| US details funds at risk if English learners aren't tested
RICHMOND, Va. State education officials say the federal government has detailed how much money Virginia school divisions could lose in a dispute over mandated testing. Some school districts are protesting a part of the No Child Left Behind law that requires children who are trying to learn English to take the same reading tests as their native-speaking peers. Eight school boards have passed resolutions expressing their frustration with the measure, saying that it is unfair. Raymond Simon, deputy secretary of the U-S Department of Education, told state education officials this week that the federal government could withhold school divisions' Title One funding if they use an unapproved substitute reading test for students with limited English proficiency. Title One schools receive funds to serve children from low-income families.
FileMaker Showcases K-12 Solutions at Texas Computer Education ...
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The latest FileMaker Pro 8.5 database solutions supporting No Child Left Behind and other innovative approaches for improving teacher and student skills will be presented by FileMaker during the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) Convention & Exhibition, Booth # 1716, February 5-9, Austin Convention Center in Austin, TX http://www.tcea2007.org/. On Thursday, February 8, 4:30 -- 5:15 p.m., Greg Walker, Data Solutions Administrator for Pinellas County Schools in Largo, Florida, and Bob Barboza, Resource Specialist for the Paramount Unified School District, Paramount, CA, will co-present "Stepping Up Student Information Systems to Ensure No Child Left Behind." The presentation will describe how the Pinellas County School System has implemented a FileMaker database system to interact with its Student Information System (SIS) to analyze individual and grade level performance results.
‘Reduce government control in education’
But even as he spoke of less government control in education, Baswan said that government assistance in terms of finance should continue. To attract best-quality faculty, we should devise performance-based incentives for them, said Baswan. He also highlighted the importance of humanities and social sciences and how it forms the basis of a knowledge society. In this respect, Baswan asked the government to strongly encourage research and recruitment of good faculty in this sector. To encourage pure science, a proposal to open Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER) at Thiruvanantapuram and Mohali is in the pipeline. Currently the two IISERs, which are autonomous institutes under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, are located in Kolkata and Pune. He advised that the fee structure should be considerably raised in higher education and spoke of incentives and fellowships for needy students to facilitate their growth in higher education.
Higher education: for a better Florida
The structure of Florida's higher education system dates back to 1956, the same year lawmakers said okay to establishing the University of South Florida as the state's fourth public university. Today there are 11 universities and nearly 300,000 students. Education officials are bracing for tens of thousands more in coming years - enough to fill a 12th large college by the end of this decade. "The question we face is, will a 1956 structure meet 2026 needs?" said Mark Rosenberg, chancellor of the state university system. "That setup served us well then, but is it really the structure we need going forward?" The general consensus among lawmakers and university leaders is a resounding "No." "Because of the global world we are now in, the competition that faces us, the increase in low-income and minority students, we need to make changes in higher education," said Sen.
Little Chute Area School District announces coaches
LITTLE CHUTE - The varsity baseball team at Little Chute High School will be under the direction of Trevor Behm, a physical education teacher who has been with the district since 2005-06. The Board of Education approved his coaching position along with Bryan Lamers as a volunteer assistant at its Feb. 26 meeting.
Mike VanEperen will head up the junior varsity baseball program.
Guy VanDynHoven was approved as a volunteer assistant varsity softball coach.
The board hired Tracy Schmidt, a middle school counselor, as junior varsity softball coach.
James Brooks will head varsity boys and girls track. He previously served as an assistant track coach at the high school four seasons and head coach of girls track in Germantown.
Danielle Rankin, a student teacher at the elementary school, will become an assistant track and field coach.
Accredited Online Courses Make Continuing Education for Nursing ...
As the need for qualified nurses continues to outpace supply, nurses often find themselves spread too thinly. Online continuing education courses help relieve demands on nursing professionals' time by providing convenience and flexibility in meeting license renewal coursework requirements. (PRWeb) March 2, 2007 -- Nursing staff shortages across the U.S. and Canada have made it increasingly difficult for nurses to take time away from their shifts to physically attend continuing education for nursing courses. To help nurses keep their knowledge and credentials current, RN.ORG, Inc. announces the launch of its website to provide convenient, accredited, and cost-efficient online nursing continuing education courses. .
Hybrid limousines?
Editor's note: Michael Ackley's columns may include satire and parody based on current events, and thus mix fact with fiction. He assumes informed readers will be able to tell which is which. We all owe a debt of gratitude to the many Hollywood Al Gore fans who arrived at the Oscar presentations in gas-saving hybrids and ethanol-powered mini-cars. How they kept their tuxedos unrumpled and their coiffeurs unmussed is beyond us. Those traveling on ethanol deserve special praise for using a fuel that, estimating generously, yields only about 25 percent more energy than it takes to make it. It has an energy content so far below that of regular gas, the vehicles need fuel tanks 50 percent larger than normal. (Column continues below) What's that? None of the Hollywood elite arrived in gas-saving hybrids or ethanol-powered mini-cars? They all rode in gas-guzzling limousines? It's too shocking to contemplate.
Cdigix to drop its online music service
Citing the needs of its education customers, digital entertainment and educational media provider Cdigix says it will stop providing its legal online music and movie downloading service to schools and focus solely on its on-demand content delivery system. March 5, 2007—Cdigix, a provider of digital entertainment and educational media, is dropping its online music and movie service to focus solely on delivering on-demand educational content. Cdigix has provided an educational content delivery system, called C-Labs, to schools for a number of years. Now, as of this fall, C-Labs is slated to become the company's one and only focus. Cdigix is leaving behind its C-Trax solution, an online music and video download service that colleges and universities have used since 2004. "This is not a departure for us," said Cdigix CEO Larry Jacobson.
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