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.
Working Together for Pre-School Success
Story posted March 12, 2012
Results:
- 95% of eligible four-year-olds now attend free, high-quality pre-school classes
- District teachers consistently report that children who have attended pre-school are well prepared for entry into kindergarten
The School District of La Crosse, Wisconsin believes that well-prepared four-year-olds make the best kindergarten students. For the last ten years, they've put time and effort into getting all four-year-olds access to pre-school programs. And they've seen results.
Prior to 2001, children attended private pre-schools or childcare centers, if their parents could afford it. Head Start or Title I programs offered options for low-income families, but the school district Title I program could only accommodate 150 to 160 four-year-olds and had to turn children away every year (63.8% of students in the district are economically disadvantaged). In addition, interaction between the school district and other early childhood providers in the community was limited.
Ten years later, an estimated 95 percent of eligible four-year-olds now attend free, high quality pre-school classes in a variety of school-based and community settings throughout ...
Iowa’s Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program for Four-Year-Old Children
Story posted February 9, 2012
Results:
- Over 64% of kindergarten children who attended preschool were considered proficient on DIBELS in the 2008, 2009 and 2010 school years, compared to approximately 52%, 56% and 57% (respectively) of their peers who did not attend preschool, and the impact is greater for children in poverty
The Iowa State Board of Education has long supported quality early childhood education, and in 2007 the legislature created the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program for Four-Year-Old Children (SWVPP). The purpose of the program is to provide an opportunity for all 4-year-old children in the state of Iowa to enter school ready to learn by expanding access to research-based preschool curriculum and licensed teaching staff.
Under the program, school districts, along with community partners, submitted grant applications to participate. Those awarded a grant demonstrated collaborative involvement with multiple stakeholders in both the planning and ...
Story posted December 9, 2008. Results Updated January 22, 2012.
Results:
• In 2010, the school outperformed the state on reading assessments in every grade, with performance in the 3rd and 4th grades exceeding the state average by close to 20%.
• In 2010, the school also performed that well on math assessments, with 100% of 4th graders meeting or exceeding the state standards.
All children can learn. When a school staff truly embraces this core belief and openly demonstrates it to students, parents, and each other, dramatic improvements in academic performance can result.
Take, for example, Anne Fox Elementary School. Fox is a moderately low-income, demographically diverse school in the working-class suburb of Hanover Park, Illinois. The student population is 34 percent white, 30 percent Hispanic, 17 percent black, and 19 percent Asian/Pacific Islander. Students speak more than 35 different languages, and the school’s low-income and mobility rates are double the district average. Until recently, Fox School ranked dead last in academic achievement among the district’s 21 elementary schools and was known as a “problem spot.” ...
Story posted September 25, 2008. Results updated January 22, 2012.
RESULTS
• While serving a student population that is 97% free or reduced price lunch, the school outperformed the state in math in grades 4 through 8 in 2011.
• In English/Language Arts, the school outperformed the state in grades 4 through 7 in 2011.
• One highlight: 83% of 8th graders met or exceeded state standards in math, compared with just 60% statewide in 2011.
Osmond A. Church Elementary School, otherwise known as PS / MS 124, sits so close to John F. Kennedy Airport that some at the school refer to it as "Hanger 12." It is appropriate, then, that achievement scores have "taken off" in recent years and continue to soar within all subgroup populations.
How has this been accomplished, one might ask? It began in 1999 when the school applied to New York State for a Comprehensive School Reform Grant. The school community chose to embrace E.D. Hirsch's "Core Knowledge Program," which was developed on the basis of scientific research. ...
Zone Offense Helps District Fight Challenges of Poverty
Story posted January 9, 2012
Results:
- In 2011, Zone schools outperformed non-Zone schools on state standardized tests in math, and performed equal to non-Zone schools in reading for the first time (overall performance improved in both groups of schools in both subjects)
- Dramatic gains at two middle schools lead to their removal from the state’s list of “persistently low-achieving schools,” and there are no district schools on this year’s list
Vancouver, Washington, is a city of around 165,500, located just north of Portland, Oregon. About 22,500 children attend the city’s public schools. But as elsewhere, not all of those schools perform equally – and students affected by poverty often attend the lowest-performers. In the Vancouver district, approximately 54 percent of students qualify for federally subsidized meals, up from 39 percent six years ago. “Decades of experience and research have shown that unmet basic needs, family mobility, inadequate medical and dental care, mental health issues, drug and alcohol abuse, crime and violence, and gang involvement adversely impact student achievement,” said Steve Webb, superintendent of Vancouver Public Schools. ...
Story posted June 10, 2010. Results updated December 20, 2011.
Results:
• In 2011, the school performed as well, or better than, the state as a whole on reading and math tests at every grade level (no data available for seventh grade math), despite serving a significantly higher percentage of students in poverty
• Named a 2010 Breakthrough School by the National Association of Secondary School Principals
It is no accident that the staff at Fieldale-Collinsville Middle School adopted a central tenet of Breaking Ranks in the Middle—to banish anonymity by creating a personalized learning environment for all of its students. The school was created six years ago when the four middle schools in Henry County, VA, were consolidated into two middle schools.
The consolidation left the students, the staff members, and the community angry and disjointed. No one felt any joy in coming to a middle school that was housed in a former high school. The hallways and classrooms were out of proportion with the students, and the 900-student school was an extreme change for the rural area.
The closing of many of the area’s manufacturing plants and subsequent rising unemployment rates compounded the difficulties— unemployment in the area is the highest in the Commonwealth of Virginia at 20%, with almost 50% of the students eligible for meal subsidies. The board of education, supported by the community, recognized that an effort had to be made to provide a quality education for every student.
After a challenging first year of consolidation, the staff, led by principal Moriah Dollarhite, embraced the idea of grade-level teams, breaking the school into small groups to create camaraderie and school spirit. Content teams were also created to monitor instruction and ensure that all lessons were tied to the state learning standards.
And finally, a lead teacher team, representing all content areas and ...
Strategic Staffing Helps a Title I School Succeed
Story posted November 19, 2009. Results updated December 7, 2011.
Results:
- Proficiency rates close to or exceeding 88% on 2011 state reading and math tests at every grade level, outperforming the state as a whole on each test.
- In 2011, grade 4 math and reading scores both exceeded state averages by 5% at 88% and 93% respectively.
- Since 2008, grade 3 math scores rose by 4% and exceeded state math scores in 2011 by the same amount.
Indian Springs Elementary is located along one of the many rural highways that crisscross northern Mobile County, in territory marked by signs of poverty and under-development. There’s no interesting history behind the name of the unincorporated community the school serves—Eight Mile is just the distance down U.S. 45 to the city.
The exterior of Indian Springs shows the wear and tear of a building that has housed students for many decades. The school comes alive only after you cross the threshold, where you find a physical space that is clearly well-loved by the faculty, staff and students.
Just inside the front doors, a small sitting area decorated with potted plants and flowers welcomes visitors. The walls are bright and the floors shine. Bulletin boards and student work cover every inch of the hallways. Teachers decorate the entrances to their classrooms with personal touches, like the kindergarten teacher whose door resembles a front porch with columns, shutters and an awning.
The school serves 451 students in grades pre K-5. It has a 50-50 ratio of white and African American students—87% of whom meet federal poverty guidelines. About 14 percent are classified as having special needs. The demographics offer few clues about the school’s academic performance. But in fact ...
Academic Parent-Teacher Teams Show Promising Results
Story posted December 5, 2011
Results:
- Remarkable short-term test score gains - oral reading fluency (ISTEEP ORF) scores in APTT classrooms rose nearly 25 points from August to November 2009 (in non-APTT classrooms, oral reading fluency rose only about 10 points)
- Preliminary data show a 92 percent parent attendance rate at the team meetings, much higher than at conventional parent-teacher conferences in the district
When parents are engaged in their child’s learning, they can help their child strengthen academic skills outside of school. Academic Parent-Teacher Teams (APTT) provides a structure for parents to meet with the teacher and converse with other parents while also learning ways to support their child’s academic skill development. Founded in 2008, APTT resulted from efforts to increase student learning through support beyond the school day.
The program replaces traditional parent-teacher conferences with three classroom team meetings for parents and one 30-minute individual parent teacher conference (or more if needed). At the team meetings, the teacher models activities that parents can do at home with their children. The teacher also presents academic performance data for the class and gives parents individual information about their own child’s performance.
“Many parents wonder what the parents of kids at the top of the class are doing at home to make that happen,” says Maria Paredes, who started the program and ...
A “Fierce Focus” on Data and Instructional Leadership Pays Off
Story posted November 16, 2011
Results:
- Extended graduation rate of 93 percent for the class of 2010 (up nearly 10 percentage points since the class of 2006)
- Achievement gaps between Hispanic and African-American students and their peers are narrowing
In 2006, the year Mary Alice Heuschel took 
over the reins of the Renton School District in northwest Washington State, more than three in 10 students were failing to make it to their high school graduation day. That fact clearly concerned Heuschel, who had spent the previous seven years in the state education department.
Aware of the poor finishing results and achievement gaps of the diverse 14,500-student school district (where 46% of students receive free or reduced price lunch and 14% are considered transitional bilingual) located 11 miles from Seattle on Puget Sound, Heuschel came to the job to make a difference. ...
Becoming Compadres in Education
Story posted October 28, 2009. Results updated November 14, 2011.
Results:
• Hispanic student performance on end-of-course assessments has risen dramatically in a number of subjects, including Algebra I and II, Biology I and English III 
• The graduation rate among Hispanic students has increased by nearly 70 percent since 2007
• Attendance at Hispanic Family Night has increased from 50 to more than 250 since 2007
Putnam City West High School serves a rapidly changing, ethnically and economically mixed cross-section of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The student body of more than 1,600 turns over at a rate of 40 percent per year. Twenty-two percent of the school’s students are Hispanic (a dramatic increase over the past twelve years) and 72 percent are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
Despite gains in student achievement made by the school in recent years, the achievement gap between rich and poor students, as well as the gap between white and minority students, remains a constant problem. To address this issue, school officials joined forces with ...
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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!
