| Virtual schools bill hits unexpected snag
The first major education initiative expected to pass the General Assembly this session has encountered unexpected controversy. A bill that would pave the way for statewide virtual schools — in which students stay home and learn online — has hit a snag among lawmakers who want to provide greater opportunities for private- and home-schooled students. A state Department of Education virtual school program is ready to offer as many as 9,000 seats in classes during the next school year. And the nation's largest for-profit provider of public virtual school services is waiting to work with groups to launch virtual charter schools. A version of the bill passed the House last week after days of debate. That debate centered on a proposed amendment that would not give public school students priority to slots in $3.6 million worth of virtual school classes offered by the S.C.
Pa. schools add federal background checks
Pennsylvania Department of Education officials have about a month to put a statewide system in place to handle federal background checks that will soon be required of all new school employees. Department officials maintain the system will be ready before the April 1 deadline, but some administrators of local intermediate units that have been asked to serve as fingerprinting sites have not yet decided whether they will participate. The requirement stems from a portion of last year's education bill proposed by Montgomery County Rep. Lawrence Curry after two incidents in the eastern part of the state. In those cases, school officials discovered a substitute teacher and a hall monitor both had criminal records in other states that went undiscovered by current background checks.
Capella University Launches Three New Graduate Degree Programs in ...
Minneapolis (PRWEB) February 24, 2007 -- Capella University, an accredited*, fully online university based in Minneapolis, Minn., today introduced new graduate and post-graduate educational offerings in public safety, IT, business, and education. Enrollment is now open for the programs, with classes beginning spring quarter 2007.
Capella's School of Human Services launched two new public safety programs, a Master of Science and a PhD in public safety, with two new specializations at each degree level - public safety leadership and emergency management. Both of the public safety programs also offer criminal justice specializations that are currently available as part of Capella's Master of Science and PhD in human services programs. "Our programs are designed to help public safety professionals develop or strengthen the leadership, management, and preparedness skills they will need to lead and manage public safety and emergency services organizations in today's challenging environment," said Charles Tiffin, PhD, a Fulbright Fellow and 29-year public safety veteran who helped create Capella's public safety programs.
Education Extra: Opportunities
Springfield Academy of Arts & Academics will present three one-act plays by Jonathan Rand, one of the most produced playwrights for high school theater in the nation. The performances, directed by Michael Fisher and Josh Metzger and featuring Academy of Arts & Academics students, will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday at Thurston High School Pocket Theatre, 333 North 58th St., and at 7:30 p.m. March 13 at the Richard E. Wildish Community Theatre, 630 Main St. Both venues are in Springfield. General admission tickets are $5 and are available the day of the performance at the venue. For more information, call A3 at 744-6728. Library offers free events for children in March .
Young Muslims get alternative education in war-torn region
Manila: Young Muslims are no longer holding guns because they are getting alternative education in the southern Philippines. After their families were displaced by an age-old civil war between government soldiers and separatist rebels in Mindanao, the students are now being cited for their hunger for knowledge, a local paper said. One of them, Gina Sapal, 16, was cited by the Notre Dame of Marbel University as one of the "best learners" of Paglat, the Inquirer said. In 2002, government soldiers waged a year-long offensive against the fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, for the control of the Liguasan Marsh in Maguindanao. Sapal was then a second year high school student at Campo High School in Paglat town. After her family returned to their community after a year, she had to work to augment her family's income of 49 pesos (Dh3) a day.
FDE offers list of high school majors online for students
The Florida Department of Education has announced that students will be able to review the major areas of interest that will be available at their high schools. A list of the major areas of interest is available at www.fldoe.org/HSMajors/ListSchoolMajors.aspx. In December, the Department of Education approved a statewide list of 442 major areas of interest. School district chose what major areas of interest they would offer in each high school in January. Next year's freshmen will be the first to choose a major area of interest as part of the state's new graduation requirements. Department of Education launches television program for teachers and parents The Florida Department of Education will debut its new monthly television show “Teacher Talk: An Inside Look at Florida Education" at 11 a.m.
CU Avoids Work-Study Cuts
A new study from the University of California at Los Angeles has shown that an increasing number of college freshmen are looking for on-campus employment as a means of financing their college education. The study, conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, found that 29 percent of student respondents would use at least a portion of their earnings from a part-time campus job to pay for tuition expenses, up from 25.8 percent in 2000. An increasing student interest in on-campus employment, though, has not yielded an increase in funds for the federal work-study program, which allocates money to colleges to pay students with financial need for part-time on-campus work. According to a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, FWS funds decreased this academic year by almost $10 million.
Book on girl child education launched
A book titled Kadi the Barefooted Girl that chronicled the intensity of the tribulations associated with girl child education in Northern Ghana was on Wednesday launched in Accra.
The 128-paged book filled with sorrow, intrigue, humour and surprises highlighted the ordeal a young lady who lived in the Kasana Nankana district had to go through to secure education during the post independent era.
Reviewing the book, Lt. Col John Buntuguh said the piece was appropriate for recent times as it provided a good challenge for the girl child who was poised to achieving greater laurels among her contemporaries.
He noted that affirmative action was not a new phenomenon; rather it had been drummed many years in different ways as in the case of Kadi who fought for her right to education in spite of the apparent opposition.
|
