As young people across the globe increase efforts to raise awareness about climate change, more and more school boards, PTAs and other education groups across California have taken proactive steps to tackle the issue in their own communities.
EdSource this week chronicled the growth of climate change activism throughout California’s school communities.
As EdSource reported, climate change falls under the core ideas for middle and high school students in the Next Generation Science Standards, new standards adopted by the state in 2013.
Environmental Principles and Concepts are also included in the California Science Framework, which provides guidance for teachers on how to implement the new science standards. These principles cover broad topics — such as how humans depend on and influence natural systems — and by law must be integrated into state-recommended textbooks and instructional materials.
So far, more than 40 California districts and county offices of education have adopted climate change resolutions since 2017 as part of a national effort started by Schools for Climate Action, a California-based advocacy initiative, according to EdSource.
Dozens of student organizations, teachers unions and parent and teacher associations in California have passed similar resolutions.
“If we aren’t educated on this topic, there’s no way we can improve as a community,” Mia Fassi-Fihri, an eighth-grade student at Hillcrest Elementary School, told EdSource. “Climate change is one of the most pressing issues we face.”
Here are some other education-related news articles from throughout the region for the week ending Oct. 11.
- Orange County’s public school students continued to make steady progress in English language arts and mathematics in the latest round of state tests, according to figures released this week.
- Costa Mesa High School student Rebekah Robeck wanted to spread kindness to her school and community. So she started by giving out something most teens would likely not pass up — free pizza.
- The Orange County Department of Education has been awarded a federal grant of $448,936 to help prepare more students in career and technical education.
- California public schools will be getting a big infusion of cash — a very, very big infusion — if voters approve an unprecedented trifecta of multibillion-dollar measures aimed at next year’s statewide ballots.
- Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill that would protect students with special needs at nonpublic California schools, in response to the November 2018 death of a student who was restrained at his school.
- Starting next September, high schoolers won’t need to repeat the entire ACT exam to improve their score.
- The name of William H. Spurgeon – Santa Ana’s founder – may have a spot on an educational building in the city after all. The Santa Ana Unified school board is scheduled to consider renaming the district’s central office as the W.H. Spurgeon Administrative Center.
- A majority of parents rarely if ever discuss race/ethnicity, gender, class or other categories of social identity with their kids, according to a new, nationally representative survey of more than 6,000 parents.
- There is a lot of uncertainty and even anxiety about what the University of California will do with its current requirement that all freshman applicants take the SAT or ACT exam.
- At the signing ceremony on Oct. 3 of Assembly Bill 1505, which makes major revisions to California’s charter school law, key players on the charter reform front provided their insights into the reforms, and the potential impacts going forward.
This is the part where we encourage you to keep up with local education news stories by bookmarking the OCDE Newsroom, subscribing for emailed updates or following us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.