A bi-monthly e-newsletter, Volume 6, Number 2 (Jan-Feb 2008)

This edition's topic:   Many Voices—But, Who’s Listening and What’s Being Heard?

Contents:

• Commentary:  Whose 21^st Century Are We Talking About Anyway?
• News & Resources
  • Leadership
  • Community Connections
  • Policy/Systems
• “Muse” from IEL
• EPFP Alumni Spotlight
• Site-to-Cite
• Events

Whose 21^st Century Are We Talking About Anyway?

Everywhere you turn, it is 21^st Century this and that—from schools to skills, from standards to systems.  Just about everyone has been heard from—except the objects of all of the attention to research, policy, and practice:  the youth themselves.  (For a sampling, you might want to check out the recent edition of Forbes magazine, which asked 21 leading educators, business executives, and politicians—but no young people—to come up with solutions for educating children in—you guessed it— the increasingly complex and fast-moving world of the 21st century.  Contributors include ED Secretary Spellings, KIPP Co-Founder Mike Feinberg, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, etc.:  http://www.forbes.com/2008/01/23/solutions-education-teaching-oped-cx_hpm_0123solutionsland.html.

Traditionally, adults are expected to have a broader, more informed view of what it takes to nurture and educate children and youth, and to prepare them for the future.  Yet, today there appears to be a major disconnect between the adults’ (digital immigrants)  “best laid plans” when filtered through the real experiences of young people (digital natives). 

The Commentary juxtaposes students speaking for themselves (and to us, the adults) about the 21^st century, through a well-crafted video posted on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8.  We encourage you to watch the video and listen carefully to the “voice” of young people.  

Our motive:  we want to know the response provoked in the adults working to improve education and future prospects for America’s children and youth.  So, let us hear from you about whether you feel there is a disconnect—or not.

NEWS & RESOURCES 

Leadership

• How to Keep the Best Laid Plans From Going Awry?  You could start by first asking those most affected,  A compilation of case studies, Making the Case, written by MetLife Fellows (full-time teachers), and published by the Teachers Network Leadership Institute (an ongoing initiative of The Teachers Network and supported by the MetLife Foundation), introduces a way for teachers to ensure that their voice informs and influences education policymaking.  The goal:  to ensure that the policies enacted support teaching and learning for all students.  The 19 cases are designed to facilitate conversations with policymakers so they (1) understand how policy plays out in real classrooms, and (2) experience first-hand the unintended consequences of current national, state, and local education policies.  Download a copy from The Teachers Network Web site at:  http://teachersnetwork.org/tnli/cases/makingthecase.pdf.
• Families Lead the Frontlines for Student Achievement.  There is a growing acknowledgement that conditions outside of the school house have a serious impact on teaching and learning.  The Educational Testing Service’s (ETS) recent report, The Family: America’s Smallest School,  points out that reaching our nation’s ambitious national education goals requires serious effort in schools and on the home front. Using four family/home factors that their and other’s research have linked to student achievement—single-parent families, parents reading to young children every day, hours spent watching television, and the frequency of school absences—ETS confirms the family’s critical role in education. The report adds yet another voice to the growing chorus of support for investing in early education and development and preparation for learning—and that starts in the home.  A 2-page copy of the report’s highlights or the full report can be downloaded at www.ets.org.
• Are Unions Capable of Collaboration?  Contrary to the image often painted of union roles on the road to higher achievement, the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF)—with printing support from the NEA Foundation—published a report in late 2007 that looked at this issue in two different school districts.  Reducing the Achievement Gap Through District/Union Collaboration:  The Tale of Two School Districts examines two districts making gains in both teacher quality assurance and reducing gaps in student achievement, and proving that these goals are not antithetical.  The report describes the elements, processes, and results of partnership and collaboration in Clark County, NV, and Hamilton County, TN.  The lessons learned in these two districts can guide other districts’ and union leaders’ efforts to lay a foundation for change, and to identify and implement strategies and policies to support change.  Visit the NCTAF Web site to download the summary or full report. 

Connecting Community

• Community Schools Strike A Chord.  The National Forum of the Coalition for Community Schools (CCS), housed at IEL, continues to provide an important platform for supporting better results for children and youth through community schools.   Their 10^th National Forum in Portland, OR, April 30 – May 2, 2008 will feature Pedro Noguera, an expert in diversity and education, Susan Castillo, Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Vicki Phillips, Director of Education Strategy and Grantmaking, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.    Other Forum highlights will be a plenary session focused on community schools across the globe, site visits to area community schools, and more than 80 workshops.  A major theme of the 2008 Forum is helping other communities and school districts develop “More and More Effective Community Schools.”  Join individuals and teams of superintendents, school board members, city/county officials, community school leaders and advocates, national and community-based organization leaders, and community members—sharing strategies that develop stronger working relationships, and that promote more effective ways to forge an array of programs and funding streams to build and sustain these successful environments.  For more information about the 10^th National Forum go to www.communityschools.org. 
  
  Special Notice!  Further Evidence of Valued Role of Community Schools.  The Department of Education released an RFP on Feb. 15^th soliciting applications to their Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS) program.  FSCS encourages coordination of educational, developmental, family, health, and other services through partnerships between (1) public elementary and secondary schools and (2) community-based organizations and public or private entities—to provide comprehensive educational, social, and health services for students, families, and communities.  Click here for more detail and application deadlines.  (While the deadline will have passed, it’s still another good reason to attend the CCS’ National Forum, to get some great guidance through a network of other communities that have managed to adopt this model for learning and supports even without FSCS support.)
• “LINC”-ing to Voices for Community Schools.  Speaking of striking a chord or two, we encourage you to take a look at the 2-minute video about the Coalition for Community Schools on the CCS’ Web site.  Prepared by the Kansas City, MO-based community organization, Local Investment Corporation (LINC), the video includes statements from Rep. Steny Hoyer, NEA president Reg Weaver, and Ira Harkevy, University of Pennsylvania Professor, and Chair of the Coalition’s Steering Committee:  www.kclincvideos.org/pages/ccs/ccs2008promo.html.
• Do You Know the Way to Community Transformation?  A new study shows that transforming a community takes a substantial investment of time—but promises a significant return on investment.  Transforming Public Life: A Decade of Citizen Engagement in Bridgeport, CT, from Public Agenda (PA), outlines how public engagement has become an integral part of the Bridgeport’s civic life.  Will Friedman, co-author and director of PA’s Center for Advancement in Public Engagement (CAPE) says, “. . .  The process of change may seem slow, but it is resulting in cultural changes and new policies and practices that appear likely to benefit the community.  Long-term experience shows that it is much more difficult to sustain solutions without public support.”  The report documents how citizen engagement has extended beyond education to other areas, and how Bridgeport’s citizens are now viewed as important partners in problem solving.  Public Agenda, working in partnership with IEL, launched this public engagement effort a decade ago with support from the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund.  “Community Conversations” were conducted in cooperation with the Bridgeport Public Education Fund, and the Connecticut League of Women Voters.  Links are being made between Bridgeport’s emerging culture of problem solving and decision making, and the increasing student success.  For the past two years, Bridgeport has been a finalist for the Broad Foundation Prize for Urban Education which honors urban districts demonstrating the greatest overall improvements in achievement. The report can be downloaded from Public Agenda’s Web site at:   http://www.publicagenda.org/pubengage/pdfs/cape_bridgeport.pdf.
• Do You Hear What I Hear?  In June 2007, selected Latino students were invited to Washington, DC to participate in a focus group on higher education capacity and affordability, and to then participate in a town hall style meeting on Capitol Hill.  These events, combined with trend analysis about Latino college-going students, serve as the basis for Voices:  Hearing from Latino Students about College, published by Excellencia, an organization focused on improving Latino education success.  The publication is intended to help higher education decision makers not only make sense of the data on Latino students, but also to help them glimpse it through the more nuanced voices of a diverse range of Latino students.  The profiles are brief and compelling, and “put a face on” the variety of challenges and achievements of a small sampling of students.  Visit Excellencia’s Web site for more information: http://www.edexcelencia.org/about_us/.

Policy/Systems

• Making the Connections.  An already excellent resource, the National Collaborative for Workforce Development for Youth (at IEL) keeps producing more resource material.  New tools for practitioners and policymakers now available (with more are in the pipeline) free through their Web site (in accessible formats) or in hard copy (for a nominal handling fee), include:
  • The High School/High Tech Program Guide: A Comprehensive Transition Program Promoting Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math for Youth with Disabilities is an updated and much expanded version of the original manual produced in 2003 (with over 100,000 downloads of edition one!).  HS/HT exposes youth with disabilities to careers in science, technology, engineering and math (the STEM careers) and encourages them to pursue postsecondary education to prepare for such careers.  HS/HT has spread to numerous states (e.g., CO, DE, FL, GA, MD, MI, MN, OH, OK, PA, SC and TX), and the new edition of this resource is full of information and material that can be used by existing HS/HT programs for improvement and expansion, and by new and developing programs to guide their implementation.  The Guide includes tips for partnership development, service strategies, activities, curriculum, and success stories, as well as examples showing how systemic change impacts how states and localities approach the provision of transition services.  Useful and interesting resource links are provided at the end of each chapter.  The Guide is available in full or by chapters:  http://www.ncwd-youth.info/resources_&_Publications/hsht_guide.html.
  • Negotiating the Curves Toward Employment:  A Guide About Youth Involved in the Foster Care System—This guide was developed to encourage collaborative efforts between child welfare, mental health, workforce development, schools, and other community institutions to improve the transition—and opportunities—into adulthood for youth in the foster care system.  To download:  http://www.ncwd-youth.info/resources_&_Publications/foster_care.html.
  • Tunnels and Cliffs: A Guide for Workforce Development Practitioners and Policymakers Serving Youth with Mental Health Needs—This guide has been developed to help workforce development practitioners, administrators, and policymakers enhance their understanding of youth with mental health needs, and the supports necessary to help them transition into the workforce successfully.  It provides practical information and resources for youth service practitioners, and it provides policy makers—from the program to the state level—with information to help them improve service delivery systems for youth by addressing system and policy obstacles.  To download:  http://www.ncwd-youth.info/resources_&_Publications/mental_health.html.
  Future issues of the IELC will note new NCWD/Y resources upon availability; and visit the their site for a complete listing of available resources and tools:  www.ncwd-youth.info.
• Making More from Less—Connecting Systemically Sensible Solutions.  Addressing the urgent need to do more to reduce dropouts, close the achievement gap, and re-engage students involves developing a comprehensive, systematic approach.  The School Mental Health Project at UCLA (also one of our favorite resources) has published to the Web another well-written and insightful guide through the maze of current policies and practices intended to address student mental health, (not to be confused with mental illness)—and to pose actions to revise policy decisions that won’t perpetuate narrowly focused (and categorical) approaches. The report, Mental Health in School & School Improvement:  Current Status, Concerns, and New Directions, suggests policy and systemic changes for consideration, and a “call to action.”  In addition, a useful toolkit provides sample job descriptions for school-level leadership to address the issues raised in their analysis.  Download at no charge any or all of the chapters from http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/mhbook/mhbooktoc.htm.  [Editor’s Note:  This report includes a quote from one of IEL’s founding directors, the late Harold “Doc” Howe II, that is just as thoughtful today—and provocative:  “It is either naive or irresponsible to ignore the connection between children’s performance in school and their experiences with malnutrition, homelessness, lack of medical care, inadequate housing, racial and cultural discrimination, and other burdens.”]   
• Making Measurement Meaningful for Student Growth.  The Center for Public Education, an initiative of the National School Boards Association, has produced a useful guide to understanding “Growth Models,” an issue “simmering in the NCLB pot.”  While most people in the education enterprise may comprehend that it is a way of measuring the amount of students' academic progress between two points in time, non-educators probably have a lot of questions about what that would entail.  Measuring Student Growth:  A Guide For Informed Decision Making is intended to answer these and other questions, and to help policymakers decide which model, if any, should be used in their state or district.  For instance, the terms "value added" and "growth models” are the often cited statistical methods for measuring student growth for accountability purposes:  But what exactly are they, do they measure what they claim to measure, and how should they be used? As a school policy maker, educator, parent, or voter, why should you care?  The guide not only explains growth models within the framework of NCLB, it explains how they can be used for a variety of educational purposes.  You can download a free copy and see the other resources on this issue available from  CPE at: http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/site/c.kjJXJ5MPIwE/b.3570269/k.C5CA/
  Growth_Models_A_guide_for_informed_decision_making.htm.

“MUSE” FROM IEL

(Commentary by Betty Hale, IEL President)

• WholeLeaderWatch:  February, the month notable for Black History observations and Valentine’s Day, is an appropriate time to remind leaders to listen to messages about belonging and kindness:  that is, to listen to voices from the heart.  Dr. Claude Steele’s 2007 Danzberger Lecture, “Belonging is Necessary for Learning,” documented how negative messaging contributes to achievement gaps.  Writing in the February 2008 issue of Phi Delta Kappan (PDK), columnist Anne C. Lewis, draws attention to both Steele’s research and the ETS report, The Family-America’s Smallest School (see prior reference above).  She sticks her chin out in anticipation of negative reactions to her column, “A Columnist at Risk,” and notes that this research and these reports offer “. . . insights that are a lot more useful [to leaders, policymakers, and practitioners] than closing schools, transferring teachers, or blaming parents.”  PDK has given IEL permission to allow IELC’s readers temporary access to Lewis’ item on-line in HTML or PDF; Steele’s lecture can be accessed at http://www.iel.org/pubs/2007_jd_steele.pdf   Speaking at the National African American School Board Members Association’s annual meeting, a retired teacher from the Cleveland public schools, Stephen Sroka, repeatedly emphasized the importance of adults making connections with kids.  “Schools can help . . . by forging more personal connections with their children and helping them get help for their many problems.”  “. . in the end, . . . only kindness matters.”  You can learn more about the speech and Sroka’s work at:  http://www.drstephensroka.com/pdfs/Advocate_article.pdf.

IEL’s EPFP Alumni Network Spotlight On…

Art Stellar, Ph.D., Superintendent of Taunton (NJ) Public Schools, was awarded the 2007 National Dropout Prevention Network award for Excellence for Distinguished Service and Leadership, for demonstrating clear evidence of success in meeting the needs of at-risk students, leading to decreasing drop-out rates.  In addition to his prior superintendent positions, he has served as a national president of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) and was a Fulbright Scholar.  To read more or contact him, see the press release at:   http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/77/33/7733.doc.  Dr. Stellar is one of the 6,000+ people who have completed IEL’s flagship year-long leadership development program.  For more information, visit EPFP on IEL’s Web site at:  http://www.iel.org/epfp/index.html.  

SITE-TO-CITE

• State-of-the-States Round-up.  One of our favorite on-line resources is www.Stateline.org, a portal inaugurated in 1999 for journalists (with support from The Pew Charitable Trusts)–with original pieces as well as daily stories from papers around the country.  Though still produced by journalists, Stateline’s readers today  include anyone who wants to know and/or keep track of what's going on in their own and other states, which is having an impact on and influencing policy as well as their own work across a range of issues (e.g., education, healthcare, politics, economy and business,  etc.). Plus, every January, they produce an annual analysis of state trends and most significant developments, available for free on-line:  http://www.stateline.org/live/publications/pdf-request.

EVENTS

Upcoming Education Organization Conferences:

• National Association of Secondary School Principals National Convention, Feb 22-24, 2008, San Antonio, TX; Theme:  Build the Team—Lead the Charge
• Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development  Annual Conference/Exhibit, Mar 15-17, 2008, New Orleans, LA; Theme:  “Reinventing Schools—Courageous Leadership for Positive Change
• American Educational Research Association  Annual Meeting, Mar 24-28, 2008, New York, NY; Theme:  “Research on Schools, Neighborhoods, and Communities:  Toward Civic Responsibility”
• National School Boards Association  Annual Conference, Mar 29-Apr 1, 2008, Orlando, FL; Theme:  “Fresh.  Focus.  Strategies.  Perspectives”
• National Association of Elementary School Principals  Annual Convention, Apr 4-8, 2008, Nashville, TN; Theme:  “Leadership and Learning for the Next Generation”
• National PTA  National Convention/Exhibit, San Diego, CA, June 21-23, 2008 
  
  Visit IEL’s Web site to see a list of other upcoming events sponsored by IEL and/or its many partners and collaborators, at http://www.iel.org/events.html.

Submission deadline for the next issue:   March 19, 2008

About IEL and IELeadership Connections

The Institute for Educational Leadership (a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Washington, DC) works to achieve better results for children, Pre-K through Postsecondary.  At the heart of IEL's effectiveness is a unique ability to bring people together to identify and resolve issues across policy, program, and sector boundaries.  IEL connects evidence to ideas and results to action in three issue areas:  Developing and Supporting Leaders, Strengthening School-Family-Community Connections, and Connecting and Improving Policies and Systems that Serve Children and Youth. Through IELeadership Connections, IEL’s free bi-monthly newsletter focused on leadership for education, IEL is building and nurturing an on-line network.  Please feel free to pass it on to interested parties.  We will do our best to provide active links and information but cannot be responsible for expired links.  IELC is edited by Denise Slaughter, Director of Communications.  To submit a news item, suggest a topic for future publication, or provide feedback, send an e-mail to feedback@iel.org with "IELC" in the subject line.  Submissions should include a link at which readers may find additional information on the highlighted program or issue.

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