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4A Daily News – Friday, May 10, 2013 Education in Tehama County Clever Crazes for Kids KEEP ON LEARNING Looking for college credit? Welcome to the buffet By Jon Marcus The Hechinger Report (MCT) NEW YORK — Danine Adams has taken a few courses at a four-year university, some at a community college and still more online while working all over the country as an investigator for the Federal Bureau of Prisons — career experience that she's also been able to transform into academic credit. A little from here. A little from there. And now Adams, who's 42, is just a few credits shy of earning a bachelor's degree. "I'm the whole ball of wax," she said cheerfully. "Oncampus education, community college, online classes, life experience." She's also a forerunner of a new type of college student, one who doesn't start and finish at a single brick-and-mortar campus, but picks and chooses credits toward a degree or job from a veritable buffet of education options. These include dual-enrollment courses — collegelevel courses offered to students while they're still in high school — advanced-placement programs, military or corporate training, career and life experience, and classes taught online. "We are at or approaching a point of significant transformation, where you will be able to snap modules together from a wide array of choices or link them in ways that produce what are sometimes called stackable credentials," said Molly Corbett Broad, the president of the American Council on Education, the predominant national association of colleges and universities. All these alternatives to conventional higher education are growing exponentially, thanks to their flexibility and, often, considerably lower cost. A new federal report shows that 1.3 million high school students took courses for college credit in the 2010-2011 academic year, up 67 percent from the last time the government checked, in 2003. More than half of all colleges in the U.S. award at least some credit for military and career experience, according to the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning. The number of transcripts from military and corporate training courses submitted for college credit through an accreditation service provided by the council on education rose 35 percent in the last 10 years, and a consortium of colleges that agree to accept credit for military experience now awards an average of just under 18 credits per year to each of more than 45,000 service members. More than 6 million people are enrolled in one or more college classes online, the Babson Survey Research Group and the College Board report. "You're seeing learning becoming much more open," said Mark Milliron, the chancellor of the Texas branch of Western Governors University, which awards degrees based on "real-world competencies" obtained from work experience and elsewhere. "People have access now to lots of different learning resources, and ways to prove what they've learned." Other than at a handful of accredited alternative institutions, such as Western Governors University, a private, nonprofit online university based in Salt Lake City, getting a degree this way depends on mainstream schools accepting nontraditional credits toward one, something they've been slow to do. After all, it cuts into their business of providing classroom education for a fee. There are also legitimate concerns about quality. Just because the council on education awards academic credits to certain military and corporate courses doesn't mean that colleges are required to accept them, and there's no way of tracking whether they do. Last year, when the Department of Defense asked colleges that enroll service members under its tuition reimbursement plan to accept more nontraditional credits — which would have saved the government money — the colleges balked, saying it was undue interference, and the Pentagon backed down. But under growing pressure to improve graduation rates, more colleges and universities are coming to terms with this new higher education model. The Hechinger Report is a nonprofit, nonpartisan education-news outlet at Teachers College, Columbia University. Courtesy photo Los Molinos SERRF students have been participating in a program called Clever Crazes for Kids, which brings new and exciting ways to engage kids in learning about STEM — how Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics are integrated into their everyday lives. All of this is part of the interconnected web of wellness — healthy planet, healthy relationships and healthy individuals. Along with the program's activities, students are also able to earn Nike gym shoes, which they were able to use on May 4 when they run in SERRF's "GO FAR" 5K in Red Bluff. Pictured with their SERRF leader, Bill Hardwick, are the very happy kindergarten through first grade SERRF students. April Cougars of the Month announced Courtesy photo The following students, pictured here, were selected as April's Cougars of the Month at Maywood Middle School: Yuri Diaz, Pearla Luevano, Jarred Darrow, Cynthia Madrigal, Jake Noble, Angela Venegas, Adrian Maldonado, Orlando Arce, Nathan Garrett, Guadalupe Hernandez, Heidi Magana, Gage Smith and Mindy Miller. Not pictured were Mario Verdia and Juan Gaeta. Fourth-graders visit Sacramento Rail Museum Fourth-graders at Sacred Heart School took a field trip to Sacramento. Their first stop was Sutter's Fort. Although there were lots of things to see at Sutter's Fort, students could not wait to find Patty Reed's doll. Patty Reed was part of the ill-fated Donner Party, and Patty carried the little doll in her pocket all the way to Sutter's Fort from Missouri. The next stop for the fourth-graders was the Sacramento Railroad Museum. After a tour, students took a ride on a boxcar. The field trip ended when to everyone's surprise, the Railroad Museum presented Mrs. Dobson, the 4th grade teacher, with a replica of the golden spike. 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