Freehold High School, Freehold Township High School and Marlboro High School are among New Jersey schools to mkae Newsweek magazine’s 2012 America’s Top 1,000 High Schools list. Marlboro High School (MHS) ranked 454, Freehold High School (FHS) ranked 675 and Freehold Township (FTHS) ranked 970. More than 2,300 schools were a part of Newsweek’s initial assessment. The schools were selected based on ratings in the following categories: Graduation rate (25 percent) College acceptance and matriculation rate (25 percent) AP/IB/AICE tests per student (25 percent) Average SAT/ACT scores (10 percent) Average AP/IB/AICE exam score (10 percent) AP/IB/AICE courses offered per student (5 percent) Marlboro High School earned its ranking as a result of having a 100 percent graduation rate, 94 percent college bound, average SAT score ... Continue reading →

What will future classrooms look like? Will kids be required to study with other kids from around the country? Will they be paperless? The use of more technology � such as Skyping, online courses and tablets in grade schools today � might make that a possibility.Skyping enables two people, or in the case of St. Aloysius and Bay Head elementary schools, two classes 20 miles apart, to communicate visually in real time by using laptop computers and clip-on Web cams.The Skyping project at those two schools is a collaboration between Donna May�s sixth-grade math class at St. Aloysius in Jackson and Thomas Kennedy�s sixth-grade math class in Bay Head.�The students in the sixth-grade class are always excited when we Skype with the sixth-grade class at ... Continue reading →

Surviving Zuccotti Park How to build a city without shelter or running water. By Tim Murphy Continue reading →

(Photo: Chuck Close. Hair and makeup by Jackie Sanchez at Agent-10.com/NARS.) Toni Morrison never liked that old seventies slogan �Black is beautiful.� It was superficial, simplistic, palliative�everything her blinkered detractors called Morrison’s complex novels when the 1993 Nobel Prize transformed her into a spokeswoman and a target. No better were those blinkered admirers who invited themselves to touch her signature gray dreadlocks at signings, as though they harbored some kind of mystical power. Still, even at 81, sporting both a new novel and a new hip, Morrison is as grand as she’s ever been. When we meet in her many-gabled house in the aptly named village of Grand View-on-Hudson, about 25 miles north of Manhattan, that bountiful woolen hair matches the lower half of a ... Continue reading →

Making the Grade: Brad Nicklas Have you been checking out our ”Making the Grade” series? Every other Wednesday, the Asbury Park Press plans to recognize teachers who go above and beyond for their students. Have a teacher you want to nominate? Let us know in the comments. In the meantime, take a peek at our profile of Allentown High School art teacher Brad Nicklas. About Alesha Alesha Williams Boyd is wife and mom to a family of six. She's covered New Jersey schools and communities since 2005 for the Asbury Park Press and is New Jersey correspondent for USA TODAY. Follow her on twitter: @aleshaboydAPP. Continue reading →

The class of 2012 is leaving U.S. colleges with something that many graduates since the start of the Great Recession have lacked: jobs.To the relief of graduating seniors � and their anxious parents � the outlook is brighter than it has been in four years. Campus job fairs were packed this spring and more companies are hiring. Students aren�t just finding good opportunities, some are weighing multiple offers.�It�s a very unsettled entry-level job market, but I remain optimistic that there are at least these positive signs,� said Richard White, director of career services at Rutgers Universtiy in New Brunswick.In some ways, members of the class of 2012 got lucky. They arrived on campus in September 2008, the same month that Wall Street investment bank Lehman ... Continue reading →

NEW BRUNSWICK — Dharun Ravi was sentenced to 30 days in jail today by Judge Glenn Berman in Superior Court, New Brunswick.Berman read the sentence before a packed courtroom this afternoon, ordering the 20-year-old Plainsboro resident to serve 30 days at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick beginning May 31.Additonally, Ravi was ordered to perform 300 hours of community service and will be on probation for three years. He also received counseling program on cyberbullying and alternative lifestyles and a $10,000 assessment that will go to victims of bias crimes.Berman said he did not elect for a longer probationary period because Ravi�s life since September 2010 was a type of exile or self-imposed probationary period. Berman also said he would not recommend ... Continue reading →

Howell mom Anne Cahalane (@MomsThoughts) says it’s time for some of us parents to enter the 21st century when it comes to technology and social media. Read on for her 5 Reasons Every Mom Should Be On Twitter: Anne Cahalane of Howell, @MomsThoughts If you are one of those moms who avoids computers, the time has come to change your ways. It’s time to embrace technology and all it has to offer. If you are unsure how to navigate the world of Twitter, visit Youtube and search “Twitter Tutorial”. You will be tweeting like a pro in no time and here are five reason you should: Sales: Twitter is a great place to find sales, discounts and even free perks. I have enjoyed some pretty ... Continue reading →

Serious boat business at #NOAA's marine science lab open house. #newjersey #stufftodo http://t.co/iNgiMJHb Continue reading →