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After much hard work by my webmaster, we were able to put online the presentation FAILURE. Those of you who have attended my workshops have asked how you can obtain it. Well, it is now available through the store at the top of this homepage.

For a limited time, the price has been reduced to $20 to those of you who waited so patiently. Because the video is downloaded there isn’t a charge for postage and handling.

According to a new Child Trends research brief, Children in Poverty: Trends, Consequences, and Policy Options, using 2007 Census data to present a statistical portrait of children in poverty in the U.S., updating similar briefs Child Trends produced in 1999 and 2002.

Nearly one out of five children in the United States was living in poverty in 2007, and this percentage has been increasing since 2000.

Among the trends:
The poverty rate for children younger than 18 increased from 17.4 percent in 2006 to 18 percent in 2007, the highest rate since 1998. This 18 percent translates into 13.3 million children living in poverty in the U.S., an increase of 497,000 children between 2006 and 2007.

Children are almost twice as likely to be poor as older adults. In 2007, the poverty rate was 9.7 percent for people 65 and older, compared with 18 percent for children younger than 18.

Substantial racial disparities persist: black and Hispanic children were more than twice as likely to live in poverty in 2007 as non-Hispanic white and Asian children. 34.5 percent of black children and 28.6 percent of Hispanic children lived in poverty in 2007, compared with 10.1 percent of non-Hispanic white children and 12.5 percent of Asian children.
A large body of research exists which links poverty with lower levels of child well-being. Poor children are more likely than children from more affluent families to have low academic achievement, to drop out of school, and to have health, behavioral, and emotional problems.

It is interesting to note that this data was reported prior to the economic decline in the country.

According to the Detroit News, Detroit Public Schools’ emergency financial manager on Wednesday said he plans to send layoff notices to 600 teachers and close 22 other schools in the fall because of plummeting enrollment and a mounting deficit.

Robert Bobb, the manager, also announced plans to plow more than $200 million into existing buildings by enhancing security and making structural and other improvements.

Bobb said the closings and layoffs are necessary to stave off a $306 million deficit, which will force the transfer of 7,500 students.

The 600 teachers who receive layoff notices — make up about 11.3 percent of the total.

Bobb said he is notifying the community and working with city planners to ensure the shuttered schools won’t add blight to neighborhoods already impacted by dozens of shuttered Detroit schools dotting the landscape.

Bobb plans to spend $25 million to enhance security at several schools, by replacing doors, adding security cameras and creating a new video monitoring system for the district’s Department of Public Safety.

Parents have been crying out for enhanced security, and the school system has been plagued by violent intruders. Just last week, a school social worker tackled a boy who allegedly entered a school with a sawed-off shotgun. At Central High School earlier this school year, several intruders engaged in a gun fight in the school halls. Officials have long said securing aging structures with dozens of doors is nearly impossible.

Bobb is asking the state to use federal stimulus funding for the majority of the building projects, which include other infrastructure improvements like lighting, roofs and new boilers.

Another $20 million from a 1994 bond issue will be used to repair and renovate schools that will be receiving new students, with an additional $6 million from allocated, unspent funds to improve several schools where students transferred as part of the last closure plan where 33 schools were shuttered.

Bobb also will review which shuttered buildings — including 56 already vacant structures — would be targeted for demolition, redevelopment or sale to charter schools. He acknowledged that closings must be strategic to avoid a greater loss of students. The district, which has about 96,000 students, has been losing about 10,000 students a year most years since 2001. But the community in the past has staged protests and railed against closures, which some say are contributing to the dismantling of the school system.

Former superintendent Connie Calloway this school year opted not to close schools after the district found the 33 school closings the previous year cost the system millions of dollars. An internal report compiled by a committee of academic and non-academic “stakeholders” and authored by Calloway said the district lost $11.3 million because students left the district following the closures.

“It’s sad. That school is a neighborhood school, so it’s very convenient for a lot of kids to walk back and forth,” she said. “Closing the schools where people are working and the community is helping out — that’s not the solution.”

There are several things that I do not get. One, if there is a need to close buildings, which obviously there are, why haven’t the buildings closed since 1994, been torn down? Why not create smaller class sizes in a city, which according to Education Week, has a 24 percent graduation rate? Wouldn’t a process to improve schools stop people from fleeing the city? How would closing schools and having students walk longer distances encourage parents to stay?

I just don’t get it.

I have just returned from Oklahoma City where I delivered a number of presentations. One of the sessions was entitled, Building Oklahoma’s Global Competitiveness: From The Schoolhouse to The Workplace. They had an artist who captured some of the essence of my presentation. If you would like to see it, visit https://www.speedofcreativity.org/category/leadership/

Attendees at my workshops are informed that 15 states produce nearly 80 percent of all school dropouts. I ask them if they believe that their state is one of those states. Some correctly say “yes”; some correctly say “no”; and some incorrectly identify their state’s position. I follow up and ask what the states on the list have in common. Most correctly state that the states are predominantly rural, are positioned along the southern and western borders, and have a large minority population. What they fail to identify is that the states spend less on education than the majority of states. With the American economy at the beginnings of a recession/depression, educational spending will be a major issue in the next few months.

The General Accounting Office estimates that the 50 sttates need to spend an additional $112 billion just to put school buildings in a reasonable working order.

In the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) of the top 15 states in reading, 10 are among the top 20 percent of state spenders. Among the top 15 states in science curriculums, more than half are among the top 20 spenders.

Money however is not the magic answer to all of the problems. Obviously, Washington DC spends more money on education than any single state and has a terrible record. Massachusetts, is 43rd in spending and is high in achievement. But Massachusetts, is a state with one of the highest per-capita incomes in the country and a high concentration of elite public and private schools.

The reality is that when the data is released on achievement or dropouts or graduation rates, we need to look at how much each state spends on achieving those results.

My friend and colleague, Dr. Stephen R. Sroka addressed a conference in Dubai. A journal in Dubai asked if they could reproduce the speech. They did and I asked Steve if I could reproduce it as well. For those of you who do know Steve, this will serve as an introduction. Dr. Sroka is an international expert on school improvement and school violence. He has been on the Oprah show and has been featured in USA Today. Some of you have been lucky enough to hear his dynamic presentations. His contact information is at the end of the article.

I feel privileged to call Steve a friend. Read this and you will understand why.

Getting to the Heart of Education: Listening to the Whole Child
Dr. Stephen R. Sroka
Many students are crying out for help with non-academic issues, yet many educators continue to respond with an emphasis on academic proficiency skills. With today’s stress on academic achievement at all costs with little regard for the mental, social, physical, emotional or spiritual aspects of the whole child, many teachers teach tests rather than students, who become point averages and not people. Consequently, many students tune out and drop out literally or figuratively. Sex, drugs, violence and boring classes are sensitive issues that need to be examined and addressed if schools are to become successful. One person can make a difference by teaching to the whole child, and help students learn more and live better. Today, new ways to motivate, inspire and help children learn include social and mental-health communication skills that incorporate kindness along with motivating brain-based learning strategies.
They integrate cutting-edge research (including social and emotional learning, social intelligence, stress management, communication strategies, motivational interviewing, brain-based learning, media and cultural literacy, character education, resiliency, and youth and asset-development programs), humor and inspirational real-life stories to facilitate learning about the whole child and the students’ mental, emotional, social, spiritual, and physical-health needs, and their relationship to success, both academic and in life. These novel approaches make classrooms come “alive” by offering relevant information, life skills, and most importantly hope for the future. For many students, if you don’t get to their hearts, you don’t get to their heads. In the end, for many students, only kindness matters. I had the opportunity to present at a closing general session for the Conference on Teaching and Learning for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development in San Francisco in 2005. The topic was titled, “Students Speak! Voices from the Trenches: Are You Listening?” I brought some experts with me ““ four high-school students. In 2006, I keynoted the Kentucky Truancy/ Dropout Prevention Symposium. This session of experts included a panel of 10 students to discuss the real-life issues that had an impact on whether they dropped out and stayed in school. It was a chance for students to tell their teachers what they wanted. In both conferences, the students made suggestions on how we may reach and teach the whole child. Among the issues discussed were concrete strategies to retain, engage, challenge, support and educate all students, including the unmotivated, as well as suggestions on how to make your learning environments come alive.
The following are students’ responses to my questions:
What makes a school a safe and healthy place?
“¢ Supportive teachers that students can connect with
“¢ Being free to speak your mind and being respected
“¢ Knowing you’re there to learn and there are no outside or internal threats
“¢ Healthy lunches and snacks
What are the qualities of effective teachers? What kinds of teachers make the classroom come alive?
“¢ Their passion
“¢ They are nonjudgmental.
They let kids know their opinions are welcomed and respected
“¢ They are outgoing, understanding and not intimidating, and you can confide in them
“¢ They care
“¢ They have a passion for the content and the students they teach. They don’t just say, “It’s in the book”
“¢ They see you as a person and not as a point average
“¢ They respect you

What problems would you remove from your school?
“¢ Apathy
“¢ Not being challenged
“¢ Not feeling welcomed
“¢ Bullying
“¢ Discrimination
“¢ Dispassionate and lifeless teachers and students
“¢ Boring classes
“¢ Standardized lessons
“¢ Standardized tests
“¢ Standardized lunches
“¢ Testing as a way of ranking students
“¢ Grades
“¢ Drugs and alcohol
“¢ Early morning classes

What top qualities would you want in your school?
“¢ Positive discipline
“¢ A clean safe and welcoming environment
“¢ Teaching for understanding, not memory
“¢ Emotionally nurturing, quality teachers (with a sense of humor)
“¢ Creativity that is valued and encouraged
“¢ A feeling that it was like a family community
“¢ Extracurricular activities ““ sports, music, art, clubs, dances, field trips, service learning, things to do besides boring school work

After listening to the students tell me what they want, researching adolescents
and learning, and teaching for 30 years, I respectfully offer these observations.
Do all students learn the same? Of course not, so why do we teach and test them all the same? Are all students gifted? Of course they are, but some just open their boxes a little later. If students are not learning the way we are teaching, we must teach the way that they learn. All children have different
learning styles, so teaching should be tailored to involve all students in activities that are interesting, fun, insightful, useful and let them explore their creativity, reflect on their life and develop relevant life skills that utilize all of their multiple intelligences. All students need individualized learning plans. Teaching is about relationships. To get to the head you must go through the heart. Students don’t care what you teach if you don’t teach that you care. Safe and healthy schools help make better students who learn more. Many students, who put themselves at risk with sex, drugs and violent behavior, are crying for help. But today, rather than try to help them, we punish them. What good is it if a student can pass a proficiency test but not a reality test? What good does it do to develop your head if you are going to be dead? Students need life skill to prevent risky behavior, and interventions to help them overcome problems which impact their ability to learn more and live better, safe and free of drugs.

Everyone needs the three Fs of life: a “family” that loves them, even if it is not a
biological family; “friends,” who will pull them up rather than down; and “faith,” a moral compass, a sense of right and wrong. The three Fs sound like a sound bite, but are firmly based on research on resiliency, asset development, connectedness and protective factors.

Programs don’t change kids, people do. Put your money in training people. Studies show that resiliency is related to an adult, other than a family member, who is there to help turn a person around. You have the “Power of One” to make a difference. The Power of One is a belief that with education, helping one another and believing in yourself, you can help change schools, communities and lives. The Power of One is not something you buy; it is something you buy into.
Even small gestures may have huge effects. I met a former student whom I had not seen in 20 years. He gave me a hug and told me that I was his favorite teacher. When I asked him why, he replied: “Because you always said, Hi,” ““ a courtesy that he could not remember any other teacher doing. He said that he now has kids in school, and when he goes to their school, he still sees teachers who do not acknowledge students as they walk down the hall. After 20 years, long after all the classroom lessons were forgotten, he still remembered a simple act of kindness. After I keynoted the Kentucky Great Kids Summit this last summer, one of the participants sent me a large manila envelope with the words largely written on the outside, “You changed my life at the Kids Summit.” Her letters confirmed the importance of treating people with honesty, respect, dignity, love and kindness. Students crave honesty and heart, and they love humor.
Humor grabs attention, fosters creativity and makes learning fun. But knowing how and when to use humor in the classroom is just as important. Humor is not appropriate when it makes fun of a person’s race, color, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, national origin or disability. Good humor does not include crude language; off-color words have no place in the classroom. Humor should never hurt.
*
Recently I retired after teaching for 30 years. When some of my former students gathered to honor me, I asked them what they remembered about me “back in the day.” Was it the time I jumped up on the desk and took off my shoes to teach the bones of the feet, or the community projects in the ghetto in which we participated during summer breaks? One student piped up and said: “No. It was your caring and sense of humor. In fact, we forgot everything you said, and most of the things we did, but we never forgot the way you made us feel.”
I believe that education is the most powerful weapon we have against the problems our youth face today. I believe the efforts of one person can make this a better world. This is why I teach. I have the Power of One to make a difference, and so do you. Our students are speaking. Are you listening?
Further information on this topic can be found at DrStephenSroka.com
Long after all the classroom lessons were forgotten, he still remembered a simple act of kindness

MEE January-February 2009 www.middleeasteducator.com Dr. Stephen R. Sroka was the keynote speaker at the TeachME 2009 Conference which was held in Dubai on January 14-15. He can be contacted at: [email protected]

25 THINGS ABOUT TO BECOME EXTINCT IN AMERICA
Many of us can remember “candy stores” and dial-up internet,
even if we do not want to tell others. I found this information found below fascinating. For those of you in the classroom, Ask your students to predict what will also be disappearing from the landscape.
For those of you in foreign lands, is the same thing happening in the country where you live?

Can they predict: What will replace the newspaper, etc.? How will schools change?

25. U.S. Post Office
They are pricing themselves out of existence. With e-mail, and
and online services they are a relic of the past. (refer to #9)
Packages are also sent faster and cheaper with UPS.

24. Yellow Pages
This year will be pivotal for the global Yellow Pages industry.
Much like newspapers, print Yellow Pages will continue to bleed
dollars to their various digital counterparts, from Internet
Yellow Pages (IYPs), to local search engines and combination
search/listing services like Reach Local and Yodel Factors like20an
acceleration of the print ‘fade rate’ and the looming recession
will contribute to the onslaught. One research firm predicts the
falloff in usage of newspapers and print Yellow Pages could even
reach 10% this year — much higher than the 2%-3% fade rate seen
in past years.

23. Classified Ads
The Internet has made so many things obsolete that newspaper
classified ads might sound like just another trivial item on a
long list. But this is one of those harbingers of the future that
could signal the end of civilization, as we know it. The argument
is that if newspaper classifieds are replaced by free online
listings at sites like Craigslist.org and Google Base, then
newspapers are not far behind them.

22. Movie Rental Stores
While Netflix is looking up at the moment, Blockbuster keeps
closing store locations by the hundreds. It still has about 6,000
left across the world, but those keep dwindling and the stock is
down considerably in 2008, especially since the company gave up a
quest of Circuit City. Movie Gallery, which owned the Hollywood
Video brand, closed up shop earlier this year. Countless small
video chains and mom-and-pop stores have given up the ghost
already.

21. Dial-up Internet Access
Dial-up connections have fallen from 40% in 2001 to 10% in 2008.
The combination of an infrastructure to accommodate affordable
high speed Internet connections and the disappearing home phone
have all but pounded the final nail in the coffin of dial-up
Internet access.

20. Phone Landlines
According to a survey from the National Center for Health
Statistics, at the end of 2007, nearly one in six homes was
cell-only and, of those homes that had landlines, one in eight
only received calls on their cells.

19. Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs
Maryland’s icon, the blue crab, has been fading away in Chesapeake
Bay. Last year Maryland saw the lowest harvest (22 million pounds)
since 1945. Just four decades ago the bay produced 96 million
pounds. The population is down 70% since 1990, when they first did
a formal count. There are only about 120 million crabs in the bay
and they think they need 200 million for a sustainable population.
Over-fishing, pollution, invasive species and global warming get
the blame.

18. VCRs
For the better part of three decades, the VCR was a best-seller
and staple in every American household until being completely
decimated by the DVD, and now the Digital Video Recorder (DVR). In
fact, the only remnants of the VHS age at your local Wal-Mart or
Radio Shack are blank VHS tapes these days. Pre-recorded VHS tapes
are largely gone and VHS decks are practically nowhere to be
found. They served us so well.

17. Ash Trees
In the late 1990s, a pretty, iridescent green species of beetle,
now known as the emerald ash borer, hitched a ride to North
America with ash wood products imported from eastern Asia. In less
than a decade, its larvae have killed millions of trees in the
Midwest, and continue to spread. They’ve killed more than 30
million ash trees in southeastern Michigan alone, with tens of
millions more lost in Ohio and Indiana. More than 7.5 billion ash
trees are currently at risk.

16. Ham Radio
Amateur radio operators enjoy personal (and often worldwide)
wireless communications with each other and are able to support
their communities with emergency and disaster communications if
necessary, while increasing their personal knowledge of
electronics and radio theory. However, proliferation of the
Internet and its popularity among youth has caused the decline of
amateur radio. In the past five years alone, the number of people
holding active ham radio licenses has dropped by 50,000, even
though Morse Code is no longer a requirement.

15. The Swimming Hole
Thanks to our litigious society, swimming holes are becoming a
thing of the past. ’20/20′ reports that swimming hole owners, like
Robert Every in High Falls, NY, are shutting them down out of
worry that if someone gets hurt they’ll sue. And that’s exactly
what happened in Seattle. The city of Bellingham was sued by Katie
Hofstetter who was paralyzed in a fall at a popular swimming hole
in Whatcom Falls Park. As injuries occur and lawsuits follow,
expect more swimming holes to post ‘Keep out!’ signs.

14. Answering Machines
The increasing disappearance of answering machines is directly
tied to No 20 our list — the decline of landlines. According to
USA Today, the number of homes that only use cell phones jumped
159% between 2004 and 2007. It has been particularly bad in New
York; since 2000, landline usage has dropped 55%. It’s logical
that as cell phones rise, many of them replacing traditional
landlines, that there will be fewer answering machines.

13. Cameras That Use Film
It doesn’t require a statistician to prove the rapid disappearance
of the film camera in America. Just look to companies like Nikon,
the professional’s choice for quality camera equipment. In 2006,
it announced that it would stop making film cameras, pointing to
the shrinking market — only 3% of its sales in 2005, compared to
75% of sales from digital cameras and equipment.

12. Incandescent Bulbs
Before a few years ago, the standard 60-watt (or, yikes, 100-watt)
bulb was the mainstay of every U.S. home. With the green movement
and all-things-sustainable-energy crowd, the Compact Fluorescent
Lightbulb (CFL) is largely replacing the older, Edison-era
incandescent bulb. The EPA reports that 2007 sales for Energy Star
CFLs nearly doubled from 2006, and these sales accounted for
approximately 20 percent of the U.S. light bulb market. And
according to USA Today, a new energy bill plans to phase out
incandescent bulbs in the next four to 12 years.

11. Stand-Alone Bowling Alleys
BowlingBalls. US claims there are still 60 million Americans who
bowl at least once a year, but many are not bowling in stand-alone
bowling alleys. Today most new bowling alleys are part of
facilities for all types or recreation including laser tag,
go-karts, bumper cars, video game arcades, climbing walls and glow
miniature golf. Bowling lanes also have been added to many
non-traditional venues such as adult communities, hotels and
resorts, and gambling casinos.

10. The Milkman
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 1950, over
half of the milk delivered was to the home in quart bottles, by
1963, it was about a third and by 2001, it represented only 0.4%
percent. Nowadays most milk is sold through supermarkets in gallon
jugs. The steady decline in home-delivered milk is blamed, of
course, on the rise of the supermarket, better home refrigeration
and longer-lasting milk. Although some milkmen still make the
rounds in pockets of the U.S., 0A they are certainly a dying breed.

9. Hand-Written Letters
In 2006, the Radicati Group estimated that, worldwide, 183 billion
e-mails were sent each day. Two million each second. By November
of 2007, an estimated 3.3 billion Earthlings owned cell phones,
and 80% of the world’s population had access to cell phone
coverage. In 2004, half-a-trillion text messages were sent, and
the number has no doubt increased exponentially since then. So
where amongst this gorge of gabble is there room for the elegant,
polite hand-written letter?

8. Wild Horses
It is estimated that 100 years ago, as many as two million horses
were roaming free within the United States. In 2001, National
Geographic News estimated that the wild horse population had
decreased to about 50,000 head. Currently, the National Wild Horse
and Burro Advisory board states that there are 32,000 free roaming
horses in ten Western states, with half of them residing in
Nevada. The Bureau of Land Management is seeking to reduce the
total number of free range horses to 27,000, possibly by selective
euthanasia.

7. Personal Checks
According to an American Bankers Assoc. report, a net 23% of
consumers plan to decrease their use of checks over the next two
years, while a net 14% plan to increase their use of PIN debit.
Bill payment remains the last stronghold of paper-based
payments — for the time being. Checks continue to be the most
commonly used bill payment method, with 71% of consumers paying at
least one recurring bill per month by writing a check. However,
a bill-by-bill basis, checks account for only 49% of consumers’
recurring bill payments (down from 72% in 2001 and 60% in 2003).

6. Drive-in Theaters
During the peak in 1958, there were more than 4,000 drive-in
theaters in this country, but in 2007 only 405 drive-ins were
still operating. Exactly zero new drive-ins have been built since
2005. Only one reopened in 2005 and five reopened in 2006, so
there isn’t much of a movement toward reviving the closed ones.

5. Mumps & Measles
Despite what’s been in the news lately, the measles and mumps
actually, truly are disappearing from the United States. In 1964,
212,000 cases of mumps were reported in the U.S. By 1983, this
figure had dropped to 3,000, thanks to a vigorous vaccination
program. Prior to the introduction of the measles vaccine,
approximately half a million cases of measles were reported in the
U.S. annually, resulting in 450 deaths. In 2005, only 66 cases
were recorded.

4. Honey Bees
Perhaps nothing on our list of disappearing America is so dire;
plummeting so enormously; and so necessary to the survival of our
food supply as the honey bee. Very scary. ‘Colony Collapse
Disorder,’ or CCD, has spread throughout the U.S. and Europe over
the past few years, wiping out 50% to 90% of the colonies of many
beekeepers — and along with it, their livelihood.

3. News Magazines and TV News
While the TV evening newscasts haven’t gone anywhere over the last
several decades, their audiences have. In 1984, in a story about
the diminishing returns of the evening news, the New York Times
reported that all three network evening-news programs combined had
only 40.9 million viewers. Fast forward to 2008, and what they have today is half that.

2. Analog TV
According to the Consumer Electronics Association, 85% of homes in the U.S. get their television programming through cable or satellite providers. For the remaining 15% — or 13 million individuals ““
who are using rabbit ears or a large outdoor antenna to get their local stations,
change is in the air. If you are one of these people you’ll need to get a new TV or a converter box in order to get the new stations which will only be broadcast in digital.

1. The Family Farm
Since the 1930s, the number of family farms has been declining
rapidly. According to the USDA, 5.3 million farms dotted the
nation in 1950, but this number had declined to 2.1 million by the 2003 farm census
(data from the 2007 census hasn’t yet been published).
Ninety-one percent of the U.S. FARMS are small Family Farms.

History has shown that you can throw huge amounts of money at schools and it will only mildly affect students’ learning. What makes the difference are highly qualified, highly effective teachers.

We need to higher and recognize and reward exceptional teachers and we need to identify mediocre teachers at each and every school and either retrain them or encourage them to find new employment. I frequently ask teachers at my workshops, if there are any teachers at their school who they would not put their children into their classrooms. The response is overwhelmingly positive. Yet we allow these individuals to teach without being given the proper support and training.

I am not suggesting comparing teachers at suburban or high performing inner-city schools with teachers working in “dropout factories”. Rather I am asking that we compare teachers to teachers within the same school. And the comparison data should be for a number of years not just one year. Exceptional teachers work with existing conditions and overcome their challenges. Mediocre teachers blame everything but themselves. They blame the background of their students, the lack of funding, the student’s parents, and their community that the student comes from.

If exceptional teachers in each school are recognized and rewarded with extra funds and given time to provide training to the mediocre teachers in each school, I believe that we will see a rapid improvement in schools.