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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. CUBE
district superintendents in the spotlight
Atlanta's
superintendent selected tops in the nation
Atlanta's Beverly Hall, one of the longest tenured
urban superintendents in the county was selected as
the Superintendent of the Year by the American
Association of School Administrators (AASA) at their
annual conference in San Francisco. Hall's
focus on student achievement and parent involvement,
as well as overall reform, has helped Atlanta
celebrate big gains in recent years.
Superintendent Hall is scheduled to present with the
Atlanta School Board as part of CUBE's Saturday
afternoon session in conjunction with the NSBA
Annual Conference next month in San Diego.
Link
to Atlanta Journal Constitution
2/22/09
Link
to AASA Press Release
2/22/09
Ackerman raises the stakes
Arlene Ackerman, who has been in control of
Philadelphia's schools for about eight months, and
has lead other CUBE districts in the past, has
proposed an idea to close some schools, improve
others, and increase the graduation rate in the
district. Starting with smaller class sizes in
the lower grades, and increasing technical and
vocational education in the high schools, Ackerman
says that immediate changes are necessary to get Philadelphia's
students to reach "just the basics."
Link
to Philadelphia Inquirer 2/19/09
Around
the nation
Add
recreation to the three "Rs"
Ask any adult if they feel fatigued after
sitting in a professional development workshop all
day without moving, and they will probably say
yes. Anyone who has been in front of a
classroom for a period of time knows that
eventually, students need to move.
According to a new report from the journal
Pediatrics, students achieve better in school when
they have activity that takes them out of the
classroom. 11,000 eight and nine year olds
were involved in this report and last month another
study linking activity and middle-schoolers had
similar results. The New York Times summarizes
a variety of reports discussing age, ADHD, race, and
activity. One conclusion many researchers came
to was that recreation and activity should be viewed
as a necessity, not a luxury.
Link
to New York Times 2/23/09
Chicago's VOISE high school report
Edutopia
takes another look at Chicago's Virtual
Opportunities Inside a School Environment (VOISE)
all digital high school, still in its inaugural
year. The school had some initial hang-ups,
but seems to be working them out recently, and
students and teachers are working hard to meet high
expectations. Addressing the digital divide,
the school stays open late and has hours on weekends
where students who don't have internet access at
home can come in to do work. Students also
report that they are very happy with their teachers
and the all digital medium seems to have broken down
some of the traditional barriers between staff and students.
Link
to Edutopia 2/18/09
Link
to Part I of the series Fall
2008 The
tale of two CUBE districts and student assignment
Wake
County and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North
Carolina have two differing stances on race-based
student assignment, and a recent article in the
Charlotte Observer discusses the strategies each
district has been using, and where things are headed
in the future. Wake County moves children via
bus, as far as 20 miles, to different parts of the
county, while Charlotte Mecklenburg has used a
neighborhood model to integrate schools and spent
millions on low achieving schools to boost
achievement. Both districts have received criticism
from parents and many worry that the race-based
student assignment plans have created more
segregation. While the comparisons fly among
these two districts, many other CUBE districts have
faced similar challenges and CUBE has covered this
topic a number of times in recent years. For
more info on CUBE's resources, check CUBE's website.
Link
to Charlotte Observer 2/15/09
Shaking up
the myth-urban districts show improvements in Texas
Several CUBE districts in Texas are showing
achievement gains, and they are improving at a
faster rate than urban districts in other
states. Dallas, Houston, Austin, El Paso, San
Antonio, and Fort Worth were all part of the study,
and Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio made the list of
top 10 gainers nationally. While officials in
the district admit that there is still work to be
done, it is worth looking a these districts to learn
how they made the improvements. For example,
Dallas created a uniform curriculum, while Austin
put the focus on what happens in the
classroom. Deputy Superintendent Betty Burks
in San Antonio summarized her thoughts on the gains
by saying, "it's not where we want it to be;
that's what continual improvement is all
about."
Link
to Houston Chronicle 2/25/09
From
Washington
Are
National Standards gaining traction?
A recent study has another justification for
national standards in education, and the new
administration is showing some signs of support for
them. The Fordham Institute study reveals that
students who received high school diplomas in some
states, might not have received them in other
states, due to different standards. The new
stimulus package has incentives for states that are
boosting the quality for standards and state
tests. Representatives in Congress and
Secretary Duncan seem to be warming up to the
idea. "I know that talking about
standards can make people nervous, but the notion
that we have 50 different goal posts doesn't make
much sense. A high school diploma needs to
mean something, no matter where it's from," he
said. NSBA's Delegate Assembly will also be
discussing national standards on April 3rd at the
NSBA Annual Conference.
Tampa
Bay online (Associated Press) 2/19/09 Second
Notice: Time is running out...
Official
says state, local officials can challenge census
data
From Education Daily and the Department of
Education:
State and
local school officials are invited to review the Census
Bureau's 2007 population and poverty estimates
and lodge complaints if they believe the data are
inaccurate, according to a recent memo from Title I
Director Zollie Stevenson Jr. to state officials.
The estimates will be used to determine allocations
for Title
I and related programs for the 2009-10 school
year.
With the economic
stimulus package that is currently under
consideration in Congress poised to distribute $13
billion in additional Title I funds over the next
two years, accuracy of the Census estimates could be
critical.
According to the
memo, the Census Bureau will consider
"non-statistical errors" in its data,
which are derived from a statistical model based on
the decennial census, household surveys,
administrative records and population estimates.
Errors may include data processing mistakes or
boundary inaccuracies.
The Census
population and poverty estimates for all school
districts are available here.
SEAs and LEAs have
until March 10,
2009, to register a protest of the
data. Officials should contact the Small
Area Income and Poverty Estimates Branch at the
Census Bureau by phoning (301) 763-3193, or by
sending an e-mail to hhes.saipe@census.gov.
Include your name, mailing address, telephone
number, e-mail address and organization affiliation.
For more information about challenges, click here.
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.
CUBE
News
CUBE's
Nominating Committee has selected a slate of
candidates for the Steering Committee. An
email was sent out with details last week and a
mailing with a full description of the process has
been mailed to you. For more details, CUBE's web
site also has information on the
process. CUBE's annual business meeting,
where voting will occur, assembles on Friday, April
3rd
The CUBE Annual
Award application has also been mailed to you,
and a webinar will be held on March 25 to help any
district interested in applying. For more
information about the award, click here.
Meetings
Minute
NSBA
Annual is coming to San Diego
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. Also,
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will be
speaking at Saturday's general session and AASA
Superintendent of the Year, Beverly Hall,
from Atlanta, will be presenting to CUBE along with
members of the Atlanta School Board.
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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