http://www.smu.edu/educationexperts/ en-us 07 Dec 2005 15:00:00 GMT gshultz@smu.edu http://www.smu.edu/smunews/education/default.asp Love songs, poetry and gourmet cookies. Valentine's Day? No, just the ways some high school students will do anything to avoid writing a college-application essay. With January the deadline for applying to college, admissions officers will be reading thousands of essays from high school seniors. Mixed in the pile will be a few out-of-the ordinary approaches.... http://www.smu.edu/smunews/education/default.asp Despite warnings of widespread failure, few Texas third-graders repeated a grade in 2003-04 after a new law requiring them to pass a reading test before advancing to the next grade. http://www.smu.edu/smunews/education/default.asp U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings traveled to SMU to mark the opening of its new School of Education and Human Development. Before a crowd of Texas school superintendents and other educators Nov. 2, Spellings extolled the vision of the school, which is being designed to meet the challenges of teaching diverse populations in the No Child Left Behind era. http://www.smu.edu/smunews/education/legislation.asp Maurice Dyson teaches education law at SMU in Dallas and once worked in the Office of Civil Rights for the U.S. Department of Education where he was responsible for overseeing special education programs. We asked him about the case of Schaffer vs. Weast and its potential impact on American education. http://www.smu.edu/smunews/education/esl.asp A study funded by the National Institutes of Health is trying to spot and treat struggling Hispanic readers. http://www.smu.edu/smunews/education/reading.asp This fall researchers began tracking the progress of hundreds of children in the largest, most comprehensive study to date on literacy and the mentally retarded. http://www.smu.edu/smunews/education/testing.asp If students with dyslexia have not been retested within the last three to five years, the College Board, which administers the SAT, will not accommodate with extra time on the new SAT. http://www.smu.edu/smunews/education/trends.asp Dealing with demanding parents ranks number one as the reason new teachers leave the profession, according to the MetLife Survey of the American Teacher. What can teachers do to resolve parent-teacher conflicts before they begin? http://www.smu.edu/smunews/education/trends.asp The trend of older parents means more school-age children will experience the death of a parent or the death of a classmateis parent -- which brings a whole set of problems for students and teachers returning to school.