Monday, November 19, 2001

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has released the report, Dropout Rates in the United States: 2000 (255K PDF document). The conclusion of the report states:

In October 2000, 5 out of every 100 youths (4.8 percent) enrolled in high school in October 1999 had left high school without successfully completing a high school program...Although there have been year-to-year fluctuations in this rate, over the past 29 years dropout rates have gradually decreased in a pattern with an average annual decline of 0.1 percentage points per year.

CNN Education has posted a brief summary of the report.

Last week seemed to be "the other shoe" (as in "has dropped") week in educational spending. As the states' deal with tax revenue shortfalls, something has to give in state budgets and education may take the hit. The New York Times reports California Schools Fear Proposed Cuts May Halt Overhaul Effort (free registration required), while the San Francisco Chronicle says, School cuts would hurt neediest kids: But Davis plan does avoid the classroom. Here in Indiana, gambling and cigarette taxes will be increased to help cover tax shortfalls, but previously higher education and Medicaid suffered serious budget cuts. An AP report, States Consider Tax Increases, tells of various states struggling to make ends meet without injuring vital state services.

In Macintosh software Teacher's Favorite Hangman and Periodic Table received minor updates. On the Windows side, AWS's freeware Weatherbug has been updated to version 3.0 to include XP compatibility.

Speaking of freeware, Version Tracker's freeware pages for both Mac and Windows are always interesting.

If you have some suggestions, news ideas, etc., please .

Tuesday, November 20, 2001

Microsoft released Office v. X for Mac yesterday. John Welch in the first of a two-part review on workingmac.com stated, "Microsoft chose (wisely, I think) to make the first version of Office v. X a truly outstanding Carbon application." James C. Luh, writing for the Washington Post in Office v. X for Macs: A More Comfortable Fit, says, "Where Office 2001 seemed like an unwelcome guest at the Mac OS X party, Office v. X takes off its shoes and makes itself at home." Charles Haddad's Byte of the Apple headline may say it all, "Office X: The Best and Worst of Microsoft: The OS X version of Office is a ringing endorsement of the Mac. Too bad it breaks no new ground and costs so much."

Before you grab your hat and head for the software store, Office v. X for Mac retails for $499, with upgrades running $299! Amazon.com is selling the productivity suite for $449.99 and $269.99, respectively.

Two columns from the Richmond Times-Dispatch explore some of the problems experienced with the Henrico County Schools' iBook program. iBook project is not cheap: It costs nearly $20 million over four years discusses some of the cost overruns the county has experienced in its quest to provide every high school and junior high school student with an iBook. Help or hindrance? A class at Godwin faults iBook plan tells of a group from Maine, considering a similar program, asking, "How have your iBooks impacted your learning?" The responses from one class were startling:

• I think it hinders more than it helps.
• They haven't.
• They're a distraction! They should keep them at the school and let us check them out when we need them for class"
• It's basically a $1,200 CD player and Game Boy!
• They'd be okay if the internet wasn't down half the time.

While the student responses were a surprise, the touring group also saw "classrooms that showcased how well-integrated and indispensable to daily learning the iBook had become in just nine weeks." Another class spoke "with nearly unanimous enthusiasm" about the iBook project.

Both columns should be a "must read" for any school personnel thinking about a similar wireless project. While the headlines are pretty sensational, both columns take a hard look at the problems and returns, or lack thereof, of implementing a massive student laptop program.

Charles W. Moore last week posted his concerns on Applelinks about "possible health risks of wireless computing and messaging." In Apple And Cisco Systems Acknowledge Potential Health Hazards Associated With Wireless, Moore states, "Nothing I have read since then has changed my perspective substantially. I'll not be adding AirPort to my Mac accessory inventory anytime soon." In his follow-up column yesterday, Readers Respond To Health Hazards Associated With Wireless Report, Moore lists reader responses, including this conclusion by Greg Hanek, "Keep your wireless-equipped laptop on your desk...not in your lap."

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports State provides money to bring offbeat ideas into local classrooms. In a new program "that allows teachers to launch offbeat or innovative programs that don't normally find a place in tight school budgets," grants totaling $160,000 were provided for 80 projects that included a poet-in-residence, a weather station, and a cooking lab. State Superintendent Susan Tave Zelman commented, "The quality of the proposals was excellent, and the reviewing team had a very difficult time making selections."

The Salt Lake Tribune reported yesterday what most teachers already knew, Kids Buy and Sell Ritalin-Type Drugs.

Associated Press education writer Greg Toppo reports in Economy Causes Education Cutbacks that congressional Democrats are pushing for more federal education spending. Led by Senator Edward Kennedy and California Representative George Miller, Democrats "cite an expected $11.3 billion shortfall in state education budgets in fiscal year 2002," which "is forcing states to cut billions of dollars from their education budgets."

With the Thanksgiving holiday being celebrated this Thursday in the United States, I decided to break the Monday-Wednesday-Friday posting schedule this week on Educators' News. We're having family get-togethers both Thursday and Saturday, so I suspect any late week updates will be meager to nonexistent.

Wednesday, November 21, 2001

The Washington Post's Lois Romano has a good preview of the case to be argued before the Supreme Court next week in Supreme Court to Test Oklahoma Schools' Policy Of Pupils Grading Peers. This is the case that has caused widespread panic by educators using trade-and-grade and/or student graders.

Does the Scienceman glow in the dark? Joe Martha reports that he just received a GM-10 radiation detector and software for Mac and Windows and will be posting a full review soon. While you're there, be sure to sign up for Joe's MacHome Classroom Newsletter. Published each week, the newsletter is chock full of great links to educational sites and some excellent Mac troubleshooting.

In Vouchers threaten public education Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Scott Stephens writes, "Cleveland schools chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett yesterday called on education advocates to speak out against vouchers and other initiatives that she said would erode the nation's public schools."

In case you haven't been keeping track, new or updated educational freewares have been few and far between the last few weeks. Facing "freeware withdrawl" symptoms once again, I resorted to updating the Freewares on Educators' News page. It's not anything fancy, just a cut and paste of freeware postings since the inception of Educators' News.

This week the SchwabLearning.org presents:

• Dr. Robert Brooks: Understanding the Concept of Self-Esteem
• Great Gifts for Kids with Learning Differences
• My Story: Discovering Nolan's Abilities
• Organization and Time Management Strategies

With the Thanksgiving holiday being celebrated tomorrow in the United States, I decided to break the Monday-Wednesday-Friday posting schedule this week on Educators' News. We're having family get-togethers both Thursday and Saturday, so I suspect any late week updates will be meager to nonexistent.

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