February 2006

I. Teachers and Teaching

1. Union Scorns Reports on Teacher Attendance
Sunday, February 5th. From Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Teachers Union officials on Saturday blasted the Chicago Public Schools' plan to start publicizing teacher attendance rates for its schools next year.

2. Massachusetts Funding for Teachers Professional Development
Monday, February 6, 2006 . From Boston Globe
During the day, Lori Thames is the director of an early education program in Dorchester for preschoolers. But during nonworking hours, Thames and hundreds of other early educators are becoming students themselves, using $1 million in new state scholarships to enroll in college. It's a sweet deal. The state gets more qualified teachers. The teachers get to grow as professionals.

II. Learners and Learning

1. Students Learn of Black Heroes
Thursday, February 2 nd, 2006 . From Washington Times
Demario Ford quietly set aside his routine social studies homework yesterday to express his thanks to Coretta Scott King, who helped solidify civil rights in the United States and around the world.

2. Multiple Standards for High School Entrance in Hebei Province
Friday, February 24th, 2006 . From Xinhua News Agency
High school entrance examination will no longer be the only index for enrollment in Hebei Province. High schools conducting new curriculum in Heibei province will recruit students based on both their entrance examination scores and their daily profiles including overall behaviors and creativity.

3. Guangzhou Offers Free Education to Poor City Children
Monday, Februrary 27th, 2006. From Xinhuanet
Guangdong will provide free education to children of impoverished city dwellers, according to the provincial education department Chief Zheng Detao.

III. Leaders and Leadership

1. Budget Measure Increases College Loans and Rates
Thursday, February 2 nd, 2006 . From New York Times
Students and their parents will be able to borrow more money to pay for higher education, but these federal loans will have higher interest rates.

2. Eastpointe Students Get ID Tags, More Security
Monday, February 6 th, 2006.From Detroit News
As part of a new effort to boost school safety, East Detroit Public Schools are requiring students to wear ID badges and pass through a security checkpoint when they're late for school.

3. Gaps of Educational Resources among Areas in China
Friday, February 24th, 2006.From Xinhua News Agency
On February 23rd, National Inspection Group claimed that the public educational resources for the East, Middle and West regions are still unevenly distributed. However, the general gaps among these three areas have reduced since 2000. Compulsory education is now pursuing the goal of equality.

4. Compulsory Education Law to be Amended
Sunday, February 26th, 2006.From Xinhuanet
A draft of the amendment of China's law on compulsory education has been submitted for the first time to a session of the Standing Committee of the Nation People's Congress for deliberation.

IV. Curriculum

1. Why Johnny (Still) Can’t Read
Sunday, February 26 th, 2006 . From Edutopia
As reading skills falter, educators scramble to radically improve adolescent literacy. "Older children still need instruction on what you would call the critical reading skills: how to attack text in different subject areas, draw inferences, and bring background knowledge to bear in ways that make sense," explains Peggy McCardle, who oversees the child development and behavioral branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

2. Students Call for Ban of Peace Studies Class
Sunday, February 26, 2006 . From Washington Post
Since its launch at the school in 1988, Peace Studies has provoked lively debate, but an attempt to have the course (which course?) removed from the curriculum is a first at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School.

3. Primary School Try US Textbooks
Wednesday, February 15 th, 2006 . From Xinhuanet
Grade-one students of a primary school in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, will try out US-edited scientific textbooks from Autumn this year, the People's Daily reported.

V. Family and Community

1. Quotes on Homework from Teachers and Parents
Tuesday, February 7 th, 2006 . From Boston Globe
Some parents and teachers express concern about homework. These parents and teachers were among those in the AP-AOL Learning Services poll conducted by Knowledge Networks.

2. No Backpack Back Home
Monday, February 20th, 2006.From Guangming Daily
Yucai Elementary School in Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province begins to release students' studying burden by eliminating the text-based homework. Parents of the students in lower grade welcome this reform, while parents of the students in graduating grade are a little worried about the incoming middle school entrance exams.