District Administration articles from July 2003

District Administration archives from July 2003

The customer is always right. (Editor's Letter).(school districts' purchasing power can dictate product development)(Editorial)
July 1, 2003... For years now, we've all heard education is behind business in terms of technology implementation. What usually follows is the perception that educators still don't get it. They make students share computers; they don't properly train teachers;...

Getting off the failing list. (Inside the law: analyzing, debating and explaining No Child Left Behind).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Ok, the worst has happened and one of the schools in your district is going to receive a failing score under the regulations of NCLB. But before you schedule an immediate vacation, or call the local newspaper and rail about all that is wrong...

Getting better by the year. (Hamilton City (Ohio) Schools).(Hamilton City Schools show improvement in educational statistics)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Five years ago, Hamilton City Schools in Ohio were labeled an "academic emergency." The state gave administrators five years to shape up. Now, 18 months after becoming the example behind the federal NCLB law, Hamilton schools meet 20 out...

Left Out and Left Behind means more money needed. (Inside the law: analyzing, debating and explaining No Child Left Behind).
July 1, 2003... With a national high school graduation rate of only 69 percent and millions of students at risk of dropping out, the No Child Left Behind law attempts to remedy this crisis. Recently, the Alliance for Excellent Education and the National...

Ax falls on misreported disciplinary data. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(state-mandated report missing data)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... It could happen to you. That's the lesson in recent news out of Gwinnett County, Ga., where the school system was recently busted for omitting more than a few serious disciplinary infractions from a state-mandated report. According to The...

Fighting over Head Start. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(national pre-school program faces cuts)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... A battle is brewing between the Bush Administration and the National Head Start Association as some Head Start supporters spoke out against proposals to cut the national pre-school program. The administration allegedly sent a letter in May...

Fighting back. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Parents fought back when the fate of New York's universal pre-kindergarten program looked uncertain following Gov. George Pataki's proposed cuts to the 2003-2004 budget. And they won. In May, Pataki vetoed the legislature's $94.4 billion...

Computer Ergonomics: sit up straight. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(Ergonomics in Education Study Commission)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... A new commission was set up in New Jersey this May to study the state of student computing behavior and classroom equipment. The Ergonomics in Education Study Commission will include teachers, school administrators, medical professionals...

FCC revamps E-rate. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(fund to bring Internet connections to schools and libraries)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... New rules are in place for a federal fund designed to bring Internet connections to schools and libraries nationwide. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission, which oversee the fund, designed rules to shield the E-rate fund from fraud...

Hazing leads to expulsions. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(Glenbrook North High School seniors charged in hazings)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Thirty-one seniors at Glenbrook North High School just outside of Chicago who were suspended following a May 4 hazing incident, have been expelled, but will receive their diplomas, according to wire news reports. Police charged the seniors...

Are smaller schools the answer? (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(school size debated as 4000 student Unity Junior High School opens in Cicero Illinois)
July 1, 2003... Educators in Cicero, Ill., are crowing about the September opening of Unity Junior High School, an $85 million facility that will hold about 4,000 students-making it one of the country's largest middle schools. Yet, some experts believe...

Urban mayors try collaborating. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).
July 1, 2003... Let's face it. Some school administrators equate mayoral involvement in education with hostile takeovers. Others believe mayors are the supreme finger-pointers. But a few urban mayors are shattering these stereotypes. They've tapped into a new...

Buzzing bees. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(James Williams wins U.S. National Geographic Bee)(Sai Gunturi wins Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... A Washington teenager--whose mom is his main teacher at home--won a geography bee sponsored by National Geographic. James Williams, 14, won the U.S. National Geographic Bee and $25,000 in May for his geographic expertise, beating out 54...

Educators protest plan to alter ERIC. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(Educational Resources Information Center)
July 1, 2003... Educators are worried that a popular online database covering virtually every topic in the field of education could become much tougher to use under a Bush administration effort to restructure it. At issue is a Department of Education...

Virginia students share experiences of Everest climber. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(mountaineer Sean Burch)
July 1, 2003... "I did it. I really, really did it! Wow!" It was the last dispatch from Sean Burch, shortly after he hiked to the top of the world, the summit of Mount Everest on May 22. And when he was safely back at Camp II two days later, his wife's...

Survey: teachers feel vulnerable. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).
July 1, 2003... Most teachers (76 percent) say they sense little support from administrators and parents. A majority (59 percent) feel they are unfairly held accountable for student achievement. And 53 percent of teachers say standardized tests are "seriously...

Along a steady course: this "ambidextrous" superintendent has learned that, in district leadership, there's no such thing as too much preparation. (Administrator Profile).(Chesapeake School District superintendent Randolph Nichols)
July 1, 2003... Randolph Nichols has been showing up at Chesapeake School District for 44 years, first as a high school teacher and track coach and now as superintendent. As school board chairman Barbara Head says, the now 66-year-old Nichols "could stay home...

Early literacy intervention: when 25 percent of students come from non-English speaking families, ensuring that students learn to read on time is no easy task. But, as this district shows, it can be done. (District Profile).(Community Consolidated School District 15's literacy program)
July 1, 2003... The vision of all students reading at or above grade level by the end of second grade sounds nice--in theory. In practice, there are all sorts of roadblocks, such as when children come from non-English-speaking, low-income or illiterate...

Pressing on in the face of tragedy: she was Christa McAuliffe's backup. Now elementary teacher Barbara Morgan is bound for outer space.(Educator in Space program )
July 1, 2003... It was on Feb. 1, 2003, when Barbara Morgan, teacher-turned-astronaut, lost some of her own. As the nation watched news reports of what was supposed to be the homecoming of the Columbia space shuttle, Morgan was in a shuttle training...

A.I. something to build on: it's always hard to predict the future, but who would have thought that artificial intelligence's big contribution to education would be to help the teacher.
July 1, 2003... You may think of artificial intelligence as the precious brainchild of scientists in remote laboratories or the driving technology behind the renegade computer HAL in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. But computer programs that use AI have come...

Business partnerships: common and crucial: technology companies can make great partners--not just providers. Here's how to create and maintain collaborations that produce long-term benefits for all.
July 1, 2003... For an employee at a mobile communications giant, one of Susan Cornell's biggest challenges these days is surprisingly low-tech. And it concerns 2,000 pounds of clay. Or more specifically, how to get that clay, which is packed in more than a...

The incredible edible schoolyard: school garden projects are reaping the benefits of teaching community values and hands-on learning.
July 1, 2003... Alice Waters used to go past her local school, Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley, Calif., to get to and from work at her landmark restaurant, Chez Panisse. Since she invariably went past it early in the morning or late in the...

NYC's newest safety plan: new schools for troublemakers. (News: special section: school security).(Operation Safe Schools)
July 1, 2003... In New York City, everything is grand, even the plan "Operation Safe Schools" for addressing discipline problems among students. The broad plan not only includes adding surveillance cameras but creating new centers for the students with...

Are criminals volunteering in your school? (News: special section: school security).
July 1, 2003... It takes seconds, and it could mean protecting a student from a pedophile roaming your halls unattended. Volunteers who tutor K-12 students in reading and math in Memphis (Tenn.) Public Schools are screened before they even step into school...

Seeing is believing: school districts are using high-tech, and low-tech, approaches to make sure students are safe. (Special section: school security).(Cover Story)
July 1, 2003... When parents of students at New Egypt Elementary School in Plumsted Township, N.J., need to pick up their child for a doctor's appointment during the school day, many pause at the front door. They are prompted by a gentle, computerized voice...

Looks can be deceiving: construction planners now balance safety with education when designing, or redesigning, schools. (Special section: school security).
July 1, 2003... Administrators in the Metropolitan School District in Wayne Township, Ind., had a clear idea of what they wanted to accomplish when they renovated Ben Davis High School last year. In addition to adding 250,000-square-feet of space to the nearly...

Axis IP-Surveillance: Axis Communications. (Products: special section: school security).
July 1, 2003... www.axis.com, $1,240 for Axis 2420 These surveillance products can connect to your district's existing analog cameras, digitize the photos they take, and then send those images to the IP network. The network DVR records from up to four...

The Communicator: Dialogic Communications Corp. (Products: special section: school security).
July 1, 2003... www.dialogic.com, $15,000 to $100,000 in annual fees Designed to expedite communications, The Communicator is a high-speed notification system that alerts people quickly in the event of a crisis. Working on a PC, it automatically calls,...

NetDRV: On-Net Surveillance Systems. (Products: special section: school security).
July 1, 2003... www.onssi.com, About $300 NetDVR is a network-based digital video recorder application. It allows school administrators to control, record and playback video from surveillance cameras connected to a LAN or the Internet. It allows users who...

Bully Prevention: Pearson SkyLight. (Products: special section: school security).
July 1, 2003... www.skylightedu.com, $27.95 In 150 pages, author and educator Elizabeth Barton created a guide for school leaders and educators to pinpoint the bully-victim-witness relationship and offers tips to identify bully behaviors in class. In the...

Guardian Angel: Alcatel. (Products: special section: school security).
July 1, 2003... www.alcatel.com, Price set by cellular service providers Guardian Angel is the electronic equivalent of following your child as he or she walks to school. It lets parents map out the exact route a child takes to school and then sends text...

Xperience system: Alpha Systems Lab. (Products: special section: school security).
July 1, 2003... www.aslrwp.com, From $2,500 to $9,600 This PC-powered Xperience stores and transmits digital images through a PC system. It serves four cameras and can be expanded to 32 cameras. It also offers video motion detection with smart search and...

IDView IV-100LC: IDView Technologies. (Products: special section: school security).
July 1, 2003... www.idviewcctv.com, About $500 The latest camera from this company is the IV-100LC. It has its own IP address, provides watermarked Internet and local video monitoring from multiple PCs. Its IV-400 is a four-channel digital recorder that...

Temtec: Tempbadge. (Products: special section: school security).
July 1, 2003... www.tempbadge.com, $85 for a trial pack of 1,000 stickers Issuing passes for visitors is easy, but what about collecting them when people leave? This Suffern, N.Y., company makes self-expiring school security visitor passes. These badges...

RemoteView: Integral Technologies. (Products: special section: school security).
July 1, 2003... www.integraltech.com, free with any Integral DVR This remote access software allows users to view live and recorded video from a DVX, DVA or DigitalSentry system on any Windows-based remote client computer via a network or regular phone...

BM-ET300, Iris recognition system: Panasonic. (Products: special section: school security).
July 1, 2003... www.panasonic.com, About $3,300 This new economical iris recognition system is a good complement for magnetic cards or proximity devices. "Iris recognition is the most accurate and reliable form of non-invasive authentication and...

Sonitrol alarm systems: Sonitrol. (Products: special section: school security).
July 1, 2003... www.sonitrol.com, Pricing varies This alarm system, with audio detection, can cover an entire school building, with the ability to detect break-ins through ceilings and walls as well as doors and windows. CIRCLE #520 FOR INFORMATION...

Survey: K-12, higher Ed grammar disconnect. (Curriculum pdate: the latest developments in math, science, language arts and social studies).(college instructors place higher emphasis on grammar skills)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... More than four in 10 college freshmen must take a remedial writing course, according to recent studies. Creators of the ACT Assessment college entrance exam may have uncovered one reason why. Results from ACT's recent National Curriculum...

Nanotechnology: spying on atoms. (Curriculum update: the latest developments in math, science, language arts and social studies).
July 1, 2003... Close viewers of the movie Minority Report saw it mentioned in a newspaper headline. It's also been a topic in Spiderman, Star Trek, The X-Files and science fiction books such as Michael Creighton's Prey. And nanotechnology--or the science and...

Social studies reform: Q&A with Gary B. Nash. (Curriculum Update: the latest developments in math, science, language arts and social studies).(history study and teaching )
July 1, 2003... Q: What is your take on the "turf wars" within the social studies profession, with the debate about the use of history-centered curriculum vs. an integrated social science approach to the subject? A: This tension goes back many decades. The...

Prepping Math education specialists. (Curriculum update: the latest developments in math, science, language arts and social studies).(training for math teachers)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Mathematical sciences faculty know their math, but they're not usually prepared to help pre-service teachers make K-12 instruction connections. In response, the Mathematical Association of America and other related organizations have...

Halt the testing madness: before accepting overtesting as inevitable, try debating the issue with parents and students. (Speaking Out).(Column)
July 1, 2003... Our schools are in the midst of a mass panic not seen since the swine flu epidemic--standardized testing. We are swept up in a wave of "the tests are important," "parents demand accountability," and "they make us do it." This uncritical...

Unwelcome visitors: spyware threatens privacy and wastes district technology resources. (The Online Edge).
July 1, 2003... When Roxie Shaw from MOREnet--the state network that services every school district in Missouri--first warned colleagues about "spyware" that gets installed on computers as users travel the Internet, she appended a list of confirmed sources...

On Our Way to English: Rigby. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... www.rigby.com, Program, $1,895 (Kindergarten)-$2,195 (Single grade, 1-5) This program can be used to accelerate English language learners in kindergarten through fifth grade. The development team's goal was to differentiate the program...

Data Rescue X v. 10.2 and Data Rescue Classic v. 4.2: ProSoft Engineering. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... www.prosofteng.com, Software, $89 each or $139/Data Rescue Bundle (includes Classic and X) Administrators, teachers and students can now recover lost data on their Macs. The latest versions of these data recovery software programs are...

GSS SD Express: Grant Street Software. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... www.grantstreetsoftware.com, Software, $199 GSS SD Express allows teachers to add data to students' handheld computers. It works by slipping an SD card into the handheld's SD slot. Any application or data that can be installed using...

Intelligence Tutors: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... www.hrw.com, Internet, $3.95 per tutor/year When students need individualized help with science concepts, these online tutors provide hints, step-by-step explanations and feedback. The tutors coach students through the problem-solving...

Online Portfolio Assessment and Reporting System: TaskStream. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... www.taskstream.com, Internet, $50 per user/year subscription (minimum of 100 subscribers) This Web-based system for teacher certification and institutional accreditation lets teachers and administrators assess individual candidate...

Evaluation Tools: Apex Learning. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... www.apexlearning.com, Internet, $295/subject (for one teacher and up to 35 students), Site licenses available Teachers can use this set of online diagnostic tests for 14 Advance Placement subjects to assess how well students have mastered...

NoteTaker 2003: AquaMinds. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... www.aquaminds. com, Software, $39.95; site/ network licensing available This OS X personal organization software features a range of applications useful to teachers and administrators alike, such as making lists and sharing a project team...

Max's Sandbox: eWord. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... www.eword.com.au, Software, $68/2 users-$265.95/10 users, plus $19-$21.95 for site/network licenses Teachers of kindergarten through fourth grade can introduce students to a number of Microsoft programs by using this interface. The...

Stingray: Micro Advantage Pro. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... www.microadvantage.net, Hardware, $199 This amplifier cable allows the connection of a computer video output to two individual displays simultaneously, such as a local monitor and a distant projector. The 1-in 2-out VGA distribution...

EasySense Flash Logger: Data Harvest Educational. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... www.flashlogger.com, Hardware, $159 (includes software) K-12 students can slip this portable data logging device into a Tablet PC's Compact Flash expansion slot to capture and analyze science data such as heart rate, heat flow, temperature...

6 + 1 Traits of Writing: Scholastic. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... www.scholastic. com, Book, $24.95 Former teacher Ruth Culham, a researcher at Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory in Portland, provides lessons, activities and other materials for teaching students how to write and revise their...

AOL School: America Online. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... www.aol.com, Internet, Free This online learning service for K-5 students has added four alliances. Bill Cosby's PicturePages helps students develop reading, writing and math skills and assists parents in monitoring theft child's learning...

The Juggling Act Learning Program: Realityworks. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... www.realityworksinc.com, Educational game, $99 This interactive financial activity aims to provide a realistic picture of financial responsibilities. Students pair up to work out six fictional life situations. The scenarios outline a...

By the numbers: a data bank on education trends for district leaders.(school lunch programs and trends)
July 1, 2003... THIS MONTH: School Lunch & Nutrition Twenty years ago, American teens were drinking twice as many glasses of milk as they were soft drinks. Today, teens are consuming 2 servings of soft drinks for every serving of milk, which means...