Children between the ages of 2 months and 6 months who have a lot of exposure to language are more likely to have advanced language skills later in life, according to research being released this weekend. The research suggests that parents should be trained to make sure infants, particularly those at high risk, are around a lot of talking even before they can speak.

The researchers, who presented their work at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association meeting in New Orleans this week, said babies who heard many different words had more advanced skills by the time they were 18 to 32 months old.

The choices are staggering for any teenager. Do you want a large, comprehensive high school where you have many course offerings, a marching band and multiple varsity athletic teams? Or do you want a small intimate high school where you get to know your teachers and you can get that extra help you may need? There are high schools for those interested in the medical professions, those who want to be artists and those who think that getting through high school in two years is a good idea.

The event is being held at the Poly-Western complex and is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Mayor Sheila Dixon will be there in the morning to help judge which high school has the best display at its booth.

For those of you who have never been, I promise you will leave wiser about both your school and just how well your child is doing in the classroom.

There's really no better way of seeing what is going on than spending a day following your kids around. It is a wonderful idea, and I wonder why the private schools have not adopted it or why the private school parents don't demand it.

Until my children got to tenth grade and told me they would die a million deaths if I showed up in their classrooms, I never missed this opportunity. I remember the moment when I dreaded spending 45 minutes in Algebra II. I was one of those kids who wasn't happy about math. I admit it. But this math teacher was so inspired that the parents in the back of the classroom began to whisper, give each other smiles and wish that they had been so lucky when they were in eighth grade. Wow. No one could believe how good he was! I thought maybe this was a special lesson, but no, my daughter told me her math class was always like that. I doubt any parents there that day cut their child much slack about math, knowing they were in a class with a gifted teacher. I saw other classrooms over the years that were just plain dull, and I took pity on my kids. In another case, I saw another new teacher who barely had control.

I also had moments when I watched and suddenly "got it," realizing why my elementary school child was struggling and why we needed to work harder on something at home.

Whatever those classrooms were like, I had been there and had a glimpse into their world that helped me better support my children. The experience left me able to understand and be kind when they had had a bad day with Mrs. James, or to be less than sympathetic when they had forgotten an assignment because I knew it was probably posted up there in the left-hand corner of the board.

A friend of mine just reported that her trip to school this morning included watching a child with disabilities fall apart and have to be taken out of the room. She had a new appreciation for the dynamics of her son's classroom and what the teacher had to juggle.

I would love to hear comments from parents here who have been to classrooms this week. Give us a short description of your experiences. And go ahead and criticize me for chickening out and not going during those later years of high school. I can take the heat.

Those men participating, called Growers, will ask friends and family to donate money to buy needed supplies for classrooms around the area. Teachers will post their needs on the DonorsChoose.org Web site.

It is a bit like a runner gathering donations to run a marathon, except that this race is a month or so long so we won't know who grows the better mustache for awhile. We will keep you posted about the results as soon as they are in. In the meantime, teachers get out there and put your requests up!

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan would like, for instance, to have every state have a data system that has the capacity to say how much progress a student has made in the past year of school. This involves being able to look at the test scores from one year to the next and draw conclusions. The "growth" a student makes, Duncan says, should be part of a teacher's annual evaluation. I am not aware of any school system currently creating this link between test scores and teacher evaluations and it is a concept that is deeply concerning to the Maryland State Education Association, which is part of a national teachers union.

Gov. Martin O'Malley quickly responded to the criticism this morning and Laura Smitherman's story is now up on the Web site.

She also spent 13 yeras with Cigna Insurance Co. where she oversaw recruitment and customer service operations. She is scheduled to begin on Nov. 30.

The response from readers surprised her. She got more than 50 e-mails in one day, which just goes to show how powerful a time in our lives high school is and that our memories of those times survive whether we like them or not. In this case, most of those who wrote to Hare had happy memories.

Here's one of the comments:

But the National Dairy Council says if we take the chocolate out of the lunch line, kids will stop drinking milk, which everyone seems to agree has some nutrients students need. The Dairy Council is launching a "Calling all moms to raise their hands for chocolate milk" campaign. Even though flavored milk has sugar in it, the council says studies show that children who drink chocolate milk don't have overall higher intakes of sugar than kids who drink plain old white milk.

About 70 percent of the milk that kids in the lunch line are choosing is flavored, they say.

So what do parents think? If chocolate milk wasn't an option, would your children drink white milk instead or reach for juice or water?

The report doesn't have any shocking news, but it does say that 22 of the 26 states now offer some alternatives for students with disabilities. And there's a growing trend among states to offer struggling students alternative assessments, different diplomas, flexible cut off scores and waivers. In Maryland, we have the bridge plan, which allows students to work on projects instead of passing the exams.

CEP also says across the nation students are more often passing their high school tests on the first try, an encouraging sign.

CEP recommends that states begin looking at increasing money for remediation of students, do a better job of collecting data on pass rates and spend some time researching the effects of the exit exams on students.

Currently, students can drop out at 16 and, the AP reports, only the legislature can change that. But Montgomery County, whose graduation rate has fallen to its lowest level -- 87 percent -- this spring, is hoping to change the tide by voting on a measure last week to make the change to age 18. Most of the students who drop out in the county are 16 and 17 year olds.

Should other school boards take the same stand to encourage the state legislature to pass a bill requiring all students to be in school until 18?

He argues that some students are being taught overly complex math at too young an age. It is an interesting piece to read, although some commentors have suggested that perhaps his premise is wrong. Are we really teaching difficult concepts too early because of tests?

I wonder if that is correct because last week we wrote that the Maryland School Assessments for fourth-graders are some of the easiest in the nation.

What do math teachers think of Ganem's argument?

Monday's panel discussion, which is free and open to the public, is to be led by Beverly Daniel Tatum, president of Spelman College, and David Hornbeck, the former superintendent of Philadelphia schools. 

The event will be in the Wheeler Auditorium at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral Street, and starts at 7 p.m. 

Entrants have to create "short, creative music videos demonstrating how they would use advanced technology to enhance their learning experience in the classroom," according to the company. For your information and entertainment, you can check out some of the entries.

Considering the difficult economic times we're always talking about, I thought I'd share the information in case any of you enterprising and creative teachers might be interested. Deadline is Nov. 10.

Of course, if you do enter, we'd like to see your video.

As the story in the paper today says, the board received a lot of last-minute suggestions on the policy that hadn't been aired sufficiently to warrant a vote last night, according to school board members.

Dennis Moulden, who represents the Parent and Community Advisory Board, spoke in favor of a permanent expulsions policy. "We all have the belt in our closet; we hope that we'll never use it," he said. He suggested the permanent expulsions should be used only as a last resort, but that the threat of an expulsion provides a boundary for students.

After his comments, two other members of the board, Neil Duke and George VanHook, commented that belts had been a common threat used in their families. But David Stone asked Moulden why he would compare an expulsion to an outdated and possibly illegal form of punishment.

Please send me a note with your stories about how things have changed in your school or district.  Are you having to adjust things in the classroom, such as assignments and project deadlines - or facing challenges in terms of just getting through curriculum with so many students out?