Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/tag/education-2/page/11/)
A new state law in New Jersey is considered the toughest anti-bullying legislation in the country. Seen by many parents and educators as a welcome change, many administrators are concerned the law goes too far, according to The New York Times.
Spending time on social media sites, such as Facebook, can help students do better in school, according to new research by an education professor at University of Maryland. In a survey of 600 low-income high school students, Christine Greenhow found that students build bonds when they connect with school friends on social networking sites.
Bullying not only causes physical and emotional damage, but victims may also suffer academically, particularly high-achieving black and Latino students, a recently presented study found. Two sociologists discovered that the grade point average of all students who were bullied in 10th grade dropped by 12th grade, according to the Boston Herald. The GPAs of white students dropped slightly while the grade point averages of black students dropped almost one-third of a point and bullied Latinos lost half a point. Stereotypes of minorities as being tough or street smart could be one reason to blame, Lisa M. Williams, lead author of the study and Ohio State University doctoral student, said. “Schools may think that because students are black and Latino, they’re better able to handle bullying,” she told the newspaper, “and their schools won’t have the same type of [bullying prevention] programs.”
The study relies on nationally representative data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002.
For thy sweet sexting remembered such wealth brings, that then I scorn to change my state with kings? The majestical cyberspace fretted with golden fire – why it appears no other thing that a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors. In time the savage cyberbully doth bear the yoke. Apologies to Shakespeare, the man who did not have the advantage of referencing the Oxford English Dictionary when he penned Sonnet 29, Hamlet and Macbeth about half a millennium ago. Lucky him.
It’s back-to-school time on college campuses across the country, and for students that means kick-off events and lots of free stuff from local vendors eager to market themselves. At one such event on the campus green of Kennesaw State University (KSU) in Cobb County, Ga., outside Atlanta, many of those students –- including incoming freshman -– received a plastic cup, a bottle opener and a ping pong ball, all printed with the Domino’s Pizza logo and the nearest store’s phone number. If you’ve been out of the college scene for a while, this may seem a strange collection of items. But many college students know these are just the right tools for playing a drinking game called “beer pong.” The only thing missing is the beer. The rules for beer pong, much like Monopoly, vary from place to place, according to bpong.com, organizers of the Beer Pong World Series and self-styled “center of the beer pong universe.” But the overall goal is to bounce a ping-pong ball into a plastic cup. If you miss, you drink.
On Aug. 24, 2011 at 2 p.m. ET, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention will hold a one and a half hour long bullying webinar. During the event, three panelists will discuss important issues related to bullying, including how it differs from other forms of aggression, the roles that children play and the best practices for intervening in bullying situations. Attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions as well. The panelists will be:
Stan Davis, a certified social worker and guidance counselor for the Youth Voice Project;
Susan P. Limber, PhD, a professor at the Institute on Family & Neighborhood Life at Clemson University;
and Joel D. Haber, PhD, who is the founder of RespectU and is known as “The Anti-Bully Coach."
Teachers in Missouri may want to spend the last few days before school begins removing their students from their friends list on Facebook. Missouri Senate Bill 54, just signed by Gov. Jay Nixon, prohibits contact between teachers and students on social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The measure is supposed to clearly define student-teacher boundaries. But, according to some educators, the bill isn’t clear enough. "It says current and former students, that's what the bill reads,” a Nixa, Mo., School District spokesperson told Missouri’s KSPR. “Does that mean students you've had in the classroom, the school district? What if you've changed school districts?"
A graduating Arkansas high school senior claims her school denied her valedictorian status because she is black, despite boasting the highest GPA in her class. According to the court document filed by her attorney, 18-year-old Kymberly Wimberly would have been the first black valedictorian of McGehee Secondary School since 1989. Forty-six percent of students in the school are black, according to the Huffington Post. Wimberly’s mother, Molly Bratton, said she heard school personnel say giving Wimberly valedictorian status would cause “a big mess.” Subsequently, McGehee’s principal Darrell Thompson told Bratton that he was naming a white “co-valedictorian.” The school board would not hear Bratton’s appeals. In an interview with the McGehee Dermott Times-News, District Superintendent Thomas Gathen said, "It's not a race issue; it's an academic issue."
Educators are reacting to a recent study of Texas public schools that found students who were disciplined were more likely to be involved in the juvenile justice system and do poorly academically. The study, by the Council of State Governments Justice Center, also found that 60 percent of Texas public school students received some form of punishment at least once between seventh and 12th grades. “Policymakers should be asking if the school discipline system is getting the outcomes they want it to get,” Michael Thompson, director of the center, told The Washington Post. The study was co-authored by Texas A&M University’s Public Policy Research Institute. Researchers collected data from about 1 million public school students who began seventh grade in 2000, 2001 or 2002. Nearly 15 percent were involved in some way with the juvenile justice system.
North Carolina cannot limit access to an early-childhood education program for at-risk children, despite funding cuts and enrollment caps in the state’s budget, ruled a state Superior Court judge. "This is not advisory. It is an order," Melanie Dubis, an attorney for five poor school districts involved in the lawsuit, told the Associated Press. North Carolina’s budget cuts funding for the program previously known as More at Four by 20 percent, transfers it out of the state’s education department and institutes copayments of up to 10 percent of the parent’s salary for the first time in the program’s history. Wording in the budget also appears to cap enrollment in the program for all at-risk youth at 20 percent.