Franklin Schargel’s Blog

I met John Byrnes, the founder and CEO of the Center for Aggressive Management at the International Bullying Conference where I keynoted.  We spoke and I believe that he has something to offer my readers. 

Most parents, superintendents, teachers and staff are under the impression that their children are safe in our schools (in loco parentis).  But are they? School violence continues and sadly we continue to react to it, we do not prevent it!

THE PROBLEM:

Why are we not preventing these events?  Programs thought to prevent violence, only react to it.

1. Obviously, programs like Crisis Management, Active-shooter Training, are reactions to a crisis.
2. Further, programs we may think prevent violence, like Threat Assessment, Mental Health Assessments, Conflict Resolution and even Bullying programs only position us to react to these threats, they do not prevent bullying and violence.

As an example: “Threat Assessment” is thought to prevent violence.  But Threat Assessment, by its definition, is an assessment of an existing threat.  The hope is to identify an initial lesser threat and thereby prevent a subsequent greater threat, but there is no assurance that the initial “lesser threat” will not be a threat to life or limb.  We must learn to prevent even initial threatening behavior, but how?

The term, “Bullying” presupposes someone exhibiting bullying behavior. We are reacting to initial bullying behavior, not preventing it.  How can we reliably prevent even initial bullying behavior?

THE SOLUTION:

Any valid solution must contain the following attributes:

1. A solution must contain objective and measurable indicators that enable its users to get out in front of (foresee the precursors to) bullying and violence in order to prevent it, “identifying someone on the path to bullying and/or violence.”
2. Consistent with the “Safe School Initiative Study,” on December 16, 2013, the FBI has affirmed this approach, when FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit’s Behavioral Threat Assessment Center’s Chief, Andre Simmons, stated their ability to prevent violence is predicated on identifying a person who is “on a pathway to violence.”

The Critical Aggression Prevention System (CAPS) is a unique and proprietary system that not only reliably prevents school bullying and violence; but it does so in an empirical and forensic way, the highest form of evidence-based Best Practices.  The Center for Aggression Management has spent the past twenty-one years developing this preventive solution for bullying and violence. This is not mere training but a system that enables a school district to get beyond simple reaction to bullying and violence to achieve reliable prevention?”

The Critical Aggression Prevention System (CAPS) is a system, founded upon principles of the Safe School Initiative Study, “identifying a student on the path to violence.”  Providing scientifically validated methods of preventing bullying and violence in schools.

Register to learn how to prevent bullying and violence in your school. Register at www.AggressionManagement.com/SchoolAggression.html

 

 

Publishing giant Pearson Education has been monitoring social media to identify students who might be leaking information about certain tests administered by the company.

The math and English tests “” called the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC are being developed by a consortium of states in conjunction with Pearson to measure students’ preparedness for life after graduation. Pearson said the states contractually required it to monitor public social media posts to make sure students did not disclose test questions.

“It’s one thing to protect intellectual property, but this raises far too many questions,” Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers’ union, wrote in an email on Tuesday. “How is Pearson monitoring students? What information about students does Pearson have, where did it get it, and what will it keep? Is Pearson reviewing everything students post? What protections are there for student privacy?”

In an email, Elizabeth C. Jewett, the superintendent of the Watchung Hills Regional High School District in Warren, N.J., told her colleagues that Pearson had notified state education officials of a security breach in the belief that a student at the school had taken a photograph of a question during the test and posted it on Twitter. The state officials, she wrote, asked that her school discipline the student. Although the student did post a comment on Twitter, she wrote, it was only after the test, and the report of a photo of a test question was spurious. “The student deleted the tweet and we spoke with the parent “” who was obviously highly concerned as to her child’s tweets being monitored” by the Department of Education, Ms. Jewett wrote. “The DOE informed us that Pearson is monitoring all social media during PARCC testing. I have to say that I find that a bit disturbing”

In its statement, Pearson described as a fairness measure its efforts to prevent test questions and other sensitive information from being disclosed.

“A breach includes any time someone shares information about a test outside of the classroom “” from casual conversations to posts on social media,” the statement said. “Again, our goal is to ensure a fair test for all students. Every student deserves his or her chance to take the test on a level playing field.”

But some parents and privacy advocates contended that using personal information collected about students in an educational context to covertly monitor them on social media was an unfair practice. “How did they figure out what district the kid who tweeted was in?” Allison White, a parent of a high school student in Port Washington, N.Y., said in a telephone interview on Monday. “Did they use any of the personal information they had access to in the testing database?”

“Previously, Pearson would take the knowledge that they found from public postings “” the student’s state, name and school “” and check it against its list of students registered to take PARCC at that school to see if that person was actually scheduled to take the test,” Jacqueline Reis, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, wrote in an email on Tuesday afternoon.  But she said the consortium of states had asked Pearson to stop checking names against its own list of students.

Pearson has access to student information through its PowerSchool website which teachers use to take attendance, complete report cards, etc. On PowerSchool is the student’s address, birthday, phone# and picture, not to mention parent names and numbers. So when they monitor social media they have access to this information, unlike other companies which do not. This is a problem; no one is monitoring this unlimited access Pearson has to this information. We need to wonder who has access to this within Pearson? Have they had background checks? After all, these are children we are talking about. Pearson has made millions if not billions through the use of glitchy software and error filled tests. So it should be no surprise when stories like this come out. It is not about test security, this is about making the sure the money train keeps coming their way.

When we took SATs, GEDs, etc. in olden times we always discussed test questions after the exam. Since when have questions become top secret? Aren’t all the exams given on the same day like the Regents or AP exams?

Who gave Pearson, a privately-owned corporation that is not affiliated with any Federal national security agencies, access to our children’s private social media? This is alarming!

Pearson is out of line. Once the test has been administered, it is out in the open – it is no longer a secret. Pearson has to accept that reality. Kids will compare notes, comment on questions that they found difficult, or stupid. Pearson has to accept that reality too.

Pearson wants to protect its test questions as proprietary assets, which is good for their bottom line, but totally bypasses the primary use of a test which is to determine exactly what a person does, and does not know. All the test questions should be released after the test, to aid teachers and schools in the process of understanding where learning was weak, especially since neither schools nor teachers can improve without feedback.

And frankly, why Pearson has any expectation that they can enforce some sort of contractual non-disclosure agreement across millions of minors, when they themselves take no contractual responsibility to ensure privacy, is beyond me.

 There are a number of things that Pearson can do to protect the integrity of their examinations.  They could change the order of the questions.  They can develop different examinations to eliminate cheating.  But those things cost money so it is easier and cheaper for them to give a “one-size fits all examination” and continue to access students’ and parents’ information.

In New Mexico, over 2,000 students from Albuquerque Public Schools opted not to participate in standardized testing after voicing their opposition to the exams with protests and walkouts. In New Jersey, districts around the state also reported large numbers of opting outs, with some school administrators calling the test resistance nearly unprecedented.

But in these places, state policy might not actually allow students to opt out of statewide testing, according to a new report from the Education Commission of the States. The report from the nonpartisan group outlines each state’s policy on opting out of standardized testing, finding that in many cases, protocol is actually unclear and lacks enforcement.

In recent months, resistance to high-stakes standardized tests has reached a fever pitch, amid the rollout of exams associated with the Common Core State Standards. The Common Core State Standards are a set of education benchmarks that have been adopted in most states in an effort to make sure students around the country are learning at the same level. The standardized tests associated with the new standards are known for their increased rigor. This past week, a handful of states — like New Mexico and New Jersey — administered the exams.

The Education Commission report says that a few states give clear guidance on opting out: In California and Utah, state law expressly allows parents to prevent their children from taking standardized tests.

On the other end of the spectrum, state law in places like Texas and Arkansas clearly prohibits opt-outs.

In New Mexico, the Department of Education has said that state law requires all students to take state tests ““- and mass opt-outs could end up impacting a school’s funding.

“In many states “¦ the guidance as to whether opt-outs are allowed is far less clear, as departments of education are often silent on the issue,” says the report. “Additionally, many states have no consequences in place for not participating in mandatory assessments, adding a further wrinkle to defining what it means for states to truly prohibit opt-outs”

In sum, in many places, policy is murky.

Source:  Huffington Post, 3/7/2015

 

 

To all of my precious students,

I am sorry for what I am about to do to you.

This week, I am going to have to give you a new test. It’s called PARCC. There will be five separate tests, on four separate days, and my guess is that most of you will hate them. My guess is that one or two of you will be brought to tears because they will make you feel like you are not smart enough. My guess is that several of you will give up part way through the test and just start clicking around on the screen. My guess is that some of you will look around at the students sitting next to you to try and figure out if they are also as confused as you are in the hopes of knowing that you are not the only way feeling this way. My guess is that more than a handful of you will, at some time during the test, ask me to come over and help you with something and I will not be able to. My guess is that almost all of you will wonder what these tests have to do with the learning and growing that we are doing every day in our classroom because you know that our learning has meaning and purpose in this world and you cannot figure out how these tests could possibly do that. My guess is that all of you will wonder why I am making you take these tests.

And the answer is simple. I have to. Our state and federal government say that I have to give these tests to you. That you must take them. And I need you to know how very sorry I am about that.

I have no control over this. I have no control over whether or not I give you this test. But, like I always tell you, I do have complete control over my own thoughts and my own words. So here is what I need to say to you.

I do not agree that these tests will tell me what I really need to know about you as a learner or as a human being. I do not agree that these tests will make me a better teacher. I do not agree that these tests will improve our schools. I do not agree that you need to sit in front of a computer for over five hours in order for the government to find out what you know and what you can do. I do not agree that you should not have a choice in how you are able to show all of the things that you are capable of doing. I do not agree that in order for the state to know that I am doing my job that you have to suffer through tests that could quite possibly ruin much of the hard work that we have done together in building your confidence this year and in helping you to see yourselves as readers and writers. I do not agree with these tests.

And even more than I want you to know all of that, I want you to know that these tests will never tell you who you are. They will never be able to show all of your various, beautiful and wondrous strengths. They will never be able to show all of the things that you have learned this year. They will never be able to show some of the most important things about who you all are. Because these tests will not show your humanity.

They will not show how you have learned to see this world through empathetic eyes. They will not show how you have learned to choose ways to present your knowledge so that you can use your individual strengths. They will not show how you have learned to collaborate with your classmates and with students around the world. They will not show how you have learned to listen first and then speak. They will not show how you have learned to do good things for this world. They will not show how you have grown as people. These tests will never be able to show those things and please believe me when I tell you that those are the things that truly matter in this world.

So if, and when, you struggle with these tests. If, and when, you start to think that these tests are telling you that you are not smart. If, and when, you start to believe that maybe you aren’t really good enough. If, and when, you start to feel like you want to cry because you just don’t know what these tests are really asking. Sit back. Take a deep breath. And then remember what you know. Remember what you know about what is really important in this world. Remember what you know about how brilliant you all are.

And if you can’t remember. If these tests are bad enough that they make you forget. Then you raise your hand. And I will come over. And I will take one look at your face. And I will see what is going on. And I will remind you. I will remind you that you are a reader and that you are a writer and that you are worthy just because you are exactly who you are. I will remind you of all the things that I have seen you do this year. I will remind you of all the meaningful work that you have added to our world this year. I will remind you of how far you have come. I will remind you of what you do for me, and for our classroom, and for this world. Every. Single. Day.

And then. Even though I am not supposed to. I will probably sneak you a piece of chocolate. And I will try to make you laugh. Because at the end of the day, these tests have no real meaning for you. And at the end of this week, we get to go back to the work that is really important. And at the end of the year, what you will look back on and remember will not be these tests, but all of the learning and growing that you have done this year.

So please forgive me. Please know that by giving you these tests I feel as if I am an accomplice in something that feels dirty and wrong. Please know that I value you more than this test. Please know that you are more than this test. And please know that as soon as this week is over, we will get back to our regularly scheduled learning.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Lifshitz

This post originally appeared on Crawling Out of the Classroom.

 

In conjunction with the presentation that Franklin presented in the Keynote Address at the National Bullying Prevention Conference held at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, Florida he presented a Bullying Prevention True/False POP QUIZ. Attendees requested the quiz:

1.  Victims of cyberbullying are at an increased risk for traditional bullying.
2.  A school is protected from legal liability and not required to intervene in cyberbullying incidents that occur away from school.
3.  Most victims tell an adult (parent/teacher) about their experience.
4.  Research show that victims of cyberbullying suffer from anger, frustration and sadness.
5.  Cyberbullying is not just a problem in the United States.

6.  Victims report that they are primarily cyberbullied by strangers.
7. Traditional schoolyard bullies are likely to be cyberbullies.
8.  Boys are more likely to be victims of cyberbullying than girls.

According to a study led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published in JAMA Pediatrics. Twenty-one percent of high school girls have been physically or sexually assaulted by someone they dated — a figure twice as high as previously estimated, a new study shows. Ten percent of high school boys also report having been physically or sexually assaulted by a dating partner, about the same rate reported in earlier surveys. Authors of the new report note that the CDC has changed the way it phrases its questions about teen dating violence, leading more students to report assaults. Assaults by romantic partners often aren’t isolated events. Many teens reported being assaulted multiple times, according to the study, based on the CDC’s Youth Behavior Risk Surveillance System using questionnaires answered by more than 13,000 high school students.

Teens who have experienced dating violence are at much higher risk for a variety of serious problems. For example, they’re more than twice as likely as others to consider suicide. Boys who have faced dating violence are nearly four times as likely to have been bullied online; girls are more than twice as likely.

Boys and girls who have been victims of dating violence are more likely to get into fights, carry a weapon, use alcohol, use marijuana or cocaine and have sex with multiple partners the study says.

Researchers don’t know if any of these events causes the others, however. While it’s possible that dating violence could cause thoughts of suicide, it’s also possible that children who are depressed are more likely than others to fall into abusive relationships.

Parents who are concerned that their child is in an unhealthy relationship, need to discuss it with their child, but do it in a way that doesn’t cause the child to shut down. Teens often hide the abuse from their parents. Teens may not be able to confide in friends, either, because abusers sometimes isolate their victims from loved ones. Teens are sometimes more willing to talk to doctors, especially if their parents are not in the room.

 

Franklin has been chosen to deliver 3 presentations at the 2015 National Forum on Dropout Prevention for Native and Tribal Communities to be held at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel @ Prior Lake Minnesota from April 26- April 29, 2016.

The presentations are “Helping Students Graduate:  Tools and Strategies to Increase Graduation Rates and Lower Dropout Rates”, and What Successful Leaders of At-Risk Leaders Do to Increase Graduation Rates and Improve School Cultures” and “Bullyproofing Your School”.

For additional information, visit www.dropoutprevention.org