District Administration - September 2010 - (Page 55)

national grant program called Successful, Safe and Healthy Students, a $410 million fund that consolidates several school grants together. “ e problem with that,” says Trump, “is that with all of these budget cuts and layoﬀs, states and districts may not have the staﬀ to apply for such a competitive grant, or to implement new measures should one be awarded,” he says. One survey respondent from a large California district illustrated the conundrum: while supplies for emergency kits for their schools were purchased, because of staﬀ layoﬀs, there were no personnel to assemble them. e same district planned to apply for a federal Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) grant, but expressed concern that they now had insuﬃcient staﬀ to draft the application, or to implement new activities should they be awarded the federal grant money. “Reallocating these funds is removing the last lifeline many districts had. It’s devastating,” says Trump. As the report itself states, “ e elimination of several signiﬁcant funding sources (e.g. Title IV, Safe and Drug Free Schools) from both national and local budgets has also resulted in the elimination of entire programs that provided a framework for school safety and prevention eﬀorts.” But, Modzeleski disagrees with the dire assessment of the budget decision. “ ere isn’t any evidence that what we were doing [with the SDFSC grants] was tremendously successful. We can be much more eﬀective with these funds. We have a responsibility to taxpayers to fund programs that work.” Bleak Future? “ e progress made since Columbine has stalled in the past few years, and in the last year it has started to unravel,” says Trump. “Unfortunately, I and my colleagues see the cuts continuing, until there is a high proﬁle incident.” e survey came to a similar conclusion, stating, “For the most part, the future of funding is uncertain.” Modzeleski again disagrees with this bleak forecast, however. “Having no money should not be an excuse to do nothing. ere are things that are not costly that schools can and should do to maintain levels of safety,” he says. “Crime in schools has been declining since 1992. ere’s evidence out there that the long-term trend is actually positive.” Kurt Eisele-Dyrli is products editor. To have meaning a number must have a reference And ipGrowth™ shows meaning through Ipsative Reference – from the Latin “of the self” comparing scores from the same student – over time. ipGrowth is innovative formative assessment that displays academic progress as longitudinal growth over time. Using curriculum-aligned items fit to a calibrated measurement scale, it helps educators readily interpret assessment results for valuable, clear insights about student cognition and performance. What meaning does ipGrowth have for your district? It means enhanced formative assessment that dramatically improves actionable information for administrators, teachers, and most significantly, for the learners themselves. Call or Email for Information CORE K12 Education | 888-778-7737 www.corek12.com | discovery@corek12.com ipGrowth_halfpg_HORZ_ad_080610.indd 4 8/6/10 1:27 PM www.DistrictAdministration.com September 2010 55 http://www.corek12.com http://www.corek12.com http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - September 2010

District Administration - September 2010
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Inside the Law
Conversations
District Profile
Administrator Profile
A Salary Recession for School Administrators?
Working Hard in the Big Easy
School Safety Gets the Ax
Keeping Schools Safe during Challenging times
Google and Microsoft Go to School
A Bull Market for Financial Literacy
Problem/ Solution
Tech Disruptions
Student Counsel
Product Focus
New Products
Superintendent’s Insights

District Administration - September 2010