Email  Print

Student/athletes, host families, donate books, summer reading, language apps

Education Roundup

The Sonoma Valley High School library is reaching out to the community for books to add to the high school library’s collection through donations. Kiwanis is spearheading this effort and one of their member businesses, Mission Hills Mortgage at 822 Broadway, is the collection point. All books are welcome and I am told that whatever books they are not able to place in the library, they will give to a nonprofit company and the school will get the proceeds.

• • •

There is currently a proposal in Sacramento to eliminate funding for a second year of high school science in California schools. This seems crazy to me, as California’s ability to compete in a global economy will depend in large part on the math and science skills of its students. If approved, California would be the only state that requires students to take only one year of high school science to graduate. California students already rank near the bottom among states in science scores and other states are increasing their science requirements and expanding their offerings.

• • •

Fifty-percent of Sonoma County schools are now in the top half of the state’s similar school ranking system according to a press release distributed last week. These similar school ranks are based on spring 2011 testing and use a scale of 1 to 10 to compare schools with similar demographic characteristics. Rank 10 means the school performed above at least 90 of its 100 similar schools. Rank 1 means the school performed below at least 90 of its 100 similar schools. In our district, not one of our nine schools ranked in the top half (five or above) among similar schools but this is based on data that is more than a year old.  The Sonoma school district office says they have implemented new programs this year and benchmarks to track their progress that they believe they result in steady improvement in student outcomes. The complete press release is available at www.scoe.org/ under News.

There is a new website and app that could help the student athlete in your family get attention from college coaches and perhaps a better chance at a scholarship. ViewMySport.com is a mix of Facebook and YouTube all with a sports focus. Student athletes build a profile with statistics, pictures and highlight videos. Students can send the profile directly to specific coaches.

• • •

I am a big fan of summer enrichment for high schoolers and there has to be something interesting for everyone on this list of free online courses: openculture.com/freeonlinecourses.

• • •

If you and your children are traveling overseas this summer you might get a kick out of this new free language app called Word Lens that enables you to take a photo of a sign (in a foreign language) and to get an instant translation. 

• • •

The Rotary Club recently donated $500 to the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation, earmarked for Sonoma Valley High Schools’s forensics program. Rotary invited the program participants to a meeting to stage a debate about the new education expectations of the high school. After that presentation, Rotary approved the funding to assist Janet Hansen, the teacher coach, in advancing the program.

• • •

Another cool performing arts camp, for kids aged 8 to 18, will soon be under way.  Taught by Broadway and Hollywood performers, Jack London Broadway Kids Camp is a series of workshops including theatre dance, vocal performance, acting, creative writing, and improvisation. Campers will perform on stage with the cast of Broadway Under the Stars for the two evening performances of Fantastical Family Night on Aug. 3 and 4. The camp runs Monday, July 30 through Thursday, Aug. 2 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The cost is $350, due the first day of camp, at Jack London. For more details go to broadwayjacklondon.com.

• • •

The Social Express is an interactive software application designed for children with autism, Asperger’s and ADHD that teaches how to think about and manage social situations through video modeling. The goal is to help children build social-emotional skills and develop the meaningful relationships they need to navigate life. The price ranges from $2.99 for the app to $90 for the complete computer program. Pricey, unless it can help, then it might be a bargain.

• • •

The Third-Grade Reading Academy is underway at El Verano School this summer to help Sonoma Valley third-grade students become strong readers. The district has set a strategic goal of having all studentseading at grade level by the end of third grade, because reading skills are crucial for academic success in higher grades.

• • •

The Sonoma County library system’s summer reading program is called Dream Big.  Students can win prizes and a free book. You sign up at our local library on West Napa. They have great book lists available if your child swears there is nothing they want to read … or if they have already devoured every book you can think of. Scholastic.com also has a summer reading program as well as a cool free Reading Timer app that logs your child’s minutes and books read.

• • •

I hope to write about this more next fall, but there is a great belief right now that certificates, not degrees, may be the future of higher education.  Certificates are fairly new and they are typically awarded by community colleges for training in a particular occupation, but four-year colleges are now starting to offer certificates.  Most take a year, or less to complete. A recent study by Georgetown University found that the American job market increasingly rewards field of study rather than level of degree. In other words: It’s more important what you study than how long you study.

• • •

Few Sonoma students choose to attend for-profit colleges, which is a relief because these kinds of colleges continue to garner very negative press coverage.  Countless studies show that for-profit college students are most likely to end up in debt and with no diploma. A recent report by the non-profit group Education Sector found that about 10 percent of college students nationwide are enrolled at for-profit colleges, yet the sector is responsible for nearly half of student loan defaults. For-profit schools include online colleges, trade schools and some art schools.

• • •

More than 1.6 million students took the ACT college entrance exam last year and 734 (52 in California) earned a perfect score of 36. This is a huge state so it is amazing to me that 10 of those 52 attended one high school – Irvine University High School (near U.C. Irvine in Southern California) – and the scores have been confirmed as valid.

• • •

Credo High School in Rohnert Park has a large population of students from Sonoma.

Its budding American Music Band will be performing as part of the Teen Edge concert at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma at the Fairgrounds on June 20 from 3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Kiwanis Stage.

• • •

I am always looking for story ideas and items for my column. Please send me your ideas, comments or questions to ourschools@sonomanews.com. If you read this far each week and still can’t get enough, you can follow me on Twitter @svhighered or on facebook at SV College Tips for more.