NewsWatch, October 2001


	October 2001 Copyright © Information Today, Inc.
by Kathie Felix, News/Reviews Editor

News of the latest products and technology for K-12 may be sent directly to Kathie Felix at 5746 Union Mill Rd., PMB 605, Clifton, VA 20124 or to kfelix@infotoday.com.

NEWS

Education Statistics Projected to 2011
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has released projections for key education statistics, including stats on enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools, as well as enrollments and graduates of degree-granting institutions. For the nation, the tables, figures, and text contain data on enrollment, teachers, graduates, and expenditures for the past 14 years and projections to the year 2011. For the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the information contains data on projections of public elementary and secondary enrollment and public high school graduates to the year 2011. The report includes a methodology section describing models and assumptions used to develop national and state-level projections. NCES, http://nces.ed.gov/.

CIPA Workshop
The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and Leslie Harris & Associates have developed a half-day workshop to help school districts comply with the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) while keeping E-Rate and Title III ed-tech funding secure. The workshop—designed for school districts, library systems, and state associations of school boards, administrators, principals, and school legal counsel—is available at a cost of $2,000 plus expenses. CIPA Compliance Workshop/Leslie Harris & Associates, 202/478-6148.

HELPING HANDS

Curriculum Associates Grants
Three educators have been named to the Curriculum Associates Excellence in Teaching Cabinet. Elizabeth Rexford, a music educator, was selected for her project, "The Virtual Museum of Musical Instruments," a program that allows students to use common household items and their imaginations to create instruments and to study and experiment with sound. Gail McGoogan was honored for "As the Earth Turns," a project that uses the Internet to communicate with schools around the world as students study the Earth's rotation and its 24 time zones. Kay Johnson was selected for "Lights, Camera, Understanding," a program that puts students in the role of television producers as they invite health and safety professionals into the classroom where presentations are videotaped and edited for the school's morning television show. Each teacher received a $1,000 grant to complete her project in the coming school year, up to $500 in Curriculum Associates materials, and the opportunity to provide product feedback and perform product field tests in her classrooms. Curriculum Associates, 800/225-0248 or http://www.curriculumassociates.com/cabinet/.

Palm Awards $2.3 Million
In its second round of grant awards, the Palm Education Pioneer (PEP) program allocated $2.3 million in Palm hand-held units to elementary and secondary schools, colleges, and universities. Research from the grants will be used to determine best practices for integrating handhelds into the curriculum and teacher training. Among the new PEP research hubs are the Archdiocese of Dubuque School System in Dubuque, Iowa; the Beaufort County School District in Beaufort, South Carolina; and the Fremont Union High School District in Sunnyvale, California. Schools selected to receive PEP classroom grants include: Buford Elementary School in Lennox, California; Goodrich Middle School in Lincoln, Nebraska; Sherrard Elementary School in Moundsville, West Virginia; Cranford High School in Cranford, New Jersey; and Berkeley High School in Berkeley, California. A complete list of the 87 PEP K-12 grants and nine research hub awards is available online. Palm, http://www.palm.com/education/ or http://palmgrants.sri.com/.

LIBRARY NEWS

Teen Read Week
October14-20 is Teen Read Week 2001, a national literacy initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The celebration encourages teens to "read for the fun of it" to keep their reading skills sharp and to "Make Reading a Hobbit" (a nod to J.R.R. Tolkien) to encourage the habit of reading throughout their lives. Now in its fourth year, Teen Read Week has three goals: to give teens time to read for the fun of it, to allow teens to select their own reading material, and to help teens get in the habit of reading regularly and often. ALA, 800/545-2433 or http://www.ala.org/.

National School Library Media Program of the Year
The DeKalb County (Georgia) School System and the Corbett Elementary School(Tucson, Arizona) are the recipients of the 2001 National School Library Media Program of the Year Award. The winners, representing the large school district and single school categories, each received $8,000 for exemplary school library media programs that are fully integrated into the school's curriculum. An award was not given in the small school district category. The award, presented by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), is sponsored by Follett Library Resources. AASL/ALA, 800/545-2433 or http://www.ala.org/.

CLASSROOM RESOURCES

Assignment Discovery
The Discovery Channel airs "Land of the Mammoth," the 1,000th episode of Assignment Discovery on October 8. Based on the forensic studies of scientists who unearthed the Jarkov woolly mammoth in 1999, the program explores the Pleistocene epoch and theories for the mammoth's extinction. Assignment Discovery airs Monday-Friday from 9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. Commercial-free and copyright cleared, the programs are free for classroom use for 1 year. Each program includes discussion questions and suggested reading and resources. Related lesson plans and activities can be found online. Upcoming Assignment Discovery programs also include an entire week of programming for math educators. Discovery Channel School, 888/892-3424 or http://www.discoveryschool.com/.

Microsoft Learning
The Fall 2001 Microsoft Experience Learning Tour—for school administrators, teachers, faculty, and tech staff—provides free seminars nationwide on MS Windows XP, Office XP, and Encarta Class Server. The sessions provide "day in the life" scenarios focused on teaching and learning, productivity, and integrating Web tools and services. Information on tour locations and dates can be found online. Microsoft, http://www.microsoft.com/education/.

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