Speaking of Leading:
"The time is always right to do what is right."
— Martin Luther King Jr.

Can You Hear Me Now?

By David Kahn

The truth is we can hardly hear you. Information overload, or as some have called it, “input fatigue” has become a serious communication challenge. There is so much information bombarding us that we have all learned how to filter most of it out.

• A weekly edition of the New York Times contains more information than the average person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the seventeenth century.
• Advertising experts estimate that the average person is exposed to more than 1500 messages everyday.
• We have 150 channels on our high definition TV’s with 24 hour news programs.

In addition, we don’t put a lot of trust in the information that does get through. Watergate, Enron and even Martha Stewart went to jail! If you can’t trust America’s homemaker who can you trust?

Not too many years ago if I asked you what caller ID is you would have looked puzzled. Today more than half your community uses it to screen out unwanted phone calls. I still remember a time when it was prudent to open all my email. Filtering out information is how we all cope with everyone that wants our attention in an average day.

So the question is, who do we trust and listen to? The best answer I have found is our friends, neighbors and relatives. People we have “Trusted Relationships” with.

The implications for us as communicators is that traditional methods of delivering information are not good enough anymore. Most people will just filter it out. Information alone will not change attitudes and behavior. If we want to do that we need to do less mass marketing (publicity) and more relationship marketing.

Please don’t abandon your newsletters at the district or building level. Parents still want basic information like the lunch menu and school calendar. But if you want them to support a new program or a bond issue, get a core group of supporters, educate them, and have them map out their contacts with trusted relationships. Turn them loose and let the trusted relationships help carry your message.

Dave Kahn , Managing Director, Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc, served as MASA Associate Executive Director from 1980 – 1998. He is a past President and Executive Director of the Michigan School Public Relations Association (MSPRA) and is accredited in public relations (APR) by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA).

Where Have All the Office Jobs Gone?

How is it that so many young professionals today are telecommuting, job-sharing, working from home - or for that matter working wherever and whenever?

A few years ago 10,000 people worked for IBM in their Chicago office. There used to be a clear sense of schedules, reporting lines and physical space. Today there are only 3,500 people based from Chicago. And, 80% of them work from home!

It's clear that young people today will be facing a new world of work. New ideas about what actually defines a "job" will continue to evolve. Beyond the "basics," students will need 21st century skills to survive and thrive in a world that is still being developed and designed. They will have to know how to think critically, apply knowledge to new and evolving situations, be self-directed and self-managed, analyze information, understand new ideas, communicate effectively, solve problems and make decisions. And they will have to do much of this using new and evolving technology tools!

As a result, educators have to prepare our students to enter this new world of work in the 21st century. The 13th Annual Governor's Education Summit, hosted by the Michigan Foundation for Education Leadership and the Education Alliance of Michigan, will begin to discuss this important issue. This exciting event will take place on Tuesday, March 4th at the Lansing Center. For more information about this event, visit www.mfel.org.

Contact: Traci Riehl, Executive Director
Michigan Foundation for Education Leadership
(517) 281-3157
RIehlTraci@mfel.org
www.mfel.org

Not sure of your answer? Go to AASA to see candidate platforms

MASA launches new website

If you've visited MASA's web page lately, you may have noticed that we've recently launched a whole new site to better manage our online resources and improve our communications. While you'll still be able to find all of the information that you've currently come to rely on us for, this upgraded online presence will provide additional capabilities such as:

• Discussion Boards and Forums for sharing information and asking questions of topic-focused groups or other members (coming soon)
• Enhanced Search capabilities that mine for the answers you're looking for
• Instant Polling to collect opinions and share instant data to help you see what your peers are thinking and doing
• Improved Job Postings that provide more and better organized leads on the professional market
• News Feeds (RSS) of the latest breaking stories in Michigan's education landscape
• Online Registration and payment for MASA conferences and events
• Reorganized Resources more easily accessible with fewer clicks and less hunting
• and more...

We continue to explore better ways to respond to your needs and provide what you want, when you need it, in a way you can use it. Look for these web improvements coming soon and feel free to contact us with questions, suggestions, or ideas about ways we can serve you better.

Visit www.gomasa.org and let us know what you think.

Contribute to the MASA Leader!

Have a story to share about an idea that worked? We want to hear about innovative techniques and leadership principles that resulted in improved teaching and learning in your district. Here are just a few of the things other superintendents want to know:

• How you use data-driven decision making to raise student achievement.
• How you motivate staff and students.
• How you build grassroots support for legislative action and funding proposals.
• How you build relationships with your board.
• And more!

Send your story, in 600 words or less, to Editors, MASA, 1001 Centennial Way, Suite 300, Lansing , MI 48917 or e-mail to lwacyk@gomasa.org.

Mary Gehrig - Superintendents in the Classroom

At this year’s MASA Distinguished Administrators’ Luncheon, 13 new MASA members were inducted into the Winners’ Circle. These members were honored by the Membership Services Committee for initiating a unique, successful program or implementing an innovative idea that has had a significant, positive impact on their school districts that can be used by other districts across the state. This year’s inductees include:

Mary Gehrig, Calhoun Intermediate School District, Region 7

Superintendents in the Classroom

The Superintendents in the Classroom program consists of about 15 superintendents from Calhoun, Branch, and Barry counties. These superintendents study best practices for mathematics instruction with the assistance of the PROM/SE coordinator Mary Bouk from MSU. They also visit classrooms in districts of participating superintendents with an eye on helping that superintendent find answers to a problem statement developed by the guest district. Superintendents visit classrooms and then meet to discuss what they saw that might be contributing to the identified problem, which could include low MEAP scores, freshmen failure, or some other problem. Superintendents debrief after seeing the classrooms and then come back two more times to the district to try to help solve the issues.

As a result of this program, superintendents are starting to view themselves more as educational leaders and less as managers. Superintendents are starting to understand what good instruction in mathematics (and other subjects) looks like and what some of the common reasons are that Michigan school districts (and also districts across the U.S.) are struggling to show improvement in mathematics and other subjects. Mary Gerhig has worked very hard to facilitate this work and to give superintendents the skills needed to do this work and to improve instruction in their own districts. Participants say with confidence that this professional learning group is having a substantial impact on teaching expectations for the participating superintendents' districts.

Contact Mary Gehrig at 269.789.2471 or gehrigm@calhounisd.org

Schools earn Title I Distinguished Schools awards

Under the leadership of MASA member Dr. Bernard Taylor, superintendent of Grand Rapids Public Schools, the Campau Park School, has been named a Title I Distinguished School for its success in closing the achievement gap for its students. Congratulations to Dr. Taylor and his staff.

At Campau Park School, the socioeconomic status achievement gap was closed by 117% in English Language Arts and 116% in math (i.e., the gap was not only closed but reversed) from 2005-06 to 2006-07. Also, the school has remained off the list of schools in a phase of improvement since being in Phase 3 in 2002. Representatives from both schools attended the NASTID national conference in Nashville, Tennessee from January 31 to February 3, 2008 .

In 1996, The National Association of State Title I Directors (NASTID) began the Title I Distinguished Schools Program which recognizes schools with outstanding results in two categories: 1) exceptional student performance for two or more consecutive years, and 2) closing the achievement gap between student groups. This year, Michigan selected one Title I Distinguished School for each category.

Also honored for exceptional student performance

Muskegon Technical Academy

At Muskegon Technical Academy, student proficiency in math increased by 25% and proficiency in English Language Arts increased by 19% from 2005-06 to 2006-07. Also, the school is no longer on the list of schools in a phase of school improvement after being in Phase 1 or 2 for three years.

Source: MDE, Good Morning OSI, 2.11.08

How Pellston Public Schools reduced utility costs over 20%

The Detroit News reported on Monday, October 8 in a front page article that
“… school districts increasingly are spending millions of dollars in interest for short-term loans to make payroll and pay utility bills. …241 districts -- almost half of the state's 552 -- will pay about $26 million in interest on one-year state aid notes taken out with the Michigan Municipal Bond Authority on Aug. 20. Statewide, they borrowed $706.5 million at 3.68 percent -- an amount experts predict will increase if school funding remains level.”

However, the Pellston Public Schools found a creative way to reduce utility usage and expenses while improving the comfort and function of their facilities without any out-of-pocket expenses. In fact, the district saved about $191,000 from 2004 to 2006. This savings represents a 21% reduction in their utility costs – even while natural gas rates increased 47% and electricity rates increased almost 27% during the same period.

“If these 240 Michigan School Districts followed our school board’s example, they could overcome escalating energy costs and put more money toward improving education. Plus, many Districts are much larger than Pellston and would reap benefits even beyond what we have experienced,” Bill Tebbe, Superintendent of Pellston Public Schools, said.

In 2004, the Pellston Public School District performed an energy audit to identify where and how the facilities were using energy. Then they developed a tailored energy savings action plan, whereby the identified savings could be used to pay for the needed mechanical retro-fits and updated energy-efficient systems.

Implementation of the energy savings plan cost approximately $560,000 and is paid with installments from the identified savings.

“The data speaks for itself. It may sound too good to be true, but our Michigan schools can’t afford not to investigate creative ways of dealing with our tight budgets and rising energy costs. Thankfully, we have a School Board that saw this opportunity and took full advantage of it to the benefit of our students,” Tebbe said.

To view the complete article, "Schools get loans amid state crisis - Districts uncertain of aid owe millions in interest" by Karen Bouffard, please visit: www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071008/SCHOOLS/710080344/102

MDE news:

Three Michigan State Board members to serve on national panels

Straus, Bauer and Ulbrich to examine ways to promote career technical education in high schools

The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) is pleased to announce that Michigan State Board of Education President Kathleen N. Straus, along with board members Elizabeth Bauer and Casandra Ulbrich, has been chosen to serve on a year-long NASBE task force to promote excellence in career technical education.

As part of the 26-member national panel, the three board members will meet with other state policymakers, career technical school leaders, and business executives to discuss ways states can integrate career and technical education opportunities into the nation’s high schools.

“The high-tech, high-skills requirements of many of today’s most in-demand jobs have given students, educators, workers, and employers a new appreciation for a career technical education have made obsolete the notion of vocational education as a poor alternative to a college prep track,” said Brenda Welburn, NASBE Executive Director. “A career and technical education is now understood to be an integral part of a rigorous and comprehensive high school curriculum to prepare students for the 21st Century workforce.”

Participants will examine many issues that have policy implications for State Boards of Education, such as access, teacher preparation and licensure, curriculum, standards and assessments for CTE, industry certifications and school business partnerships, and alignment to high school redesign efforts.

The task force will issue a comprehensive report in October 2008 at the NASBE Annual Conference in Washington, DC. The state policy recommendations will also be distributed to all governors, state superintendents, other state and local education policymakers, national education groups, Congress, and federal officials.

SES Provider Application to open this month

The portal for the electronic application to become an approved Supplemental Educational Services (SES) provider for 2008-09 is expected to open Friday, February 29, 2008. Please review the materials at www.michigan.gov/mde-ses prior to logging in to the application.

All currently approved providers will be required to log into the electronic portal to update information and recertify the Code of Ethics and Assurances. Access to the electronic portal will be available at www.michigan.gov/mde-ses.

The portal will close Friday, March 21, 2008 at 5:00 p.m. All new applications and application updates must be completed prior to the close date and time. Currently approved providers that do not update information (if updates are required) and recertify the Code of Ethics and Assurances will be removed from the approved list. New applications will not be accepted after the portal closes.

MDE being asked to provide materials regarding HPV

On February 12, 2008, the House passed Senate Bill 415, which if signed by the Governor will require the Department of Education to identify and place on its web site materials that contain information regarding the risks associated with human papillomavirus (HPV), and the availability, effectiveness, and potential risks of HPV vaccines; and encourage public and private schools to provide or make available this information to parents and students.

Superintendents want teachers to share health cost

Kent County superintendents are banding together to call for all employees—even teachers—to contribute to their health insurance costs.

No county teachers are required to contribute toward their premiums, but Grand Rapids administrators engaged in an increasingly hostile labor battle are pushing to become the first.

Superintendents wrote in a "citizens' education agenda" that such "divisive bargaining battles" could be avoided if lawmakers required every school employee to pay a percentage of their premiums, as they do for their pension plans.

Superintendents from the 20 county schools, the two Christian systems, Catholic schools and the intermediate school district signed the document, released Monday.

Nine of the document's 10 points are no surprise, including calls for preparing students for the workplace and making schools weapon-free zones.

But the statement also is a sign that suburban school chiefs are ready to rally around Grand Rapids. City teachers are working without a contract, and district negotiators have asked union members to pay $90 a month toward insurance premiums— one of many sticking points.

Recent changes to state law requiring districts to seek bids for health insurance do not go far enough toward stemming double-digit increases, said Rockford Superintendent Michael Shibler, one of the plan's architects.

Ronald Koehler, assistant superintendent for the Kent Intermediate School District, said the agenda is intended to guide school boards as they make decisions but also is a call to lawmakers and the public.

Among the other points made by the superintendents:

• Providing adequate and equitable school funding is the responsibility of the state government
• Learning is about educational attainment, not seat time. Schools should create opportunities for students to learn at their own pace and achieve college credit
• All students should be prepared to continue their education beyond high school
• Schools should work together to save money, share successful programs and boost student opportunities
• Schools should work with businesses to create school-to-work opportunities
• Schools, families and community groups should work together to help students come to school healthy and ready to learn

Read the article…

Michigan taking steps to end preschool expulsion

A group of researchers from Yale University this week released recommendations for reducing the number of children expelled from state-sponsored preschool programs. But Michigan officials said Friday the state is already doing many of the things the report recommends and was represented as the example in the release of the report.

As a follow-up to a 2005 report on preschool expulsion rates, Yale researcher Walter Gilliam recommended seven policies that would reduce the number of children kicked out of state-sponsored preschool programs. Most of those recommendations addressed reducing stress for teachers and finding appropriate placements for students.

"We're actually doing a good job on them," Ms. Buch said. "We just have to keep it up as there is pressure to provide more programs for less money."

She noted, for instance, that the Michigan School Readiness Program is already more stringent than Mr. Gilliam's class size recommendation, allowing only eight students per teacher.   He had recommended no more than 10 students.

Mr. Gilliam also recommended the programs ensure sufficient break time and reasonable hours for teachers. "Teaching young children, especially those with challenging behaviors, can be a very stressful job," he said in the report. "Teachers with children at risk for expulsion reported higher levels of job stress, indicating a need for supportive services and policies aimed at reducing job stress among teachers."

Ms. Buch said her office has consultants who can provide recommendations for teachers who have particularly difficult students.

One area where the state is not as strong as it could be is in providing mental health consultants to the preschool programs. Mr. Gilliam recommended that all the programs have regular access to a mental health consultant, but the expulsion prevention program operates only 16 programs covering 31 counties.

State officials, and teachers, agree with Mr. Gilliam's assertion that, rather than being expelled, children with behavior and other problems in preschool programs should be moved to another, more appropriate setting.

Mr. Gilliam also recommended state and federal research to track children expelled from the programs as well as family and community factors and teacher training that might contribute to the risk for expulsion.

Source: Gongwer News Service, 1.11.0

Filling the Pipeline at an Aspiring Superintendents Forum

By Susan Ladika

Working to ensure there are enough prospective superintendents ready to step in to vacant roles is a key concern at the AASA National Conference on Education.

“We’re going to need to fill the pipeline in the near future,” said Robert McCord, associate professor of educational leadership at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a presenter Thursday at the full-day Aspiring Leaders Forum, a newly introduced program at the national conference.

Seasoned superintendents met with up-and-coming young leaders from around the nation to discuss scenarios superintendents are likely to face – from how to get a job possibility to developing an entry plan when moving into a troubled school district.

Becoming a superintendent is “an increasingly challenging leadership opportunity,” said Paul D. Houston, AASA’s executive director. “These are jobs that are really from the heart and soul.”

Even sitting at an assistant superintendent or deputy superintendent’s desk for years doesn’t necessarily prepare someone for the top job. “The world looks entirely different,” Houston said.

Christine Johns, superintendent of Utica Community Schools in Sterling Heights, Mich., tried to give the aspiring superintendents a taste of the real world by describing her experiences being courted by another school district.

She described doing due diligence, such as searching newspaper articles about the school district and getting a feeling for the dynamics of the community.

Session attendees then broke into small groups to discuss how they would conduct such due diligence, and presented their thoughts to the group. Denise Wickham, director of curriculum and instruction at the Ceres Unified School District in Ceres, Calif., said it’s crucial to determine “not only if we are going to fit in with the board, but if the board is going to fit with us.”

Johns said she ultimately pulled out of the job interview process at the other district. “Something didn’t feel right.”

In another exercise, Kenneth Burnley, senior resident fellow at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and a former superintendent, gave the gathering three scenarios he himself had experienced when taking over troubled districts in various parts of the country, and asked them to devise an entry plan if they were in a similar situation.

During the course of the day, participants were also scheduled to discuss topics such as working with power brokers in their community, and how to establish moral leadership, as well as hearing presentations on compensation considerations and working with a headhunter.

Bobbi Zigrang, principal of Arrowpoint Elementary in the Hazelwood School District in St. Louis, Mo., said she aspires to become an assistant superintendent. “I feel like a sponge, absorbing all the information and ideas and strategies.”

Reprinted with permission from The Conference Daily , AASA, 2.14.08

Battle Creek manages decline via student recovery

By Melanie Cohen

Recover, reclaim, recruit, retain and reinforce. Those are the lofty goals of the Battle Creek Public Schools in Michigan.

Earlier this month, Leon Buford, the director of the district’s student recovery program in Battle Creek, Mich., told AASA Conference participants he believed all school systems would benefit from student recovery programs, especially those in school communities with declining enrollment.

“Declining enrollment, my folks, means that we have a loss of revenue,” he said.

Each lost student in Buford’s district represents a reduction of $7,357 in state funds. In the 2007-2008 school year, his program recovered 78 students who had dropped out, regaining approximately $574,000 in state aid. The program also reclaimed 22 students who left the Battle Creek district, and it recruited 17 others who were previously homeschooled.

To recover students, the program sometimes uses unconventional strategies, such as bringing students to lunch and sending them encouraging letters. Students often admit their surprise at the attention to welcome them back into the system, Buford said. “Show them that there is hope.”

Battle Creek’s program aims to retain those students who have come back to school. Jeffery Dinkins, a caseworker at the student recovery program, explained some initiatives used to reinforce the program.

Battle Creek’s stay-in-school program is a 12-week course that uses a group therapy setting. The program gives students personal growth tools, such as conflict management skills, to help them succeed in their return. The student recovery program also houses a GED-preparation program and night school course offerings.

A credit recovery program enables those who have lost credits the opportunity to make them up. An expelled students program permits students to take courses outside of schools campuses.

Student recovery programs also must be flexible, placing students based on their individual needs. “Your program must be evolutionary in nature if you want to do an effective job,” Buford said, meaning that programs need to track exactly what is happening to decide how to maintain and expand themselves.

Battle Creek runs five alternative diploma programs and two specialized programs, all with state funds. These include a pregnant and parenting program and a “boot camp” program.

Some students have a hard time staying in traditional schools for reasons unrelated to bad behavior, said Gerry Mann, assistant superintendent in Battle Creek.

Many students often feel uninterested in their schoolwork or they feel like they’re being bullied. “A lot of kids were getting kicked out of school before they even got to school on the bus,” he said.

Charles Coleman, superintendent in Battle Creek, asserted that leaders must take initiative. “Paint a picture of what you want things to look like,” he suggested.

To evaluate the success of student recovery, look at overall losses over a five-year period to see the return on investment.

“There are no disposable students,” Coleman said. “We’re in the people business.”

Reprinted with permission from The Conference Daily, AASA, 2.16.08

Zhao makes case for American innovation

By Linda Chion Kenney

In the ongoing push to strengthen the math, science and reading curriculum, American education policymakers are missing measures that apparently matter more than standardized test scores.

Forget these measures that compare youngsters internationally, argued Yong Zhao, director of education psychology and educational technology at the United States-China Center for Research on Education Excellence in East Lansing, Mich.

Speaking Friday afternoon as a featured presenter, Zhao found it much more informative to showcase studies comparing countries through such measures as wealth distribution by population, royalties and license fee exports, patents and even the number of college-dropout billionaires.

Asian countries “want college dropouts like these,” he said, referring to a slide depicting Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Dell’s Michael Dell and Apple’s Steve Jobs, among others. “They want innovators like these,” he repeated.

Toward that end, the greater aim is for “children to be able to think,” Zhao said. “What you (as Americans) want to get rid of, give to us.”

Zhao made the case for reforming American schools so they become more like what American schools have been moving away from because of the overemphasis on testing. This era of high-stakes tests, he added, has come with great collateral damages, including cheating, demoralization and the deadening of creativity.

“Education is really to tolerate imagination, to sustain curiosity and not just to pass on knowledge,” Zhao said. “We should not forget the moral purposes of education.”

With changes in technology comes a new realization of necessary knowledge, Zhao said, pointing to such watershed moments as the invention of the printing press, the factory-driven advancements of the Industrial Age and today’s increasing globalization and technological sophistication.

“It has created a completely different economy, a completely different society, a completely different environment,” Zhao said. “We may be ignorant of that but our students are not.”

Today, Zhao said, we live in what Thomas Friedman called a “flat world” and what Marshall McLuhan called a “global village,” where human resources are fluid across national and geographical boundaries. Moreover, workers can find employment and outsource their businesses internationally, both in the real and virtual worlds.

For such a world, the three T’s — technology, tolerance and talents — have become of paramount importance, Zhao said. So, he added, “what abilities are you instilling in your students that will make them employable globally?

Presidential candidates address AASA agendas at forum

By Amy Vogt

A forum showcasing the two candidates for AASA president-elect Saturday highlighted the similarities and minimal differences in the candidates’ positions.

Mark Bielang, superintendent in Paw Paw, Mich., and Ed Hatrick, superintendent of Loudoun County, Va., discussed their leadership visions for AASA during the hour-long forum.

Both stressed that AASA must have a strong voice in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

“AASA is the strongest national voice for education,” said Hatrick. “The reauthorization of ESEA is critical for the future of public education.”

The renewal of ESEA presents an opportunity for AASA, said Bielang. “We have an opportunity to control the agenda and be more proactive in how we set the legislative agenda.”

The candidates also discussed the importance of increasing membership and member involvement in the association.

“We have to provide relevance as an organization to the day-to-day activities that we’re all involved in with our districts,” Bielang. He added that the association must engage new members more quickly and involve more members in leadership positions within the association.

Hatrick agreed. “We need to better understand the needs of current and potential members,” he said. “We need to ask, ‘What are we doing to nurture superintendents so they have an opportunity to grow?’”

Hatrick called on AASA to “eliminate silos” to expand opportunities to collaborate with other education organizations. “We have to find new and better ways to work with other groups within our profession who have a similar goal: to improve public education for students.”

Bielang said AASA should use a member orientation to attract more leaders to the National Conference. “We need to ask people, ‘What is it you need from us to get you here?’”

AASA will mail ballots to all members during the week of Feb. 25. Completed ballots are due to AASA headquarters on or before March 22.

Houston’s T-shirt expands to extra-large

By Jay P. Goldman

In recognition of his 14 years at the helm of AASA, Paul Houston exercised his prerogative this year to extend his customary Top 10 list to 14 humorous asides on the life of the superintendency. Houston, retiring in June, uses the AASA national conference to mimic the ways of David Letterman by revealing an annual Top 10 that appears on a T-shirt for sale in the AASA Bookstore.

At the 2nd General Session of the AASA Conference in Tampa, Houston offered 14 answers to the statement, “You might be a school administrator if … “

14. You think your last name is “defendant.”
13. You feel guilty going to a movie, and it’s Saturday.
12. You talk about “my board” but wish they were someone else’s.
11. You have a loud discussion in your car on the way home from work and you’re alone.
10. Your family starts talking about schools, you change the topic to religion or politics.
9. You get calls at home from folks who say they don’t want to bother you at work.
8. The only holiday cards you receive are from school vendors.
7. You disguise yourself to go to the supermarket.
6. Your children tell their friends you’re in jail so they won’t know what you really do.
5. People on the street acknowledge you by raising their middle finger.
4. You think going to your proctologist is the most fun you’ve had all week.
3. Everyone in the town thinks they know how to do your job better than you do.
2. You actually think this list is funny.
1. You love everyone’s children as much as you do your own.

Source: The Conference Daily, 2. 15.08

Check your membership status with AASA

Do you know if your AASA membership is active? MASA has received a fairly extensive list of members whose AASA membership has expired in recent months.

We’ve talked to quite a few members who believe they renewed their AASA membership at the same time as the MASA dues were paid. When we check their records, we find that in some cases, AASA dues were not included and the AASA box was not checked.

Now is the time to confirm with AASA that your status is considered ACTIVE with them. If you have any doubt, or if you do not receive a ballot in early March, contact Marion Hunt at mhunt@aasa.org or 703.875.0748 and ask to “rejoin” AASA.

Don’t miss out on the valuable benefits and tremendous influence in Washington D.C. that AASA membership affords you.

Dropouts' interest in school may start waning as early as kindergarten

Students who drop out of school don't do so impulsively but instead may fall into a dropout trajectory as early as kindergarten, according to an Arizona State University study to appear in the Journal of Education Research. "Educators may be overlooking important developmental trajectories exhibited by students prior to entering high school," said Gregory Hickman, who directed the undergraduate research. "Dropouts miss an average of 124 days by eighth grade."

A sampling of the study’s findings: “Couple such academic deficits from the beginning of school, along with being academically retained in middle childhood and significantly missing more days of seat time and instructional guidance throughout their developmental progression, and dropouts are clearly on a differential developmental trajectory from the beginning of their academic career than those students who graduate. Further, the gap between the developmental trajectories of graduates and dropouts becomes more divergent across their developmental progression from early childhood to adolescence.”

Dropout rate targeted:
Maryland panel recommends raising minimum age to quit school to 18

Requiring Maryland students to remain in school until they turn age 18 could drastically reduce dropout rates but would cost the state $200 million a year and worsen the existing shortage of teachers, classroom space and other resources, according to a new report.

A yearlong study by a statewide task force of 50 educators, community leaders and legislators recommended raising the public school compulsory attendance age from 16. Maryland law allows students to drop out at age 16 with parental permission.

Baltimore lawmakers have been pushing the change for four years, but it didn't get to a vote in the General Assembly because of concerns over what it would cost.

State Sen. Catherine E. Pugh, a Baltimore Democrat sponsoring a bill to raise the attendance age, said she believes that the study, which provides more data on what steps schools should take and what it would cost, has provided momentum to change the compulsory attendance age.

Committee members who got their first look at the 112-page report last month said they were encouraged to learn that 27 states and the District of Columbia have pushed up the mandatory age to 17 or 18.

Some of the results in the study have raised concerns. State Sen. Jim Rosapepe, a Democrat from Prince George's County, said he was disappointed that few other states could prove that raising compulsory attendance age directly contributed to lower dropout rates.

The report found that raising the compulsory attendance age was only one factor in lowering dropout rates. In some cases, other interventions could have helped improve students' chances of success in high school.

Among the proposals from the task force:

• Redefining the path to graduation by considering five years of high school for struggling students instead of four.
• Creating a uniform system of truancy courts in all systems to ensure students are staying in school until 18.
• Awarding alternative diplomas for non-English-speaking students that carry the same weight as traditional diplomas.
• Changing state law to allow students to earn General Educational Development diplomas without having to drop out first, as the current law requires.

Pugh also has submitted a bill that would allow students to remain in school while pursuing a GED diploma.

"Students need different paths to graduate sometimes," she said. "I don't see why students have to drop out of school before they take the GED. They don't need that blemish on their record."

Read more…

School health program conference - at no cost to district

I

In connection with the American School Health Association’s cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School Health to support leadership and governance for coordinated school health programs, ASHA is seeking 3 school districts (one rural, one urban, one suburban) to help us field test a needs assessment instrument and participate in efforts to build the capacity of school districts and their community partners to improve health program coordination.  

Each selected district will be expected to assemble a five person team that can participate (at no cost to the district) in a 3 day training event in early August 2008 and commit to working with ASHA for up to three years to strengthen coordination of their health-related programs and services. At least one member of the team must be a member of the American School Health Association.

For more information or for a copy of the request for applications (RFA), go to http://www.ashaweb.org/coordination_shp.html.

Contact Marjorie Benjamin, Project Director
American School Health Association
mbenjamin@ashaweb.org
800-445-2742 x 125

All-USA Teacher Team

USA TODAY seeks outstanding K-12 teachers to honor in its All-USA Teacher Team recognition program. Up to 20 individuals and instructional teams are chosen each year and featured in USA TODAY as representatives of all outstanding teachers. They each share $2,500 cash awards with their schools, with $500 going to the teacher and the remaining going to the school. Nominations are due April 15, 2008. For more information about the program, go to http://allstars.usatoday.com

2008 nomination form for individual teachers: www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-teacher-form.pdf

Tech & Economics of Special Populations

To help educators reap the benefits of special-ed programs so they can focus on what’s important—the students—eSchool News has assembled this invaluable collection of articles, including one on how the Detroit Public Schools is using technology to manage the mountains of paperwork associated with federal and state requirements.

TheTech & Economics of Special Populations Educator Resource Center shows school administrators how technology can help:

• Improve test scores
• Reduce training time
• Improve staff morale
• and cut costs.

Creating individualized Education Plans (IEPs), writing progress reports, and tracking data are just a few of the administrative tasks schools must manage in order to meet special student population needs as well as national laws.

Fortunately, numerous web-based programs allow schools and districts to collect, organize, and report on data about special populations and at-risk students, thereby minimizing a school’s administrative nightmare. Electronic forms, automated data entry, built-in compliance checks, and automatic meeting scheduling are just some of the ways technology is making it easier for educators to deliver special-education information and services.

But reducing administrative stress is just one benefit. Special-education management software can help school districts improve students’ test scores, reduce time spent on training, improve staff morale, cut costs, and more.

MI-LIFE Second Cohort Application Process Beginning mid-March 2008

Over 250 Michigan school leaders from public, non-public and charter schools are confronting the changes of 21st century leadership together through the MI-LIFE program. MI-LIFE is funded by a grant from Microsoft Partners in Learning, through the Michigan Department of Education. At the heart of their learning are activities and knowledge sharing through discussions centered around the research on effective leadership skills that will ultimately improve student achievement. In addition they are learning to collaborate with their peers using wikis and online discussion boards, developing online surveys to assess their leadership skills, and creating online concept maps to organize their thinking. Continue to visit the MI-LIFE website where the latest information will be posted.

• Renewable Energy Workshop
  March 6, LCC West, Lansing
• Creating a Brighter Economic Future in Michigan:
  Education, Talent and Public Policy
  March 14, Kellogg Center, East Lansing
• Silk Road Professional Development Workshops: Cultures and Crossroads
  March 19 & May 3
• MiPHY Online Survey Training
  March 25, MELG Building, Lansing
• School Improvement Conference
  Apr 6-7, Lansing Center
• Eat Healthy + Play Hard = Healthy Students
  April 22-24, Grand Traverse Resort
• Site-Based Professional Development: "On a Shoe String"
  May 7, Kent ISD
• Superintendents continue to grow through SELF
• START: Superintendents Talking and Reflecting Together

Michigan Association of School Administrators
1001 Centennial Way, Ste 300
Lansing, MI 48917
www.michiganedusource.org/gomasa | Contact us