For more information, visit www.achieve3000.com John M. Nelson III served as the Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services at Chula Vista Elementary School District, located halfway between San Diego and Mexico in San Diego County. In 2010, when the Common Core State Standards were adopted by California, he knew the 30,000-student district needed to help students […]
Edward Gonzalez says teachers??and classified employees??can make wise decisions about the classroom and technical training they receive. Madera USD sits in the center of California in the San Joaquin Valley, which grows much of the nation’s nuts, vegetables and fruit. Gonzalez, its superintendent, gave each of his roughly 1,100 teachers $500 to spend as they […]
Injecting the arts into science, math, engineering and technology encourages students to think creatively and critically in traditional STEM subjects that, until the recent and widespread adoption of new standards, didn’t often encourage students to think outside the box. The rising popularity of blended STEAM programs reflects a nationwide K12 push to develop the next […]
Kathy Kelly, superintendent of Columbia Heights Public Schools in Minnesota, received the 2015 L. Anthony Sutin Civic Imagination Award from the U.S. Department of Justice. The award recognizes Kelly’s efforts to build trust between law enforcement and students. Working with the local police chief, Kelly instituted youth outreach programs designed to provide students with opportunities […]
Schools are the center of the community and when schools are transformed in positive ways, communities are transformed. The continued rise of poverty is not surprising when policies and practices that could contribute to eliminating poverty are not addressed well. The foundation of systematic oppression is rooted in practices that contribute to a system becoming […]
What makes community engagements meaningful? For many district leaders, meeting community members face-to-face captures the spirit of meaningful engagement but falls far short when it comes to representing the broader community’s wishes. When Spokane Public Schools passed their $145 million bond with an unprecedented 68.9% majority vote, they credited their partnershipwithThoughtexchangefor helping them achieve that […]
As part of a bigger plan to streamline operations and cut costs districtwide, Tecumseh Public Schools hired Mike Smith as director of facilities to establish a maintenance and facilities plan in 2014. There had been minimal preventive maintenance and facilities processes in place before that for the district of 2,500 students in southeast Michigan. Smith’s […]
Superintendent John Rouse sits on a jackpot of sorts. Chief of Rains ISD in a community not far from Dallas, Rouse says a little luck helped his district acquire about $8 million from what is known as the state’s County Permanent School Fund. It started two centuries ago. In the 1800s, the state granted land […]
Politicians often express concern over the widening achievement gap between black and white students in this country. But there was a time when that gap was reduced by as much a half. The reason? Integrated schools. “Integration gets black kids in the same facilities as white kids, with access to the same things those kids […]
December 14, 2012 is a day of tragedy that claimed the lives of 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Victoria Soto, a 27-year-old first grade teacher who died trying to protect her students, has been honored by her hometown of Stratford, Connecticut, with the a newly constructed […]
