Curriculum Administrator articles from October 2000

Curriculum Administrator archives from October 2000

MAKING PROGRESS.(Editorial)
October 1, 2000... Back in January, I wrote in this space about schools having to take the next step in terms of finding applications for all the technology they had recently bought and the networks they had recently improved. One look at this month's table...

Letters to the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2000... DEPENDING TEXAS I suppose that between now and November the education community will mount an increasingly strident attack on the Texas public education system. So far, Jennifer Patterson's article ["Texas' TAAS; Miracle or Mirage?"...

LITIGATION BLUES: SCHOOL DISTRICTS BEING HIT WITH MORE LAWSUITS.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... In Pleasant Hill, Mo., the school district recently agreed to pay a student $72,500 in a case where school officials allegedly did nothing to stop other kids from taunting and beating up the student because they thought he was gay. While in...

School District Chided for Filing its Own Lawsuit.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... It's not always students or faculty who perceive ill treatment and decide to sue in education cases. The Mercer Island School District, outside of Seattle, Wash., erred when it decided to sue two area newspapers without a public vote by the...

Wilkinsburg Schools Look to Merge with Pittsburgh.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Also in Penn., district changes sexual harassment policy as it pertains to elementary students. At press time, school officials from Wilkinsburg, Penn., were looking at the possibility of merging with the nearby school district in larger...

Teacher Shortages Hit Michigan and Texas.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... The next five years will be critical for the Detroit school district as it faces the daunting task of replacing more than half of its 8,500 teachers as they reach retirement age, say officials with the Detroit Federation of Teachers. This...

Fight Disrupts School Board Retreat.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... A brief scuffle erupted at a retreat for the Guilford County, N.C., school board in August when a board member and a weekly newspaper editor clashed. John Hammer, editor of The Rhinoceros Times, said Keith Green threw a chair at him...

Edison Schools Bids to Take Over 45 New York City Schools.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... In what would be its largest and splashiest move to date, the private, for-profit Edison Schools has bid to manage 45 public K-12 schools in New York City and turn them into charter schools. The plan was announced in late summer following a...

REPORT: 20 YEARS OF TECHNOLOGY HAS IMPROVED LEARNING IN SCHOOLS.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Technology used in schools during the past 20 years has had an overwhelmingly positive effect, despite its often-unfulfilled potential, according to a new report. The 135-page research report on the Effectiveness of Technology in Schools,...

SIIA Appoints Melinda George Education Division Director.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... The Software & Information Industry Association, which lobbies on technology and copyright issues, recently promoted Melinda George to education division director. George has been with the SIIA for more than five years, primarily in the...

130,000 California High Schoolers to Get Free SAT And ACT Test Preparation Courses via The Web.(Knowledge Group provides corporate sponsored course)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... A provider of interactive video-based training and education over the Internet will provide high school students with free, corporate-sponsored SAT and ACT preparation courses, thanks to a recently formed strategic partnership with the...

TopTutors.com Forms Strategic Alliance with Lightspan.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Looking to improve its profile in the educational community, the study aid Web site TopTutors. com recently inked a strategic alliance deal with Lightspan that will provide TopTutors.com with access to millions of educators and parents around...

Scholastic Forms Global Alliance With ePALS Classroom Exchange.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Children's publishing giant Scholastic has signed an Internet content licensing agreement with ePALS Classroom Exchange, an online classroom community portal and provider of collaborative technology for the K-12 market. Financial terms were not...

Donated Computers Find new Life.(are refurbished and used in schools)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Roland Jenkins spent $1,500 five years ago on an IBM computer he's used as a doorstop for the past three years. The computer he replaced cost $1,800 in 1992. It had been used to anchor old newspapers in his garage. "Most expensive...

Controversy Over Mandatory Fine Arts Testing.(Missouri)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Controversy is brewing over whether students should have to take a 90-minute fine arts video test administered as a portion of the Missouri Assessment Program test. The interest in arts testing reflects a new appreciation of the importance of...

Project Examines Gender Equity in Math Instruction.(Weaving Gender Equity into Math Reform, a report by TERC)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... TERC's new report investigates gender equity in math reform, as well as the larger equity issues that these reforms pose for students from various academic, socio-economic and linguistic backgrounds. The project, Weaving Gender Equity into Math...

October: Month of the Young Adolescent.(events coordinated by the National Council for Social Studies)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... In collaboration with the National Middle School Association and other national education, health and youth organizations, National Council for Social Studies is celebrating the fourth annual Month of the Young Adolescent in October. The...

Strategies to Improve Science Curriculum.(American Association for the Advancement of Science publishes guide for developing effective science curriculums)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... The American Association for the Advancement of Science 2000 released Designs for Science Literacy. It offers guiding principles and practical advice to help educators reconfigure the entire K-12 curriculum to achieve science literacy. The book...

GETTING TEENS TO READ.(Young Adult Library Services Association launches Teen Read Week)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... The Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of American Library Association, will sponsor Teen Read Week from Oct. 15 to 21. The theme of the celebration is Take Time to Read. Many other associations, including the International...

STAYING PUT.(profile of school superintendent Linda Murray, San Jose, CA)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Far from resting on her achievements, this veteran superintendent is using her long tenure to constantly improve her district's offerings. Consider these facts: there are 15,133 superintendents in this country and 2,628 of them are women....

Video Conferencing Grows Up.(rural schools in Mississippi joined by video conferencing)(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2000... In Jackson, Miss., a new, $1 million conferencing system is advancing the district's video uses for students and teachers. For years, Mississippi suffered from a problem. Sure, the state has beautiful vistas and countryside and has...

CLOSING THE GAP FOR URBAN FAMILIES.(computers and internet service costly for inner-city families)(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
October 1, 2000... When offered education, urban families are willing to bridge the digital divide. The East Tremont section of the Bronx has a special kind of energy, accentuated by the rhythm of traffic skirting potholes along Tremont Avenue. Much of that...

Candidates in the Curriculum.(election used to introduce students to politics)(Brief Article)(Bibliography)
October 1, 2000... The presidential election is the perfect opportunity to introduce students to online political resources. Administrators have long instructed teachers to take advantage of the interest in presidential elections to focus student attention on...

THE NEXT STEP.(integration of technology into the classroom)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2000... With almost all schools online, the big challenge for districts now is to incorporate the Internet into everyday use. For two weeks this summer, New Brunswick, N.J., third-grade teacher Diane Neal ate nuts from Palmito trees and berries...

A FEAST OF FALL FREEBIES.(free online educational resources)(Internet/Web/Online Service Information)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Web sites offer K-12 administrators and teachers everything from advice to e-mail to lesson plans, all for no cost. ANYONE STILL BELIEVING there's no such thing as a free lunch clearly has not been paying attention. For K-12's appetite, the...

CUSTOMIZED LEARNING.(curriculum development; educational technology planning)(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
October 1, 2000... Today's online curriculum programs offer adherence to state standards, individualized instruction and a better way to track students' progress. Math and reading scores were as low as the poverty level was high in rural Boswell, Penn.'s...

RE-EXAMINING AT-RISK.(factors determining at-risk students)(Industry Overview)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2000... An up-to-date look at factors that contribute to challenges associated with at-risk youth and positive trends toward change. MANY PEOPLE BLAME the problems faced by today's schools on at-risk students. True, some students come to school...

TEACHING CHILDREN TO COMMUNICATE.(children's ability to communicate hampered by shift from symbolic concepts to abstract concepts)(Brief Article)(Critical Essay)
October 1, 2000... The Importance of Symbolic Language I turned on the television the other night and discovered a nature program where David Attenborough was examining the ways birds communicate with one another. Color, call, flight pattern, dances and...

Simon & Schuster New Millennium Encyclopedia and Home Reference Library.(Review)
October 1, 2000... **** Simon & Schuster New Millennium Encyclopedia and Home Reference Library SIMON & SCHUSTER INTERACTIVE www.ssinteractive.com 888-793-9972 Grade: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, S, Jr, Sr. Teaches: reference, research skills Platform: Win 95, Win 98,...

Math Blaster 2nd Grade (Ages 7-8).(Review)
October 1, 2000... ***** Math Blaster 2nd Grade (Ages 7-8) KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURE, www.knowledgeadventure.com, 800-542-4240 Grade: 2, Teaches: math, skip counting, place value, addition, subtraction, money, graphs, Platform: Win 95, 98; Mac OS, $25.00 This all...

Photo Hunt in Yellowstone.(children's educational software)(Evaluation)
October 1, 2000... **** Photo Hunt in Yellowstone TRUE NORTH STUDIOS, www.true-north.com 415-460-1237, Grade: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, S, Jr, Sr., Teaches: trivia, science, Yellowstone National Park, Platform: Win 95, 98; Mac OS, $19.95 Everything you...

$500,000 Available in Science Awards.(The National Science Teachers Association)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... The National Science Teachers Association is providing K-12 educators with the chance to receive more than $500,000 through the association's Teacher Award Program. The 14 programs administered by the NSTA, funded by various corporations and...

Mock Investing Teaches About the Economy.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Investing on Wall Street isn't just for adults anymore. This fall students have the opportunity to participate in the Stocks That Rock! competition sponsored by MainXchange Inc. Set up in teams of two to three, students in grades 5-12...

Awards for Community.(students awards for outstanding community service)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Service In partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals, Prudential sponsors the Prudential Spirit of Community Initiative awards program to recognize students in grades 5-12 for outstanding community service. ...

Online high school diploma.(NetSchools Corp. and class.com)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... An agreement between NetSchools Corp. and class.com has made it possible for students to access a complete high school curriculum online. In addition to thousands of tutorials, lesson plans, teaching aids, assessment tools and communication...

Example of state-wide instruction.(educational Web site)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... LearnNC has been developed as a portal for K-12 North Carolina teachers to share lesson plans and collaborate on teaching techniques The site features a lesson plan database, a library of linked educational Web sites, various discussion forums...

Customizable school calendar.(eHomeRoom site)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... The eHomeRoom site provides customizable information related to school and non-school events through a calendar feature. The site allows for multiple school and student schedules to be integrated in an Internet-based calendar of school events,...

E-Business for educators.(electronic purchasing for the education market)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Epylon Corp., a provider of hosted eBusiness solutions, has constructed a free electronic purchasing solution for the education market. The site's features include: eCatalog, a list of supplier line items with pricing specific to the education...

American slavery Web site.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Greenwood Electronic Media's new fee-based site, American Slavery: A Composite Autobiography, is a collection of American slave narratives. The site contains first-hand slave narratives, with the added ability to organize and search through...

Buy endangered land, for free.(EcologyFund site)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... The EcologyFund site allows visitors to donate land towards a number of endangered environments. Users simply "click to donate" on a specific region--current selections include the Amazon basin rain forest, endangered Mexican wildlife, wildlife...

new products.(Product Information)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2000... TOM SNYDER'S LATEST UPGRADE: MPOWER 4.0 The software maker claims its K-12 multimedia presentation tool is the best on the market. Tom Snyder Productions has unveiled its latest version of mPOWER 4.0, a multimedia presentation tool for...

The Virtual Suggestion Box ...(educational ideas and suggestions exchanged online)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... and other low-cost, technology-based school improvement initiatives. It's easy to turn a deaf ear to future-speak because technical advances over the years have hardly lived up to the grandiose, George Jetson-style visions painted by...

MATH & SCIENCE GOING FORWARD.(math and science education benefits from hands-on experience)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... While math and science will always be linked together in classrooms, these twin subjects are not separate from the rest of what schools reach, nor should they be. One reason many students learn to shy away from math and science is because they...

SCHOOLS GAIN IN MATH, SLIP IN SCIENCE.(minority students still behind in math and science scores)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2000... The government's latest nationwide assessment of how well schools are teaching shows a steady improvement in students' math scores since the early 1980s and a slight slip in students' knowledge of science in the late 1990s. But black...

MATH SAT SCORES RISE TO HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE 1969.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2000... High school students' math scores on the SAT climbed this year to the highest level since 1969, while verbal scores held steady for a fifth year. The test company attributed the increase to today's college-bound high school students taking more...

REVIEW FINDS ALGEBRA TEXTBOOKS LACKING.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... More and more students are taking algebra. Are schools giving them the best support with which to learn the subject? A recent review of algebra textbooks by the American Association for the Advancement of Science says probably not, if schools...

DOES A CHARTER SCHOOL HAVE TO TEACH EVOLUTION?(Liberty Common Charter School may be forced to re-introduce evolution to science curriculum)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... An administrative law judge will decide whether the Poudre School District can force its only charter school to include evolution in its science curriculum. Parents of some students at the Liberty Common Charter School have complained...

BRINGING THE UNIVERSE'S LESSONS INTO THE CLASSROOM.(educational resources of National Aeronautics and Space Agency)
October 1, 2000... NASA's multitude of K-12 educational programs are ideal ways to make science, math, and even geography, meaningful to students. At some high schools across the country, engineers are helping students build robots. At other education...

ENGINEERING FOR AT-RISK STUDENTS.(Constructionist Learning Lab creates new learning model)
October 1, 2000... Papert's new laboratory in Maine allows children to learn by eliminating rules and encouraging innovation. A group of kids are programming their own video game while others are making a digital film. Across the room a robotic bird feeder...

USING THE WEB INTERACTIVELY.(locating activity-centered Internet resources in support of science and math curricula)(Directory)
October 1, 2000... New math and science locations, learning from earlier education sites, are making learning a two-way street. A number of years ago I actually spent a summer reading and analyzing every textbook in five new elementary school science series...

PRODUCT MATH and SCIENCE.(math and science teaching aids)
October 1, 2000... CALCULUS TUTOR SOFTWARE Wolfram Research, www.wolfram.com, $69.50, Calculus WIZ Wolfram Research's stand-alone version of Calculus WIZ is a software product for first-year calculus students. Students' computers have the ability to solve...

SIF - A Simple Idea, Finally.(Schools Interoperability Framework program provides software for sharing information)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Of course, SIF doesn't really stand for these words, but maybe it should. SIF, formally known as the Schools Interoperability Framework, really is a simple idea whose time has come. For years school officials have muddled through with a...

What is the Schools Interoperability Framework, why your district should care, and how you can get involved.
October 1, 2000... What if your morning attendance figures could be seamlessly communicated to your cafeteria staff, ensuring that the correct number of lunches were available at noon? Or, what if the new family that has just moved into the district could...

The SIF Evangelist.(Schools Interoperability Framework headed by Manish Sharma)(Interview)
October 1, 2000... Two years ago, Microsoft hired Manish Sharma and gave him one task: revolutionize the way schools use software. With a lot of help, the standard he helped create is ready to change the way schools operate. The problem was so prevalent that...

Testing One, Two, Three.(school districts test Schools Interoperability Framework)
October 1, 2000... Last year, two disparate school districts started running the first implementations of the SIF program. Here's what they learned. If one of your district's libraries has ever stayed closed to students for the first two weeks of school while...

Member Information.
October 1, 2000... A Closer look at some of the members of the Schools Interoperability Framework The Administrative Assistants Ltd. 4480 Harvester Road Burlington, Ontario Canada L7L 4X2 800-668-8486, Fax: 905-632-2605 www.admassist.com e-mail:...

SIF Participants.(Illustration)
October 1, 2000... The Administrative Assistants Ltd www.admassist.com Advantage Learning Systems, Inc. www.advlearn.com American Association of School Administrators www.aasa.org Anoka-Hennepin School District www.anoka.k12.mn.us ...