COVER STORY

Back-to-School Checklist for Parents
by Dr. Rod Paige
As you embark upon your annual back-to-school stories, I wanted to share some thoughts with you and some helpful tips that might be of interest to your readers-especially parents. MORE

How to Send Your Daughter Back to School with Confidence, Passion & Goals
By David F. Salter
With back to school right around the corner, parents need to make sure they provide the essential tools for their daughters to survive and thrive. There are many high-risk obstacles that await them. MORE

Increasing Student and School Achievment through Parent Involvement
by Linda Hodges
When it comes to parent involvement and its powerful influence, the research is broad and clear-over 30 years of research has proven beyond dispute the positive connection between parent involvement and student success. When parents are involved, children have higher grades and test scores, better attendance, increased motivation, better self-esteem, higher graduation rates, and a greater likelihood of pursuing a postsecondary education. MORE

EDITORIALS & LETTERS

Guest Editorial
Open Letter to Friends of New York City Public Schools
by Deputy Chancellor Carmen Fariña
What an exciting time to be part of New York City public education, a time where everything and anything is possible. Our slogan-Children First-is also our mission and vision. MORE

Letters to the Editor MORE

SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS

The Plight of Homeless Children:
Losing Education Hopes & Dreams: Part I of a Series

15,380 Homeless Children in NYC Get Lost in the Shuffle
By Russell Crane
Families reach the point of homelessness because they have exhausted their housing and financial resources and many may not have a network of support, either due to domestic violence or other breakdowns in relationships. MORE

Corporate Contributions to Education - Part I
This Is The First In A Series On Corporate Contributions To Education, Interviewing Leaders Who Have Changed The Face
Of Education In Our Nation

Bill and Melinda Gates: The Gates Foundation
By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
Say "Bill Gates" these days and it's likely that "education benefactor" comes to mind as readily as "Microsoft mogul." Gates and his wife Melinda French Gates have done more than put their money into a foundation to improve learning and health care, however, two issues that are intimately related. MORE

Interview with Jennifer Greenblatt
Department of Ed Creates New Division: Parent Support Office
By Sybil Maimin
"I wanted this job even before they created it," explains Jennifer Greenblatt, the liaison for Manhattan District 2 in the year-old Parent Support Office in the Department of Education. As a parent leader at the elementary, middle, and high school levels (executive board member, PTA president), "I recognized a need for the office and I guess Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein did too." MORE

"All Children Can Achieve at High Levels"
Allan Alson Tells Superintendents at TC
By Dorothy Davis
"The achievement gap will be closed when we can no longer predict achievement level by race," said Allan Alson, Superintendent of the Evanston Township High School in Illinois, and President of the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN). MORE

Teens Discover Japan in New York
By Jan Aaron
Some teens spend their summer days idling at the beach reading books. But not all. Twenty local teens from the city's public schools wrote and produced their own book, "A Teen's Guide to Discovering Japan in New York." MORE

Sea Turtles: Ambassadors of the Ocean to Your Classroom
By Robert Ovetz, Ph.D.
Sea turtles are, as world renowed" oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle likes to say, "ambassadors of the oceans". MORE

77 Survivors Are NYC's Newest Principals
By Dorothy Davis
In the summer of '03 the first class in New York City Leadership Academy's Aspiring Principals Program endured some tough training. It was so tough, said Verone Kennedy at their recent graduation ceremony at Baruch College, that "when the Blackout occurred we thought it was another simulation." MORE

Our Forgotten Priorities
By Joanne Kontopirakis
Distinguished columnist Bob Herbert recently explored the changing and diminishing landscape of social services available to children living in poverty. MORE

Research that Connects to Community Life Pays Off
By Dr. Charlotte K. Frank & Phyllis Frankfort
Over 1400 New York City high school students recently created innovative proposals ranging from recommending health report cards to prevent obesity among students in New York City schools, to a policy solution to help solve the city's housing crisis, to creating a youth activism campaign to stop companies from sending jobs overseas. MORE

When Educating Homeless Children, Community is Key
By Commissioner Linda Gibbs
Hubert Humphrey once said that the impersonal hand of government could never replace the helping hand of a neighbor. MORE

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3...
By Alfred S. Posamentier, Ph.D.
For many decades the United States has been a world model for testing students to assess their progress in what is hoped to be an objective process. Actually, one of the first American tests, the New York State Regents examinations, when they were first introduced about 140 years ago, were originally intended as a device to rate teachers. MORE

COLLEGES & GRAD SCHOOLS

Top MBAs & Computer Science Majors Win at IBM
By Dorothy Davis
To feel buoyantly optimistic about the future of our country, about Yankee ingenuity and creative U. S. industry, and the outstanding students our schools are producing-uplifting things like that-you can't do better these days than to take a peek at IBM! Yes, that stodgy old company of our youth (well, mine anyway) has been busy reinventing itself. MORE

From Investment Banking to the Classroom:
Career Changers Jump into Teaching
By Josh Rogers
George Hoisl was an investment officer at Wachovia Bank when his boss asked for volunteers for a junior achievement program the company was sponsoring. MORE

Barnard Student Makes Learning The Center Of Her Vacation
By Sarah N. Lynch
For most college students, vacation consists of sunbathing and sipping margaritas, but for Barnard College student Deborah "Jane" Cooper, her summer vacation had a different purpose this year. MORE

CHILDREN'S CORNER

From the Superintendent's Seat
Give Your Child an A for Attitude
by Dr. Carole G. Hankin with Randi T. Sachs
We all remember the classmates from our childhood who seemed to be able to do it all. Were they the best looking...the most athletic...the smartest? MORE

Mission Possible: Helping Children Around the World
by Patrick Schoof
Youth Advocate Program (YAP) International provides voice and visibility to the most vulnerable children worldwide, and has for the past decade. Its formal mission is to "promote and protect the rights and well-being of the world's youth, giving particular attention to children victimized by conflict, exploitation, and state and personal violence". MORE

MUSEUMS AS EDUCATORS

The American Museum of Natural History Opens Its Doors to Teachers
by Sybil Maimin
The Structures and Cultures Moveable Museum, a Winnebago RV containing select museum objects that goes out to New York City schools, greeted educators in the driveway of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), the first hint of the instructional treasure trove that lay inside the building for the 55 participants who attended the 4th annual Educator's Summer Institute on World Cultures. MORE

SPECIAL EDUCATION

Computer Adaptive Technology for the Visually Impaired
by Burke Mortimer
Since 1895 The New York Public Library (NYPL) has worked diligently to meet the reading needs of people with disabilities. Currently, the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library, a branch of NYPL, is responsible for meeting their needs in New York City and Long Island. MORE

MOVIE & THEATER REVIEWS

MOVIE REVIEW:
New Flair for Vanity Fair
by Jan Aaron
Director Mira Nair ("Monsoon Wedding") breathes new life into William Makepeace Thackeray's "Vanity Fair", starring the irresistible Reese Witherspoon as the clever, social climbing Becky Sharp. Delhi born Nair brings her Indian sensibilities to Calcutta born Thackeray's classic work. MORE

THEATER REVIEW:
Bollywood on Broadway: Bombay Dreams
By Jan Aaron
Glitzy costumes and sets and a beguiling score dress up this musical's familiar story. Like its inspiration the Bollywood film musical, Bombay Dreams relates an oft-told tale. MORE

TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

Product Review:
The Keynamics Laptop Stand
By Mitchell Levine
Over the last couple of years, thousands of students and teachers have received portable computers as part of an initiative carried through by the Department of Education and the Laptop Foundation of America. MORE

Product Review:
Information Appliance Associates' PocketMac Pro Utility
By Mitchell Levine
Like most PDA users, I love the technology, but can't stand the inconvenience of a PocketPC-style PDA's incompatibility with the Macintosh network that powers Education Update. True, it's much more practicable than carrying a Rolodex, laptop, portable library, scientific calculator, and, if you're like me, Game Boy. MORE

Product Review:
Ambrosia Software's Snapz Pro X
By Mitchell Levine
As the first generation of students to be raised with digital technology has arisen, it's brought another new generation right along with it: the first generation of teachers needing to teach digital technology to their classes. MORE

METROBEAT

Fighting to Keep New Yorkers Healthy
by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
New York City has so much to offer that makes life here a pleasure. Good health is fundamental to being able to enjoy them all. And the good news is that, as a city, New Yorkers are healthier than ever. MORE

Education & Services for Homeless Children
by Matilda Raffa Cuomo
There are nine HELP USA facilities in New York State for homeless families and children. HELP USA's transitional housing model offers a comprehensive continuum of support services designed to help families address barriers to self-sufficiency and develop the skills they need to move into permanent housing. MORE

Bush Education Policy Leaves Common Sense Behind
by Assemblyman Steven Sanders
When parents are informed that their child attends a "failing school," many rightfully react with bewilderment and urgency and if possible will seek to find a school that is "succeeding." MORE

BOOKS

Teachers' Wage Gap Growing:
A Review of How Does Teacher Pay Compare?
By Dorothy Davis
The wage gap between teachers and workers in fields requiring similar skills is widening. So concludes The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) in its new book, How Does Teacher Pay Compare? Methodological Challenges and Answers by Sylvia A. Allegretto, Sean P. Corcoran and Lawrence Mishel. MORE

Logos Bookstore’s Recommendations
by H. Harris Healy, III, President,
Logos Bookstore
August 2004 marked the sixth year of Kill Your Television Reading Group (KYTV). MORE

"Fall" into a Colorful Array of Books this Autumn
By Selene Vasquez
"My creature teacher's strict and stern-she growls so I will wait my turn. If we want to howl and shriek we must put up our paws to speak." Jokingly creepy beasts with green skin, single eyeballs and bizarre body shapes inhabit this one of a kind ghoul school. MORE

MUSIC, ART & DANCE

Special to Education Update from Vienna
Richard Wagner's Tristan & Isolde at the Vienna Staatsoper
by Irving Spitz
Acoustically Magnificent but Visually Disappointing
The Vienna Staatsoper premiered a new production of Wagner's great epic Tristan and Isolde last season especially for the American Soprano Deborah Voigt. MORE

FEATURES

Grants for Schools and Individuals MORE

CAREERS

Explore A New Career
So You Want To Be A Film Major?
by Sarah N. Lynch
Growing up with a father who launched his own local television station in Kentucky, it comes as no surprise that Brittany Stevenson was destined to major in film and television production. MORE