Whole Child Education

As a middle school principal, I am embarrassed to admit just how much time I spent planning for and responding to concerns about President Obama's speech to our nation's children that aired Tuesday, September 8. The newspaper headlines talked of communities outraged because they believed the president was stepping over the lines of power. The pundits opined about using our children for political gain. As for me...I just wanted my students to hear the most powerful man in the world talk about the importance of staying in school and getting a good education. I wanted my African American students, especially, to see a vision of success that can be within their grasp if they answer the president's call to take their education seriously.

It seemed that schools and districts were divided about whether the speech was an opportunity for the president to cheer on students as they started a new school year or an intrusion on instruction and a violation of federal authority over schools. I decided to give my students the opportunity to hear from the president with the understanding that parents needed only ask if they wanted to opt their child out of the activity.

Now that most of the hubbub has died down, how do you feel your school and community response to the president's speech? Were there legitimate concerns for the whole child, or was it simply political games?

Join us Thursday, October 1, 2009, for the next Whole Child Podcast: Changing the Conversation About Education. We know that schools and communities must work together to support the whole child, but how do we begin that process? How can communities ensure that local stakeholders are engaged in educating the whole child? Our guests will share their experience engaging local stakeholders using the community conversations model. You'll hear how community conversations can

• increase understanding of the whole child approach to learning
• improve decision making that is informed by community input and leads to a more comprehensive approach to learning for children
• create a shared commitment to pursue stakeholder recommendations that focus on a whole child approach to learning

How would engaging your community in the process of educating the whole child be of value to your school?

Download the Whole Child Podcast: Changing the Conversation About Education on Thursday, October 1, to hear all this and more.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
4:00 p.m. EST

Educators are doing what is necessary to plan for continuity of learning if the H1N1 flu virus causes high rates of student absences or school closures, but what happens when the students return to school? Students returning from lengthy, unplanned absences will have varied learning needs and gaps in what they have learned during their time away from school.

How can teachers at local school sites collaborate to plan for the return of students? What role does formative assessment play in determining returning students' learning needs? How will classroom instruction need to change to address their varying needs? And how should teachers manage those changes in a collaborative way so that they are supporting each other as professionals?

Join ASCD and John L. Brown, ASCD author and Faculty member, for a one-hour Web seminar as we provide tips and tools to help educators address these questions.

Register today for the Web seminar. Please note: The Web seminar is limited to the first 100 registrants, but the recording will be available online after the event.

Download Podcast Now [Right-Click to Save]

Our September Whole Child Podcast featured guests that shed light on the opportunities and challenges of coordinating school responses to a potential H1N1 outbreak.

Hear from Jerry Weast, Montgomery County (Md.) Public Schools superintendent; Linda Davis-Alldritt, RN, president-elect of the National Association of School Nurses (a new whole child partner); and Theresa Lewallen, ASCD's managing director of constituent services and the liaison to the federal government agencies handling H1N1. Each guest brings a unique and valuable whole child perspective to the challenges schools and communities face as they develop coordinated responses to the H1N1 flu pandemic.

This podcast episode is one of many resources related to the H1N1 virus that ASCD is putting together for educators and communities. Visit www.ascd.org/flu for more information—we continually update this page with more resources as they become available.

Learn More

• Flu.gov provides one-stop access to U.S. government H1N1, avian, and pandemic flu information.
• Montgomery County (Md.) Public Schools is one example of how a district is responding to parent and family needs.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has information for special groups, including child care programs, businesses and employers, and day and residential camps.
• Whole child partner the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) shares a variety of resources, including definitions, talking points for media and interviews, and sample pandemic plans for schools.
• The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) and National Parent Teacher Association (NPTA)—both whole child partners—collaborated with NASN to develop and share a parent resource for talking to children about the flu in English and Spanish.

How are your school and community preparing for H1N1? Share your reactions, ideas, and questions on the Whole Child Blog. Because now more than ever, we must strive to ensure that each child is not only healthy but also safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

Jerry Weast, Montgomery County (Md.) Public Schools (MCPS) superintendent, leads a district of about 142,000 students. Last spring Weast's district got an early taste of H1N1 and had to temporarily shut down a school that serves 1,600 students. MCPS's strategy going into this fall's flu season? Remain calm and connected. In this month's Whole Child podcast, hear Weast and our panel of experts discuss preparations and concerns for this year's flu season.

With about 200 nurses to those 142,000 students, there has to be a lot of interagency collaboration to monitor the sick, address the concerns of the worried well, and constantly communicate with all levels of the community. Fortunately, MCPS is well connected to parents and its education community via e-mail and Web resources, and they've been working all summer to seal up any gaps in communication and ensure that messages make it home over multiple mediums to a community that speaks a range of 123 languages.

The advent of H1N1 has also created a unique opportunity for federal health and safety officials to collaborate with school communities, says Theresa Lewallen, ASCD's managing director of Constituent Services and the liaison to the federal government agencies handling H1N1. In addition to guiding schools on preventive measures and maintaining learning continuity, these groups also need to help schools balance high-stakes accountability mandates with the potential for lower attendance rates this flu season, Weast says.

Many questions linger, and the flu, by nature, is unpredictable, says registered nurse Linda Davis-Alldritt, president-elect of whole child partner the National Association of School Nurses. We know that kids 6 months to 24 years old have been the hardest hit by this flu, and we know that schools will be dealing with H1N1 on top of regular seasonal flu illness, she says. Aside from that, schools are planning responses but are also alert to any emerging patterns.

Download the podcast today and visit ASCD's H1N1 resource page to stay on top of developments relevant to the K-12 community.

How are your school and community preparing for H1N1? Share your reactions, ideas, and questions in the comments. Because now more than ever, we must strive to ensure that each child is not only healthy but also safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) will step in to fill the late Senator Kennedy's post as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP). He will have to give up chairmanship of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

In addition to his new role as HELP chair, Harkin also heads the subcommittee on education spending, meaning he'll have a big say in both shaping education policy and making sure that K-12 programs are funded.

As senator, Harkin has been a strong supporter of whole child education, particularly for students with special needs, both in his state and at the federal level. He also called for changing the federal Teacher Incentive Fund so that teachers would have more input in shaping the program. In 2006, Harkin was the first recipient of ASCD's Whole Child Leadership Award. Harkin's own words portend the potential effect of his new chairmanship:

"I agree with the need to educate the whole child and not focus solely on test-taking skills. I also support the need to bring more quality, effective teachers into the classroom, but many of the problems No Child Left Behind has encountered stem directly from a lack of funding."

ASCD policy Twitterers sum it up in less than 140 characters:

Harkin HELP chairman + 60 Senate dems + Dem House + Obama = full funding for IDEA?

Senator Harkin accepts the ASCD Whole Child Leadership Award
from ASCD CEO Gene R. Carter.

 

A lot has been said about the importance of involving teachers, administrators, parents and family members, community leaders, and business partners in crafting a whole child education for our kids. It is our responsibility to ensure that students are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged so that they thrive. In a back-to-school speech earlier today, President Barack Obama directly addressed students across the country about their responsibility toward their education and future. (Read the full text of the president's remarks.)

Engaging students in their learning is not merely creating an interactive curriculum or planning after-school activities. Giving students the opportunity to participate in their education, set goals and work to meet them, and have a voice in how their school work affects their learning allows them to take responsibility for their future. We support our students, motivate them, make connections, and ensure they are safe and healthy. Are we doing all we can to provide a solid foundation for our students to ask questions; try new things; challenge themselves; and, sometimes, to fail and start again?

"Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment, and computers you need to learn. But you've got to do your part, too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down—don't let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it."

—President Barack Obama

What goals have you set for the new school year? How will you know if you have achieved success?

President Barack Obama signed a wall in a health classroom at Southwest High School in Green Bay, Wis., where he attended a town hall meeting on health care on June 11, 2009. The physical education and health staff left a note asking the president to sign the wall for future students to see.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Join us Thursday, September 10, 2009, for the next Whole Child Podcast: Changing the Conversation About Education. You'll hear an engaging conversation about preparing for H1N1 with our guests Jerry Weast, Montgomery County (Md.) Public Schools superintendent; Linda Davis-Alldritt, RN, president-elect of the National Association of School Nurses (a new whole child partner!); and Theresa Lewallen, ASCD's managing director of constituent services and the liaison to the federal government agencies handling H1N1. Each guest brings a unique and valuable whole child perspective to the challenges schools and communities face as they develop coordinated responses to the H1N1 flu pandemic.

How are your school and community preparing for H1N1?

Download the Whole Child Podcast: Changing the Conversation About Education on Thursday, September 10, to hear all this and more.

In an open letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan last week, ASCD submitted comments on the proposed Race to the Top priorities, requirements, definitions, and selection criteria and offered several key recommendations.

Among them are several opportunities to use priorities and selection criteria to drive accountability for education that supports the whole child. For example, selection criteria calling for data systems that support instruction could go beyond reporting student performance data and include annual state assessments of the health, safety, and education of children and families.

And while ASCD is a big fan of the overall ambition of Race to the Top, we've also got a couple concerns about the requirements in the current proposal. In particular, ASCD asks the Education Department to rethink requiring states to adopt common core standards sight unseen and disagrees with prioritizing alternative certification programs over improving current teacher preparation programs and supports.

Our full comments on Race to the Top are available online and summarized as below.

What do you think of the Race to the Top priorities? What selection criteria pose the biggest challenge in your state?

ASCD asks that

• the school-level conditions for reform and innovation (Proposed Priority 5) be elevated from an invitational priority to a competitive preference priority;
• the Department rethink its proposal to make adoption of the Common Core Standards a requirement for Race to the Top funds;
• the Department maintain provisions aimed at fostering cooperation between states and LEAs to encourage the use of data in school- and district-based decision making, but consider access and alignment of data systems beyond student performance indicators;
• states be required to ensure that the services they provide for children are coordinated and delivered in a way that supports the whole child;
• states be required to provide an annual state report card on the health, safety, and education of children and families;
• states be required to put in place policies aimed at improving teacher preparation programs, licensure or educator qualifications, and high-quality professional development activities, as opposed to elevating the status of alternative certification programs, and that these requirements be made a component of the state reform criteria; and
• states be required to disclose information regarding the number of charter school closures as evidence of the charter authorizers' and the state's commitment to the establishment of high-quality charter schools.