Curriculum

Doris B. Harvin, who was a city public school educator for more than three decades and was also a longtime active member of Leadenhall Baptist Church, died Oct. 23 of Alzheimer's disease in the nursing center at Good Samaritan Hospital. The longtime Hamilton resident was 76. Born Doris Belle Ricks, the daughter of a laborer and a homemaker, she was one of eight children and was raised on York Street in South Baltimore. After graduating from Frederick Douglass High School in 1952, where she was class valedictorian, Mrs. Harvin earned a bachelor's degree in 1955 in elementary education from what is now Coppin State University.

State schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick's plan to add environmental education to the curriculum of public elementary, middle and high schools is a welcome move toward making all students more aware of our responsibility to care for the planet and the impact our choices have on it. Many important public policy debates — from climate change and conservation to man-made disasters such as BP's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico —...

The Maryland State Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday to make environmental education a part of every student's education, but put off making it a graduation requirement. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which had advocated for making environmental studies a part of the curriculum, had hoped for stronger requirements than what was passed by the board, but the nonprofit advocacy group said the board's action was a "partial victory. " Under the new regulation, high school students will not need to take any additional courses, but environmental education will be added into existing courses, such as biology.

Arnold Blumberg plops the zombie head on a table at the front of the small theater. "I brought a friend," says the University of Baltimore professor, clad in an unbuttoned black shirt adorned with red skulls. Blumberg is meeting his class for the first time and it seems appropriate that he greet them beside "old Worm Eye," undead star of the 1979 Italian cult film "Zombi 2. " It was Worm Eye's decaying visage that called to a young Blumberg from the shelf of a Randallstown video store in the 1980s.

Baltimore City schools that offer themed curriculums were the top choices of middle school students and their parents this year, the first time they were allowed to select alternatives to their neighborhood schools. According to city school officials, Bluford Drew Jemison STEM Academy West attracted the most students who identified the science, technology, engineering and mathematics academy as their No. 1 choice. "It seemed that the thing that was attractive is whether or not the school offers something that captures the interests and excitement of students," said Jonathan Brice, executive director for student support services.

Baltimore City schools CEO Andrés Alonso may have one of the toughest jobs in Maryland – steering a big urban school system with a large proportion of disadvantaged minority youths back to health after years of inadequate funding and neglect. Nor is it a post known for long-term job security; having served three years at the helm, Mr. Alonso already has surpassed most of his recent predecessors in terms of longevity. At the same time, he has presided over a major reorganization of the system and overseen a steady rise in test scores.

Maryland's teachers will be giving lessons that require students to dig deeper into their subjects and be more analytical if the state adopts new national standards as expected this spring. A sampling of veteran teachers in the region concludes that the standards, which specify what should be taught from kindergarten to 12th grade, would be an improvement. Never before has the state attempted such a quick and large-scale overhaul of what is taught in every public school classroom.

Baltimore County schools spent $300,000 last fall to buy high school grammar books for elementary school educators, including some who teach music, art and gym, and administrators acknowledge that they failed to follow purchasing rules for the desk reference. The district did not ask the school board to approve the purchase of The Little, Brown Handbook, as it was required to do, until after The Baltimore Sun had requested and been given a copy of purchase orders from October and January.