in the news 4-20-11

Congressional Resolution on School Pushout | Dignity In Schools and another page from their site with many resources and links

Layoffs as Detroit abandons public education

Homeschooling in the United States:Trends and Characteristics | Education.com

Chris Hedges: Why the United States Is Destroying Its Education System - Chris Hedges' Columns - Truthdig

School's a Community Effort in Indiana District | Ed Week

What I Wish Jill Biden Would Talk About With Respect to America's Community Colleges | Truthout

We don't need schools to train for democracy: they can do democracy onsite and having a more democratic approach to education would create more jobs. Schools with a top-down attitude of we know what jobs we have and we'll train you for one, are weeding out the many who pay to create the few who receive [good pay]. If we could ever envision the fact that free people learning and growing would themselves create jobs and draw businesses to them, we could move beyond this model of factory production of students for all-knowledgeable and powerful business interests who always know what jobs they need and want. We can start providing resources and letting people learn. And funding businesses and startups and worker coops.

Using Place-Based Education to Revitalize Rural Schools – and Communities | Edutopia

The New Mexico Rural Revitalization Initiative

Modeled after a successful rural revitalization program in South Australia, theNew Mexico Rural Revitalization Initiative (NMRRI) engages a committee of stakeholders to participate in “extended discovery conversations” with representatives of the state’s Rural Education Bureau and the Center for RelationaLearning about the future of their community.

These conversations (in which both the mayor and the superintendent of schools must participate) lead to plans to make that future a reality. It is understood that the school will play a significant role in these efforts in a number of ways -- by opening the school to the community during non-school hours, community education and involving students in the community’s economic activities.

Many NMRRI sites (the program currently works with 28 of the state’s 45 rural school districts) feature place-based education. Place-based education provides students with a real-world application for the content knowledge they are gaining, removing learning from confines of the school building.