Lengthened School Years Increase Scores (and Germs!)

Friday, August 10th, 2012

You’ve heard it before: Schools across the U.S. just aren’t at the same academic level as other global leaders, including China, South Korea, and Finland. Although some state-led initiatives have made their way into the mix, some schools are deciding to put the students’ — and our future leaders — fate into their own hands.

Cities such as Chicago, Boston, and Phoenix are lengthening their school days and school years in efforts to increase the amount of time students spend in the classroom. Lengthening the academic year by 10 days or more, schools hope shorter summer vacations will help kids better remember what they learned during the school year.

And according to a report from the National Center on Time and Learning, it’s starting to pay off. Schools with longer academic years report higher graduation rates and higher test scores than those still abiding by the 180-day year.

With all that extra time in the classroom, your child is bound to bring home an endless list of yucky germs. Take a look at our tips to keep him healthy here so he can spend more time at school and less time on the couch (and we know you like that idea!).

Image: Children at school classroom via Shuttershock

Will Virtual Textbooks Boost Learning?

Thursday, August 9th, 2012

Are the days of lugging around textbook-filled backpacks becoming obsolete? Developers at Kno, an education-geared software company, hope so. Yesterday, Kno announced their plan to offer interactive K-12 textbooks for iPads, tablets, and the web for only $9.99. The app will allow parents and children to enhance learning experiences through various interactive features, including automatic flash cards, customized quizzes, and 3D models. Kno’s product comes just months after the federal government issued the Digital Textbook Playbook, a plan to get all students and teachers using e-textbooks within the next few years.

More and more companies are now scrambling to increase education rates after appalling reports from the Council on Foreign Relations stated that the U.S. education system has failed to prepare kids for competition at a global level. If that didn’t sting enough, schools endured another attack last week when a study done by Harvard University’s Program on Education Policy and Governance found the United States’ academic growth now ranks in the middle of the 49 countries involved. Somehow, schools in America just aren’t making the cut, leading companies like Kno to take education into their own hands.

So what can you do to help your child stay ahead of the pack? Learn a lesson from the top educational systems in the world and take home some pro tips to try yourself. Being proactive and aware of your kid’s education is the key to their future success.

Image: Little girl thinking via Shutterstock

Win Back-To-School Supplies!

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

It’s that time of the year again, and the only thing harder than getting your kid up in the mornings is trying to get him to go to the store for some back-to-school shopping. But we can help! We’ve rounded up four awesome backpacks that are stuffed with cool supplies. And the best part? You can take them home for free. For a chance to win one, post a comment in the comments’ section below, noting which “Prize Pack” you want to score (Prize Pack 1, Prize Pack 2, Prize Pack 3, or Prize Pack 4). We’ll pick one winner for each of the four goodies. The prizes are:

Prize Pack 1:

Madpax Halfpack

Kids Desk Organizer

Rocket Pen

AutoDrive Flash Drive

Rubik’s Pencil Holder

Aladdin Expandable Container

Prize Pack 2:

Gummy Bear Backpack

Kids Desk Organizer

Fiskars Scissors & Ruler

ORE Originals Lunch Sack

Sushi Stapler

Ugly Doll umbrella

Bic Impressions Mini Pencils 10 Pack

Prize Pack 3:

Color My World Backpack

Popeyed Pencil Pouch (in Staples stores)

Cuddly Wolf Bag

Bic Impressions Mini Pencils 10 Pack

Fossil Erasers

Built NYC Doggie Lunch Bag

Prize Pack 4:

Skip Hop Hippo Backpack

Mead Notebook

Stack-A-Doodle Crayons

Streamline Mini Tape Dispensers

Honest Boy Pencil Sharpener

Spork

Aladdin Expandable Container

I Love Tootsie Roll Lunch Box

Popeyed Pencil Pouch (in Staples stores)

Goody luck!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.  Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and D.C., 21 years and older. Begins: 9:00 a.m. E.T. on August 1, 2012. Ends: 9:00 a.m. E.T. on September 10, 2012. Subject to Official Rules at www.goodyblog.com. Void where prohibited. Sponsor: Meredith Corporation. For full rules, click here.

 UPDATE: THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!

Parents Daily News Roundup

Wednesday, July 25th, 2012

Study Finds Scarcity of Drug Trials in Kids
Relatively few clinical trials have tested the safety and effectiveness of medications in children – even when kids make up a large share of patients with the condition the drug treats, a new study finds. (via Reuters)

Peg Perego Recalls 223,000 Strollers for Strangulation Risk
The stroller manufacturer recalled 223,000 strollers on Tuesday because of the risk of children getting their heads caught between the stroller tray and seat bottom and strangling. (via TIME)

Docs at Odds Over Kids’ Cholesterol Test Guidance
Doctors are still debating whether all U.S. children should be tested for high cholesterol, months after a government-appointed panel recommended widespread screening that would lead to prescribing medicine for some kids. New criticism was published Monday by the journal Pediatrics. (via Associated Press)

Enrollment Off in Big Districts, Forcing Layoffs
Enrollment in nearly half of the nation’s largest school districts has dropped steadily over the last five years, triggering school closings, layoffs of essential staff and concerns that the students who remain are some of the neediest and most difficult to educate. (via NY Times)

Parents Daily News Roundup

Thursday, May 17th, 2012

Lead Poisoning Guidelines Revised; More Considered at Risk
Up to 365,000 more children across the USA will be considered at risk of lead poisoning under new guidelines released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Most U.S. Children Under 1 Are Minorities, Census Says
In what is a historic milestone, the population of minority children younger than the age of 1 has overtaken whites, the Census Bureau said on Thursday.

Want A Less Fussy, Easier to Soothe, Kinder Child? Make Music!
Three new studies suggest that teaching even the youngest children to make music with others can not only reduce distress and make infants smile and laugh more but also enhance brain development and boost empathy.

Maternal Deaths Plunged Over 2 Decades, to About 287,000 in 2010, U.N. Reports
The number of women dying from pregnancy and childbirth has dropped sharply in the last two decades, according to a report by a consortium of United Nations agencies set to be released on Wednesday.

Saying ‘No’ to Picture Perfect
A group of young feminists is campaigning against digitally retouched photographs in a teen magazine.

‘Chronically Absent’ Students Skew School Data, Study Finds, Citing Parents’ Role
A study by researchers at John Hopkins University found that as many as 15 percent of students miss at least one school day in 10, and have gone undetected because of the way attendance is measured.

Congratulations to Our Raise a Reader 2011 School Contest Winner!

Friday, March 16th, 2012

Our 2011 Raise a Reader program ran from November 7, 2011 – January 30, 2012.  Schools across the U.S. got their kids involved in tracking their extracurricular reading minutes.

We are happy to announce the grand-prize winner of the contest: St. Aloysius on-the-Ohio Elementary School in Cincinnati, Ohio!  For its outstanding achievement in getting students involved in reading, St. Aloysius will receive $5,000 to be used toward their school library.

St. Aloysius on-the-Ohio Elementary School is a small school situated along the scenic Ohio River valley in the historic Sayler Park Area of Cincinnati.   The students enjoy a safe, nurturing environment that encourages mutual respect and self-discipline.

Both students and teachers enjoyed participating in the program.  Third-grader Connor shared, “I read all the time and the contest made it even more fun,” while eighth-grader Savannah said, “Reading makes kids smarter and gives them time to be with their parents.  Without the library, I don’t know what I would do.”

The school also has a proven track record of academic excellence for the past 137 years, and strong family values and family involvement is a key ingredient for its successes.  “Our librarian encourages the students to develop a love of reading all types of books.  The students love to compete against others and themselves.  It is amazing to see what a small group of avid readers is able to achieve.  The students love to say, ‘We are small but we are mighty.’  Winning is proof of that,” says Regina Hornback, a teacher at St. Aloysius.

Congratulations to the students and teachers at St. Aloysius on-the-Ohio Elementary School!

New No Child Left Behind Rules

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

For years, the Obama Administration has tried to reform the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. The law holds schools directly accountable for student progress in reading and math and leads them to face sanctions, including potential closure, if they don’t meet set standards. NCLB’s criticisms have been manifold: that it forces schools to teach to the test and deemphasize (if not outright ignore) other subjects; that it is a negative, punitive approach; that it doesn’t truly reform the educational system; and that the standards are unrealistic (48 percent of the nation’s 100,000 public schools were labeled as failing under the law last year).

With no consensus in Congress on how to fix the problem, the President has taken matters into his own hands. In a press conference this afternoon, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that 10 states—Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Tennessee—have agreed to work within the Administration’s reform guidelines and will thus receive a waiver from the potential sanctions slated to go into effect in 2014. These states will continue to set a higher bar for achievement—including college- and career-ready standards—but now have more freedom in how they implement it. More important, they can focus on tailoring solutions to the individual needs of poor-performing schools and students. They’ve also agreed to reward schools ranked at the top and that display clear gains (something NCLB didn’t do), and to implement meaningful teacher and principal evaluation systems.

This NCLB bypass effectively puts more control of education back in the hands of individual states. Assuming the states follow through as promised and look at long-term structural fixes, granting them waivers should be a good thing for public students in these states. But it is also a clear acknowledgment that that the United States is nowhere near to achieving the law’s goal of getting kids up to grade level in reading and math within the next two years. No wonder 28 other states have indicated that they, too, plan to seek waivers.

What do you think: Are the NCLB waivers a good thing or merely an admission that our system remains broken with few signs of improvement?

Parents Daily News Roundup

Monday, December 19th, 2011

Bloomberg is Said to Pick Cornell for Science School
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg plans to announce on Monday that he has chosen Cornell University to create a new science graduate school on Roosevelt Island, capping an intense yearlong competition in his ambitious bid to spur a boom in New York City’s high-tech sector.

Asthma Drugs in Pregnancy Might Pose Risk for Kids
Infants born to mothers who use inhaled glucocorticoids — a class of steroids — to treat asthma during pregnancy may be at risk for endocrine and metabolic disorders, a new study indicates.

Study: 1 in 3 American Youth Are Arrested by Age 23
By age 23, at least a quarter of all youth in the U.S. — and perhaps as many as 41% — are arrested at least once for something more serious than a traffic violation, according to a new study of American teens.

Parents Petition Proposed APS Redistricting
The plan to re-district Atlanta Public Schools is not sitting well with everyone. One group of parents is now taking action against the district.