Seven CCS schools eligible for federal grants
Mar 7th
The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) has applied to be a part of the U.S. Department of Education’s School Improvement Grant (SIG) program. More than $3 billion is available to states that apply for funds provided by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.
Click on the link below to learn more.
Speak Out: Join our Middle School Makeover design team
Mar 3rd
Each week, ABC’s “Extreme Home Makeover” selects a deserving family that has been going through a recent rough patch. Ty Pennington’s design team spends time with the family at the beginning of each episode. The team listens to find out what isn’t working with the family’s old house and plans design changes accordingly. Over the course of seven days, the old house is demolished and rebuilt. The new home is dramatically presented to the family at the end of the episode. Because the design team took the time to listen, the new home meets the family’s needs.
CEA can think of no family in Columbus City Schools more in need of an extreme home makeover than the district’s middle schools. Recently, the administration announced changes at the middle school level. We would like to think the administration followed the lead of Ty Pennington’s design team and listened to our middle school teachers, but we have our doubts. We at CEA wonder what Ty Pennington would have done differently. For example:
• Pennington would not have eliminated block scheduling from the middle schools. He would have listened to middle school teachers’ feedback about how critical blocking is for the success of their students.
• He would never have placed a high-school credit-bearing course like health in the middle schools. Pennington would have heard the concerns our teachers had about the use of tenth-grade textbooks and curriculum for eighth-grade students.
As a leader, Ty Pennington knows each “Extreme Home Makeover” project owes its success to his team’s collaboration. Because of this, he would not have made decisions that constricted the ability of our middle school grade level teams to work together.
CEA would like you to join our middle school makeover design team. As the experts, what do you think should be done to improve our middle schools?
CEA would like you to join our middle school makeover design team.
As the experts, what do you think should be done to improve our middle schools?
Visitors to the CEA Blog do not need to be registered to leave a reply. Simply click on the “Comments” link directly below the post title. Type in a screen name of your choice, enter your email address and leave your comment. Please make sure your comment adheres to our posting guidelines. Once your comment has been moderated, it will be visible to all visitors to the CEA Blog.
Speak Out: What books did you donate to Reach Out and Read?
Feb 28th
Join CEA and participate in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Reach Out and Read Community Book Drive. The program gives age-appropriate books to patients during well-child visits at Children’s Close to Home Clinics.
CEA is asking each member to donate two new books for children ages 6 months to 5 years. Our goal is to exceed last year’s collection of more than 3,200 books. The campaign runs through Friday, Mar. 5. Your Faculty Representative can tell you where you can drop off your books in your building.
The leadership of the Columbus Education Association would like to share the significance of one of the two children’s books they donated.
The CEA Blog asks members the following question:
What is the significance of one of the children’s books you donated to the Reach Out and Read campaign?
Visitors to the CEA Blog do not need to be registered to leave a reply. Simply click on the “Comments” link directly below the post title. Type in a screen name of your choice, enter your email address and leave your comment. Please make sure your comment adheres to our posting guidelines. Once your comment has been moderated, it will be visible to all visitors to the CEA Blog.
Speak Out: Early Dismissal Inequities
Feb 17th
Bad weather is causing all sorts of distress in our school district. The reason is that when the weather is bad, schools are often dismissed early. CEA believes canceling school altogether on those days would be better.
The reason is that elementary schools have a different schedule than middle and high schools. When early dismissal is called, the older students end up being bused home first. By the time some buses return to retrieve the younger students, it is normal dismissal time.
The result? Elementary teachers, who comprise the majority of our work force, don’t get out early. They have no chance to beat the bad weather by getting on the roads earlier. It would be simpler—and fairer—to cancel school when the weather is bad.
CEA is not in charge of calamity-day decisions, and we know that the administration does not want students to miss school. But we also see how inefficient and inequitable this system is. You can assist CEA in resolving this issue with the administration by responding to the following question:
What do you think the administration should do in order to fairly address the early dismissal inequities?
Visitors to the CEA Blog do not need to be registered to leave a reply. Simply click on the “Comments” link directly below the post title. Type in a screen name of your choice, enter your email address and leave your comment. Once your reply has been moderated, it will appear.
Closing the Achievement Gap Grant: Grade 10
Feb 15th
(Note: This is the third in a series of three posts that highlight the achievement gap that will be addressed by a recent NEA Foundation grant award.)
Recently, CEA President Rhonda Johnson announced that the Association along with the district has received a $1.25 million, five-year grant from the NEA Foundation. CEA and CCS were one of only three district/union partnerships out of the NEA’s 14,000 local unions to receive these funds.
The NEA Foundation Closing the Achievement Gap award will help us transform some of our most challenged schools into local and national models for teaching and learning. The grant’s resources will be focused on the schools feeding to Briggs and Linden-McKinley high schools.
Through the utilization of Google Motion Chart technology, the CEA Blog has transformed test scores from the Ohio Department of Education into a series of revealing animations. They depict the achievement gap in Linden-McKinley and Briggs high schools.
These animations show the percentage of students in each school scoring proficient or above on the tenth grade reading and math Ohio Achievement Assessments over the past five years. Users can compare school results to CCS, Franklin County and the state of Ohio. Groups are disaggregated by race and economic status when possible.
Click on the “more” link below to proceed to the Google Motion Chart animations.
Closing the Achievement Gap Grant: Grade 7
Feb 15th
(Note: This is the second in a series of three posts that highlight the achievement gap that will be addressed by a recent NEA Foundation grant award.)
Recently, CEA President Rhonda Johnson announced that the Association along with the district has received a $1.25 million, five-year grant from the NEA Foundation. CEA and CCS were one of only three district/union partnerships out of the NEA’s 14,000 local unions to receive these funds.
The NEA Foundation Closing the Achievement Gap award will help us transform some of our most challenged schools into local and national models for teaching and learning. The grant’s resources will be focused on the schools feeding to Briggs and Linden-McKinley high schools.
Through the utilization of Google Motion Chart technology, the CEA Blog has transformed test scores from the Ohio Department of Education into a series of revealing animations. They depict the achievement gap in middle schools within the feeder patterns for Linden-McKinley and Briggs high schools.
These animations show the percentage of students in each school scoring proficient or above on the seventh grade reading and math Ohio Achievement Assessments over the past five years. Users can compare school results to CCS, Franklin County and the state of Ohio. Groups are disaggregated by race and economic status when possible.
Click on the “more” link below to proceed to the Google Motion Chart animations.
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