Riverdale’s ONLY Locally Owned Newspaper!
Volume XIX • Number 30 • August 9 - 15, 2012 •
FREE!
The loss of music program at PS 24 is incalculable By PETER GOODMAN As we evaluate the loss of the Music Department at P.S. 24, we should reflect on the whole picture. Are music, art and gym teachers just add-ons or throw-aways? What do they contribute to the education of our children? We measure teachers and schools based on test scores, on “unstable” Value-Added Modeling, on Growth Models, for the vast number of teachers “grades” vary widely from year to year. Student/school success is based upon zip code, meaning family income. And, yes, there are schools and teachers that get results far beyond what we would expect based on the poverty data. We’re not sure why. Did the kindergarten and first grade teachers set the stage by embedding skills that resulted in higher test scores in the third and fourth grades? Did the skills taught by the team coach, the physical education teacher: resilience, persistence, self-confidence, self-awareness impact academic success in the English or Math or Science classes? Did participation in the orchestra or a school play or a dance program implant attributes that impacted
success in academic classes? J A Rosen and others explore hundreds of research articles exploring the connections between noncognitive attributes and academic outcomes. (New Perspectives on Educational Outcomes, September 2010). The research explains that “Noncognitive traits, skills and characteristics include perseverance, motivation, self-control and other aspects of conscientiousness …. Although they develop throughout childhood, noncognitive attributes develop during adolescence have been shown to have a lasting impact on success in life.” While the emphasis is on what goes on in academic subject area classrooms research tells us “Noncognitive traits and behaviors … might be as important – or even more important than cognitive skills in determining academic and employment outcomes.” Postlewaite and Silverman in “Non-cognitive Skills, Social Success, and Labor Market Outcomes,” (March, 2006) explore the acquisition of non-cognitive skills on adult income. “Social activities …. for which participation generates valuable non-cognitive skills as a by-product … a number of examples of such activities – drama clubs, orchestra, student government and athletics … those social activi-
ties will lead to higher average adult income.” A just released blue ribbon panel has spent a year trying to define “21st Century Skills,” they conclude, “The committee found the skills considered necessary for the 21st-century workplace generally fall into three categories: cognitive, such as critical thinking and analytic reasoning to learn “deeply”; interpersonal, such as teamwork and complex communication; and intrapersonal, such as resiliency and conscientiousness.” Principals that eliminate well-run art or music or dance or athletic programs in order to substitute “intensive” academic interventions, which smell like test prep, are very likely kicking themselves, and their school, in the head! If you watch an exemplary art or music teacher teach you’ll understand: kids came to their class on time, dressed for the activity, were taught a discrete skill, practiced the skill, assessed the skill acquisition, and was retaught. The teacher had the kids assess their own performance, had the kids describe what they had to do to improve, the teacher praised, he urged, he was tough and fair … it was the essence of exemplary teaching, and learning. Teaching is a complex skill and effective schools Continued on Page 11
Local merchants fear that Bloomberg’s soda ban will hit them By MIAWLING LAM Local merchants fear their businesses will be driven to the ground if the city approves a plan to ban the sale of super-sized sugary drinks. Merchants raised their concerns about shrinking profit margins and the devastating impact of the ban during a walking tour of Kingsbridge on Tuesday, August 7. Organized by New Yorkers for Beverage Choices, a coalition group made up of consumers and businesses, the so-called “impact tour” was designed to educate and inform the community. It was the first of four neighborhood tours scheduled for this week across the five boroughs. Under Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ambitious plan, the sale of sweetened drinks larger than 16 fluid ounces would be prohibited at certain New York City establishments. The ban would apply to restaurants, delis, fast-food franchises and food establishments with letter grades. Supermarkets and convenience stores would be excluded. Diet sodas, fruit juices, dairybased drinks and alcoholic beverages will continue to be available. Establishments that
don’t eliminate the offending drinks from their shelves will face a $200 fine. During the hour-long tour, Councilman G. Oliver Koppell spoke to merchants and customers at the Bus Stop Coffee Shop restaurant, Dunkin’ Donuts, Popeyes and Broadway Pizza—four stores located near the intersection of Broadway and West 231st Street. Koppell has been a vocal opponent of the health proposal, and has previously labeled it as a “clear overreaching of government into people’s everyday lives.” The owner of the Bus Stop Coffee Shop restaurant, who declined to provide his name, said soda sales account for “more than 25 percent” of his annual revenue. But if the plan proceeds, up to 80 percent of the drinks currently on display will have to be taken off the shelves, Hoff said. “We are already struggling and you cut the soda and this and that? If we go down by even 10 percent, we are out. Business is not doing so good,” the veteran Bronx merchant said. “What people want, they get. They come over here and if they Continued on Page 13
The owner of the Bus Stop Coffee Shop restaurant meets with Councilman G. Oliver Koppell and New Yorkers for Beverage Choices spokesman Eliot Hoff to discuss the impact of the soda ban.