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.
Together We Can: Schools and Communities Join Forces for Mobile's Children
Story posted January, 2008
Results:
• District made Adequate Yearly Progress in 2007
• 85 of 100 schools met Adequate Yearly Progress in 2007, a 215% jump from 2002
Often the hardest part of school reform is taking the long-view of things. Action plans get written but fail to move from goal setting to actual practice. The Mobile Area Education Foundation (MAEF) understood these shortcomings. MAEF set out on a multi-year quest to ensure that its efforts to engage the community in creating a school improvement plan translated into effective action and better education for all Mobile's children.
After four decades of inadequate funding, Mobile County's 100 schools serving 65,000 students were crumbling, and student performance was among the worst in the nation. In 2001, after an intense public engagement effort, voters responded in an action unprecedented in 40 years-they approved a property tax tied to public education. But the voters had not written a blank check: They expected results. ...
Consistency is Key to Improvement in Orlando
Story posted January, 2008
Story updated January, 2011
Results:
• Test scores have consistently improved in most categories from 2007-2010
• Nationally recognized in 2003 for success in closing achievement gaps
Located in an impoverished, highly transient part of Orlando, Florida, Rolling Hills Elementary School often gains or loses as many as 40 of its 750 students every week. But the school's principal, who had once repeated kindergarten at his parents' request, helped create a more stable and successful learning environment for his school's students, in part, by providing many students with the opportunity to get on grade level by offering consistent and relevant interventions and allowing a few students to be retained. ...
"A Place for Everyone": Frankford Elementary
Story posted January, 2008. Results updated August 3, 2009.
Results:
• On average, 90% of students in grades 2-5 met or exceeded State Standards in reading and math on Delaware’s annual assessment (DSTP) in 2009
• 2009 performance highlights include 97% of 3rd graders and 94% of 4th graders passing the DSTP math test 
(compared to 79% and 77%, respectively, for the state as a whole)
The Frankford Elementary School motto is "A Place for Everyone." And, over the years, the school has proven that everyone can succeed if provided with individualized attention to meet specific learning needs.
Frankford Elementary sits in a small, rural community just ten miles from Bethany Beach, a summer vacation resort. Despite the school's proximity to expensive beach homes, most of the school's students come from low-income households. Seventy-eight percent of Frankford students qualify for free or reduced lunches. The student body is 43% Hispanic, 29% White and 26% African American. ...
Personalization Leads to Success in Port Chester
Story posted December, 2007
Results:
• Students now score on a par with wealthier neighbors on state assessments in English, and exceed them slightly in math
Surrounded by its much wealthier Westchester County neighbors, Port Chester, NY is a lower middle-class island in a privileged sea. Its middle school is home to about 800 students in grades six through eight. Latino students make up 68% of population, while African Americans and Whites make up 11% and 21% respectively. Sixty-five percent of the students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. But close attention to the needs of each individual student helps Port Chester Middle School keep pace with the county's wealthiest schools. ...
Whole-Child Education Delivers Big Gains in Chugach
Story posted December, 2007
Results:
• Cut dropout rate nearly in half
• Students now consistently test above state averages in reading, writing and math
• More than two-thirds of graduates now go to college
How does an Alaska school district serving just 250 students, most of them living in remote areas accessible only by aircraft, receive the nation's highest Presidential honor for organizational performance? The answer: by pioneering a standards-based system of "whole child education" that adapts to students' individual needs and delivers big gains in student performance.
Chugach School District was chosen for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 2001, just seven years after launching a comprehensive restructuring effort known as the Chugach Quality Schools Model (CQSM). The restructuring was a response by school district leaders to a plethora of challenges, including dismal test scores, high dropout rates, and the inability of graduates to hold jobs or become productive members of their communities. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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? ...
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. ...
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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!
