-
For years, Mary Manning, principal of the Collins Middle School in Salem Massachusetts, has seen children come into her school unable to read at grade level. After three years, many failed to catch up before moving on to high school. “After a few years of saying ‘isn’t this terrible,’ and wringing our hands, we decided to get some training and see if we could tackle this problem,” says Manning.
-
Teachers taking part in a new study say that today’s tech-savvy students have influenced how and what is taught in the classroom. These young people have also influenced their teachers’ knowledge about communications technologies.
-
Bernie Zubrowski has spent much of his professional life devising ways to educate young people when they are out in the world, away from the classroom. In more than 23 years with Boston’s Children’s Museum and other museums in the United States, Great Britain, India, Sweden, and Bahrain—and in several EDC projects—Zubrowski’s quest has led him to design activities that illuminate scientific principles with very simple materials.
-
At a time when many schools are being pushed to narrow their focus and concentrate on core academic subjects like reading and mathematics, afterschool programs are being pulled in a dozen different directions. Program directors wrestle with a range of questions as they try to meet the diverse needs of funders, parents, and the young people they serve. Should afterschool time be an extension of school, focused on tutoring and homework help? Or a break from school, focused on sports, fitness, arts, and hobbies?
-
EDC’s innovative youth tobacco control intervention, developed on behalf of the World Health Organization and successfully pilot tested in India, Ghana, and Mexico, is now being adapted and pilot tested in Montevideo, Uruguay.
-
Since 1997, EDC has been working to improve literacy instruction in Guinea as part of a comprehensive school reform program known as the Fundamental Quality and Equity Levels (FQEL) Project, funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
-
Many important health promotion campaigns are not as effective as they could be because health professionals and educators are unfamiliar with the communications strategies that will help them get their message out to their intended audiences, according to health communications experts at EDC.
-
EDC’s Picturing Modern America Web site, a set of online activities and tools that help students learn history through primary documents, was recently honored as one of the best online resources for education in the humanities. The site includes hundreds of documents, photographs, pamphlets and films on U.S. history and culture from the Library of Congress.
-
staff members from EDC’s Center for Children & Families and PBS have teamed up to develop a Web site for parents and children to use together that promotes creativity and adult-child interaction.
-
Teachers know that useful and creative materials are available on the Web, but they often don’t have the time to locate and experiment with them. To make Web resources more readily available, EDC’s Judith Zorfass and her staff at the Center for Family, School, and Community have developed the Literacy Matters Web site, an online resource for middle and high school teachers, parents, and students committed to supporting adolescent literacy.
-
What were some of the positions you held at EDC before you became president?
-
Today’s students face unprecedented challenges in preparing for a more globalized society. While many organizations have worked to define the kinds of skills needed for the 21st century, few have undertaken efforts to measure the application of these skills. Recognizing this, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills commissioned a report from EDC’s Center for Children and Technology (CCT) to inform education leaders on this crucial issue.
-
As fewer young people opt for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the National Science Foundation has funded EDC to develop a resource designed to engage young people in career exploration and development.
-
Two EDC projects are working with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Macedonia to use information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve education and business. The e-BIZ and e-Schools projects, both conducted under USAID’s DOT-COM Alliance, are part of Macedonia’s efforts to boost economic growth and rebuild communities in the wake of the region’s recent upheavals.
-
Teams of young people from around the world gathered in San Jose, Costa Rica, in August for the First International Power Users of ICT (information and communication technologies) Symposium. The event included student participants from Costa Rica, Latin America, Australia, the Netherlands, Nordic countries, and the Philippines. Participants, who interacted virtually with teams from Africa and Asia, demonstrated their digital skills with the goal of helping focus research on pressing questions and topics.
-
New educational methods inevitably set off debates, and “inquiry science instruction” provides a classic case. Over the past two decades, proponents of inquiry science, sometimes referred to as “hands-on science,” laud it as an engaging and interactive teaching method. Critics lambaste it as an absence of instruction, unconcerned about scientific facts or correct answers.
-
EDC is part of a team that developed a regional life-skills-based curriculum framework that will allow curriculum planners, education officers, teacher educators, and teachers to review, develop, and strengthen national Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) curricula and curriculum guides throughout the Caribbean.
-
The state governments of Karnataka and Chhattisgarh in India have expanded an EDC initiative involving interactive classroom lessons via radio, to reach approximately 5 million students.
-
Too often, pedestrian injuries are seen as “unavoidable accidents.” But Manténganse Alerta/Stay Alert aims to show children, their caregivers, and drivers how and why pedestrian injuries and deaths are preventable. Program materials are in the form of a “photo novella,” or a brief story with photos, and were developed for the Latino population of three Massachusetts communities—Holyoke, Chicopee, and Springfield—with funding from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
-
In September 2004, a 22-month-old boy climbed into an unlocked, parked car. The boy’s mother left for work, thinking he was playing next door. The outside temperature was 86 degrees, and the child died of hyperthermia.
-
Nearly half the U.S. Latino population ages 18–25 have not completed high school, and only 15 percent earn a postsecondary degree, according to a recent report by the Education Commission of the States. To improve students’ opportunities for higher education, EDC developed the project known as PALMS (Postsecondary Access for Latino Middle- Grades Students).
-
When a woman is convicted of a crime and sent to prison, family life can fall apart. To support children as they live through the trauma of a mother’s imprisonment, EDC is working with the Massachusetts-based Aid to Incarcerated Mothers (AIM) to provide children with an adult mentor. With training from EDC and AIM staff, the mentors help children, ages 4–14, build their sense of self-confidence and stability, strengthen their academic skills, and maintain family relationships.
-
In its efforts to improve the care and education of young children in El Salvador, EDC teamed up with Sesame Workshop to create a series of public service announcements featuring Lola, a character from Plaza Sésamo, a Mexican adaptation of Sesame Street. The ads were part of the Early Childhood and Family Education (EDIFAM) project, an initiative designed for children through age 6, implemented by the Educational Quality Improvement Program-1 (EQUIP1) and led by EDC.
-
EDC’s Center for Children & Families (CC&F) is the recipient of two new grants that focus on improving the quality of teaching and professional development for early childhood educators.The grants will fund two areas of research, science education and literacy and language.
-
What educators and parents have intuitively known—that students who are “connected” at school fare better than those who feel alienated—is now becoming a priority as researchers identify the ingredients of successful school reform.
-
Known for its academic rigor—many of the participating sites offer college credit for the course—and hands-on activities, Ford PAS is also renowned for its adaptability. High schools around the country have developed creative and challenging courses with the curriculum modules all in hopes of setting the stage for their students’ advancement to higher education.
-
Generating classroom discussions with high school students can be arduous work, requiring both careful planning and quick thinking. EDC’s Center for Science Education has developed an online course focused on helping teachers pose questions and manage classroom discussions that are both more engaging for students and more scientific in substance.
-
In these reflections on the changing face of high schools, Cheryl King draws on her 30-year career in urban public education.
-
Examples of high-performing schools where all students, including those with disabilities, are achieving academic and social success.
-
A shortage of “college knowledge” may hinder Latino families from realizing their dreams of a college education for their children, according to a recent study by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI).
Articles
Each month, EDC posts several new feature articles. This page provides an archive of past articles, including reports of emerging research and profiles of new EDC publications and Web sites.
Education Development Center, Inc.
43 Foundry Avenue Waltham, MA 02453-8313, USA
Boston - Chicago - New York - Washington, DC
43 Foundry Avenue Waltham, MA 02453-8313, USA
Boston - Chicago - New York - Washington, DC