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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
Education
rises to the top of the list
Last week, President Obama spoke to the
National Urban League and his focus was education,
especially in urban districts. The speech came
on the heels of the announcement about the next
round of finalists for the Race to the Top (RttT)
funds, which included 18 states and the District of
Columbia. President Obama's speech received a
great deal of media coverage, largely because Civil
Rights groups earlier in the week had criticized the
first round of RttT monies due to a recent report
that only 3 percent of the nation's black students
and less than 1 percent of Latino students will be
impacted by the funds. In his speech, the
president pushed for his plans to end the status quo
in education and tie student performance to teacher
pay. A flurry of responses were available by
the end of the week, and below we highlight a few,
including a response from education professor Diane
Ravitch.
Link
to AP/Google News
7/29/10
Link
to Wall Street Journal article 7/30/10
Link
to New York Times editorial
7/31/10 (free registration)
Link
to Diane Ravitch editorial
8/1/10
Good news from Connecticut
In Connecticut, most of what has been reported
in education circles revolved around new teacher pay
programs, which were part of a reform movement that
is spreading beyond New England. But other
news is coming from the state, where test scores are
up among black and Latino students in urban
districts, and statewide. Connecticut had some
of the largest achievement gaps in the nation, where
the superintendent of Hartford schools said, "we
were the poster child for the achievement gap."
In the most recent reports, scores jumped as much as
20 percent compared to four years ago. While
district leaders say there is still a long way to
climb, they are optimistic that they will continue
to make gains.
Link to Connecticut Mirror 7/16/10
Birmingham
gets laptops
Birmingham students will be working with laptop
computers in an initiative called "One Laptop
Per Child," which puts low cost computers in
the hands of students thanks to a grant with the
National Science Foundation and a local university.
Over the summer, teachers are being trained to use
the laptops and a database of lesson plans is being
developed to help teachers utilize the computers in
the fall. The goal of the program is to
introduce urban students to technical and science
careers they may not have considered
otherwise. The director of the program says,
"ultimately, we know that if we can get
students interested in computing at an early age,
that it will lead more of them to take an interest
in STEM (science, technology, engineer and math)
careers."
Link
to T.H.E. Journal 7/21/10 Detroit
citizens will not get to vote on mayoral control
With many cities considering mayoral control of the
public school systems, and others already under
mayoral control, Detroit has a unique perspective on
the issue. Detroit has already been under
mayoral control once, and the current City Council
did not have enough votes to put the matter on the
ballot for citizens to vote for or against the idea
this fall. This is a blow to many in the city
who want to put control of the city's school in
different hands. The governor, the mayor, and
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan all supported the
proposal to put it on the ballot for voters to
decide. The issue brought overflow crowds to
city hall, and there is still time for the measure
to be put on the ballot if the council can get a
supermajority (six votes) to pass it.
Link
to Detroit News article 7/27/10 Webinar
Opportunity
The
Harvard Family Research Project will be
hosting a webinar August 10 titled "Data
Driven: Making Student and School Data Accessible
and Meaningful To Families." CUBE
districts are well aware of the importance of data
and utilizing it to make sound policies and
decisions. This is an excellent opportunity to
learn more, without leaving your city.
According to their web site, the webinar "will
take a look at practical examples of how districts
and schools are using data to engage families in
their children’s education. The webinar will also
introduce tools that enable practitioners,
districts, and schools to incorporate data into
their own family engagement strategies."
It will be held from 3:30-5:00 PM (EDT) on the 10th.
A panel of experts will lead the discussion and you
can register by visiting this
link. Education
Summit
NBC
will be hosting an "Education Nation"
summit this fall as school begins around the
country. NSBA will participate in the media
event, along with other education organizations, in
an attempt to bring education issues to the
forefront of the general public. All of NBC
News programming, including the Today Show and
Nightly News will have segments devoted to education
starting September 27.
Link
to AP/Google News 7/19/10
CUBE
News
CUBE's
Annual Conference is coming to Baltimore,
Maryland, September 30- October
2. Registrations
are now being accepted and the full brochure can be
found below. We have an exciting lineup of
speakers, sessions, and the CUBE Annual Award for
Urban School Board Excellence, will be awarded to a
winning district. The Benjamin Elijah Mays
Lifetime Achievement Award will also be given to a
deserving individual. Click here
(.pdf file, may take a few moments to download) for
more information.
CUBE
is on Twitter-Follow CUBE_Edge (CUBE_Edge)
for daily updates on what's happening in urban
education around the country.
NSBA
News
Registration
and housing are now open for NSBA’s annual T+L
Conference, the premier technology and learning
conference for school leaders. This year’s event,
to be held Oct. 19 to 21 in Phoenix, will focus on
change and the tools and programming you need. Go here
for more information, or here
to register.
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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