Design Studio9 May 2012 10:40:55 CDTNABSE e-Newshttp://multibriefs.com/briefs/NABSE/NABSE.xmlenSince the first day of class this school year, Bev Campbell has been teaching her students how to say their names. Some of the children in her class have autism. Others have Down syndrome or other disabilities. "People don't understand where they've come from," she says. "It's slow." Just one has learned how to say his name. Still, the South Florida teacher sees signs of growth in the nine kindergarten to second-grade students in her class. Those little steps are what teachers like Campbell consider major leaps for students with the most significant physical and cognitive disabilities — and what are the most challenging to capture on a test. Yet that will be a significant part of the way school districts in Florida and in many other states will evaluate teachers.9 May 2012 10:40:55 CDThttp://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4fa8213ca30a31Federal technology funding for K-12 school districts has been integrated into various other funding streams. According to Karen Cator, director of the Office of Educational Technology for the Education Department, the technology marketplace will subsequently be more efficient in addressing various school and student needs in the coming school year.9 May 2012 10:40:55 CDThttp://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4fa82154e7d182When Dr. France Córdova describes how Purdue University constituencies are increasingly recognizing the value of diversity, she shares this example from a recent debate among five candidates for student body president: "Two candidates were women, and one was Black," says Córdova, who as university president moderated the debate. "Yet, as all five of them went through their debate points, it became clear they each had in their platforms improvement of diversity and inclusion. They had various ideas, such as getting minorities and international students more involved in clubs on campus. I'm pleased they had this attitude because it shows the climate on campus is getting better."9 May 2012 10:40:55 CDThttp://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4fa821796deb53Social media, video games, blogs and wikis are playing increasingly important roles in classrooms across the country. Some worry that incorporating more social media and other technologies into education is leading to too much computer time, as well as to a generation of students deficient in the face-to-face social skills needed to survive in the workplace. Proponents say schools need to find ways to use these technologies to improve teaching and learning, or else risk losing the attention of digital natives.9 May 2012 10:40:55 CDThttp://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4fa821efbe9524It is much easier to destroy than to build. Teachers work with young people, and they are fragile works-in-progress. A rash or unfeeling word can undo so much of the trust and growth that we strive for. As the year winds down and spring fever kicks in, some of us may be feeling weary. Yet no matter what happens, there are some words so destructive that they should never be uttered by a teacher.9 May 2012 10:40:55 CDThttp://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4fa82215ca3485While women have been increasingly finding their place as STEM professionals, that has been an unsteady trend. Some have enrolled in Ph.D. programs but dropped out. Others, meanwhile, are left to ask: After gaining tenure, what to do next? How does one thrive as a tenured professor with the same ease, efficiency and longevity of career as their male counterparts?9 May 2012 10:40:55 CDThttp://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4fa8223a3d3b96During the past nine months, Susanna P. Barton, editor of the Resident Community News Group, and WJCT education reporter Cyd Hoskinson interviewed successful public school educators through a grant from The Community Foundation's Philanthropic Initiative. They found some common traits that great teachers share on education's front lines. These teachers are lifelong learners and recognize the importance of collaboration. 9 May 2012 10:40:55 CDThttp://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4fa82255412c67In the trade of education, quality teaching has always been a hot button issue. In order to help students, teachers must pursue professional development. It is one thing to be really smart and then another thing to know how to use that knowledge in the classroom, said Brian Lewis, chief strategy officer for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. "How does a doctor become a great doctor? They learn and practice, and that is exactly what teachers must do," he added.9 May 2012 10:40:55 CDThttp://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4fa8227d4cce28The term "magnet school" traditionally referred to schools whose curricula was linked to thematic or content-specific subject matter, whose student bodies remained unbound by neighborhood lines, and whose enrollment process relied on lottery systems. Once considered a solution to desegregate racially divided districts, magnet schools today have been forced to evolve, given legal barriers that bar using race to determine school enrollment and increasing pressure to provide more public school choices.9 May 2012 10:40:55 CDThttp://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4fa822a34189f9