HIgh school students earning college credit up 51 percent – Bu Will Sentel, The Louisiana Advocate
More than 8,000 high school students in the past school year earned college credit through exams that measure college skills, up from 5,346 last year, the state Department of Education announced Tuesday morning.
The credits were achieved through the College Level Examination Program, or CLEP.
It allows students to demonstrate their mastery of college-level materials in introductory courses.
"Not only are more students accessing opportunities for post-secondary success but they are achieving credits toward their college degrees before even graduating high school," state Superintendent of Education John White said in a statement.
"At the same time, they are shortening the time it takes to obtain a college degree, increasing the likelihood of their degree completion and saving millions of dollars in college costs," White said.
Colorado schools start free, full-day kindergarten – By Jennifer Meckles, 9news.com
Students returned to school Friday morning, and for the first time, kindergarteners can stay at school for a full day at no cost to their families.
Tuition-free, full-day kindergarten took effect this school year in schools across Colorado. Democratic Governor Jared Polis campaigned on the idea, and celebrated the change by visiting several kindergarten classes this week as students began the year.
Polis said about 99 percent of schools are offering free, full-day kindergarten starting this year.
“It should be available for pretty much every kid in Colorado,” Polis said while visiting a school in Boulder.
“Here, where we are in Boulder Valley School District, full-day kindergarten cost families $450-$500 a month. Many people couldn’t afford it. Other districts, [it cost] $300-$400. So now it’s free for everybody."
Survey shows pay raises haven't solved Oklahoma's teacher shortage – Bu Nuria Martinel-Keel, The Oklahman
Oklahoma’s teacher shortage has improved, but a shortage crisis is still crippling schools, a state survey has shown.
An annual teacher shortage survey from the Oklahoma State School Boards Association found school districts are experiencing more teacher vacancies than last year. Surveyed districts reported 596 vacancies, up from 494 in 2018, according to the survey released Tuesday.
Deputy Superintendent Jason Brown, of Oklahoma City Public Schools, agreed the teacher shortage is far from over.
“It truly is a crisis situation,” Brown told The Oklahoman. “Though we are glad that we’ve made some strides to try and reverse it, we are not at that point. There is a significant crisis in the state when it comes to qualified and certified teachers being available for our kids.”
The sixth-annual report surveyed 305 Oklahoma school districts that serve 81% of the state’s public school students. The number of vacancies didn’t include positions filled with emergency-certified teachers.
Free college tuition and mentors: How San Jose Unified plans to close a special ed teacher shortage – By Leonardo Casteneda, The Mercury News
If you want to be a special education teacher, the San Jose Unified School District has an offer for you: commit to teaching for at least four years, and the district will pay your teaching credential tuition at San Jose State University.
The program is an effort to stem a nationwide shortage of special ed teachers, which a recent report said had become a “five-alarm fire.” San Jose Unified’s offer may be the first in the nation, according to officials, to offer such comprehensive support. Besides the tuition and some fees, participants will receive mentorship and an Apple laptop to use during the two-year program.
The district is offering that because the shortage isn’t getting any better, in part thanks to a booming economy and, in Silicon Valley, competition from technology companies vacuuming up workers who might otherwise have considered a career in education, according to Jacqueline Murphy, director of human resources at San Jose Unified.
“We’re just seeing the gap grow more and more,” Murphy said.
The district is focusing the program on instructional assistants because they already have a feel for a special ed teacher’s job, which can be intimidating for new teachers, according to Seth Reddy, San Jose Unified’s director of special education.
“They’re integral to the function to the classroom, and they develop a lot of the skills that are transferable to teaching,” Reddy said.
