Search

The article considers the high-tech whiteboard as a powerful tool for improving instructions. It describes how a class in mathematics is made interactive with the use of a whiteboard mounted on the wall in front of the classroom with its large computerized screens which allow Internet access, video and audio presentations and replayable recorded lessons. Some critics reportedly called the tool an expensive update of the age-old blackboard while many find noteworthy benefits in its features that make teaching and learning more effective and interesting.

The article focuses on the individualized education plan. It explains the challenges faced by learning institutions with students of varied academic needs under a defined curriculum, time limitations and traditional instructional tools. Supplemental-service providers such as private tutoring companies or after-school programs have taken the lead in offering tailored instruction. One widely publicized model, the New York City's School of One is cited, which uses individualized face-to-face instruction, software-based activities and online lessons.

The author discusses the differences in the range of computing tasks possible with full-functioning laptops and low-end netbooks. She notes that administrators and educational technology (ed-tech) leaders need to balance the pros and cons of the devices which include the costs and capabilities. She cites some computer providers that quickly respond to the rising demand for netbooks in schools such as Dell, Acer Inc. and Apple Inc. She provides an overview of the student laptop program in the state of Maine.

The article compares the level of technical skills of U.S. students with their international peers. According to experts, the attention and resources put by educators and policymakers in other countries to developing the technical skills of their students could put U.S. students behind the curve very soon. Among the countries that have unveiled plans to ensure that all students have the tools are Australia, Great Britain, China and South Korea.

The article reports that as leaders in Ohio and other states start to reassess the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in a competitive economy, they are weighing plans to gauge how their schools measure up against those of Singapore, South Korea, and Japan and other European nations. They are concerned that academic gains made by competitors will jeopardize the future prospects of the U.S. A report titled "A Nation at Risk" fueled an already-emerging campaign for improving schools. INSETS: Schooling Shifting With Market Forces;EDUCATION HIGHLIGHTS;International School Data More Plentiful Since Risk.

The article informs about how some middle school educators in North Carolina are trying to find a blend of academic and developmental strategies to motivate their students to excel in their academic performances. Amber Cline tries to enhance her students' academic achievement by knowing their personalities and providing support to minority and lower-income students. Robert Balfanz says that educators need to approach the issue of social acceptance of these students among their peer group.

The article presents information on the eight-day workshop, part of professional development program organized by the Save Ellis Island Foundation on the Ellis Island. Many of the teachers offered their students some lessons on immigration in the U.S., primarily through standard literary selections. The Ellis Island lectures, tours, and activities formed the basis of detailed lesson units the participants crafted as part of the workshop.

This article looks at how, five years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and in the midst of an intensifying debate on the U.S.'s war on terror, teachers around the country are trying to teach about events still fresh in the nation's collective memory. In presenting the material, teachers worry about the likelihood of controversy and conflict surrounding the divisive nature of the controversial events.

The article discusses an Immigration Seminar held on Ellis Island in New York City. As part of a professional-development program organized by the Save Ellis Island Foundation, the exhibits, databases, photo archives, and recorded interviews at the museum help put the nation's current debate over immigration policies and processes into a broader historical context.

The article reports on an unusual systemwide approach adopted by the Jefferson County, Kentucky, school district in tackling poor reading skills among high school students. Some curious problems have cropped up here recently at Iroquois High School, known more for its tough student population than academic achievement. In mathematics class and science lab, teachers find themselves chiding students to put away teenage novels and poetry collections and focus on the lessons at hand. Books go missing from classroom libraries packed with classic texts and popular paperbacks. The school's promising focus on literacy, which has produced rising test scores and fewer discipline problems from struggling students, has spread throughout the district. INSET: Alex Walton, Engaged Reader.

The article presents information about the American children to take up the languages of Asia and the Middle East to help buttress the United States' international competitiveness and national security. According to a survey, more than 90 percent of the nation's secondary schools are offering Spanish courses, serving nearly 5 million students. Far fewer schools offer French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Russian, in descending order. But only 1 percent give students the option of learning Chinese--20,000 students, more or less--and far fewer have Arabic classes.

The article reports on improving the troubled educational system in North Carolina. With a history of floundering near the bottom of the 50 states on most education indicators, and a realization that North Carolina's future prosperity rested heavily on the quality of its public schools, state leaders agreed they needed a bold vision for turning the troubled system around. Former governor of North Carolina, James B. Hunt Jr., rallied a bipartisan group of lawmakers, as well as educators, business leaders, and citizens' groups, to commit to a long-term plan for testing students, gauging school performance, improving teachers' skills and salaries, and intervening in low-performing schools and districts.

This article reports that more than a decade ago, no one held out much hope for the poor, immigrant children at Kennedy Middle School. In many ways, Kennedy Middle School has become a model of middle-grades improvement. Test scores, though still inadequate and recently targeted by the state for improvement, have been rising steadily, despite most of the students' language barriers and deficient preparation in schools in their native Mexico. Attendance is consistently around 97 percent. Classes are at the same time lively and orderly as students focus on rigorous lessons, in English.

This article focuses on the reading strategy programs. Kim Lattimore thought good teaching was doomed when her elementary school was chosen to test a rigidly structured commercial reading program under the Los Angeles district's aggressive campaign to turn around dismal reading achievement. Even for the struggling urban school, where she was an assistant principal at the time, the lockstep program seemed excessive. Ms. Lattimore, now the principal of Brockton Avenue Elementary School here, has continued to fret over the program's inflexibility and its tendency to dominate the school day. But after seeing Open Court in action over five years, and in two different schools, she is convinced it is effective in helping more of her pupils achieve reading proficiency.

Hill Vognild was eager to leave her settled life in Norway to study and live at United World College, where she envisioned an oasis of learning, tolerance, and cultural understanding among classmates from more than 80 countries. The teenager was ready for the challenging academic requirements at the private boarding school and fired up to balance those demands with community service, outdoor adventures, and cultural lessons from peers from around the globe. But soon after arriving at this campus at the edge of the Pecos Wilderness, Vognild discovered that the school work was the easy part. Learning to negotiate relationships with students from such varied backgrounds, she says, was a challenge she was not fully prepared for. Kurt Hahn, the founder of the Outward Bound expeditionary-learning program, helped establish the United World College system, which now boasts 10 schools worldwide, as a way to catch promising students at a crossroads on their way to adulthood, when their worldviews were still being formed.

Reports that a 'relaxed' education solution offered by the government has sparked fierce debate over how to improve educational experience for school children without compromising on academic performance. Changes that have been made in the school calendar, curriculum and the nation's educational objectives; Advantages and disadvantages of the changes proposed to promote educational experience for school children. INSETS: CLASSROOM CHAOS.;OPENING THE DOORS.;TEACHING TOLERANCE..

Focuses on language education on black children in Oakland, California. Introduction of teachers to African-American vernacular English; development of language cadence; Identification of ebonics language structure.

In their attempts to make leanings relevant to students, many middle schools have created shallow, fragmented, and unchallenging curricula. The middle school curriculum has been under particular scrutiny since the late 1990's, when the results of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study set off alarm bells among policymakers. The importance of achievement declines in adolescence among children in the U.S. more so than in other societies and more so today than in the past. Critics of middle-level education argue, though, that too many students have already been left behind, and they warn against what they see as the sacrifice of another generation.

For the past 30 years, and with particular intensity since the late 1980's, educators have labored to create distinctive middle schools, whose mission is to attend to young adolescents' social, emotional, and physical needs as well as their intellectual development. The achievement gap is most acute for poor and minority students, for whom the middle years are a make it or break it time to acquire the skills necessary to graduate from high school. Middle-level educators are simultaneously frustrated with society's attitudes toward young adolescents and pressured by demands that youngsters going through such profound developmental changes demonstrate higher academic achievement. Middle-level educators insist that grades six to eight must be a time of intellectual growth. INSET: Resource Guide.

Explores the reintroduction of arts education in the United States. National and state standards in the arts; Grants for the development of arts education; Implications of budgetary constraint to art education.

Looks back at the violence that erupted in Kanawha County schools in Charleston, West Virginia over textbooks pertaining to evolution. Reaction of educators about this; Issue on teaching the evolutionary theory; Decision of the board of education; Teaching techniques.

Highlights the system of teaching at Montana Academy, a school for adolescents in the United States. Description of the school's surroundings; Characteristics of the troubled students who are enrolled at Montana; Comments from Sophie, a 15-year-old girl from New York, New York, who arrived after a suicide attempt; Academic style of teaching, combined with therapy.

Focuses on the role of textbooks in children's learning in the United States. Objections against Northern textbooks; Effect of social and political issues in textbook reforms; Prohibition of the use of textbooks which do not present the nation's history positively; Crusades for recognition and representation in textbooks by social groups; Changes in math and science textbooks in the late 1980s.

Focuses on the state of the curriculum in the United States throughout the 20th century. Strict discipline in schools during the early 1900s; Shift of policymaking in public education from the locally based to experts and professional managers; Reliance on textbooks for education improvement; Effect of world wars on the curriculum content; States' implementation of curriculum-development programs.

Focuses on a debate in teaching controversial issues in Oakland, California schools. Reaction of community members and district officials; Comments from Mike Dunlap, a 10th grade teacher; Debate on how teachers address such issues.

Focuses on the consequences of the Education Accountability Act that was passed in June 1998 in South Carolina. Development of statewide academic standards throughout the United States; Pattern of reform in South Carolina; Information on tests taken by students in the state. INSET: Making standards count.

Features the educational program in Bowie High School, Austin, Texas in relation to teachers' efforts to provide quality education for students. Block scheduling of time to fit the academic appetites and needs of the students; Class schedule; Public and private high schools' movement away from traditional schedules to search for an effective use of time in the classroom.

Focuses on the band boosters, a parent involvement group that support school bands in Michigan. Commitment required of parents of band members; Fund raising activities; Rehearsal of steps in the band choreography; Joining of national marching band championships.

Features the emergence of new physical education activities for students in Houston, Texas schools. Provision of modern facilities; Making physical education inspiring to students; Traditional emphases on team sports; Dodge ball tradition; Importance of physical education in curriculum. INSETS: Adding fun to the games.;As some skate forward, others dodge PE..

Describes the learning activities offered at Thompson Elementary School in Houston, Texas, which involves structured reading tasks dominated by repetitive phonics. Academic achievements of students; Description of the teaching system as a military approach to learning; Statistics on the reading achievements of young children; Details on learning strategies used in other schools. INSETS: Off-the-shelf options;A half-dozen principles.

Presents information on the various ways of teaching William Shakespeare's play, `Romeo and Juliet.' Evaluation of the traditional way of teaching the play; Details on the nontraditional ways of teaching Shakespeare; Proceeds of the conference by the National Association of Teachers of England. INSET: William Shakespeare.

Discusses the state of urban public education in North Carolina. Demographics; City schools' benefit from mergers with county systems; Dilemma faced by urban school districts; Busing for desegregation; Educational reforms; Accountability measures. INSET: State policy update..

Discusses the state of urban public education in Hawaii. State funding; Racial and ethnic diversity; Conditions in the federal housing projects; Quality of teachers; Educational reforms. INSET: State policy update..

The article discusses the lack of comprehensive research on educational benefits of mobile devices, noting that organizations are reluctant to invest on a major scale without it. A number of smaller studies as well as anecdotal information point to exciting gains from use of mobile technology. Elliot Soloway, a professor of education and computer science at the University of Michigan, is quoted saying what is needed is research on the sustained impact of technology and learning rather than technology which is an add-on to an established curriculum. He is working with school districts to use curriculum and data-management programs to integrate cellphones throughout the school day.

The article profiles the progress of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's School of the Future, which opened in the year 2006 with a computer-based curriculum in partnership with the software company Microsoft to create an innovative learning environment. The school's high school seniors will be its first graduating class. The difficulties of the school including building a facility in a historical district, the hiring of teachers, and a lottery system to select students, are discussed.

The author reports on actions being taken by school districts to expand the access that students have to online resources. Topics discussed in the article include the belief that students and teachers should be taught how to navigate the Internet, steps that schools are taking to educate young students regarding the Internet and guidance that is being provided by the American Library Association's Center for Intellectual Freedom on steps that schools can take to protect students while online.

The article reports that lawmakers in Florida are considering restrictions and budget cuts for its Florida Virtual School, which has offered supplemental, credits, and accelerated classes for high school students since the year 1997. According to the article, Florida school districts are trying to meet the state mandate to offer full-time online instruction for kindergarten through grade eight students. The state's mandate and possible legislative changes are discussed.

The article discusses the development of a national school curriculum in Australia. The author comments on the autonomy of state schools in Australia but notes that achievement gaps and the high number of immigrant students have led to the promotion of standardization in education. She notes how international comparisons of academic achievement have bolstered support for Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's policies.

The article discusses the results of international tests for U.S. school children. Experts consulted say it is important to examine the practices of better-scoring countries but to consider the U.S. context and test small samples before fully adopting their methods. One expert says the U.S. should look at the practices of Massachusetts and Minnesota, two states whose students score well on the tests, and copy their practices before looking to non-U.S. sources.

The article discusses educational materials that are available on the Internet. The author states that lesson plans, worksheets, videos, and multimedia activities for daily classes are plentiful on the Web, but it can often be difficult to find relevant resources. Methods to find and utilize the best teaching resources are detailed.

The article reports on the modern learning environment envisioned by futurist and former U.S. school superintendent Keith T. Larick. He envisions classrooms with banks of wired and wireless computers and mobile technology-enabled work carts for teachers. Among the advantages of the classroom he envisions are dynamic, multimedia presentations and hands-on and collaborative projects. Information is presented on the Tracy Learning Center near Stockton, California.

The article discusses the Learning Gate Community School, which allows students to participate in outdoor lessons. The school was founded with the belief that nature-based learning can help solve problems like childhood obesity and environmental degradation while simultaneously improving student engagement and achievement.

The article reports on criticisms of a study by the U.S. Department of Education showing the federal Reading First program has helped improve reading comprehension among students in grades 1-3. Some researchers and educators said the study lacked details such as why and under what circumstances the program works.

The article discusses views on the promotion of social justice in school curricula. Bill Bigelow, curriculum editor of the educational publisher Rethinking Schools, comments on the value of curricula regarding racial inequality in educating students about citizenship. William C. Ayers, a former leader of the Weather Underground political group, also supports social justice in education. The author comments on the characterization of social justice education as radicalism.

The article discusses the National Writing Project, which showcases writing as a tool to unlock students' critical thinking and analytical skills as much as their creativity. The project allows teachers to refine their own skills, reflect on their practice, and learn strategies for teaching their young scribes.

The article presents a profile of the Core Knowledge curriculum used at the New Holland Core Knowledge Academy, designed by the University of Virginia. The program's philosophical differences from the skills-focused teaching encouraged by the U.S. No Child Left Behind laws of 2001 are outlined, citing a broad exposure to several subjects and large amounts of information rather than focusing on individual skill sets. Comments are given both in favor and against the system.