COVER STORIES

Special Education Perspectives 2007
NYC Public Charter School Breaks Barriers
By Emily Sherwood, Ph.D.
Evan is a non-verbal eight-year-old boy who is diagnosed with severe autism. READ MORE

Special Education Perspectives 2007
McCarton School Educates Children with Autism
By Emily Sherwood, Ph.D.
The statistics are daunting. More than 1.5 million people in the United States are affected by autism, the mysterious brain disorder leading to impaired social skills, communication, and impulse control. READ MORE

SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS

The Young Women’s Leadership School in East Harlem Celebrates 10th Anniversary Overcoming all Odds, Girls Persevere and Succeed
By Emily Sherwood, Ph.D.
Ten bubbly teenage girls, all wearing neatly starched blue and white uniforms, spent a recent August afternoon in their college counselor’s office reminiscing about their high school experiences. READ MORE

The Alphabet’s Power to Ward Off Evil
by Sandra Priest Rose
A 10th Century BCE stone was found in Israel that has the earliest known specimen of the Hebrew alphabet, written out in sequence, emerging from it Phoenician roots developed a few centuries earlier. READ MORE

Statistics on Students’ Achievements in Hunter Program
These statistics for the Regents exams that students took at the end of the course were provided by the professors at Hunter College. READ MORE

Research & Program Update from Columbia University: CABAS® Schools
By R. Douglas Greer, Ph.D., SBA, SRS
The CABAS® systems approach to schooling (established 1981) is a learner-driven and system-wide application of the sciences of behavior, pedagogy, and schooling to all of the roles of schooling (students, parents, teachers, supervisors, administrators, and boards of education) for teaching all aspects of the curriculum. READ MORE

Math and Science Partnership Offers New Hope For Inner City Students at Hunter College
By Emily Sherwood, Ph.D.
August 16, 2006: A group of high school students, all wearing crisp white T-shirts emblazoned with the logo, “The Mathematics and Science Partnership,” hover around a desk at Hunter College, where a cadre of professors is busily correcting their tests. READ MORE

Back-To-School with the PTA
By Liza Young
On the brink of the new school year the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) held a “Back-To-School” media briefing encompassing the academic and emotional growth of children, internet safety, nutrition goals, and careers in the 21st century, with national president, Anna Marie Weselak, presiding as moderator. READ MORE

Are School Vouchers Illegal or Required?
By Martha McCarthy, Ph.D.
New Jersey parents recently filed a class action suit asserting that students attending 96 “failing” public schools, based on poor test scores over time, are entitled to state vouchers that can be redeemed in public or private schools. READ MORE

EDITORIAL & LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Guest Editorial
Investing in Students
by CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein
As students head back to classrooms this fall, New Yorkers might take the opportunity to study a subject worthy of their own reflection: how can we ensure that every student in the city can achieve his or her highest potential? READ MORE

Guest Editorial
Parents: Wake Up and Smell the Beer and Pot!
By Joseph A. Califano, Jr.
For 11 years, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University has been surveying attitudes of teens and those, like parents, who influence them. READ MORE

Letters to the Editor
READ MORE

COLLEGES AND GRAD SCHOOLS

Teachers from Around the World Study American History in Cambridge, England
by Dr. Pola Rosen
Cambridge, England-Gathered from all corners of the globe, 40 high school teachers recently assembled in historic Cambridge University to explore, delve, learn, expand and research ways to make history come alive for their students. READ MORE

College Presidents’ Series
Dr. Mildred Garcia: President, Berkeley College
By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
The answer is “Las Ganas”—the question can be about anything related to success in education, whether the question is directed at administrators, students or employers. READ MORE

The Dean’s Column
Don’t be Fooled by Misleading Discounts
By Alfred Posamentier, Ph.D.
Percentage problems have long been the nemesis of most students. READ MORE

Humorist Lewis Burke Frumkes Thinks Big: Marymount Writing Center Expands NYC’s Literary Horizons
By Emily Sherwood, Ph.D.
Lewis Burke Frumkes has never done anything half-way. READ MORE

Landmark College:
A Different Path to the Top
By Maclean Gander
At Landmark College, there is a story we often hear. READ MORE

From Xerox Comes A Document Technology Lesson Plan
By Maggie Ochs
An icon of many schools and universities and often mistaken for a basic copier, multifunction products (MFPs) combine copying, printing, scanning and faxing into one easy-to-use system. READ MORE

SPECIAL EDUCATION

FROM THE NYU CHILD STUDY CENTER: ASK THE EXPERT
What is Asperger Syndrome?
By Glenn S. Hirsch, MD
Asperger Syndrome shares the distinction of being only one of two conditions in the field of psychiatry that is named after the author who first reported on it, the second is Tourette Disorder. READ MORE

Organizational Skills Training at the NYU Child Study Center
by Robyn Stotter, Howard Abikoff, Ph.D. & Richard Gallagher, Ph.D.
Children who develop a solid foundation of organizational, time management and planning (OTMP) skills are likely to be better prepared to face academic and social challenges. READ MORE

Readings In Special Education
By R. Douglas Greer, Ph.D., SBA, SRS
READ MORE

MUSIC, ART & DANCE

Rocket Science
By Scott Noppe Brandon
I must have heard this comment a thousand times: “Why can’t they give the kids a decent education? After all, it’s not rocket science.” READ MORE

Mozart on DVD
Important additions to any DVD library
By Irving Spitz
The music loving public is being given a hefty dose, or possibly even an over-dose of live Mozart performances, in this, the 250 anniversary of his birth. READ MORE

Massey Brothers Make Taxis Bloom in Major Public Art Project
by Sybil Maimin
Taxis in bloom are coming!  New York City will be treated to an extraordinary moving garden for 16 weeks from September 1 to December 31, 2007 as most of the City’s 12,760 yellow cabs travel about with bold, colorful, weatherproof flower decals completely covering their hoods, roofs, and trunks. READ MORE

CHILDREN'S CORNER

FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT’S SEAT:
Make High School Years Count in More Ways than One
By Dr. Carole G. Hankin with Randi T. Sachs
In our last column we spoke about how competition affects our children and how we can help them handle the situations they face in school. READ MORE

Dr. Toy’s Pointers on Play for Children with Special Needs
By Stevanne Auerbach, Ph.D./Dr. Toy
Children with special needs may run the gamut from a severely disabled youngster to a child who is intellectually gifted. READ MORE

CAREERS

Actor Ralph Fiennes
by Gillian Granoff
Critics consider Ralph Fiennes to be one of the top actors in the world. READ MORE

Firefighters in NYC
By Liza Young
Why pursue a career in firefighting? READ MORE

Sign Language Interpreters
by Sybil Maimin
 “It’s a great occupation and a great profession…and there’s currently a shortage,” advises Bill Moody, who for over thirty years has been an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter. READ MORE

Writer Sam Swope
By Liza Young
Sam Swope, award-winning author of I am a Pencil, A Teacher, His Kids, and Their World of Stories, recently spoke with us, in his amiable, yet thoughtful manner, regarding his earliest experiments in writing and the road to success. READ MORE

BOOKS

Never Stuff A Rockfish:
Simple Acts of Cooking and Random Acts of Creativity
Reviewed by Merri Rosenberg
READ MORE

Logos Bookstore’s Recommendations
READ MORE

Breaking Through: Transforming Urban School Districts
Reviewed by Merri Rosenberg
READ MORE

METROBEAT

Sapolin Appointed Commissioner On 16th Anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act
By Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg appointed Matthew P. Sapolin, Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities to Commissioner. READ MORE

Able to Succeed: Fixing the Graduation Crisis in Special Education
By Senator Liz Krueger
Back in February, I wrote an editorial about the need to address the troubling achievement gap between African-American and Hispanic students and their white peers in New York City schools. READ MORE