Commentaries
and Reports Archives
REPORT: TEXAS STUDENTS TO PAY AT LEAST $2130 MORE
FOR COLLEGE STARTING SATURDAY
Saturday, July 1, 2006
Campaign for America’s Future
Texas Parents and Students Get Hit With Higher Student Loan Payments
“Texas students and families are getting hit with one of the largest interest rate hikes on student loans ever. Families across the country are pinching pennies so they can afford to send their children to college.
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Teaching, Assessing Students With Disabilities
Saturday, July 1, 2006
In striving to help all students achieve to high standards, the U.S. Department of Education recently released a new tool kit to assist school leaders in fully implementing the accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act for students with disabilities as well as those of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act .
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Arizona: America's School Choice Laboratory
Saturday, July 1, 2006
By Dan Lips
"It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system," wrote Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, "that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.
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Billionaires' historic philanthropy exchange - ho hum
Friday, June 30, 2006
By Daniel Pryzbyla
One U.S. billionaire giving another U.S. billionaire billions of dollars to put into the billionaire's already multi-billion dollar foundation didn't bring hordes of fans into the streets to rejoice. They were too busy. "Did you find a cheaper gas station?"
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Urban Schools: Problems, Problems Everywhere
Friday, June 30, 2006
U.S. Freedom Foundation
David W. Kirkpatrick Senior Education Fellow
The nation's public schools consistently claim that they need more money but they never say how much. Whatever they have, and it varies greatly among the nearly 15,000 school districts, it isn't enough - they need more. As an alternative to naming a specific amount that would do the job, they might identify a district that thinks it has enough money and see how it conducts its business.
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Education: Class Dismissed
Friday, June 30, 2006
Psychology Today Magazine
By Hara Estroff Marano
It's every modern parent's worst nightmare-a school where kids can play all day. But no one takes the easy way out, and graduates seem to have a head start on the information age. Welcome to Sudbury Valley.
Freefall of American University
Friday, June 30, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
by Larry Pratt
If we fail to pay attention to, and ultimately take control of, American universities, our students will be graduating with a hatred of the very culture and Constitution that has produced and fostered the richest and freest country in the world. Students influenced by the professors of Big Brother U. will eagerly vote their freedoms away.....
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Commentary : What's a Mere $800,000?
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Michael F. Shaughnessy
Eastern New Mexico University
I have been following the news and Peyton Wolcott's web site and there apparently is some concern about some missing money. I am going to be giving my age away here, but this reminds me of one of the old sitcoms- with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
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The Virginia Department of Ed Allegedly Accepts Coerced Statements From Parents In Sp Ed Violation Investigation
Thursday, June 29, 2006
EducationNews.org Exclusive
By Kandise Thomas-Humphrey, PhD.
Prince George , VA. The question that is being asked by parents, educators, and community activists is why would the Virginia Department of Education's Office of Dispute Resolution and Administrative Services knowingly accept statements from parents that were allegedly obtained through coercion and deception on the part of school administrators?
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An Interview with Nan Miller: About Writing and Writing Skills
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Michael F. Shaughnessy
Eastern New Mexico University
Nan Miller has an undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University and earned an MA in English from North Carolina State University . She has taught college composition and literature for 26 years, 8 years at State, and 18 years at Meredith College , where she opened and directed the Meredith College Writing Center . In 1991, she won the Sears Roebuck Foundation award for excellence in teaching and campus leadership.
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New way to deliver education a 'growing phenomenon'
Thursday, June 29, 2006
A new form of education provision is appearing overseas: some governments are looking to contract out the delivery of education. A new book investigates.
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To stop internet gossip -- 'give parents more information on schools'
Thursday, June 29, 2006
While some principals want a ban on a new website asking for ratings of teachers, the National Party says the controversy could be defused if the government publicly released information on schools that only principals could see.
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UK schools 'too feminised for boys to do well'
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Schools are failing boys because lessons have become "feminised", argues a prominent UK academic.
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LEARNING FROM THE PROS
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Edutopia
By Fran Smith
The students display their animation projects and get immediate feedback from the experts. No sugarcoating here: "They tell you exactly what your work needs," says senior Eric Gates. "They don't hold anything back."
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In Defense of Testing Series
More on the Scandal at Wilson High School
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
The Northwest Current (Washington, D.C.)
By Julia O'Donoghue
"Wilson Teacher Alleges Faulty Graduation Lists
Plyler v. Doe (1982) Transforms American Public Schools
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
by Tom Shuford
Plyler v. Doe is a little-known Supreme Court decision that is transforming schools and communities across the nation. The Court held, in a 5-to-4 vote, that children illegally in the United States have the same right to a free public education as American citizens.
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An Interview with Cyndi Crother: About Fishing, Fishmongers and CATCH!
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Michael F. Shaughnessy
Eastern New Mexico University
You have recently written a book about the guys at Pike Place Fish in Seattle , Washington . What led up to you writing about a bunch of guys working in a fish store?
I create goals for myself (both personal and professional) every year on my birthday in November to give my mind some time to think about how to make them happen. In 2001, I suppose my disappointment in the ways of the world was at an all time high (there was a lot going on in addition to 9-11), and I decided that it was time to make a greater difference in the world, on a much larger scale than the one I was currently making in the classroom.
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Bipartisan coalition backs new school funding model
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Solution boosts spending for needy children and promotes education choice
WASHINGTON, DC--Key state and national education leaders, including three former Secretaries of Education, showed their support for a new school funding proposal released today by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, signaling a breakthrough in the decades-old war over the financing of public education in America.
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Scientific Community: The Need for Replication
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
TCRecord
by Barbara Schneider
This article argues for the importance of replication and data sharing in educational research. Relying on standards set in other disciplines, such as sociology, the paper discusses how professional associations can help to create norms and incentives for data sharing and data archiving.
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An Interview with Frederick Hess: What Hath the AERA become?
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Michael F. Shaughnessy
Eastern New Mexico University
Frederick M. Hess is Director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. In this interview, he follows up on an article he co-authored with Laura LoGerfo who is a researcher with a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Michigan . The original article appeared on Thursday, May 11, 2006 in Education News.com Interested readers are strongly urged to read the original article which succinctly captures some of the major issues and points that these two authors have made regarding AERA.
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Reading Between the lines
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
By Nancy Salvato
Sunday papers don't ask no questions
Sunday papers don't get no lies
Sunday papers don't raise objection
Sunday papers don't got no eyes
Joe Jackson
Everyone has an agenda. To truly read between the lines, a person must be able to recognize flaws in an argument, misinformation, and ideological bias. More importantly, a person must be cognizant of why some stories are buried in the midsection of the paper and why some are not included at all.
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Charter, Private, Public Schools and Academic Achievement: New evidence from NAEP Mathematics
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
by Chris and Sarah Lubienski
This analysis of US mathematics achievement finds that, after accounting for the fact that private schools serve more advantaged populations, public schools perform remarkably well, often outscoring private and charter schools.
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Mental Health, Education and Social Control, Part 32
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
by Dennis Cuddy, Ph.D
The power elite has a number of mechanisms to cause large numbers of people to be moved. Economic incentives, for example, have been used to lure millions of Mexicans to migrate to the U.S. But the power elite could also use involuntary mechanisms such as the creation of hurricanes. In case you think this is not possible, I would suggest you read Chen May Yee's article.....
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Singing to The Choir
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
by Nancy Levant
The proof positive that Americans could care less is most prominently demonstrated by the fact that most parents still send their children into public education camps to ensure their children's social-global re-engineering. By doing so, they ensure America's demise - almost as if they desired their children's freedom and rights to end.....
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FAPE IS NO LONGER FREE
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Steven Wyner
Attorney at Law
The Supreme Court appears bound and determined to create an obstacle course for families pursuing the rights of their disabled children. Approximately 8-months ago, in Schaffer v. Weast, the Court held that families must prove that their disabled children have been denied a FAPE. Today the Court has held in Arlington Central Sch l Dist v. Murphy, that families cannot recover expert witness fees under the IDEA.
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Now its time to muck up higher education
Monday, June 26, 2006
By Marty Solomon
The federal government has now managed to destroy the morale of huge numbers of American teachers and administrators by demanding the impossible. It has narrowed the focus of K-12 education to taking high-stakes tests in math and English as all that is important, crowding out civics, art, music and abetting the obesity crisis in this country by trivializing the importance of exercise, recess and physical education.
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An Interview with Marvin Olasky: About Scimitar's Edge
Michael F. Shaughnessy
Monday, June 26, 2006
Dr. Marvin Olasky is professor of journalism at The University of Texas at Austin , a position he has held since 1983, and editor-in-chief of World , a national weekly news magazine from a Christian perspective. According to a biographical note, he teaches journalism and religion and editorial column writing.. According to a biographical note, he teaches journalism history, sports writing, and journalism and religion
You have recently written a book about an incident in Turkey . What prompted this book?
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Community College Transfer Students and the Junior-Senior Realities of Cash Cow Higher Education
Monday, June 26, 2006
By Robert Oliphant
Anxious parents should check for themselves the recent assertion that "remarkably few community college students transfer to prestigious private schools despite being highly qualified" [LA Times, 6/21/06 ]. Certainly a quick look at Barron's 1,670-page Profiles of American Colleges for 2005 (currently available at both Borders and Barnes and Noble) will be far more reassuring to Americans than the questionable "bad news" that CC transfers are destined for what the study calls "nonselective four-year colleges."
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"Help is on the Way" for Texas Curriculum Standards
Monday, June 26, 2006
By Barbara Cargill - State Board of Education Dist. 8
When it comes to Texas curriculum standards and testing, teachers are frustrated, students are stressed, and parents are confused. Well, I have good news for you. Hang in there, help is on the way!
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Brainwashing The Children: A Global Effort , Part 3
Monday, June 26, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
by Jill Walker
While researching the weapons of the New World Order crowd, I stumbled upon the work of Lynette Burrows, author of the book, The Fight for the Family - the adults behind children's rights . Her book contains the names of liberal activist groups that have been campaigning since the 1970s to promote childrens rights and remove from parents the right to discipline their children and pass on their values. Its no surprise that the UN is.....
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IN THE PENAL COLONY
Monday, June 26, 2006
The Common Review
by Daniel Born
Earlier this year I traveled through Mississippi, spending time with prisoners and prison
volunteers who read and discuss the Great Books. Driving across the Delta one day, on the road between Sumner and Natchez, I began to think more deliberately about what prisons do.
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Author Claims Samurai-Type Training Could Help Students Succeed
Monday, June 26, 2006
Japanologist and author Boyé Lafayette De Mente says that samurai-type training should be introduced into educational systems worldwide, and has published a "samurai training manual" to help achieve that goal.
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INNOVATIVE NEW COURSE WILL HELP TEACHERS OF STUDENTS WITH AUTISM
Monday, June 26, 2006
Attendees Receive UC Davis Academic Credit
Educators who work with young students who have autism in the Sacramento County region now have more instructional resources available to help meet the needs of special needs students.
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Educational Testing Service Poll:
Americans See Math and Science as Key to U.S. Competitiveness
Sunday, June 25, 2006
In a major new opinion survey on education reform, a majority of adults, parents, high school teachers, administrators and college faculty believe that our nation's schools are coming up short in putting students on the path to compete for highly technical scientific and engineering jobs with young people from other countries and are going to have to challenge students more if America is to maintain its global economic edge.
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Adjusting for " 21st Century Families"
Sunday, June 25, 2006
by William L. Bainbridge
The problem of men who have little or no connection with their children seems to be growing in this country with little resolution. Children in many low-income families often do not see their fathers frequently and, in many cases, do not even know their identity.
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Textbooks as Ideological Weapons
Sunday, June 25, 2006
LewRockwell.com
By Gary North
If you wanted to write a book on what ideas shaped the thinking of the mass of Americans after 1850, the first place to begin would be textbooks used in public schools. You would probably begin with the McGuffey advanced readers and about 70 other books in the Eclectic Education Series.
Let's Google and Yahoo Our Kids Education
Sunday, June 25, 2006
by Joel Turtel
NewsWithViews.com
Bureaucratic, government-controlled public schools will never give your kids the kind of joyous education they deserve, the kind your children can get in a homeschooling environment. At home, your kids can learn from Google, Yahoo, learning software, or hundreds.....
T-3,2,1. Northrop Grumman Launches Weightless Teacher-Education Program
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Math and science workshops, aircraft flights in weightless environment will help teachers inspire students to pursue careers in space exploration
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - Teachers from across the U.S. and around the world will experience first hand the application of math, science and engineering principles to human activities in a weightless or low-gravity space environment under the new Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC ) Weightless Flights of Discovery program unveiled here today.
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America's Art
Saturday, June 24, 2006
This companion Web site to a new book of the same title from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) will serve many readers as well as the book itself.
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Public Educators Can't Be Trusted With Your Children
Saturday, June 24, 2006
LewRockwell.com
by Brad Edmonds
There are well-known reasons to home school: to provide a better education in fewer years; keep your child safe from bullies and pushers; and inculcate your own religion and values rather than the State's permissive pansexuality, atheism, and hatred of competing value systems.
Common skills needed for college and work
Saturday, June 24, 2006
The reading and math skills needed for workplace success are comparable to those needed for first-year college success, according to an ACT study. Based on these findings, ACT recommends a common academic program for all students.
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The new curriculum micro-managers
Saturday, June 24, 2006
You can promote choice in education, or you can micro-manage the syllabus, but you can't do both.
Where would you find a free-marketeer advocating Soviet-style centralisation, and where would you find a latter-day leftie promoting the individual's right to choose? In the schools debate, that's where.
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NASA : Project Constellation [Macromedia Flash Player]
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Over the past few years, NASA has been working on a number of creative and important projects, particularly in the area of new spacecraft construction and design.
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Invincible Cities [Macromedia Flash Player]
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Throughout history, cities have risen and fallen from prominence, and in recent times more attention has been paid to why this ebb and flow persists across the centuries.
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After Welfare [Real Player, Macromedia Flash Player]
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Over the past few years, the American RadioWorks has raised the bar for like-minded radio documentary programs, producing thought-provoking and insightful studies on topics such as, Congressional reform, intelligent design, and international adoption programs. In this recently released documentary, John Biewen has created this introspective look into the world of welfare reform in the United States, and how it has affected the lives of five different women and their families.
Where's the Harm in a Little Cheating?
Friday, June 23, 2006
Jerry Jesness
It is again news that the Texas Education Agency has been taking a see-no-evil attitude toward testing irregularities. This should not surprise anyone who has anything to do with Texas education. There has been a lot of apathy on everyone's part. So the numbers are a bit skewed, nobody has been hurt, right? Wrong.
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New Orleans Schools - Chaos Creates Opportunities
Friday, June 23, 2006
U.S. Freedom Foundation
David W. Kirkpatrick Senior Education Fellow
From time to time some critics of the public schools have suggested that the best thing that could happen would be to close down the system and start anew. But however serious these proposals have been, or whatever their merits, in reality there has been no chance they could be realized.
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Pelosi: Higher Education - The Single Best Investment Our Nation Can Make in Its Future
Friday, June 23, 2006
Washington, D.C. - House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, several House Democrats, and college students from across the nation attended a rally today in the Capitol to call on Republicans to reverse the raid on student aid. On July 1, interest rates on student loans will increase for millions of students who do not lock in lower rates on outstanding loans.
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College writing courses examined by retired professor
Friday, June 23, 2006
By Pope Center Staff
RALEIGH - Postmodern theorists have changed the way composition courses in college are taught, eliminating literature and grammar instruction by imposing group discussions with little involvement from the teachers, according to a new study released Monday by the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy.
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Editor's Note: Online Tutoring for Grammar and ELAR
Al Gore, master teacher
Friday, June 23, 2006
Education Gadfly
As hurricanes spawn tornadoes so has An Inconvenient Truth spawned articles about Al Gore: his political ambitions, his resilience, his newfound charisma, his biomass. But what caught my eye when reading reviews of his new documentary film was the depiction of Al Gore as master teacher .
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Education Savings Accounts: Giving Families Ownership in Education
Friday, June 23, 2006
By Dan Lips
With college tuitions soaring, parents are beginning to save for their children's education earlier and earlier. A growing number of families are putting their savings in education savings accounts (ESA), which enjoy certain tax advantages.
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Washington, D.C. Teachers Find Way to Like Merit Pay
Friday, June 23, 2006
Lexington Institute
By Don Soifer
In what may prove to be an important development for public schools in the nation's capital, members of the Washington Teachers' Union approved a new contract this month that would tie improvements in student performance to bonuses for teachers.
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Kozy Shack Joins the Band with the VH1 Save The Music Foundation
Friday, June 23, 2006
Manufacturer of Kozy Shack Jammin' Gels Supports Music Education
Hicksville , LI -- Kozy Shack, Inc., the manufacturer of Jammin' Gels, a new line of nutritious children's snacks is proud to announce its sponsorship of the VH1 Save The Music Foundation's 10 th Anniversary Campaign.
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What Impact Will the Two New Justices have on Education?
Thursday, June 22, 2006
William L. Bainbridge
Recent opinions of the United States Supreme Court affecting elementary, secondary and higher education have been greatly impacted by former Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and former Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the frequent primary authors of majority opinions.
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All the Shouting is taking us nowhere
Thursday, June 22, 2006
By Nancy Salvato
Sometimes, overwhelmed, I find myself unable to begin any task. After opening and closing the refrigerator several times, pacing the rooms of my house, and generally feeling sorry for myself, I assess the state of affairs. Beginning slowly at first, I organize my environment (vacuum the dog fur out of my carpeting so that I can breathe) and honestly appraise the situation to determine what needs to be addressed next.
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Reality Check 2006: Is Support for Standards Fading?
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Public Agenda
"Necessary, but not sufficient," might be one way to sum up public attitudes about standards and testing five years into No Child Left Behind and over a dozen years into the so-called standards movement in American education.
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What is Working Systemically?
Thursday, June 22, 2006
The Working Systemically model for increasing student achievement in reading and mathematics is the culmination of intensive site work that was conducted by SEDL as part of a 5-year contract with the U.S. Department of Education.
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A DROPOUT NO MORE
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Edutopia
By Sara Bernard
Picture this: A fifteen-year-old girl attending an overcrowded high school in a big city is struggling to stay focused. School seems dull, irrelevant, and, most of all, uncaring. No one seems to notice whether she's there or not, whether she understands the material, or whether things are unstable at home. While her overworked teachers and distracted administrators put out bigger fires, she silently disappears -- another high school
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Four New School Choice Measures Make History Arizona becomes first to adopt program for foster children
Thursday, June 22, 2006
PHOENIX-Today Arizona lawmakers enacted four new school choice measures.
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LEARN FROM THE MASTERS
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Edutopia
By Barnett Berry and John Norton
There's little consensus about the best way to prepare teachers for today's schools. Education reformers and academics continue to punch and counterpunch as they circle the ring, trying to gain the advantage in what has become one of education's most hotly contested policy fights.
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Just in Time For Independence Day
Thursday, June 22, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
by Pastor Chuck Baldwin
A few years ago, I sadly discovered that it was next to impossible to find our nation's great historic documents together in one volume, so we decided to fix that problem. It took us a full year to research and compile over 50 of our country's greatest historical documents, but we did it!.....
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SUCCESSFUL MIDDLE SCHOOL EDUCATORS GATHER TO DISCUSS REFORM, AYP and SHARE BEST PRACTICES in WASHINGTON , D.C.
National Conference Honors Excellent Middle Schools
From Across the Country June 22-24
STANDARDS AND TESTING, YES, BUT WHAT ELSE?
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Public Agenda
Parents, Students, Teachers and Administrators See Standards as Necessary but Not Enough.
School Environment and Adequate Funding Are Bigger Priorities
New York City – In a sign of the success – but also the limits – of the standards and testing movement in public education reform, new research released today by Public Agenda concludes that key elements of the public believe high standards and testing are necessary but not enough by themselves to lead to further progress
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Dr. Malcolm Richardson - The 15th Century Roots of Written English
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Children of the Code
Dr. Malcolm Richardson is Chair of the Department of English at Louisiana State University. In our conversation with Dr. Richardson we explore the emergence of English writing in the 15 Century. Building on an qualifying our interview with Professor John Fisher about the Emergence of Standard English
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Study by U of M researchers indicates that state-mandated high school exit exams reduce high school graduation rates
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
University of Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL --A new study by University of Minnesota researchers indicates that state-mandated high school exit examinations (HSEEs) lower the high school graduation rate, denying diplomas to thousands of young people per year who otherwise would have graduated from high school.
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State Graduation Reports
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
A special state-focused online supplement to Diplomas Count Features detailed data on high school graduation rates at the national, state, and district level. The report also examines how states calculate graduation rates, tracks state policies related to high school graduation requirements, and explores ways in which states and districts might improve graduation rates based on research.
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Mom? Dad? I'm Home!
Why are so many grads returning to live with their parents? $40 billion in loans
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Business Week
Keep an eye out for more boomerang kids, the ones who move back in with mom and dad. In fact, the most recent crop of college graduates will be home a lot longer than their parents expect because of burdensome student loans.
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Education in Mexico
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
By Kevin Rolwing
Assistant Director WES
Mexico's education system and its evolution over the last half-century can be characterized by one defining feature: its expansive growth. From 1950 to 2000, total student enrollments in the formal education system - primary school through graduate studies - increased more than eightfold from 3.25 million students in 1950 to 28.22 million students in 2000.
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THE HELP GROUP-UCLA SEMEL INSTITUTE ON ASPERGER'S DISORDER INSTRUCTS EDUCATORS ON BEST PRACTICES IN EDUCATION
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Intensive, 4-day interactive summer workshop teaches essential methods for educating children and adolescents with Asperger's Disorder.
In Defense of Testing Series
The Scandal at Wilson High School
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Woodrow Wilson was my neighborhood high school for the decade I lived in Washington , D.C. Then, it was a stellar example of a well-run school. It was quiet, orderly, and students from all parts of the District could succeed there. It is sad to see what has happened to Wilson over the past several years. But, as so many educators know from personal experience, and as so many studies in the effective schools literature verify, the character of a school can be determined by its leadership.
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Send them along
An Interview with Tamara Raatz: About the Clarinet and Creativity
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Michael F. Shaughnessy
Eastern New Mexico University
You have recently won a major award from your university. Could you tell us about it?
I was awarded the Eastern New Mexico University Presidential Excellence Award for Research, Scholarly, and Creative Arts. It was an honor to be recognized for my work as a musician and scholar.
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Process vs. Content
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
The Concord Review
by Will Fitzhugh
When teaching our students to write, not only are standards set very low in most high schools, limiting students to the five-paragraph essay, responses to a document-based question, or the personal (or college) essay about matters which are often no one else's business, but we often so load up students with formulae and guidelines that the importance of writing when the author has something to say gets lost in the maze of processes.
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Big Bucks to be Made by Contradicting One's Heart
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
by Ron Isaac
The Department of Education is expanding its so-called Empowerment Zone to include roughly one-fourth of the city's public schools. This means that the principals of these schools, rather than the regional or central bureaucracies, will have new authority over key educational policies. In exchange for this they accept greater accountability for outcomes.
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High Performing Middle Schools Gather to Discuss Reform, AYP and Best Practices
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Defying headlines of struggling middle schools and the perils of adolescence, educators from high performing middle schools from across the country will gather in Washington D.C. June 22 - 24 for the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform (National Forum) annual "Schools to Watch" Conference.
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Learning Disabilities and ADHD
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
This LD Talk will focus on learning disabilities (LD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the co-occurrence of these disorders throughout the life span. The importance of careful documentation and ongoing communication among parents, educators, physicians and other service providers will be highlighted during this online chat.
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An Interview with Armand Fusco: About School Corruption
Monday, June 19, 2006
Michael F. Shaughnessy
Eastern New Mexico University
Dr. Armand Fusco has recently written a provocative book entitled "Stopping School Corruption: A Manual for Taxpayers which is available as a free download from yankeeinstitute.org. In this interview he responds to questions about this pervasive problem.
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Do magnet schools lead to improved student achievement?
Monday, June 19, 2006
By Dale Ballou, Ellen Goldring, Keke Liu
Vanderbilt University
Magnet schools are frequently championed by opponents of private school choice. They create new schooling options within the public system, remain attached to established accountability structures, and can be designed to explicitly promote democratic goals. However, the impact of magnet schools on education outcomes is unclear, because previous studies have suffered from methodological limitations.
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Education Myths
Monday, June 19, 2006
American Enterprise
By Jay Greene
Myths aren't lies. They are beliefs that people adopt because they have an air of plausibility. But myths aren't true, and they often get in the way during serious problem-solving. This essay identifies seven common myths that dominate established views of education these days. Dispelling these misconceptions could open the door to long-awaited improvement in our nationÍs schools.
Post your comments An Interview with Israel and Cathie Helfand
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Tammi-Lynne Moore
Michael F. Shaughnessy
Eastern New Mexico University
Why did you choose Marriage Counseling specifically?
Like many fellow students at the time, and I suspect still today, I was looking to understand myself and the crazy family I came from. "Family Systems" was a breath of fresh air to me. realizing that there is really no such thing as an identified patient or a dysfunctional system. Systems, by way of their nature, even crazy ones. function!
Institutional Strategies
Strategies to Increase Student Success
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
EducationPolicy.org
Dr. Watson Scott Swail
This is the second of three parts in our Institutional Strategies Series. The first article in our March issue outlined the barriers to student retention, both from the extant literature and also from interviews and surveys we've conducted through our workshops around the US and Canada.
National Study Shows Mathematics Curriculum Standards Too Varied Across States for Textbooks to be Effective
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
COLUMBIA, Mo. - A child in California or Ohio is expected to be proficient in multiplying whole numbers by the end of fourth grade. A child in Missouri or Texas is expected to proficient in the same topic by fifth grade and in Colorado by the end of sixth grade. According to a new study by researchers at the Center for the Study of Mathematics Curriculum, a wide disparity of grade level expectations in mathematics exists in state-authorized curriculum standards.
What works in student retention
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Lumina Foundation
Lumina Foundation grants that examine student engagement, academic success and attainment are beginning to identify what works in student retention and how student engagement is linked to learning.
Learning From Symbolic Objects
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Observer
By David H. Uttal and Judy S. DeLoache
Perhaps the most important challenge of early-childhood education is helping children to master a variety of symbol systems. Within a few short years, children must learn to understand and use letters, numbers, mathematical symbols, maps, and other symbol systems. Parents, educators, and researchers naturally want to find the most effective educational techniques and tools to help them learn.
Try The Sound of Silence
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
By Steven W. Simpson, Ph.D.
Somewhere along the line I was cursed with that waking up early disease. It doesn't matter what I do, how much I sleep or where I am- 4:30 a.m. and my eyes just pop open. I have accepted it as part of my daily life. I get up quietly, and my dog and I go into the living room. I sit in my chair, drink my coffee and wait for morning.
Parentadvocates.org Files Amicus Curiae Brief in Support of Jacob Winkelman v Parma City School District
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
ParentsAdvocates.org
We at Parentadvocates.org recognize the need for parents to represent their children to assert their rights guarenteed by the IDEA in federal court. The IDEA was designed to ensure that all children with disabilities have access to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) and to protect the rights of children and parents.
268 The Best High Schools in the State of Wisconsin
Monday, May 15, 2006
Center for the Study of Jobs & Education in Wisconsin And United States
By Dennis W. Redovich
The motivation for this piece is an article in the May 6, 2006 Edition of Newsweek, "100 Best High Schools in America . Newsweek has published the rankings of the top 1,200 of 27,468 public high schools in America that are ranked according to a ratio devised by Washington Post education writer Jay Mathews. Fourteen of the top 1,200 public high schools in America in 2005 are located in the State of Wisconsin .
An Interview with Suzanne Bouffard and Holly Kreider: About Complementary Learning
Monday, May 15, 2006
Michael F. Shaughnessy
Eastern New Mexico University
What exactly are your duties and responsibilities with the Harvard Family Research Project?
At HFRP, we work to connect research with policy and practice, in order to promote more effective programs and policies for disadvantaged children and youth.
Solitary Confinement, Zakarias Moussaoui , and the Staying Power of Mnemonic Civilization
Monday, May 15, 2006
By Robert Oliphant
Zakarias Moussaoui is now apparently put away for good in a "super max" federal prison in Florence , Colorado , to "rot" (Judge Leonie Brinkman). With 23 solitary-confinement hours each day, Moussaooui is clearly headed for "mental decapitation," as prison expert James E. Aiken put it, and bound to end up " like the cell mate of the Count of Monte Cristo, who died an old, tired convict," as quoted by Richard A. Serrano in the Los Angeles Times of May 5, 200 .
Open Letter From Patricia Polacco
Monday, May 15, 2006
To All Educators, Librarians, and Media Specialists
Regarding the cancellation of my appearance at the IRA in Chicago for May 2 and 3, 2006:
A few months, ago I was approached by The Buchanan Associates in Dublin, Ohio, to appear at the International Reading Association Conference in Chicago on May 2 and 3, 2006. I was to be part of 5 events: speeches, "meet and greet," and book signings.
Next LD Talk
Speech/Language and Literacy Development: Keys to Success for Struggling Learners
Monday, May 15, 2006
Learn about the importance of early recognition of speech-language delay and the important role of speech-language pathologists in help ing young children become successful readers.
MARKING A LIFE MILESTONE: HOW TO PICK THE PERFECT GRAD GIFT
Monday, May 15, 2006
Forget the pen set, briefcase, even the money. Personalize a graduation gift to make it meaningful and memorable to mark this life milestone -- whether it's graduating from high school, college, or kindergarten. Bestselling author and life course expert Susan V. Bosak suggests creative gifts for the graduate that include a dream kit and wishing stars.
The ADHD Fraud: How Psychiatry Makes "Patients" of Normal Children
Monday, May 15, 2006
by MD Fred A. Baughman Jr.
About the Book: Fred Baughman, MD is an adult and child neurologist. Making "disease" (brain tumor, multiple sclerosis, etc.) vs. "no disease" (emotional, psychiatric) diagnoses daily, he has discovered and described real diseases but has never been able to validate ADHD or any psychiatric "chemical imbalance" / "disease" as an actual disease.
Mental Health, Education and Social Control, Part 30
Monday, May 15, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
by Dennis Cuddy, Ph.D
Many Americans see issues such as mental health screening as simply a national concern. However, the issue of mental health has been an international one as well for years.
The NAACP's fight against private school vouchers
Monday, May 15, 2006
Town Hall
by Star Parker
Why would an organization that calls itself the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, whose motto is "Making Democracy Work Since 1909," oppose individual choice and freedom and dedicate itself to promoting public policy that guarantees the perpetuation of black poverty?
Guaranteed Loans Cheaper For Taxpayers, Paper Says
Total Savings Of $4 Billion; Direct Loans Cost $2.16 More Per $100 Lent
Monday, May 15, 2006
Washington , D.C. - Federal guaranteed student loans have cost taxpayers less than loans made directly by the U.S. government, according to a white paper issued today by America 's Student Loan Providers (ASLP). Based on new government cost data, loans made by the private sector-based Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program from 1994 to 2002 have cost $7.00 for every $100 in loans, as compared to $9.16 for direct loans.
The Early Reading and Mathematics Achievement of Children Who Repeated Kindergarten or Who Began School a Year Late
Sunday, May 14, 2006
This report examines the association between kindergarten enrollment status (e.g., repeating kindergarten or delaying entry into kindergarten) and children’s first grade reading and mathematics achievement. Based on the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K), the statistics in brief reports that in the fall of 1998 5 percent of all children in kindergarten were repeating kindergarten and 6 percent were attending kindergarten for the first time even though they were age-eligible to do so a year earlier (i.e., delayed entry).
Members speak their minds about NCLB at meetings around the country
Sunday, May 14, 2006
American Federation of Teachers
By Mike Rose
No one would have faulted Boston teacher Gary Fisher had he bagged it and headed home that afternoon in early April. After all, the eighth-grade civics teacher had just logged a heavy day during a busy part of the marking period at Boston's Timilty Middle School.
Achieving "High Quality" in the Selection, Preparation and Retention of Teachers
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Haberman Educational Foundation
Although the typical age of college graduates has risen from age 22 to age 26, it is still generally true that most of those preparing to teach are college age youth, that is, late adolescents and young adults. Approximately 80% of those preparing to teach are youngsters below age 26 and approximately 20% are older "non-traditional" post baccalaureate students or adults in alternative certification or on-the job training programs.
Second Meeting of the PRELAC Intergovernmental Committee
Sunday, May 14, 2006
UNESCO
From 11-13 May, fifteen vice-ministers and 25 specialists from 27 Latin American countries and from Spain will meet in Santiago (Chile) to discuss curricular design and development in education policy.
Stopping Kids from Growing Up Too Fast
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Children's Author Encourages Kids To Be Kids
Today's children grow up watching their parents try to keep up with the latest trends. Instead of looking like normal moms, you see more and more mothers who would rather look like their daughters. It's no wonder that teens themselves start growing up much faster. Unlike their parents, however, today's kids strive to look and feel older. They strive to behave like adults at increasingly younger ages. The trend not only leaves adults shaking their heads in disbelief, it also can be confusing to children and rob them of their precious childhoods.
Research Offers Lessons for Improving Low-Performing High Schools Studies Address Five Challenges Facing Educators
Sunday, May 14, 2006
(New York) - A new report from MDRC, Meeting Five Critical Challenges of High School Reform: Lessons from Research on Three Reform Models , offers research-based lessons for helping low-performing high schools, which are the focus of increased concern by federal, state, and local policymakers. MDRC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization focused on education and social policy.
America: The Last Best Hope
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Town Hall
by William J. Bennett
An excerpt from America: The Last Best Hope, Bill Bennett's next bestseller.
After independence and peace, the greatest achievement of the Confederation government was the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. From the old Northwest Territory would be carved a huge region-the modern reflection and choice states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. It was the culmination of a series of land measures that began as early as 1780.
A judge "stands up" for ignorance
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Town Hall
by Debra Saunders
California has spent some $50 million developing and administering the high school exit exam, as mandated by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Gray Davis.
An education that may pay for college
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Town Hall
by Ryan Krueger and Mike Catalano
I was having a particularly difficult time with a pan last night, and this time I was not just faking it to summon relief from the living room bullpen. My wife, the retired dishwasher, looked at the spot and instinctively pivoted with conviction, reached under the sink and grabbed the Soft Scrub. She said, "I'll always remember my teacher in 7th grade home economics class explaining the power of Soft Scrub."
ROTTEN APPLES
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Wall Street Journal
If there were lingering doubts that teachers unions are the worms in the apple of the American education system, take a look at the monumental setback for school reform in Florida, says the Wall Street Journal.
Rewriting history
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Town Hall
by Mike Gallagher
After having lived in the South and spending considerable time studying the Civil War, I have come to appreciate and respect the pride that Southerners have for their heritage.
GRADE-O-MATIC
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Edutopia
By Cheri Lucas
Envision this: A computer tells students that their latest literary concoction doesn't connect ideas logically. At Warren Central High School, in Indianapolis, English teacher Kathy Paris doesn't have to imagine. She uses Criterion, a Web service that scores essays and shoots feedback out to students within seconds.
Why Public Schools Pressure Parents to Give Their Kids Mind-Altering Drugs
Saturday, May 13, 2006
NewWithViews.com
by Joel Turtel
Nothing condemns our public-school system more than the fact that many school authorities across America pressure parents to give mind-altering drugs to millions of normal, innocent children to stop bored kids from fidgeting in their seats or "not paying attention."
Highly qualifed data
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Education Gadfly
NCLB requires all states, at the end of the current school year, to prove that their teachers in charge of academic classes are "highly qualified." In an era of accountability, it's a reasonable request. After all, we ask students to be proficient in their subjects. Shouldn't we ask the same of their teachers?
Improving No Child Left Behind:
Suggestions from Education's Front Lines
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Lexington Institute
When the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) became law, it brought with it fundamental changes in the relationships between local school districts and the federal government. Because the law so incontrovertibly linked federal dollars with education results, it led to new accountability requirements that - like it or not - have changed the business of education in American public schools in consequential ways.
British 'Queen of Iraq' rests in Baghdad cemetery
Saturday, May 13, 2006
The Jordan Times
"There she is," Ali Mansur says pointing to a sandstone gravestone. "I take care of her. But nobody visits." Gertrude Bell, a British traveller, writer and linguist, was one of the most powerful women of the 1920s, an adviser to empire builders and confidante to kings. An "oriental secretary" to British governments, she is credited with drawing the boundaries of modern Iraq out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War 1.
Tom Peters Judges Public Schools
Friday, May 12, 2006
U.S. Freedom Foundation
David W. Kirkpatrick Senior Education Fellow
It's been said that a new joke is often an old joke that you haven't heard before. The same might be said about what's "news." With that in mind, the following views of public education are by Tom Peters, one of the nation's best-known management consultants, perhaps best known as the author of "In Search of Excellence."
SUMMARY OF MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA ' S EDUCATION
REFORM P RINCIPLES
Friday, May 12, 2006
Office of Mayor Villaraigosa
. Reforming our Public Schools is the Central Challenge
. The Goal is to Improve Student Achievement and Close Achievement Gaps
. Governance Proposal
. Outline of Proposed Legislation
FLUNKING NUMBERS
Friday, May 12, 2006
How Changing the Federal Universal Service Fund (USF) Long-Distance Phone Bill Fee Would Harm America’s Colleges and Universities
A Report of the Keep Universal Service Fund (USF) Fair Coalition
Critical Thinking: Or Making Me The Straw Man
Friday, May 12, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
by Tom DeWeese
They are one of the biggest publishers of textbooks in the world, and they wanted to use some of my writings in one of their products. My first thought was, "Gee, I'm coming up in the world." The second was, "How do they intend to use it?" So I asked for a sample. A good thing I did.
The clashing politics of national charter movements and state/local charters
Friday, May 12, 2006
National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education
Charter school reform is frequently debated by two national policy coalitions: one in support of charter schools and one in opposition. These debates can be misleading
Pay Raise Short-Changes Teachers
Friday, May 12, 2006
Texas Public Policy Foundation
By Jamie Story
Better pay will only come from better priorities
Members of the Texas Legislature are proposing a $2,000 across-the-board pay raise for Texas teachers. The cost to taxpayers? $800 million per year. But apparently that isn't enough for some.
Coaching Restraint To Drill Sergeant Dads
Friday, May 12, 2006
Dr. Steven Richfield
A mother writes: My teens are wonderful and normal. Their misbehavior is neither extreme nor excessive. It's my husband who drives us all crazy. He expects the children to behave like little soldiers, and he can turn family life into boot camp with all his rules and regulations. How can I convince him that he's the problem, not us?
BRAIN FOOD
Friday, May 12, 2006
Edutopia
By Evantheia Schibsted
How do you make inroads into a culture that delivers a one-two obesity punch of fast food and sedentary activity? If you are Jorge Leon Collazo, a chef charged with putting healthy food on the plates of New York City's schoolchildren, you employ stealth and rewards to change habits without rebellion.
Is The Public School Destroying The Male Child?
Friday, May 12, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
by Glenn Sacks
A recent Chicago Board of Education report showed that girls enjoy a 63-37% advantage over boys in gaining admittance to Chicago's eight selective-enrollment college prep high schools. In response, Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan and top administrators at Jones, Whitney Young and Brooks prep schools are advocating that schools consider "gender weighting."
New York City's Secret Police Against Educators
Thursday, May 11, 2006
By Ron Isaac
The Office of Special Investigations for the Schools sounds on paper like it is doing the Lord's work. But it operates like the Hitlerian or Stalinist secret police. Educators are targeted for trumped up reasons, and are treated as enemy combatants. The following are two resolutions for the phantom Supreme Court of Popular Opinion and the American
Silly Season for the School Scholars
Thursday, May 11, 2006
By Frederick Hess and Laura LoGerfo
Amidst the relentless warnings that America's schools are only graduating two-thirds of eighteen-year-olds, are failing to produce the scientists and engineers we need, and must address stubborn racial achievement gaps, more than 14,000 of the nation's education researchers are gathered in San Francisco for the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
Growing With Mathematics
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Reviewed by Professor Tyler Jarvis
I strongly support the idea of having children explore different methods of solving problems, discovering some aspects of mathematics and numbers on their own, and investigating the deep central ideas underlying the main topics they study.
Algebra and Its Enemies
Thursday, May 11, 2006
TCS Daily
Early this year, Washington Post op-ed columnist Richard Cohen weighed in on a subject about which he, by his own admission, knew nothing. The subject was algebra, and Cohen's column took the form of advice to a young woman who had dropped out of high school after failing in that subject.
Coaching The Underachieving High Schooler
Thursday, May 11, 2006
by Dr. Steven Richfield
While high school presents a world of possibilities, adolescence ignites the fires to make those into realities. Today's ready access to peers through instant messaging,tempting entertainment options, and a vast array of activities, can easily undermine a teenager's academic dedication.
Research into Practice:
Constructivist Learning and Teaching
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Douglas H. Clements and Michael T. Battista
No one true reality exists, only individual interpretations of the world. These interpretations are shaped by experience and social interactions. Thus, learning mathematics should be thought of as a process of adapting to and organizing one's quantitative world, not discovering preexisting ideas imposed by others.
PANASONIC HONORS CHILDREN AS WINNERS OF 16 th ANNUAL "KID WITNESS NEWS" NEW VISION AWARDS VIDEO CONTEST
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Children From More Than 200 Public Schools Worldwide Participated In
Video Education Program To Show Us "The World Through Their Eyes"
SECAUCUS, NJ - Panasonic Corporation of North America honored children this evening as winners in their 16 th annual Kid Witness News â (KWN) New Vision Awards ceremony held at Panasonic's North American headquarters in Secaucus, New Jersey.
The teachers unions are mad at me
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Bluegrass Institute
By Mr. John Stossel
Teachers unions are mad at me. The New York State United Teachers demands I apologize for my ?utter level?journalism, ?n irresponsible assault on public school students and teachers.?This is because I hosted an ABC News TV special titled ?tupid in America,?which pointed out:
Positive Self-Talk
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Teaching Moments
Everyone has an inner voice and hears positive or negative self-talk. Your self-talk might remind you to watch out for cars when crossing the street, or it might remind you to be careful when doing something new. Or your inner voice could be saying that you are a winner and that you will have a good day.
What is the future for high school exit exam?
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
EducationNews.org
By Jennifer Solis
An Alameda County judge says he will rule Friday on the future of California 's high school exit exam (CAHSEE), but he has already indicated that an injunction will probably allow high school seniors who have failed the test to graduate with their class. School districts, he said, will be allowed to indicate on diplomas if a student has passed the exit exam.
An Interview with Roberto Mancusi: About Vocal Music in the Schools
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Michael F. Shaughnessy
Eastern New Mexico University
First of all, why do you think vocal music should be taught in elementary schools?
There are a myriad of reasons vocal music should be taught in elementary schools. For the sake of space, I will discuss only a couple here. First, young children inherently know how to produce sound. A baby never has to clear its throat half-way through a middle-of-the-night tirade. The same can be said about toddlers and early elementary school students.
Classroom Discourse and Teacher Change
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Wisconsin Center for Education Research
Education reform practices encourage student-led discourse and student-to-student discourse about curricular content. Such 'socially mediated' construction of knowledge is considered to promote deep and sustained learning.
Celebrities, Athletes, Political Leaders Honor Their Teachers
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
NEA Celebrates National Teacher Day with All-Star Lineup of ‘Most Memorable Teachers’
WASHINGTON—Two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank has fond memories of Mr. Selleriet at Happy Valley Elementary School in Bellingham, Washington, because he was the first to give her an acting job.
The Parent Coach: Taming The Horrors Of Homework
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Dr. Steven Richfield
A parent writes: With the start of school upon us my thoughts turn to the horrors of homework. These feelings might seem misplaced but afternoons with my son typically include blood curdling screams and tortured expressions.
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