Going the Distance!
April  2004

Newsletter Articles:

• New Report Contains Important Data for Grant Seekers
• Bush '05 Education Budget Trims Tech
• Distance Learning Trends in States' Schools
• Mars Mission Captures Students' Interest
• Monthly Tip: Email Virus, Spam, Quarantine and Headers

New Report Contains Important Data for Grant Seekers

This new study conducted by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), The American College Testing Program (ACT), and the College Board estimates that 16 percent of public high school graduates in 2006-07 will come from families earning less than $20,000 annually.

The report also indicates the West is expected to see the highest rate of growth from low-income students, while the Northeast expects the highest rate of growth in students from families with an income of more than $10,000 annually.

According to the article the study results contain important information and deserve attention from educators, grant seekers, and grant makers. In addition, the report recommends that education grant makers look at this study and consider the results when planning future funding.

For the full text go to http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=4902

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Bush '05 Education Budget Trims Technology

Although Bush’s federal education spending will receive a $2 billion increase, it will slash 38 education initiatives, including at least four technology-specific programs totaling more than $54 million.

“This budget represents a major step back from the federal government’s interest,” according to a joint statement issued by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN). The two organizations are dedicated to promoting better use of technology in America’s schools and stated that the budget also demonstrates the “commitment to ensuring that our nation’s educators and students gain access to the tremendous learning resources available online and the tools and skills needed to compete successfully in the 21st century’s job market.”

According to the article, the Star Schools program, Community Technology Centers program, Ready to Teach and the Regional Technology in Education Consortia are among the initiatives planned for termination. All of these programs have experienced budget cuts in previous years.

If Congress approves Bush’s budget, there will be a $1 billion increase for Title I and IDEA, along with an $823 million increase for Pell Grants to help more underprivileged students attend college. However, the Educational Technology State Grants program would receive a $3 million cut, receiving only $692 million in 2005.

Bush’s education plan includes his new initiative – Jobs for the 21st Century. “The goal of the program is to improve the quality of education in the nation’s high schools and colleges to better prepare students for success in higher education and the new information-age workplace,” said the White House.

According to Don Knezek, ISTE’s chief executive, although Bush’s plan addresses some critical skills, it offers no guarantee students can enter the 21st-century economy prepared for success with information technology skills.

“We‘re going to see pockets of future focus and development in education,” predicted Knezek. “We know we are losing ground in terms of students who feel that learning is engaging. We also know technology can change that.”

For the full text of this article go to: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=4906

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Study Evaluates Distance Learning Trends in States' Schools

Distance learning policies vary greatly from state to state according to a recent study by the Rural School and Community Trust and State Technology Directors Association. The report, entitled “2003 State Distance Learning Policy Study,” is featured in a recent Rural Policy Matters newsletter.

According to the report, the study examines the types of distance learning technologies that are being used as well as the position that each state education agency (SEA) is taking with regard to policies, rules and regulations. The information for the study was collected using an e-mail survey. Technology directors from state education agencies in 34 states and 8,500 school districts were surveyed.

Here are some of the study’s highlights:

• Web-based (online) learning is the most common form of distance learning, reported in 97 percent of the states
• Two-way interactive TV was reported in 94 percent of the states
• More than half of the states do not require that DL courses be taught by a state certified teacher
• In more than two-thirds of responding states, the SEA assumes no control over the DL course content of out-of-state providers
• Half of responding states said their agency assumes responsibility for soliciting or approving distance learning providers of supplemental education services under the No Child Left Behind Act.

For the full text of this article go to: http://www.ruraledu.org/rpm/pdf/rpm6_2.pdf

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Mars Mission Captures Students' Interest

The latest Mars mission has students and teachers intrigued in science classrooms across the world according to a recent article in eSchoolNews. “Teachers Using Mars Mission to Fascinate, Educate Students” describes how the Mars mission has piqued the interest of students and teachers in the U.S. and other countries like Brazil, India and Poland.

Steven Dworetzky’s middle school class in California is using the mars mission as a science lesson by working with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in nearby Pasadena to download the latest images from Mars. Other students assemble and program a model of the Mars rover using Lego blocks and other materials.

They and other students are using the pictures to create models of the Mars landscape and are then creating their own “rovers” to explore the terrain. According to the article, “It is just one of the many Mars-related education programs being offered in schools around the world while the real adventure is unfolding.”

For the full text of this article go to: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=4913

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Monthly Tip: Email Virus, Spam, Quarantine and Headers

By now, most anyone with an email account on the SchoolAccess system has received an emailed response that starts,

"Dear SchoolAccess Customer,

GCI's e-mail filtering system detected an e-mail message addressed to you that was infected with a virus..."

or

"GCI Corporation's junk mail protection service has detected some suspicious email messages since your last visit and directed them to your GCI Corporation Message Center..."

We have filtered email for virii, worm, trojan and other exploits for 3 years and, with the changes to filtering quality, we now can filter for spam or junk email. And because of this, you've probably received either or both of the above messages at one time or another.

These response messages are informational only. Although the virus message will suggest a specific sender, with modern virii this can be misleading as the virus will alter the sender's name with an email address found on the infected computer. Some exploits will search for and pull addresses from not only an address book, but from other documents as well. It might be a Word document, or another email message--it just depends on how that exploit was written.

Occasionally, a message will slip through that should have been filtered. This usually happens in the junk mail filter as junk mail doesn't have the same predictable information that an infected message has. Of course, for junk mail filtering to work, the account has to be set up for it.

Should a message get through that should have been quarantined, sending us the message--along with the full headers--allows us to decipher a number of things, such as routing, filtering levels, etc. Probably the easiest way to get the full headers is to login to our webmail client on the SchoolAccess server. When viewing a message, look at the upper right hand corner of the message window for the line "All headers". Depending on window size, you may need to scroll the message to the right. 

You should now see something like this above the message:

From user@address.com Wed Jul 30 15:33:07 2003
X-UIDL: U>_"!#*>!![D!!Yb%"!
Return-Path:
Received: from psmtp.com (exprod6mx1.postini.com [12.158.35.141])
by dillingham.swrsd.schoolaccess.net (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id h6UNX4D27796
for ; Wed, 30 Jul 2003 15:33:05 -0800
Received: from source ([205.140.80.57]) by exprod6mx1.postini.com ([12.158.35.251]) with SMTP;
Wed, 30 Jul 2003 16:33:00 PDT
Received: by daytona.gci.com with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2656.59)
id ; Wed, 30 Jul 2003 15:33:00 -0800
Message-ID: <48ACA9FE7C30D411AF6D009027BA4E170CBE83AC@rolla.gci.com>
From: Sending User
To: "Recipient User"
Subject: test
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 15:33:00 -0800
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2656.59)
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Status: RO
X-Keywords:
X-UID: 579

By copying and pasting the full headers above the message being forwarded, we can determine where the message was sent from (by IP address), how it was routed, whether the message was rated for being junk mail, and the numerous time stamps involved.

Most every email client has a way to get the message header data. I've listed a number of the more popular programs below:

• GCI SchoolAccess Webmail Client: with message open, click on the "All headers" link in the upper right hand corner.
• Claris E-Mailer: under Mail select Show Long Headers.
• Eudora (before ver. 3): Select Tools , Options... , then Fonts & Display then Show all headers.
• Eudora (ver. 3.x, 4.x PC or Macintosh): Press the BLAH button on the incoming mail message.
• HotMail: To expose the full message header, click "Options" on the Hotmail Navigation Bar on the left side of the page. On the Options page, click "Preferences." Scroll down to "Message Headers" and select "Full."
• MS Outlook: Double click on the email in your inbox. This will bring the message into a window. Click on View - Options. You can also open a message then choose File....Properties....Details.
• MS Outlook Express: Alt-Enter, or Alt-F then R.
• Netscape 4.xx: Double click on the email in your inbox. Click on View - Headers - All.

With this info, we can quickly answer your questions on what, why, when, and how you received "this junk" or "that spam". As always, forward this info to schoolaccess@gci.com.