Articles tagged with New Jersey

Dichotomy’s present, prolific in story of public education

otb-camdenCamden, N.J., is no longer the most violent city in America. That distinction now belongs to St. Louis, Mo., my hometown.

At least, that’s the assessment by CQ Press, which each year examines the rate of violent crime in America’s cities and metropolitan areas. For the record, according to 2009 statistics, St. Louis had 2,070 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, with Camden, last year’s “winner,” not far behind.

CQ’s whole enterprise is misleading, however. In Camden, as in St. Louis, how violent it is depends on where exactly in the city you are. Visit Camden’s gleaming, touristy waterfront, its lovely aquarium and fine hotels, and you might not know what problems lurk in its neighborhoods. Spend a weekend in downtown St. Louis – going to the zoo, the symphony, or a Cardinals game – and you’d probably have no idea you’re in the “most violent” city in America.

I mention Camden’s crime rate, because Senior Editor Del Stover and I wrote about two schools in some of the poorer parts of that city for this month’s ASBJ. Del went to LEAP University Charter School.  I visited the more “traditional” Woodrow Wilson High School.
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Naomi Dillon|November 24th, 2010|Categories: Dropout Prevention, Governance, Leading Source, Policy Formation, School Reform, Student Achievement, Urban Schools|Tags: , |

Bilingualism an asset in global future, but not a reality in today’s curriculum

School officials in Fairfax County, Va., understand well that foreign language instruction is critical if today’s students will be ready to compete in tomorrow’s highly competitive global economy.

But, as is so often the case, lofty education goals run afoul of financial realities.

Years ago, the Fairfax County, Va., school system called for all students to start early to learn a foreign language—in elementary school—so they would graduate with some fluency in a second language.

Yet now officials in this Washington, D.C., suburb are weighing budget cuts that endanger this innovative and logical instructional objective. At risk are language immersion programs existing in a dozen elementary schools as well as plans to add foreign language instruction to dozens more.

It’s not a given that the programs will be cut. “School officials say the early programs are crucial to producing a generation of bilingual students,” reported a recent Washington Post article. “Two or three years of high school French typically is not enough to get students beyond a beginner level.”

Any foreign language instructor will tell you the same thing. The earlier you start teaching a second language—and the longer you teach that language—the more likely you’ll end up with a bilingual student.
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Naomi Dillon|November 19th, 2009|Categories: Curriculum, Diversity, Leading Source, Student Achievement|Tags: , , , , , , |
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