Agenda Review currently being streamed live:
http://video.discoverpps.org/?q=node/6
So many contracts, so many consultants; maybe $7k here, $10k there, but contract after contract, month after month, they add up. At the same time there is no longer enough money for quality buildings and the kind of staff buildings used to have.
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24 comments:
Mark Brentley is questioning an approximately $1 million contract with Rand, and whether the prior history with the district affects the independence of the company.
Now discussing participation in a restorative justice program, with an emphasis on reducing suspensions and disparity in suspension rates.
Isn't it entirely foreseeable that any school or district that knows suspensions and disparity are a focus, and that they are being watched on these issues and that there are expectations and measurements of "fidelity," will show lower suspension and disparity, regardless of the specifics of the program?
Sample house.
Tell me PPS mucking this up does not effect real estate prices? ( My relative got a bargin)
http://listings.realestatesolutionspittsburgh.com/realestatehomesforsale/6516-lilac-st-pittsburgh-pa-15217-gid400023002647.html
How can they discuss raising taxes ever, while their decisions are lowering the value of real estate in established neighborhoods?
The graph is startling.
More on disparities in suspension rates. Is the focus on eliminating disparate treatment for the same or similar offenses, or on the idea that any disparity in suspension rates for different groups (to the extent that suspension is necessary at all) is a problem?
Again, the point is being missed . . .Looking for solutions to problems that would not exist if the 'educators' were people who knew how to engage students in the learning of requisite critical thinking SKILLS---not disembodied content that has students (clearly brighter than adults in the environment) demonstrating resistance to the forced feeding of irrelevant material that should be excised from curricula!
Hey! Kids love to out-think you---love to be creative---love to solve problems!
Engage them productively and you won't have to contain, suspend or worry excessively about restorative justice!
What are some examples of material in the current curriculum that is irrelevant?
Note also that in the real world- college, trade school, employment- there is not going to be constant coaxing and efforts to make material enticing at all times- ask any professional, there is lots of stuff you just have to slog through. There is a benefit to learning to make it through these lessons for future rewards.
PPS should move from agenda review
To FREE MARKET REVIEW meaning the AGENDA IS
FREE MONEY AT PPS have anything to offer we BUY IT no
Questions Ask
3.02 International Institute for Restorative Practices - (Student Support Services) – RESOLVED, that the Board of Directors of the School District of Pittsburgh authorize its proper officers to enter into a contract with the International Institute for Restorative Practices to fulfill program services as defined in the proposal submitted by the District to the U.S. Department of Justice's “Comprehensive School Safety Initiative – Developing Knowledge About What Works to Make Schools safe” grant program. This submission resulted in a $3,021,407 three-year grant award that was accepted and approved as Agenda Item Number 2.04, by the Board of Directors of the School District of Pittsburgh at the October 22, 2014 Legislative Committee Meeting. The contract period is from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2017. The contracted amount shall not exceed $1,500,000 (Year 1: $1,000,000 and Year 2: $500,000) from account line 4810-09X-2271-324”
9:24
To make your point can you give us an anecdotal story of engaging students who are ' clearly brighter than the adults in the room' in the learning of requisite thinking skills? Maybe a little Profession Development can happen in this blog?
I'm assuming you are an educator.
I'm not 9:14 but can give an anecdotal story from another perspective.
A student came to a teacher and said , "Will you teach me? The teacher looked at the student and said, "Will you allow me to teach?"
The student said," Why should I not allow you to teach? I have come to learn."
The teacher said, " Because that is the most important thing___ will you allow me to teach? Otherwise I cannot teach, because in fact teaching is not possible only learning is possible. If you allow than the learning will flower.
7:39 is another of those anecdotal stories that are clear examples of the problem that is being complained about here to the detriment of students in our schools. Circular arguments with children is not a solution.
7:39
Yes!...and that's the million dollar contract that is missing on day 1 in the classroom.
Both statements that students can learn anything teachers can teach, and that teachers can teach anything students can learn, are circular to some extent; along with 7:39's anecdote, they are just another way of stating an opinion on the reason for lack of achievement. There is no one reason, though; for example, there may be some teachers who spend time sitting behind their desks doing nothing, but there are also students too hampered by medical conditions or problems at home to be truly receptive to learning.
8:59
This is not an argument but an understanding, a verbal contract entered into on day 1 between student and teacher.
We can talk about contracts with Rand etc. but we miss the most important contract and there is no detriment to any child as a participant in that contract. The relationship between teacher and student is at the heart of it all and the terms must be defined on day 1.
"It takes two."
It is very revealing that EQUAL weight is being given to teacher and student when it comes to responsibility and accountability.
Maybe if you paid the students $70 to $80 thousand a year, as EQUAL partners, you wouldn't have the problem that you are defining with: "it takes two".
Of course this is ludicrous, students would not need schooling if they were adults---but, maybe the true problem is that the teachers need more schooling to prepare them to be successful professionals.
Who said it is 50/50? It could be 80/20 or 90/10, with teachers more responsible. The important thing is that best results can be obtained only if both parties give their best.
10:20
It is easy as educators to over 'think' the simple telling of the story. After all we have these 'thinking skills'. It's harder to 'feel' the beauty, the honesty, the simpleness of it's question and answer. There in lies its lesson___but of course one must be receptive.
10:20 - If professional development excludes the sacred relationship between teacher and student, and how that relationship is defined on day 1 then expectations and measurements and teaching and learning are short changed.
Professional development is possibly even more scripted than the rest of the Broad BS--there is no more gathering of colleagues to brain storm/ problem solve. Imagine-- parents and people outside this mess--that bringing up a topic-- say consequences-- during the reward litany, will have you chastised in the office.
Not to pile on here 10:20 but for clarity are you saying that if our young people were adults they would not need 'schooling' and in the same sentence your solution for our teachers is more 'schooling'?
No, 7:10, not at all. Sorry not to be more clear; the comment was just a response to what was being said previously. The role of the teacher IS to create a learning environment that works for students, to build relationships that inspire, that motivate, that provide experiences for students that facilitate both teachers and students reaching the goals for which schools exist. It can be and is being done where the 'right' adults are in place. (That responsibility rests with the adults NOT the children.)
"Each child's path in learning, and each teacher's contribution to it, is unique. Neither children nor teachers are standardized."
(Letters to the Editor in today's PG)
The emphasis is on the child and indeed many children at a very early age will take ownership, instinctively, in their path to learning. It's a beautiful thing and as teachers our hope is not to be a barrier to it.
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