District Administration - September 2007 - (Page 12)

BRIEFINGS NewsUpdate By Zach Miners Reaping the Beneﬁts of “Intelligent Classrooms” THE RON CLARK ACADEMY, A premier educational facility for inner-city ﬁfth- through eighth-grade students in Atlanta founded by renowned teacher and author Ron Clark, is receiving a facelift and will open this month using Dell’s “Intelligent Classroom” technology, a special combination of computers, projectors, cameras and other related technology products that collectively have the potential to transform the traditional classroom setting into a state-of-the-art, interactive learning environment. Dell also has partnerships with 12 public school districts across the nation to install the Intelligent Classroom technology elements to help students develop the 21st century skills needed to succeed in the outside world, many of whom ordinarily have no access to such learning tools. Albert Magallanez, the technology director at Indian Oasis-Baboquivari USD in Sells, Ariz., hopes the Intelligent Classrooms in their district, installed late last month, will increase student interaction and just make school “more fun.” He says that the majority of students in the district—located on the Tohono Indian Reservation—are Native American and are very visual learners, so anything they can see and touch in the classroom will help them immensely. “These are kids that aren’t from very aﬄuent backgrounds, and this program is giving them the opportunity to develop these technology skills, to connect them to places around the world,” says Karen Bruett, director of K12 business development for Dell. At the academy, the advanced technology from Dell and Intel will not only be used for core subjects but will also supplement students’ forays into photography, music production, design and business 12 September 2007 leadership. Students will also travel the globe to apply what they’ve learned to realworld environments. “Teaching students using the best methods from around the world has been a dream of mine for years, and now the technology is helping me make this dream come true,” said Clark, an extremely pas- Ron Clark keeps inner-city students engaged and excited about learning at the academy. sionate educator who was named Disney’s American Teacher of the Year in 2000. For additional information visit www.dell.com/classroom. School Buses Finally Get Seat Belts SOME STATES ARE FINALLY STARTING TO REALIZE THAT PUTTING SEAT BELTS ON school buses might not be a bad idea. Texas recently decided that all students should ride buses equipped with lap and shoulder belts, following the lead of California, Florida, Louisiana, New York and New Jersey—the only other states that currently require seat belts on school buses. Many school districts across the country don’t require seat belts on buses because of cost and low fatality rates, which they say means the big yellow bus is already safe. But a series of dramatic crashes—some of which were fatal—over the past several months, from a Kentucky bus ﬂinging children from one side to the other because of a drug-impaired driver, to an Alabama crash that killed four teenage girls, is getting school leaders and lawmakers to reconsider just how “safe” school buses really are. Researchers at Columbus Children’s Hospital in Ohio recently found 17,000 school bus-related injuries in the United States every year. And SafeGuard, a unit of IMMI Inc. that makes school bus seats with SafeGuard school bus seats keep belts, says that more than 100 children have died in students strapped in. school bus accidents in the past 10 years. New federal guidelines are expected this fall that would propose voluntary standards for the use of belts. Voluntary may not be as good as mandatory, but it’s a step in the right direction. FAST FACT About 700,000 students in American public schools take classes online, up from less than 50,000 in 2001. Source: The Sloan Consortium District Administration http://www.dell.com/classroom

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - September 2007

Cover
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Curriculum Update
Inside the Law
District Profile
Administrator Profile
District Buying Power 2007
X-Factor Student Achievement Awards 2007
We've Got Mail
Supporting New Teachers
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
New Products
Problem Solution
Computer Literature
Research Corner
Online Edge
Supervisor’s Opinion
Speaking Out
Calendar of Events
Understanding the Times

District Administration - September 2007