Education Program

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who made national headlines last year when he made a rare move for an elected official and donated $30 million of his own money to programs for underserved black and Latino youth in New York City, has spread his wealth and commitment to Baltimore.  Bloomberg, who visited the city last week, donated $5 million to the Open Society Institute-Baltimore, the organization announced, for a new education program that...

Each week, The Baltimore Sun publishes a Q&A with an area college lacrosse player to help you become more acquainted with the player and his/her team. Today's guest is Loyola defender Ashley Moulton, a fourth-year starter from Rochester, N.Y. A key component in a defense holding opponents to 9.45 goals per game, Moulton is preparing for the No. 20 Greyhounds' critical four-game road swing in Big East play beginning at undefeated and No. 5 Notre Dame on Friday night. An elementary education major, Moulton will return to Baltimore in the fall to complete her student teaching before following in the footsteps of her mother, Diane Moulton, working with autistic children.

Cecil Community College has expanded its education preparation programs in order to help address the growing shortage of qualified teachers in Maryland. "The state is not producing enough teachers to fulfill its needs," said William Denbrock, director of educational programs and lifelong learning at CCC. "The problem is that the state colleges and universities are filled to capacity and unable to accept students." Because of a lack of educators, Maryland schools are being forced to hire from outside of the state, he said.

At Germantown Elementary School in Annapolis, students receive physical education once a week. Officially, that is. Unofficially, students are engaging in the same level of activity as their "go-outside-and-play" parents of previous generations. At recess, before classes and after school — and in some cases even during classroom instruction — youngsters are getting workouts by playing traditional games, learning new ones and creating their own spinoff versions. Germantown Elementary is among the first schools in the area to implement a San Diego-based physical education program called SPARK, which stresses to children the importance of physical fitness, then provides grade-level equipment and instruction to back it up. SPARK officials said the program began in 1989 as a result of a study supported by the Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health and San Diego State University.

Every year, Maryland schools face a persistent challenge: finding teachers to educate the thousands of children coming through their doors. Even with recruits from other states, career-changers and retired educators returning to fill vacancies, many systems are looking to themselves - and their students - for a solution. They have adopted the budding Teacher Academy of Maryland, a career and technology education program that introduces classes about teaching into high schools. "We've taken care of every career in the universe except our own," said Marjorie Lohnes, supervisor of career and technology education for Carroll County, where students can take classes for future jobs in health, engineering and fashion, among other fields.

Tara Dawn Holland, the reigning Miss America, visited the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup yesterday to promote an education program for inmates."

Howard Community College's continuing education program is one of the best in North America, according to independent consultants who audited the department. Learning Resources Network, the largest nonprofit organization focusing on continuing education, studied HCC's Division of Continuing Education and Workforce Development for six months and pronounced it an "outstanding program." "There were lots of positive things," Gregory Marsello, the nonprofit's vice president for organizational development, said yesterday.

Howard County's popular career and technology program is undergoing another transformation as it strives to meet the evolving needs of students and the work force. In an effort to provide more access and equity, the school system is preparing a comprehensive academy-style career and technology education program that would provide courses at all 12 high schools next year and at the Applications and Research Laboratory in Ellicott City. As a result, this year's sophomore class is the last one participating in the technology magnet program being phased out at Long Reach and River Hill high schools.

Students at Youth's Benefit Elementary School in Fallston received a big surprise Thursday morning when they learned their school was the grand prize winner of $25,000 in the Scott Shared Values Box Tops for Education Sweepstakes. Scott Brand and General Mills, two companies that have made supporting education a key element of their businesses, announced the prize during a special assembly at the school. Youth's Benefit will be awarded 250,000 eBoxTops valued at $25,000 to be used toward educational needs.

Over the past month, the Anne Arundel County school system has received many e-mails about the special education program for students with emotional disabilities at Chesapeake High School. Many have expressed concern that students enrolled in the Chesapeake Regional Program (CRP), which operates in a wing at Chesapeake High School, pose a safety danger for students in the high school's general education population. It is evident from recent public comments that misperceptions still exist.

Students at Youth's Benefit Elementary School in Fallston received a big surprise Thursday morning when they learned their school was the grand prize winner of $25,000 in the Scott Shared Values Box Tops for Education Sweepstakes. Scott Brand and General Mills, two companies that have made supporting education a key element of their businesses, announced the prize during a special assembly at the school. Youth's Benefit will be awarded 250,000 eBoxTops valued at $25,000 to be used toward educational needs.

In response to a 2010 Youth Commission Survey, in which 49 percent of youth in grades six to 12 indicated they feel strongly that alcohol and drug abuse educational program and initiatives are needed, the Harford County Department of Community Services launched the new prevention program, Above the Influence Alcohol and Drug Education Program, in January. The Above the Influence Alcohol & Drug Education Program was attended by eight Harford County youth. The morning portion of the program focused on alcohol education and featured a victim impact speaker, a discussion on the effects of alcohol and drug use on the family, as well as some interactive activities.

At the recent Maryland state championship for the FTC class of FIRST Robotics, the Havre de Grace High School Spears and Gears team placed 14th among 32 teams entered in the competition held at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel. The small Havre de Grace robotics team, consisting of Allison Grabowski, team captain and lead engineer; Tucker Barnes, software programming; and Kenny Hallock, worked feverishly in weeks leading up to the Feb. 23 competition to complete and refine its Bot, according to team faculty advisor Craig Kostyshyn.

Scientists have long known that the human mind develops most rapidly during the first five years of life, a point President Barack Obama underscored in his State of the Union address when he urged states to provide universal access to high-quality pre-kindergarten programs. Investment in early childhood education is an investment in the nation's future, and Maryland is well-positioned to heed the president's call. Children who attend high-quality, public pre-K arrive at school better equipped with the cognitive and social skills needed for learning, and there is a large body of evidence suggesting that they retain that advantage throughout their school careers and beyond.

A New Orleans educator has been named the new head of the St. Paul's School for Girls in Brooklandville. Penny Bach Evins, who currently heads the lower division of Isidore Newman School, will take on her new post in July, SPSG's board of trustees announced. Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Judith C. Ensor, the board's president and an SPSG alumna, said in a prepared statement that Evins was "an exceptional role model for our girls. " The Isidore Newman School, the alma mater of NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning and writer Michael Lewis, is a non-denominational school founded in 1903.

Since 1998, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources has taught more than 32,000 students in 1,200 classroom programs about the Chesapeake Bay, coastal and bay marine life, as well as the state's streams through its Teaching Environmental Awareness in Maryland (TEAM) program. DNR officials are looking for volunteers who want to learn about the program and then teach it to children in third through eighth grades in the state. Volunteers must be 18 years old and be able to provide their own transportation.

Volunteers 21 and older who pass a background check are needed at the Jennifer Road Detention Center to work in the library, assist with pre-GED classes and the education program, facilitate self-help workshops on parenting, job readiness, financial issues and more. Training is provided. The education program is held Wednesday and Thursday evenings; self-help workshop scheduling is flexible. Call 410-222-7093 or e-mail dcmcdo01@aacounty.org.

Over the past decade, multiple studies have confirmed that spending on high-quality early childhood education is a wise investment and a successful hedge against poverty. Children who attend Head Start, America's comprehensive early childhood education program for poor children, are better prepared to start kindergarten, less likely to be referred to special education programs and more likely to graduate from high school. They are also less likely to be incarcerated as adults and more likely to be successful, contributing members of society.

Slim Harrison visits Howard County's Tubman Head Start Center with musical instruments that many preschoolers have never seen, and he brings tales and songs many have never heard. He takes the children on imaginary journeys to where the instruments, stories and music originated - Latin America, Asia, Africa - keeping in mind, as he put it, "In preschool, you can't get much into that yet, because they don't even know what country we live in. " Harrison is a traditional American folk musician, storyteller and dance caller, and for the past year he has visited the Tubman Center courtesy of the Howard County Arts Council's Head Start in Art program, which provides hands-on experiences in the arts for the county's low-income families.