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COMMUNITY ORGANIZING LINKED TO
INCREASED STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
Findings from a landmark six-year study by the Community Involvement
Program of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform reveal that
sophisticated community organizing at the grassroots level produces
major improvements in student achievement. The study uncovered
strong and consistent evidence that indicates effective organizing:
contributes to higher attendance rates and test scores and increased
graduation rates and college-going aspirations; fosters
school-community relationships, parental involvement and engagement
in schools; and, stimulates important changes in policy, practices
and resource distribution that expand capacity and equity in
traditionally underserved communities. The study's authors also
argue that effective organizing groups achieve impact through a
combination of system-level advocacy and school- or community-based
activity. As a result of continued and consistent parental, youth
and community engagement, improvements have been both generated and
sustained. In addition to educational change, organizing groups
contribute to the development of new civic capacity, as adults and
youths report higher goals and expectations for themselves and their
families after participating in community organizing groups.
MAKE YOUR LESSON PLANS MAKE MONEY FOR
YOUR CLASSROOMS
To obtain state-of-the-art supplies and equipment for your
classroom, learn how to apply for grants, writes LaVerne Hamlin for
Teachers.net Gazette. Hamlin began working in a public school system
that allocated only $200 to its science department. Under these
constraints, her students lacked the ability to understand basic
scientific concepts because the school could not afford the
necessary supplies. Hamlin knew that she had to find another source
of support to satisfy her students' needs. So, she decided to tap
into the market of grant writing and, as of today, she has won over
$1 million in classroom grants and awards. In her article, Hamlin
goes on to explain key aspects of successful grant writing, and
essentially provides a dissertation on how to turn a lesson plan
into an award-winning grant. As school budgets continue to shrink
(especially in the area of arts education), Andrea Mulder-Slater
writes in Education World (link below) that some of the neatest
works of art are made with recycled or inexpensive materials. For
example, using simple materials such as pie plates, poster board,
scrap wood pieces and a few basic classroom supplies, students can
create amazing Pie Plate Fish. The article includes several other
examples of how best to fund exciting and engaging art projects.
Also:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson104.shtml
WAKE UP SLEEPY ONE, KUNG FU IN CLASS
TODAY
Sam Fawks, a math teacher at Harlan Elementary School in Wilmington,
Del., has combined your parents' flashcards with the allure of Bruce
Lee's flying fists and flashy kicks, reports the Associated Press.
Fawks created the Belting Out the Facts program, which gives
students "belts" for their wrists and lockers once they conquer
increasingly difficult math problems. The program began with his
sixth-grade class last year, but school administrators saw it
succeed and expanded it throughout the school. Sensei Fawks, as he
is known around the halls, has created different sets of small
flashcards organized by difficulty level and the color of belt each
student is seeking. Once students think they have mastered the
concepts necessary to get the next belt, they must achieve a 93
percent score on a five-minute test to pass. By the time students
get to the blue belt level, which is the mid-point, they must
complete random algebra questions. "Last year, it was really boring
doing just flash cards. Now you get pumped," said nine-year-old
Joshua Sanchez.
SPRINKLE IN EMPATHY AND AWARENESS TO
ADDRESS ACHIEVEMENT GAPS
Kevin MacDonald, principal at T. R. Smedberg Middle School in
Sacramento, Calif., started the Achievement Gap Club two years ago,
reports Melissa Nix for the Sacramento Bee. At the first meeting,
MacDonald entered the room with six binders of research and threw
them on the floor. He then said to the students "these experts don't
have the answers. The gap has existed for 50 years. Why don't you
tell me what we need to do?" Now, every other Wednesday morning,
about 30 seventh and eighth graders meet to talk about the
persistent gap in test scores among whites and Asians and African
Americans and Latinos. Club members also brief teachers about what
they think should be done when it comes to teaching students of
color, and in so doing, help staff members understand what it's like
to be a minority student. To better explain the achievement gap,
Macdonald uses a parable about two fish: a seawater marlin and a
freshwater pond trout. The marlin represents minority students and
the trout, whites and Asians. There is a freshwater pond, i.e., the
school, which has been largely based on a white cultural model. "You
can't take a freshwater fish, put him in saltwater and expect him to
survive," and vice versa MacDonald explains. "But if you take a
little bit of salt and sprinkle it in the freshwater," then both
fish can survive. In this analogy, the salt is a concerted effort to
establish communication, empathy and cultural awareness between
staff and students. The plan has been working, as former students,
now in high school, return every Wednesday morning to tutor,
encourage and solve problems with their younger counterparts.
SMALL SCHOOLS/CLASSES CHANGE CULTURE,
COMBAT THE MATH GAP
One of the largest and most persistent inequities in the modern
American education system is the gap in math achievement along
income and race lines. This is not a universal case though, as some
secondary schools are demonstrating their capacity to beat the odds
and produce consistently strong math performance with students who
typically fail in traditional settings. A new paper from Jobs for
the Future highlights several obstacles to raising math achievement
that deserve more attention and also provides key characteristics of
model schools. By taking the best ideas from the small schools
movement, a new generation of small schools has been able to retain
struggling students and prepare them for post-secondary life. One
critical difference between these schools and the run-of-the-mill
public school is culture. It is their explicit mission to eliminate
the psychological barriers to learning which are too often ignored
in traditional schools. It is hoped that the success of
high-achieving schools can teach important lessons about how best to
design schools, inform classroom instruction and prepare math
teachers to reach the "unreachable." Apparently there is something
to the small schools/class size movement, as a new British study
confirms that students tend to be "off task" more often when they
are in larger classes, reports Debbie Viadero for Education Week
(link below).
Also:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/03/25/29aerasize_web.h27.html?print=1
CONGRESS SETS RECORD WITH LATEST
HIGHER EDUCATION EARMARKS
Congress set aside a record $2.3 billion in pet projects for
colleges and universities last year for research on subjects like
berries and reducing odors from farm animals, reports Alan Finder
for the New York Times. Despite recent campaign rhetoric and calls
in Congress for a moratorium on home state projects, known as
earmarks, the sum was $300 million more than in 2003. While
pork-barrel projects range far beyond academia, they are
particularly controversial in higher education because they bypass
the normal route for financing peer-reviewed scientific research.
Typically, research proposals submitted to government entities are
selected only after intense reviews by scientific panels and are
based on broad national priorities. Still, many lawmakers defend the
practice, saying it enables them to support important local
institutions and to encourage research that stimulates economic
development or addresses other public needs. All three presidential
candidates have said they would support a moratorium on earmarks.
However, the Senate rejected the idea on March 13, falling 31 votes
short of the 60 needed to overcome a procedural hurdle.
KIDS MARKETPLACE TEACHES: DON'T BUY
PUPPIES, THEY CHEW ON YOUR STUFF
Speaking of finances, most third graders know two things about
money: you need it to buy a Wii and it doesn't grow on trees,
reports Jonas Beals for the Fredericksburg (Va.) Free Lance-Star.
While those ideas provide a great foundation, they don't exactly
capture the complexities of the financial world and balancing
budgets against income. So for two hours last week, the Robert E.
Lee Elementary School gymnasium housed the Kids Marketplace program,
which included "stores" manned by volunteers in an attempt to teach
personal finance. Each student was handed an envelope containing a
job title, a month's salary and a pamphlet listing all of their
monthly expenses. The "shops" then sold necessities like health
care, transportation, groceries, clothes and housing. This put the
onus on the students to decide what they could afford to spend on
each item. To save money, students were allowed to pair up and live
as roommates, thereby splitting expenses. One participate shouted
"don't get a puppy!" to his roommate, who was making his way to the
pet table. Carl Woodward, having completed the game comfortably as a
doctor with $90 in the bank, gestured toward a buddy and smiled.
"He's broke...he said he's going to rob somebody."
COLLECT SIX TONS OF PAPER, SAVE ABOUT
100 TREES...AND THE ENVIRONMENT
A Flippin, Ark. high school's science club saved 100 trees in less
than a week, reports Joanne Bratton for the Baxter (Ark.) Bulletin.
The club started a five-day recycling competition in an effort to
keep their community beautiful and eliminate landfill waste,
resulting in the accumulation of six tons of paper. By continuing to
recycle, the students hope to inspire their community to follow
suit. "If you leave it for someone else to do, they'll leave it for
someone else to do," said Dwan Garrison, science club sponsor.
COMMUNITY EDUCATION PATHWAYS TO
SUCCESS RE-ENGAGE DROPOUTS
In New York City, nearly 70 percent of dropouts begin high school at
low literacy levels. Yet currently this population remains
drastically underserved, especially when it comes to the allocation
of resources. To address their needs, the Youth Development
Institute (YDI) began the Community Education Pathways to Success (CEPS),
which provide the academic, vocational and personal support people
with low skill levels need to become eligible for GED programs and
to succeed in post-secondary life. CEPS participants, many of whom
attended their high schools less than 20 percent of the time, have
become readers and made gains on standardized tests.
GIVE PARENTS KNOWLEDGE; EMPOWER THEM
TO MAKE COMMUNITY CHANGE
A new study of the long-term impact of the Commonwealth Institute
for Parent Leadership (CIPL) on parents trained by the program from
1997 to 2006 finds that, quite simply, knowledge is power. So far,
nearly 1,400 graduates have completed CIPL's intensive training
program that aims to impart a combination of information, skills and
data. The study notes that parents sustained their educational
involvement and broadened its scope beyond their children's schools
and became more actively involved and more influential in
improvement efforts, after completing CIPL. In addition, parents
shifted from school-based to community- and system-based reform
efforts. The study concludes that planting the seeds of educational
knowledge will grow strong parental advocates.
BUILD COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS:
STRENGTHEN OUT-OF-SCHOOL PROGRAMS
Increasing community involvement in out-of-school programs has the
potential to create significant benefits for the communities they
serve. The partnerships satisfy a wide variety of needs, such as
improving recruitment and attendance and contributing volunteers and
other resources. This Child Trends brief discusses how community
involvement can become a crucial factor for out-of-school programs
and describes how programs can identify valuable community resources
and develop strategies for leveraging community support.
BOOK FOCUSES ON HOW BEST TO CONSTRUCT
21ST CENTURY EDUCATION SYSTEM
A new book recently published by the National Commission on Teaching
and America's Future brings together education experts from across
the country and presents a wide range of strategies and solutions to
provide every child with a high-quality education. In their
respective chapters, former U.S. Secretary of Education, Richard
Riley and Jim Hunt, former governor of North Carolina, called for
shifting education to a national priority and developing a new
national consensus as the best mechanisms for creating stronger and
more dynamic schools. At the same time, Linda Darling-Hammond, the
Charles Ducommon Professor of Education at Stanford University,
urged readers to consider an entirely new paradigm for national
education policy. Chad Wick, president and CEO of KnowledgeWorks in
Cincinnati, closed the book by focusing on the future forces that
will affect education. Wick also challenged readers to consider new
models for education, teaching, learning and policymaking. As a
whole, the authors formed a chorus arguing for stronger grass-roots
groups in every city and town to support quality education for all.
THE WHAT, WHEN, HOW AND WHY OF HIGH
QUALITY PRINCIPALS
Education leaders, like any highly skilled important profession,
benefit from "talking shop" with their colleagues, thus enjoying
that whole free flow of ideas thing. In leadership development
programs, the use of case methodology offers principals an
opportunity to exchange thoughts and ideas at a level that improves
their effectiveness as leaders. In the latest "McREL Insights," Greg
Cameron, Cherie A. Lyons, and Jane A. Schumacher examine the role of
case methodology in leadership development. To develop true
professional wisdom, the writers assert, principals must master four
types of knowledge: declarative (knowing what to do), procedural
(knowing how to do it), contextual (knowing when to do it) and
experiential (knowing why it's important). While declarative and
procedural knowledge can be taught directly, contextual and
experiential knowledge is best developed, in part, through case
methodology.
FIGHTING BACKING AGAINST AN
ANTI-TEACHER CAMPAIGN
On March 11, the Center for Union Facts (CUF), a Washington-based
anti-union group, launched an imposing advertising campaign against
bad teachers. CUF promoted its campaign by asking parents, students
and teachers to nominate the "worst unionized teacher in America."
In interest of full disclosure, CUF has been found to be linked with
several of lobbyist Rick Berman's groups, including the Employment
Policies Institute. To learn more about CUF and the groups
associated with it, check out the link below.
ITALY LAUNCHES $1.5 MILLION CAMPAIGN
TO FIGHT EATING DISORDERS
Italian authorities are launching a campaign to combat a growing
epidemic of anorexia and other eating disorders, reports the
Associated Press. In a country known for its fashion industry and
the "bella figura," upwards of three million people suffer from
eating disorders, 90 percent of whom are women. In addition, nearly
65 percent of girls ages 10 to 16 want to be skinnier than they are
at present. To counter these trends, the Italian Ministry of Health
and Sports is targeting schools and the media by providing
guidelines for magazines, television, radio and Internet sites to
discourage ultra-thin beauty ideals. The one million Euro campaign
also provides training for dance instructors and coaches and
includes a website centered on encouraging teens to discuss healthy
eating habits.
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