Category: Education,

A Reminder That ‘Fake News’ Is An Information Literacy Problem – Not A Technology Problem

On By peanutgallerynhIn Education,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Children are taught to regurgitate what others tell them and to rely on digital assistants to curate the world rather than learn to navigate the informational landscape on their own. Schools no longer teach source triangulation, conflict arbitration, separating fact from opinion, citation chaining, conducting research or even the basic concept of verification and validation. In short, we’ve stopped teaching society how to think about information, leaving our citizenry adrift in the digital wilderness increasingly saturated with falsehoods without so much as a compass or map to help them find their way to safety.

A Reminder That ‘Fake News’ Is An Information Literacy Problem – Not A Technology Problem

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University of Farmington: ICE arrests more at fake Michigan college

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,, Schools,Leave a comment

A total of about 250 students have now been arrested since January on immigration violations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of a sting operation by federal agents who enticed foreign-born students, mostly from India, to attend the school that marketed itself as offering graduate programs in technology and computer studies, according to ICE officials. 

…The students had arrived legally in the U.S. on student visas, but since the University of Farmington was later revealed to be a creation of federal agents, they lost their immigration status after it was shut down in January. The school was staffed with undercover agents posing as university officials. 

…Attorneys for the students arrested said that they were unfairly trapped by the U.S. government since the Department of Homeland Security had said on its website that the university was legitimate. An accreditation agency that was working with the U.S. on its sting operation also listed the university as legitimate. 

,,,The U.S. “trapped the vulnerable people who just wanted to maintain (legal immigration) status,” Rahul Reddy, a Texas attorney who represented or advised some of the students arrested, told the Free Press this week. “They preyed upon on them.”

The fake university is believed to have collected millions of dollars from the unsuspecting students. An email from the university’s president, Ali Milani, told students that graduate programs’ tuition is $2,500 per quarter and that the average cost is $1,000 per month.

University of Farmington: ICE arrests more at fake Michigan college

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Flint weighs school closures as it grapples with special ed costs

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Local Interest,, Modern Parenting,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Schools,Leave a comment

Fueling the district’s economic problems is the fact that 24% of the 3,750 students in Flint Community Schools are designated as special education, a number that is nearly twice as high as the 13.2% statewide average.

…Flint’s water was contaminated with lead when officials used corrosive river water from April 2014 to October 2015 that wasn’t properly treated. In children, lead exposure can result in serious effects on IQ, ability to pay attention and academic achievement. 

Flint weighs school closures as it grapples with special ed costs

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Flint’s Children Suffer in Class After Years of Drinking the Lead-Poisoned Water

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Local Interest,, Modern Parenting,, Schools,Leave a comment

The contamination of this long-struggling city’s water exposed nearly 30,000 schoolchildren to a neurotoxin known to have detrimental effects on children’s developing brains and nervous systems. Requests for special education or behavioral interventions began rising four years ago, when the water contamination became public, bolstering a class-action lawsuit that demanded more resources for Flint’s children.

…The percentage of the city’s students who qualify for special education services has nearly doubled, to 28 percent, from 15 percent the year the lead crisis began, and the city’s screening center has received more than 1,300 referrals since December 2018. The results: About 70 percent of the students evaluated have required school accommodations for issues like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also known as A.D.H.D.; dyslexia; or mild intellectual impairment.

…Pediatricians here caution against overdiagnosing children as irreparably brain damaged, if only to avoid stigmatizing an entire city. 

…The suit accuses the school systems of violating federal and state laws, including the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, by failing to identify students who could qualify for special education services, by failing to provide the mandated instructional services to those who do qualify and by punishing children for disability-related behavior.

Students were denied assessments for education plans or behavioral intervention plans, and then were segregated from their peers, secluded and restrained, repeatedly sent home from school, expelled or arrested, the lawsuit said.

…The district ignored her pleas to accommodate his A.D.H.D., which his pediatrician said was exacerbated by elevated lead levels.

…Bethany Dumanois, who has taught in Flint for 25 years, works two jobs to keep teaching because she said she cannot abandon children whose discolored, rash-covered skin and chunks of exposed scalp haunt her. In the earlier days of the crisis, she spent class time addressing questions from her students about whether they would die from the water like their class lizard, a bearded dragon, did.

…Instead of investing in more teachers, social workers and special education aides, she said the district had pushed laptop computers and iPads, “just jumping on any bandwagon, trying to sugarcoat what’s happening with these kids.”

On a recent night at a local restaurant, Ms. Pascal, the 23-year Flint teaching veteran, vented over the “injustices everywhere.” The district adopted a new reading program with no money to buy the instructional materials. She had been asked to identify a handful of her students for a new behavior support program, but wants to include all 21.

She thinks about quitting, but said she refuses to leave another vacancy for the district to fill.

Flint’s Children Suffer in Class After Years of Drinking the Lead-Poisoned Water – The New York Times

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Active Shooter Drills May Not Stop A School Shooting — But This Method Could

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Schools,Leave a comment

A new comprehensive report from the U.S. Secret Service underlines the agency’s previous findings that there is one safety approach that does work: threat assessment, as part of a comprehensive program of social and emotional support for students.

…Rory, 7, is on the autism spectrum and has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

…After seeing Rory’s reaction, Dianne says she doesn’t think any kids should have to participate in drills like these.

“Fair enough,” says Melissa Brymer of the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress. “But an emergency can happen at any point in a school day.”

Brymer believes these drills can save lives, but as one recent study from Ball State University found, there’s little evidence to prove that.

…According to the report, 83% of the attacks were over in five minutes or less. And 68% of the schools already had a lockdown procedure in place — making it the most common security measure among schools in the report. 

…Schools need a much more comprehensive approach, emphasizing “multidisciplinary” prevention in the years, months and days before a student actually shows up at school with a weapon.

…She defines threat assessment as a proactive approach in which schools “identify students who are doing concerning behavior or may be in distress and getting them the help they need before they even resort to violence as an option.”

One common source of distress, according to the report, is bullying and ostracism.

…Over a decade ago, the Secret Service conducted a small study in which it talked to “bystanders” — students who had heard warnings from a fellow student before a planned attack. In six cases a shooting was prevented, and in a further nine cases a shooting happened.

In the bystander report, students who came forward told investigators they did so because they had a strong relationship with at least one adult at the school and they thought their concerns would be taken seriously. Students who did not come forward said that they thought the school would not take appropriate steps or they would get in trouble themselves.

Active Shooter Drills May Not Stop A School Shooting — But This Method Could : NPR

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A Reminder That ‘Fake News’ Is An Information Literacy Problem – Not A Technology Problem

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Schools,Leave a comment

Children are taught to regurgitate what others tell them and to rely on digital assistants to curate the world rather than learn to navigate the informational landscape on their own. Schools no longer teach source triangulation, conflict arbitration, separating fact from opinion, citation chaining, conducting research or even the basic concept of verification and validation. In short, we’ve stopped teaching society how to think about information, leaving our citizenry adrift in the digital wilderness increasingly saturated with falsehoods without so much as a compass or map to help them find their way to safety.

…[Silicon] Valley has doubled down on technological solutions to combating digital falsehoods, focusing on harnessing legions of “fact checkers” and turning to Website and content blacklists, algorithmic tweaks and other quick fixes that have done little to turn the tide.

…How is it possible that the nation’s most prestigious scholars and scientists at preeminent research institutions and universities could all suspend their disbelief and blindly believe that an anonymous Twitter account claiming to be a secret society “resisting” their government was everything it claimed to be without the slightest bit of verification?

…Algorithms can help citizens sort through the deluge of information around them, identifying contested narratives and disputed facts, but technology alone is not a panacea. There is no magical algorithm that can eliminate all false and misleading information online.

To truly solve the issue of “fake news” we must blend technological assistance with teaching our citizens to be literate consumers of the world around them.

Societies must teach their children from a young age how to perform research, understand sourcing, triangulate information, triage contested narratives and recognize the importance of where information comes from, not just what it says.

…A more information literate society would likely bring with it considerable economic harm to today’s viral-obsessed social platforms that thrive on digital falsehoods, meaning there will be considerable resistance from Silicon Valley to a more information literate society.

A Reminder That ‘Fake News’ Is An Information Literacy Problem – Not A Technology Problem

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Harris Policy Proposals That Got Lost in that Shitshow of a Campaign

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Modern Parenting,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Schools,Leave a comment

Under Harris’ proposal, homebuyers who rent or live in historically redlined communities can apply for a federal grant of up to $25,000 to assist with down payments or closing costs. Harris’ campaign estimates that this will help up to 4 million families.

Redlining is the discriminatory practice of denying financial or other services for low-income and minority communities.

Harris’ policy proposal also aims to prevent discrimination in home sales, rentals and loans by promising to strengthen and strictly enforce anti-discrimination laws.

…In May, Harris reintroduced her 2018 bill to tackle racial disparities in maternal health and rolled out her proposal to fine companies that don’t achieve pay equity

Harris’ education proposal — her first major policy as a presidential candidate — would boost teacher pay, make additional investments in public schools and support programs dedicated to teacher recruitment, training and professional development, particularly at historically black colleges and universities.

Kamala Harris unveils $100 billion black homeownership plan – CNNPolitics

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Elkhart Schools teams up with program to package unused food into take-home meals

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Schools,Leave a comment

“Mostly, we rescue food that’s been made but never served by catering companies, large food service businesses, like the school system,” said Jim Conklin, Cultivate. “You don’t always think of a school.”

It rescues the unused food.

…20 students will receive a backpack with eight individual frozen meals every Friday until the end of school.

Elkhart Schools teams up with program to package unused food into take-home meals | WSBT

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Kauai’s Waimea High School gets a taste of new farm-to-table menu

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Hawaii,, Schools,Leave a comment

“It’s so important, I believe, for the people in the state of Hawaii to have food that’s locally grown, nutritious, delicious, and just easily accessible,” says First Lady of Hawaii Dawn Ige. “As an educator, I know how important a healthy meal is. If students have a healthy meal in their stomach, it just makes them feel better, so learning becomes a more natural and more exciting thing for them to do.”

Farm-to-school is one thing, but farm-to-state is an even bigger goal. Aside from the 100,000 meals that the Department of Education puts out a day, the prisons serve both the corrections officers and inmates. Senator Kouchi estimates that that’s another 13,000 meals, and points out that there’s also the state hospitals to take into consideration.

“If we hit this goal, we can more than double our food production here in Hawaii,” says Senator Kouchi.

Kauai’s Waimea High School gets a taste of new farm-to-table menu – HI Now

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