Archive for March, 2013
If you think it’s OK for your child to occasionally miss school “just because,” you might want to consider the following statistics: Students who are chronically absent in kindergarten and 1st grade are less likely to read proficiently in 3rd grade As early as 6th grade, missing 18 or more days of school in a […]
Who likes to clean their bathroom? Survey says: More people than like to solve math problems! These results from a study by Change the Equation, a nonprofit initiative to further math and science learning, raise concern about the state of STEM-related education in our schools. Massachusetts policy maker JD Chesloff argues that STEM skills should […]
Parents should play with their children but not micro-manage every aspect of playtime. That’s according to a recent study published in the academic journal, “Parenting: Science and Practice.” University of Missouri researchers studied videotaped interactions of 2,252 low-income mothers with their children during playtime, paying close attention to how kids responded to “directiveness.” The children, […]
U.S. Education Department says public schools must make sports accessible to all “Senioritis” is not a word in Joey Fazzone’s vocabulary. A dedicated student who’s making plans to attend the Rochester Institute of Technology next fall, Fazzone is a gifted artist who’s busy preparing a portfolio of his best paintings. He is also a valued […]
“Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.” ~Edwin Powell Hubble, The Nature of Science, 1954 Several weeks back, my high school junior and my third grader quizzed each other as they studied for tests. The elder was studying photosynthesis for an AP biology test; her younger […]
So you’ve been nurturing a daydream in which your middle-schooler marches past the XBox and cozies up instead to a 400-page Russian novel. And who could blame you for such visions? Reading is, after all, fundamental. But reality throws cold water in your face when, instead of a weighty, leather-bound book, your child reaches for […]
When our daughters were young, we had no questions about kindergarten readiness. Both girls were born in March, and my husband and I knew that by the September following their fifth birthdays they’d be more than ready for the half-day program offered in our district. The decision was not quite as simple with our son, […]