Saturday, August 29, 2009

Yes, The NEA is bloated and useless but...


 The comments NEA submitted to the U.S. Department of Education regarding the Race to the Top fund eligibility criteria. NEA has finally noticed that the Obama administration's proposed education reforms are in direct conflict with the union's agenda.
At Flypaper, Jamie Davies O'Leary calls this the "least surprising news ever" (emphasis in original) and who can argue? But stating it so flatly underplays the unceasing cloud of swamp gas that emanated from NEA headquarters ever since candidate Obama first mentioned performance pay in front of union delegates in 2007.
Obama had more than two years of opportunities to pull a John Kerry and back off from his statements. I, for one, expected him to. But he hasn't, and he continues to repeat exactly what reforms he has in mind. NEA, for its part, emphasized how the union and Obama were essentially in agreement and how such differences were inevitable and unimportant.
The day before the 2008 election, I wrote: "As we have seen with Gray Davis and various other Democratic governors across the country, NEA and AFT may not react well when the time comes for Obama to say 'no,' when they see his primary job as saying 'yes.'"
I kept beating that drum this year.
March 11: "I think President Obama's notion of performance pay falls well short of replacing the traditional salary schedule. But after hearing him speak on the issue several times, I am persuaded he does actually mean performance pay, and he is in fact at odds with NEA on the matter. Despite the union's public statements that they're all on the same page ('He means national certification. No, really!'), either the President or the NEA will be forced to blink on this one."
March 16: "Now we have President Obama, and in his first major education policy speech last week, he once again mentioned performance pay, plus supported lifting charter school caps, decried America's 'educational decline,' demanded accountability, and called for getting 'bad teachers out of the classroom.' NEA issued talking points on the speech the same day, and they emphasize that 'President Obama's plan calls for proposals we've been advocating for quite some time.' This will come as news to former President Bush."
March 23: "Subject matter differential pay has the potential of causing more divisiveness between NEA and the Obama administration than does performance pay. A lot of school districts may talk about performance pay, but most will be happy to continue without the bother of creating a new system. Districts everywhere would like the freedom to pay more to hire teachers in shortage areas, which would require very little change."
July 2: "It's hard not to root for Obama and Duncan, who continue to pitch the 'let's collaborate and come up with something that works' message. The problem, it hardly needs repeating, is that we don't all agree about 'what works.' And some people don't care if it works or not, as long as the checks keep coming.... The real test will come when there aren't enough carrots and NEA files suit against the sticks. Being Democrats buys Obama and Duncan time and the benefit of the doubt. It doesn't buy them invulnerability."
That's an awful lot of restating the obvious, but NEA's only response was to claim the press was distorting the issue. At the very least, the union owes Education Week's Stephen Sawchuk an apology for hammering him after he wrote about NEA's spin...

On this, the NEA finds itself blowing hot air on the right side for its members (much to everyone's surprise) with regard to Obama's thinly veiled extension of the real purpose of NCLB through his project  RTTP. (Race To Topple Progress) for disadvantaged children.


Though the goals espoused by Obama and Duncan are noble and tantamount toward getting the best education possible for all our children per tax dollar spent. Here’s the problem that nullifies the intention. NOBODY has yet to offer a valid, reliable and empirically sound way to use these test scores to measure teacher performance. We are forever complaining about the system, some can even identify what needs to change BUT WHERE are the blue prints to the solution? Not in RTTP. Each year a teacher has an entirely different set of kids with different backgrounds, temperaments, abilities, and disabilities. This Proposal insists that all children are the same and learn the same. Unfortuneatly for Obama, the very nature of a child (for whom public education is supposed to exist) muddies the waters of what all American’s expect: a fast simple solution. 8/30/09 9:30pm   Praetorian

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This is the fight of our professional careers. Are You In or Out?

What's taking so long? This is the fight of our professional careers. Are You In or Out? "Hell has a special level for those who sit by idly during times of great crisis."
Robert Kennedy

The Art of SETTING LIMITS, Its not as easy as it looks.

Art of Setting Limits Setting limits is one of the most powerful tools that professionals have to promote positive behavior change for their clients, students, residents, patients, etc. Knowing there are limits on their behavior helps the individuals in your charge to feel safe. It also helps them learn to make appropriate choices.


There are many ways to go about setting limits, but staff members who use these techniques must keep three things in mind:
Setting a limit is not the same as issuing an ultimatum.
Limits aren’t threats—If you don’t attend group, your weekend privileges will be suspended.

Limits offer choices with consequences—If you attend group and follow the other steps in your plan, you’ll be able to attend all of the special activities this weekend. If you don’t attend group, then you’ll have to stay behind. It’s your decision.
The purpose of limits is to teach, not to punish.
Through limits, people begin to understand that their actions, positive or negative, result in predictable consequences. By giving such choices and consequences, staff members provide a structure for good decision making.
Setting limits is more about listening than talking.
Taking the time to really listen to those in your charge will help you better understand their thoughts and feelings. By listening, you will learn more about what’s important to them, and that will help you set more meaningful limits.
Download The Art of Setting Limits

SYSTEMATIC USE OF CHILD LABOR


CHILD DOMESTIC HELP
by Amanda Kloer

Published February 21, 2010 @ 09:00AM PT
category: Child Labor
Wanted: Domestic worker. Must be willing to cook, clean, work with garbage, and do all other chores as assigned. No contract available, payment based on employer's mood or current financial situation. No days off. Violence, rape, and sexual harassment may be part of the job.

Would you take that job? No way. But for thousands of child domestic workers in Indonesia, this ad doesn't just describe their job, it describes their life.

A recent CARE International survey of over 200 child domestic workers in Indonesia found that 90% of them didn't have a contract with their employer, and thus no way to legally guarantee them a fair wage (or any wage at all) for their work. 65% of them had never had a day off in their whole employment, and 12% had experienced violence. Child domestic workers remain one of the most vulnerable populations to human trafficking and exploitation. And while work and life may look a little grim for the kids who answered CARE's survey, it's likely that the most abused and exploited domestic workers didn't even have the opportunity to take the survey.

In part, child domestic workers have it so much harder than adults because the people who hire children are more likely looking for someone easy to exploit. Think about it -- if you wanted to hire a domestic worker, wouldn't you choose an adult with a stronger body and more life experience to lift and haul and cook than a kid? If you could get them both for the same price, of course you would. But what if the kid was cheaper, free even, because you knew she wouldn't try and leave if you stopped paying her. Or even if you threatened her with death.



Congress Aims to Improve Laws for Runaway, Prostituted Kids

by Amanda Kloer

categories: Child Prostitution, Pimping

Published February 20, 2010 @ 09:00AM PT

The prospects for healthcare reform may be chillier than DC weather, but Democrats in the House and Senate are turning their attention to another warmer but still significant national issue: the increasing number of runaway and throwaway youth who are being forced into prostitution. In response to the growing concerns that desperate, runaway teens will be forced into prostitution in a sluggish economy, Congress is pushing several bills to improve how runaway kids are tracked by the police, fund crucial social services, and prevent teens from being caught in sex trafficking. Here's the gist of what the new legislation is trying to accomplish:

Shelter: Lack of shelter is one of the biggest vulnerabilities of runaway and homeless youth. Pimps will often use an offer of shelter as an entree to a relationship with a child or a straight up trade for sex. In the past couple years, at least 10 states have made legislative efforts to increase the number of shelters, extend shelter options, and change state reporting requirements so that youth shelters have enough time to win trust and provide services before they need to report the runaways to the police. Much of the new federal legislation would make similar increases in the availability and flexibility of shelter options.

Police Reporting: Right now, police are supposed to enter all missing persons into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database within two hours of receiving the case. In reality, that reporting doesn't always get done, making it almost impossible for law enforcement to search for missing kids across districts. This hole is a big problem in finding child prostitution victims and their pimps, since pimps will often transport girls from state to state. The new bill would strengthen reporting requirements, as well as facilitate communication between the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the National Runaway Switchboard

We Must Never Forget These Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen and Women

We Must Never Forget These Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen and Women
Nor the Fool Politicians that used so many American GIs' lives as fodder for the fight over an english noun - "Communism"