When Ada Brown went to her first Dallas Mensa meeting, she half expected it to be full of slightly awkward geniuses with pocket protectors. Instead, the former judge found a “lively, articulate cross section of people” she meets for dinner, aspiring author workshops, parties and game nights, says Brown, now an attorney who joined Mensa as an undergrad at Spelman College . “Honestly, it doesn’t look like a convention out of Revenge of the Nerds ,” she says with a laugh. “We do have that, but that’s not all. There’s a little of everything.” DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES? Take the Mensa quiz Brown, 34, is part of a growing and increasingly visible younger contingent of Mensa, the 58,000- member “High-IQ Society.” American Mensa says 42% of new members in 2009-2010 were ages 29-49; in the past decade, membership of people under 30 has grown 63%. American Mensa, now 50 years old, “is getting up there in age,” says national chair Elissa Rudolph, a Mensan for 35 years. But it aims to get “more people involved and younger people more involved,” she says. It hopes to attract some with National Mensa Testing Day this Saturday; an estimated 6 million people in the USA (about 1 in 50) could qualify, Mensa says. To qualify, a person must score in the top 2% of the population on an accepted, standardized test. That score can come from Mensa’s own admission test or one of 200 others, such as the Stanford-Binet, the Miller Analogies Test, the GMAT or the GRE. What’s in it for members, besides bragging rights? A network of people with whom to share a wide range of social and intellectual activities, says Rudolph, who joined in 1975 when she was a single mother in Pittsburgh. Andrew Heffernan, 33, a reliability engineer in Albany, N.Y., appreciates the variety of people. “It’s not a professional organization, so we’re not all interested in the same thing,” he says. “Everybody has something new to add.” He was also familiar with Mensa’s “nerd” reputation but put it aside after checking out his local chapter, one of 135 across the country, three years ago. “It’s not about segregating myself into a highly intelligent group, but learning and trying new things,” he says. Adds Brown: “You know that the person standing beside you is going to be bright and interesting, even if you don’t share their politics or beliefs. I know I can count on having a lively discussion about something.” Educating gifted children is of special interest to Mensa, Rudolph says; more than 1,300 members are under 18. In addition to local activities and excursions, there is a national college scholarship program (for members and non-members alike), resources for gifted children, a quarterly online magazine, Fred , and a group for teens. Alexis Wise, 19, a member since age 14, coordinates that group via text messages, Facebook and other forms of communications, and she helps plan activities for teens at Mensa’s annual national gathering. Now a sophomore at Yale, she says: “I have the coolest group of friends, and that’s only grown over the years. I’ve learned so much. Not the type of academic learning we’re used to in school, but learning though conversation, interacting.”

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles teachers union is promising to challenge a proposed agreement that would change how teachers are laid off in the nation’s second-largest school district, while education experts hail it as a landmark that could pave the way for changes in urban districts across the nation. The settlement, which must be approved by a judge, would shield up to 45 underperforming schools from teacher layoffs for budget reasons. It also stipulates that vacancies be filled as quickly as possible, and contains a commitment to explore incentives, such as bonuses, to recruit and retain teachers and principals at poorly performing schools, with additional incentives if the school’s academic performance improves. The agreement stems from a lawsuit by American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California over teacher layoffs at three inner-city schools. The group had filed a class-action suit against the Los Angeles Unified School District in February, saying that mandated seniority-driven layoffs led to the three schools shedding some two-thirds of their teachers, which left students largely in the hands of substitutes. The ACLU said students were being denied their state constitutional right to a fair and adequate education. It won a temporary injunction in May that prevented more layoffs of first- and second-year teachers who form the bulk of faculties at these schools in improverished areas, which more experienced teachers tend to avoid. “Any principal wants a mix of new and experienced teachers, you don’t want any schools skewed,” said John Rogers, director of the Institute for Democracy, Education and Access and the University of California, Los Angeles . “You need a set of measures to keep teachers at a school. If they had done this, seniority-based layoffs wouldn’t have been an issue.” With the recession spurring teacher reductions across the nation, the issue of how layoffs are determined has become especially contentious. Teachers’ unions have fiercely opposed most moves to change seniority policies to a system based on performance and other factors. Some education reformers lauded the proposed settlement because it seeks to correct the root problem: a lack of ways to keep more experienced teachers at schools, which leads to high turnover and thus staffs largely new to the profession. “The reform train is moving,” said Emily Cohen, district policy director of National Council of Teacher Quality. “Districts aren’t as afraid of unions anymore.” But the city’s teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, said it would be meeting with the school board and the ACLU to review the terms of the proposed settlement and to voice its objections. “When the district makes a long-term policy that’s detrimental to students, we are obligated to challenge it,” it said. The settlement shields teachers from layoffs at the city’s 25 lowest ranking schools according to the Academic Performance Index, a state score based on standardized tests, and another 20 chronically underperforming schools showing improvement, with the idea being that layoffs would set back advancement at these schools instead of boosting them, said LAUSD Deputy Superintendent John Deasy. Other schools would not be disproportionately affected because layoffs will be capped at the district average for each school. The union said it was concerned that the agreement would leave low-performing schools with a higher concentration of less experienced teachers. It also said “state law already gives schools districts flexibility in layoff procedures to best meet the needs of students” and “the settlement does nothing to solve ongoing staffing problems at hard-to-staff schools.” California is one of a handful of states where seniority-based teacher layoffs are mandated by law. LAUSD’s settlement takes advantage of a loophole that allows seniority to be circumvented to meet special staffing needs and to meet the state constitutional right to a fair and adequate education. Seniority-based layoffs are especially thorny in urban districts, where teachers often burn out early at tough, inner-city schools. In Connecticut, the Hartford Public School System has asked the state board of education to change the seniority-driven layoff mandate because the young teaching staffs at its schools in high-povery areas are being decimated. The teachers union has accused the district of “union-busting.” The issue “focuses the question on whether these students are less deserving of a stable set of teachers than students in a more affluent school,” said Mark Rosenbaum, chief counsel for the ACLU. “It’s about fairness and equality.” The “last hired, first fired” layoff model has long been a sacred cow for the vast majority of teachers’ unions. In a study earlier this year, the National Council on Teacher Quality found that of 100 large school districts, only 25 considered factors other than seniority in teacher layoffs. In 16 districts, performance carries more weight than seniority. Two bills to eliminate seniority-based layoffs in California died in the past year. Moves in other states have succeeded: Arizona approved a law prohibiting seniority-based layoffs, while Rhode Island said layoffs at low-performing schools must be determined by school need, not seniority. Analysts said LAUSD’s settlement is important because it will give other districts a model to follow. “It’s a good compromise,” said Cohen, of the National Council on Teacher Quality in Washington, D.C. Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

KEWAUNEE, Wis. — The homecoming pep rally Friday at Kewaunee High School will have extra drama this year: Everyone in town will learn whether they’ll be rooting for the River Bandits or the Storm to beat the Valders Vikings in the big football game. The selection of a new nickname is the culmination of a sometimes painful few months in this town of 2,745. Under a new state law meant to eliminate race-based nicknames, logos and mascots, a complaint prompted the Kewaunee School District to drop the “Indians” name that had been in use here since 1936. “This has been a tough time,” says Sandi Christman, who chaired a committee that got the whole community involved in the selection of a new name and mascot. “It’s like losing a friend.” To ease the sting, the school board decided to seek suggestions from students and residents. Almost 200 ideas were submitted. The 13-member committee, which included four students, narrowed the list to six: River Bandits, Storm, Cougars, Hawks, Knights and Huskies. At least 1,400 votes were cast in community-wide balloting that chose the two finalists, River Bandits and Storm. The winner was chosen by the district’s 1,030 students. The district has few Native American students. Some people aren’t ready to give up the old name. A popular shirt for sale here reads, “Once an Indian, always an Indian.” Law first of its kind A state law that took effect in May allows school district residents to lodge complaints against race-based names. The Department of Public Instruction holds a hearing before the state superintendent decides whether to bar the usage. Districts can argue that a name isn’t discriminatory if they have a tribe’s approval. In June, retired Kewaunee teacher Marsha Beggs Brown filed a complaint. The Kewaunee School Board intended to fight it, says President Brian Vogeltanz, but changed its mind on the eve of the hearing and decided to voluntarily drop the name. The district has a year to remove Indians signs from school premises. “Respect for all people — that was my motivation,” says Beggs Brown. “There’s just no refuting that these names harm children.” Some people here support her decision, she says, but “I’ve also gotten a couple of anonymous letters and anonymous phone calls, and there are people who don’t speak to me.” In 2005 the NCAA prohibited the use of Native American nicknames, mascots and imagery in postseason competition. Wisconsin’s law is the first of its kind. Department of Public Instruction spokesman Patrick Gaspar says it has received three complaints. Osseo-Fairchild schools were ordered to drop their Chieftains nickname. A complaint against the Mukwonago Chieftains is pending. There’s been no complaint in Auburndale, but it is forming a committee to look into changing its Apache nickname. Last week Kewaunee defeated the Mishicot Indians. Mishicot has permission from Michigan’s Hannahville Potawatomi to use the name because the town is named for a chief from that tribe. Barbara Munson, chair of a Wisconsin Indian Education Association task force on mascots and logos, says about 30 school districts use Indian names and about 30 dropped them voluntarily. The issue, she says, “is a failure of mainstream American culture to deal with stereotyping.” Mixed reaction Jesse Steinfeldt, an Indiana University psychology professor who has studied the effects of the nicknames and mascots, says they create “a racially hostile education environment that … can affect the self-esteem of Native American kids.” Councilman Brandon Stevens of the Oneida Nation, the tribe closest to Kewaunee, wishes the Legislature had banned all Indian nicknames. But, he says, “as long as there’s debate, there’s an avenue for education.” People here say it’s hard to give up the Indians tradition. “People are upset,” says Tim Selner, 37, a truck driver and 1992 graduate. “It’s always been part of us.” The use of Indian imagery and names “is a tribute,” says Shirley Brusky, who left school to marry a year before she would have graduated in 1955. “We were proud to be called an Indian.” Kewaunee senior Libbie Delebreau, 18, says the change is necessary “if the Indians feel it is offensive … but it’s sad that we have to lose our mascot in my last year of high school.” She hopes River Bandits will be the new name, but says, “We will be cheering on whoever we are.”

WASHINGTON — As community colleges take center stage today at a White House summit, a group representing for-profit colleges is taking aim at community colleges. In a report released Monday, a marketing firm working for the Coalition for Educational Success, an advocacy group for several privately held for-profit companies, argues that community colleges engage in “unsavory recruitment practices” and offer students “poorer-than-expected academic quality, course availability, class scheduling, job placement and personal attention.” The report crystallizes arguments from the for-profit sector that community colleges — perceived as the Obama administration’s preferred set of institutions to offer work force training — are ill-equipped to serve the students they already enroll and would struggle in taking on larger enrollments. The document’s release just ahead of today’s summit is intended to tarnish the event’s luster and the praise for community colleges that will come from President Obama and others, and it emerges amid the for-profit sector’s aggressive lobbying, advertising and rallying against the U.S. Department of Education ‘s proposed regulations on “gainful employment” and a Senate panel’s investigation of the sector. ON THE WEB: Is job training a zero-sum game? MORE FROM INSIDE HIGHER ED: Taking the long view “Community colleges play a vital role in the American economy,” said Jean Norris, managing partner of Norton Norris, the firm that produced the report. “However, they are not the only choice. Community colleges have some systemic issues that really need to be addressed and the singular focus on the problems of the career colleges is a waste of time and money and forgets the institutions that serve a much larger number of students.” For one part of the report, Norton Norris sent “secret shoppers” to meet with admissions officers at 15 community colleges and found that none would provide graduation rates, even when asked. In the report, these findings are likened to those identified by the Government Accountability Office on undercover visits to for-profit colleges, where investigators were told they didn’t have to repay loans and encouraged to lie on financial aid forms. The firm also surveyed current for-profit college students who had been enrolled at community colleges, asking them to compare their satisfaction levels at the two different kinds of institution. In all but one category — price — the for-profit colleges came out on top. David S. Baime, senior vice president of government relations and research at the American Association of Community College, characterized the report as “garbage” and said it was yet another attempt by the for-profit sector to fight scrutiny from the Obama administration and those on Capitol Hill. “It probably makes sense as a sort of PR strategy to try to run us down and sort of boost themselves,” he said. Norris insisted that it was not her aim to attack community colleges, but rather to “highlight issues beyond the career college sector that are the same ones the career college sector is being attacked for.” At last week’s Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing questioning for-profit colleges’ student outcomes and student debt, Senator Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyo.) accused the committee’s chair, Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), of examining the sector without looking at how it fits into the broader landscape of U.S. colleges and universities. “I agree there is clearly a problem in higher education — now you’ll notice I didn’t limit that comment to for-profit schools,” Enzi said. “It’s na?ve to think these problems are limited to just the for-profit sector. We’ve been looking at this in a vacuum.” While researchers said that some of the report’s findings could be accurate, the study itself is of questionable value. “We can’t call this research,” said Sara Goldrick-Rab, an assistant professor of educational policy studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison . “The for-profits are under attack and this report is being paid for by for-profits. We need to be asking many of these questions, but a report like this one isn’t providing meaningful answers.” In the report’s introduction, Norton Norris concedes a string of flaws with the report. The sample surveyed for the study “was one of convenience and may not represent all student experiences,” the report said. The students given a chance to respond to the survey were ones who withdrew or graduated from a nonprofit college before enrolling at a for-profit, admittedly meaning that “bias may be present” among respondents. The response rate was 10%. And the survey was “custom-designed and thereby not previously proven valid and reliable.” Thomas R. Bailey, director of the Community College Research Center at Columbia University ‘s Teachers College, said he saw the report as “a tactic” for for-profit institutions in their battle against greater regulation. “Certainly from [for-profit colleges'] perspective it would be reasonable to try to put out an argument that says there are many problems with community colleges.” Nonetheless, Bailey said, some of its findings are true. “Community colleges have low resources, the counselor-to-student ratio is extremely low. It’s not surprising that students are not very well-informed about their options at community colleges. But, again, I don’t think we can look at this as a reliable document.”

Despite an increased understanding that kids learn differently, a majority of Americans still do not completely understand what conditions are related to learning disabilities, a new poll says. The report by the Tremaine Foundation, which supports programs in arts, environment and disabilities, is based on a telephone poll of 1,000 adults. The report says that 79% of parents and 80% of non-parents incorrectly associate mental retardation with a learning disorder. A majority of Americans also incorrectly associate attention deficit disorder (ADD), emotional disorders and autism with learning disorders, all of which are unrelated to learning disabilities. “We still see a great confusion among the public and among the teachers as to what learning disabilities are and are not,” says Tremaine Foundation president Stewart Hudson. A learning disorder does not affect a person’s intelligence but rather “affects the brain’s ability to process, store, and respond to information,” according to the National Center for Learning Disabilities. Dyslexia, difficulty reading and processing language, and dyscalculia, difficulty processing math, are two common learning disabilities. These misconceptions may lead to shortcomings in addressing learning disabilities in schools. “It makes us wonder — if there’s a lack of understanding at this level, how does this play out in the classroom where the rubber meets the road?” says James Wendorf, executive director of the National Center for Learning Disabilities. Signs in children, like language difficulties and trouble with letters and numbers, do not always indicate a learning disability, but parents should address problems early, says Virginia Buysse of the FPG Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

DES MOINES — Parents remain determined to save money for college even in the tough economy, but they’re not always choosing the methods that give them the best bang for their buck. The nation’s leading college lender Sallie Mae released Tuesday its second annual study of college students and parents conducted by Gallup. It shows 60% of parents have saved money for their child’s college education, about the same as a year ago. However, it is surprising that nearly a quarter of all college savings has been set aside in retirement accounts including 401(k)s or individual retirement accounts, said Sarah Ducich, senior vice president for public policy at Sallie Mae. The typical family saving for college has amassed an average of $28,102 and is projected to have saved $48,367 by the time their child reaches age 18. DEBT: Student loan debt exceeds credit card debt in USA YOUR MONEY: Student loan program changes affect rates, repayment The problem with relying on retirement accounts is that when money is withdrawn before age 59 1/2, the accountholder must pay taxes on the funds as well as a 10% penalty. As an alternative, some families are choosing to take out a loan against a 401(k) account. This is also problematic because it removes a portion of the retirement fund, reducing the potential for growth. Also there’s the possibility that the loan will need to be repaid quickly if the accountholder changes jobs. Whether an outright withdrawal or a loan, either way, parents are shortchanging their retirement savings potential, Ducich said. An additional disadvantage to using the 401(k) for college savings is that the money withdrawn this year counts as income for the parents. This means that when the family applies for financial aid the next year, that amount will be included in income, reducing potential aid. Of course not all savings is held in retirement accounts. About 21% of money set aside for college is in investments and 14% sits in general savings accounts, which return very little interest. About 12% is held in dedicated college savings 529 accounts. A few responses in the 2010 study show signs that economic pressures have affected how families are setting their savings goals. About 72% of parents say they expect to pay half or more of their child’s education costs, but that is down from 79% a year ago. Also, fewer parents intend to pay most of the cost with 27% saying that this year, compared with 33% in 2009. That’s one more indicator that the recession has forced people to make decisions about their money, said Bill Diggins, a senior consultant at Gallup Inc., who helped conduct this year’s survey. Economic confidence has dropped over the last couple of years and discretionary spending has gone down and continues to fall. Savings rates however, have increased. Diggins said Gallup research indicates about two-thirds of those who are saving more say it’s a permanent change. “We’re finding people will pay for and sacrifice for things they value,” Diggins said. “It’s clear from these studies that they continue to place a high priority on college for their kids.” The study illustrates that point with 21% of parents saying college savings is their most important savings goal, up from 14% in 2009. Saving for retirement fell to 22% as the most important savings priority from 27%. About 38% of families said they are saving the same this year as last year and 34% said they are saving less. About 28% boosted their savings. The study also shows that families understand the need to start early. The average age when parents began a college account is about 3 years old. It’s important now to educate parents on the most efficient ways to save, Ducich said. The dedication to help children obtain a college education is there, it’s now a matter of helping families put that savings to work balancing earning potential with safe investments that help them reach their goals. Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

President Obama, whose bid last year to pump billions of dollars into community colleges was scaled back dramatically by Congress, is using his bully pulpit this week to raise the profile of two-year colleges. He also is calling on public-private partnerships and philanthropies to help the schools meet his goal to produce a well-educated workforce that is prepared to compete globally. On Monday, he announced an initiative through which companies, labor unions and two-year colleges in 50 states would collaborate to improve job training and workforce development. Today, he is scheduled to address business leaders, educators, and others at a White House summit aimed at better aligning learning with workforce goals. “We want to make it easier to join students looking for jobs with businesses looking to hire,” Obama said Monday at the start of a meeting with his economic recovery advisory board. “We want to put community colleges and employers together to create programs that match curricula in the classroom with the needs of the boardroom.” COLLEGES: For-profits under fire Among companies that have already signed on: McDonald’s, which will expand a literacy program, and Gap, which expects to hire up to 1,200 community college students next year. Among initiatives to be unveiled today: a $35 million competitive grant, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to improve completion rates at community colleges in nine states; and a $1 million annual prize to honor a top-performing community college or “rising star.” The prize, to be awarded for the first time next fall, is funded by several charitable organizations, including the non-profit Aspen Institute . Over the next decade, nearly eight in 10 new jobs will require higher education and workforce training, economists project. As part of his goal for the USA to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020, Obama last year challenged the nation’s 1,200 community colleges to produce an additional 5 million graduates. He also has acknowledged that many community colleges — and the more than 8 million students enrolled in them — face significant challenges. Just 25% of students at two-year schools earn a credential or transfer to a four-year college within three years. Presiding over much of today’s summit will be Jill Biden, a community college instructor and wife of Vice President Biden. She said Monday the Obama administration will in coming months open a competition to award $500 million in federal dollars over the next year as part of a four-year program to fund a community college and career training initiative. Congress last year approved $2 billion for that initiative — less than the $12 billion Obama had proposed to spend over 10 years. White House Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes said Monday the initiatives rolling out this week are designed to build on administration efforts “in a smart and innovative way. Resources are important but not by themselves. We have to have reforms.” Katherine Boswell, executive director of the Community College Policy Center at the non-profit Academy for Educational Development , said the summit is an important sign of commitment but acknowledged disappointment that Obama’s initial proposal wasn’t fully funded. “I know there was a lot of anticipation, but politics are real and they intervened,” she says. Jamie Merisotis, president of the Lumina Foundation, which is among organizations supporting the $1 million prize, said public-private partnerships are essential. Obama “helped put a marker out there to say a major investment in change is required,” Merisotis says. “These are all pieces of the puzzle.”

Families have a tough time paying for college in today’s tight economy, but there are things they can do to make college more affordable and attainable. One key is applying to a variety of schools — public, private, in-state, and a local community college as a backup plan, recommends admissions consultant Katherine Cohen of ApplyWise.com . In an online survey of 137 families with college-bound students, ApplyWise and media partner NextStepU found that more than a third said it was likely that their child would go to community college for two years, then transfer to a four-year school. In 2008, only 13% said that was likely. Make sure every school you apply to is one you would be happy to attend, but also make sure you have one you can get into and afford, Cohen says. “You have to think about fit in so many ways.” It’s also important to start thinking early about how to keep college costs down, such as taking Advanced Placement courses in high school and earning college credit by scoring well on exams. “Taking eight AP exams and scoring 4s and 5s can translate into one year of college” at many colleges and “can decrease your costs by 25%,” she says. Start saving early, if possible, not only for the cost of attending but also for the cost of applying. “There are a lot of hidden costs — from exam fees to application fees to test prep courses to the costs of visiting colleges — that go into applying to college,” Cohen notes. One-fifth of families surveyed said they have saved nothing for their child’s college education; another fifth said they have saved less than $5,000. “We thought families would have saved more,” Cohen says. The survey also found that 13% of parents said their child is changing their major to one that might have more income potential at graduation. That’s up from 4.3% of families in 2008. “Students should pursue their dreams,” Cohen says, but opting for a double major may be one way to do that and add value to your degree. — Michelle Healy

PRINCESS ANNE, Md. — In her senior year, when Joanne Johnson-Shaw was named Miss Football at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, she envisioned wearing a ball gown fit for a princess. Her hopes were dashed, though, when her classmates voted for a ceremony featuring traditional African dress. Johnson-Shaw ended up wearing a long, patterned skirt and matching head wrap, and her football-player escort, instead of a suit and tie, wore a loin cloth. “I look back at the queens in ball gowns, and I’m still envious,” Johnson-Shaw says now. She graduated from college in 1972 and lives in Ahoskie , N.C., where she retired following a career with the Internal Revenue Service . In the past week, Johnson-Shaw has been reliving her collegiate memories because she can now access a digital archive of the Hawk yearbook back to 1959, the inaugural edition. THE HAWK: Browse issues online Scanned images are available for free online and let readers browse through a yearbook cover to cover or search by name. The grainy images from the yearbooks are full of period hairdos and clothes. They also show the school’s evolution from a tiny, historically black college into an institution that now offers doctoral programs and enrolls 4,500 students. “It’s fascinating when you look back, not just at the changing hairstyles but also at who was in the classrooms, the activities people were involved in and the new buildings,” said Jennifer Neumyer, the college’s special collections and outreach librarian. The 1960 yearbook includes a picture of Martin Luther King Jr . He spoke at commencement and is pictured in a cap and gown with a procession of soon-to-be graduates strolling behind him. Nationwide movement Colleges across the United States have been making digital copies of old yearbooks, student newspapers and course catalogues, said Laurie Gemmill, program manager of the Mass Digitization Collaborative at LYRASIS. The Atlanta-based group for libraries and information professionals has helped 100 colleges and universities create digital archives of materials that include yearbooks. Preserving the documents is only part of the benefit, she said. “Institutions are more interested in sharing their materials. So many materials are hidden from people. You have to go in and request it. The special collections are there for people to use, but it can be intimidating to some,” Gemmill said. Among the colleges that have created digital archives of yearbooks: Penn State University in State College, Pa.; Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte; St. Mary’s College of Maryland in St. Mary’s City, Md.; and the University of Maryland in College Park, Md. Penn State’s yearbook, La Vie , goes back to 1890. Kimberly Conway Dumpson, director of alumni affairs and planned giving at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, said digital yearbooks are another way for her to connect with alumni and raise money for the school. This week while meeting with alumni in Florida, she pulled out her laptop and showed one man his yearbook photo from 45 years ago. “He was just blown away, so excited. He couldn’t stop reminiscing about friends and alumni,” Dumpson said. Sandra Odoms Hawkins, a 1976 graduate, said she checked out her old yearbook online and isn’t the least bit embarrassed by her clothing choices. The 56-year-old lives in Edgewater, Md., and works in the information technology department for the U.S. Senate Office of the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper. “Some of the styles have started coming back around. You should have kept those platform shoes,” Hawkins said. Horatio William “Bill” Jones III graduated in 1978 and is now an employee of CBS News in Charlotte He finds it neat that one photographer, Thomas Wiles, took almost all of the yearbook pictures from 1959 to 1989. The 60-year-old Jones said he grew up in Princess Anne and remembers when jazz greats Lionel Hampton , Count Basie and Duke Ellington played at the college. He said he’s been so busy clicking through the yearbook online to see how the college has changed and to see old friends and faculty members, that he hasn’t looked at his own picture. “I don’t need to. I know what I look like,” he said.

BUFFALO, Mo. — Suzanne Feldman realizes she’s an anomaly: a soon-to-be college graduate who wants to return to the languid rhythms of rural life rather than flee. The aspiring high school math teacher is a member of the inaugural class of the Ozarks Teacher Corps, a group of southwest Missouri teachers in training who receive $4,000 annual scholarships in exchange for a three-year commitment to work in rural school districts after graduation. Having grown up in a town with fewer than 3,000 residents, a place where your homeroom instructor is just as likely to be sitting in the same church pew come Sunday, the 21-year-old newlywed knows that small-town teachers are not just educators but also neighbors and role models. “The community’s expectations are higher,” said Feldman, a senior at Drury University in Springfield, Mo. “When it’s a small community, everybody knows everybody — and expects a whole lot more.” Faced with chronic teacher shortages and unable to compete with the higher salaries and greater social opportunities found in big cities and suburban districts, a growing number of rural school systems are turning to familiar faces to teach their students. They know teachers with rural backgrounds are more likely to stick around and not leave after a year or two. They can be pretty sure that the absence of late-night clubs or art-house movie theaters won’t drive away otherwise idealistic young teachers. And they can count on those teachers being more in touch with their students’ home lives, whether their parents are Indiana farmers, Mississippi factory workers or Northern California grape pickers. “Small, rural communities are grounded in tradition and have deep roots,” said Catherine Kearney, president of the California Teacher Corps. “Someone who understands those traditions makes a huge difference.” The California effort consists of more than 70 programs aimed at luring professionals with non-teaching experience into the classroom. Last year, the teacher corps shifted its emphasis to rural school districts in a state with 300,000 students from rural areas. Half of those students are minorities, and 25% come from homes where English is not the native language. That makes for a different approach to teacher recruitment than programs based in other parts of the country. Esther Soto, 43, started out two decades ago as parent volunteer in the rural Mendocino County town of Boonville, located 120 miles north of San Francisco. She spent 18 years as a teacher’s assistant before returning to school for her teacher’s certification. Soto now teaches kindergarten in the Anderson Valley school district. When the high school found itself in need of a Spanish teacher, the native of Mexico took on that role as well. “I know the families,” she said. “I’m more likely to make a connection. I’ve seen some of these kids since kindergarten. They can’t escape from me.” Roughly 10.5 million students in this country — nearly 20% of the school-age population — attend rural schools, according to the Rural School and Community Trust, a nonprofit advocacy group based in northern Virginia. The group’s research shows that the 900 poorest rural school districts have higher poverty rates than school systems in Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia and other urban areas typically considered as the toughest places to teach, and learn. It’s those sort of eye-opening comparisons that rural education advocates say demands a new, national approach to closing the gap. The Rural School and Community Trust found that 12 states graduate fewer than 60% of students from their poorest rural districts: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota and South Dakota. “As a society, we focus our attention on inner-city kids, and blighted urban school districts,” said Randy Shaver, schools superintendent in Tupelo, Miss. Shaver was one of nine rural superintendents from across the country who met with Education Secretary Arne Duncan late last year to discuss reform proposals. His idea: a national rural teaching corps that would build upon the regional efforts found in places such as Missouri, California and Indiana, where Purdue and two other universities are training math and science professionals to return to the classroom. “We need something that’s far more intensive and far broader,” Shaver said. Many of the newer efforts to foster homegrown teaching talent aim to train not just capable educators but to also inspire those rural teachers to become community leaders. Gary Funk, president of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, which parlayed a $1.7 million private donation to create the Missouri program, hopes that Feldman and her contemporaries develop into “rural activists.” To that end, Ozarks Teacher Corps participants immerse themselves in the study of rural economies, local history and other matters beyond their chosen specialties. They meet regularly for feedback and support and are assigned mentors to guide them through the early years in the classroom, when challenges and frustration can be at their highest. “In traditional teacher training, we don’t focus so much on the context of community,” Funk said. Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.