• Edmond – 1 to 5 p.m. July 11.
• Warr Acres – 9 a.m. to noon July 13.
• Midwest City – 1 to 5 p.m. July 17.
• Choctaw – 1 to 5 p.m. July 19.
• The Village – 1 to 5 p.m. July 24.
• Northwest Oklahoma City – 9 a.m. to noon July 26.

The private sessions last about an hour. The professionals check your child’s speech, behavior and other developmental milestones. There’s a small fee depending on income, but nobody is turned away because of the inability to pay. Medicaid is accepted. Appointments are required. To schedule one, call 425-4412.

I took my daughter to a screening a couple years ago – when she was just about to turn 1 – and it was great. I learned so much. I would recommend this to any parent. In fact, I recommend this to myself. My daughter’s almost 3 now. Maybe it’s time I take her back.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Legislation approved by the Oklahoma House of Representatives would “give teeth” to the School District Transparency Act, according to the bill’s author.

Under House Bill 2644, by state Rep. David Brumbaugh, school districts and the Oklahoma Board of Education would lose funding if they fail to comply with the School District Transparency Act.

“I authored this bill because taxpayers have a right to know how their tax dollars are spent in our schools and lawmakers need to have financial data to make appropriation decisions,” said Brumbaugh (R-Broken Arrow).

The legislation authorizes the Office of State Finance to withhold administrative and support funds from the Oklahoma State Board of Education if it does not include data on its website required by the School District Transparency Act. The withholding would be 1 percent of total appropriations for administrative and support functions and would increase by 1 percent for each subsequent month of noncompliance. If noncompliance continued after five months, 8 percent would be withheld.

“The main thrust of this bill is to get more data posted online at the state level, but I also felt that we should address school districts,” Brumbaugh said. “I did try to give the school districts a lot of leeway so they are not punished for an honest mistake, but only for being out of compliance for months and months.”

House Bill 2644 was approved by a vote of 87-2 and now proceeds to the Senate for consideration.

In 1990,  Oklahoma became the first state to pass a term-limits law. Now, the University of Oklahoma’s Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center is home to a collection of 14 interviews featuring the first group of Oklahoma state senators impacted by term limits. Due to the law, they left office in 2004.

“With the departure of these members, we stood to lose a tremendous amount of institutional memory,” said Cindy Simon Rosenthal, director and curator of the Carl Albert Center. “This collection of interviews allows us to capture some of that memory for future study.” Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee called the collection “an important narrative of the history and politics of the Oklahoma Senate from those who actually lived it.  This collection forms an essential knowledge base for historians — now and in the future.”The oral history project was the result of the combined efforts of the Oklahoma Senate’s Communication Division, the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority and the Carl Albert Center. 

The Senate Oral History Collection includes 14 DVD interviews capturing the memories and impressions of Sens. Jim Dunlap, R-Bartlesville;  Mike Fair, R-Oklahoma City; Charles Ford, R-Tulsa; Sam Helton, D-Lawton; Maxine Horner, D-Tulsa; Rick Littlefield, D-Grove; Jim Maddox, D-Lawton; Angela Monson, D-Oklahoma City; Bruce Price, D-Hinton; Ben Robinson, D-Muskogee; Herb Rozell, D-Tahlequah; Mark Snyder, R-Edmond; Dick Wilkerson, D-Atwood; and Penny Williams, D-Tulsa. 

The collection includes interviews from two members who rose to national prominence during their tenure:  Monson became the first black woman and first Oklahoman to serve as president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, and Dunlap became the first Oklahoman to serve as president of the American Legislative Exchange Council.

The eighth annual National Education for Women’s (N.E.W.) Leadership Institute, designed to encourage women to consider careers in politics and public service,  is scheduled May 19-23 at the University of Oklahoma Norman.

Sponsored by OU’s Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center, N.E.W. Leadership is part of a national training network created by the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University. Participants will gain skills in community organizing, public speaking, leadership, team building, negotiation and conflict resolution.

“They also will meet Oklahoma women office holders, public administrators and local activists, spend time at the Oklahoma Capitol and attend a reception celebrating female political leaders,” says Katie Fitzgerald, program director.

                About 30 undergraduate women from diverse backgrounds will be selected for this year’s program. Students interested in politics and leadership are encouraged to apply. The application deadline is March 5. An online application and additional program information are available at the N.E.W. Leadership Web site, www.ou.edu/carlalbertcenter/leadership.

The institute is scheduled 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, at the new Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center, 2501 Conference Drive, in Norman. It’s open to anyone from any discipline who is interested in learning about advances in education.

Participants can attend any number of 60 sessions, and the registration cost including lunch is $25. To register, see the session titles and schedule, or for any other information, visit http://k20winterinstitute.com or call 325-1267.

– Staff writer James S. Tyree

Educators from as close as Oklahoma City and as far as Australia have been leading upward of 200 workshops since Wednesday to examine how to analyze what students do and don’t understand about math and then use that information to teach them in more effective ways.

Among the presenters is Taft Middle School’s Heather Sparks, who became the state’s Teacher of the Year last month. She led a session yesterday involving robots, and is leading one this afternoon incorporating puppetry into algebra, spokeswoman Gaye Dillin told me.

What creative ways of learning math do you use or remember learning in the classroom?

Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter

“Open the Debates” is the theme of Nader’s remarks, which reflect the Nader and vice presidential candidate Matt Gonzalez campaign’s call for inclusive, democratic presidential debates.

Nader will also address Oklahoma’s ballot access restrictions for independent and third party candidates, as well as issues concerning national public health care, the war in Iraq, energy and global warming policies and corporate crime.

OSU-Tulsa is located at 700 North Greenwood Avenue, near I-244 and Detroit Avenue. For more information, contact the Nader campaign at 202-471-5833.

Hundreds of students in Illinois are spending the first day of classes trying to enroll in higher-performing schools instead of in seats at their home sites. Students and their parents say they hope their protest will highlight disparities in Chicagoans’ education along the socioeconomic divide.

People on both sides of the issue have compelling arguments: one side saying the protest sends the wrong message to kids, the other saying that taking a stand is their best shot at rectifying an unequal education system. Which camp do you fall into?

Read the full story here, and then share your thoughts.

Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter

An Oklahoma State University researcher wants to know how you deal with the terrible twos.

Bob Larzelere is seeking volunteer mothers of tots between ages 18 months and 30 months. You could get paid $60 to tell how you handle your toddler’s misbehaviors.

Contact Dr. Larzelere at (405) 744-2053 and (405) 338-8094.

Susan Simpson, Education Writer

Let a cow be your compass.

You’ll know this if you’ve already read today’s issue of “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.” Some German and Czech researchers found that most cows align to the north and south, seemingly drawn to magnetic poles.

Ummm, give me a minute to call cowpies on this study. I grew up on a dairy farm, and our cows didn’t seem to have a directional preference. Maybe they were directionally challenged. Maybe they were rebels.

I even called a relative to make sure I hadn’t missed something in my bovine-bound past. Nope, as usual, the cattle were facing any which way.

I hope no one is lost out there.

Susan Simpson, Education Writer