On a recent Sunday, the New York Times added an education section to the bundle. In it, a guidance counselor named Michelle Slatella wrote at length about taking the ACT versus taking the SAT (see sample tests online) Some of her ideas matched well with StudyBuddy's experience. Read more

Patricia Calfee really wants to help eighth graders. She herself is a successful public relations consultant now, but she remembers how she hated high school. (She graduated from McAteer in 1991.) She's a volunteer tutor at Francisco Middle School, and is hoping the kids there will have better information than she did about picking the school they want. Read more

It's another of those first-in-San Francisco things, and it's called Inside Track. Founded in 2000, this company makes its living by getting just the results we all want to see. It provides executive-style coaching to freshman college kids, and sends the bill to the college. Ilana de Bare profiled it in the San Francisco Chronicle a couple of months ago. Read more

According to a 2005 study from the California Department of Education, test scores improved by teaching kids in natural settings. It found that 255 sixth-graders at risk for breaking the law who studied science in an outdoor setting improved their test scores by 27 per cent, as well as their conflict resolution skills. Read more

Gear Up

The Examiner's Alexandra Rocha reports that over the next five years our middle schools will receive 11 million dollars in federal and state grants to pay for tutoring and counseling services after school, on weekends, and in the summer.

Eligible students are those from households where fewer than half the adults over 25 have completed high school. Read more