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Education Week reported yesterday that the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is mounting a new effort to increase the number of Board-certified teachers in hard-to-staff schools.  (See the National Board's website for more information on this initiative.)

The National Board recognizes teachers who successfully complete its process of "intensive study, expert evaluation, self-assessment and peer review."  It has long acknowledged that only a minority of the teachers they certify work in the schools that need them most.  According to recent research, Board certification raises student performance. In light of this evidence, the National Board's renewed focus on hard-to-staff schools is heartening.

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In a Washington Post editorial today, Robert Samuelson reacts to author Bill Bishop's caution in his new book, The Big Sort: namely, that Americans are increasingly segregating themselves by social and political values into so-called "lifestyle ghettos."  Samuelson soft-pedals Bishop's claim that this trend is exacerbating political polarization and endangering our long-held commitment e pluribus unum, but other commentators lend Bishop's concern greater weight.  ...

Since Public School Insights first appeared a few months ago, we've been privileged to interview many inspiring people--leading authors, educators, and advocates--about what it takes to ensure all children the opportunity to succeed in the 21st century.

Now you can browse all of our interviews--25 and counting--on our new "Visionaries" page. Among the people we've interviewed:

• Best-selling writers Dave Eggers, Richard Louv, Jon Scieszka, and Dan Pink;
• Leading researchers Helen Ladd, James Heckman, Don Deshler and Pedro Noguera;  
• Celebrated advocates Will Steger, Richard Simmons and Hugh Price; and
• A host of outstanding educators.

Be sure to take a look.

Image from http://www.bbctraining.com/modules/2857/text-version2.html ...

Last week's Sunday New York Times published an interesting article on the benefits and perils of online reading. Taking on a topic often framed as a debate between dour supporters of books and wild-eyed proponents of technology, the Times leaves the impression that the book advocates and internet enthusiasts are both mostly right.

Truly proficient on-line readers are creative, critical, and self-directed brokers of information from many different sources, so schools that do not include forms of on-line reading in their curricula miss an important opportunity to prepare students for the 21st century. To quote the Times, "Reading five Web sites, an op-ed article and a blog post or two, experts say, can be more enriching than reading one book." True, but the value of such reading depends on the websites--and the book. It also depends on the reader's ability to ask the right questions, separate wheat from chaff, analyze information and construct arguments. Young, 21st-century readers still need some old-fashioned guidance. ...