English-language learners now comprise more than five percent of Cincinnati's school populationÁ'which has grown more than 500 percent in the past five years. The third largest district in Ohio, Cincinnati Public Schools features a diverse population that includes speakers of 83 different languages. Addressing this specific challenge was part of the district's objective when applying […]
Leslie T. Fenwick has been praised as "a fearless voice in education on behalf of communities of color." As dean of the School of Education at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Fenwick has devoted her career to improving educational opportunity and outcomes for African-American and other underserved students from the elementary through graduate school levels. […]
Beth Mattey was named president of the National Association of School Nurses in June. Mattey is the school nurse at Mt. Pleasant High School, part of Brandywine School District in Delaware. In her remarks at the group's annual conference in June, Mattey said that school nursing is the foundation of healthy schools. "Every day brings […]
On the walls of Tim Cline's office hang samples of outstanding work completed by students in Interior Distance Education of Alaska (IDEA), the public school program he runs. Visiting parents are often impressed. Nothing unusual about that??except that IDEA's students are homeschoolers who may never enter a public school classroom, and those impressed parents are […]
Kelley Castlin-Gacutan was unanimously chosen superintendent of Alabama's Birmingham City Schools in May. Birmingham City is the fourth-largest district in the state, with more than 30,000 students. Castlin-Gacutan is a native of the area, and was the interim superintendent for Bibb County Schools in Georgia. She has worked as a teacher, principal and administrator. She […]
The U.S. public school system's focus on struggling students leaves high-achieversÁ'especially minorities, the economically disadvantaged and English-language learners Á'without a challenging enough education, experts say. A lack of federal funding and patchwork policies across states often leave decisions on identifying and serving gifted students to district administrators. An estimated 3 million to 5 million academically […]
A curriculum framework initially developed for special education students is gaining traction in general ed classrooms nationwide during Common Core implementation. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an approach created by a nonprofit that addresses students' individual learning needs to reach standards. Teachers allow students multiple ways of accessing information and demonstrating understanding for each […]
A "culture of safety"—at all levels of a district—is the first and most critical step in dealing with occupational injury. It also guides the prevention of, response to and mitigation of hazards in the workplace, including staff behavior. Students arrive in three days. A staff meeting starts in five minutes. A teacher wants to hang […]
When a classroom is sweltering, nobody is productive. More and more teaching days are being lost to hot, humid weather even though there is a way to mitigate the problem: air conditioning. The challenge is justifying the cost of installation and maintenance at a time when competition for budget money is fierce. The place to […]
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the passage of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The law fundamentally changed the way students with disabilities are educated in America, and the way states fund their K12 education programs. IDEA requires the federal government to provide 40 percent of the average per-pupil expenditure in […]
