Browse our collection of education articles, audio reports, webcasts, blog posts, and video from around the Web. This blog is no longer being updated.
Education
Advice for Schools and Parents
The Washington Post provides tips for parents and for educators to bridge the chasm that often divides the two groups. Teachers often complain that parents are either overbearing or not involved at all in their child’s education, while parents bemoan the fact that teachers don’t take their input seriously. This article gives tips for both sides on how to make the relationship between educator and parent work in favor of the student. Some of them are fairly basic, but worth a look.
Education
October Is More Than Halloween
October is Children’s Health Month and the Environmental Protection Agency is going all out to make sure everyone is aware of the risks of hazardous chemicals in schools, the threats that old, dilapidated school buildings pose, and of the benefits of a healthy school environment—for students and adults. Check out the EPA’s list of activities for the month, or read their 2006 report on children’s environmental health, or consult the daily calendar that has a children’s environmental health tip every day. If you want to be more participatory, mark your own calendar for Oct. 19, when you can tune into a webcast discussion of chemical management in schools.
Education
Trouble With Turning Around Schools
This is the story of how a turnaround specialist struggled to turn things around. The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer reports on the efforts of one Virginia turnaround specialist, Park Land, who pledged to spend three years as principal at Boushall Middle School in Richmond and make the struggling school into an educational example. The school had failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress and was on a targeted list of schools “in need of improvement” by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Listen to or watch the story to find out what happened.
Education
Going Undercover in High School
Jeremy Iverson was a 24-year-old Stanford University graduate when he decided his private boarding school experience was not much of an adolescence. So he enrolled at a public high school in Southern California and went undercover to write a book, posing as a 17-year-old student. Only the school's principal knew who he was. The result is “High School Confidential” which takes a look not only at today’s teenage culture of text messaging, hook-ups, and steroid use, but also at the public education system and the way it works. In this Salon article, Mr. Iverson talks about the failings of the school he went to, and he raps both teachers and students when it comes to educational achievement.
Education
Amish School: No Precedent for Shocking Tragedy
The killing of five Amish students in Paradise, Pa., has brought increased attention to the Amish community, which shuns the modern-day trappings of everyday life. While Amish children may not be as technologically plugged-in as their student peers outside of the Amish community, they do have many things in common, one of which is school. Mark Dewalt, an author and professor who has studied one-room schoolhouses and Amish education in the U.S. and Canada for two decades, talked with National Public Radio's Melissa Block about Amish schoolhouses and how the children are educated.
Education
A New Type of School Intruder
In the wake of all this recent school violence, MSNBC has collected 10 myths about school shootings from a 2002 study on the issue by the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education. The myths include everything from “He didn’t fit the profile” to “He was a loner” and make for an interesting read. However, it’s noteworthy that the study assumes that the shooter would most likely be a student or someone with a strong connection to the school. Two of the most recent school shooting incidents involved adults who were not even affiliated with the school. Might be time for a new study.
Education
New School Year in New Orleans
NPR's "Morning Edition" takes a look at the start of the school year for the New Orleans school district, still decimated from Hurricane Katrina more than a year ago. The school system is now a hodge-podge of charter, state-run and and district-run institutions. The report highlights the daily reality for principals, who don't know how many teachers to hire because students continue to trickle back to class, or who are faced with barring students from class because they don't have the proper documentation.
Education
Closing the Teacher Gap
Most new teachers know it’s a lot easier to land that first job in an inner city or rural school with low-income and minority students, than it is in an affluent suburban district. But if the goal is to close the achievement gap, the schools that have the most difficulty attracting teachers, must find a way to attract the brightest and keep them, argues a panel put together by the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality. Typically, the newest teachers wind up in the most challenging schools with the least amount of support, and teacher turnover is often high, panelists say. Tune in to this discussion to hear from people who know the problem inside out--and have a lot of suggestions for improvement.
Education
A National Dialogue: Live Webcast
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings presented her plans to improve access to higher education during a live webcast Sept. 26, 2006 (the cast is now archived for full viewing). Over the past year, Secretary Spellings' Commission on the Future of Higher Education has developed strategies for making the U.S. higher education system more accessible and affordable to the diverse U.S. population.
Education
Watch Out Baby Einstein, Here Comes Barbie
If you’re tuned in to American media coverage on child-rearing, you’d think the biggest problems society has today are overprotective parents, the difficulties of finding a decent nanny, or that students have too much pressure on them to achieve, according to a Time magazine story by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. The two argue that mainstream reporting isn’t reflecting the real challenges faced by the majority of families today and that inaccurate reflection may actually be hurting American families. The story opens with a lively description of a cage match between Baby Einstein and Barbie.
Education
NCLB on TV (But Only if You Have Cable)
HBO’s series The Wire may be casting more of a negative light on the federal No Child Left Behind Act than press conferences by the National Education Association. The series is chronicling the efforts of a cop turned rookie math teacher as he tries to inspire inner city Baltimore students and get them to make adequate yearly progress at the same time. In this article from Salon.com, author James Hynes calls The Wire’s depiction of life in an underperforming school as one of the “sharpest and most high-profile” critiques of the No Child Left Behind Act, which is up for reauthorization next year.
Education
Going to Great Lengths
In Ephrata, Wash., there’s a group of middle school science students who each day are greeted by a man with a foot-long, graying beard—their teacher. CNN reports that after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, science teacher Gary Weddle decided not to shave or trim his beard until Osama bin Laden was caught or killed. The manhunt has dragged on longer than expected. This story features a color picture of Mr. Weddle and his facial hair. Enjoy.
Education
Podcast: Making the Grade
Here’s more on the adventures of five rookie teachers in New York City. In part five of “Making the Grade,” longtime education broadcaster John Merrow provides a look at how the new teachers are grappling with preparations for high stakes testing in a Brooklyn school struggling to get students up to grade level. The teachers, including a former business major and a former Americorps volunteer, are part of a group of Teaching Fellows assigned to some of the highest-needs schools in the city. They say they’ve left the curriculum behind in order to prep students in just English and Math.
Reading & Literacy
Poetry Foundation to Name First Children’s Poet Laureate
Think the only thing kids read these days are Harry Potter books or instant messages from their friends? Think again, says the Chicago-based Poetry Foundation. Later this month the foundation will choose the first Children’s Poet Laureate to cite the “natural receptivity” children have to poetry written just for them. The Children’s Poet Laureate will advise the Poetry Foundation and serve for two years. The bard will also get $25,000 and give two major readings over the course of the two years.