<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16LE"?> <?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" media="screen" href="/~d/styles/rss2full.xsl"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/itemcontent.css"?><rss xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0" version="2.0"> <channel> <title>Diasporas as New Markets</title> <link>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Diasporas-as-New-Markets.aspx</link> <description>Diverse movements of people create new identities and flows of learners. Global, domestic, and digital journeys will create a new cauldron of diasporic identities, as people find ways of communicating and connecting despite geographic separation. Physical and online communities will form, creating new affiliations around shared experiences, and opening new possibilities for learning opportunities. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Look for Hope in New Orleans, a 36 story comic book that centers around New Orleans&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Read about the educational services that &lt;a href="http://iss.edu/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;International School Services&lt;/a&gt; provides for children attending overseas schools&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; </description> <name>Diasporas as New Markets</name> <atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/Diasporas-as-New-Markets" /><feedburner:info uri="diasporas-as-new-markets" /><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="hub" href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/" /><item> <title>A New Civic Discourse (Driver of Change)</title> <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rearticulating identity and community in a global society&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The convergence of participatory media culture, diverse diasporic movements (the formation of dispersed populations that share common roots and identity), and frameworks for creating new commons (bottom-up means of managing shared resources) set the stage for re-articulating identity and community in a global society. Education will find itself a contested resource in the crossroads of these forces of change. It will become part of the civic discourse in multiple new kinds of public forums and spaces as  educitizens make visible the status of schools and of educational decision-making, resources, and activities in their communities. School administrators, district level staff, and teachers will need to learn how to communicate and interact in a bottom-up world of engaged educitizens.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;What kinds of roles can educators and schools play in an increasingly transparent world with more bottomup monitoring of learning?  &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;What kinds of public, visible dialogues should educators be catalyzing? &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;More on This Topic&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt; The convergence of participatory media culture, diverse diasporic movements (the formation of dispersed populations that share common roots and identity), and frameworks for creating new commons (bottom-up means of managing shared resources) set the stage for&lt;strong&gt; a re-articulation of identity and community in the global society&lt;/strong&gt;.  Education will find itself a contested resource, right and experience, in the crossroads of these forces of change.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="/trend/Diasporas-as-New-Markets.aspx"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diasporic flows of learners&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; will bring new layers of complexity to defining rights and responsibilities around education and learning.  Climate refugees (such as those who experienced Katrina), families of global corporate employees, global immigrants, growing numbers of homeschoolers and online learners, and religious communities comprise new groups of learners with distinct learning values, conceptual frames of education, and a sense of rights as learners.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; These diverse values and conceptions of education and learning will be reflected in their &lt;a href="/trend/Personal-Learning-Ecologies.aspx"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;personal learning ecologies&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; - networks of resources, tools, and learning assets that families stitch together to support their children s education and development. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Educitizens - &lt;/strong&gt;equipped with camera phones, mobile blogging, and social media (such as Twitter, Facebook, web logs) - will &lt;a href="/trend/New-Civic-Literacies.aspx"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;leverage participative media and new civic literacies&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/a&gt;(digitally mediated collective processes of creation, debate, expression, and organization) to surface tensions and articulate perceived rights to education and learning.  They will act to &lt;a href="/trend/Learning-Commons.aspx"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;build learning commons&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, as in Washington DC where DC Voice works with citizen volunteers to audit their public schools for readiness in a publish results for the community.  They treat their schools as a new commons - a shared resource that benefits the entire community.  And recall that the first image of the Virgina Tech shooting that the world witnessed was a camera phone image taken by a student witness on campus and sent to CNN. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; As communities develop increasing levels of transparency through citizen generated data and exchange, local schools and the robustness of a community s learning landscape will come under the spotlight, exposing &lt;strong&gt;learning deserts&lt;/strong&gt; (those area barren of resources and experiences that support healthy development and learning) and &lt;strong&gt;learning oases&lt;/strong&gt; (robust geographies with ample opportunities that support community learning and regeneration.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Implications for Learning&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;Education will increasingly become part of the civic discourse as educitizens bring transparency to the status of schools, educational decision-making, learning and health resources, and activities in their communities.  &lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;School administrators, district level staff, and teachers will need to learn how to communicate and interact in &lt;strong&gt;a bottom-up world of engaged educitizens&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Social media tools and the explosion of citizen-based mapping create new opportunities to &lt;strong&gt;make public the relationships among issues&lt;/strong&gt; such as economic success, health, and education.  &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Such public exposure of critical issues can help rally shared the interests of the broader, enabling &lt;strong&gt;a collective commons for learning and a new form of public legacy&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5 Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Network with people in other professional learning communities to share ideas about encouraging collaboration and system change &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Check up on politicians or legislation with one of the projects run by the &lt;a href="http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Sunlight Foundation &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Search the &lt;a href="http://www.greenspace.info/twitter/stream/en/index.html" target="_blank"&gt;twitterstream &lt;/a&gt;for conversations about current events &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Join the parents of &lt;a href="http://www.letparentschoose.org/" target="_blank"&gt;Let Parents Choose &lt;/a&gt; in taking back more control of children's education &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Contribute to the &lt;a href="http://www.oercommons.org/" target="_blank"&gt;Open Educational Resource (OER) Commons&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome" target="_blank"&gt;Curriki&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href="http://www.wikieducator.org" target="_blank"&gt;Wikieducator&lt;/a&gt; to exchange free teaching and learning content from with others around the world  &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/bHL76Lcgjns" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/bHL76Lcgjns/A-New-Civic-Discourse.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/driver/A-New-Civic-Discourse.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Metaverse (Trend)</title> <description>Blended physical-digital worlds create new learning geographies.  Learning in the real world is complemented by the navigation of virtual worlds through avatars.  Google Earth and Second Life merge to become the 'Metaverse.'&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/9SoAvr-obTc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/9SoAvr-obTc/Metaverse.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Metaverse.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Learning Grids (Trend)</title> <description>Smart-networked resource providers and learning agents create lightweight, modular learning infrastructures. These distributed, decentralized education systems can expand easily, adapt to emerging education needs, and foster communication and coordination. What results are smart education grids, in which learning flows efficiently and synergistically.&lt;br /&gt;  &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Advocate reward structures that give teachers incentives for sharing and creating collective educational resources &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Advocate for agile and smart school technical infrastructure that enables connections among all devices and has capacity to link to other schools &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Establish educator-business partnerships to develop learning content &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Find opportunities to make use of the range of material or the instructional model offered by the UK's &lt;a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Open University&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Take a course from &lt;a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;MIT OpenCourseWare&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Track South Africa's progress in its quest to create a nationwide &lt;a href="http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/South_African_Curriculum" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;open curriculum&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/06nLYC9OEWs" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/06nLYC9OEWs/Learning-Grids.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Learning-Grids.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Enabled Innovation (Trend)</title> <description>Neurodiversity, physical enhancements, and disability communities converge, turning marginalized populations into mainstream innovators. People with disabilities are quickly becoming lead users and innovators of sophisticated physical and cognitive enhancements, ones that will make people  better than normal. Neurodiversity, which considers a-typical neural behavior such as autism not as a disability but as a natural human difference, is empowering many marginalized populations to embrace and explore their unique cognitive functioning not &lt;i&gt;dis&lt;/i&gt;abled, but &lt;i&gt;en&lt;/i&gt;abled. Many of these developments will be rapidly adopted back into mainstream use, meanwhile challenging our notions of performance,  normal, and what it means to be human. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Learn why some think a double-leg amputee like &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Pistorius" class="active_link" target="_blank"&gt;Oscar Pistorius&lt;/a&gt; has an unfair advantage in racing&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;View the parody site &lt;a href="http://isnt.autistics.org/archived.html" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Institute for the Neurologically Typical&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;See how the Asperger's Syndrome community is banding together at &lt;a href="http://www.wrongplanet.net/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;WrongPlanet.net&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/UOAqDroUIc8" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/UOAqDroUIc8/Enabled-Innovation.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Enabled-Innovation.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Eco-Schools (Trend)</title> <description>&lt;p&gt;Eco-schools become a nexus for health, environment, community, and learning. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Many schools operate in a complicated community arena in which a variety of issues come together food nutrition and safety, children s public health, community involvement, environmental safety, rising energy costs all in addition to learning and education. Schools can become centers for these connected issues, creating safer environments for children and fostering environmental stewards of tomorrow.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Join a group for advocating children's health or environmental safety in schools, such as the &lt;a href="http://www.healthyschools.org/" target="_blank"&gt;Healthy Schools Network&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Find out how to make your school more sustainable at the &lt;a href="http://www.ecoliteracy.org/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Center for Ecoliteracy&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Connect your school with the nearest &lt;a href="http://www.farmtoschool.org/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Farm-To-School&lt;/a&gt; program, or start one in your area &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Support the &lt;a href="http://www.greenschools.net/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Green Schools Initiative&lt;/a&gt; and find resources to create a healthy school &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Zenobia Barlow, cofounder of the Center for Ecoliteracy, says schools are not just buildings, but networks of relationships.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tfCJTfLNyFM&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp&amp;showinfo=0;rel=0&amp;amp;border=1" width="445" height="364" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" /&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/Kd3H5q-h6SU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/Kd3H5q-h6SU/Eco-Schools.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Eco-Schools.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Learning Commons (Trend)</title> <description>Educational stakeholders grow collective learning resources, creating an alternative to public and private education. Such commons are common-pool resources that benefit the entire community but are vulnerable to depletion e.g. land (recall the pivotal  tragedy of the commons argument). Various education stakeholders are framing learning resources  local community assets, schools, online curriculum databases  as education commons that need to be managed collectively (not privately or publicly) to maintain their long-term collective benefits. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Network with people in other professional learning communities to share ideas about encouraging collaboration and system change &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Advocate reward structures that give teachers incentives for sharing and creating collective educational resources &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Contribute to the &lt;a href="http://www.oercommons.org/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Open Educational Resource&lt;/a&gt; (OER) Commons, &lt;a href="http://www.curriki.org/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Curriki&lt;/a&gt; , or &lt;a href="http://www.wikieducator.org/" target="_blank"&gt;Wikieducator&lt;/a&gt; to exchange free teaching and learning content from with others around the world &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Explore how &lt;a href="http://www.dcvoice.org/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;DC Voice&lt;/a&gt; is stengthening public voice in education &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Join the parents of &lt;a href="http://www.letparentschoose.org/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Let Parents Choose&lt;/a&gt; in taking back more control of children's education &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;strong&gt; &lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0in"&gt;Lisa Petrides, President of the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, speaks about OER commons and how to put the teaching and learning processes back into the hands of those who use it. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0in"&gt;&lt;a href="&lt;object width=" height="364"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ge3HWnJkUn0&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp&amp;showinfo=0;rel=0&amp;amp;border=1" width="445" height="364" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" /&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/RD9YUrXV2jM" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/RD9YUrXV2jM/Learning-Commons.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Learning-Commons.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Educitizens (Trend)</title> <description>Students and families affiliate around educational needs and claim rights as learners. As families assume more responsibility for education, people identify around specific educational needs, values, and strategies. This array of affiliations is fostering different senses of rights and responsibilities as learners, and many are acting in the civic sphere not just the political to create quality learning experiences. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Read and subscribe to the &lt;a href="http://students2oh.org/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Students 2.0&lt;/a&gt; blog&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Run for public office or communicate with public officials about the purpose and meaning of public education&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Network with people in other professional learning communities to share ideas about encouraging collaboration and system change&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Read Chapter 8 of &lt;a href="http://www.herecomeseverybody.org/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Here Comes Everybody&lt;/a&gt; by Clay Shirky&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Host a &lt;a href="http://nyra.meetup.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Meetup for Youth Rights&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/iYVsMJEQV2I" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/iYVsMJEQV2I/Educitizens.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Educitizens.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>New Civic Literacies (Trend)</title> <description>Participatory media and digital natives bring transparency and collective action to the civic sphere. People who are accustomed to the world of participatory media, user-generated content, and smart networking bring a powerful voice to the civic sphere. Using new tools, people will act collectively, whether joining in  netroot (i.e. Internet enabled grassroots) political campaigns, working together to solve social issues, or forcing transparency into civic processes. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Learn from &lt;a href="http://www.futuremelbourne.com.au/wiki/view/FMPlan" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;FutureMelbourne&lt;/a&gt; and how citizens there are preparing their city for the future &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Check up on politicians or legislation with one of the projects run by the &lt;a href="http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Sunlight Foundation&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Explore how &lt;a href="http://www.microsociety.org/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;MicroSociety&lt;/a&gt; brings real life to learning &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Search the &lt;a href="http://search.twitter.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;twitterstream&lt;/a&gt; for conversations about a current events &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;strong&gt; &lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0in"&gt;David Nordfors, who runs the innovation journalism program at Stanford, stays studens are moving towards a journalisatic method of learning - finding knowledge, assesing it, and then connecting the dots to build a story.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0in"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uoE-tCurDNY&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp&amp;showinfo=0;rel=0&amp;amp;border=1" width="445" height="364" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" /&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/6n6zuZUfW9c" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/6n6zuZUfW9c/New-Civic-Literacies.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/New-Civic-Literacies.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Personal Learning Ecologies (Trend)</title> <description>Families look outside the traditional  system to create ecologies of learning experiences. Families will leverage the emerging learning economy to cultivate their own ecologies of learning resources. School will be part of this ecology, but it will play different roles for different families, and it won t be the only player in the wider learning ecosystem. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Provide coaches to help students select appropriate learning experiences &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Create a network in your community like the &lt;a href="http://parents.berkeley.edu/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Berkeley Parents Network&lt;/a&gt; and read this &lt;a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/07/24/CMGGJDDL2D1.DTL&amp;amp;type=printable" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; about it &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Learn more about homeschooling options: &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;Jon s Homeschool Resources - &lt;a href="http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;www.midnightbeach.com/hs/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;The Homeschool Mom - &lt;a href="http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;www.thehomeschoolmom.com/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Homeschool Central - &lt;a href="http://www.homeschoolcentral.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;www.homeschoolcentral.com/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Homeschool Resource Center - &lt;a href="http://www.hsrc.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;www.hsrc.com/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Muslim Homeschool Network - &lt;a href="http://www.muslimhomeschool.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;www.muslimhomeschool.com/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Let parents and students know about the summer camp directory at &lt;a href="http://mysummercamps.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;mysummercamps.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Explore how &lt;a href="http://www.educationalconsulting.org/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Independent Educational Consultants&lt;/a&gt; can help families find the right opportunity for children in college, grad school, or special programs &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0in"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tom Munneke, who turned a shed in his backyard into a science laboratory for kids, says that one way to add excitement and enthusiasm to education is to have adults and peers do more teaching. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;a href="&lt;object width=" height="364"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="&lt;object width=" height="364"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cfXCsl2NbFE&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp&amp;showinfo=0;rel=0&amp;amp;border=1" width="445" height="364" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" /&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/4Ur6ubFTxlo" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/4Ur6ubFTxlo/Personal-Learning-Ecologies.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Personal-Learning-Ecologies.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Immigrant Students Seek Rights (Signal)</title> <description>Congress is considering giving permanent resident status to students brought to US as illegal immigrants when they were children under 15. The students would be required to have completed high school and be in college or the military for at least 2 years.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/xGuKm1XGfYY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/xGuKm1XGfYY/Immigrant-Students-Seek-Rights.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Immigrant-Students-Seek-Rights.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Palestinian Students from Gaza Try to Get to Egypt to Study (Signal)</title> <description>Palestinian students from the Gaza strip have petitioned the government of Egypt to open the border at Rafah so they can attend classes. These students have Egyptian residence permits, but only a few hundred people are allowed across the border each day.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/uMnZK_2LrIM" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/uMnZK_2LrIM/Palestinian-Students-from-Gaza-Try-to-Get-to-Egypt-to-Study.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Palestinian-Students-from-Gaza-Try-to-Get-to-Egypt-to-Study.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Turkmenistan Bars Many Aspiring U.S. Students at the Border (Signal)</title> <description>The Turkmenistan government now requires students to receive official permission to study in the U.S. Students who had not complied with the new requirement were stopped at the airport. The U.S. Embassy has stated its objections to this turn of events.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/Mms5qMMhtdI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/Mms5qMMhtdI/Turkmenistan-Bars-Many-Aspiring-US-Students-at-the-Border.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Turkmenistan-Bars-Many-Aspiring-US-Students-at-the-Border.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>UK Slow to Grant Student Visas to 14,000 Students from Pakistan (Signal)</title> <description>The UK's visa-processing agency in Pakistan has had to hire 100 new workers to process the visa applications and put a priority on the students, since they are already late to begin classes.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/N2SFwSP3ufc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/N2SFwSP3ufc/UK-Slow-to-Grant-Student-Visas-to-142c000-Students-from-Pakistan.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/UK-Slow-to-Grant-Student-Visas-to-142c000-Students-from-Pakistan.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Chinese Undergraduates on the Rise at U.S. Universities (Signal)</title> <description>While Chinese graduate students have been common in the U.S., increases in undergraduates - e.g., from 50 or 60 applicants to more than 300 in the most recent year at Carleton College - are a new phenomenon. It is fueled by recruiting companies, about which there are some concerns regarding falsified records and essays, and employees paid mainly on a bonus basis for successful applications.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/1fthrZTA9HY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/1fthrZTA9HY/Chinese-Undergraduates-on-the-Rise-at-US-Universities.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Chinese-Undergraduates-on-the-Rise-at-US-Universities.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Diaspora Students in Brooklyn School (Signal)</title> <description>The 16 students in a class at an International High School in Brooklyn represent 11 countries. Overall the 325 students in the school are from 50 different countries.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/CfJPNSDfFLk" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/CfJPNSDfFLk/Diaspora-Students-in-Brooklyn-School.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Diaspora-Students-in-Brooklyn-School.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>More US Students Considering College in Canada (Signal)</title> <description>With the US economy suffering, more US students are considering attending college in Canada due to their relatively low cost.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/oidmWT5vPsg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/oidmWT5vPsg/More-US-Students-Considering-College-in-Canada.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/More-US-Students-Considering-College-in-Canada.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>International School Services (Signal)</title> <description>International Schools address the needs of school age children in families whose parents work overseas, forming corporate diasporas. ISS aims to provide quality educational services to students attending overseas schools. In supporting international schools, ISS hopes to foster excellent learning within a culturally diverse global community. &lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/WJqpDmvD91w" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/WJqpDmvD91w/International-School-Services.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/International-School-Services.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Hope in New Orleans (Signal)</title> <description>A soon-to-be-released documentary chronicling the experiences of Hurricane Katrina teenager refugees.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/TGnBN6IClEQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/TGnBN6IClEQ/Hope-in-New-Orleans.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Hope-in-New-Orleans.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Education Sousveyor (Learning Agent)</title> <description>Education sousveyors will keep the learning process transparent and will stimulate public discussion around it. Through mechanisms such as blog posts, pictures, podcasts, and videos, they will keep learning on the forefront of stakeholders minds.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/bzFYjEUDE-k" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/bzFYjEUDE-k/Education-Sousveyor.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/learningagent/Education-Sousveyor.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Personal Education Advisor (Learning Agent)</title> <description>Assigned by certified local education agencies, such as schools, resource centers, and libraries, or selected and contracted by families, personal education advisors help families create, nurture, and maintain personal learning ecologies.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/TjwmU6wRGag" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/TjwmU6wRGag/Personal-Education-Advisor.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/learningagent/Personal-Education-Advisor.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Learning Fitness Instructor (Learning Agent)</title> <description>Learning fitness instructors will help learners build and strengthen the basic cognitive, emotional, and social abilities essential to learning by using simulations, biofeedback, and hands-on activities to reduce stress, hone mental capabilities, and learn brain-friendly nutrition.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/2QFvzPiVC9A" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/2QFvzPiVC9A/Learning-Fitness-Instructor.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/learningagent/Learning-Fitness-Instructor.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Assessment Designer (Learning Agent)</title> <description>Using social networks and insights into cognitive functioning, assessment designers will create appropriate methods for evaluating media literacy, learning discovery journeys, and other innovative forms of instruction.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/ciqSEOHCyio" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/ciqSEOHCyio/Assessment-Designer.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/learningagent/Assessment-Designer.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>New Orleans Public Schools: Still Under Water? (Resource)</title> <description>David Parker, Jr. explores the ways in which the New Orleans public schools were reorganized following hurricane Katrina, and the impacts and opportunities that have emerged as a result.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/5ngPTgrCuMQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/5ngPTgrCuMQ/New-Orleans-Public-Schools-Still-Under-Water.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/New-Orleans-Public-Schools-Still-Under-Water.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Lisa Petrides talks about how education can work in a commons (Resource)</title> <description>Lisa Petrides, President of the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, speaks about OER commons and how to put the teaching and learning processes back into the hands of those who use it.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/uzs9o744_XA" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/uzs9o744_XA/Lisa-Petrides-talks-about-how-education-can-work-in-a-commons.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Lisa-Petrides-talks-about-how-education-can-work-in-a-commons.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>David Nordfors notes how access has now changed who owns the knowledge in a classroom (Resource)</title> <description>David, who runs the innovation journalism program at Stanford, stays studens are moving towards a journalisatic method of learning - finding knowledge, assesing it, and then connecting the dots to build a story.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/XDeBNCKdqqs" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/XDeBNCKdqqs/David-Nordfors-notes-how-access-has-now-changed-who-owns-the-knowledge-in-a-classroom.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/David-Nordfors-notes-how-access-has-now-changed-who-owns-the-knowledge-in-a-classroom.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Tom Munneke says kids can teach each other (Resource)</title> <description>Tom Munneke, who turned a shed in his backyard into a science laboratory for kids, says that one way to add excitement and enthusiasm to education is to have adults and peers do more teaching.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/OwOgePZeWrc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/OwOgePZeWrc/Tom-Munneke-says-kids-can-teach-each-other.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Tom-Munneke-says-kids-can-teach-each-other.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Future of Education Community (Resource)</title> <description>This community is devoted to providing an opportunity for those who care about education to share their voices and ideas with others. It's a place for thoughtful discussion on an incredibly important topic.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/WTx4ZblAkvw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/WTx4ZblAkvw/Future-of-Education-Community.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Future-of-Education-Community.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Families and the Emerging Learning Economy: Crafting Personal Resource Ecologies to Support Learning (Resource)</title> <description>Read how sixteen families plan learning strategies for their children in the new learning economy, a learning system comprising a vast array of services, products and resources beyond the traditional classroom environment. See what choices they made, and discover new options you never knew about!&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/BUI0Ti1kcS8" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/BUI0Ti1kcS8/Families-and-the-Emerging-Learning-Economy-Crafting-Personal-Resource-Ecologies-to-Support-Learning.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Families-and-the-Emerging-Learning-Economy-Crafting-Personal-Resource-Ecologies-to-Support-Learning.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>New Virtual World for Latina Tweens (Resource)</title> <description>Hip Venture Co. is launching HipChicas.com, an online virtual world for Latina girls ages 7 to 14. Members will interact online via avatars and visit virtual versions of Miami Beach, N.Y., Los Angeles, Cuba, Mexico, etc. with the ability to communicate with each other in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Hip Venture is planning to register 100,000 users for a beta trial period before launching the site nationally, said creator Lazaro Fuentes. He said eventually HipChicas.com will be ad supported, but any participating brands would need to adhere to the world s Help Improve the Planet [HIP] theme which will help the site appeal to a more modern, worldly tween audience, one that is being underserved by mainstream kids Web sites and TV.  We wanted to extend what has been a very broad introduction to Latin culture through things like [Nickelodeon s] Dora the Explorer, he said.  We think there is a gaping hole in the market. After these kids turn 4 and 5, content falls of a cliff. Fuentes plans to expand HipChicas.com  The idea was to launch a digital kids brand and anchor it with a virtual world, he said.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/sm3W0zVp3p0" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/sm3W0zVp3p0/New-Virtual-World-for-Latina-Tweens.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/New-Virtual-World-for-Latina-Tweens.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>How Important is Cultural Diversity at Your School (Resource)</title> <description>As the United States becomes a more culturally and ethnically diverse nation, public schools are becoming more diverse, too. According to the 2003 U.S. Census Current Population Survey Report in 2003, 60% of students enrolled in elementary and high schools were non-Hispanic white, 16% were black, 4% were Asian and 18% were Hispanic. The Census Bureau projects that by the year 2100, the U.S. minority population will become the majority with non-Hispanic whites making up only 40% of the U.S. population.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/YJnohJeJL-Y" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/YJnohJeJL-Y/How-Important-is-Cultural-Diversity-at-Your-School.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/How-Important-is-Cultural-Diversity-at-Your-School.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Teens Rule the Web (Resource)</title> <description>Fueled by new technologies and social networking sites, teenagers continue to lead the pack in creating content on the Web. According to the Pew Internet &amp; American Life Project, 64 percent of online teenagers ages 12 to 17 engage in at least one type of content creation, up from 57% of online teens in 2004. 28% of online teens have blogs. And girls are almost entirely driving the growth of blogging. Also 54% of girls post photos online compared with 40% of online boys. But boys do dominate in one area: posting videos. Wired boys are nearly twice as likely as online girls to have shared a video online. While they're busy creating content, many teens limit access to content that they share. Some 66% of teens with social network profiles restrict access to their profiles in some way and 77% of teens who upload photos restrict access to them at least "some of the time."&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/lGxEZCpR9_k" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/lGxEZCpR9_k/Teens-Rule-the-Web.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Teens-Rule-the-Web.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Middle-Class Dream Eludes African American Familie (Resource)</title> <description>Nearly half of African Americans born to middle-income parents in the late 1960s plunged into poverty or near-poverty as adults, according to a new study released by Pew Charitable Trusts -- a perplexing finding that analysts say highlights the fragile nature of middle-class life for many African Americans.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/Rr17Imjv6DM" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/Rr17Imjv6DM/Middle-Class-Dream-Eludes-African-American-Familie.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Middle-Class-Dream-Eludes-African-American-Familie.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Linking Ancient and Modern, A Worldwide Web of Worship (Resource)</title> <description>The first wave of religion online, in the 1990s, was mainly for nerds and young people and techies, said Morten Hojsgaard, a Danish author who has written extensively about online religion. "But now it really is a mirror of society at large. This is providing a new forum for religious seekers." Hojsgaard said the number of Web pages dealing with God, religion and churches increased from 14 million in 1999 to 200 million in 2004. Religion now nearly rivals sex as a topic on the Internet: A search for "sex" on Google returns about 408 million hits, while a search for "God" yields 396 million. The boom in online religion comes at a time when people, especially the young, are questioning traditional institutions, Hojsgaard said. Many are interested in religion, but they want the freedom to fashion a personalized style of worship. "Old mechanisms of religious authority are changing," Hojsgaard said. "There is more emphasis on individualism. We want to decide for ourselves."&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/JV39YxrdV-4" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/JV39YxrdV-4/Linking-Ancient-and-Modern2c-A-Worldwide-Web-of-Worship.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Linking-Ancient-and-Modern2c-A-Worldwide-Web-of-Worship.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Frill-Free Gadgets Cellphone and E-Mail For the Te (Resource)</title> <description>Samsung's Jitterbug phone and Hewlett-Packard's Printing Mailbox aren't aimed at the more-is-better crowd. They're marketed at an often overlooked segment of the population that's not so keen on learning how to use yet another gadget. Those people tend to be older, and they have valid complaints about confusing devices and programs designed to out-feature the competition. The Jitterbug and the Printing Mailbox dispense with most of the usual ingredients to make wireless calling and e-mail as accessible as possible to baby boomers and their parents (a market that Jitterbug estimates at 100 million people). The $147 Jitterbug doesn't do text or picture messaging, browse the Web or take photos. Its numeric buttons are big enough to mash while wearing gloves. You can also fill its 10-entry address book when ordering the phone online or by calling customer service. You can call contacts by speaking their names or by flipping through an onscreen list with two up and down buttons and large YES and NO keys. The HP Mailbox looks much like a conventional inkjet printer, except it plugs into a phone jack instead of a computer. Its setup is meant to be done by somebody else -- whoever e-mails the recipient most often.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/URg3yC1p8Zg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/URg3yC1p8Zg/Frill-Free-Gadgets-Cellphone-and-E-Mail-For-the-Te.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Frill-Free-Gadgets-Cellphone-and-E-Mail-For-the-Te.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Clues to Rising Seas Are Hidden in Polar Ice (Resource)</title> <description>Few consequences of global warming pose as severe a threat to human society as sea-level rise. But scientists have yet to figure out how to predict it. And not knowing what to expect, policymakers and others are hamstrung in considering how to try to prevent it or prepare for it. To calculate sea-level rise, the key thing researchers need to understand is the behavior of the major ice sheets that cover Greenland and Antarctica. The disintegration of one would dramatically raise the ocean. While computer models now yield an increasingly sophisticated understanding of how a warming atmosphere would behave, such models have yet to fully encapsulate the complex processes that regulate ice sheet behavior. In its executive summary report for policymakers in February, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, composed of hundreds of leading climate scientists, barely hazarded a guess on sea level, predicting that it would rise between 7.8 inches and two feet by the end of the century. However, the United Nations-sponsored panel -- which operated under the assumption that, by 2100, the Greenland ice sheet would lose some mass but that the Antarctic ice sheet would gain some -- did not venture a best estimate or an upper limit for possible sea-level rise,&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/rPbsPP0-P6w" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/rPbsPP0-P6w/Clues-to-Rising-Seas-Are-Hidden-in-Polar-Ice.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Clues-to-Rising-Seas-Are-Hidden-in-Polar-Ice.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>2008 Enrollment in U.S. Expected to Set Record (Resource)</title> <description>Public school enrollment will hit a record high this year with just under 50 million students, and the student population is becoming more diverse, according to a federal report. Overall, about 43% of the nation's students are minorities. Educators and activists, pointing to the shifting demographics, say it is becoming urgent to find ways to boost achievement of minority and low-income students, who often lag behind white and middle- to upper-income peers. According to the report, which drew on data from local school systems, colleges and national and international exams, dropout rates among whites, blacks and Hispanics are lower than in 1972. But Hispanic and black students are still more likely than white students to fail to complete high school. According to the report, the number of school-age children will continue to grow, hitting an all-time high of 54 million in 2017.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/tZDqFPbDlTQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/tZDqFPbDlTQ/2008-Enrollment-in-US-Expected-to-Set-Record.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/2008-Enrollment-in-US-Expected-to-Set-Record.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>How Many American Kids Live in Poverty? (Resource)</title> <description>13 million American youngsters, below age 18 are impoverished. A new report by the Census Bureau says the 2007 kids-in-poverty figure comes to 13.3 million, or 18% of the population in the age group.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/adm7mQteXT8" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/adm7mQteXT8/How-Many-American-Kids-Live-in-Poverty.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/How-Many-American-Kids-Live-in-Poverty.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>English Language Proficiency Assessment in the Nat (Resource)</title> <description>Because a growing number of public school students in the U.S. are English language learners (ELL), we must better understand the issues concerning instruction, assessment, and classification of ELL students. Without adequate, uniform, and reliable methods for identifying and serving these students, the fastest growing population in the country, we perpetuate their struggle in school and beyond. Fairness demands increased efforts toward improving the quality of assessments for ELL students, especially in light of the performance gap between these students and their native English-speaking peers. Inadequacies in the assessment and instruction of ELL students may partly explain such gaps, so fair assessment is a priority. These issues raise important equity considerations.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/QBwKL6Ahhp0" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/QBwKL6Ahhp0/English-Language-Proficiency-Assessment-in-the-Nat.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/English-Language-Proficiency-Assessment-in-the-Nat.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>World Social Forum Unofficial Magazine (Resource)</title> <description>This website offers a review of a book, Prosperity Tied To Good Governance, by Thalif Deen. The book suggests that the economic success stories of the world's 50 poorest nations are also predicated on "good governance", including multi-party democracy, rule of law, gender empowerment, respect for human rights and transparency and accountability, according to the United Nations.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/-ZsWUM8S_lc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/-ZsWUM8S_lc/World-Social-Forum-Unofficial-Magazine.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/World-Social-Forum-Unofficial-Magazine.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Third World Laptops Headed for Alabama? (Resource)</title> <description>Birmingham, Ala., may become the first U.S. entity to buy $200 laptop computers from the One Laptop per Child Foundation. Mayor Langford pushed for bringing XOs to Birmingham, Ala., and said the machines will give many inner-city children their first access to a computer. 80% of the system's students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, and the schools face declining enrollment and funding cuts. Birmingham's City Council approved using $3.5 million for schoolchildren with 15,000 computers from the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child Foundation though their user interface is built on the Linux operating system, not the more familiar Windows. Plus, the schools lack wireless networks to get the laptops online, and the system lacks enough technology workers to computer-train teachers and students.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/Pbsn5tK_ecU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/Pbsn5tK_ecU/Third-World-Laptops-Headed-for-Alabama.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Third-World-Laptops-Headed-for-Alabama.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>The Field Trip is Not Dead (Resource)</title> <description>A Christian Home School mom offers some of her favorite field trip ideas for 3rd and 4th graders.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/Om1WvkAjYD8" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/Om1WvkAjYD8/The-Field-Trip-is-Not-Dead.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/The-Field-Trip-is-Not-Dead.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>The Work of Education in the Age of E-College (Resource)</title> <description>This paper presents an overview of models of online education developed by commercial and academic institutions. It also raises concerns voiced by academics, administrators and business people about the impact and ramifications of the proliferation of online education.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/iKCvqPNUJLk" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/iKCvqPNUJLk/The-Work-of-Education-in-the-Age-of-E-College.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/The-Work-of-Education-in-the-Age-of-E-College.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>While Muslim Youths in New York City Feel Safe, Ra (Resource)</title> <description>According to a new study from Teachers College, Muslim youths have generally felt comfortable, safe and fairly content in New York City public schools. Still, these youngsters have been made hyper-conscious of their religious identity since September 11, 2001. In fact, 17 percent of Muslim public school students report having been the object of bigotry, often in the shape of teasing or taunting about Islam or being a "terrorist." While 43 percent feel that Americans in general are respectful and tolerant towards them, 69 percent think that mainstream society is at the same time suspicious of them. In addition, nearly all youths surveyed felt that discrimination against Muslim Americans increased since September 11.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/1rtOMY10YuY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/1rtOMY10YuY/While-Muslim-Youths-in-New-York-City-Feel-Safe2c-Ra.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/While-Muslim-Youths-in-New-York-City-Feel-Safe2c-Ra.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>How the Internet is Changing Consumer Behavior and Expectations (Resource)</title> <description>&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/ETvmEsiVXiA" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/ETvmEsiVXiA/How-the-Internet-is-Changing-Consumer-Behavior-and-Expectations.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/How-the-Internet-is-Changing-Consumer-Behavior-and-Expectations.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Beaverton, Oregon s Educators Get Diversity Lesson (Resource)</title> <description>In 1998, the student population Of Beaverton was 23% minorities as compared with 40% today with 92 languages spoken among students. The district held a summit, focused on development of individuals, classroom, school and district, plus community and family. Participants got in touch with their own prejudices and biases so as to understand other individuals. Training included faculty and non-faculty staff because all employees help to keep students in harmony. Participants learned how to incorporate community-building in the classroom: designating time for activities or sharing appreciation for students.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/KOPQwalPxMo" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/KOPQwalPxMo/Beaverton2c-Oregone28099s-Educators-Get-Diversity-Lesson.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Beaverton2c-Oregone28099s-Educators-Get-Diversity-Lesson.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>School Translators Help Parents Lost in the System (Resource)</title> <description>42% of the parents of children in the New York City Public School system, the country s largest, are not native English speakers. Meanwhile, the system has ever-increasing school choices and requiring students to undergo a complex admissions process for high school programs. Chancellor Joel I. Klein created a unit to translate the flow of school documents, like press releases, report cards and parent surveys, into the 8 languages most commonly spoken in New York, after English: Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Bengali, Arabic, Urdu, Korean and Haitian Creole. In an office with 40 employees and a $4.5 million budget, this unit is the largest of its kind in any U.S. school system.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/gPRfjZTIRDI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/gPRfjZTIRDI/School-Translators-Help-Parents-Lost-in-the-System.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/School-Translators-Help-Parents-Lost-in-the-System.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Minorities Now Form Majority in One-Third of Most- (Resource)</title> <description>As a sign of the United States growing diversity, nonwhites now make up a majority in almost one-third of the most-populous counties in the country and in nearly one in 10 of all 3,100 counties, according to a recently released analysis of census results. The shift reflects the growing dispersal of immigrants and the suburbanization of blacks and Hispanics pursuing jobs generated by whites moving to the fringes of metropolitan areas. From July 1, 2005, to July 1, 2006, metropolitan Chicago edged out Honolulu in Asian population, and Washington inched ahead of El Paso in the number of Hispanic residents. In African-American population, Houston overtook Los Angeles. A new study for the Population Reference Bureau found that Hispanics were increasingly attracted to job opportunities and lower costs outside major metropolitan areas. Between 2000 and 2006, the total population in small towns and rural areas increased by 3%, but the Hispanic population in these counties grew from 2.6 million to 3.2 million, a 22% increase. African-American populations declined in metropolitan New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and New York. The biggest numerical gains were in Atlanta (370,470), Houston (142,364), Dallas (130,367), Miami (126,819) and Washington (114,915).&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/-19NS3NbqV0" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/-19NS3NbqV0/Minorities-Now-Form-Majority-in-One-Third-of-Most-.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Minorities-Now-Form-Majority-in-One-Third-of-Most-.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Minorities Becoming the U.S. Majority (Resource)</title> <description>The Census Bureau calculates that by 2042, Americans who identify themselves as Hispanic, black, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander will outnumber non-Hispanic whites. The main reason for the accelerating change is higher birthrates among immigrants. Another factor is the influx of foreigners. Higher mortality rates among older native-born white Americans are another cause. Several states, including California and Texas, have already reached the point where members of minorities are in the majority. William H. Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution, said that by the 2028 presidential election, racial and ethnic minorities will constitute a majority of adults ages 18 to 29 for the first time.  No other nation has experienced such rapid racial and ethnic change, said Mark Mather of the Population Reference Bureau.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/7k1MrfeQb6Y" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/7k1MrfeQb6Y/Minorities-Becoming-the-US-Majority.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Minorities-Becoming-the-US-Majority.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>In U.S. Name Count, Garcias Are Catching Up With J (Resource)</title> <description>Smith remains the most common surname in the United States, according to a new analysis released by the Census Bureau. But for the first time, two Hispanic surnames  Garcia and Rodriguez  are among the top 10 most common in the nation, and Martinez nearly edged out Wilson for 10th place. The number of Hispanics living in the U.S. grew by 58% in the 1990s to nearly 13% of the total population, and cracking the list of top 10 names suggests just how pervasively the Latino migration has permeated everyday American culture. Garcia moved to No. 8 in 2000, up from No. 18, and Rodriguez jumped to No. 9 from 22nd place. The number of Hispanic surnames among the top 25 doubled, to 6.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/sDpnIRFNTr0" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/sDpnIRFNTr0/In-US-Name-Count2c-Garcias-Are-Catching-Up-With-J.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/In-US-Name-Count2c-Garcias-Are-Catching-Up-With-J.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Hard Times Hitting Students and Schools (Resource)</title> <description>With mortgage foreclosures throwing hundreds of families out of their homes each month, dismayed school officials say they are feeling the upheaval: record numbers of students turning up for classes this fall are homeless or poor enough to qualify for free meals. Educators in many states said they were seeing more needy families than at any time in memory. 2 charities in suburban Detroit announced in Aug. that they would hand out student backpacks, attracting hundreds of families.  They went through all 300 backpacks in 3 hours, and that was that, said an official in Macomb Intermediate School Dist.  We re seeing a lot of desperate people. Districts in Louisiana, Minnesota and elsewhere have taken a radical measure and adopted 4-day school weeks. Hundreds of districts, responding to higher food prices, are charging more for cafeteria meals.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/usHP5wcuQGI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/usHP5wcuQGI/Hard-Times-Hitting-Students-and-Schools.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Hard-Times-Hitting-Students-and-Schools.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>World s Best Medical Care? (Resource)</title> <description>The disturbing truth is that this country lags well behind other advanced nations in delivering timely and effective care. There is a growing body of evidence that, by an array of pertinent yardsticks, the United States is a laggard not a leader in providing good medical care. The Commonwealth Fund compared the United States with other advanced nations through surveys of patients and doctors and analysis of other data. Its latest report, issued in May, ranked the United States last or next-to-last compared with five other nations  Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom  on most measures of performance, including quality of care and access to it. Other comparative studies also put the United States in a relatively bad light&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/ujh7d3AEOsg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/ujh7d3AEOsg/Worlde28099s-Best-Medical-Care.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Worlde28099s-Best-Medical-Care.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Surge Seen in Applications for U.S. Citizenship (Resource)</title> <description>New feelings of insecurity in immigrant communities are helping fuel a rise in the number of legal immigrants seeking to become U.S. citizens. The numbers of new naturalized citizens have steadily grown, to 702,589 last year from 463,204 in 2003. A big jump occurred this year, with the number of applications increasing every month, to 115,175 in May compared with 65,782 last December. For many legal immigrants, worry about their futures in the United States turned into action after an announcement on Jan. 31 by Citizenship and Immigration Services that it would increase application fees.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/QM3kQ-jEieE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/QM3kQ-jEieE/Surge-Seen-in-Applications-for-US-Citizenship.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Surge-Seen-in-Applications-for-US-Citizenship.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>In DNA Era, New Worries About Prejudice (Resource)</title> <description>When scientists first decoded the human genome in 2000, they were quick to portray it as proof of humankind s remarkable similarity. The DNA of any two people is at least 99% identical. New research is exploring how DNA explains racial differences between people of different continental origins. The heart-disease drug BiDil is marketed exclusively to African-Americans, who seem genetically predisposed to respond to it. Jews are offered prenatal tests for genetic disorders rarely found in other ethnic groups. Such developments are providing some of the first tangible benefits of the genetic revolution. Social critics fear they may also be giving long-discredited racial prejudices new potency. The notion that race is more than skin deep could undermine principles of equal treatment and opportunity which presume that we are all fundamentally equal.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/rbPaVBxXuSo" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/rbPaVBxXuSo/In-DNA-Era2c-New-Worries-About-Prejudice.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/In-DNA-Era2c-New-Worries-About-Prejudice.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>I.B.M. Plan Ties Training and Accounts (Resource)</title> <description>Corporations search for efficient, low-cost sources of labor, and American workers seek to improve their skills with training and education. Training costs often go to employees and increase their sense of economic insecurity. I.B.M. is taking a step to address help workers, and it hopes other companies will follow to help encourage a change in tax policy. At a recent conference in Washington, I.B. M. announced that it will offer its U. S. employees specialized savings accounts for training and education. The  learning accounts will be modeled on 401(k) retirement accounts. Workers will put up to $1,000 a year into the accounts, and I.B.M. will contribute 50 cents for every dollar put in by the employee. The employee decides how and when to spend the money, held in an interest-bearing account. When employees leave I.B.M., they take their accounts with them. I.B.M. spends over $600 million a year on education programs, to upgrade workers skills for their next job in the company. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a professor at the Harvard Business School said,  The significance is that it s controlled by the individual, as opposed to programs that are part of a career scheme that the company has in mind. &lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/n5ptVrw6feI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/n5ptVrw6feI/IBM-Plan-Ties-Training-and-Accounts.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/IBM-Plan-Ties-Training-and-Accounts.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Earthquakes Bring Attention to Seismically Unsafe (Resource)</title> <description>In the wake of the disastrous collapse of over 7,000 "classrooms" and the death of 10,000 students (estimates are closely controlled by the Chinese government) in China after May 12's devastating earthquake, American seismologists are assessing the sturdiness of schools in the U.S., writes Andrew Revkin in the New York Times blog Dot Earth. The Pacific Northwest, seems most vulnerable. According to Yumei Wang, geohazards team leader for the state of Oregon, approximately 1,300 schools there have "a very high probability of collapse." Washington State is similarly vulnerable. Wang states that "what are sorely needed are long-term, institutionalized, government-funded programs to help school districts mitigate their high-occupancy, collapse-prone schools." Oregon is establishing a grant program to do this, but Wang cautions that the retrofitting of schools and other critical infrastructure will take decades and could cost up to $2 billion.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/CdrK30ruc2w" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/CdrK30ruc2w/Earthquakes-Bring-Attention-to-Seismically-Unsafe.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Earthquakes-Bring-Attention-to-Seismically-Unsafe.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Cleaning Up China (Resource)</title> <description>Over the past 16 years, a large share of the world s polluting industries have migrated to the largest low-wage country of all, China, helping to turn big swaths of its landscape into an environmental disaster zone. China makes more than a third of the world s steel, half of its cement, about a third of its aluminum. It also consumes more coal than the United States, Europe and Japan combined. Airborne pollution causes more than 650,000 premature deaths a year. China is also surpassing the United States as the world s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. China s government bears primary responsibility for failing to address the devastating environmental consequences of its breakneck growth.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/7LHOW7VPcrs" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/7LHOW7VPcrs/Cleaning-Up-China.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Cleaning-Up-China.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>As Somalia s Crisis Swells, Experts See a Void in Aid (Resource)</title> <description>In Somalia, the road between the market town of Afgooye and the capital of Mogadishu it is a corridor teeming with misery, with 200,000 recently displaced people crammed into swelling camps that are rapidly running out of food. U.N. officials say Somalia has higher malnutrition rates, more current bloodshed, and fewer aid workers than Darfur. The ever-worsening situation has included floods, droughts, locusts, suicide bombers, roadside bombs and near-daily assassinations.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/_N10JrFdmAA" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/_N10JrFdmAA/As-Somaliae28099s-Crisis-Swells2c-Experts-See-a-Void-in-Aid.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/As-Somaliae28099s-Crisis-Swells2c-Experts-See-a-Void-in-Aid.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>A High School Struggles With Surprise Students (Resource)</title> <description>Beach Channel High School, in Queens, New York, is struggling with an influx of students from outside its attendance boundaries, who the school said have brought with them a higher number disruptive incidents, including drug possession, weapons possession, fighting, insubordination to school safety officers and an attack on a dean. The school received 50 new students whose zoned school is Far Rockaway High School; 16 new students from alternative programs, including those for incarcerated teenagers; and 11 students from all-day special education programs. Under the Education Department s new system for transferring students from over-crowded schools,, a computer program seeks open spaces in schools closest to a student s home.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/5awK231uS3Y" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/5awK231uS3Y/A-High-School-Struggles-With-Surprise-Students.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/A-High-School-Struggles-With-Surprise-Students.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Inheriting the City: The Children of Immigrants (Resource)</title> <description>A National Public Radio report says immigrant parents tend to push their children to succeed. Although some immigrants are relatively uneducated themselves, NPR says they are often adept at navigating the system to help their children get ahead. As of 2005, about ¼ of all Americans under 18 who were born in the U.S. had at least one immigrant parent.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/aOaUM4QgMcY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/aOaUM4QgMcY/Inheriting-the-City-The-Children-of-Immigrants.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Inheriting-the-City-The-Children-of-Immigrants.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>More languages in the classroom, less time for English (Resource)</title> <description>In Ventnor, N.J., not far from Atlantic City, there are 19 languages represented among the town's 1,000 students. One English-as-a-second-language class has five seventh-graders with four native languages: Albanian, German, Spanish and Vietnamese. Increasingly the proliferation of foreign-language speakers from diverse backgrounds complicates ESL instruction. Under federal education policy, the students who are just learning English are now held to the same expectations on standardized tests given in English as children who uttered their first words in English. According to data recently released in the Department of Education's annual New Jersey School Report Card, three-fourths of the state's 2,400 public schools have three or more native languages among students. About 20% are considered English language learners. Another 30% more are now proficient at English, although it is not their first language. New Jersey is one of a handful of states that requires some schools to offer bilingual education.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/6d-KkLzhgXY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/6d-KkLzhgXY/More-languages-in-the-classroom2c-less-time-for-English.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/More-languages-in-the-classroom2c-less-time-for-English.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>3 Teachers Travel 7,000 Miles to Teach Mandarin in (Resource)</title> <description>3 teachers will spend the current school year in Saginaw, Michigan, teaching Mandarin Chinese to students at Arthur Eddy Academy, Handley Elementary School, and Zilwaukee School. Saginaw is among several school districts the Michigan Department of Education is providing with Chinese teachers as part of a pilot program. The initiative could extend beyond the 2008-09 school year, school district spokeswoman Safiya Mosley said. "It's a wonderful way to introduce our students to a new culture," Mosley said. "We're in an increasingly smaller global society. We want to prepare our students for the future. This is a great start." The U.S. State Department classifies Mandarin Chinese as a Level III language, which means it is "exceptionally difficult" for English speakers. Mandarin is the most spoken language on Earth. English is spoken by an estimated half-billion fewer people.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/TbdYpGqFrYY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/TbdYpGqFrYY/3-Teachers-Travel-72c000-Miles-to-Teach-Mandarin-in.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/3-Teachers-Travel-72c000-Miles-to-Teach-Mandarin-in.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Diversity Enhancement Report for Middletown Public Schools (Resource)</title> <description>While Middletown has been prepared by in-house staff in an effort to promote fuller awareness of the district s efforts to improve educational opportunities for all of its students. For 2 years prior to the year 2000, Brown University s lab School prepared and published the report. Middletown s effort and achievement in reducing the achievement gap and strengthening multicultural education have been recognized throughout the state of Connecticut. The district understands that the disparity between different groups academic achievement remains significant and must be addressed. The annual report reminds Middletown s educational community of both its progress and the work that lies ahead.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/YauFmZTTuuc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/YauFmZTTuuc/Diversity-Enhancement-Report-for-Middletown-Public-Schools.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Diversity-Enhancement-Report-for-Middletown-Public-Schools.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Seminole School Mixes Technology, Tradition (Resource)</title> <description>The school would make any parent drool. It features shiny new laptops, lessons on iPods, handpicked teachers, and even a cafeteria with the sleek lines of a Starbucks. The Pemayetv Emahakv Charter School is on the Seminole Tribe's Brighton Reservation, deep in Florida cattle country, northwest of Lake Okeechobee. It s a new Seminole charter school, teaching its students cutting-edge technology alongside the native Seminole language. Investing in the next generation was a logical step for a 3,200-member tribe that has seen its gambling empire revenues soar to an estimated $1 billion-plus a year, largely from its seven casinos in Florida. The school provides children from the reservation and nearby communities with an education in the tech-savvy ways of the outside world, but tribal leaders are intent on keeping their children rooted in tradition and the Creek language.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/XnXw8XDg4Yg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/XnXw8XDg4Yg/Seminole-School-Mixes-Technology2c-Tradition.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Seminole-School-Mixes-Technology2c-Tradition.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Zanzibar, The African Partner of South Carolina State (Resource)</title> <description>In a program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, South Carolina State Univ. (SCSU), the historically black college in Orangeburg, recently transferred 684,000 textbooks to Zanzibar in Africa. The textbooks, by SCSU faculty, will be used in high school chemistry and mathematics classes. It is the first time in history that every high school student in Zanzibar will have a textbook. The government of Zanzibar will provide scholarships for students to study abroad and a faculty member will be sent to Orangeburg to teach the Kiswahili language. In the next phase of the project South Carolina State University will work to produce textbooks for students in lower grades.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/dLbDrQehAM4" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/dLbDrQehAM4/Zanzibar2c-The-African-Partner-of-South-Carolina-State.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Zanzibar2c-The-African-Partner-of-South-Carolina-State.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Wellesley College to Offer Instruction in Swahili (Resource)</title> <description>Wellesley College, the college for women outside Boston, has announced that, starting this fall, it will offer students instruction in the African language of Swahili. The language is spoken by an estimated 50 million people in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and several other nations. Wellesley students who take Swahili will be better prepared to participate in the college s extensive study-abroad opportunities in Africa.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/p_j5sweueNE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/p_j5sweueNE/Wellesley-College-to-Offer-Instruction-in-Swahili.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Wellesley-College-to-Offer-Instruction-in-Swahili.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>New Research Effort at UCLA to Study Chronic Diseases That Disproportionately Affect Racial Minorities (Resource)</title> <description>The department of family medicine at the Univ. of California at Los Angeles launched the Network for Multicultural Research on Health and Healthcare. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, it will study racial healthcare disparities, especially chronic diseases. Scientists from universities and medical centers across the U.S. will join the effort. The program will appoint 5 Healthcare Quality Scholars annually to conduct research on diabetes, cancer, hypertension, and other afflictions that disproportionately affect racial minorities.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/ZrkA4gNVhCI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/ZrkA4gNVhCI/New-Research-Effort-at-UCLA-to-Study-Chronic-Diseases-That-Disproportionately-Affect-Racial-Minorities.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/New-Research-Effort-at-UCLA-to-Study-Chronic-Diseases-That-Disproportionately-Affect-Racial-Minorities.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>The Interra Project (Resource)</title> <description>Using the Interra Project, consumers can register their existing payment cards or apply for a new Interra card. All cards are connected to a transaction platform that rewards consumers for purchasing from locally owned and sustainable businesses, automates donations to nonprofit organizations, and facilitates connections to like minded members.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/iwV9_GDpqfQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/iwV9_GDpqfQ/The-Interra-Project.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/The-Interra-Project.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Matching Borrower to Lender, Social-Network Style (Resource)</title> <description>To cover tuition in a volatile loan market, students have a new set of options. They may go online, create a personalized profile and befriend the right people. The social networking model influenced the latest crop of private loan companies aimed at students, dubbed  social lending or  social finance. Online companies such as My Rich Uncle, Lending Club, FinAid.org and GreenNote, facilitate borrower and lender connections, using the  peer to peer or  people to people model. Companies hope the popularity of social networking and slumps in traditional loan markets make them a viable alternative. The low volume in educational loans with general-interest peer-to-peer lenders may be due to their 1-3-year repayment period, instead of the 10- to 30-year window typical for college tuition loans. That discrepancy may open more focused services. In time, the industry will show which models resonate best with consumers. Students who can market themselves and reach out to as many contacts as possible are the ones who might win the peer-to-peer money race.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/f7gllaFiNn4" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/f7gllaFiNn4/Matching-Borrower-to-Lender2c-Social-Network-Style.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Matching-Borrower-to-Lender2c-Social-Network-Style.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Note to helicopters: (Resource)</title> <description>Quit hovering, helicopter parents...&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/7OynijS6E_M" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/7OynijS6E_M/Note-to-helicopters.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Note-to-helicopters.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Unequal America Causes and Consequences of the Wide  and Growing  Gap Between Rich and Poor (Resource)</title> <description>The U.S. no longer boasts of having anywhere near the world s longest life expectancy. It doesn t even make the top 40. In this and many other ways, the richest nation on earth is not the healthiest. Scholars find further cause for concern in the pattern of health disparities. Poor health is not distributed evenly across the population, but concentrated among the disadvantaged. Disparities in health tend to fall along income lines everywhere: but in the U.S., the gap between the rich and the poor is far wider than in most other developed democracies, and it is getting wider. The U.S. also does less than most other rich democracies to redistribute income from the rich to the poor. American attitudes focus on equality of opportunity, while Europeans tend to see fairness in equal outcomes. Among Americans, differences of opinion about inequality result in disputes over whether poor people deserve help and sympathy or should pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Research indicates that high inequality reverberates through societies on multiple levels, correlating with, if not causing, more crime, less happiness, poorer mental and physical health, less racial harmony, and less civic and political participation. Tax policy and social-welfare programs take on importance far beyond determining how much income people hold onto. The recent U.S. increase in economic inequality reflects a migration of money upward as salaries have ballooned at the top.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/2xZlhUp5hf0" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/2xZlhUp5hf0/Unequal-America-Causes-and-Consequences-of-the-Wide-e28093-and-Growing-e28093-Gap-Between-Rich-and-Poor.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Unequal-America-Causes-and-Consequences-of-the-Wide-e28093-and-Growing-e28093-Gap-Between-Rich-and-Poor.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Harvard Alumni Education Programs (Resource)</title> <description>The Alumni Education programs at the Harvard Alumni Association are designed to engage alumni in the intellectual life of the University through programs and services that enrich their lives, create opportunities for relationships with faculty and with other alumni and promote understanding and appreciation for the educational and research mission of the University.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/3vrWtwTIaJM" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/3vrWtwTIaJM/Harvard-Alumni-Education-Programs.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Harvard-Alumni-Education-Programs.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Boomers Seek "Encore" Careers (Resource)</title> <description>Many people change careers when they are unhappy with their work, have difficulties with supervisors, feel unappreciated, hear rumors of financial mergers, or want to help others. Myles Golden, founder and pres. of Greenville-based Golden Career Strategies said today s young workers may have 10-12 different careers during their lives. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the share of the labor force now over 55 is 17%; it will rise to 24% by 2020. Golden's advice: "Reinvent yourself. Between 40%-50% of jobs found through networking didn t exist until the employer met a networker and created a job to fit the person's skills . Daryl Wiesman, a professor at Clemson Univ., said second careers focus often on meaningful work. A survey by D. Hart Research Assoc. found 8.4 million baby boomers will move into "encore" careers, many in the nonprofit, education, and health sectors. Marc Freedman, founder and CEO of Civic Ventures, a baby boomers think tank, said, "Encore careers provide personal fulfillment, while offering tremendous gains for society."&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/Q4lOzh2I1is" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/Q4lOzh2I1is/Boomers-Seek-Encore-Careers.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Boomers-Seek-Encore-Careers.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Children in Katrina Trailers May Face Lifelong Ailments (Resource)</title> <description>Doctors fear that thousands of youngsters may face lifelong health problems because the temporary housing supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency contained formaldehyde fumes up to 5 times the safe level. The chemical was detected in many of the trailers sent to the Gulf Coast after Katrina. But a push to get residents out of them, spearheaded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, did not begin until Feb, 2008. Members of Congress and CDC insiders say the danger is being compounded by studies that will be virtually useless and the lack of a plan to treat children as they grow. More than 22,000 FEMA trailers and mobile homes are still being used in Mississippi and Louisiana.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/aW7kL7mWiQ0" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/aW7kL7mWiQ0/Children-in-Katrina-Trailers-May-Face-Lifelong-Ailments.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Children-in-Katrina-Trailers-May-Face-Lifelong-Ailments.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Global Giving (Resource)</title> <description>Global Giving is an internet-based marketplace for international philanthropy, connecting individual and institutional donors directly to locally run, social and economic development projects around the world.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/2tNx5OzJmXY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/2tNx5OzJmXY/Global-Giving.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Global-Giving.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Virtual World Population: 50 million by 2011 (Resource)</title> <description>Technology analyst group Gartner recently asserted that  80% of active Internet users (and Fortune 500 companies) will have a  second life , but not necessarily in Second Life by 201. Gartner is referring to  people who are heavyweight Net users. The estimate is actually that 50-60 million Net users will participate in a virtual world by 2011. Consider the current largest existing worlds, including South Korea s Cyworld with 20 million uniques, World of Warcraft with its 8 million subscribers, and Europe s Habbo Hotel with its own 7 million regular users. Lisa Cosmas Hanson of Chinese game market analyst, Niko Partners, estimates 26 million online world users by 2011 in China alone. Other contributing factors are: (1) Upward growth rates of existing worlds and social networks like MySpace; (2) Usage patterns of current online world users ( Especially in the teen and young adult area&  ); (3) General computer game usage; (4) Penetration and growth of Internet-enabled notebooks in this generation and spread of easily accessible wireless Internet; and (5) Involvement by major firms like IBM in virtual worlds, coupled to metaverse consulting groups to serve them there. This reflects both a growing interest from their client base, and will result in growing pressures and competencies to accelerate the move by corporate users into the virtual worlds space.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/ZC663w16jOE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/ZC663w16jOE/Virtual-World-Population-50-million-by-2011.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Virtual-World-Population-50-million-by-2011.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Hewlett-Packard Awards $7 Million Through  Technology for Teaching Intitiative (Resource)</title> <description>Hewlett-Packard has announced cash and in-kind grants of more than $7 million to 172 schools across the United States and Puerto Rico as part of its HP Technology for Teaching initiative.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/O_kkhWp49Ik" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/O_kkhWp49Ik/Hewlett-Packard-Awards-247-Million-Through-e2809cTechnology-for-Teachinge2809d-Intitiative.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Hewlett-Packard-Awards-247-Million-Through-e2809cTechnology-for-Teachinge2809d-Intitiative.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Facebook Social Network (Resource)</title> <description>Facebook is a social utility that helps people better understand the world around them and allows users to share information through social networks on-line the same they would in the real world.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/ND3ngbH0IHk" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/ND3ngbH0IHk/Facebook-Social-Network.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Facebook-Social-Network.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program: More than (Resource)</title> <description>The Youth Exchange &amp; Study (YES) program fosters a global community of shared interests and values through better mutual understanding via participation of high school students, aged 15-17, from countries with significant Muslim populations in academic year or semester exchanges to the United States. The program seeks to select students with leadership potential, to develop their leadership skills while in the U.S., and to support them in alumni activities after they return home.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/mOBOcKoD2Wg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/mOBOcKoD2Wg/Youth-Exchange-and-Study-(YES)-Program-More-than.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Youth-Exchange-and-Study-(YES)-Program-More-than.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Tech Giants Invest in Global Education Reform (Resource)</title> <description>Hoping to produce their next generation of employees (and customers), technology giants such as Cisco Systems, Intel, and Microsoft are setting their sights beyond just the U.S. and are investing heavily in global education reform initiatives focused on communication, collaboration, and technology integration. Developing nations such as India, Jordan, and Kenya are among the beneficiaries of these efforts, which underscore the need for U.S. schools to prepare their students for an increasingly global, information-based workforce. Intel Corp., a company with 4 decades of educational reform initiatives including the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the Intel Computer Clubhouse Network, the Learn Program, and the Model School program has incorporated its Teach program throughout much of India. By 2011 the Teach program will have helped 13 million teachers in more than 40 countries develop new skills to incorporate technology into their curriculum. The company works with an initial group of teachers to help them learn 21st-century teaching methods, and these teachers then train other educators in those methods. Another organization with ties in India is Curriki, a free online community for creating and sharing open K-12 curriculum resources. Through a recent partnership with Education Development Center Inc. (EDC), Curriki now offers EDC s standards-based algebra course for the middle grades, allowing teachers not only to access the curriculum free of charge, but also adapt it for use in their own classrooms.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/xJ86xe21jaQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/xJ86xe21jaQ/Tech-Giants-Invest-in-Global-Education-Reform.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Tech-Giants-Invest-in-Global-Education-Reform.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>STEM fields: New Initiatives Aim to Inspire Latinos (Resource)</title> <description>In national trend, leading businesses and education groups are launching new initiatives aimed at increasing the number of minorities, especially Hispanics/Latinos in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. A week after the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) issued research about the relative absence of African-Americans, American Indians, and Hispanics in STEM-related fields, IBM held an international summit (May 5-6, 2008) that brought together business, education, government, and community leaders to discuss how to increase the number of Hispanic students pursuing careers in STEM fields across the U.S. The summit, called "America's Competitiveness: Hispanic Participation in Technology Careers," aimed to address this gap. "The Hispanic community is one of the fastest growing in the country, and young Latinos are rapidly joining our workforce," said U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. "It is important that they have the option to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math, not only so they can fully develop their potential, but also so they can become professionals in areas that are vital to our economy, our security, and our future as a nation."&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/hagKC31ZWvo" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/hagKC31ZWvo/STEM-fields-New-Initiatives-Aim-to-Inspire-Latinos.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/STEM-fields-New-Initiatives-Aim-to-Inspire-Latinos.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Postyourtest.Com Raises Ethical Concerns (Resource)</title> <description>As a student at St. Louis Univ., Demir Oral met students acing exams because they could access a bank of previous tests of the same professor. Fraternities and sororities compiled exams from prior years and made them available to members as a study tool during pressure-packed final exams. So last Nov., Oral launched Postyourtest.com, as a free online service to democratize the sharing of college exams. Educators have become wary of the potential for academic dishonesty. Experts say such sites may change how professors, aware that previous versions of their questions might be available in cyberspace, assemble their tests. Exams on Postyourtest.com give students a better idea of what may appear on upcoming tests, and they don't give students a cheat sheet. The proliferation of sites that post exams could rattle longtime college faculty members and force them to create brand-new tests every semester, instead of recycling exams repeatedly.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/PrmcFttBn2Q" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/PrmcFttBn2Q/PostyourtestCom-Raises-Ethical-Concerns.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/PostyourtestCom-Raises-Ethical-Concerns.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>New Twist to Student Loans: Peer-to-Peer Lending (Resource)</title> <description>A new trend in the student loan business capitalizes on the online social-networking phenomenon to connect students with those willing to lend them money for college. The credit crunch has driven dozens of lenders out of the student loan market. But a number of new web sites are facilitating loans between students and anonymous investors or even friends and family members. The latest startup player in this so-called "peer-to-peer" student lending market, GreenNote, was launched in early June. The field is still small but expecting sharp seasonal increases. Fynanz, a competitor that matches up students anonymously with investors, said it has seen a big uptick as students start piecing together financial aid over the summer, with applications for about $180,000 in loans arriving in just the last few days. Fynanz evaluates students for credit risk and matches them with an individual investor or investors, who bid to finance the loans. The sites are increasing as many traditional lenders have stopped issuing federally subsidized loans. Such loans are still available, but they require students to hunt for banks or turn to the federal government itself. More and more students need private loans once they hit the ceiling on cheaper federal aid. The underlying concept is that students can secure better terms by turning to individual investors willing to back them. Investors might get satisfaction from helping out a child, relative, or friend. Also, if the lender knows the borrower personally, it lessens the likelihood of late payments or default. Alumni might choose to use one of these sites as a way to provide loans for current students. For example, three supporters of New York Univ. have put up $500,000 through Fynanz to be available to students there. Even nonprofit lending agencies have concluded that Fynanz is an effective way to get their money to students and are putting up funds.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/amzHygcHlMs" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/amzHygcHlMs/New-Twist-to-Student-Loans-Peer-to-Peer-Lending.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/New-Twist-to-Student-Loans-Peer-to-Peer-Lending.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>[eSchoolNews] Florida Leads Growth in Virtual Schooling (Resource)</title> <description>The oldest and largest K-12 virtual school, FLVS is a model for online instruction, and Florida Virtual School, is still growing. Ed-tech advocates say the potential of FLVS, and other virtual schools, is unlimited, and can help struggling students become 21st century learners. There are now 25 statewide or state-led programs and more than 170 virtual charter schools across the nation, according to the North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL). FLVS is a pioneer and a model for many of these other programs. FLVS, part of the Florida's public education system, is the leader among K-12 virtual schools in terms of innovation, depth of courses, rigor, and enrollment, said Bill Tucker, chief operating officer at Education Sector, a Washington, D.C., think tank. Founded 10 years ago, it offers more than 90 courses ranging from such basics as English and math, to specialties that include keyboarding, computer programming, web design, Chinese, marine science, Earth-space science, macroeconomics, and microeconomics.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/tkk4wBS-aNo" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/tkk4wBS-aNo/eSchoolNews-Florida-Leads-Growth-in-Virtual-Schooling.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/eSchoolNews-Florida-Leads-Growth-in-Virtual-Schooling.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Digital Divide Still Separates Students (Resource)</title> <description>A report released by the National Center for Education Statistics finds that while the overall percentage of students using the internet continues to climb, the 'digital divide,' still exists. Two out of every three white students us the internet, but less than half of blacks and Hispanics do.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/uUNoGZC0rtY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/uUNoGZC0rtY/Digital-Divide-Still-Separates-Students.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Digital-Divide-Still-Separates-Students.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Bill Would Boost Public TV's Learning Power (Resource)</title> <description>Schools across the U.S. may soon have online access to a vast amount of educational content from public television archives to raise student achievement, if a new bill called the  Ready to Compete Act (H.R. 6856) is enacted. Co-sponsored by Reps. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., and Ray LaHood, R-Ill., the bill may reauthorize Ready to Learn, to improve literacy by encouraging the creation of educational public TV programming, and Ready to Teach, to boost teacher quality through the use of public TV content for teacher professional development. Also, the bill would create 2 new programs: Ready to Achieve and Ready to Earn. Ready to Achieve to create a national, on-demand, online digital media service to let teachers access public television's extensive archives of educational content. Ready to Earn may let stations create new resources for adult learners in a changing economy. The intent is to prepare learners for the 21st century workforce by tapping into digital technologies to explore science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines, as well as history, literacy, etc. The Assoc. of Public Television Stations (APTS) seems best suited to help bridge in-school and out-of-school learning with services anytime, anywhere. APTS cites Cyberchase, a children's animated TV series that helps kids learn math and recently won a Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Broadband Children's Program" with more than 1.7 billion page views. More than 1.5 million individuals have used public television's materials to prepare for and pass the GED exam; 70% are now in the workplace earning $9,152 more per year and paying an average of 28% in federal tax.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/VNQQdu5-g6U" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/VNQQdu5-g6U/Bill-Would-Boost-Public-TVs-Learning-Power.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Bill-Would-Boost-Public-TVs-Learning-Power.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>African Students And Educators To Connect (Resource)</title> <description>The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) Council has partnered with ePals, Inc., the leading internet learning community. This collaboration will give African students and educators the ability to create cross-cultural pen pal and project sharing programs in a safe, protected context using ePals.com and its rich set of communication tools.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/EWClX9t4fr0" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/EWClX9t4fr0/African-Students-And-Educators-To-Connect.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/African-Students-And-Educators-To-Connect.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Why Markets Are Important (Resource)</title> <description>Tells how classical economic theory and free markets could improve public education&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/m5OhxjmxKpA" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/m5OhxjmxKpA/Why-Markets-Are-Important.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Why-Markets-Are-Important.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Online Options for 'Credit Recovery' Widen (Resource)</title> <description>Many school districts use commercial providers and virtual schools to help students graduate. As alternatives to remedial lessons, summer school, and other traditional ways to get struggling high school students on track, technology-based options for credit recovery, the North American Council for Online Learning, an association for online schools, will publish a white paper on  promising practices in credit recovery. Most credit-recovery options are online programs offered by virtual schools and commercial curriculum providers offering individualized instruction.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/0ztDIr0jbjw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/0ztDIr0jbjw/Online-Options-for-Credit-Recovery-Widen.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Online-Options-for-Credit-Recovery-Widen.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>New Orleans Offers Students Laptops (Resource)</title> <description>Nearly 4,000 New Orleans high school students this month received laptops as part of a $53 million technology initiative by the Recovery School District that aims to modernize some of the nation s most rundown classrooms and improve achievement in a city where most students struggle to meet basic academic standards. Mr. Vallas, a veteran urban schools chief, in charge of the state-run district since July, said the laptops are part of a broader effort to introduce academic reforms, improve instruction, and raise expectations for the roughly 13,000 students in the 33 schools that he directly oversees. For decades, many struggling schools in the city did not even issue students their own textbooks&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/rYG7wK1WrGg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/rYG7wK1WrGg/New-Orleans-Offers-Students-Laptops.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/New-Orleans-Offers-Students-Laptops.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>In Buffalo, Opening Doors for the Overlooked (Resource)</title> <description>A program offers talented minority students from disadvantaged backgrounds scholarships and academic support. Housed at the University of Buffalo, the program known as  Buffalo Prep identifies disadvantaged but talented minority children, places them in academic-enrichment classes, and then finds them spots at private schools and a more selective public high school in the area to complete their pre-collegiate careers. In addition to the accelerated courses, the program ingrains a strong academic ethic and offers a supportive atmosphere where students are embraced by a community of staff members, teachers, and alumni.  We do a lot of hand-holding, working through teen issues and school environments. We make sure that they take the kinds of classes they need to be taking, said Marcia O Neil-White, the program s executive director. A big ingredient of Buffalo Prep s winning formula is the 15  partner high schools, all of them private. They offer a combined $350,000 in annual scholarships. Some students have also been admitted to City Honors School, a highly selective public magnet school.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/GhkEX4PXCmU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/GhkEX4PXCmU/In-Buffalo2c-Opening-Doors-for-the-Overlooked.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/In-Buffalo2c-Opening-Doors-for-the-Overlooked.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Immigration Raids Impact on Children (Resource)</title> <description>Legislation should ensure that children's needs are considered when their parents are arrested in raids by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. California congresswoman, Rep. Lynn C. Woolsey, chair of the workforce protections subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee, said,  The agency s November 2007 guidelines outlining humanitarian concerns to be addressed during raids are not being followed consistently. The guidelines call for detainees to be given access to phones to contact family members and for the release of nursing mothers or their placement in one a family detention center. The guidelines also stipulate that immigration agents shouldn t take into custody children who are legal permanent residents or U.S. citizens. Congress was told how schools and preschools scramble to care for children in the aftermath of immigration raids.  The raids create enormous strain on school systems, child-care centers, and other institutions, said Janet Murguia, the pres. and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group. See report,  Paying the Price: The Impact of Immigration Raids on America s Children, written by the Urban Institute and commissioned by La Raza. (Seehttp://www.urban.org/publications/411566.html). Katherine Gibney, the principal of San Pedro Elementary School, in San Rafael, Calif., testified how schools are impacted by ICE raids.  Absentee rates have soared. Test scores have dropped. Students who come to school are distracted with worries about whether their families will be at home when they return, and after-school programs became huge counseling sessions, rather than instructional time.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/cyXncYWZ1tw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/cyXncYWZ1tw/Immigration-Raidse28099-Impact-on-Children.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Immigration-Raidse28099-Impact-on-Children.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>The Digital Divide: Where We Are Today (Resource)</title> <description>Edutopia article on the debate over whether there is a divide and what could be done.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/Pl5jMQflLlU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/Pl5jMQflLlU/The-Digital-Divide-Where-We-Are-Today.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/The-Digital-Divide-Where-We-Are-Today.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Planning for Neomillenial Learning Style, Educause Quarterly (Resource)</title> <description>This article explains how shifts in students learning styles will prompt a shift to active construction of knowledge through mediated immersion.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/YqsNMgrv_Ts" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/YqsNMgrv_Ts/Planning-for-Neomillenial-Learning-Style2c-Educause-Quarterly.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Planning-for-Neomillenial-Learning-Style2c-Educause-Quarterly.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Global Commercial Microfinance Consortium (Resource)</title> <description>The Global Commercial Microfinance Consortium is an investment fund that aims to build stronger ties between local banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs), facilitating access to local currency loans and helping to remove foreign exchange burdens for MFIs, thus lowering end-borrower costs.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/cJ5CMIXYzXw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/cJ5CMIXYzXw/Global-Commercial-Microfinance-Consortium.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Global-Commercial-Microfinance-Consortium.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Current TV (Resource)</title> <description>Current is a global television network that gives audiences the opportunity to create and influence what airs on TV. Users create the news, and vote to see what will air on TV.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/JQovwPSj9IM" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/JQovwPSj9IM/Current-TV.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Current-TV.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Cheap-Laptop Project Sees Major Advance (Resource)</title> <description>The One Laptop Per Child program and Intel recently said that the chip maker would join the board of the nonprofit and contribute funding. The nonprofit effort  known as the  $100 laptop because of the low price it hopes to reach with mass production  has been trying to line up governments in several countries to buy the machines, which for now cost $175. However, Intel, with its Classmate's price is expected to fall to near $200 this year, signed a deal to sell 700,000 of its machines in Pakistan. The negotiated compromise stipulates that One Laptop Per Child's computers will continue to use processors from Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc., but Intel is expected to work with the project on future technical developments.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/dvGuArPXapg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/dvGuArPXapg/Cheap-Laptop-Project-Sees-Major-Advance.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Cheap-Laptop-Project-Sees-Major-Advance.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>The New, New World Order (Resource)</title> <description>In Carrefour Grocery Store China sales were up 25% in the first quarter of this year. Sales in places like Brazil and Romania jumped more than 50%. While gross domestic product growth is cooling a bit in emerging markets, the results are still tremendous compared with the U.S. and much of Western Europe. The 54 developing markets surveyed by Global Insight will post a 6.7% jump in real GDP this year, down from 7.5% last year. The 31 developed countries will grow an estimated 1.6%. The difference in growth rates represents the largest spread between developed and developing markets in the 37-year history of the survey. The fact that the U.S. is no longer the locomotive of growth it was a few years ago doesn't seem to be that important anymore. The growing middle class in China is expected to multiply sevenfold by 2020, to 700 million people, according to Euromonitor, and India, where the number of middle-income folks will grow more than tenfold, to 583 million, says consultancy McKinsey &amp; Co. Increased incomes create market demands - thus quadrupling prices in steel, oil, and copper. Many nations with strong growth today depend on exports to the U.S. to keep their economies humming; a slowdown in U.S. spending surely will have ripple effects Robert McDonald, Procter &amp; Gamble's (PG, Fortune 500) chief operating officer, has borrowed a military term to describe this new business world order: It's a VUCA world, volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/8DUeQOzakOI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/8DUeQOzakOI/The-New2c-New-World-Order.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/The-New2c-New-World-Order.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Where Cuyahoga's Population Is Going (Resource)</title> <description>The U.S. Census Bureau reports that Cleveland's home county lost another 13,000 people last year, almost the sharpest population loss of any American county. Only Detroit's Wayne County lost more people in 2007. The exodus from Cuyahoga, now a multi-year trend, is beginning to drag down the eight-county region. Between 2000 and 2007, Ohio's largest county lost more people -- both in numbers and as a percentage of its population -- than any of America's 100 largest counties. During that span, Northeast Ohio lost nearly 50,000 people, according to a Plain Dealer analysis of the census data. Cuyahoga has lost about 98,000 people, or 7% of its population, since 2000. The people leaving Cuyahoga County between 2000 and 2006 took with them about $2.7 billion in annual household incomes, according to Internal Revenue Service data. Tax returns indicate about 2/3 of people leaving Cuyahoga move to a neighboring county and 1/3 leave the region entirely. The popular out-of-state destinations - counties surrounding Naples, Fla., and Phoenix, Ariz. - indicate many are flying off to the sunshine. But former Clevelanders also flock to growing metro areas where employers are hiring, suggesting a quest for jobs.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/vLQ5JYoNW78" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/vLQ5JYoNW78/Where-Cuyahogas-Population-Is-Going.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Where-Cuyahogas-Population-Is-Going.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Circle Lending (Resource)</title> <description>Circle Lending manages  person to person loans and mortgages between relatives, friends and other private parties. The company is widely regarded as a pioneer in the U.S. financial services industry for designing products and services for the private loan market.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/3HWtn9-bS7I" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/3HWtn9-bS7I/Circle-Lending.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Circle-Lending.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Survey: English a Key to Success in China (Resource)</title> <description>A significant proportion of recently surveyed Chinese citizens believe English is an essential tool for finding good jobs, passing exams, getting promotions or just seeming well-educated. A recent survey shows that 90% of Chinese think there is an English learning boom in society. The survey was jointly carried out by the China Youth Daily Social Investigation Center.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/shYG2oNGWr4" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/shYG2oNGWr4/Survey-English-a-Key-to-Success-in-China.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Survey-English-a-Key-to-Success-in-China.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Real Schools, Virtual Classes? (Resource)</title> <description>Students nationwide are enrolling in cyber programs to bolster or replace a brick-and-mortar education. Nationally, virtual classrooms -- cyber schools based on the Internet and run by public and private schools -- are beginning to augment traditional middle and high schools.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/6dEW3Q_QSzY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/6dEW3Q_QSzY/Real-Schools2c-Virtual-Classes.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Real-Schools2c-Virtual-Classes.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Sanford Signs Virtual School Measure (Resource)</title> <description>Home-schoolers and students attending public, private or charter schools will be able to take online classes after May 18, 2007 when Governor Mark Sanford signed a new law creating the  South Carolina Virtual School Program . The law, which will be administered by the state department of education, will allow students a chance to enroll in online courses that might not otherwise be available to them, especially in rural areas. The law will allow students to earn credits in Advanced Placement, remedial and specialty classes online. It will also ease scheduling conflicts, provide individualized instruction, and help students meet graduation requirements&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/KB5xgrFHZWw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/KB5xgrFHZWw/Sanford-Signs-Virtual-School-Measure.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Sanford-Signs-Virtual-School-Measure.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Philanthropic Travel Connects Tourists with World (Resource)</title> <description>Clients of the luxury travel agency Artisans of Leisure are embracing an off-the-map concept known as philanthropic travel. They donate cows - or even a water buffaloes - to impoverished villages. And they follow up by sponsoring a ceremony and a big party. "Our clients are really looking for human connections," said founder Ashley Ganz. Artisans of Leisure is experiencing a boom in this ethically complicated niche. Likewise, Ritz Carlton Hotels and Resorts has just launched a 71-hotel program called Give Back Getaways, allowing guests to participate in music therapy programs for the disabled in Istanbul or home restoration in the ancient water town of Wuzhen, China. Guests will shell out between US$50-100,000 for the experience, part of which is forwarded to the local charity. American Express Travel is set to launch its own package for its elite Platinum Card members, one of which will include an Orient-Express train trip through Botswana and South Africa that will offer visits to soup kitchens and basket-weaving projects en route. The cost: US$13,000 per person, and evidently, the company sees a future from this kind of demand. In the past week they received many calls from travelers who wanted to go help out in Myanmar. Operators and social theorists surmise that this jet set generosity could be the loud echo-effect of anti-poverty crusaders Bono, Bill Gates, Angelina Jolie, and Brad Pitt. Others attribute the trend to niche positioning in a competitive luxury market.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/YtTMLf1HTcg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/YtTMLf1HTcg/Philanthropic-Travel-Connects-Tourists-with-World.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Philanthropic-Travel-Connects-Tourists-with-World.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Study Shows Gap Growing Between Ric (Resource)</title> <description>Business Week examines the growing divide in a number of industrialized countries in the context of globalization of the world's economy.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/a4rxhzP02EY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/a4rxhzP02EY/Study-Shows-Gap-Growing-Between-Ric.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Study-Shows-Gap-Growing-Between-Ric.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Demilitarizing What the Pentagon Knows About Developing Young People (Resource)</title> <description>In contrast to 20 years ago, individuals who do not succeed in school have little chance of finding a job or contributing to society and societies that do not succeed at education have little chance of success in a global economy. Given the enormous stakes for our society and economy, our communities, and the young people themselves, the nation's educators and policymakers should focus with laser-like precision, intensity, and ingenuity on equipping these endangered young people for self-sufficiency and citizenship in the twenty-first century. The enormity, gravity, and stubbornness of this challenge demand out-of-the-box thinking and interventions that are implemented on a scale commensurate with the scope of the underachievement problem. This working paper examines the approaches, wisdom, and experience generated by the ChalleNGe program as well as the vast storehouse of knowledge and research, models and systems possessed by the military services that are potentially applicable to educating and developing youngsters who are at greatest risk of academic failure, economic marginality, and outright poverty.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/YRpqfqvkK9U" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/YRpqfqvkK9U/Demilitarizing-What-the-Pentagon-Knows-About-Developing-Young-People.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Demilitarizing-What-the-Pentagon-Knows-About-Developing-Young-People.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Where Did They Go? The Decline of Middle-Income Neighborhoods in Metropolitan America (Resource)</title> <description>The Brookings Institution report, June 2006,  Where Did They Go? The Decline of Middle-Income Neighborhoods in Metropolitan America." This article contends that middle-class neighborhoods have disappeared even faster in metropolitan areas, especially in cities. This trend suggests increased sorting of high- and low-income families into neighborhoods that reflect their economic profiles. The resulting disparities among neighborhoods will create new challenges for policies to enhance household mobility, improve the delivery of key public services, and promote private-sector investment in struggling locales.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/iuISV9JJDzc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/iuISV9JJDzc/Where-Did-They-Go-The-Decline-of-Middle-Income-Neighborhoods-in-Metropolitan-America.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Where-Did-They-Go-The-Decline-of-Middle-Income-Neighborhoods-in-Metropolitan-America.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>U.S. Schools May Join Inexpensive Laptop Project (Resource)</title> <description>The nonprofit "One Laptop per Child" project said on it might sell versions of its kid-friendly laptops in the United States, reversing its previous position of only distributing them to the poorest nations. "We can't ignore the United States. ... We are looking at it very seriously," said Nicholas Negroponte, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology academic who founded the project. Once known as the $100 laptop, the lime-green-and-white devices would go at a higher price to U.S. schools, because more resources are invested in American education than in developing nations. The laptop features a string pulley to charge its battery, a keyboard that switches between languages, a digital video camera, wireless connectivity and Linux open-source operating software tailored for remote regions. The display switches from color to black and white for viewing in direct sunlight. It requires just two watts of power and does away with hard drives, relying instead on flash memory and four USB ports. A minute of yanking on its pulley generates 10 minutes of electricity. Negroponte said U.S. schools could receive the laptops by the end of the year in response to interest from 19 governors.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/rzNymjT3PmE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/rzNymjT3PmE/US-Schools-May-Join-Inexpensive-Laptop-Project.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/US-Schools-May-Join-Inexpensive-Laptop-Project.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>State Launches Online High School (Resource)</title> <description>In New Hampshire, the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School, was initiated by the Exeter Region Cooperative School District. Funded through the Education Trust Fund, estimated at $3,600 per full-time student, tuition will be free for New Hampshire high school students. Students may start part-time study in Jan., 2008, and by Sept., 2008, they can take all their classes through the virtual academy. The school will offer college preparatory classes, AP courses, and special interest classes in biology, computer science, calculus, economics, English and Spanish. The online academy is an option for students to obtain credits needed for graduation. Sometimes a course doesn't fit into students schedules, or they might have health issues but want to keep up with their studies. It is an alternative for students with social issues too. Students will have a state certified teacher/adviser who maintains contact with them and parents. Three measures will be used to assess academic achievement for full-time students: the New England Common Assessment, testing and student projects assigned by the teachers, and students' digital portfolios.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/NOXvD1kSWmQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/NOXvD1kSWmQ/State-Launches-Online-High-School.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/State-Launches-Online-High-School.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Online Classes Take Sting Out of Summer School (Resource)</title> <description>With a growing number of schools letting students take classes and make up credits online, summer school's punitive reputation is slipping. Many teens are finding less of a need to spend their summers cooped up in a classroom. Submitting their assignments in e-mails, "talking" to teachers through instant messaging and interacting with other students in online discussion groups lets them learn at their own pace. They do the work when they find time for it, and some students and their parents say the system is making learning easier.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/zKQ4dVn7NOo" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/zKQ4dVn7NOo/Online-Classes-Take-Sting-Out-of-Summer-School.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Online-Classes-Take-Sting-Out-of-Summer-School.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Homeless High Schoolers Inspire a Plan (Resource)</title> <description>Boston is considering whether to open a residential program that would be the first in the state for homeless high school students and one of only a few in the nation. Homeless students, are more likely to miss school, struggle academically, and consider suicide, according to a new state report that found the problem is far more widespread than officials realized. The program would probably serve a dozen to 20 students and would be sited at or near Boston Day and Evening Academy, an alternative high school. Some educators say the program could be risky and may distract administrators from their primary mission, education, as they take up the role of a social service agency.  What some of these kids may need most is a consistent home where there is order and people around whom they can trust and who have their act together," said DeWitt Jones, chairman of the board of trustees for Boston Day and Evening.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/4KtyCrePxhY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/4KtyCrePxhY/Homeless-High-Schoolers-Inspire-a-Plan.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Homeless-High-Schoolers-Inspire-a-Plan.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>China's doors wide open for Mass. High Schoolers (Resource)</title> <description>For 6 weeks to 5 months, Massachusetts high school students are attending Chinese schools and living with Chinese host families. The students hope to gain an edge in careers. The cultural exchange project began in 1986 in one district, and several more are now copying the program as interest in the language and culture booms.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/VPQNWX1-F6M" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/VPQNWX1-F6M/Chinas-doors-wide-open-for-Mass-High-Schoolers.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Chinas-doors-wide-open-for-Mass-High-Schoolers.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Bilingual Teachers Wanted (Resource)</title> <description>Boston recruiters were looking for educators to teach English as a second language, as well as math, science and special education to help the city's fast-growing Latino student population. Their mission took them to several locations in Puerto Rico. Because the island is a commonwealth of the United States, Puerto Ricans are American citizens and therefore do not face immigration hurdles&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/ZjflKIjQCQQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/ZjflKIjQCQQ/Bilingual-Teachers-Wanted.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Bilingual-Teachers-Wanted.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Kansas High School Bars Woman from Overseeing Boys (Resource)</title> <description>A private high school in Kansas will not allow a woman to be put in a position of authority over its class of boys...&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/Tnnrewk5R9A" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/Tnnrewk5R9A/Kansas-High-School-Bars-Woman-from-Overseeing-Boys.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Kansas-High-School-Bars-Woman-from-Overseeing-Boys.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>To Give Children an Edge, Au Pairs From China (Resource)</title> <description>More parents have a desire for their children to be exposed and to learn from non-Americans as they realize the growth in global economics.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/eKJ4ZHCLL84" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/eKJ4ZHCLL84/To-Give-Children-an-Edge2c-Au-Pairs-From-China.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/To-Give-Children-an-Edge2c-Au-Pairs-From-China.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Asian-American Students Struggling Under NCLB (Resource)</title> <description>A special report of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund,  Left in the Margins: Asian American Students and the No child Left Behind Act , says schools are failing to identify struggling Asian-American students under No Child Left Behind and to get them the academic interventions they need. To combat those problems, the report suggests the law should require districts and schools to break down test scores by the ethnicity of Asian-American students and to expand the native-language testing of such students in districts with significant populations of certain ethnicities.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/6x-_3mlhJ9A" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/6x-_3mlhJ9A/Asian-American-Students-Struggling-Under-NCLB.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Asian-American-Students-Struggling-Under-NCLB.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Program Could Turn Arkansas' School Buses into Classrooms (Resource)</title> <description>Prof. Julie Hudson of Vanderbilt Univ. and program director for the Aspirnaut Initiative (AI), recently told a legislative panel the AI program turns what would be idle time into productive learning time. "Many students in rural Arkansas, and many rural states in the U.S., have long school bus rides. Students sit perhaps between 1.5 to 2 hours on the longest routes each way, each day of the week," Hudson told the House and Senate education committees. A pilot program has transformed school buses into mobile virtual classrooms in one Arkansas district seems worth expanding across the state, coordinators say. The  Aspirnaut Initiative equips students with laptop computers and iPods and allows them to take online math and science courses while traveling to and from school. The program turns what would otherwise be idle time into productive learning time. Students in the pilot program have completed 14 semesters of study with their regular course load. The students are given headphones which help them tune out noise from other students on the bus who are not in the program. Connectivity may be an issue for bus routes so remote that they don't even have cell service.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/K5_yO_EPpUc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/K5_yO_EPpUc/Program-Could-Turn-Arkansas-School-Buses-into-Classrooms.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Program-Could-Turn-Arkansas-School-Buses-into-Classrooms.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>2 Million Minutes (Resource)</title> <description>This film takes a deeper look at how the three superpowers of the 21st Century China, India and the United States are preparing their students for the future. As we follow two students a boy and a girl from each of these countries, we compose a global snapshot of education, from the viewpoint of kids preparing for their future.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~4/JvuIRvjShnQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Diasporas-as-New-Markets/~3/JvuIRvjShnQ/2-Million-Minutes.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/2-Million-Minutes.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> </channel> </rss>