In a major new opinion survey on education reform, a majority of adults, parents, high school teachers, administrators and college faculty believe that our nation’s schools are coming up short in putting students on the path to compete for highly technical scientific and engineering jobs with young people from other countries and are going to have to challenge students more if America is to maintain its global economic edge.
Business
AT&T announces ‘AT&T AccessAll’ Signature Program.
AT&T Inc. and its philanthropic arm, the AT&T Foundation, announced that they will launch a landmark three-year $100 million signature program called AT&T AccessAll — the nation’s largest program designed to provide in-home Internet and technology access to benefit low-income families and underserved communities across the country.
Simon Bolivar? Hernando Cortez? Kids don’t know.
A new Fordham Institute study says two-thirds of the states don’t make the grade when it comes to standards for instruction in world history, but states received their lowest marks for weak or non-existent standards for the teaching of the history and culture of Latin America and Mexico.
NDN Political Fund uses World Cup Soccer to promote Democratic values.
The NDN Political Fund announced the launch of a new national media campaign to bring the values and agenda of the Democratic Party to tens of millions of Americans.
The campaign, “Mas Que un Partido” (“More Than a Game/Party”), will bring these values – opportunity , responsibility, fair-play and the notion that we’re all in this together – to life through the passion and power of the world’s most popular sport: soccer.
Conga Room in LA offers an ‘Hasta Luego’.
After eight years as Los Angeles’ premier Latin music club and cultural melting pot, the Conga Room, co-owned by Jimmy Smits, Jennifer Lopez, Sheila E. and Paul Rodriguez, closed following a star-filled bash which included club fans like Eriq La Salle, Cedric the Entertainer and Larenz Tate. The evening featured heartfelt performances by legendary conguero Francisco Aguabella, L.A.’s leading Chicano band, Quetzal, and salsa master Johnny Polanco. The Conga Room’s owners plan to re-open the club in 2007 at the LA Live Entertainment Complex being built across from the Staples Center downtown.
The World’s Game @ National Geographic Magazine.
The June 2006 issue of national Geographic magazine covers ‘The World’s Game’ that includes information about teams from 32 nations that will gather in Germany to compete for the World Cup of soccer, the “beautiful game” that unites and divides countries from around the world. National Geographic’s cover story takes a look at the sport that defines cultures around the globe.
National Teacher Day spotlights key issues facing profession.
The teaching profession has changed dramatically over the past 40 years. The majority of the nation’s 3 million teachers have at least a master’s degree and an average of 15 years of experience.
Gaining or Losing Ground? equity in offering advanced placement courses in California High Schools.
Analysis by researchers of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) on Advanced Placement (AP) courses in California public high schools in the mid-1990s concluded that although high school AP programs offered talented youngsters the opportunity to stretch their mental horizons and preview the challenges of college-level
coursework, the programs were not available to all students in the state of California. The findings of this present report indicate that access to AP courses remains an unlikely opportunity for Black and Latino students and many
low-income/rural students regardless of ethnicity. AP courses continue to be an inequitable sorting mechanism that limits some groups’ college preparation opportunities.
