In early January, Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, PA, had so many people coming into the emergency room with flu symptoms that it set up a mobile ER—actually a large tent—to handle the flow.
Drink up!
The mix of temperatures during the winter wears down our immune systems. Indoors, it's nice and toasty; outside it's frightfully cold. Our bodies have to adapt within seconds to drastic changes. For some of us, this equates to mid-winter colds and the flu due to compromised immune systems.
Global Education for Global Citizenship
It’s a Small World After All.” Anyone who grew up in the 60s and practically anyone who has visited a Disney resort can probably hear that song, which debuted at the 1965 World’s Fair, in their mind’s ear. It’s a cute, sing-songy way to say what Socrates did more than 2,400 years ago. “I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.”
21st Century Education and Your School’s Parents
ISM has written extensively about the characteristics of 21st century education. The educational landscape has the potential to be vastly different from what it was a few years ago—enhanced technology, pedagogy, facilities, calendar, schedule, etc. When adopting 21st century educational changes, recognize that your school will have a parent education “opportunity” of significant proportions. As School Head, take control of this effort.
Assessing Your School’s Internal Marketing in Light of the Student Experience Study
In an earlier issue of Ideas & Perspectives, ISM provided a means to assess your school’s standing on the second-tier Stability Marker, “internal marketing.”1 Recent ISM research, the Student Experience Study (SES), reinforced the relationship between the predictability and support teachers provide for students and the students’ performance, enthusiasm, and satisfaction. From this research, ISM updated long-used instruments to measure your school’s faculty and student cultures—the Faculty Culture Profile II (FCP II) and the Student Culture Profile II (SCP II). These new instruments are now worded in parallel and develop impressionistic data about the level of the faculty’s predictability and supportiveness in the eyes of the teachers and students.
Good Social Media Policy Protects Your School
In a recently broadcast episode of Law & Order: UK, a teen accused a man of a crime—it appeared he was a repetitive offender. As she sat in the witness box, the defense attorney challenged her. ”Five minutes minutes after this allegedly happened, you posted it on Facebook. Why did you not call the police?”
Teens Would Benefit From Later Morning Start
How many of us have a teenager who must be dragged out of bed to get to school by 7:30 a.m.? That’s the typical start time for most public high schools; private high schools typically start a bit later, around 8 a.m. Research shows teen body clocks don’t mesh with the school day. However, realigning school start times is a tough sell.
A Story of Teaching Excellence
We ran across this New York Times story of a teacher, a 33-year veteran in a Massachusetts public middle school, who is a portrait of excellence in teaching. Ron Adams, teaches seventh-grade English in a school where half the children qualify for subsidized lunches and many live in housing projects. He dislikes standardized testing, and does not do very much prep for the required exams. Yet, his students fare much better than state averages. Adams teaches social consciousness—his first assignment each year is to write a letter to someone who has the power to fix a problem that upsets each child—to help them learn to take action. He also leads the school’s Save the World Club.
Letters of Reference: Navigating Dangerous Waters With a Prudent Process
For many years, employers have been advised to respond to reference requests with nothing more than dates of employment and positions held. This well-meaning advice was intended to help avoid lawsuits brought by former employees unhappy with what they see as a subjective or defamatory reference. However, this “see no evil, speak no evil” approach creates at least as many issues as it solves in both the moral and legal realms.
Research Report: Faculty Culture Profile II, Spring 2012 Data
ISM published its Student Experience Study 2010–11 outcomes in January 2012, and published related articles in Ideas & Perspectives throughout the spring. Among the features in the report was a revised Faculty Culture Profile—ISM’s longstanding measure of the quality of a school’s faculty culture—along with the study’s statistical findings and two other instruments, the Student Culture Profile II and the Characteristics of Professional Excellence II.