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Cellphone-savvy students have created instructional and disciplinary challenges for educators for years. But the recent emergence of "sexting" by adolescents over their mobile phones caught many school administrators off guard, and the practice is prompting efforts around the country to craft policy responses. Students' sharing of nude or otherwise sexually provocative photos of themselves or classmates via messages over digital devices might be dismissed as just the latest fad in out-of-school adolescent expression--or be deemed the criminal distribution of child pornography. As sexting has grabbed public attention, and teenagers and educators have gotten caught up in the legal and other consequences of the practice, school officials have been urged to respond with more precise rules around cellphone use. They have also been encouraged to provide information to students, teachers, and parents about the dangers of sexting, including the permanent digital record it creates.

This article reports that educators are still searching for the right blend of academic and developmental strategies for middle school students. More than a decade after a prominent group of middle-grades reformers set out to infuse higher academic standards into what critics deemed the touchy-feely world of middle schools, many teachers are still grappling with ways to motivate students to excel intellectually while helping them adapt to the dramatic physical and emotional changes that come with puberty. That mix of rigor, relevance, and responsiveness, experts say, is crucial for guiding students, particularly those most at risk of dropping out, on the path to high school graduation and later success. Too many schools serving 6th through 9th graders, however, have yet to find the right prescription for keeping those youngsters engaged at a time when their growing curiosity, independence, and need for the acceptance of their peers may lead them to act out or zone out in school.

As part of a professional development program organized by the Save Ellis Island Foundation, the exhibits, databases, photo archives, and recorded interviews at the island's museum helps put the nation's current immigration debate into a broader historical context. Teachers at these sessions learn from scholars and park personnel about early immigration laws, the health inspections that officials conducted to control disease and gauge the mental acuity of aspiring citizens, and the ways the influx of millions changed the nation. Peering at the displays of photographs, the stacks of weatherworn suitcases, and the personal effects at the museum, they are able to weave together stories of individuals and the economic and political realities that impelled them to risk the difficult ocean passage to reach America. During a day spent at a U.S. Department of Homeland Security station at Newark Liberty International Airport, the teachers observed current immigration policies in action as federal agents processed newcomers. This article describes how the teachers used what they learned to help students imagine what immigrants in the earlier era felt and experienced on their way to American citizenship. The lessons can also lead to a discussion on today's illegal immigration debate and other controversial issues related to the topic.

This article discusses a problem teachers encounter relating to how to teach the delicate topics of 9/11 and Iraq war. Five years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and in the midst of intensifying debate over the nation's approach to battling terrorism, teachers around the country are trying to determine how, and when, to teach about events that are still fresh in the nation's collective memory, even as they worry about the likelihood of controversy and conflict. With few sufficiently updated textbooks to guide the lessons--even Hollywood was slow to memorialize the events of 9/11 in film--many teachers have been left to figure out for themselves how best to incorporate the conflicts into history, government, geography, and other courses. This article also presents some suggestions to help teachers become more effective in teaching this topic.

Iroquois High School, known more for its tough student population than academic achievement, has set out a few years ago to tackle students' literacy needs more directly and systematically. As such, the school's effective focus on literacy has produced rising test scores and fewer discipline problems from struggling students. In this article, the author reports how Kentucky's 97,000-student Jefferson County school system, which includes Louisville, has formulated a district-wide plan on high school literacy because it was inspired by the progress at Iroquois. (Contains 6 photographs.)

Children don't have to be academically gifted to take advantage of some of the richest, and most fun, learning opportunities at South Grove Elementary School in New York. In fact, average pupils, those struggling to keep up with their grade-level peers, and even youngsters in special education all take part in the kinds of activities and projects once reserved for the selected few in "gifted and talented" programs. In a given week at this suburban Long Island school, 5th graders in the "Forensics Lab" might examine DNA strands and other evidence from a simulated crime scene to catch a thief, 1st graders study historical documents to learn about the fashions and traditions of the past, and 3rd graders can explore the modern-day economies of China, Italy, and Nigeria. Through a school-wide enrichment program that bucks the trend in many places toward more fundamental lessons in reading and mathematics, students here can pursue other interests both as part of the curriculum and through lunchtime clubs and brown-bag seminars.

English is hot in many foreign language schools abroad, and as the trend accelerates, so too has debate over the value of English in a global society. English-only countries steadfastly cling to their strong historical connection to imperialism, and monolingualism at the risk of losing their share of the world marketplace. While advocates of English teaching and foreign-language study praise the increasing attention to various programs to teach English, concern is widespread that the efforts are piecemeal or haphazard, or a fad that will wane with changes in governmental leadership. The greatest concern, they say, is the quality and quantity of teachers to carry out those efforts. Many governments see a need and urgency to set up English programs, but no one seems to have figured out how to do it in an efficient way. Public systems are haphazard, and the private sector is often unregulated. For now, the demand for English programs and teachers is growing rapidly world wide. English proficiency is a key educational strategy and is considered a basic skill. In Europe, nearly every country has reported in recent years increasing numbers of students learning English in the early grades.

At a time when many policymakers and business leaders are clamoring for American children to take up the languages of Asia and the Middle East to help buttress the United States' international competitiveness and national security, the policies and resources are as much of a mismatch as the languages that are being taught. More than 90 percent of the nation's secondary schools offer Spanish courses, serving nearly 5 million students, based on a 2000 survey. That may not be so surprising a statistic, given the country's rapidly growing population of Spanish-speakers and the demand in the public and private sectors for professionals who can communicate in that language. Far fewer schools offer French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Russian, in descending order. Only 1 percent give students the option of learning Chinese--20,000 students, more or less--and far fewer have Arabic classes. At this point, few public schools are up to the task of teaching those languages, or any language to the level of proficiency experts say is needed. The languages considered most critical to the nation's economic and security interests are also among the hardest to learn and the least commonly taught, largely because they are "tone" languages, which require learning different pitches for similar words. And few models, materials, or teachers on which to build new offerings are available. This article highlights budding legislative initiatives and the shrinking cohorts, among other factors in describing the pros and cons of the political push for expanded language offerings in schools.

More than a decade ago, no one held out much hope for the poor, immigrant children at Kennedy Middle School. Nobody thinks that now. This article presents how Kennedy Middle School transformed and beat all the odds to be a "school to watch." In many ways, Kennedy Middle School has become a model of middle-grades improvement. Test scores, though still inadequate and recently targeted by the state for improvement, have been rising steadily, despite most of the students' language barriers and deficient preparation in schools in their native Mexico. Attendance is consistently around 97 percent. Classes are at the same time lively and orderly as students focus on rigorous lessons, in English. Teachers have a thorough grasp of each child's progress, aided by the pages of individual and group data compiled in neat white binders. Parents interact with teachers and staff members regularly, both on campus and in students' homes, in spite of the embarrassment it might cause their adolescent children. The transformation at Kennedy illustrates how schools facing some of the greatest challenges can rise above them with strong leadership, the support of teachers and parents, and an extended, continuous effort.

Kim Lattimore thought good teaching was doomed when her elementary school was chosen to test a rigidly structured commercial reading program under the Los Angeles district's aggressive campaign to turn around dismal reading achievement. This article reports on similar concerns of teachers and administrators throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District after officials announced in 1999 that most of the district's 425 elementary schools would be required to use Open Court Reading. With its carefully sequenced lessons, intense focus on phonics and other basic skills, and standardized instructional strategies, the program had gained a reputation for helping provide the foundation that struggling readers were missing. On the heels of an influential 2000 report by the National Reading Panel, many administrators turned to such packaged programs as the easiest way to give teachers the tools for incorporating the essential elements of reading instruction the panel had identified. Many teachers viewed the approach as a high-cost mandate that would stifle creativity and undermine their expertise. By using such programs, administrators believe, schools are all but guaranteed to meet the requirements of the federal Reading First initiative--one of the prime forces driving the way schools teach the subject.

Suggests many scholars of color are drawn to community colleges by the emphasis on teaching and the diverse student population. Raises concerns about finding and keeping faculty of color and of faculty difficulty in finding time for research. Two tables list the 50 top colleges by both number and percent of black faculty for fall 1997. (DB)

Describes a private, therapeutic, boarding school in Montana. Clinically trained therapists and educators combine a rigorous academic curriculum, outdoor and adventure education activities, and a five-phase emotional growth curriculum to help emotionally troubled adolescents aged 14-18 deal with their problems and maintain their educational level. (TD)

Because federal construction sites must now undergo archaeological analysis, an unprecedented number of discoveries are being made about African American history, pointing up the lack of cultural diversity in anthropologists. Efforts are being made to recruit minority students into the field and provide adequate support for their progress. (MSE)

The external degree path to a doctorate is becoming more popular among established professionals unable to take leaves of absence for traditional programs. It is successful with minorities and adult learners because programs link theory with practice and offer flexible and distance programming. Student lack of access to research facilities, however, is a concern. (MSE)

An analysis of student financial aid for African American doctoral students combines discussion of problems in student recruitment and persistence, particularly for financial reasons, with data on patterns of minority group graduate student enrollment, financial aid, debt, and degree awards. (MSE)

Some higher education officials say the end of mandatory retirement may lead to lower faculty turnover and could reduce opportunities for young scholars, mainly members of minorities, women, and younger faculty in the departments for which the individual institution is most respected. (Author/MSE)

As it was conceived, the School of the Future was to be a study in contrast to the typical big-city high school. When the $62 million facility opened in 2006 with a relatively small student population, a computer-based curriculum delivered with the latest technology tools, and a unique partnership with corporate giant Microsoft, it set out to upend a secondary school model that had changed little since the industrial era and had spelled failure for too many students here and in cities around the country. Now in its fourth year, and with its first class of seniors heading toward graduation, Philadelphia's School of the Future remains just that: an ideal whose realization remains somewhere down the road. This article discusses how School of the Future is trying to learn from setbacks and chart a revised course closer to its original vision.

Faced with concerns about Internet predators, cyberbullying, students' sharing of inappropriate content on social networks, and the abundance of sexually explicit or violent content online, many school leaders and technology directors are placing tighter restrictions on Web access to shield students from potential harm. Yet in Trussville and other like-minded school systems, educators and school boards are instead expanding access to online resources, including social-networking sites, for students and teachers. Instead of blocking the many exit ramps and side routes on the information superhighway, they have decided that educating students and teachers on how to navigate the Internet's vast resources responsibly, safely, and productively--and setting clear rules and expectations for doing so--is the best way to head off online collisions. That philosophy has served students in Trussville's Paine Primary School well. The K-2 school provides e-mail addresses to each of its 880 students and maintains accounts on the Facebook and Twitter networking sites. Children can also interact with peers in other schools and across the country through protected wiki spaces and blogs the school has set up. The school basically starts to train students as early as kindergarten about things to look for out there and strategies to help them stay safe on the Internet. As the students move through the grades and encounter more-complex educational content and expectations, their Internet access is incrementally expanded. The district also varies filter levels for teachers, allowing them to call up Facebook or YouTube in class. They can also request that other sites be unblocked that have an application to their class lessons.

As Florida school districts scramble to meet a looming state mandate to offer full-time online instruction for K-8 students, and as high school enrollments in such courses continue to climb, lawmakers are mulling restrictions and budget cuts for the state's nationally known virtual school. Together, online-learning advocates say, the growing demands amid dwindling resources and conflicting messages on the scope of the state virtual school could hinder efforts to expand e-learning options for Florida students. Beginning with the school year that starts in August, all 67 school districts in the state will be required to offer an option for full-time online education for qualified elementary and middle school students, as well as full- or part-time high school via the Internet. They can use a state-approved private vendor or the state virtual school to do so. The Florida Virtual School (FLVS), which has provided supplemental, credit-recovery, and accelerated classes for high school students since 1997, has contracted with Florida Connections Academy, a commercial provider, to offer K-8 programs to districts. But a bill in the Florida House would rescind nearly $14 million in funding for the virtual school aimed at class-size reduction, and a Senate proposal would limit FLVS students to online classes only in core subjects up to the maximum allowed credits. It could eliminate state payments for many of the electives and makeup courses that students take through the online school. Like all public schools and most sectors across the state, the FLVS is likely to get hit with a general budget cut as well.

Whether in the business center of Sydney and its suburbs to the east, in the mining and agricultural communities of the remote Kimberley region in the northwest, or elsewhere, most of Australia's 3.3 million K-12 students share the customary features of schooling--from physical structures to academic schedules. The content also has a common structure across the country, but there are often vast differences in what and how well students learn, depending on where they live. Now, as parents and policymakers Down Under recognize that young Aussies will need to be competitive not only with their counterparts in the commonwealth's six states and two territories, but also with students around the globe, officials have undertaken an ambitious plan to standardize the system to improve equity and raise the country's standing on the world stage. The federal government in Australia is taking a similar approach to tackling the problem as one being debated in the United States: national guidelines for the content of core subjects. This "education revolution," as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's initiative is called, is intended to ensure that children have access to high-quality academic programs, whether in Tasmania, the Northern Territory, or the far reaches of Western Australia. A principal feature is development of a national curriculum, now under way, that will standardize what is taught in all public and private schools, beginning in 2011. Previous efforts over the past three decades to define on a national level what all students should know and be able to do have met with fierce debate, and varying degrees of cooperation--just as such undertakings have in the United States. This time, though, there appears to be widespread support for the measure. State leaders are involved in devising the guidelines for mathematics, English/language arts, science, history, and other subjects.

Almost every time the results of an international test of student achievement are released to the world, the reaction among the American public and policymakers is like that of a parent whose child just brought home a disappointing report card. Elected officials and academic experts question where U.S. students fell short: Was it their curriculum, their teaching, or a confluence of out-of-school factors? What did other nations do well? And what changes to American classrooms would help U.S. students make strides on the next round of tests? Despite such reaction, many observers--even those who interpret the test scores very differently--say that American policymakers need to guard against simplistic interpretations of the results of PISA, TIMSS, or PIRLS, the acronyms for three high-profile tests given periodically to samples of students in dozens of countries. Similarly, researchers and test experts urge U.S. officials to be cautious in the lessons they draw from the impressive scores of high-performing Asian and European nations.

Daily lessons at the Learning Gate Community School often tap the wonders of nature on the 27-acre campus, with its open fields and overgrown orange groves, and a treehouse overlooking an idyllic pond. Educators at Learning Gate say the outdoor classrooms and lessons are a balm for many of the ills that can hinder students' physical and mental well-being, as well as academic achievement. A growing number of educators and activists agree, and are working to introduce nature-based learning for students as a way to address such concerns as childhood obesity and achievement. However, many experts say that the kinds of opportunities for outdoor learning that are the fabric of the 520-student Learning Gate are rare in schools today. Intensely structured lessons, increasing curricular demands, and health and safety concerns have combined to reduce or eliminate children's time outside, even during recess. Even time spent in after-school programs and at home are increasingly limited to the indoors. A 2005 study in California found that students in schools that incorporated nature-based curricula performed significantly better on science tests than their peers in comparison schools. Other studies have documented improvements in reading achievement at such schools. This article reports on the impact of adapting curriculum to the outdoors and discusses how advocates are promoting the approach for all schools and children.

This article reports on the results of a study undertaken by the U.S. Department of Education on the impact of the Reading First program, which offer little insight into which parts of the program are worth saving and which need revamping. The study found that the $6 billion spent on the program has helped students with basic decoding but not with understanding. However, the study's limited scope--the impact of the federal funding on reading comprehension--does not offer enough information to craft better plans or policies aimed at reform. The impact study, released by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Nov. 18, is the only scientifically rigorous review of the grant program. Some of its findings are consistent with those state reports and independent surveys. More time is spent on structured reading instruction and teacher professional development, for example, in schools that received Reading First grants than in comparison schools. Among both students in the Reading First and non-Reading First schools examined in the study, reading achievement was low and had not improved significantly over the course of the three-year study. Fewer than half of 1st graders and less than 40 percent of 2nd and 3rd graders showed grade-level proficiency in their understanding of what they read. Yet, on a basic decoding test, 1st graders in Reading First schools scored significantly better than their peers in the comparison schools.

The infusion of "social justice" concepts into the curriculum is a decades-old approach that has drawn in a new generation of educators, often those who teach large numbers of low-income and minority students. The diffuse movement to address social issues, historical conflicts, and multicultural viewpoints that have not been part of the traditional curriculum has often attracted controversy and derision, however. Proponents of what is often called critical pedagogy are finding themselves on the defensive once again, amid a new round of attacks related to the presidential campaign. Social-justice teaching has been under an especially harsh spotlight in recent months because one of its exponents is William C. Ayers, a leader of the violent Weather Underground of the Vietnam War era whose ties to Senator Barack Obama have become a prominent issue for opponents of the Democratic presidential nominee. This article presents arguments from the proponents and opponents of social-justice teaching.

The National Writing Project has drawn a steady and loyal following over more than three decades among teachers seeking to refine their own skills, reflect on their practice, and learn strategies for teaching their young scribes. After years of fending off critics and proposed budget cuts, the long-standing national program is moving beyond the notion of writing as an art form to promoting writing as a learning tool. The intensive summer institute, the hallmark of the national program, is offered to about 20 participants at each of the sites around the country. Participants work on their professional writing skills, explore the research on writing and learning, and study successful teaching practices. Throughout the school year, the teachers hold follow-up discussions on how they have applied their new skills and share findings of their classroom research. Graduates of the institute often become teacher consultants, working with local chapters in school or district professional-development programs. Local chapters, primarily based at universities, also provide free or low-cost weekend seminars and workshops for teachers, and guidance on curriculum and assessment. Over the past several years, local and national project officials have worked to beef up the program's offerings, its ongoing support for participants, and accountability.

Like teachers in many urban school districts with large numbers of disadvantaged children, the faculty at New Holland Core Knowledge Academy strives to build the foundational skills necessary for later academic success. At New Holland, however, content is king. While many schools have narrowed the curriculum since Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, doubling up on reading and math instruction to prepare students for crucial tests in those subjects, this school has embraced a far broader course of study. Each day, its students tackle a rich and rigorous sequence of lessons in history, science, and the arts, as well as mathematics and reading/language arts. This [curriculum] does expose their children to a lot of information, not just skills. That information is based on the work of E.D. Hirsch Jr., a professor emeritus of education and humanities at the University of Virginia, who argued in his 1987 book "Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know" that a common body of knowledge is essential for students to become productive and engaged citizens. He included lists of thousands of facts, phrases, events, and figures in history, literature, and the arts, which translated into a dictionary of cultural literacy, and books on what students should know at each grade level. The Core Knowledge curriculum was rolled out the next year, outlining K-8 content in math and language arts, science, world history, American history, geography, art, and music. The proposal sparked a national conversation about essential knowledge, but proved controversial for suggesting a canon dominated by the accomplishments of white Europeans and the Judeo-Christian tradition at a time when multicultural education was gaining attention.

The miles that separate Ohio from Singapore and other countries rapidly developing into economic and education success stories have all but evaporated over the past decade for policymakers and educators trying to solve the complicated school improvement puzzle. Hard-hit by global economic pressures that have closed companies and sent thousands of jobs overseas, once-parochial states are beginning to look abroad for answers to their challenges in business, industry, and education. As leaders in Ohio and other states start to reassess the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in a competitive economy, they are weighing plans to gauge how their schools measure up against those of Singapore, South Korea, and Japan, as well as Finland and other European nations--all perennial leaders on international assessments. Ohio is ahead of most states in efforts to benchmark its performance against that of high-performing countries, although it has met hurdles in doing so. Yet a growing number of education and policy groups suggest that such cross-nation comparisons are essential. Their concern: academic gains made by competitors halfway around the globe will jeopardize the United States' future economic prospects. Such warnings echo the alarms set off a quarter-century ago this week, when a federal commission issued "A Nation at Risk", the controversial landmark report that declared a "rising tide of mediocrity" in U.S. education posed a threat to America's prosperity and status in the world. According to Gene Wilhoit, the executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, disparities in student achievement between the United States and other countries have shifted the focus from state-by-state comparisons to "concern about those countries that are growing at a fast pace and with relatively high achievement."

The hoopla surrounding the New Hampshire presidential primaries earlier this month stirred some students at Timberlane High School to watch the candidates' debates, read news coverage, attend rallies, and even volunteer in local campaign offices. That interest, in turn, stimulated discussions in Bob Dawson's government classes at the school, located in Plaistow, near the state's southeast border, and gave weight to lessons about democratic principles and the electoral process. Even as he's felt pressed to cover the required course content in his limited class time, the veteran teacher has been dedicating time and activities to the 2008 election since the fall. He wants to spark students' interest and bring relevance to the process and the issues. Civic education advocates and curriculum experts say the attention given the presidential campaign season provides a prime opportunity to explain the importance of elections and the discourse they trigger, and students around the country, are participating on various levels in educational and political activities related to the 2008 presidential election.

Spanish River High School is one of 40 U.S. History Schools and 21 affiliates around the country that get resources and academic support from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The schools require participating students to take a U.S. history course each year, in addition to any requisites in world history and other subjects. The courses emphasize a scholarly approach to the subject, as well as in-depth research and structured projects that challenge students to demonstrate their knowledge. The New York City-based Gilder Lehrman Institute provides an extensive online collection for anyone to use of documents and historical images, as well as lesson plans, research guides, podcasts of lectures by prominent historians, and traveling exhibitions. Many of the network's schools supplement the curriculum with Saturday courses. This article discusses the network, and Spanish River High School's program in particular.

A total of about 700,000 students across the country participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress reading and math exams, which were given from January through March. The new test results show not only nationwide trends in reading and math, but also state-by-state scores in both subjects. For some, the results show that the sustained local, state, and federal efforts to improve instruction in reading and mathematics are paying off. Others offer a more sobering appraisal, suggesting the gains are meager, given the significant investment of time and money in those subjects. And some say it is still too early to tell if the latest gains in reading will turn into a steady upward trend, as has occurred in mathematics. This article reports the experts' varied interpretation of the test results.

A growing number of educators are restoring the study of the ancient text in public schools, where it enjoyed a revered place in the curriculum starting in Colonial times and was still widely used through the first half of the 20th century. The legal challenges to religious content and ritual in public schools began with prohibitions in the late 19th century on daily Bible recitations in some places and continued through to the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in the 1960s that essentially struck down school-led prayer and devotional reading. They had made it risky to use the Bible in public school classrooms. However, its absence, many educators and academic experts say, has contributed to a steady disintegration of students' basic awareness of biblical stories and characters--essential knowledge for studying the works of Shakespeare, the paintings of Michelangelo, and the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. A series of reports and books in recent years have contended that it is essential for students to understand biblical content, particularly as it relates to historical documents and events, literature and the arts, and even current events, if they are to be fully educated. Even though there is widespread agreement on the need for knowledge of the Bible, little agreement exists about how to teach material that is inherently religious in ways that will pass legal and academic muster.

President Bush says that the No Child Left Behind Act is working, pointing to student-achievement results from a single subsection of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and tentative Reading First data. But the evidence available to support his claim is questionable. The data Mr. Bush cited are from just the "long-term trend" NAEP in reading and math, researchers say. All available data, they add, show modest improvements that can't be attributed to the 5-year-old law. Instead, progress in achievement is more likely a continuation of trends that predate the law. In addition to speeches citing the NAEP long-term-trend data, members of the Bush administration have lauded the success of the $1 billion-a-year Reading First program, the largest new initiative in the NCLB law. Preliminary results show some gains in students' reading fluency. Those gains, however, are based on a compilation of all test results in annual state reports for Reading First. Although such an assemblage of test scores can provide a general view of student progress, some researchers question whether the compilation says much about reading proficiency. While most researchers say it's too early to measure the NCLB law's impact on achievement, many are beginning to see evidence that educators are changing their behavior as a result of both the federal law and policies that took root in the 1990s at the onset of the movement for higher standards and greater accountability in education.

The Ogden, Utah schools have used the mandates of the federal Reading First grant program to transform reading instruction and student achievement in low-performing schools. Reading First was approved by Congress in 2001 under the No Child Left Behind Act to bring scientifically based reading methods and materials to struggling schools. The $1 billion-a-year initiative has been plagued by controversy over how it was implemented by federal officials and consultants, including charges of interference in state and local decision-making and of favoritism toward certain reading programs. In this article, the author discusses the impact brought about by the Reading First program to Gramercy Elementary School and Dee Elementary School.

Reading First, which has already handed out nearly $5 billion in grants to some 1,700 districts and 5,600 schools, is designed to improve reading instruction in the nation's most disadvantaged schools through the use of research-based methods. However, a report conducted by the investigators for Inspector General John P. Higgins to evaluate Reading First has caused continued debates in the Congress, on the Internet, and among professionals in the field. This article presents the findings of the inspector general's investigations concerning Reading First and the varied opinions of the program's critics and supporters.

The work of librarians can be a lifeline to youths dealing with difficult personal issues, such as family strife, growing up, and sexuality. This paper presents an issue where school library books at Fayetteville High School are questioned because their books are too sexually explicit or mature for teenagers. In the midst of intense media coverage and a counter-campaign by parents and students who pushed for open access to the materials, district officials concluded that their own procedures for handling book challenges were flawed. District administrators and library media specialists have crafted sounder, more structured guidelines for addressing parents' concerns over library collections and instructional materials. After months of work and 15 drafts, the district came up with a new policy that defines a step-by-step process for parents to follow to challenge library materials, where parents must first read the entire book, discuss it with a teacher or librarian, and outline their concerns in a written "request for reconsideration." If the principal cannot resolve the parent's concerns, the complaint works its way through the district administration, and could eventually be turned over to a review committee selected by the superintendent. District officials have worked to train librarians and school principals to handle initial discussions with parents before the complaint proceeds up the district hierarchy.

Evidence is mounting that federal employees and their agents may have directed or even pressured states to choose specific assessments, consultants, and the criteria for evaluating core reading programs as conditions for getting funding under the Reading First initiative, possibly in violation of federal law. "Education Week" found such a pattern of behavior in an examination of thousands of pages of correspondence and official documentation obtained through open-records requests, as well as interviews with education officials across the country. This article presents complaints that federal representatives have overstepped their authority. It also discusses the complaint by Kentucky officials to the U.S. Department of Education, as well as the directive from the Education Department to use Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, or DIBELS, in Illinois.

"Johnny" may be learning more about reading and mathematics, but he may have little time to study the discoveries of Columbus, the tenets of the U.S. Constitution, or the social and political causes of the Civil War. Those time-honored topics--as well as lesser-known events and figures throughout history--are fighting to maintain their place in the curriculum, many experts say, as schools allocate more time and attention to reading and math instruction to meet state and federal goals for student achievement. Although evidence is mostly anecdotal, history educators say there is a groundswell of concern from teachers and parents around the country. There are also widespread reports of schools pinching valuable minutes from the school day--some from social studies, others from the arts, physical education, foreign language, and other subjects--to make room for more reading activities and math lessons. The National Council for History Education, which represents history teachers and scholars, is circulating a statement on what it sees as "A Crisis in History." Signed by dozens of prominent historians and educators, it calls for the infusion of more history into reading programs and instruction at large. Although history is considered a core subject under the No Child Left Behind Act, the pressure to meet reading and mathematics standards has forced schools and teachers to make tough decisions on what to teach, and how much time to devote to each subject.

In this article, the author talks about Moore Square Museums Magnet Middle School, where educators are blending technology more heavily into the teaching of arts and music than most other schools. Arts teachers are integrating computer software with traditional instruction in dance, music, theater and visual arts to spark students' creativity. It is a school where, even the most inhibited students can "bust" a virtual move with grace and prowess using a software program that allows them to build, pose, and animate a figure--or group of figures--in time.

While researchers generally agree that literacy skills should be taught directly to adolescents across the curriculum, and that there are adequate research-based strategies for doing so, expets point out that much of that information has failed to reach the classroom, or has been ignored by teachers, who are either ill prepared or disinclined to incorporate those approaches. "Ensuring adequate ongoing literacy development for all students in the middle and high school years is a more challenging task than ensuring excellent reading education in the primary grades," Harvard researcher Catherine E. Snow wrote in a 2004 report on adolescent literacy for the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Alliance for Excellent Education, a Washington-based research and advocacy organization. "Secondary literacy skills are more complex, more embedded in the subject matter, and more multiply determined. Second, adolescents are not as universally motivated to read better or as interested in school-based reading as kindergartners." In this article, the author describes how two brothers are leading the charge for literacy skills in their Illinois high school. When Dennis and Dan Szymkowiak get together for family gatherings, school talk dominates the conversation. As teachers at the same high school in the middle-class suburb north of Chicago--Dennis in English, and Dan in mathematics--there is always catching up to do on administrative issues, school events, and students the brothers have in common. But when their two sisters, who are elementary school teachers, and Dan's wife, a middle school science teacher, join in the conversation, the focus invariably turns to instruction, and the challenges of helping students understand their respective subjects. At Mundelein High School, Dennis and Dan Szymkowiak knew they could not wait for definitive guidance from researchers. They began working together to study the existing research and find ways to make literacy a foundation of their classes. They even developed an integrated English/Mathematics course, in which students studied carefully selected literary texts and applied mathematical principles to learn about statistics and logic based on the numerical content of the texts. They have also made the rounds together at literacy conferences, raising some eyebrows among participants about the curious pairing. "They look at me and say, 'What is a math teacher doing here?'" says Dan Szymkowiak. "But they realize we all have the same problems with our students. With Dennis' help, and with other teachers', we came to have a common language and some common strategies for helping kids process the content." His brother Dennis agrees, noting that teachers who combine traditional instruction with literacy strategies have better-performing students.

In this article, the author describes G. Reid Lyon, the director of the branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development that sponsors studies on reading, whom crisscrossed the country to herald the findings of scientific research on the subject and press for sweeping change in reading instruction. Lyon's presentations on the science of reading are often interspersed with criticism of teacher educators and those who do not support to his views on research. However, his intensive campaign to convince lawmakers, educators, and parents that science holds the answers to sound reading instruction has been effective.

The Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas, Austin, is a selective doctoral degree program in community college administration that has been successful in training institutional leaders and focuses on developing minority talent. Important research has resulted from the program, and its outreach has provided professional development opportunities for administrators around the country. (MSE)

It is noted that although professional journalists often minimize the value of the journalism major, hiring patterns lean heavily toward graduates of journalism programs and toward students with experience in campus publications, radio, and television. Opportunities in the industry for minorities have steadily increased. (MSE)

A "recentering" of Scholastic Assessment Test scores will boost average scores but will not change test item difficulty. The objective is to reduce confusion among students and parents about what is an average score, make math and verbal scores more comparable, and account for a different student population. Bar graphs compare distributions on old and new scales. (MSE)

Minority participation in public policymaking has improved little in recent years, despite an increasingly multicultural population. Programs to prepare minorities for government careers are growing, but additional measures are sought, including minority hiring in growing agencies, development of advocacy groups in government agencies, mentoring programs, and wider information dissemination. (MSE)

After many years of focusing on providing black students with access to postsecondary education, attention is being refocused on retaining students through graduation. Critics say that enrollment rates, not commitment, dictate retention efforts and that such programs are isolated, not institutionwide efforts. Some institutions are sharing dropout prevention strategies. (MSE)

A recent report that up to 70% of the nation's African-American and Hispanic elementary and secondary school students are in classrooms with predominantly minority enrollments has been received by civil rights leaders with little surprise. The trend toward increasing segregation is most apparent in the Northeast and South. (MSE)