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Katie and Nelson Dellamaggiore’s award-winning documentary Brooklyn Castle tells the story of five young chess players at I.S. 318, the impoverished Brooklyn school that has won more national chess titles than any other junior high in the United States.
Want to strengthen your relationship with the local school board? Or maybe you just need to start one with them? Then the place to go is San Diego, CA, for the 73rd annual conference of the National School Boards Association. Along with educational workshops covering everything from evaluating the superintendent to safety and security, attendees will be treated to keynote addresses from actress Geena Davis, science advocate Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Diane Ravitch, a professor of education at New York University.
An ambitious partnership between Nashville Public Library (NPL) and Metro Nashville Schools has resulted in a successful program called Limitless Libraries.
School library and public library collaborations are making a huge difference in kids’ lives.
Though schools in New York and New Jersey have re-opened this week, many buildings are too damaged to receive students. Lack of power, heat, flooding are all issues that schools are facing.
In “How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character,” Paul Tough challenges the notion that academic achievement rests primarily on the types of cognitive skills measured by IQ tests. Could it be that success is, in fact, more dependent upon non-cognitive skills or character traits such as social intelligence, gratitude, optimism, and curiosity?
Chris Lehmann, the founding principal of Philadelphia’s Science Leadership Academy, isn’t surprised most teens think, “school stinks.” This innovative educator is out to change their opinion.
A Christian group’s protests has spurred some schools to pull their involvement from next week’s Mix it Up at Lunch Day—an 11-year-old program meant to reduce prejudice among students that’s sponsored by the Teaching Tolerance project, part of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
The issues and questions raised by Common Core are not only apparent stateside. Marc Aronson discusses how his trip to Barcelona revealed that there might be an opportunity to collaborate with the Spanish city, and other international locales, to inspire students to be innovators.
Principals value their librarians. They also want them to be more visible leaders.
Those are just two of the interesting findings from a recent survey of 102 media specialists and 67 principals. In fact, 90 percent of the administrators that we surveyed think we have a positive impact in schools—and a large number also feel that our jobs are important. That’s great news, considering only 65 percent of librarians in the study thought their bosses would recognize the valuable role we play.
President Obama’s weekly radio and Internet address on Saturday focused on the critical role that education plays in our country’s future—and the need for Congress to pass his proposed jobs bill to help states prevent teacher layoffs and rehire them. But he made no mention of school librarians.
Last spring the children’s book community lost several beloved authors and illustrators, including the hugely talented Leo Dillon, Jean Craighead George, Ellen Levine, and Maurice Sendak. In honor of their memory and their many accomplishments, TeachingBooks.net is offering video and audio recordings of these creative artists whose work enriched the lives of so many people.
School librarians across the Atlantic are feeling the squeeze, too. A recent study by the U.K.’s School Library Association shows that budgets there have taken a hit, with 34 percent of media specialists reporting smaller budgets this year compared to 2011. Meanwhile, only 18 percent say they’ve seen an increase since last year.
The Goleta Library in Goleta, CA, part of the Santa Barbara Public Library System, celebrated a Family Place Workshop on June 1. Hunter Tattle explores his artisitic talent at a fingerpainting activity.
Some kids in Michigan are literally fighting for their right to read. The state’s American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently filed a class-action suit on behalf of eight students in the Highland Park School District who don’t read at grade level.
Seven Title I media centers throughout the district continue to keep their doors open two hours each week, and local kids are welcome to read, check out books, or attend read-alouds. Although it’s not a new concept, it’s the first time Salem-Keizer has kept summer hours—and so far, kids seem to be enjoying it, says Stephen Cox, the district’s library media program specialist.
Richard Hasenyager, the former director for library services at Texas’sNorth East Independent School District, was recently appointed director of library services for New York City’s department of education.
He replaces Barbara Stripling, who left the position at the end of 2011 to become a professor of practice at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies (iSchool). Stripling held the position since 2005.
Talk about lousy timing. The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) began accepting applications last week for the new Innovative Approaches to Literacy Program—at a time when most school librarians are off on their summer breaks.
Arizona’s public schools and libraries must filter all computers that are available to children or risk losing 10 percent of their state funding, according to a new law set to take effect August 1.
Although 46 states and Washington, DC, have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), less than a quarter of the general public knows about the academic standards for K-12 education that are designed to prepare students for college and the workforce, says a recent poll by a nonprofit education reform organization.
