Schools Roundup
ore students are taking classes than ever before at Foothill and De Anza colleges, according to a recent Foothill-De Anza College District report. A first-day headcount at both schools revealed that 37,000 local residents had signed up for higher education classes for fall quarter.
According to the report, enrollment is up 4.89 percent districtwide. About 14,116 students were enrolled at Foothill College the first day of classes last month, an increase of 9.4 percent over fall 1998.
About 23,147 students were enrolled at De Anza on the first day of classes, an increase of 2.32 percent over fall 1998.
Opening day enrollment data as well as data compiled during the third week of each school quarter is reported to the California Community Colleges State Chancellor's Office. The data is used to determine state apportionment funding.
State honors Foothill's
'Torch' program
Foothill College's Pass the Torch Program recently received the Exemplary Program Award from the California Community Colleges Board of Governors. The Foundation for California Community Colleges also awarded the program $4,000.
The Torch program is designed to help at-risk students earn a grade of C or better in classes in which they are struggling. Instructors identify and pair students with peer mentors for study sessions each week.
Each team includes a student leader and a student learner who meet three hours each week to review assignments.
Organizers say the program is successful, helping struggling students develop study and time management skills.
Founded by Foothill counselor Jean Thomas in 1994, the program has burgeoned from 16 study teams to 78 teams in biology, chemistry, English, English as a Second Language and math core courses. The state's Partnership for Excellence Program funds the program.
Fremont Union wins
digital grant - again
The Fremont Union High School District got lucky again this year in the state's Digital High School lottery this month. Fremont and Cupertino high schools were among the 354 California high schools selected in the state's third annual drawing to receive $300 per student in education technology grants through the Digital High program.
Fremont, which has 1,818 enrolled students, will receive $545,400, and Cupertino, which has 1,395 enrolled students, will receive $418,500.
Homestead High School was the district's lucky draw in last year's lottery, receiving about $515,000 to implement a campus technology program. About 200 Los Altos residents are students in the Fremont Union district.
This is the third year of the four-year digital program established by the California State legislature to expand technology to all California high schools. The digital program has provided money to about 1,100 high schools throughout the state to install and maintain computers and train teachers and students since its inception in 1997.
IN BRIEF: Science teachers Adam Randall of Los Altos High School and Steve Widmark of Mountain View High School recently won the Intel ACE Project Awards in the Applying Computers in Education contest, which had more than 1,700 entries.
Randall won for his project, "Applications of Sound," and Widmark won for his "Lift Off to Learning."