Parenting and Learning Issues

Police officers are commonly seen in high schools and many middle schools, but is the trend now spreading to our public elementary schools? Indeed, some school and police leaders are working to increase the number of officer positions in public schools—regardless of the age range of the school’s students.

Increasing Police Presence in Public Schools

While the title “school resource officer” may sound unfamiliar to those who graduated from high school more than 10 years ago, positions for police officers in schools are quite commonplace today. As All Academic explains, School Resource Officers (SROs) have been appearing in schools across the country at steadily rising rates in recent years.

Ideally, the SROs are available to help provide leadership examples for all students on campus; however, their influence in the schools can certainly have an impact that extends beyond these intentions. SROs are usually hired and paid by the local police force (not by the local schools), and subsequently, many believe that “The presence of these officers shapes the school social climate and students’ legal socialization.”

Interestingly, however, some high schools have reported an increase in student misbehaviors after officers have been assigned to the campus. Subsequently, many elementary school leaders are experimenting with SROs in the hopes that “legal socialization” at an early age can help prevent behavior problems in the middle and high school years. These proponents believe that teaching elementary students the benefits of law enforcement professionals will translate into

Did you know that student dropout rates are still continuing to rise in some of the United States' most populated areas? According to Fox News, America's Promise Alliance reveals that in many urban areas, approximately half of public school students do not earn their high school diplomas. This report further found that 17 of the nation's 50 largest cities have graduation rates below 50 percent. Among the lowest cities are Detroit, Indianapolis, and Cleveland. In examining this crisis on a larger spectrum, only 70 percent of the United States' high school students graduate on schedule each year, and 1.2 million students opt to drop out of school each year. Although the current dropout epidemic is bleak, some school leaders have fortunately found programs to help transform their negative graduation rates.

This video reports on America's dropout epidemic.

Solving the Country's Educational Crisis

In response to the grim dropout statistics, the United States former Secretary of State Colin Powell stated “When more than 1 million students a year drop out of high school, it's more than a problem, it's a catastrophe.” Powell's wife, Alma Powell, further elaborated on the importance of high school education – arguing that public schools prepare individuals for higher education, new challenges, and issues that extend far beyond a classroom.

To address the many problems associated with this crisis, Colin and Alma Powell have created the Chair

As school leaders experiment with modern educational strategies, one of the most promising programs centers on a concept known as “collaborative reasoning.” Far evolved from the archaic preconceptions of a classroom from the past, collaborative reasoning programs strive to make students active leaders in their learning communities.

Instead of having teachers solely speak and lecture, collaborative reasoning focuses on allowing children to explore using different learning and cognitive development elements. Specifically, as the Educational Psychology Review Journal explores, classrooms centered on collaborative reasoning enable teachers to act as facilitators of small student group discussions and investigations: “Collaborative reasoning discussions are intended to create a forum for children to listen to one another think out loud as they learn to engage in reasoned argumentation.”

Collaborative reasoning is designed to encourage independent critical thinking and question fellow peers and sources. Through this type of proactive learning, experts anticipate that cooperative learning can jumpstart student progress into modernity.

Traditional Learning vs. Collaborative Learning

Hoping to overcome the passive and dull methodologies of inactive classrooms, public schools across the country are embracing efforts to teach students using collaborative reasoning. Examining the need for this reform, Education Week argues, “The least effective mode of teaching and learning is still the most popular at all levels of instruction: teaching by telling, learning by parroting...When you tell it back to me the way I told it to you, I assume you have knowledge.”

Instead of demanding children to listen, memorize, and

When President Obama’s national address to students approached in September, many parents expressed concerns over the potential of politically charged messages. Before his speech notes were revealed, school communities feared that Obama would try to sway students towards his political viewpoints by subtly mentioning key national issues, such as healthcare reform and economic stimulus plans. Although the speech was surrounded in controversy, in post-speech reviews, bipartisan parties generally agreed that President Obama’s lecture was non-biased and inoffensive.

Regardless, the heated debates leading to the president’s speech forced many parents and leaders to pose the question: do parents have the right to deny or allow public speakers at their child’s school?

Public School Speakers: Who Chooses Them?

While public schools across the country frequently invite speakers to their campuses, some parents argue that booking these speakers without parental consent could be harmful for students. For example, many conservatives, as well as individuals who oppose some of President Obama’s key political philosophies, feared that allowing their children to listen to the president’s national address in the public school setting was a violation of their parental and personal rights. Wanting to protect their children from opposing viewpoints, many parents were outraged over Obama’s public school speech, which was aired and widely viewed by public school students during regular school hours.

In examining this controversy, the Associated Press reported that “Districts across the country (were) inundated with phone calls

Opting to enroll in any high school Advanced Placement (AP) course requires incredible determination, intelligence, and personal drive. Of course, the rigors of these classes arrive with their own rewards. Students who earn a passing score on an AP exam can earn college credit, saving students and their families thousands of dollars on future tuition costs. However, will your AP exam scores even count? Unfortunately, if your school fails to abide by the testing guidelines set forth by the College Board, your AP exam scores may be canceled.

Strict AP Testing Procedures

As the College Board articulates, every public and private school student opting to participate in AP exam(s) must adhere to specific and strict testing guidelines. AP administrators demand that "all students are given the same opportunity to demonstrate their abilities and to prevent any student from gaining an unfair advantage over another because of testing irregularities or improper conduct."

The full scope of exam procedures are outlined in the College Board manual for teachers and students, but specific violations include:

• Students taking an AP exam after the original date of administration
• Students taking an AP exam at a different time of day than is mandated
• Teachers "interviewing" students for test information after a student finishes his or her AP test (teachers can then use this information to unjustly provide their own students with advantages in the future)
• AP teachers looking at the actual test questions, answers, and/or processing any unauthorized test materials

These guidelines, along with