IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, June 11, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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REPORT
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REPORT: EARLY KINDERGARTEN CUTOFF DATE BENEFITS CHILDREN
Tracy Garcia, Whittier Daily News, 6/8/08
“What is the best age for California children to enter kindergarten? That's the question that researchers Jill S. Cannon and Stephen Lipscomb at the Public Policy Institute of California explored in their recent report, "Changing the Kindergarten Cutoff Date: Effects on California Students and Schools." They analyzed 14 recent studies on the topic - and concluded that moving the cutoff date for 5-year-olds to begin kindergarten from the current Dec. 2 to Sept. 1 would likely have several benefits. The primary benefit is better elementary math and reading scores that persist as far as eighth grade, researchers said, because some students would be a year older when taking those tests. But it also may increase the so-called ‘achievement gap’ between poor students and their more affluent peers whose birthdays fall in this three-month gap, mostly because higher-income families would be able to afford a better preschool education than low-income families.
Read more of the article>>
Read the report>>


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CREATIVITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
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EUROPE: REPORT ON CREATIVITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Eurogates, 6/8/08
“Contemporary society is characterised by rapid change in all spheres of life, and creativity has been identified as a key factor in tackling challenges caused by change as well as a driving force towards knowledge creation and socio-economic advances. Scholars have been studying change in recent years, yet little attention has been paid in Europe to how creativity and innovation can be enhanced within and by academe. A 2006-07 report from European University Association, Creativity in higher education, aims to contribute to the development of the European knowledge society by identifying good practices and providing universities and their major external stakeholders with recommendations on how to foster creativity. ‘Progress towards a knowledge-based society and economy will require that European universities, as centres of knowledge creation, and their partners in society and government give creativity their full attention,’ says the report, and it continues: ‘If Europe should not succeed in strengthening creativity in higher education, the very goal of a European knowledge society would be at stake.’”
Read more>>


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CIVICS VIA GAMING
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FORMER JUSTICE PROMOTES WEB-BASED CIVICS LESSONS
Seth Schiesel, New York Times, 6/9/08
“’If someone had told me when I retired from the Supreme Court about a couple of years ago that I would be speaking at a conference about digital games, I would have been very skeptical, maybe thinking you had one drink too many,’ [retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor] said to laughter Wednesday in an auditorium downtown at Parsons the New School for Design. Yet there she was, a notable figure in modern history, at once engaging and imposing as she explained why she had embraced the Internet and interactive digital media as an essential tool for preserving American democracy… Justice O’Connor is helping develop a Web site and interactive civics curriculum for seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade students called Our Courts.The initial major elements of the site are scheduled to become available this fall. ‘We’ll have them arguing real issues, real legal issues, against the computer and against each other,’ she said. One of the first interactive exercises in the Our Courts program, she said, would take up First Amendment issues involving the ability of public schools to censor students’ speech, as in student newspapers or on T-shirts.”
Read more>>


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SCHOOL CLIMATE
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SCHOOL CLIMATE KEY TO CURBING VIOLENCE: U.S. REPORT
Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters, 6/5/08
“Schools can prevent shootings and other violent attacks by creating a climate in which students feel free to share information about potential threats, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday. Previous studies have found that in 81 percent of violent school attacks, student bystanders knew about the attacks before they occurred. But many chose not to tell. A report issued by the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Department of Education and Harvard Medical School's McLean Hospital explores how schools can get students to come forward with information that could prevent such attacks.”
Read more>>


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THEATRICAL ARCHIVE ONLINE
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CANADIANS TO HAVE ACCESS TO VISIT RARE AND PRICELESS NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE POSTER AND COSTUME COLLECTIONS ONLINE
Ottawastart.com, 6/8/08
“Canadians have access to hundreds of rarely-seen and priceless posters and costumes thanks to two new and exciting collections on ArtsAlive.ca, the National Arts Centre's (NAC) award-winning performing arts educational website. Persuading Presence: A Performign Arts Poster Archive and The Secret Live of Costumes offer teachers and students – as well as all theatre, dance and music lovers – a rare look into the NAC's perfoming arts archives and its rich, 39-year history. Until now, the poster and costume collections lived only in the dark recesses of the NAC archive. But from now on, Canadians will be able to access these archives from their home and classrooms through ArtsAlive.ca. Visitors will be able to learn about the history of the collections, peruse detailed archival records and take a behind-the-scenes look at special curatorial features on poster and costume design.”
Read more>>
Visit the Web site>>



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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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CVS CAREMARK CHARITABLE TRUST
Deadline: 6/15/08 **coming soon**
"The CVS Caremark Charitable Trust focuses primarily on supporting charitable organizations that are making a difference in the lives of children with disabilities. Resources are also allocated to help support organizations focused on providing healthcare to the uninsured. We believe these two areas represent opportunities for the Trust to create positive outcomes for diverse populations of people in communities across the country.”
Learn more>>

C-SPAN ARCHIVES GRANTS FOR TEACHERS
Deadline: Rolling; allow 30 days for processing
Maximum Award: Videotape(s)
“K-12 or College/University educators who want a videotape (or tapes) of C-SPAN programming can apply for a C-SPAN Archives Grant …Simply write up a one page summary of how you intend to use videotape(s) from the C-SPAN Archives in your classroom. Include your resume or cv, the tape(s) you want including ID# and price from the C-SPAN Archives web site — you may also call the C-SPAN Archives for help in identifying tapes.”
Learn more>>

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