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Volume XIII, No. 10 • New York City • June 2008 • www.EducationUpdate.comDistinguished Leaderin Education 2008U.S. POSTAGEPAIDTHE EDUCATIONUPDATEPRESORTED STANDARDCUNY ChancellorMatthew Goldstein

2 Education update ■ For Parents, Educators & Students ■ June 2008guest EDITORIALCUNY’s Community Colleges Provide Recession InsuranceFLORIDADr. Mayme ClaytonTo the Editor:I am a librarian from Panama, presently workingat Patrick AFB, FL, and think it is good thatpeople know about Mayme Clayton and her familywork and love for preserving the History ofAfrican-Americans. I wish I could be there to helpyou in preserving this bibliographic collection.Miriam Patrick,FLBy Matthew Goldstein,Chancellor, The City Universityof New YorkToday, almost half of all undergraduates inthe United States are attending a communitycollege. Here in New York City, the sixcommunity colleges of The City University ofNew York—Borough of Manhattan CommunityCollege, Bronx Community College, HostosCommunity College, Kingsborough CommunityCollege, LaGuardia Community College, andQueensborough Community College—servenearly 79,000 degree-credit students and almost118,000 adult and continuing education students,the highest level in more than 32 years.These students look to community collegesas pathways to employment, especially as theeconomic climate worsens. New York’s studentsneed “recession insurance,” and CUNY’s communitycolleges offer it, through career trainingprograms, workforce development, careerladders, and a strong academic foundation fortransfer students.However, the 2008-2009 Mayor’s ExecutiveBudget recommends cuts that seriously threatenthese critical educational programs.The Executive Budget leaves our communitycolleges with a $25.7 million shortfall in directoperating support—an 8 percent cut. To managecuts of this magnitude, our colleges will have toeliminate teaching positions and class sections,cut library hours, forego the purchase of labsupplies, and decrease tutoring and advising services.There is no question that such reductionswill have a harmful impact on our students.Our community colleges play an indispensablerole in the economic development of thiscity. Almost 90 percent of our graduates areemployed within six months of earning theassociate degree, and over 94 percent are eitheremployed or enrolled for additional education.CUNY students also stay in New York City; ofthose who are employed, 93 percent work in NewYork City, contributing to the city’s economy.For example, over the last five years, CUNYhas graduated half of all the new registered nursesthat come from New York City-based nursingschools. On the 2007 National Council LicensureExamination—the national certification examfor nurses—six CUNY colleges, including threecommunity colleges, are among the top 10schools in New York State with both the highestpass rates and 75 or more test takers. These ambitiousstudents are the city’s workforce—its talentand its taxpayers.CUNY’s capital program is also threatened bythis year’s recommended city budget. In capitalLETTERS TO THE EDITORTEXASTeacher In Space Candidate CompletesProficiency FlightTo the Editor:I love this article. Ms. Leestma was actuallymy 2nd grade teacher. I was in her class whenshe did the flight. I moved here and I miss her.She was my 2nd grade inspiration. Thank you forthis article. If Ms. Leestma reads this, I miss you!AnnieCarrollton, TXJune 25, 2008The Harvard Clubwww.EducationUpdate.com/awardsfunding, every state dollar spent on our communitycolleges must be matched by city funds;otherwise, we cannot access the state funds.However, city matching funds were not providedfor most of the new state appropriations for thecommunity colleges in the fiscal year 2008-2009State Adopted Budget.This includes funding for critical maintenanceneeds, such as heating and ventilation systems,exterior walls, and electrical equipment. Thestate appropriated $88.9 million for these needs,but the city’s Executive Budget provided noadditional funding to match state funds. Withevery delay, conditions at our community collegecampuses worsen.One of the most serious needs is the replacementof Fiterman Hall at Borough of ManhattanCommunity College (BMCC), which was irrevocablydamaged in the September 11 attacks. TheUniversity has moved forward on a schedule totake down the building and begin constructionby spring of 2009. However, without city fundingto match the $78 million state appropriation,that process will be delayed, while constructioncosts will continue to rise. BMCC, CUNY’s largestcommunity college, was overcrowded beforeFiterman Hall was destroyed and now has anacute space problem that becomes more strainedwith every semester of enrollment growth.As more and more students strive to insure themselvesagainst the economic forces that are mountingagainst them, we must keep open their pathwaysto education, which represent their best insurancepolicy. Only with city support will we be able tocontinue to offer our students and our city the toolsthey need to weather any economic climate.#New York CityTo Moscow State University for St. Tatiana’sDay, the Students’ Holiday!To the Editor:This article was very interesting…I have neverbeen to Russia, but have always wanted to gothere. Ms. Davis made me feel that I was withher and she experienced many wonderful thingsthere.Leslie MillerNew York, NYIn This IssueGuest Editorial ................ 2Letters to the Editor ............ 2Spotlight on Schools ...3, 5-9, 12-14New Jersey News .............. 9Special Education .......... 10, 11Colleges & Grad Schools ......16-19Sports ...................... 18Medical Update ............... 20Books ...................... 21Music, Art & Dance ........... 22Calendar of Events ............ 22Resource & Reference Guide .... 22Movies ...................... 23Education UpdateMailing Address:695 Park Avenue, Ste. E1509New York, NY 10065Email: ednews1@aol.comwww.EducationUpdate.comTel: 212-650-3552 Fax: 212-772-4769PUBLISHER & EDITOR IN CHIEF:Pola Rosen, Ed.D.ADVISORY COUNCIL:Mary Brabeck, Dean, NYU School ofEducation; Sheila Evans-Tranumn, Assoc.Comm. of Education, NYS; Charlotte K.Frank, Ph.D., Senior VP, McGraw-Hill; JoanFreilich, Ph.D., Trustee, Barnard College &College of New Rochelle; Andrew Gardner,Technology Teacher & Advisor, TheSchool at Columbia U.; Cynthia Greenleaf,Ph.D., Director, Partnerships, ChicagoPublic Schools; Augusta S. Kappner,Ph.D., President, Bank St. College;Bonnie Kaiser, Ph.D., Director, PrecollegeProgram, Rockefeller University; HaroldKoplewicz, M.D., Founder & Director,NYU Child Study Center; Ernest Logan,Pres., CSA; Cecilia McCarton, M.D., Dir.,The McCarton Center; Eric Nadelstern,CEO, Empowerment Schools, NYC;Alfred S. Posamentier, Ph.D., Dean, Schoolof Education, CCNY; Adam Sugerman,Publisher, Palmiche Press; Laurie Tisch,Chair, Center for Arts EducationASSOCIATE EDITORS:Heather Rosen, Adam Sugerman,Rob WertheimerASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER:Justine RiveraGUEST COLUMNISTS:Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Dr. BonnieBrown, Chancellor Matthew Goldstein,Dr. Carole G. Hankin, Dr. Joan ThomsonKretschmer, Ernest Logan, AlfredPosamentier, Ph.D., Barbara Reuter, KeithSiegelSTAFF WRITERS:Jacob Appel, J.D., Judith Aquino, StevanneAuerbach, Ph.D., Joan Baum, Ph.D., AlbertoCepeda, Dorothy Davis, Gillian Granoff,Richard Kagan, Sybil Maimin, MarthaMcCarthy, Ph.D., Joy Resmovits, EmilySherwood, Ph.D., Marisa Suescun, LisaWinklerBOOK REVIEWERS:Harris Healy III, Merri Rosenberg,Selene VasquezMEDICAL EDITOR:Herman Rosen, M.D.MODERN LANGUAGE EDITOR:Adam SugermanMOVIE & THEATER REVIEWS:Jan AaronMUSIC EDITOR:Irving M. SpitzART DIRECTOR:Neil SchuldinerADVERTISING DEPARTMENT:Martin Lieberman, Manager;Richard KaganINTERNS: Reni ShulmanEducation Update is published monthly byEducation Update, Inc. All material is copyrightedand may not be printed without expressconsent of the publisher.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:Education Update, P.O. Box 2358,Lenox Hill Station, NY, NY 10021Subscription: Annual $30.Copyright © 2008 Education UpdateEducation Updateis an independentnewspaper

June 2008 ■ For Parents, Educators & Students ■ Education updateSummerinCity ads:EdUpdate 3/28/08 10:08 AM Page 13The most summer courses inNew York City at CUNYcampusesin all five boroughs.Find Courses at CUNY GO❯❯Summer Events GO❯❯Visit Summer in the CityCampus WebsitesSPOTLIGHT2008 Summer Youth ProgramJune 30, 2008 – August 7, 2008Brooklyn CollegeFamily Day OrientationCUNY Continuing Education Programs offermore courses and opportunities than anyother leading institution in New York City.CUNY – your next stop this summer.WELCOME!Summer is the perfect timeto jump-start your education,your career, and even yourleisure-time activities at TheCity University of New York. >>Matthew GoldsteinChancellorCONTINUINGEDUCATIONMake CUNYyour next stopthis summer!KIDS & TEENSPROGRAMSPrepare yourchildren forlife-long successat CUNY thissummer.CUNY LINKS• Apply to CUNY• Teacher Academy• Study Online• Honors College• Video News Lab• Podcastswww.cuny.edu/summerinthecityFind your course at our one-stop-shopping site!

4 Education update ■ For Parents, Educators & Students ■ JUNE 2008Fordham’s Cosby Scholars ImprovePrimary Grade LiteracyCosby scholar and studentBy Emily Sherwood, Ph.D.Twice a week since October, Cosby scholarAndrew Fletcher leaves his day job as a secondgrade teacher in the South Bronx and wends hisway to Manhattan’s P.S. 163 on 97th Street andAmsterdam Avenue to tutor a chatty first gradernamed Jack who, in Fletcher’s words, was “strugglingto match his peers in his class.” On a rainyspring afternoon, he stops at the P.S. 163 libraryto pick up books on snakes for Jack, who hasdeveloped a passion for reptiles, on his way to theclassroom. “Okay, Jack. It’s time to do our work,”says Fletcher gently as the tutoring session getsunderway and the boy reluctantly tears his attentionaway from a picture of a very pregnant rattlesnake.Fletcher carefully lays out a phonics boardin front of Jack, and they get to work on the day’slesson, identifying vowel sounds: the long “u” inrule, the short “a” in sack, the long “e” in Pete.Jack observes that if the silent “e” is removedfrom Pete, the word becomes pet, identifying thenew vowel sound as a short “e.”Fletcher is one of 24 scholars in this year’sEnnis William Cosby Graduate CertificateProgram, an 18 month, full scholarship programcoordinated by Fordham’s Graduate Schoolof Education (GSE) which accepts about twodozen Kindergarten through second grade teacherseach year from under-resourced New YorkCity schools. Created by Bill and Camille Cosbyin memory of their son, Ennis, the eight year oldCosby Program combines classroom work atFordham (each scholar takes six courses comprising18 credits), intense supervision, and requiredone-on-one tutoring with the goal of improvingNew York City teachers’ ability to help theirstudents, many of whom are English LanguageLearners, achieve literacy.Key to the program’s success is the biweeklyafter school tutoring component: “We don’texpect our teachers to tutor one child in their ownclassrooms because that’s not a teaching modethat’s viable in New York City. But after schooltutoring gives our scholars the luxury of supervision,of problem-solving, of trying to figure outwhat one particular child needs. It helps themProfessor Joanna Uhryfigure out informed solutions to learning problems,”explains Joanna Uhry, Ed.D., Professorof Literacy in the Graduate School of Educationand Director of the Cosby program. And there’sstatistical proof of its success: “The children whohave been tutored [by Cosby scholars] are significantlystronger in reading, spelling, and phonemicawareness than their peers who have had onlyafter school homework help,” sums up Dr. Uhry.The Cosby program is competitive: there aretypically 70-80 applicants for a cohort of abouttwo dozen scholars each year. Applicants mustnot only work in high needs schools citywide,but they must also have attained at least a 3.0GPA at the undergraduate level and a 3.5 in theirMaster’s-level studies, if applicable, as wellas a strong recommendation from their buildingprincipal. Many of the scholars have usedthe program as a springboard for job mobility,embarking on Ph.D.’s or moving into positionsas literacy coaches, assistant principals, andprincipals (only one teacher has switched out ofthe education field since the program began in2000). Indeed, Andrew Fletcher has just accepteda position as K-5 literacy coach next year at hisschool in the South Bronx, a challenge for whichhe believes he was well-prepared by the Cosbyprogram: “How wonderful it will be to not justimpact about 20 lives a year but to effect changeacross a school in order to impact about 350 lives.It will be quite a test but with my Cosby training,I am ready to take on whatever comes my way!”he writes enthusiastically in a concluding assignmentfor his tutoring/practicum course.By providing the Cosby scholars with the toolsnecessary to improve student learning in some ofthe toughest schools in New York, the programhas also served to reaffirm their belief in themselvesas educators. “If nothing else, my workthis year with Jack has given me the renewedenergy and spirit to continue in this professionand to move forward with this new position,”reflects Fletcher. “I would say in the end that Jackand I are even. I have helped him this year and hehas done the same for me, by giving me this giftThe DEAN’S COLUMNThe Dilemma of TeacherTraining CollegesBy Alfred S. Posamentier, Ph.D.Recently a trend is emerging where privateorganizations—not higher education institutionsare approaching bona fide schools of educationto enter into a “partnership” agreements to mountan innovative teacher training program. Althoughportions of the program may have merit, it soonbecomes clear to college faculty that these organizationsare not at all interested in a partnership,rather they want establish the college as theirteacher certification agent—without the collegehaving any significant involvement in the structureand content of the program. Although theagencies dangle an attractive financial carrot,on serious reflection many of these approachedcolleges decide that such a project is really amanipulation for organizational control, leavingthe college with only limited professionaljurisdiction. In no other profession—not law, notmedicine—would a group of interested, and perhapswell-meaning people, feel qualified to takethe responsibility for professional training fromthe certified university programs.It is generally accepted that the most important“ingredient” in education is the effectivenessof the teacher. Towards this end, we must seekto make the preparation of teachers—includinginnovative programs—the highest priority as wesearch for ways of improving education. Thismeans strengthening and securing the professionalstatus of schools of education.When there are weaknesses among the teacherranks, the first blames are placed at the teachertraininginstitutions, not the tenure laws that protecteven highly ineffective teachers. Yet, beforeblame is ascribed to schools of education, weshould examine how directly they are involvedin educational policy-making and whether theyare accorded the professional status due theirresponsibilities.There have been recent discussions and reportson schools of education across the country thatseem to reflect negatively upon their worth. Thisis consistent with a long-time perception by thegeneral populace that teaching does not requirespecial skills, or exceptional intelligence andtraining, but rather, just some knowledge of thematerial to be taught. In no other profession, notlaw, not medicine, are the practitioners treatedwith so little respect as in education, which—given its mission—is perhaps among the mostimportant professions in society. Other professionalschools are never asked to compromisetheir admission requirements or their trainingprograms, while schools of education schools areoften asked to make compromises, especially inareas of teacher shortages.Over the past decades, there have been teachershortages in certain areas and in varying degrees.When critical staffing needs occur, there seemsto be a pattern of “panic moves” by school districtadministrations to find ways to meet theseneeds, especially when the normal channels rundry. Using the leverage of special funding fromoutside agencies, programs are “requested” ofschools of education to quickly help fill vacantteacher positions. These programs can compromiseprofessional judgment in the interest ofexpediency. For example, there are math teacherswho did not major in mathematics and who gottheir content training while “on the job” as theywere pursuing their master’s degree. Naturally,this is more prevalent in the urban centers, but isnot uncommon elsewhere.In reality, schools of education are closelybound to societal needs, and cannot ignore thepressures of local communities and the nationaleducation agenda; they are not in a position torefuse to cooperate with such outside sourceseven if such programs dilute standards. Thedilemma results in the compromise of professionaltraining to fulfill the political will. Forexample, some programs enable a person withno prior professionaltraining to begin histeaching assignment atthe same time as heis receiving such training.This puts studentsbeing taught by thisinexperienced teacherat a distinct disadvantage.To attack schools of education for producingunder-prepared teachers may be expedient,but ignores the consequences to be faced if theschools were to disregard community calls forimmediate action. There are those who argue thatnew graduates from traditional schools of educationare not properly prepared to meet the needsof the students they are about to teach. While thismay be, in part, a misplaced generality, there isanother issue here as well. In many other professionssuch as engineering and law, graduates needto be oriented and specifically trained for thework and culture of the institution at which theyare being hired. These training sessions—beyondthe professional schools—can last months beforethe employee is entrusted with the workings ofthe firm.In an ideal situation, either as a part of undergraduatetraining or immediately thereafter, ateacher candidate would spend an entire yearbeing prepared for the profession in a schoolof education—as is the case in England. In thefinal stages of this comprehensive training, theteacher candidate would be familiarized with theschool at which he or she would eventually teach.Schools of education would still have the responsibilityfor continuous in-service training—evenbeyond the master’s degree level.It is time for policy makers and school administratorsto bring schools of education to the tableand jointly plan for projected staffing needs,impending curriculum changes and other itemsof mutual interest, so that schools of education donot find themselves in a constant reactive positionjumping to respond to last-minute crises inschool districts. It is also time for joint initiativeson the part of school leaders and education facultyto design real partnerships that allow themto make the most effective use of their talents tosupport our nation’s children.Dr. Alfred Posamentier is Dean of the Schoolof Education at City College of NY, author ofover 40 Mathematics books including: “MathWonders to Inspire Teachers and Students”(ASCD, 2003) and “The Fabulous FibonacciNumbers” (Prometheus, 2007), and member ofthe NYS Mathematics Standards Committee.of renewal.” # AmericAn School ®high School byDiStAnce eDucAtionour ProgrAmS offer:• Accredited Courses• Secure Access to Grades Online• Chat Rooms• Homework Websites• Course Help Sheetsyou hAve oPtionS• Full High School Program• Credit RecoveryEstablishEd 1897www.americanschoolofcorr.comor call 1.800.531.9268-refer to code 747

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6 spotlight on schools ■ EDUCATION UPDATE ■ JUNE 2008Positive Behavioral Interventionand Supports in NYCBy Dr. Bonnie BrownIn recent years, as we have moved furtheraway from a medical model in the evaluation andplacement of students with challenging behaviors,educators have also shifted the paradigm fromthe concept of “managing behavior” to offering“positive behavior supports” to youngsters.Using this new focus, educational institutions areattempting to build positive climate and culturein their schools which support student growthand the ability of youngsters to self-managetheir behaviors. Various school-wide programsare in effect throughout New York City under agrant known as “Positive Behavioral Interventionand Supports” (PBIS) which is a research basedapproach for improving the capacity of a schoolto educate all students, especially those with challengingbehaviors. PBIS external coaches work inschools with administrators, teachers and supportstaff to improve student attendance, achievementand behavior in the schools participating in thegrant.In New York City, the technical assistancecenter for the Northeast Region is District 75/Citywide Programs. The district serves 23,000students who are deemed to be in the moderateto severe range of disabilities in programs forstudents with emotional challenges, cognitivedisabilities, sensory disabilities including theblind-deaf, those on the autistic spectrum andthose with multiple disabilities and mobilitychallenges. The mission of District 75 in regardsto the PBIS grant is to deliver comprehensivetraining and professional development to schoolbased personnel and make the district’s expertisereadily available to school-based teams whilepartnering with colleges/universities for training,technical assistance and support. In addition, thedistrict provides leadership to ensure that schooland community resources are organized to helpschools, families and communities to addressthe needs of all students and to develop school/mental health collaborations.This school year, the district has implementeda new programmatic initiative to facilitate positivebehavior supports for high risk students andthose who are in danger of being referred to morerestrictive environments. The program acronymis STOPP, Strategies, Techniques and OptionsPrior To Placement. The goal of the program isto assist general education schools in maintainingstudents with challenging behaviors in theirhome zoned schools by offering training andFROM THE SUPERINTENDENT’S SEATsupport to staff and families. District 75 undermy supervision, has developed a team of cliniciansand teachers who can support schools/classrooms upon request and work with schoolbasedstaff to look at individual student behavior.They focus on the antecedents to the behavior,the locale, the duration and frequency, and theresponse to intervention. Teachers are supportedin implementing a functional behavioranalysisfor individual students, which can result in aBehavior Intervention Plan. To support this,classroom staff and administrators are trainedin Therapeutic Crisis Intervention and learn tode-escalate student maladaptive behavior andbreak into the conflict cycle. Data collection isdone through a vehicle known as SWIS, SchoolwideInformation System which can graphicallychart behaviors so that pupil personnel teamscan evaluate and plan the appropriate supportand intervention for the student. In some cases,a student may require the assignment of a crisismanagement paraprofessional for content areainstruction. Another intervention may be thedesign of an augmentative or assistive communicationsystem for a child to reduce anxiety andimprove frustration tolerance. An integral part ofthe work is in determining if the student’s crisisis in response to a situational change at home orin the environment or if it is the manifestationof true psychopathology. After all this data iscollected, the team will make a determination ifthe family needs intensive case management andwill then link the family to a community basedorganization which can offer a wider range ofSpring Is In BloomBy Dr. Carole G. Hankinwith Stacy L. SokolIt is the time of year for some of us to comeout of hibernation and wake up to surroundingbeauty, and it is easy to realize that natural beautyis everywhere. Tulips, daffodils and floweringcherry blossoms are only a few tangible signsof spring this month. Renewal and growth is allaround, whether you live in a city, suburb or ruralarea. This is a truly glorious time of year, givingus all an opportunity to take a moment to listento the birds sing and appreciate our environment.I always enjoy when the weather warms up andI see students experience springtime at school, asathletes practicing on the outdoor fields or buddingscientists hatching chicks in kindergarten. Itis our responsibility to give children formal, educationalexperiences with science, as well as timeto discover the wonders of nature on their own.Exploration is a natural state for all children, andtheir attraction to turning over rocks and putteringin the garden is a trait to encourage.Take the opportunity to expand your child’sknowledge and head over to your local libraryto borrow gardening books. Find out about themany different options you and your child mightenjoy while you peruse photographs of colorfulflowers. Look for bushes to border walkways,perennials for your yard or annuals to fill awindow box. You can bring natural beauty intoyour everyday life and plant a tree to create aserene, shady place to spend time with your family.Children love learning the names of plants,how to tend to them and will achieve a sense ofaccomplishment each time they see the result oftheir hard work bloom.Structured or unstructured nature-based activities,as long as children are enjoying the environment,reinforce an appreciation for local habitat,support.I spearheaded this innovative program as partof my belief that there is an over identificationof students with challenging behaviors and concomitantplacement into environments that aremore restrictive than may be necessary. My hopeis to build a gate for high risk general educationstudents and train staff in the community schoolsto ensure that these students can be successfullymaintained in their home zoned schools withtheir siblings, chronological peers and necessaryfamily support. The expertise in District 75 isand allow respect for the earth to become part ofa child’s character. As a student learns the stagesof butterfly metamorphosis or chases a monarchthrough a field of flowers, each experience makesan impression. Both are vital ways to teach ourchildren about the wonders of ecology, and instilla love of the outdoors into a generation who willone day become protectors of our open spaces,parks and conservation efforts. As we cultivateenvironmental awareness in our children today,we improve the hope of sustaining ecologicalefforts for generations to come.As the grass, flowers and foliage grow, socan we, by appreciating the earth’s renewal andnoticing beauty all around us. We should sharethis free and accessible gift with everyone in ourfamily and take time to celebrate our gardens andour children’s growth.#Dr. Carole G. Hankin is the Superintendent ofSchools, Syosset Central School District.thus being used to build capacity in local schoolsso challenging behaviors do not become overwhelmingand tax the entire general educationschool environment. Although this is a fledglingprogram, the results have been well documentedand the requests for assistance are coming inleaps and bounds. I believe that initiatives suchas this one will help students learn a repertoire ofskills through which they can increase their selfmanagingbehaviors, decrease the referral rate tospecial education and in the long run improvethe school retention rate of students leading tograduation.#Dr. Bonnie Brown is the superintendent forDistrict 75.LYCÉE FRANÇAIS DE NEW YORKSummerCamp2008June 23-July 25nursery-5th gradeThe LFNY Summer Campis a bilingual camp that focuseson both physical activities andacademics. It is a chance forstudents to gain skills in theFrench and English languagethrough school based activities,field trips and special events(arts, cooking, music, going tothe pool, shows, French class,nap, recess...).Teaching ourcampersto be citizensof the world!For more information:go to www.lfny.orgor call Amy Zuflacht,Director of Summer Campat 212 439 3825.LYCÉE FRANÇAIS DE NEW YORK505 EAST 75TH STREET, NY, NY 10021Looking for a rewarding position?The Kennedy Child STudy CenTer isa nonprofit agency dedicated to assisting very youngchildren who experience significant difficulties in learningand other areas of early childhood development. Join ourteam of professional educators, therapists, social workers,medical and nursing personnel, and classroom assistants. Weare actively recruiting for the following positions:➤ SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERo NYS certified (Birth-2 nd )➤ OCCUPATIONAL & PHYSICAL THERAPISTSo NYS License required➤ SPEECH LANGUAGE PATHOLOGISTo TSHH or TSLD required plus NYS Licensure.➤ TEACHER ASSISTANT(Bilingual Spanish preferred)➤ SUMMER TEACHERS/TEACHER ASSISTANTSInterested? Please forward a copy of your resumeincluding a letter of interest to:Kennedy Child Study CenterAttn: HR Department151 East 67th StreetNew York, NY 10065hr@kenchild.orgFax: 646-422-0046We offer a competitive salary, excellent benefitsand a great work environment. Please visit usat www.kenchild.org to learn more aboutour programs and philosophy.We are a EOE/AA employer

June 2008 ■ EDUCATION UPDATE ■ spotlight on schools7PRESIDENT LOGAN, CSA SPEAKSLet’s Clear the RecordBy Ernest LoganWhen I took office more than a year ago, Iwas determined to gain for my members, schoolsupervisors and administrators, the respect theydeserve for the magnificent job they do as wellas the resources they need to pursue excellencein our schools.I reached out to colleagues in the labor movement,state and city lawmakers, public advocacyorganizations, businessmen and women who supportour schools and our own supervisors withinthe Department of Education. I believe I havebeen successful in making large strides towardsthat goal: Many school supervisors are finallyreceiving the recognition they deserve for theircontribution towards making this city a betterplace to live, a better place to work and a betterplace in which to raise children.CSA members—NYC’s public school leaders—havebecome the go-to people. When difficultquestions arise about schools and education,we’re known for providing in-depth answers inboth our private and public conversations. Wedon’t provide the easy answers, or answers ourquestioners may want to hear, but our expertise isvalued and so is our integrity.That integrity, however, is sometimes calledinto question without justification. Increasingly,CSA members are distracted by unwarranted,unjustified and, sometimes, absurd allegations.Sometimes these allegations are anonymousand sometimes they seem to be made in directresponse to criticism or an unsatisfactory rating.These retaliatory tactics are time-consumingand costly; by law, investigators mustbecome involved, and then lawyers must dukeit out. Worse, a supervisor must waste timedefending his good name rather than spendinghis time pursuing his true vocation: the educationof children.I urge the Chancellor and the DOE to find away to quickly handle these complaints so ourmembers can focus on instruction. Not only dothey damage a supervisor’s reputation, they casta pall over a school and a community.I’d also like to publicly commend CSA membersfor the support and leadership they haveshown in the ongoing schools-budget battle.CSA’s leadership asked them to reach out to theirelected officials and demand that they keep thepromise to all the children of this city.Because of their actions, the NYS legislaturekept its promise to NYC, despite difficulteconomic times, and provided an increase infunding. As I write this, Mayor Bloomberg’sexecutive budget proposal is asking for a $400million reduction for schools. CSA officers, staffand members have been pounding on the doors ofthe City Council to demand that schools be heldharmless in this round of budget cuts. Understand:Although NYS has provided additional money toschools in the form of Contract for Excellencedollars, the Chancellor has decided that he wantsthe autonomy to spend some of this money at hisown discretion, not for what it was earmarked.This money was specifically allocated by thestate to assist high-needs schools. This generousstate funding was not provided to shore up initiativescreated by the Mayor and Chancellor.I understand that in tough fiscal times, leadersmust make tough decisions. But first, theseleaders must determine what is the mission ofan agency, which, in turn, determines what isits priorities.NYS’s priorities are clear—addressing theinequities of past state-funding formulas to helphigh-need schools as well as to lower class sizeand bring all children up to a minimum standardof education. By providing this increase infunding in difficult financial times, they haveshown their commitment for continued studentachievement.We have come so far in the past five years.This is not the time to stop the momentum. We’refinally realizing the dream: Children do comefirst. Let’s continue sending that message to allthe parents of our city, regardless of income, educationor access to those in power.#Ernest Logan is the President of the Council ofSchool Supervisors and Administrators.Evaluating Teachers Basedon Student PerformanceBy Martha McCarthy, Ph.D.Opinions differ on the merits of assessingeducators based on the performance of their students.Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzerproposed tying student achievement to teachertenure decisions, but recently the New York legislatureinstead adopted language specifying thatfor the next two years teacher tenure decisionscannot be based on student test scores. This legislation,strongly supported by the teachers’ union,has been denounced by New York City MayorMichael Bloomberg. The provision expires intwo years and stipulates that a commission is tobe created to study this topic, so linking teacherassessment to student performance will likelyremain controversial in New York.Teachers’ unions elsewhere have lobbied forsimilar laws prohibiting the use of student testscores in teacher assessment. They have beensuccessful in some states, such as Wisconsin.However, legislatures in other states have adoptedlaws requiring the assessment of instructionalpersonnel to be based primarily on the performanceof students assigned to their classrooms.In Florida, for example, student achievementscores on the Florida Comprehensive AssessmentTest (FCAT) must be considered in certain personneldecisions.An interesting Florida case, Sherrod v. PalmBeach County School District (2006, 2007),turned on an interpretation of this state law. Atenured teacher claimed that his terminationfor alleged teaching deficiencies documentedby school personnel was actually based on hiscriticism of the school district’s noncompliancewith a Florida law requiring African and AfricanAmerican studies to be incorporated throughoutthe curriculum. In addition to filing a free speechclaim in federal court, the teacher challengedhis termination in state court based on the lawreferenced above. A Florida appeals court foundthat the dismissal proceedings against the teacherwere brought prior to the availability of annualFCAT test data on his students. While recognizingthe possible merits of the contention that thetests are not reliable in measuring the effectivenessof individual teachers, the court concludedthat the legislature left no leeway in requiring studenttest scores to be considered in the challengeddismissal. The court emphasized, however, thatstudent data must be used in dismissals involvinginstructional concerns but not those based onpersonal conduct.Ironically, the Florida teacher prevailed notbecause his students did well on the FCAT, butbecause the district failed to consider such dataThe Sculptor And The Dean:An Amazing TaleBy Joan Baum, Ph.D.It’s not difficult to understand the connectionbetween the world-renowned sculptorSebastian (born Enrique Carbajal Gonzalez inCuidad Camargo, Chihuahua, Mexico) and thedistinguished scholar and teacher, Dr. AlfredS. Posamentier, Professor of MathematicsEducation and Dean of the School of Educationat City College. Barely a year ago, however,never having met, neither man would have imaginedthat a relationship would develop betweenthem that would, within months, take on surprisingand rewarding significance, leading tothe acquisition by City College of a spectacular12,000 lb., 25-foot high steel sculpture, “A Three-Dimensional Möbius Strip,” the award of a doctorateto the artist (along with one to Elie Wiesel),and the writing of a chapter by Posamentier fora forthcoming book commemorating Sebastian’s60th birthday. Both men, internationally prominentand much honored practitioners in theirfields, met almost by accident, asymptotically,as it were, over a love of geometry, and rarelyhas the two-cultures divide been finessed to suchmutual delight.It all began casually last July, says Posamentier,when he was on vacation in the Austrian Alps.Of course, professionals never really vacate, anda chance peek at his email led to his reading anodd request from a publishing assistant. Would heconsider doing a chapter for a book on Sebastian.Who? What? The Internet gave him answers,spectacular answers—Sebastian was a Mexicansculptor, with major pieces in major cities allover the world, solo exhibitions and awards fromeverywhere, including The Jerusalem Prize fromIsrael, its top artistic prize. Unbeknownst toPosamentier, however, was the fact that Sebastianhad already done his homework on his futurecolleague.One email led to another, and later that summerto a meeting in New York. It was August,“a quiet time at the college.” Would the sculptorlike to visit? Would he, indeed. One week later,Sebastian and company arrived at the dean’soffice, company consisting of the sculptor’s wifeand daughter whose English was further alongthan Sebastian’s. Posamentier says he will neverin the dismissal proceedings. This case may besomewhat unique, but it is certain that basingteacher assessment on student performance willcontinue to be debated in educational and judicialforums nationally. Regardless of what happenselsewhere, New York teachers have been givenSebastian & Dean Alfred Posamentierforget that day: the artist “shlepping” a suitcaseon rollers. What could possibly be inside? The“baffled” dean was soon enlightened: out cameintricate plastic models, 10” x 10” x 10” unfoldingmaquettes that folded into other and intoother shapes. But that was not all. The suitcasealso revealed copies of Dr. Posamentier’s books,an “inspiration” for him, Sebastian said.“Something hit me,” the dean recalls, andthe next thing he knew he was calling up anold friend, the mathematician, Dr. Herbert A.Hauptman, who, with Dr. Jerome Karle, had wonthe Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1985. Wouldhe like to meet Sebastian, and would Sebastianlike to meet Dr. Hauptman? Do we need ananswer? A planned one-hour visit from Mexicoto Buffalo turned into a day-and-a-half love fest,and the nobelist reported that Sebastian was“phenomenal.” The circle was widening, centrifugalforce energized by excitement. By fall,the artist was back in the city, invited to attend aJunior Science Research Conference, held everyother year at City College, and meeting CCNYfaculty members and administrators. “Everyonewas enthralled,” Posamentier recalls, and the nextstep was inevitable: Would Sebastian do a piecefor City College?Now it was the dean’s turn to travel, andJanuary of this year, along with three collegeadministrators, Posamentier went to Mexico Cityto see how the sculpture was advancing. Therehe found the once-poor, now famous, artistensconced in “an enormous gallery,” surroundedwith assistants and “Möbius” moving alongnicely. It’s an astounding story, Posamentier says,beginning almost by accident, and now embracinga suggestion by the Mexican Consul thatperhaps an agreement might be struck betweenCity College and Chihuahua. For the dean, oftenquoted for his long-time “passion to seek waysto make mathematics interesting to teachers,students and the general public,” this serendipitousassociation of science and art exemplifiesthe kind of “Mathematical Amazementsand Surprises” he likes to present for popularconsumption—a subject that also just happens tobe the title of his newest (forthcoming) book. #at least a two year reprieve in having studentachievement data influence tenure and other personneldecisions.#Martha McCarthy, Ph.D., is Chancellor’sProfessor and Chair, Educational Leadershipand Policy Studies, Indiana University.

8 spotlight on schools ■ EDUCATION UPDATE ■ June 2008American School Opensin PakistanBy dr. Pola RosenDr. Stephen Levy, retired NYC Principal andTouro College Professor, announced that hislatest and most challenging project has beenbrought to successful fruition. Appointed Deanof Education of American International SchoolSystem (AISS) in late 2006 he spearheaded thedevelopment and construction of a state-of-thearteducational facility in Pakistan. AmericanInternational School System opened its flagshipschool, housed in a completely secure campus,in Lahore, Pakistan this September with a ceremonyattended by Pervez Elahi, Chief Ministerof Punjab. AISS is an educational institutiondesigned to promote cultural understanding andawareness among the children of the Middle East& the Asian Sub-Continent through creative andinteractive instruction. The school was designedas a center for educational and civic activitiessponsored by AISS. This beautiful, high-techfacility was built on thirteen and one half acreswhich were then designated an educational zoneby the government. Using innovative technologyand Internet connectivity Dr. Levy communicateswith the school and delivers professional developmentto the staff on a regular basis calling uponthe resources and faculties of George WashingtonUniversity and Touro College.The Director in Pakistan, Dr. James Bonnellwas selected after a nationwide search of leadingeducators who were flown in from all overthe country. Dr. Levy stated, “This was probablythe hardest part of the process…finding aleader whose philosophy of education matchedmy own.” “This part of the world sorely needs avoice to counter the constant flow of misinformationabout America. We intend to do this by ouractions and not by proselytizing.” During ourinterview Dr. Levy spoke about his vision, whichrecognizes the importance of mutual respectand a willingness to share ideas. AISS hopes toPERSPECTIVES IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONaccomplish this by cultivating values of respect,compassion and integrity in each of its students.“Through innovative technology and state-of-theartfacilities, we will allow students to emergewith intellectual, physical, social, and emotionalstrength, able to combat prejudice and fullyengage in the global community.” He prioritizesthe needs of the whole individual and promotes abalanced education for each student. “The focusis on the acquisition of high-level academic skillsand the healthy social, physical and emotionaldevelopment of students.” Dr. Levy said, “I amextremely proud of the fact that if you walk intoa classroom in the U.S. and then go into one ofmy classrooms in Pakistan, you will see the samefurniture, decorations, environment, curriculumand teaching going on.”Dr. Levy, working with his overseas staff,and with representatives of the PunjabProvince in Lahore, Pakistan, developed aPre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten and 1st Gradeelementary school. AISS will expand its educationalprogram incrementally, this year to grade5, eventually providing educational opportunitiesfor the children of Pakistan from Pre-K tothe 12th grade. Students will be prepared forthe International Baccalaureate degree and willbe able to gain admittance to colleges and universitiesin the U.S. In 2008, AISS will beginbuilding in Cairo, Egypt.Partnering with George Washington Universityin the U.S., Dr. Levy provided intensive andongoing professional development and culturalsensitivity training for teachers chosen fromacross the U.S. The school features an Americanstyle education, conducted entirely in Englishfor local Pakistani children. The entire project isprivately funded; no money has been taken fromany government. Dr. Levy is currently hiringAmerican teachers for the Fall semester.#Youth Entrepreneurship Education:Preparing a 21st-CenturySkilled WorkforceBy Barbara ReuterA converging set of powerful economic, technological,demographic, and national securitydevelopments require a workforce more innovative,creative and entrepreneurially savvy thanever before. But as a nation our business leaders,educational institutions, and future workforce areunprepared to meet the challenge of global competitiveness—particularlyfor minority youth.While improving math and science skillsamong U.S. students remains a basic task and iscritically important, an equal amount of publicattention and support is needed to promote entrepreneurialeducation.According to research conducted by HarvardUniversity on students participating in the NationalFoundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s(NFTE) youth entrepreneurship education program,young people who learn about entrepreneurshipdevelop a “success” orientation and aremore likely to be focused on becoming professionalsand entering the workforce.Not only are youth entrepreneurship educationprograms beneficial as contextual applicationsof traditional academic curricula, they can alsoprovide first-hand learning experiences that serveto inspire confidence and leadership in studentswhere such character traits may go undeveloped.This shift in attitude toward success is criticalin helping students stay on track and motivatedwhen they are receiving mixed messages aboutfuture opportunities.Entrepreneurship has come to mean more thansimply developing a business idea and actuallystarting a business. The word has cometo represent the skills and attitudes frequentlyassociated with successful adults in all spheresof activity—the private sector, public sector,and philanthropic entrepreneurs. The hands-on,interactive nature of entrepreneurship educationcurriculum engages students by enabling traditionalacademic subject matter to be relevant toreal-world experiences.WHAT CAN YOU DO?Leadership from a diverse range of sectors isneeded to create a national educational and workforceresponse to global competitiveness.Congress, the U.S. Department of Education,Governors, Economic Development Leadersand State Legislators must play a leading role.Congress should amend the No Child LeftBehind legislation (NCLB) to fund training andcertification for high school educators to teachentrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education.Business leaders should ask policymakers toincrease funding for entrepreneurship knowledgeand skills and help schools to “scale-up” innovativeprograms. Companies large and small havean important stake in the development of higherambitions and marketable skills by youth andthese companies also need to be involved as mentors,business plan coaches and judges, and guestspeakers. As customers for well-prepared workers,businesses have an interest in, and share theresponsibility of, improving the quality of theirfuture workforce.Wise Words to Students fromRussian President Medvedevedited by Dorothy DavisGreetings to all of you on St. Tatiana’s Day,the day celebrating the founding of MoscowState University, our first university. This dayhas now become Students’ Day throughout thewhole country.I hope you are happy because most of you havesuccessfully passed your exams. I believe thateach of you understands how important this is.It is obvious to all of you that your universitystudies give meaning to your lives and that yourfuture depends on them. They are the key toopportunities in life. Despite this I am sure thatthe years you spend here will be the happiestyears of your lives, even though you might notfully realize it now. This is something you donot understand right away. Only after a whiledo you start to realize that you were happiestwhen you were a student. You are not a child anymore, you have become an independent person,but at the same time you do not have too muchresponsibility.But you do have your main responsibility andI assume you will succeed in it. Not only yourfuture and the future of our educational system,but also the future of our country depend on howwell you do now. I am confident that your yearsat Moscow State will be your most interestingand productive.You study at the country’s main university,which has fine traditions and excellent professors.The very walls of this university areimbued with the spirit of Russian education!Nevertheless, even here you have to invest a lotof energy in order to become a highly qualifiedspecialist.I wish you all happiness and give you my sinceregood wishes for St. Tatiana’s Day, the dayfor Russian students! Good luck to you!(Russian President Dr. Dmitry Medvedev is theson of educators and was himself a universityprofessor. The above excerpt is from a speech hegave at Moscow State University, January 25,2008, translated by SUNY/MSU Center) #Israel: A High SchoolStudent’s HeartbreakA Letter From A LovingFather, Keith SiegelDear Dr. Charlotte Frank,I would like to thank you verymuch for everything you did forElan and the group when theywere in NYC. Elan had a wonderfulexperience and we are all veryproud of her.We have shared the WCBS itemand the newspaper article with allof our family and friends. We havereceived positive feedback frommany, regarding your efforts tohelp “spread the word” about lifeunder the daily threat of rocketattacks carried out by Palestinianterrorists in Gaza.Over the last 4 weeks our community hasbeen attacked by terrorists in Gaza with (Iranianmanufactured) 120 mm mortar shells. Thesemortar shells have been supplied to Hammas byIran and have been shipped to the Gaza Strip viathe Egyptian border. Compared to the Kassamrockets which are made in Gaza, these mortarshells are much more lethal and accurate. Thereis no advance warning of mortar fire because theadvance warning system that detects Kassamrocket fire, is not able to detect mortar fire.On May 9 at around 6:30 pm, our neighbor(and the father of one of Elans’ best friends)The Youth Entrepreneur Strategy Group(YESG)—a group of national leaders in the fieldsof Education, Entrepreneurship, Business, Media,Philanthropy, and Public Policy—is working tocreate a strategy to advance entrepreneurshipeducation in Title I middle and high schools.The Aspen Institute, E-Trade, and the NationalFoundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship(NFTE) are at the forefront driving these initiatives.Corporate philanthropy is well positioned toplay an essential part in encouraging enterpriseeducation and small business ownership. Modeleducational and skills-building programs, oftendelivered in cooperation with corporate mentors,fills this growing gap by preparing youngElan Siegel,Sha’ar HaNegev HSJimmy Kedoshim waskilled by a mortar shell(1 of the 4 that hit ourKibbutz) while workingin the garden nextto his house (which isless than 50 yards fromour house). Elan wasalone in our home at thetime. She was awakenedby the first explosion.She ran with her dogto the most protectedarea of the house (theshower). After the thirdexplosion, she heard awomen screaming andthought that it was hermother, Aviva.I arrived home several minutes later and foundElan crying in the shower. We all waited in theshower until things were calm and a soldierbrought Aviva home.It has been a very difficult time for Elan. Shewanted to let you know how she is doing, but hasbeen very distracted, dealing with the death ofher friends father, the threat of mortar fire, andfinal exams at school. Yesterday she went to TelAviv to stay with a friend and study for an examon Tuesday.#people from low-income communities to workwith peers from around the globe while enhancingtheir business, academic, and life skills.By investing in entrepreneurship education programs,funders can open an exciting world ofpossibilities to young people, and help them todevelop new confidence, skills, and ambitionsalong the way.For today’s students and tomorrow’s businessleaders, knowledge of and successful participationin the world economy is not a luxury, it is anecessity.#Barbara Reuter is Executive Director of theNew York Metro office of the National Foundationfor Teaching Entrepreneurship.

June 2008 ■ EDUCATION UPDATE ■ spotlight on schools9College Presidents’ SeriesPresident Richard McCormick,Rutgers UniversityBy Joan Baum, Ph.D.“This is not a rich kids’ school,”says Richard L. McCormick,President of Rutgers University,The State University of NewJersey. He says it twice, proud ofwhat it means to serve at the headof a major public research university,where enrollment is higherthan ever, and also challenged tocontinue to provide excellence andaccess to a student body that hasbeen identified by U.S. News andWorld Report as the most diversifiedin the country. The universitycomprises three main campuses—New Brunswick / Piscataway,Newark and Camden—a total of29 degree-granting divisions, 12undergraduate colleges, 11 graduateschools and three schoolsoffering both undergraduate andgraduate degrees, with a totalenrollment of 51,480 undergraduatesand 12,904 graduate students.The president is mindful ofthe university’s unique history:a university “that grew by accretion,”as opposed to, say, TheUniversity of Michigan or NorthCarolina that were “always whatthey were.” A colonial charteredcollege in 1766, dedicated to educatingministers for the ProtestantDutch Reformed Church, Rutgersthen became a land-grant institutionin 1864, merging variousprograms, and finally in 1945/56a state university. In its various incarnationsand through difficult times, the university hasnot only survived but also achieved. PresidentMcCormick points out that Rutgers is a memberof A.A.U.—an association of 62 leading researchuniversities in the U.S. and Canada, with internationalreputation. “We’re “unique on the planet”as an American research university.The president, an Amherst B.A. and YalePh.D. does do something unusual for a collegepresident: he teaches in the interdisciplinary FirstYear Freshman Seminar program. Of course, aspresident, he sees students all the time, but theyare typically student leaders, the “politicians” onthe campus. Teaching first-year undergraduates,he sees students as students, and he is exhilaratedby the experience, especially when he comes offan hour that he earlier thought he couldn’t possiblymake because of the day’s pile up of crises.Although he went to top-tier private schoolshimself, his life as an administrator has alwaysbeen at large public universities. He has beenat Rutgers since 2002 and is its 19th president.Certainly private and public institutions sharesimilar goals and missions and challenges, butthe fact that Rutgers receives funding from thestate means that there is an “obligation”—thoughhe speaks of it also as a “privilege”—to attendclosely to the needs of the community. A Schoolof Criminal Justice, for example, is located atNewark, more traditional and research Ph.D.programs at New Brunswick, and Camden, thesmallest of the campuses with 5,000—6,000undergraduates also has schools of law and business,and a new Ph.D. program in ChildhoodStudies. All Rutgers undergraduates, however,pay $20,000 for tuition, room and board; bycontrast, the figure at the top privates jumps to$50,000. Seventy-five percent of Rutgers’ kidsreceive financial aid; 80% work; 25% get Pellgrants; over a third are the first in their familiesto go to college.By community, however, the president meansnot just issues of major concern to the campuscities, but also wider concerns peculiar to thestate: protection of the shore line; revitalizationof older cities, including infrastructure; closercollaboration between K-12 public schools. Inthis last regard, President McCormick is especiallypleased at just having instituted the RutgersFuture Scholars Program, all privately funded(so far), whereby 50 eighth grade students in thecampus cities will be groomed for higher educationand given free tuition and no fees to studyat Rutgers. The program, a “huge deal,” he says,can have a great impact on getting more minoritystudents into college, particularly in academicsubjects where they have not yet been a majorpresence. As is, many of the African Americanand Latino students who attend Rutgers comefrom suburban areas around Camden, Newark,New Brunswick / Piscataway, not the inner cities.Meanwhile, the university’s Graduate Schoolof Education will continue to target math andsciences for these youngsters, for all youngsters.Why should “freshman calculus be the placedreams die?”Diversity, in fact, will be the subject of a majorend-of-the year conference at Rutgers in collaborationwith The College Board and ColumbiaUniversity. Diversity, the president points out,can no longer be defined as it was in the sixties.New groups are changing the country’sdemographic, especially the arrival of Latinosand South Asians in New Jersey. New legal challengesare on the horizon regarding affirmativeaction, he predicts, and curricula will need tobe reconsidered to some extent to acknowledgethe heritage of the newer populations. Thatthis ground-breaking conference will be held atRutgers says a lot about the university’s status butalso about its drive and track record. #New Jersey NewsStudent Teachers: Ready, Set, Go!Minimum age: four yearsChildrens’ class meetsonce a week from 4:30-6:15By Lisa K. WinklerLike yogis bending and twisting and stretching,student teachers quickly learn to be flexible.They learn they need stamina and patience. Theyaccept that adjusting, modifying and sometimesabandoning the tidy plans in their plan books arewhat make teaching rewarding. Are they ready tobecome teachers? You bet.As an instructor in the Literacy Educationdepartment at New Jersey City University, Iteach the elementary education literacy seminarrequired for pre-service teachers. Though I try tofocus discussions on teaching reading and writing,conversations often drift to situations the studentsface in their internships. And frankly, someexperiences are beyond anything I could imagine.Take Rianne. One week all she talks about isLockdown Drills. An announcement over theloud speaker announces “intruder in the building,”but neither the students nor the teacherknow if it is true or just a drill. Students, usuallyboisterous and rowdy, suddenly become quiet andserious, enter the classroom’s bathroom, sit closeon the floor and wait. And wait. And wait untilan all- clear signal is given and they can return totheir seats, and learning. In our post-9/11 atmosphere,schools have adopted procedures, oftencolor coded, to handle emergencies. But herdingkids into a bathroom? Does this protect childrenfrom intruders? Why create more anxiety forstudents who already live amid violence in theirneighborhoods?Then there’s Jeannine. A third grader stabs herand 9 others. Though no one is seriously hurt,it’s obvious this student has more problems thanperfecting his cursive writing or learning mathematics.As for Jaki, I almost expect her motherto advise her to find another profession. On herway to the parking lot, a strange man, whosecar her car blocked, tells her: “My name will bescratched into your car tomorrow.” She reportsthe incident to the office the next day and learnsthe man teaches in the school. Though the principaldirects him to apologize, no further action istaken. What message is this future teacher beinggiven? That it’s ok for a young woman to bethreatened by a colleague? And how does he talkto children in the classroom?Perhaps teacher education should include securitymanagement, violence intervention, andparking lot strategies. Yet despite these setbacks,it’s not all depressing. These students are committedto the profession and to teaching in urbanenvironments. They’re knowledgeable of literacystrategies and empathetic to all types of learners.They’re wary of testing—yet realistic to knowthey can’t ignore it and need to prepare students.By the last couple of weeks, many have jobinterviews. Polina is among a group of 8 contestants,almost a reality show atmosphere wherea panel of four alternatively ask each one theirquestions. After two hours, 5 are selected toreturn the following week and demonstrate a lesson.Phil, the lone male in the group, confidentafter an interview, reports “he’d nailed it.” Malesin elementary school are as desirable as swansamong geese.They’ll be in classrooms soon—and if notpracticing yoga literally, at the least stretchingthemselves and their students. #Fulbright Students VisitNYC ClassroomsMore than 1,000 teachers and studentsin middle and high schools in Brooklyn,the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens recentlyopened their classrooms to Fulbright studentsfrom around the world.The Fulbrighters, who study at universitiesacross the United States and representover 70 different countries, were in NewYork attending a 4-day seminar organizedby the Institute for International Education(IIE). Through Metro International’s GlobalClassroom, New York City middle and highschool students had the opportunity to spenda day exchanging ideas, perspectives, andexperiences with these unofficial ambassadorsfrom various countries. The program has beenin existence since 1985; its mission—to createglobal citizens and a peaceful world throughone-of-a-kind programs in classrooms andcommunities.#German for ChildrenAFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM • LOW TUITIONNo previous Germanrequired. Classesstart in SeptemberFour Convenient Locations:Manhattan, Franklin Square, Queens (Ridgewood), Garden City(212) 787-7543 • (718) 456-8706www.German-American-School.orgGerman American School: Teaching German for over 116 Years

10 Special Education ■ EDUCATION UPDATE ■ JUNE 2008Young Autism Patients Learnto Play the Game of LifeParents of an autistic child know the world outsidetheir home can be an especially intimidatingplace. Now, a technology associated with fantasyworlds is helping children with autism cope withthe real world. Researchers at the Universityof Texas at Dallas Center for BrainHealth areworking with teenagers and young adults diagnosedwith an autism spectrum disorder known asAsperger’s Syndrome using virtual reality training.Children with this type of autism suffer froma variety of social cognitive defects, including aninability to read nonverbal clues, adapt well tochange and handle their emotions. These youngpeople face many obstacles in life. Interactingwith other children in the playground or goingthrough the lunch line can be monumentally difficult.To help them succeed, researchers from thecenter have created a virtual world using aSecond Life platform for them to practice theirsocial skills. Each child creates an avatar/characterin his or her likeness, who then navigatesthrough a virtual world, interacting with realpeople represented by their own avatars.The virtual world includes settings commonlyencountered in everyday life such as classrooms,playgrounds, cafeterias, and parks, where theycan meet “new” children in a safe, controlledenvironment. For example, if the goal is to makenew friends, their avatars substitute for them asthey practice their ‘friend-making’ skills withreal people on-line until the fear and anxiety ofa real encounter diminishes. This method is distinctfrom role-playing in that they feel the sameemotions as they would in direct encounters.Virtual reality provides a therapy tool to rewirethe brain through practical experiences that canbe manipulated in ways the real world cannot,says Dr. Sandra Chapman, director of the Centerfor BrainHealth.“The clinicians can change the virtual world toincrease the complexity of the exercise, controlfor sensory overload, provide motivation, andrecord feedback,” said Chapman. “Unlike othermodels of intervention such as role-playing, forinstance virtual world experience provides apowerful way to learn new and more appropriateways to respond to people in scenarios similar tothose faced everyday,” she said.“Our research in brain discoveries tells us thatthe brain can rewire its pathways with intensivepractice grounded in experience—not by learningrules of how to interact—which has been themost common therapy practice heretofore,” saidChapman. “These young people have the advantageof an intensive, interactive therapy to dealwith problems they encounter everyday but in asafe setting to practice their social skills.”Before entering the program, the participantsundergo a series of brain imaging measures andneurocognitive tests. At first, they practice withtheir avatars with a clinician by their sides.Quickly, new persons/avatars are introducedto the client and they begin to interact withfamily members and trusted friends. In additionto the virtual-world therapy, the young adultsreceive plenty of one-on-one coaching as theyare trained to develop the insight to assess theirown responses. At first, they watch recordings oftheir interactions, and gradually they are expectedto modify their behaviors to fit the context inreal time. The idea is to train their brains in newways of thinking in contexts that closely mimicreal life. That goal is to stop unhelpful responsesbefore they can start.“There are almost no treatment programs forolder children or young adults with autismrelateddisorders,” said Chapman. “And yet thisis a very good time to intervene because it isduring adolescence that rapid brain developmenttakes place—particularly in the areas supportingsocial-skill development.”Although still in the early stages, theBrainHealth researchers say they can detectdramatic improvements with many of the participantsin terms of simple awareness of theirsocial problems, which they say is the first stepto improvement.Virtual-reality therapy has become a new toolin brain rehabilitation. Therapists are using thegaming technology for people who suffer fromautism spectrum disorders, Asperger syndrome,schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder, addictions,strokes and brain injuries.#Major Resource for Educators ofEnglish Language LearnersBy Nicole McLaughlinThe National Clearinghouse for EnglishLanguage Acquisition (NCELA) is a majorresource for educators of English LanguageLearners (ELLs). Administered by GeorgeWashington University and supported by theU.S. Office of English Language Acquisition(OELA), NCELA collects, produces and disseminatesmaterials on ELL education. Through itswebsite at www.ncela.gwu.edu NCELA providesimportant information on instruction, research,assessment, policy and practice to teachers, universityfaculty, SEA and LEA personnel, studentsand parents. It also convenes expert panels andpublishes reports on relevant topics requested byELL educators.Some of the most popular NCELA featuresare its Resource Collection, Newsline, Statistics,Classroom Toolkit and AskNCELA. NCELA’sResource Collection houses over 23,000 bibliographicrecords of journal articles and othereducation material specific to ELLs. All documentsare available for free and many can bedownloaded in full text. Within the ResourceCollection, there are two special databases thatprovide an in-depth analysis of ELL research:“What Works for English Language Learners”(WWELL) and “Research on Effective Educationof English-Language Learners” (REEELL).The OELA/NCELA Newsline is both a dailyblog and a weekly newsletter that offers currentevents, educational opportunities, new publicationsand resources, and job openings. Users accesssummary descriptions and can then link to primarysources. Newsline currently serves more than6,000 subscribers and adds new members daily.NCELA also offers a number of informativeand practical statistics on ELL education,including national, state, and regional data anddemographics. For example, NCELA’s annualposter entitled “The Growing Number of LimitedEnglish Proficient (LEP) Students” presents acolor-coded U. S. map with trends on the number,density, and skyrocketing growth of ELLs.The Classroom Toolkit provides a varietyof research-based K-12 lessons, activities, andcurriculum materials. In addition to presentinginstructional resources, the Toolkit invites educatorsto contribute materials for inclusion on thesite.Finally, users who seek specific informationabout ELLs can either call NCELA directly(800-321-6223) or post a question on the“AskNCELA” page. Staff members respond tothese requests within 24 hours so users can takeadvantage of the quick turnaround and reliable,accurate assistance.The National Clearinghouse for EnglishLanguage Acquisition’s primary purpose isto provide information and assistance aboutEnglish language learners. So when in doubt,AskNCELA! #Nicole McLaughlin is a resource associate atNCELA.NJ Blind Student Goesto Columbia USean from East Brunswick, New Jersey ison his way to Columbia University’s Schoolof Engineering…and he is a legally blind highschool senior. Sean along with several other NewYork Metro students received a major scholarshipfrom The Jewish Guild for the Blind.Additionally, recipients of The Jewish Guild forthe Blind’s 2008 GuildScholar awards have beenaccepted by Harvard, Stanford, Texas A&M,Mercer, Gettysburg, Eastern Illinois, Coloradoand Florida. These extraordinary young studentsplan to study medicine, psychology, computerscience, photography, engineering, history, businessor music…their ambitions are without limits.In September 2006, The Jewish Guild for theBlind announced its new scholarship programfor college-bound high school seniors who arelegally blind. The GuildScholar Program awardseach student a $15,000 scholarship to help assurethat more blind students are able to enroll in acollege or university that might otherwise be outof their reach financially. While there are otherscholarships available for blind students, this isthe largest program of its kind in the country. Asmany as 15 students are selected for scholarshipseach academic year.The Jewish Guild for the Blind, located at15 West 65 Street in Manhattan, is one of thenation’s foremost not-for-profit vision health careagencies. The Guild has been serving blind, visuallyimpaired and multi-disabled children, adultsand the elderly since 1914.#Technology Initiative For LearningDisabled Demonstrated atMarymount Manhattan CollegeKenneth Grisham, Pres./CEO, Premier Assistive Technology & StudentBy Alberto CepedaLD Resources Foundation recently honoredfive of Marymount Manhattan College’s brighteststudents with the Key to Access Award. Theawards are a part of LD Resources Foundation’s(LDRF) Premier Initiative Award Program. Theprogram is made possible with the help ofPremier Assistive Technology, which teamedup with LDRF to provide college students withlearning disabilities the latest portable assistivetechnology devices. In addition to providingthe students with the devices, Premier AssistiveTechnology offers workshops that assist the studentsin how to use the technology.LDRF was founded by Ms. Zahavit Paz in2001 to help college students with learning disabilitiessucceed in the classroom and completetheir college education. The primary focus ofthe foundation is to inform college students withlearning disabilities on the multitude of resourcesand accommodations available to them in collegecampuses across the New York City area.Ms. Paz’ greatest joy comes in helping learningdisabledstudents achieve their academic goals.She explains, “I love doing this. A lot of studentsdon’t know about the technology and it makesan immense difference. I have students that havewritten letters to me in which they say their readingand comprehension and their ability to completetheir tasks on time have improved so muchthanks to the technology.”One of the key figures attending the event wasKenneth Gershaw, President and CEO of PremierAssistive Technology, a company that providesassistive technological devices to people withlearning disabilities. Among the many assistivetechnological devices invented by PremierAssistive Technology is the Key To Access, aUSB device that contains a collection of computertools such as Scan and Read Pro, UniversalReader Plus and Ultimate Talking Dictionary toname a few.Mr. Gershaw’s mission when he created thedevice was to make a learning device for learningdisabled people that was affordable compared tothe ones created by speech recognition technologypioneer, Raymond Kurzweil. Mr. Gershawexplains, “We’ve been distributing our technologysince 2002 with the express purpose of providingliterary tools and assistance to people whotraditionally have not been able to afford them oruse them in their academic studies.”The award presentation took place in the chapelroom of Marymount Manhattan College’scampus. This year’s recipients of the Key toAccess Award were Kimberly Davis, ChristopherGaskell, Beck Hesselbach, Thomas Hoffmanand Adriana Muros. Each student was presentedwith a Key to Access device as well as a host ofother prizes. After the award ceremony, the winnerswere treated to an extensive tutorial by Mr.Gershaw on how to use the device and its manytools. It was a win-win proposition for the studentswho needed the help and the LD ResourcesFoundation and Premier Assistive Technologywho provided it to them.#

Kinko’s Founder Proves Learning Disabilities No Bar to SuccessBy Sybil Maimin“It took me a long time to learn I’m not stupid…Igot to be fifty years old,” confessed PaulOrfalea, the now retired founder of the highlysuccessful Kinko’s stores, a worldwide chainwith over 1700 outlets in the United States. Inconversation with Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz,director and founder of the NYU Child StudyCenter, at the Sixth Annual Adam Jeffrey KatzMemorial Lecture at Columbia Grammar &Preparatory, Orfalea explained that growing upwith dyslexia and ADHD, “I had a lot of doctorsand tests.” He described failing second grade,being expelled from schools, attending a “special”school, and being dismissed as a “problemchild.” He admits, “I hated school. I wasn’tsocially all that acceptable. I didn’t have manyfriends.” He discovered a love for current eventsand “kept out of trouble” by watching TV newsafter school from 4:30 to 7:30. As for understandinghis situation—”I was numb about thewhole environment. I don’t think I went throughlife cognitively reflective.” As he describes it,his lucky Ace was, “We’re Lebanese. The ideaof getting a job is not part of the equation. Youhave your own business… My parents neveraggravated about education. School was not abig deal.” Pranks were allowed. “My motherencouraged mischievous behavior. Among theLebanese, mischievousness is an acceptablesocial behavior.” Nevertheless, he advised, “I’mmaking light of it, but it was not easy.”Despite his D average and learning problems,Orfalea was expected to attend college. Hemajored in business, which he loved, and figuredout strategies and loopholes to get through withminimum stress. Once out of school, findingand holding a job was difficult (“I always gotfired.”) so, at age 22, Orfalea started Kinko’s$2.2 Million To Study How Math IsLearned by Deaf StudentsJUNE 2008 ■ EDUCATION UPDATE ■ Special Educationas a small copyingservice for studentsat the University ofCalifornia at SantaBarbara. He realizedhe could succeedwith an alternativeskill set. Althoughreading ability isgenerally equatedwith intelligence,he decided, “Youdon’t have to read.There are lots ofways to learn.” Hewatches educationalTV and has otherswrite letters for him.Unperturbed that heis not mechanicaland did not understandthe machinesat the heart ofKinko’s business,he saw his job asmonitoring the overallmanagement ofthe stores. “Picking good people,” is an essentialskill, he advises. Alluding to another skill,he says, “As cavalier as I sound, I was alwaysextremely organized.” He stresses the importanceof “living in the moment.” He doesn’t use“pending” and makes sure contents of his “in-boximmediately go to the out-box.”Orfalea’s phenomenal success despite his dyslexiaand ADHD was facilitated by a strong,supportive family, high intelligence, a sense ofhumor, and, as he readily admits, luck. “Thereis a degree of serendipity in life.” He has strongA four-year, $2.2 million grant to study the waydeaf and hard-of-hearing students learn mathhas been awarded to the Center for EducationResearch Partnerships at Rochester Instituteof Technology’s (RIT) National TechnicalInstitute for the Deaf. The grant was awardedby the National Institute for Child Health andDevelopment at the National Institutes of Health.“Deaf and hard-of-hearing students, includingthose with cochlear implants, frequentlylag behind their hearing peers in mathematicsachievement,” said Marc Marschark, an RITProfessor and CERP director. “This is an incredibleopportunity to work with students, parentsand teachers to directly link research and practice.”More than 1,000 students—as young asage 5 to college students—will be tested in theUnited States and Scotland to evaluate mathskills, cognitive abilities and motivation. Theproject is a collaboration with the University ofAberdeen, where Marschark holds an appointmentin the School of Psychology.“Our research here has shown that deaf learnersof all ages learn differently than hearing students,”Marschark said. “There’s the assumptionthat if you remove the communication barriersin the classroom, that deaf students learn justlike hearing students. But a lot of the researchshows that’s not true.” “If you want to improveeducation for deaf students and hard-of-hearingstudents, you have to start before they get tocollege,” said Alan Hurwitz, CEO of NTIDand dean and vice president of RIT for NTID.“Understanding how information is processedand learned will better enable educators to providethe best possible strategies to have theirstudents succeed.”The study comes after research showed deafstudents generally lag behind their hearing peersin math courses. This study will determinehow language fluency, cultural expectations andcognitive functions such as memory relate tolearning mathematics. The information gainedwill be shared to help develop practices in deafeducation.#(L-R) Holly Hayes, Paul Orfalea, Pola Rosen, & Steven Mullerideas about education and business. “I’m a risktaker,while others just protect their interests.”Glad to be retired, he muses, “I can think aboutwhat I want to think about, not what otherswant.” He believes schools put too much pressureon children: “Reading should not be taught untilage 7,” and children should be encouraged todevelop individuality and be themselves. Schoolshould be “a place to learn, not a place to pleaseothers.” Perhaps reflecting the difficulties hehad growing up, he is critical of parents, saying,“Today, it’s all about bragging rights.”Dr. Koplewicz saw in Orfalea’s story the valueDr. Harold Koplewicz11of resilience, inner strength, and positiveself-esteem. Audience member Dr.Kathleen Jantzen, a clinical psychologistwho treats learning disabilities, offered,“Success is possible… Anybody canhave an issue. You just have to rise above it…Orfalea approached it in his own style.” BrookeGarber Neidich, chair of the board of the ChildStudy Center, expressed “amazement at hearing hisexperiences” and mused, “I wish it would work outas well for millions of children with disabilities,but it doesn’t. He is one of the elite. He is lucky.”Founded in 1997, the New York University ChildStudy Center, part of the NYU School of Medicine,is dedicated to improving the treatment of psychiatricand learning disorders in children throughresearch, education, and scientific practice.#HELP! CHEMISTRY,PHYSICS TESTSOVER 100,000 BOOKS SOLD!HIGH MARKS: REGENTS CHEMISTRYMADE EASY - BY SHARON WELCHER $10.95(College Teacher, Chairperson &Teacher of High School Review Courses)Easy Review Book with hundreds ofquestions and solutionsNext Book in the SeriesHIGH MARKS: REGENTS PHYSICS MADEEASY - BY SHARON WELCHER $12.95Teaches Physics ProblemsEasy Methods • Get High MarksAvailable at leading bookstoresor call 718-271-7466www.HighMarksinSchool.comTUTOR

12EDUCATION UPDATE | June 2008Dean Terry Fulmer LeadsNYU College of Nursing IntoTwenty First CenturyBy Emily Sherwood, Ph.D.Few people would be surprised to learn that85 percent of the globe’s health care is deliveredby nurses. But while the nursing profession iswidely recognized as the bedrock of our healthcare system, the Department of Labor estimatesthat by the year 2020, the United States couldbe up to 800,000 nurses short of meeting patientcare needs.One person who is not taking this news lightlyis Dr. Terry Fulmer, Dean of the NYU Collegeof Nursing. A powerful advocate for improvingthe nation’s health care system, Dean Fulmerhas overseen a major expansion initiative at theCollege of Nursing since becoming its Dean in2005, doubling undergraduate enrollments from300 to 600 while increasing faculty positionsfrom 26 to 53. That’s not all. To meet burgeoningdemand (last year’s applications outnumberedadmissions by over four-to-one), NYU has madea commitment to build a new facility that willdouble the square footage of the current nursingcollege, an anticipated $70 million project that isexpected to break ground across from BellevueHospital in 2009.Against this backdrop of frenetic activity, DeanFulmer appears composed and relaxed in herWashington Square office on a recent late afternoon,when she sits down to talk with EducationUpdate. She’s just returned from speaking on apanel for the Institute of Medicine, addressingone of her favorite topics: “Retooling for anAging America.” “We need to talk about buildingthe health care work force now for a future wherethere will be many more older people and wherethere will be quite a large number of retirementsacross medicine, nursing, dentistry, social work,and other health-related professions,” explainsDean Fulmer. “What will we do to fill that void?”One solution is to train “informal care providers”—familyand friends of the elderly—to learnthe skills and knowledge they’ll need to supporttheir loved ones. “We’re redesigning models ofcare to help that first line of family and friendsto give the best care they can to the extent it’sappropriate,” she sums up.Dean Fulmer’s prodigious intellect embraces aswath of critical issues for the future of nursing,a subject about which she is passionate (there are“dozens” of nurses in her extended family, includingher mother, who was a cadet nurse, and her youngestdaughter, who is currently a nursing student.)Randi Weingarten ReceivesTeachers College MedalRandi Weingarten at TCTC President Susan FuhrmanDean Terry FulmerIn the area of curriculum, she discusses the rolethat science and technology have had in shapingwhat twenty first century students must learn.“But what do you stop teaching to add genomics,Asian flu, and other important topics to ourcurriculum,” she asks rhetorically. And as medicinehas become more complex, “there’s beena cascading effect of roles up and down,” withnursing assistants taking on jobs that were onceperformed by registered nurses and, in some ruralareas, dental assistants performing “drilling andfilling” jobs once done only by dentists. Somedrug stores are staffing storefront health clinicswith nurse practitioners, an interesting businessmodel that encourages more customers to comeinto the store and shop for other merchandise. “Ithink that this is one of those phenomena wherewe’ll watch the experiment play out,” says Dr.Fulmer. “If there is a high proportion of individualswho have misdiagnoses, it’s not going to govery far. Conversely, if individuals do very welland there’s great consumer confidence, thenyou’ll see it go farther. It’s all going to be datadriven,” she concludes.Dr. Fulmer is a staunch proponent of preventivehealth care, and she’s found an innovativeway to achieve it at NYU. Three years ago, theCollege of Nursing opened a faculty practiceclinic, now staffed by five nurse practitioners,on the first floor of the dental college. “We didthat on purpose because our dental college logs300,000 patient visits a year. So for us, the logicalquestion was, you see your dentist every year, butwhen was the last time you saw your primary carecontinued on page 23By Joy ResmovitsWith the help of United Federation of Teacherspresident Randi Weingarten, masters studentsof Teachers College, a Columbia affiliate, proceededtowards the end of their academic careersand the start of their professional lives.Along with New York State Governor DavidPaterson and University of Wisconsin-MadisonProfessor Gloria Ladson-Billings, Weingartenreceived the TC Medal for Distinguished Service.But before the winner addressed the graduatingstudents under the vaulted ceilings of RiversideChurch, TC President Susan Fuhrman took thislast chance to embrace them as such. “When wesay farewell to our students, we welcome you ascolleagues,” Fuhrman said.Fuhrman began her address by citing the wordsof education champion John Dewey, and explicatinghis message. “Learning occurs through partnershipto the world,” Fuhrman said. Learningthat “pairs thinking with hands-on discovery”shows the importance of engaging with theworld. Because of this importance, TC defines“education in the broadest sense” by offeringfaculty and research in psychology, nutrition, andpolicy, as well as teaching and curriculum.It is by this principle of the necessity ofworldly engagement that Fuhrman will lead TCon its journey of increased partnerships with localHarlem schools. TC will aggressively increasethe way it interacts with schools by initiatingmore outreach programs, serving as a resourcewith experts, and eventually, TC will start itsown lab school in conjunction with Columbia.The goal is to impact the world, but TC “mustbegin in its own backyard,” Fuhrman said. Localschools are “both our obligation and our buildingground.”In order to increase this connection, Fuhrmansaid it is necessary to learn from the new informationon literacy and other fields produced byTC faculty. Further, TC will increase partnershipsglobally, in locales ranging from Boliviato Jordan.In closing, Fuhrman commended the studentson choosing a profession that, at its core, holdsthe mission of bettering the world. “Education isthe global issue, and perhaps the most importantform of global currency,” Fuhrman said. “Youwill help set the standard in each of your variousprofessions for years to come.”TC Professor and Department Chair CeliaGenishi then presented Weingarten with themedal, lauding her service as a “tireless advocatefor New York City’s workforce.” Weingartenpreviously worked on Wall Street and as a historyteacher before taking the reigns of UFT. Thissummer, she is expected to choose whether or notto become president of the American Federationof Teachers. Weingarten’s rallying in Albanyonce took her to prison. As UFT president,Weingarten has helped increase teacher compensation,provide homework help for students,and create UFT teacher center sites to enhanceeducational careers.After the introduction, Weingarten acceptedthe medal with humility. “I’m rarely speechless,”she said.In her address, Weingarten spoke of theincreased professionalism of teaching. “At itscore, it’s about teaching and learning. Everythingelse is how you create an environment whereteachers can be the best they can be,” Weingartencontinued on page 23Chris Matthews Delivers Hunter Commencement AddressChris Matthews, broadcast journalist and hostof MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews,recently addressed approximately 3,000 membersof the Class of 2008 and their families andfriends at Hunter College’s 197th commencementceremony, which was held at Radio CityMusic Hall.A television news anchor with significantdepth of experience, Matthews has distinguishedhimself as a broadcast journalist, newspaperbureau chief, presidential speechwriter, andbestselling author. Matthews covered the fallof the Berlin Wall, the first all-races election inSouth Africa, the Good Friday Peace Accord inNorthern Ireland, and the funeral of Pope JohnPaul II. He has covered every American presidentialelection campaign since the 1980s.Matthews worked for fifteen years as anewspaper journalist, thirteen of them as aWashington bureau chief for the San FranciscoExaminer and two as a national columnist forthe San Francisco Chronicle. Before that, he hada fifteen year career in public service: in the U.S.Abbe RavenSenate for five years for Senator Frank Moss ofUtah and Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine; inthe White House for four years under PresidentJimmy Carter as a presidential speechwriterand on the President’s Reorganization Project.Chris MatthewsHe previously served for six years as the topaide to Speaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip”O’Neill, Jr.The College also celebrated the achievementsof Hunter alumni Abbe Raven, President andJoel KatzCEO of A&E Television Networks, and JoelKatz, prominent entertainment attorney who ischairman of Greenberg Traurig’s global entertainmentpractice. Raven and Katz both wereawarded honorary degrees.#

13June 2008 | EDUCATION UPDATELandmark College:A Moving GraduationPresident Judith ShapiroGraduates FromBarnard CollegePresident Lynda KatzBy Dr. Pola RosenMost graduations are momentous occasionsfilled with nostalgia at friends and memories tobe left behind, pride at accomplishments, andthe frenzy of moving everything out of the dormby 4 pm.The small size of this college enabled each graduateto share several minutes of intimate thoughtswith the audience that overflowed the gym.David Guzman Jr. said simply, “This school isa great place.” Mark Alden effusively thanked hisprofessor and guidance counselor who “got methrough to the end” and jumped off the podiumto hug her. Lettisha Davis from the Bronx, NYreceived two awards while recalling how shecould barely read or write when she arrived atLandmark two years earlier. She wept on stage asshe recounted overcoming the obstacles.Shaw Bates, a 34-year-old student from Hawaiirevealed that he had problems processing informationand was told throughout the grades that“I couldn’t make it and that I was stupid.” Heemotionally asked his family to stand to paytribute to them.Elizabeth Friant whispered into the mike, “Icame into my own here after a traumatic braininjury, the sequel of a car accident in highschool.”Ari Feldman eloquently expressed his gratitude:“This college guided me to academictriumph. I feel I have a place in the world andchoices.”Graduation is a momentous occasion for everystudent but particularly poignant is the triumph ofeach Landmark student. #Astronaut Pamela Melroy InspiresStudents at Marymount SchoolBy Sybil MaiminOne hundred and thirty girls fromgrades K-3, the Peter Pan collars oftheir starched white blouses peekingthrough their light blue pinafores, saton the edges of their seats as they listenedin awe to Pamela Ann Melroy(colonel, USAF, ret.), an astronaut andthe second female commander in spacehistory, describe her experiences in orbit.Speaking at Marymount School, Melroy,a delightfully engaging and compellingrole model, emphasized the importanceof studying math and science, workinghard, and practicing for perfectionas she inspired her young listeners.(She very generously also spoke to twoolder groups at the preK-12 school, tailoring herremarks to audience age.) Invited by visionaryhead of school Concepción Alvar, Melroy is oneof many women whose achievements are underscoredat the school.Raised in an air force family, Melroy wasalways “interested in the sky and the study ofplanets and stars.” Encouraged in her pursuits andtold by her parents “she could be anything shewanted when she grew up,” she amassed impressivecredentials to prepare for her historic role.With a degree in physics and astronomy fromWellesley College and an Air Force ROTC commission,she went on to earn a masters degree inearth and planetary sciences from MassachusettsInstitute of Technology. After graduating fromundergraduate pilot training at Reese Air ForceBase, Texas, she worked as a co-pilot, aircraftcommander and instructor pilot at Barksdale AirForce Base, Louisiana. Melroy served in DesertShield/Desert Storm with over 200 combat andcombat support hours, and graduated from theAir Force Test Pilot School at Edwards AirForce Base, California before being selected forthe astronaut program by NASA in 1994. Herfirst assignments were support roles in launchesand landings. She was deputy project managerfor a crew survival investigation and handledBoard of Trustees: Charles Manley,Chair and Holly HayesAstronaut Pamela Melroy &Head of School, Concepción AlvarCAPCOM (communication between space andground) duties in mission control. Once in space,this vivacious and charming woman was piloton Discovery in 2000 and Atlantis in 2002 andcommander of the 2007 Discovery flight. She hasorbited the earth 610 times and logged over 924hours (over thirty-eight days) in space.On her space missions, Melroy has beeninvolved with the International Space Station“the size of three football fields in all threedimensions” that enables an international, cooperativelaboratory to do science in zero gravity.To the delight of her listeners, with the aidof slides and a home video Melroy describedastronaut preparation, life aboard a spacecraft,and the nature of missions. In a simulator, whichreplicates the inside of a shuttle, “pretend andpractice” of every detail of space life is crucialto “getting ready.” Becoming comfortable in aspace walker suit, basically an extremely heavy,fabric-encased spacecraft with built-in water,food, and other necessities, involves practicingin a special water tank to experience weightlessness.Astronaut crews remain in shuttles for twoweeks and in the space station for six monthsso prior practice in group living is essential.The challenges of zero gravity fascinated theyoung audience. The astronaut described floatingobjects and the ability to dance, performsomersaults in the air, and “do silly things.”Velcro lines the walls and edibles are stuck onand picked off for consumption. Other food iscarefully spooned from pouches. Spicy sauces arecarried on board to compensate for tastelessness.Hair must be tied down to prevent it floating inall directions and becoming attached to the ubiquitousVelcro. Two hours of physical exercise isrequired each day “to fool the body” because,with no effort required for movement, the heartslows down and readjustment on Earth can bedifficult. Astronauts must be strapped to exercisemachines as well as to their beds. Pillows arefastened to the head. Communication with familyand friends is made possible via E-mail sent toPresident Judith Shapiro& NYS Senator Liz KruegerBy Joy ResmovitsBarnard College President Judith Shapiro hasgraduated from Morningside Heights.After 14 years of leadership, tripling theendowment, and solidifying the curriculum ofthe nation’s most competitive women’s college,Shapiro attended her last Class Day ceremony. “Ifyou are willing to accept me as a special graduateof the class of 2008,” Shapiro said, “I might evenshow up at your reunions.”Also ‘graduating,’ Political Science ProfessorDennis Dalton, who taught at Barnard for 39years, opened Tuesday’s ceremony in his cap andgown amid gray skies and rain. Anna Quindlen,Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist for Newsweekand chair of the board of trustees, welcomedgraduates and their parents, and asked them notto “forget where it all began…because you areBarnard women, and it doesn’t get any betterthan that.”After several student leaders spoke, alumnaepresented the Barnard Medal of Distinction, thecollege’s highest honor. The 2008 winners ofthe Medal included New Yorker editor DavidRemnick, tennis giant and activist Billie JeanKing, Harlem organizer and educator ThelmaDavidson Adair, and philanthropist and NewYork City mayor Michael Bloomberg.As class day speaker, Bloomberg addressed thegraduates about the road ahead and the way tomake the most of their education.First, though, he made sure to recognizeShapiro. “Today’s graduates and PresidentShapiro are both moving on after today’s ceremony,”Bloomberg said. “Judith, I know that after14 years, the Barnard community will miss yourleadership, your exuberance, and your famousgin martinis. They’ll also have to get along withoutthe one-poodle canine security patrol you’veprovided. I’m talking about your inseparablecompanion, Nora—who, despite Barnard’s ‘nodogs allowed’ policy, somehow still managed tohave the run of the campus.”He also lauded Shapiro’s singing voice—shetraditionally sings at class dinners—and addedthat Shapiro suggested it would be special if theysang as they crossed Broadway that morning, but“I told her that it would be even more special if Ididn’t,” Bloomberg said.In imparting advice upon the graduates,Bloomberg alluded to Barnard’s distributionrequirements, called the Nine Ways of Knowing.“Let me urge you to round them out with a tenthway of knowing that embraces them all and thatis the best teacher of all: experience…From thisday forward, deepen your hold on this tenthway of knowing from the experience of work.”Bloomberg urged graduates to seize opportunities:“As one very wise Greek philosopher, andlater, running shoe guru, once said: ‘Just do it!’”Citing his own career path, Bloomberg encouragedthe students to work at jobs that “will teach,humble, and exhilarate,” so much that enteringwork at 7am becomes more appealing thanappalling. “When I went to Wall Street after businessschool, I found that being the first person inthe office each morning gave me opportunitiesfor face time with the boss, before the othersarrived…I spent 15 years on Wall Street workingat a firm that really valued the work I did—rightup to the day they showed me to the door. Buton the day I was fired, I knew that the next daywas going to be a better one.” And to the peoplewho fired him from the firm Solomon Brothers,he said, “things worked out just fine, thank youvery much!”After stressing increased involvement ofwomen in city government, Bloomberg left thegraduates with one last piece of advice: “There’sno better place to get that experience than here inNew York City…This is the city for women whoare prepared to strive and succeed.”In a gesture that was not marked in the program,Quindlen surprised Shapiro with her ownMedal. “Barnard has been serenaded by yourpresence and also your alto singing voice for 14incredible years,” Quindlen said. After receivinga standing ovation, Shapiro made her way to theplatform, and said, “You guys know how to keepa secret.”After Dean Dorothy Denburg called the namesof all the graduates who shook Bloomberg’s handas they processed, Shapiro addressed the Barnardstudent body for the last time as president.“This is one big pridefest,” she said. Shapirosent her fellow pioneers out on their journeyas she embarks on a new one herself, as chairof the board of trustees of the nonprofit groupCommon Cents Penny Harvest and a member ofseveral academic societies. “When you are backhere, you might see me walking the famous dogNora…I’ll be the relaxed one,” Shapiro said.Come July, Harvard Business professor DeboraSpar will pick up where Shapiro left off asBarnard president.In her final bid adieu, Shapiro told graduates,“You are now part of the great chain of Barnardbeing.”#the spacecraft three times a day by ground controland through an Internet telephone.Astronaut Melroy made a tantalizing job offerto her young audience. Announcing that a missionto Mars is planned in twenty-five years, shereasoned that, “Someone now in school betweenthe ages of 5 and 25 will be the first personon Mars. That person could be in this room.”Background as a test pilot in the military is nolonger required as the space program seeks physicians,engineers, and scientists. Still relevant isthe message that Melroy, a pioneering woman,sent to Marymount students on the school’s 80thbirthday in 2006. “Continually look ahead to whoand what you want to be…Math and science arekeys to unlocking the doors to the universe.” #

14 spotlight on schools ■ EDUCATION UPDATE ■ June 2008Writing Center PresentsMortimer Levitt Awards(L-R) Author & TV actress, Carol Higgins Clark, the First Place High School Essay Winner,Kristy Khoury, film screenwriter, Bruce Jay Friedman, and First Place Marymount ManhattanCollege Winner, Casey Mauro.(L-R) Marymount Manhattan College’s Director of Special Programs, Bob Rimmer, author & TVactress, Carol Higgins Clark, author and Writing Center Director of MMC, Lewis Frumkes, andthis event’s benefactor, Mimi Levitt.By Pola Rosen, Ed.D.There is nothing quite so heartwarming as seeingyoung talented students singled out and recognizedfor their literary efforts. It encourages them alongthe paths they have chosen and validates their selfworth.This is exactly what happened the other nightat Marymount Manhattan College when LewisBurke Frumkes, director of the writing center, andhimself an eminent writer, presented five highschoolstudents and five Marymount College undergraduatescash prizes and certificates of merit at theMortimer Levitt essay contest awards ceremony.Frumkes then introduced speaker Bruce JayFriedman, whose short story “A Change Of Plan,”was made into “The Heartbreak Kid”, and whowrote the films “Splash,” “Stir Crazy,” and “SteamBath, as well as the play “Scuba Duba” and adozen novels. Friedman talked about the writinglife, about his life and how one must getused to the ups and downs in a writing career.Frumkes recalled how Bruce had once told himthat he had asked his good friend Mario Puzo ifhe couldn’t come up with a better title for a bookthan “The Godfather.” but fortunately for Puzo,said Frumkes, the publishers and movie producersdecided “The Godfather” was not really such a badtitle. The students also got to meet and talk to thebeautiful and talented best-selling suspense writerCarol Higgins Clark who also attended the awardsceremony and lauded the students for their fineachievements.The Mortimer Levitt high-school essay contestthis year “Would Prince Charming HaveSaved Sleeping Beauty If Her Name Was SleepingGreat Personality?” was won by Krista Khoury ofBrooklyn, New York, who received a $2500 checkfor her efforts and an ovation from the crowd asdirector Frumkes read her essay and chuckled outloud to all assembled. Even Bruce Jay Friedmanroared with laughter at Khoury’s essay and smiledover to Frumkes with a thumb’s up.#Pulitzer Prize Winners 2008By Joy ResmovitsThe sun shone for the 2008 Pulitzer Prizes onThursday May 29 as journalists, historians, poets,writers, novelists, and musicians were awarded forshedding light on American issues. The Prizes recognizeda wide range of subject matter—from LouisaMay Alcott’s relationship with her father to the implicationsof DNA testing; from a social experimentconcerning virtuoso violinist playing in a train stationto exposing mistreatments in a hospital.The Pulitzer Board presented the awards, inColumbia University’s Low Library. Under a domedceiling, winners and their guests were treated toa reception and an elaborate luncheon before thepresentation of the 92nd year of awards. Each prizeconsists of $10,000 and a certificate—and, of course,the coveted epithet of forever being a “Pulitzer prizewinningprofessional.”After being passed over entirely in 2007, theWashington Post swept the Pulitzer Prizes atThursday’s ceremony, garnering six Prizes. The Postwon the prestigious Public Service award, whichadditionally merits a gold medal, and in five otherareas: feature writing, national reporting, internationalreporting, commentary, and breaking news reporting.The Post won the breaking news prize for their coverageof the killing in Virginia Tech. The six-prize haulis the second largest awarded to a newspaper at once,trailing behind New York Times’ seven prizes forcoverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks.Also unique about Thursday’s awards were theduplicate citations both in poetry and investigativereporting. Bob Dylan received a special citation inmusic “for his profound impact on popular musicand American culture, marked by lyrical compositionsof extraordinary poetic power.” There haveonly been 38 such citations since 1917, and Dylanjoins the ranks of distinguished past recipients suchas George Gershwin and Duke Ellington. Last year,John Coltrane received the citation posthumously.Since Dylan was unable to attend the ceremony, hisson, film director Jesse Dylan, accepted the award onhis behalf.This ceremony marked the beginning of newleadership for the Pulitzers, since co-chairs Jay Harrisand Richard Oppel took the Pulitzer helm for the firsttime this year. In his opening speech, Oppel laudedthe public service aspect of journalism by citing thewords of Joseph Pulitzer, founder of the ColumbiaSchool of Journalism, the institution that hosts thePulitzer Prizes. Oppel said that while Pulitzer mightbe more remembered for his warmongering yellowjournalism, his true legacy is an unfettered commitmentto public service. Journalists are in charge ofupholding the American republic by holding institutionsaccountable. Though there has been much talkof the declining state of journalism with the rise ofblogging, Oppel said that “even in these dark times,”the work of the Pulitzer submissions provide him withhope that the field is still fulfilling its promise of servingAmericans. He noted that freedom of the presswas originally not part of the constitution. Duringstate ratification conventions, citizens would ratify thedocument only under the condition of a bill of rights,which guaranteed freedom of the press.#State Budget:Good News for New York CityBy Mayor MICHAELBloombergRecently State leaders approved a new budget—onethat helps pay for the essential servicesall of us rely on. New York City didn’t get everythingwe wanted or needed from Albany—andthere’s been plenty of coverage of that in thenews media. But the glass is a lot more than halffull—let me talk about what that means for NewYorkers.Most importantly, we succeeded in preservingthe State agreement to provide fair funding forNew York City public schools. That was in doubtback in January when the State’s original spendingplan was proposed. But the budget approvedlast week set things right by increasing Stateoperating funds to our schools by $100 million.It also gives us the discretion we need in decidinghow to spend that money. And the State’scommitment to pay half the costs of building andrenovating the City’s public schools was stronglyreaffirmed. With the largest school capital planin the city’s history well underway, that’s goodnews for our 1.1 million schoolchildren and forour taxpayers, too.State leaders also agreed to restore the revenuesharing funds that come to the City with nostrings attached. Last year, this aid to our City hadbeen reduced. The adopted budget now restores75% of these revenue sharing funds.In the areas of special education for prekindergartenstudents, juvenile justice, and publicassistance, proposals to shift costs that had traditionallybeen borne by the State onto the backsof City taxpayers were rejected. State leadersagreed to reforms that we had long sought thatwill allow the City to build major public worksprojects more quickly and efficiently, and at lessexpense. Also, the State tax on cigarettes willgo up by $1.25 per pack—and our experience inNew York City shows that that’s a proven way todiscourage young people from taking up smoking,and to protect them from heart disease andcancer later in life.Other decisions made in Albany weren’t aswise. State leaders prohibited us from consideringstudent performance data when we’re makingdecisions about granting or denying teachers thelifetime job protections of tenure. That gives NewYork the dubious distinction of being the onlystate in the nation with such an ill-consideredpolicy—one that seriously shortchanges studentsand parents. The State Assembly’s refusal to evenbring the Governor’s congestion pricing bill to avote was also enormously disappointing, and theeffects of that shortsighted decision will be feltfor decades to come.But congestion pricing was only one piece ofour broad, 127-item agenda for creating a greater,greener New York City. Now we’re movingahead aggressively on all our other initiatives tomake sure that our children inherit a city that’seven better than it is today. #Ron Brown Scholarships to 20African-American StudentsThe Ron Brown Scholar Program, the nation’sleading scholarship program for African-American youth, recently announced its 2008class of Scholars. Of the more than 5,600 applicationsreceived this year, only 20 were awardedthis honor. Founded in 1996 and named inhonor of the first African-American Secretaryof Commerce, the Ron Brown Scholar Programprovides students with the financial resources toattend some of the finest colleges and universitiesin the country, in addition to promoting outstandingservice opportunities for the next generationof promising African-American leaders.“Each year, I am continually impressed by thethousands of students who apply to become RonBrown Scholars,” said Michael Mallory, executivedirector of the Ron Brown Scholar Program.Ron Brown Scholars are selected on the basisof demonstrated academic excellence, leadershippotential, social commitment and financialneed. Some key highlights of the programinclude: More than half of Ron Brown Scholarsattend Ivy League universities; Two Ron BrownScholars were elected to be the First Marshalsof their Harvard University graduating classes,considered the highest honor bestowed uponan undergraduate; One Ron Brown Scholar hasbeen selected as a Truman Scholar and two RonBrown Scholars have been selected as finalistsfor the Rhodes Scholarship; Ron Brown Scholarsdedicate themselves to enriching lives in theirlocal communities and worldwide. For example,nine Ron Brown Scholars have conducted AIDSresearch and community service with the Instituteof Human Virology.With a 100% graduation rate, Ron BrownScholars go on to succeed in a variety of leadershippositions. From finance executives andtop lawyers, to award-winning playwrights andSupreme Court Justice clerks, they have publishedbooks and documentaries, appeared asexpert guests on radio and television, and beeninvited as speakers to numerous internationalconferences.“The selection process is rigorous, and eachyear the applicant pool grows in numbers andpotential,” said Robert Binswanger, formerDartmouth professor and Selection Committeemember. “It is increasingly difficult to select onlytwenty Ron Brown Scholars, and I consider it anhonor to meet these inspiring young people.”The 2008 Ron Brown Scholars are:Derrick Asiedu, Nanuet, NY, Spring ValleyHigh SchoolJocelyn T. Bell, Pittsburgh, PA, Woodland HillsHigh SchoolPeter A. Boyce, II, Bronx, NY, Stuyvesant HighSchoolDora I. Duru, Lynwood, CA, CaliforniaAcademy of Math & ScienceRaymond D. Grissom, Austell, GA, CampbellHigh SchoolKani M. Keita, Miami, FL, Miami KillianSenior High SchoolOsha Kondori, Washington, VA, RappahannockCounty High SchoolChristopher M. Lyle, Ocean Springs, MS,Ocean Springs High SchoolDaren W. Miller, St. Petersburg, FL, St.Petersburg High SchoolEthan G. Monreal-Jackson, Frisco, TX, FriscoHigh SchoolDesiree C. Montgomery, Lakeland, FL,Kathleen Senior High SchoolDiana A. Ofosu, San Antonio, TX,Communications Arts High SchoolBradley D. Pough, Deltona, FL, Deland HighSchoolAmanda M. Reid, Flagstaff, AZ, Flagstaff Arts& Leadership AcademyWilliam K. Stone, Jersey City, NJ, TheLawrenceville SchoolWilliam A. Tarpeh, Alexandria, VA, ThomasJefferson High School for Science & TechnologyChristopher J. Taylor, Blythewood, SC,Blythewood High SchoolKiah C. M. Thorn, Fort Worth, TX, All Saints’Episcopal SchoolRyan O. Williams French, Riverside, CA,Riverside Poly High SchoolBriana L. Wong, Kent, WA, Kentridge HighSchool#

JUNE 2008 ■ For Parents, Educators & Students ■ Education update15Bauer Named 2008 Truman ScholarDavid L.V. Bauer, a junior majoring in chemistryand member of the Class of 2009 at theMacaulay Honors College at The City Collegeof New York (CCNY), has been selected as a2008 Truman Scholar by the Harry S. TrumanScholarship Foundation.The Truman Scholarship provides up to$30,000 in funding to students pursuing graduatedegrees in public service fields. It is one the mostprestigious and competitive national scholarshipprograms, awarding between 60 and 65 scholarshipsannually to a field of 600—700 nominatedcandidates.“I feel incredibly fortunate to have been selectedfrom an amazingly talented pool of candidates,”said Mr. Bauer. “City College has providedme with a nurturing environment where Inot only gained a solid foundation in the sciences,but also came to see how my work impacted NewYork City and the world at large.” The Bronxresident, who is the 2005 First Prize Winner in theIntel Science Talent Search and a 2007 GoldwaterScholar, said he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in the sciencesafter graduation.Mr. Bauer, a Bronx resident who is spendingthe Spring 2008 semester conducting researchon DNA sequencing at Oxford University in theUnited Kingdom, is the second Truman Scholarfrom CCNY in four years. In 2005, ClaudioSimpkins, a political science and philosophymajor from Queens, was selected.“When he decided to come to City College,we knew David was an exceptional student, andwe expected him to accomplish a very great dealhere,” said Dr. Gregory H. Williams, President ofThe City College of New York. “He has met—and exceeded—those expectations, and on behalfof our faculty, students and staff I congratulatehim on this stellar achievement.”The Truman Scholarship Foundation was establishedby Congress in 1975 as a living memorialto Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of theUnited States. Its mission is to find and recognizecollege juniors with exceptional leadershippotential who are committed to careers ingovernment, the nonprofit or advocacy sectors,education or elsewhere in the public service; andto provide them with financial support for graduatestudy, leadership training, and fellowship withother students who are committed to making adifference through public service.Scholarship recipients are selected based on acombination of career and graduate study interests,community service and academic achievement.This year, there were 211 finalists whointerviewed for the scholarship, including anotherCCNY student, Lindsay White, a SEEK studentmajoring in political science and psychology inthe City College Honors Program. #CUNY Vice-Chancellor HershensonReceives ASPIRA Award For WorkWith Hispanic StudentsGrowing Presence ofCharter Schools in NYCBy Marisa SuescanTwenty new charter schools will open in NYCin September, adding to the existing 60 alreadyserving NYC public students. These new chartersinclude nine elementary schools, two middleschools, two high schools, plus six schools thatwill serve grades K to 8, and two for grades Kto 12. The NYC Department of Education Panelfor Education Policy delivered this information—andthe message that charter schools arean important option for parents and studentsseeking a quality public education in NYC—duringa May 19th public meeting held at Tweedcourthouse.“It ‘s really important to understand our thinkingon this issue,” said Chancellor Joel Klein,who facilitated the meeting. “The achievementgap in this city and this nation is one of the greatpains of our time, and we are trying to addressthat.”Dozens of community members attended themeeting. Several spoke out during the publiccomments portion, many to voice concerns aboutthe on-the-ground consequences of increasingcharter schools on the system’s existing traditionalpublic schools. Fifteen of the 20 new charterswill open in existing DOE buildings.Carla Phillip, whose daughter attendsPhillippa Schuyler, a middle school for “Giftedand Talented” students in Bushwick, said sheand other parents just found out in March thatAchievement First would be opening a charterschool in their building next fall. The move, sheand other parents from Phillippa Schuyler said,would result in crowding at their own school,squeezing the music department out of its space,and requiring teachers to share classrooms andtote around materials.“If it’s not broken, do not fix it,” Phillip said.“Leave well enough alone.”Various themes on her message—do not underminethe success of existing schools in orderto create new educational opportunities—wereechoed by other parents, educators, and advocates.Klein—who several times cited his commitmentto “every one of the 1.1 million studentsin NYC public schools”—responded by askingthem to consider the larger mission.“We’re not trying to trample any children.We’re trying to make sure all children have anequal shot at getting a quality education,” Kleinsaid. “I know it’s not easy or painless.”“Everybody would like more space, everybodywould like more resources… in their schools,” headded. “In the end when I hear all the information,I have to make those decisions, and considerwhat is most equitable.”At one point, Klein reminded parents that “acharter school is a public school:” open to allNYC students through an open lottery process,publicly funded, and ultimately held accountableby the NYC DOE and others for ensuring highstudent achievement.What is unique about a charter school—whichis governed by a not-for-profit board of trustees—isits freedom from NYC DOE regulations.This autonomy allows charters to design theirown policies (many implement a longer schoolday and academic year), curriculum, and systemfor financial management.Proponents of charter schools say they diversifypublic education options, create a sense ofurgency around student achievement (the schoolsclose if they do not meet the goals established intheir 5-year contracts), and promote educationalinnovation. Others assert that charter schoolshave a spotty track record in promoting achievement,and that they take resources—includingstudents in families who are invested enoughin education to apply to the lottery in the firstplace—away from existing public schools.The new charter schools opening in NYC arelargely distributed across Brooklyn, the Bronx,and Manhattan, with one in Queens; many willbe in low-income areas such as the Brownsvilleneighborhood in Brooklyn and Morrisania in theSouth Bronx. Several of the new charter schoolswill be opened by organizations that already runexisting charter schools, such as AchievementFirst (which has schools in Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, and East New York)and Imagine (which runs schools in 10 otherstates and Washington DC). Harlem SuccessAcademy—the organization headed by formerNYC Education Committee Chair EvaMoskowitz, which opened its first charter schoolin 2006—is opening three more in September.In addition to charter school information, theMay 19th meeting also featured updates from theTranslation Services Unit, which cited an increasein the use of translation services (the website andall DOE communication to parents is available in8 languages), and over-the-phone interpretationservices. The unit has also implemented newerCUNY Vice-Chancellor Jay Hershenson & CUNY Chancellor Matthew GoldsteinBy Dr. Pola RosenCUNY Vice-Chancellor and Board of TrusteesSecretary Jay Hershenson was presented withthe Dr. Antonia Pantoja Leadership Award byASPIRA of New York. ASPIRA, founded 47years ago by Dr. Pantoja, is a grass roots organizationthat provides support in SAT preparation,college tours and financial application assistanceas well as scholarships for Latino youth therebyincreasing the high school and college graduationrate dramatically.Many of the “aspirantes,” as the young participantsin the program are called, live in povertybut as one participant stated, “that’s only an economiclabel. They are not poor in spirit or talent.”Another volunteer reflected about the inspirationshe’s infused with on attending chapter meetings,held on various campuses and schools throughoutthe city: “I don’t have to drive home. I can fly!”Carolina Rodriguez, a student member, explainedthat ASPIRA is all-inclusive; you don’t have to beLatino to belong. Chapters offer sports, arts andcrafts, dance, mentoring and trips to Albany tolearn the legislative process first hand.Over the past five years, Hershenson has sponsoredASPIRA’s Citywide Youth Conference,addressed the students and lent strong support tothe more than 100,000 Hispanic undergraduate,graduate and continuing education programs oninitiatives, such as Native Language Forums,which engage non-English speaking parents intheir native language, removing the interpreterfrom the process.But the public comments focused almost uniformlyon the shrinking resources that manyanticipate next year. Some community memberstook the opportunity to comment on the highlypublicized cuts to the education budget.Jaime Gonzalez from the Alliance for QualityEducation, a statewide non-profit advocacy coalition,cited that “more than 10,000 parents, students,and teachers have opposed the state andcity budget cuts.” Looking at Klein, he said, “Itwould be good to hear you oppose these cuts,too.”Several chided Klein for not responding adequatelyto community input—including, at onepoint, a member of the Panel for EducationPolicy, Patrick Sullivan from Manhattan. Turningto Klein, he said that the 1.1 million studentsCUNY campuses throughout New York City.Patrick Gaston, President of Verizon, one of thesponsors shared that “Teachers are our greatestaspirantes, for they inspire children.”CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein introducedHershenson, to the accompanying laughterof the audience, as the man with “one salaryand two jobs, part of our efficiency initiative.Hershenson is head of corporate and communityrelations but his real job is as a great communicatorfor what’s happening at CUNY. He’s anindefatigable spokesperson for high school studentswho now want to attend college. He caresabout engagement and believes in our missionwith passion.“Since people may have difficulty coming toour community, CUNY founded centers in theHeights, a merger of Hostos and the Borough ofManhattan Community College called CUNYExpress for Latinos to understand what a universitycan do.“Jay is the glue the holds us together, the sparkthat ignites us and the force that inspires us toachieve!”Hershenson was equally eloquent in advisingstudents “Education is most important for it isthe entry to the world of ideas and empowerment.Complete your work one step at a time and neverlose sight of your dreams!” #“aren’t your children” and pressed, “How is their(the parents’) input being considered?” Klein saidthat the DOE sometimes changes course based oncommunity input, such as moving the proposedlocation of charter schools.Lavinia Galatis, a member of District 30’sEducation Committee and mother of a seventhgrader at IS 141, provided an idea that Kleinresponded to.“Why not have a group of people who arethinking of starting a charter school join an(existing) school?” Galatis asked. That approach,she said, would eliminate the need to find a newlocation and hire new staff.“It makes sense,” Klein said, nodding. “Weare happy to try to facilitate partnerships.” Hesaid that the United Federation of Teachers hasopened two charter schools in the city. “Whatyou’re seeing is different options and differentopportunities.” #

16 COLLEGES & GRADuate Schools ■ EDUCATION UPDATE ■ JUNE 2008Phi Delta Kappa, Columbia UAwards to Dr. Bonnie Brown,Dr. Carole Hankin, FrankNappi Jr. & Judith S. TarloDr. Bonnie Brown & her motherby Dr. Pola RosenIt’s been my privilege to be the Vice-presidentof Phi Delta Kappa (PDK), along with my colleaguesDr. Steve Levy (President) and JoanWashington, Vice-president for the past severalyears. One of the great pleasures is the annualawards ceremony for outstanding contributions toeducation. Our 2008 ceremony was marked by our100th year anniversary honoring Superintendentof the Year Dr. Bonnie Brown, District 75 in theNew York City Department of Education as wellas Dr. Carole Hankin, Superintendent of Schoolsfor the Syosset, New York school district.For the past 30 years, Brown has been involvedin the education of special needs children nowmanaging the largest school district in New YorkCity with a budget of $800 million. With humorand a passion for helping parents and studentswhile tending to the needs of her staff, herknowledge and expertise are vast and her abilityto analyze and problem solve, keen and successful.She acknowledged her “30 year journey as alifelong learner and her success due to the collectivesupport and guidance of her staff.” She alsothanked the parents who came to pay homageto her for teaching her about “the resilience of amother’s love and courage in the face of unrelentingchallenges.”Her request to her staff, who numbered about150, and turned out to pay tribute to their leader,was “stay vigilant and never stop advocating foryou speak for the voiceless, you fight for theinjured and you have been entrusted with theDistrict 75 parents’ greatest asset, their children.”Dr. Hankin has been superintendent for 18Dr. Carole Hankin & Dr. Joseph HankinErnest Logan, Frank Nappi& Peter McNallyyears and has, among many other innovativereforms, brought computers in to the classroomsas well as a mandatory computer-training programfor all classroom teachers. She has mandatedthat world languages begin in kindergartenstudying a different language each year. In thesciences, she has arranged partnerships withCold Spring Harbor, Rockefeller University aswell as Kentucky State University; in the arenaof the arts, she has collaborated and broughtinto Syosset the major museums in NYC includingThe Guggenheim, the American Museumof Natural History, The Metropolitan Museumof Art and the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.Her staff numbers 1200 and her budget is $162million. She has been a monthly columnist forEducation Update for many years, sharing andguiding parents and educators with great wisdom.Hankin has transformed the district into a nationcontinuedon page 23BANK STREET COLLEGECosta Rica and Morocco: WhereEducation and Culture Meet inSmall Communities of LearningBy Katy GurleyFor two weeks in July, a travelingcommunity of learnersfrom Bank Street walked manytimes through Costa Rica’s“This trip was basically aboutdiscovering the world throughreal life experience and usingthat experience to go home anddevelop curriculum for classroomsMonteverde Cloud Forest,about the ecology of thewhere they saw lush green gardensof mosses, ferns, flowers,and epiphytes growing thicklyon every tree. They climbedinside enormous fig trees.Clouds drifted in and settledrain forest and the communitythat surrounds it.”In addition to taking tripsto the rain forest, studentsheard from many guest lecturerswho were residentsamong the slopes. Danglingof Monteverde—whichroots and vines swept across thetrails. The air was rich with thesounds of birds, and they sawsmall mammals scurry acrossSusan Wumeans “Green Mountain” inSpanish—and experts in ecology,biology, conservation, andfarming.the forest floor.The group of 12 students, most of them BankStreet graduate students, were participating in aspecial New Perspectives class, “The DelicateConnection of People and the Biology of theRain Forest: Implications for Curriculum (Gradesthree-eight).” Susan Wu, environmental educatorin the Tiorati Workshop for EnvironmentalLearning at Bank Street College, led the course.The New Perspectives program offers professionaldevelopment courses for teachers on weekendsand in the summers, and also organizes studyabroadcourses.“Every day was extremely full,” Ms. Wu says.The group also met with the local Quakercommunity, whose members emigrated from theUnited States and helped found the village in1951. In an attempt to protect the area’s watershed,the Quakers bought much of the land thatmakes up the Monteverde Reserve. The Quakershave played a major role in the development ofthe community.Eco-tourism, which seeks to minimize thenegative aspects of conventional tourism on theenvironment and enhance the cultural integrity ofthe local people, is a major topic for discussionon Monteverde, Ms. Wu says. It has become acontinued on page 23THE COLLEGE OF NEW ROCHELLEGRADUATE SCHOOL© 2008, visual arts press, ltd.FOR ARTISTS WHO WANTTO BECOME TEACHERSThe School of Visual Arts offers a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) in ArtEducation. Coursework can be completed in a 36 credit, three-semesterprogram, or in a part-time two-year program, leading to a New York StateInitial Certification in Art. The MAT curriculum centers on a communityorientedapproach to art education. The faculty of artists offers expertisein a range of areas, including arts-integrated curricula, technology andmuseum education.For further information, please request a Graduate Programs catalog fromthe Office of Admissions, 212.592.2107, or gradadmissions@sva.edu orwww.sva.edu209 East 23 Street, New York, NY 10010-3994Tel: 212.592.2107 E-mail: gradadmissions@sva.eduWeb site: www.sva.eduArt EducationChildhood EducationCreative Teaching & LearningEarly Childhood EducationEducational LeadershipLiteracy EducationMental Health CounselingMultilingual/MulticulturalSchool CounselingSchool PsychologySpecial EducationOPEN HOUSEWed., June 11at 6:00 pmin the StudentCampus CenterPreparing Students for SuccessfulCareers in Education• New 39-credit Dual Certification Master’s in SchoolBuilding Leadership and School District Leadership• Graduate Assistantships - 30 credits of tuitionremission to highly qualified students.• Selective Program Scholarships award $1,500 persemester for up to two continuous academic years.• Competitive Research Assistantships awardup to 6 credits of tuition remission for continuingstudents working with faculty on research.Apply Now. Registration is Underwayfor Summer and Fall Classes.www.cnr.edu/gsgs@cnr.edu800-381-035429 Castle PlaceNew RochelleNew York 10805

New Nobel Laureates InscribedBy RENI ShulmanIn a society where admiration and celebrityare so often reserved for actors, athletes andmodels, it was heartening to attend a gatheringof people paying tribute to the six newAmerican Nobel Prize recipients and their intellectualachievements, at the Nobel MonumentInscription Ceremony recently. The newlyinscribedLaureates included Mario R. Capecchiand Oliver Smithies for Medicine, Al Gore forPeace, and Leonid Hurwics, Eric S. Maskin, andRoger B. Myerson for Economics.The ceremony honoring the most recent NobelLaureates took place at the Nobel Monumentin Theodore Roosevelt Park in New York City.With endorsement from former Consul Generalof Sweden in New York, Dag Sebastian Ahlander,and former New York City Parks Commissioner,Henry J. Stern, the Nobel Monument was conceivedin 2001 and soon after inaugurated onOctober 14, 2003. As the United States hashad more Nobel Prize recipients than any othercountry, the monument honors past and presentAmerican Nobel Laureates, as well as the founderof the Prize, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel.In his opening remarks at the 2008 inscriptionceremony, New York City Parks CommissionerAdrian Benepe noted the suitability of RooseveltPark to accommodate the monument, alludingto the park as “the Agora,” a place where,he explicated, relationships are developed andminds come together. Consul General of Swedenin New York, Ambassador Ulf Hjertonsson, followedthe Commissioner and attributed the academicsuccess of the United States to, “its unparalleled…ethnicand cultural diversity.” As such,he explained that New York City was and remainsthe most appropriate location for the monument,as it is “a formidable example [of this diversity].”June 2008 ■ EDUCATION UPDATE ■ COLLEGES & GRADuate Schools 17Dr. Roger B. Myerson, one of the 2007Laureates in Economics, discussed the implicationsof the Nobel Prize in his address. “Theintrinsic quality of my work is no better orworse,” he explained. Rather, he said the prize“belongs to humanity.” He further reflected uponthe inspiring nature of the Nobel Prize and theNobel Monument. Myerson humbly expressedhis conviction that “the real prize is the prizeof helping the next generation in our field…tosee things more clearly.” He did remark that theLaureates were “treated like rock stars” whilein Sweden this past December at the NobelBanquet. Myerson modestly concluded with theassertion that Nobel Laureates are merely “thedevoted servants of the muses of science andcreativity.”In this spirit of inspiring the next generationtoward achievement in science, literatureand peace efforts, the fourth grade class fromRodeph Sholom School attended the ceremony.Additionally, Mingzhu Li, a high school studentand winner of the 2007 Laureates of Tomorrow-Nobel Essay Contest, was present. “It was soexciting to go to the Nobel Banquet in Swedenand meet the Laureates and talk to them,” shetold Education Update. “I feel like I am onestep closer to entering the scientific world andmaking a contribution.” Commissioner Benepetold Update that the distinguishing feature of theNobel Monument is its dedication to “pure intellectualachievement, which serves as an inspirationto the next generation of New York.”The morning ceremony concluded with a performanceby choral ensemble, Sound of Sweden.The Swedish natives melodiously sang, in acapella mode, Sa Skimrande Var Aldrig, Education a piece Updatecomposed by Evert Taube. After a April buffet 2008 luncheonhosted by Swedish Consulate P.O. General, #:Issue205255 5 ⁄8 x 7 1 ⁄4Ms. Li introduced Dr. Oliver Smithies, the 2007Nobel Laureate in Medicine.The event was inspirational and joyous, yetcasual and tranquil. The acme of academicachievement of the Laureates was recognizedEarn aNobelists Myerson and Smithies at unveiling of monumentBank Streetand immortalized in the unveiling of the newLaureate names. Furthermore, the collaborationof Swedish and American interests, especially inthe academic master’scosmopolis of New York City, washighlighted and celebrated. #degree.Learn howto bring outthe best inall children.Graduate School Open HouseThursday, May 1, 2008, 5:15PMBank Street College Graduate School of Education610 West 112th Street, New York, NY 10025-1898www.bankstreet.edu 212.875.4698INNOVATION INTEACHING AND LEARNING

18 COLLEGES & GRADuate Schools ■ EDUCATION UPDATE ■ JUNE 2008Columbia Tops Penn, 74-58,in Ivy League ContestBy Richard KaganThe scoreboard and game clock malfunctionedin the waning moments of Columbia’s win overperennial Ivy League power, The University ofPennsylvania recently at Columbia’s Levien Gymon the campus.It was about the only thing that didn’t go theLions way on a night when Columbia got off toa good start and rode the hot shooting tandem ofNiko Scott, and K.J. Matsui, who scored 19 and17 points respectively. The Lions won 74-58 witha strong effort.Columbia (9-11, 2-3) also benefited from havingPenn’s leading scorer frosh guard TylerBernardini, miss the game due to a head injury.Without Bernardini who averages 13 points pergame, out of the game, Penn’s (7-13, 2-1) offensehad a difficult night getting on track.Columbia took advantage by making its shotsand jumping out to a quick 7-4 lead, the firstseven points scored by Scott, former Christ TheKing High School captain.Guard K.J. Matsui found his three point shotworking, and the Lions were able to get an early18-10 lead. And, John Baumann, who was effectivelydouble-teamed in the first half, finally gotuntracked by scoring an inside basket with 7:20 toplay in the half to put the Lions up by 10. Scott leadColumbia with 19 points, Baumann had 18, andMatsui, 17 for Columbia, who played before a raucoushome crowd, the spectators standing on theirfeet in the “Lion’s Den” during the entire game.If the fans got a workout, so did the players.Columbia shot 48% for the game, and an impressive57.9% from three-point land. The Lionsout-rebounded Penn, 33-30 for the game, 21-15in the second half.Columbia head coach Joe Jones said his teamwas ready to face a team that has dominated theIvy League in recent years, winning the last 3 IvyLeague crowns and going 38-4 in the League,during that span.Niko Scott gave Columbia a lift with a verysolid game, scoring big baskets and playing 31minutes. “He’s a tough kid,” said his coach.“He’s from New York City. He was the captainof Christ The King High School, which was thenumber one team in the country.”Scott made three big 3 pointers which enabledColumbia to maintain the lead against a grittyteam that was playing without its leading scorer.“The good thing for us is we have guys whocan make shots”, said coach Jones. When thathappens, it allows Baumann to become moreeffective in the paint.Baumann had a strong second half mainlybecause guys were hitting their shots. “I canpass the ball out but the real battle is making theshots,” Baumann said. In this game, Columbiadid, and got back in the Ivy League race.Postscript:SportsBergtraum Coasts to 10th Straight Girls’“AA” PSAL Basketball Title, in 85-47 VictoryBy Richard KaganThis is what a dynasty looks like. MurryBergtraum H.S. is loaded with talent and whenthe opening tip-off came against ManhattanCenter H.S. in the Title Game, Bergtraum wasoff to the races. The Lady Blazers acceleratedlike a finely tuned racecar, and used its plethoraof talented guards to score at will against an overmatchedopponent. The result: Bergtraum had aconvincing 40-21 half-time lead and was neverchallenged. Senior Krystal Parnell led all scorerswith 19 points and had 10 assists. Junior guardShanee Williams scored 17 points and sophomoreAbraham Lincoln Railsplitters’ Answer theCall, 88-57, for 3rd Consecutive Crown.By Richard KaganIt wasn’t like Boys & Girls H.S. didn’t knowwhat to expect when they took the court atMadison Square Garden, to face off againstformidable Lincoln H.S. They played each otherduring the regular season and last year, Lincolnbeat B&G in the boys’ Finals for the Title. But,after a 23-9 first quarter, and a 42-21 half-timelead, the drama all but evaporated. Lincoln wasthe team, and Lance Stephenson, the junior forward,was the man. The highly touted Stephensonscored an impressive 27 points to lead 4 playersin double figures as Lincoln handled theKangaroos with ease.“We didn’t come out with energy,” said CoachWith the win over Penn, The Lions went ontowin 6 of 7 games and made a very competitiveshowing in the Ivy League. However, Columbiadropped their last three conference games includinga 69-67 last second loss to Penn to end theseason.1 2 3 4Master of Artsin TeachingInformationSessionsWed., Feb. 22, 6 p.m.www.esc.edu/MATinfo800 877468-6372 372-6790 ext. 2230www.esc.edu5Shakurah Washington added 15 points and hauledin 11 rebounds. Senior Center Shakeya Learygrabbed 12 rebounds and scored eight points forthe champs.While Bergtraum and head coach Ed Grezinskywill miss the outstanding play of Parnell, Hehas some fine players returning in Williams andWashington. “You’re only as good as your playersand assistant coaches,” said Grezinsky.Parnell was able to drive to the hoop anduncannily, find the basket in traffic. “She gives usa real spark,” said Grezinsky. Evidently, enoughsparks to claim a tenth straight girls’ PSAL title.#Ruth Lovelace. “Our mental capacity wasn’tthere.” In fact, the coach remarked, “it seemedlike I wasn’t even coaching my own team.” Boys& Girls’ shot just 34% in field goals and had 23turnovers, which Lincoln converted into easychances. The Railsplitters’ hit 50% of their shotsfrom the field and out-rebounded Boys & Girls44 to 37.Coach Lovelace did want to say her teamwilted under the Garden lights. “It’s the samebasket,” Lovelace stated. For whatever reason,the Kangaroos came to the Garden without theirhop. “It’s a tough one to swallow,” said Lovelace.Senior guard Clayton Sterling led Boys & GirlsH.S. with 14 points.#Tyler Bernardini scored on a shot at the buzzerto beat back a strong Columbia effort.The Lions ended their year at 14-15 and 7-7in the Ivy League. John Baumann, senior powerforward, was named as one of the top players inthe NYC metro area, after the season ended. #College & University DirectoryGraduate Degreesfor Busy AdultsALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS GET STARTED.STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORKFifth and Sixth Floors325 Hudson Street(corner of Vandam)New York CityEducation Update - college directory2/7/062.375" x 1.75"Terry GilliamCome to Goddard as you are.Leave the way you want to be.1-800-468-4888www.goddard.eduOpen House May 14th- Plainfield, VTI Am Interested In ApplyingEducation Update ❑ - College Freshman ❑ TransferDirectory❑ Day ❑ EveningOct. 20072.375 x 1.75As My Status❑ H.S. Student❑ TeacherGrad-EdUpdateDir10.07Niki Scott❑ CollegeStudentPlease circle catalogs you wish to receive:1 2 3 4 5Please mail to:College Directory - Education UpdateP.O. Box 2358, Lenox Hill Station,NY, NY 10021Education UpdateSeptember 2006 IssueP.O. #: 17897Education Update5 5 ⁄8 x 7 October 1 ⁄4 2006 IssueP.O. #: 180325 5 ⁄8 x 7 1 ⁄4Graduate School Open HouseGraduate Thursday, School October Open 12, House 5:15 PMTuesday, September 19, 5:15 PMBank Street College Graduate School of Education610 West 112th Street, New York, NY 10025-1898Bank Street College Graduate School of Education610 West www.bankstreet.edu 112th Street, New York, NY 212.875.469810025-1898www.bankstreet.edu 212.875.4698Mail this CouponPlease Include your phone numberJune 2008“What I learned“What Bank I learned Streetcontinuesat Bank Streetto continues inspire meto inspire mein my ownin my ownclassroom.”classroom.”A BANK STREET COLLEGE ALUMNA— A BANK STREET ALUMNAWhichprogram willinspire you?INNOVATION INTEACHING AND LEARNINGINNOVATION INTEACHING AND LEARNINGName:__________________________________________________________Address:_______________________________________________________City:_________________________________State:___Zip:_______________Phone (incl. area code): ____________________________________________________

CSI First In Nation ToOffer Nursing CertificateIn Cultural CompetenceEveryday, nurses have the potential to make apositive difference in human lives by providinghigh quality health care. But how do nurses makethe greatest positive difference? How MUSTnurses in the 21st century provide quality healthcare amid the increasingly multicultural andglobal society?The answer is to provide culturally competent,that is, culturally specific nursing care. Dr.Madeleine Leininger, founder of the field of transculturalnursing, defined culturally competent(congruent) care as care that is customized to fitwith the patient’s own cultural values, beliefs, traditions,practices, and lifestyle. Quality health carecan only occur within the patient’s cultural context.Consider these scenarios: 1) a nurse administersinsulin and then leaves a tray of culturally forbiddenfoods with a diabetic patient; 2) a nurse doesnot assess a patient for folk medicine use, therebynot learning of the patient’s use of herbal teaswith ginseng. The nurse then administers the heartmedication digoxin although the use of ginseng inconjunction with digoxin can result in drug toxicityand death; and 3) a nurse in the coronary intensivecare unit (ICU) who provides a patient with a bookletin Spanish entitled “Mexican foods for HeartHealth” and a booklet on “Free Health ServiceResources for Non-US Citizens” to a multiethnicEnglish-speaking patient who self-identifies as second-generationPuerto Rican and Irish-American.In an effort to address the critical need for culturalcompetence in the health care profession,the College of Staten Island’s Department ofNursing will launch a new Advanced Certificatein Cultural Competence program this fall, thefirst certificate program of its kind in the nation.June 2008 ■ EDUCATION UPDATE ■ COLLEGES & GRADuate SchoolsThe program is the brainchild of MarianneJeffreys, Professor of Nursing at CSI, who pointsout the importance of being culturally competentin the health care field. “We have an increasinglydiverse population. With increased globalizationand immigration throughout the world, peopleare moving more rapidly and cultures are changing.Nurses and health care professionals are alsobecoming much more diverse, so we really needto do this to enhance health care outcomes.”“I applaud and fully endorse CSI’s AdvancedCertificate in Cultural Competence. This programhas it all: culturally specific action plans acrossdiverse practice settings for educators, practitioners,managers, and researchers,” said LarryPurnell, a nursing professor with the Universityof Delaware. “Graduates of [CSI’s] programwill have readily available knowledge and skillthat will enhance their cultural competence aswell as the skills necessary to conduct culturallycompetent education and research and work moreeffectively with culturally diverse staff.”The Website www.culturediversity.org notesthat to be “culturally competent the nurse needsto understand his/her own world views and thoseof the patient, while avoiding stereotyping andmisapplication of scientific knowledge. Culturalcompetence is obtaining cultural information andthen applying that knowledge.”Jeffreys adds that cultural competence is alsovaluable as health care professionals relate to oneanother, as well as with their patients.The program is open to graduate and post-graduatenursing students. For more information, visitwww.csi.cuny.edu/nursing or call the Nursingdepartment at 718.982.3823.#Education Secretary AnnouncesFederal Grant for New ChartersBy Sybil MaiminThe excitement was palpable in the TweedCourthouse as US Secretary of EducationMargaret Spellings announced a federal grantof $8.3 million to Civic Builders, Incorporatedto build 8 to 12 new charter school buildings inNew York City and Newark, NJ in the next fiveyears. In accepting the government’s largess,NYC Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein andNewark Mayor Cory A. Booker spoke of thepossibilities it represents and the success thatcharter schools have become. Stressing thereis no competition between public and charterschools, Klein explained that following the“unprecedented number of new public schools”in New York City he “looks forward to a significantexpansion of charters.” His focus isthe impact on students. “As long as they servemy kids for free and on a lottery basis, I’m forit… This is about my kids… My kids needbuildings… This is about getting a great education.”Booker reported, while visiting chartersin Newark he is struck by the stress and painadministrators face as they struggle to findsufficient funds to stay open. Charter schoolsgenerally cannot issue general obligation bondsand are perceived as credit risks by lenders.“Imagine how liberating it would be for theseschools if angels came in from government ornon-profits,” said Booker. Looking to Klein for“the kind of leadership he has brought to thecity of New York,” Booker heard the warning,“To be a complete supporter of charters haspolitical consequences.” The Newark mayoracknowledged strong resistance to taking publicschool space for charters, but believesthere is no difference between public, charter,all-girls, all-boys, or other school models.19Parents should have an abundance of options.He reported the highest performing schools inNewark are charters.Civic Builders is a non-profit facilities developerthat takes responsibility for finding andacquiring sites and designing and constructingcharter schools. It may buy, renovate, orbuild. Its concern is “finding new seats forkids.” Facilities are a major hurdle for charters,explains Civic CEO David Umansky. His companyseeks to relieve schools of having to findfinancing and building sites as it negotiates withthe complicated real estate and constructionindustries and comes up with affordable solutions.It aims to enable school administrators tofocus on students and education. Civic has builtseveral schools in New York City with otherson the drawing board. Bronx Charter Schoolfor the Arts (2004) is a stylish and colorful artcenter housed in a former salami factory. BronxLighthouse Charter School (2006), which sitsin a refitted parking garage, has transformedits neighborhood. Newark is new to CivicBuilders, and Umansky has spent time thereto learn about the market and administration.Klein sees the potential for “great synergy”between the two cities. He explains, “Each ofus will be making proposals. There is plenty ofopportunity for both of us to get what we want.”Secretary Spellings noted, “Some of thefinest schools in the country are charters.”She spoke of NYC charters as “laboratoriesof innovation” and said, “I look forward tolearning from you as pioneers in the movement.”There are currently 60 charter schoolsin New York City and 18 more are scheduledfor September openings.#A degree for creative thinkers ...• Come to campus one weekend a month or one weekevery six months• Do the rest of your studying from home• Earn your degree while continuing to meet your workand family commitmentsContact:Offering:888.828.8575 • www.tui.eduB.A. • B.S. • M.A. • M.A. in PsychologyM.Ed. • Ed.D. • Psy.D. • Ph.D.WANT TO TEACH? Scholarships for Student Teaching.Call Kathleen at 802.828.8552 or email kathleen.murphy@tui.edu

New York City • June 2008For Parents, Educators & Students • 20Dr. Alfons Pomp Named Chief of Laparoscopy and BariatricSurgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill CornellAn international authority on advanced laparoscopicsurgical techniques, Dr. Alfons Pomp hasbeen named chief of Laparoscopy and BariatricSurgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/WeillCornell Medical Center and the Leon C. HirschProfessor of Surgery at Weill Cornell MedicalCollege.Dr. Pomp is currently leading innovativeresearch into unique ways to maximize the safetyand effectiveness of weight-loss surgery. Heis currently one of six co-investigators for theNational Institute of Diabetes and Digestive andKidney Diseases (NIDDK) Bariatric SurgeryClinical Research Consortium. He also serves onthe steering committee and chairs the adjudicationcommittee for LABS (Longitudinal Assessmentof Bariatric Surgery), a major research collaborationdesigned to provide a better understanding ofthe impact of weight-loss surgery on the healthand well being of patients with extreme obesity.Since joining NewYork-Presbyterian/WeillCornell in 2003, Dr. Pomp has been namedco-director of the Columbia/Cornell MinimallyInvasive Surgery Fellowship, and chairs severalcommittees, including the Surgical Quality andPerformance Improvement Committee and theOperating Room Utilization Committee.“Dr. Pomp’s outstanding contributions to thefield of morbid obesity and minimally invasivesurgery through education, clinical research, collaboration,innovation and expertise make himperfectly suited to lead our bariatric surgeryprogram,” says Dr. Fabrizio Michelassi, chairmanof the Department of Surgery and the LewisAtterbury Stimson Professor of Surgery at WeillCornell Medical College and surgeon-in-chiefNew Cancer Stem Cell IdentifiedBehind Metastatic TumorsThe molecular profile of cancer stem cells thatinitiate metastatic colon tumors is significantlydifferent from those responsible for primarytumors, according to new research from a team atWeill Cornell Medical College.Cancer researchers have long believed that aprotein called CD133 identifies a population ofcancer stem cells (so-called CD133+ cells), theonly subset of cells that are responsible for tumorinitiation. But in the experiment, in which immunocompromisedmice were injected with humanmetastatic colon cancer, the Weill Cornell teamdiscovered that cancer cells that do not expressCD133 could also spur metastatic disease.“In fact, metastatic tumors originating withthese CD133- cells are more aggressive thanthose spurred by CD133+ cells,” says study seniorauthor Dr. Shahin Rafii, the Arthur B. BelferProfessor in Genetic Medicine and director of theAnsary Center for Stem Cell Therapeutics at WeillCornell. Dr. Rafii is also a noted investigator at theHoward Hughes Medical Institute. “Our discoveryshows that metastatic and primary cancer maynot initiate in the same way. This could have significantimplications for research going forward—we believe the discovery opens up new avenues ofinvestigation in cancer stem cell biology.”The findings were released as a special “highlighted”article in a recent online edition of theJournal of Clinical Investigation.Cancer stem cells are a small, discrete class ofcells that scientists believe give rise to malignancyand are solely responsible for tumor maintenance.For years, experts have tracked expressionof the CD133 protein as a means of identifying apopulation of tumor-initiating cells.To understand the biology of CD133+ cellsin a healthy state and during tumor formationthe researchers generated a transgenic mouse inwhich the CD133 gene is replaced with a reportergene called lacZ. “We relied on the expression oflacZ to detect the spatial and temporal locationof CD133+ cells in vivo,” explains co-researcherAndrea T. Hooper, a graduate student in Dr. Rafii’slab.Studying the expression of CD133 in thisgenetic model, the researchers, for the first time,were able to visualize a real pattern of CD133expression in a living organism. “It came as a bigsurprise that CD133 expression is not restrictedto stem cells, but rather defines mature epithelialcells. This finding directed us to explore theactual contribution of CD133+ cells in tumorigenesis,”notes the paper’s lead author Dr. SergeyShmelkov, an instructor in genetic medicine atWeill Cornell. “We examined human primarycolon tumors, and we also induced colon cancerin CD133 transgenic mice, and discovered thatall cancerous epithelial cells in the tumor expressCD133, explaining why tumor-initiating cells inprimary colon cancer are CD133+.”But was the scenario the same in metastaticdisease? To find out, the researchers transferredfresh human metastatic colon cancer cells intoimmunocompromised mice. They then trackedthe tumor formation ability of CD133+ andCD133- cells during metastases in these mice.The investigators encountered yet another surprise.“We found that not all human colon cancercells that form metastases were CD133+, as occursin primary tumors,” says co-lead author and postdoctoralfellow Dr. Jason Butler. “CD133- cells—probably derived from CD133+ cells from the primarytumor—were also capable of tumor initiationand appeared to play a major role in the formationof metastases. In fact, tumors generated by CD133-cancer stem cells tended to be more aggressive thanthose originating from CD133+ cells.”The bottom line, according to the Weill Cornellteam, is that origins of metastatic disease appearto be much more complex than that seen withprimary cancer.“There is a subpopulation of cancer stem cellsthat appears to lose CD133 expression duringtumor progression, but then is able to moveto the site of metastasis and form new tumorsthere,” says co-senior author Dr. David Lyden,the Stavros C. Niarchos Associate Professor inPediatric Cardiology, and an associate professor ofcell and developmental biology at Weill Cornell.The results of this study could change the directionof research into cancer stem cell biology andstimulate the search for new authentic cancerstem cell markers, the researchers say.“The origins of primary and metastatic tumorsare decidedly not the same, and we must broadenour thinking beyond CD133+ cells when it comesto the investigation of metastatic disease,” Dr. Rafiisays. “We expect this paper will have a tremendousimpact in cancer stem cell biology, aiding researchinto the causes of cancer in laboratories worldwide.”#at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill CornellMedical Center.“The professorship named for Leon Hirsch wasestablished to support excellence in minimallyinvasive surgery, a role for which Dr. Pomp isuniquely qualified to assume,” adds Dr. Michelassi.“I look forward to collaborating with colleaguesat NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell andworldwide as we develop new treatment optionsfor patients who suffer from obesity and its lifethreateningside effects—treatments that not onlydramatically improve their quality of life, but cansometimes save their lives,” says Dr. Pomp.Dr. Pomp has been a co-author on importantstudies to the surgical literature on hernia repair,splenectomy (surgical removal of the spleen),adrenalectomy (surgical removal of the adrenalglands) and surgical robotics. Overall, he hasauthored 50 peer-reviewed publications, eighttextbook chapters and 10 invited commentariesand lectures.After graduating cum laude from McGillUniversity, he attended medical school at theUniversity of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Hecompleted his internship and residency in generalsurgery at the University of Montreal, and a fellowshipin nutrition and metabolism at the BrownUniversity/Rhode Island Hospital. In 1988, he wasappointed to the clinical faculty at the Universityof Montreal and was also appointed as an adjunctprofessor of surgery at McGill University. He thenjoined Mount Sinai Medical Center, where hehelped create one of the world’s first programs forminimally invasive weight-loss surgery. In 2003,he joined NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell,and in 2005, he was appointed as a Frank GlennFaculty Scholar in Surgery.Dr. Pomp is a fellow of the American Collegeof Surgeons and an active member of the Societyfor Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, the New YorkSurgical Society, the American Society for Bariatricand Metabolic Surgery, the North AmericanAssociation for the Study of Obesity, and theSociety of American Gastrointestinal EndoscopicSurgeons (SAGES), the leading laparoscopic surgeryorganization in the world. He is also an evaluatorfor the Bariatric Surgery Center Network ofthe American College of Surgeons. Dr. Pomp wasalso active nationally in Canada as an examiner forthe Royal College of Surgeons, on committees forthe Canadian Association of General Surgeons andthe Quebec Association of Surgeons.#

Review of A School Leader’s GuideTo Excellence: Collaborating OurWay To Better SchoolsA School Leader’s Guide To Excellence:Collaborating Our Way To Better SchoolsBy Carmen Farina and Laura KotchPublished by Heineman: Portsmouth, NH, 2008. (190 pp)By Merri RosenbergAnd here I thought the principal at my children’ssuburban elementary school was simply abrilliant people person, what with her breakfastshonoring community volunteers, regular newslettershome to parents, and cheerful notes acknowledginga child’s special accomplishment or classachievement.Turns out that Rochelle Cohen (the truly giftedretired leader of my now-adult children’sConcord Road Elementary School) must haveabsorbed some of the same lessons that CarmenFarina and Laura Kotch generously share in thisreader-friendly, useful and timely book.Working from a basic premise that true leadershipneeds to be collaborative in order to createa successful school, Farina and Kotch providepractical advice that can be followed by any principal,master teacher, or district superintendent.These authors know what they’re talking about.Farina was Deputy Chancellor for Teaching andLearning of the New York City Departmentof Education; Kotch was the department’sExecutive Director of Professional Developmentand Curriculum. They’ve also been classroomteachers, staff developers, college instructors, andprincipals, among other key educational leadershiproles.“Education is first and foremost a people business,and the relationships we foster are crucial,”they write.So how does that happen?It starts with a clear vision, Farina and Kotchsuggest—and one that relies on conversationsrather than checklists. Their approach urges leadersto build collaborative communities, withbottom-up change rather than top-down pronouncements.Just as skilled teachers write letters to theirstudents at the beginning of the school year,outlining their hopes and expectations and solicitingsuggestions and ideas from the students, theauthors believe that effective leaders should dothe same thing with their staffs.It doesn’t hurt to embrace some aspects ofcheerleaders, being positive and forward-looking,rather than dwelling on problems. They write,“…Problems cannot define a vision nor becomeits end point. Instead, they are opportunities toinclude stakeholders in formulating the vision.”Basically, the rationale for having a clear visionis to make sure that everyone is on the same page,moving towards the same goals.And they caution leaders not to be overly ambitious,focusing on three priorities each year ratherthan producing an unrealistic laundry list thatcan’t be successful.Being a good leader doesn’t mean winningpopularity contests, whether in the school building,in the district, or in the larger community.“Be willing to take a public stand on unpopularissues,” the authors state. “Principled leaderslook beyond narrow demands such as raisingtest scores and focus their priorities on moreglobal initiatives such as graduating students whoare inventive, analytical, literate, compassionate,artistic and creative human beings.”Farina and Kotch are also proponents of givingfeedback at every opportunity, whether it’swriting a “wow” note to congratulate a teacheron a successful lesson, or sharing insights aboutstrategies to improve student performance ina particular curriculum area. It’s about payingattention to what the people in a school (or district)are doing, and acknowledging their effortsand achievements. Newsletters, press releases,bulletin boards, as well as regular one-on-oneconversations with staff, contribute to developinga culture where people feel valued and respected.The authors have written a user-friendly book,packed with specific strategies and suggestionsthat can easily translate to real-world applications,including as ways to avoid potentialobstacles and identify successes.One idea is launching an internal “Book ofthe Month Club” for teachers and administratorsto discuss at meetings, as a way both to modelhow teachers should work with students and toemphasize the importance of reading and literacyin the school building. Another is finding outways to celebrate milestones in a school, whetherit’s the highlights of staff accomplishments ormonthly birthdays—fun belongs in a school, andattracts parents and community members to bepart of what takes place there.What I found especially valuable was the ideathat September planning should take place inJune of the previous year: “June planning buildsschool wide consistency, results in fewer curriculargaps and redundancies, and establishes sharedhabits of mind…June planning transforms theend of the school year, often a time of low energy,to a time of new beginnings and renewed energy,”write Farina and Kotch.Start reading.#Addicted toAlliterationBy Gillian GranoffMetaphorically manic,Seeking an order from panic,I sing for synechdoche,Heed to hyperbole,Applaud allegory,I smile for simile.A parade of prepositionsEscapes my doors in this addictionTo dictionThat serenades me in soundAnd mélange of meter.JUNE 2008 ■ EDUCATION UPDATE ■ BOOK REVIEWSI climb the wallsIn a cornucopia of capitals,Saturate my ears inA symphony of syllogism.I am grateful for the grammarThat salutes me in syllableCradles me in sound.I am restored to calmFrom the cacophony and storm,And without repetition or rhymeIt restores my sense of time.Logos Bookstore’s RecommendationsThe Case For CivilityBy Os Guinness(Harper One, $23.95)In a world of people and nations who seem tohave grown increasingly polemical, violent anddistrustful towards each other, Os Guinness’ TheCase For Civility is a possible solution. Throughanalyzing as model the American Republic asput forth in the U.S. Constitution and the firstamendment and through the practices of theearly leaders of the United States, the authormakes a case that historically the U.S.A understoodand practiced civility. What Guinness holdsto be civility is a situation where people canrespectfully disagree and present their own viewswithout fear of retribution because they areprotected by society’s laws. This kind of civilityhe finds lacking in much of the present worldespecially among Islamists, many African governments,Burma, Kosovo, and historically inHitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Russia, Mao’s Chinaand Pol Pot’s Cambodia. He does believe that theU.S.A., although once a good model for civilityis now because of the culture wars in danger ofstraying from being a country of civility. He doesnot hold out much hope for Europe as in moderntimes it has become so secular that it does notknow how to deal with passionate immigrantreligious groups.Like his fellow compatriot the late AlistairCooke, Os Guinness, also author of Long JourneyHome, The Call, Unspeakable, and PropheticUntimeliness, is British and has lived in theUnited States for many years. In 1986 he proposedthe idea of the Williamsburg Charter(text of which is included in this book) to ChiefJustice Warren Burger, chairman of the bicentennialcommission of the U.S. Constitution. TheWilliamsburg Charter, of which Guinness wasone of the drafters, was signed June 25, 1988By H. Harris Healy, III, President, Logos Bookstore1575 York Avenue,(Between 83rd and 84th Sts.)New York, NY 10028(212) 517-7292,Fax (212) 517-7197www.logosbookstorenyc.comand is a celebration and reaffirmation of the FirstAmendment, stressing religious liberty.The Case For Civility is a must addition toone’s library, so come pick up your copy atLogos. While at Logos do pick up a copy ofPrince Caspian by C.S. Lewis (the book the newNarnia film is based on.) as well as the otherbooks of the Narnia Chronicles and books aboutNarnia. Meanwhile Logos has attractive Father’sDay cards as well as books and gifts, and graduationcards, books and gifts.Do mark down June 18 on your calendars tocome to Logos at 7 P.M. to hear Marie Brenner,writer-at-large for Vanity Fair, author of thetobacco industry expose, The Man Who KnewToo Much, basis for the 1999 movie, The Insider,read from her latest book, Apples & Oranges.Upcoming Events At LogosWednesday, June 4, 2008 at 7 P.M. KYTVReading Group will discuss Miss Lonelyhearts &The Day Of The Locust by Nathaniel West.Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 7 P.M., Connecting,the Mind, Body And Spirit Workshop.Facilitator Alison Walling works at GoldmanSachs on the Investment Banking Division’sProfessional development and LeadershipTraining Team.Monday, June 9, 2008 at 7 P.M., The SacredTexts Group led by literary agent, Richard Curtis,will continue its discussion of the Gospel ofMatthew.Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 7 P.M, MarieBrenner will read from her new book, Apples &Oranges and sign copies of the book afterwards.Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 7 P.M., KYTVReading Group will discuss John Adams byDavid McCullough.Transit: 4,5,6 Subways to Lexington Ave. and86th St. M86 Bus (86th St.), M79 Bus (79th St.).M31 Bus (York Ave.), M15 Bus (1st and 2ndAves.)#Celebrate the Summer withFireworks, Barbecues, andBooks Galore!By Selene VasquezPICTURE BOOK: AGES 6 THRU 8The SandmanBy Ralph Fletcher, Illustrated by Richard Cowdry(Holt, unpaged, $16.95)The dust from the Sandman helps all whosuffer from sleeplessness, especially children.Beautifully plausible story free of adult-orientednostalgia. Vibrant acrylic paintings are as refreshinglystraightforward as the text.NONFICTION: AGES 8 THRU 10United Tweets of AmericaBy Hudson Talbott(Putnam, unpaged, $17.99)“Yankee Doodle went to town, followed bya chicken, if that bird won’t shut his beak, he’sgonna get a licken’.” An amusing rollicking rompthru the states. Wisecrack-filled cartoons featurebirds in trivia-style competition for the “UnitedTweets of American Pageant.”21HurricanesBy Seymour Simon(CIP, 32 pps., $16.99)With new cover art featuring the Smithsonianlogo, this updated edition presents hair-raisingdescriptions and photos of significant disasterssince 2003. The formation and behavior of hurricanesas well as necessary precautions is included.BIOGRAPHY: AGES 6 THRU 10Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth CadyStanton and the Right to VoteBy Tanya Lee Stone, Illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon(Holt, unpaged, $16.95)This “strong-spirited, rule-breaking” girlbecame the pioneering leader of women’s rights,culminating in her 1848 presentation of theDeclaration of Rights and Sentiments, whichcalled for women’s voting rights. Excellentgouache and colored pencil illustrations in afolk-art style.Selene Vasquez is a media specialist at OrangeBrook Elementary School in Hollywood, FL.#

22 Music, art & Dance ■ EDUCATION UPDATE ■ JUNE 2008Lincoln Center Institute For TheArts In Education AnnouncesImagination Award 2008 Recipientswww.EducationUpdate.comCalendar of Events June 2008ConferencesGILDER LEHRMAN INSTITUTEOF AMERICAN HISTORY19 West 44th Street, Suite 500New York, NY 10036History now looks at the american westThe institute is pleased to present the ninth issue of history now, aquarterly online journal for history teachers and students, available atwww.historynow.org. The issue examines the american west, withessays by some of the most eminent scholars in the field. As always,history now accompanies these scholarly essays with imaginative andaccessible supporting material and lesson plans. Don’t miss this issue’sinteractive feature -- “a view of the west” -- a photographic tour of thelate 19th and early 20th century american west.2007-08 Historians’ forums in new york cityFor the 11th straight year, the gilder lehrman institute presentsdistinguished scholars and historians to lecture on their most recentlypublished books and answer audience questions. The historians’forums are open to the public and are followed by a reception and booksigning. Check out the 2008 schedule and buy tickets:www.gilderlehrman.org/institute/public_lectures.htmlFeatured documentThe institute regularly features documents from the gilder lehrmancollection. In the spotlight this week is a broadside, printed in 1805in new york city, which illustrates the atrocious treatment of slaves.See the broadside and read the transcript:www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/docs_current.htmlDyslexia Events &WorkshopsINTERNATIONAL DYSLEXIA ASSOCIATION1 West 23rd Street, Suite 1527; New York, New York 10010Office Telephone: 212.691.1930; Office Fax: 212.633.1620www.NYBIDA.orgADULT SUPPORT GROUP July 200807/8/200871 West 23rd Street room 1527New York, 10010The Support group provides adults with Dyslexia an opportunity toTwo New York City schools—PS 115 TheDaniel Mucatel School in Brooklyn and TheRenaissance Charter School in Queens—wasrecently honored with Lincoln Center Institute’sImagination Award during daylong festivities.The Imagination Award, now in its second year,is given to recognize and highlight imaginativethinking in the teaching and learning practice ofNew York City’s public schools.“Developing students’ imaginations and teachingthem to think creatively is critical if they areto meet the challenges of today’s world,” saysScott Noppe-Brandon, Executive Director ofLincoln Center Institute (LCI). “Both PS 115 andthe Renaissance Charter School encourage studentsto observe and question the subjects of theirstudy and engage them; both schools use the artsas a catalyst for richer, more complete learning.”PS 115 The Daniel Mucatel School was theImagination Award winner in the elementaryschool category. Located in the Canarsie sectionof Brooklyn, PS 115 applies imaginative thinkingto every aspect of its curriculum. All of thestudents receive classes in every arts disciplinethroughout the year, and the school takes part inthe national “Odyssey of the Mind” program increative problem solving. The school’s principal,Mitchell S. Pinsky, believes that a curriculumshould make connections to the students’world, thereby creating an excitement aboutlearning and stimulating the intensity of instructionin the classrooms.At The Renaissance Charter School, whichreceived the Imagination Award in the highschool category, students are also encouraged toconnect to their world and to the city in whichthey live. The school prides itself on nurturing“the whole child,” and many electives are offeredto both tap into teachers’ knowledge and students’interests. Located in Jackson Heights, the schoolhas a multi-national student body that, as a group,shares 89 languages. Embracing this wealth ofdiversity, Renaissance Charter School offers adaily “global lab” class, where global history topicsare taught in a hands-on way.The Imagination Award celebrated the two winningschools with ceremonies at each:PS 115 The Daniel Mucatel School—a presentationof an Imagination Banner to PrincipalPinsky, which was followed by a performance bynoted storyteller David Gonzalez and a sharing ofstudents’ work.The Renaissance Charter School—ScottNoppe-Brandon presented the ImaginationBanner to co-principals Stacey Gauthier andGwen Clinkscales, and student work was shared.The day ended in a Celebration of theImagination Award at Lincoln Center’s StanleyH. Kaplan Penthouse which featured anImagination Conversation, a panel discussionon innovation and the imagination moderatedby Chris Cuomo, news anchor of ABC TV’s“Good Morning America” and co-anchor of“Primetime.” Cuomo, who has been at ABCsince 1999, has covered foreign conflicts aswell as domestic issues such as drug policy andthe related issues facing today’s youth, sexualabuse and emerging criminal patterns. His “GoodMorning America” profile of inspiring 12-yearold poet Mattie Stepanek was recognized with aNews Emmy award, making Cuomo one of theyoungest correspondents to receive this award innetwork news history. There was also a reprise ofthe award presentations to the two schools anda keynote address by Eric Liu and Scott Noppe-Brandon, co-authors of the forthcoming book,Imagination. A reception followed.Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts inEducation, established in 1975 and located inNew York City, is the educational cornerstone ofLincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. It isthe leading organization in developing skills ofobservation, imagination, and creativity throughguided encounters with the visual and performingarts. Over the past 30 years, Lincoln CenterInstitute has shared its unique method of educationwith more than 20 million students, teachers,college professors and arts administrators representingpublic schools, arts organizations andprofessional teaching colleges in New York City,across the nation and around the world. See www.lcinstitute.org for more information. #share common experiences, feelings, and learning stratergies. Itoffers participants a place to feel understood, accepted and cherishedfor themselves. Facilitated by Betsy Auricchio Ph.D.212-691-1930 x12Evaluation Review July 200807/13/200871 West 23rd Street room 1527Have you or your child been evaluated & you can’t understand thereport? Review of your child’s or your own Psychological, Educationalor Neuropsychological Evaluation; a monthly service offered tomembers only where two professionals will explain the report &its recommendations. The format of the review will be an opendiscussion with the facilitators. No other people can be present. Allinformation will be held confidential among the participants. Due tolack of childcare facilities, we ask that you not bring your children.Pre- registration is required - reports must be received one weekbefore the session. Facilitators:Larry Thomas Ph.D. & Madie FrankelM.A.212-691-1930 x12Demystifying the Dyslexia Evaluation & Testing Process09/25/200871 West 23rd Street room 1527New York, 10010A Presentation & Discussion Forum: Topher Collier Psy.D.212-691-1930 x12ADVOCACY December 200812/04/200871 West 23rd Street room 1527New York, 10010Advocacy Skills for parents: Advocates for Children212-691-1930 x12Open Housestouro college new yorkschool of career and applied studies1870-86 Stillwell Avenue; Brooklyn, NY 11223Phone: 718-265-6534 x1015Fax: 718-265-0614Location: West 23rd StreetNew York, NY 10010Every Tues. & Thurs. from 10: am - 7 pm,Sun. 11:00 am - 5:00 pm. at 27-33.Telephone: 212-463-0400 ext.500The Lyric Introduces Music to NewYork City’s ChildrenBy Dr. Joan Thomson KretschmerHeads bobbing, toes tapping, parents smiling.That’s what I saw late on a Friday afternoonrecently, as kids from Harlem Day Charter Schoolperformed with MaD Fusion, an acclaimed trio ofversatile composer-musicians, gifted in both classicalmusic and jazz.A prestigious grant from Chamber MusicAmerica, The Residency Partnership Program,enabled the Lyric Chamber Music Society ofNew York to have MaD Fusion in February andMay for a series of special workshops. In twoweeklong sessions, artists and students explored avariety of musical styles. Elementary school studentswere learning about improvisation, settingstories to music, and performing with the artistsin two different public concerts.Since its inception in 1998, the Lyric ChamberMusic Society of New York has brought chambermusic to New York City school children of abroad variety of backgrounds.Beginning with a master class with the greatflutist, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Lyric’s educationaloutreach has been a commitment to introducechildren to classical music. As musicians andeducators, we understand the importance ofmusic in developing a child, and the power ofmusic study in fostering discipline, teamwork,listening skills, and self expression. It is part ofour mission to expand the audience for classicalmusic and to provide a fertile seeding ground fortomorrow’s performers.Lyric virtuosos have played in New York Cityschools from P.S. 1 in Chinatown to the FrederickDouglass Academy in Harlem and Bronx Prep.Glenn Dicterow, Concert Master of the New YorkPhilharmonic, and Carter Brey, Principal Cello,New York Philharmonic, are among the manymusicians who have shared their love of musicwith New York City students.In 2004, the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation askedme to develop a music program at the HarlemDay Charter School. Subsequently, Lyric artistshave given an initial, hands-on experience toyoungsters who otherwise would not have theRESOURCE & REFERENCE GUIDEBOOKSBank Street Bookstore112th St. & Broadway ; (212) 678-1654Exceptional selection of books for children,teachers and parents. Knowledgeable staff.Free monthly newsletter. Open Mon-Thurs10-8 PM, Fri & Sat 10–6 PM, Sun 12–5 PM.Logos Books1575 York Ave, (@84th Street);(212) 517-7292A charming neighborhood bookstorelocated in Yorkville featuring qualityselections of classics, fiction, poetry,philosophy, religion, bibles and children’sbooks, and greeting cards, gifts and music.Books can be mailed. Outdoor terrace.High Marks In Chemistry1-877-600-7466;www.HighMarksInSchool.comOver 95,000 books sold. HIGH MARKS:REGENTS CHEMISTRY MADE EASY BYSHARON WELCHER (College Teacher,Chairperson and teacher of high schoolreview courses). This book is your privatetutor-Easy review book for NEW regents(second edition) with hundreds of questionsand solutions, Get HIGH MARKS $10.95.Available at Leading book stores or call(718)271-7466.COLLEGESCOLLEGE OF STATEN ISLAND2800 Victory BoulevardStaten Island, NY 10314For more information, call 718.982.2019or emailteachersabbatical@mail.csi.cuny.eduVisit our Website atwww.csi.cuny.edu/teachersabbaticalTEACHERS ON SABBATICAL PROGRAMSpecially Designed Graduate Courses (8 credits)in 15-week Sessions Apply Now for Fall 2008and Spring 2009!The College of Staten Island (CSI) isa senior college of The City Universityof New York (CUNY), the nation’sleading urban university. CSI’s 204-acrelandscaped campus, the largest in NYC, isfully accessible and contains an advanced,networked infrastructure to supporttechnology-based teaching, learning, andresearch. CSI offers 43 undergraduateand 15 master’s degree programs, andparticipates in the doctoral programs ofThe City University Graduate School andUniversity Center.FOSTERCARE &ADOPTION1-888-611-KIDSHelp rebuild a family inyour community today!ESS Foster care and AdoptionChildren and Teens: Manhattan and BronxTeens only: All boroughs1-888-611-KIDSGRADUATEEDUCATIONInternational Universityfor Graduate Studieswww.iugrad.edu.kn(888) 989 - GRAD (4723)IUGS is an accredited and recognizedtwenty-eight year old University whichoffers only master’s and doctoral degrees.All relevant graduate credits includingapproved continuing education creditsare accepted in transfer. Visit our websiteat www.iugrad.edu.kn or call (888) 989 -GRAD (4723).MEDICALNYU Cancer Institute212-731-5000; www.nyuci.orgUnderstanding Cancer. And you. At theNCI-designated NYU Cancer Institute, weprovide access to the latest research,opportunity to learn how to play an instrument orinteract with highly accomplished, professionalmusicians. In our work, we regularly observenumerous examples of music’s positive effectsduring our lessons, workshops, and assemblies.For the past three years, Lyric artists have givenfree weekly instrument lessons, one-on-one andin small groups. Musicians equally comfortablein classical music as well as jazz have demonstratedand taught their instruments to spellboundchildren.Lyric virtuosos have shown how their instrumentswork, discussed their lives as musicians,and demonstrated their artistry. Unusual combinationsof instruments, like saxophone andtrombone, marimba and a battery of percussion,bassoon and clarinet have delighted our youngaudiences, their teachers and interested parentswho might otherwise never hear such memorable—andoften life-changing—performances.In 2005, Lyric began weekly, free group keyboardlessons with Richard Bishop, then Artistin-Residence,a prizewinner at the TchaikovskyCompetition in Moscow and duo-recitalist withworld-renowned artists like Isaac Stern. Thanksto the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, the Lyricpurchased instruments for the school’s children.In 2006, we added group percussion lessons withartist-teacher, Pablo Rieppi, Percussion, whoperforms with the New York Philharmonic andother ensembles and teaches at major universitiesin the N.Y. area.In 2007-2008, Lyric added clarinet lessons withclarinetist, Ben Baron. All our teachers, includingYuko Kato, piano, and Lorne Watson, percussion,study the basics of music and their instrumentswith their students, exploring rhythm, note readingand writing, ensemble playing, and storiesabout music and musicians.The Lyric is seeking partners to expand ouroutreach activities to serve more children in additionalschools. #Dr. Joan Thomson Kretschmer is the Founderand Artistic Director of The Lyric.treatment options, technology, clinical trialsand a variety of programs in cancerprevention, screening, diagnostics, geneticcounseling and supportive services. Visitwww.nyuci.org or call 212-731-5000.SPECIALEDUCATIONThe Sterling School(718) 625-3502Brooklyn’s private elementary schoolfor Dyslexic children offers a rigorouscurriculum, Orton - Gillingham methodologyand hands-on multi-sensory learning. Oneto-oneremediation is also provided. If yourbright Language Learning Disabled childcould benefit from our program pleasedo not hesitate to contact Director: RuthArberman at 718-625-3502.Special Education Teachers WantedCall: 718-436-5147Fax resume to: 718-436-6843E-mail resume to: abcdinc@verizon.netVisit our website: www.abcdnyc.netAssociates for Bilingual Child DevelopmentInc. is Seeking Mono/Bilingual SpecialEd Itinerant Teachers, Bilingual Certified.Teach Preschoolers 3-5 years of age,Full-Time and Part-Time Opportunity,Competitive Salary and Rates. Call: 718-436-5147. Fax resume to: 718-436-6843.E-mail resume to: abcdinc@verizon.net.Visit our website: www.abcdnyc.netSchoolsLycée Français de New York505 East 75th Street;New York, NY 10021212-439-3834;Admissions@LFNY.org www.LFNY.orgThe Lycée Français de New York is a multicultural,bilingual institution with studentsfrom fifty nations (preschool-12th grade).The school is an American, private, nonprofitschool chartered by the NY StateBoard of Regents, and accredited by theFrench Ministry of Education.

JUNE 2008 ■ For Parents, Educators & Students ■ Education updateDean Terry Fulmercontinued from page 12provider?” explains the dean, proudly notingthat patient volume in the faculty practice clinicis growing rapidly. “We’re trying to find peoplebefore they have a full blown episode,” she adds.As the interview winds down, Dr. Fulmer’s dayis far from over. Her office—known as a welcomingoasis where students frequently stop by toshare their ideas and experiences and faculty areencouraged to discuss their cutting edge research(Dr. Fulmer herself has published over 150 papersand textbooks on the subject of geriatric care,with a recent focus on elder mistreatment)—isstill going full tilt as the clock strikes five. Thereare committees to be launched, and capital decisionsto be made. There is no doubt that the NYUCollege of Nursing has a strong steward at itshelm, carefully steering it into a new century ofgrowth and innovation.#Bank Streetcontinued from page 16years, she said.“In terms of social studies, it’s a fascinatingcommunity, almost like a microcosm of the worldand the issues we’re facing globally. We learned,by talking with local people, that Monteverdeis going through an enormous transition rightnow, with growing tourism and locals wonderingwhether it should be regulated. The type of touristis changing now, too. It used to be scientists, nowit’s more nature lovers. They are starting to pavethe roads, build more hotels; fresh, clean water isa problem, as is disposing of the used water. Allthis definitely changes the community.”The next course in Costa Rica is tentativelyscheduled for July 27 through August 11, 2008.To fulfill a growing interest in Arab cultureand Islam, another upcoming New Perspectivesstudy-abroad course will be to Morocco in March2008. During the course students will experienceMoroccan classrooms and culture first-hand sothey can be better prepared to work and teachin multicultural settings in the United States,according to Eddie González-Novoa, director ofthe New Perspectives program.The travelers to Morocco will see communitiesof learning in action, Mr. González-Novoa says.The group will visit several cities, including Fezand Marrakech. The size of the traveling groupwill range from eight to 14.“Morocco is a multicultural society with adivided educational system that reflects separatecolonial French, Arab, and Berber philosophies,educational systems, and cultures,” says TimLightman, ’97, ’04, course instructor. “As partof the study, we will pay particular attentionto the issue of power and hierarchy within theeducational system and to pedagogical practicesthere,” he says.In addition, the students will visit severalelementary schools in both rural and urban settings,and meet with authorities from prominentMoroccan universities and institutions.Mr. Lightman, an early childhood teacher andeducator for more than 12 years, has taught prekindergartenand kindergarten at the Bank StreetSchool for Children. He has also worked as aconsultant on curriculum development. He hasspent four years as researcher in the Teachersfor a New Era Project at Bank Street College.Currently, Mr. Lightman is on sabbatical fromthe Bank Street School for Children to work onhis doctoral dissertation at Teachers College,Columbia University.“The idea for the trip originated with peoplein New Perspectives who wanted to expand theinternational programs. We saw Morocco as adiverse and multiethnic culture. We’ll use theMorocco trip as a mirror to reflect back and thinkabout what it means to teach in a diverse communitylike New York,” Mr. Lightman said.For further information on both trips, call JoyEllebbane at 212-875-4704 or visitwww.bankstreet.edu/newperspectives/studyabroad.#Iraqi HS Kids With Cameras teach NYCHigh Schoolers Valuable LessonsBy Gillian GranoffWhen an excited group of high school studentsfrom New York City gathered togetherrecently for the Tribeca Film festival screeningof Baghdad High, the excitement was palpableAt the opening scene, shouts, cackles, and enthusiasticbanter of the students muffle the voicesof an Iraqi teenage boy who confidently beltsout the songs of Michael Jackson on his handheldmicrophone. The audience laughter quicklydissolves to silence as the reality of this boy’slife sinks in and the viewer becomes engagedin the harsh reality of life for these students.Their boisterous laughter and sarcastic shoutsbecome the sobering sounds of roadside bombsand security checkpoints. They watch as theboys anxiously try to conceal their cameras at asecurity checkpoint en route to school. The boys’candid description of their fears for their safety isPhi Delta Kappacontinued from page 16excellence in public education with a graduationrate that is virtually 100 percent and forgingahead to attend college.Frank Nappi, Jr., PDK International Boardmember representing region H and author ofthe amazing newsletter “Frankly Speaking” wasgiven the Lifetime Achievement Award. He wasan adjunct Professor of mathematics at NassauCommunity College, associate professor at St.John’s University and served as a Captain in theUnited States Air force in the Strategic Air andAir Defense Command.After 19 years as an assistant principal atNewtown High School, Frank was appointedprincipal of Long Island City High School andserved there until 1994.Judith Tarlo, principal of Bayside High Schoolreceived the award as principal of the year.Prominent educators in attendance at the galawere Ernest Logan, President of the Council ofSupervisors and Administrators, Peter McNally,Executive Board member VP of the Council ofSupervisors and Administrators and Dr. JosephHankin, President of Westchester CommunityCollege. #Randi Weingartencontinued from page 12teachers can be the best they can be,” Weingartensaid. She thanked the graduates for wanting “tomake a difference in the lives of people…That,my friends, is the greatest work you can do inthis world…When you see what that connectionbetween student and teacher, there is nothing betterin the professional life than…helping unlockthat child’s mind.”On a positive note, Weingarten said that newdata shows more qualified individuals are enteringthe education profession. The salary increasethe UFT helped provide increase respect, andUFT advocates for teachers’ input in policyrelateddecisions.Even so, Weingarten lauded the graduates forbeing “far more sophisticated about the realitiesof our profession.” The graduates realizethat education needs reform because of “chronicunderfunding” stymies the need to ensure thatevery child gets access to a decent education.Though Weingarten praised the intentions of theNo Child Left Behind Act, its outcome turnedpublic schools in to “Test prep inc.” in a movethat narrowed curricula to focus on test-teachingas opposed to arts.America promises universal access to publiceducation. Weingarten ended on a positive note,saying, “I know we will do that, because we havemore and more of you in our classrooms.” #MOVIE REVIEWSa sobering reality to this audience.The film, set at the Tariq bin Ziad High Schoolfor Boys, follows the lives of four 17-year-oldhigh school students over the course of their lastyear in high school. A non-observant Muslimof Shi’a descent belts out the love songs ofBrittany Spears and confidently struts on screenwith microphone in hand. His circle of friendsinclude: Anmar, a church-attending Catholic,Ali, of Kurd descent who struggles to walk thedelicate tight rope between being studious andcool and Mohammed, the Sunni/Shiva sensitivefriend who tries to escape the imminent pressuresof violence and chaos around him by crackingjokes and avoiding his studies. Hayder yearns tobe a singer-songwriter: Anmar, the ladies manwants to play football like David Beckham; Ali,cradles hopes of becoming an architect, bestfriend Mohammed is the class clown.The film’s co-producers Ivan O’Mahoney andLaura Winter set out to show life in Iraq outsidethe media coverage. Winter, a former producerspent several years covering life in conflict inPakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, with Mahoneywho previously produced and directed films forBBC and PBS. They sought to dispel the mediadistorted portrait of daily life in Iraq and capturethe reality through the eyes of four teenage boysin high school. Winter explains. “One of thethings that I was struck by was that all thesedocumentaries coming out of Iraq were done byadults. Iraqi children had not been more than aUN statistic about the dead kidnapped or injured.”The decision to put the camera in the boys’ ownhands has a powerful artistic impact on both theboys and audience. It teaches them to gain a new23perspective on their own lives and show us anIraq beyond the media stereotypes and politicalbias portrayed in the newspapers.As we follow the boys over the course of anacademic year, we see their attitudes evolvefrom silly to serious as they acquire a new senseresponsibility for making the film and for theirlives. “First when we got the cameras I felt it wasfun; after a while we felt a sense of responsibilityfor what we were doing and for the story we weretelling,” Ali comments.One viewer in NYC, a high school student andan aspiring performer expressed admiration forthe bravery and strength of the boys, and envyat the irony that in their world, one can openlyexpress affection with one another without beinglabeled gay or incurring the glaring judgment oftheir peers. Another high school senior who hadrecently enlisted in the Marines said his admirationfor the boys’ bravery in the film reinvigoratedhis commitment to help rebuild the lives ofthe Iraqi people.Ali, who had recently relocated with his familyto the suburbs of DC, attended the screening andfielded questions from an enthusiastic crowd ofhigh school students.The film’s candid portrait of the daily strugglesof the four boys resonates beyond the school hallwaysof Baghdad High. In this personal journal,both American and Iraqis can compare their liveswith the boys’ struggles and success and gaininsight into a world rarely seen.Baghdad High will premiere on HBO onAugust 4th. For more information on the film, itsdirectors, or the boys, viewers can log on to hbo.com or contact Jessica Manzi at HBO. #Going With The Flow Up The YangtzeBy Jan AaronA Chinese teen hobbled by poverty is portrayedin Director Yung Chang’s beautiful documentaryof Yu Shui, daughter of a hard-scrabble farmer,who lives in a derelict shack on the banks ofChina’s Yangtze River and dreams of going tohigh school. Instead, her family must send heroff to work on one of the luxury cruise ships carryingWestern tourists on “farewell tours” of themighty river’s countryside soon to be submergedby the hotly contested gargantuan Three GorgesDam. Shui’s family grows what it needs to survive.They will be forced to move when the damis completed in 2011 and the waters submergeall surrounding land. Her parents, illiterate anduneducated, will be relocated on land and theyworry how they will survive.On board, Shui is hit by a major culture shockHelp Wantedof modern gadgetry, proper hygiene and corporatemanners. Like all the employees, she getsa new name. The bewildered Shui becomes“Cindy” her co-worker, Yu, is “Jerry.” They jointheir co-workers in an English class. She worksbelow deck as a dishwasher, makes friends andeven goes shopping on the mainland.The cruise is a personal journey for Shui and Yuand their co-workers. We see them hanging outbelow deck in contrast with the passengers who arehere to witness the impact of the dam on the villagesmany of which house the kids serving on theship. Visually the film captures the stunning beautyof the Yangtze’s lush gorges, tiny villages and cities.Without preaching, the film’ makes a universalpoint about society’s structure. In China, and everywhereelse, it’s the poor who are most negativelyaffected by major change and so-called progress.#Our company is looking for part time work from home.Account Managers, Bookkeeper and SalesRepresentatives are needed to work on their ownflexible schedule time.It pays $3000-$4000 a month plus benefits and takesonly little of your time.Please contact us for more details.Requirements -* Should be Computer Literate* 2-3 hours access to the internet weekly* Must be 20 yrs and above of age* Must be Efficient and DedicatedIf you are interested and need more information,Please send your resumes to mjnrwilliams@gmail.comor mjnrwilliams@yahoo.com.

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