Tuesday Tidbits - Jan. 8, 2008

It's Tuesday, so it's time for a fresh batch of 2008 tidbits:

• Are gifted students being shorted under No Child Left Behind? That's what one former California educator asserts in this thoughtful piece about the Advanced Placement programs.
  
• The National Association of Secondary School Principals wants your input on what would best improve boys' academic performance. Check out their online survey here. Interestingly, teaching boys better organizational skills is one of the multiple choice options in the online poll -- something we recently posted about.
  
• More on the health of today's students: A study appearing in this month's Archive of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine suggests that a teen girl's view of herself in the school social scene has health consequences. The study of 4,000 girls (average age was 15) found that girls who did not think of themselves as popular were 69 percent more likely than other girls to gain weight -- an equivalent of about 11 extra pounds over their target body mass index.