July 8, 2005

I. Teachers and Teaching

1. South Carolina Ahead on Training Preschool Teachers

South Carolina has some of the nation's better trained preschool teachers and educators say it's no coincidence that the state has some of the country's better behaved pupils.

2. Chinese MOE Pushes Further Development of Higher Institutes for Teacher Training

Yuan Guiren, Vice Minister of Ministry of Education in China asked for further development of teacher training institutes. He said that teacher training institutes should focus on moral education, teaching skills, and maximizing the learning capabilities of student teachers.  

II. Learners and Learning

1. Our Prussian-derived “Teach Them-Test Them” Paradigm

Harris Cooper at the University of Missouri has concluded that homework in K - 9 is usually counter- productive and should be abolished.  However, the “teach them-test them” paradigm may be useful for students in high-school.

2. College Entrance Exam for Students Outside Mainland Starts  

The annual national examination for examinees from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and other parts of the world started on June 24th. The examination included five subjects and will last for three days, an official with the Ministry of Education said. The examination site at the Shanghai Normal University has 18 exam classrooms and nearly 50 supervisors, said an official with the Shanghai Municipal Educational Bureau. More than 420 overseas Chinese applied for examination in Shanghai this year, up 4.9 percent compared with 2004.

3. Ten-year-old Genius Attends College of his Choice  

This year's university entrance examination score and college admission results for Liaoning province's applicants were released on June 26th. China's youngest examinee - ten year old boy Zhang Xinyang from Panjin - scored 505, more than 47 points over the admission baseline of the province's second batch of admitted students.

III. Leaders and Leadership

1. Reinventing High School

The path to a D.C. high school diploma was once a straightforward proposition: Enroll in the ninth grade, receive passing grades, complete all school requirements and, four years later, attend graduation exercises. That route to completion of public school is likely to change under a plan that School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey plans to launch in fall 2006.

2. New School to be Built in Flood-hit Township

The Chinese Red Cross Foundation organized a foundation-laying ceremony on June 23rd for a new primary school in northeast China's Shalan Township, where raging mountain torrents killed 117 lives, including 105 pupils, on June 10. The new school will be built with 1 million yuan (120,480 US dollars) in donations from Chinese citizens.

3. More Investment Toward Developing Basic Education in Rural Areas

On May 31st, The Ministry of Education in China published “Several Suggestions on Furthering Equity in Education Development”. By 2007, all children in remote areas in western China will be able to attend school. About one million Chinese dollars will be invested to expand boarding schools in rural areas. An additional one million dollars will be used to establish distant education network in rural areas.

IV. Curriculum

1. Early Reading Program Gets Better Than Expected Results

Teacher Maria Louisa Aguilera opens a student's portfolio and points to the signs of success -- a neatly executed alphabet penned by a small hand, her first and last name written out correctly, a worksheet with the names of vegetable seeds written next to them.

2. Language in Textbooks Will be Supervised

In an era of advancing internet use, Chinese people are finding that the Chinese language is changing. The Ministry of Education recently established the "Center of Supervising Language in Textbooks" to standardize language used in school so that young people can use standard Chinese in spite of popular internet language. 

V. Family and Community

1. Schools Boss Wants Letters Sent to Parents

Schools in August could resume sending letters home to parents whose children are being taught by teachers not yet identified as "highly qualified" -- if a proposal by the state superintendent is approved in July.

2. Help Your Children Learn From Role Play

Children can learn from role play. They can enrich their imagination, be more creative and responsible. It is suggested that parents help their children learn from games of role playing.