Month: January 2012

In the News: A Clipping Service – January 30, 2012

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

In this edition of In the News:

  • What Can Ohio Learn from the RSD?
  • The Case for Charter School Districts
  • Gov. Jindal’s Plan for Education Reform
  • National Education Stories
  • RSD in the News
  • In Other News
  • Announcements

What Can Ohio Learn from the RSD?

What Can Ohio Learn from the Louisiana Recovery School District?
Education Gadfly – January 17, 2012
According to Ohio’s Fordham Institute, the speed and scale of improvements in Louisiana’s Recovery School District is vastly superior to anything they’ve seen in Ohio’s troubled schools. Fordham commissioned a report on the RSD to learn more about what’s working, what’s not, and what lessons can be applied in the Buckeye State. Continue reading →

In the News: A Clipping Service – January 16, 2012

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

In this edition of In the News:

  • Measuring Teacher Effectiveness
  • New Superintendents Chosen for Department of Education and RSD
  • Louisiana Education Stories
  • National News
  • Announcements

Measuring Teacher Effectiveness

Big Study Links Good Teachers to Lasting Gain
New York Times – January 6, 2012
A new study of the value-added method of teacher evaluation shows that teachers who help raise their students’ standardized-test scores have a lasting positive effect on those students’ lives beyond academics. The study tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years and found that students with high value-added teachers are less likely to become pregnant as teenagers, more likely to enroll in college, and more likely to earn more money as adults. Continue reading →

News Alert: John White is New State Superintendent of Education

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

Today, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) elected John White as the new state Superintendent of Education.

Since May 2011, John White has served as the Superintendent of Louisiana’s Recovery School District. White began his career in education as an English teacher in a high-poverty school in New Jersey. He later became the Executive Director of Teach For America-Chicago, where he worked for three years before taking a job with the New York City school system. In New York, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer for the Portfolio Division, leading efforts to turn around failing schools and develop new ones, and later he served as NYC’s Deputy Chancellor, overseeing talent, labor and innovation.

John White has named Patrick Dobard as the new Superintendent of the Recovery School District. Dobard is a local New Orleanian and a career educator who taught for eleven years in Louisiana schools. In 2001, Dobard joined the Louisiana Department of Education, and over the next ten years he served in several key positions before moving to the Recovery School District. As the RSD’s Deputy Superintendent for Community and Policy, Dobard led the RSD’s 100-day strategy sessions that resulted in the comprehensive “What Will It Take” strategic plan for the RSD.

For more information, read the Louisiana Department of Education’s press release.

 

In the News: A Clipping Service – January 4, 2012

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

In this edition of In the News:

  • Three Wishes for 2012
  • New Orleans Startup Boom
  • Local Education News
  • National Education Stories
  • Louisiana Updates

Educate Now! wishes you and yours a healthy and joyous 2012.

For education reform in New Orleans, Educate Now! has three wishes for 2012.

Wish #1: Academic gains continue at a robust pace.

  • New Orleans continues to improve much faster than the state.
  • The percentage of students performing Basic or above exceeds 60%.
  • New Orleans continues to close the achievement gap.

Wish #2: The new centralized RSD enrollment process goes well.

  • Parents can understand the system.
  • Parents and students continue to overwhelmingly get their first choice of school.
  • Students with special needs have an easier time enrolling in schools.

Wish #3: The Orleans Parish School Board recognizes its role as Resource Manager for the entire system of schools in Orleans Parish. As our Resource Manager, OPSB:

  • Rolls forward the millage to increase money available for schools.
  • Uses the $79 million bond proceeds and the proceeds from the sales of surplus property in a manner that benefits ALL schools and creates a source of funds for capital repairs and maintenance.
  • Quits using the OPSB fund balance (surplus) to subsidize the operations of its 5 schools and 3,000 students and instead creates a set of rules for use of the fund balance that benefits all public schools in the city. Continue reading →