Carol’s Summary:

In Portland, Oregon, 54 Lincoln High School students volunteered to participate in a technology fast, which meant turning off the Internet, video games, music devices and cell phones for the entire school week. English teacher, Jordan Gutlerner, came up with the challenge as a way to increase student awareness on how technological devices play a role in everyday life. He asked his students to use these five days of silence to question why it is they use their chosen devices and whether they need to continue using them when the fast ends.

On day three of the fast, one student reported she felt anxious being disconnected from social networking sites because she felt she was missing out on something. Others felt that silencing the buzz of technology gave them the opportunity to see new things in their daily rituals. At the end of the fast, Gutlerner said most of the students will probably go back to their normal usage. However, some did say they were logging off Facebook and MySpace for good, after learning it’s not always bad to be alone.

Article: Students at Portland’s Lincoln High School unplug, experience life without technology

For four days this week, Elise Cramer didn’t pick up her cell phone. The 17-year-old Lincoln High School senior didn’t check Facebook or turn on the television, either.

Read the full article at: oregonlive.com

Carol’s Summary:

The “Mind the Gaps” study, by ACT, found there is a correlation between a student doing well in core classes during high school and the student’s likeliness of attending college or staying in college for more than a year. Students from low-income families and racial and ethnic minority groups who apply for college have a lower success rate than white students from wealthier families. Research found a 14 percentage-point gap between white students and minority students in the rate they were enrolled in college a year after graduating from high school. When the students all hit the ACT college readiness benchmarks, there was only a 6 percentage-point gap.

ACT defines a student to be college-ready if they have had four years of English, and at least three years of math, science, and social studies. Currently, less than one-fourth of students will meet those requirements in all four areas. Cynthia B. Schmeiser, the president of the ACT’s education division said, “Ensuring kids are prepared for college by the time they leave high school is the single most important thing we can do to improve college-completion rates.”

Article: High School Rigor Narrows College-Success Gap

Students from some racial- and ethnic-minority groups and those from low-income families enroll in college and succeed there at lower rates than their white, wealthier peers. But a new study suggests that if teenagers are adequately prepared for college during high school, those gaps close substantially.

Read the full article at: edweek.org

For more info go to: http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/

Carol’s Summary:

A new non-profit organization in Jacksonville, called the Achieve Instill Inspire Foundation, is on a mission to attract more black and Latino men to careers in elementary education. The foundation was started back in 2005, and continues to raise money to provide black and Latino men with scholarships to obtain degrees in education. Of the 119,000 elementary students on the First Coast, 20% are black or Hispanic with only 1 percent of the 7,600 teachers in the region being black or Hispanic males. Clay County public schools were up against a civil rights complaint last year because of the lack of minority teachers. Of the 1,480 elementary teachers in Clay County, four were black or Hispanic.

The foundation hopes by exposing black and Hispanic students to leaders and authority figures who are also minorities they will boost their student success rate and increase the number of male minorities graduating from high school. One recruiting supervisor for Duval County schools said, “It’s important for students to have teachers who are reflective of them so they can have role models to look to. That is a key factor in students being able to see themselves in a teaching role, or being able to relate to their teacher.”

Article: Nonprofit looks to increase male black and Hispanic elementary teachers

Joshua Shubert sometimes thinks his third-grade teacher, Wayne Mitchell, is mean. Octavia Shubert, Joshua’s mother, disagrees.

Read the full article at: jacksonville.com

Carol’s Summary:

On Monday, Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett and Indiana Pacers Center Jeff Foster launched Indiana’s Parent Pledge to motivate parents to get more involved in student academics and enhance collaboration between parents and teachers. The Indiana Department of Education is honoring all 80 schools that participated in the pledge and hope it will become a school trend that will spread even further across the state.

The pledge states that upon signing, the parent or guardian will be committed to the academic and career success of the child and treat knowledge as a priority in the home. In order to show their dedication, the parent agrees to enforce some principles in their home such as: reading with their child or encouraging independent reading daily; completing homework and helping when needed; bringing a well-rested student to school on time; and encouraging their child to dream big, among others.

LifeBound will be continuing parent sessions on October 18, which will focus on Coaching Skills for Parents: Setting Expectations and Holding Student Accountable. For more information, contact us at LifeBound.com.

Article: IDOE Asks Parents To Sign Pledge

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett and Indiana Pacers Center Jeff Foster Monday launched Indiana’s Parent Pledge for schools at a signing ceremony inside Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Read the full article at: wibc.com