SPECIAL EDUCATION

Blackman Lecture at Teachers College
by Adam B. Kushner
If it was just another dreary and wet pre-spring day outdoors, the scene inside Grace Dodge Hall at Columbia University’s Teacher’s College was something else entirely. READ MORE

Hooray for the ERBs
by Sloan Roberts
At two -years old, I noted my daughter’s somewhat scattered language that was not in keeping with her other skills. READ MORE

An 11 Year-Old Boy Wonder Wins State Science Fair
Andrew Hsu, age 11, became the youngest winner ever of the grand prize in the 46th annual Washington State Science and Engineering Fair. READ MORE

Resources, Referrals and Help
Parents of learning disabled children often need information on resources. READ MORE

TEACHERS OF THE MONTH

Outstanding Teachers of the Month - May 2003
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FEATURED STORIES

Mothers Day
A Tribute To Grandmothers on Mother's Day READ MORE

Multi-Generational Story-Telling Program Celebrating Mother
On Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11, the Eldridge Street Project will host a multi-generational storytelling program celebrating the extraordinary efforts and sacrifices made by immigrant women on behalf of their families— all over America and specifically on the Lower East Side. READ MORE

Grandparents Council at NYU Child Study Center
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SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS

European Teachers Take On Challenge of NY Schools
by Sybil Maimin
“Everything after this will be a walk in the park,” exclaimed Karin Hammer, a bright-eyed woman from Vienna, Austria who teaches at Alfred E. Smith Vocational High School in the South Bronx as part of an educational exchange program sponsored by the Austrian-American Educational Cooperation Association (AAECA). READ MORE

The Need For Financial Literacy
by William C. Thompson, Jr.
As Comptroller, my primary responsibility is overseeing how the City manages its finances. READ MORE

Take Your Daughter To Work: A Priceless Experience
by Pola Rosen, Ed.D.
Recently, the waiting room in Dr. Richard J. Mackool’s office was crowded with patients requiring procedures for eye ailments ranging from cataract removal and lens implants to lasik and treatment for conjunctivitis. READ MORE

Secrets at Tweed
by Jill Levy
A year ago I testified before the New York State Senate Majority Task Force on New York City School Governance. READ MORE

Mothers Are Special People
by Matilda Raffa Cuomo
From the beginning a mother knows that satisfying her child needs to be her number one priority, that nurturing, caring and parenting are essential for the child’s development. READ MORE

Helen Lieberman: Education Reformer in South Africa
by Sybil Maimin
With the end of apartheid in South Africa, a new war—one against AIDS, HIV, poverty, and an unprepared society—is being waged, explains Helen Lieberman, legendary, long-time activist in the country’s black townships. READ MORE

President’s Advisory Commission Reports
on Education for Hispanic Americans
The President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans released its final report recently. READ MORE

North Carolina Outward Bound
Helps Parents & Teens Bridge Generation Gap
Imagine addressing issues such as communication, personal responsibility and conflict resolution while backpacking and rock climbing in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. READ MORE

Curriculum on Death Penalty
An award winning Internet-based curriculum on capital punishment is offering educators the opportunity to take this timely topic from the headlines of the evening news into their classrooms. READ MORE

Mayor Bloomberg Celebrates
Take Our Children To Work Day
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today hosted children at City Hall for the second consecutive year to celebrate Take Our Children to Work Day in the spirit of the Ms. Foundation for Women. READ MORE

Manhattan Borough President’s Cup Chess
Draws 250 Students
Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields and Chess-in-the-Schools hosted a chess tournament recently at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine for nearly 250 Manhattan borough elementary and middle school students. READ MORE

Take Your Child to Work at NY-Presbyterian Hospital
“Take Your Child to Work Day” at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital showed children of healthcare professionals the day-to-day functions performed by their parents at the hospital. READ MORE

City Hall Academy Opens in Tweed Courthouse
City Hall Academy, a first-rate educational center at Department of Education headquarters in the Tweed Courthouse, is open. READ MORE

COLLEGES

Presidents Series:
President David Rhodes:
School of Visual Arts
by Jacob M. Appel
A visit to the office of David Rhodes is a crash-course reminder that our lives have become increasingly oriented to the visual... READ MORE

Deans Series:
Dean Jon Snyder, Bank Street College
by Joan Baum, Ph.D.
Talk about speed and interdisciplinary reach! It’s been only a little over a year since Education Update caught up with the then relatively new dean at the Graduate School of the Bank Street College of Education, Jon Snyder, but in this short period of time, the energetic administrator has moved on three new initiatives... READ MORE

Thoughts on Middle Level Education
by Jerrold Ross, Ph.D.
It is not often that faculty authorize a Dean to speak for them, but I am representing the adolescent education faculty and Department chairs of St. John’s University’s School of Education to address one of the most critical issues in American education today—what to do about our middle schools... READ MORE

New School Announces $7 Million Gift
from Sheila C. Johnson
New School University President Bob Kerrey and Parsons School of Design Dean, H. Randolph Swearer, recently announced the largest single gift in Parsons’ 107-year history... READ MORE

New Grants
This column is intended to help schools in a time of shrinking budgets... READ MORE

Marymount Manhattan College: Literary World pays Tribute to Evan Hunter, aka Ed McBain
The Columbus Club was the setting for the March 12th Eighth Anniversary celebration dinner of Marymount Manhattan College’s renowned Writing Center... READ MORE

Barnard Introduces Innovative Environmental Science Curriculum to Eight Colleges
Barnard introduced its innovative, multimedia environmental science curriculum Brownfield Action to eight colleges on April 11-13 in a seminar aimed at helping other schools adopt the program.
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Distinguished New Yorkers Honored At Marymount Manhattan College
Marymount Manhattan College (MMC) will present the 2003 President’s Medal to Dr. Stephen B. Colvin, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at New York University Medical Center and Kate McEnroe, President of AMC Networks. READ MORE

The Protein’s in the Mail
A busy urban post office daily sorts thousands of letters and parcels, guiding each to a particular mailbox somewhere in the city.
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PARENT GUIDE

Are Parents Informed About School Choice?
by Tom Kertes
The City Council Education Committee, chaired by Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz, recently held a well-attended emergency public meeting on the subject of school choice. READ MORE

Post-Separation Divorce:
Facilitating Child Development
by Gary Direnfeld, MSW
Meaningful parental involvement provides for a lifelong relationship with children. READ MORE

Keeping Calm In Troubling Times
by Dr. Carole G. Hankin with Randi T. Sachs
These are troubling times for all of us. READ MORE

Celebrate Everett Children’s Adventure Garden’s
5th Birthday
The Everett Children’s Adventure Garden celebrates five years of educating children, their families, and their teachers with a wide range of fun and engaging programs and exhibits. READ MORE

McLaughlin and Cuomo Protest Cuts
for Pre-K Education
A recent press conference with Assemblyman McLaughlin and Matilda Cuomo denounced the Governor’s budget cuts to pre-K and early childhood education. READ MORE

MEDICAL UPDATE

The Barnard Summit: Women and Health
by Kim Brown
Barnard College hosted a daylong forum on women’s health trends worldwide, The Barnard Summit: Women and Health. READ MORE

NY Presbyterian Hospital Launches Science Education for Teens
NewYork Presbyterian Hospital has joined forces with philanthropist Eugene M. Lang to create a pilot program designed to both foster academic success for low-income neighborhood youth and to facilitate their entry into health careers. READ MORE

LANGUAGES

Problems with Standardized Testing
by Diane K. Trumbull
I have been haunted by some clearly wrong assumptions about educating children in some local newspapers; but I decided to write this only after I read a journalist quote that “standards-based education reform assumes that every child should possess a basic set of knowledge and that there is an objective standard for judging whether a child has acquired that knowledge.” READ MORE

MUSEUMS

Lessons from the Holocaust Launch Museum’s
10th Anniversary
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum begins its 10th anniversary with a special program recognizing people representative of those whose lives have been deeply affected by the Museum, and who use those lessons in their work as they guide others. READ MORE

The Studio Museum of Harlem
Public programs are presented in conjunction with exhibitions on view and in tandem with various cultural conversations that address concerns and ideas relevant to art and artists of African descent. READ MORE

BOOKS

Jonathan Kozol’s Ordinary Resurrections:
Children In The Years Of Hope
by Merri Rosenberg
Much has been made in recent months of the problem of fiscal inequality in school spending. No matter who raises the issue—parents, educators, school reformers, or politicians—the concept that spending $5,200 on a child in the South Bronx, while a Great Neck child receives up to $18,000 on his education, makes any sense is difficult to reconcile. READ MORE

The Fight for City and Suburban Homes:
A Model For Successful Community Action
by Anne Ashby Gilbert
(Coalition to Save City & Suburban Housing, $10)
As I write this column, I realize that it has been five years since I began writing this column. So for this issue in the way of celebration, I will feature some of my book reviews from this period of time.
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Add Wonder And Inspiration To The
Life Of A Young Reader With Biographies
by Selene S. Vasquez
PICTURE BOOK BIOGRAPHIES: AGES 6 THRU 10
“Just sign me up, Coach...And as sure as ‘Strike Out’ is my middle name, I guarantee you’ll sell lots of tickets. Folks are curious to see a girl play.” A vivid biographical tribute to seventeen-year-old Alta Weiss, first female pitcher for a semipro all-male team. READ MORE

BUSINESS OF EDUCATION

Vendors Address Widening Achievement Gap
by Matt Stein
Despite the billions of federal dollars that have been poured into education in the U.S. since the enactment of the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA), there is a still widening gap between the achievement levels of students, which generally occurs along the lines of socioeconomic status. READ MORE

MUSIC, ART & DANCE

Teaching Choral Music
by Joan Baum, Ph.D
The heavens may be “telling the glory of God,” as Haydn declares in “The Creation,” but an inspired delivery of that message depends upon voices on earth. READ MORE

The Young People’s Chorus Of NY
by Stu Dunn
Education has many facets. One of the most interesting and satisfying is the Young People’s Chorus of New York (YPC). READ MORE

Arts in Education
by Scott Noppe-Brandon
As Executive Director of Lincoln Center Institute, an arts and education organization of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, I appreciate this opportunity to invite, challenge and promote dialogue among the many readers, print and web-based, around issues pertinent to everyone involved in education—teachers, school leaders, artists, arts organizations, parents, community members and policy makers of all ilks. READ MORE

MOVIES AND THEATER

Kid-Friendly Broadway Show A Year With Frog & Toad
by Jan Aaron
New at the Cort Theater, A Year With Frog and Toad is a charming musical based on the books by the late Arnold Lobel. READ MORE

Terrific Latino Teens: Raising Victor Vargas
by Jan Aaron
Worth seeking out: Here’s a modest feature full of heartfelt emotion and human foibles. Raising Victor Vargas marks an impressive writer-director debut for Peter Sollett. READ MORE

METROBEAT

Need Help From City Government? Call 311
by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
Getting help from the City shouldn’t be a chore. It should be as easy as picking up the phone and dialing one number to get in touch with any service you need. READ MORE

Public Education is not a Private Corporation
Bloomberg and Klein Must Accept Debate and
Dialogue and Adhere to State Law
by Assemblyman Steven Sanders
In late April, I chaired an important oversight hearing of the Assembly Education Committee to review how Chancellor Klein and City Hall are doing now that the first school year under the new governance system is drawing to a close. READ MORE

New Beginnings for Disruptive Students
by Tom Kertes
Although school crime has decreased eight percent in 2002, important issues of school safety remain. READ MORE

May in History
Compiled by Chris Rowan READ MORE

Literary Riddles
by Chris Rowan READ MORE

CAREERS

Tad Crawford: Publisher & Founder of Allworth Press
by Michelle Accorso
Have you ever wanted to make your own movie, publish an article, or exhibit your art, but not know how to start? READ MORE

CAMPS & SPORTS

Helping Children Become Better Citizens Through Summer Camps
by Jessie Marshall
“The original summer camp is the most important step in education, in the broadest sense, that America is giving the world,” said Harvard University President Charles W. Eliot, over seventy years ago.
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TECHNOLOGY

Product Review:
Tuff Cases Portable Workstation
by Mitchell Levine
Long-time readers of Education Update’s Technology and Education section already know that mobile computing has been a major concern for New York City schools for some time. READ MORE

Pittsburgh Steeler Brings
Technology to Brooklyn School
by Sybil Maimin
Brady Keys, Jr., former All-Pro Defensive Halfback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, is determined to replace the ubiquitous student backpack as main means of communication between parent and teacher.
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Product Review:
VideoEye!
by Pola Rosen, Ed.D.
The VideoEye! was designed especially to help people with low vision retain their independence. READ MORE

EDITORIALS

The Next Battle in the War Over School Reform
by Stuart Dunn
The sniping has begun. Both sides are rolling out their think tanks and their big guns. Coalitions are forming. The next war in the Middle East? READ MORE