Check out the latest education-related news from around the web -- then be sure to sign the Mom Congress petition to fix No Child Left Behind.

‘Race to the Top' grant rules laid out (Chicago Tribune, 11/13/09)

Education Secretary Arne Duncan issued rules for a $4 billion grant program to promote innovation in education, allaying fears from some education groups that it would be too focused on testing.

'Staggering’ Crisis in U.S. Education Found in Study (Bloomberg, 11/9/09)

More than two-thirds of U.S. teachers disapprove of how their public schools are run and 90 percent say “routine duties and paperwork” interfere with their teaching, a report found.

Gates Foundation gives $335M for teacher quality (Associated Press, 11/19/09)

Three school districts and a coalition of charter schools have agreed to be test kitchens for some radical ideas for improving teacher quality. In exchange, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced $290 million in grants to the four groups, plus another $45 million for education research aimed at uncovering what exactly is an effective teacher.

Schools in the dark about tainted lunches (USA Today, 11/17/09)

Following an outbreak of over 100 illnesses at five area schools in Racine, WI – believed to have been caused by flour tortillas from Chicago's Del Rey Tortilleria – parents and school officials are wondering why the FDA never alerted them to company’s long history of making children sick.  See the U.S. agriculture chief’s response and pledge to issue better food alerts to schools on USAToday.com.

One NJ school district considering fee for detention (Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/19/09)

School board members in one New Jersey town want parents of high school students who are habitually sent to detention to pay, saying the district spends $10,000 per year in overtime and maintenance to run after-school detention.

Here's a roundup of recent H1N1 news stories. And tell us: Have you encountered Swine Flu in your community? Did you get your family vaccinated? Did you get the shot, or the mist? Let us know!

In Iowa, the first case of a family pet with H1N1. The cat most likely got it from the family members recently suffering from swine flu. (Time) 

How did Wall Street bankers score the swine flu vaccine ahead of millions of others? (Associated Press)

Going sanitizer-happy? An unusually high demand for Purell could lead to limited supplies in some areas. (CNN) 

Seven members of an endangered Amazonian tribe have died from H1N1. (BBC)

A new bill in the House of Reps would guarantee paid sick leave to workers if their employer asks them to stay home with swine flu. (Associated Press) 

To put it in perspective, here's an interesting history of the swine flu, from 1889 to today. (New Scientist)  

Plus:

Our no-freak-out swine flu guide for parents

Swine flu know-how for moms-to-be

 

Check out the latest education-related news from around the web -- then be sure to sign the Mom Congress petition to fix No Child Left Behind.

“Race to the Top” education grant propels reforms (USA Today, 11/4/09)
States that want their share of the $4.35 billion federal grant must commit to closing historic achievement gaps and getting more kids into college – and while the first batch of money isn't scheduled to go out until January, state legislatures are scrambling to rewrite laws governing these systems.

A year after election, Obama focuses on schools (Boston Globe, 11/4/09)
President Obama is using the anniversary of his election to call for "a national mission" to improve public education and build it into a pillar of the new economy.

Rachael Ray's sizzling taco strategy to have students eat healthier (New York Daily News, 10/24/09)
This week, 1,200 public schools across New York City will serve up Ray's "sizzling soft tacos" as part of a plan to get kids to eat healthier meals.

Teacher Training Termed Mediocre (New York Times, 10/22/09)
Education Secretary Arne Duncan has implored universities to change the way they prepare teachers to run classrooms, saying a “revolutionary change” was needed to train as many as one million new teachers in five years.

School chooses Kindle; are libraries for the history 'books'? (USA Today, 10/27/09)
A Boston-area boarding school replaces most of the library's books with a brand-new, fully digital collection.

There's a North Carolina-based group called College Bound Sisters that gives girls a stipend toward college, if they make it through the program without getting pregnant.

Read Teenage girls earn extra cash for college -- as long as they don't get pregnant 

From the article:

"In 1997, [Drs. Hazel Brown and Rebecca Saunders] turned their focus to primary pregnancy prevention, founding College Bound Sisters for girls 12 to 16 -- considered high-risk because their sisters were teenage mothers.

…The program is controversial on several levels. Abstinence is not required of participants; the program offers information on both birth control and safe sex, which doesn't sit well with those who support abstinence-only education. Other critics believe the government should not pay teens to do what's in their own self-interest.

Indeed, many of the girls who join the program initially are motivated by the money. But they stay, Brown says, because of the support they receive and the opportunity to get a college education. "You can't work toward a negative," she says, "so saying 'Don't get pregnant' isn't good enough. This program gives them something to work toward."

Only six girls of the 125 enrolled for six months or longer have become pregnant. About 40 have already finished high school, and 10 have graduated from college….North Carolina ranks eighth in the nation for teen pregnancies. The $75,000 annual cost for the programs run by Planned Parenthood and College Bound sisters pales next to the $500,000 a teen pregnancy can cost taxpayers for health care and welfare."

What do you think about this program? Do the ends (more at-risk girls going to college) justify the means (dangling cash in front of them)?

 

After a toddler tantrum got a 2-year-old and his mother booted off a Southwest flight, the blogosphere rejoiced. "Bout @#$$#@ time," and "The mother is only angling for a free ticket so she can flee the little basterd," were among the comments on fark.com. In response, James C. Kaufman wrote an article for Psychology Today asking, Why Does Our Society Hate Children?

"Toddlers have to have tantrums. It's how they learn boundaries," he said. "I don't like screaming in my ear, either. I also don't like people who wrestle the armrest away from me, people who lean their seat ALL the way back, and people who claim their suitcase is a purse and cram the overhead compartment with too many bags. But that's life. That's what traveling by air means. Heck, that's what it means to live in this world."

Do you think society really hates children? How do you react when if your toddler starts throwing a tantrum and you get that look from people who don't look like they're willing to offer much compassion?