News from ASCA
ASCA Weekly Wrapup
A roundup of the week's education-related headlines
Friday, Dec. 4, 2009
Achievement Program Looks to Keep Kids From Getting Lost in Middle School
The Baltimore Sun
The Higher Achievement program is designed to support students through the difficult middle school years, when students are most vulnerable to peer pressure and city students are most likely to fall behind academically. Started in Washington about 30 years ago as a nonprofit, Higher Achievement is designed for those in the academic middle who live in poor or struggling communities and are motivated to learn more. The program, now in two locations in Baltimore, chooses its "scholars," although the only real criterion is that the children want to participate. Read more.
Mission: Education Engagement
Milwaukee Journal Sentinal
For decades, national studies have linked high parental engagement with higher rates of student achievement and interest in school. Yet attention on home life issues and parental involvement has languished in the field of American education reform. Efforts to improve educational outcomes long have centered on what happens in school - not what happens after the last bell of the day. Read more.
National PTA Gets $1 million From Gates Foundation
The Seattle Times
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is giving the National PTA $1 million to teach parents about education reform. The three-year outreach program would focus first on an effort to create national learning objectives. Right now, most states have their own set of education standards. But the states are working together to create a new list of learning objectives they can all agree on. Read more.
School Uses Community Connections to Put Focus on Children and Families
Milwaukee Journal Sentinal
Community schools have long had a foothold in Chicago and New York and are growing in cities such as St. Paul, Minn.; St. Louis, Mo.; and Cincinnati, Ohio. At a time when much of the discussion about education reform has emphasized parental involvement, the model could hold lessons for schools in Milwaukee that have struggled for years to connect with urban parents. Read more.
Single-sex Middle School Aims to Divide and Conquer
Los Angeles Times
Eleven weeks after opening, Los Angeles Unified's newest middle school still gleams. Science classrooms sport chemical eyewashes and emergency showers. Teachers deliver lessons in surround-sound with hands-free microphones. Kids play basketball on rooftop courts. Yet what stands out most about Young Oak Kim Academy is that it is the district's only single-sex middle school. Classes are either all male or all female. Read more.
Stress Soars in Applying for California Colleges
The Press Democrat
With record-shattering numbers of applicants vying for a shrinking number of places at California universities, stress is the word of the day for area seniors. More than 609,000 students submitted undergraduate applications to the California State University system between Oct. 1 and the Nov. 30 deadline, according to CSU officials. On the final day alone, more than 73,680 applications were received. Read more.
School Counselor Thinks of Parents, Too, This Holiday Season
Journal and Courier
Some students would consider it a punishment to eat lunch with a teacher or counselor at school. But students at Miami Elementary School choose to eat with school counselor Debbie Gutwein every day. No wonder, family and colleagues at the Lafayette school say. Gutwein, they say, has made it a mission to help students and their families -- with this holiday season being no exception. Read more.
This weekly e-bulletin is brought to you by the American School Counselor Association.

1101 King St., Suite625
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 683-ASCA
www.schoolcounselor.org