#school education news

[ecoamerica]

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

[reasonsforhope]

"Research on a police diversion program implemented in 2014 shows a striking 91% reduction in in-school arrests over less than 10 years.

Across the United States, arrest rates for young people under age 18 have been declining for decades. However, the proportion of youth arrests associated with school incidents has increased.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, K–12 schools referred nearly 230,000 students to law enforcement during the school year that began in 2017. These referrals and the 54,321 reported school-based arrests that same year were mostly for minor misbehavior like marijuana possession, as opposed to more serious offenses like bringing a gun to school.

School-based arrests are one part of the school-to-prison pipeline, through which students—especially Black and Latine students and those with disabilities—are pushed out of their schools and into the legal system.

Getting caught up in the legal system has been linked to negative health, social, and academic outcomes, as well as increased risk for future arrest.

Given these negative consequences, public agencies in states like Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania have looked for ways to arrest fewer young people in schools. Philadelphia, in particular, has pioneered a successful effort to divert youth from the legal system.

Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program

In Philadelphia, police department leaders recognized that the city’s school district was its largest source of referrals for youth arrests. To address this issue, then–Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel developed and implemented a school-based, pre-arrest diversion initiative in partnership with the school district and the city’s department of human services. The program is called the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program, and it officially launched in May 2014.

Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker named Bethel as her new police commissioner on Nov. 22, 2023.

Since the diversion program began, when police are called to schools in the city for offenses like marijuana possession or disorderly conduct, they cannot arrest the student involved if that student has no pending court case or history of adjudication. In juvenile court, an adjudication is similar to a conviction in criminal court.

Instead of being arrested, the diverted student remains in school, and school personnel decide how to respond to their behavior. For example, they might speak with the student, schedule a meeting with a parent, or suspend the student.

A social worker from the city also contacts the student’s family to arrange a home visit, where they assess youth and family needs. Then, the social worker makes referrals to no-cost community-based services. The student and their family choose whether to attend.

Our team—the Juvenile Justice Research and Reform Lab at Drexel University—evaluated the effectiveness of the diversion program as independent researchers not affiliated with the police department or school district. We published four research articles describing various ways the diversion program affected students, schools, and costs to the city.

Arrests Dropped

In our evaluation of the diversion program’s first five years, we reported that the annual number of school-based arrests in Philadelphia decreased by 84%: from nearly 1,600 in the school year beginning in 2013 to just 251 arrests in the school year beginning in 2018.

Since then, school district data indicates the annual number of school-based arrests in Philadelphia has continued to decline—dropping to just 147 arrests in the school year that began in 2022. That’s a 91% reduction from the year before the program started.

We also investigated the number of serious behavioral incidents recorded in the school district in the program’s first five years. Those fell as well, suggesting that the diversion program effectively reduced school-based arrests without compromising school safety.

Additionally, data showed that city social workers successfully contacted the families of 74% of students diverted through the program during its first five years. Nearly 90% of these families accepted at least one referral to community-based programming, which includes services like academic support, job skill development, and behavioral health counseling...

Long-Term Outcomes

To evaluate a longer follow-up period, we compared the 427 students diverted in the program’s first year to the group of 531 students arrested before the program began. Results showed arrested students were significantly more likely to be arrested again in the following five years...

Finally, a cost-benefit analysis revealed that the program saves taxpayers millions of dollars.

Based on its success in Philadelphia, several other cities and counties across Pennsylvania have begun replicating the Police School Diversion Program. These efforts could further contribute to a nationwide movement to safely keep kids in their communities and out of the legal system."

-via Yes! Magazine, December 5, 2023

[catchymemes]

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

*tries to organize my thoughts*

*remembers i'm not in school and therefore beholden to neither heaven nor hell nor any man's grading system*

*joyously shredding & tossing all my carefully arranged 3x5 mental notecards into the air like so much beige confetti. raising my arms in victory, cheering raucously until i accidentally inhale bits of homemade confetti*

(*coughing up itty bits of paper like a cat evicting a hairball with a firm understanding of tenants' rights*) wait wat happens next

[wearepeace]

“Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.” ― Neil Armstrong

[politijohn]

Source

Source

Source

A better world is possible

[reality-detective]

This 👆 is Ezola Foster.

She was born in Louisiana in 1938 and was a public school teacher for 33 years.

In the 1980s & '90s she began sounding the alarm about troubling trends in our schools:

-Anti-White racism

-LGBTQ+ indoctrination

-Anti-American revisionism

-The risks of multiculturalism

-Affirmative action and diversity

A must watch. I recommend watching the entire thing. 🤔

[ryan-sometimes]

Hot take: Schools need to start failing students again. In recent years schools and teachers have been discouraged or even punished for failing students. Students who are technically failing are simply being passed from grade to grade without ever being given time to catch up.

When I taught 6th grade earlier this year, many, MANY of my students were several grades behind. It's actually easier to name the ones that WERE on grade level. All of them were being advanced into 7th grade, even though many of them were barely in 4th grade in terms of academic progress. And this wasn't just the school where I taught, it's all over the place.

So many students are so far behind that teachers simply cannot catch everyone up. There aren't enough teachers or hours in the school day to both catch up students to past grades and keep them on track of their current grade. They need to fail. Failing is the only thing that can catch them up.

There are students graduating high school right now who are still in middle school academically.

Failing students is harsh, but necessary. It gives them time to catch up academically which students desperately need right now.

How are these students expected to thrive in college, where failing is an option? Where there's nothing to stop them from failing?

[amnhnyc]

What’s more? Alumni receive 2 years of fully-funded professional learning! To learn more or sign up for an information session, visit: https://bit.ly/4aAi2Bx

Applications are due by January 16.

[stargirlhysteria]

me this school year

[femmefatalevibe]

Hiya lovely, do you have any wisdom for someone struggling to study? I've been out of school for 3 years due to illness (in my formative learning years) and now I'm gearing up for university with absolutely no study skills, low energy and a whole lot of insecurity around it. I have always been intelligent enough to learn quickly but there's a barrier I'm just not getting through, possibly due to the latent effects of the damage.

I have high expectations for myself and I want to model myself off of your brand! Thank you very kindly in advance <3

Hi love! It sounds like you're in a difficult situation, especially for someone in their teens. My heart goes out to you for overcoming this and going after a university degree. This ambition and dedication takes a considerable amount of mental fortitude and strength, so please remember that. I'm flattered by your kind words <3

Here are some of my study tips to help you maintain your stamina and focus:

When in doubt, make everything into an itemized list (topics, timelines, organizing by subtopic, key facts/people/dates surrounding a significant event, concept, theory, or ideology, cause and effect, problem and solution, etc.)

Use real-life analogies and applications as often as possible to retain information (e.g. to remember acronyms, propositions through the "box" metaphor, etc.)

Reframe long-winded information into an ongoing narrative. Humans are better at retelling stories than retaining/regurgitating a laundry list of facts or statistics

Organize your study sessions to each focus on one main topic, concept, or chapter

Create a timeline for all your assignments. Plan in advance to work on projects in milestones rather than all at once

Utilize time-blocking to pace yourself through the information (e.g. devote 30 minutes to one task or an hour to studying a specific concept; take a fully unplugged break before resuming work or another study session). Use a countdown timer if you think it would be helpful for you – everyone is different

Prioritize rest, even if it sounds counterintuitive at first. You're most productive and focused when your mind is well-rested enough to achieve and maintain peak performance. Efficiency is more important than time spent on a task – the former is what makes all of the difference (and leads to a more well-rounded, fulfilling life, too)

Discover motivating playlists that keep you on task. I love the ones for ADHD from Jason Lewis - Mind Amend on YouTube (I'm listening to one now, lol). Coffee or caffeinated tea can also help your energy to power through a study session, just don't overdo it

Focus on one task, page, or concept at a time. Don't let the entirety of a project or the volume of your overall workload overwhelm you. Just focus & prioritize what's in front of you. Take one step closer to your goals every day. Perfectionism is the most stifling barrier to progress and long-term success. Remember that

You got this! Hope this helps xx

[ecoamerica]

Last call: It's the final week to apply for the American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students! Apply by Friday, December 15, at midnight PT!

ANNOUNCING: American Climate Leadership Awards has a new category for high school students working towards local climate solutions! @ecoamerica is awarding $125K in cash prizes to student climate leaders. Apply by 12/15: https://ecoamerica.org/american-climate-leadership-awards-high-school-2024/

[enormous-moose]

For those who are completely unaware of this. Ohio is arming teachers. It's a hot topic with the start of the school year and this is honestly sickening.

Fuck the cowardly small narrow minded superintendents that did this, and may the children stay safe. My biggest hope is that no one disarms the teacher and my biggest fear is someone getting shot unnecessarily.

Situations have just been created in Ohio that are anti-education, pro-radicalism, extremely inappropriate, detrimental to the children and their safety, and more of Ohio displaying the assbackwards mindset of scared extremists whose solution to fear is perceived controlled chaos.

[mysharona1987]

“Heartbroken.”

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Hundreds of people gathered outside the Saskatchewan Legislative Building in Regina on Saturday to speak out against a new provincial government policy that requires parental consent when children under 16 want to use different names or pronouns at school.

Brendan Dickey, a Regina-based teacher who helped organize the rally, says he believes the legislation will cause harm.

"It puts a whole bunch of youth at risk from the two-spirit, the trans and from the non-binary communities in our province," Dickey said.

Full article

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[wearepeace]

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” ― Albert Einstein