College Online Cources

year graduation rate by improving the state’s low-performing schools.

The Democratic governor’s efforts come at a time when a new study using 2009 data finds fewer Connecticut students are graduating from high school in four years, compared with in 2002.

The national report by the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University and other education advocacy and policy groups cites data from the U.S. Department of Education.

The governor’s plan includes six major priorities that aim to help low-performing schools in Connecticut.

The General Assembly’s Education Committee has yet to schedule a vote on the bill containing the governor’s education proposals. 

What Should Kids Be Reading? 

By Sandra Stotsky, University of Arkansas

Books above a sixth-grade reading level, for sure. According to Renaissance Learning’s 2012 report on the books read by almost 400,000 students in grades 9–12 in 2010–2011, the average reading level of the top 40 books is a little above fifth grade . While 27 of the 40 books are UG , a fifth-grade reading level is obviously not high enough for college-level reading. Nor is it high enough for high school-level reading, either, or for informed citizenship.

And yet, the demographic gaps haven’t closed. As Renai

Read more…

The Class AA semifinals will be played on Thursday at the Macon Coliseum. Here are five questions that will be answered:

How many points will Vidalia’s Devin Atkins score? The 5-foot-7 guard is one of the most explosive offensive players in the state. He went for 28 points in the second half of the quarterfinal game against Albany. And when he gets on a roll – he had five 3-pointers against Albany – he’s tough to reel in. He’s the South Georgia version of “The Microwave.”

Can Region 5 teams play each other for the boys championship? If Jordan and Manchester win their semifinal games, they’ll play for the fourth time this season in order to determine the state championship. The teams split during the regular season, with Manchester winning by two points in the Region 5-AA final.

Will Laney double its fun with two state championships? The Wildcats are the only school remaining in Class AA with the boys and girls still in contention. The Laney girls are ranked No. 2, while the boys are ranked No. 3. Both teams elim

Read more…

For the first time in several years I am not attending SIGCSE this week. I’m really missing it as so many of my friends will be there. But no use crying over what could have been. Even though I am not there the Microsoft presence is going to be awesome. I wanted to highlight some of it. As you can see from the schedule below there are both short booth sessions with prizes, some regular sessions and a workshop. When you go to these talks please do two things. One is come back and leave your thoughts on the session (or anything else about Microsoft’s presence) on this blog and Two TELL EVERYONE ALFRED SENT YOU! And the Microsoft people in the booth can’t wait to talk to you about what they brought to show off so keep the booth busy.

APCS teachers will really want to talk to Susan Evans about the Pex4Fun for APCS that she has been working on. I have previewed some of this and it looks great. It gives a chance for students to work on interesting and relevant exercises online and on their own time. Great practice for students. Relat

Read more…

Connecticut Rep. Chris Murphy is proposing federal legislation that would end a 10-year deadline for veterans seeking education benefits under the Montgomery GI Bill.

Under current law, qualified veterans can receive up to 36 months of benefits, which can be used for everything from degree and certificate programs to flight training and correspondence courses. Those benefits, however, expire after 10 years following someone’s release from active duty.

Murphy announced Wednesday, at a Meriden senior center, that his “Restore the Promise GI Bill” would eliminate that deadline. It makes veterans who’ve been released from active duty more than 10 years ago eligible for benefits.

Vietnam veteran George Beebe contacted Murphy after learning he wasn’t eligible for the assistance because of the deadline. Beebe served 20 years in the Marines and Army.