Eye on Curriculum

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Business world opening to younger students
While programs that teach students about the business world have been around for years, new crops of finance education, led by big-name companies, are growing and are being made available to even younger students. At San Francisco's Jean Parker Elementary School, fifth-graders "start" businesses in hopes of earning faux currency, an experience that proponents say gets students thinking beyond childhood dream jobs. Houston Chronicle/Associated Press (2/24)

Boulder schools try to close gap with lunch
Officials in Colorado's Boulder Valley School District are trying to attack their achievement gap by having all schools enroll a 20% Free and Reduced Lunch population. The idea, according to Dr. Chris King, the district's deputy superintendent, is that schools would then reflect the community and not have some schools with 80% of students on the Free and Reduced program. 9News.com (Colorado) (2/25)

Smaller is better for some, others have issues
High schools across the U.S. have spent about $700 million in federal money to create the "school-within-a-school" model, and students say the small-school model caters to their needs and wishes. One success is a 2002 Chicago performing arts grad who now stars on Broadway, but some students don't succeed; half the students who started at one Chicago-based school did not conclude the program. Chicago Tribune (2/25)

Professional Leadership

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Here's my card
Continuing the trend of turning schools toward the business world, more teachers are starting to tote business cards. School officials say the trend is about accountability and getting information to parents, but for others, it's a way to promote speaking engagements and other businesslike attempts. The Washington Post (2/26)

Pay raises divide Baltimore board
Some school board members in Baltimore County, Md., want to give a raise to the system's lowest-paid workers, those who receive less than $10 an hour, but disagreement among board members over the proposal has caused a delay in its approval of an operating budget for the coming school year. The Sun (Baltimore) (2/25)

Hot Topics

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Top five news stories selected by ASCD SmartBrief readers in the past week.

• Opinion: Character education could help bridge achievement gap (Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.))

• NCLB reauthorization debate continues (San Francisco Chronicle)

• Study: Despite hard courses, high schoolers learn less (Los Angeles Times)

• Did Reading First officials overreach? (Education Week (premium article access compliments of EdWeek.org))

• Online classes gaining in popularity (The Boston Globe)

Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

Technology Solutions

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Grammar podcast growing in popularity
A 39-year-old technical writer now makes her living as Grammar Girl, a character created for a grammar-infused podcast that is growing in popularity. Mignon Fogarty, Grammar Girl's alter ego, addresses such topics such as the difference between lay and lie. The Arizona Republic (Phoenix) (2/26)

Policy Watch

Congress, districts review school day timetable
In Massachusetts, 10 schools are piloting a $6.5 million project to extend the school day to eight hours. The trend is slowly being mirrored across the country, with lawmakers in Minnesota, New Mexico, New York and Washington, D.C., considering instituting a longer school day. CNN/Associated Press (2/25)

Arizona bill would require state to pay for adopted children's tutors
An Arizona lawmaker has introduced a bill that would require the state to pay for tutoring for students who are adopted and having academic difficulty. The lawmaker said his own adopted children were behind in school after being bounced around the child welfare system. The Arizona Republic (Phoenix) (2/25)

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In the Field

Parents launch large-scale fundraisers
Parents who are frustrated with dwindling budgets for their children's schools are launching large-scale, online fundraising campaigns, some bolstered by education foundations. In one sale, the Sharon High School PTSO in Massachusetts used an Internet auction firm to bring in $32,000. The Boston Globe (tiered subscription model) (2/25)

Schools for homeless targeted for change
A plan to convert Arizona's Thomas J. Pappas schools for the homeless into resource centers or to restructure them is already being met with criticism. Those who support the closing say that while the schools excel in offering social services, students post poorer test scores when compared to homeless students that are enrolled in public schools. The Arizona Republic (Phoenix) (2/23)

Association News

Debating the "Brain Glitch" Theory

Neurologist turned classroom teacher, Judy Willis, warns readers not to be "fooled by policymakers or program developers who use the term brain-based learning in ways that many medical and teaching professionals consider irresponsible." An ASCD blog post examines Willis's concern that problematic research is guiding federal policy-makers and advancing a narrow approach to reading instruction, and requests feedback from readers on effective ways to teach struggling readers. View the blog.

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