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Parents who are curious about where their kids' lunch money is going have a new resource, The Times' Alana Semuels writes.
Adam Thursby, soon to be a freshman at UC Riverside, writes:
August is winding down and that means reality has struck for all of us who are going to college. You really do have to leave all your old hangouts, friends, and habits behind and almost start a new life.
For me it’s not quite that drastic. I’m going to UC Riverside, close enough that I can home on the weekend if I feel so inclined. For many of my friends who are leaving California it’s a little bigger deal. Suddenly, it’s not just going to In-N-Out, it’s your last double double for three months. The trip to the beach is the last time you’ll sink your toes into the sand for a long time. And friends you’ve seen every day at school are giving you a hug and telling you that they’ll see you at Thanksgiving.
So now I spend a lot of time at going away events. This is hardly insightful, I know, but bear with me. Our parents have told us all about how going off to college is hard, you lose touch with a lot of friends, so we try to make up for that by having one last time together. Often it’s a bonfire at the beach. (We in the OC watched “Laguna Beach” too.) Sometimes it’s a “parental-sponsored” going away party, and sometimes it’s just a bunch of people at a pool.
I’m sure you have heard the stories about people who spend more time on Facebook or instant messenger than interacting with people in the real world, but those things already have allowed me to stay in touch with my friends who have gone off to college. Without them, I would have no idea that there’s an A&W root beer near Cornell with an indoor mini golf course. I wouldn’t know that there’s been bad weather in South Bend, Ind., lately and that Grand Forks, N.D., is really rural, but they have awesome steaks.
At first glance, these details probably seem trivial, hardly a way to create or maintain a friendship. But I’m reminded of how Charlie Epps (one of the main characters in the television show "Numb3rs") describes human interactions. All human interactions are exchanges, friendship is no exception, it’s the exchange of information. No matter how trivial the information, it’s how we are going to keep our friendships alive.
Photo: Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times
Graduation rates for school districts around the country can be found on the Education Research Center website.
The reports include district enrollment, graduation rates and trends, analysis of where students are lost throughout the high school pipeline, and comparisons with state and national figures.
The Education Research Center’s analysis of graduation rates is featured in the recent Diplomas Count report, a special edition of the newspaper Education Week. The center estimates that 1.23 million students failed to graduate from high school last year, almost 30% of the class of 2008.
Read The Times' look at the dropout problem here.
-- Mary MacVean
Antero Garcia, an English teacher at Manual Arts High, writes:
It’s over so quickly?
It was only two months ago that I wrote about the frustrations of grading and piled up late work amassed at the end of the year. And yet, here I am again.
While many teachers have just returned to school to start the year, the students at Manual Arts High School are wrapping things up: Our first quarter of the year is finished. Along with a third of the students -– those on the school’s B-track -– I’m looking forward to a much-needed break.
As always, I have learned a ton from working with my students. I’m looking forward to spending time during the break reflecting on the experiences and challenges I faced throughout the past two months.
Continue reading Grading student papers »
Erin Shachory, the mother of two students at Riverside Drive Elementary School in Sherman Oaks and pictured at left, writes:
A friend and I were trying to work out a play date for our kids today. "How 'bout next week?" I asked. "It's finally nice and hot outside..."
"Uh... school starts next week," she said.
And so it does. Lulled by the lazy calendar and late wakeup times, I have nearly lost track of days. Can you believe it? I have barely shopped at the grocery store (unless I needed birthday candles or margarita mixes), and my usual spot at Starbucks is gathering dust. Thank goodness my kids' birthdays are in August or I would have missed out on the back-to-school shopping deals too.
The truth is that maybe I don't want school to start again. Aside from the obvious perks of summer (traveling without homework deadlines, unscheduled days with my kids, learning their innermost likes and dislikes, teaching them to decoupage and do laundry), which I will miss dearly, I'm dreading the "work" that we parents have to do during the school year. Not just homework and chauffeuring kids to and fro, but fundraising and being community ambassadors for our public school.
Continue reading School starts already???!! »
The Pew Hispanic Center has a new report looking at Hispanic students in public schools.
The number of such students nearly doubled from 1990 to 2006, to 20% of all public school students -- or 10 million students. In 2006, Hispanics were about half of all public school students in California, up from 36% in 1990. They were more than 40% of enrollment in Arizona.
Strong growth in Hispanic enrollment is expected to continue for decades, according to a recently released U.S. Census Bureau population projection. In 2050, there will be more school-age Hispanic children than school-age non-Hispanic white children.
Some findings from the Pew report, called, "One-in-Five and Growing Fast: A Profile of Hispanic Public School Students" and issued this week, follow:
Continue reading A statistical profile of Hispanic public school students »
Some headlines about schools from around the region:
Westchester school principals move on (Torrance Daily Breeze)
Fewer buses won't 'significantly' affect traffic, pollution (Orange County Register)
Amanda Alvarez, a student at Bell High School, is among a group of students from Southeast Los Angeles who are the Democratic National Convention as part of a project through Pepperdine University. She writes:
(Goo Goo Dolls, shown here at a previous concert, were a highlight of the long convetion day.)
Monday, Aug. 25. When I boarded the plane Sunday morning at LAX, I had my doubts. After today, I cannot imagine being anywhere else in the world.
Our first morning in Denver started quickly. All the students had to be downstairs bright and early and dressed sharply. We received a few quick pointers from our directors and headed off to the convention center.
When we jumped off the light rail, we were met by all kinds of political advocates. Some were protesting abortion, while others were getting into heated discussions about taxing meat. It was a totally new sight for me, but I have to admit that I was completely relieved to walk into the convention center. After walking for a few blocks in my heels, the Denver heat was getting to me.
It took us a while, but once we found the right ballroom, we ate free bagels (and who doesn’t like that?) and listened to a panel representing different religions discuss issues that affect religious Democrats today.
Photo by Ann Johansson / Los Angeles Times
Continue reading High school students go to Denver convention »
Anum Khan, a senior at Whitney High School in Cerritos, writes the first in an occasional series about the college application process:
I was as confused as you might be. At Whitney, a college preparatory school, it isn’t a question of whether a person’s going to college, but rather, where.
Only problem is, how do they get there? So I’ve decided to chronicle my process of applying, and maybe make the way clearer for students, who, like me, aren’t exactly sure how to begin, or what to do.
Essay writing
If you’ve been a high school student for more than a day, you’ll know that applying to colleges means writing essays. And from what I’ve heard from past students, lots of them.
That’s why I decided to take a weeklong college writing workshop (for $150) that our school offers, and that I attended last week. While it’s probably not as intense as some of the college consultation coaches that people dish out thousands of dollars for, I thought it would at least give me a starting point.
I started writing my two UC essays, which the teacher critiqued for revision, and though I’ve written four drafts, it’s not done. For the first prompt (“describe the world you come from”), I’m writing about my religion (Islam), and how that’s affected my life. For the second prompt (on a general talent or quality you possess), I’m writing about writing (yes, you read that correctly).
And while I’ve developed and refined my essays, there’s always the possibility that they might not be unique, or as good as you need it to be to get into the college you want.
Continue reading Applying to college: the inside story »
It's 9 p.m. and the homework is not done. Your 9-year-old is in tears, with 16 math problems left. You sigh, brush aside the second thoughts and just do the problems yourself.
Your fourth-grader has been assigned to build a model of a California mission. When you help carry the finished product to school, some of the models look to have been built by architects. Suspicious about who actually made them?
Whose homework is it anyway?
Forty-three percent of parents queried in a survey this month admit to doing their children's homework at least once to ease the strain. Almost half the dads, 47%, owned up to doing the homework, while 39% of mothers did so.
Kids who hope to persuade (con?) parents into doing homework have a better shot if mom and dad are older. Of parents 18-24, 33% say they’ve done their children’s homework for them, compared with 45% of 25- to 44-year-old parents.
The survey of 778 parents, conducted for the homework resource website Ask Kids, showed that 84% of parents help with homework -- more with math and English than with other subjects.
The survey was conducted by Kelton Research using an e-mail invitation and an online survey. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
-- Mary MacVean
"Early to bed, early to rise" can make your children "healthy, wealthy and wise," or at least so goes the saying. It's that time of year, and as parents prepare to send their children back to school, state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell offers a few tips:
“Taking young children to their first day of school can be filled with excitement as well as anxiety for both parent and student,” he said. “Parents can take proactive steps that will help ease their children into their new learning environment, help them enjoy school, and increase their love of learning. These attitudes and skills will benefit them throughout their lives.” · Put the kids to bed early. Elementary-age children could need as much as 10 to 11 hours each night, and a lack of sleep can affect people of all ages' ability to learn, pay attention and maintain a healthy immune system. Don't wait until the night before the first day of school to try a new bedtime/wake-up routine.
· Get them excited about the school year. Create a list of school supplies and shop for them with your children. Adding up the price tags to make sure you're staying in budget allows kids to practice math skills in a real-world setting. Allow children to pick out their clothing for the next day so they feel engaged.
· Stress the importance and value of education — read to young children every day, and make sure they have a quiet, distraction-free study zone.
— Seema Mehta
Among the Californians who have decamped to the Democratic National Convention in Denver are a couple names that will be familiar to education-watchers. The Times has a list here.
-- Mary MacVean
(Looking through used books at the U.C. Irvine bookstore)
Shopping for textbooks as the college semester starts? It's painful, sometimes to the tune of $1,000 worth of pain.
Many critics suggest turning to online textbooks. But a sharply critical view suggests that the digital world doesn't offer much savings when you take into account that students can resell their traditional books after the class is done.
The report from the student Public Interest Research Groups comes after many attacks -- from Congress to the California state auditor -- on the high price of college texts. Frank Lyman, representing the e-textbook company CourseSmart, says digital textbooks give students a choice, and can be a good deal.
-- Gale Holland
Photo by Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Kindergarten can be a traumatic transition. Crying, separation anxiety, fears, loneliness. Oh, and it can be rough on the children, too.
All kidding aside, if children are prepared, the transition can be easier.
Evelyn Martinez, executive director of First 5 LA, a child advocacy organization that funds School Readiness programs in Los Angeles County, has some suggestions for things families can do at home to prepare for kindergarten.
She suggests practicing and mastering these skills:
- Holding a pencil or crayon properly
- Running, jumping and skippping
- Following simple instructions
- Waiting his or her turn and knowing how to share
- Spending extended periods away from parents
- Recognizing shapes and sorting items by color, shape and size
- Identifying six parts of his/her body
- Understanding such concepts as up, down, in, out, behind and over
- Counting from one to 10
- Knowing his or her age
-- Mary MacVean
Average scores for the 1,518,859 members of the class of 2008 who took the SATs are out. And they did not budge a single point from last year, the College Board said this morning.
The scores can be seen at the College Board website. The College Board owns and administers the SAT and other tests.
In California, nearly half the graduating class of 2008 took the test — 195,406 students, according to State Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell. California reading and writing scores did not shift, but average math scores declined by a single point.
Members of the class of 2009 — and their younger colleagues — are already preparing to take the important college admissions exam this fall.
— Gale Holland
Photo by Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times
The College Board releases average SAT scores from the class of 2008 on Tuesday morning, just as many members of that class head to college.
Earlier this year, the College Board, which owns the SAT and other tests, issued a report saying that the addition of the mandatory writing section in 2005 slightly improved the exam's ability to predict academic success for college freshmen.
But the board also said that the best predictor of all is a combination of all three test sections as well as high school transcripts.
As with other standardized tests, the SAT has come under criticism lately. The National Center for Fair and Open Testing says it will be on the lookout Tuesday for any changes and what the results might say about such issues as the writing test, or about the SAT in comparison with another test, the ACT.
Most universities require applicants to take the SAT or the ACT, its main competitor. Nearly 1.5 million members of the class of 2007 took the SAT, 33% more than 10 years earlier, according to the College Board.
-- Mary MacVean
Some headlines from around the region:
Principals skeptical of reform (Daily News, Los Angeles)
Library closure option leaves questions (Long Beach Press-Telegram)
School site 'clean' despite toxins (Torrance Daily Breeze)
Steven Hicks, a teacher at the Accelerated School, a public charter school and a teaching ambassador fellow with the U. S. Department of Education in Washington, writes:
(Teacher ambassadors meet with Laura Bush.)
What would you say if you were given the opportunity to tell the Department of Education how the policies and programs that the federal government supported were affecting the students and teachers in our schools? Well, that is exactly what I will be doing for the next year along with 24 colleagues from around the country.
I am a kindergarten/first grade teacher in Los Angeles, but have a one-year appointment to work with the Department of Education in Washington, D.C. This is the first time that the department has formally involved teacher input into the policies and programs that affect our children. The program is called the Teaching Ambassador Fellowship Program. There are five Washington ambassadors that work in the department offices and 20 classroom ambassadors who work from their classrooms for the year.
Continue reading L.A. teacher goes to Washington »
(Students at the new Roybal Learning Center in L.A.)
Just days from the start of school for many teenagers seems like a good time to check in on how they're feeling -- or at least how one survey says they're feeling.
And chipper they are not. There has been a drop in the number of students feeling hopeful and optimistic about the future of the country -- from 75% in 2003 to 53% this year, according to the national survey conducted by Peter D. Hart research associates by the Horatio Alger Assn.
The good news is that 88% of the teens surveyed described themselves as confident, and 66% said they feel optimistic about their own futures.
Continue reading Teens have confidence if not optimism »
Wednesday’s story about college presidents advocating a debate on lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 elicited many comments.
 Some angrily denounced the possible change, predicting it would raise highway deaths from drunk driving and worsen the binge atmosphere at some campuses. Many said that the 21 age requirement is a useless Prohibition-like limit that actually encourages under-age drinking with a forbidden-fruit attraction.
And some suggested another age limit altogether.
Here is a sample of comments:
Continue reading College drinking debate draws comments »
Some education headlines:
Charter school leader joins Milken venture (Daily News, Los Angeles)
LBUSD moves to close school (Long Beach Press-Telegram)
Nick Giulioni, who will be a student at USC in January, writes:
(One day soon, this could be Nick, cheering on the USC basketball team at the Galen Center.)
Being a USC Trojan has been my dream for as long as I can remember. My father, Peter Giulioni, became a fan when he moved from the East Coast (you have to choose to be a USC or UCLA fan living in Los Angeles), raising me as a fan while he sang the school's praises. Years down the line, he became an employee of its business school. Even if I had not been a fan of the university, the idea of tuition remission because of my father's association with the school would be hard to pass up.
But it was love of the school that helped me through my high school years. The thought of furthering my education at USC is what kept me focused during all those high school all-nighters. Imagining me at all the football games is what gave me the strength through the grueling SAT. The possibility of being part of the “Trojan Family” is what persuaded me to write several essays, in addition to my normal school workload, in an attempt to attain an acceptance letter.
Continue reading Delayed gratification in college acceptance for will-be Trojan »
Jimmy Biblarz, a student in the humanities magnet at Hamilton High School, writes:
Recently, the College Board changed one of its most longstanding SAT rules. Until now, students were allowed to take the exam as many times as they were willing to pay for, but colleges saw all the scores. This was to try and discourage students from "gaming the system."
But a new rule takes effect next March, and students will be able to take the SAT as many times as they are willing to pay for, and colleges will only see their highest score. (The cost of taking the SAT twice and an alternative test, the ACT, is $121.)
This important change got next to no publicity. There was no statement on the College Board's website; I saw nothing about it on the news or the web. I found out from a friend who found out from his private, one-on-one, college counselor. Apparently, the move aims to get students back to the SAT.
The ACT, long thought to be the college entrance exam of the Midwest and South, has been gaining over the last 10 years. More than a third of all high school students opt to take the ACT. This is for many reasons, the primary one being that one can take the ACT as many times as they would like, and colleges are only able to see their highest score. Sound familiar?
Other reasons for the growth in ACT popularity include its length (three hours compared with the SAT's four), an optional writing section (the SAT's is mandatory), and the content of the test (the SAT has long been considered the a test of logic, the ACT a test of knowledge learned in the classroom).
It can mean a lot of test-taking over the course of a high school career. I begin my junior year in September, and already I have taken the SAT (early, but I wanted to see what it was like) and two SAT subject tests. I have taken the PSAT twice and will take it again in October. I also plan to take the SAT in March, and if I don't do as well as I want to, again in June. I'll probably take the ACT as well. Some colleges like students to have taken both.
There could be a silver lining to rising diesel fuel costs -- fitter children.
The Associated Press says some school districts across the country are cutting back on bus service by consolidating stops, canceling field trips and forcing students to walk longer distances in response to fuel costs that have gone up by more than a third in a year.
There are obvious benefits to walking. But AP says school and transportation officials fear that reduced transportation service could mean lower attendance rates, increased traffic congestion or safety problems.
"If you remove a school bus from the road, you're adding 40 to 50 cars in the morning and in the afternoon," said Bob Riley, spokesman for the American School Bus Council, which represents school transportation officials.
California is among the states cutting back, AP reports: The Capistrano Unified School District in Orange County, for example, has eliminated 44 of its 62 bus routes to save an estimated $3.5 million, district spokeswoman Julie Hatchel said. The cuts will affect an estimated 5,000 students from kindergarten to high school. Leaders in three communities served by the district have threatened lawsuits.
-- Mary MacVean
It's Day 9 of the Olympics, and it looks like the United States is tied in the overall medal competition with ... let's see ... Botswana!
Oh, and Kuwait. And Togo. And Uzbekistan. And a few others.
Which is to say, we have a big fat zero. A goose egg. Nada. Zilch.
Finland, meanwhile, leads the rankings with 32 medals, followed by Hong Kong (26), Japan (13) and New Zealand (11).
Continue reading Where's Michael Phelps when we need him? »
Anum Khan, a student at Whitney High in Cerritos, writes:
(The beach ... not a daily destination for competitive high school students.)
There’s a trend taking over high school students’ summers. It’s not tanning, getting that coveted internship at your local politician’s office or traveling to Africa to help orphans.
It’s taking college classes.
I’ve taken two classes at Cerritos College -- political science last summer, and philosophy, which ended earlier this month.
Some people treat these classes like the Olympics, trying to take as many challenging classes as they can to get some prestigious degree (or to put them on their college application). Though I can’t say the latter wasn’t a factor, I took them mostly to fill extra time and just to see what they were all about.
Frankly, they were probably easier than any class I’ve taken in high school.
Easier on the brain that is, definitely not on the wallet.
For poli sci, my book cost more than $100, and I read only the parts needed for the test. For philosophy, my two flimsy paperback books cost me almost $80 combined.
Because poli sci was an online class, all the tests were online. Meaning we could look at our book whenever we wanted to. Meaning I didn’t really study (Sorry, Ms. Gaffaney!). Our teacher, however (whom I met during orientation), was really great.
Compared with poli sci, my philosophy class was a bit more eventful. We had class two hours a day, four days a week, for six weeks (I have to admit, the schedule almost kept me from taking the class). At first, I treated it like a normal class. I got my binder, carefully made labels for all the sections (adding in an “extras” tab just in case), and diligently hole-punched every paper. I read ahead for every “surprise” quiz (which none of them ended up being, despite what Mr. Stolze kept telling us).
Continue reading College classes taking over high school summers »
An update: A charter schools spokesman called to let us just how many charters there are. When Caprice Young took over her position five years ago, there were 436 charters in the state. This fall there will be 750, including 25 new charters within Los Angeles Unified.
Caprice Young, head of the California Charter Schools Assn. and former Los Angeles school board member, announced this morning that she is stepping down to take a new job at an education company.
Young is credited by both critics and supporters of charter schools with spearheading the movement in California, which grew during her five-year tenure to more than 300 publicly financed, independently run campuses.
Young has accepted a position with Knowledge Universe, a global education company based in Santa Monica that serves students here and abroad and online. It was founded by Michael Milken and his brother Lowell Milken. Young will be vice president, business development and alliances, with Knowledge Universe.
Young was a school board member and president before she was ousted in a tough election in which the teachers union ran a candidate against her. She was part of a bloc of board members supported by then-Mayor Richard Riordan to reform the troubled Los Angeles Unified School District.
-- Beth Shuster
Photo courtesy California Charter Schools Assn.
Leningrad? What's that? St. Petersburg is no longer named for the man whose tomb is shown here in Red Square.
And what's the big deal about balsamic vinegar? Peppered balsamic ice cream like this might still be rare, but balsamic vinegar is pretty everyday to the class of 2012.
A lifetime of images and ideas has come and gone in the last 20 years. Who's Harry Potter? A world-class wizard, or a student in your history class? What's the big deal about GPS navigation systems in the car? Whatever: a word that means something, or an all-purpose expression?
Almost 2 million young people are heading to college for the first time during the next few weeks. Many of them were born in 1990, and their mind-set is markedly different than that of many of the people who will be their professors.
Each August for 11 years, Beloit College in Wisconsin has released its "Mindset List," looking at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students. The list is created by Tom McBride, Keefer professor of the humanities, and Ron Nief, public affairs director.
Below are some of the points on the list, or read the whole list and the previous lists.
Continue reading The mind-set of the incoming college freshmen »
 Tim Schlosser, a teacher at Southeast Middle School, writes:
My summer of reading, writing, and reflection is already starting to feel like a misty memory.
Late August — anxiety season — has struck. Southeast Middle School has seen some major off-season changes: Our principal and assistant principal are both leaving, enrollment is down, several teaching positions have been cut, and our funding for supplementary programs is at risk under the new state budget.
This adds to the general sense of disquiet I have about my new responsibilities next year. I’m chair of the English Department? They want me to plan professional development? Serve as an example of excellent teaching? I often feel that I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. As I flip through the pile of professional literature I set aside — Content Area Reading, Strategies That Work, Reading for Understanding -- I am often depressed by its conservatism, its endless practicality, its exhaustive collections of graphic organizers to help English language learners navigate expository texts.
A part of me recoils at these nitty-gritty teaching manuals and longs for the more idealistic pedagogical literature, like Jonathan Kozol’s "Savage Inequalities" or Paolo Freire’s "Pedagogy of the Oppressed. "
Continue reading From summer bliss to school day fears »
By 2012, 74% of the nation’s public school students will be required to pass an exit exam to graduate, according to a report released last week by the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Education Policy.
Students of color are particularly affected in the 26 states that will require or already administer the test. Currently, 75% of these students live in states that require exit exams to graduate; that figure will rise to 84% by 2012.
At the same time, more students will be required to take more difficult end-of-course exams in order to graduate, signaling that state leaders are not entirely satisfied with exit exams, which are minimum competency tests.
Read on for the full release from the Center on Education Policy and a link to the entire report.
-- Howard Blume
Continue reading High school exit exams are a growing trend »
The writer and performer Sandra Tsing Loh chronicles her adventure, as she travels from being a mother who turned the job of finding a school for their daughters over to her husband to being a Mother on Fire, the title of her new book.
Like so many parents who live in large, urban school districts, Loh at first sees maneuvering through Los Angeles Unified as impossible, with options that seem to be restricted to "frightening unknown elementaries no one had ever heard of."
At one point during the search for a kindergarten, she writes, "Everything I assumed about my life is wrong." But maneuver through the system -- and her midlife crisis -- she does, encountering API scores ("1 API point = $1,000 worth of real estate," she concludes), magnet applications, high-stakes educational activities for children, private school testing. In the end, Loh has become a vocal public school advocate.
Her story, she writes, is true (some names have been changed), and it's not all about schools. She writes with a funny, take-no-prisoners attitude about friendships, art, social class and work -- including the tale of how she lost her commentary spot at KCRW over an obscenity.
Loh's stage version of "Mother on Fire" ran for seven months in Los Angeles. She has a weekly radio commentary series on KPCC-FM and is a contributing editor for the Atlantic Monthly. She also has written for The Times.
She will be speaking about her new book at at 7 p.m. Tuesday at All Saints Church in Pasadena; at 7 p.m. Aug. 21 at Borders in Sherman Oaks, on Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. at Skylight Books; and at 2 p.m. Nov. 16 at the Pacific Asia Museum.
-- Mary MacVean
Jack O'Connell, California superintendent of public instruction, held a news conference Thursday at 9:45 a.m. at Washington Accelerated Elementary in Pasadena to tout the state's latest gains in standardized tests. Why Washington Elementary? asked one reporter. O'Connell pointed out the school's rising scores in both English and math and the principal's hospitality. And then O'Connell, who had another press conference in Fresno at 1:30 p.m., confessed there was another factor in his choice of venue.
"It's close to the Burbank airport," he admitted.
--Jason Song
The Summer Olympics in China are attracting all sorts of attention, as are the impressive feats of the U.S. team when matched against other athletes from around the world.
But the U.S. academic team, namely the students of America, are not faring so well against foreign competition. New videos by an education advocacy group underscore this comparison.
One of the videos compares U.S. performance in gymnastics (excellent) to students’ performance in literacy rankings (dismal). The videos' release was scheduled to coincide with the men’s all-around gymnastics competition in Beijing.
Read on for an excerpt of the release and a link to the videos.
-- Howard Blume
Continue reading Olympics provide a spin for dire academics in the U.S. »
Antero Garcia, an English teacher at Manual Arts High, writes:
Sure, I may be on a year-round schedule and just about to begin administering finals for the first quarter of the year. However, that isn’t stopping me from biting into a hearty chunk of summer reading. Along with the usual mishmash of fiction and reacquainting myself with several education texts, I stumbled across a rather delightful rulebook: Brain Rules by John Medina.
Medina, a molecular biologist, lists key rules to how our brains function, learn, and interpret the world around them. He does this in the kinds of plain English laymen like me can breeze through. With each chapter dedicated to one of the 12 brain rules, the book is a fascinating tour of cognition and human development.
What I find most exciting about Brain Rules is the provoking portion of “Ideas” that conclude each chapter. Medina hones in on how a brain rule relates directly to education and to business. Rules like “Repeat to Remember” (No. 5) and “Remember to Repeat" (No. 6) may appear obvious and elementary. However, once Medina points out how it may be useful to establish a household room for learning Spanish, or how the current class schedule is less than effective for long-term retention, the book really starts to take off. A multi-modal launching pad for new educational pathways (it includes key icons for each rule, a DVD of accompanying scenarios, and a comprehensive website), Brain Rules is a text I plan to discuss with friends, colleagues and students.
If nothing else, read Brain Rules to learn why PowerPoint (at least in the way most of us use it) is a terrible presentation tool. I know it’s changed how I’ll be adapting the tool in the classroom.
This book offers a lot of possibilities about how to approach education from a different perspective. I’d love to share more, though now I believe it is time for me to follow rule No. 7: “Sleep well, think well.” Good night!
Antero Garcia, an English teacher at Manual Arts High, writes:
This past weekend, environmentalist Maury Green posted an in-depth report of his investigations into the nature of the mysterious Black Cloud. For some time, my seniors have been conducting investigations into this anomaly. We have been aided by numerous guests; last week we had visitors from the Guerrilla Gardeners. And my students will be presenting their work and recruiting volunteers at Machine Project, an art gallery in Echo Park at 8 p.m. on Aug. 23.
Take a look at the video for more on the Black Cloud.
Continue reading Maybe you can help us solve the mystery »
Adam Thursby, who graduated from Northwood High in Irvine in June and will attend UC Riverside in the fall, writes:
(Students socialize and study at UC Riverside.)
Getting into college has consumed a fairly large portion of the last two years of my life. I did more research on colleges I never even visited than the CIA did on Iraq’s WMD program. I considered every source of information I could get my hands on, from U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of political science departments to lists of schools with the cutest coeds. Not once did I worry about where to live.
When I finally picked UC Riverside, my search for a dorm was a little less exhaustive than my search for a school. I took quick tours of two of UCR’s three dorms and then decided to skip the tour of the third dorm in favor of lunch. I spent less time deciding which dorm I would live in than I spent deciding between a French dip and a hamburger for lunch that day. Ultimately, I picked the French dip and Aberdeen Inverness, the most social dorm at UCR, which I thought would give me the best chance at the mythical “college experience.”
AI, as it’s called on campus, puts 64 kids on each hall, which is why it has the reputation as the most social dorm on campus.
Continue reading College chosen; now students ask, 'Where to live?' »
Jimmy Biblarz, a student at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, writes:
A new state measure mandates that all eighth-graders take algebra. I initially did not think anything of this; I took algebra in eighth grade and had no problem with it. But then I thought about it a little more.
For sixth grade, I attended Portola Highly Gifted Magnet. Math was the academic focus at Portola. The school offered Algebra II for eighth-graders, and many of the students in that class were even more advanced. (Those who were too advanced sat in the back of the class and taught themselves math analysis, also known as precalculus or trigonometry.)
Portola feeds into North Hollywood High School's Highly Gifted Magnet, where many incoming freshman start in precalculus or even AP calculus. Hamilton High School does not have the kind of elite mathematics program that North Hollywood High does. Math scores, even in our two magnet programs, are disgraceful. There are 10th-graders in algebra, whole courses dedicated to helping students pass the math portion of the [California High School Exit Examination], and a subtle, unspoken recognition that our math program is not the greatest.
Teachers I have had have complained about how poor our math scores are, and some students interested in math beg their counselors not to put them in certain teachers' classes.
Mandating all eighth-graders to take algebra hurts the struggling kids at Hamilton. Math is a cumulative subject; if you miss something important, it's hard to follow along. The United States needs to invest serious money in math (and science) education, starting in elementary schools.
Over the next few weeks, the state and other agencies release results of standardized tests such as CAT6 and the CAHSEE.
STAR, or Standardized Testing and Reporting, is used to measure learning in grades 2 through 11. The STAR program includes tests such as the CAT6, or the California Achievement Test. Overall STAR results are due in a week.
The CAHSEE is the Calfornia High School Exit Examination, which is required for graduation. Overall results for those will be announced first; students and parents will have to wait a bit longer for their individual results. L.A. Unified officials say they will mail the results to families in September.
And later in August, SAT test scores and Advanced Placement test data will be released by the College Board.
On Sept. 9, the annual CAHSEE results are released.
-- Mary MacVean
Photo by Mario Tama / Getty Images
Home schooling is not specifically addressed in California law, the way it is in at least 30 other states. The Times' Seema Mehta reports that a state appellate court ruled today that parents may home-school their children in California even if the parents lack a teaching credential. The decision reverses the court's earlier position.
The state has an estimated 166,000 home-schoolers. And the state Department of Education has traditionally allowed home schooling as long as parents file paperwork with the state establishing themselves as private schools, hire credentialed tutors or enroll their children in independent study programs run by charter or private schools or public school districts.
California does little to enforce those provisions and insists that it is the local school districts' responsibility.
If you educate your children at home, or if you are a home-schooled student, tell us about your experiences.
-- Mary MacVean
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