Jaqueline Hurtado, CNN

Lea este artículo en español/Read this article in Spanish

(CNN) - Students at Miramonte Elementary School will return to class later this week to a new staff because administrators do not want any more "surprises" at the Los Angeles school that is at the center of two child abuse cases.

The school will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday to "take a break," the Los Angeles Unified School system said.

When classes resume Thursday, a new staff and social workers will be at hand to receive them, said Los Angeles School District Superintendent John Deasy.

"I can't have anymore surprises at Miramonte," Deasy told an auditorium packed with parents Monday night. "And if there are more, then we'll have to deal with that."

Everyone from current custodians to teachers at Miramonte will be removed, he said.

Those staffers who are not being fired are expected, after undergoing special training, to resume work at another location, he said.

By Sonya Hamasaki, CNN

Los Angeles (CNN) - After spending 20 years in a midlevel job at a Southern California credit union, Dawn Moore wanted a promotion. But to move up in the company, Moore needed a bachelor's degree. So what stopped her from going back to school? A full-time job, a family and a tight budget.

"I needed a university that was accredited, would work with my schedule, and I could do from home," said Moore, 55. "I just felt at my age and with everything I had going on in my life, I didn't feel like walking to a campus, sitting in a classroom and doing the traditional brick and mortar."

But then she discovered Western Governors University.

The university was started by a group of governors from the West who wanted to make education accessible to adult students with busy lives. It's an online, nonprofit, fully accredited university, a distinction not granted to all online campuses. It's a school without boundaries - there aren't any teachers, curriculums are personalized, and students can go at their own pace.

This type of flexibility draws adults who are strapped for time. The average student is 36, and 70% of them have full-time jobs.
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By Cheryl Castro, CNN

Listen to CNN Radio's podcast on music in the classroom from Cheryl Castro.

(CNN) – There is much research to show that music can improve academic performance. But what about behavior? Kindergarten teacher Shelvia Ivey sees the effects every day in her classroom.

"It's fun to see the shy ones blossom and music is a way for them to do that," Ivey said. For "some of the more aggressive children who have a hard time controlling their instincts, it's a time for them to express themselves, too and it's easier for them to control their instincts. And they're allowed to be expressive, and be unique."

The kids in Ivey's class are bright-eyed and about as focused as you can expect from 5-year-olds and younger. About a dozen of them hop, dance and clap along at a metro Atlanta Primrose school, a private school that offers programs for infants through kindergarten.

Over the fall, Primrose added The Music Class to the curriculum at all 240 of its schools spread across 16 states. Jason Caesar’s two active young sons, 2-year-old Kingston and 3-year-old Phoenix, attend the school. "The music definitely tames the savage 3-year-old," Caesar said.
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Steve Perry on Claremont McKenna College and other schools that may be padding their SAT scores to look more selective.

by Georgiann Caruso – CNN Medical
(CNN) – About half of public and private elementary students could buy unhealthy snacks at school during the 2009-2010 school year from stores, vending machines and snack bars according to survey results released Monday. The survey was part of a report published in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

"Given increasing attention in recent years to the problem of childhood obesity, we would have hoped to see decreases in the availability of junk food in schools over time," said study author Lindsey Turner, health psychologist at the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

"Our research demonstrates the continued need for changes to make schools healthier," she added.

The data represents no change in the ability to get the snacks like cookies, candy and chips throughout the four years of the study; the study began in the 2006-2007 school year.

Here's what the editors of Schools of Thought are reading today:

The Gazette: Public schools turning to private financial sources
When Iowa's budget gap left schools scrambling to offer art, music and gym classes, school officials sought private donations to fill the gaps. Nationwide, some fear that private donations may blur the definition of public and private schools when funding comes with mandates to change education policies .

National Council on Teacher Quality: Helicopter parenting gets new meaning in New Hampshire
A new New Hampshire law will allow parents to object to almost anything their children are taught, and request alternatives. Tom Byrne argues that teachers' political views shouldn't be expressed in the classroom, and neither should parents'.

FOX16.com: Bill Clinton pushes A+ programs
Former President Bill Clinton is pushing the A+ program for Little Rock's students. The program uses hands-on projects to meld art with science.

WSBTV: Community to rally over Gainesville valedictorian battle
Cody Stephens could be Gainesville High School's first black valedictorian. His community plans to rally because school officials announced that Stephens and another student would share the honor.

University of Kentucky.com: Kentucky's plan to privatize housing raises some questions
The University of Kentucky says that getting out of the business of housing its students will allow it to focus on instruction. Critics raise the question that if UK wasn't making money collecting room and board, how will a private enterprise be able to do it?

by Noliwe Rooks, Special to CNN

Editor’s Note: Noliwe Rooks is the associate director of the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University and the founding coordinator of the center’s urban education reform initiative. She is a member of the Op Ed Project. You can follow her on Twitter @nrookie .

Today, fewer Americans than ever believe one requirement of citizenship is to right the wrongs in our nation. So says a recent report by the American Association of American Colleges and Universities released recently at the White House. The report, called “A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future,”  warns that the United States is nearing the point of becoming a “citizen-less” nation where the majority sit on the sidelines pointing out, complaining about and urging others to act.

So what do we do in the face of this dire scenario? The report recommends that colleges and universities begin to make civic engagement central to the college experience. The preparation for democracy, they argue, is as important to our nation’s future as is learning to write, count and prepare for a career.

As a professor at Princeton University with a focus on education and social and civic entrepreneurship, I couldn’t agree more. I see the power of empowering the civic imaginations of students every day, equipping them with real world skills to think critically about their communities, innovate and advocate on behalf of themselves and others, and stay resilient in the long slog for societal change.

If civic engagement is to become a central focus for the Obama administration and a key feature of higher education, we need a version of it that moves beyond merely voting, volunteering or tutoring. We need to provide opportunities for students and faculty to use their skills as writers, thinkers and researchers to become social entrepreneurs who work to actually solve social issues, not just soften their impact. The version of civics that we teach now is a Band-aid to our social and political ills.  A new vision could encourage students to find a cure, getting at the root causes of inequality and injustice and transforming our nation.
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(CNN) – 3 college leaders, Nancy Zimpher, King Alexander and Thomas Snyder, tell Christine Romans what needs to be done to ensure that all students are able to attend college.

From: Your Bottom Line

Here's what the editors of Schools of Thought are reading today:

AJC: Judge: Fulton Schools owes special-needs student in abuse case a free education
A judge ruled that a Georgia school district failed to provide a special needs student with a "free and appropriate public education." The 19-year-old student will be allowed to have a private education for the next five years – and the district has to pay for it.

TBO.com: School rankings show tie between poverty, performance
The state of Florida ranked all of its schools based on standardized test scores. In one large school district, the rankings reflected the percentage of students on free and reduced lunch.

CBSPhilly.com: Councilwoman says ads on school buses can help close budget gap
A Philadelphia City councilwoman will present a controversial proposal to help boost revenues of the city’s school district. How? By displaying ads on the district's yellow school buses.

U.S. News: President Obama to Hold White House Science Fair
The White House has announced that it will hold a science fair next week that will include students from nationally held science competitions.

Miami Herald: Senate approves school prayer bill
The Florida state senate approved a measure that would allow student-led school prayer. Some lawmakers say the bill as written is unconstitutional and could subject the state to lawsuits.

by Donna Krache, CNN

(CNN) Penmanship. To grown-ups, the word conjures up memories of coarse sheets of paper with solid and dotted lines - and a pencil so big that you had to practically balance it on your shoulder to practice writing your letters.

For some of today’s elementary school kids, there won’t be any memories of penmanship class.  With classroom time at a premium and the common use of the keyboard, some school districts are abandoning handwriting as part of the curriculum.

But Dr. Laura Dinehart says not so fast.

Dinehart, an assistant professor at the Florida International University School of Education, was examining data collected on 1,000 second-graders and comparing it with information collected when they were in pre-kindergarten.  She and her research team expected to find that early number skills might predict math achievement and that early language skills might predict who would be better readers in second grade.  But they were surprised to find that a 4-year-old’s fine motor writing skill - the ability to form letters, numbers and shapes - was an indicator of stronger academic achievement later on.

What’s just as surprising, says Dinehart, is that the academic achievement by those with better penmanship is seen in both reading and math, and it’s reflected in both teachers’ grades and standardized test scores.  Students who received good handwriting grades in pre-K had an overall “B” average in second grade.  Their standardized tests scored above average in both math and reading.  By contrast, pre-kindergarten students who did poorly on fine motor writing tasks had an overall “C” average and below-average test scores in second grade.
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