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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: WHY COMMUNITIES NEED IT MORE THAN EVER |
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Community engagement is probably easier to understand for what it isn't. It isn't public relations, it isn't political advocacy. Both of those areas are important and necessary. But their primary purposes are, respectively, to inform people about something or to enroll them in doing something. "The primary purpose of engagement is for organizations, institutions, leaders and the community itself to listen and learn, "declares David Moore, vice president of Collaborative Communications, in a new publication from the Foundation for Orange County (Fla.) Public Schools, a local education fund. "The act of coming together to express aspirations, concerns and opinions and to listen and learn about what others have to say generates trust, connections, clarity and over time direction for action. That is how I would start a definition of community engagement." Most people agree that helping children succeed is everyone's responsibility. The problem is if they aren't a parent or a teacher, we don't really give them much to do to act on that responsibility other than pay taxes and vote. If we want people to be engaged, we have to create tangible opportunities and structures for them to do things. This means organizations and institutions have to work differently and it means we have to help citizens learn new skills to act on the responsibility. We have spent a long time telling people they didn't need to do anything else but vote and pay taxes. And now that we want them back involved, we have to work at it over time to make it work. The good thing is that when we stop and listen and give people a chance to talk about their hopes and dreams for their community and the kids in the community, they get excited about the possibilities and want to act and they also want to see institutions act to make things better. |
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DEATH & TAXES: A GUIDE TO HOW YOUR FEDERAL DOLLARS ARE SPENT |
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The 2008 federal discretionary budget request for the United States is $1.075 trillion. At the link below, you can find a graph that depicts the president’s budget request for 2008. It will be debated, amended, and approved by Congress, ideally by October 1, to begin the next year. The discretionary budget includes spending that must be approved by Congress every year. It is paid for largely with your federal income taxes and includes all departments within the federal government. Unlike Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, which are paid for by separate taxes, the discretionary budget is a uniquely revealing look at our national priorities. It fluctuates yearly according to the wishes of the president, the power of the Congress, and the will of the people. Overall, military/national security funding represents $717 billion or 67 percent of the President’s discretionary budget. Non-military/security spending is $358 billion or 33 percent. Click the link below to examine specific agency budgets, including the Department of Education. |
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DO CHARTER SCHOOL OUTPERFORM REGULAR SCHOOLS? IT DEPENDS |
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Praised by some and scorned by others, charter schools have long been hailed as the savior or spoiler of public education in America. Now, a study by California researchers trying to learn at last which kind of public school works better -- charter or traditional -- has reached this Zen-like conclusion: It all depends. For elementary schools, forget the charter. Go with traditional. For middle schools, head to the charter. For high schools, well, it's a toss-up. And for those who are dead-set on sending their children to a charter, the ones managed by a company or a nonprofit organization generally outperformed the ones run by local groups. With the research still inconclusive and contradictory, more research is needed, reports Nanette Asimov in the San Francisco Chronicle. |
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EFFORT TO REDUCE RACIAL ISOLATION IN SCHOOLS FAILS |
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An agreement hailed four years ago as a way to end the overwhelming racial isolation in Hartford, Conn.’s public schools has failed, a new independent review of the landmark Sheff v. O'Neill school desegregation case says. Trinity College researchers will issue a report showing, in stark numbers, how little progress has been made toward creating magnet schools that draw a mix of white and non-white students, or toward getting the city's mostly black and Hispanic student population into mostly white suburban schools. The report shows that magnet schools, instead of drawing white suburban children into the city, have been more popular among black and Hispanic suburban families. It also found that gains under a program allowing city children to enroll in suburban schools have ground to a halt, reports Robert A. Frahm in the Hartford Courant. |
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IS RECESS A FRIVOLOUS WASTE OF TIME WITH NO APPARENT OUTCOMES? |
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Elementary school recess has no teacher-designed objectives, and many school districts throughout the country have abolished recess in favor of more time for academic learning. The schoolyard is notorious for being the place where children are most likely to squabble over equipment, call each other hurtful names, make disgusting faces, and mock, taunt, or bully younger children in order to demonstrate their own superiority. These two major concerns prompt the question, "Should recess remain a feature of a school’s ongoing programming?" Opponents to recess are quick to answer "no." However, many policymakers are unaware of the substantial physical and social changes that recess can provide over time, as the child is promoted to advanced grade levels. According to Rhonda Clements in TC Record, recent research has indicated that physical play increases the growth of the fundamental nervous centers of the brain, thus boosting the child’s mental efficiency. When considering the emotional and social benefits of recess, policymakers also should remember that the schoolyard is a setting for increased group interaction, language development, and emotional growth. This is especially true when the child plays with peers of different ethnic backgrounds, physical abilities, and age groups. Unlike the classroom setting that organizes children according to the same chronological age for learning, the schoolyard allows mixed age groups to interact in a social context. Children can develop an appreciation and tolerance for each other’s differences by sharing cultural games, hand-clapping chants, and other ethnic understandings. Small group games also can foster a child’s self-control, perseverance, and feelings of loyalty. In addition, recess serves as an outlet for releasing stress. |
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CLOSING THE TEACHER QUALITY GAP IN PHILADELPHIA: NEW HOPE & OLD HURDLES |
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A new study of teacher staffing issues in the School District of Philadelphia, by authors Elizabeth Useem, Robert Offenberg, and Elizabeth Farley, outlines the degree to which the district has succeeded in upgrading teachers' professional credentials, recruiting and retaining them, and equitably distributing experienced and credentialed teachers across all types of schools. Since the passage of NCLB and the state's takeover of the district in 2001, the district has succeeded in improving the certification rates of its teachers, especially new teachers, and in drastically cutting the number of emergency-certified teachers and classroom vacancies. It also has improved new teacher retention and has modernized and decentralized its hiring process. At the same time, it has not been able to change the pattern of having the least qualified teachers in schools serving the highest percentages of poor and minority students nor its poor long-term rate of teacher retention. The district is also challenged to speed up and simplify its hiring and school placement process and to hire more minority teachers. |
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VIRTUAL HIGH SCHOOLS AS LABORATORIES OF REFORM |
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Spreading rapidly, virtual schools are leading innovation in areas that traditional schools have struggled for decades to improve. They are personalizing student learning and extending it beyond the traditional school day. They are creating new models for teaching -- with opportunities to easily observe, evaluate, and assist instructors. And they are pioneering performance-based education funding models. But this important trend in public education has gone largely unnoticed in the cacophony of policy proposals and solutions being put forth to improve the nation's public schools. In a new Education Sector report, Bill Tucker shows how the practices found in virtual schools are bringing about reforms that have long eluded traditional public schools and prompting educators and policymakers to question and change key components of our traditional, classroom-based public system. Tucker spotlights some of the most successful models of virtual schooling and provides policy recommendations, for both school reformers and virtual school leaders to help improve quality, spur innovation, and use virtual schooling to strengthen current reform efforts. |
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STATES TAKING ACTION ON WEAK OVERSIGHT OF CYBERSCHOOLS |
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It has been an active spring when it comes to state policymaking targeting online schools, writes Erik Robelen in Education Week. Colorado, Indiana, South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Kansas are all developing measures to address insufficient oversight of online schools. In Kansas, state officials are responding to a state report in April that found that despite rigorous policies for overseeing the state’s cyber schools, the state department of education’s actual oversight of them has been "weak." A Colorado measure creates a new division of online learning within the state department of education to oversee virtual education. The division will certify the authorizers of online programs that serve students across district lines, with an eye towards ensuring quality. Also, authorizers of online programs will now have to give the state annual reports on each program they oversee, with details on how the programs have met quality standards, data on students and teachers, and other information. Some virtual school advocates said they worried that the state might seek to overregulate virtual learning and discourage its expansion. But they suggested that in the end, state lawmakers’ reaction was measured. |
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CANCELED SCHOOL PLAY ABOUT IRAQ BRINGS OUT REAL DRAMA |
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Sixteen Connecticut students, eight boys and eight girls, all members of an advanced drama class, have found themselves in a bewildering maelstrom of wartime controversy. What should have been a simple hour-long spring play, like thousands of others during the season of senioritis and proms, instead has become a media-driven touchstone, not only of the rife divisions in the country but of the free speech rights -- and intellectual abilities -- of high school students as they explore the complexities and horrors of war. In March, the principal of Wilton High, Timothy Canty, canceled the production of the play after one student and her mother complained that the script was unbalanced and disrespectful to those in Iraq. Early versions of the script, based entirely on the words of real soldiers in combat, included profane language, graphic descriptions of violence, and a moral ambiguity that seemed to question the justness of the war. Mr. Canty felt its performance would hurt families that had lost loved ones or had family members serving overseas. The cancellation, reports Harry Bruinius in the Christian Science Monitor, only served to draw the attention of national media, prominent playwrights, and a host of others concerned that a student play would be censored for critiquing the war in Iraq. The controversy has assured it a larger, broader audience than the school stage would have: A number of professional theater companies are hosting the student production, including The Public Theater in Manhattan (June 15), one of the more renowned venues in New York. |
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EDUCATIONAL IMPROVEMENT STARTS AT HOME ... NOW |
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Once again, the air is filled with headlines and recriminations about the quality of our schools and whether our students can compete in the world. Is all this bemoaning about American education justified? Studies are unclear about this, writes Dorothy Rich. What is clear is that when it comes to education, there has been an over-focus on the role of the school and insufficient focus on the role of the family. It’s significant, as schools let out, to remember what every family can do at home to enable children to become stronger students and citizens. Taking nothing away from hardworking teachers and besieged schools, the truth remains this: The family, regardless of income and educational background, can use opportunities, now, this summer, to make a truly positive impact on children’s attitudes and behaviors that determine school success. This is true for families even on the tightest time schedules. Click below to learn a few of the steps that can make the biggest difference for your children. In the light of what we are learning about how many children today are feeling lonely, it is more important than ever for families to use time off from school to help children feel loved and be able to do better when schools come back into session again. |
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PUBLIC SCHOOL ENDOWMENTS ON THE RISE |
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Kindergartners got a cooking club to help them learn about nutrition, hygiene and teamwork. Students got a classroom surround-sound system so they can clearly hear the teacher. High school students got to build electric cars as a way to explore physics concepts. Those projects were all paid for through public school endowments, reports Jennifer Gonzalez in the Plain Dealer (Cleveland). More commonly found at colleges, endowments are becoming increasingly important in elementary and high schools as operating budgets get squeezed. An endowment is a type of special savings account for money that is donated or taken in through fundraising events. The money is invested, and some of each year's earnings is spent on selected projects while the principal remains untouched. The money cannot be used to pay for regular expenses like teacher salaries or construction projects. The Lorain, Ohio school district, which has a $1.4 million endowment, awarded $63,500 in grants to teachers and other employees this year. Over the past three years, the number of applications has jumped from 39 to 64. Dean Schnurr, the district's spokesman, also serves as the endowment's executive director. "Many times we can't do the things we want to do for students" because of budget restrictions, he said. "The endowment fund provides an opportunity that otherwise wouldn't be available to students." |
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INTERNET ACCESS IN U.S. PUBLIC SCHOOLS & CLASSROOMS: 1994-2005 |
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This report presents 11 years of data from 1994 to 2005 (no survey was conducted in 2004) on Internet access in U.S. public schools by school characteristics. It provides trend analysis on the percent of public schools and instructional rooms with Internet access and on the ratio of students to instructional computers with Internet access. The report contains data on the types of Internet connections, technologies and procedures used to prevent student access to inappropriate material on the Internet, and the availability of hand-held and laptop computers to students and teachers. It also provides information on teacher professional development on how to integrate the use of the Internet into the curriculum, and the use of the Internet to provide opportunities and information for teaching and learning. |
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MISUNDERSTOOD MINDS |
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For one in five students, learning is an exhausting and frustrating struggle. Often mistakenly called "lazy" or "stupid" by their teachers, classmates, and even their families, these children may be suffering from debilitating learning problems. If not addressed, the problems can have a devastating impact on the students' self-esteem and future academic and social success. The PBS documentary "Misunderstood Minds" shines a spotlight on this painful subject, following the stories of five families as, together with experts, they try to solve the mysteries of their children's learning difficulties. Produced and directed by Michael Kirk, this 90-minute special shows the children's problems in a new light, and serves as a platform to open a nationwide dialogue on how best to manage young, vulnerable, and misunderstood minds. Parents, teachers, and students looking for the scientific explanations behind learning differences and strategies to aid success in school can find both on the companion website for Misunderstood Minds. The site includes profiles of the students in the documentary, as well as sections on Attention, Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. Interactive activities, called Experience Firsthand, are designed to give site visitors a sense of what it may be like for a student struggling with a basic skill. |
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HIGH-QUALITY CHILD CARE FOR LOW-INCOME CHILDREN OFFSETS RISK OF LATER DEPRESSION |
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Young adults from low-income families who were in full-time early educational child care from infancy to age five reported fewer symptoms of depression than their peers who were not in this type of care, according to a new report by FPG researchers. The early educational intervention also appears to have protected the children to some extent against the negative effects of their home environments. |
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NEW GRANT AND FUNDING INFORMATION |
"Grants for Service Learning Projects Focused on Community/School Safety"
The Institute for Global Education & Service Learning 2007 LSA Youth Organized for Disaster Action Training Grants are available for service learning projects focused on community/school safety during the 2007-2008 school year. Projects must involve youth in the planning, implementation and evaluation of the project. Maximum Award: $1,000. Eligibility: teachers and youth from K-12 schools, including charter and private schools. Deadline: June 15, 2007.
"Early Childhood Special Education Leadership Post-Doctoral Fellowship Announced"
The School of Education and Human Development and the Center for Evidence-Based Practice in Early Learning at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center announce a competitive early intervention (EI)/early childhood special education leadership (ECSEL) post-doctoral fellowship program beginning in fall 2007. The program (Project ECSEL) is supported by a grant from the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. The fellowship program is designed to provide knowledge and experiences to post doctoral fellows that result in the competence to provide state and national leadership needed to address pressing policy and systems issues in EI/ECSE. Eligibility: must have doctorate in early childhood special education or closely related field and experience in the field of early childhood. Deadline: July 15, 2007.
"Grants for Youth Participation in Athletic Programs"
The Finish Line Youth Foundation Grants Program funds organizations that provide opportunities for youth participation in athletic programs that promote an active lifestyle and team-building skills, and established camps that emphasize sports and an active lifestyle, especially those serving disadvantaged and special needs kids. Maximum Award: $5,000. Eligibility: 501c(3) organizations that serve youth 18 years and younger. Deadline: June 30, 2007.
"Broad Center Recruits for 2008 Superintendents Academy Class"
Wanted: The nation's most talented executives to run the business of urban education. The Broad Center is now accepting resumes for application consideration for the 2008 Broad Superintendents Academy. They are seeking: (1) Educators with a proven track record of success: superintendents from rural and suburban communities; deputy, associate and area superintendents from medium and large urban districts; executives from private school and charter school systems; (2) Outstanding senior executives from education, business, government, the military and nonprofit organizations who have had a successful career managing complex organizations, overseeing multimillion-dollar budgets and leading sizeable teams of people; and (3) Dynamic entrepreneurs and risk-takers who challenge the status quo. Know someone who fits this profile? Nominate them. Click the link below for admissions information. The final application deadline is September 16, 2007. Questions? E-mail academy@broadcenter.org or call (310) 954.5080.
"Awards Recognized School District Best Practices"
American School Board Journal (ASBJ) is accepting nominations online for the 2008 Magna Awards through October 1, 2007. Presented in cooperation with Sodexho School Services, winners of the Magna Awards receive national recognition in a special supplement to ASBJ and are honored at a luncheon at the National School Boards Association’s annual conference. Awards are handed out in three enrollment categories -- under 5,000, 5,001 to 20,000, and more than 20,000. Grand prize winners in each category receive a $3,500 cash award from Sodexho. Nominations this year are being accepted only online. For more information, call (703) 838-6739.
For a detailed listing of numerous EXISTING GRANT OPPORTUNITIES (updated each week), visit: http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_grants.asp
"There must be far less telling on the part of the teacher and far more doing on the part of the student. Teaching means creating situations where structures can be discovered; it does not mean transmitting structures, which may be assimilated at nothing other than the verbal level."
- Jean Piaget (Swiss philosopher, natural scientist & developmental psychologist)
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