Impact of NCLB
There's a story about the effects of NCLB on teachers in today's Orange County Register.
Here's the link.
Five years after the NCLB Act, what are the debates going on in your school about potential changes?
September 30, 2007
September 29, 2007
El Segundo school plants trees
Barely a month after a giant tree fronting the school was felled over safety concerns - and despite pleas to save it - El Segundo's Richmond Street Elementary has planted multiple replacements.
In a Friday event that launched the school's participation in districtwide efforts to go green, the 500-member student body planted nearly two-dozen new trees across their sprawling campus.
Here's the link to Shelly's story.
Youth groups might have to pay for using LAUSD facilities
Hundreds of nonprofit youth groups across Los Angeles would have to pay to use the school district's facilities and athletic fields under plans set to launch quietly next year.
The move comes just two years after Los Angeles Unified School District officials abandoned similar efforts after a broad public outcry that it could force youth groups to cancel thousands of worthwhile after-school events.
Here's the link to Naush Boghossian's story.
September 28, 2007
High School Teacher Blogs About Student Plagiarism
Teach for America recruit Lauren McCabe -- currently teaching senior English and government at Environmental Charter High School in Lawndale -- has an interesting post about plagiarism on the Los Angeles Times' newest blog, "The Homeroom," where she is a regular contributor.
After discovering several plagiarized essays among her students' latest assignments, McCabe wrote, she expressed her frustration to an administrator and came away with an enlightened view about the possible psychology behind the practice.
Read it here.
Gardena poster winners
Gardena police selected poster artwork from nine elementary students to reproduce and post around town. The winning posters were picked from 250 entries of students illustrating a pedestrian-safety theme. Here are the winners...
* Emani Mack, fourth-grade, Purche Avenue Elementary SchoolThe goal of the contest was to was to emphasize pedestrian safety so children safely cross streets before and after school. Each school was given a new bicycle and helmet. Gardena police used a $210,000 state safety grant to pay for the pedestrian safety program.
* Ashley Randolph, fifth-grade, Maria Regina School
* Jazmin Paminpuan, fourth-grader, Chapman Elementary School
* Ian May, fifth-grade, 156th Street Elementary School
* Lani Matsumura, fourth-grade, Denker Avenue Elementary School
* Sierra Reynolds, fourth-grade, St. Anthony of Padua School
* Milan Garbutt, fourth-grade, Crossroad Christian Academy
* Isaac Green, fourth-grade, Amestoy Elementary School
Carson elementary school singled out by state
Earlier this week, California's Secretary of Education David Long used Bunche Elementary School (a Carson school that's in Compton Unified) to illustrate his point that schools in poorer neighborhoods can stop using that as an excuse for low test scores.
"There are a number of California schools with predominately poor, minority and English learning students that are achieving at high levels, like Ralph Bunche Elementary in Carson and The Preuss School in San Diego," Long said.
Bunche Elementary's students are 99 percent black or Latino, 40 percent English language learners and 95 percent economically disadvantaged. The school has raised its API score from 445 to 846 since 1999. Mikara Solomon is the school's principal.
Torrance Election Issues Begin to Emerge
The first of five scheduled public forums featuring Torrance Unified School District Board of Election candidates revealed what is likely to be the hot topic in this race for two seats: Money.
In a Thursday-night, 90-minute session hosted by the Southeast Torrance Homeowners Association, incumbent Terry Ragins and aspiring first-time trustees Don Lee, Irmi Lake and G. Rick Marshall spent a good chunk of time answering questions about a potential new bond campaign and possible contingency plans for funding if such a measure should fail. (In its 60-year history, Torrance Unified has only passed one bond.)
Some soundbites:
* "(If a bond fails), you look at your assets, you start to manage your assets like you would your checking account ... and it could involve some painful things to go through that process." (Don Lee)
* "The only time Torrance has had actual renovation money for facilities was in the 1970s, when we closed schools and sold assets ... if it comes to that (this time), that's another choice." (Terry Ragins)
* "Before the district talks about another bond it needs to work on rebuilding the trust of the community. For too long this district has had only one play: 'Give us a big pot of money and we'll take care of it.' We have to stop doing that." (G. Rick Marshall)
* "If we do pass a bond issue I want to make sure the money is spent properly, on quality items." (Irmi Lake)
The district's 30 campuses are well known to be in various states of disrepair, as documented in the June-released report, "Torrance Schools: An Urgent Wake-Up Call." Audience members at Thursday's forum were mostly focused on one site -- J.H. Hull Middle School, whose students were relocated because the district lacks enough cash to rebuild their dilapidated home campus.
Every candidate asserted a committment to renovating the original Hull and returning students there, with or without a bond.
Other topics that got touched on Thursday night include teacher salaries, test scores and the importance of having up-to-date technology in the district's schools.
The next such forum, this time sponsored by the Southwood Homeowners Association, is being held at 7 p.m. Monday at Anza Elementary School.
Brewer's reform package nears lift-off
Brewer will present his long-awaited reform package to the Board of Education in early November. Local Board Member Richard Vladovic is frustrated about the pace of reform...
Read our story here.
Ask a Stupid Question Day
Today's the day to get your shy students to ask all their burning questions. At least, that was the idea behind the official designation for Sept. 28 when it was set up by teachers 20 years ago. This story in the Sacramento Bee has a list of actual stupid questions asked by visitors to national parks. It's pretty funny.
In the Ask a Smart Question category, the Breeze Web site has a new feature. We compiled the most frequent "Ask Us" questions into a database. So, if you have a question about something in the South Bay, go here first to see if we've answered it in the past. If not, you will automatically be prompted to send your question to our "Ask Us" writer so we can answer it in the future. Go here.
September 27, 2007
After-school Special: 'C' is for cold
We're a few weeks into the school year and already it seems the entire newsroom staff has the sniffles, including me. Coincidence? I think not. So I went looking online for ways to prevent yourself from catching every bug those little patient-zeros bring in and out of the classroom.
Here are some cold facts: The National Institute of Health Web site says there are about a billion colds in the U.S. each year and you can expect children to have three to eight of them per year throughout their childhoods. In places like the South Bay where there is no real winter, colds are most common during rainy times of year. People are most contagious in the first two to three days of a cold and their runny nose is teeming with viruses, so don't let them sneeze on you.
Read how to prevent a cold after the jump. And if you have any great tips for avoiding colds in your classrooms or homes, send them, will you?
Here are five proven ways to reduce exposure to germs from the NIH Web site:
Switch day care: Using a day care where there are six or fewer children dramatically reduces germ contact.
Wash hands: Children and adults should wash hands at key moments -- after nose-wiping, after diapering or toileting, before eating, and before preparing food.
Use instant hand sanitizers: A little dab will kill 99.99% of germs without any water or towels. The products use alcohol to destroy germs. They are an antiseptic, not an antibiotic, so resistance can't develop.
Disinfect: Clean commonly touched surfaces (sink handles, sleeping mats) with an EPA-approved disinfectant.
Use paper towels instead of shared cloth towels.
Here are seven ways to support the immune system:
Avoid unnecessary antibiotics: The more people use antibiotics, the more likely they are to get sick with longer, more stubborn infections caused by more resistant organisms in the future.
Breastfeed: Breast milk is known to protect against respiratory tract infections, even years after breastfeeding is done. Kids who don't breastfeed average five times more ear infections.
Avoid second-hand smoke: Keep as far away from it as possible! It is responsible for many health problems, including millions of colds.
Get enough sleep: Late bedtimes and poor sleep leave people vulnerable.
Drink water: Your body needs fluids for the immune system to function properly.
Eat yogurt: The beneficial bacteria in some active yogurt cultures help prevent colds.
Take zinc: Children and adults who are zinc-deficient get more infections and stay sick longer.
New Reading Garden at 156th Street Elementary
A new reading garden at 156th Street Elementary School in Gardena will be unveiled Friday.
Using a $5,000 grant from Lowe’s, the school designed and built the garden, which includes five benches, a canopied table and shade trees.
Principal Esther Kim said the garden is a nice addition to the school’s library, which opened two years ago.
“Sometimes the library gets crowded and some students want to read outside,” Kim said.
Fifth-grade teacher Leslie Nehring led parents and teachers in the development of the garden during the summer.
A plaque in the garden honors veteran fifth-grade teacher Patricia Murphy, who died of cancer in December.
At 5:30 p.m. the school will host a ceremony and show the garden to the community. The school is at 2100 W. 156th St. Call 310-324-6639.
PVE couple gives $50 million for LAUSD reform
Richard and Melanie Lundquist, who live in Palos Verdes Estates, have given the largest private donation ever to LAUSD, a princely sum of $50 million. Both attended LAUSD schools. Richard is a local product, attending Dodson Middle in San Pedro and Narbonne High in Harbor City.
Here's the story.
TUSD Candidate Forums Kick Off Tonight
The first of several candidate forums featuring Torrance Unified School District Board of Education hopefuls is being held tonight at John Adams Elementary School.
Hosted by the Southeast Torrance Homeowners Association, the event will invite each candidate to discuss their goals and objectives and answer audience questions. (SETHA members will get priority in the Q&A portion.)
Aspiring first-time trustees Irmi Lake, Don Lee and G. Rick Marshall will all attend, along with incumbent Terry Ragins.
The event runs from 7-8:30 p.m., in the cafeteria at Adams, which is located at 2121 238th St., in Torrance.
Nobel Laureate joins LMU
Nigerian-born playwright and peace activist Wole Soyinka has accepted a teaching position at the Westchester university. Soyinka won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1986. He's the first African to receive the honor.
Soyinka has published more than 20 literary works and taught at Harvard, Cambridge and Cornell universities. He was imprisoned in solitary confinement from 1967 to 1969 for writing an article that called for a cease-fire in Nigeria.
"Through his words and actions, Mr. Soyinka has transformed the world and embodies our university's mission," said President Robert Lawton. "It is an honor to have Mr. Soyinka at LMU."
As an LMU professor, Soyinka will be "interacting with students, faculty, staff and the community through a variety of events, ranging from small-group classroom visits to campus-wide discussions," according to a statment from LMU.
September 26, 2007
Mom gets 3 years' probation for son's truancy
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The mother of a habitually truant school age kid was ordered to attend a year of parenting classes and make sure her son gets to school each day. The boy missed 278 days from kindergarten to the seventh grade. Besides the parenting classes and orders to get her son to class, the mother was placed Tuesday on three years’ probation.
City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo’s anti-truancy program, Operation Bright Future, has prosecuted 16 cases involving parents of habitually truant students since 2002.
After-school special: Outsource your chores
A Web service founded by a Hermosa Beach resident lets people outsource their chores. This has nothing to do with schools, really, except that I bet people with school-age kids are among the busiest on the planet and there's a few things we'd "outsource" if we could.
Here's an excerpt:
Tell me some of the posts on DoMyStuff.
We got a woman who posted a task saying, "Catch my husband cheating and I will pay you per photo." We've had stranger ones than this.Like what?
We had one guy from New York say, "Help me clean my ears." I was going to delete it, but then I saw three people bid on it. I had one post that was, "Teach me how to be girly." She grew up a tomboy and never felt comfortable in dresses.Did anyone bid on that?
Yeah. It was just really simple stuff like how to wear makeup or what colors to wear.
Here's the link to the story.
Book stirs controversy in TUSD
A San Francisco-based publisher's book that labeled four Torrance schools as underperformers sparked a quick rebuke from Torrance educators and a spirited debate on the Breeze Web site.
Here's our story.
Comparing college comparison sites
There are some new tools to help with college selection, developed by various groups in response to a request from Education Secretary Margaret Spellings' commission about a year ago. USA Today has a story comparing some of the pros and cons of the new sites:
College Navigator enables users to search for colleges based on location and program of study. But the new site requires fewer steps “to produce the same results and allows users to factor more criteria into their initial searches, including tuition and SAT or ACT scores. Users also can build and save a list of favorites, tweak criteria without having to start anew and view side-by-side comparisons of up to four institutions. In a nod to adult and working students, users can search for schools that offer distance learning, weekend and evening courses, and credit for life experience. The site design, based on feedback from 90 people in 11 focus groups nationwide, remains a work in progress. Improvements are ongoing, and plans call for a Spanish-language version and campus crime statistics.
Here's the USA Today story.
September 25, 2007
Fight at Hawthorne High
About 50 students were involved in a lunchtime brawl, in which students threw full soda bottles at each other, according to Hawthorne police.
Here's the link.
After-school special: Most parents say they talk to their kids about internet dangers
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The vast majority of American parents talk to their children about how to be safe and ethical on the Internet, according to a survey published today.
Researchers for San Francisco-based nonprofit Common Sense Media and Washington-based education foundation Cable in the Classroom found that 85 percent of parents and legal guardians of children who go online say they have talked to their child in the past year about how to behave on the Internet.
More than 93 percent say they have taken action to make sure the Web sites their children visit meets parental standards, according to the poll, conducted by Harris Interactive. Results were based on phone interviews in mid-August with 411 parents of 6- to 18-year-olds whose kids were online.
Common Sense Media CEO James Steyer said the results may mollify parents and educators alarmed by a 2005 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which found that on average American kids between 8 and 18 spend 6.5 hours a day absorbed in media. That comes to 45 hours a week watching TV
or videos, playing with computers or listening to digital music — more than a full time job.
“The results suggest that most parents balance the Web’s dangers and benefits, they talk to their kids about the issues they meet, and work to make the Web a helpful tool,” Steyer said.
According to the new survey, only one in three parents said their children spent too much time online. About one in four parents worried that kids weren’t exercising or enjoying the outdoors because they were preoccupied with the Internet, and one in five said the Internet distracted kids from schoolwork. Although four out of five parents said the Internet helped their kids in school, nearly three out of four acknowledged that they’ve had “issues” with their children’s online activities.
Parents said the most troubling issues were excessive exposure to advertising or commercialism online; exposure to coarse language, or sexual or violent content online; and exposure to misleading or bad information online.
LAUSD Officials go to Washington to change NCLB Law
From Naush Boghossian, staff writer
Los Angeles Unified Superintendent David Brewer, board President Monica Garcia, board member Yolie Flores Aguilar and other district officials will brief members of Congress Thursday on the impact of the No Child Left Behind law on English Language Learners. They'll pop by for a chat with Rep. Laura Richardson, who took office Sept. 4, after winning a special election in August to replace Juanita Millender-McDonald representing Carson, Long Beach and Compton.
They will also recommend improvements to the law and outline the federal commitment necessary to fully address the needs of English learners.
Between five and six million English Language Learners are enrolled in public schools in the United States. NCLB was designed to guarantee that schools and districts were held accountable for teaching these students English and measuring their academic progress with tests they could understand.
LAUSD teachers plan boycott over payroll problems
They'll boycott after-school faculty meetings starting today until problems with payroll are resolved, union members say.
Here's the link to the story in today's Daily Breeze.
Kumon Open House
To encourage parents to read to their children every day, Kuman Math and Reading Centers will open their centers during October (beginning Monday) and offer advice to tailor books from a 350-title catalogue to the specific child. Kumon, an after-school math and reading program, is a private turtoring company that employs a structured approach to math and reading to help build "a solid command of math and reading skills," the New Jersey-based company stated.
Information about the 10 Kumon centers in the local area (in Torrance, Rancho Palos Verdes, Carson and other areas) can be found on the Kumon Web site.
National Recess Week
The Cartoon Network wants you to help them in their "rescuing recess" campaign. Students and adults can sign up for a chance to win $25,000 for their elementary school. Go to the Web site; download a pledge card; and begin volunteering at your local school as a recess monitor. From the site...
Experts say fresh air and play give kids an edge in their school work. Yet, only 8 state school boards of education have a policy that ensures daily recess. Further, 55% of PTA leaders feel their school’s recess is in jeopardy.
It's all part of National Recess Week that started Monday.
Boost for networking program for at-risk college students
CHICAGO (AP) - A woman who helps students go to college with their "posse" is among the 24 winners of this year's MacArthur Foundation "genius grants."
The $500,000 fellowships were announced today by the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Recipients can use the money however they wish.
"It's an incredible gift," said Deborah Bial, 42, founder and president of the Posse Foundation, which helps form social networks that college students can turn to for support. "It will change my life and I hope it will change Posse's life."
Bial was working with New York City public school students in a leadership program when one of the program's alumni tried to explain to her why he struggled after high school. "He said, 'I never would have dropped out of college if I had my posse with me,'" she said.
The conversation inspired Bial, then 23, to create the program that identifies promising teenagers from urban environments and gets them pre-collegiate training in small groups with other students — their "posse" — destined for the same school.
Since then, the New York-based foundation has placed nearly 2,000 students from six cities at 28 colleges. They graduate at a rate of more than 90 percent.
"I feel like the luckiest person in the world because I love what I do," Bial said. "It was serendipity — I was in the right place at the right time with a kid who had a good idea."
Since 1981, the MacArthur Foundation has named 756 fellows, recommended to the foundation's board by a 12-member selection committee.
September 24, 2007
One Laptop Per Child project
Want to get a jump on your holiday shopping and help out a less-fortunate kid at the same time? The One Laptop Per Child people are hoping so. From Nov. 12 to Nov. 26, they'll sell $188 laptops to Americans for $400 and use the profit to buy another one for a child in a developing nation. Only the first 25,000 buyers will be promised delivery of their XOs by Christmas. Everyone else will likely get theirs in January.
The computers have some quirky, kid-friendly features, according to The Associated Press:
It has a homegrown user interface designed for children, boasts built-in wireless networking, uses very little power and can be recharged by hand with a pulley or a crank. Its display has separate indoor and outdoor settings so it can be read in full sunlight. The machines use the Linux open-source system and don’t run Windows; the program director expects that to be possible soon, but Microsoft Corp. insists it can’t guarantee that, given the machine’s idiosyncratic specs.
Sales: http://www.xogiving.com
One Laptop Per Child: http://www.laptop.org
From The Associated Press Story:
Most buyers figure to be motivated more by the “Give One” aspect than the “Get One” part. Program director Nicholas Negroponte said that dynamic is beginning to pervade the program, with several poor countries finding that richer governments are willing to act as sponsors.
For example, Italy is buying all 50,000 XOs that Ethiopia will get in the program’s first wave. Now Negroponte is trying to encourage similar arrangements with governments in Europe and Asia, with Pakistan and Afghanistan among the possible recipients. Megabillionaire Carlos Slim is expected to purchase 25,000 XOs and lend them to Mexican children.
Thailand, Uruguay, Nigeria, Brazil, Libya and Rwanda are among the countries that could be in the first wave of laptop customers, though specifics have not been announced.
Given all the innovations in the XO and the discussions it has inspired about computers in education, One Laptop Per Child — a spinoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — can claim significant achievements. However, Negroponte hoped to be further along by now.
In September 2005, he was saying that 5 million to 15 million machines might be in production in 2006, with perhaps 100 million out by now. In April 2006 he foresaw 5 million to 10 million XOs dotting the landscape in 2007.
Now 250,000 to 300,000 are due to be made by the end of this year. Negroponte expects that to ramp up to 1 million a month next year, though he still lacks signed orders for that many.
One reason things may have gone slower than predicted is One Laptop Per Child’s impending emergence awoke commercial vendors to the promise of a low-cost international educational market. Now governments considering buying XOs for their youngsters have multiple options in the $200 range — including more-conventional computers that can run Windows. Negroponte acknowledges the absence of Windows led Russia to say no.
One of the laptop program’s unabashed admirers is Miguel Brechner, who runs a government-funded technology group in Uruguay. Brechner has been overseeing a test of 200 XOs in a Uruguayan village and believes the laptops have stimulated collaboration and raised expectations for children. He expects to buy many more
XOs as Uruguay soon begins to outfit all 400,000 of its primary schoolchildren with laptops.
“I’m absolutely a believer that this will change the country,” Brechner said.
But not all of those computers will be XOs. To hedge its bets, Uruguay probably will buy other inexpensive laptops as well, including Intel Corp.’s Classmate PCs.
Brechner argues that Windows is a better option for older kids who are closer to entering the computing work force.
Making music at Lawndale High
Here's an excerpt from Shelly's story about the inspiring students of Lawndale High's new music program:
What a difference a year makes. A dozen months after a handful of enterprising, passionate students started their own band at then band-less Lawndale High - teaching themselves, coaching each other, choosing their own music and sharing instruments purchased at pawn shops - the school has launched a full-scale music program. “You sit in this classroom and just go, ‘Look what we did,’” said senior Glenda Mendoza, 17, an alto saxophonist who was part of last year’s remarkable startup effort.
Weekend wrap-up
Over the weekend we reported on a San Pedro charter high school's difficulties nailing down a building and a generous gift to The Hill's private Chadwick School.
The Port of Los Angeles High School, a two-year-old charter has made academic strides, but struggled to pin down an agreement to lease a former shipping company's headquarters. » Read the story here.
Roger MacFarlane, a Palos Verdes Estates shipping executive, has established a $1 million endowment to Chadwick for promising students who qualify for financial aid. » Read the story here.
Freshman Patti and the Twister
Patti Sponaugle is a Torrance High grad who is attending Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Here's a snippet of this week's column:
I rushed out into the hall, only to find it completely empty, and immediately (and absurdly) concluded the worst-case scenario: I was the only surviving victim of the Drone of Terror!But a few seconds into my bout of paranoia, out strolled one of my hall mates from his room, cool and leisurely like, looking about as perturbed as a ball of yarn.
Hadn’t he heard that awful noise? I asked, to which he nonchalantly replied that it was “only a tornado warning,” and that we “probably” weren’t in danger.
Probably.
Needless to say, I spent the remainder of that day suspiciously glancing toward the sky, wary should a huge vortex swoop down and swallow me away.
And here's the link to the rest of it.
And previously in Freshmanland:
» Lana Buu 09/03/07: A new Hoya
» Patti Sponaugle 09/10/07: It's Ohio, not Africa
» Lana Buu 09/17/07: Learning outside the classroom
September 21, 2007
RPV Principal in gun flap leaves post
Denise Leonard left Cornerstone Elementary School, three weeks into the school year. The Cornerstone principal angered a group of parents in June, when she required students to cut off the tips of plastic weapons on 2-inch army men on mortarboards. She left for personal reasons and declined to speak for the Daily Breeze story.
September 20, 2007
Dangerous lunch boxes
The Hawthorne and Lawndale elementary school districts and Women, Infants & Children (WIC) centers in Torrance, San Pedro and Hawthorne are among the agencies statewide that received some of the 56,000 lunch boxes announced today to potentially contain lead.
The state on Thursday put out a warning about lead-tainted lunch boxes distributed by the Department of Public Health. The boxes were given out at health fairs and other events and carried a logo saying “eat fruits and vegetables and be active.” They were imported from China by T-A Creations Inc. of Los Angeles.
The department urged consumers to return the lunch boxes to the places where they got them or to a household hazardous waste disposal facility. As a precaution, it also urged consumers not to use approximately 300,000 other lunch boxes distributed by the department.
Link to full story.
Budget Meeting Icebreaker Reveals Fun Facts
A budget workshop this morning at the Manhattan Beach Unified School District offices kicked off with an "icebreaker" among district trustees and other official types that revealed some intriguing information about various attendees.
Finance chief Steve Romines asked each participant to write down one "absolute truth" about themselves and "one blatant lie." He then read the statements aloud and everyone tried to guess who said which things.
The diverse truths were both hilarious and impressive. Among the highlights:
*Superintendent Bev Rohrer, at a labor protest in San Bernardino with her union parents, was "the youngest Teamster to ever throw fruit at management." She was only three years old at the time.
*Trustee Amy Howorth once worked in the pit at a stock car race (her dad owned a stock car).
*Romines once surfed a 21-foot-wave at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz, near legendary surf break Maverick's.
The exercise drew many laughs and scattered claps - and afforded a relaxed entree into a drier discussion of numbers.
Tracking the "achievement trap"
Interesting East Coast policy study reported by Ed Week showing that high-achievers from lower-income families fall behind their peers from better-off families. The issue is most problematic with students living in communities with median household incomes below the national average ($48,201 in 2006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau). South Bay communities that fall into that category include Lawndale ($44,024), Gardena ($43,615) and Hawthorne ($35,980).
They're calling it the "achievement trap," a reference to the problem (known as the "achievement gap") of African-American and Latino students faring worse on standardized tests than their white and Asian peers.
September 19, 2007
Zut Alors!
Budding francophiles at Lawndale High are crying foul over their school's decision to cancel its French classes and jettison teacher Marie Alcindor to nearby Leuzinger, citing a lack of interest.
"There just aren’t enough students to warrant having a full-time French teacher at Lawndale," Superintendent Cheryl White said.
After arguing hard that the move is a setback to their progression toward college -- the UC and CSU systems require two years of the same language, but recommend three -- upset students were extended a potential olive branch this week.
Administrators now say they hope to bring the language back part-time, offering it only before and/or after school. (Zero period starts at 7 a.m.; seventh period runs from about 3-4 p.m.)
Regardless, the so-touted "college prep" school is left with just one foreign language on it's regular schedule, a language that many students there already speak: Spanish. Tres interresant.
For the full story, read Thursday's Daily Breeze.
Danish film students visit Harbor College
Visitors from Aabenraa Statsskole, a vocational college in the city of Aabenraa, spent a day at the Wilmington community college meeting with the theater department and filming a segment of President Linda Spink's monthly cable show. Instructors Ole Oestergaard and Klause Chresien and 29 of their students spent the day at the campus on Sept. 13. They filmed themselves filming Spink's "The President's Roundtable," which airs on Comcast's Channel 27, for a student documentary.
San Pedro High wants your glossies
Librarian Sharon Ogomori is looking to build up the school's magazine offerings, since there's no funding available for subscriptions. Students are asked to bring in any current issues they've finished reading. Ogomori is looking for teen, celebrity, fashion and news magazines.
The library is open before school, during nutrition, at lunch and after school until 3:30 p.m.
September 18, 2007
An unlikely source of nutrition education
The FDA and nutrition experts are teaming up with the Cartoon Network to teach kids how to read food labels so they can make healthy eating choices for themselves. One dietician quoted in The Associated Press story says they have to start teaching kids because parents are so crummy at it. Here's some of the AP story:
"Since I find parents are not doing a bang-up job (teaching nutrition), I think it's important to empower the children with their own information," said Miami registered dietitian Ronni Litz Julien.
The FDA partnered with the Cartoon Network earlier this year to launch a public education campaign encouraging children ages 9 to 13 — or tweens — to read the nutrition facts on food labels.
An interactive Web page on the Cartoon Network's Web site teaches kids to avoid foods high in fat, cholesterol, sodium and sugar and consume more foods with potassium, fiber, iron and calcium. It offers information on serving sizes and calories (40 calories is low, 100 is moderate and 400 is high).
"We learned that tweens are able to cognitively understand food labels, they're making food choices on their own, they want independence, yet they're still influenced by their parents," said Carrie Ainsworth, education outreach specialist for the FDA.
The agency will launch a campaign for parents next year reinforcing the same message, she said.
Semicolons Get Their Due!
Californian Jeff Rubin [the founder] and Norma Martinez-Rubin -- they both live in Contra Costa County -- have designated Monday (Sept. 24) as National Punctuation Day: a celebration of colons; apostrophes; brackets; and 10 other punctuation marks. What is it? The day is to "reinforce important punctuation lessons" for the nation's children.
Their program of educational materials utilizes interactive games, raps and other activities to teach elementary school kids how to use punctuation properly. With the materials, teachers receive tools and classroom aids ... for the classroom, according to Rubin's Web site.
September 17, 2007
Top Teachers To Be Announced Friday
Six South Bay educators are among 64 countywide vying to be named one of L.A.'s "Teachers of the Year."
Whittled down from a total pool of 85,000 teachers, 16 will be selected and named in a Friday morning announcement by County Superintendent of Schools Darline Robles.
The following locals, listed along with their district, school and class(es) taught, are up for the honor:
*Lennox School District: Edy Flint, first grade, Felton Elementary
*LA Unified, Local District 8: Toni Agovino, biology and health, Dana Middle School
*LA Unified, Local District 8: Tina Lomas, preschool, Eshelman Avenue Elementary
*Manhattan Beach Unified: William Brown, English, Mira Costa High School
*Redondo Beach Unified: Gail Yoneoka, math, health, art andwriting, Jefferson Elementary
*Torrance Unified: Kathi Wilson, kindergarten, Fern Avenue Elementary
The "Sweet Sixteen" will be announced Friday at 10 a.m., in a special ceremony being held in the Hiro Room of the Hilton University City & Towers, 555 Universal Terrace Parkway, Los Angeles. Read more about Lomas here.
Homework Or Busywork?
Interesting op-ed piece from Randye Hoder in The Times on Sunday on the topic of teachers assigning too much homework. A Duke professor and two recent books have argued against excessive workloads at home, warning of "burn out."
Here's the link.
How are you spending Constitution Day?
If you're at a federally funded school, you should be spending today learning about the document that was signed 220 years ago, of course. But, according to a study by the Knight Foundation, only 10 percent of high school students could remember how their schools marked the occasion last year. And 51 percent had never heard of it.
In case you haven't either, here's what The Associated Press story says about it:
Constitution Day was created by Congress in 2004. It was the brainchild of Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., who carries a copy of the Constitution in his pocket. The law requires any school and college receiving federal money to teach about the Constitution on or about Sept. 17. Schools can determine the kind of educational program, but they must hold one each year.
Eric Newton, vice president of the foundation's journalism program, said
he worries that an entire generation may lack a solid understanding of
the document that governs America's democracy.
"We're concerned that teaching to the test and the emphasis on math and
science is hurting the American civics education," Newton said.
Recent national tests show that more students are learning the basics
when it comes to history and civics, but are not rising beyond a modest
competency in either subject.
Schools are canning the sodas
There's a report out today that says the beverage industry is beginning to send healthier drinks to schools because many states have banned soda sales on campus. It's the first progress report on the industry since agreeing to pull sugary drinks from most schools by 2009. Here's what The Associated Press story says:
"Through these guidelines, the beverage industry is cutting calories in
schools in a dramatic way across the country," said Susan Neely,
president and chief executive officer of the American Beverage
Association. The trade group represents the country's nonalcoholic
beverage industry, which includes soda, bottled water and fruit drinks.
Health officials long have expressed concern that schools contributed to
rising obesity rates because campus vending machines sold high-calorie
and high-sugar snacks and drinks.
Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in
the Public Interest, said the report card offers some good news.
"It looks like the country has taken a good step forward in addressing
soft drinks in schools, but we still have a lot of work to do," she
said.
Wootan said about 22 states limit the sale of sugary drinks in some
grades. Most elementary schools are already soda-free. But under the voluntary
guidelines, beverage companies agreed to sell only water, unsweetened
juice and low-fat and nonfat milk to elementary and middle schools. Diet
sodas and sports drinks will remain in high schools.
The guidelines were brokered by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation,
a collaboration between the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation
and the American Heart Association.
It involves industry leaders Cadbury Schweppes PLC, Coca-Cola Co. and
PepsiCo Inc. as well as the beverage association, which together control
87 percent of the public and private school drink market.
Robert Wescott, the economist hired by the beverage association to
evaluate vending machine stock, said the overall shipment of nondiet
soft drinks to schools peaked in 2003-04 school year, so deliveries were
falling even before the industry's agreement. But that trend has
accelerated, he said.
"I'm very confident we have the correct story here: Volumes are down
sharply and the shift is heavily away from carbonated soft drinks,"
Wescott said.
Overall, shipments of all beverages to schools, when measured in ounces,
dropped 27 percent between 2004 and the 2006-07 school year.
The biggest declines were in sugary fruit drinks, 56.2 percent, and
full-calorie soft drinks, 45.1 percent. Meanwhile, there was a 22.8
percent increase in the volume of bottled water in school vending
machines.
Neely said that the guidelines led the beverage industry to invest
millions of dollars to retrofit vending machines and repackage products.
Those efforts will continue as companies work toward fully ending sales
of nondiet soft drinks by the 2009-10 school year.
ON THE WEB
» American Beverage Association research
September 16, 2007
Meet the freshmen
With the start of the new school year comes the start of a new Freshman
column. This time around, we'll follow two students as they go through
the ups and downs, excitement and anxiety, of their first year of
college. Lana Buu, a Torrance High School graduate attending Georgetown
University in Washington, D.C., started things off two weeks ago. She'll alternate
weekly with Patti Sponaugle, another Torrance High grad, who
is attending Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Catch up on their columns, and then follow their journey throughout the school year.
» Lana Buu 09/03/07: A new Hoya
» Patti Sponaugle 09/10/07: It's Ohio, not Africa
» Lana Buu 09/17/07: Learning outside the classroom
» Lana Buu 09/03/07: A new Hoya
» Patti Sponaugle 09/10/07: It's Ohio, not Africa
» Lana Buu 09/17/07: Learning outside the classroom