Schwarzenegger: Printed Texts Are Old School

In the state that gave the world Facebook, Google, and the iPod, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says forcing California's students to rely on printed textbooks is so yesterday.

The governor recently launched an initiative to see if the state's 6 million public school students could use more online learning materials, including open courseware--perhaps saving millions of dollars a year in textbook purchases.

Now, other states will be watching to see how the initiative fares. "California is home to software giants, bioscience research pioneers, and first-class university systems known around the world. But our students still learn from instructional materials in formats made possible by Gutenberg's printing press," Schwarzenegger wrote in a recent op-ed in the San Jose Mercury News.

View the complete article.
(eSchool News 06.12.09)

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States Could Lose Out On Stimulus Cash

The Obama administration warned states it may withhold millions of dollars if they use stimulus money to plug budget holes instead of boosting aid for schools.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan made the threat last Thursday in a letter to Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, but his words could have implications for Texas, Arizona and other states.

And they raise the stakes for the White House, which will come under intense pressure from Congress if Duncan does hold back some money.

In the letter, Duncan wrote he is displeased at a plan by Pennsylvania's Republican-led Senate to reduce the share of the state budget for education while leaving its rainy-day surplus untouched. To do so "is a disservice to our children," Duncan wrote.

View the complete article.
(USA Today 06.22.09)

What should your state be doing with their stimulus cash?
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Free Computer for your Classroom

Sign up your K-12 education classroom to participate in Acer's K-12 Seed Unit Program!

Thru September, Acer is offering schools a free trial of their ground breaking 10.1" Aspire® One Netbook.

Participating schools can test the systems for 30 days free of charge.

After 30 days, schools then have the option of purchasing the systems substantially below the estimated retail price, or returning the system free of charge (shipping paid by ACER) with no further obligation.

By entering the program, the K-12 customer agrees to have two short conference calls with Acer.

After the first call, at which school technologies and innovative Acer computing solutions will be discussed, each K-12 customer will be shipped an Acer Aspire® One AOD150-1165 Netbook to try out free for 30 days.

Thirty days after delivery of the system, customers will have a second conference call with Acer to discuss their impressions of the products.

K-12 customers can then:

• Purchase the Aspire® One AOD150-1165 at a discount. Only one system is available at the discounted price.

OR

• Return the Aspire® One AOD150-1165 to Acer and owe nothing. Return shipping will be paid by Acer. Please keep the original packaging, you will need this should you decide to return the product.

The Acer K-12 Seed Unit Program runs from March 2009 to September 30, 2009. All Acer K-12 Seed Unit Program applications must be received by August 31, 2009.

Apply online - it takes 1 minute!

School Grant Recipients Listed by State

Duncan Announces $18.5 Million to Improve School Libraries and Increase Reading in Low-Income Schools

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the award of $18.5 million to enhance libraries in 57 low-income school districts across the United States.

The grants will help schools improve reading achievement by providing students with increased access to current school library materials; technologically advanced media centers; and professionally certified media specialists.

Funded through the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program, grants can be used to acquire books and other library holdings; improve school libraries' technological resources and capabilities; facilitate Internet links and other resource-sharing networks; provide professional development for library personnel; enhance opportunities for collaboration among library specialists, teachers and administrators; and expand hours of access to library services.

Below is a list of the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries grant recipients:

AK -- Kuspuk School District, $453,404
AK -- Yukon Flats School District, $299,479
AR -- Blytheville, $302,600
AR -- Little Rock School District, $325,557
AR -- Pocahontas School District, $219,911.
AZ -- Ecadamie High School, $238,118
AZ -- Santa Cruz County RSD #99, $381,931
CA -- Dinuba Unified School District, $466,779
CA -- Round Valley Unified School District, $246,046
CO -- City and County of Denver, $479,359
CT -- Waterbury School District, $500,000
FL -- Holmes District School Board, $215,236
GA -- Marietta Independent School District, $295,945
IL -- Chicago Heights School District 170, $587,519
IL -- Chicago Public Schools, District #299, $498,034
IL -- East St. Louis School District 189, $408,302
KY -- Letcher County Public Schools, $332,297
LA -- NOLA 180 - Langston Hughes Academy, $161,142
LA -- Webster Parish School Board, $498,149
MA -- Springfield Public Schools, $298,222.
ME -- Maine School Administrative District 43, $407,543
ME -- Waterville Public Schools, $243,646
MS -- Gulfport School District, $322,786
NC -- Bladen County Schools, $495,381
ND -- Warwick School District 29, $340,451
NY -- Board of Education, Buffalo NY, $238,934
NY -- Copenhagen Central School District, $135,000
NY -- Hornell City School District, $298,936
NY -- Rochester City School District, $300,000
NY -- Salamanca City Central School District, $273,189
NY -- Utica City School District, $230,864
OK -- Atoka Public Schools, $121,896
OK -- Cottonwood Public Schools, $175,954
OK -- Eufaula Public Schools, $185,562
OK -- Hominy Public School, $191177
OK -- Hulbert Public Schools, $167,800
OK -- Panama Public School, $299,967
OK -- Stratford Public School District I002, $152,613
OK -- Tulsa Public Schools, $487,647
PA -- Allentown City School District, $455,474
PA -- Nueva Esperanza Academy Charter HS, $177,357
PA -- Oswayo Valley School District, $292,706
PA -- Williamsport Area School District, $250,000
SC -- Florence School District One, $498,688
SD -- Eagle Butte School District 20-1, $286,117
TN -- Bedford County Schools, $422,327
TN -- Campbell County School District, $189,158
TN -- Fentress County Board of Education, $387,851
TX -- Chilton Schools, $329,095
TX -- Everman Independent School District, $340,000
TX -- Galveston ISD, $500,000
TX -- Ingram Independent School District, $296,571
TX -- Navasota ISD -- Grant Services, $369,876
TX -- Pleasanton Independent School District, $499,992
WI -- Milwaukee Public Schools, $500,000
WI -- School District of Bayfield, $209,838
WI -- School District of Westfield, $264,610

Learn more about this program.
Source: U.S. Department of Education

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What is the Value of $125,000-a-Year Teachers?

So what kind of teachers could a school get if it paid them $125,000 a year?

An accomplished violist who infuses her music lessons with the neuroscience of why one needs to practice, and creatively worded instructions like, “Pass the melody gently, as if it were a bowl of Jell-O!”

A self-described “explorer” from Arizona who spent three decades honing her craft at public, private, urban and rural schools.

Two with Ivy League degrees.

And Joe Carbone, a phys ed teacher, who has the most unusual résumé of the bunch, having worked as Kobe Bryant’s personal trainer.

They are members of an eight-teacher dream team, lured to an innovative charter school that will open in Washington Heights in September with salaries that would make most teachers drop their chalk and swoon; $125,000 is nearly twice as much as the average New York City public school teacher earns, and about two and a half times as much as the national average for teacher salaries. They also will be eligible for bonuses, based on schoolwide performance, of up to $25,000 in the second year.

Are you worth $125,000 a year? Tell us why (or why not)...
Read this post and send feedback via Twitter or on our BLOG.

View the complete article.
(New York Times 06.04.09)

Six Flags Great America Discount Code

Six Flags Great America is extending a special offer to all Chicago Public School employees this summer.

June 19, 20 and 21 will be Chicago Public Schools Employee Appreciation Days at Six Flags Great America - Chicago.

All CPS employees are invited to visit Six Flags Great America on one of these days, for the discounted admission price of $26, which is less than a half-price ticket!

One dollar from each ticket purchased by CPS employees, through this exclusive offer, will benefit Chicago Public Schools.

Offer details:

· You may purchase a ticket for June 19, 20 or 21, 2009. Tickets are valid on one day only.

· Tickets are available online only at SixFlags.com. Enter the promo code CPS in the upper right-hand corner and pick the park Six Flags Great America, Chicago.

· Tickets can be purchased between May 29 and June 21.

· CPS employees can print the tickets at the time of purchase, and must present tickets for park admission.

· The $26 ticket price is tax inclusive, and the $5 processing fee per order has been waived. Children aged two and younger are admitted free of charge.

· For park-related questions, contact the Six Flags Great America sales department at (847) 249-1952.

· For questions related to a ticket order, contact (407) 956-3594.

Looking for more fun-filled summer activities for your students?
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Obama Releases FY 2010 Budget Request

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On May 7, President Obama released his Fiscal Year 2010 budget request, including $46.7 billion in discretionary funding for the U.S. Department of Education.

The request (an increase of $1.3 billion over last year's regular appropriation) builds on the investments already made in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to give preschoolers the skills they need to prepare for kindergarten, turn-around under-performing schools, and improve teacher effectiveness.

It also significantly increases the federal government's commitment to make college accessible and affordable to all students. Among the highlights:

-$500 million for a new program of Title I Early Childhood Grants, which would encourage school districts to use Title I funds under the ARRA to start or expand Title I preschool programs.

-$300 million for a new Early Learning Challenge Fund, a central component of the President's Zero-to-Five initiative, to help states develop or refine systems for rating and improving the quality of early learning programs.

-$10 million for the Promise Neighborhoods initiative, to provide one-year planning grants to non-profit, community-based organizations to develop comprehensive neighborhood programs that supply the necessary support for children and youth from preschool through college.

-$162.5 million for Early Reading First, an increase of $50 million to expand support for high-quality, research-based early literacy services for preschool children.

-$370.4 million for an expanded Striving Readers program, with a $35 million increase for adolescent literacy demonstration grants and $300 million for a new initiative to help districts implement comprehensive and coherent programs of reading instruction for elementary school children.

-$517.3 million for the Teacher Incentive Fund, an increase of $420 million to stimulate state and local efforts to strengthen the educator workforce, in particular by providing financial rewards for teachers, principals, and other personnel who raise student achievement, close achievement gaps, and work in hard-to-staff schools.

-$1.5 billion for Title I Improvement Grants, an increase of $1 billion to help ensure that states and districts have the resources to develop and implement improvement plans for the growing numbers of schools (including middle and high schools) identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring.

-$50 million for a High School Graduation Initiative, to promote innovative strategies for increasing high school graduation rates, particularly in the "dropout factories" that graduate 60% or fewer of their students.

-Raising the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,550, an increase of $200 over the 2009 level, indexing the maximum Pell Grant to grow faster than inflation in future years, and making Pell Grant funding mandatory, to eliminate the perennial uncertainty created for students and parents.

-Saving $21 billion over five years by making all new higher education student loans through the Direct Loan program and saving $3.2 billion over five years by restructuring and expanding the Federal Perkins Loans program to serve five times as many students.

The request supports these priorities while proposing significant savings—abolishing 12 ineffective programs and cutting unnecessary personnel—that are essential to meeting the President's goal of reducing the annual federal deficit in half over the next five years.

For details, click here.
Get state-by-state tables on allocations.
Source: Department of Education

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Secretary Duncan Urges 'States to Act Now' and Submit Stimulus Fund Applications

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan urged states to submit applications for State Fiscal Stabilization Funds as quickly as possible, saying teaching jobs are at risk and reforms must move forward.

"We have an urgent need to reform our schools and prevent teacher layoffs," said Duncan. "The Department is turning around applications within nine days on average. States that have not yet applied need to do so now."

Of the over $100 billion stimulus dollars designated for education, $48.6 billion was designated for the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. On April 1, the first $32.6 billion was made available. This includes $26.6 billion exclusively for K-12 and higher education and $6 billion for education, public safety or other government services.

So far, nearly $13 billion has been awarded to 13 states: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah and Wisconsin. Another nine states and Puerto Rico have applied: Tennessee, Rhode Island, Indiana, North Carolina, Washington, Idaho, Massachusetts, Virginia and Iowa.

In addition to the stabilization funds, $11.4 billion under the Title I, IDEA, Vocational Rehabilitation and Independent Living programs was available on April 1. Title I programs serve schools with large concentrations of low-income students. IDEA funds serve students with disabilities. A second round of Title I and IDEA funds will be available later in the year.

Source: Department of Education

Looking for Title I materials?
Chicago School Supply has got you covered!

Chicago School Supply launches a new ecommerce site

Chicago School Supply is pleased to announce the launch of its newest website Office Supply Sanity!

Office Supply Sanity offers over 35,000 office, technology, janitorial, sanitation, furniture and equipment supplies.

If you like shopping on SchooDoodle (we just shipped order number 6,800 - so many of you do!), you will love shopping on Office Supply Sanity. In addition to the helpful (live and local) customer service reps and highest-levels of security, you will receive your order delivered the next day for FREE!

Got that? All orders deliver NEXT DAY for FREE!

One more time...all orders deliver NEXT DAY for FREE - that includes furniture and equipment that has to be sent via a truck!!

You can also request a copy of our 1,600 page Office Supplies catalog to be mailed to you free of charge - click here to request a copy.

Thank you for reading our shameless promotion of Office Supply Sanity. We will continue to deliver FREE LESSON PLANS via our blog, but will also update you on our new resources and sale coupons as they become available.

Place an order on Office Supply Sanity before March 1st and enter coupon code blog for 20% off of your entire purchase.

U.S. Is Substantially Behind Other Nations in Providing Teacher Professional Development

Every year, nine in 10 of the nation’s three million teachers participate in professional development designed to improve their content knowledge, transform their teaching, and help them respond to student needs. These activities, which can include workshops, study groups, mentoring, classroom observations, and numerous other formal and informal learning experiences, have mixed results in how they effect student achievement.

Research shows that professional learning can have a powerful effect on teacher skills and knowledge and on student learning. To be effective, however, it must be sustained, focused on important content, and embedded in the work of collaborative professional learning teams that support ongoing improvements in teachers’ practice and student achievement.

A comprehensive new report released last week by researchers from Stanford University and the National Staff Development Council (NSDC) finds that while the United States is making progress in providing support and mentoring for new teachers and focusing on bolstering content knowledge, the type of support and on-the-job training most teachers receive is episodic, often fragmented, and disconnected from real problems of practice. The report also reviews promising strategies in high-performing nations and U.S. states.

The report – Professional Learning in the Learning Profession: A Status Report on Teacher Development in the U.S. and Abroad – documents some progress but many serious problems in teacher development today:

Improvement in support for new teachers. According to the report, U.S. public schools have begun to recognize and respond to the need to provide more support for new teachers. Nationally, in 2003-04, more than two-thirds (68 percent) of public school teachers with fewer than five years of experience reported participating in a teacher induction program during the first year of teaching, and 71 percent reported being assigned some kind of mentor teacher.

Workshop overload. Research shows that professional development should not be approached in isolation as the traditional “flavor of the month” or one-shot workshop but go hand-in-hand with school improvement efforts. The report finds that teachers still take a heavy dose of workshops and do not receive effective learning opportunities in many areas in which they want help.

Little intensity, short duration. While rigorous studies indicate that intensive professional development efforts that offer an average of about 50 hours of support a year can make a significant impact on student achievement, raising test scores by an average of 21 percentage points, the majority of teachers in the United States (57 percent) receives no more than about two days (16 hours) of training in their subject areas. Fewer than one-quarter (23 percent) of all teachers receive more than 36 hours of professional learning in their subject areas.

Working in isolation. U.S. teachers report little professional collaboration in designing curriculum and sharing practices, and the collaboration that occurs tends to be weak and not focused on strengthening teaching and learning.

Major blind spots. Teachers are not getting adequate training in teaching special education or limited English proficient students. More than two-thirds of teachers nationally had not had even one day of training in supporting the learning of special education or LEP students during the previous three years, and only one-third agreed that they had been given the support they needed to teach students with special needs.

Lack of utility. Teachers give relatively high marks to content-related learning opportunities, with 59 percent saying this training was useful or very useful. But fewer than half found the professional development they received in other areas, such as classroom management, to be of much value, despite the fact that they want more support in this area.

Out-of-pocket payments. U.S. teachers, unlike many of their colleagues around the world, bear much of the cost of their professional development. While most teachers were given some time off during the work day to pursue professional learning opportunities, fewer than half received reimbursement for travel, workshop fees, or college expenses.

Variation in support and opportunity among schools and states. A lower percentage of secondary school teachers reported participating in district-planned professional development than did elementary school teachers. Among states, Arkansas, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont had significantly higher proportions of teachers participating in professional learning than the national average.

Limited influence in decision-making. In many high-achieving nations where teacher collaboration is the norm, teachers have substantial influence on school-based decisions, especially in the development of curriculum and assessment, and in the design of their own professional learning. In the United States, however, less than one-fourth of teachers feel they have great influence over school decisions and policies in seven different areas noted in the SASS surveys. A scant majority feel that they have some influence over curriculum and setting performance standards for students, though fewer than half perceived that they had some influence over the content of their in-service professional development. And very few felt they had influence over school.

Source: National Staff Development Council

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New Report Focuses on Why States Fail to Retain New Teachers

A new report finds that the laws and regulations of a majority of states discourage promising new teachers from sticking with the profession, while doing little to identify and move out ineffective teachers.

The report, released by the not-for-profit, non-partisan National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), finds that states:

1) do not require sufficient support and evaluation of new teachers, a problem since most districts rarely opt to exceed state requirements;

2) do not require or even allow a teacher’s effectiveness to be considered when granting tenure, although states control how and when tenure is awarded;

3) cling to anachronistic compensation schemes rather than advancing differentiated pay systems;

4) are lagging in the development of the systems necessary for identifying effective teachers;

5) place a disproportionate emphasis on providing pension benefits to retiring teachers at the expense of providing benefits that would appeal to younger teachers; and

6) allow far too many ineffective teachers to remain in the classroom and gain tenure, including teachers who repeatedly fail to meet the state’s own licensing standards.

NCTQ President Kate Walsh said, “The third through fifth years of teaching represent an opportunity lost for teacher quality. That’s certainly when teachers begin to add real value, and it’s also when they tend to make decisions about staying or leaving. States can help districts do much more to ensure that the right teachers stay and the right teachers leave."

The 2008 State Teacher Policy Yearbook finds that state regulations are in need of significant reforms in order to improve teacher quality and offers states specific guidelines for rectifying substandard policies.

NCTQ, in consultation with over 150 leading thinkers, organizations, and teachers in the country, identified 15 policy goals that support the retention of effective new teachers. While no one state represents a national model for change, NCTQ found South Carolina to be leading other states, earning a rating of B-.

South Carolina has particularly noteworthy policies for ensuring that ineffective teachers do not remain in the classroom. Other states with some strong and effective policies in particular areas are Alabama, Ohio, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Tennessee, all of which received an overall grade of C. Eight states received a C-, 30 states received a grade in the D range, and six received an F. Key findings include:

States' laws ensure that teachers can gain tenure without demonstrating they are effective: States do virtually nothing to establish teachers' effectiveness in the classroom before awarding them permanent employment status—more commonly known as tenure.

States are complicit in keeping far too many ineffective teachers in the classroom: Although it is local districts that hire and fire teachers, states could do considerably more to ensure that ineffective teachers do not remain in the classroom indefinitely.

State policies raise unnecessary barriers for advancing in the profession, and could do much more to influence teachers’ decisions to stay or go: In the areas of compensation, certification and induction, there is much more states could do to support the retention of effective teachers early in their careers.

State pension systems are generally inflexible and unfair to all teachers, but they particularly disadvantage teachers early in their careers: States continue to provide teachers with expensive and inflexible pension plans that do not reflect the realities of the modern workforce.

Each state’s Yearbook, as well as a national summary, is immediately available for free download.

Source: National Council on Teacher Quality

Free Lesson Plans are Back!

Have you missed SchooDoodle's free lesson plan postings?

Well we have missed you!!

We experienced some technical difficulties, but we are now back and better than ever! Well, we're back, anyway!!

Please be on the look out for more FREE lesson plans soon.

Thank you for your patience...

Report Shows Success of All-Day Kindergarten

When she began kindergarten, 5-year-old Betsy Hernandez spoke no English. Now, nearly halfway through the school year, she's singing along with classmates at Philo T. Farnsworth Elementary School, learning the order of months and knows nearly all the letters of the alphabet.

"I love kindergarten," Betsy said in a small voice Thursday as she arranged colored tiles into the shape of a flower after a math lesson. "In recess I go play with my friends."

Betsy's teacher, Jane Crawford, credits her progress partly to attending all-day kindergarten.

Betsy's school, along with about 178 others statewide, is part of the state's $30 million Optional Extended Day Kindergarten program, which is now in its second year. The program's first year, according to a recent State Office of Education report, was a major success with extended-day kindergartners advancing faster than their half-day peers and few parents turning down the opportunity."

View the complete article
(The Salt Lake Tribute 12.08.08)

NSSEA Membership Sends Letter of Support to Obama Administration

Chicago School Supply and fellow members of the National School Supply and Equipment Association (NSSEA) recently sent a letter to President-Elect Barack Obama outlining the most pressing concerns of the NSSEA membership as identified by the NSSEA Legislative Committee.

“We believe it is vital that our students acquire the world-class skills necessary to compete in the global economy,” writes NSSEA President/CEO Tim Holt.

“This requires access to a wide range of educational materials that empower teachers and help each child fulfill his or her potential. It also demands flexibility on the part of teachers in choosing the products that will help them do the best job possible in educating our children.”

Read the full letter and share your comments!

SchooDoodle partners with Blissfully Domestic

Chicago School Supply, SchooDoodle.com, and Blissfully Domestic are pleased to announce a new partnership for 2009!

Blissfully Domestic - Everything you need to make family life easier - will be sharing some of the greatest lesson plans and resources that you enjoy on our SchooDoodle.com blog.

In addition to sharing these resources, SchooDoodle.com writers will also develop new content and teacher resources exclusively for Blissfully Domestic! Our initial offerings can be found on Homeschool Bliss, a section on the Blissfully Domestic sites.

Please send feedback and let us know what lesson plans and classroom resources you would like to see made available. Email inquiries can be sent to WebInfo@ChicagoSchoolSupply.com

Thank you for visiting SchooDoodle.com!

IS GREAT TEACHING ENOUGH?

IS GREAT TEACHING ENOUGH? The Impact of School-Community Connections on the Achievement Gap

Today I attended the second in a three part series: 10th Anniversary Schools Policy Luncheon Series. The event is co-sponsored by Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (BPI) and Catalyst Chicago. The theme of this year’s series is “Is Great Teaching Enough?” This theme is inspired by thought-provoking new research reported by the Consortium on Chicago School Research, which ties the health of communities, as well as the degree of parent and community involvement in schools, to student achievement.

We were treated to a great presentation by students from the recently reorganized (or "turn-around") Orr High School on Chicago's west side. The school, which is located in an economically depressed neighborhood (Austin), has been reorganized four times! This most recent structure change brought three separate schools (all housed at the Orr Campus) together to create one institution - Orr High School.

In doing so, the existing administration, principals, teachers and staff from all three schools were fired and replaced by new, better-qualified leaders. The luncheon provided front line insights from two students and a facilitator for the school transition, as well as detailed research from Dr. Michael Woolley of the University of Chicago.

The synopsis? It takes a village to raise a child. There is a direct correlation between home, school , and community relationships and the impact on academic achievement. Want your children to be successful in both their academic and personal lives? Provide them with a loving, supportive environment that is choked full of successful role models, goal-based motivation, and positive surroundings. The experts refer to this as social capital.

The findings by the Consortium on Chicago School Research shines a light on stark racial and economic patterns. For instance, all of the 46 elementary schools that remain stuck at the bottom of the Chicago Public School achievement list are in overwhelmingly African-American communities where social capital and trust in schools are very low.

Do these data suggest that we are missing a bigger picture – especially in our very lowest capital communities? Are we investing too much in advances in instructional “technical core” at the expense of “softer” relationships, social capital and the organizations and strategies that promote their development? How can communities and parents become powerful assets? (See “Making Connections” in Catalyst’s September 2008 issue for more on this important issue.)

Even with a "can do" attitude, teaching expertise, more social services, strong management, and more money, will new or turn-around schools fare any differently without dealing with the community social capital issues? What are the implications for community leaders, intermediary institutions, and Chicago Public Schools?

Interested in joining the discussion? All three luncheons will be held at the Union League Club of Chicago. Registration is at 11:30 with lunch and program from 12:00 to 1:30. Click here to download a registration form.

Consider joining the next luncheon - Wednesday, January 21st - as the group considers this important research and its implications for Chicago community and civic leaders, intermediary institutions, businesses and the Chicago Public School system.

Middle-Class Families in Difficult Pre-K Pinch According to a New Report

For far too many middle-class families, the very program proven to help all young children enter school ready to learn and succeed is beyond their reach, according to a new report released today by Pre-K Now. "The Pre-K Pinch: Early Education and the Middle Class" reveals that eligibility requirements and prohibitively high costs lead such families to sacrifice basic household needs to pay for early education and care for their children, or to settle for low-quality options with unproven benefits.

"This report reveals a quiet tragedy occurring across the country, one that is straining families and preventing children from getting the early learning opportunities they need," said Libby Doggett, executive director of Pre-K Now. "In spite of their commitment to education and valiant efforts to stretch the household budget, a huge number of families are still locked out of the rooms that would prepare their children to thrive in school and in life."

Through quantitative analysis and personal stories, the report demonstrates middle class families’ need for and struggle to afford quality early education programs when they do not qualify for state pre-kindergarten programs. Unlike K-12, state pre-k programs for 3- and 4- year-olds primarily target low-income children. Of the 38 states that fund pre-k programs, 20 use family income as an important or the sole criterion for eligibility. In most of these states, families earning more than 200 percent of the federal poverty threshold ($42,400 for a family of four) are not eligible.

Meanwhile, the cost of early education programs has risen faster than inflation for more than a decade: Between 1996 and 2006, while overall prices rose by about 30 percent, the cost of early education and care increased 60 percent. Often, these programs rank as one of the top two or three most costly household expenditures above food, healthcare, and even in-state college tuition.

"The Pre-K Pinch" reveals two false assumptions underlying income-eligibility limits: first, that such families can afford other kinds of early education and care programs; second, that children from middle-income households don’t need and wouldn’t significantly benefit from pre-k. Overwhelming evidence indicates that neither of these assumptions is valid.

"The cost of early education and care is one of the highest expenses for families with young children," said Albert Wat, the report’s primary author. "Although many states face tight budgets, increasing access to pre-k would provide relief to middle-class families and would more than pay for itself in cost savings down the road," said Wat.

Source: PreK Now

Download the entire study.

Chicago Games in Education Forum - State of Illinois Certified Provider of CPDU Credits

Sponsored by Chicago School Supply and Games for Educators

State of Illinois Certified Provider of CPDU Credits

Saturday, November 22, 2008 Program

Teacher Golden Game Awards – sponsored by Games for Educators and Jax Games
Send your nominations for an educator using games in the classroom to mary@gamesforeducators.com. The winning educator will be announced at the Games in Education Forum and will win a box of games for their classroom. Deadline November 21st.


Games in Education Forum:
Saturday November 22nd, 1 pm – 6 pm – You are our Guest!

As an Approved State of Illinois CPDU Provider, this Forum will provide professional development seminars on how and why to use games in the curriculum. Professional educators, parent educators, administrators, and future educators are all invited to attend. Topics include but are not limited to:

· Why games are good for the brain
· How to evaluate games for their educational potential
· How others are integrating games into their educational programs
· How to differentiate instruction using games
· How games evolve to match developmental levels from early childhood to adulthood
· Practical exercise in evaluating and using games in the curriculum


SCHEDULE OF PRESENTERS

1:00 Michael Ockrim, Chicago School Supply, welcome and opening remarks

1:30 Games and Teachers - Ways to Use Games in the Classroom
Presented by Patrick Matthews, Publisher, GamesforEducation.com and Live Oak Games

2:00 Presentation of Golden Game Award sponsored by JAX Games
Games that help meet your curriculum goals
Presented by Barb Olson of JAX games

2:30 The Benefits of Block Play in K-12 Classrooms
Presented by Ben Takemori, Kapla Master Builder

3:00 Out of the Box – Games how to use games effectively in the classroom.
Presented by Pat Fuge of Gnome Games for Out of the Box Publishing

3:30 The Benefits of Chess on Academic Performance and Creative Thinking.
Presented by Jorge Barrera, the Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation

4:00 Feed Your Head. How the human brain actually develops from pre-natal to middle-age and beyond and the way in which board games stimulate neurological growth.
Presented by Graeme Thomson, Director, HL Games USA Ltd.

4:30 Peanut Butter and Jelly: Math in the Games
Presented by Kay Emerson, President & Founder of Zillio

Go Green for a Good Cause - FREE!

Introducing the recycling program that gives as much as it gets - and it is FREE!

By requesting to become a part of the Link 360 Recycling Program through SchooDoodle and Chicago School Supply, your school or office will not only help reduce the impact on the nation's landfills, but you will also help someone in need!

How can you get involved (for FREE):

1. Contact Chicago School Supply and let us know you are interested in participating in this important program. We will supply you with a FREE cartridge collection and shipping box that has a PRE-PAID UPS return label attached.
2. Place empty laser, fax, ink cartridges or cellphones back into their original boxes and then into the Link 360 recycling container. Seal the recycling container once it is full.
3. Give the container to your UPS driver or drop it off at a local UPS return center - did we mention that the container contains a pre-paid UPS return label?!?!
4. Enjoy knowing that a donation will be made to the City of Hope for reusable cartridges you recycle!

What are you waiting for? Contact us today and we will send you a Link 360 Recycling Container for FREE! Email Mike@ChicagoSchoolSupply.com or call toll free (866) 648-2668

Join the testing and curriculum evaluation team

Copernicus Educational Products, Inc. is seeking a few good educators!

At Copernicus, it is thier mission to better understand the needs of educators rightdown to the littlest detail. Every year Copernicus has the pleasure of working with teachers from all across North America, within a wide range of specialties.

Join the team!

Be a part ot their testing and curriculum evaluation team or simply provide feedback from time to time. Send an email to info@copernicused.com with your name, email address, mailing address and phone number. Be sure to include what you teach today or have taught in the past, as well as that you are a fan of SchooDoodle.com!

Members of the testing and evaluation team are compensated for their time and effort, so do not delay...join today!

Thank you!

To the current Copernicus team of educators, we thank you for all of your input, ideas and feedback, we wouldn't be here without you;

Carol Schenk, Wendy Fallis, Beth Leibovitz, Jessica Meacham, Eva Pacitti, Manon Lavigne, Pamela Vigna, Tiffany Stewary, Pauline Tetley, Deana Spencer, Stacy Cervone, Pina Hackman, Cheryl McCabe, Marilyn Acheson.

Professional Educators and Parents Invited to Attend 'Games in Education Forum' November 22, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2008

Contact:
Mike Ockrim
Chicago School Supply
mike@chicagoschoolsupply.com
(866) 648 2668

Professional Educators and Parents Invited to Attend 'Games in Education Forum' November 22, 2008

Free Educational Forum Co-Sponsored by Chicago School Supply and Games for Educators is a State of Illinois Certified Provider of CPDU Credits Event.

Chicago- Parents, teachers and school administrators who want to learn how to incorporate games into the learning process are encouraged to attend the Games in Education Forum a free event taking place on Saturday November 22 from 1-6pm at Navy Pier's Festival Hall A. Participants in this educational event will attend professional development seminars on how and why to use games in the curriculum. Chicago School Supply CEO Mike Ockrim a presenter and is co-sponsoring this event with Games for Educators. "Creative play has always been an important teaching tool and I think this forum will help anyone interested in learning how to incorporate fun learning in their classrooms and homes" says Ockrim.

Other forum presenters include Ben Takemori, a Kapla Master Builder; Barbara Olsen of Jax Games; Pat Fuge of Out of the Box Publishing; representatives from Renaissance Knights Chess Organization; Graeme Thomson, a columnist for Games for Educators and Director of HL Games; and Patrick Matthews, Publisher of Games for Educators and President of Live Oak Games. Speakers will be presenting such topics as why games are good for the brain, how to evaluate games for their educational potential and demonstrate how some teachers are already integrating games into their educational programs.

"This event is not limited to teachers. We hope to see parents, school administrators and future educators benefit from this information" says Ockrim. Admission to the Games in Education Forum is free and open to the public but a reservation is required . To make a reservation, email mary@gamesforeducators.com or call 847-677-8277 with your name and your school to reserve your seat.

Chicago School Supply, http://www.chicagoschoolsupply.com/, serves public and private school administrators, principals, teachers and parents throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Their online retail store, http://www.schoodoodle.com/ and their weblog, http://www.schoodoodle.com/blog/ are resources for teachers and home schoolers seeking tips, free lesson plans, articles and educational materials.

Games for Educators is a Web site provided by the Chicago Toy & Game Fair and Live Oak Games to promote the use of games in education. Visit their site at http://www.gamesforeducators.com/ for more information.

Parents Pull Kids from Day Care as Money Tightens

The nation's economic troubles play out one family at a time at the New Horizons Learning Center in this struggling city two hours northwest of Chicago.

Some parents have been laid off and must pull their children out of the day care center until they can find a job. Others' employment hours have been cut, so they reduce their kids' attendance to a few days a week.

Financial strains prompt one mother to pay with a postdated check. Another chooses to work in the middle of the night—after putting her kids to bed—because of the extra dollar per hour that shift brings. And the stress shows on the faces of the children who can't understand why their friends, without explanation, stop coming.

Parents nationwide are telling day care providers they must scale back or abandon their services. Instead, they keep kids at home with grandparents or upend their work-life balance because gas and food prices have become prohibitive and average child care costs outpace rent and mortgage payments—even for those drawing salaries.

View the complete article.
(USA Today 11.08.08)

Chicago Toy and Game Fair - Games in Education Forum

Sponsored by Chicago School Supply and Games for Educators
State of Illinois Certified Provider of CPDU Credits
Saturday, November 22, 2008 Program

Teacher Golden Game Awards – sponsored by Games for Educators and Jax Games
Send your nominations for an educator using games in the classroom to mary@gamesforeducators.com. The winning educator will be announced at the Games in Education Forum and will win a box of games for their classroom. Deadline November 17th.

Games in Education Forum - Saturday November 22nd, 1 pm – 6 pm – You are our Guest!As an Approved State of Illinois CPDU Provider, this Forum will provide professional development seminars on how and why to use games in the curriculum. Professional educators, parent educators, administrators, and future educators are all invited to attend. Topics include but are not limited to:

· Why games are good for the brain
· How to evaluate games for their educational potential
· How others are integrating games into their educational programs
· How to differentiate instruction using games
· How games evolve to match developmental levels from early childhood to adulthood
· Practical exercise in evaluating and using games in the curriculum

Presenters include Michael Ockrim of Chicago School Supply, Ben Takemori – Kapla Master Builder, Barbara Olsen of Jax Games, Pat Fuge for Out of the Box Publishing, Renaissance Knights Chess Organization, Graeme Thomson, columnist for Games for Educators and Director HL Games and Patrick Matthews, Publisher of Games for Educators and President of Live Oak Games.

Admission to the Forum and Chicago Toy and Game Fair (info below) is also complimentary (you are our guest and there is a $2 coupon on the website for friends and family), but a reservation is required for the Forum. Please email mary@gamesforeducators.com or call 847-677-8277 with your name and your school to reserve your seat.

Events For Students:

WorldBee on Stage Saturday November 22nd at 2 pm

Young Inventor Challenge – Registration Extended to November 17th
The winning inventor will be featured in Inventor’s Digest, receive a year’s subscription from Inventor’s Digest, a box of games and lunch for her/him and their family with Mike Hirtle, Head of Global Product Acquisition and Inventor Relations at Hasbro, Dave Okada, Vice President, Inventor Relations at Mattel and Chip Voigt, President of Fundex. What inventor wouldn't want such an opportunity! And they, as well as other industry executives, will be reviewing all toy and game inventions in the Challenge!

Chicago Toy and Game Fair, Chi-TAG
Preview, play and purchase the hottest new toys and games from around the world. Raffles, tournaments, prizes, live entertainment, NASCAR, Star Wars Character Breakfast, Dynamite Girls Fashion Doll Breakfast, Young Inventors' Challenge (great prizes), the 501st Legion, costumed characters, toy drive and events for all ages.

Visit the Chicago School Supply booth to play with the newest craze - Flubber! We will also have our large sandboxes full of MoonSand available to play in, as well as the popular InstaSnow!!

Navy Pier's Festival Hall A on Saturday and Sunday, November 22nd and 23rd, 10am-6pm. $10 per adult, $5 per child 13 and under, free for ages 3 and under, educators and Scouts in uniform. $10 off parking coupons available at event. For more information: www.chitag.com or 847-677-8277.

Students In Major Cities Perform Better Compared to International Peers

Students in six major U.S. cities are performing on par or better in mathematics than their peers in other countries in grades 4 and 8, according to a new study by the American Institutes for Research (AIR).

However, students from five other major cities are not faring as well, and overall, U.S. student performance in mathematics falls off from elementary to middle school grades — and remains behind many industrialized nations, particularly Asian nations.

The report, Counting on the Future: International Benchmarks in Mathematics for American School Districts, offers the first comparison between students from large U.S. cities and their international peers. The study compares U.S. 4th grade students with their counterparts in 24 countries and 8th grade students with peers in 45 countries.

“If you are a student today competing for jobs, the good jobs will not go to the best in your graduating class - they will go to the best in the world,” said Dr. Gary W. Phillips, a Chief Scientist with AIR and the lead author of the report.

Dr. Phillips presented his findings on Thursday, October, 23, 2008 at the annual fall conference of the Council of the Great City Schools in Houston, Texas. He served as the acting commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education from 1999 – 2002, and is nationally known for his expertise in large-scale assessments and complex surveys.

The study found that students in grades 4 and 8 from Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Houston, New York and San Diego performed better or on par with their peers in other countries. Students from Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, the District of Columbia and Los Angeles performed below the international average.

When comparing students who are “proficient” on two math benchmarks, the United States places higher than the international average at grade 4 and grade 8. However, the nation’s performance overall was significantly lower than that for Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, Japan and the Flemish portion of Belgium at grade 4; for grade 8, the nation’s students also had fallen behind the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands and Hungary.

“Large urban cities are intimately connected to the nations of the world,” said Dr. Phillips. “Large international corporations locate their businesses in our cities, foreign students attend our schools and our own businesses export goods and services to foreign nations. Large urban cities need to know how their students stack up against their peers in the nations with which we do business.”

To view the complete study, click here.
Source: The American Institutes for Research

Report Reveals High Parent Frustration with America's High Schools

Parents across America share high hopes for their children's academic success and many know their involvement is vital.

But parents with students in low-performing high schools say their schools don't give them the tools and information they need to be more effective in helping their students succeed, according to a national report released.

"One Dream, Two Realities: Perspectives of Parents on America's High Schools," by Civic Enterprises, and based on research conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, captures the views of parents of high school students in America's urban, suburban, and rural communities from diverse backgrounds and income levels.

The findings point to concrete steps that can improve parental engagement in schools and strengthen efforts to prepare all young people for success in college and the workplace. The report was commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"The critical role parents play in educating children is often a blind assumption or a target of attack," said John Bridgeland, president and CEO of Civic Enterprises and co-author of the report. "The findings of this report call for a halt to the blame game. This report disproves the prevailing myth that low-income parents are not interested in their children's academic success. The opposite is true. Parents, especially those with students trapped in low-income or low-performing schools, desperately want to be involved and want their students to succeed. What parents need is an access point—a way into schools—so they can become partners in helping students learn and achieve."

Many parents surveyed believe that schools should do a better job of reaching out to them or engaging them as partners, particularly parents of students in low-performing schools.

In fact, 80 percent of all parents surveyed, and 85 percent of parents of students in low-performing schools, believe parents should be involved as advocates for their children when it comes to picking courses and teachers.

The report reveals a stark contrast between the experiences of parents with students in low-performing schools and those with students in high-performing schools.

According to the survey:

-Only 15 percent of parents with students at low-performing schools feel that their school is doing a very good job challenging students, compared with 58 percent of parents with students in high-performing schools.

-Forty-seven percent of parents with students in low-performing schools said that their schools were doing a good job in encouraging parents to be involved compared to 85 percent of parents with students in high-performing schools.

-Twenty-five percent of parents with students in low-performing schools say that their school informed them about academic and disciplinary problems compared to more than half (53 percent) of parents with students in high-performing schools.

-Less than 20 percent of parents with students in low-performing schools believe schools do a very good job preparing their students across four categories: preparation for college; helping students develop confidence, maturity, and personal skills; developing a special talent; and preparing them for a good job. Half of parents with students in high-performing schools feel this way.

-Half of parents of students in low-performing schools said they felt welcomed in the schools compared to four out of five parents with students in high-performing schools.

Each year, more than one million students fail to graduate from high school on time. Research shows that when parents are involved, students perform better and are less likely to drop out.

Yet studies have shown that as students grow older, parents tend to become less involved with their children's academic lives due, in part, to unique barriers like difficulty in helping them with homework or lack of resources for parents of high school-aged students.

Source: Civic Enterprises, LLC

Science Evolves in Classroom

In the past six years, science has slipped as a priority in public schools while reading and mathematics have grown dominant.

But in coming years, experts say, the same federal law that elevated reading and math could spark a resurgence of science in the classroom.

The 2002 No Child Left Behind law required states to test students in science starting in the 2007-08 year, on top of reading and math assessments mandated from the start.

Virginia has given science tests since 1998, but the exams are new for Maryland and the District. (Separately, Maryland tests high school students in biology as a graduation requirement.)

To view the complete article, click here.

(The Washington Post 10.27.08)

Looking for FREE science fair resources? Visit ScienceFairSanity.com

Eco-friendly Schools Offer Students Fresh Lessons

On the outside, Great Seneca Creek Elementary School looks in Germantown, MD, much like any other. But inside, it is unmistakably green.

This was the first public school in Maryland to receive certification as "eco-friendly" — a concept catching on in schools around the nation.

Eco-friendly schools offer ways to save energy, improve air quality and educate students about the environment.

Great Seneca fifth-grader Eddie Graves explains it best. "It doesn't use as much water," he says, citing the waterless urinals and motion-activated faucets.

He's standing in the library, where a slanted ceiling helps light bounce off the floor-to-ceiling windows.

The U.S. Green Building Council, a private group, has certified or is considering certification for more than 1,000 schools around the country, most within the past few years, says the council's Taryn Holowka.

Other schools, such as Little Bennett Elementary in Clarksburg, MD have been built green but did not seek certification.

To view the complete article, click here.
(USA Today 10.19.08)

Free Lesson Plan for Teachers - The Story of Stuff

Are you looking to fill 20 minutes of class time with consumer information that is appropriate for both elementary and high school students, as well as applicable to science, economics, history, critical thinking and more?

Sounds too good to be true, right?

We recently watched the 20 minute video on The Story of Stuff website. Annie Leonard takes us from start to finish on where our stuff comes from, and more importantly, where it ends up.

The video is engaging, informative, and succinct. Annie unveils some startling facts about U.S. consumers and their relationships with the environment, other nations, and themselves.

Take 20 minutes and watch this fantastic video - it has over 4 million viewers and has won a SXSW Web Award! Then, find a way to share the video with your students. Your next class period will be choked full of heated discussion that engages each one of your students. They will surely have a thought on at least one of the facts presented.

Next, inspire your learners to explore the Story of Stuff website to identify ways that they can contribute less stuff to society!

States Act To Cushion Wall Street Meltdown

By Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org Staff Writer

Cascading economic problems flowing from the crisis on Wall Street are forcing states to urgently redraw their financial blueprints for the rest of this year and next to cushion the impact of the credit squeeze, staggering paper losses for millions of ordinary Americans and soaring energy prices.

California, which just ended a record 85-day budget impasse, fears its newly-approved plan to balance its books is already $1 billion in the red.

Utah cut most state agency budgets by 3 percent in a Sept. 24 special session, and Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) has rescinded a 3.2 percent pay raise for agency directors in his state.

In New York, the epicenter of the financial cataclysm, Gov. David Paterson (D) is laying the groundwork for a special legislative session to deal with conditions that he expects will add $1 billion to the state’s $6.4 billion deficit. New York, along with New Jersey and Connecticut, will be hard hit by the layoffs of thousands of financial industry employees – by some estimates, the financial sector accounts for as much as one-fifth of their revenues.

“The feeling in the states is that this is going to be a tough fiscal 2009, and 2010 is looking difficult,” said Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers.

The tidal wave of bad news comes on the heels of an already brutal budget year that forced states to dip into rainy day funds, implement hiring freezes and put off projects to collectively plug deficits of more than $40 billion in their fiscal 2009 budgets — triple the $13 billion shortfall they weathered the previous year.

Here’s a rundown of recent state action to deal with the financial emergency:

Florida: Lawmakers moved $672 million from reserves to chip away a projected $1.5 billion deficit for this year. That’s on top of the 4 percent cut Gov. Charlie Crist (R) imposed on all state agencies a day after he signed the new budget.

Hawaii: Gov. Linda Lingle (R) postponed selling $625 million in bonds, saying the state would get a better deal waiting. Some analysts expect the national downturn to lead to a recession in Hawaii as tourism has been hit hard.

Massachusetts: Gov. Deval Patrick (D) is mulling a special session and wants the Legislature to give him broader authority to make emergency budget cuts because tax collections are running $200 million less than a year ago.

Maryland: Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) has directed state agencies to look for budget cuts of up to 5 percent to make a dent in a projected $1 billion deficit by 2010. The governor also is banking on voters Nov. 4 endorsing a ballot measure to legalize slots, a move that proponents say would bring the state $500 million.

Missouri: The turbulent credit market has prompted the state to drop its one-of-a-kind plan that would have combined the design and construction of 800 bridges into one contract.
Pennsylvania: Gov Ed Rendell (D) directed state agencies to reduce spending and eliminate out-of-state travel with the aim of cutting $200 million from this year’s budget.

Virginia: Facing an estimated $3 billion deficit over two years Gov. Tim Kaine (D) plans to start cutting next month and legislators will review the cuts in January.

To read Stateline.org's complete article, click here.
Stateline.org gave permission to reprint a portion of this article.

Financial Crisis Now Striking Home for School Districts

The crisis besetting U.S. and world financial markets is hitting school districts hard, as they struggle to float the bonds needed for capital projects, borrow money to ensure cash flow, and get access to investment funds locked up in troubled institutions.

In Cumberland County, NC, school officials froze plans to build a $20 million elementary school in the 53,000-student district after a neighboring county failed to find buyers for $454 million of its own construction bonds.

The state of Maine has delayed 12 major school construction projects totaling $348 million in 11 school districts. In other states, even districts able to borrow money are paying higher interest rates while bracing for yet another drop in property-tax revenue.

To view the complete article, click here.
(Education Week 10.10.08)

Healthy Halloween Alternatives

First and foremost, the picture of this boy breaks my heart. Shame on the parents for enabling their child to lead an unhealthy and inactive lifestyle. The formula for a high-quality life (from a physical standpoint) is easy - eat healthy and exercise regularly.

Give me a moment to step down from my soap box.

Halloween is around the corner. The boys and I are knee deep in selecting costumes (for them and my wife and me), planning our trick-or-treat route, and accepting party invitations.

Truth be told, Halloween is my least favorite holiday of the year. Thanksgiving - now there is a great holiday! Good food and no gifts. Then three days off to digest and relax!

This year, step out from the standard industrial sweets Halloween and offer the kids in the neighborhood a healthy alternative. NOTE: you must put some effort into this! If you throw something together last minute, you will surely have pumpkins smashed on your driveway in the morning!

Preparing goodies at home is a great way to involve your children in the excitement of Halloween in a more educational manner. Think of all of the math and reading skills you can incorporate by simply following a basic recipe together. There are also extension activities that can be added on throughout the weeks leading up to October 31st.

My son, Nathan, will be dressing us as Curious George this year. In preparation for a party this week, he and I made Monkey Bread for all of his friends (Banana Bread). It is an amazingly simple recipe that involves all sorts of pouring, cracking, mixing, and spraying. What a great way to burn 40 minutes! We were also able to substitute olive oil for butter to lower the saturated fat content and substituted soy milk so that his brother Nick could enjoy the bread without upsetting his milk allergies.

Remember, presentation can go a long way. Break out a few bunches of bananas for a centerpiece. Add monkey cutouts to windows and doors. Frame out the table with monkey trim. Give every child a monkey name tag. Have games and prizes featuring the Curious George books and DVDs. Tell stories with monkey puppets. Play monkey dominoes. Build a jungle scene with flying monkeys.

Need a few more Halloween tips? Checkout PBS Kids and Experience Life Magazine.

Have a safe and healthy Halloween!

Northern Illinois Educational Retailers Association (NIERA) Fall Meeting

Today I attended the fall meeting for the Northern Illinois Educational Retailers Association (NIERA). Our guest speaker was Mr. Gabriel Lopez, a lobbyist and government relations specialist for the State of Illinois.

What does that mean to teachers? Mr. Lopez's job is to impact public policy (read: increase funding for education). Mr. Lopez provided us with the dismal Sate of the State Address, as well as provided us with insight to the fiscal year 2010 budget proposals and a few silver linings.

For FY09, Illinois has roughly a $60B budget. Their $1.8B deficit (read: unpaid bills) is one of the highest in the U.S. FY09 is a No Growth Budget - no growth and no cuts - basically treading water for 12 months and hoping not to drown. Not too positive.

A potentially bright spot is for the fiscal year 2010. The State has approved a bill to lease out the Lottery. This is a new funding stream expected to generate $10B for capital construction projects (i.e. new school construction, school repairs and upgrades, road repair, etc.).

There are also talks of increasing the state's income tax in exchange for discounts given on property taxes. While there are process-slowing politics surrounding this bill (the Gubernatorial Election is in 2010), many see this as a positive revenue addition that will increase budgets in the coming years.

So what is the moral of the story? Buy more school supplies online at SchooDoodle.com! Kidding!! Plan your classroom and school needs around a budget equal to or less than this year's allocation. We will not see increased budgets for a few fiscal years to come.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Dictionary!

Surreptitiously. Surreptitiously tell the person next to you the name of someone you admire. Definition: adv. Secertly; Clandestinely.

Many of us might use the spell check or thesaurus functions on our computers instead of cracking open a print version of dictionary, but those tools are to be credited to Mr. Noah Webster.

He is often referred to as, " the Father of American Scholarship and Education." Over five generations of children across the United States learned spell and read using his Blue-Backed Speller books.

Celebrate Noah's birthday on October 16th by taking a moment to open a print dictionary and add a new word to your vocabulary.

Better yet, play an educational game that will make learning new words fun and bloviating! Checkout our selection of WordTeaser Games for Idioms and College Prep available on SchooDoodle.com.

We also have a large selection of student dictionaries and dictionary workbooks for parent and teacher use.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Dictionary!

Teacher Tax Deduction for School Supplies Passes Congress

On Friday, President Bush signed HR 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 after it passed the House by a vote of 263-171.

In addition to allowing the government to purchase mortgage assets from cash-strapped banks and guaranteeing money market investments, several other parts of the bill include items that directly affect education such as the 2-year extension of tax benefits relating to qualified tuition and expenses, out-of-pocket teacher expenses, Qualified Zone Academy Bonds (QZABs), computer contributions and donations of book inventories.

Using Video Games as Bait to Hook Readers

When PJ Haarsma wrote his first book, a science fiction novel for pre-teenagers, he didn’t think just about how to describe Orbis, the planetary system where the story takes place.

He also thought about how it should look and feel in a video game.

The online game that Haarsma designed not only extends the fictional world of the novel, it also allows readers to play in it.

At the same time, Haarsma very calculatedly gave gamers who might not otherwise pick up a book a clear incentive to read: one way that players advance is by answering questions with information from the novel.

Haarsma is not the only one using video games to spark an interest in books. Increasingly, authors, teachers, librarians and publishers are embracing this fast-paced, image-laden world in the hope that the games will draw children to reading.

Spurred by arguments that video games also may teach a kind of digital literacy that is becoming as important as proficiency in print, libraries are hosting gaming tournaments, while schools are exploring how to incorporate video games in the classroom.

To view the complete article, click here.
(The New York Times 10.05.08)

10 Free Scholarships for Minorities

Ron Brown Scholarships
http://www.ronbrown.org/home.aspx

FastWEB Scholarship Search
http://www.fastweb.com/

United Negro College Fund Scholarships
http://www.uncf.org/scholarships/uncfscholarship.asp

Jackie Robinson Foundation Scholarships
http://jackierobinson.org/

Intel Science Talent Search
http://www.sciserv.org/sts

Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund
http://www.thurgoodmarshallfund.org/

FinAid: The Smart Students Guide to Financial Aid
http://wwwfinaid.org/scholarships/

United Negro College Fund
http://www.uncf.org/

Gates Millenium Scholarships
http:///www.gmsp.org/

McDonald's Scholarships
http://www.mcdonaldsnymetro.com/

Number of Schools in Restructuring under No Child Left Behind Increases by More than Half

The Center on Education Policy (CEP) released its most comprehensive report to date on how states and school districts implement school restructuring, the ultimate sanction for chronically low-performing schools under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

The report finds that the number of Title I schools in restructuring during last school year, 2007-08, increased by 56 percent to an estimated 3,599 schools, or about 7 percent of all Title I schools in the nation.

This total is up from the 2,302 schools, or 4 percent in 2006-07.

The report, A Call to Restructure Restructuring: Lessons from the No Child Left Behind Act in Five States, is a culmination of CEP’s study of NCLB restructuring in California, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, and Ohio, and reviews other state and national data.

These five states were chosen because they have relatively large numbers of schools in restructuring and well-established accountability systems, and represent a variety of geographic areas. To gather data for the study, CEP conducted interviews with state officials and district and school staff in 19 districts and 42 restructuring schools within these states.

The report finds that many schools have remained in restructuring for multiple years, with little guidance from the federal government on what to do about persistently struggling schools. In the five states studied, only 19 percent of the schools implementing restructuring made adequate yearly progress based on 2006-07 tests.

Most restructuring schools in the five states (86 to 96 percent) used the “any-other” restructuring option in the NCLB law, which allows schools and districts to take any major action, aside from the four more specific options, to change school governance.

However, state interpretations of this option varied widely. Michigan and Ohio encouraged schools to employ “turnaround” specialists, while Maryland has barred schools entering restructuring after 2006-07 from choosing a turnaround specialist.

Many schools that missed AYP targets solely because of the performance of student subgroups still directed considerable resources to all students. Principals and teachers at schools that have raised student achievement enough to exit restructuring remained concerned about maintaining progress, particularly as AYP targets will keep rising until they reach the ultimate goal of 100 percent proficiency.

Meanwhile, some principals at schools that replaced staff reported unintended negative consequences, such as being unable to fill positions with qualified teachers and having little time to plan for the new school year after spending the summer hiring.

To view the entire report, click here.
Source: The Center on Education Policy

Looking for Title I resources? Visit SchooDoodle.com

Urban School Superintendents Hard to Keep

St. Louis is looking for its eighth school superintendent since 2003. Kansas City is on its 25th superintendent in 39 years.

Despite good salaries and plenty of perks, a recent study found that the average urban superintendent nationwide stays on the job only about three years — which educators say isn't enough time to enact meaningful, long-lasting reform.

"Would you buy Coca-Cola if they changed CEOs every year?" asked Diana Bourisaw, who left as St. Louis superintendent in July after two years in the top job. "The answer is no. I wouldn't."

On Friday, Kelvin Adams signed a three-year contract with the St. Louis district worth $225,000 annually plus bonus incentives, a day after his hiring was approved by a state-appointed board that oversees the district.

Academic accountability is the new national mantra in public education, and low-performing districts are placing high salaries and higher demands on their superintendents—who find themselves caught between factions of publicly elected school boards, teachers' unions and parent groups.

To view the complete article, click here.
(USA TODAY 09.28.08)

Orphan Works Act Has Potential to Lessen Copyright Infringement Penalties

With the proliferation of YouTube, file sharing, and teacher lesson plans on Websites, publishers are worried about copyright infringement and how to enforce current laws.

However, the Internet has also opened access to thousands of files where the copyright holder cannot easily be found—in fact, the works may be public domain, but there is no supporting documentation.

Now, there are two bills before Congress to address the issue of "orphan works," and at least one coalition of organizations feels that the pair of bills will impact artists' legal options if someone uses their material without permission.

Orphan works, as defined by the U.S. Copyright Office, is a situation in which the owner of a copyrighted work cannot be identified and located by someone who wishes to make use of the work in a manner that requires the owner's permission.

In 2005, under direction from Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the Register of Copyrights studied the orphan works issue in detail and found that users were afraid to use orphan works for fear of future reprisals.

The current proposed laws stem from the Register's recommendation that users who perform a documented search with due diligence not be unduly punished if the copyright holder claims ownership at a later date.

Although the first legislation in 2006 failed to move out of committee, both current bills, H.R. 5889 and S. 2913, appear to be moving quickly.

The main opponent of the legislation is the Orphan Works Opposition, a loose coalition of associations mostly related to illustrators, photographers, and other visual artists, who have signed a petition opposing the bill.

They do not appear to oppose the intent of the two laws; the main objection is that they believe the language is too ambiguous, specifically related to the phrase "due diligence" regarding a search, and that the bill would strip away current copyright protections for non-orphan works.

In addition, the group feels that the act puts the burden on the copyright holder to make sure she is easily identified. Finally, they believe that the bill will allow an infringer to create—and copyright—a derivative work even if the copyright holder of the original work objects.

Questions remain, though, as to whether or not this act will have the dramatic effect the coalition predicts. If you have any comments regarding orphan works, the legislation, or online piracy in general, please contact Stacey Pusey, AEP Content Manager, at spusey@AEPweb.org.

Resources/Links:
Report on Orphan Works: A Report of the Register of Copyrights, January 2006http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/orphan-report.pdf

Orphan Works web pages, Copyright Officehttp://www.copyright.gov/orphan/

Orphan Works Opposition Headquartershttp://owoh.org/

For the legislationhttp://thomas.loc.gov
(Type the phrase "orphan works" into the search box.)

Funds Available under Title I More Than Doubled from 2007-2008 to 2008-2009

The Center on Education Policy (CEP) released its sixth report on annual allocations to states and school districts under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The report, Title I Funds – Who’s Gaining and Who’s Losing: School Year 2008-09 Update, finds that about $1 billion will be available for the 2008-09 school year to assist schools identified for improvement under No Child Left Behind.

This is more than double the $434 million available during the 2007-08 school year.

The report also finds that funding continues to fluctuate because of annual census estimates of the numbers of low-income children in each school district, with one state estimating an increase in low-income children of more than 30 percent last year and a decrease of 9 percent this year.

Changes in the Title I formula made in 2002, meant to target more funds to the highest-poverty districts, have only provided somewhat more funds to these districts, the report also finds.

To view the entire report, click here.
Source: The Center on Education Policy

Research Supports the Use of Educational Games

Studies show that the use of educational games effectively increases motivation, participation and retention among students, and can be especially beneficial in differentiated classrooms and among underserved and struggling learners (McAllister & Bothman, 2005).

Games have advantages and effectiveness on learning that is hard to achieve in other ways. In “Creative Games for the Language Class,” Lee Su Kim writes of the many positives of using games in the classroom:

• Games are a welcome break from the usual routine of the class.
• They are motivating and challenging.
• Games help students to make and sustain the effort of learning.
• Games provide language practice in the various skills—speaking, writing, listening and reading.
• They encourage students to interact and communicate.
• They create a meaningful context for language use.
• The social value of games is also important. Playing games fosters a community atmosphere and encourages teamwork (Holt, 1996).

When choosing games for the classroom, one should keep the following in mind (Mei & Yu-jing, 2000):

1. A game should be more than fun
2. A game should involve “friendly” competition.
3. A game should keep all of the students involved and interested.
4. A game should encourage students to focus on the content involved.
5. A game should give students a chance to learn, practice or review.
   
   
   McAllister, D.A., Bothman, S.M. (2005). Culminating Experience Action Research Projects, 5. p. 286-295.
   
   Kim, L. S. (1995, March). Creative Games for the Language Class. Forum, 33 (1), 35.
   
   Holt, C.A. (1996). Classroom games: Trading in a pit market. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 10 (1), 193-203.
   
   Mei, Y.Y., & Yu-jing, J. (2000, Fall). Using games in an EFL class for children. Daejin Univeristy ELT Research Paper.
   
   Huyen, N.T., and Nga, K.T.T. (2003, December). Learning Vocabulary Through Games. Asian EFL Journal, p. 38.
   
   Wright, A., Betteridege, D., & Buckby, M. (1984). Games for Language Learning. Cambridge University Press.
   
   de Freitas, S. (2006, December). Using Games and Simulations for Supporting Learning. Learning, Media & Technology, 31 (4), p. 343-358.
   
   White, J. (2007, April). Banishing Boredom in the Middle School Math Class. National Middle School Association, Middle Ground, 10 (4), p. 38-39.

Find a large selection of educational games and school supplies at SchooDoodle.com

One-in-Five and Growing Fast: A Profile of Hispanic Public School Students

The number of Hispanic students in the nation's public schools nearly doubled from 1990 to 2006, accounting for 60% of the total growth in public school enrollments over that period.

There are now approximately 10 million Hispanic students in the nation's public kindergartens and its elementary and high schools; they make up about one-in-five public school students in the United States. In 1990, just one-in-eight public school students were Hispanic.

Strong growth in Hispanic enrollment is expected to continue for decades, according to a recently released U.S. Census Bureau population projection.

The bureau projects that the Hispanic school-age population will increase by 166% by 2050 (to 28 million from 11 million in 2006), while the non-Hispanic school-age population will grow by just 4% (to 45 million from 43 million) over this same period.

In 2050, there will be more school-age Hispanic children than school-age non-Hispanic white children.

To view the entire report, click here.

U.S. States Hire Foreign Teachers to Ease Shortages

The school system in coastal Baldwin County — 60 miles by 25 miles (97 kilometers by 40 kilometers) of Alabama farmland framed on two sides by waterfront towns — was short on teachers, especially in courses such as math and science.

So short, in fact, that district officials went around the world last year, with expenses paid by a teacher recruiting firm, and brought back Michel Olalo of Manila and 11 other Filipinos to teach along the shores of the Gulf Coast and Mobile Bay and in the communities in between.

That raised some eyebrows in Baldwin County, where nine out of 10 people are white, just one in 50 is foreign-born and, as the county's teacher recruiter Tom Sisk noted recently, "Many of our children will never travel outside the United States."

Yet school administrators throughout the U.S. are plucking from an abundance of skilled international teachers, a burgeoning import that critics call shortsighted but educators here and abroad say meets the needs of students and qualified candidates.

To view the complete article, click here.
(Education Week/AP 09.15.08)

Fourteen States Plan to Link End-of Course Exams to High School Graduation by 2015

In its seventh annual report on high school exit exams, the Center on Education Policy (CEP) finds that exit exams continue to have a significant impact on American education.

By 2012, 74 percent of the nation’s public school students in 26 states will be required to pass an exit exam to graduate, according to the report.

In a shift from recent testing policy, however, more of these students will be required to take end-of-course exams as states move away from comprehensive and minimum competency tests, the report adds.

The report, State High School Exit Exams: A Move Toward End-of-Course Exams, found that only one state (Washington) has added a state-mandated exit exam since 2007 and three more states (Arkansas, Maryland, and Oklahoma) will do so by 2012.

The impact of exit exams is most striking for students of color. Today, 75 percent of students of color attend public schools in states that require exit exams to graduate; that percentage will rise to 84 percent by 2012.

The report also documents a growing trend by states to move toward end-of-course exams, which usually are standards-based and assess mastery of specific course content. In 2002, only two states used end-of-course exams.

That number rose to four states in 2007-08. By 2015, 11 states will rely on end-of-course exams and three more will implement dual testing systems that include end-of-course exams.

By contrast, minimum-competency tests, which generally focus on basic skills below the high school level, are becoming less common and will be phased out in all 26 states with exit exams by 2015.

The 14 states that will use end-of-course exams by 2015 are: Arkansas, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.

In surveys and interviews conducted for the report, state education officials reported many reasons for adopting end-of-course exams. Almost all states that have adopted or are moving toward end-of-course exams reported that they are doing so to improve overall accountability, increase academic rigor, and to achieve alignment between state standards and curriculum.

All of the 23 states that currently have state-mandated exit exams offer alternative measures for students with disabilities, but only three offer such measures specifically for English language learners.

When asked for the percentages of students completing high school using alternative measures, only about half of the states reported they track and collect this data, making it difficult to know how many students are actually affected by alternative measures.

Source: Center on Education Policy

Philly School Rekindles Same-Sex Education Debate

Calling all ninth-grade boys! Raise your hand if this school sounds like fun: wearing jackets and ties every day, staying until 5 p.m., learning Latin and — to top it all off — no girls. Who's in?

Turns out, about 270 boys. And 100 more are on a waiting list. Boys' Latin of Philadelphia, one of the city's newer charter schools, began its second year on Wednesday, aiming to be an educational beacon in the financially and academically troubled district.

Because it's a single-sex public school — one of four in the city — Boys' Latin faced huge opposition and almost didn't exist. Critics contend it's unfair for taxpayers to fund a prep school curriculum for boys only.

New rules implemented by the U.S. Education Department in 2006 allow same-sex education whenever schools think it will expand the diversity of courses, improve students' achievement or meet their individual needs.

To view the complete article, click here.
(USA Today/AP 09.07.08)

Teacher Choice Awards

For 14 years, the Learning® Magazine Teachers' Choice Awards have heralded the very best in classroom-tested, teacher-recommended products.

Each year a nationwide panel of teacher-judges names the standouts in books, classroom supplies, educational games, software, Web sites, and more--everything teachers need for their classroom.

After receiving top ratings in two rounds of rigorous judging, here are this year's 63 winners...

Educational Games, Toys and Manipulatives

Handle-Leg Connectors With Sound Shapes MultiPack
Give color and shape to the music you make! Use these percussion instruments and connectors for math, music, science, and playtime.
Ages 3 and up, $344. Remo, Inc.; http://www.remo.com/.

Poppo!
Pop ’til you drop! Players race to spell words by popping the lettered dice in the poppers until the letters on the dice match the word in play.
Ages 4 and up, $24.95. Poppo Brands LLC, http://www.poppo.com/

Healthy Habits
In this life-size board game, the children are the game pieces, moving card to card. The game stresses nutrition, exercise, sleep habits, and personal hygiene. Set the game up in any format you like.
PreK and up, $39.95. Blue Bucket Games LLC, http://www.bluebucketgames.com/.

Froggy Boogie: The Eye Popping, Frog Hopping, Memory Game
Kids are just a hop, skip, and a jump away from improving their visual perception and memory with this game.
Ages 4 and up, $24.95. Blue Orange Games, http://www.blueorangegames.com/.

Jumbo Reading Rods Classroom Kit
Help little hands make big connections! These oversize manipulatives introduce the key literacy skills kids need to begin reading.
PreK–grade K, $139.95. ETA/Cuisenaire, (800) 445-5985, http://www.etacuisenaire.com/.

Number Chase
In this game, you try to figure out the mystery number before your opponents do! If you guess wrong, the other players get a clue; if you guess right, you get a point.
Grades 1 and up, $7.99. Playroom Entertainment, (866) 999-9654, http://www.playrooment.com/.
Fun With Phonics Letter People Puppet Pack
Students sing their way to the ABCs with the 26 letter people puppets and CD of songs in this set.
PreK–grade 2, $790. Abrams & Company Publishers, Inc.; (800) 227-9120; http://www.abramsandcompany.com/.

Math Noodlers
Add a new twist to math by appealing to multiple intelligences. With this game, students solve math problems in creative ways.
Grades 2–3 and 4–5, $21.95 each. Edupress, http://www.edupressinc.com/.

Fossil Island
Add some adventure to teaching addition! This game, which has three levels of play, has students solve addition problems to race their dinosaurs across the gameboard.
Ages 7 and up, $21.95. White Sand Games, (800) 445-0265, http://www.whitesandgames.com/

Goose Egg for Division & Factoring
Get ready to divide and conquer! This game helps students both learn and enhance division skills and work with factor families.
Ages 8 and up, $11.95. Tah Dah! Inc.; http://www.tahdahgames.com/.

Food Pyramid Bingo, Deluxe Updated Edition
Treat students to some fun while teaching them about basic food groups and healthful choices. With this game, players also learn about activities that encourage a healthful lifestyle.
Grades 4 and up, $26.95. SmartPicks, Inc.; http://www.smartpicks.com/.

Forces, Energy & Motion
Investigate potential and kinetic energy with this racer set. You get lesson plans, motors, instructions, and materials to build11 different models.
Grades 5–8, $125. K’NEX Education, (888) ABC-KNEX, http://www.knexeducation.com/.

Electronics, DVDs, and Videos

Frog Street Live! Educational DVD Program
Get kids off to a smart start with reading and writing. These stories and songs have them singing, reading, and writing the alphabet!
Ages 3–6, $49.99. Frog Street Press, Inc.; (800) 884-3764; http://www.frogstreet.com/.

You’re Mean! When Words Hurt Us
Each vignette on this video illustrates a technique children can use to overcome the power of hurtful words.
Grades 3–6, $99.95. Human Relations Media, (800) 431-2050, http://www.hrmvideo.com/.

Math’scool
This DVD-based math program takes a multisensory approach to numbers and operations, geometry, and measurement. Illustrations, diagrams, manipulatives, or models are part of every lesson.
Grades 4–8, $249 per module. BestQuest Teaching Systems, (866) 882-2665, http://www.bestquest.com/.

Software and Hardware

Lexia Primary Reading
Help all learners master basic reading skills with this computer-based supplemental reading program. It’s designed to make differentiating instruction easy.
PreK–grade 3, prices range from $500 for a single user to $5,000 for 25 simultaneous users. Lexia Learning Systems, Inc.; (800) 435-3942; http://www.lexialearning.com/.

SMART Ideas Concept-Mapping Software
This software makes ideas and connections visual. It enables you to create multilevel maps that take students through concepts one level at a time.
Grades K–12, $59 for a single license. SMART Technologies ULC, (866) 284-2769, http://www.smarttech.com/.

NEO by AlphaSmart
This low-cost laptop has software to improve students’ writing, but none of the distractions—email, Internet access, or games—found on other computers.
Grades K–12, $199. Renaissance Learning, Inc.; (888) 274-0680; http://www.alphasmart.com/.

Cassettes and CDs

The “Sing & Read” Nursery Rhyme Collection
Build language, vocabulary, and listening skills with this new big-book collection. The CD includes a dramatic reading of each story.
Ages 3–6, $145.99. Frog Street Press, Inc.; (800) 884-3764; http://www.frogstreet.com/.

School Supplies and Classroom Organization

Royal Reading/Writing Center
This easel has it all: a removable/adjustable magnetic dry-erase board, four open tubs that slide out for easy access, “page paws” to hold big-book pages in place, and more!
Grades K–5, MSRP $289.99 Copernicus Educational Products, Inc., (800) 267-8494, http://www.copernicused.com/. Available through the Copernicus dealer network.

Classroom Magazines

Zootles
Welcome wildlife into your classroom! Early readers get a vivid introduction to animals with this series.
Ages 2–6; $4.99 for a single issue, $25.95 for a one-year subscription. Wildlife Education, Ltd.; (800) 477-5034; http://www.zoobooks.com/.

Weekly Reader, Edition K
Take a break from textbooks! This magazine helps build children’s general knowledge and increase literacy. A subscription includes 28 issues.
Grade K, $4.99 per year per student (for orders of ten or more). Weekly Reader Corporation, (800) 446-3355, http://www.weeklyreader.com/.

The Write Stuff
Take a mini-vacation from rote rules and standard English textbooks and workbooks. This publication uses humor, puzzles, and up-to-date examples to teach good writing.
Grades 4–8, $4.95 per student for nine monthly issues. The Write Stuff, LLC; (888) 235-0157 or (800) 289-8289; http://www.writestuffnews.com/.

Supplemental Materials

The Infant/Toddler Photo Activity Library
These sturdy cards feature color photographs of people and objects that youngsters encounter every day. The back of each card has a vocabulary list and activities.
Infant–age 3, $49.95. Gryphon House, Inc.; (800) 595-9500; http://www.ghbooks.com/.

Fine Motor Fun: Hundreds of Developmentally Age-Appropriate Activities Designed to Improve Fine Motor Skills
From fingerplays to play dough to reproducible lacing cards, the activities in this book help develop children’s fine-motor and visual perception skills.
PreK–grade 1, $15.99. Key Education Publishing Company LLC, (800) 321-0943, http://www.keyeducationpublishing.com/.

KidCentered Learning Toolkits
These tool kits provide plenty of hands-on activities to help young children learn letters and develop phonemic awareness.
PreK–grade 2, $93.50 and $125.50. Pearson, (800) 321-3106, http://www.pearsonschool.com/.
Math Assessment Tasks
The standards-based assessments in these books are ready-made and scripted so they’re easy to use. Assessments include colorful cards and mats.
PreK–grade 2, $24.99. Evan-Moor Educational Publishers, (800) 777-4362, http://www.evan-moor.com/.

Little Red Tool Box
Create a classroom full of hands-on literacy opportunities! The components in each set cover developmental skills for that grade level.
PreK and grades K, 1, 2, and 3; prices range from $357.94 to $604.88 for a grade-level set. Scholastic Teaching Resources, (800) SCHOLASTIC, www.scholastic.com/teacherstore.
English Picture Dictionary for Spanish Speakers
This picture dictionary uses a multisensory approach and self-paced learning to help English language learners boost their vocabulary development.
Grades K–5, $144. LeapFrog SchoolHouse, (800) 883-7430, www.LeapFrogSchoolHouse.com/ELD.

Words Their Way: Word Study in Action
Deliver a hands-on approach to phonics and word study! This program provides all the materials you need, including picture and word cards, sorting grids, and gameboards.
Grades K–5, classroom sets range from $249.50 to $257.50. Pearson, (800) 321-3106, http://www.pearsonschool.com/.

Building Fluency Through Reader’s Theater: My Country & Early America Themed Set
Improve students’ fluency by giving them a purpose for reading and rereading. These thematically based scripts help make reading appealing and promote collaboration.
Grades 1–8, $539.99. Teacher Created Materials Publishing, (888) 333-4551, http://www.tcmpub.com/.

R-Com Mini Incubator & EZ Scope Package
Watch chick embryos develop as the eggs are incubating! This easy-to-use digital incubator and scope make it possible.
Grades K–8, $189. Brinsea Products, Inc.; (888) 667-7009; http://www.brinsea.com/.

Flip for Comprehension
This collection of 55 ready-to-use comprehension activities works with either expository or narrative texts.
Grades K–5, $27.95. Maupin House Publishing, Inc.; (800) 524-0634; http://www.maupinhouse.com/.

Vocabulary Visits Grade 2 Dual Theme Package
These simulated field trips provide a context for anchoring new content words to the vocabulary and concepts children already know.
Grade 2, $179.95. ETA/Cuisenaire, (800) 445-5985, http://www.etacuisenaire.com/.

Britannica Student Encyclopedia
Satisfy every curious learner with the more than 2,300 articles in this encyclopedia. “Did You Know?” features encourage children to keep learning, questioning, and wondering.
Grades 3–6, $449. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.; (800) 621-3900; http://www.eb.com/.

Science Skill Builders Grades 2-3
You’ve got science covered with this reproducible book! It helps develop science vocabulary and concepts with articles from Weekly Reader’s publications and includes classroom experiments.
Grades 2–3, $15.95. Weekly Reader Publishing, (800) 446-3355, www.weeklyreader.com/estore/.

The Incredible Human Body Flip Charts
There’s more to see and more to learn about the human body with these flip charts and acetate overlays. The 12 charts are approximately 12" x 19".
Ages 7 and up, $19.99. KIDZUP Productions, Inc.; (888) 321-5437; http://www.kidzup.com/.

The Trait Crates
Teach with the traits! These kits include picture books with lessons to help you teach the traits of writing—ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions.
Grades 3, 4, and 5; $125 each. Scholastic Teaching Resources, (800) SCHOLASTIC, http://www.scholastic.com/.

Sundance Comprehension Strategies Kit
These kits focus on six comprehension strategies to help students become successful readers. Each kit includes modeling transparencies, interactive practice cards, leveled selections, take-home readers, and a teacher’s guide.
Grades 3–5 and up; $279 for each fiction or nonfiction kit, $545 for a complete kit. Options Publishing, (800) 782-7300, http://www.optionspublishing.com/.

The Electronic Field Trip Series
Take students back in time with these dramatizations of life during Colonial days. Kids can even call in to talk with the characters and email questions to historians!
Grades 4–8; $500 for the series of seven plus yearlong teacher and student online resources. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, (800) 761-8331, www.history.org/trips.

Theme Sets: Our Solar System
Address reading levels while students learn standards-based science. The books in this set cover the same key concepts at four different readability levels.
Grades 3–8, $261.08 for eight copies each of four titles. National Geographic School Publishing, (800) 368-2728, NGSP.com.

New Horizons and Our Changing Solar System Bulletin Board Set
This bulletin board set focuses on technological advances that pave the way for new celestial discoveries. It includes cross-curricular activities and a reproducible space science notebook.
Grades 3 and up, $12.99. Frank Schaffer Publications, (800) 417-3261, http://www.frankschaffer.com/.

Blood Components Model
What do the components of blood look like? This 3-D model answers that question and explains each component’s function.
Grades 5 and up, $99.75. HEALTH EDCO, (800) 299-3366 ext. 295, http://www.healthedco.com/.

TI Graphing Calculator Strategies—Middle School Math
Enhance students’ graphing calculator skills and mathematical understanding with lesson plans that explain, demonstrate, and apply concepts. The book includes extension ideas and strategies to simplify the lessons.
Grades 5–9, $29.99. Shell Education, (877) 777-3450, http://www.shelleducation.com/.

Nutrition Curriculum Module
Grow healthy and responsible students. This module covers nutrients, daily requirements, serving sizes, healthful fast-food selections, heart-healthful decisions, and more with hands-on activities.
Grades 6–8, $550. HEALTH EDCO Curriculum, (800) 299-3366 ext. 200, http://www.healthedcocurriculum.com/.

Websites

Discovery Education Science
Encourage exploration! These interactive videos, virtual labs, and science simulations encourage critical thinking and deepen understanding of physical, life, earth, and space science.
Grades 5–8, $1,995 for an annual subscription. Discovery Education LLC, (800) 323-9084, http://www.discoveryeducation.com/.

Pokémon Learning League
This standards-based, educational suite of animated, interactive lessons now has a school and classroom management system to help you assess student progress and individualize instruction.
Grades 3–6; $145 for a classroom subscription, $990 for a school subscription. Pokémon USA, Inc.; http://www.pokemonlearningleague.com/.

Science Explorations
Through this program students participate in authentic, standards-based science investigations with real scientists using primary documents and genuine artifacts in the American Museum of Natural History’s collections.
Grades 3–10, free. American Museum of Natural History and Scholastic, scholastic.com/scienceexplorations.

Enciclopedia Universal en Español
Say “Hola” to this Spanish-language encyclopedia that features more than 47,000 articles; more than 9,000 images, maps, and tables; a dictionary; an atlas; and timelines.
Grades 3–12, $0.28 for each student. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.; (800) 621-3900; http://www.eb.com/.

Professional Books

Play, Projects, and Preschool Standards: Nurturing Children’s Sense of Wonder and Joy in Learning
These playful projects and activities put standards and bench­marks into practice while helping children develop critical social and preacademic skills.
Preschool–PreK, $25.95. Corwin Press, (800) 233-9936, http://www.corwinpress.com/.

Intelligent Life in the Classroom: Smart Kids & Their Teachers
Written by a teacher and a parent, this book provides insight into the nature, quirks, and vulnerabilities of gifted kids. Includes an extensive list of resources.
For teacher use, $16.95. Great Potential Press, Inc.; (877) 954-4200; http://www.giftedbooks.com/.

Reprinted with permission from Learning ® Magazine, January 2008

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Smaller Classes Might Not Be Enough to Close Achievement Gap

A Northwestern University study investigating the effects of class size on the achievement gap between high and low academic achievers suggests that high achievers benefit more from small classes than low achievers, especially at the kindergarten and first grade levels.Spyros Konstantopoulos’ study, which appears in the March issue of Elementary School Journal, questions commonly held assumptions about class size and the academic achievement gap -- one of the most debated and perplexing issues in education today.

The Northwestern professor worked with data from Project STAR (Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio), a landmark longitudinal study launched in 1985 by the State of Tennessee to determine whether small classes positively impacted the academic achievement of students.

Konstantopoulos worked with data on mathematics and reading encompassing over 11,000 K-3 students in 79 schools. The project found, not surprisingly, that smaller class size is a better situation for the children at all achievement levels, and previous analyses saw rising achievement on average.

For most advocates, parents, and policy makers, this was enough. But when Konstantopoulos dug deeper, he found that the children who are already high achievers benefited the most from the extra attention afforded by smaller classes.

Low achievers also benefited from being in small classes (compared to low achievers in regular size classes), but they did not benefit not as much as high achievers. Unfortunately, he also found that the smaller classes produced higher variability in achievement which indicates that the achievement gap between low and high achievers is larger in small classes than in regular size classes, especially in kindergarten and first grade.

Considered one of the most important investigations in education, STAR made it abundantly clear that on average small classes had a positive impact on the academic performance of all students. “It is likely that high achievers are more engaged in learning opportunities and take advantage of the teaching practices that take place in smaller classes, or that they create opportunities for their own learning in smaller classes,” said Konstantopoulos.

The Northwestern study findings suggest that small classes produce significantly higher variability in achievement than regular classes in kindergarten mathematics and in first grade reading. Overall the results indicate that class size reduction increases not only achievement for all students on average, but the variability in student achievement as well.

To view the entire study, click here.

Sources: Northwestern University and Medical News Today

Law Opens Opportunities for Disabled

As Montgomery County, MD ninth-grader Stephen Sabia reads "Romeo and Juliet" and studies the Holocaust and World War II for honors history and English, his mother credits an important ally in her years-long drive to secure the best education possible for her son with Down syndrome: the federal No Child Left Behind law.

The six-year-old law's requirement to raise student achievement across the board has forced schools to pay attention as never before to special-needs children who too often had been written off as incapable of handling the same lessons as peers in mainstream classrooms.

Students with disabilities have made some strides in math and reading on state and national tests in recent years, although experts debate whether the law is responsible.

Ricki Sabia, Stephen's mother, said the law "really pushed the envelope for expectations for Stephen. There is no more question of whether he should be learning the same material as other kids.

He's been exposed to literature and other academics at a level I don't think he would have without No Child Left Behind." With such success stories, many parents of disabled students offer compelling testimony for the landmark education law amid signs that Congress could soon revive stalled efforts to renew it.

Under the law, public schools must advance every year toward the goal of proficiency for all students in reading and math by 2014. Schools must make gains on tests given in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school, and so must subsets of students, including ethnic minorities, those from poor families and those with disabilities. If any group falls short, schools face potential sanctions.

To view the complete article, click here.
(The Washington Post 03.17.08)

And the Winner is...

Congratulations to

Shannon Buffano (Lirette)

Our Lady of Guadalupe School - Chicago

Shannon has won two (2) round trip airline tickets on Southwest Airlines!

Thank you to everyone that visited us at the Illinois No Child Left Behind Conference in Chicago.

We look forward to working with each and every one of you soon!

Have fun Shannon!

Report Examines Missing Link In Teacher Quality Campaign

In a new Education Sector report titled Rush to Judgment: Teacher Evaluation in Public Education, Co-founder and Co-director Thomas Toch and Robert Rothman of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform examine the causes and consequences of the crisis in teacher evaluation, as well as its implications for the current national debate about performance pay for teachers.

And the report examines a number of national, state, and local evaluation systems that point to a way out of the evaluation morass.

A host of factors—a lack of accountability for school performance, staffing practices that strip school systems of incentives to take teacher evaluation seriously, union ambivalence, and public education’s practice of using teacher credentials as a proxy for teacher quality—have resulted in teacher evaluation systems throughout public education that are superficial, capricious, and often don’t even directly address the quality of instruction, much less measure students’ learning.

To view the entire report, click here.
Sources: Education Sector

GA County Going To All Single-Sex Public Schools

Students in all of Greene County's (GA) regular public schools will be separated by gender starting next fall, a move educators hope will improve rock-bottom test scores and reduce teen pregnancy and discipline rates in the small, rural system.

The school board approved the measure last week, drawing vocal protests from some students, parents and community members.

It exempts only a charter school, which is public but operates independently from the rest of the system and has a limited attendance zone.

School officials say they need drastic change to save the low-performing district from slipping further behind the rest of the state. "This school district is in bad shape," said Superintendent Shawn McCollough. "We've made very positive incremental steps in the last two years. Our kids need help faster than what we're doing, and that's why we're moving to a faster, more innovative program."

Districts nationwide have been scrambling to implement single-sex education, since federal officials finalized rules to ease the process in 2006. But officials in Greene County, east of metro Atlanta along I-20, say they believe they are the first in the country to convert the entire district to a single-gender model.

To view the complete article, click here.
(The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 02.14.08)

Dade Schools Eye Advertising Revenue

Advertisements may soon hang from gymnasium walls and adorn perimeter fencing at public schools throughout Miami-Dade County.

At the urging of the School Board, Superintendent Rudy Crew and his staff are exploring the possibility of allowing advertising in schools as a possible stream of revenue for the cash-strapped district.

While ads abound in other South Florida school districts, the move by the Miami-Dade School Board is nonetheless controversial. Critics say children are already inundated with advertising, and that a captive audience of students shouldn't be bombarded with the wiles of Madison Avenue.

''The perception is that advertising in schools is a free source of money,'' said Robert Weissman, managing director of Commercial Alert, a Washington-based consumer group. ``That isn't true. There are huge costs involuntarily being taken out on the kids.'' Advocates say allowing advertising encourages partnerships between local businesses and schools. The revenue doesn't hurt, either.

In Miami-Dade County, the School Board was recently tasked with slashing $240 million from the district's budget in just four years. ''Certainly we want to continue to be competitive with grant money,'' said School Board member Martin Karp, who proposed the advertising idea at last month's board meeting. ``But this is also a great opportunity for us to generate some dollars. And it can be done in a very tasteful way.''

To view the complete article, click here.
(The Miami Herald 2.11.08)

No Child Opponents Criticize Law

Several of the nation's leading critics of the federal No Child Left Behind education law gathered on a stage in Milwaukee on Friday to criticize what the law is doing to teaching and learning, but they offered few specifics when it came to what they want to see in its place.

The general message to several hundred teachers at the Wisconsin State Reading Association convention at the Midwest Airlines Center was to fight for letting teachers be the primary deciders of what goes on in their classrooms.

In terms of the long-standing reading wars, this was definitely an encampment of whole language educators. Reading programs that heavily emphasize phonics and programs that provide scripted plans for what a teacher should do with students were on the outs here.

Such approaches are encouraged under No Child Left Behind and are used widely, both in Milwaukee and nationwide.

To view the complete article, click here.
(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 02.08.08)

Many States Spend Less Money In School Districts With ELL or Low-Income Students

When it comes to school funding, too many states still provide the least to school districts serving students with the greatest needs, according to a report released last month by The Education Trust.

The seventh in a series of annual reports, The Funding Gap includes state-by-state analyses of funding trends from 1999 to 2005, comparing the resources available to school districts serving the highest percentages of low-income students and students of color to the resources available to districts serving the lowest percentages of such students. For the first time, the report also compares funding available to school districts serving the high percentages of English language learners (ELL) to that available to districts serving the lowest percentages of ELL. Using data for the eight states with the highest percentages of English learners, the report finds that high-ELL districts generally receive less financial support than do districts with few or no ELL students.

In 1999, Illinois’ funding gap was the second-largest in the nation. By 2005, the Illinois gap was still the second-largest, and had actually gotten worse. Illinois is joined by Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin at the top of the list of states in which the funding gap between high- and low-poverty districts grew between 1999 and 2005.

In Vermont, the funding gap grew by more than $2,000 per student, even as the state was under court order to provide equitable funding to poor districts. In 1999, Vermont ensured that high-poverty districts had more than $2,000 more per student. By 2005, that funding pattern had reversed – high-poverty districts were now receiving about $264 less per student than in more affluent districts.

In eight states – Illinois, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York and Wyoming – high-minority districts received at least $1,000 less per student than districts with lower percentages of minority students.

To view the entire report, click here.

Companies Are Rushing To Create Virtual Worlds For Children

Walt Disney and other entertainment companies are stepping up to capitalize on the latest Internet phenomenon: the rise of virtual worlds for kids.

These "digital playgrounds", as experts call them—such as Disney's Club Penguin and Ganz Inc.'s Webkinz—are drawing bigger crowds than adult virtual worlds such as the popular Second Life.

Disney plans to spend $5 million to $10 million apiece to develop as many as 10 virtual worlds built around familiar Disney characters and franchises, according to an article in the L.A. Times business section.

According to research firm EMarketer Inc, about 20 million children and teens will visit virtual worlds by 2011, up from 8.2 million in 2007.

To view the entire article, click here.

High School Teacher Who Couldn't Read Shares His Story As An Advocate Of Education

John Corcoran taught in the Oceanside Unified School District for 17 years and didn't know how to read.

“(By the time) I was 48 years old, I had already graduated from college, taught school for 17 years in California, and I couldn't read or write or spell my native language of English,” Corcoran said.

This spring, Corcoran, 70, will publish his second book, Bridge to Literacy: No Child or Adult Left Behind. “This book really is a call for action.

It's a call for gathering all the tribes on both sides of the bridge,” Corcoran said. “We, as a society, cannot leave all of this to the teachers.”

Corcoran's first book, “The Teacher Who Couldn't Read,” told his story of struggling through elementary and high school and then college, and his subsequent experiences as an illiterate educator. He said he wanted the world to know he didn't beat the system by faking his way through life.

To view the complete article, click here.
(The Union-Tribune 01.26.08)

Finding Time For Success

Under mounting pressure to raise achievement in public schools, a handful of states and cities and many charter schools are seeking to squeeze more hours, days and even weeks into the academic calendar to ensure students get the reading and math lessons they need without sacrificing music, art or even recess.

The extended-school movement has gained important allies on Capitol Hill and is touted by billionaires Bill Gates and Eli Broad as a step the next president should consider.

The advantages of a longer school day could be seen one Friday at the D.C. Preparatory Academy.

After the final bell at most schools in the city, second-graders in one D.C. Prep classroom started a round of chess. They also read one more book before heading home.

With a school day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., they spend as much time at the Northeast Washington charter school as many adults spend on the job: 40 hours a week. That's about 7 1/2 hours longer than the weekly schedule for their peers in regular D.C. schools, as well as the schedule in most public schools nationwide.

But some educators and lawmakers have concluded that the old-fashioned school day is simply too short, especially for struggling students, even though it's unclear whether the benefits outweigh the costs.

To view the complete article, click here.
(The Washington Post 02.04.08)

Don’t Be Succinct; Bloviate About Context Clues

Subject: English/Vocabulary
Grade(s): 7 and up

Overview
No matter what a student’s reading or vocabulary level is, context clues are a great way to help decipher and understand the meaning of new or unusual words. Here are four types of context clues that can help your students comprehend new vocabulary with aplomb.
Objectives
Students will:
Recognize different types of context clues for determining the meaning of an unknown word
Write sentences using context clues as a means to clarify the meaning of an unknown word

IRA/NCTE Standards for the English Language Arts
Standard 3: Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

Materials Needed
· WordTeasers: College Prep

Getting Started: Ask students if they know what the word prevaricate means? Acknowledge those students who indicate that they know the definition. Then say, “For those of you who don’t know what the word means, I’m going to use it in a sentence.” Ask: “Is there ever a good reason to prevaricate?” Then say, “How many of you now think you know the meaning of prevaricate?” Acknowledge those students. Finally, tell students that you are going to use the word in a different sentence that may give students a clue to the definition of prevaricate. Ask: “Is there ever a good reason to prevaricate rather than to tell the truth?” Ask how many think they now know the definition of prevaricate. Why? Discuss with students why this last question helped them understand the definition of prevaricate. (They were able to infer from the context of the sentence that to prevaricate is the opposite of to tell the truth.)

Development: Tell students that one way to understand new words in a sentence or a passage in their reading is to look for context clues. Explain that there are many different types of context clues. Write the following four types of context clues on the board along with the pair of sentences that illustrates each context clue. Discuss each pair of sentences with the class.

· Linked Synonyms—an unknown word is linked with similar words or synonyms in a series.
Sentence Sample: Name a food you abhor.
Linked Synonyms: Name a food you hate, detest, and abhor.
· Appositive — a phrase that provides additional information or a definition about a preceding noun.
Sentence Sample: Argue for or against a meritocracy.
Appositive: Argue for or against a meritocracy, a system in which people are rewarded based on talent or

ability.
· Compare/Contrast — an antonym or phrase with an opposite meaning to an unknown word that is used to

define that unknown word.
Sentence Sample: Name something that makes you feel timorous.
Appositive: Name something that makes you feel timorous, rather than confident.
· Cause/Effect — the cause for or result of an unknown word enables the meaning of the unknown word to be

inferred
Sentence Sample: Who would you like to emulate?
Cause/Effect: Because the student admired her coach, she wanted to emulate her.

Activity: Prepare the following handout, which includes five statements and questions adapted from the WordTeasers: College Prep Challenge Cards. Each statement or question includes a context clue to the meaning of the word in bold. Have students write a definition for each word in bold. Then, have them identify which of the four types of context clues is used to help clarify the word’s meaning.

1. If you could give up an onerous or difficult task, what would it be? (Type of Context Clue: Linked Synonyms)
2. Name someone in your class who is so frugal they won’t even spend a nickel for a soda.
(Type of Context Clue: Cause/Effect)
3. What time of day are you most lethargic as opposed to energetic? (Type of Context Clue: Compare/Contrast)
4. Name your biggest proponent, such as a parent, older sibling, or teacher. (Type of Context Clue: Apposition)
5. Show how you would act in a gregarious, friendly, and outgoing manner to a new student. (Context Clue: Linked Synonyms)

Extension 1: Have each student select a WordTeaser Challenge Card from the box. Allow time for students to revise or rewrite the challenge question or statement on the card, using one of the four types of context clues to help clarify the meaning of the word in bold. Then allow time for students to read aloud their original and their revised WordTeaser question or statement. Discuss how the context clue helps clarify the meaning of the word.

Extension 2: Challenge students to write a sentence with a nonsense word, but with enough context clues to reveal the meaning of the nonsense word. Allow time for students to read their sentences aloud and challenge other students to guess the meaning of their nonsense words. For example: Jose was synerambulent about a 9:00 pm. curfew for teenagers, rather than firm in his opinion. (Meaning: ambivalent; indecisive; having two opposing opinions; Context Clue: Compare/contrast.)

Next Week: Population Explosion: A Geography Lesson Plan with WorldTeasers: World Culture & Geography

Source: WordTeasers: College Prep — An educational game designed to help high school students improve vocabulary and have fun at the same time. Grades 7 + . Available at SchooDoodle.com.

Chicago School Supply and CHITAG featured on NudeHippo.com

Chicago School Suppy attended the Chicago Toy and Game Fair this past November. We displayed large SandLock Sandboxes full of Moon Sand and Insta-Snow.

Our booth was a hit with the 1-8 year old children. They played in our booth for 20-30 minutes at a time!

The NBC 5 NudeHippo crew was also at the fair conducting interviews with vendors and attendees. Chicago School Supply was featured on their website!

Visit NudeHippo.com and view their Toy Fair 2007 video report and checkout the interview with Chicago School Supply's founder - Michael Ockrim.

Thanks NudeHippo!

Massive Funding Cuts To 'Reading First' Generate Worries For Struggling Schools

The reading coaches, professional-development programs, and instructional materials that are the cornerstones of the Reading First program and are credited with improving instruction in struggling schools may be threatened by a deep cut included in the 2008 federal budget, officials and observers say.

The reduction of more than 60 percent—from nearly $1 billion each year since the program was rolled out in 2002 to $393 million for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1—will likely inhibit further improvements and test the sustainability of the changes Reading First has fostered over the past six years.

The cut is part of an omnibus spending bill President Bush signed into law last month. “A 60 percent cut—this is huge,” said Joni Gillis, who oversees Oregon Reading First.

Her state is expecting its funding to drop this fiscal year from nearly $10 million to less than $4 million. The program “is not going to be like it was, but the best practices, the solid core instruction, how we look at data to inform that instruction,” she said, are “behavior changes [that] will stick.”

To view the complete article, click here.
(Education Week 01.16.08)

Teacher Absences Are Hurting Learning

A year is a long time in a child's education, the time it can take to learn cursive writing or beginning algebra.

It's also how much time kids can spend with substitute teachers from kindergarten through high school — time that's all but lost for learning.

Despite tremendous pressure on schools to increase instructional time and meet performance goals, the vacuum created by teacher absenteeism has been all but ignored — even though new research suggests it can have an adverse effect in the classroom.

The problem isn't just with teachers home for a day or two with the flu. Schools' use of substitutes to plug full-time vacancies — the teachers that kids are supposed to have all year — is up dramatically.

Duke University economist Charles Clotfelter, among a handful of researchers who have closely studied the issue, says the image of spitballs flying past a daily substitute often reflects reality.

"Many times substitutes don't have the plan in front of them," Clotfelter said. "They don't have all the behavioral expectations that the regular teachers have established, so it's basically a holding pattern."

To view the complete article, click here.
(msnbc/The Associates Press 01.16.08)

Help Increase Student Vocabulary in Only 5 Minutes a Day

Subject: English, Vocabulary
Grades: 7 and up

True or False: In general, people with a larger and more developed English vocabulary earn more money and are promoted faster in business than people with a lesser developed vocabulary.

The answer, of course, is true. A good vocabulary is one of the keys to a successful career. And that belief isn’t based on just anecdotal assumptions. There is, today, a wide body of research that irrefutably supports that claim. In fact, according to the Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization that has been engaged in aptitude and vocabulary research since 1922, a larger vocabulary is not only an indicator of success in business, it is also “the best predictor of overall success in school and performance on the SAT–Verbal and other similar tests.”

John J. Pikulski, Professor of Education at the University of Delaware, and Shane Templeton, Foundation Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Nevada, agree. “Our ability to function in today’s complex social and economic worlds,” they write, “is mightily affected by our language skills and the word knowledge.”

Given the importance of vocabulary, then, how can teachers and parents alike motivate their children and students to continue to increase and improve their vocabulary — and maybe even develop a love for words — beyond the elementary grades?

One answer just might be WordTeasers: College Prep — an innovative new educational game that is as perfect for the classroom as it is for the dinner table. WordTeasers is designed to make learning and using new words fun and enjoyable — one word at a time — both in and out of the classroom.

The idea behind WordTeasers is simple: challenge players to answer a provocative, amusing, or thought-provoking question or statement that uses a new word. For example, a WordTeaser game card might challenge someone to “bloviate about your best friend for 30 seconds”; “make a sound you might hear in an aviary”; or “name a salubrious activity you do every day.” The back of the card provides a definition of the word, word function (or part of speech), and pronunciation guide.

According to Susan Flora, founder of WordTeasers, the game incorporates many of the vocabulary building strategies that researchers say are important in the development of a strong vocabulary. “WordTeasers promotes active engagement in learning; it presents new words in rich and varied contexts; and it promotes group learning,” she says.

“I’ve seen several lively debates develop,” says Flora, “with the WordTeaser challenge question: “Is there every a good reason to prevaricate?” as well as some friendly squabbles with the question, “Who is the most loquacious person in your family?” And in every instance the words “prevaricate” and “loquacious” are now a permanent part of the players’ vocabulary.

WordTeasers can be used to help to improve vocabulary in as little as five minutes a day. It can be used in a variety of settings and in a variety of ways. It can be used as a game among small groups; as a discussion starter at the beginning of a class; or as the basis for ideas for writing assignments.

The bottom line, says Flora, is that WordTeasers is a great way to get kids talking, laughing, thinking…and learning new words. And, according to Professors Pikulski and Templeton, building a strong vocabulary is critical to any student’s education. As they conclude: “Perhaps the greatest tools we can give students for succeeding, not only in their education but more generally in life, is a large, rich vocabulary and the skills for using those words.”

Next Week: Just Deserts (A Geography Lesson Plan) with WorldTeasers: World Culture & Geography

Source: WordTeasers: College Prep — An educational game designed to help high school students improve vocabulary and have fun at the same time. Grades 7 + . Available at SchooDoodle.com.

State Legislatures May Juggle Education Priorities And Fiscal Needs

The 2008 state legislative season launches this month under a fiscal cloud in a number of states, where ambitious education initiatives—including expanded pre-K programs, college- or career-preparation efforts, and improved teacher pay—may end up being balanced against gloomy revenue projections.

“It looks like we have one more decent year before things fall apart,” Julie Bell, the education program director for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said about the fiscal 2009 economic outlook, coming on the heels of a year in which 15 states have reported deficits or revenue shortfalls.

A revenue slowdown—foreshadowed last month in reports by the Denver-based NCSL and by the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers, in Washington—comes as states prepare to tackle such potentially costly issues as education equity and adequacy and the condition of school facilities.

California, for example, is expected to take up school governance and finance in what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has said will be the “year of education”—even as he warns of a “fiscal emergency” facing the state, in the form of a projected deficit of up to $14 billion in the next year and a half.

To view the complete article, click here.
(Education Week 01.02.08) Please note: A free registration is required to view this article.

WiFi-Equipped School Bus Makes Rides Educational

As students ride a Sheridan, AR school bus over rural Arkansas roads for upward of 90 minutes a day, they're spending that time working on math equations and taking advanced biology courses.

Unlike others in the Sheridan School District's fleet, bus No. 46's magic comes from a small cellular router and a rooftop antenna that provide WiFi Internet access for laptops and Apple iPods.

The school bus -- a mobile virtual classroom -- is a key component of the new "Aspirnaut Initiative," a pilot project launched in April by Grapevine native and Vanderbilt University professor Billy Hudson in cooperation with his family, the university, the Sheridan district and the Grapevine Historical Society.

To view the complete article, click here.
(Associated Press 12.27.07)

Presidential Candidate's Stance on Education

It can be a daunting task to track down every presidential candidate and learn about his (or her!) position on one specific topic.

Thanks to edweek.org, there is now a place to read up on and contrast both Democratic and Republican potentials’ perspectives on American education.

SchooDoodle has classroom resources to teach the electoral process to students in grades 3-5, grades 6-8, and high school.

In Some Schools, iPods Are Required Listening

A ban on iPods is so strictly enforced at José Martí Middle School that as many as three a week are confiscated from students — and returned only to their parents.

But even as students have been told to leave their iPods at home, the school here in Hudson County, NY has been handing out the portable digital players to help bilingual students with limited English ability sharpen their vocabulary and grammar by singing along to popular songs.

Next month, the Union City district will give out 300 iPods at its schools as part of a $130,000 experiment in one of New Jersey’s poorest urban school systems.

The effort has spurred a handful of other districts in the state, including the ones in Perth Amboy and South Brunswick, to start their own iPod programs in the last year, and the project has drawn the attention of educators from Westchester County to Monrovia, Calif.

The spread of iPods into classrooms comes at a time when many school districts across the country have outlawed the portable players from their buildings — along with cellphones and DVD players — because they pose a distraction, or worse, to students.

In some cases, students have been caught cheating on tests by loading answers, mathematical formulas and notes onto their iPods.

But some schools are rethinking the iPod bans as they try to co-opt the devices for educational purposes.

Last month, the Perth Amboy district bought 40 iPods for students to use in bilingual classes that are modeled after those in Union City.

In South Brunswick, 20 iPods were used last spring in French and Spanish classes. And in North Plainfield, N.J., the district has supplied iPods to science teachers to illustrate chemistry concepts, and it is considering allowing students in those classes to use iPods that they have brought from home.

To view the complete article, click here.

(The New York Times 11.09.07) Please note: A free registration is required to view this article.

Interested in classic ESL/ELL and foreign language resources? Visit the large selection available at Schoodoodle.com. Interested in incorporating iPods and other technology into your curriculum? Contact Chicago School Supply to discuss solutions we have introduced to other programs.

In U.S. Classrooms, 'Tech Sherpas' Assist Teachers With Computers

Doran Smestad walks through the empty gym to the office in the back corner.

The high school sophomore's mission: to recover an important file that physical education teacher Jim DiFrederico can't seem to open on his new Macintosh laptop.

It's a typical call for students known around the halls of Nokomis Regional High School in Maine as "tech sherpas."

Whether they fell in love with computers when they were 2, as Doran did, or when the state of Maine issued them a laptop in seventh grade, the digital world is so familiar to these teens that they can guide their teachers up some steep learning curves.

Within a few minutes, Doran has a file open on screen and asks, "Is this what you need?" With a relieved smile, DiFrederico gives him a pat on the shoulder.

"Something that would take me a couple hours, they can do it in five minutes," he says. The timesaving for teachers is a big plus, but it's not the main point of this informal program in rural Maine.

For students who are keen to keep up with technology, helping adults is a way to broaden their own experience and practice communication.

As American schools look to incorporate 21st-century technologies into everyday lessons, some teachers are intimidated by technical glitches or the prospect of being left behind in a generational divide.

Teachers have even become targets of cyberbullying, with students taking secret videos of an angry or embarrassing moment in class and posting them on popular websites such as YouTube.

But this district and many others are trying to foster more collaboration – staving off problems by putting students' enthusiasm to constructive use.

To view the complete article, click here.

(The Christian Science Monitor 11.29.07)

Chicago School Supply Supports Teacher Tax Relief

Chicago School Supply, and fellow members of the National School Supply and Equipment Association (NSSEA), support expanding the educator tax deduction to give relief to the teachers and education support professionals who reach into their own pockets to ensure that classrooms have the necessary classroom supplies.

According to a recent NSSEA study, 93% of teachers spend their own money on school supplies for their classrooms. Of that money, 72% is spent on extra-curricular instructional materials.

On average, the total amount spent annually is in excess of $500 with over 7% of the teachers surveyed spending more than $1,000 each year.

Read more about NSSEA’s effort to support teachers and what you can do to get help.

Music Programs Takes A Back Seat To Math and Reading Curriculum

Music education has taken a hit in the era of No Child Left Behind, a federal law that focuses on math and reading: 16% of schools have cut back on art and music programs since 2003, says a report released in July by the non-profit Center on Education Policy.

Yet a Harris Interactive Poll of 2,565 adults being released today shows that 88% of those with postgraduate degrees and 83% of those with annual incomes of $150,000 or more had music education.

The findings don't suggest a causal relationship. But in tandem with other research, "we can probably say that music education is a tool to not only get students to stay in school but to continue," a Harris report says.

Source: USA Today

Final Report of 'National Assessment of Title I' Is Released

The Department of Education submitted to Congress the final report of the "National Assessment of Title I."

This two-volume study presents findings from the implementation and impact of the program. Volume I contains key findings on the implementation of the program under No Child Left Behind, and Volume II presents a report on follow-up findings from Closing the Reading Gap, an evaluation of the impact of supplemental remedial reading programs on achievement of 3rd and 5th grade students.

Findings include:

Title I Funding. After adjusting for inflation, funding for Title I, Part A has increased by 35% over the previous seven years, from $9.5 billion in Fiscal Year 2000 to $12.8 billion in Fiscal Year 2007. More than three-fourths of Title I funds went to high-poverty schools and school districts. However, the highest-poverty schools received smaller Title I allocations per low-income student compared with lower-poverty schools.

Student Achievement. In states that had three-year trend data available on their state assessments, the percentage of students achieving at or above the state's proficient level rose for most student subgroups in a majority of states. Also, both National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and state assessments results indicate that the achievement gaps between disadvantaged students and other students may be narrowing. However, at present pace, most states would not meet the goal of 100% proficiency by 2013-14.

Implementation of State Assessment Systems. During the 2005-06 academic year, all states administered assessments intended to meet No Child Left Behind requirements for reading and math. Further, as of this fall, 24 state assessment systems had been approved through the Department's peer review process, eight were designated as "approval expected," and 20 were as designated "approval pending".

Accountability and Support for School Improvement. During the 2004-05 academic year, 75% of schools and districts met all applicable Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) targets. (Schools most often missed AYP for the "all students" group and/or for multiple subgroups, rather than single subgroups.) On the other hand, 18% of Title I schools were identified as in need of improvement.

School Choice and Supplemental Educational Services (SES). Although still low, the number of students opting for public school choice doubled over the three-year period from 2002-03 to 2004-05. SES participation increased ten-fold over the same period.

For more information, click on “Volume I: Implementation” and “Volume II: Closing The Reading Gap” to view the entire reports.

Sources: Fritzwire and The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance

Free Education News: New Study Finds That U.S. Math Students Consistently Lag Behind Their Peers Around the World

A new study comparing the math skills of America students to their peers in countries abroad finds that U.S. students in 4th and 8th grade perform consistently below most of their peers around the world and continue that trend into high school.

The study, conducted by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) under funding provided by the U.S. Department of Education, reexamined data from three international surveys assessing mathematics achievement in 2003 – the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which assessed students in grades 4 and 8, and the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which assessed 15-year-olds, most of whom were in 10th grade.

U.S. students consistently performed below average, ranking 8th or 9th out of twelve at all three grade levels. These findings suggest that U.S. reform proposals to strengthen mathematics instruction in the upper grades should be expanded to include improving U.S. mathematics instruction beginning in the primary grades.

Previous studies compared U.S. performance with substantially more countries, whose characteristics vary widely. A total of 24 countries participated in TIMSS-grade 4, 45 countries in TIMSS-grade 8, and 40 countries in PISA.

According to widely publicized findings from those studies, U.S. performance was above the international average in grades 4 and 8, but below the international average at age 15, suggesting that the quality of American high schools is inferior to that of elementary and middle schools.

Countries that score well on items that emphasize mathematical reasoning (a higher-level skill) also score well on items that require knowledge of facts and procedures (a lower-level skill), suggesting that reasoning and computation skills are mutually reinforcing in learning mathematics well.

Compared to other countries, students in the United States students do not do well on questions at either skill level. Many countries differ in their strengths and weaknesses among mathematical content areas (numbers, algebra, measurement, geometry, and data and statistics).

The United States does relatively better in data and statistics and relatively worse in measurement in grades 4 and 8 and in geometry in grade 8 and at age 15. Overall differences within countries between boys’ and girls’ mathematics performance are not large, although there is some evidence that the boys’ score advantage is greatest on the more difficult items, especially at age 15.

This finding is consistent with some prior gender literature. In addition, the study found that boys in the United States consistently outperform girls in all three assessments, a pattern shared only with Italy, but the differences are small.

To view the complete article, click here.

Source: American Institutes for Research

Free Education News - Bigger Than Bake Sales: As School Budgets Tighten, Parent Fund-raisers Chase Higher Stakes

Forget the cookie-dough sales promotions of the past - Newton North High School's athletic department is inviting members of the New England Patriots to play parents in a football fund-raiser.

Exactly which players is not yet known - last spring, Matt Cassel, Kevin Faulk, and Wes Welker played in the game - but organizers are hopeful the April 12 event can rake in as much as $20,000 for new exercise equipment for the school.

It's the season of the school fund-raiser. Although Newton North's efforts may be grander than most, many communities are ramping up fund-raising efforts through PTOs and education foundations. In Framingham, parents at one elementary school organized an auction this month to raise money for a playground.

In Marlborough, the education foundation hopes to bring in $2,700 to fund teachers' ideas for classroom projects. As school expenses for such items as health insurance, pensions, and even heating fuel have grown, so has the amount raised by parents to fund school-related programs, according to Tim Sullivan, president of PTO Today, a Wrentham business that helps parents plan benefit events.

He said many of the facilities and programs that used to be considered school standards are now left for parents to provide. "Thirty years ago, there wasn't a school built without a playground," Sullivan said. "Today there probably isn't one built with one. What used to be considered part of the equation is now an extra."

To view the complete article, click here.
(The Boston Globe 11.18.07)

Free Education News: A Troubling Case of Readers' Block

Americans are reading less and their reading proficiency is declining at troubling rates, according to a report that the National Endowment for the Arts will issued recently.

The trend is particularly strong among older teens and young adults, and if it is not reversed, the NEA report suggests, it will have a profound negative effect on the nation's economic and civic future.

"This is really alarming data," said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. "Luckily, we still have an opportunity to address it, but if we wait 10, 20 years, I think it may be too late."

Titled "To Read or Not to Read," the report is a significant expansion of the NEA's widely cited 2004 study, "Reading at Risk." The NEA based that earlier study exclusively on data from its own arts surveys, and as a result, that analysis focused mainly on so-called literary reading -- novels, stories, plays and poems.

This led some critics to downplay its implications. The story the numbers tell, Gioia said, can be summed up in about four sentences: "We are doing a better job of teaching kids to read in elementary school.

But once they enter adolescence, they fall victim to a general culture which does not encourage or reinforce reading. Because these people then read less, they read less well. Because they read less well, they do more poorly in school, in the job market and in civic life."

The percentage of 9-year-olds who say they "read almost every day for fun," the NEA report notes, rose slightly, from 53 percent to 54 percent, between 1984 and 2004. During roughly the same time period, average reading scores for 9-year-olds rose sharply.

But the percentage of 17-year-olds reading almost every day for fun dropped from 31 percent in 1984 to 22 percent in 2004, with average reading scores showing steady declines.

To view the complete article, click here.
(The Washington Post 11.19.07)

Free Education News: Join Chicago School Supply at the Chicago Toy and Game Fair

Join Chicago School Supply at the Chicago Toy and Game Fair Saturday, November 17th and Sunday, November 18th.

Visit our booth to play with Moon Sand and preview the latest products from Sand Lock Sandboxes.

The sechedule of events for the fair is as follows:

November 17th

9 am Star Wars Character Breakfast open to public
$25/adult and $15/child – Federation Toys is sponsor

9 am Mompreneur Networking Breakfast open to public
Peggy Brown speaker
$15/person

7:30 am Inventor Forum, $45, free to exhibitors
7:30 am breakfast sponsored by DeLano

8:00 am Forum – Hasbro and Mattel – What do they want?
Tim Walsh – moderator - Play Entrepreneur
Mike Hirtle – Head of Global Inventor Relations and Product Acquisition at Hasbro
Jeffrey Breslow – Co-Founder of BMT (Big Monster Toy)
Dave Okada – Vice President Inventor Relations at Mattel
Randy Horn – President of Zobmondo
9:45 break

Self-Production, Licensing and International Sales – What do you need to know?
Tim Walsh - moderator - Play Entrepreneur
Howard Jay Fleischer – President of RoyaltyPros Licensing
Richard Gottlieb - Author, Playthings Columnist and President of Richard Gottlieb and Associates
Arne Lauwers – President of Lauwers Games from Belgium
Renaud Honhon - CEO of Flarus Trading (Russian Federation & Belarus Distributor)
11:45 end

11 am HL Games Event - TBA

1 pm – 3 pm – Ask an Expert, free
Sign up for free 15 minute sessions. Experts for Saturday TBA.

12 pm Boy Scouts on Stage for Merit Badge

1 pm Giant Loteria Mix Game on Stage

1 pm – 6 pm - Games in Education Forum, Free with fair admission ticket
Barnes and Noble Co-sponsor

As an Approved Illinois CPDU Provider, this Forum will provide professional development seminars on how and why to use games in the curriculum. Professional educators, parent educators, administrators, and future educators are all invited to attend. Topics include but are not limited to:

· Why games are good for the brain
· How to evaluate games for their educational potential
· How others are integrating games into their educational programs
· How to differentiate instruction using games
· How games evolve to match developmental levels from early childhood to adulthood
· Practical exercise in evaluating and using games in the curriculum

Presenters include experts and educators from HL Games, High Content Games, Learning Resources, Educational Insights, and the National-Louis University Center for the Gifted.

2 pm Star Wars the Force Among Us Documentary Talk with the Director and Producer Chris Macht on Stage

3 pm - Toy Safety Panel on Stage
Carter Keithley – President of Toy Industry Association
Donald Mays – Senior Director of Product Safety Planning at Consumer Reports
Senator Dick Durbin – Pending schedule
Richard Gottlieb moderating,
More panelists to be announced.

4 pm – Young Inventor Forum – Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and Young Inventors on Stage
Mike Hirtle – Global Head of Product Acquisition and Inventor Relations at Hasbro

10 am – 6 pm All Day Events, Free with Admission Ticket
Young Inventors’ Challenge
Game Club HQ
Kapla Tournaments – Relay Race, Tallest Tower and Tree Toppling

6 pm - Night at Essen, Free with General Admission Ticket
A Night at Essen features hot new games direct from the world famous Essen Game Fair sponsored by Rio Grande Games.

November 18th 2007

Reaching the Latino Market, free
7:30 am breakfast sponsored by Paco Communications and Univision
8:00 am Forum begins
Carina – Latino Radio and TV personality and author of Carina’s Annual Ten Best Toys and Games
Ozzie Godinez – Partner, Paco Communications
Hector Fabregas - Univision
Sharmila Fowler - Phoenix Multicultural
Marketing to Hispanics is different than marketing to the general population. They buy different and for different reasons depending on their level of acculturation. If you want to break into the fastest growing, largest and youngest market in the U.S. who adore their children, you should attend.

9:50 am Girls on the Run ‘Run’ Through Fair

10 am How to Protect Your Idea, Free
James Michael Faier, MPP, MBA, JD
Registered Patent Attorney, Faier & Faier

11 am Paul Niemann - Market Launchers
How to use the internet to promote your invention and to catch the attention of a Product Scout.

11:00 pm Dance Aspirations Dancers on Stage

12:30 – 1:30 pm Radio Disney on Stage

1:00 – 1:45 pm Library Games and Starting a Game Club in the Library
Scott Nicholson, Syracuse University School of Information Studies

1 pm – 3 pm – Ask an Expert, free
Sign up for free 15 minute sessions. Experts for Sunday TBA.

1:30 pm Energy Productions Dancers on Stage

2 – 4 pm WorldBee – Geography Challenge sponsored by Milne American Express Travel on Stage
Students in grades 4 – 8 compete to win travel vouchers, games and other prizes in this geography based “Scholar’s Challenge.” Complete rules of participation and registration information forthcoming. Grand prize $1500 travel voucher from Milne American Express Travel.

2 – 4 pm Retailer Roundtable covering large chains, independents and home-shopping
Moderated by Tracy Dudkiewicz - President of TAP Marketing
Brandi Field - Buyer for Go! the Game Store and Calendar Club
Gordon B Lugauer - 'the' Board Game Barrister
Raiko Mendoza - AblePlay, National Lekotek Center
Linda Storz - Storz Distributing Canada

5 pm Young Inventor Winner Announced on Stage

10 am – 6 pm All Day Events, Free with Admission Ticket
Young Inventors’ Challenge
Game Club HQ
Kapla Tournaments – Relay Race, Tallest Tower and Tree Toppling

Founder's Focus: National Association for the Education of Young Children - NAEYC Conference

Today I attended the annual conference for the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

NAEYC conferences bring together early childhood educators representing many roles -- teaching staff, program administrators, students, researchers and teacher educators -- to discuss the latest ideas and learn from one another.

The NAEYC Annual Conference & Expo is the largest early childhood education conference in the world, where tens of thousands of educators choose from hundreds of presentations and exhibits.

While walking among the hundreds of exhibitor booths, two companies stood out from the crowd. Their products were unique and generated genuine excitement among attendees.

I fell in love with The Appreciation Station. This positive reinforcement tool is going to be big! Founder Diana Low has developed to an absolutely amazing product.

The Appreciation Station works by allowing your child to earn tokens for the behaviors you want to see more of.

Simply create clear rules and expectations, and watch as your child strives to get "the treasure".

You can fill The Appreciation Station with the things your child likes best: stickers, tatoos, gift certificates, or other prizes. You can also create your own rewards using our Appreciation Station coupons, such as a special time with you, a family outing, or a sleepover with a friend.

The visual nature of children keeps them coming back to The Appreciation Station, thinking "How can I earn my treasure today?"


The next must have product is from Sand Lock Sandbox. Every child can benefit from sand and water activities, but not every teacher and parent can stand the mess or sacrafice the space to accommodate a sand and water play area.

Meet Sand Lock.

Founder Chris Freres has designed a beautiful series of sand and water tables that are structurally perfect. We like them so much that we are going to be featuring them at the upcoming Chicago Game and Toy Fair next week!

What makes Sand Lock Sandboxes different than every other sand and water table available?

-->The panels that comprise the sides of the boxes are interlocking and easy to assemble.

What does that mean for you? The boxes can be arranged in a variety of sizes to suit your needs. The sets are easy to expand and shrink to met changing needs. It also means that we can ship them to you in a flat UPS box. Your shipping fees will be SIGNIFICANTLY less expensive.

-->Sand Lock uses a plastic panel for their ground barrier. No more messy dirt and stones for outdoor boxes!

-->Sand Lock has integrated unique seating options that double as 'posts' for their heavy-duty vinyl cover.

Take a look at their products online. These sandboxes are going to be big!

Chicago School Supply will be adding the latest products from NAEYC to SchooDoodle. Enter coupon code NAEYC at checkout for 20% off of your entire purchase.

Let us hear about your experiences at the NAEYC Conference 2007!

Free Education News: Intensive New Teacher Support Pays Off

Investments in high-quality support programs for new educators yield a significant return on investment for teachers, schools, and students, according to a new study released last week at a Capitol Hill policy briefing sponsored by the New Teacher Center (NTC) at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The NTC’s cost-benefit analysis demonstrates that high-quality induction programs are beneficial both because beginning teachers stay in greater numbers and because those who stay provide more effective instruction.

The NTC’s analysis found that every $1 spent on high-quality teacher induction programs provides a return on investment of $1.66 after five years. The return on investment is primarily a result of enhanced student learning and reduced teacher turnover costs.

The study underscores how teacher induction programs are critical to helping schools retain their best and brightest educators and develop a highly skilled teaching force. Further, the study adds to the research evidence that only comprehensive, high-quality teacher induction programs produce such desired impacts.

To view the entire report, click here.

Source: New Teacher Center

Chicago School Supply in the News: NSSEA Recruitment Breakfast Taking Place at NAEYC

Members planning to attend or exhibit at the upcoming National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Annual Conference & Expo, November 7-10, in Chicago are invited to join NSSEA for breakfast at 8:00 am on Thursday, November 8 at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place.

The purpose of this breakfast is to encourage participation and membership in NSSEA. Members are asked to invite a nonmember dealer as their guest at the breakfast.

Guest speakers include NSSEA President/CEO Tim Holt and NSSEA Board member and owner of Chicago School Supply Mike Ockrim.

For more information and to register your attendance, contact Adam Henderson at ahenderson@nssea.org or 800.395.5550, ext. 1042.

Free Education News: More Schools Turn To Extended Days

When Nancy Mullen took over as principal at Matthew J. Kuss Middle School in Fall River, MA three years ago, she found it a somber place.

Labeled as chronically under-performing under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, all electives had been stripped away to make more time for reading and math drills in an effort to boost state test scores.

Last year, Kuss was selected as one of ten schools in the state to implement a longer school day as part of the Expanded Learning Time Initiative.

Now in its second year in the program, attendance is up, tardiness is down, and students are engaged in electives during the day that include band, chorus, robotics, and martial arts.

While it is too soon to know if test scores have improved, Mullen said she can see a difference in the school’s atmosphere. “If you ask me if it is working in terms of climate, suspensions, and lateness, it’s better than expected,” she said. Schools like Kuss soon could be the norm rather than the exception.

In another decade or so, the six-and-a-half-hour day and the 180-day year could be as absent from schools as quill pens and black slates. Schools across the U.S. -- especially those with high-needs, low-income populations -- are finding they just don’t have the time in a typical day to do much more than prepare students for high-stakes tests in reading and math.

To view the complete article, click here.

(Education World 10.22.07)

Chicago School Supply in the News: School Supply Dealer 2.0

Michael Ockrim has a lifetime of experience in school supply retail. It’s a familiar story: Until he left for college, Mike helped out in his mother’s teacher store, The Education Depot. He assisted customers, stocked the shelves and worked the register. When he graduated, he returned to help his mother run the store.

Over the course of six years, with Michael’s help, the store’s size doubled and revenue tripled. The Education Depot established a Web presence and brought in catalog sales. There was just one problem: It was moving too fast for mom, and too slow for Michael.

“My mom, Deborah, is a retired teacher and she always enjoyed running the store. She likes working with the teachers and setting up the bulletin boards. Her outlook on the business is much simpler than mine,” he explained. “When it got bigger, she became overwhelmed. We started working on a transfer of ownership, but we just couldn’t come to a meeting of the minds.

“In August, 2006, I spun off and started Chicago School Supply,” he continued. “I took a few of the niche markets I was serving with me – Title I programs and staff training and professional development for educators and administrators. My mother wasn’t interested in those markets. I partnered with a well-established school supply dealer to sell via a 600-page full-line catalog and built a website from scratch called SchooDoodle.”

Chicago School Supply’s competitors are the bigger dealers in the industry and big box office stores. Thanks to Michael’s business philosophy and fresh perspective on the school supply industry, he can get and maintain market share.

“Some vendors may be able to provide books and an easel stand, for instance, but they don’t provide ink or computers,” he explained. “That’s where we’re different. We try to be full service for our customers. We sell large volumes of software, computers, printers, ink … we sell big copy machines! There are all different budgets within the Chicago Board of Education. I get my clients what they want.”

Michael enjoys working with the Chicago City School system, “a huge bureaucratic machine” that allows for a significant number of players rather than just a few vendors. Michael’s modus operandi is to establish relationships with the decision makers in the school system, working with the administrators on down to the teachers.

“We do e-mail marketing and direct mailings, but I find that forming relationships does the most to build the business,” Michael said. “I try to remember what’s going on in my clients’ lives so that we can chat about it when we meet. I know it sounds cheesy, but for me it works. That kind of marketing has been very valuable for me.”

In terms of overlap with his mother’s store, yes, there is some. Mike has found, however, that The Education Depot customers are the kind of people who want to look around in a store, as opposed to shopping online. “We got a call today from a lady looking for a specific resource book,” he told us. “I told her we were affiliated with The Education Depot and I gave her the store’s phone number. By the same token, when my mother gets requests for furniture and equipment kinds of things, she forwards them to us.

“Our customers go online to buy, not browse,” he added. “But what they buy is all over the map. That’s why we have to offer such a broad line of products.”


Follow the money trail

In addition to Chicago School Supply, Mike owns two other companies. One is a real estate management company; he owns the strip mall where The Education Depot is located. “I’m actually my mother’s landlord,” he said.

The other is called Chicago Education Consultants. It came about simply by following a money trail. “There’s always money for education, you just have to know where it is and follow it. In doing so, you find the niche markets,” said Michael.

It started this way: Among Chicago School Supply’s clients was a particular group of educators who had significant funding for classroom materials and furniture. Even after he filled their order, a large chunk of money remained on the table, earmarked for specialized educational materials and additional instructors. Michael thought he could help them spend that money. “On a whim, I put together a proposal for the Chicago Board of Education for some field trips. They accepted it, and I’ve done a series of field trips for disadvantaged kids living in a group home,” he told us. “We hired guides and took them on tours that taught them about the architecture, the culture and the ethnicity of Chicago. I’m really enjoying it, it’s needed and it’s rewarding to me personally. I get to see the kids’ faces light up when we take them out on a boat. It’s a cool component of our business that I’d like to see grow, once I contend with issues like liability.”

It’s not the only area of the business with growth potential, but the challenge going forward is to manage all the irons in the fire with limited human resources. Michael doesn’t appear worried about it. “I like being able to control my own destiny,” he told us. “I like to follow what looks good to me. I’m young enough – 28 – to have no fear of risk. I might fall on my face, but I guess if I’m going to do all this stuff, it’s good that I’m doing it now.”


Commit to the Internet

In order to see significant revenue from online sales, school supply retailers must commit to their websites. “I understand that there are a lot of dealers in our industry who see it as a side component to their physical store, but they don’t understand the full potential,” said Michael Ockrim.

He does. “We’re building a huge footprint online,” he said. “I’m trying to build the brand. We have half a dozen websites that serve different purposes and draw people to our online community.”One of them, SchooDoodle.com, offers online sales of educational materials, school supplies and learning resources for parents, teachers and children. Michael and his assistant maintain SchooDoodle.com in-house and when we conducted this interview, they were in the process of increasing their online offerings by 30 percent. “We wanted our website to be uncomplicated enough to be able to add anything ourselves anytime,” he said.

The name “SchooDoodle” is sometimes difficult for people to understand when you’re saying it to them but there was method to Michael’s madness. “Once somebody finds it or uses it, they ‘get it,’ and remember it,” he told us. “We try to brand it pretty well with Chicago School Supply.

“Company names are important,” he said. “Too many retailers in our industry come up with a clever name for their business, then all the clever names blend together and become un-memorable. In the case of Chicago School Supply, where we’re trying to compete on an administrative level, I wanted it to be easy to remember. It’s simple and says, ‘Here’s what we do.’ But with the Internet, I discovered it’s just the opposite. People don’t remember plain names.”


Hang Around Smart People

The advocate of relationship marketing has been an active member of the National School Supply and Equipment Association (NSSEA) for many years. A current member of the Board of Directors, Michael served on the association’s Retail Store Council when he worked for The Education Depot, and is a founding member of the LEAD Committee.

That involvement, he says, is invaluable. “I’m a firm believer that hanging around with smart people makes you smarter,” he said. “I recently attended the NSSEA Fall Leadership Meeting in New Orleans, and while I was sitting in on a distributors meeting, a guy named Greg Cessna came in and started imparting all sorts of wisdom. Suddenly I realized that he’s the president of Education Essentials of School Specialty. Not only am I getting all sorts of information from this 800-pound gorilla in our industry, but I’m also listening to the president of a Fortune 500 company in this intimate setting. People would pay a lot of money to be involved in that scenario. It was so helpful for Chicago School Supply. I realized that we have a lot of the same problems in common. His numbers are just bigger.”


Jump Onto Furniture

“Furniture is definitely a nice add-on sale. I don’t know why more dealers don’t sell it,” said Michael Ockrim. “Many of them have stores large enough to put a few desks and chairs in a corner. No, they’re not going to outfit an entire school, but a classroom might need 20 chairs and that’s a nice little sale. You don’t have to warehouse the stuff or worry about shipping; it’s all drop-shipped from the manufacturer. I would strongly encourage anyone attending the School Products Expo in March 2008 to take time out to walk over to the furniture side. This is the last time both shows are going to be under one roof.”

Free Eucation News: USED Awards $14 million to Help States Better Assess Students With Disabilities Under NCLB

As part of a special education partnership with states, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it has awarded more than $14 million in grants to help them meet requirements for students with disabilities under the No Child Left Behind Act and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

A total of 27 states will benefit from the awards in a grant program in which states were encouraged to work together and apply for funding in a consortium with other states.

The funds will be used for developing:

Modified academic achievement standards.

Alternate academic achievement standards (for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities).

State assessments based on modified or alternate academic achievement standards.

Clear and appropriate guidelines for Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams, which include parents, to identify children with disabilities who should be assessed based on alternate or modified academic achievement standards.

Training on those guidelines for IEP teams.

Visit IDEA General Supervision Enhancement Grant program for more information.

Source: Department of Education

Free Education News: Grow Your Own Teachers

A few years ago, Chicago public schools would have taken a pass on Anita Sanders's job application.

A 42-year-old mother of three, Sanders aspired to become a teacher but lacked the credentials.

Even though she had worked for four years as a teacher's assistant, she nevertheless was a college dropout.

Maria Marquez, 40, also would have failed to make the cut.

She set her sights on teaching after mentoring English- language learners in a neighborhood school, but she, too, didn't have a college degree.

Neither did Ebelia Mucino, who fell in love with teaching as a volunteer in a classroom with bilingual students.

A native of Mexico, Mucino had barely a high school education. Today, these women are just the type of teachers the city's schools are looking for.

Tired of seeing first-year teachers flee to suburban schools, Illinois is spending $7.5 million to help people like Sanders, Marquez, and Mucino become teachers in underperforming schools in neighborhoods like their own.

The initiative is called Grow Your Own Illinois and aims to prepare 1,000 such teachers by 2016. Candidates, mostly women of color from low-income communities, receive forgivable college loans of up to $25,000 in exchange for a minimum five-year commitment to teach in underserved schools.

To view the complete article, click here.

(U.S. News & World Report 10.12.07)

Public High School Students Do As Well As Private School Students

According to a report, students attending independent private high schools, most types of parochial high schools, and public high schools of choice performed no better on achievement tests in math, reading, science, and history than students attending traditional public high schools.

In addition, students attending any type of private high school were no more likely to attend college than those attending traditional public high schools.

The report also finds that young adults who had attended any type of private high school were no more likely to enjoy job satisfaction or to be engaged in civic activities at age 26 than those who had attended traditional public high schools.

The unique study is based on analyses of a nationally representative, longitudinal database of students and schools—the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988- 2000, or NELS.

The report also looked at several long-term outcomes—not just achievement trends—and distinguished between the performance of students attending different types of public and private schools.

This report does note two exceptions to its main findings.

First, it finds that students who attended independent private high schools had higher SAT scores than public school students, gaining an advantage in efforts to enroll at elite colleges.

Second, the report indicates that students attending some private Catholic schools run by holy orders (such as Jesuit schools) instead of a diocese did see some positive academic effects.

However, there are very few of these schools nationwide, as most Catholic schools are operated by their diocese.

The report, “Are Private High Schools Better Academically Than Public High Schools?”, focuses primarily on the experience of low-income students in urban settings—those for whom policies of school choice are often aimed, on the grounds that they should have the same opportunities that wealthier students.

To view the entire report, click here.

Source: Center On Education Policy

Do Home Schoolers Learn More?

With the popularity of home schooling on the rise, the academic payoff may not be as large as parents think.

Arkansas was the only state Pioneer Press found that analyzes test scores of home schoolers and public school students.

The state, which has 15,012 home schoolers, compares the scores and tracks the academic progress of both sets of students.

According to the statistics, home schoolers performed better as they age while public school students' scores drop over time.

Public school third-, fourth- and fifth-graders outscored their home-schooled peers in spring 2007, the analysis showed.

By sixth grade, home school students' average performance showed slight increases, while their public school counterparts' scores started to drop.

By ninth grade, home schoolers outperformed public schoolers on the test.

An analysis of Illinois home schoolers is impossible because the state is one of 10 in the nation that does not require testing.

One home-schooling advocate, however, has presented data reflecting home schooled students nationwide perform much better in kindergarten through 12th grade than public school students.

In a 1997 study titled, "Home Schooling Achievement," Brian Ray, president of the National Home Education Research Institute, found on average, "home schoolers outperformed their public school peers by 30 to 37 percentile points across all subjects."

To view the complete article, click here.

(Sun-Times News Group 09.29.07)

Bush, Others Want Law To Go Beyond Basics

When President Bush spoke about the No Child Left Behind Act in the Rose Garden of the White House this week, he added two words to his typical description of the law’s central goal: “or above.” “Every child must learn to read and do math at, or above, grade level,” the president said after meeting with civil rights leaders who support the reauthorization of the nearly 6-year-old law.

The addition of those two words acknowledges that Mr. Bush and other policymakers are considering a variety of changes to the NCLB law to encourage schools to go beyond the teaching of basic skills.

The president’s comments also came the day before the release of a poll suggesting that the American public believes schools aren’t teaching critical thinking and other skills needed in the workforce.

The survey of 800 registered voters found that two-thirds believe schools should teach “more than just the basics” and schools are failing to adequately teach skills they consider important, such as writing, creativity, and teamwork.

The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

To view the complete article, click here.

(Education Week 10.12.07)

Issue Brief Focuses On the Myths and Realities of the Federal Education Budget

According to the New American Foundation, the White House and Congress are approaching a major budget debate that could influence federal education funding, which is why the organization released a brief entitled, "The 2007 Budget Showdown: The Facts Behind Funding".

To view the issue brief, click here.

Or, you can view video from a New American event, where panelists discussed the current budget debate. It can be viewed by clicking here.

Source: The American Foundation

Majors For High Schoolers Aim To Focus Learning

If three years ago you had told Latasha Jackson of Brighton, MA that she would go to college, she would have scoffed.

Now a high school senior, Latasha has applied to some of the best business colleges in the state and intends to be the first generation of her family to pursue a postsecondary education.

"When I first got here," she says, "I thought there was no way I'd want to do another four years of classes after high school.

But after I chose the business pathway, I realized there are some days I can't wait to get to accounting class.

" This class, which helped cultivate Latasha's interest in school, is one of the courses she takes through Brighton High School's business and technology pathway program.

Brighton has four other school-to-college-to-career pathways for ninth-graders to choose. Brighton is not the only high school trying to captivate students like Latasha and encourage them to plan for life beyond high school.

Dropout rates are on the rise because, according to surveys of these dropouts, classes are "boring" and unrelated to their lives.

Thus, high school educators and state officials are focused on improving the three R's of retention, relevance, and relationships.

As the new school year progresses, a growing number of schools across the United States are trying new approaches to move students from feeling like anonymous drones with an ambiguous destiny to focused learners.

To view the complete article, click here.

(The Christian Science Monitor 10.04.07)

Carole Marsh Mystery Classroom Contest

Are you looking for ways to get your students excited about reading?

Enter your class in the Carole Marsh Mystery classroom contest today!

How to enter:
Teachers may enter their class by submitting an original entry document of why Gallopade should choose their class to be featured in a Carole Marsh Mystery.

Be creative!

Let them know why in an essay, poem, or song--that's up to you!

Mail your entry form and a photo (including the entire class and teacher) to Gallopade International by December 7, 2007.

Prizes:
One (1) winning class will be featured in a Carole Marsh Mystery. The class will also receive a visit from Carole Marsh, a classroom set of mysteries (30 paperback books), and a goody bag for each class member (posters, bookmarks, and more!).

Spread the word! Turn your students into STARS!!

Click here to browse the current titles in the
Carole Marsh Mystery series available at SchooDoodle.com!

School Districts Seek Option to Test In Spanish

Leslie Santillan uses English words to describe the animal-shaped hand shadows she casts on the playground pavement at Loma Verde Elementary School in Chula Vista, CA – dog, wolf, butterfly.

But ask her a question in English and it becomes apparent it's her second language, because she'll sometimes answer with a question of her own: “What does mean that?”

Her teacher, Cristina Orin, said she gets variations on that question every spring when the 7-year-olds in her second-grade bilingual education class take mandatory state tests administered in English.

Three South County (CA) school districts are arguing in court that when students don't understand the questions, it is wrong to use their answers as the basis for scoring schools and sanctioning them for poor performance.

Chula Vista Elementary, San Ysidro and Sweetwater Union High school districts have joined six others suing California to stop English-only testing. They are asking for the option to give the test in Spanish to students such as Leslie, just as at least three other states allow.

Chula Vista and Sweetwater each have spent $40,000 on the lawsuit, and San Ysidro has committed to spending $30,000. To make their case, the districts cite the law that requires the testing – the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the 670 pages of rules that govern public education.

To view the complete article, click here.

(The San Diego Union-Tribune 10.02.07)

Study Shows Increase In Charter Schools and Accountability

According to a new study conducted by the Center for Education Reform, the number of charter schools opening this school year is up eight percent from last year.

According to the center, more than 4,100 charter schools currently serve over 1.2 million students across the country.

The increase is significant in light of a challenging political environment for school choice in which, among other things, many states are reaching their self-imposed caps on charter schools.

Despite continuing opposition and debilitating laws, however, more parents than ever are choosing charter schools over conventional public schools when it comes to educating their children.

Many state laws continue to create obstacles to quality learning opportunities. The Center for Education Reform tracks the environment for healthy charters in each state and provides profiles grading each state's effort. Of the 40 states with charter school laws and the District of Columbia, only 17 percent received a grade of "A."

To view the complete report, click here.

Source: The Center For Education Reform

Support Grows For Teacher Bonuses

A movement gaining momentum in Congress and some school systems in the Washington region and beyond would boost pay for exceptional teachers in high-poverty schools, a departure from salary schedules based on seniority and professional degrees that have kept pay in lockstep for decades.

Lawmakers are debating this month whether to authorize federal grants through a revision of the No Child Left Behind law for bonuses of as much as $12,500 a year for outstanding teachers in schools that serve low-income areas.

National teachers unions denounce the proposal for "performance pay," saying it would undermine their ability to negotiate contracts and would be based in part on what they consider an unfair and unreliable measure: student test scores.

Debate over the proposal has exposed unusual fissures between the influential unions and longtime Democratic allies. Some education experts say the unions are out of step with parents and voters who support the business-oriented idea of providing financial incentives for excellent work.

To view the complete article, click here.

(The Washington Post 09.18.07)

Free Education News - Margaret Spelling To Hold National Education Town Hall Webcast

On Wednesday, September 19, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings will host a live Parents’ Town Hall from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

During the live, interactive webcast, Spellings will discuss ways to improve education in the United States with parents and school leaders in Cleveland, OH.

Viewers may submit a question for Spellings in advance of the webcast. To ask a question, send an email to education.tv@ed.gov.

Please put “parent town hall” in the subject line, and please send your email no later than 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, September 19.

To learn more, visit: ED.GOV

Free Education News: Later School Starts Gain Popularity

After a swing toward starting the school year earlier, sometimes as early as the first week of August, momentum has grown in several states to begin school later in August or after Labor Day.

Pressure from parents and the tourism industry has pushed 11 states to limit how early school may begin, rankling school boards that want local control and more time to prepare students for state-mandated tests.

This year, new laws took effect in Florida, where the 67 public school districts may not begin classes earlier than 14 days before Labor Day, and Texas, where the 1,033 public school districts may not begin until the fourth week in August.

In Michigan, a law enacted last year said the 838 school districts must begin classes after Labor Day. Other states, including Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, are debating the start date.

School boards with early start dates argue that state lawmakers should not impose their will on local communities with individual needs. They're not making the year longer, they're just starting earlier and ending earlier. They say that helps them meet growing academic demands because it allows more uninterrupted class time before winter breaks.

(USA Today 08.29.07)

To read the complete article, CLICK HERE

Free Education News: Best Buy Teach Awards

Rewarding Schools for Engaging Students

Best Buy believes technology can excite and engage students, creating a more valuable educational experience. The Best Buy Teach Awards provide gift cards to schools so they can purchase technology for their students.

Highlights:

• Since 2004, the Best Buy Teach Award program has awarded nearly $14 million to over 5,000 K-12 schools.
  
• This year Best Buy will present awards to more than 1,300 schools
  
• $2,000 Best Buy Teach Awards for up to 1,300 schools*
  
• $10,000 will be awarded to up to 50 schools*
  
• $100,000 will be awarded to 8 school districts*
  
• K-12 public, private and parochial schools using interactive technology in classrooms are eligible to apply.
  
• Schools must be within 50 miles of a Best Buy store to apply.
  
• Educators must apply between July 1 and September 30.
  
• The 2008 Teach Award Winners will be announced on February 18, 2008.

Educators CLICK HERE to apply for the 2008 Teach Award

CLICK HERE to see a list of 2007 Teach Award-Winning Schools

Free Education News: Toy Company Recalls Coloring Cases

On last week, toy retailer Toys "R" Us Inc. and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of Imaginarium Wooden Coloring Cases made in China, due to lead ink on the outer packaging.

The company and the CPSC said some of the black watercolor paint in the kit also contains excessive levels of lead. The case includes crayons, pastels, colored pencils, fiber pens, paintbrush, pencil, water colors, palette, white paint, ruler and pencil sharpener in a light tan wooden carrying case. The case measures about 14 inches high by 19 inches wide. The cases were sold in Toys "R" Us from October 2006 to August for about $20.

Source: AP