District’s-Choice Online Learning to work with e2020

After evaluating many online learning vendors, Cooperating School Districts (through our new program District’s-Choice Online Learning) selected e2020 as a key virtual education vendor in our plan to provide comprehensive virtual education  to Missouri schools. Schools have 200+ courses to select from with e2020, and different options to purchase. We’d like to invite you to join us for a free Lunch & Learn so you know what features distinguish e2020 and District’s-Choice from other online programs available for K-12 schools.

The e2020 Lunch & Learn session takes place Thursday, November 3rd at 1460 Craig Road in St. Louis. You can come in the morning and stay for lunch, or stop by for lunch and stay through the afternoon. Register for this free event here.

• 10- 11:30 am- Demo & Info session of e2020
• 11:30-12:30- Lunch for all provided by e2020
• 12:30- 2 pm- Demo & Info session of e2020

With e2020 through District’s-Choice you can:

• create a personalized schedule
• offer any course any time, creating the flexibility for new innovative school options and schedules for all
• provide credit recovery for students so they graduate on time
• require a study skills course for freshmen
• encourage students work on a prescriptive MO EOC Assessment Prep course
• offer an ACT, GED prep course any hour of the day to all students
• use e2020 assessments to find out which Missouri and Common Core Standards to spend more time teaching and what to skip, thus personalizing teaching each student in grades 6-12
• use videos of real teachers explaining each Common Core Standard

CSD’s District’s-Choice Online Learning will offer the highest-quality courses at the lowest prices in Missouri using e2020, and down the line, with additional vendors to expand our K-5, Foreign Language, and AP course offerings. For more information on this Lunch & Learn, or on District’s-Choice Online Learning, phone Dave Sanders at 314-692-1219, or Nancy George at 314-692-1251.

CSD’s CHARACTERplus Works to Advance the Cause of Character Education

by Dr. John Urkevich,
Executive Director

Cooperating School Districts of Greater St. Louis dedicated its CHARACTERplus office building in honor of the program’s founder, Sanford N. McDonnell, on May 4, 2011. The Sanford N. McDonnell Center for CHARACTERplus is located next to CSD’s main office on Craig Road in Creve Coeur, Missouri.

In 1988, McDonnell founded CHARACTERplus with seven school district members and four corporate sponsors who believed in the importance of addressing issues related to student character, responsibility and student achievement. Today, more than 85 school districts and schools take part in the program, reaching more than 600 schools, 25,000 teachers and more than 300,000 students throughout Missouri and Illinois.

Many long-time supporters of CHARACTERplus attended the dedication, including some who were involved in the program from the beginning. In addition, members of VFW Post 6211 in Maryland Heights posted our nation’s colors. Another CSD neighbor, Parkway School District’s Craig Elementary School, had their choir sang the National Anthem. St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley was in attendance and thanked McDonnell for his efforts and declared May 4 as “Sanford N. McDonnell Day” in St. Louis County. Don Senti, who will be taking over as CSD Executive Director in July, was also on hand for the dedication.

CHARACTERplus works to advance the cause of character education and sustain its impact on the lives of educators and students by:

• designing, promoting and facilitating processes and best practices;
• serving educators and enhancing their commitment to character education;
• actively recruiting and developing community support; and
• continually evaluating the impact of our programs and services.

Because of the efforts of Sandy McDonnell and members of the CHARACTERplus staff, a large number of National Schools of Character come from the St. Louis region. This year alone, 15 of the 44 winners are CHARACTERplus member schools. They received recognition as 2011 National Schools of Character by the Character Education Partnership (CEP).

CHARACTERplus is a program of CSD. The recognized St. Louis-area schools are:

1.     Babler Elementary School, Rockwood School District
2.     Bayless Elementary School, Bayless School District
3.     Bowles Elementary School, Rockwood School District
4.     Crestwood Elementary School, Lindbergh School District
5.     Fox Middle School, Fox School District
6.     Geggie Elementary School, Rockwood School District
7.     George Guffey Elementary, Fox School District
8.     Kellison Elementary, Rockwood School District
9.     Lincoln Elementary, Troy School District
10.  Lindbergh High School, Lindbergh School District
11.  Mark Twain Elementary School, Brentwood School District
12.  Renfro Elementary School, Collinsville (Illinois)
13.  St. Louis Charter School
14.  Uthoff Valley Elementary, Rockwood School District
15.  Woerther Elementary, Rockwood School District

The goal of the National Schools of Character program is to recognize all schools and districts that demonstrate an exemplary level of implementation of Character Education Partnership’s Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education (click here to read that list of principles). Applicants shared school lesson plans, reflections, policies, agendas, data and photographic documentation with CEP. According to CEP, the recognized schools will receive a grant to help other educators transform their school cultures and improve academics and behavior by acting models and mentors.

Welcoming CSD’s New Director of Staff Development

By John Urkevich, Executive Director

This month, John David Sanders joined Cooperating School Districts as the organization’s new Director of Staff Development.

As CSD’s Director of Staff Development, David oversees our staff development programs, including those for teachers of English language learners, special education, professional learning communities and more. He tells us that he looks forward to working with his new colleagues to continue the excellent work that CSD currently provides for our schools on a day-to-day basis. David feels his biggest challenge will be in moving forward and taking the next steps to be in the forefront of school improvement and student achievement in Missouri and across the nation.

David comes CSD from the Georgia Department of Education, where since 2006, he served as a state director and school improvement specialist. He worked with administrators and teachers in needs improvement schools. He has also worked as a consultant and presenter on staff development topics at conferences and districts across the country.

David actually began his educational career in the St. Louis area, working as a teacher in the school districts of Clayton, Francis Howell, Kirkwood, and Rockwood. He also taught for three years in the Dallas (TX) Independent School District. He is leadership certified, talented & gifted certified, social studies certified as well as certified in various grades from 4-12 in several states. During his teaching career, David taught 11 and 12^th grade psychology, 6, 7 and 8^th grade social studies and reading, plus 8^th grade talented.

On a personal note, David is pleased to be back in St. Louis to cheer on the Red Birds- “I am not only a fan of St. Louis sports, but I have followed and cheered them from afar these past years, and attended games when possible.  I grew up going to Cardinal games with my dad, wearing my baseball glove. I am still waiting to catch that home run ball!”

Taking a Look at the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

By Dr. John Urkevich, Executive Director

In February, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act- known to many as “stimulus money”- was signed into law. ARRA provides for over $100 billion for preschool, K-12 education and higher education. Allocating funding is not an easy task. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education anticipates program guidance from the United States Department of Education on how to best utilize ARRA quickly and efficiently. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has established Transform Missouri Initiative, which reveals his vision of how to use ARRA funding. DESE is working with the governor’s office on the initiative. On a local level, St. Louis area superintendents have met at Cooperating School Districts to discuss what ARRA means their districts.

With ARRA, there will be several Formula Grants and Competitive Grants. Also, ARRA creates a new category of tax credit bonds. These bonds can be used for rehabilitation, construction or repair of school facilities. Land acquisition for the construction of schools also falls under the tax credit bond.

Another exciting opportunity to come from ARRA is increased funding to technology in education. Apple recently released a white paper on ARRA, Stimulus Opportunities for Integrating Technology with Educational Goals. Included was information about the short-term crisis and information about long-term opportunities, like 21st century learning: “[ARRA] recognized that technology is fundamental to teaching and learning in the 21st century— and includes ample opportunities for states and educators across American to leverage technology to meet their elementary, secondary and postsecondary priorities.”

For K-12 education, according to the white paper, “the stimulus package dedicates additional funding to existing technology programs, including the federal Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program.” Increased broadband in rural areas, school modernization and additional funding for Special Education will result in ARRA.

I’ve only touched on what will come about from ARRA. For information from DESE on ARRA, click here. For information from Apple on ARRA, click here. Come back to Education Today to read future blog posts on this important topic.

Saving Money and Expanding Educational Opportunities for Children?

CSD is exploring this possibility through the St. Louis Regional Exchange Collaborative

By Dr. John Urkevich, Executive Director
CSD was recently part of a meeting led by David Sandel, Executive Director of the St. Louis Regional Exchange Collaborative (REP), which serves as a regional exchange point – a local Internet access method that streamlines and improves the efficiency of the way data is exchanged between service providers, businesses, and residents of the St. Louis region. As shared on their Web site, “the REP principally functions as a regional broadband hub to assure quicker, more secure, and less expensive processing of Internet communications and services, much the way that river port authorities, railroad stations, airline hubs and interstate highways ease the flow of traffic while simultaneously lowering costs and improving services.” There are 22 member organizations in the St. Louis REP Collaborative. CSD is working with the organization to explore a possible plan to include K-12 school districts as members.

As we continue to work closely with the REP, some potential benefits to schools in our area include: cost reduction and improved efficiency for IT services such as video surveillance, disaster recovery, server consolidation, storage consolidation and voice over IP (VoIP) services, and increased learning opportunities through partnerships with local institutions. Examples of such partnerships include students having access via videoconferencing to live surgeries in local hospitals, or establishing business incubators in schools by working with local firms.

You may question: Isn’t this type of videoconferencing already available? Yes, it is. However, our interest in the REP includes the need for expanded bandwidth and wireless capabilities within all schools. While individual school districts are expanding their bandwidth, potential membership in the REP could leverage these individual efforts to gain substantial savings on school districts’ future technology investments. In addition, access to St. Louis-area institutions for shared learning opportunities could enhance the type of learning that already exists in our schools.

The need to invest in infrastructure is critical. As we prepare students for the global workplace, technology integration in the classroom is essential. The REP is attempting to enhance our infrastructure which allows for greater technology integration into education at a lower cost to schools.

We have just begun to explore this initiative in detail. As we get deeper into its development, we will involve school district personnel in our planning. Until then, I encourage everyone to learn more about this collaborative by visiting the REP Web site at: http://www.stlrepcollaborative.org.