Slow on EPS Reform
Bangor Daily News, October 28, 2006

(excerpt) Essential Programs and Services is an attempt to figure out what education ought to cost for each student in Maine, making it necessarily a formula that will need regular adjustment. Honest doubt could be expressed about whether property valuation is the best measure of a community’s ability to pay (though finding an alternative is harder than it looks, especially considering that 20 percent of property taxes come from out of state). Maine ought to look at the formula, adjust it carefully as experience dictates and continue to work on equity for all students.

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Clauses and Commas Make a Comeback
Washington Post, October 23, 2006

(excerpt) The National Council of Teachers of English, whose directives shape curriculum decisions nationwide, has quietly reversed its long opposition to grammar drills, which the group had condemned in 1985 as "a deterrent to the improvement of students' speaking and writing."

Now, even the sentence diagram, long the symbol of abandoned methodology, is allowed, if not quite endorsed, in the classrooms of Fairfax and Howard and other high-performing school systems throughout the region. To diagram a sentence is to deconstruct it as if it were a math problem, with the main noun, verb and object written on a horizontal line and their various modifiers attached with diagonals.

"Our time has come," said Amy Benjamin, who presides over a council committee that concerns itself with grammar. In 17 years, her Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar has evolved from "kind of a revolutionary cell" into standard-bearers.

As always, click on the post title to connect to the full text of the article.

Big, costly changes on SAD 48 list
Morning Sentinel, October 18, 2006

(excerpt) The eight schools that comprise Maine School Administrative District 48 would be pared into four super schools if district officials adopt plans laid out by consultants during Tuesday's school board meeting.

Michael McCormick of the Dexter-based M.E. McCormick laid out a 20-year strategy designed to bring the district's facilities up to modern standards. The plan includes construction of a new comprehensive high school, retrofitting the current Nokomis Regional High School in Newport to serve as a middle school for grades 5 through 8, and adding classroom space to the Sebasticook Valley Middle School in Newport and Somerset Valley Middle School in Hartland to serve pre-kindergartners through fourth graders.

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TABOR isn't perfect, but its time has come
Maine Sunday Telegram, October 15, 2006

(excerpt) It is true that this newspaper has several times expressed extreme skepticism that TABOR would produce all the benefits its sponsors claim. That skepticism remains, but other factors have combined to outweigh it.

First, when Maine voters in the past have confronted measures designed to cap taxes in draconic ways, they responded sensibly by rejecting them.

A problem arose, however, when citizens approved a school funding measure proposed by the Maine Municipal Association to require the state to provide 55 percent of local education funding. They were also promised that the referendum would produce significant property tax relief.

But when the Legislature amended the MMA proposal to postpone reaching the 55 percent level, it also declined to require that communities receiving increased funds for education apply them directly to property tax relief.

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Report: Kids need more time for play
CNN.com, October 9, 2006

(excerpt) Here's some soothing medicine for stressed-out parents and overscheduled kids: The American Academy of Pediatrics says what children really need for healthy development is more good, old-fashioned playtime.

Many parents load their children's schedules with get-smart videos, enrichment activities and lots of classes in a drive to help them excel. The efforts often begin as early as infancy.

Spontaneous, free play -- whether it's chasing butterflies, playing with "true toys" like blocks and dolls, or just romping on the floor with mom and dad -- often is sacrificed in the shuffle, a new academy report says.

Click on the post title for the full article! AAP: press release; report

TABOR foes far ahead on fundraising
Portland Press Herald, October 11, 2006

Opponents of a proposed government spending cap have raised four times more money than supporters since midsummer, according to campaign finance reports filed with the state.

Citizens United reported contributions of $625,000, and spending of $609,000, mostly for television advertising. Citizens United is the political action committee opposing the state ballot question known as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. The group posted its latest report Monday night with the state Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices.

The filing deadline was Tuesday for financial activity between July 19 and Sept. 30.

Taxpayerbillofrights.com, the PAC supporting TABOR, raised $148,000 and spent $106,000 during the same period. That group posted its report a week earlier.

The article's sidebar lists the money sources. Click on the post title to read the whole thing!

" Amish School: No Precedent for Shocking Tragedy"

A story on NPR's All Things Considered on Tuesday, October 3 discussed the role of the one-room school in Amish culture.

There's a description of the segment at the NPR ATC site here, along with the option of listening to the piece.

More on Professor Dewalt's just-published book here.

Last Child in the Woods

Richard Louv, author of the recent book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, spoke before the Cleveland City Club on September 22. Bio here, mp3 of his talk (can be downloaded - without special software needed!) from this page.

Demoting Advanced Placement
New York Times, October 4, 2006

(excerpt) This town’s public high school [Scasrsdale, N.Y.], well known for turning out some of the nation’s finest college prospects, is contemplating a step that would seem to betray its competitive reputation: eliminating Advanced Placement courses.

Scarsdale High School is a place where 70 percent of the 1,500 students take an A.P. course, and many take five and six to impress college admissions officers with their willingness to challenge themselves. But like a few private schools, Scarsdale is concluding that the A.P. pile-on is helping turn the teenage years into a rat race where learning becomes a calculated means to an end rather than a chance for in-depth investigation, imagination, even some fun to go along with all that amassing of knowledge.

“People nationwide are recognizing what an inhuman obstacle course college admission is, and a big element of that is A.P.,” said Bruce Hammond, director of college counseling at Sandia Preparatory School in Albuquerque, which dropped A.P. courses a few years ago.

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Early Repairs in Foundation for Reading
New York Times, October 4, 2006

(excerpt) Children with severe reading problems usually struggle for years before getting the help they need. But a growing number of neurologists and educators say that with the latest diagnostic tests, children at high risk for these problems can be identified in preschool and treated before they ever begin to read.

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