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Needs of ‘Whole Child’ May Factor in ESEA Renewal
As Congress gears up for renewal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, lawmakers and the Obama administration are seeking to address a perennial complaint: that the current version of the law, the No Child Left Behind Act, places too much emphasis on students’ test scores and pays little attention to their health and other needs. Read more at http://www.edweek.org/ew/contributors/alyson.klein.html.
Identifying Readiness and Implementing Deep Reform
“A teacher’s effectiveness has more impact on student learning than any other factor under the control of school systems, including class size, school size, and the quality of after-school programs.” Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Researchers know a teacher’s effectiveness has greater impact on student learning than any other factor under the control of school systems, including class size, school size, or quality of after-school programs. Despite this, the education community has focused too little on the recruitment, evaluation, development, placement, and retention of highly effective teachers, according to a new series of briefs from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Rather than evaluating performance and treating teachers differently on that basis, they are treated uniformly and rewarded for longevity and degrees. As a step toward changing this, the foundation has asked nine school districts and one coalition of charter management organizations to propose strategies for significantly improving teacher effectiveness and for measuring it. Although sites have not yet implemented the proposed strategies, their planning processes have yielded critical lessons and approaches to identifying site readiness, which are described in the first brief. This identifies four categories that represent a minimum readiness threshold that all sites should seek before embarking on deep reform: leadership alignment, a culture of data-driven decision-making, stakeholder engagement, and policies that support improvement efforts. See this report at http://www.gatesfoundation.org/united-states/Pages/empowering-effective-teachers-readiness.aspx. The second brief elaborates on these site conditions that support implementation of reform, offering strategies to cultivate them. The third brief is forthcoming. See the second report: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/united-states/Pages/empowering-effective-teachers-strategy.aspx.
CVS Caremark All Kids Can Program
CVS Caremark All Kids Can™, a program of the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust and supported by CVS Caremark, is a five-year, $25 million commitment to making life easier for children with disabilities. Through this signature program, CVS Caremark and the Trust will support nonprofit organizations that provide innovative programs and services in local communities focused on helping children with disabilities learn, play and succeed in life. The goals of All Kids Can are to raise awareness in schools and in local communities about the importance of inclusion; build barrier-free playgrounds so children of all abilities can play side-by-side; and provide medical rehabilitation and related services to children with disabilities. All Kids Can focuses around three key areas of support:
Learn
We recognize the importance of providing children with disabilities the opportunity to participate in everyday activities. Our program supports activities that promote the value and importance of inclusion. Through greater awareness of the needs of children with disabilities and support for programs that bring children of all abilities together, All Kids Can will touch the lives of many children.
Play
The CVS Caremark Charitable Trust is committed to supporting organizations that provide safe places for children to play and to be physically active. The Trust will provide grants to help build barrier-free playgrounds in communities nationwide and expand existing recreation areas for children with disabilities.
Succeed
Medical rehabilitation is critical for many children living with disabilities. CVS Caremark will provide funding for medical rehabilitation and related services for children with disabilities to organizations that provide much-needed services.
For more information please refer to http://www.cvscaremarkallkidscan.com/.
Good News!
Early Steps, Florida’s Part C early intervention program is set to be funded with just over 4 million dollars to keep it going for another year! Congratulations to everyone who helped SW FL maintain these crucial services! For more information on the Early Steps Program, please visit http://www.hpcswf.com/EarlySteps.asp.
The Evolving Roles and Views of Teachers
The MetLife Foundation has released the third and final report based on its 2009 Survey of the American Teacher, and finds teachers are reporting significant shifts in their profession. Career pathways in education are changing, with the role of the teacher evolving and with collaboration more strongly emphasized than before. The survey indicated 75 percent of teachers want to work in education beyond traditional retirement from classroom teaching. One-third worked outside of education before becoming a teacher, and “career-changer” colleagues are more common among secondary school teachers and teachers in schools with high proportions of low-income students. More than half of teachers and half of principals said some in their school had so-called hybrid teaching roles. Thirty-seven percent of teachers expressed interest in such a role, particularly new teachers and those dissatisfied with their current career. Highly satisfied teachers are more likely to work in schools with higher levels of collaboration, and to strongly agree that teachers in a school share responsibility for achievement of all students. Satisfied teachers are also more likely to strongly agree that other teachers contribute to their success in the classroom, and that teachers, principals, and other school professionals at their school trust each other. They are more likely to report a range of collaborative activities at their school, including structured time for teachers to work together. See the report: http://www.metlife.com/about/corporate-profile/citizenship/metlife-foundation/metlife-survey-of-the-american-teacher.html?WT.mc_id=vu1101.
Become a Goodwill GoodGuide
Goodwill Industries International is proud to launch a new program designed to assist youth in overcoming disadvantages and plan careers. The national youth mentoring program — known as Goodwill GoodGuides™ — will help teens finish school and transition into productive careers, with the guidance of trusted adults. The overall goal of the Goodwill GoodGuides program is to help youth build career plans and skills, and prepare for school completion, post-secondary training and productive work by providing structured and supportive relationships with trusted, caring adult volunteer mentors. The program targets youth between the ages of 12 and 17 who are least likely to have trusting relationships with adults due to a variety of risk factors, such as failure in school due to poor grades or low attendance, or are at risk for delinquency due to issues such as abuse, disability, drug or alcohol dependence, family violence, or gang membership. Read more at http://www.goodwill.org/press-releases/goodwill-to-help-mentor-teens-through-goodguides-program/.
Collaboration and Support Over Pay
According to a massive new survey underwritten by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Scholastic, Inc., American teachers are more interested in school reform and student achievement than their paychecks, reports the Associated Press. The national poll, the largest of teachers ever completed, includes the opinions of teachers in every grade, in every state, and across every demographic, and was conducted to keep teachers’ voices in the debate over education reform, according to the Gates Foundation’s director, Vicki Phillips. Most teachers surveyed said they feel students in their states are doing okay in school, but believe fewer than 75 percent will graduate from high school ready to succeed in college and work. More value non-monetary rewards like collaboration time with other teachers and a supportive school leadership over higher salaries. Only 28 percent felt performance pay would have a strong impact, with 30 percent feeling it would have no impact at all. A majority of teachers said they would like to see tougher academic standards common to every state, despite the extra work these could create for them. Teachers are not opposed to standardized tests, despite union lobbying against them in states like Washington. But instead of yearly tests, teachers would prefer formative, ongoing assessments to help them understand how much their students are learning over time. Read more at http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2010/03/02/more_than_40000_us_teachers_surveyed/?rss_id=Boston.com+–+Education+news. See the survey at http://www.scholastic.com/primarysources/download.asp
Deep Reform Underway in Pittsburgh
Issues of what makes a teacher effective and who gets to decide this are among those facing administrators in the Pittsburgh Public Schools and the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers as they begin implementation of a new performance pay plan, reports The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The plan, part of the $40 million grant that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded the district last year, includes seven core initiatives designed to improve teacher efficiency and the learning environment in the school district. These include the creation of a Promise-Readiness Corps, a team of teachers who will shepherd the same group of students from ninth through 10th grade. The plan also calls for expanded career opportunities through the creation of six new job classifications that would account for 400 teaching positions; a teacher academy to train incoming teachers in certain subjects, and a teacher practice and evaluation system. The district will also streamline its human resources operation and information technology platform to better track and place teachers and students. In addition to the $40 million grant awarded to the Pittsburgh schools, the foundation is also funding a two-year research project in eight school districts around the country — including Pittsburgh — to come up with a method of teacher evaluation. Read more at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10068/1041269-298.stm#ixzz0hsqwtHii.
Implementation of Florida’s Next Generation Sunshine State Standards in Mathematics
Fairly significant changes are coming regarding the implementation of Next Generation Sunshine State Standards in mathematics. It is important that district administrators, school administrators and teachers be familiar with the instructional changes that should take place in order to help our students succeed under these new standards. Please view the FLDOE memo at http://info.fldoe.org/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-5682/dps-2010-37.pdf.
Podcast About a Partnership Between FGCU and Veterans Elementary School
The following is a podcast about the ongoing partnership between Florida Gulf Coast University and Veterans Elementary School. View at http://www.vmetech.com/School-wide%20events%20menu.html.
