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Welcome!
What is
Urban Edge?
Urban Edge is a service that provides CUBE districts
with relevant information to help your awareness of education issues around the
country. We will glean news sources, blogs, research studies, and NSBA's wide range of expertise for timely information that guides CUBE districts in making sound decisions. #44
Looking
at the Inaugural Address
As the nation watched President Obama deliver a
realistic assessment of the state of the nation in
his inaugural speech, education junkies were looking
for some indication of what the administration's
education policy will look like. Throngs of
people came from all over the country and many in
attendance, especially parents, want to know that
education will be a priority. "If we want
to stimulate this economy, we have to educate from
kindergarten through college...and make college more
accessible ," one parent from Georgia
said.
Full
story from eSchool News 1/21/09
Obama's
stimulus plan (American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009)
includes school funds
Included in the massive stimulus plan that
focuses much of its funds toward infrastructure,
schools were not left behind. Over $140
billion is allocated for education, but many
districts say that the stimulus money will not solve
all of the budget woes facing them. With
thousands of teacher's jobs on the line, as well as
athletics, special education services, and many
other programs, the stimulus package is a welcome
change from other recent news for school budgets.
Link to New York Times 1/28/09
Link to NSBA Advocacy Home Page
The Obama effect
Finally, after all the fanfare and the
excitement of Barack Obama's first week in office,
the New York Times looks at the benefits an Obama
presidency may have on academic achievement for
young black men across the country. Could the
first African American president change the way
students view their potential? What will an
Obama presidency mean to students, teachers, and
school leaders? While many of these questions
will remain unanswered for some time, this article
looks at what some of the experts think.
Link to New York Times 1/23/09
Around
the nation
Challenging
reluctant readers helps multiple subjects
In Baltimore County, students often feel like
they cannot read well, but a program called the 100
Book Challenge has changed their mindset, as well as
their test scores. The program puts an
expectation on students to read an hour a day, and
encourages parental support at home so parents read
as well. The benefits so far have been seen
not just in reading scores, but in other subjects
and the program works with both elementary and
middle school students.
Link
to Baltimore Sun 1/21/09
The importance of school counselors
School counselors are playing a more important
role in student achievement and a national model is
being looked at closely to create a standard for all
school counselors. The model, created by the American
School Counselors Association (ASCA), puts more
attention on data and carefully watching the
results. Counselors play a unique role in
schools, since they are sometimes career counselors,
sometimes grief counselors, and other times mental
health counselors, to name just a few of their
responsibilities. Edutopia looks at several
school counselors, including the 2008 School
Counselor of the Year, and CUBE will be holding a
session on school counselors at the NSBA Annual
Conference in San Diego this April.
Link to Edutopia 1/20/09
Around
education circles
ASCD
plans urban schools podcast
The Association for Supervisiion and Curriculum
Development (ASCD) will produce a podcast that
discusses urban education issues and will be
released on February 5. As part of their
"Whole Child" initiative, they will talk
with a professor from NYU and the Executive Director
of the National Urban League about the challenges
facing urban districts and how to manage them.
The link below will bring you to the full
description where you can find more information on
ASCD.
Link
to ASCD blog-Inservice
1/29/09
Program
Note
Did
you know that all previous editions of the Urban
Edge are available on CUBE's web site? If
you missed an issue, wanted to go back to find a
link to a research study we referenced, or need some
information about what other districts are doing,
click here.
Meetings
Minute
NSBA
Annual is coming to San Diego
NSBA's Annual Conference is just two months
away. If you are planning to join us, you
will see school visits in CUBE districts San
Diego and Chula Vista Elementary, participate in
sessions about a wide range of topics, and hear
President Obama's former education advisor and
Stanford professor, Linda Darling Hammond.
It's not too late to register, for more information,
contact cube@nsba.org.
For a glimpse at what CUBE will be programming at
NSBA Annual, click here.
CUBE is invited to attend the Council of
School Attorneys (COSA) opening session at NSBA
Annual. The session is titled "What
are the financial and political implications for
schools in educating undocumented students?"
CUBE does not have a session at the same time and
CUBE attendees are permitted to participate without
any additional fees.
Disclaimer
Links
on the Urban Edge are subject to change or
become inactive after a period of time. Please
be aware that CUBE has no control over links to
other organizations or entities.
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