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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
Teachers leave schools when high minority population moves in
A new study released last week by Cornell University studied the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District and found that experienced teachers tend to leave schools that have a high percentage of black students. The lead researcher indicates that the factors for teacher exits are multifaceted, including moving closer to home and higher salaries. The study concludes, "an important implication of these findings is that policymakers should be cautious when advocating policies such as vouchers, school choice, district consolidation, or school busing that require the reshuffling of students across schools."
Link to Education Week 5/27/09
Link to full report
Middle school habits seen as critical to future success
Middle school is often seen as a forgotten wasteland in a school career. So much evidence has shown dramatic improvement with higher quality pre-schools, and even more time is focused on America's high school programs. But a new report from Harvard University looks at parental involvement in middle schools and finds that as children grow to be more social in middle school, their interest in academics wanes, and the parental influence is less than it was in elementary school. Add to the mix the number of teachers a student has in middle school and the difficulty parents have keeping up with multiple subjects, and it creates a difficult situation. The report examined what kind of parent involvement improved student achievement and looked at 50 different studies, over 50,000 students, over a 26 year period.
Link to Science Daily 5/21/09
Link to report 5/09
Indiana puts cash on the table
Indiana's state superintendent and governor have agreed to give the high schools with the best improvement in their graduation rates a $20,000 bonus. The school will get to decide how the money is split up, but Superintendent Bennett hopes that the money will go to those key members of the staff that made the largest impact and not divided equally. "This type of program breeds innovation, creativity, bold action, to help children," he said. As expected, there is push-back from teachers and other school leaders, since the check will go directly from the state to the individual and the principal at the school has the final word.
Link to Indianapolis Star 5/19/09
Using Chicago as a model
As Secretary Duncan continues his listening tour, he seems to be doing a lot of talking as well. U.S. News and World Report looks at some of the ways Duncan changed the way things were done in Chicago, including shutting down schools and re-opening them with new staff. The article also covers some of the urban teacher initiatives that have been put into place in Chicago and other cities as districts seek ways to improve teacher quality and shake up schools that are perennial low performers. One criticism by a teacher points out that the training she received in college was not enough to prepare her for an urban school setting. While many changes are being considered by the Obama administration, it is expected that Duncan's 'reach for the top' approach will be modeled after Chicago's successes.
Link to U.S. News and World Report 5/27/09
Teach for America sees a record in applications
Teach for America, the program that places top college graduates as teachers to try to help the educational inequalities in largely poor or underserved areas, has seen a dramatic increase in applications this year. Mostly due to the poor economy, applications jumped 42 percent over last year, and 11 percent of all seniors at Ivy League colleges applied. Most Teach for America recruits will work in both rural and urban areas, and some cities have requested additional teachers, but will need to find ways to cover the expenses. About two thirds of Teach for America teachers remain in education after their two year commitment, including administrators and other staff positions.
Link to AP/Google News Story 5/28/09
Link to Baltimore Sun Story 5/25/09
Gates Foundation focuses attention on teachers
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has recently shifted its focus from small class sizes to training teachers, and after spending billions on education in the U.S., the foundation wants to have a more active role in teacher quality. As noted below, a representative from the Gates Foundation will address CUBE later this month in Chicago about their plans.
Link to eSchool News 5/29/09
CUBE Award for Excellence
The CUBE Annual Award deadline was Monday May 4. The award is a chance to show how your district has progressed over a period of time and offers ALL of CUBE an opportunity to self-assess your governance team, as well as showcase the good things happening in your district. Click here for a list of the districts that applied, the finalists will be announced over the summer.
Meetings Minute
CUBE's Issues Seminar Hotel Cut Off Date EXTENDED to JUNE 2nd, 2009
Come see Vicki Phillips from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a presentation from the New Leaders for New Schools about preparing principal leaders, and more at CUBE's Issues Seminar. We will focus on urban education reforms and how they are shaping federal policy in Chicago, June 25-28, to look at some of the reforms Chicago has developed recently and how they may provide guidance to the rest of the country as Secretary of Education Arne Duncan proposes his ideas on a federal level. For more information, see the brochure (may take a few moments to download) or email cube@nsba.org. As an added bonus, we will be in Chicago during the annual Taste of Chicago.
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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