Unfortunately, this isn’t an April Fool’s Day joke…

Graduation Rates a ‘Catastrophe’ in Cities
By KEN THOMAS,AP

WASHINGTON (April 1) - Seventeen of the nation’s 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland, according to a report released Tuesday.

Ranking:

#50 - Detroit: 24.9 percent
#49 - Indianapolis: 30.5 percent
#48 - Cleveland: 34.1 percent
#47 - Baltimore: 34.6 percent
#46 - Columbus: 40.9 percent
#45 - Minneapolis: 43.7 percent
#44 - Dallas: 44.4 percent
#43 - New York: 45.2 percent
#42 - Los Angeles: 45.3 percent
#41 - Oakland: 45.6 percent

– There wasn’t any information provided as to what percent went on to receive their GED.

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Just a little something to think about…

Reading and school success are directly linked to what a child sees in the home, and long before they reach school age.

Twenty-one kindergarten classes were examined for children who displayed either high or low interest in books. Their home life was then examined in detail:

While this study may be a bit outdated, I am confident in saying that this would hold true today.

Lesley Mandel Morrow, “Home and School Correlates of Early Interest in Literature,” Journal of Educational Research, vol 76, March/April 1983, pp. 221-30.

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As previously stated, I have much more to say on the subject of the devastating lack of reading for pleasure among children (and adults).

First, lets look at some research:

* 40% of Americans between the ages of 25 and 44, and nearly half of those between 18 and 24, NEVER read for pleasure
* The online age hasn’t doesn’t done much to qwell the lack of literary activity — adults under 25 are no more likely to read
online newspapers that print editions
* Nielson/Netrating and comScore Media Metrix, two firms that track internet usage, found that the average online reader
checks out the news much less often — and looks at fewer stories — than readers of print editions
* A 2003 study by the Henry J. Kaiser Familiy Foundation found that children under the age of six spend an average of 2
hours per day viewing videos and television — this doesn’t include viedo games — while they spend only 39 minutes per
day reading or being read to by a parent
* New videos aimed at children as young as six months are flooding the market. Dr. Berry Brazelton, the renowned baby
doctor, advises against all television watching for children under the age of 2
* Approximately 43% of children between the ages of four and six have a viedo monitor in their bedroom

So what does all of this mean? While children may learn to read and comprehend, how can a boring book compete the instant gratification of moving pictures and interactive gaming?

As an elementary school teacher I have spent countless hours teaching and encouraging children to utilize usefull reading and comprehension strategies. We have graphic organizers to aide students in strengthening their comprehension, tricks to increase fluency, decoding strategies, and effective book-leveling procedures to match the reader to the right book. But how do you teach children to love reading? How do you help them find pleasure in literature, the adventures that reside on the parchment? How do you compete with the Wii, PSP, Guitar Hero, and Hannah Montana?

I grew up in a home where reading was not only encouraged, but treated as the most rewarding and enjoyable experience. My parents filled our home with books. Receiving toys and games were reserved for holidays — my sister and I were stoked when we received the original Nintendo at Christmas — but a request for a book was never denied. My sisters and I had vast collections of picture books, the entire Sweet Vally Twins, Sweet Valley High, and Babysitters Club series, and lovingly-worn editions of Charlotte’s Web, The Secret Garden, Alice in Wonderland, and The Looking Glass. We subscribed to Reading Rainbow. We didn’t spend much time watching television, and our greatest toy was our imagination. Considering that both my older sister and I went on to become teachers, I’d say we’ve done pretty well.

I still love to read. My husband knows that each night he will find me tucked in bed with my latest literary friend. I have read each Harry Potter novel numerous times. I jump into The Great Gatsby and To Kill a Mockingbird gleefully. I wrap myself in the comfort of my books and the places I visit when I enter each author’s world. Unfortunately, many children will never experience that type of comfort.

Teachers cannot do it alone. Parents must step up and unplug the TVs, video games, and computers (and I am proud to say many parents do!). Go to the local library and buy as many 10¢ books as you can (just because the books are used, that doesn’t diminish what’s inside). Subscribe to a children’s magazine. And start reading yourself! Research shows that children who regularly witness their parents read are more likely to develop and embrace the habit themselves.

Want more on how to raise a healthy reader? Check out on of my fave books from Jim Trelease, The Read Aloud Handbook.

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Last Sunday I met my childhood friend and her daughter, also my Goddaughter, for a breakfast date. It was cold and drizzling so we decided to drive the one block to the restaurant. My nearly seven year old Goddaughter insisted on bringing her Gameboy (and 7 games) in the car. In my head I was screaming “no, no, no,” but her mother allowed it. Then she insisted on taking it into the restaurant! Again, her mother complied. This normally talkative and imaginative child spent our hour-long breakfast fixated on the 3×2” colored screen.

And so I must pose the question, where have all of the books gone? And why are parents so willing to ply their children with electronic devices which make literature, imagination, and normal conversation skills obsolete,? Hand-held video games taken everywhere, DVD players in vehicles, TVs in the bedroom. Picture and chapter books have been replaced by movies and PSP games. The mind has been abdicated by the controller. What’s the deal?
I have plenty more to say on this subject, as I’m sure many of you do as well! Check back soon for more.

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Your kid works hard, juggling hours of basketball practice with their school work, getting up early in the morning and coming home late at night. He showed the coach his dedication, and earned that spot on the varsity team. Then he went on to lead the team in scoring and rebounds. And what is his reward? No, not a starring role in High School Musical, instead, his natural ability is questioned and he’s tested for steroids:

The Illinois High School Association on Monday joined a small but growing number of states to implement mandatory random drug-testing for student-athletes. Its Board of Directors voted 10-0 to begin testing with the 2008-09 school year.

The timing was coincidental with two highly publicized incidents regarding drugs and sports. Last month the Mitchell report on the use of performance-enhancing substances in baseball included allegations Clemens, the seven-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher, had taken steroids and human growth hormone.

Last week a U.S. District Court judge sentenced former Olympic track champion Jones to six months in prison in part for lying about her use of performance-enhancing drugs.

While at least a few dozen Illinois high schools have instituted drug-testing of athletes on their own in the last two decades, this is the first time the IHSA has mandated statewide testing. Few, if any, of the schools tested for steroids.

I’m what you might call a bit hard core when it comes to right-to-privacy issues, even when it comes to our kids’ schools. I don’t condone random locker searches, and I don’t condone random drug tests. I think it sends a horrible message to our children, that no matter how much they strive or how much they try and keep their noses clean, they will always be under suspicion. When I hear, “Well if they aren’t doing anything wrong, then they have nothing to worry about,” it makes me want to punch something. The fact that someone isn’t doing anything wrong means they should be free from being hassled.

Like I said, I’m a nut about such things, so maybe I’m being irrational — can anyone offer a little perspective? Is there any good reason why our school district should be conducting drug tests?

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For me, the 4th grade was fairly uneventful. It felt to me what being the middle child might feel like — nondescript, confusing, awkward, boring, a teacher that I couldn’t stand and a bully that taunted me. One thing that does stand out though, the day I got my recorder. It was an instrument in which I dreamed that I had control over, that I could be taught to play beautiful notes on and my family members would sit around a fire while I played melodies that lulled them to sleep. It was so beautiful. So…beige-y. So new. I believe it actually glowed and little sparkles could be seen from its edges. Well, it didn’t happen. It wasn’t beautiful, I couldn’t make it sound beautiful and it always retained spit in the plastic nooks and crannies that would make my skin crawl. Truth be told, I’ve never heard anybody play it well. The music teacher was always busting our balls that we didn’t practice enough and after a while, it became more of a chore in which there was no reward. I gave up on it shortly afterwards and my recorder dreams were destroyed.

I have to admit however, when my older son brought home the form asking for a $5 fee in order to get his own 4th grade recorder, it brought back memories. I felt all warm and cozy to think that the tradition was living on. I knew that my son would look at his shiny new recorder and fall in love with it until reality set in.

He brought it home and his little brother loved it/wanted it so much, I made a run to Target to get him his own recorder too. The two played in unison. In ear piercing, nails on a chalkboard, screeching tires, screaming baby, drilling, and toilet plunging sort of way. It was horrible and then my older son proceeded to follow us around the house for days, like he was the Pied Piper or something, playing it like a whistle — the kind of whistle that makes puppies cry. Now I know why they call it a recorder — because you just can’t get that high pitched sound out of your head.

The charm is lost. I hate the recorder. I’ll bet my mom hated the recorder too. After the 4th grade recital, it shall be given a proper dirt burial.

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The beginning of a new school year is bittersweet in my house. Daydreaming all summer long of productive separation from your children sounds promising, but it’s never all it’s cracked up to be and often brings more challenges and annoyances than the lazy days of summer do.

To be honest, I never liked school. I only like school now, or the thought of school, because it’s not me that is actually going. Little did I know that having children in school is just as cumbersome and trying as it was when I was actually going myself.

The 10 things that make me curse what is supposed to be a good thing:

1. Shoes

What’s so bad about shoes you ask?…Buying them. Why is it that I remember going to actual shoe stores that measured our feet and brought out several options for me to choose from? It seems that the only places to get shoes fitted these days is either Nordstrom or Stride Rite. My older son is too big for Stride Rite and Nordstrom is expensive and inconvenient.

Where do parents buy their kids shoes anymore?? It seems that it has all come down to a guessing game in a “help yourself” model of shoe stores. I don’t wanna help myself. I need someone to tell me which shoes run big/small. I need some GD service. Is that too much to ask???

2. Homework

Okay, perhaps this should have been number 1. Why is it that teachers give out homework on material children don’t know or haven’t learned yet? What do kids do in school exactly? Why do I get the feeling that teachers spend more time handing out “naughty” passes and watching “educational” films and send home assignments for parents to simply home school their kids.

I’m so tired of having to teach my child the material on the homework. Am I alone in this?

3. Bedtime

Over the summer, we let our kids stay up later than normal. They also sleep in later than normal. Every year we explain that bedtime is 8:30am, but it never sticks. The kids are always out of their mind hyper and crazy from the time they get home until bedtime. They lose track, we lose track and the whole bedtime process always starts 30 minutes to an hour later than it should. The kids are bouncing off the walls, conspiring together to thwart my attempts at getting them into bed so I can finally rest. They are not tired at all. I am, but they’re not.

4. Illness

The start of school brings green snots, loose stools, airborne germs from coughing and household epidemics. One parent’s need for peace is another parent’s runny nose and misery that keeps on giving. It’s an ongoing cycle which makes you wonder how in the world parents can send their sickly, assholey kids to school to infect good, law abiding citizens, until you do it yourself.

“Well, its’ just a cough,” you reason. “As long as he isn’t running or jumping or doing anything physical, he’s fine.” Then your kid comes home and says, “The teacher said that I shouldn’t have even come to school today. I used a whole box of Kleenex.” Then it’s you that feels like the gigantic a-hole, but his brother was just home last week. One of these days, you’re going to need to get something done and it was just a little cough.

5. Book Clubs

Why do I feel like I’m being judged for not ordering crappy, paperback books which I already have a triplicate? Why does my son feel left out on the day that the books are doled out to the parents that weren’t cheap? I don’t like it.

6. Fundraisers

The only thing worse than the book fair are school fundraisers. My co-workers have already walked around, extorting me for money for their own snotty kid when I have my own snotty kid to pimp wrapping paper for. What makes them think that I’m interested in their candy bars, cookie dough and Entertainment Books?

I’m not a door-to-door type. Can’t I just write a check, preferably in the $20 range and be done with it? And, of course, there’s always the overachiever that sells an exemplary amount of fundraising crap and gets a free bicycle or something. Who do they think they are? Some of us don’t have large extended families to fill PTA coffers.

7. Open houses

Okay, now I’m gonna sound like a quintessential Imperfect Parent, but I hate open houses. It’s always crowded and you always leave thinking that you know less than before it started.

My son’s open house is a big sham. It’s a way to get you into the gym so the PTA can guilt you into volunteering and the principal can lay out his/her plans for the year and expectations and parental reprimands, “Don’t pick up your child on the south side of the building, don’t bring dogs to school, don’t arrive too early or too late.”

In the classroom versions, I never get anything out of it. There is nothing on the walls, and my ADD mind wanders as he/she tells how they are going to teach to the test this year. Wow! That’s new and compelling and so worth our tax dollars.

8. Lost & Found

I don’t know why kids are always snaggin’ my son’s belongings or why he’s always losing his shit, but weekly trips to the school’s lost and found are routine in our family. What bugs me is when kids take his jackets or gloves or hats and then we don’t see ‘em for weeks. What’s with these parents not noticing or not caring? I actually write my kids names on their tags and even with that, things disappear. Sometimes my son will actually tell me who took his stuff and it takes several phone calls to the parents to get it back. Now, I know that gray hoodies look alike, but if I paid for a Gap hoodie, I don’t really want to settle for an Old Navy one, get my drift?

9. Flu Shots

To get ‘em or not to get ‘em? Advice?

10. Nagging my children for the scoop

Why does a simply innocent question about how one’s day went, turn into early teenage angst? Even my preschooler blows me off. I work and I don’t think it’s too much to ask that my kids share a little piece of their day with me. Instead, they give me one word answers or “I don’t know” or “Quit asking me, it’s just okay.” Grrrrrr.

And, last, an honorable mention to traffic. It didn’t make the list, but if anyone can answer why it now takes me an hour to get to work (ever since school started), versus the summertime 30 minute commute, I would greatly appreciate it. Do that many high schoolers drive to school? Does half the working community take summers off? Vacations? Teachers? What is up with that????

Why is the beginning of the year so stressful????

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A school in Colorado Springs is just the latest in a long line of schools that have decided to try and stop kids from being kids by banning tag:

The touch-and-run game and any other form of chasing was banned this year at Discovery Canyon Campus’ elementary school by administrators who say it fuels schoolyard disputes.

“It causes a lot of conflict on the playground,” said Assistant Principal Cindy Fesgen. In the first days of school, before tag was banned, she said students would complain to her about being chased or harassed.

Fesgen said she would hear: “Well, I don’t want to be chased, but he won’t stop chasing me, or she won’t stop chasing me.”

Here’s a memo listing other games Asst. Prin. Fesgen is thinking of banning:

Duck, Duck, Goose — the goose is representative of discrimination in our culture. Causes conflict.

Four Square — not all grade levels has number of students divisible by four. Causes conflict.

Seven Up — reminds kids of sugary lemon-lime soda. Some children’s parents don’t allow them to drink soda, which makes them feel bad. Causes conflict.

Hide and Seek — students often complain that other student took the best hiding spot. Causes conflict.

Double Dutch — name derogatory to exchange student from Holland. Causes conflict.

Red Light/Green Light — too hard for students with slower reflexes. Causes conflict.

Red Rover — students consistently report 15 seconds of mild pain in wrists after Johnny R. “comes over”. Causes conflict.

In addition to the above, any game that involves either horizontal or vertical momentum is not allowed, as we’ve discovered any sort of motion by the students may cause conflict.

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A 13 year old boy in Arizona is suspended after drawing a picture of a laser gun:

“I just can’t believe that there wasn’t another way to resolve this,” said Paula Mosteller, the boy’s mother. “He’s so upset. The school made him feel like he committed a crime. They are doing more damage than good.”

The Mostellers said the drawing did not show blood, bullets, injuries, or target any human. They said it was just a drawing that resembled a gun.

But Payne Junior High administrators thought the sketch was enough of a threat and gave the boy a five-day suspension, later reduced to three days.

His parents thinks the school is overreacting. Do you?

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In response to the Columbine shootings in 1999 as well as the recent attack at Virginia Tech, two dads came up with an “interesting” solution to protect their own kids and are now marketing it to others — the bulletproof backpack:

“It was after seeing what happened in Columbine that we started thinking about this. I’m a parent and so is [co-owner] Joe [Curran] and we wanted a way of keeping kids safe at school and this is what we came up with,” said [Mike] Pelonzi, co-owner of MJ Safety Solutions which produces ‘My Child’s Pack’.

The backpacks, which will cost $175, have a super-lightweight bullet-proof plate sewn into the back which weighs no more than a bottle of water. Pelonzi said the material used is a secret.

The plate material meets National Institute of Justice safety standards, said Pelonzi, and during a three-year testing phase, stood up to bullets as well as machete, hatchet and Ka-bar knife attacks.

Good to know my kids will be safe from the all-to-often hatchet attack. Doesn’t this seem, I don’t know, a bit overboard? While school shootings are widely publicized when they happen, they are still a rare phenomenon. Why not send your kid to school with bear repellent, too, since they have as much chance of being attacked by a grizzly? What’s next, Abercrombie & Fitch full body armor? This takes helicopter parenting to a whole new level.

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