Jay Blake (left), who served in the Marines, rides the elevator with his fellow students at Sierra Community College in Rocklin, Calif.
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Jake Chavez, who served with the Marines in Iraq, mans the help desk at the Veterans Resource Center in Sierra College's library.
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The resource program at Sierra provides help not only in how to navigate college classes on campus but how to apply for VA benefits and get the proper support from the GI Bill, as well.
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Catherine Morris, who runs the program, talks with one of her veteran students. Morris, who served as a Marine, created the program after seeing little support for vets on Sierra's campus.
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Blake (right) recites the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of a meeting of the Marine Corps Veterans Association in Sacramento, Calif. Blake joined the group to keep in touch with both old and young Marine veterans in the area who support one another.
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Michelle Johnson, an English professor at Sierra College, has been an avid supporter of the campus veterans programs. She started a "Boot to Books" class to give former members of the military the extra push they need as they transition to civilian life.
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Blake (center) and Morris (right) talk with members of the Marine Corps Veterans Association in Sacramento.
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Morris walks across the Sierra College campus on her way to a meeting.
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Crystal Turner, a Marine veteran now attending classes at Sierra College, helps her 1 1/2-year-old daughter, Marley Rose, out of a car. Turner is balancing classes and working at the vets center on campus with being a full-time mother.
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Marley Rose looks up at her mother while playing in the kitchen of their family home near Sacramento. Crystal Turner is mostly raising her two children on her own because her husband, who is also a Marine, lives two hours away near his base.
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Turner holds Marley Rose while she comforts her 3-year-old son, Michael.
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Marley Rose looks outside to the backyard for her mother.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Jay Blake (left), who served multiple tours in Iraq as a Marine, rides the elevator with his fellow students in the library at Sierra College in Rocklin, Calif. Blake, who has struggled since returning home, says he finally settled into his studies with the help of Catherine Morris, an academic adviser who works with the vets on campus.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Eric Theeler goes over some of his class assignments with veterans and student-athletes, who share a workspace in Sierra College's library.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Marine veteran Crystal Turner, a student at Sierra College, holds her daughter, Marley Rose, while she tries to coax her son, Michael, into finishing a walk in the park near their home in Sacramento.
Most American troops have left Iraq, and many have left Afghanistan. Now more than half a million of them have left the service — and they're going to college. Some vets say the transition is like landing on another planet, but they aren't the only ones struggling: The college staffs are, too.
Teach for America has been touted for its success in bringing talented people into the field of education. But it has also been drawing criticism, even from former supporters, about whether the program is effective. Host Michel Martin talks with Gary Rubenstein, a Teach for America alum, a veteran teacher and a critic of the program.
Teach for America is drawing criticism from some education policy observers who say its training for new recruits is rushed and incomplete. The organization, however, vigorously defends its record. Host Michel Martin speaks with Heather Harding of Teach for America about the program's challenges and its future.
AMITE — The Tangipahoa Parish school officials are exploring ways to expand virtual learning opportunities in grades 6-12, but some board members are concerned about the program's ability to meet the needs of at-risk students.
Chief Academic Officer Melissa Stilley tells The Advocate (http://bit.ly/LPNZSY ) implementing a virtual learning program would allow the district to provide more opportunities for learning while addressing the system's needs, including saving money.
BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Association of Educators says it too will file suit to throw out a set of sweeping education changes pushed by Gov. Bobby Jindal and passed by lawmakers in the just-ended legislative session.
Directors of the teachers union voted Saturday to file suit over changes to the state's elementary and secondary school funding formula that will pay for a statewide voucher program, online schools, college tuition scholarships and an expansion of charter schools.
Alan Alda challenged scientists to explain what a flame is to an 11-year-old. Three months and more than 800 entries later he is back with the winner of the contest. Ira Flatow and guests discuss the winning entry and why the contest was an effective exercise in science communication.
A gavel rests in a makeshift courtroom at Richmond High School in Richmond, Calif. The local school district has cut the number of student suspensions in half in six years by adopting a youth court program and other new discipline methods.
Robert, a talkative sixth-grader in the city of Richmond, has been suspended three times from his elementary school in the West Contra Costa Unified School District. If he gets suspended one more time, he says, he might get expelled. [NPR has withheld his last name because he is a minor.]
We're going to hear now about some surprising consequences of the weak housing market in this country. It turns out that the value - even on a paper - of a home can affect the college choices that a family makes.
NPR's science correspondent Shankar Vedantam regularly joins us to discuss social science research. He's here this morning to talk about those new findings. And good morning.
