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RURAL EDUCATION HEADLINES
Conventional wisdom holds that nothing
is free in this world. But that may not hold true for free computers. In
January, Los Fresnos, a sprawling district in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, will
give away 1,000 refurbished computers to households that meet criteria based
on need, student attendance, grades, and discipline.
http://www.valleystar.com/localnews_more.php?id=55132_0_19_0_M
[Editor’s note: See “Computers in
Learning” below to learn how schools can request surplus computers from the
federal government.]
In early fall on the
Kansas-Colorado border, families prepare for the harvest, and the millions
of knobby, wilting sunflowers seem to bow their heads in prayer. For the
nearly 400 townspeople of Sheridan Lake, Brandon and Towner, those prayers
are best directed at keeping their only school open another year.
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2457833,00.html
New Hampshire with Rhode Island
and Vermont are pooling resources to create the New England Common
Assessment Program. Students in all three states will take the same test,
which should reduce the cost of testing from about $25 per student to $12
per student. The lowered cost allows for a higher quality of test with more
open-ended questions, more open-response options for test takers, and fewer
matching and multiple-choice questions.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/mcas/articles/2004/10/10/nh_revamping_standardized_test/
Videoconferencing technology is
enabling rural schools, which enroll nearly one-third of the US student
population, to offer challenging courses and to train teachers. Amy Garrett,
a U.S park ranger in southeastern Nebraska, took students around her state
on a video field trip to a controlled prairie fire, an experience that
lacked, she said, only "the smell of smoke."
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/elearning/articles/04rural.htm
In October, the USDA announced
the selection of 40 distance education grants totaling $17.1 million to help
rural schools provide students with educational tools to better equip them
for the global digital economy. USDA reports that it is working on the FY
2005 application guide and materials and anticipate announcing a grant
application window soon. It advises potential bidders to review FY 2004
awards information to learn how to make an effective application. Click
here for a list of 2004 recipients. Click
here to learn more about the grant program.
Caroline B. Winchester,
superintendent of Loup City Nebraska Public Schools received the Edward W.
Chance Memorial Rural Education Dissertation Award. Winchester’s
dissertation is titled "A Multi-Case Study of the Shared Superintendency in
Nebraska."
http://www.theindependent.com/stories/102704/new_locnews27.shtml
Moni Hourt, an elementary
teacher from Crawford, Nebraska, has been named the 2004
National Rural Education
Association (NREA) Teacher of the Year. Mrs. Hourt
was recognized at the NREA convention in Indianapolis, Indiana on October
21. In her 14 year tenure, she has taught math, science, English, reading,
writing, social studies,
history, art, music, band, and Spanish.
http://www.nrea.net/awards%20&%20other/Teacher_Year_2004.pdf
EVENTS, WORKSHOPS, & OPPORTUNITIES
NetDay, (www.netday.org), a national education technology nonprofit
group, is sponsoring Speak Up Day for Students 2004, the second annual
online event where students across the country speak out about using
technology and the Internet. The
survey will be open for student input until November 12 with a goal of
collecting input from 500,000 K-12 students across the nation. Participating
schools and districts will be able to access their aggregated data when the
survey results are in.
http://www.netday.org/speakup_forstudents.htm
McREL and the Wyoming Department of
Education are offering a professional development program for Wyoming school
leaders based on McREL’s ground-breaking research on effective school
leadership. Through a mix of discussion, case studies, simulations, and
one-on-one coaching, school leaders will learn how to guide successful
school improvement efforts. Program costs will be covered by the state of
Wyoming. Participants must cover travel and lodging costs. To learn more or
receive an application, contact Dr. James Bailey at McREL (303-632-5520,
jbailey@mcrel.org).
http://www.mcrel.org/topics/serviceDetail.asp?topicsID=7&serviceID=67
McREL is offering a new,
year-long professional development program for school leaders based on
Balanced Leadership, our in-depth examination of effective leadership drawn from 30 years
of research. The series of three workshops (totaling seven days of
professional development) is paired with ongoing, online support to help
participants learn from research where to focus school improvement efforts
and how to effectively lead those efforts.
www.mcrel.org/fellows
RESEARCH & REPORTS
11.
Factors influencing college aspirations of rural West Virginia high
school students
A new article by Erica
Chenoweth and Renee V. Galliher of Utah State University in the
Journal of
Research in Rural Education concludes that “family and peer contexts are
more salient predictors of college aspirations for males, while
variables associated with individual academic preparation and external
barriers to college attendance were most salient for females.”
http://www.umaine.edu/jrre/19-2.htm.
A new Infobrief from ASCD contends
that while national attention has been riveted on the accountability
provisions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), few in the education
community have focused on what matters most to ensure that all students
make adequate yearly progress — a high-quality teacher.
http://www.ascd.org/cms/objectlib/ascdframeset/index.cfm?publication=http://www.ascd.org/...
According to a new analysis
from the
Rural School and Community Trust, Nebraska
school systems with the lowest test scores serve more students who face
socioeconomic barriers to academic achievement than do other Nebraska
schools, but have to do it with less money. The report concludes that
compared with higher achieving
schools, the lowest-achieving schools serve communities with more
students who live in poverty, lower household incomes, fewer
adults with high school diplomas, more students still
learning the English
language and more minority students.
http://www.ruraledu.org/docs/brickswithoutstraw.pdf
RESOURCES & INFORMATION
The Braitmayer Foundation supports
programs that enhance the education of K-12 students through curricular
and school reform initiatives, professional development for teachers,
and local community efforts. Its grants, which range in size up to
$35,000, are to be used as seed money, challenge grants, or matching
grants. Deadline: November 15, 2004. Contact: Robert L. Kirkpatrick,
Jr., (860) 638-5026.
http://www.braitmayerfoundation.org
The U.S. Department of
Education (ED) has unveiled a new professional development
Web site for teachers and administrators. The free
resource — built by teachers for teachers — aims to encourage the use of
proven classroom strategies and provide more effective ways of using
data to improve instruction in the nation's schools.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=5316&page=1 Visit the T2T Web site:
http://www.paec.org/teacher2teacher/
Through its Computers for Learning
program, the federal government has placed hundreds of thousands of
surplus computers in schools across the country on a needs-first basis.
Schools register and request equipment on the Computers for Learning Web
site, and federal agencies match their surplus equipment to schools with
those needs.
http://www.computers.fed.gov/Public/home.asp
Intel Corporation and Scholastic
Inc. are offering several million dollars in awards and prize money to
schools that "demonstrate excellence for implementing innovative
programs that support positive educational outcomes." One
elementary-level school and one secondary-level school winner will be
chosen in each of 10 categories: Academic Achievement; Literacy
Achievement; Mathematics Achievement; Science Achievement; Technology
Excellence; Technology Innovation; Leadership Excellence; Professional
Development; Teamwork (Internal); Collaboration (External). Application
deadline: December 1, 2004.
http://www.schoolsofdistinction.com/
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