Frequently Asked Questions About Education from Ed.gov

http://answers.ed.gov

For quick answers to frequently asked questions about education, the U.S. Department of Education offers an online resource filled with up-to-date information on numerous aspects of federal law, policy and initiatives. The website answers more than 100 questions related to topics addressed by the Department, including No Child Left Behind, financial aid, special education, school choice, grants and research. Topics are available in a fully searchable format that includes responses with links to additional information from internal and external sources. In addition, some answers are available in Spanish.

Nutrition: Two Angry Moms: It's a movie. It's a movement!

http://www.AngryMoms.org

Are you sick and tired of packing your kids’ lunch box everyday because the cafeteria food is unfit for human consumption? Do you feel guilty when your kids “buy”? Are you annoyed at all the junk being handed out and sold at school? Are you angry enough to do something about it? We are!

Students Say School Lockers are Too Small

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/24/AR2007022401329.html

A typical school locker is one foot wide, one foot deep and six feet high. Crowd-control issues have led principals to restrict the times students may go to their lockers and to shorten periods between classes. Similar crowding concerns have led administrators to ban backpacks in classrooms and common areas. All this makes kids more dependent on the locker as a place to unload.

Study Questions Wisdom of Shift of 6th Graders From Elementary to Middle Schools

http://www.newsobserver.com/146/story/547649.html

Sixth graders do better in elementary school than middle school, according to researchers at Duke University and the University of California at Berkeley who found that sixth graders in middle school had more discipline problems and lower test scores than their sixth-grade peers in elementary schools.

A Toolkit to Support School-Family-Community Partnerships

http://www.ped.state.nm.us/div/rural_ed/toolkit/toolkit.htm

The deeply ingrained multiculturalism that makes New Mexico unique also presents challenges in communicating and setting shared priorities. Schools face their own set of challenges in accommodating all families, making them part of the school community and including them as partners in their child’s education. The New Mexico Public Education Department has created, "Working Together: School-Family-Community Partnerships, A Toolkit for New Mexico School Communities." The Toolkit is divided into three sections: Teacher Tools, Family Tools and Professional Development Tools. These tools are intended to support partnerships that can improve school programs and climate, provide family services and support, increase parents' skills and leadership, connect families with others in the school and community, and help teachers in their daily work.

Involving Refugee Parents in Their Children’s Education

http://www.brycs.org/brycs_spotspring2007.htm

“In our culture [Somali], you send the kids to school and they are the schools’ responsibility...Sometimes when the teachers have a problem understanding the mothers, I help them by translating for them. The first thing the mother will ask is, “What is she complaining for? Isn’t that her job? Isn’t she the one who is supposed to fix the child? Why is she telling me?” This article offers research-based tips and resources for how to involve refugee parents in activities at school.

New Way of Rating Teachers is Sought

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA030307.01A.TeacherQuality.36d2d02.html

Lawyer Sandy Kress, an education adviser to President Bush and key architect of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, wants lawmakers to devise a system for rating individual teacher effectiveness, a controversial and trailblazing approach he says one day will allow Texas to match the best teachers with the students who most need them. Nationally, policymakers have shown little appetite to tackle the teacher quality gap, though many researchers consider it the most significant explanation for the persistence of test score differences between the haves and have-nots.

For more information on No Child Left Behind, visit http://www.bridges4kids.org/ESEA.html

Reinvent The Way Teachers Teach
The state school superintendent is on a mission to reinvent the way universities train math teachers. Mike Flanagan said the old method won't cut it any more now that all high school students are required to take Algebra II. When only college-bound students were taking higher math, Flanagan said it was OK to prepare teachers with that in mind, but "we need to be reforming teacher preparation…we need radical reform." Flanagan was slated to meet on Friday with an advisory panel of university deans, parents and new teachers to urge them to move in this new direction with the warning that if the group does not embrace reforms, Flanagan will move unilaterally to do it. "I can't live as school superintendent with the supply-and-demand system of the past," he said. Currently, teacher education colleges are grinding out too many elementary school instructors and not enough math and science teachers. "They have 600 applicants in Grand Ledge for six elementary school positions but they can't find enough math and science teachers," Flanagan complained. He is calling for a new methodology to teach the teachers how to teach non-college students and "the universities have to help." He warned that if they don't he would consider rescinding state certification of those teaching universities, but he quickly added, "I'm quite confident they will." [MIRS, March 22, 2007]
 

Three In Four School Funding Elections Fail

http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/3-07/MIRS3-07.html#top

Of the 17 school districts holding school funding-related elections Tuesday, 13 saw losses, according to media reports and research conducted by MIRS.

School Officials Call For 'Stable' Funding

http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/3-07/MIRS3-07.html#2

Michigan education officials are jumping on the panic button in their efforts to secure "stable funding" for their local districts, insinuating that Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM's proposed two-cent sales tax on services is the winning ticket.

Flanagan Wants Education Consolidated Around ISDs

http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/3-07/MIRS3-07.html#3

Michigan’s top educator told a conference of social studies instructors that he favors the downsizing of Michigan school districts and allowing the state's 57 Intermediate School Districts (ISDs) to takeover all of the "non-instructional services" now performed at the local school level.

Mental Health Parity Round Two

http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/3-07/MIRS3-07.html#4

Michigan lawmakers have reintroduced a series of bills that would require business to provide the same benefits for mental health issues that they provide for physical ailments.

For more information on Disabilities, Disorders and Diseases, visit http://www.bridges4kids.org/Disabilities.html