Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Attention Teachers: Apply For FEDCO Grant

Grant Purpose and Amounts

The California Community Foundation (CCF) awards FEDCO Teacher Grants each year to fund hands-on, classroom projects or field trips that help bring learning to life. Grants range from $500 to $1,000 and support teachers of students in grades kindergarten through 12 in Cerritos, Culver City, Norwalk-La Mirada, Pasadena and Los Angeles Unified school districts.

Eligibility

• You must teach K-12 full time at a public school in one of these school districts: LAUSD, ABC/Cerritos, Culver City, Norwalk-La Mirada or Pasadena Unified.
• Your project should be connected to core curriculum standards and include all students in your class.
• Your project should include engaging and creative experiential learning activities, such as a museum visit and/or hands-on art or science projects.
• Your project should increase student academic achievement in one of four areas: language arts, math, science or social studies.
• Your project may include a final group project produced by your students.
• We will give high priority to projects that incorporate experiential learning that are linked to class curriculum or integrate community-related topics.

For more information visit: California Community Foundation

Monday, August 30, 2010

Students Speak Up About Disparities Between LAUSD Schools

From: Patt Morrison, KPCC

Student A attends El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, one of the top-achieving public schools in the state, a school that is a regular finalist in national Academic Decathlon competitions with plenty of advanced placement classes available, located in a bucolic upper-middle class neighborhood. Student B attends Belmont Senior High School in Westlake, a struggling school with an unbelievable 60% drop out rate where 80% of its students qualify for federal free or reduced lunches and students’ proficiency rates in both math and reading hover around 50%. How can two schools in the same district produce such wildly different results? This is the tale of the Los Angeles Unified School District, which with 617,000 students is one of the nation’s largest and most unwieldy, with huge disparities in access to good classrooms, teachers and coursework. Patt and her guests hear stories from students themselves about the differing experiences of going to school in the LAUSD and what can be done to bridge the educational gap.
Click here to listen: Patt Morrison KPCC