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Vol. 10 No. 3 — May/June 2003

NetNews

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has released "Connected to the Future," a new study documenting recent increases in Internet use by American children of all ages, income, and ethnicity. Among the study's findings: In 2002, 83 percent of American family households (with at least one child aged 2-17) owned a computer and 78 percent of children lived in a home in which either they or a parent used the Internet. This represents an increase over 2000, when 64 percent of family households owned a computer and 46 percent of children lived in a home where the Internet was accessed. The study also found that in households with Internet access today, children are spending more time with digital media than with television. For teens, this adds up to about 24 minutes per day more time spent with digital media—3.5 hours a day with digital media, compared to 3.1 hours per day spent with television. Corporation for Public Broadcasting, http://www.cpb.org/.

NetLearning

AOL@SCHOOL on Reading

AOL@SCHOOL has increased its focus on reading for primary and elementary learners with the addition of four new partners: Bill Cosby's PicturePages, Headsprout, ReadNet, and iKnowthat.
com. Bill Cosby's PicturePages provide early reading readiness activities and allow parents to monitor learning and development. Headsprout offers phonics reading lessons targeted to K-2 students and information for parents and teachers on phonics-based reading programs and guidelines. ReadNet provides customized "Create-A-Reader" exercises designed to help students master reading skills and become more computer literate. iKnowthat.com offers interactive learning activities in science, math, and language arts for primary and elementary audiences. These resources are available for free only through AOL@SCHOOL. AOL@SCHOOL, http://www.aolatschool.com/ or http://www.aol.com/.

NetTeaching

Macromedia MX K-12 Staff Development Guide

Macromedia has developed a curriculum designed to help K-12 schools and districts provide educators with basic Web design workshops using Macromedia tools. The Staff Development Guide includes four 1-day workshops designed to help educators learn to apply the company's professional Web tools in the classroom. The workshops cover building Web graphics, creating an electronic portfolio, building an interactive animation, and maintaining consistency in Web sites. Trainer materials and participant materials are available. The curriculum materials are compatible with both Mac and Windows operating systems. The workshops correlate to International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards. The introductory price for the Guide is $399. Macromedia, 800/457-1774 or http://www.macromedia.com/resources/education/.

Literacy and Reading Professional Development

Holt, Rinehart, and Winston has launched two Web-based professional development courses designed to help teachers work with struggling readers and give administrators tools to build school-wide literacy programs. The Holt Professional Development series courses are titled Teaching Reading to All Students, Grades 6-8 and Teaching Literacy to All Students, Grades 6-12. The online software combines video segments of best practices in the classroom with customized interactive Web pages created to extend and reinforce the training. Each lesson focuses on an area of reading instruction and includes presentations by area experts or master teachers, model lessons, and resources, including articles, assessment forms, and links to related Web sites. The series was originally developed by ACTV, Inc., in collaboration with the San Diego County Office of Education. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 800/992-1627 or http://www.hrw.com/.

Net Libraries

BookSource

BookSource: Nonfiction, an online database, provides text and abstracts for 1,000 popular nonfiction books. The database includes titles on science, social studies, history, and literature, as well as current information on careers, health, sports, adventure, and technology. The information includes citations of nationally developed benchmarks, with live links to all content in the database sharing the same benchmark. The 170 benchmarks cover the content areas of language arts, civics, earth and space sciences, physical sciences, U.S. history, and world history. The database is full text and fully searchable. Additional updates are provided on an ongoing basis. An annual subscription is required. EBSCO, 800/653-2726 or http://www.ebsco.com/.

NETTOOLS

BRIGANCE Screens

The BRIGANCE Screens Online Scoring Service provides customized developmental and early academic skills reports on children from preschool through 1st grade. To work with the service's point-and-click data sheets, educators input data once and the online software generates or updates customized reports detailing at-risk cutoff scores, growth indicators, age equivalents, and evidence-based standard scores. The system also provides districts with secure data management capabilities for tasks such as sorting program-wide data or generating custom reports. The service includes free online training at http://www.brigance.com/. Curriculum Associates, 800/225-0248 or http://www.curriculumassociates.com/.

Florida's Student Advising Site

FACTS.org, Florida's official student advising Web site, connects the state's institutions and agencies to students to assist them in planning and managing their higher education. From this site, high school students can use one admissions application to apply to multiple Florida colleges. The site also allows high school students to view their transcripts and grades and compare them to Bright Futures Scholarship awards requirements. Additional resources include information on ways to earn college credit in high school, dual enrollment credits, college costs, career planning programs, occupational programs, degree programs, colleges, financial aid applications, degree audits, counseling handbooks, and more. Florida Department of Education, http://www.FACTS.org/.

PrincetonReview.com

PrincetonReview.com provides free tools and information about college and graduate school, careers, and financial options. The site enables students to research, select, apply to, prepare for, and learn how to pay for their higher education. A free college admissions newsletter isavailable. Earlier this school year, John Churchill of Wasilla, Alaska, became the one-millionth student to submit his college application electronically through the site's Embark application system. Princeton Review, http://www.PrincetonReview.com/