Keeping an eye out for our students who don't have a home!

I love this article because it brings attention to something I think gets overlooked way more frequently than it should.  Students who don't have a place to call home and/or are living on the streets can easily get overlooked in schools.  This specific person tells about how her and her little sister were never approached about needs or appearance of the two of them when they were living on the streets and always existing in an abusive environment.  No one ever asked why they were always afraid to "call home", or would flinch and hunch down if someone became angry.  She then goes on to give advice for teachers and schools if they ever think they may know some of these students.  She reminds them to offer resources, extracurricular activites, etc.  Then she gives advice to the students themselves; stay in school, education will be your biggest secret weapon, and focus on what you can control...and so much more.  It's such a relevant topic, great article!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/none-of-my-teachers-knew-i-was-homeless-they-should_us_581244e7e4b08301d33e06b5

Online Coursetaking Evolving Into Viable Option for Special Ed.

Key Point: The article reviews the beginnings of online education for students with special needs. Most of the case studies were with school districts in the southeastern United States. The benefits of the online education is the collaborative work between a classroom teacher and an online teacher that work together. The classroom teacher would give feedback through a google doc to describe the process the student goes through including their behavior. The online teacher then reviews the information and creates assignments that would best support the student. The online program can support these students through repetition, speech therapy, visual supports, etc. Specialist are also on hand to help these students succeed. The concern is whether or not the purposed individualized education plans actually happen, or will they be they same struggles we face in the face to face classrooms today.

Intended Audience: Educators, Special Educators, Parents of Special Needs Children

Published: Education Week on April 1st, 2015

URL: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/04/01/online-course-taking-evolving-into-viable-option-for.html

Some States Put Parents in Charge

Some States Put Parents in Charge of Student Spending
Education Week
Ariana Prothero
February 24, 2015
http://criticalperspectivesineducation.blogspot.com/p/about.html

The article from Education Week highlights a trending education among states like Florida and Arizona that monies for education are being put into the hands of families to decide what school is best for their students. The programs may be taken to look like voucher programs, but there is a nuanced difference between the Learning Scholarship Accounts in Florida and the Education Savings Accounts in Arizona. In Florida the programs are aimed at low to low-middle income students and those with disabilities. The Arizona program is similar and focuses on those with disabilities and exceptional learning requirements. Vouchers have received some negative push back from public school advocates and teacher's associations. This seems like an interesting approach to individualizing the needs for students, but diverts public money to private interests. The intended audience is educators and educational policy makers. The article is particularly of interest to new teachers since this is some of the job reality we possibly may be looking at.
This is a copy of an Oregon House Bill from this year:
Oregon: HB2770, “Oregon Empowerment Scholarship Program”
Students who previously attended public school and have either disabilities, are wards of juvenile courts or the state department of human services, or qualify for free and reduced-price meals would be eligible.

Our 'Chance to Make History'

“TFA: Our ‘Chance to Make History’” by Wendy Kopp
Education Week, March 14, 2011

Topic: Commentary piece on Teach for America

Summary: This article, written by the founder and CEO of Teach For America provides a more “touchy-feely” overview of the program. It gets at TFA’s goals and aspirations that the education system can be changed to eliminate the achievement gap. It also focuses on TFA’s basic idea that all students, regardless of race, background, socioeconomic status, etc. have the same potential to learn and go to college.

Intended audience: Teachers, general public

Key Points:

• TFA has been around for 20 years.
• Corps members are diverse (32% are people of color and 28% are from low-income backgrounds)
• TFA is highly selective (5000 corps members chosen from 40,000 applicants last year)
• TFA helps give children in rural and urban areas the opportunity to fulfill their true potential.

Relevance: Interesting article. We have talked a little about TFA and I am personally interested, as my brother is a corps member. As the article is a commentary piece by TFA’s CEO/Founder, it is fairly one sided. It does not touch on any of the criticisms of TFA (Corps members lack the training of a more traditional teacher education program, members often do not stick with teaching after the two year commitment, etc.)

Court Upholds Federal Teacher-Protection Law

"Court Upholds Federal Teacher-Protection Law" by Mark Walsh

Education Week

Published Online on February 10, 2011

Complete Url:  http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/school_law/2011/02/court_upholds_federal_teacher-.html

This article was written in Education Week so is intended for the Education Community, but I think it is applicable to all of society as it answers the question about if a school can be held liable for the safety of its students.  Here is the basic summary from the article:  "A federal statute meant to give teachers and school administrators protection from legal liability over their efforts to maintain safe and orderly schools has been upheld against a constitutional challenge. The Missouri Supreme Court, ruling in a lawsuit in which a student who had been slashed by another student sought to hold a school superintendent liable, held that the federal law was a valid exercise of Congress' powers under the spending clause in Article I of the Constitution."

For teachers and administrators, upholding the Paul D. Coverdale Teacher Protection Act is good to know you will not be held liable if a student injures another student.  The ruling also upholds the premise that a person (the attacking student) is liable for his own actions and the blame cannot be shifted to the teacher even if the student had attacked others in the past, had previously had brought a knife to school and the school was not made aware of his history.

On the other hand, it would seem to make sense to let a the student's new school know he has had a violent past.  Since the new school will contact the old one to obtain the student's record, this seems to be a matter of common sense to include the student's history.  Add to the fact the student was in Special Education and had an IEP and nothing of his violence was recorded in the IEP seems almost negligent to me.  My son has Asperger's Syndrome and in Minnesota and here in Oregon almost everything about his behavior was recorded including times when he flashed anger when he was frustrated at school.

For us as future teachers and possibly administrators this article brings up points that are extremely relevant as we probably all encounter a situation as described above.  It is good to know we will be protected and students are responsible for their own actions.  However, I believe the previous school should have included the times of violence in the IEP and was negligent in not doing so.  Thoughts?