No easy answers
Last week more than one person referred to my article about the Uvalde school tragedy. Most everyone agreed with my comments, but still we are now no closer to offering a solution to the problem than we were when it happened.
tschram
Education Beat: Stopping the Slide
Summer is a time for kids to kick back, take a break from routine, and enjoy lazy days. It also, in many cases, is when learning loss- aka “The Summer Slide” can take place. Summer setbacks are nothing new regarding academics and the phenomenon has been researched by educators since the beginning of time. On average, student achievement can decline over the summer by up to a third of a prior year’s learning gains. Loss is usually greater in mathematics than reading, and higher grade leveled students are more noticeably affected than younger learners. The summer slide can be measured in both social skills and classroom discipline, in addition to academics. Coupled with the residual effects of Covid, this summer will undoubtedly create an even greater push to help students get and stay on track. School districts need to address the issue of summer learning to help avoid achievement gaps, and to also avoid increases in the amount of time that teachers will need to spend “re-teaching” last year’s content. Academic losses contribute to the repetition of teaching last year’s curriculum each Fall. Fortunately, there are multiple ways to combat the inevitable summer setback. First and foremost, Reading is key! Summer library reading programs, designed with themes and incentives are a fantastic way to get young learners on board. Summer reading lists, bucket lists, and challenge lists are also strong ways to keep literacy fun and a focus throughout the schoolfree months. School aged children should continue a daily ritual of reading for a specific time, based on their age and learning level. To up the game, consider adding a journal or diary to the mix and allow learners to keep a log, notes, and questions or a review system for what they have read. Do not stop at books alone. Encourage children to read what they like. Magazines, comic books, cook-books, and newspapers are all great print sources to dive into at the lake, pool, or Grandma’s house. Why not make your own version of any of those as an added fun idea?
Winners and losers of college football transfer portal
The one-time transfer rule allowing players to switch schools without losing a year of eligibility had already transformed roster management across the Football Bowl Subdivision. And then came legislation related to name, image and likeness, which has caused exponentially greater disruption for FBS coaches and programs trying to get a handle on depth charts and playing time.
Finding family HOMELESS
ROANOKE, Va. – Quinton Cruse and April Ragan drank beer and sulked by a downtown Roanoke bridge the morning of May 5, dispirited by the difficulty of moving from the streets into Section 8 housing. • Years without housing had cost them – he the use of an arm, her a pregnancy that ended in miscarriage. A home would mean safety and not postponing dreams, like getting married. • They never got the apartment. But life did them one better. • Unknown to Cruse, three members of his family who hadn’t seen him in more than 20 years were driving toward the city to reunite at that hour. They learned his whereabouts from Roanoke Times coverage of homeless people camping downtown and from the reporter who wrote it last year. • As reported, Cruse, 58, and Ragan, 34, met last year at the Greyhound bus station and lived together in his tent near the Taubman Museum of Art. She became pregnant. He was shown in a photo with a black cast over a knife cut to his arm received in a fight. • For his part, Cruse would later say that he didn’t think his family wanted contact with him, citing “the way I’ve been living.” He lived on the streets of Roanoke or in a jail cell since his marriage ended in 2009, he said. Multiple drinking in public and trespassing charges appear on his online court record.• Ragan marked three years as a homeless person this year, an odyssey that began with the death of her grandmother with whom she shared a home, she said, and has been summoned to court on multiple alcohol-related charges, online records show. • Family members wondered before visiting Roanoke whether Cruse would welcome them after years of estrangement. They had no idea where he was, much less the knowledge that he was homeless, before discovering the mention of him in the newspaper.
Frisco real estate developer sentenced to serve 45 years in prison
COLLIN COUNTY - A Frisco real estate developer was sentenced to serve 45 years in prison and ordered to pay $30 million in restitution for a fraudulent investment scheme. On May 24, 2022, Phillip Michael Carter was sentenced to serve 45 years in state prison by the 296th District Court of Collin County, Texas.
Turbulence and changing times in our schools
This past week has been a rough one. On a personal level I traveled out-of-town to preside over a "celebration of life" in Houston. Every one of my four flights was delayed, not to mention the airlines could not have put the connecting gates any further apart than they were in the DFW airport.
What’s next for Heat, Butler after Game 7 loss?
BOSTON – The Miami Heat believe in what they do. It’s an ethos established by owner Micky Arison, and it filters through team president Pat Riley, general manager Andy Elisburg, vice president of basketball operations Adam Simon, other front office staffers, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and his assistants, players and all the way down to intern in the video department.
Celtics reach NBA Finals the hard way
MIAMI — Boston’s Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum had been in these moments before – playing in the Eastern Conference finals with a trip to the NBA Finals so close. But they came up short.
Gift from Nantz means world to recent HS graduate
When Coe Murdock graduated from Mountain Brook High School in Birmingham, Alabama, recently, he never hesitated in choosing a tie to wear to his ceremony. He dug into his closet and pulled out the one gifted to him by Jim Nantz of CBS Sports when Murdock attended the Masters in 2013.
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
New Life Refuge Church Revival A revival will be held at the New Life Refuge Church, 104 N. 12th St., Ballinger, Texas, starting at 7 p.m.