April 12, 2000
Education Week, Vol. 19, Issue 31
School Climate & Safety
School Violence Down, Report Says, But Worry High
Public fear of school shootings has not abated despite statistics that show the number of violent crimes on campuses is small and continues to decline, according to a report scheduled for release this week.
Standards
Math Revisions Add Emphasis on Basic Skills
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics this week is planning to unveil its latest version of standards.
Early Childhood
Focus on Results Trickling Down To Younger and Younger Children
With the issue of accountability continuing to top the nation's education agenda, demands for greater information on student performance are starting to filter down to children who haven't even started school. Includes "Getting Serious About Kindergarten."
Early Childhood
Getting Serious About Kindergarten
As the 19 children in Karen Carter's kindergarten class rehearse their play about dinosaurs on the lunchroom stage, they squirm, fidget, and generally act like typical 5- and 6-year olds. The class stands on small risers singing, then takes turns prancing around the stage and growling in their handmade costumes.
Education
Youth Suicide Rates by Region and State
The Western states, especially the region that flanks the long spine of the Rocky Mountains—Montana, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah—consistently have among the highest percentages of teenage suicides in the country. The map below shows an average of state-by-state suicide rates for 1994-97, calculated per 100,000 youths ages 10 to 19. Experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say one reason for the high rates in the Western half of the country is that residents of prairie and mountain states are more socially isolated. Some also have speculated that the rate is higher because those with a pioneering spirit who migrate West may be disappointed when they arrive at their destinations and their high expectations aren't met. If depression strikes, mental-health care tends to be harder to access in those regions. Less populated states also tend to have fewer community institutions such as parks and recreational activities to bring far-flung people together. Higher suicide rates may also be connected to a larger number of firearms in circulation per capita in the West and the South. Individual states are ranked below, beginning with Alaska, the state with the highest teenage suicide rate.
Curriculum
Books: New in Print
For more information on these books, contact the publisher or your local library or bookstore.
Special Education
Congress Poised To Increase Funding For Special Ed.
Congress has laid the groundwork for increasing its share of the costs of teaching students with disabilities, furthering a long-standing goal supported by a broad coalition of disability-rights groups, educators, and legislators from both parties.
Federal
Federal File
Happy in their work
The current trend in federal education policy is to offer states and districts more flexibility while demanding greater accountability. But the Department of Education may not have gotten the full gist of that concept in its internal management, a survey of federal employees suggests.
Student Well-Being
Mekye Malcolm, 1981-1998
Classmates used to call Mekye Malcolm Houdini for the way he would deftly slip out of class and wander the hills behind his school, sketching pictures of butterflies and horses nipping at the green North Carolina grass.
Equity & Diversity
Strong Leadership, Inclusiveness Vital To Improving Race Relations
School leaders can positively influence race relations if they use several strategies simultaneously to defuse tensions and include parents and teachers in the dialogue, a recent study concludes.
Education
People in the News
Barbara Cervone, the national coordinator for the Annenberg Challenge and the associate director of the Annenberg Institute, based in Providence, R.I., has announced that she will leave effective Aug. 1. She worked at the institute for 61/2 years.
|
Early Childhood
Children & Families
Child Care: In spite of the challenges involved in implementing a new initiative, Early Head Start has gotten off to a strong start itself, according to the first-ever evaluation of the program.
Education
Opinion
The Post-Millennium Blues
There are many signs that we have accumulated enough knowledge about teaching and learning that we have little to look forward to that is truly new and mind-sweeping in educational research, concludes Maurice Bérubé.
Education
Opinion
Why School Choice Can Promote Integration
Contrary to what some alarmists claim, private schools, on average, are better integrated by race than are public schools, says Jay Greene.
Standards
Opinion
If Standards Are Absolute...
At the author's school, everything that was absolute had to become a variable in order to make achievement an absolute.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Letters
- Doing a 'Disservice' to Education Agencies
- Task Force Addresses 'Moral Matter'
- The Principalship's Missing Incentives
- On Play: Too Busy for the Obvious