Received this from the SAU to post with agenda for meeting on October 14th, 2015.
Timeline
1. Movement to withdraw from the AREA agreement began in 2006.
2. As part of that process a plan was created and submitted to the state Board of Education.
3. All schools Croydon parents requested were included in that plan, which included Mt Royal and Newport Montessori.
4. The BOE reviewed the withdrawal plan twice prior to the town 2012 vote, once in 2010 and once in 2011.
5. The only school the state BOE had an issue with was Mt. Royal, which was promptly removed.
6. The state BOE said that private schools need to be state-approved.
7. The town was operating on the state BOE’s statement that private
schools need to be state approved. In addition, the following RSAs
support this practice: 194:22, 193:3.
The Croydon School Board’s goal:
To provide adequate school options for all students.
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Push for Full Day Kindergarten - Why Kindergarten too Early is bad for Your Child
There has been a push for full day Kindergarten in Croydon. The following will tell you why kindergarten too early is bad for your child. The following appears in full on the Washington Post, a link to the paper is offered in the story.
Cathy
A new study finds strong evidence that delaying kindergarten by a year provides mental health benefits to children, allowing them to better self-regulate their attention and hyperactivity levels when they do start school.
The study, titled “The Gift of Time? School Starting Age and Mental Health” and published this week by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that these benefits — which are obviously important to student achievement — persist at least until age 11. Stanford Graduate School of Education Prof. Thomas Dee, who co-authored the study with Hans Henrik Sievertsen of the Danish National Center for Social Research, was quoted in a Stanford release as saying:
[Kindergarten teacher: My job is now about tests and data]
In Denmark, children generally enroll in kindergarten during the calendar year in which they turn 6. In the United States, too, kindergartners are typically 5 or 6 years. The researchers wrote in the study that they found “that a one-year delay in the start of school dramatically reduces inattention/hyperactivity at age 7 …. a measure of self regulation with strong negative links to student achievement.” They also found this this “large and targeted effect persists at age 11″ and affects both boys and girls.
There is a loud debate in the United States and other developed countries about the proper age to start formal schooling — with ever-younger students being put into school with formal academic work. Many early childhood experts have expressed concern about forcing very young children to sit and do academic work, arguing that kids learn best through structured play. Dee noted:
Indeed, a study released early this year found that the requirement in the Common Core State Standards that kindergartners read could harm the reading development of some kids. It says:
Cathy
Delaying kindergarten until age 7 offers key benefits to kids — study
A new study finds strong evidence that delaying kindergarten by a year provides mental health benefits to children, allowing them to better self-regulate their attention and hyperactivity levels when they do start school.
The study, titled “The Gift of Time? School Starting Age and Mental Health” and published this week by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that these benefits — which are obviously important to student achievement — persist at least until age 11. Stanford Graduate School of Education Prof. Thomas Dee, who co-authored the study with Hans Henrik Sievertsen of the Danish National Center for Social Research, was quoted in a Stanford release as saying:
“We found that delaying kindergarten for one year reduced inattention and hyperactivity by 73 percent for an average child at age 11 and it virtually eliminated the probability that an average child at that age would have an ‘abnormal,’ or higher-than-normal rating for the inattentive-hyperactive behavioral measure.”The researchers used data on tens of thousands of students from a mental-health screening survey used to evaluate children across Denmark (and in clinical and academic settings in other countries) and compared it Denmark’s census, according to the Stanford release. Youngsters who were deemed to have better self-control over attention and activity had higher assessment scores.
[Kindergarten teacher: My job is now about tests and data]
In Denmark, children generally enroll in kindergarten during the calendar year in which they turn 6. In the United States, too, kindergartners are typically 5 or 6 years. The researchers wrote in the study that they found “that a one-year delay in the start of school dramatically reduces inattention/hyperactivity at age 7 …. a measure of self regulation with strong negative links to student achievement.” They also found this this “large and targeted effect persists at age 11″ and affects both boys and girls.
There is a loud debate in the United States and other developed countries about the proper age to start formal schooling — with ever-younger students being put into school with formal academic work. Many early childhood experts have expressed concern about forcing very young children to sit and do academic work, arguing that kids learn best through structured play. Dee noted:
“It’s not just a question of when do you start kindergarten, but what do you do in those kindergarten classes? If you make kindergarten the new first grade, then parents may sensibly decide to delay entry. If kindergarten is not the new first grade, then parents may not delay children’s entries as much.”[Requiring kindergartners to read — as Common Core does — may harm some, study finds]
Indeed, a study released early this year found that the requirement in the Common Core State Standards that kindergartners read could harm the reading development of some kids. It says:
When children have educational experiences that are not geared to their developmental level or in tune with their learning needs and cultures, it can cause them great harm, including feelings of inadequacy, anxiety and confusion.
In Finland and some other developed countries, formal academic education doesn’t start until the age of 7, when children are deemed to be mentally and physically ready for the challenge (though students in Finland have had access to high-quality preschool, which would affect their performance in kindergarten).
Many U.S. parents hold their children back a year — especially boys — so that they start kindergarten at age 6 rather than 5 to give them a chance to mature. The paper says that about 20 percent of kindergarten students are now 6 years old:
There have been early studies looking at the same or similar issue, and the results have been mixed. But Dee was quoted as saying:This “lengthening of childhood” reflects in part changes in state laws that moved forward the cutoff birth date at which 5 year olds were eligible for entering kindergarten (Deming and Dynarski, 2008). However, most of the increase in school starting ages is due to academic “redshirting”; an increasingly common decision by parents to seek developmental advantages for their children by delaying their school entry (i.e., the “gift of time”).
“This is some of the most convincing evidence we’ve seen to support what parents and policymakers have already been doing – choosing to delay kindergarten entry.”You can read the paper here.
Monday, October 12, 2015
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Saturday, October 10, 2015
37.6 Million Dollars, How the AFT Spends Your Hard Earned Dollars
American Federation of Teachers union spends $37 million on politics
By Jason Hart / October 6, 2015 /The 2015 American Federation of Teachers annual report shows a left-wing political machine humming on all cylinders — with teachers buying the gas.
For the fiscal year ending June 30, the union reported $37.6 million in political activity and lobbying expenditures, a $12.7 million increase from the previous year.
Even more political spending was tucked away elsewhere in AFT’s annual U.S. Department of Labor filing, reported as “Contributions, Gifts and Grants,” “General Overhead” or “Representational Activities.”
AFT paid union president Randi Weingarten, one of the nation’s most prominent “progressive” activists, a total of $497,118. The union reported only 2 percent of her time as political activity.
Other expenditures suggest AFT’s decision to endorse Weingarten’s friend Hillary Clinton for president — a move that angered many AFT members — had been made long before it was announced in July.
AFT donated $250,000 to the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation in February, $125,000 to Clinton Global Initiative in April and another $125,000 to Clinton Global Initiative in May. In December, AFT paid Clinton-allied opposition research group American Bridge 21st Century $100,000.
The American Bridge payment was reported as a political expense. The payments to the scandal-ridden Clinton family nonprofits were not.
Clinton was the only presidential candidate whose affiliated nonprofits got money from AFT in 2015. But, as in previous years, AFT funded a long list of left-wing political action committees, activist groups and think tanks.
In many states, teachers can be required to pay AFT to have a job. Even though mandatory union fees can only legally be spent on representation, the power to take money from non-members frees AFT to spend more member dues on politics.
RELATED: Teacher unions push progressive agenda, but many members aren’t on board
AFT gave the Democratic Governors Association $1.5 million, gave Democratic super PAC Patriot Majority $450,000 and gave the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee $400,000 last year.
The union paid $410,000 to progressive coalition America Votes, $115,000 to MSNBC host Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, $90,000 to the environmentalist BlueGreen Alliance and $15,000 to illegal immigrant advocacy group National Council of La Raza.
Millions of dollars of AFT payments to other political groups weren’t reported as political spending, including $300,000 in donations to Economic Policy Institute and $160,000 to National Public Pension Coalition.
A total of $323,889 in “advocacy organization” expenditures AFT reported as general overhead included a $60,000 payment to leftist donor network Democracy Alliance.
State Innovation Exchange, a pro-union attempt to copy the pro-business American Legislative Exchange Council, received $60,000 from AFT last year; AFT reported only $30,000 as a political expense.
A $50,000 AFT donation to Center for American Progress Action Fund was reported as a political expense, while a separate $50,000 donation to Center for American Progress wasn’t.
The union spent millions more on membership recruitment drives throughout the country, with $7.7 million in payments to “organizing projects” reported to the Department of Labor as representation costs.
Hundreds of thousands of teachers are stuck paying AFT, regardless of whether they agree with the union’s spending and activism. Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association, a case before the Supreme Court, could change that within the next year.
If the Supreme Court sides with the plaintiffs in the Friedrichs case, it could end mandatory union fees for all public-sector workers.
AFT may come to regret “doubling down on a highly controversial political agenda,” Gary Beckner, chairman and president of the Association of American Educators, told Watchdog.
“Teachers have had enough and are searching for affordable, professional alternatives” like AAE, Beckner said. “Teachers deserve an organization that supports the modern educator — without the politics.”
AFT’s Washington, D.C., headquarters did not respond to a request for comment on the spending disclosed in the union’s 2015 annual report.
Does your Child's Public School Teach About White Priviledge?
TEACHING OUR CHILDREN TO HATE, USING OUR TAX DOLLARS TO DO IT
Oct 9, 2015 by Donna Garner Education Policy Commentator EducationViews.org
Read more at Education views.org.
Cathy
Read more at Education views.org.
Cathy
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