Upcoming Event:    The 94rd Annual Meeting of the Horace Mann League  will be held on Friday, February, 12, 2016, at the Phoenix Downtown Sheraton Hotel, starting at 11:45 am. Early registration is encouraged.        Registration information, click here.

Only You Can Prevent Charter Cheerleading on the Jersey Jazzman site.

   Charles Kerchner: Interpreting the LAUSD Vote Against the Broad Takeover   by Diane Ravitch on the Ravitch site.

Using computers widens the achievement gap in writing, a federal study finds by  Jill Barshay on the Hechinger site. 

Can elementary-school children show off their best writing on a computer? The research arm of the U.S. Department of Education was curious to learn just that. 

Initial results from the study were positive: most of the young students were able complete the writing assignments and use the editing tools. 

But a new, deeper analysis of the 2012 writing pilot, released to the public in December 2015, found more complicated results. It compared the computer-written essays with a pencil-and-paper test given to fourth graders two years earlier, in 2010.  High-performing students did substantially better on the computer than with pencil and paper. But the opposite was true for average and low-performing students. They crafted better sentences using pencil and paper than they did using the computer. Low-income and black and Hispanic students tended to be in this latter category.  (Reads more.)

Youth Violence: What We Know and What We Need to Know by Brad J. Bushman and others on the American Psychological Association site.

School shootings tear the fabric of society. In the wake of a school shooting, parents, pediatricians, policymakers, politicians, and the public search for "the" cause of the shooting. But there is no single cause. The causes of school shootings are extremely complex. After the Sandy Hook Elementary School rampage shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, we wrote a report for the National Science Foundation on what is known and not known about youth violence. This article summarizes and updates that report. After distinguishing violent behavior from aggressive behavior, we describe the prevalence of gun violence in the United States and age-related risks for violence. We delineate important differences between violence in the context of rare rampage school shootings, and much more common urban street violence. Acts of violence are influenced by multiple factors, often acting together. We summarize evidence on some major risk factors and protective factors for youth violence, highlighting individual and contextual factors, which often interact. We consider new quantitative "data mining" procedures that can be used to predict youth violence perpetrated by groups and individuals, recognizing critical issues of privacy and ethical concerns that arise in the prediction of violence.  ( Read more.)

To the 1 percent pouring millions into charter schools: How about improving the schools that the vast majority of students actually attend?     by Gary Sasso on the Salon.com site.

Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Forced Union Fees Case  on the Education New site.

Although the US Supreme Court ruled in 1977 that state governments could force teachers in public schools to pay mandatory union fees whether they were members of the union or not, that ruling is being reevaluated. This, the Supreme Court heard arguments that proposed that  the "agency shop arrangement," or "fair share fee" justified in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education should be overruled .

The idea was first approved by the court on the grounds that the government had a legal interest in keeping union non-members from getting a free ride on the coattails of the union's collective-bargaining attempts, according to Damon Root of Reason magazine.

Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association is centered on California teacher Rebecca Friedrichs, who will not join the teachers union and believes her First Amendment rights will be taken away if she is forced to provide financial support to a union that has an agenda with which she unquestionably disagrees.     ( Read more.)

 

The Supreme Court's threat to gut unions is giving the labor movement new life  by  Lydia DePillis on the Washington Post site.

This is Bad! Attack on Teacher Unions is an Assault on Students, Workers and Democracy by  Alan Singer   on the Huffington Post site.

On Monday, the United States Supreme Court heard  arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of public employee labor unions in the 1977 Abood v. Detroit Board of Education case. Writing for the court majority at that time,  Justice Potter Stewart argued that whatever potential interference there might be with First Amendment rights was more than justified by the right of workers to form associations and constitutionally permitted to prevent individuals from benefiting from union activity without paying their far share and to promote "labor peace."

But the current court membership is much more rightwing and anti-union. In a 2012 majority opinion, Associate Justice  Samuel A. (for anti-union) Alito  argued "Because a public-sector union takes many positions during collective bargaining that have powerful political and civic consequences, the compulsory fees constitute a form of compelled speech and association that imposes a significant impingement on First Amendment rights." That opinion set the stage for the newest freedom of speech challenge to public employee unions.  ( Read more.)

F is for Friedrichs... and Freeloader: A Supreme Court Nightmare on the Gadflyonthewall site.

Say you're on an airplane flying high over the Rockies.

The plane is going down.

You need a parachute.

Luckily, before you took off, all the passengers got together and pooled their money to buy them.

There's enough for everyone. We're all going to make it out of this alive.

People line up at the doors getting ready to jump.

Right in front of you is a lady with a sour look on her face.

"I can't believe they're making us pay for these parachutes," she says.

"Really?" you reply. "Don't you want one?"

"Sure I do!" she says. "I just don't think I should be forced to pay for it."

You give her a look. You can't help it.

"But how else can they buy the parachutes?" you say.  ( Read more.)

Closer look at our schools provides hope, path for action    by James Harvey on the Everett Herald site.

Test scores are important to students and parents worried about graduation, college and employment. And policymakers have long relied on large, international tests to judge how American schools are performing compared to other nations. But a single number from an international test can be very misleading.    In 2013, the U.S. Department of Education sounded the alarm that our schools are in trouble after U.S. test results were reported on PISA (Program on International Student Assessment), a large standardized test administered in more than 60 cities and nations. Shanghai scored the highest followed by six other Asian nations. Much hand-wringing ensued.    But the PISA results ignored something important: Shanghai screens its poor and disabled students out of high school (where most of the testing takes place) while advanced nations do not. The results compare apples with oranges.  (Read more.)

7 Scientifically Proven Steps to Increase Your Influence by  Meiko S. Patton  on the Huffington Post site.

Lead Human Behavioral Investigator Vanessa Van Edwards' mission in life is to help you become the most memorable person in the room. She refers to herself as a recovering boring person who was uninterestingly bland. So she turned to science to overcome her dilemma.

By using current research out of academic institutions and research organizations around the world, she's able to share the latest people science in an actionable, applicable and un-boring ways.

1. Connect with people emotionally

2. Be emotionally curious

3. Use High Confident Body Language

4. Tell a Story

5. Be Vulnerable

6. May I ask a favor?

7. Become Charismatic  ( Reads more.)

 

  We Have Lost a Good Friend to Public Education: Philip Schlechty by Diane Ravitch on the Ravitch site.  (Philip Schlechty is the HML 2010 Outstanding Public Education.)

Philip Schlechty was a man of deep knowledge and common sense. If you read any of his books about education, you will know at once that Phil understood teaching, learning, education, and leadership. He understood that teachers are mortals, not magicians. He understood the limits of what schools can do at the same time that he understood the awesome power of teachers to change lives. I was fortunate to meet him and to become a friend. He advised many schools, helping them to improve. He did not believe in radical disruption or earth-shattering transformation. He believed in the steady and collaborative work of schools and knew it was hard, and knew that it takes community support. He warned against the encroachments of far-away powers that knew how to mandate but nothing more. When I read his books, I recognized that he had wisdom, knowledge, insight, vision, and all of that was grounded in a lost quality: common sense. We have lost a friend.     (Read more.)

The Trail Blazer Saga by Philip Schlechty.

This is one of Phil's classic speeches, as relevant today as when he first designed it over a decade ago. The Trailblazer Saga uses five character types to illustrate the various roles people play, and the support people need, on the journey to transform public schools.

Upcoming Event:    The 94rd Annual Meeting of the Horace Mann League will be held on Friday, February, 12, 2016, at the Phoenix Downtown Sheraton Hotel, starting at 11:45 am.  Registration information, click here. 

 

    

  

 

A Gift:   On the Art of Teaching   by Horace Mann

In 1840 Mann wrote On the Art of Teaching. Some of HML members present On the Art of Teaching to new teachers as part of their orientation program.  On the inside cover, some write a personal welcome message to the recipient.  Other HML members present the book to school board members and parental organizations as a token of appreciation for becoming involved in their schools.  The book cover can be designed with the organization's name.  For more information, contact the HML ( Jack McKay)

 

  

  

  

 

   

HML Posts - An Archive

All the past issues of the HML Posts are available for review and search purposes.

 

Finally, 7 links that may be of interest to you.

The Horace Mann League on Facebook

Leadership: The Art and Science of Leading 

Technology for School Leaders 

Golf Tips: Videos and other things to improve your game 

Scholars, Writers and Learners  

Jack's Photo Magazine  "How To" for Photography

The HML Pinterest Board

Jack's Fishing Expedition in British Columbia - short video