News: Rights Watch
School Cases Dominate Docket

Supreme Court to decide key First Amendment issues.

The High Court is poised to decide four important First Amendment cases that impact schools.

Can public colleges and universities force students to help fund student organizations they don’t like?

Can school boards let students pray at high school football games over the public address system?

Can the Boy Scouts expel members and leaders for being gay?

Can public money be used to fund computers, software, library books, and other instructional materials for private and parochial schools?

The Supreme Court will answer these questions before July.

In Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin v. Southworth, several law students challenged the university’s mandatory student activity fee, charging that it helped fund student groups, including the Progressive Student Network and the Student NOW chapter, they found objectionable. Having to pay the $166 fee each semester, the law students argued, violated their rights to free speech and association.

The university argued that the fee program doesn’t offend the First Amendment because it subsidizes a wide array of student groups, including groups the plaintiffs supported.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the students. But three dissenting judges warned that the ruling threatens academic freedom and could create a precedent enabling other students to seek tuition reimbursement if they don’t like the views expressed by particular faculty members.

NEA filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the university.

In Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, the Court will decide whether a small school district in Galveston County, Texas can permit student-led prayers over the public address system to open high school football games.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the practice violates the First Amendment’s requirement of separation of church and state.

The last time the High Court weighed in on the school prayer issue was 1992, when it prohibited clergy-led graduation prayers in Lee v. Weisman.

Since then, the lower courts have disagreed about the constitutionality of student-led prayers.

In Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, the Court will determine whether the Boy Scouts have a First Amendment right to exclude members and leaders because they’re gay.

James Dale was a highly decorated Eagle Scout who later served as assistant scoutmaster in his New Jersey troop. The Boy Scouts expelled him in 1992 after learning that he was gay.

Dale then sued the Boy Scouts, relying on a New Jersey law banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in “places of public accommodation.”

The Boy Scouts claimed that the New Jersey law couldn’t override the Scouts’ First Amendment right to select its own members.

Citing a Supreme Court case upholding a state law ban on sex discrimination in civic clubs, the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Dale’s favor.

School districts are the second largest sponsor of Scout troops, and NEA plans to file a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Dale.

In Mitchell v. Helms, the Court will decide whether a federal aid program that provides religious schools with computers, software, instructional equipment, and library books violates the separation of church and state.

The Court’s ruling may have an impact on the question whether private school vouchers violate the Establish-ment Clause.

With this in mind, the NEA filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Court to reaffirm the core First Amendment principle that “public funds cannot be used to support religious activities.”

The computers and instructional materials are themselves nonsectarian, the brief argued, but they nevertheless aid religious schools in advancing their avowed sectarian purposes.

Check this space for an update on these decisions next fall.

—Cynthia M. Chmielewski
NEA Office of General Counsel

A State Right To Discriminate?

Should state employers be exempt from federal laws banning discrimination in the workplace? The U. S. Supreme Court thinks so.

In a landmark 5-4 decision, the High Court ruled last January that state workers—including employees of public colleges and universities—can’t sue their employers for violating the federal law against age discrimination. Apparently, a majority of the Court believes that “states’ rights” includes the right to discriminate against state workers.

The case, Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents, involved 36 higher ed NEA members from Florida who claimed they were denied salary increases because of their age.

The Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that Congress over-stepped its authority when it prohibited age discrimination by state employers. The Court said the 11th Amendment—which shields state entities from suit in federal court—trumps Congress’ power under the Constitution to ban age discrimination.

After Kimel, it’s likely that public employers will be able to claim exemption from suit under a host of other federal civil rights laws as well, including: the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Equal Pay Act, which bans sex discrimination in pay.

One caveat: the 11th Amend-ment applies only to “state” employers, such as public colleges and universities. Except for California and Maryland, most courts have ruled that school districts are not entitled to 11th Amendment immunity.

NEA is working with other groups on a bill to make states waive 11th Amendment immunity if they get federal funds.

Departments: Resources
Why Do You Teach? Let’s Count the Reasons

Did a student talk back to you today? Did an irate mother request yet another parent conference? Take heart.

Why I Teach:
Inspirational True Stories From Teachers Who Make a Difference
By Esther Wright
Prima Publishing, $12.95, 193 pp.

Click here to order Why I Teach from Amazon.com.

If you need a daily lift or a moment’s pause to remember why you even entered this profession, choose a chapter, any chapter, from this book.

What is so surprising in this small volume of 38 essays is that so many poignant themes emerge that are supported by delightful anecdotes from teacher experiences.

For instance, a Kansas teacher compares the nine months of each school year to giving birth to a new class of graduates.

Some contributors recall teachers who inspired them to become teachers. Others point to special students who motivated them to remain in the profession—students afflicted with disease, drug addiction, or poverty, but who have taught them and fellow students what it is to be kind, courageous, and generous.

Some contributors write of immigrant kids who beat the odds and graduate to success. There’s even a grateful essay from a husband who appreciates his wife’s profession because his mind stays active as they discover, together, teaching materials from throwaway and discontinued store stock.

From these essays, we realize that, like us, our colleagues teach because they love learning. They spend their own money on supplies. They get more from their students than they give. They cope daily with the inequities in education. They need support to be effective; and they agree that real learning doesn’t always occur in the classroom.

Policy makers and education “experts” should be required to read this book to learn that teaching is an empty vocation without love and compassion—and that the caring side of the profession can’t be assessed by the state or national standards they’re demanding.

And community leaders and politicians should be required to read this book to realize how important their support is to help students who lag academically, those students who are poor, abused, and forgotten.

Ask people what they remember from school and chances are that their memories will be of some special teacher, a person who saw their talent and realized their worth, taught them to think creatively, demanded they give more than they thought possible, inspired them, and cared about their future.

Someone like the teacher described in this book who, with his class, buried a dead pigeon on the playground to help his students realize that death is inextricably linked with life.

Why I Teach celebrates the teaching profession by validating our work, especially on a personal level. Our students are indeed our future. Just ask a woman who was administered life-saving radiation by a former student.

“How do you stand it?”That’s what people ask us about our profession. Maybe one day, they’ll understand why we teach.

In the meantime, this book is a welcome reminder of why we teach. It’s a calling, not just a job, and it’s really who we are.

—Kathy Megyeri
High school English teacher
Sandy Springs, Maryland

Excerpt:
"Education is not just what we learn in school. We have the opportunity to grow and become better communicators, partners, parents, teachers, students, and workers in everything we do. Self-education is a lifelong task. There are always more faces to find along the trail. And there will always be new trails to walk."

—Tim Merriman
Fort Collins, Colorado

"Teaching is one way to make a difference, to touch one or many in a man-ner that will make the world a better place. In doing so, I reap as much if not more, than I have sown. I can't think of a better way to spend a life."

—Dick Deis
Corvallis, Oregon

Books by NEA Members

What’s the Recipe for Friends?
Greg Williamson, illustrated by Greg Abele Join Freddy as he embarks on his first day at a new school and unfolds his mother’s recipe for friends. When Freddy befriends his neighbor and classmate, Billy, he learns that the basic ingredients—politeness, kindness, and sharing—can never be forgotten when trying to make friends.24 pp. $7.99 plus $2 s&h to Peerless Publishing, P.O. Box 20466 Ferndale, MI 48220, 248/542-1930, fax 248/542-3895.

The Cafés of Paris: A Guide
Christine Graf The Cafés of Paris will help tourists discover the people, places, and charms of Paris. Graf lists cafés by location, price, and proximity to famous attractions, which makes for easy reading. The book also features short reviews and episodes about notable visitors to the city’s cafés, with descriptions of characters from Ernest Hemingway to Henry James. 192 pp. $14.95 plus $4 s&h to Interlink Publishing Group, Inc. 46 Crosby St., Northampton, MA 01060,800/238-5465, fax 413/582-6731.

Supporting Students With Learning Needs
Marcia Conti-D’Antonio, Robert Bertrando, Joanne Eisenberge This book—designed for educators working with diverse student populations—covers planning, scheduling, instruction, and assessment for teaching in block schedules. It covers information on teaching vs. coverage, offers advice on cooperative planning, and includes supportive references. 164 pp. $29.95 plus $5 s&h to Eye On Education, 6 Depot Way West, Larchmont, NY 10538 914/833-0551, fax 914/833-076.

Empowerment in the Classroom
Dr. Arlene Kaiser For ideas and strategies for the empowered classroom, turn to this book, which is developed from 20 years worth of experience. The author, a middle school teacher and the author of 11 Ways to Keep Your Enthusiasm for Teaching, offers recommendations for educators who want to be effective and successful with students. 82 pp. $10 for NEA members, plus $3 s&h to August Press, 3424 Spring Creek Lane, Milpitas, CA 95035, 408/ 946-4444.

Reading for Understanding
Ruth Schoenbach, Cynthia Greenleaf, Christine Cziko, Lori Hurwitz “Any teacher who puts a book in front of a student is a reading teacher,” write the authors. Their new book addresses the growing difficulty students have reading and understanding academic texts. Written for content teachers in secondary schools, the book offers value for all educators. Also featured are classroom lessons and exercises. 193 pp. $19.95 plus $5.50 s&h to Jossey-Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome St., San Francisco, CA 94104. 800/956-7739, fax 800/569-0443.

New from the NEA Professional Library

Implementing Standards-Based Education
Robert J. Marzano and John S. Kendall
NEA Professional Library. 90 pp., $7.95, #2072-3-00-WB

Have you been told which standards to address in your classes? Then you’ll want to know the four steps to follow to organize your content, plan which assessments to use, organize your grade book, and redesign your report card.

Where can you begin to help your students using standards? By thinking about external tests and performance tasks and portfolios.

This book describes two distinct approaches to using standards in the classroom—direct, in which a specific set of standards is mandated for each class or subject, and indirect, in which teachers have more flexibility in teaching and assessing standards in their classroom due to the nature of external tests.

For more information or to order, call 800/229-4200. To order on the Web, go to www.nea.org/books.

Excerpt
"One of the biggest mistakes a teacher can make is to ignore the standards movement. To do this is to put individual students at great risk in that they might not be adequately prepared to meet the challenges that standards-based education will certainly impose on them. In this book, we have attempted to describe the various approaches to standards-based education and the advantages and disadvantages of those approaches. Perhaps more important, we have attempted to explain how each approach can and should affect what happens in individual classrooms."

TV Tips

KIDSNET, a national resource for children's media in Washington, DC, provides the TV Tips listings. For more information on children's shows, check out the KIDSNET Web site.

The American President
PBS, Sunday-Thursday, April 9-13, 9-11 pm ET. Check local listings. This 10-part series tells the story of the American Presidency, examining how the office has changed with each man who has held it. Each one-hour episode profiles several Presidents under themes that range from expansion or abuse of presidential powers and military backgrounds to impact on international affairs. The series features interviews with President Clinton and all the living former presidents except Ronald Reagan. Check www.americanpresident.org for Presidential history resources, information on the 2000 election year, and the student-run OurVote magazine.

Fail Safe
CBS, Sunday, April 9, 9-11 p.m. ET. Broadcast live, this special movie presentation revisits the nuclear tensions of the Cold War as the U.S. President and Soviet premier struggle to divert an American pilot mistakenly ordered to bomb Moscow. Like the 1964 film, the program is based on the Cuban Missile Crisis-era novel by Eugene Burdick. KIDSNET has produced a combined print and online guide with activities, historical background, and interactive materials to help teachers use the film in social studies, history, government, language arts, and media literacy curricula. Visit www.KIDSNET.org for more information.

Walking With Dinosaurs
Discovery Channel, Sunday, April 16, 7-10 p.m. ET. Combining computer animation, animatronics, and wildlife film-making techniques, this three-hour documentary recreates the prehistoric ecosystem of the dinosaurs. Produced in consultation with a team of paleontologists, the program realistically depicts the sounds and day-to-day lives of species from air, land, and sea. A series of companion books is available in stores, and the Web site features images, activities, and background on dinosaur research.

Masterpiece Theatre: David Copperfield
PBS, Sunday, April 16-Monday, April 17, 9-11 p.m. ET, check local listings. This adaptation of Charles Dickens’s semi-autobiographical novel follows the coming-of-age of young David as he suffers the wrath of his stepfather, the abusive Mr. Murdstone, and battles the sniveling clerk Uriah Heep.

Global Warming
PBS, Tuesday, April 18, 2000, 9:00 p.m. ET, check local listings. Co-presented by the series “Frontline” and “Nova,” this documentary presents the basic science of the greenhouse effect and examines some of the more promising solutions. The program visits several locations where the global warming issue has become critical, including the Greenland ice cap, the growing industrial cities of China and India, and Washington, D.C., where legislators set environmental policy precedents that affect the world. Visit www.pbs.org/nova for transcripts and educational materials.

Jason and the Argonauts
NBC, Sunday, April 30-Monday, May 1, 9-11 p.m. ET. This miniseries from Hallmark Entertainment retells the Greek myth of Jason, a young hero who must find the Golden Fleece that will help him reclaim his father’s kingdom from the evil King Pelias. Sailing on the Argo, Jason and his team of adventurers face monsters, gods, and other dangerous obstacles during their quest. Visit www.nbc.com for more information.

Witness: Voices From the Holocaust
PBS, Monday, May 1, 2000, 10:00 p.m. ET, check local listings. This program combines eyewitness testimony, unique film footage, and personal photographs to explore the experience of the Holocaust from the perspective of individuals who survived the Nazi era. Weaving the stories of Jews, survivors, Hitler Youth, clergy, American POWs, resistance fighters, bystanders, and liberators, the narrative provides a rare and intimate portrait of the time, the place, and the people. Visit PBS online for a companion Web site with images, stories, and background information.

Between the Lions
PBS, Monday-Friday, 10:30-11 a.m. ET. This new series uses a combination of music, stories, animation, live-action, and puppetry to introduce kids to the joys of reading. The program features a family of lions who run a library where books come to life, making the reading process accessible and entertaining for young viewers. The companion Web site includes details about the series’ curriculum partners as well as children’s activities and educational support for teachers and parents.

The Rainbow Fish
HBO Family, Daily, 6:30-7 a.m. and 11:30 am-noon ET. Based on the children’s book series by Marcus Pfister, this new animated program for young viewers follows the adventures of Rainbow Fish and his undersea friends as they learn gentle life lessons about sharing, understanding differences, helping others, and friendship. Visit www.hbo.com for more information.

Disney’s The Weekenders
ABC, Saturdays, 8:30-9:00 a.m. ET. This new animated series focuses on the weekend adventures of four adolescent friends who look for new ways to have fun while negotiating the obstacles of adolescent growth. Unified in their friendship, the kids cover a wide range of personalities, from the brainy, inquisitive leader to the outspoken tomboy. Rated E/I, the series has been designed with the help of educators to provide pro-social messages and themes. Visit www.disney1.com for more information.

Announcements

NEA Member To Receive Nation’s Top Teaching Honor
The National Teacher of the Year Program continues as the nation’s oldest, most prestigious teaching honor. This year, one of four NEA member finalists will be selected as its 50th recipient. In April, the President of the United States will introduce the 2000 National Teacher of the Year to the American people. This year’s exemplary finalists, profiled below, represent the states of California, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Minnesota.

• A Veteran Music Man
  P. Brett Smith, Minnesota Teacher of the Year, could hardly sit still as a student. “I had very high energy that exploded when I felt trapped in the chair of my small desk,” recalls this 15-year educator, in his first year as third through fifth grade music teacher at O.H. Anderson Elementary in Mahtomedi. Smith was challenged by much more than just an excess of energy. Tests showed that he had several learning disabilities, including dyslexia. “These revelations really boosted my self-esteem and helped to shape my focus as a teacher,” says Smith. “I respond to my students’ desire to learn much more than I do to their test aptitude.” Smith, who has also taught at the middle school, high school, and collegiate levels, is currently the president-elect of the Minnesota Music Education Association.

• Giving Back to the Profession
  With 35 years of teaching experience, Dr. Marilyn Whirry, California Teacher of the Year, calls her life “a canvas with swirling brush strokes that depict the motifs of my experience.” These motifs include the presentation of more than 350 workshops to teachers, including 28 on reading and writing strategies in the summer of 1999 alone. Whirry’s teaching philosophy centers around seeking, embracing, and celebrating the act of learning. Mary-Anna Rae, a former student, says of Whirry: “In everything she does, she always makes it clear that she is listening, attending to the students’ deepest thinking.”

• Crossing Cultural Divides
  “I remember filling notebooks in the mornings, writing my wishes, thoughts, and plans for the future,” recalls Michigan Teacher of the Year Margaret Holtschlag. “These journals were filled with my dreams to be a teacher.” This “ultimate middle child,” who teaches at Murphy Elementary School in Haslett, says that in her family of 12 children, her parents nurtured independence and cooperation. These same qualities are fostered in Holtschlag’s fourth-grade classroom. Visitors will see students meeting in literature circles, sending daily weather observations to scientists at NASA, and previewing CNN Newsroom tape. Her students also benefit from her commitment to local and global education. Holtschlag serves as a founding member of Linking All Types of Teachers to Cross-Cultural Education.

• A Life Schooled in History
  Perhaps only in social studies would an educator’s hobby of antique collecting coincide so much with teaching. A colleague who has team-taught with Mitsuye Conover, Oklahoma Teacher of the Year and collector of World War I memorabilia, says: “She is utterly absorbed into the teaching of American history and her instruction is always characterized by a quiet but intense American patriotism.” Conover’s major influences in joining the “helping profession of teaching” are shaped by her experiences as a toddler in a Japanese internment camp and the impact of her first grade teacher, who developed a love of reading in a child with, at the time, virtually no proficiency in English. Conover is an eleventh-grade advanced placement American history teacher at Bartlesville High School.

NEA Honorees
NEA holds an annual awards ceremony to honor individuals, organizations, and affiliate Associations that have contributed to the human-and-civil-rights goals and aspirations. This year’s NEA Human and Civil Rights Awards Dinner, at which some 11 awards will be presented, will be held on July 2, 2000, at Chicago’s Hilton Hotel and Towers. Contact Doris Belton 202/822-7713.

Web Winners

Disney Learning Tools
Make learning fun with ideas for your classroom from Disney’s Imagineers. Edu-Station provides educators with information and projects in the arts, social science, math, language arts, and science. Catch up on the latest happenings with the educator events calendar or learn how to teach technology-style with a cyberlesson plan. This Web site also features everything from Web cards to music downloads.

Word Find Puzzles
Take the challenge: Put your word detective skills to the test with Web Word Find. This archive of printable word puzzles provides the player with vocabulary practice following different themes.

News in Schools
News happens at every hour of every day, and now you can bring what’s happening around the globe into the classroom. CNN Newsroom is a free multimedia instructional program that includes daily Features Desks such as Health and the Environment as well as in-depth news stories and coverage of world and regional events tailored exclusively for students. The online daily classroom guide includes lessons with thought-provoking questions and educational links to today’s top stories. The CNN Newsroom is cablecast on CNN from 4:30-5 a.m. ET weekdays, 12 months a year. Enrolled schools may record each day’s program and use at their convenience. Join the program by calling 1-800-344-6216 or fill out the on-line application. On the Web at www.turnerlearning.com/newsroom.

Help With Funding
Grant writing is made easy and fast with this Web site. With the click of a button at Schoolgrants.org, educators can locate federal and local grants and read tips on writing them. The site also lists other ways to raise cash with links to fundraising programs, scholarships, contests, and more.

Africa Online
Take a journey to the continent that houses 50 nations of people with this Web site created by students. Explore Africa’s many unique geographic features and wildlife without leaving the classroom. Beautiful pictures and well-organized links help students and educators with research projects. Test your trivia with quizzes for the novice and the advanced learner.

Is It Summer Vacation Yet?
Even though summer hasn’t arrived, you can take a well-deserved “virtual” trip on The American Experience, Way Back: U.S. History for Kids. Vivid photos and descriptive text take you to interesting places around the United States. Other themes featured in the site’s archives include Technology in 1900, Gold Rush, Flight, and Stand Up For Your Rights.

CPR Internet Guide
Learn how to help save lives with this Web site designed as a supplement to CPR training courses. Packed with information about CPR and what to do if someone is choking, everyone can learn important skills that will help in an emergency. Download the CPR video demonstration for a multimedia approach or have your questions answered in the “ask the doctor” section.

Going To See a Movie?
If you’re having trouble deciding what movie to see this weekend, don’t throw out your popcorn yet. Designed to give you movie suggestions based on your personal interests, Movielens is a modern way to choose from a variety of new releases and old classics. This “collaborative filtering research project” from the University of Minnesota also has options for you to rate movies for other site users and check out movie reviews.

Study Guides and Strategies
A student’s ability to master writing and studying often determines success in school. Study Guides and Strategies is an online manual that helps students learn how to learn. These tips and tricks can assist with test taking, studying, writing essays, participating in the classroom and more.

From Stone to Silicon: The History of Computers
Created by a team of students, this Web site makes learning about computers easy and fun. From the first human-made numerical calculator to the iMAC, Computer Chronicles from Stone to Silicon is divided into five main sections of computer history, ending with an important event in each stage. You can also read about people’s predictions for the future of computers and post your own.

The Forces Behind Fun
With the Amusement Park Physics Web site, students can learn about science while discussing a topic they can relate to. The site centers around five common amusement park rides and lets students explore the in’s and out’s of physics online. Experiment suggestions offer them a chance to design their own roller coaster or learn about weightlessness with a freefall water experiment. Many local amusement parks also offer Physics is Phun Days in March, April, and May, where students can perform physics experiments while riding rides.

Into The Unknown With Lewis and Clark
Explore Thomas Jefferson’s Corps of Discovery project as you travel with his secretary Meriwether Lewis and his friend William Clark on a four-year expedition into the unknown American West. Brought to you by PBS Online, you can hear modern-day testimony from experts on the monumental mission of the 1800s. Lesson plans are also available in social studies, math, science, and language arts.

Stay Informed
Want to check out the latest daily news centered on education issues? Washingtonpost.com recently launched a new addition to its Web site dedicated solely to education topics. In addition to continuously updated national news stories, the site features special reports, columnists, and guides for parents and much more.

Space View
See a new perspective on the world through the eyes of the shuttle Endeavor’s high-resolution 3-D images project. The site features the history of the project, world maps, and topography centering on the space mission.

Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini becomes “virtually” alive through the magic of the Web. This companion to the PBS program has a teacher’s guide, the magician’s biography, escape secrets, a timeline, and poster gallery.

World History
Which came first, Appanage Russia or Slavic Russia? Now you can find out quickly and easily on WebChron, which chronicles the world’s history. Spanning East and West, from religion to technology, this site makes referencing dates as easy as a click of a button.

Get Published
Do you like to write but are not sure how to get published? Visit Rosedog, which links writers with publishers and provides tips and tricks to future authors on how to get published.

Free or Inexpensive

Making After School Count
Every issue of this publication, produced by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, spotlights educational programs across the nation and features interviews from real students and volunteers. You can get the inside scoop on working programs from Head Start to Freedom School in Philadelphia, PA, as well as information on starting your own youth empowerment program. Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, 1200 Mott Foundation Building, Flint, MI 48502 800/645-1766.

Lolo & Red-Legs
When Lolo finds and captures a Mexican “red-leg” tarantula outside of his home in Southern California, his ordinary summer becomes one fun-filled adventure. After Red-Legs is discovered missing, Lolo and three friends team up to play detective and uncover the mysterious tracks of Red-Legs’ disappearance. $6.95 plus $4 s&h to Northland Publishing Company, P.O. Box 1389, Flagstaff, AZ 86002, 800/346-3257, fax 800/257-9082.

You Know You’re a Veteran Teacher When…
You’ll find a host of funny phrases in this book, created by four teachers from elementary, middle, and high schools. Every page comically commemorates the amazing job teachers do. $7.37 plus $1.50 s&h to Jeanine Turpie, 15309 West Via Montoya, Sun City West, AZ 85375.

Guide to the Best Children’s Videos
What are your children watching? This guide helps parents navigate the world of children’s video media. It lists only recommended videos categorized by viewer age and program subject matter. Includes evaluations of CD-ROMs and family films, but most importantly every program is kid-tested and adult-approved. $16, Pocket Books,800/223-2348.

Go Figure!
Looking for ideas to make math relevant? In Go Figure! Mathematics Through Sports measurement, geometry, statistics, and economics come together through a sports theme. This guidebook gives detailed instructions to teachers for lesson implementation and student assessment. From “warm-ups” to “game plans,” getting your students into mathematical shape will be fun, exciting and relevant. Go figure! For grades 6-12. $24.50 plus $6 s&h to Teacher Ideas Press, P.O. Box 6633, Englewood, CO 80155, 800/237-6124.

Young Scientists
Engage young children in the fun of science. Science Play! Beginning Discoveries for 2 to 6 year olds challenges children’s innate curiosity and helps parents turn play into opportunities for enrichment. Even the busiest parents will be able to enhance their child’s early years by helping them to build skills and self-confidence by using the five easy steps of the scientific method. $12.95 plus $3.20 s&h. From Williamson Publishing Co., P.O. Box 185, Charlotte, VT 05445. 800-234-8791. On the Web at www.williamsonbooks.com.

Detective Work
Arthur Conan Doyle: Beyond Baker Street. This is a book about the creator of Sherlock Holmes stories, though these were only a small part of Conan Doyle’s total work. $22 plus $5 s&h from Oxford University Press, 2001 Evans Rd., Cary, NC 27513, 800/451-7556, Fax 919/677-1303. On the Web at www.oup.com.

Ordinary Things
The Light Bulb and The Telephone, part of the Atheneum Young Readers Series. Well-illustrated and clearly written, these books focus on important inventions that are often taken for granted. A special foldout in each book shows in detail how the invention works. $17.95 plus $3 s&h from Atheneum Press, 100 Front St., Riverside, NJ 08075, 800/223-2348, Fax 800/943-9831. On the Web at www.SimonSaysKids.com.

Reading Perspectives
Perspectives on Shared Reading: Planning and Practice. A book by two teachers, mother and daughter, detailing strategies for implementing shared reading for kids from kindergarten through second grade. Among the topics that the authors address: developing teaching skills with texts and encouraging student-parent participation. $10 plus $4 s&h from Heinemann, Box 5007, West Port, CT 06881. 800/793-2154, Fax 203/222-1502. See www.heinemann.com.

Classroom Literature
Nikki Giovanni in the Classroom: “the same ol’ danger but a brand new pleasure” is the first volume in the National Council of Teachers of English’s new High School literature series. Along with literature teaching tips, the book includes various poems, essays, and interviews by Giovanni. $12.95 plus $2 s&h from National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096. 877-369-6283. On the Web at www.ncte.org/books/98/Jago52120.html.

Filling in the Blanks
The untold stories of Black cowboys and cowgirls in American history is what this small book, Black Cowboys, is all about. There are short articles about Black rodeos and the legacy of the Black cowboy. $4.95 plus $2 s&h, from Cobblestone Publishing, 30 Grove St., Suite C, Peterborough, NH 03458. 603/924-7209, Fax 603/924-7380. Available on the Web at www.cobblestonepub.com.

Diversity Calendar

October
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History Month
The month of October was selected to commemorate the anniversaries of the first two lesbian and gay marches on Washington in October 1979 and 1987. Among the special commemorations during October is National Coming Out Day on October 11, which marks the largest gathering to date of gays and lesbians supporting gay rights in Washington, D. C. in 1987.

National Disability Employment Awareness Month
The idea of recognizing the importance of employing disabled persons has existed since 1945. The monthly observance was established by presidential proclamation in 1998.

Diwali, October 26
Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is one of the most important Hindu festivals of the year and marks the beginning of the Hindu new year. Long ago, this festival represented the commencement of the commercial year and was a time for the spirits of the dead to revisit the homes of the living.

November
National American Indian Heritage Month
National American Indian Heritage Month celebrates the history and contributions of Native Americans. Several national organizations have been formed over the years to address American Indian and Alaska Native issues. The National Indian Education Association, founded in 1969, is the largest and oldest Indian education organization in the country.

Ramadan, November 27
Ramadan, the ninth and holiest month of the Islamic year, traditionally begins with the sighting of the new moon. This time of spiritual and physical purification commemorates the revelation of the Quran to Muhammad on Lailat Ul-Qadr. Fasting during this month is one of the five fundamental religious duties of Islam. The fast ends when the new moon is again sighted.

December
World AIDS Day, December 1
World AIDS Day is a day designated by the United Nations and the World Health Organization to increase awareness and education about AIDS.

Emperor's Birthday, December 23
Emperor's Birthday is a Japanese national holiday that serves as a day of rest and an opportunity for people to be received by the Emperor in Tokyo.

Boxing Day, December 26
Boxing Day is observed throughout British-influenced countries. The original meaning may have come from a small box passed for donations on this day or from boxed gifts being passed to those people who render services to the public.

Reading
NEA Names First ACATemy Award Winners

As 20 million children and adults celebrated NEA’s third annual Read Across America, the first four ACATemy Awards were presented at NEA headquarters.

Movie stars have their Oscars and musicians their Grammys. Now, NEA and readers across America have awarded the first-ever ACATemy Awards to four individuals who exemplify the very best spirit of the beloved Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) on the day commemorating his 96th birthday.

The Golden Cats were awarded March 2 during Read Across America festivities at NEA Headquarters before a Cat in the Hat-bedecked audience of school children, educators, political leaders, local celebrities, and media. Honored were Reading Rainbow host and executive producer LeVar Burton, 92-years-young reading mentor Minnon Friedman, and NEA members Edward Sheerin and Mary Ann Gensicke.

“Books have the ability to transform lives,” said award winner LeVar Burton, whose commitment to reading can be seen in his 17 years with the acclaimed PBS program, Reading Rainbow. Noting that his mother, an avid reader and teacher, set an example for him, he stressed, “Children need to learn that reading is a natural part of life. We eat, we sleep, we read.”

Honoree Minnon Friedman, who at the age of 89 became a reading mentor for the school-based literacy organization Everybody Wins! DC, said, “I don’t know how I can get a reward for something I love doing.” The retired teacher accepted her statuette from nine-year-old Sarah Braun, her reading partner for the past four years.

Edward Sheerin volunteers to teach reading to disadvantaged school children after hours of teaching kindergarten in Santa Rosa, California.

“Some kids are really up against it,” he said. “They don’t know what it’s like to sit in their mom’s lap and be read to, to know others care and that they have a future.” Sheerin, who uses poetry, drama, folklore, and fairy tales to reach “hard to reach” kids, received the 1997 Certificate of Congressional Recognition from the U.S. Congress for his commitment to reading and education.

Tying on her special reading apron, honoree Mary Ann Gensicke, the singing librarian, sang her acceptance. Gensicke—a former teacher of 23 years who now is a library media specialist at Monroe Early Childhood School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa—engages students in books through creative costumes and performances.

“I represent so many wonderful, dedicated teachers and librarians who have given their life to reading and children,” she said.

ACATemy award winners were nominated from applications to more than 30 NEA national partner organizations, and final selections were made by a panel of Read Across America volunteers. The Golden Cat statuettes were crafted by area high school students.

Reading Resources

• The International Reading Association will host "Learning to Teach Reading: Setting the Research Agenda" April 29 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The conference, scheduled immediately prior to IRA’s 45th Annual Convention, includes concurrent sessions on teacher education, connections from research to application, the impact of professional standards, and more. The registration fee of $150 for IRA members and $175 for non-members includes transcripts from each session. Register online.

• The National Institute for Literacy relates low literacy to unemployment, poverty, and crime. The Institute reports four in 10 Americans with low reading skills live in poverty and that 70 percent of the prison population falls into the two lowest levels of reading proficiency. NIL research also notes that 75 percent of today's jobs require at least a ninth-grade reading level and that workers lacking a high school diploma earn a mean monthly income of $452, compared to $1,829 for those who have a bachelor’s degree.

• The National Research Center on English Learning and Achievement provides online information about reading and writing instruction. Newly released is Effective Integrated Language Arts Instruction (Pre-K-4), identifying effective classroom practices for literacy learning, including how to prevent reading difficulties in most at-risk students.

• For useful ideas, programs and research on reading, visit Reading Is Fundamental.

• Reading Recovery: A Guidebook for Teachers in Training (Heinemann), by Marie M. Clay, is a guidebook for training teachers to deliver an early intervention program designed to reduce literacy problems.

• An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement (Heinemann), by Marie M. Clay, introduces teachers to ways of observing children’s progress in the early years of learning about literacy.

Learning: Problems & Solutions
‘TurnItIn’ Snares Online Cheaters

A California teacher test drives new software that can catch students who plagiarize from the Web.

How can teachers prevent e-plagiarism when a world of information is just “a cut and paste” away? At Bullard High School in Fresno, California, teacher Thomas Atkins has been testing a revolutionary plagiarism detection software that may provide an answer.

Designed to combat the theft of digital text, the software—TurnItIn.com—seems to be successful at revealing text that students have lifted whole from the Web and turned in to teachers as their own.

“Not all kids plagiarize, but many do,” says Atkins, an anatomy and physiology teacher who has been beta-testing the software. “If teachers had magic vision into how many students use someone else’s intellectual property as their own, they would find as many as 20 percent of students cheat.”

Developed by Bullard alum John Barrie and a group of his UC Berkeley colleagues, TurnItIn.com uses digital technology to conduct a meta-search of the Internet to locate sources of probable plagiarism.

Teachers who paste in students’ word-processed assignments receive both an “Originality Report” that cites the degree of originality and URL links that help teachers determine what Web resources their students have tapped.

Barrie, now CEO of Berkeley-based iParadigms, Inc., decided his alma mater was the perfect place to test a high school version of the software. This past September, iParadigms partnered with Bullard to bring enhanced computer technology to the school.

The company created the school’s first Web site, Bullard.MyK12.com, and set up individual pages for each of Bullard’s 268 classes.

Once installed on a school’s network, TurnItIn.com allows students to submit their word-processed assignments to a teacher’s proprietary home page on that Web site. Each student is given a digital receipt and an E-mail address. Overnight, the files are converted into a series of digital mathematical algorithms, which within milliseconds are then sent to virtually every Internet site.

When the teacher opens each student’s file the next day, the program identifies the student and indicates the percentage of text taken from another source. The student’s report is displayed, with plagiarized sections underlined and color coded.

The colors correspond to a list of URLs from where the text originated, so the teacher can go back and check inappropriate or excessive use.

“It works,” says Atkins, a 32-year teaching veteran. “I’ve submitted students’ papers, and the program searches files, within files, and it finds lifted text.”

Barrie, the program’s creator, claims that TurnItIn is sensitive enough to identify borrowed blocks of text as far down as the eight-word level. The program is said to check every computer in the world, in any language, and archival material—for example, student papers submitted the year before.

How prevalent is online cheating? The Associated Press cites an unprecedented increase in Web sites that offer free, downloadable papers to students, and a 1998 survey by Who’s Who Among High School Students found 80 percent of students willing to admit that they cheat.

That makes countering high-tech cheating with high-tech monitors “an issue of fairness,” says Atkins, “because kids who are taking the time to do the right thing sometimes get lower grades than those who cheat.”

TurnItIn.com is expected to be available for general release by the fall 2000 school year. Barrie estimates the cost, at the school district level, will be around “one dollar per kid per year.”

About 20 teachers are currently testing the program throughout Bullard.

What are the odds that an innocent student will get tagged?

“The human brain is so marvelous that if you give a million kids the same topic, there would be a million different approaches, and none of them would show up in TurnItIn.com,” says Atkins.

“Each of us has a brain that’s completely unique,” he adds, “and when you run something through it, process it, what comes out is as unique as a fingerprint.”

—Michelle Green

For more information, E-mail Thomas Atkins at tsa01@csufresno.edu. To learn more about iParadigms, Inc., visit the Web at plagiarism.org.

Dilemma
How Do You Handle Disruptive Students?

I’ve found that peer pressure is an effective way to control behavior. I let my students sit with their friends on Fridays, if the class has not disrupted the learning process three times during one given hour.

When students get noisy, I simply hold up one finger. If I get to three, I note the class hour on the board. The students usually control their behavior, since they want to sit with their friends.

Trina Laing
Middle school teacher
Apopka, Florida

I had a student whose normal speaking voice overwhelmed other students. He never raised his hand, often left his seat, and would throw things or insult others if he felt neglected.

Teachers were placing him in the back of the room to avoid giving him an audience. This only convinced him that they didn’t like him. So I placed the child in the front of the room.

When I began the lesson, I would open his book for him and point to the text—a visual stimulus. As the discussion began, I would encourage him to share his views early and then remind him that others needed to share.

If his behavior became disruptive, I’d ask him to step into the hall.

I’d explain what behavior I accepted and reaffirm that I wasn’t objecting to him, but to his behavior.

The student came to understand what acceptable behavior was so well that when other students abruptly entered a conversation, he would remind them that, in my class, they need to show respect—it’s very rude to interrupt others.

Pamela Galus
High school earth science educator
Omaha, Nebraska

I allow students to be disruptive, if that is what they want to do. What I do is make sure they understand that there are consequences for their behavior.

If a student is doing something that’s not appropriate, I write the student’s name on the board. The only punishment is that the students must see that name for the rest of the morning. This is usually enough.

But if the same student decides to do something else, I put a check by the name. The student must write a prepared sentence 50 times per check.

If students argue the check, which is their choice, I simply continue to add checks until they decide that they’ve issued themselves a large enough writing assignment.

William Smith
Fifth grade teacher
Brunswick, Ohio

I’ve worked with one child for the past four years as a Title I tutor, primary assistant, reading instructor, and now as his third grade teacher. If I corrected him, didn’t call on him first, or told him to focus, he’d complain. Tears, negative body language, muttering . . .

This year, I gave him a yellow card and a red card. I explained that when he starts to display negative body language, I would silently place the yellow card in front of him as a cue to reverse his behavior. When he straightened himself out, I’d remove the card, again without a word.

I wrote “Ms. Brooks’ 5-10 minute cool-off card” on the red card. When he got that one, he was to leave the classroom for up to 10 minutes and pull himself together. When he returned, if I still saw traces of negative behavior, I’d return the card to him and he’d have to leave again.

This system, combined with a goal-specific hourly behavior chart, has worked well for him.

Deborah Brooks
Primary teacher
Lexington, Kentucky

I teach a first grade inclusion class with a wonderful special education teacher and a paraprofessional. For our especially disruptive students, we have had luck with the 15-minute timer approach, incorporating individual sticker charts.

We set our timer to go off every 15 minutes. Each time students disrupt the class during that period earns them one check mark. If they get more than three checks in 15 minutes, they don’t get their sticker for that block of time.

If they earn the assigned number of stickers—we set a goal that allows for errors on their part—they get about 20 minutes of free time, and they can earn a pull from a prize bag.

Jennifer Long
First grade teacher
Houma, Louisiana

Got an Answer?
What do you do when you think parents have done a student’s assignment?

Send your answer by regular mail, by fax to 202/822-7206, or by E-mail to dilemma2@neatoday.nea.org.

Please include your name, city, state, job title, and grade level, if applicable.

Published respondents will receive a new NEA Today mug!

Learning: Problems & Solutions
Will I Use This in the Real World?

Tiger Paws Publishing teaches Kentucky high school students how all those computer classes pay off.

When Kim Lyons was hunting for an advanced computer class that would excite students of all abilities about how computers are used in the real world, she pounced on the concept she now calls “Tiger Paws Publishing.”

This school-based enterprise at Breckinridge County High School in rural Harned, Kentucky, involves students in the design, production, marketing, sales, and distribution of computer-generated merchandise inspired by the school’s tiger mascot.

Each year, 20 Tiger Paws “employees” are selected from the more than 200 students who take the prerequisite Introduction to Computers class. Lyons, a computer and video production teacher, notes that candidates are evaluated for their grades, attitude, and commitment to putting in time before and after school.

This advanced class integrates subject matter from all areas of the curriculum, says Lyons, and many special ed students participate.

Students in the program acquire high-level technical computer skills and learn all aspects of the business as well, from design and desktop publishing to billing and inventory. They’re even learning advertising via an infomercial they produce in the class studio.

Three years ago, the students started out by making shirts for themselves. Then, recalls Lyons, orders slowly came in from the student body and faculty.

Now Tiger Paws Publishing is a burgeoning business that creates T-shirts, calendars, clocks, mousepads, buttons, note cards, business forms, and more for the school.

“We do lots of tiger designs,” says Lyons. “Our big thing is calendars where we cut people out and put them in different backgrounds.”

Tiger Paws has extended its reach way beyond merchandise promoting various school clubs and athletic events. Local merchants and community residents have all become customers.

Class projects now include flyers for the public library, church bulletins, conference materials, even laminated bookmarks for a couple’s 50th anniversary celebration. Students also produce T-shirts promoting positive messages about sexual abstinence and other social issues.

All revenue from sales is “reinvested” back into the business and used to buy more equipment and supplies, everything from a thermal heat press to additional software.

But teacher Kim Lyons stresses that students profit more by what is learned than what is earned.

“Tiger Paws has really enhanced the image of young people in the neighborhood,” says Lyons. “I saw a girl at church poke her mom and say, ‘Mom,

I typed that!’ when she saw the Tiger Paws credit line on the bottom of the bulletin.”

Adds Lyons: “They’re so proud of their work, and they’re so embarrassed if mistakes go out.”

Students are dedicated, too. When an order for 76 custom-designed shirts came in for the regional cheerleader competition, students stayed after school to complete the orders. And work doesn’t stop over the summer.

“If we have projects during the summer, we pull them in,” says Lyons.

Students can work on those projects at a special summer program.

“Our Breckinridge computer staff,” Lyons explains, “runs a half-day, one-week computer camp that teaches fourth through eighth grade students several different applications—multimedia, morphing, anything that gets them interested.”

The school administration, Lyons notes, has been very supportive, providing funds to purchase a color copier, scanner, digital camera, and software for publishing and T-shirt making.

It also helps that her class doesn’t work in techno-isolation.

Breckinridge is a technologically progressive school, offering its 960 students an option of 11 computer-related courses. Each teacher has a computer and printer in the classroom, with

E-mail and Internet access, and the school boasts a state-of-the-art video-broadcasting studio.

Lyons has been approached by other schools seeking her advice on how to create similar enterprises within their own schools.

“I invite them to come spend the day with us,” she says. “Whether you call it a desktop publishing class or a business class, it’s a great way to teach!”

—Michelle Y. Green

For more, E-mail Kim Lyons or visit www.b-ridge.k12.ky.us.

Dilemma
How Do You Juggle with Other Classes or Staff Who Use Your Room?

I’ve found that the only way to survive is to appropriate an AV cart and turn it into a rolling set of shelves. When I’m in my room, the cart serves as shelves behind my desk. When other teachers are using the classroom, I wheel it out and attempt to accomplish my work.

I also have extra office supplies stashed in our computer lab, since it’s one of the most frustrating feelings not to have a stapler, an empty file folder, tape, or a #2 pencil.

Most of the telephone calls to the room are for me, even when the other teacher is assigned to be in there. I purchased a telephone extension wire and run the phone into our computer lab when I’m spending my planning period there.

Don Schulte
High school social studies teacher
St. Louis County, Missouri

I teach special education and share my classroom with a music teacher who teaches two periods in the morning. Open communication is the key.

We discuss what the students should know with respect to boundaries in the room. We set up our desks in opposite corners so we each have our personal space. And we do our best not to let students invade that space.

I requested a room divider, which has been a wonderful way to block off areas when I’m not there. I also use this to block off my desk if I must be in the room while the other teacher is teaching. This allows me to move around my desk without disturbing her class.

We openly discuss problems that arise throughout the year—finding gum on desks, for example—and decide jointly how to handle the issues consistently.

Lisa McCain
Junior high special education teacher
Leavittsburg, Ohio

When I discovered that I was going to have to share my art studio space with a psychology class, I was chagrined, to say the least. It seemed a terrible inconvenience not to be able to use my room to mat and grade work

What’s worked for me is a change of mindset.

I let go of the need to have a rigid seating chart, so it doesn’t bother me if the order of the classroom furniture is disturbed. In addition, the psych students are wonderfully appreciative of the art students’ displayed work, and tell them so. I’ve found their human behavior course work stimulating as well.

Mutual respect and continual communication between staff have been the real keys to harmonious sharing of space at our overcrowded school.

Gail Martin Rutherford
High school art teacher
Portland, Oregon

When I have to share my classroom with other staff members, I always make sure that they have a key to the room and a secure place to store their personal supplies. I show them where I keep generic supplies and ask them to let me know when something is running low. I also share a blank copy of my seating chart and ask that they leave me a copy of their seating chart, in case there’s a concern at a later time.

My classroom is a science lab. I take the time to show other teachers where the master cutoff valves are for the natural gas and water lines.

Since roving teachers have been issued laptops, I’ve set up the computer in my “office” area with a password, so that no one else will be able to access it.

Roberta Harnish
High school science teacher
St. John, Indiana

I share my math classroom with a first-year social studies teacher. Considering the strain that she’s under, I try to do what I can for her. I don’t really have time to do much preparation for her other than clearing off the overhead stand. I do offer her bulletin board space and respect her “Save” on the blackboard.

I have learned a lot from her. I have marveled at some of the discussions she has generated with her students. And I’m in awe of the way she manages to survive her first year, pushing a cart from room to room, not having a classroom to call her own.

Connye LaCombe
High school mathematics teacher
St. Paul, Minnesota

Got an Answer?
How do you improve student attendance?
Send your answer by regular mail, by fax to 202/822-7206, or by E-mail to dilemma2@neatoday.nea.org. Please include your name, city, state, job title, and grade level, if applicable.

Published respondents will receive a new NEAToday mug!

How I Did It

Jeff Doles
High school art teacher
Hampshire, Illinois

“My art education professors told me art belongs outside the classroom. That’s why during my first year teaching, I decided to try something new in art education.”

Bringing the community into the classroom and the classroom into the community has been my major objective.

As a first-year teacher, my first step was to send out a packet to the community introducing myself and a new club I was forming—HEART, Hampshire’s Elite Art Resource Team.

HEART would focus on bringing together parents, teachers, students, and members of the community for art experiences that would benefit the students and the school.

Next, I contacted the local paper and discussed my goals for the art department with the editor. This resulted in a front-page article.

Within a week after the article appeared, I got a call from a new local business that needed a large mural painted on one of its walls. This accomplished my goal of getting art in the community—and provided an opportunity to raise money for the art program.

Two of my best students are working on the project.

The booster club then asked us to do a mural on the gym entrance. The newspaper was there again and printed another article.

The community has also come into our classroom. Art students from local colleges have visited. A successful local artist has come—and completed a painting in front of the art students over the course of a day. The art club has visited her studio and viewed her work.

It’s important that students get a perspective other than my own so they don’t develop tunnel vision.

Idea Exchange

Recycled Lamination
Used laminating film makes great overhead sheets. I go to a Kinko’s or any other store that laminates and tell them that I am a teacher looking for used laminating film. They can usually find some discarded pieces that I can cut into 8" by 11" sheets.

Smaller pieces of laminated paper are used for letters, numbers, and playing cards, since the lamination is thick and sturdy.

Laurie Staley
Olathe, Kansas

Planned Passes
To teach my seventh and eighth grade study hall students organizational skills and reduce the number of students leaving the room constantly, I hand out three colored slips of paper each Monday. They can be used as passes to visit their locker, use the restroom, or go to the library.

Having only three slips for a five-day week encourages students to visit the restroom and get everything they need from their lockers before coming to class.

Marty Peregoy
Elba, Nebraska

Floor Circles
When teaching parts of a circle—pi, area, and circumference—I use a tool we have readily available: the floor.

I use washable overhead markers and draw a large circle that covers about one-third of my floor. I draw a perfect circle using a marker tied to a piece of string taped to the floor.

I draw the diameter, a radius, and a chord. My students pace all the parts as we define them, counting their steps.

When we display their data on a chart, it’s easy to see that the walk around the circle took about three times as many steps as the walk across the circle. I find that kids don’t forget what pi means since they literally walked it.

Pam Luckenbaugh
Edison, New Jersey

President's Viewpoint
Show Us The Money

Educating America's children is not an act of charity

Curiously, in the midst of America's supercharged economy, policymakers are suggesting that teaching should be an act of philanthropy.

Leonard DeFlore, president of the National Catholic Education Association, recently told The New York Times, "For most people who go into teaching, money is not an issue. It's like in other helping professions...you know you're not going to make a lot of money doing it."

Similarly, California's governor, Gray Davis, has announced: "I want to make teaching a selfless act of patriotism, something young people will see as a cause that they will do for a limited period of time."

Such assertions are insulting--and dangerous to the future of public education. In a culture that celebrates day-trading, Internet entrepreneurs, and "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" who's going to want to work in a school?

Despite the stellar economy, teacher paychecks have barely kept pace with inflation. Quality Counts 2000, an annual report on America's teaching force, finds that educators in their 20s earn an average of $7,894 less than other college graduates their age. This pay gap only worsens over time. Teachers ages 44 to 50 earn an average of $23,655 less than their peers in other professions--unless they have a master's degree. Then they earn $32,511 less!

Salaries for education support staff are even lower--often far below the national median income.

Certainly, people have always gone into education for the "psychic rewards." But low salaries are a significant reason why at least 30 percent of new teachers leave the classroom within five years.

NEA members know that high staff turnover has devastating consequences for children. Research shows that the single most important factor in a child's education is the quality of his or her teacher--and quality depends in large measure upon years of experience.

In the next 10 years, a record number of retirements and skyrocketing school enrollments will create the largest teacher shortage in history. Some 2.2 million new teachers will be needed. How will schools attract and retain talent when a recent national Teacher of the Year earned only $36,000--despite her 30 years' experience?

Interestingly, a recent poll conducted by Recruiting New Teachers, Inc., and Harris and Associates found that 56 percent of Americans would consider teaching--if the salary were at least $60,000.

Leonard DeFlore's claims to the contrary, money is an issue.

Money is also an issue where education support personnel are concerned. Forty-two percent of NEA's ESP members are expected to retire in the next 10 years. Retaining skilled education support personnel is crucial to creating a stable learning environment for our children. But how are schools going to attract legions of dedicated support staff when the jobs often pay minimum wage?

Right now, frankly, schools across America are getting a bargain. Education employees are many children's second family. We mediate conflicts, instill values, teach manners, and promote tolerance. We also coach sports teams and chaperone dances. The bargain that we offer cannot--and should not--be banked upon for the future.

States across the nation are currently enjoying record surpluses. Why not devote a share of this wealth to attracting and retaining top-notch educators by paying all school employees competitively?

Comments? You can E-mail Bob Chase at BobChase@nea.org. If you would like a response, please be sure to include your name and NEA local affiliate.

People
Buttons, Buttons, They Have the Buttons

Buttons and good wishes from around the world poured into this Nebraska classroom.

In 1996, Teresa Morrison’s second grade class at McAndrew Elementary in Nebraska set out to collect a million buttons. Morrison and her students soon found themselves on a heartwarming adventure.

“Many people love buttons,” says Morrison. “When they give them away, the fondness comes through. A pop tab just can’t do that for you.”

Her students wrote letters to newspapers across the country. In quick order, buttons of all sizes and shapes started arriving in the mail. There were buttons made of bone, glass, and even antlers, much to her students’ delight.

The millionth button, which was in the shape of a white unicorn, arrived in December.

Fourth grader Leslie Graves, pictured at right with teacher Teresa Morrison, brought the unicorn button in from her aunt, who donated more than 4,000 buttons to the project.

On January 20, all of the students who participated in the project gathered at McAndrew Elementary to celebrate their success and to express their gratitude to all the button donors.

The project, Morrison believes, will have a long-lasting impact on student learning. Through their effort, students improved everything from their writing skills to their knowledge about geography and history.

Morrison has concentrated on a different skill every year since the project started.

“This year,” says Morrison, “students learned about the color wheel and how to describe all the button colors.”

Morrison’s classes also filled five scrapbooks with letters from the button contributors.

“Because we live in Alaska,” wrote one contributor, “I thought you needed a moose button. We have moose walk through our yard.”

“We learned many lessons from the project,” sums up Morrison. “One of them is that people want to help kids reach their goals. I now fully understand the quote, ‘Live for the journey, not the destination.’”

When Wild Dreams Come True

“If you could go anywhere in the United States, where would it be?” Teri Lindner asked her special needs students at State College Area High School in Pennsylvania nine years ago. The students’ answer: Walt Disney World in Florida.

A trip to Disney World then seemed like an impossible, wild dream. But those students worked hard to realize that dream. They raised enough money to take the trip and, in the process, became known as the Wild Dream Team.

Today, Lindner, along with paraeducators Sharon Pearson and Pam Jimeson, continues to help the Wild Dream Team reach high goals in life.

Among the team’s successes: LifeLink, an apartment-based program that helps special education students make the transition to independence. LifeLink has been featured on national television and presented at conferences around Pennsylvania.

“I think what sets this apart from other special education classes is that the students set a lot of the curriculum themselves,” says Lindner. “They’re acquiring skills that lead to greater independence.”

Lindner will return to Walt Disney World once again this summer—as Disney’s 1999 Outstanding Teacher of the Year. That honor came, in November, with a $25,000 award that Lindner has shared with her colleagues Pearson and Jimeson. Her school district received $10,000. She and her principal will use this year’s Disney trip to explore creative practices in teaching and learning at the Disney Institute of Learning and Professional Development.

“In our classroom, we know that we can reach for the moon and the stars,” says Lindner, pictured, inset, with Disney CEO Michael Eisner. “Our history has shown us that, once in a while, wild dreams do come true.”

Crowning Achievements

Rhonda Henderson Simmons wears more hats than just the Mrs. Nevada International crown she won in October 1999. This counselor at Bruner and Neal Elementary Schools in Las Vegas is helping 16 African-American students build self-esteem and learn how to dance all at the same time.

Three years ago, Henderson Simmons founded Sistahs In the Spirit, a dance group that entertains in the local community. On Saturdays, she currently helps seven- to 14-year-old “at-risk” girls learn how to perform a variety of Caribbean and African dances.

The dance classes are free and there are no auditions.

“Dancing comes naturally to many students,” she says. “If you find what their natural talent is, that talent can open many doors.”

Henderson Simmons is also motivating minority students from 10 Las Vegas middle schools to stay in school through a volunteer speaking program.

“I tell them,” she says, “there’s no excuse for saying ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I don’t care.’ You need to expound on the beauty in you.”

In 1996, Henderson Simmons traveled to Ethiopia to train new teachers as part of the Teach for Africa program. She credits her longstanding interest in community service and education to the influence of her parents.

“My father was big on education,” Henderson Simmons explains. “I was raised in an era where community service is not just for you, it’s for your culture.”

A Piece of History

William Munn, an American studies teacher at Marion (Indiana) High School, and his students have found a lot of American history right in their community, thanks to a $40,000 grant from the Kellogg Foundation in 1997.

Using computers and other resources purchased with a portion of the grant money, local students have been learning about their community’s history by interviewing local residents, collecting letters, diaries, and old photographs, and designing an award-winning Web site.

All this work recently produced the group’s second volume of Marion County area oral histories, titled Rough Times.

“I don’t want my students learning from textbooks,” says Munn. “Learning from primary texts allows my students to think critically without the need for an interpreter.”

Munn had to first teach himself the rules of the oral history game.

“I wasn’t taught how to conduct interviews, design Web pages, or publish a book,” says Munn. “So I was forced outside the traditional boundaries to learn what I wanted to teach.”

Munn’s students work hard to make their work available to people of all ages.

“My students don’t have it easy,” says Munn. “With a term paper and oral presentation, they’re learning the necessary academic skills to succeed.”

Munn’s project has unearthed a treasure trove of fascinating local history, from local Native American lore to tales of Titanic survivors. To see Marion’s piece of history, go to www.marion.lib.in.us/history/index.htm.

Caring Beyond the Classroom Better Childhood

Michael Terrell knew he had to do something fast in 1984, after he found out that one of his first grade students was staying home because she had only two sets of clothes and both were dirty. Terrell’s solution? The Cochran Christmas project. Named after his school in Kentucky, the effort has raised $2 million over the past 15 years to buy clothing and other necessities for local students.

Each year, Terrell, now in his 27th year of teaching, writes local businesses requesting donations of clothing, toys, candy, games, and dollars.

“We’re all in this education business together,” Terrell explains. “Not just teachers, parents, and administrators, but businesses as well.”

One local philanthropist, Richard Williams, has donated $50,000 to the project.

For the past six years Terrell has also produced a newsletter called Parent-Share. Filled with child-rearing tips, ParentShare is combined with a literacy program that partners magazine publishers with underprivileged families. Terrell distributes 250 donated magazines to students so they can practice reading, learn about current events, and research school assignments at home.

“There aren’t a lot of jobs or money in the community,” Terrell points out. “The parents can’t afford these luxuries,” he says.

Terrell was chosen for USA Today’s first-team All-American Teacher Team, one of only 20 teachers nationwide selected for the honor.

News
There's No Safe Alternative

Facing a privatization threat, New York State bus drivers take their best selling point--devotion to child safety--to the community.

No private company could ever match what the 175 transportation employees of New York State's Kenmore-Tonawanda (Ken-Ton) district bring to the job: pride in a safety record unmarred by a single fatality, an eagerness to visit schools to teach and drill kids on bus safety, and a willingness--as public employees--to submit to taxpayer scrutiny.

Nor could an outside firm offer a workforce so deeply committed to this community. More than 90 percent of Ken-Ton's drivers, subs, and bus attendants live in the district--where they raise kids, belong to community groups, and volunteer as firefighters.

Yet, for all their dedication, these NEA members face the real possibility that Ken-Ton transportation services could be contracted out to a private company.

Using funding from the pro-privatization administration of New York Governor George Pataki, the Ken-Ton district has engaged a consulting firm, the Transportation Advisory Service, to examine possible "alternatives" to in-house transportation.

This firm has a track record of issuing reports that recommend privatization--smack in the middle of school district contract bargaining. And, you guessed it, contract talks are now underway in Ken-Ton.

But leaders of the 675-member Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School Employees Association (KTSEA) aren't just waiting for the other shoe to drop. They're acting to stop privatization before it starts.

"We've asked each transportation employee to gather the names, addresses, and phone numbers of five district residents who could be influential in any battle against privatization," says local President Pete Elinski. "We're building a database of supporters to contact to attend meetings--and looking to expand that base."

This NEA ESP local is also gathering support from other area labor unions and working to educate parents about its members' fierce dedication to safety.

At a January meeting with local PTA leaders, KTSEA activists explained how these experienced members manage to drive 7,000 students 900,000 miles a year without a single fatality.

With TV camera crews recording the scene, these NEA members awed the PTA parents with in-depth descriptions of their pick-up and exiting procedures. They explained their hand signals for road crossings--and talked about their bus evacuation drills and the training they take on safety equipment, everything from two-way radios to kick-out windows.

"I stressed that our drivers are highly experienced, committed to safety needs, and dedicated to kids--and I warned that safety would fall off if our work was contracted out," notes Elinski, a head custodian.

"We received very positive feedback afterwards," he adds. "PTA members told us that we had planted 'seeds of thought' in the parents."

If it sounds like Ken-Ton ESP are following some sort of anti-privatization textbook, that's because they are. They're using tactics straight from Organizing the Offense: Campaigning Against Privatization, a manual used to help NEA affiliate staff and leaders become part of a national cadre of privatization experts.

The manual has helped Ken-Ton support staff take the offensive.

"Being proactive is the best medicine," says cadre member Mark Perez, a UniServ director and former custodian. "And the best way for ESP to be proactive is by building bridges to teachers, the community, and the school system."

The NEA anti-privatization manual stresses the importance of developing a pre-emptive local action plan and articulating the negative impact of privatization on individual employees, the local Association, and the community.

The manual also helps expose the myths used to justify contracting out school support services.

Among those myths, notes lead NEA cadre trainer Paul McBride, is the claim that privatization is simply about "cost effectiveness."

"Privatization is not about saving money," he stresses, "it's about management power, political patronage, and outright union busting."

"Don't talk about numbers when confronting a privatization threat," advises McBride, a retired ESP program director for the New Jersey Education Association and a veteran of the privatization wars.

"Don't try to outbid the school board to provide support services," he adds. "You're playing on their court and you'll lose. Rather, you've got to convince the community and other school staffers about the service cuts at stake.

A typical privatization proposal, McBride notes, only addresses the obvious tasks that ESP perform.

"The school board doesn't know about the rest," he explains, "but parents will recognize a cut in service when the driver picking up little Jimmy is no longer a district resident who lives down the street."

Parents will also notice inattention to safety details.

"The only Western New York school district to have an elementary bus fatality in the last 10 years--in Erie County--used contracted bus service," notes 16-year Ken-Ton driver Starr Picchione. "We Ken-Ton drivers take great pride in our safety record. We provide the best service out there!"

"Because NEA ESP members tend to live in their districts and belong to local churches and community groups," sums up New York UniServ Rep Tom Nelson, "they have an ability to touch base, to change perceptions in the community. They are NEA's best weapon in the fight against privatization."

If you're attending the 2000 NEA National Conference in Atlanta, drop by Paul McBride's April 8 workshop on "Organizing the Offense."

Kudos To ...
Needles Teachers Make Their Point

• Following 18 months of negotiations and a four-day strike, the 73-member Needles (California) Teachers Association has a new two-year contract. All teachers will get a 3 percent increase retroactive to July 1, 1998, and a 1.41 percent raise for this school year, retroactive to July 1, 1999, while some members will get a salary and benefits package boost of 6.91 percent. Health benefits are maintained at current levels for this year.

• After privately employed school bus drivers in the Classified School Employees Council-Las Cruces (New Mexico) won bargaining recognition in December 1998, they battled to win a first contract and stave off a decertification drive.

  Union activists at the Helweg and Farmer Transportation Co. defeated the "decert" attempt this winter and won a contract with a 6 percent increase this year--plus an opportunity for drivers to earn bonuses, a joint committee to search for a better health insurance carrier, and a "letter of intent to file for unemployment" that relieves drivers laid off during school breaks from doing a job search.

News
Raising the Stakes in the Bay State

Knowing there's a better way, Massachusetts NEA members draft their own blueprint for education reform.

Educators in Hanover, Massachusetts, know they're doing quality work. The student dropout rate in this district, just south of Boston, is extremely low and most graduates go on to college.

"Better yet," says sixth grade teacher Anne Wass, "recent graduates tell Hanover High teachers and counselors that it was harder in high school than in their first year of college!"

And Hanover isn't unique. Statewide, Massachusetts students tend to stay in school and score high on standardized tests. They rank fourth nationally in reading and sixth in math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and last year 31 percent of them scored in the advanced category of the Iowa Third Grade Reading Test.

Yet, curiously, last year 0 percent scored in the advanced category of the Bay State's own Grade 4 English Language Arts test, part of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS)--a 13-hour, pencil-and-paper test administered each year to fourth, eighth, and tenth graders.

Something just isn't adding up.

The roots of the current situation go back to the 1993 passage of the Massachusetts Educa-tion Reform Act. Since then, teachers in districts like Hanover have been working overtime to implement the law.

Teachers are taking part in more professional development activities in order to recertify. They're creating curricula to match new state learning standards and preparing their students for the tough new MCAS tests.

Yet, with teachers working harder than ever and student performance on national exams rising, poor results on the MCAS tests have led some public officials to question teacher competence and to label public schools as "failing."

Massachusetts teachers, for their part, have mounting concerns about the MCAS tests themselves. They charge that some of the exams are not age-appropriate and that all of them take up too much instructional time.

In many districts, teachers point out, field trips and innovative programs are being swapped for test preparation.

But the biggest problem may be the negative impact the MCAS high school exit exam will soon have on children, especially low-income, minority, special needs, and voc ed students.

As of 2003, students who fail the Grade 10 math and English tests will not be able to graduate, even if they have good grades, excellent attendance, and decent scores on other standardized tests.

The impact could be huge--last year, more than half of all tenth graders failed the math test alone.

Because of these concerns, the Massachusetts Teachers Association recently came out against using the MCAS tests to determine which students may graduate from high school.

MTA also opposes "rating" schools based solely on test scores. Instead, the state NEA affiliate supports multiple measures of achievement for both students and schools.

Student testing isn't the only battle NEA members are facing in Massa-chusetts. Governor Paul Cellucci is demanding that veteran teachers be required to pass a literacy and subject matter test--or lose their jobs.

Most recently, the governor proposed to test all math teachers in schools with low MCAS scores, a sure-fire way to discourage good math teachers from applying for jobs in inner-city schools.

What's heightening conflict in Massachusetts is a widespread sense that the governor and his state Board of Education are more interested in running a fiercely ideological agenda than talking with real classroom teachers.

None of the nine state board members is a K-12 teacher or administrator and, worse, a majority of board members vocally support a strong privatization agenda that is well served by a "manufactured crisis" in public education.

Four of the board members are directly affiliated with the Pioneer Institute, a pro-privatization think tank. State Board of Ed Chairman James Peyser doubles as executive director of the Pioneer Institute, where he works diligently to advance the spread of for-profit charter schools.

"We have political leaders far removed from the classroom imposing their ideas on public schools, with little genuine input from teachers," charges Massachusetts Teachers Association President Stephen E. Gorrie.

But NEA members in Massachusetts are fighting back. More than a year ago--under the slogan: "Ask a teacher how to make public schools work better"--MTA launched an ambitious new program to improve education.

Besides aggressive media outreach on issues like class size reduction and school modernization, the "Ask a Teacher" campaign features:

• Grassroots mobilization, through local Ask a Teacher coordinating committees and issue training for MTA members at local and regional meetings.

• Large-scale in-district lobbying meetings with lawmakers. "In my town, Hanover, we've decided that we'll keep going in to talk to our legislators, even when there isn't a crisis," says Anne Wass, an MTA executive board member.

• A mass "Ask a Teacher Rally" on Boston Common last June, that drew 20,000 NEA and AFT members.

  Ralliers, many ringing handbells, carried signs publicizing the importance of smaller class sizes and special programs for disruptive students.

  "Our younger members were just in awe of this display of solidarity," notes Wass, "and legislators were surprised so many people turned out. They're more respectful of teachers now!"

• A member-driven Teachers' Blueprint for Educational Excellence, a seven-point program for real education reform that was recently distributed to legislators and organizations like the state PTA. This working manual spotlights pressing educational needs like curbing the "institutional hazing" of new teachers and "centrally involving" teachers in shaping educational practices in their schools through collective bargaining and other means.

  The Blueprint will serve as a basis for both legislative proposals and local bargaining demands. MTA members see it as a "living document," says Wass, that "will be revised and updated every three to four years."

For more information, go to www.massteacher.org.

In Their Own Words

"The people in charge of Massachusetts public schools are the same ones who have been saying the system should be replaced by some vague combination of charter schools and vouchers. It seems to me that these people have a dramatic conflict of interest because, in essence, they have a stake in the reform effort failing. If it fails, it will vindicate their viewpoint and give them the opportunity to input their privatization agenda."

--Comments in the Boston Globe from Jack Rennie, president of the Massachusetts Business Education Alliance and an architect of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993.

Basics for Beginners
Dealing With Disruptive Behavior

To reduce minor behavior problems in class, the British Columbia (Canada) Federation of Teachers' Beginning Teachers' Handbook suggests these strategies for "dealing with behavior in the least amount of time, with the least disruption and negative feeling":

• Proximity. Continuing your lesson while you move about the room, and pausing near "trouble spots," can let the students know that even though they aren't near the teacher's desk, they are still expected to demonstrate appropriate behavior. Your getting "boxed in" behind your desk or podium encourages misbehavior in far corners of the room.

• Pauses. Continuous teacher talk may give students a noise screen for their own conversations. An occasional pause--just a few seconds of silence--brings an off-task student back in focus.

• Asking for a Response. Hearing your own name can be an attention-getter, even if you're a student not paying attention. Working an off-task student's name into a question can often bring the student back into the lesson.

  Say the student's name first in order to allow that student to hear the question to be answered. The purpose is to get the student back into the lesson, not to embarrass.

• Active Participation. Having the student respond to a question or become involved in an activity can eliminate the undesired behavior. Asking for a show of hands, having students perform a physical activity, or having each student write a quick answer to a question can make all students accountable for an immediate response. (For more advice, go to www.bctf.bc.ca/beginning/handbook.)

News
A Matter of Principle: School Bonds Without the Interest

Never heard of a Qualified Zone Academy Bond? The 'QZAB' is a smarter way to pay for school renovation--and a model for the future.

If you think a QZAB is some kind of cotton swab, that ignorance could cost your district some sorely needed dollars for school renovation. The federal Qualified Zone Academy Bond program, created by Congress in 1997, makes $400 million in zero-interest bonds available to districts each year for the creation of "academies" housed in school building additions or rehabbed facilities--along with needed equipment, curriculum, and staff training.

Academies, in this sense, are schools or programs within a school that enter into partnerships with local businesses to enhance the curriculum, increase graduation and employment rates, and better prepare students for college or the workforce.

The QZAB program, recently extended by Congress through 2001, is based on a time-honored concept: investment through tax breaks.

The program is also based on simplicity. Holders of 15-year QZABs get annual federal income tax credits equal to a percentage of the face value of the bonds, sparing school districts from paying interest. And the program is flexible enough to include other types of financing, like zero-interest bank loans.

QZAB guidelines currently restrict this program to federally defined empowerment zones, enterprise communities, or school sites where at least 35 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Eligible districts must now also line up private partners for QZAB academies.

But, with a few less restrictions and a lot more federal money, QZAB-type bonds could make a critical difference to school districts at all "income levels."

Jeffrey Baratta, a San Francisco investment banker who structures QZAB programs, stresses that QZABs "require little government intervention at the least amount of cost to taxpayers."

All a district needs, Baratta explains, is a bonding allocation from the state, a spending plan, and a "commitment letter" from private partners chosen by the district, who must pledge a donation equaling 10 percent of bond proceeds.

That gift can be in the form of anything from cash and equipment to volunteer mentors and student internships.

"This helps build community support for schools," says NEA lobbyist Joel Packer, "and the zero-interest concept makes it easier to pass a bond issue."

If all this QZAB business is news to you, you probably live in one of the many states that haven't taken advantage of this highly creative program.

"Check to see if your state education authorities have made QZAB allocations to local schools," advises Packer. "If not, lobby them to get on the ball, and get your school district to apply for a QZAB before it loses the opportunity."

QZAB funds allocated in 2000, Packer points out, must be loaned by the end of 2002, and those allocated in 2001 must be loaned by the end of 2003.

And while you're in the lobbying mode, help NEA push to make QZAB-type bonds more widely available--with fewer strings--for school renovation, technology upgrades, and new construction.

NEA strongly supports school modernization bills introduced in the House by Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.), and in the Senate by Chuck Robb (D-Va.). These bills--H.R. 1660, H.R. 1760, and S. 1454--would leverage a $3.1 billion federal investment over five years into $25 billion in zero-interest school modernization bonds, distributed to states for use by local school districts.

"This tax credit mechanism would come with little cost to the federal government and relieve districts of 50 percent of the cost of building and modernizing schools," stresses Robert Canavan, chair of the broad-based Rebuild America's Schools coalition.

So important is this legislation that Rebuild America's Schools--uniting education unions, school administrator groups, school boards, rural education coalitions, and even the American Institute of Architects--is pulling out the stops to get it passed by Congress.

In the front ranks of this lobbying offensive is one very influential "Rebuild" affiliate: NEA.

"Nobody can document the profound needs of schools better than NEA," stresses Canavan. "We desperately need the help of NEA members."

What You Can Do:
You can help NEA's lobbying team push for federal school modernization legislation by telling your story. Describe the current condition of your school or classroom and what it would take to make it a 21^st-century learning center.

E-mail your thoughts and photos to myschool@list.nea.org or send them to My School, NEA Government Relations, Room 510, Washington, DC 20036-3290. Fax: 202/822-7741. They'll be posted at www.nea.org/lac/modern.

For more details about Qualified Zone Academy Bond rules and allocations to states, go to www.ed.gov/inits/construction/qzab.html.

Your Dues Did It

• Preparing for the Unthinkable. . . The new NEA Crisis Communications Guide and Toolkit is designed to help NEA affiliates prepare for and respond to tragic events, both natural and human-made. Drawing on the experience and lessons of affiliates that have experienced crises, these materials include advice on drafting crisis prevention plans, creating efficient internal communications, working with the media, dealing with post-traumatic stress, and even managing memorial services. NEA is now producing an accompanying CD-ROM and Web site to make the guide and toolkit more readily available. For more information, contact Rebecca Fleischauer at 202/822-7268.

• Good News About Public Schools. . . is now on the NEA Web site, complete with the latest encouraging information from your state and links to other sites, from the Harris Poll to the National Center for Education Statistics. Point your browser to www.nea.org/publiced/goodnews/.

15-Minute Activist

• The Goal: Build support in Congress for House and Senate bills to make interest-free school modernization bonds available to states and districts--and for an additional Administration proposal to make $1.3 billion in grants and loans available to high-needs districts for urgent and emergency school repairs.

• Your Assignments:
  

  • Urge your House members and senators to co-sponsor both the interest-free bond legislation (Bills H.R. 1660, H.R. 1760, and S. 1454) and the grant/loan proposal for high-needs districts (Bills H.R. 3705 and S. 2124).
  • Help build a school modernization coalition in your community and urge local and state officials to tell Congress of the need for federal support for school modernization.

• Here's how to get started: Ready to become a cyber-lobbyist for school modernization? You can find all you need to make your voice heard online at www.nea.org.lac/modern.