Oh Do I feel you
 

You wouldn't believe how many kids are sent for therapy and don't have ANY disorders AT ALL!!! Now they're CREATING disorders. :eek:I mean come on. Where does it end?


I honestly feel that parents are leaning toward saying something is wrong with their kid rather than kickin little Billy's butt when he's running around telling them to shut up and kiss his bottom.

Re: Oh Do I feel you
 

I recommend that anyone who is working towards a degree/career in education, pyschology or social work to take this course: Psychopathology of Children (or similar title). I've taken this course about a year ago (got an A- in it too), and I have learned a lot from this course. When we touched upon children and Special Education, my professor (who is also a Clinical Psychologist with his own private practice) stated that there are many children who are placed in Special Ed who really should not be there. It has been a hot topic for discussion for the longest time and the children are the ultimate victims here.

Re: Yep....
 

My sentiments exactly.

I just wanted to say to all the educators on GC, have a safe, successful and stress-free (wishful thinking?) school year. Stay strong!!

I return to "the mile" (lol) next week Thursday.

TTT
 

Report: Plodding pace costs schools top teachers

WASHINGTON (AP) --For five years, Roni Cooper tried to get a teaching job at a New Orleans public school. She had experience, credentials and an interest in working in the hard-to-fill field of special education -- just the combination schools want.

No one would even take her application.

Finally, at a job fair in May, she met the new leaders of the school district and gave them her story. It wasn't the first one they'd heard about a plodding, mismanaged process. Within a week, they promised her work. She's now teaching deaf elementary school students.

"In some of these inner cities, it's just nightmarish," Cooper said about the hiring routine. "They're missing people who want to do this for tiny amounts of money."

A nationwide report released Monday supports her view: Urban schools are losing high-qualified candidates because of dysfunctional personnel departments and sluggish hiring timelines.

It's the central theme of the analysis by The New Teacher Project, a nonprofit group that helps some of the country's largest school districts recruit teachers.

By late summer of a given year, when many urban districts make job offers, many candidates have fled for suburban systems that move faster in recruitment, the report said. The lost prospects, it added, are more likely to have better college grades and a degree in their teaching field than those hired in the cities.

"We're not saying all teachers in urban schools are weaker. There are a lot of very strong, committed teachers," said Jessica Levin, the report's co-author. "But the goal has to be to increase those numbers dramatically, and we feel this is a solvable way to do it."

Call for policy change
The findings are based on analyses of job applications at four urban districts in the Southwest, Midwest and East, all given access in exchange for anonymity. Project leaders also conducted phone and e-mail surveys and conducted focus groups with university faculty, teachers and others to put the findings in perspective.

The problems in the selected school districts are representative of many city school systems, said Levin. Cumbersome application reviews, poor customer service and a lack of urgency are common barriers, the report said.

But so are policies outside the control of personnel departments, it added.

Some teachers are allowed to provide virtually no notice that they plan to resign or retire, leaving schools in the dark about coming vacancies until the fall.

Often, the report said, schools must hire union-protected teachers who want to transfer from other schools, which slows the process and prevents principals from hiring whomever they want.

Many state and local budgets also aren't set until the end of June, if not later, causing financial uncertainty that put schools at a disadvantage, it said.

The report called for those policies to be changed, a task that a coalition of large urban districts called daunting.

"One can say, 'Well, just change it,' but sometimes that means either going back to the bargaining table or going to the legislature and changing law," said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools. "Neither thing is always very simple to do."

Casserly did praise the report for raising important issues and said his group will work with The New Teacher Project to pursue improvements.

Hiring challenges
On balance, the report fairly reflects tendencies of urban schools and may even underestimate how poorly their personnel departments run, said Adam Urbanski, vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, the union that represents most urban teachers.

But Urbanski, a board member of the group that produced the report, disagreed that seniority should get reduced importance when teachers want to be hired at another school.

"It is unreasonable to expect that tenure within an organization, coupled with satisfactory performance, ought not carry some sort of assurance that you won't be replaced by someone walking in off the sidewalk," he said.

One city principal, Gwendolyn Boyd of John Marshall Metro High School on the west side of Chicago, said the report does not largely represent how hiring works at her school.

Boyd said she hired 20 top candidates in late summer and that union transfer rules have not presented her a problem. Chicago school leaders have taken a step the report recommends: offering an incentive for teachers to send notification earlier if they plan to retire.

Traditionally, many school districts have trouble filling jobs in fields such as math, science and special education. And recruitment is often tougher in urban districts because of salaries, working conditions and academic challenges that turn off some teachers.



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Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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An interesting read...........

PhysEd question...
 

Does anyone know what the guidelines are to teach phys ed? I am sure it is different state to state, but I'm just wondering. I'm almost positive that you would need CPR/First Aid certification, I'm just wondering what else. Anything you can offer would be appreciated.

FYI-In case my DC/B'more area SF's are interested
 

One of the organizations that I work with, Eduserc is sponsoring a High School Development Fair at the Baltimore Convention Center on Saturday Nov. 8.

This fair is designed to provide students with an opportunity to explore career options, receive one-on-one counseling with someone in their field of interest, learn about resume writing, money management, how to survive after high school and many more topics that will add to their success in high school and beyond.

For the parents, they will have an opportunity to attend workshops that will help them to financially prepare for college, how to be an effective role models, how they can survive after their child (ren) graduates from high school and much more.

There will be a Scholars Luncheon for Students who have achieved a 3.7 or higher grade point average and they can also attend the Fair for free.

Cost: $25 before Oct. 25
$30 after Oct. 25
$35 on site

If you know anyone who is interested in attending, please visit the website at www.eduserc.org to download the brochure and registration forms. They can also contact Brian Smith, Executive Director at bksmith@eduserc.org

If you know of anyone who may be interested in exhibiting at the event, they can contact Yvette Smith, Marketing Director at yksmith@eduserc.org or visit the website www.eduserc.org for additional information.

Brian is a very good friend of mine and has worked very hard to get this event off the ground and make it a success. If there are any of you who attend undergrad as engineering students and were a part of NSBE, you should know Brian and his commitment not just to NSBE but to the importance of giving back to the our youth.

I hope some of you can attend this conference or pass the information to those that you feel will benefit.

Thanks!!