This is the fifth in a series of blog posts by the Council for a Strong America highlighting creative partnerships between communities, boards and school districts. By Gary W. Hall, Jr., Olympian. Today, we know that the number on the scale can be a matter […]
Category: Education and Training
Education and Training
Extended Learning Time Key to Workforce-Ready Students
This is the fourth in a series of blog posts by the Council for a Strong America highlighting creative partnerships between communities, boards and school districts. By Teresa Goodwin, Regional Director of HPA, Inc. When I was in elementary school, I attended class year-round. My parents […]
Access to Water Key to Healthy Students, Safe Nation
This is the third in a series of blog posts by the Council for a Strong America highlighting creative partnerships between communities, boards and school districts. By Brigadier General David Brahms, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.) It’s more than just a story on the evening news. […]
Classrooms or Crime?
This is the second in a series of blog posts by the Council for a Strong America highlighting creative partnerships between communities, boards and school districts. By Sheriff Adam Christianson Preventing kids from turning to a life of crime, that’s basically what it comes down […]
Unexpected Messengers
This is the first in a series of blog posts by the Council for a Strong America highlighting creative partnerships between communities, boards and school districts. By Barrie Becker, Council for a Strong America These days, it seems it’s hard to get anyone to agree on anything. […]
Reducing Chronic Absence: An Overlooked Opportunity for Raising Student Achievement
September is Attendance awareness month! To celebrate, we have invited four guest bloggers to provide insight throughout the month about the importance of student attendance. In this first installment, guest blogger Hedy Chang explores how reducing chronic absence can raise student achievement. By Hedy Chang, […]
Common Core is Like the Grateful Dead
by Christopher Maricle, Policy and Programs Officer Words are powerful things. When I was in college, a friend tried unsuccessfully to convince me to listen to the Grateful Dead. But the word ‘dead’ had a strong negative image for me—and their trademark symbol, the skull, […]
CTC again considers special credential for ROTC teachers
![By Alton (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://blog.csba.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Narbonne_High_ROTC.jpg)
The Special Teaching Authorization in Physical Education for members of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps would serve as recognition that the credential holder has met the subject matter requirement and represent another option for school boards considering whether to grant high school graduation credit for ROTC or Basic Military Drill.
Let’s restore the civic mission of California schools
In California and across the nation, research is revealing a very troubling ‘civic learning opportunity gap.’ Students attending schools that serve populations with higher socio-economic status have many more civic learning opportunities than students attending schools serving lower SES populations, minority populations and those serving high concentrations of recent arrivals to our nation. Schools facing pressure to make ‘annual yearly progress’ are all too often significantly reducing instructional time for civic learning/social studies, or in some cases eliminating the subject altogether to concentrate on math and reading.
Does common core = common curriculum?
A recent Education Week article quoted excerpts of a speech delivered by U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan to the American Society of News Editors in which he defended the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Duncan stated that those opposed to Common Core believe that the standards and tests will lead “to mind control, robots, and biometric brain mapping.” That may sound extreme, but it is not surprising. There has been a growing resistance to CCSS.