Sub-Topics 2008 Achievement Scores School Prayer Also Try Abstinence Birth Control Education Current Events Archives No Child Left Behind Online Education Lists Voucher Systems (Awesome Library) Provides sources of arguments for and against vouchers regarding the Supreme Court case of Zelman v. Simmons-Harris. Justice O'Connor is believed to hold the deciding vote. This case may be the most important finding of the Supreme Court regarding education in decades. 2-02 Multimedia Can Kids Recover from Autism? (MSNBC News) "Scientists study the small group of kids who seem to improve." 04-09 News -01-16-09 Surprising Causes of Tuition Hikes (U.S. News) "Why has college tuition been rising so high and fast? Will college costs ever drop back to more affordable levels?" "Those questions have been frustrating parents and students for years. A new report provides some surprising answers that will, unfortunately, probably only frustrate and anger them even more. At public colleges, tuition has generally been driven up by rising spending on administrators, student support services, and the need to make up for reductions in government subsidies, according to a report issued by the Delta Cost Project, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C." 01-09 -01-17-09 Supreme Court May Determine Limits on School Searches (CNN News) "The high court has had a mixed record over the years on students' rights. The court could now be asked to clarify the extent of student rights involving searches, and the discretion of officials over those for whom they have responsibility." 01-09 -01-30-09 Education to Gain Big Increase in Funds (U.S. News) "The nation's students, schools, and universities stand to receive about one sixth of the $800 billion economic stimulus package passed by the House of Representatives Wednesday evening, a proportion that amounts to the largest increase in federal money for education in nearly half a century." 01-09 -02-11-09 Creationists Try New Strategy (Christian Science Monitor) "In June of last year, Louisiana became the first state to pass what has become known as an 'academic freedom' law. In the past, fights over evolution took place at the local school board level, but academic freedom proponents specifically target state legislatures." 02-09 -02-11-09 Educators Invite Wii Music into the Classroom (MSNBC News) "In June of last year, Louisiana became the first state to pass what has become known as an 'academic freedom' law. In the past, fights over evolution took place at the local school board level, but academic freedom proponents specifically target state legislatures." 02-09 -02-18-09 Gradeless School District Trial (Christian Science Monitor) "Selleck decided the district needed a massive transformation, and got the OK from the state. This year, the district is beginning to phase in the changes before all the schools switch to the new, gradeless system next year. One elementary school is serving as a pilot program, and many of the 300 or so teachers who have undergone training from DeLorenzo are implementing a modified approach in their classrooms – albeit still in traditional grade levels." 02-09 -02-19-09 Personality of High Achievers (Time.com) "Is it possible to cultivate genius? Could we somehow structure our educational and social life to produce more Einsteins and Mozarts — or, more urgently these days, another Adam Smith or John Maynard Keynes?" 02-09 -02-20-06 Scientists Rally for Evolution (ABC News) "Many at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the nation's largest gathering of scientists, spoke out over the weekend against what they called religious pressure in public schools." 02-06 -02-23-09 Study: Low Carbs and Memory (CBS News) "Eliminating carbohydrates from your diet may help you lose weight, but it could leave you fuzzy headed and forgetful, a new study suggests." "The body breaks carbohydrates into glucose, which it uses to fuel brain activity. Proteins break down into glycogen, which can also be used for fuel by the brain, but not as efficiently as glucose." "So it stands to reason that eliminating carbohydrates from the diet might reduce the brain's source of energy and affect brain function. But there has been little research examining this hypothesis in people following low-carb weight loss diets." 02-09 -02-25-07 Schools Considering More Hours for Students (ABC News) "While Massachusetts is leading in putting in place the longer-day model, lawmakers in Minnesota, New Mexico, New York and Washington, D.C., also have debated whether to lengthen the school day or year." "On average, U.S. students go to school 6.5 hours a day, 180 days a year, fewer than in many other industrialized countries, according to a report by the Education Sector, a Washington-based think tank." 02-07 -02-27-06 Babies Learn Sign Language First (ABC News) "At 18 months old, Aiden now knows how to sign more than 150 words, allowing him to manually communicate what he can't say, Briant said." " 'Really, a baby's brain is capable. They're capable of communicating by signing long before they can talk,' said Briant." 02-06 -03-10-09 Shakespeare's Portrait (Time.com) "Shakespeareans have been tantalized for generations by the possibility that a genuine life portrait of the man survives somewhere. Now Stanley Wells, professor emeritus of Shakespeare Studies at Birmingham University and one of the world's most distinguished Shakespeare scholars, says he has identified one. Wells is convinced that an oil painting on wood panel that has rested for centuries in the collection of an old Irish family was painted from life around 1610, when Shakespeare was 46. If that's so, it would be the only true likeness we have of the greatest writer of the English language." 03-09 -03-14-09 California Teachers Face Pink Slips (MSNBC News) "The state Department of Education estimates that preliminary pink slips will have been handed to 26,500 teachers by the Sunday cutoff — two-and-a-half times as many as were issued last year. Another 15,000 bus drivers, janitors, secretaries and administrators also were expected to receive the written warnings, said Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. " "Because of the state's less-than-rosy economic outlook, California's 1,000 K-12 school districts have been instructed to absorb more than $8 billion in funding cuts over the next year." 03-09 -03-17-07 Support for "No Child Left Behind" May Not Hold (USNews.com) "Today, Bush's signature education law is up for renewal, but Republican loyalty like DeLay's will be harder to come by. Rep. Roy Blunt, the new No. 2 Republican in the House, yesterday joined a group of 57 GOP lawmakers in a revolt. Sens. Mel Martinez and Jon Kyl, the chairs of the Republican National Committee and the Senate Republican Conference, also signed on. Like DeLay, both Blunt and Kyl had supported the law in 2001." 03-07 -03-23-06 Sharp Criticism of College Board for SAT Errors (ABC News) "Another revelation about scoring errors on last October's SAT exam has the College Board, the test's owner, under heavy criticism even from admissions officers a group that relies on the SAT and typically supports it." "A growing number of schools, including Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania, do not require the SAT. Dennis Trotter, the college's vice president for enrollment and marketing and dean of admission, said the latest errors call into question the test's 'relevancy and dependability in the admissions process.' " 03-06 -03-24-06 Instilling a Love for Reading (MSN) "A great way to help your child become a lifelong reader is to start early. If a young child doesn't like reading, he may have a hard time comprehending what he reads later in life." 03-06 -03-24-09 Teachers Want to Ban Cellphone Videos From the Classroom (U.S. News) "Union leaders say imposing limits on the use of cameras and other recording devices in school might be necessary to prevent damaging videos and pictures from ending up on Facebook and YouTube." "Legal experts argue that teachers have a limited expectation of privacy in the classroom. They say that attempts to regulate what students can film or record can provoke free speech challenges. In some cases, students have used recording devices to capture teachers behaving inappropriately. A Connecticut high school math teacher was suspended in 2006 after a cellphone video that appeared on the Internet showed him hurling a homophobic slur at a student." 03-09 -03-25-07 College Rankings (USNews.com) Provides rankings conducted by US News and World Report. "Princeton tops the annual list of the national universities, while the California Institute of Technology was named the best national value among more than 1,900 schools ranked and reviewed." 03-07 -03-27-09 Female Athletes Have More Concussions (ABC News) "In sports played by both women and men, women sustain more concussions. The girls' concussion rate in high school soccer is 68 percent higher than for boys. And it's nearly triple the boys' rate in high school basketball, according to research by scientists at Ohio State, Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and the NCAA. Other studies reveal similar differences between softball and baseball, in college sports as well as high school. Yet researchers, including Brooks, find that female athletes get less information than males about concussions from all sources, including coaches, trainers and the media. Generally, women athletes don't consider concussions a serious phenomenon." 03-09 -03-28-09 How to Teach the Teachers (ABC News) "There's now wide agreement that good teaching is the most crucial factor in raising student achievement. But when it comes to how to train those teachers -- and how to make sure they are ready to hit the ground running and are likely to stick around -- there's a deep ideological divide. Some policymakers say the focus needs to be on improving traditional education schools, which produce 4 out of 5 teachers in the United States. Others are strong advocates of so-called alternative models designed to streamline entry into teaching for exceptionally talented students or mid-career professionals." 03-09 -03-29-08 Million Dollar Babies (Time.com) "On Tuesday, the annual Expenditures on Children by Families report, which tracks how much it costs to raise a child in America, was released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (yes, that's the government bureaucracy charged with this particular tally). According to its latest estimate, a child born in 2007 costs $204,060 to watch over, feed, cart around, educate and house from birth to the age of 18." 03-08 -04-02-09 Progress on Autism Slow (CNN News) "It's been a year since the first U.N.-declared World Autism Awareness Day. In those past 365 days, nobody has discovered the cause of autism, which the most recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest affects one in 150 children. Nor has a cure been found. However, new research and major court decisions have emerged to explain further what may contribute to the developmental disabilities of the brain known as 'autism spectrum disorders' or ASDs." 04-09 -04-16-07 Worst Mass Shooting in Modern Ameridan History (ABC News) "A tranquil college campus in Virgina became a killing field Monday morning. At least 33 people are dead in the worst mass shooting in modern American history." "Police at Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, Va., said that the shootings happened at a dormitory and then at a classroom on opposite sides of the university campus." 04-07 -04-16-09 Supreme Court May Determine Limits on School Searches (USA Today) "Drug searches, along with drug tests for students in athletics and other extracurricular activities, have become common in schools across the nation. But the search of Savana at Safford Middle School on Oct. 8, 2003, ignited a legal dispute that has landed before the U.S. Supreme Court — and could transform the landscape of drug searches in public schools." 04-09 -04-17-09 Editorial: An Angelic Voice in a Cynical World, Susan Boyle (Washington Post) Provides a song from a singer you've probably never heard. "From the first line of the first stanza, the confident yet angelic voice did not seem to match the workaday face and dark brows of the woman who was singing." Also see Lookism 04-09 -04-19-09 Editorial: The Need for High National Standards (Time.com) "The No Child Left Behind Act pushed by President George W. Bush unintentionally exacerbated the problem. It required each state to ensure that its students achieve "universal proficiency" in reading and math — but allowed each to define what that meant. The result was that many states made their job easier by setting their bar lower. This race to the bottom resulted in a Lake Wobegon world where every state declared that its kids were better than average. Take the amazing case of Mississippi. According to the standards it set for itself, 89% of its fourth-graders were proficient or better in reading, making them the best in the nation. Yet according to the random sampling done every few years by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test, a mere 18% of the state's fourth-graders were proficient, making them the worst in the nation. Even in Lake Wobegon that doesn't happen." 04-09 -04-20-07 Schools Struggle With Security Versus Privacy Rights (ABC News) "When it comes to issues of mental health on campus, lawyers, psychologists and university administrators all agree on one thing: Striking an appropriate balance between protecting an individual's privacy and the community's security is not easy." 04-07 -04-20-09 Study: Short Exercises Improve Grades (PBS.org) "In a series of 15-minute writing assignments, the researchers asked half of the students to complete a self-affirming exercise: to choose from a list of values -- such as relationships with friends and family, athletic ability and smarts -- and write about the value most important to them. A control group was asked to write about why the values they ranked as unimportant might matter to someone else." "In early results published in 2006, the researchers found that the exercise reduced the achievement gap between black and white students by 40 percent over one term. Researchers said the exercises benefitted low-achieving black students the most, while they appeared to have little impact on white students or already high-achieving black students." 04-09 -04-22-09 Graduation Rates for High Schools (MSNBC News) "The numbers in the map reflect the latest data, which is from 2005. Most states still use the so-called leaver rate, which calculates students who didn't drop out of high school. Nearly all states are expected to adopt the cohort rate by 2012, which calculates the percent of students who enter high school in ninth grade and leave four years later with a standard diploma. That method uses an standard identification number to track students across schools, districts and states." 04-09 -04-25-09 Important Find of Benjamin Franklin's Letters (CNN News) "An American professor doing research in London stumbled across a series of previously unknown letters written by, to, and about Benjamin Franklin, a stunning find that sheds new light on early U.S. history." "The letters cover Franklin's success in dealing with British Gen. Edward Braddock, who had been sent to Pennsylvania in 1755 to defeat the French at Fort Duquesne, in modern-day Pittsburgh." 04-09 -05-03-06 Soda Companies to End Most School Sales (ABC News) "Non-diet sodas will be yanked from schools, and other drinks will be downsized under a deal announced Wednesday by former President Bill Clinton and the nation's largest beverage distributors." " 'This is a truly bold step forward in the struggle to help 35 million young people lead healthier lives," said Clinton, whose foundation has targeted obesity in children for the past year. 'This one policy can add years and years and years to the lives of a very large number of young people.' " 05-06 -05-03-09 India's Teachers Use Corporeal Punishment (Time.com) "Teachers say they resort to physical punishment because of the inherent problems of India's public education system, specifically, the immense challenge of maintaining control of huge classes of unruly children. 'Most children in my school are criminal-minded,' says Dr. S.C. Sharma, the principal of a government school in South Delhi. 'We have caught them stealing fans from classrooms and even the iron grills from the windows. How do you discipline such kids?' In Sharma's school the teacher-student ratio is 1:63, compared with a recommended ratio of 1:35." 04-09 -05-08-09 Obama Replaces Abstinence-Only Education (ABC News) "Two $100 million programs from his predecessor's budget pushing abstinence only are casualties in President Obama's $3.55 trillion budget proposal." "The President is replacing them with $110 million 'for teenage pregnancy prevention programs that have been proven effective through rigorous evaluation....' "A recent study in the journal Pediatrics indicated that teenagers who make "virginity pledges" to remain chaste until marriage are no less likely to engage in premarital sex but significantly less likely to use birth control." " 'Taking a pledge doesn't seem to make any difference at all in any sexual behavior,' Janet E. Rosenbaum of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health told the Washington Post. 'But it does seem to make a difference in condom use and other forms of birth control that is quite striking.' " 05-09 -05-12-06 Judge Suspends California High School Exam Results (LATimes.com) "An Alameda County superior court judge has granted a preliminary injunction suspending California's high school exit exam for the class of 2006, potentially allowing thousands of students who have failed the test to graduate." 05-06 -05-18-06 Senate Votes to Make English the National Language (Bloomberg.org) "The Senate voted to make English the 'national language' of the U.S. as part of legislation overhauling immigration policy." "The measure, approved by a vote of 63-34, directs the government to 'preserve and enhance' the role of English, without altering current laws that require some government documents and services be provided in other languages." 05-06 -05-19-09 Genetic Marker for Autism Found (Time.com) "The newly discovered autism-risk gene, identified by authors as CACNA1G, is more common in boys than in girls (why that's so is still not clear), and the authors suggest it plays a role in boys' increased risk of the developmental disorder." 05-09 -05-19-09 Report: Use of Restraints in Public Schools (ABC News) " 'Recent news reports document appalling stories of teachers tying children to chairs, taping their mouths shut, using handcuffs, denying them food, fracturing bones, locking them in small dark spaces, and sitting on them until they turn blue,' [Congressman] Miller said." " 'This behavior that does, in some instances, look like torture of young children certainly is so inconsistent with our beliefs about our public institution that it's hard for people to come to grasps with,' said Miller." "Today's hearing was spurred by a report published in January by the National Disability Rights Network, which canvassed 56 states and territories in the United States and found many examples of hard-to-manage students who've been injured or killed at school." 05-09 -05-22-07 Newsweek's Rating of the Top High Schools (MSNBC News) "Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2006 divided by the number of graduating seniors. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 5 percent of public schools measured this way." 05-07 -05-29-09 For Many Teens, Hello Is Hugging (New York Times) "A measure of how rapidly the ritual [of hugging] is spreading is that some students complain of peer pressure to hug to fit in. And schools from Hillsdale, N.J., to Bend, Ore., wary in a litigious era about sexual harassment or improper touching — or citing hallway clogging and late arrivals to class — have banned hugging or imposed a three-second rule." 05-09 -05-29-09 Top Ten Spelling Bee Words (Time.com) Provides pictures and short descriptions of spelling bee finals. 05-09 -05-30-07 Alternative for "No Child Left Behind" (Time Magazine) "Most state education officials grumble that the pressure-packed annual tests and rigid adequate yearly progress (AYP) targets engendered by the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law are flawed means of measuring student proficiency, raising academic standards, holding schools accountable and fostering learning. But since the penalty for defying the law is loss of federal funds, most treat NCLB's prescriptives like bitter medicine they can't afford to spit out. All, that is, except the iconoclasts who run the public schools in Nebraska." 05-07 -05-30-07 Narrowing the Standards Gap in "No Child Left Behind" (CBS News) "Georgia is not alone, Wallace reports. Mississippi, Tennessee and Oklahoma are among the states in which students scored high on their state tests but significantly lower on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exam, according to the non-partisan Hoover Institution." "The problem, say experts, is one word: proficiency." 05-07 -05-30-07 No National Testing Standards "No Child Left Behind" (CBS News) "As much as I've heard and read about "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) — the landmark education bill President Bush signed into law five years ago, I had no idea that every state uses a different test and standard to determine whether its schools are making the required progress under the law." "It is an issue, we learned, that is debated sharply in education circles — with some states accusing others of lowering the bar by using easier tests and lower standards to make their schools look more successful." 05-07 -05-30-08 Debate Over Meditation in Schools (Newsweek.com) "Much of the debate stems from the growing success of the David Lynch Foundation, which funds TM training in private and public schools, especially charter schools, with a focus on inner-city youth. Since 2005, a foundation begun by Hollywood filmmaker and long-time meditator David Lynch has provided some $5 million for TM research and voluntary in-school programs for more than 2,000 students, teachers and parents at 21 U.S. schools and universities, with substantially wider reach overseas. 'It's like going from zero to 60 in terms of pulling yourself away from stress. Intelligence goes up, creativity flowers and energy zooms forward," says Lynch, who says 'receptivity' to the idea is growing." "Back in 1979, a federal appeals court ruled that a course called the Science of Creative Intelligence Transcendental Meditation could not be taught in public schools in New Jersey because it 'had a primary effect of advancing religion and religious concepts' and violated the First Amendment. 'If they want TM in private universities or schools, no problem,' says Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. 'But when they move into public schools they are crossing that same constitutional line that was crossed in 1979.' Francisco Negrón, general counsel for the National School Boards Association, says that while relaxation techniques around test taking might be OK and that a nonsectarian approach to meditation is plausible, 'the devil is in the details. The concern would be that here is a religious angle to it that amounts to indoctrination or proselytizing.' " 05-08 -06-01-06 Year-Round Schools (ABC News) "According to the National Association for Year-Round Education, more than 2.1 million children in 47 states are enrolled in year-round schools in 2006. The majority are public schools, though some charter schools and private schools also are adopting the calendars. California, Arizona, North Carolina, Texas and Kentucky have the most districts using what's also known as a 'balanced calendar.' " "Typically, students on a balanced calendar spend something like 45 days in class followed by 15 days off throughout the year for the required 180 days of instruction." 06-06 -06-12-08 Consequences of Insufficient Sleep (Time.com) "According to Dinges' analysis of data from the 2003 American Time Use Survey, the most common reason we shortchange ourselves on sleep is work. (The second biggest reason, surprisingly, is that we spend too much time driving around in our cars.) But consider that in giving up two hours of bedtime to do more work, you're losing a quarter of your recommended nightly dose and gaining just 12% more time during the day. What if you could be 12% more productive instead?" 06-08 -06-13-06 Harvard Study: Bush Administration Education Goals to Miss Targets (Yahoo News) "U.S. President George W. Bush's signature No Child Left Behind education policy is failing to close racial achievement gaps and will miss its goals by 2014 according to recent trends, a Harvard study said on Wednesday." "It said the policy has had no significant impact on improving reading and math achievement since it was introduced in 2001, contradicting White House claims and potentially adding to concerns over America's academic competitiveness." 06-06 -06-21-06 Harvard Still Awaits Donation from Oracle's CEO (Bloomberg.com) "Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison hasn't delivered a $115 million donation to Harvard University more than a year after he first promised it." "The Financial Times reported today that the planned Ellison Institute for World Health, which was to employ 130 people by next summer, has been put on hold and three senior managerial staff who had been hired have been discharged." 06-06 -06-29-06 Has Noah's Ark Been Found? (ABC News) "A team of Texas archaeologists believe they may have located the remains of Noah's Ark in Iran's Elburz mountain range.'' 06-06 -06-30-09 Study: Cognitive Behavior Therapy Can Prevent Depression in Teens (U.S. News) "After six months, the teens who had been in the therapy groups were less likely to have become depressed (21.4 percent vs. 32.7 percent). The therapy was most effective in preventing depression in children whose parent wasn’t depressed at the time (11.7 percent vs. 40.5 percent); its benefit disappeared if a parent of the child was depressed. Proof, if any is needed, that parents’ behavior has a huge influence on their children’s health and behavior, even when they’re teenagers." "In cognitive therapy, a person learns to: Distinguish between thoughts and feelings. Become aware of how thoughts can influence feelings in ways that sometimes are not helpful. Learn about thoughts that seem to occur automatically and how they can affect emotions. Evaluate critically whether these 'automatic' thoughts and assumptions are accurate or perhaps biased. Develop the skills to notice, interrupt, and correct these biased thoughts." 06-09 -07-01-07 Study: Five Types of Alcoholics (CBS News) "New alcoholism research identifies five types of alcoholics and shows that young adults account for more than half of U.S. alcoholics." 07-07 -07-03-07 Gestering May Improve Learning (MSNBC News) "Children taught to gesture with their hands as they learn new concepts perform far better at solving similar problems weeks later than children who don't gesture, a new study finds." 07-07 -07-26-07 Finished Potter? Rowling Tells What Is Next (USA Today) "Spoiler alert: This story reveals some key plot points in the final Harry Potter book. So if you've haven't finished the book, J.K. Rowling asks that you not read this story." 07-07 -08-12-07 Baby Einsteins Not So Smart (Time.com) "Led by Frederick Zimmerman and Dr. Dimitri Christakis, both at the University of Washington, the research team found that with every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants learned six to eight fewer new vocabulary words than babies who never watched the videos. These products had the strongest detrimental effect on babies 8 to 16 months old, the age at which language skills are starting to form. 'The more videos they watched, the fewer words they knew,' says Christakis. 'These babies scored about 10% lower on language skills than infants who had not watched these videos.' " 08-07 -08-12-07 Hottest Colleges (MSNBC News) "We've been particularly influenced by the views of high-school counselors, the people most in tune with what matters to the latest wave of college applicants." "Some of these schools are large. Some are tiny. Some charge more than $40,000 a year and some only a tenth that amount. Some are celebrated, but one was completely unknown to us and several experts we consulted until a well-traveled counselor pointed it out. All the schools have strong programs that can change young lives for the better. Being hot for the moment is as good an excuse as any for applicants to see if one of them might be just right for them." 08-07 -08-30-06 SAT Scores Take Biggest Drop in 31 Years (ABC News) "The high school class of 2006, the first to take the new SAT that now includes a writing test, recorded the sharpest drop in SAT scores in 31 years." 08-06 -09-04-06 Girls Gain Higher Writing Scores Than Boys on SAT (ABC News) "While the average reading and math scores on the SAT fell again this year, the test results showed a new gain for girls." "For the first time in a generation, girls outperformed boys on one section of the exam, edging them out by 11 points on the writing portion of the test. The results raise new questions about gender, learning and a test that has become an American rite of passage." 09-06 -09-07-07 Kids Need More Sleep (USNew.com) "Now that school has started, many parents find themselves struggling to shift their kids back to a working routine. As they shave off time for TV and the Internet to make way for schoolwork, parents may want to add extra for that other big contributor to success at school: sleep. Recent research on kids has connected the importance of sleep not only to cognition, but to behavior and mood as well." 09-07 -09-08-07 Senate Passs Bill to Boost Student Aid (CBS News) "Congress sent President Bush legislation Friday to boost financial aid for college students by cutting some $20 billion in government subsidies to banks that make student loans." 09-07 -09-09-08 Rhee Shakes Up DC Schools (CNN News) "Rhee closed 23 schools in her first year as the head of the District of Columbia's public schools, fired 36 principals and cut 15 percent -- about 121 jobs -- from the central office staff. And she's making no apologies." "One of the most controversial programs Rhee has introduced is a joint venture between D.C. schools and Harvard that pays middle school students cash -- up to $100 a month -- for good behavior and attendance." "An annual report card by Education Week, a newspaper that follows the nation's education system, earlier this year ranked the District's school system last, giving it a D+ overall and an F for student achievement in kindergarten through 12th grade. Those grades were based on data prior to Rhee's arrival." 09-08 -09-10-06 Research: Boys and Girls React Differently (ABC News) "Do boys and girls really deal with people in very different ways? Yes, say researchers like Campbell Leaper of the University of California." 09-10-06. -09-22-06 Bush Administration Reading First Program Trashed (MSNBC News) "A scorching internal review of the Bush administration’s reading program says the Education Department ignored the law and ethical standards to steer money how it wanted." "The government audit is unsparing in its review of how Reading First, a billion-dollar program each year, that it says has been beset by conflicts of interest and willful mismanagement." 09-06 -10-07-06 Experts: Schools Need to Rethink Security (MSNBC News) "Schools should focus more on listening to kids to deter school attacks, experts say, instead of relying only on physical security." 10-06 -10-07-06 Myths About School Shootings (MSNBC News) "Here are 10 myths about school shootings, compiled by MSNBC.com from a 2002 study by the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education. The researchers studied case files and other primary sources for 37 attacks by current or former students, and also interviewed 10 of the perpetrators." 10-06 -10-29-07 Pediatricians: New Guidelines for Detection and Treatment of Autism (US News) "In an effort to make it easier for pediatricians to spot and begin early treatment for children with autism spectrum disorders, the American Academy of Pediatrics has released two new reports with recommendations for identifying and managing these conditions." 10-07 -11-20-06 Student Dropout Rate Now a National Epidemic (ABC News) "A recent study by the Department of Education found that 31 percent of American students were dropping out or failing to graduate in the nation's largest 100 public school districts." 11-06 -11-24-08 School Superintendent Gives Away $1 Million in Winnings (WSBTV.com) "Just months after winning and then giving away $1 million, State Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox and her husband filed for bankruptcy." 11-08 -11-26-06 Online Tutors Gain Popularity (ABC News) "Students from elementary to graduate school can get help any time of the day or night, from the comfort of their homes. Subjects range from math to English." "It's the outsourcing of education. Just like manufacturing or service jobs, the task of teaching America's youth is no longer limited by borders." 11-06 -11-29-06 Study: This Is Your Brain on Violent Videogames (MSNBC News) "The important thing is that parents should be aware that there are at least short-term effects on brain functioning that we show. The fact that we’re showing this in experimental fashion should raise concern that exposure to this could result in some longer-term changes." 11-06 -12-10-06 Congress Passes First Ever Autism Act (MSNBC News) "Autism is as disturbing and distressing as it is mystifying. It's a diagnosis with no known cause, no known cure." 12-06 -12-10-06 Selective Mutism (ABC News) "Imagine a world where anyone and anyplace outside the comforts of home elicit fear and anxiety so paralyzing that you shut down and cannot speak." "What causes this disorder is not exactly known. What is known is that it has a genetic factor and usually appears when a child is first introduced into the social situation of preschool or school. It is, however, very different than everyday shyness." 12-06 -12-10-06 Study: Don't Let Babies Sleep in Car Seats (ABC News) "Newborn babies should not sleep in car seats and be left alone, according to a new study in the British Medical Journal. The consequences could be fatal." 12-06 -12-15-06 Commission: Students Not Prepared for Global Economy (ABC News) "Education and business leaders urged an overhaul of the U.S. school system, including ending high school at the 10th grade for many students. Current teaching is failing to prepare young Americans for the global economy, members of a bipartisan panel said Thursday." 12-06 -Editorial: Our Overlooked Assets (MSNBC News) "But while Americans are waking up to the idea that we need to sharpen our competitive edge in the world, many still overlook our system of community and junior colleges. The truth is, these schools can be the solution for what our K-12 programs might not be getting done." 05-06 -Editorial: Pass the Bread (CommonDreams.org - Bill Moyers) "Bread is life. But if you're like me you have a thousand and more times repeated the ordinary experience of eating bread without a thought for the process that brings it to your table. The reality is physical: I need this bread to live. But the reality is also social: I need others to provide the bread. I depend for bread on hundreds of people I don't know and will never meet. If they fail me, I go hungry. If I offer them nothing of value in exchange for their loaf, I betray them. The people who grow the wheat, process and store the grain, and transport it from farm to city; who bake it, package it, and market it--these people and I are bound together in an intricate reciprocal bargain. We exchange value." "This reciprocity sustains us." 06-06 -Editorial: What Do the Gloucester Pregnancies Mean? (Time.com) "While 750,000 teens become pregnant every year, that number is at its lowest level in 30 years, according to the Guttmacher Institute, down 36% from a peak in 1990. This does not suggest that we are witnessing a mass moral collapse, especially since abortion rates have fallen even faster. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since the late 1980s the abortion rate for girls ages 15 to 17 fell 55%, and this year the overall U.S. abortion rate was at its lowest level since 1974." "Which brings us back to Gloucester. What if the visible leap in pregnancies is part of a different trend: kids aren't necessarily having more sex or more girls aren't getting pregnant, but more of those who do are deciding to keep the baby rather than abort it. In Oliver's case, she was on the Pill and the pregnancy was unintended. She made her own 'pact' with friends, she said, after they were already pregnant, so they could help one another get through it together." 06-08 01-27-07 One School's Fight Against Obesity (CBS News) "While most of the country is failing the grade on obesity, Nurse Scully says Long Pond students are getting the message." 01-07 10-14-07 Wealthy Colleges Questioned About Costs (ABC News) "Colleges and universities raked in money by the billions last year. But their investing success now has a price a movement in Congress to force the wealthiest schools to spend more of their money to keep down tuition." 10-07 Current Events for Educators (Education Week) Provides news for teachers and school administrators. 03-06 Current Society and Community Issues in Depth (NOW with Bill Moyers) "When PBS and Bill Moyers launched NOW, it was to illuminate stories that weren't being covered on any other public affairs broadcast, and under Moyers' leadership, NOW has pursued the truth behind the headlines. 'We are continuing to take a thoughtful look at the events shaping our world,' says Moyers, who has received every major broadcast journalisim award including more than 30 Emmy Awards." 12-03 Papers -07-22-07 Everything Harry Potter (USA Today) USA Today provides a variety of resources on Harry Potter. 07-07 -07-22-07 Rowling Finishes With Harry Potter (USA Today) "Harry Potter's life hangs in the balance. Millions of fans are holding their breath. Meanwhile, his creator is baking a cake — and keeping her secret." 07-07 -09-12-07 Cities Where Largest Percentage Have Degrees (CNN News) "If you equate education with intelligence, then the smartest city in the United States is Seattle - 52.7 percent of its residents age 25 or older have completed a bachelor's degree or higher." Editor's Note: Awesome Library staff do not equate education with intelligence. 09-07 -Editorial: How to End the War Over Sex Education (Time.com) "Advocates will debate at top volume the merits of abstinence-only efforts vs. more comprehensive programs that also teach about birth control and sexually transmitted infections (STIs)." "These arguments miss the point. We now have a pretty good sense of which sex-education approaches work. Substantial research--including a 2007 Bush Administration report--has concluded that comprehensive programs are most effective at changing teen sexual behaviors. They are also largely uncontroversial outside Washington. Vast majorities of parents favor teaching comprehensive sex education." 03-09 -Editorial: The Right Focus in Education Is Relationships and Rigor (New York Times) "The Obama approach would make it more likely that young Americans grow up in relationships with teaching adults. It would expand nurse visits to disorganized homes. It would improve early education. It would extend the school year. Most important, it would increase merit pay for good teachers (the ones who develop emotional bonds with students) and dismiss bad teachers (the ones who treat students like cattle to be processed)." Editor's Note: David Brooks, author of this article, is a conservative columnist for The New York Times and commentator for The Newshour with Jim Lehrer. 03-09 -Study: How Stereotypes Defeat the Stereotyped (Time.com) "The power of stereotype is so strong that it can overwhelm many of our other traits, which means that what you learned in kindergarten is true: you're only as good as you expect to be." "But the good news is that you can flip this particular psychological coin on its opposite side: recent research has found that positive stereotype reinforcement may be just as powerful as any negative threat." 05-09 Air Quality for Schools, a National Problem (USA Today) "Using the government's most up-to-date model for tracking toxic chemicals, USA TODAY spent eight months examining the impact of industrial pollution on the air outside schools across the nation. The model is a computer simulation that predicts the path of toxic chemicals released by thousands of companies." "USA TODAY used it to identify schools in toxic hot spots — a task the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had never undertaken." "The result: a ranking of 127,800 public, private and parochial schools based on the concentrations and health hazards of chemicals likely to be in the air outside. The model's most recent version used emissions reports filed by 20,000 industrial sites in 2005, the year Hitchens closed." "The potential problems that emerged were widespread, insidious and largely unaddressed:" 12-08 Are We Failing Our Geniuses? (Time.com) "Earlier this year, Patrick Gonzales of the U.S. Department of Education presented a paper showing that the highest-achieving students in six other countries, including Japan, Hungary and Singapore, scored significantly higher in math than their bright U.S. counterparts, who scored about the same as the Estonians. Which all suggests we may be squandering a national resource: our best young minds." "Squandered potential is always unfortunate, but presumably it is these powerful young minds that, if nourished, could one day cure leukemia or stop global warming or become the next James Joyce--or at least J.K. Rowling." "In a no-child-left-behind conception of public education, lifting everyone up to a minimum level is more important than allowing students to excel to their limit. It has become more important for schools to identify deficiencies than to cultivate gifts." 08-07 Are We Failing Our Geniuses? (Time.com) "Earlier this year, Patrick Gonzales of the U.S. Department of Education presented a paper showing that the highest-achieving students in six other countries, including Japan, Hungary and Singapore, scored significantly higher in math than their bright U.S. counterparts, who scored about the same as the Estonians. Which all suggests we may be squandering a national resource: our best young minds." "Squandered potential is always unfortunate, but presumably it is these powerful young minds that, if nourished, could one day cure leukemia or stop global warming or become the next James Joyce--or at least J.K. Rowling." "In a no-child-left-behind conception of public education, lifting everyone up to a minimum level is more important than allowing students to excel to their limit. It has become more important for schools to identify deficiencies than to cultivate gifts." 08-07 Best Education Toys in 2006--According to Children (MSNBC News) "This year we tested 100 different toys, all new for 2006, including dolls, board games, drawing toys, construction sets, and remote-control vehicles. All were donated by the manufacturers." "The test was open to all toy makers who had products that fit our two categories —educational and bargains (toys for $25 or less). But I chose which ones to accept for testing based on 25 years of experience rating toys." 11-06 Biology, Boys, and Instructional Strategies (ABC News) "In the complaint that he lodged with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, [Doug] Anglin, 17, claimed that girls faced fewer restrictions from teachers at Milton High School in Milton, Mass., and that boys were more likely to be punished." "The complaint comes at a time when boys' struggles in school are getting close examination. According to a 2005 report by the Educational Equity Center of the Academy for Educational Development in Washington D.C., boys around the country are increasingly falling behind girls academically, and are more likely to get suspended. And experts told ABC News that Anglin's assessment has merit and describes what prevails in most American classrooms." 01-06 Boy Brains, Girl Brains (MSNBC News) "Gray is part of a new crop of educators with a radical idea—that boys and girls are so biologically different they need to be separated into single-sex classes and taught in different ways. In the last five years, brain researchers using sophisticated MRI and PET technology have gathered new information about the ways male and female brains develop and process information. Studies show that girls, for instance, have more active frontal lobes, stronger connections between brain hemispheres and "language centers" that mature earlier than their male counterparts. Critics of gender-based schooling charge that curricula designed to exploit such differences reinforce the most narrow cultural stereotypes. But proponents say that unless neurological, hormonal and cognitive differences between boys and girls are incorporated in the classroom, boys are at a disadvantage." "Others say basing new teaching methods on raw brain research is misguided. While it's true that brain scans show differences between boys and girls, says David Sadker, education professor at American University, no one is exactly sure what those differences mean. Differences between boys and girls, says Sadker, are dwarfed by brain differences within each gender. 'If you want to make schools a better place,' says Sadker, 'you have to strive to see kids as individuals.' " 9-05 Bush Education Program a Disappointment (New York Times) "The first nationwide test to permit an appraisal of President Bush's signature education law rendered mixed results on Wednesday, with even some supporters of the law expressing disappointment." "From 2000 to 2003, before the federal law took full effect in classrooms, the percentage of fourth graders scoring proficient in math rose eight percentage points, compared with four points this year, Mr. Jennings said, and the percentage of eighth graders proficient in math rose three points before the law, compared with the one-point rise this year." 'The rate of improvement was faster before the law,' Mr. Jennings said. 'There's a question as to whether No Child is slowing down our progress nationwide.' " 10-05 Exercise and Brain Power (New York Times) "Scientists have suspected for decades that exercise, particularly regular aerobic exercise, can affect the brain. But they could only speculate as to how. Now an expanding body of research shows that exercise can improve the performance of the brain by boosting memory and cognitive processing speed. Exercise can, in fact, create a stronger, faster brain." Federal Court to Make a Landmark Ruling on Science (MSNBC News) "The Pennsylvania case is probably the most important legal situation of creation and evolution in the last 18 years,' said Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, which opposes challenges to the standard model of evolution." " 'This will be the first legal challenge to intelligent design, and we’ll see whether they have been able to mask the creationist underpinnings and basic orientation of intelligent design,' she said. Regardless who wins, 'it will have quite a significant impact on what happens in American public school education.' ” "This is where things get sticky, because it all boils down to a basic argument over just what is evolution and what is religion." 9-05 For Longevity, Other Factors Pale in Comparison to "Education" (New York Times) "The one social factor that researchers agree is consistently linked to longer lives in every country where it has been studied is education. It is more important than race; it obliterates any effects of income." "And, health economists say, those factors that are popularly believed to be crucial — money and health insurance, for example, pale in comparison." 01-07 Great Toys on a Budget in 2006 (MSNBC News) "As any parent knows, toys can cost a small fortune. But you don't have to spend an arm and a leg to get fun toys your kids will like. In fact, some of the bargain toys in this year's MSNBC.com Toy Test rated the highest." 11-06 House Votes to Cut Education (CBS News) "Lawmakers voted Wednesday to cut federal aid to education for the first time in a decade as the House narrowly passed a spending bill that would freeze or cut back a wide variety of domestic programs." "Programs funded under President Bush's No Child Left Behind education law would face a 4 percent cut, while aid for special education and Title I funding for disadvantaged children would be frozen at last year's levels, assuming the across-the-board cut is imposed." "The 215-213 vote caps a successful drive by Mr. Bush and his GOP allies on Capitol Hill to trim the budgets of most domestic agencies below prior-year levels. And, after years of bundling appropriations bills into omnibus measures, Republicans managed to get the process back on track and pass the 11 annual spending bills as stand-alone measures." 12-05 How One Town Will Fund College (CSMonitor.com) "Kalamazoo is only the second US city, after Washington, to offer full-tuition scholarships to its graduates." 11-05 Newsweek's Best American School in Dallas (ABC News) "The School for the Talented and Gifted in Dallas, known as TAG, has a student-teacher ratio of 13-to-1, and Newsweek has ranked it as the nation's top school, based on a formula of test scores and graduation rates. The students, 60 percent of whom are minorities, are committed to education and give up the traditional high school activities like sports and cheerleading to go to TAG. Some travel an hour or more each way to attend class." 05-06 One Laptop Per Child (Laptopical.com) "Thanks to the vision of Nicholas Negroponte, founder of MIT's Media Lab, and the innovative design and structure ideas of a handful of his colleagues, a lightweight, $100 laptop with WiFi wireless networking is set to arrive in Third World countries -- soon." "This cheap laptop will be light; have no disk drives, but a gigabyte of main memory, using flash memory for storage; and be battery-free, using a crank to get your information loaded. Oh, and mesh networking capability is also in the works." "The folks at E Ink in Cambridge, Mass., plan to make a plastic, tough, flexible video screen; Linux is offering its operating system for free; and Advanced Micro Devices has agreed to provide a microprocessor." 11-05 One Laptop Per Child (PBS.org) "It offers word processing and Web browsing, along with a video camera and microphone. And while hopes were sky high at the beginning, getting governments to sign on has turned out to be a slow process." 11-07 Online Gym Classes (Fox News) "Web-based physical education classes are cropping up across the country — and they're getting rave reviews from educators, parents and students." "Minneapolis' school system is one of the first school districts in the country to offer online gym classes. The program requires students to pick physical activities they enjoy and do each one for 30 minutes, three times a week." "Arizona's Primavera Online High School has a different approach to accountability: At the end of each day, it requires students to upload readings from a heart monitor to instructors." 02-06 Phonics Help With Reading (Washington Times) "A study has confirmed the premise of the Bush administration's 'Reading First' initiative that systematic phonics instruction is essential in teaching young children of all backgrounds to read successfully." 6-03 Poll: Fewer Than Four in Ten Believe in Evolution (U.S. News) "Charles Darwin would have been 200 tomorrow, an event that Gallup is marking with a new poll showing that 39 percent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution. A quarter say they don't believe in evolution, and 36 percent say they have no opinion." "The strongest predictor of respondents' views on evolution? Church attendance." "In fact, Gallup's analysis says religiosity outweighs educational level in shaping views on evolution, even though those with the most education are far more likely to support evolution than those with the least. Just 21 percent of respondents who had up to a high school level of education believe in evolution, compared with 74 percent of those with postgraduate degrees." 10-07 Remembering the 11 Planets (CNN News) "Those having trouble remembering the newly assigned 11 planets, including three dwarfs, are getting help from a fourth-grader." " Her award-winning phrase is: My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants." "The 11 recognized planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Eris." 02-08 Schools Moving Toward a K-8 Model (ABC News) "Philadelphia eighth-graders at the K-8 schools scored significantly higher on state tests than their middle school counterparts, studies by the Philadelphia Education Fund show. And nationally, crime takes off in middle schools, where it's 30 percent higher than in elementary schools, according to the National Center for Education Statistics." " 'Middle-grades children in K-8 schools do far better than they do in middle schools,' Vallas said, 'both academically and behaviorally.' " 8-05 Staying Safe During an Attack at School (ABC News) "With the help of ABC News safety consultant Bob Stuber and dozens of student volunteers, 'Primetime' set out to see just how effective the lockdown method is." "The school staff and students were asked to behave just as they would if there were an armed intruder in the school. The students filed calmly to their designated classrooms where the teachers locked the doors, turned off the lights and waited for the all-clear signal." "To get an idea of how well the lockdown would work in a real-life situation, Stuber and his assistant Daniel Bauman acted as simulated gunmen the second time around — without telling the students beforehand." "Many of the students made it to their designated classrooms — where again, the teachers locked the doors and turned out the lights." "Stuber says that could be a big mistake during a real crisis." " 'In real life, normal life, the rule is you don't break things,' he said. 'But what they have to be taught is that in a situation like this, where it's life or death, there are no rules.' " "According to Stuber, the key to survival is always to be alert, creative and aware of your environment." 11-05 Study: Exercise Helps the Brain (CBS News) "According to Bell, researchers are finding that exercise can do more than keep you fit; it can also make you smarter. One school in Illinois has developed a program that gets kids moving and learning." "Although it may appear that these kids are working out, they are actually trying to adjust their brains chemistry to maximize their ability to learn." " 'Kids who took P.E. before they took the math class had double the improvement of kids who had P.E. afterward,' Zientarski, explained." 'Ratey cites studies showing that exercise promotes the growth of new cells in the hippocampus, an area in the brain associated with memory and learning." " 'Exercise promotes more than anything else we know the growth of new brain cells,' Ratey said." Teen Choking Game Has Fatal Consequences (ABC News) "In the choking game, also known as the flatliner or the pass-out game, adolescents attempt to experience a quick high — a high that lasts only a second — by strangling themselves. Kids commonly use belts, ropes, towels or their own hands to cut off oxygen. If the kids hold on for too long their organs begin to shut down or they are strangled to death. Some kids have reported experiencing seizures when they play.'' 06-06 UN to Supply World's Rural Poor with Internet Access (Christian Science Monitor) "Effort to link the world's rural poor to the Internet with a $100 computer gets a boost from the United Nations." The program is called "One Laptop per Child." 11-05 USA Slips in International Standing in Education (CBS News) "The United States is losing ground in education, as peers across the globe zoom by with bigger gains in student achievement and school graduations, a study shows." "Among adults age 25 to 34, the U.S. is ninth among industrialized nations in the share of its population that has at least a high school degree. In the same age group, the United States ranks seventh, with Belgium, in the share of people who hold a college degree." "By both measures, the United States was first in the world as recently as 20 years ago, said Barry McGaw, director of education for the Paris-based Organization for Cooperation and Development. The 30-nation organization develops the yearly rankings as a way for countries to evaluate their education systems and determine whether to change their policies." "Given what the United States spends on education, its relatively low student achievement through high school shows its school system is 'clearly inefficient,' McGaw said." 9-05 Vocational Classes Dropped (Fox News) "In high schools across the country vocational classes (search) — auto shop, wood shop, metal shop — are being phased out." "The problem, say critics, is that 38 percent of kids don’t go to college — and a high percentage of them may end up being mechanics, carpenters and machinists." 9-04 Women Now 57 Percent of Graduates (USA Today) "In May, the Minnesota Office of Higher Education posted the inevitable culmination of a trend: Last year for the first time, women earned more than half the degrees granted statewide in every category, be it associate, bachelor, master, doctoral or professional." 10-05 Periodicals Events - Media for Kids, Families and Educators (KidsNet) Provides a monthly listing of television programs appropriate for kids, families or educators. Identifies the appropriate audience for each event, including the grade level of children. Notes if the program has supporting materials for education and the types of materials. Also identifies if the program is available in Spanish or closed captions. Projects Current Events and News (BBC Schools Online) Provides articles to help students get involved with current events. 1-02

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