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Teaching Gay History in ¾ÅÓÎÌåÓýs: A Possible Mandate in California

The history books in public schools today include figures from all walks of life who have made significant contributions to the development of this country. In California, some legislators do not believe the curriculum has gone far enough to include all Americans who have played a role in our nation's history. To rectify the problem, lawmakers have introduced a bill that requires the teaching of gay history in schools. According to an report, the California Senate approved the measure. However, it still must pass the Assembly and Governor Jerry Brown's desk before it becomes an official law of the state.

In this video, the Houston ISD Superintendent posits that what is taught in public schools should reflect today's reality, including African American history, Latino history, and LGBTQ history.

What the Bill Does

The California legislation would require schools to add LGBT figures to the list of social and ethnic groups that must already be included in current history lessons. It would also require the California Board of Education and local school districts within the state to adopt textbooks that cover the historical contributions of sexual minorities in this country. Material that reflects adversely on gays or particular religions would be banned from classroom teaching as well. Each school district would be able to determine what

Ever since the Internet has come into the public school classroom, filters have been used to keep inappropriate and obscene information and pictures away from students. However, the ACLU has recently been alerted to the fact that pornography isn't the only thing not making it into public school classrooms today. Many schools across the country are using their filtering tools to weed out information for LGBT students � even when the websites in question do not fall into the pornographic or inappropriate category. What's worse is that many of these same schools allow anti-gay websites to be accessed on campus.

What's In and What's Out

The problem came to the attention of the ACLU a few years ago when a high school student in Tennessee was searching for information about scholarships for gay and lesbian students. The student was unable to access any of the websites that provided such information, according to a report on . However, the student did discover websites advocating that gay and lesbian behavior can be reformed or overcome. The student notified the ACLU about the issue, and the ACLU sued the school and several others in Tennessee with similar policies.

On their website, the asserts, "Blocking all LGBT content violates students' First Amendment rights to free speech. They also violate the Equal Access Act, which requires equal access to school resources for all extracurricular clubs, including gay-straight alliances and LGBT support groups." The

Recess has traditionally been a part of the school day in public elementary schools, offering students the opportunity to breathe in fresh air, work off energy, and socialize with friends outside the confines of the classroom. However, in the interest of providing additional instruction during the school day, many schools have moved away from recess in favor of more classroom time. In some areas, recess has been on hiatus for years, but parents and educators are joining together in a movement to resuscitate recess after finding numerous benefits this time of free play provides. This article will take a look at some of the schools that have done away with the popular playtime and why many are bringing the ritual back to their playgrounds.

This video discusses eliminating a recess break.

The Benefits of Recess

While recess may not seem to have many benefits to daily studies on the surface, research into the matter seems to prove otherwise. On their website, the cites numerous benefits of recess, which impact the students' physical, emotional, cognitive, and social health and wellbeing. Some of the physical benefits of recess include:

• More time spent in active play
• Proper growth and development from physical activity
• Helps children maintain a healthy weight, reducing the risk of some diseases later in life
• Improves bone mass and density, lowering the risk of fractures throughout life

There are also cognitive and

Michelle Rhee is a controversial figure, to be sure. During her brief tenure as chancellor of Washington D.C. schools, Rhee managed to ruffle more than a few feathers. She also developed a loyal fan base that has followed her to her latest project, StudentsFirst, a non-profit committed to education reform. Since her exit from Washington schools, some questions remain about whether Rhee's approach to education reform really does put students first. Case in point: there are recent questions in an in-depth report by USA Today about a high number of changed answers on standardized tests in some Washington schools.

This video reports on Michelle Rhee's tenure as Chancellor of the D.C. public schools.

Details of the Report

An investigation by exercised D.C.'s Freedom of Information Act to obtain data that documented test scores for one of Washington's schools for the past three years. Crosby S. Noyes Education Campus was considered a "shining star" by Washington's public school officials after the school was able to raise standardized test scores by record-breaking numbers. In 2006, only 10 percent of Noyes students scored "proficient" or "advanced" in math. Just two years later, as many as 58 percent scored that high, and reading scores shot up as well.

Michelle Rhee was particularly interested in Noyes, and she used the school as an example of how she implemented changes that could

Many agree that one of the most effective ways to reduce the disparities between the rich and the poor is to provide high-quality public education to all. However, a recent report on the state of schools in California suggests that some school districts might be going in the wrong direction. Instead of broadening the educational opportunities for less fortunate students, the lines seem to be widening between the "have's" and "have not's." We will take a closer look at this report to determine what it means for public schools across the state of California.

UCLA IDEA

For a number of years, has produced annual reports on the learning environments and outcomes of California schools. IDEA, short for UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access, was founded in 2000 by Jeannie Oakes and John Rogers. According to the organization's website, the original goal of IDEA was to utilize the research capacity of UCLA to identify and confront some of the most pressing issues facing the world of education today. The faculty of IDEA consists of scholars, staff and graduate students of UCLA, who partner with parents, teachers, and others in the community to conduct research on current educational trends in the hope of inspiring and promoting positive change.

This year's report, titled, "Free Fall," shows that the "Great Recession" of this decade has not improved the situation in California schools yet. The report draws on information from 277 high school principals around the state