America.gov-Education & Study: Introduction

College Excels at Green Work Force Training, Sustainability

Jeffrey Thomas — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:57:45 -0400

Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, has been cited as a model of commitment to environmental stewardship and a leader in green work force training. Lane is helping other community colleges in the United States and abroad develop energy management programs similar to one it founded in 1980.

Web Site Contest Open to American, International Students

Louise Fenner — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:29:17 -0400

The Doors to Diplomacy competition challenges students worldwide to create Web sites that teach the importance of global issues and diplomacy. It is sponsored by the State Department and Global SchoolNet. Each year teams of students from the United States and another country share the grand prize.

House Passes Economic Bill with Huge Boost for Education

Jeffrey Thomas — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:43:50 -0400

The U.S. House of Representatives passes an $819 billion economic stimulus bill that provides significant new sums of money for education. The bill would increase student aid and loans, provide tax credits for higher education, allocate billions for the repair and renovation of campus and research facilities and dramatically increase funding for research.

Online Resources for Education Information

Amor Safi — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:04:01 -0400

This document contains links to Web sites and other resources related to education.

Group Touts Mix It Up at Lunch Day as Diversity, Tolerance Tool

Jeffrey Thomas — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:37:46 -0400

Learning to be more tolerant and open is the focus of a project by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The center’s Mix It Up at Lunch Day Web site explains not only how to organize a tolerance-promotion event, but also provides boundary-crossing lesson plans and activities for grades kindergarten through 12.

145th Anniversary of President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address

Louise Fenner — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:11:31 -0400

President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, delivered November 19, 1863.

International Student Enrollment at U.S. Colleges Breaks Records

Jeffrey Thomas — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:21:08 -0400

The number of international students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities set a record last year, according to an annual report by the Institute of International Education. The number of U.S. students studying abroad also grew strongly and is up close to 150 percent over the past decade.

Program Improves College Access, Instills Passion for Service

Jeffrey Thomas — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:39:00 -0400

The National College Advising Corps aims not only to boost the number of students from low-income families who get a higher education, but also to offer an experience for advisers that will make them effective public servants and instill in them a passion for service, says corps Executive Director Nicole Hurd.

New Graduates Show Students Path to Higher Education

Jeffrey Thomas — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:56:40 -0400

Millions of academically prepared students from lower-income families do not get a higher education because of a lack of information. The National College Advising Corps places recent college graduates as advisers in schools with low rates of college attendance with the aim of reaching these students.

U.S. Students Learn Arabic Through STARTALK Program

Michele Scheib — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:14:02 -0400

More U.S. students are studying less traditional languages, which is a goal of the federally funded National Security Language Initiative. One program to implement the NSLI is the STARTALK Summer Institutes, which make instruction in Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Persian and Urdu available nationally.

University of Maryland Excels at Teaching Criminology Research

Jeffrey Thomas — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:55:49 -0400

The University of Maryland’s Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice has a top-ranked program in criminology and criminal justice. The program is a national leader in research on crime and delinquency, law enforcement, juvenile justice, criminology, courts and corrections, and terrorism.

Online Encyclopedia Wikipedia Transforms Research

Andrzej Zwaniecki — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:30:06 -0400

Are credit-swap contracts or quarks difficult to understand? Not if you check out those terms on Wikipedia, supporters of the free online encyclopedia say. Critics, however, retort that you might get inaccurate information. America.gov examines the arguments for and against the online encyclopedia.

Center for Puppetry Arts Wins Microsoft Education Award

Jeffrey Thomas — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:37:16 -0400

The Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta has won many awards, most recently a 2008 Microsoft Education Award for its distance learning programs. Vincent Anthony, the center’s founder and president, has a vision: “total access to the center from any part of the globe” through the Internet.

Kids Help Design International Children’s Digital Library

Jeffrey Thomas — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:12:57 -0400

The International Children’s Digital Library offers for free its collection of more than 2,500 books in 48 languages — books chosen to help children understand the global society in which they live. The ICDL also has a kid-friendly interface, with the ability to search by mood or color.

U.S. Schools Adjust to Growing Hispanic Population

Jeffrey Thomas — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:48:29 -0400

By 2050, U.S. public schools will have more Hispanic students than non-Hispanic white students, a new report says. A second report, prepared with the Obama and McCain presidential campaigns in mind, offers ideas for dealing with the Hispanic students’ dropout rate and the achievement gap from pre-school to graduate school.

Youth Look for Creative Ways to Meet Millennium Development Goals

Abby Feldman — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:35:07 -0400

The United Nations Youth Assembly brings students and young professionals together to find innovative ways to promote Millennium Development Goals like eradicating poverty, protecting the environment and fighting HIV.

Scholar Rescue Saves the Intellectual Capital of a Country

Jeffrey Thomas — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:47:51 -0400

In the second half of an interview about the Scholar Rescue Fund, Jim Miller talks about how saving one threatened scholar benefits thousands of students. Rescuing the intellectual capital of a country is at the foundation of rebuilding education and civil societies, he says.

Fund Helps Threatened Scholars Around the World

Jeffrey Thomas — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:46:41 -0400

The Scholar Rescue Fund’s Jim Miller talks about a program that helps threatened scholars around the world with fellowships at safe institutions, just as support and safe haven were provided in the past to scholars threatened by the regimes of Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler.

Are Boys in Crisis? Will Single-Sex Classrooms Help?

Jeffrey Thomas — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:33:24 -0400

A vocal minority of educators, psychologists and parents perceives boys and young men as not doing as well in school as their female counterparts. They propose single-sex classrooms as part of the answer for a country in which one of the major purposes of public education is to bring children of different backgrounds together.

Vietnam, United States to Increase Cooperation on Education

Jeffrey Thomas — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:53:09 -0400

President Bush and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung agree to set up a joint education task force with the aim of boosting cooperation in education between the United States and Vietnam. Dung also agree in principle to Bush’s proposal for a Peace Corps program in Vietnam.

Equality Raises Female Math Performance to That of Males

Jeffrey Thomas — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:12:01 -0400

The gender gap in math varies according to national culture, according to a new international study, and the gap disappears entirely in countries that have approached rough equality between males and females. The number of girls performing at the very highest levels also increases with equality, and girls’ advantage in reading grows larger.

When Girls Do Better in School, So Do Boys, Study Finds

Jeffrey Thomas — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:39:15 -0400

A new comprehensive study debunks the myth of a boys’ crisis in American education. American boys and girls have made real progress in education in recent decades, and there is no evidence that the gains made by girls have come at the expense of boys, the study shows.

Family-School Partnerships Promote Student Achievement

Jeffrey Thomas — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:54:09 -0400

Parental engagement in schools “is critical to student achievement and success,” a new research report says. Millions of U.S. parents participate in parent-teacher associations, which are part of a national group that acts as an advocate for education policies, and parent-teacher organizations, which focus on the needs of local schools.

Education Summit Advances U.S. Commitment to Global Development

Paul Levitan — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:31:24 -0400

Partnerships among U.S. and foreign institutions of higher education, the private sector and foundations are the key to innovation and global development, and can help meet growing demand for food, water, health and energy, according to participants at the two-day Higher Education Summit for Global Development.

Faith-based Schools Are a Critical National Asset, Says President

Jeffrey Thomas — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:13:26 -0400

President Bush convened a White House summit on inner-city children and faith-based schools April 24 and called on Congress to enact programs to help those schools survive. Catholic Schools play a critical role in the education of inner-city children, but increasing costs have caused the closure of almost 1,300 Catholic schools since 2000.

U.S. Gender-Equity Law Led to Boom in Female Sports Participation

Jeffrey Thomas — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:09:24 -0400

Girls and women are participating in high school and college sports in ever increasing numbers, thanks to a 1972 law that banned sex discrimination in U.S. schools both in academics and athletics. Research has shown that the benefits of participation in sports are significant and long-lasting.

Arabic-Language Project Connects Palestinian, U.S. Teens

Mercedes Suarez — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:18:21 -0400

An online language skills program is bringing together American and Palestinian secondary school students. In the program, Palestinians from the West Bank are creating online videos to help American students in the United States learn Arabic. The videos are part of a program to help young people bridge social and cultural divides.

Many U.S. Leaders Are Graduates of Historically Black Colleges

Jeffrey Thomas — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:16:23 -0400

“Education is a fundamental part of achieving the American dream, and historically black colleges and universities help ensure that every student has the opportunity to pursue a quality education,” says President Bush. More than 50 percent of African-American professionals and public school teachers graduated from these institutions.

Business Is Most Popular Degree Area at U.S. Universities

Ralph Dannheisser — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 08:26:32 -0400

More than one fifth of U.S. bachelor's candidates study business, but U.S. universities offer degrees in virtually any field of study to U.S. students and a growing number of international ones.

Facts on International Education Week

Amor Safi — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 19:06:40 -0400

Bush Seeks To Expand Education for World’s Poorest Children

Lauren Monsen — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 16:07:35 -0400

As part of U.S. efforts to boost international development, President Bush is launching an initiative to expand education assistance for children in the world’s poorest countries, says the White House. The president, in announcing his plan just days before attending the Group of Eight Summit in Germany, cited a U.S. obligation to help “bring progress and prosperity to struggling nations across the world,” and called on the U.S. Congress “to fund [an additional] $525 million over the next five years to make our educational initiatives even more robust.”

Women Increasingly Likely To Be Leaders in U.S. Higher Education

Carolee Walker — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 10:17:58 -0400

Education More Important than Ever, Expert Says

Carolee Walker — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 10:11:35 -0400

In the war on terrorism, as well as in today’s job market, education now is more important than ever. Today, all jobs require higher levels of education and a secondary-school degree is simply insufficient, says education policy specialist Andrew Rotherham in a State Department webchat.

“Junior 8” Tell G8 Leaders Education Is Key to Solving Problems

Stephen Kaufman — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 16:05:04 -0400

World leaders meeting at the Group of Eight Summit in Strelnya, Russia, hear suggestions and ideas from a younger group of leaders, known as the Junior 8, who were tasked with discussing the same issues on the agenda as their adult counterparts. Eight student delegates, one from each of the G8 countries, participated in the event. In their "Address to the Leaders," they state that "education is the key solution to all of our world’s problems."

Education Cited as Basis for Development, Economic Growth

David Shelby — Wed, 24 May 2006 16:13:41 -0400

Education is critical for social development and economic growth, according to U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, and every country has a duty to provide its children with the tools to succeed in the global-knowledge economy. "Education is the foundation of all our children's success," she tells delegates to the Group of Eight and Broader Middle East and North Africa Education Ministerial meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

Summit Underlines Importance of Education Across Boundaries

Anthony Kujawa — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 16:21:56 -0400

Educational opportunities in the United States remain “unparalleled” and foreign students should not be deterred by “outdated perceptions” of delays in processing student visa applications, U.S. officials say. In an interview with the Washington File, Maura Harty, the State Department’s assistant secretary for consular affairs, outlines the message she brings to the U.S. University Presidents Summit on International Education, a two-day forum designed to invigorate international education partnerships.

U.S. Program Brings Internet Access to Schools in Need

David Shelby — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 18:52:36 -0400