District Administration - September 2010 - (Page 12)

Br iefings Newsupdate PeoPle Watch Education dEniEd terry Branstad, a Republican candidate for Iowa governor, said in a July 27 interview that he disagrees with the longstanding Supreme Court precedent that children in the United States illegally should be provided the benefits of a public education. Prom dEBatE SEttlEd constance mcmillen will be paid $35,000 plus attorney fees to settle her lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, against Itawamba County (Miss.) School District for canceling senior prom because she wanted to attend with her girlfriend in March 2010. common corE StandardS After debating whether the new Common Core State Standards would weaken Massachusetts’ curriculum, the state’s education commissioner, mitchell chester, ultimately supported the standards, stating they are in many ways stronger than the state’s current standards. voicing comPlaintS Benjamin todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, has joined several other groups in criticizing the Obama administration for promoting competitive incentives that he believes are excluding many minority and low-income students. rural SchoolS South Dakota Education Secretary tom oster met with education leaders July 22 in Washington to discuss technological challenges and solutions in rural school districts. He noted that rural schools’ Internet infrastructure is becoming outdated with the influx of new technology. by Marion Herbert Teacher-Led School Trend Takes DPS Detroit is the next city to throw away the administrative reins and open the doors for an all-teacher-led school. serving pre-K through eighth grade and roughly 450 students, the Palmer Park Preparatory Academy (P3A) will open in Detroit Public schools this fall— sans principal—replacing the Barbara Jordan elementary school, which closed in spring 2010 to become a turnaround school after being identified as low performing. The school, which DPs students and families will apply to, is modeled after similar schools in Boston, Milwaukee, Denver and Los Angeles. P3A will partner with houghton Mifflin harcourt to form a robust, individualized curriculum. Many teachers felt so passionately that they offered to sacrifice their tenure to prove they didn’t fear the added responsibility of accountability, says Ann crowley, DPs teacher and co-founder of the group Detroit children First, an organization who had been vying for an all-teacher school for several years. “Many excellent teachers felt they could get more for their children if they had a greater voice in the decisions that are made in their schools,” says crowley. While the governing structure is still being developed, crowley says the skeleton has been drafted and includes different committees of teachers working on specific issues throughout the school that need to be addressed through shared decision-making. During the first years of operation, an executive administrator will be assigned to create lesson plans and designate office roles and responsibilities for the teachers. This administrator’s role will fade to part time by 2012. By weeding out the middleman, crowley believes it will become easier to educate the learners. “Bypassing another level of hierarchy in making decisions The Detroit Public Schools teacher-led school development team with their reform partners, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. about the learning needs of children allows for more immediate action to transpire,” says crowley. Palmer Park Preparatory Academy P3A was in part inspired by the Green Dot movement, a network of unionized charter schools in Los Angeles, founded in 2000, that encourages more autonomy and accountability for its teachers. “it’s a theory of organization that is possible in every business in the world,” says Marco Petruzzi, president and ceo of Green Dot Public schools. “if you create a support system with the right tools and training, people will feel empowered because they’re making decisions that impact their work.” Petruzzi says that a clear accountability system needs to be in place, stating autonomy cuts both ways and depends on how well the school is performing. crowley says that with “numerous dedicated and highly qualified” teachers eager to work in the new school, she is confident of its success: “it is said to prove success you must be viable for five years. Five years from now we believe not only will we be successful, but other DPs communities will follow our lead.” District Administration 12 September 2010

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