Education Update - March 2003

COVER STORIES

Women Shaping History
Women’s History Month is a time to reflect on the achievements of women in the past. It is also a time to recognize the achievements of contemporary women who have made outstanding contributions in various fields. Education Update interviewed 10 multi-faceted, fascinating, dynamic, intellectual women who have improved the lives of people all over the world:

On the Advantages of All-Girls’ School
by Dorothy Hutcheson
Recently, we welcomed parents of Kinder-garten applicants for an “Insider’s View of the Lower School.” Five juniors and seniors—Maha Atal ’04, Sonje Hawkins ’03, Ali Jones ’04, Danielle Tappitake ’03, and Charlotte Winthrop ’04—addressed the parents in the auditorium. The visitors were bowled over by our students’ confidence and the seeming ease with which they talked about their teachers, courses and activities, and favorite memories of their Lower School years. READ MORE

Justice for All Women
by Catherine Douglas
Since 1993, inMotion has helped thousands of women free themselves from abusive relationships, hold onto their homes and win the financial support that they—and their children —are legally entitled to.
READ MORE

History of Women’s College
by Mark Herz
In 1772, the history of women’s colleges in America began with the founding of Salem Academy in North Carolina. Salem was not chartered as a college until more than a century later. READ MORE

Women’s City Club: 88 Years Old & Going Strong
by Sybil Maimin
Eleanor Roosevelt was a member. So were Helen Hayes, the actress; Dorothy Schiff, the New York Post publisher; Virginia Gildersleeve, commander of the WW II WAVES; three college presidents; officers of major corporations; the head of a major labor union; and a member of the US House of Representatives. READ MORE

Choices in Women’s Colleges READ MORE

TEACHERS OF THE MONTH

The Outstanding Teachers of the Month
for March 2003 - NEW!
The Outstanding Teachers of the Month for March 2003 have each been nominated by their colleagues, students, parents, principals and superintendents. Education Update has selected five nominees for their outstanding work on the “frontiers” of education... READ MORE

SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS

Free Daytime English Classes
Offered at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House
Lenox Hill Neighborhood House (331 East 70th Street) announces openings in its English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program. Interested students must schedule an appointment for a 10-minute assessment test prior to registration. Classes are free but there is a $35 registration fee. Childcare is provided during class for $15 for the entire session. “These free ESOL classes emphasize civics and daily conversation. READ MORE

Elizabeth Sciabarra:
Chief Executive for New Schools Development
by Joan Baum, Ph.D.
If Elizabeth Sciabarra is stepping smartly up to the plate in her new position as Chief Executive for New Schools Development in the restructured Department of Education, the reason is obvious after just a few minutes’ conversation. She brings to the job a rich intelligence informed by both art and science, and a confidence and enthusiasm that suggest she expects to hit only home runs. READ MORE

Vocational Education Resurgent
by Frank Carucci
A remarkable thing happened along the way to the presumed demise of vocational education in New York City. It came back stronger than ever and is now a model for academic—as well as career—success.
READ MORE

Women Mentoring Women
by Matilda Raffa Cuomo & Catherine E. Shugrue
Domestic violence is a serious crime, and often even deadly. Every day in the US, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends. Most studies indicate that women represent at least 85% or more of those who are victims of intimate partner violence. At HELP USA’s seven New York City homeless shelters, nearly 40% of our clients report having been victims of violence. READ MORE

Close Up Foundation & Smithsonian Announce New Summer HS Program in Washington, D.C.
The Close Up Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution announced a new educational travel program for high school students. Destination DC: Culture, Politics, and History is a seven-day program in Washington DC that will be held July 7-13, 2003. READ MORE

Famous Women Journalists Appear on Stamps
Find these women on your local postage stamps: READ MORE

COLLEGES

College Presidents Series:
Diane Engelhardt, President,
DeVry Institute of Technology
by Joan Baum, Ph.D.
Because she had been encouraged early on by her parents to learn shorthand and typing, Diane Engelhardt appreciates both the importance of “hands on” skills and the need to go beyond them for a meaningful career. READ MORE

Mothers & Daughters As Teachers
Preserving the Legacy: In Her Own Words
by Joanne Robertson, Ph.D.
Living history: Reflecting memories. My mother has asked me to write this story, for she is no longer able to do so herself. Her testimonial bears witness to the significant contributions of women to the field of education, and to the evolution of critical theories of teaching and learning. For, embedded within her recollections about the four room schoolhouse in a small coal mining town, are philosophies influenced by her family culture, college education, and gender perceptions.
READ MORE

Pace University Offers MS in Accounting in China
Pace University’s Lubin School of Business is offering a pilot MS in Accounting program for students in Shanghai in conjunction with Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SUFE). “This mutual endeavor provides an excellent opportunity for Chinese business professionals to study United States accounting, auditing and taxation,” said Arthur L. Centonze, dean of the Lubin School. READ MORE

Everett Children’s Adventure Garden
Learning plant science just got a lot more fun for students and their teachers with the introduction of the kindergarten and first grade elementary classroom curriculum, Adventure Garden SEEDS (Science Exploration and Education Discovery Series). SEEDS gives teachers a new resource that is packed with easy-to-use hands-on, inquiry-based classroom lessons that transform fieldtrips to the Garden into an extended and powerful learning experience. READ MORE

Intel and Civil Air Patrol: For Self and College
by Katarzyna Kozanecka
A Stuyvesant High School student walks into a bar. He asks the bartender, Do you need someone to wash glasses? Play the piano? Or maybe you’ll let me observe your establishment for a month? I’m writing a social science Intel paper about the effectiveness of holding Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in bars. READ MORE

450 Teachers & School Leaders from Around
the World Gather at Teachers College Klingenstein Center’s 25th Anniversary
Event Recognizes Role of Independent Schools in American Education READ MORE

Regents’ Vote Affirms CUNY Admissions Policy
The New York State Board of Regents voted recently to uphold the remedial policy of the City University of New York (CUNY), which ended an open admissions policy to the University’s four year colleges in 1999. Critics had cautioned that the policy change could lead to a drop in enrollment, particularly of minority students, at four-year CUNY institutions such as City College in Washington Heights. READ MORE

MEDICAL UPDATE

Panel Investigates Deaths of 3 Students
by Tom Kertes
During the first week of January, three public school students—19 year-old Kimario Green, 16 year-old Katherine Bodden and 13 year-old Randy Charlotte—died of cardiac-related problems on school grounds within seven days. The tragic irony? Each child’s life might have been saved by a defibrillator—and the New York State Legislature passed a law requiring that all 1200 New York City Public schools be equipped with defibrillators (AEDs) by December 1, 2002. Why the noncompliance? The City Council, in a joint oversight public hearing by the Committees of Education and Health, looked into the unacceptable situation. READ MORE

Governor McGreevey Backs Stem Cell Legislation
Continuing his commitment to make New Jersey a national leader in cancer care and research, Governor James E. McGreevey pledged to support legislation which would authorize stem cell research in the state. READ MORE

Pace University Creates Institute for Healthy Aging
The Lienhard School of Nursing of Pace University has recently established the Institute for Healthy Aging (IHA) on its New York and Pleasantville campuses. The Institute will provide education and research geared toward individuals 40 years of age and older and to health care professionals servicing this population. Initial funding for the IHA was provided by grants from the Mary and Milton B. Rosenbach Foundation. READ MORE

CHILDREN'S CORNER

If You Ask Dr. McCune Education Begins with Play… for Boys & Girls!
by Lorraine McCune, Ed.D.
A trip to some of the showrooms at the recent Toy Fair confirmed the broad divide between schools and toys and between toys for girls and toys for boys. A visit to Toys-R-Us, or the boutique toy store in midtown will tell you the same thing. READ MORE

The 2003 Columbia Space Shuttle:
How to Talk to Children about the Tragedy
by Robin F. Goodman, Ph.D., A.T.R.-BC
What should I say to help children understand?
Some general guidelines: Keep in mind the child’s age, personality, general tendency to fear and worry, and level of interest. Monitor your own reactions as children learn the most from, and often worry the most about, those in their immediate environment. It is important for both children and adults to maintain their routines and talk about information and feelings as they evolve. READ MORE

SPECIAL EDUCATION

Technology & Inclusion at Children’s Center
by Nancy Glass
The Children’s Center School, a division of Queens Centers for Progress, in Jamaica Queens, offers comprehensive educational and clinical services to children with special needs, from birth through twenty-one years of age. Students at the school present with a variety of disabilities, ranging from mild to profound. While many students are multiply-handicapped, the school also services “typically developing” youngsters who are often participants in inclusionary programs where children with and without disabilities share the same classrooms.
READ MORE

Rhodes Scholar “Sees” The World
by M.C. Cohen
Cyrus Habib is in elite company. As one of the 32 recipients of this year’s Rhodes Scholarship, Habib is an accomplished senior comparative literature and Mideast studies major at Columbia University. Yet, he’s far from an elitist. Whether lobbying for the rights of students with disabilities at Columbia, where he is president of the campus group “Columbians Organized for Disability Advocacy,” or rallying at a peace demonstration in New York, Habib sees the world as a place bigger then himself. “Education can’t exist in a vacuum,” he says. “We must always remember to fight the world’s fight.” READ MORE

Resources, Referrals and Help
As a principal of a private school for learning disabled children, I am asked by parents and other professionals on a daily basis for information on resources. READ MORE

MUSEUMS

Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg & Professor Ernestine Schlant Bradley Speak at Leo Baeck Center
by Alexandra Shimo-Barry
The German-born professor writes about anti-Semitism. The Orthodox rabbi downplays its relevance to Jewish identity. They’re very different, but they say they learn from their differences. READ MORE

BOOKS

Imre Kertész—Nobelist in Literature, 2000
by Lillian Shapiro
His writing appears to be even and calm but as the writing proceeds it becomes more difficult to accept in that way. What he tells us has been inspired by a sentence made by someone who was at a meeting that he was attending. This man said, “Auschwitz cannot be explained.” Kertész has written a trilogy of which the first two, Fateless and Kaddish for a Child Not Born are in print in English. The third, Fiasco, has yet to be translated and I look forward to seeing it here. These novels are written to contradict that observation and emphasize that not only can it be explained but it must be explained. READ MORE

Review of A Place to Grow
by Kent Kleiman
Questions of identity, growing up and finding one’s place in the world are the central issues in the deceptively simple new children’s book A Place to Grow, by Stephanie Bloom and illustrated by Kelly Murphy. READ MORE

Celebrate Women’s History Month With
An Emphasis On The Journey of African Americans
BIOGRAPHY: AGES 6 THRU 10
A beautifully detailed homage to a world class musician with a three octave voice. The shimmering semitone pictures enhance the theatrical feast of Marian’s powerful singing. Text underscores the political force of her voice in the African American community. READ MORE

MUSIC, ART & DANCE

Soccer Saga: Bend It Like Beckham;
Holocaust Harbor: Nowhere In Africa
by Jan Aaron
In the charming comedy, Bend It Like Beckam, an Indian girl meets a blonde tomboy who helps her realize her dream of playing big time soccer. As in her previous films, Bhaji on the Beach and What’s Cooking, director writer Gurinder Chadha doesn’t delve deep here, but assembles a first rate cast to tell this story about changing social conventions. READ MORE

City College Library to Host “Jazz Age” National Traveling Exhibition
The City College Library will celebrate Black History Month this year with the only regional showing of The Jazz Age in Paris: 1914–1940, a traveling exhibition organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). more

Disney Gives Schools First-Class Treatment
When you let your students discover the wonder and joy of Disney on Broadway, we’ll make the experience unforgettable! This school year give your students a day to remember by taking advantage of Disney’s educational program, which provides schools with special rates for groups of 15 or more for Beauty and the Beast, Aida and Lion King. READ MORE

METROBEAT

Holding Elected Officials To Their Campaign Promises
by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
When I ran for Mayor of New York City, I said that if there was one principle I would try to bring to government, it would be accountability. The idea that you can promise something over and over again, then not do it and get away with it is simply unfathomable. After spending more than a year in office, I can say with some authority that a much higher standard of accountability is desperately needed in government. Elected officials should be held to their campaign promises, and I want the people of New York City to start with me. READ MORE

Recommendations Issued on New Councils
to Replace Community School Boards
by Assemblyman Steven Sanders
Recently the 20-member Task Force on Community School District Governance Reform submitted its recommendations to the Leg-islature and the Governor on what should replace the community school boards, which go out of business on June 30th. Along with Terri Thomson, I had the honor of co-chairing the Task Force, whose recommendations were developed after hearing over 50 hours of testimony from nearly 300 witnesses at hearings held in each borough in the past two months. READ MORE

An Open Letter from Chancellor Joel Klein
Dear Community/Faith-Based Leader,
In October, I launched Children First: A New Agenda for Public Schools in New York City, an initiative to reform the school system. During the first phase of Children First, we received input from approximately 50,000 parents, students, teachers, principals, superintendents, community, business, higher education and faith-based leaders.
READ MORE

CAREERS

Thomas Rockwell, Writer:
Where Fried Worms Come From
by Jacob M. Appel
Celebrated children’s book au-thor Thomas “Tom” Rockwell confesses that he grew up in a small New England town not so different from the rustic communities depicted in the Saturday Evening Post illustrations of his father, Norman Rock-well. Arlington, Vermont, was a lot like the Berkshire communities near where Norman Rockwell later settled, hamlets like Lenox and Lee, only much smaller. READ MORE

TRAVEL

Weekend Wonderland North Carolina’s Outer Banks
by Jan Aaron
Thinking of getting away with the kids for the Spring Break? Think about the Outer Banks, the strand of barrier islands off the North Carolina Coast as your vast playground. Do you fancy a trip without the kids? There’s that here, too. READ MORE