Weekly Media Roundup - September 19, 2012

The First Lady met with about 40 elementary school-aged girls at Girls Place Inc., which provides afterschool programs for economically disadvantaged girls in Gainesville, earlier this week. Ms. Obama also danced and sang the educational song “Tooty Ta” with the students. “You know I’m all about girl power,” Mrs. Obama said at the event.

An afterschool program that originally began giving books to middle school students in New York City has spread to Huntsville, Texas! Middle school students at the Boys & Girls Club in Huntsville are giving a book a week to help develop creative thinking skills. Amanda Nowlin-O'Banion, the program’s instructor, told the Huntsville Item that many students did not have books in their homes before the program. “Keeping books in kids’ homes is a great way to increase their literacy. We did it in the spring and I’ve had several kids come back and tell me their parents are reading the books.”

 

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Chattahoochee Valley is kicking off a new online computer program to help elementary and middle school students get extra instruction on reading, math and science after school. Teachers at a student’s school will be able to provide information to the club about a particular area where the student needs work. Club leaders will make sure the student gets help in that subject matter to better align the program with what students are learning during the school day.

 

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visited Kansas yesterday and said the U.S. must work to close an “opportunity gap” among students if children are going to reach their potential and that states have to see education as an investment, not just a line on a budget sheet. The Associated Press reports that Sec. Duncan also criticized efforts to cut state spending on education, such as early childhood and afterschool programs. Sec. Duncan was visiting the steps of the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka as part of his 10-day, nationwide bus tour.