Neag Center Home Page | News & Views
Broadening the horizons for their state's teachers, Arizona's state Board of Education recently approved a new requirement that all teachers undergo a minimum of 15 hours of English-immersion training by the time school starts next fall:
www.dailystar.com/dailystar/metro/28804.php
In Seattle, teachers are looking for new ways to bridge the achievement gap between students of color and white students. However, teachers fear that if their efforts don't take effect in time for the latest round of standardized tests, the morale of all concerned will drop, destroying past gains:
seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2001960108_kurose19m.html
In North Carolina, research is underway to study the nature of the achievement gap between minority and Caucasian students. Researchers from North Carolina State University are launching a five-year study of kindergartners focusing on the impact of cultural context in math instruction:
www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1377953p-7500988c.html
In South Carolina, a new study indicates that, while African-American students are enjoying achievement gains, they have yet to catch their white peers, and probably will not do so within the next decade. Also showing gains but still lagging are disadvantaged students regardless of color:
www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/8951917.htm
Twice exceptional—and twice neglected: this article discusses a population within the gifted population which is often over looked: gifted students for whom English is a second language.
www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0622immigrantgifted22.html
Options for parents may result in some important decisions for schools. In Minneapolis, with one school district reporting a 14% enrollment drop over the last three years, district officials have begun considering how to make the public schools a more attractive option:
www.csmonitor.com/2004/0622/p11s02-legn.html
With Boston choosing to end its forced busing policy in order to allow children to attend neighborhood schools, concern for the effect of this change on children come from a source some of us might not expect: bus drivers. Some worry this change will bring about a de facto return to a segregated system:
www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/06/21/behind_the_wheel_of_school_choice
One of the strategies frequently cited for improving teacher quality, and therefore student learning, is professional development. This report by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development looks at the ways in which high-stakes accountability does—and doesn't—support teacher learning:
www.ascd.org/cms/objectlib/ascdframeset/index.cfm?publication=http://www.ascd.org/publications/researchbrief/volume2/v2n13.html