With the passing of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, schools across the nation are now required to offer services that were before considered a luxury for students with disabilities. One such service is for speech and language therapy. In a memorandum to all Florida schools? special education directors, Chief of Exceptional Education Bambi Lockman wrote that federal officials found that the Florida schools had ?failed to provide speech and language-related ...

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has introduced the ?Preschool Matters? program that will greatly impact future Denver schools students, if passed by voters in the November election. The early childhood education program is endorsed by the mayor and other Denver officials. City Council President Michael Hancock believes the measure to be extremely important to the city and the Denver schools. Denver schools Superintendent Michael Bennett agrees, stating that Denver schools e...

Much attention has been paid over the last few years to the weight (or maybe I should say overweight) condition of Americans. There have and continue to be many articles in the media, televisions shows devoted to the subject, and now even a reality show. The attention has not just been on adult Americans. Much attention is being paid to our overweight children and the health risks posed for them by the time they are adults. The federal government already had set limits on ...

There is currently legislation AB 1381 in the state legislature that, if passed, will give the okay to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to take over a subset of the Los Angeles schools. Recently, the mayor?s school reform team announced its latest round of changes to the bill in order to sidestep some possible problems to it passing. Last month, according to the Los Angeles Times? August 8, 2006 article, Los Angeles Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry F. Miller made certain speculat...

The Orlando schools will be promoting health and wellness to its students this year. As part of the Orange County Schools, the Orlando schools will implement a new wellness policy that was just approved this month. The new policy is in response to a federal mandate, under the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004. All schools that receive federal funding for school lunch programs must have a wellness policy in place. The wellness program for the Orlando sc...

Homeschooling your child through his or her senior year in high school can be demanding and difficult. There are many things to consider as you guide your child through their final years of their secondary education and on towards college. Here are a few ideas to discuss with your child concerning their final and important years of education. The Money Factor Expenses generally skyrocket in the last few years with more challenging textbooks to purchase and additional af...

In July, St. Louis schools? Superintendent Creg Williams abruptly resigned. Since then, many members of the community, government officials, and parents have called for various types of intervention for the St. Louis schools. The law allows for such consideration at different levels of the public school system. Thus, the state has appointed a new committee to oversee, work with, gather information for, and make recommendations to the St. Louis schools and state education offi...

A constitutional amendment was passed in November 2002 that established the Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) program for all four year olds in the state of Florida. The program benefits not only the children but the Tampa schools, as well, by preparing children for kindergarten and beyond. Documented studies have shown that preschool is one of the best investments for any city and its youth. A California study found that, for every dollar spent on preschool, the city and s...

Gearing up for back-to-school can be a bit overwhelming; there is a lot to do, a lot of transitions to navigate, and often a sense of blues as the realization that summer has, once again, gone by too fast. However, you can easily turn back-to-school anxieties into positive anticipation for a great school year with the following action plan. Plug these steps into your calendar right now and see what a different they can make! One Week before School: Week of Preparation D...

Assigning homework serves various educational needs. It serves as an intellectual discipline, establishes study habits, eases time constraints on the amount of curricular material that can be covered in class, and supplements and reinforces work done in school. In addition, it fosters student initiative, independence, and responsibility and brings home and school closer together. Homework is the time students spend outside the classroom in assigned activities to practice, ...