The Greatest Generation (of Networkers)

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

As the debate continues on the pros and cons of media multitasking, the article below offers a balanced perspective:

“This generation has a gift for multitasking, and because they’ve integrated technology into their lives, their ability to remain connected to each other will serve them and their employers well. Others contend that these hyper-socializers are serial time-wasters, that the bonds between them are shallow, and that their face-to-face interpersonal skills are poor.”

What does the research show? According to this article:

“Young workers spend more time than older workers socializing via their devices or entertaining themselves online. In a 2008 survey for Salary.com, 53% of those under age 24 said this was their primary “time wasting” activity while at work, compared to just 34% for those between ages 41 and 65. Online social networking while at work hampers business productivity, according to a new study by Nucleus Research. Almost two-thirds of those with Facebook accounts access them at their workplaces, the study found, which translates to a 1.5% loss of total employee productivity across an organization.

A study this year by psychology students at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Ga., found that the more time young people spend on Facebook, the more likely they are to have lower grades and weaker study habits. Heavy Facebook users show signs of being more gregarious, but they are also more likely to be anxious, hostile or depressed. (Doctors, meanwhile, are now blaming addictions to “night texting” for disturbing the sleep patterns of teens.)”

In his book, OUTLIERS, Malcom Gladwell explores the work of Dr. Alan Schoenfeld, a math professor at Berkeley, who studied and videotaped countless students working on math problems. What he found, is that successful students were willing to take up to twenty minutes or more trying to figure out a problem through persisting, experimenting, reviewing the issues, trying a new tact, thinking out loud and simply not giving up. Success, according to Schoenfeld, is a function of persistence and not quittingâ€”a willingness to work for twenty-two minutes when most people would give up after thirty seconds. This principal applies to any area of learning or school work. Only with mastery can the time to do tasks be shortened.

How much is texting promoting the instant gratification tendency which flies in the face of working twenty-two minutes on something whether it is math, or putting together a model airplane, sewing a dress or fixing a broken lamp? How much are our students willing to take the time to work towards mastery and to what extent might a preponderance of social networking threaten studentsâ€™ ability to do quality work, follow-through and gain real understanding?

ARTICLE:
The Greatest Generation (of Networkers)
by Jeffrey Zaslow
Wall Street Journal

A 17-year-old boy, caught sending text messages in class, was recently sent to the vice principal’s office at Millwood High School in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The vice principal, Steve Gallagher, told the boy he needed to focus on the teacher, not his cellphone. The boy listened politely and nodded, and that’s when Mr. Gallagher noticed the student’s fingers moving on his lap.

He was texting while being reprimanded for texting.

“It was a subconscious act,” says Mr. Gallagher, who took the phone away. “Young people today are connected socially from the moment they open their eyes in the morning until they close their eyes at night. It’s compulsive.”

To view this entire article visit www.online.wsj.com

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The School Volunteer Jobs That Most Help Your Kids

CAROL’S SUMMARY:
The Wall Street Journal article below highlights the volunteer roles in school that allow parents to deliver the biggest benefit to their children. To help your child in school, the writer suggests picking volunteer stints that enable you to:

* Learn about classes and curriculum.
* Build relationships with teachers and staff.
* Show the value you place on education.
* Learn how problems at school are resolved.

While every parent can choose to volunteer for projects or assignments according to their own areas of interest and ability relevant to the school’s needs, the research-based advice cited in this article helps steer parents toward the best volunteer options according to their children’s developmental stages as they move through elementary, middle school and high school. For example, children in grades k-5 typically love to see their parents in the classroom, so if you have to choose, helping out with a classroom party or being a chaperone on fields trips trumps serving on the board where kids don’t get to see what you’re doing. In addition to volunteering, the experts underscore an even bigger way to positively impact your child’s life: coaching.

“If you lack time to volunteer, or if you find yourself at the bottom of a long waiting list of wannabe school helpers, don’t despair: How you coach your child at home matters far more.

Throughout school, the most important parental role of all is to shape your child’s attitude toward learning and school, communicate high expectations, and help him or her set goals and solve learning problems,” summarizes the WSJ education author, Sue Shellenbarger.

LifeBound is committed to helping parents learn coaching skills so they can motivate, inspire and connect with their kids. Next week we’re launching a new series of sessions around coaching at schools throughout Jefferson County and in Colorado Springs with coaching facilitator Maureen Breeze, the co-author of LifeBound’s new book, Critical and Creative Thinking for Teenagers. For more information about LifeBound’s coaching resources for parents at your school, please visit our web site at www.lifebound.com and click on the “coaching” button, or email us at contact@lifebound.com or call toll free 1.877.737.8510.

ARTICLE:
The School Volunteer Jobs That Most Help Your Kids
by Sue Shellenbarger
October 7, 2009
Wall Street Journal

Rosa Rivera receives so many invitations to volunteer at her children’s school and other activities that the dozens of daily emails and calls about various projects can be “just overwhelming,” says the mother of two.

At her children’s stage, ages 7 and 9, her top priority is to take the projects that will help them most in school and life, says Ms. Rivera, Austin, Texas. But it can be hard to figure out which projects those are. “You’re pulled and stretched in so many directions, now more than ever,” she says.

Cash-strapped schools are leaning hard on parents for help this fall. Some 53% of parents plan to volunteer at their children’s schools, up from 44% last year, says a poll of 1,086 parents by Harris Interactive and GreatSchools, a nonprofit parent-involvement group. The re-opening of schools this fall has triggered a 50% increase in volunteer signups at VolunteerSpot.com, a Web site for organizing volunteers, to 75,000 from 50,000 last summer, says Karen Bantuveris, VolunteerSpot founder.

To view this entire article visit www.online.wsj.com

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Federal Researchers Find Lower Standards in Schools

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

In the first of its kind study by the U.S. Department of Education, results revealed that almost one-third of states have lowered their profieciency standards in reading and math in order to comply with the No Child Left Behind law.Â As the New York Times article below reports, 15 states lowered theirÂ standards in either reading or math from 2005 to 2007, whileÂ three states, Maine, Oklahoma and Wyoming, lowered standards in “both subjects at both grade levels,” the study said.

Note:Â Researchers compared the results of state tests and the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2005 and 2007, identifying a score on the national assessment that was equivalent to each stateâ€™s definition of proficiency. To see these state by state comparison’s click on the imbedded link titled, “Score Discrepanices.”

In response to these results, U. S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan said, “â€œAt a time when we should be raising standards to compete in the global economy, more states are lowering the bar than raising it,â€Â and added,Â â€œWeâ€™re lying to our children.â€Â The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Louis Fabrizio,Â described the dilemma: â€œWhen you set standards, do you want to show success under N.C.L.B. by having higher percentages of students at proficiency, in which case youâ€™ll set lower standards?â€ Mr. Fabrizio asked. â€œOr do you want to do the right thing for kids, by setting them higher so theyâ€™re comparable with our global competitors?â€

In theÂ 21st century, new forcesâ€”cultural, political, environmental, and economicâ€”are sweeping the world, causing AmericansÂ to reexamine the role of their country within these new global complexities.Â NoÂ entity needs to respond more effectively to these changes than our nation’s schools.Â We need to find new waysÂ to challenge students by helping them clarify their ideas, discover their talents, and maximize their possibilities.

What should all U.S. students be expected to know and understand about the world?

What skills and attitudes will our students need to confront future problems, which most assuredly will be global in scope?

What do scholars from the international relations disciplines and experienced practitioners of global education believe students should know, and how can these insights best be incorporated into the existing standards?

ARTICLE

New York Times

by Sam Dillon

A new federal study shows that nearly a third of the states lowered their academic proficiency standards in recent years, a step that helps schools stay ahead of sanctions under the No Child Left Behind law. But lowering standards also confuses parents about how childrenâ€™s achievement compares with those in other states and countries.

To view the entire article visit

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/education/30educ.html

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Kids Watch More Than a Day of TV Each Week

According to a Neilsen study released this week, children between the ages of 2 to 11, are watching more than a day a week of television, and older children watch an average of 3 hours and 20 minutes a day. Patricia McDonough, Nielsen’s senior vice president of insights, analysis and policy, says the increase in viewing is the result of “more programming targeted at kids” and extra media outlets such as video on demand. “When I was a kid, I had Saturday morning cartoons,” McDonough said. “And now there are programs they want to watch available to them whenever they want to watch them.”

Health Advocates

Children’s health advocates are alarmed by these findings which link excessive viewing to delayed language skills and obesity. Dr. Vic Strasburger, a professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and a spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) said, “The biggest misconception is that it’s harmless entertainment,” said Strasburger, who has written extensively about the effects of media on children. “Media are one of the most powerful teachers of children that we know of. When we in this society do a bad job of educating kids about sex and drugs, the media pick up the slack.” The AAP recommends little-to-no TV viewing for children four-and-under and less than 10 hours per week (about 1 Â½ hours per day) for children in grades K-12. Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, said the way infants are exposed to media shapes their future relationship with television.

“Once you start hooking babies on media, it’s harder to limit it,” she said. “If we start children early in life on a steady diet of screen time and electronic toys, they don’t develop the resources to generate their own amusement, so they become dependent on screens.”

ADHD

In a 2004 study by Dr. Dimitri Christakis and his colleagues, they reported for the Journal of Pediatrics that early TV viewing (ages 1 and 3 were studied) is associated with attentional problems (ADHD) at a later age (age 7). The children studied watched a mean of 2.2 hours per day at age 1 and 3.6 hours per day at age 3. Specifically, Christakis reports that watching about five hours of TV per day at age 1 is associated with a 28% increase in the likelihood of having attentional problems at age 7. Further, in 2000, the American Psychological Association “publicly denounced the use of psychological techniques to assist corporate advertising to children. The average child watches over 40,000 commercials per year. In addition to potentially damaging a child’s self-esteem, many ads also likely contribute to health problems, given that the most common products marketed to children include sugared cereals, candies, sodas, and snack foods. A child’s diet heavy in such foods may contribute to the increase in the number of overweight children and the rise in diabetes, especially given the sedentary behavior of children.”

[Source: http://www.limitv.org/health.htm]

The Role of Schools

Schools can play a key role as a hub in their communities to inform families on these kinds of issues. In particular, school counselors, who are often at the forefront of these trends, can promote behaviors consistent with academic, emotional and social success. Questions to consider:

How can we as child advocates and educators better support counselors in their roles as leaders for promoting a healthy school community?
How can we spark an appetite among students for healthy alternatives to excessive media use, such as reading and extracurricular activities, while embracing the positive aspects of technology?
What do these kinds of addictive behaviors, including video gaming, tell us about our students and our responsibility as educators to prepare them to become critical and creative thinkers for the 21st century?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

ARTICLE
Los Angeles Times
by Matea Gold
Reporting from New York – More than an entire day — that’s how long children sit in front of the television in an average week, according to new findings released Monday by Nielsen.

The amount of television usage by children reached an eight-year high, with kids ages 2 to 5 watching the screen for more than 32 hours a week on average and those ages 6 to 11 watching more than 28 hours. The analysis, based on the fourth quarter of 2008, measured children’s consumption of live and recorded TV, as well as VCR and game console usage.

“They’re using all the technology available in their households,” said Patricia McDonough, Nielsen’s senior vice president of insights, analysis and policy. “They’re using the DVD, they’re on the Internet. They’re not giving up any media — they’re just picking up more.”

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Four Charged in Richmond, Homecoming Gang Rape

CAROL’S SUMMARY
The gang rape of a 15-year-old girl after her homecoming dance in Richmond, CA, this week is shocking enough, but the realization that 25 or more people witnessed the crime–with no one helping the victim or calling the police–is even more horrifying. So far, four people are under arrest with more indictments likely to follow. One of the perpetrators is a 21-year-old male, and the other three are teenagers themselves. The victim was walking out of her homecoming dance at Richmond High School to meet her father to go home when a few other teens invited her to drink with them in the school’s courtyard where she became intoxicated, and a short time later she was assaulted. “This was a barbaric act. I still cannot get my head around the fact that numerous people either watched, walked away or participated in her assault,” Lt. Mark Gagan said Tuesday. “It’s one of the most disturbing crimes in my 15 years as a police officer.”

Tragic incidences like this aren’t as uncommon as we’d like to think. Here are a few statistics from various sources on teen violence and underage drinking:

Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)

In 2005, 23.4% of youths ages 12-17 reported that, in the past year, they had gotten into a serious fight at school or work.
(SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health)

In 2005, 7.4% of youths ages 12-17 reported that, in at least one instance, they had attacked others with intent to seriously hurt them.
(SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health)

Nationwide, 18.5% of high school students had carried a weapon (gun, knife, or club) one or more days in the last 30 days. The prevalence of having carried a weapon was higher among male (29.8%) than female (7.1%) students.
(2005 CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance)

During the past year, 9.2% of students nationwide had been hit, slapped, or physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriend or girlfriend (dating violence).
(2005 CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance)

During the past year, 7.9% of students nationwide had been threatened or injured with a weapon (gun, knife, or club) on school property one or more times.
(2005 CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance)

Nationwide, 6.0% of students had not gone to school on 1 or more days of the last 30 days because they felt they would be unsafe at school or on their way to or from school.
(2005 CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance)

The scenarios cited above, as well as ones that aren’t so extreme, point to the desperate need for teens to know how to set boundaries and develop a compassionate heart. The boys’ brutality shows a complete disconnect of empathy, and it’s well-documented that underage drinking often plays a major role in risky and violent behavior. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the brain’s frontal lobe is the control center of our emotions and the teenage brain is a work in progress. In a study by Dr. Deborah Yurgelun-Todd at Harvard’s McLean Hospital, she and her team:

“scanned brain activity while they identified emotions on pictures of faces displayed on a computer screen. Young teens, who characteristically perform poorly on the task, activated the amygdala, a brain center that mediates fear and other ‘gut’ reactions, more than the frontal lobe. As teens grow older, their brain activity during this task tends to shift to the frontal lobe, leading to more reasoned perceptions and improved performance.”
Source: http://parentingteens.about.com/cs/health/a/TEEN_BRAIN_2.htm

The frontal lobe contains most of the dopamine-sensitive neurons in the cerebral cortex, and the dopamine system is associated with reward, attention, long-term memory, planning, and drive. If we are to avoid such disastrous consequences like the one in Richmond, teachers, parents, and other levels of youth-oriented society need to grow in their understanding of how the teenage brain functions and how emotions effect behavior. Further, we must collaborate with students and youth on setting healthy boundaries and making wise choices. LifeBound’s People Smarts for Teenagers program is designed to help students gain emotional and social skills such as empathy, self-awareness and emotional well-being and can be used in a variety of teaching platforms. Questions:

How can we spark a national dialogue on emotional and social intelligence among teens and young adults so that they can better gauge how their choices will impact themselves and those around them?

How can we begin to raise the value of social and emotional intelligence in schools to complement academic pursuits, since both are crucial to human development and indicators of success in school, career and life?

How can we as a society of educators, community leaders, parents and law enforcement officials foster, among students, positive peer pressure, role modeling and environmental strategies to prevent destructive decisions and help teens set a healthier, safer course for their lives?

ARTICLE
ABC News
RICHMOND, Calif. (Oct. 28) — Manuel Ortega, a 19-year-old former Richmond High School student, has been charged with robbery, assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury, rape in concert [gang rape] and rape with violence, according to Richmond Police Lt. Mark Gagan.

The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office is going to ask for a life sentence for Ortega, Gagan said. His bail has been set at $1,230,000

The other three suspects are juveniles, ages 15, 16 and 17, but are to be charged as adults, and the D.A.’s office will seek life sentences for the trio, Gagan said.

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Colleges Move to Organize Retention Efforts

Colleges realize that traditional efforts to retain freshmenâ€”and all students until they graduateâ€”need to improve. Below are new ideas on how this problem can be turned around:

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A Push for Colleges to Prioritize Mental Health

CAROL’S SUMMARY:
As the NPR story below indicates, college campuses are seeing a surge in mental health issues among students. From a compilation of research reported by the University of Michigan’s, Daniel Eisenberg, statistics reveal:

* In 2007, approximately 15 percent of students reported having been diagnosed with depression, according to the American College Health Association
Â *Over 90 percent of college counseling centers who were surveyed nationwide say they are seeing more severe cases of mental health issues
Â *Half of all cases of mental illness first show up in the early teen years
Â *75 percent are present by age 24.

As psychologists theorize why campuses are seeing this increase, Eisenberg thinks one factor is better screening and earlier diagnosis of mental illness in high school and even before than in previous generations. New medications for depression, bipolar disorder and other problems are enabling many people to go to college who would not have been able to in the past. While many people think college is a prime time to intervene and get these kids on a healthy path, that may not be soon enough. If we can give young adolescents the tools and coping skills earlier, we may help avert some of the suffering associated with mental illness and anxiety disorders before students get to college. LifeBound’s resources, such as Success in Middle School and People Smarts, boost social and emotional skills requisite to success in school, career and life.

How can we effectively teach students appropriate coping and self-advocacy skills at each of the various educational levels (elementary, middle and high school) and start a national dialogue about emotional and social skills for all students?

What are the percentages of students who experience the onset of various mental health difficulties before the 9th grade, and how can we do a better job reaching out to them?

How can we create a more supportive school culture to help students at risk of developing mental health issues?

How can parents, teachers, counselors and students at early ages be aware of these issues to address problems early before they escalate?

How can all of us be more authentic ourselves in ways that give students the permission to avoid â€œsuper humanâ€ tendencies which often fuel mental illness, depression and desire to contemplate suicide?

ARTICLE
National Public Radio
by Deborah Franklin

Arcadio Morales, one of six residence deans at Stanford University, has lived in an apartment in the campus dorms for 15 years, often fielding late-night phone calls from students about everything from Frisbee injuries to mid-term anxiety to alcohol poisoning. He says some arriving freshmen have always packed emotional baggage along with their laptops and books. But the mix of problems he’s called to weigh in on has become more serious in recent years.
Colleges See Rise In Mental Health Issues, Oct. 19, 2009. “Early on,” he says, “most of the issues that surfaced were roommate issues, compatibility issues.” He still gets that sort of thing, along with the calls from “very involved” parents who want him, for example, to go down the hall and wake up their son or daughter. But these days, Morales is getting more calls about students in need of substantial psychiatric support.

To view entire article visit
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114055588

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The New Untouchables

In Thomas Friedman’s article, “The New Untouchables,” he identifies the qualities of 21st century workers that are indispensable to our global marketplace. Schools, which focus traditionally on analytical skills, will also need to emphasize the skills which employers will both demand and reward. Analytical skills, according to Daniel Pink, can be outsourced, but other skills such as thinking critically and creatively to solve problems and produce new opportunities, work effectively with people from different backgrounds and cultures, and have vision for possibilities, cannot be outsourced. Itâ€™s time that educators and parents at all levels ask:

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Developing School Leaders

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

While district superintendents and principals face many challenges from budget cuts to strict regulations that govern school boards, many are creating change within their ranks, and it’s having a ripple effect. One such example is John Deasy, a former superintendent of Prince George’s County, Maryland, who “gained national acclaim for overseeing substantial achievement gains in low-performing schools. Even in a district with a collective bargaining agreement widely judged as restrictive, he shattered notions of what local leaders could do by transferring hundreds of teachers to new schools and initiating a voluntary pay-for-performance system.”

One criticism for the lack of effective leadership falls on graduate programs. In 2006, Public Agenda, a nonprofit, reported that more than 60 percent of principals and superintendents thought “typical leadership programs in graduate schools are out of touch with the realities of what it takes to run today’s school districts” (Johnson, Arumi, & Ott, 2006), and some schools are addressing this issue. Starting in the fall of 2010, Harvard will be offering a new doctoral education program targeted for school reform, and “aimed at attracting top talent to transform the U.S. education system by shaking up the status quo” (MSNBC, Sept. 14, 2009). “Education is getting better, it’s just not getting better fast enough,” said Robert Schwartz, the school’s academic dean. According to the Program for International Student Assessment, American students place near the bottom in academic achievement. In 2006, for instance, 15-year-olds in the U.S. ranked 21st out of 30 countries in math and 25th out of 30 in science.

In my experience, the most successful principals have three main skills which are as central to success in business as they are in education: project management skills, people skills and vision. Principals who have these abilities can transform a dysfunctional school or district, recruit and retain the best and the brightest teachers, set standards which deliver high performance and connect with parents and the community in vital ways.

How can we promote transformative leadership across disciplines?

How can the colleges of Education be more responsive to current needs at all levels?

How can principals learn vital business skills?

ARTICLE
Educational Leadership
by Frederick M. Hess

Principals and superintendents frequently lament that their hands are tied by contracts, policies, and regulationsâ€”especially when it comes to hiring and firing staff, assigning employees to schools or classrooms, designing programs, or allocating resources. There is something to these complaints, and I believe they are real problems.

But more than one thing can be true at a time. It is also the case that education leadership is marked by a debilitating timidity; reform-minded administrators could make much better use of their existing authority.

To view the entire article visit
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College Costs Keep Rising, Report Says

In a report released this week by the College Board, and cited in the article below, four-year public colleges raised tuition and fees by an average of 6.5 percent last year, while prices at private colleges rose 4.4 percent. With room and board, the average total cost of attendance at a public four-year college is now $15,213, the report found. At private nonprofit colleges, which enroll about one in five college students nationally, the average total cost of attendance is now $35,636.

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