MAY 2006

Policy fails special-needs students

The government needs to rethink its policy of integrating students with special needs into ordinary schools, according to educationists, a legislator and parents.

While the idea of giving every child equal opportunities is commendable, experience has shown that such students often find themselves ridiculed, bullied and sometimes even physically abused, with the teachers at a loss on what to do, said a parent who asked not to be identified to protect her son.

The boy, a slow learner, had been admitted to Secondary Two of a mainstream school where his life was far from happy.

"He was always being bullied and he often told me he just didn't want to go to school anymore," she said, adding he even threatened to commit suicide.

The parent said she had agreed to allow her son to join what the government calls its inclusive education scheme in a bid to give him a normal school life.

But the reality was just the opposite, as he was constantly bullied and threatened and his food stolen or dumped by his classmates.

She said that because of fear of his classmates, he often skipped school activities. However, his teachers would not accept his explanations and he was usually punished or disciplined.

Saddened by her son's experiences, she finally decided to send him to a special education school where his life has become happier and where he has been able to make friends with classmates.

Another parent said her 17-year-old autistic son suffered a similar fate as a Secondary Five student. Since his communication skills are not good, he is physically and mentally bullied by his classmates. She said he had returned home with severe injuries several times.

She said although she had reported the abuses to the principal, teachers as well as the police, they did little to help her son.

"The idea of integrating the students is fine but I think the teachers should get proper teaching on how to deal with children who have special education needs," she said.
Another woman who came forward has a son who was diagnosed as being intellectually disabled, hyperactive and with impaired hearing.

Unlike other intellectually disabled students, her son can turn violent when provoked and for this he gets punished by school authorities.

Integrated education was introduced in 1997 as a two-year pilot project. At that time, 49 students with special education needs were placed into seven primary and two secondary schools. The program covered five special needs types - mild intellectual disability, autism, visual impairment, hearing impairment and physical disability.

For schools accepting such students, the Education and Manpower Bureau arranged one teacher for five special needs students admitted, and an additional assistant for ever eight students.

In 2003-04, the bureau adopted a new system - the whole-school approach. The approach was described as "a step forward" in integrated education in which every person in the school has a part to play in supporting students with special needs.

A new funding model, based on a per-capita grant for each student with learning difficulties or special needs, was also introduced. The government offers a school HK$10,000 to HK$20,000 for each student with special educational needs.

Students with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, specific learning difficulties and speech and language impairment are also included in this.

However, Special Education Society of Hong Kong chairman Andrew Tse Chung-yee said the whole-school approach only made it harder for some schools.

"These schools do not know in advance the disorders from which the students may be suffering and consequently their teachers may not know how to handle these students," Tse said.

The limited funds available also make it difficult for these schools to hire the professional teachers required.

"The government rushed into the scheme without proper planning. Without enough support, schools cannot cope with the change," Tse said.

Support Group on Integrated Education convenor Heidi Hui Sim-kiu, who is also a field instructor with Hong Kong University's Department of Social Work and Social Administration, said the education bureau did not draw up detailed plans before implementing the whole-school approach.

"Schools are expected to accept students suffering from a wide variety of special education needs. However, most teachers are not trained to handle such students and consequently the children do not get proper care," Hui said.

"It would be better if various schools were each designated to handle just one or two types of learning disabilities so that teachers will be better able to diagnose their problems."

Legislator Fernando Cheung Chiu- hung, who represents the social welfare sector, accused the government of abrogating its responsibility in order to save money.

He said under the old model of integrated education, the unit cost per student for half a year was HK$41,500, while under the new funding model it is just HK$10,000 to HK$20,000.

The Standard
April 21, 2006
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?
pp_cat=11&art_id=17017&sid=7589165&con_type=1


Disabled girl wins right to compete
Howard County must include wheelchair user, judge declares

A federal judge in Baltimore granted a preliminary injunction yesterday that will allow a Howard County athlete who uses a wheelchair to compete in track alongside nondisabled competitors.

The Maryland Disability Law Center filed suit on behalf of Tatyana McFadden, 16, a sophomore at Atholton High School and winner of two medals at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, Greece. McFadden had been denied the chance to race alongside non-wheelchair users and to have her choice of competitive events.

The ruling could provide assurances of equal treatment for disabled students seeking to compete in athletics at schools across the state, said Lauren Young, director of litigation at the law center.

"We're thrilled, not only for her, but the school system got a loud and clear message that kids with disabilities get a chance to participate alongside the kids without disabilities in sports at their schools," Young said. "I think other schools in Maryland will hopefully look at this carefully, that they do have an obligation to include all students in athletics."

Schools in Iowa, New Jersey, Minnesota and Washington allow wheelchair athletes to compete alongside able- bodied athletes in some events, according to advocates for the disabled.

A hearing to decide the case on its merits - in which a permanent ruling would be issued - has not been scheduled, Young said.

But the decision by U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis will allow McFadden to compete alongside nondisabled students for the remainder of the season.

"The more I hear your argument, the more transparently arbitrary and capricious it becomes," Davis told the lawyers for Howard County schools, according to the Associated Press. "She's not suing for blue ribbons, gold ribbons or money - she just wants to be out there when everyone else is out there."

Sydney L. Cousin, superintendent of Howard County schools, said last night that the school system will follow the judge's order. But he pointed out that the decision is not permanent.

"This lawsuit came as a surprise to me because we had been working collaboratively with Tatyana and her family," Cousin said. "I think that in Howard County, we went further than anyone else in the state, to try to encourage the participation of disabled athletes."

McFadden's lawyer argued that the school system is not complying with the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 504 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in federally funded programs and activities.

Tatyana, who was born with spina bifida, said last night that she is looking forward to competing tomorrow in a meet at Long Reach High School."I was really nervous at first, because I didn't know what to expect. ... But once the case got going, everything was good; the judge understood my side," she said. "This is important to me because I wanted to get the same thrill and the same experience as all the other high school students. There's no competition by myself. It was lonely and embarrassing, and I just didn't like it. Other competitors would come up to me and they would say, 'Good race,' but it wasn't really a good race because I was running by myself."

Her mother, Deborah McFadden, said she has gotten calls from parents of disabled children in Baltimore, Frederick and Harford counties expressing their support. She added that she was gratified by the judge's decision.

"It was such a fabulous hearing," McFadden said. "The judge was unbelievable. I was just choked up."

She was initially hesitant about suing but said that she was inspired by her daughter's tenacity in the face of so many obstacles.

"It's emotionally fatiguing, and financially. ... But when my daughter came to me and said, 'I really want to run,' ... I don't think the school system understood. I didn't sue for a million dollars. I said, 'I'm going to sue for opportunity.' I wasn't trying to be vindictive or mean," she said.

She said the courtroom was filled with Tatyana's friends and that she was very proud of her daughter, who made a promise to her younger sister Hannah, 10, who is an amputee.

"Here's a young girl getting ready to testify, she turned to her 10-year-old sister, and said, 'Hannah, you'll never have to fight to run.'" Deborah McFadden said.

Nicole Fuller
nicole.fuller@baltsun.com
Sun Reporter
April 18, 2006
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/howard/
bal-te.md.track18apr18,0,5615661.story?track=rss


Teenager in a Wheelchair Reaches a Racing Milestone
Paralympic Athlete Competes Alongside Runners at Track Meet

Tatyana McFadden waited, poised for the starting gun. Then the pop cracked the perfect April sky, and the 16-year-old was off, racing, shining bright brown ponytail flying, arms stroking in powerful arcs, wheeling her chair forward around the track.

"Go, Taty, go!" girls shouted from the grass as she hurtled forward alongside fellow racers. This race was what she had dreamed of, not like the others when she raced alone and lonely, the only athlete in a wheelchair. This race was alongside runners powered by their legs.

"It felt great," she murmured shyly afterward. "It was amazing."

So amazing, in fact, that the sophomore at Atholton High School in Howard County raced an extra lap in the 1,600-meter race, her first of the day.

Yesterday's track meet at Long Reach High School in Columbia marked a milestone for the Howard school system and for McFadden, a gifted wheelchair athlete who waged a legal battle to be right where she was yesterday, racing alongside, but not against, able-bodied athletes instead of separately.

She was scored separately and finished the 1,600-meter race in 4 minutes 37.12 seconds; Long Reach sophomore Keri Wilson won the other race in 5:38. In the 400-meter dash, McFadden finished in 59.16 seconds, behind runner Jamese Cobb of Long Reach, who ran a 59.09.

A preliminary injunction issued Monday in Baltimore by U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis cleared the way for McFadden to participate in yesterday's meet. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed against the Howard County Board of Education by McFadden and her mother, Deborah.

"It's about being in high school, being with friends," said Deborah McFadden. Riding the team bus and "going out for pizza afterward."

Until yesterday's meet, the school system had allowed the teenager, born with spina bifida and paralyzed from the waist down, to practice and travel with the track team, the Atholton Raiders. But at meets, she had been limited to racing in events designated for wheelchair athletes. School officials said they were working hard to accommodate McFadden and other disabled athletes but contended that allowing wheelchair racers and runners to compete at the same time could cause safety problems and change the nature of the sport.

Monday's injunction ordered the school system to stop barring McFadden from "participation in track events with non-disabled students in interscholastic track meets sponsored by or held in Howard County and from excluding her from participation in racing events otherwise available to students on the Atholton Raiders track team, due to her disability." Her lawsuit was based upon Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which the judge cited in his ruling.

However, legal wrangling about the conditions under which McFadden would be allowed to participate continued until less than two hours before the start of the meet.

School officials interpreted the ruling to mean McFadden should be required to compete against peers and earn points for her team based upon her finish against the other athletes.

But McFadden, her mother and their attorney, Lauren Young of the Maryland Disability Law Center, expressed dismay at that approach, saying McFadden had sought permission to compete only at the same time as other runners, not directly against them.

In a 12:50 p.m. conference call yesterday, participants on both sides said Davis clarified his ruling.

Davis said McFadden would compete in a separate wheelchair event that would take place alongside able-bodied competitors, according to Deborah McFadden and Mike Williams, coordinator of athletics for the school system. The winner of the other race would still receive five points toward the team's overall score, and McFadden would receive one point for every event she completed up to four events, as she did before.

For McFadden, who spent her early years in a Russian orphanage before being adopted at age 6 by Deborah McFadden, the joy of yesterday's meet was worth the wait.

"This is about doing the one thing I have always wanted: getting to run with my friends and teammates," McFadden said. "This is so meaningful because I've waited a long time for this. It isn't about winning today. It's about getting the opportunity."

In two other races, McFadden posted a time of 30.62 seconds in the 200-meter dash, which was well behind Long Reach freshman Funmi Alabi, who won in 25.63; and 2:11 in the 800-meter run, with teammate Alison Smith winning in 2:25.42.

Before the runners took to the track, Long Reach senior Devan Miles said she was a little nervous. "I'm not used to having someone come up behind you in a wheelchair," Miles said. "It's going to sound weird because usually it's someone running, but now it will be the sound of wheels. I just have to go out there and run my best."

Atholton freshman Alissa Abitante said one of her friends from another team said she worried about getting "trampled." But she told her friend not to worry. McFadden "will move around you," Abitante said. "She's so good at this."

For others, there was little to worry about. It was simply a day to compete alongside a world-class wheelchair athlete who captured two medals at the Paralympic Games in Athens in 2004.

"Going against her doesn't bother me as long as she doesn't run me over, but really, I'm cool with running with her," said Keri Wilson before the start of the 1,600. When the race was over, she said: "It wasn't a problem at all. I was nervous at first, but when I saw how fast she was going, it made me want to run faster."

Mary Otto and Jon Gallo
Washington Post Staff Writers
April 20, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2006/04/19/AR2006041902659.html?nav=hcmodule


Extra 1,500 teachers employed to help special needs pupils

An additional 1,500 primary school teachers have been employed over the past year to help cater for children with special needs, it was confirmed today.

Education Minister Mary Hanafin said the extra teachers were targeted at providing extra support for children with special needs, those from disadvantaged areas and children who need help with their English.

“These additional teachers have made an immeasurable difference to the lives of all these children and are also providing vital backup for classroom teachers in helping these children,” she told the annual Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) congress in Killarney, Co Kerry.

“If we had just put these extra teachers into classrooms instead of into these priority areas they would have done a lot to reduce class size in our schools. But then we wouldn’t have been able to put the resources that were needed into special education, disadvantage and language support.”

The Government was heavily criticised last week after a survey revealed thousands of youngsters with learning difficulties were awaiting psychiatric assessment.

A study of 177 schools found 5% of students have special needs, but only one third of schools employ staff trained to meet these demands.

Ms Hanafin admitted the Government’s record on the issue had been poor and insisted that the provision of extra supports for children with special needs was close to her heart.

“There is no doubt that the record of the state over decades in supporting children with special needs was very poor and that we have really only risen to this challenge in recent years,” she said.“

However, remarkable progress has been made and indeed there are now more than 5,000 teachers – or a fifth of the entire primary teaching force – working specifically with children with special needs and learning difficulties. And alongside them are 6,000 special needs assistants.”

Ms Hanafin said 3,400 extra teachers have been employed in schools since 2002 and 500 more teachers were being hired for next September to reduce class size.

Issues being debated by the country’s 60,000 school teachers at their annual trade union conferences include student misbehaviour, class sizes and the funding of education.

The minister told the teachers gathered that a strategy to cater for the needs of non-English speaking children was being developed.

Ms Hanafin said the number of staff employed in the Garda Central Vetting Unit was being doubled to allow vetting to be extended on a phased basis to all people who have unsupervised access to children in schools.

The conference heard a 30-strong team of language experts would be put in place in the autumn to work with teachers to improve their fluency in the Irish language and emphasise interesting ways of teaching it.

“I am completely opposed to proposals to abandon compulsory Irish for the Leaving Cert. What we must do is ensure that young people enjoy learning the language, not encourage them turn their back on it,” she said. “Reform, rather than rejection is the way to go.”

Ireland On-Line
April 18, 2006
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=179789254&p=y7978996x


New York Offers Housing Subsidy as Teacher Lure

New York City will offer housing subsidies of up to $14,600 to entice new math, science and special education teachers to work in the city's most challenging schools, in one of the most aggressive housing incentive programs in the nation to address a chronic shortage of qualified educators in these specialties.

To be eligible for the subsidies, teachers must have at least two years' experience. City officials said they hoped the program, to be announced by the city Education Department today, would immediately lead to the hiring of an extra 100 teachers for September and, with other recruitment efforts, ultimately help fill as many as 600 positions now held by teachers without the proper credentials.

Under terms of the program, negotiated with the city teachers' union, the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will pay as much as $5,000 up front to the recruits for housing expenses, including the cost of moving to the New York area, a down payment on buying a home, or broker fees and security deposits for renters.

The program will also pay a $400 monthly housing stipend for two years. Teachers can live wherever they want within the metropolitan region but must commit to work for three years in one of New York City's toughest middle schools or high schools. The city's effort comes as the nation faces a chronic shortage of math, science and special education teachers that has sparked heavy competition to court such educators.

City education officials said they planned to market the new program forcefully on recruiting trips to the Northwest, the Southeast and especially California, where housing costs are also high.
Former New York City teachers who have been out of the system for at least two years will also be eligible for the subsidies. Teachers already living in the New York area who switch to the city schools could simply use the money to pay their existing rent or mortgage.

"What you are starting to see is a very different compensation structure for teachers in the City of New York, different from the traditional lockstep thinking on teacher pay and seniority," Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein said in an interview yesterday, "based on system need and performance."

Mr. Klein also cited a provision in the latest city teachers' contract, approved this fall, that created a new master teacher position with additional pay of $10,000 a year. "The differentials will have power to attract people," Mr. Klein said, "to give our city a competitive advantage."

Depending on experience, teachers eligible for the subsidies will earn base salaries of $45,600 to $69,840 a year. The city projects that the housing assistance will cost about $15,000 per teacher, including federal payroll taxes and other ancillary charges, for a total of perhaps $1.5 million a year until the shortage abates.

While that is a relatively minor sum in the context of the system's annual budget of more than $15 billion, officials said the program had a value that far outstripped its cost.

"It has a major impact as far as really sending a signal to those teachers that we want you and will be really creative in attracting you here," said Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, the mayor's top education aide at City Hall.

Elizabeth Arons, the city Education Department's chief executive for human resources, said that for September the city expected that it would need to hire 800 math teachers, 450 science teachers and 1,300 special education teachers simply to fill routine vacancies created by retirements, sabbaticals, leaves of absence and attrition.

Most of these jobs will be staffed by participants in alternative teaching certification programs like Teach for America and the New York City Teaching Fellows, she said. Even once these positions are filled, there will be about 100 to 200 positions in each specialty filled by a teacher not specifically certified for that subject.

It is common for science teachers to be assigned to math classes and vice versa and in some schools English and history teachers also must teach math and science.

Ms. Arons said the housing incentives were aimed at experienced teachers from other districts and those who had left the profession largely because there were so few teachers coming out of graduate schools certified to teach science or math. "There are no math and science teachers coming out of universities," she said. "This is not anything that's new, it's across the nation. It's been talked about for the last 20 years. We are all faced with the alternative structures."

The shortage of math and science teachers has recently moved to the forefront of the nation's education agenda. According to a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences, nearly 60 percent of eighth graders in American schools — double the international average — are taught math by teachers who neither majored in math nor studied it to pass a certification exam.

President Bush this year proposed to retrain teachers to increase the ranks of advanced placement and international baccalaureate teachers in math and science by 70,000 over four years.

The shortage of qualified math and science and special education teachers has also become a much more urgent problem for states and school districts because of the federal No Child Left Behind law, which sanctions schools that do not make sufficient annual progress in certain subjects.

The law currently requires annual testing in English and math and will mandate testing in science beginning in the 2007-8 school year. In addition, states and districts must show progress among various subgroups of students, among them children receiving special education services.

Randi Weingaren, the president of the teachers' union, the United Federation of Teachers, said that her union had growing concerns that the state might force the transfer of veteran teachers into struggling schools if steps were not taken to create incentives and get volunteers.

"We solved the problem in probably one of the most innovative ways we could," she said. "Affordable housing is really important to recruit and retain teachers."

The deal marked a rare example of cooperation between the union and the Bloomberg administration.

While other school districts across the country have sought to make housing more affordable for teachers, experts said New York City's program appeared to be one of the most concerted and generous efforts specifically aimed at teachers in subject areas with the worst shortages. Chicago, for instance, offers up to $7,500 in housing aid to all teachers but requires newly hired teachers to live in the city.

In California, a state program offers teachers substantial help with the down payment on a home that depending on the local market can amount to $20,000 or more. But the money must be repaid.

And some local districts, like Santa Clara and San Jose, in extremely hot housing markets have their own programs that include monthly stipends or subsidized rentals in district-owned housing developments. When programs are combined, some teachers can get as much as $100,000 in home-buying help, said Ken Giebel, a spokesman for the California Housing Finance Agency. But much of the money has to be repaid.

In New York City, teachers who get the housing assistance would likely also be eligible for four years of up to $3,400 in annual tuition reimbursement from New York State under a separate incentive plan promoted by the Pataki administration several years ago to recruit educators into high-needs schools.

And they would potentially be eligible to use their housing assistance from the city in conjunction with an existing federal program called Teacher Next Door that offers teachers the chance to buy homes in depressed urban neighborhoods at half price.

Andrew M. Cuomo, who as federal housing secretary helped create the Teacher Next Door program, praised New York City's new effort. "It's smart," said Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who is running for State Attorney General. "The cities tend to pay lower salaries than the surrounding suburbs and the cost of housing is higher, so it's double trouble."

Teachers receiving housing assistance will have to sign a contract requiring them to repay part of the money if they fail to serve three years in a struggling school.

David M. Herszenhorn
The New York Times
April 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/19/nyregion/19teach.html?_
r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1145869684-qsl1frGut5o0+RNC+VnxKQ&oref=slogin


MPS aims to provide free Web access
Students, staff would get in-home wireless Internet

Looking to give poorer students the technological muscle to scale the "digital divide," the Milwaukee Public Schools district is turning to the promise of an emerging wireless service described as "Wi-Fi on steroids."

Using WiMax, MPS would provide free broadband Internet service to the homes of all MPS students and staff.

The district would be one of the first public entities in the country to launch a WiMax system, using television channels that the Federal Communications Commission allocated for educational purposes. A pilot system covering roughly 5 square miles is scheduled to be operating by August 2007.

James Davis, MPS director of technology, said he sees WiMax as the means to provide Internet access to students from families too poor to afford a phone line, for students who change addresses faster than service providers. Without this type of initiative, those students would fall further behind their peers, adding to the "digital divide," Davis said.

Even those students with computers at home are at a disadvantage when their parents can't afford monthly charges, even for a dial-up connection. Providing them with computers is another challenge that MPS is trying to tackle in other ways.

Clarence Johnson, executive director of Neighborhood House, sees the children Davis is talking about every weekday in the computer room of the social service center on the west side. On any day, 75 to 100 youths crowd into the room with 20 computers.

"The kids we serve who don't have computer access at home, they may not be that much further behind kids in their same school, but when they think about going to college and going to work, they're competing with kids who have skills our kids don't have," Johnson said.

"It's not just widening the technology gap, but it's widening the educational gap. Others are acquiring things that much faster, and those who aren't are losing that much faster.

"It's not a very good equation."

2-way communication

The WiMax service would be based on the MPS television channels, which the FCC licensed as part of the Educational Broadband Service. MPS, Milwaukee Area Technical College and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have four channels each at the 2.5GHz frequency.

Those channels had been used to broadcast educational programs into classrooms in a one-way exchange of information. The WiMax system would provide for the two-way exchange of massive amounts of data.

What separates WiMax from Wi-Fi, which the city is pursuing to provide a citywide wireless network, is the licensed spectrum in which the former is to be built.

That television bandwidth and the WiMax technology allow a single antenna to serve users several miles away, requiring fewer antennas to serve a larger area. The Wi-Fi system being built to cover the city, for example, would use antennas that serve users roughly within 200 feet.
The MPS WiMax service could be integrated with the city's Wi-Fi service in the future.
Davis estimated that the test system MPS is developing would cost about $500,000. The district is to contract with a vendor to provide the equipment and installation.

The Milwaukee Area Instructional Network, including MATC, MPS and UWM, has been allocated a $440,000 grant from the federal Department of Commerce to pursue the WiMax system.

The two colleges declined to participate, however, and only MPS agreed to kick in the $220,000 for the local match in that grant program.

With the reduced local match, Davis estimated that the federal contribution would be $200,000.

MATC officials plan to pursue a WiMax network that would serve its campus buildings, using part of its educational television bandwidth.

Initially, members of the Milwaukee Area Instructional Network partnership had considered a proposal to build three interlocking systems that would serve students in a 35-square-mile area. That would cost $4 million.

Other plans being reviewed would focus the WiMax network on the nine city ZIP codes that make up the poorest sections of the area.

Some MATC board members and members of the college's Technology Committee are disappointed that the school has not taken a more aggressive approach.

"I had hoped there would be recognition that this was an opportunity," said Peter Earle, an MATC board member. "The silver lining is that the opportunity has not been lost.
"We're just not going to do this at this time."

Use them or lose them

One impetus driving the pursuit of WiMax is a deadline for the schools to use the educational channels that the FCC allocated decades ago. Those channels had been used to broadcast educational programs, but only within the schools and only in a one-way communication format.

The FCC has directed the schools to put those channels, 12 in all, to use by 2008. If not put to use, they are to be auctioned off, likely to vendors looking for frequencies for their own wireless networks.

"This wireless spectrum is beachfront property; it's priceless," Davis said.

The public schools, UWM and MATC all will be looking at the potential for leasing some of their spectrum to wireless Internet providers and maintaining some of it for educational uses.

As envisioned, the MPS wireless network would give students access to homework assignments and lessons, along with research materials. Parents would have access to grades, schedules and other district information.

"I think the spirit is good and the technology is there," Milwaukee School Board member Jennifer Morales said. "It's going to be a necessity for our community to be able to log into our system."

TOM HELD
theld@journalsentinel.com
April 17, 2006
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=416545


S. Florida educators use latest technology in the classroom

The students in Cheryl Zuckerman's sign-language class at Fort Lauderdale's Dillard High recently exchanged ideas with teenagers at Dunkirk High near Buffalo, N.Y., seemingly oblivious to the camera positioned in the far corner in their classroom.

One of Zuckerman's students joked about how cold it must be up north.

At Broward School Board headquarters, Vijay Sonty watched the conversation on a split-screen computer monitor.

''This is just the beginning -- we're going to cross new boundaries in education,'' boasted Sonty, head of technology for the Broward school district.

Sonty and other South Florida educators, including those at Coral Gables Senior High in Miami-Dade, are using the latest advances in technology to create what they say will be the future of education -- a classroom without walls. From podcasting to iTunes to video conferencing, they're making an ambitious push to tap into a generation that has become increasingly tech savvy.

For the past few months, students at Dillard have been communicating with high-schoolers in Dunkirk by means of a camera and computer software that link both classrooms. The students share lessons and advice about signing during the hour-long classes, viewing live images of their counterparts beamed over a television screen.

''I think we're further along than them because they get a lot of tips from us,'' said sophomore Candace Stokes. ``It was weird at first, but we got used to it. . . . You don't even notice the camera in the room.''

LECTURES ON DEMAND

Citing the benefits of video conferencing during School Board meetings, Broward officials plan to use the same technology to produce class lectures on demand. A video-conferencing device can be wheeled into any Broward classroom, then linked to a control unit in district offices.

The live content will be available for students, administrators and parents to view. The equipment carries a $4 million price tag, but most of the cost will be reimbursed through E-rate, a federally funded program that sponsors technology in education, said Sonty.

Broward officials also plan to launch the iTunes eSchool Project in collaboration with Apple this summer, enabling students in all grades to download content from the classroom onto their iPods in much the same way they do iTunes.

Advocates say the innovation will help expand the audience of veteran teachers. For example, students could download math and science lectures by teachers from other schools whose methods have proved to be most successful.

''Very strong teachers will be able to reach more students,'' said systems analyst Kevin Williams.

Students who are home-schooled, hospitalized or incarcerated would also benefit from such on-demand lectures, which would be accessible through a central database.

New technology has allowed some students in Broward to take ''virtual'' field trips to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The program works through a partnership with museum curators who stream live content into Broward classrooms. For example, video of the Discovery ''Return to Flight'' shuttle launch last summer was streamed into several classrooms throughout the district.

Educators in Miami-Dade say they're just starting to tap into what's hip among their students. At Coral Gables Senior High, art studio teacher David Taylor said iPods have become the calling card for cool.

''I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about,'' said Taylor, who got an iPod for Christmas. ``Most of my students are always raving about the device.''

In minutes, he was converted.

But Taylor decided his new toy could be an educational tool. He positioned a camera and tripod in his classroom. Students can now download his lectures onto their iPods -- a first in Miami-Dade public schools.

''Nothing can ever take the place of the classroom, but we're reinforcing what we teach through technology,'' said Taylor. ``We're tapping into what's popular with kids to further our teaching methods. . . . It's revolutionary.''

On a recent morning at Gables Senior High, the scene in Taylor's classroom reflected a generation raised on gigabytes.

Students sat at desks perusing the Internet. A teenage girl clicked into a simulated painting program. A podcast of a water drop under a microscope lens gave a captivating view of nature's hidden secrets. Giant amoebas swam alongside protozoa.

Taylor also downloaded a presentation he produced with a history teacher.

The video of World War II began with a short narration. Sirens echoed from a newsreel of Germany's attack on Poland. In 30 minutes, the onset of Hitler's madness was told in a blitz of flashing clips and sound bites.

''It's just amazing how technology can take a lesson on World War II and make it very engaging,'' he said.

Students are taking notice.

EXAM PREP

''It really helps to be able to download the lectures . . . especially history class, since it requires a lot of note-taking,'' said 12th-grader Krystina Francois.

Her iPod is stocked with the latest Sunday-night episodes of Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy, but Francois said she will be adding class lectures as well.

''It will really help when it's time for exams,'' she said.

Top Miami-Dade officials say they are in tune with technology's role in the classroom.
''We have to contend with where the culture is headed in terms of technology,'' said Miami-Dade district spokesman Joseph Garcia. ``Anytime we can utilize the kinds of tools students are used to is going to accrue to their benefit.''

Several months ago, the Miami-Dade School Board approved a five-year technology plan that includes an initiative to upgrade to the most up-to-date computer software within the classroom, as well as train teachers on using those programs.

Said Taylor: ``These kids are going to use their iPods . . . but we can make it a device beyond the scope of music videos.''

Sonty, the Broward schools' technology chief, agrees.

''It's 24/7 learning,'' he said. ``We're creating a mechanism in which students and teachers can create content, publish content and access content.''

But the effort to expand the use of technology in schools is not free of hurdles.

The Broward School Board recently voted to ban iPods and laptops from school grounds. Several board members proposed allowing the devices on campus if they're turned off, or with permission of an instructor, but Superintendent Frank Till said principals wanted them banned altogether.

''We're living in a connected world and there are a lot of devices that are always on and always connected. . . . The teachers just need to tell students when to turn them off,'' said Sonty.

He said educators bent on tradition will have to adapt to an ever-changing world or be left behind.

``This is the 21st century -- we can't go back to the chalk-and-blackboard model.''

Peter Bailey
pbailey@MiamiHerald.com
The Miami Herald
April 17, 2006


Tooth Fillings With Mercury Are Held Safe

Two long-awaited studies have found no evidence that dental fillings containing mercury can cause brain damage or other neurological problems in children, researchers plan to report on Wednesday.

Some experts called the findings reassuring. But the studies, which were financed by the federal government, are unlikely to end the debate over the long-term effects of what are known as amalgam fillings, and some people accused the researchers of conducting unethical experiments on children.

Amalgam fillings, also called silver fillings, are made of mercury and other metals and have been used by dentists for more than a century. But their use has declined in recent years as doctors switch to resin composite fillings, considered more appealing because they are white.

Some advocacy groups and some dentists have long contended that the mercury in fillings can leach into the body and cause harmful neurological effects, including autism.

The latest studies are being published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

"We didn't see any indications of harm to these kids," said Dr. Timothy DeRouen, a professor of biostatistics and dental public health sciences at the University of Washington, who led a study of 507 children, ages 8 to 10, in Portugal to determine whether mercury fillings had any neurological effects. "And we tested them repeatedly over seven years."

The other study, led by Dr. Sonja McKinlay of the New England Research Institutes, looked at the effect on intelligence, memory and other mental functions, and kidney function. It involved 534 children in New England, ages 6 to 10.

Neither study examined autism. Dr. David Bellinger, an author of the New England study, said the disorder was too rare to be studied in a sample of that size.

The studies were financed by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.
An official of the American Dental Association said the studies offered convincing confirmation of what previous studies had said. "This will give patients the reassurance they are making a safe and good choice," said the official, Dr. Frederick Eichmiller, director of the association's Paffenbarger Research Center.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/19/health/19mercury.html#