Clinton Middle School was recently awarded a $2,700 grant from the CenturyLink Foundation’s Teachers and Technology program.
More than 1,900 applications were submitted from across the country, and Clinton Middle School was one of the 19 Missouri schools to be selected and awarded a total of $71,000. The grants are awarded on behalf of “teachers who have developed plans to innovatively implement technology into their classrooms.” Congratulations Clinton Middle School!
Friday, May 18, was the conclusion the 2018 Legislative session. The final week of session, as always, has been frantic. There were lots of bills remaining on the Senate calendar that did not get a vote by 6 p.m. Many will be refiled again next year to start the process anew. A flurry of omnibus bills and conference committee reports crossed our desks last week as legislators desperately looked for a path for their policy priorities.
Omnibus bills have become a significant part of the final week, even though they are the bane of the legislative process. They happen when multiple related bills are combined into a single bill.
Usually, the individual issues have already been filed as bills and heard in a Senate or House committee. They may have even passed one legislative body. The challenge created for a legislator or lobbyist is that an omnibus bill may occasionally include both favorable and unfavorable language. It becomes imperative, then, that the bills be considered carefully before voting. Constituents face that same challenge.
One proposal that was not included in an omnibus bill, but failed to make it across the finish line was a reading intervention bill, Senate Bill 949, addressing the critical need to teach students to read by the fourth grade.
Senate Bill 949 was modeled after policies implemented in the state of Mississippi where third grade reading proficiency improved from 48 percent to 92 percent in three years.
According to the website of Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), Missouri seems stuck at about 60 percent of third graders reading at grade level; that means 40 percent are not. Senate Bill 949 was introduced to break out of the status quo in an effort to teach every Missouri child to read.
A Senate Amendment was added to the bill to provide braille training for the visually impaired. Other provisions in the bill included the following:
-Screening assessments within the first 30 days of school
Notification to parents if there is a deficiency
HOORAY!
ReplyDeleteSomething written with just enough (mis)information to be dangerous.
Hear are some thoughts:
It is interesting to see where you came up with this reading plan (Mississippi). First time I've seen any information like that.
Quit combining bills---while this is probably meant to save time, obviously, that didn't work.
Quit putting out education legislation without checking with ACTUAL educators in the subject AND grade/age level involved---although well meaning, you don't understand child development or the developmental process involved in reading the way teachers do.
Quit believing that there is a "magic bullet" for learning to read or for any other learning---not everyone learns the same way so teachers need TRAINING not scripts.
How about making Kindergarten mandatory and school age mandatory at age 7?---this would help when parents don't want to make their kids go to school.
How about waiting to test until it's developmentally appropriate?---results would be more accurate and we wouldn't have things like 3rd graders throwing up over tests.
How about making the curriculum more common sense and developmentally appropriate?--again, better results with less stress. School should be work, it shouldn't make you feel like you're dying.
How about treating teachers like the professionals they are instead of listening to testing companies? Oh, wait! You've stopped treating doctors that way too by listening to insurance companies. I guess I should feel good about that.
How about abolishing the US Department of Education, and leave it to the states. There’s tons and tons of deadwood in WASHINGTON that needs to go get a real job, instead of slopping at the public trough.
ReplyDeleteMight help the $21 trillion debt.
The last dead head in that job, Arne Duncan, yesterday recommended that all students boycott schools. That’s great advice from an “educator “
Harvey Hutchinson 303-522-6622 voice&text
Harvey, Yes let's abolish the US Dept of Education, starting with firing Betsy "I know nothing about Education" Devos.
ReplyDelete