Resources
For Sale--Your Kids

The darker side of business' increasing involvement in schools.

Education, Inc.: Turning Learning into a Business (Revised Edition)
Edited by Alfie Kohn and Patrick Shannon
179 pp. $19 paperback; Heinemann (www.heinemann.com)

Since the 1980s, no one in public relations has flacked any harder than those pitching for the titans of American business.

No, I'm not talking about spinning recent corporate accounting scandals. I'm talking about the tidal wave of press detailing how businesses are bailing out the "failing" U.S. education system. One couldn't escape the accounts of corporate largesse--this firm donated its old (read: outmoded) computers for a literacy project; that one loaned its executives to teach public education officials how to be better managers (hmmm).

Readers of Education, Inc. might well conclude that business' interest in schools has been more than a little self-serving. If you believe that a public education system is essential to our common well-being, and that our private interests must occasionally play second fiddle to the common good, the authors whose work comprise Education, Inc. provide more than enough material to pique your outrage meter. It's hard to know what's most bothersome about American industry's forays into public education over the past two decades:

• Is it that kids are studying curriculums prepared by McDonald's® or Clearasil, or forced to sit through commercials thanks to the Faustian bargain their elders have struck with Channel One for free TVs?
• Or maybe that huge corporations--the same ones who benefit from sizable tax breaks--stand to reap enormous profits from the current explosion in testing.
• What about the way heady corporate chiefs elbowed their way into contracts managing public schools by promising high test scores at a cheaper cost--and then slunk out of town when they fell on their face, leaving debts and broken promises in their wake?

There's something in Education, Inc. for everyone who's ever felt uneasy about corporate logos on textbook covers or wondered whether there may be just a hint of a conflict in industry's increasingly aggressive and invasive stance.

Originally published in 1997, the new and updated essays in Education, Inc. have only become more timely given today's testing juggernaut and movement to "voucherize" American education.

The 15 essays cover the gamut of business involvement, from commercially inspired curriculums to charter schools. The most striking ones deal with testing. The stories spell out how our current obsession with testing is leading to an orgy of spending on not just the tests themselves, but related business-supplied services such as private test prep "learning centers." The testing explosion spells giant profits for private firms--at a time when public schools are chronically underfunded yet huge corporations pay CEOs obscene salaries and perks while skating with tax breaks.

The book's sections on choice and school-to-work programs are the weakest--tilting toward highbrow essays--but still contain some gems. Robert Lowe's fine essay on vouchers, for example, reminds us that the nation's first choice program--enacted after Brown v. Board of Education--permitted white students in Virginia to attend private segregated schools at public expense.

The writings leave no doubt that, while the economy may have soured of late, corporate presence in schools is stronger than ever. "When corporations can influence the nature of curriculum and the philosophy of education," Alfie Kohn writes, "then they have succeeded in doing something more profound and possibly more enduring than merely improving their results on this quarter's balance sheet."

--John O'Neil

Excerpt
"let's connect the dots. Over here are corporations persuading public officials to reduce their tax obligations; over there are schools so starved for resources that they must resort to selling advertising space to companies....This must be what business means by a 'win-win' situation."

From the NEA Professional Library

Coping with Standards, Tests, and Accountability: Voices from the Classroom
Allan A. Glatthorn and Jean Fontana
144 pp. $14.95 NEA members
$16.95 nonmembers
#2015-4-00-FN
No concern in current American education is as baffling or polarizing as the standards movement. Raising test scores, improving student performance, and evaluating teachers are issues hotly debated in every community, and attempts at reform are initiated every season with widely varying outcomes. In 12 well-referenced chapters, teachers, teacher educators, and administrators share their views on and experiences with accountability, testing, and standards programs in school districts throughout the nation.

To order, call 800/229-4200, or check the Web at www.nea.org/books

Books by NEA Members

Whodunit Math Puzzles
By Bill Wise, illustrated by Lucy Corvino
Author Bill Wise takes a different approach to math in this book by including a series of crimes that must be solved using math and logic skills. Students can join Midville Police Chief Arthur Smart and his partner, 12-year-old junior detective Cal Q. Leiter as they investigate how much money Gertrude Gessler left in her will to divide among her four nephews and other mysteries. 96 pp. $6.95 from Sterling Publishing. To order, go to www.sterlingpublishing.com.

Acting for Nature: What Young People Around the World Have Done to Protect the Environment
By Sneed B. Collard III and Action for Nature
Read the adventures and real-life stories of young people and learn how they helped solve growing, worldwide environmental problems, such as overpopulation, pollution, global warming, and species extinction. 112 pp. $8.95 from Heyday Books. To order, call 510/549-3564 or e-mail orders@heydaybooks.com.

The Man Who Set the Town Dancing (El Hombre que puso a bailar a todo el pueblo)
By Candice Stanford, illustrated by Flo Hosa Dougherty
This bilingual (English/Spanish) book, written by a high school journalism teacher, tells the true story of José Tena, who popularized Mexican folk dances. Filled with color paintings rich in cultural detail, the book follows José as he fulfills his dream of bringing dance back into the townspeople's lives. 40 pp. $16.95 plus s&h from Clear Light Books. To order, call 888/253-2747 or go to www.clearlightbooks.com.

More Hot Links: Linking Literature With the Middle School Curriculum
By Cora M. Wright
The companion book to Hot Links by the same author, More Hot Links will help make book selection easy. Compiled by a middle school librarian, the book contains informative annotations and bibliographic information on more than 300 recently published fiction and nonfiction books that support and enhance the middle school curriculum for grades 4-10. 200 pp. $32 plus s&h from Libraries Unlimited. To order, call 303/770-1220, or go to www.lu.com.

Way To G.R.O.W. (Get Rid Of Worksheets): Motivating Games and Activity Formats for Use Across the Curriculum
By Debbie Hisam and Linda Seth
Combine examples provided in conventional workbooks with the activities in this book to promote active learning in your classroom. Designed for different levels of students, the activities create an atmosphere of collaborative competition that will encourage students to become more involved in learning. 106 pp. $24.95 from Etc. Publications. To order, call 800/839-8339.

TV Tips

Anne Frank: The Life of a Young Girl
A&E, A&E Biography, March 3, 7 a.m., check local listings.
Her diary, an inspiring testament to the strength of the human spirit under the worst of conditions, is one of the most widely read books in the world. Yet the time Anne Frank spent hiding from the Nazis is just one part of her memorable life.

In this one-hour documentary, scholars and survivors tell what they know of the young Jewish girl who has become a worldwide icon. Learn about Anne from her happy early years in Germany and Holland, through her time in hiding and her horrifying last months in Nazi death camps, to the legacy and message of hope her diary has left for the world. The show can be taped and used in the classroom for two years.

The Alamo
History Channel, March 3 and 4, 6 a.m., ET, check local listings.
This two-part program uses eyewitness accounts and dramatic reenactments to create an accurate picture of one of America's most famous battles. The show can be taped and used in the classroom for two years with a lesson plan available at www.historychannel.com/classroom.

Amelia Earhart: Queen of the Air
A&E, March 11, 7 a.m., ET.
Using recently discovered documents concerning her disappearance in 1937, this episode of A&E Biography explores the myths and mystery surrounding the celebrated aviator whose style attracted the attention of the public as much as her many record-breaking flights.

Intimate Portrait: Eleanor Roosevelt
Lifetime, March 12, 4 a.m., ET, check local listings.
This documentary profiles one of America's most influential women, from her youthful insecurity to her emergence as the "First Lady of the World" and a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. Can be taped and used in the classroom for one year. Teaching materials are available at www.lifetimetv.com/community/olc/cable/index.html.

Celebrating the Green: The History of Saint Patrick's Day
History Channel, March 14, 6 a.m., ET.
Using New York City's annual St. Patrick's Day parade as a backdrop, this documentary explains how the ancient feast day honoring the bishop who Christianized Ireland became a boisterous celebration of Irish heritage in America. Can be taped and used in the classroom for two years.

Lewis and Clark: A Scientific Journey
Discovery Channel, March 17, 9 a.m., ET.
Uncovering more than 600 historic campsites, this program chronicles the journey of the two men who were assigned the task of exploring the vast wilderness of the Louisiana Purchase. Tape the show and use it in the classroom for one year with a lesson plan available at www.school.discovery.com.

Weather on Mars
Discovery Channel, March 20, 9 a.m., ET.
In this program, scientists in the Mojave Desert attempt to determine what triggers the dust storms that rage across Mars by simulating the 200-mile-per-hour Martian winds. Can be taped and used in the classroom for one year with a lesson plan available at www.school.discovery.com.

Right on Track
The Disney Channel, March 21, 8 p.m., ET.
Based on the real-life experiences of Erica and Courtney Enders, this movie follows the drag racing adventures of the Houston-based Enders family. The movie depicts a young girl, who at age eight is inspired by her father's love for racecars and quickly becomes the only girl driver in the National Hot Rod Association. Her younger sister, Courtney, eventually follows in her footsteps. Enders shepherds his daughters' careers, teaching them the meaning of determination, perseverance, and the importance of family values.

ZOOM
PBS KIDS, Monday, March 31, and weekdays, check local listings.
In its fifth season, ZOOM focuses on volunteerism and cultural diversity. New episodes are infused with the richness of cultures from around the world as the young cast members work together to solve problems, experiment, and bring to life ideas sent in by kids from across the country. Featured in this premiere episode are crafts and recipes from other countries and profiles of kids who share their unique cultures from making a traditional Japanese carp flag to the creation of a pannukakkua--Finnish pancakes. Visit the website that includes educational materials at www.pbskids.org/zoom.

Cyberchase
PBS KIDS, Monday, March 31, (airs daily, check local listings).
This cartoon mystery series takes kids on a wild ride through cyberspace where they are challenged to use the power of math. Topics for this season include equivalent fractions, counter examples, angle measurement, inverse operations, perimeter/ area, data clusters, ballpark estimation, and decimals. In this episode, the kids challenge the villain Hacker to an Olympic-like skate-off compe- tition to prevent his mission to conquer the virtual universe. Teacher materials are available from www.pbskids.org/cyberchase.

Max & Ruby
Nickelodeon, weekdays 9 a.m., ET, check local listings.
Based on the books by Rosemary Wells, each half-hour animated episode consists of three seven-and-a-half minute stories targeted to preschoolers that celebrate the universal nature of sibling relationships. The series follows Max and his big sister Ruby through their everyday lives in the village of East Bunnyhop. Max and Ruby are often at odds, but their humor, determination, and affection for each other ultimately help them to triumph over the challenges of being little.

Web Winners

Women's History Month
Find resources and materials to teach about Women's History Month at the National Women's History Project webpage. The site includes listings of women's history organizations and museums, an online catalog of teaching resources, biographies of notable women, a history quiz, and more. Information on this year's history month theme, "Women Pioneering the Future," is also included. Go to www.nwhp.org.

Women in the Arts
The National Museum of Women in the Arts is the only museum dedicated exclusively to recognizing the contributions of women artists. Visitors to its website can view works from the permanent collection, along with information on special exhibits and artist biographies. Go to www.nmwa.org.

Distinguished Women of Past and Present
Biographies of women writers, educators, scientists, heads of state, politicians, civil rights crusaders, artists, entertainers, and others are featured at this site. Searchable by name or subject area, the webpage includes a list of additional resources. Go to www.distinguishedwomen.com.

Teaching with Energy
This site helps kids explore the link between solid waste and energy, the history of garbage, how landfills work, and related topics. Biographies of pioneers in energy and "energy news you can use" are also offered. Educators can find curriculum guides, science fair project ideas, an energy conversion chart, and more under the Classroom Connection heading. Go to www.eia.doe.gov/kids/index.html.

For Science Buffs
Have students choose from 16 activities to answer questions such as: How do scientists measure the size of an atom? What kind of coat will keep you the warmest--one made from cotton, steel wool, or air? Flash cards, matching games, and crossword puzzles help students learn the periodic table of elements and other science information. Middle school teachers are invited to apply for a four-week summer enrichment program in basic physics. Go to http://education.jlab.org/index.html.

Classroom Calendar
This free feature of the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse identifies and provides effective resources for K-12 math and science teaching and learning. At this site, you'll find ready-to-go activities and other suggested curriculum materials related to math and science. Use the entries to enrich your lessons on any date that suits your needs. The entries contain direct links to carefully chosen Internet sources and are correlated to national science and mathematics standards. Go to www.enc.org/thisweek/calendar/.

Dino Lab
Give dinosaur research projects a boost by visiting the Dino Lab site from The Jurassic Park Institute, a science-based, education-focused program. The site includes lesson plans and student activities in which students develop a greater understanding of the scientific method. An online encyclopedia, dinosaur-themed activities and games, the latest in dinosaur news, and additional links round out this dino resource. Go to www.jpinstitute.com.

QuestionPoint
Partially administered and maintained by the Library of Congress, QuestionPoint is a collaborative online reference service that provides libraries with a global network of reference librarians. Patrons can log on and submit questions that will be answered by the most qualified librarian. This service is available to libraries through subscription, and will encourage the sharing of resources and expertise with patrons free of charge. Go to www.questionpoint.org.

English To Go
International issues change daily, and incorporating them into lesson plans can be overwhelming. With English To Go, you can download reproducible lesson plans based on recent news stories from Reuters and add them to your curriculum. You can also gain free resources from their samples page, and teachers are most welcome to distribute these samples. Go to www.english-to-go.com/english/sample_lessons.cfm.

For the Birds
This National Wildlife Federation site can help anyone become an expert on the bird species in various regions of the United States. Colorful maps help track migration patterns, along with illustrations--essential tools for even the most amateur bird-watcher. Make area birds feel welcome with the guide to favorite foods, types of trees, and the most attractive feeder styles--for the birds, that is. Go to www.enature.com/birding/migration_home.asp.

Fighting for the Right Goals

Worthy goals are worth fighting for.

NEA President Reg Weaver traveled West in January with the message that quality public education for all children is achievable--if we fight hard enough for it.

Weaver carried the message to Washington state, where he spoke in Olympia at a rally organized by the Washington Education Association (WEA). Rallies at three sites during WEA's "Day of Action" drew an estimated 30,000 school employees and community members to show support for adequate school funding. Like other states, Washington is facing a huge budget shortfall, and politicians are weighing cuts to vital public school programs.

"We utterly reject the notion that America cannot afford to provide every child in this nation with a quality public education," Weaver told those attending the Olympia rally. Politicians are fond of saying that the money's not available to support adequate school funding, but somehow they come up with the dollars for corporate subsidies, the war against Iraq, and tax cuts that benefits mostly the wealthy, Weaver noted.

"We can afford modern, well-equipped schools that provide all children with an environment that is safe and conducive to good education," Weaver thundered to the cheering crowd. "We can afford smaller class sizes to allow teachers to devote more individual attention to students. And we can afford a compensation system that will attract and retain the kind of people we want working with our students."

Later, Weaver told attendees at the Western Regional Leadership Conference in Salt Lake City that NEA has both the numbers--2.7 million members, or one in every hundred Americans--and the "fighting spirit" to prevail in the battle to secure adequate funding for public schools. "Our members know how to organize, mobilize, and energize," said Weaver. "Most importantly, they know how to fight."

What's the battle plan? Weaver is mobilizing NEA to follow a three-part strategy for addressing the needs of American public schools:

1. Every child must have access to a safe, orderly school, with an atmosphere conducive to teaching and learning.
2. We need meaningful reform that is done with us and by us--the folks on the front lines.
3. We need salaries and incentives to attract an adequate supply of highly qualified teachers and support professionals.

Achieving the vision of quality public education for all children will mean holding politicians and legislators accountable for ensuring educators have adequate resources to do the job. In fact, Weaver said he'd like the federal government to expand its plan to measure schools by the yardstick of adequate yearly progress toward student achievement goals. "We should also have a second report," he said, "to assess whether a state is making 'adequate yearly progress' toward achieving school funding that is adequate and equitable."

In sum, Weaver said, "We want every school to be as good as our best public school."

That's a goal worth fighting for.

--John O'Neil