Public data on private schools

A database on the U.S. Department of Education website offers a comprehensive resource for families interested in private schools. Some 91% of private schools have responded to a variety of survey questions about such things as:

- demographics
- length of the school year
- college-enrollment rates

Survey results are posted to the site in a searchable format that provides information that may not be otherwise available to the public. An overview of the Private School Universe survey can be found here. More info: Washington Post.

New parent power emerges at L.A. schools

Parents in Los Angeles are wielding new power, thanks to a new plan that supports new initiatives geared at improving outcomes at low-performing schools. According to Los Angeles Times, parents of individual schools can now initiate major reforms without waiting for the Los Angeles Unified School District to make changes.

Under a plan set forth by Supt. Ramon Cortines, a majority of parents at a school could trigger reforms at a local campus. As the L.A.Times reports, this new parental power is part of a school-control resolution that allows groups inside and outside the district to take over campuses.

Teach for America

Top graduates line up to teach to the poor

Teach for America is drawing graduates who want to contribute to improving society while building an impressive résumé. For a surprisingly large number of bright young people, Teach for America - which sends recent college graduates into poor rural and urban schools for two years for the same pay and benefits as other beginning teachers at those schools - has become the next step after graduation. It is the postcollege do-good program with buzz, drawing those who want to contribute to improving society while keeping their options open, building an ever-more impressive résumé and delaying long-term career decisions.

Reforms have been proposed across the country to make personal finance courses a requirement for graduation in high school or even college. The push is on to teach youngsters about the pleasures and perils of money before they're drowning in debt.

Companies are jumping on the bandwagon too. Websites and resources designed to teach young people about money are popping up all over the place -- and in some cases, in very unexpected places.

Each summer in the Austin, Texas area, kids between 8 and 18 gather for the Money Academy. More than a dozen weeklong camps take place at merchant locations. CNBC has the details.