Culinary Courses Help Schools Meet School Meal Recommendations

The National Food Service Management Institute (NFSMI) is developing a series of six free online courses designed to help child nutrition teams prepare healthier school meals that appeal to students' tastes. The Culinary Techniques for Healthy School Meals courses help school food service staff initiate food production and culinary techniques that incorporate principles of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans into the planning and preparation of school meals.

Illinois school food service staff members that complete all six courses are eligible to receive a stipend reimbursement of $75 and a set of dietary guidelines posters for their cafeteria while funding lasts. The stipends were made available by a USDA Team Nutrition Training grant.

For more information, click here.

Success at Every Step: How 23 Programs Support Youth on the Path to College and Beyond

This publication is designed to help policymakers and practitioners learn about effective programs supporting college- and career-readiness. These programs help diverse youth to improve their academic performance, identify career aspirations, build employer-desired skills, plan for postsecondary education, and develop the personal resources necessary to achieve their goals. Twenty-three program
evaluations are briefly summarized to give policymakers and practitioners an understanding of the research findings on effective programs along with a description of why the programs work. The 23 initiatives summarized in this publication clearly do not represent the universe of programs that are successful in helping youth progress along the pathway to postsecondary success; rather, they are the ones that had recent, high-quality evaluations. This review was limited to programs that serve older youth, primarily in middle school, high school, and postsecondary education.

For more information, click here.

Spice up STEM with SciGirls: Become a SciGirls Museum Affiliate!

Webinar on Thursday, December 17, 2009
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific

Let SciGirls help you spark girls' interest in STEM! Learn about the benefits, goals, and application procedure for the pilot SciGirls Museum Affiliate Program, an outreach opportunity from Twin Cities Public Television. SciGirls Affiliates will receive professional development training and multimedia educational resources based on the new PBS television series, SciGirls, funded by the National Science Foundation.

For more information, click here.

White House Pushes Science and Math Education

To improve science and mathematics education for American children, the White House is recruiting Elmo and Big Bird, video game programmers and thousands of scientists. President Obama announced a campaign to enlist companies and nonprofit groups to spend money, time and volunteer effort to encourage students, especially in middle and high school, to pursue STEM.

For more information click follow this link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/education/23educ.html?_r=2&ref=education

Obama launches new STEM initiatives

President Barack Obama on Nov. 23 announced the launch of several nationwide programs to help motivate and inspire students to excel in science and math, including a grassroots effort called "National Lab Day" and a White House science fair.


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