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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. Around
the nation
NAEP
hits the news again
The National
Assessment of Educational Progress, otherwise known
as the nation's report card, released new results
last week, with some urban districts showing
positive gains. CUBE districts including
Charlotte, Baltimore, Atlanta, Boston, San Diego,
and Austin were noted for making progress.
Other districts are using the pilot program Trial
Urban District Assessment (TUDA) which is being
credited by some for giving a boost to districts
that had been struggling previously. With much
of the attention from federal legislators on urban
districts (and their progress), this new information
may help determine which districts may become models
for success.
Link
to NSBA's Center for Public Education's EDifier blog
12/9/09
Link
to CNN International story 12/9/09
Education gets
little media attention
You may not know it due to your role in the
world of education, but a new report from the
Brookings Institution says that education got about
1.4 percent of national news coverage during the
first nine months of 2009. And that's up from
the previous two years, where education was below 1
percent of TV, newspaper, news web sites, and
radio. The news that was reported focused
mostly on budget problems, school crime, and the
H1N1 flu outbreak. Little was reported on
school policies or ways to improve the curriculum or
learning processes according to the report.
The on-line community was abuzz with this
information, especially those organizations with a
presence on Twitter.
Link
to Brookings study
12/2/09
More time in school means higher
achievement, perhaps
A new study released last week by the National
Center on Time and Learning looks at the amount of
time students spend in school and shows that if
students spend more time in school, academic achievement
improves. The report looks at more than
300,000 students in 36 states (including many CUBE
districts), but the majority of the students are in
public charter schools which have looser rules
regarding teacher contracts. The emphasis on
time is not the only solution to higher student
achievement, according to the chairman of the
organization that conducted the study, "the
guys who use more time the best individualize
instruction the most," he said.
Link
to Washington Post 12/6/09
(free registration)
Link
to National Center on Time and Learning 12/7/09
National Journal blog looks at charter schools
The National Journal produces a series of
"expert" blogs with leaders in the
education community, including NSBA's executive
director, Anne Bryant. The blog asks these
experts questions on a variety of topics and the
most recent question may be an interesting read for
CUBE districts. "Do charter schools
deserve the spotlight?" At press
time, 23 writers put in their opinions with varying
degrees of support or disdain for charter
schools. If your district has charter schools
or is considering them, the blog may be a worthwhile
read to learn the potential pros and cons of the
charter school debate.
Link to National Journal 12/14/09
New program in Baltimore relies on mentors
Middle school students are often overshadowed
by the other grade levels in schools. A
program started in Washington DC is being replicated
in Baltimore to help middle school students by
setting them up with local business people, university
students, and other professionals to act as mentors.
The program gives the opportunity for students to
stay longer after school to work on homework and
other academic needs, and then gives the students an
opportunity to go to summer programs, including
overnight field trips.
Link
to Baltimore Sun 12/1/09
CUBE
News
LAST
CHANCE-CUBE
Webinar – Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 2pm EST
Learn what is happening on Capitol Hill and
the Administration. Please join NSBA’s
Reggie Felton, director of federal relations;
Deborah Rigsby, director federal legislation and
Kathleen Branch, director of advocacy services, for
an update on the latest legislative issues
percolating in Washington, D.C. and how you can make
a difference. To register, contact Kevin Scott (kscott@nsba.org).
More details will be provided, including
specifics on how to participate.
CUBE
is on Twitter-Follow CUBE_Edge (CUBE_Edge)
for daily updates on what's happening in urban
education around the country.
This
will be the final edition of CUBE's Urban Edge for
2009. We hope you have a festive and restful
holiday season. Look for our next edition
January 15, 2010.
NSBA
News
NSBA's
Hispanic Caucus is offering ten separate $1,000
scholarships to Hispanic students in each region of
the U.S. (two per region). Applications are
available and are due January 29, 2010. For
more information, check the National Hispanic Caucus
web
site.
Meetings
Minute
By
now you should've received your special invitation
in your postal and email to NSBA's
Federal Relations Network (FRN) Conference January 31-February 2, 2010 in Washington, D.C.
For more information, check out www.nsba.org/FRN2010
to find out how you can
participate in the FRN Conference. FRN members are
appointed by their state school boards association
to attend the FRN Conference. School districts that
are part of the Council of Urban Boards of Education
(CUBE) are also eligible to attend the FRN
Conference. In order to participate as a CUBE
district, your district must be a member of its
state association. FRN and CUBE members represent
NSBA’s legislative agenda and should coordinate
with their state associations when they lobby their
members of Congress at the FRN Conference. You must be
an appointed FRN member from your state school board
association or a CUBE member to attend the
conference.
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.
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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