Education Blog

Around the Web

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 This blog is no longer being updated.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 Following the Supreme Court Decision on Race
Though the U.S. Supreme Court today rejected school diversity plans that use race as a factor in the case involving voluntary integration plans in school districts in Louisville, Ky. and Seattle, the ruling didn't stop bloggers from opining about the Justices' opinion. In addition to Education Week's extensive coverage, check out SCOTUSblog which recaps the term-ending case and provides solid analysis. The NAACP's Legal Defense Fund school integration blog cites Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s support of allowing school districts to pursue integrated schools despite his agreement in parts with the majority opinion. The Volokh Conspiracy also has plenty to say about Justice Kennedy's stance and the reactions expressed by readers of the blog are also a good read.
Michelle R. Davis, June 28, 2007
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Education Violence Against Teachers
Michelle R. Davis, June 27, 2007
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Education A Few Wrinkles for Title IX's Birthday
On June 23, Title IX celebrated its 35th anniversary and columnists and bloggers have plenty to say about the landmark federal law that requires equal treatment for girls and boys on the playing field and at institutions that receive federal money. This Salon.com column points out the athletic limits once placed on girls which would now be unthinkable. In The Huffington Post attorney Emily J. Martin looks beyond athletics to the issue of single-sex education, also governed by the law. But the San Francisco Chronicle says the law is facing a mid-life crisis that includes a loss of leadership in women's athletics. Sports Illustrated calls for a dose of common sense when it comes to enforcement of the law, tackling complaints from many male athletes who say their sports (like gymnastics and wrestling) are being scrapped so colleges and universities can comply with the law's requirements.
Michelle R. Davis, June 26, 2007
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Education Heading in Digital Directions
If you're tech-savvy and always on the cutting edge of the latest technology advances for schools and districts, or if you know you need to learn more about everything from virtual schools to online professional development for teachers, take some time to check out Education Week's new publication Digital Directions. (Full disclosure here: I wrote several of the stories.) The publication is a great collection of information on the latest advancements in technology, and features stories about the ways math and science teachers are using high-tech gadgets and gizmos to reach out to students; methods for making online testing work in your school; and the latest on what to look for in virtual classes for students.
Michelle R. Davis, June 25, 2007
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Education Transitionitis
Do you know someone who's feeling blue about the end of the school year? Maybe they're acting out, being difficult as the school calendar counts down? Well, they're not alone, it turns out. "Transitionitis," as a blogger at The Boston Globe calls it, affects more students than you might suspect. "Children of all ages have a love-hate relationship with the end of school. The culture tells them they are supposed to be happy (no more pencils, no more books!) but what many of them actually feel is sad and confused," Barbara Meltz writes in her Child Caring blog. The best remedy is to talk with kids about their feelings and to acknowledge that it's OK to miss school or some aspect of it. "Even then, a 3rd or 4th grade boy may not share with you, but you've at least normalized the feelings for him, "Meltz says.
Mary-Ellen Phelps Deily, June 21, 2007
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Education The Feds Wage Sex Education Wars
The Bush administration is apparently fighting back against critics of its federally funded sex education programs, which mostly contain the abstinence-only message. The Washington Post reports that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has come out with a 40-page report on sex education programs that feature the use of condoms and other protective measures. The report criticizes these programs for not stressing the failure rates of such protections when it comes to pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
Michelle R. Davis, June 21, 2007
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Education Tulsa Superintendent Finds Fun in Algebra
So, how do superintendents spend their summer vacations? Well, in Tulsa, the superintendent is running an algebra camp. And, he promises it will be fun! According to the Tulsa World, Superintendent Michael Zolkoski is holding his class in a middle school cafeteria and expects lots of class participation. One student offered praise—albeit slight muted praise—for the camp: "It's something to take up my time," said Emily Stanton, a seventh-grader. "Otherwise, I'd probably be going on the computer or swimming. And I can do that later."
Mary-Ellen Phelps Deily, June 20, 2007
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Education Legal Defense Fund Launches Integration Blog
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has launched a new blog tracking two key cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and the broader theme of school integration. The blog bills itself as a "national clearinghouse of Supreme Court School Integration information" and keeps an eye on integration developments from around the country as it awaits decisions in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education—both of which challenge the legality of school districts' race-conscious student-assignment practices. The court is expected to issue decisions in both cases by July.
Mary-Ellen Phelps Deily, June 20, 2007
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Education The Future for Ms. Rhee
Bloggers have been weighing in regarding the announcement last week that Michelle Rhee will be the next chancellor of the troubled Washington D.C. public school system. Some are criticizing Ms. Rhee’s lack of school leadership experience—she only spent three years as a teacher through the Teach For America program—and has little experience overseeing a huge, bureaucratic organization like a school system.
Michelle R. Davis, June 18, 2007
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Education Georgia Needs Math and Science Teachers
Georgia's colleges and universities are not graduating enough potential math and science teachers to satisfy the state's growing needs, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. According to a new study, "out of 25,000 public college graduates [in Georgia] in 2006, just three became high school physics teachers and nine became chemistry teachers," reporter Andrea Jones writes. "By 2010, Georgia will need more than 4,500 middle and high school math and science teachers. In 2006, the most recent statistics available, the University System produced just 678 in those fields."
Mary-Ellen Phelps Deily, June 15, 2007
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Education Ravitch Takes on Slacker Culture
In an opinion piece in the New York Sun this week, Diane Ravitch charges that people too frequently blame teachers but neglect to consider the role of popular culture and a lack of student drive as culprits in American students' failure to compete globally. "It's time to stop beating up on teachers and ask why so many of our children arrive in school with poor attitudes toward learning," she writes. "If the students aren't willing to work hard, if they aren't hungry to succeed, then even the best teachers in the world—laden with merit pay, bonuses, and other perks—are not going to make them learn."
Mary-Ellen Phelps Deily, June 15, 2007
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Education Does Single-Sex Education Work?
With the U.S. Department of Education’s clarification of the rules on single sex-education last year, which made it clear that public schools could legally educate boys and girls separately, the number of such public school programs is on the rise, reports the Hartford Courant in Connecticut. The article takes a look at Hartford’s Fox Middle School, one of the oldest single-sex public school programs in the country, but also points out that the research on single-sex education is very mixed. Researchers have been unable to say definitively that educating girls and boys apart increases (or decreases) academic achievement. But some of those in the programs are clearly pleased. “Girls can be mad annoying,” says a New Haven, Conn. fifth-grader who is in a boys-only class.
Michelle R. Davis, June 14, 2007
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Education Dropout Schools in Detroit Under Scrutiny
Nine specialty schools that cater to dropouts in Detroit will have to prove their effectiveness in order to stay open, The Detroit News reports.
Mary-Ellen Phelps Deily, June 13, 2007
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Education Embracing the Gift Horse
At racetrack Belmont Park on Long Island, there’s a lot more than horse racing going on. National Public Radio reports on the track’s model preschool, Anna House, where the children of racetrack workers can go for quality care while their parents are working. Racetrack workers, who spent their days exercising thoroughbreds and cleaning stalls, drop their children off as early as 5 a.m. The school takes about 50 children from infants to age 5—nearly all Hispanic—and though the teachers are bilingual, the instruction is in English. One parents reports that this has made it possible for her daughter, a graduate of the preschool, to speak English fluently in elementary school. Parents are charged a weekly fee based on income, which may be as little as $5, but the school is mainly supported by donations. One horse fan donated $1 million and asked that the school be named after his daughter, hence the name Anna House. The owner of winning race horse Barbaro donated $250,000 to a scholarship program to help the school educate the children of the poorest racetrack workers.
Michelle R. Davis, June 12, 2007
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