Youth & Education
Anti-immigration zealotry goes after the children
Fri, 05/07/2010 - 09:18 — Dave Culver
Anti-immigrant zeal morphs into bullying as Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer prepares to sign legislation targeting a Mexican-American-studies program in the Tucson Unified School District.
Lynne K. Varner, Seattle Times | WA
It didn't take long for Arizona to turn its anti-immigration vitriol on children.
A bill on the desk of Gov. Jan Brewer would outlaw a Mexican-American-studies program in the Tucson Unified School District because it supposedly promotes ethnic solidarity.
Uh oh, there goes gender studies, which, if one is not vigilant, can foster a sense of sisterhood among girls. Adios also to all those European history and literature classes, long suspected to be creating little Francophiles and Anglophiles in our schools.
School Lunch "Boosts" Result in Ridiculous, Counterintuitive Cuts
Wed, 05/05/2010 - 09:42 — Dave CulverChildren are increasingly served very unhealthy food in order to kowtow to the Kings of Big Ag.
Carolyn Lochhead, San Francisco Chronicle, in Axis of Logic
An entree of nachos, smothered with cheese and meat, is often consumed with chocolate milk for lunch, at Von Steuben Metro Science High School. (Alex Garcia)
Senate lawmakers moved Wednesday (March 24) to make school lunches more healthful by cutting farm conservation programs, while leaving intact the crop subsidies that many experts say contribute to the high fat and starchy diets behind the obesity epidemic.
A costly remake of the $17 billion school lunch program, which feeds 32 million children a day, is under way in Congress in tandem with first lady Michelle Obama's high-profile campaign to end childhood obesity.
There is widespread agreement in both parties that corn chips with cheese sauce, fried chicken nuggets and other staples of the school lunch menu have to go. Obesity has risen dramatically in children, and the cost of treating the conditions linked to being overweight have reached nearly $150 billion a year, or 50 percent more than the cost of the new health care law.
Emergency funding urged to prevent worst school cuts in 50 years
Mon, 04/26/2010 - 13:43 — Dave CulverTens of thousands of teachers and other school staff are facing layoffs across the country for the coming school year, with school districts projecting slashed programs, larger class sizes and shortened school weeks.
Hundreds of thousands of teachers around the country are being told that their jobs may be eliminated in June
Susan Webb, People's World
In Elgin, Ill., School Superintendent Jose Torres has had to eliminate early childhood classes for 100 children, cut middle school football, raise high school class sizes from 24 to 30 students, close swimming pools to save on the cost of chlorine, and lay off 1,000 school employees, including 700 teachers, the New York Times reported this week (April 18-24).
And he thinks next year will be worse.
As state and local governments grapple with shrinking revenues and soaring budget shortfalls in the continuing fallout from the national economic crisis, public schools are among the top targets for cuts, even as they face new pressure to produce higher test scores.
Related:
Mike Thompson | It Takes a Village to Raise an Idiot / Slate.com
Mon, 04/26/2010 - 11:44 — Dave CulverE-Learning 2010
Mon, 04/26/2010 - 11:32 — Dave CulverOur new special report from the technology team at Education Week Digital Directions aims to highlight the progress made in the e-learning arena, as well as the administrative, funding, and policy barriers that some experts say are slowing the growth of this form of education.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell signed legislation this month (April) promoting the growth of virtual schools. The new law requires the state to develop policies for approving and monitoring a wide array of private and nonprofit online education providers.
The legislative action in Virginia is the most recent major policy move by a state to expand the opportunities for students to take online-only courses from a variety of providers.
The law mirrors the growth of e-learning across the country and the need to focus on the quality of online courses and whether they meet state standards and push K-12 learning to a higher, more interactive level.
Related:
Download the new interactive version of the report E-Learning 2010: Assessing the Agenda for Change.
District Innovates to Address Dropout Problem
Sun, 04/25/2010 - 06:05 — Mike SteigerwaldCyber high school is having success re-engaging dropouts and at-risk students, earning state funds tied to enrollment.
