Students

According to the old adage, sticks and stones can break your bones; in the real world, name-calling and verbal harassment can be just as hurtful to young students. With this in mind, NAESP is joining the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in supporting No Name-Calling Week, an annual week of educational activities whose purpose is to end name-calling of all kinds in U.S. schools and communities. This year’s No Name-Calling Week takes place Jan. 25-29.

According the October Communicator article titled “A Twist to Pay for Performance: Cash for Students,” schools in New York City and Washington, D.C., are using cash as a motivator for students to perform well in school. For example, middle schoolers in the District of Columbia can earn up to $1,500 a year for such accomplishments as good test scores, solid attendance, and completing homework.

Although the New York City program, which distributed $1.1 million to the 5,889 participating students last school year, is fully funded by private monies, the District of Columbia will pay for nearly half the $2.7 million set aside for its program. The remaining funds will come from private grant monies.

What do you think about the idea of paying students for good grades and test scores, as well as for solid attendance records—can it work? If you had the option of implementing such a program in your school, would you?

Here’s what one principal said: Money is a motivator. However, I am very concerned that to proceed with such a path is futile ... To implement such a plan will increase taxes and stipulate that every child must be paid to do what he or she must do as a member of society ... If I were given the option to implement such a program, I would not comply. If directed to implement such a program, I would resign my position.

NAESP's executive director Gail Connelly announced the launch of the National Elementary Honor Society (NEHS) at the Opening General Session during NAESP's annual convention. Connelly was joined onstage for the announcement of this new program by Gerald Tirozzi, the executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). Connelly and Tirozzi presented the first NEHS charter to Shepardson Elementary School, where NAESP President Mary Kay Sommers is principal.

"Whole child development is imperative for our schools to be successful," said Connelly. "The National Elementary Honor Society is a great way for schools to focus on this development and to recognize our young students for their accomplishments in leadership and service. We are excited about providing schools with the opportunity to participate in such a prestigious program and to help develop our nation's future leaders."

NASSP administers the National Honor Society™ (NHS) and the National Junior Honor Society™ (NJHS) and the NEHS was created to help schools give students in grades 4-6 national recognition for their accomplishments.

"The National Honor Society and the National Junior Honor Society have done a tremendous job of giving outstanding students the recognition they deserve for excellence in some of the most important aspects of their lives," said Tirozzi. "We are confident that the National Elementary Honor Society will enrich the education and the educational experience of younger students as well."

Incidentally, a study commissioned by the Girl Scouts of the USA found that young people ranked "being a leader" behind other goals such as "fitting in," "making a lot of money" and "helping animals or the environment." The results were published in a recent issue of The Washington Post. What do you think? How important is it for students to see themselves as leaders? How do these findings measure up to the leadership potential among students at your school? What can schools do to increase leadership skills in their students?

More and more twins, triplets, and other multiple-birth children are seen in school buildings these days, and it seems that principals face the dilemma of whether to keep siblings in the same classes throughout the year. According to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, 21 states have either passed legislation or are considering laws concerning twins or other multiples in schools. Parents appear to be adamant one way or the other about how to place their children, so legislators have sided with them by proposing laws that would leave the decision in the hands of the parents.

There is no cut-and-dry research as to whether it is better to separate multiples or keep them together in the classroom, which makes the issue a bit complex. It would be interesting to know what some principals’ experiences have been with multiples in their schools.

How does the discussion about global warming and climate change affect school-aged children? Climate change scenarios are defining a generation in the same way that the Depression and the Cold War defined the lives of previous generations, according to a recent article in The Washington Post. As a result, school-aged children are the drivers of a host of green activities. For example, a student in Herkimer Elementary School in Herkimer, NY was inspired to initiate a program promoting energy efficiency by replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs. Other schools around the nation are preparing for this year’s Earth Day, April 22, with activities like nature walks, recycling projects, and tree planting.

A new study conducted by researchers at Duke University and the University of California at Berkeley has concluded that sixth graders perform better at elementary schools than they do in middle schools. “Should Sixth Grade Be in Elementary or Middle School? An Analysis of Grade Configuration and Student Behavior” finds that sixth grade students who attend middle school are more likely to exhibit disciplinary problems, and that “the exposure to older peers and the relative freedom from supervision have deleterious consequences.”  Read the full text of the study at http://www.pubpol.duke.edu/research/papers/SAN07-01.pdf.

NAESP is a proud founding member of a coalition of organizations that started No Name-Calling Week, an initiative that seeks to focus attention on name-calling in schools and provide students and educators with the tools to launch an ongoing dialogue about ways to eliminate this problem in their communities. (We hope you’re reading Rosie and Donald.)

This year, lesson plans were created as an additional resource to use during the week (and even after the week is over) to provide elementary school students an opportunity to engage in activities that teach them about tolerance, respect, and understanding. The lesson plans can be downloaded for free at www.naesp.org/client_files/NNCWElementaryLessonPlans.pdf. 

A happy student doesn’t necessarily translate to a high-achieving student, a report by the Brookings Institution’s Brown Center on Education Policy concludes. The report’s author Tom Loveless writes that “Despite the call to make schools more relevant, there is little evidence that relevance increases student engagement…Real student engagement is not about keeping students happy, boosting their self-esteem, or convincing them that what they are learning is relevant; it’s about acquiring new knowledge and skills and pursuing the activities that contribute to that attainment.”

The report—“How Well Are American Students Learning?—is based on national and international testing data and evaluates the role that student happiness and confidence play in achievement. Loveless is quoted in the Boston Globe saying, “The implication is not ‘Let’s go make kids unhappy. It’s ‘Let’s give kids better signals as to how they’re performing, relative to the rest of the world.”