District Administration articles from January 2007

District Administration archives from January 2007

New staff, new year, new opportunities.(Editor's Letter)
January 1, 2007... I couldn't help laughing at the cynical greeting I received one first day of January, "Happy New Year--your car is now worth $1,000 less!" While the cold reality of depreciation is not funny, it underscores the need for accurate,...

More oversight of NY school funds.(New York)
January 1, 2007... Motivated by the financial scandal that rocked the Roslyn school district on Long Island where several administrators, including the superintendent of schools, were recently convicted of embezzling, New York state lawmakers created a law...

Tag is out.(banning the game of tag in school districts)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... As worries over lawsuits and injuries to students loom over districts, the age-old game of tag is being banned, or at the very least discouraged, in various districts across the U.S., according to latimes.com. Willett Elementary School in...

Stats.(survey of American students' educational skills)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... 71% of students surveyed said they do the bare minimum to get by in school. 74% of professors and 73% of employers surveyed said American students lack basic grammar and spelling skills, and similar percentages said they can't write clearly....

Pair excitement with extended time.(extended learning of high school students)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... A key attribute of successful extended learning time in high school is the idea of engaging students with their interests beyond school, a recent study shows. In a new Center for American Progress report, Expanding Learning Time in High...

Oregon gets laptops.(three school districts' 6th grade students to get laptops from Intel Corp., Department of Education, and Oregon Association of Education Service Districts)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Three Oregon middle schools will take part in a pilot program where sixth-graders will each receive a Gateway laptop 'computer this winter, according to One-to-One Laptop Pilot program officials. The program is designed to improve test...

Single-sex ed gets easier.(United States Department of Education introduces new law that gives school district opportunity to offer single sex education)
January 1, 2007... Thanks to a new federal law, school districts nationwide will have a greater opportunity to offer single-sex schooling options, provided there is a firm educational benefit to doing so. In late October, the U.S. Department of Education...

Chicago's first.(Chicago Public Schools designs a performance-based teacher compensation system)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Chicago Public Schools' teacher incentive fund, linking teachers' pay to improved student test scores, beginning fall 2007, will be among the nation's biggest merit pay systems. It's the first time the district has experimented with the...

Voters want more money in school.(government aid to public schools)
January 1, 2007... Although a clear trend can't be made, a handful of state voters spoke out in last November's elections proposals and referendums, saying in unofficial results that they want more money to go toward public schools. "Since the 1980s, things...

Pro-NCLB commentator settles.(No Child Left Behind Act)(Armstrong Williams settles case with Education Department and Ketchum Communications)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Conservative commentator Armstrong Williams recently admitted no wrongdoing regarding payments he had received from the government to promote President Bush's agenda, but he was ordered to pay $34.000 that prosecutors said had been overpaid....

First online, accredited university.(National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education accredits Teachers College of Western Governors University)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... The Teachers College of Western Governors University was recently given full and unconditional five-year accreditation by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, a first of its kind. The Teachers College, which is...

Cheating on NCLB tests? Maybe.(school districts violates educational test rules, No Child Left Behind Act)
January 1, 2007... Some school districts and states appear to be cheating on test scores to meet achievement requirements under the No Child Left Behind law, and legislators will look into it when they consider reauthorization of NCLB this year. Rep. George...

Three states "high risk" for NCLB teacher plans.(No Child Left Behind Act, teacher status and qualification standards)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... The U.S. Department of Education has labeled Utah, Missouri and Hawaii education agencies as "high risk" due to inadequate "highly qualified teacher" plans under No Child Left Behind. The federal agency says it found "substantial...

Reauthorization looms.(conversation with Paul L. Kimmelman of Learning Point Associates)(Interview)
January 1, 2007... Paul L. Kimmelman, senior advisor in the Office of the CEO at Learning Point Associates, worked in K12 education for more than 30 years as a teacher, principal and superintendent. He is a featured speaker at meetings on NCLB implementation and...

NCLB grows.(No Child Left Behind Act)(Delaware, Arkansas and Florida's quality growth plans gets approval from United States Department of Education)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Following in the footsteps of Tennessee and North Carolina, Delaware, Arkansas and Florida have quality growth models to use in their districts to ensure students in any particular grade are improving on test year after year under the No Child...

New test shows teens not so tech-savvy.(Curriculum Update)
January 1, 2007... Conventional wisdom pegs today's teens as a digital generation completely fluent with information technology. New research from Educational Testing Service (ETS) demonstrates that teens' literacy in information and communication technology, or...

Solving history mysteries.(Network for Instructional TV offers Dates That Matter online history education)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Curious about what happened in history on a certain date? Network for Instructional TV's (NITV) Dates That Matter is a free online tool that explores historical events from ancient history to the 1990s. Each day, the site features an event and...

NSTA and NOAA take teachers online and underwater.(National Science Teachers Association and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration launches Coral Ecosystem SciGuides)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... High school educators aiming to ramp up their coral reef lesson plans have a new resource at their fingertips. The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have partnered to...

Music + Math = unprecedented proficiency.(MIND Institute's ST Music + Math program teaches mathematics through music)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... It may be the latest evidence of the Mozart effect. Students at Weaver Elementary School in Los Alamitos, Calif., are collecting recyclables and selling T-shirts to help fund a supplementary math program. MIND Institute's ST Music + Math...

AP at a glance.(Advanced Placement)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Research indicates that students who take a more rigorous high school curriculum are more likely to complete high school and graduate from college. But sorting out requirements and advantages of options like Advanced Placement (AP) can be...

Dual leadership roles.(Melody Douglas)
January 1, 2007... "Determine every day to learn something new; share what you've learned with others; and practice random acts of kindness. Take the high road in everything you do." These dreamy sentences may sound like they should be printed on a motivational...

Keeping new teachers happy.(Putnam County Elementary School)
January 1, 2007... Administrators at Putnam County Elementary School in Eatonton, Ga., are an ambitious group, and they don't want any first-year teachers to fail. In fact, school leaders are providing new teachers with nearly all they need to succeed. Weeks...

Overheard on the pulse ...(ONLINE COMMUNITIES)
January 1, 2007... Here are just a few excerpts of ongoing discussions among today's leaders in education--from DA's community pages. Join the conversation! www.districtadministration.com/pulse "What part of 'the Internets' is so difficult for educators to...

The dropout crisis: educators sound off on the pros and cons of the National Education Association's 12-step plan to reduce dropouts.(Cover story)
January 1, 2007... Omnis discipulus gradibus suscipiet Every student will graduate This strong message reverberated in education circles last October the NEA unveiled a comprehensive plan for communities to address the dropout crisis because, after all,...

Teaching techniques for supervisors: here are essential techniques for assessing and improving teacher presentation skills.
January 1, 2007... When a K12 supervisor recently observed a teacher in a classroom with continuing discipline problems, he noticed that she consistently violated a fundamental teaching technique by asking "everyone questions." Questions such as "Is everyone on...

Why buy new when used might do? Refurbished computers help stretch technology budgets.
January 1, 2007... As schools face the challenge of bridging the "digital divide," the goal is typically complicated by the costs of computers and then support once they have been acquired. Many districts are therefore turning to refurbished computers as a...

Past becomes future: a Brooklyn high school lays the foundation for the future of students by teaching them to value the past.(Brooklyn High School of the Arts)
January 1, 2007... In Brooklyn, where the mystique of the 123-year-old Brooklyn Bridge looms, high school I students learn about caring for the bridge and other historic landmarks in their own backyard. Brooklyn High School of the Arts' students are immersed...

Financial rescue: how an Illinois district overcame state intervention, a skeptical community and $10.5 million in debt.(Round Lake Area School District)
January 1, 2007... People never seem to tire of stories about businesses that have turned themselves from bankruptcy to profitability. But few imagine this type of story could ever happen in public education. However, in Round Lake Area School District 116 in...

An inconvenient truth: questions about student happiness are neither rhetorical nor frivolous.
January 1, 2007... Susan Ohanian recently wrote an article for The Pulse: Education's Place for Debate ("What Schools Need Is a Happiness Index") in which she advanced the radical idea that schools should be happy places where children learn. Ohanian disputes...

Online-powered school libraries: Web 2.0 technologies are transforming the school library.
January 1, 2007... With all the buzz about "Web 2.0 technologies' and the implications that new social Web tools such as Weblogs, wikis and the like have for education and information literacy, it's no wonder that school libraries are suddenly on the front lines...

Schools, families, and student achievement.(Anne Henderson )(Karen Mapp)
January 1, 2007... What kinds of school-family connections are more likely to produce higher levels of student achievement? K12 educators are asking this as they implement various school-family-community involvement programs to comply with the No Child Left...

Search power.(San Diego County Office of Education)
January 1, 2007... Problem: After redesigning its Web page, the San Diego County Office of Education received complaints that the search engine was inaccurate and extremely slow. Solution: The SDCOE installed Google Mini as its search engine and hasn't...

Design for Community: Peachpit.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... PEACHPIT Design for Community www.peachpit.com, $24 Why are online communities part of all successful Web sites? What are measures of their success? These are some of the questions discussed in this book, which is broken into four sections....

Laptops and Literacy: Learning in the Wireless Classroom: Teachers College Press.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... TEACHERS COLLEGE PRESS Laptops and Literacy: Learning in the Wireless Classroom. www.tcpress.com, $27.95 This book analyzes the types of learning that take place in one-to-one wireless classrooms, where all students use laptop computers....

Online Professional Development for Teachers: Emerging Models and Methods: Harvard Education Press.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... HARVARD EDUCATION PRESS Online Professional Development for Teachers: Emerging Model and Methods www.harvardeducationpress.org, $29.95 Offered here are clear and practical answers to questions about the effectiveness of online professional...

Quick Snap Guide to Digital Photography: Course Technology PTR/Charles River Media.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... COURSE TECHNOLOGY PTR/CHARLES RIVER MEDIA Quick Snap Guide to Digital Photography www.charlesriver.com; www.courseptr.com, $29.99 Offering a concise introduction that covers key features of all digital cameras, this book targets owners of...

Digital Portfolios: Powerful Tools for Promoting Professional Growth and Reflection: Corwin Press.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... CORWIN PRESS Digital Portfolios: Powerful Tools for Promoting Professional Growth and Reflection www.corwinpress.com, $24.95 In this revised edition, the authors demonstrate how school teachers, principals and professors can develop...

PGP & GPG: Email for the Practical Paranoid: No Starch Press.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... NO STARCH PRESS PGP & GPG: Email for the Practical Paranoid www.nostarch.com, $24.95 Communicating securely with PGP is covered in this informal tutorial. It explains how PGP works and how to integrate it with the most common e-mail...

Washable keyboard: Unotron.
January 1, 2007... www.unotron.com, Hardware, $49.99 to $79.99 Two common problems--dust settling on the keyboard and lots of people touching the keys--are addressed with these new keyboards. Specially designed with SpillSeal technology, the keyboard is...

CP-X251 projector: Hitachi.
January 1, 2007... www.hitachi.us Hardware, $2,295 The CP-X251 ($2,295) and CP-X1 ($999) continue the company's CP-X line of projectors. Both units have 2000 ANSI lumens and a transition detector, which locks the projector if moved, rendering it inoperable...

EtherneTV media distribution system 4.0: VBrick.
January 1, 2007... www.vbrick.com, System, $12,500 This turnkey platform to record, stream, and manage digital video across Internet Protocol (IP) networks has received a major upgrade. This upgrade includes access logging, which allows administrators to...

SchoolHelpDesk: SchoolHelpDesk.net.(New Products: the latest offerings in books, hardware, internet and software)
January 1, 2007... www.schoolhelpdesk.net Online application, $500 School districts can install this online help desk on their own Windows servers. When teachers experience a technology problem, they submit an online ticket alerting their IT department. Tech...

Google apps for education: Google.(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... www.google.com/a/edu/ Web-based software, Free Email, instant messaging and an online calendar are all captured in one area. The free, hosted service can be customized with a school's logo, colors and content. Administrators appreciate that...

FlexSmart card readers: HID.(New Products: the latest offerings in books, hardware, internet and software)
January 1, 2007... www.hidcorp.com Hardware, $165 to $610 A new line of smart card readers is now available. FlexSmart MIFARE HID Format Secure Reader (6075), FlexSmart MIFARE Custom Reader (6076) and FlexSmart DESFire Custom Reader (6077) are interoperable...

PowerCam presenter: Polycom.(New Products: the latest offerings in books, hardware, internet and software)
January 1, 2007... www.polycom.com, Hardware, $7,999 Teachers leading combined live and online classes will have the freedom to roam with this camera. The presenter wears an ultrasonic locator, which allows the wireless camera to automatically track, focus...

App-Control classroom management software: GenevaLogic.(New Products: the latest offerings in books, hardware, internet and software)
January 1, 2007... www.genevalogic.com Plug-in software, $3 per student computer, Site license starts at $375 Designed for Vision classroom management software, teachers can now start the entire class on the same assignment by sharing and opening a document...

2300 notebook series: Averatec.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.averatec.com Hardware, $849.99 to $949.99 This new line of 12-inch widescreen notebooks includes dual-core processing and Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Education. Incorporating AMD Turion 64 X2 dual-core mobile technology, it can...

ClassSync: ClassLink, Inc.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.classlink.com Software, Annual Subscription: $1,415/up to 3,000 students This tool can synchronize a school's active directory user list to its student information system. It can identify bad log-in accounts, correct missing...

Informational pamphlets: Kimberly-Clark.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.kcfiltration.com, Pamphlets, Free Four new titles have been added to the Filtering Out Confusion series of informational pamphlets. Designed for HVAC and facilities maintenance professionals, the pamphlets cover the health and business...

InterWrite PRS upgrade: GTCO CalComp.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.gtcocalcomp.com/supportprs.htm. System, $1,887/32 class pack A software upgrade is available for this student response clicker system. The latest version supports over 14 different languages and features a new, sleeker user interface to...

Education and administration module: Audible Magic.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.audiblemagic.com/education Software, Varies depending on number of users There is a new way to respond to the recording and movie industries' rampage about illegal file sharing. This module is an add-on to CopySense Appliance, which...

School safety starter kit: InterAct Public Safety Systems.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.interact911.com/school_safety System, $9,995 This package includes the TrueSentry digital video surveillance system and MissionMode emergency notification system. The kit comes with four network IP cameras and a TrueSentry network video...

Desk-level writing curriculum guides: Maupin House Publishing.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.maupinhouse.com Program, $2,599 for six-teacher pack Writing instruction of all assessed genres from kindergarten through eighth grade is supported by this new grade-level specific program. The curriculum includes instructional levels...

InformationNOW data management system: STI.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.sti-k12.com, Online system, Starts at $15 per student This Web-based data management system now includes a next-generation student information system that enables educators to collect, analyze and report student data, and connect school...

ClassLink OnTrack: ClassLink.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.classlink2000.com Online program, Annual subscription starts at $3,995 This program provides a curriculum mapping tool and compiles an electronic collection of student work tied to rubrics and standards. Teachers, administrators and...

Writing tutorial system: I-Control Academic Programs.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.choicesicontml.com Tutorial approximately $549.99 Every mode of writing from narrative and persuasive to business letters is covered in the program, which is aligned with the Six Traits of Writing Assessment. It slows down the writing...

Video management system: Wren.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.wrenassociates.com Software, $50 to $165 per camera The software allows users to capture, review and manage video from multiple locations, as well as access live and archived video from a PC. It is designed to integrate seamlessly with...

PDExpress 2007: Lucid Data Corporation.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.lucid-data.com Software, Starts at $12.50 per teacher This professional development management software system was designed to help K12 educators manage, track and report all facets of their professional development and NCLB programs....

Safari Montage WAN Manager: Library Video Company.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.safarimontage.com Software, Base price $2,995, plus $299/school A district's video-on-demand functions can be centralized using this product. It can deliver true digital media management over a wide area network regard less of each...

TLP-XC2500U: Toshiba.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.toshibadirect.com, Hardware, $1,539 With the ability to be both a projector and document camera, this unit fills two needs. Users extend an integrated arm to access the camera, which has 3-megapixel resolution, 16x zoom and built-in LED...

Forensics science kit: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.hrw.com, Curriculum, $210 Developed by a former forensic examiner, this nine-kit series uses actual case-based examples that teachers can use to supplement instruction. Students investigate handprints, invent their own fingerprint...

LCD projectors: Sharp.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.sharplcd.com Hardware, Starts from $3,695 The XG-C330X projector offers power saving features, theft deterrent capabilities, color accuracy, 3300 ANSI lumens and image detail via three polysilicon LCDs. In addition to four optional...

WebArrow: Bytes of Learning Inc.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.bytesoflearning.com, Webconferencing, $30 per month/5-named user license This service accommodates 2 to 100 or more participants at a time. Participants need headphones with microphone and a medium- or high-speed Internet connection....

PowerVault MD1000: Dell.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.dell.com/powervault Storage enclosure, Starts from $4,200 This direct-attached storage enclosure is designed to give users significant gains in bandwidth, capacity and performance. Incorporating 3.5-inch SAS drives, users can achieve...

Teacher's interpretive guide/PASeries: Pearson Education.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.paseries.com, Assessment program, $Z74-$19.74 per student This online or paper-based assessment program now includes separate guides for teachers and parents to help them understand assessment results and how to use the data to improve...

Criterion online writing evaluation v7.1: ETS.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.ets.org, Software, Annual student subscription: $15 (minimum order of $1,000) Upgrades to this new version include enhanced user features and improvements to the company's e-rater scoring engine, which is the technology behind its...

Write brain: Sunburst Technology.
January 1, 2007... www.sunburst.com/writebrain Online program, $2,000/per building Designed for students in grades 2 through 8, this writing program provides a progressive and complete presentation of writing skills with more than 150 educational writing...

AppStream 5.0: AppStream.
January 1, 2007... www.appstream.com Software, $75 per user AppStream allows any Windows application to be distributed or streamed to a PC, then executed by the user without the need for local software installs. It serves as an automated license management...

Bundle of compromises: Find the Fun Productions/Howard Egger-Bovet.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.findthefunproductions.com, DVD, $79.99 This American history production features humorous theatrical vignettes, original music, drama, puppetry and interactive critical thinking questions designed to teach students in grades 6-9 about...

My teacher pages: SchoolWorld.(New Products)
January 1, 2007... www.schoolworld.com, Online system, Starts at $20 annually per account for multiple accounts Teachers can use this system to create, customize and update their own Web pages with a range of features, such as calendars, booklists and...

Calendar of events.(Calendar)
January 1, 2007... JANUARY 2007 American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Midwinter Meeting with The American Library Association January 19-24 Seattle, Wash. www.aasl.org * Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC) ...

"School 2.0": it's time for radical innovations in schooling.(Understanding the Times)
January 1, 2007... In less than three years the storage Capacity of Apple's iPod has increased 20-fold, from four gigabytes to 80 gigabytes. That's enough for 20,000 songs or more than 50 straight days of continuous music without ever having to repeat a song....