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.
Story posted July, 2008
Results:
• In 2005, 89% of students passed the Massachusetts math exam, up from less than 50% in 1999
• Now ranked in top 5% of Boston public schools on reading and math scores
In 1999, shortly before principal Mary Russo arrived at the Richard J. Murphy K-8 School in Dorchester, Mass., more than half the students failed the state math exam. Russo's mandate was to boost student achievement. To do so, she focused on establishing collaborative professional development practices that would help teachers learn from each other and work toward a common goal. With better instruction, she reasoned, those test scores would go up.
Teachers at Murphy now spend three times as many hours on professional development as the district requires. Every public school teacher in Massachusetts must ...
Community Helps Struggling School Reopen to Success
Story posted July, 2008
Results:
• 10-15% average annual increase in standardized test scores for 4 years
• 100% of the school's first graduating students passed the math portion of the state Graduate Qualifying Exam and 90% passed the language arts portion (both district records)
It's hard to imagine that George Washington Community School was once struggling so badly that the school district had to close it. Today, the school is alive with activity and its students are thriving.
The transition did not happen overnight-and it would not have happened at all if it had not been for the powerful commitment and intensity of support from the community. The work to reopen the closed high school grew out of a grassroots desire by the community to provide an environment where young people, and their families, could succeed. Neighborhood residents envisioned a center of community collectively focused on improving graduation rates and preparing young people for post-secondary education. ...
Story posted June, 2008. Results updated February 28, 2012.
Results:
• In 2011, the percentage of Cashman students meeting or exceeding state standards was higher than the state average on both reading and math tests in grades 6, 7 and 8,* despite Cashman serving a significantly more disadvantaged population than the state as a whole
School improvement demands focus. Staff members at James Cashman Middle School in Las Vegas (where 100% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch) believe that student achievement comes from challenging every student and ensuring that no student is overlooked.
Adopting this belief couldn't have come at a better time for the school. Cashman's students were struggling. The school was in the third year of school improvement, about to be taken over by the state. Teachers had been trained in a myriad of improvement programs, yet progress was excruciatingly slow. ...
Reconnecting Neighborhoods with Schools in Nebraska
Story posted June, 2008, Updated December, 2011
Results:
- 71 percent of students enrolled in Lincoln CLCs met or exceeded state writing standards
- 74 percent met or exceeded state reading standards
- 84 percent met or exceeded the math standards
The story of Lincoln's community school movement begins in 1999, when the notion of "community learning centers" (CLC), synonymous with community schools, peaked the interest of the Foundation for the Lincoln Public Schools (FLPS), a local education fund affiliated with the Public Education Network (PEN). This interest grew with a visit that key Lincoln stakeholders took to the Local Investment Commission in Kansas City to look at their Caring Communities work, another model of community schooling. ...
Maintaining Excellence during a Demographic Shift
Story posted June, 2008
Results:
• Proficiency level grew to 96% over a five-year period during which the school became economically and racially more diverse
• Out-of-school suspensions have dropped every year since the school began professional development on poverty issues
Kernodle Middle School opened in 2000 in a solidly upper middle class neighborhood with little diversity in the school population. About 85% of the students were white and less than 10% participated in the federal lunch program. In our state-mandated testing program over 90% of the students scored at proficient levels. There was no distinct achievement gap between our white and non-white students. ...
Promoting Academic Success through Community Partnerships
Story posted June 6, 2008
Results:
• 79% of students improved their academic performance
• 87% of students increased state benchmark scores in reading
• 76% of students increased state benchmark scores in math
Historically, George Middle School (a very diverse school with 87% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch) has been known as one of the lower performing schools in the state. Now, after becoming a community school, the school is showing steady growth on academic indicators. In particular, student test scores are at or above the state average. Multnomah County's Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) initiative, together with the school's lead agency, Metropolitan Family Service (MFS), have been instrumental in providing the supports and resources necessary to make this happen. ...
Empowering Educators to Improve Outcomes
Story posted April, 2008
Results:
• 83.3% of students now read at or above grade level, which is well above state average
A sign in the main office of Southside Primary School lists "protected reading times" for each grade level (for example, 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. for kindergarten). "No interruptions can be made to classes at these times," the sign warns.
Southside's vigilance when it comes to guarding classroom reading time is a reflection of a broader effort at the school to ensure that teachers have not just the time, but also the necessary skills, to help their students succeed. And, at Southside, success is measured according to one major objective: that 100 percent of students will be reading at or above grade level before leaving second grade. ...
Designing an Exemplar: University of Pennsylvania and the Penn Alexander School
Story posted March, 2008.
Results updated January, 2011.
Results:
• In 15 out of 16 standardized tests in 2010, students scored above state averages
• 84% of students met or exceeded proficiency standards on state reading tests in 2009
• 84.1% of students met or exceeded proficiency standards on state math tests in 2009 ...
A Wake-Up Call Sparks Action in Arizona
Story posted April, 2008. Results updated October 23, 2012.
Results:
• In 2012, Vail exceeded all state proficiency averages, across grades and subjects.
• Students in all grade levels are scoring at or above proficiency at rates of 90% and higher.
Administrators and staff at the Vail Unified School District recognized they had a problem back in 2003. Student scores on the new statewide AIMS test showed a downward trend as children in Vail schools moved up through the grades. For example, while third-graders were scoring in the 70-percent range on average in math, by middle school and high school proficiency rates dropped into the teens.
"It was a real wake-up call," said Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Debbie Hedgepeth. "Students weren't performing where we knew they could and should." ...
A Sunny Day in Multnomah County: The SUN Community Schools Story
Story posted April, 2008. Updated December, 2011.
Results:
75 percent of participating students showed an increase in state reading scores, and 77 percent did so in math- More than 80 percent of participating seniors graduated, compared to less than 60 percent for the district
- SUN schools served nearly 18,000 youth and about 3,700 adults in enrolled programming in 2009-2010
Young people have a voice in Multnomah County, Oregon, which includes the city of Portland. When the county began planning a community school initiative, not only did young people contribute ideas, they also named it. The name they chose, Schools Uniting Neighborhoods, or SUN schools, reflects the belief that schools, working with their communities can do more than just teach math and reading, they transform neighborhoods and help young people succeed. ...
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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!
