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NY City Schools Teaching Green

Peter Baer — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:23:22 +0000

NY Times article pointing out that while plenty of city schools, from elementary to secondary, teach students about environmental issues like endangered species or global warming, places like the Green School put an overwhelming emphasis on civic involvement. The students are encouraged to delve into local issues that may affect them and their families, like contamination in waterways, water quality or the razing of low-scale housing. Essentially, these programs weave environmental issues into most coursework. This seems a bit ‘faddish,’ but we’ll keep an open mind.

$40 Million in Federal Stimulus for Graduate Work in Electric Car Education

Peter Baer — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:50:18 +0000

This NY Times article explains that with $2.4 billion in stimulus funds aimed specifically at spurring the manufacture and deployment of electric cars and advanced batteries, the need for such specialization has to increase. For example, The University of Michigan now has a master’s of energy systems engineering program. It’s interesting to see the trend moving toward increased specialization like this and the green majors and minors we wrote about earlier in the week.

Colleges Offering More and More ‘Green’ Majors And Minors

Peter Baer — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:57:16 +0000

A good USA Today article on green studies programs filling up fast. Nationwide, more than 100 majors, minors or certificates were created this year in energy and sustainability-focused programs at colleges, says the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. That’s up from just three programs added in 2005. “There’s a great perception that there’s a sweet spot with energy to do good and do well, and it appears to be the place of job growth,” says Rob Melnick, executive dean of the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University. It’ll be interesting to see where this trend leads.

Colleges Turn the Economic Crisis Into a Lesson Plan

Peter Baer — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:15:28 +0000

The financial crisis has brought upheaval to many corners of American life, but on college campuses around the country the turmoil is being embraced as a valuable teaching tool according to this NY Times article. Academics say they cannot recall a time when so much of the curriculum has had to be revised so quickly to reflect the sweeping developments in the economy. It’s nice to see business schools and economics departments moving quickly and nimbly to adapt coursework to the changing times.

How to Choose a Charter School

Peter Baer — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:47:39 +0000

U.S. News & World report article on charter schools becoming an increasingly important part of the government’s plan for education reform. These schools, which are publicly funded and independently operated, cost nothing for parents and have open enrollment, meaning no child can be denied entry as long as space is available. Some charter schools won’t be a good fit for certain students and comparisons between them and public schools are difficult, but their growth seems to be a good thing.

Math Scores Show Improvement at Schools in Large U.S. Cities

Peter Baer — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:16:56 +0000

CNN piece on public school students in major metropolitan areas showing improvement on test scores in mathematics compared with scores from previous years. In Austin, Texas, and San Diego, California, eighth-graders raised their scores. In Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington, fourth-grade students showed the gains. The report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress compared test scores from those two grades in 18 urban school districts. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan praised the results in Tuesday’s report, saying that the numbers show that “our nation’s biggest cities are continuing to make progress.” This is some good news.

Use of Technology to Help Teachers Channel Parent Communication in Positive Way

Peter Baer — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:13:07 +0000

A press release from Becta, a UK government agency aiming to advertise and implement the productive and innovative use of technology throughout the teaching and learning process. A recent survey they commissioned shows teachers and schools who have implemented online reporting and electronic communication with parents, have said that it improves parental engagement, allowing them to bring parents into the school community efficiently. It also allows teachers to channel communication from ‘overly demanding’ parents in a positive manner. This seems like it might make sense in the US as well.

Obama Pushes to Turn Around Failing Schools

Peter Baer — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:39:21 +0000

Associated Press piece on the Obama administration spending at least $3.5 billion to push local officials around the country to close failing schools and reopen them with new teachers and principals. One of their hopes is to see the 5,000 worst-performing schools, about 1 percent of all U.S. schools, turned around in five years. We give the administration credit for continuing to devote significant time and resources to improving the US school system.

Microsoft, Google in Battle to Win Over Students

Peter Baer — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:53:20 +0000

Mercury News article on the high-stakes battle between Google and Microsoft to convert the nation’s colleges, universities and schools to the companies’ free e-mail and other IT services that run on the Internet “cloud.” At Google, trying to gain ground against a dominant Microsoft in commercial e-mail services, “we really look at this as an investment in our enterprise business,” said Jeff Keltner, business development manager for Google Apps for Education. Plus, he said, giving software to schools “is something that we felt was the right thing to do,” an effort “that goes along with our oft-quoted ‘Don’t be evil.’ ” Google has converted a number of local universities and K-12 schools to Gmail.

State Board Considers Giving Schools Letter Grades

Peter Baer — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:15:43 +0000

Interesting Miami Herald article on Indiana’s Board of Education considering a proposal that would change the way the state ranks schools by giving them letter grades instead of putting them into categories. Since 2006, Indiana has classified schools into one of five categories using a formula based on statewide test scores and student improvement. This seems like a decent idea and, at the very least, ensures people understand the ranking system.