Written by: Danielle Guerin, AmeriCorps VISTA

“When I think about education, I feel it’s important that an individual grabs this opportunity. If not, I believe that they will not be prepared for the world around them. Education is a must in a world that is changing every day.”

That is one of the most poignant quotes that came out of Real Talk Remix, a youth roundtable discussion, which was held this past October. The event was held in partnership with WFYI’s American Graduate program. 16 youth, from 5^th to 12^th grade, came together to talk about education and what needed to be changed.

The youth came up with their  three biggest issues in school:

1. Structure of the education system
2. Teacher-student communication
3. Bullying and safety in schools

Attendees of Real Talk Remix had many suggestions for the improvement of their education experience. From concerns with student/teacher/counselor relationships, to student-student bullying issues to the overall structure of curriculum of schools, these youth believe we can do better. The youth who attended the event left with new ideas about what they could do to make their schools better. MCCOY came up with the following next steps:

•The Youth Advocacy Council will incorporate what they heard from peers into their working groups on education reform and bullying. They will advocate on these issues in the coming year through tracking legislation on the topics in the state legislature and hosting "listening sessions" for youth to voice their concerns on the issues of bullying and education reform.

• MCCOY will incorporate youth feedback into our 2013 Legislative Priorities of education, bullying, and youth violence. Focusing on the following priorities:

• Embrace a comprehensive evidence-based approach to prevent all forms of peer aggression, including bullying, gangs, dating violence and suicide that provide resources and training to all school personnel and that foster school environments and interactions that promote positive social skill development
• Re-engage disconnected youth and adults in education and career-focused opportunities

•If you'd like access to the full Real Talk Remix agenda and format to host your own Real Talk, email Danielle Guerin.

To view the full report, go here. 

January 20, 2012 Legislative Update

The 2012 legislative session is off and running. Below is a list of bills that MCCOY is following and that have either been heard in committee or are scheduled to be heard. Given the controversy surrounding the Right to Work bill, many bills are still on hold because the House cannot convene and many committee meetings have been rescheduled. To read the bill digests or the bills themselves, please visit http://www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/billwatch/billinfo?year=2012&session=1&request=all and enter the bill number.

HB1019 Adoption history information. This bill has moved on to the Senate. It passed the third reading 94 Yes 0 No. The Senate sponsor is Senator Broden.

HB1150 Family friendly school designation. This was amended and passed in committee 11 Yes 0 No on 1/17/12

HB1189 Multiple ADM counts. This was amended and passed in committee 12 Yes 0 No on 1/17/12

HB1326 Various education matters. Committee hearing Friday January 20, 2012 8:30am COMPLETE TESTIMONY AND VOTE

HB1324 School accountability and turnaround academies. Committee hearing Friday January 20, 2012 8:30am

SB4 human trafficking. This bill has had a lot of process and support from both sides. This bill went quickly through the senate and passed 48 to 0. Rep. Steuerwald is the House sponsor, with Reps. Foley, L. Lawson, and Welch as the Cosponsors. Several Representatives from both parties were added as coauthors. It was referred to the Committee on Courts and Criminal Code and has aHouse Committee hearing Friday January 20, 2012 at 10:30am. It is moving so quickly, presumably, so it will be passed before the Superbowl. It is effective upon passage.

SB179 Virtual instruction course requirement. Senator Schneider added as coauthor on 1/19/12Heard in committee on 1/18/12

SB236 Various education matters. Heard in committee on 1/18/12

SB248 Referendum on use of balanced school calendar. Committee hearing Monday January 23, 2012 10am

SB265 School report card. Senator Yoder added as coauthor on 1/17/12Heard in committee on 1/18/12

SB267 Education concerning child abuse. Senator Kruse added as second author 1/17/12Heard in committee on 1/18/12

SB268 Advisory committee on early education. Senator Kruse added as second author 1/17/12Heard in committee on 1/18/12

Please stay tuned for more weekly updates as the session continues. If you have any questions, please e-mail Mindi Goodpaster.

Truancy: Defining matters

I can truly remember times when I wanted to skip school and my parents did not support it. They valued education – of course they never said it so succinctly. As I grew up and found a liking for school through involvement in many school activities and support from teachers, friends, and schoolmates, I began to value school too. The strange thing is that I wonder when persons don’t have that support and never feel connected to school, what keeps them coming back each morning. The answer has never been clear but I wonder. My research in truancy and social bonding in the school context continues to unveil a lot of information as to who is responsible for establishing this connection. The response form the research is that parents have outsourced and feel that the responsibility lies with the school primarily; the school on the other hand believes it lies with the parents. Regardless of the answer, today we have millions of children throughout the US absent from formal school systems everyday. Thus, building the connection and relevance to school is a must. Schools have accepted this responsibility but believe that their primary role is to educate not socialize. Hence the quandary; when parents believe they have outsourced the care and education of their children to the schools, who socializes the child? Granted there are many types of truant students as Reid (2000) reminds us. They range from lesson absent truants to parentally condoned absent truants. The question that remains is “Are the practices and policies we have in place for truants responding to the real types and categories of truants that exist?” OR “Are we simply preaching to the choir of students that love school and want to attend but must help parents or simply can’t get up in time for school and miss the bus?” If we don’t take the time to categorize students by type of truancy the little money we have invested in this population may be used on incentives and strategies that don’t yield the most desired outcomes. Please don’t get me wrong that I think we are doing sufficient already; to the contrary, I believe that as a society we have lost sight of the children at the center of the discussion on truancy. We have focused too much on the parent and the parents are too caught up in blaming the school for not doing enough. As such the change, from my perspective is simply 1) set a common definition of truancy, 2) begin to organize the data we have on truancy by categories and types of truants, 3) then use the newly generated data to target specific challenges experienced by different types of truants keeping both parents, schools and students accountable for the changed behavior. Let me hear your thoughts on truancy and what we should do.

2011 General Assembly Recap

The 2011 legislative session is now over and the bills have been enacted. It was an incredibly interesting session to watch, especially for me as this is my first year getting involved in advocacy in Indiana. Some of the measures passed will do great things for youth and some will need to be watched to see what their full impact will be. Here is a brief summary of some of the bills that passed that MCCOY was following.

Education Reform
SEA 1 (P.L. 90-2011) Teacher evaluations and licensing - links the effectiveness of teachers, in addition to other factors, to student performance. Also has provisions defining "attend," policies outlining excused vs. unexcused absences, parent notification and reporting of habitually absent students to Juvenile Court or the Department of Child Services.

SEA85 (P.L. 142-2011) Education issues study committee - establishes an interim study committee to look at the causes of low graduation rates, best practices to increase graduation rates and the impact of school counselors, teachers, administrators and parents on grad. rates.

SB497 Higher education scholarship - inserted into the budget bill - provides a $4,000 Mitch Daniels Early Graduation Scholarship for high school students graduating earlier than senior year for an approved post-secondary education institution within Indiana.

HEA1002 (P.L. 91-2011) Charter schools - increases the number and types of entities that can sponsor charter schools, adds accountability measures and delineates that only 90% of teachers must possess a license.

HEA1003 (P.L. 92-2011) School scholarships - provides a $1,000 tax deduction for parents who home school their children or send them to a private school and provides scholarships to help cover private school tuition to students in families meeting certain financial requirements.

Full-day kindergarten funding - provides schools access to additional full-day kindergarten grants.

Prevention
SEA4 (P.L. 93-2011) Suicide prevention training for school personnel - provides that teachers should be trained in evidence-based suicide prevention and recognition of signs that a student may be considering suicide. After June 30, 2013, any person applying for a teaching license must be trained in suicide prevention.

HEA1083 (P.L. 180-2011) Various criminal law matters - provides that schools may offer classes, instruction or programs regarding the risks and consequences of "sexting." Also mandates that schools must include provisions against cyber-bullying in their discipline policies.

HEA1107 (P.L. 183-2011) Preventative programs for at-risk children - provides that a juvenile court may create a voluntary preventative program for at-risk children.

Over the next month, MCCOY will be watching the calendar of the Interim Study Committees and will post periodic updates as they progress. Please stay tuned. As always, if you have any questions or would like more information, please contact me. Thank you for your dedication to advocacy!

Legislative Update 3/25/11

Rather than post an update today about the little activity in the Statehouse, I thought instead that I would share an interesting column by Matthew Tully in today's Star. MCCOY shares his concern that all of the conversations currently occuring about education reform don't have much of a child-centered focus. Just some food for thought.

Tully: Children deserve serious debate on education reform

Being an optimist, I honestly and naively thought that by now the debate over education reform would have grown less divisive. After all, the goals of better schools and more opportunities for children should be the rare issue with the power to force a spirit of cooperation into the political debate.

No, I didn't expect the various factions involved to cave on their core issues. But with recent bipartisan federal education debates backing up my theory, I thought this could be one issue that was battled on a higher plane.

OK, so I was wrong.

The legislative debate has been underwhelming. That's largely because the House Democrats whose districts include many of the state's most endangered schools have not participated in the discussion, and because Republicans insisted on wasting time this session on wedge issues that were guaranteed from the start to pollute the Statehouse mood.

Additionally, the teachers unions have used their might to tarnish reformers and the sensible and much-needed changes they are proposing.

It's been disappointing.

But it's not too late.

Someday, I assume, Democrats will return from Illinois and the legislature will get around to finishing the session's education debate. Instead of more protests, poison pills and exaggerations, here's an idea: Let's have a debate that is worthy of the state's schoolchildren. Let's stop acting as if there are easy fixes, or that the status quo is even close to acceptable, and judge legislation on one question: whether it will lead to better classrooms and schools for Indiana's children.

Along the way, those pushing for reform need to make a stronger public case for bills they support -- bills that would, among other things, expand the network of charter schools, tie teacher and principal evaluations more to student performance and reduce the role seniority plays when it comes to layoffs and other teacher moves.

Legislative Democrats who insist they support these measures need to speak up now. If they don't, if they continue to shrink in fear of angering party bosses, they will have permanently lost their credibility on the issue of education reform.

Top Republicans, meanwhile, need to begin patching the massive rift between them and teachers. In a recent conversation, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett told me he is paying for the "flame throwing" ways he displayed during the first year of his term. He spends a lot of time talking to teachers these days but must convince more of them that while he is committed to increasing teacher quality, he is also on the side of the thousands of teachers who courageously do their jobs every day.

Parents and other taxpayers have a role to play, too. It's to pay attention to a debate that could help shape the future of the city and state -- and, most important, of many students.

House Democrats will return to work eventually. When they do, the debate over education reform will resume. Hopefully the second half of this debate will be more worthy of Indiana students than the first.

Legislative Update 2/25/11

Aside from the walkout by the House Democrats this week, there have been some interesting things happening at the Statehouse in the past two weeks. The controversial immigration bill passed the Senate and is on its way to the House, albeit with some changes. The equally controversial teacher evaluation and licensing bill has also moved on to the House and the unions are packing the Statehouse to protest the Right to Work legislation.

With regard to youth, there are some good and not so good things happening. First, SB 56 Child Care Regulation was not held for vote and is therefore dead for this session. Senator Miller explained that she has not heard enough "compelling" evidence to prove the need for state regulation of church-based childcare ministries. Also, SB538 Bullying Prevention was defeated in committee - a surprising move to most child advocates. Reasoning had to do with an already over-burdened education system and concern that the bill promoted gay rights.

Both SB 4 and HB 1019, dealing with youth suicide prevention, have crossed over to their respective houses. Given the support that both bills have seen, despite being amended, it is likely that this issue will have success in this session - a very positive outcome for our youth.

Finally, HB 1566 School Absenteeism and Dropouts (Porter) passed committee on Monday. This bill will:

• Require schools to report chronic absenteeism to the DOE, identify contributing factors to absenteeism and develop chronic absenteeism reduction plans.
• Directs the education roundtable to study and make recommendations concerning early childhood education.
• Allows school corporations to contract with nonprofit entities to provide health care services in school-based clinics.

Let's hope for a peaceful solution to the standoff at the Statehouse so that we can get down to business and create some meaningful legislation that will help and not hurt the youth and families in our state.

Keep an Eye on Education Reform

Education reform is at the forefront of legislative agendas for the upcoming year. The Governor's agenda includes giving parents the choice of which school to send their children and giving school superintendents more flexibility in evaluating teacher performance. Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) has announced the approval of a move to a year-round or "balanced" calendar to start next year. President Obama's 2011 budget looks to reform the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind) through increased investments in new innovative programs and school turnarounds. All of these initiatives need to be closely monitored because no change, whether positive or negative, comes without some cost.

Some positive news was announced by IPS last week - their graduation rates are improving. According to their data, their overall graduation rate improved by 7 percentage points, from 49 to 56 percent. That number may not sound acceptable - and it isn't - but it is an improvement nonetheless. It's an indication that somewhere along the line, something seems to be working.

Despite this good news, we know that we still have a lot of work to do - we cannot continue on the same course. Investing in education reform will mean allocating more money and resources to schools and community services, but how do we make those changes given the current state of the economy and the refusal to examine our current tax structure? Research and data show that investing a minimal amount now will yield greater outcomes in the future. If we increase the number of students who graduate, we will have a future workforce whose unemployment rate is less and who both increase the tax base and revenue streams. If we invest in quality early childhood education, we can improve children's long-term educational attainment and likelihood of graduating.

It's a tough decision that taxpayers and elected officials face. In these economic times, no one wants to hear that their taxes will increase, as evidenced by the recent approval of the state property tax caps in the November election. While the Governor and State legislature debate the budget this coming session, they will be looking to create reforms without increasing taxes. Republicans in Congress have just announced that they will be blocking all legislation until a decision is made to maintain the tax cuts that are set to expire December 31 - something that most Democrats do not support. Sure, I don't want my property taxes to go up anymore and I do enjoy the tax cuts and the increase in my take-home pay. However, at the same time, I am a supporter of public education and I don't want my children to have less opportunities in school than I enjoyed over 20 years ago.

Nevertheless, while these debates and stalemates go on, our children continue to attend schools that do not meet state and federal standards for academics and continue to drop out, creating financial burdens through increased unemployment and public assistance, reduced wages and decreased revenue. It's time to step back and reexamine our priorities as a whole, including the short-term and long-term impacts of our decisions.

Mentors Can Help Children Bridge the Learning Gap

Once again, the Indianapolis Star's Our Children, Our City series is shedding light on challenges facing our young people. Below is an excerpt from Robert King's most recent article for the series. Read the full article: Challenges clear for School 61 kindergartners.

"This vast gulf of readiness for kindergarten was evident in children seated right next to each other in the same class.

SeNyah Bolden, a 5-year-old who showed up with an entourage -- her mom, grandma, grandpa, aunt and assorted siblings and cousins -- smiles readily and responds to her teacher's questions. In a congested room, she offers a pleasant "excuse me" to an adult in her path. She is glad to be here. She is a teacher's dream.

Next to her is a boy who showed up on the first day without anyone. He gave his name to the librarian and the principal, but his teacher could glean only a first initial and his last name. For the first three days, that's how he was known. He started making a name for himself in other ways.

On his first trip to the library, he wandered to the back of the room and started spinning in a chair. Unresponsive to the librarian, he earned a trip to the principal's office -- two hours into his school career.

It wouldn't be his last. By the end of his first week, the boy called a lunchroom worker a name that included the F-word and was reported by a bus driver for dangerously waving sticks around other kids at the bus stop.

Two children, as different as night and day, taking their first steps across life's tender little starting line. Though, clearly, not starting from the same place."


Photo credit: Alan Petersime / The Star

Our Children, Our City

The Indianapolis Star is running a special section on the state of children in our city. Check it out, stay informed, and contact MCCOY if you want to learn more and help create some solutions for the big obstacles facing our city's children.