COVER STORIES

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Kerry Kennedy: Honoring Her Father's Tradition
By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
It’s appropriate that many who were politically active in the sixties associate “speak truth to power” with demonstrations to end the Vietnam War, but the now famous phrase (which actually surfaced in 1955 as part of a strategy statement by the American Friends Service Committee) also resonates as a rallying cry for social justice and civil and human rights in this country and abroad, no more so than as articulated by Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968), whose impassioned dedication to redress the lot of the poor and the abused in this country and abroad was recently honored in Washington at a special memorial on the occasion of his 8oth birthday. READ ARTICLE

SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS

On-Line Learning: Vantage Learning Offers Student Writing Feedback at the Stroke of a Keyboard
By Emily Sherwood, Ph.D.
Imagine a tenth grade, Spanish-speaking student who is reading at a sixth grade level. READ ARTICLE

Veteran Coach Arrives at Staten Island Academy
to Guide Girls Basketball Program
By Richard Kagan
It’s been a long time since the varsity girls’ basketball program at Staten Island Academy (SIA) reigned supreme in New York. The Lady Tigers captured the New York State Association of Independent Schools crown during the 1992-1993 season.  There have been some lean years since then. READ ARTICLE

The Dean's Column:
Surprising Rope Around the Earth
by Alfred Posamentier, Ph.D.
At this time of the year a teacher needs to seek ideas that will put some life into the instructional program. READ ARTICLE

Scholastic Early Childhood Products
Selected by U.S. Department of Ed
Early childhood products and services from Scholastic Education, a leading provider of research-based print and technology solutions proven to raise reading achievement for students in grades pre-K and above, have been selected by three of the five grant recipients of the U.S. Department of Education 2005 Early Childhood Educator Professional Development (ECEPD) Program. READ ARTICLE

AIFL Fosters International Unity Among Youth
By Liza Young
With information about nations around the world just a mouse click away, misconceptions still abound with respect to the nature of different cultures and nations. READ ARTICLE

The Law & Education:
Will Student Uniforms Become the Norm?
By Martha McCarthy, Ph.D.
In general, school authorities can ban student attire that disrupts the educational process, is lewd or vulgar, promotes unlawful activity, or conflicts with the school’s objectives. READ ARTICLE

92 Street Y Nursery: A Comprehensive
Learning Program For Youngsters
By Liza Young
It’s not surprising that so many parents of pre-school age children vie competitively in pursuit of sending their kids to the 92nd Street Y nursery school. READ ARTICLE

Put Calculus in its Right Place
By Alfred Posamentier, Ph.D.
Who would think that the very course designed to add prestige to a high school’s curriculum might be one of the causes for a school’s poor performance on mathematics tests—of late a great concern for local school districts ever since the federal “No Child Left Behind” law made testing the criterion for federal financial support. READ ARTICLE

NYC Virtual Enterprise Holds
Local Business Plan Competitions
Winners Advance To Citywide Competition
By Iris Blanc
Now approaching its tenth anniversary in New York City public schools, the Virtual Enterprises (VE) program represents a well-established approach to teaching high school students about business through task-oriented and hands-on applications. READ ARTICLE

COLLEGES & GRAD SCHOOLS

College Presidents Series:
Dr. Stephen J. Sweeny, College of New Rochelle
Devoted to Soli Deo Gloria (glory to God alone) and Liberal Education
By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
“You work with your door open” and feel limitations, only as these are “offered from above,” says Dr. Stephen J. Sweeny, trying to explain some part of the passion and the philosophy that have motivated him for over 30 years as an administrator at the College of New Rochelle (CNR) and, for the last 9 years, as its president, invited to serve by the board of trustees, who dispensed with the usual search, and then repeatedly asked to continue. READ ARTICLE

College Presidents Series:
President Lynda Katz, Landmark College
By Emily Sherwood, Ph.D.
Nestled in the bucolic Vermont town of Putney, home to artists and artisans, where the 250 year old Putney Inn recalls a more gentile way of life unspoiled by fast food chains, Landmark College sits on a tract of land once home to Windham College, which closed its doors in 1978. READ ARTICLE

CCNY President Gregory H. Williams
Announces $26 Million Gift From
Intel Co-Founder Andrew S. Grove, ’60
The City College of New York (CCNY) announced recently that Andrew S. Grove, a member of the Class of 1960 and former chairman and a co-founder of Intel Corp., the world’s leading producer of microchips, will donate $26 million to his alma mater, and that CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein will recommend to the CUNY Board of Trustees that CCNY’s School of Engineering be named as The Grove School of Engineering. READ ARTICLE

Empire State SUNY:
Getting Your College Degree from Home
By Liza Young
Many of George Orwell’s 1948 predictions in 1984 have since become realities. READ ARTICLE

Teachers College CEO&I Announces Winners Of First Annual Lifelong Learning Award
Four Institutions, Educators Receive Honor
The Center for Education Outreach & Innovation (CEO&I) of Teachers College, Columbia University, recently  announced the four winners of its first annual Lifelong Learning Award: the Chautauqua Institution (and its president Thomas Becker), Brazilian educator Paulo Freire (posthumously), educator Maxine Greene and PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). READ ARTICLE

Distinguished Alumni:
Wen Chen: From Central China
to The College of New Rochelle
By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
There is nothing inconsistent in Wen Chen’s having double majored in chemistry and biology at the College of New Rochelle (CNR), an undergraduate institution known for its concentration on the liberal arts. READ ARTICLE

CUNY Chancellor Announces
New Compact for Public Higher Education
By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
Parents, take note: Introduced by the president of the Center for Educational Innovation-Public Education Association (CEI-PEA) Semour Fliegel, who hailed him as the first CUNY graduate to be the leader of a great public university, and someone Fliegel’s own father would have called a “prince of a man,” Matthew Goldstein, the chancellor of The City University of New York, gave an impassioned address on the need to rethink the funding of public higher education, citing along the way The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman, new data on costs and student performance, and his mother. READ ARTICLE

60 Minutes Correspondent Mike Wallace Advises CUNY Students on Journalism Careers
By Emily Sherwood, Ph.D.
Widely hailed as the preeminent television interviewer in the business, a man who has asked exacting, soul-baring questions to the world’s most famous and infamous newsmakers for nearly four decades, CBS’ 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace shared his views on the “noble profession of journalism” to a packed auditorium of CUNY undergraduate students recently. READ ARTICLE

Bank Street Scholarships In Special Ed For Bilingual & Dual Language Teachers
Bank Street College is offering ten scholarships funded by the U.S. Department of Education to qualified bilingual general education teachers committed to serving children in general, inclusion, and special education classrooms. READ ARTICLE

Call For Entries: Thirteen/WNET
& JPMorgan Chase Awards Open
To Tri-State Students
Tri-state area teachers have until January 31 to enter pioneering student video, Web or multimedia projects in the JPMorgan Chase “Multimedia in the Classroom” Awards, presented by Thirteen/WNET and WLIW New York as part of their first Celebration of Teaching and Learning professional development conference, March 24 and 25 in NYC. READ ARTICLE

GUEST EDITORIAL

It’s Time To End The Old Distinction Between Vocational And Academic Education
By Jerry F. Cammarata, Ph.D.
& Jerrold Ross, Ph.D.
Once upon a time, we could make a distinction between “educating for making a living” and “education for life.” READ ARTICLE

Letters to the Editors
READ ARTICLE

METROBEAT

Special Attention to Special Education
By Jill Levy, President, CSA
Once again special education is in the news. After spending approximately $350,000 on a study researched and written by Thomas Hehir of Harvard University, is it still plausible that all this so-called educational team at Tweed could justifiably say is that, two years into their reorganization of special education services, they are “headed in the right direction”? READ ARTICLE

Technology in Elementary School Education
By Andrew Gardner
With increased access to digital media tools in schools and no clear expectations about how to use them, teachers have an opportunity to be creative. READ ARTICLE

CHILDRENS CORNER

From the Superintendent’s Seat:
For My Father
By Dr. Carole G. Hankin
with Randi T. Sachs
In this column we share information and advice on parenting, and how to be the best advocates for our children. This week, my family and I said goodbye to our very strongest advocate, my father. Dad passed away just a day before he was to turn 93. He had a very good life. READ ARTICLE

FEATURES

Remembering Preston Robert Tisch
by Pola Rosen, Ed.D.
I will always remember Bob Tisch as he sat at lunch with me at the Regency, recovering from neurosurgery and dynamic as ever. “Hi Tiki,” he called to the football great from across the room in the midst of answering my questions about his early days in Lakewood, light years away from the sophisticated hotel he now owned. READ ARTICLE

MUSIC, ART & DANCE

Taking Judy Carmichael In Stride
By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
Count Basie is said to have called her “Stride” because of her command of this incredibly difficult technique of fast left-hand syncopated jumps that beat out rhythms against right-hand melodies. READ ARTICLE

The True Meaning of Leadership
By Scott Noppe-Brandon
Lately, I’ve begun to notice some strange developments. READ ARTICLE

Film Review:
Growing Up: Harry Potter’s Goblet Of Fire;
Exciting Austen: Pride & Prejudice
by Jan Aaron
t’s no more kids’ play at Hogwarts: Harry Potter and  the Goblet of Fire, the fourth Potter movie based on a J.K. Rowling’s novel is dark and daring with a PG-13 rating. READ ARTICLE

Theater Review:
Yiddish Theater At Its Best:
Folksbiene’s On Second Avenue
By Jan Aaron
Crave a sip of chicken soup for the soul? Dine out on the nostalgia-flavored review, On the Second Avenue. READ ARTICLE

BOOK REVIEWS

Logos Bookstore’s Recommendations
By H. Harris Healy, III, President, Logos Bookstore
It’s that time of year again, the holidays of gift giving are upon us. READ ARTICLE

Review of The Charter School Dust-Up
Reviewed By Merri Rosenberg
There is more than a touch of Schadenfreude in this seemingly objective, scholarly book analyzing the relative effectiveness of charter schools compared to regular public schools. READ ARTICLE

Review of Sister Chicas
By Merri Rosenberg
Think “Ya Ya Sisters” crossed with “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent”, and you’ll have some idea of just what a treat this delightful novel is. READ ARTICLE