Extra Credit

Grad rush is upon us, Mansfield opts for off-peak days

This year the Mansfield school district, which now has FOUR high schools, is having all its graduations on weekdays. One of the long expected side effects of the uniform start date implemented this school year was that school would be ending about the same time for all schools instead of staggered. Area venues that can handle the magnitude of graduation book up fast. Mansfied's graduations will be June 9 and 10 at The Potter's House in Dallas.

-Eva-Marie Ayala

(archive photo of Mansfield High's 2007 graduation at The Potter's House)

Top 100 educational Web sites

Homeschool.com has put together a list of the top 100 Web sites with educational resources. OK, if you're not involved in home schooling, you might find the sponsor a little misleading. However, a closer look suggests that the list can be of huge help to any student, parent or teacher. Parents might find it especially valuable this summer as a way to keep their kids sharp. (You know, when they get bored with all that sun and swimming.)

From the site:

You'll find websites with:

online quizzes,

printable worksheets,

free online books

online Spanish lessons and reading lessons

online games for extra practice with math facts, state capitals, etc.

science lessons you listen to online, and

free online lessons and lesson plans for every subject

After reviewing thousands of websites, the following sites have been selected as Homeschool.com's Top 100 Web Sites for 2008. These websites contain some of the best educational content on the Internet today. Best of all, almost all of these sites are free or have free sections.

Judge for yourself here.

-Patrick M. Walker

Punishing the smart kids?

Here's the rest of the story. Many schools adopted the same rule to keep transfer students from swooping in their senior year to claim the time-honored title of valedictorian from a student who had attended the school all four years. Now that more students are graduating in less than four years, however, maybe school officials should consider revising that rule. Anyone agree?   

--Martha Deller

Your A.M. roundup

TCU staffer touched many lives

Farewell to a UTA coach who changed lives

Arlington goes to West Coast for advice on gangs

Teacher pay raises approved in Grapevine-Colleyville

-Patrick M. Walker

This morning's best

Imagine putting in long hours of study to excel in your high school's toughest courses and coming out with the top grade-point average in your graduating class. Now imagine not being named valedictorian after all that. This is the frustrating situation that Grapevine High senior Anjali Datta finds herself in. Why won't she be valedictorian? Because it took her only three years to finish high school. Read Mark Agee's report here.

-Patrick M. Walker

To Mars...and back

  Trinity High School junior Layo Obamehinti is one of 350 Texas students who will travel to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston this summer to help design a mock mission to Mars.

Obamehinti, an International Baccalaureate student, has interests spanning from  aerospace,  to sports, music, literature, and journalism.

“I wanted to learn more about what the different types of engineering that are involved with aerospace technology,” she said in a prepared statement. “I hope to learn more about what it takes to create missions to space. I want to challenge my critical thinking skills.”

The High School Aerospace Scholars have been working throughout the school year, completing 10 Web-based assignments that lead up to the internship from June 15 to 20.

Why does NASA do it?  One reason is to drum up interest in science, technology, engineering, math.  By doing that, NASA hopes to find students who will go on to plan real missions for going back to the moon, and to Mars, and beyond, officials said.

More information is available at http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/HAS/index.cfm

--Terry Webster

UTA Movin' Mavs coach eulogized

It was totally movin' today over at UTA's funeral for their longtime beloved men's wheelchair basketball coach Jim Hayes. Read John Austin's story here.

- Kristin Sullivan

Powerful tools for fighting meth

While channel surfing the other night, I caught a piece on PBS about the Montana Meth Project. It's a large-scale, research-based advertising effort aimed at reducing the meth problem, which is all around us.

I wish Texas had thought of this. But since it didn't, we should all use the tools on the Montana Web site and help spread the word about them. (By the way, the effort has already produced impressive results.)

This is just one of several ads that the project has created and had broadcast. You can see them all here.

-Patrick M. Walker

College charter schools

The jury is still out on Texas charter schools, but I'm interested in the notion of universities - especially those with solid education schools - running their own charter elementary schools as a sort of on-campus teaching lab. Click here to read UT-Austin's news release on their first group of fifth-graders to graduate from the University of Texas Elementary School. Says 100 percent of those 40 students passed the TAKS reading test and 97 percent passed the math portion of the test.

- Kristin Sullivan

Fort Worth Graduation Policy

The Fort Worth school board isn't planning to re-consider a policy that keeps seniors who didn't pass the TAKS from participating in graduation ceremonies. The issue came up Tuesday, during a regular school board meeting, when several parents and students asked the school board to reconsider the policy. Six people took the podium during the open comment portion of the meeting. "A walk is all I'm asking for _ nothing more," said Ashley Bruce, 17. The Eastern Hills senior told the board she didn't pass the science portion of the exit level TAKS exams. School board trustee Juan Rangel attempted to revive the issue by asking that the board consider holding a special meeting to review the policy. (Nothing could be done Tuesday evening since the issue wasn't on the agenda.) Superintendent Melody Johnson said she would poll the board today  _ and if all concurred _ a meeting would be called. The school district has to give the public 72 hours notice that it plans to hold a meeting. But as of Wednesday afternoon, there were no plans for a meeting. See the Star-Telegram's previous coverage of the issue here.

_ Diane Smith