There often times seems to be little new in the way of educational thinking but one Arkansas town, Searcy, has gone to great lengths to put something new into action, even if I question the timing.  Late November seems like the wrong time of year to be starting an outdoor education program even for states and southerly as Arkansas.

Outdoor classroom offered to students

By Betsy Bailey
Saturday, November 29, 2008 9:34 PM CST

Westside Elementary School has added a classroom to its campus, but it won’t be found within the walls of the school. The school, with the assistance of the Parent/Teacher Organization, developed an outdoor classroom on the grounds of the school building.

The "Wildlife EDventure Garden" as it was dubbed by the third grader, Victoria Brown of Mrs Wilson’s class, in the naming contest, will provide an excellent educational opportunity for students of Westside Elementary.

Not only do I like the notion of the garden using all native Arkansas plants, but I really like the notion creative ideas not being dead in academia.  Too often we stick with tradition simply for the sake of tradition.  That old guard system was bucked by a new idea in Arkansas and as benign as this new idea sounds, any new idea is a full scale rebellion against the academic institution.

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At the moment one of the biggest risks to a college students financial well being isn’t the type of degree they get or how much they had to take out in student loans. Today’s biggest threat is the credit industry.  As adults with some experience in life we should know enough to tell our kids about the dangers of credit, but to often parents don’t seem to take any more responsibility for their credit debt than the major financial institutions the government is bailing out hand over fist.

I would like to point the Credit Card Blog out to both students and parents at the moment as a prime resource for credit card information.  Despite the fact that the credit industry is tightening its belt everywhere, they are still after new college students to get their first credit card and be truly independent.  Not only that thy are actually starting to make pitches to high school students who neither have income or the brains to be responsible in the first place.

If there is one thing you can teach your kids about credit with any sort of real world example it would be to show them the financial bailout for Wall Street.  The government cares about their contributing cronies as much as they know they have to keep those banks from failing.  What can be shown from this is that the government doesn’t however care about any credit debtor other than the really big ones and won’t be their to bail out your student if they run into problems.  Speaking from experience, bankruptcy is no picnic and I can’t imagine how much it would screw up the financial life of a new college student.

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In our continuing series of educational opportunities I present you with another interesting opportunity for fashion buyers. This is not what some would consider a high end job, until you figure every chain that sells clothes needs buyers.   it might not be the easiest field to get into or have the highest rate of new openings, but there do seem to be plenty of them for those with the right sort of training.

So what does a fashion buyer do?  Basically a fashion buyer is much like the buyer for any other sort of department be it technology or other industrial equipment.  These are the people who seek out new inventory providers or are sought out buy vendors.  They cultivate relationships with these vendors to pick the right sort of clothing lines for their chain store or in many cases several brand chains under a larger company.  These are the people who decide what clothing store sells which clothes.

It is a fine opportunity for a student not sure what they want to do as a career, but needs to be looked at with all the discretion any degree does with a focus on finding a job afterwards.

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I recently saw in a yahoo article that the biggest growth demographic for online education was women, especially women studying for or completing degrees for work in the technology industry. In a way this didn’t surprise me. Traditional tech schools have always been dominated by men.  As much as I hate to make stereotypical calls, the shoe fits here, traditional tech schools are dominated by socially inept men that rarely have a clue as what to do with a real woman, much less how to interact with one in person.  Online though, everyone starts out equal.

Without the gender bias along with forced and socially uncomfortable interaction, online tech schools may be the wave of the future for women trying to get into the technology field.  In my opinion the best possible way to learn about technology is actively using the latest and greatest available to you.  This is often times not possible in major universities.  They take years to develop a curriculum and invest money following the technological plan developed along the way and then stick to it.  This sort of inflexibility is not present in schools run in the evolving technological world.

In the end it is still up to the individual student to figure out what is right for them and should be researched thoroughly before putting any money into it.

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While I am not in favor of using the separate but equal approach they are trying in Massachusetts I am quite in favor of being inovative in our approach to academics.

The Oakland Press: The best place for news in and around Oakland County

Ex-dropouts attribute success to alternative high schools
Story Tools

Saturday, November 1, 2008 7:39 AM EDT

By DIANA DILLABER MURRAY
Of The Oakland Press

Former dropouts gave credit to alternative high schools Friday for providing a sense of belonging and individual academic help that has made them successful in school.

Several students at an Oa k land Dropout Prevention Summit Friday morning told of their heartaches and successes and praised principals and tea chers from Niles Alternative High School in Troy, Walled Lake Community High School and Ferndale’s high school completion program. In Oakland County, the combined dropout rate is 9 percent. Statewide, 21,000 students drop out annually.

Chelsea Hotchkin, 17, told the packed audience she just didn’t fit in at her former large high school. She would pretend to be sick to stay home.

“I went to Walled Lake Community High School. I had heard bad things about it. But they were like a family. They welcomed you. Now I am a mentor and an ambassador.

“I never before passed a class,” Chelsea said. Now she plans to go to Wayne State University and major in chemistry.

“When I saw my first report card, I started crying. It was my first A.

“My parents were so proud of me, they bought me a car,” she said.

Marlana Krolicki, Oakland Schools consultant, organized the countywide event and Robert Martin, a consultant in school quality, introduced the student panel.

Representatives from all of Oakland County’s 28 school districts attended the summit.

Also there to give advice on how to make high schools more welcoming were Southfield and Berkley students from Tri-County Educational Center, and Oakland County students who attend the Michigan Youth Challenge Academy in Battle Creek — a military-type alternative school open to 300 students.

Students told of ending up in alternative schools because of a death of a loved one, problems at home, bullying or harassment at school, pregnancy, not caring, getting into fights, truancy, wanting to be with friends, helping out with family, being bored or wanting a job and independence.

Besides a sense of belonging, the alternative schools provided one-on-one help, counseling, encouragement and work at their own level. Almost all students plan on going to college.

Erica Quick, 19, of Walled Lake, who dropped out and moved to Florida and got a job at age 15, now gets As and Bs at Community High and plans on attending college.

Tommy Yousif’s father died in 2005. In three years, he earned only eight credits. At Niles, he earned eight the first year.

“All the teachers are the best. They care about you.”

Sable Haney, 18, of Troy, who went to Niles after she got pregnant with her 2-year-old, will graduate in January. Shaun Asmar, 16, of Wixom, now gets As and Bs.

Shawna Graves, 16, of Clawson, struggled at five high schools and earned no credits before Niles. Tre Johnson, 17, of Troy, had been to three districts, missed classes and had falling grades. At Niles, he bonded with teachers for the first time.

It was a long, tough road that led Samantha Freeman, 24, of Detroit, to Ferndale’s adult education and her current success in school. She received a standing ovation

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I am all for trying new things though I have my doubts about this one.  Will it work?  I have no idea, but it some how feels wrong to me.  The notion of boys and girls are as good as each other in this or that irks me.  When you start by saying that you end up saying whites are good at thinking and blacks are good at heavy lifting or Christians are the moral example of all that is right in the world and everyone else is why the world is in such bad shape.

Single-sex classes eyed for middle schools - EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA

Single-sex classes eyed for middle schools Laboy says separating boys and girls will help learning
By Mark E. Vogler
mvogler@eagletribune.com

LAWRENCE — Some classrooms in the Lawrence Public Schools system could be all-boy or all-girl when a new school year begins next fall.

Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy acknowledged that possibility last night while briefing School Committee members on his plans to assemble a special task force on the subject.

“Over the past two years, we have been watching the research and discussing the possibility of creating an option for single sex classrooms at our middle schools,” Laboy wrote in a cover letter to a package he submitted. “Based on the current research and a grass-roots interest in moving in this direction, I would like to create a task force to review the research and bring forward recommendations for a possible implementation of this model for the 2009-2010 school year.”

Laboy said at least one city middle school he would not name has already requested single-sex classrooms.

Laboy stressed that the task force will only be “an open discussion” and not automatically lead to all-boy and all-girl classes.

He plans to include two School Committee members on a panel of eight to 12, people which would begin its study early next year.

The single-sex class would be aimed at grades five to eight, focusing on boys within that grade level.

“There’s been some concerns about adolescent male boys being left behind academically,” Laboy said after the meeting. “A lot of it has to do with distractions they have at that age level. … My hope is that we can have an honest conversation about this issue.”

Laboy told committee members he would like to create a small learning lab that would use an eighth-grade class as a case study. He noted concerns about the drop-out rate of male students which he believes can be traced back to a loss of interest in class work at that grade level.

School Committee member James Vittorioso told the committee that he recommended to school administrators to consider classes for just boys several years ago after noticing a disinterest among boys he taught in a math class.

But Vittorioso expressed dismay that nobody in the Lawrence public schools administration took his recommendation seriously.

“I find it incredulous that a School Committee member brought this up three years (ago) and now it’s being acted upon,” Vittorioso said.

Laboy confirmed that Vittorioso had made the recommendation several years ago, but said others had also called for it. Laboy said he would be glad to include Vittorioso on the task force.

Laboy provided each member with a package of literature on the topic.

The findings of some studies show evidence of higher academic achievements, classrooms that are more conducive to learning and decreased discipline problems.

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Despite the deplorable education legacy of the Bush Administration it is good to see students are still managing to do well in our trip across the country.  I wonder how Springfield compares to Shelbyville… - doh
TCHS student earns National Merit honor

TCHS student earns National Merit honor

Lisa Jacques
Staff writer

Triton Central High School announced this week that senior Wyatt S. Lewis has been named a Commended Student in the 2009 National Merit Scholarship Program.

He will receive a letter of commendation from the school and the National Merit Scholarship Corp., which conducts the program.

“Wyatt is one of the top students at TCHS,” TCHS Principal Scott Kern said Thursday. “He is well rounded in that he has a passion for learning and competition, in the classroom and on the tennis court. To receive commendation as a National Merit Scholar is truly an amazing accomplishment. We are all very proud of Wyatt.”

Lewis placed among the top 5 percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2009 competition by taking the 2007 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Quali-fying Test.

Nationwide, about 34,000 Commended Students are being recognized for academic achievement, although they will not advance in the 2009 competition for National Merit Scholarships.

“Recognition of academically talented students and the key role played by schools in their development is essential to the pursuit of educational excellence in our nation,” NMSC stated in a news release. “The young people named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding academic potential by their strong performance in this highly competitive program. We hope that this recognition will enhance their educational opportunities and that they will continue to diligently pursue their professional goals.”

Three Shelby County seniors were named semifinalists in the 54th annual National Merit Scholarship Program: Taryn “Kenzie” Phelps of Southwestern Junior-Senior High School; Courtney Frazier of Apostolic Christian School; and Emily Richart of Shelbyville High School.

The three girls will continue in the competition for one of some 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards with a combined $35 million that will be offered in the spring.

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. was founded in 1955 to conduct the annual scholarship program. It is a nonprofit corporation funded without government assistance. Most scholarships are supported by about 500 independent corporate and college sponsors.

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Daily Herald - Teens learn value of good credit

Teens learn value of good credit

SALT LAKE CITY — With the U.S. bogged down in an economic downturn, high school students are learning how to make the financial system work for them by doing things like opening a savings account and limiting how much credit card interest they pay.
For students at West High School, the economic challenges hit close to home.

“My grandparents have more than one card,” said Vai Mafi, 17. “I sure do hope they’re paying off all the balances.”

Someone who has a $5,000 credit card balance with an interest rate of 13.7 percent and pays only the minimum monthly amount of $58 would take 30 years to pay it off. On top of that, more than $16,000 in interest would be paid on the original debt.

Zions Bank President Scott Anderson and Vice President Rob Brough encouraged high school students to avoid debt and understand how credit scores work.

They presented students with the $5,000 credit card debt scenario. “There are two types of people in the world,” Brough said. “Those who earn interest and those who pay it.”

He said if someone had paid off the balance on the credit card and invested $58 at a 9 percent rate of return that in 30 years that person would have made more than $100,000.

“That’s the magic of compound interest — and the burden of paying interest charges,” Anderson said.

Lucio Salamanca, 17, who uses a debit card, said if he ever uses a credit card, he will try to limit his credit line “so I won’t be tempted to charge up more than I can afford to pay off.”

Mylien Pham, 16, said she is more worried about the nation’s credit crisis.

“I don’t know if there’ll be student loans when I go to college, or if the interest will be so high that I won’t be able to pay it off if I do get a loan in the first place,” she said.

In addition to avoiding debt, Anderson told students to make sure they maintain good credit scores because car dealers and apartment managers look at them.

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We’re not stupid: Rethink school testing - El Paso Times

We’re not stupid: Rethink school testing
El Paso Times Staff
Article Launched: 10/16/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

What is it, already? By Texas standards, all schools in El Paso are academically acceptable. There was some hoo-hahing and yah-hooing celebrating that not too long ago.

A nice pat on the back to you, Mr. Superintendent.

Then Tuesday it was — whammo! The federal government reported 54 of our schools are not teaching our students adequately in math and reading, and sometimes graduation rates have been substandard.

Both Bowie and Austin high schools failed the federal government’s minimum standards for the sixth consecutive year. Yet the state says they’re OK. The feds say both must be reconstituted and must replace staff. Jefferson High has failed the past five years.

Why the difference in the state’s rating system and the federal government’s No Child Left Behind?

Why is it three El Paso high schools close to the border do not fare as well as El Paso schools more inland?

Does it have to do with the many students in El Paso public schools who do not speak English, thus do poorly on the TAKS test, thus bring down the whole school’s average?

Of course it is, at least in part. In El Paso, we have a lot of non-English-speaking students. In other parts of the county, virtually all students speak English. Are they smarter than our children, or is it they can understand the questions?

Or do we have poor teachers?

We don’t think so. We have teachers like anywhere else.

Perhaps we are not given the adequate tools in which to teach our children properly in the
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state of Texas? Just this week school administrators here said the state is not funding public schools at a proper level. Are we spending the money we do have in a wise manner?

One explanation of the state-vs.-federal-acceptance guidelines is each uses different aspects of the TAKS test. What’s wrong with a level playing field?

Let’s determine what we are — pass or fail. And where’s the bar going to be set?

Then let’s figure out the best way to fairly grade El Paso students as compared with students in the rest of the country.

We do not have classrooms full of poor students and poor teachers in 54 of our schools.

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Nutfield Publishing - Londonderry Times

Redistricting of Elementary Schools Looms on Horizon
continued from main page

That won’t be an easy task.

“It’s impossible to ‘cherry pick’ particular students in specific grade levels for a whole host of reasons, including transportation,” Greenberg said. “What we did was go through various areas and asked where would be some logical places where we could redistrict some students to Matthew Thornton and provide reasonable transportation.”

The district has identified an area off High Range Road from which student distribution of children in grades one through four could be centralized for the coming school year.

Greenberg emphasized that a decision on the redistricting wouldn’t be made in haste.

“We’re not asking the board to take any action today,” he said at the Oct. 7 school board meeting. Instead, he urged the board to “take a couple weeks to ruminate over this.” From there, Greenberg said letters would be sent to parents residing on the listed streets, and those parents would be urged to attend upcoming school board meetings.

The Londonderry School Board will meet Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. in the Town Office Moose Hill Conference Room to conduct a public hearing to discuss redistricting encompassing the following streets: Royal Lane, Imperial Drive, Mayflower Drive, Chestnut Hill Drive, Laurel Hill Drive, Polar Circle, Chandler Drive, Tyler Drive, Jewel Court, and Raintree Drive.

Immediately following the redistricting hearing, the school board will meet in regular session.

“During previous discussions, we looked at the entire stock of our classrooms, with the next 10-15 years in mind,” Greenberg said last week. “We’re coming to a point where we are going to have to make some adjustments.”

In the current school year, North School has 104 first graders. South School has 91 first graders, while Matthew Thornton School has 113. Students who didn’t attend Moose Hill School for kindergarten last year but entered first grade in Londonderry this fall totaled 34.

This year, Londonderry has a total of 1,809 elementary school students.

Using this year’s kindergarten enrollment numbers, that total number of elementary school students in the district is expected to decrease to 1,752 students for the 2009-10 school year.

Without any redistricting, Matthew Thornton School would be underutilized next year, with three empty classrooms. This year, 642 students are enrolled in the school, with only 616 students expected to be enrolled at this time next year.

At North School, the current enrollment of 569 students is expected to drop by four students this year. However, the distribution of students and class size issues would mean that the school would lose its reading resource room next year, Greenberg said.

“These are all considerations we took into account when we did our utilization study,” Greenberg said.

At South School, this year’s enrollment of 598 students is expected to drop to 572 next fall, allowing the elementary district-wide program for students with emotional handicaps to move into a full-size classroom. The program currently has 10 students.

Greenberg noted that the South School numbers reflect the space that will be available at the school once construction projects are completed.

Costs of the new construction are estimated at $4.2 million and include the addition of nine permanent classrooms, two new guidance offices, two special education rooms, a new main office, a new special education office, a fire sprinkler system and a new fire lane. In addition, renovations include updates to the nurses’ office, faculty room and kitchen. Two new parking areas will add 50 spaces to the school’s current inventory.

All of the construction at South School is should be completed by January 2009.

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