The McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation offers Academic Enrichment Grants designed to develop in-class and extra-curricular programs that improve student learning. The foundation considers proposals that foster understanding, deepen students' knowledge and provide opportunities to expand awareness of the world around them. Maximum Award: $10,000. Eligibility: educators work with students pre-K to 12 from low-income households. Deadline: May 1, 2008.

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As you walk into the School House Museum in Smithfield (Va.), you are presented with a one-room school where African American students in Isle of Wight County were taught in the early 1930s.

The school, and all of its "amenities," has been brought back to life for elementary school children to teach them about the good, the bad and the ugly of segregated education, reports David Squires for the (Va.) Daily Press.

During a recent field trip, students learned that each day started with devotion, followed by the pledge of allegiance, then a roll call for students in all seven grades.

For its curriculum, the school used books discarded by the white schools and for lunch, the children ate leftovers brought from their homes. During the visit, one child asked if they had any resource classes like music.

The answer was no.

In fact, some Isle of Wight children did walk up to five miles (one way, of course) to attend school. Museum directors hope to give children a firsthand experience of something they had only heard or read about in history books. If it makes them more appreciative of all they have, that's an added bonus.

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A hypothetical recently graduated new teacher is accustomed to 24/7 broadband access to the Internet and staying in touch via text messages and e-mails. While looking for a job, the aspiring teacher attended a virtual career fair online during which he talked with personnel directors from 12 participating school districts.

He eventually accepted a job in a rural area. The teacher's mentor, whom he can only meet with once a month, arranged for the teacher to join an e-mentoring program that connected him with both new and experienced teachers in the same grade level and subject area.

This example illustrates the fact that most new teachers expect to be plugged in all the time and want the same opportunities when they move from higher education to the professional world, writes Joan Richardson in The Learning System. While providing classroom computers and Internet access has become the norm, few school districts are using technology as a way to attract new teachers or to enhance induction.

There are many ways that districts, universities, regional education service agencies and nonprofit organizations can harness new technologies as a way to appeal to incoming teachers and help orient them once they've been hired.
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