Education

Students associated with the group Brown Divest Coal protested in front of the Brown University president's office during a rally May 3. The group is demanding that the university stop investing in certain oil and coal companies.

College Divestment Campaigns Creating Passionate Environmentalists

11:04am May 10, 2013

by Elizabeth Shogren

Taking a page from the playbook of decades past, college students are once again pressuring schools to pull investment funding from specific sectors. This time it's big oil and coal companies. But these campaigns have effects beyond the university — they're launching a new generation of activists.

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Education

Perry's Vision For University Of Texas Criticized

6:08am May 09, 2013

There's a debate across the country over how well universities are preparing graduates for the real world, and whether colleges should operate more like businesses. That debate is particularly heated in Texas, where Gov. Rick Perry wants big changes at state colleges, including the flagship University of Texas.

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Cy Maramangalam gives a presentation about climate change for the Alliance for Climate Education.

Filling In The Gap On Climate Education In Classrooms

2:50pm May 08, 2013

by Jennifer Ludden

Science education standards, issued in April, recommend teaching climate change for the first time. But one nonprofit says kids aren't learning enough, soon enough, about how their world will change in the coming decades. The group aims to remedy this with presentations in schools nationwide.

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Harvey Mudd President Maria Klawe often uses her longboard to get around campus and chat with students like senior Xanda Schofield.

How One College Is Closing The Computer Science Gender Gap

7:48pm May 01, 2013

by Wendy Kaufman

At Harvey Mudd College in California, about 40 percent of the computer science majors are women. That's far more than at any other co-ed school. And it's thanks in large part to the school's president, Maria Klawe. She has worked hard to keep women interested in computer science and empower them to succeed in the field.

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Education

High School Seniors Must Secure College Spots With Deposits

10:51am May 01, 2013

by David Greene

May 1 is when high school seniors have to send in their deposits to colleges to signal their decision to go there. Morning Edition visits Gonzaga High School in Washington, D.C. to hear from Eli Clarke at the College Counseling Office, and two high school seniors, about their choices.

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30 Years On, Educators Still Divided On Scathing Schools Report

5:32pm April 26, 2013

by Claudio Sanchez

On April 26, 1983, a panel appointed by President Ronald Reagan released an ominous report that painted a dire picture of the U.S. education system. Thirty years later, many educators point to the report as the catalyst for divides that still split education reformers.

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Education

Making The Most Of MOOCs: The Ins And Outs Of E-Learning

4:30pm April 23, 2013

Don't ever email the professor. Never friend the teacher on Facebook. Those are some of the rules A.J. Jacobs learned when he joined the ranks of millions enrolled in massive open online courses, MOOCs. Harvard, MIT and Stanford are among universities offering virtual classes free of charge.

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The program is held at the Charles R. Drew Elementary School.

In D.C., Art Program Turns Boys' Lives Into 'Masterpieces'

10:26pm April 18, 2013

by Elizabeth Blair

In Washington's Ward 7, where only 33 percent of students graduate from high school, a program called Life Pieces to Masterpieces is sending nearly 100 percent of its graduates to college or post-secondary education.

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E. Paul Torrance, shown here in the mid-'80s, spent most of his career studying and encouraging students' creativity.

More Than 50 Years Of Putting Kids' Creativity To The Test

5:30pm April 18, 2013

by Elizabeth Blair

A bit like an IQ test measures intelligence, the Torrance Test and others like it measure creative ability. They help figure out when investments pay off, and they can draw attention to hidden problems, like why elementary kids are scoring better than high school students.

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'The Hell Of American Day Care': Expensive And 'Mediocre'

2:49pm April 17, 2013

In a cover story for The New Republic, journalist Jonathan Cohn examines the conundrum of day care in the United States. "On the one hand," he says, "improving the quality of child care ... is going to take more money. On the other hand, it already costs more than many families can pay."

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