July, 2009

There side-by-side comparisons to provide information regarding:

• ADP English Benchmarks with the newly developed College- and Career-Ready Common Core State Standards in Reading, Writing and Communication
  Click here to view the report
  
• ADP Mathematics Benchmarks with the newly developed College- and Career-Ready Common Core State Standards in Mathematics
  Click here to view the report
  

Purpose

Click the links below to jump to a specific education session.

MONDAY November 2, 2009 Education Sessions

• Education Session, Round 1: 10:15-11:05 AM
• Education Session, Round 2: 11:15-12:05 PM
• Education Session, Round 3: 1:20-2:10 PM
• Education Session, Round 4: 3:35-4:25 PM

ATTENTION: This is a tentative schedule, subject to change. Please check back as the event approaches for updates and changes.

Click the links below to jump to a specific education session.

Twelve school groups on Tuesday threw their support behind a proposal by House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) to create one health care pool for all public sector employees, saying that members of their organizations have the same benefits as teachers and understand major reforms are needed.

"Without meaningful reform, districts will be hard pressed to offer affordable benefits at all in the future," said Michigan Association of School Administrators Executive Director William Mayes. "We want to reform the system before the system stops working for teachers and kids."

I am wondering if school districts across Michigan are purchasing the the National Career Readiness Certificate for their graduates? If not why?If so, are you adding the cost ($5) to student fees such as cap & gown?

Time for a pause

I remember an article I wrote at the end of my year as president of our association. It was about those few minutes between the end of one school year and the start of the next. It’s that time when you say good-bye to the students and teachers leaving for their summer break, and that awaiting meeting to discuss next year issues. There is that minute or two, without pressure to “get it done” that you get to reflect on the past year.

Well, this is my pause.

Jim,

I am writing you with mixed feelings to tell you I must resign as the MASSP High School Commission Chairperson and from the MASSP Board of Directors. I've accepted a position as Superintendent of the Laingsburg Community School system effective August 3, 2009.

I am currently working with a company to develop and pilot a new program for teachers that would allow them to utilize student cell phones to aid in instruction. Our program would primarily use the phone's text messaging feature. Some functions of the program would include student surveys, quizzes and tests, real-time brainstorming, and picture and video galleries. It would be web-based so schools would simply pay a subscription fee and get a log-in. We are thinking about purchasing some pay-as-you-go cell phones for students to use who do not have text messaging service on their phones.

What do you see as the pros and cons of a program like this? I'm curious to get your feedback.

For a number of years headlines in local papers pronounced the failings of public and charter schools. When we worked so hard to put the ACT in place as our test, our critics concluded that we'll never be able to show improvement. They also said our averages would go down.

Well, not so.

This year, with 100% of our students taking the ACT we have growth --significant growth.

My Saturday morning paper had this headline: "Schools do well in state Merit Exam."

Our members and their teaching staff are seeing the means to get our students to the next step. Good job!

Does anyone currently operate and have success with a "school within a school" model specifically for the 9th grade population? If so, I would like to possibly arrange a visit to your school.

Thank you,
Scott Kapla
skapla@scslakeview-k12.com
Lakeview High School

It says wise use must be made of federal stimulus money

Lansing State Journal
Kathleen Lavey
July 23, 2009

Michigan is one of 17 states in a "make or break" position as the U.S. strives to improve high school graduation rates, according to a nationwide report released Wednesday.

But the report also says the state - along with Ohio and California - is in a good spot to boost graduation rates if local school districts take advantage of federal stimulus money and other resources as well as tailoring solutions to their individual needs.

You know those things your read about in the news? Then you actually get to see it? Well that happened to me the other day while visiting the Newseum in Washington, DC.

A recent principal decision was a court case before the U.S. Supreme Court - Bong 4 Jesus. We've all read about it, wrote articles about the decision, and in our minds use the decision for our decision making.

Well, I saw the sign the kids posted in the "Freedom of Speech" exhibit. It was cool just to see the actual sign.

Duncan Outlines Priorities at Principals’ Conference
Teacher Evaluations Cited As Education Reform Priority
By James Michael Brodie
Education Week

Education Secretary Arne Duncan brought his reform message to school administrators on Friday, calling for teacher evaluations that re flect what is taking place in the classrooms.

“The teacher evaluation system is basically broken,” Duncan told attendees at a joint confer ence of the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the National Association of Secondary School Principals. “Ninety-nine per cent of teachers in some states are rated above average. … Right now we don’t reward excel lence. We don’t know who the superstars are.”

Join us November 1-3, for our 2009 Fall Conference
at Crystal Mountain Resort!

This content-rich conference will help you do your job with ease. From keynote speakers to workshops, the Fall Conference is designed to connect you with proven strategies you can implement as soon as you get back to your building.

Use the navigation panel to your right to learn more about the conference, get information on the gorgeous location and register to attend this fantastic event!

PHILADELPHIA - The ultimate quality of the country's educational system is in the hands of states and leaders there should use the federal stimulus package to expand the schools and teaching methods that are doing well and track student achievement, Microsoft founder Bill Gates told the summit of the National Conference of State Legislatures on Tuesday.

Mr. Gates began his remarks to the opening of the general session by saying while the United States faces "unordinary" times with more government services needed at a time of declining revenues, "difficult times part to great reforms," and the country can "come out stronger than when we entered" if state officials tap into the power of change.

Response due Friday; 40 schools changing

BY CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

Detroit Public Schools is requiring 2,600 employees -- about one out of every five districtwide -- to reapply for positions just six weeks before the school year is set to begin.

DPS declared the positions at 40 school buildings vacant on Tuesday and said staff had until the end of the week to respond.

The schools -- many of which also are to get new principals -- are being reconstituted because of failure to meet state annual yearly progress standards for several years.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) has apparently offered to help House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) with his proposal to have all state and local employees operate with a single health insurance system by starting the proposal in the Senate if needed.

It appears Mr. Dillon has not responded to the offer at this point, a spokesperson for Mr. Bishop said.

Story from eSchool News-- By Laura Devaney, Senior Editor

Millions of accomplished Baby Boomers could drag education into the 21st century – if our schools could just manage to accommodate them

An innovative and potentially ground-breaking approach to 21st
century education is placing baby boomer retirees from STEM fields into
"learning teams" with educators in an attempt to give students
knowledge from real-life science and math experts.

Spearheaded by the National Commission on Teaching and America's
Future (NCTAF), these learning teams pair experienced STEM retirees
with classroom teachers to inject compelling real-life lessons into
classroom instruction, while at the same time giving teachers valuable
support.

Midland's school improvement team is looking for information from other Class A schools regarding school identification cards (or name tags) for students. We would like to know how many schools use them, in what capacity they are used, and consequences for not having them.

July 16, 09 - Senate Bill 698 showed its face. This was the result of four months of work with the Governor's office. During all this time we were being battered around by different groups advocating for career pathways, two tracks, one diploma vs. two diplomas, you're either with us or you're our enemy and we will do what every we can to discredit you, and "lowering standards."

SB 698 is intended to clarify. It was pointed out to me that several in the CTE community believed to participate in a CTE program that doesn't meet every Algebra II standard required the student to go through the personal curriculum process. We wanted language that made it very clear that this was not intended in the legislation.

I am getting tired of hearing that Michigan did not have any requirements before the new Michigan Merit Curriculum. There was a time that schools received $30 per student K-12 for having the State Graduation requirements. These requirements included Consumer Economics as a Social Studies requirement. I believe most schools requirements before the MMC were based on the $30 incentive. Bill Scaletta

On Monday, July 13th, MASSP was pleased to have been included in a research project by Achieve and Education Trust. These two major players in national educational standards were visiting Michigan to interview different players regarding the obstacles to the implementation of the Michigan Merit Curriculum. Joining them was Sir Michael Barber, founder and former head of Tony Blair’s Delivery Unit in the UK.