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 This blog is no longer being updated.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
Suspension Stands in Student YouTube Case
A federal judge has opted not to lift the suspension of a high school student in Washington state punished in connection with a most unflattering YouTube video about one of his teachers. The student, Gregory Requa, 18, denies involvement in producing the video, yet he has been suspended from Kentridge High School for 40 days, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.
Education
The Daring Dozen
So, who are this year's "Daring Dozen"? According to the June issue of Edutopia, they're 12 people who "are reshaping the future of education." Edutopia now offers an online map that shows who the daring innovators are and where they operate. It's a cool tool and worth checking out.
Education
Spellings and Jon Stewart Talk NCLB
She didn't exactly kill, but U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings handled herself well on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart last night. Well after the bedtime of most of the nation's students (hopefully), Spellings and Stewart chatted about No Child Left Behind, the "soft bigotry of low expectations," and Lunchables—which Stewart brought out along with No. 2 pencils and an apple just after Spellings sat down at the anchor/interview desk. Stewart told Spellings that she was the "only active member of our government—in terms of the executive branch—who is not allergic to me." "So far, so good," Spellings responded. Stewart and Spellings kept things dignified for the most part, although Spellings made a face when Stewart joked about playing education god and smiting teachers' unions. When Stewart inquired about the face, the secretary replied that, of course, she was joking. As for tweaking NCLB, Spellings acknowledged there are things she would change—specifically, the "growth model" for precisely measuring student achievement over time and paying more attention to high schools. Stewart ended the segment with what he called a "SAT-type quiz" and offered Spellings the following fill-in-the-blank analogy. "Alberto Gonzales is to 'I don't recall' as trees are to sunshine, oxygen, or 'I don't recall'." After a pause, Spellings gamely replied: "I don't recall."
Education
Candidates' Video Commentary as Teaching Tools
Over at PBS's teacher blog, learning.now blog host Andy Carvin wonders whether schools will be able to use the candidate videos on the Internet to inform students about the 2008 elections and to show them how to create video political commentary of their own. But to do this, schools would have to allow their students open access to political videos online. However, most of these videos are available via YouTube, a site which is blocked by many public schools. "These videos will be of clear educational benefit," Mr. Carvin writes, "yet as long as their host sites are blocked, the materials will get blocked as well." Should students have unfettered access to YouTube? And what educational value can they get from these online political video commentaries, which may connected to young students in a way that traditional classroom teaching about the elections may not?
Education
Brown v. Board of Education Remembered
This week—May 17, to be specific—marked the 53rd anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. An article in the May 18, 1954, edition of The New York Times recounts Chief Justice Earl Warren reading the decision in the courtroom: "In the field of public education," Warren said, "the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
Education
Ravitch Decries Arabic School
Education historian Diane Ravitch makes clear her opposition to New York City's plans to open a new public school devoted solely to study of Arabic culture and language in a guest column in the New York Daily News headlined "Arabic school fails the test—A United City Demands We Educate Kids Together."
Education
A Very Big Bill
Auditors are going to give a close once-over to the Racine (Wis.) Unified School District's agreement with a private consulting firm that, it turns out, has overbilled the district by $125,000. The firm had been hired to run the district's business office and (ironically) to help it find ways to save money. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported on the matter on May 7. In a May 15 editorial, the Journal Sentinel applauds the district's decision to review its agreement with with the Public Business Consulting Group: "The Racine auditors should look very carefully at this contract. And other districts tempted to hire the group should be equally careful about what they sign," the editorial says. The group's president says he is "mystified" by the overbilling.
Education
Documenting One State's Struggles with Equality
Under a partnership with the Maryland Historical Society, students at Doris M. Johnson High School in Baltimore are uncovering new chapters in black history, Gregory Kane writes in a column in the Baltimore Sun. The historical society has partnered with the school for the past three years to explore a variety of topics in Maryland history. For the past two years, the Annie E. Casey Foundation has underwritten the project, which is called "Keep on Movin' Toward Freedom: The 'Free' State's Struggle with Equality." This week, students gave oral presentations on their research. Among their topics: the "March on Annapolis" in 1942, when 1,800 black Marylanders traveled to the state capital to protest police brutality and racial discrimination in Baltimore. The students' work has been encapsulated in a 95-page paperback book.
Education
Science Can Be Really Cool
For the last several years, politicians, policy officials, and educators have been stressing the need to improve math and science education so American students can compete in a global economy. Here’s a new book that attempts to make science cool—and a lot more palatable—for teachers, parents, and students who think the sciences too technical. Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Natalie Angier’s new book, The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science, discusses science in a reader-friendly way, providing the lowdown on issues like global warming and bird flu. The book also skips through chemistry, biology, astronomy and physics. National Public Radio did an interview with The New York Times reporter and includes an excerpt from the book. The Boston Globe does a Q&A with the author.
Education
Students Not in School
Truancy is a problem all across the country and newspapers are finally drawing attention to the issue. The Hartford Courant takes a look at the problem, discovering that 2,000 local students are absent from school each day without excuses. But the story cites programs tackling chronic truancy, including Hartford’s Truancy Court Prevention Project. Last month we wote about truancy problems in Indianoplis.
Education
Spell Utah
The New York Times offers a moving video story about a 13-year-old Utah boy who hopes to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee for an unusual and heartbreaking reason. Kunal Sah, an 8th grader, wants to draw attention to the plight of his parents, who were deported to India. Because of this, he is training for the competition in anger, reports the video, titled "American Album: Spell Utah," (5:38) Sah lives in a Ramada Limited hotel in Green River, Utah, with his uncle and aunt. He hopes to win the bee, draw the attention of President Bush, and open the door to his parents' return to the United States. The short video is worth a look.
Education
Fergie Goes to School
It's good to be glamorous—of that, the students at Seattle's Franklin High School can have no doubt. Thanks to being named the West's "most glamorous high school" in a recent Verizon Wireless-sponsored contest, Franklin High was treated to a special concert by pop star Fergie (of Black Eyed Peas fame). "Franklin High School, you got styyyle!" Fergie told the crowd gathered in the school gym, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. Franklin's principal worked with the singer's team to censor songs "not suitable for the school house." And Fergie herself acknowledged: "We're using the clean versions of the songs, definitely." The glamor contest was a promotion for Verizon's V CAST technology.
Education
MTV on Dropping Out
MTV is using the airwaves—naturally—to take a closer look at dropping out. On May 9, MTV:Music Television is premiering a new documentary titled "The Dropout Chronicles" that looks at three young people on the brink of leaving school without a diploma. The show will air on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. EST/PT on MTV2. It will also be shown at Wednesday's "National Summit on America's Silent Epidemic" in Washington, an event that MTV is co-hosting with Time, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Civic Enterprises, and the National Governors Association to examine the reasons so many young people drop out of high school and ways to stem the tide. According to the National Governors Association, more than 1 million American high school students drop out every year. Want to know how many kids finish high school in your area? The EPE Research Center offers data on graduation rates nationwide.
Education
Standout Schools in Oregon
The Oregonian series on "Standout Schools" profiles three schools that are using innovative methods to reach kids. Monday's piece looks at Mt. Tabor Middle School in Portland where the staff makes a special effort to bond with the students. "Teachers work in teams with small groups of students. They know their students and quickly intervene when one stumbles," reporter Steven Carter writes. "When a boy doesn't show up for school, for instance, a staff member goes to his house to get him." The focus is on the personal at Mt. Tabor. Should more schools go to these lengths? Can they? Tuesday's piece looks at the impact an innovative principal is making at his high school. Do you know of instances where one principal has made all the difference in improving a school? Let us know.