An Internship From Your Couch

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Every college student needs at least two internships under their belt in order to show prospective employers their potential for future jobs.  In light of today’s global competition for talent, where U.S. students not only compete with American graduates but with their counterparts in other countries, internships allow job seekers to show a proven track record of results and to model tenacity in a fiercely competitive market.  Another upside to internships is that many employers consider this experience in the hiring process, and often look to their own interns as the best potential candidates for full-time positions.  Employers look for analytical, creative and practical intelligence in potential hires, and internships give students the playing field to demonstrate and grow these skills.

Particularly in a recessive economy, virtual internships offer an affordable and creative way for college students to gain real-world experience about a career field.  Virtual or remote internships allow students to develop professional skills and get a bird’s eye view of a career they may want to pursue without having to relocate and often with more time flexibility than traditional office hours require, as the article below iterates. And similar to traditional internships, students typically receive school credit for their work.

One of the keys to a successful remote internship is frequent and consistent communication between the intern and company or organization’s manager or supervisor.  Conversely, internships give students the opportunity to receive feedback on completed assignments and mentoring from a supervisor or manager.  You can read more about how to make the most of an internship in LifeBound’s book, Majoring in the Rest of Your Life:  Career Secrets for College Students.  Additionally, LifeBound offers a variety of internships both live and virtual throughout the academic year and in the summer.  For more information, visit http://www.lifebound.com/interns.html. 

 ARTICLE

Wall Street Journal

By Jonnelle Marte

Natalie Ann Roig completed a marketing internship last spring—while riding the bus, sitting on her parents’ couch and lounging at home in pajamas.

The internship, in which she worked 15 hours a week researching and blogging about corporate workplace benefits, was virtual—she needed only a computer and Internet access. Ms. Roig, a senior at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, never even met her boss, in Atlanta.

“I didn’t have to dress up. I didn’t have to sit at a cubicle for hours,” says Ms. Roig, a senior studying graphic design. “It was more like work at your own pace and get the work done.”

To view the entire article visit

http://bit.ly/2pMRqS

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New Dating Seminars Target Teen Violence

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

This week National Public Radio is airing stories on preventing violence in teen relationships and featuring the programs cropping up across the country that seek to address it.  Known as “teen dating abuse,” school officials say too many teens are hitting and slapping the people they’re dating, a behavior that is recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which estimates that 1 in 10 adolescents report an experience with physical violence from a dating partner.   Physical aggression isn’t the only form of abuse, name calling, insults, isolating their partner and using coercion to get a partner to do something s/he maynot want to like have unsafe sex. 

Many sociologists say the problem stems from the ways boys and girls are socialized in our culture; boys are conditioned to be aggressive and girls more passive.  And today’s media outlets tend to escalate violence through the content of some television shows and video games, and social media sites can create a haven for cyberbullying.   STo address these issues, schools and communities are bringing in programs such as Safe Dating, Student Connection and My Strength. 

At the forefront of this movement is a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Toronto, Ontario, Dr. David Wolfe, who created a curriculum called, “Fourth R:  Skills for Youth Relationships,” for 20 middle schools in Ontario and has grown to 800 schools throughout Canada.  Now his program is being adopted in the United States. Using interactive scripts related to sexuality, drugs and fighting into situations students are likely to face, Wolfe says the goal of his program is, “to identify healthy and unhealthy responses, and then practice them enough to feel comfortable.”

Another popular program that uses creative role-play to educate teenagers about the dangers of abusive relationships and how to prevent the cycle is “The Yellow Dress,” based on a real story about a teen girl who was murdered by her high school boyfriend. Their web site at http://www.deanaseducationaltheater.org/yellowdress.html discusses these topics with teen audiences after the performance:

  • Recognize the early warning signs of abuse
  • Learn how to help friends/family members who are victims or perpetrators of abuse
  • Understand the cycle of abuse
  • Access and utilize community resources.

Being inexperienced at dating makes teens more susceptible to dating violence, but the problem can have far reaching implications into marriage and domestic violence patterns later.   Coaching teens on how to set healthy boundaries is one of the keys to preventing a lifetime cycle of abuse.  LifeBound’s program, Success in Middle School: A Transition Road Map, helps students develop meaningful friendships with both sexes and encourages students to listen to their instincts that cue them on controlling or manipulative tactics by other people.  Making judgments about when someone is dishonoring you or making you feel scared can be difficult for students without well developed emotional intelligence.  Our People Smarts for Teenagers guides students through developing their EI, as well as, walks them through scenarios that help them learn to enforce their boundaries.

Important Questions to Consider:

How do we start as early as fifth grade to teach adolescents to develop a compassionate heart and listen to their instincts?

How can we help teens recognize when someone is trying to exert power or control over them?

How can we as educators do a better job coaching adolescents and teens on developing healthy relationships?

ARTICLE

by Brenda Wilson

School officials are worried that too many teens are hitting and slapping the person they’re dating. To target this dating abuse, violence prevention classes are springing up in schools around the country. This fall, middle and high schools in Wichita, Kan.; Providence, R.I.; Boise, Idaho; the Bronx in New York; Boston; and six other cities have lined up programs based on a curriculum that has proven effective in Ontario.

To listen to the podcast visit

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=113211662&m=113265246

 

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Online Schools Test Students’ Social Skills

CAROL’S SUMMARY:
As online high schools increase in popularity nationwide, educators and psychologists are seeking to address a potential pitfall for students of digital learning: social isolation. The upside of these programs is that students can work at their own pace and delve more deeply into subject matter than a traditional classroom might allow. The downside is that some students feel lonely and see they’re missing out on proms, homecoming football games, and other social venues customary to high school life. According to the article below, approximately 100,000 of the 12 million high-school-age students in the U.S. attend 438 online schools full-time, up from 30,000 five years ago, based on research by the International Association for K-12 Learning Online, a Washington nonprofit representing online schools. The article reports:

“Online schools appeal to gifted students who want to work at their own pace, students who dropped out of traditional high schools or who are taught at home by their families, students who travel with globe-trotting parents and teens with competitive outside pursuits like ballet, tennis or gymnastics. Many more students take some classes online, while attending traditional schools.”

Of the home-schooled population, approximately 1.1 million students (2.2 percent of the school-age population) were being educated at home in 2003, compared to an estimated 850,000 students in 1999, says the Department of Education. The National Home Education Research Institute concludes that the homeschooling population is increasing each year. The institute estimates that the number of chil­dren being homeschooled grows 7 percent to 12 percent per year.

1) How can programs like LifeBound’s People Smarts for Teenagers be introduced to home school populations, as well as more fully integrated into conventional school curriculum so that all students develop the requisite social and emotional skills to thrive in our global world?

2) What can local high schools do to help connect online learners with their student populations?

3) How can online programs foster human connection so that students don’t become lonely or miss out on the socialization important to teen and young adult development?

ARTICLE
Wall Street Journal
By Paul Glader
PALO ALTO, Calif. — Tatyana Ray has more than 1,200 Facebook friends, sends 600 texts a month and participated in four student clubs during the year and a half she attended high school online, through a program affiliated with Stanford University.

Although top public and private high schools abound in her affluent area of Palo Alto, the 17-year-old originally applied to the online school because she and her parents thought it looked both interesting and challenging. She enjoyed the academics but eventually found she was lonely. She missed the human connection of proms, football games and in-person, rather than online, gossip. The digital clubs for fashion, books and cooking involved Web cams and blogs and felt more like work than fun.

To view the entire article visit
http://bit.ly/Ybt7J

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Obama education chief Duncan to push schools reform

CAROL’S SUMMARY:
Inspired by the late Dr. Martin Luther King , U. S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, in his speech yesterday to D.C. stakeholders called education “the civil rights issue of our generation.” Speaking to more than 150 groups from education, business, civil rights and social services, Duncan challenged them to rewrite the No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which was approved by Congress in 2001 and finalized by President Bush in 2002, a law that reauthorized and amended federal education programs established under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965.

While Duncan credits NCLB for highlighting the achievement gap in schools and for focusing on student outcomes, he said the law puts too much emphasis on standardized tests, unfairly labels many schools as failures, and doesn’t account for students’ academic growth in its accountability system. But Duncan says the biggest problem with NCLB is that “it doesn’t encourage high learning standards,” which contributes to our nation’s staggeringly high dropout rate. Duncan relayed a conversation he had with a 9th grader, Teton Magpie, on a Montana reservation who told Duncan that adults simple don’t expect enough of him and his peers. Duncan said, “When kids aren’t challenged they are bored—and when they are bored they quit.” Here are statistics Duncan cited to underscore the problems:

– 27% of America ‘s young people drop out of high school. That means 1.2 million teenagers are leaving our schools for the streets.
– Recent international tests in math and science show our students trail their peers in other countries. For 15-year-olds in math, the United States ranks 31st.
– 17-year olds today are performing at the exact same levels in math and reading as they were in the early 1970’s on the NAEP test.

– Just 40% of young people earn a two-year or four-year college degree.

– The US now ranks 10th in the world in the rate of college completion for 25- to 34-year-olds.

A generation ago, we were first in the world but we’re falling behind. The global achievement gap is growing. At LifeBound we are committed to education reforms that support success in college and careers. Solving global problems in the 21st Century requires innovative people who face life with curiosity and the desire to dig beneath the surface for answers and ideas. As educators, it is our responsibility to foster these critical and creative thinking skills in our students so that they are prepared to enter the global marketplace. Students don’t get bored and quit when they are challenged to think deeply about themselves, their gifts and talents and their role in the world.

1) At the district and school levels, how can we place a bigger value on student success and transition programs that help students achieve their full potential?

2) What can we do to foster adaptable thinkers who are both self and world-smart?

3) How can we help ensure that all students are prepared for college, career and life success?

ARTICLE
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan plans to challenge educators, civil rights groups and others to put aside “tired arguments” about education reform to help him craft a sweeping reauthorization of federal education legislation by early 2010.

To view entire article visit

http://bit.ly/aoDqJ

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Skills Set Drafted For Students Nationwide

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a joint effort by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) in partnership with Achieve, ACT and the College Board. Governors and state commissioners of education from across the country have created a state-led process to develop a common core of state standards in English-language arts and mathematics for grades K-12.

According to their web site at www.corestandards.org, these standards will be research and evidence-based, internationally benchmarked, aligned with college and work expectations and include rigorous content and skills. The NGA Center and CCSSO are coordinating the process to develop these standards and have created an expert validation committee to provide an independent review of the common core state standards, as well as the grade-by-grade standards.

In math, the goal is to have students “solve systems of equations; find and interpret rates of change; and adapt probability models to solve real-world problems.” In English and language arts, the goal is to have students be able to “analyze how word choices shape the meaning and tone of a text; develop a style and tone of writing appropriate to a task and audience; and respond constructively to advance a discussion and build on the input of others.”

There is still much work and research to be done if a national consensus on education is to be adopted, but one thing is certain: Students from the United States need to be prepared to compete in the global marketplace among students from Asia and Europe. With education reform inevitable, here are some important questions to consider:

· Could standards be developed by type of student? College-bound, career-school bound?

· Could we identify skills that will make students successful no matter what path they choose and emphasize cross-curricular learning?

· How can we better work with the initiatives such as the 21century skills, which foster critical thinking, technological literacy, cross-curricular core-competencies and global knowledge needed to compete with counterparts world-wide?

Whatever standards are developed, the voice of Higher Education and employers will need to be heard. Learning needs to be linked to success in the working world. To fuel our economy of the future, students will need knowledge, skills and the initiative to tackle the toughest problems with confidence, competence and faith that the solutions—while difficult and elusive—can and will come with a quality mindset and follow-through.

ARTICLE:

Skills Set Drafted For Students Nationwide
By Nick Anderson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Experts convened by the nation’s governors and state schools chiefs on Monday proposed a set of math and English skills students should master before high school graduation, the first step toward what advocates hope will become common standards driving instruction in classrooms from coast to coast.

The proposal aims to lift expectations for students beyond current standards, which vary widely from state to state, and establish for the first time an effective national consensus on core academic goals to help the United States keep pace with global competitors. Such agreement has proven elusive in the past because of a long tradition of local control over standards, testing and curriculum.

To view this entire article visit www.washingtonpost.com

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Schools Official in New Jersey Orders Plan to Combat Hazing

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Bullying can take many forms (verbal, psychological and physical), and administrators for a district in New Jersey will participate in sensitivity training and devise a plan within the next two months to combat hazing at Millburn High School. These actions were ordered by the president of the Board of Education after a board meeting revealed that another school year started off with hazing of freshman girls by seniors that included being pushed into lockers, having whistles blown in their faces and the release of a “slut list.”

In the past, some seniors have been expelled, but Principal William Miron said that no student will be disciplined without proof. Board member Debra Fox remembers being hazed as a freshman and suggested punishing the entire female population of the senior class in order to get the names, saying “because no one is going to take the rap for someone else.” One parent was applauded when she said parents must also take responsibility when their children acted like bullies.

Tragically, every day thousands of students wake up afraid to go to school. As educators, we have an inherent responsibility to make our schools safe, bully-free cultures because every child and teenager has the civil right to learn unhindered. Because parents, teachers, and other adults don’t always see it, they may not understand how extreme bullying can get. According to the web site, www.kidshealth.org, two of the main reasons people are bullied are because of appearance and social status. Bullies pick on the people they think don’t fit in, maybe because of how they look, how they act (for example, kids who are shy and withdrawn), their race or religion, or because the bullies think their target may be gay or lesbian.

Hazing is a form of bullying and often the result of underdeveloped emotional intelligence, or people smarts, such as empathy and compassion. LifeBound’s book, People Smarts for Teenagers: Becoming Emotionally Intelligent, helps students develop these skills by boosting self-awareness and empathy. Every chapter includes a real-life story about another teenager who overcame their own obstacles to emotional well-being. This past spring, a progressive district in Colorado Springs used this book with all of their sixth graders and observed a spike in test scores, which they attribute to this program. Learning is linked to emotions and when we teach children and teens emotional and social skills we give them another advantage in the learning process. For more information about this and other student success and transition resources, visit www.lifebound.com

ARTICLE:

The New York Times
September 22, 2009
Schools Official in New Jersey Orders Plan to Combat Hazing
By TINA KELLEY

MILLBURN, N.J. — The president of the Millburn Board of Education said on Monday night that district administrators would have to undergo sensitivity training and ordered them to come up with a plan within the next two months to address the longstanding tradition of hazing at Millburn High School.

The action came at a board meeting that drew about 50 parents and lasted more than three hours.

“This is not acceptable behavior; it will not be tolerated,” the board president, Noreen Brunini, said of the most recent hazing, which included the distribution of an annual “slut list” of incoming freshman girls. “This is the end of this.”

To view this entire article visit www.nytimes.com

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Incomes of Young in 8-Year Nose Dive

SUMMARY:

The gap between rich and poor isn’t only connected to race and gender, now it’s between young and old. According to the article below from USA Today, many young people (particularly those in the 25 to 34 year-old age bracket) are losing ground as their incomes shrink compared to earlier decades. One reason behind declining wage potential, economists say: The caliber of jobs available in a recession, and their accompanying wages, tend to suffer. High-end firms hire fewer people and drive down salaries because jobs are in such demand. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), an organization of career counselors, reports that employers will hire 22% fewer college graduates than last year.

If you are a recent college graduate, or you are preparing to graduate, take heart. Hard work, perseverance, strong thinking and decision-making skills and a commitment to your own competence is generally recession-proof. Here are some tips for turning this situation around from someone who got a job right out of college in the last bad recession:

1) Show a willingness to learn, to grow, to work hard and to do high quality work. To be credible you will need to share examples from school, work and community service that show exactly how you do this when you are interviewing for jobs.

2) Get internships which will attest to your business acumen and maturity. While many internships don’t pay, what you learn during an internship can be priceless and often lead to part-time or full-time work. Try on your career interests through seeing first-hand if you are cut out for what you think you love.

3) Develop a strong academic record complemented by leadership experiencee. You may not be at the top of the class, but if you work hard to learn all that you can and you get involved in activities to make a difference, you may be more valuable to an employer than the 4.0 student who isn’t as well-rounded. Show your employer that you are passionate and you know how to make a difference and provide specific examples.

4) Have a creative, determined and resourceful attitude which involves making a difference. If you are out of work right now and you have time on your hands, find a cause—any cause—that you value where your contributions can help. It could be reading to students, it could be teaching handicapped children to ski, it could be volunteering at an old folk’s home. Any of these activities—if your heart is in them—will make you a more valuable employee. When you interview, describe what you learned from this work, how it challenged you and how you grew. You may also get some valuable insight as to what you are called to do for your career.

If you are a graduate who really offers value, focuses on results and is a delight to work with you will have the strongest chance of landing a job as a starting point which can blossom into a career for you. Don’t worry if the job isn’t paying much, focus on what experience it provides to you so that when the economy turns around you will be ready to soar. Each experience is a stepping stone. You may need to work two jobs right now to make ends meet. You may have a lot less free time. But, when the economy turns around if you have worked hard in the tough times, you will have the resilience to do well when things are better. It is like storing up for the winter. And this is a good winter to store up with strong skills, more savings and good planning for the future.

ARTICLE
USA Today
by Dennis Cauchon

The incomes of the young and middle-aged — especially men — have fallen off a cliff since 2000, leaving many age groups poorer than they were even in the 1970s, a USA TODAY analysis of new Census data found.
People 54 or younger are losing ground financially at an unprecedented rate in this recession, widening a gap between young and old that had been expanding for years.

While the young have lost ground, older people have grown more prosperous over the years and the decades. Older women have done best of all.

To view entire article visit
http://bit.ly/2guuW6

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As Riches Fade, So Does Finance’s Allure

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Over the past 20 years, many bright minds were lured to careers in finance because of lucrative salaries, but when the bubble burst hundreds of thousands of employees had to search for other work and new graduates are looking elsewhere for careers. Today’s article from the Wall Street Journal describes a migration of workers drawn high money-making jobs to lower-paying ones that may more closely align with their personal values.  The health care and education fields are experienceing a surge of applications from laid-off finance professionals, and the recent downtown also appears to coincide with a rising interest in government and public service.  According to a Gallup poll conducted in April for the Partnership for Public Service, 40% of U.S. workers are open to considering federal careers, up from 24% in 2006.

This kind of adapatability is necessary in today’s global landscape;  where statistics from the BLS show that workers between the ages of 18 and 38 change jobs an average of 10 times.  Whether that number indicates a change in place of employment or career field, it is a big one.  If you’re rebounding from a lay off, here are tips that can help:

  1. Take the time to work through your frustrations and disappointment.  It is hard to move on to the next phase of your working life without making peace with this last stage.  Once you have accepted the reality of the situation, you can go full force into your career search.
  2. Ask yourself what you can learn from your most recent work experience.  Do you want to work in the same type of organization or are you ready for something different?  What did you like the most?  The least? 
  3. Take stock.  What is important in your life right now?  What work will best to promote the life that you are trying to create?  Are you willing to make less to have more time?  Are you willing to have less free time for a job which will require more of you?  What is your mission? Your goals?  Defining what matters most will help you to recognize the best opportunity and be clear on whether or not it is good match.  Organize your finances, redo your budget  and keep expenses to a minimum.
  4. Hire a business or career coach.   People need help in times of transition. If your last company did not provide a formal outplacement service, consider hiring an advisor to help you analyze your strengths, interests, and abilities.  This person can also be your personal champion as you pursue the frustrations and the upsides of this process.  If you are changing careers, it is useful take career inventories to give you a better sense of what is out there based on your interests, and coaching skills can teach you how to tap your internal motivation, as well as clarify life and career goals. 

 

5.         Know what you have to offer in terms of your skills and your abilities.  Determine the field and the job for which you have the most passion then research those companies and jobs so that you can narrow your focus.  When you interview, think about the unique things you can offer the position for which you are interviewing.  Be specific about how you can contribute to the company as a whole.

 

  1. Network with people who can help you.  Set up appointments and lunches for informational interviews in the field that interests you.  Meet with alumni from your college.  Get together with friends and family members who may know someone who can help.  Finding the right job is often a numbers game. The more people who know you and your abilities, the more likely you are to connect with the best job for you.
  2. Canvass on-line services. Services like monster.com or hotjobs.com are an effective way to generate instant activity with your resume. You can also learn about many jobs you may not have known existed.  Keep an open mind.
  3. Practice interviewing.  If you are out of practice in describing what you have accomplished the last few years and what you have to offer now, rehearse. Sometimes the most qualified people don’t adequately express themselves. Work through any fears or limitations you might have on presenting yourself  so that the confident, competent person whom you are emerges.     

      9.    Form a support network.  Plenty of people are unemployed right now.  Form a breakfast group with friends or other laid off co-workers to generate leads and share useful tips.  Keep the complaints to a minimum and focus on the actions that will move you forward.  Reserve some time to have fun and to be with the people who matter most to you. They will sustain you during the more challenging parts of the search.

 

     10.    Have faith in yourself.  You have gifts and talents to offer, both personally and professionally.  If you take this time to really align yourself with your values, mission and goals, you will find your true life’s work.  

LifeBound offers individual and corporate coaching.  Please contact our office toll free for more information 877.737.8510 or email contact@lifebound.com.

ARTICLE

Wall Street Journal

by Lisa Bannon

Like nearly 30% of Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates in recent years, Ted Fernandez set his sights on finance. Though he majored in materials science and engineering, he was wowed by tales of excitement from friends who went to Wall Street.

But when he stopped by an investment bank’s booth at a job fair a year ago, it was eerily empty. The booth belonged to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., and the date was Sept. 18, three days after the 158-year-old bank filed for bankruptcy. Now Mr. Fernandez, 22 years old, is getting a master’s in engineering at M.I.T. and aiming for a career in solar-power technology.

To view the entire article visit

http://bit.ly/2ESt3p

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Panel Urges Attention to Adolescent Literacy

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

In the article below, Carnegie Corporation of New York’s Council on Advancing Adolescent Literacy experts gathered to discuss their final report in which they spent five years examining the need for better reading and writing skills among students in grades 4 through 12. The experts stressed the importance of action at each state level, suggesting reading and writing standards be set high and state tests be set to the levels of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Statewide data systems for all literacy, as well as, including adolescent-literacy training in state teacher-certification programs were considered of high importance.

Catherine Snow, a Harvard University education professor who chaired the Carnegie panel, said an important tenement of the report is to have the nation’s entire education system recognize that the traditional literacy approach (focusing on building skills at a young age) doesn’t help students with “complex vocabulary, composition, and concepts they encounter in high school.” Another panelist, Michael Kamil, a Stanford University education professor, said that the sole responsibility for teaching adolescent literacy cannot rest on the shoulders of English teachers. Literacy needs to be taught across the disciplines in each subject of middle and high school, because at these higher levels, literacy comprehension, and therefore instruction, is grounded within the content.

Students learn best when they can draw comparisons and connections between information they already know and the new knowledge presented to them. That is why in Critical and Creative Thinking for Teenagers, the basics of problem solving are presented to high schoolers within profiles about innovators in medicine, science, math, finance, art, music and English to relate their previous knowledge of the core subject to the new critical and creative thinking skills taught within the book. There is no reason why adolescent literacy cannot also be strengthened if it were taught within the core subjects.

How can literacy instruction be integrated into the curriculum of other subjects?

What can districts do to ban together and mastermind effective statewide standards and data systems to measure and track outcomes?

What role does emotional intelligence play in students’ ability to build a strong literacy foundation for cross-curriculum learning?

ARTICLE:

EducationWeek

Published Online: September 15, 2009
Panel Urges Attention to Adolescent Literacy
By Catherine Gewertz

Washington

Leading figures in education policy, academia, and philanthropy called today for a “re-engineering” of the nation’s approach to adolescent literacy, saying nothing short of a “literacy revolution” is needed to keep students in school and ensure that they are able to learn the complex material that college and careers will demand of them.

The experts gathered to discuss and draw attention to the release of the final report of the Carnegie Corporation of New York’s Council on Advancing Adolescent Literacy, which has spent five years examining the need for better reading and writing skills among students in grades 4 through 12. Vartan Gregorian, the president of the foundation, urged audience members to “be good ancestors” to future generations by pushing for sound adolescent-literacy policy and practice, given the pivotal role such skills play in young people’s lives, and the low level of skill students have shown on national tests.

To view this entire article visit www.edweek.org

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