From post by Linda Murphy, Oklahoma Educator This dangerous expansion of public schools into mental health treament is a problem that is facing all communities nationwide but few people are aware of it. Please read on and consider for yourself how this information should be seen in the light of other education reform underway, including Common Core Testing, to be fully understood. |
- Should Mental Health treatment be part of public schools?
- Common Core Testing contains test items which assess attitudes, values, beliefs, emotions and feelings (from Bloom's taxonomy of the affective domain). Should these tests be allowed in our schools?
- How will a student's test or assessment response data be used when it is gathered through computers into "data bases" which are now established in each state (SLDS State Longitudinal Data Systems, overseen by P-20 Councils, purchased by stimulus money)?
- Will students be flagged as "at risk" for potential mental health problems just as other student data is being flagged "at risk"?
- Who should determine if a student is "at risk" for mental health issues?
- Who decides what type of thoughts/thinking or actions indicate a mental health "problem"?
- What set of criteria or worldview will be used in determining what is "healthy" vs "unhealthy" thoughts or actions?
- Should parents' and student's rights to privacy be breeched by having students "go down the hall" to see the mental health therapists in the school building when the other students and the teachers will be aware that the student is going there?
- How does being "pulled out" of class to go to the mental health therapist effect a student's social relationship with other students and with teachers?
- Will technology and the already available "adaptive" learning software be used to incorporate student test and assement data to make sure every student individually "learns" "masters" "achieves" his/her learning goals including the "affective" or behavior goals set for him/her by therapists?
Read Full Post | Read Report About Mood Meter and Like Test Devices