THE NEW ACADEMIC YEAR 2007-2008

From New York City Council Middle School Initiatives
With Speaker Christine Quinn and Councilman Robert Jackson
Education Update: What are the most salient advantages of the Middle Schools Initiative for parents, students, teachers, and administrators? 
Speaker Quinn and Councilman Robert Jackson: The Middle School Task Force report put forth 39 comprehensive recommendations aimed at improving the learning and academic performance of middle grade students....MORE

From a Superintendent in Oklahoma
By David Goin
With its emphasis upon monitoring and responding to the performance of student population subgroups, No Child Left Behind has established multiple avenues for schools to be labeled as “failing.”...MORE

Welcome Back, Arts & Science Colleagues!
By Mary Brabeck, Ph.D.
Welcome back, all colleagues in Arts and Sciences who teach the courses that help teachers become high quality educators! I believe that high quality teachers need to love the kids they teach, and to love the subject matter they teach....MORE

Reflections from a CEO
By Eric Nadelstern
For the 2007-08 school year, Empowerment Schools in NYC have nearly doubled to 496. Schools are grouped into 22 self-selected networks of 20-25, with a Network Leader and support team of 4 selected by the principals themselves....MORE

Advice to a Young Person Starting College
By Bonnie Kaiser, Ph.D.
Oh, mercy! Have the years brought wisdom with the wrinkles for me to dare offer advice to the young?...MORE

Bibles for a Classroom Teacher
By Andrew Gardner
I would recommend the following books: Teaching Children to Care, The First six weeks of School and other books published by the Northeast Foundation for Children (NEFC)....MORE

NYC EDUCATION LEADERS REFLECT ON THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR

A Year of Challenges & Opportunities
By Ernest Logan, President, CSA
The 2007-2008 school year brings both formidable challenges and exciting new opportunities for school administrators....MORE

Partners for Success in Education
By Randi Weingarten, President, UFT
Students, parents and teachers across New York City are preparing for a challenging new academic year as the public school system embarks on its third major reorganization in five years....MORE

SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS

CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein Announces Plan to Improve American Students’ Math & Science Performance
By Emily Sherwood, Ph.D.
High school students nationwide got a C-minus on their universal report card when the recent Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) revealed that they lag far behind their international counterparts in math and science performance....MORE

PROFILES IN EDUCATION: President Paul Le Clerc
New York Public Library: Key to City’s Future
By Lisa K. Winkler
“The New York Public Library must remain a major player in developing human capital in the city,” said President Paul LeClerc, noting that other nations are investing heavily in education....MORE

PROFILES IN EDUCATION
Eric Nadelstern, CEO, Empowerment Schools
By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
“The resources are now where they belong,” says Eric Nadelstern, CEO of Empowerment Schools for the NYC Department of Education....MORE 

Get Your Child Ready For A Successful School Year
By Dr. Raymond J. Huntington
For many students, going back to school is an exciting occasion—a chance to make new friends, embark on new extra-curricular activities and take on new responsibilities....MORE

Digital History in a Digital Age
By Lesley Herrmann
If you were walking the streets of Manhattan during the last week of July there’s a good chance you ran into groups of camera-toting, wide-eyed out-of-towners....MORE

School Spending Increases to $106M
The city’s Department of Education will spend $106 million to hire 1,300 teachers and create 400 new classrooms next year....MORE

COLLEGES & GRAD SCHOOLS

THE DEAN'S COLUMN
The Irrationality of the Square Root of 2
By Dr. Alfred S. Posamentier
When we say that the square root of 2 is irrational, what does that mean?....MORE

PROFILES IN EDUCATION
Sandra Bennett: A Personal War on Drugs      
By Sybil Maimin
Sandra Bennett has learned that “doing the right thing” can be stymied by politics and opposing agendas....MORE

Brown University, Ogden Lectures
Established in 1965, the Stephen A. Ogden, Jr. Memorial Lectures on International Affairs, are among the most distinguished of their kind, serving both the Brown and Rhode Island communities in the field of international relations....MORE

LAW & EDUCATION

Student Expression: Beyond “Bong Hits”
By Martha McCarthy, Ph.D.
The Supreme Court in 2007 was asked to review two significant student expression decisions rendered by the Ninth Circuit....MORE

SPECIAL EDUCATION

United Cerebral Palsy:
Pioneers In Improving The Lives Of Others
By Alberto Cepeda
Cerebral palsy is a group of neurological disorders such as that severely affects different parts of the human brain. The disorders are made up of Ataxia, Athetoid, Spasticity or a combination of the three, attacks different aspects of a person’s motor skills....MORE

From the NYU CHILD STUDY CENTER: ASK THE EXPERT
How Can I Help My Child Start School on the Right Foot?
By Glenn S. Hirsch, M.D.
Each of my children approached homework in a somewhat different manner....MORE

Cooke Center for Learning & Development Celebrates 20 Year Anniversary
By Lisa K. Winkler
For parents of special needs students, navigating the quagmire of government and private services can be an enormous headache and legal nightmare....MORE

TEACHING READING AT BANK STREET COLLEGE
Why Johnny Can’t Read
In a recent lecture at Bank Street College, Richard Allington criticized “we keep doing the same thing, the same way every time and expect a different outcome.”...MORE

BOOKS

Logos Bookstore’s Recommendations
By H. Harris Healy, III, President, Logos Bookstore
G.K. Chesterton noted for his Father Brown stories and The Man Who Was Thursday among his fiction works as well as a noted essayist for The Everlasting Man and Orthodoxy, in 1905 penned a series of unusual stories that he linked together with the final story of the collection to construct, what is called these days, a novella titled The Club Of Queer Trades....MORE

CHILDREN"S CORNER

From the Superintendent's Corner
Every Grade is the Opportunity for a Fresh Start
By Dr. Carole G. Hankin with Randi T. Sachs
One of the greatest advantages that children have is the opportunity each September to begin again with a new teacher, a new set of classmates, and a new determination to make some positive changes and try some new experiences....MORE

MUSIC, ART & DANCE

New Guide Helps Parents Support Arts Education In Their Child’s School
The Center for Arts Education (CAE), the leading voice in restoring and revitalizing the arts in New York City public schools, is offering a FREE guide for parents just in time for back-to-school....MORE

Salzburg Festival -2007 (Part 2)
Hector Berlioz in opera and concert
Another new production at this festival was Berlioz’s rarely performed opera, Benvenuto Cellini...MORE 

MOVIES & THEATERS

Austen In The Movies: Lessons For All
By Jan Aaron
Sometimes movies can be teacher’s tools. So at the start of the new school year, the following are two movies about Jane Austen to consider vis-à-vis the classroom:...MORE

MEDICAL UPDATE

NYU Cancer Institute Has a Unique Understanding of Cancer—& Cancer Patients
NYU Cancer Institute brings together the vast resources of NYU Medical Center to offer advanced cancer research and treatment....MORE

CCNY, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Team Receives $1.36 Million For Breast Cancer Research Using Near-Infrared Light
A team of researchers from The City College of New York (CCNY) and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) has received a grant of $1.36 million over four years from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command Breast Cancer Research Program to evaluate whether near-infrared light can be used to detect and diagnose breast cancer and assess tumor aggressiveness....MORE

CAMPS & SPORTS

Staten Island High School Student Sports Star:
An Interview with Dillon McNamara
Education Update (EU): When did you start to play baseball?
Dillon McNamara (DM): I first started playing baseball for Mid-Island Little League when I was about 6 years old....MORE

4th Grader Runs 3 Miles in New Jersey
By Dr. Pola Rosen
Emily Wertheimer, a 4th grader at the South Mountain School in Millburn, New Jersey ran 3 miles recently....MORE

MetroBEAT

How To Register New K-2 Students For School And Expanded Bus Service
By Mayor Michael Bloomberg
If you happen to be new to New York City, or your child is new to the public school system, and you don’t know which school he or she should attend, you can go to one of 15 student registration centers around the City....MORE

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letters to the Editor - September 2007...MORE