Sometimes I browse through Google’s Hot Trends - it’s an easy way to see what folks are into. Today, one of those trends was one of my favorite things, the first lego league! FLL is an organization that teaches middle school kids college level engineering through having them build awesome robots out of legos and then having them compete in obstacle course like challenges. I used to be a FLL coach and I loved loved loved it. In fact, my first TakePart blog post ever (back in November) was actually about lego robotics.

Since I know that besides my mom and dad, not too many folks probably visited out site on day one, I thought I’d repost the story below.. YAY LEGOS!
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When it comes to education, should we stop testing, should we test more and if we do, what test should we use? New national tests indicate that New York City 8th graders in the public school system haven’t improved at all on math and reading tests since Mayor Michael Bloomberg took over the school system in 2005. This contrasts with state results that have shown consistent improvement. Under No Child Left Behind, testing is required for students in grades 3-8, but it’s up to each state to decide what results mean proficiency and to create their own tests. Some say that the State’s tests are too simple and not actually representative of a student’s actual level.

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As school districts begin creating their budgets for the 2008-2009 year, the rising price of diesel is affecting the bottom lines of schools all over the nation, as more and more money needs to be allotted for gas purchases for all those big yellow school busses.  As I’m sure you’re aware, school budgets are often somewhat tight is it is, and the skyrocketing price of fuel isn’t helping any.  An article in the Lincoln Journal Star highlights the issue.

As of the end of March, the district had spent $422,260 on diesel fuel. Its budget was $393,950.  Officials predict they’ll spend another $170,740 through the end of the fiscal year.

And as prices go up and up, more money is taken away from other parts of the budget to keep the busses going.

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HBO has announced their summer documentary program line-up. The season will kick off on June 9th with the new documentary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, based on Roman Polanski and the statutory-rape case against him.

Also on board is a new doc on Heidi Fleiss, one about high school teens in Iraq called Baghdad High and one that focuses on Bush’s No Child Left Behind act.

There are a lot of great docs on the schedule including Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery.

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It isn’t enough that schools are more focused on test results than actual education these days (not necessarily the teachers fault) but now there are schools that want to test kids to see how well they will test?

A testing company wants to add 10 diagnostic tests to some Manhattan public schools to predict how well the students will do on the tests that actually count. It may be harder than they think though, as many parents are speaking out against the testing for tests:

At a news conference in front of City Hall on Tuesday, the parents said they were organizing a boycott of the field tests to be given at their children’s schools “”

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The New York Times reports that federal appeals court on Monday revived a legal challenge to the federal No Child Left Behind education law, saying that school districts have been justified in complaining that the law required them to pay for testing and other programs without providing sufficient federal money.The 2-to-1 ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, gave new life to a 2005 lawsuit and appeared to be a setback to the Bush administration. The ruling came on a day when President Bush marked the law’s sixth anniversary with a visit to an elementary school in Chicago, where he said, “I know No Child Left Behind has worked.”Isn’t it ironic? Don’t ya think?

While students, teachers and lawmakers across the country fret about test scores, standards and students not being left behind, one young man and his father are suing their local school system for not leaving the young man behind.Beau Abela, 14 is angry that his school passed him on to secondary school when he wasn’t proficient in literacy and math skills were way below the level they should have been at. He is now worried that he won’t get an apprenticeship because he doesn’t have the necessary skills. While both Beau and his father acknowledge the school put a lot of effort into helping him learn, they are still angry that they passed him to the next level even though he wasn’t deserving.Want to know what exactly No Child left Behind entails? Visit the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center’s section on the act.With the upcoming primaries we are sure to hear lots on education and the current No Child Left Behind system. Listen below to what some Democratic hopefuls had to say in response to a question about NCLB and education: