Eye on Curriculum

• Students cross border daily seeking better education
  An Arizona district is cracking down on students who live in Mexico but pass through customs daily to attend U.S. public schools. A full-time attendance officer nabs border-crossers, who are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants but break the law requiring them to live within their school boundaries. Some districts -- which gain additional funding for each student -- turn a blind eye; in one tiny border town, a school bus stop at the crossing regularly picked up 85 children. Los Angeles Times (6/25)

• Citing expense, Pennsylvania won't require foreign language studies
  Requiring students to learn the basics of a foreign language would be too expensive, Pennsylvania board of education Chairman Karl Girton said. With only 300 new foreign language instructors certified annually in the state, it would cost the state's districts some $114.5 million to fill an anticipated gap of some 2,683 language teachers. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (6/25)

• Standardized lesson plans irk some Washington educators
  As Seattle considers standardizing its curriculum in every classroom, teachers in one Washington district log in to see what pages and subjects they must teach each day. Opponents of across-the-board standardization say it hinders a teacher's ability to respond to the needs of a particular class, but Bellevue Superintendent Mike Riley says inconsistent curriculum is "at the heart of what's wrong with education in America." The Seattle Times (6/24)

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Professional Leadership

• Schools plan for unprecedented teacher shortages
  As baby boomers begin to retire, young people look to better-paying fields and No Child Left Behind raises standards for new teachers, U.S. schools are facing unprecedented shortages of new educators. While some in Texas and Florida are competing for certified educators by increasing salaries, Baltimore is getting creative with a career high school that teaches students about teaching. The Washington Post (6/24) , The Sun (Baltimore) (6/23) , Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas) (6/24) , The Palm Beach Post (Fla.) (6/24)

• Louisville superintendent departs after 14 years at helm
  As one of the country's longest-serving urban superintendents, Stephen Daeschner will leave the Jefferson County Public Schools in Kentucky this week to lead a district in Aurora, Ill. The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.) (6/24)

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Hot Topics

Top five news stories selected by ASCD SmartBrief readers in the past week.

• Report: NCLB has changed teaching, not always for better (Education Week (premium article access compliments of EdWeek.org))

• 2,300 schools face NCLB restructuring (TIME)

• Some single-sex schools narrowing focus to minority boys (Education Week (premium article access compliments of EdWeek.org))

• Ruling: Schools may be liable for students even after the bell rings (Education Week (premium article access compliments of EdWeek.org))

• Las Vegas district short 1,163 teachers: cost of living, starting salary blamed (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

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Technology Solutions

• "Serious" video games teach children while they play
  North Texas doctors are offering children with cancer some unconventional advice: Don't forget to play your video game. A shoot-'em-up computer game called "Re-Mission" teaches children about the disease and motivates them to keep up with treatments. Such "serious games" are designed to blend technology, entertainment and education to reach the so-called Xbox generation. Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas) (6/24)

• Is video game addiction a mental illness?
  The American Medical Association is considering adding video game addiction to a mental-illness handbook. Gamers and other medical groups have added to the discussion, stating that gaming addiction may be a societal, rather than a medical, issue. Los Angeles Times/Chicago Tribune (6/25)

What Works Clearinghouse Gives AR the green light. The U.S. Department of Education's What Works Clearinghouse has confirmed what K-12 teachers at more than 60,000 schools already know--Accelerated Reader works. Click here for more information and to read the news release.

Policy Watch

• After failed referendum, district eliminates sports, music and arts
  All the jobs of 54 high school coaches and the athletic director were eliminated last week by the Stoneham, Mass., school board to balance the district's budget after the town's voters rejected a $3 million property tax override. The elementary and middle school arts and music programs were also eliminated, stunning parents, who said they may send their children to private schools so they could participate. The Boston Globe (6/23)

• Cheese sandwiches inspire parents to pay up
  Lunch debts in a California district that required children whose parents were behind in school-lunch bills to eat whole-wheat cheese sandwiches were significantly reduced. Some angry parents say publicly shaming children was too high a price, but other districts have instituted similar policies. The Seattle Times/Los Angeles Times (6/24)

• Successful charter school closes after denied additional space
  A KIPP academy in Maryland said last week it would close its doors after failing for two years to find enough space for its growing student body. The local school board said the academy -- one of 52 U.S. KIPP schools -- could not lease space in the half-empty Annapolis Middle School, but a district spokeswoman said, "We did everything we could to find them adequate space." The Sun (Baltimore) (6/22) , The Washington Post (6/22)

• Other News

• Toxic mold cleanup at school to cost millions
  San Diego Union-Tribune/Associated Press (6/23)

• Lawmakers to study whether New Hampshire schools adequately funded
  Education Week (premium article access compliments of EdWeek.org)/Associated Press (6/22)

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In the Field

• Parents turn to pricey personal trainers to get kids fit
  A large number of U.S. children rely on personal trainers to shape up, lose weight or improve in sports, according to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, and parents must generally be willing to shell out $40 to $60 an hour. The Oregonian (Portland)/Associated Press (6/24)

• Congress decries junk-food ads targeted at children
  Kids are being overwhelmed with junk-food ads, which may be contributing to the epidemic of childhood obesity, members of Congress said at a Friday hearing. Several companies have pledged to begin balancing their children's advertising with more nutritious foods. Broadcasting & Cable (6/22)

Association News

• Gov. Patrick Champions Whole Child
  In his recent commencement, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick gave voice to the need to educate the whole child, and specifically, how the Massachusetts Readiness Project responds to this need. An ASCD blog post highlights ASCD Executive Director Gene Carter's response to this commencement address, and offers the opportunity to watch the video of the address. View the blog post
  • Also Available: ASCD's Whole Child Web Site
    
  

Assistant Principal - (Grade: SA15) MULTIPLE POSITIONS Houston Independent School District Houston, Texas Principal - (Contract Length - 12 Months) MULTIPLE POSITIONS Houston Independent School District Houston, Texas Opening on Curriculum Development & Instructional Design Team ConnectEd: The California Center for College & Career Berkeley, California Chief Academic Officer High School Enterprise Charter School Buffalo,NY Senior Associate, National School Reform Community Training and Assistance Center Boston, MA Director, Education Field Operations Community Training and Assistance Center Boston, MA Local District Superintendent Los Angeles Unified School District Local District 3-LAUSD Principal National Heritage Academies Metropolitan Detroit, Michigan - Indiana - Ohio - North Carolina Professional Development Specialist Confidential Washington, DC Lead Teacher--Various Subjects Uncommon Schools New York, NY; Newark, NJ; Rochester, NY Director of Academic Foundation Program Initiatives University of Texas System Administration Austin, TX Teacher of Speech and Language Impaired Charyl Stockwell Academy Howell, Michigan Principal/School Director Nevada Connections Academy Reno, Nevada

SmartQuote

A clever person turns great troubles into little ones and little ones into none at all." --Chinese proverb