August 10, 2005
Education Week, Vol. 24, Issue 44
Curriculum
‘Disney’ Teachers Cite Factors to Stimulate Student Achievement
One group of award-winning teachers says that the greatest boosts to student achievement come from linking learning to real life and getting parents involved in their children’s education.
Education
Report Roundup
Bulking Up
Of the more than 10,000 12- to 18-year-olds studied as part of Harvard Medical School’s ongoing Growing Up Today survey, only 47 percent of boys and 36 percent of girls reported they were satisfied with their bodies.
Curriculum
AFL-CIO Divisions Unlikely to Affect Teachers’ Union
The pullout of at least three major labor unions from the AFL-CIO is unlikely to have much effect on the American Federation of Teachers—at least in the short term, union representatives and observers say.
Education
Report Roundup
States Fall Short on Vision Care
Undiagnosed and untreated vision problems in children can lead to permanent vision loss and learning difficulties, yet 19 states currently require no preventive vision care for school-age children, concludes a report.
Professional Development
Staff Investment Pays Dividends in Md. District
As districts seek ways to educate all children, Montgomery County, Md., has drawn notice for its unusual concentration on human resources.
Curriculum
Reporter's Notebook
Recipients of Grants Express Enthusiasm for Reading First
New Orleans in July may not seem an ideal venue for getting 6,000 educators excited about professional development.
But teachers, administrators, and literacy coaches from around the country danced to a roving jazz band and joined in Mardi Gras-style revelry at the opening of the second annual national Reading First conference in here late last month.
School & District Management
Cohn Selected to Lead Schools in San Diego
Both fans and critics of San Diego’s closely watched school improvement efforts are applauding the choice of Carl A. Cohn, a former superintendent of the Long Beach, Calif., schools, as the system’s next leader.
School & District Management
Report Urges Input From the Trenches
Teachers and principals should have a more significant voice in shaping large-scale instructional improvement plans, a national urban education group argues.
School Climate & Safety
Education Ministry to Provide Guns for Thai Teachers
Thai education officials are ready to buy pistols for teachers who remain at schools in a violence-ridden region of the country, even as thousands more teachers request transfers from the troubled area.
Federal
Aussie State Kisses Goodies Goodbye in Schools
Under new guidelines issued last month by the state’s education minister, Anne Bligh, junk food will be banned from all public schools for all but two days a term.
Federal
Canadian Schools Rely on Funds From Outside, Survey Finds
A national school survey shows that schools in Canada raise, on average, $15,700 Canadian a year through advertising, private partnerships, fund raising, and student fees to pay for some of the necessities of schooling.
Federal
New Zealand Preschool Teachers to Get Equality in Pay
Teachers at more than 170 early-childhood-education centers in New Zealand are on their way to earning the same pay as regular school teachers, under a new collective-bargaining agreement reached between the Ministry of Education and the New Zealand Educational Institute Te Riu Roa union.
Federal
Tokyo School Board Adopts Textbooks Denounced by China
The Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education has adopted a history textbook that critics, including the Chinese government, say wrongly downplays Japan’s military aggression during the World War II era, according to wire service reports out of Japan.
School & District Management
New Skills Pushed for Md. Principals
Principals in Maryland soon will have to know more than just how to keep their schools running smoothly, under new state licensing rules.
Teaching Profession
AFT Fighting Puerto Rico Affiliate’s Potential Desertion
The American Federation of Teachers’ affiliate in Puerto Rico is resisting the parent union’s attempts to keep it in its fold. The power struggle has both sides claiming the other is abusing the relationship.
Education
Letter to the Editor
To Accelerate Learning, Or to Equalize It?
To paraphrase the first sentence of your July 27, 2005, article “To Maintain Rigor, College Board to Audit All AP Courses,” as more high schools rush to offer Advanced Placement courses, the No Child Left Behind Act counteracts the effects.
Education
Letter to the Editor
NEA Policy Runs Counter to Common Sense
I want to address Julie Dwyer’s letter to the editor decrying Education Week’s coverage of the National Education Association convention.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Evidence From the East on Testing’s Damage
Alfonso Orsini’s reflections on his year of teaching in China reminded me of a major concern I have had about the effects of high-stakes testing.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Center Is Credited for Dual-Enrollment Data
In my July 13, 2005, Commentary, credit should have been given to the Community College Research Center as an important resource.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Clarifying Report on Reform-Model Study
While your coverage captured the salient elements of the MDRC research group’s federally funded study of First Things First, two key points need clarification.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Language, Mathematics, and Other Universals
Thank you for the July 13, 2005, article, which relates how some schools are using innovative strategies to teach math to students with limited English proficiency.
Curriculum
Letter to the Editor
For Progress in Reading, PR Spin Is Not Helpful
Regarding your July 27, 2005, article, I am concerned that the recent “good news” and government spin on the National Assessment of Educational Progress reading scores are highly misleading.
Education
People in the News
Bethany M. Little
Bethany M. Little, 32, is the new director of federal advocacy and policy development for the Alliance for Excellent Education, a Washington-based education policy, research, and advocacy organization.
College & Workforce Readiness
A Leg Up
With college applications looming, high school students turn to summer camps to polish their essays and SAT scores.
Education
People in the News
Arlene Ackerman
Arlene Ackerman, 58, is now the chairwoman of the Council of the Great City Schools’ board of directors. Ms. Ackerman, the superintendent of the 58,000-student San Francisco Unified School District, began her one-year term July 1.
Education
People in the News
Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota has joined the board of directors of Achieve, a Washington-based nonprofit organization founded by governors and business leaders that helps states with efforts to improve education.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
The Fork Debate
Laura Thomas, director of the Antioch Center for School Renewal, uses an analogy from her life to illustrate the need for educators to address and discuss larger issues of society and citizenry with their students.
Federal
Opinion
Is Formative Assessment Losing Its Meaning?
Stephen Chappuis argues that there is a danger of unintentional sacrifices on the way to "adequate yearly progress."
School & District Management
Opinion
Trying Decentralization for Real This Time
Two education researchers propose that despite earlier assumptions, the United States has not yet fully tried decentralizing decisionmaking authority to schools. But it should.