As younger, inexperienced teachers are thrown into classrooms to meet new federal standards, as much as 90 percent of the burden of instruction rests on textbooks, yet, few if any textbooks are ever subjected to independent field testing of whether they actually help students learn. “This is where people miss the boat. They don’t realize how important the textbooks are,” said Frank Wang, a former textbook publisher who left the field to teach mathematics at the University of Oklahoma. “We talk about vouchers and more teachers, but education is about the books. That’s where the content is.”

Four Steps to High School Greatness

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/02/AR2006050200567.html

I have identified four powerful ways of teaching that were more common at Garfield than at Mamaroneck when I was visiting them. I think they explain how Garfield became so much better than its reputation, and how Mamaroneck might do even better than it has done if it took those four lessons to heart...

Achieving "High Quality" in the Selection, Preparation and Retention of Teachers

http://www.educationnews.org/Haberman/ACHIEVINGHIGHQUALITYINTHESELECTION

PREPARATIONANDRETENTIONOFTEACHERS.htm

Although the typical age of college graduates has risen from age 22 to age 26, it is still generally true that most of those preparing to teach are college age youth, that is, late adolescents and young adults. But should this population of young teachers remain the predominant pool of future teachers? In 45 years of making classroom observations of failing teachers I have never found an exception to this condition: if there is a disconnect between the teacher and the students no mentoring, coaching, workshop, or class on discipline and classroom management can provide the teacher with the magic to control children s/he does not genuinely respect and care about. This raises the more basic issue of whether future teachers (or anyone) can be taught to connect with diverse children in poverty or whether this is an attribute learned from mature reflection about one's life experiences after one has had some life experiences.

Ex-University President to Lead U.S. Math Panel

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/15/education/15math.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The Bush administration has named a former president of the University of Texas at Austin to lead a national panel to weigh in on the math wars playing out across the country. The politically fraught battle pits a more free-form approach to teaching math against the traditional method that emphasizes rules and formulas to solve number problems.

Madison's public schools appear to be succeeding with efforts to attack a problem common to urban districts nationwide — the performance gap between students of different races, according to two education researchers who attributed the gains to strategies that promote improved training of teachers and more focused tutoring.

Prodigies Want to Change the World

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060510/NEWS01/605100479/1006

Linguistically, they can't all understand one another. Yet, in the immense arena of the Indiana Convention Center, there's more than 130,000 square feet of exhibits created by students who have one thing in common: an innate affection for science. The 1,482 prodigies from 47 countries are competing in the 2006 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for $4 million in prizes -- including three $50,000 grand-prize college scholarships.

MI Super Grad: Law Degree, MBA--by 21!

http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060512/SCHOOLS/605120411/1026

At age 2, Mario Tabone could distinguish between Bach and Vivaldi compositions. In junior high, he hauled a backpack that weighed just as much as he did. And on Saturday, Tabone will graduate with a law degree and his master's in business administration from the University of Detroit Mercy at the ripe age of 21.

2 States to Experiment With 'No Child' Changes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/17/AR2006051701920.html

Under a new pilot program, North Carolina and Tennessee will be the first states permitted to change the way they assess student progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law. The "growth model" assessment will allow the schools to be in compliance by measuring the progress of individual students annually, instead of an entire grade of different students.

No States Meet Teacher-quality Goal Set in Federal Law

http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2006/05/13/no_states_meet

_teacher_quality_goal_set_in_federal_law/

Not a single state will have a ''highly" qualified teacher in every core class this school year as promised by President Bush's education law. Nine states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, face penalties.

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

Board of Ed Meetings Being Video Streamed

Don't expect the viewings to top the Hollywood box office blockbusters, but the State Board of Education meetings are now being video streamed live. The effort is a partnership between the Department of Education and MI Streamnet to enable viewing of meetings from a desktop computer. Archives of meetings will be available for a year. The address is www.mistreamnet.com

Commentary: Mike Reno on School District Consolidation

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060518/OPINION01/605180315/1008

In business, mergers can improve services and profitability. In some cases, they are even necessary to save the business -- and jobs. With school budget woes in Metro Detroit and elsewhere in Michigan, including disturbing stories of teacher layoffs, you'd think school consolidations or annexations would be a hot topic, especially since there is substantial duplication of effort between virtually every school district.
 

Commentary: Mike Reno on May Elections

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060519/OPINION02/605190312/1087/opinion

Increasing voter participation in school elections is a worthy goal, especially since school boards collectively spend $14 billion, or one-third of all tax dollars sent to Lansing! Moving elections to November should be easy given there is no groundswell of voter support for May elections. The obstacle seems to be special interest groups...

Health Policy Panel Approves WIC Lead Testing

http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/5-06/Gongwer5-10-06.html#2

The House Health Policy Committee recently approved legislation that would require that children under the WIC program receive testing for lead in their systems.

Michigan Chosen for NGA Foster Care Academy

http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/5-06/Gongwer5-10-06.html#top

In an effort to better transition foster care children to adulthood, senior state officials will participate in the National Governors Association's Best Practices Policy Academy on Youth Transitioning Out of Foster Care, Department of Human Services officials announced Wednesday.

Community Forums: Oral Health for Children with Special Needs (PDF)

http://www.bridges4kids.org/OralHealthInfoRegistration.pdf

There are significant barriers to good oral health for many children, even more so for children with special health care needs. The forums will give participants the opportunity to comment on barriers and develop strategies for improving oral health. Your participation in the forums will lead to development of an Action Plan that will be added to the State Oral Health Plan and build strategies to leverage resources to address the common oral health needs for children with special health care needs. Four forums will be held across the State of Michigan. Participation is limited so inquire or register early to ensure your spot.

Children's Mental Health Parent Support Group

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