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During President Obama's first term, First Lady Michelle Obama unveiled her strategy for tackling the nation's childhood obesity crisis. Mrs. Obama's initiative is called Let's Move, and includes a website with tools and background

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While weekends are clutch, I think we can all agree that they're not quite enough. With Sunday scaries putting an anxious spin day that's important for rest, the weekends don't have enough peaceful hours to allow us the time we need to really feel rejuvenated before the new work week starts. Though we might all be in a perpetual state of vacation desperation, experts say we might only need a three-day weekend to achieve a level of crucially beneficial stress relief.

It might appear, mentally, that we have to cash in all of our vacation days to see physical and psychological improvements, but experts say that a three-day weekend can be even more helpful than a full-on vacation. Though three-day weekends in the past might have meant an extra night to party, in adultland, a three-day weekend typically means another morning to sleep in, or another day to do nothing.

According to Dr. Niket Sonpal , New York Based Internist and Gastroenterologist and Adjunct Professor at Touro College, an opportunity to sleep more is an opportunity to refuel and better. Though one extra night might not sound like a jackpot, every bit really can help. Over the course of a week-long vacation, you might be less likely to put a high value on sleep every night. But a three-day weekend pushes you to be economical with your time and precious about your sleep, which is why Dr. Sonpal sees the mini break as an opportunity to covet.

"Sleep has a fundamental role in optimizing the way our brain processes information, our mood stability, the way we feel, and how our neurotransmitters work," Dr. Sonpal tells Bustle. On the flip side, a lack of sleep has the power to create systematic distress.

"Research from the University of Groningen in The Netherlands shows us that sleep deprivation actually desensitizes one of our brains' serotonin receptors, which is responsible for helping alleviate depression and anxiety," Dr. Sonpal says, pointing out there are not only psychological dangers of not prioritizing sleep, but also physiological affects. Lack of sleep can make us biologically less sensitive to serotonin, which regulates appetite, mood, and body temperature.

If you're in a substantial sleep deficit and have been losing sleep consistently over time, a three-day weekend devoted to snoozing won't erase the damage. If anything, it will just mess up your sleep cycle and make it harder for you to sleep during the week.

Instead, Dr. Sonpal suggests the best way to go about replenishing lost sleep is to get to bed on time and add an hour to your sleep for a few days. "[You'll] begin to feel improvements in your mental state and your cognitive ability," Dr. Sonpal says, and you might also be well on your way to improved sleep hygiene over time.

If you stick with the early bed time, continuing to go to bed an hour or two early each night during that week, by the following weekend, you might feel better than you would if you had spent the entire week snoozing in a cabana somewhere wonderful. Though Dr. Sonpal says that the results of an extra day off will vary depending on how severe your sleep deficit is.

If you've been pushing it hard at work and getting to bed only about an hour or two later than desirable, extra hours of sleep during a day off can help get you back on track. "Correcting your sleep consequently improves your focus, your motor skills, your performance, your morale, and your general health," Dr. Sonpal says.

Even if you don't dedicate your three-day weekend to improving your sleep, simply having a day off to relax, read, and pull your head out of your work-related stress can have lasting effects. "[Relaxation] can also lead to improved health, a greater sense of purpose and connection, better relationships with those around us, a more productive work life, and generally being a happier person," psychologist Dr. Michael Roeske, PsyD, executive director at Newport Academy in Connecticut, tells Bustle.

It might be hard to see the value in a a single bonus day off, especially if you're carrying a massive sleep deficit or high stress level. But both doctors and psychologists agree that a short, focused time dedicated to relaxation can be hugely beneficial in refilling that deficit and establishing better sleep and mental health hygiene. What's more, after a three-day weekend, Roeske says that "a sense of restored mental energy will allow one to return to work with a fresh and more relaxed perspective." Are you listening employers?
Dr. Niket Sonpal , New York Based Internist and Gastroenterologist and Adjunct Professor at Touro College. Dr. Michael Roeske, PsyD, Executive Director, Connecticut at Newport Academy Study cited: Roman V, Walstra I, Luiten PG, Meerlo P., (2005). Too Little Sleep Gradually Desensitizes the Serotonin 1A Receptor System. Sleep. doi: 10.1093/sleep/28.12.1505

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How A Three-Day Weekend Affects Your Body, According To Experts

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While weekends are clutch, I think we can all agree that they're not quite enough. With Sunday scaries putting an anxious spin day that's important for rest, the weekends don't have enough peaceful hours to allow us the time we need to really feel...

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I remember the anticipation of the first day of school when I was in first grade, and again as a first-grade teacher and as a mother of six. In every situation, I hoped that the school year would be rewarding socially as well as academically. Children can be more focused on their work, improve their health and mood, and bond with their classmates through an unexpected and sometimes overlooked resource-recess.

Play is an essential aspect of a child's day. Recess is a needed break from sitting and academic rigor. Though teachers often withhold recess to certain students as a means of discipline or for catching up on work, this punitive practice usually works against the student, and subsequently the class and the teacher as well.

Children usually return from recess more relaxed, agreeable, and focused. Those who are chronically deprived of this opportunity become further stigmatized because they miss the opportunity to socialize and get needed downtime. Important social connections can be fostered during recess, as can a sense of belonging with classmates. Recess can be the glue (along with lunch or snack time!) that can hold the rest of the day together for a child. As a parent, you may wish to find alternative solutions with your child's teacher if your child is being held in at recess.

Once your child is out at recess, there can be other obstacles as well. Here are a few ways you can help your child or the children in your classroom.

Set the Environment
When children feel comfortable in their play environment, they are more likely to socialize and de-stress. Assess that you have adequate equipment for inclusive game playing. You might also teach or lead children in social games like tag or Duck, Duck, Goose that don't require equipment.

Another popular idea is to designate a "friend bench" on the playground. Children can be instructed to sit there when they want to make a new friend or want to play something different. Instruct all children to periodically look over at the friend bench and include someone. Encourage children on the bench to join in when approached by another child with an invitation to play. This system can also be a signal to the teacher as to which children may need extra help joining in.

Share Your Expectations
Taking time before recess to talk about desirable playground behavior will help children know what to expect. Here are a few guidelines fromJoin In and Play that you might discuss and focus on in your classroom:

1. I can listen and speak kindly.

2. I can share and wait for my turn.

3. I can play fair and follow the rules.

4. I can show respect.

Brainstorm ways children might use these guidelines at recess. Talk about ways they can periodically switch positions and give others a turn, such as in four square or jump rope.

Practice Role Plays
Role play is one of the most effective ways to help children learn social behavior. You can use it to teach and practice greetings, complete with eye contact and a smile. Practice lead-in statements or questions that engage other children, such as:

May I play?

Do you want to play?

That looks fun. Can I join you?

You're good at that!

Would you like me to _____?

You might also role-play problem situations, where you demonstrate the problem behavior. Examples are being bossy, calling someone a mean name, taking something a child is playing with, or leaving in the middle of a game. Ask children to identify the problem in your approach. Then discuss courteous behaviors and solutions and let children role-play those with puppets or action figures. Later, they can role-play with one another.

Let children rehearse the part of a child wanting to join in as well as a child who is already playing. This can broaden their perspective as they will at times be in both roles. Also encourage children to give another child a compliment, compromise, or be willing to do what someone else wants to do.

Be Aware of Children Who Feel Isolated or Excluded
Talk with children individually about any problem they are experiencing, how they feel, and what can be remedied. Ask children privately what they like to play and who they might enjoy playing with. Be encouraging and help build the child's confidence. Suggest other possible activities. Role-play how children might ask a particular child to play. If a child is consistently playing alone, you might also ask another child to invite and include the child playing alone in an activity to help break the ice.

Address Problems
When there is a problem on the playground, such as children being aggressive, unwilling to share, or showing poor sportsmanship, first remember to stay calm yourself. It's sometimes necessary to separate children and give them some time and space to cool down. This can be done kindly but firmly. Then talk to children individually about their behavior. Help them understand how that behavior impacts their ability to play with others and make friends. Give those children small assignments to invite someone to play or find something that they can share.

Encourage Initiative
Playing at recess is very informal. The equipment is generally shared and doesn't belong to a particular child. Sometimes it's best for a child to just jump in, like in a game of tag or on the monkey bars or swings. Children should take turns, but they should also be encouraged to be assertive and to sometimes just start playing in the vicinity of others. Help children distinguish when it's important to ask to join in and when they might get better results by just joining other children in a friendly way.

For many children, recess is a highlight of the day. Play involves skills, though. I've found that learning to join in and play is a long process, so don't expect too much at once. As the year progresses, children can improve in their use of friendly speech and ability to learn the rules of games and can learn how to share, take turns, and play fair. Children also need some freedom to be themselves and sometimes just to observe or invent their own play. Having a kind adult on the playground will help children feel safe and able to relax and enjoy themselves. Over the years as I have watched children at play, I'm heartened that they often build bonds of friendship as well as their muscles.

Cheri J. Meiners, M.Ed., has her master's degree in elementary education and gifted education. A former first-grade teacher, she has taught education classes at Utah State University and has supervised student teachers. Cheri and her husband David have six children and enjoy the company of their lively grandchildren. They live in Laurel, Maryland.

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© 2019 by Free Spirit Publishing. All rights reserved. The view expressed in this post represent the opinion of the author and not necessarily Free Spirit Publishing.

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Helping Children Join In and Play at Recess

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By Cheri J. Meiners, M.Ed., author of the Learning About Me & You, Learning to Get Along®, and Being the Best Me!® series I remember the anticipation of the first day of school when I was in first grade, and again as a first-grade teacher and as a mother of six.

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The summer break is well underway. The weather is warming and kids are getting used to some time away from school.

Parents, meanwhile, are trying to find ways to keep the kids entertained over the break.

Chances are you remember your own childhood summers full of adventures outdoors in some plot of green near your home. Perhaps you had cubby houses or made cakes out of mud or just ran around seeking shade under the nearest tree.

For this generation, not only have changes in families' lifestyles resulted in children spending much less time outdoors than in previous generations, but many children prefer to spend time indoors playing electronic games, rather than getting out in nature.

In fact, the majority of children spend more than the recommended maximum of two hours per day involved in "screen time". In a 2009 study, researchers found that over half of the Australian children studied between the ages of ten to 12 spent less than 1 hour outside each day.

But there are plenty of physical and mental benefits to outdoor time for children. Here are just a few reasons to get outside this summer.

1. Physical health

Research shows that children who play outside are more active and generally have a lower risk of childhood obesity due to higher levels of physical activity generally (how many children do you know that sit perfectly still outside?).

Also, children who take part in school veggie gardening projects develop more healthy eating habits, including making healthier food choices. Children are more curious about a variety of foods when they have watched them grow.

Interestingly, at least one study also shows that the more time a child spends outside, the lower their risk is for shortsightedness. An increase of about 45 minutes of outdoor time per day is enough to make a difference, which doctors suspect has to do with higher levels of light outside.

2. Immune system

Exposure to sunlight increases the body's natural production of Vitamin D3. Children who are outside create more of this vitamin, which is important for bone and muscle development. It is also beneficial for overall health, but balancing your sun exposure is particularly important during the summer months, so remember to use sun protection as needed.

Despite the old adage that going out in the rain will make you sick, growing up on a farm can protect children from allergies and asthma. A day out playing in the rain does not make you ill - the most important thing is to be sure children are adequately dressed.

3. Cognitive skills

There are many benefits of natural environments in relation to how children's brains work.

Research shows that being outdoors can lead to a range of cognitive benefits for children, including better memory, improvements in Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, improved concentration, and better reasoning skills.

It is thought that exposure to nature plays a positive role in brain development by providing children with opportunities to take risks, discover new things, be creative, develop a sense of wonder and engage in new tasks.

4. Psychological state

Children can also benefit psychologically from being outdoors.

Research shows that exposure to natural environments can lead to a reduction in anger, a decreased risk for problem behaviour, greater respect for self and others, greater autonomy and a reduction in depressive symptoms.

Children's ability to regulate their emotions is also improved through exposure to nature.

Attention Restoration Theory (ART) is one explanation for how exposure to nature helps children psychologically. It is thought that modern life requires extended periods of concentration, which leads to mental fatigue. This can make a person irritable and easily distracted. Exposure to nature, however, can help to repair this mental fatigue and restore a person's wellbeing.

5. Wellbeing

Children's general wellbeing can also be helped by exposure to nature.

Studies have found that even the simple presence of nature (trees, grass, plants) near children's homes can help children better cope with stress.

It also seems that spending time in nature can have long lasting benefits into adulthood. Research shows that children who spend more time in nature grow up to feel more connected to nature and have more positive attitudes about environmental sustainability.

The stress reduction theory offers one explanation for the impact of nature on children's wellbeing.

Research shows that being in a non-threatening natural environment reduces the body's stress reaction. The natural environment triggers the body's relaxation response, where blood pressure, heart rate and cortisol levels are reduced.

So, this summer get your kids out to a park, go on a long nature walk, or simply have them go play outside in the garden for a few hours. It really is good for them.

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Five ways kids can benefit from being outside this summer break

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The summer break is well underway. The weather is warming and kids are getting used to some time away from school. Parents, meanwhile, are trying to find ways to keep the kids entertained over the break. Chances are you remember your own childhood summers full of adventures outdoors in some plot of green near your home.

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There's one thing that's almost guaranteed to make your child do better in school: more recess. Not only do children do better academically if they get outside to play, but they have fewer behavior problems. That's the word from none other than the principals of America, who know all there is to know about bad behavior at school.

I write this having just returned from a stint as recess volunteer at my daughter's elementary school, where I zipped up coats, told a half-dozen first-grade boys they needed to split up for five minutes because I was tired of seeing them try to rip each other's arms off, and talked with another young lad who was heartbroken because the girl of his dreams refused to play with him. Despite this, the playground was a happy scene, with children running, shouting, throwing balls, and generally being rowdy on a sunny winter's day.

Recess has almost disappeared from the curriculum at many schools, edged out by more math and reading work as schools push to raise scores on standardized tests. One in four elementary schools no longer provides daily recess for all grades. But a growing body of research, including a 2009 study of 11,000 third graders published in Pediatrics, shows that adding more play to the day, not less, improves the likelihood of better test scores and behavior.

Recess has a positive impact on academic achievement.

Student listen better after recess and are more focused in class.

Recess has a beneficial effect on children's social development.

Recess improves children's well-being overall.

The news wasn't all good. The principals said most of their discipline problems happened during a recess or lunch break and said that they would like to have more staff to monitor the playground, better equipment, and training in playground management. Sounds like a great to-do list for the PTA. I'd throw in how great it would be to see more dads helping out with recess. I rarely see men on the playground when I volunteer, and it would be a wonderful time for dads and sons to play sports, roughhouse, or be goofy together. "There's really nothing wrong with recess that can't be fixed by what's right with recess," says Jill Vialet, founder of Playworks. Vialet's organization, which trains children in constructive recess activities in 10 cities, is a sponsor of the new study.

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children kids parenting parent healthy development raising

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4 Reasons More Recess Helps Kids Do Better in School

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There's one thing that's almost guaranteed to make your child do better in school: more recess. Not only do children do better academically if they get outside to play, but they have fewer behavior problems. That's the word from none other than the principals of America, who know all there is to know about bad behavior at school.

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People say most kids are obese because of what they eat at school. Schools need better food and better snacks at lunch. Which made me choose the topic school ban on junk food may harm funding. I chose this topic because my school's food is not the tastiest and healthiest food but if the sold candy and junk food the school would be able to get more money and better food for school lunches.

One reason school stopped selling junk food in vending machines is cause of childhood obesity. But selling junk food in vending machines is not the cause of childhood obesity. The findings suggest that efforts to combat childhood obesity might best be aimed at parents and the foods available at home and outside of school. Another reason why selling junk food isn't the cause for childhood obesity is Yes, the lunches have some nutrition, but it doesn't make it better. Obesity is always blamed on junk food, but there is many different things that factor into it! The lack of exercise is one! Anything will be bad for you if you eat too much, and you get little exercise!th is prove that kids that are obese should go out and exercise and that selling junk food and school lunches aren't the cause of childhood obesity. Another reason why school lunches and junk food aren't the cause of childhood obesity. Junk food sales in schools, long blamed for contributing to childhood obesity, do not make a difference overall in the weight of middle school students.

If schools sold junk food there funding would go up significantly. In 2001, before the junk-food ban was passed, high-school associated student body (ASB) governments across the city made $214,000 in profits from vending machines, according to district data. This year, they've made $17,000. Also according to their school board, they are losing a lot of money because-shockingly enough-kids don't want to purchase orange juice and granola bars. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but schools should be allowed to sell junk food. The final reason on why schools ban on junk food will affect school funding is the revenues from vending machines and student stores are down by more than $50,000 per year, and that's caused the school to cut back on funding to a range of student activities while increasing what have been called "pay to play" athletic fees.

What is the difference between school lunches and junk food! Many schools serve pizza, cheeseburgers, and chicken fingers for lunch. Well, that is junk food also! Banning junk food from school would be banning all of the things, that most kids ate for lunch today. I also got prove from a former governor of new Jersey Richard J. Codey To begin with, there is the problem of defining junk food. Are we talking about potato chips, soda, and pastries? What about fried chicken fingers, cheeseburgers, and pizza - foods many school cafeterias serve.

Other people believe Junk food shouldn't be sold in schools. One reason is people think that junk food is the cause of childhood obesity. Also parents want their children to eat healthy and they also don't want their children to spend their money on junk food. Parents would probably say no selling junk in school because junk means "food that has low nutritional value, typically produced in the form of packaged snacks needing little or no preparation.

In conclusion, school should sell junk food to bring up their funding. It won't affect kids health. Also it's not very different then the option that the school give you. Selling junk food in schools will help schools everywhere raise more funding to pay for better stuff. From what is wrote one of the main reason schools banned junk food is cause of childhood obesity but one of the reasons why Kids are obese is because they don't get enough exercise.

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People say most kids are obese because of what they eat at school. Schools need better food and better snacks at lunch. Which made me choose the topic school ban on junk food may harm funding. I chose this topic because my school's food is not the

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Whenever we discuss the hot topic about health of school students, the discussion revolve around consumption of fast food by students. Fast food or commonly called junk food is the most favorite meal of students of every age. They can call fast food joints by name if they are asked 'what type food do you like' or 'which is your favorite junk food?'. In broader terms, fast food can be described as a type of food that is processed and served very within minutes, for e.g. sandwiches, hamburgers, french fries, pizza, and noodles. It has been argued that fast food is not exactly as healthy as regular food. And school students are in the most crucial years of development physically as well as cognitively and it is really important to know what type of food they should consume and how it affects their health.

Here we discuss that based on the popular views should fast food be allowed to be served in schools or not.

Yes, fast food should be allowed in schools:

Fast food should be allowed in schools since every individual has the freedom and fundamental right to choose what they eat. Moreover, it is delectable and students love to enjoy it with their friends.

Fast food is not only easy to prepare but also takes less time and it can be arranged for a large number of students. It offers a lot of variety with different cuisines from many different countries and cultures presenting with many choices. This will save students from the regular monotonous and boring items. The raw material required is not so expensive and it makes for reasonably priced options. This is beneficial for those students who cannot afford expensive food stuff.

Fast food lets students consume fruits and vegetables as supplements which make for the nutrition value. Many food items are actually low on oil, carbohydrates, fat, and calories so there is no harm in eating this food stuff. We have been eating fast food for a long time and many people actually relish these dishes without showing any negative or harmful effect.

One big advantage is that the regular eaters know what exactly goes into the making of a particular product hence there would not be any doubt about what they are eating.

New items are now available that are even more healthy and come with choices for those who prefer vegetarian food. Students are wise and smart and they know what and how much to consume. Even few regular foods are not suited for all and might upset the stomach or cause other problems.

No, fast food should not be allowed in schools:

Fast food should not be allowed in schools as it would be consumed by young students who are ignorant of its harmful effects. If fast food is allowed in schools then they will be eating it daily which will harm their health as fast food is very high in calories, oil, carbohydrates, and fat which result in an increase in weight leading to obesity, lifestyle diseases, an imbalance in blood sugar lever etc.

Fast food is heavy in oil content and is prepared from processed ingredients. These are difficult to digest and get deposited inside the body. There is high quantity of preservatives and chemicals that are mixed with them so that they have long shelf life giving mostly stale and old food items.

There might be a few individuals who know about the exact ingredients that go into making a certain food product but not everyone is that well informed and they go by the taste and looks of it. Not much information is available about how these fast foods are prepared hence it is unsafe for consumption. This is also linked to the hygiene issue.

Teenagers are very much likely to be addicted to these foods and they might skip their meals at home keeping them away from the family lunch and dinner time.

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Over the years there have been numerous debates over goodness and harm from Junk food for toddlers as well as teenagers. Here we discuss whether the debate on this hot topic is against fast food or in favour of Junk food.

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Chocolate, pizza, burgers and alcohol have health benefits (when consumed in moderate amounts).

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The Cost of Healthy Eating vs Unhealthy Eating - The Plutus Foundation

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Hoping to make the most of your nutrition dollar? Here's what you need to know about eating healthy on a budget.

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The smartphone is the new student planner - a virtual repository of dates, deadlines and important info. But unlike the traditional planner, there are options for countless add-ons in the form of mobile apps for college students.

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Across the vast digital realm there seems to be an app for almost everything, whether ordering food, hailing a ride, posting silly videos, identifying dog breeds or reviewing virtual flashcards for college classes.

The ubiquity of mobile apps means that the options are nearly endless - but what about the value?

"I think with any application, it's not a one-size-fits-all," says Jessica Shelley, head of curriculum at Dailies App, a self-learning platform that features educational challenges to teach short lessons in brief intervals.

How an app works for one student may vary from how it benefits a classmate. When assessing a mobile app, students should ask: "What do I need the most help with?" says William Watson, a professor at Purdue University-West Lafayette in Indiana and director of the Center for Serious Games and Learning in Virtual Environments.

Finding the Right Apps for College Students

Educational technology such as apps can help students with time management, organization skills, homework, collaboration and more. Applications that keep students on task can be a big help, considering that incoming college students can often be unmoored, in Watson's experience.

"I think the biggest challenge for most learners today is that they really have underdeveloped self-regulated learning skills and the reason for that, by and large, is that our educational systems - particularly our K-12 systems - are very teacher-centered," he says.

Watson adds that college students should identify their strengths and weaknesses to see where they need help.

"Students need to identify areas they want to work on, such as time management," Jenna Sheffield, assistant provost for curriculum innovation at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, wrote in an email. From there, students "can look into researching the effectiveness of different apps or platforms" to meet those needs.

Sheffield adds that college students often need help with time management and study skills. She suggests that students check to see what free tools are available from their college before seeking out apps on their own, noting, for example, her use of Microsoft Planner, which links to Microsoft Teams.

When it comes to assessing the value of an app, look to reviews and the number of downloads, experts say, adding that students should also ask their classmates and instructors about their own app experiences.

Useful Apps for College Students

Below is a list of apps for college students recommended by educational technology experts interviewed for this story. As noted, the needs of individual students vary and finding the right app will likely require some experimentation. Unless costs are noted in the app descriptions below, these learning tools are free to users:

AnkiMobile Flashcards. This flashcard app supports multimedia and scientific markup, according to its website. AnkiMobile Flashcards is listed at $24.99 in the App Store for iOS but free for Android devices.

Blackboard App. A popular learning management system, Blackboard is used at many colleges across the U.S. The mobile app allows students to access coursework for online classes or in-person classes with virtual components. Students can view course content, complete assignments and tests, view grades and more.

Canvas Student. Similar to Blackboard, students can access coursework, submit assignments and view grades with Canvas Student. Which app to download - Blackboard or Canvas - depends on the platform used by the student's college.

Duolingo. Billing itself as "the world's best way to learn a language," Duolingo offers lessons in 35-plus languages, helping users with speaking, reading, listening, writing, grammar and vocabulary. Duolingo offers both free and paid versions, the latter with an ad-free experience and offline access to lessons. Additionally, Duolingo has emerged as a test of English proficiency accepted at some U.S. colleges.

Evernote. A note-taking and task-management system that offers the ability to sync across devices, Evernote allows users to create to-do lists, save webpages and digitize documents via a device's camera. Evernote is free, though a premium version with more features costs $7.99 a month or $69.99 annually.

Google Calendar. Given the reach of Google, students may already be familiar with commonplace apps like Google Calendar, which can be used to schedule events, create reminders, share availability and more.

Google Drive. Another classic, Google Drive can be used for free Google Cloud storage, which makes it handy for writing that term paper across various devices or for collaborating on shared documents with classmates.

Mendeley. A reference manager and PDF reader, Mendeley offers students the ability to annotate and highlight PDFs, generate references and citations, sync work across devices and search a vast online library. The first two gigabytes of storage are free, with plans ranging from $55 to $165 a year for additional capacity.

MindMeister. A tool for visualizing ideas, MindMeister allows users to generate idea maps. According to the app's website, uses include project planning, note taking, meeting management and more. Though the basic version is free, plans for personal, pro or business accounts run from $4.99 to $12.49.

MyLifeOrganized. A task management app, MyLifeOrganized allows users to break down tasks into obtainable goals, automatically sort priority action items and see what's scheduled for the day. Both free and paid options exist for the app with a cost of $29.99 for a professional account on mobile devices.

Quizlet. Another flashcard app, Quizlet allows users to create their own decks, which can be shared with other users, as well as the ability to play time-based games to help students with memorization. Quizlet is free but an upgrade to Quizlet Plus, which is ad-free and offers offline access, costs $23.88 for one year.

College mobile apps. College-specific apps have become fairly common. While these apps may differ by college, users can often find campus maps, news, safety information, scheduled events and more.

Considering the number of free apps in the marketplace, it makes sense that some college students may be reluctant to pay. Shelley suggests that students test-drive paid apps, which often offer a free trial period, to determine their value before springing for the cost.

"For myself, I'll try out probably between three and five apps, doing the same thing, and then I'll invest in the premium version if I see the features being something that's worthwhile for me," Shelley says.

"I think it's important to be aware that there are websites and apps that sell themselves as legitimate study aids, when really they are providing answers to quizzes and tests," she says. "I won't name names, but I would encourage students to do some research and consider that if it feels like cheating, it probably is cheating."

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The smartphone is the new student planner - a virtual repository of dates, deadlines and important info. But unlike the traditional planner, there are options for countless add-ons in the form of mobile apps for college students.

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At some point in our school days, we all have hated to wear school uniforms every day. Right? Well it's a pretty common thing amongst students and the reason is simple; school uniforms tend to require away the freedom of teenagers to wear what they want.

Dress code has Best Uniform Collection in Ranchi as School uniforms are quite useful in creating a sense of equality among students. Wearing school uniforms raises school pride and community spirit. School uniforms promote school spirit because they provide students with a sense of unity. This unity brings a bond that allows students to feel closer and more connected.

At Dress Code, we provide High-Quality Uniforms in Ranchi which promotes school spirit because uniform provides students with a sense of unity. This unity brings a bond that permits students to feel closer and more connected. Wearing similar clothing lets students feel united also as it brings a way of pride in their appearance and their school. When school uniforms are adopted by a school district, some members of the student body who had previously felt excluded can now feel like they belong. Being a part of something and feeling included is known to bring about respect and pride which is likely to resonate throughout the entire student body which benefits all students.

We Dress Code Ranchi report that school uniforms can:

improve their sense of school pride

increase their respect for serious learning environments

increase overall attendance

improve academic success

Uniforms create a sense of community

Uniforms increases focus on academics

Uniforms reduce expenses for parents

Uniforms increase school security:

Uniforms promote discipline

When students know they are supported by a gaggle of individuals, they are more inclined to study in their classes and attend school more consistently. Overall, these researchers suggest that these students may become more motivated.

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How school uniforms promote school spirit

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At some point in our school days, we all have hated to wear school uniforms every day. Right? Well it's a pretty common thing amongst students and the reason is simple; school uniforms tend to require away the freedom of teenagers to wear what they want.

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The big idea

Since 2014, the Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research, located at the University of Southern California, has been tracking trends in health economic well-being, attitudes and behaviors through a nationwide survey for its Understanding America Study, asking the same individuals questions over time.

The nationally representative survey is now assessing how COVID-19 is affecting U.S. families. This includes their health, economic status and, for the first time, educational experiences. With two other education researchers Amie Rapaport and Marshall Garland, we analyzed the educational experience data that have recently been added to the study.

What we did

We worked with the broader Understanding America Study team to ask Americans about the effects the pandemic is having on students and their families.

About 1,450 families with children answered these questions between April 1 and April 15.

We found that nearly all - about 85% - of families with at least one child between kindergarten and their senior year of high school have internet access and a computer they can use for distance learning while school buildings are shuttered.

However, we found large disparities in technology access based on family income. Among the 20% of American households who make US$25,000 or less a year, just 63% of schoolchildren have access to a computer and the internet. In comparison, essentially all students from the most affluent families - those whose parents make $150,000 annually or more - do.

To be sure, that doesn't mean a third of poor kids are being locked out of getting an online education. Many of those students are also using tablets and smartphones to participate in educational activities. However, the types of educational activities a student can easily engage in with a computer and wireless internet -such as writing long essays - are broader than the types possible on a tablet or an even smaller screen and with just a cellular connection.

These inequities can leave low-income families scrambling for wireless access. Some of the limited options available can include include working from a car parked outside a local library or a McDonald's parking lot.

Why it matters

There's a big gap between how much access rich and poor children have to technology. This is known as the " digital divide."

This disparity contributes to the achievement gaps between students based largely on their economic status.

These findings show that the digital divide is playing out in real time during this pandemic in ways that are sure to lead to unequal negative effects on already disadvantaged students.

What's next?

Most schools in the country are likely to remain closed for months - long after we collected this initial data. We believe that it's possible that this divide will narrow once more districts distribute computers, tablets and other hardware, more communities take steps to expand broadband access to those who can't afford it and teachers get better at educating kids online.

There's a chance that federal help could arrive, should Congress pass the Emergency Educational Connections Act of 2020, a measure authored and backed by House Democrats aimed at narrowing the digital divide. It would normally be states - which provide the largest share of funding for public schools - that would address issues like technology in schools, but with states facing mounting budget constraints that's going to be a big challenge. A similar bill is pending in the Senate.

In our view, without federal intervention, these gaps will not meaningfully narrow.

[ Insight, in your inbox each day. You can get it with The Conversation's email newsletter.]

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Not all kids have computers - and they're being left behind with schools closed by the coronavirus

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Since 2014, the Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research, located at the University of Southern California, has been tracking trends in health economic well-being, attitudes and behaviors through a nationwide survey for its Understanding America Study, asking the same individuals questions over time. The nationally representative survey is now assessing how COVID-19 is affecting U.S.

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UH Study Suggests School Uniforms Reduce Student Absences, Disciplinary Problems

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Britney Wilson is a writer, best-known for her poetry which was featured on the HBO series Russell Simmons Presents: Brave New Voices. She is currently pursuing her B.A. in English at Howard University.

In an era when many schoolchildren are "waiting for superman" to save them from the inadequacies of the education system, some people seem to think that students are working too hard.

The New York Times recently wrote an article detailing one New Jersey school district's impending decision to join several other schools across the country in reducing the amount of homework assigned to students. The article suggests ten minutes of homework per night beginning with first graders and increasing at ten minute increments for each successive grade level, with no homework on weekends, school holidays, or extended breaks.

The argument is that young students are being overworked and overwhelmed at the expense of their social development and the carefree lifestyle that is supposed to be associated with childhood. Some educational experts also believe that too much homework can hinder, rather than help, students' learning experiences. According to the research cited on www.stophomework.com, a website created by Sara Bennett who co-wrote the book The Case Against Homework: How Homework is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It, in countries like Greece and Thailand students are assigned a lot of homework and perform worse on "achievement tests" in comparison to places like Japan and Denmark where students receive little homework and perform better on these tests.

Studies also show that students are more sedentary, getting less sleep, and reporting more experiences of anxiety than schoolchildren in the past. All of these occurrences are being at least partially attributed to increased amounts of homework.

But there's another side. While homework can sometimes be mechanical, excessive, and lack an obvious objective, one cannot deny some benefits. How many people would have learned their multiplication tables without at least some rote memorization or done those math worksheets they hated so much if they weren't required?

As a child, whenever I complained about my homework, my mother always said that she had her job and that school was mine. Stressed or not, it is the only real responsibility many children have.

Maybe students shouldn't have to spend their entire evening on these tasks, but how much can they really accomplish in ten minutes? No student wants to spend his or her entire winter break doing homework, but how much information will be retained if no work has been done in the interim?

Some students don't do the three hours of homework they are assigned, so what portion of their reduced assignments will they do? Also, just because students are doing less homework doesn't mean that they are sleeping more or being more physically active. Would we prefer students spend hours playing Call of Duty or reading Call of the Wild?

Homework time cannot be streamlined any more than student performance can. Rather than focusing on time quantity, education officials should focus on the quality of homework assignments in order to ensure that students are practicing skills that address their individual needs in the most beneficial manner possible, no matter how long it takes.

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Students may want to argue that homework isn't necessary, but we all know it is. On the other hand, as Britney Wilson of The Nation sees, relevant homework that caters to individual needs is more beneficial the futile attempts to streamline the process.

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BACKPACKS spilled forth mountains of binders, books and folders one afternoon not long ago in the conference room of the Boys and Girls Club here. The air was thick with concentration as students like Jasmine Jurado, an eighth grader at the Fox Lane Middle School in Bedford, steadily plowed through assigned readings, math problems and science labs.

Jasmine, 14, took a break from an essay about Shakespeare's ''Midsummer Night's Dream,'' to say that her daily average of three hours of homework leaves her anxious and burdened. ''I try to get good grades;'' she said. ''I come home by 9, and my parents are asleep. When I come home, it's all on my back.''

Parents, too, feel the pressure.

''When I think back on my childhood, there's no way I had this much,'' said Susan Gould, who has a fifth grader and a first grader in Rye's schools. ''They get out at 3 o'clock, and by 5 they're worn out. There's not much time to play. Homework is hanging over their heads. I want it done, and they don't want to do it.''

Homework is a constant irritant, a badge of honor and a force in the family in academically ambitious Westchester. The landscape is crowded with third-grade projects that show Dad's professional touch as a video artist, with fifth-grade papers typed by Mom, or with fourth graders still cracking the books at 10 p.m. -- never mind the family arguments over whether homework has been done, or done well, and the farther-reaching arguments over the role of parents, children and educators in the homework equation.

Complaints to teachers are common, as are bleary morning commuter-train conversations about homework-filled evenings and weekends. PTA sessions for parents where advice is given on dealing with homework are often crowded. Parents new to the schools are shocked when their 5-year-old kindergartners come home with assignments.

''Homework is a very hot topic,'' Georgiene Dempsey, the principal of the Springhurst Elementary School in Dobbs Ferry, said in a telephone interview.

''Parents sometimes have the idea that if they see more homework, the more they think the child is learning. Research shows that homework has no value in itself until fifth grade. Its only value is creating a habit for children to sit down and do homework. When is homework too much? All of us are in this craziness together.''

Overall there has been no significant increase in homework, according to a study released by the Brown Center on Educational Policy, a research center on educational issues at the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit research organization in Washington. The study, released as part of the 2003 annual Brown Center Report on American Education, said the exception was homework for children ages 6 to 8. Based on data from the Population Studies Center at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, the study reported that homework in that group increased to 2 hours and 8 minutes a week, from 52 minutes a week, between 1981 and 1997.

Try telling Westchester parents, especially those in high-powered schools, that homework hasn't increased significantly if at all.

''Students are so much more active outside of school now -- with soccer, sports, dance -- that even if homework might be the same amount, it's more difficult to manage,'' said Anne Wallace, the director for guidance at the middle and high schools in Rye Neck.

But there is a growing revolt, exemplified perhaps by parents in Ardsley who are circulating a petition to take to the school board about the difference between the district's stated homework policies and the amount of homework students actually have to do, asking simply that the current homework policy be enforced.

''Seventh- and eighth-graders are supposed to have an hour and a half a night,'' said Jason Sapan, a father of two children in the district, one of whom is a seventh grader at the Ardsley Middle School. The last straw was when his daughter was still not done with homework at 11 one evening. ''I don't think this helps in their education. It takes the joy out of kids who are exceptional, and overwhelms those who are struggling.''

Margot Steinberg of White Plains, whose children are in the Ardsley district, said: ''The kids get so much homework, they're not getting something out of it. They're doing it to get it done.''

The reasons for an increase in homework are several. ''Because of the standards and testing, kids these days are asked to write, and organize information in a much more complicated way than in the past,'' said Lisa Freund, a former special education teacher who now tutors students after school. ''They're given research projects in fifth and sixth grade, using the Internet, so the assignments are qualitatively different than they used to be. Part of my job is to free the parent from being responsible for what goes on after school.''

Douglas Both, the principal of the John Jay Middle School in the Katonah-Lewisboro school district, said state and federal standards are a factor. ''The higher standards require more information, and we can't cover everything,'' he said. ''What we're having to do is ask kids to do more at home, to have active instructional time at school. We're also dropping subject matter down a grade. We're teaching algebra in sixth grade. In order to prepare for more interactive classes, kids have to do more at home.''

STUDENTS see several stages of homework, said Paul Folkemer, assistant superintendent for instruction and curriculum in Scarsdale. ''Because of the English language arts exam, and also because of math and science, fourth grade is seeing a significant change in the amount of work,'' he said in a telephone interview, but the big changes come in middle school. ''In seventh grade, it's the first time students have five major subjects, and we group for mathematics. Many have advanced math, and foreign language.''

As Mr. Both said: ''The issue comes up every year. A lot of our middle school kids come from self-contained classrooms in fifth grade. All of a sudden, they move to the middle school with 10 to 11 teachers and subjects, English social studies, math, science, and reading, art, technology, home and career, music, and physical education.

''It's more subject matter specific, and students feel responsible to four to five different people every night. It's harder to track how much homework a child has in a given night. We work hard at it here, but teachers can't always address, 'How much are you giving?' Kids are trying to please a number of adults. And sixth-graders overwork their assignments. With five subjects, they become overwhelmed. We try to caution parents to stay out of homework. We have to wean them off it, just as we try to wean children from that kind of support.''

Some say that it's not so much the homework as the extracurricular activities that are to blame.

''We purposely don't do much after school because of homework,'' said Jamie Pearlman, a Mount Kisco resident whose two children attend Chappaqua schools. ''I didn't want her to go to bed at 10 or 11.''

The ways that teachers, schools, students and families choose to deal with homework are as varied as the players themselves.

Many parents who extol the virtues of their challenging public schools also complain that homework assignments, especially long-term projects, intrude on weekends, vacations, family meal times and children's sleep time, play time and down time.

Extracurricular activities are particularly at risk. Some Conservative Jewish congregations have scaled back their twice-a-week afternoon Hebrew school programs to once a week, because parents were reluctant to make that kind of time commitment for their children.

Other stresses are obvious, too. Dr. Karen Benedict, assistant superintendent for curriculum in Katonah-Lewisboro, said: ''People's lives are very busy. There are lots of dual parents who are working, and family time is valued. When students have to spend a lot of time on homework, family time is reduced.''

Beyond that, many conversations about homework include the assertion that ''my parents never did my homework for me,'' even Mom, who in a boomer's family might not have worked outside the home. Yet homework is now an issue not just for parents, but also for those who care for the children of working parents.

''The first question parents ask when they come here is, 'Is your homework all done?''' said Pam Koner, who runs the Homework Club in Hastings-on-Hudson. It is a private after-school program that has as one of its goals the completion of homework. ''At 6 at night, the last thing most parents want to do is homework. In the last six to eight years, the amount of homework has stayed the same -- but it feels to me that intellectually, things have been bumped up. Third-grade work is now in second grade, and it can be challenging for some of these kids.''

Despite any coping mechanisms, conflicts about homework -- between parents and children, or parents and educators -- are not unknown.

A White Plains parent, Barbara O'Keefe, said in a telephone interview: ''My youngest child, a freshman in high school, has more difficulty. I have to become a policewoman.''

Style differences, and students' own abilities and affinities for subject matter, can also come into play.

''One of mine can't start homework until 8 p.m.,'' Ms. Steinberg said. ''In my family, math goes quickly, but writing pieces are a nightmare.''

These forces have led to thriving tutoring industries in some communities. Some parents hire homework tutors to supervise or assist their children, reluctant to leave the task to nannies or non-English speaking housekeepers. And if tutors were once used to help struggling students, now it's not uncommon to find tutors engaged to help ''A'' students maintain their class standing.

''We know that there are a lot more tutors,'' Mr. Both said. ''In a community like ours, everyone is looking for that edge.''

Many districts have embraced after-school (and even before-school ) centers.

''Some kids have more help than others at home, so we try to build in more support at school,'' said Marjorie Holderman, principal of the Dobbs Ferry Middle School. The school is open before classes start in the morning as well as after school.

The Boys and Girls Club runs similar programs at its Mount Kisco, Yorktown and Tarrytown sites.

''The amount of homework children are getting has been increasing,'' said Barbara Cutri, the director. ''An hour is not enough to get all the homework done, beginning in third grade. Parents' expectations are that they want the homework done. We're an after-school program, and the main focus is on fun activities after school. We're not an education center, and want to give kids a break -- but kids are not going home with all the homework finished.''

Colleen McNamee, a regular at the Mount Kisco Boys and Girls Club, said she prefers to do her homework on her own. ''My Mom won't even know some of this stuff,'' she said. ''Homework takes over everything.''

Although private schools are known for tough academics, being liberated from state requirements means that homework has a different flavor.

Bob Cook, head of the upper school at the Harvey School in Katonah, said high school students usually have 30 to 40 minutes per subject each night. ''I've been in prep schools for 27 years, and I don't see that the amount of homework has changed much,'' he said. ''We limit homework on three- to four-day weekends, and over long vacations, there's no written homework, except for AP classes. That's really family time. And my department heads get together to make sure kids don't get make work. We tell teachers that if they don't have homework on a given night, don't give it for the sake of giving homework. In our middle school, the students get one night off per week per subject.''

Granted, homework doesn't have to be an overwhelming experience. And, educators say, it certainly shouldn't be in elementary school.

Mrs. Dempsey, who taught in Scarsdale for 17 years, said: ''I had a second-grade teacher this year, a terrific teacher, who said she was going crazy because the first hour of every day is spent with homework, and many of the kids haven't been doing their homework. I said there's another way. I told her, 'Don't give homework.'''

When Mrs. Dempsey was in Scarsdale (she left in 1987) the district's unofficial custom was not to give homework until the third grade, a practice that has since disappeared.

''I believe children should be reading every night, but not a multitude of math problems or reading assignments,'' she said. ''I can see how homework helps children when they're having struggles -- like doing math facts for a second grader, as opposed to 21 drill problems every night. If kids have worked hard in school, they should be out playing.''

In the high-powered Chappaqua schools, there is no regularly assigned kindergarten homework, although teachers may sometimes give assignments, mostly as a means of getting students accustomed to the idea of homework. First graders are supposed to have short assignments. It's not until second grade that students are expected to get regular language arts and math assignments, with daily reading part of the routine.

In response to a perception that there is too much homework, many of the county's middle schools have tried to find solutions.

Gail Kipper, the principal of the Farragut Middle School in Hastings, said that a few years ago, a committee of parents, teachers and administrators developed a pamphlet and policies about homework that is distributed at the fall open school night. Each grade hallway in the school, for example, has calendars with assignments posted.

''There should be no more than two major tests in a day, and long-term assignments are to be staggered,'' Ms. Kipper said.

At the Dobbs Ferry Middle School, coordination among the teachers is vital, said Ed Feller, a sixth-grade English teacher and team leader. ''We meet daily to discuss projects that we've given, so we stagger due dates.''

One solution has been to use technology. ''In middle school, kids want to break away from mom and dad, and parents want to hold on to that connection,'' said Peter J. Mustich, the superintendent of the Rye Neck school district, where the middle school recently began posting homework assignments on teachers' Web pages. ''Parents and students can look at the homework assignment, students can do the worksheet online.''

Some educators, and parents of children who are in college and beyond, caution that the homework umbilical cord needs to be cut sooner, not later. What seems like an innocent practice of helping a fourth-grader with a science poster can set a dangerous pattern. Between faxes and e-mail technology, it's not uncommon for college students to send term papers home to their parents for comments or editing, meaning that the homework issues can go on indefinitely.

In many households, homework stress is constant. Patty Warble, a mother of five grown children, speaks both as a parent and as a professional, because she is the executive director of the Bedford-Lewisboro-Pound Ridge Drug Abuse Prevention Council, as well as a staff member for the Tarrytown-based Student Assistance Services Corporation, a private nonprofit substance abuse and prevention organization.

''There's more pressure on kids to succeed, and homework becomes a power struggle,'' she said. ''Parents need to disengage from the power struggle. The idea is 'whose problem is it?' Let the people at the school who are the professionals handle it.''

Still, that's not necessarily an easy lessons for parents to absorb completely.

''When parents take over, it sends two messages,'' said Ms. Wallace, guidance director for the middle and high schools in Rye Neck. ''One is 'I'm supporting you, this is important.' And the other is 'I don't think you can do this on your own.' As parents, we don't want to see them fail.''

Assignment: How to Cope

WHILE homework will never go away, experts say there are ways to reduce stress among the various parties: students, parents, teachers and other educators. Homework has to get done, and done on time to meet teachers' requirements -- but exactly how and when can be different for different people. Before they buckle down, some children need to decompress after school, maybe by taking a half-hour to instant-message friends, nap on the couch or work off excess energy by jumping on a trampoline. If children and parents understand this about one another, it can reduce a lot of family stress on homework, just as it may well pay for a parent to understand that her work style is different from her daughter's.

Some other tips follow.

Students

1. Once you get past the earliest elementary grades, remember that it's your homework -- not your parents'.

2. Establish a regular routine to do homework, so that you have the habit of doing your work at the same time, and in the same place, most days.

3. Pay attention to due dates for long-term projects, and keep to that schedule.

4. If you're struggling, or an assignment is taking you longer to complete than anticipated, do as much as you can and discuss your problem with your teacher.

Parents

1. Support and supervise your child's efforts, but remember that it's not your homework. Your role should be that of a monitor or coach, not a partner.

2. Step back. Your value as a person isn't dependent on how your daughter does on her seventh-grade science lab or what your son gets on his fourth-grade poetry folder.

3. Provide a quiet time and study area for your child, to establish good study habits and encourage independence.

4. Expect regular assignments, and contact the teacher if there are problems or if homework doesn't arrive home regularly.

Teachers

1. Be sure that you're assigning work that students can do on their own, based on what they've learned in class, and that the assignments are clear to them. If parental input is expected on a long-term project, or extra credit assignments and challenge activities, define parents' role during open school night or at some other appropriate time.

2. Monitor the ease or difficulty of homework assignments for your students.

3. Check and return assignments promptly. Think about the value of homework. Maggie Worell, a third-grade teacher at the Hillside Elementary School in Hastings-on-Hudson, and a 35-year veteran of the profession, said: ''Homework should address the needs of diverse abilities. So teachers make adjustments for students.''

Principals

1. Set clear homework guidelines, and be sure the classroom teachers follow them.

2. Have a definite time limit for each grade. Ten minutes times the grade level appears to be one common standard.

3. Homework isn't about introducing new skills or concepts, but about reinforcing what happened in the classroom. Make sure that teachers understand that policy.

4. Keep in touch with parents. Find out if they're satisfied with the quality and quantity of homework assignments, and be prepared to adjust your policies if community expectations change or evolve. Merri Rosenberg

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When Homework Takes Over (Published 2004)

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BACKPACKS spilled forth mountains of binders, books and folders one afternoon not long ago in the conference room of the Boys and Girls Club here. The air was thick with concentration as students like Jasmine Jurado, an eighth grader at the Fox Lane Middle School in Bedford, steadily plowed through assigned readings, math problems and science labs.

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Cash for Good Grades? Some Schools Give It a Try

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Some public schools are paying students to succeed in school. Is this approach effective? Is it ethical?

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When most people think of K-12 students with constant access to their cell phones they envision students slacking off in class by scrolling through social media, texting their friends, and playing games. But the reality is this: the scenario represents a small majority of any student body, and if those students didn't have their cell phones, they would find other distractions. After all, class goofs, mindless daydreaming during math class, and causing class disruptions are behavioral types that have existed long before mobile phones even existed. Simply put, if kids didn't have cell phones in school to use as a distraction, they would find other methods of distractions.

However, the value and benefits that cell phones add to the students' experience have no substitutes. In fact, cell phones in schools do far more good than harm as they prepare students for the real world, help them learn how to be responsible, are engaging learning tools, and help promote safety.

This article is intended to help school administrators and principals learn why cell phones in schools are a good thing. You'll learn why schools should invest in a commercial cell phone charging station and charging lockers for school campuses and why they should be installed across campus.

Cell Phones Prepare Students for Future Careers

Any working professional likely uses tools like Google calendar to schedule meetings, Slack for internal communication with colleagues and clients, and platforms like Asana for task management. We're only moving deeper into a growing digital age, and students need to be prepared to manage a digital life alongside the non-digital if they want to stick to deadlines, form strong professional relationships, and stay organized.

Today's students are savvy and can use digital calendars, like Google calendar, for keeping track of homework due-dates, study times, and extracurricular activities. By having a multi-device charging station in the quad, cafeteria, library, and in every building, students can keep their cell phones and tablets charged so they can manage their student lives while preparing for their working adult lives.

Cell Phones Teach Responsibility

There is a time and a place to browse Instagram, play Candy Crush, and take selfies. Just as a working professional would never do these things in the middle of a board meeting, so too should a student never do this in class. There's a time and a place to set your phone on silent mode and ignore it (unless there's an emergency call from family). And by allowing students the freedom to keep their phones in school, they're learning a big lesson in being more responsible that will serve them well.

Cell Phones are Tools for Emergencies

There are a number of emergency levels that constitute different threats. Whether a student left their essay at home and they need to call a parent to bring it in or if there is an intruder on campus posing a threat to the safety of all students, having a powered cell phone can help prevent a disaster from getting worse.

While we don't want to expect tragedies to happen, it's important for schools to have appropriate measures in place in the event that this happens. That includes allowing them to access their cell phones during school hours. And, cell phone charging stations and charging lockers at schools can help keep campuses safe and help alert emergency services in times of need.

Contact a Commercial Cell Phone Charging Company for Schools Today!

By providing cell phone charging stations and charging lockers throughout your school, you will be improving campus safety and empowering your students to be successful. Call a company that designs cell phone charging kiosks for schools today, and learn about the various types and options available that can enrich your school.

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Why K-12 Students Should Have Access to Cell Phones and Why Cell Phone Charging Stations Matter

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When most people think of K-12 students with constant access to their cell phones they envision students slacking off in class by scrolling through social media, texting their friends, and playing games. But the reality is this: the scenario represents a small majority of any student body, and if those students didn't have their cell phones, they would find other distractions.

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— -- More than 550 students at a Massachusetts elementary school will have less to carry home in their backpacks this year.

There will be no homework.

Kelly Elementary School in Holyoke has banned homework for the year with the intention of giving students all the instruction and extra help they may need during the school day.

"We want kids to go home tired; we want their brains to be tired," Jackie Glasheen, principal of the school, whose kindergarten through 8th-grade students are nearly all poor and Hispanic, told ABC News. At home, she said, "we want them to engage with their families, talk about their school days and go to bed."

Glasheen and the team of teachers who came up with the idea to end homework are among a growing number of U.S. educators and parents questioning the value of having children do schoolwork at home.

A Texas elementary school teacher last month drew wide attention by eliminating homework.

Brandy Young, 2nd-grade teacher at an elementary school in Godley, wrote parents in a letter shared widely on social media, that after "much research over the summer," she would not assign any homework except for uncompleted classwork.

"Research has been unable to prove that homework improves student performance," she wrote in the letter handed to parents at a meet-the-teacher night Aug. 16.

"Rather, I ask that you spend your evenings doing things that are proven to correlate with student success," she wrote. "Eat dinner as a family, read together, play outside and get your child to bed early."

Kelly Elementary School eliminated homework under circumstances uncommon in most schools.

Beginning this fall, nearly all schools in the Holyoke district, which has among the lowest standardized test scores in Massachusetts, are extending their school days by two hours. Elementary school students now go to school from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., instead of the previous 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Principal Glasheen said her school surveyed its teachers, parents and students before implementing the homework ban.

"The toughest stakeholder group was the teachers," she said. "Some of them felt [students] need that extra practice. They need that extra work."

But Glasheen said the longer school days will give students more instructional time.

"Face time with a teacher ... is going to impact their learning more than doing skill-and-practice work at home," she said.

Not many schools are lengthening their school days by as much as the Holyoke district. But even without the longer days, a number of educators and researchers say homework is more of a hindrance than a help to students.

Author and education researcher Alfie Kohn says homework routinely produces frustration, exhaustion, family conflict, a loss of time for other activities and diminished excitement about learning.

"In classrooms and schools where little or no homework is assigned, results have been extremely positive in terms of students' academic performance as well as their attitudes about learning," Kohn told ABC News. "'No homework' should become the default, with homework assigned only on those days when there is compelling reason to believe that a given assignment will benefit most students."

Kohn, whose books include "The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing," said research has failed to demonstrate any benefit to assigning homework, at least until students are in high school.

But Robert Pondiscio, senior fellow at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education policy think tank in Washington, D.C., said the question of homework's value is not cut-and-dried. Pondiscio, who is also an adviser at Democracy Prep, a New York City charter school network, said homework may have a greater benefit for low-income students than affluent students.

"I still think we're in a situation in this country where we have a far greater problem of expecting too little -- not too much -- of kids, and homework falls into that," Pondiscio told ABC News.

The benefits of assigning homework also depend on what you want it to achieve, Pondiscio said. Homework may not lead to a higher grade on a test within six months, he said, but it can encourage behaviors and foster skills that yield long-term benefits such as practice in time-management

"Whenever I hear 'homework doesn't work,' my first response is, 'Well what do you want homework to do?'" Pondiscio said. "We always want to press the easy button in these discussions, and there isn't one."

Kelly Elementary School Principal Glasheen has heard from some critics of her school's homework ban who echo Pondiscio, telling her, "'You're letting kids off the hook,'" she said.

But she's also gotten support. The far-flung responses she's received suggests how widespread is the debate over homework's value.

"I have heard from principals from southern California, Dallas, Brazil," she said.

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Amid Growing Debate About Homework, One School Bans It

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More than 550 students at a Massachusetts elementary school will have less to carry home in their backpacks this year. There will be no homework. Kelly Elementary School in Holyoke has banned homework for the year with the intention of giving students all the instruction and extra help they may need during the school day.

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As kids return to school, debate is heating up once again over how they should spend their time after they leave the classroom for the day.

The no-homework policy of a second-grade teacher in Texas went viral last week, earning praise from parents across the country who lament the heavy workload often assigned to young students. Brandy Young told parents she would not formally assign any homework this year, asking students instead to eat dinner with their families, play outside and go to bed early.

But the question of how much work children should be doing outside of school remains controversial, and plenty of parents take issue with no-homework policies, worried their kids are losing a potential academic advantage. Here's what you need to know:
The issue
For decades, the homework standard has been a "10-minute rule," which recommends a daily maximum of 10 minutes of homework per grade level. Second graders, for example, should do about 20 minutes of homework each night. High school seniors should complete about two hours of homework each night. The National PTA and the National Education Association both support that guideline.

But some schools have begun to give their youngest students a break. A Massachusetts elementary school has announced a no-homework pilot program for the coming school year, lengthening the school day by two hours to provide more in-class instruction. "We really want kids to go home at 4 o'clock, tired. We want their brain to be tired," Kelly Elementary School Principal Jackie Glasheen said in an interview with a local TV station. "We want them to enjoy their families. We want them to go to soccer practice or football practice, and we want them to go to bed. And that's it."

A New York City public elementary school implemented a similar policy last year, eliminating traditional homework assignments in favor of family time. The change was quickly met with outrage from some parents, though it earned support from other education leaders.

New solutions and approaches to homework differ by community, and these local debates are complicated by the fact that even education experts disagree about what's best for kids.
The research
The most comprehensive research on homework to date comes from a 2006 meta-analysis by Duke University psychology professor Harris Cooper, who found evidence of a positive correlation between homework and student achievement, meaning students who did homework performed better in school. The correlation was stronger for older students-in seventh through 12th grade-than for those in younger grades, for whom there was a weak relationship between homework and performance.

Cooper's analysis focused on how homework impacts academic achievement-test scores, for example. His report noted that homework is also thought to improve study habits, attitudes toward school, self-discipline, inquisitiveness and independent problem solving skills. On the other hand, some studies he examined showed that homework can cause physical and emotional fatigue, fuel negative attitudes about learning and limit leisure time for children. At the end of his analysis, Cooper recommended further study of such potential effects of homework.

Despite the weak correlation between homework and performance for young children, Cooper argues that a small amount of homework is useful for all students. Second-graders should not be doing two hours of homework each night, he said, but they also shouldn't be doing no homework.
The debate
Not all education experts agree entirely with Cooper's assessment.

Cathy Vatterott, an education professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, supports the "10-minute rule" as a maximum, but she thinks there is not sufficient proof that homework is helpful for students in elementary school.

"Correlation is not causation," she said. "Does homework cause achievement, or do high achievers do more homework?"

Vatterott, the author of Rethinking Homework: Best Practices That Support Diverse Needs, thinks there should be more emphasis on improving the quality of homework tasks, and she supports efforts to eliminate homework for younger kids.

"I have no concerns about students not starting homework until fourth grade or fifth grade," she said, noting that while the debate over homework will undoubtedly continue, she has noticed a trend toward limiting, if not eliminating, homework in elementary school.

The issue has been debated for decades. A TIME cover in 1999 read: "Too much homework! How it's hurting our kids, and what parents should do about it." The accompanying story noted that the launch of Sputnik in 1957 led to a push for better math and science education in the U.S. The ensuing pressure to be competitive on a global scale, plus the increasingly demanding college admissions process, fueled the practice of assigning homework.

"The complaints are cyclical, and we're in the part of the cycle now where the concern is for too much," Cooper said. "You can go back to the 1970s, when you'll find there were concerns that there was too little, when we were concerned about our global competitiveness."

Cooper acknowledged that some students really are bringing home too much homework, and their parents are right to be concerned.

"A good way to think about homework is the way you think about medications or dietary supplements," he said. "If you take too little, they'll have no effect. If you take too much, they can kill you. If you take the right amount, you'll get better."

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Is Homework Good for Kids? Here's What the Research Says

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As kids return to school, debate is heating up once again over how they should spend their time after they leave the classroom for the day

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https://www.theclassroom.com/ten-children-should-wear-uniforms-8231075.html

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I've just updated this article on how school uniforms can save money. It is reflective of the unique school uniform situation many parents are facing as children go back to school-even if school isn't 100% in person all the time.

The original concept of this blog post? How school uniforms save money and how they save parents money when buying school uniforms. It's a topic I first tackled for Parade Magazine. This blog post expands on that and takes this notion of saving money with school uniforms even farther.

How do school uniforms save money?

One of the best ways to show how school uniforms can save parents money is to look at what I'm calling school uniforms save money statistics. That is, comparing spending on school uniforms with the spending on "regular" back to school clothing.

First, the school uniform spending statitisics. These are courtesy of a recent survey from the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP).

How much do parents spend on school uniforms? That survey found that the average cost of school uniforms per child, per year, was $150 or less.

School uniforms save money on back to school spending

Next, let's look at back-to-school spending. According to the National Retail Federation, this past year, parents spent more than $235 per child on back-to-school clothing. New shoes add about $130 to the tab.

So if you ever wondered how do uniforms save money, think about these figures. Right off the bat we know that school uniforms save money by saving families about $80 per child on school clothing.

In other words, how much do school uniforms cost compared to regular clothes? Well, you'll spend $80 less per child with a school uniform.

In conclusion, do school uniforms save money? You bet they do.

Now that we've determined how school uniforms save money for parents, we'll get into the basics about school uniforms.

After that, I'll delve into the nitty gritty of school uniform brands, how you can get school uniforms for less, some of the cheapest places to buy school uniforms online, ideas on affordable school uniforms and more.

School Uniform Basics

Even if your kid doesn't need to wear a uniform to school, stocking up on uniform-like items when they're on sale makes sense. Take my experience with my daughters.

Even though my daughters did not have to wear a school uniform, they did need chinos or khakis-aka school uniform pants-and polo shirts for certain school functions. This included when they were both in the band.

Even now, as college students, both of my girls have needed polo shirts and chinos for their jobs on campus. So, whenever possible, we would stock up when things are on sale, usually at Old Navy.

This is a great way to save money on school uniforms-even if you don't need these pants and shirts to be school uniforms per se. Be sure to stock up when they are on sale.

I'll get into Old Navy a bit more below, but let me just say that it is one of my favorite school uniform brands, if you will. It's also where I think you'll do well to find pieces of your child's school uniforms for less.

Why Parents Like School Uniforms

Going back to that NAESP survey. It found that 86 percent of parents surveyed believed that having school uniforms makes shopping for back to school a more budget-friendly endeavor. And based on the numbers above, I believe it.

I've also heard parents say how school uniforms save time in the morning. I get that. Fewer choices means kids get dressed faster in the morning.

There are other intangible benefits to school uniforms:

Eliminate wardrobe battles with kids (94 percent)

Easier to get kids ready in the morning (92 percent)

Time saving in the morning, as mentioned above (93 percent)

Easier to shop for school clothes (90 percent)

This is good information to keep in mind. Why?

Because, the NAESP survey says that 49 percent of public schools have a school uniform policy in place. That means nearly half of all children attending a public school have to wear a uniform. Therefore, half of all parents are likely on the hunt for affordable school uniforms.

How School Uniforms Save Money

How do school uniforms save money? Let me count the ways.

First, we know that the items on a school uniform list are usually more affordable than designer jeans. The most popular public school uniform pieces are chino pants and navy blue polo shirts, and I'll bet they are way more affordable than designer jeans.

Second, when you find a sale, you can stock up on uniforms for less. Say your child has to have a white school uniform-a white top, that is-like the children shown above.

But your school also allows other colors, like if your child's school colors are green and white, for example. Then, when you find school uniforms for less, you can stock up on green school uniform shirts, too.

And finally, always be on the hunt for sales, especially if your child's uniform involves a pricey piece or two. For instance, some private schools might require a navy blue school uniform jacket for certain occasions, like concerts.

A blue blazer is definitely going to set you back more than a pair of khaki shorts. So if you find one on sale, snap it up.

You can even find some school uniform basics when you shop back to school at Dick's Sporting Goods. In fact, here are some polo shirts I found at a savings on the Dick's Sporting Goods website.

Dick's Sporting Goods and school uniforms

Stitch Fix Kids can help with school uniforms

I've been a happy Stitch Fix customer since 2015. A number of my blog posts have covered various aspects of the Stitch Fix fashion styling services.

This includes Stitch Fix for workout clothing, Stitch Fix for big and tall men and how Stitch Fix helped me find a special occasion dress for my daughter's college graduation.

With the introduction of Stitch Fix Kids, you can easily use this personal styling service to stock up on uniform basics. Not all basics but many of them.

Below are a handful of clothing items you could conceivably receive in a kids Fix shipment. I know that I spy at least two pieces that could be uniform basics. Do you see them, too?

If you do decide to sign your child up for Stitch Fix Kids, make sure you schedule your first Fix immediately upon signing up. I've learned that if you wait too long after first signing up, your shipment can be delayed by weeks.

How lifetime guarantee can save money on school uniforms

In addition to Old Navy, another of the school uniform brands I think you should consider is Lands' End. The company happened to have partnered with the NAESP for that school uniform survey.

I believe that the investment in Lands' End school uniform basics can pay off in the long run and save you money over time. Why?

Because Lands' End is one of those companies with a lifetime guarantee on its clothing and everything else it sells.

Another popular brand for school uniforms is Dickies. Like Lands' End Dickies offers a lifetime guarantee. You can purchase Dickies brand clothing online at Walmart.

School uniforms save money when you don't have to buy new again

How does a lifetime warranty help you reduce spending on school uniforms and make it so school uniforms save money? Well, over time, you have to buy fewer items of clothing, thus spending less.

Yet another brand that can help save you money on school uniforms-Target's Cat & Jack line unique. I like that the clothing is designed to be gender neutral.

Plus, it comes with a one-year guarantee. Here's a link directly to Target's school uniform page.

Brands and Stores that Help You Save Money on School Uniforms

If you're looking to buy school uniforms new, here are some popular stores and brands that offer affordable school uniform options. I prefer to stick with the brands that provide those aforementioned lifetime warranties or at least some kind of guarantee. Because if a company stands behind the school uniforms its sell, then that saves you money in the long run.

Kids can be hard on clothes. You should get your money's worth when buying school uniforms. Below you'll find 11 school uniform retailers and brands.

1. School uniforms at Amazon

There is an area on Amazon.com called the school uniform shop. There you can find links to popular brands that offer school uniforms online.

This includes school uniform brands Dockers, Nautica and Izod.
Here are 32 brands on Amazon with lifetime warranties.
Here's how to save money on an Amazon Prime membership

2. Classroom School Uniforms

I wasn't aware of the Classroom School Uniforms brand until I stumbled on their store on Amazon. Classroom School Uniforms seems to have many items that I haven't seen from other brands or stores, such as a navy jacket and juniors uniforms.

So if you've been thinking about where to buy school uniforms for juniors, the Classroom School Uniforms store on Amazon may be your answer.

3. Dickies School Uniforms

As I mentioned earlier, Dickies has a lifetime warranty. You can find Dickies brand school uniform basics online and in person at Walmart.

Dickies come in regular, slim and husky school uniforms. Walmart seems to stock mostly Dickies bottoms.

4. French Toast School Uniforms

French Toast is a clothing brand, sold at many retailers, that specializes in school uniform basics. The company seems to be your best bet for clothing not in gray, white or blue.

For example, while perusing French Toast school uniforms on Amazon.com, I found French Toast green school uniform shirts that were also available in red, burgundy and gold.

5. Gap School Uniform Basics

My girls were always particular about their pants having a little bit of stretch in them. I know that Gap sells these kinds of pants because that's where we would buy them.

You can browse the Gap website for school uniforms for girls (tops, dresses pants and more) and boys' school uniforms. They have a great selection.

6. JCPenney School Uniforms

JCPenney's uniform store has clothing for young boys and girls, juniors and teens. Sizes are for slim, tall, plus, and husky school uniforms, and everything in between.

They have school uniforms for sale online. However, with JCPenney, you can pick up your purchase in a store near you if you don't want to pay for shipping.

7. Lands End School Uniforms

Like everything it sells, Lands' End offers a lifetime guarantee on school uniforms. I just discovered that Lands' End has a store on Amazon.

Within that store there is a school uniform section for boys, girls and, get this, adaptive clothing. Rather than buttons and zippers, the Lands' End adaptive clothing has magnets for easy dressing. Bravo, Lands' End!

Finally, if you're wondering where to buy good quality school uniforms, I would think that Lands' End is the answer. My daughters always had Lands' End bathing suits, and, boy did they last. Without fail they always outgrew them before the bathing suits wore out.

8. Lee Uniforms

If you're wondering where to buy school uniforms for juniors, the Lee Uniforms section on Amazon.com is for you. Lee Uniforms are specifically for juniors needing school uniforms. It also sells uniforms for adults needing them for a job.

9. Old Navy School Uniforms

When I searched Oldnavy.com, I found more than 1,800 items that fell under the category of school uniform. I found individual pieces prices at $4, $5, and $10. In my book that definitely qualifies as affordable school uniforms!

10. Target School Uniforms

Target recently debuted a new line of children's clothing called Cat & Jack. This line includes school uniforms.

Here's a link directly to Target's school uniform page.. You can choose from four categories:

1. girls uniforms

2. boys uniforms

3. adaptive uniforms

4. toddler uniforms

You can even search by school color, P.E. essentials and other basics.

11. Walmart School Uniforms

I found uniform pieces at Walmart (actually Walmart.com) for as little as $4 per piece. That's a price worth checking out and definitely a way school uniforms save money on your back-to-school spending.

Also, on the Walmart.com website, you can get super granular with your school uniform needs. You can choose from the following categories:

Finally, Walmat is one of the stores where you can shop online and pick up in store. This is often available the same day.

Other ways to save money on school uniforms

If you have multiple children in the same school district, you can hand-down uniforms. This is an obvious way that school uniforms save money-you're not buying new.

Whereas with "regular" clothing, child 2 may not have the same taste as child 1, with school uniform basics, "taste" isn't part of the equation. So like it or not, the cheaper, hand-me-down is the choice.

Your school district or parent-teacher group might even organize a uniform swap. If one doesn't exist, maybe you should get one going to save the most money on school uniforms?

Also, with state sales tax holidays happening each summer, school uniforms are nearly always included on the list of tax-exempt clothing. This is a great way to save money if you live in a state that normally taxes clothing.

Finally, if you're going to be buying school uniforms online, always start your online shopping at Rakuten.com or through the Ibotta shopping app; both provide opportunities to get cash back on your shopping.

Since I started using Rakuten years ago, I've earned more than $2,200 on things I was going to buy anyway!

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https://globalacademic.org/the-school-uniforms-debate/

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Music can be a constructive way to express who you are and what you are feeling, especially in young children. It can often be difficult for children to say how they are feeling, primarily because they don't know the name of the feeling they're experiencing and instead they show us by crying, throwing temper tantrums, or having meltdowns. Emotional expression is something that must be learned, and young children can be taught basic emotions such as happy, mad, sad, and scared as early as two years old. As they get older, further emotions such as frustration, nervousness, or shyness can be explained.

Music and play is a very effective way for children to learn about and explore feelings, and then practice how to express and manage them (In fact, given the emotionally charged nature of music it's an incredibly effective way for everyone, not just children to express themselves and cope with challenging life circumstances). Whenever we're making music, we leave the realm of social conditioning and conscious thought. Instead, we're in direct contact with our emotions. Whenever we're engaged in creativity, such as music-making, we're present in the moment. This presence allows us to get in touch with our emotions and express them. Occasionally it can be hard to express emotions verbally, we find ourselves unable to find the 'right' words to say how we really feel - on these occasions music can become a subtler form of expression.

Music can help children to 'hear' what certain feelings sound like

A 'Music and Feelings' lesson plan can encourage children to recognize and talk about different feelings and emotions through a variety of musical fun activities. Recognizing emotions through music can help develop emotional intelligence. Music can help children to 'hear' what certain feelings sound like, and they can learn to tell what emotion is evoked by a piece of music. Improvising with music can help a child to get in touch with and/or express a feeling he or she may be experiencing at the time; whether that may be happy, sad, scared, or mad. The musical instruments can be 'gates' for their emotions and playing them allows their emotions to come through. Appropriate self-expression springs from a sense of self, and music (especially early music education) can help immensely with this.

Feelings of stress, anxiety, or tension can also be addressed through music. Childhood stress has increased in the past few decades, with around 40 percent of kids reporting that they feel they worry too much. We tend to view the world of children as happy and carefree. After all, kids don't have jobs to keep or bills to pay, so what could they possibly have to worry about?

Sadly, the answer is 'plenty'! Even very young children have worries and feel stress to some degree. Academic and social pressures (especially from trying to fit in) create stress. In short, stress can affect anyone who feels overwhelmed - even children. Music can influence the mood of children and can be used to reduce stress and improve the sense of well-being in the following ways:

Distraction As music demands their attention, it acts as a distraction while also helping them explore their emotions. It also keeps them focused and prevents their mind from wandering to negative thoughts or worries.

Mindfulness Music allows them to lose themselves in the moment as they enjoy the sounds they're making or hearing. Through playing an instrument, they bring themselves into the here and now, and helps them to take a break from their anxieties.

Creative Self-Expression While simply listening to music can reduce stress, creating music has the added benefit of expression and involvement, which focuses attention. Active participation in playing music and music appreciation has been shown to increase self-esteem.

Music can give children a way to express themselves, to unleash their creativity, to be inspired and uplifted, to relax, and to relieve stress and tension.

Making music with other people improves children's social and emotional skills. They learn to work together as a team and develop their sense of empathy with others. Researchers have found that when children play music together - from simple rhythms to larger group performances - they are better able to tune into other people's emotions.

There is little doubt that music can alter our mood and stir emotions

Emotions are one of the most fascinating features of the human mind. Music is an equally extraordinary characteristic. Understanding the special interaction between the two may take us closer to understanding the fundamental nature of both. There is little doubt that music can alter our mood and stir emotions, it has a powerful pull and you don't need to be a scientist to confirm this as fact. Music has been reported to evoke the full range of human emotion including:

Patriotic or Loyal - National anthems and other music associated with a country or geographic area. Music and sounds associated with sports events, schools, clubs, and other organizations.

Spiritual - Hymns, chants, gospel, and other music associated with religion or faith

Nostalgic - Music can remind us of the past, both good times and bad times.

Love - Music can be used to express love and as a sign of affection.

Violent/Hatred - Music can be used in war or violence and to promote anger.

Energetic - Rhythms in music can make us move faster and aid physical exercise.

Happy or Sad - Music can lift our mood, make us smile or laugh. Alternatively, music can make us feel melancholy and can even make us cry.

Irritated - Music we don't like can irritate us, as can a tune that gets stuck in your head and is repeated over and over.

Scared - Music can make us feel scared or tense, for example during some 'dark' moment in a movie.

Calm - Certain music can help the mind slow down and initiate the relaxation response.

Perhaps the greatest gift of music lies in its capacity to allow people to experience emotions without the burden of having to experience the life events that lead to them. We can experience even extreme emotions in a controlled manner, at will, in comfortable circumstances.

Most of all though, playing music makes people happy! There are few pleasures in this world that can be compared to the high you feel from letting your soul flow through your body and out through improvisation and music-making. Discover the stress-relieving power of playing your own song.

Most of all though, playing music makes people happy!

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Listening To and Making Music Helps Understand Feelings and Emotions - Percussion Play

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Teaching children to understand and express emotions and feelings through the medium of music-making can be very effective, encourage self-expression and relief stress

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https://www.timeforkids.com/g56/debate-should-students-wear-uniforms-2/

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https://www.bulbapp.com/u/uniforms-destroy-individuality#:~:text=Clearly%2C%20students%20with%20experience%20in,allow%20students%20to%20express%20themselves.&text=By%20taking%20away%20a%20student's,the%20opportunity%20to%20express%20oneself.

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Imagine if every week were four days long? While many people may argue against it, these pro-shorter work week benefits may just cause you to rethink your beliefs...

To many work ethic devotees, the thought of a four-day work week may sound preposterous. To these pro-work advocates, the route to health and happiness lies in putting in as much time in the office as possible. They argue that working fewer days a week will undoubtedly have a negative influence on employee productivity and affect the company's bottom-line.

But what if the weekend were three days long? Wouldn't fewer hours spent at work actually prove the contrary? Many supporters for a three-day weekend believe so, and here's what they have to say...
1. People spending less time at work are more productive
Working a five-day week does not necessarily mean more productivity. A study released by The Economist compared productivity levels between hardworking Greeks, who on average put in over 2000 hours of work per year, and Germans, who with an average of 1 400 work hours per year are considered slackers. The study found that the Germans were 70% more productive than the Greeks.

It's true: Offering more flexible work schedules boosts productivity. Look at some companies in Sweden that have implemented 6-hour work days - employees are said to focus more intensely and maintain their stamina throughout the day. When employees work less days, they learn to prioritise their tasks more effectively to ensure that they can enjoy the extra day off.
2. Fewer days spent at work mean improved health and happiness
Working for long hours can be harmful to you and your employee's health. A study found that people are seated for an average of 12 hours per day. Sitting for prolonged periods of time increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and early death. Even for people who exercise regularly, sitting at their desks for long hours is not acceptable.

While many companies have introduced standing desks to counter this issue, it doesn't take away from working longer hours. If employees spend fewer days in the office, they are more likely to be happier. Three-day weekends accumulate an additional 52 hours for people to spend as they please, which is likely to lead to more happiness. Beyond saving time, there are chances of saving money too, as your employees will spend less money on expenses such as travelling costs and the like.
3. A three day weekend creates a sense of urgency
The last day of the week, Thursday comes sooner than Friday meaning that employees will have to prioritise their tasks to ensure they meet their week's goals. When employees come in on a Monday, a shorter week will inevitably create a sense of urgency which will ensure that they get stuck right into their work as soon as the week starts. Plus, with Thursday just around the corner, employees will be less likely kick their feet up and take it easy in the afternoons with the knowledge that they still have an extra day to complete their tasks.
4. Employees return to work refreshed and eager
Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of the three-day weekend is high employee morale and energy. Advocates for the shorter work week believe that allowing employees an extra day off enables them to kick off the new week feeling fresh and excited to tackle the week's goals. Others may find the weekend too long, and may feel eager to get back to the office. That feeling can boost productivity as well as increase energy in the workplace.

High staff morale should be every manager's priority, as it improves employees' enthusiasm for their job and ultimately the successful running of the company. If you find that your employees are less than enthusiastic, Careers24's management advice column is here to assist you to become a better manager.

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4 reasons why a 3-day weekend may be the best thing to happen to your company | Careers24

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Imagine if every week were four days long? While many people may argue against it, these pro-shorter work week benefits may just cause you to rethink your beliefs... To many work ethic devotees, the thought of a four-day work week may sound preposterous.

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Thursday, December 31, 2020 10:00 AM

Music can improve mood, decrease pain and anxiety, and facilitate opportunities for emotional expression. Research suggests that music can benefit our physical and mental health in numerous ways. Music therapy is used by our hospice and palliative care board-certified music therapist to enhance conventional treatment for a variety of illnesses and disease processes - from anxiety, depression and stress, to the management of pain and enhancement of functioning after degenerative neurologic disorders.

The team from Spiritual Care and Support at NorthShore, highlights some of the benefits music has on health and well-being:

It's heart healthy. Research has shown that blood flows more easily when music is played. It can also reduce heart rate, lower blood pressure, decrease cortisol (stress hormone) levels and increase serotonin and endorphin levels in the blood.

It elevates mood. Music can boost the brain's production of the hormone dopamine. This increased dopamine production helps relieve feelings of anxiety and depression. Music is processed directly by the amygdala, which is the part of the brain involved in mood and emotions.

It reduces stress. Research has found that listening to music can relieve stress by triggering biochemical stress reducers.

It relieves symptoms of depression. When you're feeling down in the dumps, music can help pick you up - much like exercise.

It stimulates memories. There is no cure for Alzheimer's disease or dementia but music therapy has been shown to relieve some of its symptoms. Music therapy can relax an agitated patient, improve the mood and open communication in patients.

It manages pain. By reducing stress levels and providing a strong competing stimulus to the pain signals that enter the brain, music therapy can assist in pain management.

It eases pain. Music can meaningfully reduce the perceived intensity of pain, especially in geriatric care, intensive care or palliative medicine.

It helps people eat less. Playing soft music in the background (and dimming the lights) during a meal can help people slow down while eating and ultimately consume less food in one sitting.

It increases workout endurance. Listening to those top workout tracks can boost physical performance and increase endurance during a tough exercise session.

How do you use music to improve your well-being or the well-being of a loved one?

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Thursday, December 31, 2020 10:00 AM Music can improve mood, decrease pain and anxiety, and facilitate opportunities for emotional expression. Research suggests that music can benefit our physical and mental health in numerous ways.

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Plenty of people swear by music as a helpful tool for studying and working. Others find it impossible to concentrate with any background noise at all.

Music does offer a lot of benefits, including:

With these in mind, it might seem fairly logical that music can improve your study sessions. But not everyone agrees. So what's the deal - does it help or not?

Music doesn't affect everyone in the same way, so the answer to this question is more complex than a straightforward "yes" or "no."

That said, it's certainly true that some types of music can boost concentration and memory as well as increase alertness.

Keep reading to learn more about the pros and cons of studying with music and get some tips for making the most out of your study playlist.

It would be fantastic if you could put on a playlist or song that could help you knock out a problem set or memorize all those dates for your history final, wouldn't it?

Unfortunately, music isn't quite that powerful. It mostly helps in indirect ways, but those benefits can still make a big difference.

It can motivate you

If you've ever grappled with a long, exhausting night of homework, your resolve to keep studying may have started to flag long before you finished.

Perhaps you promised yourself a reward in order to get through the study session, such as the latest episode of a show you like or your favorite takeout meal.

Research from 2019 suggests music can activate the same reward centers in your brain as other things you enjoy. Rewarding yourself with your favorite music can provide the motivation you need to learn new information.

If you prefer music that doesn't work well for studying (more on that below), listening to your favorite songs during study breaks could motivate you to study harder.

It improves your mood

Music doesn't just motivate you. It can also help reduce stress and promote a more positive mindset.

Research suggests that a good mood generally improves your learning outcomes. You'll likely have more success with studying and learning new material when you're feeling good.

Studying can be stressful, especially when you don't entirely understand the subject material. If you feel overwhelmed or upset, putting on some music can help you relax and work more effectively.

It can increase focus

According to a 2007 study from the Stanford University School of Medicine, music - classical music, specifically - can help your brain absorb and interpret new information more easily.

Your brain processes the abundance of information it receives from the world around you by separating it into smaller segments.

The researchers found evidence to suggest that music can engage your brain in such a way that it trains it to pay better attention to events and make predictions about what might happen.

How does this help you study? Well, if you struggle to make sense of new material, listening to music could make this process easier.

You can also link the ability to make better predictions about events to reasoning skills.

Improved reasoning abilities won't help you pull answers out of thin air come exam time. But you could notice a difference in your ability to reason your way to these answers based on the information you do have.

Other research also supports music as a possible method of improving focus.

In a of 41 boys diagnosed with ADHD, background music distracted some of the boys, but it appeared to lead to better performance in the classroom for others.

It could help you memorize new information

According to a , listening to classical music seemed to help older adults perform better on memory and processing tasks.

These findings suggest certain types of music can help boost memorization abilities and other cognitive functions.

Music helps stimulate your brain, similar to the way exercise helps stimulate your body.

The more you exercise your muscles, the stronger they become, right? Giving your brain a cognitive workout could help strengthen it in a similar fashion.

Not everyone finds music helpful for tasks that require concentration.

It can distract you

An important part of music's impact lies in its power to distract.

When you feel sad or stressed, distracting yourself with your favorite tunes can help lift your spirits.

But distraction probably isn't what you're looking for when you need to hit the books.

If you're trying to argue your position in a term paper or solve a difficult calculus equation, music that's too loud or fast might just interrupt your thoughts and hinder your process.

It can have a negative impact on working memory

Working memory refers to the information you use for problem-solving, learning, and other cognitive tasks.

You use working memory when trying to remember:

items on a list

steps for solving a math problem

a sequence of events

Most people can work with a few pieces of information at a time. A high working memory capacity means you can handle more material.

Research suggests, however, that listening to music can reduce working memory capacity.

If you already have a hard time manipulating multiple pieces of information, listening to music could make this process even more challenging.

It can lower reading comprehension

Certain types of music, including fast music, loud music, and music with lyrics, can make it harder to understand and absorb reading material.

Whether you're looking at an evening of Victorian literature or some one-on-one time with your biology textbook, soft classical music with a slow tempo may be a better choice.

Listening to music while you study or work doesn't always make you less productive or efficient.

If you prefer to study with music, there's no need to give it up. Keeping these tips in mind can help you find the most helpful music for work and study:

Avoid music with lyrics. Any music that has lyrics in a language you understand will probably prove more distracting than helpful.

Choose slow, instrumental music. Existing research generally focuses on classical music, but if you don't enjoy this genre, you could also consider soft electronic, space, or ambient - the kind you might hear at a spa or while getting a massage.

Avoid surprising or experimental music. Music that changes abruptly or lacks a fixed rhythm can leave you guessing about what to expect. This can distract your brain and keep you from focusing on your work.

Keep the volume low. Study music should stay at a background volume. If it's too loud, it could disrupt your thinking process.

Stick to songs you don't have strong feelings about. Listening to music you either love or hate can affect your ability to concentrate.

Stream commercial-free music, if possible. Picture this: You're listening to your instrumental Pandora station when a toilet paper commercial cuts in, annoying you and derailing your train of thought. Enough said.

Even when music doesn't help you concentrate, you might find it tough to work in complete silence.

The problem with silence is that it's usually not complete. Noises from roommates, children, neighbors, coworkers, traffic, and so on can become constant disruptions and keep you from getting anything done.

Sound familiar? If so, you might consider giving other types of audio a try.

Nature sounds

If you prefer the outdoors to your office or study desk, soft nature sounds might provide a relaxing atmosphere that makes your work more pleasant.

You've got plenty of options:

waterfalls and rushing rivers

ocean waves

rain

birdsong and rustling leaves

You can find nature sounds on YouTube, Pandora, and other streaming services.

White noise

If random sounds in the background interrupt your concentration, white noise, which muffles background noise, could help you maintain your focus.

A also suggests white noise could help improve learning and memory.

Give it a try with a white noise machine or online generator, such as the free app A Soft Murmur. You might even have some white noise generators at home already: Just tune your radio to static or turn on a fan.

Binaural beats

While binaural beat research is still in the early stages, limited and anecdotal reports suggests binaural beats could help improve concentration and ability to stay on task, especially for people with ADHD.

Binaural beats are an auditory illusion produced when you hear two different sounds at the same time, one in each ear.

These sounds have similar frequencies, but they aren't exactly the same. Your brain takes the difference between these two sound frequencies - say, 187 Hertz (Hz) in the left ear, 201 Hz in the right - and produces a third sound at the frequency of this difference, or 14 Hz. This is the sound you hear.

Many find these beat stimulations beneficial for a range of issues, including:

Music can improve your mood and help you feel more motivated to tackle important tasks, but it doesn't always work as a study tool.

Even people who love music might find it less than helpful when trying to concentrate.

Choosing music carefully can help you maximize its benefits, but if you still struggle to focus, it may help to consider white noise or other audio options instead.
Crystal Raypole has previously worked as a writer and editor for GoodTherapy. Her fields of interest include Asian languages and literature, Japanese translation, cooking, natural sciences, sex positivity, and mental health. In particular, she's committed to helping decrease stigma around mental health issues.

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Here's How Music Can Help You Concentrate

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Plenty of people swear by music as a helpful tool for studying and working. Others find it impossible to concentrate with any background noise at all. Music does offer a lot of benefits, including: With these in mind, it might seem fairly logical that music can improve your study sessions.

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Music can have a profound effect on both the emotions and the body. Faster music can make you feel more alert and concentrate better. Upbeat music can make you feel more optimistic and positive about life. A slower tempo can quiet your mind and relax your muscles, making you feel soothed while releasing the stress of the day. Music is effective for relaxation and stress management.

Research confirms these personal experiences with music. Current findings indicate that music around 60 beats per minute can cause the brain to synchronize with the beat causing alpha brainwaves (frequencies from 8 - 14 hertz or cycles per second). This alpha brainwave is what is present when we are relaxed and conscious. To induce sleep (a delta brainwave of 5 hertz), a person may need to devote at least 45 minutes, in a relaxed position, listening to calming music. Researchers at Stanford University have said that "listening to music seems to be able to change brain functioning to the same extent as medication." They noted that music is something that almost anybody can access and makes it an easy stress reduction tool.

So what type of music reduces stress the best? A bit surprising is that Native American, Celtic, Indian stringed-instruments, drums, and flutes are very effective at relaxing the mind even when played moderately loud. Sounds of rain, thunder, and nature sounds may also be relaxing particularly when mixed with other music, such as light jazz, classical (the "largo" movement), and easy listening music. Since with music we are rarely told the beats per minute, how do you choose the relaxation music that is best for you? The answer partly rests with you: You must first like the music being played, and then it must relax you. You could start by simply exploring the music on this web page. Some may relax you, some may not. Forcing yourself to listen to relaxation music that irritates you can create tension, not reduce it. If that happens, try looking for alternatives on the internet or consult with Counseling Service staff for other musical suggestions. It is important to remember that quieting your mind does not mean you will automatically feel sleepy. It means your brain and body are relaxed, and with your new calm self, you can then function at your best in many activities.

Experiment now. Experience a "sound bath" and let the music carry you away

The links below each open relaxing musical selections in YouTube.

A Moment of Peace Meditation
Aneal & Bradfield, "Heaven and Earth Spirits" track from Life & Love). Lovely contemporary piano music with accompanying instruments and nature scenes.

Echoes of Time
C. Carlos Nakai from the Canyon Trilogy. Serene Native American flute music, with a picture of Nakai backlit by the sun at the Grand Canyon.

The Winding Path
Ken Kern from The Winding Path. Highly rated, beautiful piano music with accompanying instruments with pictures of exquisite flowers and plants.

Classical Indian Music for Healing and Relaxing
Gayatri Govindarajan, "Pure Deep Meditation" track. Lovely and rhythmic music played on the veena, the most ancient of the Indian plucked-instruments, with nature scenes.

Angels of Venice
Angels of Venice from Music for Harp, Flute and Cello. Classical with 3 instruments with nature pictures.

Earth Drum
"Spirit Vision," (David & Steve Gordon. Serene and lovely contemporary Native American informed-drumming music utilizing Taos Log Drum and Incan Pan along with other instruments and ocean/forest nature scenes.

Buddha Spirit
Aneal & Bradfield from Light & Love. Reflective but strong contemporary music utilizing various instruments and occasional humming voices with colorful oscillating fractals

Spa Relaxing Music
Tranquil contemporary instrumental with piano and a fixed candle light.

Relaxation Music: 1-Hour Meditation Candle
Serene contemporary instrumental with piano and one flickering candle.

Sleep Deeply
Dan Gibson. Nature sounds and instrumental, tranquil sleep music.

Weightless
Marconi Union. The sounds on this video are carefully arranged harmonies, rhythms, and bass lines that help slow a listener's heart rate, reduce blood pressure, and lower levels of the cortisol stress hormone.

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Releasing Stress Through the Power of Music | Counseling Services

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Music can have a profound effect on both the emotions and the body. Faster music can make you feel more alert and concentrate better. Learn how to use music's power to relax and release stress.

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Do school uniforms reduce bullying? Today we're going to take a look at some of statistics, as well as arguments for and against uniforms to find out if strict dress codes really do protect kids.

To understand whether school uniforms reduce bullying, we have to understand why kids get bullied in the first place. Bullying in schools is frequently happening and often takes place right under our nose. It often starts off slowly, then increases as the bully figures out that his words or actions can get to his victim. It can begin out subtle with a comment, a look, or mean-spirited laughter that leaves a kid's self-esteem in a puddle.

Often, those mean-spirit comments focus on the victim's overall looks, including what they are wearing. For example, more affluent girls wearing designer clothing may pick on another girl who can't afford fancy clothes. Many public schools across the US feel like they've come up with the perfect solution: stick everyone in the same outfits! Does it really work, though? Let's find out!

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Do School Uniforms Reduce Bullying: Statistics You Need to Know

What Are the Chances Your Kid Will Experience Bullying?

Let's start with some basics. How many kids are really being bullied? How do we help our children avoid being bullied? Some of the bullying statistics according to a national survey reported on Greatschools.org are staggering. Here are some of the highlights:

28% of students in this survey reported that in the last six months they had been bullied either verbally or physically.

60% of students who were identified as bullies in grades 6 to 9 went on to have at least one criminal conviction by the time they turned 24

School intervention programs (which includes school uniforms) are reported at reducing bullying by 30-50%

So, we know bullying is obviously a big issue with schools and parents looking for answers! Uniforms are one of the tactics that some schools are trying. Those who are for school uniforms believe that they create equality. If everyone is wearing the same outfit, then no one can use clothing to isolate or pick on another student.

Not everyone agrees with this move, though. Both parents and students have mixed responses when asked "Do School Uniforms Prevent Bullying?"

Experts also have mixed feelings. Tony Volk, an associate professor at Brock University, has done extensive research on the subject. According to his studies, he found that there is no evidence that school uniforms reduce bullying statistics. Like many, he feels that bullies will simply find another way to judge status.

Here's the thing to consider when trying to figure out if uniforms reduce school bullying: is every child also wearing the same shoes? Are they wearing the same socks? Do they all have the same backpacks? The same lunch boxes? The same folders, pencils, erasers? Do they all LOOK the same? Have the same color hair? The same facial features? The same height, weight, voice? The same thoughts?

See, parents and students who are against uniforms argue that while clothing definitely CAN come into play during bullying, it's only a tiny piece of the puzzle. Bullies choose their victims by finding a target that will give them the most gratification. Someone that will respond to their taunts and teasing, someone who will make them feel bigger and more powerful. A girl wearing last year's jeans who simply doesn't care what others think of her isn't a good target. On the other hand, a girl could be wearing all the right trends and still be a target because she provides the bully with the gratification of reacting to teasing.

What Do Schools Think About School Uniforms?

More and more public schools are jumping on the school uniform trend. The National Association of Elementary School Principals reports that 49% of elementary schools either have a uniform currently or have a plan to implement school uniforms

Principals in Elementary schools with a uniform policy overwhelmingly feel that it has made a positive impact on some of the following issues in their school:

Classroom Discipline- 85%

Community Image- 83%

Student Safety -79%

Student Achievement- 64%

A school district in North Jersey is reporting that implementing school uniforms is directly reducing bullying. At this school, even students are commenting directly that uniforms are decreasing bullying.

What Do Universities Say About School Uniforms?

There are other studies being conducted at various universities that find that uniforms are not directly impacting bullying or achievement. For example, I found several studies cited on Procon.org In a national survey of 10 th graders, a sociology professor at Virginia Tech found: ""no effects of uniforms on absenteeism, behavioral problems (fights, suspensions, etc.), or substance use on campus" and "no effects" on "pro-school attitudes, academic preparedness, and peer attitudes toward school." A similar study from a professor at Syracuse University in New York found no stats that showed uniforms and any achievement.

School Uniforms Statistics

We've discussed what parents, schools, and even universities think about whether school uniforms reduce bullying, now let's look at some of the statistics about uniforms.

Parents in the US spend about $1,300,000,000 on uniforms each year. That's $1.3 BILLION (in case you don't want to count the zeros!).

Average annual cost to parents for school uniforms is around $249

20% of elementary schools require uniforms, versus 12% of high schools

A survey of kids in Nevada found that 90% of kids are against uniforms (statistics may vary by state)

41% of kids did say that uniform policies reduced gang activity in their schools

Studies show that uniforms reduce absenteeism by a half a day each year.

Uniforms seem to have no real impact on school scores. Math scores increased by less than 0.01% and reading scores actually went down.

As for hard statistics on whether uniforms reduce bullying, the jury is still out. The studies so far have been fairly limited in scope, focusing on one town or even a single school. One study in Long Beach, California, showed that uniforms reduced school crime by 36%.

On the other hand, a larger-scale study performed by the University of Notre Dame found that uniforms not only did nothing to reduce behavioral issues but actually had a negative impact on student achievements.

Many public schools only recently instituted uniform policies, so it will take some time to figure out the true impact and gather hard statistics.
What Do You Think About School Uniforms And Bullying?
I find the data and case studies on this issue show two sides of the story. On one hand, we have educators who are saying that uniforms are making a difference. On the other hand, we have experts who are telling us that the numbers don't all necessarily add up. It is a trade-off, and while I am all for teaching students to prepare for the challenges of the workforce, I don't know that restricting what they wear to a uniform is working based on the data above.

Do our educational leaders, such as principals, want to believe that uniforms are making a difference in bullying at schools, or do uniforms making a difference? Are the findings at universities spot on, or are school uniform and bullying research statistics influenced by something else? Tell me your thoughts in the comments!

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School Uniforms And Bullying Statistics You Need To Know in May 2023 - OurFamilyWorld.com

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Do school uniforms reduce bullying? Today we're going to take a look at some of statistics, as well as arguments for and against uniforms to find out if strict dress codes really do protect kids. To understand whether school uniforms reduce bullying, we have to understand why kids get bullied...

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Should you let your kids have a cellphone in school?

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Digital device policies are all over the map in U.S. schools. Parents and teachers are divided on whether to curb or ban phone use on school grounds.

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https://www.familyeducation.com/life/kids-cell-phones/cell-phones-school-should-they-be-allowed

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Creativity
Science Says You Need to Have More 3-Day Weekends

It's time to start taking Fridays back -- blame science.

For most American workers, three-day weekends are akin to Loch Ness monster sightings--rare enough to seem precious, yet frequent enough to prompt somewhat predictable daydreaming about what could be. You've got science backing you up if you're craving an extra day per week away from the office.

Bye-bye, stress. Hello, better health.

Some 40 percent of Americans report that their work is "very or extremely stressful." Chronic exposure to stress at the workplace can increase your risk for mood problems, metabolic/appetite abnormalities, disrupted sleep, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, immune system dysfunction, and more, mainly because of increases in the hormone cortisol. Not surprisingly, reports of absenteeism, high health care requirements, and accidents/injuries are higher among workers who put in lots of overtime. Getting away from the office for an extra day gives you a chance to chill out and engage in activities that can combat this assault on your well-being. Countries in which a three-day weekend is fairly normalized have some of the highest rates of happiness in the world.

Skyrocketing productivity.

Contrary to what most executives fear, productivity can actually increase with implementation of a four-day workweek. Some of this connects to the improved physical functioning you might experience simply from being less stressed-out. It also links to how the brain "recharges" during sleep. Whenever you catch some z's, cerebrospinal fluid floods into the brain, washing away toxic proteins that build up during the day. The results are better decision making, improved learning, fewer errors, and a bump in organization. Assuming you're not just shifting to a 10-hour day to get one off, a four-day workweek can let you unwind better before you hit the hay, making your sleep more recuperative. It also means you have an extra day to get more pillow time if you need it. Additionally, psychology plays a part. Business leaders who use a four-day week indicate that workers gain a sense of urgency with the less-common schedule, tackling projects sooner and doing more to optimize their efficiency.

Other worthy considerations.

Four-day workweeks have non-physical benefits. They give you more time for relationships, for example, and let you have more time to think independently (translation: innovation). Companies can also save money by not operating facilities for a fifth day, and cutting hours by just 10 percent could potentially reduce carbon emissions by as much as 15 percent.

Taking back Fridays starts with you.

Other countries are proving that four-day workweeks have multidimensional benefits. If a three-day weekend isn't the norm where you work, just share the science with your leadership -- it'll put their anxieties to rest and initiate change that helps everyone.

For most American workers, three-day weekends are akin to Loch Ness monster sightings--rare enough to seem precious, yet frequent enough to prompt somewhat predictable daydreaming about what could be. You've got science backing you up if you're craving an extra day per week away from the office.

Bye-bye, stress. Hello, better health.

Some 40 percent of Americans report that their work is "very or extremely stressful." Chronic exposure to stress at the workplace can increase your risk for mood problems, metabolic/appetite abnormalities, disrupted sleep, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, immune system dysfunction, and more, mainly because of increases in the hormone cortisol. Not surprisingly, reports of absenteeism, high health care requirements, and accidents/injuries are higher among workers who put in lots of overtime. Getting away from the office for an extra day gives you a chance to chill out and engage in activities that can combat this assault on your well-being. Countries in which a three-day weekend is fairly normalized have some of the highest rates of happiness in the world.

Skyrocketing productivity.

Contrary to what most executives fear, productivity can actually increase with implementation of a four-day workweek. Some of this connects to the improved physical functioning you might experience simply from being less stressed-out. It also links to how the brain "recharges" during sleep. Whenever you catch some z's, cerebrospinal fluid floods into the brain, washing away toxic proteins that build up during the day. The results are better decision making, improved learning, fewer errors, and a bump in organization. Assuming you're not just shifting to a 10-hour day to get one off, a four-day workweek can let you unwind better before you hit the hay, making your sleep more recuperative. It also means you have an extra day to get more pillow time if you need it. Additionally, psychology plays a part. Business leaders who use a four-day week indicate that workers gain a sense of urgency with the less-common schedule, tackling projects sooner and doing more to optimize their efficiency.

Other worthy considerations.

Four-day workweeks have non-physical benefits. They give you more time for relationships, for example, and let you have more time to think independently (translation: innovation). Companies can also save money by not operating facilities for a fifth day, and cutting hours by just 10 percent could potentially reduce carbon emissions by as much as 15 percent.

Taking back Fridays starts with you.

Other countries are proving that four-day workweeks have multidimensional benefits. If a three-day weekend isn't the norm where you work, just share the science with your leadership -- it'll put their anxieties to rest and initiate change that helps everyone.

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Science Says You Need to Have More 3-Day Weekends

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Creativity For most American workers, three-day weekends are akin to Loch Ness monster sightings--rare enough to seem precious, yet frequent enough to prompt somewhat predictable daydreaming about what could be. You've got science backing you up if you're craving an extra day per week away from the office. Bye-bye, stress.

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Grow Your Business

Starting a small business takes a lot of time, energy, money and creativity. It's important during the first few years a startup or small business is being launched that each of these factors are used appropriately.

One area that some entrepreneurs might want to think outside of the box on is operating hours. The typical workweek runs from Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. - eight hours a day, 40 hours a week. Maintaining consistent work hours is crucial for business operations, especially for those that count on customers knowing when the business is open, such as a store.

However, rethinking the traditional workweek has many benefits for businesses and employees alike.

Reduce expenses
According to 3Bug Media, having a four-day week is one way many businesses choose to reduce expenses [1]. To do this, determine which day is your slowest and keep the office closed that day. You might have to reschedule some appointments, but as long as you alert any customers planning to come in that day in advance, the transition should move smoothly.

The benefit to this that, not only will you not have to pay employees for a full day, but you will also cut down on utilities because you will be able to keep the lights off and the heat low for one extra day every week. Plus, you can have an extra day to review your business strategy and do some behind-the-scenes work that normally might be accomplished after hours. On those weeks when there aren't many tasks to do on that fifth day, you will be able to enjoy a three-day weekend with family or friends.

The Cheat Sheet explained the reduced costs won't just affect you - they'll affect employees, too. They will be able to cut their commute and therefore gas or transportation expenses by one day. For those employees with children, one less day at the office will mean one less day of childcare needed. Employees will also have more freedom to schedule important things outside of work, such as doctor's appointments.

Promote productivity
In addition to reducing expenses, a four-day week - or a three-day weekend - can increase employee engagement. CNN Money explained how the transition helped Indiana-based Web design company Reusser Design. The company only has nine employees and each are integral to the team. When founder Nate Reusser decided to cut Fridays out of their workweek, he noticed that productivity increased [2]. From Monday through Thursday, his employees worked harder, faster and with greater focus on their projects.

Jason Fried, the co-founder of Basecamp, formerly 37signals, a Web design firm in Chicago, wrote in a New York Times opinion article that, after implementing a four-day workweek during the summer months made employees more productive. With fewer hours to focus on projects, they focused harder during the time they were in the office [3]. The result was more quality work being produced during those hours.

The Cheat Sheet points out that countries with shorter workweeks tend to have greater productivity. Meanwhile, America's productivity is going up, but so are the number of hours we work.

Entice employees
The most obvious benefit to the four-day workweek might be the employee benefits. Working four days a week means every weekend is a long weekend, with more opportunities to spend with friends and family, more chances to unwind and relax and more time to focus on hobbies and interests outside of work.

Next Avenue explained the Baby Boomer generation, those looking to begin easing into retirement, will be especially receptive to the four-day workweek [4].

"A four-day workweek allows you to continue to contribute on the job while gaining the time to pursue a long-neglected avocation, to help care for the grandchildren or to simply enjoy the other parts of life," Cali Williams Yost, chief executive and founder of New Jersey-based Flex Strategy Group, which helps companies to implement flexible workweeks, explained.

Inc.com pointed out that four-day workweeks can be used as an employee retention tool, regardless of what age bracket your employees are in [5]. Very few companies using this model - only 14 percent of small businesses and 5 percent of large ones offer it to most or all of their employees, CNN Money reported. For small businesses that don't have a lot of extra resources to offer bonuses and other incentives, this could be a great way to draw people in.

Sources:
[1]. 5 Ways To Reduce Operating Costs For Your Business
[2]. The 4-day workweek is real ... for employees at these companies
[3]. Be More Productive. Take Time Off.
[4]. It's High Time for the 4-Day Workweek
[5]. Should We All Be On The 4-Day Workweek?

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How a Four-Day Work Week Can Save Your Business Money

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Grow Your Business Starting a small business takes a lot of time, energy, money and creativity. It's important during the first few years a startup or small business is being launched that each of these factors are used appropriately. One area that some entrepreneurs might want to think outside of the box on is operating hours.

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Parents have paid their children for good grades for decades. This trend is now starting to catch on in school districts across the United States as a way to encourage positive behaviors. Cash incentives are one of several rewards that students can earn when their grades for a semester or evaluation period reach specific levels. It is an option based on the scores of standardized tests as well.

Although students certainly welcome the idea of receiving extra cash for doing a good job in school, there is still a question that remains. Is paying them for excellent grades something that helps their academic future, or does it provide harm in the long run that could create unreasonable expectations?

Should students get paid for their development as a way to offset the bonds of poverty, or does it adversely impact them for the challenges that they will face in the future?

There are several pros and cons to consider when paying for good grades that provide a legitimate argument for both perspectives.

List of the Pros of Paying Students for Good Grades

1. Cash and other forms of payment provide an incentive to study.
Kids are spending up to eight hours per day in school as early as the first grade. That's the same amount of time that their parents spend at their job. If adults get paid for their commitment to working, then shouldn't students receive the same incentive? Money and other valuable rewards are fantastic motivators when there is something that is needed or wanted. Paying for good grades can keep kids and teens engaged with their studies while helping them to avoid the need to work somewhere to support themselves.

2. Paying for grades is an easy way to help underprivileged children.
When children come from poor economic circumstances then they are more likely to drop out of school before graduation. This result happens because their family needs them to start working a job. It doesn't matter what their employment pays because every little bit helps to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. That means there is no time or energy to go to school.

Paying students for grades can help families to make ends meet in this situation. Students typically enroll in more classes when cash incentives are available. Kids feel better about themselves because they are contributing to their overall needs. It also means they're more likely to maintain a C average or better.

3. There is more financial freedom for students.
Many students graduate from high school without any idea of how to manage their finances. Kids often ask for something, and then get what they want. Some might even argue that the parenting perspective from today is that children can have whatever they desire without really needing to work for it. By paying them for their good grades, then students can experience what it feels like to get something after actually earning it. That means more financial freedom occurs because it is easier to recognize the value of each dollar earned.

Parents can expand this benefit by encouraging their students to open a savings account with the money they receive from their good grades.

4. It provides an opportunity for vocational training.
Our world operates on the idea that if you put in the work, you should get paid for the results you create. Schools already operate on the idea that putting in hard work gives you the reward of a good grade. That works for some students, but not for others. Offering money as a "paycheck" shows that doing hard work can create tangible rewards as well. For students who want a job and aren't old enough to get one, this benefit allows them to earn the money for the expensive things they want over time.

5. Paying students doesn't need to involve only their grades.
In New York City, an experimental group of 15,000 students in the fourth and seventh grade were given performance incentives based on the results of computerized, pencil, and paper predictive exams. All fourth graders earned $5 for a completed test and $25 if they achieved a perfect score. The seventh graders had their rewards doubled. The average fourth grader earned $139.43 from the study, while the seventh graders earned $231.55 and both groups so their scores rise.

6. It can help students to start paying for college.
If students do receive money for their good grades, then it would create an opportunity for them to start saving for college. Tuition costs continue to rise, even for in-state students, and that can make it more of a challenge to earn a desired degree. Schools could even give the parents the money instead of the kids or deposit the earnings in a savings account that can build in value over the course of their educational career. It might cost more for taxpayers to use this type of system to support public school budgets, but the results could help more kids (especially from poor neighborhoods) find a way to change their overall life circumstances.

List of the Cons of Paying Students for Good Grades

1. It provides a short-term solution to a long-term problem.
Paying students for good grades can provide some community benefits, but it doesn't change the overall problem that faces society. Different children are going to perform better when money is an incentive. Kids who have a desire to learn will continue to benefit from that trait whether they get paid for it or not. A child who has no desire to learn will only work hard when the cash payments have value. If that value disappears, then so does the work ethic.

The reality of learning opportunities in the United States is that families with more resources get to send their kids to better schools. Paying for good grades is not going to change the economic depravity that exists in many inner cities. We must change at a societal level more than we need classrooms to evolve.

2. There are questions of morality to consider with this approach.
Some see the idea of paying students for good grades as a form of bribery. When someone comes from this perspective, then it will be seen as wrong in any light. Allowing kids to accept the idea of a monetary bribe in exchange for specific results can prove to be detrimental to their decision-making processes in the future. You never know what someone might agree to do in exchange for the promise of another cash payment. That is why it is imperative to teach students the value of good grades in relation to their future expectations.

3. It only works when the reward has some level of value.
People work hard at any age when they feel that the reward for their work is consistent with the output they present. Students will work for money as long as the amount that they earn for good grades can meet their needs. If there is no incentive to work harder beyond their basic grades, then they won't do it. Someone with A-grade capability might settle for C-grade results because that's the amount of money that they want or need. Anything else is a bonus, but they won't start working hard for it.

4. The best students will still dominate the cash rewards.
The only way that a cash reward system for grades can work is if every student receives an opportunity to earn the same amount. Even when this setup is in place, the students who consistently achieve good grades will still make the most money. Some children may have dyslexia or other learning disabilities that cause them to struggle. Unless there is some way to create a sliding scale of compensation, it may be challenging for some students to maximize results.

If students study harder than those who make good grades and earn less of a financial incentive for their work, then the results of this effort will typically fail.

5. It doesn't improve student attendance.
There have been a handful of studies over the years that have looked at paying students for their attendance and grades. Chelsea High School in Massachusetts was part of the research ground, handing out students a $25 reward for every perfect attendance record during a school term. They ran the program from 2004-2008, but it produced almost no change to the students' academic performance or overall attendance.

When younger students receive incentives, the rate of students missing 15+ days during the school year does decrease by up to 10%. The value of the reward determines the results. At Stone Creek Elementary School in Georgia, kids could earn a video game console - a much more exciting prospect.

6. Rewards don't foster the right attitude for learning.
When students have access to rewards for their schoolwork and grades, then it changes their attitude about learning. Instead of seeking knowledge, kids begin to wonder what is in it for them every time an assignment comes their way. It sends the message that the reason to work hard and stay in school is to make your bank account fatter instead of growing the knowledge you keep in your mind. That also means dangling carrots in front of the kids creates an attitude of manipulation from the adults in the life of each child instead of teaching them the value of a meaningful education.

7. Incentives rob children of intrinsic rewards of learning.
The children who earn rewards for good grades can begin to feel entitled about their payouts. This emotional response will eventually rob the child of their ability to cultivate a new love of learning. It also shifts the sense of responsibility from themselves to others for their own education. Instead of paying for a specific grade that may not represent anything, parents and administrators may find it more useful to help kids develop the personal skills needed to grow in other areas of life.

You can still incentivize children without giving them money. Your home can structure screen time after homework so that you create a when-then culture. "When you get your studies done, then you can have some video game fun. Choose not to rescue them from their poor choices as well so that they will need to organize their time by themselves. Then emphasize the action of learning instead of the specific grades.

8. There is no guarantee that the money would go to useful things.
Students might spend their class earnings of cigarettes or drugs instead of toward items they need for their education. Parents could do the same thing if given the funds instead. This disadvantage could occur in any school district or community because drug addiction is not limited to those with financial disadvantages. That's why a careful accounting of the money and placement in an account or trust that cannot be touched except by a college, vocational school, or authorized apprenticeship program might be the best way to handle this possible incentive.

Verdict of the Pros and Cons of Paying Students for Grades

Going to school is the "job" of the student. It is not the parent's responsibility to hold down this position and juggle their career too. At some point in life, a child must make their own decisions about their future. When you can show them that there is a reward for good studying habits (whether the grades come with them or not), then you're setting them up for a positive life experience.

Paying for grades can provide short-term results in some disadvantaged neighborhoods. It can reduce the need for students to drop out to find a supportive job for their families. These issues may be the exception to the rule of financial support.

The pros and cons of paying students for good grades depends on the effectiveness of the solution. There will be some kids motivated by this approach to learning, but there will also be others who are turned off by the idea of this "bribe." That is why many schools use positive reinforcement and non-cash-based rewards like books, pencils, or clothing as a way to enhance motivation.

Author Bio
Natalie Regoli is a child of God, devoted wife, and mother of two boys. She has a Masters Degree in Law from The University of Texas. Natalie has been published in several national journals and has been practicing law for 18 years.

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14 Pros and Cons of Getting Paid for Good Grades - Should Students Get Paid

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Parents have paid their children for good grades for decades. This trend is now starting to catch on in school districts across the United States as a way to encourage positive behaviors. Cash incentives are one of several rewards that students can earn when their grades for a semester or evaluation period reach specific levels.

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The potential to foster creativity among 11-13 year olds is tremendous! Surges in cognition provide children with the largest learning capacity that they will experience across the age span. Not only can children use symbols, they are now able to manipulate them abstractly, apply reason and logic, and formulate and test hypotheses independently. Their interest in topics that they view as valuable is at an all-time high as well. Middle schoolers are capable of problem solving in creative ways that will drive their own discoveries and their skills allow them to identify nuances and possibilities. Unfortunately, as we have seen in previous stages, opposing developmental forces conspire against the creativity of children this age, often leaving them following the herd and under-challenging their own sources of interest. Yet parents can make a difference!

According to results from the UK government's report on literacy, children were most creative between the ages of 3-5, when 98% of those tested demonstrated the ability to think in divergent (non-linear) ways. Divergent thinking is a key component to creative thought processes. By the time these children were 8-10 years old, only 32% demonstrated divergent thinking. Among the 13-15 year olds, the number had dropped to only 10%. Obviously, divergent thinking declines tremendously over the course of development. But why?

The reason creativity diminishes as children grow may vary with each stage. For young adolescents, the intense pressure to conform, fit in, and not stand out is one key factor for the (continued) loss of creativity. While teens are known for being impulsive risk-takers, within academic circles they tend to be the opposite. They conform to expectations, often work to prepare for the test, and avoid actions that may draw attention to them or will cause them to make public "mistakes."

However, there are ways to work with children's developmental drives and foster creativity at the same time. For example, children this age value connections with friends. Use this knowledge to spur creativity! For girls this may mean encouraging them to make projects for friends, such as duct tape pencil toppers or friendship bracelets for their BFF. For boys it may mean using trading cards as taking off points to explore imaginary worlds, or creating new rules for favorite sports or games. Middle schoolers are often beginning to question their parent's values and the expectations of their teachers. Helping children see that divergent thinking requires questioning typical ways of doing things, may be just the spark they need to invest in more creative endeavors.
Other ways to foster creative thinking:

Make learning hard enough to be challenging (so that your child will not be bored, and so they will see the value in investing their time), but easy enough to avoid total frustration. For young teens, feeling "not smart" is an instant turn off to learning. Allow manageable frustration around learning.

Encourage experimentation as a component of learning. Ask your child to try several different methods of approaching a problem or project and then have him reflect on what was the best or most effective way of doing it. Even if you know something will not work, allowing your child to discover this on his own in low-stakes situations fosters creative thinking, problem solving and metacognitive skills.

Foster divergent thinking: Games like Magic Pen support divergent problem solving.

Create a new framework of thinking about mistakes. Support your child to move away from "playing it too safe" to pointing out the risks you have taken that have worked, and have not. Emphasize how you managed the situation, and the ways that mistakes led you to new learning and discoveries.

Encourage your child to become more observant of their own experiences. This will help give him some perspective, as well as allow him to notice what he is noticing (metacognition again). Support him to move from observations to conclusions about his observations.

Help your child become an expert in something that interests her. For example, if your child likes science, Wondervillle is a fun interactive site to gain knowledge, confidence, and expertise while thinking creatively and having fun! With rich and varied understanding of a topic, your child becomes able to create innovative solutions or demonstrate divergent thinking. Try some of the activities in this section to set your child on his way.

Break Convention: Children this age are often locked into peer norms. Make home a safe place to get fanciful and go against norms. Make a dessert for dinner day, or implement a wear-your-clothes-backwards-day or stay-up-as-late-as-you-can- day. See what you and your kids can create!

Ban the Buts: Make your house a can-do place. Help your child rephrase insecurities and hesitations by avoiding "stopping" words like "can't" or "yes, but." Switch them out for "yes, and" or "what if".

Provide materials that are open-ended across subjects (e.g., art materials, writing materials, materials for science explorations, etc.).

Provide quiet space: Research suggests that people are more creative when they have privacy and are not interrupted. Having a sounding board or someone to extend an idea with is great, but often the most creative process is when children are free to experiment without worry about mistakes or on-looking eyes. Group work also often allows people to back away from challenge, hoping someone else will push through the difficult part. Support your child in being her own hero in this way. The exception: e-groups, where individuals behind a screen are better able to maintain creative efforts behind the anonymity of the monitor.

Take advantage of online creativity sites: Take advantage of the finding that children will explore new ideas behind the safety of the monitor.

Ask open-ended questions that foster original ideas:

What are 3 ways that the world would be different if everyone could fly?

Are you more like a mountain or a valley? Why?

If you could change one thing to make the world better, what would it be, and why?

Would you rather be a highlighter or a hole punch, and why?

Imagine you are in London in the 1800's. There is no electricity. How do you cook a meal?

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/the-rise-of-the-new-groupthink.html?pagewanted=all

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The potential to foster creativity among 11-13 year olds is tremendous! Surges in cognition provide children with the largest learning capacity that they will experience across the age span. Not only can children use symbols, they are now able to manipulate them abstractly, apply reason and logic, and formulate and test hypotheses independently.

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About social media for pre-teens and teenagers

Popular social media apps among pre-teens and teenagers include Instagram, Messenger or Messenger Kids, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, WhatsApp and YouTube Kids.

Online chat in multiplayer video games, like Fortnite, League of Legends, Clash of Clans and The Sims is also a popular social media option for pre-teens and teenagers.

Using social media often involves uploading and sharing content. This includes:

creating online profiles

posting comments or chatting

uploading photos and videos

reacting to or 'liking' other people's posts

sharing links

tagging photos and content

creating and sharing game modifications

remixing or changing existing content and sharing it.

Social media: benefits

Social media is a big part of social and creative life for pre-teens and teenagers.

Pre-teens and teenagers use social media to have fun, make and maintain friendships, share and learn interests, explore identities and develop relationships with family. It's an extension of their offline and face-to-face interactions. For older teenagers especially, it's often a key part of how they connect with friends.

Social media can connect pre-teens and teenagers to online global groups based on shared interests. These might be support networks - for example, for young people with disability or medical conditions, LGBTIQ+ teenagers, or children from particular cultural backgrounds. Or they might be sites for commenting on and sharing content about particular interests like games, TV series, music or hobbies.

Your child can get many other benefits from using social media:

Learning: your child can use social media to better understand, extend or share what they're learning at school, either informally or in formal school settings.

Hobbies and interests: your child can use social media to follow their interests and learn new ones.

Creativity: your child can be creative with profile pages, images, video and game modifications.

Mental health and wellbeing: connecting with extended family and friends and taking part in local and global online groups can give your child a sense of belonging.

Social media: risks

Social media can also pose risks. For your child, these risks include:

being exposed to inappropriate or upsetting content, like mean aggressive, violent or sexual comments or images

uploading inappropriate content, like embarrassing or provocative photos or videos of themselves or others

sharing personal information with strangers - for example, images, date of birth, location or address

cyberbullying

being exposed to too much targeted advertising and marketing

being exposed to data breaches, like having their data sold on to other organisations.

Managing social media risks for pre-teens and teenagers

Talking about social media use
Talking with your child is the best way to protect them from social media risks and ensure their internet safety. Talking gives you the opportunity to help your child:

work out how they want to treat other people and be treated online - for example, you can encourage your child to make only positive comments

understand the risks involved in using social media - for example, your child might be tagged in an embarrassing photo taken at a party

learn how to navigate the risks - for example, if your child posts an identifiable selfie, they can reduce risk by not including any other personal information

learn what to do if people ask for personal details, are mean or abusive online, post embarrassing photos of them, or share information that links back to them.

Finding out more about social media
Social media apps and functionality are always changing, so it's a good idea to keep up to date with the social media your child uses. You could ask your child which platforms are popular and which ones they like. You could also get your child to show you how they work.

Thinking about age recommendations
Most social media apps require people to be at least 13 years old to sign up. But these age restrictions aren't always enforced, so pre-teens can often still use the apps. It can be tricky if your child's friends are using social media apps before they're old enough and your child wants to do the same.

If you want your child to wait, here are some options you could think about:

Could you compromise? What if your child uses a family social media account until they're old enough for their own? This could give your child a way to connect with friends with your help to navigate social media.

Could your child use a child-friendly social media app, like YouTube Kids or Messenger Kids? These have stronger safety settings and age-appropriate content.

What about banning social media?
It can be hard to ban social media, even for younger children. This is because social media is increasingly a part of children's apps, games, websites and learning environments. Instead, it's better to teach your child how to navigate social media risks and behave respectfully on social media.

Internet safety for children aged 9-11 years and internet safety for teenagers is about identifying and managing risks and also protecting your data and privacy.

Setting up social media guidelines

Some written guidelines about social media can help your child get the benefits of social media while using it responsibly, respectfully and safely. This agreement could be part of a family media plan. If these guidelines include your social media use as well as your child's, you can be a positive role model.

Here are things your guidelines could include.

Using social media
This might cover basics like:

when it's OK to use social media and how long your child can spend on social media

whether it's OK to use social media during homework time, family meals and so on

where it's OK to use social media - for example, only in family areas of the house, not bedrooms.

Posting content and comments
It's important for your child to agree to:

think about why they want to post something and what reactions they might get before they post

not upload or share inappropriate messages, images and video

show respect in posts and when sharing content - for example, if it's not OK to say or do something face to face, it's not OK online

seek consent before posting images of others.

Protecting privacy
It's a good idea to go through social media privacy guidelines and settings with your child.

Your child can protect their privacy by agreeing to:

not share personal information like location and date of birth - for example, by giving this information to strangers online, doing online quizzes or tests and so on

not add personal details like phone numbers or date of birth to private profiles

regularly check privacy and location settings on apps and devices

keep passwords and log-in details private and not share these with friends

not use social media or other online accounts on public wi-fi

log out of all accounts after using public computers.

Staying safe on social media
Safety essentials for your child include:

blocking and reporting people they don't know or people who post upsetting comments or content

not clicking on pop-ups - some pop-ups that seem safe can lead to pornography sites or are scams

accepting friend requests only from people whose identity they know

taking screenshots of concerning things they see online, and talking to a trusted adult about them.

One way you can teach your child how to be safe and respectful on social media is by making a joint social media account that you can use together. This can give your child the chance to get familiar with social media before they're old enough to have an account of their own.

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Social media benefits and risks: pre-teens and teenagers

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Social media is a vital part of life for many pre-teens and teens. Social media guidelines can help your child get social media benefits and avoid risks.

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You might want to show the results of this three-day weekend trial to your boss.

Ah, the three-day weekend. It's an idea that many of us dream about, especially on a particularly anxiety-inducing Sunday night. And for good reason, as recent research suggests that two days off just isn't enough. One study showed that taking only two days off per week isn't good for our internal body clocks. And another reported that staff stress levels decreased by 7% after a three-day weekend trial at a New Zealand company.

And yet, most of us in the UK are still trapped in the Monday-Friday work cycle. But this could be about the change, thanks to a high-profile trial that has concluded with some staggering results (which you might just want to show your boss).

Microsoft has found that three-day weekends increase employee productivity by 40%. The computing company's Japanese arm gave 2,300 members of its staff every Friday off for a month's trial. Although employees spent 20% less time in the workplace, they were 39.9% more productive.

And that's not all. Absence also went down by more than a quarter (25.4%) and the use of electricity went down by 23.1%.

So, what were the reasons for such an increase in productivity?

Well, because there was less time to get work done, people chose to spend less time in meetings. They were either shortened, took place online or cancelled altogether.

Unsurprisingly, 92.1% of workers said they enjoyed the four-day week and Microsoft said it is planning on repeating the exercise.

And it's not just about performing better inside working hours. When people get that extra day off to relax, they have more time to sleep, exercise, cook nutritious food or work on their relationships.

A recent report found that an increasing number of companies are warming up to the idea of "free Fridays" - but only in the summer months.

According to a survey by global research firm Gartner, 55% of American companies now operate a "Summer Friday" policy - up from 44% in 2018.With all of this in mind, surely it's time for companies to wake up and start implementing this new, and better, way of working?

Hollie Richardson

Hollie is a digital writer at Stylist.co.uk, mainly covering the daily news on women's issues, politics, celebrities and entertainment. She also keeps an ear out for the best podcast episodes to share with readers. Oh, and don't even get her started on Outlander...

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This 3-day weekend trial might pave the way for a new way of working

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You might want to show the results of this three-day weekend trial to your boss. Ah, the three-day weekend. It's an idea that many of us dream about, especially on a particularly anxiety-inducing Sunday night. And for good reason, as recent research suggests that two days off just isn't enough.

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5 Reasons Kids Need Homework and 5 Reasons They Don't

The benefits of homework has been debated by teachers and parents for years as the very word evokes very negative connotations to every involved, students, parents and teachers. Although many people think of homework as doing more harm than good by causing copious amounts of unnecessary stress to everyone, others believe that it has great advantages for children by encouraging them to think more independently outside the classroom.
The Benefits
The first benefit of homework is that it allows students and teachers to work more closely together. They can discuss their assignments or any problems that they are having with parts of their textbooks, before or after classes.

The second benefit is that it can bring families closer together as students may ask their parents or siblings for help on their homework. Not only will this help the students get a better understanding of their work with any parts they are stuck on, it will also allow parents to get more involved in their child's educational life.

Thirdly, doing homework will prepare students for the big end tests. If a child does poorly on an assignment then they will learn what is necessary to do well on the next test without being punished. It also provides students with the opportunity to practice at what it takes to be successful in school. Like they say, practice makes perfect.

Doing homework is also a great way to develop responsibilities. By being assigned work one day and knowing that it has to be done by the next day, they will develop a sense of punctuality by turning their work in on time.

And finally it allows parents to see how their children are being educated and they can develop a better idea of how they can help their child. However, some parents, students and even some teachers feel that after 7-8 hours of lessons in school, it is unfair to expect students to come home and work for another three hours.
The Potential Harm
The first reason that children should not be given homework is that they need time to relax and take their minds off work. The pressure of having to complete homework every night is quite daunting for most children and they need time to refresh their minds and bodies.

Secondly, it reduces the amount of time that children could be spending with their families. Family time is especially important to a growing child and without it social problems can crop up and a family unit can be compromised by a lack of time being spent together.

Thirdly, homework can cause conflict between children and parents when the parent wants to the child to do their homework but meets resistance from the student to do an overwhelming task.

Too much homework can encourage cheating because children end up copying off one another in an attempt to finish all their assignments. They then end up being rewarded for cheating which doesn't benefit them at all.

And finally, a lot of teachers don't often have the time to grade papers properly as they are too busy with designing lesson plans and consulting teaching resources in order to just manage lessons. So by the time students are getting their papers back, the class has moved on to a new topic.

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5 Reasons Kids Need Homework and 5 Reasons They Don't

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Although many people think of homework as doing more harm than good by causing copious amounts of unnecessary stress to everyone, others believe that it has great advantages for children by encouraging them to think more independently outside the classroom.

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Why do we even need homework? To practice? We do that enough already. Homework is a waste of time. It takes the enjoyment out of school and it takes up teacher time. Students need more free time for other activities such as sports, homework takes it away from spending time with family and friends.

Is homework a waste of time ? The study of 18,000 schoolchildren finds no relationship between working hard at home and better grades. More homework assignments didn't translate into better grades. Next time you hear a child complaining that their science and math homeworks are wastes of time they might have a point. Young children spend enough of their day at school. When they come home, they should be free to dump the school bag and get busy doing non academic stuff such as getting a job and starting on something to pursue their career.

Students need more free time for other activities. Education isn't the only important activity in everyone's life. We all need some time to ourselves to prevent stress or blow off from some steam. It can damage family relationships and stresses parents out as well as their children. School takes up a lot of time that children can be using to do something more productive.

Homework takes up teacher time. Teachers would have more time if they didn't assign homework. The teacher needs to design the homework, explain it , mark each piece individually and tell everyone if they got it right or wrong. Teachers could as easily use the classwork to find out who knows what they are doing. We aren't the only ones who take a lot of time on homework, our teachers do as well. Homework loses it's value because we need to be told individually what our mistakes are.

It takes the enjoyment out of school. We would enjoy school more if we didn't have any homework. When we only get homework occcassionally we will consider that piece more important. Especially if we get too much homework it can take the enjoyment out of learning. No matter how engaging the teacher is in class , homework will almost certainly be stressful , boring and tiring. We know that there is no direct link between how much homework is set and grades.

Some people believe that homework isn't a waste of time. You have to try your best to do the homework that's given to you. Millions of people work for themselves or work from home. The main aim of education is to prepare us for the rest of their lives. Homework is teaching us a key skill that we will need in the future . When we do homework we are learning on our own.
Homework is a responsibility. We should expect to get a certain amount of homework per day. Homework aids class work by providing a space for those who haven't finished the work. Teachers will need to mark and go through work whether it's classwork or homework . Whether homework puts us off learning will always depend on what the homework we are given is.

This paragraph presents that homework is a responsibility for high school kids and students. The importance of this argument is that homework takes away time from spending it with family and friends. The reader should take homework away from this because it's it takes a long time to do and it's a waste of time.

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Why do we even need homework? To practice? We do that enough already. Homework is a waste of time. It takes the enjoyment out of school and it takes up teacher time. Students need more free time for other activities such as sports, homework

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It used to be that students were the only ones complaining about the practice of assigning homework. For years, teachers and parents thought that homework was a necessary tool when educating children. But studies about the effectiveness of homework have been conflicting and inconclusive, leading some adults to argue that homework should become a thing of the past.

What Research Says about Homework

According to Duke professor Harris Cooper, it's important that students have homework. His meta-analysis of homework studies showed a correlation between completing homework and academic success, at least in older grades. He recommends following a "10 minute rule": students should receive 10 minutes of homework per day in first grade, and 10 additional minutes each subsequent year, so that by twelfth grade they are completing 120 minutes of homework daily.

But his analysis didn't prove that students did better because they did homework; it simply showed a correlation. This could simply mean that kids who do homework are more committed to doing well in school. Cooper also found that some research showed that homework caused physical and emotional stress, and created negative attitudes about learning. He suggested that more research needed to be done on homework's effect on kids.
Further reading: Get Homework Done and Turned In
Some researchers say that the question isn't whether kids should have homework. It's more about what kind of homework students have and how much. To be effective, homework has to meet students' needs. For example, some middle school teachers have found success with online math homework that's adapted to each student's level of understanding. But when middle school students were assigned more than an hour and a half of homework, their math and science test scores went down.

Researchers at Indiana University discovered that math and science homework may improve standardized test grades, but they found no difference in course grades between students who did homework and those who didn't. These researchers theorize that homework doesn't result in more content mastery, but in greater familiarity with the kinds of questions that appear on standardized tests. According to Professor Adam Maltese, one of the study's authors, "Our results hint that maybe homework is not being used as well as it could be."

So while many teachers and parents support daily homework, it's hard to find strong evidence that the long-held practice produces positive results.

Problems with Homework

In an article in Education Week Teacher, teacher Samantha Hulsman said she's frequently heard parents complain that a 30-minute homework assignment turns into a three-hour battle with their kids. Now, she's facing the same problem with her own kids, which has her rethinking her former beliefs about homework. "I think parents expect their children to have homework nightly, and teachers assign daily homework because it's what we've always done," she explained. Today, Hulsman said, it's more important to know how to collaborate and solve problems than it is to know specific facts.

Child psychologist Kenneth Barish wrote in Psychology Today that battles over homework rarely result in a child's improvement in school. Children who don't do their homework are not lazy, he said, but they may be frustrated, discouraged, or anxious. And for kids with learning disabilities, homework is like "running with a sprained ankle. It's doable, but painful."

Barish suggests that parents and kids have a "homework plan" that limits the time spent on homework. The plan should include turning off all devices-not just the student's, but those belonging to all family members.

One of the best-known critics of homework, Alfie Kohn, says that some people wrongly believe "kids are like vending machines-put in an assignment, get out learning." Kohn points to the lack of evidence that homework is an effective learning tool; in fact, he calls it "the greatest single extinguisher of children's curiosity that we have yet invented."

Homework Bans

Last year, the public schools in Marion County, Florida, decided on a no-homework policy for all of their elementary students. Instead, kids read nightly for 20 minutes. Superintendent Heidi Maier said the decision was based on Cooper's research showing that elementary students gain little from homework, but a lot from reading.

Orchard Elementary School in South Burlington, Vermont, followed the same path, substituting reading for homework. The homework policy has four parts: read nightly, go outside and play, have dinner with your family, and get a good night's sleep. Principal Mark Trifilio says that his staff and parents support the idea.

But while many elementary schools are considering no-homework policies, middle schools and high schools have been reluctant to abandon homework. Schools say parents support homework and teachers know it can be helpful when it is specific and follows certain guidelines. For example, practicing solving word problems can be helpful, but there's no reason to assign 50 problems when 10 will do. Recognizing that not all kids have the time, space, and home support to do homework is important, so it shouldn't be counted as part of a student's grade.
Further reading: Balancing Extracurriculars with Homework in High School
So Should Students Have Homework?

Should you ban homework in your classroom? If you teach lower grades, it's possible. If you teach middle or high school, probably not. But all teachers should think carefully about their homework policies. By limiting the amount of homework and improving the quality of assignments, you can improve learning outcomes for your students.

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Some argue that homework should become a thing of the past. Others think it's an important tool for learning. So, should students have homework?

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Pros and Cons of Homework - Should students really have one?

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Students, teachers, and academics have been discussing the pros and cons of whether students should have homework, whether it is necessary, and how homework affects the studying process for a long time. However, they all fall into two different groups that look at the issue at different angles.

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Almost everyone enjoys a bank holiday. A three-day weekend means more time to spend with family and friends, to go out and explore the world, and to relax from the pressures of working life. Imagine if, rather than a few times a year, we had a three-day weekend every week. This isn't just a nice idea. Beyond the possibilities for leisure, three-day weekends might also be one of the easiest steps we could take to radically reduce our environmental impact - and future-proof our economy.

A reduction in working hours generally correlates with marked reductions in energy consumption, as economists David Rosnick and Mark Weisbrot have argued. In fact, if Americans simply followed European levels of working hours, for example, they would see an estimated 20% reduction in energy use - and hence in carbon emissions.

With a four-day week, huge amounts of commuting to and from work could be avoided, as well as the energy outputs from running workplaces. At a point when we need to massively cut back our carbon outputs, instituting a three-day weekend could be the simplest and most elegant way to make our economy more environmentally friendly.

It's happened before. For example, in 2007 the US state of Utah redefined the working week for state employees, with extended hours on Monday to Thursday meaning it could eliminate Fridays entirely. In its first ten months, the move saved the state at least US$1.8m (£1.36m) in energy costs. Fewer working days meant less office lighting, less air conditioning and less time spent running computers and other equipment - all without even reducing the total number of hours worked.

For one day a week, thousands of commuters were able to stay at home. If the reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions from travel were included, the state estimated a saving of more than 12,000 tons of CO ₂ each year.

Utah abandoned the experiment in 2011 after residents complained they were unable to access services on Fridays. It seems this sort of change has to be accompanied by a shift in our expectations so that Friday becomes a "third weekend" rather than simply a weekday without work. What Utah does show is that, replicated across an entire country, a four day week would see substantial progress towards an economy that does less damage to the environment.

Yet there would be other benefits too. Working less would improve the elusive "work/life balance", and help to restore our mental health and physical well-being. It would also give us more time to spend on social activities, to care for children and the elderly, and to engage with our communities. Experiments with reduced working hours at select workplaces in Sweden in 2015 reduced sickness and even increased productivity.

Directing gains in economic efficiency towards increased free time and reduced energy consumption, rather than making more stuff, could create a better and more environmentally safe world.

An obvious objection might be: "How could we afford this?" But there are serious economic and technological reasons for why governments, political parties, think tanks and social movements should all start to think about advocating for the implementation of three-day weekends.

As anthropologist David Graeber has recently contended, many of us work jobs that, at least partially, seem pointless. Indeed, economists have long been aware of the redundant hours contained in many working days, with employees effectively under-utilised in their workplaces, yet unable to leave due to the persistent issue of " presenteeism " - where workers are valued by managers for hours logged in the office rather than productivity. Rather than work longer hours for little productive benefit, we could embrace a shorter working week and help save our planet and our own well-being.

Looking more into the long-term, a new wave of workplace automation featuring advanced robotics and machine learning systems is predicted to replace 47% of current jobs in the US in coming decades, and 54% in Europe. In these circumstances, where there will be significantly less work available, instituting policies such as three-day weekends becomes essential to make life liveable under these changed economic conditions.

As Nick Srnicek and I have argued in our book Inventing the Future, automation will soon offer us the prospect of a very different world of work. More automation would make many production processes more efficient, using less energy and less human labour until, eventually, we are largely freed from work.

The key to capturing the benefits of automation without drastic social dislocation depends in part on developing policies which work to share the gains. This means a reduced working week thanks to an extended weekend, together with a universal basic income.

None of this will happen overnight. But, if you're in the UK and are lucky enough to have Monday off, don't forget that extra day at home or in the park is not only fun but will help fight climate change.

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How three-day weekends can help save the world (and us too)

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Almost everyone enjoys a bank holiday. A three-day weekend means more time to spend with family and friends, to go out and explore the world, and to relax from the pressures of working life. Imagine if, rather than a few times a year, we had a three-day weekend every week.

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Good grades are usually awarded with a pat on the back or a trip to the nearest Sonic. Students who get good grades are almost always disappointed when that's all they receive. This is why I believe schools should start paying students for straight A's!

Paying students for good grades would encourage them to keep doing good in class. "When students are paid for good grades they learn that working hard and making good choices does have its rewards. They will try to make better grades in the hopes of earning more money," says Debate.org.

If we follow through with this students will soon be able to buy important stuff including school supplies and materials for projects by themselves. They might actually start to go to school and not skip class. By not skipping class and paying attention they will start to do better in school so they can earn money too.

Students need to start learning how to use money responsibly. When the student gets paid their parents can then start teaching them the ways to properly spend their money. This will help the student get prepared for their future.

Teaching students to responsibly use their money will help them become more successful in life later on. Some schools have already started experimenting with different things. "Public schools across the country are experimenting with incentive programs. In urban districts and rural outposts, some schools reward students who earn higher test scores and grades." says Great!Schools.org.

Giving money to students with good grades and that are in low-income families would encourage them stay in school."...a rigorous new study found that the programs get results: cash incentives help low-income students stay in school and get better grades," says TIME. If we paid them for their good grades they can then help their families by helping pay for their own stuff. The students would learn how to support themselves so they can be successful in the future.

Who knows, maybe we could help the person who discovers the cure for cancer get into college. We might even help fund the family of the person to make the first colony on Mars! This is why I believe students should get paid for having good grades.

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PV: Students Should Get Paid For Having Good Grades

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Good grades are usually awarded with a pat on the back or a trip to the nearest Sonic. Students who get good grades are almost always disappointed when that's all they receive. This is why I believe schools should start paying students for straight A's! Paying students for good grades would encourage them to keep...

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Research shows that some students regularly receive higher amounts of homework than experts recommend, which may cause stress and negative health effects.

Research suggests that when students are pushed to handle a workload that's out of sync with their development level, it can lead to significant stress - for children and their parents.

Both the National Education Association (NEA) and the National PTA (NPTA) support a standard of "10 minutes of homework per grade level" and setting a general limit on after-school studying.

For kids in first grade, that means 10 minutes a night, while high school seniors could get two hours of work per night.

Experts say there may be real downsides for young kids who are pushed to do more homework than the "10 minutes per grade" standard.

"The data shows that homework over this level is not only not beneficial to children's grades or GPA, but there's really a plethora of evidence that it's detrimental to their attitude about school, their grades, their self-confidence, their social skills, and their quality of life," Donaldson-Pressman told CNN.

But the most recent study to examine the issue found that kids in their study who were in early elementary school received about three times the amount of recommended homework.

Published in The American Journal of Family Therapy, the 2015 study surveyed more than 1,100 parents in Rhode Island with school-age children.

The researchers found that first and second graders received 28 and 29 minutes of homework per night.

Kindergarteners received 25 minutes of homework per night, on average. But according to the standards set by the NEA and NPTA, they shouldn't receive any at all.

A contributing editor of the study, Stephanie Donaldson-Pressman, told CNN that she found it "absolutely shocking" to learn that kindergarteners had that much homework.

And all those extra assignments may lead to family stress, especially when parents with limited education aren't confident in their ability to talk with the school about their child's work.

The researchers reported that family fights about homework were 200 percent more likely when parents didn't have a college degree.

Some parents, in fact, have decided to opt out of the whole thing. The Washington Post reported in 2016 that some parents have just instructed their younger children not to do their homework assignments.

They report the no-homework policy has taken the stress out of their afternoons and evenings. In addition, it's been easier for their children to participate in after-school activities.

Other studies have found that high school students may also be overburdened with homework - so much that it's taking a toll on their health.

In 2013, research conducted at Stanford University found that students in high-achieving communities who spend too much time on homework experience more stress, physical health problems, a lack of balance in their lives, and alienation from society.

That study, published in The Journal of Experimental Education, suggested that any more than two hours of homework per night is counterproductive.

However, students who participated in the study reported doing slightly more than three hours of homework each night, on average.

To conduct the study, researchers surveyed more than 4,300 students at 10 high-performing high schools in upper middle-class California communities. They also interviewed students about their views on homework.

When it came to stress, more than 70 percent of students said they were "often or always stressed over schoolwork," with 56 percent listing homework as a primary stressor. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.

The researchers asked students whether they experienced physical symptoms of stress, such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss, and stomach problems.

More than 80 percent of students reported having at least one stress-related symptom in the past month, and 44 percent said they had experienced three or more symptoms.

The researchers also found that spending too much time on homework meant that students were not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills. Students were more likely to forgo activities, stop seeing friends or family, and not participate in hobbies.

Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.

"Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good," said Denise Pope, PhD, a senior lecturer at the Stanford University School of Education, and a co-author of a study.

A smaller New York University study published in 2015 noted similar findings.

It focused more broadly on how students at elite private high schools cope with the combined pressures of school work, college applications, extracurricular activities, and parents' expectations.

That study, which appeared in Frontiers in Psychology, noted serious health effects for high schoolers, such as chronic stress, emotional exhaustion, and alcohol and drug use.

The research involved a series of interviews with students, teachers, and administrators, as well as a survey of a total of 128 juniors from two private high schools.

About half of the students said they received at least three hours of homework per night. They also faced pressure to take college-level classes and excel in activities outside of school.

Many students felt they were being asked to work as hard as adults, and noted that their workload seemed inappropriate for their development level. They reported having little time for relaxing or creative activities.

More than two-thirds of students said they used alcohol and drugs, primarily marijuana, to cope with stress.

The researchers expressed concern that students at high-pressure high schools can get burned out before they even get to college.

"School, homework, extracurricular activities, sleep, repeat - that's what it can be for some of these students," said Noelle Leonard, PhD, a senior research scientist at the New York University College of Nursing, and lead study author, in a press release.

Experts continue to debate the benefits and drawbacks of homework.

But according to an article published this year in Monitor on Psychology, there's one thing they agree on: the quality of homework assignments matters.

In the Stanford study, many students said that they often did homework they saw as "pointless" or "mindless."

Pope, who co-authored that study, argued that homework assignments should have a purpose and benefit, and should be designed to cultivate learning and development.

It's also important for schools and teachers to stick to the 10-minutes per grade standard.

In an interview with Monitor on Psychology, Pope pointed out that students can learn challenging skills even when less homework is assigned.

Pope described one teacher she worked with who taught Advanced Placement biology, and experimented by dramatically cutting down homework assignments. First the teacher cut homework by a third, and then cut the assignments in half.

The students' test scores didn't change.

"You can have a rigorous course and not have a crazy homework load," Pope said.

Editor's Note: The story was originally reported by Sandra Levy on April 11, 2017. Its current publication date reflects an update, which includes a medical review by Karen Gill, MD.

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Why Homework is Bad: Stress and Consequences

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Research shows that some students regularly receive higher amounts of homework than experts recommend, which may cause stress and negative health effects.

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Scientific studies have found a link between happiness and productivity.

People tend to be happier when they have more time to do the things they enjoy.

This bolsters an argument for a four-day workweek and three-day weekend, as it could give people more free time to do just that.

But as with anything, there would be people who take advantage and those who'd have to pick up the slack.

On Mondays, the week ahead can look incredibly long, but the idea of heading to work five days a week could eventually be left in the past - at least, that's what unions in the UK have been calling for recently.

According to Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, an associate professor of economics and strategy at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School, a good work-life balance, with time for people to do the things they enjoy, is a top priority for satisfaction - and one way to achieve this could be a three-day weekend.

"I would argue the four-day working week is spot on in terms of finding or striking that right balance between improving the work-life balance and unlocking the happiness potential from that in terms of productivity gains," De Neve told BBC World News on Friday. "This outweighs the net reduction in productivity from working a day less."

An eight-week trial conducted in New Zealand earlier this year found that overall a four-day week increased teamwork and work engagement while decreasing workers' stress. But there were some problems with the study in that some participants had to break out of it to keep up with a busy schedule, suggesting that an extra day off could lead some employees to have to pick up the slack.

The study didn't find any real improvement in work quality, but participants reported enjoying having a three-day weekend.

"When you are more positive about your job and your life while on the job, it relates to being able to be more productive," De Neve said.

A 2015 study from Warwick University seems to bolster the idea of a four-day workweek and three-day weekend. It found that participants were 8-12% more productive when they were given chocolate or listened to a comedy clip before a task, as opposed to thinking and writing about a family loss; in other words, manipulating workers' happiness seemed to affect how efficiently they did a job.

There might not be an immediate change in productivity with the introduction of a four-day workweek, but with less time to kill at work, employees may procrastinate less (though there would always be those who try to take advantage).

More evidence is likely needed before we could see a major adjustment to the way we work. But it wasn't until the 20th century that businesses decided a five-day week was optimal and started giving workers Saturday off, so there's no reason to believe it couldn't happen again.
Correction: A previous version of this article included a study that supposedly supported the idea of a four-day workweek, but it was removed from the original news outlet.

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3-day weekends could make people happier and more productive

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Scientific studies have found a link between happiness and productivity. People tend to be happier when they have more time to do the things they enjoy. This bolsters an argument for a four-day workweek and three-day weekend, as it could give people more free time to do just that.

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Three-day weekends are more than just a fun break, they're good for your health A long weekend can help you be healthier and sleep more A glorious three-day weekend has arrived for (most) "knowledge workers," that euphemistic term for those of us who spend our days hunched over a keyboard, eyes locked for hours at a time on the screen ahead.

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School is a crucial aspect of children's lives. If they are unable to go school each day to acquire the skills they require to be successful in life, then they will be at a disadvantage for their entire lives. While school is an important part of a child's life, it's also as important that the child takes a break from his education. Multiple studies have found that most students are getting too much extra assignments, leading to sleep deprivation, unhealthy levels of stress, as well as related health problems. Let's now dive deep and look at why homework is bad for students.

Extra assignments given to children, particularly younger school going children, can lead to unhealthy levels of stress, according to research. If bombarded with countless lessons at school and at home, students may feel stress and anxiety should they fail to complete the assignment on time. Students need to learn in a classroom setting, but they should also be able to spend some time exploring other things outside of the classroom.

The second reason that student should not be given homework is that they require time to rest and take their minds off school work. With all the activities in school, students, particularly those in the kindergarten, are already weary when they get home. They have spent the day solving difficult math problems, reading several chapters and memorizing long lines in school. So bombarding them with homework will make them feel burnt out.

Rather than improving educational achievement, heavy homework load can negatively affect the performance of students. The stress of having to complete homework every other night can affect the student's performance is school. Students need to learn things in a classroom environment, but they also need to be able to spend time exploring other activities outside of school, spend time with friends, go on family vacation, to name a few.

While teachers do their best to give children homework that will engage their child, it's hard to see the value in the work kids take home. This is because some parents or tutors are the ones doing these assignments. This means that the benefits of homework tasks as the learning tool are entirely lost. The excessive amount of homework may also mean that the child is not able to commit as much time to every task as he should.

As stated earlier, children need time to spend with their family, catch up with friends and attend extracurricular activities so they can refresh their minds and bodies. Sadly, homework eats up the time children have to do all these. For older students, school work might also compete with both part-time and casual work, making it difficult for them to strike a balance between school and work.

There you have it, five reasons why homework is bad for your child. A number of studies have found that homework negatively affect the life of school children in many ways. Free-time plays a major role in fostering creativity and emotional development - factors as important to long-term success as education itself.

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5 Reasons Why Homework Is Bad For Your Child

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5 Reasons Why Homework Is Bad For Your Child

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Deciding whether to allow students to listen to music in the classroom is a modern teacher's dilemma. Every single time students need to write an essay or work on a problem, they say, "Can I put my headphones on? I think better that way!" But is that really true? Does music help or hinder concentration? Let's take a look at the thoughts of three different high school teachers and their takes on letting students listen to music in the classroom.

Mrs. T, a chemistry teacher from Georgia, has been using music in her classes to increase student motivation and keep students thinking about chemistry outside of class. Her students often chuckle at the song choices, but they can all relate in some way to the music. She started her project by asking students to find music that included chemistry themes in popular lyrics. They were encouraged to choose songs from various sources, and not solely use YouTube to find science songs.

The submissions Mrs. T received represented a wide range of music genres mirroring the diversity of the student body. The lyrics came from oldies, hip-hop, and rock, as well as some educational web-based songs. Some examples include Michael Orfutt with A Mole is a Unit, Bill Nye with Atoms in my Life, Coldplay with Speed of Sound, Keri Hilson with Energy, and Duncan Sheik with Half Life. More than 80% of the class participated in this optional activity, submitting a total of 66 songs.

Mrs. T says, "Based on student comments they are listening more closely for chemistry content in the song lyrics. When they hear words like 'pressure' or 'heat,' it jogs their memory to a scientific concept they learned about in class. The incorporation of music into my class has given students a new way to think about chemistry. It's a way to get students thinking about science and seeing that it's relevant to life beyond the classroom."

When Mrs. K, a Californian English teacher, asked her students why they always listen to music at school, the vast majority of the answers she received were variations of "music makes me happy." This gave her the idea to tap into this feeling and use it to spark joy, create community, and make learning more engaging for her students. She uses the following three musical methods frequently in her classroom.

1. Create playlists for different occasions in class. Mrs. K asked students to create a playlist of songs they'd like to play to wake up after quiet activities. "I didn't realize the full impact of implementing this idea until I had a full class of 11th graders singing the chorus to 'Sweet Caroline' by Neil Diamond" says Mrs. K. "What I had intended as a way to infuse my classroom with a little more fun turned into a moment of joy and community building. I can enhance the mood of my students with just a click of the mouse." Now Mrs. K has playlists of songs to listen to while students are writing, doing choice reading, and entering and exiting the room.

2. Use music to help students remember important facts. In the vein of foreign language ABCs songs in Spanish class and the classic Schoolhouse Rock, songs can help students of all ages memorize facts. Mrs. K divided up a list of literary devices and gave groups of students a few words each to create a song using karaoke tracks of popular tunes. "The performances were epic: Imagine students singing, 'Is this the real life; is this hyperbole? Exaggerating for the effect that you want me to see!' to the tune of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody,'" says Mrs. K. This method could easily be adapted to subjects other than English as well.

3. Use students' music preferences to connect to your subject matter. Music lyrics and poetry are essentially the same thing, so Mrs. K begins her module on poetry analysis by having students submit their favorite (appropriate) song lyrics. She says students have introduced her to many artists, including Kacey Musgraves, Mac Miller, Billie Eilish, and Kendrick Lamar, and that along the way it has allowed her to get to know students a little better through their musical tastes.

Mrs. K does not have songs playing constantly in her classroom-there are times when silence is more effective, such as with certain writing and reading tasks, and every teacher needs to determine this balance for themselves. It cannot be denied, however, that music exerts a powerful pull on students, a pull that can be harnessed to create a more effective learning environment.

Ms. B from Massachusetts wanted to dig into the science behind listening to music in the classroom. She found that research offers little to back up the idea that listening to music improves concentration. In one of several small Taiwanese studies, students who performed reading tasks in silence scored higher than those listening to music. Another study found that the louder the music, the worse the cognitive performance, no matter what type of music was used. Studies have also revealed, however, that listening to music leads to positive changes in mood and increased creativity.

When Ms. B consulted her students, they had a lot to say. Tod, a senior, said, "I wouldn't be able to concentrate if I were listening to music and trying to read. However, when I write, I feel like music helps me concentrate deeply. I don't have writer's block. It's easy for me to put my words on paper." Another student, Dina, said, "Maybe not with reading, but when it comes to math, listening to music definitely helps. You could actually be singing along with what you're listening to and doing well in math."

Upon reflection, Ms. B's conclusions were that students see listening to music as a reward, and that they refute the research that says the brain loses focus when multitasking. Instead, they argue that listening to music helps them tune out distractions. Ms. B says, "When my students listen to music when writing essays, they usually start working immediately and almost always hand in a product. But the question remains: would that final product be better if the student was not listening to music?"

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Should Students Be Allowed to Listen to Music in Class? - Boston Tutoring Services

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Deciding whether to allow students to listen to music in the classroom is a modern teacher's dilemma. Every single time students need to write an essay or work on a problem, they say, "Can I put my headphones on? I think better that way!" But is that really true?

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Students are easily distracted, but regular, short breaks can help them focus, increase their productivity, and reduce their stress.

©Shutterstock.com/Rawpixel.com

Regular breaks throughout the school day-from short brain breaks in the classroom to the longer break of recess-are not simply downtime for students. Such breaks increase their productivity and provide them with opportunities to develop creativity and social skills.

Students, particularly young ones, often struggle with staying focused for long periods of time. In a 2016 study, psychologist Karrie Godwin and a team of researchers measured how attentive elementary students were during class, and discovered that they spent over a quarter of the time distracted, unable to focus on the teacher or the current task. Shorter lessons, however, kept student attention high: Teachers found it more effective to give several 10-minute lessons instead of fewer 30-minute ones.

And there are more benefits to downtime than increased attention: It decreases stress, increases productivity, boosts brain function, and provides opportunities for children to learn social skills.

Reducing Stress, Increasing Productivity

Recent research shows that our brains aren't idle when we take breaks-they're hard at work processing memories and helping us make sense of what we experience. In a groundbreaking 2012 study, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and her colleagues at USC and MIT used an fMRI scanner to examine neural activity during the brain's "default mode"-a state of rest that's usually associated with taking a break or letting our minds wander. In this state, the brain is still highly active, with a different set of regions lighting up than when we're focused on the outside world.

Further experiments showed that this default mode is crucial for consolidating memories, reflecting on past experiences, and planning for the future-in other words, it helps shape how we make sense of our lives. Breaks keep our brains healthy and play a key role in cognitive abilities such as reading comprehension and divergent thinking (the ability to generate and make sense of novel ideas). "Rest is indeed not idleness, nor is it a wasted opportunity for productivity," Immordino-Yang and her colleagues write.

So breaks are an essential part of learning. But the benefits extend beyond the psychological well-being of students. Particularly for younger students, regular breaks throughout the school day can be an effective way to reduce disruptive behavior. In a series of recent studies, short physical activity breaks in the classroom improved students' behavior, increasing the effort they put into their activities as well as their ability to stay on task.

Both students and teachers benefit from using unstructured breaks to reduce stress. According to the American Psychological Association, stress can have serious health consequences, increasing someone's chances of serious conditions such as heart disease and depression. The APA recommends frequent breaks, in addition to other activities such as exercise and mediation.

Boosting Brain Function

Exercise breaks-whether short activities in the classroom or recess-help promote physical fitness, which in turn boosts brain health. In 2013, the National Academy of Medicine (then called the Institute of Medicine) published a major report on the benefits of physical activity on children's cognitive development and academic success.

At the time, less than half of U.S. students were meeting the federal guideline of 60 minutes of daily exercise. Bringing together experts across a range of fields, the report made the case for why regular exercise crucially belongs in schools: It not only provides physical health benefits to students but also enhances their cognitive functioning, leading to higher academic performance.

How does exercise improve learning? Engaging in physical activity increases blood flow and oxygenation in the brain, boosting neural connectivity and stimulating nerve cell growth in the hippocampus, the center of learning and memory. So exercise actually changes the structure of our brains, with a number of benefits: improved attention and memory, increased brain activity and cognitive function, and enhanced mood and ability to cope with stress.

Decades of research show that physically active children consistently outperform their inactive peers academically on both a short- and long-term basis.

Developing Social Skills

Longer breaks-such as recess or playtime-provide opportunities for children to learn important life skills. Research shows that when children play together, they learn how to take turns, resolve conflicts, and solve problems. They also learn how to manage their own emotions and behavior-fundamental skills for life. So dropping recess is a mistake, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics: Recess is a "crucial and necessary component of a child's development," and sacrificing it for more academics is counterproductive.

Unstructured playtime provides an opportunity for imaginary and creative play and allows children to practice divergent thinking. They benefit from the freedom to explore new ideas without fear of failure or the stress of grades, and regular exposure to new experiences can also increase their cognitive flexibility, preparing them for academic challenges.

Incorporating Breaks in Your Classroom

Several breaks throughout the day can help students stay focused:

While breaks can help reset student focus, a useful alternative-especially for older students-is to switch teaching strategies throughout a lesson: Try having students team up on a think-pair-share activity or work in groups, spend a few minutes reviewing concepts, or give a low-stakes practice test at the end of a lesson. These activities can help break up the monotony of a long lesson, and as a bonus, boost students' memory.

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Students are easily distracted, but regular, short breaks can help them focus, increase their productivity, and reduce their stress.

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With that highly detailed Biology exam just around the corner, you have been hitting the books with every spare second you have. During nightly, starlit studying sessions, you continuously trudge past midnight, and the hours multiply. What if there was a more beneficial practice rather than spending hours upon hours of silence studying in your bedroom?

The Theory

You have likely heard before that music helps you study. But, do you know why parents and professors alike are urging you to tune to iTunes? Studies have shown that music produces several positive effects on a human's body and brain. Music activates both the left and right brain at the same time, and the activation of both hemispheres can maximize learning and improve memory. Find out music's effect on your body and brain, and see how to enhance your studying with songs!

Proven to Ease Student Stress

In the middle of a busy semester, students' stress runs high. This is the perfect reason to study your class notes with music playing, - it is proven to help reduce stress!

Music is a way to process emotions and strengthen their resolve while being overwhelmed. People often turn to the music they can relate to as it helps them deal with stress in this way. So, if university life has got you feeling a bit down, dazed or distracted then it might be a good idea to put some music on while you study. Not only will it help you concentrate on your studies, it will also help keep stress at bay and put you in the learning mood.

Reduce Test Anxiety

Anxiety can become a crippling blockade between students and their textbooks. How can students beat it? Let's pretend you were offered a free, soothing massage during each study session for the duration of your college years. You would feel lower levels of anxiety and tension as you reviewed your notes. While this might be a difficult feat for the typical college student to attain, the next best thing is readily available to pupils all over the world. Believe it or not, USA Today reveals, "one study found that music's effect on anxiety levels is similar to the effect of getting a massage" (Christ). It is official; your favorite tunes can reduce anxiety as much as a massage! Anxiety-stricken students should pop in the earbuds before heading to the library. They will feel relaxed, at ease, and ready to conquer chapter after chapter.

If you're like many students suffering from anxiety and stress, try listening to rap music while studying. A study done by Cambridge University showed that hip-hop music provides an uplifting effect on its listeners that can help them accept, manage and deal better with mental health issues. There's more than one genre of rap, so find the one you like if it means giving your brain that extra bit of support it needs.

Improve Your Performance

Music is found to help people perform better in high-pressure situations, such as the bi-annual high-pressure event that is finals week. Studies have shown that music can help students transform from coal to diamonds, shining under pressure. USA Today asks, "Want to sink the game-winning shot when the pressure's on? Listen to some upbeat tunes before the big game. . . basketball players prone to performing poorly under pressure during games were significantly better during high-pressure free-throw shooting if they first listened to catchy, upbeat music and lyrics"(Christ). This relates to anyone combating high-pressure situations, including you and your studious peers! Grab that 80's style boom box and turn the volume up!

It can even cure pain!

So, you arrived at the last Conquistadors basketball game, prepared to perform better after a little music therapy. Excited and energized, you played all of your best moves on the court, until you sprained your ankle landing a slam dunk. Ouch! Now, every time you attempt to study, your mind only focuses on the pounding pain in your ankle! Have you tried studying with music? According to USA Today, music is so powerful to the body that it can actually help ease the pain. Studies show that music can meaningfully reduce the perceived intensity of pain, especially in geriatric care, intensive care, or palliative medicine.

Your ankle pain and your midterm stand no chance against your favorite album and focused mind! Similar to how a lullaby would calm you, listening to music can also help you relax as by lowering your blood pressure, easing muscle tension and increasing your attention span.

It will help you focus more

Rather than distracting college students, a Stanford study found that "music moves [the] brain to pay attention." Researchers utilized musical compositions from the 1800s in their study and found that "music engages the areas of the brain involved with paying attention, making predictions and updating the event in memory" (Baker). They believe that music choice was influential in brain processing, revealing, "The goal of the study was to look at how the brain sorts out events, but the research also revealed that musical techniques used by composers 200 years ago help the brain organize incoming information" (Baker). Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven can help students categorize information, which is an influential asset to studying.

Proven to improve brain functions

Musical activity serves as a cognitive exercise for the brain which trains it for more challenges in the future. Therefore, people who have musical training early on, specifically before age seven, have healthier brains and are less likely to suffer from debilitating diseases like Alzheimer's or Dementia. But you don't have to wait for a certain age before benefitting from music. Regardless of whether you're a freshman or senior, you can start exercising your brain now, simply by having your favorite device and earphones handy for any study session.

Music, Memory, Emotions

Several studies in recent years have linked music, memory, and emotion. To back this claim, Petr Janata has conducted two studies to prove that music, memory, and emotion are linked. His initial study found that "music serves as a potent trigger for retrieving memories." During his second study, Janata took Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of students' brains as he played popular songs from their childhood and teenage years. "After each excerpt, the student responded to questions about the tune, including whether it was familiar or not, how enjoyable it was, and whether it was associated with any particular incident, episode or memory" (UC Davis). This study reveals that music, memory, and emotions and strongly linked. This evidence supports the theory that studying while listening to music is a very beneficial practice.

Ever wondered why it's easier to memorize the lyrics to a song than the periodic table of elements? That's because your brain looks for patterns to better understand, recall, and process information. It's the same reason why music producers always put a hook in their songs since what is more commonly known as the earworm or catchy bit.

"Earworm" was coined in 1979 by psychiatrist Cornelius Eckert. It happens when a part of the song gets stuck in your head for an extended period of time and you can't get it out. It just so happens, this is also one way of improving your brain's memory, which is why some language courses are set to a musical pattern of ear-catching melodies. Some even suggest that the benefits don't necessarily depend on the kind of music you listen to, but rather how effectively your brain latches on to the pattern of the song.

End Your Study Session with Classical Music

We now understand that music and memory are strongly linked in the brain, and that music can be beneficial to study. All that studying, however, has made you exhausted! You close the textbooks and lay beneath your blankets, but your mind is still buzzing from all of the information you've acquired. Can't sleep? Well, music can even help you close out the night after studying. "Listening to classical music has been shown to effectively treat insomnia in college students, making it a safe, cheap alternative to sleep-inducing meds" (Christ).

We Want You To Succeed!

Florida National University (FNU) is dedicated to helping our students succeed. While you continue to excel at FNU, please take advantage of our helpful resources. As the semester comes to a close, gain tips from our blog article, " 10 Ways to Prepare for Your Final Exam," and don't forget your headphones!

If you are not currently enrolled at FNU, browse our programs of study and apply now!

Works Cited

Baker, Mitzi. "Music Moves Brain to Pay Attention." Stanford School of Medicine. Stanford School of Medicine, 01 Aug. 2007. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.

Christ, Scott. "20 Surprising, Science-backed Health Benefits of Music." USA Today. Gannett, 17 Dec. 2013. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.

"Stress." University of Maryland Medical Center. University of Maryland Medical Center, n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.

"Study Finds Brain Hub That Links Music, Memory and Emotion :: UC Davis News & Information." UC Davis News & Information. UC Davis, 23 Feb. 2009. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.

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The Benefits of Studying with Music - Florida National University

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Does Music Help You Study? With that highly detailed Biology exam just around the corner, you have been hitting the books with every spare second you have. During nightly, starlit studying sessions, you continuously trudge past midnight, and the hours multiply. What if there was a more beneficial practice rather than spending hours upon hours...

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I didn't see the point of these frequent pit stops. As a teacher in the United States, I'd usually spent consecutive hours with my students in the classroom. And I was trying to replicate this model in Finland. The Finnish way seemed soft, and I was convinced that kids learned better with longer stretches of instructional time. So I decided to hold my students back from their regularly scheduled break and teach two forty-five-minute lessons in a row, followed by a double break of thirty minutes. Now I knew why the red dots had appeared on Sami's forehead.

Come to think of it, I wasn't sure if the American approach had ever worked very well. My students in the States had always seemed to drag their feet after about forty-five minutes in the classroom. But they'd never thought of revolting like this shrimpy Finnish fifth grader, who was digging in his heels on the third day of school. At that moment, I decided to embrace the Finnish model of taking breaks.

Once I incorporated these short recesses into our timetable, I no longer saw feet-dragging, zombie-like kids in my classroom. Throughout the school year, my Finnish students would, without fail, enter the classroom with a bounce in their steps after a fifteen-minute break. And most important, they were more focused during lessons.

At first I was convinced that I had made a groundbreaking discovery: frequent breaks kept students fresh throughout the day. But then I remembered that Finns have known this for years-they've been providing breaks to their students since the 1960s.

In my quest to understand the value of the Finnish practice, I stumbled upon the work of Anthony Pellegrini, author of the book Recess: Its Role in Education and Development and emeritus professor of educational psychology at the University of Minnesota -who has praised this approach for more than a decade. In East Asia, where many primary schools provide their students with a ten-minute break after about forty minutes of classroom instruction, Pellegrini observed the same phenomenon that I had witnessed at my Finnish school. After these shorter recesses, students appeared to be more focused in the classroom (Pellegrini, 2005).

Not satisfied with anecdotal evidence alone, Pellegrini and his colleagues ran a series of experiments at a U.S. public elementary school to explore the relationship between recess timing and attentiveness in the classroom. In every one of the experiments, students were more attentive after a break than before a break. They also found that the children were less focused when the timing of the break was delayed-or in other words, when the lesson dragged on (Pellegrini, 2005).

In Finland, primary school teachers seem to know this intuitively. They send kids outside-rain or shine-for their frequent recesses. And the children get to decide how they spend their break times.

Although I favor the Finnish model, I realize that unleashing fifth graders on the playground every hour would be a huge shift for most schools. According to Pellegrini, breaks don't have to be held outdoors to be beneficial. In one of his experiments at a public elementary school, the children had their recess times inside the school, and the results matched those of other experiments where they took their breaks outside: after their breaks, the students were more focused in class (Pellegrini, 2005).

What I realized in Finland, with the help of a flustered fifth grader, is that once I started to see a break as a strategy to maximize learning, I stopped feeling guilty about shortening classroom instruction. Pellegrini's findings confirm that frequent breaks boost attentiveness in class. With this in mind, we no longer need to fear that students won't learn what they need to learn if we let them disconnect from their work several times throughout the school day.

The year before I arrived in Helsinki, the American researcher and kinesiologist Debbie Rhea visited Finnish schools, and she, too, was inspired by their frequent fifteen-minute breaks. When she returned to the States, she piloted a study to evaluate the learning benefits of a Finland-inspired schedule with multiple recesses throughout the school day (Turner, 2013).

Today, Rhea's research project is up and running in a handful of American schools in several states, and so far the early results have been promising. Educators at Eagle Mountain Elementary School in Fort Worth, Texas, report a significant change in their students, who receive four fifteen-minute breaks each day; for example, they are more focused, and they are not tattling as often. One first grade teacher even noticed that her students are no longer chewing on pencils (Connelly, 2016).

Rhea's research is exciting, and it seems like the national interest in bringing more breaks to American schools is high. However, while the tide might be changing in American education, many U.S. teachers and students lack the freedom to imitate the Finnish model. Thankfully, any classroom, even non-Finnish ones, can tap into the benefits of taking multiple breaks throughout each day.

Initially, I thought that the true value of Finnish-style breaks is related to free play, but I no longer hold this view. I've concluded that the primary benefit of Finnish breaks is in the way it keeps kids focused by refreshing their brains. Daniel Levitin, professor of psychology, behavioral neuroscience, and music at McGill University, believes that giving the brain time to rest, through regular breaks, leads to greater productivity and creativity. "You need to give your brain time to consolidate all the information that's come in," he said in an interview for the education blog MindShift (Schwartz, 2014). But even without scheduled breaks at school, the mind rests naturally through daydreaming, which "allows you to refresh and release all those neural circuits that get all bound up when you're focused," said Levitin. "Children shouldn't be overly scheduled. They should have blocks of time to promote spontaneity and creativity" (Schwartz, 2014).

There are different ways of offering little brain breaks, which I describe below, but one of the most important things to remember is that they need to happen regularly to benefit our students. In other words, it's wise to schedule them throughout the day. A good start, perhaps, would be thinking about offering a whole-group brain break for every forty-five minutes of classroom instruction-just like many Finnish teachers. But even that timing could be too infrequent for your students. What's important is that you watch your students carefully. If they seem to be dragging their feet before the forty-five-minute mark, it would seem beneficial to offer a brain break right away.
Timothy D. Walker is an American teacher and writer living in Finland. He has written extensively about his experiences for Education Week Teacher, Educational Leadership, and on his blog, Taught by Finland. While working at a Helsinki public school, he completed his teaching practicum and received his master's degree in elementary education from the United States. He is a contributing writer on education issues for The Atlantic.

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How Kids Learn Better By Taking Frequent Breaks Throughout The Day | KQED

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I didn't see the point of these frequent pit stops. As a teacher in the United States, I'd usually spent consecutive hours with my students in the classroom. And I was trying to replicate this model in Finland. The Finnish way seemed soft, and I was convinced that kids learned better with longer stretches of instructional time.

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Let's pretend I asked you to run a mile as fast as you can.

Now let's pretend I asked you to run a mile as fast as you can, and if you broke nine minutes, you'd get $90.

Which mile do you think would be faster?

A new study suggests that students taking a test behave like you or me: They do better with a little incentive. Dollars and cents, that is.

Jeff Livingston, the lead author of the study, is a professor of economics at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass. He also happens to be the husband of a high-school teacher,which makes him privy to a lot of discussion about the impact of high-stakes tests on the classroom.

"I hear my wife and other teacher friends express concerns all the time about teacher evaluation systems which use standardized tests as part of the metric," he says. "They constantly worry that such tests do not accurately measure what their students have learned."

Livingston set up a randomized, controlled trial. He reasoned that, if test performance increased substantially with a cash incentive, that would mean that typical standardized tests, given without the bonus, don't measure what students really know.

His subjects were students in nine middle and elementary schools in Chicago Heights, Ill. They were judged, based on previous performance, to be at risk of scoring below the passing mark on state reading and math tests.

The students were given a baseline test, then offered a tutor for about nine weeks. In various conditions of the study, a $90 reward was offered to children, their parents or their tutors, or was split among them.

At the end of the trial period, students took a "probe": a test with about 20 questions. They were repeatedly reminded by their tutors, including right before taking the test, about the reward.

The test was given within a week of an official district test covering the same material, to which no incentives were attached.

Sure enough, students scored "substantially better" on the tests for which they, their tutor or their parent stood to gain. The effect size was relatively large, between 0.3 and 0.5 standard deviations.

The incentives had the most consistent impact on the easiest exam questions. This suggested that the improvement came from students simply trying a bit harder while taking the test and maybe double-checking their answers.

So, what does this study really tell us?

There's a whole body of research on the idea of paying students to work harder in school and get better grades. Harvard's Roland G. Fryer Jr. is most associated with this work. His research shows a range of outcomes, but quite small results on average.

Steven Levitt, of the University of Chicago and Freakonomics fame, has also done an experiment showing test score improvement with immediate rewards. But again, this seems to work best as a short-term intervention, not something that can improve school performance over the long haul.

In fact, psychology research suggests that paying students to do well in school could be counterproductive. It creates what is called "extrinsic," or external, motivation, which can paradoxically reduce students' intrinsic, or internal, motivations.

Douglas Harris, the director of the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans, has conducted his own research on financial incentives in education. He says, "in general, I'd be leery of drawing real-world implications from carefully crafted experiments."

Livingston did intend his study to have a real-world implication, though. Remember, he set out to investigate whether high-stakes tests are accurate measures of what students know - for the purposes of evaluating teachers as well as students.

Value-added measurement of teacher performance is a pretty hot topic in education policy these days.

A teacher is currently suing U.S. Education Secretary John King Jr., formerly the top education official in New York state, over what she argues is the unfairness of these value-added measures. A New York State Supreme Court judge ruled in her favor earlier this month, calling her rating "arbitrary" and "capricious."

Does the result that students respond to incentives on standardized tests undermine the premise of rating teachers based on changes in test scores?

Harris says not necessarily. Remember, value-added is based on comparing students' scores on two tests taken at different times. If the students aren't given any special incentive on either test, then any bias in the results would at least partly cancel out.

But, says Harris, the basic result of Livingston's study does suggest something we have a lot of evidence about: the importance of student motivation. It's an "interesting angle" on the notion that "student scores are driven by factors beyond their own skills and knowledge."

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Paying Students May Raise Test Scores, But The Lesson Is Not Over

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Let's pretend I asked you to run a mile as fast as you can. Now let's pretend I asked you to run a mile as fast as you can, and if you broke nine minutes, you'd get $90. Which mile do you think would be faster?

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There's no doubt that more and more kids are getting cell phones. According to a 2018 study by Pew Research, 95% of teens already owned or had access to a smartphone. And a 2017 Nielsen poll found that about 45% of kids who have phones got them between the ages of 10 and 12.

"My daughter just turned 10 and started middle school this year, which meant more independence and being on the bus with older kids," says Jené L., a mom in Rotterdam, New York. "We wanted her to have a way to access us if she needed to."

Many families rely on cell phones to keep schedules organized, do online research, communicate with each other and create peace of mind. After all, when kids have cell phones, parents or emergency services are a simple call or text away. But with all the positives of cell phones come negatives, too, including how much they can distract kids and that they may give unfettered access to questionable content on the internet. Many people find themselves wondering where to draw the line when it comes to how and where kids are allowed to use their phones. One of the biggest questions is: Should cell phones be allowed in schools?

There's a case to be made both for and against having cell phones at schools. Here are the pros and cons, according to parents and experts.

Cell phones in school: The pros

Several reasons why cell phones should be allowed in school:

Increased sense of safety

Many parents just feel safer knowing their child can reach them if they're sick, if they have to stay after school or if there's an emergency.

Kate M., a mom in Marshfield, Massachusetts, says she gave her son a phone in sixth grade, when he started staying after school four days a week to play sports. The phone isn't just a convenience; it gives her peace of mind.

"You never know what situations can arise," she says. "And sometimes kids make questionable choices and end up where they shouldn't be. With my son's cell phone, I can track his location or he can call me if he is unexpectedly stranded."

Learning benefits

While in the past, cell phones in schools were mostly considered a distraction, today they can actually play a role in teaching and learning.

"Phones can be a great tool for the classroom - for research, taking polls, assessing progress and more - especially for middle and high school," says Ria Schmidt, Ph.D., education consultant for Schmidt Education in Round Rock, Texas.

There's no denying there are tons of learning apps on the market today. Some teachers also utilize apps like Socrative, where they can engage students, give quizzes, ask for student feedback and more.

Potential value

Jelterow Mckinnie Jr., an educator and author of " Diary of a Teacher " points out that the use of cell phones in school has the potential to save schools and/or families money.

"Many [learning materials] may be searched and downloaded from the internet," says Mckinnie. "Students are able to submit their work electronically and could decrease the cost for parents of having to purchase so many school supplies."

A smartphone can not only replace paper and pen but sometimes a textbook and a computer printer (and pricey ink) since it can download and store information and documents. Plus, it may even be a good substitute for some calculators or tablets, says Mckinnie.

In fact, in a 2015 study by Pearson, 58% of students said they'd used a smartphone to complete schoolwork.

Prep for the future

We're willing to bet that the future holds lots of opportunities for careers in tech, which means learning smart ways to use technology could potentially set kids up for success.

"If the ultimate goal is to produce a person capable of being marketable in the future marketplace, then students need to be exposed to various ways to use technology to help them learn and complete their tasks," says Mckinnie.

Opportunity to create good practices

A case could be made that instead of banning cell phones, schools should be teaching kids how to use them responsibly both in the classroom and socially.

"Cell phone bans demonstrate a dereliction of the school's duty to equip students to participate thoughtfully and responsibly in modern society," says Martin Moran, director of the Bennett Day Upper School in Chicago. "Given the power of technology and the ways in which it can be weaponized to spread disinformation, a school must not only allow cell phones in classes but also create a dedicated curriculum that helps students develop responsible use of these devices."

Cell phones in school: The cons

Still, some parents and educators think cell phones should be put aside while kids focus on their classes. Here are a few reasons why:

Potential for distraction

"Our kids, the digital natives, are already more distracted than ever before, and because the brain was not meant to multitask, this makes it even more important that the phones stay at home or at the very least in the locker," says Tere Linzey, Ph.D., an educational psychologist and founder of BrainMatterZ. "Retention depends on the ability to 'attend' to the subject at hand."

Social skills

Linzey also points out that cell phones can take away from kids' in-person socializing.

"Employers and teachers mention to me all the time about the lack of social skills in [many] young people today," she says. "The simple things like saying hello, introductions, being polite, manners and people skills are lacking today. In business they call it 'soft skills,' but students don't have them if they are constantly behind a screen. What you practice is what your brain hardwires! Phones allow students to stay distracted without having human contact or conversations. If they don't practice conversations, communication skills and social etiquette, then they do not acquire them - hence no 'soft skills.'"

Mental health risks

"What we know now, after over 10 years of personal devices in the hands of children ... is that they are becoming less educated, more anxious and chronically depressed," says Lisa Strohman, J.D., Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and founder of Digital Citizen Academy.

It's not so much about school policy, she says, but rather that more time in front of a screen could be bad for kids' mental health.

Researchers have seen a dramatic increase in rates of depression (52% rise), psychological distress and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among teens have increased dramatically over the last decade, and many experts connect that rise with the rise of cell phones and digital media.

A 2018 study found that teens who used screens seven or more hours per day were more than twice as likely to have been diagnosed with depression than teens who only used them for an hour per day.

School hours could provide a large chunk of the day that they get a break from screens, which might have a positive impact on mental health.

Burden on teachers

Enforcing cell phone rules adds one more task to a teacher's long to-do list. If kids are allowed phones in their classrooms, they may be tempted to use them to text their friends or cheat by looking up answers on the internet, creating a stressful situation.

"The amount of time and escalation that results from a teacher trying to take a phone from a student can derail a whole class," says Janet Ferone, president of Ferone Educational Consulting.

Cyberbullying

In a 2017 report, 14% of school students said they'd been cyberbullied in the previous year. And while in-person bullying is much more common, getting harassed over text or social media can follow kids wherever they go.

"Remember passing notes in school in eighth grade? Now they text," says Jeanette D., a middle school teacher. "Remember when someone said something unflattering in school? Now it is shared schoolwide. Remember when the bus dropped you off at home and you could get a break from the drama? Now it is in your pocket 24/7."

Middle ground and limits

Most parents, teachers and experts we spoke to don't want to ban cell phones from school completely, but many have concerns about how they should be used that's developmentally appropriate, offers balance to kids' lives and allows them to learn and think in healthy ways.

"'For me, the question isn't 'should cell phones be allowed in schools?' but rather, 'how can schools manage the inevitability of cell phones in schools?'" says Ferone.

And thankfully, there are a few ways both schools and parents can find a middle ground:

Waiting for readiness

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says there's no "right age" to give a child a cell phone and stress that it's important parents understand the pros and cons of cell phone use before they decide to do so. However, an organization called Wait Until 8th asks parents to pledge to wait until eighth grade to give their kids cell phones for a host of reasons including their addictive nature, ability to distract and tendency to interfere with sleep. But making the decision that a child is ready for a phone is largely a family decision that may depend on many factors, including a child's maturity level and specific family situations, suggests media and tech resource Common Sense.

No-frills 'phones'

For parents not ready to give their kids an iPhone or Android, there are other options that can allow your child to communicate with you when they need to. For example, instead of a smartphone, Jené sends her daughter to school with a Gizmo watch, which allows a child to call parents and send text messages but not have access to the internet or apps.

Anna A., a mom in Winnetka, Illinois, gives her third-grader a Relay, which is a screen-free mobile phone that operates similarly to a walkie-talkie. This gives her peace of mind when her daughter walks and bikes to school with friends.

Schoolwide rules

Many schools set specific rules for when and where kids are able to use their cell phones.

"One solution has been that phones need to be kept out of sight and on silent, unless the teacher specifies that the phone can be used as part of the lesson for research and only when a sign stating 'Electronics in Use for Learning' is posted, so administrators walking by see that a teacher is not disregarding the rule," says Ferone.

Classroom-specific rules

Teachers may have rules for their own classrooms that work for their teaching style and subject matter.

"In a classroom I was in recently, the teacher had a spot where students placed their phones when they came in," says Schmidt. "When there was an opportunity to use them, they retrieved them. It worked really well."

Carrie Piegza, an eighth grade science teacher in Las Vegas, has a unique policy that she says works for her.

"I personally allow cell phones for use as calculators, timers and music players [in my classroom]," says Carrie. "If they are caught doing anything else, the phone gets confiscated. Quite a few teachers disagree with my music use, but I find it helps many of them focus better when working on individual assignments."

Parent regulation: The AAP recommends parents set rules and limits to kids' cell phone use, so they're balancing screen time with other activities and because cell phone use can interfere with sleep. Finding the right rules and boundaries may vary from family to family, but it's good to be clear and find ways to enforce the rules if they're broken.

"I have it set that most apps on my son's phone are not accessible after 9 p.m. and before 7 a.m.," says Kate. "And I have to physically input the password for new apps. I do occasionally take away phone privileges by changing the password. He can still accept incoming calls and make an emergency call, if necessary."

The consensus

In the end, it's likely that the answer to the debate is finding the right balance and for parents and teachers to keep a close watch on how and when kids are using their phones. Adding instruction on how to use cell phones safely and properly is a great idea, too.

As Moran suggests, "Schools must pair a policy by which students are allowed to use their cell phones with a dedicated curricular program that teaches them not only all the benefits of mobile technology, but also how to avoid the myriad dangers that come with an unexamined digital existence."

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Cell phones in school: Let's talk about the pros and cons

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There's no doubt that more and more kids are getting cell phones. According to a 2018 study by Pew Research, 95% of teens already owned or had access to a smartphone. And a 2017 Nielsen poll found that about 45% of kids who have phones got them between the ages of 10 and 12.

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Healthy Schools Campaign | Helping Children Learn and Thrive

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Skip to main content

June 16, 2020

Following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police officers and two weeks of national protests against police brutality, the movement for police-free schools is gaining momentum across the nation.

Healthy Schools Campaign strongly supports the movement to remove police and police resources officers from the school setting and believes that this action will directly support the health and wellness of all students, but particularly Black and Latinx students who are most at risk for having their behavior criminalized when police are in schools.

Why Police Officers Don't Make Schools Safer

Over the last two decades, the presence of police officers in schools nationwide has more than doubled, partly in response to the prevalence of school shootings. During the 2017-2018 school year, 58 percent of public schools had either school resource officers (SROs) or other sworn law enforcement officers, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Another 22.3 percent had security personnel. And those statistics don't account for the swell in school securit y following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in 2018.

Research does not show that increased presence of law enforcement makes schools safer. Instead, school police officers reinforce the criminalization of young people of color, serving as a key component of the school-to-prison pipeline. Black and Latinx students are more likely to be disciplined, suspended and arrested in school when police are present. Police assigned to school buildings often don't receive the necessary specialized training on adolescent development, racial equity, restorative justice or strategies for de-escalation, leaving many unequipped to do their jobs without causing harm to students.

As the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law stated in its 2017 report Handcuffs in Hallways: The State of Policing in Chicago Public Schools: "Research shows that the mere presence of police officers in school increases the likelihood that a student will be referred to law enforcement for adolescent behavior. School-based arrests, which fall more harshly on students of color, put students in direct contact with the justice system. Poor policing within schools therefore puts students on the fast track to the school-to-prison pipeline."

The message that students of color internalize when police officers guard the school entrance and roam the hallways is: you are not welcome here and the building where you learn presumes that you will engage in disruptive and criminal activity. This creates anxiety and hypervigilance for children and a distrust in the educational institution meant to help them develop. That is wholly inconsistent with creating a supportive, safe learning environment where students can thrive. Even more damaging, police presence re-traumatizes many students of color given the negative experiences they encounter with law enforcement in their neighborhoods and communities.

The Police-Free Schools Movement

In cities across the country, education departments are severing contracts with the police and reimagining the role of police in schools. While this movement is not new, it has picked up momentum following recent events and protests.

Healthy Schools Campaign is based in Chicago and we have a special focus in Chicago Public Schools where we work in partnership with principals, teachers, parents and students. We strongly oppose the presence of Chicago law enforcement in our city's schools and in schools across the country. Every adult in a school should be single-mindedly focused on helping students learn and thrive. We know that adding police officers to schools has been and will always be detrimental to children, especially children of color.

Like in many large, urban school districts, the majority of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students are Latinx and Black, a population of students that has historically been over-policed, over-incarcerated and unfairly targeted by the judicial system.

Schools are meant to foster the health and safety of students, creating a sense of belonging and security.

We need to invest in what we know works. Student behavior is positively impacted by teaching social and emotional learning competencies, providing access to mental health professionals and creating positive school climates. School cultures transform when all personnel receive the necessary training on trauma-informed and restorative justice teaching practices so that they can best serve the needs of students, particularly those in crisis, and foster feelings of safety both within and beyond the classroom.

Considering the inadequate funding already plaguing many schools, money used for SROs could be diverted to hiring mental health professionals to provide needed supports to students in crisis. The ACLU estimates that 1.7 million students attend schools who employ at least one police officer and zero counselors. This cannot stand.

In Chicago, a coalition of students, parents and community organizations to end the Chicago Police Department contract created a campaign that we have signed onto. The campaign reads: "Black and Brown kids know all too well that the cops violently assaulting protestors, are the same ones placed in our school hallways, assaulting and racially profiling us." Black Lives Matter Chicago is also organizing a week of action June 14-19, featuring virtual events about the history of policing in schools and alternatives to policing in schools.

Healthy Schools Campaigns stands with students, teachers, and activists nationwide calling for police-free schools so that all students can be safe, healthy, and able to thrive in a welcoming and supportive learning environment. And we're asking you to join us.

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Police Do Not Belong in Our Schools | Healthy Schools Campaign

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Skip to main content Following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police officers and two weeks of national protests against police brutality, the movement for police-free schools is gaining momentum across the nation.

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Cell phones have established themselves as an absolutely indispensable item for students in schools these days. Parents and staff certainly know that cell phones can have amazing benefits for children today. Nonetheless, allowing kids to have cell phones in schools has remained a controversial topic the past decade.

Here's our take on why cell phone should in fact be allowed at schools:

Cell phones ensure a child's safety

Believe it or not, cell phones keep children safe. How?

In case of any emergency children can instantly get in touch with you and seek help.

Students can call 911 or other hotlines in case of an emergency.

With unforeseen violence, a student can promptly inform school authorities.

Easy and prompt communication

Cell phones have literally empowered parents to keep a watch on their children. One quick call or text message and you get to know the immediate whereabouts of children. Of course, there's always the call home for a forgotten lunch, homework project, or change of after school plans.

Information and knowledge at your finger-tips

Teachers often complain about students playing and fidgeting with smartphone apps while in class. Additionally, some parents might label phone apps as addictive and "bad". On the contrary, there are several apps that could be very beneficial for educational purposes.

Over 70% of schools have reversed cell phone bans and it doesn't come as a surprise given that students use cell phones:

To discuss homework with friends.

For internet research.

As a calculator and stopwatch for science experiments.

To keep the track of time elapsed during exams.

As a spell check or dictionary.

Use organization apps

Alternative thought to conventional methods

Millennials usually get bored with the conventional methods of teaching and tend to be less attentive in class. As a result their academics suffer. Students with mobile phones find learning more exciting with great mobile apps.

Students learn faster through useful mobile apps.

Students tend to develop a level of respect for the teachers and school authorities, with the encouragement and trust being exhibited by the school in motivating students to bring their own mobile devices.

However, students found misusing the devices shall be deprived from using them and the mobile devices would be confiscated by school authorities.

A stepping stone towards professional Life

Right from ordering designer clothes, vegetables, groceries, gadgets, movie tickets to checking business mails, searching and applying for jobs, cell phones have literally defined a new dimension in how the various facets of professional world operates and functions.

So how do you prepare students for future challenges without introducing them to the cell phone use in school? It is crucial and important that school students get acquainted with the world of opportunities right at their finger-tips. This is the predominant reason why more and more schools across the geography are proactively working towards motivating students to carry mobile phones to school premises.

A practical problem: How to keep cell phones charged up?

Battery life is short lived. A charging solution for 1:1 technology schools, universities, colleges, and other campuses is a LockerPower charging kiosk. The LockerPower kiosk features individual lockers that can charge virtually all phones and tablets. Students and staff can stay fully charged and always connected.

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should cell phones be allowed in schools

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Why should cell phones be allowed in schools | Veloxity

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Cell phones have established themselves as an absolutely indispensable item for students in schools these days. Parents and staff certainly know that cell phones can have amazing benefits for children today. Nonetheless, allowing kids to have cell phones in schools has remained a controversial topic the past decade.

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School districts across the country are suddenly wrestling with the same question: Should police officers be in schools?

In the wake of George Floyd's killing, Minneapolis schools cut their contract with the local police department. Then Portland did. Then Denver. A majority of the Oakland school board members say they will, too, while Chicago's school board is set to vote on the issue Wednesday.

"We want to be able to have a school system where students are greeted with school nurses, with full-time mental health supports," said Denver school board member Tay Anderson, "and not the Denver Police Department."

Supporters of keeping police ties, including the mayors of New York City and Chicago, say that school police play an important role in maintaining order and student safety. "Unfortunately, we need security in our schools," Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said earlier this month.

Most research into these issues - whether police actually make schools safer, or whether their presence harms students - shows that schools with more police tend to have higher arrest and suspension rates. But that doesn't tell us whether police are the cause, or if officers are just more likely to be present at schools with the biggest challenges.

A few studies have tried to nail down the effects of school police on students. They offer evidence that the presence of school police does increase suspensions and arrests, particularly for relatively young students, while providing no clear verdict on whether police reduce in-school crime or major conflict.

Meanwhile, if you ask students what they think of school police, surveys reveal generally positive views - but feelings are notably more negative among Black students, who are more likely than other students to be arrested in school.

Some research shows that more police lead to more arrests and middle-school suspensions.

Does the presence of police fuel the "school-to-prison pipeline"? A 2017 national study provides some of the clearest answers.

It found that arrest rates of children increased substantially after schools received federal grants to hire police officers, starting in 1999. Each additional officer led to about 2.5 extra in-school arrests annually of children between ages 7 and 14. There was also some evidence that additional police meantolder students were more likely to be arrested both in and out of school.

This study doesn't break down the findings by race, but numerous other analyses have shown that Black students are much more likely to be arrested in school.

A separate study found that the addition of school police officers in Texas led to a 6% increase in disciplinary actions - including suspensions - for middle school students. These suspensionswere largely in response to relatively low-level offenses, and Black students were most affected. There were no clear effects on discipline rates for high school students.

These results likely reflect how school police often end up involved in regular school discipline matters, even if that isn't formally a part of their roles.

In one recent study, researchers interviewed dozens of school personnel, including police. One officer described an incident where a student refused to leave a teacher's classroom for an in-school suspension, and the officer was called to tell the student to leave.

"The next step after that is, if you're refusing to do what I tell you to do," the officer would later tell researchers, "I'm probably going to take him into custody for 'unruly juvenile,' and we'll settle it that way."

The incident, the researchers say, "illustrates the potential for school disciplinary involvement to escalate into an arrestable offense."

One Texas study links more police to lower high school graduation rates.

There is little concrete research on the relationship between police presence and academics, but one major study recently found that police had a harmful effect.

The Texas paper showed that when middle or high schools hired more police, students were 1.7 percentage points less likely to graduate high school, compared to similar students in the same district in other years. More police also led to slightly lower college enrollment rates.

It's not clear exactly why, and there were not clear differences by race. But other studies have found that an increased police presence, the use of aggressive search tactics, and violence outside of school can hurt students' academic performance, particularly for Black students.

Two studies suggest that police make schools safer, but a third suggests they do not.

The previously mentioned national study showing increases in arrest rates also found evidence that school police do make schools safer, at least according to principals. School leaders reported slightly lower rates of criminal incidents - particularly violent ones - in schools with more police.

This suggests a tradeoff. "This increase in safety is not free; it is accompanied by a small increase in the probability that students who continue to engage in disruptive and harmful behavior will come into contact with the formal criminal justice system, rather than the principal's office," wrote researcher Emily Owens.

A separate study in West Virginia similarly found that school police led to decreases in violent crime rates. But a North Carolina paper found no evidence that grants for school police made schools safer.

What about mass shootings? A desire to prevent them or reduce their toll likely helps explain the rise of police and other security in schools. After the 2018 Parkland shooting, for instance, Florida passed a law requiring every school to have an armed guard.

There does not appear to be any research that answers this question definitively, but it's crucial to keep in mind that incidents of mass school violence are exceedingly rare.

In other contexts, outside of school, police have been linked to lower crime rates.

Finally, these studies do not account for the possibility that police officers make schools less safe in ways that often go unrecorded. There have been high-profile instances of police officers committing violence against a student - incidents that help explain why many Black students don't feel safer around school police officers.

Students' perceptions of whether police officers make schools safer vary by race.

In a survey of students from a number of large California districts, 61% of white students agreed that they felt safer around the police officer at their school. Just 41% of black students said the same. Similarly, a New Orleans survey found that while 77% of white students felt safer around school security guards, just 54% of black students did.

New York City's most recent school system-wide survey found that 81% of students said school police officers helped keep schools safe and respectful. This figure was somewhat lower among students in predominantly Black schools, where 76% of students agreed, according to a Chalkbeat analysis.

These results track disparities in adult perception of police, where race again plays a key role.

A recent study found that police in predominantly Black schools were more likely to view students in those schools as a threat. "These findings help explain how SROs' perceptions might expose students of color to more frequent and intense police interactions," the researchers concluded.

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What research tells us about police in schools

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School districts across the country are suddenly wrestling with the same question: Should police officers be in schools? In the wake of George Floyd's killing, Minneapolis schools cut their contract with the local police department. Then Portland did. Then Denver.

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Having your phone during school in today's world is one way teens feel more safe while attending school for the day. The school handbook states that if a student is caught using their phone without permission during the day then they will have in-school suspension. In the situation of emergencies, students are instructed to sit in the office and make a call, but in the case of a school shooting, students don't have their phones to call for help or even call their parents. Allowing phones in school will also give the students another research tool, considering our computers have many sites blocked. Cell phones can also be used as a reminder tool for students homework assignments because most students don't have a planner to write their assignments in and some can't remember what they had for homework. Teachers can also use phones during school to send out a message to all the students if they need to remind them on a subject they forgot to mention during class. Students can also use cell phones to access Google Calendar and other apps to let the students become more independent. Although cell phones can provide somewhat of a distraction during class, they can also be an asset to the student by teaching them responsibility and preparing them for their future jobs while also giving them the assurance that they are safe.

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Pierce Public Schools - 5 Reasons Why Phones Should be Allowed in School

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by Kennedy Warneke Having your phone during school in today's world is one way teens feel more safe while attending school for the day. The school handbook states that if a student is caught using their phone without permission during the day then they will have in-school suspension.

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Are you one of those adults who believes the internet is no place for a kid to hang out? Maybe it's time to get over it. Sure, there are some arguments against internet usage in kids (it can prevent kids from engaging with others off-screen and can expose them to inappropriate content, among other things). But it also turns out there are some good reasons to let your kids indulge in a little social media now - especially during social distancing.

Teens spend about 45 hours per week on their phones, according to research conducted by Common Sense Media. Yet when SheKnows surveyed 400 parents for our Study on Kids & Technology (Dec 2019), it turned out the parents of those kids think their kids are only spending 22 hours per week on their phones. Isn't it time we admitted defeat and tried to make the internet a better place for kids - not an off-limits place? After all, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Still, the precise " best age" for when a kid should have their first social media account still remains murky - and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act makes it illegal for commercial websites and apps to offer accounts to children under 13 without parental consent. So when should you introduce your kid to the web, and how? The key, the experts say, is to go slowly and appropriately. Here's how.

1. Group inclusion

Social media makes sense in the world of teen socialization (and teen angst). Dr. Barbara Winter, a Florida-based psychologist with over 20 years of experience, explains, "Social media allows teenagers to be part of a group, which is a cornerstone to self-esteem." And according to a study published in the Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, teen social media use "provides new contexts for reflecting upon and trying out new identities, for learning and attempting new social skills and for establishing affiliations."

2. Online learning

This might make you feel a little less guilty as the parent of a kidfluencer: Technology counts as one of our cultural languages. "Social media is a great tool for learning, especially for kids that are almost glued to their computers," Katya Seberson, speed-reading and memory teacher at ExecutiveMind, says. "It bridges the gap between the fictional world of video games... and the real world. Social media is in between the two. It talks about real world events, but it's happening in a digital form."

3. Access to news

Good luck getting your teen to subscribe to The Wall Street Journal. But that doesn't mean they have to be out of the loop of world news. "Teens often favor social media for news and happenings in the world rather than looking at traditional news sources," Winter explains. According to research by Common Sense Media, 47 percent of kids get their news from Facebook, while 41 percent of tweens get their news from YouTube. Of course, talk to your teen about the fact that social media sites are not news sites and explain that they should always follow suggested "news" links on social sites to their original (journalistic, fact-checked) source.

4. Freedom of expression

As parents, we also use social media for this reason: to share our thoughts and feelings in our own corner of the internet. Likewise, says Winter, social media allows teens to express their individuality through stories, pictures and quotes, which can be beneficial to emotional, sexual and spiritual health.

If your child is ready to dip their toes into the waters of online creative expression, Seberson suggests going old-school first. "Tumblr is an old platform that allows artistic minds to express themselves," she says. "I introduce kids to bookfessions.tumblr.com, and they get hooked. They start following artists they love and share their own poetry, drawings - even essays."

5. Exposure to the real world

Yes, of course we all want to keep our little baby chicks in the nest for as long as we can, but keeping kids sheltered for too long will inevitably set them up to fail. Seberson encourages parents to use online education hand in hand with real-world exposure to produce a lasting impact. "I hate to see kids grow up in a safe bubble that bursts when they go to college," she says.
A version of this article was originally published in June 2014. Don't worry, your kids will learn something from the internet. Like all these lessons from celebrity parent-shaming on social media - a true testament to how not to behave online.

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Parents: Please Stop Freaking Out About Your Kids' Social Media Use

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Are you one of those adults who believes the internet is no place for a kid to hang out? Maybe it's time to get over it. Sure, there are some arguments against internet usage in kids (it can prevent kids from engaging with others off-screen and can expose them to inappropriate content, among other things).

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These days, more and more students are bringing cell phones to class. Even elementary school-aged students have cell phones in their pockets and backpacks.

However, the news of Ontario's decision to ban cell phones in classrooms opens again the debate about whether or not students should have cellphones in school. It also brings up the question of whether it's possible for technology to exist in the classroom as a learning tool-rather than simply a distraction.

Ontario's Classroom Cell Phone Ban

Starting in September 2019, cell phones will be banned in Ontario classrooms during instructional time.

The new ban means elementary and secondary school students won't be able to use their cellphones in the classroom unless it is for educational purposes, medical reasons, or as a support for students with special needs. How the ban is enforced will be up to individual boards and schools.

By banning cellphones, Ontario's Education Ministry hopes to remove distractions so students can focus on acquiring foundational learning skills they need, including reading, writing and math.

The decision and renewed debate has many teachers and parents left wondering: can cell phones ever really benefit students in class, or are they best left tucked away?

Read on to learn more about the pros and cons of students having cell phones in school.

Cell Phone Use In The Classroom

Students check their phones in the classroom an average of more than 11 times a day. That can add up to a lot of time spent distracted from schoolwork. And when students are distracted, it's a recipe for extra stress, frustration, and catch-up time for everyone.

With students spending up to 20% of their in-class time texting, emailing, and checking social media, it's no wonder the debate about cell phones in the classroom is alive and well.

Students check their cell phones in the classroom more than 11 times a day.
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Learn more about the pros and cons of students bringing their cell phones into the classroom.

How Cell Phones Can Be Used Effectively In the Classroom

If properly managed, cell phones can be used as tools to help children learn in the classroom. The following are some of the pros of allowing cell phones in school:

1. Using educational learning apps

Cell phones give students access to tools and apps that can help them complete and stay on top of their class work. These tools can also teach students to develop better study habits, like time management and organization skills.

2. Incorporating digital platforms into lessons

Using social media can keep students interested in class and encourage them to participate in the discussion. Some teachers create twitter hashtags or message boards students can use during class discussions to share thoughts and ideas. This can be especially helpful for students who might not be comfortable speaking in class.

3. Supplementing lessons with digital materials

Teachers can take advantage of cell phones by providing students with resources to find more information about a topic. This can include videos, news stories, online discussion groups, and more. Allowing students to access these resources in class can help encourage participation and discussions.

4. Providing easy access to more information

Cell phones can give students access to more information, letting them research more about a topic while having class discussions. This is especially true for current events that have not yet been covered in school textbooks.

The Drawbacks Of Allowing Cell Phones In Classrooms

While cell phones can be used as learning tools, it is a challenge to make sure students are using them for school-related tasks. A cell phone can easily turn from "classroom learning tool" into "classroom disruption".

Cons of allowing cell phones in school include:

1. Distractions and interruptions

When students use their cell phones to check social media and text their friends in class, it leads to distractions for those students as well as for their peers. This can cause disruptions in class, particularly if the teacher is constantly telling students to turn their devices off.

2. Cyberbullying

Cell phones can also lead to increased problems with bullying on the schoolground. Cyberbullying can be harder to see than other forms of bullying, making it difficult for teachers to identify and stop when it is happening.

3. Cheating

Cell phones can be a helpful learning tool in class. But they can also be used by students to access information while taking a test, leading to cheating. Even if a student isn't caught, this can lead to him or her having a poor understanding of the material in the future, and is unfair to students who studied hard to do well.

4. Disconnection from face-to-face activities

While cell phones can help encourage participation by offering different channels, this can also lead to less in-person discussion and fewer learning opportunities. Learning to work together with others is an important part of students' education, and can be lost with too much dependence on cell phones and other digital technology.

The Bottom Line: Should Students Have Cell Phones In School?

There's no easy answer: there are both pros and cons to students having cell phones in school. Although they can be used as a learning tool in the classroom, this only works as long as students use them effectively.

This means for teachers who decide to use cell phones (or any other digital device) as part of their lessons, it's important to set ground rules and keep a close eye on how they are being used.

Where do you stand on the cell phone debate? Let us know by tweeting @oxfordlearning on Twitter!

Related Resources:

Is Multitasking Bad For Students?
How To Study Without Being Distracted

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Should Cell Phones Be Allowed In Classrooms? | Oxford Learning

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These days, more and more students are bringing cell phones to class. Even elementary school-aged students have cell phones in their pockets and backpacks. However, the news of Ontario's decision to ban cell phones in classrooms opens again the debate about whether or not students should have cellphones in school.

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By Dianna Miller, Courier & Press, July 4, 2017 -

Should your teen have a part-time job? There are pros and cons, but there are many benefits to getting some early work experience during the high school years.

On average, teenagers report the highest rates of unemployment. According to Labor Force Statistics, in early 2017 the youth unemployment rate for individuals ages 16 to 19 was around 14.7 percent. The unemployment rate for individuals 25 years and older was 3.6 percent. Indiana has a 10 percent unemployment rate for ages 16-24.

Interestingly, according to a recent study from Career Builder, from 2001-2014, the number of jobs held by teenagers decreased by 33 percent. Over 1.7 million jobs teens held were cut during that 13-year window.

The loss of teen jobs appears to be correlated partly to the fact that a growing number of people ages 55 and older are not exiting the labor market at the pace they used to. More individuals are retiring from their current job and transitioning to entry-level positions.

In this study from 2001-2014, the number of workers 55 years and older increased by 40 percent. These days, the workforce tends to favor experience over education. Even though college is very valuable, it becomes even more valuable when paired with a resume full of experience.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, for every year a person works in their teens, their income raises 14-16 percent in their 20s. When teens choose to have a job, employment teaches responsibility and good work habits, improves time management and organizational skills and helps them save money.

Working also gives teens an opportunity to establish contacts with adult employers that can serve as a future reference. As teens work a part-time job they learn how capable they are, which in turn builds confidence and self-reliance. This can help teens feel more independent and have the confidence to further their development with a sense of responsibility.

Some research indicates youth who are Hispanic, black or economically disadvantaged who balance school and a job are less likely to drop out of high school than those who do not work during their high school years.

Having a summer job is linked to an increase in the chances of youth graduating from high school and reducing the risk for involvement in criminal activity and the juvenile justice system.

In order to effectively balance the stress of academics and work, studies indicate that 20 or less hour per week is an optimal amount of time for a high school student to work. Some studies indicate that students who balance 10-15 hours of work per week during the school year earn higher grades than students who do not work.

The federal minimum wage has been raised 22 times since 1938 when it was set at 25 cents per hour. Currently, our minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.

If your teen is looking for a job, snagajob.com and groovejob.com could be great starting points for them. The most popular time of year for teens to look for jobs is from April to July. Point out the many benefits and encourage them to take advantage of the opportunity to gain experience, learn to balance their time, and make a little extra money.

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By Dianna Miller, Courier & Press, July 4, 2017 - Should your teen have a part-time job? There are pros and cons, but there are many benefits to getting some early work experience during the high school years. On average, teenagers report the highest rates of unemployment.

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Homework Pros and Cons - Should Homework Be Banned?

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Proponents say homework improves student achievement. Opponents say too much homework is harmful to students. Explore both sides of the debate.

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It used to be that students were the only ones complaining about the practice of assigning homework. For years, teachers and parents thought that homework was a necessary tool when educating children. But studies about the effectiveness of homework have been conflicting and inconclusive, leading some adults to argue that homework should become a thing of the past.

What Research Says about Homework

According to Duke professor Harris Cooper, it's important that students have homework. His meta-analysis of homework studies showed a correlation between completing homework and academic success, at least in older grades. He recommends following a "10 minute rule": students should receive 10 minutes of homework per day in first grade, and 10 additional minutes each subsequent year, so that by twelfth grade they are completing 120 minutes of homework daily.

But his analysis didn't prove that students did better because they did homework; it simply showed a correlation. This could simply mean that kids who do homework are more committed to doing well in school. Cooper also found that some research showed that homework caused physical and emotional stress, and created negative attitudes about learning. He suggested that more research needed to be done on homework's effect on kids.
Further reading: Get Homework Done and Turned In
Some researchers say that the question isn't whether kids should have homework. It's more about what kind of homework students have and how much. To be effective, homework has to meet students' needs. For example, some middle school teachers have found success with online math homework that's adapted to each student's level of understanding. But when middle school students were assigned more than an hour and a half of homework, their math and science test scores went down.

Researchers at Indiana University discovered that math and science homework may improve standardized test grades, but they found no difference in course grades between students who did homework and those who didn't. These researchers theorize that homework doesn't result in more content mastery, but in greater familiarity with the kinds of questions that appear on standardized tests. According to Professor Adam Maltese, one of the study's authors, "Our results hint that maybe homework is not being used as well as it could be."

So while many teachers and parents support daily homework, it's hard to find strong evidence that the long-held practice produces positive results.

Problems with Homework

In an article in Education Week Teacher, teacher Samantha Hulsman said she's frequently heard parents complain that a 30-minute homework assignment turns into a three-hour battle with their kids. Now, she's facing the same problem with her own kids, which has her rethinking her former beliefs about homework. "I think parents expect their children to have homework nightly, and teachers assign daily homework because it's what we've always done," she explained. Today, Hulsman said, it's more important to know how to collaborate and solve problems than it is to know specific facts.

Child psychologist Kenneth Barish wrote in Psychology Today that battles over homework rarely result in a child's improvement in school. Children who don't do their homework are not lazy, he said, but they may be frustrated, discouraged, or anxious. And for kids with learning disabilities, homework is like "running with a sprained ankle. It's doable, but painful."

Barish suggests that parents and kids have a "homework plan" that limits the time spent on homework. The plan should include turning off all devices-not just the student's, but those belonging to all family members.

One of the best-known critics of homework, Alfie Kohn, says that some people wrongly believe "kids are like vending machines-put in an assignment, get out learning." Kohn points to the lack of evidence that homework is an effective learning tool; in fact, he calls it "the greatest single extinguisher of children's curiosity that we have yet invented."

Homework Bans

Last year, the public schools in Marion County, Florida, decided on a no-homework policy for all of their elementary students. Instead, kids read nightly for 20 minutes. Superintendent Heidi Maier said the decision was based on Cooper's research showing that elementary students gain little from homework, but a lot from reading.

Orchard Elementary School in South Burlington, Vermont, followed the same path, substituting reading for homework. The homework policy has four parts: read nightly, go outside and play, have dinner with your family, and get a good night's sleep. Principal Mark Trifilio says that his staff and parents support the idea.

But while many elementary schools are considering no-homework policies, middle schools and high schools have been reluctant to abandon homework. Schools say parents support homework and teachers know it can be helpful when it is specific and follows certain guidelines. For example, practicing solving word problems can be helpful, but there's no reason to assign 50 problems when 10 will do. Recognizing that not all kids have the time, space, and home support to do homework is important, so it shouldn't be counted as part of a student's grade.
Further reading: Balancing Extracurriculars with Homework in High School
So Should Students Have Homework?

Should you ban homework in your classroom? If you teach lower grades, it's possible. If you teach middle or high school, probably not. But all teachers should think carefully about their homework policies. By limiting the amount of homework and improving the quality of assignments, you can improve learning outcomes for your students.

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Some argue that homework should become a thing of the past. Others think it's an important tool for learning. So, should students have homework?

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12 benefits of outdoor play (and tips for helping kids reap these benefits)

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© 2019 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved What are the benefits of outdoor play for a child’s development? Research tells us there is no

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As students return to school this fall, many of them - perhaps especially those from historically disadvantaged student groups - will be starting the academic year with achievement levels lower than where they were at the beginning of summer break. This phenomenon - sometimes referred to as summer learning loss, summer setback, or summer slide - has been of interest to education researchers going back as far as 1906. ¹ We review what is known about summer loss and offer suggestions for districts and states looking to combat the problem.

An early comprehensive review of the literature summarized several findings regarding summer loss. ² The authors concluded that: (1) on average, students' achievement scores declined over summer vacation by one month's worth of school-year learning, (2) declines were sharper for math than for reading, and (3) the extent of loss was larger at higher grade levels. Importantly, they also concluded that income-based reading gaps grew over the summer, given that middle class students tended to show improvement in reading skills while lower-income students tended to experience loss. However, they did not find differential summer learning in math, or by gender or race in either subject.

The recent literature on summer loss has been mixed. One study using data from over half a million students in grades 2-9 from a southern state (from 2008-2012) found that students, on average, lost between 25 - 30 percent of their school-year learning over the summer; additionally, black and Latino students tended to gain less over the school year and lose more over the summer compared to white students. ³ However, an analysis of the nationally-representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010 - 11 (ECLS-K:2011) found little evidence of overall loss over the summers after grades K and 1, and the summer socioeconomic status gaps widened in some subjects and grades but not others. ⁴ Von Hippel and Hamrock re-analyzed two earlier data sets and concluded that gaps "do not necessarily...grow fastest over the summer" (p.41). ⁵ Thus, it seems summer loss and summer gap-growth occur, though not universally across geography, grade level, or subject.

Entwisle, Alexander, and Olson's "faucet theory" offers an explanation as to why lower-income students might learn less over the summer compared to higher-income students. ⁶ According to the theory, the "resource faucet" is on for all students during the school year, enabling all students to make learning gains. Over the summer, however, the flow of resources slows for students from disadvantaged backgrounds but not for students from advantaged backgrounds. Higher-income students tend to continue to have access to financial and human capital resources (such as parental education) over the summer, thereby facilitating learning. ⁷

Students' achievement scores declined over summer vacation by one month's worth of school-year learning.

Traditionally, educators and policymakers have relied on conventional summer school programs to combat summer loss and summer gap-growth. In 2000, Cooper and colleagues published a comprehensive meta-analysis of classroom-based summer programs finding positive effects on average. ⁸ However, they also concluded that middle-income students benefited more from summer programming than did lower-income students. They speculated that this could be because programs serving more advantaged students were of higher quality, or because of an interactive effect between programming and the home resources available to students. The result raised the concern that attempts to stem summer learning loss may actually exacerbate summer gap-growth if they are not well targeted.

Kim and Quinn conducted a meta-analysis of 41 summer reading programs from 35 studies published after the Cooper et al. review. ⁹ Like Cooper and colleagues, Kim and Quinn found summer reading programs to be effective at raising test scores, on average. Unlike Cooper, however, Kim and Quinn found that it was low-income students who benefited most from summer reading programs (even when restricting the comparison to higher- and lower-income students attending the same program). Furthermore, they concluded that the reason lower-income students benefited more was that lower-income students in these studies were more likely than higher-income students to experience summer loss when not participating in the summer programs. The authors noted several differences between their review and Cooper et al.'s that could explain the contrasting results: 1) Kim and Quinn analyzed only reading programs, while Cooper and colleagues combined math and reading programs, 2) Kim and Quinn included only two-group experimental and quasi-experimental studies, while Cooper and colleagues included single-group pre/post-test designs, and 3) Kim and Quinn included home-based programs in their review.

Naturally, school-based summer school programs vary in their effectiveness. Many of the recommendations for creating high-quality programs come in the form of expert opinion. Common suggestions include blending academic learning with hands-on or recreational activities, professionalizing summer school staff, and forming partnerships with community organizations to leverage resources. ¹⁰ We can also draw some lessons from research. For instance, the recent meta-analysis found that programs were more effective when they used research-based literacy instruction; specifically, programs using instructional strategies identified by the National Reading Panel as best practices had the largest impact on students' reading comprehension scores (equivalent to moving from the 50 th to the 65 th percentile of a normal distribution). Program effectiveness also differed by literacy domain-programs were effective at raising students' reading comprehension and fluency/decoding scores but not their vocabulary scores. Not surprisingly, research also suggests that programs are more effective when students attend consistently and spend more time on task academically. ¹¹

While school-based summer learning programs hold promise when they fit the above criteria, they often fail to live up to these expectations. Two important reasons why school-based summer programs can be ineffective are that organizers often struggle to attract high quality teachers and struggle to appeal to students and families for whom the opportunity costs of attending summer school can be high. 12, 13 School-based programs can also be quite costly. Researchers have therefore experimented, with some success, with lower-cost home-based summer programming.

One example of a home-based summer reading program that has been shown to be effective for low-income upper elementary school students is READS for Summer Learning. ¹⁴ In READS, which has been iteratively modified over several randomized trials, students receive eight books in the mail over the summer that are matched to their reading level and interests. Along with each book, students receive a tri-fold paper that leads them through a pre-reading activity and a post-reading comprehension check. Students are asked to mail the postage-prepaid tri-fold back; families receive reminders when tri-folds are not returned. Additionally, teachers deliver scripted lessons at the end of the school year to prepare students to productively read independently over the summer with the trifold scaffold. A recent study found that READS had an effect on low-income students' reading comprehension the spring following their participation in the intervention (ES=.05 SD on the state reading test), ¹⁵ and other work suggests that the tri-fold acts as a mediator of the program effect. ¹⁶

Another recent randomized trial showed that something as simple as sending text messages over the summer to families of elementary school students at risk of summer loss was effective at improving the reading scores of third- and fourth-graders (but not first or second graders), with effect sizes of .21 to .29. ¹⁷ The text messages included tips on resources available to students over the summer, ideas for activities to do with children, and information about the value of particular summer learning activities.

Home-based programs such as these can be more cost-effective than school-based interventions. For example, the cost of READS per student is estimated to be between $250-$480, compared to other programs providing supplementary education services that can cost as much as $1,700 per student and have similar or less favorable cost effectiveness ratios.

Kim and Quinn included home-based programs in their meta-analysis, and encouragingly, they found that the effects of home-based programs were not significantly different from their more expensive classroom-based alternatives. At the same time, the effects from these programs might not be as large as the effects of the highest-quality school-based programs that use research-based instructional strategies.

Schools and districts should want to address the issue of summer learning loss not only because it may exacerbate achievement gaps, but also because it "wastes" so much of the knowledge students have gained during the school year. Summer loss also undoubtedly increases the amount of time teachers have to spend "re-teaching" last year's content, likely contributing to the repetitiveness of the typical U.S. curriculum. ¹⁸ While investing in extensive school-based summer options may be infeasible, it may be cost-effective and strategic for districts to begin to offer targeted out-of-school interventions to the students most at risk of backsliding. In designing such programs, policymakers should keep in mind the recommendations from the research described above:

Center the program around evidence-based curriculum.

In addition to academic content, include hands-on or recreational activities to attract students.

Ensure that program structure enables sufficient time on task, and have policies or incentives that encourage consistent attendance.

Invest in hiring the most effective teachers.

Regardless of the design, these policies should offer engaging options for students over the summer so that summer learning programs do not feel like punishment for students who would rather be enjoying summer vacation. Doing so would set more students up for success as the school year gets underway.
The authors did not receive any financial support from any firm or person for this article or from any firm or person with a financial or political interest in this article. They are currently not an officer, director, or board member of any organization with an interest in this article.

Footnotes

1. Cooper H., Nye B., Charlton K., Lindsay J., Greathouse S. (1996). The effects of summer vacation on achievement test scores: A narrative and meta-analytic review. Review of Educational Research, 66(3), 227-268. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/00346543066003227

2. ibid

3. Atteberry, A., & McEachin, A. (2016). School's out: Summer learning loss across grade levels and school contexts in the United States today. In Alexander, K., Pitcock, S., & Boulay, M. (Eds). Summer learning and summer learning loss, pp35-54. New York: Teachers College Press.

4. Quinn, D.M., Cooc, N., McIntyre, J., & Gomez, C.J. (2016). Seasonal dynamics of academic achievement inequality by socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity: Updating and extending past research with new national data. Educational Researcher, 45(8), 443-453. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0013189X16677965?journalCode=edra

5. Von Hippel, P.T., & Hamrock, C. (2016). Do test score gaps grow before, during, or between the school years? Measurement artifacts and what we can know in spite of them. (Social Science Research Network working paper). Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2745527

6. Entwisle D. R., Alexander K. L., Olson L. S. (2000). Summer learning and home environment. In Kahlenberg R. D. (Ed.), A notion at risk: Preserving public education as an engine for social mobility (pp. 9-30). New York, NY: Century Foundation Press

7. Borman G. D., Benson J., Overman L. T. (2005). Families, schools, and summer learning. The Elementary School Journal, 106(2), 131-150. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/499195

8. Cooper, H., Charlton, K., Valentine, J. C., & Muhlenbruck, L. (2000). Making the most of summer school: A meta-analytic and narrative review. Monographs of the society for research in child development, 65, i-127. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3181549

9. Kim J. S., Quinn D. M. (2013). The effects of summer reading on low-income children's literacy achievement from kindergarten to grade 8 a meta-analysis of classroom and home interventions. Review of Educational Research, 83(3), 386-431. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0034654313483906

10. McLaughlin B., Pitcock S. (2009). Building quality in summer learning programs: Approaches and recommendations (White Paper Commissioned by the Wallace Foundation). Retrieved from: http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/documents/building-quality-in-summer-learning-programs.pdf

11. Augustine, CH, Sloan McCombs, J., Pane, JF, Schwartz, HL, Schweig, J., McEachin, A. and Siler-Evans, K. (2016). Learning from Summer: Effects of Voluntary Summer Learning Programs on Low-Income Urban Youth. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. Retrieved from: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1557.html

12. Denton D. R. (2002). Summer school: Unfulfilled promise. Atlanta, GA: Summer Regional Education Board. Retrieved from: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED467662.pdf

13. McLaughlin & Pitcock (2009)

14. e.g., Kim, J.S., Guryan, J., White, T.G., Quinn, D.M., Capotosto, L., & Kingston, H.C. (2016). Delayed effects of a low-cost and large-scale summer reading intervention on elementary school children's reading comprehension. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 9 sup1, 1-22. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19345747.2016.1164780?journalCode=uree20

15. ibid

16. Guryan, J., Kim, J.S., & Quinn, D.M. (2014). Does reading during the summer build reading skills? Evidence from a randomized experiment in 463 classrooms. NBER Working Paper No. 20689. http://www.nber.org/papers/w20689

17. Kraft, M.A., & Monti-Nussbaum, M. (in press). Can schools empower parents to prevent summer learning loss? A text messaging field experiment to promote literacy skills. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/mkraft/files/kraft_monti-nussbaum_2017_can_schools_empower_parents_to_prevent_summer_learning_loss_annals.pdf

18. Polikoff, M.S. (2012). The redundancy of mathematics instruction in US elementary and middle schools. The Elementary School Journal , 113(2), 230-251. http://web-app.usc.edu/web/rossier/publications/66/The%20Redundancy%20of%20Math%20Instruction.pdf

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Summer learning loss: What is it, and what can we do about it?

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As students return to school this fall, many of them - perhaps especially those from historically disadvantaged student groups - will be starting the academic year with achievement levels lower than where they were at the beginning of summer break.