Make the Grade

R U O Y L A C LO E D I U G FOR A UL F S S E C C U S EAR Y L O O H C S

pluDsARDIZED TESTS

> STAN t u o g n i t p who’s o P U N E T S I L , S T N E R A P > t n a w s r e h what teac w o n k o t u o y ’ E D I L S R E > ‘SUMM s d i k p e e H ow t o k sharp

+ NEW FACES + TRENDS + VOLUNTEER OPPS

2 Friday August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade

BULLETIN BOARD

INDEX

4-5 Profiles of new teachers, administrators in local schools

16 A little organization can go a long way in preserving kids’ artwork

NEW FACES

PRECIOUS PIECES

6takingMoreSmarter charter school kids aren’t 17 Head back to school in style Balanced tests with tips from fashion experts OPTING OUT

SELFIE WORTHY

7importance Phil Ortega stresses the 18 Common Core has become a of encouraging school ‘political hot potato’ IT STARTS AT HOME

WIPED OUT

attendance

20 New clothing lines offer gender-neutral styles 8student’s It’s easy to keep close tabs on progress, but should you?

Keep kids sharp with visits to libraries, museums 9 As districts invest in tablets, 21 HIS, HERS, BOTH

PARENT PORTALS

SUMMER SLIDE

COMPUTERS FOR ALL

teachers innovate in the classroom

23 Paying for college takes homework and a dose of reality STICKER SHOCK

10 How to budget for school expenses MONEY SMART

21

11 Getting kids outdoors helps improve performance, attitude IT’S NATURAL

12 Volunteer opportunities abound at local schools BE A HELP

13 Repurposing items can spruce up a dull dorm room DORM HACKS

14 Help your child deal with school year changes KEEP IT POSITIVE

15 Here’s what teachers want you to know PARENTS, LISTEN UP

CONTACT US Phone: 541-776-4477 Fax: 541-776-4376 EDITORIAL news@mailtribune.com ADVERTISING 541-776-4422 CIRCULATION 1-800-258-6041 ONLINE www.mailtribune.com Cover illustration: Pixabay ©2016 SOUTHERN OREGON MEDIA GROUP ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

News bits from local schools

By Teresa Thomas Mail Tribune

Here’s some news you can use from the schools: • Medford School District has a new app that is available for download. The free app, which is available in nearly 70 languages, features news, a tip line, district directory and calendar, and it gives parents and students easy access to grades, assignments and attendance information. To get the app, search “Medford School District 549C” in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

• Phoenix-Talent School District will offer yearround, after-school intramural programs for kindergarten through fifth-grade students at each of its elementary schools. The district received a $48,000 Jackson County Care Connect grant to fund the program. Parents can contact their child’s elementary school for more information or to sign up.

• Phoenix Elementary is partnering with the Rogue Valley Family YMCA to provide an after-school program at the school. The program will include academic support, physical education, crafts and other activities.

For more information, call the school at 541-535-3353.

• The Phoenix-Talent School District is piloting a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) program at Phoenix Elementary this year. The project-based curriculum will be offered to 54 students in kindergarten through second grade, as well as third- through fifth-grade blended classrooms. Parents can apply at the school.

• Starting this year, Logos Public Charter School will offer music, band and choir classes at the school, 400

Earhart St., Medford, and at Rogue Community College’s Redwood campus in Grants Pass. Performances will be held throughout the year.

• Logos Public Charter School will cover the cost of math and foreign language classes at Rogue Community

College for high school students who qualify and wish to earn dual credit.

• This fall, Table Rock Elementary will expand its dual-language program to include second- and thirdgrade classes. Classes are taught by a bilingual, bi-cultural teacher who will deliver about 90 percent of the instruction in Spanish. The district rolled out the program last year, starting with two dual-language kindergarten classes and one first-grade class. The Academia De Aguilitas, a dual-language preschool, also was started last year and will continue to meet in the former Boys and Girls Club building near White Mountain Middle School at 3275 Avenue G., White City.

• All incoming freshmen at Cascade Christian High School will receive a free Chromebook they can keep for the entirety of their high school careers. The technology is equipped with firewalls to protect the computers from online threats, and all teachers are trained on the devices and incorporate them into daily learning.

• Oregon Department of Education annually produces school and district report cards with information about class sizes, academic achievement, graduation rates, school/district demographics, etc. These report cards are available to the public at www.ode.state. or.us/data/reportcard/ reports.aspx.

Friday, August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade 3

4 Friday August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade

ADMINISTRATOR PROFILE

Karen Bailey New Madrone director would like to see charter school grow to include all grades

By Teresa Thomas Mail Tribune

Karen Bailey has earned degrees in philosophy, fine arts and architecture but only recently found her niche as director of Madrone Trail Public Charter School.

“I love administration, because I get to work with all the ages, the parents and Karen Bailey the teachers,” she said.

Bailey started her new position July 1, replacing Joe Frodsham, who had been head of the Waldorf-inspired school for the last six years.

Madrone Trail is at its charter cap of 225 students and, for some grades, has waiting lists of up to 30 children.

The school emphasizes the Waldorf approach to education, including

teaching subjects through artistic media, not using textbooks, fostering family and community relationships, and introducing students to music early and reading later.

Bailey said she’ll spend the next year assessing the school’s strategic plan and getting input from the school’s board and community.

“The charter is up for renewal in two years,” she said. “We have the potential to double the size of the elementary school, so now the community needs to decide how fast we want to grow.”

Bailey said she’d like to see the school expand its kindergarten program to full-day and, one day, serve students from preschool through high school.

“In my heart, I would like to see all grades through high school access the gift of Waldorf education,” she said. “But a high school takes a lot of preparation and support, so what I need to know from the Medford School District is if there is a need ... so that will be part of our yearlong planning process.”

Bailey said district officials have approved full-day kindergarten, and

“Preschool and kindergarten is such an amazing time for imaginative free play, healthy rhythms, nurturing home-life environment and socialization.

This is when they learn how to get along.”

now she is trying to gauge whether there is enough interest to support the program.

“Preschool and kindergarten is such an amazing time for imaginative free play, healthy rhythms, nurturing home-life environment and socialization,” she said. “This is when they learn how to get along.”

Bailey earned two bachelor’s and two master’s degrees from the University of Tennessee; founded a Waldorf school, The Schoolhouse, in East Tennessee; raised two children, homeschooling one of them for three years; and taught kindergarten, first in Tennessee and later in Colorado. In 2014-15, Bailey served as the interim

director of education of Mountain Phoenix Community School in Colorado, a Waldorf school with about 500 students.

Bailey visited Oregon for the first time in December, when she interviewed for the position, and loved it.

“There’s an appreciation for nature, healthy living, animals, children spending time outside and that rural agricultural character,” she said. “And everyone is so friendly here. I just think I’ve landed in heaven. I told my faculty that I’ll be here until I’m so old that I have to retire. And even then, I think I’d go back to teaching kindergarten.”

Bailey will provide information about the school and Waldorf principals, lead a campus tour and answer questions during weekly Tour and Tea sessions, starting Sept.

15. For more information and to sign up, email her at karen.bailey@ medford.k12.or.us. Both current and prospective parents are invited.

Reach education reporter Teresa Thomas at 541-776-4497 or tthomas@mailtribune.com.

Follow her at www.twitter.com/ teresathomas_mt.

PRINCIPAL PROFILE

Autumn Boekenoogen Cascade Christian head wants to enhance Advanced Placement and dual credit program

By Teresa Thomas Mail Tribune

With new leadership, new college and career opportunities and a new middle school on campus, it’s a new season for Cascade Christian High School, says Autumn Boekenoogen.

Boekenoogen has been with Grace Cascade Christian Schools for Autumn 10 years — first as Boekenoogen the early education coordinator for Grace Christian School, then as assistant principal of the high school — and, in June, was appointed to replace Phil

Long as principal of the high school.

“My vision is a Christian school where staff and students feel Christ’s presence, and an institution with a robust, academic program where students learn to be successful leaders and adults,” she said.

Boekenoogen attended Ashland High School, earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degree in teaching from Southern Oregon University and, while teaching kindergarten and first grade for the Deer Valley Unified School District in Arizona, completed a master’s degree in educational leadership from Northern Arizona University.

“I always knew I wanted to be a principal,” she said, adding that her mom, stepdad and husband are teachers.

Boekenoogen said she knows the culture of the school and learned a lot working as assistant principal to Long for the last two years.

Starting this fall, the school has new teachers in English and Bible,

“My vision is a Christian school where staff and students feel Christ’s presence, and an institution with a robust, academic program where students learn to be successful leaders and adults.” as well as a new college and career counselor, Boekenoogen’s stepfather, Jeff Olson, a former football coach, teacher and adviser for North Medford High School. Boekenoogen has plans to enhance the high school’s Advanced Placement and dual credit program and is looking at a new model for Bible classes that would include inviting outside pastors of different denominations to teach.

“Beside this being my absolute dream to be an administrator in this

school, I believe … what we have is a wonderful school with an amazing staff and gifted students,” Boekenoogen said.

“I do believe this is a new season for our school, and I believe that we are academically competitive, that we train up Christian leaders, and that we are a unique, school environment,” she said.

Matt Hamilton, an Applegate Christian Fellowship pastor and former assistant principal of Chehalem Valley Academy, has assumed Boekenoogen’s former position as assistant principal.

Boekenoogen’s husband, Dave, is a health and physical education teacher for the Prospect School District, and their three children — Dallas, 7, Winter, 4, and Jett, 3 — attend Grace Christian School.

The family attends Living Waters Foursquare Church.

Reach education reporter Teresa Thomas at 541-776-4497 or tthomas@mailtribune.com. Follow her at www.twitter.com/teresathomas_mt.

TEACHER PROFILES

Glen Ritter

By Teresa Thomas Mail Tribune

Twenty years ago, Glen Ritter decided to give up a lucrative position in the hospitality world and devote himself to teaching, and he hasn’t regretted it yet.

He’s taught science in public and private schools in North Carolina; worked for a prestigious boarding school in Maryland; and, more recently, served as an academic Glen Ritter dean and, later, divisional head of schools at Pinghu Middle School, one of St. Mary’s six partner schools in China and one of the highest-ranking schools in Zhejiang Province.

Ritter and his wife, Lisa, decided to return to the States this summer to be closer to their adult children and, this fall they will begin new positions with St. Mary’s School. Ritter will teach high school biology and chemistry and middle

By Teresa Thomas Mail Tribune

On July 20, Alex Roscher and her family packed up their Prius and the moving van and began a five-day trek from Pennsylvania to Oregon.

Both Alex and her husband, Gerald, are native Pennsylvanians who, after visiting a Alex Roscher brother in Medford last year, set their sights on Southern Oregon and have both since landed teaching jobs in the area — Alex at South Medford High School and Gerald

New St. Mary’s teacher back in the States after heading up Chinese partner school

school geometry, while Lisa will provide college and career counseling at the school.

“I’m excited about the direction of St. Mary’s and looking forward to being a classroom teacher, not an administrator,” Ritter said.

Last year, Ritter made his first visit to Southern Oregon to attend a meeting at St. Mary’s School. Although he liked the area, Ritter said he was even more impressed by how much the staff enjoyed working at the school.

“That, even more than the geography, is why we decided to move here,” he said.

Ritter has a bachelor’s degree in geology from Southern Illinois University.

He said he earned money for college working at McDonald’s, where he met Lisa.

After college, Ritter worked for an oil company for two years before he began climbing the hospitality ranks — first as a manager of a Wisconsin hotel, then as manager of the Lake Geneva Yacht Club, and later as manager of the Pinehurst Golf Resort in North Carolina.

Alex Roscher

Friday, August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade 5

While in Wisconsin, Ritter accepted substitute teaching jobs and coaching positions in the off-season and loved it.

When Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines, N.C., offered him a full-time job teaching earth science, physical science and biology, he jumped at it — even though it cost him a six-figure salary.

“Anyone financially advising me would have been, ‘Don’t do this,’ ” he said. “But my kids all supported it, and I’ve never regretted it.”

Ritter taught for the public school system for three years, for Auldern Academy in North Carolina for eight years and for West Nottingham Academy in Maryland for three years before moving to China.

“All my kids are grown, and they’d all traveled extensively, so my wife and I thought maybe it was our turn,” he said.

At Pinghu Middle School, students take Chinese and American classes and graduate with a diploma from the school and St. Mary’s. (Middle schools in China serve students in the 10th through 12th grade.)

“Our goal was to get them ready to go to college in America,” he said.

During the summers, Ritter taught the John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth summer program at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. “There are very, very driven, bright young people, ages 12 to 16, in our program,” he said. “I teach my entire biology course in three weeks. Kids go to school eight hours a day for three weeks.

“It gives me the chance to sharpen my teaching skills,” he said.

Last year, Ritter was one of three teachers nationwide to have his class filmed and used for the professional development of middle school teachers working with talented and gifted students.

Ritter said he encourages his students to ask hard questions that force him to find the answers, and he wants them to know how biology and chemistry impact them directly.

“Biology is the study of life, and you’re a living thing,” he said. “If you can’t find relevance in that, it’s a little troubling.”

‘Right jobs,’ culture, state parks lured Pennsylvanian and her husband to Rogue Valley

at Ashland High School.

“We’ve always wanted to move west, and Oregon has been our dream destination,” said Alex Roscher.

In addition to the small community, the culture and the surrounding state parks, Roscher said she found SMHS’ facilities and technology particularly attractive. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Emory University in Atlanta and a master’s degree in education from East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania.

“I’m a big STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) geek,” she said.

“The CTE (Career and Technical Education) program is a lot stronger in Oregon, and Oregon does a lot better job

of providing funding for schools to keep pace with technology,” she said.

Roscher, who has taught math and engineering for the last decade, will teach business and Project Lead the Way, a project-based engineering and technical program, at SMHS. “Both (subjects) are about empowering kids to do things differently and innovate, which is a lot more exciting to me than a traditional curriculum program because the kids have a choice,” she said.

Roscher said she is an advocate of student choice in education as it gives students ownership of their work and “they get a lot more out of it.”

“At Freedom High School (in

Pennsylvania), I gave the kids the opportunity to enter a competition, so we did the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and used MRI data and 3-D printing to make replicas of the human brain … to create a visual representation of drug abuse,” she said. “They were able to expand on the curriculum and learned even more because they were part of a competition.”

Roscher begins Aug. 8 teaching Panther Camp, a summer school opportunity for incoming freshmen.

“I’m most excited for the opportunity to work for Medford School District,” Roscher said. “(My husband and I) wanted to move to the west, but we wouldn’t have moved without the right jobs.”

6 Friday August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade

SMARTER BALANCED

OPTING OUT More Medford charter school students are declining to take state tests

Nationwide, Common Core tests have become a “political hot potato.”

See Page 18

By Teresa Thomas Mail Tribune

This year, the Medford School District saw an increase in the number of charter school students opting out of the state’s standardized math and English language arts assessments after new legislation made the tests optional for families.

In 2014-15, 62 Medford students — 13 charter school students and 49 noncharter students — claimed a religious or disability exemption and were excused from the Smarter Balanced assessments.

Since then, Gov. Kate Brown approved House Bill 2655, allowing anyone — not just those with a religious or disability exemption — to opt out of the annual summative assessments, administered every spring to thirdthrough eighth-graders and 11th-grade students.

Last spring, 141 Medford students, including 57 from Madrone Public Charter School and 55 from Logos Public Charter School, chose not to participate in the last round of assessments, which started in March and wrapped up in May. Karen Bailey, Madrone’s new executive director, said some charter school parents connect the tests with ranking and funding and believe that it doesn’t serve the child.

“Part of being alternative is taking a stand against testing because it drives funding and prestige in the public school system,” she said. “It’s a national trend, particularly among parents using alternative education methods, and questioning the status quo.

“It’s coming from the parents, not the

Logos Public Charter School teacher Brianne Fanelli works with second-grader Micah Zinkel in this 2014 file photo.

Some parents of charter students are opting out of state tests, believing they don’t serve the child.

MAIL TRIBUNE / BOB PENNELL

administrators or teachers.

Some teachers certainly like the information (gained from the test results),” she said.

Bailey said she hopes she can have a conversation with parents in the future and remind them that testing is about the experience, not the outcome.

Logos Director Joe VonDoloski said parents at his school were familiar with the new opt-out law, and the majority of the students who did opt out were in elementary school.

“At Logos, parents wanted to be engaged with their students throughout the week in their regular studies and personalized learning plan and not have to stop and test for a full week on a computer,” he said.

“Unfortunately for us, a lot of the K-6 students who opted out are very bright students who would have done well on the tests and raised our scores,” he said.

“But we respect and support their right to follow state laws that support their freedoms and rights. These parents don’t need a test score to tell

“Unfortunately for us, a lot of the K-6 students who opted out are very bright students who would have done well on the tests and raised our scores. But we respect and support their right to follow state laws that support their freedoms and rights.

These parents don’t need a test score to tell them their children are smart. They know.”

Joe VonDoloski Logos Director

them their children are smart.

They know.”

The federal government’s Every Student Succeeds Act requires that 95 percent of all students participate in state tests but also allows states to create their own opt-out laws and determine the consequences for schools and districts that fail to meet federal targets, said Oregon Department of Education spokeswoman Crystal Greene.

Oregon will submit its plan to the U.S. Department of Education in March 2017,

following a public comment period this fall, said ODE spokeswoman Amy Wojcicki.

In Medford, about 1 percent of the district’s total enrollment opted out of the tests.

Medford Chief Academic Officer Michelle Zundel said she expects to see the number of students opting out drop as more parents become more familiar with the assessment, its purpose and its benefits.

Students who opted out of the test spent that time in supervised study hall, in accordance with state law,

Zundel said.

Other local school districts also met the federal participation rate.

In Ashland, 47 students, or 2.3 percent of all full-time, third- through 12th-graders, opted out. In Central Point, nine students opted out of the language arts assessments and 30 students opted out of the math assessments. One percent of Phoenix-Talent students and only one student in Eagle Point opted out.

The Smarter Balanced assessments, said Zundel, ask students “to think critically, apply their knowledge to real-world problems and write using evidence.” Furthermore, the tests require students to demonstrate perseverance and to practice taking standardized tests, a skill they’ll need later in life to take the SAT, ACT, licensing exams or other types of standardized tests, she said.

And, of course, it provides families and teachers with information about a student’s progress on state standards, Zundel said.

“Our state and nation have raised expectations for our students, and we will educate them and support them to meet that higher standard, not back away from it because it’s difficult,” she said. “While it is only one snapshot of student learning, it provides valuable information.”

Reach education reporter Teresa Thomas at 541776-4497 or tthomas@ mailtribune.com. Follow her at www.twitter.com/ teresathomas_mt.

GUEST COLUMN

Friday, August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade 7

Every day, every student matters

By Phil Ortega for the Mail Tribune

Seven thousand students dropped out of Oregon schools.

The research couldn’t be more compelling. A student’s attendance record is second only to the grade point average as the best indicator of later academic performance, according to a 2014 study from the University of Chicago.

Among the youngest learners, attendance is especially critical: Only about 17 percent of students who were chronically absent as kindergartners and first-graders scored “proficient” in reading when they reached the third grade, according to a 2013 UCLA study. (“Chronically absent” is defined as missing 10 percent or more of the

Phil Ortega, an Attendance and Safe Schools coordinator with the Eagle Point School District, says encouraging attendance from Day 1 helps boost graduation rates. MAIL TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO

school year.) The fact is that too many of our students are missing too much school.

According to the Oregon Department of Education, 7,055 students dropped out in the 2013-14 school

year. This number is shocking! The average school district has a school calendar of 176 school days. Students are out of school 189 days a year on average in Oregon. Forty students per day drop out! We

have limited days of opportunity to impact our students and so with little precious time, we as a community need all stakeholders informed and involved in the solution.

As a community, we must work together to encourage high school graduation. The best way to support and gain momentum in increasing our graduation rates is to encourage the daily habit of attendance.

Students must attend so that they can optimize their learning opportunity and earn credits.

Three districts in Jackson County have contracted the services of Attention2Attendance (A2A) to provide an attendance management system to inform parents and guardians on regular intervals about attendance. Eagle

Point, Rogue River and Medford School Districts have all committed to lowering their chronic rates of absenteeism. The Eagle Point School District has implemented strategies for the past three years and has seen a reduction of the chronic absence rate to 5 percent. This reduction has huge gains on classroom instruction and paves the road to increasing graduation rates.

We should be aware and understand that our teachers, administrators and all school district staff are willing and able to support the learning of all students.

The best way to support them is to encourage family involvement in their children’s learning and provide regular and timely information so that we can avoid a loss

of learning time.

As an educator, I feel compelled to serve my community and do my part to support all children, so I offer this advice.

It is important to note that we all should be concerned anytime a student misses too much school — even when excused. Illness and family obligations are a fact of life, but sometimes the choices that adults make can have a dramatic impact on their children. This is especially true for early learners.

We do understand that sometimes missing school is unavoidable, but we also want to help remove any obstacles that might present barriers to our families. All school districts have resources that can be SEE MATTERS, 12

8 Friday August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade

MONITORING GRADES

‘Parent portals’ Pros and cons of timely online updates

By Lisa A. Flam Associated Press

Once upon a time, finding out how your child was doing in school could require weeks of patience. You waited for the parent-teacher conference, for a return phone call from school if you were concerned and, eventually, for a report card to land in the mailbox.

Now, a growing number of families can get instant access to grades and other school information through online “parent portals.”

But just because a grade can be posted hours after a test, does that mean parents should rush to the portal and discuss the B minus with their child that evening?

How often should they check on grades, and what’s the best way to handle the real-time academic updates?

“My suggestion is for parents to not make themselves crazy checking every day,” said Nancy Hill, a developmental psychologist and education professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

“Too much information can make a parent overbearing rather than facilitating their student’s sense of autonomy” and planning, she added.

“It’s how parents use the information that becomes essential.”

Parents should start by checking the portals once a week (more if a child is struggling) and see how it goes, advises Hill, who studies parental involvement in education during adolescence.

“But not on Friday,” she said. You don’t want “to brood over it over the weekend.”

Parent portals, which let schools securely post information on attendance, class schedules, report cards and even lunch menus, along with grades, have gone into use in school systems around the country over the last decade, experts say.

Hill says the portals can be empowering, especially for parents of adolescents. Parents can monitor kids’ progress behind the scenes, and not always have to ask to see the

Once upon a time, finding out how your child was doing in school could require weeks of patience. Now, a growing number of families can get instant access to grades and other school information through online parent portals. (AP PHOTO/SETH PERLMAN, FILE)

graded papers and tests.

“They can see it and know how their children are doing and give space for independence and autonomy that the middle schoolers really crave,” she said.

Some parents check the portals every day; others never sign up at all.

Neil Shapiro, a father of two from Marlboro, N.J., describes himself as “a very vigilant checker,” who logged on at least once a day last school year when his son was a high school senior and his daughter in eighth grade.

“They think it’s ridiculous,” he said of his children, both high-achievers.

“They think I’m nuts.”

But using the portals meant that he and his wife could provide support when they felt their kids needed it, and before it was too late.

“You can nip things in the bud,” Shapiro said. “I don’t want to find out my son or daughter missed three homework assignments at the end of the marking period. I want to find out why they missed the homework now” and what to do about it.

He believes his kids were motivated to do well because they knew he was

checking, but he tried to avoid using the information to stress them out.

“It’s definitely a balance,” he said, adding that “you have to pick and choose how and when you confront your children about it.”

Juliet Babros of Los Angeles logs into the portals much less frequently to check on her daughters, who enter ninth and 11th grade this fall. She encourages them to try to improve their grades by, for example, asking to retake a test if they didn’t score well.

“I consider my approach balanced because I’m not constantly checking daily or even weekly, but more sporadically or when I suspect there might be an issue, or if they don’t seem to be managing their time well,” said Babros.

“As my kids have gotten older, they don’t always want to talk about assignments and test grades,” she said. “The parent portal gives me a glimpse into what’s going on in school without me having to bug them.”

Hill advises parents to do nothing if they see their child is doing fine.

The portals, she said, allow for both

celebrations and course corrections.

“If the child did better than expected, say, ‘Hey, I think you did really well.

You worked hard. Tell me more about what worked for you,’” she said.

“If they’re not doing well or had a poor grade, I wouldn’t blow it out of proportion or change your weekend plans,” Hill said. “I would ask them what happened and give them space to explain themselves, and then ask them what their plan is and if they need help.”

Don’t take every grade too seriously.

“Understand that a poor grade early on doesn’t define them,” Hill said. “It gives them an opportunity to see how they can improve.”

Cory Notestine, a school counseling facilitator in Colorado Springs, Colo., also suggests that parents check on grades about once a week, noting that frequent checking and negative comments could strain the parent-child relationship.

“Over time,” he said, “what we want for children to do is take ownership of their education, with support from parents.”

Friday, August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade 9

TECHNOLOGY

A computer for every student As districts invest in Chromebooks and iPads, teachers innovate in the classroom

By Teresa Thomas Mail Tribune

With local districts striving to put a Chromebook or iPad in each student's hand, local teachers are looking at new ways to incorporate digital learning into the classroom experience.

Tisha Richmond, a South Medford High School culinary arts teacher who received a grant three years ago to purchase iPads for her class, has begun “gamifying” — a relatively new trend promoted by educators such as Michael Matera in his book “Explore Like a Pirate.”

“Gamification is basically taking the mechanics within games that draw us in and layering them over our curriculum to make learning come alive for students,” Richmond said.

Students in Richmond’s class can participate in a Master Chef-themed culinary game she created in which they earn experience or “xp” points through various baking tasks or missions. For example, students have made tutorial movies, menus and infographics on their iPads, Richmond said.

“I now have a paperless

classroom,” she said. “All their recipes are given to them digitally and all documents are shared through Google Classroom which allows students to collaborate … and creates a more efficient workflow.”

Furthermore, Richmond said technology has changed her life as an educator, as she can now connect with teachers from around the world through various social media platforms.

“Being connected through technology expands your professional learning network, exponentially,” she said.

The Medford School District invested $616,140 in Chromebooks last spring, bringing its inventory to 6,738 Chromebooks that are interspersed among its more than 13,600 students.

Like Medford, the Eagle Point School District also has made a huge investment in technology, purchasing enough iPads for every student to use in class and take home, with their parents' permission, during the school year.

The district allows teachers to determine when and how often the iPads are used in class, said Ana Apgar, a middle school band director and sixth- through 12th-grade choir director.

“Some people would only use it from time to time while others made their entire course load available online,” Apgar said.

The Medford School District began purchasing Chromebooks for use in the classroom in 2014. MAIL TRIBUNE / BOB PENNELL ILLUSTRATION

In her music classes, Apgar uses the app forScore to scan choir music, allowing students to download it onto their devices and saving her from having to make hundreds of copies.

She said some students

also use SmartMusic, an interactive app that provides immediate feedback on rhythms and pitches, when they practice at home.

As part of its technology rollout, teachers taught students about digital

citizenship and how to be safe on the Internet and report bullying. The district installed a bullying tip line app onto every device, allowing students and parents to anonymously report incidents to the building administrator and technology supervisor, said Tina Mondale, the district’s school improvement specialist.

Although the district did not have an increase in discipline referrals, teachers were confronted with students sending iMessages during class — the digital equivalent of passing notes, Mondale said.

“It’s not a new behavior,” she said. “It’s just become more digital.”

Messaging was an issue at the beginning of the year, but the number of incidents tapered off as the year went on, said Eagle Point’s Human Resources Director Allen Barber, adding that Parkrose School District in Portland experienced a similar trend when it went one-to-one.

The district also has filters in place to block explicit things and key words, including certain sexual terms and some word combinations related to weapons. Parents also received step-by-step instructions for setting additional restrictions on their child’s device, Mondale said.

SEE COMPUTER, 12

10 Friday August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade

BUDGETING PIXABAY.COM

MONEYSMART How to budget for school expenses

By Melissa Erickson More Content Now

B

ack-to-school shopping is expensive, but budgeting on backpacks and school supplies can make your dollars go farther.

After peaking in 2014, back-toschool spending dipped a bit last year. The National Retail Federation estimated that families with students in kindergarten through high school spent $630 per child in 2015, down from $669 in 2014, for a grand total of $29 billion.

“Every family needs to budget for back-to-school spending no matter what their financial outlook,” said personal finance expert Rachel Cruze, author of “Smart Money Smart Kids.”

From trendy school clothes to nifty pencil bags and binders, it’s easy for parents to overspend.

“Budgeting is key. If you don’t have a plan, you’ll end up spending too much,” Cruze said.

Some people “hear the word ‘budget’ and cringe, but a budget doesn’t limit freedom, it increases

your freedom so you can control what you spend,” Cruze said.

Budgeting has to be intentional, and back-to-school spending needs to be a part of the household budget, Cruze said.

“List all the categories your money is going to: bills, mortgage, rent.

That’s your household budget.

What’s left after bills can be saved or set aside for things like back-toschool spending. You know school is coming. Plan ahead and you’ll have a nice little fund for shopping,” Cruze said.

Here are some more tips from Cruze, whose new book, “Love Your Life, Not Theirs,” will be available in October:

Plan it Start smart by making a list of everything you’ll need so you can budget the money you have to cover your expenses. Without a list, you’ll spend blindly and spend too much.

Don’t shop without your list.

Think ahead Some states have tax-free shopping

days before school starts. Comparison-shop and look online to find the best prices. Take advantage of retailers who slash prices at the end of the season.

Make sure you need it Check what you already have. Does last year’s school uniform still fit?

Is there an extra box of pencils that can be used? You might already have essentials such as rulers, scissors, pencils and paper on hand.

Needs over wants Just because you have a coupon for an item doesn’t mean you have to buy it. Stick with what your child needs rather than what your child wants.

The required list of school supplies and new gym shoes to fit growing feet are needs. A new backpack is a want if last year’s is still in good shape.

Let kids help Back-to-school shopping is an opportunity to teach kids about budgeting. Take an envelope with cash and let kids see the money disappear as it is exchanged for goods. When

it’s gone, shopping is over. If a child wants trendy clothing brands or upscale supplies, let them cover the difference themselves.

Use tools In addition to paging through weekly circulars and researching deals online, use an app to help with budgeting and couponing such as EveryDollar, SnipSnap, shopkick or YNAB (You Need A Budget) as well as apps from retailers you frequent.

Think about school-year expenses now “It’s likely that you’ll have fees due throughout the school year, some expected and some unexpected. Too many parents get caught off guard because they weren’t planning for these fees and don’t have the extra money to pay for them,” Cruze said. “Create a line item in your budget for miscellaneous school expenses and start setting money aside. This will allow you to have the money readily available for when the fees come due and prevent you from going into debt or feeling stressed about not having the money.”

BENEFITS OF OUTDOORS

Friday, August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade 11

Summer will be soon gone But kids’ ties to nature don’t have to end

By Katherine Roth Associated Press

The start of the school year doesn’t have to mean the end of time outdoors.

Many parents, teachers and schools are finding ways to keep kids connected to nature all year.

“It may be even more important for kids to be connected to nature during the school year than just in the summer,” says Richard Louv, author of the new “Vitamin N: The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life” (Algonquin Books) and the best-selling “Last Child in the Woods” (Algonquin, 2008).

“Amid all the focus on technology, we’ve been missing something quite elemental,” Louv says.

Just a walk through an urban park, he says, can help kids’ performance in school. “I can’t tell you how many times teachers who bring their classes into natural settings say that the troublemaker in class is the very one that turns out to have leadership qualities in the woods,” he says.

Sarah Milligan-Toffler, executive director of the Children and Nature Network, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit, says that getting kids connected to nature doesn’t have to mean a major outing.

“There is something about natural environments that is really stressreducing,” she says, “even if it’s just 10 minutes a day in a neighborhood park or planting a pollinator garden.”

Many botanical gardens, parks and nature centers offer after-school and weekend programs and are helping schools bring environmental awareness into the classroom, too.

Schools in Mamaroneck, N.Y., for example, have worked with a local nature preserve in the last few years to get kids from preschool to high school outside for science, says the district’s assistant superintendent for curriculum, Annie Ward.

“I know we’re in a time of standards, and so forth, but how do we help kids grow up with a sense of place, of regional identity?” she says. “Especially now, with all these issues being talked about — the rise of technology, of kids being hyper-scheduled — there’s particular power in being outside, in being close, careful observers of the natural world.

There’s a sense of calm and a sense of being unplugged.”

Naturalists come to school and prepare kids and teachers for field trips,

Kids take part in gardening inside the Family Garden at The New York Botanical Garden in New York. (THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN VIA AP)

Ward says. Third-graders go to a nearby Long Island Sound beach to learn about tidal ecosystems. Fifth-graders take pond samples to study under microscopes. High school students in an advanced placement environment class helped to remove invasive plants from a meadow at the preserve.

Nationally, a federal program, Every Kid in the Park, offers free admission to national parks and other public lands to the families of all fourth-graders.

And many schools are beginning to realize the value of green schoolyards or gardens.

“Schools are public lands accessible to children, and too often the yards consist of a blacktop that’s locked up at night,” says Milligan-Toffler.

Louv’s latest book outlines ways that families can advocate for more green space in schools and form networks of families interested in getting outdoors.

Particularly for older kids, he notes, outings are more enticing if their peers go, too.

For parents looking for places to go as a family, Nature Rocks, a program of The Nature Conservancy, has a website where you plug in your location and the weather, and it will list ideas.

The Children and Nature Network also lists on its website groups interested in getting outdoors.

Louv notes that kids don’t need to come inside just because of cold or rain; they just need to dress accordingly.

12 Friday August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Here’s how to help in local schools Medford School District, in partnership with Junior Achievement, hopes to establish volunteer coordinators at each school this year to make the most of volunteer support.

The district is in the market for volunteers willing to provide academic support, offer afterschool enrichment activities, chaperone school events, tutor and mentor secondary students, serve on senior project panels and mock interviews, and assist students as they look for colleges and navigate the admissions process. The district also would like to see local businesses partner with schools and provide student internships. The district’s volunteer application and handbook are available at www. medford.k12.or.us/Page/461.

Phoenix-Talent School District is looking for volunteers to serve as tutors, mentors, lunch or playtime buddies, classroom support, fieldtrip support and clerical support, to name a few. The district also is looking for community members willing to serve on the PhoenixTalent Schools Foundation Committee, which provides scholarships for students pursuing higher education. Anyone interested in volunteering must fill out a volunteer packet, available at every school and the district office.

Eagle Point School District is looking for volunteer Aspire mentors, AVID (Advancement Via Individual

MATTERS From Page 7

employed if needed. Communication is key between families and school staff.

So I’ll close with this, students cannot learn if they aren’t in class and, in fact, they struggle and fall further behind with each class missed. Just showing up each day is the first step to learning and creating habits that will foster success long after high school graduation.

While attendance alone cannot solve all of our educational challenges, it is a major factor in encouraging more children to thrive academically in the early grades and move on to successfully graduate from high school. The regular-attendance habits of today can become

Determination) program tutors, United Way Big Idea student mentors for high school freshmen, SMART (Start Making a Reader Today) readers, middle school assistant coaches, classroom assistants, after-school tutors, special-events helpers and more.

Volunteer applications are available at the district office over the summer and at the schools starting Sept. 6.

Central Point School District has a variety of volunteer positions to fill, including classroom assistants, field-trip supervisors and coaches. Anyone interested should contact the building principal and complete a volunteer application. All applicants must pass a criminal background check before volunteering in the schools.

Ashland School District is in need of parents and community members willing to present at career day in the fall and serve as project panelists in the spring at Ashland High School. The district also is looking for volunteers to help out in the classrooms, library, art room and garden at Walker Elementary School. For more information about volunteer opportunities and how to become a volunteer, check with the front office of any school for a list of its current needs and see www.ashland.k12.or.us/Page. asp?NavID=1536 for background check and volunteer forms.

Students cannot learn if they aren’t in class and, in fact, they struggle and fall further behind with each class missed.

Just showing up each day is the first step to learning and creating habits that will foster success long after high school graduation. tomorrow’s productive work ethic.

Please join us in helping all our students succeed by making sure all school-age youth are in school and in class every day — ready to learn.

Phil Ortega is an Attendance and Safe Schools coordinator with the Eagle Point School District.

COMPUTER From Page 9

“Parents can still be parents even though it’s a district device," she said.

Starting this fall, Eagle Point teachers will be able to access Apple’s new Classroom app, allowing them to monitor what’s happening on every device in their classroom and freeze a screen, redirect a student or send a student a message.

Medford’s Chromebooks will be equipped with software, called Insight, which has similar capabilities, district’s network services manager Jeff Bales said.

According to one description, Insight allows teachers “to educate, assist, monitor and communicate with an entire computer lab from one central computer.” Or, in this case, Chromebook.

At the beginning of the school year, teachers will instruct elementary students on how to use the new Chromebooks and how to use technology responsibly, said Medford district spokeswoman Natalie Hurd.

Chief Academic Officer Michelle Zundel said students also

will have to sign an “acceptable use agreement.”

“And teachers will tell them what the expectations are, just like we do with playground expectations,” Zundel said.

Mike Jackson, a school resource officer at South Medford High School, also will visit every elementary school to talk to sixth-graders — and some fifthgraders — about Internet safety, cyber-bullying, protecting yourself from online predators and protecting your passwords and identity, Hurd said.

“Nothing replaces supervision,” said Jennifer Maulsby, a school improvement specialist who is tasked with supporting teachers as they learn to operate and teach with Chromebooks. “It’s just one more place where we teach them to be safe and kind.”

“You have to have the right tool for the right activity, and you have to have a caring adult to connect the learner to the right resources … in order for them to achieve and be successful,” she said.

Reach education reporter Teresa Thomas at 541-776-4497 or tthomas@mailtribune.com.

Follow her at www.twitter.com/ teresathomas_mt.

SNAZZY DORM ROOMS

Friday, August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade 13

DORM DECOR HACKS Kim Cook Associated Press

Moving into a dorm is one of college life's most exciting milestones; it's the first time many kids are living away from the comfy confines of home.

But the thrill can wane when the dormitory door opens. Most dorm rooms are pretty basic, with plain furniture and institutional floors and walls.

So how do you take a room from spartan to snazzy when most of the budget is going to meal plans and books?

"No matter how small and cramped your dorm room may be, you can still find cute ways to store all your stuff — without spending a ton on organizers and decor," says Seventeen magazine editor Kristin Koch.

She and stylist Sarah Newell suggest creating a floating shelf out of a magazine file box, and turning clear plastic paint cans into storage for hair accessories or school supplies (www.seventeen. com).

Repurposing and rethinking are the keys to good hacks.

Tikva Morrow is editor in chief at Hometalk.com, a New York-based do-it-yourself home and garden website.

She says it's tempting to load up on kitschy decor, but that's a budget sucker.

"DIY some pretty embellishments of your own instead," she suggests. "Bring along a few rolls of washi tape for wall decor and picture

A silverware organizer can be made into a jewelry holder with paint, stencils and a few cup hooks. (SADIE SEASONGOODS VIA AP)

displays, and make a few large prints for walls."

Decorative tape and fabric also can be used to jazz up shelving and built-ins.

Is that your roommate's laptop charger, or yours?

Identify the cords and accessories by wrapping them with colorful tape, advises stylist and HGTV.com contributor

Michelle Edgemont. She also suggests adding the tape to a plain Jane table or closet door.

Look online for instructions on how to make no-sew or simple-sew pillows with old T-shirts or sweaters.

"Cute throw pillows are easy to make, and even a headboard can be DIY-ed using a large piece of

cardboard, some fabric and a hot glue gun," Morrow says.

Shower stall caddies can be hung on a door or wall to corral loose items, says Gurl. com's Jessica Booth.

And organization blogger Laura Wittman of Alberta, Canada, says shower-curtain rings can turn ordinary hangers into scarf and belt organizers.

Or use the rings to hang fabric or curtains over existing dorm blinds, personalizing your windows.

Dorm floors are pretty institutional, but students don't want to spend good money on nice rugs that will get lots of wear and tear. On Hometalk.com, Brooke Bock of Tyrone, Penn., shares how she made a shaggy throw rug using a piece of non-slip rug matting and recycled sheet scraps.

On the same site, Sarah Ramberg of Simpsonville, S.C., contributed the idea of turning a silverware tray into a jewelry holder using paint, stencils and cup hooks.

A silverware tray tucked into a drawer makes good hideaway storage for keys, ID cards, sunglasses and electronics.

Design duo Zest It Up in Atascadero, Calif., suggests creating an artsy, no-maintenance indoor garden by painting smooth rocks and planting them as faux cacti in a cool pot.

In many dorms, beds are on lofts over desks or storage areas, says Target stylist (and recent UCLA

graduate) Tiffany Ma. She recommends using Target's Room Essentials Micro Fiber Sheets with side pockets: "It's like having your own floating nightstand to hold your phone, tablet, book or glasses.

You can get your exercise walking to class, instead of climbing up and down from your bunk."

The retailer's also got an over-the-door, fulllength mirror with built-in organizer.

"There's nothing more boring than the typical cinder-block dorm-room wall — they're almost impossible to nail or screw into, plus you don't want to get in trouble for marking them up," Ma says.

Consider a colorful tapestry or a mural photo-printed with a "view": a city at night, a scene from some faraway land, a serene nature-scape.

Attach the cloth with nonmarking adhesive strips (www.target.com).

When you're doing the school-supply run, grab some extra sticky notepads. Pinterest is full of ideas for wall art made with the sticky notes.

And instructions for crafting decorative flowers are at www.post-it.com.

Or create a framed corkboard or mirror using rolled-up magazine pages and Mod Podge. Using a paper punch, turn metallic or paper cupcake holders into frilly foils for string lights; Los Angeles designer Emma Jeffery shows you how at www. fiskars.com.

14 Friday August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade

CHANGES

KEEP IT

POSITIVE Help your child deal with school year changes

By Melissa Erickson More Content Now

C

hange is hard for everyone. Entering a new school is one of the biggest changes a child may encounter in his young life.

Parents can help smooth the transition and make it less traumatic.

“A lot of parents may feel anxiety about a change of school, but they should be careful not to project those feelings on their kids.

Their child may not be feeling the same thing,” said parenting expert, blogger and author Richard Greenberg, who shares an analogy: “If you got in a taxi and said to the driver, ‘Take me to the airport’ and he said, ‘I don’t know how to

get there,’ you wouldn’t feel too good about it. Kids are in the back of our cab. The key is to project confidence.”

Put yourself in their shoes and try and remember how it felt to be a kid in a new situation, he added.

“Let them know you’re part of the process. Project that this is going to be great. They’re going to have fun. Change is a part of life.

It’s a part of growing up. Tell them that you’re proud of them. Use the power of positive thinking,” Greenberg said.

Make a friend early “Friends play an enormous part of success in school,” said educational psychologist and parenting, bullying and character expert Dr. Michele Borba, author

of “Unselfie.” “Friends keep kids happy. They make a child want to go to school. They are a support system.”

If you can connect your child with one friendly face before school starts, it can ease the process of changing schools.

“Walking into a new school without knowing someone is stressful,” Borba said. “The goal is to make your child feel secure in dozens of ways. Whatever you can learn and discuss ahead of time will reduce their anxiety.”

Look for opportunities for your child to meet neighbors and potential classmates over the summer.

Check out library and park district programs and the local newspaper to see what’s happening in your area.

More advice Here are some more tips: • Visit the school’s website. Take a virtual tour and download a map of the school if possible. Check the school calendar and read the school rules and dress codes.

• If possible, visit the school and talk to the teacher or an administrator before classes begin.

• Practice your introductions. Have your child come up with a short conversationstarter: “Hi! My name is Mike. I just moved here from Baltimore and I play baseball.”

That way they’ll be ready with something to say to new acquaintances.

• Remind your child that it’s normal to feel anxious and let them know you’re there for them if they have questions.

• If your child is concerned about riding the bus, brief your child on safety rules and visit the bus stop in advance. Point out familiar landmarks and reassure your child that an adult will be on hand when they disembark at the school.

• Parents can contact the school’s parent teacher organization, which can provide information about the new school. Volunteering is a great way to become a part of a new community and make new friends for both parent and child.

• No matter how anxious you are when dropping off a child at a new school, don’t linger. Borba said. That will only increase their anxiety.

PARENT-TEACHER COMMUNICTION

Friday, August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade 15

LISTEN UP, PARENTS Here’s what your child’s teacher would like you to know

By Leanne Italie Associated Press

Keeping the lines of communication open between parents and teachers can be a challenge, especially in this era of crowded classrooms and time-crunched families. So many questions and issues go unspoken or unanswered.

So what would teachers like to express if they had more time to talk with parents?

Some of the issues aren’t easy to discuss — from institutional problems at schools, to tender subjects touching on children’s family life and abilities.

Here’s a sample: Adjusting the sails

Sandi Bishop in suburban Seattle was a classroom teacher for 30 years in elementary and middle grades in North Dakota and Iowa. Her students ranged from urban to rural, poor to well-off.

Parents, she said, don’t realize how much teachers know about what goes on at home simply by interacting with kids.

“I’d like to remind parents that the environment at home comes to school,” she said. “If there is chaos at home, your child will come to school not ready to focus and learn. A phrase I often state is, some children come to school to be loved; loved children come to school to learn. As a teacher, you begin behavioral profiling much like the FBI does with suspects.”

Betsy Allison Tant in Knoxville, Tenn., is a former teacher and mom of three.

As a teacher, she said, “I wanted parents to know that I’m teaching academics within the context of life. If I don’t know what’s going on with a child or family, I can’t adjust the sails for those kids.”

As a parent, on the other hand, “I want teachers to respect my input. When I say that there’s something going on that is impacting my child in a way that can change their performance, please believe me and adjust the sails.”

Carolyn Lee, a substitute teacher in Hawaii, agrees that parents and teachers need to work together.

“No teacher, no matter how dedicated, experienced and hard-working, can make up for the lack of parental involvement in a child’s studies,” said Lee, who has taught kindergartners, fourth-graders, high schoolers and college students, some as a tutor.

“A parent is still the most influential teacher in a child’s life.”

A student prepares to leave the Enterprise Attendance Center southeast of Brookhaven, Miss. Much can go unsaid between parents and teachers due to lack of time and opportunity. (AP PHOTO/ROGELIO V. SOLIS, FILE) Behind the scenes

Tim Cornillie in suburban Chicago taught high school English and other subjects both full- and part-time for seven years, through 2012. He wants parents to be aware of how far some schools stray from prioritizing academics.

“Schools put up a smoke screen of sports and extracurricular activities,” he said, and advises: “Do a quick survey of principals’ backgrounds, and you’ll see how little academics and how much sports have played a role in their careers.”

Falling through the cracks

Kimi Ordoubadian Abernathy, an independent educational consultant in Nashville, Tenn., has four grown sons and a teenage daughter. She has worked in admissions or college counseling for 24 years. Teachers, she said, often disregard or misunderstand the challenges of kids with social and emotional deficits.

“The way teachers dismiss a kid who can be irritating makes that kid fair game for the rest of the class at lunch, PE, recess, etcetera,” she said.

Among them are those kids mildly on the autism spectrum, who are falling through the cracks.

“If these kids did not have arms we would be all over them and prevent

bullying. But often teachers say these kids ‘bring it on themselves,’” she said. “They need social support just to get to the academics.

They don’t bring it on themselves.

They have no clue what is going on.

They ‘look normal’ so teachers often forget the degree to which they are handicapped.”

Attendance, trust

Andrew Price has been teaching math at an alternative high school in Portland for a year and a half. Parents, he said, should work on supporting good attendance from the start.

“If students already have attendance issues by the time they reach high school, then there is little hope,” he said.

Price would like parents to recognize what he calls a paradigm shift in terms of teachers and trust: “It used to be that no matter what a kid said, parents would listen to an adult. That is, if your neighbor said your kid was being bad and the kid denied it, the parents would trust the adult neighbor. The same thing was true for teachers.

“But now it seems that has changed,” he said. “Parents side with their students and don’t believe the teachers.”

16 Friday August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade

KEEPING MEMORIES

When every piece is precious 4 ideas for hanging onto school-year memories and artwork

Tamara Eaton created an oversized pin-board extending all the way to the ceiling, perfect for displaying all the kids’ artwork coming in.

By Melissa Rayworth Associated Press

On crisp September afternoons, kids often come home from school bearing armfuls of classroom art. The evenings often bring comments about their day’s events and sometimes hilarious descriptions of their world.

Parents are sure they’ll save and remember all those paper creations and memorable words. But the pace of life soon takes over, and even organized moms and dads can end up inundated.

It’s worth creating a system to manage the flow because school artwork can quickly pile up, says Laura Russell, founder of the craft blog makelifelovely.com and a mother of four. With just a bit of creative effort, you also can find ways to hold onto all those funny comments you’ll want to remember years from now.

As a new school year begins, here are four easy projects to help do that:

1.

You can build on the trend of snapping and posting “first day of Follow them with photos

school” photos by adding written notes in your kids’ own handwriting, says Kayla Kitts, special projects editor at HGTV.com. Take a photo on that first day, and that evening have kids write out a page listing their current dreams and favorites.

Include five or 10 questions about anything you’d like: the career they’d love to have someday, their favorite school lunch, best friend, favorite class. Have them write it out in their own handwriting to preserve that too, says Kitts. Then scan or photograph the page.

Do the same on the day before their December holiday break, and again during the final week of school.

Then supplement those three photos and images of their written surveys with other photos from school events or candid shots with friends, or scans of their school artwork. Lay it all out in a photo book you can order online.

“It’s a really cool book to give grandparents,” Kitts says, and is a keepsake your child will enjoy in the future.

At the end of elementary school, you can easily create a book that includes these photos and written

(TAMARA EATON DESIGN/ HGTV.COM/ SCRIPPS NETWORKS LLC VIA AP)

comments as a gift to a special teacher.

2.

Russell begins each year by setting aside a big file-folder box for Winnow their work

each child. She labels one hanging folder for each month, with some spares in case files fill up before a month ends.

If that level of organization sounds too ambitious, keep a large plastic bin handy.

“Stuff all the art in there,” Russell says, and go through it periodically, asking each child which pieces are their favorites.

Once you’ve pared things down to their favorites and yours, Russell suggests slipping the art into plastic sleeves in a three-ring binder. Her kids love thumbing through their binders from past school years.

“While I’m in charge of the books now and don’t let the kids pull them out unless I’m sitting with them, I plan on giving them their books when they’re older,” she says.

Another suggestion for storing and celebrating art: “Scan the favorite pieces as they come home. From those scans you can make a slideshow for each year of school,” Russell says.

“Life is short, and the artwork that comes home right now can be a wonderful way to tie generations SEE PRECIOUS, 19

Friday, August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade 17

PE URTESY JC PHOTOS CO

NNEY

TRENDS

SELFIE WORTHY

By Melissa Erickson More Content Now

I

f you look good you feel good, but figuring out what’s on trend, finding the right fit and sticking to a budget can be a challenge. Head back to school in style with help from fashion experts.

Back to school is all about authenticity, said Elizabeth Melley, vice president of kids design, trend and product development for JCPenney.

“The simplicity of a great pair of jeans, classic vintage tees and iconic styling are the base of personal style.

The mix of athletic wear with oversized cozy classics brings an update to the typical back-to-school wardrobe seen in outdoor trends for Arizona Boys and ‘70s boho trends for Arizona Girls,” Melley said, referring to Penney’s exclusive clothing brand.

Kids want to be “comfortable while still expressing themselves and their unique personalities,” said Angie Thompson, Target spokeswoman.

That means many will be reaching for graphic tees and colorful printed

leggings, she said.

“2016 back-to-school trends will continue to push forward some of the key themes from last season with a new twist. Last year we saw a strong focus on galactic, preppy, ‘70s and ‘90s themes, which we see continuing,” said Erin Rechner, senior editor, kidswear for trend forecaster WGSN. “Some key items you will spot this season are the bomber jacket, straight leg jean, and jogger (pant) alongside print-driven two-piece sweat sets for the more fashion-forward brands.”

“The perfect denim jacket or vest are essential to every closet,” Melley said.

Trends by age Similarities exist from elementary to high school, but each age stands out.

“Younger kids are fearless when styling their clothing, with a great graphic tee or a mix of colorful patterns; there are no rules for kids’ fashion this season,” said Melley. “For older kids, it is all about personal style and how the individual brings their style to life; texture, pattern, fabric and artistic embellishment make every look feel

Get an on-trend back-to-school look

unique.”

The ‘70s will have a heavy influence on fall fashion with printed boho tops, lace-up tops, crochet tunics, novelty oversized sweaters and textured layers.

Pair those with suede button-up A-line skirts, indigo jeggings and jeans with patches, Melley said.

Also on trend are moody florals balanced with youthful easy stripes in knit tops, plaids with shiny Lurex thread and graphic tees in soft textures grounded by denim, Melley said.

For boys, “back to school is all about athleisure, layers, comfort and style,” Melley said. Look out for texture check and plaids, blanket stripes and color blocking.

“Preppy will always be a key theme for back to school, and this season we project items to have a more relaxed look with the recent uptick in activewear-inspired pieces,” Rechner said.

Color and embellishments Mustard and dusty pink continue to be the must-have colors for kids.

“Dusty pink is finally being accepted into commercial products and is even

being treated as a neutral by some girls brands,” Rechner said. “Mustard is strong for girls and boys, tapping into that 1970s color palette.”

“Neutrals are important for both girls and boys but are all in textured fabrication. Indigo blues and olive are new key neutrals followed by classic black and white,” Melley said. Or, go for saturated color with bright pops, she added.

Fashionistas will be putting their feet forward in metallic versions of the Ugg boot, prettified grunge boots, the Chelsea boot, colorful sneakers and anything with fur trim, Rechner said.

“For accessories, ‘70s-inspired prints, global craft elements as well as classic nylon backpacks will also be key,” she added.

Students can even go a step further and accessorize their school supplies.

“Target partnered with Bethany Mota on a new, exclusive DIY collection so students can personalize their school supplies with fun stickers and accessories. The collection includes a variety of assorted stickers and rub-on transfers, ink pads, stencils, confetti, thread tassels and more,” Thompson said.

18 Friday August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade

PIXABAY

COMMON CORE

wiped

By Melissa Erickson More Content Now

A

cross the nation, parents, teachers and children are objecting to the educational reform of the Common Core, creating a trend of opting out and raising serious questions about its future.

The Common Core is a set of ambitious standards, the knowledge and skills that students will need to master by the end of a given school year, said Jonathan Supovitz, professor of leadership and public policy and co-director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.

The goal of Common Core is for students to master what they will need to know so they will be able to attend college without taking any remedial classes, said Mindy Kornhaber, associate professor of education in educational theory and policy at Penn State College of Education.

A brief history Adopted in 2010, Common Core peaked initially with 46 out

of 50 states jumping on board but went downhill after that.

Early adopter Indiana along with South Carolina and Oklahoma repealed the standards in 2014 and replaced them with new ones, Supovitz said.

Only 32 percent of public school students live in states that are using the federally funded tests (called PARCC or Smarter Balanced) statewide, a drop from 46 percent a year ago, according to Education Week.

In spring 2015, when the first Common Core “tests were applied, opting out was a big phenomenon. There was a big outpouring of parents who chose to withhold their children” from testing, he said.

Why people opt out The trend of opting out was triggered by a combination of reasons, both educators said.

First, many people think education should be a local issue, Supovitz said. They feel that the government is strong-arming local school districts into adopting national educational standards.

It became a political issue with people on both the right and left

What’s next for the Common Core

“There was not enough bandwidth to give all students the tests.”

Mindy Kornhaber, associate professor of education in educational theory and policy at Penn State College of Education

finding fault. The Right felt it was government overreach, while the Left felt wary of the foundations and private people that were contributing to public policy without any oversight, Kornhaber said.

“The Common Core has turned into a political hot potato,” Supovitz said. “It became a proxy issue for people who were opposed to educational reform.”

Others objected to the testing itself. Common Core’s “highstakes testing” is testing with consequence, Kornhaber said, and some people object to having their teachers evaluated this way. If too many students opt out, a school’s state report card could go down, and it might not be eligible for federal grant money.

“Testing is the linchpin of this entire system,” Kornhaber said.

Others find fault with the technology. When the first tests were administered in 2015, many school districts had infrastructure problems.

“There was not enough bandwidth to give all students the tests,” Kornhaber said. Plus there are “technical equity issues,” Supovitz said. Poorer school districts may not have the technology

available to them and some children may not have regular access to the technology at home, he said.

Additionally, the “test materials were rolled out too quickly, and teachers didn’t have good professional development,” Kornhaber said. “Teachers were required to start teaching things that they would be judged on before they were ready to.”

What’s next Some states are balking at the cost associated with administering standardized testing. “Billions were spent on No Child Left Behind, but we saw minimal educational gains,” Kornhaber said.

“The opt-out movement was a wake-up call,” said Supovitz. “It’s clearly a signal that the system has prioritized testing too much. We have to reposition testing. It has value but we need to recalibrate and find its appropriate role.”

“Whether Common Core could have done better, I don’t think we’ll ever know because the system was never really implemented they way it was supposed to be,” Kornhaber said. “Common Core hasn’t been wiped out, but it’s severely injured.”

Friday, August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade 19

PRECIOUS From Page 16

together.”

3. Buy a paper date book for each child (it can be for the current calendar year or Save their sayings

for the 18 months that begin in July and run through the end of next year). Make sure the book offers writing space for each day — ideally half a page. Keep the book in a high-traffic spot at home with a pen attached.

When one of the kids says something that you’ll want to remember, write it on that day’s page. Then, during the weekends, ask your child to describe the previous week at school. If they wish, they can also draw pictures. It’s a wonderfully analog way to preserve a school year in our digital world.

A twist on that: Kitts suggests keeping a few glass jars around the house, along with slips of blank paper and a pen. When your child thinks of something they want to preserve, have them jot it down, write the date on it and put it in a jar. You can do the same.

Whether it’s a jar, book or even a note typed into your phone, “just write down those precious memories now,” Russell says.

“We think we’ll never forget those precious words and how old our kids were when they said them, but the fact is that we do forget.”

4.

Kitts suggests hanging a few empty frames in various sizes filled with a thin

Have a rotating display of their art in their rooms

Whether it’s a jar, book or even a note typed into your phone, “just write down those precious memories now. We think we’ll never forget those precious words and how old our kids were when they said them, but the fact is that we do forget.”

— Laura Russell founder of the craft blog makelifelovely.com and a mother of four

sheet of cork on your child’s bedroom wall.

Place pushpins in the corners of each frame.

When your child brings home art they’re excited about, pin it into a frame. The pins make it easy to rotate artwork in and out.

If the walls are already full, try hanging a length of twine and use clothespins to hang a rotating selection of school artwork.

Useful move as the year wears on: Each time you reach into the bin of creations to select something new to display, choose a few items to discard.

A boy’s bathroom designed by Brian Patrick Flynn features framed children’s art on the walls. (FLYNNSIDE OUT PRODUCTIONS/HGTV.COM/SCRIPPS NETWORKS LLC VIA AP)

20 Friday August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade

BACK-TO-SCHOOL CLOTHES

Hers, his, both, neither Lines offer gender-neutral kids’ clothing By the Associated Press NEW YORK — The options for gender-neutral children’s clothing are still limited, but growing.

Some big retailers, such as Lands’ End and Zara, are making small changes to their offerings, while some frustrated parents have launched their own companies to make the items they wanted to find.

Many of the options are unisex T-shirts that have motifs such as robots, trains or dinosaurs.

Those smaller companies are among nearly 20 online brands that formed a campaign called Clothes Without Limits last year that they’re reprising for the back-to-school season.

More has changed for girls’ clothes than for boys, but the vast majority of children’s clothing is still gender-specific, says industry analyst Marshal Cohen. He doesn’t expect massive change until the next generation starts having children.

“Once we get past the cultural discussion, that’s when you’ll see the (major) brands step out,” Cohen said. “No one wants to risk the chance of rocking the boat.”

Eva St. Clair, left, and Rebecca Melsky, both of Washington, design dresses for Princess Awesome, a girls’ clothing line that uses traditional boys’ motifs. ASSOCIATED PRESS / ZACH GIBSON

Princess Awesome is a girls’ clothing line that uses traditional boys’ motifs such as trains, dinosaurs, ninjas, and planes. ASSOCIATED PRESS / ZACH GIBSON

Chris Guerin poses for a photo with his children Charlie, 3, right, and Danny in Portland on July 8. For parents looking to dress their kids in clothing that defy gender norms, options for the back-to-school shopping season are still limited, but they’re growing. ASSOCIATED PRESS / DON RYAN

Some of the gender-neutral clothing made by Courtney Hartman is displayed at her home in Seattle. Hartman owns Jessy & Jack, a collection of unisex T-shirts, and Free to Be Kids. ASSOCIATED PRESS / ELAINE THOMPSON

Declan Hartman, 4, clambers on a climbing toy as he wears a gender-neutral T-shirt designed by his mother, Courtney, and his favorite pink shoes, in Seattle on July 7. ASSOCIATED PRESS / ELAINE THOMPSON

Friday, August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade 21

LEARNING RETENTION

Combating the ‘summer slide’ Visiting educational sites, doing research can help keep kids’ skills sharp

By Anthony Rimel Corvallis Gazette-Times

CORVALLIS — College Hill High School student Keyadri Summerlin had a back-toschool experience last fall that is likely familiar to many students.

“I remember last year I finished German I. The next year I opened up my German textbook and I was like, ‘What is this?’” she said.

Summerlin, a senior who is transferring to the alternative high school this fall from Corvallis High School, said that sometimes it can be easy to catch up, but not always.

“If there are concepts you weren’t really solid on before, it takes a while getting them back,” she said.

Summerlin’s experience matches one documented in education research: Students can lose educational progress during the idle summer months. However, local education experts say summer also gives opportunities for other kinds of learning that can not only stave off this summer slide, but get kids excited about education.

Summerlin herself is in a summer program that is aimed at doing just that. This year she is participating in the Corvallis School District’s summer credit recovery program, which is held from late June to late July.

Students work in 90-minute sessions twice a week on online courses in subjects such as math, English, science and social studies. Teachers and teaching assistants are on hand to provide individual help with the lessons. Through the program, which is serving more than 100 students this summer, students can recover up to three credits.

With the summer credits, Summerlin, who’d fallen behind because of an illness, hopes to graduate on time, attend Linn-Benton Community College and eventually become a teacher herself.

Taking children to educational attractions can help keep their minds sharp. 123RF.COM

Summerlin said she would encourage her students to do things like take community college classes over the summer so they can return to school ahead of where they were when they left, not behind.

“I would tell them to explore things they are interested in and if I had them, I would give them resources to help them do that,” she said.

Lynn Dierking, a professor and associate dean of research with Oregon State University’s College of Education, said there is no doubt that some children come back to school in the fall behind their peers.

She referenced a 2007 study in the American Sociological Review that examined

students in Baltimore and how they compared to peers in the more affluent Baltimore County.

She said the study showed that during the school year, the low-income, inner-city children actually had similar gains as their more affluent county peers and in some cases had even more academic growth. However, over the summers, the county students had access to enriching activities and continued to improve; those programs were not available to city students, and they ended up falling behind the county students.

“Each year they got a little further behind their peers,” she said.

Dierking and her colleagues at OSU are doing a fiveyear study in the Parkrose School District that is trying to develop programs to help prevent a decline in interest in science, technology, engineering and math fields.

The study, which is funded by a $2 million National Science Foundation grant, is building on a previous five-year study Dierking and her colleagues did in the district, in which they observed a decline in interest in those so-called STEM fields between sixth and seventh grades.

However, she noted, not all of the students lost interest in the fields.

“The kids who maintain their interest are participating

in things out of school,” she said.

She and fellow OSU education professor John Falk argued in a 2010 piece in American Scientist that the majority of Americans do most of their science learning through free-choice learning opportunities such as museums, science centers, zoos, parks, organizations like 4-H and through educational media.

“I would argue there is an equity issue around these complimentary educational services,” Dierking said in an interview.

Instead of more traditional classroom time, she said the focus should be on an SEE SLIDE, 22

22 Friday August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade

SLIDE From Page 21

ecosystems of other educational organizations and sites, like the free-choice opportunities mentioned above.

Dierking and her colleagues hope to help schools develop the systems to connect students to those resources throughout the year and over the summer. Additionally, she said, teachers could, for example, give the parents of a student interested in astronomy information so they could go out and stargaze, an activity that would not cost a lot for families to do. Or students could connect families to a local astronomy club.

It’s an approach that could allow students in low-income families to stay intellectually active over the summer months.

“What they need are the same set of enriching activities children in the middle class and affluent families consider a normal summer,” she said.

Advice for parents

So what can parents do to help prevent their children from losing ground over the summer? Here are some suggestions from the U.S. Department of Education: • Visit libraries. Create summer

reading lists for elementary and middle school children and give rewards when kids complete them.

Encourage kids to do arts-and-crafts projects. The website kids.gov has other ideas.

• Set aside one day a week. For high school students, dedicate one day each week to keeping math and science skills fresh, potentially getting books with practice problems from local libraries.

Students could research colleges and financial aid options. Parttime jobs and volunteering also can provide personal and professional development.

Ryan Noss, Corvallis’ interim superintendent for the 2016-17 school year, agreed that knowing what children are passionate about and giving them opportunities to pursue it is critical.

Making sure kids continue to read and write is also important, he said.

Noss, who has two middleschool aged children himself, added that programs at the library or the summer programs offered by organizations like the Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis can be beneficial.

But he noted that activities don’t need to cost money to be beneficial.

Kids are really inquisitive, he said, so encourage that — even if it’s just doing things like going out to look for bugs.

Visits to the library will hone kids’ reading and comprehension skills over the summer. 123RF. COM

THE BIG EXPENSE

Friday, August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade 23

COLLEGE STICKER SHOCK Here’s some advice: Be realistic and do your homework

By Joanna Nesbit Special to The Washington Post

It’s that time of year when families are mentally processing their high school senior’s college financial aid award and quietly freaking out. I know I was doing that last year, and I had researched my patookie off to learn the costs of my daughter’s college choices in advance. We used net-price calculators to gauge financial aid, yet we still got caught up in hoping for a stratospheric windfall from one of her preferred schools.

A couple of colleges were generous with aid — in fact, they met our “need” — but that pesky “expected family contribution” on our FAFSA was still ours to pay. We live in a state whose public schools don’t offer big scholarships to anyone, and our EFC equals the cost of an in-state college, so living at home and commuting was the only cheaper option.

At least I was somewhat mentally prepared for the price tags of the colleges she had applied to.

But many families have that deer-in-the-headlights look right now because until they received the financial aid letters this spring, they had no idea how much college would cost. A friend recently posted on Facebook how angry she was that our state’s flagship school wasn’t offering her daughter any need-based aid other than a small loan. I remember that feeling from last year.

My straight-A daughter was accepted to the same university, and of seven colleges, it was the only one that didn’t offer her a dime. I was mad. But it was kind of my issue. If I had dug deeper, I’d have learned that, as a rule, this school doesn’t give scholarships to in-state students, even those who are top scholars.

Researching college costs early will help ease sticker shock later. 123RF.COM

The paltry scholarships it does award are reserved for nonresidents, and I could have told my friend her daughter wouldn’t get any money. Still, it’s hard not to hope.

That’s why us regularincome folks, especially, need to research cost. For most, that means not getting caught up in a brand-name school. Sure, if your kid is an amazing scholar who’s found a cure for cancer, there’s room for aiming high, but make sure her college list includes a few non-brand-name schools, too. Don’t make kids crazy with stress thinking that those colleges that fully meet need are the only answer. Those are tough schools to get accepted to, so make sure they have an affordable backup plan.

In short, go where the money is.

Information on college costs abounds; families just

have to take the time to learn about it. Yes, families are busy, but this is one big enchilada you and/or your kid are paying for. And you can’t start teaching yourself about college costs in the spring of your child’s senior year. That’s way too late. I started reading up during my daughter’s sophomore year in high school because I’m like that. It still didn’t shelter me from the shock.

If you have a high school junior, learn your EFC. Knowing what the feds expect you to pay is a huge head start to preparing, if only mentally. This calculator helps you predict both your federal EFC and your institutional EFC (for private colleges). Most people want to vomit when they see the number. But at least you’ll know it.

After that, tell your kid what you can afford, and give him parameters for his college search. Prestigious

public or out-of-state universities likely won’t be your friend. Expensive private colleges might do a good job of meeting your financial need, but not if they’re reach schools for your child. Your child will do better applying to schools that want them. Look at schools where grades and SAT/ACT scores fall in the top third or quarter.

Use net-price calculators on the college websites to see what they predict (be aware, some are not great; the more they ask, the better they are). Play with grades and scores to see what kind of merit aid spits out. If it doesn’t ask for grades or scores, your child might be aiming too high. It depends on the school. My daughter’s school didn’t ask for academics and rarely gives merit aid, but she got a chunk of need-based aid because they wanted her.

Be sure to learn about

“gapping” (colleges offering admission without enough financial aid) and “frontloading” (a package that offers more for freshman year than later years) because college is a fouryear (or more) plan.

The biggest challenge is figuring out how to start the search. It’s overwhelming, and your student probably has their own ideas of where to go. Mine sure did. Start talking to friends with older kids, especially friends in the same income bracket. Learn what their favorite resources are. Here are a few of mine: “Right College, Right Price,” by Frank Palmasani; “The College Solution”

by Lynn O’Shaughnessy; Princeton Review’s Paying for College Without Going Broke; Colleges that Change Lives (ctcl.org/); College Navigator (http://nces. ed.gov/collegenavigator); collegedata.com; edvisors. com.

24 Friday August 5, 2016 | Make the Grade