NAVY BACKS OFF HOMESCHOOLING SNUB!

After easily passing the military aptitude test (ASVAB) to get into the United States Navy, a homeschooler from South Dakota was denied acceptance by an Armed Forces recruitment officer, who told him that his score was not high enough because homeschoolers have to score higher than students who have been traditionally educated. Confused as to why homeschooled students were punished by having to score a 50 to get into the military – public schoolers only need a 35 to pass – the parents of Jared Wright* contacted the Home School Legal Defense Association to see whether the Navy's admission policy was legal and accurate. Not so fast ... Not long after being contacted by the Wrights and discussing their situation, HSLDA senior counsel Scott Woodruff sent an email to the Navy recruiter inquiring into his discriminatory treatment of the homeschooler. "I understand that you recently told [Jared Wright], who desires to enlist in the Navy, that he could not be accepted because he was homeschooled and his ASVAB score was below 50," Woodruff wrote. "If this in fact happened, your notes may reflect superseded policies and need to be updated." Woodruff, Scott (HSLDA)Woodruff went on to present the facts and lay out the proper protocol for admission into the Navy. "Pursuant to the National Defense Reauthorization Act of 2014, homeschooled applicants shall not be required to score at a higher level on the ASVAB than public school students," Woodruff asserted. "This legislation has been implemented into policy form at the Pentagon level." The Christian attorney – who has helped thousands of homeschool families challenged by social workers, police officers, truant officers, principals, superintendents and prosecuting attorneys – proceeded to instruct the recruiter to contact specific personnel at the Pentagon for confirmation of this information. Accordingly, Woodruff contended that Jared's acceptance into the Navy should be a no-brainer. "I understand that [Jared]'s score was well within the level that is acceptable for a public school student," Woodruff pointed out. "There should therefore be no impediment to him moving forward with entrance into the U.S. Navy." Just hours after the recruiter received Woodruff's email, he did an about-face and notified Jared that his score was indeed sufficient to enlist in the Navy. More than just 'sufficient' Woodruff wanted to make sure that the Navy-aspiring teen from Sioux Falls was assured that his commendable score earned him a ticket to the job of his choice – not a disqualification. "Based on his scores, he qualified for the job he wanted in the Navy and many other Navy jobs," Woodruff told OneNewsNow in an exclusive interview. The attorney, who is licensed to practice in Virginia and Missouri and serves as a member of the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court, is quick to point out that Jared's high performance is no fluke, as homeschoolers consistently outperform students enrolled in traditional education. "According to Dr. Lawrence Rudner, the average homeschooled 8th-grader scores at the level of a 12th-grader on standardized tests," Woodruff reports. "There is simply no empirical reason to discriminate against homeschool graduates." In fact, across the curricula – regardless of age or subject – homeschoolers average 30 percentage points higher than conventionally educated youth; while doctoral dissertations consistently show that – contrary to the popular belief promoted by public school officials – homeschoolers are better socialized and typically exude superior leadership skills than their counterparts in the public classroom. This is consistent with Woodruff's analysis of homeschoolers. "When there is a level playing field, homeschool graduates will always shine," Woodruff concludes. Perfect timing In the not-so-distant past, homeschoolers had their work cut out for them when it came to applying for the military, and HSLDA attorneys plunged onto the battlefield to fight for their equal right to serve. Standing in their way was the discriminatory language in the National Defense Authorization Act, or H.R. 3304, which made it more difficult for homeschoolers to gain admittance into the military. Estrada "In August of 2012, a bipartisan group of U.S. representatives sent a letter to the Pentagon demanding that officials eliminate this discriminatory policy, but the Pentagon ignored the letter," reported director of HSLDA federal relations and staff attorney William Estrada. "At this point, HSLDA determined that the only solution would be another amendment to the NDAA. Homeschoolers were able to enlist, but it was unacceptable that they needed to score higher than public and private school graduates on the military's initial enlistment test." And at the end of last year, HSLDA's hard work on homeschoolers behalf paid off. "And thanks to Representatives [John] Kline (R-Minnesota) and [Duncan] Hunter (R-California) and their tireless work on behalf of homeschoolers, the House included our language in a modified NDAA bill which was then sent to the Senate," Estrada continued. "On the Senate side, Senators [Orrin] Hatch (R-Utah) and [Lindsey] Graham (R-South Carolina) and their staff worked incredibly hard behind the scenes to ensure that our language was not stripped out. Upon final passage, President Obama quickly signed the bill into law." Estrada was ecstatic to see that both parties recognized the importance of making sure homeschoolers could serve their country without any undue hardship in the process. "HSLDA is grateful to see that homeschool freedom and equality is a bipartisan issue," Estrada declared. "Republicans and Democrats – culminating with President Obama's signature on the bill – came together to ensure that homeschool graduates will be treated in the same way as graduates of public or private schools when they enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces." - See more at: http://onenewsnow.com/education/2014/08/27/victory-navy-levels-the-field-for-homeschoolers#.VAdq4ewg_3g

How COMMON CORE TESTING CHEATS on the Statistics

Stop the celebration! The 0.1% increase on NY ELA tests may not be the result of our hard work & grit, but simply the result of lowered cut scores. New York State constantly changes the score needed to pass (cut scores) on ELA and Math tests. Only AFTER the tests are graded, a score needed to pass is established. All questions go through extensive field-testing before the tests go live. Why is this practice is needed? Perhaps it might have something to do with fulfilling the NYSED Commissioner’s prediction for ‘incremental’ increases in years to come. When Commissioner King declares ‘incremental’ increases August 2013, he delivers ‘incremental’ increases August 2014. NY promised to leave the cut scores unchanged and decided this year that they did not need teachers to be part of the process (as explained here). Results of the Math tests are up 4.6%, but the cut score was lowered by 3% (3rd grade). In 2013, students needed to receive 44 out of a possible 60 points in order to achieve a passing score of 3. In 2014, students needed to only receive 42 out of a possible 60 points in order to receive a passing grade of 3. Results of the ELA tests are up 0.1%, but the cut score was lowered by 2% (3rd grade). In 2013, students needed to receive 35 out of 55 possible points to achieve a passing score of 3. In 2014, students needed to only receive 30 out of a possible 49 points to receive a passing grade of 3. NOT ONLY IN NEW YORK! Notice, "Only AFTER the tests are graded, a score needed to pass is established." We worry about Islamic extremist training camps being set up in America. Well, flying under the radar, are socialist training camps in the form of common American education. They are already prevalent in our country and their goal isn't to catch up with other countries academically. They are thriving and promoting socialist, Marxist attitudes and doctrine among our young. Higher education, in collusion, is right there with them to put the nail in the coffin of America as we know it. This is not conspiracy thinking. It is fact and a minimum amount of research can verify this to the discerning parent. Posted by Lacetothetop

Why French Kids Don't Have ADHD

Suffer the Children The case against labeling and medicating children, and effective alternatives for treating them by Marilyn Wedge, Ph.D. In the United States, at least 9% of school-aged children have been diagnosed with ADHD, and are taking pharmaceutical medications. In France, the percentage of kids diagnosed and medicated for ADHD is less than .5%. How come the epidemic of ADHD—which has become firmly established in the United States—has almost completely passed over children in France? Is ADHD a biological-neurological disorder? Surprisingly, the answer to this question depends on whether you live in France or in the United States. In the United States, child psychiatrists consider ADHD to be a biological disorder with biological causes. The preferred treatment is also biological--psycho stimulant medications such as Ritalin and Adderall. French child psychiatrists, on the other hand, view ADHD as a medical condition that has psycho-social and situational causes. Instead of treating children's focusing and behavioral problems with drugs, French doctors prefer to look for the underlying issue that is causing the child distress—not in the child's brain but in the child's social context. They then choose to treat the underlying social context problem with psychotherapy or family counseling. This is a very different way of seeing things from the American tendency to attribute all symptoms to a biological dysfunction such as a chemical imbalance in the child's brain. French child psychiatrists don't use the same system of classification of childhood emotional problems as American psychiatrists. They do not use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM. According to Sociologist Manuel Vallee, the French Federation of Psychiatry developed an alternative classification system as a resistance to the influence of the DSM-3. This alternative was the CFTMEA (Classification Française des Troubles Mentaux de L'Enfant et de L'Adolescent), first released in 1983, and updated in 1988 and 2000. The focus of CFTMEA is on identifying and addressing the underlying psychosocial causes of children's symptoms, not on finding the best pharmacological bandaids with which to mask symptoms. To the extent that French clinicians are successful at finding and repairing what has gone awry in the child's social context, fewer children qualify for the ADHD diagnosis. Moreover, the definition of ADHD is not as broad as in the American system, which, in my view, tends to "pathologize" much of what is normal childhood behavior. The DSM specifically does not consider underlying causes. It thus leads clinicians to give the ADHD diagnosis to a much larger number of symptomatic children, while also encouraging them to treat those children with pharmaceuticals. The French holistic, psychosocial approach also allows for considering nutritional causes for ADHD-type symptoms—specifically the fact that the behavior of some children is worsened after eating foods with artificial colors, certain preservatives, and/or allergens. Clinicians who work with troubled children in this country—not to mention parents of many ADHD kids—are well aware that dietary interventions can sometimes help a child's problem. In the United States, the strict focus on pharmaceutical treatment of ADHD, however, encourages clinicians to ignore the influence of dietary factors on children's behavior. And then, of course, there are the vastly different philosophies of child-rearing in the United States and France. These divergent philosophies could account for why French children are generally better-behaved than their American counterparts. Pamela Druckerman highlights the divergent parenting styles in her recent book, Bringing up Bébé. I believe her insights are relevant to a discussion of why French children are not diagnosed with ADHD in anything like the numbers we are seeing in the United States. From the time their children are born, French parents provide them with a firm cadre—the word means "frame" or "structure." Children are not allowed, for example, to snack whenever they want. Mealtimes are at four specific times of the day. French children learn to wait patiently for meals, rather than eating snack foods whenever they feel like it. French babies, too, are expected to conform to limits set by parents and not by their crying selves. French parents let their babies "cry it out" if they are not sleeping through the night at the age of four months. French parents, Druckerman observes, love their children just as much as American parents. They give them piano lessons, take them to sports practice, and encourage them to make the most of their talents. But French parents have a different philosophy of discipline. Consistently enforced limits, in the French view, make children feel safe and secure. Clear limits, they believe, actually make a child feel happier and safer—something that is congruent with my own experience as both a therapist and a parent. Finally, French parents believe that hearing the word "no" rescues children from the "tyranny of their own desires." And spanking, when used judiciously, is not considered child abuse in France. (Author's note: I am not personally in favor of spanking children). As a therapist who works with children, it makes perfect sense to me that French children don't need medications to control their behavior because they learn self-control early in their lives. The children grow up in families in which the rules are well-understood, and a clear family hierarchy is firmly in place. In French families, as Druckerman describes them, parents are firmly in charge of their kids—instead of the American family style, in which the situation is all too often vice versa. Copyright © Marilyn Wedge, Ph.D. Marilyn Wedge is the author of Pills Are Not for Preschoolers: A Drug-Free Approach for Troubled Kids