Just when I think I can’t get any more exasperated at educational policy after President Bush’s No Child Left Behind program, along comes his brother. Jeb Bush and the Florida legislature are embracing the victor’s privilege of dictating history. Last month, Jeb signed a bill stating that “American history shall be viewed as factual, not
My son, like most preschoolers I know, goes through phases with his book, CD, and video interests. For the past few days, his video of choice has been Sesame Street’s Learning About Letters. I love this video. I was part of the first generation of children to grow up with Sesame Street, and many of
Google has released version 4 of their amazing 3D mapping software, Google Earth. If you haven’t played around with it, I highly recommend giving it a try, especially if you have kids who are learning geography. “Fly” around the earth and see both satellite views and road maps. Overlay landmarks and geographic features. See 3D
More states around the country are boosting funding for preschool programs, Stateline.org reports. California and Illinois are even considering universal preschool, following the footsteps of Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma. At first glance, this seems like a good thing. Others, including California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, say the money would be better targeted at “high-risk” preschoolers or
The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) has released new results on students in science. The news is mixed. The good part is that the gap between whites and non-whites has shrunk since 2000. (The fact that it still exists, is, of course, a problem.) Of concern to some, however, is that eighth-graders showed almost
No state has met the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) teacher-qualification goals for this school year, the AP reports. Nine states, plus DC and Puerto Rico, may lose federal aid because they did not try hard enough to comply by the law’s deadline. I’ve never been a fan of NCLB, but the teacher qualifications seem
Today is Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, a program sponsored by the Ms. Foundation for Women “to create an opportunity for girls and boys to share and communicate their expectations for the future.” The Foundation estimates that over 6.4 million boys and 10.1 million girls 8-12 years old will participate and “engage
A bipartisan group of legislators has introduced a bill that would require the Agriculture Department to set new nutritional standards for all food sold in schools, with the goal of restricting junk food sales. Current regulations apply to cafeteria breakfasts and lunches, but not vending-machine or school-store snacks. I’m all for this—but wonder if restrictions
The New York Times today reports on schools that are cutting funding for gifted programs in order to meet the requirements for the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. Schools are shifting funds to ensure that struggling students attain the law’s basic math and reading levels. This highlights one of the biggest dilemmas facing
The New York Times today discusses how “thousands” of schools across the country are reducing class time in subjects other than reading and math, as a reaction to the reading and math testing requirements of the “No Child Left Behind” law. (Registration required for NY Times site.) In some cases, schools have completely eliminated other
