Quote of the Month

Wendy Colby, Senior Vice President
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

CHINESE WISDOM

In the November 23 issue of Time, a feature story (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1938671,00.html) outlined five things we can learn from China, one of which is in the area of education. After decades of investment in their educational system—one that reaches even the most remote rural villages—the literacy rate in China is 90% (compared to 86% in the U.S.). And not only are Chinese students reading at a high rate, they are also excelling in math and science—areas where U.S. proficiencies have been falling.

What might account for this academic success? Chinese students go to school six days a week and get extra tutoring if needed. They do twice as much homework as their U.S. counterparts. Their primary math and science teachers have degrees in those subjects. There is a “master teacher” program nationwide that provides mentoring for younger teachers. And perhaps the biggest factor of all is family involvement. Parents are committed to their children’s education and insist on the same commitment from their children. Things to ponder.
<h2>COMMON STANDARDS “WATCH”>
Leaders of the Common Core State Standards Initiative will be releasing their first draft of the K–12 standards in English/Language Arts and Mathematics sometime in the middle of December. Efforts are also afoot to expand these common standards to the areas of science and social studies.

VIDEO MANIA

Larry Sanger, the co-founder of Wikipedia (which he has since left), has launched a new website designed to offer free access to thousands of education-related videos for students ages 3–18. The new site, WatchKnow (http://www.watchknow.org), lists 11,000 videos in 2,000 categories in math, science, and history. Best of all, they are all FREE and available online. The goal is to expand the site to offer 50,000 videos by the end of 2010. Have we hit critical mass yet?

THE WHEELS ON THE BUS GO FLAT

Some members of the Board of Supervisors in Fairfax, Virginia, want to lower school-bus costs by encouraging more students to walk to school. They suggest moving back the boundaries for bus-riding eligibility. Apparently the idea has gained traction nationwide. In addition to the obvious financial benefit, the movement (sorry!) is also considered one way to help fight childhood obesity, reduce air pollution, and ease traffic congestion. It sounds like a win-win idea, but who is going to walk with the kids? Will parents be willing to escort their children to and from school when most of them have job commitments?

LESSON PLANS FOR SALE

Teachers have found a new source of income and a new source for lesson plans. Teachers Pay Teachers (http://www.teacherspayteachers.com) is a website where teachers can sell their lesson plans (after being accepted by the TPT reviewers), and they can also buy lesson plans instead of writing their own. Just about every conceivable lesson from preschool through college is now up for sale. Some teachers have earned more than $20,000 selling their lesson plans. With all of these recycled lessons available, will teachers ever need to use their own creativity? I suspect the good ones will.

TEXAS TEXTS AT THE TIPPING POINT

For the first time, Texas’s multi-billion dollar textbook fund will allow for a portion of “book” money to be spent on computer hardware and digital content—including open-source material. This migration from print to digital is not without its opponents. Some State Board of Education members have voiced a fear that the “explosion of choice” will result in an erosion of content quality. Undoubtedly, more discussion will ensue.

HMH GOES PUBLIC—SCHOOL, THAT IS

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced the biggest deal in its history—a $40 million, multi-year contract with the Detroit Public Schools. HMH will provide a computer-based teaching system that will connect teachers, students, and administrators. Some textbooks will still be provided, but most of the instruction will be digital, such as the HMH program Learning Village—a customized, interactive classroom network where teachers will be able to prepare and assign homework and use the program for assessment.

In other HMH news (their PR department has been working overtime!) the company just unveiled its Go Math! textbook series for grades K–5, which is printed on 100% recycled materials—the first of its kind.