Franklin Schargel’s Blog

Summer Reading III

Denise Riley is a friend of mine who recently retired as the Assistant Director for the Oklahoma Technical Assistance Center (OTAC), a nationally recognized Alternative Education Program.

She recently completed a training and Field Guide for Alternative Educators and a training and guide for principals called Pointers For Principals. Alternative Education Programs have increased significantly over the past several years; however, the number of resources has been limited. This manual gives teachers and administrators practical ideas for planning, developing, implementing and evaluating through nine research-based domains:

* RESEARCH AND TRENDS

* EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTION

* COUNSELING AND BEHAVIOR ISSUES

* RE-DESIGNING ASSESSMENTS

* WORK STUDY/ SERVICE LEARNING

* ELL

* MIDDLE SCHOOL

* LIFE SKILLS

* GRADUATION PLANS

More information can be found on her website.

Non-traditional Education (Alternative Education) provides a different path for many of our students – one that makes them employable as well as taking them on a meaning path as tax-paying citizens.

Creating Globally Competitive Schools

On Tuesday, July 12, 2016 from 3:30-4:30 PM, (ET), I will be interviewed by the National Dropout Prevention Center on the topic of education’s role in building the global economy. What skills does a world class teacher possess? What does a world class school look like?

Meeting 21C workplace needs for both employers and employees requires not only an awareness of the role our nation’s workforce plays in the current global economy, but also planning and implementation of initiatives designed to ensure that future workplace needs can be met. Young people can also be more engaged in school when they recognize that schoolwork is directly related to their unique goals and outcomes post-graduation. I will address the need for schools to become globally competitive.

Participation in this webcast is free and no registration is required. The program will be archived in its entirety taw.dropoutprevention.org/webcast. Link to the webcast at www.dropoutprevention.org/webcast.

Prevent, Don’t Punish School Bullying

Research clearly indicates that zero tolerance policies are ineffective in combating bullying, according to a report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. The report recommends ending zero-tolerance policies that automatically suspend students for bullying. “Suspending can actually do more harm than good and in fact doesn’t provide the skills train or replacement behaviors for youth that are suspended or expelled.”

Bullying is now seen as early as preschool and generally peaks in middle school. The problem has intensified with the latest forms of cyberbullying and social media sites.

A report from the National Center for Educational Statistics painted a positive picture of bullying saying bullying is sharply down. The National Academies is more cautious saying that bullying affects between 18 percent and 31 percent of young people. (See June 25th “Franklin’s Thoughts” on this website)

Bullying cannot and should not be ignored. Schools need to take a pro-active approach teaching children how to get along with one another and what to do if the see others being bullied. Parents also need to be involved, by opening lines of communication and having their children tell them if they are bullied and making sure their child’s school have effective anti-bullying programs in place.

Suicide Rates Soaring

The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a report that indicates that since 1999, the suicide rate in the U.S. about 1 percent each year before accelerating to 2 percent annually from 2006 to 2014. The report reveals that 150 females between 10 and 14 years old committed suicide in 2014 alone – a 200 percent surge in that age group.

What explains that dramatic increase? It may be a reflection of access to social media, the internet and cyberbullying. Teens of this age group try to fit in and if they are stigmatized by websites and blogs, they may take up self-destructive, self-harm and suicide.

School Bullying Appears to Be Dropping

School-based bullying for kids ages 12 to 18 appears to have dropped in recent years. Twenty-two percent of teens reported having been bullied in 2013, the lowest number since the federal government began collecting data on the subject in 2005.

In 2005, 2009 and 2011, 28 percent of students reported having been bullied at school. This included verbal, physical and social abuse, as well as cyberbullying. In 2007, 32 percent of students reported the same, according to a blog from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics.

The data comes from the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, a nationally representative survey of teens.

About 7 percent of students said they were cyberbullied. Female students reported being bullied more often than males. Students in the Midwest reported being bullied more often than in any other region, at 22.4 percent.

(See June 23rd “Franklin’s Thoughts” on this website)

Preventing Cyberbullying

An article I’ve written about cyberbullying has just been published by the National Dropout Prevention Center. If you would like to receive an emailed copy, send an email to me at [email protected] with the subject “Cyberbullying Article”.

Auburn University’s Hero Award for Addressing Bullying Situations

I have been honored by Auburn University to receive their “Hero Award” as the individual who has addressed bullying situations in schools through actions:

Intervening on behalf of bullying victims.
Developing and implementing anti-bulling programs.
Effectively addressing bullying in proactive and unique ways.
Establishing and implementing successful behavior modification programs for aggressors.
Building partnerships with agencies that share concern for student emotion health and safety.

The Award will be presented at the Auburn University’s 6th Annual Anti-Bulling Summit, which will be held June 23-24 at the Wyndham Hotel in Peachtree City, GA.

Why Don’t Business Leaders and Politicians Send their Children to Public Schools?

Politicians and business leaders criticize the public schools and propose all sorts of remedies for the public schools yet they do not have any vested interests in fixing the institutions that they criticize. Maybe if their children or grandchildren attended the public schools they criticize, things would improve rapidly.