Registration will open September 15, 2008, so remember to mark your calendar so you don't miss out. BoardBuzz was especially excited to hear that renowned actress and best-selling author Julie Andrews will address attendees as a general session speaker on Monday, April 6, 2009. We can't wait!

Remember to keep checking the conference Web site for the most up-to-date information on attending, speakers, pre-conference workshops and more.... There is more great stuff to come!

Schnur talked about Obama's proposed education plan from preschool to higher education that has been made available on the candidate's website for some time now. While McCain has not proposed a comprehensive education plan, Keegan gave a few more details about the candidate's direction regarding teacher quality. McCain would:

-allocate 60% of ESEA's Title II funding to give bonuses to teachers who teach in high-need school or a high need subject or who raise student achievement. Principals would distribute the bonuses and can in addition to test scores award teachers based on other criteria.
-allocate 35% of Title I funding to professional development focusing on instructional strategies; and
-allocate 5% for state grants to recruit teachers graduate from the top 25% of their class or who participate in an alternative certificate program.

For McCain's latest education plan, see here
For Obama's plan, check out here

About 450 students from across the United States and around the world, many who receive scholarships to attend, have spent eight days learning songs, beats and formation styles from the revolutionary band. Days are long, the sun is hot, but these students don't stop playing, even as the insects buzz around them.

While many music programs across the country have been cut to add in double periods of NCLB's concentrated math and reading courses, these young instrumentalists have the opportunity to spend the week embracing their musical interests and talents. Each is expected to learn two routines and to perform with either a symphonic, chamber or jazz ensemble.

BoardBuzz might not have any musical talents to showcase, but we are proud of this opportunity that Florida A&M has provided and hopes that their stories and music will inspire more of our nation's kids to pick up an instrument!

BoardBuzz was happy to hear that:
• Overall teenagers are better off today than they were nearly 30 years ago.
• They are less likely to participate in risky behaviors like smoking, binge drinking, and using drugs.
• Teenage girls are much less likely to become pregnant.

However, BoardBuzz was dismayed to hear that:
• Teenagers today are more likely to live in poverty.
• They are almost three times more likely to be obese than just a generation ago.
• Teen pregnancies rates are starting to rise.

The report got BoardBuzz thinking about how such an index could apply to education. Unlike schools that are typically judged on one indicator—test scores—this report evaluates the quality of our children's lives using a variety of indicators like poverty rates, teen pregnancy rates, and drug and alcohol abuse to gain a broad picture of the quality of our children's lives. So BoardBuzz asked itself why aren't schools evaluated in such a fashion? Wouldn't our children be better off if their schools were evaluated not just on math and reading scores but along with other indicators of school success as well, such as whether they provide a safe learning environment, prepare students for college and the workforce, and prepare students to be good citizens.

Our own Center for Public Education provides a list of good indicators for successful schools in their Good Measures for Good Schools tool. There you can find 28 measures of school success and how they should be used and maybe, most important, how they shouldn't be used. BoardBuzz recommends you check it out so you can look beyond your schools' test scores to determine for yourself the true quality of your local schools.

Fitness guru Richard Simmons is going before Congress tomorrow to urge them to keep physical education at the forefront of education. USA Today and the Washington Post are both covering his crusade (here and here, respectively). And it turns out that Simmons is hosting a rally immediately following his appearance on the hill. The Post tells us,

That's right, Richard Simmons, who turned 60 this month and whose "Sweatin' to the Oldies" video is about to turn 20, is slated to testify Thursday before the House Education and Labor Committee about expanding physical education in public schools to combat childhood obesity.

And while he still has his loud helium balloon-like voice and big hair, unfortunately, Simmons is hinting he won't be wearing his signature short shorts and tank top at the hearing.

"When I stand in front of Congress to testify I will speak from my heart but I will look like and talk like a Congressman," Simmons told the Sleuth. "That's right," he added, "no dolphin shorts and tank top."

But keep hope alive. Maybe Simmons will be sporting short shorts and a tank top underneath his congressman costume, which surely he'll have to remove for the "pro-PE" rally he plans to lead immediately after the child obesity hearing.

Sounds like Richard's got a plan to get students out of their seats and in shape!

In a culture so focused on improving our education system, how do teachers, administrators, educators, and board members cater to the growing education needs of students while providing individualized assessment? Across the country, school districts are working hard to use their shrinking budgets (have we mentioned this before?) creatively and implement technology resources for professional development to cut costs but also results in the ability to reach more educators in more individualized ways. They are using technology to create and share lesson plans, enhance their curriculum offerings, and gain fresh perspectives. Teachers are taking education to new heights with student response systems that help teachers track student progress throughout the year and also affords the opportunity to cater more to the learning needs of each particular child.

Teachers and administrators face a flat world where education is no longer just arithmetic, U.S. History, and biology. We’ve become a society filled with expanding horizons, languages, histories, and a world that is becoming more homogenous demands more from the education system that supports an evolving world. So how do schools adapt to their new and expanding role in education? How can our education system prepare student for jobs that don’t yet exist? The answer lies in new approaches to education. This new approach, which is ever-evolving to keep up with the demands, what is often called 21st century education. 21st Century learning environments when planned for properly and executed with knowledge have positive impacts on education, school district budgets, and the environment.

Want to learn more? NSBA’s T+L Conference will shed light on 21st century education and the vital role that education leaders and decision makers play in the inception, planning, and execution of transforming education for tomorrow’s leaders.

Here's what we know: districts in about 16 states are on the four-day schedule and most have been for a number of years, not just in response to the recent sky high cost of fuel. Most of the districts are rural where buses have much greater distances to travel. Want to know more? Check out what the Center for Public Education has dug up on this.

Around the country, one New York district is trying it for employees during the summer; it is under discussion by some Indiana school districts, municipalities and businesses; an Arizona school district is considering joining the ranks of others; and, in Utah, state employees will work 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and be off on Fridays starting next month as a means to save on energy costs.

We're eager to know what you think. The move, for schools, city or state governments or even private companies raises lots of issues. Weigh in via our comment link.

A video on the Parents for Truth website shows this happening around sex education. The video has a teacher calling a parent about the content of an “abstinence-plus” curriculum that was introduced in her health class. In the phone conversation, the teacher says the curriculum “hardly mentions abstinence” and actually “encourages sexual activity.” The mother gets very concerned, as many parents might, because she was certain that the sex education program would “stress abstinence” and “give some information on contraception.”

How can school boards assess what triggers such a call? This might be a difficult task, but schools can at least take the pulse of their community to know what people want taught in the classrooms.

A national poll conducted by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University, which was released in January of 2004 found that only 7% of Americans say sex education should not be taught in schools. In addition, the poll revealed that, in most places, there is little debate about what kind of sex education should be taught. However, this does not mean that all Americans agree on what kind of sex education is best. National polls may actually reveal a belief towards sex education that is not aligned with what a local community thinks.

Additionally, it is important to keep school districts’ community stakeholders informed about their sex ed curriculum and allow them to have input.

To learn more about community involvement in school health issues, request a “Building Community Support for School Health Issues 101 Packet,” and/or contact NSBA’s School Health Programs staff at schoolhealth@nsba.org.

Longer school days and longer school years work. Giving principals the power to hire good teachers and fire bad ones works. High expectations work. Giving a teacher freedom to hug a child who needs hugging works. Parental involvement works. Counseling for troubled students and families works. Consistency of effort works. Incentives work. Field trips that expose kids to possibilities you can’t see from their broken neighborhoods, work.

Indeed, the most important thing I’ve learned is that none of this is rocket science. We already know what works. What we lack is the will to do it. Instead, we have a hit-and-miss patchwork of programs achieving stellar results out on the fringes of the larger, failing, system. Why are they the exception and not the rule?

If we know what works, why don’t we simply do it?

And there it is--the question that's a 1000 pound gorilla in the room, the pink elephant everyone wants to ignore. We're not trying to make light of this. These are tough issues and as important as any other issue facing our country today. When you think about the media coverage schools get in urban areas, are you thinking of positive or negative stories? When was the last time you heard about success in large city school systems? The fact is there are many districts that need help. Dozens of excellent ideas are out there to guide all of our schools, including the ones that are failing.

Is Pitts alone in seeing these programs work? We doubt it. We teach children to work together in teams and remember our own group projects that forced us to collaborate, even when we 'strongly disliked' the other kid in our group. But that lesson stuck with us. Collaboration is the key, and we need more of it if we can ever change the districts that are struggling. It's not just for our schools, but for our country in the long run.

BoardBuzz does hold out hope, though. How could we not when we have resources from NSBA's Council of Urban Boards of Education available to us? Check out the surveys of urban student, parents, and teachers and administrators and see what's on the minds of the folks in urban school districts.

It's hard to ignore just how large the business of video games is becoming. As a result, more and more groups are making the effort to train kids about the industry and provide them with some basic game design skills; game design and creation is a growth business in a slow economy. Even though North Carolina's politicians don't seem to quite be on board with embracing the game industry, both Charlotte's main library and ImaginOn are offering summer workshops which teach kids some design basics.

It is absolutely true that the video game industry is booming--with an estimated $40 billion empire. And the industry is looking to grow their market past the young men that made up 90% of gamers just a few years ago. Today that number is closer to 60 or 70%. Companies like Nintendo have realized the enormous growth potential of mass-market games. Hence, the development of the Wii. Casual gamers, female gamers, and even adult gamers are among new target demographics.

So it comes as no surprise to us that this Charlotte, North Carolina library's program is popular. The library workshops welcome students between the ages of 8 and 18 and last four days. The small, six-person classes work on creating older generation 2-Dimensional games with a focus more on the big ideas of design than the technical programming. This is not to say that science, math, and tech skills aren't central to video game design. They are, and there are opportunities for animators, conceptual artists, writers, copy editors, testers, and even musicians.

Students who excel in this program may be able to stay on after the workshop as interns and learn from instructors how to continue their studies and explore the industry's job opportunities. BoardBuzz particularly likes how Ars Technica sums it all up:

It's easy to see how these free, public courses could help a young mind get inspired enough to learn more advanced techniques on a home computer or in college level courses.

While some were opposed to the Loudon county decision, the fact is that students tend to know which adults smoke even when they are smoking in designated areas, and, regardless of their intentions, all adults at a school are role models for kids.

Comprehensive tobacco-free schools send a consistent, healthy message to young people. After all, as we've mentioned before, tobacco use is still the leading preventable cause of death in the US.

The study, published in the July 16 Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that young children spend quite a bit of time moving around. At age nine, for instance, they are active an average of three hours per day. But, as the teen years kick in, all of that energy dissipates: by the age of 15, daily physical activity drops to just 49 minutes on weekdays and about a half-hour on weekends. The study also reveals that age 13 seems to be when the decline begins and that, overall, boys tend to be more active than girls.

According to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, children and adolescents should engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity on most, preferably all, days of the week.

The study did not measure reasons for the drop in activity levels, but highlighted some factors that may contribute to it such as: the facts that many neighborhoods don’t have safe biking and walking routes, and sports become more exclusive and competitive as children grow. In addition, schools often limit physical activity as children get older by eliminating recess and cutting physical education programs.

In the study’s report, researchers emphasize the “need for program and policy action as early as possible at the family, community, school, health care, and governmental levels to address the problem of decreasing physical activity with increasing age.”

Board Buzz believes that physical activity is important at any age and particularly relevant to school-aged children as research has shown its benefits to mental and physical health, as well as to improved concentration and learning abilities. Schools play an important role in helping kids stay active. And, Board Buzz does not want to see the next research piece with the title above flip-flopped: “As activity levels decrease, children grow”…., not in height…., not in intellect…but rather in weight…

To learn more about the importance of physical activity for school-aged children, please visit NIH’s We Can site, which provides tips, evidence-based curricula, and other resources to help children and their families make better food choices, increase physical activity, and reduce recreational screen time. And, for help with program and policy development, don’t forget to visit NSBA’s School Health Programs at www.nsba.org/schoolhealth.

The study evaluated the SunWise School Program, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program that aims to teach children how to protect themselves from overexposure to the sun. The study sought to assess the health benefits of the program as well as use economic analysis to determine the program’s benefits and cost-effectiveness.

The results? Analysis showed that if the program continues through 2015 at current funding levels, it should prevent nearly 11,000 cases of skin cancer and approximately 50 premature deaths. Moreover, the study revealed that, for every dollar invested in the program, between approximately $2 and $4 in medical care costs and productivity losses are saved.

Board Buzz believes that investing in the health of children not only boosts their potential, but benefits each of us individually, and makes us a stronger society. And, needless to say, with healthy and well educated kids, we’ll be better equipped to compete in the 21st century’s global market and make a difference in this world. To BoardBuzz, this seems like a good pay back…

To learn more about the importance of school health programs, go to www.nsba.org/schoolhealth.

Check out the Associated Press coverage of Senator Obama's speech. And here is A.P. coverage of Senator McCain's speech. The full transcripts of each are available on the candidate's websites.

Want to know where each candidate stands on education issues? Education Week has an interactive tool where you can put Obama and McCain side-by-side. Michele McNeil and Alyson Klein of Ed Week also follow the campaigns on their Campaign K-12 blog. Klein's story on McCain's speech also notes that the senator indicated he would fully fund programs that fall under the NCLB Act, but did not say he would fully fund the overall NCLB program. That's an important clarification from comments made by McCain adviser Carly Fiorina on "Meet the Press" that was stirring the ed punditry pot -- more on that here.

We also recommend the Education Writers Association's blog on the candidates' education plans.

According to the results from a recent statewide fitness test, students who are more physically fit performed better on standardized exams. Data comparing the fitness test's results to student's grades, attendance, obesity, disciplinary problems and school meal programs is expected later this year.

2.6 million third through twelfth-graders took the test and aimed for the " Healthy Fitness Zone", where they must achieve certain levels based on their age and gender. The Fitnessgram tests included a one-mile run, different push-ups, lifts, and stretches, and body fat and weight measurements.

The tests also showed a trend of physical activity and wellness decreasing in high school, and fitness levels especially decreased among girls. Elementary students are required to have physical education everyday, but high school students must only take a year and half of physical education to graduate.

For more information on Texas' students’ wellness lifestyles, fitness levels, or the test’s findings on how fitness and income correlate, be sure to check out the article.