Tuesday, March 19, 2019

MULGREW EXPLAINS POSITIVE LEARNING COLLABORATIVE

Below is a piece that our union dues paid for in City and State penned by UFT President Michael Mulgrew on the Positive Learning Collaborative. Is this the cure for our school safety issues? Is it one possible solution of which there are multiple potential answers? I leave the editorializing to you.


Beyond Suspensions:
A Real Solution to Student Discipline
BY MICHAEL MULGREW, PRESIDENT, UNITED FEDERATION OF TEACHERS 

Discipline in our schools has been reduced to a simplistic question about the rise or fall in the number of student suspensions. But the real issue is much deeper -- how to change the overall climate in our schools to reduce the conflicts and occasions that make suspensions necessary.
In programs like the joint UFT-DOE Positive Learning Collaborative, all adults in a school building are trained to cultivate strong relationships with students, to recognize when students are facing crises that could lead to behavioral problems, and in techniques that help them defuse student conflicts. This is particularly important for children who face extraordinary challenges like homelessness or disability, and who are much more likely than their peers to be disciplined or suspended.

Effective programs also provide curriculum to help students learn constructive ways to deal with frustration, anger, and depression; behavior specialists who regularly visit classrooms to provide on-going support; and a data system to track progress so schools can adapt mid-stream if something is not working.

We need these changes because African-American and Latino students have borne the brunt of our failed discipline policies. They have been disproportionately suspended under "Zero Tolerance" plans. And equally troubling, they have been the first to have their education disrupted when other students act out and school communities are unprepared to tackle the problem - a reality that rarely becomes part of the public discussion.

In New York City, the six public schools with a total of 3,400 children in the first cohort of the Positive Learning Collaborative have seen an 82 percent drop in suspensions, and a drop in more than half in the kind of violent incidents that usually lead to suspensions.

At the same time, academic gains have either kept pace with or exceeded the citywide gains in standardized tests, while both staff and parents have reported increased levels of trust among all parties and a calmer and more nurturing school environment.

One such example is PS 42 in the Bronx, a school where large numbers of children grapple with traumas such as homelessness, and where discipline had been a problem.

To try to turn the school round, new principal Lucia Orduz brought in new resources and the Positive Learning Collaborative (PLC), which introduced programs to train teachers in a variety of restorative justice practices.

In the words of Ms. Orduz: "We're offering the staff a solution. We're saying, here is the equipment, here are ideas, here are tools. You're not in this alone."

The result: suspensions started to go down, not by pretending there were no problems, but by training the adults in the building in how to alter their own -- and students -- behavior.

According to Ms. Orduz, thanks to the Positive Learning Collaborative: "We stay abreast of new techniques that we can incorporate, new tools that we can give our teachers, so that we are not only addressing negative behavior, but we're preventing negative behavior."

Similar successes have been found in similar programs in districts ranging from Schenectady to Philadelphia to Oakland, California.

We have been generally supportive of the city administration's reforms of school discipline, though we have insisted that student suspensions can sometimes be both necessary and appropriate. But in our discussions with the Department of Education, we have made it clear that focusing solely on suspensions treats a symptom rather than the underlying problem.

Teachers, students and families deserve schools with a safe, nurturing learning environment. It is the job of the adults -- particularly supervisors -- to create and maintain that environment for all children, a job that whole-school programs like the Positive Learning Collaborative can help accomplish.
To hear more about a Bronx school using PLC listen here:
http://www.uft.org/news/podcasts


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mulgrew is a total tool. That's why he was a wood shop teacher. He would not survive one year under Danielson. (Which he never worked under since when he was teaching it was the much missed "S" and "U". system.

Anonymous said...

oy!

Anonymous said...

But where do most of the problems come from? The reason Tech is good and other schools aren't is because Tech is selective.

waitingforsupport said...

At 6:09 PM pardon me but if you teach in a segregated public school,most of the problems would come from the students enrolled in that school. When I worked at a specialized hs, guess who all the cheating and drug problems came from?

Anonymous said...

However, for secondary schools, I prefer Joe Clark’s approach:

https://youtu.be/_SbkHgx6YIo

Anonymous said...

Mulgrew is in city hall’s back pocket. It should be the other way around.

City hall should be in his back pocket.

Mikey ‘givebacks’ mulgrew and all the other Uft hacks aren’t on the ground floor.

I’m now 40 years old. Half the time when I see a student discreetly using a cell phone I won’t say anything. Why you ask? Because it will present more issues for me as an adult than the student.

Anonymous said...

Once again, why did AOC say that all schools should be like Tech? Because Tech is selective. they don't allow the riff raff, the ones who cause other high schools to have a college ready rate of 3%. Once you open the floodgates to everyone, school success declines, safety issues increase. This is proven by the 1500 schools in NYC.

waitingforsupport said...

@7:13 am...all students deserve a quality education. Let's leave it at that. School success has declined because of policy that has affected the disenfranchised. The windows are all broken: violence, cheating and disrespect for one another is widespread. Anyone who believes that black and brown are the cause of societal ills are blind. Don't knock the messenger if the message is true. That's just dumb...in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

Never was the word black used. Maybe you feel guilty. I pointed out a fact that was stated by a latina female elected official. Most schools are failing. What is the common denominator, what is the difference between failing and passing schools? I never said skin color. I said selection of students. You chose to infer that to mean black and brown students. When she stated that all schools should be good like Tech, I stated that the way to have that is to choose students who are likely to succeed. Sounds pretty factual.

Anonymous said...

Stop your making sense, liberals don’t do well with facts they are driven by emotion. More vino for my waiting for support friend. Now about your post because you only sensor right leaning posts ( not all) our union leader isn’t qualified to represent our interests and the entire system is impacted. Just another waste of money in an attempt to improve scores. If we just spent the money on proper contraception we wouldn’t have these problems. With the out of wedlock rate at 70% the huge drug and incarceration rates through the roof what else would you expect. Families putting wants over needs then crying they need more assistance. I can go on an on but what do I know I’m just an old white guy with 25 yrs trying to undo the horrible impact the war on poverty has unleashed on our economically challenged citizens.

waitingforsupport said...

You don't have to mention black or brown. However you certainly alluded to them. Re-read 7:13 am post. Yes choose students who are likely to succeed. The question is what method will be used when choosing. I know many students who probably got close to passing and would do well.

Anonymous said...

I guess they can't argue a logical point which clearly disproves their point and makes it obvious why some schools are always failing.

Anonymous said...

But then why the jail rates?