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National Public Radio’s Morning Edition has been taking a close look at Northwestern High School in Baltimore, Md. for several months. The latest installment in the series looks at the way two veteran teachers approach the start of the semester at the struggling school, which has not met state achievement standards for years. One biology teacher is letting students have some measure of control in her class by having them set class rules and consequences. She hopes to instill enough pride of school in them to make them want to pass the state test. A math teacher takes the opposite approach by enforcing strict order and discipline. The veteran math teacher is someone school leaders hope will be able to help students raise their test scores, but with 38 students in the class, the teacher herself has some doubts.

Posted by Michelle Davis, edweek.org at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Taliban officials recently announced they planned to open new schools in war-torn areas of Afghanistan in an effort to promote the Islamic fundamentalist group’s kindler, gentler side, according to a recent Time Magazine article. But the story also reveals that in areas where the Taliban has been driven out, millions of students have already enrolled in schools, including millions of girls who were previously discouraged from seeking education. This Education Week story sheds additional light on the situation in Afghanistan and lays out the dangers that teachers and students face just to get an education.

Posted by Michelle Davis, edweek.org at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

President Bush didn’t devote much time to the topic of education during his State of the Union address last night, but that’s not stopping the chatter of education bloggers on the Web. Though the White House put out a detailed briefing of the president’s newest thoughts on education a day earlier, during the actual speech Mr. Bush’s education comments were brief. He lauded the federal No Child Left Behind Act and called for its renewal. He spoke in favor of increased flexibility, school choice, and more education dollars for struggling students.

This Week in Education takes a quick look at how much the president spoke on education compared to past years; edspresso gets a few guest comments (including Eduwonk’s Andy Rotherham and Fordham’s Michael J. Petrilli) and also dissects the proposals put out by the White House; AFT’s NCLBlog gets crabby over some Washington Post coverage and lower down also looks at the pre-speech education proposals; and The Charter Blog takes a close look at the school choice ideas. For a broader view of the president's speech and its implications for education, make sure to read Education Week's story.

Several bloggers had something education-related to say about the “real people” in First Lady Laura Bush’s box at the speech. A Constrained Vision points out that some of the guests had significant education ties. At TPM Café, blogger Kenneth Baer opines on the choice of Julie Aigner-Clark as a featured guest. Ms. Aigner-Clark created the Baby Einstein company, which has encouraged millions of parents to park their babies in front of the television.

Posted by Michelle Davis, edweek.org at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This story in the January issue of NEA Today takes a look at America’s place in the globally competitive race to the top when it comes to math and science. The story says that though there is a lot of angst that American students are being quickly outpaced in those subjects by their counterparts in countries like India, it’s worth a closer look at the numbers. In fact, the story says, the situation may not be as dire as it seems. NEA Today also features a story on the way one Kentucky school is helping students grasp math and science concepts in an unusual partnership with the General Electric Foundation. This Education Week story also suggests that people shoudln't believe the hype when it comes to foreign math and science dominance.

For an up close look at our competition in India, you can read Education Week’s compelling series on math and science education in India, starting with this story on the importance Indian families place on sending their children to college, or with this story on how hard some Indian students are willing to work to get their education.

Posted by Michelle Davis, edweek.org at 5:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

School violence is a very serious subject. But Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart takes a hilarious look at some of the proposals that various politicians have made to try and combat the problem. One Wisconsin state representative has proposed passing out guns to school personnel in order to allow them to defend students against armed intruders. An Oklahoma school superintendent nominee also details his plan to provide books covered with bulletproof Kevlar so students can take cover behind them when confronted with a gunman. If all else fails, the students could throw their books at the intruder.

Posted by Michelle Davis, edweek.org at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you’re a principal, the University of Minnesota wants you to start your own blog. The university’s Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education or CASTLE was created to boost the number of administrators who know how to use technology in their schools and districts. Now CASTLE has started the Principal Blogging Project to encourage school leaders to create their own blogs to share news and events with the community, to market their schools, and to build community investment. Their goal is to get 100 principals blogging in 100 days. You can view existing principal blogs here.

If you’re a teacher and want to set up your own blog, David Warlick, author of the book Classroom Blogging recommends several sites that are aimed at helping teachers set up their own classroom blogs, including epals.com, gaggle.net, imbee.com, and elgg.org. Mr. Warlick’s own site, Class Blogmeister, hosts some classroom blogs as well.

Posted by Michelle Davis, edweek.org at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

National Public Radio’s Morning Edition features a story on the value of education for one Arizona Navaho family living on a reservation. The Cooley family has sent six of their seven children off the reservation to be educated in Flagstaff, Ariz. Their youngest is headed there next year for middle school. Their oldest has a master’s degree from Northern Arizona University. The story gives a glimpse into the difficulties that Navaho children face when they have to transition from a household without electricity or running water and a community that values silence, to the modern, noisy, electronic world they enter to get a better education. As an added bonus, on the same page you can take an audio tour of the Cooley family home, or Navajo Hogan.

For another perspective on reservation life, take a look at this Teacher Magazine blog by a Teach For America teacher. Jessica Shyu, now in her second year with Teach For America, is a special education teacher at an elementary and middle school on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico.

Posted by Michelle Davis, edweek.org at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pity the poor social studies teacher who has to figure out how to approach the subject of the Middle East and the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The Boston Globe reports on what happened when two such teachers tried expand the discussion by inviting a pro-Palestinian group called Wheels of Justice to speak at Andover High School in Massachusetts. The result has been a war of words among students, teachers, religious leaders, and community members. The typically staid Andover community, which according to the story prides itself on its inclusiveness, has erupted in controversy.

Posted by Michelle Davis, edweek.org at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While we’re on the subject of the No Child Left Behind Act, listen to this National Public Radio interview with Tajah Gross, the principal of Northwestern High School in Baltimore. Ms. Gross talks about how the law has changed education in her school. Northwestern High School is currently in the law's restructuring phase, not having made Adequate Yearly Progress for the last five years. Ms. Gross seems to have a fairly positive outlook on the No Child Left Behind Act and she says its requirements have forced school officials to reevaluate programs and make sure they’re working for students.

Posted by Michelle Davis, edweek.org at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Speaking of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which celebrated its 5th anniversary yesterday, the education world is abuzz about this article by Michael J. Petrilli, a former U.S. Education Department official under President George W. Bush and a one-time vocal supporter of the law. In his essay, Mr. Petrilli (now vice president for national programs and policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation) pretty much yanks his support and points out everything that has gone wrong. The Salt Lake Tribune, located in pro-Bush Utah, which early in the law's implementation led the state charge against No Child Left Behind, features a story on Mr. Petrilli’s comments. (You can read Education Week's take on Utah's role in a 1995 NCLB rebellion here.)

The education blogs are weighing in too. Eduwonk calls Mr. Petrilli's solutions to the NCLB problem "unappetizing." Edspresso comments on the brouhaha with this discussion and also provides another view on NCLB highlighting this essay by Dan Lips of the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Posted by Michelle Davis, edweek.org at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Britain’s TES Magazine has a few hints for overworked teachers: get a life. They’re advising teachers that with the new year, educators should vow to get out from under that stack of essays that need grading and those lessons that need planning. TES recommends rest, recovery, and relaxation along with a renewed effort to get organized and stay on top of what needs to be done. In America, if you’re a teacher and need a new lease on life for this new year, head to Ithaca, N.Y., where the whole city plans to honor teachers in February with free meals, discounted theater passes, and breaks on hotel rooms. That should relax you!

Posted by Michelle Davis, edweek.org at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The National Education Association is kicking off its public relations campaign pushing Congress to make changes in the federal No Child Left Behind Act with at 221-page booklet featuring thoughts on the law from a sampling of educators from every state. Overwhelmingly the teachers find the No Child Left Behind Act, which is scheduled for reauthorization this year, sorely lacking. The publication, “It’s Time For A Change! Voices from America’s Classrooms” is organized by state and features entries from teachers who tell tales of physical education classes and science classes being down-sized, of teacher frustration, and of demoralized special education students all due to the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. For example, Sandra Winter, a middle school teacher in Villa Park, Ill. says, “Because of the pressure for all children to score high on the standardized ISAT (Illinois’ state test) my students lost three and a half weeks of science instruction. That is how much time I needed to teach them various test-taking strategies to score well on the test. This loss of subject matter instruction time put them behind students from previous years.” The NEA also provides a review of its position on NCLB. If you want a bit of a different perspective, you can also check out the American Federation of Teachers recommendations for changing the law (PDF document). For a good primer on reauthorization and the issues Education Week sums it up with this story.

Posted by Michelle Davis, edweek.org at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)