I just called Washington D.C. pursuing Amy Wilkins. Amy Wilkins is a principal of the Education Trust. All Kids can learn is one of the beliefs that I share with Amy so I am most interested in what other ideas may converge. Amy also shares a belief, that the teachers association or union if you will can voluntarily link teacher evaluation and assessment to student achievement. The recent Innovative Fund grants are indicators of a possible new direction from the AFL-CIO and its leader Randi Weingarten.
3.3 million dollars have been granted to the AFL-CIO's teachers. Parts of these funds are going to two of eight winning affiliates who will work to modify the link between teacher assessment and student attainment. The Obama administrations Race to the Top funding is a catalyst for this reform thinking. The Race to the Top funding includes the accountability premise: that student achievement is indeed linked to the quality of instruction.
New thinking can grow new tools in the educator's tool kit. If Amy and I are correct in our perspectives, the next four years of Obama incentivized reform, may bare sweet fruits for our nation's children. Possibly, this is the beginning of a means for reducing the oppressively high poverty rates among Americans. At the root of prosperity is a sound educational system.
Amy, where are you?
Showing posts with label barak hussein obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label barak hussein obama. Show all posts
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Educational Innovation and Economic Stimulus
The U.S. Department of Education's 2010 fiscal year budget of $47.6 billion includes an allocation of $517 million dedicated to the Teacher Incentive Fund which rewards principals, teachers, and other school personnel who raise student achievement, close achievement gaps and work hard to staff schools.
School districts across the country will be competing for the billions of dollars on the line. They will showcase their great schools, exemplary teachers and innovative ideas. There's no doubt that the stimulus money will be a boon for school reform. For years, school districts have shown that they have innovative ideas, but without proper funding those ideas never come to fruition.
Innovation and change should be energized with both an incentive and reward to replenish resources of ingenuity, commitment, and creativity. Only in public education is going the extra mile a donation expected of the dedicated few.
It is empowering to be recognized for turning gang infested schools from the strong hold of the socially impaired to havens where students can remediate themselves to academic achievement. Yes, placards and pats on the back feel good; but, they don't buy anything. Why are educators the only missionaries who trek the roadways of the under-achievers --prodding them to the higher places with maybe a brief notation in the annual assessment of their deeds and misdeeds in the educational workplace?
When an inspired teacher or administrator makes the difference in average yearly attainment a reward is more than appropriate. It is fully earned for having the tools to enable the struggling student to complete a toolkit that is in ill repair.
Based on the state funding tables issued by the U.S. Department of Education, Colorado is expected to receive $33,845,209 in Recovery Act funding for schools identified for improvement, corrective action and restructuring under Title I. This money is expected to come into play this fall.
If past history is any indicator the incentive program will be a success. Programs such as the Absence Addiction Approach recognized by the National Interagency Drug Institute and the U.S. Department of Education helped an academically impaired high school move from low attendance and floundering graduation rates to turn around status celebrated by its principal winning recognition as Outstanding Individual In School and feted by the state's governor. This turn around scenario was incentivized by outside funding. This shows what dynamic effects special funding can have.
The rewards reaped from the Teacher Incentive Fund will provide a tremendous opportunity for improving schools with hard work and innovation. The real winners though, will be the children.
Busby is a former Colorado Springs high school principal and school board member and an educational consultant with the Women's Workplace and Educational Initiative.
School districts across the country will be competing for the billions of dollars on the line. They will showcase their great schools, exemplary teachers and innovative ideas. There's no doubt that the stimulus money will be a boon for school reform. For years, school districts have shown that they have innovative ideas, but without proper funding those ideas never come to fruition.
Innovation and change should be energized with both an incentive and reward to replenish resources of ingenuity, commitment, and creativity. Only in public education is going the extra mile a donation expected of the dedicated few.
It is empowering to be recognized for turning gang infested schools from the strong hold of the socially impaired to havens where students can remediate themselves to academic achievement. Yes, placards and pats on the back feel good; but, they don't buy anything. Why are educators the only missionaries who trek the roadways of the under-achievers --prodding them to the higher places with maybe a brief notation in the annual assessment of their deeds and misdeeds in the educational workplace?
When an inspired teacher or administrator makes the difference in average yearly attainment a reward is more than appropriate. It is fully earned for having the tools to enable the struggling student to complete a toolkit that is in ill repair.
Based on the state funding tables issued by the U.S. Department of Education, Colorado is expected to receive $33,845,209 in Recovery Act funding for schools identified for improvement, corrective action and restructuring under Title I. This money is expected to come into play this fall.
If past history is any indicator the incentive program will be a success. Programs such as the Absence Addiction Approach recognized by the National Interagency Drug Institute and the U.S. Department of Education helped an academically impaired high school move from low attendance and floundering graduation rates to turn around status celebrated by its principal winning recognition as Outstanding Individual In School and feted by the state's governor. This turn around scenario was incentivized by outside funding. This shows what dynamic effects special funding can have.
The rewards reaped from the Teacher Incentive Fund will provide a tremendous opportunity for improving schools with hard work and innovation. The real winners though, will be the children.
Busby is a former Colorado Springs high school principal and school board member and an educational consultant with the Women's Workplace and Educational Initiative.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
We Are Barak Hussein Obama
Delia Armstrong Busby was the first African American principal in Colorado Springs and the first to serve on the District 11 Board of Education.
Provided by: Delia Armstrong Busby
The inauguration of Barack Obama leads me to these reflections---
The people of Colorado Springs were poised for change when Barack Hussein Obama appeared on the electoral scene. My first wave of "what in the world is happening here?" occurred during the democratic caucus in our neighborhood which is near Wasson High School.
My husband (Ron) and I arrived at Audubon Elementary School to find the largest democratic turnout in30 years. The next eye-opener was the campaign field workers at the Obama Party the evening of the caucus.
As newly selected Obama caucus delegates, Ron and I were surprised when we entered the Party at Phantom Canyon, to find a room full of energetic 20-somethings with faces aglow with happy and voices bubbly with "Yes, we can". It quickly reminded me of my days of high school supervision when the highlight of the evening might be stopping some youthful PDA (public display of affection). But the only PDA I found at Phantom Canyon was a philosophical love affair for Barack Obama.
This is my first experience with impassioned, youthful, campaigners in large numbers. To me it signals the changing of the generational guard. I am impressed.
Since moving to Colorado Springs in 1969, I have always had a personal sense of what I can do. And within this community, I have had the professional and personal opportunity of many firsts. This includes being the first African American female to be appointed to a high school principalship. In 1999, I became the first African American female elected to the Colorado Springs District Eleven School Board in over 140 years. Because of these experiences, the election of Barack Obama never seemed out of reach to me.
I certainly have been at the forefront of educational change in Colorado Springs for nearly40 years. My conclusion is that the community is empowering based on its perception of your ability to make a meaningful contribution. Obama arrived on the scene of a community hip-deep in a desire for better. A community still wanting to believe that America can indeed renew itself with the best leadership. There was and is a strong feeling of "we can be better" and "we can do better." Further, there are still numbers of people willing to extend themselves to make it so.
Since his election, the Obama team has been in constant touch keeping the dream of a renewed America alive. A day of service is being encouraged this month. The push for all of us to better our community by acting to make improvement or to just make a personal contribution to the common good is inspiring. We are Barack Hussein Obama. We make him possible because we make dreams come true when we continue to say yes to change and to hope and to seeing the possibilities of the new reality that emerges on Tuesday January 20, 2009.
Currently listening to:
Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement (Barack Obama)
Released on: November 11, 2008
By: Various Artists and Barack Obama
Provided by: Delia Armstrong Busby
The inauguration of Barack Obama leads me to these reflections---
The people of Colorado Springs were poised for change when Barack Hussein Obama appeared on the electoral scene. My first wave of "what in the world is happening here?" occurred during the democratic caucus in our neighborhood which is near Wasson High School.
My husband (Ron) and I arrived at Audubon Elementary School to find the largest democratic turnout in30 years. The next eye-opener was the campaign field workers at the Obama Party the evening of the caucus.
As newly selected Obama caucus delegates, Ron and I were surprised when we entered the Party at Phantom Canyon, to find a room full of energetic 20-somethings with faces aglow with happy and voices bubbly with "Yes, we can". It quickly reminded me of my days of high school supervision when the highlight of the evening might be stopping some youthful PDA (public display of affection). But the only PDA I found at Phantom Canyon was a philosophical love affair for Barack Obama.
This is my first experience with impassioned, youthful, campaigners in large numbers. To me it signals the changing of the generational guard. I am impressed.
Since moving to Colorado Springs in 1969, I have always had a personal sense of what I can do. And within this community, I have had the professional and personal opportunity of many firsts. This includes being the first African American female to be appointed to a high school principalship. In 1999, I became the first African American female elected to the Colorado Springs District Eleven School Board in over 140 years. Because of these experiences, the election of Barack Obama never seemed out of reach to me.
I certainly have been at the forefront of educational change in Colorado Springs for nearly40 years. My conclusion is that the community is empowering based on its perception of your ability to make a meaningful contribution. Obama arrived on the scene of a community hip-deep in a desire for better. A community still wanting to believe that America can indeed renew itself with the best leadership. There was and is a strong feeling of "we can be better" and "we can do better." Further, there are still numbers of people willing to extend themselves to make it so.
Since his election, the Obama team has been in constant touch keeping the dream of a renewed America alive. A day of service is being encouraged this month. The push for all of us to better our community by acting to make improvement or to just make a personal contribution to the common good is inspiring. We are Barack Hussein Obama. We make him possible because we make dreams come true when we continue to say yes to change and to hope and to seeing the possibilities of the new reality that emerges on Tuesday January 20, 2009.
Currently listening to:
Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement (Barack Obama)
Released on: November 11, 2008
By: Various Artists and Barack Obama
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