Background: Food service directors have a concern that federal reimbursement is not meeting the demands of increasing costs of healthier meals. The purpose of this article is to report the food option changes and the annual revenues and expenses of the school food service environment. Methods: The HEALTHY study was a 3-year (2006 to 2009)…

Educators nationwide confront a troubling phenomenon: Increasingly, students leave high school unready for college, as evidenced by high rates of placement into remedial courses and low rates of college completion. Many students also lack either the attitudes or skills essential to succeed in a postsecondary setting, or knowledge of how to apply…

Objective: Explore student-involvement goals in local wellness policies (LWPs) of local education agencies (LEAs) in Pennsylvania (PA) and investigate associations with LEA characteristics. Design: An observational study that helped examine student-involvement goals. Setting: Public PA LEAs. Participants: LWPs submitted by 539 PA public LEAs. Main…

In the era of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, school districts are under increasing pressure from policymakers to hold all students to high performance standards. In response, a growing number of schools are embracing the principles of student-centered learning (SCL). SCL is a contemporary approach that combines progressive and…

"Pregaming" or "pre-loading" is what college students call the practice of drinking alcohol in a private setting prior to attending an organized event or social activity where alcohol might or might not be served. According to one student, "Pregames are usually a fun part of the night because you're just with a few close…

Student drug and alcohol policies often impose consequences on students that may place the child at greater risk of delinquent behavior. The project described in this article sought to explore how different stakeholders in two public school systems perceived the ability of their drug and alcohol policies to protect the needs of the school, the…

Objectives: This study was undertaken to describe school employees' participation in the Local Wellness Policy (LWP) development process, assess satisfaction with LWPs, identify concerns related to implementation, and identify strategies to facilitate successful policy implementation. Methods: A 39-item survey instrument was developed and…

Middle and high school students subjected to harsh school discipline policies and practices such as suspensions and expulsions are more likely to disengage from the classroom and course work, and increases their chances of dropping out, according to this new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education. The report recommends implementing…

The Team Nutrition (TN) e-Newsletter is published periodically to share TN resources developed by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and/or by State agencies, and to share ideas for promoting healthy eating and physical activity through Team Nutrition at the State and local levels. This issue includes: (1) Materials Developed by…

The School District of Philadelphia (SDP), like many other urban school districts, struggles to increase its hiring and retention of experienced and highly qualified teachers in its low-performing/high-need schools. Toward the goal of improving teacher quality and the experience balance, particularly in hard-to-staff schools, the Philadelphia…

When a student at Carnegie Mellon University became concerned about perceived grading bias in 2005, he proposed an amendment to the university's student-rights policy. Drawn from David Horowitz's "academic bill of rights," the proposal included assertion of a student's right to have his or her "work evaluated based on the stated…

This paper presents the annual report of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for 2008. 2008 was a year of profound accomplishments for FIRE. While some colleges continued to show an appalling disregard for the fundamental rights of students and faculty members, FIRE was able to secure groundbreaking victories for civil…

An understanding of the relationships among the integration of computer technology by women educators in higher education and effective teaching could have a significant impact on education. Pennsylvania Universities and Colleges have made their commitment to educational technology and provided support for the implementation of such technology.…

The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the use of interim assessments and the policy supports that promote use to improve instruction, focusing on elementary school mathematics. The authors use the term "interim assessments" to refer to assessments that a) evaluate student knowledge and skills, typically within a limited…

Madeline Smith, a new elementary principal in northeastern Pennsylvania, wrestles with how to handle a dilemma involving one of her special education teachers who is wearing a head wrap while working. Wearing the head wrap is a violation of district policy, and if the head wrap is a religious symbol, then the employee is also violating the state…