07.07.08
Student Loans: Avoiding Deceptive Offers
ED and Federal Trade Commission have jointly released a consumer guide to help students and their families navigate the maze of offers they may face when seeking new student loans or consolidating existing student loans to pay for higher education. Student Loans: Avoiding Deceptive Offers provides advice to help consumers detect deceptive marketing offers from private companies seeking their student loan business.Energy and Material Cycles Visualizations
Provides animations, images, graphs, and photos on the carbon cycle, greenhouse gases, sea ice, sea level change, interglacial cycle, continental drift, tectonic cycle, and the hydrologic cycle. (Carleton College, National Science Foundation)07.02.08
Grants to Promote Safe Schools and Healthy Students
More than $74 million in grants have been awarded to 27 states as part of a joint effort by the U.S. departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice to support schools in creating safe learning environments that promote healthy childhood development and prevent youth violence and drug use.Teaching Resources: Independence Day, Science Videos and More
Independence Day, U.S. history, poetry, letter writing, energy and rock cycles, polar regions, plant genomes, nearly 100 science videos and webcasts, and teaching English language learners to read are topics of new resources at FREE, the website that makes teaching resources from federal agencies easier to find.Grants for Training Highly Qualified Staff in Special Ed
ED announced the award of $4.37 million in grants to universities in 14 states to help train doctoral, post-doctoral and other graduate students to work with children with disabilities.GEAR UP Grants to Help 69,000 Students Pursue College
Secretary Spellings announced the award of $41,573,649 for 24 new grants under the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) to help more than 69,000 disadvantaged middle school students receive assistance to prepare for and pursue a college education.Six States Approved to Use Differentiated Accountability
Secretary Spellings addressed the Education Commission of the States (ECS) National Forum on Education Policy and announced the approval of six states -- Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio -- to use the Differentiated Accountability Pilot aimed at helping states differentiate between underperforming schools in need of dramatic interventions and those that are closer to meeting the goals of No Child Left Behind.07.01.08
New — Democracy and Human Rights
features publications about the U.S. government, democracy, and human rights. Learn about the intellectual history of democracy and what makes the U.S. government unique. See how our federal, state, and local governments are organized; how our executive, legislative, and judicial branches operate; and how nongovernmental organizations influence government policy. Read about the origins of human rights, women in politics, the civil rights movement, and elections. (Department of State)New — Energy and Material Cycles Visualizations
provides animations, images, graphs, and photos on the carbon cycle, greenhouse gases, sea ice, sea level change, interglacial cycle, continental drift, tectonic cycle, and the hydrologic cycle. (Carleton College, National Science Foundation)New — Outline of U.S. History
presents 15 chapters on U.S. history: early America, the colonial period, independence, formation of a national government, westward expansion and regional differences, sectional conflict, the Civil War and reconstruction, growth and transformation, discontent and reform, war, prosperity and depression, the New Deal and World War II, postwar America, decades of change (1960-1980), new conservatism and a new world order, and bridge to the 21st century. (Department of State)New — Rock Cycle Animations
shows common rock-forming processes. See magma crystallize to form igneous rock, rock erosion to create sediment, transportation of sediment, deposition of sediment to create sedimentary rock, and the creation of a metamorphic rock. Animations can be paused and rewound to stress important points. (Carleton College, National Science Foundation)Fourth of July is Independence Day
Presents facts, songs, primary documents, and more for celebrating the birthday of the U.S. and the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. See the original Declaration of Independence. Read about the history of the Fourth. Learn about the U.S. flag and the Liberty Bell. Listen to patriotic songs. Take an Independence Day quiz. See ways to volunteer and help our nation. (USA.gov, Multiple Agencies)Fourth of July Is Independence Day
Presents facts, songs, primary documents, and more for celebrating the birthday of the U.S. and the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. See the original Declaration of Independence. Read about the history of the Fourth. Learn about the U.S. flag and the Liberty Bell. Listen to patriotic songs. Take an Independence Day quiz. See ways to volunteer and help our nation. (USA.gov, Multiple Agencies)New — Fourth of July is Independence Day
presents facts, songs, primary documents, and more for celebrating the birthday of the U.S. and the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. See the original Declaration of Independence. Read about the history of the Fourth. Learn about the U.S. flag and the Liberty Bell. Listen to patriotic songs. Take an Independence Day quiz. See ways to volunteer and help our nation. (USA.gov, Multiple Agencies)New — Encouraging Girls in Math and Science
offers tools for teachers to help girls achieve at the same level as boys in math and science. The site is based on five research-based recommendations: teach students that the brain grows when they practice and learn; provide prescriptive, informational feedback on strategies and effort; show female role models; spark initial curiosity and foster long-term interest in math and science; and teach spatial skills. (Department of Education)New — Teaching Literacy in English to K-5 English Learners
provides videos, slideshows, and tools for teaching reading to K-5 English learners. The site is based on five research-based recommendations: screen and monitor students' progress; provide small-group reading interventions; provide vocabulary instruction throughout the day; develop academic English competence beginning in primary grades; and schedule regular peer-assisted learning opportunities, including structured language practice. (Department of Education)New — National Postal Museum
has developed curriculum guides that explore stamps and postal history, and encourage students to write letters. Topics include historic letters and stamps from American wars; stamps and other countries, history, and art; the place of letter writing in American history; letter writing for advanced English learners; and letter writing between students and older adults (using cultural landmarks in the community). (National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution)New — Fourth of July Is Independence Day
presents facts, songs, primary documents, and more for celebrating the birthday of the U.S. and the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. See the original Declaration of Independence. Read about the history of the Fourth. Learn about the U.S. flag and the Liberty Bell. Listen to patriotic songs. Take an Independence Day quiz. See ways to volunteer and help our nation. (USA.gov, Multiple Agencies)06.27.08
New — Poetry Everywhere
provides 10 videos, as well as essays and lessons, to help students explore the power of language and build reading and writing skills. The videos feature seminal voices of poetry, past and present, from Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson to Seamus Heaney, Marie Howe, and Yusef Komunyakaa. (Teachers' Domain, Multiple Agencies)New — Nuclear Energy Learning Resources for Schools
provides a list of resources for learning about nuclear energy topics. Find information about how nuclear reactors work, what makes certain materials radioactive, the importance of nuclear energy in the 21st century, and more. (Argonne National Laboratory, Department of Energy)Cosmology 101
Is a primer on scientific efforts to understand the origin, evolution, and fate of the universe. Among the questions it explores: What types of matter and energy fill the universe? What is the age and shape of the universe? How rapidly is it expanding? The website examines the Big Bang theory, as well as tests and limitations of the theory. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)06.26.08
The Thomas Jefferson Papers
Contains more than 20,000 digitized images of various letters, memoranda, notes, and drafts of documents, books, papers, letters, and manuscripts of the third President, as well as correspondence, commonplace books, and financial account books. The online collection is being produced in installments. The first release deals with Mr. Jefferson's general correspondence, dating from 1621 through 1789, and documents relating to Virginia history, from 1606-1737. (Library of Congress)06.25.08
Website Provides Information on ED’s Authority to Purchase Federal Student Loans
A new website provides guidance, letters, and other information regarding ED's authority to purchase federal student loans under the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008.
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