Hispanic Heritage Month

The Census Bureau has issued its Facts for Features on Hispanic Heritage Month 2008: Sept. 15 – Oct. 15.  You’ll find a lot of interesting demographic, economic and educational information on this rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population.   [URLs:  http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/cb08ff-15.pdf]

The Lion and the Mouse

The New Yorker has a wonderful article this week called The Lion and the Mouse.  It’s the story of Anne Carroll Moore, one of the “inventors” of the children’s library concept and E.B. White’s Stuart Little.  It’s a wonderful and fascinating story on libraries and publishing.  [URLs:  http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/21/080721fa_fact_lepore?currentPage=all]

This Week’s Reports

The National Conference of State Legislatures has published 5 Ideas for Children 5 Years and Younger.   This short report provides 5 policy options for states to follow to ensure the best early childhood development.  The five options are:  “ensure that the children to be served drive program decisions; promote early learning and development in child care and preschool; build the skills of teachers and caregivers; support effective parenting; strengthen birth-to-five infrastructure.” 

America’s Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being: 2008 is now available online.   This report from the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics brings together statistical data from 22 Federal agencies.  This is the interim report.  The more complete report will be available in 2009.  It looks at health care, physical environment, education and more.  Science Daily’s recent article, Reading, math scores up for U.S. 4^th and 8^th graders, is a review of some of the findings in the report.

Tapping America’s Potential, The Education for Innovation Initiative has released Gaining Momentum, Losing Ground, a look at how the U.S. is doing in educating students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics).  The Initiative’s goal is to produce 400,000 STEM bachelor-level graduates by 2015.  The conclusion is that some progress has been made, the goal will not be met.  The report provides recommendations on what needs to be done.  And the Education Commission of the States has created a page on STEM education.  As with its other topical pages, the STEM page provides state profiles, initiatives and comparative data.

[URLs:  http://www.ncsl.org/print/cyf/fiveideasforchildren.pdf, http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/index.asp, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080711112137.htm, http://www.tap2015.org/news/tap_2008_progress.pdf, http://www.ecs.org/html/educationissues/HighSchool/highschooldb1_intro.asp?topic=stem]

Newsworthy

The New York Times had two interesting articles this week.  The first is As children grow, activity quickly slows.  It reports the findings of a long-term study of kids that found a steep drop in physical activity when children reach puberty.  ““The study did not measure reasons for the decline, but researchers noted that schools often curtail physical activity as children get older. Not only does recess stop, but many schools drop physical education as well. In addition, sports become more exclusive as children grow, allowing only the best athletes to compete.”

Budget woes force cuts in summer-school programs explores how schools are dealing with the loss of funding.  Two states hit hardest are California and Florida.  “Across the country, thousands of students are affected by cutbacks, ranging from Bethel, Conn., which axed its kindergarten summer program, to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, which is dropping summer school for elementary and middle-school students.”

But that doesn’t appear to be the case in higher education, according to States avoid slashing higher ed money from Stateline.org.  “The effort to hold down tuition stems from states tying their economic futures to an educated workforce.”

USA Today looks at the new baby boom, Is this the next baby boom?  The National Center for Health Statistics reports over 4,300,000 births in 2007.  “Nelson [Arthur Nelson of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City] attributes the 2007 numbers to a "perfect storm" of factors: more immigrants having children, professional women who delayed childbearing until their 40s, and larger numbers of women in their 20s and 30s in the population, keeping the fertility rate high. The average number of births per woman was 2.1 in 2006, the highest since 1971.”

[URLs:  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/health/research/16exercise.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1216245650-LoM/AA/TIpNYtYlEqHD2Vw, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Uneasy-Economy-Summer-Schools.html?_r=1&oref=slogin, http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-07-16-baby-boomlet_N.htm]

The Genographic Project

National Geographic has a terrific site called the Genographic Project, “a five-year effort to understand the human journey—where we came from and how we got to where we live today.  The site includes a genetic overview, an atlas of the human journey, and an atlas of human history.  There are timelines, videos, slide shows and more.  If you want to participate in the project, there is a kit you can purchase and do your own exploration of your genetic past.  Thanks to Irina at Grolier Online for the site suggestion.    [URLs:  https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html]

Rice Field Art

A site called Cool Things in Random Places has posted a page on Rice Field Art.  Watch the creation of a stunning picture within a giant rice field as well as other completed artworks through aerial photos.  A warning:  there are several tobacco-related advertisements on the site.  If you can avoid those, you’ll find the pictures fascinating.   [URLs:  http://coolthingsinrandomplaces.com/rice-field-art/]