Elementary Immersion Program Delivers 90 Percent Of Curriculum In Mandarin

California's Mercury News (1/7, Barry) reports that "a class of kindergarteners at Joseph Azevada Elementary School is learning the same core instruction of reading, writing and arithmetic" with 90 percent of the curriculum "taught in Mandarin Chinese" and 10 percent in English. Students in the Mandarin Immersion Program are able to pick up Mandarin quickly, according to Azevada Principal Carole Diamond. "What I've seen in their language oral abilities, the students themselves are now using Mandarin casually and academically," she said. Currently, there is only one class of students in the program "there is approval to have two classrooms at both the kindergarten and first-grade level next school year. Based on registration that has just begun, Diamond said there will be one kindergarten and one first-grade class for sure next year."

California Governor Announces Plan Not To Appoint Education Secretary

In a front-page report, the San Francisco Chronicle (1/7, Lagos) reports that California Gov. Brown (D) plans to eliminate the office of Secretary of Education, even though his predecessors "have appointed secretaries of education for decades." The move is seen as part of Brown's "desire to flatten bureaucracies." Education policy experts even viewed the office as redundant, given that the electorate chooses a State Superintendant, while the Governor chooses a Board of Education, leaving the Secretary of Education with little power. The Chronicle adds that California Teachers Association President David Sanchez applauded the move.

 

The Los Angeles Times (1/7, York) adds that an announcement about the position could have been made as early as yesterday. Gubernatorial spokesperson Evan Westrup, however, would not confirm nor deny speculation about the future of the position or the office. The "11 employees in the education secretary's office were already packing boxes and have been notified that their office has been targeted for elimination." The article also provides some background on Brown's intentions with the office and noted that during his campaign, he targeted it for removal and cited it "as an example of bureaucratic redundancy."

More Americans Say Education Matters Most For "Getting Ahead In Life."

USA Today (1/6, Marklein) reports that "when it comes to getting ahead in life today, Americans are most likely to say a good education matters most," flowed by hard work, according to a new USA Today/Gallup Poll of "more than 1,000 adults." Thirty-six percent of respondents of all ages, genders, races, and income levels "chose either a good education (36%) or hard work (28%)" as "what matters most for getting ahead in life today." USA Today adds that while only 2 percent of respondents "said luck matters most...two recent documentaries both critical of urban public school districts" show "the frustration of low-income families whose hopes rest on a [school] lottery system." Lottery director Madeleine Sackler told USA Today, "Low-income parents absolutely understand that their children need to get through school to have choices in life. ... When everyone is working together for high expectations, that's when you start seeing extraordinary results."

Movement To Increase Children's Playtime Expanding To Address "Parental Attitudes."

The New York Times (1/6, Stout) reports that "for several years, studies and statistics have been mounting that suggest the culture of play in the United States is vanishing." Meanwhile, some "scientists, psychologists, educators and others...are part of the play movement say that most of the social and intellectual skills one needs to succeed in life and work are first developed through childhood play." These playtime advocates argue that children learn skills like self-control, problem-solving, negotiating, and creativity through play. While most "of the movement has focused on" restoring "recess and unstructured playtime to early childhood and elementary school curriculums," some "advocates are now starting to reach out to parents, recognizing that for the movement to succeed, parental attitudes must evolve as well."

Two Of Massachusetts' Smallest Districts Struggle To Develop Anti-Bullying Plans

WBUR-FM Boston (1/6, Logan) reports that "while 390 out of 393 public school districts and charter schools have complied with the deadline set by a new state law aimed at curbing bullying in schools, two public school districts...are finding it hard to...come up with an anti-bullying plan that meets their needs." The four-student Cuttyhunk school district, "the least-populated town in the state," and the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science in Worcester are both "scrambling to pull together an anti-bullying plan after missing the Dec. 31 deadline." Cuttyhunk Director Robert Salvatelli "said it is challenging to design a plan for a school in its own district with no school committee." WBUR notes that "both school districts said they will submit a plan to the state within the next few days."

 

The Boston Herald (1/6, Bragg) reports that "the state's least populated town, Gosnold, earned a second unique distinction at year's end: It is one of two public school districts statewide that didn't submit a plan to prevent bullying in schools by Dec. 31 as required by" state law. Gosnold has just seven students, and "didn't seem to need a plan to help reduce bullying in classrooms and on the Internet," according to school officials, who "attributed the lapse in completing the plan to procrastination and possibly not realizing that state law required it."

Tutor.com Gets Gates Foundation Grant To Create Teacher Professional Development System

T.H.E. Journal (1/6, Schaffhauser) reports that Tutor.com, "a company that provides online tutoring services has received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create an on-demand professional development system specifically to train middle school and high school math teachers." The money will go toward a program for researching "the effects of connecting math teachers to an online teaching coach for private help in a Web-based classroom whenever they need additional support. A third-party evaluator will then design and complete a study to measure the effectiveness of the project." The research is slated for publication "at the end of 2012."

Real-Time Classroom Simulations Used To Train Teacher Candidates

Education Week (1/6) reports on "the TeachME initiative at the University of Central Florida, in Orlando," which uses computer-generated "students" to help prepare teacher candidates for classroom experience. Supporters say that with "real-time classroom simulations like TeachME," future teachers can get "hands-on practice with urban students, or practice a discrete skill such as classroom management. Most of all, such simulations give teachers in training the ability to experiment-and make mistakes-without the worry of doing harm to an actual child's learning." Education Week notes that "the idea of classroom simulations could receive more attention in coming years, especially with the student-teaching aspect of teacher preparation now receiving scrutiny."

"ManUp" Mentoring Program Aims To Improve Performance Of Black Male Students

The Dallas Morning News (1/5, Unmuth) reported on a mentoring program in the Dallas school district called "ManUp," aimed at improving "the performance of young black male students." Boys in the program are "required to dress up on meeting days" and are encouraged to set annual goals. During the meetings, "there's frank talk about the presence of guns in the home and the importance of using birth control. The tone is conversational, with students often talking about challenges in their homes." In addition to formal meetings, "the students often meet for hours after school and volunteer with groups such as a homeless shelter on weekends" and "they work part-time jobs through the program."

New Jersey Test Results Show Persistent Economic, Race-Based Achievement Gaps

New Jersey's Star-Ledger (1/6, Rundquist) reports, "The 'achievement gap' between rich and poor students, and among those of different races, persists in New Jersey schools, according to statewide test score data released yesterday by the state Board of Education." Results from tests taken last spring show that "about 60 percent of black or African-American third-graders failed to achieve proficient scores" on language arts tests, "compared to 21.4 percent for Asian students and 31 percent for whites." A gap also existed based on "economic circumstances matter, too. On the same third-grade test, only 40.2 percent of economically disadvantaged children were considered proficient, compared to 70.5 percent of their more well-off classmates."

 

The New Jersey Newsroom (1/6, Hester) reports, however, that "the results also indicated there was no gender gap in the areas of math and science." The test score data are from "language and math skills test given to New Jersey students in grades 3 through 8 and 11 in 2008 or 2009." New Jersey's Courier-Post (1/6, Cooney)

New blog targets young adult literature

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has announced the launch of YALSA's newest blog, The Hub. The Hub is a blog about not just what teens are reading, but how they read and how they talk about what they read. The Hub offers a peek into what the online world is saying about YA books, featuring original writing about what teens are reading, book reviews, introductions to other YA literature blogs, podcasts, videos, and more. To learn more, visit The Hub.

3-D technology in the classroom

3-D technology could have a real future in education, breathing new life into an aging curriculum and offering a glimpse of what 21st-century education should be.

"We aren't far away from the next stage where children can hold and manipulate 3D images in their hands. This could be combined with online learning. It could be a phenomenally successful educational model that is truly visionary," said Katheryn MacAulay, deputy head at the Abbey School in Reading.

Images can be projected on a whiteboard, making it easy to switch between 3D and 2D teaching. 3D-ready projectors are no more expensive than normal ones but a class set of glasses currently costs about £1,500. Despite the issues, schools are already building up an impressive library of 3D resources in a wide array of subjects from math to geography and history. Read the full article by Jane Wakefield at BBC News.

New version of "Huck Finn" elminates the "N" word

Mark Twain scholar Alan Gribben and NewSouth Books will release a version of Huckleberry Finn, in a single volume with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, that does away with the "n" word, reports Marc Schultz in Publishers Weekly. Concerned that the book is often not read in schools because of a single offensive word, Gribben determined to create a more politically correct edition.

Not surprisingly, the project has stirred controversy. "I'm hoping that people will welcome this new option, but I suspect that textual purists will be horrified," he said. To access the full article, along with reader comments by author R.L. Stine and others, visit the Publishers Weekly website.

Deep reading--a thing of the past?

There is some concern in literary circles that, even though electronic readers grow increasingly popular and book sales are still strong, many people are finding it difficult to sit alone with one book and simply read to comprehend.

"Deep reading," or slow reading, is a sophisticated process in which people can critically think, reflect and understand the words they are looking at. With most, that means slowing down -- even stopping and rereading a page or paragraph if it doesn't sink in -- to really capture what the author is trying to say. Experts warn that without reading and really understanding what's being said, it is impossible to be an educated citizen of the world, a knowledgeable voter or even an imaginative thinker.

For more, read the article by Laura Casey of the Contra Costa Times at MercuryNews.com.

New Jersey Governor Seeks To Relax Rules On Who Can Lead Schools

The New York Times (1/5, Hu) reports that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) "is pressing for regulations that would allow some New Jersey school districts to hire superintendents without traditional academic backgrounds or experience, in an effort to change confining state rules like those that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg had to surmount to win approval for Cathleen P. Black, his choice for New York City schools chancellor. Mr. Christie is proposing that requirements for superintendents be eased in low-performing districts, where at least half the children are failing state tests, saying he wants to open the door to more candidates with strong management and leadership skills." Christie's "proposals would lower the minimum academic standard for a superintendent from a master's to a bachelor's degree, and waive additional requirements, including a 150-hour graduate internship in educational leadership and passing a superintendent's assessment."

Florida Districts Facing Fines For Breaking Class Size Law

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (1/5, Fitzpatrick) reports, "More than half of Florida's school districts, including Broward and Palm Beach counties, face hefty fines for breaking the state's class-size law – but it's not clear yet how much state officials will force them to pay. Palm Beach County, the state's worst offender, was officially notified late last week it faces a $16.6 million fine. Broward, which came in fifth behind Miami-Dade, Duval and Collier counties, faces a $3 million penalty." According to the Sun-Sentinel, "the Florida School Boards Association, with at least 20 school districts backing it, has threatened to sue the state over the penalties."