Resources
The 'Teacher Gap'

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.