StudentandEducator.org -- The premier online destination for Michigan education and school news3 http://studentandathlete.com/index.htm StudentandEducator.org -- The premier online destination for Michigan education and school news http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/health-1/bedbugs-at-school-the-new-lice.html Bedbugs at school: The new lice but worse Public schools are facing something of a plague, and, for once, I do not mean standardized tests. Rather, bedbugs. Schools in a number of states have closed off classrooms -- or the entire building -- because of bedbugs this school year, and Michigan government officials issued a document telling schools how to handle any infestations, complete with a template of a parent notification letter (“Dear Parent or Guardian: We recently found a bed bug in your child’s classroom....”). In New York City, the number of confirmed bedbug cases in the first five months of the school is on pace to triple last year’s total. City schools have so far reported 1,7000 cases this academic year, the city’s Department of Education reported. Schools are accustomed to dealing with seasonal outbreaks of head lice; kids unfortunate to get a case go home and get rid of them with special shampoo and often time-consuming hair combing. (Bedsheets and other things in the house also have to be washed.) Bedbugs are harder to eliminate; researchers say they are becoming resistant to pesticides (as are lice). Infestations are relatively new (even if bedbugs themselves are prehistoric) and growing in the United States. The U.S. government just convened its second two-day National Bed Bug Summit in Washington D.C., where panels to discussed how to control these pests on a community-wide basis. Federal officials are working on a national strategy for bed bug control. Bedbugs at school: The new lice but worse By Valerie Strauss Public schools are facing something of a plague, and, for once, I do not mean standardized tests. Rather, bedbugs. Schools in a number of states have closed off classrooms -- or the entire building -- because of bedbugs this school year, and Michigan government officials issued a document telling schools how to handle any infestations, complete with a template of a parent notification letter (“Dear Parent or Guardian: We recently found a bed bug in your child’s classroom....”). In New York City, the number of confirmed bedbug cases in the first five months of the school is on pace to triple last year’s total. City schools have so far reported 1,7000 cases this academic year, the city’s Department of Education reported. Schools are accustomed to dealing with seasonal outbreaks of head lice; kids unfortunate to get a case go home and get rid of them with special shampoo and often time-consuming hair combing. (Bedsheets and other things in the house also have to be washed.) Bedbugs are harder to eliminate; researchers say they are becoming resistant to pesticides (as are lice). Infestations are relatively new (even if bedbugs themselves are prehistoric) and growing in the United States. The U.S. government just convened its second two-day National Bed Bug Summit in Washington D.C., where panels to discussed how to control these pests on a community-wide basis. Federal officials are working on a national strategy for bed bug control. Bedbugs at school: The new lice but worse Public schools are facing something of a plague, and, for once, I do not mean standardized tests. Rather, bedbugs. Schools in a number of states have closed off classrooms -- or the entire building -- because of bedbugs this school year, and Michigan government officials issued a document telling schools how to handle any infestations, complete with a template of a parent notification letter (“Dear Parent or Guardian: We recently found a bed bug in your child’s classroom....”). In New York City, the number of confirmed bedbug cases in the first five months of the school is on pace to triple last year’s total. City schools have so far reported 1,7000 cases this academic year, the city’s Department of Education reported. Schools are accustomed to dealing with seasonal outbreaks of head lice; kids unfortunate to get a case go home and get rid of them with special shampoo and often time-consuming hair combing. (Bedsheets and other things in the house also have to be washed.) Bedbugs are harder to eliminate; researchers say they are becoming resistant to pesticides (as are lice). Infestations are relatively new (even if bedbugs themselves are prehistoric) and growing in the United States. The U.S. government just convened its second two-day National Bed Bug Summit in Washington D.C., where panels to discussed how to control these pests on a community-wide basis. Federal officials are working on a national strategy for bed bug control. Bedbugs at school: The new lice but worse By Valerie Strauss Public schools are facing something of a plague, and, for once, I do not mean standardized tests. Rather, bedbugs. Schools in a number of states have closed off classrooms -- or the entire building -- because of bedbugs this school year, and Michigan government officials issued a document telling schools how to handle any infestations, complete with a template of a parent notification letter (“Dear Parent or Guardian: We recently found a bed bug in your child’s classroom....”). In New York City, the number of confirmed bedbug cases in the first five months of the school is on pace to triple last year’s total. City schools have so far reported 1,7000 cases this academic year, the city’s Department of Education reported. Schools are accustomed to dealing with seasonal outbreaks of head lice; kids unfortunate to get a case go home and get rid of them with special shampoo and often time-consuming hair combing. (Bedsheets and other things in the house also have to be washed.) Bedbugs are harder to eliminate; researchers say they are becoming resistant to pesticides (as are lice). Infestations are relatively new (even if bedbugs themselves are prehistoric) and growing in the United States. The U.S. government just convened its second two-day National Bed Bug Summit in Washington D.C., where panels to discussed how to control these pests on a community-wide basis. Federal officials are working on a national strategy for bed bug control. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41373715/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/ Photo: MSNBC Erik Yehl, 11, smiles in the auditorium of his school in Chicago. Yehl, who has been stuttering since preschool, said the film "The King's Speech", about a stuttering monarch, was sometimes tough to watch, because it hit so close to home. Young stutterers crown 'King's Speech' a hit Film's honest depiction a salve for kids with impediment and adults who have overcome it CHICAGO — A movie about a stuttering monarch, without sex, car chases or sinewy super heroes, hardly sounds like blockbuster box-office fare. But in a less flashy way, "The Kings Speech" is about a hero, one who battles an invisible enemy that torments nearly 70 million people around the world. In demystifying the little-understood speech impediment, the award-winning film reveals myths and fascinating truths about stuttering, and has won praise from stutterers of all ages. For Erik Yehl, an 11-year-old Chicago boy who began stuttering in preschool, the movie's powerful message is, "I'm not stupid." It's a stigma all people who stutter contend with — the notion that because their words sometimes sputter or fail to come out at all, their minds must be somehow mixed up. "People who stutter — their minds are perfectly good, and they're not deaf, and they don't need to be told to breathe. They know how to breathe. What they need ... is to be listened to," said Susan Hardy, who saw the film with her son Aidan, a 14-year-old Chicago eighth-grader who also stutters. Aidan's mini-review? "It was great!" he said. The film depicts King George VI, father of England's Queen Elizabeth, as a reluctant leader tortured by his stuttering. But with a sense of duty as England confronts a second world war, he musters the courage to seek speech therapy so he can address and calm an anxious nation. The movie and its actors have already won Golden Globes and other honors, including 12 Oscar nominations. The Academy Awards ceremony is Feb. 27. The focus on George's relationship with his eccentric speech therapist who insists on treating him as an equal makes the king a sort of everyman for people who stutter. TV commentator Clarence Page, a nationally syndicated Chicago Tribune columnist, said in an interview that the film heroically depicts a condition he has battled most of his 63 years. Like the king, Page had a strong advocate: a coach who helped him as a teen win second-place in a speech contest after a humiliatingly bad performance the previous year. "Every stuttering kid needs optimistic support like that," Page wrote in a recent column praising the movie. Jane Fraser, president of the Stuttering Foundation of America, said the movie mirrors her experience growing up with a father who stuttered. Malcolm Fraser formed the advocacy group in 1947 to raise awareness and provide resources for people who stutter. Watching the movie, Jane Fraser said she relived the mortification she used to feel on her father's behalf. "The impact for me was just bringing home 64 years of trying to get across to people how devastating this disorder is. Just in one fell swoop, this film really got that across," she said. Stuttering affects almost 1 percent of the global population, including 3 million in the United States. It typically begins in early childhood as kids are learning to speak and is more common in boys. About 5 percent of children stutter, but most outgrow it. The condition tends to run in families and genes are thought to be involved in at least some cases. For Erik Yehl, a fair-haired, soft-spoken boy who loves basketball and video games, the film was sometimes tough to watch, because it hit so close to home. A scene showing George failing miserably while trying to give a speech to a packed stadium was particularly difficult. British actor Colin Firth's portrayal makes the shame George feels uncomfortably palpable even for non-stutterers. "It was hard to hear the speech because he stuttered and I hate to hear that," Erik said haltingly. Erik's stuttering becomes most noticeable when he's nervous. Curiously, his speech flows fluently when he calls out to teammates while playing basketball or soccer. The film reveals another surprising truth — singing often frees stutterers of their problem. And experts say that for some people, stuttering disappears when they speak to infants or animals, imitate a foreign dialect, or perform a role onstage. British actress Emily Blunt has been quoted as saying she chose her career after discovering in a school play that her own stuttering stopped while she was acting. The scant brain imaging research done on the impediment has suggested that different kinds of brain activity occur when people stutter than when they speak fluently. Scientists aren't sure why, and also don't know why different activities induce fluency among some but not all stutterers, said Ehud Yairi, a prominent University of Illinois expert on stuttering. Research published last year identified mutations in three genes that likely contribute to some cases of stuttering. But it's unclear what function those genes have and much about the condition remains a mystery, Yairi said. A researcher and professor emeritus, Yairi is also a stutterer, who speaks at a measured, slow pace. It used to be thought that stuttering was a psychological problem caused by anxiety or nervousness, and "The King's Speech" seems to suggest that George's mistreatment as a child may have contributed to his condition. But experts have largely dismissed that idea, Yairi said. http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/advanced-placement/?ref=education#h[] Minority Students and A.P. Program, a Mixed Report Card More minority high school students are achieving success on Advanced Placement exams that can get them college credit, but they are still underrepresented in the nation’s A.P. classrooms, according to a report just released by the College Board, which administers the program. More than 853,000 public high school seniors in last May’s graduating class, or 28 percent of the class, took at least one A.P. exam. Some 59 percent of those who took the tests earned a grade of 3, 4 or 5, which are required for college credit. Trevor Packer, vice president of the Advanced Placement program, said that while the report shows that more students across the country enroll each year in classes to prepare them for the exams, there are some signs that improvement is not consistent among some groups and in some subject areas. ¶Over the past decade, the number of minority students graduating with a successful A.P. experience has more than doubled, according to the report. ¶“A focus on access and equity is resulting in greater percentages of students going into college with A.P. scores that qualify and result in higher college performance,’’ he said. ¶But the gap between how those students performed, compared to nonminority students, is still great in most states in the country. ¶African-Americans, for example, represented just over 14.6 percent of the total high school graduating class last year, but made up less than 4 percent of the A.P. student population who earned a score of 3 or better on at least one exam. ¶Mr. Packer said that sometimes that achievement gap on the Advanced Placement exam and increased participation in the courses were partially the result of policy decisions at the state level. In Texas and Florida, for example, where the state provides funding for teachers to attend summer college courses to help them teach A.P. courses, Hispanic students have a higher participation in the courses and have demonstrated more success in the exams. ¶Mr. Packer also said the annual reports showed some disturbing news about achievement in the sciences. Nationwide, about a third of students who took the A.P. exam in chemistry, environmental science and biology earned a 1, the lowest score. ¶He said their analysis showed that some of those low scores came in schools where students were led into the A.P. courses before taking regular science courses that may have better prepared them. ¶“It could have to do with the desire on the part of the school to stand out in the rankings, and to help more students out in college admissions,’’ he said. “The College Board doesn’t want to be a police force, but the schools should not be rushing students into these courses before they are ready.’’ ¶The College Board, the nonprofit organization that also administers the SAT, says that more than 90 percent of the nation’s four-year colleges and universities have a policy that grants incoming students credit, placement or both for qualifying A.P. exam scores. ¶Here are a few other nuggets of information from the findings of the Class of 2010: * The state with the highest percentage of students who had at least one successful A.P. exam was Maryland, where 26 percent of seniors scored 3 or higher on an A.P. exam during high school. The second and third were New York and Virginia, respectively. * Almost 17 percent of the Class of 2010 scored a 3 or above in at least one exam. * The number of African-American students taking the A.P. exams in 2010 more than tripled from those taking it in 2001. The number of Hispanic students almost tripled in the same period. ¶The Choice would like to use the release of today’s report as an opportunity to convene a fresh discussion not just on the findings, but on the A.P. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/education/12college.html?ref=education Recruiting in China Pays Off for U.S. Colleges The glossy color brochures, each crammed with photos depicting a Chinese student’s high-achieving life from birth to young adulthood, pile up in the admissions office at Grinnell College here. “Hi Professors!” one young woman announced in her bound booklet, sometimes known in China as a “brag sheet,” which included a photo of herself as a baby. She characterized her childhood as “naďve and curious,” and described herself now as “sincere, kind and tough.” The brochures, though they are almost never read by admissions officers, are a sign of Grinnell’s success marketing itself in China — a plan that has paid off in important ways, like diversifying the student body and attracting students who can sometimes pay full tuition. At rural Grinnell, nearly one of every 10 applicants being considered for the class of 2015 is from China. Dozens of other American colleges and universities are seeing a surge in applications (and similar brochures) from students in China, where a booming economy means that more families can pursue the dream of an American higher education. But that success — following a 30 percent increase last year in the number of Chinese studying in the United States — has created a problem for admissions officers. At Grinnell, for example, how do they choose perhaps 15 students from the more than 200 applicants from China? After all, the 11-member admissions committee cannot necessarily rely on the rubrics it applies to American applications (which are challenging enough to sort through). Consider, for example, that half of Grinnell’s applicants from China this year have perfect scores of 800 on the math portion of the SAT, making the performance of one largely indistinguishable from another. But the most accomplished applicants will have grades in the 70s or 80s, because Chinese schools tend to grade on a far less generous curve than American high schools. Few will have had the opportunity to take honors or Advanced Placement courses to demonstrate their ability to do college work, since such courses are rare in China. Then there is the challenge of assessing an applicant’s command of English, since some Chinese families have been known to hire “agents” to write the application essay. These are the same advisers who counsel families to spend money on the fancy brochures. “They should save their money,” Seth Allen, the dean of admission and financial aid at Grinnell, said as he glanced at the full-color brag sheets stacked on a nearby desk. Mr. Allen said that few would actually be read by the overworked admissions officers as they plowed through nearly 3,000 applications over all. In fact, the next stop for the brochures, said Jonathan C. Edwards, Grinnell’s coordinator of international admission, would be the recycling bin. Mr. Allen, Mr. Edwards and their colleagues said they spend most of their time on Chinese applications trying to parse the essays — paying particular attention, as they might with an American candidate, to whether they detect the authentic voice and sensibility. A young woman from Shanghai, for example, who had scored 800 on the math portion of the SAT, and nearly 600 on the main verbal section, impressed Mr. Edwards with an essay that described her volunteering at a rehabilitation center, where a young autistic boy captured her heart. “Such a hopeless boy evoked my strong feeling to help him and love him,” she wrote. “As time passed by, I found he was interested in hearing the special sound of the piano and was gifted in playing piano.” The applicant was admitted to Grinnell in its early decision round last fall. Another Chinese applicant who wrote about her community service made a less favorable impression, at least with her essay, by writing about her own hardship while helping others after the earthquake in 2008 in Sichuan Province. “Every day, I showered and brushed my teeth using cold water,” she wrote. “It was unbearable.” The admissions officers sometimes reach out to teachers and counselors at the applicants’ high schools — especially those that have emerged as “feeders” to Grinnell and other American colleges. Such relationships have been further cemented during each of the last two summers, when Mr. Allen barnstormed China — stopping in Beijing, Zhengzhou, Changsha and Shanghai — on a recruiting tour with representatives from a handful of other liberal arts colleges, including Franklin & Marshall and Williams. (Grinnell’s applications from China were down slightly this year, as were its applications over all, but still greater than they were five years ago.) For the colleges, such tours are motivated at least partly by money. Give Parents More Power in Schools The case of the Ohio mother jailed for enrolling her daughter in an out-of district school shatters the myth that low-income parents don't care about their children's education. More parental involvement could speed up education reform. http://www.theroot.com/views/your-turn-give-parents-more-power-schools Education Reform: How Can Parents Have More Control? The case of the Ohio mother jailed for enrolling her daughter in an out-of district school shatters the myth that low-income parents don't care about their children's education. More parental involvement could speed up education reform. theodora chang.... The case of the Ohio mother jailed for enrolling her daughter in an out-of district school shatters the myth that low-income parents don't care about their children's education. More parental involvement could speed up education reform. The case of the Ohio mother jailed for enrolling her daughter in an out-of district school shatters the myth that low-income parents don't care about their children's education. More parental involvement could speed up education reform. The tale of Kelley Williams-Bolar, a Ohio mother sentenced to jail on Jan. 19 and fined $30,000 for enrolling her daughter in an out-of-district school, has taken on a life of its own. Her story has sparked rallies, petitions and a robust national dialogue about educational equity. But it is more than an illustration of the egregious economic, geographic and racial inequities in our public education system. Williams-Bolar has become the poster parent for a very specific issue in the education-reform movement: parental involvement and choice. Her story stands in stark contrast to the popular but wildly inaccurate narrative of low-income parents of color being uninterested in -- and stubborn obstacles to -- their children's education. Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that low-income and minority parents strongly value education and higher achievement. The question is, what can engaged parents like Williams-Bolar do right now as the arduous reform process moves along? The current Elementary and Secondary Education Act includes some parental-involvement policies focused on school-parent compacts and parent-teacher conferences. But many parents find these tools inadequate, and they are using more dramatic options. Case in point: Two months ago, African-American and Latino parents at McKinley Middle School in Compton, Calif., pulled what is called the parent-trigger option -- a law that forces districts to make radical changes at a school that has failed to meet its benchmarks for four years when at least 51 percent of parents sign a petition for reform. The McKinley School had 61 percent parental support to turn the school into a charter school. Last year California was the first state to enact a law in which parents can choose the level and type of reform that they want: converting to a charter school, replacing the principal and staff, rebudgeting or even closing the school. Six other states have proposed similar policies since then. The federal government should take note. The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides Congress and the administration with a clear opportunity to review existing parental-involvement provisions in the law. Currently, states must set aside a portion of their funds for family-engagement activities, and the Department of Education has proposed increasing that amount. Funding is important, but parents have spoken loud and clear: We need a better national conversation with new ideas for parental involvement. Stories like Williams-Bolar's are more common than we care to admit, while cases like that of McKinley -- parents using dramatic, effective policies -- should be more common. And both accounts -- examples of nonaffluent parents of color taking their children's education into their own hands -- demonstrate two key principles that are instructive for education reform. The first is that the process of designing policies around parental involvement should start with the assumption that all parents are invested in their children's learning and safety. Low-income and minority parents are often fierce advocates for their children's education and should be treated as such. And second, parents who feel that there are no other options will go to extreme measures to change their situation. Federal and state governments must design policies that provide options for these parents to be active, productive and powerful agents of change. They deserve better than being stuck between a rock and a hard place. They deserve a voice. http://education.newsweek.com/2011/02/11/after-school-jobs-can-hurt-teens.html After-School Jobs Can Hurt Teens The current economic climate may have inspired teens to get a job and help out with household expenses, but new research indicates that working too much gets in the way of schoolwork. According to a new study published in the Child Development, working more than 20 hours a week while in high school can lead to academic and behavior problems. The findings, researchers said, are meant as a warning. “Parents, educators, and policymakers should monitor and constrain the number of hours adolescents work while they are enrolled in high school,” Kathryn C. Monahan, a postdoctoral research scientist who led the study at the University of Washington, said in a press release. To reach this conclusion, researchers from the University of Washington, University of Virginia, and Temple University analyzed longitudinal data collected over two separate one year spans in the late 1980s that was reanalyzed in 1993. Using a sample of about 1,800 students in 10th and 11th grades, researchers compared the performance of those who got jobs to that of similar teens who didn’t work. They ultimately discovered that logging more than 20 hours a week at work led to declines in school engagement and affected how far students were expected to go with their schooling. Researchers also found increases in problem behavior such as stealing, carrying a weapon, and using alcohol and illegal drugs among students who worked that much. In contrast, working 20 hours or less per week had negligible academic, psychological, or behavioral effects … with one caveat: Students who started working and then cut back on their hours or quit their jobs altogether were still at an increased risk of developing these problems. “Although working during high school is unlikely to turn law-abiding teenagers into felons or cause students to flunk out of school, the extent of the adverse effects we found is not trivial,” Monahan explained. “Even a small decline in school engagement or increase in problem behavior may be of concern to many parents.” Wed, 16 May 2012 16:07:56 GMT Web Easy by Avanquest Software <![CDATA[<DIV align="left"><STRONG><A href="about:page 5"><FONT size="1">City of Detroit Education News</FONT></A><FONT size="1">  l  </FONT><A href="about:page 5"><FONT size="1">Metro Detroit Education News</FONT></A><FONT size="1">  l  </FONT><A href="about:page 4"><FONT size="1">Michigan Education News</FONT></A><FONT size="1">  l  </FONT><A href="about:page 2"><FONT size="1">Nation & World Education News</FONT></A><FONT size="1">  l  </FONT><A href="about:page 3"><FONT size="1">Colleges & Universites Education News</FONT></A></STRONG></DIV>]]> For advertising information: Call Robert McClain at (248) 514-5101 or email him at rmcclain@studentachievementmedia.org
 
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