Curriculum Administrator articles from June 2000

Curriculum Administrator archives from June 2000

THE POWER OF THE PROFESSION.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Everyone reading this magazine should know the importance of teachers already. Many people outside of education today, from politicians to entertainers to athletes, are publicly recognizing how important teachers are to the development of...

TRIBUNE TO SELL ITS K-12 SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS UNIT.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Up-to-date and usable education information from schools, government, business, research and professional organisations With its multi-billion-dollar purchase of the Times Mirror newspaper chain virtually complete, the Chicago-based Tribune...

KANSAS CITY SCHOOLS LOSE THEIR CERTIFICATION.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... At press time, the State of Missouri--angered by continued poor academic performance within the school system--stripped the Kansas City school district of its official certification, a move considered to be unprecedented in U.S. education...

The American Federation of Teachers Proposes New Standards.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Seeking to increase its creditability while bowing to cries of more accountability from politicians and parents, the American Federation of Teachers is calling for stringent tests for new recruits to become K-12 teachers in the U.S. AFT...

GATEWAY, LIGHTSPAN AND N2H2 FORM MARKETING ALLIANCE.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... In an effort to improve its standing and availability within the K-12 market, computer manufacturer Gateway recently inked alliance deals with educational software and Web site provider Lightspan and educational Internet filtering company N2H2....

Pearson Education Hopes to Conquer the Early-Learning Market.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Looking to capitalize on the increase of younger students, the nation's largest educational publisher, Pearson Education, is launching the Pearson Education Early Learning Group, which will be headed by longtime industry veteran Kathy Costello....

New Study Questions the Effectiveness of Print-Based Tests.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Which students score better, those who take standardized tests on computer or those who take traditional print-based tests? According to a recent survey by the Boston-based National Board on Educational Testing and Public Policy, the...

SUNDANCE PUBLISHING NAMES NEW PRESIDENT.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Haights Cross Communications' Sundance Publishing unit, which produces reading instruction materials primarily for the pre K-4 markets, has promoted Robert Laronga from executive vice president to president. Laronga, who joined Sundance in...

Report: U.S. K-12 Students are not Getting Enough Phys. Ed. Classes.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... According to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 81 percent of K-12 parents want their children to receive "daily physical activity" at school, but only about 44 percent of those students are actually receiving it. ...

QUALCOMM TO DONATE $25 MILLION TO EDUCATION.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... In another example of one of the darlings of the digital economy giving some of its Wall Street largess to education, personal electronics giant Qualcomm announced it is planning to donate a total of $25 million during the next few years to...

SCHOLASTIC BUYS REFERENCE PUBLISHER GROLIER.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... The latest technology news from business, schools and government, and how it affects administrators, schools and students. Looking to help jumpstart its slightly languishing educational and resource Web site, Scholastic.com--and move its...

Government Requires Web Sites to Get Parental Permission.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Children's and educational Web sites like Zapme.com could be affected by a new federal law that requires Web sites to gain parental permission before the site begins collecting personal information from children. The law, which went into...

GATEWAY TO DONATE $7.6 MILLION TO TEACHER TRAINING.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Personal computer giant Gateway, in an effort to gain more name recognition and future customers in addition to providing teachers with crucial computer training, is planning to spend $7.6 million during five years to help train 75,000 teachers...

AbleSoft Launches New School Information Web Site.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Joining the growing list of resource and management Web sites, New Jersey-based administrative software publisher AbleSoft is about to launch rSchool.com, an information Web site that will allow parents and students to view homework...

NetSchools Adds New CFO.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... John Nichols III, formerly of the technology marketing company Innotrac, has been tapped to be the new vice president and chief operating officer at NetSchools, the K-12 online education company. The position is new; the CFO duties were being...

Houghton Mifflin Teams With Business-to-Business Web Site Epylon.com.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Boston-based Houghton Mifflin, which with Pearson Education, McGraw-Hill and Harcourt is one of the four-largest educational publishers in the U.S., is teaming up with business-to-business Web site producer Epylon.com to create state specific...

ZapMe! Expands into Corporate Market.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Looking to move beyond K-12 education, ZapMe! Corp., the controversial education hardware and Internet provider ("Critics Denounce ZapMe! and its Constant Commercials," CURRICULUM ADMINISTRATOR, April 2000, p.15), launched a wholly owned...

Classroom Connect Taps Two New Senior Executives.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Online K-12 curriculum and teacher training provider Classroom Connect, located at www.classroom.com, recently hired two senior executives for marketing and business development positions, one of whom used to take a bite out of the National...

FamilyEducation Network Tops 70 Million Page Views.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... The education resource Web site FamilyEducation Network, located at www.fen.com, is claiming its consortium of Web sites generated more than 71 million Web page views for the first quarter of this year, according to data provided by...

New Report Sheds Light on How Children Learn to Read.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... A recent study found that in order for children to become good readers they must learn four skills: phonetic awareness: phonics; the ability to read fluently with accuracy, speed and expression; and the ability to apply reading comprehension...

Group Forms to Help Social Studies Teachers.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Three groups have joined to create the National History Education Network, a membership organization devoted to strengthening history education. This network was started by the American Historical Association, the Organization of American...

Two NSTA Publications Address the Evolution Debate.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Teachers on the frontline of the evolution versus creationism debate can get help from two new books published by the National Science Teachers Association: The Creation Controversy & The Science Classroom and Ecology and Evolution: Islands of...

Concerns Over Tests for Special Education Students.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... With schools struggling about how to test special education students, the Council for Exceptional Children recently warned against some types of alternative assessments for such students. The 1997 amendments to the federal Individual with...

INTERNET-BASED MATH RESOURCE FOR CLASSROOMS.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... The Futures Channel, an Internet content service for educators, is offering a way for math classrooms to learn about other successes by accessing their math projects online. The National Math Trail provides teachers with guidelines for...

BOTTOM LINE: NO EXCUSES.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... This maverick superintendent leads his staff on the road to student success. The education industry does a lousy job when it comes to customer service. At least that's what Marc Liebman, superintendent of the Marysville Joint Unified...

CITY TEACHERS BECOME STUDENTS, AND LOVE IT.(Statistical Data Included)
June 1, 2000... The Dallas Independent School District is taking aggressive strides to increase student achievement through a comprehensive professional development program. It's fair to say that all educators share the goal of wanting to increase their...

BRINGING YOUR TECH PLAN TO LIFE.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Don't let plans gather dust. Put them on the Web and let the public know your goals and achievements. With all the time, effort, and serious thought you've devoted to creating your technology plan, the last thing you want is for it to...

ENCOURAGING OFFLINE READING ONLINE.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Use Web resources to learn about books and make your summer selections. The many days I spend on airplanes each year give me lots of time to read, and I usually have at least one novel in my carry-on bag. So recently, when I was enjoying...

LOOKING TO CREATE BETTER SCHOOLS.
June 1, 2000... CURRICULUM ADMINISTRATOR'S panel of experts debate school choice, standards and technology's role in education today. Should public schools fight school choice or cheer on their competitors? Are standards playing too prominent a role in...

Fast forward to the future: HOW DIGITAL VIDEO IS CHANGING EDUCATION.
June 1, 2000... A teacher in New York City on the Web gets training from New Mexico that will help her better serve the needs of her bilingual, deaf students. An elementary education student in Ohio logs on to the Internet to use practice modules to prepare...

ACTION!
June 1, 2000... Apple's DV desktops allow students to create their own movies. Desktop video offers the promise that every personal computer is a film studio and every user is a film director. Can Apple Computer, which revolutionized computing with the...

THE DISTRICTS' CHOICE TOP 100 PRODUCTS FOR 2000.
June 1, 2000... Just a quick look at the introductions to the four sections of this year's Districts' Choice Top 100 Products will tell you that schools have been on a buying binge recently. And a closer look at the winners in the Top 100 list will explain...

BUYING BOOM: RECORD SALES CONTINUE.
June 1, 2000... Fast, but cheaper, computers continue to entice more schools to buy additional machines. School district decision-makers are in a hardware-buying mood, if recent projections prove even modestly accurate. They plan on increasing their stock...

ALL CONNECTED, BUT NOT SURE WHERE TO GO.
June 1, 2000... Most schools are connected to the Internet, but many are still trying to figure out the best ways to use the Web. More than 90 percent of K-12 schools now have Internet access, with Maine the first state to connect all of its schools,...

SOARING SOFTWARE SALES.(Statistical Data Included)
June 1, 2000... Although training remains scant, more schools are buying more software programs than in the past. This decade has seen a remarkable increase in sales and sophistication of K-12 curriculum software. Consider these numbers: In 1990-91, the...

BOOKS REMAIN RELEVANT.
June 1, 2000... In the face of competition from hardware advances, software releases and education Web sites, books continue to make their mark on students. With the incredible influx of technology products into schools during the last 10 years and the...

Miscellaneous Items.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... K'NEX Bridge Technology Pack www.knex.com/education Bridge building sets for students The education division of K'NEX offers educators a number of products to teach bridge construction principles to students. Specifically the Bridge...

TEACHER REMEMBRANCES.
June 1, 2000... CURRICULUM ADMINISTRATOR'S editors and staff delve into our memories to recall some of our favorite teachers. THE MATH TYRANT I LOVED (Name withheld to protect the guilty) After a long career in teacher education working with thousands...

1999-2000 STORY INDEX.
June 1, 2000... Here is a complete reference guide to all DIGITAL VIDEO FAST FORWARD TO THE FUTURE How digital video is changing education. Jennifer C. Patterson June 2000/p.34 ACTION! Apple's DV desktops allow students to create their own...

ONLINE now.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... WEEKLY READER ONLINE At this site, students in grades K-6 can check out articles and features from each week's Weekly Reader classroom magazine. In the WR Galaxy section students can take a virtual field trip to destinations such as the Grammy...

PRODUCT literature.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... SUNDANCE PUBLISHING Sundance Publishing's new catalog features more than 1,000 paperbacks, classroom collections, audio and video materials and more than 250 teacher resources. The table of contents is organized by headings including early...

Bulletin Board - free catalogs and literature.
June 1, 2000... Improving Student Performance AGS publishes a complete line of test preparation material for K-12. Our diagnostic-prescriptive format has proven effective in schools around the country. We publish preparation programs for the ITBS,...

WHO WANTS TO BE A HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE?(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Revising teaching and tests to give students the skills they really need to know. I'm sure the name of the television show that inspired the title of this column is no surprise. I've seen it several times, and twice I witnessed the...

NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... That the SchoolTone idea -- only a shade more than a year old -- is already undergoing a transformation hardly qualifies as a surprise; after all, many technology-based concepts begin as one thing and end up something altogether else, usually...

SCHOOL TREK: FORGING A NEW COURSE.
June 1, 2000... A SAN FRANCISCO-AREA K-12 DISTRICT TAKES A DIFFERENT APPROACH WITH TECHNOLOGY AND TRAINING What's it like to be the first to embrace a new technology? Despite the inevitable bumps associated with technological pioneering, the upside is...

THE ART OF THE MATTER.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... OUTSTANDING WEB SITES FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS THE MEETING PLACE ARTSEDGE www.artsedge.kennedy-center.org Target browsers: K- 12 administrators, educators, parents and students The idea behind ArtsEdge is to help artists, teachers,...

THE NEXT STEP: `EDUCATING WITH MTV PIZZAZZ'.(Interview)
June 1, 2000... Daniel Burrus is looking down the road -- his title is "technology forecaster" -- and says the first decade of this century will be "a seminal moment" for educational technology. He notes that the widely-recognized exodus of 20-year-and-longer...

VIDEO STREAMING: THE NEXT BIG THING?
June 1, 2000... FORGET TV -- WHAT'S ON THE COMPUTER? It's the wave of the future for delivery of educational content," says Mark Princevalle, interactive vice president of strategic development for Mystic, CT-based USA Video Interactive. "Visual and...