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Harvard Education Letter, 2002. INSTITUTION Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA DOCUMENT RESUME ED 474 556 PS 030 945 AUTHOR Gordon, David T., Editor TITLE Harvard Education Letter, 2002. INSTITUTION Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA. Graduate School of Education ISSN ISSN-8755-3716 PUB DATE 2002-00-00 NOTE 50p.; Published bimonthly. For the 2001 issues, see ED 459 920. AVAILABLE FROM Harvard Education Letter, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 8 Story Street, 5th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02138- 3752 ($38 for individuals; $49 for institutions; $52 for Canada/Mexico; $63 other foreign; single copies, $7). Tel: 800-513-0763 (Toll Free); Tel: 617-495-3432; Fax: 617 -496- 3584; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.edletter.org. PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022) JOURNAL CIT Harvard Education Letter; v18 n1-6 EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Educational Improvement; Educational Technology; *Elementary Secondary Education; Foreign Countries; High Stakes Tests; Information Technology; *Public Schools; Refugees; Second Language Instruction; Standardized Tests.; Teacher Certification; *Teacher Improvement; Trust (Psychology); Urban Schools IDENTIFIERS Japan ABSTRACT This document is comprised of the 6 issues in volume 18 of the Harvard Education Letter, a bimonthly newsletter addressing current issues in elementary and secondary education. Articles in this volume include the following:(1) January/February--"Curriculum Access in the Digital Age" (David T. Gordon) and "Using Charters To Improve Urban Schools" (Karen Kelly);(2) March/April--"Putting National Board Certification to the Test" (David T. Gordon) and . "Teacher Excellence: Improving the Conversation," an interview of Ann E. Harman of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards;(3) May/June--"Preparing for the Coming Avalanche of Accountability Tests" (W. James Popham) and "Lesson Study: Can Japanese Methods Translate to U.S. Schools?" (Karen Kelly);(4) July/August--"Fuel for Reform: The Importance of Trust in Changing Schools" (David T. Gordon) and "'Wide Open and Welcoming': How Trust Helped Transform a Small Chicago School" (David T. Gordon);(5) September/October--"Why Save Public Education?" (Deborah Meier) and "How Schools Can Help Refugee Students" (Shaun Sutner); and (6) November/December--"Beefing Up Professional Development" (Alexander Russo) and "Canadian Second-Language Immersion: What It Does--and Doesn't--Suggest for American ESL Students" (Karen Kelly). Regular features of the newsletter include editorial statements and summaries of recent research. (EV) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Harvard Education Letter, 2002 Volume 18, Number 1-6, 2002 David T. Gordon, Editor Harvard Graduate School of Education Harvard University BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2002 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND CENTER (ERIC) DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS This document has been reproduced as BEEN GRANTED BY received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Lo,.Ara_ 010,0 Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES official OERI position or policy. INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 January /February 2002 YE RI TAS . I .1 ** Volume18,Number I A At I INSIDE Making the Most of What's Available Resources for helping stu- dents with special needs. 3 Challenges Facing Curriculum Access in the Digital Age Publishers New technology-based strategies offer hope that students of all abilities When will the law catch up will have the opportunity to thrive in school to technology? By David T Gordon 4 Using Charters to irn a school north of Boston, a dozen 7th graders are discuss the book with their teacher; they do this about Improve Urban Schools enjoying a novel experience. They are reading a book once every two weeks. Creative university programs om the district's required reading list, the same Thinking Reader employs elements of "reciprocal aim to boost minority book that their peers have been assigned. Hatchet, written teaching:' an instructional method for teaching reading achievement. by Newberyaward winner Gary Paulsen, is an adventure comprehension developed by reading specialists An- 5 story about a young man's two-month survival in the nemarie Palincsar and Ann Brown in the 1980s. The idea Canadian wilderness following a plane crash. Most of the is to get students to be active readers using a four-part insights students have learning disabilities, so they relate well to strategy: formulate questions, summarize, clarify, and Limits of"Change" Brian, the protagonist, because they predict. In one-on-one or group Schools do a great job of too have felt lost in the woods sessions, teachers and students take fiddling with organizational turns leading a discussion about structure. But that's not the when trying to read books written If we don't accommodate for kids their age. the text. Although the method takes same as making genuine They sit at computers, each different abilities and both teachers and students consid- improvements, writes wearing headphones, and read a erable time to master, research Harvard's Richard F. Elmore learning styles, can we digital text of Hatchet using a pro- shows that it can lead to dramatic 8 gram called Thinking Reader. For really say all students have improvement in the performance some, the computer simultaneously of poor readers. highlights each word on the screen equal access to the Still, it's labor intensive for and reads it aloud. Students who curriculum? teachers, and students in a tradi- Please visit our website: don't understand a particular word tional reading class can get inad- www.edletter.org can get a definition with a click of vertently left out of the discussions, the mouse. especially in a large class. Technol- Currently on the web: Occasionally, a cartoon genie appears on screen and ogy makes it possible for each student to directly engage The Research Feature prompts them to stop and think more deeply about the the text through prompts embedded in the story itself and This month's focus is on expanding opportunities for text. It may ask them to summarize what they've read, various decoding supportssupplemented, of course, by special needs students, with predict what happens next, formulate the kinds of ques- interactions with the teacher, who spends his classroom online links and other tions teachers might ask, and seek to clarify confusing time monitoring student progress and providing targeted resources. passages. If they forget what those strategies entail, the guidance to individual students. The Forum Feature genie offers hints. The students type their responses into a Activist Ron Unz and Harvard box at the bottom of the screena journal that will later New Expectations scholar Catherine Snow help them and their teacher assess their progress. The Why is access to age-appropriate books from the general square off in a spirited debate about bilingual education. teacher moves among the children, answering questions curriculum so important? For one thing, researchers say, the genie can't and prompting them furtherto be more such books are interesting to students and relevant to Also visit our past research features, including those on specific in their responses, perhaps, or to consider another their lives, a key to motivation. Also, those who are ex- civic education, sexual- point of view. The class will eventually gather off-line to cluded from the general curriculum because of disabili- minority students, and violence prevention. 3 ties have less in common with their peers, doesn't just say every child needs to do prehension? a blow to self-esteem. Then there's the welleveryone agrees with thatbut Most schools can't accommodate law. Under the 1997 Individuals with Dis- that we need to broaden our thinking multiple learning styles because they rely abilities Education Act (IDEA) reautho- about what success is and how we meas- almost exclusively on print media. Writ- rization, special education students must ure it." ing in the Journal of Special Education Harvard be given a fair opportunity to learn what Technology, Rose explains: "Print pres- Education Letter their mainstream peers do in the general Brain Networks ents information one way for everyone, EDITOR David T. Gordon curriculum. Schools are expected to ac- In their writings, Meyer and Rose point to yet students' varied learning needs and PRODUCTION EDITOR commodate students' individual needs so recent brain research to bolster their argu- styles call for alternative formats. For ex- Dody Riggs that they can progress at a pace that is ment for multiple approaches to teaching ample, a bright student with dyslexia may ASSISTANT EDITOR Michael Sadowski cognitively challenging to them. Also, and learning. They note that neurologists be capable of understanding history and MARKETING many state standards ask schools to im- such as Richard Cytowic have identified science concepts, but his inability to de- Karen Walsh prove learning outcomes for all students, three distinct but interrelated brain net- code words prevents him from learning FACULTY EDITOR Richard F. Elmore including those with special needs. To ac- works at work in every learner. Glucose these concepts from printed books. A stu- INTERN complish this, such students need fresh the sugar that fuels the brainburns at dent with a visual impairment who cannot Rachel Parkin methods
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