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.
Rocket Launches and a Middle School that is Beating the Odds
Story posted July 16, 2009. Results updated March 5, 2013
Results:
- In 2012, more than 95% of 6th, 7th and 8th graders at Clark scored at or above proficient in reading
- Also in 2012, more than 95% of 6th, 7th and 8th graders at Clark scored at or above proficient in math.
With a stutter, then a whoosh, a pink glittered model rocket accelerates to the sky. It disappears into the sun, then wafts earthward under a plastic 
parachute. Two fifth-grade girls traipse after. A dozen other fifth-graders sit in a row ten feet behind the launching pad, each awaiting the call to launch his or her personally accented missile.
The rocket launch is great fun. Visitors chat with the assembled students, pausing to applaud each successful launch. Teacher Glen Mutchnick (a licensed professional engineer, former university instructor and Alabama Teacher of the Year) explains that the rocket launch accompanies a study of astronomy. For several lessons prior to the launch students learned about ...
Two Years to Big Reading Gains
Story posted July 7, 2009
Results:
• 75% of participating low and non-readers passed the 2007 Texas state reading test after one year in the program
Many high school teachers and administrators think that reading instruction belongs in the lower grades. But according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (2007), only 31% of eighth graders read at or above the proficient level, meaning that many are entering high school unprepared for its advanced textbook reading and language requirements.
When Chapin High School in El Paso, TX, opened in 2000, about 25% of its students were nonreaders, and most of them came to the school after years of failure, completely unmotivated to become readers. Some of the freshmen were already parents, and because the school sits on the border between the United States and Mexico, we also had a large population of non-English speakers. We needed a way to reach those nonreaders and bring them up to grade level. Our solution? A two-year reading lab program.
Money, Money, Money
A reading lab and reading teachers are not traditionally accepted expenses for a high school, so we had to figure out how to fund the program. We were able to ...
Expecting Success: College in the High School
Story posted April 30, 2009
Results:
• All students met the Washington State Assessment of Student Learning graduation requirements in reading and writing in 2007 and 
2008, up from 59% and 53%, respectively, in 2003
• Graduates are accepted to and attend colleges throughout the nation
• In 2008, Bridgeport High School was selected as one of America's Best High Schools by the U.S. News & World Report.
Many Bridgeport School District students dreamed of attending college. Sadly, for most, dreaming was all they could do because they couldn’t afford tuition, fees, or books. Nor was the 150-mile round trip to the nearest college possible. More than 80 percent of Bridgeport students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 87 percent are Latino, and most are prepared to become migrant farm laborers, like their parents. The Bridgeport School Board chose a different career path for them, and, in the process, introduced the College in the High ...
Catching Kids Up: A Math Club Success Story
Story posted April 17, 2009
Results:
• Most participants make significant gains in both district benchmark testing and class grades
• Students report greater interest in and understanding of math
• Teachers report increases in participants' attention to instruction and class participation
At Mechanicsburg Middle School, we recognized the need to help our lowest-achieving math students improve their skills. In addition, because many of these students had low confidence in their abilities based on past failures in Math, we knew we needed to provide a model that not only would be academically beneficial but also give the students an opportunity to view Math in a new light. Using collective teaching strengths, we created a model that has resulted in higher performance and an overall love of ...
Parent/Teacher Collaboration Leads to “Students for Success”
Story posted April 9, 2009
Results:
• 50% of regular participants improved at least one letter grade in an academic subject during the program's first full year
• In collaboration with other FHS campus-wide efforts, Students for Success helped contribute to a 30-point increase (more than a 4% improvement) in school API (California's method of measuring school growth and performance) during the second year of implementation
Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, CA, is nothing if not diverse. The student population is 40% Hispanic, 25% Caucasian, 17% Asian, and 12% Filipino—to name just the four most prevalent ethnicities. The school is also socioeconomically diverse, with student families ranging from affluent to economically disadvantaged. In addition, 28% of students are English Language Learners and 10% are enrolled in special education courses.
Such diversity offers many benefits, but it also presents challenges. One enormous challenge is the large variance in academic support students get at home. While many students ...
Story posted April 2, 2009
Results:
• Consistently makes adequate yearly progress as defined by No Child Left Behind
• Received an "A" on the New York City grading rubric, which is based on student progress and performance as well as parent, teacher and student opinions of the school
In 1996, then-New York City Schools’ Chancellor Rudy Crew created a “Chancellor’s District,” a non-geographic improvement zone of chronically underperforming schools. His goal was to increase those schools’ instructional capacity and academic outcomes. Beginning with 10 schools and growing to 58 schools by 2002 (the final year of the initiative), these schools were under direct control of the chancellor and received a number of capacity-building interventions.
East Harlem’s P.S. 30, Hernandez-Hughes Learning Academy entered the Chancellor’s district in 1999. P.S. 30 serves 395 kindergarten through sixth-grade students who are mostly African-American or Latino, with 76% eligible for free or reduced price lunch. For the prior decade, the school had performed poorly on standardized assessments and was in danger of being closed for failing to meet New York State academic standards. But after ...
Transforming School Culture the Waterloo Way
Story posted March 19, 2009
Results:
• Over 80% of students met or exceeded state mathematics standards in 2008, compared to 49% in 2003
• School consistently makes Adequate Yearly Progress in all areas
• Serious disciplinary offenses (as defined by No Child Left Behind) fell 71% (79 to 23) between 2004-2005 and 2006-2007
• First recipient of the New York State School of Character Award and a 2008 National School of Character
Just eight years ago, Waterloo Middle School, located in the heart of New York’s scenic Finger Lakes region, was anything but an educational beacon. The story of its transformation from a school struggling with disciplinary and academic problems into an award-winning model school is proof that committed teamwork can revolutionize school culture. ...
Feinstein Elementary School Cooks Up Success
Story posted February 26, 2009. Results updated April 1, 2010.
Results:
• Between fall 2005 and fall 2009, the percent of students scoring proficient or better in mathematics on the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) more than doubled, increasing from 14% to 31%
• In fall 2009, 52% of students scored proficient or better in reading on the NECAP, up from 29% in fall 2005
Named after philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein, who is said to have established the first-ever public high school with community service as its theme, Alan Shawn Feinstein Elementary at Broad Street in Providence, Rhode Island, serves a largely Hispanic population, many of whom have emigrated from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Of the nearly 400 children enrolled, 90 percent qualify for subsidized meals, an indicator of the school's poverty level.
To serve these students, Principal Christine Riley and her staff came up with a recipe for student success:
1. Use large measures of data-driven instruction, research-based teaching practices and ...
Taylor Ray Elementary Beats the Odds, Achieving Near-Perfect Proficiency
Story posted February 26, 2009. Results updated August 31, 2010.
Results:
• In 2010, more than 99% of 3rd, 4th and 5th graders met state proficiency standards in math, and more than 94% of 3rd, 4th and 5th graders did so in reading
• In 2010, 100% of 5th graders met state proficiency standards in science
• For the past four years, student proficiency rates have been at or above 88% in all subjects tested (reading, writing, math, and science)--and with one exception, at or above 93%
The numbers tell the odds facing Taylor Ray, a largely Hispanic elementary school in Rosenberg, Texas, 25 miles southwest of Houston: Three-fourths of its 701 students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch; more than one-quarter are English language learners; 13 percent have special needs; and nearly one in five transfer each year.
But the numbers also confirm that the school is thriving: According to preliminary 2008 adequate yearly progress (AYP) data, a remarkable 98 percent of ...
Story posted February 5, 2009
Results:
• School-wide increases in reading and math test scores for the past three years
• In mathematics, the school has outperformed the district for the past two years, even though it serves a significantly higher portion of free and reduced-price lunch students
For decades, the Payne Phalen neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota, housed generations of immigrants and provided solid factory jobs. However, between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s, the neighborhood lost more than 2,500 industrial jobs, and between 1980 and 1990, child poverty increased by 800 percent, according to the U.S. Census.
In the late 1990s, the city of St. Paul began efforts to revitalize the neighborhood through housing and business investment initiatives. As a part of this revitalization, St. Paul Public Schools decided to build a new elementary school where a high school had long stood empty. In partnership 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!
