Climate of disrespect for teachers gets worse

This was written by Gregory Michie, who teaches in the Department of Foundations and Social Policy at Concordia University Chicago. His next book, “We Don’t Need Another Hero: Struggle, Hope, and Possibility in the Age of High-Stakes Schooling,” will be published later this year by Teachers College Press. This first appeared at educationclearinghouse.wordpress.com.

By Gregory Michie

Just when you think the climate of disrespect for teachers can’t get any worse, it does.

The Chicago Tribune’s editorial board has now urged Illinois parents to demand that the state emulate New York City (and Los Angeles) by making individual teachers’ “value-added” ratings available for public scrutiny.

For those not versed in the latest trend in educational accountability,“value-added” formulas are complex statistical calculations that attempt to isolate a teacher’s impact on a student’s growth — as measured by gains on standardized test scores. In essence, value-added measurestry to show how much of a student’s test score increase can be chalked up solely to the influence of their teacher.

If that sounds tricky and imprecise, that’s because it is — and there’s no research to show that value-added models have done anything to help teachers improve, or to help kids learn.

But why quibble with little details like those? Instead, the Tribune’seditors gave a rousing endorsement not only of using value-added teacher evaluations, but of making individual teacher’s ratings public.

They called value-added data the “the gold standard for teacher accountability” and “a powerful indication of a teacher’s effectiveness.”

Really?

Not according to Maribeth Whitehouse, a Bronx special education teacher who scored in the 99th percentile — better than nearly all other teachers in New York City — on the recently released value-added Teacher Data Reports (TDRs). Despite her through-the-roof rating, Whitehouse isn’t hailing the evaluations. Instead, she told the New York Times’ Michael Winerip that the data is “nonsense” — and she’s penning a protest letter with other high-scoring teachers.

Elizabeth Phillips, principal of P.S. 321 in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood, said on this blog that value-added ratings for teachers in her school were “extremely inaccurate.” Among many other critiques, she cites the case of one teacher who was rated near the bottom — at the 6th percentile, according to the TDRs. In reality, Phillips writes, the “teacher in question is an exceptionally strong teacher by any other measure (parent feedback, colleague’s opinions, my observations over many years).”

For those who find that evidence too anecdotal, check the findings of a 2010 study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education. Researchers found that value-added estimates were “subject to a considerable degree of random error” — misclassifying teachers up to 26% of the time.

And just last week, Stanford professor Linda Darling-Hammond, who has studied value-added models extensively, wrote in Education Weekthat such methods are “seriously flawed for evaluating individual teachers, and that rigorous, ongoing assessment by teaching experts serves everyone better.”

Despite the evidence that value-added models are inconsistent, volatile, and inappropriate for assessing individual teachers, some districts and states (including Illinois) have still decided to adopt them as part of their teacher evaluation systems. It’s bad enough that they’re buying into an error-prone approach. But publicizing the results is beyond the pale. What possible purpose does that serve except to further disrespect and demoralize an already thoroughly bludgeoned teaching force?

Even those who advocate for the tailored use of value-added measures believe that publicizing individual teachers’ ratings is flat-out wrongheaded. Douglas Harris, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who is considered a leading expert on value-added teacher evaluation, wrote that the Los Angeles Times publication of teachers’ scores in 2010 was an “ill-conceived, headline-grabbing approach [that] will only breed mistrust among the teachers being evaluated, without doing anything to actually help students.”

Harris added, “Let’s hope that other districts avoid making the same mistake.” Are you listening, Illinois?

If it were just the Tribune’s editorial board clamoring for public value-added ratings, we might do well to just ignore them. But in the current moment, where teachers are assumed to need both constant carrots and stronger sticks in order to work harder and do better, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more powerful voices join the chorus.

But we need only look to New York to witness the slippery slope that would likely result. After that city’s value-added numbers were published — inaccuracies and all — the New York Post shamelessly ran an article about a Queens teacher it called “the city’s worst” — complete with an accompanying photo.

We’ve already created a climate where good, hard-working educators feel justifiably discouraged and unjustly maligned. The irresponsible use of value-added models will only make things worse. Considering the tone of the public debate and the high-stakes working conditions in many schools, we should count ourselves fortunate to have so many passionate, talented, creative teachers still in the profession. Let’s not give them another reason to think about leaving.

Drugmakers Have Paid $8 Billion in Fraud Fines

By Kelly Kennedy

March 10, 2012 "USA TODAY" -- WASHINGTON – The nation's largest drugmakers have paid at least $8 billion in fines for repeatedly defrauding Medicare and Medicaid over the past decade, but they remain in business with the federal government because they are often the sole suppliers of critical products, records show.

Pfizer, the maker of drugs that help alleviate arthritis and other ailments, has paid almost $3 billion in fines since 2002 and entered into three corporate integrity agreements with the Department of Health and Human Services aimed at preventing future fraud. It and other companies are fighting attempts by Congress to exclude them from government business because of their history of fraud.

Merck, another pharmaceutical giant, paid $1.6 billion in fines since 2008, Medicare and Justice Department records show, to resolve claims it was not paying proper rebates to the government.

Pfizer's 2009 settlement was for improperly promoting the use of drugs for purposes other than those for which they were approved by the government. Merck's 2008 settlement involved claims the company paid illegal kickbacks to health care providers in exchange for prescribing its drugs.

Government investigators say their hands are tied with the tools they have. They can exclude Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies from providing medications to Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries as punishment for bad behavior, but that would leave beneficiaries without drugs patented through a particular company.

Or they can fine the companies and force them to enter corporate integrity agreements that require government oversight and a promise not to defraud the government again — a promise that often goes unkept.

"We're seeing some of the big companies a second and third time," said Gregory Demske, assistant inspector general for legal affairs for Health and Human Services. "The corporate integrity agreement is not sufficient to deter further misconduct."

In addition, the cases are labor- and cost-intensive as the companies fight often for years to avoid an exclusion, Demske said.

To try to change that trend, the government announced in 2010 that, rather than exclude an entire company, investigators would go after individuals within a company. Demske said his organization, the Justice Department and the Food and Drug Administration have come up with some ideas to use within the scope of the rules — such as taking away a company's patent rights as a condition of a settlement. That could begin with cases being investigated now, he said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced a bipartisan bill that would make it easier for the government to find a middle ground, saying the law now forces "the inspector general to use all-or-nothing, mandatory exclusion penalties against corporations that have committed fraud." The bill would allow the exclusion of individuals from working with the government even after they've left the company where the fraud occurred.

Pharmaceutical companies altogether spent more than $200 million lobbying Congress in 2011, including $12 million spent by Pfizer. At least 12 pharmaceutical and medical device companies are lobbying specifically against a House bill, HR 675, that complements Grassley's.

None of the pharmaceutical companies —Abbott Laboratories, Pfizer or Bristol-Myers Squibb— contacted by USA TODAY responded to questions about their response to the government's proposed enforcement actions.

The industry's trade group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, says excluding an individual should occur only when there is "significant wrongdoing" that the individual knew about and did nothing to stop, said Matthew Bennett, the group's senior vice president.

Wisconsin Bill Claims Single Moms Cause Child Abuse by Not Being Married

Yahoo posted this, and while reading this over my morning cup of coffee it made me really mad.

Wisconsin Bill Claims Single Moms Cause Child Abuse by Not Being Married
By Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Yahoo! Shine | Parenting – Fri, Mar 2, 2012 8:12 PM EST


In Wisconsin, a state senator has introduced a bill aimed at penalizing single mothers by calling their unmarried status a contributing factor inchild abuse and neglect. 

Senate Bill 507, introduced by Republican Senator Glenn Grothman, moves to amend existing state law by "requiring the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board to emphasize nonmarital parenthood as a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect." 

The bill would require educational and public awareness campaigns held by the board to emphasize that not being married is abusive and neglectful of children, and to underscore "the role of fathers in the primary prevention of child abuse and neglect." 

Saying that people "make fun of old-fashioned families," Grothman -- who has never been married and has no children -- criticized social workers for not agreeing that children should only be raised by two married biological parents, and told a state Senate committee that he hopes the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention board, of which he's a member, could "publicize something that's politically incorrect but has to be said in our society." 

"Whether that leads to more people paying attention and having children after they're married or whether that leads to some others making a choice for adoptions," he said. 

A third of all parents in Wisconsin are single. Given that single mothers far outnumber single fathers in the state and in the rest of the country, and given the emphasis on fathers being part of the solution rather than part of the problem, many people feel that the bill is tantamount to an attack on single moms. 

At Tuesday's meeting of the state Senate Committee on Public Health, Human Services, and Revenue, lawmakers and members of the public spoke out against the proposal. 

"This bill is going to do nothing to help children avoid abuse. It's going to do nothing to help families,"Democratic state Representative Chris Taylor said at the meeting. "What this bill does is call out and chastise women who have babies who are unmarried." 

Grothman has advanced and supported other policies "that make it harder to access prevention-based health services so that they can prevent pregnancy, so that they're not in a situations here they have an unintended or unwanted pregnancy," Taylor added. 

Grothman is also the sponsor of Wisconsin State Bill 202, which would repeal the state's Equal Pay Enforcement Act. Last year he claimed in an essay that the "Left and the social welfare establishment want children born out of wedlock because they are far more likely to be dependent on the government." 

In "How The United States and The State of Wisconsin Are Working to Encourage Single Motherhood and Discouraging Children in 2-Parent Families," he wrote that the government urges women not to get married by making programs like low-income housing assistance, school choice, WIC, tax credits, and food stamps more attractive than marriage. 

His solution? Restrict the types of foods that can be purchased with food stamps, make Section 8 housing more cramped and limit the value of assets owned living there to $2,000, and eliminate school choice, among other things. "It is inexcusable that a single mother making $15,000 gets her kid out of the Milwaukee Public Schools but a married couple earning $50,000 is stuck in the public schools," he wrote. "It is also somewhat outrageous that some married couples feel they can only afford one or two children in part because they are paying excessive taxes to provide programs for someone else to have four or five children. 

Edward Kuharski of Madison, Wisconsin, spoke out against the bill, calling it "off target." 

"I don't understand a bill that's just about stating an opinion," he said, "and that appears to be the entire purpose of this bill, simply to assert an opinion and impose it upon an expert body that knows perfectly well how to do its business." 

"Senator Grothman has no experience in parenting," Kuharski pointed out. "The contribution of institutional increase in neglect and abuse of children … has nothing to do with what you learned in Sunday school. Nothing. Before you put a larger target on the back of the people that you have attacked through many other bills, stop and take some responsibility for it." 

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/wisconsin-bill-claims-single-moms-cause-child-abuse-011200419.html




My, Malissa Donaldson's,  opinion on this is::Shame on you!!! How dare you accuse single parenthood of being abusive, when it is normally those delinquent fathers who make it so a mother has to raise her children alone!!!! Allow the schools to teach teens about safe sex or abstinence, but don't blame all single mothers for the stupidity of some! Politicians want to say it is immoral to have children out of wedlock, but how many politicians have children from their mistresses...doesn't that make the mother a single parent? Give me a break, and stop wasting so many people's time and the tax payers money on the office sessions. Jeesh, act like men and be a father instead of having to make laws against women who do what they need to do when faced with trials and tribulations that arise from stupidity!

My House Rabbit

http://www.myhouserabbit.com/

I have been looking for a new pet for my children, and thought to give it to them for Easter.  We have had our share of animals, so was looking for something new...not to mention my daughter has been asking for one of these for two years now.  I have decided on getting my children a rabbit.  

I was looking at some info sites to get all I needed to know to have one of these creatures in our home, and found My House Rabbit.  I thought that it was an interesting site, and wanted to share with everyone who will read this.  

If you need any info on rabbits in your home, this will help give you an understanding of them.

Enjoy!

Elderberries BOOST your immune system

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Michelle in Around the House, Money Saving Tips

    Nature’s medicine chest gives us the elderberry. The medicinal properties of this plant have been appreciated for thousands of years. Its flowers, berries, leaves, and bark were traditionally used for treating colds, pneumonia, flu, sore throat… and many other ailments. Black Elderberry has strong immune-stimulating properties and it is one of the most powerful anti-viral remedies known to man.

The elderberry has gained proof in medical and scientific studies of it’s medicinal properties. According to the Journal of International Medical Research patients with confirmed cases of the flu who were given elderberry juice recovered twice as quickly and exhibited fewer symptoms as patients who received a placebo. Virologists in 2009 also led a study that showed it was equally effective in combating the H1N1 flu (swine flue). Dr. Madeleine Mumcuoglu made elderberries internationally famous through the well publicized research and laboratory studies conducted at the Hadassah Medical School of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. It was demonstrated that Sambucus nigra species of elderberry was effective against a wide range of influenza viruses including human, swine and avian strains. This led to the development of a popular elderberry syrup preparation called Sambucol. Even if the preparation is taken too late to act as a preventative, controlled clinical studies have demonstrated that it could reduce the severity and duration of influenza by half.

Many of the benefits of taking elderberry are theorized to be a result of the ability of elderberry to balance and boost the immune system. When a person’s body and immune system are in balance the body is able to use its own natural defenses to fight off infections of any kind and stay healthy. Today as we eat highly processed foods, live with a daily exposure to pollution of all kinds, experience high stress, and increase our toxin loads the immune system is one of the most compromised body systems. If we balance the immune system many health issues disappear.

Of additional interest is the fact that elderberry is useful for treating bacterial sinusitis because it reduces excessive mucus in the sinus cavities, promotes better drainage, and reduces nasal congestion and swelling of mucous membranes. In that light, it seems that elderberry would be beneficial during a mucous producing cytokine storm. Elderberries many professed health benefits include:

• Immune System Booster
• Fights Cancer
• Improves vision
• Fights infections including influenza, herpes, viral infections, bacterial infections
• Lowers cholesterol
• Improves heart health
• Fights coughs and colds
• Protect against cell damage
• Impedes yeast infections
• Fights hay fever
• Helps with asthma
• Improves complexion
• Improves eczema

The action of elderberries comes from phytochemicals known as flavonoids. The class of flavonoid that elderberry is loaded with is anthocyanins. The elderberry is the most concentrated source of anthocyanins.  Antrocyanins are powerful antioxidants which are responsible for giving many red and purple fruits their color. Blueberries contain the same anthocyanins but in much lower quantities.

Research by Dr. Rechkemmer, president of Germany’s Federal Research Institute for Nutrition and Food, show the purple-black pigment of the elderberry containing the anthocyanins promote the production of cytokines. Cytokines are the body’s protein messengers that keep the immune system healthy, balanced, and strong. These little proteins are essential for the immune system to function properly and protect the body from harm. Cytokines are sent by the body during an immune system response directly to the sight of the trouble.

In addition to this Flavonoids elderberries contain many other vitamins and minerals. This rich variety of nutrients help the body to get many of the nutrients it desperately needs to stay healthy.

Elderberries are small, dark berries that grow in clusters on elder trees (also called elderberry bushes). Elderberry bushes are a hardy plant growing native in many climates, often in the moist soil along roadsides and streams. They’re fast-growing and typically grow quite large and full, with compound leaves and tightly clustered bunches of tiny white flowers in late spring, followed by clusters of berries in late summer. The berries are a favorite of wildlife especially birds.

There are many different varieties of elderberry bushes, but I’ll focus here on the most common. The European Elder, or Sambucus nigra (also called Black Elder or Common Elder), is found throughout warmer parts of Europe and North America. The berries are black to dark blue, and it’s the type of elderberry most frequently used in recipes and retail extracts and syrups.

The American Elder, or Sambucus canadensis (also called Sweet Elder), is also used in recipes and said to be slightly sweeter than the Sambucus nigra variety. It’s found in many climates, including most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains. Depending on who you ask, the canadensis is technically a sub-set of the nigra variety, but nurseries tend to list them as a separate species, so best to think of it as its own species for the purposes of choosing which types to plant together.

The red-berried elder, or Sambucus racemosa, grows throughout the cooler parts of North America, but the berries, when ripe, are a bright red color. I have seen accounts saying the red do not taste as good. According to other sources, it is poisonous.  So without being a horticulturalist or a doctor, my advice for anyone just starting would be to stick with blue, black or dark purple elderberries, and leave the reds alone.

The white flowers of the elderberry bush have been used in many things; pressed into tonics, brewed into wines and champagne, lightly battered and fried into fritters, or stirred into muffin or sponge cake mix for a light, sweet flavor.

The ripe berries, cleaned and cooked, can be made into many things: wine, jelly, tea, extracts, syrups, pies, jams, or used as garnish, dye or flavoring are just a few. The leaves, twigs, stems, roots and unripe berries of all elderberry plants are not edible, and contain toxins that can make a person quite sick. For home use concentrate on ripe berries and flowers only!

Recipe to make Elderberry Syrup

IMPORTANT CAUTIONS:

Avoid any kind of elderberry preparation if you have a known allergy to plants in the honeysuckle (Caprifoliaceae) family.

Don’t consume raw elderberries or uncooked elderberry juice, which may cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and gastrointestinal pain. It is understood that cooked elderberries are safe and completely free of any cyanide toxicity.

Don’t take elderberry if you are undergoing chemotherapy without consulting your doctor. Elderberry may increase the effects of some cancer chemotherapies, but may also increase adverse effects as well.

Patients using theophylline should consult with a medical professional before using elderberry preparations. The quercetin in elderberries may inhibit xanthine oxidase, and may also affect theophylline levels.

Elderberry may lower blood sugar levels. If you are a diabetic, monitoring and medication adjustments by a qualified health professional may be in order.

 http://www.mainecreativedesign.com/wp/2012/02/17/making-elderberry-syrup/

What we are eating