Tuesday, September 04, 2012



Teacher caught 'bullying 13-year-old student' in horrifying video allowed to return to the classroom after just 10 DAYS

This shocking video shows the moment a Washington middle school teacher allegedly joined bullies in beating a 13-year-old boy to the ground and physically abusing him.

Shot by a fellow student, the disturbing footage begins with the boy being dragged across a classroom floor by his arms and legs, a sock stuffed in his mouth.

One of the bullies can be heard giggling and yelling 'pull his pants down' to a chorus of laughter from the others.

Students sit around watching, some visibly entertained, not one of them stepping in to help as the boy cowers on the floor.

But what's more shocking to the boys devastated mother, Karla Kinney, is that the teacher, John Rosi, stands idly by and is even seen getting stuck in himself.

Rosi, an 18-year classroom veteran was suspended from his post for 10 days in an agreement that allowed him to avoid losing his job.

Students can be seen at times writing on his feet, putting a pillow over his face and covering him with chairs.

And Rosi, wearing a fluorescent yellow shirt, is captured sitting on a chair with his feet outstretched in front of him, looking relaxed amid the chaos around him.

He reaches out his arms and students lift the boy onto his lap where he lies, helpless, for a few moments before scrambling to the ground.

The abuse continues for around 15 minutes.

'When I drop my kids off I'm dropping them off as a parent handing my kids to a school that is going to take care of them,' Kinney told ABC News.

She said her son was being blamed by other students for their 'popular' teacher being punished, which had led to him saying he 'wanted to kill himself'.

In a letter to investigators Rosi said he did not consider the incident to be bullying.  'I can honestly say that at the time I did not believe that any of the children were at risk of harm during their interactions.  'Nor did I view the incident as anything more than harmless childhood horseplay,' he wrote.

The school concluded that 'pretty significant disciplinary action' was taken against the teacher and he has since been allowed to return to the classroom, much to Kinney's horror.

'I think that somebody who can allow this to happen and participate has no business being in a classroom,' she said.

She added that her son was so traumatised by his ordeal that he is currently in therapy.

SOURCE






British education boss confirms GCSEs (Left-inspired junior High shool exams) will be replaced by more rigorous O-Level (old) style qualifications

Pupils who sat GCSEs this summer were all treated 'unfairly' and the examination will be replaced with a more rigorous qualification similar to O-Levels, Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, has confirmed.

The new exam, which could come into force as soon as 2014, would be sat by pupils of all abilities, unlike O-Levels which were taken by only the most academically able while other pupils were awarded CSEs.

The use of modular assessments, where pupils' work is graded throughout the school year rather than in a written examination in June, could be phased out for English GCSE by the summer.

Mr Gove said that all those who took GCSEs were treated unjustly, and not just those who narrowly missed out on a passing C grade due to tougher marking.

But he refused to intervene to order Ofqual, the exam regulator, to re-mark the papers of those who felt that they had received an incorrect grade. And he denied ordering tougher marking for this summer's examinations, saying that it would be inappropriate for ministers to interfere.

Labour accused the Education Secretary of abandoning this year's GCSE pupils, and called for the exam papers to be reviewed. Mr Gove said that it had been impossible to prevent GCSEs from going ahead this summer, despite doubts over the rigour of the examination because plans had already been made for pupils to sit them before the current government came to power.

He announced that a consultation into the new exam would be ordered this autumn, with legislation following soon afterwards.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, he said: “I have an enormous amount of sympathy for young people who sat GCSEs in English this year – I feel they were let down. And they were let down because the examination that they sat was designed in a way which I don’t think was entirely fair to them.”

On Radio 4's Today Programme, he added: "It reinforces the case for reform in GCSEs. My heart goes out to those who sat their exams this summer because I don't think the examination was designed in the most appropriate way. There were inherent problems with the system.

"In fact, what we need to do is replace GCSEs with new exams. I think everyone who sat the exam was treated in a way that wasn't fair.

"It is absolutely right that everyone should be treated fairly ... but it would be absolutely wrong for me to give instructions to Oqual."

Asked on BBC Breakfast if he ordered this summer's tests to be judged more harshly than those who sat the same exam in January, he said: "I made it clear that no pressure was put by central Government, by me or any other minister, on any exam board.

"How each exam paper is marked and how the marks are allocated is ultimately a decision for the exam boards. I cannot interfere in that process."

Stephen Twigg, the shadow education secretary, accused Mr Gove of abandoning candidates who had missed out on a passing grade in English this summer, when they may have received a higher mark had they sat the exam in January.

Calling for the papers to be re-marked, he said: "He is responsible as Secretary of State to bang heads together. Clearly there has been a failure here by the system.  "I simply do not think it is good enough to link this to the need for reforms but that doesn't address the concerns of students."

Mr Gove said that the new examination would be designed to be taken by the "full ability range" with top grades awarded to only the most outstanding candidates.

"The aim is to ensure that we have an examination which recognises the genuinely academically gifted by recognising that someone who gets an A is clearly a high flier.  "It is important that there is a discrimination between the top grades and the pass grades.

"It is vital that we move away from exams that, so far as we have seen in the course of the last few weeks, haven't worked and haven't served pupils well."

Mr Gove also suggested for the first time that less able pupils could delay sitting the new examination until they reach the age of 17 or 18, rather than during the summer of the academic year in which they turn 16 as the vast majority of GCSE candidates do, and those taking O-Levels and CSEs did.

SOURCE






I will boost school rankings - Australian PM

Empty promises.  Ever if she were to survive the next election, pouring money in is a tried and failed strategy.  Better discipline is what is needed

THE Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, will pledge today to elevate the international standing of Australian schools so they rank among the top five systems in the world by 2025. The plan is part of the new school funding system her government intends to make law before the next election.

In the government's response to the Gonski review of school funding, Ms Gillard will announce a plan for an ''Australian Education Act'' to enshrine the new funding model, meaning an incoming Coalition government would have to repeal the law if it wanted to return to the present model, its preferred system.

''By 2025, Australia should be ranked as a top-five country in the world for the performance of our students in reading, science and mathematics and for providing our children with a high-quality and high-equity education system,'' Ms Gillard is expected to say in a speech setting up school funding as a key platform for the next election.

Ms Gillard will outline what she says are the three main deficiencies: that although four of the top five schooling systems in the world are in our region, Australia is not among them; that poor Australian children have disproportionately low educational performances; and that as a country we are ''failing'' indigenous students.

The review called for $5 billion in extra funding but the government has so far refused to detail how much money it will tip into the new system. It and the Coalition have promised that no school will lose money.

But the government, unlike the Coalition, is committed to the funding principle the Gonski report recommends, where a base amount for each student is topped up if the student is disadvantaged or disabled.

While Ms Gillard will argue today that the new model ''strips away all the old debates about private versus public'', in essence it means public schools will receive more funding because they educate more disadvantaged children than private schools do.

The present funding model, under which each school gets money based on the socio-economic background of its students, will expire next year. The new model will begin in 2014. At present, funding is indexed at about 6 per cent a year.

The transition to the new system will not be complete until 2020 and will depend on the co-operation of the states. The government has not said what indexation the funding will attract.

The NSW Minister for Education, Adrian Piccoli, said yesterday the states had a limited ability to raise revenue and would not support a new system unless the Commonwealth provided most of the extra cash.

''Any significant increase in schools funding has to be largely funded by the Commonwealth,'' Mr Piccoli said. ''That discussion hasn't begun. We are in a pretty tight situation as it is.''

The Commonwealth now provides 30 per cent of schools funding and states give the rest.

SOURCE



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