Education roundup: CSUB offers course in teaching the Holocaust
By The Bakersfield Californian
Cal State Bakersfield 's Extended Learning University is offering a course for secondary social science and English teachers to learn how to appropriately teach their students about religious issues and the Holocaust.
It's the first time such a course has been offered by CSUB and the newly developed Institute for Religion, Education and Public Policy. The three-day course fulfills state standards for Holocaust education in history and social studies for grades 10 and 11.
Instructor Stephen Campagna-Pinto, from CSUB's Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, said the class will focus on the history of anti-semitism, Holocaust denial and relations among various religious groups following the Holocaust.
"I've had a lot of students who really knew nothing about Jewish relations. It needs to be taught appropriately," Campagna-Pinto said, adding that he's experienced anti-semitism in classes. "Prejudice comes from ignorance."
The Holocaust Education Network of Kern County is a partner in the course, and since last year has presented workshops about the Holocaust.
Campagna-Pinto said the institute would like to see more religious studies in high schools to educate students properly.
"When you teach about the Holocaust, you need to be very careful because there's a temptation to generalize, to look just at the numbers, and to romanticize the survivor," he said.
The course will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan. 28, Feb. 11, and March 3 -- all Saturdays. It costs $50 per unit. More information: scampagna_pinto@csub.edu or 654-6584.
Wasco Union Elementary School District officials are requesting a waiver from the State Board of Education to not be penalized for failing to meet testing growth targets for low-performing schools. If the board does not grant the waiver, the district could lose future funding.
The California Department of Education is recommending the board deny the waiver request up for a vote Wednesday because "its approval would not adequately address the educational need of pupils." It's the first time the board has voted on such a waiver, state reports show.
Wasco's Thomas Jefferson Middle School did not meet growth targets in standardized tests because it did not have valid scores due to testing irregularities from 2010, reports show.
Two Jefferson Middle classrooms where tests were being conducted contained "pertinent informational and instructional materials directly related to the content of the test," state records show. The information was removed by the principal and teachers once it was discovered. But tests from 40 seventh-graders in the class, however, were tossed.
As a result, test scores now do "not give an adequate portrait of the school," according to the district. Wasco officials are asking the state use scores from other years to determine testing growth.
Four other districts in California are asking for similar waivers. It's not clear how much funding is at risk of being lost.
Building Healthy Communities ' Kern AmeriCorps is working with the Greenfield Union School District to present the "I Have a Dream for a Healthy Community" event Monday at Ollivier Middle School, 7310 Monitor St.
The event, which helps commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, will feature a farmer's market, children's activities, entertainment and resource booths. It's part of Kern AmeriCorps commitment to provide mentoring to local students, and offer ways to keep communities safe and healthy.
Joining the group will be representatives from Greenfield Union, Greenfield Walking Group, Kern Farmers Market, Ollivier Middle, McKee Middle School and other local vendors and businesses.
The event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and is free and open to the public.
More information: 636-4487.
-- Jorge Barrientos, Californian staff
For more education news, go to The Californian's education blog, The Grade, at www.bakersfield.com/ thegrade or follow The Grade's Twitter at twitter.com/TBCTheGrade.
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