Education News

Full Moon names date back to Native Americans, of what is now the northern and eastern United States. Those tribes of a few hundred years ago kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred.

There were some variations in the moon names, but in general the same ones were current throughout the Algonquin tribes from New England on west to Lake Superior. European settlers followed their own customs and created some of their own names. Since the lunar ("synodic") month is roughly 29.5 days in length on average, the dates of the full moon shift from year to year.

Here is a listing of all of the full moon names, as well as the dates and times for 2010. Unless otherwise noted, all times are for the Eastern Time Zone.

Jan. 30, 1:18 a.m. EST -- Full Wolf Moon. Amid the zero cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. It was also known as the Old Moon or the Moon after Yule. In some tribes this was the Full Snow Moon; most applied that name to the next moon. The Moon will also arrive at perigee (it's closest point to Earth on its non-circular orbit) less than three hours later, at 4:04 a.m. EST at a distance of 221,577 mi. (356,593 km.) from Earth. So this is the biggest full moon of 2010. Very high ocean tides can be expected during the next two or three days, thanks to the coincidence of perigee with full moon.

Feb. 28, 11:38 a.m. EST -- Full Snow Moon. Usually the heaviest snows fall in this month. Hunting becomes very difficult, and hence to some tribes this was the Full Hunger Moon.

Mar. 29, 10:25 p.m. EDT -- Full Worm Moon. In this month the ground softens and the earthworm casts reappear, inviting the return of the robins. The more northern tribes knew this as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signals the end of winter, or the Full Crust Moon because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night. The Full Sap Moon, marking the time of tapping maple trees, is another variation. In 2010 this is also the Paschal Full Moon; the first full Moon of the spring season. The first Sunday following the Paschal Moon is Easter Sunday, which indeed will be observed six days later on Sunday, April 4.

Apr. 28, 8:18 a.m. EDT -- Full Pink Moon. The grass pink or wild ground phlox is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names were the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and -- among coastal tribes -- the Full Fish Moon, when the shad come upstream to spawn.

May 27, 7:07 p.m. EDT -- Full Flower Moon. Flowers are now abundant everywhere. It was also known as the Full Corn Planting Moon or the Milk Moon.

Jun. 26, 7:30 a.m. EDT -- Full Strawberry Moon. Strawberry picking season peaks during this month. Europeans called this the Rose Moon. There will be also be a Partial Lunar Eclipse that coincides with moonset from the western and central sections of the US and Canada and coincides with moonrise for parts of eastern Asia. At its maximum the Moon will be overhead for observers in the South Pacific;nearly 54-percent of the Moon's diameter will become immersed in the Earth's dark umbral shadow.

Jul. 25, 9:37 p.m. EDT -- Full Buck Moon, when the new antlers of buck deer push out from their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. It was also often called the Full Thunder Moon, thunderstorms being now most frequent. Sometimes it's also called the Full Hay Moon.

Aug. 24, 1:05 p.m. EDT -- Full Sturgeon Moon, when this large fish of the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water like Lake Champlain is most readily caught. A few tribes knew it as the Full Red Moon because when the moon rises it looks reddish through sultry haze, or the Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon. Since the Moon arrives at apogee about 12 hours later, this will also be the smallest full moon of 2010. In terms of apparent size, it will appear 12.3-percent smaller than the full Moon of Jan. 30.

Sep. 23, 5:17 a.m. EDT -- Full Harvest Moon. Traditionally, this designation goes to the full moon that occurs closest to the Autumnal (fall) Equinox. The Harvest Moon usually comes in September, but (on average) once or twice a decade it will fall in early October. At the peak of the harvest, farmers can work into the night by the light of this moon. Usually the moon rises an average of 50 minutes later each night, but for the few nights around the Harvest Moon, the moon seems to rise at nearly the same time each night: just 25 to 30 minutes later across the U.S., and only 10 to 20 minutes later for much of Canada and Europe. Corn, pumpkins, squash, beans, and wild rice -- the chief Indian staples -- are now ready for gathering.

Oct. 22, 9:36 p.m. EDT -- Full Hunters' Moon. With the leaves falling and the deer fattened, it's now time to hunt. Since the fields have been reaped, hunters can ride over the stubble, and can more easily see the fox, as well as other animals, which can be caught for a thanksgiving banquet after the harvest.

Nov. 21, 12:27 p.m. EST -- Full Beaver Moon. At this point of the year, it's time to set beaver traps before the swamps freeze to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. Another interpretation suggests that the name Beaver Full Moon come from the fact that the beavers are now active in their preparation for winter. It's also called the Frosty Moon.

Dec. 21, 3:13 a.m. EST -- Full Cold Moon. On occasion, this moon was also called the Moon before Yule. December is also the month the winter cold fastens its grip. Sometimes this moon is referred to as the Full Long Nights Moon and the term "Long Night" Moon is a very appropriate name because the nights are now indeed long and the Moon is above the horizon a long time. This particular full moon makes its highest arc across the sky because it's diametrically opposite to the low Sun. In fact, the moment of the Winter Solstice comes just over 15 hours after this full moon, at 6:38 p.m. EST.

Last, but certainly not least, this will also be the night of a Total Lunar Eclipse. North Americans will have a ringside seat for this event (totality will last 73-minutes) and, depending on your location, will take place either during the middle of the night or during the predawn hours. Observers in Western Europe and western Africa will see the opening stages of the eclipse before the Moon sets; South Americans will see the Moon set either during the total phase or as the Moon emerges from the shadow. At mid-eclipse, the Moon will appear almost directly overhead for observers in southern California and Baja Mexico.

More Moon Info:
The Disappearing Moon: Why and Where it Hides
Moon Mechanics: What Really Makes Our World Go 'Round
Moon Myths: The Truth About Lunar Effects on You
Top 10 Amazing Moon Facts

Skywatching Guides:
Skywatcher's Guide to the Moon
Skywatching Highlights of 2010
What's Up Tonight: Sky Calendar
Beginner's Guide to Astrophotography
Telescope Buying Guide

News & Opinion Articles

2010-01-25T06:10:00.000-08:00

Girls’ math fears may start with female teachers

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Not All Ohio Schools Seeking Stimulus Dollars

Florida lawmakers wary of Gov. Charlie Crist's budget plan

Five areas where colleges could use some schooling

For-profit colleges spur dreams and doubts

Under Bloomberg, Some Big High Schools Are Taking Hard Falls

Minnesota graduation rates rise to national average

Lawmaker worried about MS education after 2nd round of cuts

Chicago Public Schools adds to woes of youths in custody or suspended

California schools angry over even more cuts

Equal treatment for special-needs students in short supply at New Orleans ...

Catholic Schools Week to focus on quality education

Idaho schools chief Tom Luna caught in education budget battle

Study finds early education saves Michigan millions

Teachers Respond to Governor's Pay-for-Performance Plan

Richard Butler School fails to meet No Child Left Behind standards

Parents' role in teen driving education makes a difference

General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.) to Discuss the Changing Face of Education ...

Race to the Top fund puts cart before the horse
__________________________

Bad economy may be fueling homeschooling trend

Homeschool players fighting for access to public school teams

Nomad Mason finds football home with homeschool Patriots

Ruling delayed for German homeschoolers seeking asylum in Tennessee

Homeschoolers can join choirs in (OK) Midwest City

NH Homeschoolers Praise Vote Against Tighter Regulations

Homeschoolers plan read-a-thon to benefit UNICEF

In the news

2010-01-21T13:30:00.000-08:00

Best Values in Public Colleges 2009-10

Race is on for 'Race to the Top' school grants

ND Opts out of Race for the Top Education Fund

Tennessee Senate approves restructure of higher education funding

Perry Warns School Districts

Education Secretary: Link graduation rates to NCAA Tournament bids

Budget ax to take a 4% whack at Utah higher ed

ND College Presidents Defend Tuition Discounts

Ala. House OKs mandatory physical education bill

Vt. school district consolidation moves forward

UCLA report details budget cuts' impact on schools

SCHWARZWALDER: To save children, cut education

Cox urges flexibility for struggling Ga. schools

Online Scheme Exposes Distance Education Programs' Vulnerability to Fraud

Albany High named as low performing school

Educational video project helps students learn from their peers

Civics, history education are focus of Oklahoma bill

Poll: Most Oppose Paying Students for Success

News

2010-01-17T13:13:00.000-08:00

More to education than data

Obama to Seek $1.35 Billion More for Education

Excerpt: 'Why Boys Fail' by Richard Whitmire

U.S. Common-Standards Push Bares Unsettled Issues

A National Yardstick for Gauging Math Progress

Ala. Legislature Blocks Teacher Ethics Code

Head Start Study Finds Brief Learning Gains

S.C. School Chief: Testing, Education Programs Could Be Cut

Principal slashed at Calif. Catholic high school

Texas board defers vote on social studies standard

Washington gov's plan for school reform shared

TN education bill passes in waning moments

Debate on Fighting Sioux Nickname Unsettled

Renewal of FAME school charter may have violated law

Schwarzenegger budget projects less spending for class-size reduction

College aid seekers may welcome changes to federal application form

Idaho legislators eye education cuts

Interventions In Education To Help Detect Learning Disabilities

Advocates say children need more physical education classes

Oklahoma teachers say raised standards and reduced resources an unpleasant mix

Americans aged 25-34 have less education than their parents' generation

An art history major can't fix your plumbing

Why Kids Don't Do Well in School

News

2010-01-14T10:50:00.000-08:00

Texas Shuts Door on Millions in Education Grants

Texas board to take 1st vote on history curriculum

Colleges cap enrollment amid budget budget cuts

Iowa panel backs plan to limit school tax hikes

Charter school plan is axed, Ky. ed bill passes

Kansas educators wary of school funding cuts

Teacher evaluation legislation (TN) clears two hurdles

Tennessee: Gov. Bredesen's K-12 plan headed to full Senate

Report: SC education ranks 11th in nation

Maryland tops states on education report card

Education report ranks Fla. schools 8th nationwide

Georgia ranks 13th in annual education status survey

Nevada governor's education plan draws fire from parents, both parties

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Homeschoolers: Trailer-Park Denizens or Modern Heroes?

Homeschool players fighting for access to public school teams

NH Homeschoolers Praise Vote Against Tighter Regulations

Le Mars Daily Sentinel Corrects “Homeschool Tax Credit” Blooper

Public opinion improving as home education gains steam in Jackson area

In the News

2010-01-11T05:56:00.000-08:00

Danger of nonstandard standards

Federal education funding on the table

Promises and Facts on Charter Schools OP

Special Session (TN) Dealing with Education

Pa. governor candidates to be graded on education

Education Notebook: Midstate schools among tops in Ga.

Arkansas higher education chief urges exit exams for remedial classes

President Obama announces $250 million effort to grow science and math education

California's education reforms hand more power to parents

Oldham County (KY) parents join forces to create a Special Education PTA

Gov. Gibbons (NV) threatens to sue lawmakers over education reforms

Chancellor says more cuts would damage Nevada colleges

Indiana Business School Stuns Online Education Market

VU autism study looks at routines, sleep links

Christianity's role (TX) in history of US at issue

N.J. to vote on bill to let illegal immigrants pay in-state tuition

Some Michigan schools won't join `Race to the Top'

Schwarzenegger signs major school-reform package

Obama announces teacher training initiative

In a Series, Nickelodeon Will Focus on Math

Recession Spurs Interest in Graduate, Law Schools

In the News

2010-01-06T04:43:00.001-08:00

American Library Association’s Not-So-Hidden Gay Agenda

Assembly (CA) OKs bills to get federal schools funds

IG report: Education officials may have shredded notes Boston Herald

Tennessee Governor Drops Plan to Boost Some College Scholarships

Bredesen (TN) stumps for education reform, pushes test scores to rate teachers

Stanford study shows many city charters besting district schools

N.J. scrambles for education stimulus funds

The (KY) budget dance

Special-Ed Funds Redirected

Lawsuit accuses NYC of ignoring class-size law

Affordable Education: Kiplinger Reports Best Value Colleges for 2009-2010

Erica Jacobs: Educational trends

Obama to announce $250 million for math, science education

Reading Aloud to Teens Gains Favor Among Teachers

Two State Unions Balking at 'Race to Top' Plans

Why Boys Fail: Is the Answer to the 'Boy Troubles' Recruiting Male Teachers?

Commentary: Floating: The New Wave of Teaching

News

2010-01-04T03:15:00.000-08:00

Effort seeks to bolster Indiana law on teacher misconduct

State (WI) lagging in race for education funding

Consolidation, sharing (Iowa) likely buzz words for schools

Coming elections will reshape Texas for new decade

Michigan Teaching School Tries Something New

Arne Duncan's History Lesson to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT ...

Mysterious pro-charter study supposedly to be announced Jan. 5

Apple Cuts Educational Pricing on MacBooks

Charter school approval faulted

Hawaii governor to re-examine teacher furlough proposal

Education Secretary Arne Duncan's legacy as Chicago schools chief questioned

Texas schools see more low-income students

Fund balances (KS) won't save schools

In the news

2009-12-26T06:47:00.000-08:00

N.Y. School Suspends Girl, 10, for Peppermint Oil

COUNTDOWN TO 2010: Schools see more levies, testing and security

US : Socialism and the defense of public education

Michigan schools at the starting line

Shift school responsibility to mayors

Florida schools up to feds' challenge

Birth-to-Five loses $87000 in state funding for parenting education programs

Education, Year in Review

Hawaii parents waiting on details of plan to reduce furlough days

News Updates

2009-12-17T08:46:00.000-08:00

State (Indiana) education board weighs pay freeze

Certified teachers may not get $7500 bonuses after this year

Senate, House (MI) differ on education reform

State (IL) education cuts threaten local schools

Education Groups File Suit (NY) over Delay in School Aid Payments

Colorado governor sets up committee to develop plan for higher education

Syringa Sues Over Idaho Education Network Contract

Charters hold key to saving state big education dollars

Education Officials(VT), Union Clash Over School Funding

Higher education (ID) bracing for cuts

_________________

Survey of Adult Homeschooled Students: Better in Almost Every Way

In the news

2009-12-14T21:25:00.001-08:00

For-Profit Schools See More Defaults

Mathematician Finds Formula for Perfect Parking

Apollo Group Settles University Of Phoenix Lawsuit - Update

Chris Christie says he intends to raise higher education funding in first term

California's education gets an insufficient funds notification

US Education Secretary Visits Atlanta

New York Regents release new plan to improve state's schools

Schools race to -- where, exactly?

Colorado Teacher Schools Get Failing Grade

SC Schools Fall Below National Average in Reading

Bill aims to boost nutrition, exercise in DC schools

No easy answers in block versus traditional schedules

A free Harvard education? Sort of

Louisiana higher education cuts will go deep

Bristol Tennessee Board of Education bans corporal punishment in city schools

TEACH Grant program popular with Idaho State University education students

Ed Commissioner Steiner: more charters, teacher testing

Making higher education a part of more futures

_______________________

ipod Math application developed by charter homeschool family a big hit

Homeschool team Denver Eagles win division 'A' basketball championship

Op-ed—Socialization not a Problem

Educational co-op serves homeschoolers

Kevin Jennings

2009-12-14T21:03:00.001-08:00

Obama's Safe Schools Czar Tied to Lewd Readings for 7th Graders

President Obama's "Safe Schools Czar," already a target of social conservatives for his past drug abuse and what they say is his promotion of homosexuality in schools, is under fresh attack after it was revealed that the pro-gay group he formerly headed recommends books his critics say are pornographic.

The group under fire is the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which Kevin Jennings, now the assistant deputy secretary for safe and drug-free schools in the Department of Education, founded and ran from 1990 to 2008.

GLSEN says it works to create a welcoming atmosphere for homosexual students in schools, and that effort includes recommending books for students of all ages.

But critics say many of the books, particularly some that are targeted for children between Grades 7 to 12, are inappropriately explicit. A full list is available at the blog Gateway Pundit, which has published dozens of controversial passages from the books.

One recommended book is titled "Queer 13: Lesbian and Gay Writers Recall Seventh Grade." On pages 43 through 45, writer Justin Chin tells of how as a 13-year-old, he went along with "near-rapes" by older men, but "really did enjoy those sexual encounters." Chin also recounts each sexual action he performed with an "ugly f*** of a man" he met on a bus.
In another book, "Passages of Pride," the author writes about a 15-year-old boy's relationship with a much older man.

"Near the end of summer, just before starting his sophomore year in high school, Dan picked up a weekly Twin Cities newspaper. Scanning the classifieds, he came upon an ad for a "Man-2-Man" massage. Home alone one day, he called the telephone number listed in the ad and set up an appointment to meet a man named Tom.... Even though Tom was older, almost twice Dan's age, Dan felt unthreatened by him. Dan admits Tom was a 'troll' in every sense of the word -- an older closeted gay man seeking sex with a man much younger. But Dan says he was not intimidated by the discrepancy in their ages. 'He kind of had me in a corner in that he knew I didn't have access to anything I wanted.' says Dan. 'But everything was consensual.'"

On Page 13 of a third book, "Reflections of a Rock Lobster," the author recounts his sexual encounters in first grade.

"By first grade I was sexually active with many friends. In fact, a small group of us regularly met in the grammar school lavatory to perform fellatio on one another. A typical week's schedule would be Aaron and Michael on Monday during lunch; Michael and Johnny on Tuesday after school; Fred and Timmy at noon Wednesday; Aaron and Timmy after school on Thursday. None of us ever got caught, but we never worried about it anyway."

"Reflections of a Rock Lobster" was recommended in 1995, the year Jennings became GLSEN's first executive director; "Passages of Pride" made the list in 1997 and "Queer 13" in 1999. Those are just three out of over 100 books that GLSEN has recommended for students in grades 7-12 since 1990, and all three remain on GLSEN's recommended reading list.

Peter Sprigg, a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, says the content of the books is shocking, and it raises concerns about Jennings' judgment.

"The graphic sexual content of these books is so extreme that I think any average parent or citizen, regardless of how they feel about homosexuality, would be shocked at these books being recommended to young people," Sprigg said.

GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard defended her group's recommendations, telling FoxNews.com in a written statement:

"Some of the books that might be used with young adult audiences contain mature content, as is true of many memoirs and works of literature. Because of the presence of mature content in some of the works, GLSEN provides very clear guidelines throughout, recommending that adults review each book to make sure the book is suitable."

Those guidelines, listed on each book recommendation page, read: "All BookLink items are reviewed by GLSEN staff for quality and appropriateness of content. However, some titles for adolescent readers contain mature themes. We recommend that adults selecting books for youth review content for suitability."

But critics say the guidelines themselves are damning, because they confirm that GLSEN staff have checked the books for appropriateness. And Jennings, they point out, was in charge at the time.

"It's like Jennings just doesn't realize he's working with kids here.... You need a totally different set of rules when you're working with kids," said Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality.

LaBarbera said the books should be seen in light of other recent controversies surrounding Jennings.

In September it came out that, when he was a teacher in Massachusetts, Jennings did not report an incident in which a 16-year-old boy told him that he was having sexual relations with an older man he met in a bus station bathroom. After that, 53 Republican members of the House publicly called for Jennings to be dismissed.

But Alvin McEwen, who runs a blog called "Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters" and has commented extensively on the Jennings case, said GLSEN's book recommendations should be seen in a different light.

"GLSEN is saying that parents should decide. They are saying these books may be a good idea to read, but ultimately it is up to parents," he told FoxNews.com.

McEwen said that even though Jennings was the director of GLSEN when the books were recommended, there was no evidence that he personally selected the books.

"This is ridiculous guilt-by-association ... just another moral panic thought up by people who don't have any legitimate reason to oppose Jennings, so they've made a mountain out of molehill," he said.

Department of Education spokesman Justin Hamilton declined to comment about Jennings' role in recommending the books.

But critics say Jennings, as GLSEN's first full-time employee and first executive director, must be held responsible.

"He was at GLSEN from the beginning and was in charge during the time when these books were approved," said Warren Throckmorton, a professor at Grove City College.

The blogger at Gateway Pundit, Jim Hoft, wrote elsewhere concerning a "black book" that contains a gay bar guide and explicit sexual references that was handed out at a GLSEN event.

But McEwen said it's not clear that Jennings -- or GLSEN -- knew about the guide, which was distributed by Fenway Community Health officials at a GLSEN event, which they later said had been a mistake.

Hoft has also alleged that Jennings and GLSEN were involved in Planned Parenthood's purported distribution of "fisting kits" [fisting involves forcing one's hand into another person's rectum or vagina] at at least one GLSEN event. The kit was actually for making a "dental dam" -- designed to prevent STD transmission during oral sex.

McEwen said that the attacks on Jennings and GLSEN were motivated largely by homophobia.
"There are a lot of heterosexual books that are just as explicit. In the first page of 'The Color Purple' [a 1982 novel that has caused controversy when assigned in schools], the character talks about being raped in graphic terms... what's in [GLSEN's] books is no different from what's in The Color Purple."

But Sprigg disagrees that books like "The Color Purple" are comparable to those recommended by GLSEN.

"We are not talking about 'The Great Gatsby' or 'The Grapes of Wrath' here," he said. "A lot of people who have only read the news and opinion pieces on this story, without reading the actual excerpts, may think that we are talking about the kind of sexual content that might, in a film, earn a PG-13 or R rating. We are not.

"This is material that, if portrayed visually, would be a triple-X hard-core porn film, and quite possibly meet the legal definition of obscenity. In fact, I think the homosexual content is the only thing preventing the outcry from being even greater, because some people fear being labeled as 'anti-gay.' If the content were heterosexual in nature, there would be no one defending it at all."

More regarding Jennings here.

How gender affects learning

2009-12-10T05:53:00.001-08:00

In the news

2009-12-09T06:48:00.000-08:00

Detroit Schools' Abysmal Math Scores: Child Abuse

University of Minnesota Under Fire for Task Force's Discrimination-Based Teacher Education Plan

College Degrees More Expensive, Worth Less in Job Market

Charter Schools Against the Odds

Baltimore 4th-graders score better than expected on math

Math scores show improvement at schools in large US cities

Lowering the cost of education

Peele: Sex education should start with parents, not schools

Grassley Proposes Expanding Education Tax Relief

Early child-hood education plan in works for Michigan

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Educational co-op serves homeschoolers

Board to consider homeschool, online class restrictions

Metro Homeschool Tops Frontier Trails

Forest preserve offers home-school programs

Homeschoolers focus of new legal entity

Homeschoolers prepare for robotics competition

History Classroom This Week

2009-12-08T05:09:00.000-08:00

Coming Soon! The People SpeakSunday, December 13th at 8/7c

How the Earth Was Made: Birth of the EarthTuesday, December 8th at 9/8c

The Hunt for John Wilkes BoothFriday, December 11th at 8/7c

How the Earth Was Made: The SaharaTuesday, December 15th at 9/8c

Fun short history videos for the classroom: Red, White, and True Mysteries

Details here.

In the news

2009-12-07T09:37:00.000-08:00

Four Flawed Assumptions of School Reform and What Can Be Done About Them

Unproved Early-Reading Program Likely to Prevail

Education Secretary Arne Duncan Says School Principals Must Act Like ceos

Education Secretary: Get H1N1 vaccine now

Montessori program at SF school stirs clash

State Considers Shifting Charter-School Tuition Costs To Local School Systems

Catholic education, then and now

Tuition Tax: The Future Of Higher Education?

Debate grows over Hispanic Education Act

Florida's Graduation Rate Hits Highest Point Ever

Abandoning California's commitment to education

Ind. governor targets colleges for $150M in cuts

2009-07-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

There will be no posting for a little bit. See you again soon.

2009-06-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

For modest earners, relief repaying student loans

Repaying a student loan could soon be a little less painful.

Starting this week, anyone with a federal student loan can apply for a program, run by the Department of Education, that caps monthly payments based on income, and forgives remaining balances after 25 years. Those choosing to work in public service could have their loans forgiven after just 10 years.

Eligibility for income-based repayment (IBR) is determined by a person's income and loan size. A calculator at http://www.ibrinfo.org can help borrowers determine their eligibility for the plan, which becomes available Wednesday.

"It's a way to borrow for college without going to the poor house," said Lauren Asher, president of the Institute for College Access & Success, a California-based nonprofit that runs the Project on Student Debt.

The program stems from the Education Department's College Cost Reduction and Access Act, signed in 2007, which authorized the creation of a new income-based repayment plan for both Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and Direct Loan borrowers on all Stafford and graduate PLUS loans.

Monthly payments would amount to less than 10 percent of income for most of the estimated 1 million people expected to enroll, experts say. Payments would never exceed 15 percent of any income above about $16,000 a year (or 150 percent of the poverty level).

Those who earn less than $16,000 would not have to make any monthly payments.

The new payment option is intended to provide relief for those who earn modest salaries and struggle under the weight of student loans for years on end. By stretching repayment over a longer period, monthly payments are kept at a reasonable portion of income, though most people would not see any savings on the total cost of the loan.

IBR "can lower costs and provides light at the end of the tunnel" for such borrowers, said Asher of the Institute for College Access & Success. That gives borrowers greater financial flexibility to save for retirement, buy a home or even pay for their own children's education, she said.

The program isn't for everyone, however.

In some cases, accruing interest could push the cost of the loan higher. And since loans are likely to be paid off within 25 years, the loan forgiveness aspect of the program won't apply to most people. To save on interest costs, those who could afford to would be better served paying off loans faster, said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org, which tracks the college financial aid industry.

If a salary jump eventually disqualifies a borrower for the capped monthly payments, they would still be responsible for the cost of the loan and the interest that accrued up to that point. Monthly payments still couldn't exceed what they would be under a standard 10-year repayment plan. Of course, borrowers could opt to pay off debts faster if they chose.

There are already some options for those who can't afford big monthly payments, such as long-term payment plans spanning up to 30 years. But eligibility requirements are stricter, and monthly payments can still be high.

The government also offers a program similar to IBR called the income-contingent repayment plan. That plan is not as lenient as the new one, however, with payments capped at 20 percent of income beyond 100 percent of the poverty level. And it's also only available for direct federal loans.

The new program will be available for direct federal loans, as well as federal loans administered through private lenders. Most of those enrolled in the income-contingent plan are expected to switch over to the new program.

Parent PLUS loans, the federal loans parents can take out to pay for their children's education, are not eligible for either payment plan.

Headlines

2009-06-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

Mom charged with changing daughter's grades

Economy sends college students home

Supreme Court: School strip searches illegal

FAFSA application made easier and less exhaustive

As Obama seeks more charter schools, unions push for bigger role

EDUCATION MATTERS: College a privilege, not a right

Apangea Learning's Math Tutoring Program to be Offered Through ...

The state of education funding: thousands of teachers paid to do nothing

Positive Psychology for Kids: Teaching Resilience With Positive ...

Headlines

2009-06-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

700 NYC teachers are paid to do nothing

Two Caps, Two Gowns, But Not Too Busy

Obama's Education Budget Sees Some Pushback on Capitol Hill

Unions seek bigger role in charter schools

Court says public must pay for private special ed

Polytechnic Elementary aims to reform K-12 education

Sex education goes full circle

The economic cost of the US education gap

2009-06-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

Court says public must pay for private special ed

The Supreme Court has ruled that parents of special education students who opt for private school instead of trying the public system cannot be barred from seeking public reimbursement for their tuition costs.

The court ruled 6-3 Monday in favor of a teenage boy from Oregon whose parents sought to force their local public school district to pay the $5,200 a month it cost to send their son to a private school.

Federal law calls for school districts to reimburse students or their families for education costs when public schools do not have services that address or fulfill the students' needs. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the nation's special education students are entitled to a "free and appropriate public education."

Schools have argued that the law says parents of special education students must give public special education programs a chance before seeking reimbursement for private school tuition.
But advocacy groups and parents of some special education students contend that forcing them to try public schools first could force children, especially poor ones, to spend time in an undesirable situation before getting the help they need.

Justice John Paul Stevens said in his majority opinion that the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires a school district to pay for private special ed services if the public school doesn't have appropriate services.

"We conclude that IDEA authorizes reimbursement for the cost of special education services when a school district fails to provide a FAPE and the private-school placement is appropriate, regardless of whether the child previously received special education or related services through the public school," Stevens said.

In the case before the Supreme Court, the family of a teenage Oregon boy diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — who was identified only as T.A. — sued the school district, saying the school did not properly address the student's learning problems. The family is seeking reimbursement for the student's tuition, which cost $5,200 a month. The family paid a total of $65,000 in private tuition.

In its appeal, the Forest Grove School District said students should be forced to at least give public special education programs a try before seeking reimbursement for private tuition. If not, parents would bypass public schools and go directly to private school — and then ask for reimbursement from school systems already burdened by ever-increasing costs.

The court's decision does not require reimbursement, but Stevens said school officials "must consider all relevant factors, including the notice provided by parents and the school district's opportunities for evaluating the child, in determining whether reimbursement for some or all of the cost of the child's private school education is warranted."

Justice David Souter, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented.

"Given the burden of private school placement, it makes good sense to require parents to try to devise a satisfactory alternative within the public schools," Souter said in the dissent.

This is the court's second attempt at resolving this issue. The high court split 4-4 on a similar case from New York City two years ago. Justice Anthony Kennedy recused himself in the New York case but was among those who ruled on the Oregon case.

Nationwide, the number of special education students placed in private schools at public expense has not changed significantly over the last two decades, Justice Department lawyers said, citing statistics from the U.S. Department of Education. Just under 67,000 pupils were in private placements in 2007 — just 1.1 percent of the country's nearly 6 million special education students.

The case is Forest Grove School District v. T.A., 08-305.

Sebelius says kids may get swine flu shots first

2009-06-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

Schools are being put on notice

Schoolchildren could be first in line for swine flu vaccine this fall — and schools are being put on notice that they might even be turned into shot clinics. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday she is urging school superintendents around the country to spend the summer preparing for that possibility, if the government goes ahead with mass vaccinations.

"If you think about vaccinating kids, schools are the logical place," Sebelius told The Associated Press.

No decision has been made yet on whether and how to vaccinate millions of Americans against the new flu strain that the World Health Organization last week formally dubbed a pandemic, meaning it now is circulating the globe unchecked. But the U.S. is pouring money into development of a vaccine in anticipation of giving at least some people the shots.

While swine flu doesn't yet seem any more lethal than the regular flu that each winter kills 36,000 people in the U.S. alone, scientists fear it may morph into a more dangerous type. Even in its current form, the WHO says about half of the more than 160 people worldwide killed by swine flu so far were previously young and healthy.

If that trend continues, "the target may be school-age children as a first priority" for vaccination, Sebelius said Tuesday. "That's being watched carefully."

Schools do occasionally team up with local health officials for special flu vaccination clinics but it's not common. More than 140 schools around the country scheduled flu vaccination days last fall, some providing free vaccine. Some vaccinated only students bearing parent consent forms; others opened their doors to entire families.

In a wide-ranging interview, Sebelius said it could take several years to meet President Barack Obama's top healthcare priority — covering the uninsured — even if Congress manages to pass legislation this fall.

"Will something probably be phased in? You bet," Sebelius told The AP. It could take until 2011 or 2012 to set up new programs, time that would help spread out a cost that by some estimates would be $1 trillion over 10 years.

Among the aims of the administration's planned overhaul is to help eliminate health disparities between minority groups and whites, "which frankly is unconscionable," Sebelius said.

Hispanics and blacks are more likely to lack health insurance, and also have higher rates of a host of illnesses. But Sebelius said some of the most severe disparities are found with American Indians, and pledged a multiyear effort to reverse "a historic failure of the government." The U.S. is obligated to provide free health care on reservations, but the troubled Indian Health Service has only about half the money it needs.

More immediately, Sebelius faces the looming question of whether to push forward with swine flu vaccinations this fall, on top of the regular winter flu vaccine that will be distributed as usual. A key challenge would be making people understand who needs which, or both, vaccines, decisions that will be made in part based on how swine flu behaves in the Southern Hemisphere this summer, where flu season is just beginning.

Sebelius soon will call together the nation's governors to be sure "these months between now and the fall aren't used as vacation months" but in getting ready.

"We can always sort of back off" if the new flu fades away, she said, "but we can't wait til October hits and say, 'Oh my heavens, what are we going to do?'"

Companies are on track to provide pilot doses for testing later this summer, Sebelius said. Those government-led studies will check if the vaccine seems to work, if one dose or two will be needed, and most important if it's safe. The last mass vaccination against a different swine flu, in the U.S. in 1976, was marred by reports of a paralyzing side effect — for a feared outbreak that never happened.

So the Food and Drug Administration will closely track vaccine safety, Sebelius said.

The secretary said: "The worst of all worlds is to have the vaccine cause more damage than the flu potential."

Ed in the news

2009-06-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

Binge drinking is on the rise at U.S. colleges, officials say

Some Calif. students may get 34 extra school days this year

PE requirement isn't enough to fight obesity

Higher-ed pinching pushes college presses to brink

How Facebook Is Affecting School Reunions

Schwarzenegger's push for digital textbooks

What does 'p' in music mean? Twenty percent of US students know.

Study Finds Instruction in Art Lags in 8th Grade

California charter schools stronger in reading than math

We Should Not Centralize Education

How Much Student Debt Is Too Much?

McGraw-Hill Education Announces 'Center For Digital Innovation'

Special education bill opens access to classes

2009-06-15T04:54:00.000-07:00

*Note 'national' and 'international' - emphasis within article is mine.

Education Chief Hopes Stimulus Will Push Standards

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is offering federal cash incentives to achieve one of his priorities: developing national standards for reading and math.
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is offering federal cash incentives to achieve one of his priorities: developing national standards for reading and math to replace a current hodgepodge of benchmarks in the states.

Duncan said Sunday that the efforts of 46 states to develop common, internationally measured standards for student achievement would be bolstered by up to $350 million in federal funds to help them develop tests to assess those standards.

Duncan made the announcement Sunday in suburban Cary at a conference for education experts and 20 governors hosted by the National Governors Association and the James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy.

Education decisions generally are controlled by the states, and the federal government cannot mandate national standards. That makes for wide variation from state to state. Students and schools deemed failing in one state might get passing grades in another.

It will be up to states to adopt the new standards. But Duncan has been using his bully pulpit to push the effort -- and now he's using Washington's checkbook, too. He said spending up to $350 million to support state efforts to craft assessments would be Washington's largest-ever investment in encouraging a set of common standards.

The money will come from the federal Education Department's $5 billion fund to reward states that adopt innovations the Obama administration supports.

"Historically, this was a third rail. You couldn't even talk about (standards)," Duncan said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "What you've seen over the past couple years is a growing recognition from political leaders, educators, unions, nonprofits -- literally every sector -- coming to realize that 50 states doing their own thing doesn't make sense."

Every state except Alaska, South Carolina, Missouri and Texas has signed on to an effort to develop standards by the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers. But getting the states to adopt whatever emerges will be politically difficult.

"Resources are important, but resources are actually a small piece of this puzzle," Duncan told the AP. "What's really needed here is political courage. We need governors to continue to invest their energy and political capital."

Any tests developed for the new standards would likely replace existing ones. Asked to explain the money's focus on developing more tests, Duncan said developing the standards themselves would be relatively inexpensive.

Developing assessments, by contrast, is a "very heavy lift financially," Duncan said, expressing concern that the project could stall without federal backing.

"Having real high standards is important, but behind that, I think in this country we have too many bad tests," Duncan said. "If we're going to have world-class international standards, we need to have world-class evaluations behind them."

In the news

2009-06-15T04:02:00.000-07:00

Assembly Gets a Bill Extending Bloomberg's Control of Schools

Tuition costs dash dreams

Education Dep't To Fund Overhaul of State Assessments

Rendell challenges GOP's education funding plan

Where's the education bailout?

Oklahoma Lottery education dollars slipping

Paying for Private Schools

Will Federal Education Standard Help Students?

As legislators debate budget, charter schools' future hangs in balance

What's the matter with Education?

Should California Look Into Digital Education?

State Senator: Education Funding will be Cut $1.4B

MAKING HIGH SCHOOL HARDER

Where Does Judge Sonia Sotomayor Stand on School Issues?

2009-06-12T05:38:00.000-07:00

Photo via Reuters

New, superheavy element to enter periodic table

A new, superheavy chemical element numbered 112 will soon be officially included in the periodic table, German researchers said.

A team in the southwest German city of Darmstadt first produced 112 in 1996 by firing charged zinc atoms through a 120-meter-long particle accelerator to hit a lead target.

"The new element is approximately 277 times heavier than hydrogen, making it the heaviest element in the periodic table," the scientists at the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research said in a statement late on Wednesday.

The zinc and lead nuclei were fused to form the nucleus of the new element, also known as Ununbium, Latin for 112.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), confirmed the discovery of 112 by the team led by Sigurd Hofmann at the Helmholtz Center. IUPAC has asked for an official name for the element to be submitted.

John Jost, executive director of IUPAC in North Carolina, told Reuters that creating new elements helped researchers to understand how nuclear power plants and atomic bombs function.

The atomic number 112 refers to the sum of the atomic numbers of zinc, which has 30, and lead, which has 82. Atomic numbers denote how many protons are found in the atom's nucleus.

Scientists at the Helmholtz Center have discovered six chemical elements, numbered 107-112, since 1981. The remaining five elements have already been recognized and named.

In 1925, scientists discovered the last naturally occurring element on the periodic table. Since then researchers have sought to create new, heavier elements.

Proving the existence of atoms with such a high mass, the so-called superheavy elements, is a complex procedure because they exist for only tiny fractions of a second and then decay radioactively into other elements.

In the news

2009-06-07T20:09:00.000-07:00

Required Reading: Girls Against the Boys

VT program helps students explore gender

NY school shuttered by swine flu holds graduation

The Inevitability of Parental Choice

Seniors Hold Graduation After Board Cancels Ceremony

Speaker of the House Talks Education in Des Moines

$891M in stimulus aid will help New Jersey education budget

California legislators reject education cuts

State applauds CRCT progress in math, science

Alexandria to pitch for early education funds

Valley districts recall teachers laid off in April

Community colleges can be a bargain, but students must be careful

State law, attitudes slow charter school movement in Iowa

School officials will seek more background checks

--------------------------

Home schooling on the rise

Home-schooled night school grad to address class

Home-school graduates enjoyed flexible schedule

Bring the school construct into the home

Hands-on teaching finds at the homeschool fair

Home-school grads follow different but rewarding paths

HOME-SCHOOLING: No debating the success of college

Homeschooling and the public library, part 1

Homeschooling and the public library, part 2

Homeschooling styles and methods: traditional textbook

In the news

2009-06-03T07:11:00.000-07:00

Students at PS 123 in Harlem are pushed aside for charter school

Planning for National Education Standards

Senate panel shoots down new Pa. graduation exams

4-year colleges graduate 53% in 6 years

Teachers Union says Furloughs Inevitable

Who Pays for Special Education: Parents or Districts?

Homosexual Activist Appointed to US Dept of Education

Alaska opts out of national education standards

How to Win the Spelling Bee

California's special education funding could be a violation of...

Financial literacy education now law in Kansas

Homosexual Propaganda Going to All US School Districts
_____________________

Vancouver homeschoolers place 2nd in National Science Olympiad ...

Real top reason to homeschool may be time together

Homeschoolers log physical education credit on local bike paths

New homeschool stats from Dept. of Education

Free HSLDA webinar for homeschooling dads

Home-school student wins scholarship

Summer homeschooling with videos

Official Homeschool Week in Washington State

NSPCC apologises for home school abuse comment

2009-06-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Dumbest Generation Getting Dumber

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international comparison of 15-year-olds conducted by The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that measures applied learning and problem-solving ability. In 2006, U.S. students ranked 25th of 30 advanced nations in math and 24th in science. McKinsey & Company, in releasing its report "The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools" (April 2009) said, "Several other facts paint a worrisome picture. First, the longer American children are in school, the worse they perform compared to their international peers. In recent cross-country comparisons of fourth grade reading, math, and science, US students scored in the top quarter or top half of advanced nations. By age 15 these rankings drop to the bottom half. In other words, American students are farthest behind just as they are about to enter higher education or the workforce." That's a sobering thought. The longer kids are in school and the more money we spend on them, the further behind they get.
While the academic performance of white students is grossly inferior, that of black and Latino students is a national disgrace. The McKinsey report says, "On average, black and Latino students are roughly two to three years of learning behind white students of the same age. This racial gap exists regardless of how it is measured, including both achievement (e.g., test score) and attainment (e.g., graduation rate) measures. Taking the average National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores for math and reading across the fourth and eighth grades, for example, 48 percent of blacks and 43 percent of Latinos are 'below basic,' while only 17 percent of whites are, and this gap exists in every state. A more pronounced racial achievement gap exists in most large urban school districts." Below basic is the category the NAEP uses for students unable to display even partial mastery of knowledge and skills fundamental for proficient work at their grade level.

The teaching establishment and politicians have hoodwinked taxpayers into believing that more money is needed to improve education. The Washington, D.C., school budget is about the nation's costliest, spending about $15,000 per pupil. Its student/teacher ratio, at 15.2 to 1, is lower than the nation's average. Yet student achievement is just about the lowest in the nation. What's so callous about the Washington situation is about 1,700 children in kindergarten through 12th grade receive the $7,500 annual scholarships in order to escape rotten D.C. public schools, and four times as many apply for the scholarships, yet Congress, beholden to the education establishment, will end funding the school voucher program.

Any long-term solution to our education problems requires the decentralization that can come from competition. Centralization has been massive. In 1930, there were 119,000 school districts across the U.S; today, there are less than 15,000. Control has moved from local communities to the school district, to the state, and to the federal government. Public education has become a highly centralized government-backed monopoly and we shouldn't be surprised by the results. It's a no-brainer that the areas of our lives with the greatest innovation, tailoring of services to individual wants and falling prices are the areas where there is ruthless competition such as computers, food, telephone and clothing industries, and delivery companies such as UPS, Federal Express and electronic bill payments that have begun to undermine the postal monopoly in first-class mail.

At a Washington press conference launching the McKinsey report, Al Sharpton called school reform the civil rights challenge of our time. He said that the enemy of opportunity for blacks in the U.S. was once Jim Crow; today, in a slap at the educational establishment, he said it was "Professor James Crow." Sharpton is only partly correct. School reform is not solely a racial issue; it's a vital issue for the entire nation.

2009-05-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

Interactive: Campus stress - So much for carefree college days. Most students are stressed.

2009-05-28T09:12:00.000-07:00

More college grads join Teach for America

When school starts next fall, Teach for America will send an unprecedented number of college graduates to teach in poor communities across the country — but not as many as the group would like.

Teach for America this year chose 4,100 recruits from more than 35,000 applications. While the group has never accepted every applicant, this was the first time it had to turn down people who met all its rigorous criteria.

"For the last nine years, really the only constraint on our growth has been recruits, just finding enough people who we really believe are ready for this," said Wendy Kopp, the group's founder and chief executive.

"This is the first year when we've had to turn away people who would have met our admission bar in any previous year," Kopp said.

The constraint is the economy. Tighter budgets have forced some school districts to cut back on hiring, though overall 500 more spots for Teach for America are available this year. Also, those who give to nonprofits like Teach for America are either holding the line or cutting back on their charitable giving, which pays for training and professional development for the recruits.

Despite the belt-tightening, some communities expect an influx of new teachers from the program, especially in rural areas. South Louisiana and the Mississippi Delta will have more than double the number of recruits this year.

In Mississippi, state schools chief Hank Bounds asked Teach for America for at least 200 new teachers. Bounds believes the program's high-achieving graduates will play an important role in turning around his state's struggling schools.

Children suffer from poverty in Mississippi at a greater rate than the national average. And fourth-graders there trail the nation and region in reading and math, though they have made gains since 2003, according to the Southern Regional Education Board.

The South holds particular interest for some recruits. Yale graduate David DeAngelis asked specifically for assignment to the Delta, and he spent the past year teaching music in tiny Marianna, Ark., near the west bank of the Mississippi.

"You become part of the community almost immediately, part of the lives of students, of students' families," DeAngelis said. "It's a very rich and powerful experience, from the very beginning."

Urban schools are also asking for more. In Baltimore, school officials asked Teach for America to send 150 new teachers, twice the number of last year's recruits. However, Teach for America still needs to raise $500,000 to pay for the increase.

In all, more than 7,300 first- and second-year Teach for America recruits will teach in more than 100 school districts in 27 states and Washington, D.C., in the coming school year.

Interest in becoming a teacher has soared amid the recession, especially in programs that get people quickly into the classroom.

Teach for America, for example, provides five weeks of intensive summer training before the school year begins and requires a two-year commitment from its recruits.

Other programs help people switch from other careers into teaching. One of the largest is the New Teacher Project, which has seen a surge in applications like that of Teach for America.

Teach for America has endured its share of criticism. Recruits are less likely to stay in the classroom than those who come from traditional colleges of education, although supporters point out that the low-income schools where they work have much higher turnover anyway.

Still, after their two-year commitment, two-thirds of Teach for America alumni are still working in education, according to the organization. About one-third are working as classroom teachers, and others are in administrative jobs such as principal or school superintendent.

Opponents have also questioned the effectiveness of TFA teachers, although a growing body of research suggests they are as effective or more effective than teachers who followed more traditional routes to the classroom.

In the news

2009-05-27T05:55:00.000-07:00

Do homeschoolers take summer vacation?

Homeschooling and the public library, part 1

There be dragons - homeschooling allows time for creative play.

More homeschool college preparation

Curriculum choices for homeschooling autistic children

Physical education for homeschoolers

Homeschool Chess Championships

Choice to homeschool children not a matter of money, experts say

Homeschooling: Socializing, friends, and support

Homeschooling tips and tricks

Hard times enhance homeschooling's appeal for some families

___________________________
Healthy school lunch efforts face daunting hurdles

Court Opinions and Articles

Poll: NCers Favor More Taxes Over Education Cuts

States consider basing college funding on graduation rates

Ravitch: Why Education is Not the Civil Rights Issue of Our Time

Who Needs Higher Education?

Charter school bill revived in Senate

Education: A harvest for private sector operators

College isn't the only path to the good life

Apple's Back-to-School promo offers free 8GB iPod touch

Calif. Parents Keep Kids Home, Say School Isn't Safe

Gay Curriculum Proposal Riles Elementary School Parents

Tolerance School Curriculum Approved in Alameda

Outsourced Classes

2009-05-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

Kansas school stirs debate over outsourced classes

Just how much can a college outsource and still be a college?

The question is no longer just academic at Fort Hays State University in Kansas. Under a novel arrangement, the school will accept credits from a private company that runs introductory courses in subjects like economics and English composition — listing them on transcripts under the Fort Hays State name.

To some on campus, that sounds like a restaurant ordering takeout from a rival and serving it up as home cooking.

"It could really damage our academic reputation," said Topher Rome, a graduate student who helped start a Facebook group with 147 members opposing the arrangement.

But the public university notes the arrangement isn't for current students there — it's mostly a recruiting tool. Fort Hays State hopes to drum up business amid declining state funding and a dwindling local population, encouraging those who sign up for the online courses to continue their education through the university.

It's the latest chapter in an evolving debate about the place of innovation in higher education. Is outsourcing teaching — especially for huge and often poorly run introductory courses — a way for colleges to catch up with other industries and rein in out-of-control costs? Or does it mean gutting what makes universities special?

Versions of that debate are popping up on more and more campuses. University of Toledo faculty have protested negotiations between the university and a company called Higher Ed Holdings, which had proposed helping deliver master's degree programs in exchange for a share of tuition revenue. The company works with a handful of other universities, including Arkansas State, where some faculty have protested, according to the web publication Inside Higher Ed.

But Higher Ed Holdings claims it merely helps deliver the courses and university faculty are still in charge.

The company working with Fort Hays State, StraighterLine, runs its own courses, which are designed by experts but aren't led by a professor. Nonetheless, the credits earned would be indistinguishable from those taught by professors at Fort Hays State.

Given how many students fall through the cracks of giant general education courses, StraighterLine founder Burck Smith says for-profit alternatives deserve a chance to prove themselves.

In his courses, students work at their own pace, following online lessons developed in conjunction with education publisher McGraw-Hill, reading assignments and taking exams.

Students can access up to 10 hours of individual, online tutoring — in some cases 24 hours a day. The model, Smith says, reduces the inefficiency of a class where everyone moves at a different pace.

The company — an offshoot of an online tutoring company called SmartThinking that Smith also founded — lets students purchase a single course for $399 (they have six months to complete it). Alternatively, they can pay $99 per month and take as many courses as they can finish in the required sequence.

Four other nontraditional or for-profit institutions have similar partnerships with StraighterLine, but Fort Hays State is the only traditional university. Students can try to persuade other institutions to take the credits, but there's no guarantee.

Barbara Solvig, a 50-year-old Chicago mother of three who resolved to get a college degree after she was recently laid off, wanted an online degree because she didn't think she could be in a classroom with kids. But she was floored by the cost of other options.

"Honestly, I could have gone to Northwestern for what they were charging," she said.

Solvig finished StraighterLine courses in composition, accounting, algebra and macroeconomics, and said the work was tough. With other credits collected elsewhere, she's about 20 credits short of a degree at Charter Oak State College, a nonprofit college specializing in alternative and online learning that also accepts StraighterLine courses.

Fort Hays' financial goal is recruiting more students. State funding covers about half the portion of the budget it once did, Provost Larry Gould said, and the area's population has been declining for more than a century. It's responded with a huge online program that enrolls more students off-campus (6,800) than there are on-campus (4,500).

"Our first job is to provide education services to the citizens of western Kansas," Gould said, but the university can't do that without generating new revenues.

So far, Fort Hays has credentialed coursework for about 64 StraighterLine students since the agreement with the school in May 2008, but so far none have formally transferred into the university.

Gould acknowledged some faculty are worried but says they shouldn't be. Once students transfer into FHSU, all courses would be taught by university faculty; if more transfer in, there's more work. He also notes the university knows more about StraighterLine's courses than other forms of outsourced credit such as community colleges, for-profit universities and Advanced Placement exams.

"Yes, there is concern," said Ron Sandstrom, chair of the department of math and computer science. "We're interested about the jobs, but we're really interested in the quality."

Academic departments have been able to review the courses before approval. Sandstrom says if he concludes the courses are strong, he won't object.

Universities like Fort Hays State have broad leeway to accept whatever credits it chooses. But Rome, the graduate student, compares StraighterLine's arrangement with FHSU to "money-laundering but with credit" — essentially borrowing the university's own accreditation to give its courses legitimacy.

The federally designated accrediting agencies give their seals of approval to institutions, not courses, so StraighterLine, which has just 10 courses, isn't eligible, though it says one accrediting agency has said its courses meet standards.

For some education reformers, the experiment at FHSU is an example of how universities can move beyond one-size-fits-all economic models and streamline their introductory courses.

"There is simply not enough money to sustain higher education in its current format," said Carol Twigg, president and CEO of the National Center for Academic Transformation, which works with universities to redesign their own introductory courses. "There will always be a Harvard and people willing to pay ... whatever it's going to cost for four years, but for all other students we really need alternative models."

2009-05-23T06:27:00.000-07:00

Which Colleges Leave Students With the Most Debt?

Mars Hoax Circulates - Again

2009-05-22T06:21:00.000-07:00

Mars Hoax Circulates: 'Big as the Moon!'

Beneficial?

2009-05-20T04:57:00.000-07:00

SAT Prep Courses Not as Beneficial as Advertised

Families can spend thousands of dollars on coaching to help college-bound students boost their SAT scores. But a new report finds that these test-preparation courses aren't as beneficial as consumers are led to believe.

The report, to be released Wednesday by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, criticizes common test-prep-industry marketing practices, including promises of big score gains with no hard data to back up such claims. The report also finds fault with the frequent use of mock SAT tests because they can be devised to inflate score gains when students take the actual SAT. The association represents 11,000 college admissions officers, high-school guidance counselors and private advisors.

"It breaks my heart to see families who can't afford it spending money they desperately need on test prep when no evidence would indicate that this is money well-spent," says William Fitzsimmons, Harvard University's dean of undergraduate admissions, who led a group at the college admissions association that prompted the report.

Jonah Varon, a straight-A student at Lowell High School in San Francisco, took a mock SAT from a test-prep company last year and scored 2060 out of a possible 2400. A few weeks later, with no tutoring, he took the real test. His score: a perfect 2400, or 340 points higher.
Mr. Varon, who is headed to Harvard in the fall, was suspicious. The coaching company, Revolution Prep, of Santa Monica, Calif., says its mock tests are calibrated to be at the same difficulty level as the real SAT. So why had it seemed to the student so much harder?

After gathering test scores from 15 classmates who had had similar experiences, Mr. Varon wrote an article for his school newspaper claiming that the mock test was far more difficult — or was scored more harshly — than the actual exam to make Revolution Prep appear to be raising test scores more than it actually does.

"It seems like dishonest advertising," Mr. Varon says.

Revolution Prep says that the experiences of Mr. Varon and several of his classmates were "outliers," and that surveys of students at Lowell High School generally show high satisfaction with the test-coaching company's results.

Click here to read the full story from the Wall Street Journal.

Paying for Placement

2009-05-20T04:45:00.000-07:00

Internships Becoming So Competitive That Students Paying Thousands for Placement

So you want a summer internship? It may cost you.

Paying thousands of dollars for an internship opportunity might sound crazy, but the sluggish economy and fierce competition for positions has made pay-for-placement programs more popular than ever.

A company called the University of Dreams offers guaranteed internship opportunities for those willing to pay anywhere from $5,499 to $9,499. The company has received a record number of applications this year and expects to place about 1,500 interns in major cities around the world.

In addition to internship placement, the University of Dreams also provides interns with housing, weekend activities, meals, transportation, career seminars, resume revision and interview coaching.

These internships are legitimate, some career services experts say.

"There has to be some money that a student fronts in order to have the experience, but I do know enough about it to know that the experiences are of high quality," said Jeff Rice, the executive director of Career Services at Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business.

Despite the quality of internships offered, this pay-for-placement concept is controversial on college campuses. Some students think that programs like the University of Dreams give wealthier students an unfair advantage, especially in light of the dismal job market.

"It's just not financially feasible," said Amy Augustine, a student at Ohio State. "I would never enter into a program that would keep me for three months, that would not pay me and that I would actually have to pay for."

There are also complaints that those who enroll in placement programs aren't necessarily the most qualified for the job.

Along with other placement companies like the Washington Internship Program and CharityFolks, the University of Dreams has caught some steam in recent months. However, students who have taken advantage of the program defend its expensive price tag.

"I definitely don't see the University of Dreams as an easy way out, because there are a lot of procedures that you have to go through," said Lisa Liao, who interned with United Colors of Benetton in San Francisco. "You still have to apply, do resume workshops and interview."

Katherine Pierce, an Ohio State student who interned for a fashion company in London, said, "To have the housing, to have the food, to have the transportation and to have all the networking — that's really what you are paying for."

Regardless of their approach, Rice said that in this economy, students should focus on getting a good experience.

"I think what students should focus on right now is build resume," Rice said. "Perhaps a year or two from now, that resume builder will turn into a full-time job where you can make money."

Shelby Holliday is a Palestra.net student reporter at Ohio State University.

Homeschool and Ed News

2009-05-19T06:13:00.000-07:00

Collier County homeschool graduates celebrate milestone

Home-school graduates mark milestone in life

Home school diploma bill headed to governor

Homeschooling through the summer

Homeschooled teen earns high school diploma and associate degree

Chicago Homeschool Launches Innovative Website

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In tough times, graduates (and parents) assess the worth of a liberal arts education

FACT CHECK: Are US students really that bad?

AP IMPACT: Poll shows sink or swim for grads

There's a crisis coming for school costs

A Closer Look at Obama's Education Policy — Say No to Merit Pay ...

City education officials fumble creation of clear swine flu school ...

Polls open today for school budget votes

Oregon Senate passes sex-education bill

Education Experts Offer Alternatives to College Rankings

Area police want anti-gang education program in schools

Educators to get cash for top graduation increases

Dell Offers Bright Colored Latitude 2100 Netbooks for Education Market

Kaplan Higher Education Joins the Worldwide OpenCourseWare Consortium

2009-05-13T17:59:00.001-07:00

Providence mayor wants to tax college students

In the news

2009-05-13T06:05:00.000-07:00

Why do millions of Americans struggle with reading and writing?

High-schoolers have made little progress since the 1970s, study says

Colleges offer no-frills degrees

Japan's 'exam hell' now reaches into preschool

Obama's goal is to turn around 5000 schools

Website estimates education's effect on health, crime, income

Intel chairman says US education lacking

California's high school dropout rate at 20%

Obama budget cuts funds for abstinence-only sex education

Secretary of Education visits Cody High School today

University president cedes bonus for scholarships

Money 911: Budgeting your kids' education

Perdue named to national exam governing board

Thoughts on this?

2009-05-08T20:37:00.000-07:00

School tells student to skip prom

A student at a fundamentalist Baptist school that forbids dancing, rock music, hand-holding and kissing will be suspended if he takes his girlfriend to her public high school prom, his principal said.

Despite the warning, 17-year-old Tyler Frost, who has never been to a dance before, said he plans to attend Findlay High School's prom Saturday.

Frost, a senior at Heritage Christian School in northwest Ohio, agreed to the school's rules when he signed a statement of cooperation at the beginning of the year, principal Tim England said.

The teen, who is scheduled to receive his diploma May 24, would be suspended from classes and receive an "incomplete" on remaining assignments, England said. Frost also would not be permitted to attend graduation but would get a diploma once he completes final exams. If Frost is involved with alcohol or sex at the prom, he will be expelled, England said.

Frost's stepfather Stephan Johnson said the school's rules should not apply outside the classroom.

"He deserves to wear that cap and gown," Johnson said.

Frost said he thought he had handled the situation properly. Findlay requires students from other schools attending the prom to get a signature from their principal, which Frost did.

"I expected a short lecture about making the right decisions and not doing something stupid," Frost said. "I thought I would get his signature and that would be the end."

England acknowledged signing the form but warned Frost there would be consequences if he attended the dance. England then took the issue to a school committee made up of church members, who decided to threaten Frost with suspension.

"In life, we constantly make decisions whether we are going to please self or please God. (Frost) chose one path, and the school committee chose the other," England said.

The handbook for the 84-student Christian school says rock music "is part of the counterculture which seeks to implant seeds of rebellion in young people's hearts and minds."

England said Frost's family should not be surprised by the school's position.

"For the parents to claim any injustice regarding this issue is at best forgetful and at worst disingenuous," he said. "It is our hope that the student and his parents will abide by the policies they have already agreed to."

The principal at Findlay High School, whose graduates include Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, said he respects, but does not agree with, Heritage Christian School's view of prom.

"I don't see (dancing and rock music) as immoral acts," Craig Kupferberg said.

Ohio teen expects to be suspended for trip to prom

An Ohio teenager says he expects to be suspended from a Christian school for attending a public school prom with his girlfriend.

Officials at Heritage Christian School in Findlay had warned 17-year-old Tyler Frost that he would be suspended and prohibited from attending graduation if he went to the Saturday dance.

The fundamentalist Baptist school in northwest Ohio forbids dancing, rock music and hand holding.

Frost says he went to the dance because he wanted to experience the prom and didn't think it was wrong.

School officials say he could complete his final exams separately to receive a diploma.

Frost's stepfather says the rules shouldn't apply outside of school and he may take legal action if Frost is suspended.

Sex Ed via Cell Phones

2009-05-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

N.C. Service for Teens Who Have Questions About Sex Stirs Controversy

For some teens, cell phones aren't just for gossip with friends, checking in with their parents or texting with their crushes.
Now some are using the coveted devices to get answers to their most embarrassing, confusing and sometimes crude sex questions.

The Birds & Bees Text Line, organized by The Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina, will answer any and all sex questions submitted anonymously via text message by teens in the state.

"The phone has not stopped buzzing," said Sally Swanson, the campaign's community programs manager and one of the eight trained adults who answers teens' texts from their Durham, N.C., office.

But not all parents in the state are comfortable with their teens receiving sexual information over their cell phones from anonymous strangers.

Charlotte, N.C., mom Susan Vaughn says she's not in favor of her kids going to strangers for sex ed, online or off.
In fact, the thought of her kids' cell phone buzzing with a new a message about sex -- and not one from a friend -- horrifies her.

"I think they ought to go to their parents about sex," said Vaughn. "I don't agree with this text line at all."

More than 1,000 sex questions have been fielded by the text line since the program was launched in February, Swanson estimates.

While the service is currently only available in North Carolina, organizations in several states -- and even one in Germany -- have reached out to Swanson to inquire about expanding the service or developing their own similar programs.
Swanson said that eight staff members rotate being on duty to answer the text messages that come into the organization's cell phone. Those texts range from the serious to the silly to the overtly sexual.

"I think I may be pregnant but I don't think I have any signs," one girl texted, according to transcripts provided by the group. "I took a cheap pregnancy test like a couple days after we had sex. It said no. Is it possible that I'm pregnant?"

The response the teen got, and all responses are promised within 24 hours of the question being sent, was just as frank.

"Tests can be wrong, both with false positives or false negatives," an equally anonymous APPCNC staffer texted back. "Your best course of action is to visit your doctor as soon as possible for an exam."

Another teen wanted to know, quite simply, "Is sex good?"

"Like anything else in life it can be good or bad," the response from APPCNC read. "It all depends on your mood, who you're with and whether you're mature enough to deal with the consequences."
Read the entire article>>

2009-05-06T18:40:00.001-07:00

Protesters Blast Congress for Axing D.C. Vouchers While Sending Own Kids to Private School

Supporters of a celebrated school voucher program in Washington rallied near the mayor's office Wednesday to save the scholarships from being slashed by Congress -- nearly 40 percent of whose members send their own children to private schools.

An estimated 1,000 parents, children and community leaders attended the afternoon protest in Washington's Freedom Plaza, where they called on D.C. politicians to help preserve a federal school choice program that currently assists more than 1,700 students with scholarships worth up to $7,500.

"Several years ago many of us in this good city worked very hard to get a program going with the federal government so that children could go to the schools of their choice. This program has worked," said Kevin Chavous, a former D.C. councilman, but "right now some folks in Congress want to end this program."

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program is slated to end next year because of a provision slipped into Congress' $410 billion omnibus spending bill by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., whose children attend private school.

The amendment has angered parents who say the vouchers have raised performance and rescued students from one of the country's worst public school systems.

"I saw dramatic change. The change is not even comparable to what a parent could do alone," said Ingrid Campbell, a single mother of three who has two daughters in the opportunity program.

"I'm going to have to get a part-time job" when the funds are cut off, she told FOX News Wednesday morning before the rally. "I'll do anything, anything in my power and my will to keep my two little girls in their schools."

Rally organizers blasted members of Congress for opposing vouchers but choosing private school for their own families, a choice they say is denied the poorest residents of Washington.

"Your tax dollars also go to pay the salaries of Congress, 40 percent of whom send their kids to private schools," said Joe Robert, a board member of D.C. Children First, a pro-voucher organization.

"Right now we have choices around America but we only have it for people who have some money. We don't have it for people who are struggling."

Thirty-six percent of U.S. representatives and 44 percent of the senators with school-age children have sent their kids to private schools, according to a study by the Heritage Foundation.
Just 11 percent of American schoolchildren attend private schools, according to the study.

Click here to see a breakdown of that study.

The rally, which was held just blocks from the White House, ratcheted up pressure on the Obama administration to address the axing of the program, which would remove two black scholarship students from Sidwell Friends, the private academy that President Obama's daughters attend.

Some parents wondered how Obama would explain the absence of Sarah and James Parker from Sidwell Friends next year.

"I wonder how he feels when his daughter says, 'Hey daddy, my best friend is not coming back next year.' How would that feel?" said Campbell, whose young daughter has pledged to work after school to help pay her own tuition at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School. "Maybe he can feel what we parents are feeling right now."

Parents with children in the program have been enthusiastic supporters of the vouchers, but a government review released in March offered a less sanguine view of the scholarships.

The program improved reading but not math scores, and while parents were pleased with the increased safety at private schools, students did not report much of a change. The study included both students who used the scholarship and some who were only offered the funds.

Click here to read the report.

The rally was attended and addressed by prominent D.C. politicians, including former mayor Anthony Williams, who credited his success to an excellent education, and former mayor Marion Barry, who said he was a strong supporter of choice.

"We've got to tell Congress to fund this program and not let local people down," said Barry, who currently sits on the city council.

Barry and others pledged to push to rescue the program before it ends this year.

"We're here today to express our full support for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. We want the city council, the mayor, we want members of Congress, we want all of the decision makers to know that our kids come first," said Benjamin Chavis, co-chairman of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network.

2009-05-05T05:47:00.000-07:00

White House to seek input on education law

Education Secretary Arne Duncan is a man on a mission: to hear what teachers, students and parents in at least 15 states think about No Child Left Behind, the controversial education law championed by former President George W. Bush. Duncan is visiting schools in West Virginia Tuesday, the first stop in the first steps toward reviewing and reforming the program.

President Barack Obama has pledged to overhaul the law, but he has been vague about how far he would go, or whether he would scrap it altogether.

"I don't know if `scrap' is the word," Duncan told reporters last week. "Where things make sense, we're going to keep them. Where things didn't make sense, we're going to change them."

Whatever the administration decides to do, it needs the approval of Congress, which passed the law with broad bipartisan support in 2001 but deadlocked over a rewrite in 2007.

Duncan gives the law credit for shining a spotlight on kids who need the most help. No Child Left Behind pushes schools to boost the performance of low-achieving students, a group that typically includes minority kids, English-language learners and kids with disabilities.

"Forevermore in our country, we can't sweep those huge disparities with outcomes between white children and Latino children and African-American children, we can't sweep those under the rug ever again," Duncan said.

Yet Duncan has many criticisms of No Child Left Behind, and he has plenty of company.

Opponents insist the law's annual reading and math tests have squeezed subjects like music and art out of the classroom and that schools were promised billions of dollars they never received.

Critics also say the law is too punitive: More than a third of schools failed to meet yearly progress goals last year, according to the Education Week newspaper.

That means millions of children are a long way from reaching the law's ambitious goals. The law pushes schools to improve test scores each year, so that every student can read and do math on grade level by the year 2014.

"What No Child Left Behind did is, they were absolutely loose on the goals," Duncan told the Education Writers Association, meeting in Washington. "But they were very tight, very prescriptive on how you get there.

"I think that was fundamentally backwards," he said.

Duncan said the federal government should be "tight" on the goals, insisting on more rigorous academic standards that are uniform across the states. And he said it should be "much looser" in terms of how states meet the goals.

The education community is watching closely to see just what Duncan means by "tight" and "loose." So far, the administration has offered few clues.

But Duncan has left no doubt that he wants to change the name of the law, which is deeply unpopular, according to public opinion surveys.

"I do think the name `No Child Left Behind' is absolutely toxic; I think we have to start over," Duncan said. He has said he would like to hold a contest for school kids to come up with a new name.

Since the law's passage, students have made modest gains, at least in elementary and middle school, the grades that are the focus of No Child Left Behind. The biggest gains have come among lower-achieving students, the kids who now are getting unprecedented attention.

The story is different in high school, where progress seems stalled and where the dropout rate, a dismal one in four children, has not budged.

Do You Feel the Need to Track?

2009-04-28T05:10:00.000-07:00

Symantec's Free Software Streamline's Data, Highlights Objectionable Sites for Parents to View

Parents habitually are warned to monitor their children's online activities. They are told to put the computer in a central location, limit kids' hours online and to warn them of the dangers of the Internet.
The problem is a lot of those precautionary actions do nothing to keep kids out of trouble or keep parents from worrying.

As a result, many parents have taken the more invasive step of monitoring every click kids make with monitoring software that records Web sites visited, instant messaging and chat conversations, and e-mails.

Monitoring Your Child's Behavior OnlineThe problem here is that kids click around the Web at warp speed. A parent tracking all those sites, the extraneous ads that get listed and the endless drivel of teenage chats will eventually suffer from monitoring fatigue. Parents can't find meaning in the crush of data that monitoring software provides: too many Web sites and not enough time to figure out if the sites are appropriate.

But a new free product from Symantec wants to help. OnlineFamily.Norton.com provides a free software program that streamlines the data from all your computers, so even nontechie parents can figure out if their kids are getting in trouble online.

Instead of a confusing list of hundreds of web addresses, objectionable sites are highlighted for parents to review — and block.

"Parents get the option here not only of seeing all the activity, but anything requiring parental attention shows up in red," said Symantec's Internet safety advocate Marian Merritt.
While parents can look at all the sites kids visit, the best feature of the program is that you can choose to flag just the questionable sites. In the past, monitoring software programs listed hundreds of links that just confused parents: Web addresses of all the pop-up ads, embedded content and the sites known to be kid-friendly.

With this product, parents can opt to just see the stuff that the advisory board at Symantec deems questionable.

Mom or dad can also search through instant messaging conversations, and check Facebook or Myspace profiles.

"With this service you can not only see which social networking sites your children are visiting but what accounts they're opening, what names they're using — even the age that they're putting in as theirs," Merritt said.
How It Works
The software is Web-based so parents can monitor computer activity from any computer, even from work. And it monitors in real time, so when an objectionable site is blocked on the home computer, parents are alerted.

Each child in the house has a log-on so their activity is tied to their account. Parents can choose from preset age profiles to set the level of blocking for each user.

Claire Santaniello of Simi Valley, Calif., is mother to three boys. She does everything she can to talk to her kids about the Internet and steer them in the right direction, but she likes the idea of a monitoring program that helps her with that Herculean task.

"I just would like to keep a tighter rein on what it is that they're doing so that we can take it to a discussion level," she said.

And that's the goal: If kids know parents are watching them, they'll ideally talk about their online encounters.

And that's what happened with Santaniello's sons. When the boys were searching for new shoes, they typed what they thought was the Web address for a local chain, Chick's Sporting Goods.
"I came up with an inappropriate Web site," said Santaniello's 15-year-old son, Austin.

Without meaning to, the boys went to a pornographic Web site.

And that's another benefit to the more sophisticated monitoring tools available today.
The OnlineFamily.Norton product allows parents to look at a child's search terms to see if they intentionally went to an off-limits site. So in the case of Santaniello's sons, she would have seen "sneakers" or "shoes" in the search terms to get a sense of the context around the visit to the inappropriate Web site. In this case, it would offer proof that an honest mistake was made.
New tracking tools promote a much higher level of transparency. Kids know they are being monitored, so secret parental spying software is not what this is about.

"It's so important for parents and kids to talk about their Internet experiences. And even though some people might've wanted this to work in what we call a stealth mode or hidden from their kids, that's just not the philosophy here," Merritt said.

"We really think when it comes to parents and kids if we're going to teach our children how to be safe on the Internet we've got to be more open about the fact that mistakes can happen and that we can learn from them."
Other Programs
There are other Internet monitoring programs available, but none with this level of data sorting are available for free. Symantec is making the product available at no cost until January 2010 and hasn't announced if it will continue to be a free product after that date.

Regardless of price, many parents aren't ready to monitor their kids in this way -- they say it feels like an invasion of privacy. If children have proven themselves trustworthy, this level of scrutiny may seem too high. In those cases, Merritt said the value of talking openly about Internet activity is the number one goal for parents.
Merritt also sees this type of software best suited to 5- to 13-year-olds, and said that monitoring should be dialed back with age.

"As kids get older, I think it's appropriate [if things are going well] for parents to back off a little and give their kids some of that privacy, that room to flex a little bit and to explore their world," Merritt said.

But for parents who are desperate for ways to supervise their kids online, this tool seems like a step in the right direction.

Drugs ARE the answer - no?

2009-04-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

I am NOT going to discuss my disgust with this article nor the portions of it which say -

"We're not promoting drugs as the answer....................Drugs are part of the answer"

Children who get ADHD drugs score higher on tests

Children given stimulants to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms score higher on math and reading tests than children with the condition who do not get drugs, researchers said on Monday.

A study that tracked 594 children diagnosed with ADHD from kindergarten through fifth grade found the 60 percent who were prescribed drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall performed better on standardized tests than peers with ADHD who were not given medication.

But the scores of children treated with drugs for ADHD still lagged children not diagnosed with the condition.

"We're not promoting drugs as the answer. But we did find medication does improve standardized math and reading scores in the long term," said Richard Scheffler of the University of California, Berkeley, one of the researchers.

"Our study found that the children with ADHD who used the medication were several months ahead of their nonmedicated peers in reading and math, which is significant because early progress in school is critical to ongoing academic success," Scheffler said.

Scheffler said children with ADHD who are left untreated do poorly in school, with higher dropout rates and more substance abuse, arrests and social isolation.

"They're labeled as bad kids," he said in a telephone interview. "Drugs are part of the answer. But we need parent involvement, understanding what this is and how to work with the kid. We need the school to be involved. We also think that special services like tutoring need to be made available."

CONDITION MORE COMMON IN BOYS
Of nearly 8 percent of American children, or 4.4 million children, diagnosed with ADHD, 56 percent are prescribed medications, mostly stimulants, according to the report published in the journal Pediatrics. Boys are more commonly diagnosed with the disorder than girls.

There are some 30 medications used to treat the disorder, including Novartis AG's Ritalin and Focalin XR, Shire Plc's Adderall XR and Daytrana patch, Johnson & Johnson's Concerta, Eli Lilly and Co's Strattera and Celltech Pharmaceuticals Inc's Metadate CD.

The study was government-funded and did not have links to companies that make the drugs.

Scheffler said the study showed the importance of recognizing and treating a disorder that affects millions of people, including adults who are increasingly being prescribed the drugs.

ADHD is a widely accepted but still controversial diagnosis, he noted, citing the understandable reluctance to medicate children with powerful stimulants.

But he said the drugs have been proven safe, with few side effects. Those can include loss of sleep and appetite and, in rare cases, temporary hallucinations and psychosis.

Meds Help Kids With ADHD in Classroom

Children who take medication to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) do better in elementary school than those who don't, a new study has found.

Of 594 children whose parents reported an ADHD diagnosis, those who took medication scored 2.9 points higher on standardized math tests and 5.4 points higher on reading tests than children with ADHD who were not taking medication.

Researchers used a nationally representative sample from the Childhood Longitudinal Study of children who entered kindergarten in 1998, and followed them through fifth grade.

The higher test scores were comparable with the progress expected during one-fifth of a school year for math and about one-third of a school year for reading, according to the study funded by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health.

"It's one more important piece of evidence that states clearly that taking the medication isn't just about parents or teachers feeling better about the child or thinking he or she is more compliant," said study author Stephen P. Hinshaw, chair of the department of psychology at University of California, Berkeley. "On an objective, rigorously-designed standardized test of reading and math ability, we have evidence there are 'real world' gains in achievement."

The study is published in the May issue of Pediatrics.

About 4.4 million children in the United States, or nearly 8 percent, have been diagnosed with ADHD, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 56 percent of those children take medication to treat the disorder and help them focus.

Boys are more likely to be diagnosed than girls. The incidence rate for boys is 10.9 percent compared to 4.4 percent of girls, according to CDC statistics from 2003.

Symptoms of ADHD include distractibility, impulsivity, excessive daydreaming, squirming and fidgeting and difficulty finishing tasks. There are several types: one that is marked primarily by inattentiveness, one marked by hyperactivity and a combined type.

ADHD has been linked with low academic achievement, including lower math and reading scores, higher rates of special education placement and high drop-out rates.

Prior research has shown the benefits of ADHD medications to children with the disorder, including improvements in short-term memory, performance of school-related tasks and rate of homework completion.

But this is one of the first to look at academic performance over the long term, said study author Richard Scheffler, a professor of public policy at UC Berkeley.

Dr. Jon Shaw, director of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Miami School of Medicine, said the study confirms what many mental health professionals and parents have known for years about the benefits of ADHD medication.

"This well-designed research study substantiates what has been known clinically for many years, that children compromised by the symptoms of ADHD are handicapped in their school experiences and academic performance," Shaw said. "Judicious use of appropriate medications for this neurobiological condition helps these children to be successful in school and in the academic arena."

Although medications have been shown to help children with ADHD, the extensive use of drugs has been controversial, with some claiming children are being medicated unnecessarily.

The study is not advocating that every child who has attention problems be put on medication, Hinshaw said. An ADHD diagnosis should only be made after a careful evaluation by doctors.
And not all children will see test scores rise as a result of medication.

"This doesn't mean every single child will show that benefit," Hinshaw said. "Some will show more, some less. The family and clinician have to evaluate carefully the trade-off between the potential benefits and potential side effects."

While the ADHD medications improved scores, children with ADHD still had test scores that were lower on average than children without the disorder.

In addition to prescriptions, children with ADHD need active parent and teacher involvement and possible tutoring to make sure they achieve in school.

More Than Just Parental Rights In Limbo

2009-04-27T06:11:00.001-07:00

I have been beating the drum on this for some time now. If you have not paid attention thus far, you would be best served to open your eyes at this juncture, do your research and contact your elected officials.

Don't get lost in the glossy crap. The devil is sitting within the details and you must be able to look beyond the gloss.

I freely admit that I am not on board with allowing international laws to guide our country. I am of the opinion that if we don't take a stand on this, soon we will be talking with our children and grandchildren about the personal freedom that once was America. About rights that parents once had in raising their own children. About life before UN indoctrination of the world.

I do not apologize for my stance on this issue nor do I apologize for my desire to retain my parental rights as they currently stand.

This treaty is being supported for adoption by the United States by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and California Senator Barbara Boxer as well as the Obama Administration.

Ten things you need to know about the structure of the CRC

1. It is a treaty which creates binding rules of law. It is no mere statement of altruism.
2. Its effect would be binding on American families, courts, and policy-makers.
3. Children of other nations would not be impacted in any direct way by our ratification.
4. The CRC would automatically override almost all American laws on children and families because of our Supremacy Clause.
5. The CRC has some elements that are self-executing, while others would require implementing legislation. Federal courts would have the power to determine which provisions were self-executing.
6. The Courts would have the power to directly enforce the provisions that are self-executing.
7. Congress would have the power to directly legislate on all subjects necessary to comply with the treaty. This would constitute the most massive shift of power from the states to the federal government in American history.
8. A committee of 18 experts from other nations, sitting in Geneva, has the authority to issue official interpretations of the treaty which are entitled to binding weight in American courts and legislatures. This effectively transfers ultimate authority for all policies in this area to this foreign committee.
9. Under international law, the treaty overrides even our Constitution.
10. Reservations, declarations, or understandings intended to modify our duty to comply with this treaty will be void if they are determined to be inconsistent with the object and purpose of the treaty.

Ten things you need to know about the substance of the CRC

1. Parents would no longer be able to administer reasonable spankings to their children.
2. A murderer aged 17 years, 11 months and 29 days at the time of his crime could no longer be sentenced to life in prison.
3. Children would have the ability to choose their own religion while parents would only have the authority to give their children advice about religion.
4. The best interest of the child principle would give the government the ability to override every decision made by every parent if a government worker disagreed with the parent's decision.
5. A child's "right to be heard" would allow him (or her) to seek governmental review of every parental decision with which the child disagreed.
6. According to existing interpretation, it would be illegal for a nation to spend more on national defense than it does on children's welfare.
7. Children would acquire a legally enforceable right to leisure.
8. Christian schools that refuse to teach "alternative worldviews" and teach that Christianity is the only true religion "fly in the face of article 29" of the treaty.
9. Allowing parents to opt their children out of sex education has been held to be out of compliance with the CRC.
10. Children would have the right to reproductive health information and services, including abortions, without parental knowledge or consent.

To learn more visit Parental Rights.org.

On the other side of the table sit these folks and I stand firm against their gloss and campaign.

What are US students learning about Islam?

2009-04-24T07:24:00.000-07:00

Politically correct textbooks are distorting key concepts and historical facts

History is not history unless it is the truth." – Abraham Lincoln

Most Americans understand history as an objective accounting of past events. In recent years, however, textbook publishers have come under increasing criticism for rewriting history. Claims are presented as facts while controversial material is whitewashed or omitted.

Today these trends are quite apparent in the way public school history books address Islam. In his 2008 study "Islam in the Classroom: what the textbooks tell us," Gilbert Sewall, director of the American Textbook Council (ATC), reviewed 10 of the nation's most widely used junior and senior high school history textbooks. The results should disturb anyone interested in conveying to our children a truthful history of the religion whose extreme adherents drive so many of today's tragic headlines.

At a time when America is locked in a battle of ideas with Islamic extremists and other enemies of freedom, accurate knowledge is indispensable. Yet, Sewall's findings underscore how political correctness is distorting the next generation's understanding of this battle.

Let's be clear. Religion is by nature a sensitive topic to teach in the classroom. And in a world where stereotypes wrongly tar all Muslims as being prone to violence, it's understandable that schools would err on the side of caution. Indeed, they should affirm the piety and charity practiced by hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world, an acknowledgement that should be extended to Christians as well. At the same time, textbooks shouldn't cower from covering the violent periods of Muslim conquest or the Islamic beliefs that fundamentalists exploit for violent ends.

Sewall found that many textbooks gloss over or delete important facts. For example, in the 1990s, "jihad" – which has many meanings, among them "sacred" or "holy" struggle but also "holy war" – was defined in the Houghton Mifflin junior high school book only as a struggle "to do one's best to resist temptation and overcome evil."

The many acts of violence committed on behalf of Islam in the past decade have made that definition incomplete, to say the least. Yet, as ATC notes, "by 2005, Houghton Mifflin apparently had removed jihad from its entire series of social studies textbooks."

In discussing sharia law, the Islamic code that can be used to subjugate women and deal death to wayward believers, many textbooks are intentionally vague. Holt Rinehart Winston's 2006 "Medieval to Early Modern Times" junior high textbook states simply, "[Sharia] sets rewards for good behavior and punishments for crimes." Another popular history textbook states, "Muslim law requires that Muslim leaders offer religious toleration."

Descriptions of Islam since 9/11 are particularly disturbing. Though Islamic extremism has become a fact of life throughout much of the world, most of the reviewed textbooks suggest instead that poverty, ignorance, and the existence of Israel are at the root of terrorism. The closest that any textbook gets to suggesting a faith-based component to terrorism is Glencoe's "Modern Times," which states broadly that "Muslims have not accommodated their religious beliefs to the modern world."

The whitewashing of Islam becomes even more noticeable when contrasted with how history textbooks treat Christianity. One book describes the Crusades as "religious wars launched against Muslims by European Christians." But when Muslims attacked Christians and took their land, the process is referred to as "building" an empire.

A McDougal Littell volume claims that non-Muslims in Muslim-ruled territories converted to Islam because "they were attracted by Islam's message of equality and hope for salvation." A good history class should teach students to ask critical questions. Are students asking how much of that "conversion" was coerced by the sword? Sadly, most texts gloss over Muslim leaders' history of enslavement of "infidels" and their brutal treatment of women, which continues today in some countries.

In an interview, Sewall summed up the reactions of textbook publishers to his report. "In a word," he said, "hostile."

Sewall says the pressure tactics used by some Muslim groups on publishers to portray Islam in a favorable light amount to a kind of "cultural jihad." This essentially is what the founder of the Council on Islamic Education, the main Islamic group for vetting textbooks in America, was saying when he described his work as a "bloodless revolution … inside American junior high and high school classrooms."

Sewall understands that historical inaccuracies sometimes take decades to be written out of textbooks. "Once lies are written into textbooks," he says, "they tend to be perpetuated in new editions." Which is one reason why Sewall will continue to make his case to publishers.

I hope Sewall has better success than I had. When I served as undersecretary of the Education Department under President Reagan, I discovered that a "values neutralism" was saturating school textbooks, seriously misleading our children about the nature of Soviet governance by, for instance, stating that women enjoyed the same rights as men and severely downplaying the suppression of basic human rights inherent in communist political systems.

In the same way, students today are being taught a distorted view of Islam. Having been on the front lines in the struggle to achieve the best education for our children, I understand that change will come only when teachers' and parents' voices are heard. Teachers need courage in overcoming political correctness by talking candidly about controversial topics like Islam.

Parents must be engaged in their children's education by participating on curriculum committees and communicating with teachers. Parents also should communicate with their members of Congress to ensure that textbook publishers are not being pressured to present a false account of history. Feel-good distortions of history don't help our kids; they just help those who wish to do us harm.

Gary Bauer is a former undersecretary of the Department of Education under President Reagan. He is president of American Values and chairman of Campaign for Working Families.

2009-04-21T04:54:00.000-07:00

Study paints picture of collegiate mental health

Ever since campus counseling centers were established in the 1940s, college officials have known that the prevalence and severity of students' mental health problems were rising. They just didn't know by how much.

A pilot study released Monday by the Center for the Study of Collegiate Mental Health, at Penn State University, hopes to fill that void. Organizers call it a first-of-its kind effort by college counseling centers designed to get an up-to-date picture of mental health trends affecting higher education.

Most schools collect data of counseling center clients on their own. Until now, though, there have been no national data to help study perceived trends, organizers said.

"Mental health affects every aspect of a college student's functioning," said Ben Locke, executive director of the center. "The earlier you intervene in mental health issues, the more likely you are to be successful in treating it."

The numbers will further help colleges and universities equip themselves to support students, Locke said.

The Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors does a separate annual survey of its members. That survey estimated that about 1 in 10 college students seek treatment from campus counseling centers.

But the Penn State study is the first to get data from the counseling center clients themselves, Locke said.

"This is actual data from the counseling centers: the clients who are coming in, what they're saying," said Robert Rando, the director of counseling and wellness services at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. "It's accurate in that way, and no one has done that."

There is concern about the increased severity of mental health problems counseling centers are seeing among student clients, in part because of the increased use of medications such as Prozac by high school students, Rando said.

The collaboration began four years ago, but data collection began only in fall 2008.
The effort had been in the works before the high-profile campus shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007 and Northern Illinois University last year.

The killing of 33 people, including the gunman, at Virginia Tech and five people at Northern Illinois put a spotlight on campus counseling services and risk reduction, said Dennis Heitzmann, director of counseling and psychological services at Penn State.

"What this effort will do will keep our work in the forefront, identify the importance of our function before the administration, parents and students themselves," Heitzmann said.

More than 130 schools nationwide are registered with the center. Of them, 66 participated in the initial study, with responses from more than 28,000 students who received mental health services in fall 2008.

Each counseling center asked clients to answer standardized questions, with the data pooled nationally. All data were anonymous.

Among the study's findings:

• One percent of students who answered a question about binge drinking reported going on a binge 10 or more times in the previous two weeks. Nearly half of those respondents said they had seriously considered suicide in the past.

• The vast majority (93 percent) of students who responded to a question about campus violence had little to no fear of losing control and acting violently.

• The 7 percent considered to have strong fears were most likely to be male and said they had previously harmed another person. They also tended to have experienced a cluster of other symptoms, such as a fear of having a panic attack or suicidal thoughts.

The results "don't translate into a guaranteed assessment or reliable profile at any point, but they offer a starting point in assessing risk in counseling center clients," Locke said.

The center has received $45,000 in funding over the past five years, Locke said. The Jed Foundation, a nonprofit that describes itself as trying to reduce suicides and emotional distress among college students, is listed as a past contributor.

The center also requires members to pay a $150 annual fee. In addition, researchers have received about $100,000 in in-kind funding from Titanium Software.

Gardening Education

2009-04-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

Virtual garden tours can teach, entertain, entice - some great online resources for children and adults are included.

In the news

2009-04-20T16:45:00.000-07:00

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