Curriculum Administrator articles from May 2001

Curriculum Administrator archives from May 2001

SPINNING DATA INTO KNOWLEDGE.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
May 1, 2001... In this magazine, we talk a lot about the future. We profile schools on the cutting-edge of various technologies, we look at trends in education and population to explain how these will impact school districts, and we look at current practices...

News Analysis: Teachers, Students and Sex.(Brief Article)(Column)
May 1, 2001... In recent months, it seems you can't turn on the local evening news--or pick up your hometown newspaper--without hearing something like this: In St. Louis Park, Minn., a 30-year-old male former High School teacher was sentenced to nearly four...

District Considers Finding Teachers by Offering Subsidized Housing.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Even though parts of the city can barely seem to hold onto teachers, New York City is putting the final touches on a measure to offer temporary housing to new teachers who move to the Big Apple to work in its schools. Like other districts...

Could the Days Of Having a Coke And a Smile Be Ending in United States Schools?(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... In an effort to change public perception, and to ward off potential criticism, soft drink giant Coca-Cola recently announced that it would change the way it markets soda to schools. The move marks nothing short of a stunning reversal for...

School to Pay Students to Attend Summer School.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... As incentives go, this one might end up working a little too well. In a move to help improve student performance at the Burgard Vocational High School in Buffalo, N.Y., administrators plan to pay 90 students $5 an hour to attend summer school...

With Chancellor's Help, New York City District Avoids Mid-Year Layoffs.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... In an effort to avoid a near mutiny from parents and administrators of an Upper West Side and Harlem district, New York City schools Chancellor Harold Levy recently overturned a measure that would have seen dozens of teachers laid off during...

SCHOOL WINS RIGHT TO BAN OBJECTIONABLE CLOTHES IN SUPREME COURT CASE.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... In a decision that could have ramifications in school districts throughout the country, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of an Ohio school district that banned a student from wearing a T-shirt to class that school officials found...

MAJORITY OF AMERICANS SUPPORT BUSH'S SCHOOL CHOICE PLAN.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... A new poll shows that a strong majority of Americans support President George W. Bush's proposal to allow tax dollars to pay for children in poor schools to attend other public, private or charter schools. In the weeks following the plan's...

CANON SETS ITS SIGHTS ON SCHOOLS, HOPING TO INCREASE MARKET SHARE.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... They say image can be everything. For Canon, it always has been everything, but now they want to preach that gospel to the K-12 market. In an effort to significantly increase school sales, the still camera, video camera and projector...

WORRIES ABOUT INSURANCE, MAINTENANCE AND HIDDEN FEES MAKE MICHIGAN'S FREE LAPTOPS PROGRAM A TOUGH SELL.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Michigan state officials say less than one-third of the state's school districts have signed up for its free laptop program. The $110-million giveaway plan, proposed by Gov. John Engler and passed by legislators last year, is aimed at providing...

APPLE TO BUY POWERSCHOOL FOR $62 MILLION IN STOCK.(Apple Computer Inc.)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Apple has agreed to acquire PowerSchool for $62 million in Apple stock. The privately held company operates an Internet-based student information system company The move allows Apple, which has mainly sold computers, peripherals and some...

IBM LAUNCHES A WIRELESS EDUCATION STUDY IN GEORGIA.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... To help further establish itself as a force in wireless technology, IBM recently launched a study of how wireless laptops are helping students learn at the Alton C. Crews Middle School in Gwinnett County, Ga. The year-long project will...

BIGCHALK.COM HIRES A NEW VP FOR MAJOR BUSINESS INITIATIVES.(Karen Billings)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... In a move to better address the needs of large school districts, statewide technology initiatives and major industry partners, K-12 online education provider Bigchalk.com recently named Karen Billings vice president of major business...

MICHIGAN ENDORSES NCS LEARN FOR STUDENT ASSESSMENTS.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... The Michigan Department of Education has approved the software-based assessment and curriculum program, SuccessMaker from NCS Learn, for use by school districts throughout the state. The move does not mean that Michigan's school districts...

AWARD WINNER'S SECRET: HIGH EXPECTATIONS.(Sandy Hindy)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Sandy Hindy loves math and takes an innovative approach to teaching it. But perhaps her love for her students was the main reason this Oak Hills Elementary School, Calif., teacher took home the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics...

HOLOCAUST WORKSHOP WINS RECOGNITION.(Baltimore County Public Schools)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Baltimore County Public Schools is the proud recipient of the National Council for the Social Studies 2000 Program of Excellence Award. The prestigious award recognizes the school system's outstanding professional workshop series, "Lessons of...

IRA'S READING RIGHTS.(International Reading Association)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... The International Reading Association has created a list of 10 literacy rights to help promote its message of childhood literacy. The "Child's Bill of Literacy Rights," listed at www.reading.org, is featured in the association's position...

Schools Change Phys Ed to Emphasize Active Lifestyles Over Sports.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... With childhood obesity a growing concern in the U.S., innovative schools are changing the focus of their physical education program from sports skills to fitness training. For instance, Madison Junior High School in Naperville, Ill., uses...

SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS AND MISTAKES: ANOTHER LOOK.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... There's more to the science textbook report than originally reported in the Associated Press story that ran in CURRICULUM ADMINISTRATOR'S March story (p. 20), say two officials from Pearson Education, Prentice Hall's parent company. The report,...

Providing Stature and Leadership.(Neil Pedersen Chapel Hill-Carboro school district, North Carolina)(Brief Article)(Column)
May 1, 2001... North Carolina Superintendent Neil Pedersen builds on his district's strengths and aims for higher achievement. People often confuse height with leadership. Voters frequently pick the taller presidential candidate, so perhaps the Chapel...

BUILDING GREAT EXPECTATIONS.(Chicago's Steinmetz High School cheating scandal)(Column)
May 1, 2001... This Chicago school overcame a highly publicized cheating scandal to rise above everyone's academic expectations. When in 1995, Chicago's Steinmetz High School upset nine-time champion Whitney Young Magnet High School for the state title of...

HAVES ... AND HAVE MORES.(computers and technology in schools)(Brief Article)(Column)
May 1, 2001... When does a luxury become a necessity? It landed like a bucket of ice-cold water on a hopeful suitor. The scene was the Federal Communications Commission, dispenser of more than $6 billion in Erate dollars to schools since 1998. The...

WEB-CENTERED STAFF RECRUITING.(online recruiting of teachers by U.S. schools)(Brief Article)(Column)
May 1, 2001... Here are some sites to help you use the Internet for faster, better and more effective job recruiting. I first realized the enormous power and reach of the Internet for staff recruiting prior to the development of the Web, when the...

THE FIGHT about Reading.(reading instruction: whole language versus direct instruction or America's Choice)(Brief Article)(Column)
May 1, 2001... With schools facing more public pressure, the always controversial decision districts face about their elementary school reading programs has become an even more thorny dilemma. When Rudolph Flesch proposed to explain in his pivotal 1955...

BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS.(Distance learning by video conferencing in central Texas)(Brief Article)(Column)
May 1, 2001... A small school district in Texas is using digital video to expand the classes it offers students and help build a link to higher education Several years ago, the administrators in the small school district of Nixon-Smiley, in Nixon, Texas,...

Kids, Teachers and Videotape.(digital videoconferencing in schools)(Brief Article)(Column)
May 1, 2001... With increasing frequency, school districts are using digital video as a relatively new tool to excite students, teach a variety of subjects and make distance education easier. In just a few short years, digital video has gone from an...

Curriculum Fusion.(merging computers with the curricula)(Brief Article)(Column)
May 1, 2001... Here's how to make the transition from "technology add-ons" to establishing a genuine technology-based curriculum, and discover what a true technology-based curriculum is. In the early 1990s, Marilyn Brooks, the associate superintendent of...

Fundraising on the Web.(Online shopping helps raise school funds through HighWired Inc., BigChalk, and SchoolCity products/services.)(Column)
May 1, 2001... Forget selling magazines and candy, schools are embracing the fundraising opportunities afforded by e-tailers. As the world becomes more computer savvy, the Web is becoming more school friendly. Just recently, the Web started offering...

Tenth Planet's Comparing Using Ratio.(Sunburst Technology educational software)(Brief Article)(Column)
May 1, 2001... Tenth Planet's Comparing Using Ratio ***1/2 Sunburst Communications, Inc. www.sunburst.com 800-338-3457 Grade: 5-12 Teaches: math, ratios, equivalent fractions Platform: Runs on Win, Mac OS $99.95 Ratios, or the comparison of two...

Chato's Kitchen.(Review)
May 1, 2001... Chato's Kitchen ***1/2 Scholastic Consumer Software www.scholastic.com 800-724-6527 Grade: K-2 Teaches: reading, reading comprehension, word recognition Platform: Win, Mac OS (CD-ROM) $29.95 Part one of a series called "Learning...

Math 3.(Review)
May 1, 2001... Math 3 ****1/2 School Zone Interactive www.schoolzone.com 800-253-0564 Grade: 3 Teaches: math, addition, subtraction, rounding, multiplication, division Platform: Win, Mac OS. $19.99 Part of the School Zone OnTrack software series,...

Fun With Biology, Geology and Ecology.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Most people probably associate the Galapagos Islands with its indigenous beautiful and graceful giant tortoises. But visitors to the archipelago will likely see a lot more marine iguanas, unattractive creatures Charles Darwin called "imps of...

An E-some Threesome.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Teachers, kids and parents each get their own channel on Education.com. By clicking the resource-rich TeachSpace, teachers can access 700 lesson plans, 1,900 encyclopedia articles and a 600-item clip art collection, plus school software,...

A Site to Write About.(Review)
May 1, 2001... Young journalists can develop writing and researching skills as they learn to gather facts and develop stories on the Write Site, a language arts site developed for middle schools by ThinkTVNetwork. Students can tour the virtual Newsroom and...

Tools For School.(Review)
May 1, 2001... The new Web Gateway from Mindsurf Networks can make life simpler for students, teachers and school administrators. Compatible with either a PC or a wireless hand-held computer, the Gateway has two special features: a Web Guide with learning...

Shakin' And Wakin'.(music education program)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... The Grammy Foundation has created "Wakin' Up The Music," a three-year education program to tap the musical potential in all children. Sponsored by Folgers Coffee, the music education program, announced in February, is available for free to...

Share Deep Thoughts.(writing contest )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... If there are deep thinkers in your district, the Deep Thoughts 2001 writing contest might be for them. Contestants, who can enter as many times as they wish, must write 25 words about one of these nine words: truth, spirit, life, friend,...

And The Nominees Are...(National Council of Social Studies)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Application deadlines for two prestigious National Council of Social Studies awards are fast approaching. Submissions for both the Exemplary Research in Social Studies Award and the Jean Dresden Grambs Distinguished Career Research in Social...

Creating A Winning Web Site.(ThinkQuest Internet Challenge 2001)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... ThinkQuest's philosophy is that people learn best by doing. So what better way to learn about the Internet than by creating one's own Web site? The ThinkQuest Internet Challenge 2001 invites students ages 12 to 19 to develop their own Web...

new products TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS.(Product Announcement)
May 1, 2001... Professional Development Video Series Covers Literacy Topics Courses help primary and middle school teachers instill reading and writing skills in students. Nine years ago a report by the National Assessment of Educational Progress...

THE UTILITY OF LEARNING.(applied knowledge)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Make learning last by relating the knowledge gained in the classroom to the real world. When I visit a classroom and find students working on an assignment I ask: Why are you doing that? Typical answers include: "I want to get an `A'." "My...