Franklin Schargel’s Blog

According to a report in Pediatrics, Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.) is the most common cause of suicide under the age of 12. Few children aged 5 to 11 take their own lives. The new study, which included deaths in 17 states from 2003 to 2012, compared 87 children aged 5 to 11 who committed suicide with 606 adolescents aged 12 to 14 who did, to see how they differed.

About a third of the children of each group had a known mental health problem. By contrast, nearly two-thirds of early adolescents who took their lives struggled with depression.

Suicide prevention has focused on identifying children struggling with depression; the new study provides an early hint that this strategy may not help the youngest suicide victims. Other experts cautioned that it was hard to draw definitive conclusions from such a small population. Researchers used a database with detailed suicide reports from coroners and medical examiners. It was unclear whether mental health professionals had diagnosed attention deficit problems in each case.

Last year, researchers from Nationwide Children’s Hospital, among others, reported that the suicide rate among black 5- to 11-year-olds had almost doubled since 1993, while the rate for their white peers had declined. The new report found that about 37 percent of elementary school-aged children who committed suicide were black, compared with just 12 percent of adolescents who did so.

The children most commonly had fought with a relative or peer before committing suicide. About a third of the children and adolescents had experienced a problem at school. A similar percentage had gone through a recent crisis. About 30 percent of the nearly 700 children studied in the new research had told someone of their suicidal intentions.

Not only is it important to take seriously a declaration of suicidal intent, no matter the child’s age,  but it is also crucial for pediatricians, parents and school personnel to broach the topic with children if the adults are concerned.

Black and Hispanic students have cut their high school dropout rates and increased their rates of college attendance, according to a new study conducted by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

In 2013, 12 percent of Hispanic students aged 16 to 24 were not in school and hadn’t earned a diploma (also known as the status dropout rate) “”down from 32 percent in 1990, according to the report. Over the same period, the dropout rate among black students was cut nearly in half””from 13 percent in 1990 to 7 percent in 2013. The status dropout rate also fell among whites over that period, from 9 to 5 percent.

With increased high school completion for Hispanic and black students has come increases in college enrollment. Hispanic students represented 17 percent of undergraduates in 2013, compared to 6 percent a decade earlier. The African-American share of enrollment during this period grew from 10 to 15 percent.

The report also covers trends in enrollment, school discipline and safety, dropout rates, achievement and outcomes of education. Among the highlights:

• Enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools was 51 percent white in 2012″”down from 59 percent a decade earlier and projected to decline to 46 percent by 2024. The black share of enrollment declined slightly over the same period””from 17 to 16 percent””while Hispanic enrollment rose from 18 to 24 percent.
• Afro-American students were much more likely to be suspended from school. In 2012, 39 percent of black public school students in grades 6-12 had been suspended at some point, compared with 17 percent of Hispanic students, 15.5 percent of whites, and 9.5 percent of Asian/Pacific Islanders.
• Some achievement gaps among different racial and ethnic groups have narrowed while others remained flat or even widened.  For example, white students outscored blacks by 32 points in fourth grade reading on NAEP in 1992. By 2013, the gap was 26 points. But among 12th graders, the black-white gap grew from 24 points in 1992 to 30 points in 2013.
• Black students account for 28 percent of public charter school students, but only 15 percent of the students in traditional public schools. Hispanic students also enroll in charter schools at a higher rate than in traditional public schools (29 percent vs. 24 percent).
• Asians were much more likely than other groups to have completed calculus as their most advanced math course””45 percent of Asians, compared to 18 percent of whites, 10 percent of Hispanics, and 6 percent of blacks.  It was also more common for Asians to have earned at least one Advanced Placement and/or International Baccalaureate credit””72 percent of Asians in the high school class of 2013, compared to 40 percent of whites, 34 percent of Hispanics, and 23 percent of blacks.
• Besides enrolling at greater rates, Hispanic and black students also showed increases in college completion. The number of Hispanics receiving bachelor’s degrees more than doubled between 2002-03 and 2012-13 while the number of degrees conferred to blacks increased to 54 percent, and the number of degrees conferred to Asian/Pacific Islanders to 48 percent. Other groups showed smaller increases.
• Women earned 57 percent of all bachelor’s degrees in 2012-13. However, in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, men earned 65 percent of the degrees. In all racial and ethnic groups, men earned more STEM degrees than women did.

 

Educational reformers, Mr. Trump, venture capitalists, business people, and for profit school people insist that the public schools are broken. What happens if all of them are wrong? What happens if all of them are wrong?

There is no denying that there are many things wrong with schools ““ teachers who are low paid, outdated resources (classrooms, text books, technology) and underfunded facilities. School models are still based on an agrarian model closing the schools to allow children to plant and harvest in the Spring, Fall and Summer. In the middle and high schools, we use a factory model passing children from subject to subject failing to acknowledge that subjects are interrelated.

Yet with all of the problems the reality is that today’s schools are producing the results they were designed to produce ““ low performing schools in minority communities in the inner cities.  Schools in the suburbs are still producing higher performing students.

I would be interested in your reaction. Feel free to share your opinions to me @ [email protected].

According to the (NCES) The National Center for Educational Statistics, the nation’s high school graduation rate reached its highest recorded peak in 2015 “” although big disparities remain among African-American, Hispanic and low-income students. According to President Obama the graduation rate has risen to 83.2%

The District of Columbia saw the biggest one-year increase in graduation rates in the country last year, from 61.4% to 68.5%.

Minority groups still lagged behind their white peers, but saw bigger gains over the past year: the graduation rate for black students rose to 74.6% (a 2.1 point increase); for Hispanic students to 77.8% (1.5 points), Native Americans to 76.1% (1 point), and low-income students to 76.1% (1.5 points). Students learning English as a second language saw the biggest gains of any subgroup, a 2.5 point increase to 65.1%. Special Education graduation rate rose to 64.6 percent.

State-by-state results also show graduations rates rising almost everywhere.

 

Students can participate by

• Creating positive messages on post-its and handing them out to students at school
• Creating an act of kindness every day and challenging others to do the same. Make kindness go viral!

The more awareness that is created during the month of October — and all year round is one step closer to putting an end to bullying!

STAND UP for Others Week

When you see someone being bullied, be brave and STAND UP for them. Bullies have been known to back off when others stand up for victims.

If you don’t feel safe get the help of an adult immediately. Be part of the solution — not the problem!

For the Week of October 10:

Make friends with someone you don’t know at school

If you’ve ever been isolated from others at school or you were new at school and it took time to make friends, you know what it feels like to be left out. Or even if you were never isolated, imagine how it would feel.

Make friends with someone at school who you don’t know. Invite them to sit at your lunch table or join you in an after school activity. You probably wish someone had done that for you.

Be a leader. Take action and don’t let anyone at school be in isolation.

There is a great new app called “Sit By Me” invented by a 16 year old young lady. It creates “Student Ambassadors”. These Ambassadors invite other students to join them at lunch, on the playground or on the bus to join them.