Education thread

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Vrede too
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Re: Education thread

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Vrede too wrote:
Sat Sep 08, 2018 6:04 pm
O Really wrote:
Sat Sep 08, 2018 5:32 pm
It would be interesting to show the decrease in teacher union membership over that period of time, possibly with a footnote showing how many states have weakened teacher union rights.
It's the confluence between GOP anti-union and anti-public education efforts. It's not true for all states, but the Figure C graph from the article shows that on average the teacher pay penalty is greater in red states. NC is 2nd worst only to AZ. :roll:
School critics are ignoring the public
When parents say they don't want their child to become a teacher, that's an alarm bell ringing in the night, and it requires attention.


It’s easy to get lost in the weeds of public opinion polling. But in the mass of detail in the 50th annual PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward The Public School, three conclusions are inescapable: The public does not agree with many of the criticisms leveled at public education by think tanks and public officials. The public’s respect for teachers is well-nigh overwhelming, but parents see the profession as undervalued. And the closer individuals get to a real school, the more they like what they see....
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Re: Education thread

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Cons busted lying to voters, again:
SPLC: Florida Supreme Court’s decision to remove misleading ballot measure on education is a ‘victory for schoolchildren’

The Florida Supreme Court today affirmed a lower court’s ruling to strike a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have eliminated local school boards’ exclusive duty to regulate some new public schools – including charter schools – from the ballot. ...
:---P
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Re: Education thread

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2018’s Best & Worst States for Teachers

Best 10: 6 blue, 2 red, 2 purple
Worst 10: 2 blue, 5 red, 3 purple

45 South Carolina
47 Florida
49 North Carolina

:(


Democrats Who Opposed Privatizing Social Security Should Be Alarmed By A New Scheme Aimed At Public Schools
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Re: Education thread

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To: contactgov@nc.gov, Chuck.Edwards@ncleg.net, Chuck.McGrady@ncleg.net, ltubb@bcswan.net, joates@bcswan.net, cmiller@bcswan.net, ccooke@bcswan.net, jthompson@bcswan.net, elemon@bcswan.net, emilligan@bcswan.net, info@charterdayschool.org
Cc: info@publicschoolsfirstnc.org

Dear:
Governor Cooper
Senator Edwards
Rep. McGrady
Charter Day School
Brunswick County Superintendent Leslie K. Tubb
Brunswick County Associate Superintendent Jerry L. Oates, Ed.D.
Brunswick County School Board:
Charles W. Miller
Catherine D.Cooke
John W. Thompson
Harry E. Lemon, Jr.
Ellen G. Milligan
CC: Public Schools First NC

Re: These Girls Are Suing Their School For The Right To Wear Pants
https://www.yahoo.com/news/girls-suing- ... 55671.html

I object to my tax dollars funding sexism, rightwing businessmen, discrimination lawsuits, and conservative madrassas.

Sincerely,
(Vrede too)
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billy.pilgrim
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Re: Education thread

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Vrede too wrote:
Sat Sep 29, 2018 3:16 pm
2018’s Best & Worst States for Teachers

Best 10: 6 blue, 2 red, 2 purple
Worst 10: 2 blue, 5 red, 3 purple

45 South Carolina
47 Florida
49 North Carolina

:(




You left out our 50th and 51st "states", Arizona and Hawaii. And old obam thought there were 57.
Trump: “We had the safest border in the history of our country - or at least recorded history. I guess maybe a thousand years ago it was even better.”

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Re: Education thread

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billy.pilgrim wrote:
Sat Nov 03, 2018 6:07 pm
You left out our 50th and 51st "states", Arizona and Hawaii. And old obam thought there were 57.
They count #43 District of Columbia as a state.
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Re: Education thread

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Vrede too wrote:
Sat Nov 03, 2018 1:17 pm
Dear:
...
Brunswick County School Board:
...
Catherine D.Cooke
...

Re: These Girls Are Suing Their School For The Right To Wear Pants
https://www.yahoo.com/news/girls-suing- ... 55671.html

I object to my tax dollars funding sexism, rightwing businessmen, discrimination lawsuits, and conservative madrassas.

Sincerely,
(Vrede too)
> Re: Madrassas
>
> Thank you for this information. I was unaware. These types of things are
> handled by the charter school and we do not involve
> Ourselves In the management of the school itself. We are required to
> provide funds but we have no oversight of the institution itself.
> Again thank you for passing along the information
>
> Sincerely
> Catherine Cooke
> ccooke@bcswan.net
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O Really
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Re: Education thread

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So who funds the defense/litigation costs?
Does the school board just give the charter a lump sum and that's it, or do they have to ante up more when the charter does something predictably stupid?

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Re: Education thread

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O Really wrote:
Mon Nov 05, 2018 2:09 pm
So who funds the defense/litigation costs?
Does the school board just give the charter a lump sum and that's it, or do they have to ante up more when the charter does something predictably stupid?
Idk, I just figured I'd mention them in my note, regardless. Ultimately, they are paid by the state and counties. Unprofitable charter schools managed by businesses close.
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Re: Education thread

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Vrede too wrote:
Sat Nov 03, 2018 6:18 pm
billy.pilgrim wrote:
Sat Nov 03, 2018 6:07 pm
You left out our 50th and 51st "states", Arizona and Hawaii. And old obam thought there were 57.
They count #43 District of Columbia as a state.

I know what they meant to say. It is a tad less than educational to have a list of 51 and a headline about States.

More of a Kelliannianni Alt-count.
Trump: “We had the safest border in the history of our country - or at least recorded history. I guess maybe a thousand years ago it was even better.”

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Re: Education thread

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:thumbup:
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Re: Education thread

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Armored school doors, bulletproof whiteboards and secret snipers
Billions are being spent to protect children from school shootings. Does any of it work?


... Although school security has grown into a $2.7 billion market — an estimate that does not account for the billions more spent on armed campus police officers — little research has been done on which safety measures do and do not protect students from gun violence....

When asked what, if anything, could have prevented the shootings at their schools, nearly half replied that there was nothing they could have done. Several, however, emphasized the critical importance of their staffs developing deep, trusting relationships with students, who often hear about threats before teachers do.

Only one school suggested that any kind of safety technology might have made a difference. Many had robust security plans already in place but still couldn’t stop the incidents....

Much of what can be done to prevent harm is beyond any school’s control because, in a country with more guns — nearly 400 million — than people, children are at risk of being shot no matter where they are. A 2016 study in the American Journal of Medicine found that, among high-income nations, 91 percent of children younger than 15 who were killed by gunfire lived in the United States.
Wow. :cry:
... at Dixon High in Illinois, resource officer Mark Dallas heard shots near the school gym, rushed toward the noise and in, an exchange of gunfire, struck the shooter, who was quickly arrested.

Seven of the 23 surveyed schools that had officers at the time of their shootings indicated that they played a direct role in limiting the harm done. Still, what Dallas did is exceedingly rare. The Post’s analysis identified just one other case over the past 19 years in which a resource officer gunned down an active shooter. (To put that in perspective, at least seven shootings in the same period were halted by malfunctioning weapons or by the gunman’s inability to handle them.)

While the mere presence of the officers may deter some gun violence, The Post found that, in dozens of cases, it didn’t: Among the more than 225 incidents on campuses since 1999, at least 40 percent of the affected schools employed an officer....
Overall, the message seems to be that tech and SROs are very expensive for dubious gains. More effective seems to be training for students and staff reporting and preparedness.

There's also the matter of our gun culture and access to guns, but this article is aimed at the options for individual schools.
Study: Having Just One Black Teacher Can Up Black Students' Chances of Going to College

... Black students who had just one black teacher by 3rd grade were 13 percent more likely to enroll in college, while those who had two black teachers were 32 percent more likely, the study found. These findings are a continuation of the 2017 study that found that a low-income black student's probability of dropping out of high school is reduced by 29 percent if he or she has one black teacher in grades 3-5....

Just 7 percent of U.S. teachers are black, compared to about 15 percent of students. Researchers have said that the teacher diversity gap is a tough problem to fix, mainly because teachers of color leave the profession at higher rates than their white peers....
Take all of the black students a black teacher has in a career then figure that 13% more of them will enter college and 29% fewer of them will drop out of high school. Wow, seems we should do whatever it takes to get more black teachers. Then, there are the white kids - their academics will be affected or not, idk, but they have to benefit from early exposure to black professionals.
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Re: Education thread

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Can't believe this out of the NCAA and Catholic school Canisious.

They worked together to allow a lesbian runner who had been disowned by her family keep money raised in GoFundMe and stay on the team too.
No reason but a Murkle, I'd say.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/ ... &ocid=iehp

:clap: :clap:

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Re: Education thread

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O Really wrote:
Mon Nov 19, 2018 8:40 pm
Can't believe this out of the NCAA and Catholic school Canisious.

They worked together to allow a lesbian runner who had been disowned by her family keep money raised in GoFundMe and stay on the team too.
No reason but a Murkle, I'd say.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/ ... &ocid=iehp

:clap: :clap:
Have you ever made even just one lesbian angry? :o ;)
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Re: Education thread

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This article is about Florida, but the texts are certainly used in other states.
Schools Without Rules: Private schools' curriculum downplays slavery, says humans and dinosaurs lived together

Some private schools in Florida that rely on public funding teach students that dinosaurs and humans lived together, that God’s intervention prevented Catholics from dominating North America and that slaves who “knew Christ” were better off than free men who did not.

The lessons taught at these schools come from three Christian publishing companies whose textbooks are popular on many of about 2,000 campuses that accept, and often depend on, nearly $1 billion in state scholarships, or vouchers.

... The books denounce evolution as untrue, for example, and one shows a cartoon of men and dinosaurs together, telling students the Biblical Noah likely brought baby dinosaurs onto his ark. The science books, they added, seem to discourage students from doing experiments or even asking questions.

“Students who have learned science in this kind of environment are not prepared for college experiences,” said Cynthia Bayer, a biology lecturer at the University of Central Florida who reviewed the science books. “They would be intellectually disadvantaged.”

The social studies books downplay the horrors of slavery and the mistreatment of Native Americans, they said. One book, in its brief section on the civil rights movement, said that “most black and white southerners had long lived together in harmony” and that “power-hungry individuals stirred up the people.”

The books are rife with religious and political opinions on topics such as abortion, gay rights and the Endangered Species Act, which one labels a “radical social agenda.” They disparage religions other than Protestant Christianity and cultures other than those descended from white Europeans. Experts said that was particularly worrisome given that about 60 percent of scholarship students are black or Hispanic.

Image

... The Florida Department of Education does not track the curriculum used by the 140,000 students who attend private schools on state vouchers. In fact, Florida law prohibits the department from asking about or regulating academics at these schools....

The scholarships that private schools may use to purchase these academic materials are paid for either directly by the state or with tax credits — money diverted from the state budget by corporations that make scholarship donations and then write off an equivalent amount from their state tax bills.The scholarships are available to students from low-income families or to those with disabilities, and their parents are free to enroll them in any private school that accepts the state-backed vouchers.

Nearly 80 percent of scholarship students attend religious schools, and most of those institutions are Christian. About 16 percent of the scholarship schools are Catholic, and those schools use their own curriculum as do some other schools including those that are Islamic or Jewish (combined they make up about 5 percent of the schools) and those without religious affiliation.

With few exceptions, the Christian texts the Sentinel had reviewed focus on simple reading passages, basic math and repetitive activities, such as copying sentences, with little to demand students think critically, the experts said....

In public schools, Florida teachers need a bachelor’s degree and passing scores on state certification exams, but there are no required teacher credentials for private schools that accept state scholarships.

“Honestly, with our curriculum … a certified teacher is not required,” Natasha Griffin, district superintendent of Esther’s School, which has seven campuses in Florida, told the Orlando Sentinel last year.

At Esther’s School in Kissimmee, 11 of 18 teachers lacked college degrees last year, according to a document Griffin sent to the education department. For two of them, 11th grade was their highest educational level. Almost all of the school’s nearly 60 students are on state scholarships this year....

The BJU text said “God provided” North America as a place for the Protestant church to flourish, keeping Catholics to Central America and South America.

An ACE workbook notes Native Americans were forced off their lands but then blames them for becoming “dependent on their government.” The Abeka book said in a section on “evangelizing black Americans” that “the slave who knew Christ had more freedom than a free person who did not know the Savior.”

Image

... The math and reading texts fall short compared with the books used in public schools, too, the experts said. The BJU math book was well done, but most of the math texts focus heavily on teaching rules and computational methods but do little to build students’ understanding of the concepts needed to really understand the subject, said Jie Yu, an assistant professor of education at Rollins College.

The reading texts include “simple kid stories” that are appropriate but not challenging, said Patricia Goldman, language arts specialist for Seminole public schools. The stories, and accompanying questions, lack the complexity the state expects for literary lessons in public schools, she added.

“There’s really not a lot of heavy thinking,” she said.
:puke-left: :obscene-birdiered:
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Re: Education thread

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“Students who have learned science in this kind of environment are not prepared for college experiences,” said Cynthia Bayer, a biology lecturer at the University of Central Florida who reviewed the science books. “They would be intellectually disadvantaged.”

I don't think she's going to have to worry about most of these kids applying at UCF. :lol: :x

It's hard to imagine how these crazy church people can keep their kids in the dark once they get to be, say, 13 or so. Keep them tied up in a cage in the basement, I guess.

I remember being taught as a child that humans and dinosaurs were contemporaries, though. ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PPf3aaZmUw

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Re: Education thread

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O Really wrote:
Thu Jan 31, 2019 10:14 pm
... I remember being taught as a child that humans and dinosaurs were contemporaries, though. ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PPf3aaZmUw
I KNEW it was going to be
Spoiler:
The Flintstones.
I had the same cultural indoctrination.
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Re: Education thread

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'Teacher of the Year' resigns after allegedly slurring her words, 'wobbling' and hiding wine in her classroom

Interesting comments - a lot of sympathy for the disease of alcoholism, a lot of disgust with the airing of her issues publicly and in detail . . . and a lot of support for drinking in order to cope with teaching 8th graders. :D I agree with all 3.
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Re: Education thread

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Don Jr. Gets An 'F' On Twitter After Slamming 'Loser Teachers' At Campaign Event

Donald Trump Jr. took a shot at “loser teachers,” who he claimed are indoctrinating children into socialism from the moment they’re born.

“You know what I love? I love seeing some young conservatives, ’cuz I know it’s not easy,” he said at a rally in El Paso ahead of a speech by his father, President Donald Trump, who was promoting his proposed border wall.

“Keep up that fight, bring it to your schools. You don’t have to be indoctrinated by these loser teachers that are trying to sell you on socialism from birth. You don’t have to do it.”

...
Lots of excellent responses, many from teachers, at the link.

It must be strange to be part of a family where all of the competition is to be the bigger jerk/moron/loser.
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Re: Education thread

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(FORT BRAGG) North Carolina student asked to 'cover up' after teachers found shirt offensive

Image

... Public Affairs Officer Jade Fulce with the Department of Defense Education Activity released the following statement the morning after ABC11 reported the incident:

"Students are at the heart of everything we do. After further review of our dress code policies, we realized that the shirt did not violate our policies. The school reached out to the parents and apologized that same day."
:---P
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