http://edge.ascd.org/service/getFeed.kickAction?mediaType=BLOG&quantity=25&as=127586 New blogs from Alseta_Gholston on ASCD EDge Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:03:32 GMT Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:03:32 GMT website@ascd.org (ascdAdmin) website@ascd.org (ascdAdmin) KickApps Feed Builder 2011-07-12T00:03:32Z 6 http://edge.ascd.org/service/searchEverything.kickAction?as=127586&sortType=recent&tags=null 0 http://edge.ascd.org/_Dont-miss-out-on-the-NEW-Health-and-Learning-News-and-Updates/blog/4815457/127586.html Healthy School Communities has just launched its official e-newsletter, Health and Learning News and Updates. The e-newsletter will serve as bulletin of current school health news, free educator resources, announcements for grants, conferences, and action steps for subscribers. The e-newsletter will launch on Monday, July 11 and will be sent to subscribers every other week. Health and Learning News and Updates will have the potential to broaden its outreach to the wider ASCD community and beyond. We encourage you to forward the newsletter to your networks and invite interested colleagues to subscribe at http://www.wholechildeducation.org/newsletter/health-and-learning/. We want this newsletter to be useful and of interest to you, therefore we welcome your feedback and invite you to comment on the issues on the Healthy School Communities group page on ASCD Edge. Healthy School Communities has just launched its official e-newsletter, Health and Learning News and Updates. The e-newsletter will serve as bulletin of current school health news, free educator resources, announcements for grants, conferences, and action steps for subscribers. The e-newsletter will launch on Monday, July 11 and will be sent to subscribers every other week. Health and Learning News and Updates will have the potential to broaden its outreach to the wider ASCD community and beyond. We encourage you to forward the newsletter to your networks and invite interested colleagues to subscribe at http://www.wholechildeducation.org/newsletter/health-and-learning/. We want this newsletter to be useful and of interest to you, therefore we welcome your feedback and invite you to comment on the issues on the Healthy School Communities group page on ASCD Edge. Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:03:32 GMT http://edge.ascd.org/_Dont-miss-out-on-the-NEW-Health-and-Learning-News-and-Updates/blog/4815457/127586.html Alseta_Gholston 2011-07-12T00:03:32Z Blogs ASCD EDge Healthy School Communities has just launched its official e-newsletter, Health and Learning News and Updates. The e-newsletter will serve as bulletin of current school health news, free educator resources, announcements for grants, conferences, and action steps for subscribers. The e-newsletter will launch on Monday, July 11 and will be sent to subscribers every other week. Health and Learning News and Updates will have the potential to broaden its outreach to the wider ASCD community and beyond. We encourage you to forward the newsletter to your networks and invite interested colleagues to subscribe at http://www.wholechildeducation.org/newsletter/health-and-learning/. We want this newsletter to be useful and of interest to you, therefore we welcome your feedback and invite you to comment on the issues on the Healthy School Communities group page on ASCD Edge. blogs, health, learning, news, school, wellness nonadult false Don’t miss out on the NEW Health and Learning News and Updates! text blog blogs,health,learning,news,school,wellness 431 0 0.0 http://edge.ascd.org/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=18935810&as=127586 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/127586/photos/PHOTO_7485969_127586_18935810_ap_160X120.jpg false United States VA Alexandria 0 Blogs 0 4815457 18935810 ASCD EDge Member 1295 http://edge.ascd.org/_College-Career-and-Citizenship-ABLE/blog/3426973/127586.html Cross-posted from http://whatworks.wholechildeducation.org/blog/college-career-and-citizenship-able/. Any time a societal transformation has occurred, young people have almost always been the driving force to bring about revolutionary change. Whether one looks at recent events in North Africa and the Middle East, at our own history in the U.S. through the Civil Rights Era, Otpor’s toppling of a Serbian dictator in 2000, or the past anti-apartheid struggles in South Africa; the common thread that ties movements for social and political change are that youth at all ages are at the center energizing the popular call for civic justice. Young people have always been capable and impactful in upsetting the status quo whether positively or negatively. When we don’t provide structures that make them feel connected, involved, trusted and respected in the making of society or community, we sometimes risk alienating and disengaging them and producing conditions that we consider puts kids “at risk.” It’s this vision for change, idealism, and energy that children, adolescents, and young adults possess that can be awakened, harnessed, and positively directed to not only make learning alive and relevant for students, but also firmly link educational preparation for future outcomes to students current lives, purposes, and goals. It is quite common to expect the purpose of our education system is to prepare students for the workforce by transmitting a set of knowledge, skills, and credentials that will enable them in the future to be productive within our economic system. Now, as we tack on citizenship-readiness to this purpose, we run the risk of implying that citizenship, or youth participation in civic action, is something for the future. While we do want every child to graduate high school fully able and prepared to go to college, embark upon a career, enlist in the military, and be active citizens, we also want to ensure that students are connecting these objectives to their present lives and circumstances. Civic education, financial literacy, health awareness and promotion, and education for entrepreneurship, for example, provide a hands-on framework that makes learning relevant, current, centered on the student’s interests and needs, and provide tangible outcomes that extend beyond the school walls or even the school year. These practical learning experiences have to connect to the stories relayed in history and current events, the inquiry and fact-finding skills of science and math, or the creative expression in literature and art, so that learners become more invested in their education, are able to see how it impacts them in the present, and become inspired to take part in their own personal development and enhancement. Examples of schools that are using this approach to developing students’ capacities for social advocacy and community involvement are Northport High School in Northport, NY and West Village Magnet School in Bend, OR. These schools demonstrate how developing student voice is a significant part of the school culture and is being transplanted into the larger community. The students at these schools already understand the importance of their roles in creating the communities in which they take part and receive support and facilitation through essential student-teacher relationships. For example, at West Village students’ passions and personal learning goals are integrated into the curriculum. One year, students learned about environmental and social issues, then held a community fair on sustainability where they presented various community-wide projects ranging from teaching water conservation to holding a Pennies for Peace drive. Some students still continue working on these projects long-term and local organizations have asked them to participate in their own outreach efforts. Similarly, at Northport young people have many opportunities to be active leaders for social justice in the community. Students for 60,000 is a student organization at Northport that provides humanitarian assistance to those in need. Projects have included feeding and clothing the poor or homeless locally and internationally and teaching English to recent immigrants in their town. Also, members of A Mid-winter Night’s Dream, another student club, have testified before Congress on issues related to ALS disease. These students have been able to conduct research alongside scientists and have raised over $1.5 million dollars in seven years in order to support patients with ALS and further research. In any movement for change, be it from the school level to the international level, it is important to recognize and guide the fresh perspectives and ideas of young people and ensure they know the social and political power they possess as individuals and as a collective. In doing so, we must empower them to understand their rights, responsibilities, capabilities, and opportunities to have just as much powerful input into their educational and civic experiences today as they will tomorrow.     Cross-posted from http://whatworks.wholechildeducation.org/blog/college-career-and-citizenship-able/. Any time a societal transformation has occurred, young people have almost always been the driving force to bring about revolutionary change. Whether one looks at recent events in North Africa and the Middle East, at our own history in the U.S. through the Civil Rights Era, Otpor’s toppling of a Serbian dictator in 2000, or the past anti-apartheid struggles in South Africa; the common thread that ties movements for social and political change are that youth at all ages are at the center energizing the popular call for civic justice. Young people have always been capable and impactful in upsetting the status quo whether positively or negatively. When we don’t provide structures that make them feel connected, involved, trusted and respected in the making of society or community, we sometimes risk alienating and disengaging them and producing conditions that we consider puts kids “at risk.” It’s this vision for change, idealism, and energy that children, adolescents, and young adults possess that can be awakened, harnessed, and positively directed to not only make learning alive and relevant for students, but also firmly link educational preparation for future outcomes to students current lives, purposes, and goals. It is quite common to expect the purpose of our education system is to prepare students for the workforce by transmitting a set of knowledge, skills, and credentials that will enable them in the future to be productive within our economic system. Now, as we tack on citizenship-readiness to this purpose, we run the risk of implying that citizenship, or youth participation in civic action, is something for the future. While we do want every child to graduate high school fully able and prepared to go to college, embark upon a career, enlist in the military, and be active citizens, we also want to ensure that students are connecting these objectives to their present lives and circumstances. Civic education, financial literacy, health awareness and promotion, and education for entrepreneurship, for example, provide a hands-on framework that makes learning relevant, current, centered on the student’s interests and needs, and provide tangible outcomes that extend beyond the school walls or even the school year. These practical learning experiences have to connect to the stories relayed in history and current events, the inquiry and fact-finding skills of science and math, or the creative expression in literature and art, so that learners become more invested in their education, are able to see how it impacts them in the present, and become inspired to take part in their own personal development and enhancement. Examples of schools that are using this approach to developing students’ capacities for social advocacy and community involvement are Northport High School in Northport, NY and West Village Magnet School in Bend, OR. These schools demonstrate how developing student voice is a significant part of the school culture and is being transplanted into the larger community. The students at these schools already understand the importance of their roles in creating the communities in which they take part and receive support and facilitation through essential student-teacher relationships. For example, at West Village students’ passions and personal learning goals are integrated into the curriculum. One year, students learned about environmental and social issues, then held a community fair on sustainability where they presented various community-wide projects ranging from teaching water conservation to holding a Pennies for Peace drive. Some students still continue working on these projects long-term and local organizations have asked them to participate in their own outreach efforts. Similarly, at Northport young people have many opportunities to be active leaders for social justice in the community. Students for 60,000 is a student organization at Northport that provides humanitarian assistance to those in need. Projects have included feeding and clothing the poor or homeless locally and internationally and teaching English to recent immigrants in their town. Also, members of A Mid-winter Night’s Dream, another student club, have testified before Congress on issues related to ALS disease. These students have been able to conduct research alongside scientists and have raised over $1.5 million dollars in seven years in order to support patients with ALS and further research. In any movement for change, be it from the school level to the international level, it is important to recognize and guide the fresh perspectives and ideas of young people and ensure they know the social and political power they possess as individuals and as a collective. In doing so, we must empower them to understand their rights, responsibilities, capabilities, and opportunities to have just as much powerful input into their educational and civic experiences today as they will tomorrow.     Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:56:41 GMT http://edge.ascd.org/_College-Career-and-Citizenship-ABLE/blog/3426973/127586.html Alseta_Gholston 2011-03-31T18:56:41Z Blogs ASCD EDge Cross-posted from http://whatworks.wholechildeducation.org/blog/college-career-and-citizenship-able/. Any time a societal transformation has occurred, young people have almost always been the driving force to bring about revolutionary change. Whether one looks at recent events in North Africa and the Middle East, at our own history in the U.S. through the Civil Rights Era, Otpor’s toppling of a Serbian dictator in 2000, or the past anti-apartheid struggles in South Africa; the common thread that ties movements for social and political change are that youth at all ages are at the center energizing the popular call for civic justice. Young people have always been capable and impactful in upsetting the status quo whether positively or negatively. When we don’t provide structures that make them feel connected, involved, trusted and respected in the making of society or community, we sometimes risk alienating and disengaging them and producing conditions that we consider puts kids “at risk.” It’s this vision for change, idealism, and energy that children, adolescents, and young adults possess that can be awakened, harnessed, and positively directed to not only make learning alive and relevant for students, but also firmly link educational preparation for future outcomes to students current lives, purposes, and goals. It is quite common to expect the purpose of our education system is to prepare students for the workforce by transmitting a set of knowledge, skills, and credentials that will enable them in the future to be productive within our economic system. Now, as we tack on citizenship-readiness to this purpose, we run the risk of implying that citizenship, or youth participation in civic action, is something for the future. While we do want every child to graduate high school fully able and prepared to go to college, embark upon a career, enlist in the military, and be active citizens, we also want to ensure that students are connecting these objectives to their present lives and circumstances. Civic education, financial literacy, health awareness and promotion, and education for entrepreneurship, for example, provide a hands-on framework that makes learning relevant, current, centered on the student’s interests and needs, and provide tangible outcomes that extend beyond the school walls or even the school year. These practical learning experiences have to connect to the stories relayed in history and current events, the inquiry and fact-finding skills of science and math, or the creative expression in literature and art, so that learners become more invested in their education, are able to see how it impacts them in the present, and become inspired to take part in their own personal development and enhancement. Examples of schools that are using this approach to developing students’ capacities for social advocacy and community involvement are Northport High School in Northport, NY and West Village Magnet School in Bend, OR. These schools demonstrate how developing student voice is a significant part of the school culture and is being transplanted into the larger community. The students at these schools already understand the importance of their roles in creating the communities in which they take part and receive support and facilitation through essential student-teacher relationships. For example, at West Village students’ passions and personal learning goals are integrated into the curriculum. One year, students learned about environmental and social issues, then held a community fair on sustainability where they presented various community-wide projects ranging from teaching water conservation to holding a Pennies for Peace drive. Some students still continue working on these projects long-term and local organizations have asked them to participate in their own outreach efforts. Similarly, at Northport young people have many opportunities to be active leaders for social justice in the community. Students for 60,000 is a student organization at Northport that provides humanitarian assistance to those in need. Projects have included feeding and clothing the poor or homeless locally and internationally and teaching English to recent immigrants in their town. Also, members of A Mid-winter Night’s Dream, another student club, have testified before Congress on issues related to ALS disease. These students have been able to conduct research alongside scientists and have raised over $1.5 million dollars in seven years in order to support patients with ALS and further research. In any movement for change, be it from the school level to the international level, it is important to recognize and guide the fresh perspectives and ideas of young people and ensure they know the social and political power they possess as individuals and as a collective. In doing so, we must empower them to understand their rights, responsibilities, capabilities, and opportunities to have just as much powerful input into their educational and civic experiences today as they will tomorrow.     blogs, civic education, community, connectedness, leadership, project-based learning, youth nonadult false College, Career, and Citizenship-ABLE text blog blogs,civic education,community,connectedness,leadership,project-based learning,youth 685 0 0.0 http://edge.ascd.org/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=18935810&as=127586 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/127586/photos/PHOTO_7485969_127586_18935810_ap_160X120.jpg false United States VA Alexandria 0 Blogs 0 3426973 18935810 ASCD EDge Member 1295 http://edge.ascd.org/_Health-and-Learning-News-and-Updates/blog/2964236/127586.html Health and Learning News and Updates – November 12, 2010 Are childhood hunger, ADHD, bullying, and safe places to play important issues in your school or community? Discuss on the HSC group page on ASCD EDge and share ideas and solutions to common concerns.   News   Student Wellness Council promotes healthier choices for teens High school students at Lackawanna Trail High School have created their own Student Wellness Council to promote wellness and healthy eating in their school district. Read about how students have included in their activities broadcasting health tips on a radio show and selling fruit smoothies during lunch at school.   Las Cruces Mayor Helps Kids Stay Healthy Las Cruces, NM Mayor Ken Miyagishima is showing his support for the Healthy Kids Las Cruces program by encouraging the town’s third graders to develop healthy habits and live healthy lifestyles.  Read more about the 5-2-1-0 Challenge and how the Mayor is spreading the word about healthy eating and physical activity to the community.   Ending Childhood Hunger Actor Jeff Bridges hopes to end childhood hunger in America by 2015. Read more about his No Kid Hungry campaign and learn how you can take part in the movement.  ADHD Rates Rise Among Children, CDC Says A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report indicates about 9.5% of 73,000 parents surveyed in 2007-08 reported having a child diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, up from nearly 8% in 2003. The report, involving children ages 4 to 17, shows that about two-thirds of those with ADHD are receiving medication.   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   Resources   Dribbling Drills from SPARK This month we're excited to feature Dribbling Drills from the Basketball unit in the SPARK 3-6 PE Manual. Dribbling Drills tools include: Lesson Plan Assessment Tool Instructional Video   Energy Balance: 101 Energy Balance: 101 offers teachers, families, and communities resources, lesson plans, tips, and to support healthy eating and physical activity for children.   Bully Free Canada Canadians will recognize November 14-20, 2010 as National Bullying Awareness Week. BullyingAwarenessWeek.org offers resources for planning your local bullying awareness campaigns. Example day plans are available for each day of the week.   Middle School, a Developmentally Critical Time for Health Education The Michigan Departments of Education and Community Health developed a two page fact sheet to help administrators, teachers, and parents speak about the importance of health education at the middle school level.  The fact sheet discusses why the middle school is a developmentally critical time, and includes risk behavior data and other online resources. The fact sheet also serves as an example to respond to measures some districts are taking to cut or reduce middle school health education due to limited resources.   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   Take Action   6th Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference The California Department of Public Health, the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Weight and Health, and the California Department of Education, California Endowment and Kaiser Permanente have joined together to host a conference on childhood obesity from June 28 through July 1, 2011 in San Diego, CA. Leading experts in pediatric obesity will showcase the latest research, evidence-based best practices, and policy and environmental change strategies. Early discount registration ends January 1, 2011. Register and find out more.    Healthy Playground Makeover Sweepstakes Enter the sweepstakes from Energy Balance 101 and get a chance to win the grand prize of $10,000 to redo a playground, $25,000 in merchandise from Sports Authority, and more. Five runner-up prizes are also available. Deadline to enter is December 1, 2010.   Health and Learning News and Updates – November 12, 2010 Are childhood hunger, ADHD, bullying, and safe places to play important issues in your school or community? Discuss on the HSC group page on ASCD EDge and share ideas and solutions to common concerns.   News   Student Wellness Council promotes healthier choices for teens High school students at Lackawanna Trail High School have created their own Student Wellness Council to promote wellness and healthy eating in their school district. Read about how students have included in their activities broadcasting health tips on a radio show and selling fruit smoothies during lunch at school.   Las Cruces Mayor Helps Kids Stay Healthy Las Cruces, NM Mayor Ken Miyagishima is showing his support for the Healthy Kids Las Cruces program by encouraging the town’s third graders to develop healthy habits and live healthy lifestyles.  Read more about the 5-2-1-0 Challenge and how the Mayor is spreading the word about healthy eating and physical activity to the community.   Ending Childhood Hunger Actor Jeff Bridges hopes to end childhood hunger in America by 2015. Read more about his No Kid Hungry campaign and learn how you can take part in the movement.  ADHD Rates Rise Among Children, CDC Says A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report indicates about 9.5% of 73,000 parents surveyed in 2007-08 reported having a child diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, up from nearly 8% in 2003. The report, involving children ages 4 to 17, shows that about two-thirds of those with ADHD are receiving medication.   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   Resources   Dribbling Drills from SPARK This month we're excited to feature Dribbling Drills from the Basketball unit in the SPARK 3-6 PE Manual. Dribbling Drills tools include: Lesson Plan Assessment Tool Instructional Video   Energy Balance: 101 Energy Balance: 101 offers teachers, families, and communities resources, lesson plans, tips, and to support healthy eating and physical activity for children.   Bully Free Canada Canadians will recognize November 14-20, 2010 as National Bullying Awareness Week. BullyingAwarenessWeek.org offers resources for planning your local bullying awareness campaigns. Example day plans are available for each day of the week.   Middle School, a Developmentally Critical Time for Health Education The Michigan Departments of Education and Community Health developed a two page fact sheet to help administrators, teachers, and parents speak about the importance of health education at the middle school level.  The fact sheet discusses why the middle school is a developmentally critical time, and includes risk behavior data and other online resources. The fact sheet also serves as an example to respond to measures some districts are taking to cut or reduce middle school health education due to limited resources.   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   Take Action   6th Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference The California Department of Public Health, the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Weight and Health, and the California Department of Education, California Endowment and Kaiser Permanente have joined together to host a conference on childhood obesity from June 28 through July 1, 2011 in San Diego, CA. Leading experts in pediatric obesity will showcase the latest research, evidence-based best practices, and policy and environmental change strategies. Early discount registration ends January 1, 2011. Register and find out more.    Healthy Playground Makeover Sweepstakes Enter the sweepstakes from Energy Balance 101 and get a chance to win the grand prize of $10,000 to redo a playground, $25,000 in merchandise from Sports Authority, and more. Five runner-up prizes are also available. Deadline to enter is December 1, 2010.   Sat, 13 Nov 2010 03:32:54 GMT http://edge.ascd.org/_Health-and-Learning-News-and-Updates/blog/2964236/127586.html Alseta_Gholston 2010-11-13T03:32:54Z Blogs ASCD EDge Health and Learning News and Updates – November 12, 2010 Are childhood hunger, ADHD, bullying, and safe places to play important issues in your school or community? Discuss on the HSC group page on ASCD EDge and share ideas and solutions to common concerns.   News   Student Wellness Council promotes healthier choices for teens High school students at Lackawanna Trail High School have created their own Student Wellness Council to promote wellness and healthy eating in their school district. Read about how students have included in their activities broadcasting health tips on a radio show and selling fruit smoothies during lunch at school.   Las Cruces Mayor Helps Kids Stay Healthy Las Cruces, NM Mayor Ken Miyagishima is showing his support for the Healthy Kids Las Cruces program by encouraging the town’s third graders to develop healthy habits and live healthy lifestyles.  Read more about the 5-2-1-0 Challenge and how the Mayor is spreading the word about healthy eating and physical activity to the community.   Ending Childhood Hunger Actor Jeff Bridges hopes to end childhood hunger in America by 2015. Read more about his No Kid Hungry campaign and learn how you can take part in the movement.  ADHD Rates Rise Among Children, CDC Says A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report indicates about 9.5% of 73,000 parents surveyed in 2007-08 reported having a child diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, up from nearly 8% in 2003. The report, involving children ages 4 to 17, shows that about two-thirds of those with ADHD are receiving medication.   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   Resources   Dribbling Drills from SPARK This month we're excited to feature Dribbling Drills from the Basketball unit in the SPARK 3-6 PE Manual. Dribbling Drills tools include: Lesson Plan Assessment Tool Instructional Video   Energy Balance: 101 Energy Balance: 101 offers teachers, families, and communities resources, lesson plans, tips, and to support healthy eating and physical activity for children.   Bully Free Canada Canadians will recognize November 14-20, 2010 as National Bullying Awareness Week. BullyingAwarenessWeek.org offers resources for planning your local bullying awareness campaigns. Example day plans are available for each day of the week.   Middle School, a Developmentally Critical Time for Health Education The Michigan Departments of Education and Community Health developed a two page fact sheet to help administrators, teachers, and parents speak about the importance of health education at the middle school level.  The fact sheet discusses why the middle school is a developmentally critical time, and includes risk behavior data and other online resources. The fact sheet also serves as an example to respond to measures some districts are taking to cut or reduce middle school health education due to limited resources.   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   Take Action   6th Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference The California Department of Public Health, the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Weight and Health, and the California Department of Education, California Endowment and Kaiser Permanente have joined together to host a conference on childhood obesity from June 28 through July 1, 2011 in San Diego, CA. Leading experts in pediatric obesity will showcase the latest research, evidence-based best practices, and policy and environmental change strategies. Early discount registration ends January 1, 2011. Register and find out more.    Healthy Playground Makeover Sweepstakes Enter the sweepstakes from Energy Balance 101 and get a chance to win the grand prize of $10,000 to redo a playground, $25,000 in merchandise from Sports Authority, and more. Five runner-up prizes are also available. Deadline to enter is December 1, 2010.   blogs, community, health, safe, school nonadult false Health and Learning News and Updates text blog blogs,community,health,safe,school 547 0 0.0 http://edge.ascd.org/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=18935810&as=127586 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/127586/photos/PHOTO_7485969_127586_18935810_ap_160X120.jpg false United States VA Alexandria 0 Blogs 0 2964236 18935810 ASCD EDge Member 1295 http://edge.ascd.org/_Creating-Cultures-of-Peace-Starting-With-Schools/blog/2666280/127586.html Cross-posted from http://blog.wholechildeducation.org/2010/09/21/creating-cultures-of-peace/.   The damaging effects of bullying have always been a problem wherever groups of people have coexisted, although we tend to identify bullying more where it exists within children’s interpersonal relationships largely because many more children than adults who are victims of bullies don’t yet have the emotional tools to override the scars that constant abuse can inflict on a person’s psyche. For this reason, it is becoming more of a serious issue to address as we start to have more conversation around school climate and safety issues.   For example, earlier this year the suicide of Phoebe Prince, a student in South Hadley, Mass., brought school bullying back to the U.S. national forefront. As a result, several teens in connection to the case have been charged with criminal harassment, stalking, and even statutory rape. Also, proposed anti-bullying laws targeting school officials who neglected to respond to the incidents are now making administrators take notice. However, while the responses to this tragic case seem to focus on who should bear the blame for the bullying that led the teenager to take her own life, there hasn’t been too much attention to what kind of environment enables this kind of behavior to thrive in places where youth mingle socially with one another even though it seems clear that the issue of bullying is just as much a systematic problem as it is an interpersonal one.   Teachers and other school staff absolutely should have an obligation—ideally directed by enacted school policies—to investigate and prevent student harassment from happening when they know about it, and schools should provide students not only with safe places to learn, but also to be themselves. Yet, teachers don’t always see themselves as having the time and resources to constantly police students when they are often overwhelmed with other classroom tasks, and anti-bullying programs have varying success rates and are not one-size-fits-all solutions despite that some seem to promote those expectations.   One thing that schools and communities can do to undergird policies and programs around bullying is to deliberately cultivate cultures of peace and civility throughout the schooling experience. With bullying, teen dating violence, gang violence, and other forms of harassment on the rise among school-age youth, communities might want to start to think about the institutional pillars within our culture that reinforce an acceptance of aggression and where does schooling fit in to this paradigm. The way many of our school systems are structured can sometimes silently reinforce a culture of violence, fierce competition, authoritarianism, divisiveness, racial and gender exploitation, and socio-economic inequality. This is not to unfairly lay the blame all on schools, but certainly they have an important role in developing youth for better or worse. It takes an intentional effort to nurture children into the constructive, compassionate, and liberated society members that they have the potential to be.   For schools to be able to play an effective role, they at least need to do as much to encourage nonviolence, respect, compassion, equality, and inclusivity by restructuring schoolwide cultures to ones that do not tolerate injustice, harassment, or violence along with implementing curricular programs that focus on subjects such as democracy, human rights and responsibilities, and peace education. Creating a culture of peace not only includes conflict resolution and a rights-based approach as a part of the learning experience, but it also means modeling a participatory democracy environment with avenues for reparative justice where students have a strong voice and teachers have the extended license to make decisions to work with students to make improvements within the school environment.   Cooperating and relationship skills, standing up against injustice, self-monitoring of emotions, and respecting differences may not seem like criteria for a well-educated student especially when assessment of these skills are not on any of the standardized tests that measure a school’s success. Nonetheless, it’s important to remember that schools also aim to prepare students for civic engagement beyond graduation. Just as global citizenship competency is a requirement for 21st century learning and leadership, experience in collaboration and learning to develop successful interpersonal relationships are as much a part of mastering this skill set. It is a disservice to civic preparation efforts when these skills are not linked and students never learn how to build community and make peace with the world around them.   Fortunately, there are initiatives influenced by educators, experts in peace and conflict studies, behavioral scientists, and even juvenile justice professionals that are making efforts to assist schools with instituting positive climates and teaching peace education. Such examples can go a long way to show how even schools with limited resources can integrate positive social developmental issues into the curriculum that can impact student learning, social-emotional competencies, and well-being. Schools that have sought out comprehensive solutions to developing a more caring culture recognize the need to enforce the full development of children, from those that would become bullies and abusers to those that would become victims.   If we don’t start valuing social and emotional intelligence, collaborative problem-solving, celebrating differences, and recognizing alternatives to violence as just as important and necessary skills as reading and math, then we are doomed to fail our children and continue the cycle that excuses aggression while using punitive disciplinary action with little change. Whether schools elect to enforce awareness programs, policies, or curricula that target the bully, the victim, or the bystander—which includes teachers and staff—we need an education system that, through culture and example, ensures that children understand and reject what is wrong and destructive to themselves and others, and also supports and teaches them how to do what is right.   Related resources: Healthy School Report Card (HSRC): The HSRC is a tool designed under ASCD’s Healthy School Communities initiative. This school improvement toolkit can assist your school to address the health and well-being of students and staff in evidence-based ways that support teaching and learning.   Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS): PBIS is a useful school improvement tool that helps schools implement successful behavior and disciplinary outcomes.   Olweus Bullying Prevention Program: The Olweus program has been initiated in schools worldwide. It is a comprehensive school program to prevent bullying throughout the school setting.   Character Education Partnership (CEP): CEP is a national organization, and a Whole Child Partner, that works to advance the character education movement by providing professional development to educators and providing resources that support the links between positive school culture and successful learning outcomes. A wide range of useful lesson plans are also available on this site.   National School Climate Center (NSCC): Formerly Center for Social and Emotional Education, NSCC is also a Whole Child Partner and it provides frameworks and resources to promote social and emotional learning for safe and supportive school climates.   Rwanda Peace Narratives toolkit: Developed by the Center for Peace Building International, this curriculum uses the experiences of survivors of conflict in Rwanda to foster an awareness in American youth about the effects of violence and social conflict. It aims to promote creative thinking about how youth can generate ideas for peacebuilding within their own communities.   In the Mix: This site from PBS demonstrates a lesson plan and primer on peer mediation for high school students.   Project Citizen: Project Citizen is a curricular program under the Center for Civic Education, a Whole Child Partner, which engages youth in developing democratic values, tolerance and participating in political and civic actions.   Building Blocks of Peace teacher guides: This site offers a collection of global peace education teacher guides and lesson plans developed by the Institute for Economics and Peace.   Challenge Day: The Challenge Day program works to bring the whole school community together to connect with one another through empathy and self-expression in order to create a supportive environment.   Exploring Humanitarian Law: This curricular guide from the International Committee of the Red Cross offers teacher resources and lessons on humanitarian law, bullying prevention that targets the bystander, and an understanding of global conflict issues.   Teaching Human Rights: Practical activities for primary and secondary schools – This universal human rights curricular guide, developed by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, explains the human rights framework and explores related topics for preschool through secondary school-aged children. Fundamentals of Human Rights Education Human Rights Topics for Preschool and Lower Secondary School Human Rights Topics for Upper Primary and Lower and Senior Secondary School Additional human rights education resources   Can You Teach Emotional Intelligence? Written by a consultant for Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, a Whole Child Partner, this article discusses the how embracing the movement for social and emotional learning has made a difference in several schools and districts.   September 21 is recognized worldwide as the International Day of Peace, a global call for ceasefires and nonviolence. How might you use this day to bring peace awareness to your school community? Do you think your school community is structured to reinforce peace, collaboration, and respect? Cross-posted from http://blog.wholechildeducation.org/2010/09/21/creating-cultures-of-peace/.   The damaging effects of bullying have always been a problem wherever groups of people have coexisted, although we tend to identify bullying more where it exists within children’s interpersonal relationships largely because many more children than adults who are victims of bullies don’t yet have the emotional tools to override the scars that constant abuse can inflict on a person’s psyche. For this reason, it is becoming more of a serious issue to address as we start to have more conversation around school climate and safety issues.   For example, earlier this year the suicide of Phoebe Prince, a student in South Hadley, Mass., brought school bullying back to the U.S. national forefront. As a result, several teens in connection to the case have been charged with criminal harassment, stalking, and even statutory rape. Also, proposed anti-bullying laws targeting school officials who neglected to respond to the incidents are now making administrators take notice. However, while the responses to this tragic case seem to focus on who should bear the blame for the bullying that led the teenager to take her own life, there hasn’t been too much attention to what kind of environment enables this kind of behavior to thrive in places where youth mingle socially with one another even though it seems clear that the issue of bullying is just as much a systematic problem as it is an interpersonal one.   Teachers and other school staff absolutely should have an obligation—ideally directed by enacted school policies—to investigate and prevent student harassment from happening when they know about it, and schools should provide students not only with safe places to learn, but also to be themselves. Yet, teachers don’t always see themselves as having the time and resources to constantly police students when they are often overwhelmed with other classroom tasks, and anti-bullying programs have varying success rates and are not one-size-fits-all solutions despite that some seem to promote those expectations.   One thing that schools and communities can do to undergird policies and programs around bullying is to deliberately cultivate cultures of peace and civility throughout the schooling experience. With bullying, teen dating violence, gang violence, and other forms of harassment on the rise among school-age youth, communities might want to start to think about the institutional pillars within our culture that reinforce an acceptance of aggression and where does schooling fit in to this paradigm. The way many of our school systems are structured can sometimes silently reinforce a culture of violence, fierce competition, authoritarianism, divisiveness, racial and gender exploitation, and socio-economic inequality. This is not to unfairly lay the blame all on schools, but certainly they have an important role in developing youth for better or worse. It takes an intentional effort to nurture children into the constructive, compassionate, and liberated society members that they have the potential to be.   For schools to be able to play an effective role, they at least need to do as much to encourage nonviolence, respect, compassion, equality, and inclusivity by restructuring schoolwide cultures to ones that do not tolerate injustice, harassment, or violence along with implementing curricular programs that focus on subjects such as democracy, human rights and responsibilities, and peace education. Creating a culture of peace not only includes conflict resolution and a rights-based approach as a part of the learning experience, but it also means modeling a participatory democracy environment with avenues for reparative justice where students have a strong voice and teachers have the extended license to make decisions to work with students to make improvements within the school environment.   Cooperating and relationship skills, standing up against injustice, self-monitoring of emotions, and respecting differences may not seem like criteria for a well-educated student especially when assessment of these skills are not on any of the standardized tests that measure a school’s success. Nonetheless, it’s important to remember that schools also aim to prepare students for civic engagement beyond graduation. Just as global citizenship competency is a requirement for 21st century learning and leadership, experience in collaboration and learning to develop successful interpersonal relationships are as much a part of mastering this skill set. It is a disservice to civic preparation efforts when these skills are not linked and students never learn how to build community and make peace with the world around them.   Fortunately, there are initiatives influenced by educators, experts in peace and conflict studies, behavioral scientists, and even juvenile justice professionals that are making efforts to assist schools with instituting positive climates and teaching peace education. Such examples can go a long way to show how even schools with limited resources can integrate positive social developmental issues into the curriculum that can impact student learning, social-emotional competencies, and well-being. Schools that have sought out comprehensive solutions to developing a more caring culture recognize the need to enforce the full development of children, from those that would become bullies and abusers to those that would become victims.   If we don’t start valuing social and emotional intelligence, collaborative problem-solving, celebrating differences, and recognizing alternatives to violence as just as important and necessary skills as reading and math, then we are doomed to fail our children and continue the cycle that excuses aggression while using punitive disciplinary action with little change. Whether schools elect to enforce awareness programs, policies, or curricula that target the bully, the victim, or the bystander—which includes teachers and staff—we need an education system that, through culture and example, ensures that children understand and reject what is wrong and destructive to themselves and others, and also supports and teaches them how to do what is right.   Related resources: Healthy School Report Card (HSRC): The HSRC is a tool designed under ASCD’s Healthy School Communities initiative. This school improvement toolkit can assist your school to address the health and well-being of students and staff in evidence-based ways that support teaching and learning.   Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS): PBIS is a useful school improvement tool that helps schools implement successful behavior and disciplinary outcomes.   Olweus Bullying Prevention Program: The Olweus program has been initiated in schools worldwide. It is a comprehensive school program to prevent bullying throughout the school setting.   Character Education Partnership (CEP): CEP is a national organization, and a Whole Child Partner, that works to advance the character education movement by providing professional development to educators and providing resources that support the links between positive school culture and successful learning outcomes. A wide range of useful lesson plans are also available on this site.   National School Climate Center (NSCC): Formerly Center for Social and Emotional Education, NSCC is also a Whole Child Partner and it provides frameworks and resources to promote social and emotional learning for safe and supportive school climates.   Rwanda Peace Narratives toolkit: Developed by the Center for Peace Building International, this curriculum uses the experiences of survivors of conflict in Rwanda to foster an awareness in American youth about the effects of violence and social conflict. It aims to promote creative thinking about how youth can generate ideas for peacebuilding within their own communities.   In the Mix: This site from PBS demonstrates a lesson plan and primer on peer mediation for high school students.   Project Citizen: Project Citizen is a curricular program under the Center for Civic Education, a Whole Child Partner, which engages youth in developing democratic values, tolerance and participating in political and civic actions.   Building Blocks of Peace teacher guides: This site offers a collection of global peace education teacher guides and lesson plans developed by the Institute for Economics and Peace.   Challenge Day: The Challenge Day program works to bring the whole school community together to connect with one another through empathy and self-expression in order to create a supportive environment.   Exploring Humanitarian Law: This curricular guide from the International Committee of the Red Cross offers teacher resources and lessons on humanitarian law, bullying prevention that targets the bystander, and an understanding of global conflict issues.   Teaching Human Rights: Practical activities for primary and secondary schools – This universal human rights curricular guide, developed by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, explains the human rights framework and explores related topics for preschool through secondary school-aged children. Fundamentals of Human Rights Education Human Rights Topics for Preschool and Lower Secondary School Human Rights Topics for Upper Primary and Lower and Senior Secondary School Additional human rights education resources   Can You Teach Emotional Intelligence? Written by a consultant for Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, a Whole Child Partner, this article discusses the how embracing the movement for social and emotional learning has made a difference in several schools and districts.   September 21 is recognized worldwide as the International Day of Peace, a global call for ceasefires and nonviolence. How might you use this day to bring peace awareness to your school community? Do you think your school community is structured to reinforce peace, collaboration, and respect? Wed, 22 Sep 2010 04:32:12 GMT http://edge.ascd.org/_Creating-Cultures-of-Peace-Starting-With-Schools/blog/2666280/127586.html Alseta_Gholston 2010-09-22T04:32:12Z Blogs ASCD EDge Cross-posted from http://blog.wholechildeducation.org/2010/09/21/creating-cultures-of-peace/.   The damaging effects of bullying have always been a problem wherever groups of people have coexisted, although we tend to identify bullying more where it exists within children’s interpersonal relationships largely because many more children than adults who are victims of bullies don’t yet have the emotional tools to override the scars that constant abuse can inflict on a person’s psyche. For this reason, it is becoming more of a serious issue to address as we start to have more conversation around school climate and safety issues.   For example, earlier this year the suicide of Phoebe Prince, a student in South Hadley, Mass., brought school bullying back to the U.S. national forefront. As a result, several teens in connection to the case have been charged with criminal harassment, stalking, and even statutory rape. Also, proposed anti-bullying laws targeting school officials who neglected to respond to the incidents are now making administrators take notice. However, while the responses to this tragic case seem to focus on who should bear the blame for the bullying that led the teenager to take her own life, there hasn’t been too much attention to what kind of environment enables this kind of behavior to thrive in places where youth mingle socially with one another even though it seems clear that the issue of bullying is just as much a systematic problem as it is an interpersonal one.   Teachers and other school staff absolutely should have an obligation—ideally directed by enacted school policies—to investigate and prevent student harassment from happening when they know about it, and schools should provide students not only with safe places to learn, but also to be themselves. Yet, teachers don’t always see themselves as having the time and resources to constantly police students when they are often overwhelmed with other classroom tasks, and anti-bullying programs have varying success rates and are not one-size-fits-all solutions despite that some seem to promote those expectations.   One thing that schools and communities can do to undergird policies and programs around bullying is to deliberately cultivate cultures of peace and civility throughout the schooling experience. With bullying, teen dating violence, gang violence, and other forms of harassment on the rise among school-age youth, communities might want to start to think about the institutional pillars within our culture that reinforce an acceptance of aggression and where does schooling fit in to this paradigm. The way many of our school systems are structured can sometimes silently reinforce a culture of violence, fierce competition, authoritarianism, divisiveness, racial and gender exploitation, and socio-economic inequality. This is not to unfairly lay the blame all on schools, but certainly they have an important role in developing youth for better or worse. It takes an intentional effort to nurture children into the constructive, compassionate, and liberated society members that they have the potential to be.   For schools to be able to play an effective role, they at least need to do as much to encourage nonviolence, respect, compassion, equality, and inclusivity by restructuring schoolwide cultures to ones that do not tolerate injustice, harassment, or violence along with implementing curricular programs that focus on subjects such as democracy, human rights and responsibilities, and peace education. Creating a culture of peace not only includes conflict resolution and a rights-based approach as a part of the learning experience, but it also means modeling a participatory democracy environment with avenues for reparative justice where students have a strong voice and teachers have the extended license to make decisions to work with students to make improvements within the school environment.   Cooperating and relationship skills, standing up against injustice, self-monitoring of emotions, and respecting differences may not seem like criteria for a well-educated student especially when assessment of these skills are not on any of the standardized tests that measure a school’s success. Nonetheless, it’s important to remember that schools also aim to prepare students for civic engagement beyond graduation. Just as global citizenship competency is a requirement for 21st century learning and leadership, experience in collaboration and learning to develop successful interpersonal relationships are as much a part of mastering this skill set. It is a disservice to civic preparation efforts when these skills are not linked and students never learn how to build community and make peace with the world around them.   Fortunately, there are initiatives influenced by educators, experts in peace and conflict studies, behavioral scientists, and even juvenile justice professionals that are making efforts to assist schools with instituting positive climates and teaching peace education. Such examples can go a long way to show how even schools with limited resources can integrate positive social developmental issues into the curriculum that can impact student learning, social-emotional competencies, and well-being. Schools that have sought out comprehensive solutions to developing a more caring culture recognize the need to enforce the full development of children, from those that would become bullies and abusers to those that would become victims.   If we don’t start valuing social and emotional intelligence, collaborative problem-solving, celebrating differences, and recognizing alternatives to violence as just as important and necessary skills as reading and math, then we are doomed to fail our children and continue the cycle that excuses aggression while using punitive disciplinary action with little change. Whether schools elect to enforce awareness programs, policies, or curricula that target the bully, the victim, or the bystander—which includes teachers and staff—we need an education system that, through culture and example, ensures that children understand and reject what is wrong and destructive to themselves and others, and also supports and teaches them how to do what is right.   Related resources: Healthy School Report Card (HSRC): The HSRC is a tool designed under ASCD’s Healthy School Communities initiative. This school improvement toolkit can assist your school to address the health and well-being of students and staff in evidence-based ways that support teaching and learning.   Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS): PBIS is a useful school improvement tool that helps schools implement successful behavior and disciplinary outcomes.   Olweus Bullying Prevention Program: The Olweus program has been initiated in schools worldwide. It is a comprehensive school program to prevent bullying throughout the school setting.   Character Education Partnership (CEP): CEP is a national organization, and a Whole Child Partner, that works to advance the character education movement by providing professional development to educators and providing resources that support the links between positive school culture and successful learning outcomes. A wide range of useful lesson plans are also available on this site.   National School Climate Center (NSCC): Formerly Center for Social and Emotional Education, NSCC is also a Whole Child Partner and it provides frameworks and resources to promote social and emotional learning for safe and supportive school climates.   Rwanda Peace Narratives toolkit: Developed by the Center for Peace Building International, this curriculum uses the experiences of survivors of conflict in Rwanda to foster an awareness in American youth about the effects of violence and social conflict. It aims to promote creative thinking about how youth can generate ideas for peacebuilding within their own communities.   In the Mix: This site from PBS demonstrates a lesson plan and primer on peer mediation for high school students.   Project Citizen: Project Citizen is a curricular program under the Center for Civic Education, a Whole Child Partner, which engages youth in developing democratic values, tolerance and participating in political and civic actions.   Building Blocks of Peace teacher guides: This site offers a collection of global peace education teacher guides and lesson plans developed by the Institute for Economics and Peace.   Challenge Day: The Challenge Day program works to bring the whole school community together to connect with one another through empathy and self-expression in order to create a supportive environment.   Exploring Humanitarian Law: This curricular guide from the International Committee of the Red Cross offers teacher resources and lessons on humanitarian law, bullying prevention that targets the bystander, and an understanding of global conflict issues.   Teaching Human Rights: Practical activities for primary and secondary schools – This universal human rights curricular guide, developed by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, explains the human rights framework and explores related topics for preschool through secondary school-aged children. Fundamentals of Human Rights Education Human Rights Topics for Preschool and Lower Secondary School Human Rights Topics for Upper Primary and Lower and Senior Secondary School Additional human rights education resources   Can You Teach Emotional Intelligence? Written by a consultant for Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, a Whole Child Partner, this article discusses the how embracing the movement for social and emotional learning has made a difference in several schools and districts.   September 21 is recognized worldwide as the International Day of Peace, a global call for ceasefires and nonviolence. How might you use this day to bring peace awareness to your school community? Do you think your school community is structured to reinforce peace, collaboration, and respect? blogs nonadult false Creating Cultures of Peace... Starting With Schools text blog blogs 723 12 5.0 http://edge.ascd.org/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=18935810&as=127586 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/127586/photos/PHOTO_7485969_127586_18935810_ap_160X120.jpg false United States VA Alexandria 0 Blogs 2 2666280 18935810 ASCD EDge Member 1295 http://edge.ascd.org/_Achieving-Education-for-All/blog/2440010/127586.html Cross-posted from http://blog.wholechildeducation.org/2010/07/08/achieving-education-for-all/   In just a few days, the 2010 World Cup will have determined a new soccer champion among what were originally 32 national teams competing for the title. Aside from being my favorite sport to watch, soccer—or football in the rest of the world—is the most loved sport throughout the world and has even been credited with improving intergroup relations through its spirit of national and international unity. It wouldn’t be nicknamed "the beautiful game" otherwise.   Each World Cup, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) supports a social campaign around the event which usually garners worldwide attention and international support to some of the world's more pressing problems. In preparation for this World Cup games, FIFA helped launch the Global Campaign for Education's 1 Goal campaign asking soccer fans everywhere to advocate for successful achievement of one of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals: Education for All by 2015.   Back in 2000, 164 countries came together in Dakar, Senegal, to make a commitment to end illiteracy and expand educational access, opportunity, and quality for all children, youth, and adults in their respective nations by 2015. With approximately 72 million children across the world not enrolled in school, policymakers pledged that both policies and finances would be put in place to make education for all a high priority. To accomplish this, six educational goals were agreed upon:   •Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.•Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality.•Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programs.•Achieving a 50 percent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.•Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls' full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.•Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy, and essential life skills.   The United States is among the minority percent of countries that have already seemingly met the four most quantifiable goals—universal primary education, adult literacy, gender parity, and quality of education. However, while our country has largely played the role of aid donor to developing countries that are trying to meet the 2015 deadline, there are still opportunities for improving equity and access outcomes for many children living in the U.S. who are often left out when prioritizing needs for educational planning.   To continue to really put our best effort into securing lifelong equal educational opportunities, we must continue to make sure that all children and youth are able to access a high quality free education by advocating for policies that consider   •Expanding early childhood education for our poorest and most disadvantaged children;•Reaching out-of-school youth such as migrant children, students who suffer from extreme illness or disability, those entangled in the criminal justice system, children in disaster areas or emergency relief situations, as well as those residing in remote or rural areas;•Providing mother tongue instruction for learners of English;•Increasing coordinated school health programs which also attribute to higher school attendance, performance, and overall well-being;•Focusing with strong intent on reducing the high school drop-out rate; and•Directing adequate funding that goes to much needed learning resources such as improving dilapidated school buildings, procuring sufficient quantities of up-to-date textbooks in all classrooms, increasing instructional time and opportunities for professional development for in-service educators to teach challenging curricula to all kinds of learners.   Even though the United States is relatively ahead of the game in comparison to most other countries, we continue to wrestle with our own educational challenges state by state. Realistically, it may take more than the next five years to exceed these goals. On the other hand, like UNESCO's Education for All (EFA) format, if we continue to come together to assess and prioritize needs and get serious about setting goals then, with enough political will, bit by bit we can move toward greater inclusivity for enrollment and attendance, higher literacy and numeracy, improved quality, more resource and capacity development, and prioritized education funding.   Next week, when the World Cup comes to a close, at least until the next four years, people all over the world will still be talking about all the highlights of the more exciting matches where goals were struck in the 93rd minute or during a nail-biting penalty kick duel between two equally matched teams. Let's hope that by 2015, the world can also proudly talk about one of the most important goals of all—1 Goal: Education for All.   As a part of the global effort to increase access to and improve quality of education for all, where does your district, state, or country stand? Do you think that most countries will come close to reaching EFA goals by 2015? Cross-posted from http://blog.wholechildeducation.org/2010/07/08/achieving-education-for-all/   In just a few days, the 2010 World Cup will have determined a new soccer champion among what were originally 32 national teams competing for the title. Aside from being my favorite sport to watch, soccer—or football in the rest of the world—is the most loved sport throughout the world and has even been credited with improving intergroup relations through its spirit of national and international unity. It wouldn’t be nicknamed "the beautiful game" otherwise.   Each World Cup, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) supports a social campaign around the event which usually garners worldwide attention and international support to some of the world's more pressing problems. In preparation for this World Cup games, FIFA helped launch the Global Campaign for Education's 1 Goal campaign asking soccer fans everywhere to advocate for successful achievement of one of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals: Education for All by 2015.   Back in 2000, 164 countries came together in Dakar, Senegal, to make a commitment to end illiteracy and expand educational access, opportunity, and quality for all children, youth, and adults in their respective nations by 2015. With approximately 72 million children across the world not enrolled in school, policymakers pledged that both policies and finances would be put in place to make education for all a high priority. To accomplish this, six educational goals were agreed upon:   •Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.•Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality.•Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programs.•Achieving a 50 percent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.•Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls' full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.•Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy, and essential life skills.   The United States is among the minority percent of countries that have already seemingly met the four most quantifiable goals—universal primary education, adult literacy, gender parity, and quality of education. However, while our country has largely played the role of aid donor to developing countries that are trying to meet the 2015 deadline, there are still opportunities for improving equity and access outcomes for many children living in the U.S. who are often left out when prioritizing needs for educational planning.   To continue to really put our best effort into securing lifelong equal educational opportunities, we must continue to make sure that all children and youth are able to access a high quality free education by advocating for policies that consider   •Expanding early childhood education for our poorest and most disadvantaged children;•Reaching out-of-school youth such as migrant children, students who suffer from extreme illness or disability, those entangled in the criminal justice system, children in disaster areas or emergency relief situations, as well as those residing in remote or rural areas;•Providing mother tongue instruction for learners of English;•Increasing coordinated school health programs which also attribute to higher school attendance, performance, and overall well-being;•Focusing with strong intent on reducing the high school drop-out rate; and•Directing adequate funding that goes to much needed learning resources such as improving dilapidated school buildings, procuring sufficient quantities of up-to-date textbooks in all classrooms, increasing instructional time and opportunities for professional development for in-service educators to teach challenging curricula to all kinds of learners.   Even though the United States is relatively ahead of the game in comparison to most other countries, we continue to wrestle with our own educational challenges state by state. Realistically, it may take more than the next five years to exceed these goals. On the other hand, like UNESCO's Education for All (EFA) format, if we continue to come together to assess and prioritize needs and get serious about setting goals then, with enough political will, bit by bit we can move toward greater inclusivity for enrollment and attendance, higher literacy and numeracy, improved quality, more resource and capacity development, and prioritized education funding.   Next week, when the World Cup comes to a close, at least until the next four years, people all over the world will still be talking about all the highlights of the more exciting matches where goals were struck in the 93rd minute or during a nail-biting penalty kick duel between two equally matched teams. Let's hope that by 2015, the world can also proudly talk about one of the most important goals of all—1 Goal: Education for All.   As a part of the global effort to increase access to and improve quality of education for all, where does your district, state, or country stand? Do you think that most countries will come close to reaching EFA goals by 2015? Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:05:29 GMT http://edge.ascd.org/_Achieving-Education-for-All/blog/2440010/127586.html Alseta_Gholston 2010-07-09T03:05:29Z Blogs ASCD EDge Cross-posted from http://blog.wholechildeducation.org/2010/07/08/achieving-education-for-all/   In just a few days, the 2010 World Cup will have determined a new soccer champion among what were originally 32 national teams competing for the title. Aside from being my favorite sport to watch, soccer—or football in the rest of the world—is the most loved sport throughout the world and has even been credited with improving intergroup relations through its spirit of national and international unity. It wouldn’t be nicknamed "the beautiful game" otherwise.   Each World Cup, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) supports a social campaign around the event which usually garners worldwide attention and international support to some of the world's more pressing problems. In preparation for this World Cup games, FIFA helped launch the Global Campaign for Education's 1 Goal campaign asking soccer fans everywhere to advocate for successful achievement of one of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals: Education for All by 2015.   Back in 2000, 164 countries came together in Dakar, Senegal, to make a commitment to end illiteracy and expand educational access, opportunity, and quality for all children, youth, and adults in their respective nations by 2015. With approximately 72 million children across the world not enrolled in school, policymakers pledged that both policies and finances would be put in place to make education for all a high priority. To accomplish this, six educational goals were agreed upon:   •Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.•Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality.•Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programs.•Achieving a 50 percent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.•Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls' full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.•Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy, and essential life skills.   The United States is among the minority percent of countries that have already seemingly met the four most quantifiable goals—universal primary education, adult literacy, gender parity, and quality of education. However, while our country has largely played the role of aid donor to developing countries that are trying to meet the 2015 deadline, there are still opportunities for improving equity and access outcomes for many children living in the U.S. who are often left out when prioritizing needs for educational planning.   To continue to really put our best effort into securing lifelong equal educational opportunities, we must continue to make sure that all children and youth are able to access a high quality free education by advocating for policies that consider   •Expanding early childhood education for our poorest and most disadvantaged children;•Reaching out-of-school youth such as migrant children, students who suffer from extreme illness or disability, those entangled in the criminal justice system, children in disaster areas or emergency relief situations, as well as those residing in remote or rural areas;•Providing mother tongue instruction for learners of English;•Increasing coordinated school health programs which also attribute to higher school attendance, performance, and overall well-being;•Focusing with strong intent on reducing the high school drop-out rate; and•Directing adequate funding that goes to much needed learning resources such as improving dilapidated school buildings, procuring sufficient quantities of up-to-date textbooks in all classrooms, increasing instructional time and opportunities for professional development for in-service educators to teach challenging curricula to all kinds of learners.   Even though the United States is relatively ahead of the game in comparison to most other countries, we continue to wrestle with our own educational challenges state by state. Realistically, it may take more than the next five years to exceed these goals. On the other hand, like UNESCO's Education for All (EFA) format, if we continue to come together to assess and prioritize needs and get serious about setting goals then, with enough political will, bit by bit we can move toward greater inclusivity for enrollment and attendance, higher literacy and numeracy, improved quality, more resource and capacity development, and prioritized education funding.   Next week, when the World Cup comes to a close, at least until the next four years, people all over the world will still be talking about all the highlights of the more exciting matches where goals were struck in the 93rd minute or during a nail-biting penalty kick duel between two equally matched teams. Let's hope that by 2015, the world can also proudly talk about one of the most important goals of all—1 Goal: Education for All.   As a part of the global effort to increase access to and improve quality of education for all, where does your district, state, or country stand? Do you think that most countries will come close to reaching EFA goals by 2015? access, blogs, campaign, cup, development, education, efa, fifa, global, goal, millenium, quality, unesco, world nonadult false Achieving Education for All text blog access,blogs,campaign,cup,development,education,efa,fifa,global,goal,millenium,quality,unesco,world 651 10 5.0 http://edge.ascd.org/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=18935810&as=127586 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/127586/photos/PHOTO_7485969_127586_18935810_ap_160X120.jpg false United States VA Alexandria 2 Blogs 1 2440010 18935810 ASCD EDge Member 1295 http://edge.ascd.org/_Educating-for-Interculturality-and-the-Right-to-Cultural-Education/blog/2385090/127586.html Cross-posted from http://blog.wholechildeducation.org/2010/06/08/educating-for-interculturality/.   The issue of immigration reform and the growing populations of Latino and other ethnic minorities across the United States have, for some time, influenced changes in education curricula and delivery. However, it appears that, with recent changes in curricula in states such as Arizona and Texas and even International Baccalaureate curriculum protests in Idaho, the conservative view of multicultural education is taking hold and influencing education policy in those states. This politicized education agenda raises these questions:   •What is this conservative backlash against multicultural education and ethnic studies a response to?•What are the estimated effects of this conservative response?•Who determines the constitution of ethnic studies and what its purposes should be?•How do these purposes fit into addressing equity and educating for democracy?   Multicultural education began several decades ago as a movement toward educational equity that was grounded in the premise that education must be relevant, student-centered, and empowering to learners for it to be meaningful and engaging. Multicultural education can be delivered in many forms, including ethnic studies programs, foreign language and bilingual education programs, representing different cultural voices in the curriculum and classroom, and culturally responsive pedagogy. Schools and districts have introduced these programs to meet criteria for diversity and inclusion efforts in response to concurrent social outcries from traditionally marginalized communities.   However, the right kind of multicultural education is crucial to authentically and positively affecting not only closing the achievement gap for minority students but also educating all students for global awareness and social justice.   It is not enough to limit multicultural learning to efforts such as hosting a few international potluck dinners at school, teaching students to sing Christmas carols in Spanish, or making mention of a 30 second sound bite of Dr. King’s I Have a Dream speech during Black History month. Multicultural education must be much more than that: it should be infused into all aspects of the main curriculum, allowing students to explore a variety of perspectives and providing an avenue for all students to connect aspects of themselves to what is being presented as relevant content. The ideal is to develop a learning environment of interculturality, where there is equal interaction and mutual respect for diverse cultures and where exclusive monoculturism is avoided.   This means that students should examine subjects such as racism, discrimination, sexism, homophobia, immigration, colonialism, and other forms of oppression and social injustice. Some who oppose ethnic studies programs or a more culturally diverse curriculum may not consider these topics necessary or appropriate to teach public school students. However, as much as these issues have affected the relationships between different cultures, students of every background should be allowed to open their minds to critically think about these issues so that they have a more complete concept of the human family. It also empowers students to lead changes in their societies that are necessary for social justice in a democracy.   A multicultural approach to education—and ethnic studies in particular—allows for this kind of global citizenship development. Moreover, in addition to being a necessary part of culturally responsive and student-centered education, ethnic studies is a human right in that it is generally purposed to promote dignity, cultural knowledge, and cohesion. I would also add that everyone should have the right to learn about his or her culture from his or her own cultural perspective; to be denied this perspective defeats the purpose of empowerment and dignity.   It wouldn’t be hard to speculate the responses to the questions above about why conservative politicals have seen fit, in recent months, to attack forms of multicultural education. To my mind, the long-term outcomes are sure to short-change students of a complete and well-rounded education that they will need to successfully interact with those who have perspectives different from their own. All stakeholders, including students, parents, teachers, and administrators from ALL backgrounds, should equally participate in deciding what children should learn and from whom.   Consequently, the primary equity issue here is that English language learners and minority represented students will be unfairly disadvantaged as the curriculum teaches them that only one perspective is important and worth having, while the hidden curriculum teaches that the knowledge, experiences, or skills they may more closely identify with are not. Attempting to unite students under one sociocultural outlook not only flies in the face of the mission of most public schools to prepare students for democratic citizenship, but it also borders on infringement of educational civil and human rights.   With this current political climate, it is becoming more apparent that advocates for multicultural education must continue to push the importance of a more culturally inclusive learning experience so that we don’t lose the gains in teaching a more comprehensive and relevant curriculum to all students, which in many cases has been linked to higher levels of achievement for ethnic minority students.   In a society with increasingly shifting ethnic demographics, and as a part of the move for educating the whole child for the 21st century, we should strengthen and support our efforts to preserve and promote authentic forms of multicultural education programs in the midst of a politically charged and conservative agenda that seek to maintain an advantage in sociocultural capital for some.   How do you harness knowledge of cultural experiences in your classroom to teach global citizenship and social justice? In what ways have you seen culturally responsive teaching methods engage students who may not otherwise feel connected to the curriculum content or the classroom?   Cross-posted from http://blog.wholechildeducation.org/2010/06/08/educating-for-interculturality/.   The issue of immigration reform and the growing populations of Latino and other ethnic minorities across the United States have, for some time, influenced changes in education curricula and delivery. However, it appears that, with recent changes in curricula in states such as Arizona and Texas and even International Baccalaureate curriculum protests in Idaho, the conservative view of multicultural education is taking hold and influencing education policy in those states. This politicized education agenda raises these questions:   •What is this conservative backlash against multicultural education and ethnic studies a response to?•What are the estimated effects of this conservative response?•Who determines the constitution of ethnic studies and what its purposes should be?•How do these purposes fit into addressing equity and educating for democracy?   Multicultural education began several decades ago as a movement toward educational equity that was grounded in the premise that education must be relevant, student-centered, and empowering to learners for it to be meaningful and engaging. Multicultural education can be delivered in many forms, including ethnic studies programs, foreign language and bilingual education programs, representing different cultural voices in the curriculum and classroom, and culturally responsive pedagogy. Schools and districts have introduced these programs to meet criteria for diversity and inclusion efforts in response to concurrent social outcries from traditionally marginalized communities.   However, the right kind of multicultural education is crucial to authentically and positively affecting not only closing the achievement gap for minority students but also educating all students for global awareness and social justice.   It is not enough to limit multicultural learning to efforts such as hosting a few international potluck dinners at school, teaching students to sing Christmas carols in Spanish, or making mention of a 30 second sound bite of Dr. King’s I Have a Dream speech during Black History month. Multicultural education must be much more than that: it should be infused into all aspects of the main curriculum, allowing students to explore a variety of perspectives and providing an avenue for all students to connect aspects of themselves to what is being presented as relevant content. The ideal is to develop a learning environment of interculturality, where there is equal interaction and mutual respect for diverse cultures and where exclusive monoculturism is avoided.   This means that students should examine subjects such as racism, discrimination, sexism, homophobia, immigration, colonialism, and other forms of oppression and social injustice. Some who oppose ethnic studies programs or a more culturally diverse curriculum may not consider these topics necessary or appropriate to teach public school students. However, as much as these issues have affected the relationships between different cultures, students of every background should be allowed to open their minds to critically think about these issues so that they have a more complete concept of the human family. It also empowers students to lead changes in their societies that are necessary for social justice in a democracy.   A multicultural approach to education—and ethnic studies in particular—allows for this kind of global citizenship development. Moreover, in addition to being a necessary part of culturally responsive and student-centered education, ethnic studies is a human right in that it is generally purposed to promote dignity, cultural knowledge, and cohesion. I would also add that everyone should have the right to learn about his or her culture from his or her own cultural perspective; to be denied this perspective defeats the purpose of empowerment and dignity.   It wouldn’t be hard to speculate the responses to the questions above about why conservative politicals have seen fit, in recent months, to attack forms of multicultural education. To my mind, the long-term outcomes are sure to short-change students of a complete and well-rounded education that they will need to successfully interact with those who have perspectives different from their own. All stakeholders, including students, parents, teachers, and administrators from ALL backgrounds, should equally participate in deciding what children should learn and from whom.   Consequently, the primary equity issue here is that English language learners and minority represented students will be unfairly disadvantaged as the curriculum teaches them that only one perspective is important and worth having, while the hidden curriculum teaches that the knowledge, experiences, or skills they may more closely identify with are not. Attempting to unite students under one sociocultural outlook not only flies in the face of the mission of most public schools to prepare students for democratic citizenship, but it also borders on infringement of educational civil and human rights.   With this current political climate, it is becoming more apparent that advocates for multicultural education must continue to push the importance of a more culturally inclusive learning experience so that we don’t lose the gains in teaching a more comprehensive and relevant curriculum to all students, which in many cases has been linked to higher levels of achievement for ethnic minority students.   In a society with increasingly shifting ethnic demographics, and as a part of the move for educating the whole child for the 21st century, we should strengthen and support our efforts to preserve and promote authentic forms of multicultural education programs in the midst of a politically charged and conservative agenda that seek to maintain an advantage in sociocultural capital for some.   How do you harness knowledge of cultural experiences in your classroom to teach global citizenship and social justice? In what ways have you seen culturally responsive teaching methods engage students who may not otherwise feel connected to the curriculum content or the classroom?   Tue, 08 Jun 2010 23:03:37 GMT http://edge.ascd.org/_Educating-for-Interculturality-and-the-Right-to-Cultural-Education/blog/2385090/127586.html Alseta_Gholston 2010-06-08T22:58:44Z Blogs ASCD EDge Cross-posted from http://blog.wholechildeducation.org/2010/06/08/educating-for-interculturality/.   The issue of immigration reform and the growing populations of Latino and other ethnic minorities across the United States have, for some time, influenced changes in education curricula and delivery. However, it appears that, with recent changes in curricula in states such as Arizona and Texas and even International Baccalaureate curriculum protests in Idaho, the conservative view of multicultural education is taking hold and influencing education policy in those states. This politicized education agenda raises these questions:   •What is this conservative backlash against multicultural education and ethnic studies a response to?•What are the estimated effects of this conservative response?•Who determines the constitution of ethnic studies and what its purposes should be?•How do these purposes fit into addressing equity and educating for democracy?   Multicultural education began several decades ago as a movement toward educational equity that was grounded in the premise that education must be relevant, student-centered, and empowering to learners for it to be meaningful and engaging. Multicultural education can be delivered in many forms, including ethnic studies programs, foreign language and bilingual education programs, representing different cultural voices in the curriculum and classroom, and culturally responsive pedagogy. Schools and districts have introduced these programs to meet criteria for diversity and inclusion efforts in response to concurrent social outcries from traditionally marginalized communities.   However, the right kind of multicultural education is crucial to authentically and positively affecting not only closing the achievement gap for minority students but also educating all students for global awareness and social justice.   It is not enough to limit multicultural learning to efforts such as hosting a few international potluck dinners at school, teaching students to sing Christmas carols in Spanish, or making mention of a 30 second sound bite of Dr. King’s I Have a Dream speech during Black History month. Multicultural education must be much more than that: it should be infused into all aspects of the main curriculum, allowing students to explore a variety of perspectives and providing an avenue for all students to connect aspects of themselves to what is being presented as relevant content. The ideal is to develop a learning environment of interculturality, where there is equal interaction and mutual respect for diverse cultures and where exclusive monoculturism is avoided.   This means that students should examine subjects such as racism, discrimination, sexism, homophobia, immigration, colonialism, and other forms of oppression and social injustice. Some who oppose ethnic studies programs or a more culturally diverse curriculum may not consider these topics necessary or appropriate to teach public school students. However, as much as these issues have affected the relationships between different cultures, students of every background should be allowed to open their minds to critically think about these issues so that they have a more complete concept of the human family. It also empowers students to lead changes in their societies that are necessary for social justice in a democracy.   A multicultural approach to education—and ethnic studies in particular—allows for this kind of global citizenship development. Moreover, in addition to being a necessary part of culturally responsive and student-centered education, ethnic studies is a human right in that it is generally purposed to promote dignity, cultural knowledge, and cohesion. I would also add that everyone should have the right to learn about his or her culture from his or her own cultural perspective; to be denied this perspective defeats the purpose of empowerment and dignity.   It wouldn’t be hard to speculate the responses to the questions above about why conservative politicals have seen fit, in recent months, to attack forms of multicultural education. To my mind, the long-term outcomes are sure to short-change students of a complete and well-rounded education that they will need to successfully interact with those who have perspectives different from their own. All stakeholders, including students, parents, teachers, and administrators from ALL backgrounds, should equally participate in deciding what children should learn and from whom.   Consequently, the primary equity issue here is that English language learners and minority represented students will be unfairly disadvantaged as the curriculum teaches them that only one perspective is important and worth having, while the hidden curriculum teaches that the knowledge, experiences, or skills they may more closely identify with are not. Attempting to unite students under one sociocultural outlook not only flies in the face of the mission of most public schools to prepare students for democratic citizenship, but it also borders on infringement of educational civil and human rights.   With this current political climate, it is becoming more apparent that advocates for multicultural education must continue to push the importance of a more culturally inclusive learning experience so that we don’t lose the gains in teaching a more comprehensive and relevant curriculum to all students, which in many cases has been linked to higher levels of achievement for ethnic minority students.   In a society with increasingly shifting ethnic demographics, and as a part of the move for educating the whole child for the 21st century, we should strengthen and support our efforts to preserve and promote authentic forms of multicultural education programs in the midst of a politically charged and conservative agenda that seek to maintain an advantage in sociocultural capital for some.   How do you harness knowledge of cultural experiences in your classroom to teach global citizenship and social justice? In what ways have you seen culturally responsive teaching methods engage students who may not otherwise feel connected to the curriculum content or the classroom?   21st, blogs, century, challenged, child, citizenship, civic, diversity, education, engaged, equity, ethnic, global, human, international, multicultural, rights, social, studies, whole nonadult false Educating for Interculturality and the Right to Cultural Education text blog 21st,blogs,century,challenged,child,citizenship,civic,diversity,education,engaged,equity,ethnic,global,human,international,multicultural,rights,social,studies,whole 976 20 5.0 http://edge.ascd.org/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=18935810&as=127586 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/127586/photos/PHOTO_7485969_127586_18935810_ap_160X120.jpg false United States VA Alexandria 2 Blogs 1 2385090 18935810 ASCD EDge Member 1295