Why Guidance Counseling Needs to Change

Carolâ€™s summary:
I have the privilege of working with extraordinary counselors across the country who take on leadership roles in their schools and district. Their aim is to help all students by leading success and transition programs through summer academies, boot camps and year-long advisory classes. As the heart and soul of their schools, these counselors are committed in a larger way to building awareness among administrators and teachers for what makes a difference in studentsâ€™ lives. Based on my experiences and input from counselors nationwide, here are ways guidance counselors can make themselves indispensable to school districts:

1) Align with district academic, emotional and social goals
2) Lead the advisory movement–teach, facilitate and promote a success vision in the school.
3) Tie your results to data and get data collected for the school on behalf of the principal.
4) Be a strong part of the principal’s leadership team along with the APs.
5) Connect with strong counselor leaders across the state–get peer mentors outside your district as well as inside.
6) Develop your coaching and your business skills–these two things will allow you to be more effective as counselor.

For more information about LifeBoundâ€™s work with counselors, please contact our toll free # at 1.877.737.8510 or email contact@lifebound.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

ARTICLE
Educational Leadership
Why Guidance Counseling Needs to Change
Jean Johnson, Jon Rochkind and Amber Ott

Recent surveys of young adults make a compelling case for reinventing high school guidance counseling.

The meeting with the high school guidance counselor is expected and routineâ€”a time set aside for students to talk about goals and plans with an adult trained to offer advice, options, and assistance. At least, that’s the goal. Unfortunately, the reality sometimes falls short. One young man, now in his early 20s, summed up his experience: “They’d look at your grades and then say, ‘Oh, you can get into these schools.'”
Such meetings are impersonal, perfunctory, and more common than you might think, according to a 2009 survey of young adults ages 22â€“30 conducted by Public Agenda for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Johnson, Rochkind, Ott, & DuPont, 2009). The findings from this survey, along with several others we have conducted in recent years (see, for example, Johnson, Duffett, & Ott, 2005), offer one clear message: As education focuses its attention on bringing today’s high schools into the 21st century, the guidance counseling system is a prime candidate for innovation and reform.

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9 Teenagers Are Charged After Classmateâ€™s Suicide

The tragic suicide earlier this year of freshmen high school student, Phoebe Prince, near Springfield, Massachusetts, has created the typical response by school officials: launch an anti-bullying campaign. However, this re-active approach is often too little too late. Instead of teaching anti-bullying in high school, we need to put programs in place that teach compassion, acceptance, and right action in fifth and sixth grades before these disastrous behaviors take root.Â Sure, there are the four or five possible bullies in every class (or school) that need anti-aggression measures, but all students can benefit from what it means to be emotionally intelligent–to treat yourself and others with respect. This reminds me of last weekâ€™s actions where we saw violent behavior against politicians by citizens on both sides regarding the new health reform laws. Instead of peacefully working through issues, insults and threats are hurled back and forth, which ultimately affect our children. If we donâ€™t think this doesnâ€™t trickle down into childrenâ€™s attitudes and behavior, we are only fooling themselves because it does. LifeBoundâ€™s student success books and curriculum are used by districts across the country who are seeking a proactive approach to stemming these kinds of devastating behaviors. All of our text for middle-grade students foster healthy relationships, wise decision-making skills and appropriate boundaries. These books are:

SUCCESS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL: A Transition Road Map
PEOPLE SMARTS FOR TEENAGERS: Becoming Emotionally Intelligent
GIFTS & TALENTS FOR TEENAGERS: Discovering Your Unique Strengths

To receive review copies of these books, call our national toll free number at 1.877.737.8510 or send an email with your request to contact@lifebound.com

How can we adopt a prophylactic approach to creating compassionate and safe school communities?
How might we identify bullies early on and give them the skills to develop empathy and self-awareness before their behaviors become full-blown?
How can we do the same for students who may be vulnerable to bullying? In our schools, what steps can we take to embrace and celebrate differences rather than allowing these differences to make students the targets of harassment and other forms of aggression?

ARTICLE

New York TimesMarch 30, 2010

It is not clear what some students at South Hadley High School expected to achieve by subjecting a freshman to the relentless taunting described by a prosecutor and classmates.

Certainly not her suicide. And certainly not the multiple felony indictments announced on Monday against several students at the Massachusetts school. The prosecutor brought charges Monday against nine teenagers, saying their taunting and physical threats were beyond the pale and led the freshman, Phoebe Prince, to hang herself from a stairwell in January. The charges were an unusually sharp legal response to the problem of adolescent bullying, which is increasingly conducted in cyberspace as well as in the schoolyard and has drawn growing concern from parents, educators and lawmakers. In the uproar around the suicides of Ms. Prince, 15, and an 11-year-old boy subjected to harassment in nearby Springfield last year, the Massachusetts legislature stepped up work on an anti-bullying law that is now near passage. The law would require school staff members to report suspected incidents and principals to investigate them. It would also demand that schools teach about the dangers of bullying. Forty-one other states have anti-bullying laws of varying strength. To view the entire article visit
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/us/30bully.html?ref=education

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Stagnant National Reading Scores Lag Behind Math

Carolâ€™s summary:

Although our nationâ€™s worst readers have made some strides, over the past 17 years reading scores have stayed about the same for most students, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress sponsored by the American Institutes Research. The reading test, mandated by Congress, was given to 338,000 fourth- and eighth-grade students last spring. Here are a few highlights from the report:
o The average scores of fourth graders in the bottom 10 percent for reading increased by 16 points from 2000 to 2009.
o In contrast, the average scores of the nationâ€™s best fourth-grade readers, those in the top 10 percent, rose by only 2 points during the same period.
o On average, 33 percent of fourth graders scored at or above the proficient level in the latest reading results.
o Math scores rose 20 points for eighth graders and 27 points for fourth graders from 1990 to 2009; But in the most recent period, from 2007 to 2009, math scores also failed to rise much.

Experts point to two plausible reasons for stagnant scores in reading: In childrenâ€™s lives, reading time has been replaced with surfing the Internet, texting and watching television. Other experts fault weak curriculum, particularly as students move past elementary school into the upper grade levels, as the culprit to stagnant scores.

If students are to improve in reading ability and comprehension, they first must love to read. LifeBoundâ€™s books foster a joy of reading through personal awareness, learning and growth, and our programs are used in summer academies, advisory, and English and Social Studies classes. Each text addresses the developmental issues students encounter at each grade level, 5-12, and includes stories about real students whoâ€™ve overcome obstacles that our readers can identify with. For review copies, please contact the LifeBound office by calling toll free 1.877.737.8510 or email contact@lifebound.com.

ARTICLE

March 25, 2010

New York Times
By SAM DILLON

The nationâ€™s schoolchildren have made little or no progress in reading proficiency in recent years, according to results released Wednesday from the largest nationwide reading test. The scores continue a 17-year trend of sluggish achievement in reading that contrasts with substantial gains in mathematics during roughly the same period.
â€œThe nation has done a really good job improving math skills,â€ said Mark Schneider, a vice president at the American Institutes for Research and a former official at the Education Department, which oversees the test, known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress. â€œIn contrast, we have made only marginal improvements in reading.â€
Why math scores have improved so much faster than reading scores is much debated; the federal officials who produce the test say it is intended to identify changes in student achievement over time, not to identify causes.

To view the entire article visit
http://nyti.ms/9DDiFZ

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Bias Called Persistent Hurdle for Women in Sciences

Carolâ€™s summary:

Studies show that women tend to be underrepresented in math and science due to stereotypes and cultural biases, and this weekâ€™s report by the National Science Foundation offers insights that can help draw more women to careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields.Â One study at the University of Chicago from earlier this year (January 2010) revealed that women teachers who were anxious about math transmitted that anxiety to some of the girls in their class, and that the girls who subsequently subscribed to the math-is-for-boys stereotype got lower scores on a math test than the girls who didnâ€™t.Â

Source:Â http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/01/14/0910967107

The good news is that math skills, like other intellectual pursuits, are not fixed and can grow with practice.Â Research also indicates that girls who have mothers, older sisters or other female role models who like math and science tend not to succumb to the stereotypes.Â Starting in the early grade levels, teachers can help students develop patterns of question asking that foster critical and creative thinking.Â LifeBoundâ€™s book, CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING, is coordinated to 21^st century skills and offers real-life contemporary and historic examples in each chapter of men and women who excel in the sciences and other innovative fields.Â Each chapter features exercises, â€œThinking on the Cutting Edge,â€ that prompt student to probe beneath the surface on various topics or issues.Â Hereâ€™s an example from Chapter 4:Â Knowing about birdsâ€™ flying formations (they fly in Vs) what questions can you ask that might save humans time and energy? We follow this exercise with questions posed by scientists and engineers from the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center to help students apply the birdsâ€™ efficient flying relationship to aircraft. When students become great questions askers, they can begin to see new perspectives on problems, and to move the brain from problem to solution mode, skills that all students need for 21^st century work.

How can we do a better job of encouraging girls to strive to do well in math and science?

How can we help match girls with female role models who are in STEM careers?

What resources might help teachers move past these obstacles to help girls reach their full potential?

Â ####

ARTICLE

New York Times

by Tamarin Lewis

A report on the underrepresentation of women in science and math by the American Association of University Women, to be released Monday, found that although women have made gains, stereotypes and cultural biases still impede their success. The report, â€œWhy So Few?,â€ supported by the National Science Foundation, examined decades of research to cull recommendations for drawing more women into science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the so-called STEM fields. â€œWe scanned the literature for research with immediate applicability,â€ said Catherine Hill, the university womenâ€™s research director and lead author of the report. â€œWe found a lot of small things can make a difference, like a course in spatial skills for women going into engineering, or teaching children that math ability is not fixed, but grows with effort.â€

To view entire article visitÂ

http://nyti.ms/djzVsl

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What if a college education just isn’t for everyone?

EducationÂ isn’t a one-size fits all endeavor, andÂ below are two articles that address this. Many students aren’t mature enough for college at age 18.Â So college may not be for everyone all at the same time. This is why I’m opposed to hastening students placement in college when they don’t have the maturity or the experience in life that some of their counterparts in Singapore and Finland may have.Â Some successful people choose to work right after school and go to college later, which gives them time to gain confidence and motivation for why they want a college education.

We have to understand some of the complexities of students today.Â Some are able and ready to go to college at age eighteen.Â Some can benefit from workÂ or the service to expand their ability to know themselves and persist. Others are academically ready for college, but not be emotionally or socially ready to make valuable connections once they get there.

Our stair-step programs help students in middle school and high school prepare for these transitions. Even with the benefit of these transition and self-awareness programs, it simply takes some students longer than others and they need not feel like second class citizens while they are “growing up” academically, emotionally and socially.Â Â Â We need to place as much emphasis on experience in the world as we do in-class learning.

ARTICLES

WATERLOO, Wis. â€” Debbie Crave once assumed that all of her children would go to college. Then she had kids.

Son Patrick is a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Debbie’s alma mater, and plans to one day help manage the family’s 1,700-acre, 1,000-cow dairy farm here.

APPRENTICESHIPS: Alternative to college for some teens

Q&A: Do too many people go to college? This author says yes

Brian, 17, would rather sit atop a tractor than behind a desk. “He’s been afraid we might push him” to go to college, his mother says. But her eyes have been opened: “Kids learn differently, and some just aren’t college material.”

Long before President Obama vowed last year that America will “have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world” by 2020, the premium placed on going to college was firmly embedded in the American psyche.

To viewÂ both USA Today articles visit

What if College Just Isn’t for Everybody?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-03-16-1Acollegeforall16_CV_N.htm

Teenagers in Need of Direction Can Turn to Apprenticeships

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-03-16-collegeapprentice16_ST_N.htm

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Panel Proposes Single Standard for All Schools

Carolâ€™s summary:
The U.S. is moving closer to adopting a uniform set of world-class standards for all schools k-12. This week a panel comprised of the nationâ€™s governors and state school superintendents unveiled their proposal for year by year benchmarks citing these examples in the article below: â€œ. . . fifth graders would be expected to explain the differences between drama and prose, and to identify elements of drama like characters, dialogue and stage directions. Seventh graders would study, among other math concepts, proportional relationships, operations with rational numbers and solutions for linear equations.â€

For over a decade, LifeBound has promoted similar objectives through our stair-step programs for grades 5-12, which builds the following 21st century skills:

o Reading
o Writing
o Critical and creative thinking
o Emotional intelligence
o ACT/SAT prep
o Strategies for teachers to anticipate and plan successful transitions at each grade level.

Our books are used in advisory periods, summer reading academies, and as supplements to English and Social Studies classes. All of our curricula are coordinated to the national American School Counselor Association (ASCA) standard and 21st century skills framework. To receive review copies of our books, please call our toll free # at 1.877.737.8510 or send an email to contact@lifebound.com

ARTICLE
NYTIMES
March 10, 2010
By Sam Dillon

A panel of educators convened by the nationâ€™s governors and state school superintendents proposed a uniform set of academic standards on Wednesday, laying out their vision for what all the nationâ€™s public school children should learn in math and English, year by year, from kindergarten to high school graduation.

The new proposals could transform American education, replacing the patchwork of standards ranging from mediocre to world-class that have been written by local educators in every state.

To view entire article visit
http://nyti.ms/cT2LJD

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U.S. Ed-Tech Plan Prods K-12 to Innovate

Carolâ€™s summary:
Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics and Grown Up Digital, gave a presentation this week at the ASCD annual conference on the Net Generation, encouraging educators to embrace a new pedagogy based on technlogy. His advice dovetails with President Obamaâ€™s objective to put a computing device in the hands of every student as part of the first National Educational Technology Plan, which includes the goal of boosting college graduation rates from 40 percent to 60 percent by 2020.

As we build online learning platforms for students, we need to create modules that weigh in what the data tells us about how students optimally learn. I agree with Tapscottâ€™s philosophy: “We canâ€™t just throw technology in a classroom and expect good things,” notes Tapscott. We need to move away from an outdated, broadcast-style of pedagogy (i.e., lecture and drilling) toward student-focused, multimodal learning, where “the teacher’s no longer in the transmission of data business; she’s in the customizing-learning-experiences-for-students business.â€ One of the new challenges for educators is to bridge the digital divide and embrace technology that transforms learning for a more competitive workforce.

ARTICLE
The Obama administration urged educators and policymakers today to embrace a host of digital-learning approaches it says will make K-12 schools better, including putting a computing device in the hands of every student.

Guided by an overarching goal set by President Barack Obama to raise national college-completion rates from 40 percent to 60 percent by 2020, the first National Educational Technology Plan issued by his administration outlines the big-picture approaches it says U.S. schools need to employ in the areas of classroom learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity to help meet that goal.

To view the entire article visit
http://bit.ly/9Es5Q5

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Sharp drop seen in childrenâ€™s bullying

Carolâ€™s summary:

Hereâ€™s some good news:Â A national survey funded by the Department of Justice reports that the percentage of students being â€œphysically bullied over the past year had declined from nearly 22 percent in 2003 to under 15 percent in 2008,â€and anti-bullying programs are credited for the improvement.Â To continue this trend, programs need to be put in place nationwide that not only intervene before problems begin, but proactively reduce bullying by giving kids the tools they need to manage strong emotions and learn conflict resolution skills.Â

Right now my staff is in the process of tabulating results from schools using our PEOPLE SMARTS program, which helps students develop emotional intelligence. Our results show that schools have experienced a reduction in the number of children who say theyâ€™re being bullied, and equally encouraging, more students say they stand up for someone and themselves who is the victim or physical or verbal abuse. Our data also shows that students in the PEOPLE SMARTS program experience better relationships with their siblings after taking the class (on the pre-assessment, 35.3% reported they â€œget along well with their siblings;â€ and the POST-assessment 50.1% reported that they do), a finding which is significant since bullying behavior is often learned at home where many children report being bullied by their brothers or sisters.Â

While anti-bullying programs play an important role in our nationâ€™s goal to curb aggressive behavior, programs that help students build stronger communication, emotional, and social skills as a prevention strategy, can make the greatest impact. If you would like to receive a review copy of our PEOPLE SMARTS book, or any of our other resources, call us toll free at 1.877.737.8510 or email contact@lifebound.com.

How can we do a better job of being preemptive so that students have the self-awareness and communication skills to stand up for respectful behavior? How can parents, teacher, and counselors get on the same page to use the language of emotional intelligence so that students are getting these principles reinforced in every sphere of life?

How can districts effectively collect and use the data to measure the results of these programs?Â Â

ARTICLE

March 3, 2010

Associated Press

NEW YORK – Thereâ€™s been a sharp drop in the percentage of Americaâ€™s children being bullied or beaten up by their peers, according to a new national survey by experts who believe anti-bullying programs are having an impact.

The study, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, found that the percentage of children who reported being physically bullied over the past year had declined from nearly 22 percent in 2003 to under 15 percent in 2008. The percentage reporting theyâ€™d been assaulted by other youths, including their siblings, dropped from 45 percent to 38.4 percent.

The lead author of the study, Professor David Finkelhor, said he was â€œvery encouraged.â€

â€œBullying is the foundation on which a lot of subsequent aggressive behavior gets built,â€ said Finkelhor, director of the University of New Hampshireâ€™s Crimes Against Children Research Center. â€œIf itâ€™s going down, we will reap benefits in the future in the form of lower rates of violent crime and spousal assault.â€

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In Middle School, Charting Their Course to College and Beyond

Carolâ€™s Summary:

While it is advantageous for middle school students to create individualized academic plans using technologyâ€”as iterated in todayâ€™s New York Times article featuring a New Jersey school districtâ€”another key component to future high school, college and career success is active reading. As students move up, they will be required to read and interpret complex texts to develop their critical and creative thinking skills. Todayâ€™s students log in far too much time watching television, surfing the Internet and playing video games. When students interact with a book for college planning by answering journal questions and other exploratory exercises, they are simultaneously developing a composite of skills that theyâ€™ll need to compete in our global world.

I agree with the comment by Penelope Lattimer, assistant director of the Rutgers University Institute for Improving Student Achievement, when she said, â€œThe more that you can personalize the academic route that students are exploring, the more they are likely to do their best work.â€ Our research has found that when students get a better sense of who they are, they have a clearer vision of whatâ€™s possible for their future. The emphasis on helping students connect what they learn to college and career goals requires programs life LifeBoundâ€™s that help students manage and understand the different developmental stages they encounter in middle school and beyond. For review copies of our materials, call LifeBound toll free at 1.877.737.8510 or email contact@lifebound.com.

To better prepare students for college level work, how can we create individualized learning plans that incorporate active reading?

What kinds of incentives do students need to read more and depend on screen entertainment less?

How can we promote active reading across subject areas, including college and career exploration?

Article:

In Middle School, Charting Their Course to College and Beyond
The New York Times
By WINNIE HU
Published: February 28, 2010

Public schools have long offered their students the same basic academic program, with little real choice aside from foreign languages or an occasional elective in what was a one-size-fits-all approach that drove many families to seek private and charter schools.

But this year, all 428 sixth graders at Linwood Middle School in North Brunswick, N.J., are charting their own academic path with personalized student learning plans â€” electronic portfolios containing information about their learning styles, interests, skills, career goals and extracurricular activities.

These new learning plans will follow each sixth grader through high school, and are intended to help the students assess their own strengths and weaknesses as well as provide their parents and teachers with a more complete profile beyond grades and test scores.

To view this entire article visit www.nytimes.com

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Obama’s Teacher Plans Stress Competitive Grants

Carolâ€™s summary:
Over the next four years, more than a third of the nationâ€™s 3.2 million teachers could retire, leaving schools bereft of experienced instructors. The problem is aggravated by high attrition among novice teachers, with one of every three new teachers leaving the profession within five years, a loss of talent that costs school districts millions in recruiting and training expenses, according to a 2009 report by the National Commission on Teaching and Americaâ€™s Future, a nonprofit research advocacy group. To help counter this predicament, the Obama administration is proposing competitive grants for teachers to recruit, train and evaluate teacher performance relative to student success. I applaud this emphasis for three main reasons:

1) Competition is valuable. When teachers have incentives to be and do their best work, they are incented to grow, to keep learning and keep their knowledge on the
cutting edge–all of which our students need to be competitive in the global world.
Â 2) Change. A lot has changed among students in the last eight years since No Child Left Behind
was created. The teachers who understand the impact and usefulness of technology in addition to their subject areas will drive the future of facilitated learning–active learning where students discover the learning through their own curiosity, initiative and leadership. Students who learn like this in class will have the inspiration and the motivation to make a difference outside of school–in their careers and personal lives–with the applications of what they have learned.
Â 3) Staying Ahead. Right now, American students after fifth grade are not toe to toe with their foreign counterparts in developed nations. The more that the best teachers are encouraged within our current system and new teachers are brought in from different walks of life which provide the experience through which students can value their learning, the more we will have purposeful,
self-directed and inspired graduates.

The focus on raising the bar for teachers comes at a time when the administration is calling for more parents to set up a culture of learning in their homes–through turning off the TV, modeling reading and and doing homework with their children. Other frontiers are: exploring what it
takes for principals and school districts to be effective as leaders and analyzing how the community, AARP and other organizations from the community can support school performance and outcomes.
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ARTICLE
In its fiscal 2011 budget request , the Obama administration has laid out its intention of carrying forward key teacher-effectiveness policies within the economic-stimulus law into the next edition of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

In doing so, the budget proposal would invest heavily in competitive grants for new ways of recruiting, training, evaluating, and compensating teachers and principals, dramatically shrink the amount of teacher-quality funding doled out by formula, and consolidate a handful of smaller teacher programs that have fierce congressional defenders.

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