A new report by LFA and Grunwald Associates, with support from AT&T, examines how parents perceive the value of mobile devices, how they see their children using mobiles, and what they think of the possibilities for mobile learning.
Public School Success Stories
Across the Country, public schools and districts are transforming themselves to prepare students for success in a 21st-century democracy and global society. Take a look at what educators and communities are doing right now to meet this challenge.
Or tell us what's working in your own school or district.
Arts Integrated Curriculum Helps Students Overcome Challenges of Poverty
Story posted January, 2008
Results updated December, 2011
Results:
• In 2010, the school outperformed the state in every test at every grade level, despite serving a significantly higher percentage of students in poverty overall (74% compared to 30%)
• 100% of fourth grade students met proficiency scores in science and math in 2010
Woodrow Wilson is a pre-kindergarten to eighth grade school located in Union City, New Jersey. One of the most densely populated cities in the United States, Union City has a large immigrant population-90 percent of the students are Hispanic-and high rates of poverty. In fact, the city has the lowest median family income in the state, and 84 percent of the school's population is eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch. ...
Collaborative Effort Empowers Teachers, Raises Test Scores in South Lane
Story posted December, 2007. Results updated February 28, 2012.
Results:
• The school outperformed the state on reading, math and science standardized tests in 2011, despite serving a more disadvantaged student population
• Students tested in 2010 in Grade 10 showed gains across subjects in 2011 in Grade 11
Ten years ago, Cottage Grove High School, named for the Oregon lumber town in which it's located, was little more than a pit stop for many teenages who'd eventually drop out and work in the mills. Today, most of those mills are shuttered, and the 900-student school--brimming with AP and professional-technical courses and equipped with robotics, plastics and computer labs--graduates more than 95 percent of its students. ...
In West Philly, Career Academies Drive Success
Story posted December, 2007
Results:
• Top honors multiple times at the Tour de Sol (a prestigious national green car competition)
• Increased numbers of college-bound students
West Philadelphia High School doesn't look like a place on the cutting edge of automotive technology "It's a true inner city high school," says teacher Simon Hauger. "Many of my students come from extraordinarily challenging social circumstances." But a groundbreaking career and technical education program has given students reasons to stay focused, including the opportunity to be part of a car-building competition that's trumped college students and automakers alike.
More than 80 percent of West Philadelphia's overwhelmingly African American student population comes from disadvantaged backgrounds. Four in ten don't graduate, prompting school officials to find hands-on, relevant ways to reach at-risk students. ...
Greenway Elementary: Empowering Educators to Close the Achievement Gap
Story posted January, 2008
Results:
• State test scores increased 23% in math and 14% in reading over the past two years
• Recognized by the state for narrowing achievement gaps
Greenway Elementary School in Bisbee, AZ was plagued for many years by mediocre test scores and a persistent achievement gap between its White and Hispanic students. Compounding the problem was teachers' isolation from one another, and the inconsistent quality of instruction from classroom to classroom. So, when John Taylor, the school's principal, decided it was time to turn things around, he set out first to empower his teachers to make a change.
Greenway and its students face many challenges. Its proximity to the Mexican border ensures a large population of English language learners, and nearly 70% of all students qualify for free or reduced priced meals. ...
School in Harlem Proves College is Attainable for Everyone
Story posted January, 2008
Story updated January, 2011
Results:
• Graduation rate averages over 95% for the past 11 years.
• 100% graduation rate in 2010.
For too many young women growing up in the neighborhoods of East Harlem, college is at best a remote prospect. But The Young Women's Leadership School has dramatically changed the odds for some of East Harlem's most vulnerable students. The Young Women's Leadership School (TYWLS) is an all-girls public school serving grades 7 through 12 in East Harlem, New York City. It enrolls young women who too often face extreme disadvantages: 98% are students or color and a full 84% are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Girls in these circumstances often struggle during adolescence to fulfill their academic potential. ...
Seattle Students Go Global -- And Soar
Story posted December, 2007
Results:
• Math and reading test scores exceed state averages
• High-profile honors including the Goldman Sachs Foundation Prize for Excellence in International Education, and the Best of the Best Intel and Scholastic Schools of Distinction Award
"Globalization" is a word everyone uses, but few know how to put into practice. Eight years ago, however, Seattle parents and businesses were asked, in separate surveys, what they thought would make for a successful "international" school - one that immerses students in world languages and cultures as they acquire the skills needed to thrive worldwide.
The answers were put into practice at the K-5 John Stanford International School (JSIS), named for a Seattle superintendent who, before his death from leukemia, envisioned creating high-achieving global-savvy schools. Founded in 2000, JSIS is just that, earning high test scores and prestigious awards, and serving as a model for the district. So how does it do all these things? ...
Teachers Help Thousands of Students Come to School Healthy and Ready to Learn
Story posted December, 2007
Results:
• Contributed to the addition of 400,000 children to California health insurance enrollments from 2002 to 2007
California teachers have linked thousands of low-income kids to health care because, as the Teachers for Healthy Kids (THK) project puts it, "healthy children make better learners." This initiative, a joint effort of the California Teachers Association and the California Association of Health Plans, connects teachers with information and parents with services to help ensure that the state's uninsured children receive the health care they so desperately need to succeed in school - and in life. ...
Incorporating the Arts and Closing the Gap
Story posted Jaunary, 2008
Results:
• Rapidly closing the gap separating black and economically disadvantaged students from their peers
Mary B. Austin Elementary's reputation precedes it. More than 80 percent of its students transfer into the Mobile, Alabama, school from outside its boundaries, in part because of a curriculum that fuses the arts with student achievement and a focus on making sure every student gets the help he or she needs.
The school's reputation stands on the academic performance of its students, just over half of whom are African American and nearly half of whom are economically disadvantaged. But while Austin Elementary students fare better on state standardized tests than their counterparts elsewhere in the city and state, closer examination of test results revealed that black male students needed additional help.
Budget cuts had also reduced the amount of music instruction at the elementary levels. "They did not have the manpower to offer what they realized was a balanced education," says Sarah Wright, the Mobile Symphony's education director. ...
Goals 2000 and Beyond: Helping ELL Students Succeed
Story posted December, 2007
Results:
• Even the district's lowest-performing school gained nearly 248 points in California's academic performance index between 1999 and 2005
Given that the majority of their students were English language learners from low-income homes, teachers in the Livingston Union School District thought they "weren't doing so badly," Superintendent Henry M. Escobar recalls. But when they saw their results on California's first annual academic performance index in 1999 -"absolutely dismal," Escobar says, and among the state's lowest - they knew things had to change. District leaders believed that to narrow the gaps in student achievement, they had to change the culture in their schools. The key to doing that, they argued, was recognizing that teachers would need extra support to help their predominately poor, Hispanic students reach high expectations. "Our teachers are the heart of our program," Escobar says. ...
Individualized Language Arts Helps English Language Learners Succeed
Story posted December, 2007
Results:
• Among top 2% of California schools in narrowing the achievement gap separating disadvantaged and Hispanic students from their peers
• 172 point increase in the California academic progress index since 2000
Sparked by the rarest of rarities - affordable housing in Southern California - and its proximity to the Mexican border, Frank Wright Middle School in Imperial has grown from 367 students in 2001 to nearly 800, adding sixth grade and moving to a new facility in the process. More than 70 percent of the student population is Hispanic, and nearly one in four are English language learners.
The addition of sixth grade for the 2006-07 school year did more than just increase Wright's student population. It also required a new approach to middle school, and better outcomes for English language learners. "It's clear that student success...begins with preparation during the middle school grades, which are a critical, pivotal point in the educational career of each student," says State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. ...
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A VISION FOR GREAT SCHOOLS
On this website, educators, parents and policymakers from coast to coast are sharing what's already working in public schools--and sparking a national conversation about how to make it work for children in every school. Join the conversation!
