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Welcome to the Tuesday morning, April 10, 2018, edition of the HML Post. This weekly newsletter is a service to the members of the Horace Mann League of the USA.
More articles of interest are on the HML Flipboard site.
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Quote of the Week
The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.
Ralph Nader.
__________________
Before we go any further, it's important to
level set on how I am defining a leader:
Someone whose actions inspire, empower, and serve others to produce an improved state over an extended period of time.
1. Think of others' needs before your own.
2. Set high standards and hold people accountable to them
3.
Devote time every day to the development of leadership skills.
4. Admit you don't know all the answers.
5. Come up with a mantra that motivates and inspires others.
Black students, boys, and students with disabilities were disproportionately disciplined (e.g., suspensions and expulsions) in K-12 public schools, according to GAO's analysis of Department of Education (Education) national civil rights data for school year 2013-14, the most recent available. These disparities were widespread and persisted regardless of the type of disciplinary action, level of school poverty, or type of public school attended. For example, Black students accounted for 15.5 percent of all public school students, but represented about 39 percent of students suspended from school-an overrepresentation of about 23 percentage points. (Learn more.)
S
tructural changes in the economy have favored industries that employ highly educated workers - and that these industries do best in locations where there are already a lot of these workers. As a result, these regions are experiencing a virtuous circle of growth: Their knowledge-intensive industries prosper, drawing in even more educated workers, which reinforces their advantage.
And at the same time, regions that started with a poorly educated work force are in a downward spiral, both because they're stuck with the wrong industries and because they're experiencing what amounts to a brain drain.
We already have programs that would aid these regions - but which they won't accept. Many of the states that have
refused to expand Medicaid, even though the federal government would foot the great bulk of the bill - and would create jobs in the process - are also
among America's poorest.
Or consider how some states, like Kansas and Oklahoma - both of which were relatively affluent in the 1970s, but have now fallen far behind - have gone in for radical tax cuts, and ended up savaging their education systems. External forces have put them in a hole, but they're digging it deeper. (
Learn more.)
Recent legislation acknowledges the growing role that technology plays in students' daily lives. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides guidance to state governments on how to receive supplemental federal funding for public education. As part of the ESSA legislation, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is required to produce a report on the educational impact of access to digital learning resources (DLR) outside of the classroom.
This report, produced by the IES' National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), responds to the ESSA mandate for an analysis of the educational impact of access to DLR outside of the classroom. (Learn more.)
Within a year's time the administration has repealed onerous guidance associated with ESSA that would have infused a level of prescription on par with what prevailed under NCLB; restored decisions about school bathroom policy to localities; worked to ensure due process for the accused in cases of sexual assault allegations on college campuses; and advanced school choice in an appropriate way through existing federal policy, reauthorizing the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, and empowering families across the country with choice through expanded 529 savings plans. All of these reforms augur positive change for American education because they have put control in the hands of those closest to the students the policies affect, thus moving federal education policy in the right direction. (Learn more.) . See next article for an alternative point of view.
Trump's commitment to significant cuts in federal discretionary spending, a deep federalist ideology that tends to defer reflexively to state action (and is thus averse to federal civil-rights guarantees), and an embrace of bigoted rhetoric and action provide little substance for pro-student reform advocates to embrace. And his administration's proposed investments in the federal Charter Schools Program do little to offset that damage. All students, but particularly low-income students and students of color, face many challenges in their pursuit of educational opportunity, both from within and outside the schoolhouse. So far, this administration's policies have done nothing to help alleviate these challenges. (Learn more.)
The researchers examined how people reacted to the different ways of being greeted and what they thought it said about their attitude and personality.
Now the next part -- the results -- involves concentration, before practice.
If you want to sound determined -- and happen to be French -- you should put an emphasis on the second syllable of Bonjour and speak in a descending pitch.
Which is different from a condescending pitch.
But if you want people to trust you, oh, that's a completely different affair.
You should allow your voice to rise near the end of the word.
(
Learn more
.)
E-cigarettes have been touted by their makers and some public health experts as devices to help adult smokers kick the habit.
But school officials, struggling to control an explosion of vaping among high school and middle school students across the country, fear that the devices are creating a new generation of nicotine addicts.
In his four years at Cape Elizabeth, Mr. Carpenter says he can't recall seeing a single student smoke a cigarette. But vaping is suddenly everywhere.
"It's our demon," he said. "It's the one risky thing that you can do in your life - with little consequence, in their mind - to show that you're a little bit of a rebel." (
Learn more.)
When asked, "Do you believe that students' use of digital devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers has helpful or harmful effects" in the area of mental health, 69 percent of teachers said digital devices have been "mostly harmful."
Parents, meanwhile, have a much rosier view. Asked: "All things considered, do you believe your child's use of digital devices including smartphones, tablets and computers is more helpful or harmful" to their mental health, 69 percent of the 1,000 parents of kids aged 2 to 18 said devices are "more helpful." (
Learn more.)
5.
, and make sure you write in it each morning. This teaches you to chronicle what works.
6.
Quick desk rearrangements work wonders.
Even just moving a few accoutrements like a pencil holder and a stapler will stimulate some creative thoughts.
7.
Learn how to manage distractions.
You can pump out a report or fly through email if you first power down the phone, making it totally inaccessible.
8.
Stand up during the day to help you focus
. The movement, change of perspective, and change in blood flow will help you achieve a bit more that day.
9.
Include other people in your productivity plan
who can check in with you and serve as a sounding board for your ideas. Let them see which items you will do today on this list.
10.
Buy a really expensive pen for your journal. Use the guilt from paying that much as an excuse for writing down your challenges for the day and keeping notes about successes.
(
and 40 more
.)
Since the earliest days of teacher organizing more than a century ago, almost every moment of teacher activism has come during times of social upheaval. In 1897, the modern teachers' union movement was born in Chicago, where teachers presided over classrooms of up to 60 children, many of whom could not speak English, in a city surging with immigrants and struggling to control rampant child labor and typhoid in the water. All for the equivalent of $13,000 a year in today's dollars.
Later strikes came during struggles over racial inequality and the future of public school teaching itself. And as classrooms light up again across West Virginia this week, teachers will be resuming their daily struggles against two modern ills: an intractable drug crisis on top of a
growing nationwide fear of bloodshed in the classroom. (
Learn more.)
School districts across the country are facing tightening budgets, and school transportation is such a major expense that many districts are looking for ways to cut costs (Burgoyne-Allen & Schiess, 2017). Whether that means districts are cutting routes, condensing stops, or phasing out buses from the fleet, students and their families are feeling the hurt. School transportation and the driver behind the wheel each morning and afternoon play a pivotal role in the education process by providing safe passage for students, ensuring that students are at school, and extending the positive school climate beyond the classroom.
As the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2014) explains, the results of these rigorous requirements are clear:
- It is 70 times safer for students to travel by bus rather than a car.
- Of 40,000 deaths from traffic accidents in 2014, six were in a school bus.
- Each school day, 480,000 school buses transport 26 million students (over half of the U.S. student population). (Learn more.)
Why do some children succeed while others fail? The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs.
Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter more have to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, optimism, and self-control.
How Children Succeed
introduces us to a new generation of researchers and educators, who, for the first time, are using the tools of science to peel back the mysteries of character. Through their stories-and the stories of the children they are trying to help-Tough reveals how this new knowledge can transform young people's lives. He uncovers the surprising ways in which parents do-and do not-prepare their children for adulthood. And he provides us with new insights into how to improve the lives of children growing up in poverty. This provocative and profoundly hopeful book will not only inspire and engage readers, it will also change our understanding of childhood itself. (Learn more and video.)
While the Supreme Court held in 2014 that police need a warrant to search a cell phone, schools have historically had a little more leeway with searches, be they bags, lockers or, these days, devices. Typically, if a student, parent or teacher challenges a search, courts will consider whether the search was justified at its inception - it was reasonable to think the search would turn up evidence the student was violating rules or laws - and whether the search's scope was reasonably related to the circumstances that led to the search in the first place. In other words, if an official thinks a student took photos of a fight that happened moments ago, that likely would not justify a search of the student's old emails, while a search of photos may be warranted. (Learn more.)
The annual school superintendent hunting season is open, and as usual,
about a dozen cities are jockeying to woo an ever-shrinking pool of qualified candidates for a demanding job that requires one part managerial skills, one part political savvy and one part education-policy acumen for a tenure that, on average, lasts barely more than three years.
"These jobs are difficult. They take a real toll on people," says Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, a coalition of the country's largest urban public school systems. "They are extremely demanding and whoever takes them has precious little in the way of personal and family time." (
Learn more.)
It's no secret that in the rush to produce adults who are adept at applying science and technology to modern life, we left them ill-trained in the basic duties of citizenship. Nearly a third of Americans cannot name a single branch of government, and almost 40 percent are unable to cite a right guaranteed by the First Amendment.
But it's not the kids who are the doofuses. "There's a big difference between being ignorant and being stupid," said Sonia Sotomayor, associate justice of the Supreme Court. She's been touring the country - 38 states so far -
promoting civic competence among the young, a virtue that used to be a bedrock part of American education.
"No one is born a citizen," she said during a stopover in Seattle. "You have to be taught what that means." (
Learn more.)
Every weekday during the academic year,
more than 50 million children across the United States enter public school buildings.
Many of these buildings are so dilapidated and poorly designed that children's health and safety are at risk.
Some are in floodplains or lack heat or air conditioning. Others lie near fault lines and haven't been built to withstand earthquakes.
Young Americans are coming of age in a world that is drier and hotter than ever before. Wildfires, severe storms, floods and other environmental extremes will become more frequent and intense. Natural hazards, when combined with crumbling infrastructure, can lead to disaster. (
Learn more.)
Congratulations to Dr. Ember Conley, on being recently appointed to
be
the next superintendent of the Mesa School District in Arizona (70,000 students). Dr. Conley is a member of the Horace Mann League's Board of Directors.
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The Education Cartoon of the Week.
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The Superintendent's Special topics:
(Please share your ideas. Contact Jack McKay
)
Sponsor a Professional Colleague for membership
in
the Horace Mann League.
Click here to download the "Sponsor a Colleague" form.
On the Art of Teaching by Horace Mann.
The book, On The Art of Teaching by Horace Mann has been presented to new teachers as a welcome gift by a number of
schools district
. For orders of 50 or more, the district's name is printed on the front cover.
Ordering Information
Cost per copy: $12.50
Orders of 50 to 99: $11.00
Orders of 100 or more: $10.00
Send orders to: (include name of district, P.O. #, and address)
The Horace Mann League of the USA
560 Rainier Lane
Port Ludlow, WA 98365
or
email: Jack McKay
FAX (866) 389 0740
About Us
The Horace Mann League of the USA is an honorary society that promotes the ideals of Horace Mann by advocating for public education as the cornerstone of our democracy.
Officers:
President:
Dr. Eric King, Superintendent, (ret.) Muncie Public Schools, IN
President-elect:
Dr. Laurie Barron, Superintendent, Evergreen Schools, Kalispell, MT.
Vice President: Dr. Lisa Parady, Exec. Dir. Alaska Assoc. of School Admin., Juneau, AK
Past President:
Dr. Martha Bruckner, Exec.Dir., MOEC Collective Impact, Omaha, NE
Directors:
Dr. Ruben Alejandro, Supt.
of
Schools, (ret.) Weslaco, TX
Dr. David Berliner, Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Dr. Talisa Dixon, Supt. of Schools, Cleveland Heights - University Heights, OH
Mr. Jeffery Charbonneau, Science Coordinator, ESD 105 and Zillah HS, WA
Dr. Carol
Choye
, Instructor, (ret.) Superintendent, Scotch Plains Schools, NJ
Dr. Brent Clark, Executive Director, Illinois Assoc.
of
School Admin. IL
Dr. Ember Conley, Supt.
of
Schools, Park City, UT
Dr. Linda Darling Hammond, Professor of Education, Stanford U. CA
Dr. James Harvey, Exec.
Dir
., Superintendents Roundtable, WA
Dr. Steven Ladd, Superintendent, (ret.) Elk Grove USD, Elk Grove, CA
Dr. Stan Olson, President, Silverback Learning, (former supt.
of
Boise Schools, ID)
Dr. Martin Brook, Executive Direcctor, Tri-State Consortium, Satuket, NY
Dr. Kevin Riley, Superintendent, Gretna Community Schools, NE
Executive Director:
Dr.
Jack McKay, Professor Emeritus, University of Nebraska at Omaha,
560 Rainier Lane, Port Ludlow, WA 98365 (360) 821 9877
To become a member of the HML,
click here to download an application.
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