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Middle and high-school students can compete an online competition designed to teach them about consumer pitfalls.

The LifeSmarts contest, sponsored by the National Consumer Leauge, asks teens throughout the nation to test their knowledge of personal finance, health and safety, the environment, technology and consumer rights and responsibilities. Local teams can compete online for a chance to attend Virginia's state competition in early March.

"With LifeSmarts, teens learn to avoid common consumer pitfalls, navigate government, and understand credit-card jargon before they sign the dotted line," said Celia Ray Hayhoe, Virginia's LifeSmarts coordinator and a Virginia Cooperative Extension family resource management specialist at Virginia Tech.

The winning state team receives an all-expense, three-day paid trip to St. Louis, Mo., for the national competition on April 25. Last year's winning state team from Spotsylvania High School placed third in the nation.

For the first time this year, students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade can participate online in a Junior Varsity competition. The top two Virginia teams in the junior varsity competition will be invited to the Virginia LifeSmarts competition in March to vie for the state junior varsity title.

An adult coach must register any team online before it can participate. Entries will be accepted until Feb. 6.

Shortly after reading the story in today's paper about Roanoke students discussing what Barack Obama should focus on, I ran across this.

It's a report on at least one school district in Colorado that asked its teachers to stay mum on politics, and steer from supporting candidates' campaigns.

It made me think about all the times I saw Montgomery school board members Penny Franklin and Phyllis Albritton sporting Obama badges and the number of mock elections held at schools across the valley. Teachers I talked to there said the election was, and will continue to be, a teaching tool for them.

And, I suspect,  with the inaguration coming right after the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday  (as a friend pointed out) and Black History Month the following month, lessons will abound.

What do you think? Teachers, what discussions or lessons are you having in class? Parents, what does the election mean for dinner time topics?

One person, Radford High School gifted coordinator Lisa Swope, spoke during the Department of Education's public hearing on proposed changes to gifted education regulations.

In her three-minute remarks, Swope said her biggest concern in the proposed regulation changes for gifted education is the mandate that students be screened using an ability test, such as an IQ exam.

Right now, students are tested using ability exams and achievement exams, such as the Stanford 9 or other norm-referenced tests.

Read more »

At 7 p.m. tonight, parents will get a chance to comment on proposed changes to regulations governing gifted education across the state that parents elsewhere say might hurt the programs.

The Virginia Department of Education is hosting a public hearing at Radford High School. It's the final one before the state board of education's meeting in Richmond on Thursday.

The biggest changes proposed include a repeal of language that requires all gifted money from the state go toward gifted education only, and a change requiring local boards to submit a plan for gifted education annually, instead of every five years.

You can see the complete changes, and people's concerns here.

See you tonight, and in the meantime, let us know what you think, too.

I'm spending most of the day in Staunton working on an article I suspect could draw some concern and inspire others.

A 13-year-old Blacksburg student, inspired in her own right by a news article, is leaving home to attend college. Classes begin Sept. 1 at Mary Baldwin's PEG (Program for the Exceptionally Gifted."

Allison Cartwright, the child of two former Virginia Tech Cadets, confesses to a love of clothes, music and, well, law and math. She'll take part in a four-day orientation program beginning today and matriculate with 18 and 19-year-olds next week.

You can read more about her, and the transition, in the Current later this month.

Until then, weigh in. How young is too young to start in higher education? What implications do you see from the shift in norm?