Long Beach Class Notes

Help Lafayette Elementary School boost reading proficiency

2011-01-24T22:04:09Z

Lafayette Elementary School is in the running to win a $50,000 grant from Pepsi Company and the school needs your help by voting for their entry.
Pepsi is giving away $1,300,000 each month to fund great ideas as part of the Pepsi Refresh Project. Lafayette's "great idea" is for a new school program that will create a community of readers and boost reading proficiency for economically disadvantaged students.
Here is a description for "Readers are Leaders:"

Provide 840 at risk children a high-quality reading program
Offer 20% of struggling readers services by reading specialists
Develop 9 monthly activities to promote reading and related skills
A school-wide event at end of program celebrating accomplishment

How will the 50K be used?
$ 15,000	Reading services for all students
$ 15,000	Reading services for reading challenged
$ 15,000	9 school-wide events promoting reading
$ 2,500	Coordinator of events
$ 2,500	fund-raiser for next year

Introducing... Robo-Teacher!

2011-01-14T00:06:41Z

Some primary schools in South Korea are using a robots to teach English. The 30 egg-shaped yellow robots have a TV panel that displays a Caucasian woman's face and can wheel around the classroom.

According to a scientist: "They won't complain about health insurance, sick leave and severance package, or leave in three months for a better-paying job in Japan... all you need is a repair and upgrade every once in a while."

"Does Your School Need a Fresh Start?"

2011-01-13T00:02:59Z

The Department of Education has unveiled a new publication for parents that helps explain its program for turning around low-performing schools. The brochure explains the main features of the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program, including what parents and the community can do to help ensure that their local school districts make the most of the SIG funds.

U.S. looking at new ways for measuring teachers

2011-01-12T23:24:31Z

This interesting article from The Economist looks at new ways states are assessing the value of teachers. The article points out:

"...in Singapore, which recently came second in an international ranking of 15-year-olds' skill in maths (America was 31st), the teacher-training programme accepts only students in the top 30% of their academic cohort. In America, most teachers were mediocre students. Only 23% of new teachers were in the top third of college graduates."

USDA says: "Hold the fries!"

2011-01-12T23:01:57Z

Time to drop those french fries! The U.S. Department of Agriculture is calling for big changes in the meals served to school children. Some of those changes include limiting french fries, cutting back on sodium and adding fruit and veggies. The government hopes the proposed rule, which will be released on Thursday, will help curb the obesity epidemic and teach kids healthy eating habits. Here are some facts from the USA Today article:

"About a third of children and adolescents -- 25 million kids - are obese or overweight. Extra pounds put children at a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other health problems. An analysis in 2005 found that children today may lead shorter lives by two to five years than their parents because of obesity.

The new meal standards are designed to improve the health of nearly 32 million children who eat lunch at school every day and almost 11 million who eat breakfast. Overall, kids consume about 30% to 50% of their calories while at school."

Detroit Public Schools would face mass closures under state proposal

2011-01-12T22:31:38Z

California isn't the only state struggling in budget crisis. According to this article from The Detroit News, DPS could close nearly half of its 142 schools over the next two years and increase class sizes to 62 under a proposal from Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb. DPS is in dire financial straights. Its debt increased by more than $100 million over the last year alone.

The proposal calls for closing 40 schools in fiscal 2012 and 30 schools in fiscal 2013. The move would save more than $33 million, according to the article.

Study says there are racial disparities in middle school student suspensions

2010-09-16T01:22:24Z

According to this UPI story, a national survey found that middle schools are suspending more students than in the past, and that African-American students are being suspended more often than whites. An excerpt from the article:

"It's clear from these findings that zero-tolerance policies are pushing too many children out of school at a critical point in their education and are having a disproportionate impact on students of color," said Marion Chartoff, a senior staff attorney specializing in education issues at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which distributed the study.
The researchers said they focused on middle schools because studies suggest suspensions in those grades may have significant, long-term repercussions for students.

Study: Good preschool can prevent later behavioral problems in low-income kids

2010-09-16T00:47:19Z

According to this HealthDay story, a study published in the journal Child Development found:

The children who attended responsive and engaging high-quality preschool programs were found to exhibit less aggression and rule-breaking behavior by the time they entered middle childhood (ages 7 to 11), according to the report.

Cerritos College program helps at-risk youth become teachers

2010-07-21T23:47:36Z

A new Cerritos College program will provide education and job training to 60 at-risk youth interesting in becoming teachers.

Funded by a nearly $500,000 state grant, the Cerritos College Urban Teacher Fellowship is geared toward 17- to 24-year-old youth who are former gang members or who are at-risk of gang involvement.

Cerritos College will provide remedial instruction to the students to help them obtain an associate's degree, with the aim of having the youth eventually transfer to a four-year university to obtain a teaching credential.

The youths also will receive training and job placement in after-school programs to help them support themselves in their pursuit of becoming a teacher.

The college won a competitive state grant from the Governor's Office of Gang and Youth Violence Policy. The program is part of Cerritos TRAC, its teacher training academy.

To learn more about the program, call 562-860-2451, ext. 2212.

College enrollment reaches record high

2010-06-22T23:59:36Z

According to this AP article, the largest increases were seen at community colleges, trade schools and large public universities.

Newly released government figures show that freshman enrollment surged 6 percent in 2008 to a record 2.6 million, mostly due to rising minority enrollment. That is the highest increase since 1968 during the height of the Vietnam War, when young adults who attended college could avoid the military draft.
Almost three-quarters of the freshman increases in 2008 were minorities, of which the largest share was Hispanics.

Do burgers worsen childhood asthma?

2010-06-03T22:35:35Z

According to this Health Day story, a study showed that children who eat three or more hamburgers a week could be at an increased risk for asthma and wheeze. I'm not sure having kids eat three or more burgers a week is a good idea, period, apart from the potential asthmatic effects.

Could a urine test diagnose childhood autism?

2010-06-03T22:04:22Z

Diagnosing autism in children can be a complicated process, involving a series of tests. But could autism be diagnosed earlier in life and with less uncertainty by using a simple biological test to detect the condition? According to this article in the UK Daily Mail, researchers believe they can develop a urine test for autism based on distinct gastrointestinal factors impacting autistic individuals. An excerpt:

"The findings, published tomorrow in the Journal of Proteome Research, suggest that ultimately a urine test will be able to detect autism in infants.

People with autism are known to suffer from gastrointestinal disorders and have a different make-up of bacteria in their guts from non-autistic people. The exact biological significance of gastrointestinal disorders in the development of autism is unknown.

The distinctive urinary metabolic fingerprint for autism identified by the the study, from Imperial College London and the University of South Australia, could form the basis of a non-invasive test that might help diagnose autism earlier."

Can iPhone/Touch apps improve child learning?

2010-06-03T21:57:47Z

According to this article from CNET, a study by PBS had mothers observe their 3- to 7-year-old children who were provided with iTouch devices (essentially iPhones but with no phone capability) loaded up PBS-created Martha Speaks educational app. Children were not forced to play with the app but many did so voluntarily. A followup survey reported an improvement in the vocabulary of children using the app.

Study: ADHD linked to social factors like single-parenting

2010-06-03T21:52:29Z

The Swedish study found that social factors like living with a single parent, explained half the variation in the percentage of kids studied on ADHD medicines. Genetics also is a factor. From the article by AFP:

The study, published this week in Acta Paediatrica, found that women who had only received very basic education were 130 percent more likely to have a child on ADHD medication than women with university degrees.
Living with a single parent increased the chances of being on medication by more than 50 percent, while coming from a family on welfare upped the odds by 135 percent.

Teachers set to begin layoff hearings

2010-04-08T01:05:52Z

On Monday, administrative hearings will begin for hundreds of teachers who have received warnings from the Long Beach Unified School District that they may be laid off at the end of the school year. Each teacher who received a notice had the right to request a hearing before an administrative judge. (The deadline for requesting such a hearing has since expired.) Teachers during the hearings can challenge their layoff notice in several ways, such as arguing that they were placed at the wrong rank on the layoff seniority list or bringing up credentials and skills that weren't properly taken into account during the noticing process.

Teachers who got notices will find out in May whether they are going to lose their jobs.