District Administration articles from January 2006

District Administration archives from January 2006

From sea to shining sea?(national curriculum creation)
January 1, 2006... Sometimes the passage of time makes an idea that you once gave up for crazy, not only practical, but probable. Think about the ability to buy a 2-gig hard drive that's the size of your thumb, for just one example. The latest idea to fall into...

Brown v. Board of ed: 50 years later.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Fifty years after the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, when segregation was supposed to have been history in American schools, the system appears to be as segregated as ever. A growing number of minorities, particularly...

School as community center.(John A. Johnson Achievement Plus Elementary School)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Renovating an old and unused high school in Minnesota was a critical piece in reviving the East Side of Saint Paul. John A. Johnson Achievement Plus Elementary School in Saint Paul, opened in 2000, is a state-of-the-art community school in...

With buying in bulk, online auction could save.(school districts in North Carolina are testing new concept by reverse online auctions)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... A few districts in North Carolina are testing a new way to buy in bulk: reverse online auctions. "This is a beta trial," says Al Hartkopf, vice chairman of the Orange County Board of Education in North Carolina. "It's not even a service...

Evolution alone ain't in Kansas anymore.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Kansas recently became the fifth state in the U.S. to adopt standards that question the evolutionary theory taught in schools. The state Board of Education approved curriculum standards recently that question evolution, Some critics say it...

Beauty of blogging: but is it too much information?(Update)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... It might have a bad rap, but blogging is growing on teachers and administrators across the U.S. Among Internet-using teens, 57 percent are content creators, or those who have worked on a blog or Web page or shared original creative...

Newspaper blog.(students at Olde Columbine High School used blogging to publish the school newspaper)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... At Olde Columbine High School in Longmont, Colo., students started blogging in school a year ago under teacher Bud Hunt using Budtheteacher.com. Literary students started using blogs to discuss literacy with students in another district and...

High school students performing better.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Students are taking tougher courses, achieving at higher levels and earning more college degrees than they did 20 years ago, according to a report released by Center on Education Policy. Do You Know... The Latest Good News About American...

Teen bloggers.(Update)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
January 1, 2006... Teen Bloggers Blogging teens surpass their non-blogging peers for all but a few online and communicative activities Bloggers Non-Bloggers Send or read e-mail ...

Ancient Chinese secrets: finding qualified teachers.(Update)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... As learning Chinese becomes more popular in K-12 schools nationwide, the greatest struggle is finding qualified teachers. "I know of only four colleges of education that actually certify teachers of Chinese in public schools," says Scott...

Illinois' new report card.(School and District Report Cards)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... A new parent-friendly Illinois School Profile this year will make it easier for parents to quickly get information about their children's performance on the 2005 State, School and District Report Cards. Parents can easily see how their...

Ten states allowed to use growth models to calculate AYP.(Adequate Yearly Progress)
January 1, 2006... In November, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced a pilot program to let up to 10 states use growth models to determine Adequate Yearly Progress. Many states and lobbyists have requested this approach. "We've been strongly...

NCLB and teacher contracts.(No Child Left Behind Act of 2001)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... In districts across the U.S., teachers are concerned about losing their jobs due to NCLB. In fact, teachers at the Oregon Trail District 46 in Sandy, Ore., recently went on strike over contract language related to the law. "Both my board...

Prediction to performance: the science of managing student success.(Pearson Digital Learning offers solutions for predicting students performance)(Advertisement)
January 1, 2006... Closing the achievement gap. Meeting accountability requirements. Improving proficiency rates. Identifying at-risk students earlier. Making more informed instructional decisions. Each of these complex issues is daunting to even the most...

Three states create one assessment test.(Inside the Law)
January 1, 2006... In the first alliance of its kind, three separate states-Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont--developed one reading and math assessment exam. The New England Common Assessment Program got its start in Rhode Island, when the Department of...

Principals make NCLB suggestions.(National Association of Secondary School Principals recommendations for No Child Left Behind Act of 2001)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... The National Association of Secondary School Principals' 15-member NCLB task force has made 21 recommendations to make NCLB "a more consistent, fair and flexible law." Made up of urban, rural and suburban leaders, the task force looked into the...

Change agent.(Administrator Profile: William Andrekopoulos)(Biography)
January 1, 2006... Be assertive, not aggressive. That's a lesson journalists learn early, and it's a trait William Andrekopoulos exudes as superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools. So maybe it's not ironic that of all the things he could've been if not an...

Work hard, have fun, save the environment.(District Profile: School District of Manatee County, Florida)
January 1, 2006... Christina Swosinski fell into turtle-watching. The sandy beaches of the barrier islands in the mouth of Tampa Bay, Fla., are a perfect habitat for nesting sea turtles, so when co-worker and recent Florida transplant Susan Camp suggested that...

Please stay: district leaders focus on hiring the best qualified teachers. But then what?
January 1, 2006... Administrators across the nation have long recognized the need to focus efforts on attracting high quality teachers to their districts, especially those in low-performing, remote and inner-city schools. But after the teacher arrives at the...

Data, data everywhere: results from Nation's Report Card show slow progress.(NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS)
January 1, 2006... The 2005 Nation's Report Card, a large sample, fifty-state assessment of reading and math achievement among fourth and eighth grade students, provides cause for cautious optimism. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings touts steady gains...

Nitty-gritty data: with reams of numbers and test results at their fingertips, more district leaders are making decisions and positive changes across classrooms.(DATA-DRIVEN DECISION MAKING)
January 1, 2006... To teach one way or various ways? That is the question swirling in a junior high school in New Jersey. Now that data can be broken down and manipulated into a report within minutes, should teachers that use mostly project-based...

Strength in numbers: seven districts have joined together to collaborate, share best practices and most of all, improve the education they offer their students.(Cover Story)
January 1, 2006... What do you get when you take seven strong school district leaders, add insight, wisdom and hardwork? Find out how these superintendents created a consortium, what they accomplish together and how you can follow suit. When Monte Moses,...

Fast forward: new technologies, such as wikis, blogs and podcasting, help media centers create cutting edge e-learning strategies.
January 1, 2006... When Bud Hunt wanted a new way to get students interested in writing, he eschewed traditional brainstorming exercises and turned to technology instead. "Kids are deeply involved in using the Internet and writing e-mail, not to mention just...

Training day: with the right technology on board, teachers can learn just about anything.(PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT)
January 1, 2006... Eyes glazed over, donuts long gone, notepads covered with doodles--it's another in-service gone terribly wrong. Maybe you've tried to move away from the "sit and get" model of professional development, where an "expert" lectures teachers once...

Jonathan Kozol takes on the world.(EDUCATION OUTLOOK)(Interview)
January 1, 2006... Jonathan Kozol has never been afraid to take on big targets. His current best seller, The Shame of e Nation. The Restoration of Apartheid Education in America (Crown, $25) puts a spotlight on what he calls this country's biggest education...

Splog attacks: bogus blogs plague online research and threaten personal sites.(The Online Edge)
January 1, 2006... With the exploding popularity of Web logs for sharing personal news, information and commentary on almost every conceivable subject, there are now must-read blogs in most content areas including education. For example, influential technology...

The elephant in the room: race and class in America.(The Shame of the Nation)
January 1, 2006... For 40 years, Jonathan Kozol has written eloquently about our nation's children, and in many cases the schools that serve them. His latest best-selling book, The Shame of the Nation, is like a Rorschach test for Americans. Educators, religious...

Pinpointing professional development needs.(Problem/Solution)
January 1, 2006... Problem: Coordinating professional development among the Granite School District's nearly 4,000 teachers has always been challenging. The district in the northern part of Utah's Salt Lake County had an online system that would allow teachers to...

Pre-K as an investment.
January 1, 2006... Cost-benefit analysis. High yield. Economic return. Such phrases from the world of finance have been cropping up in recent reports and articles on preschool education. What kind of yields can be expected on pre-K investments? As a financial...

Software improves middle and high school reading and writing skills.
January 1, 2006... High school literature teachers are not typically reading specialists, so when the Pittsburgh Public School District needed to help its high school students improve their reading skills it needed to find an alternative solution. On top of that,...

Engineering gains ground in the classroom.(Curriculum Update)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... In 2001, when Massachusetts became the first state to develop K-12 curricular standards and assessments for engineering, educators wondered, "How are we going to teach this?" Luckily, the Museum of Science in Boston was on the case. "We...

Minneapolis scores with online physical education course.(Curriculum Update)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... When she was first asked to create an online physical education class, Jan Braaten laughed. I thought it was a ridiculous idea, says the head of health and physical education for Minneapolis Public Schools. The district wanted to offer an...

Elementary students learning Arabic.(Amana Academy mandates its expeditionary learning programs)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... When Amana Academy in North Fulton, Georgia, opened its doors this school year, one of its mandates was for its 190 kindergarten through six-graders to study Arabic. "We want to give our students a competitive edge and help them bridge cultural...

Network cameras: Canon.
January 1, 2006... www.usa.canon.com, Hardware, Starts at $1,349 These two cameras come with built-in servers and 26x zoom lenses. The VB-C50Si fixed network camera--priced at $1,349--and the VB-C50i/VB-C50iR pan/tilt/ zoom network camera--priced at...

Perfection photo scanners: Epson.
January 1, 2006... www.epsonstore.com Hardware, $99 to $249 The company introduced three new scanners: Perfection 4490 Photo, Perfection 3590 Photo and Perfection 3490 Photo. The 4490 model offers hardware resolutions of 4800 x 9600 dpi, 3.4 Dmax with...

IPELA cameras: Sony.
January 1, 2006... www.sony.com/security Hardware, Starts at $1,584 The company unveiled three new IPELA cameras: the SNC-CS50N, SNC-RX550N, priced at $3,000, and the SNC-RZ50N pan/tilt/zoom at $2,315. All have multi-codec capabilities supporting JPEG/MPEG4...

System 5: Educational Testing Service.
January 1, 2006... www.ets.org/system5 Software, Starts at $35.000 This customizable suite of K-12 products is composed of five solutions that target school improvement, professional development, data-driven decision-making, instruction and assessment,...

Data Rescue II: Prosoft Engineering Inc.
January 1, 2006... www.prosofteng.com, Utility, Starts at $99 This data recovery utility for Mac OS X offers a variety of new features. It includes a Cocoa-based GUI user interface, assistant mode and expert mode operation, drag-and-drop recovery and the...

Reading rods Spanish literacy kits: Learning Resources.(New Products)
January 1, 2006... www.leamingresources.com/ Spanish Book/Cards, $129.95/kit These three literacy kits were designed for elementary school children who are native Spanish speakers. Developed as a series of systematically ordered lessons, the kits are Phonemic...

SideStreets: the Princeton Review.
January 1, 2006... www.princetonreview.com Curriculum, Starts at $75/student This reading and math curriculum targets students in grades 2-8 who face academic difficulties. Aligned to state and national standards, it helps students acquire content-area...

LCD display; ViewSonic Corp.
January 1, 2006... www.viewsonic.com/LCDs, Hardware, $239-$339 The company added four new models to its VA series of LCD displays. The display size for the VA702b and VA 712b is 17 inches while the VA902b and VA912b offer a 19-inch display. All models support...

Viewpoint: Sagebrush Corp..
January 1, 2006... www.sagebrushcorp.com, Web-based system, Starts at $5/student This data warehouse and data management system enables educators and administrators to access current actionable information on a secure Web site. They can enter data to complete...

Smart board 600 series: Smart Technologies Inc.
January 1, 2006... www.smarttech.com Hardware, $999 to $1,999 This latest series of interactive whiteboards offers larger screen sizes--ranging from 48 inches to 77 inches. The pen tray has been redesigned to hold ergonomic pens and an eraser and incorporates...

WeatherBug achieve: WeatherBug.
January 1, 2006... www.weatherbug.com, Web-based program, Starts at $6,490 This interactive, standards-aligned program for K-8 students offers 24 new science, math, geography and technology lessons that use live and historical weather data and colorful...

IK-WB21A surveillance camera: Toshiba.
January 1, 2006... www.cctv.toshiba.com Hardware, $999 This video surveillance camera offers ultra-fast pan/tilt/zoom capability, SXVGA resolution (1280 x 960) and network functionality to achieve higher levels of remote monitoring performance with a wider...

ThinkVision C400 wireless projector: Lenovo.
January 1, 2006... www.lenovo.com, Hardware, $2,499 This wireless projector enables educators to project image files, deliver a presentation or share photos without the need to connect to a computer. It comes equipped with 802.11b/g integrated wireless...

Middle and Junior high school library catalog: H.W. Wilson.
January 1, 2006... www.hwwilson.com/print/ mjhscat.cfm, Catalog, $275 Web resources, periodicals and graphic novels. It offers a current, reliable core collection of fiction and nonfiction books for readers at grade levels five through nine, plus review...

Student news: CNN.
January 1, 2006... www.CNN.com/Education News program, Free This free, 10-minute educational program airs at 3:12 a.m. (ET) weekdays throughout the school year on CNN Headline News and is also streamed for the new student Web site. Aimed at middle and high...

Breaking through: Teachers College Press.(Breaking Through: Transforming Urban School Districts)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2006... www.tcpress.com, Book $25.95 In this book, author John Simmons, who is president of Strategic Learning Initiatives, demonstrates how cutting-edge thinking about system change in business has been used to successfully transform schools and...

Calendar of events.
January 1, 2006... FEBRUARY 2006 AASA National Conference on Education February 23-26 San Diego, Calif. www.aasa.org MARCH 2006 FETC 2006 Florida Educational Technology Conference March 22-24, 2006 Orlando. Fla. ...

By the numbers: NAEP/math & reading.(National Assessment of Educational Progress)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
January 1, 2006... MATH Average scores were higher in 2005 than in any previous assessment year for students in grades 4 and 8 1990 1992 1996 2000 2003 2005 GRADE 4 213 220 224 226 235 238 GRADE 8 ...