Why Aren't Girls More Tech Savvy?

Girls blow off the high-end computer culture because it doesn't incorporate their interests. How--and why--the computer culture needs to change (NEA Today, November 2000)

In 1998, the American Association of University Women report, Gender Gap, revealed that while young women are taking math and science classes in almost equal numbers to young men, they're lagging behind in participating in computer science classes and pursuing technology-based careers. A two-year commission subsequently looked into the issue of gender technology and teacher education, and the findings were released recently in the AAUW report, Tech Savvy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age.

Do girls approach technology differently than boys do?
Girls are certainly using the Internet and E-mail as much as boys. But differences show up at advanced levels: Girls aren't going as far in computer science, programming, engineering, and information technology majors or careers.

Why the breakdown?
According to the Tech Savvy report, girls in general have little interest in a computer's speed, how technology works, or programming. They're less interested in the machine for the machine's sake than they are in advancing things that they're already interested in--solving problems, communicating with their friends, finding information.

What about educator attitudes toward technology? How do these affect what's going on in the classroom?
"That's the hidden story in the discussion," says Pamela Haag, AAUW's director of research.

"A majority of educators are women," notes Haag. "In our online survey of 900 teachers, we found that teachers have some of the same concerns and legitimate skepticism about the use of computer technology in the classroom as girls do."

Many teachers want to know whether technology can help them teach--be it English, art, history, or math. But they remain unclear on what technology is really supposed to do in the classroom.

Many feel they're expected to use technology in sophisticated ways when it isn't really clear how they can get training or support.

"Virtually all the teachers we surveyed believe that technology is here to stay, but they have a range of opinions about whether or not this is really good for the classroom," says Haag.

Teacher concerns are often met with criticism, notably that teachers just aren't able to handle the new technology. AAUW's Commission on Technology, Gender, and Teacher Education, which prepared Tech Savvy, notes that teacher concerns need to be addressed, not derided--and that educators themselves should be designing instruction that takes advantage of technology across all disciplines.

What changes are needed to make education more tech-savvy?
"A shift more toward content and less emphasis on the technical would be important, to have computers serve as more than just high-tech blackboards," says AAUW's Haag.

Schools of education and school districts also need to support professional development for school staff that helps educators use computer technology creatively across the curriculum.

"If students are exposed to computers in areas that already interest them," says Haag, "they may get more involved than if the focus is on learning about the history of technology, programming language, or how the machines work."

Girls also need to be educated on the many options available in technology fields.

In AAUW focus groups, girls have declared that they have little interest in pursing information technology careers because they perceive that these careers involve spending all day sitting in front of a screen.

The image of the computer nerd, in other words, lives on vividly in their minds.

In fact, all sorts of opportunities for tech-savvy women are out there, and many involve human interaction, problem solving, sales, and marketing--and go far beyond sitting in front of a computer all day.

Why should the field of high technology change for girls, instead of the other way around?
For one, because the AAUW study found that girls today are confident enough to say, "We can do this, we're just not interested." They're going to change the culture, not change for it.

But if the technology culture and today's girls don't find common ground, future employment opportunities for girls will be closed off.

"The fastest growing jobs for the next two decades will involve computer engineering and programming and design," notes Haag. And if girls aren't attracted to these fields today, they may be shut out tomorrow.

--Michelle Y. Green

Order Tech Savvy ($12.95) from the American Association of University Women, 800/225-9998, www.aauw.org.

Eleanor Roosevelt Teacher Fellowships, from the AAUW Educational Foundation, award from $1,000 to $9,000 to teachers working on issues involving girls and education. Application deadline: January 10, 2001. For information, visit www.aauw.org.

News: Rights Watch
Protecting Student Privacy

Don't use students to grade classmates' work, a federal court warns.

In a decision that may change the way many teachers do their jobs, a federal appeals court has declared illegal the practice of having students grade each other's papers.

The U. S. Court or Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver ruled last July that this common grading practice violates the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). That's a 26-year-old federal law that prohibits schools from disclosing to third parties a student's "educational records" without parental consent.

The school district subsequently asked the full 10-member appeals court to reconsider the ruling of the three-judge panel. The court voted 6-4 in October not to rehear the case, with four dissenting judges.

"Our teachers are overworked and underpaid now," noted the dissenting opinion. "What will happen to them when they can be sued by every irate parent or student claiming that someone saw a grade?"

The case began its way through the judicial process after Kristja Falvo, a mother of three students enrolled in the Owasso (Oklahoma) Independent School District, learned that several of her children's teachers sometimes used students to grade one another's work and to call out their grades.

When her complaints fell on deaf ears, Falvo sued the district and various administrators, claiming that the grading practice embarrassed her children. One of her sons, she said, even threatened to quit school after being ridiculed about his test scores.

"I felt very strongly about it," Falvo said. "I wish we would have been able to resolve this as concerned parents. I wish we didn't have to sue the schools."

The U. S. Department of Education sided with the school district. LeRoy Rooker, the director of the Department's Family Policy Compliance Office and the official responsible for enforcing FERPA, argued that the practice doesn't violate the law because the grades don't become educational records "maintained" by the school until after they're written down in the teacher's gradebook.

But the Tenth Circuit disagreed.

"Grades which students record on one another's homework and test papers and then report to the teacher constitute 'education records' under FERPA," the court concluded.

One aspect of the court's ruling gave teachers and administrators an important--but temporary--victory. The lawsuit sought to recover money damages, not just from the school district, but also from various school officials personally.

Under the doctrine of "qualified immunity," school officials--including teachers--can't be held personally liable unless the law was "clearly established" that what they did violated the plaintiff's rights.

Emphasizing that the Family Policy Compliance Office itself had advised school districts that the practice was permissible, the court held that the individual defendants in the case couldn't be held personally liable because the law was unclear at the time that the challenged grading practice violated FERPA.

"We cannot expect educators to more accurately interpret a law than that law's administering agency," the court said.

In the wake of this decision, however, teachers in the states that are covered by the Tenth Circuit can be held personally liable if they continue to use the peer grading practice, because the law is now firmly established in that circuit that the practice is illegal.

Nevertheless, Falvo isn't binding on states outside the Tenth Circuit, and even teachers in that circuit have several alternatives to avoid potential liability. (See sidebar.)

The school district has not yet announced whether it will appeal the case to the U. S. Supreme Court. It has until early January to decide.

The Tenth Circuit's decision in Falvo v. Owasso Indep. School Dist. can be found on the Web at www.kscourts.org/ca10/cases/2000/10/99-5130.htm.

--Michael D. Simpson
NEA Office of General Counsel

What Does the Falvo Decision Mean to Me?

That depends on where you live.

If you teach in one of the six states that make up the Tenth Circuit--Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, or Wyoming --you should not have students grade each other's work. The Falvo case says that's illegal, and you can be sued personally for money damages if you ignore that ruling.

You also shouldn't post or display student works that reveal grades or use non-school personnel (parent volunteers, for example) to grade student papers.

On the other hand, the Falvo court held that the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act "does not prohibit students from correcting papers if done anonymously or with the consent of parents."

Obtaining parental consent is, of course, cumbersome, but you could assign students random numbers, so that papers are not personally identifiable.

You can also avoid trouble by having students grade their own papers, as long as they don't call out their grades. And there's nothing wrong with having students grade their classmates' work if the grades are not recorded in your gradebook--as, for instance, with practice tests.

If you teach in a state outside of the Tenth Circuit, you're free to continue having students grade each other's work. That's because the Falvo decision is not binding in any other circuit.

In an important recent development, LeRoy Rooker, the director of the U.S. Department of Education's Family Policy Compliance Office, told NEA Today that his office still maintains its position that peer grading does not violate federal law.

Rooker added that his federal office will not find any school district in violation of the law for allowing peer grading.

There is one caveat to keep in mind. A school district may decide on its own to ban the peer grading practice, either because it fears litigation or believes it's harmful to students. In that circumstance, of course, you should comply with district policy.

--M.D.S.

Departments: Resources
A High-Stakes Debate

An urban school pioneer slams state tests and offers an alternative.

Will Standards Save Public Education?
By Deborah Meier
Beacon Press, 104 pp., $12,
www.beacon.org/spring00.html

If anyone in America can claim success in helping low-income children get an education, it's Deborah Meier, former head of the Central Park East School in New York's East Harlem and now principal of the Mission Hill School in Boston.

During 25 years of leadership at Central Park East, Meier developed a community where children were held to high standards. Many went on to do well later in life.

So Meier's views of the standards movement carry authority. She's no backseat driver.

This short volume is particularly useful because Meier's case--for high standards, against high-stakes tests--is followed by responses from seven education leaders who represent a wide range of views. They include testing advocate Abigail Thernstrom, school reformer Theodore Sizer, and NEA President Bob Chase.

Articulate people can often make a powerful sounding case for their side in a debate, but the test is how that side stands up to opposition.

The schools that Meier has led are public schools of choice, operating within the framework of the New York and Boston school systems, with union contracts, certified teachers, and the same per-pupil funding as other public schools, but with considerable freedom to plan their own programs.

Her schools are small, deliberately so, to let teachers and students get to know each other. Students take the usual standardized tests, but the standards and assessments that really count are developed at the school.

These schools succeed. Over 90 percent of her students at Central Park East graduated and went to college, and Meier says the students did far better in their future lives than their SAT scores would have predicted. Those students got something out of their education that wasn't on the test.

What's the winning formula? Schools that are small enough to form communities and gain student buy-in. Faculty that set exacting standards for effort and mastery--and make decisions for the school, in the process acting as compelling role models.

High-stakes tests, Meier argues, will weaken these schools.

"What kid, after all, wants to be seen emulating people he's been told are too dumb to exercise power, and are simply implementing the commands of the real experts,?" she asks.

Among the responders, Abigail Thernstrom, a member of the same Massachusetts Board of Ed that created the testing program that Meier is battling, takes the first whack. State testing, Thernstrom contends, is forcing public schools to teach illiterate students to read.

Bob Chase doesn't agree with Meier that each school should set its own standards, but he agrees that state standards won't magically transform students into high achievers.

That, he says, requires trained teachers, small classes, and adequate resources.

Chase's comments, and those from several other responders, come across more like friendly amendments to Meier than opposition.

Meier's real antagonist is Thernstrom, who essentially believes that low-income children don't learn because teachers don't make them.

"No excuses" is Thernstrom's battle cry. By that, she doesn't mean legislators should stop making excuses for allowing thousands of children to live in rat-infested slums, without health insurance or decent child care when their parents go to work.

She means teachers should stop making excuses for not bringing these children up to the test scores achieved by children of privilege.

Thernstrom accuses Meier of asking society to trust its educators. And indeed she does.

Meier's retort? Her experience proves that "schools can make a difference, can alter the odds" for low-income children. But not if teachers are powerless.

--Alain Jehlen

Excerpt:
"In the past two years, the number of students expelled from elementary and secondary schools in Chicago has nearly doubled. Expelled kids get sent to something called 'safe schools,' run by for-profit organizations. When a reporter asked Chicago officials why the number of spaces in the for-profit academies was far smaller than the number of expelled students, the reporter was reassured: 'Not to worry. They don't all show up.'"

New from the NEA Professional Library

Innovative Discipline

Sabrina Holcomb and Marina Michalski, Editors
96pp., $9.95
#2916-X-00-FN

In this book, you'll find stories from teachers across the country illustrating, step-by-step, how they tackled a specific discipline challenge. Recently revised, Innovative Discipline features a new section on school safety, including an extensive resource list of books, videos, audiotapes, Web sites, and organizations that promote safe schools. This popular book also discusses peer mediation, self-help sessions, student-operated courts at the middle school level, and a variety of other discipline programs that are transforming the cultures of schools.

To order, call 1-800/299-4200, or check the Web at www.nea.org/books.

Excerpt:
"The earlier we empower our students to be responsible for their actions and education, the sooner we will see them making the wise choices that will securely qualify them as the leaders of the future. Like growing numbers of teachers and school systems, we feel that realigning systems, rather than trying to reshape students to fit systems, will help our children make that future a satisfying one."

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Books by NEA Members

The War in I Corps
By Richard A. Guidry

Vietnam veteran Richard Guidry tells the story of what it was like on the battlefield, as a young Black Marine from Texas. Currently a history teacher at Highland High in Palmdale, California, Guidry offers a vivid and relentless depiction of his experiences in the so-called Demilitarized Zone with the northern I Corps. 238 pp., $6.99 plus $5.50 s&h from the Ballantine Publishing Group, 400 Hahn Rd., Westminster, MD 21157, 800/733-3000.

The Cincinnati Red Stalkings
By Troy Soos

Mickey Rawlings, utility infielder for the Cincinnati Reds, is excited for what he believes will be an awesome season in 1921. Instead, he finds himself caught in the middle of a murder mystery when longtime Reds fan Oliver Perriman is found dead and Rawlings realizes he could be the next to go. 330 pp., $5.99 plus $2.75 s&h from Penguin Putnam Publishing, 405 Murray Hill Parkway, East Rutherford, NJ 07073, 800/631-8571.

Father By Blood
By Louella Bryant

Through the eyes of John Brown's daughter Annie, Louella Bryant takes a new approach to understanding the events that lead up to the historic raid on Harper's Ferry before the Civil War. For readers between the ages of 10 and 14, Father By Blood is a tale of love, loss, morality, sacrifice, and evil. 116 pp., $12.95 plus $3.50 s&h from the New England Press, Box 575, Shelburne, VT 05482, 802/863-2520. 20 percent discount for orders of more than five copies.

The Complete Poetry Book
A Teacher's Reference of Poetic Forms
By Dorian Marrone

From acrostics to villanelles, this book offers valuable time-saving references for all classrooms. All poetic forms are researched and outlined for teachers and students to follow. Sample poems are included, plus suggestions for integrating poetry across the curriculum. Order from Thinking Caps, Inc., P. O. Box 26239, Phoenix, AZ 85068.

CURTAINS! Familiar Plays for Little Actors
By Diane Head

The author has adapted nine familiar fairy tales into short plays for students pre-K-2. The collection supplies a word list at the beginning of each script to help the instructor place students in a play most suitable to their skills. CURTAINS! can help build self-esteem and peer cooperation, along with improving literacy skills. 87 pp, $11.99 plus $3 s&h from Frank Schaffer, P.O. Box 2853, Torrance, CA 90509, 800/421-5533.

TV Tips

Animated Epics: Beowulf
HBO Family
December, Check Local Listings

This animated presentation tells the story of the epic struggles of the great 6th-Century Scandinavian warrior who faced three mortal enemies: the monster Grendel, Grendel's vengeance-seeking mother, and a fire-breathing dragon.

Conquistadors - An Online Learning Adventure
PBS
November 2000

This learning adventure parallels an upcoming PBS documentary, "In the Footsteps of the Conquistadors," which is scheduled to air in the spring. An online historical travelogue will transport students from Spain to Central and South America and the southern United States. In addition to lesson plans, activities, and articles, the site provides an exploration of the clash between the cultures of Old World Conquistadors and New World indigenous peoples, and looks at how those events have shaped, and continue to shape, life in the modern world.

The Merrow Report: School Sleuth
PBS
November 2, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

In this tongue-in-cheek episode, John Merrow plays a veteran private detective trying to solve The Case of the Excellent School, and his investigation uncovers five categories of school quality. P.I. Merrow discovers there are many ways to evaluate schools beyond test scores and college acceptance rates, and he shares 25 practical measures of excellence in education.

Napoleon, An Empires Special
PBS
November 8 and 15, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

The life of Napoleon Bonaparte, native Corsican, France's First Consul, self-proclaimed Emperor, and eventual exile, is chronicled in this four-hour presentation. Napoleon's story is told through dramatic recreations, original footage of European locales, and classic paintings from his time, with commentary by modern historians and, through his own letters and writings, from Napoleon himself. A companion Web site featuring the evolution of the man and the myth, European politics, Napoleon's battle strategies, and his romance with Josephine - along with an interactive battlefield simulator that provides an opportunity to alter the course of history at Waterloo - can be found at www.pbs.org/empires/napoleon.

The Invisible Soldiers: Unheard Voices
PBS
November 9, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

This program looks at the contributions of African-American men and women in uniform during World War II who gave their loyalty, blood, and lives to protect a country that denied them the very freedoms for which they were fighting. More than 45 veterans speak candidly of their accomplishments under conditions of bigotry and racism and how the return to a society that refused to acknowledge their sacrifices helped fuel the civil rights movement. A companion Web site with resource materials, related Web links, and information on the National Day of Honor Project - a call for cities to observe and honor the WWII service of African Americans and other minorities - can be found at www.dayofhonor2000.org.

Great Books: 1984 and Les Miserables
The Learning Channel
November 10 and December 23, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

In November, Great Books looks at 1984 in its historical and social context, exploring how Orwell's work was shaped by his experience with war and probing such themes as the violation of human rights, technological invasion of privacy, and the destruction of culture. In December, Les Miserables examines the inseparability of Victor Hugo's writing and politics, and his concerns about penal reform and the burdens of the poor and working classes.

CNN Newsroom - Trail of Tears and Your Brain
CNN
November 15 and December 6, 4:30-5:00 a.m. ET, check local listings.

In recognition of Native American History month, on November 15, CNN Newsroom retraces the forced march westward by Native Americans in "Trail of Tears." On December 6, "Your Brain" looks at the teen brain and how its development affects adolescent behavior. For more information, or to receive classroom guides and programming information by email, visit www.turnerlearning.com.

Homeland
PBS
November 16, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

Following the lives of four families for over three years, this documentary explores what it takes for members of the Lakota community to build a better future in the face of tribal and government corruption, scarce housing, unemployment, and alcoholism. Interviews with a spiritual leader, a grandmother, an artist, and a community activist from South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation reveal how the community faces these challenges by relying on family ties, cultural tradition, humor, and a palpable yearning for self-reliance and personal freedom.

Founding Fathers
The History Channel
November 27-30, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

The human sides of the men who shaped America's struggle for independence from Britain are explored in this four-part series. Profiles of Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and others consider the flesh-and-blood men behind the legends and offer insight into the shaping of America's destiny. Each of the four episodes weaves the lives of these men through the story of the half-century in which the idea for American independence became a possibility and the nation itself became a reality. Study guides for history teachers and a mock presidential election featuring the founding fathers as candidates can be found on HistoryChannel.com.

Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks
HBO
November 30, check local listings.

Airing in honor of his 88th birthday, this feature-length presentation profiles photographer, novelist, poet, musician, and filmmaker, Gordon Parks, while exploring America's social history through his life and work. Drawing on the work of Mr. Parks himself, the documentary features archival footage of the turbulent '60s and '70s, as well as interviews with friends, family, colleagues, and others.

The Royal Diaries
HBO
November and December, check local listings.

An all-new series inspired by women leaders in history tells the stories of a pivotal point in their lives. "Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor" airs in November and focuses on the famously independent monarch who was the youngest queen to rule England. The story takes place when Elizabeth is a teenager, one of many children in the house of King Henry VIII of England, struggling to find her place in the family - and the monarchy - after the death of her mother. In December, "Isabel: The Jewel of Castilla" tells the story of the young woman as she faces conflicting loyalties within her family. In order to fulfill the royal duty to marry for political purposes, Isabel must compromise her own desires and goals.

Animated Epics: Beowulf
HBO Family
December, check local listings.

This animated presentation tells the story of the epic struggles of the great 6th century Scandinavian warrior who faced three mortal enemies: the monster Grendel, Grendel's vengeance-seeking mother, and a fire-breathing dragon.

Inside the Space Station
Discovery Channel
December 10, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

This program examines the structure of the International Space Station and how astronauts have worked in space to build it. Designed to be a multi-room space platform and research facility, the station includes six laboratories where scientists will study scientific visualization and surgery, microgravity cancer treatments, and the development of space-grown sources of petroleum. A companion virtual experience for exploring living and working in space can be found at Discovery.com.

The Forgotten Americans
PBS
December 14, 10:00 p.m. ET, check local listings.

There are nearly 1,500 colonias in the United States, unincorporated neighborhoods scattered along the Mexican border. This film follows a year in the lives of colonia residents, documenting their struggle to attain basic living and housing services, such as electricity, water, and sewer hook-ups. How various non-profit organizations assist colonia residents with health and home concerns, and political perspectives of what can be done to remedy the situation are also presented.

 

KIDSNET, a national resource for children's media in Washington, D.C., provides these listings. For additional listings and information, check the Web at www.kidsnet.org.

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Web Winners

Call Outs
Some online resources are just plain handy. Like this Area Code Listing, by Number site, which lets you identify major cities by, of course, area code. A reverse-tracking tool.

Fraud Help
The FBI has teamed up with the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C, to the digerati) in order to offer consumers a much-needed Internet Fraud Complaint Center. Calling all victims!

Only Good Stuff
In our REALLY-fed-up-with-junk-E-mail category: The good E-mail is sent on to you, while suspected spam messages are sidelined into a Brightmail Caught Spam box. Free to individuals.

Birdwatching
Watch these peregrine parents tend their clutch. A site birdwatching enthusiasts have been waiting for. Brought to us by the aptly named Birdcam 2000.

Movies
The Complete History of the Discovery of Cinematography offers an illustrated chronology of the development of motion pictures over a period of 2,500 years.

Whatever the Weather
To help make sure it doesn't rain on your parade, plan a visit to Weatherplanner, which boasts that its long-range forecasts have long been used by government agencies, the film industry, and major companies. Weather planner provides predictions of the weather up to a year in advance.

Medical Mysteries
For more than 50 years, doctors have relied upon the Physicians' Desk Reference for the most up-to-date drug information. PDR jumps to the Web to help consumers learn more about detecting, preventing, and treating various conditions.

Picasso? Monet?
You can create your own personal online art exhibit. The Seattle Art Museum launches a fun and educational Web site to guide students through the process of creating an art exhibit from the museum's collections. It also provides an opportunity to learn the curatorial process online and to visually analyze and interpret the art. My Art Gallery begins with an animated introduction by a young spirited narrator of the site's five activities. Following each activity, students type in their own ideas or observations, which are logged into a notebook. At completion of the lessons, the notes are used to create an online art exhibit.

What's New in Robotland?
Robots are doing that which only writers of science fiction once thought possible, and Cool Robot of the Week keeps abreast of the technological advances.

On the Campaign Trail
In our glutton-for-political-punishment category: The Living Room Candidate provides a multimedia history of presidential campaign commercials going back to 1952.

Staying Fit
The UK's Netfit offers 200 fitness exercises, tests to determine exactly how fit (or out of shape) you are, and more than 30 different workouts, along with stretching advice for all major muscle groups. With helpful video clips.

America's Library Available Online
The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and the world's largest library. It was founded in 1800 and preserves a collection of 119 million items. In addition to serving the needs of the U.S. Congress, the Library serves all Americans through its popular Web site. Visit America's Memory where there is a Learning Page for educators with lesson ideas and lesson plans. Visit the Legislative Section to view text of the Congressional Record, House and Senate Committees, hearing schedules, bill summaries and much more. The Gallery showcases numerous artworks including a collection of presidential portraits. Log on... play around... learn something.

The Perfect Quote
Looking for the right words at the right time? Here's the place.to go QuoteWorld claims a database of more than 13,700 quotations, along with a user-friendly search engine.

Internet Radio Program
Focuses on Timely Topics of Interest to Teachers This new audio magazine, available only over the Internet, is designed for most educators who have a busy lifestyle and hectic work schedule. The program highlights interviews with authors and educational experts, humor from the classroom, news about education, reviews of books, and educational software. Accessible 24 hours a day, Monday through Thursday, Scholastics's Teacher Radio features regulars such as Marilyn Burns, well-known math education expert, Steve Tomecek who provides science experiments that will surely help heat up any classroom science curriculum, and Matt Costello who offers brainteasers and logic problems for teachers and students.

QUIA - Where Learning Takes You
Latest Free Innovative Educational Resource Hits the Web. This new website offers user-friendly technology to create customized learning activities. Quia Corporation makes it possible for teachers to find and share the best learning activities created by teachers anywhere. Tap into resources such as online games and quizzes in hundreds of subject areas, tools and templates to create learning exercises, and web pages for educators to post homework, schedules, grades, links to favorite web sites, plus more. Teachers can assess and analyze student performance through the site's "quiz session" functionality.

CNN for Schools
This new Web site offers both student and teacher editions. CNN Interactive combines the resources of Riverdeep Interactive Learning, Harcourt, and HighWired.com to provide students and teachers a safe place to find news and information from around the world, plus educator-designed classroom and homework materials.

Teacher-RelatedWeb Sites
Links to Web sites useful for teachers, including lesson plans, special education sites, government data sources, major newspapers, and many others, are available free from Teacher Created Materials.

Youth Policy Forum
The American Youth Policy Forum has issued a report, Less Hype, More Help: Reducing Juvenile Crime, What Works and What Doesn't, that concludes "get tough" policies don't work, but describes other approaches that do.

Help With Reading
Helping Your Child Become a Reader, a booklet in the Helping Your Child series from the U.S. Department of Education, has family activities for children to age 6.

Classroom Assessment
The Art and Science of Classroom Assessment: The Missing Part of Peda-gogy is a synthesis of research from ERIC Digests, a service of the U.S. Department of Education.

History-Making
Put the current Presidential debates into the context of history with a multimedia celebration of 40 years of television and politics. The Great Debate and Beyond captures scenes from past debates and offers video commentary.

Know Your Way Around
You can get the statistical lowdown on the geographical area where you live with a few mouse clicks at State and County Quick-Facts. Created by the United States Census Bureau,this factoid haven spitsout frequently requested information on variousgeographical levels.

Fall in Pennsylvania
"Watch Fall Unfold." That's the seasonally appropriate motto of these Pennsylvania Live Web Cams. Enjoy the view from six diverse locations around the state, or spruce up your computer screen with downloadable wallpaper.

Very Literary
The Electronic Literature Directory provides a hugely satisfying collection of links to electronic works, authors and publishers. You'll find digital sustenance ranging from poetry and fiction to drama and nonfiction.

Reading
Engaging Older Students in 'Reading for Understanding'

A new resource helps educators improve the more advanced reading skills needed by middle and high school students.

In middle school or high school, a student who knows only how to read individual words does not meet the definition of a "good reader." At the secondary level, a good reader needs to be able to question, summarize, clarify, and predict, based on the material that's been read.

But, as many secondary educators know, not all students come to their classes equipped with these reading abilities.

That's why the new book, Reading for Understanding: A Guide to Improving Reading in Middle and High School Classrooms, is so important. In its pages, educators can explore how to help adolescents connect what they already know with the new information that awaits them in a text.

The authors, a team of researchers and secondary classroom teachers, explain clearly how educators can help students take control of their reading and become aware of where and why understanding breaks down.

The basic approach is simple. Teachers serve as master readers to demonstrate the cognitive strategies of questioning, summarizing, clarifying, and predicting. Then the tables turn, and students practice these strategies out loud through in-class exercises.

Educators who are familiar with the concept of reciprocal teaching will recognize elements of this technique, since both lead students to explore what they know about what they know.

Reading for Understanding is published by the National Council of Teachers of English, but it offers ideas that can be incorporated into virtually any subject area, without adding new curriculum.

For more: To order Reading for Understanding from the National Council of Teachers of English ($22.95; $16.95 for NCTE members), send an E-mail to orders@ncte.org or call 800/369-6283. For more on reciprocal teaching and other reading topics, log on to NEA's Reading Matters Web site at www.nea.org/readingmatters.

How To ...
Build a Multicultural Library

Why the need for multicultural literature?
Children need every kind of role model that is appropriately available. Our children come from an incredibly wide range of backgrounds and have many different ways of experiencing the world. We need to read and experience, with authenticity, things that come from their point of view to be a fully rounded human being.

What do you mean by 'authenticity'?
Sometimes books are written by people who imagine a world they've never lived. As a result, we get books full of factual errors, stereotyping, and pictures that are not helpful to anyone.

How can you discern a book's cultural authenticity?
Look at the sources cited and the acknowledgments made by the author. It's important to get a clear and detailed citation--if that's missing, be suspicious.

If you come across a story that is described generically as "an African story," for example, instead of being tied to a specific tribe or region, you should question its authenticity.

Unfortunately, even today, we see books with pictures of other cultures that are the equivalent of Italians wearing kilts and speaking with German accents.

How can educators develop a multicultural library or reading list?
Make a list of the finer writers out there, and make it a class project to write and ask for their recommendations. Contact publishers who have catalogs and a variety of resources, such as Lee and Low Books: (www.leeandlow.com).

I strongly recommend the Multicultural Review as a source for reviews and interesting articles. And it's incumbent upon librarians to read regularly such publications as the Small Press Review, which looks at the diversity of publications out there.

For more:
E-mail Bruchac at nudatlog@earthlink.net or visit www.greenfieldreview.org. His two picture books, Crazy Horse's Vision (Lee and Low) and Squanto's Journey (Harcourt Books) have just been released. Visit www.Nativeauthors.com for more on the North American Native Authors Catalog, which specializes in work by American Indian writers.

Learning
Learning Well by Doing Good

Service-learning meshes with academics at this California school.

"When will I ever need to use this in real life?"

That's a common cry from high school students bored with academic subjects. But those dreaded words are seldom heard by NEA member Nathan Ivy at Irvington High School in Fremont, California.

Ivy is the school's service-learning coordinator, and he works hard to make academic subjects more meaningful to students--by combining subjects with useful service.

That can make for some unusual projects:

• One class simulated a sweatshop shoe factory, with some students playing exploited workers, some the bosses, and others the union organizers.

• Four students investigated what could be done about a deteriorating situation at the local park, where 1,000 pounds a day of goose droppings were keeping people at bay.

Both projects generated practical results while engaging the students in more traditional classroom studies.

The sweatshop produced refurbished shoes for a homeless shelter. Meanwhile, the students learned about the history of work and the labor movement and wrote essays about who might have walked in the shoes they fixed up.

The goose investigation led to a campaign to improve the environment, with the investigation itself incorporating an array of learned math and science lessons.

At Irvington High, one of 66 schools awarded a White House commendation for excellent service-learning curriculums in 2000, all students are required to put in 40 hours of service before graduation. They can make arrangements for the service on their own, but the school also provides plenty of opportunities for academics with practical applications.

"In the last four or five years," says Ivy, "we have really worked on overlapping the service with the curriculum and tying that to specific California state content standards."

For example, all ninth graders go out into the community to carry out a scientific investigation of a real-world problem. Working with Ivy and other school staffers, they then develop and execute a plan for dealing with that problem. Through reports and journals, they develop their English skills.

One group of students, "the Geese Brigade," set out to learn why the local geese population was growing.

The culprits, they discovered, were people who feed the geese through the dry months, when natural food is scarce, causing the geese to stop migrating and attracting passing flocks.

Each goose, the students learned from park rangers, produces about a pound a day of waste. The students wrote an elaborate report filled with graphs and photos to document the worsening conditions.

The Geese Brigade then gave out flyers to educate offenders. Most goose feeders, students reported, accepted the leaflets, but some "were annoyed and irritated." Children, the students added, were very responsive "and highly appreciative of the junior park ranger stickers we rewarded them with."

Besides what they learned on the academic front, the brigade students learned just how difficult it can be to tackle real-world problems.

"Canada geese are very interesting and they have a very complex lifestyle very similar to humans," one brigade student wrote in her first journal entry. Two months later, she concluded her journal with, "I never want to see a goose again."

--Alain Jehlen and Julie Leupold

For More: Visit the Irvington Web site at www.irvington.org, or contact Ivy by E-mail: nivy@fremont.k12.ca.us.

Dilemma
What do you do when a student is sick and can't go home or to a nurse's office?

When a child in my class gets sick and we cannot get in touch with anyone, and there is no nurse's office, I set the child up in the back of my room with bean bags and pillows. More than likely the child will fall asleep until someone can come, or until the end of the school day.

After school, I am sure to take home the pillows to wash, and I disinfect the bean bags for the next child who needs them.

Christine Bom
Elementary school teacher
Wilmington, North Carolina

When I taught kindergarten, I would store several clean beach towels in my classroom. If I had a child who was sick and couldn't get home, I would have them rest on one towel on the floor and cover them with another.

I'd then take the towels home, wash them, and bring them back for the next time they were needed.

Jim Roney
Elementary technology teacher
Tampa, Florida

I used to teach in a latchkey setting. When an ill child came to my program and I couldn't reach a parent, I'd bring out an old cot of mine and a blanket. I also kept several stuffed animals on hand for just such an emergency -- the younger students were comforted by lying with them.

Matthew Yuhasz
Middle school teacher
Columbus, Ohio

I've found the best way to handle this problem (and it is a problem) is to allow the child who is not feeling well to wash his face and hands in cold water. Regardless of what is wrong--temperature, headache, tummyache, good old homesickness--cold water can't hurt, and it will often help. This also gives the child a little one-on-one attention.

Pat Brooks
Elementary resource teacher
Selmer, Tennessee

When I worked in special ed, we had a student who had seizure problems. The parents couldn't come and get him each time he had an episode, so we set up a quiet, cool corner with subdued light. This allowed him to come out of his spell and progress back to normal (he was quite tired after these spells).

In regular ed, I had a first grader whose parents didn't seem to make it when they were called. He was sick for two weeks. We set up a cot next to the office and had a pail in the room if he needed it, and towelettes for him to clean his face.

Sherry Kunz
Elementary resource teacher
Selmer, Tennessee

What a sad situation for a sick child, not being able to go home! A teammate of mine had this happen to a young man in her room. She placed several rug samples in the back corner of the room, made a pillow out of his jacket, and encouraged him to rest. He was able to listen to the lesson until he fell asleep.

Jane Ragains
Fifth grade teacher
Dover, Delaware

First, you pray that the student doesn't have anything contagious. Then you do the best that you can to make the student comfortable until the regular dismissal time.

Study the symptoms well. If the student is very sick, a doctor may have to be called. Better to be extra cautious than have a serious emergency go unheeded.

Mazie Lewis
Elementary school teacher
Columbia, South Carolina

Got an Answer?

What do you do when students' late work hours damage their school performance?

E-mail your answer to dilemma2@neatoday.nea.org. You can also fax to 202/822-7206 or use regular mail. Please include your name, city, state, job title, and grade level, if applicable.

Published respondents will receive a new NEA Today mug!

Idea Exchange

Parents in High School
I keep parents involved at the high school level by inviting them to my biology class to work with their child in lab activities.

This gives parents the opportunity to observe first-hand what their child is learning in class and, hopefully, opens a door of communication about school.

The visits also give me the opportunity to get to know the parents a little better, too.

The best reason for inviting parents to class? The students learn that their parents are really pretty sharp.

Catherine Ratliff
Oxford, Mississippi

Turn Into Ms. Frizzle
Here's a tip on how to look like Ms. Frizzle of The Magic School Bus without having to spend a lot of money on your wardrobe.

Cut out designs in felt (such as trees showing the four seasons, the water cycle, life cycle of a frog) and spray bonding glue on the backs. Let the glue set for at least five minutes. Apply the designs to an old apron, and you're Ms. Frizzle!

The designs can be removed and stored on waxed paper, so one apron is sufficient for all your science needs.

The children will love it and will be able to guess what you'll be teaching next.

Anne Craighead
Roanoke, Virginia

Hanging Student Work
I have painted cinder block walls in my classroom, and I found that charts stay on the wall better with hot glue than with stick tack.

To display student work, I hot glued clothespins to the wall in alternating rows. I glued my students' names above the clothespins.

Changing displays of student work has never been easier, and the pins lift right off the wall when I'm ready to remove them.

Leah Keith
Cullman, Alabama

Works For Me
Have a great idea? Fax it to NEA Today at 202/822-7206 or E-mail: ideas@neatoday.nea.org.

For more tips from NEA's weekly E-mail service, Works4Me, send an E-mail to lyris@list.nea.org.

• In the "subject" line, type: sign me up, NEA!
• In the message block, type: subscribe Works4Me
• Send the message.

To submit a tip, E-mail it to: owner-Works4Me@list.nea.org.

To Mexico, in Search of Roots

North Carolina teachers visit the homeland of a growing number of students and return with some unexpected lessons.

North Carolina English teacher Victoria Greene-Epps traveled to Mexico last summer, and brought back a lot more than tourist shots. She came away better prepared to engage her Hispanic students in learning.

Just one example: In teaching about the Native American experience, Greene-Epps used to take the "Pacohontas approach"--and reference only Native Americans from the continental United States.

"I was limited," she explains, "to the Native Americans I knew about."

But on her trip to Mexico, Greene-Epps found herself introduced to fascinating new native cultures from the rest of the Americas--the Mayans, Aztecs, and more. These Native American experiences are now part of her lesson plan.

And that's piqued the interest of her Hispanic students at J.F. Webb High School in rural Granville County, because many of them descend from these peoples.

"I've seen my kids come to life," notes Ivalee Keen, another North Carolina teacher who visited Mexico this past summer.

"You can see the pride on their faces," adds this fifth grade teacher at Walkertown Elementary School in suburban Winston-Salem, "when I talk about the smart Aztecs and the brilliant scientific achievements of the Mayans."

Greene-Epps and Keen were among 20 North Carolina teachers who took a 12-day journey to Mexico this summer organized by the Duke University-University of North Carolina Program in Latin American Studies.

The teachers learned, to their surprise, that not all Mexicans speak Spanish. In the state of Oaxaca, notes Maria Bonito, a French and Spanish teacher at Leesville Middle School in Raleigh, students speak 64 dialects of 14 different Indian languages. Many of the poorest students are learning Spanish as a second language.

In Oaxaca, the visiting North Carolina teachers were also treated to a slice of life they didn't have back home: a village square.

"The square was a wonderful gathering place for socializing after school or work, with ball-playing, balloons, music, dancing--there was a lot going on," said Janice Cole Gibson, a social studies and language arts teacher in Oakboro.

"I'd heard Hispanic students say there's not much to do in North Carolina," Gibson adds. "Now I understand why."

On their trip, the North Carolina teachers--all from communities experiencing a surge in Hispanic enrollment--saw kids in a wide range of living conditions, from tin shacks with no running water to modern homes with backyard pools, computers, and videogames.

The trip was "the most inspirational thing I've ever done in my life," says Keen, whose enthusiasm wasn't dampened despite a fall that had her leaving Mexico in a wheelchair.

Keen is now planning to write a curriculum and edit a videotape about the trip.

Greene-Epps feels equally inspired. In past years, she had difficulty reaching and motivating some of her His-panic students. Now she feels that a door has opened, just because she went to Mexico.

One girl, impressed by the photos and crafts Greene-Epps brought back from Mexico, brought into class her own pictures of Veracruz, her family's original home. That sharing, says Greene-Epps, was a sure sign she had connected.

The student, says Greene-Epps, now "gives 100 percent plus to her school work."

--Alain Jehlen

For more: Visit www.duke.edu/web/las/outreach.html. E-mail Victoria Greene-Epps at vgreeneepps@hotmail.com, Ivalee Keen at ikeen@msn.com, and Janice Cole Gibson at wandrnlady@aol.com.

How do you handle disruptive students?

We all have those students in our rooms who make it their mission in life to disrupt the teaching and learning process. I believe they do this because they see us as teachers, not as individuals.

When the school year begins, I identify these students quickly and purposely seek them out for casual conversations, mostly at sporting events, lunch time, in the hall, and when I see them in the community.

These students begin to see me as an individual who is interested in their lives, not just a teacher. I rarely need to send students to the principal, and the teaching and learning process can continue without interruption.

Bruce Denney
High school social studies teacher
Seymour, Missouri

When I have students who are disruptive, I work from the premise that they have forgotten the rules. I say things like, "Oh, you forgot that we have a rule about running in the halls." Or "Now that you remember, I'm sure you won't do it again."

If the behavior continues, I look at it as an opportunity to learn a new skill and have them come in at recess to practice following the rule correctly.

Laura Bleck
Third grade teacher
Lakenheath, England

The class rules need to be made together, signed by each student, and posted.

Always maintain your serenity before the class.

Pick the kid who needs the most help with control first.

Remove the child from the group and talk privately -- "privately" is the key word.

Explain you care for the student but will not tolerate the behavior.

Make sure to set up standards of acceptability.

With little children, a tiny mark on the board and a nod in their direction reminds them of the consequences.

With great luck, the next in line for help may have adjusted their actions.

The three keys to success: calmness, private talks, and rules made with the class.

Marian Brovero
Retired elementary teacher
Waldwick, New Jersey

When faced with a disruptive student, I have to remind myself of an adage: "Children need love the most when they deserve it least." This helps me focus on the behaviors and never respond in anger that could rob children of their dignity in front of their peers.

I make sure to catch disruptive students doing what they should be doing--and give positive comments. Time and energy spent here pay off.

During a disruption, I may appear to ignore it until I can quietly ask the child to step outside. There, I immediately discuss how the situation could have been handled differently.

When disruptions occur frequently, I contact the parent and suggest daily communication. This can be in the form of a checklist or something as simple as a red card for a bad day, yellow for a fair day, and green for a good day.

Darlys Preslar
Fourth grade teacher
Clayton, Missouri

Got an Answer?

What do you do with colleagues who constantly put down good ideas?

E-mail your answer to dilemma2@neatoday.nea.org. Or send by regular mail, or fax at 202/822-7206. Please include your name, city, state, job title, and grade level, if applicable.

Published respondents will receive a new NEA Today mug!

How I Did It

Donald P. Woytowick
Fifth grade teacher
New Milford, Connecticut

I became concerned when I realized that there aren't a lot of workshops for elementary teachers in science and math. So I created professional development workshops to provide K-5 teachers with new ways to teach these subjects.

It's too often the case that students get turned off to math and science before they're really exposed to what these subjects are all about.

The Planets, Light and Sound, Electricity, Fractions, Data Collection and Measurement--these are just some of the professional development workshop topics I offer.

During each workshop, I cover about six different hands-on activities. We go over background information on the topic, management procedures for each lesson, assessment activities, and extension ideas for interdisciplinary activities.

After the paperwork is completed, it's time for the hands-on part! In the Electricity workshop, for example, teachers explore how an electrically charged object affects other objects. Participants experiment with a bulb, a D cell, and a large paper clip to make the bulb light.

Then a simple circuit is built to use as a conductor tester. The teachers build a simple switch to conduct the flow of electricity and test different materials to determine if they're conductors or insulators. The participants then construct circuit breakers and learn their function as part of the circuit.

This is a fun and often new experience for the workshop participants, and, by doing the activities themselves, they better understand the material and can teach it more effectively.

The lessons can be made interdisciplinary. Student interest in electricity can be sparked by reading The Magic School Bus and The Electric Field Trip. Geometry can be linked to art by having students create a quilt out of triangles.

Science and math are at the core of the new Information Age we're living in. That being the case, it's imperative that our students learn the basics of these subjects while their creative minds are still fresh and eager for stimuli.

President's Viewpoint
The Almighty Vote

Urge a nonvoter to vote, and you just might change the course of history.

As an old social studies teacher, I've always found the excuses people give for not voting on a par with "the dog ate my homework."

As educators concerned about children and public schools, we need to confront these excuses seriously and refute them in a reasoned but empassioned manner. With so much at stake--the White House, the Supreme Court (the next President will probably name three new justices), the Congress--it isn't enough that we vote, we must also persuade others to vote.

Excuse number one: "My vote doesn't count."

In fact, there's a ton of historical evidence that says your vote does count. In the 1960 Presidential election, for example, one vote per precinct would have elected Richard Nixon President rather than John Kennedy. Six years ago, the governor of Maryland was elected by fewer than 6,000 votes out of more than 1.4 million cast.

And this year's Presidential election is shaping up to be a very close one. Rest assured, every vote will count.

Excuse number two: "Elections don't really matter because politicians will promise anything to get elected, and then do whatever they please."

That all depends--on the politician.

Take North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt, for instance. Hunt, a Democrat, is a politician who has been true to his word. He promised to be a pro-public education governor and that's precisely what he has been--on everything from providing decisive support for teacher salary raises to help for low-performing schools.

Illinois Governor George Ryan, a Republican supported by our NEA state affiliate in 1996, is another such politician. Under his leadership, state funding for public schools has increased by more than a billion dollars.

Some candidates do deliver, and it matters tremendously whether we vote for them. Remember, bad public officials are elected by good citizens who don't vote.

Excuse number three: "There is no real difference between the candidates. Voting isn't worth the effort."

Actually, when it comes to education, differences between candidates can be quite stark. Look at the race for President.

Vice President Gore has vowed to support class-size reduction. Governor Bush says class size is a local concern. Vice President Gore wants to invest in school modernization and expansion. Governor Bush has said, "I don't believe the federal government should be building classrooms across the country."

Vice President Gore wants accountability coupled with "support" for students and educators alike. Governor Bush wants to "shine the spotlight of shame on failing schools."

Vice President Gore opposes private school tuition vouchers. Governor Bush wants the federal government to subsidize vouchers.

This last summer, the delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly voted, in a secret ballot, by 89.5 percent, to support Al Gore for president of the United States.

Studies have found that simply asking people to vote raises turnout. Given that reality, imagine what we, as educators, could accomplish if we urged nonvoters not just to vote, but to vote on the issues that matter to our students and schools.

In a close election, we could make all the difference in the world.

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
And the Grammy Goes to. . .

A choral music teacher experiences the thrill of her teaching career.

As a dedicated College Park, Maryland, music teacher with 35 years in the classroom, Betty Scott thought little of Grammys and Academy Awards.

But that all changed last February, when Scott floated across the stage of the 42nd Grammy Awards in Los Angeles to accept the award for best choral performance.

"I was so euphoric, I didn't even hear my name," says the University Park Elementary School teacher. "What an incredible experience."

The Grammy was for Scott's work with the Maryland Boys Choir, an all-star group that she helped found.

In 1995, the choir sang Latin portions of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem--along with the Washington Chorus and Orchestra--at a sold-out Kennedy Center performance celebrating the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II.

National Public Radio recorded the performance, and the Washington Chorus released it, in 1999, to incredible fanfare.

Now Scott--along with her co-director and the conductor of the adult chorus, who also received Grammys for the performance--is a voting member of the Academy.

That might be a good thing, considering Scott currently directs a children's ensemble group that, over the years, has lent more than 150 of its young voices to several Grammy-nominated children's recordings.

Scott also continues to grow one of the capital area's most accomplished school music programs.

"Every year the parents panic that this will be the year I retire," smiles this NEA member. "The other day I received a letter from a former student, who's now 40 with two children of her own. She told me how much she had enjoyed my class and asked if I remembered when we used to sing 'Bye Bye Miss American Pie' in miniskirts."

"The CBS Early Show" knows people are interested in people. That's the premise behind the network's popular Friday segment called "Everybody Has a Story"--profiles of everyday Americans who are picked at random from the phone book, videotaped for a day, and shown to the rest of the country.

Last year, Janet McAteer, a school nurse at Centennial Junior High School in Casper, Wyoming, was one of those everyday people.

"I got a call from the show saying they had picked my name out of the phone book and asking if would I be interested in letting camera crews into my life for a day," she says. "I honestly thozught it was a joke, until CBS's Steve Hartman came knocking on my door with a camera man behind him."

CBS taped McAteer at school and at home, for nearly 15 hours, and also interviewed several of her students and their parents. When the 10-minute segment aired several weeks later, McAteer was pleased with what she saw.

"I was thrilled that school nursing got some publicity because it's such an important job," says this veteran nurse. "The piece reflected the emotional aspect of the work and proved that being a school nurse involves so much more than putting Band-Aids on scrapes."

Viewers were touched, as well.

"Because a good portion of the segment focused on how I had been helping one young man whose mother had died, hundreds of people contacted our district asking how they could help him," McAteer points out. "For the attention the program directed toward this boy, and the millions more like him, I am thankful."

Better Than Bowling

In 1989, Earl Ziemann--then 26 years old--was reaching his "prime" in the bowling world. He ranked 33rd in the world, traveled the nation, and earned a living playing the sport he loved.

That's when Ziemann says he did what any sensible person would do: He quit. Today, this former bowling sensation teaches U.S. history at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, California.

Now in his fifth year, Ziemann shares his experiences as both a professional athlete--and as a hard-to-reach high school student--with his own students and their parents.

Ziemann tells them about leaving his small Wisconsin town at age 19 to pursue a professional bowling career in California. He tells them about his seven years on tour and about the most important lesson he learned along the way: the value of education.

"During my final year on tour, I couldn't help but notice that many of the top bowlers, once they passed their prime in their mid-30s, had very few options, because they didn't have an education," he says.

So Ziemann left bowling to pursue a college degree and earn his teaching certificate.

"I would probably be the last person that my high school teachers would have expected to become a teacher," he says with a laugh. "I'm proof that education gives you choices."

Teaching's Real McCoys

In nearly a combined century of teaching, Emma and Lottie McCoy have seen a lot--nearly all of it in distant lands. From Pakistan to Bermuda, the two sisters have traveled the world over, learning exotic languages, exploring new cultures, and advancing the educational experiences of children in overseas United States Department of Defense schools.

Lottie, left, now retired at the age of 82, set out to teach elementary music in 1954 after seeing recruitment ads in the local newspaper. Why did she leave her home in Columbus, Ohio, for the great unknown?

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," Lottie chuckles.

Lottie and Emma have taught in almost every setting imaginable. In Ethiopia, they held classes in a converted house. In Japan, they set up in trailers. Whatever the facility, the sisters always made sure their kids had the latest American texts.

"Everyone," says Emma, "believed in helping each other."

Emma is currently teaching in Okinawa, Japan. She followed her sister overseas in 1957 and has taught composition and reading skills to children ever since.

"I keep teaching because I really enjoy children," she says. "They keep me young."

Not Just for the Sport of It

Baseball fans, take heart: Juiced-up baseballs are not behind the increase in homeruns hit this past season.

That's the finding that comes out of NEA member Jim Sherwood's work as part of the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

Since 1995, Sherwood and his students have worked with Major League Baseball and the NCAA--testing bats and balls.

Earlier this year, the university's Baseball Research Center--which, under Sherwood's direction, has become the official testing center for college and professional baseball--was asked to figure out why 15 percent more baseballs were flying out of parks this year than last.

"Fans were alleging that the balls were being 'juiced up' to increase interest in the game," says Sherwood. "The majors wanted statistical data to address these accusations."

Over the course of months, Sherwood and his students tested nearly 200 baseballs for speed and consistency. They used hitting machines, white ash walls (simulating wood bats), and some good old statistical analysis.

Their findings, released in June, pleased everyone.

"All of the baseballs met specifications," he says. "It's not the baseballs that have changed--it's the players, who work out more, and this obviously affects their strength."

News
Paying the Price for Professionalism

By sticking together and telling their stories to legislators, Delaware ESP win their largest pay increase in 20 years.

The 10 food service staffers at Middletown High School in Delaware are quite proud of the quality of their baked goods, chicken cheese steaks, and subs--not to mention the fully balanced menus and range of options they offer each day to MHS's 1,200 students.

The meals they serve, these NEA members say, meet recommended dietary guidelines and help develop healthy, lifelong eating habits.

"We're proud that we've reduced total fat consumption to 30 percent of calories in all of our meals," says assistant cook Lynn Lenker. "We provide a wholesome breakfast and lunch."

Hungry children, Lenker adds, are lethargic, irritable, and have shorter attention spans.

"Studies show that children who eat a nutritious breakfast," she explains, "improve their reading skills and test scores."

But MHS's quality cuisine comes at a human price. Middletown district food service employees unionized last year to tackle issues like staffing cutbacks--in the face of booming student enrollment--and working conditions that cause rapid turnover.

"You're constantly moving on this job," says Lenker, president of the 29-member Appoquinimink Food Service Workers Association. "We're always cooking, even during the last lunch, to keep food fresh. After that, we clean trays and utensils, sterilize the serving line, and sweep and mop.

"Even three hours on this job can feel like 10," groans Lenker, a five-hour employee. "Not many people want to do this amount of work for so little pay, plus shell out money up front for a uniform and a $50 state background check."

If anyone needs to hear this message, it's Delaware legislators. Educational support staff are technically employed as a class of state workers, but they get second-class treatment.

Last year, in fact, support staff got lower raises than state employees in comparable civil service job titles.

But legislators are starting to listen, thanks to a two-year grassroots lobbying campaign waged by 2,300 ESP members of the Delaware State Education Association.

In the last legislative session, the Republican-dominated House and Senate approved a new budget, signed into law by Democratic Governor Thomas Carper, that gives many Delaware ESP their largest pay increase in 20 years.

The budget adds $1,000 to the full-time pay scales of secretarial, paraprofessional, custodial, and food service employees, plus another step at the top of each salary lane. The law also mandates a new ESP salary study due in by December 1.

Moreover, the budget increases the state share of funding for local food service salaries, including a boost from 41 to 50 percent for cooks and general workers. Aside from locally bargained pay supplements, that'll mean a raise from $9.72 to $10.61 an hour for a cook/baker at the top of the scale and a boost for a starting general worker from $6.88 to $7.67.

"Delaware ESP clearly still have a long way to go," stresses DSEA Treasurer Julie Coleman, a paraeducator from the Caesar Rodney school district in Camden. "But this raise has increased morale and assured our members that they're not 'forgotten personnel.'"

It's hard to be forgotten when you make so much noise.

In the last session, Delaware's 62 legislators constantly heard from their underpaid ESP constituents--on supermarket lines, via E-mails and phone calls, through a 5,000-signature petition initiated by paraeducators, and through ESP visits to Dover, the state capital.

"Personal contact made a real difference," says Coleman. "During one trip to Dover, four of us showed Joint Finance Committee members our broad job descriptions and introduced them to a teacher, Ginger Pledgi, who described how paras make things run more smoothly in her classroom."

To educate legislators on the growing complexity of educational support jobs, last winter DSEA's eight-member ESP Committee invited legislators to two regional social events to hear support staffers from all job categories describe their work in detail.

"What struck these lawmakers," notes DSEA President Mary Ann Pry, "was the enormous responsibility ESP have, the passion they articulate for children and their jobs, and the disparity between these factors and their compensation."

Count on Diamond State NEA members to keep on telling their stories--with a passion--as they help legislators compile the new ESP compensation report this fall. Above all, these support staffers will be stressing the need to:

• Recognize increased ESP responsibilities. Delaware custodians, say DSEA leaders, must know how to handle hazardous chemicals, operate sophisticated computer controls, and serve as ambassadors to community groups that meet in their buildings after hours. And, because of a substitute teacher shortage, the state's paraeducators are being assigned ever more instructional duties, in both classrooms and Title 1 reading labs.

  "In the last five years," notes DSEA Para Issues Committee Chair Barbara Morris, "more students have come to inclusion classrooms with more disabilities than ever before."

  Teachers, she adds, require discipline and translation assistance from paras on a constant basis.

  "Paras are making more decisions on their own," says Morris, "either while taking students into the community or coming up with materials or programs to help kids reach their IEPs."

• Recruit and retain qualified support professionals. "I could walk out of my job today and make $5,000 more working in Delaware's banking industry," declares Pat Downes, a 15-year secretary in the Christina school district. "We stay here because we love being with the children. But because we don't get tuition reimbursement, the banks are taking a lot of younger secretaries who want to get credits or complete college."

  Severe understaffing, in the face of a growing workload, is making bank jobs even more attractive.

  School office tasks in Christina , says Downes, include completing "accountability" paperwork, recording student moves, composing detailed reports with charts and graphs, and interacting with a broad range of visitors, from social workers to probation officers--many of whom require more paperwork.

• Value ESP's contribution to student achievement. "I love seeing the kids every day and making them happy and healthy," says assistant cook Lynn Lenker. "We all feel we're their substitute moms while they're in school. We feed them, listen to problems, give them encouragement in making healthy decisions, wipe tears, clean up messes, and love them all!"

For more on ESP developments in Delaware, go to the DSEA Web page at www.dsea.org. To contact Lynn Lenker, send an E-mail to lynnlenk1@cs.com.

More to the Story
Delaware Paras Push for Training

Helping make Delaware's $1,000 ESP raise possible last spring was the NEA state affiliate's 12-member Para Issues Committee, which initiated a successful community petition recognizing paraeducators' link to student achievement.

But winning that raise was only half the battle for paras.

"Last year, the state added two extra days for teacher professional development, but nothing for us," says para committee chair Barbara Morris. "Districts aren't providing training programs for paras, yet paras need to know how to set up disciplinary programs, manage classrooms, deal with technology, and work with students with special needs."

The committee has been meeting for over a year with state education department officials to hammer out a statewide para licensure program. But there's still more work to do.

Not content to wait around for professional recognition, the 110-member Colonial Paraprofessional Association in New Castle recently negotiated Delaware's first para professional development program, with extra pay for successfully completed training, along with two new para salary lanes.

Upon completion of training, Colonial's Level I paras receive a $750 salary adjustment, while Level IIs receive a $1,000 adjustment, for a total of $1,750 after both courses.

Morris, the CPA president, says the Level I training course, planned in cooperation with the district, was "wonderful," with lots of detailed presentations.

"We learned," she notes, "lots about communications skills, special education terminology, classroom management, and student behavioral goals."

For more, contact Barbara Morris at colpara@prodigy.net.

The Steadiest Folks Around
On average, NEA's K-12 ESP members have nearly 11 years of experience with their current employer. This employment stability means that education support personnel really know their schools.

(Source: NEA National K-12 Educational Support Personnel Membership Study, 1997.)

When they say: "Food service workers don't need a union."

Think about this: "The first place a school district looks to cut money is the path of least resistance, which is non-union employees," stresses Lynn Lenker, president of the Appoquinimink Food Service Workers Association in Delaware. "Without a union supporting us, we would never have the respect, a voice in decision making, or benefits or pay increases we deserve."

AFSWA members, who organized last year, "now have representation, a binding contract--no more changing district policy--and, most importantly for me," Lenker points out, "liability insurance."

You never know when an accident might happen and you seriously burn a child with a hot pan," she explains. "If parents were to sue you for injuring their child, do you think your school district would pay for the legal fees and settlement?"

News
Where Teacher Quality Pays Off

Through legislation won by NEA's Connecticut affiliate in 1986, teachers get decent pay in return for tough--very tough--standards.

When Connecticut math teacher Elise Santoro enters Ridge-field High at 6:45 a.m., she isn't the first educator in the building. And when she has to leave at 3 p.m.--instead of her usual later hour--the faculty parking lot is still mostly full.

"We work long hours," Santoro says, "and we work over the summer, doing things like writing new courses or attending workshops. I remember when summers were free."

But don't get Santoro wrong. This 23-year veteran absolutely loves teaching. And she's proud of her colleagues' dedication, the quality instruction they deliver, and their willingness to help new teachers.

And Santoro, the president of NEA-Ridgefield, has no problem comfortably using a word often abused by teacher-bashing politicians: accountability.

"When you come to a state with some of the better teacher salaries in the country," she declares, "accountability is right and natural. We've worked hard to earn our salaries, and we've been very accountable. Just look at what we've produced!"

And what NEA members in Connecticut have produced are some of the most remarkable gains in student achievement in the entire nation.

The most compelling record of Connecticut's success, The Washington Post notes, comes from the nation's report card, the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

In this federally sponsored battery of tests, Connecticut ranked first in fourth-grade math in 1996, first in fourth- and eighth-grade reading in 1998, and first in writing in 1999.

"The number of Connecticut fourth graders reaching the 'proficient' level on the reading test jumped from 34 percent in 1992 to 46 percent in 1998, the greatest improvement in the country," the Post points out.

Why are students achieving so well in Connecticut? Some point to the state's high ranking on national measures of level of education and socio-economic well-being.

Connecticut certainly does rank high on these measures. But Connecticut has ranked high on these measures for years. What these rankings don't explain is why Connecticut student achievement has increased so dramatically.

To explain that increase, say veteran NEA members in Connecticut, you need to look back to 1986, the year state legislators passed a landmark Educational Enhancement Act.

The passage of this sweeping legislation capped a three-year public relations and lobbying campaign by the Connecticut Education Association to simultaneously lift salaries and standards for the state's educators.

To get the Act enacted, CEA had to build wide public support for teacher raises and work closely with both then-Democratic Governor William O'Neill and GOP legislative leaders.

The legislation that emerged from all this hard work allocated $300 million over three years for higher teacher salaries and established a new, three-level system of teaching certification.

The legislation also ushered in tough standards for entry into the teaching profession and coupled these standards with a teacher induction program designed to really help new teachers.

Together, all these changes created a a new stage for Connecticut's classroom teachers, and, ever since, they've played the starring role in the state's remarkable student achievement story.

Today, Connecticut teachers are among the best paid in the nation. The 2000-01 statewide salary averages, CEA researchers note, range from a bachelor's minimum of $31,204 to a $58,451 master's maximum and a $62,258 sixth-year max.

Incoming Connecticut teachers, meanwhile, are among the most highly qualified in the nation. They must pass both the Praxis I basic skills exam (unless they achieve a minimum SAT score) and the Praxis II content area test, if there is one that applies.

Incoming teachers must also have majored in the area where they want to be certified.

Once new teachers earn a provisional, or second-level, certificate--valid for eight years--they must earn a master's, or 30 credits beyond a bachelor's, to gain a "professional" certificate, which is then renewed every five years through continuing education credits.

Connecticut accountability doesn't end there. In their second year, most new teachers must complete a subject-specific portfolio that focuses on factors that impact professional practice.

In these portfolios, educators show why they had planned a particular lesson, what worked right, and what they would have done differently--all documented with daily logs, written summaries, and videotape.

Sandy White, a third-year teacher at Ridgefield's Scotland Elementary, recalls that in her first year she had to complete a portfolio that required her to write out five consecutive days of numeracy and literacy lessons, then document the lessons' effectiveness on two students--a low performer and a higher achiever.

"I had to show that both students grasped particular concepts," she says. "I had to do a lot of reflection on my own teaching."

Pretty stressful stuff for any educator, let alone a newbie. Fortunately, new Connecticut teachers are getting lots of help from their NEA state affiliate to negotiate the high hurdles to state certification.

CEA is pressing legislators and state education officials to make the state-run Beginning Educator Support and Training--BEST--Program meet all the promises made for it back in 1986.

The three-year program currently guarantees a mentor or "team support" for each first-year teacher and a series of clinics and new teacher workshops. BEST policy also encourages districts to provide release time so mentors and new teachers can work together.

But BEST doesn't provide mentors in the crucial portfolio year or require districts to grant release time.

"We're attempting to get a legislated funding increase for BEST," says CEA staffer Cliff Silver, "to get it back to what it was when the Educational Enhancement Act was passed."

"In the meantime," adds CEA staffer Linette Branham, "CEA and local affiliates are holding new teacher workshops to explain how the Association can help, and we've laid out, in great detail, a two-year portfolio preparation program, with a role for the local Association."

CEA teacher activists have also organized a "BEST Advocate Program" and brainstormed how local affiliate leaders can work with principals and district BEST "liaisons" to make BEST meet its promise to novice teachers.

One BEST Advocate, NEA-Ridgefield President Elise Santoro, is now working with local activists to implement some of the emerging new ideas.

Santoro is especially proud of a new local video about the BEST program, produced with a CEA grant and the talents of members like Eric Madsen, B.G. Brown, and Mark Reinders.

The video introduces newcomers to Ridgefield and the mentoring and portfolio process, and, appearing on it, are three recent survivors of the BEST portfolio ordeal, including Sandy White.

"I offer basic portfolio advice," notes White, "things like typing up your log daily, saving student work samples in advance, and keeping track of your most powerful lessons in the first year."

"Connecticut teachers recognize that supporting new educators will help keep them in the profession," says CEA's Branham. "It's a real challenge--but no greater than winning passage of the Educational Enhancement Act in the first place."

For more information about the BEST Advocate Program, contact CEA staffer Linette Branham at linetteb@cea.org.

Basics for Beginners
Political Action Made a Difference

Why are Connecticut teachers among the best paid in the nation?

Some factors: the Educational Enhancement Act (EEA) of 1986, a vibrant state economy, binding contract arbitration, and strong political action by NEA's state affiliate.

That political activism helped elect William A. O'Neill, Connecticut's governor during the 1980s.

O'Neill laid the groundwork for passage of the EEA by establishing a commission to investigate teacher salaries. And when lawmakers deadlocked on a resulting teacher pay/standards bill in the 1986 regular session, O'Neill had state troopers hand-deliver each of them a summons to a special session.

"The best of minds were not going into teaching because of low salaries," O'Neill explains today. "It was time to call for higher standards and pay so that Connecticut could compete in the real world. My wife had been a teacher back before I was elected, making just $17,000 with 20 years and a master's.

"The EEA has worked well," O'Neill says with pride. "Connecticut today is number one or two in the nation in terms of educational quality."

News
Fighting Vouchers--It's Everybody's Job

NEA members have four good reasons to defeat voucher initiatives in California and Michigan.

In Macomb County, Michigan, these NEA activists are fighting vouchers by publicizing what's great about their public schools. Their slogan: "P.S. I love you."

While undergoing chemotherapy to beat cancer, California guidance counselor Erma Kyser has both "good" and "bad" days and knows she has to work hard to avoid infections and to "just feel good again."

Yet somehow, this NEA member has also summoned the will to fight Proposition 38, a November ballot initiative that would amend California's state constitution to authorize an annual $4,000 voucher for every student--rich or poor--within four years.

One day recently, Kyser opened her home to phone-banking volunteers from the Sacramento City Teachers Association/CTA. Fifteen educators, munching on pizza and Chinese food, paced back and forth with cell phones, explaining to fellow Association members why they should help defeat Prop 38.

Kyser, a 25-year Association activist, says she made her house available to help save another--the house of public education.

"Allow vouchers inside, and people start taking pieces of structure away, until that house falls down," she stresses. "If I didn't do this, I'd be shirking my responsibility to protect kids."

Dedication like this you just can't buy, even with the $20 million that Prop 38 sponsor Tim Draper has pledged to sink into the campaign--or the iMac computers, Macy's shopping sprees, and Hawaii dream vacations this Silicon Valley billionaire has awarded his Prop 38 campaign "team leaders."

And that's pretty much the story this autumn in two key states, California and Michigan. In both places, big-money backers of voucher initiatives are coming up against dedicated NEA members and other public education advocates, unified in broad-based "vote no" coalitions.

In California, Draper--a free-marketeer who considers public education "socialistic"--is opposed by a diverse anti-voucher coalition of educators, parents, elected officials, business groups, Republicans and Democrats, taxpayer advocates, ethnic minorities, seniors, and community activists.

Bolstering their cause have been anti-voucher commercials featuring Governor Gray Davis and Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamente, and statements of opposition to Prop 38 from Presidential candidate Al Gore and his running mate, Joe Lieberman.

In Michigan, the pro-voucher Prop 1 is being bankrolled by the ultraconservative DeVos family--founders of the $5 billion-a-year Amway soap and direct marketing empire--with added donations from the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monahan, and the Michigan Catholic Conference, among others.

Fighting Prop 1 is a broad coalition uniting every organization from the Michigan NEA state affiliate and school boards association to the Episcopal and United Methodist churches.

And lending strong support are public officials like state Attorney General Jennifer Gran-holm and Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer.

On paper, the two state voucher initiatives are significantly different.

California Prop 38 would make vouchers available to all students within four years, while Michigan Prop 1 would lift a ban on indirect public aid to private schools and authorize $3,100 vouchers in districts with graduation rates of under two-thirds.

The Michigan initiative would also make it easy for district voters or school boards to adopt local voucher plans and would require "teacher testing" in both public schools and private schools that redeem vouchers.

But, in reality, the California and Michigan initiatives would inflict the same damage on public schools. Both schemes would:

• Cost taxpayers billions of dollars. NEA affiliates in both states estimate huge losses in state per-pupil payments to local districts, up to $1 billion a year when the Michigan initiative kicks in, and a whopping $3 billion in California within four years just to provide $4,000 vouchers for that state's 700,000 private school and home-schooled students.

  Add in administrative costs for these ambitious programs, plus the diversion of funds from other education programs--like class-size reduction and building renovation--to pay for private and religious school aid, and the fiscal drain becomes a budget buster.

• Provide no accountability to taxpayers. The California and Michigan initiatives would send public funds to totally unregulated voucher schools that can make financial decisions in secret and are not required to undergo a financial audit.

  In fact, the California measure stipulates that voucher-redeeming private schools be "free from unnecessary, burdensome, or onerous regulations." That means everything from teacher credentialing standards to building fire codes.

• Hurt kids. Voucher schools, not parents, would choose which school students can attend and be allowed to reject children for almost any reason, including gender, religion, language, ability to pay, or academic or physical ability.

  "What really aggravates me," says guidance counselor Erma Kyser, "is that voucher promoters target minority kids without letting them into voucher schools!"

• Abandon neighborhood schools. Vouchers would cut funding to local public schools, meaning fewer educators, fewer supplies, and more overcrowded classrooms.

"In Michigan, we know from experience with enrollment loss to unregulated charter schools that the first jobs to be cut will be ESP jobs," says David Hockaday, president of the 562-member Lansing Educational Assistants. "Our district already plans to close four small neighborhood schools because of declining enrollment. Vouchers would double the damage.

"Some 87 percent of our paraeducators live in Lansing neighborhoods, and 60 percent of them are single wage earners," Hockaday adds. "If their jobs are cut, their work won't go away."

Private and religious schools, he notes, only take the students they want. Children who are at-risk or have special needs will be left behind--and they're the ones who need extra help.

"Getting out there to fight voucher initiatives," sums up Hockaday, "is the job of every NEA member.

For more info on this fall's voucher battles, go to the California Teachers Association Web site at www.cta.org and the Michigan Education Association site at www.mea.org.

For an update on the nation's biggest voucher battle this fall, see www.novouchers2000.com.

Voucher Pushers Outspend Us, But They Can't Outwork Us

NEA members fight vouchers by reaching out and speaking out, for kids and public schools.

NEA members may not be able to outspend the high rollers who are funding voucher initiatives this November in California and Michigan. But they can certainly outwork them.

In both states, Association members are working with "vote no" coalition allies--everyone from school administrators to religious leaders--and fighting back by:

• Being visible. Hundreds of thousands of anti-voucher yard signs have sprouted in California and Michigan, while NEA members are proudly sporting "vote no" buttons--which in Michigan are in the same distinctive black-and-green colors used on all public school signs.

• Being heard. Coalition-sponsored media spots and press events are informing the public about the dangers vouchers pose to children and public education. These messages are bolstered by volunteer phone banks run out of local Association offices.

  "We've got 17 phone lines, used by educators from different schools at different times," reports Sacramento City Teachers Association President Tom Rogers. "And we're competing with our colleagues in Elk Grove and San Juan to see who makes the most phone calls!"

• Staying organized. In both California and Michigan, anti-voucher coalition coordinators are directing local-level "no" campaigns that include phone banks, precinct walking, and literature distribution. "Our state's All Kids First coalition has a full campaign plan in each county," reports Michigan Education Association staffer Al Short, "and it has two Detroit coordinators, who work closely with Mayor Dennis Archer, the NAACP, and major ministers' organizations."

• Talking up public schools. In Macomb County, Michigan, the Warren Education Association's 14-member Public Relations Committee, working with "PR reps" in each of Warren Consolidated Schools' 26 buildings, has already spent years publicizing what works right in their district. Warren activists do press outreach, essay contests, and mall exhibitions that include actual classes.

  This PR Committee, chaired by Sandy Kush, is now channeling positive local vibes about public schools into a comprehensive anti-voucher campaign, complete with a "P.S. I Love You" slogan created by member Lucile Demanksi and a sticker designed by Warren Mott High School art student Karen Roney.

  This campaign--uniting teachers, ESP, administrators, and members of the Warren chapter of Parents for Public Schools--is using everything from phone banks to friend-to-friend postcards to urge district residents to vote against the pro-voucher Prop 1.

• Being aggressive. The California Teachers Association can't match billionaire Tim Draper's fortune, but he can't match the "strength, perseverance, and determination on our side," says CTA President Wayne Johnson.

  "We have people everywhere who are working for what is right for our children and public education," says Johnson. "Draper may have the money, but we have the people, and we'll be out there convincing the public to vote 'No on 38' every day until Election Day."

My Turn
National Board Certification: Time to Accentuate the Positive

Is National Board Certification for you? For this Idaho teacher, there's no doubt.

By Nancy Larsen

Idaho second grade teacher Nancy Larsen was certified as a Middle Childhood Generalist last year.

A couple of months ago, I was in a discussion about National Board Certification at a regional conference I was attending.

I was quite frankly stunned to hear some of the sentiments teachers in the room were expressing. Many were hostile to National Board Certification, with their criticisms centered around five main themes: