Kathy and Calvin's Home Page

When asked if Connecting Math Concepts is hard:

"It's not really hard once I learn it."

If everyone spreads the word about verbal behavior then perhaps effective methods like those taught by Dr. Carbone will become the standard and not the exception.

Eclecticism is such a popular term in the field of education. It has such a worldly cosmopolitan ring, doesn't it? When I hear someone say they have an "eclectic" approach to a problem they either (a) do not understand the problem, (b) do not have a solution, or (c) both.

Outcomes observed for Principals and District Superintends who have faithfully implemented DI:

1. All the parents will love him because their kids are reading, but the scores won’t change, and he’ll get such bad press from the newspapers that the school board will fire him anyway.

2. All the parents will love him because their kids are reading, and the scores will go up, so he’ll be accused of cheating and the school board will fire him anyway.

3. All the parents will love him because their kids are reading, but the scores will go down because the Whole Language tests aren’t aligned with sane instructional sequences, so he’ll be accused of failing and the school board will fire him.

4. All the parents will love him because their kids are reading, so he’ll leave the district to start a charter school.

Remember, never attribute to malice what can easily be explained by incompetence.

A good reason to use research based curriculum in the schools - this is not Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory.

Change in behavior over time = Celeration

In reality, excellence shall not fear observation.

An Oregon State University study of just a part of Kitzhaber's plan indicates $4.25 of future savings for every $1 invested (into special education).

In the relentless pursuit of each student's success:
1. Assuring that our work and that of Oregon schools is done with best practices and cutting-edge research
2. Fully partnering with others in the education community
3. Fostering conditions for Oregon schools and the Department of Education to be great places to work and learn

The public schools' failure at teaching our children well is "academic child abuse."

Mainstreaming is like visiting. Inclusion is belonging.

If they don't quit screaming, you do what is called a "walk and peel". If they want something you cannot give like swimming in winter, then you say NO and walk away and peel them off the back of your leg. You do not give in, or argue or try to make them understand. You say No It's too cold and walk away, or No, the popcorn takes 3 minutes to cook, you cannot have it right now and walk away.

Two major mistakes are frequently made in early intervention, Greenspan believes: 1. taking a mininmalist approach which does not provide the family enough team support; and 2. overlooking family dynamics to such a degree that early intervention becomes, not a support to the family, but another source of familial stress. Intervention must consider the well-being of the family as paramount, and avoid the tempation of viewing the child as if he or she existed in isolation.

The worst possible fate for such a child is to be placed in a program for troublemakers. When that happens, “a perfect victim” is surrounded by “perfect victimizers.”