Dear Web Editor,

I'm planning my first computer purchase and have received lots of advice from many "experts." With each suggestion, I find myself more confused about what to buy. What bells and whistles should I consider for my first computer purchase?

Buying your first computer is, in some ways, as difficult as buying your first car. You have so many choices and options. It's easy to get wrapped up in the various features available and forget why you wanted to buy a computer in the first place.

My first piece of advice to both new and veteran technology buyers is to sit down with a pad and pencil and list the various tasks you want to perform with the technology you think you want to buy.

An analogy that illustrates this is a story about my dad and his propensity to buy the biggest and best of everything--regardless of the task for which a purchase would be used. My father wanted to own a John DeereTM tractor. When he tried to rationalize this purchase to my skeptical mother, he proclaimed that a John Deere "could be used for more than just mowing lawns." My mother pointed out that mowing the lawn was my assigned chore, one that took me 15 minutes with the Briggs and Stratton push mower we already had. Needless to say, we never did get a John Deere.

The point is most of us won't use our computers for complex tasks. You are more likely to make wise purchase decisions if you ask yourself the following basic questions before handing the charge card to the cashier:

• Why do you want a computer? The reason often comes from some sort of strategy, such as "I want to keep in touch with my daughter by e-mail when she goes to college next year" or "I want to do my own taxes." Write your reasons on a pad. This will keep you focused when you decide to buy.
• Do you want to use your computer for other purposes, such as surfing the Web? Forward thinking here can help you select among the various technology features, such as memory size and CPU speed, that extend your capabilities. The right choices can help you do more faster with more autonomy and, potentially, for less money.
• How and where will you use your new computer? Make sure your computer's monitor is energy efficient. (It should carry the ENERGY STAR® label.) The monitor also should come with multiple adjustment settings so you can position the monitor for your comfort. (For instance, adjust the monitor so that you can look straight at the top of the screen and drop your eyes--not your head--to look at the bottom of the screen.) Ergonomics applies to keyboards, too. The wrong keyboard can make computing a painful and irritating activity.
• Does the computer come with a readable, user-friendly manual? If it doesn't, ask the retailer to throw in a couple of books from the "For Dummies" series at no extra charge to help you learn how to use your new computer and software or opt for your second choice.
• Do you really need every bell and whistle available in a type of software? When choosing between ease of use and power, always go for the technology or software that's easier to use. Just because the salesperson recommends an item doesn't mean you'll be happy with it. Get advice from colleagues who have computing skills comparable to yours or from friends who use their computers for the same tasks you want to accomplish with yours.

Following this will help you avoid buying a John Deere when a Briggs and Stratton will do. Just remember to vet your final purchase against your basic computing strategy and make sure whatever you buy will meet your needs for the next few years.

Editor's Pick

Internet Picture Dictionary
Here's a free, online, multilingual picture dictionary designed especially for ELL students and beginning French, German, Spanish, and Italian language learners of all ages. Visitors to the site can search for words alphabetically or browse the existing topical categories on animals, numbers, clothing, fruits, vegetables, and colors. Each page includes six pictures and their identifications. The website also offers flashcard activities, word scrambles, fill-in-the-blank games, and spelling activities. Visit www.pdictionary.com/.

Owl Watch

Write for OWL!
What do NEA members Dave Arnold, Marian Galbraith, Patricia Peikoff, and the 25,000 subscribers to Works4Me have in common? Yes, they all are educators. But they also are pioneers building an online community on OWL.org (Our Web Location for Education) by writing articles and columns featured on the new website for NEA members.

Dave Arnold, an elementary school custodian in Illinois, writes "Dave's View," a column that provides unique perspectives on ESP issues and the school workplace.

Marian Galbraith, a middle school language arts teacher and the 2002 Connecticut Teacher of the Year, has two writing partners: ninth graders Torri Jennette and Dant� Gonzales. Their contrasting movie reviews in the "Reel to Real" column provide a fresh and interesting look at today's box office attractions.

Patricia Peikoff, who appears on OWL with her favorite pooch, is a secretary to an assistant principal in Illinois. Her articles provide insights about living with pets and cover topics such as choosing a veterinarian and adding new pets to a household.

Meanwhile, the 25,000 Works4Me subscribers, a group of educators from across the country, contribute practical classroom tips and answer educators' questions, which appear weekly on the Works4Me listserv.

NEA members also provide numerous articles on professional topics including teaching experiences, classroom management, mentoring, and professional development.

"Educators helping educators" is the main goal of OWL.org, and many opportunities exist for NEA members to share expertise with colleagues and help build the OWL.org community.

If you would like to write for OWL or have an idea for an article you'd like to see, contact OWL Editor-in-Chief Brian Bauer at bbauer@nea.org.

You probably already know that Title IX, the groundbreaking gender equity law, has increased the number of female athletes exponentially since it was passed in 1972. But did you know it has given women and girls a huge boost academically, too?

In 1999-00, for example, women snared 43 percent of the college degrees in medicine and 46 percent of the degrees in law, up from 9 and 8 percent, respectively, in 1972-73.

Thomas Wolanin, senior associate at the Institute for Higher Education Policy, says although Title IX is often thought of as the athletics law, "it was really about young women getting academic opportunities they had been excluded from." Even now, he notes, women still lag sorely behind in college administration and in scientific and technical fields.

Yet recent attention to the law is focusing, again, on sports, as the Bush administration considers changes to the law-in part to answer critics such as male wrestlers, who claim Title IX effectively discriminates against them.

Wolanin and others contend the problem is really high-profile sports such as college football, which eat up big chunks of athletic scholarship monies. "If you gave out half as many college football scholarships," he says, you could give wrestling and swimming more attention, too."

Oops-I Thought It Was Asia

So you sent Suzy to the map and she couldn't find...the Pacific Ocean.

If it's any consolation, 3 in 10 young adults worldwide are having the same challenge. According to a National Geographic Society survey, many of the world's 18- to 24-year-olds are on the brink of geographic illiteracy. And young Americans are struggling the hardest. Among 3,000 youth surveyed from nine countries, U.S. youngsters scored next to last, followed by Mexico's youth. Less than 15 percent of American youth could locate Iraq and Israel, and they struggled with the location of other well-known countries. And almost one-third grossly overestimated the U.S. population, putting it at a whopping 1 to 2 billion, not 289 million.

Experts say geographic knowledge increases with more teaching of it in school and at home, as well as through travel, language proficiency, and personal identification with current events. So to help usher young adults to a geographic higher plane, the National Geographic Society has put together a coalition of media, policy, and education organizations-of which NEA is a part-to map out a plan for improvement. Stay tuned. For more on the survey (and to test your own literacy), see http://geosurvey.nationalgeographic.com/geosurvey/.

Separate Once Again

Think segregation went the way of the '60s? Think again, says a new study from Harvard University's Civil Rights Project (CRP). Using data from the 2000-01 school year, the CRP tracked sharp declines across the country in the percentage of Caucasians in public schools attended by minorities. "The numbers are startling," says Chungmei Lee, CRP research associate and a study co-author. Indeed, the progress made in achieving integrated schools since the 1960s, she says, has effectively been reversed. But unlike in the '60s, the trend is hardly toward just a separation of African-Americans and Caucasians. Latinos, often clustered in poor, urban schools with limited exposure to native English speakers, are now the most segregated of all minority groups, says Lee. In New York, for example, almost 60 percent of Latinos attend schools with 90-100 percent minority enrollment.

Although minority student enrollment has climbed to 40 percent nationally, the CRP says the average white student still attends a school that is 80 percent white. In the Northeast and Midwest, one-fourth of African-American students are enrolled in virtually all-minority schools. The South, although rapidly re-segregating after a series of Supreme Court decisions ending court-ordered integration, still offers the best chance for students of different races to work together in school.

Lee says the fix necessarily lies in the courts. "Some people assume desegregation only benefits minority students," she notes, "but we know from a variety of studies that children in diverse schools learn to think analytically because they're exposed to different points of view."

For more, read A Multiracial Society with Segregated Schools: Are We Losing the Dream? at www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu/note.

Disciplined Kids? Parents Wish

If teachers think they have it rough keeping Johnny from pouncing on Bobby, they're in fine company. According to a recent survey, just 34 percent of parents report success in teaching their kids self-control and self-discipline, and they report similar slow progress teaching "absolutely essential values" such as wanting to do one's best in school.

The national survey of 1,600 moms and dads by Public Agenda, a nonprofit public opinion research organization, found parents are pretty frustrated in their quest to raise responsible kids and believe their jobs are complicated by endless negative messages from the mass media. As a result, only about half say they've done a good job ensuring their children are honest and truthful, and even fewer report success in teaching them how to have self-control, do things for themselves, and spend money carefully.

As always, there's a ray of hope, as more than 60 percent of parents say they've managed to teach their kids to be courteous and polite. So next time Johnny pops Bobby, no doubt Johnny will apologize. Furiously. For more, see www.publicagenda.org/specials/parents/parents.htm.

Educators have more than pulled their weight in the 20 years since A Nation at Risk was first published.

A Nation at Risk, a report commissioned by the Department of Education under Ronald Reagan in 1983, claimed that America's public schools were drowning in a "rising tide of mediocrity." The claim was untrue--the proof was right in the report--but it stuck like muck and tarnished the public's perception of public education.

In the 20 years since, educators have continued to raise the standards for quality education. What threatens education today is the mediocre level of support for their efforts.

What did A Nation at Risk really say?
Although the "rising tide" line in the first paragraph became famous, the body of the report didn't back it up. On the contrary, the report said Americans were better educated than ever.

"It is important, of course, to recognize that the average citizen today is better educated and more knowledgeable than the average citizen of a generation ago--more literate, and exposed to more mathematics, literature, and science," said the report.

In other words, American high schools were doing something never before accomplished: educating the majority of young people, not just children of the elite.

The authors did state that students had to learn more if America was to maintain its global leadership in an era of technology. But the American students they were so worried about went on to lead the world computer revolution. They were not so poorly prepared after all.

Despite the fact that the situation wasn't as bleak as the report laid out, educators continued to raise the bar for student achievement--and their own professional development.

How has the scene changed for students?
Educators are challenging high school students with much tougher courses. The percentage of students who completed a core academic curriculum of four years of English and three each of mathematics, science, and social studies has quadrupled since 1980.

The number of Advanced Placement tests taken has surged 324 percent, from 50 tests for every 1,000 high school juniors and seniors in 1984, up to 212 tests per 1,000 students in 2002. AP's junior cousin, the International Baccalaureate program, is growing even faster.

What's been done on the professional development front?
Millions of new teachers and support professionals have entered the nation's public schools. Thirty percent left within five years. Surveys show the number one reason teachers leave is lack of support.

NEA has taken the lead in pushing to provide that support and improve professional skills for educators at every point in their careers.

To better prepare student teachers, NEA helped to found and continues to support the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), which holds teacher education programs to high standards. NCATE's influence has grown until now, two-thirds of all graduates of teacher preparation programs come from NCATE-accredited schools.

For beginning teachers, NEA locals push their school boards to establish--and fund--quality mentoring programs.

For more experienced teachers, NEA and its affiliates work for relevant, effective professional development. And NEA is a strong supporter of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, whose certification program helps master teachers hone and extend their skills.

What role has the government played in improving public education?
Year after year, political leaders proclaim their commitment to education, and some have genuinely fought to strengthen public schools. But governments have failed to make education a top priority.

Long-term experiments have proved smaller classes significantly improve student achievement, but many elected leaders shy away from reducing class size claiming it's too taxing on budgets.

On both the state and federal level, governments have failed to help children come to school ready to learn. The Census Bureau reports that as of 2001, 12 percent of children lacked health insurance--and health problems are a barrier to educating students. One-fifth of American children live in poverty, while effective anti-poverty programs have been curtailed or abandoned.

Teachers' salaries have not kept pace with the growing prosperity of the nation. After adjusting for inflation, they've gone up only 17 percent since 1983, even though the average teacher today is better educated and has more years of experience than 20 years ago. Not a strong sign that the nation's leaders support quality education.

So what's the key to improving schools in the next 20 years?
Educators will keep trying. But we can't do it alone. We need support from our communities and governments. And it's government's failure to respond that puts our schools and our nation at risk.

--Alain Jehlen

For more: Visit www.nea.org/goodnews for statistics about education, both national and state by state. Go to www.aecf.org/kidscount, the Kids Count site of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, for information on child poverty.

The most highly qualified teachers are not serving the students who need them most.

Quality Counts 2003. "If I Can't Learn from You..." Ensuring a Highly Qualified Teacher for Every Classroom
By Education Week
182 pp. $10 paperback; Education Week (www.edweek.org). Available online at www.edweek.org/sreports/QC03/.

To end the achievement gap between groups of students, we must first end the teacher gap--the lack of well-qualified teachers for those students who need them most. That's the major conclusion of this new report from Education Week (EW).

EW's annual "Quality Counts" publication reports on various indicators of what it takes to create and maintain quality public education. Although the report's emphasis changes annually, each one grades every state on how it is faring on various quality indicators. This is especially important now that states are trying to implement the new Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

This year's report delivers troubling news. Nearly a quarter of secondary school students (22 percent) take at least one class with a teacher who did not even have a minor in the subject he or she teaches. In high-poverty secondary schools, that figure jumps to 32 percent. Almost half of middle school students nationwide (44 percent), and over half in high-poverty middle schools, take a class with a teacher who lacks even a minor in the subject.

State licensing requirements, while intended to assure the public that teachers are indeed qualified to teach, are frequently bypassed by alternative routes and other "emergency" measures that allow unqualified people into classrooms. The teacher gap in this area is astounding. About 70 percent of secondary students in low-poverty schools benefit from teachers who have both majored and are fully licensed in their subjects. Only about half of secondary students in high-poverty schools enjoy the same benefit.

The report points out the wide variation in requirements for teacher preparation. Some states require that new teachers receive intensive training (whether alternative or traditional), student teaching, and structured mentoring and induction programs. Other states require little more than a college degree in a subject area and four to six weeks of "basic training."

In addition to data on student achievement, "Quality Counts" provides a road map for improving the quality of teaching. By offering the percentage of teachers prepared in a program accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, as well as information on states that offer salary enhancements for advanced certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the report highlights positive policies and practices from states committed to quality teaching.

"Quality Counts" provides critical data useful for NEA and other groups supporting a quality teaching profession. (For more, see "NEA's Agenda for Teacher Quality" below.) Only by documenting the extent of the teacher gap will we be able to better understand and address it.

--Tim Dedman
NEA Department of Teacher Quality

NEA's Agenda for Teacher Quality

NEA has developed a comprehensive agenda that will lead to a quality teaching profession and a diverse teacher workforce. Some highlights:

• Develop recruitment strategies that will lead talented students to choose teaching as a career, particularly minority students;
• Ensure quality teacher preparation by requiring all teacher preparation programs (whether traditional or alternative) to be accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. Require quality field-based pre-training components such as professional development schools and supervised internships;
• Develop support systems to help underrepresented groups meet high quality standards. Remove artificial barriers where they exist;
• Establish teacher-majority licensing boards in each state, and require consistent measures of quality based on licensing standards for both beginning and experienced teachers. Require all teachers to be fully licensed;
• Develop high-quality induction and mentoring programs to provide all new teachers a successful transition into the classroom;
• Provide high-quality, sustained, teacher-directed professional development;
• Establish incentives and support for pursuing advanced certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards;
• Focus on retaining teachers in the classroom with a career that is rewarding both professionally and financially.

From the NEA Professional Library

Teaching with Technology Teacher-To-Teacher Series
96pp. $9.95 NEA members
$12.95 nonmembers
#2915-1-00-FN
In a world where schools are wired and students surf the Net with ease, teachers need to know that it's not enough for kids to be computer literate; they also need to be information literate. Teaching with Technology helps educators shift their focus from teaching about technology to integrating technology as a learning tool for core subjects. Classroom and computer resource teachers, along with library/media specialists, share their strategies for revamping instruction and helping students develop the critical thinking and interpersonal skills they need to become better learners.

To order, call 800/228-4200, or check the Web at www.nea.org/books

Books by NEA Members

The World at Your Fingertips: Learning Research & Internet Skills
By Heidi Kay and Karen Delvecchio
Help students navigate everything from encyclopedias and atlases to online search engines and websites. Written by teachers for grades 1-6, the book's activities and lessons teach students to use a variety of research methods and techniques. Each chapter features one continent and offers new and interesting ways to approach research skills. 72 pp. $15.95 from UpstartBooks. To order, go to www.hpress.highsmith.com/skils.htm or call 800/448-4887.

Sylvia & Miz Lula Maye
By Pansie Hart Flood
This book tells the tale of sassy, 10-year-old Sylvia Freeman, who moves to South Carolina in 1978, sure that her summer is going to be boring, until she meets her 99-year-old neighbor, Miz Lula Maye. Everything seems an adventure with Miz Lula Maye involved, and the two quickly become friends. Written by a teacher, the tale is told in Sylvia's voice and is geared for grades 3-6. $15.95 from Carolrhoda books. To order, call 800/328-4929 or visit www.lernerbooks.com.

Understanding Buddy
By Marc Kornblatt
Two boys' friendship across social class and religion are at the heart of this novel, written for ages 8-12. Sam is shocked when his family's housekeeper, Laura, is killed in an accident. Then Laura's son, Buddy, shows up as the new boy in Sam's class. Buddy won't talk with anyone, but as the boys spend time together, he comes out of his shell and helps Sam understand what it means to lose someone you love. 128 pp. $16 from McElderry Books. To order, go to www.simonsays.com.

Bent's Fort: Crossroads of Cultures on the Santa Fe Trail
By Melvin Bacon and Daniel Blegen
Using firsthand descriptions from the diaries of visitors and from their own personal accounts, the authors highlight the life of an important trading center, Bent's Fort, on the Santa Fe Trail, where U.S., Mexican, and Indian cultures mingled at a key time in American history. Photographer and author, Mel Bacon has won many teaching awards, and poet and playwright Dan Blegen has been teaching for almost 30 years. 71 pp. from Filter Press. $12.95 plus s&h. To order, call 888/570-2663.

TV Tips

TV Tips are provided by KIDSNET, a national resource for children's media in Washington, D.C., www.kidsnet.org, and from Cable in the Classroom at www.ciconline.org.

SportsFigures
ESPN2, April 6, 13, 20, 27, 5:30 a.m., ET.
Designed for middle- and high-school students, this series features professional athletes who help demonstrate math and physics concepts through sports. A sampling of this month's episodes include: "Terminal Velocity/The Spin Doctor Is In," which discusses the laws of physics and acceleration with street luger Darren Lott and figure skater Sasha Cohen (airs April 6); and "Elastic Racquet/In Golf Gravitas," in which tennis player Chanda Rubin explores elastic energy and golfer Brad Faxon discusses various principles of energy (airs April 20). Episodes can be taped and used in the classroom with teaching materials from http://sportsfigures.espn.com.

Miffy and Friends
NOGGIN, April 7, 7 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., ET, check local listings.
Leading off the new commercial-free preschool block on Noggin, "Miffy and Friends" helps children learn early math by means of gentle story and song. Miffy, a smart bunny that sees the world through the eyes of a four-year-old, is based on the award-winning book series by Dutch artist, Dick Bruna. Animated "Miffy" tales are woven together with original games to help preschoolers appreciate math relationships in their everyday world.

TLC Elementary School--Conquest of the Americas
The Learning Channel, April 11, 6 a.m., ET.
This series, designed for grades K-6, consists of segments edited from original documentaries. "The Aztecs" episode examines the downfall of the Aztec and Inca empires of ancient Mexico and Peru, explaining how Hernán Cortés destroyed in three months the empire the Aztecs took years to create. "Cortés" shows how one man's pursuit of fame and fortune led to the collapse of a powerful empire. "Pizarro" demonstrates how the Inca's civil war made it possible for an illiterate soldier with a minuscule army to conquer an empire. Can be taped and used in the classroom for two years. Find teaching materials at http://school.discovery.com.

Avoiding Armageddon
PBS, April 14-17, check local listings.
This documentary takes an unflinching look at the nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons that could destroy civilization and the people who are racing to use them. Despite the magnitude of the threat, the series delivers the conclusion that not just governments--but individuals--can help the world avoid Armageddon.

Ice Bound
CBS, April 20, 9 p.m., ET, check local listings.
This two-hour television movie starring Susan Sarandon, tells the harrowing true story of Dr. Jerri Nielsen, the physician stranded at a South Pole research station that diagnosed and treated her own breast cancer. A website about Antarctica, created by personnel at Nielsen's station, can be accessed at http://205.174.118.254/nspt/teach/teach.htm.

Surviving Everest
National Geographic Channel, April 27, 8 p.m., ET.
This two-hour special covers the National Geographic 50th Anniversary Everest Expedition that united Peter Hillary, Jamling Tenzing Norgay, and Brent Bishop--the sons of Sir Edmund Hillary, Tensing Norgay Sherpa, and Dr. Barry Bishop. The program takes an in-depth look at 50 years of tragedy and triumph, including early Everest expeditions and the bitter rivalries to summit the mountain. Following the same routes pioneered by their fathers, this expedition attempts a perilous double-route ascent to meet at the top.

Great Books
Discovery Channel, April 29, 9:30 a.m., ET, check local listings.
This Emmy Award-winning series examines the enduring quality and continuing influence of select literary works. This episode, "Wuthering Heights," examines the parallels between the life of reclusive English author Emily Brontë and her saga of thwarted passion and cruelty. Can be taped and used in the classroom for one year with teaching materials available at http://school.discovery.com.

Amandla!
HBO, April, check local listings.
This soul-stirring documentary uses exclusive interviews, new recordings and rare archival film footage to examine the vital role that music played in the nearly half-century struggle against apartheid in South Africa. The production, which took nine years to make, is a testimony to the power of song, and its ability to fuel the struggle for freedom. Woven together are many previously unrecorded songs of liberation into a fabric of newsreel footage of historic speeches, and organized rallies.

Web Winners

Experts in Ology
At the American Museum of Natural History's science website, you can learn more about genetics, astronomy, and paleontology from scientists, students, and just by clicking through the site. Youngsters can learn about the solar system, dinosaurs, and detailed DNA structures as well as apply their knowledge of all of the "ologys" they have studied. They can also collect and trade Ology cards. Go to www.ology.amnh.org.

Online Children's Library
Internet Archive and the University of Maryland, along with a host of major publishers and the Library of Congress, have compiled the International Children's Digital Library, a searchable archive of more than 200 digitized books in 15 languages and representing 27 cultures. Kids can read entire books online, learning about other cultures on the way. Many ELL students will be able to find books in their native language or dual language books. Accessing the library does take some time, effort, and computer requirements, but plans are underway to make access easier and to expand on the collection of books. Go to www.icdlbooks.org.

Fossil Horse Cyber Museum
This site offers a complete lesson about paleontology and evolution by tracking the fossil record of horses online. The history starts 55 million years ago, with the small dog-sized horse called Hyracotherium, and continues through Equus, the only surviving genus of what once was a diverse family of mammals. Information is easy to access because lessons are grouped into categories, including Gallery of Fossil Horses and Sedimental Journey. Go to www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/vertpaleo/fhc/firstCM.htm.

Composting at School
Teach students how nature recycles by composting in the classroom. Developed in part by Cornell University, this site includes explanations of how composting works, K-12 lesson plans, lab activities, and ideas for student research projects. Go to www.cfe.cornell.edu/compost/schools.html.

Techno-speak Made Simple
Are you lost when students start gabbing about avatars, IRC clients, and JAVA files? Well, be baffled no more. Check out C/NET's simple glossary of technology terms. The site is easy to use and bound to improve your tech vocabulary. Go to www.cnet.com/Resources/Info/Glossary/?tag=st.cn.sr1.ssr.cn_glossary.

Math Solved
Are your students stumbling over decimals and fractions? Help is just a click away with The Math Forum @Drexel. The Math Forum provides resources, materials, activities, mentoring, educational products, and an online community of math educators and students. The site guides students through material at their own pace, helping them apply the lessons to the other math components on the site. Go to www.mathforum.org.

Virtual Circus
Through the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® website, teachers can print and download activities that reinforce classroom lessons and make fundamental skills come alive for students preK-4. Called the CIRCUSWORKS Education Center®, the site contains three online educational lesson units and two special divisions that cover language arts, diversity and geography, and animal care. The curricula were developed with Hot Topics, Bridges to Learning, and 12 consulting teachers. Go to www.Ringling.com/circusworks.

Free or Inexpensive

On Being a Mentor
Veteran teachers can really make an impact on new teachers by being a guide, a friend, and someone to swap battle stories with. In Hal Portner's updated edition of Mentoring Teachers, teaching vets can learn how to become better mentors. By understanding the four functions of mentoring, including relating, assessing, coaching, and guiding, even the most knowledgeable mentors can sharpen their skills. $24.95 120 pp. from Corwin Press. To order, visit www.corwinpress.com or call 800/818-7243.

Empower Girl Athletes
Jackie Stiles, professional basketball player for the Portland Fire, always loved basketball. As a child, she quickly grasped the fundamentals from tagging along with her father to the practices he ran for her hometown high school's basketball team. Her talent and drive helped her to make it big in college and eventually the WNBA. In Mark Stewart's Jackie Stiles: Gym Dandy, athletes in grades 4 and higher can follow Stiles' rise to the top. 48 pp. $23.90 from Millbrook Press. To order call, 800/462-4703 or visit online at www.millbrookpress.com.

What's the Problem?
Visit author Magdalene Lampert's fifth-grade math class during one year in Teaching Problems and the Problems of Teaching. A researcher and classroom veteran, Lampert explains how to help students think logically and express their thoughts clearly. She provides examples of problems she has given her class and examples of actual student work, analyzing their logic. Lampert's voice is easy-to-read and engaging, making readers feel like active participants in her class. 496 pp. $35 from Yale University Press. To order, visit www.yalebooks.com or call 800/405-1619.

Classical Music for Kids
Looking for an uplifting CD for your classroom? You can help children develop their music appreciation with Robert Lawson's Classical Music for Children: The Kids Collection of Greatest Classics, Vol. 13. Introduce kids to famous melodic themes from great composers such as Mozart, Strauss, and Verdi. The 13-track CD is arranged and produced specifically with a child's tastes in mind, featuring lively compositions with frequent changes in tempo and dynamics. $14.98. Available online at www.greatestclassics.com.

For Struggling Learners
When it comes to grade placement should it be based on age and a "cut-off date"? Is misplacement a key to failing test scores and grade-level retention? Jim Grant, author of Struggling Learners: Below Grade or Wrong Grade? says yes. The book examines these issues and provides age-based checklists to help educators and parents decide if a child is in the wrong grade and outlines techniques to help students reach their full potential at their own pace. 170 pp. $15.95 from Modern Learning Press. To order, call 800/627-5867 or go to www.modlearn.com.

Explore the World
How can you bake cookies in the sun, remember the difference between latitude and longitude, and master mapmaking? These activities and others in Geography Crafts for Kids: 50 Cool Projects & Activities for Exploring the World help kids understand that geography is everywhere, and with a little imagination, glue, and items from home, they can learn basic concepts in geography. $24.95 144 pp. Published by Lark Books. To order, call 800/805-5489 or visit www.larkbooks.com.

Painting the Power of Tradition
Sacred dances, rock soup, handmade robes, mysterious dreams, and sleeping animals--authors Lise Erdrich and Lisa Fifield combine vivid watercolor paintings and American Indian stories gathered from their oral traditions to form a delightful collection of bedtime stories for children. Bears Make Rock Soup and Other Stories shows the power of nature and spirituality in the American Indian tradition. 32 pp. $16.95 from Children's Book Press. To order, visit www.cbookpress.org.

Comics that Teach
Dark Horse Comics offers a series of comics workbooks focused on introducing and advancing basic academic skills. In the first installment, Word Squad, young children use their skills to solve mysteries. Exercises are included in the comic books and each comes with another workbook and "canvas" to help children design their own comic books. A set of two comic books, manuscript starter, and comic book canvas start at $11 per set. Quantities over 200 are discounted. Dark Horse can also help educators design custom comic books for their curriculums. For more, visit www.darkhorse.com/services/education.html or call 503/652-8815, ext. 318.

An Unforgettable Creature
Who or what is an Epossumondas? In Epossumondas, author Coleen Salley with illustrator Janet Stevens tells the tale of a muddleheaded opossum from down South who takes everything way too literally. Poor Epossumondas can't get things right, but his blunders will make you laugh. 40 pp. $16 from Harcourt. To order, call 800/543-1918 or visit www.harcourtbooks.com.

Just Do It
We praise them, admire them, and at times emulate them when we step onto a field, court, ice rink, or track. In What Is an Athlete? author Barbara Lehn helps young readers figure out what an athlete is made of besides Gatorade and a whole lot of sweat. Colorful photos of kids participating in sports accompanies simple text outlining the values of teamwork, determination, and, most of all, having fun! 32 pp. $21.90 from Millbrook Press. To order, visit www.millbrookpress.com or call 800/462-4703.

Lights...Cameras...Educate

Media Outreach Helps Build Public Confidence

When NEA President Reg Weaver visits schools across the country, he's often trailed by several newspaper scribes or radio and television reporters. Weaver also does several media interviews every week, offering reporters NEA's views on topics ranging from the threat of vouchers to the need to effectively address and adequately fund the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

It's easy to see why the media seek Weaver out: he's energetic, quotable, and--as a teacher--represents the views of teachers and education support professionals with a great deal of credibility and authority.

But that's just skimming the surface. As public schools are threatened with budget cuts and flattened by mandates from states and the federal government, Weaver--as well as Vice President Dennis Van Roekel and Secretary-Treasurer Lily Eskelsen--has become more engaged in mobilizing public support for public education. The media, including everything from local papers to national television broadcasts, are an important outlet for influencing public opinion with NEA's perspective and ideas on school change.

"The media can help to shape and frame how people view us in the profession," says Weaver. So he tries to be as accessible as possible to answer media queries and discuss the Association's position on topics critical to the success of public education.

Thus, it wasn't surprising to see Reg in front of a host of microphones, cameras, and reporters at a recent media gathering at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to discuss the findings of a new NEA report, Protecting Public Education from Tax Giveaways to Corporations.

Though some might consider the topic a little dry to pique much media interest, the study received extensive coverage--thanks, in part, to Weaver, Ohio Education Association staffer Fritz Fekete, and other panelists who provided concrete examples to help reporters understand how reducing schools' tax base undermines quality education.

USA Today, the nation's most widely read newspaper (circulation 2.1 million readers), headlined its coverage, "NEA report charges tax breaks cost schools billions." The story by Greg Toppo quoted Weaver's comment that, "With the funding pressures from all sides now hitting public education, hopefully policy makers will focus on protecting schools by making sure that they're not hurt by tax abatements."

News accounts of NEA's study also reached readers of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (circ. 368,000), the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (circ. 248,000), and other publications. Some local newspapers wove the study's findings into local accounts of tax breaks and other subsidies, quoting NEA members. Famed consumer advocate Ralph Nader featured the NEA study in his column on Common Dreams News Center (www.commondreams.org), blasting "corporate freeloaders." Trade publications such as Education Daily also picked up the story, giving it extensive coverage among education policy makers.

NEA staff also ensure that Weaver's twice-a-month op-ed, which is printed in the Washington Post (circ. 812,000) and Education Week, is sent to a long list of editorial writers, editors, and opinion makers. This process helps members of the media better understand NEA's positions on critical issues, and some publications even rerun the columns.

NEA's 2.7 million members are a force in the movement for quality public schools for all children. But every movement requires allies, and working closely with the media allows NEA's message to reach citizens in communities across the United States. So if you see a story featuring NEA's views in the local paper, be sure to share it with neighbors or others in your community. It just may change a few minds.

--John O'Neil

For more on Protecting Public Education from Tax Giveaways to Corporations, see "NEA Releases Study on Property Tax Handouts" in this issue of NEA Today.

ESEA and budget cuts are an assault on our professional integrity and our livelihoods.

"A time comes," Martin Luther King Jr., once said, "when your silence won't protect you."

Well, for teachers and education support professionals that time is now.

A new federal education law that combines worthy goals with fundamentally flawed implementation has merged with the worst state budget crises in more than 30 years to create a "perfect storm" for educators.

At the same time that the federal government is requiring improved student performance on standardized tests, our class sizes are ballooning, our qualifications for a highly qualified teacher and professional development have been reduced, and school funding and construction to accommodate the growing number of students is being put on hold.

If we are to survive this storm with our professional integrity intact and our jobs secure, we are going to have to strategize, organize, and mobilize like we have never done before. What's more, we must re-energize ourselves as we recruit new members who are committed to our profession, children, students, and public education.

We must champion the goals that we have long advocated--many of which are embodied in the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)--while fighting to change how those goals are implemented. And to this fight, we must bring a passion, an intensity, and a high level of member participation that is unrivaled.

Under ESEA, as it is currently crafted, your best efforts in the classroom, and your students and school, can be judged a failure-- based on a single number on one of either two tests.

Under ESEA, if the students in your school do not score higher on the standardized tests every year for four straight years, you could face serious consequences.

Under ESEA, your school's lack of resources will not prevent you from being labeled a failure.

Under ESEA, successful, experienced teachers will have to demonstrate their subject matter competency, either by passing a test or by meeting a "high objective uniform statewide standard of evaluation."

I have yet to meet a professional educator who is not angered once he or she learns about the fine print in ESEA. We must help teachers and ESPs channel their anger and frustration in a manner that will support our plight in this fight.

The fight to change ESEA and stop the budget cuts will not be won by a handful of skilled association lobbyists and spokespeople. It will be won by NEA members, teachers, ESPs, parents, and others demanding that their elected representatives listen attentively and amend this law--for the sake our students, our schools, and our profession. It will be won by writing letters and e-mails, by sending faxes, and by using our united voices. It will be won by each one of us exercising our rights and responsibilities as citizens in the world's longest-running democracy.

It will take a groundswell of democracy to amend ESEA and secure adequate resources for our schools. Are we up to the task?

Yes, we are!

Comments? E-mail Reg Weaver at RegWeaver@nea.org.

Paul Shimon has no problem going the distance. Last fall, the physical education teacher from Arkansas City, Kansas, ran his 100th marathon. The 30-year teaching veteran from Adams Elementary School clocked in at 3 hours, 22 minutes, and 9 seconds at the 23rd annual KAKE-TV/Wichita Marathon. "That was a day I will never forget," he says.

Shimon, now 55, ran his first race at age 17 after he saw a group of runners participating in a marathon. The site of their numbers flapping in the wind intrigued him, Shimon says.

Since then, Shimon has run in a variety of races, from the Boston Marathon in Massachusetts to the San Blas Marathon in Puerto Rico, usually completing several each year. Shimon also helped start the Melbourne Marathon in Florida, one of the oldest races in that state.

"I enjoyed every single one of them," Shimon says. "With every race I'm still going for the next one and staying motivated to do my best."

Even with 100 marathons behind him Shimon still runs 8 to 10 miles a day. "I love the feeling of being in motion," he adds. "Running helps me maintain my health and gives me the mental tenacity to do well."

Shimon passes on his healthy habits to his students as the coordinator of the Jump Rope for Heart program, an event that raises money for local charities and helps kids get in shape. He also created a running program for the children at Adams Elementary. "I believe it is important to pass those good habits on to them early," he adds.

With Shimon's steely drive and determination, there's no doubt that his 200th marathon is just around the corner.

--Leah Lakins

Finding Inspiration in New Places

NEA-Retired Michigan member Cleorah Scruggs often looks for inspiration in the small things in life, a habit gained from 30 years of teaching elementary school.

This morning, her inspiration comes from a picture in her home. It shows three African girls with books stacked on their heads, in their hands, and under their arms.

The picture reminds her of a trip she took to Nigeria, where she learned how a culture so very different from the United States values the same things: education and salvation. Three years later, she's still writing letters and e-mailing notes to her pen pals, several teachers she connected with while visiting a Nigeria orphanage.

Inspired by her experience, Scruggs created the Hookup Connection, a club that allows students to pen pal with someone who is different from them for one year. The pen pal could have a different religious, economic, or cultural background or could be someone with a physical disability. Fifth graders Brianna Newman (left) and Chelsea Miller (right) signed up for the club at the 10th annual National Multicultural Diversity Day, a celebration Scruggs created in 1993. Her diversity work has drawn nationwide recognition (including the May 2001 cover of This Active Life, the magazine for NEA-Retired members).

"I believe one person can make a difference," Scruggs says. "These pen pals will relate to each other and see the advantages of positive communication."

--Mary Kershaw

Job of a Lifetime

Can you imagine never missing a day of work for 30 years? Yes, most educators rarely take a day off, but for Antoine Djerbaka of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, teaching is a passion that requires his whole heart and perfect attendance every day. And he means every day.

"I wake up in the morning and I can't wait to come to school, and on the weekends I can't wait for Monday," he says.

This fourth-grade teacher at Crocker Elementary School has been teaching since August 1973 and he hasn't missed a day yet. Since the beginning of his career Djerbaka, a native of Syria, has taught at four schools in Fitchburg and has educated students in the 3rd to 12th grades in subjects such as algebra, earth science, and biology.

"Teaching is rewarding for me, and I find it very important to do whatever it takes to help the students improve," he says.

In addition to his marathon career, Djerbaka tutors students for standardized tests, organizes clothing drives for needy kids, and coordinates a program for local judges to read to his students.

What keeps him going? "I'm addicted to jogging, and I love to help single mothers," Djerbaka says. "When I see them struggling with their children I know I have to do my best to make a difference."

Even with 30 stellar years of teaching behind him, Djerbaka has no plans of slowing down. "I'm doing what makes me happy. And I'm not even thinking about retirement until they push me out the door."

--Leah Lakins

Speed Demon

Greg Serrano isn't Superman, but he knows all about traveling faster than a speeding bullet.

Serrano, an automotive services teacher at Maine West High School in Des Plaines, Illinois, belongs to the Spirit of America team, a crew of determined Americans trying to break the land speed record. Since 1992 the team, led by five-time record holder Craig Breedlove, has worked to build the world's fastest car. When Breedlove attempts his record-breaking drive this summer, the team hopes the car will reach 800 mph, establishing a new land speed record. A British team set the existing record of 766 mph in 1997. Breedlove set his first record, 407 mph, in 1963.

"If you shot a gun at the car, the bullet wouldn't catch it. The car would outrun it," says Serrano.

Serrano, who has idolized Breedlove since his childhood, joined the team in 1999. He initially contacted Breedlove about developing an educational website teachers could use to create lesson plans around the Spirit of America project. Serrano got his website(www.spiritofamericaedu.org) and Breedlove invited him to join the team.

The next year Serrano spent six months in Rio Vistas, California, working on the car's electrical system and handling the team's Web communications. The car even features the Maine West High School logo. Serrano travels to the project site about twice a year now and provides additional support via the Internet.

"When I was in high school in auto classes I used to read about [Breedlove], so it was a thrill when he asked me to come out and help them make history," Serrano says. "What I love about the project is it's a group of 12 of us and you do anything that needs to be done. It is 100 percent commitment from the team.

"I tell my students, when I sat in those desks reading a hot rod magazine about this car, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be working on this project."

--Kristen Loschert

Cuddle Up

What parent doesn't wax nostalgic about the bliss of cuddling a newborn infant? Let's face it, only the sweet murmur of a sleeping baby gets you through the night feedings and foul-smelling diaper deposits. NEA-Retired Arizona member John Campbell isn't a new dad, but he's head-over-heels in love with his volunteer assignment as a "cuddler" of premature infants born at the Thunderbird Samaritan Medical Center in Glendale.

"It's heaven," says Campbell, now in his third year as president of the Arizona Education Association-Retired. "The cuddlers, the nurses, and the babies all benefit from the program."

Under the supervision of a developmental nurse specialist, the volunteers cuddle newborns who are premature or face other issues, such as absent parents or a drug addiction.

"The human touch and the rocking is very beneficial to the babies," Campbell says. "They're often cranky, and when you rock them, that quiets them right down." Campbell is a volunteer cuddler once a week for four hours, also volunteering at an information desk at the hospital another four hours per week.

After being trained, Campbell's first assignment was to cuddle Brandon, who was born three months premature and weighed just two pounds. "I had a thought that maybe I can't do this," he confesses. But Brandon gradually made strides and was ready to go home when he reached four-and-a-half pounds.

Campbell says he also leaves the hospital feeling better. "I've had two heart attacks, and when I'm quietly cuddling a child it brings my blood pressure down and I'm much calmer. I told one of the nurses that maybe [cuddling] should be part of heart attack rehabilitation!"

--John O'Neil

A New Jersey local affiliate resolves building problems through a labor-management health and safety committee.

It's no surprise that New Jerseyans, who have long shared their oxygen with major chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturers, pay extra attention to health and safety matters. The state has passed strong laws guaranteeing safe and healthy public facilities, a worker/community "right to know" about hazardous workplace substances, and the nation's only indoor air quality standards for public schools.

Now educators in East Orange have another powerful tool to clean up airless, crumbling, leaky, and moldy school buildings-their very own colleagues, specifically front-line educators Clarence Osborne, Janet Tisdale, Brian Stokes, and Pat Landon.

These NEA members belong to the district's highly effective Health, Safety, and Security Committee (HSSC), an eight-member body-four designated by the East Orange Education Association (EOEA), four by the district-to "discuss and resolve" issues of health, safety, and security in this urban system's 21 aging buildings.

This joint panel, created through the collective bargaining agreement, isn't some toothless "facilities committee." By contract, it must meet five times a year, and its management half-including the district architect and the heads of maintenance and security-is empowered to make binding decisions on the spot.

"Everybody sits down and hears the same issues," says EOEA President Jacqui Greadington, an ex officio member of the committee. "People I would normally have to track down for answers are right there. It's critically important to negotiate language that requires parties who can affect change-not just a powerless custodian-to sit down and negotiate district-wide health and safety policy right at the table."

Nobody dominates this panel-it alternates meeting sites between Association and district offices-and nobody keeps it in the dark. Volunteer EOEA health and safety "watchdogs" at school sites report problems to the committee, and almost monthly, committee members conduct "walkthroughs" of East Orange schools with a checklist to spot immediate hazards such as mold, leaks, and temperature problems.

"We look for obvious and not-so-obvious problems-such as a bookcase that's too high and not anchored to the wall, or a poorly mounted door window that a kid could knock out," notes Greadington. "Then we do follow-up to see that things are fixed."

The committee deals with a "broad umbrella" of concerns, she points out, be it leaky roofs (several were repaired last spring), crisis procedures ("who gets called when something goes down in the district"), or "quality of life" issues such as faulty plumbing or cold buildings.

"Our biggest complaint is inadequate heat," Greadington notes. "We had one teacher who said she had been cold for 30 long years! Because of the work of the HSSC, she's not cold anymore. Often it's a case of a unit not being turned on or properly serviced.

"A lot of people in education get used to being in bad situations so long that they become 'normal.' That has to change," declares Greadington, a member of the NEA Board of Directors. "We want our students and staff to walk into schools feeling healthy and safe. We'll continue this effort room by room, school by school, until we're done."

--Dave Winans

Jacqui Greadington can be reached at eoea@aol.com.

A Toolbox To Shape Up Schools

The 1,200-member East Orange Education Association is just one of several Garden State local affiliates pushing the envelope on cleaner, safer schools, thanks to a four-year-old health and safety program of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA).

It's a comprehensive effort that includes field training for local health and safety activists, written resources (brochures, a website, and a brand-new manual), a statewide conference (scheduled this year for April 12), and technical assistance to UniServ reps from the nonprofit New Jersey Work Environmental Council-which can provide certified industrial hygienists upon request.

NJEA's health and safety initiatives are starting to bear fruit, even in urban districts where many school buildings are older than your oldest relative.

Through the investigative work of industrial hygienists and extensive community/media outreach, NJEA acted on indoor air quality complaints in Passaic's 99-year-old School 10 and won some $5.5 million in upgrades.

And last autumn, NJEA had students moved from Paterson's School 6 for three months, after Paterson Education Association President Peter Tirri reported that extensive renovation work-involving removal of asbestos, among other substances-was taking place during school hours.

"I walked into a kindergarten class in School 6 and saw barrels marked 'Hazardous Waste,'" shudders UniServ rep John Ropars. "The Association got together with parent groups and forced a meeting with the superintendent and the state Economic Development Authority, which funded this project.

"It's amazing how cooperative a district gets when papers, politicians, and parents raise a stink!" Ropars observes.

NJEA's building cleanup toolbox includes compartments for community outreach (when administrators just won't fix a serious problem) and complaints under the state's Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health Program. But right on the top tray is the trustiest tool of them all: the joint health and safety committee.

"Our East Orange local really takes it on by having negotiated contract language that specifies the union's formal ability to negotiate over health and safety issues," stresses UniServ rep Norm Danzig, who along with Ropars trains health and safety committee members across New Jersey. "These are issues that seriously affect kids as well as staff. We need to take them on as union issues-dealing with them as isolated individuals is a losing fight."

--D.W., with contributions from
NJEA staffer Dawn Hiltner

For more on the New Jersey Education Association's health and safety program, contact John Ropars at jropars@njea.org or Norm Danzig at ndanzig@njea.org.

[Kudos To...]

. . . the Sharon (Massachusetts) Joint Health and Safety Committee, which has received an excellence award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Tools for Schools program.

The six-member committee, created through bargaining between the Sharon Teachers Association and district, has been busy indeed. Among other gains it has removed hazardous chemicals from schools, improved ventilation systems, replaced water-damaged tiles, extended downspouts to address water problems, removed loose floor tiles containing asbestos, and purchased several HEPA filter vacuum cleaners.

The committee's effective IAQ Management Program relies on extensive data collection, problem area mapping, and teacher checklists and questionnaires. A project such as Tools for Schools "has got to be grassroots," says middle school science teacher Tricia Terrell, the Joint Health and Safety Committee co-chair. "It's got to be local educators looking at what they can do in the classroom." (Tricia Terrell can be reached at tricia_terrell@sharon.k12.ma.us.)

. . . California elementary teacher Gloria Mitchell, who, through the Fresno Teachers Association/CTA, has been campaigning against mold in schools. Mitchell advises educators to make an issue out of mold contamination-even if administrators tell them not to worry. "If it happens to you, get your Association involved. Don't let it go," she says. "Get an IAQ Tools for Schools kit [through www.neahin.org/programs/environmental/ iaq.htm], so that you know what to look for and see the warning signs." As a delegate to the 2002 NEA Representative Assembly, Mitchell won unanimous passage of a new business item calling on NEA to review and publicize research on the "environmental impact of mold and toxic mold on children and staff in all school facilities." Check out the next issue of NEA Today for an article on the impact of mold exposure.

. . . Shell Oil refinery and chemical plant workers in the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union (OCAW), who waged a historic five-month strike 30 years ago to win specific health and safety language in their contract. Among other goals, those workers sought a joint union-management health and safety committee in every plant, with the right to jointly "inspect, investigate, and review" health and safety conditions.

That was unpalatable stuff for Shell managers back in 1973. They labeled it an "attempt at featherbedding" and declared: "We are legally responsible for the health and safety of Shell employees in the workplace. This responsibility cannot be shared."

In the face of tough company resistance, OCAW-today part of the Paperworkers, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE)-waged a nationwide Shell boycott and forged alliances with the scientific, academic, environmental, and labor communities. Shell and the OCAW reached a compromise, ending the strike on June 1, 1973. That bargaining agreement broke ground for health and safety language many unions and employers take for granted today.

[Your Dues Did It]
UniServ Reps Become Air Quality Experts

It's a tolerant school district that allows a crowd of out-of-state, battle-hardened UniServ staffers to tour one of its schools-during class time-with a federal official, building blueprints, an indoor air quality checklist, and a carbon dioxide detector.

That's just what New Mexico's Rio Rancho district did on February 4 when it hosted 14 UniServ reps from 10 states at Mountain View Middle School. These staffers were in town to attend an NEA Health Information Network/UniServ Cluster training session, which included a full-day class on indoor air quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Program.

Mountain View is one of some 10,000 K-12 schools across the country that are implementing this program. At the school, the UniServ reps met Vice Principal Trent Heffner and NEA-Rio Rancho President James Pacini, before being briefed for a building "walkthrough" by EPA Region 6 representative Michael Miller.

Then, blueprints and checklists in hand, the Association staffers followed Miller as he conducted a typical indoor air quality check. "We looked at the school exterior and interior-classrooms, bathrooms, science labs, art rooms, cafeteria, and kitchen," reports NEA Health Information Network staffer Jennie Young, who coordinated the tour. "We checked for ventilation, the presence of pests, and signs of moisture-focusing especially on drain traps and stained ceiling tiles and carpeting."

The UniServ folks "loved it," Young notes. "They looked around like detectives and pointed out things we hadn't thought about. Many walked away wanting to call their superintendents as soon as possible about the Tools for Schools program."

Following the walkthrough, Miller debriefed these newly minted air quality experts on what they'd seen at Mountain View. The UniServ reps "listed problems and prioritized them," says Young. "They gave the vice principal and head custodian a lot of new ideas."

All in all, the school-a fairly new facility-shaped up pretty well. Ah, yes, it does have a dust problem, and could use entry mat systems at the doors. But now that it's been inspected by 14 UniServ reps, Mountain View Middle School will shine brighter than ever.

For more on NEA-HIN's Indoor Air Quality in Schools Program, go to www.neahin.org/programs/environmental/iaq.htm.

Kentucky and Oklahoma NEA members join supporters in rallies for much-needed public education funding.

When it comes to severe weather--and education funding cuts--Oklahoma doesn't just have rainy days, it has tornadoes.

Across the Sooner State, a deep slash in state aid is causing staff layoffs; school closings; spending cuts for programs, substitutes, and supplies; and even wartime-like rationing of building heating and lighting.

But Oklahoma teachers and education support professionals aren't passively waiting for this storm to blow over or contentedly getting by with donated school supplies. Instead they have joined forces with other public education advocates and loudly rallied for adequate state education funding, even in the face of the recession.

On February 12, the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA), joined by more than a dozen organization partners in the Oklahoma Education Coalition, delivered some 25,000 people to a mid-week "Save Our Schools" rally at the Capitol in Oklahoma City.

That same day, the Kentucky Education Association (KEA) drew some 21,000 teachers, ESPs, and supporters to a "March and Rally for Public Education" in Frankfort.

In Oklahoma City, OEA and its coalition partners kept the rally message simple: Education is in its worst crisis ever, and legislators must do whatever it takes to reverse the funding shortfall. "Vital programs and services are already suffering," OEA President Carolyn Crowder told the crowd. "We want to retain the quality programs that Oklahomans have come to expect."

In Frankfort, KEA ralliers called on legislators to sustain the funding needed to preserve achievement gains made under the rigorous Kentucky Education Reform Act. They also called for better pay for teachers and support professionals--to stop an alarming exodus of educators across state lines--and for affordable health insurance.

KEA members also urged lawmakers to prevent an Oklahoma-type tornado from sweeping into the Bluegrass State. "It is the students who suffer most when school districts are forced to cut essential programs and lay off staff to make ends meet," KEA President Frances Steenbergen reminded legislators. "Fewer teachers mean larger classes. And larger classes have a negative affect on student achievement."

The February 12 rallies grabbed the attention of Kentucky and Oklahoma lawmakers.

"I've never seen a rally like this down here, period," Kentucky State Treasurer Jonathan Miller told the Cincinnati Enquirer. "The fact that there is such a huge turnout indicates to me that there is tremendous grassroots support for public education funding, and we need to do everything we can to protect it."

And that same week, Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry and legislative leaders agreed on a supplemental appropriation for immediate school needs, including $25 million from the state's Rainy Day Fund.

--Dave Winans

To see the Oklahoma City rally on video, go to www.nea.org/video.

The Oklahoma Rally: What They Did in Durant

THE BACKGROUND: Durant, a stable southeastern Oklahoma community that supports its schools, was slammed hard by state budget cuts this winter. George Washington Elementary was slated for closure; programs were cut; 17 certified staffers and 18 ESPs were slated for a reduction in force (RIF); and money had dried up for everything from school supplies to field trips.

THE CHALLENGE: Durant residents were angry about losing a neighborhood elementary school, and employees on the RIF list--some with 20 or more years of service--were "torn up" and bitter about their plight. "For a lot of my colleagues, teaching has been a way of life, never a job," explains Nancy Johnson, a second-grade teacher at Northwest Elementary and negotiating chair of the 170-member Durant Education Association (DEA).

THE RESPONSE: DEA helped build a local pro-public education coalition of teachers, administrators, and parents--and mobilized to send teachers and administrators to the Oklahoma Education Coalition's February 12 "Save Our Schools" rally in Oklahoma City.

The school board endorsed the idea, authorizing teachers to use a staff development day for the trip. Johnson and DEA President Phyllis Gilbert then joined forces with Superintendent John Jackson, helping him tour schools with an electronic slideshow explaining the need to fight for state aid to education.

THE TRIP UP AND BACK: On February 12, teachers and administrators filled six buses, each fueled through community donations and driven for free by district drivers. Even RIFed teachers climbed on board, hoping to prevent other colleagues from facing the same personal crisis.

On the three-hour trip to Oklahoma City, each bus chose a state-approved professional development activity. "On my bus, we focused on accelerated reading and math," notes Johnson, "and on the way back, we planned ways to absorb staff from George Washington into our school."

A DAY TO REMEMBER: Durant educators, many carrying signs made by parents, drew strength from the crowd of 25,000 ralliers and inspiration from a lunchtime speech by newspaper editor/public education crusader Frosty Troy.

"If we don't stand up and respect ourselves and our profession, who will stand up for us?" Johnson asked herself that day. "They've RIFed teachers and education support professionals--how bad does it have to get?"

AFTER THE RALLY: DEA, a strong "bargaining" local that has negotiated everything from planning time to a duty-free lunch, now faces its biggest advocacy challenge of all--defending the rights of its members at RIF hearings. Fortunately the local has the backing of the Oklahoma Education Association, "which meets individually with these teachers and gets them ready for hearings," notes Johnson. "We're a little bitty local at a real critical point, but OEA is there for us."

KEEPING UP TIES: Throughout this crisis--and beyond--Durant Education Association members are staying in close contact with their state senator and representative and meeting monthly with local coalition partners. One of those partners is David Case, a 20-year military veteran with two kids in Durant schools. "I know about heroes," Case tells Durant teachers, "and you are heroes."

--D.W.

The Kentucky Rally: What They Did in Boyle County

The people and the place: Second-grade teacher Bernice Bates and third-grade teacher Renee Yates, Junction City Elementary, Kentucky.

Positions: Bates is vice president and Yates is president of the 110-member Boyle County Education Association (BCEA).

Most recent accomplishment: "The Bates and Yates Team" helped turn out front-line educators, administrators, and community supporters from their central Kentucky district for a February 12 "March and Rally for Public Education" at the state Capitol in Frankfort.

Instant replay: "We estimate that 150 people from our small district went to the rally," reports Renee Yates. "Of course, that's not too many people, but when you put it together with everybody else at the rally, 21,000 people made a giant difference. We were there to make noise, and I think decision makers heard us, even through their brick walls and up in their tall office buildings. We saw some shades being pulled, but not too many."

A heartfelt message: "Every Association member had a voice that day," says Bernice Bates, "either through a messenger taking a postcard with their personal message to their senator or representative, or by being there and shouting. As I was separating out postcards, it really got to my heart to read notes from teachers across Kentucky about what education funding means to them."

What funding means in Junction City Elementary: "We're a Title I school that needs funding for after-school programs to help kids with tutoring and homework," notes Yates. "And we must find a way as teachers to increase students' test scores and close achievement gaps--just like every other school. We need to meet the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act [Elementary and Secondary Education Act] and Kentucky's mandate to have no child scoring under 'proficiency' by the year 2014."

A word about teacher duties and pay: "In Kentucky schools, everything is decided through site-based councils and committees, from curriculum to textbook adoption," Yates points out. "There are a lot of positive things about the committee structure, but then again there's the time factor--and it's all after school. Yet since about 1994, our pay has not increased in comparison to states around us."

A word to lawmakers: "I told my newly elected state representative that a very informed person makes better decisions," says Bates. "I invited him to come to my classroom, roll up his sleeves, and get ready to 'conference' with the students. I think he and other legislators are going to be floored by what they are asking children to do on state testing--and the accomplishment students are showing. The reading, writing, and testing demands are so much greater than when we went to school."

Strength in numbers: "Our school board amended the calendar to allow us to attend the rally, and we made it up by working on President's Day," Yates points out. "Some local residents asked why we didn't just send a small delegation of educators. My reply: When I and 21,000 colleagues and supporters are face to face, hand to hand with legislators and the governor during a workday, it makes a better impression than if 2,000 of us go on a Saturday and politicians watch us from home on TV. On February 12, they looked out and saw 21,000 voters, and I think that impacted their decision making."

--D.W.

[Kudos To...]

. . . Normandy (Missouri) NEA, for winning court-ordered retroactive compensation and retirement contributions, interest, and penalties--exceeding $1 million--for 300 to 400 current and former certified staffers. The Normandy district, in St. Louis County, failed to implement Missouri's salary compliance law--which requires that certified employees receive a designated portion of a district's budget--during the 1994-95, 1995-96, and 1997-98 school years. Normandy NEA received legal assistance from the 32,000-member Missouri NEA.

. . . Paraeducators in Winooski, Vermont, who have settled a three-year contract that provides a "new money" increase of 24.59 percent. Pay rates under the agreement will range from $8.12 per hour in 2002-03 for a high school graduate with no experience to $12.60 per hour in 2005-06 for a college graduate with 12 years of experience.

The para negotiating team reached this contract without mediation or factfinding. Chief negotiator MaryLee Grigsby reports that Winooski paras enjoy a lot of community support. "We're the core group that passes budgets every year," she says.

As state budget woes increase, NEA and its state affiliates lobby for $50 billion in direct fiscal relief from Washington.

Missouri NEA members have had every reason to feel secure about school funding during this, the worst round of budget deficits to hit states since World War II.

The governor these teachers and support professionals helped elect, public education advocate Bob Holden, has shielded schools while trimming other state expenditures.

But the Show-Me State is headed for a fiscal showdown. Missouri doesn't have the $300 million it needs to pay all of its public education bills by June 30, and it faces a general revenue shortfall of $1 billion in Fiscal Year 2004.

After Governor Holden rakes up some short-term "revenue enhancements" and "cuts almost every social program to the bone, there will be nothing left to cut," shudders Missouri NEA President Greg Jung. "Education will have to be next--we're desperate and looking for help!"

Many other NEA state affiliates face a similar dilemma. In the latest survey conducted by the National Council of State Legislatures (NCSL), two-thirds of the states reported that they must reduce their budgets by a total of $26 billion between now and June 30 (the end of Fiscal Year 2003 in most states). And NCSL expects state legislatures to face a total budget shortfall of at least $68.5 billion in FY 2004.

There's more behind these mounting deficits than an economic downturn, sinking stock prices, homeland security demands, and soaring public health care costs. AFL-CIO economists report that federal tax changes in 2001 and 2002 "negatively affected states' bottom line, as most states link their estate tax and bonus depreciation rules to the federal rules, both of which have been changed to reduce taxes."

And NCSL expects yet more fiscal pain linked to federal policy. NCSL President Angela Monson, a state senator from Oklahoma, says that state budget planners are concerned that President Bush's proposed FY 2004 federal budget "does not meet the costs of mandates for the No Child Left Behind Act, special education, and election reform."

Needed: 'Unrestricted Federal Relief'
Worse yet, this spending plan, described by the Bush administration as an "economic growth and job creation" package, would provide no money for state and local governmental fiscal relief--while freezing, reducing, or eliminating funding for a broad array of federal education programs (compared with FY 2002 levels). The plan would, however, allocate $75 million for a private voucher "demonstration" program.

Among tax changes in the proposed budget is a provision exempting stock dividends from individual taxation. In a preliminary analysis, the nonprofit, non-partisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (www.cbpp.org) projects that this provision would mean an annual revenue loss of $4.1 billion for the 37 states (and the District of Columbia) that link their tax systems to the federal taxation of dividends.

And, if enacted, the dividend "exclusion" provision could force school districts to boost interest rates on tax-free construction/renovation bonds to make them competitive with tax-free stock dividends.

"There is no question" that this plan would cost states more and drive investors "away from bonds that broadly benefit the public at a time that we have enormous infrastructure needs," California state Treasurer Phil Angelides told the New York Times.

"States and local districts are already struggling with budget shortfalls, forcing them to cut back on school hours, school days, and school programs," says NEA President Reg Weaver. "It will be impossible for them to meet new federal mandates with a new round of program cuts and freezes.

"To be more than rhetoric, this federal budget should include direct, unrestricted aid to states in an economic stimulus package designed to help ease this burden."

To that end, NEA and its state affiliates are now engaged in an intensive, coordinated campaign to lobby for $50 billion in federal relief to the states in the FY 2004 budget, a sum that's right in the ballpark of other "fiscal recovery" plans--both Democratic and bipartisan--now pending in Congress.

"We need to make noise with members of Congress and get them to understand this is a high priority," stresses NEA Executive Director John Wilson. "If they could bail out the savings and loan industry they could do the same for state and local governments. It would stimulate the economy and be a win-win situation for everyone."

--Dave Winans

For more on NEA's lobbying priorities in the 108th Congress, go to www.nea.org and click on "Legislative Action Center."

Big Arguments for a Bigger Federal Outlay for Education

As Congress labors to write a Fiscal Year 2004 budget resolution by early spring, NEA and its state affiliates will be working equally hard to ensure that this document includes $50 billion in desperately needed federal aid to the states.

With NEA assistance, state affiliate leaders and staff will be lobbying members of Congress, meeting governors, urging state legislators to pass resolutions supporting federal aid, and educating the public on the funding crisis that has engulfed public education.

Among the arguments state and local officials can expect to hear from educators:

• The crisis in public education funding is real. "In 'back-home' meetings with educators, members of Congress need to see how budget shortfalls affect their states and districts," says Missouri NEA President Greg Jung, a fifth-grade teacher from the Ritenour district. "Teachers lose jobs, students are packed into classrooms, programs are cut, and social services disappear."
• Congress must fund its own mandates. "In Missouri, much of the money to fund special education programs comes from the state and local districts. The federal government never lived up to its promise to pay a 40 percent share," Jung points out. "And now our state, which cut back funding for student testing, must 'fill in' math testing gaps in our current assessments to meet the mandates of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
  "President Bush wholeheartedly supported ESEA, but his budget doesn't support the programs for which he advocated," Jung adds.
• Federal aid makes a big difference in tough times. "Unlike states, the federal government can deficit-spend," notes Michael Butera, executive director of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC). "The federal government has the power and fiscal capacity to help states put their economic house in order.
  "Remember, the airline industry was decimated after September 11 and, within weeks, the federal government created a program with a large cash layout to help carriers come out of the doldrums," Butera points out. Now states are facing similar circumstances."
• There are fiscal priorities. In his budget, President Bush proposes $1.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next 10 years. Just 3 percent of that amount would help states prevent cuts in education and health care services.
  Jung reminds the Bush administration that "just like at mealtime at home, the federal government must set priorities. You've got to feed the kids and take care of basics before you buy a new car."
• There's no better time to invest in education. It's bad policy to disinvest in public schools at a time when the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting a shortage of 10 million, well-trained, skilled workers by 2010.
  "States need the money to invest in [pre-K to graduate education] to grow the economy and come out of the downturn," says Butera. "It's not a matter alone of dollars for education. It's also about job creation and economic development."
• The health care system must be fixed. The soaring cost of health coverage and the upsurge in numbers of uninsured Americans--now at 41 million--means that public/employee health care competes directly with education in state budgets. "Health care costs are rising faster than education," notes Butera. "The federal government must rethink its Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement formula to states and must focus attention on the nationwide problem of rising health costs."

--D.W.

[Your Dues Did It]
NEA Releases Study on Property Tax Handouts

While public education's tin cup gets federal aid by the drip, its bottom leaks property tax revenue in streams to property tax abatements or "tax increment financing" schemes (TIFs) granted to corporations in all 50 states. And few local school boards have any real say in this decision, often made behind closed doors.

That's the conclusion of Protecting Public Education From Tax Giveaways to Corporations, a 50-state study commissioned by NEA and released to the national media at a January press conference.

Researchers analyzed state statutes, surveyed state school board association officials, and looked in-depth at five states. The final report concludes that only two states shield public school funding from property tax abatements and TIFs--defined as "an exemption of the value of real property improvements" over a set number of years--and that just two states give school boards full input into decisions about these subsidies.

Respondents in 32 states reported that one or both of these tax gimmicks divert funding from their public schools. But it was impossible to determine an exact sum, because many states don't have adequate corporate disclosure requirements--making it difficult to monitor property tax breaks made in the name of "economic development."

But at NEA's press conference, school board member Sharon Patchak-Layman of Illinois District 97, Oak Park, could put an exact dollar amount on school funding lost to a TIF. She reported that "we're facing a $3 million shortfall this year" and pointed out that repeal of the TIF "would give us $1.7 million in additional resources."

And Ohio Education Association Research Director Fritz Fekete told reporters that Ohio lost $102 million to tax abatements and TIFs in 1999, and has lost "an increasing amount since then--even though our state is in the midst of a school funding crisis."

The NEA study, carried out by Good Jobs First--a nonpartisan, nonprofit corporate accountability project--calls for improved disclosure of tax subsidies, a "formal say" for school boards in subsidy decisions, and state government action to protect school revenues from the effects of tax abatements and TIFs.

The report stresses that the local supply of skilled labor is increasingly rated as the top factor in business relocation or expansion decisions, not tax breaks. "We believe abatement programs can have merit, but not when they choke off funding that is the key to economic development--local public schools," Illinois Education Association-NEA President Anne Davis told a wire service after the press conference.

"Good public schools attract corporations and are essential in the economic development of communities," agreed NEA President Reg Weaver. "This report tells us that our state and local officials need to protect this long-term investment by ensuring that tax incentives are used wisely and responsibly."

"Tax abatements and TIFs may be new to the vocabulary of some educators," Weaver concluded, "but we need to sharpen our knowledge of them--so that we can point out where resources can be found when people ask where additional money can come from to fund public education."

--D.W.

To read NEA's study on tax abatements and TIFs, go to www.nea.org/presscenter/images/protectingpubliceducationfullreport.pdf. And for background on this report, go to www.nea.org/neatoday/0204/news16.html.

A teacher and her students give a nod to those who look for answers beyond the stars.

By veronique paquette

Dear families of the astronauts,

When my mom woke me up and told me about the terrible news about the rocket ship that exploded, I felt sad and sorry. I just wanted to cry! Your family member was very brave to go to outer space like that! Thanks to them we will always be learning new fun things about outer space!

Your friend,
Rachel Mahre

These words were written by one of my second-grade students on the Monday after the Columbia shuttle explosion rocked the space exploration world. Not only did this tragedy shake NASA to its core, it opened a hole in my own heart--and the hearts of my students. NASA was particularly dear to me, and in many ways, I felt a part of its family and so shared my enthusiasm with those around me.

During the summer of 2000 I spent two weeks at a NASA "Space Camp," working with teachers from around the country to learn about the power of the space program. As a guest of the Ames Research Center in California, I spent my days with scientists, researchers, and astronauts who schooled me on the latest in research and science that NASA had to offer.

For me this was a dream come true. I'd always had a love of space and the stars. As a little girl, I remember looking for constellations with my dad and brother on summer nights, watching satellites fly overhead and having contests to see who could spot the most flying objects in the sky. As a student, science never came easily for me, but the love of wanting to understand the world I lived in kept driving me to learn more.

As a teacher I quickly discovered that all children have this same desire to understand their world. They may not grasp complex concepts, but they have that wonderful ability to ask "why?" So, too, do adults. Indeed, at NASA, I found that the scientists and researchers who work daily to explore uncharted territory are motivated by the very question that has fueled my own passion: "What more can there possibly be beyond my world?" The risk associated with space travel does not consume them; they simply go forward for the sake of science and education.

Sitting on the plane on the way home from that great experience, I kept thinking about the endless possibilities opened up by my training. NASA was instilled in my head and in my heart, and I wanted to share its good works with everyone I knew, especially my students. So back at school, I launched what we now call our "Space Shuttle Simulation Day." Every year students bound into the gym, don suits, and work and cooperate--even train--just as real astronauts do.

At one station, for instance, they are forced to shift their center of gravity by si