COVER STORY
Back-to-School
Checklist for Parents
by Dr. Rod Paige
As you
embark upon your annual back-to-school stories, I wanted
to share some thoughts with you and some helpful tips that
might be of interest to your readers-especially parents. MORE
How
to Send Your Daughter Back to School with Confidence, Passion & Goals
By David F. Salter
With back to school right
around the corner, parents need to make sure they provide
the essential tools for their daughters to survive and
thrive. There are many high-risk obstacles that await them. MORE
Increasing
Student and School
Achievment through Parent Involvement
by Linda Hodges
When it comes to parent involvement
and its powerful influence, the research is broad and clear-over
30 years of research has proven beyond dispute the positive
connection between parent involvement and student success.
When parents are involved, children have higher grades and
test scores, better attendance, increased motivation, better
self-esteem, higher graduation rates, and a greater likelihood
of pursuing a postsecondary education. MORE
EDITORIALS & LETTERS
Guest
Editorial
Open
Letter to Friends of
New York City Public
Schools
by Deputy Chancellor
Carmen Fariña
What an exciting time to be part of New York City public education, a time where
everything and anything is possible. Our slogan-Children First-is also our mission
and vision. MORE
Letters to the Editor MORE
SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS
The Plight of Homeless
Children:
Losing Education Hopes & Dreams: Part I of a Series
15,380 Homeless Children in NYC Get
Lost in the Shuffle
By Russell Crane
Families
reach the point of homelessness because they have exhausted
their housing and financial resources and many may not have
a network of support, either due to domestic violence or
other breakdowns in relationships. MORE
Corporate
Contributions to Education - Part I
This Is The First In A Series
On Corporate Contributions To Education, Interviewing Leaders
Who Have Changed The Face
Of Education In Our Nation
Bill and Melinda Gates: The Gates
Foundation
By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
Say "Bill Gates" these days and it's likely
that "education benefactor" comes to mind as readily
as "Microsoft mogul." Gates and his wife Melinda
French Gates have done more than put their money into a foundation
to improve learning and health care, however, two issues that
are intimately related. MORE
Interview with Jennifer Greenblatt
Department of Ed Creates New
Division: Parent Support Office
By Sybil Maimin
"I
wanted this job even before they created it," explains
Jennifer Greenblatt, the liaison for Manhattan District 2 in
the year-old Parent Support Office in the Department of Education.
As a parent leader at the elementary, middle, and high school
levels (executive board member, PTA president), "I recognized
a need for the office and I guess Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor
Klein did too." MORE
"All
Children Can Achieve at High Levels"
Allan Alson Tells Superintendents at TC
By Dorothy Davis
"The achievement gap
will be closed when we can no longer predict achievement level by race," said
Allan Alson, Superintendent of the Evanston Township High School
in Illinois, and President of the Minority Student Achievement
Network (MSAN). MORE
Teens Discover Japan in New York
By Jan Aaron
Some teens spend
their summer days idling at the beach reading books. But not
all. Twenty local teens from the city's public schools wrote
and produced their own book, "A Teen's Guide to Discovering
Japan in New York." MORE
Sea Turtles:
Ambassadors of the Ocean to Your Classroom
By Robert Ovetz, Ph.D.
Sea
turtles are, as world renowed" oceanographer
Dr. Sylvia Earle likes to say, "ambassadors of the oceans". MORE
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Survivors Are NYC's Newest Principals
By Dorothy Davis
In the summer
of '03 the first class in New York City Leadership Academy's
Aspiring Principals Program endured some tough training.
It was so tough, said Verone Kennedy at their recent graduation
ceremony at Baruch College, that "when
the Blackout occurred we thought it was another simulation." MORE
Our Forgotten Priorities
By Joanne Kontopirakis
Distinguished
columnist Bob Herbert recently explored the changing and
diminishing landscape of social services available to children
living in poverty. MORE
Research that Connects to Community
Life Pays Off
By Dr. Charlotte K. Frank & Phyllis
Frankfort
Over 1400 New York City high school students
recently created innovative proposals ranging from recommending
health report cards to prevent obesity among students in New
York City schools, to a policy solution to help solve the city's
housing crisis, to creating a youth activism campaign to stop
companies from sending jobs overseas. MORE
When Educating
Homeless Children, Community is Key
By Commissioner Linda Gibbs
Hubert
Humphrey once said that the impersonal hand of government
could never replace the helping hand of a neighbor. MORE
Testing,
Testing, 1, 2, 3...
By Alfred S. Posamentier, Ph.D.
For
many decades the United States has been a world model for testing
students to assess their progress in what is hoped to be an
objective process. Actually, one of the first American tests,
the New York State Regents examinations, when they were first
introduced about 140 years ago, were originally intended as
a device to rate teachers. MORE
COLLEGES & GRAD SCHOOLS
Top
MBAs & Computer
Science Majors Win at IBM
By Dorothy Davis
To feel
buoyantly optimistic about the future of our country, about
Yankee ingenuity and creative U. S. industry, and the outstanding
students our schools are producing-uplifting things like
that-you can't do better these days than to take a peek at
IBM! Yes, that stodgy old company of our youth (well, mine
anyway) has been busy reinventing itself. MORE
From Investment
Banking to the Classroom:
Career Changers Jump into Teaching
By Josh Rogers
George Hoisl was an investment officer
at Wachovia Bank when his boss asked for volunteers for a junior
achievement program the company was sponsoring. MORE
Barnard Student Makes Learning The
Center Of Her Vacation
By Sarah N. Lynch
For most college
students, vacation consists of sunbathing and sipping margaritas,
but for Barnard College student Deborah "Jane" Cooper,
her summer vacation had a different purpose this year. MORE
CHILDREN'S CORNER
From
the Superintendent's Seat
Give Your Child an A for Attitude
by Dr. Carole G. Hankin with Randi T. Sachs
We
all remember the classmates from our childhood who seemed to be able to do
it all. Were they the best looking...the most athletic...the smartest? MORE
Mission Possible: Helping
Children Around the World
by Patrick Schoof
Youth
Advocate Program (YAP) International provides voice and
visibility to the most vulnerable children worldwide, and
has for the past decade. Its formal mission is to "promote
and protect the rights and well-being of the world's youth,
giving particular attention to children victimized by conflict,
exploitation, and state and personal violence". MORE
MUSEUMS AS EDUCATORS
The American Museum of Natural History
Opens Its Doors to Teachers
by Sybil Maimin
The Structures and Cultures
Moveable Museum, a Winnebago RV containing select museum objects that goes
out to New York City schools, greeted educators in the driveway
of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), the first
hint of the instructional treasure trove that lay inside the
building for the 55 participants who attended the 4th annual
Educator's Summer Institute on World Cultures. MORE
SPECIAL EDUCATION
Computer Adaptive
Technology for the Visually Impaired
by Burke Mortimer
Since
1895 The New York Public Library (NYPL) has worked diligently
to meet the reading needs of people with disabilities. Currently,
the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library, a branch
of NYPL, is responsible for meeting their needs in New York
City and Long Island. MORE
MOVIE & THEATER REVIEWS
MOVIE
REVIEW:
New Flair for Vanity Fair
by Jan Aaron
Director Mira
Nair ("Monsoon Wedding")
breathes new life into William Makepeace Thackeray's "Vanity
Fair", starring the irresistible Reese Witherspoon as
the clever, social climbing Becky Sharp. Delhi born Nair brings
her Indian sensibilities to Calcutta born Thackeray's classic
work. MORE
THEATER
REVIEW:
Bollywood on Broadway: Bombay Dreams
By Jan Aaron
Glitzy costumes and sets and
a beguiling score dress up this musical's familiar story. Like its inspiration
the Bollywood film musical, Bombay Dreams relates an
oft-told tale. MORE
TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION
Product
Review:
The Keynamics Laptop Stand
By Mitchell Levine
Over
the last couple of years, thousands of students and teachers
have received portable computers as part of an initiative
carried through by the Department of Education and the Laptop
Foundation of America. MORE
Product
Review:
Information Appliance Associates'
PocketMac Pro Utility
By Mitchell Levine
Like most
PDA users, I love the technology, but can't stand the inconvenience
of a PocketPC-style PDA's incompatibility with the Macintosh
network that powers Education Update. True, it's much more
practicable than carrying a Rolodex, laptop, portable library,
scientific calculator, and, if you're like me, Game Boy. MORE
Product
Review:
Ambrosia Software's Snapz Pro
X
By Mitchell Levine
As
the first generation of students to be raised with digital
technology has arisen, it's brought another new generation
right along with it: the first generation of teachers needing
to teach digital technology to their classes. MORE
METROBEAT
Fighting to Keep New Yorkers Healthy
by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
New
York City has so much to offer that makes life here a pleasure.
Good health is fundamental to being able to enjoy them all.
And the good news is that, as a city, New Yorkers are healthier
than ever. MORE
Education & Services
for Homeless Children
by Matilda Raffa Cuomo
There
are nine HELP USA facilities in New York State for homeless
families and children. HELP USA's transitional housing model
offers a comprehensive continuum of support services designed
to help families address barriers to self-sufficiency and
develop the skills they need to move into permanent housing. MORE
Bush Education Policy Leaves Common
Sense Behind
by Assemblyman Steven Sanders
When
parents are informed that their child attends a "failing
school," many rightfully react
with bewilderment and urgency and if possible will seek to
find a school that is "succeeding." MORE
BOOKS
Teachers' Wage Gap Growing:
A Review of How Does Teacher Pay Compare?
By Dorothy Davis
The wage gap between
teachers and workers in fields requiring similar skills is widening. So concludes
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) in its new book, How
Does Teacher Pay Compare? Methodological Challenges and Answers by
Sylvia A. Allegretto, Sean P. Corcoran and Lawrence Mishel. MORE
Logos
Bookstore’s Recommendations
by H. Harris Healy,
III, President,
Logos Bookstore
August 2004 marked the sixth year of Kill
Your Television Reading Group (KYTV). MORE
"Fall" into
a Colorful Array of Books this Autumn
By Selene Vasquez
"My creature teacher's strict and stern-she growls
so I will wait my turn. If we want to howl and shriek we must put
up our paws to speak." Jokingly creepy beasts with green
skin, single eyeballs and bizarre body shapes inhabit this
one of a kind ghoul school. MORE
MUSIC, ART & DANCE
Special
to Education Update from Vienna
Richard Wagner's Tristan & Isolde
at the Vienna Staatsoper
by Irving Spitz
Acoustically
Magnificent but Visually Disappointing
The Vienna
Staatsoper premiered a new production of Wagner's great
epic Tristan and Isolde last season especially for the
American Soprano Deborah Voigt. MORE
FEATURES
Grants for
Schools and Individuals MORE
CAREERS
Explore
A New Career
So You Want To Be A Film Major?
by Sarah N. Lynch
Growing
up with a father who launched his own local television station
in Kentucky, it comes as no surprise that Brittany Stevenson
was destined to major in film and television production. MORE