Newsmakers

(Every week faculty and staff from across campus are featured or cited in newspapers, magazines, broadcasts and other media from around the country. The listings that follow represent a small selection of the many stories that spotlight UW–Madison and its people. More newsmaker listings)

Turnover not all bad
As many school principals and administrators near retirement age, many educators fear that schools will face a shortage of qualified leaders in the future. But that shortage may have a positive effect, opening the door to educational leadership for more women and minority candidates. Women and minorities still have trouble landing top jobs, such as high-school principal or school superintendent, possibly because of biases in the hiring process, the article reports. Some school systems may be conditioned to thinking that men are better at complex jobs, experts say. “Gender bias is still a real piece of our culture,” C. Cryss Brunner, a professor of education, tells the Binghampton (N.Y.) Press and Sun-Bulletin (March 27). “It’s not just men to blame. Men and women are socialized to see men in the top seat.”

Teaching+curriculum=mastery
The consistent superior performance of students from Asian countries on mathematics tests has led many educators here to try teaching math as it is taught in countries such as Singapore, Korea and Japan. Such curricula often emphasize a mastery of basic mathematics skills, enforced by repeated drilling, that builds to an understanding of more advanced concepts. Their merit has been debated among educators for the past couple of years. Supporters, including math professor Richard Askey, point to where the methods are working, including experimental programs around Wisconsin. “It’s just good, solid mathematics,” Askey tells the Washington Post (March 21).

The fall election: Jones knows
Charles Jones, emeritus professor of political science and a heavily relied upon source of political wisdom, has seen and commented upon many elections. He’s gotten so good, in fact, that he has this fall’s election pretty much figured out. He tells the San Jose Mercury News (March 17) that it will come down to who wins Illinois, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ohio. The other areas of the country, he says, are already pretty strongly allied with either Bush or Gore and would be difficult to wrench away. But, he adds, “I have lived long enough to know that a hell of a lot’s going to happen between now and November.”

The myth of midlife
A San Francisco Chronicle columnist (writing March 15) who grieves excessively over breaking his prized $1,600 Finnish glass candle pedestal begins to think that maybe his obsession is the sign of a midlife crisis. But Carol Ryff, director of the Institute on Aging, consoles him. “There’s a silver lining,” Ryff says, and that is that the midlife crisis is basically more hype than reality. Research shows that most middle-aged people are quite happy. So, Ryff notes, coming to grips with the mortality of a fragile possession may be a good thing. “Things break, people die – it’s all a flash in the pan.”

American Indian education improvements still needed
The Indian Education Act passed in 1972 has made possible dance troupes, cultural studies, powwows and works of Indian art. But many say that school districts are not doing enough to encourage pride and achievement in American Indian students. Around 30 percent of native students still fail to complete high school, which is about the same dropout level for native students three decades ago. And students still demand to learn about their heritage. “Why aren’t we listening to our children? They are hungry for a traditional education,” Rosemary Ackley Christensen, American Indian studies professor, tells the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star (March 12).