The April issue of Educational Leadership, published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), focuses on "The Prepared Graduate." Among a number of articles about preparing students for the world beyond high school is one entitled "New Rigor for Career Education" by Gary Hoachlander, president of ConnectEd: The California Center for College and Career. In the article Hoachlander acknowledges Ford PAS as an example of a program that meets the challenge of preparing students for "both college and career." He writes, "If we really want to reengage students in high school, we need to create pathways that blend academics with career and technical education. A growing number of high schools are trying to do this. For example, . . . [t]he Ford Partnership for Advanced Studies (www.fordpas.org) is active at approximately 160 sites, promoting sequences of courses that integrate academic content with career preparation to advance greater competency in problem solving, critical thinking, communication, and teamwork." Learn more at www.ascd.org.
Cable in the Classroom offers $3,000 and a trip for two to Washington, DC, to K-12 teachers who have advanced the teaching and learning of media-literacy concepts and skills; the deadline is December 15. For more information visit http://www.leadersinlearningawards.org/.