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How can you enrich the classroom?

Ann Doss Helms

The Charlotte Observer

Nov. 17 2008

At suburban Lake Wylie Elementary, music teacher Patti Anderson gets an allowance from the PTA to buy extras for her kids.

There's no such money at Westerly Hills, a high-poverty school where she spends half her teaching time. But a host of benefactors – many of whom have never set foot in the west Charlotte school – have bought her kids instruments, sheet music and classroom posters.

The kids at Westerly Hills – along with dozens of other schools in the Charlotte region – are reaping the rewards of a Bronx schoolteacher's brainstorm that has pumped more than $25 million into classrooms across the country. More>>

Learning goes on in struggling schools

Fannie Flono

The Charlotte Observer

Nov. 14, 2008

When you walk into Wilhelmenia Wilcox's fifth grade class at Devonshire Elementary, you can tell a lot of learning is going on.

The students clamor to answer questions and read from their work. The room is plastered with maps and pictures and inspirational sayings. Books and classwork line shelves. And in several corners you'll find cardboard replicas Ms. Wilcox built of inventions from African Americans. She uses them as teaching tools in her class.  More>>

Will fewer magnets help other schools?

Eric Frazier
The Charlotte Observer:

Nov. 14, 2008

Randolph Middle School will lose the Paideia and open magnet program next year, but will still have its International Baccalaureate program.

As Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools dismantles magnet programs affecting thousands of students, the pressure is on to upgrade struggling neighborhood schools where some of those students will return.

The school board's vote Wednesday night to close, move or modify magnets at schools across the county will change the campus or curriculum for about 2,800 children – 90 percent of them minority. More>>

Board trims, revises CMS magnets

The changes will cost about 2,800 students their current school assignments. Almost 90 percent of those students are minorities.

Eric Frazier

The Charlotte Observer

Nov. 13, 2008

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board made sweeping changes in its magnet schools Wednesday, ending months of debate over programs that were once the hallmark of local school desegregation efforts.

The board largely followed recommendations that Superintendent Peter Gorman offered last month for eliminating unpopular or ineffective magnet programs and modifying others. More>>

Reading scores reminder of need to help poor students

Editorial

The Charlotte Observer

Nov. 9, 2008

We must commit resources to help all students meet goals.

The drop in N.C. reading scores this year was hardly a surprise. State and local education officials had warned that scores would be lower after a new reading test was introduced last year.

That new reading test was necessary. The old one was largely a scam, falsely labeling too many children with weak reading skills as making the grade.

But the fallout from addressing that problem stings nonetheless. Just 57 percent of the students in grades 3-8 passed the state's reading tests this year; 86 percent did last year using the old tests. All student groups showed lower passing rates: 69 percent of whites passed, 68 percent of Asians, 39 percent of Hispanics and 36 percent of blacks. The disparity between the performance of low-income students and non-poor students was huge: 39 percent versus 71 percent passing. More>>

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What About Other Schools?

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Making math uncool is hurting America, report says

Reuters

www.boston.com

Oct. 10, 2008

Americans may like to make fun of girls who are good at math, but this attitude is robbing the country of some of its best talent, researchers reported on Friday.

They found that while girls can be just as talented as boys at mathematics, some are driven from the field because they are teased, ostracized or simply neglected. More>>

Under 'No Child' Law, Even Solid Schools Falter

Sam Dillon

www.nytimes.com

Oct. 12, 2008

Prairie Elementary School had not missed a testing target since the federal No Child Left Behind law took effect in 2002. Until now.  More>>

Well Paid Teachers?  I'm on Board

Christine Gralow

New York Times

Oct. 7, 2008

When I recently saw an ad for a $125,000-a-year teaching job at a New York City charter school, my first thought was that it must be some sort of phishing scam. Everyone knows teachers don’t make $125,000. My second thought was, “Why shouldn’t we?” After visiting the school’s Web site and reading a New York Times article about the school, I realized it was not only legit, but potentially revolutionary in terms of education reform. So this school year, in addition to my regular special education teaching job, I’ve decided to get involved in the creation of this new school.  More>>

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