Preston, the school’s founder and superintendent, has enrolled 180 ninth- and 10th-graders in his charter school over the last four months. He plans to expand to kindergarten through adult education in the future.

The school is among 22 charters opening this school year in the area stretching north from San Joaquin County to Butte County, according to the California Charter Schools Association. Five of those schools are in the Sacramento region.

Last year the California Charter Schools Association reported that 88 charters opened in the state – more than any prior year. The association expects another 90 to 100 to open by Sept. 30, bringing the total in California to more than 900.

Read more here:  California charter schools grow in popularity

The event is taking place at the University Center at College of the Canyons located at 26455 Rockwell Canyon Rd in Santa Clarita starting at 7:00 PM. It is specifically for prospective service academy candidates to obtain information and ask questions about the application process for the entering class of July 2011.

For further information regarding this event call: Santa Clarita: (661) 254-2111; Antelope Valley: (661) 274-9688; Sunland, Tujunga, Inyo, Mono San Bernardino Counties: (661) 254-2111 (or) visit the website at www.McKeon.house.gov.

“If you teach children healthy habits now, they will stick with those habits long-term,” said Jonathan E. Fielding, MD, MPH, Director of Public Health and Health Officer. “Give your kids the head-start they need to live long, healthy and productive lives.”

Stop Disease in its Tracks: Vaccinate!

School season means that your child will come into contact with hundreds of other children daily, providing them plenty of opportunity to pick up whatever illnesses are going around. Teach your children healthy habits, such as washing their hands before eating and after using the restroom, and covering their mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. Make sure that their vaccinations are up-to-date.

“Right now, a big concern is pertussis, also known as ‘whooping cough,’” Dr. Fielding said. “Statewide, the numbers of pertussis cases have reached epidemic levels, and it is important that children and those that care for them, including teachers, aides, school officials, and adults at home, are appropriately protected against this vaccine-preventable disease.”

In addition to the usual series of childhood pertussis vaccinations, the California Department of Public Health now recommends an adolescent-adult pertussis booster vaccine (Tdap) for:

• anyone 7 years and older who is not fully immunized, including those who are more than 64 years old
• women of childbearing age
• anyone who cares for infants, particularly those under 3 months of age

Flu and cold season will also begin shortly. This year’s flu vaccine will include protection against H1N1 and other flu strains that are likely to start circulating in schools and elsewhere. Influenza can cause students, teachers and others to miss important days of school and work and, in some cases, can lead to serious complications for those who become sick. While colds are not as serious as influenza and there is no vaccine against colds, the chance of catching or giving a cold is reduced by hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes.

Residents are encouraged to first contact their regular doctor for recommended vaccinations. Those who do not have a regular healthcare provider or insurance coverage for vaccines can call the LA County Information line at 2-1-1 or visit http://www.publichealth.lacounty.gov/ip for referrals to providers and community sites offering free or low-cost immunizations.

Everyone should practice these healthy habits to help prevent the spread of any illness:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after using the restroom and before eating.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Germs are spread more easily through these areas.
• Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or with your sleeve.
• Stay home from work, school or daycare if you or your child is sick.

After-School Snacks can be Healthy

People who eat regular meals, beginning with a healthy breakfast, are less likely to overeat and gain weight than people who skip meals. Healthy snacks should be incorporated into a child’s diet as a way to satisfy the hunger of a growing child, and to provide the vitamins and nutrients a body needs.

“Many people incorrectly believe that snacking is a bad thing,” Dr. Fielding said. “But if you’re careful about how much and what you eat, snacking can be a key component to a healthy diet.”

Healthy Snacking Ideas:

• Plan snacks as part of the day’s menu by offering them at regular times, such as mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Children and adults should avoid nibbling constantly throughout the day, but a planned snack break can provide energy and nutrition, and help prevent binge eating or less healthy food choices.
• Some suggested “kid-friendly” fruit and veggie snacks include: adding peanut butter and raisins to celery sticks, dipping graham crackers or gingersnaps in applesauce, freezing fresh, unsweetened 100% fruit juice in popsicle molds, or serving frozen bananas with a small amount of cheddar cheese.
• Make healthy substitutions by trading in ice cream for frozen grapes, chips for pretzels, or a cup of low fat yogurt instead of a candy bar.
• When shopping at a grocery store or farmers’ market, let children help pick out fruits and vegetables for snacks. They will be more interested in eating these foods if they have been involved in selecting them.
• Snacks are a good way to introduce new fruits and vegetables. Include a game or activity to learn about the new food and its nutritional value, and let the child help prepare the snack.

Stay Active, but Stay Safe

Many parents allow their children to walk or ride a bicycle to school, which can be a great way for them to get exercise. However, it is important to teach kids about pedestrian and bicycle safety before turning them loose on their own. From 2004 to 2006, there were 16 children (ages 5-11) killed in pedestrian accidents, and 1,824 children were injured.

There are “rules of the road” for pedestrians, just as there are for motorists. Take the time to make sure your children understand these potentially life-saving rules:

• Pedestrians are to use sidewalks whenever they are safely available.
• When sidewalks are unavailable, pedestrians must walk facing traffic as far to the left as possible.
• Pedestrians must obey traffic signals and/or traffic officers.
• At crosswalks where there isn’t a traffic control signal or officer, pedestrians have the right-of-way.
• If there are not any crosswalks, signs or signals, the pedestrian must yield the right-of-way to all vehicles.
• Regardless of the right-of-way, the driver is required by law to take great care to avoid “hitting” pedestrians.

You can help make it safer to walk to your local school by:

• Adopt a Walk to School Week campaign at your child’s school to help increase pedestrian safety awareness.  For more information, go to: http://www.walktoschool.org/.
• Start a walking school bus.  Talk to other parents at your school and encourage a group of children to walk to school with one or more adults.

Between 2004 and 2006, three children were killed in bicycling accidents, and 915 children were injured. “These tragic deaths and injuries are, in most cases, preventable,” Dr. Fielding said. “Ride with the flow of traffic, stay visible, and-if your child is under the age of 9-be sure they ride on a sidewalk. And always wear a helmet when riding a bicycle.”

For more information on pedestrian and bicycle safety, please visit the LA County Public Health Injury and Violence Prevention Program website at http://www.publichealth.lacounty.gov/ivpp.

The Department of Public Health is committed to protecting and improving the health of the nearly 10 million residents of Los Angeles County. To learn more about Public Health and the work we do, please visit http://www.publichealth.lacounty.gov, visit our YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/lapublichealth, or follow us on Twitter: LAPublicHealth.

(From the latimes.com)

Also Thursday, the Los Angeles Board of Education formally directed its superintendent, for the first time, to include student test score data as part of teachers’ evaluations. That change would have to be negotiated with the teachers union.

The nationwide tests would be like nothing ever approached on such a scale: Smarter, computer-based exams, for example, would deliver harder or easier questions during the exam based on student responses. And the tests will strive to evaluate critical thinking, writing, researching and even listening skills.

Exams in math and English would be rolled out across the country in 44 participating states for the 2014-15 school year. When that happens, state tests that cost billions to produce would become obsolete. And years of data on how schools are progressing could also become meaningless going forward.

Read more here: California to use new type of nationwide school tests

(From the nytimes.com)

The new tests, which Secretary of Education Arne Duncan described in a speech in Virginia on Thursday, are to be ready for the 2014-15 school year.

They will be computer-based, Mr. Duncan said, and will measure higher-order skills ignored by the multiple-choice exams used in nearly every state, including students’ ability to read complex texts, synthesize information and do research projects.

“The use of smarter technology in assessments,” Mr. Duncan said, “makes it possible to assess students by asking them to design products of experiments, to manipulate parameters, run tests and record data.”

Because the new tests will be computerized and will be administered several times throughout the school year, they are expected to provide faster feedback to teachers than the current tests about what students are learning and what might need to be retaught.

Read more here: U.S. Asks Educators to Reinvent Student Tests, and How They Are Given

(From Science Daily)

Three quarters of the study’s participants reported that they would not take risks when it comes to making sure a female friend is safe while under the influence of alcohol. Participants said they would persuade a female friend not to go home with a new male acquaintance or that they would make sure she got home safely.

The participants reported using three distinct communication strategies to prevent their female friends from going home with strangers after a night of drinking alcohol. They include:

• Highlight the regret associated with that behavior. Participants said they would remind their friends about the negative health and social consequences associated with going home with someone. These include getting pregnant, developing a bad reputation, and regretting their decision in the morning.
• Use trickery or deception. Students hold the belief that drunken friends can be easily distracted or exploited. To remove their friends from a risky situation, the participants said they would trick their friends by taking them to get food, or putting them into a cab to go home, instead of going to the male acquaintance’s place.

Read more here: All May Not Be as It Seems: College Students, Alcohol and Sex

(From the Signal)

The objections

The reaction comes as about 50 Romero Canyon residents this week objected to the William S. Hart Union High School District’s plans to build the much-needed Castaic high school in their neighborhood.

Among the concerns: fire dangers in the rural, equestrian community and the possibility of landslides on the property, which is undeveloped and extremely hilly. The group is in the process of hiring an attorney to protect its rights.

Residents also say that building the school there would cost up to $30 million more than elsewhere, and the school would not be ready for the district’s projected 2013 opening.

 Read more here: Castaic high school faces hurdles

(From the wsj.com)

The results raise questions about how well the nation’s high schools are preparing students for college, and show the challenge facing the Obama administration in its effort to raise educational standards. The administration won bipartisan support for its education policies early on, but faces a tough fight in the fall over the rewrite and reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind program.

While elementary schools have shown progress on national achievement exams, high-school results have stayed perniciously low. Some experts say the lack of rigor in high-school courses is partly to blame.

“High schools are the downfall of American school reform,” said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington. “We haven’t figured out how to improve them on a broad scope and if our kids aren’t dropping out physically, they are dropping out mentally.”

President Barack Obama has said the nation’s long-term prosperity depends on fixing the nation’s high schools and preparing students to compete in a global economy. A recent study found the U.S. ranks only 12th in the percentage of adults aged 25 to 34 who hold college degrees, and Mr. Obama has set a goal of becoming No. 1.

To accomplish its aims, the administration will need to finesse the co-operation of the powerful teacher’s unions, Congress, parents and local school officials—groups that aren’t always on the same page when it comes to education reform.

Read more here: Scores Stagnate at High Schools

(From the AP)

The percentage of California students that scored at or above the proficient level in English-language arts rose 2 points to 52 percent, state officials said. In math, it rose 2 points to 48 percent.

Read more here: Test scores show progress by Calif. students

(From the wsj.com)

And with college costs and student debt at record levels, it is all the more important for students—and their parents—to avoid the new financial traps cropping up on campuses these days, from debit cards to health insurance.

Overlooking small details now, in the frenzied rush to campus, can invite much stress later on.

Hannah Gómez learned this lesson all too well. Before her freshman year at the University of Arizona, she and her parents chose the school’s health insurance plan after reading a brochure. “I assumed I was just going to go to a doctor a couple of times for the flu,” she says. Because it was a student plan, “we assumed it would be a good deal.”

As a result, they glossed over specifics, like a prescription benefit that didn’t pay anything until she had spent $1,000 out of pocket. After she signed up, allergy and asthma problems required new medication that ran about $2,000 a year. The plan also limited coverage of pre-existing conditions and physical-therapy treatments, which became a battleground after Hannah tore a ligament in her elbow at the end of her first semester.

Read more here: Packing for College, 2010 Style