Friday, March 5^th

Obama Takes Aim at School Dropout Rates

President Obama pledged today to tackle the dropout rate of American high school students, calling it an economic imperative if the United States intends to remain competitive in the global society.

"We know that the success of every American will be tied more closely than ever before to the level of education that they achieve," Mr. Obama said. "The jobs will go to the people with the knowledge and the skills to do them. It's that simple."

The president proposed giving $900 million in federal grants to states and school districts that agree to turn around – or, in some cases, close – the 2,000 schools across the country that produce more than half of the nation's dropouts. Read More

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Palm Beach County Reentry Program Gives Ex-Cons Stronger Start

Every year, thousands of ex-cons are released from state prisons and return home to South Florida, many to low-income neighborhoods and the same drug-plagued streets or dysfunctional homes that got them into trouble. To help them with their new life, the state Department of Corrections gives them $100 cash and a one-way bus ticket home. Their job skills lacking and their record now scarred with a felony, finding honest work is often next to impossible.

Is it any wonder that a third of Florida's convicts end up back behind bars within three years of their release, costing taxpayers more than $20,000 to feed and house each inmate each year? Read More

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Kids Are Mean: Cyber-Bullying, "Sexting," and Other Harmless Pranks

The L.A. Times editorial staff believes that kids are naturally mean, and, when they are mean to each other, school officials should mind their own business. "Mean girls-and mean boys-have been terrorizing their classmates since the first schoolhouse was built."

The editorial points out that some courts are refusing to back schools in their efforts to reign in the reputed bad online behavior because it did not occur on school grounds and because the schools failed to prove that the behavior could reasonably be expected or did cause a substantial disruption to the operation of the school. Read More

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Lessons Learned from Successful Online Credit Recovery Programs

Original Content Courtesy of Principal's Research Review

• Motivating students who have failed in the traditional classroom setting is a key to success for credit recovery programs. The flexible and self-paced nature of online courses can motivate; these attributes can also remove the social stigma of credit recovery. Online courses may be more engaging to some students than traditional face-to-face classes. In addition, programs that use online courses can address mobility issues of students who move regularly from one school in the district to another.

• Online learning is particularly well suited for students recovering credit because it allows for individualized instruction, both by the teacher and through the use of course management technology. Online curriculum must be rigorous to ensure that students are learning the material, and not simply moving through the course. Diagnostic testing that allows students to demonstrate mastery of the elements of a subject that they learned in their previous attempt to pass the course, and to move on to the parts of the course that they need to focus on, keeps students engaged. Read More (Word Document)

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