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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
Turnaround plan for America's high schools
America's Promise Alliance, the organization founded by General Colin Powell and his wife Alma, hosted a forum today where President Obama pledged over $900 million in grants to states and schools who make drastic changes to improve graduation rates. These "turnaround grants" will mean that schools will have to put in place one of four methods of change, which may include governance structure changes, closing and re-opening a school with a new staff, closing a school altogether, or transforming the teaching effectiveness. Since the speech was given this morning, more news with details about how to earn these grants is likely to come out later today or this week.
Link to Associated Press 3/1/10
Link to White House blog on Project Grad
How to lead by example
As CUBE districts have heard over and over again in the last year, mayoral partnership is a strategy that is being touted as a solution for many urban school challenges by the Department of Education. As expected, there is pushback on this theory and the lack of data to support an impact on student achievement when a mayor is in control. But in San Antonio, Texas, the mayor is "walking the walk" of the importance of education and he is not trying to take over control of the school board. He's speaking to students, especially middle school students, about how he came up through the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) as a poor kid who was promised a better life through education. As mayor, he is putting into place initiatives so that current SAISD students have opportunities to succeed, and he's modeling many of the programs after other successful programs around the nation.
Link to My San Antonio.com 2/28/10
President Obama speaks to governors about standards
While the nation's governors were in Washington for their annual conference last week, President Obama talked with them at the White House about education and the standards that he hopes are changed in the coming months. In his speech, he discussed the changes to the way federal dollars will be given out for Title I, which will change the landscape for many urban districts nationwide. The proposal is that those monies will now be tied to more stringent standards so that students who graduate from high school are ready for college. The president is also concerned about America's place in the global economy, and spoke plainly about states who lowered their standards in recent years.
Link to eSchool News 2/22/10
What about magnet schools?
Charter schools have been stealing a lot of the education media lately, and with good reason. There is a big push for more charter schools among new governors and administration officials in Washington, but what about magnet schools? Some evidence shows that magnet schools address diversity better than charter schools, and are often overlooked in the wake of the "new" model being touted by many as the solution (charter schools). According to the report “Choice Without Equity,” by the Civil Rights Project, "charter schools are more racially isolated than traditional public schools in practically every state and large urban area in the United States." According to the press release for the report, “magnet schools are overlooked, in spite of showing greater levels of integration and academic achievement than charters.”
Link to Education Week 2/24/10
Educational debate
In the past, students were offered the chance to skip a grade if they were advanced compared to their peers. While this rarely happens now, there are a number of schools in several states that are changing their ways when it comes to high school. The New York Times Opinion Page, "Room for Debate," looks at the issue while experts from various fields weigh in on the value of a mandatory four years of high school and how it may benefit (or not) students, school districts, and the business world.
Link to New York Times 2/19/10
A look at the Civil Rights Movement
The New Yorker magazine assembled a series of interviews, photographs, and other multimedia pieces with Civil Rights leaders about America's struggles from a nation that embraced slavery to a nation that elected an African-American president. The author of the site created it to find the people who were intimately involved in the Civil Rights Movement firsthand, as many of them get older, so that he could record their memories about this pivotal time in our history. The web site offers commentary and background and is a great tool for students, teachers, or anyone who wants to hear firsthand from the leaders who fought for changes in America.
Link to New Yorker 2/15/10
CUBE News
CUBE is on Twitter-Follow CUBE_Edge (CUBE_Edge) for daily updates on what's happening in urban education around the country.
Contest opportunity
NASA and USA Today announced a new contest for students titled "No Boundaries," to help 7-12th graders explore STEM careers. This cross-curricular free project includes cash awards up to $2,000 and a NASA VIP experience for students. For more information, check their web site. Deadline for applications is April 15, 2010.
Meetings Minute
NSBA's Annual Conference is coming to Chicago April 9-12 and registrations are now being accepted. An email was sent to all board contacts last week outlining the process, including how to request a room in the Palmer House Hotel, where CUBE's pre-conference programming takes place. Details can be found on NSBA's Annual Conference web site. Be sure to check off CUBE programming when you register. Housing Deadline - March 12.
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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