Student and parent use of cell phones, text messaging and social networking through Facebook and Twitter can quickly become the enemies of a superintendent and principal. Rumors and misinformation about threats and other student safety issues that used to take hours and days to spread now goes viral in seconds. This rapid dissemination of…

The arts and music have been unintended victims of the No Child Left Behind Act. Several reports point to sharp reductions in student access to K-12 arts education, yet some school districts nationwide have managed to buck the trend. These districts, in communities rural through urban, are systemically embedding the arts at the core of teaching…

Michael Hinojosa, general superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District, is hiring 140 new arts teachers this year. It is the latest and perhaps most remarkable step in a 10-year effort by policymakers, educators and community leaders to ensure that every student in Dallas has access to quality arts learning experiences in and out of…

Describes Texas program that allows school districts to access Medicaid funds as partial reimbursement for medically related services that are provided to Medicaid-eligible children who are identified for special-education services and who have specific eligible services written into their individualized educational plans. (Author/PKP)

Describes four school districts that operate year-round schools: Socorro Independent School District, Texas; Valley View School District, Romeoville, Illinois; Murrieta Valley Unified School near San Diego, California; and Rock Island-Milan School District in northwestern Illinois. Briefly describes three tracks of year-round education:…

Top school administrators and school boards across the country are increasingly employing a private-sector incentive: bonus pay for improved (school) performance. Connecticut, Texas, and North Carolina have merit-pay clauses in superintendents' contracts. This article discusses pay-for-performance criteria, increased job expectations, and ethical…

The number of school districts using instructional coaches is growing at a staggering rate. Coaching is becoming popular, in part, because many educational leaders recognize the old form of professional development, built around traditional in-service sessions for teachers, simply does not affect student achievement. By offering support, feedback,…

Philadelphia's new superintendent will lose $8,000 a year if student achievement does not improve. An Ohio superintendent has promised to resign if student proficiency does not climb by 10% (see Roger Barnes' sidebar). Contract specialists predict that administrators will see increasing efforts to tie salaries to results as budgets tighten,…

Describes a Texas educational program that uses interactive instructional television to teach fully accredited high school classes, staff development workshops, and preservice and inservice education classes. (MD)

A Texas superintendent debunks six legislative advocacy myths. Actually, superintendents have more political clout than board members. They should work with legislators even when the state legislature is not in session, communicate effectively by telephone, work with "noninfluential" legislators, influence the state education…

Discusses the recent rise in interest in the teaching of thinking skills. Presents brief outlines of eight school districts' successful thinking skills programs. All these programs were developed through careful attention to time and training and with an understanding that success is based on a long-term plan of action. (MD)

The Edison Project, advocating a new form of public-private partnership to reinvent education, has repeatedly encountered barriers such as state regulations, professional isolation, inertia, bureaucracy, miscommunication, and a finance and governance monopoly. Four communities will open Edison Project schools this fall. Superintendent Larry Vaughn…

After years of implementing Interactive Math, many California school districts have bowed to parental pressure and returned to a traditional mathematics curriculum. Reforms are catching on in Texas, Ohio, Arkansas, South Carolina, and New Jersey. The white/minority SAT score gap remains wide. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 1990…