This Cool School

The Rubyz, national recording artists, bring their Christian-oriented popular music messages from their native Tennessee to St. Ambrose Parish, 929 Pearl Road, at 7 p.m. Jan. 13. Free.

Calling all shutterbugs: “Getting Better Photos: Composition Tips and Techniques” is 1-4 p.m. Jan. 14 at Wolf Creek Environmental Center, 6364 Deerview Lane, Medina. Learn the basics of photo composition. Techniques coveredinclude the art of seeing, cropping, hot spots, angles, backgrounds, lines, your own style, and breaking the rules. Bring some of your own photos on a flash stick or other media and receive some suggestions to make them even better. Ages 16 and up. Register by Jan. 13. Fee, $25 fee per person.

Chili, anyone? Medina Relay For Life kicks off its 2012 campaign with a chili cook-off 5-7 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Medina Performing Arts Center, 851 Weymouth Road. Admission is a $5 donation. The 2012 Medina Relay For Life cancer awareness and fundraising event is scheduled for June 9 at the Medina County Fairgrounds.

New Year, New You: Medina Community Recreation Center open house is 1-5 p.m. Jan. 15 at the MCRC, 855 Weymouth Road. Free admission with at least one canned/non-perishable food item per person. Free fitness demonstrations, health screenings, nutrition education, massage therapy and access to fitness rooms, basketball courts, track and swimming pool. Bring swimsuit, towl and lock. Information: (330) 721-6900. Sponsored by MCRC and Medina Hospital.

Dog Days . . . of winter? “K9 Kapers,” 3 p.m. Jan. 15 at Green Leaf Park, 1674 S. Medina Line Road, Sharon Center, provides dog owners with an opportunity to socialize their pets with other dogs. All dogs must have an accompanying adult and 8-foot leash (non-retractable). Participants must maintain control of their dogs at all times. A towel for muddy feet and a water bowl are recommended. Free.

Women may have come a long way in the high-tech field in the last 10 years, but there’s still a lot of room for growth, according to a group of female tech executives.

And Marissa Mayer, a vice president at Google, said we’re just not doing enough to get more women into the high-tech field.

“I think what we’re really playing is a numbers game, ” said Mayer, speaking as part of a panel at CNet’s Women in Technology panel at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week. “Right now, it’s a really great time to be a woman in technology — but there aren’t enough women in technology. I worry that a lot of times the conversation gets focused on what percentage of the pie is women. And the truth is the pie isn’t big enough.”

Part of the larger problem, she noted, is that the United States is not producing enough computer scientists.

“We’re not producing enough product designers. We need more people to keep up with all these gadgets, all this tech and these possibilities and the jobs of the future,” said Mayer. “We need a lot more people and if we grow that number, then the number of women, by nature, goes up.”

What we need, she added, is to push more high schools to get kids interested in computer science.

Mayer was quick to point out that when it comes to advanced placement exams, 200,000 students take the calculus test, but only 14,000 take the computer science one. That means 7% of the students who think they’re good at math take both the math exam and the computer science exam.

“If you talk to Google engineers, only 2% were exposed to computer science in high school,” added Mayer. “We really just need to get that number up. Imagine if we had 200,000 or 500,000 students graduating from high school every year who have taken computer science, as well as calculus.”

Cisco Systems CTO Padmasree Warrior, who also sat on the all-woman panel, said that while more women need to be working in high-tech, the industry is doing better than ever before.

“I think they’ve come a long way,” said Warrior. “I feel pretty good about where women are in tech. If you look at two of the largest tech companies today, IBM and HP, they have women CEOs and there are a lot of women in tech who have made progress in our lives…. I would like to see more women out on the floor [of CES] but in the past 10 years we have made a lot of progress.”

CNet Executive Editor Molly Wood hosted the panel, which also included Flickr founder Catarina Fake and Lindsey Turrentine, editor-in-chief of CNet Reviews.

in Computerworld’s IT Industry Topic Center.

Education

• Judit Puskas, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineer at the University of Akron, was named the Austin Chemical Co. chair in the engineering college. The chair is funded by the Austin Chemical Co. of Buffalo Grove, Ill.

• Three Akron Public Schools teachers were named National Board-Certified Teachers by the American Board of Professional Teaching Standards. Judith Maver is certified in early childhood through young adult school counseling and works at Ellet High; Anna Panning, in early to middle age literacy, at Rankin Elementary; and Rosemary Floccari, in early and middle childhood literacy, at Hatton and Barrett elementary schools. Sonya Infantino was certified in early adolescence science at Black River Local’s Middle School.

• David Baker, executive director of the Center for the History of Psychology at the University of Akron, was appointed to the 10-member Smithsonian Affiliations Advisory Council, which represents 170 affiliated museums and related organizations.

• Ten Kent State University employees were honored with the third annual President’s Excellence Awards and $1,000 checks each. The awards honor nonteaching staffers who help advance the goals of the university. Honored were Brice Biggin, head gymnastics coach; Donna Carlton, assistant director, Center for Student Involvement; Barb Casher, human resources records manager; Cheryl Cunnagin, clerical specialist, global education; Vanessa Decker, secretary, sociology; Ben Hollis, senior instructional designer, College of Communication and Information; Andy Huston, lead IT user support analyst; Constance Longmire, special assistant, Student Services — Geauga campus; Mollie Miller, adaptive technology coordinator, Student Accessibility Services; and Kathy Schumann, custodial worker.

• Three college students from Canton received scholarships from the Greater Canton Martin Luther King Jr. Commission: University of Chicago student Omari K. Moore, University of Akron student Raquel L. Robinson-Poulson and University of North Carolina student Ashley D. Stevens.

• University of Mount Union employees Janice Williams, a secretary, and Tom Wise, lab manager, received the Elizabeth W. and Joseph K. Davidson Staff Award for their commitment to the campus.

• Debra Adams Simmons, editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, was named the 2012 winner of the Robert G. McGruder Award for Diversity by Kent State’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The award recognizes media professionals who encourage diversity in journalism. She is the former editor of the Akron Beacon Journal.

Military

• Coast Guardsman Kevin P. Cline, son of Cheri Cline of Akron and Mark Cline of Tallmadge, graduated from basic training at the Coast Guard Training Center at Cape May, N.J. He is a 2011 graduate of Tallmadge High.

Home » Media Center » Press Releases Jan 6, 2012 Issues: Education, ESEA

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, issued the following statement today marking the tenth anniversary of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and warning that a recent turn by House Republicans to abandon bipartisanship in rewriting the law, without learning the lessons of the last decade or achieving consensus on reform, will fail the nation’s students.

“Sunday marks the tenth anniversary of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. This watershed law reaffirmed the nation’s promise that all children must have equal access to a quality education no matter their background. It moved our education system forward, but it is now in desperate need of a rewrite.  And a successful reform of NCLB requires bipartisanship – the same kind of bipartisanship that made reform possible ten years ago.

We have learned a lot since the law’s enactment. Thanks to NCLB, the evidence is irrefutable that all kids can learn if given an opportunity to succeed, regardless of their zip code or income. However, the law’s reforms are now outdated. It is now restraining schools from making the kinds of improvements needed to benefit students, communities and the economy.

That’s why there is broad consensus to take what we have learned from educators, parents, school districts, states and other advocates, and create an education system for the 21st century. A fundamental rewrite of NCLB should reflect current best practices, be built on college and career ready standards, and protect kids in the process.

For decades, Democrats and Republicans have recognized that America’s long-term economic strength depends on quality educational opportunities for all children. And for decades, education laws have been written on a bipartisan basis. This has proved a successful model for everyone, especially for children.

While parties in both Houses working together is the tried and true way to accomplish education reform, House Republicans have now opted to walk away from bipartisanship and craft partisan legislation. By abandoning efforts to reach a consensus, this partisanship shuts the door on NCLB reform in this Congress. And the end of the rewrite of this law means our nation’s children will be stuck under an outdated law for the foreseeable future. 

Failing to rewrite NCLB is tragic.  In a child’s educational life, every year, every semester, matters.  They cannot afford to wait until sixth grade or tenth grade to get the education they deserve.  That’s why the Administration is doing what it can, absent congressional action, offering states flexibility from NCLB that reflects the consensus on how to improve upon current law.  Nearly 40 states have signed up. 

Instead of pushing a partisan bill down a predictable path of failure, it’s time that Congress come together to get things done on behalf of the American people. Hammering out a consensus and getting education reform right are not easy tasks, but they are entirely doable.  Democrats and Republicans working together is the only way forward for our nation’s children, our economy and our national competitiveness. When adults work together, kids win.”