Curriculum Administrator articles from November 2000

Curriculum Administrator archives from November 2000

ELIMINATING EXCUSES.(computers in education)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Our company just moved into new headquarters in October and, besides the problem of finding a cleaning service to throw away our garbage, the transition has been smooth. The new office offers much more space, and we now have a computer lab...

WHAT ARE THE BEST WAYS TO COMPARE SCHOOLS?(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... How much do the parents of students in your district really know about your schools? Lawmakers and education officials in Minnesota are considering new ways to provide parents and teachers with more information about the performance of...

Compton District on the Road Back to Local Control.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... For years, Compton, Calif., was known more for being the home of the "West Coast'"-style rap music scene, and the negatives associated with that, than for being an up-and-coming school district on the rebound from decades of neglect, bad...

Mattel Dumps The Learning Co. For "Future Considerations".(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Apparently, Barbie and Carmen Sandiego could not get along. Following nearly 18 months of weak performance and difficulty in realizing the promise of the alliance, toy manufacturing giant Mattel dumped its struggling educational software...

Northern California School District Selects Kelly To Supply Substitute Teachers.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Temporary personnel staffing giant Kelly Services, which earlier in the year hung a shingle out offering to broker substitute teachers, recently signed a contract to provide substitutes to northern California's Aspire Public Schools for this...

NORTH CAROLINA CHARTER SCHOOLS IN FIGHT WITH DISTRICTS OVER FUNDING AND SERVICES.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Charter schools may be gaining in popularity throughout the country, but in North Carolina they seem to be running into some problems. At press time, some districts and the charter schools in their midst are arguing over how much money and...

SOUTH CAROLINA'S DROP-OUT RATE STAYS LOW.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2000... South Carolina's high school dropout rate held steady at 2.7 percent during the 1998-99 school year, according to a report by the state Education Department released last month. Statewide, 4,955 of 184,755 high school students dropped out...

PARENTS COUNTING MORE ON THE INTERNET TO KEEP IN TOUCH WITH SCHOOLS.(PowerSchool's Internet program)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... In the past few years, educators have learned that the technology pendulum swings different ways. Sure, more schools are constantly being outfitted with more computers, high-speed Internet access and sophisticated networks, but educators must...

MICHIGAN TO SPEND $110 MILLION IN MASSIVE INFUSION OF COMPUTERS IN SCHOOLS.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... In what could be the largest such move in the nation's history, Michigan is planning to spend $110 million to buy 91,000 personal computers for public school classroom teachers, which should be delivered by the end of the year. The plan...

OHIO DISTRICTS QUESTION ONLINE CHARTER SCHOOL'S ENROLLMENT FIGURES.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Districts throughout Ohio that were projected to lose millions in state funding to a new online charter school are questioning enrollment figures the school used in leveraging the money. The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, or eCOT, has...

COMPASSLEARNING LANDS A NEW PRESIDENT.(Mark Hubble selected)(Executive Changes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... A few months after the departure of former president Therese Crane for AOL@SCHOOL, CompassLearning has hired Mark Hubble as president, Martin Kenney, CEO of CompassLearning's parent company WRC Media, announced. Earlier in this year, WRC...

NEW WEB SITE MAY HELP TEACHERS FIND JOBS IN LOUISIANA.(Internet/Web/Online Service Information)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Faced with the same critical shortage of teachers that is plaguing states around the country, Louisiana is in the midst of prepping a Web site that would help districts land certified teachers, state officials say. The project is being...

New Report Sets Aggressive Goals for Math and Science Education.(The National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century report)(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2000... The National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century asserts aggressive initiatives and recommendations in its report "Before It's Too Late." In this report, John Glenn establishes a clear action plan for bringing...

IRA CITES QUALITIES OF EXCELLENT READING TEACHERS.(International Reading Association report)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... The International Reading Association released a new position statement titled Excellent Reading Teachers. It provides a research-based description of qualities excellent classroom reading teachers share. They include: * understanding a...

Helping At-Risk Youth Through the Arts.(Americans for the Arts launches)(The Youth Arts Resource Initiative)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Americans for the Arts has lunched a new program titled The Youth Arts Resource Initiative. It developed Youth ARTS resource packets to be distributed to about 300 organizations through national partners, including the American Association of...

Study Shows Students Don't Know Enough About Civics and Government.(National Assessment of Educational Progress report)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2000... In view of this month's election, it is interesting to know that according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, most American students have a weak grasp of the underlying principles of the U.S. Constitution and a lack of...

Education Helps Tame an Urban Jungle.(educational programs in Murfreesboro, Tennessee housing project)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2000... A Tennessee superintendent gives a housing project a wonderful gift to increase student achievement and benefit the entire community. Second chances don't come often in life--especially if you re a welfare mother raising children in a...

Managing the "Business Of Education".(Wetzel County, West Virginia school district budgets carefully)(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2000... Sound judgements and a focus on the future help wring the most out of this West Virginia county's school budget. Providing quality education is one thing. Providing it while making the most of an overworked budget is a delicate balancing...

THE DIVIDE SCHOOLS DIG FOR THEMSELVES.(rural schools find innovative ways to bridge digital divide)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... A determined, little school shows that a "just do it" spirit can help bridge the digital divide. I had one of those moments today, the kind when everything suddenly seems clear. I was driving down a highway in Vermont, on the way back from...

EASY-ACCESS ERIC.(Educational Resources Information Center)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... The Web offers instant access to the world's largest database of education information. If talking about ERIC, the Educational Resources Information Center, does not sound like an exciting topic, think of it less as a database than as a...

A DAY IN THE LIFE.(Kent Center School)
November 1, 2000... With laptops becoming more common in schools nationwide, CA follows a student to track how she uses her computer and how its presence changes how she learns. While children in this small town of about 3,000 sit in class, just yards away...

LAPTOPS REVISITED.(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2000... The trek towards increased laptop usage in K-12 classrooms: An Historical Perspective Imagine the hurdles an educator must overcome to equip her students with access to computers. If she is lucky enough to have three or four desktops in...

WHEN YOU HAVE TO FIRE A TEACHER.(advice on the process of dismissal)(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2000... Although terminations are rare, districts need to follow the legal steps necessary to handle a firing as neatly and efficient as possible. The recent events surrounding the dismissal of Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight were a...

REAL-LIFE LESSONS FROM AMERICA'S IMMIGRANT HISTORY.(teaching cultural diversity in Stamford, Connecticut)(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2000... A school's third-grade, social studies class learns through an interactive study of immigration. At about 3:00 a.m. one early morning, Sylvia Stein was awakened by screams coming, from outside her window. Assuming the screams were coming...

BRINGING REAL WORLD INTERACTION INTO THE CLASSROOM.(social studies programs)
November 1, 2000... Four district demonstrate how they created interactive social studies programs. "How will learning about this subject help me in life?" is a common question students ask their teachers. Delivering instruction that helps students learn by...

Why Do Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears?(childrens educational software)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Why Do Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears? **** Scholastic, www.scholastic.com, 800-724-6527 Grades: PreK-2 Teaches: Reading comprehension, Africa, folk stories Platform: Win, Mac OS, $59.95 Part one of a series called Learning Through...

JumpStart Kindergarten Deluxe 2 CD Set.(Review)
November 1, 2000... JumpStart Kindergarten Deluxe 2 CD Set **** Knowledge Adventure, www.knowledge adventure.com, 800-542-4240 Grade: K Teaches: creativity, letters, colors, telling time, shapes, alphabet order, sentence structure, upper/lower case Platform:...

Stories & More: Time and Place.(Evaluation)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Stories & More: Time and Place **** Edmark, www.edmark.com, 800-362-2890 Grades: 2, 3 Teaches: Reading comprehension Platform: Win, Mac OS, $79.95 A teacher's dream come true, this program uses high quality children's literature to...

INFOline.(Internet - educational use)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Design Contest The Puffs Back-to-School, Design-the-Box contest invites students in grades K-6 to create an original piece of art to appear on the tissue box. This year's theme, "What I like best about school," can illustrate any aspect of the...

ONLINEnow.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Digging Up Jamestown's Past The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities brings its Jamestown Rediscovery archaeological project to the Web with a wealth of information for teachers and students about the first English colony in...

new products.
November 1, 2000... TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS MICROSOFT'S NEW ENCARTA REFERENCE SUITE Award-winning research tool adds high-tech features. Microsoft's Encarta won awards when it was released in 1993, but the new Encarta Reference Suite 2001 goes further,...

PRODUCT literature.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... BARRON'S EDUCATIONAL SERIES Barron's colorful catalog offers a wide range of books for children of all ages. Selections are organized by categories including action, interactive, work and foreign language. There are many new titles to choose...

No Size Fits All.(school policies)(Brief Article)(Column)
November 1, 2000... When zero tolerance policies belie common sense. First I laughed because the story was so ridiculous. Then I got angry for the same reason. Here's what happened. I visited our new Educators Portal Web site, www. educatorsportal.com, where...