Recently added articles from Phi Delta Kappan:
Learning from the fog.(THE EDITOR'S PAGE)
Sep 01, 2008 ... When I head out for my morning run through the Bloomington, Indiana, subdivisions, the fog that surrounds me is authentic stuff--thick, wet, and mysterious. The hills of southern Indiana are exceptionally good at capturing that early morning mist and holding it within their grasp. The ...
What was old is new again.(WASHINGTON COMMENTARY)
Sep 01, 2008; Lewis, Anne C. ... Out with the new. In with the old. That seems a twisted way to think about the beginning of the school year, a time of change and openness to fresh ideas, but several events of the summer make such thoughts seem very fitting. With No Child Left Behind decisions somewhat dormant ...
Middle and high schoolers get hands-on STEM experiences.(STATELINE)(Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)
Sep 01, 2008; Christie, Kathy ... Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has been hot stuff in 2008. Pick up a magazine or newspaper, and STEM is there. STEM subjects relate to invention, industry, and commerce. They relate to chemistry and electricity and health. Far greater numbers of kids need to know ...
An open letter to the next president of the United States: regarding the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.(Letter to the editor)
Sep 01, 2008; Bushaw, William J. ... Dear Mr. President, This letter will arrive four months before you take office, and before Americans know which political party you represent. But to many Americans, your party affiliation matters less than how you prioritize public education. How do we know this? ...
Highlights of the 40th PDK/Gallup Poll.(Phi Delta Kappan)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Presidential Candidates -- Americans view Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as much more supportive of public schools than Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Federal Funding -- Americans support an increased use of federal funds to ...
Americans speak out--are educators and policy makers listening? The 40th annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.
Sep 01, 2008; Bushaw, William J. ... PARENTS, educators, political leaders--all Americans need the information contained in the next few pages. But why this poll? First, it's not just a quick snapshot of public perception. Rather, it is a serious research tool, conducted annually, that allows PDK members and other ...
Why an undemocratic capitalism has brought public education to its knees: the public schools are being punished for the achievement gap, which they did not create and cannot close. Mr. Gibboney urges educators to rise up and fight to protect public education and democracy, which will both collapse if our society refuses to take the steps necessary to eliminate poverty.(A MANIFESTO)
Sep 01, 2008; Gibboney, Richard A. ... UNCHECKED capitalism is destroying our nation's public schools, and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is the final nail in their coffin. Marching under the banner of "accountability," right-wing, pro-business forces are willfully undermining the democratic right of all children to a free, ...
Schooling for democracy: students need to understand that going to college is not the only valuable path they can pursue. Once they learn to respect other choices, they are on their way to participating in the kind of democracy Dewey envisioned, in which people from all walks of life work together for the common good.
Sep 01, 2008; Noddings, Nel ... CURRENT efforts at school reform--ostensibly designed to increase equality of outcomes--may actually be undermining our democracy by under-valuing the wide range of talents required in 21st-century America. I contend that, instead of insisting on more and more standardization, we should be ...
Educators must rally for reform: politicians don't have the answers that schools need, Mr. Kastle writes. It's time for educators to stop indulging in self-blame and to lead in education reform.
Sep 01, 2008; Kastle, Kenneth D. ... As a lifelong public educator, my reaction to Gibboney's Manifesto is, quite simply, it's about time. It is about time that we have a clear, articulate, and well-documented critique of the two-decades-plus scapegoating of the education profession, scapegoating that reached its zenith with ...
Class matters--in and out of school: closing gaps requires attention to issues of race and poverty.
Sep 01, 2008; Boyd-Zaharias, Jayne ... LOW achievement and high dropout rates among poor and minority students continue to plague U.S. society. And we say "plague" purposefully, because these children are all our children, and our nation will profit by or pay for whatever they become. While much attention over the past quarter ...
Snapshots of Chinese classrooms illustrate disparities: a visit to China highlights the poverty, isolation, and diversity that challenge one of the world's largest educational systems.
Sep 01, 2008; Pultorak, Edward G. ... JIN SITS in a rural classroom early on a Saturday morning working on math problems with her three-year-old brother asleep on her lap. Her parents work long hours in the farm fields for a low wage. There is no running water, and the family's clay and straw home barely keeps the stench of ...
A River town goes global: Chinese and American exchanges introduced a Westchester County school district to a different culture and sharpened their view of their own educational experience.
Sep 01, 2008; Castro, Marjorie E. ... AS THE designated photographer for this special moment, I felt a lump rising in my throat as I watched the group of three arrange themselves on the bench in our high school courtyard. The trio included two tall, handsome, Chinese teenage boys and the president of our board of education, ...
Self-determination for students with intellectual disabilities and why I want educators to know what it means: contrary to what many people assume, students with intellectual disabilities are capable of directing some aspects of their own lives. If we are to create democratic classrooms, Ms. Marks argues, we must promote self-determination for all students.
Sep 01, 2008; Marks, Susan Unok ... AS SOMEONE who has been involved in special education for close to 30 years, I continue to struggle with ways to describe to general educators some issues that I believe should be of importance to all of us. Recently, I have focused on self-determination and its implications for inclusive ...
Sorting out teacher quality: we care about many teacher qualities and have many ways of assessing them, Ms. Kennedy argues. What we lack is a strategy for organizing our assessments into a coherent system.
Sep 01, 2008; Kennedy, Mary M. ... TEACHER quality has become a hot topic. Everyone wants to measure it, reward it, or improve it. One reason for this interest is that we now have evidence that teachers differ dramatically in their ability to raise student test scores. We don't know why some teachers are better than others, ...
Interim assessments: a user's guide; interim assessments are an important tool for school improvement, but they are easy to use poorly. Mr. Marshall provides 10 guidelines for using these tests effectively.
Sep 01, 2008; Marshall, Kim ... INTERIM assessments are hot in American schools. Also called benchmark or periodic tests, these assessments are given every four to nine weeks to check on students' progress. Small wonder they are popular, since they embody three powerful insights: first, that initial teaching, no matter ...
What can we expect from politics?(IN CANADA)
Sep 01, 2008; Levin, Ben ... Many Canadians are deeply interested in the U.S. presidential election this fall, and not only because we are so inundated with coverage in the U.S. media. Canada is deeply affected by what happens in the U.S., socially as well as economically. American education trends and policies tend ...
Performance at the top.(RESEARCH)
Sep 01, 2008; Bracey, Gerald W. ... Anumber of recent studies have indicated that many districts focus on the "bubble kids" or the "tippers"--kids who with some extra instruction might tip the school into achieving Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Jennifer Booer-Jennings found that teachers were told to ignore "hopeless ...
What ever happened in the appeal of ...? Part III.(COURTSIDE)
Sep 01, 2008; Zirkel, Perry A. ... Several years have passed since we last paused to report any subsequent judicial proceedings in the cases covered in this column. (1) In some cases, the parties accepted the reported decision and moved on. However, in almost half of the cases, the losing party filed a motion for further ...
Noted speakers.(Phi Delta Kappa International news and upcoming events)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Despite all of the technical/technological advances in teaching and learning, at the heart of the enterprise is the teacher. This presentation will underscore the pivotal role of teachers in ensuring that students achieve and point to our need to improve teacher education. ...
Emerging leader sees potential in all students.(Phi Delta Kappa International news and upcoming events)(Peter Sheppard )
Sep 01, 2008 ... Peter Sheppard doesn't like the term "at-risk students." He prefers to describe these students as having "hidden or unmet potential." "Using the term at-risk taints the mindset of prospective teachers," said Sheppard, an assistant professor at the University of Louisiana at ...