A set of short videos focusing on three adult students at community colleges, showing how each of them is pursuing an education to secure a good job and a good life. Profiled are Claudia Rodriguez, a veteran of the war in Iraq, who attends Texas Southmost College in Brownsville; Tia Marie Gwynn, a single mother of two and a student at Anne Arundel Community College, Maryland; and Eric Patrick, a 40-year-old career changer who is finishing an associate's degree at Michigan's Macomb Community College.
Their stories reveal the different challenges that adult students face, including the need to balance work schedules and family responsibilities, and also feature examples of the kinds of support -- financial and otherwise -- that is available to help adult students to succeed.
The experiences of Claudia, Tia, and Eric show that a community college education is about more than getting a better job and a better salary. It's about acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary to get along better in the world, to do more for one's family, and to be a better citizen. It's about hope.
School Days, a quick and casual look back at what went on at ED in the previous month. The video journal covers a dozen large and small events featuring Secretary Arne Duncan and other ED staff, all in just a few minutes.
During Teacher Appreciation Week 2011, State Teachers of the Year visited the Department of Education and took a moment to speak to us about their favorite teachers.
Turning around the nation's 5,000 lowest-performing schools, Secretary Duncan has said, is "part of our overall strategy for dramatically reducing the drop-out rate, improving high school graduation rates and increasing the number of students who graduate prepared for success in college and the workplace."
The Obama administration is making an historic commitment to support state and local education leaders in turning around the nation's lowest-achieving schools.
Read more about helping the nation's lowest-achieving schools: http://www.ed.gov/blog/topic/low-performing-schools/
Teachers perform many vital leadership activities at the local level, but too often, they lack opportunities to contribute to the development of education policy on a broader scale. However, it is to other teachers that colleagues and parents frequently turn for information about education.
The U.S. Department of Education designed the Teaching Ambassador Fellowship to enable outstanding teachers to bring their classroom expertise to and expand their knowledge of the national dialogue about education and in turn to facilitate the learning and input of other educators.
Mission: The Teaching Ambassador Fellowship is designed to improve education for students by involving teachers in the development and implementation of national education policy. The Fellowship seeks to:
Create a community of teacher leaders who share expertise and collaborate with policymakers and leaders in the federal government on national education issues. Involve teachers in developing policies that affect the classroom. Expand teacher policy leadership at the national, state, and local levels. To tell us about being a teacher, visit http://www.ed.gov
"Let's Read. Let's Move." is part of the Obama Administration's United We Serve summer service initiative, a nationwide effort calling on all Americans to make service a part of their daily lives. As part of its role in this initiative, ED is inviting Cabinet members, public officials and celebrities to read books to children, promote healthy lifestyles and participate in games and fitness activities with children in pre-kindergarten through third grade. The goal of this year's summer programming, led by the Corporation for National and Community Service, is to get more Americans volunteering to combat childhood obesity and summer learning loss among youth.
The books, refreshments, games, and fitness equipment for "Let's Read. Let's Move." have been donated by Target Corporation, which is one of the organizations answering President Obama's call to service.