in the program showed no change.
The study appears in the July issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
“The program helps teens to gain greater control over their actions by giving them tools to respond to challenging situations in constructive and mindful ways, rather than impulsively,” said Ghahremani, who conducted the study at the UCLA Center for Addictive Behaviors and UCLA’s Laboratory for Molecular Neuroimaging. “The program uses a variety of techniques, ranging from a powerful yoga-based breathing program called Sudarshan Kriya to decision-making and leadership skills that are taught via interactive group games. We found it to be a simple yet powerful approach that could potentially reduce impulsive behavior.”
Ghahremani noted that teens are often just as stressed as adults.
“There are home and family issues, academic pressures and, of course, social pressures,” he said. “With the immediacy and wide reach of communication technology, like Facebook, peer pressure and bullying has risen to a whole new level. Without the tools to handle such pressures, teens can often resort to impulsive acts that include violence towards others or themselves.”
Impulsive behavior, or a lack of self-control, in adolescence is a key predictor of risky behavior, Ghahremani said.
“Substance abuse and various mental health problems that begin in adolescence are often very difficult to shake in adulthood — there is a need for interventions that bring impulsive behavior under control in this group,” he said. “Our research is the first scientific study of the YES! program to show that it can significantly reduce impulsive behavior.”
For the study, students between the ages of 14 and 18 from three Los Angeles–area high schools were invited to participate, between spring 2010 and fall 2011. In total, 788 students participated — 524 in the YES! program and 264 in the control group. The program was taught during the students’ physical education courses for four consecutive weeks. Students were asked to fill out questionnaires to rate statements about their impulsive behavior — for example, “I act without thinking” and “I feel self-control most of the time” — directly before and directly after the program. The students who did not go through the program also completed the questionnaires.
The YES! program is composed of three modules focused on healthy body, healthy mind and healthy lifestyle. The healthy body module consists of physical activity that includes yoga stretches, mindful eating processes and interactive discussions about food and nutrition. The healthy mind module includes stress-management and relaxation techniques, including yoga-based breathing practices, yoga postures and meditation to relax the nervous system, bring awareness to the moment and enhance concentration. Group processes promote personal responsibility, respect, honesty and service to others. In the healthy lifestyle module, students learn strategies for handling challenging emotional and social situations, especially peer pressure. Mindful decision-making and leadership skills are taught via interactive games. Students also create a group community-service project, applying their newly learned skills toward that goal.
“There is a need for simple, engaging interventions that bring impulsive behavior under control in adolescents,” said Ghahremani. “This is important to the public because impulsive behavior in adolescents is associated with many mental health problems and, when left unchecked, can result in violent acts, such as those resulting in tragedies recently observed on school campuses.
“The advantage of this program over approaches that center around psychiatric medications is that it develops a sense of responsibility and empowerment in teens, allowing them to clarify and pursue their goals while fostering a sense of connection to their community. Although some medications can help control impulsive behavior, they often come with unpleasant side effects and the risk of medication abuse. Moreover, approaches that rely on them don’t necessarily focus on empowering kids to take control of their lives. ”
Non-pharmacologically–based programs like YES! for Schools that increase self-control are important to explore since they offer concrete tools that students can actively apply to their everyday lives with noticeable results, Ghahremani said.
To follow up on results from this study, the National Institute on Drug Abuse has awarded Ghahremani and his colleagues a grant to examine the effects of the YES! program by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the brain circuitry that is important for self-control and emotion regulation. The project also aims to examine how the YES! program can reduce cravings among teen smokers.
Other authors of the study included Eugene Y. Oh, Andrew C. Dean, Kristina Mouzakis, Kristen D. Wilson and senior author Edythe D. London, all of UCLA. Funding for the study was provided by an endowment from the Thomas P. and Katherine K. Pike Chair in Addiction Studies and a gift from the Marjorie M. Greene Trust.
The UCLA Department of Psychiatry is part of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, a world-leading interdisciplinary research and education institute devoted to the understanding of complex human behavior — including the genetic, biological, behavioral and sociocultural underpinnings of normal behavior and the causes and consequences of neuropsychiatric disorders. In addition to conducting fundamental research, institute faculty members seek to develop effective strategies for the prevention and treatment of neurological, psychiatric and behavioral disorders, including improving access to mental health services and the shaping of national health policy.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

Citation:

Effects of the Youth Empowerment Seminar on Impulsive Behavior in Adolescents
Dara G. Ghahremani, Ph.D.,
Eugene Y. Oh,
Andrew C. Dean, Ph.D.,
Kristina Mouzakis,
Kristen D. Wilson, R.N.,
Edythe D. London, Ph.D.
Received 23 August 2012; accepted 8 February 2013. published online 17 April 2013.
Abstract
Full Text
PDF
References
Abstract
Purpose
Because impulsivity during adolescence predicts health-risk behaviors and associated harm, interventions that attenuate impulsivity may offer protection. We evaluated effects of the Youth Empowerment Seminar (YES!), a biopsychosocial workshop for adolescents that teaches skills of stress management, emotion regulation, conflict resolution, and attentional focus, on impulsive behavior.
Methods
High school students (14–18 years of age) in the United States participated in YES! during their physical education classes. Students in a control group attended their usual curriculum and were tested in parallel. We used items from the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (framed to reflect recent behavior) to assess students’ behavior before and after they underwent the program.
Results
Compared with the control group, YES! participants reported less impulsive behavior after the program.
Conclusions
The results suggest that YES! can promote mental health in adolescents, potentially protecting them from harmful coping behaviors.

Moi discussed some of the possible implications of this type of program in Can’t yoga be watered down like Christmas was? Is there a ‘happy holidays’ yoga?
Here’s today’s COMMENT FROM AN OLD FART: Remember when the forces of secularism pushed the “Happy Holidays” maximum because no one should be offended by the expression of “Merry Christmas.” The forces of tolerance and celebrate diversity did not want YOUR religion forced on ME. So much for that “celebrate diversity” thing. Let’s fast forward to the yoga movement and the attempt to spread love, joy, and flexible limbs into the education setting….
The problem for many Christians and particularly Christian parents is NOT that kids don’t need exercise, they do. The problem is the spiritual aspects which emphasize the “Divine.” That is not what Christians believe. The majority of Christians believe in the Trinity. Guess what, the FIRST AMENDMENT protects those beliefs.
So, what is a “celebrate diversity,” we are soooo tolerant, and hip to boot school district supposed to do when confronted with the “yoga conundrum?” Well, bucky, one waters down the concept as with “happy holidays’ and the new name is ” yocise,” the divine becomes your healthy life. “Yocise” focuses on YOU and fits with the culture’s philosophy of ME and we are no more tolerant with “yocise” than we were with “happy holidays.” “Celebrate diversity.”

Can’t yoga be watered down like Christmas was? Is there a ‘happy holidays’ yoga?

‘Becoming A Man’ course: Helping young African-American men avoid prison
https://drwilda.com/tag/therapy-helps-troubled-teens-rethink-crime/
Depression
https://drwilda.com/tag/depression/
Schools have to deal with depressed and troubled children https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/schools-have-to-deal-with-depressed-and-troubled-children/
School psychologists are needed to treat troubled children
https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/school-psychologists-are-needed-to-treat-troubled-children/
Battling teen addiction: ‘Recovery high schools’
https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/battling-teen-addiction-recovery-high-schools/

If you or your child needs help for depression or another illness, then go to a reputable medical provider. There is nothing wrong with taking the steps necessary to get well.

Where information leads to Hope. ©   Dr. Wilda.com
Dr. Wilda says this about that
Blogs by Dr. Wilda:
COMMENTS FROM AN OLD FART©                      http://drwildaoldfart.wordpress.com/
Dr. Wilda Reviews ©
http://drwildareviews.wordpress.com/
Dr. Wilda ©
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Tags: Art of Living Foundation, Depression, Effects of the Youth Empowerment Seminar on Impulsive Behavior in Adolescents, Leadership, Mental Health, research, science, Stress, UCLA, YES, yoga, Youth Empowerment Seminar

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Categories Dr Wilda

Studies: ADHD drugs don’t necessarily improve academic performance

14 Jul

Moi wrote in ADHD coaching to improve a child’s education outcome:
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry discusses the primary symptoms of ADHD in the article, What Is ADHD:

The primary symptoms of ADHD are hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention.
Hyperactive children always seem to be in motion. A child who is hyperactive may move around touching or playing with whatever is around, or talk continually. During story time or school lessons, the child might squirm around, fidget, or get up and move around the room. Some children wiggle their feet or tap their fingers. A teenager or adult who is hyperactive may feel restless and need to stay busy all the time.
Impulsive children often blurt out comments without thinking first. They may often display their emotions without restraint. They may also fail to consider the consequences of their actions. Such children may find it hard to wait in line or take turns. Impulsive teenagers and adults tend to make choices that have a small immediate payoff rather than working toward larger delayed rewards.
Inattentive children may quickly get bored with an activity if it’s not something they really enjoy. Organizing and completing a task or learning something new is difficult for them. As students, they often forget to write down a school assignment or bring a book home. Completing homework can be huge challenge. At any age, an inattentive person may often be easily distracted, make careless mistakes, forget things, have trouble following instructions, or skip from one activity to another without finishing anything.
Some children with ADHD are mainly inattentive. They seldom act hyperactive or impulsive. An inattentive child with ADHD may sit quietly in class and appear to be working but is not really focusing on the assignment. Teachers and parents may easily overlook the problem.
Children with ADHD need support to help them pay attention, control their behavior, slow down, and feel better about themselves.
What Is Not ADHD?
Many children and adults are easily distracted at times or have trouble finishing tasks. To be ADHD, however, the behaviors must appear before age 7 and continue for at least six months. The symptoms must also create a real handicap in at least two areas of the child’s life—in the classroom, on the playground, at home, in the community, or in social settings.
If a child seems too active on the playground but not elsewhere, the problem might not be ADHD. It might also not be ADHD if the behaviors occur in the classroom but nowhere else. A child who shows some symptoms would not be diagnosed with ADHD if his or her schoolwork or friendships are not impaired by the behaviors.
Even if a child’s behavior seems like ADHD, it might not actually be ADHD. Many other conditions and situations can trigger behavior that resembles ADHD. For example, a child might show ADHD symptoms when experiencing
A death or divorce in the family, a parent’s job loss, or other sudden change.
Undetected seizures.
An ear infection that causes temporary hearing problems.
Problems with schoolwork caused by a learning disability.
Anxiety or depression.

ADHD News has a synopsis of the ADHD diagnosis in the article by Mark Domoto, M.Ed. In the section, Diagnosing ADHD

ADHD coaching to improve a child’s education outcome

Julia Lawrence of Education News reports about a Quebec study in the article, Study: ADHD Drugs Don’t Improve Academic Performance in Kids:

Shirley S. Wang of The Wall Street Journal writes about one such study published in June which looked at academic outcomes of Quebec students prescribed ADHD drugs like Ritalin and Adderall over a span of 11 years. Researchers concluded that boys who were taking drugs academically underperformed peers with the same symptoms who were not medicated. The working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research also reported that girls who took ADHD drugs had higher incidence of emotional problems than ones who did not.
“The possibility that [medication] won’t help them [in school] needs to be acknowledged and needs to be closely monitored,” says economics professor Janet Currie, an author on the paper and director of the Center for Health & Wellbeing, a health policy institute at Princeton University. Kids may not get the right dose to see sustained benefits, or they may stop taking the medication because side effects or other drawbacks outweigh the benefits, she says.
Why drugs that claim to improve concentration, focus and emotional control don’t lead to academic improvement is a question that has puzzled researchers for some time — and answering the question could be the key to effective ADHD treatment in children. Finding an effective treatment regime could help a lot of kids; according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 2.7 million children currently on ADHD drugs of some kind in the United States alone.
http://www.educationnews.org/parenting/study-adhd-drugs-dont-improve-academic-performance-in-kids/#sthash.HkASci3N.dpuf

This study is in accord with research from Yale University.

Geneva Pittman of Reuters writes in the article, Be cautious of mind-altering drugs for kids: doctors:

Focusing on stimulants typically used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, researchers said the number of diagnoses and prescriptions have risen dramatically over the past two decades.
Young people with the disorder clearly benefit from treatment, lead author Dr. William Graf emphasized, but the medicines are increasingly being used by healthy youth who believe they will enhance their concentration and performance in school.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1.7 percent of eighth graders and 7.6 percent of 12th graders have used Adderall, a stimulant, for nonmedical reasons.
Some of those misused medicines are bought on the street or from peers with prescriptions; others may be obtained legally from doctors.
“What we’re saying is that because of the volume of drugs and the incredible increase… the possibility of overdiagnosis and overtreatment is clearly there,” said Graf, from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
In their statement, published in the journal Neurology, he and his colleagues say doctors should not give prescriptions to teens who ask for medication to enhance concentration against their parents’ advice. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/13/us-medications-kids-idUSBRE92C17H20130313

Here is the press release from Yale:

No attention-boosting drugs for healthy kids, doctors urge
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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

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Read this article on YaleNews

Doctors at Yale School of Medicine and the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) have called upon their fellow physicians to limit or end the practice of prescribing memory-enhancing drugs to healthy children whose brains are still developing. Their position statement is published in the March 13 online issue of the journal Neurology, the medical journal of the AAN.
The statement was written to address the growing trend in which teens use “study drugs” before tests and parents request attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs for children who don’t meet the criteria for the disorder. The AAN spent several years analyzing all of the available research and ethical issues to develop this official position statement on the topic.
“Doctors caring for children and teens have a professional obligation to always protect the best interests of the child, to protect vulnerable populations, and to prevent the misuse of medication,” said first author of the statement, Dr. William Graf, professor of pediatrics and neurology at Yale School of Medicine. “The practice of prescribing these drugs, called neuroenhancements, for healthy students is not justifiable.”
Graf and a group of child neurologists provide evidence that points to dozens of ethical, legal, social, and developmental reasons why prescribing mind-enhancing drugs, such as those used to treat ADHD, for healthy people is viewed differently in children and adolescents than it would be in functional, independent adults with full decision-making capacities.
Some of the reasons not to prescribe neuroenhancements include: the child’s best interest; the long-term health and safety of neuroenhancements, which has not been studied in children; kids and teens may lack complete decision-making capacities while their judgments and cognitive abilities are still developing; maintaining doctor-patient trust; and the risks of over-medication and dependency.
“A physician should talk to the child about the request, as it may reflect other medical, social, or psychological motivations such as anxiety, depression, or insomnia,” said Graf, who notes that there are alternatives to neuroenhancements available, including maintaining good sleep, nutrition, study habits, and exercise regimens.
Other authors on the position statement include Saskia K. Nagel, Dr. Leon G. Epstein, Dr. Geoffrey Miller, Dr. Ruth Nass, and Dr. Dan Larriviere.
Citation: Neurology 80 (March 13, 2013)

Citation:
Pediatric neuroenhancement Ethical, legal, social, and neurodevelopmental implications
1.William D. Graf, MD,
2.Saskia K. Nagel, PhD,
3.Leon G. Epstein, MD,
4.Geoffrey Miller, MD,
5.Ruth Nass, MD and
6.Dan Larriviere, MD, JD
+Show Affiliations
| + Show Full Disclosures
1.Correspondence to Dr. Graf: william.graf@yale.edu
1.Published online before print March 13, 2013, doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e318289703b Neurology March 26, 2013 vol. 80 no. 13 1251-1260
2.
Abstract
Full Text
Full Text (PDF)
1.Also available:
2.CME Course
3.Data Supplement
Abstract
The use of prescription medication to augment cognitive or affective function in healthy persons—or neuroenhancement—is increasing in adult and pediatric populations. In children and adolescents, neuroenhancement appears to be increasing in parallel to the rising rates of attention-deficit disorder diagnoses and stimulant medication prescriptions, and the opportunities for medication diversion. Pediatric neuroenhancement remains a particularly unsettled and value-laden practice, often without appropriate goals or justification. Pediatric neuroenhancement presents its own ethical, social, legal, and developmental issues, including the fiduciary responsibility of physicians caring for children, the special integrity of the doctor–child–parent relationship, the vulnerability of children to various forms of coercion, distributive justice in school settings, and the moral obligation of physicians to prevent misuse of medication. Neurodevelopmental issues include the importance of evolving personal authenticity during childhood and adolescence, the emergence of individual decision-making capacities, and the process of developing autonomy. This Ethics, Law, and Humanities Committee position paper, endorsed by the American Academy of Neurology, Child Neurology Society, and American Neurological Association, focuses on various implications of pediatric neuroenhancement and outlines discussion points in responding to neuroenhancement requests from parents or adolescents. Based on currently available data and the balance of ethics issues reviewed in this position paper, neuroenhancement in legally and developmentally nonautonomous children and adolescents without a diagnosis of a neurologic disorder is not justifiable. In nearly autonomous adolescents, the fiduciary obligation of the physician may be weaker, but the prescription of neuroenhancements is inadvisable because of numerous social, developmental, and professional integrity issues

Increasingly, some families find that an education coach improves their child’s chance of success at school.
Jean Enersen’s King5 News story, ADHD coaches help students tackle academic goals tells the about the success one family has had with an ADHD coach:

Middle school is all about keeping track of schedules, and getting assignments in on time. It can be complicated.
“I have eight teachers,” said 7th grade student Marcus Wesley.
When his mother asked, “Have you started writing your story?” Marcus could only tell her, “No, but I have all my outline and stuff.” The story was pivotal to his grade.
Keeping a handle on all his upcoming assignments is hard for Marcus. He was recently diagnosed with ADHD.
“I’m a little more hyper than other kids. So they give me the medicine to calm me down,” he explained.
But medicine is only part of the answer said his mother. Alone, it won’t assure his success in school.
“I personally think every student deserves a coach,” said ADHD coach Naomi Zemont.
Since last September, Zemont has been Marcus Wesley’s ADHD coach.
“Last time around, you really wanted to make up this work in humanities,” she reminded Marcus.
Zemont helps the 7th grader develop a plan to achieve his goals. He sets the goals himself, and decides the actions it will take to complete them. In doing so, Marcus is learning to break tasks into parts he can manage. http://www.king5.com/health/childrens-healthlink/ADHD-coaches-help-students-tackle-academic-goals–144024376.html

Before deciding what is the most appropriate therapy, the diagnosis of ADHD must be made by a competent health care provider.

Tags: ADHD, ADHD coaches help students tackle academic goals, ADHD coaching, and neurodevelopmental implications, Be cautious of mind-altering drugs for kids: doctors, doctors urge, health, legal, Many children have a diagnosis of ADHD. Web MD has an excellent article about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: What Is ADHD?, Mental Health, No attention-boosting drugs for healthy kids, Pediatric neuroenhancement Ethical, research, science, social, Study: ADHD Drugs Don’t Improve Academic Performance in Kids, The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, The Edge Foundation

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Categories Dr Wilda

FEMA issues Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans

8 Jul

As the Sandy Hook massacre demonstrated, unfortunately, schools have to prepare for school violence and school emergencies. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provides the following statistics in School Violence: Data & Statistics:

Fact Sheets
Understanding School Violence Fact Sheet  [PDF 254 KB]
This fact sheet provides an overview of school violence.
Behaviors that Contribute to Violence on School Property  [PDF 92k]
This fact sheet illustrates the trends in violence-related behaviors among youth as assessed by CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS). YRBSS monitors health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among young people in the United States, including violence.
Understanding Youth Violence  [PDF 313KB]
This fact sheet provides an overview of youth violence.
Youth Violence: Facts at a Glance  [PDF 128KB]
This fact sheet provides up-to-date data and statistics on youth violence.
Data Sources
School Associated Violent Death Study
CDC has been collecting data on school-associated violent deaths since 1992. This data system, which was developed in partnership with the Departments of Education and Justice, monitors school-associated violent deaths at the national level. Information is collected from media databases, police, and school officials. A case is defined as a fatal injury (e.g., homicide or suicide) that occurs (1) on school property; (2) on the way to/from school; or (3) during or on the way to/from a school sponsored event. Only violent deaths associated with U.S. elementary and secondary schools, public and private, are included. Data obtained from this study play an important role in monitoring and assessing national trends in school-associated violent deaths, and help to inform efforts to prevent fatal school violence.
Indicators of School Crime and Safety
The U.S. Department of Education and Department of Justice publish a report on school crime and student safety each year. The report provides the most recent data available from many independent sources, including findings from national surveys of students, teachers, and principals. The report covers topics such as victimization, teacher injury, bullying, school conditions, fights, weapons, and student use of drugs and alcohol. The indicators of crime and safety are compared across different population subgroups and over time. Data on crimes that occur away from school are also offered as a point of comparison where available.
School Health Policies and Programs Study
The School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) is the largest, most comprehensive assessment of school health policies and programs. It is conducted at state, district, school, and four classroom levels across the country. The CDC-sponsored study provides data to help improve school health policies and programs. SHPPS is conducted every six years; the first administration was in 1994 and the most recent, in 2006. The study assesses eight components of school health programs at the elementary, middle/junior, and senior high school levels that are related to adolescent risk behaviors, including violence. These components are health education; physical education; health services; mental health and social services; school policy and environment; food services; faculty and staff health promotion; and family and community involvement.
Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System
CDC monitors risk behaviors, such as violence, that contribute to the leading causes of death among youth in the United States. CDC administers a nationwide survey every two years in public and private high schools so investigators can examine behaviors related to fighting, weapon carrying, bullying, dating and sexual violence, and suicide.
Youth Violence National and State Statistics at a Glance
This web site provides statistics that illustrate trends and patterns in youth violence. Users will find national and state-level data on youth homicide, nonfatal assaults, and violent crime arrests.
References
1.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. School-associated student homicides—United States, 1992–2006. MMWR 2008;57(02):33–36.
http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/schoolviolence/data_stats.html

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has released Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans.

Jaclyn Zubrzycki and Nirvi Shah write about FEMA’s guidelines for emergencies in schools in the Education Week article, Feds’ Advice on School Intruders Worries Some Experts:

New guidelines from the Obama administration for planning for emergencies at schools following the December shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., touch on everything from school design and storm shelters to planning emergency drills and balancing privacy and safety.
But one facet of the plan, released June 18, is on active-shooting situations, and some of the recommendations in those scenarios make school safety experts nervous—namely, a suggestion that school employees try to fight an intruder when given no other choice.
While the White House document says this should be done as a last resort, that message is easily lost, said Michael Dorn, the executive director of the Atlanta-based Safe Havens International, which advises schools on safety and emergency planning. In his experience, when school employees are given the idea that in rare circumstances, fighting or disarming a shooter is an option, it’s the only thing that comes to mind for far less serious scenarios. In drills, school employees have become so focused on fighting a shooter they have forgotten to take the basic step of locking their classroom doors.
“Though [school shootings] are catastrophic, they’re rare,” Mr. Dorn said.
The new guidelines were written jointly by the U.S. departments of Education, Homeland Security, Justice, and Health and Human Services, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
What’s Inside
President Barack Obama promised the agencies would join forces on the advice as part of a larger set of promises and recommendations he made in January on curbing gun violence. The 75-page guide deals with prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery from technological, human-caused, natural, and biological threats.
A student helps block the classroom door with furniture during a mock lockdown drill in January at Moody High School in Corpus Christi, Texas. “This is our first time empowering [students] not to be victims,” said Principal Sandra Clement of the drill.
—Rachel Denny Clow/Corpus Christi Caller-Times/AP
The document is meant to be a guide and contains no mandates for schools. It compiles lessons and best practices from agencies and schools that have had to cope with various emergencies in the past and from previous federal guidance on school emergency planning.
The publication details a six-part process for schools looking to develop emergency plans: forming a collaborative team, understanding threats, determining goals and objectives, developing specific courses of action, reviewing plans, and implementing and maintaining the plan. Schools are encouraged to reach out to other local agencies as they assess the threats they face and their capacity to respond. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/07/10/36safety.h32.html?tkn=UPTFcbIk8VXWICr054xiiTeDXhOZPalcsoT0&cmp=clp-edweek

Citation:

Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans [open pdf – 2MB]
“Each school day, our nation’s schools are entrusted to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for approximately 55 million elementary and secondary school students1in public and nonpublic schools. Families and communities expect schools to keep their children and youths safe from threats (human-caused emergencies such as crime and violence) and hazards (natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and accidents). In collaboration with their local government and community partners, schools can take steps to plan for these potential emergencies through the creation of a school Emergency Operations Plan (school EOP). Lessons learned from school emergencies highlight the importance of preparing school officials and first responders to implement emergency operations plans. By having plans in place to keep students and staff safe, schools play a key role in taking preventative and protective measures to stop an emergency from occurring or reduce the impact of an incident. Although schools are not traditional response organizations, when a school-based emergency occurs, school personnel respond immediately. They provide first aid, notify response partners, and provide instructions before first responders arrive. They also work with their community partners, i.e., governmental organizations that have a responsibility in the school emergency operations plan to provide a cohesive, coordinated response. Community partners include first responders (law enforcement officers, fire officials, and emergency medical services personnel) as well as public and mental health entities. We recommend that planning teams responsible for developing and revising school EOPs use this document to guide their efforts. It is recommended that districts and individual schools compare existing plans and processes against the content and processes outlined in this guide. To gain the most from it, users should read through the entire document prior to initiating their planning efforts and then refer back to it throughout the planning process.”
Publisher:
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
Date:
2013-06
Copyright:
Public Domain
Retrieved From:
U.S. Department of Homeland Security: http://www.dhs.gov/
Format:
pdf
Media Type:
application/pdf
URL:
https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=739248

School EOP dissects the guide in High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans:

Lessons learned from school emergencies highlight the importance of preparing school officials and first responders to implement emergency operations plans. By having plans in place to keep students and staff safe, schools play a key role in taking preventative and protective measures to stop an emergency from occurring or reduce the impact of an incident. Although schools are not traditional response organizations, when a school-based emergency occurs, school personnel respond immediately. They provide first aid, notify response partners, and provide instructions before first responders arrive. They also work with their community partners, i.e., governmental organizations that have a responsibility in the school emergency operations plan to provide a cohesive, coordinated response. Community partners include first responders (law enforcement officers, fire officials, and emergency medical services personnel) as well as public and mental health entities.
We recommend that planning teams responsible for developing and revising school EOPs use this document to guide their efforts. It is recommended that districts and individual schools compare existing plans and processes against the content and processes outlined in this guide. To gain the most from it, users should read through the entire document prior to initiating their planning efforts and then refer back to it throughout the planning process.
The guide is organized in four sections:
1.The principles of school emergency management planning.
2.A process for developing, implementing, and continually refining a school EOP with community partners (e.g., first responders and emergency management personnel) at the school building level.
3.A discussion of the form, function, and content of school EOPs.
4.“A Closer Look,” which considers key topics that support school emergency planning, including addressing an active shooter, school climate, psychological first aid, and information-sharing.
As the team that developed this guide began its work to respond to the president’s call for model emergency management plans for schools, it became clear that there is a need to help ensure that our schools’ emergency planning efforts are aligned with the emergency planning practices at the national, state, and local levels. Recent developments have put a new emphasis on the process for developing EOPs.
National preparedness efforts, including planning, are now informed by Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) 8, which was signed by the president in March 2011 and describes the nation’s approach to preparedness. This directive represents an evolution in our collective understanding of national preparedness, based on the lessons learned from terrorist attacks, hurricanes, school incidents, and other experiences.
PPD-8 defines preparedness around five mission areas: Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery.
Prevention,2 for the purposes of this guide, means the capabilities necessary to avoid, deter, or stop an imminent crime or threatened or actual mass casualty incident. Prevention is the action schools take to prevent a threatened or actual incident from occurring.
Protection means the capabilities to secure schools against acts of violence and manmade or natural disasters. Protection focuses on ongoing actions that protect students, teachers, staff, visitors, networks, and property from a threat or hazard.
Mitigation means the capabilities necessary to eliminate or reduce the loss of life and property damage by lessening the impact of an event or emergency. In this document, “mitigation” also means reducing the likelihood that threats and hazards will happen.
Response means the capabilities necessary to stabilize an emergency once it has already happened or is certain to happen in an unpreventable way; establish a safe and secure environment; save lives and property; and facilitate the transition to recovery.
Recovery means the capabilities necessary to assist schools affected by an event or emergency in restoring the learning environment.
Emergency management officials and emergency responders engaging with schools are familiar with this terminology. These mission areas generally align with the three timeframes associated with an incident: before, during, and after.
The majority of Prevention, Protection, and Mitigation activities generally occur before an incident, although these three mission areas do have ongoing activities that can occur throughout an incident. Response activities occur during an incident, and Recovery activities can begin during an incident and occur after an incident. To help avoid confusion over terms and allow for ease of reference, this guide uses “before,” “during,” and “after.”
As schools plan for and execute response and recovery activities through the emergency operations plan, they should use the concepts and principles of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). One component of NIMS is the Incident Command System (ICS), which provides a standardized approach for incident management, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity. By using ICS during an incident, schools will be able to more effectively work with the responders in their communities. For more information on ICS and NIMS, please see the Resources section.
While some of the vocabulary, processes, and approaches discussed in this guide may be new to the education community, they are critical. The vocabulary, processes, and approaches are critical to the creation of emergency management practices and plans that are integrated with the efforts of first responders and other key stakeholders, and that incorporate everything possible to keep children safe. If a school system has an existing plan, revising and adapting that plan using the principles and process described in this guide will help ensure alignment with the terminology and approaches used across the nation.
http://schooleop.org/

Unfortunately, schools are forced to think about and prepare for the worst and the unthinkable.

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Tags: CDC, current-events, FEMA, Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations, health risk behaviors, High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans, research, School Emergency, School EOP, School Violence, science, The Centers for Disease Control, The Federal Emergency Management Agency

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Categories Dr Wilda

U.S.D.A. has new rules for snacks in school vending machines

7 Jul

Moi has been following the school vending machine issue for awhile. In Government is trying to control the vending machine choices of children, moi wrote:
The goal of this society should be to raise healthy and happy children who will grow into concerned and involved adults who care about their fellow citizens and environment. In order to accomplish this goal, all children must receive a good basic education and in order to achieve that goal, children must arrive at school, ready to learn. Ron Nixon reports in the New York Times article, New Guidelines Planned on School Vending Machines about the attempt to legislate healthier eating habits. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/us/politics/new-rules-planned-on-school-vending-machines.html?_r=1&hpw
There have been studies about the effect of vending machine snacking and childhood obesity.
Katy Waldman wrote the Slate article, Do Vending Machines Affect Student Obesity?

Despite all the recent handwringing (even pearl clutching) over junk food in schools, a study out this month in the quarterly Sociology of Education found no link between student obesity rates and the school-wide sale of candy, chips, or sugary soda. The finding undermines efforts by policy makers to trim kids’ waistlines by banning snacks from the classroom. And it must taste odd to the many doctors and scientists who see vending machines as accessories in the childhood obesity epidemic.
The study followed 19,450 fifth graders of both sexes for four years. At the beginning, 59 percent of the students went to schools that sold “competitive foods”—that is, non-cafeteria fare not reimbursable through federal meal programs. CFs tend to have higher sugar or fat content and lower nutritional value (think the indulgences at the top of the food pyramid, like Coke and Oreos). By the time the students reached eighth grade, 86 percent of them attended schools that sold competitive foods. The researchers, led by Pennsylvania State University’s Jennifer Van Hook, then compared body mass indexes from the 19,450 students, including those who’d spent all four years in junk food-free environments, those who’d left such schools for vending machine-friendly ones, those who’d transferred from vending machine-friendly schools to junk food-free schools, and those who enjoyed access to vending machines for all four years. Regardless of which data sets they contrasted, the researchers were unable to find any sort of connection between obesity and the availability of “unhealthy” snacks in school. In other words, children who could theoretically grab a Snickers bar after class every day for four years were, on average, no heavier than those who couldn’t.
While Van Hook speculated to the New York Times that the findings reflect our tendency to “establish food preferences… early in life,” she also noted in her paper that middle schoolers’ regimented schedules could prevent them from doing much unsupervised eating. (I guess that means that the students didn’t have time to utilize the junk food options they had, which is an issue for another day). In any case, the takeaway is clear. You can’t solve childhood obesity by outlawing vending machines. The obesity epidemic (if it is one) depends on a complex interplay of genetic, environmental, and behavioral factors. Maybe a full-court press of school regulations plus zoning laws that encourage supermarkets to come to poor neighborhoods plus government subsidies for fruits and veggies plus crackdowns on fast food advertising plus fifty other adjustments would begin to make a dent in the problem. (Maybe a saner cultural attitude towards food, weight, and looks in general would also help). http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/01/24/junk_food_in_school_do_vending_machines_make_kids_fat_.html

https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/government-is-trying-to-control-the-vending-machine-choices-of-children/
See, Rising Childhood Obesity and Vending Machines http://www.medicaladvices.net/Child_Health/rising-childhood-obesity-and-vending-machines-a14.html
Nirvi Shah writes in the Education Week article, Rules for School Vending Machines, Snacks Unveiled:

Long-awaited rules that regulate the fat, salt, sugar, and calories in snacks and vending machine foods sold in schools were finally released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture today.
The rules take effect during the 2014-15 school year. Nutrition advocates have been pressing the USDA to issue the rules this month. Any later, and they wouldn’t have taken effect until the 2015-16 school year.
The new rules are the first update to school snack regulations since the 1970s. The existing rules only limited “foods of minimal nutritional value,” which didn’t keep candy bars, snack cakes, and sugary, vitamin-fortified sports drinks, from being regulated, said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Despite some high hopes for the rules, which come on the heels of strict rules for school lunches, they won’t completely wipe out sodas, chips, or sweets from schools. But they will make a dent.
“Millions of students currently have widespread access to snacks and beverages that are high in sugar, fat, and salt, but limited access to nutritious options such as fruits and vegetables in school stores, snack bars, and vending machines,” said Jessica Donze Black, director of the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project. “With many students consuming up to half of their daily calories at school, these new standards represent the kind of positive change we need to help reduce obesity rates among children and teens.”
Many of the rules are adapted from those that were originally proposed by the agency, which received about 250,000 comments.
What happens if schools don’t comply? Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he hopes schools do, though there aren’t explicit penalties if they don’t, unlike rules for the school lunch and breakfast programs. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rulesforengagement/2013/06/rules_for_school_vending_machines_snacks_unveiled.html?intc=es

Here is the press release for the “Smart Snacks in Schools” rule:

News Release

Release No. 0134.13
Contact:
USDA Office of Communications (202) 720-4623

Printable version
Email this page

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Highlights New “Smart Snacks in School” Standards; Will Ensure School Vending Machines, Snack Bars Include Healthy Choices

WASHINGTON, June 27, 2013 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that under USDA’s new ” Smart Snacks in School” nutrition standards, America’s students will be offered healthier food options during the school day.
“Nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our children,” said Secretary Vilsack. “Parents and schools work hard to give our youngsters the opportunity to grow up healthy and strong, and providing healthy options throughout school cafeterias, vending machines, and snack bars will support their great efforts.”
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 requires USDA to establish nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools — beyond the federally-supported meals programs. The “Smart Snacks in School” nutrition standards, to be published this week in the Federal Register, reflect USDA’s thoughtful consideration and response to the nearly 250,000 comments received on the proposal earlier this year.
“Smart Snacks in School” carefully balances science-based nutrition guidelines with practical and flexible solutions to promote healthier eating on campus, drawing on recommendations from the Institute of Medicine and existing voluntary standards already implemented by thousands of schools around the country, as well as healthy food and beverage offerings already available in the marketplace.
Highlights of the “Smart Snacks in School” nutrition standards include:
More of the foods we should encourage. Like the new school meals, the standards require healthier foods, more whole grains, low fat dairy, fruits, vegetables and leaner protein.
Less of the foods we should avoid. Food items are lower in fat, sugar, and sodium and provide more of the nutrients kids need.
Targeted standards. Allowing variation by age group for factors such as portion size and caffeine content.
Flexibility for important traditions. Preserving the ability for parents to send their kids to school with homemade lunches or treats for activities such as birthday parties, holidays, and other celebrations; and allowing schools to continue traditions like fundraisers and bake sales.
Ample time for implementation. Schools and food and beverage companies will have an entire school year to make the necessary changes, and USDA will offer training and technical assistance every step of the way.
Reasonable limitations on when and where the standards apply. Ensuring that standards only affect foods that are sold on school campus during the school day. Foods sold at afterschool sporting events or other activities will not be subject to these requirements.
Flexibility for state and local communities. Allowing significant local and regional autonomy by only establishing minimum requirements for schools. States and schools that have stronger standards than what is being proposed will be able to maintain their own policies.
USDA is focused on improving childhood nutrition and empowering families to make healthier food choices by providing science-based information and advice, while expanding the availability of healthy food.
America’s students now have healthier and more nutritious school meals due to improved nutrition standards implemented as a result of the historic Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.
USDA’s MyPlate symbol and the resources at ChooseMyPlate.gov provide quick, easy reference tools for parents, teachers, healthcare professionals and communities.
USDA launched a new $5 million Farm to School grant program in 2012 to increase the amount of healthy, local food in schools.
USDA awarded $5.2 million in grants to provide training and technical assistance for child nutrition foodservice professionals and support stronger school nutrition education programs.
Collectively these policies and actions will help combat child hunger and obesity and improve the health and nutrition of the nation’s children; a top priority for the Obama Administration. The interim final rule announced today is an important component of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to combat the challenge of childhood obesity.
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Additional materials available:
High-resolution version info-graphic
Questions & Answers
TV Feature
Interim Final Rule
For more information on Smart Snacks in School, please visit http://www.usda.gov/healthierschoolday
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice), or (202) 720-6382 (TDD).

A healthy child in a healthy family who attends a healthy school in a healthy neighborhood ©

Related:
University of Illinois Chicago study: Laws reducing availability of snacks are decreasing childhood obesity https://drwilda.com/2012/08/13/university-of-illinois-chicago-study-laws-reducing-availability-of-snacks-are-decreasing-childhood-obesity/
New emphasis on obesity: Possible unintended consequences, eating disorders https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/new-emphasis-on-obesity-possible-unintended-consequences-eating-disorders/
Childhood obesity: Recess is being cut in low-income schools https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/childhood-obesity-recess-is-being-cut-in-low-income-schools/
Where information leads to Hope. © Dr. Wilda.com

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Tags: Childhood Obesity, childhood obesity epidemic, Do Vending Machines Affect Student Obesity?, environment, health, medicine, New Guidelines Planned on School Vending Machines:, Rising Childhood Obesity and Vending Machines, Rules for School Vending Machines, science, Smart Snacks in Schools, Snacks, Snacks Unveiled, USDA, Vending machines in schools

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Is there something really wrong with a society with depressed preschoolers????

1 Jul

Here’s today’s COMMENT FROM AN OLD FART: Moi read this article from Science Daily, Brain Differences Seen in Depressed Preschoolers:

A key brain structure that regulates emotions works differently in preschoolers with depression compared with their healthy peers, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The differences, measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), provide the earliest evidence yet of changes in brain function in young children with depression. The researchers say the findings could lead to ways to identify and treat depressed children earlier in the course of the illness, potentially preventing problems later in life. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130701172022.htm

Really. We have depressed preschoolers? Should one have experienced more about life before developing a negative opinion of it?

The National Institute of Mental Health in the Depression in Children and Adolescents (Fact Sheet) estimates about “About 11 percent of adolescents have a depressive disorder by age 18.”

About 11 percent of adolescents have a depressive disorder by age 18 according to the National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A). Girls are more likely than boys to experience depression. The risk for depression increases as a child gets older. According to the World Health Organization, major depressive disorder is the leading cause of disability among Americans age 15 to 44.

Because normal behaviors vary from one childhood stage to another, it can be difficult to tell whether a child who shows changes in behavior is just going through a temporary “phase” or is suffering from depression.

PDF

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression-in-children-and-adolescents/index.shtml

Statistics for the numbers of preschoolers who exhibit depression are hard to come by, but researchers are beginning to study the issue.

Pamela Paul reports in the New York Times article, Can Preschoolers Be Depressed?

But generally speaking, preschool depression, unlike autism, O.D.D. and A.D.H.D., which have clear symptoms, is not a disorder that is readily apparent to the casual observer or even to the concerned parent. Depressed preschoolers are usually not morbidly, vegetatively depressed. Though they are frequently viewed as not doing particularly well socially or emotionally, teachers rarely grasp the depth of the problem. Sometimes the kids zone out in circle time, and it’s mistaken for A.D.H.D., “because they’re just staring,” explains Melissa Nishawala, the child psychiatrist at N.Y.U. “But inside, they’re worrying or thinking negative thoughts.” More often, they are simply overlooked. “These are often the good kids who tend to be timid and withdrawn,” says Sylvana Côté, a researcher at the University of Montreal who studies childhood mood and behavioral disorders. “It’s because they’re not the oppositional, aggressive children who disrupt everyone in class that their problems go undernoticed.”

Many researchers, particularly those with medical training, are eager to identify some kind of a “biologic marker” to make diagnosis scientifically conclusive. Recent studies have looked at the activity of cortisol, a hormone the body produces in response to stress. In preschoolers who have had a diagnosis of depression, as in depressed adults, cortisol levels escalate under stressful circumstances and then fail to recover with the same buoyancy as in typical children.

But in adults, cortisol reactivity can be an indication of anxiety. Other research has found that in young children, anxiety and depression are likewise intertwined. At Duke, Egger found that children who were depressed as preschoolers were more than four times as likely to have an anxiety disorder at school age. “Are these two distinct but strongly related syndromes?” asks Daniel Pine of the N.I.M.H. “Are they just slightly different-appearing clinical manifestations of the same underlying problem? Do the relationships vary at different ages? There are no definitive answers.”

Further complicating the picture is the extent to which depressed children have other ailments. In Egger’s epidemiological sample, three-fourths of depressed children had some additional disorder. In Luby’s study, about 40 percent also had A.D.H.D. or O.D.D., disruptive problems that tend to drown out signs of depression. Though it looks as if only the children with depression experience anhedonia, other symptoms like irritability and sadness are shared across several disorders. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29preschool-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

There is no one single cause of depression.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry says this about the causes of depression:

Depression has no single cause. Both genetics and the environment play a role, and some children may be more likely to become depressed. Depression in children can be triggered by a medical illness, a stressful situation, or the loss of an important person. Children with behavior problems or anxiety also are more likely to get depressed. Sometimes, it can be hard to identify any triggering event. http://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Resource_Centers/Depression_Resource_Center/FAQ.aspx

Moi would theorize that these preschoolers are picking up stressors form unhealthy family situations and an unhealthy society.

Everyone would probably have some thoughts about what makes a good society or a healthy society. Here are some thoughts from Professor Patrick W. Jordan about THE GOOD SOCIETY FRAMEWORK:

• Relationships – the quality of people’s social, family and interpersonal relationships; the extent to which society is coherent and harmonious.

• Economy – people’s degree of economic prosperity and spending power;the extent to which jobs are rewarding and offer potential for growth and development.

• Environment and Infrastructure – the pleasantness and sustainability of the natural environment; the degree to which the built environment is pleasant and functions well and extent to which the infrastructure is effective and efficient.

• Health – whether people have access to good healthcare and healthy food; whether work, home and public environments are generally safe.

• Peace and Security – whether crime is low and people feel safe in their homes and public areas; whether or not society is affected by war or terrorism.

• Culture and Leisure – whether there is a rich and rewarding culture, both ‘high’ and ‘popular’; whether there are opportunities to participate in rewarding leisure activities.

• Spirituality, Religion and Philosophy – whether there is access to religious and spiritual teachings and the opportunity to practice one’s religion of choice; whether there is access to philosophical teachings and ideas about how to live.

• Education – whether there is education that enables people to function effectively in society; whether the education is intellectually enriching.

• Governance – whether there is democracy, fairness and freedom of expression; whether justice is transparent and consistent, and whether society is governed with compassion and equality. http://www.une.edu.au/faculties/professions/Resources/goodsocietyframework.pdf

Given Professor Jordan’s framework for a healthy society, one might ask how the U.S. is doing? Like the canaries in the mineshaft who die when overcome by poisonous gases, maybe the depressed preschoolers are telling us.

Where information leads to Hope. © Dr. Wilda.com

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Tags: Brain Differences Seen in Depressed Preschoolers, Can Preschoolers Be Depressed?, causes of depression, Depression, Depression in Children and Adolescents, health, major depressive disorder, medicine, Mental Health, research, science, Science Daily, The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, THE GOOD SOCIETY FRAMEWORK:, The National Institute of Mental Health

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Stony Brook Medicine study: Teens need sleep to function properly and make healthy food choices

21 Jun

The goal of this society should be to raise healthy and happy children who will grow into concerned and involved adults who care about their fellow citizens and environment. In order to accomplish this goal, all children must receive a good basic education and in order to achieve that goal, children must arrive at school, ready to learn. One of the mantras of this blog is there should not be a one size fits all approach to education and that there should be a variety of options to achieve the goal of a good basic education for all children.

The University of Illinois Extension has some good advice for helping children with study habits. In Study Habits and Homework he University of Illinois recommends:

Parents can certainly play a major role in providing the encouragement, environment, and materials necessary for successful studying to take place.

Some general things adults can do, include:

Establish a routine for meals, bedtime and study/homework
Provide books, supplies, and a special place for studying
Encourage the child to “ready” himself for studying (refocus attention and relax)
Offer to study with the child periodically (call out spelling words or do flash cards)

Some folks claim they need as few as four hours of sleep. For most folks that is not healthy and it definitely isn’t healthy for children.

One study linked obesity in children to lack of sleep. Reuters reported in Too Little Sleep Raises Obesity Risk In Children

Children aged four and under who get less than 10 hours of sleep a night are nearly twice as likely to be overweight or obese five years later, according to a U.S. study.

Researchers from the University of California and University of Washington in Seattle looked at the relationship between sleep and weight in 1,930 children aged 0 to 13 years old who took part in a survey in 1997 and again five years later in 2002.

For children who were four years old or younger at the time of the first survey, sleeping for less than 10 hours a night was associated with nearly a twofold increased risk of being overweight or obese at the second survey.

For older children, sleep time at the first survey was not associated with weight status at the second survey but current short sleep time was associated with increased odds of a shift from normal weight to overweight status or from overweight or obese status at follow up. Dr. Janice F. Bell from the University of Washington said this study suggested that early childhood could be a “critical window” when nighttime sleep helps determine a child’s future weight status. According to the National Sleep Foundation, toddlers aged one to three years old should sleep for 12 to 14 hours a night; preschoolers, aged 3 to 5 years old, should sleep 11 to 13 hours, and 5- to 10-year-olds should get 10 to 11 hours. Teens should get 8.5 to 9.25 hours of sleep nightly.

Several studies have linked short sleep to excess weight in children and teens, Bell and fellow researcher Dr. Frederick Zimmerman from the University of California noted in their report.

But many of these studies have been cross-sectional, meaning they looked at a single point in time, which makes it difficult to determine whether not getting adequate sleep caused a child to become obese, or vice versa.

These findings, said the researchers, suggest there is a critical time period prior to age five when adequate nightly sleep may be important in terms of a healthy weight later on.

Children need proper nutrition and sleep not only to be healthy and happy, but to be ready to learn.

Science Daily reported about teens need for sleep in the article, Study Reveals Link Between Sleep Deprivation in Teens and Poor Dietary Choices:

Well-rested teenagers tend to make more healthful food choices than their sleep-deprived peers, according to a study led by Lauren Hale, PhD, Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. The finding, presented at SLEEP 2013, the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, may be key to understanding the link between sleep and obesity….

The study, which was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, examined the association between sleep duration and food choices in a national representative sample of 13,284 teenagers in the second wave of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The data were collected in 1996 when the interview subjects had a mean age of 16 years.

The authors found that those teens who reported sleeping fewer than seven hours per night — 18 percent of respondents — were more likely to consume fast food two or more times per week and less likely to eat healthful food such as fruits and vegetables. The results took into account factors such as age, gender, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, physical activity and family structure, and found that short sleep duration had an independent effect on both healthy and unhealthy food choices.

The respondents fell into one of three categories: short sleepers, who received fewer than seven hours per night; mid-range sleepers, who had seven to eight hours per night; and recommended sleepers, who received more than eight hours per night. The American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends that adolescents get between nine and 10 hours of sleep per night. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130620162746.htm#.UcN9_iGkjBA.email

Here is the press release from Stony Brook Medicine:

Research based on data from interviews with 13,284 adolescents nationwide

STONY BROOK, NY, June 20, 2013 – Well-rested teenagers tend to make more healthful food choices than their sleep-deprived peers, according to a study led by Lauren Hale, PhD, Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. The finding, presented at SLEEP 2013, the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, may be key to understanding the link between sleep and obesity.

“Not only do sleepy teens on average eat more food that’s bad for them, they also eat less food that is good for them,” said Dr. Hale, speaking about the study results. “While we already know that sleep duration is associated with a range of health consequences, this study speaks to some of the mechanisms, i.e., nutrition and decision making, through which health outcomes are affected.”

The study, which was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, examined the association between sleep duration and food choices in a national representative sample of 13,284 teenagers in the second wave of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The data were collected in 1996 when the interview subjects had a mean age of 16 years.

The authors found that those teens who reported sleeping fewer than seven hours per night — 18 percent of respondents — were more likely to consume fast food two or more times per week and less likely to eat healthful food such as fruits and vegetables. The results took into account factors such as age, gender, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, physical activity and family structure, and found that short sleep duration had an independent effect on both healthy and unhealthy food choices.

The respondents fell into one of three categories: short sleepers, who received fewer than seven hours per night; mid-range sleepers, who had seven to eight hours per night; and recommended sleepers, who received more than eight hours per night. The American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends that adolescents get between nine and 10 hours of sleep per night.

“We are interested in the association between sleep duration and food choices in teenagers because adolescence is a critical developmental period between childhood and adulthood,” said the first author of the study, Allison Kruger, MPH, a community health worker at Stony Brook University Hospital. “Teenagers have a fair amount of control over their food and sleep, and the habits they form in adolescence can strongly impact their habits as adults.”

The research team — which included co-authors Eric N. Reither, PhD, Utah State University; Patrick Krueger, PhD, University of Colorado at Denver; and Paul E. Peppard, PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison — concluded that addressing sleep deficiency may be a novel and effective way to improve obesity prevention and health promotion interventions.

Dr. Hale said that one of the next steps in the research will be to explore whether the association between sleep duration and food choices is causal.

“If we determine that there is a causal link between chronic sleep and poor dietary choices, then we need to start thinking about how to more actively incorporate sleep hygiene education into obesity prevention and health promotion interventions,” she said.

Citation:

Stony Brook Medicine (2013, June 20). Sleep deprivation in teens linked to poor dietary choices. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 21, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2013/06/130620162746.htm#.UcN9_iGkjBA.email

Lauran Neergaard, AP medical writer wrote about a teen sleep study which was reprinted at Boston.Com. In Study: Lack of Early Light Upsets Teen Clock

Sit by the window in school? Lack of the right light each morning to reset the body’s natural sleep clock might play a role in teenagers’ out-of-whack sleep, a small but provocative school experiment suggests.

Specialists say too few teens get the recommended nine hours of shut-eye a night. They’re often unable to fall asleep until late and struggle to awaken for early classes. Sleep patterns start changing in adolescence for numerous reasons, including hormonal changes and more school, work and social demands….

From waking until school ended, 11 students donned special orange goggles that block short-wavelength “blue light,” but not other wavelengths necessary for proper vision. Blocking that light for five days upset the students’ internal body clocks – delaying by half an hour their evening surge of a hormone called melatonin that helps induce sleep, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers reported Tuesday.

Teens who trudge to the bus stop before dawn or spend their days in mostly windowless schools probably suffer the same effect, as daylight is the best source of those short-wavelength rays, said lead researcher Mariana Figueiro of Rensselaer’s Lighting Research Center in Troy, N.Y.

“If you have this morning light, that is a benefit to the teenagers,” Figueiro said.

If children do not receive the appropriate amount of sleep, they will not be ready to learn when they arrive at school.

Why Do Teens Need Sleep?

The National Sleep Foundation has a Teens and Sleep Fact Sheet:

Sleep is vital to your well-being, as important as the air you breathe, the water you drink and the food you eat. It can even help you to eat better and manage the stress of being a teen.

Biological sleep patterns shift toward later times for both sleeping and waking during adolescence — meaning it is natural to not be able to fall asleep before 11:00 pm.

Teens need about 9 1/4 hours of sleep each night to function best (for some, 8 1/2 hours is enough). Most teens do not get enough sleep — one study found that only 15% reported sleeping 8 1/2 hours on school nights.

Teens tend to have irregular sleep patterns across the week — they typically stay up late and sleep in late on the weekends, which can affect their biological clocks and hurt the quality of their sleep.

Many teens suffer from treatable sleep disorders, such as narcolepsy, insomnia, restless legs syndrome or sleep apnea.

CONSEQUENCES:

Not getting enough sleep or having sleep difficulties can:

Limit your ability to learn, listen, concentrate and solve problems. You may even forget important information like names, numbers, your homework or a date with a special person in your life;
Make you more prone to pimples. Lack of sleep can contribute to acne and other skin problems;
Lead to aggressive or inappropriate behavior such as yelling at your friends or being impatient with your teachers or family members;
Cause you to eat too much or eat unhealthy foods like sweets and fried foods that lead to weight gain;
Heighten the effects of alcohol and possibly increase use of caffeine and nicotine; and
Contribute to illness, not using equipment safely or driving drowsy.

Parents should be alert to signs of sleep deprivation in their children.

How Can You Help Your Teen Get Enough Sleep?

The National Sleep Foundation has the following suggestions for improving sleep

Make sleep a priority. Review Teen Time in this toolkit and keep the Teen Sleep Diary. Decide what you need to change to get enough sleep to stay healthy, happy, and smart!

Naps can help pick you up and make you work more efficiently, if you plan them right. Naps that are too long or too close to bedtime can interfere with your regular sleep.

Make your room a sleep haven. Keep it cool, quiet and dark. If you need to, get eyeshades or blackout curtains. Let in bright light in the morning to signal your body to wake up.

No pills, vitamins or drinks can replace good sleep. Consuming caffeine close to bedtime can hurt your sleep, so avoid coffee, tea, soda/pop and chocolate late in the day so you can get to sleep at night. Nicotine and alcohol will also interfere with your sleep.

When you are sleep deprived, you are as impaired as driving with a blood alcohol content of .08%, which is illegal for drivers in many states. Drowsy driving causes over 100,000 crashes each year. Recognize sleep deprivation and call someone else for a ride. Only sleep can save you!

Establish a bed and wake-time and stick to it, coming as close as you can on the weekends. A consistent sleep schedule will help you feel less tired since it allows your body to get in sync with its natural patterns. You will find that it’s easier to fall asleep at bedtime with this type of routine.

Don’t eat, drink, or exercise within a few hours of your bedtime. Don’t leave your homework for the last minute. Try to avoid the TV, computer and telephone in the hour before you go to bed. Stick to quiet, calm activities, and you’ll fall asleep much more easily!

If you do the same things every night before you go to sleep, you teach your body the signals that it’s time for bed. Try taking a bath or shower (this will leave you extra time in the morning), or reading a book.

Try keeping a diary or to-do lists. If you jot notes down before you go to sleep, you’ll be less likely to stay awake worrying or stressing.

When you hear your friends talking about their all-nighters, tell them how good you feel after getting enough sleep.

Most teens experience changes in their sleep schedules. Their internal body clocks can cause them to fall asleep and wake up later. You can’t change this, but you can participate in interactive activities and classes to help counteract your sleepiness. Make sure your activities at night are calming to counteract your already heightened alertness.

If teens need about 9 1/4 hours of sleep to do their best and naturally go to sleep around 11:00 pm, one way to get more sleep is to start school later. http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-topics/teens-and-sleep

These suggestions point to establishing a regular routine for your teen and setting a time for all activities to cease each evening.

Education is a partnership between the student, parent(s) or guardian(s), teachers(s), and school. The students must arrive at school ready to learn and that includes being rested. Parent(s) and guardian(s) must ensure their child is properly nourished and rested as well as providing a home environment which is conducive to learning. Teachers must have strong subject matter knowledge and strong pedagogic skills. Schools must enforce discipline and provide safe places to learn. For more information on preparing your child for high school, see the U.S. Department of Education’s Tools for Success

Resources

National Sleep Foundation’s Teens and Sleep
Teen Health’s Common Sleep Problems
CBS Morning News’ Sleep Deprived Kids and Their Disturbing Thoughts
Psychology Today’s Sleepless in America
National Association of State Board’s of Education Fit, Healthy and Ready to Learn
U.S. Department of Education’s Tools for Success

Another study: Sleep problems can lead to behavior problems in children https://drwilda.com/2013/03/30/another-study-sleep-problems-can-lead-to-behavior-problems-in-children/

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Tags: health, Mental Health, politics, research, science, Sleep, sleep deprivation, Sleep deprivation in teens linked to poor dietary choices, society, Stony Brook Medicine, Study Habits and Homework, Study Reveals Link Between Sleep Deprivation in Teens and Poor Dietary Choices, Study: Lack of Early Light Upsets Teen Clock, teens and sleep, Teens and Sleep Fact Sheet:, The National Sleep Foundation, The University of Illinois Extension, Too Little Sleep Raises Obesity Risk In Children, Tools for Success

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Lumina Foundation study: U.S. not producing enough college grads for projected jobs

18 Jun

Moi wrote in Many NOT ready for higher education:

Whether or not students choose college or vocational training at the end of their high school career, our goal as a society should be that children should be “college ready.” David T. Conley writes in the ASCD article, What Makes a Student College Ready?

The Big Four

A comprehensive college preparation program must address four distinct dimensions of college readiness: cognitive strategies, content knowledge, self-management skills, and knowledge about postsecondary education.

Key Cognitive Strategies

Colleges expect their students to think about what they learn. Students entering college are more likely to succeed if they can formulate, investigate, and propose solutions to nonroutine problems; understand and analyze conflicting explanations of phenomena or events; evaluate the credibility and utility of source material and then integrate sources into a paper or project appropriately; think analytically and logically, comparing and contrasting differing philosophies, methods, and positions to understand an issue or concept; and exercise precision and accuracy as they apply their methods and develop their products.

Key Content Knowledge

Several independently conducted research and development efforts help us identify the key knowledge and skills students should master to take full advantage of college. Standards for Success (Conley, 2003) systematically polled university faculty members and analyzed their course documents to determine what these teachers expected of students in entry-level courses. The American Diploma Project (2004) consulted representatives of the business community and postsecondary faculty to define standards in math and English. More recently, both ACT (2008) and the College Board (2006) have released college readiness standards in English and math. Finally, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (2008), under mandate of state law, developed one of the first and most comprehensive sets of state-level college readiness standards….

Key Self-Management Skills

In college, students must keep track of massive amounts of information and organize themselves to meet competing deadlines and priorities. They must plan their time carefully to complete these tasks. They must be able to study independently and in informal and formal study groups. They must know when to seek help from academic support services and when to cut their losses and drop a course. These tasks require self-management, a skill that individuals must develop over time, with considerable practice and trial-and-error.

Key Knowledge About Postsecondary Education

Choosing a college, applying, securing financial aid, and then adjusting to college life require a tremendous amount of specialized knowledge. This knowledge includes matching personal interests with college majors and programs; understanding federal and individual college financial aid programs and how and when to complete appropriate forms; registering for, preparing for, and taking required admissions exams; applying to college on time and submitting all necessary information; and, perhaps most important, understanding how the culture of college is different from that of high school….

Students who would be the first in their family to attend college, students from immigrant families, students who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups traditionally underrepresented in college, and students from low-income families are much more easily thrown off the path to college if they have deficiencies in any of the four dimensions. http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/oct08/vol66/num02/What-Makes-a-Student-College-Ready%C2%A2.aspx

The difficult question is whether current testing accurately measures whether students are prepared for college. https://drwilda.com/2012/10/06/many-not-ready-for-higher-education/

The Lumina Founation has released the report A Stronger Nation through Higher Education which is skeptical that the U.S. is producing the number of college graduates for future economic success.

Here is the press release from the Lumina Foundation about

New report shows improved pace of college attainment is still not enough to meet future workforce needs; massive racial achievement gaps continue

June 13, 2013

Lumina Foundation Announces 10 New Targets for Moving America Closer to Goal 2025

WASHINGTON, DC, June 13, 2013—As the demand for skilled workers continues to grow, a new report released today by Lumina Foundation shows that the rate of college attainment is steadily improving across America. Unfortunately, the pace of progress is far too modest to meet future workforce needs. The report also finds massive and ongoing gaps in educational achievement—gaps tied to race, income and other socioeconomic factors—that must be addressed.

According to the report, A Stronger Nation through Higher Education, 38.7 percent of working-age Americans (ages 25-64) held a two- or four-year college degree in 2011—the most recent year for which data are available. That figure is up from 2010, when the rate was 38.3 percent and from 2009, when the rate was 38.1 percent. The Stronger Nation report measures progress toward Goal 2025 which is a national effort to increase the percentage of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025.

Read the full report

A Stronger Nation Through Higher Education 2013

218 pgs. | 8.8M | PDF

“Research tells us that 65 percent of U.S. jobs will require some form of postsecondary education by 2020, yet fewer than 40 percent of Americans are educated beyond high school today,” said Jamie P. Merisotis, president and chief executive officer of Lumina. “Our pace of attainment has been too slow and America is now facing a troubling talent gap. If we intend to address this problem, new strategies are required and a heightened sense of urgency is needed among policymakers, business leaders and higher education institutions across our nation.”

Achievement Gaps by Race Continue

Educational success has historically been uneven across America, particularly among, low-income, first-generation students, racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants and adults who are underrepresented among college students and graduates. The Stronger Nation report shows that degree attainment rates among adults (ages 25-64) in the U.S. continue to be woefully unbalanced, with 59.1 percent of Asians having a degree versus 43.3 percent of whites, 27.1 percent of blacks, 23.0 of Native Americans and 19.3 of Hispanics.

As worrisome as those differentials are, there is an even more troubling trend in the data regarding young adults (ages 25-29) who serve as a leading indicator of where the nation’s higher education attainment rates are headed overall. The highest attainment rate for 25- to 29-year old Americans is among Asians at 65.6 percent, followed by non-Hispanic whites at 44.9 percent. Then, the bottom drops out with an attainment rate for young African-Americans at 24.7 percent, for Hispanics at 17.9 percent and for Native Americans at 16.9 percent.

“This is an intolerable situation,” said Merisotis. “We certainly must close these gaps to meet the attainment levels that our nation needs. But the fact that these racial achievement differentials even exist must be rejected on both moral and economic grounds, given the increasingly severe consequences that come with not having a degree beyond high school. Our democracy and our economy are ill-served by a system that fails to effectively tap all of our available talent.”

New Strategies for Reaching Goal 2025

Earlier this year, Lumina released a new Strategic Plan that outlines how the Foundation will work over the next four years to help move the country closer to reaching Goal 2025. The plan includes strategies to: 1) design and build a higher education system for the 21^st century, and 2) mobilize employers, policymakers, institutions, state and metro leaders and others to better position America for success in the knowledge economy.

The strategies for designing and building a 21st century higher education system focus on: creating new models of student financial support; developing new higher education business and finance models, and creating new systems of quality credentials and credits defined by learning and competencies rather than time.

The mobilization strategies focus on: building a social movement to support increased attainment in America; working with employers, metro areas and regions to encourage broader adoption of Goal 2025; advancing state and federal policy for increased attainment, and mobilizing higher education institutions and systems to increase the adoption of data- and evidence-based policies, partnerships and practices.

“The strength of our nation—or any nation—is its people, the sum total of talents, skills and abilities inherent in its citizenry,” said Merisotis. “America needs a bigger and more talented workforce to succeed, but we cannot expect our citizens to meet the demands of the 21^st century without a 21^st century education. That’s why we are working to mobilize more stakeholders to commit to achieving this 60 percent college-attainment goal. And it’s why we are working to design and build a new system of higher education that is grounded in quality and is flexible and affordable enough to properly serve the needs of students, employers and society at large.”

We cannot expect our citizens to meet the demands of the 21st century without a 21st century educationtweet this

To measure progress toward Goal 2025 in the near term, Lumina has established 10 specific achievement targets for 2016 that will guide the Foundation’s work. They include:

55 percent of Americans will believe that increasing higher education attainment is necessary to the nation. (2012 baseline = 43 percent)

67.8 percent of students will pursue postsecondary education directly from high school. (2012 baseline = 62.5 percent)

1.3 percent of older adults will be first-time participants in higher education. (2012 baseline = 1.1 percent)

3.3 million Hispanic students will be enrolled in college. (2012 baseline = 2.5 million)

3.25 million African-American students will be enrolled in college. (2012 baseline = 2.7 million)

22 million students will be enrolled in college across America. (2012 baseline = 18.1 million)

800,000 fewer working-age adults (ages 25-64) will have some college and no degree (2012 baseline = 36.3 million; 2016 target = 35.5 million)

60 percent of first-time, full-time students will complete college within six years. (2012 baseline = 54 percent)

48 percent of adult learners (ages 25-64) will complete higher education. (2012 baseline = 45 percent)

3 million will be the number of associate and bachelor’s degrees awarded annually. (An increase of 500,000 per year based on 2012 baseline of 2.5 million)

Key Tables from A Stronger Nation through Higher Education Report:

Top 10 states by degree attainment in 2011:

MA—50.8%

CO—47.0%

MN—46.6%

CT—46.4%

VT—46.2%

NH—45.8%

MD—45.4%

NJ—45.1%

VA—45.0%

ND—44.7%

Top 10 MSAs by degree attainment in 2011 (among the 100 most-populated MSAs):

Madison, WI 54.81%

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 54.73%

Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH 54.25%

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 54.15%

Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT 52.86%

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA 52.76%

Raleigh-Cary, NC 52.64%

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI 50.65%

Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY 49.27%

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 48.28%

Facts about postsecondary attainment in America

Bottom 10 states by degree attainment in 2011: State

41. IN—33.8%

42. OK—33.0%

43. TN—32.1%

44. AL—31.9%

45. KY—30.8%

46. MS—30.3%

47. NV—30.0%

48. AR—28.2%

49. LA—27.9%

50. WV—27.8%

Bottom 10 MSAs by degree attainment in 2011 (among the 100 most-populated MSAs):

Lancaster, PA 31.74%

Las Vegas-Paradise, NV 29.59%

Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA 29.38%

El Paso, TX 28.97%

Fresno, CA 27.90%

Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA 27.20%

Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL 27.02%

Stockton, CA 26.75%

Bakersfield-Delano, CA 21.35%

McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX 21.21%

Lumina Foundation is an independent, private foundation committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025. Lumina’s outcomes-based approach focuses on helping to design and build an accessible, responsive and accountable higher education system while fostering a national sense of urgency for action to achieve Goal 2025.

Media contacts:

Lucia Anderson
Lumina Foundation
317.951.5316
landerson@luminafoundation.org

Michael Marker
VOX Global
317.902.2958
mmarker@voxglobal.com

– See more at: http://www.luminafoundation.org/newsroom/news_releases/2013-06-13.html#sthash.sE33uxCj.dpuf

K-12 education must not only prepare students by teaching basic skills, but they must prepare students for training after high school, either college or vocational. There should not only be a solid education foundation established in K-12, but there must be more accurate evaluation of whether individual students are “college ready.”

Helping community college students to graduate https://drwilda.com/2012/02/08/helping-community-college-students-to-graduate/

The digital divide affects the college application process https://drwilda.com/2012/12/08/the-digital-divide-affects-the-college-application-process/

College readiness: What are ‘soft skills’ https://drwilda.com/2012/11/14/college-readiness-what-are-soft-skills/

Colleges rethinking who may need remedial education https://drwilda.com/2012/10/24/colleges-rethinking-who-may-need-remedial-education/

Blogs by Dr. Wilda:

Tags: A Stronger Nation through Higher Education, ASCD, College Preparation, College Ready, education, K-12 Education, Lumina Foundation, politics, Remedial Education, research, science, Soft Skills, Technology, What Makes a Student College Ready?

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Categories Dr Wilda

National Council on Teacher Quality releases first Teacher Prep Review

17 Jun

Moi wrote about teacher preparation in The search for quality teachers goes on:

Moi received the press release about improving teacher training standards from the Commission on Standards and Performance Reporting which is an outgrowth of he Teacher Education Accreditation Council, or TEAC, and the far larger and older National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, or NCATE now called CAEP. Trip Gabriel has an article in the New York Times,Teachers Colleges Upset By Plans to Grade Them about the coming U.S. News Report on teacher colleges. This project is being underwritten in part by the Carnegie Corporation and Broad Foundation. A test of the proposed project was completed in Illinois. You can go here to get a copy of the report. The National Council on Teacher Quality has information about the project at their site. The National Council on Teacher Quality has released the first Teacher Prep Review.

Here is a portion of the summary of Teacher Prep Review:

NCTQ Teacher Prep Review

Effective teachers make a fundamental difference in the lives of our nation’s students. With the right training, talented and motivated teacher candidates can graduate ready to lead a classroom.

Why we’re doing the Teacher Prep Review

There’s widespread public interest in strengthening teacher preparation – but there’s a significant data gap on what’s working We aim to fill this gap, providing information that aspiring teachers and school leaders need to be come strategic consumers and institutions and states need in order to rapidly improve how tomorrow’s teachers are trained.

Our strategy is modeled on Abraham Flexner ’s 1910 review of medical training programs, an effort that launched a new era in the field of medicine, transforming a sub-standard system into the world’s best.

How we’re doing it. NCTQ takes an in-depth look at admissions standards, course requirements,course syllabi, textbooks, capstone projects, student teaching manuals and graduate surveys, among other sources, as blueprints for training teachers. We apply specific and measurable standards that identify the teacher preparation programs most likely to get the best outcomes for their students. To develop these standards, we consulted with international and domestic experts on teacher education, faculty and deans from schools of education, statistical experts and PK-12 leaders. We honed our methodology in ten pilot studies conducted over eight years.

Our goals. Currently, high-caliber teacher training programs go largely unrecognized. The Review will showcase these programs and provide resources that schools of education can use to provide trulyexceptional training. Aspiring teachers will be able to make informed choices about where to attend school to get the best training. Principals and superintendents will know where they should recruit new teachers. State leaders will be able to provide targeted support and hold programs accountable for improvement. Together, we can ensure a healthy teacher pipeline.

There is a lot of support for strengthening teacher prep. To date, 24 state school chiefs, over 100 district superintendents, the Council of the Great City Schools and almost 80 advocacy organizations across 42 states and the District of Columbia have endorsed the Review. The Review is funded by 65 local and national foundations. There’s also growing support for raising the bar on the system from national organizations representing state education chiefs (CCSSO), teachers (both the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association) and teacher educators themselves (the new national accreditation body, CAEP).

The first edition of the Review will be published June 18, 2013, in partnership with U.S. News & World Report. What’s next? NCTQ has made a commitment to publish three annual editions of the Review.

There is much that needs to be done before we have a truly excellent system of preparing teachers. We must set a high standard for teacher preparation, shed light on high-performers and give educators the information they need to make the system work for their students. Aspiring teachers and their future students deserve a world-class teacher training system. http://nctq.org/dmsView/NCTQ_Teacher_Prep_Review_background_materials

Resources:

Contact NCTQ

To contact NCTQ please visit our contact us page. For help reaching an NCTQ expert, you can reach Laura Johnson, our Director of Communications, at 202.393.0020 x117 or email ljohnson@nctq.org.

Questions about the Teacher Prep Review in your area?

Please refer to the map to locate the best contact person for your region.

Region 1
Marisa Goldstein
marisa.goldstein@nctq.org
202.393.0020 x115

Region 2
Graham Drake
graham.drake@nctq.org
202.393.0020 x107

Region 3
Amy MacKown
amy.mackown@nctq.org
202.393.0020 x111

Region 4
Katie Moyer
katie.moyer@nctq.org
202.393.0020 x112

Resources

Teacher Prep

Teacher Prep Review background materials: 1-pager, quick facts, our standards and a list of the project’s endorsers.

Who We Are: Information about NCTQ’s Teacher Preparation Department staff, outside advisory groups and experts evaluators.

District Policy

Tr3 Teacher Contract Database: This database houses over 100 school districts’ teacher contracts, school board policies (including school calendars and pay schedules), and state laws, coded so you can easily compare districts. Access information on a single district or create a custom report to compare districts on any of over 300 specific questions, such as the role of seniority in teacher staffing and teacher salaries.

State Policy

State Teacher Policy Yearbook: The Yearbook is a 52-volume encyclopedia (51 state reports including the District of Columbia plus a national summary) providing measurement and detailed analysis of the state policies that impact the teaching profession.

Amy Hetzner and Becky Vevea of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote in the article, How Best to Educate Future Teachers which is part of a series

Alverno College, the small women’s college on Milwaukee’s south side, has been widely cited as a national model for training teachers, thanks to its combination of clinical and classroom experience and use of video and other tools to evaluate whether graduates are meeting the standards for what makes a good teacher….

Key elements of an excellent teacher education program:

Strong content knowledge, teaching skills. Future teachers gain a solid grounding in the content to be taught as well as how to teach it.

Flexible methods. Emphasis is placed on teaching diverse learners – knowing how to differentiate teaching to reach a broad range of students.

Fieldwork. Coursework clearly is connected to fieldwork. The clinical experience, like in medical school, consists of intensive student-teaching, preferably for a semester or entire year, under the supervision of an experienced mentor.

Professional mentors. Mentors observe future teachers in the classroom – sometimes videotaping for later analysis – and work with them on everything from lesson-planning and creating assignments to monitoring student progress and grading.

Designated “learning schools.” Mentors and school sites for student-teaching are well-chosen. There are close relationships and a sense of joint responsibility among the school sites at which future teachers train, the local district and the teacher-education program.

Escalating teaching responsibilities. Future teachers gradually take over a full classroom, first teaching short segments on a single topic with a small group of students, then co-teaching with the mentor before assuming full responsibility for a class.

Feedback. Feedback from multiple sources (mentors, professors, peers) is routine.

Selective admission standards. Admission to the program is selective; not everyone has the necessary skills or demeanor to be an effective teacher.

Sources: National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education; faculty at Columbia University Teachers College, Stanford and Harvard Universities.

Compiled by Justin Snider of The Hechinger Report

These are the elements that have made the graduates of one education school successful.

Kids know good teaching when they see it. Donna Gordon Blankinship of AP wrotein the Seattle Times article, How Do You Find An Effective Teacher? Ask A Kid

Adults may be a little surprised by some of the preliminary findings of new research on what makes a great teacher.

How do you find the most effective teachers? Ask your kids. That’s one of four main conclusions of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and its research partners after the first year of its Measures of Effective Teaching Project.

Preliminary results of the study were posted online Friday; a more complete report is expected in April, according to the foundation….

The first four conclusions of the study are as follows:

-The average student knows effective teaching when he or she experiences it.

-In every grade and every subject, a teacher’s past success in raising student achievement on state tests is one of the strongest predictors of his or her ability to do so again.

-The teachers with the highest value-added scores on state tests, which show improvement by individual students during the time they were in their classroom, are also the teachers who do the best job helping their students understand math concepts or demonstrate reading comprehension through writing.

-Valid feedback does not need to come from test scores alone. Other data can give teachers the information they need to improve, including student opinions of how organized and effective a teacher is….

See, Students Know Good Teaching When They Get It, Survey Finds

Bottom line, education is a partnership between the student, parent(s) or guardian(s), teacher(s), and school. All parts of the partnership must be involved. Students must arrive at school ready to learn. Parents must provide an environment which supports education and education achievement. Teachers must have strong subject matter knowledge and pedagogic skills. Schools must provide safe environments and discipline. Communities are also part of a successful school system and outcome for community children. Education is a partnership.

The attempt to evaluate teacher colleges is getting nasty https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/523/

Could newest teaching strategy be made in Japan? https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/could-newest-teaching-strategy-be-made-in-japan/

New Harvard study about impact of teachers https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/new-harvard-study-about-impact-of-teachers/

Is it true that the dumbest become teachers? https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/is-it-true-that-the-dumbest-become-teachers/

Blogs by Dr. Wilda:

Tags: Broad Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Commission on Standards and Performance Reporting, education, How Do You Find An Effective Teacher? Ask A Kid, National Council on Teacher Quality, NCTQ, politics, research, Schools of Education, science, Teacher Education, Teacher Education Accreditation Council, Teacher Prep Review, Teacher Preparation, Teacher Training, Teachers Colleges Upset By Plans to Grade Them, US News & World Report

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Categories Dr Wilda

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Madison, WI	54.81%
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	54.73%
Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH	54.25%
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	54.15%
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT	52.86%
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	52.76%
Raleigh-Cary, NC	52.64%
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	50.65%
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	49.27%
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	48.28%

Lancaster, PA	31.74%
Las Vegas-Paradise, NV	29.59%
Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA	29.38%
El Paso, TX	28.97%
Fresno, CA	27.90%
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	27.20%
Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL	27.02%
Stockton, CA	26.75%
Bakersfield-Delano, CA	21.35%
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX	21.21%

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CONSEQUENCES:

Another study: Sleep problems can lead to behavior problems in children https://drwilda.com/2013/03/30/another-study-sleep-problems-can-lead-to-behavior-problems-in-children/

New report shows improved pace of college attainment is still not enough to meet future workforce needs; massive racial achievement gaps continue

Lumina Foundation Announces 10 New Targets for Moving America Closer to Goal 2025

Achievement Gaps by Race Continue

New Strategies for Reaching Goal 2025

Key Tables from A Stronger Nation through Higher Education Report:

Top 10 states by degree attainment in 2011:

Top 10 MSAs by degree attainment in 2011 (among the 100 most-populated MSAs):

Facts about postsecondary attainment in America

Bottom 10 states by degree attainment in 2011: State

Bottom 10 MSAs by degree attainment in 2011 (among the 100 most-populated MSAs):

Media contacts:

College readiness: What are ‘soft skills’ https://drwilda.com/2012/11/14/college-readiness-what-are-soft-skills/

Colleges rethinking who may need remedial education https://drwilda.com/2012/10/24/colleges-rethinking-who-may-need-remedial-education/

Contact NCTQ

Questions about the Teacher Prep Review in your area?

Teacher Prep

District Policy

State Policy

New Harvard study about impact of teachers https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/new-harvard-study-about-impact-of-teachers/

Is it true that the dumbest become teachers? https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/is-it-true-that-the-dumbest-become-teachers/

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