Teaching

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.

BEAUMONT, Texas -- Before he started a recent concealed-handgun licensing class, the pastor set out some of his guns at the front of the church hall for students to examine: the Rossi .357 he calls “Old Bessie,”  Ruger .22 and .380, Taurus 9 millimeter, a Regent .45 and an AR-15 assault rifle. “How I got involved with this - it saved my life,” the Rev. James McAbee told the group of about 100 students gathered at the hall after visiting a nearby gun range for the target shooting portion of the 10-hour class.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - With his shaggy hair, bushy mustache and obstinate ways, Jeffrey Allen Wright was well known to sheriff's deputies in Santa Rosa County, Fla. Wright, 55, drove around with a phony license plate. When stopped, he refused to produce a driver's license. Once he threatened to sue a deputy who pulled him over. After he was fined for traffic offenses in September, Wright paid with counterfeit money orders. When deputies served warrants for felony counterfeiting March 8, Wright barricaded himself in his garage and declared that he would not be "a servant of the king.

Re "'Radical' educator takes on state's unions," March 27 I've always viewed the policies and philosophy of Michelle Rhee, a former District of Columbia schools chancellor, with some ambivalence. While she's to be commended for her determined efforts at school reform, I always felt her over-reliance on standardized test scores as a significant barometer for teacher assessment was misguided. As a newly retired teacher with 34 years of experience, it was always my belief that a teacher's true effectiveness could be determined not only by student test scores but also by myriad other factors, including creativity, utilizing proven instructional techniques and using technology whenever possible in lessons.

An Orange County Superior Court judge is being investigated by the Sheriff's Department on suspicion of improper sexual conduct - allegedly in his courtroom chambers - authorities said. Deputies are completing a monthlong investigation into Scott Steiner, a former high-ranking prosecutor and the son of former Orange County Supervisor William Steiner, said Jim Amormino, a spokesman with the Sheriff's Department. Amormino said that Steiner's chambers were searched and potential evidence was taken for DNA testing.

Like a lot of people who follow the gun debate, I was surprised to learn earlier this year that for more than a decade, Congress has made it nearly impossible for our premier federal health research institutions to study gun violence. That became evident when President Obama announced his series of executive orders in response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementaryschool in Newtown, Conn. In one of those orders, he directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other scientific agencies in the Department of Health and Human Services to “conduct or sponsor research into the causes of gun violence and the ways to prevent it.” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, he directed, “shall begin identifying the most pressing research questions with the greatest potential public health impact, and by assessing existing public health interventions being implemented across the Nation to prevent gun violence.” With more than 30,000 gun deaths a year, plus an additional 75,000 or so gun injuries, how is it possible the feds weren't already studying the phenomenon?

Sujata Bhatt uses online games to encourage her students at Grand View Boulevard Elementary School to aim higher: "Don't just play games, make them. " Now Bhatt will get the chance to teach middle school students how to launch their own businesses at a new campus approved this week by the Los Angeles school board. The Incubator School marks the latest effort in L.A. Unified to spark innovation through "pilot" schools, where district educators are given autonomy over their curriculum, budget, staffing, training and other elements.

CAIRO - The brother of Al Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri is an unflinching man with a graying beard whose aim, as a Salafi, is to impose Islamic law on the divided country that has emerged since the overthrow of secular autocrat Hosni Mubarak two years ago. Seated at a rooftop cafe as dusk draped the Nile, traffic screeching and lights flickering in the ancient city below, he wagged a finger in the air and spoke of an "epic battle" to scour Egypt...

Re "New rules for interns in schools," March 8 The problem with putting teaching interns from programs like Teach for America into classrooms with English-language learners isn't the interns' lack of competence teaching such students; it's their lack of competence period. The young intern profiled in your article, Stephanie Silva, has a degree in political science but is teaching chemistry to special-education students in high school. Credentialed teachers are required to either pass a test in their subject or to have a college degree in that subject.

Stephanie Silva is just five years older than the Manual Arts High School students she teaches, but she is passionate about making a difference in their lives. The Cal State Northridge political science graduate joined Teach for America last year, underwent five weeks of training and attends night school for her full credential while teaching science to students who are struggling with English and learning disabilities. But interns like Silva will be allowed to teach students struggling with English only under stricter state controls over their training and supervision, the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing unanimously decided Thursday.