Online Learning: A Useful Tool for the Public Schools System

December 29th, 2011

In the state of South Carolina, online learning and virtual public schools have helped ease the education budget crunch and helped students through challenging courses.  South Carolina currently has five fully online public schools which any student in the state can access. According to an article in The Cheraw Chronicle and The Chesterfield Advertiser, online learning programs have the potential to increase graduation rates, keep budget costs down, and allow students more access to courses.

In this article, South Carolina’s online public schools could help improve the drop out rate for struggling high school students. Many students need the individualized help offer through online learning, or they have mastered the skills set are need the option to move on to more challenging materials. Online learning will not replace the traditional classroom; however, it does offer another tool and option for struggling high school students.

You can read more at The Cheraw Chronicle and The Chesterfield Advertiser. 

Tags: Online Learning, Public Schools, Schools

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Fonterra says free milk for Northland primary schools

December 14th, 2011

Fonterra today announced that a pilot “Milk for Kiwis” scheme would be trialled in Northland schools next year and if it was successful would be rolled out in schools across the country in 2013.

“Milk is an important block for good nutrition.

Read more…

Tags: Schools

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CT may add seats in charter schools

July 3rd, 2011

More than 600 additional children could get to enroll in Connecticut charter schools next fall under a proposal being considered by state education officials.

The State Board of Education is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a measure to add 622 seats in charter schools statewide this fall. It would bring their total enrollment to 6,071.

Connecticut’s first charter schools opened in 1997 as nonprofit public schools funded with state and private money.

Students must still take Connecticut’s standardized tests, but teachers have flexibility in presenting material. Enrollments are limited to keep classes small.

The proposal to add more seats is funded in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s new state budget, but the enrollments might need to be changed if his administration doesn’t get the labor concession savings it anticipated.

Tags: Charter Schools, Schools

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San Diego military kids help peers adapt to new schools

June 29th, 2011

SAN DIEGO Ciarra Stroud, 13, has faced a school cafeteria filled with strangers and the fear of sitting alone at lunch.

While her father was in the Navy, Stroud attended six elementary schools. Now, she helps other children in military families who are new to her school adapt.

“It’s never fun to be the new kid,” said the seventh-grader at Jean Farb Middle School in San Diego. “There’s no one to eat lunch with, and there’s no one you can talk to because you don’t know anyone.”

Children in military families often are the new kids, prompted by a parent’s new assignment or deployment. The moving around and the separation can take its toll on students, a new study found. As wars continue in Afghanistan and Iraq, the military also is boosting efforts to help meet children’s needs.

San Diego County, with its large military population, is the only one in California with a peer support program to help military children in both middle and high schools.

Read more…

Tags: San Diego, Schools

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Free dental screenings planned at two elementary schools

March 1st, 2011

Students at two area elementary schools will receive free comprehensive dental screenings and attend a seminar on proper dental care, thanks to a partnership between Affiliated Computer Services and the Sacramento Chapter of the National Dental Association.

The two dental clinics will be offered next week at Woodlake Elementary School in Sacramento and Oakdale Elementary School in North Highlands.

Affiliated Computer Services has worked with dental organization across the county to provide dental services to more than 26,000 children since 2004.

Tags: Dental Screenings, Elementary Schools, Schools

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Success Academy helps the toughest kids from Sacramento city schools

January 29th, 2011

These are the kids no one else wants to teach.

They’ve used drugs, carried weapons or otherwise wreaked havoc at schools in the Sacramento City Unified School District.

As a last resort, they are sent to Success Academy, an alternative education program recently relocated next to the district offices on 47th Avenue in south Sacramento.

Teaching at Success Academy has proved to be tough and sometimes dangerous work despite the clientele of fourth- through eighth-graders.

While the students are small, pound for pound, Success Academy is the most dangerous school in the city. Police have logged roughly 270 crimes at the school’s three locations since 2005. These include 86 assaults; 17 drug offenses; 15 weapons charges; 10 reports of gang activity; three instances of witness intimidation; even a report of pimping.

Students at the tiny school assaulted staff members 31 times during the last six years, police records show.

Those may be the facts, but they don’t get at the truth of the school, said Principal Kathy Whiteside.

Read more…

Tags: Sacramento City, Schools

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