Month: December 2021

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Parent-teacher ties vital to home schooling during lockdown

A recent research has emphasised the importance of the relationship between parents and teachers during the lockdown to provide academic assistance to the students as well as practical and emotional support.

The findings of the study were published in the journal ‘Educational Review’.

With schools closed from March 2020 until the end of the academic year and again from January 2021, pupils were taught online. This put an expectation on parents to shoulder some of the responsibility in ensuring pupils were engaged in their learning and to try and minimise some of the disadvantages faced by pupils from lower-income families who may not have had access to the same learning equipment or facilities as others.

Academics from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) led a team of researchers who surveyed 271 primary school teachers from across the country during June and July 2000 and also carried out follow-up interviews with a smaller cohort in April this year to compare the second round of school closures from January 2021.

Participants worked in schools with differing levels of pupil premiums, with funding provided by the Government to schools based on the number of pupils in a school deemed to be at an economic or social disadvantage. Lower pupil premium schools had fewer children considered to be at a disadvantage, while higher pupil premium schools had more.

Also Read: Pre-schools reopen but home tutors stay with students

The vast majority (84 per cent) of teachers felt some pupils had been disadvantaged by school closures due to their home circumstances.

The researchers found that all teachers provided resources for parents to use at home, either created by them or using other sources. However, while pupils from schools with a lower pupil premium number were significantly better able to access all resources than those from schools with higher pupil premium numbers, middle-income families struggled to find the time to engage with homeschooling, with many working from home in white-collar professions during the pandemic.

The study highlighted the broad range of support that primary teachers gave to children and their parents during the pandemic, not only academically, but also practically and emotionally. Teachers kept in touch with parents more regularly, either through online calls or home visits, and as a result felt they gained a greater understanding of children’s home lives, which helped build trust.

Many gave examples of ways they supported families through other means, such as organising collaborations with charities to provide breakfasts for children, whose families were struggling to afford food, making up food hampers, and even providing loans. Some teachers provided specific sessions for parents to guide them through some of the teaching materials, or to boost their confidence.

Lead author Dr Sara Spear, Head of the School of Management at ARU, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic was a difficult and stressful time for many people, and for some families, it caused or exacerbated socio-economic difficulties. Our results showed that parental participation in schooling in middle-income families was predominantly impeded by parents’ work responsibilities, with one or both parents likely to be working, and long hours and high-pressured jobs leaving little time for supporting children’s home learning.”

“This was exacerbated in the second closure period, with more parents working, and increased expectations for children’s learning. Only the richest families had access to resources, such as private tuition and intensive private schooling that alleviated these pressures,” she added.

“It was clear from our research that a closer relationship between teachers and parents meant a greater understanding of the difficulties faced by some parents, and as a result teachers went above and beyond to try and make sure no child was left behind. Teachers are hopeful that this stronger relationship will lead to better engagement in future, with things like parents’ evenings being held online to encourage better attendance,” she stated.

“In the event of future school closures, schools should consult with parents when determining any requirements for learning at home, to ensure that this is inclusive for the families in their community. Schools should pay particular attention to access to technology, and consider parents’ ability and capacity to participate in schooling,” she concluded. 

Also Read: What working parents gained during covid

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NFL insider notes: Chargers learning to overcome their own demons, plus more from Week 13

Whatever got into the Chargers this afternoon, they need to bottle it up and take it with them from Cincinnati. For the first time all season they managed to attack and mitigate the run on early downs, and for the first time in a long time they got aggressively vertical with the play-calling and they may have saved their season in the process.

And then, true to form, they tried like hell to Charger it all away. Their 24-point lead quickly evaporated and they fell prey to the onslaught of mistakes that so often dooms them, but this time they didn’t give it up. For the second time in three weeks they found a way to put an opponent away that they let back in the game, and there was more than bad to build on from a 41-22 victory over the Bengals that probably saved their season (and made them 3-1 against the tough AFC North, amassing 129 total points in wins over the Steelers, Browns and Bengals).

Let’s hope the lessons are learned by a young coaching staff that had fallen into a rut in the middle of the season. They allowed Justin Herbert to show off his big arm at the start and finish of the game, they dialed up the big blitzes and shunned their zone-heavy nature at critical moments and they showed fortitude and gumption during a stretch from late in the second quarter through the early fourth quarter when the Bengals simply dominated.

Sure, there was some Chargering going on here. Thing is, they survived it, as they did against the Steelers two weeks ago. Yes, there was a span of 14 plays from the final minutes of the first half in which they allowed four sacks, threw a pick, fumbled (again), completed four balls for all of 22 yards, had three incompletions and one run for 4 yards. This after Herbert opened up that 24-0 lead by completing 11 of 15 passes for 172 yards and three touchdowns.

They remain a work in progress, prone to wild ebbs and flows. Yeah, I still have questions about the defense, though it won some early downs against a stout Bengals rushing attack and held Joe Mixon in check. It’s true it required a bizarre Ja’Marr Chase tipped-pass interception when the Bengals rookie had a clear touchdown in front of him to win this. And Mixon’s weird fumble, when he wasn’t even realty hit, was the biggest play in the game going for a score the other way.

But there is something to be said for just figuring out how to win games. Something to be said for creating sacks and turnovers in the fourth quarter (an end-zone pick of Joe Burrow cemented the win). And there is everything to be said for them getting to 7-5, with a win over the Chiefs already in their pocket, and staying alive for a division title, too.

Losing to Lions could seal Zimmer’s fate

The odds of Mike Zimmer remaining coach of the Vikings in 2022 never seemed great, but the events of the last two weeks probably cement it. He was under a mandate to make noise in the postseason, but things have fallen apart since a spirited win over Green Bay and injuries and ineffectiveness will likely doom this Minnesota campaign.

Falling behind to the Lions, trailing them by 14 at the half, allowing them to score 20 points in the first half (something that has eluded them in an entire game since Week 1), and then wasting a final minute go-ahead drive to allow an improbable game-winning TD drive to Jared Goff will doom you. His defense is a shell of what it once was, his staff has always begged questions and having things look like a bit of a mess on both sides of the ball — injuries or not — this late in the season with so much at stake tends to stick with ownership. Losing to a division rival that had not won a game all season under rookie coach Dan Campbell, try as they might, is not how you want to start December. It might be the loss that cements a change the Wilf’s have been pondering for quite some time.

More Week 13 insider notes

Bengals better hope they get their full offensive line in tact, soon. Joe Burrow was battered around Sunday in a scene far too familiar to his rookie campaign, and while he played through what looked like a fairly nasty pinky injury that’s something I am sure they will have to monitor through the week. I admit I am a Bengals believe and think that franchise is turning the corner, but the turnovers and mistakes and protection issues down the stretch in this game have to give you some pause.

The Giants’ offense is wretched and Freddie Kitchens ain’t changing much. Joe Judge continues to make bizarre timeout decisions and punting decisions. If you thought 264 total yards of offense last week against the Eagles was bad, how about 250 against Miami! And you can also check the box of the first-round QB injured again, and the first-round RB being a nonfactor yet again. Nothing trending the way you would want approaching the final stretch of his second season at the helm, and not much empirical evidence that he has the makings of a quality NFL head coach. Yeah, there is a lot of chatter about him being safe, but there is still plenty of football to be played and few signs of life from this bunch. I’d say stay tuned.

Ridiculous how much Rob Gronkowski still makes an offense go. Keeping him healthy is essential for Tom Brady and the Bucs. He was one of the primary differences in the game Sunday and without his touchdown heroics (plural), the champs probably blow that game to the rebuilding Falcons. Brady throwing a pick in a fifth straight game is worth noting, if nothing else, however.

Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Brady never took hold at the NFL level, and never sold ownership that he was ready for the job head coach Matt Rhule bestowed upon him. It’s long been a simmering issue there, with the offense yet to take hold and no quarterback emerging as the answer through two seasons, and I’m far from shocked he is out at the bye week. The bigger question is where do they go from here at QB and OC, long term, and just how good a match Rhule is with owner David Tepper. As I have been reporting, college programs swoon over Rhule, and a slow start in 2022 will only lead to more rumblings about the overall viability of this regime. Not sure how much patience there will be without major gains in 2022.

Have long believed Gardner Minshew is better than a bunch of starters in this league. Can’t knock the way he came out attacking the Jets in a spot start in place of Jalen Hurts Sunday.

The Dolphins are among the hottest teams in the NFL heading into their Week 13 bye. The defense is ferocious and has allowed a total of just 55 points during this five-game winning streak. The unit faces the Jets and Saints — offensively bereft clubs — the next two weeks after its break, so getting back above .500 is well within reach, before taking on the Titans and Patriots for what could be one of the most improbably playoff pushes in recent history, given the seven-game losing steak that preceded this. Brian Flores took a lot of heat for opting not to take his bye in October after their London trip, but that looks pretty sage now.

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Are You Interested in Increasing Your Physical Activity? Join Walk Across Northwest Arkansas

Do you feel stressed? Has your fitness routine lagged due to COVID-19 or for other reasons? You might need a new challenge to get back on track. Walk Across NWA can help you! 

It’s not too late. Register for the Fall 2021 Program and gain access to Health and Wellness resources from the U of A Division of Agriculture and make a difference in the environment. Participation is free. Registration is open now and the program lasts through Nov. 7. 

Online registration is available at walk.uada.edu.  More details are located on the following sites: uaex.uada.edu/nwa-wellness along with on the Facebook Page @NWALivingWell and our NWA Living Well Facebook Group to receive additional support with stress management, nutrition tips, healthy recipes and more.

Earlier this year, 890 Arkansans statewide participated in the Spring 2021 Walk Across Arkansas, logging 1,469,867 minutes, with 217 teams from counties walking across the state. Many of those participants reported they had more energy, slept better, controlled stress, strengthened relationships, lost weight or inches and improved their blood panels and blood pressure.

Physical activity can lower the risk of early death, coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and some cancers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Exercise also helps with weight loss and can improve mood and energy level and help us stress less.

National physical activity guidelines recommend that adults achieve at least 150 minutes of aerobic physical activity and two strength training sessions per week, and youth need at least 60 minutes of exercise daily.

To participate, find a few friends, classmates, family members or co-workers to form a team and register online. If you do not know others who are interested, make up a team name and be a team of one. Joining a team provides support to help you reach your goals, but team members do not have to be physically active together. Then, through Nov. 7, just record the number of minutes you spend walking, jogging, gardening or getting any other form of exercise. You can do any type of physical activity to increase your heart rate or break a sweat.

Minutes can be logged online daily or entered weekly, or you can contact your local County Extension Agents for paper forms. Team captains can log in minutes for team members. Even if you do not have an email address, this program is still for you. 

For more information about Walk Across NWA, contact the Washington County Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent Anna Goff by email at [email protected], or you can call or text 479-841-1212 or office 479-444-1755. In Benton County, contact Family and Consumer Sciences Agent Trudy McManus at [email protected] or 479-271-1060.

Have some fun this fall with friends and family — physically distancing of course — and make a difference as you get healthy with Walk Across NWA.

Special thanks to Jamie Baum at the U of A Center for Human Nutrition for support in promotion of this program.

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

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Selectboard, superintendent mull capital projects as Sunderland Elementary School repairs mount

SUNDERLAND — As the list of repairs and maintenance for Sunderland Elementary School increases, Superintendent Darius Modestow met with the Select Board last week to begin discussions about how to address them.

The group came away from the discussion determining that the Union 38 School District and the town will need to cooperate to evaluate their methods of funding.

“We’re not solving this problem with the current setup and that’s my message tonight,” Modestow said. “The system in which we need to address these capital needs is broken right now. We’re not going to be able to address these needs in the current way we do things.”

Currently, the Union 38 School District’s budget does not include capital improvements. Meanwhile, Sunderland’s capital budget covers the entire town, but does not set aside any money specifically for the school. The discussion led to Select Board Chairman Tom Fydenkevez proposing that the district determine an annual maintenance cost so a designated capital fund can be created.

“To do it right, you have to identify how much you need per year to maintain the school,” Fydenkevez said to Modestow. “I like that idea. … It has to be used for capital expenditures. You’re designating money and it’s going to be used for that reason.”

Another option Modestow proposed was possibly taking out a joint loan with Sunderland if the town already has capital improvement ideas.

“I wanted to bring it to your attention because I’m wondering if the town has other facility projects … that it wants to group together and possibly do a loan,” Modestow said. “I wanted to put it on your radar because it’s getting to a scope that’s a little bit bigger than the School Committee alone can handle and we’re going to have to work together.”

Modestow highlighted the need to replace glycol in the sprinklers, a non-functioning intercom and a dishwasher that constantly breaks down as the immediate needs for the school, but said much larger projects such as window replacements and the installation of air conditioning in the gym are on the horizon. Modestow said he anticipates the list “will keep getting longer.”

Fydenkevez said a loan is not out of the question because Sunderland doesn’t “have a lot of debt in town right now.” He said residents could be persuaded to take on a loan or designate money if the school can clearly identify what projects need to be addressed.

“We’ve retired a lot of our debt over the past few years. We have the capacity to talk to the citizens of our town and say, ‘Hey look, this is gonna set the school up for another 15, 20 years,’” Fydenkevez said. He added that compiling a list of repairs would be more persuasive than “coming back every year and asking for another $50,000 for this or $30,000 for this” because “it’s much harder than trying to do this stuff all together.”

Modestow said in an interview later that the meeting was productive in laying out the particular challenges Sunderland Elementary School is facing.

“It was the first step to start the conversation to make them aware of what the elementary school’s needs are,” Modestow said by phone. “As the building ages, we start to get more and more higher-priced repairs.”

He said Sunderland Elementary is at the age where a full renovation isn’t necessary, but significant repairs are starting to add up. He noted the three other elementary schools in the Union 38 School District are not seeing a growing list of repairs “to the same degree” because they are made of brick.

“Their buildings are made of brick and this is made of wood,” Modestow said. “That’s the honest truth.”

He clarified his statements from Monday’s meeting about the “broken” system for addressing capital improvements and said the system is “broken for the amount of repairs we have at this time.”

“We don’t have capital as part of the elementary budget. … We’ve been going to the town and that list is getting big enough,” Modestow said, “that we’re not going to get things done at an appropriate pace.”

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A New Way for Educators to Sneakily Indoctrinate Kids

Social and emotional learning is the latest trend at your child’s school. It sounds beneficial, but that’s a disguise. In truth, social and emotional learning indoctrinates kids with extremist ideas many parents don’t condone.

On Nov. 22, the Hartford Courant reported that West Hartford, Connecticut, elementary school parents are in an uproar. They’re complaining that teachers are putting words such as “nonbinary” on the chalkboard and telling kids, including kindergarteners, they can live life as a gender different from what they were assigned at birth. Parents were told by school authorities that they can’t opt their children out.

Most Americans think parents should have the final say on what children are taught. From Treasure Valley, Idaho, to Greenwich, Connecticut, school board candidates made social and emotional learning an issue in elections earlier this month.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita encouraged parents to speak up and cautioned that social and emotional learning programs shift “the role of teachers from educators to therapists.”

Fighting social and emotional learning is an uphill battle because it’s not only favored by the left-leaning educational bureaucracy, it’s also big business. “The SEL ecosystem today is flush with dollars,” reports Tyton Partners, social and emotional learning industry consultants.

Billions in federal COVID-19 relief money for schools are being used to buy social and emotional learning programs and fund instructors of it. Advocates and companies that produce the materials lobby Congress and the federal Department of Education to ensure legislative language precisely matches what they’re selling.

Nationwide, sales of social and emotional learning materials shot up 45{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} in a year and a half to $765 million in 2021, reports Education Week.

But parental opposition is also surging. Attorney General Merrick Garland asked the FBI to look into parents protesting issues like social and emotional learning at school board meetings. His son-in-law is a co-founder of Panorama Education, a company raking in millions selling social and emotional learning materials to school districts. Conflict of interest?

And what about the billions of dollars the Democrats’ Build Back Better legislation allocates to child care and pre-K? Will that money pay to indoctrinate even younger minds? Likely, “yes.” At least a dozen states, including New York, have already adopted social and emotional learning standards for preschool.

As for elementary schools, gender dysphoric kids make up less than 1{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} of the school population. Protect them, of course, from bullying and discrimination. They need to feel safe. But don’t brainwash the rest with one-sided, repeated lessons about gender issues.

West Hartford is reported to hammer away grade after grade, starting with a kindergarten-level book about a teddy bear who knows in his heart he is a girl teddy, not a boy teddy. Then, a book about Aiden, who knows the sex he was assigned at birth is “wrong.” Then, a book about choosing pronouns. And another about a girl named Jazz who changes her gender identity. Are kids reading that many books about the U.S. Constitution?

One Arkansas father objected that his fifth grader’s teacher showed a video of a transgender activist’s speech. Then, the teacher, wearing a “Protect Trans Lives” T-shirt, invited the class to a pride celebration: “I’ll be at Pride from 1-6! I hope to see you there!”

Social and emotional learning was originally sold as training children to control their emotions, manage their time, and make good personal decisions. Teachers have always tried to instill these life skills. They’re the same American values Benjamin Franklin proselytized in his autobiography 200 years ago.

But recently, social and emotional learning purveyors, including the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, have openly revised their goals. The collaborative advocates for “transformative SEL” to promote “justice-oriented civic engagement.” Translation: Make your kids into activists.

A South Bend, Indiana, school district adopted social and emotional learning two years ago to curb substance abuse and bullying. Now, parents, recognizing the radical messaging, are demanding more oversight.

Who’s in charge of what your child learns? Parents need to take control. It’s not an easy fight against the combined forces of educational profiteers and left-wing activists. But the stakes are too high to accept defeat.

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Relationship between parent-teacher important for home schooling during lockdown



ANI |
 Updated: Dec 04, 2021 22:46 IST

Cambridge [UK], December 4 (ANI): The importance of the relationship between parents and teachers during the lockdown to provide academic assistance to the students as well as practical and emotional support has been emphasised upon in a recent study.
The findings of the study were published in the journal ‘Educational Review’.
With schools closed from March 2020 until the end of the academic year and again from January 2021, pupils were taught online. This put an expectation on parents to shoulder some of the responsibility in ensuring pupils were engaged in their learning and to try and minimise some of the disadvantages faced by pupils from lower-income families who may not have had access to the same learning equipment or facilities as others.
Academics from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) led a team of researchers who surveyed 271 primary school teachers from across the country during June and July 2000 and also carried out follow-up interviews with a smaller cohort in April this year to compare the second round of school closures from January 2021.
Participants worked in schools with differing levels of pupil premiums, with funding provided by the Government to schools based on the number of pupils in a school deemed to be at an economic or social disadvantage. Lower pupil premium schools had fewer children considered to be at a disadvantage, while higher pupil premium schools had more.
The vast majority (84 per cent) of teachers felt some pupils had been disadvantaged by school closures due to their home circumstances.

The researchers found that all teachers provided resources for parents to use at home, either created by them or using other sources. However, while pupils from schools with a lower pupil premium number were significantly better able to access all resources than those from schools with higher pupil premium numbers, middle-income families struggled to find the time to engage with homeschooling, with many working from home in white-collar professions during the pandemic.
The study highlighted the broad range of support that primary teachers gave to children and their parents during the pandemic, not only academically, but also practically and emotionally. Teachers kept in touch with parents more regularly, either through online calls or home visits, and as a result felt they gained a greater understanding of children’s home lives, which helped build trust.
Many gave examples of ways they supported families through other means, such as organising collaborations with charities to provide breakfasts for children, whose families were struggling to afford food, making up food hampers, and even providing loans. Some teachers provided specific sessions for parents to guide them through some of the teaching materials, or to boost their confidence.
Lead author Dr Sara Spear, Head of the School of Management at ARU, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic was a difficult and stressful time for many people, and for some families, it caused or exacerbated socio-economic difficulties. Our results showed that parental participation in schooling in middle-income families was predominantly impeded by parents’ work responsibilities, with one or both parents likely to be working, and long hours and high-pressured jobs leaving little time for supporting children’s home learning.”
“This was exacerbated in the second closure period, with more parents working, and increased expectations for children’s learning. Only the richest families had access to resources, such as private tuition and intensive private schooling that alleviated these pressures,” she added.
“It was clear from our research that a closer relationship between teachers and parents meant a greater understanding of the difficulties faced by some parents, and as a result teachers went above and beyond to try and make sure no child was left behind. Teachers are hopeful that this stronger relationship will lead to better engagement in future, with things like parents’ evenings being held online to encourage better attendance,” she stated.
“In the event of future school closures, schools should consult with parents when determining any requirements for learning at home, to ensure that this is inclusive for the families in their community. Schools should pay particular attention to access to technology, and consider parents’ ability and capacity to participate in schooling,” she concluded. (ANI)