California School Boards Association

In an era when some parents seem unwilling or unable to draw the "clothes" line with their children, pop culture influences kids’ clothing choices as never before and school safety is an urgent concern

A 2006 study reported that nearly 30 percent of children and teens were overweight or obese—twice as many as just 10 years earlier.

Charter schools have flourished and multiplied in California since the first one opened its doors in 1993. Envisioned as a way to encourage innovation and relieve local districts from cumbersome Education Code regulations, many charters are accomplishing great things

Career technical education has undergone a sea change from the vocational classes that used to shunt underperforming students into shop and home ec classes. California’s state Board of Education adopted standards for 15 career technical education disciplines in 2005, so educators have now had two years to align their practices with those requirements and prepare their students for the 21st century economy.

California is in the forefront of the fight against childhood obesity and in favor of good nutrition. Building on already-stringent requirements, new laws taking effect this year mandate that the food served to students and sold in on-campus vending machines must meet tighter limits on fat, sugar and calories—even while it passes the kids’ own finicky taste tests.

The way California funds and runs its public schools could be in for major changes in the wake of “Getting Down to Facts,” a 1,700-page set of reports commissioned by the governor and legislative leaders, funded by education foundations and released by Stanford University researchers earlier this year.

Schools are hard-pressed to balance the benefits and risks posed by kids' online social networks. Web sites such as MySpace, Facebook, LiveJournal and Xanga make it easy for students to post photos, personal information video clips and music files, and to build networks of "friends" across the country. But they also pose an irresistible lure to pedophiles, and they can be abused by children who use them to post scurrilous attacks on teachers, administrators and other adults. They also contribute to "cyberbullying" attacks by students on their peers.

Children experiencing homelessness face severe challenges. High mobility, unstable living conditions and poverty combine to present significant educational, health and emotional difficulties. The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act guarantees homeless children important rights, but identifying and serving these at-risk children can be difficult. Marsha Boutelle reports on the challenges, as well as some resources available to help meet them, for the California School Boards Association's "California Schools" magazine.

The No Child Left Behind Act requires that schools begin testing students in science by the 2007-08 school year. California already includes science in its California Standards Tests, but educators are concerned that a narrow focus on testing limits the open-ended experimentation that is crucial to the spirit of scientific inquiry. This " California Schools " magazine feature, written for the California School Boards Association by contributing writer Scott LaFee, takes a fresh look at the issue.