Celebrate the value of libraries and literacy this September

International Literacy Day is Sept. 8 CHICAGO – Open the door to literacy and lifelong learning for students of all ages by signing up for a library card today. Held every September, Library Card Sign-up Month is a time when the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries around the country work to remind parents that a library card is the most important school supply of all. Every day librarians and...

Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits

In recent years, cognitive scientists have shown that a few simple techniques can reliably improve what matters most: how much a student learns from studying. The findings can help anyone, from a fourth grader doing long division to a retiree taking on a new language. But they directly contradict much of the common wisdom about good study habits, and they have not caught on. For instance, instead of sticking to one...

Kindergarten: It’s the New First Grade

Chicago Tribune Forget cookies and milk, nap time and finger painting. Kindergarten has gotten serious in the past 20 years — and even more so in the past 10. Due to forces ranging from rising parental expectations to the No Child Left Behind Act, many children now attend full-day programs complete with homework and standardized testing. “Basically, kindergartens have become first grades,” said...

National Crisis: Not Much Training for Some Special-Ed Teachers

Standing at the front of a large, darkened room in a Capitol Avenue office building in late July, teacher-trainer Betty Menacher clicked quickly through a presentation on a highly technical but essential topic — how to assess students’ reading. Her audience was a group of career-switchers who within weeks would be using what they’d learned during this five-week crash course in tackling one of...

Students Quiz Education Sec. Arne Duncan

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has spent much of the back-to-school season talking with teachers and parents. His department recently oversaw the awarding of more than $4 billion to public schools in select states. While Duncan has addressed countless teachers in recent weeks, now, he tackles students’ questions. ...

Students Face New Textbook Picks: Rent vs. Buy, Print vs. E-book

With another summer ending, the time has come to ask the perennial question: Could this be the year higher education finally embraces the e-book? Some think that developments since the last buying cycle, particularly the arrival of Apple’s iPad computing tablet, might foreshadow an especially good year for electronic texts. ...