Monday, November 27, 2017

I am the teacher South Carolina wants to retain, and I am barely hanging on

I am the teacher South Carolina wants to retain, and I am barely hanging on

NOVEMBER 26, 2017 07:03 PM

Thursday, November 23, 2017

S.C. Supreme Court Ends Funding Oversight of 'Corridor of Shame'

South Carolina's supreme court late last week quietly put an end to a 24-year battle with the state's legislature over how it funds its most rural school districts.
The string of schools along Interstate 95, located in some of the state's most isolated areas, became known as the "Corridor of Shame" after a documentary was aired in 2005 that depicted decrepit conditions with students unable to read and write.  
"I had stumbled into another century," the host says at one point in the documentary.  
Thirty of those districts argued in a lawsuit in 1993 that the state had neglected to give them with enough money to provide its students with a "minimally adequate education."  
The state's high court has gone back and forth with the legislature, the plaintiffs, and the defendants since then.
On Friday, the court voted 3-2 to end oversight of the legislature's spending, arguing that it is not the role of the court to dictate how the legislature spends the state's money.  
"The General Assembly can now focus solely on our children's education needs rather than compliance with the arbitrary standard" of the supreme court, said House speaker Jay Lucas, according to the Associated Press.
Chief Justice Don Beatty, who dissented, said the court should wait for the legislature should finish a study to determine how much money it would require for the districts to provide a minimal education. 
"Unfortunately, our Court has lost the will to do even the minimal amount necessary to avoid becoming complicit actors in the deprivation of a minimally adequate education to South Carolina's children," Beatty wrote, according to the Associated Press.

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Do Early Educators’ Implicit Biases Regarding Sex and Race Relate to Behavior Expectations and Recommendations of Preschool Expulsions and Suspensions?

Do Early Educators’ Implicit Biases Regarding Sex and Race Relate to Behavior Expectations and Recommendations of Preschool Expulsions and Suspensions?

Abstract

Preschool expulsions and the disproportionate expulsion of Black boys have gained attention in recent years, but little has been done to understand the underlying causes behind this issue. This study examined the potential role of preschool educators’ implicit biases as a viable partial explanation behind disparities in preschool expulsions. Participants were recruited at a large conference of early educators and completed two tasks. In Task 1, participants were primed to expect challenging behaviors (although none were present) while watching a video of preschoolers, balanced by sex and race, engaging in typical activities, as the participants’ eye gazes were tracked. In Task 2, participants read a standardized vignette of a preschooler with challenging behavior and were randomized to receive the vignette with the child’s name implying either a Black boy, Black girl, White boy, or White girl, as well as randomized to receive the vignette with or without background information on the child’s family environment. Findings revealed that when expecting challenging behaviors teachers gazed longer at Black children, especially Black boys. Findings also suggested that implicit biases may differ depending on teacher race. Providing family background information resulted in lowered severity ratings when teacher and child race matched, but resulted in increased severity ratings when their race did not match. No differences were found based on recommendations regarding suspension or expulsion, except that Black teachers in general recommended longer periods of disciplinary exclusion regardless of child gender/race. Recommendations for future research and policy regarding teacher training are offered.

Study: Montessori Education Erases Income Achievement Gap

Study: Montessori Education Erases Income Achievement Gap