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Posted on January 16, 2016 January 16, 2016

Cycling Their Way to Better Health and Better Learning

January 16,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Paramus NJ, The Valley Hospital Department of Community Health and Community Benefit recently donated 10 DeskCycles to Parkway Elementary School as part of its health education partnership with the Borough of Paramus. “This school year, Parkway’s theme was healthy bodies and that works right into our departmental goals so we partnered up to support them,” said Valley health educator Danielle Cinnante. “Our department has brought in nutrition and health education to the students and parents of Parkway and is so excited to help support the health of our young community!” In addition to supporting fitness, the cycles also help learning by enabling the students to focus on their classroom tasks without fidgeting or becoming restless.

Shown here with Parkway students are Parminder Savalia, Health Education Supervisor, The Valley Hospital; Elaine Palombit, school nurse, Parkway Elementary; Jean Mulholland, physical education teacher, Parkway Elementary; and Danielle Cinnante, health educator, The Valley Hospital.

Posted on October 20, 2015 October 19, 2015

Turns Out That Students Like Real Books, Not Electronic Ones

Annie Holmquist | October 19, 2015

Increasingly, many school referenda are based on the need to buy iPads or other tech devices for students. These devices, it is implied, will diminish achievement gaps and bring learning to new heights.

However, research has shown such “needs” to be misguided, particularly as “there is little solid evidence that greater computer use among students leads to better scores in mathematics and reading.” And as reading expert Nancie Atwell recently noted in The Washington Post, the tactic most likely to set students on the path to success is the good old-fashioned technology of a book.

“As reading researcher Richard Allington put it, ‘If I were working in a high-poverty school and had to choose between spending $15,000 each year on more books for classrooms and libraries, or on one more [teaching assistant], I would opt for the books … Children from lower-income homes especially need rich and extensive collections of books in their school …’

And they need actual books, not electronic devices that store books. Real books don’t require electricity or batteries. They survive rapid changes in technology and digital storage. While my students did experiment with e-readers and Kindles, all of them reverted to paper books. They said they missed the sense of geography they enjoy with a real book, where they’re aware of how many pages the author has left to resolve the plot, and when they can flip back with ease to clear up a confusion.”

https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/turns-out-students-real-books-not-electronic-ones

Posted on June 11, 2015 June 11, 2015

Students learn to be leaders at Ridgewood High School summit

JUNE 10, 2015 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2015, 10:21 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Students were asked to put themselves in unfamiliar shoes as they attempted to help fictional Ridgewood High School (RHS) peers in coping with their issues at the school’s 2015 leadership summit.

After tackling the issue of social media last year, the group of ninth, 10th and 11th grade students were assigned this year with the task of helping their peers with problems they face in everyday life.

Students were split into nine groups, each one receiving a faculty advisor, and given a fictional character with certain demographics, strengths and weaknesses. Each character had a problem to solve and the students had to find a way to help that person deal with his or her troubles.

Teachers and administrators in attendance included Sean McCullough, the district’s director of Fine and Applied Arts, social studies teacher Medha Kirtane, RHS Principal Thomas Gorman and Superintendent Daniel Fishbein.

The obstacles assigned to the characters included divorce, gender issues, social anxiety, insecurity, financial struggles and both learning and physical disabilities.

The exercise taught students to solve a problem through someone else’s eyes, a person who may be very different from them, since a true leader must be able to lead people of all backgrounds and abilities.

“Even if a problem doesn’t necessarily apply to you, you still have to be understanding and be able to cope with it, because that’s what really makes a good leader,” said RHS junior Tyler Porfido.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/ridgewood-students-learn-to-be-leaders-1.1352679

Posted on May 4, 2015 May 4, 2015

8th-Graders Stumped by U.S. History and Geography Tests, Study Finds

Jack Linshi @jacklinshi
April 29, 2015

A study shows only about a quarter of eighth-graders are proficient in U.S. history, geography and civics

America’s eighth-graders are failing tests in U.S. history, a national study says.

Only 18% of eighth-graders rated proficient or above in U.S. history, just 27% rated proficient or above in geography and 23% in civics, according to the Nation’s Report Card 2014, a federal survey of more than 29,000 eighth-graders published Wednesday.

“The lack of knowledge on the part of America’s students is unacceptable, and the lack of growth must be addressed. As a country, we must do better,” said Terry Mazany, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the survey.

Here’s a breakdown of how eighth-graders performed across the three subjects:

https://time.com/3839840/8th-graders-history-geography-civics-tests/

Posted on February 11, 2015 January 20, 2019

PARCC Proficiency Test Is Good For Students, N.J. Education Chief Says

PARCC Proficiency Test Is Good For Students, N.J. Education Chief Says

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — Some New Jersey parents have come out so strongly against a new computer-based math and language arts test that they have refused to allow their children to take the exam – but state education officials have rushed to its defense.

As CBS2’s Christine Sloan reported Tuesday, the state’s largest teachers’ union is also against the exam — called the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers – PARCC for short.

But New Jersey state Education Commissioner David Hespe said the students will benefit from being challenged by the exams. (CBS News)

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/02/10/cbs2-exclusive-n-j-education-chief-says-controversial-exam-is-good-for-students/

Posted on January 17, 2015 April 9, 2020

Majority of U.S. public school students are in poverty

Majority of U.S. public school students are in poverty

By Lyndsey Layton January 16 at 5:00 AM

For the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of U.S. public school students come from low-income families, according to a new analysis of 2013 federal data, a statistic that has profound implications for the nation.

The Southern Education Foundation reports that 51 percent of students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade were eligible under the federal program for free and reduced-price lunches in the 2012-2013 school year. The lunch program is a rough proxy for poverty, but the explosion in the number of needy children in the nation’s public classrooms is a recent phenomenon that has been gaining attention among educators, public officials and researchers.

“We’ve all known this was the trend, that we would get to a majority, but it’s here sooner rather than later,” said Michael A. Rebell, the executive director of the Campaign for Educational Equity at Columbia University, noting that the poverty rate has been increasing even as the economy has improved. “A lot of people at the top are doing much better, but the people at the bottom are not doing better at all. Those are the people who have the most children and send their children to public school.”

The shift to a majority-poor student population means that in public schools, more than half of the children start kindergarten already trailing their more privileged peers and rarely, if ever, catch up. They are less likely to have support at home to succeed, are less frequently exposed to enriching activities outside of school, and are more likely to drop out and never attend college.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/majority-of-us-public-school-students-are-in-poverty/2015/01/15/df7171d0-9ce9-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html

Posted on September 13, 2014 September 13, 2014

Students find Paterson culinary school a place of intense work, but also peace and calm

Students find Paterson culinary school a place of intense work, but also peace and calm

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY MINJAE PARK
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

Tabitha Cannon hopes her five-month training course at Eva’s Village culinary academy in Paterson, on her path away from a life of substance abuse and drinking, will prepare her to work “in somebody’s kitchen anywhere in the world.”

Clean now for the six months she’s been in the women’s halfway house at Eva’s Village, Cannon is focused on a cooking career to provide for her children, who are ages 1 and 11. “I know eventually I’ll be able to make more money,” she said as she smeared homemade spicy mustard on French bread Wednesday morning.

It’s a far cry from her days of drinking and doing drugs — “a little bit of everything,” as she puts it.

The training is rigorous — classwork at 7 a.m., followed by hours of hands-on learning by actually working in the kitchen — but Cannon said she finds it “peaceful and calming” and relishes the good reviews from her happy customers.

“Food makes everyone happy,” she said.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/recipes-for-success-1.1087321#sthash.sVufKN7n.dpuf

Posted on September 2, 2014 August 29, 2014

Michelle O’s lunch rules sour first day of school for many students

Michelle O’s lunch rules sour first day of school for many students

August 29, 2014

FLORENCE, S.C. – Students arrived on the first day of school and realized a lot had changed over the summer.

The lunch line they used to visit to pick up pizza and french fries now had “same school lunch food as the others with more salad.”

SCnow.com reports:

Sophomore Madeline Taylor noticed that hardly anyone was eating.

“The entire rest of the day all I heard about was how hungry everyone was,” she said. “I then became very concerned about what would happen if this continued everyday throughout the school year.”

In response, students launched a petition on Change.org to bring back their favorites. It’s titled, “Bring Back The Choice of Pizza and French Fries” and to date has over 400 signatures.

“My petition wasn’t just to bring back the pizza and french fries. It was to say that FSD1 can do better in providing a lunch that is appealing and healthy that students don’t mind eating,” Taylor tells the paper. “No one has ever explained to the students exactly why our favorite lunch choices have been taken away.”

“About 30 min to eat lunch and that leaves you with 23.5 hrs to get fat at home. The problem is not the school lunch it’s the food in the houses. People are still gonna get fat no matter how much misses obama wants to change a 30 min lunch break. Don’t punish the healthy people and the school’s revenue because they’re not getting that money with that food service,” Bryan Peterson wrote on the petition.

“I haven’t eaten anything all week and I am slowly deteriorating,” Olivia Holland wrote.

https://eagnews.org/michelle-os-lunch-rules-sour-first-day-of-school-for-many-students/

Posted on April 9, 2014 April 9, 2014

Students to Rutgers board: Freeze tuition

Students to Rutgers board: Freeze tuition

APRIL 8, 2014, 8:06 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 2014, 8:11 PM
BY PATRICIA ALEX
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

Students on Tuesday asked Rutgers’ governing board to consider freezing tuition, saying that the cost of the state university is exceeding the grasp of the state’s middle class.

“My mother makes as much as Rutgers costs,” said Margarita Rosario, a junior. “Every semester I’ve had to rely on the generosity of others.”

About a dozen students spoke at a sparsely attended hearing in New Brunswick on Tuesday evening that drew about 40 people. The university’s board of governors took the testimony in advance of setting tuition and fees this summer.

Tuition and fees at Rutgers now tops $13,000 for state residents, making it one of the most expensive public universities in the nation. For students who live on campus, a year at Rutgers costs more than $25,000.

“I work 40 hours a week and even with aid it’s difficult to afford this education,” said Joe Fisher, a student from Matawan. “It’s a lot of stress.”

Fisher and others noted a spate of building projects around Rutgers campuses and questioned whether the administration was more concerned with the Rutgers brand than students.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/students-to-rutgers-board-freeze-tuition-1.857691#sthash.DS4zGuff.dpuf

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