News You Can Use

It's World Year of Physics

The year 2005 marks the centennial of Albert Einstein's most pivotal theories in physics. The Northwest Eisenhower Regional Consortium for Mathematics and Science is taking part in the World Year of Physics by dedicating the latest issue of its journal, Northwest Teacher, to innovative high school physics practices in the Northwest. "Time, Space, Motion, and Sound: Teaching Physics" takes readers into classrooms where some extraordinary teachers have captured students' interest in the subject by using hands-on, inquiry-based activities and relating physics principles to real-life applications. While the pedagogies and philosophies of the profiled teachers may vary, at least one common aspect is evident throughout: students learn physics by seeing, doing, and communicating their findings, not by reading about principles and experiments in textbooks. As Seattle teacher Eric Muhs (whose students have been selected to send an experiment aboard a NASA flight this fall) puts it, "You have to do it for yourself to learn about science. You really don't learn any other way. Ultimately, you have to get your hands dirty." Northwest Teacher is available online at www.nwrel.org/free

Principal Leadership for Accountability: Optimizing the Use of Title II Resources

NWREL's latest Topical Summary, published in June, examines the principal's role in the current climate of strict accountability for academic achievement. This educational planning and policy report addresses what has become a critical link between school leadership and student achievement—"for the first time in nearly 40 years, the exhortation that principals become instructional leaders is not rhetoric, but the law" under Title II of the No Child Left Behind Act. This summary looks at the historical context of instructional leadership. It also offers policy considerations to improve use of Title II resources for principal development, examples of promising programs in the Northwest, suggested resources, and a bibliography. Download a copy of this issue at www.nwrel.org/free or complete the online form at www.nwrel.org/planning/amy.html to order hard copies.

Youth Mentoring Research

The July 2005 issue of NWREL's National Mentoring Center Bulletin treats readers to an indepth interview with two of the leading youth mentoring researchers in the nation: Dr. David DuBois of the University of Illinois-Chicago and Dr. Michael Karcher of the University of Texas at San Antonio. The two recently collaborated as editors of The Handbook of Youth Mentoring, released earlier this year by Sage Publications. The handbook represents a new level of understanding of youth mentoring research, and features definitive chapters on a wide variety of programmodels—school-based, faith-based, and peer mentoring— across a variety of populations (such as juvenile offenders, academically at-risk youth, pregnant and parenting adolescents). The authors sat down with Bulletin Editor Michael Garringer for a conversation about major trends in the field, the value of integrating mentoring with other academic and social services, why local-level program staff need to pay attention to emerging research, and more. To receive a copy by mail, e-mail mentorcenter@nwrel.org. Download an electronic version at www.nwrel.org/mentoring/bulletins.html.