A Free Path to Financial Literacy

Parents often say they wish their kids were more financially literate. Now, under a partnership with the Nusenda Credit Union, New Mexico’s Bernalillo High School has done something about it.

The school offered 25 students a free, three-week, for-credit financial literacy course this summer that covered 18 modules-including investing, taxes, identity theft, and college costs-as well as lessons on how to apply for a job, rent an apartment, buy a car or home, and plan for retirement.

Albuquerque Public Schools has offered the course for the last three years; this was Bernalillo High’s first time to offer the course.

Kansas District Maintains Semi-Automatic Rifles

Kansas’ Shawnee Mission School District has issued eight semi-automatic rifles to school resource officers, with Director of Safety and Security John Douglass citing “the rising threat of active shooter situations.” 

After a recent report about the 2015 purchase of semi-automatic firearms, a year after Douglass took over his post, many parents learned for the first time that the school district actually kept those weapons in its possession. Some parents were angered and unnerved by the presence of assault weapons on school campuses. The issue continues to be a flashpoint in the community.

Report Criticizes Opt-Out Testing

The National Council on Measurement in Education recently released a white paper arguing that “students’ refusal to take federally mandated exams makes it more difficult for school systems to direct resources appropriately, and to attend to the needs of specific populations of students.” 

The group calls on “parents, educators, and policymakers to encourage participation in the exams, and to improve the quality of the tests so that they better reflect high-quality teaching.”

The opt-out testing debate continues to create a buzz in educational policy circles and is expected to continue this academic year.

Is Latin a ‘Dead Language’?

Once a popular language choice, Latin had lagged in the U.S. in schools. However, a recent article in The Wall Street Journal indicates that public schools across the country are increasingly offering Latin language classes, noting that the number of students taking the National Latin Exam rose some 30 percent between 2000 and 2016.

The piece reports that children’s books such as the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson series, along with parents’ enthusiasm about academic rigors, are leading the trend.