December 14, 2007: Campaign Forms To Advocate For Recess

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Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 6:24 AM

Subject: December 14, 2007: Campaign Forms To Advocate For Recess

Campaign forms to advocate for recess.

The New York Times (12/14, Cowan) reports, " The traditional recess, a rite

of grade school...long seen as a way for children to develop social

competence, recharge after long lessons, and resist obesity, " is " being

rethought and pared down. " In response, " a national campaign called Rescuing

Recess, sponsored by such organizations as the Cartoon Network, the National

Parent Teacher Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

and the National Education Association, has taken hold at many schools where

parents and children fear that recess will go the way of the one-room

schoolhouse. " Only " a handful of states...require some type of break, or

recess, " and many schools have ended or restricted recess in order to gain

instructional time, decrease percieved liability, or save the money they

once spent on play equipment and recess monitors. The Times profiles a

dispute at Connecticut's Oakdale School, where principal Mark banned

most competitive games at recess, and faced a backlash from parents " saying

that such coddling fails to prepare children for adulthood. "

In the Classroom

Publisher asks Texas to reconsider rejection of Everyday Math textbook.

The AP (12/14) reports, " A major textbook publisher is asking the [Texas]

Board of Education (BOE) to reconsider its rejection of a proposed math

textbook for third-grade students. " The Group/McGraw-Hill has asked

the Texas Education Agency for a hearing to discuss the state's rejection of

Everyday Mathematics, currently the nation's most widely-used third grade

math textbook. Though a textbook review panel had " found that the book met

the state's curriculum standards, " the BOE voted not to fund further

purchases of the book earlier this year " over complaints that the

multiplication tables were not adequate. " Texas law " allows the board to

reject a textbook only if it fails to cover the state's curriculum

standards, has factual errors or does not meet manufacturing requirements, "

according to the AP. " Watchdog groups have raised concerns that the vote

opens the door for the board to make ideological decisions on more

controversial topics, including the teaching of evolution in science books. "

Wisconsin teachers learn to use web tools to extend lessons beyond the

classroom.

Wisconsin's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (12/14, Hetzner) reports, " Instead of

replacing the face-to-face interaction of a brick-and-mortar school with a

virtual-school experience,...teachers throughout the Milwaukee area are

using online discussion boards, textbooks, surveys and collaborative

features to extend class time beyond the traditional school day. " Arrowhead

High School in Waukesha County has begun training teachers in " how to use

the online teaching tool Moodle, " an " internet-based course-management

system. " District technology director Myragene Pettit said, " The approach

makes sense not only pedagogically -- based on the idea that students learn

best from each other through sharing ideas -- but also as preparation for

higher education, in which combining online learning with lectures is fast

becoming the norm. " The district is exploring the idea of using online

classes to replace summer school and other remedial classes.

Georgia high school students attend college classes via video link.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (12/14, Stepp) reports that Georgia's North

Cobb High School has begun offering advanced math classes taught at Georgia

Tech University through videoconferencing. High school students are

connected to live lectures at the college " by two-way video " projected on a

large screen in a North Cobb classroom, and " can ask questions via a

microphone in the classroom or by e-mail. " The students earn college credit

as well as high school credit for the classes. " High school students are

increasingly taking advantage of programs to earn college credits, according

to the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education

Statistics. " According to one report, " half of all colleges and universities

in the nation enrolled high school students in courses for college credit in

2002-03. "

Wyoming elementary experiment keeps groups of children, teacher together for

five years.

Wyoming's Casper Star-Tribune (12/13, Santos) reported that Wyoming's Crest

Hill Elementary School has begun to keep " cohorts " of children together,

with the same teacher, from kindergarten through fourth grade. The project

is part of a class-size initiative intended to keep a 17-to-1 ratio of

students to teachers throughout the school. " The district's decision to

reduce class size and use cohorts is based on the Tennessee Student Teacher

Assessment Ratio (STAR) study, a 1990s research project that studied effects

of class size. " The STAR study found that students scored higher on reading

and math tests when kept in small classes. Mark Mathern, the Natrona County

School District's associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction,

believes that " having a smaller class results in fewer interruptions during

group work and allows students to get to know each other better. " But some

parents are concerned that keeping the same 17 students together for five

years will limit the children's social development, " because they haven't

learned to form a variety of relationships. "

New York district seeks to make suspensions productive for students.

The New York Journal News (12/14, Easley) reports, " The East Ramapo [New

York] Central School District will become the first in [New York's Rockland]

county to offer an alternative to out of school suspension that attempts to

tackle not just disruptive behavior but also its underlying causes. " Under

traditional out of school suspension, students " receive two hours of

mandatory course work but may spend the rest of the day unsupervised in

unproductive behavior. " The PASS (Positive Alternatives to School

Suspensions) program adopted by East Ramapo instead will offer suspended

students a five-day program that mixes " academic work with counseling,

career and conflict resolution advice, music, art and games as a way to keep

students involved during the suspension period. "