...dedicated to...hmmm, we're still figuring that one out...
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While I Was Away Returning from a two-week hiatus in publishing Educators' News is a lot like returning from a long trip to a dusty house and stacks of mail. A lot has happened in the interim in education and technology. While my school resumed classes August 14 this year, many schools around the nation will begin classes tomorrow on the traditional starting date of the day after Labor Day. Whether early or traditional start dates are employed, there seems to be an awful lot of confusion surrounding the implementation of the No Child Left Behind initiative. States were left to formulate their own standards under the new federal law for "failing schools," and many states have identified numerous schools in need of improvement. Other states, such as Arkansas, have identified no failing schools. The Washington Post's Michael A. Fletcher tells about the Arkansas situation in Failing Schools Find Hole In Law. Stephanie Banchero and Michael Martinez add to the story in Federal school reform stumbles, saying "The linchpin of the law is its accountability measure, which demands that districts provide transportation to children who want to move out of under-performing schools." They note that in Chicago, "Out of 124,000 eligible students, 29,000 were offered a chance to transfer. About 2,400 asked to move, but only 1,200 were granted transfers." The writers also say the situation is not unique to Chicago, but is much the same in Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, and many other large and small school systems. Two problems seem to be the theme of most commentaries on the subject. The law was passed last January and several states have complained that the Department of Education has been slow in setting the rules for compliance with No Child Left Behind. A second problem in large school corporations is the lack of available space in "passing" schools for children from "failing" schools to transfer to. While several news stories on the web during the last month have featured administrators thrilled over the supplies received in the 20 Philadelphia schools to be run this fall by Edison Schools, Inc., the Philadelphia News reports Unable to pay, Edison returns supplies. An Associated Press posting, Schools Chief Gives Edison Deadline, reports that Paul G. Vallas, the new head of the Philadelphia schools, has given Edison until Tuesday to provide a required financial report for fiscal 2002 and confirmation that a $40 million line of credit was in place. It took a $5.5 million bailout by New York Governor George E. Pataki for the Yonkers schools to open without massive layoffs. In 11th-Hour Yonkers Bailout Averts 158 School Layoffs, the New York Times Marc Santora quotes Steve Frey, president of the Yonkers Federation of Teachers, as saying that the "package will get the district only through this year, and there will still have to be some budget cuts." Two recent Richard Rothstein articles are good reads. In Schools' Chosen Cure for Money Ills: A Sugar Pill, Rothstein writes about fund raisers and candy. In Better at Sums Than at Summarizing: The SAT Gap, he suggests "one likely cause is that students learn math mostly in school, while literacy also comes from habits at home." Lesson Plans for Sept. 11 Offer a Study in Discord takes a look at the different approaches being used in schools around the country for September 11 instruction and observances. The Washington Post's Theola Labbe describes the Maryland Meals for Achievement program that features a free breakfast in the classroom for all student in participating schools. In Students Get Even Start -- On a Full Stomach, Labbe tells of a program piloted since 2000 in Maryland that allows any (Maryland) school that has at least 40 percent of its enrollment approved for free or reduced-price meals to apply for the breakfast for all program. Labbe quotes both teachers and administrators in the column as saying the program improves attendance, reduces tardiness, and improves student learning. Julie Landry, writing for the Red Herring, has an excellent commentary on technology in schools in Is our children learning? Like many other writers, Landry questions whether the funds poured into technology over the last ten years have been money well spent. For those of us who make heavy use of technology in the classroom, columns such as this one can serve to point out what not to do! Hiawatha Bray of the Boston Globe has a similar column about the laptop initiative in Maine in 37m buys experiment in schools.
Computers and Software Apple Computer, of course, released its Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar upgrade on August 24. Aside from the pricing issue of the upgrade, response around the web to the upgrade has been positive. Users seem to like the universal address book and the return of spring-loaded folders to the OS the best. Business Week recently ran a Technology Special Report, Can Apple Stay On Top?Charles Haddad was positively ecstatic about the OS upgrade in Apple's Jaguar Leaps Ahead of Windows. Alex Salkever presents a more sober view of Apple's future in education in Mac's Slipping Class Rank. CNET's Joe Wilcox reports that the Microsoft will release Windows XP Service Pack 1, a free update to Windows XP, next Monday. In Microsoft sets XP update release date, Wilcox reports that the update will consolidate many previously released patches along with a few new features and bug fixes. Support for USB 2 and a new control for setting default middleware highlight the new features. The middleware control for items such as web browsers and media players was "required by Microsoft's pending antitrust settlement with the Justice Department and nine of the 18 states that sued the company." Robin Landsbert wrote last week to say that he's finished the current beta testing cycle for Finderella, Mirror Paint, and Flash Cards. All three Mac freewares are now available for download. Devotion For September 1-7, 2002 Zach Wood's weekly devotional for this week is The Award For All: No Favoritism. It's his first devotional since his move to a new church in St. Paul, Minnesota. I hope it adds a bit of brightness to your week. Zach also maintains an archive of previous devotionals. Site Note We're back, but for how long I don't know. School this year is taking more time than ever, so site updates may be a bit erratic. I'm aiming for a Monday-Wednesday-Friday update schedule for now.  If you have suggestions, news ideas, etc., please . |
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Mark Sappenfield in The Christian Science Monitor describes the current crunch of state budget cuts for education in School budgets drop as enrollments rise. Sappenfield writes that "Forty-four states have seen their money cut or held steady, which essentially amounts to a cut when teacher raises are factored in." A independent report by the Brookings Institution "found that 59 percent of students at traditional public schools scored better than charter school students during the period studied." AP Education Writer Greg Toppo adds in Study: Charter School Students Score Lower, "The findings don't necessarily reflect poorly on charter schools, which often attract students who are looking for a way to improve their skills, the authors caution." The Denver Post's Monte Whaley puts a little different spin on the charter school story in Colorado's charters defy U.S. trend. In Raising the Bar, Mensah Dean gives an interesting overview of the seven groups taking over some of Philadelphia's public schools. The new column this week on the Schwablearning.org site is Positive Attitude Trumps IQ, Good Grades as Success Predictor for LD Adults. The column summarizes the results of a long term study of individuals with learning disabilities. As always, links to all of the new and updated SchwabLearning.org articles are available in the Schwab Learning Online Newsletter (link expires 9-8-02). Black Cat Systems has updated their periodic table shareware, The Atomic Mac, to version 5.5 (1014K) with the ability to keep a downsized periodic table on the desktop.
I received a nice email today from Pat Andrews, who asked if I have a mailing list for my columns. The answer is "yes" and "no." Like most online columnists, I do send out a press release by email for each new column, but generally restrict that mailing to education and Mac oriented web sites. Since my columns are few and far between these days, a better alternative for those who'd like to be informed via email of any new columns might be to subscribe to Joe "Scienceman" Martha's MacHome Classroom Newsletter. Joe almost always has a link to each of my columns and the newsletter is a dandy...chock full of ideas, links, and Mac troubleshooting.
A commentary that appeared Wednesday in the Christian Science Monitor, Laptops as a Fourth 'R', begins, "Tuesday Maine booted up a giant experiment in learning. It loaned a laptop computer to every seventh-grader in public school." It concludes with, "Maine is doing a service for the nation by this bold experiment. Computers are becoming too common to be left out of classrooms." That sorta tells the story. No Child Left Behind continues to have a confusing initiation around the country from some of the headlines posted:
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