To [e]nsure that grading practices are consistent with the philosophy that grades should be our most accurate reflection of student knowledge and achievement.”Their current leanings on the subject?
“According to several Plano Independent School District teachers, they have been informed that beginning next school year, homework will no longer be required of middle school students. And the grades for homework assignments that are assigned will not apply to students’ report card grades.”So, let me see if I understand this correctly: the school district wants to make certain that the grades assigned to their students accurately reflect their understanding of and achievement in the subject matter at hand; the school district wants these highly accurate grades to be based on homework that is not required, as well as other assignments (presumably not homework) that can be handed in at any time (presumably before the end of the grading period); and the district will not use these highly accurate homework grades on report cards.
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"As for deadlines for assignments, teachers say the Plano Independent School District is considering placing no deadline on any assignment completed outside of the classroom --- so students could turn in the work at any time."
Faculty members…said they were caught off guard when they were told about the plan recently. They were also surprised that their students will be required to do less work. One teacher reportedly wept when she heard the news.I think I would weep too…if I didn’t have to put the finishing touches on a homeschool presentation about how to grade homework.
A survey by the National Opinion Research Center showed about one in four American adults believe the Sun goes around the Earth.One in four adults. That’s 25% folks. 25% of American adults do not know enough basic science to understand that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the original survey to check if this same percentage of people were also missing the fact that the Earth rotates on an axis whilst traveling about the Sun. I tried to defend these survey interviewees to myself for a moment, thinking that this statistic was returned by the survey because of how the survey designers asked the question, but the letter continued with this:
The same survey found people who believe that electrons are larger than atoms…that lasers work by focusing sound waves…that antibiotics kill viruses as well as bacteria…And people wonder why I homeschool.
[The boy’s] father, Soel Robacher, claims that his sleepy son’s left ear was resting on his desk on Dec. 4 when math teacher Melissa Nadeau slammed her hand down so hard that his eardrum burst. Robacher says his son experienced an almost complete loss of hearing.NEW HAVEN, CT --- Students suspended for purchasing Skittles
Since then, though some of his hearing has been restored, the boy has been through extensive medical treatments with ear, nose and throat specialists and could require surgery to fully rectify the damage...
Metal detectors were installed in all high schools in the city Thursday --- including Bassick High. That’s [where] a ninth grader was found with a gun in the school’s second floor crosswalk Wednesday. Another student reported seeing him with it. Tuesday, a seventh grader was found with a loaded gun at Roosevelt Elementary.And people wonder why I homeschool.
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Until now, wand metal detectors have been used in all of the schools. More resource officers have been assigned to Roosevelt Elementary and Bassick High after this week’s incidents.
Sunday 2/17/2008 5:00 PM-7:00 PMAlso from the Versus website:
Monday 2/18/2008 1:00 AM-2:00 AM & 11:00 PM-12:00 AM
Tuesday 2/19/2008 11:00 PM-12:00 AM
Wednesday 2/20/2008 11:00 PM-12:00 AM
Thursday 2/21/2008 11:00 PM-12:00 AM
Saturday 2/23/2008 5:00 PM-7:00 PM
Sunday 2/24/2008 1:00 AM-2:00 AM & 5:00 PM-7:00 PM
Monday 2/25/2008 1:00 AM-2:00 AM
The tour will...raise funds for cancer care and treatment. Founded in 2005, Breakaway from Cancer™ is a complementary component to Amgen’s race sponsorship. Breakaway from Cancer™ raises awareness and funds to support valuable services and programs, provided free of charge, that help people living with cancer. This year, the initiative will support The Wellness Community and the National Coalition of Cancer Survivorship.Today’s high finishers for the short, flat individual time trial in Palo Alto:
We’ve actually found some major problems with this wording --- which is not the same wording that we agreed on!
As the bill is currently proposed, we will not be supporting it --- yes, your read that correctly --- I have pulled my post because we are looking into what happened with the original language. Details will be forthcoming about what the story is but basically this was not supposed to be part of 10-184, nor does it really solve the problems entirely.
Although it does require the school district to accept a letter of withdrawal, this new bill, SB 162, in essence, would codify the right of school districts to somehow grant “permission” to the parents to allow them to withdraw their children “if” they “elect” to provide the “required instruction.” Conversely, this bill could be read to prohibit parents from withdrawing their children from school “if” parents do not “elect” to provide the “required instruction.” The bill does not define the term, “required instruction.” This leaves the door wide open to still more of the coercive tactics already used by school officials to prevent parents from withdrawing their children. It does nothing to solve the problem. It only encourages more of the same.
To repeat, Senator Meyer’s version of the new bill, SB 162, would infringe on the already existing right of parents to withdraw their children from public school without the so-called “permission” of the school district.
This is not the bill that Representative O’Neill originally proposed, and it is not the bill that NHELD and other homeschool and parenting groups supported.
The original language and statement of purpose was supposed to be this:
AN ACT CONCERNING WITHDRAWAL FROM SCHOOL
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
That subsection (1) of section 10-220 of the general statues be amended to provide when a parent or guardian of a child provides be certified mail, return receipt requested, to the principal of the school that the child attends or tot he superintendent of the local or regional board of education, written notice originated by and signed by the parent or guardian of a child stating that the parent or guardian is withdrawing the child from enrollment in a public school and will provide instruction for the child as required pursuant to section 10-184 of the general statutes, the principal of the school that the child attends or the local or regional board of education shall accept such notice and shall deem the child withdrawn from enrollment in the public school immediately upon receipt of such notice.
Statement of Purpose
To allow parents to home school their children and to require the board of education to respect their decision.
Check back to my site Monday to read an update on this issue --- right now we are not very pleased with this turn of events and Senator Meyer is claiming he doesn’t know what happened and support the original language.
A bulletin will be coming out from NHELD.
Thanks to the support of State Senator Meyer and State Representative Anne Ruwet of the Select Committee on Children, the Parents Rights Bill proposed by Representative Arthur O’Neill has been raised in the Childrens Committee and will finally have a public hearing on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 9:00 am in Room 2B of the Legislative Office Building.The purpose of the bill is to create a procedure by which parents will be able to remove their children from public school without fear of being harassed for truancy because an educational institution refused to remove the children in question from an official enrollment list. This has been a problem in Connecticut as schools attempt to “motivate” parents to comply with the current voluntary suggested procedure of filing a notice of intent before disenrolling a student. If passed, the legislation would add the following to Connecticut General Statute 10-184:
If the parent or other person having control of a child elects to provide the instruction required pursuant to this section to such child, such parent or other person may withdraw such child from school upon providing the notice described in this subsection to the principal of the school the child is attending or the superintendent of schools for the local or regional school district in which such school is located. Such notice shall (1) state that the parent or other person is withdrawing the child from school and that such required instruction will be provided by the parent or such other person, (2) be in writing, (3) be signed by such parent or other person, and (4) be delivered by certified mail, return receipt requested. Such principal and superintendent of schools and the local or regional board of education for such school district shall accept such notice and shall deem such child withdrawn from school immediately upon receipt of such notice.Any homeschoolers who wish to testify in support of the bill are instructed to sign up at 8:00 am Tuesday morning in Room 2B of the Legislative Office Building, approximately one hour prior to the official proceedings. Those signing up to speak are also asked to bring at least fifty copies of their testimony. At present, I do not plan to testify. Sadly, I may not even be able to attend the hearing due to some scheduling conflicts. However, I will try to keep you apprised of any developments.
Morning temperatures in the low 20’s haven’t exactly made for vacation-style riding. On Tuesday, with black ice spotting the roads, Astana cancelled its planned team ride...All 16 Bruyneel Academy riders, however, suited up for a three-hour ride.Another part: build a team:
When riding tempo, each group takes a turn rotating at the front; when a squad member flats, his whole team squad stops and paces him back to the group.And, finally, the plan for each rider, as articulated by Mr. Moerman:
Driving behind and alongside the group, Moerman barks instructions, which riders dutifully relay through the group. “Stop sprinting! Ride steady! Keep it tight?”
When one squad neglected to stop for a teammate who flatted, Moerman pulled the whole group over...
“Don’t blame yourself for not knowing. Blame yourself for not learning.”I like that philosophy!
Fulton County school officials will pay students to study after school in a new program designed to improve their classroom performance.The program is privately funded, but I can’t help wondering if it won’t teach children that nothing is worth doing unless they get paid for it OR that they can get paid for doing nothing. The ultimate result may be mercenaries or sluggards. Gee, which one of those creatures do I want to let loose on society?
The program, called “Learn & Earn,” is being offered to 40 students from Creekside High and Bear Creek Middle schools in Fairburn. The program will give students $8.00 an hour to study after school.
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School officials say the goal is to determine whether paying students to study will improve their performance.
If you are 7 to 17 and a resident of the United States, we encourage you to learn about the 2008 presidential candidates and the election process by participating in our mock primary election, now through February 4th, the day before Super Tuesday. You must have a free HomeschoolEstore account in order to participate. Click here to cast your vote now! Results will be posted real-time, and the final winners will be posted on Monday, February 4th. Please, keep this election fair and only allow one vote, per child, in your homeschool. Only 5 votes per account will be allowed. To see our current vote tally, click here.I must reiterate the admonition from the website that ONLY ONE VOTE PER PERSON is permitted. This isn’t American Idol where you can vote more than once. Also, if your household rules require parental permission prior to going online, please speak to your parents before voting on the HomeschoolEstore website.
- The use of anabolic steroids, probably for bodybuilding, may become an issue in Ledyard, as 10% of 8th graders reported having tried them in their lifetimes, and 5% had used them in the previous 30 days.I find this last quote quite bewildering. Given the previously mentioned statistics, it almost begs the inflammatory generalization, “I drink, do drugs, and cheat, but I still feel good about myself.” Talk about a disconnect with reality or, at the very least, a misguided foundation for the formation of self-esteem. Something is definitely rotten in Denmark, as the saying goes.
- When asked about reasons for starting, “to have fun” was cited for marijuana.
- The main reasons for starting to drink were “to fit in with friends” and “to have fun.” About one-third of 7th graders and almost half of high school youth reported having been intoxicated from drinking at least once, and many claimed to have been so 10 times or more. More than 40% of youth of all ages reported sometimes drinking at home with parental permission. The prevalence of Ledyard 11th graders who had ridden in the past year in a vehicle with a driver who had been drinking was 36% for girls and 47% for boys, considerably higher than national averages of 27-28%. [And this in a community that saw the alcohol-related death of a teenager in January 2007. For articles on that subject, click here and here.]
- Prevalence of cheating on a school test in the past year increased from 21% in grade 7 to 61% in grade 11, and the prevalence of the perception that cheating is “not at all wrong” increased from 5% to 25% over the same grades.
- Self-concept was confident and positive for about 80% of youth.
Section 10-249. Enumeration of children of compulsory school age in school districts and by state departments having jurisdiction over such children. (a) the board of education for each local and regional school district shall annually determine by age the number of children of compulsory school age who reside within the jurisdiction of such school district as of January first of each year. Such determination shall be made by (1) enumeration of each such child individually or (2) any reasonable means of accounting approved by the Commissioner of Education.
(b) If any child of compulsory school age is not attending school within the jurisdiction of the board of education of a local or regional school district, the superintendent of schools of the district shall make a reasonable effort to ascertain the reason for such nonattendance. If such child is employed at labor, the superintendent of schools shall make a reasonable effort to ascertain the name and address of such child’s employer or of the establishment where such child is employed. Returns shall be made to the board of education on or before the fifteenth day of May. Any state, local or other public agency shall, upon request by the superintendent of schools, provide such information as may be reasonably required for the purposes of this section.
(c) Each state department shall report periodically to the Commissioner of Education at such time and in such manner as he shall prescribe, the name and address of the most recent residence within the state for each child of compulsory school age under the jurisdiction of such department. The commissioner shall provide such information to the superintendent of schools of the local or regional school district wherein such child is indicated to have most recently resided.
Section 10-251. Penalty for refusing to give age of child. Any person having control of a child under twenty-one years of age who willfully refuses to give the name and age of such child, and such information concerning the school attendance of such child as this chapter requires, shall be fined not more than twenty-five dollars.
…for the past several months we have heard the voices of concern in state government and in our business community that our schools are no longer at the top of the national charts in student achievement and that we are not preparing our young people to succeed on the college campus or in the workplace as we must.Well, I don’t know about the voices of state government or the business community, but I can tell you that the voices of my friends and colleagues have complained that the twenty-something cashiers at Henny Penny couldn’t make change or ring up a sale when their computerized cash registers crashed.
The State Board has embarked on a critical reform agenda that will focus on three key areas:I just love it when bureaucrats use the word “agenda.” It fills me with such confidence that they mean something other than what is written. For example, Mr. McQuillan stated that he would expand preschool “opportunities” for all students. My cynical ear heard: mandatory preschool at age three unless you, the parent, can demonstrate some compelling reason not to participate.
- expanding preschool opportunities for all students
- restructuring high school
- closing the achievement gaps while improving performance of all students
The state department of education has reorganized and will be working with school districts more closely to improve achievement and to turn-around schools that are not seeing progress.
On high school reform, the State Board has formed a study committee that has been working over the summer months to make recommendations on restructuring Connecticut’s high schools. These recommendations will go to the State Board of Education this fall and then to the Connecticut General Assembly for proposed legislation in the 2008 session.Ah, ha! Look at that last sentence. Is that yet another warning shot across the bow of my homeschool dinghy? A shot that could portend a profound change in the way homeschooling is conducted in this state? It is possible, although I still have no idea what this “proposed legislation” looks like. I will just have to wait and see what shows up before the Assembly and the Education Committee. Hopefully, Commissioner McQuillan will confine his reforms to the public school classroom.
MathematicsI also find “Pathways Leading to Post-Secondary Education or Career Option” that include additional coursework:
- Algebra I
- Geometry
Science
- Biology
- Physics
History & Social Science
- American History: Settlement to the Civil War
- American History: Civil War to September 11, 2001
Literature
- Reading & Writing About Literature
- Reading & Writing About History & Political Science
Humanities
- Art Appreciation
- Music Appreciation
- Portfolio/Demonstration
World Language
- Intermediate proficiency in speaking & writing a single language
Path 1: Math/Science/EngineeringWhere is Music in the Humanities Path portfolio? Where is World History in the core curriculum? Where are the required literature courses that have students reading great novels and plays, rather than just reading about them? For that matter, where is Economics? Better yet, where is the American Government class that will be required coursework for all students, will be worth one credit, and will continue for an entire year? After all, if a democratic republic is only as strong as the “smarts” of the people from whom the government derives power, wouldn’t it be a good idea to ensure that future generations of our country actually understand the government for which they are responsible?
- Mathematics: Algebra II, Calculus A or B
- Science: Chemistry, Biochemistry, AP Biology or Physics
- Computer Science: Computer Programming
- Senior Research Project
Path 2: Humanities
- Literature: Epic & Lyric Poetry, Plays of Shakespeare, the Novel
- Humanities: Art History, Music History
- Portfolio: Studio Art, Dance, Theatre, or Creative Writing
- Senior Project
Assumptions Regarding Secondary School RedesignWell, praise the Lord, at least he is reconsidering use of the CAPT test! Aside from that, the rest of his plan makes me cringe. Here are just two reasons why:
1. A Connecticut high school diploma will be based upon successful completion of required courses of study using model curricula and benchmark assessments developed by the SDE [State Department of Education].
2 Benchmark assessments will consist of two types:
- End-of-year course examinations
- Performance assessments demonstrating 21st-century competencies
3. A Connecticut diploma will require the demonstration of core and specialized competencies that map onto a set of post-secondary options or career paths.
4. Required courses are year-long, will have credits affixed to them, and will be graded; elective or pathway courses may be semester-long.
5. A minimum number of credits will be required to graduate, in addition to completing required courses, passing end-of-year exams and performance assessments. Letter grades will not be abandoned.
6. Secondary course sequence begins at Grade 8 and ends at Grade 13, allowing students six years to complete their diploma requirements.
7. Future uses of the CAPT examinations after 2012 is uncertain.
Fathers do not devote enough attention to the clitoris and vagina of their daughters. Their caresses too seldom pertain to these regions, while this is the only way the girls can develop a sense of pride in their sex.Reportedly, the booklet goes on to say:
The child touches all parts of their father’s body, sometimes arousing him. The father should do the same.Excuse me if I think this sounds more like a guidebook for pedophiles than advice for the parents of young children. Even more frightening, the booklets received a 93% approval rating from a sample of parents, educators, and child psychologists who prescreened them prior to publication.
“When men cease to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing; they then become capable of believing anything.”
