Texas activists: Chavez, Marshall must be taught - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Texas activists: Chavez, Marshall must be taught - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee:

"AUSTIN, Texas -- Minority activists urged Texas education officials on Thursday to not minimize the importance of civil rights leaders Cesar Chavez and Thurgood Marshall in public schools.
The State Board of Education heard testimony in a plan to update the social studies requirements for the state's 4.6 million K-12 students. Two members of a board-appointed advisory panel had suggested removing Chavez and Marshall from some grades' curriculum, triggering a strong backlash from civil rights groups, teachers and parents statewide."

Verizon Foundation's Thinkfinity.org

Verizon Foundation's Thinkfinity.org:

"Verizon Foundation's Thinkfinity.org
Thinkfinity.org is the cornerstone of Verizon Foundation's literacy, education and technology initiatives. Our goal is to improve student achievement in traditional classroom settings and beyond by providing high-quality content and extensive professional development training.

This free, comprehensive digital learning platform is built upon the merger of two acclaimed programs Verizon MarcoPolo and the Thinkfinity Literacy Network.
http://thinkfinity.org/about.aspx"

K-12 High Speed Network and Verizon Announce Partnership to Provide Free Online Resources... | Reuters

K-12 High Speed Network and Verizon Announce Partnership to Provide Free Online Resources... Reuters:


"K-12 High Speed Network and Verizon Announce Partnership to Provide Free Online Resources Through Thinkfinity.org to Help California Educators

Verizon Foundation Grant of $125,000 to Fund Professional Development for Teachers and Trainers"

LOS ANGELES and SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 17/PRNewswire/ -- The CaliforniaK-12 High Speed Network (K12HSN), a state-funded education program, and theVerizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon, unveiled Thursday (Sept.17) a new initiative that will provide free online resources for Californiateachers, parents and students, through Verizon's Thinkfinity.org.

Fired Inspector General Files Motion to Return to His Job - Political News - FOXNews.com

Fired Inspector General Files Motion to Return to His Job - Political News - FOXNews.com:

"Walpin insists the charge is baseless and believes his firing was the result of bad blood between him and the board over his investigation of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, an Obama supporter, for alleged misuse of federal funds.

Walpin's office found that Johnson and his academy, St. HOPE, which received $850,000 in AmeriCorps money, had misused the funds and AmeriCorps volunteers for personal purposes, including enlisting their help in political campaigns and washing his car."

Bossmayor.com is really boss

Bossmayor.com is really boss

Have you seen the new bossmayor.com site? It is high quality. In fact it is boasts 100x more content and professionalism than SAG even approached. Heck, even the acronym is better: SAVE= “Support Accountability, Voice, and Ethics in Sacramento.” I have to give props to whomever put this web site together. There is a clear message, a clear mission, and a very logical thought process that is very difficult to refute.

September 17, 2009 Meeting

September 17, 2009 Booard of Education Meeting:


"Agenda Items:
Item 9.1 Budget Update for 2009-10

Item 11.1a Approve Grants, Entitlements and Other Income Agreements, Ratification of Other Agreements, Approval of Bid Awards, Approval of Declared Surplus Materials & Equipment, Change Notices and Notices of Completion

Item 11.1B Business and Financial Report

Item 11.1c Field Trips

Item 11.2a District Personnel Transactions"

http://www.scusd.edu/Departments/BoardofEducation/Meetings/Pages/20090917.aspx

Teacher Beat: NEA to Spend $6 Million for Teachers in High-Needs Schools

Teacher Beat: NEA to Spend $6 Million for Teachers in High-Needs Schools:

"The National Education Association plans to put $6 million over six years into 'comprehensive strategies and policies to increase teacher effectiveness in high-needs schools.' The funds will be focused on four strategies outlined in this paper, authored by Barnett Berry, the president of the Hillsborough, N.C.-based Center for Teaching Quality.

Among Berry's major recommendations, states and districts should focus on comprehensive initiatives to lure teachers to hard-to-staff schools and ensure that they grow in effectiveness while there. In other words, don't just stick performance pay in alone and expect it to work."

Education Week: Expected Turnaround Aid Has Districts Eager, Wary

Education Week: Expected Turnaround Aid Has Districts Eager, Wary:

"Those choices don’t leave school leaders much room to scale up programs that seem to be working at the local level, said Carlos Garcia, the superintendent of the 55,270-student San Francisco district.

“There can’t be a cookie-cutter approach to this,” Mr. Garcia said, particularly since any interventions will need buy-in from school staff members, parents, and the community to be successful and sustainable. “Do they think we’re incapable of creating models for transformation?”

San Francisco has had success in offering principals and teachers in low-performing schools intensive professional development, he noted. He would like to be able to consider continuing that practice with the new resources."

Education Week: No Child Left Behind Act

Education Week: No Child Left Behind Act:

"The “Differentiated Accountability Pilot Program,” launched by the U.S. Department of Education in 2008, allows nine states to vary the intensity and type of intervention they use with struggling schools under NCLB and focus their resources on those with the greatest needs. The CEP’s study focuses on Georgia, Maryland, New York, and Ohio that took advantage of flexibility under the program to help low-performing schools."

Read Full report here: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/11442518/States-Use-Increased-Flexibility-Under-No-Child-Left-Behind-Law-To-Try-New-Approaches-to-Helping-Lowest-Performing-Schools

Education Week: Harkin's New Hat Boosts His Sway Over K-12

Education Week: Harkin's New Hat Boosts His Sway Over K-12:

"Now that U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa has stepped into the chairmanship of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, he will have broad authority over both policy and money for education issues in the Senate. That puts him in a powerful position as Congress prepares to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act."

Building Successful Parent-Teacher Partnerships

Building Successful Parent-Teacher Partnerships:

"When I hear the phrase “parent-teacher partnerships,” I can’t help but think back on my first year as an educator. Fresh out of graduate school, I was very eager to meet my new students and their families. I had high hopes about the many relationships that would blossom as a result of my new position. I was fortunate enough to land a job in a large urban district in the very same city where I grew up. I knew that I would be teaching in a diverse neighborhood and that some of my students would be coming to me from low-income households. The school was not far from the building where I was raised and was directly across the street from a church I had spent a great deal of time in as a girl. I knew the area very well and wanted so much to become an integral part of my pupil’s lives."

Oakland Parents Together

Oakland Parents Together:

"GRAND OPENING: OAKLAND PARENT/FAMILY CENTER
Saturday, September 26 2009
12 Noon-3 PM
Oakland Parent/Family Center
440 Santa Clara Avenue
Oakland"

Are Blue Ribbon schools really the best? | schools, blue, percent, school, top - News - OCRegister.com

Are Blue Ribbon schools really the best? schools, blue, percent, school, top - News - OCRegister.com:

"National Blue Ribbon awards are often called the 'Oscars' for schools.

The selection process can be very competitive, somewhat subjective, and winners carry the title with them for the rest of eternity.

But for schools, other measurements – including tests scores, graduation rates, the quality of college and career preparation programs – also help identify the ones that do the best job of educating children."

Hundreds of D.C. Voucher Pupils Unaccounted For, Durbin Says at Funding Hearing - washingtonpost.com

Hundreds of D.C. Voucher Pupils Unaccounted For, Durbin Says at Funding Hearing - washingtonpost.com:

"D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, who testified at the hearing, said she supports funding charter schools and the voucher program. But she said she wants students receiving vouchers to take the same standardized tests as public school students to assess their academic progress, which isn't the case now."

Stockton Unified cuts force teachers to scramble | Recordnet.com#STS=fzpnbumv.1n47#STS=fzpnbumv.1n47

Stockton Unified cuts force teachers to scramble Recordnet.com#STS=fzpnbumv.1n47#STS=fzpnbumv.1n47:

"Stockton Unified - San Joaquin County's largest school district with 38,000 students - opened this school year with about 1,900 permanent teachers. Last year, it had about 2,000. And after having laid off about 250 teachers, Stockton Unified could not simply rescind some of those layoffs to open school at the end of July with a sufficient force of permanent teachers.

There was a legally-mandated process to be followed."

NEA Member Benefits and TeachAde Partner to Provide Educators Access to a Free Online... | Reuters

NEA Member Benefits and TeachAde Partner to Provide Educators Access to a Free Online... Reuters:

"TeachAde will be integrated into the newly revamped NEA MB Web site to help
members connect with each other, share best practices, and access invaluable
resources with a click of the mouse. The collaboration is part of the Web
site's intentional focus on the most important subjects to members: Money,
Everyday Living, Health and Wellness, Professional Resources and Travel and
Leisure.

'Our goal is to partner with the best programs and services to engage and
support our members,' said Mark Stevens, vice president of Professional & Web
Solutions, NEA Member Benefits. 'Partnering with TeachAde will help educators
connect with one another on a personal and immediate level about important
topical issues such as National Board Certification, 21st-century skills and
curriculum and instruction. TeachAde provides our members with a means to
easily share their expertise, resources and tools with colleagues across the
county.'"

Critics' attacks of President Obama are scarier than bias

Critics' attacks of President Obama are scarier than bias:

"Every American President in a furious political fight is going to be criticized, and a black President does not get a pass. It is condescending to think that a man of Barack Obama's intellect and political skills needs to be coddled.

But Carter is right on one big and important point: The pattern of attacks on Obama suggests that there are people who don't accept the idea that this man, the first black man to win the highest office in the land, is really the President.

These critics seem less interested in arguing about health care proposals than in building the case that Obama is not legitimately our national leader."

District to lay off teachers at end of month | Washington Examiner

District to lay off teachers at end of month Washington Examiner:

"Announcing the cuts three weeks into the school year 'at best reflects extreme mismanagement and a lack of transparency,' said union President George Parker.

Rhee said every school system went through the fall balancing act between enrollment and funding and that announcing cuts in September instead of October caused fewer disruptions.

Parker also questioned how reductions came to be needed after the schools hired about 900 new teachers over the summer -- a fact he called 'mindboggling.' According to the school system, principals made their final hires in July based on spring estimates of how much money they would have."

Mass. teachers union issues blistering report on charter school enrollment trends - Essex, MA - Wicked Local Essex

Mass. teachers union issues blistering report on charter school enrollment trends - Essex, MA - Wicked Local Essex:

"“Fewer than half of the students enrolled in charter high schools as freshmen are still enrolled as seniors,” according to the 50-page report, released Wednesday morning by the Massachusetts Teachers Association. “This attrition pattern can be captured by snapshot of any single year. In 2008, for example, there were only two seniors for every five freshmen in the charter schools, while there were four seniors for every five freshmen in the Boston Public Schools.”

Calling charter schools “dropout factories,” union president Anne Wass pointed to the report as proof that charter schools are “essentially a state-managed system of publicly funded private schools.”"

Read full report here: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/11431474/Report-CHARTER-SCHOOL-SUCCESS-OR-SELECTIVE-OUT-MIGRATION-OF-LOW-ACHIEVERS-Effects-of-Enrollment-Management-on-Student-Achievement

Ohio.com - Opponents transform ACORN into fuel

Ohio.com - Opponents transform ACORN into fuel:

"For months during last year's presidential race, conservatives sought to tar the Obama campaign with accusations of voter fraud and other transgressions by the national community organizing group ACORN, which had done some work for the campaign.

But it took amateur actors, posing as a prostitute and a pimp and recorded on hidden cameras in visits to ACORN offices, to send government officials scrambling in recent days to sever ties with the organization.

Conservative advocates and broadcasters were gleeful about the success of the tactics in exposing ACORN workers, who appeared to blithely encourage prostitution and tax evasion. It was, in effect, the latest scalp claimed by those on the right who have made no secret of their hope to weaken the Obama administration by attacking allies and appointees they view as leftist."

Where’s the Evidence? by Neal McCluskey on National Review Online

Where’s the Evidence? by Neal McCluskey on National Review Online:

"If you listen to advocates of national education standards — from the Obama administration to the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute — you’ll seldom hear anything about “evidence” or “research.” You’ll get plenty of assertions about the craziness of having 50 state standards, and how a modern nation must have one bar for all, but zilch about actual, empirical evidence.

So why are these folks — many of whom regularly decry the absence of “scientifically based” policymaking in almost every other facet of education — hawking national standards with nary a whisper about research showing that this monumental reform will actually work? Because there’s hardly any such research to cite. There are very few extant studies comparing educational outcomes in countries with and without national standards — in other words, studies with “treatment” and “control” groups — and what little research does exist is, at best, ambiguous."

Valley assemblyman vice-chair of education | MyDesert.com | The Desert Sun

Valley assemblyman vice-chair of education MyDesert.com The Desert Sun:

"California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, on Wednesday named Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, as vice-chair of the Fifth Extraordinary Session Education Committee, Nestande's office announced."

The committee will hold hearings through the end of the year to put California in a favorable position to compete for federal Race to the Top funds.
The U.S. Department of Education will be awarding $4.35 billion in Race to the Top funds to states for programs aimed at improving educational quality and results.

Commentary: The Latino education challenge | McClatchy

Commentary: The Latino education challenge McClatchy:

"If we don't close that gap, America's workforce will lack the high-order skills the economy demands. There's no upside to allowing such a fast-growing demographic group trail behind, unless we prefer second-tier nation status.

Fortunately, the Obama administration gets the problem, as did the Bush administration. In fact, going back to the first Bush presidency, the White House has had an initiative to improve Latinos' educational progress.

Juan Sepuvelda now heads that effort, and the former San Antonio management consultant was in Dallas last week as part of a national listening tour. He's learning what communities are doing to improve Latino success in schools and what they must do to ramp it up."

UC president says CA is building 'toll road to higher education' | 89.3 KPCC

UC president says CA is building 'toll road to higher education' 89.3 KPCC:

"Mark Yudof: 'I’m sorry. I regret it, but the state has stopped building freeways to higher education and it has started building toll roads. That’s what you have. You have a toll road to higher education. I don’t like it but that’s what they’ve done.'"

Letters to the editor - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

Letters to the editor - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial Sacramento Bee:

"While Obama is the consensus builder, trying to bring wolves to the table, expecting them to work in a polite and cooperative manner, Johnson is the wolf in Democratic clothing, allied with powerful corporate 'volunteers,' marching toward ever-greater power and demanding mindless servitude from others."

Massive fee hikes planned at University of California - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Massive fee hikes planned at University of California - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee:

"University of California employees and students chanting 'Whose university? Our university!' express outrage over planned fee hikes at the regents' meeting Wednesday in San Francisco as a plainclothes police officer, right, watches over the proceedings."

University of California regents meeting Wednesday in San Francisco said they likely will approve a 32 percent hike in student fees.
The increase would push the price of a year at UC to $10,302 for undergraduates and comes on the heels of a 9.3 percent increase approved in May.

The Associated Press: Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary dead at 72

The Associated Press: Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary dead at 72:

"They were early champions of Bob Dylan and performed his 'Blowin' in the Wind' at the August 1963 March on Washington.

And they were vehement in their opposition to the Vietnam War, managing to stay true to their liberal beliefs while creating music that resonated in the American mainstream.
The group collected five Grammy Awards for their three-part harmony on enduring songs like 'Leaving on a Jet Plane,' 'Puff (The Magic Dragon)' and 'Blowin' in the Wind.'"

Education News & Comment

Education News & Comment:
"SCUSD District Advisory Committee (DAC)
Parent Involvement Committee

...is looking for PARENTS
who want to get INVOLVED!"

If you are interested, please join usat the Serna Center, Arizona Roomon September 16, 20095:00pm - 6:00pm

Impacts of cuts surfacing now school is under way; tattered English book with missing pages tells the story - Redwood Times

Impacts of cuts surfacing now school is under way; tattered English book with missing pages tells the story - Redwood Times:

"”We need this stuff. It’s hard to do our job without it,” she said. She said that the teachers feel awkward engaging in so much fundraising and the academic teachers worry about competing with the sports programs and campus clubs for the same community money. She asked the board to give direction to the teachers. “Do you expect us to be fundraisers?” she asked.

Teacher Melinda Bailey brought a tattered English textbook with missing pages to draw attention to the fact that English has not been included in the rotation schedule for the purchase of new textbooks for math, science and social studies. English textbooks have not been replaced since 1990, she said, and it was an embarrassment for the school."

Sacramento Press / Council unlikely to address "strong mayor" issues raised by city attorney

Sacramento Press / Council unlikely to address "strong mayor" issues raised by city attorney:

"Several legal issues in the “strong mayor” initiative that were raised by Sacramento’s city attorney will likely not be addressed by the City Council. After listening to a Tuesday night presentation by City Attorney Eileen Teichert, councilmembers did not suggest taking any future actions to resolve the issues.

Instead of taking action on the legal issues that were raised by Teichert, some councilmembers said they look forward to analyzing the Charter Review Committee’s upcoming recommendations on the strong mayor system of city government. The committee’s ideas may be placed on a future ballot for citizens to decide."

Education Week: Draft Unveiled on Technological Literacy for NAEP

Education Week: Draft Unveiled on Technological Literacy for NAEP:

"A discussion draft of the framework for the national assessment of technological literacy, the first to gauge students’ understanding of and skill in using a range of tools, has been presented to the board that oversees the testing program.

The computer-based National Assessment of Educational Progress in technological literacy, scheduled to be administered to a representative sample of the nation’s 4th, 8th, and 12th graders for the first time in 2012, will evaluate students’ understanding of technology tools and their design, the ways they can be used to gather information and communicate ideas, and their impact on society."

Click here to view this report http://www.docstoc.com/docs/11386736/Draft-Technological-Literacy-for-NAEP

Committee Meetings

Committee Meetings:

"Facilities Committee

The next meeting is:

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Agenda/Handouts/Minutes
Time: 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.
Location: Serna Center - Michigan/Minnesota Rooms

Meeting Schedule January - June 2009

Board of Education Members:
Roy Grimes, MPA, MBA, Board President (Area 6)
Patrick Kennedy, Board 2nd Vice President and Committee Chairman (Area 7)

Donald Terry, Board Member (Area 3)"

Walkout called over UC budget cuts

Walkout called over UC budget cuts:

"Hundreds of faculty, students and staff from the University of California's 10 campuses are calling for a systemwide walkout Sept. 24 to protest UC's handling of its budget crisis."

The protest is intended to disrupt classes to call attention to the deep impact of millions of dollars of budget cuts on the quality of education throughout the UC system.
What began in recent weeks as a proposed faculty walkout coinciding with the first day of school next Thursday at some campuses - including UCSF, UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz - has grown to include graduate and undergraduate student groups, and labor unions representing thousands of employees.


"We hope to accomplish a freeze on tuition increases, protection for the most vulnerable employees, and a return to respect for democratic process," said Joshua Clover, an associate professor of English at UC Davis who helped draft a petition urging the walkout that has been signed by 743 faculty members representing each campus.

City Council nixes companion measure to strong-mayor proposal - Latest News - sacbee.com

City Council nixes companion measure to strong-mayor proposal - Latest News - sacbee.com:

"The Sacramento City Council decided Tuesday not to draft a companion measure to Mayor Kevin Johnson's strong-mayor proposal that would address what City Attorney Eileen Teichert described as 'legal issues' with the proposal."

Ohio.com - Grading education isn't easy

Ohio.com - Grading education isn't easy:

"Accountability

In urban public schools, 54.3 percent exceeded the goals for value-added achievement, compared to 46.4 percent in charter schools.

''Everything we see so far by all the measurements is that traditional public schools outperform charter schools,'' said Barb Shaner, Ohio Association of School Business Officials associate executive director.

Shaner, a member of the Coalition for Public Education, is not calling for all charter schools to close, but her organization's members are correctly tired of being labeled failures in urban areas."

Teenage inmates earn high-school diplomas

Teenage inmates earn high-school diplomas:

"It was a ceremony full of contradictions: 'Pomp and Circumstance' blared from a little boom box but filled up the small room; the striped uniforms that are the trademark of many county inmates were visible underneath the gowns the graduates proudly wore; a string of handcuffs lay on the floor near a buffet table full of food to congratulate the teenagers.

Many of the students said if they'd stayed in school on the outside, they wouldn't have ended up in jail. But, by the same token, ending up in jail is the only thing that pushed them to complete their education."

D.C. to Ask Judge to Dismiss Special Education Court Order - washingtonpost.com

D.C. to Ask Judge to Dismiss Special Education Court Order - washingtonpost.com:

"The decree ordered the District to wipe out a backlog of more than 1,000 decisions by hearing officers that had yet to be implemented, which delayed placement of students in programs. It also requires that 80 percent of the decisions reached after July 1, 2008, be executed in timely fashion.

The latest District figures place its timeliness rate at 60 percent for the one-year period ending June 30. Ira Burnim, attorney for the Blackman plaintiffs, said Tuesday that is unacceptable."

State, U.S. disagree on progress at some L.A. schools -- latimes.com

State, U.S. disagree on progress at some L.A. schools -- latimes.com:

"Thirty-nine Los Angeles schools -- a group larger than the entire Glendale school system -- identified as 'failing' under federal standards became eligible Tuesday for takeover under a recent Board of Education policy.

These schools bring the number of Los Angeles Unified School District campuses eligible for takeover to 252. Bidders from inside or outside the nation's second-largest school system could submit proposals to run such schools. The bidding process also applies to 51 new schools set to open over the next four years."

In The News : Milwaukee Area Labor Council AFL-CIO

In The News : Milwaukee Area Labor Council AFL-CIO:

"In a rambling but revealing interview with Wisconsin’s largest newspaper, the new mayor for the city of Milwaukee, Scott Walker, discussed in greater detail his mayoral takeover of public education.

First, Walker said, he would sell 40 public school properties to condominium developers from Waukesha and Burnett counties he has worked with before. Included was the valuable Riverside High School building and its nearby environmental center."

Threatening School Reform - washingtonpost.com

Threatening School Reform - washingtonpost.com:

"The council, returning from summer break next week, will try to override Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's Aug. 26 veto of budget language appropriating nearly $1 million to the State Board of Education. It was the second time the mayor vetoed the measure because of fears that increased autonomy could lead to the board meddling in school operations. Five votes are needed to sustain the mayor's veto, and unfortunately, it appears that some council members are buying the notion that this is a minor matter that won't threaten Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's reforms. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D), proponent of the change who is also mulling a challenge to Mr. Fenty next year, argues that the board's role in setting citywide educational standards and policy is not being enlarged."

School test results bring confusion

School test results bring confusion:

"State and local education officials are calling for revisions to the No Child Left Behind law in the next few years to help address what they say are untenable benchmarks in the federal system. Schools that receive federal Title I funding and fail to reach those benchmarks for two years are put on a watch list called Program Improvement. Nearly 2,800 schools are now on the list statewide, 1,558 new to it this year.

Five years on that list means local education officials are expected to take drastic steps to turn the school around, which could include a reconstituted staff, new principal, conversion to a charter school or closure. A decision not to participate in the federal program could result in the loss of Title I funding for low-income students, which pays for a range of programs including staff and materials."

Test score conundrum - SignOnSanDiego.com

Test score conundrum - SignOnSanDiego.com:

"State and federal report cards released simultaneously yesterday tell two tales: More than 80 percent of the county's public schools did better on standardized tests last spring than they did in 2008, but an alarming number of campuses are facing federal sanctions for low test scores. That double standard underscores the differences in how the state and federal governments measure success, and it is adding to concerns local educators have about the seven-year-old federal No Child Left Behind Act. The law demands that schools do more for low-scoring students but orders reforms even for schools that already are improving."

Education director speaks out against No Child Left Behind | San Francisco Examiner

Education director speaks out against No Child Left Behind San Francisco Examiner:

"What’s wrong with No Child Left Behind? Nearly everything. No Child Left Behind is an inside-the-Beltway, political mandate that has no relationships with the realities of classrooms. It uses arbitrary gains on low-quality multiple-choice tests as the sole factor for determining educational quality."

Parents involved in curriculum, policy discussions | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register

Parents involved in curriculum, policy discussions DesMoinesRegister.com The Des Moines Register:

"School officials began to work with those at Harris and discovered Harris’ teachers visited families in the afternoon and on weekends and held classes for parents. Similar efforts were replicated at Bernard Long, along with the creation of a team of parents who worked with teachers to brainstorm ways to increase parental involvement and then find ways to make it happen."

Involvement plans pay off in test scores | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register

Involvement plans pay off in test scores DesMoinesRegister.com The Des Moines Register:

"Many times parents fell through the cracks of the educational system themselves, and didn't understand what their responsibilities were when it came to education, she said.

'The problems that we're dealing with didn't happen overnight,' Anderson said. 'You have a demographic that statistics say the majority is just not going to make it, and trying to convince parents of the value of the effort we're trying to make is quite challenging.'"