Maryland seeks to reform early childhood education

Learning academies, focus on low-income families among initiatives

by Andrew Ujifusa, Staff Writer

The Gazette

 Having already scored federal cash by promising major education reforms in 2010, Maryland is trying again this year, this time with a younger group in mind.

Maryland is one of 35 states, along with Washington, D.C., to apply for some of the $500 million available for the Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge, which will require states to reform their education and development programs for children from birth to age 5.

Among the 10 proposed projects in Maryland’s application are 24 local early childhood councils, creating a “breakthrough” center for early childhood development that would promote successful programs in Title I schools (those with high numbers of low-income students), and establishing “early learning” academies for teachers working in pre-kindergarten through the second grade. Conforming to the Challenge’s goals, the state also says it will track data and progress related to their early childhood programs.

Last year, the state won $250 million from the federal government to reform its public school systems. That grant, also under the Race to the Top reform program, required teacher evaluations to be based more on quantifiable methods such as test scores, and focused on incentivizing top principals to turn around low-performing schools. A pilot of the controversial new teacher evaluations is under way this year in school systems in Baltimore city, and Baltimore, Charles, Kent, Prince George's, Queen Anne's and St. Mary's counties.
The state draws on last year’s successful Race to the Top application in its proposal for the Early Learning Challenge. In the executive summary of its Early Learning Challenge application, the state wrote: “If awarded, Maryland would create a seamless Birth to Grade 12 reform agenda.”

Montgomery County Public Schools was one of two systems, along with Frederick schools, that declined to endorse the state’s Race to the Top application last year — in large part because it was concerned its professional evaluation system would be scrapped.

Read more HERE

Notes from Board of Education Work Session, 10/24/11

The Board Work Session on Monday, October 24 will be re-broadcast on Comcast Channel 96, Verizon FIOS Channel 12 and is available via webstream at http://www.ccboe.com/ . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.

The below notes are my personal notes and are not intended to be all-inclusive or official minutes for the Board of Education meetings and are provided as a request from my supporters and the general public in a personal effort to be more transparent.   Although I have diligently tried to make these notes as unbiased and accurate as possible, I am only human and do make mistakes.

Call to order - 6 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Forum - no one present

Work session discussions - Goals
Each on of the bullet points listed below were discussed.  I did not record, in these notes, all of the discussion point but focused on the main points brought forward by each board member.

Pedersen

• local control, board should address local issues in tandem with state or federal issues, including conferring with state and federal leaders about use of resources - YES
•  recruit minority teachers, work with FEA and community minority organizations to encourage minority participation in educational careers - POOL IS LIMITED
• continue to encourage rigor & depth in learning - YES, SEE CURRENT BENCHMARK #1

Wade

• International Baccalaureate - FUNDING DIFFICULTIES, BACK BURNER
• Continue educational exchange program
• Joint Military Ball

Lukas

• Involve local civic organizations - ALREADY DISCUSSED
• Involve parents
• See greater student participation in SAT's

Bowie

• Disseminate information internally to Board Members in a more timely manner
• Be proactive in community involvement
• Keep communication open internally

Abell

• Continue current priorities, including current communication goals
• review and achieve list of benchmarks, including testing
• Active Board sub-committees

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 10/24/11

The Board of Education of Charles County is holding a work session at 6 p.m., Monday, Oct. 24, at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building in La Plata. The meeting will be aired live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12, and stream live on the school system Web site at at http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live
The agenda is as follows:
Call to order - 6 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Forum

Work session discussions

• Goals

Adjournment

Notes from Board of Education Meeting on 10/11/11

The Board Meeting on Tuesday, October 11 will be re-broadcast on Comcast Channel 96, Verizon FIOS Channel 12 and is available via webstream at http://www.ccboe.com/ . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.

The below notes are my personal notes and are not intended to be all-inclusive or official minutes for the Board of Education meetings and are provided as a request from my supporters and the general public in a personal effort to be more transparent. Although I have diligently tried to make these notes as unbiased and accurate as possible, I am only human and do make mistakes.

Executive session- 12 p.m.

Call to order- 1 p.m.

• Pledge of Allegiance, La Plata High School's JROTC unit

Superintendent's update to the Board- Read report. Click HERE.

Correspondence/Board member updates

• Abell - Student Transfer Sub-Committee has met and will be reporting its findings and presenting a recommendation at the November Work Session
• Pedersen - MABE Convention was a success.
• Wise - New Ethics forms are quite lengthy and comprehensive

Education Association of Charles County update - Read report, click HERE

Student Board member update - Read report. Click HERE

Bullying presentation - See Presentation. Click HERE

• Cook - Educating teachers and parents but the students still aren't reporting;
• Abell - Interested in our students' perspective;
• Leah (student) - Get to SGAs to present to students;
• Lukas - Read report stating it's not relative to any socioeconomic factors;
• Bowie - Article in somdnews.com on 10/7 regarding bullying;
• Taylor (student) - Look at it from the perspective of the one doing the bullying to see what the problem is that's causing them to do the bullying;
• Pedersen - Peer mediation in schools? Pamphlets in Spanish? On website?
• Wise - Upside Down Organization;
• Leah (student) - Not reported as much in high school because students are more mature and don't let it bother them as much.

CIP update - See report. Click HERE

• Abell - Commissioner Kelly referred to a "phase-in" opening of the new high school. Questions?
• Richmond - Planning on opening under capacity for 9, 10, & 11 with anticipation of the new home builds in the zone.
• Lukas - Projections for new high school enrollment based on core capacity. Now that it has changed to state rated capacity...will it change projections?
• Wineland - Rely on research and trends.
• Pedersen - Considering two family homes?
• Wineland - Transportation has software that pinpoints every child's address and name and it will be available to the redistricting committee. The name will become a number.

FY2012 independent financial audit - See report. Click HERE.

• Abell - Condensed lunches reason for loss in funds?
• Balides - Definitely. Doing time trials and trying different things at those schools to alleviate.
• Abell - Requests time trials also be done at the elementary schools based on parental complaints.
• Lukas - Ditto, Ms. Abell.

Budget update - September Financials, click HERE

STEM initiatives - See report. Click HERE

Academy of Health Professions: pharmacy technician program - See report. Click HERE

• Abell - How are the students chosen? Prerequisites? How is it advertised to the student population?
• Palko - All 10th grade classes were visited by counselor and given application. HSAs are a factor and strong Chemistry/Math background.
• Lukas - Transferable credits?
• Palko - In talks with colleges including CSM.
• Leah(Students) - Consider adding to all high schools?
• Richmond- Continue to develop in the current location at Stetham.
• Taylor - Limits on number of students per school?
• Richmond - New this year then evaluate the program and grow from there.

Recruitment and retention update - See Report. Click HERE

• Pedersen - Are we attending and trying to recruit at the black colleges?
• McDonald - Yes, we are.

Legislative update - See report. Click HERE

Unfinished business - None

New business -

• Pedersen - Everyone writing a letter to General Assembly relative to the pension?
• Consensus was to have staff write one letter for all of our signatures.

Future agenda items

• Abell - Student Transfer Subcommittee report at Work Session in November

Recognition- 4:30 p.m.

• Students - Kayla Nagle, 5th grade, Personal Responsibility, Gale-Bailey Elementary School; Michael Gill, 5th grade, Career Readiness, Mary H. Matula Elementary School; Thomas Carlyle Martin, Jr. (T.C.), 8th grade, Academic Achievement, Milton Somers Middle School; Courtney Jones, 12th grade, Academic Achievement, Maurice J. McDonough High School
• Staff - Nathan Mouli, social studies teacher, McDonough; Linda Forrest, reading resource teacher, Somers; Lauren Hoza, kindergarten teacher, Matula; Joan Matthews, media instructional assistant, Gale-Bailey
• Resolutions: American Education Week and American Freedom Week.

Public Forum- 6 p.m.

• Robin Tyler - High school drop out rate in the state of MD 3%. Invites everyone to come to a lunch at October 20, 2011, 11:30 -1:00pm at the Maryland National Guard Armory in LaPlata to discuss this issue.
• Robert Harlan - NCLB. Athletic Inelegibility. Last month's board discussions. Break down who the minorities are.

Action items

• Executive Session Minutes from 9/13/11
Motion to accept by Cook; Second by Abell
Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Wade, Wise; Absent = Pedersen
• Minutes from 9/13/11
Motion to accept by Abell; Second by Lukas
Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook Lukas, Wade; Absent = Pedersen
• Minutes from Commissioner Retreat 10/4/11
Motion to accept by Cook; Second by Abell
Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas Wise; Abstain = Wade; Absent = Pedersen
• Personnel
Motion to accept by Abell; Second by Cook
Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Wade, Wise; Absent = Pedersen
• FY2012 Comprehensive Maintenance Plan

Motion to accept by Cook; Second by Lukas

Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Wade, Wise; Absent = Pedersen

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 10/11/11

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, October 11, at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building on Radio Station Road in La Plata. The public portion of the meeting begins at 1 p.m. The meeting is televised live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12, and is rebroadcast throughout the week. Board meetings are also streamed live on the school system Web site at http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live

Executive session- 12 p.m.
Call to order- 1 p.m.

• Pledge of Allegiance, La Plata High School's JROTC unit

Superintendent's update to the Board

Reports of officers/board/committees

• Correspondence/Board member updates
• Education Association of Charles County update
• Student Board member update
• Bullying presentation
• CIP update
• FY2012 independent financial audit
• Budget update
• Stem initiatives
• Academy of Health Professions: pharmacy technician program
• Recruitment and retention update
• Legislative update

Unfinished business

New business and future agenda items

• New business
• Future agenda items

Recognition- 4:30 p.m.

• Students
• Staff

Public Forum- 6 p.m.

Action items

• Minutes
• Personnel
• FY2012 Comprehensive Maintenance Plan
• Resolutions: American Education Week and American Freedom Week.

Adjournment

Teachers increasingly use home visits to connect with students’ families

Kevin Sieff

The Washington Post

October 9, 2011

The two high school teachers knocked at apartment 512 of a Crystal City high-rise and waited to see the inside of Alvaro Nunez Alvarez’s life.

Up to this point, the teachers knew this about 14-year-old Alvaro: He was quiet. He had recently arrived from somewhere in Latin America. He was smart and ambitious.

They were here to fill in the blanks — to conduct a kind of parent-teacher conference on the family’s turf. There’s no better way, many educators say, to turn distant or unresponsive parents into allies and communicators, actively involved in the education of their children.

But that means venturing far beyond the classroom, penetrating the private spaces that students disappear to when the afternoon school bell rings.

When the door to unit 512 opened, there were Alvaro and his sister, standing in their matching Wakefield High School T-shirts, blushing. There were his parents, well-dressed, deferential, letting out a stream of “thank you so much” and “it’s our pleasure to host you” in Spanish.

Debbie Polhemus and Yun-Chi Maggie Hsu, both Wakefield teachers, were reaching out to the Nunez Alvarez family in a manner once considered out of bounds but now increasingly common in the Washington area and across the country: sitting in a student’s living room, munching on homemade pupusas, talking about academic expectations far from school halls.

Read more HERE.

India’s students will be the first to get world’s smallest computer

Washintgon Post By Valerie Strauss

The big news in technology Wednesday was the announcement that India introduced a new tablet computer that is the world’s smallest and least expensive — costing $35. But just as important as the progress in small computer development is who the first beneficiaries will be.

The computer’s developer is is selling the Aakash, or “sky,” to the Indian government for about $45, and in turn the government will sell it to students for about $35, the Associated Press reported. The Aakash has a seven-inch color screen and provides word processing, Web browsing and video conferencing.

READ MORE HERE

Notes from Board of Education & Commissioner Retreat, October 4, 2011

The Board Retreat on Tuesday, October 4 will be re-broadcast on Comcast Channel 96, Verizon FIOS Channel 12 and is available via webstream at http://www.ccboe.com/ . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.

The below notes are my personal notes and are not intended to be all-inclusive or official minutes for the Board of Education meetings and are provided as a request from my supporters and the general public in a personal effort to be more transparent. Although I have diligently tried to make these notes as unbiased and accurate as possible, I am only human and do make mistakes.

Introductions

• Wise - Requests the Board of Ed be placed on the Commissioners' agenda on a bi-monthly basis for updates.
• Kelly - Yes, and they can reciprocate.

Funding Formula

• Wise - BOE would like to review funding formula
• Kelly - Commissioners are opposed to the set formula; just a good faith.
• Collins - Origin of formula?
• Wise - 10 years ago, as county grows the system grows, de-politicize funding decisions, etc.
• Kelly - Maintenance of Effort would be minimum and then add as needed.
• Cook - Legislation regarding MOE could change everything.
• Richmond - Relationship of everyone involved, trust, respect, in support of MOE.

School Allocation Methodology

• Kelly - Halfway to state-rated capacity vs core capacity; two years to go.
• Abell - The sooner we can get to state-rated capacity the better; Expedite.
• Pedersen - Ditto
• Robinson - Agreed
• Collins - Should review what the committee came up with a few years ago, market analysis.
• Cook - Brief review from committee, phased in because it would affect the building & real estate industry and therefore affect the county's income.
• Kelly - Residential development does not provide income to the county, but actually costs us.
• Andritz - Current economy has made this more do-able. Changes made already helped tremendously. Shouldn't be as problematic as originally anticipated.
• Davis - Would like committee formed again to re-look at the situation.

Motion to accept move to State Rated Capacity by Robinson; Second by Rucci

• Kelly - Explanation of Docket 90 - Only pertains to Fairway Village.
• Davis - Wants to delay vote.

Yes = Kelly, Robinson, Rucci; No = Collins, Davis

County Growth/Redistricting

• Wise - Growth anticipation for our future planning?
• Kelly - Transportation issues, light rail from SMECO in White Plains up through Waldorf.
• Robinson - Bus rapid transit vs light rail vs commuter rail
• Collins - Recommends someone from BOE staff sit on the Planning and Growth committee so we know of forthcoming growth and plans.
• Wise - Enrollment at all levels of schools will be reviewed.

Open Discussion

• Cook - What do you want to see from your school system?
• Davis - We're doing awesome with state standards and being involved in the community. Number of trailers is bad. Need to have an open door policy.
• Richmond - Disruptions during class. SAT parent participation.
• Cunningham - EdLine
• Collins - Opening ceremony at Eva Turner pre-k was one of his proudest events ever.
• Robinson - Applause to creativity. North Point graduation was the best and we need to give the other schools the same focus that North Point gets.
• Wise- Other schools did not want their graduations at North Point, and the Arena tends to bring out the worst behavior in some.
• Robinson - Local venue?
• Rucci - Officers in school a plus.
• Lukas - Lines of communication always open. Maybe even smaller groups if everyone can't get together.
• Pedersen - Digital text books?
• Bowie - Thank you.
• Wise - Next meeting in February.

Adjournment