South Bronx Teacher Discusses Current Issues
in Education
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 South Bronx Preparatory math teacher Juliet Lee |
South Bronx Preparatory math teacher Juliet Lee was one of eight national teachers featured in a new report from the College Board and Phi Delta Kappa International. Teachers Are the Center of Education: Profiles of Eight Teachers salutes the work and importance of teachers and offers insights on current issues in education from eight outstanding teachers, selected for their dedication to students and their commitment to their profession and to excellence in education.
The report serves both to confirm what is publically acknowledged — that teachers are at the center of education — and to note the challenges teachers face in today’s schools. Nominated by College Board members and staff, the teachers, who epitomize the profession’s most admirable qualities, represent a diverse set of disciplines, locations, types of schools and student populations.
The words of these eight teachers will help all who hear them to chart a “partial road map for changes in public policy,” as Arlene Ackerman, superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia, wrote in the report’s foreword.
For Lee, being a good teacher starts with making students feel comfortable. That is particularly important when the subject is math, she believes, since the discipline creates such anxiety in so many students. Lee’s goal is to show students what they can achieve. Lee teaches sixth-grade math at a New York City public school that opened in 2004 as a partnership among the College Board, the Gates Foundation and the New York City Department of Education.
“You’re building a community in your classroom where students feel safe, and they can learn and be
as successful as they can be,” Lee said. “There is virtue in struggle, and all students benefit from
being challenged.”
College Board President Gaston Caperton said, “Like so many excellent teachers out there, Lee inspires students to achieve — to want more for themselves and to require it of themselves — and that is the essence of this project. It’s good for the public to get a glimpse of what’s right about public education, and we believe that starts with the most crucial force in learning: our teachers.”
Ackerman added, “In words that we can all understand, these eight teachers from different backgrounds, teaching different subjects to different kinds of students under different circumstances, provide a human voice and real-life context for the policies we must work to implement.”
To read Teachers Are the Center of Education in its entirety, go to http://www.collegeboard.com/teacheradvocacy.
A Note from Middle States Region VP Bob Alig
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| VP Bob Alig |
Greetings from the College Board Middle States Regional Office. We often hear from our regional colleagues that the College Board is in a unique position to bring together all sectors of education to accomplish goals, especially in this challenging and uncertain economic climate. I want to share two ways in which MSRO is doing that within our region. For our colleagues in higher education, we are partnering with the State University of New York on Nov. 10 for a special meeting entitled “What the New Era of Education Reform Means for Higher Education.” At this event, education leaders and policy experts will lead discussions on how the latest policy trends impact colleges and universities and our progress toward President Barack Obama’s bold goal for educational attainment. We look forward to participation from many of our partners in New York and across the region at this important event.
Another way in which we are building successful partnerships for education reform in the region is through our work in connecting schools with available stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The College Board has invested in adding to our federal and state funding expertise nationwide to help deserving schools position themselves for school improvement funding to achieve their unique goals and needs. With more than $3.546 billion being invested in School Improvement Grants and $650 million in Innovation Grants, our Middle States team, with intense support from our EXCELerator™ 2.0 model, is working through the diagnostic services, implementation and transformation of our lowest-performing schools.
In addition, our regional staff provides K–12 teachers, counselors and administrators with professional development resources and services to engage students in high-level learning. Our aim is to ensure that every middle and high school student develops the skills, habits of mind and concepts that are needed to succeed in college. Our educational managers stand ready to assist districts and schools in their applications for stimulus funding and to establish best practices to support their students.
Finally, we hosted our fall Regional Council meeting Oct. 1–2 in our Bala Cynwyd, Pa., office. Together we worked on several new initiatives in district reform, trends in student aid and counselor engagement, as well as finalizing plans for the Middle States Regional Forum, which is scheduled for Feb. 11–12, 2010, at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel. Please visit our website at www.collegeboard.com/msforum for the full session content and information on our special events. Our program planning team responded to your feedback from past conferences, and you can look forward to more sessions tailored specifically to your professional focus, more panel discussions offering a variety of perspectives on key topics, and more opportunities to network with peers and colleagues across sectors. We are excited to announce that our keynote speaker will be Deborah Jewell-Sherman, a senior lecturer in the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has built a reputation over the past decade as one of the most successful urban district superintendents in the country, and her message will be inspirational for all of us.
It is clear that there are many exciting initiatives underway across the Middle States region. As always, please let us know if there anything else we can do to support you.
Events & Workshops
Click here to see events and workshops in the Middles States Region.
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