Franklin has again been invited to be a Featured Speaker at the 24th Youth At-Risk Conference to be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Savannah, Georgia on March 5, 2013.  He will be delivering two workshops.  One based on his new book, “Preventing School Violence:  A  Guide for Educators, Parents and Students” and the other “Helping Students Graduate:  Tools & Strategies to Increase Graduation Rates and Decrease Dropouts.”

The following has been supplied to  me by my friend and colleague, Dr. Steven Sroka.  Steve is an expert in several areas,not the least of them on school violence.  You may have seen him on Oprah among other television appearances.

Leadership is essential to effective education. Here are some “Tips from the Trenches” from the school leaders and leaders of national education organizations themselves.

 

Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone and recent speaker at the National School Boards Association’s annual conference in Boston:

• “The cost of education is cheaper than the cost of incarceration. We must invest more with kids who need more now, or pay later.”
• “Our world is changing. Businesses have seen a need for change and have made changes. Why can’t schools?”
• “We need to stand up and fight for our kids. Our job is not to try to figure out what our kids can live without, but rather what can our kids live for.”

Esther Monclova-Johnson, director of equity affairs for Virginia Beach City Public Schools:

• “Our purpose in education is to help create learning environments that are culturally responsive, engaging, and respectful of the young people that we serve.”
• “In order to fully engage in this tremendous learning experience that lasts 13 years or more, we should honor the true relationship. If we want to know what interests and excites our youth, we need to talk to them and share in constructive dialogue. If we want to ensure that they acquire the skills they need to be successful in life, then we have to make learning relevant, rigorous, and exciting.”
• “We have to pay attention to the development of resiliency skills in their educational experience.”

C. Ed Massey, president of whole child partner National School Boards Association:

• “Leaders in today’s world must be flexible. Adaptive leadership is meeting the challenge of a changing educational environment.”
• “Leaders must push people to their potential while not pushing them beyond their capacity.”
• “Leaders must rise above the trenches so as to see the battlefield globally rather than locally. By doing so, problem solving becomes contextual.”
• “Leading is dangerous work and not for the ill of heart. Many times those not familiar with the issues at hand dislike the message and as a direct result, they blame the messenger. Leaders continue to promote a message even in the midst of travail. They understand that the conveyance of their message is their role and they don’t take the criticism personally. As a result, persistence has a chance to prevail.”

Betsy Landers, president of whole child partner National Parent Teacher Association:

• “It’s simple: parent involvement equals student achievement. Decades of research continue to show a direct link between family engagement and student success, regardless of socioeconomic status, race, religion, or background.”
• “A 2010 study examining school improvement work in Chicago’s lowest performing public schools found that success depends on five necessary ingredients. Not surprisingly, family engagement is one of them. Like baking a cake, researchers found that if even one ingredient was not in place, there was no recipe for success. We know this to be true, yet we continue to fail to see family engagement made a priority in many reform movements.”

Barbara-Jane Paris, principal at Canyon vista Middle School in Austin, Tex., and president-elect of whole child partner National Association of Secondary School Principals:

• “Programs don’t change behavior, people do. Chose the right ones. Fire a few.”
• “Work smarter, not harder. Give everyone a productive role by knowing what drives them.”
• “If you put the wrong task with the wrong person, they work harder, but the mission fails. It’s like straightening the chairs on the Titanic.”
• “Speak with one voice. In difficult times, there is rarely one solution””if there were, the situation would never have happened. Pick an underlying principle and stick with it.”
• “Above all: students first.”

Senator Richard Marcellais, North Dakota State Senator (D-9), chairman of Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, and president of National Indian School Board Association:

• “Native American schools have the lowest AYP scores in the nation. What happened with No Child Left Behind was that it was for only non-native schools.”
• “As a Native American, I believe that non-natives need to understand the culture of each tribe because each tribe is different and has different beliefs.”
• “In order to educate the Native American students, I believe educators need to better understand the issues and concerns and be able to communicate on the culture level.”
• “As a senator, I am on the education committee because I believe education is the most important thing to help everyone in their lives.”

^{© 2013 Stephen R. Sroka, PhD, Lakewood, Ohio. Used with permission.}

Stephen Sroka, PhD, is an adjunct assistant professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, and president of Health Education Consultants. He has worked in schools for more than 30 years. Connect with Sroka on his website or by e-mail at [email protected].

 I am indebted to the people at college at home for giving me permission to publish the following Infographics on being Unprepared For College.  Their statistics are impressive.
Graphic:

It appears that their wasn’t a link to college at home.
Link: https://www.collegeathome.com/blog/2013/01/17/unprepared-for-college/

Dropping out of school is a global problem.  Since the global society is increasingly being driven by technology, school completion becomes an economic as well as a social problem.  National global competitiveness means that the best students in a nation are not competing against the second-best graduates but against the world’s best graduates for jobs.

According to the Voice of America, since the 1990’s, education has been required for all South Africans from age seven to fifteen. The South African government announced that seventy percent of students passed their final examination to finish high school. In 2008 the passage rate was about sixty-three percent. There have been increases each year since then.

Professor Shireen Motala at the University of Johannesburg says access to basic education is no longer the problem in South Africa. She says most children stay in school until they are about sixteen. The problem now, she says, is that large numbers of them leave without completing high school. Students take an examination known as the matric in grade twelve, their final or “matriculation” year. Professor Motala notes that less than half the children who started school in 2000 sat for the matric last year.

South Africa has a twenty-four percent unemployment rate. Those who drop out must compete with better-educated people for jobs. Educational researchers also point to another problem. They say South African schools do not produce enough students with the skills for higher education in math and science.

Many schools in South Africa, like much of the rest of the world are underfunded. According to one source, 92 percent of the schools do not have libraries. In addition, teachers and school principals do not have the skills or training to do their jobs.  Subjects such as math and science are taught in English starting at about age ten. But South Africa has eleven official languages and many more unofficial ones.

 

The following has been supplied to  me by my friend and colleague, Dr. Steven Sroka.  Steve is an expert in several areas,not the least of them on school violence.  You may have seen him on Oprah among other television appearances.

Students are more than grade-point averages. Often they are faced with many barriers to effective education. Dealing with the whole child, and not just the academic child, can help facilitate learning. Safe and healthy students learn more. Here are some “Tips from the Trenches” about the value of supporting students.

 

Howard Adelman and Linda Taylor, codirectors of whole child partner Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA:

• “School improvement policy and practice continues to give short shrift to addressing barriers to learning and teaching and re-engaging disconnected students. As a result, critical factors interfering with student performance, progress, and well-being continue to be marginalized at schools.”
• “The time is long overdue for moving in new directions for student and learning supports. This entails reframing student and learning supports into a unified and comprehensive system that is fully integrated into the school improvement agenda at every school. And, developing, implementing, and sustaining such a system calls for revamping operational infrastructures to redeploy and weave school and community resources together.”

Brian Law, school counselor at Valdosta (Ga.) High School and 2010″“11 president of whole child partner American School Counselor Association:

“If I could mandate three laws about education, they would be

1. Enacting stricter anti-bullying laws in the schools, mandating teacher training to recognize the signs of bullying of all students, and requiring reporting of bullying incidents;
2. Funding school counselors in K”“12 at a ratio of 1:250; and
3. Mandating graduation plans emphasizing college and career readiness that begin in elementary school.”

Donna Mazyck, executive director of whole child partner National Association of School Nurses:

“As noted by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, school nurses play a vital role by enabling children’s health and learning. A school nurse in a school building saves principals, teachers, and clerical staff a considerable amount of time by addressing health concerns of students. A school nurse in the building saves

• Principals almost an hour a day.
• Teachers almost 20 minutes a day.
• Clerical staff more than 45 minutes a day.”

Judith Kullas Shine, president of the American Council for School Social Work:

• “Schools exist not only to instill facts and figures into developing brains, but to help parents to shape their children into whole human beings who understand how we depend upon each other to make the world work.”
• “When making decisions about services and programs we must think first and always about the students we serve and their needs. We cannot abandon them in favor of political expediency or balanced budgets.”
• “Students cannot learn, cannot achieve, if their basic needs of food, shelter, emotional support, and safety are unmet.”
• “One role of the school social worker is to ensure that each student has these needs at least minimally met in order to provide them with the opportunity to self-actualize.”

Marleen Wong, assistant dean and clinical professor at the University of Southern California and former director of Crisis Counseling Services for the Los Angeles Unified School District:

• “Educators are becoming more aware that the challenges of education are not only behavioral, but are linked to the exposure to violence and trauma in their students’ lives. Research has shown that students exposed to community or in home violence, as victims or witnesses, have lower rates of attendance and graduation from high school, lower reading scores, and high rates of expulsion and suspension.”
• “My work is with the development of the next generation of professional social workers with advanced degrees, who can work to prevent violence and provide early intervention for youth who live in troubled and chaotic environments.”

Harold Shinitzky, sports psychologist, coauthor of Your Mind: An Owner’s Manual for a Better Life, and motivational speaker based in Clearwater, Fla.:

• “As a preventionist, we have learned from the research that our students need basic reading, writing, and math skills as they transition from junior high to high school.”
• “The keys to success include self-discipline, self-worth, and selflessness.”
• “Self-discipline is the capacity to be resilient and steadfast. Never give up.”
• “Self-worth is believing in yourself, your value, your rights, and your dreams.”
• “Selflessness is developing an attitude of gratitude. Help make the lives of others better.”

Bill Stencil, manager for psychological services and flexible content expert for Humanware/SEL with the Cleveland (Ohio) Metropolitan School District:

• “Collaboration leads to good decision-making.”
• “Take the time to do it right the first time.”
• “We as adults must model our expectations.”
• “Don’t just tell them what they did wrong, instruct them on the appropriate behavior.”
• “My five guiding principles: Self-discipline, consistency, communication, persistence, and compassion.”

Christopher Thurber, board-certified clinical psychologist at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, consultant, and coauthor of The Summer Camp Handbook:

• “More than ever, young people need kind role models who take time to listen. Pop culture is replete with hyper-sexualized and superficial role models that leave young people interpersonally stranded.”
• “When adults emulate unselfish behavior, both in and out of formal academic settings, they set a sterling example for young people to follow.”
• “And when those same adults stop wondering ‘What should I say?’ and simply listen, then the message to young people is clear: ‘I care about you. And I can tolerate your distress, whatever the cause.’ It’s at that moment that we educators discover that most young people are smart enough to solve their own problems.”

Barbara Wand James, project director at the Texas Homeless Education Office and 2002″“03 president of the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth:

• “Kids who are homeless do not create their situations. They can’t help it if their parents can’t find work and can’t give them the things they need to be successful in school, such as eyeglasses. Sometimes they will fall asleep in class””it’s hard to stay awake when they had to sleep in a car and fear for their safety. In spite of all these and more challenges, homeless kids want to succeed.”
• “It’s up to us as the grown-ups to change our schools and systems to make it possible for them to succeed and break the cycle of homelessness.”

Scott Poland, professor at the Center for Psychological Studies, Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale-Davie, Fla., and past president of whole child partner National Association of School Psychologists:

• “Schools are the safest places children go, but one violent death on a school campus is one too many.”
• “We must end the ‘conspiracy of silence’ that allows weapons in school and for homicidal and suicidal threats to go unreported to adults.”
• “Schools need to form safety task forces that involve students and get a commitment from all students to improve school safety.”
• “Massive secondary schools face a particular challenge to develop positive relationships between all students and staff members.”
• “Every student needs to know that school staff care about their hopes and dreams.”
• “It is time that schools face the fact that suicide is the third leading cause of death for students and that talking about suicide does not plant the idea in their head.”
• “Schools need to form a task force for suicide prevention and link with community resources. Staff and students need to be provided with key information about the warning signs of suicide and that suicidal thoughts are situational.”
• “There is help available for suicidal students. Youth suicides can be prevented if everyone knows what to look for and where to go for help!”

^{© 2013 Stephen R. Sroka, PhD, Lakewood, Ohio. Used with permission.}

Stephen Sroka, PhD, is an adjunct assistant professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, and president of Health Education Consultants. He has worked in schools for more than 30 years. Connect with Sroka on his website or by e-mail at [email protected].

 

The following has been supplied to  me by my friend and colleague, Dr. Steven Sroka.  Steve is an expert in several areas,not the least of them on school violence.  You may have seen him on Opra among other television appearances.

School safety was a front page story following the tragic shooting deaths of 28 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Students need a safe school to learn. Most of these “Tips from the Trenches” regarding school safety were written before the Connecticut shootings.

 

Joseph Bergant II, superintendent of Chardon Schools in Ohio, where, in February 2012, a 17-year-old student opened fire in the high school cafeteria, killing three and wounding three others:

• “Be prepared and practice school safety plans. You never know when you may need them.”
• “Cell phones were effective in dealing with the safety evacuation plans, especially students notifying parents with texts.”
• “Stress the positive, not the perpetrator. Emphasize safety, learning, and services available. And don’t forget to take care of your staff, too.”
• “Use one spokesperson to avoid mixed messages.”
• “It takes a community to respond to school violence. Schools cannot do it alone. ‘One Heartbeat’ became the city’s mantra.”

Ken Trump, author, speaker, national consultant, and president of National School Safety and Security Services:

• “The first and best line of defense in school safety is a well-trained, highly-alert staff and student body.”
• “The fourth ‘R’ in education today is ‘relationships’: Adults having solid professional relationships with kids and school leaders having strong relationships with their public safety, mental health, and other community partners.”
• “School crisis teams must plan, prepare, and practice. Dusty crisis plans on shelves are not worth the paper they are written upon.”

Mark Behrens, director of the Safety, Security and Emergency Procedures Branch of the Hawaii Department of Education in Honolulu:

• “Schools are part of the community, a very important part of the community. Therefore for schools to be as safe as they can be we need to involve the community … parents, first responders, neighborhood boards, churches, etc. This is the best way we can ensure schools are places of honor, dignity, and respect and prepared for both natural and man-made incidents.”
• “Schools need to create a climate of safety and respect filled with opportunities for adults and students to have meaningful relationships and open communication.”

Curtis Clay, associate director of the Texas School Safety Center at Texas State University”“San Marcos:

• “Every child has the right to come to school and get the education that she deserves. If she feels unsafe being there for any reason, she cannot get her education.”
• “Take the issue of bullying very seriously. Teasing, joking, and playing around is normal. Bullying is not. The first step we have to take sometimes is examining our own beliefs as they pertain to this matter.”
• “Treat each person the way they want to be treated. What doesn’t bother Johnny may have a completely opposite effect on Jimmy.”

Jeff Kaye, director of Security and Safety Services at the Desert Sands Unified School District in La Quinta, Calif.:

• “Training is paramount to school safety. Train the school staff and the student body in areas related to school safety and emergency operations, especially lockdown and evacuation procedures. The training should be realistic and employ visualization techniques to promote mental muscle memory.”
• “In times of stress, the students and staff will react the way they were trained. Training promotes a feeling of safety in schools, and education cannot occur in an environment where students and staff don’t feel safe.”
• “Parental education should be incorporated in all training.”
• “Effective emergency preparedness training cannot occur until the attitude of denial is eliminated.”

Curtis S. Lavarello, executive director of the School Safety Advocacy Council:

• “When working with youth, I think one of the most important traits for professionals is to maintain a sense of empathy and compassion.”
• “[For school-based law enforcement,] while you carry many important weapons to work each day, including a firearm that can take a human life, it’s important for you to remember that the most important tool you carry each day is your brain and the ability to use common sense.”
• “Zero tolerance should not remove common sense from the equation.”

Scott Gilliam, director of training at D.A.R.E. America:

• “Education not only opens doors to your future, it sends you in the right direction to find those doors.”
• “Without education you will experience the door-to-door salesman’s plight: many doors will be shut in your face.”
• “For nearly 30 years, specially trained law enforcement personnel have taught children how to make good decisions when faced with difficult choices. The greatest derivative of D.A.R.E. has been the relationship between youth and law enforcement. Many chiefs of police and sheriffs have acknowledged the decrease in crime among youth when D.A.R.E. is present in their communities.”

Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO):

• “NASRO comprises school-based law enforcement officers, school administrators, and school security/safety professionals working as partners to protect students, faculty, staff, and their school communities.”
• “A well-trained, armed school resource officer is one of the best defenses against an active shooter. We provide training to school-based police officers on sound tactics that save lives during a shooting attack.”
• “While a school resource officer is essential, school safety requires collaboration between multiple agencies and parties. No single group or person, including a school resource officer, can effectively improve safety alone. We urge involvement by parents, cafeteria staff, janitorial staff, counselors, nurses, and even students, as appropriate.”

^{© 2013 Stephen R. Sroka, PhD, Lakewood, Ohio. Used with permission.}

Stephen Sroka, PhD, is an adjunct assistant professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, and president of Health Education Consultants. He has worked in schools for more than 30 years. Connect with Sroka on his website or by e-mail at [email protected].

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What jobs can high school graduates obtain?  Forbes Magazine compiled a list of the 20 best paying Blue Collar Jobs .  Forbes lists the 20 best-paying blue collar jobs from the government’s Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates. Every job earns more than the national average of $42,270. The salary averages are for workers with several years’ experience and the jobs are highly competitive; however, for students still in school, they provide a source for career pathways to consider. Remember, beginning salaries are lower than the national averages shown here.

For the full article, including pictures of people at work in these jobs, go to the website listed at the bottom of this Career Headline.

1. Elevator installers and repairers, Average Hourly Wage: $32.57
2. Powerhouse, Substation and Relay Repairers, Average Hourly Wage: $29.18
3. Transportation Inspectors, Average Hourly Wage: $28.46
4. Commercial Divers, Average Hourly Wage: $26.42
5. Oil and Gas Rotary Drill Operators, Average Hourly Wage: $26.14
6. Power-line Installers and Repairers, Average Hourly Wage: $26.11
7. Locomotive Engineers, Average Hourly Wage: $25.71
8. Boilermakers, Average Hourly Wage: $25.53
9. Locomotive Firers, Average Hourly Wage: $25.31
10. Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Average Hourly Wage: $25.31
Adapted from Forbes.com
https://www.forbes.com/2009/06/10/paying-blue-collar-leadership-jobs.html

Please be aware that this list changes.

 

 

 

 

A number of you who have attended my presentations and have received the “Starfish” bookmarks have inquired if it is possible for you to purchase them for your staff, friends or students.  They are now available for purchase.  They cost $2.95 for a dozen + postage of $8 to be shipped U.S. Post Office priority.  If you are interested send me an email at [email protected] with your name, school address and the number desired. Or you can order them directly from the SHOPP on this website’s home page. website.