Some Oregon schools adopting Mexican curriculum

09:02 AM PDT on Thursday, September 20, 2007

Associated Press

Some Oregon high schools are adopting Mexico's public school curriculum to help educate Spanish-speaking students with textbooks, an online Web site, DVDs and CDs provided free by Mexico to teach math, science and even U.S.history.

The Oregon Department of Education and Mexico's Secretariat of Public Education are discussing aligning their curricula so courses will be valid in both countries.

Similar ventures are under way in Yakima, Wash., San Diego, Calif., and Austin, Texas.

"Students come to us with such complex issues," said Tim King, director of Clackamas Middle College and Clackamas Web Academy, where a virtual course using Mexico's learning materials got started this week.

"We've had to change in order to fit into each school scene, become more complex and open ourselves up to new situations."

Oregon officials say the approach is intended as a supplement to keep students learning in Spanish while also gaining English skills.

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-Jim