Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Launches Online Multilingual Math Glossary

Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Launches Online Multilingual Math Glossary: "Company responds to booming growth in population of English language learners

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Education's data speaks for itself: The number of English-language learners (ELL), now estimated at 5.5 million, is growing at an explosive rate. In fact, this population increased by 95 percent from 1992 to 2002. That growth is particularly pronounced in states like California, where one out of four students is an English- language learner. As a result of that growth, there are more students than ever who need special resources to help them learn. Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, the nation's leading provider of secondary school electronic and print products and services, is responding to this need by launching an online multilingual glossary specializing in math terminology, at http://www.math.glencoe.com/multilingual_glossary."

Use the link above to learn more about this free internet resource.

NEA: NEA Today January 2005

NEA: NEA Today January 2005:

Closing the Gap

"In 2003, 75 percent of white fourth-graders showed competency in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), compared with 44 percent of Hispanic fourth-graders and 40 percent of Blacks.

But race isn't the only issue. If their parents have time-shares and nannies, kids are much more likely to score better than their poor peers. Last year's NAEP scores showed just 45 percent of fourth-graders eligible for free or reduced-price lunch were competent readers, compared with 76 percent of their wealthier classmates.

Then there are the other gaps: girls are better readers than boys, but girls often trail boys in secondary math and science. Special education students, even with testing accommodations, often are outscored by regular classmates."

Use the link above to read the entire article.

MSNBC - Blacks dying for lack of health care

MSNBC - Blacks dying for lack of health care: "More than 886,000 deaths could have been prevented from 1991 to 2000 if African Americans had received the same care as whites, according to an analysis in the December issue of the American Journal of Public Health. The study estimates that technological improvements in medicine -- including better drugs, devices and procedures -- averted only 176,633 deaths during the same period."

Reduced access to health care doesn't account for all the racial disparity in preventable deaths. Blacks have greater incidence of some diseases; some of this greater morbidity results from education, income level and environment as well as access to health care. The challenge, the authors said, is to deliver the same quality health care to everyone, despite these factors.

Use the link above to read more.

Yahoo! News - What's in a Racial Identity? American Latinos All Over the Map, Study Finds

Yahoo! News - What's in a Racial Identity? American Latinos All Over the Map, Study Finds: "The analysis of Census data and recent surveys is perhaps the most detailed in a relatively new field of research on how Latinos adapt to the rigid racial categories they encounter in the United States. It is the first to probe the differences between Latinos who consider themselves white and those who say they are of some other race.

In many Latin American countries, race is a flexible concept and can change with a person's status in society. Historical and contemporary evidence shows that a Latin American strain of racism favors lighter-skinned over darker-skinned people, but as an old Caribbean proverb says, 'Money bleaches.'

In the United States, Latinos are an ethnic group made up of people of different races, often mixed, and with a variety of ancestral homelands. In the 2000 Census, they mainly selected two racial categories to describe themselves. Forty-eight percent identified themselves as white, and 42% chose 'some other race.'

Latinos who perceive themselves as white appear to feel that their place in American society is more secure, the report found."

Use the link above to read more.

MSNBC - African Americans getting by, not ahead

MSNBC - African Americans getting by, not ahead: "Even as African Americans and other minorities have made economic progress in the last 40 years, many of those reaching the middle-income rung are finding it a hollow promise. In earlier decades, a union-protected factory worker or government employee earning such a wage could expect a comfortable life with company-provided health and retirement benefits, and perhaps enough money for indulgences such as the occasional new car.

Now, though, blacks and other minorities reaching the economic middle find the ground shifting."

Use the link above to read more.

USATODAY.com - Pay closer attention: Boys are struggling academically

USATODAY.com - Pay closer attention: Boys are struggling academically: "Girls are taking the nation's colleges by storm. They're streaming to campuses in greater numbers, earning better grades and graduating more often. The same phenomenal success shows in high schools, where girls dominate honor rolls, hold more student government spots and rake in most of the academic awards."

Use the link above to read more.

aha! Process, Inc.

aha! Process, Inc.

Dr. Ruby Payne

Ruby has been involved with education since 1972 as a teacher, principal, consultant, and administrator. The lessons learned during those years are the bedrock on which aha! Process, Inc. has been built. Her first book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty, is a powerful tool for educators to use when dealing with children from poverty.

In her book, Ruby discusses the hidden rules that govern how each of us behaves in our social class. Those rules, because they are hidden and only known to those within the group, prove to be a major stumbling block for individuals trying to move to a new social class. Students from poverty often languish in classrooms run by members of middle class because those are the rules that govern.

Ruby has developed this message for seminars and workshops as well. Speaking to approximately 200 groups a year, Ruby is working to spread the word throughout North America that children of poverty need not suffer through an educational system oblivious to their needs. More than educators are heeding her message. Judges, social workers, ministers, community leaders and health professionals are all learning from Ruby's work.

Dr. Payne will be in our area in January. Please use the link above to find out how to register for her upcoming Baltimore session.

Baltimore, Maryland January 20-21, 2005 (800) 955-6905 $225

The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture

The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture

The past is only a part of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture. Through a partnership with the Maryland State Department of Education to reach more than 860,000 students and 50,000 teachers, the museum will invest itself just as heavily in the future – a future that will assuredly burn brighter as we work to close the African American achievement gap and foster greater understanding among all students.

The curriculum will require that students intensively prepare for their trip to the museum (or for the museum’s trip to them – traveling exhibits are one of the museum’s features), reflect upon it afterward, and use its lessons to guide future learning. The task force will begin writing curriculum for grades 4-8 before turning its attention to high school and, finally, to the primary grades. The grades 4-8 curriculum will be completed in time for the 2004-05 school year.

Training teachers well in the curriculum will be key to its success. In addition to district- and school-based workshops on incorporating the museum’s themes into instruction, Maryland teachers will be given lectures and tours by museum staff so they can prepare lessons. They’ll also be able to tap a cadre of experts in African-American art, culture, history, and contemporary life so they can make those lessons more interesting to students.

But, of course, the museum isn’t only for African-American students and neither are the heroes it celebrates. These are the stories of democracy, and their lessons apply to all. This is why the curricular connection is so important: it ensures that every Maryland child will understand the role African Americans played in our past and appreciate its implications for our future.

Use the link above to see how this exciting new museum will support the new state curriculum.

Black history: A yearlong lesson - The Washington Times: Metropolitan - December 02, 2004

Black history: A yearlong lesson - The Washington Times: Metropolitan - December 02, 2004

Lessons about inventor George Washington Carver or slave rebellion leader Nat Turner no longer will be relegated to the 28 days of February — or to black history classes — in Maryland public schools, but will shape the foundation of an expansive new curriculum.
Students will learn about blacks' contributions to society in a variety of classes — such as science, music, language arts and American history — in a new, year-round curriculum called "An African American Journey," state school officials said yesterday.

State schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick said the 41-lesson program — which deals with work, family, community, arts and enlightenment of black culture — is a multiyear, multicourse study of black history from the Colonial period to the present.

Next fall, the curriculum will be implemented in all state elementary and middle schools, along with a pilot program for high-school students.

Use the link above to learn more about this new state curriculum.