FSNet News #16 -- April 26, 2000
CONTENTS
1 Announcements:
- 1.1 Congratulations to Barbara Brewer
- 1.2 FUNDING & GRANT OPPORTUNITIES
- 1.3 KPIX Media Partnership
2 Issues & Best Practices:
- 2.1 Focus on Children--Boston Public Schools
- 2.2 Integrating Curriculum while Promoting the Achievement of ESLRs with SCANS
- 2.3 Students to Entrepreneurship 2000
- 2.4 Independence HS Course Sequence Change
3 Resources:
- 3.1 Help for the Manager's Spouse Who Slurps Soup
- 3.2 Using Rubrics to Promote Thinking and Learning
- 3.3 Crackdown Is Planned on Loan Abuses
1 ANNOUNCEMENTS:
__1.1 Congratulations to Barbara Brewer
Congratulations to Barbara Brewer of Washington H.S. in San Francisco. Barbara read about the STW Humanities Curriculum Development Grant in a previous newsletter, applied, and won! In addition, one of her students made it to the final round of interviewing for the Sun Microsystems SunNet scholarship for African-American high school seniors which was also announced through this listserv.
__1.2 FUNDING & GRANT OPPORTUNITIES
The following notices are forwarded from the IISME listserv:
"Target Teacher Scholarships"
Target provides $1.9 annually to supplement continuing education classes of teachers. http://www.target.com
"Unsung Heroes Awards for Educators"
Nominations are being accepted for one hundred cash awards to educators from the Northern Life Insurance Company. http://www.unsungheroes.com
"Grants for Improving Classroom Teaching"
Toshiba America Foundation awards grants for programs and activities that improve classroom teaching in science, math, and technology. For more information call 212-588-0820 or email the Foundation at
"Computers for Learning"
Surplus federal computer equipment is available for schools and nonprofits that register at: http://www.computers.fed.gov
"SchoolGrants"
An up-to-date listing of government, foundation, and corporate funding opportunities in K-12 education at http://www.schoolgrants.org
"Grant-Writing Resource for Teachers"
The May 1999 edition of NEAToday Online features grant-writing tips written by several teachers who have written successful grant proposals. http://www.nea.org/neatoday/9905/pg.html#dilemma
__1.3 KPIX Media Partnership
BaySCAN has negotiated a media partnership with KPIX to promote STC throughout the Bay Area. On Mondays, during the 5:00 p.m. news (usually around 5:15), KPIX runs a news story about STC. If you have a newsworthy event coming up, let us know and perhaps you will be on the news! Also look for the STC public service announcements to air soon on KPIX.
2 ISSUES & BEST PRACTICES:
__2.1 Focus on Children--Boston Public Schools
Boston has been doing an excellent job of documenting the results of STC in their community. Their data indicates STC students do better than other students in the same schools on almost all measures considered:
- Lower dropout rates
- Higher attendance rates
- Higher SAT 9 scores
- Fewer failing grades
- Higher college-attending rates
- Higher 4-year college attending rates
Let me know if you would like more information about their results, data collection methods, or other topics.
__2.2 Integrating Curriculum while Promoting the Achievement of ESLRs with SCANS
Wesley Leung presented on this topic at the California Partnership Academy Conference and will be presenting at the STC Academy Conference in July. The presentation addresses the fact that many teachers believe in the benefits of integrated curriculum but resist implementation because of the coordination and design time requirements. Teachers can also feel overwhelmed by requirements to emphasize ESLRs, address standards and cover content. The workshop provides a strategy for morphing these different requirements together through SCANS to make integration more effective and efficient while satisfying WASC requirements. Contact Wesley if you would like a presentation at your school or if you would like more information.
__2.3 Students to Entrepreneurship 2000
Brent Duckor and some of his students presented at the Autodesk Project-Based Learning Conference. The aim of the STE 2000 project is to enable students to develop an entrepreneurship portfolio at the secondary school level within the New York Public School system. The entrepreneurship portfolio consists of the following documents: a resume; an "Entrepreneur in the News" story; an informational interview; a marketing survey; and a for-profit or not-for-profit business plan. They are currently collaborating with a community technology center in Harlem to design student web sites for their Senior Project portfolio. The portfolio has been designed, in part, to meet many of the State and City performance standards. They are doing great work bridging academics, entrepreneurship, and technology. To get more information go to http://www.STE2000.org.
__2.4 Independence HS Course Sequence Change
We all face the difficulty of implementing our programs in an environment of increasing graduation requirements and increasing a-f (soon to be a-g) requirements which results in a reduced number of elective opportunities. Independence HS is addressing this issue aggressively by substituting AP Economics for their Introduction to Financial Services class. As a result, students will still learn about financial services, but they will also get elective credit for UC and possibly college credit. Great job Independence High!
3 RESOURCES:
__3.1 Help for the Manager's Spouse Who Slurps Soup
This March 1, 2000 NY Times article really highlights the importance of the soft skills we tell our students are so important. The article tells about embarrassing experiences, their impact, and why firms take these events so seriously. If you would like a copy of this article to use in class, call or send an email (contact info below).
__3.2 Using Rubrics to Promote Thinking and Learning
The National STW office linked to this article in Educational Leadership. The article does a great job of explaining what rubrics are and how to create and use them. They include an excellent rubric for evaluating a persuasive essay. To read the article go to http://www.ascd.org/readingroom/edlead/0002/andrade.html.
__3.3 Crackdown Is Planned on Loan Abuses
This March 16, 2000 NY Times article does a great job of tying together regulatory and social issues of so-called subprime lending practices. If you would like a copy of this article to use in class, send a request by email.
You are reading the Web archive of the BaySCAN Financial Services Network listserv ([email protected]). Questions, comments, and submissions should be directed to:
Wesley Leung, Coordinator
BaySCAN
[email protected] (email)
415-507-6169 (phone)
415-507-6339 (fax)
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