News

October 2006, we highlight school reports from the Institute of Educational Sciences, and the National Center for Educational Statistics.

Qualifications of public secondary school history teachers 1999-2000
This Issue Brief presents a measure of teacher qualifications that includes additional detail on the educational backgrounds and certifications of out-of-field teachers. The focal subject for the Issue Brief is history/world civilization at the secondary level.

After-school programs and activities. 2005
This report presents data on participation in after-school activities and programs in the United States. The data are from the After-School Programs and Activities Survey (ASPA) of the 2005 National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES:2005). The data presented in the report are based on a nationally representative sample of students in kindergarten through grade 8.

Forum guide to the privacy of student information: a resource for schools
This guide was written to help school and local education agency staff to better understand and apply FERPA, a federal law that protects privacy interests of parents and students in student education records.

State education reforms: compiling and disseminating data on state education reform activities
This web site from NCES compiles and disseminates data on state-level education reform efforts in four areas: standards, assessment, and accountability; school finance reforms; resources for learning; and state support for school choice options.

Education finance statistics center: financial information on public elementary/secondary education
Provides finance information on public elementary and secondary education. Includes: graphs and data on school finance at state and school-district levels, data tools for comparing the finances of a school district with its peers or over time, publications and data on Cost of Education Indices, links to related resources, etc.

High school completion by youth with disabilities
Fact sheet.

School behavior and disciplinary experiences of youth with disabilities
Fact sheet.

Comparative indicators of education in the United States and other G8 countries. 2004
This report shows how the U.S. education system compares to other major industrialized countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation, United Kingdom) in four areas: (1) the context of education; (2) preprimary and primary education; (3) secondary education; and (4) higher education. This report is an update of the 2002 G8 Report, and is part of a series to be published in alternate years.

A closer look at charter schools using hierarchical linear modeling
A special over sample of charter schools, conducted as part of the 2003 fourth-grade NAEP assessments, permitted a comparison of academic achievement for students enrolled in charter schools to that for students enrolled in traditional public schools. The school sample comprised 150 charter schools and 6,764 traditional public schools. The report uses hierarchical linear models (HLMs) to examine differences between the two types of schools when multiple student and/or school characteristics are taken into account.

Certification and private school teachers moving to public schools
This Issue Brief uses data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and the Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS) to report the movement of private school teachers, with and without state certification, from 1987-88 to 2000-01.

Posted by Vince Jenkins on October 3, 2006

According to the present guidelines for reserving CIMC teaching lab space, now is the time to reserve teaching lab space for Fall 2007. Please send your request using our online web form. If you have not scheduled CIMC Lab Space for Spring 2007 classes which regularly meet in the CIMC, please do so as soon as possible. It is also time to reserve CIMC teaching lab space for occasional use for the Spring 2007 semester. For example, your class meets outside of the CIMC, but there are specific dates when you would like to meet in a CIMC Teaching Lab space.

To check lab space availability, see our instructions for using online WisCal.

Questions? contact Catherine Stephens at cstephens@education.wisc.edu.

Posted by Catherine Stephens on October 3, 2006

The Software Library is a collection of programs owned by the School of Education for use on School-owned computers. The types of programs available range from graphics and multimedia titles (Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Apple Final Cut Pro) to statistics and qualitative analysis (SPSS, Stata, and NVivo). Recent additions to the library include Adobe Creative Studio 2 (Acrobat Pro 7, GoLive 8, Illustrator 12, InDesign 4, and Photoshop 9), Macromedia Studio 8 (Dreamweaver 8, Fireworks 8, and Flash 8), and NVivo 7.

The library works through license sharing. The licenses are entered into a database and a network service tracks license use limiting the number of active licenses to how many we own. Use of any library program requires the installation of the license-tracking utility and the program itself. Department technical support staff install the software. To read more about the library, to see a list of available programs, or to request installation, visit the SoE Software Library web site.

Questions? Contact Chris Dowling at cdowling@wisc.edu.

Posted by Chris Dowling on October 3, 2006

"Intellectual Freedom is the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement, may be explored. Intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive and disseminate ideas."

Source: American Library Association Website
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/ifissues/

Intellectual freedom can exist only when individuals are free to express their opinion --- even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular --- and those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints are available to all who wish to read and/or listen. Censorship (the suppression of ideas and information that certain persons or groups find objectionable or dangerous) directly infringes on each person's right to exercise his/her intellectual freedom, a freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Each year, the American Library Association sponsors Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read, a regular event that reminds Americans to not take this precious freedom for granted. In conjunction with this year's event, the CIMC is featuring books from our collection that have been challenged or banned over the years. You might be surprised at some of the books (perhaps one of your favorites!) that fall into this category. Another display features resources that address the issue of Intellectual Freedom vs. Censorship as it relates to classroom teaching.

During October, we continue to showcase the collection of CIMC materials displayed in observance of National Hispanic Month (September 15 - October 15) and will feature a new Diversity display stocked with CIMC materials available to help educators understand and successfully address teaching and learning in a diverse world.

During one of your October visits to the CIMC, we invite you to stop by and view our displays, check out a book, and celebrate your freedom to read!

Posted by Patricia Eschmann on October 3, 2006

Mentoring Teachers Toward Excellence: Supporting and Developing Highly Qualified Teachers, edited by Judith H. Shulman and Mistilina Sato (Jossey-Bass, in partnership with WestEd, 2006)
Prof LB1731.4 .M486 2006

The Mentor's Handbook: Practical Suggestions for Collaborative Reflection and Analysis, by Marlene P. Correia and Jana M. McHenry (Christopher-Gordon Publishers, 2002)
Prof LB1731.4 .C67 2002

Becoming a High-Performance Mentor: A Guide to Reflection and Action, by James B. Rowley (Corwin Press, 2006)
Prof LB1731.4 .R687 2006

Mentoring Novice Teachers: Fostering a Dialogue Process, by Debra Eckerman Pitton -- 2nd ed. (Corwin Press, 2006)
Prof LB1731.4 .P57 2006

Teaching Tips from Your One-Minute Mentor: Quick and Easy Strategies for Classroom Success, by Arnie Bianco (Jossey-Bass, 2006)
Prof LB1025.3 .B53 2006

Posted by Vince Jenkins on October 3, 2006

To aid students working on their electronic portfolios, and to assist other students simply wishing to scan, the CIMC has obtained six new scanners. They are EPSON Expressions, model 1680 and are much more reliable than the previous scanners. The new scanners are scattered throughout the open computer lab and throughout the computer classrooms. We have also purchased one large format scanner, an EPSON 10,000 XL which can scan artifacts up to 11x17 (or tabloid size).

If you would like assistance or training in the use of these scanners, please contact a member of our computer lab staff by calling 608-263-4340.

Posted by Anna Lewis on October 3, 2006

The CIMC offers some new equipment this fall to students, staff and faculty in the School of Education. Due to popular demand, we have added three new digital voice recorders to our collection, and a digital voice recorder kit. The kit allows users to employ a foot pedal to start and stop the transcription process while working on the computer.

If you missed the announcement this summer, we also have five new portable DVD players with extra large screens. These would be great in conjuction with school field trips or small group work.

Rounding out the new equipment is a new wireless microphone set to replace the one that broke earlier this summer. We hope this one has a longer shelf-life.

As always, if you have any questions about our equipment, please call the CIMC Circulation Desk - 608-263-4750 or email cimccirc@education.wisc.edu.

Posted by Anna Lewis on October 3, 2006

The CIMC recently received great news. We were awarded an Instructional Lab Modernization grant to upgrade the Windows classroom. With the grant, we can replace the current set of desktop computers in the 348 PC Lab, and flat-bed scanners.

Replacements have been ordered and may yet arrive this semester. The new computers will have a 3.8-gigahertz Pentium 4 processor, 1.5 gigabytes of memory, and a 80-gigabyte hard drive. The flat-bed scanners will be capable of scanning letter-size originals at an optical resolution of 1600 by 3200 pixels per inch and a color depth of 48 bits. The computer models are Dell OptiPlex GX620 MTs and the scanners are Epson Expression 1680s.

Check the Labs and Classrooms web page for further information.

Questions? Contact Chris Dowling at cdowling@wisc.edu.

Posted by Chris Dowling on October 3, 2006

Several recent additions to the PreK-12 collection address American history and American heroes . . .

Games and Strategies for Teaching U.S. History, by Marvin Scott (J.W. Walch, 1998)
LTy E175.8 .S38 1998

American History on the Screen: Film and Video Resource, by Wendy S. Wilson and Gerald H. Herman (J.W. Walch, 2002)
LTy E175.8 .W56 2002

The Bus Ride That Changed History: The Story of Rosa Parks, by Pamela Duncan Edwards; illustrated by Danny Shanahan (Houghton Mifflin, 2005)
LTy F334.M753 P38385 2005

The Journey of the One and Only Declaration of Independence, by Judith St. George; illustrated by Will Hillenbrand (Philomel Books, 2005)
LTy E221.S725 2005

Americans Who Tell the Truth, by Robert Shetterly (Dutton Children's Books, 2005)
LTy CT214 .S48 2005

50 American heroes every kid should meet!, by Dennis Denenberg and Lorraine Roscoe (Millbrook Press, 2001)
LTy CT217 .D46 2001

American Heroes / Marfé Ferguson Delano (National Geographic, 2005)
LTy CT217 .D43 2005

Posted by Vince Jenkins on October 3, 2006

This fall brings a slew of new staff to the CIMC! Amanda Manteufel (School of Library and Information Studies) and Chris Blakesley (Ed Tech, Curriculum & Instruction) are our new Teaching Assistants. They have already been working hard preparing and delivering multiple instruction sessions to School of Education students.

Naftali Beder (Art), Meghan Dunlap (El Ed, SOE), Mallory Kirby, Alan Northouse (El Ed, SOE), Ashley Shultz (Art), and Brenna Slabaugh (Kinesiology) have all joined the CIMC lab staff. We're proud to have such excellent staff in our computer lab.

Amy Bolin (El Ed, SOE), Deanna Olson (SLIS), Elissa Purvis (SLIS), Kristie Saylor (Religious Studies), Mark Siegel (El Ed, SOE), and KeliAnn Trowbridge (SLIS) have joined our CIMC circulation desk staff. They are all wonderful, skilled additions to our already great staff!

Finally, Heather Magers-Keefe (SOE) has joined up with our crew in Technical Services.

We're so lucky to have so many great new staff members! Please help us in welcoming these cheery new faces to the CIMC.

Posted by Anna Lewis on October 3, 2006