The Bush|Brogan A+ Plan
Now that teachers were being properly trained, colleges of education had to be regulated...
Rating Colleges of Education on Performance
Prior to 1999, one could loosely say that colleges and schools of education were regulated by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Since it’s inception in 1895, COC SACS has focused on accrediting public and private schools, holding its goal to improve education by recognizing and encouraging institutional quality through accreditation (certifying as meeting required standards) in Florida and 10 other southern states. The problem with this however was that it did not specifically rate colleges of education, this was left up to the A+ Plan. After a school's rating is tabulated, it is then published in their college catalogs.
Next they looked at the state of safety in our public schools, colleges and universities...
The Investment in School Safety and Second-Chance Schools
To insure school safety, the Bush/Brogan plan calls for the use of early intervention and prevention and a rigid no-tolerance policy to even the slightest of violent infractions. These measures also include provisions for teaching drug awareness [through such programs as D. A. R. E. (Drugs Abuse Resistance Education)]. But what about students who attend persistently dangerous schools? Thankfully for them, the A+ Plan does not disappoint: parents of disadvantaged children in persistently failing or unsafe schools could carry their federal dollars to another public or private school of choice.
The perpetrators of these violent acts are not without options for continuing their education after expulsion from school or after an arrest. Through the Bush/Brogan A+ Plan, second-choice schools came to fruition. A second-chance school is one in which a student who is no longer welcome or no longer able to succeed in a regular public school can attend. These students vary from juvenile delinquents to teenage mothers to high school drop-outs. A prime example of the growth of technology in education is evident in Florida's Virtual School, an online middle and high school. Founded in 1997 as a grant-based project between two Florida school and with just 77, this second chance school flourished as a result of the Bush/Brogan A+ Plan.
So, how should teachers deal with discipline issues in the classroom?
Preparing Teachers to Handle Classroom Discipline
Classroom management is one of the most important aspect of being an effective educator. By definition, classroom management is a teacher's set of strategies that create and maintain an orderly and safe classroom environment. Lack of classroom management leads to power struggles and the potential for bodily harm. The A+ Plan specifies that teachers are to be equipped with the knowledge of how to ethically stop misbehavior in its tracks rather than have to discipline the student after the fact.
The governors' plan included the online Classroom Management System, dubbed "Sunshine Connections". In conjunction with Microsoft's U.S. Partners in Learning, Sunshine Connections exists to assist teachers with classroom management, student assessment and curriculum and document management.
