Schools are spending more and more time on reading and math education, and less and less time on all other activities, as reported in the Arizona Daily Star. According to the Nonpartisan Center on Education Policy, NCLB is the culprit.

Proponents of NCLB say the law is doing what it is supposed to do, holding schools accountable and making sure every child can read and do math. But critics of the law say all the focus on school work is taking away all school fun, and creating some very dull students.

Yes, we need to give kids all the tools and skills they need to succeed academically. But, no one ever said school and learning could not and should not be fun and creative. We also need to give teachers and schools the freedom and time to balance classroom activities, so fun does not get lost on the academic accountability battleground.

A new 3-D animated television show to teach children in Pre-K and kindergarten learn how to read is set to air on PBS this upcoming Labor Day, and it sounds good on paper. In one episode, a pig promises to save a pie to share with his friends, but the pig struggles to overcome the urge to eat the pie. Fortunately, he discovers he can create “pies” if he just adds an “s,” and soon there is enough pie for everyone.

I hope this television show is well produced and well received. Television is often shunned in education circles, but by taking that tack, we may be missing out on some redeeming qualities. The best readers visualize what they read, whereas struggling readers often miss comprehension as they are too busy word calling. If television can help young children make the connection between words and pictures, it will help with fluency and comprehension. The concept of making it easy for struggling readers to connect words and pictures is the concept we had in mind when we created the online, animated Raz-Kids talking books.

Low literacy is connected with a higher mortality rate in the senior population, according to a Canadian TV story. It certainly makes sense that people who cannot obtain needed medical information, read warnings labels, prescription bottle labels, and general health and nutrition information are in more personal danger. Researchers expected a higher mortality rate due to economic factors tied to illiteracy, but the results were astonishing. Over a five-year period, among adults 65 and older, those with inadequate reading skills had a 50% higher mortality rate.

This is why all of us at Learning A–Z feel so passionate about what we do. We aren’t just teaching children how to read to pass standardized tests, or even graduate on to the next grade. We are helping teachers, administrators, parents, tutors, etc. give the gift of literacy to people all over the globe. You might be interested to know that Reading A–Z books are used by children in more than 40 foreign countries. And to us, there are few greater gifts.

Cutting summer vacation short and having schools open all-year-long is not a new topic of education discussion, but more and more school districts are actually implementing it. Certainly the big benefit is not having kids undergo the summer slide where they lose some of the gains they made from the previous academic year. Year-round schools would also alleviate cramming a lot of material into the last few weeks of school, giving proper time to subjects that either get glanced over or discarded altogether.

Sounds like a great idea, but there are hurdles. Not the least of which involves notifying and acclimating parents to the changes. In Indianapolis, despite repeated notices and a media blitz, there were many absences on the first day of school this year after the switch to year-round schooling, according to a recent Indianapolis Star article. Another problem is ending such things as summer vacations, summer road trips, summer camps, and summer jobs for older children.

Indianapolis schools went year-round partly in response to a failing Adequate Yearly Progress label for No Child Left Behind. Hopefully, the trade-off will be worth it.

As the rest of the country gets ready to head back to school, let’s keep an eye on Indianapolis and other areas that instituted year-round schooling. Let’s stay open to the possibility that year-round schools could very well help academic progress.

It is a sign of the times when 73% of children between 7 and 12 years old have video game systems and 70% have new computers on their back-to-school shopping lists, according to a CNN.com story. Plus almost 70% want new cell phones, especially the new i-Phone, which can set parents back a few hundred dollars.

As a publisher of educational technology products, I certainly know the value technology plays in educating children. Even video games can be effective teaching tools. But cell phones and hand-held video game systems are probably much too distracting during the school day to be educational, especially for the kids between 7 and 12 years old. Having their heads buried as they text the person in the next desk or play the latest video game at recess is probably not the most constructive use of a student’s school time.

An Ed Tech study done by the federal government might have been inconclusive, but state studies have had more positive results, according to a recent ESchool News article. States such as West Virginia, Texas, Iowa, and Arkansas all saw some significant improvements through technology in the classroom. All studies indicated that when teachers are trained on how to use the technology, they usually show the best improvement.

As the saying goes, “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime.” The proper equipment just isn’t enough. One must also know how to properly use it. Teachers and students can’t simply be given shiny new computers and programs and then be expected to have effective results. Teachers must be taught how to use them, so they can, in turn, instruct students.

This is why Reading A–Z has training options available to subscribers. We know we can’t just tell teachers about all the materials at the Reading A–Z lake (website) and expect them to catch (download) all the materials they want. We need to instruct them on how to properly cast their line, so they can feed all their K–6 literacy needs, and in turn, give their students a steady diet of books and learning materials that will serve them for a lifetime.

It’s been five years since the law creating charter schools in Indiana passed, but the jury is still out on the effectiveness of charter schools, according to a recent Indianapolis Star article. In fact, according to one study on state standardized tests, charter schools often fare worse than traditional public schools. Certainly not the bill of goods sold to the people of Indianapolis. But is this study fair?

All schools face the same problems, whether public, charter, or private. Charter school proponents make a good point when they say that charter schools targeting students that struggle at public schools would not test as well. At the same time, private schools that can selectively admit their students would likely test better.

What does this all mean for charter schools? As everyone seems to agree, it is still too early to tell. Further studies are needed, especially comparisons of student demographics specific to charter school populations. Charter schools may not be the answer for all, but they could be effective for many students.