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Due 6/19: How can a family structure help us approach attendance and behavior with our students, classes, and programs?

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Due 6/19: How can a family structure help us approach attendance and behavior with our students, classes, and programs?

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Consider various family structures, including nuclear families, step-families, single-parent families, grandparents raising children, teens raising children, foster families, mixed race families, same- parent families, and trans-racial families, to name a few.  If you're in an area affected by this, you should also consider gangs.

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Wednesday posts are in green - two posts.

Thanks for checking out your portfolios - I'm looking forward to going through these today.  Reminder that our school report card project is due tomorrow.  If you need any help or assistance, please email me at donstinson83@mac.com or text/call 815-919-8980 (text will get a faster response - just let me know who you are!).

If you'd like to do a zoom meeting with me on Friday afternoon, please let me know (optional).

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Tuesday posts are in pink.

By the end of today I will have a post in your individual portfolio.  If you are not able to access this portfolio, please let me know.  Please access this portfolio by Friday, June 19.

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(duplicated in schoology)

Hi everyone - welcome to week two!

School report card projects are due on June 18. If you'd like to send me anything to look at before the due date, please feel free to email or share to dstinson@vandercook.edu

Over the weekend I went through our previous padlets, surveys, and submitted material to create an overview of your questions, concerns, comments, and ideas.  This will be supplied by the end of the week after I do some additional organizing.

Finally - I've linked some of my own content this week.  I hope I am not coming off as "preachy" by supplying essays, research, or interviews I've done with other teachers.  Please accept this information as simply one educator sharing with other educators.

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DOWNLOAD: Teaching Restorative Practices with Classroom Circles Manual (posted 6/16)

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DOWNLOAD: Teaching Restorative Practices with Classroom Circles Manual (posted 6/16)

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This is not required reading for this course; however, this is a helpful manual to incorporate a complete package of relationship building and restorative practices in the classroom. If your school has not offered professional development in this area, this manual will at least give you a starting point of what to do and how to set up.

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MECA: Attendance and Determining Negotiables

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Due 6/19: Read Essay: Attendance Experiences

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Due 6/19: Read Essay: Attendance Experiences

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An excerpt from an article I wrote on Low-Income Music programs and reflecting and encouraging attendance.

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From Chris P. Gleason, Wisconsin Educator of the Year, 2017. http://www.chrispgleason.com/

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Due 6/19: Read Restorative Justice: Major Study Finds Safer Schools, But Lower Test Scores for Black Student

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Due 6/19: Read Restorative Justice: Major Study Finds Safer Schools, But Lower Test Scores for Black Student

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Discussion not required but welcome.

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In one Pittsburgh elementary school classroom, students started the day in a circle, explaining how they were feeling as others listened intently. Some were happy, but others were sleepy or sad.

"Let's remember those who said they're tired or frustrated so we can help them out today," the teacher said in closing.

A similar ritual for a group of sixth-graders in another class didn't go as well. Asked to share their week's high and low points, students talked over each other. When the teacher shared her own low point, a student yelled, "I thought your low point would be teaching us every day."

Those experiences mirror the mixed results of two dozen Pittsburgh schools' move to new discipline policies known as restorative justice, according to a comprehensive study released last week by the RAND Corporation. It appears to be the first randomized trial - the gold standard in social science research - of restorative justice in schools, a practice that has taken hold across the country.

The study finds that the move accomplished a key goal of school discipline reformers by reducing the number of days students were suspended, especially for black students.

Teachers also reported their school environments felt safer, rebutting critics who claim that reducing suspensions means chaos in the classroom. That was a key argument U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos used to back up her recent decision to revoke Obama-era rules aimed at curbing suspensions of students of color.

"I'm very much heartened by the finding that suggest that we could actually use this to address gaps, which has just been a challenge," said Kristen Harper, an analyst with Child Trends and a former Obama education official.

But Pittsburgh's changes came with notable downsides, raising questions about the tradeoffs that come with new ways of addressing misbehavior.

The policies appear especially unhelpful in middle school grades, where they didn't reduce suspension rates but did hurt test scores. The shift did not boost student learning on the whole, and black students in particular actually saw significant reductions in test scores.

"I'm concerned, but not concerned enough to throw it away," said Constance Lindsay, a researcher at the Urban Institute who has studied school discipline.

What happened: Ambitious changes across Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Public Schools officials believed they had a problem.

Over one-third of students had said in a survey that they felt angry about how they were treated by adults in their school. Like many districts, Pittsburgh had high suspension rates meted out predominantly to black students. School climate needed to change, officials believed, and alternatives to suspensions should be a part of the fix.

Pittsburgh got a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to try one approach. Twenty-two schools were randomly assigned to try restorative justice practices, and another 22 were not. The two groups of schools were compared over two school years, 2015-16 and 2016-17.

With two to four days of training, and ongoing help from coaches, the teachers were told to work with students rather than dole out punishments. Discussion circles were encouraged, both in response to misbehavior and on an ongoing basis. Disciplinary processes were supposed to become more transparent, and staff were told to express their personal feelings in response to positive or negative events.

None of that explicitly prohibited staff from suspending students, but teachers perceived the shifts - probably correctly - as discouraging them from doing so.

Nationally, this kind of move has been encouraged by civil rights groups and the Obama administration. They have pointed to evidence linking exclusionary discipline to worse academic outcomes, and argued that if schools resorted to suspension less often, students would be more engaged and avoid the academic issues that can result from missing school.

What did the study find?

As expected, suspensions dropped in schools that added restorative justice.

An interesting twist here is that, mirroring national trends, suspensions fell precipitously in both groups of schools - the ones with restorative justice and the ones without it. But suspensions dropped faster in restorative justice schools.

"It's really encouraging and validating," said Christine Cray, an official at Pittsburgh Public Schools who works on the restorative justice program.

In particular, 12.6 percent of students were suspended at least once in the restorative justice schools, compared to 14.6 percent in the other schools by the second year of the program.

Black students saw bigger declines in suspensions due to the program, though they were still much more likely to be suspended than white students. Restorative justice also all but eliminated the placement of students in "alternative" schools.

The academic results are somewhat grimmer. While restorative didn't have a significant effect on reading scores, math scores scores for students in grades 3 through 8 did fall significantly.

The impact was not felt equally: It was black students, not white students, whose scores fell. A black student at the 50th percentile would have dropped to roughly the 44th percentile as a result of the initiative.

Lindsay of the Urban Institute said this could be because schools with more black students were more reliant suspensions, making the reforms more challenging to implement.

"It's definitely a new way of doing business," she said. "And in schools where there are more African-American students, it's a dramatically different new way of doing business." Indeed, the study found that black students in schools where most students were not black did not see their scores fall. White students in predominantly black schools did see declines.

In surveys, students in schools that implemented restorative justice were more likely to say their teachers struggled to manage their classes. But teachers themselves painted a brighter picture, reporting their schools had a better understanding of how to handle student behavior and a better culture for teaching and learning.

What does it all mean?

The results don't offer clear answers to guide the polarized debate about school discipline.

One explanation for the uneven test results might simply be that teachers diverted time from academics, causing students to be less prepared for exams. That makes sense to Cray, the district official. The goal now, she said, is for "teachers to see how restorative practices can be used to complement academic instruction and not replace academic instruction."

But it remains unclear why the shift hurt test scores in middle school grades, even though suspension rates didn't change.

Meanwhile, the study does offer a roadmap to the challenges and benefits that can come with introducing restorative justice.

"I do feel like the kids are more willing and forthcoming with their problems and information to adults," one teacher told researchers. "I feel like some of them do consider us to be more of an ally to them."

The most basic challenge teachers said they faced was an implacable one: a lack of time, particularly for middle-school teachers with short class periods to spend with students.

"Teachers described the immense amount of curriculum they were obliged to cover and the assessments they had to prepare students for," researchers wrote. "In light of those responsibilities, sparing 20-plus minutes for circles to build community or respond to conflict in the classroom seemed an insurmountable challenge to some."

Not all students responded, either. "There are several students who have not benefited from the use of restorative practices at all," one teacher said. "Rather, they disrespect it and scoff at it as a lenient form of discipline. Because of these students, it becomes harder to implement restorative practices on the whole."

The researchers also suggest that the support offered to teachers in the program, while substantial, was not enough. Teachers described monthly team calls with a restorative justice coach as largely useless; more helpful were in-person visits, but they were infrequent.

Still, nearly two-thirds said the initiative had improved their relationships with students. Forty-five percent said it improved student behavior.

For now, the study is one part of a small body of research looking at whether these kinds of alternative discipline strategies work. But more can be expected soon - as part of the same federal grant program, a number of other studies have been funded elsewhere, Harper noted.

It's also possible that results will change as teachers and schools adapt to the changes.

"Two years is a very short amount of time," she said. "Much of the work involves a mind shift and a culture shift, not just training in different practices."

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Major new study finds restorative justice led to safer schools, but hurt black students' test scores

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The policies cut suspension rates in Pittsburgh schools overall. But they appear unhelpful in middle school grades, where they didn't reduce suspension rates but did hurt test scores.

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Due 6/19: Watch the Overview of Restorative Practices

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Due 6/19: Watch the Overview of Restorative Practices

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Discussion not required but welcome.

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Restorative Circles: Creating a Safe Environment for Students to Reflect

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Due 6/19: Daniel Pink: Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose

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Due 6/19: Daniel Pink: Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose

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Discussion not required but welcome.

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Due 6/19: Interview: Melissa Gustafson-Hinds on Student Mobility and Attendance

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Due 6/19: Interview: Melissa Gustafson-Hinds on Student Mobility and Attendance

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I had the chance to interview Dr. Melissa Gustafson-Hinds (MGH) a couple of years ago.  She teaches at O'Fallon Township High School, near Scott Air Force Base.

Video begins at 7:08; relevant material ends at 12:18.

Summary: thinking "musical theater understudy" could provide solutions for planned or surprise absences in performance.

*Disclaimer: this is from a podcast that I run; Youtube link is not monetized and I don't receive any financial benefit from you visiting this content.

Discussion not required but welcome.

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Episode 24: Melissa Gustafson-Hinds, O'Fallon Township High School, O'Fallon, IL

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Due 6/19: How can a family structure help us approach attendance and behavior with our students, classes, and programs?

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Due 6/19: How can a family structure help us approach attendance and behavior with our students, classes, and programs?

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Consider various family structures, including nuclear families, step-families, single-parent families, grandparents raising children, teens raising children, foster families, mixed race families, same- parent families, and trans-racial families, to name a few.  If you're in an area affected by this, you should also consider gangs.

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After viewing the presentation titled MECA: Attendance and reading the essay: What do you think are the negatives of negotiating with students on their level of participation in a music program?

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Due 6/19: What's the Worst that Could Happen?

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Due 6/19: What's the Worst that Could Happen?

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The theatre director at my school ran a small production at our school.  It was his first year teaching at our school.  Two weeks before the show, the lead actor moved away.  One week before the show, the understudy moved away.  No one else was able or willing to take the role.  The theatre director, in his first year, read from a script on stage to cover the missing part.  He did this over three shows.

Is there an educational situation you've been in where you had to adapt, improvise, and overcome, similar to the situation above?  What did you do?  If not, is there a situation you are fearful of happening in your class or ensemble?

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After viewing the presentation titled MECA: Attendance: can you relate to the attendance cycles? Is there anything that you might add, adjust, or delete?

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Due 6/19: Restorative Practices: Your Experiences or Thoughts?

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Due 6/19: Restorative Practices: Your Experiences or Thoughts?

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Research on restorative practices are showing various results and some variables.  Experts in restorative practices say that it is a long term process.  Do you have any experience with restorative practices in your school or your music classroom?  If no, what are your assumptions about restorative practices after reading the article?

For those of you that teach in a rural area: do you see restorative practices as something that is necessary for your school or program?

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Optional: Do you have any questions/comments about the material? Please post them here.

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Optional: Do you have any questions/comments about the material? Please post them here.

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Input/answers are welcome from everyone!

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Book recommendation: iGen by Dr. Jean Twenge

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Book recommendation: iGen by Dr. Jean Twenge

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I read iGen when it was first published in 2017.  The full title is iGen:

Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us.  Check your local library if you're interested.  I found this book to be extremely helpful when understanding behavior; not always negative, but just the day to day behavior, thoughts, and reactions of today's student.

It's not doom and gloom, but it's pretty insightful.  We used to rely on older students driving younger kids to rehearsal; now, the stats are showing that kids are waiting until they're nearly 20 to get their license.  They also like hanging out with their parents and would rather stay home than go to a movie.

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iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us

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Amazon.com: iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us: 9781501152016: Twenge PhD, Jean M.: Books

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A Plethora of Restorative Practices Resources (posted 6/16)

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A Plethora of Restorative Practices Resources (posted 6/16)

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Larry Ferlazzo is a teacher based out of California. Here is a web page of his restorative practice links. It's from 2015 but if you want to start going down a restorative practices rabbit hole, here you go!

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We've begun implementing some restorative practices at our school, and I'll be posting about the topic on a future Education Week Teacher column.

Here are a few resources that seem helpful, and I hope that readers will share more in the comments section:

Opening Up, Students Transform a Vicious Circle is from The New York Times.

Restorative Justice: Resources for Schools is from Edutopia.

Restorative Practices: Fostering Healthy Relationships & Promoting Positive Discipline in Schools is from Opportunity to Learn.

An Alternative To Suspension And Expulsion: 'Circle Up!' is from NPR.

What Eva Moskowitz gets wrong about restorative discipline is from Chalkbeat.

Minding the Discipline Gap in Education is from the Pacific Standard.

Zeroing out Zero Tolerance is from The Atlantic.

Brilliant article: the mindlessness of school suspensions and a better way http://t.co/mY3Ht9uVMQ @acestoohigh @nctsn

- David Bornstein (@dnbornstein) May 18, 2015

Reasons to try out RJ a few schools at a time.//In Classroom Discipline, a Soft Approach Is Harder Than It Looks https://t.co/sTAzzToBps

- Paul Bruno (@MrPABruno) April 15, 2015

Quote Of The Day: Alternatives To Suspending Students
Restorative Justice in U.S. Schools: Summary Findings from Interviews with Experts is from WestEd.

When Restorative Justice in Schools Works is from The Atlantic.

Why some LAUSD teachers are balking at a new approach to discipline problems is from The LA Times.

In L.A. Unified, restorative justice has been slow to take hold is also from The LA Times.

Hillary Clinton Wants to End the School-to-Prison Pipeline. She Should Embrace Restorative Justice to Do It. is from Slate.
Quote Of The Day: "Unhelpful Punishment"
Is Discipline Reform Really Helping Decrease School Violence? is from The Atlantic.

One Key to Reducing School Suspension: A Little Respect is from Ed Week.

One way Denver Public Schools is addressing race and culture in the classroom is from Colorado Chalkbeat.
Important Analysis Of Schools With Fewer Suspensions Makes Important Points, As Well As Highlighting Gaps
When suspensions weren't working, this high school opted for a new approach is from The Washington Post.
NY Times Publishes Best Piece On Restorative Practices That I've Seen NY Times Article & Video On Dangers Of School "Zero Tolerance" Policies
Rethinking School Discipline is from The American Prospect.

Why Restorative Practices Benefit All Students is from Edutopia.

A Brooklyn Charter School Looks Past 'No Excuses' is an article in The New York Times that described a move towards restorative practices. Here's how it ends:

Implementing Restorative Practices In The Classroom is from Getting Smart.

School Suspensions Have Plunged: We Don't Yet Know If That's Good News is from NPR.

Nearly half of California school districts earn top ratings for lowering suspensions is from Ed Source.

Suspending Students Costs Billions in Economic Losses, New Study Finds is from Ed Week.

The School Discipline Revolution: How Policy and Rhetoric Outstrip Hard Evidence is by Matt Barnum.
Focusing On The Impact Classroom Disruptions Have On Others, Not On The Students Doing The Disrupting Good NY Times Piece On Empathy's Role In School Discipline The Best Story To Come Out Of The Shutdown Is How They Used A Talking Stick
Restorative Justice in School: An Overview is from Cult of Pedagogy.

Zero tolerance discipline policies won't fix school shootings is from Salon

One Ohio School's Quest to Rethink Bad Behavior is from The Atlantic.

The rise of restorative justice in California schools brings promise, controversy] is from Ed Source.
Quote Of The Day On Restorative Justice
New Study: Suspending Students for Minor Infractions Like Cursing Hurts Kids but Benefits Nobody is from The 74.
STATISTIC OF THE DAY: STUDENTS LOST 11 MILLION INSTRUCTIONAL DAYS IN ONE YEAR DUE TO SUSPENSIONS GUEST POST: HOW THE CLASS IMPACTS THE INDIVIDUAL AND HOW MENTORS CAN SHIFT THE BALANCE ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF WHY WE NEED TO BE "DATA-INFORMED" & NOT "DATA-DRIVEN" BIG NEW STUDY ON RESTORATIVE PRACTICE OFFERS USEFUL DATA & MISSED OPPORTUNITIES GUEST POST: RESTORATIVE PRACTICES & THE STRUGGLE AGAINST "DUNGEON THEORY" "Circles" Is A New Documentary On Restorative Practices
Restorative Justice in U.S. Schools An Updated Research Review is from WestEd.

School suspensions related to increases in subsequent offending is from Eureka Alert.

Budget realities challenging California school districts' restorative justice programs is from Ed Source.

One Key to Reducing School Suspension: A Little Respect is from Ed Week.

California schools can no longer suspend K-8 students for using phones. Will this help or hurt learning? is from The L.A. Times.

The Starts and Stumbles of Restorative Justice in Education: Where Do We Go from Here? is from the National Education Policy Center.

A Bloomberg-era policy to reduce suspensions boosted test scores in NYC, study finds is from Chalkbeat.

CEPEG Policy Brief:Exclusionary Discipline and Restorative Justice is from USC.

Teaching Restorative Practices with Classroom Circles is from The San Francisco Unified School District.

Toolkit: The Foundations of Restorative Justice is from Learning For Justice.

Building a Positive School Climate Through Restorative Practices is from The Learning Policy Institute.

Study Finds That Restorative Practices Can Help Bridge Racial Disparities in Schools is from West Ed.

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The Best Resources For Learning About Restorative Practices - Help Me Find More

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We've begun implementing some restorative practices at our school, and I'll be posting about the topic on a future Education Week Teacher column. Here are a few resources that seem helpful, and I hope that readers will share more in the comments section: Opening Up, Students Transform a Vicious Circle is from The New York Times.

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Optional Discussion: East Aurora High School, Busing, and Chronic Truancy.

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Optional Discussion: East Aurora High School, Busing, and Chronic Truancy.

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I'm putting this discussion in the optional category.  It's fascinating to me, but it's more a of a district issue that wouldn't be helpful to our course beyond realizing what we can't control as music teachers.

East Aurora High School in Aurora, IL had a truancy and attendance problem.  Many people blamed this on the fact that East Aurora did not have a busing service for its school.  In 2017, busing was implemented.

I've linked a five year trend of East Aurora High School's truancy patterns.  When you look at this, does anything surprise you?  What questions come to mind when you see this data? edit 6/15: click on the five year trend to see information before and after busing was implemented.

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Resource: National Dropout Prevention Center

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Resource: National Dropout Prevention Center

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Even though school completion rates have continually grown during much of past 100 years, dropping out of school persists as a problem that interferes with educational system efficiency and the most straightforward and satisfying route to individual educational goals for young people. Doll, Eslami, and Walters (2013) present data from seven nationally representative studies (spanning more than 50 years) regarding reasons students drop out of high school. Some excerpts are presented below in tables; however, for a complete discussion, please see the original article: " Understanding Why Students Drop Out of High School, According to Their Own Reports "

The selected tables are presented in opposite order than they appear in the article so as to present the most recent data first. Note also that survey questions varied from study to study (database to database) so caution should be taken in making comparisons across years and studies.

Included in the tables presented is an analysis of whether the reasons presented are considered "push," "pull," or "falling out" factors. The following briefly presents an explanation from Doll et al. (2013).

Jordan et al. (1994) explained pressures on students of push and pull dropout factors. A student is pushed out when adverse situations within the school environment lead to consequences, ultimately resulting in dropout. . . . [S]tudents can be pulled out when factors inside the student divert them from completing school. . . . Watt and Roessingh (1994) added a third factor called falling out of school, which occurs when a student does not show significant academic progress in schoolwork and becomes apathetic or even disillusioned with school completion. It is not necessarily an active decision, but rather a "side-effect of insufficient personal and educational support" (p. 293).

The National Dropout Prevention Center (NDPC) exists to support those who work to improve student success and graduation rates. NDPC offers a wide range of resources and services to schools, districts, regional agencies, and states. Contact NDPC by (email: ndpc@dropoutprevention.org or phone: (864-642-6372.).

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Even though school completion rates have continually grown during much of past 100 years, dropping out of school persists as a problem that interferes with educational system efficiency and the most straightforward and satisfying route to individual educational goals for young people.

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Can Restorative Practices Improve School Climate and Curb Suspensions?An Evaluation of the Impact of Restorative Practices in a Mid-Sized Urban School District

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Can Restorative Practices Improve School Climate and Curb Suspensions?An Evaluation of the Impact of Restorative Practices in a Mid-Sized Urban School District

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This is the research article that the restorative justice reading is based off of. I'm linking it for your reference. 132 pages, PDF.

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Click on the link to play the online game SPENT. SPENT was created to help explain the challenges that families affected by poverty face.

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Urban Ministries of Durham serves over 6000 people every year who struggle with poverty and homelessness. Spent is an interactive game created by McKinney that challenges you to manage your money, raise a child and make it through the month getting paid minimum wage after a stretch of unemployment.