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February 2009 I watched the film Harold and Maude with my kids last night. I hadn’t seen it for almost 20 years, but I don’t think I’ll wait that long again. In fact, maybe tonight…? If you haven’t seen it, Harold is a death-obsessed, angry adolescent, estranged from everyone, but longing to fit in. Maude is the most free of all spirits, about to turn 80, wise enough never to doubt her heart and always to find joy where one might least expect it. Maude is whacky, comical and lovably unique. As they walk through a park, Maude says she would like to die and come back as a sunflower one day. When she asks what kind of flower Harold would like to be, he says a daisy, “because they are all the same.” “Oooh, but they're not,” exclaims Maude. “Look. See, some are smaller, some are fatter, some grow to the left, some to the right, some even have lost some petals.” She picks a single daisy and muses, “You see, Harold, I feel that much of the world's sorrow comes from people who are this,” looking at her single daisy, “yet allow themselves be treated as that,” with a nod to the whole field. It might seem an overwhelming task to discern just how much water and light each of our daisies needs, and at just what temperature each will thrive, particularly when our schools are so large and the needs can be so great. But if we can make our children believe and really feel that despite all the rules and regulations, the bell schedules and the hall passes, we know they are unique and we care about what makes them unique – that in itself will go a long way. (And do go see the movie…) Jodi Heilbrunn, Invitation for Letters to the Editor Do you have feedback regarding our feature article or strategy of the month? Would you like to submit a feature article on a topic of your choice? Send your commentary or ideas to info@schoolengagement.com for possible publication in our next issue. Please make the subject of your message “Newsletter commentary.” I would love to hear from you!
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The Obama Effect In what may well turn out to be one of the most significant educational research findings of our time, researchers have documented a disappearance of the racial testing gap between black Americans who watched Obama’s presidential acceptance speech and white Americans. The researchers attribute the improved test scores to greater self-esteem and higher expectations for achievement validated by Obama’s success. Schools nationwide should think explicitly about how to capitalize on the historic election of an African American to the presidency to improve outcomes among their African American students. The following study description has been reproduced from the
Documenting what Friedman and his co-authors call the “Obama Effect,” the study found the performance gap between black and white Americans in a series of online tests was dramatically reduced during key moments of the 2008 presidential campaign, when Obama’s accomplishments garnered the most national attention. “Our results document compelling evidence of the power that real-world, in-group role models like Obama can have on members of their racial or ethnic community,” Friedman said. In the study, tests were administered to a total of 472 participants using questions drawn from Graduate Record Exams (GREs) to assess reading comprehension, analogies and sentence completion. The tests took place at four distinct points over three months during the campaign: two when Obama’s success was less prominent (prior to his acceptance of the nomination and the mid-point between the convention and election day) and two when it garnered the most attention (immediately after his nomination speech and his win of the presidency in November). The nationwide testing sample of 84 black Americans and 388 white Americans – a proportion equivalent to representation in the overall population – matched for age and education level. It revealed that white participants scored higher than their black peers at the two points in the campaign where Obama’s achievements were least visible. However, during the height of the Obama media frenzy, the performance gap between black and white Americans was effectively eliminated. In addition, researchers pinpointed that black Americans who did not watch Obama’s nomination acceptance speech continued to lag behind their white peers, while those who did view the speech successfully closed the gap. As part of the study, Friedman – along with David M. Marx of San Diego State University and Sei Jin Ko of Northwestern University – also examined whether Obama’s success reduced negative racial stereotypes. For example, participants were asked whether they were concerned that poor performance on the exam would be attributed to their race. The results indicate that blacks were concerned that they faced negative stereotypes about academic achievement whether Obama was prominent or not, but when Obama was prominent they were able to overcome that concern and perform better on the test. According to Friedman, other research has shown that such historical stereotypes are an underlying reason for lagging test-taking performance by black Americans. “Obama as a role model did not have an immediate impact on black Americans’ concerns about such stereotypes,” said Friedman. “However, our findings give us reason to believe that the influence of extraordinarily successful role models like Obama will help to drive improved performance and, over the longer-term, to dispel negative stereotypes about African Americans, bringing us closer to a ‘post-racial’ world.”
Quoted from
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Attendance Runs Win the Race Truancy is not mundane at The most important piece of the effort is the Attendance Runs. The runs take some administrative time, but couldn’t be easier to implement. Each morning the Dean of Attendance, Julia Dilling, pulls a record of all the students who had an unexcused absence – even one period – the day before. She delivers a consequence right then and there, which is usually a lunch detention, or perhaps an after school detention. Dean Dilling reports that although the students don’t like the detention, the most effective part is the social aspect of the classroom chatter. As she puts it, when she walks in the room, all faces freeze! A student is pulled out and has to walk back into class carrying the dreaded lunch detention slip. If the child is clearly skipping, or if there is a pattern of tardiness, she will also make a personal phone call to the parent, ultimately the most effective intervention in her opinion. Dean Dilling also has a couple back-up supports in place as well. Like many large schools, |
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Check out the Education World Grant Center, there are fifteen grant categories you have time to apply for in the 2008-2009 school year. The School Funding Center has a free newsletter that includes a limited number of grant announcements and grant writing tips. It also advertises a huge database of grants to which you may subscribe for various periods of time for different rates ranging from $99 for two months to $397 for a year. Grants are available for schools and non-profits.
Sign up for education-related e-mail alerts from Grantsalert.com. The website also includes grant-seeking tips, a special page for sources of classroom funding for teachers (called Here’s a great webpage that lists endless grant opportunities for K-12 schools, and has a page on grant writing tips! They also offer a subscription to Schoolgrants Biweekly Newsletter for $45 a year.
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Cardosa, Kavitha. Truancy in DC Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. WAMU Radio 88.5, Franklin, Cynthia, Mary Beth Harris, Paula Allen-Meares. (2008) The School Practitioner's Concise Companion to Preventing Dropout and Attendance Problems. 21st Century Schools conducts more workshops and conferences on more topics in more locations that I can possibly include in the Conference section below. Go to their website and pick your next professional development experience. |
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National Conference on Education Conference of the American Association of School Administrators Location: Dates: NCJFCJ – National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
The Expanding World of PBS: Science, Values and Vision Register by February 23 for the regular rate, or register on-site afterwards at a slightly higher rate. Separate registration for Skill-Building Workshops on March 28 is required. Keynote speaker Rob Horner is the Alumni-Knight endowed professor of special education at the Spring K–12 Leadership Institute Increasing Student Achievement: Using Data to Lead Change La Jolla, CA April 17–18, 2009
During this intense, two-day institute, district and school leaders will join leading educational researchers and practitioners to learn how to recognize, evaluate, and implement the best research-proven programs and practices for their schools. They will see how existing schools have successfully used these same interventions to achieve unprecedented student achievement...and how they can duplicate those same results in their own schools. Keynote speaker Robert E. Slavin, Ph.D. is the director of the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University and director of the Institute for Effective Education at the University of York, and Mark T. Rolewski is the director of dissemination for leadership research and the national consultant for the Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education (CDDRE) at Johns Hopkins University. Register by March 17. Making a Difference June 28 – July1, 2009 This conference will bring together approximately 2,000 pre-kindergarten to post-secondary professional school counselors, counselor educators, supervisors and graduate students. Conference sessions allow attendees to take away solid, practical ideas they can put to work tomorrow, make valuable contacts in the school counseling field and discover the latest techniques in school counseling. Registration is now open, and by registering before March 1 you qualify for the supersaver rate. You still qualify for a smaller discount by registering before May 1. Keynote speakers Louis Gossett Jr., Harry Wong and Frank Warren. National Association of School Resource Officers Nineteenth Annual SRO-School Safety Conference June 29 – Register by May 23 for a reduced rate. Keynote speakers address bullying, drug recognition, constitutional law regarding FERPA, IDEA and other issues, and adolescent brain development. Special SRO training classes will be offered during the conference.
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