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Pressures to improve test scores and avoid lawsuits are causing many schools to cut back play time. According to the American Association for the Child's Right to play, nearly 40% of the nation's 16,000 school districts have either modified, deleted, or are considering deleting recess. Moreover, where playtime does still exist, it has become overly safe and highly predictable. But according to experts, play makes children more resistant to chronic illnesses since they become more physically active and fit. Also, rough-and-tumble play is how kids learn social skills, how they learn to inhibit aggression, and how to recognize aggressive facial cues. Lack of playtime increasing regulation of what playtime does exist contributes to the childhood obesity crisis, harms children by removing an outlet for creativity, and is a factor in impulse control problems like ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).

In this article, the author discusses the controversial decision of the school board from the Broward County, Florida to start the school year on August 9. School boards across the country that are grappling with the idea of starting school earlier in the year are increasingly running up against strong opposition from parents. In many districts, including Broward County, school officials believe an earlier start date will provide more learning time, and will ultimately lead to higher scores on state-mandated tests, while parents--along with many students and teachers--don't want to give up a long summer holiday. Parents who fought for a later start date argued that children need the extra time away from the pressures of school so they could have time for summer camp or family vacations and save their money that could be better spent on instruction.

This article highlights the extended-day program adopted by many schools. With so much material being crammed into the curriculum--and with so much time during the school day being devoted to the matter of test preparation--many schools have been looking at the possibility of extending the school day. Several schools are experimenting with longer days--and even with longer years--so they can offer more remediation and enrichment opportunities. Among others, James P. Timilty Middle School, in the Roxbury section of Boston, Massachusetts, first extended its school day in the 1980s and became one of the highest performing middle schools. A report released by Massachusetts 2020 in November found that an extended day not only allows more time in classrooms, it also enables schools to offer an array of enrichment activities and gives teachers more time for planning and professional development.

Relatively few public school students are currently learning the Chinese language, but experts predict the number of K-12 schools offering such instruction will soon soar. With China poised to become the next global economic superpower, policymakers say it is essential that American schools expand their Chinese studies. Here, the author discusses the emergence of Chinese language instruction into U.S. Schools. The author discusses English-Chinese dual language immersion program by a certain school district. The author also discusses the problems encountered including the lack of certified teachers and teacher certification programs. Some states and larger school districts are borrowing teachers from China to start programs in U.S. Schools.

Expulsion is commonly schools' last resort to maintain discipline and keep schools safe. But increasingly, educators are turning to "restorative justice"--an alternative method from the field of criminology--with promising results. According to Randall Comfort, assistant upper-school director, Mounds Park Academy, St. Paul, Minnesota, using this concept, everyone affected by an incident of misbehavior sits in a circle, where they have a chance to speak and to be an active listener. Restorative practices in schools include peer mediation, classroom circles to resolve problems, and family group conferencing, all involving face-to-face resolution to address the multiple impacts of a student's offending behavior. Those most affected by it play an important role in resolving the incident.

This article highlights the expansion of the International Baccalaureate program in the United States due to the increasing amounts of interest among school districts in the subject of offering a more rigorous curriculum to be available for the students. International Baccalaureate programs, while very different from Advanced Placement programs, share the same goals. Through IB programs, students, who do well enough in the competency tests, may qualify to receive college credit, thus saving their parents money on college tuition. In the United States, 505 schools provide IB programs, including 426 schools which offer the Diploma Program (DP) for students in the final two years of high school. There are 49 schools in this country which have the Middle Years Program (MYP) for students between the ages of 11 and 16, and 30 schools in this country which have the Primary Years Program (PYP) for those children who are between the ages of 3 and 12. Top grades received in the IB programs reflect knowledge and skills relative to a set of standards which are applied equally to all schools worldwide.

Early college high schools allow students to earn both a high school diploma and two years of college credit simultaneously. The concept makes college more affordable, provides more support to students in their first two years of college, and gives students a jump start on their careers by eliminating time-wasting activities in the last two years of high school. In this article, the author presents some of these programs which are geared to high-achieving students ready for college work while still in high school, others to at-risk students or even dropouts.

From more rigorous courses during the twelfth grade to individual projects and internships, school districts across the country are taking a variety of steps for the purpose of keeping seniors engaged in learning during their senior year of high school. At the same time, they are also warning students about the possibility that students who have already been accepted to college could find themselves out in the cold in terms of attending the college that accepted them if they slack off too much during their senior year. In this article, the author discusses strategies of various schools in training graduating students to make good in their senior year and improve their prospects of being admitted to college.

According to James Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), breakfast is not the solution to the problems in America's schools, but it is the fastest, easiest, cheapest way of boosting school performance. According to FRAC, the federal breakfast program run by the Agricultural Department reached a record 7.7 million low-income children in the 2005-2006 school year, but still, only 40% of the children who need school breakfast receive it. This article reports on the efforts undertaken by various states to increase student participation in breakfast programs, and on the success they have seen as a result.

The author details the US education scenario, in which there are many more women than men teaching in K-12 schools. The National Education Association (NEA) says the number of male teachers in public schools is at its lowest level in 40 years--under a quarter of all teachers in US public schools are men. Moreover, if male teachers are uncommon, African-American male teachers and male teachers of any minority groups are even rarer--2.4% of the three million K-12 public school teachers are black males. In an effort to respond to this pressing situation of male and black teachers, several groups seek to address the shortage and diversify the teaching force. Among others, the Call Me MISTER program (Men Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models) seeks to recruit, train, certify, and secure employment for 200 black males as elementary teachers in South Carolina's public schools.

To lure highly qualified teachers to low-performing schools, the Mobile County, Alabama, school board did what a small but growing number of districts are considering: pay teachers more money for working in what are considered less attractive jobs. As school districts are more pressured to raise achievement among all student groups, more are luring their best teachers to their worst schools. In recent years, both the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers have endorsed incentives to get high-performing teachers into hard-to-staff schools. In Mobile, teachers taking the offer can earn up to $40,000 in bonuses over five years, including a $4,000 signing bonus each fall and another $4,000 "award for success" at the end of each school year if students perform well. The average salary of a Mobile County teacher is $37,200 a year, says Paul Tate, assistant superintendent for human resources. To be chosen to work at the designated schools, teachers must be considered highly qualified. That means they passed a standardized test in their subject area or have taken a certain number of college courses in the subject they are teaching and have at least one year of teaching experience.

In this article, the author reports that under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools must submit a written statement to the state department of education by October 1 each year saying that they won't prevent students from saying constitutionally allowed prayers. The author also reports on rampant student absences faced by some district schools during their students' religious holidays. The author also reports that as America becomes more religiously diverse, more schools will be faced with these challenges.

Because ninth grade is such a tough year for many students, some school districts have created special academies or other programs to provide special attention to students in the first year of high school. Studies show that ninth-graders have the most discipline incidents and retentions, and are most likely to drop out. In this paper, the author describes the programs at several ninth-grade academies in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, New York, and North Carolina.

The celebration of the bicentennial of the United States Constitution will begin Fall 1987 and last until 1991. Outlines the national programs, exhibitions and festivals, and curriculum materials available for educators on the bicentennial. (MD)