Milwaukee Public Schools Say Hello To Life Without Cell Phones By Patricia Hawke

Cell Phone Ban in Milwaukee Public Schools

It’s hard to imagine a world without cell phones. Next to the Internet it’s probably the single most important invention that has affected the maximum number of lives around the globe. People run entire businesses through their stylish gizmo fitted cell phones and it’s normal to find a family with each member sporting his or her individual phone.

But, students in Milwaukee Public schools won’t be among those yakking on their cell phones this year. The reason – Milwaukee public schools have enforced a ban on cell phones on campus. From January 2007 onwards, students in Milwaukee’s122 schools are banned from using cellphones in classrooms.

Fear of Violence Leads to Cell Phone Ban in Milwaukee Public Schools

The catalyst that triggered this ban was a brawl involving students outside the gates of a Milwaukee school. Female students who got into the fight used their cell phones to summon help from family members. At least 20 family members turned up and matters got really ugly before the Milwaukee school authorities and police managed to step in. Although nobody was seriously injured in the brawl, Milwaukee school authorities were stunned into action. This wasn’t the first such instance in Milwaukee schools. Earlier two students had been caught using their cell phones to summon others to a fight outside campus.

Milwaukee Schools Join a Growing Number of School Districts in Banning Cell Phones

Milwaukee public schools are by no means the only school district taking, what some consider, this extreme measure. New York and Los Angeles do it too, albeit for different reasons. The Columbine shooting in 2001 and the attacks of September 11 had many schools all over the country lifting their bans on cell phones as parents expressed their desire to stay in touch with their children in what they saw as an increasingly dangerous environment around the country. That trend has definitely been turned now and more schools are scrambling to enforce similar bans in their schools. Reasons given for these bans in schools around the country range from using cell phones for cheating to taking inappropriate pictures.

The issue of whether the ban will have any positive effects on curbing the levels of violence in Milwaukee schools is debatable. It seems simplistic to think that banning cell phones will curb any tendencies to fight. Students who want to fight will do so regardless of who they can or can’t summon to their cause. It seems more appropriate to beef up security around campus to deal with issues of school safety. In these days of working moms and kids who are forced to be independent, a cell phone is a powerful tool for communication. To take away this tool might be the equivalent of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=187444&ca=Education

Home School Methods By Carol Currie

For quite a few citizens, homeschooling may express the mental picture of two or three little kids sitting at a dinning table and writing intensely in their pads, while mom or parent stands nearby. This is not entirely proper. There are different methodologies of homeschooling, and the strategy you choose will elect the course of study and your technique of imparting the knowledge to your children. Outfitted below are some of the most dominant and favored homeschooling strategies.

The Charlotte Mason methodology: Charlotte Mason is known as the patriarch of the homeschooling fad. A homeschooler herself, she was passionate in her zeal to create the building blocks for an effective homeschooling manner that is fun and educational at every second of the day. This program concentrates on quite the fundamental topics with emphasis fixed on classical literature, ballads, fine arts, classical music and workmanship. Mason used a range of textbooks from classical literature, which she called 'Matters Books'. Since this manner spurs on the child to have awareness of material, the daughter is read to frequently from the 'Life Books'. Afterward, the kid is commanded to recite what she has heard. This development kick offs at the age of six, and by ten the offspring is expected to write her narrations in her workbook. Following each succinct and interesting task, the daughter is urged to go to identify and etch observations from her self-identity. Thus the juvenile further expands a sense of understanding for her environment. Mason thought that evolvement of good personality and behavior was central to the intact evolvement of the daughter's identity.

The Eclectic Homeschooling: This is a intermingling of various homeschooling strategies. Here, the imaginative parents trust their own good sense and pick out the categories that construct the best course of study for their adolescent. Such dads hour after hour track down the most convenient products that will satisfy the needs of their homeschoolers. Most Eclectic homeschooling core curriculums are ad-lib. This means that the manageable study is ready catered. The parents then conform changes in the general education to adapt to the personal identity needs and concerns of their kids. The boy's gifts, attitude, intellectual acquirement technique and apprehension avow the general studies. Eclectic school calendars contain visits to the museum, libraries and plants.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=188177&ca=Education

Shortage Of Teachers Impacts High School Rankings By Patricia Hawke

Teachers and Their Place and High school rankings

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) specifically determines the quality of teachers in a school as one of the basis for high school rankings. According to the provisions of NCLB, teachers are required to be highly qualified to teach core academic curriculum, and are required to prove their competency through tests. Teachers need to have a bachelor’s degree and must demonstrate their proficiency through completion of an academic major. Finding such teachers is proving to be easier said than done. Qualified teachers are hard to find and this shortage has inevitable repercussions on high school rankings for those institutions that fail to attract and retain top quality teachers.

High School Rankings and Under Qualified Teachers

According to a study conducted last year, schools that are in minority neighborhoods or high poverty areas are likely to be staffed by teachers who are under qualified and lack a minor or major in the subject that they teach. It’s not surprising therefore that many of these schools fare so low when high school rankings time of the year rolls around.

Recruiting Teachers Who can Maintain High School Rankings

Educational authorities say that the country’s schools will need between 1.7 million to 2.7 million teachers next year. These will be required to replace aging teachers who retire, and those who abandon teaching or relocate. With the quality of teachers being such a prime condition of NCLB and high school rankings, school authorities are raising the stakes as they compete fiercely to attract the highest quality talent for their schools. As usual math and science teachers, who are the hardest to find, are being chased the hardest in an effort to boost high school rankings.

Innovative New Schemes to Attract Teachers

At some school districts, authorities have taken to promoting teaching as a career among college football players in an effort to attract more talent. These players are encouraged to join as substitute teachers and then make the transition to full time teachers. It’s hoped that this will help counter the shortfall of teachers and mark an improvement in high school rankings. In Miami educational authorities are turning to the military to tap potential teachers. The district hosts career fairs that showcase teaching as a career to former service men, and is involved in the Troops to Teachers Program. Some schools have turned to the local minority community to fill vacancies.

While the role of teachers in determining high school rankings is unquestionable, many schools have begun to realize that finding quality teachers can be a challenge. While better compensation packages can go a long way in attracting talent, they also need to be combined with providing a support system for teachers, giving them respect, and involving them in the decision making process.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=187434&ca=Education

Tackling Sexual Harassment In Memphis City Schools By Patricia Hawke

The Menace of Sexual Harassment in Memphis Schools

Mention the words “sexual harassment” and images of leering executives making lewd comments to or in the presence of co-workers or employees comes to mind. We tend to associate sexual harassment as an adult phenomenon; the kind that gets men – and in rare cases women – in deep trouble, or at the very least leaves them with a lighter wallet. We don’t associate it with young students in schools.

There is enough evidence to show that we should, at least where Memphis City schools are concerned. The statistics speak for themselves. Studies conducted by Girls for Change a program founded through the initiatives of the Memphis Area Women’s Council, Center for Research on Women and the University of Memphis Women Studies program, has found shockingly high rates of sexual harassment against girls in the Memphis schools.

The girls surveyed were between the ages of 13 to 17 and were middle or high schoolers in Memphis schools. Close to 76% reported either being the victim of harassment or having witnessed harassment in some form at school. Most of the students surveyed – close to 92% - belonged to Memphis public schools and at least 86% of the victims were African Americans. The mean age of the girls surveyed was 13.88 years.

Sexual Harassment in Memphis Schools is not Merely Bullying

We tend to think of instances of girls being teased or called names at school as bullying and, according to experts who are concerned at the effects of such harassment on girls in Memphis schools, we need to draw the line between bullying and sexual harassment. According to available data from the 2005 Youth Risk Behavioral survey, the incidences of sexual relationships, forced or otherwise, in Memphis schools are higher than the national average. Not only this, students at Memphis schools are more likely to have multiple partners, or become pregnant or impregnate a partner than their peers elsewhere in the country. The Memphis Area Women’s Council together with the Center for Research on Women is working on establishing the relationship between the high prevalence of sexual harassment in Memphis schools and the increased incidence of premature sexual activity in students.

Sexual Harassment and its Effects on Students in Memphis Schools

Sexual harassment in Memphis schools can take many forms – it can be in the form of spreading malicious rumors about a student, making unwanted phone calls or sending explicit emails, name calling, offensive jokes, and graffiti. In its virulent display, perpetrators may be emboldened enough to pinch, grab, snap bras, pull down skirts and engage in other behavior that aimed to humiliate the victim. The Memphis Girls for Change Program focuses on empowering girl students of Memphis schools and equipping them to deal with such instances in a school environment that’s very often a mute spectator.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=187437&ca=Education