How placing washers and dryers in schools can increase student attendance rates

The Whirlpool Care Counts program put laundry machines in schools and made a huge difference in attendance

When you think about kids in middle school who have attendance problems, it can be easy to blame the parents (or the kids themselves), shake your head, and throw up your hands at a problem that is too big to be fixable. But what if all some of these kids need are clean clothes to wear to school? Whirlpool has taken on what could be dismissed as a minor issue and seen tremendous results.

Last year the good people at Whirlpool created the Whirlpool Care Counts Program and donated seventeen pairs of washers and dryers to school districts in St. Louis and in Fairfield, California. The schools then invited kids with attendance problems to bring in their laundry to be cleaned while they were in class.

The results were astounding: over 90% of participating students increased their attendance that year, at-risk students attended almost two more weeks of school, and each student got approximately 50 loads of laundry done at school. This year, Whirlpool will expand the program to twenty more schools in five more districts.

Read more here.. http://www.scarymommy.com/whirlpool-care-counts-improves-attendance-in-schools/?utm_source=FBOnsite

From the CURMUDGUCATION blog: “Standardized Character: Here we go again”

Standardized Character
Posted by Peter Greene: 08 Aug 2016
Here we go again.

Eight states are going to launch a program for social and emotional learning in their classrooms. A collaborative group has been put together to craft the whole business. I’m going to get in early here with a prediction that nothing good will come of this.

I understand the impulse. On top of the usual rantings about Kids These Days, we see the references to research that today’s students are more self-centered, less empathetic. A big story in the Atlantic just last month questioned if increased concern about academics have pushed morality and empathy out of classrooms. And every classroom teacher can tell tales of students who are stunningly, sometimes terrifyingly, lacking in socially and emotionally adrift or broken.
And we know that employers, neighbors, co-workers, friends and family put a huge value on social and emotional factors. When we’re trying to sound all edu-sciency and professional, we call this stuff “non-cognitive skills,” but civilians more commonly refer to behaving like “a decent human being” or at least “not such an asshole.”

So there’s absolutely no question that these things are important. I would even argue that it’s impossible NOT to teach them in some way shape and form in your classroom. It’s a group of humans, so intentionally or not, consciously or not, you (and your students) are modelling various social behaviors and skills.

However…

Read the full blog post here: CURMUDGUCATION: Standardized Character

Report Shows How California Charter Schools Break the Law by Choosing Their Students

Posted on August 5, 2016 by janresseger
Charter schools are established and regulated primarily in state law, and there is wide variation in degree to which state legislatures protected the rights of children and families back in the mid-1990s when this new education sector emerged across the states. California’s legislature seems to have taken more care than some other states to protect the rights of children and families in charter schools, but the ACLU of Southern California and Public Advocates have just published a report that exposes poor implementation of the law. The report puts Californians on notice that selection screens being imposed by charter schools are illegal under California law; some of these practices even violate federal civil rights statutes. The joint report of the Southern California ACLU and Public Advocates, Unequal Access: How Some California Charter Schools Illegally Restrict Enrollment, explains exactly what the law says and tells parents how to go about filing complaints when their rights are violated. The report also challenges charter school authorizers and the California Department of Education to enforce the law.

The report explains:

janresseger

Charter schools are established and regulated primarily in state law, and there is wide variation in degree to which state legislatures protected the rights of children and families back in the mid-1990s when this new education sector emerged across the states. California’s legislature seems to have taken more care than some other states to protect the rights of children and families in charter schools, but the ACLU of Southern California and Public Advocates have just published a report that exposes poor implementation of the law. The report puts Californians on notice that selection screens being imposed by charter schools are illegal under California law; some of these practices even violate federal civil rights statutes. The joint report of the Southern California ACLU and Public Advocates, Unequal Access: How Some California Charter Schools Illegally Restrict Enrollment, explains exactly what the law says and tells parents how to go about filing…

View original post 774 more words

‘Greening Of Detroit’ program sends students to natural resources camp

ROSCOMMON, Mich. ( from an Associated Press report) — More than 120 Detroit high school students visited the northern Lower Peninsula to learn more about sustainable forest management in Michigan.

The students are employed by nonprofit The Greening of Detroit for the summer to clean up parks and water and maintain trees in Detroit.

The 3-day trip wrapped up Wednesday August 10 and included a tour of Hartwick Pines State Park in Grayling and a lumber mill. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is partnering with the Michigan Association of Timberman and others to host students.

Students stayed at the Ralph A. MacMullan Conference Center in Roscommon, where presentations on natural resources careers were planned.

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Online: http://www.greeningofdetroit.com

Source: Our Events | Greening Of Detroit

Michigan Schools Still Do Not Provide Enough Resources To Special Needs Students | from WEMU

The findings were presented to the Board of Education Tuesday, the same day the Board discussed a statewide initiative to make Michigan a Top 10 performing state within the next 10 years.

John Austin is the president of the State Board of Education. He says the legislature and governor need to step up to make changes in the school financial system. “I’m tired of us making studies,” he said. “We have to begin to put our money where our mouth is as a state and rebuild our commitment to great public education, as the pathway to opportunity for all our young people. And we’re not there, and we need to get there.”

According to the study…

Read and listen to the full report here: Michigan Schools Still Do Not Provide Enough Resources To Special Needs Students | WEMU

600 Michigan families to receive home visits through $2.5M early childhood education program | from MLive.com

 

By Brian McVicar | bmcvicar@mlive.com
on August 10, 2016
An estimated 600 low-income families across Michigan will receive home visits by health and early childhood education professionals, thanks to a $2.5 million state grant that aims to better prepare youngsters for school.

The grants, announced Wednesday, Aug. 10, were awarded to 15 early childhood education and development organizations throughout the state, known as Great Start Collaboratives.

The home visits aim to promote greater parental involvement in the education and development of their children. Doing so, officials say, can improve school readiness, reduce the number of children who are held back a grade, and lessen the number of students who require special education services.

“If they’re proficient to read at third grade, they’ll be more likely to graduate high school,” said Veronica Pechumer, co-coordinator for the Oakland Great Start Collaborative, which received about $240,000 to serve between 55 and 70 families in southeastern Oakland County.

The grants are administered through the Michigan Department of Education’s Office of Great Start Readiness.

Read more here: 600 Michigan families to receive home visits through $2.5M early childhood education program | MLive.com

“Charter School Expansion: A Family Affair” – from the EduShyster blog

Political scientist Maurice Cunningham says the campaign to lift the cap on charter schools in Massachusetts is driven by GOP operatives and a handful of wealthy Republican families…

Source: Family Affair – EduShyster

“Class Privilege 101” – from the EduShyster blog

North Carolina teacher Rita Rathbone writes about how college forces middle-class culture onto students. For poor kids like she was, that can be hard to take. Source: Class Privilege 101 – EduShyster