New Standards

While education reformers in Sacramento continue to obsess about how easy it should be to fire teachers and how important tests should be in evaluating their performance, almost no one is talking about the central issue of what students are supposed to be learning in the near future. A sea change is coming to schools in California, one of the 45 states that have adopted what are known as the Common Core State Standards. The idea of the new standards is to bring some consistency to education from state to state, and to better prepare students for the work they'll be expected to do in college and their jobs.

While education reformers in Sacramento continue to obsess about how easy it should be to fire teachers and how important tests should be in evaluating their performance, almost no one is talking about the central issue of what students are supposed to be learning in the near future. A sea change is coming to schools in California, one of the 45 states that have adopted what are known as the Common Core State Standards. The idea of the new standards is to bring some consistency to education from state to state, and to better prepare students for the work they'll be expected to do in college and their jobs.

The politically touchy topic of climate change will be taught more deeply to students under proposed new national science standards released Tuesday. The Next Generation Science Standards, developed over the last year by California and 25 other states in conjunction with several national scientific organizations, represent the first effort in some 15 years to transform the way science is taught in million of classrooms. The multi-state consortium is proposing that students learn fewer standards more deeply and not merely memorize information but understand how scientists actually investigated and gathered it.  “What's important here is that the standards will give students a deep understanding of how science and scientists actually work,” said Phil Lafontaine, a California Department of Education official who has helped spearhead the development of the new standards.

Sundance Channel's "Rectify" is the first and possibly only television show one can imagine Flannery O'Connor blogging about. It isn't just good TV, it's revelatory TV. The genre's biggest potential game changer since AMC debuted the one-two punch of "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad. " "Television can do that?" we asked in wonder as Don Draper squinted in cultural allegory over his Scotch on the rocks. Yes it can, and now, thanks to creator Ray McKinnon and the cast of "Rectify," television can also immerse the viewer in a gloriously rich and careful study of how endurance and faith, strength and surrender, fear and serenity balance to form the essential nature of humanity.

WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency updated water quality guidelines for the nation's beaches Monday, moving in response to charges that the federal government has not done enough to protect bathers from polluted water. The new guidelines, which update standards issued in 1986, may not immediately mean safer beaches and coastal waters. States have the authority to set their own water quality standards. But federal environmental officials said they hoped the suggested guidance would prompt state leaders to toughen their own oversight of recreational waters where people swim, surf and go boating.

Construction costs may go up, but new and remodeled homes and buildings will consume much less conventional power starting in a year and a half when the state's newest energy efficiency standards take effect. The California Energy Commission voted 4 to 0 on Thursday to tighten regulations that govern lighting controls, hot-water pipes, windows, insulation and other systems in new buildings and building additions. The rules, which kick in Jan. 1, 2014, will reduce wasted energy in heating, cooling and lighting 25% over current standards for new homes and about 30% for commercial structures, state experts estimated.

After a decade of legal and regulatory fights, the Environmental Protection Agency has finalized how it will crack down on highly toxic pollution from industrial boilers and cement plants. But the regulations will give owners of industrial boilers and cement kilns years to meet strict new standards on mercury, acid gases and fine particulate matter, often called soot. In announcing the new rules Friday, the EPA said the new standards will achieve extensive health benefits by curbing toxic air pollutants while at the same time dramatically reducing industry costs of compliance.

In many third-grade classrooms in California, students are taught — briefly — about obtuse and acute angles. They have no way to comprehend this lesson fully. Their math training so far hasn't taught them the concepts involved. They haven't learned what a degree is or that a circle has 360 of them. They haven't learned division, so they can't divide 360 by 4 to determine that a right angle is 90 degrees, and thus understand that an acute angle is less than 90 degrees and an obtuse angle more.

A plan to suspend California's standardized testing for certain grades while new computerized exams are developed could save $15 million, the state's top education official said. State Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson recommended to the state Board of Education last week that the savings be used instead to develop higher-quality tests linked to new uniform but voluntary academic standards. They have been adopted by 45 states, including California, which plans to roll them out in the 2014-15 school year.

A July 20 editorial regarding the FAA's review of departure procedures was right on target when it called for "Safety First in Takeoffs." John Wayne Airport, the airlines, the pilots and the FAA all stand together in supporting standards that will enhance safety at JWA and at airports across the country. The editorial misses the mark on a couple of crucial points, though. First, it suggests that the new standards have not yet been implemented because of the noise test at JWA. In fact, as of April 1, 1992, every carrier and every departure at JWA meets or exceeds the proposed safety standards.

The politically touchy topic of climate change will be taught more deeply to students under proposed new national science standards released Tuesday. The Next Generation Science Standards, developed over the last year by California and 25 other states in conjunction with several national scientific organizations, represent the first effort in some 15 years to transform the way science is taught in million of classrooms. The multi-state consortium is proposing that students learn fewer standards more deeply and not merely memorize information but understand how scientists actually investigated and gathered it.  “What's important here is that the standards will give students a deep understanding of how science and scientists actually work,” said Phil Lafontaine, a California Department of Education official who has helped spearhead the development of the new standards.

The politically touchy topic of climate change will be taught more deeply to students under proposed new national science standards released Tuesday. The Next Generation Science Standards, developed over the last 18 months by California and 25 other states in conjunction with several scientific organizations, represent the first national effort since 1996 to transform the way science is taught in thousands of classrooms. The multi-state consortium is proposing that students learn fewer concepts more deeply and not merely memorize facts but understand how scientists actually investigate and gather information.

A plan to suspend California's standardized testing for certain grades while new computerized exams are developed could save $15 million, the state's top education official said. State Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson recommended to the state Board of Education last week that the savings be used instead to develop higher-quality tests linked to new uniform but voluntary academic standards. They have been adopted by 45 states, including California, which plans to roll them out in the 2014-15 school year.

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Jerry Brown wants to free manufacturers of furniture and baby products from having to treat those items with flame retardants that environmentalists say are ineffective and create health risks. His administration proposed new rules Friday, months after Brown and health groups cited studies by the California Environmental Protection Agency and others indicating that California toddlers and nursing mothers had higher levels of flame-retardant chemicals in their bodies than did those not exposed to treated products.

In sweeping new rules aimed at fixing the home lending market, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday will define a "qualified mortgage" - one a borrower can actually be expected to pay back - while in effect banning a slew of dicey loans at the center of the financial crisis. The regulations, among the most important handed down yet by the 18-month-old agency, also aim to loosen the choking loan standards that have prevailed since the housing crash. They do so by limiting bankers' liability for prime loans that can be sold to government-backed mortgage giants such as Fannie Mae. The rules, to be phased in over the coming year, aim to improve access for creditworthy borrowers to today's historically low-interest loans and to create a stable and predictable housing finance system for banks and their customers alike.

After a decade of legal and regulatory fights, the Environmental Protection Agency has finalized how it will crack down on highly toxic pollution from industrial boilers and cement plants. But the regulations will give owners of industrial boilers and cement kilns years to meet strict new standards on mercury, acid gases and fine particulate matter, often called soot. In announcing the new rules Friday, the EPA said the new standards will achieve extensive health benefits by curbing toxic air pollutants while at the same time dramatically reducing industry costs of compliance.

Prospective airline pilots would be more rigorously scrutinized for heart disease and its associated risk factors, such as smoking and obesity, under a set of medical standards released by the American Medical Assn. in Chicago. The new standards, the first major revision of medical standards for civilian pilots since 1959, also called for relaxing vision requirements. The changes are subject to approval by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Citing the need to strengthen safeguards to public health, the Obama administration announced the strictest standards in 15 years for soot, the fine particles emitted by power plants and diesel vehicles that contribute to haze and respiratory ailments. The Environmental Protection Agency tightened the limit, called the national ambient air quality standards for fine particles, to 12 micrograms per cubic meter for the annual average level of fine particulate matter from the standard of 15 micrograms per cubic meter last set in 1997.

Citing the need to strengthen safeguards to public health, the Obama administration announced the strictest standards in 15 years for soot, the fine particles emitted by power plants and diesel vehicles that contribute to haze and respiratory ailments. The Environmental Protection Agency tightened the limit, called the national ambient air quality standards for fine particles, to 12 micrograms per cubic meter for the annual average level of fine particulate matter from the standard of 15 micrograms per cubic meter last set in 1997.

WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency updated water quality guidelines for the nation's beaches Monday, moving in response to charges that the federal government has not done enough to protect bathers from polluted water. The new guidelines, which update standards issued in 1986, may not immediately mean safer beaches and coastal waters. States have the authority to set their own water quality standards. But federal environmental officials said they hoped the suggested guidance would prompt state leaders to toughen their own oversight of recreational waters where people swim, surf and go boating.