COVER STORIES

Gandhi-King Season for Nonviolence at the UN
On January 30th over 500 high school children in and around New York City will take part in this inspirational event, which young people will learn about the connection between nonviolence and health, and about legacies of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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The Heritage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, and Medgar Evers College of The City University of New York will host the eighteenth annual Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The celebratory event, the largest... READ MORE

The Meaning of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
by Coretta Scott King
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday celebrates the life and legacy of a man who brought hope and healing to America. We commemorate as well the timeless values he taught us through his example—the values of courage, truth, justice, compassion, dignity, humility and service that so radiantly defined Dr. King's character... READ MORE

The Schomburg Center for Research for Black Culture: Events in January
Professor Henry Louis Gates traveled across the country interviewing forty-four famous and not-so-famous individuals from different parts of the African-American community... READ MORE

NEW JERSEY NEWS

Effectveness of McGreevy's Education Priorities
Recognizing that providing our children with the skills to compete in the 21st century economy is our most fundamental obligation, Governor James E. McGreevey recently granted 25 schools that are succeeding in that task the First Annual Governor's School of Excellence award. The Governor... READ MORE

Ensuring Great Teachers for Children
Recognizing that providing our children with the skills to compete in the 21st century economy, means supporting great teachers and high teacher quality, Governor James E. McGreevey recently issued the following statement regarding the State Board of Education's adoption of... READ MORE

NJ School Districts Improve Mathematics, Science, & Technology Education
The New Jersey Statewide Systemic Initiative (NJ SSI) will distribute approximately $300,000 to over 20 districts in an effort to implement successful, education enriched programs, focusing primarily on the professional development of teachers. READ MORE

New Jersey Launches New Tool for Improving
School Performance
New Jersey's business leaders, along with Governor James E. McGreevey, and representatives of the education community, will launch a new Web site called Just for the Kids-New Jersey. This school improvement tool provides fair comparisons of schools, valuable data for... READ MORE

McGreevey & Community Colleges Partner
to Create Jobs
Continuing his aggressive efforts to create jobs and strengthen New Jersey's economy, Governor James E. McGreevey signed the New Jersey Community Colleges Compact, an executive order that creates a new statewide partnership between the State of New Jersey and its nineteen... READ MORE

EDITORIALS

Productivity in the Public Schools by Stuart Dunn
Economists tell us that the recent recovery in the nation's economy has been spurred by increased productivity. How is productivity defined and why is it so important? Productivity is similar to what we think of as efficiency. More specifically, productivity is defined as the...
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SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS

Internet Censorship: US v. American Library Association by Martha Mc Carthy, Ph .D.
With the mind-boggling growth of the Internet, policy makers have become increasingly concerned about protecting children from viewing pornographic and other harmful materials via cyberspace. Since 1996, Congress has made several attempts to enact legislation to shield children... READ MORE

Ranked Chess Player Only 12 Years Old
A 12-year-old girl and New York City public school student from the Bronx has accomplished the impossible—in just 18 months she has advanced from a complete unknown to become the 74th best woman chess player in the nation. READ MORE

Dr. Joyce Coppin by Joan Baum, Ph .D.
It's a Friday afternoon, and Dr. Joyce R. Coppin, Chief Executive of the Division of Human Resources and the Center for Recruitment and Professional Development for the Department of Education, apologizes for being late (by only 10 minutes)—she was at a meeting, "having fun." As the... READ MORE

MIT Gives 10 High Schools Grants for Inventions
More than 180 students at 10 high schools across the country are getting the chance this school year to work on teams to create inventions that benefit their schools or communities. These students, and their teachers and mentors, are this year's recipients of the prestigious...
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New Journal of Education Published by CCNY
by Adam Sugerman
The New Educator: A Journal of Educator Recruitment, Development, and Support is a quarterly peer-reviewed journal soon to be published by the City College of New York School of Education. This is the first such journal to be published by a CUNY school of education. It will... READ MORE

From the Land of Honalee to P.S. 77:
An Outpouring of Love by Joanne Kontopirakis
Ivy Sterling, principal of P.S. 77 in Brooklyn, was wearing a bright red jacket and shiny Christmas pin. A warm woman with a voice like honey, she took time to spread caring to students and uplift all that she met. "Hello. Did you have fun today?" she asked students leaving the gymnasium. READ MORE

Sciabarra to Lead New Office at Dept. of Ed
Elizabeth Sciabarra has been appointed Chief Executive of the newly created Office of Student Enrollment Planning and Operations. In her new role, Ms. Sciabarra will drive the Department of Education's effort to connect the issues of student placement, zoning, and enrollment to the... READ MORE

Virtual Enterprises Brings HS Entrepreneurs Closer
to Reality
by Michelle Accorso
When you were sixteen did you know what a "break-even" point was? Yet on a recent afternoon, at the World Financial Center, high school kids were speaking with ease and confidence about all the aspects that go into creating a business, specifically their own. They may be virtual... READ MORE

COLLEGES

Accreditation Agencies Promote Change at CCNY School of Ed
by Gretchen L. Johnson
The Education Department of the City College of New York has undergone a transformation in the last few years. In 1998 the department was placed under intensive review by the New York State Education Department as a result of poor performance of teacher education students on the... READ MORE

Baruch College—A Brief History Compiled
by Chris Rowan READ MORE

College President's Series:
Leon Botstein: The Maestro of Annandale
by Jacob M. Appel
For someone who has been a college president for more than half of his life, Leon Botstein sounds much more like a young revolutionary hell-bent on transforming the American education system. Maybe that is because he has kept one foot outside the field of academic administration, serving... READ MORE

MEDICAL UPDATE

Columbia and Vanderbilt University Nurses
Plan Emergency Response
by Jocelyn K. Egyes
With the increasing rise of terrorism threats and everyday man-made emergencies world wide, nurses are at the forefront of helping to save lives. Usually first on the scene or first to respond to a patient, they need to think fast and perform quickly. And thanks to Columbia University's and... READ MORE

Center for Research & Treatment of Childhood Diabetes Expands
The world's premier center for the research and treatment of childhood diabetes is about to get a new $32 million home, tripling its original size and making it the largest pediatric diabetes facility in the country, if not the world. READ MORE

New Center for Osteoporosis Treatment, Research
& Education
Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital announced the completion of the Toni Stabile Osteoporosis Center, a new standard for treatment, research, and education relating to the disease. The Center, the largest in the New York City metropolitan area and one... READ MORE

Two Weill Cornell Faculty Elected to the
Institute of Medicine
Two outstanding physician-scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College have been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors bestowed by the scientific community. They are Dr. Flint Beal, Chairman and Anne Parish Titzell... READ MORE

CHILDREN'S CORNER

Best Education Products: Playing & Learning
by Stevanne Auerbach, P h .D. (Dr.Toy) READ MORE

Product Review: Coloride Workbooks
by Rick Sulz
High technology is a wonderful thing, and, when used correctly in an educational environment, can greatly enhance learning. That's an undisputed fact. But given the fact that teachers have been teaching and students learning for countless centuries, one sometimes wonders "is it possible... READ MORE

Learning—The Process that Counts
by Dr. Carole G. Hankin with Randi T. Sachs
I'm sure every parent has been asked this question by their children more than once. It usually comes up during homework, or maybe after receiving a poor grade on a test or assignment. Our children look to us to answer satisfactorily "Why do we have to learn this?" They might even follow... READ MORE

Sweet Treats in the Everett Children's
Adventure Garden READ MORE

BOOKS

Book Review: Choosing Choice—
School Choice in International Perspective
Reviewed by Merri Rosenberg READ MORE

Logos Bookstore’s Recommendations READ MORE

Book Review:
Lucy McCormick Calkins: The Art of Teaching Reading
Reviewed by Merri Rosenberg READ MORE

Book Review:
Overcoming a Brutal Disability: Healing with Nature READ MORE

Start the Year with an Array of New Books!
by Selene Vasquez READ MORE

Make your New Year's Resolution Reading
by Selene Vasquez READ MORE

Book Review:
Stand Columbia: A History of Columbia University in the City of New York, 1754--2004
Reviewed by Merri Rosenberg READ MORE

MUSIC, ART & DANCE

The Rossini Festival in Pesaro: Part II
by Irving Spitz READ MORE

Arts Vital to National Educational Reform
by Scott Noppe-Brandon
Recently, I was invited to participate in a conference on the impact that The Nation at Risk report has had on education in the United States over the past twenty years. The conference, sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the J. Paul Getty Trust, was divided into two... READ MORE

LANGUAGES

ESL Students Get Special Language Instruction
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Navajo Code Talkers Show Language Matters
by Sybil Maimin
The importance of teaching and preserving languages was made critically clear during World War II when Navajo Indians from the American Southwest developed a code based on their native language that literally saved thousands of lives in the Pacific Theater.
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METROBEAT

January is National Mentoring Month:
"Who Mentored You?"
by Matilda Raffa Cuomo & Dr.Jay Winsten
This month marks the third annual National Mentoring Month campaign, a nationwide effort to recruit volunteer mentors for young people who are at risk of not achieving their full potential. Research has shown a mentor can greatly enhance a young person's prospects for leading... READ MORE

Making Sure Our Public Schools Are Safe
by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
Our public schools are for learning—and if some students don't want to learn, that doesn't give them the right to rob their classmates of the opportunity. Over the last two years, we've driven serious crime in the schools down some 23%; this year; assaults are down more than 8%. Nevertheless, one... READ MORE

Stopping School Bullying and Harassment will Curb School Violence
by Assemblyman Steven Sanders
The most recent and shocking reports of school violence, against students and against school staff, raises several questions. Why? Why now? What's to be done? Who is responsible? Some of the answers are less obvious. To Mayor Bloomberg's credit, he has acknowledged that mistakes... READ MORE

MOVIES AND THEATER

Powerful Tools for Helping Young Children Become Strong Readers
The Partnership for Reading announces the availability of "A Child Becomes A Reader," two booklets that use findings from scientifically based research to suggest how parents can help their young children become strong readers. One booklet covers birth to preschool, the other K-3. READ MORE

Two School Films: Mona Lisa Smile & The Company
by Jan Aaron
A likeable female cast, including Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, playing skin-deep roles from class brat to class temptress is a main reason to see Mike Newell's "Mona Lisa Smile." Star Julia Roberts' cashmeres fit her perfectly, but alas, the role of Katherine Watson, a... READ MORE

TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION

Product Review:
Advanced Force's Remote Desktop Manager
by Mitchell Levine
Managing the largest computer network in secondary education is a vast undertaking, but New York's Department of Education is doing it. With the new year beginning, the goal of implementing the "one-to-one computing standard" in our city's public schools, or the ideal of one... READ MORE

Free Resources for Teachers READ MORE

Product Review:
Musical Spanish
by Pola Rosen, Ed.D
Sad to say, but true: when students are asked to name their least favorite academic subject, study after study has shown that "language study" ranks high in their lists. What should be an incomparably broadening cultural experience seems to have become, in the minds of many, a sterile... READ MORE

No Child Left Behind's Case for School Report Cards
The No Child Left Behind law offers an unprecedented amount of data and information. For the first time, school districts must distribute a report card with information on every school's academic performance. To help parents make the most of their school report cards, Parent Leadership... READ MORE