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Elementary School

Don't Buy the Numbers

Ron Berler | Posted 05.24.2013 | Impact
Ron Berler

How do you define a failing school? Brookside Elementary is located in a pleasant, middle-class neighborhood of split levels and tidy ranch homes, in Norwalk, Conn., a 50-minute train commute from New York.

My Privilege Can't Save Me -- or My Kids -- From High Stakes Testing

Lori Ungemah | Posted 04.01.2013 | Parents
Lori Ungemah

I did not think the culture of testing could reach me and my children in my white, upperclass neighborhood of Park Slope. I thought my race and class privilege could save my own children from an educational experience riddled with test preparation and test stress. I was wrong.

How I Revisited My Past With The Help Of Two Former Teachers

Lisa Belkin | Posted 03.26.2013 | Fifty
Lisa Belkin

I would not have 'known them anywhere.' Forty years is a long time, and we, all four of us, are now blurred and softened versions of the ones who'd spent nearly every day together long ago.

Why Aren't Low-Income Students Succeeding in School?

Carol J. Carter | Posted 05.19.2013 | Impact
Carol J. Carter

Academic challenges are often deep-seeded and begin in primary and secondary school, which when left unaddressed, often leads to remediation at the postsecondary level.

Holy Sh*t! That Pistol Packin' Granny Is... My Mom?

Tony Potts | Posted 05.18.2013 | Politics
Tony Potts

I was heading up the 405 freeway here in Los Angeles to pick up my daughter from school and decided to check-in with my mom in Florida to see how her day was and what was new.

Ending Bullying, One Dog at a Time

Cesar Millan | Posted 05.18.2013 | Impact
Cesar Millan

What is instinctual is empathy -- the ability to understand how other people are feeling and to take their feelings into consideration when dealing with them.

Sorry, You Aren't Invited: A Practical Guide to Children's Birthday Party Guest Lists

Emma Jenner | Posted 05.11.2013 | Parents
Emma Jenner

Being on all three sides of a guest list -- inviter, invited and uninvited -- can help children not only become more resilient, but also more conscientious and empathetic. It's up to parents to use parties as opportunities for chats about friendship, kindness, and etiquette.

Teach Your Children Well

Ron Berler | Posted 05.01.2013 | Impact
Ron Berler

A teacher can't force-feed the importance of early education on disengaged parents, any more than he or she can legislate that parents learn English, or become more involved in their child's schooling.

Measure To Lower Mandatory School Age Contains Loopholes

AP | JONATHAN KAMINSKY | Posted 02.16.2013 | Politics

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Washington is one of only two states that don't require kids to start their formal educations before turning 8. A measure gaining t...

I Was A Bully -- And I've Never Forgotten

Leigh Flayton | Posted 04.17.2013 | Women
Leigh Flayton

How could I have done such a thing? What kind of awful, evil person was I? And what would my parents think if they knew -- and how would they punish me?

What Can Your Child Learn from Having a Hard-to-Please Teacher?

Signe Whitson | Posted 03.04.2013 | Parents
Signe Whitson

Throughout preschool, kindergarten and first grade, my daughter had been the lucky student of nurturing, praising teachers. At home, she has family members who acknowledge her successes generously. This year, she is having her first experience with someone who is not easy to please.

I Feel Like a Kid Again

Zachary Stevens | Posted 02.17.2013 | Home
Zachary Stevens

I guess the countless years of adults saying, "Don't wish to be older, be your age" finally clicks once you hit your twenties and bills start showing up in your name.

Lessons From the Teacher Heroes

Kevin M. Ryan | Posted 02.16.2013 | Impact
Kevin M. Ryan

Pop was a teacher when I was a kid. My brothers and I watched him work late into the night grading papers and writing college recommendations. He visi...

Lessons from the Teacher Heroes

Kevin M. Ryan | Posted 02.16.2013 | Home
Kevin M. Ryan

On Friday, the heroism and generosity of teachers and school staff in Newtown became apparent to us all.

Dear God! When Will It Stop?

Marian Wright Edelman | Posted 02.13.2013 | Politics
Marian Wright Edelman

How young do the victims have to be and how many children need to die before we stop the proliferation of guns in our nation and the killing of innocents?

Moral Nation: Why Our Constitution Demands Gun Control

Sanjay Sanghoee | Posted 02.13.2013 | Politics
Sanjay Sanghoee

We are a highly moral country. We decry torture, we decry discrimination, we decry exploitation, and we decry political suppression wherever in the world it occurs. Then why should we not decry the terror of gun violence?

School Demolition In Tiny Ohio Town Brings Out A Piece Of History

Posted 02.05.2013 | Home

Wayne School in the tiny town of Jacksonburg, Ohio, is being torn down following an extensive history. Its demolition has turned into a reunion of...

An Elementary Campaign

Howard A. Zucker, MD | Posted 01.01.2013 | Home
Howard A. Zucker, MD

It was autumn 1968. The election cycle was in full swing and I was running for president. My opponents were formidable: Shirley Smart, the most apt to do the job and Edgar Eager, with a better campaign strategy.

Mobile Meth Lab Found On School Playground

Posted 12.25.2012 | Home

A group of first-graders at Mitchell-Neilson Primary School in Murfreesboro, Tenn. had their recess cut short this week when their teacher found remna...

NYC Parents Angry After School Cuts Gym Class

Posted 10.15.2012 | Home

Parents of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students at Brooklyn’s PS 224 are angry that their children have gone without gym class since the begin...

College Prep for Preschoolers?

Nancy Berk, Ph.D. | Posted 12.05.2012 | Parents
Nancy Berk, Ph.D.

I received an email about a college prep lecture for parents and children. It had a bold title like "College Prep From K thru 12: It's Never To (sic) Early To Start". Besides the fear factor, I was also struck by the typo, but that's another story.

Interesting (and Conflicting) Opinions: The 2012 PDK/Gallup Poll

Craig A. Mertler | Posted 12.02.2012 | Home
Craig A. Mertler

The results of the 2012 poll were released a couple of weeks ago, and this year's review was no different for me -- our schools need innovation, but what path do we choose when our own opinions seem to contradict each other.

The Real Reason Schools Are Failing: They're Boring and Lack 'Edutainment'

Stephen Estes | Posted 12.02.2012 | Home
Stephen Estes

A little less talk, a little more action, and a bit of edutainment, and I think I see how the world's children will come to realize their true potential and build the skill-sets they will someday need.

Bully or Best Friend?

David Valdes Greenwood | Posted 11.29.2012 | Parents
David Valdes Greenwood

In real life, your child's tormentor might be a 6-year-old girl sporting dimples and a laugh that peals like a church bell. And your child might not flee from her, but instead run into her arms for a hug, ready to play, hoping every time that it won't devolve into intimidation and hurt feelings.

Tale Of The Tape: Mother Says This Is No Way To Treat A Child

Posted 09.20.2012 | Home

The mother of a Louisiana fourth grader whose mouth was taped shut by a substitute teacher who wanted to stop him from talking in class is seeking to ...