Written by Dakota Gleadow on February 25, 2012.
This Friday, March 2, stroll the cobbled streets of Charleston to discover the works of over 500 artists representing a diverse variety of styles and mediums from traditional to contemporary. The walk will take place through participating Galleries on: Meeting, Church, State, East Bay, Broad, Cumberland, Queen, Chalmers and Tradd Streets. All participating galleries will be free and open to the public, with drinks and refreshments.
Written by Dakota Gleadow on February 23, 2012.
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Michael Rosen leads a star-studded cast of writers and illustrators at the 2012 Telegraph Hay Festival Programme for Schools.
The Hay Festival, which will be celebrating its 25th year, takes place from 31 May to 10 June. Rosen, a former children’s Laureate, will be appearing at the schools event, which takes place prior to the main programme, on Thursday 31 May (Key Stage 2). There will be Key Stages 3 & 4 events on Friday 1 June, featuring Phil Earle, the author of Being Billy, and fantasy writer Marcus Alexander.
Francesca Simon, author of the popular Horrid Henry stories, and Phillippa Gregory will also be attending and there will be a talk on art from illustrator James Mayhew.
Local schools are welcome to attend the Programme For School for free but tickets must be booked ahead (the closing date is 11 April 2012).
Written by Isla Reeve on February 20, 2012.
District invites outside bidders to maintain its buildings The Notebook blog The District issued a Request for Proposals for maintenance of 400 buildings. Members of the union that currently does maintenance work received layoff notices last year.
William Penn Foundation donating $1.5 million for Phila. School District restructuring The Inquirer The foundation, a major funder of the Notebook, will pay for the consulting group that will help the District plan next steps to deal with the budget deficit and other issues.
Report shows gains in Renaissance Schools The Notebook blog The report from Research for Action found gains at both types of Renaissance Schools, charters and Promise Academies.
When schools weren’t public – or any good The Inquirer (opinion) A brief history of state and federal involvement in education.
Goin’ back to Cali The Workshop blog
Bus Troubles For Philly Autistic Student Fox 29
Kensington: Rock to the Future Brings Free Music Education to the Community Philadelphia Neighborhoods
Hunting Park: Community Organization Seeks to Combat Poverty With Education Philadelphia Neighborhoods
Written by Isla Reeve on February 16, 2012.
The shadow of the APS cheating scandal is apparently hard to escape. Especially if you know how to use Google.
From the Connecticut Post:
BRIDGEPORT A consultant brought in by Interim Schools Superintendent Paul Vallas to help fix the school district left days after she arrived when it was learned she was caught up in one of the nations largest cheating scandals.
Millicent Few, the former human resources director for the Atlanta school system, spent two days in the district, according to Vallas, who said he let her go Tuesday.
She is not going to remain on the transition team. She is gone. She may be the most skilled person on the planet but I dont need any controversy, said Vallas.
Few, who was with the Atlanta system for a dozen years, resigned in July with a number of other system leaders amid a widespread standardized-test cheating scandal that reportedly involved 178 teachers and principals and 44 schools. According to a Atlanta School District investigation by the state of Georgia and released in June 2011, Few, on two occasions, ordered those under her supervision to illegally destroy and alter public documents in order to hide evidence related to test cheating and misconduct.
In published reports in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Few denied to investigators that she tampered with documents or ordered anyone else to do so.
Vallas said Few was recommend by Elizabeth Arons, a New York-based human resources consultant for school districts who also does work with the Gates Foundation Human Capital Reforms. The cheating scandal was brought up, but Vallas said he was told Few was outstanding and was an innocent casualty of the cheating controversy. He said he has since done more online research.
The newspaper articles and the online network suggests otherwise, although we cannot attest to the veracity of those accusations, Vallas said. I felt and we mutually agreed her services would not be in her best interest at this time.
Vallas said that he will have to step up the search for a permanent human resources director. This time Ill do a Google search, Vallas said.
Written by Dakota Gleadow on February 9, 2012.
The achievement gap between low-income students and their more affluent peers has grown by roughly 40% since the 1960s, according to a recent study by researchers at Stanford University. Another study from University of Michigan researchers shows a 50% increase since the late 1980s in the imbalance between rich and poor students completing college. Furthermore, researchers say they expect the gap to widen amid the effects of the economic downturn.
It is a well-known fact that children from affluent families tend to do better in school. Yet the income divide has received far less attention from policy makers and government officials than gaps in student accomplishment by race.
Now, in analyses of long-term data published in recent months, researchers are finding that while the achievement gap between white and black students has narrowed significantly over the past few decades, the gap between rich and poor students has grown substantially during the same period. Additionally, the gap also exists at the college level. In a study conducted by The University of Michigan, researchers looked at two generations of students, those born from 1961 to 1964 and those born from 1979 to 1982. By 1989, about one-third of the high-income students in the first generation had finished college; by 2007, more than half of the second generation had done so. By contrast, only 9 percent of the low-income students in the second generation had completed college by 2007, up only slightly from a 5 percent college completion rate by the first generation in 1989. Some experts maintain that the recession over the past few years has not only impacted the gap but will continue to widen it.
Read the entire article here at NYTimes.com with additional information about the research data.
Schoodoodle.com carries a wide selection of resources to improve teaching and learning in preschool through high school. Also, browse our materials designed to help parents support the learning process at home such as Parental Involvement resources, resources for home school kids, early childhood, standardized test prep, and learning games for kids.
Written by Dakota Gleadow on February 5, 2012.
Grad photo re-takes are scheduled February 21, 22 and 23. Appointment bookings can be made in Room 228 this Thursday and Friday (Feb 9-10) at lunch. Priority will be given to those students who did not have their photos taken in November. Please bring $25.00 cash for the sitting fee or return your grad photo proof package when you book your appointment. If you have any questions, email Ms. Chiarello at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
