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Articles of Interest
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The Virginia Department of Education says the state's educators are being honored by the non-profit group Working in Support of Education.
Officials say 148 Virginia public schools and 300 teachers were recognized for student performance on a national standardized test is administered to students at the end of a course on personal finance.
Virginia State president to step down Dec. 31
Richmond Times-Dispatch
November 1, 2014
Virginia State University President Keith T. Miller is resigning at the end of the year amid concerns over declining enrollment and financial woes.
Miller on Friday agreed to step down Dec. 31 as he and the school's board of visitors acknowledged a need for a change in leadership at the historically black land-grant university.
With enrollment down students, the university has closed residence halls, cut back its dining operation and curtailed maintenance.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the board will announce an interim president at its November meeting and launch a national search in January.
Federal Policy
Obama retreats on college crackdown
Politico
October 30, 2014
The Obama administration on Thursday watered down its threatened crackdown on for-profit colleges, loosening tough sanctions under heavy political pressure from the industry and members of Congress from both parties.
The administration’s long-awaited “gainful employment” regulation, in the making since nearly the start of Barack Obama’s presidency, aims to force colleges to overhaul or shut down career-training programs that leave students with high debt and too low a salary to repay it.
States slashing education spending
USA Today
November 2, 2014
State-level K-12 education spending has fallen dramatically in many states since 2008. In that time, 29 states cut per pupil spending, shifting the burden of financing education to local school districts and, in many instances, forcing schools to cut costs and even teachers.
Based on the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) 2014 report, "Most States Funding Schools Less Than Before the Recession," 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 14 states with at least 10% declines in state general education funding between fiscal year 2008 and fiscal year 2015. In Oklahoma, per pupil spending fell by nearly 24%, the largest decline nationwide. These are the states slashing school spending.
Thorny Higher Education Issues to Confront Next Congress
Education Week
November 3, 2014
When the curtain is drawn on the 114th Congress, lawmakers in both chambers—and on both sides of the aisle—are expected to tackle a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, a mammoth law that includes college-preparation programs for disadvantaged students, tuition-assistance grants for low- and middle-income families, and the entire federal student-loan program.
The law was last updated in 2008, but since then, tuition has been on a steady climb, student-loan debt eclipsed $1 trillion, and states have been disinvesting in their higher education systems.
Efforts are already underway in the U.S. House of Representatives, where lawmakers ushered three measures through the chamber in July with significant bipartisan backing, and in the Senate, where Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the chairman of the education committee, who retires in January, unveiled a 700-page reauthorization discussion draft in June.
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Who should report that?
The bystander effect is a long studied social phenomenon - when something bad happens in front of one of us, we tend to take action. If there are more people around, the likelihood of action being taken decreases for the whole group. National Geographic has a series of videos that illustrate the reality.
This part of human nature creates a severe challenge when it comes to recognizing and galvanizing action to stop abuse of many types - human trafficking, genocide, famine. One way to combat the tendency toward inaction is to raise awareness through posters like the one below from the University of Minnesota.
For education policy-makers, however, the challenge arises more often with respect to recognizing and reporting child abuse and the intent of individuals to harm themselves and others.
The issue of child abuse increased in visibility recently when NFL running back Adrian Petersen was charged with that offense and this week Compass Point focuses on mandatory reporting policies.
Petersen's high profile case, as well as news stories of a sexual hazing scandal on the football team at a New Jersey High School that coaches knew about and did nothing to stop has some lawmakers in that state proposing criminal penalties for failing to report suspected child abuse. In California a state legislator is also calling for increased efforts to curtail child abuse - in this case by increasing training requirements for school employees on recognizing and reporting child abuse. (For an example of such training materials, check out this manual from the US Dept. of Health and Human Services.) The National Conference of State Legislators has a helpful listing of all mandatory reporting legislation considered from 2012-2014. If you look at the list for Virginia, you'll note that a number of bills were considered in the 2012 session with several additions to the list of those required to report suspected child abuse. Among them are higher education employees, a provision that increased the need for training by universities of their employees (click here for an example of training materials from UVA.)
There also has been recent judicial action related to the rights of an accused abuser in criminal cases and whether what a child reports to school officials can be admitted as hearsay evidence in the subsequent prosecution. Dr. Richard Vacca, senior fellow here at the Institute, examines the Ohio Supreme Court case in detail in his November Education Law newsletter and we excerpt a portion below. The case is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Our poll snapshot this week looks at a different issue of who should report - what is the responsibility of parents to tell schools about any social or emotional problems their children are having? In our 2007-2008 poll we asked a representative sample of Viriginians whether parents need to tell schools about such issues or whether parent's should be able to keep such information private.
Finally, Dr. Bosher took a week off from his weekly editorial responsibilities.
Sincerely,
CEPI
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Poll Snapshot: Parents need to tell schools about social and emotional problems of their children?
In 2007-2008, we asked our representative sample of Virginians "In order to prevent school violence, some say parents need to tell schools about any social and emotional problems their children are having or parents should be able to keep this information private in order to protect their children from discrimination? Which comes closer to your view?" In a country where individual privacy is often seen as being important, it was striking that a strong majority (69%) said parents need to tell schools about such problems.
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There were some interesting demographic differences - women were 16% more likely than men to think parents should tell schools about these issues. Older respondents were also more likely to think parents should tell schools - 83% of those 65 and older said so; 75% of those aged 45-64 and only 62% of those aged 18-44 agreed.
Education level also seemed to correlate with whether people thought parents should report such issues to schools. Interestingly those with more education were more likely to think parents should be able to keep such information private (though a majority still supported a responsibility to tell) while a stronger majority (76%) of those with a high school diploma or less formal education saw it as a responsibility of parents to tell schools about such problems.
(To read the full results of all the polls, visit our website. In 2008, question 32 is the question reported above - topline results are on page 23; crosstabs are on page 48.)
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Ed Law: Reporting Suspected Child Abuse: Policy Implications
Excerpted from
Dr. Vacca's November Education Law Newsletter
" Overview
In recent months several stories involving incidents of domestic violence and child abuse have gained national attention in the popular media. As someone who has spent more than five decades working with school administrators, teachers, parents, and students, I remain shocked at some of the horrific situations covered in the news media—especially those where the suspected child abuse involves an infant or toddler and was administered by a parent (including foster parent), family member, or legal guardian. Ironically, these are the same people who should be providing children with a safe, loving, and nurturing home environment.
Because the definition may vary from state to state, for purposes of this commentary the following generic definition of “child abuse” is used: “An intentional or neglectful physical or emotional injury imposed on a child, including sexual molestation.” BLACK’S (7th ed. 1999) Also, in this commentary the term “child” refers to an individual who is “less than eighteen years old.”
Reporting Suspected Child Abuse. A recent national survey tells us that in our nation: (1) a report of child abuse is filed every ten seconds, (2) more than 4 children die every day as a result of child abuse—most of whom are children under four years old, and (3) “child abuse occurs at every socio economic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions, and at all levels of education.” (“Child Maltreatment 2012,” Department of Health and Human Services, 2012)
State Law and Child Abuse. While many incidents of child abuse often go unreported it is, as a general rule, the legal obligation of a host of professionals, many of whom work in public school systems, to immediately report “suspected child abuse” to the proper authorities. To discover and read one’s legal obligations concerning matters of reporting suspected child abuse the reader first must reference the statutes of the state where his or her professional work is carried out. While each situation is different, one common thread can be observed in many of the reported cases. Even where a state statute defines the term, “child abuse,” (see, e.g., VA. CODE, 16.1-228, Definitions) the term is somewhat subjective in nature. What does or does not move “suspected child abuse” to “established child abuse” is a matter subsequently determined on a case-by-case basis by the facts found and a preponderance of evidence produced."
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