District Administration articles from June 2004

District Administration archives from June 2004

Welcome to our party.(Editor's Letter)
June 1, 2004... Imagine going to a cocktail party stocked with superintendents and other district-level leaders. Guests would share some of their success stories, reveal some of their biggest headaches, and offer their opinion on the federal law everyone is...

The pros and cons of NCLB.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... I AM WRITING THIS in response to all the hysteria about No Child Left Behind. As a nine-year member of a local school board, I have seen education experiments come and go. Outcomes-based education and then standards became battleground issues....

Reaching potentials.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... I just read your editorial and I love the concept of All Children Reaching Their Potential: I have been advocating some type of alternative consideration for our special education students since NCLB was passed. I am more than willing to have...

New York targets social promotion of third graders.(Update: education news from school, businesses, research and government agencies)
June 1, 2004... Despite a collective howl of protest from parents, teachers, administrators and education academics, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg muscled through a plan to prevent the promotion of third graders who score at the lowest level of New...

Math in high demand.(Update: education news from school, businesses, research and government agencies)
June 1, 2004... A new public opinion poll shows the public wants to see more math in schools. More than 75 percent of the 1,000 adults surveyed in Massachusetts and Washington say all students should take at least geometry and algebra and about a third of...

Latinos left behind.(Update: education news from school, businesses, research and government agencies)
June 1, 2004... Latino students are being left behind because they are unaware of assistance that could help them in the future. Most Latino families are unaware financial aid is available for college, which leaves them out in the cold in higher education...

Principals getting le$$.(Update: education news from school, businesses, research and government agencies)
June 1, 2004... For the first time in more than a decade, salaries for school principals have slightly crept down. The 2003-04 average annual salary for an elementary school principal is $75,144, compared to $75,291 for 200-203. The middle school...

Teaching Commission offers old strategies.(Update: education news from school, businesses, research and government agencies)
June 1, 2004... Giving principals greater authority in personnel decisions and offering incentive pay for public school teachers are among recommendations by the Teaching Commission, a group led by Louis V. Gerstner, the former chairman of I.B.M. The...

Kids r writing 4 fun, but not well.(Update: education news from school, businesses, research and government agencies)
June 1, 2004... The good news is that students are writing more these days. The bad news is the kind of writing they are doing is less than stellar. Instant messages via the Internet have now replaced the folded note passed secretly around classrooms. But...

California gets more connections.(Update: education news from school, businesses, research and government agencies)
June 1, 2004... Virtual schools are gaining popularity. Two new Connections Academy virtual schools were recently approved to serve southern California K-8 students this coming school year. Southern California Connections Academy will be in the San Diego...

High demand for foreign teachers meets short supply of visas.(Update: education news from school, businesses, research and government agencies)
June 1, 2004... Already concerned about a shortage of teachers in some parts of the country, school districts are bracing themselves for new immigration rules that could restrict the number of foreign nationals available to fill teaching positions. The...

Aggressive behavior in question.(Update: education news from school, businesses, research and government agencies)
June 1, 2004... A recent survey of adults nationwide shows 85 percent are more concerned that teens today will act more aggressively than their parents did when they were teens. The American Association of School Administrators survey, conducted by...

Cap on visas.(Update: education news from school, businesses, research and government agencies)
June 1, 2004... In February, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it had reached its cap of 65,000 H-1B visas, and no more would be issued until October. Established in 1992 as a way to bring qualified foreign workers to areas of need on a...

Win some, lose some.(Update: education news from school, businesses, research and government agencies)
June 1, 2004... Eleven states will lose federal educational funding earmarked for poverty-stricken students, says a recent Title I proposal released by the Department of Education. Massachusetts took the largest hit from 2003 to 2004, losing $26.4 million...

Peace corps curriculum.(Update: education news from school, businesses, research and government agencies)
June 1, 2004... The Global Youth Charter High School, part of the Center Unified School District in North Sacramento, Calif., will open with its core lessons taken from the Peace Corps. Administrators are working with Peace Corps officials to create a...

New tech head honcho.(Update: education news from school, businesses, research and government agencies)(Susan Patrick, United States. Department of Education)
June 1, 2004... Susan Patrick is the new director of the Office of Educational Technology in the U.S. Department of Education. Patrick had served as acting director since February when she replaced former director John Bailey, who left to join President Bush's...

District backs down on gender discrimination.(Update: education news from school, businesses, research and government agencies)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... The Westminster (Calif.) School District narrowly averted a financial disaster in April when the Board of Trustees reluctantly agreed to update its discrimination policy to reflect state mandates against gender discrimination. Of more than...

Denver re-invents teacher pay.(Update: education news from school, businesses, research and government agencies)
June 1, 2004... Denver teachers could be paid in part based on how well their students learn--a first in a district this size--if the voters approve the measure next year. In March, the teachers ratified Pro-Comp, a salary system designed to increase...

Browser-based library management slashes costs: Follett's destiny[TM]: centralized district library management cuts hardware needs by 97%, technical manpower by 87% Greenville.(Advertisement)
June 1, 2004... The "mantra" for the Greenville County (SC) School District, according to Superintendent William Harner, has been to "move this school district from "Good to Great!' and to upgrade media centers, upgrade labs and put instructional coaches in...

Update on no child after two years.(Inside the law: analyzing, debating and explaining no child left behind)
June 1, 2004... More students are using tutoring while not choosing another school to get a quality education. States and districts are dragging their feet when it comes to updating teacher qualifications. And funding is still a big issue. These are among...

Signs of improvement with SES.(Inside the law: analyzing, debating and explaining no child left behind)(Supplemental Education Services)
June 1, 2004... Two years after a federal law mandated adequate yearly progress, a few urban school districts are seeing results with tutoring programs. Philadelphia School District is offering more than 650 children in grades 3-9 extra help and tutoring...

Stellar schools? not so fast.(Inside the law: analyzing, debating and explaining no child left behind)
June 1, 2004... From Florida to California, schools have been given state awards for excellence and even praised by President Bush over the past few years. But many administrators are still frustrated. Ironically, many of those otherwise stellar schools...

What a difference four months makes.(Inside the law: analyzing, debating and explaining no child left behind)
June 1, 2004... In four months, a Mexican native learning how to speak and read English in a Texas school was able to answer questions in English over the phone. Jose Manuel Lopez, an eighth grader at Lorenzo Dezavala Middle School in Irving (Texas)...

How effective is AYP?(Inside the law: analyzing, debating and explaining no child left behind)(adequate yearly progress)
June 1, 2004... When it comes to labels and low performing or high performing schools, judging the education a child receives is not so easy, according to recent research. The Northwest Evaluation Association released new research showing that adequate...

Connecticut's caregiver: this leader has turned the nebulous concept of "caring" into a tangible crusade.(Administrative profile: Reginald Mayo, New Haven (Conn.) Public Schools)
June 1, 2004... Reginald Mayo can barely find time to breathe. He's busy overseeing a $1.1 billion school construction program, steering through the growing pains of a pre-K initiative and building Connecticut's largest inter-district magnet program. Yet, once...

A job well done: an employee wellness program proves that fit bodies can produce healthy returns for a district.(District profile: Washoe County (Nev.) School District)
June 1, 2004... Flashback: The year was 1994, and Washoe County School District's self-insured health plan was on life support. The Reno, Nevada-based district was facing a 45 percent rate increase. Continued, drastic rate hikes would prove fatal to the...

The good the bad & the ugly: we asked. You answered. From a substance abuse transition program, to escalating health care costs to the trouble with "highly qualified teachers," your peers share the highs and lows of running a school district.(Cover Story)
June 1, 2004... GOOD What is the most successful academic program in your district? SUCCESS FOR ALL, a research-based reading program created by taking the best of the best from several sources and creating an eclectic program. There is ongoing...

Community connections: smart school districts reach out to their communities to make turnarounds and improve learning.
June 1, 2004... Digging up an 18th century fort in Bedford, Penn., keeps students honed into their history. Encouraging people to own homes in once-run-down Bay Shore, N.Y., improves stability and student success. And using environmental organizations...

Ahead of the curve: this California district owes its tech success not to bells and whistles, but to old fashioned vision and conviction.
June 1, 2004... When George Araya left his position as a math techer in 1993 to take on technology administration for Southern California's Desert Sands Unified School District, there wasn't much to administrate. After all, the schools had no computers, no...

High tech high payoff: this low income Missouri district has proven that technology can boost teachers' morale and retention--while improving student test scores.
June 1, 2004... Ken Hanrahan could hardly believe his ears. While attending a dinner hosted by International Business Machines last October, several IBM managers were enthusiastically sharing stories with him about the technology program at Jennings (Mo.)...

Hand in hand: together, Michigan administrators are learning to enhance leadership and decision-making by using handhelds.
June 1, 2004... When a third grader's mom called frantically searching for her son who was late coming home from school, Eastlawn Elementary School Principal Jeff Lauer was out of the building at a district meeting. Lauer's assistant reached him on his cell...

The educational technology Canon: want to do a better job of integrating technology and curriculum? Reading these books will move you to the head of your class.
June 1, 2004... Countless articles and conference speakers stress the importance of educational technology plans and remind us that schools need to assemble all relevant stakeholders in the formulation of that plan. The problem is those stakeholders often know...

Math education time capsule: Q&A with Jeremy Kilpatrick.(Curriculum update: the latest developments in math, science, language arts and social studies)(Interview)
June 1, 2004... Q: Why will educators want to read A History of School Mathematics? A: Anyone who teaches mathematics needs some sense of how we got the curriculum we have and where today's issues in school mathematics originated. Teachers should know how...

Study debunks a school-to-work myth.(Curriculum update: the latest developments in math, science, language arts and social studies)
June 1, 2004... Critics of school-to-work transition initiatives and career-technical programs have contended that they confine students by tracking them into classes and work experiences that orient them only toward immediate entry into the workforce. This...

History textbooks rated: "serviceable to abysmal".(Curriculum update: the latest developments in math, science, language arts and social studies)
June 1, 2004... In a review of 12 widely used U.S. and world history textbooks--aimed in part at helping educators in selection--the highest grade assigned to a book was a C+. Too bad this test wasn't graded on a curve. In the forward to A Consumer's...

Take two on Orwell's 1984.(Curriculum update: the latest developments in math, science, language arts and social studies)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Many of the themes from George Orwell's classic novel 1984 resonate today--such as how language is engineered to shape public opinion and the ever-shifting icons of evil as the focus of popular rage. And the term "Orwellian" has experienced a...

Get ready for spim: instant messaging applications face new vulnerabilities.(The Online Edge)
June 1, 2004... When an Internet user in California recently received a contrived Instant Messenger message that Osama bin Laden had been captured, it contained a link that apparently led to a breaking news report, but instead brought him to a site offering a...

What I learned at camp: how a summer of nature hikes, PBJ sandwiches and skinned knees can help create a great teacher.(Speaking Out)
June 1, 2004... I was unaware that one could leave skid marks while in reverse, but that is the only way to describe the Bush administration's retreat on aspects of No Child Left Behind. It's apparently difficult to seek reelection when the majority of...

Getting serious about science.(Research corner: essentials on education data and analysis from research authority AEL)
June 1, 2004... It's a great irony--the shortage of scientifically based research on how to improve student achievement in science--but school districts aren't laughing. Under No Child Left Behind, students must be tested in science at least once in each grade...

Starboard T-15XL: Hitachi Software.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.hitachi-soft.com, Hardware, $1,795-$1,995 This 15-inch interactive TFT display comes with XGA quality graphics and an integrated electromagnetic sensing digitizer for wireless pen-driven operation. Presenters can operate and annotate...

WordPerfect Office 12: Corel.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.corel.com, Software, Education version $99.99 This office suite, now more compatible with Microsoft, aims to be a less expensive and more flexible alternative to Microsoft Office. It features WordPerfect for word processing, Quattro Pro...

Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac: Microsoft.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.microsoft.com, Software, Approximately $135 for student/teacher edition This software suite--with full versions of Word 2004, Excel 2004, Entourage 2004 and PowerPoint 2004--features several new tools. The Project Center helps in...

Rear Projection Smart Board 2000i: Smart Technologies.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.smarttech.com, Hardware, $7,999 (with Smarter Kids Foundation grant) This interactive whiteboard has new, lower education pricing. Teachers can access, control or write over the top of any computer application in digital ink, including...

MVC 121: Extron Electronics.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.extron.com, Hardware, $325 This three-input microphone and line level mixer with volume control can be integrated into existing AV systems where centralized audio is required. Its two microphone/line level inputs and a third line level...

VT770: NEC Solutions.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.necvisualsystems.com, Hardware, $3,195 Weighing less than eight pounds, this projector offers 3000 ANSI lumens, one-touch setup and operation, automatic vertical keystone correction for instantly square images, color-coded inputs and...

Solid Ultra: Liesegang.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.liesegangcorp.com, Hardware, $1,995 This projector is suitable for small conference rooms and classrooms. Its features include 1500 ANSI lumens, whisper mode, a separate monitor output, an input for component video and connection...

PB6200: BenQ.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.benq.com, Hardware, $1,795 Features of this XGA digital projector include a 2000:1 contrast ratio at 1700 ANSI lumens and a native resolution of 1024 x 768. While it supports resolutions from 640 x 350 up to 1280 x 1024 and 4:3 or 16:9...

HV-5100XG Visual Presenter: Elmo Manufacturing Corp.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.elmo-corp.com/presentation, Hardware, $3,450 With high resolution XGA output, this digital model features an 18x power zoom lens with a 2x digital extender for extreme close-ups, auto focus and full auto-iris capability. Combined with...

4x4 DVI Matrix Switch: Gefen.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.gefen.com, Hardware, $2,499 This product combines multiple, cross-platform DVI video sources with multiple DVI displays to create an integrated environment without networking of patching cords. It may be used with digital video sources,...

101 Best Web Sites for District Leaders: ISTE.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.iste.org, Book, $26.95-$29.95 (based on ISTE membership) This spiral-bound directory organizes useful Web sites into sections for each central office department--business, educational services, personnel, legal services and...

AV Marketplace 2004: Information Today.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.infotoday.com, Book, $199 (plus S/H) This business directory contains 8,500 updated listings of video, multimedia, virtual reality, computer graphics, digital audio, presentation software and more. Extensive search options help guide...

PowerLite S1+: Epson.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.epson.com Hardware, $999 This multimedia projector uses three LCD panels to project a wide variety of computer and video images with rich color saturation and full-time color. It offers 1400 ANSI-lumens, SVGA 800 x 600 native...

Blackboard Content System: Blackboard Inc.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.blackboard.com, Software, $20,000 and up/year This content management application includes capabilities in four key areas: learning content management, e-portfolio management, virtual hard drive management and library digital asset...

NetControl 1.0 Advanced Package: QuickLogix International.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.quicklogix.com, Software, Site license $795 and up This software tool assists users in controlling and maintaining projectors and plasma displays over an ordinary TCP/IP network. Designed to run in 24/7 applications, it allows users to...

TLP-S70U: Toshiba.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.toshibadirect.com, Hardware, $1,399 This projector offers 2,000 ANSI lumens along with a variety of multimedia features, such as composite and S-video inputs, audio in, an internal speaker, a standard remote and one-touch auto set-up. A...

Oasys Online: Oasys.(Focus: A/V & Presentation Systems)
June 1, 2004... www.oasys.ws, Software, Approximately $500 per user/year This software suite, which monitors the progress of children with disabilities, aims to streamline the process of creating individualized education programs. It automates the process...

Presentation systems buyer's guide: rely on this easy-to-use supplier guide for information on presentation systems products for education.(Directory)(Advertisement)
June 1, 2004... Dukane Corporation 2900 Dukane Drive St. Charles, IL 60174 800-676-2485 Dukane Corporation is a diversified global manufacturer and marketer of advanced technology products. A privately held corporation for more than 80...

Key Curriculum Press[R]--innovators in mathematics education.(Information Showcase)
June 1, 2004... Supporting innovative educators for over 30 years, Key Curriculum Press publishes award-winning software, textbooks, and supplementary materials for secondary school mathematics. The Geometer's Sketchpad[R] is the world's leading software tool...

Lower your discipline referrals proven results.(Information Showcase)
June 1, 2004... Since 1992, Project Wisdom has been producing a school-wide character education program that helps students make wiser choices. Join more than 10,000 licensed schools across America. It's simple. It's affordable. It works. Visit our Website for...

Are your students making gains like these?(Information Showcase)
June 1, 2004... Are your students making gains like these? New research shows a 65% increase in fluency gains when students add Recorded Books to their practice. To maximize the effectiveness of your program, try the "listen and read" strategy with Recorded...

RFB&D's[R] learning through listening[TM].(Information Showcase)
June 1, 2004... RFB&D's[R] Learning Through Listening[TM] memberships are a RFB&D proven reading accommodation for students with learning disabilities, visual impairments or other physical disabilities. RFB&D memberships offer access to more than 90,000...

TIP (Textbook Inventory Program).(Information Showcase)
June 1, 2004... TIP (Textbook Inventory Program) is designed to be the most comprehensive textbook inventory system available. It is a tool for recording the transactions of textbooks (as well as components, test booklets, calculators etc.), at both the...

The Wall Street Journal classroom edition.(Information Showcase)
June 1, 2004... The Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition is a monthly newspaper dedicated to preparing students for the decisions that will shape their economic future, using business news and trends to convey meaningful lessons that they can practice in...

Teacher's interactive whiteboard.(Information Showcase)
June 1, 2004... The Interactive Presentation Manager[TM] (IPM) brings your multimedia classroom presentations to life with powerful and easy to use "Softkeys" that link to computer files for "on command launch." Using your PC and an LCB projector, the IPM...

NEA Professional Library.(Information Showcase)
June 1, 2004... Whether you're a superintendent, curriculum director or classroom teacher, the NEA Professional Library offers books and other resources that speak directly to the challenges you face every day. Each title research based and designed for...

Need a larger or smaller projected image?(Information Showcase)
June 1, 2004... Replace your projector's standard lens with one of Navitar's Buhl replacement lenses and fill your screen with sharp, brilliant images from anywhere in the room. Of choose a Navitar ScreenStar conversion lens. Simply place the conversion lens...

By the numbers: a data bank on education trends for district leaders.(This month: crime & safety)(Illustration)
June 1, 2004... Offenses Physical attacks or fights 35% Threat or intimidation 22 Possession or use of alcohol/illegal drugs 20 Possession of weapon 19 Insubordination ...