Update on coding: highlight of VS Model Lyndsey Scott

Months ago, I linked a quick snippet about coding and the popularity it is receiving in the "do-something-unusual-but-not-that-unusual" education-based dialogue.

Today, here's a share from an interview with Ms. Lyndsey Scott, a college graduate in computer science who codes reguarly.  Oh, and she models for advertisers and a little lingere company known as Victoria's Secret.

Information about Every County in Mississippi: Education Scorecards

Some interesting information on education scorecards for the state of Mississippi came across my email desk today, so naturally I thought about the time I spent with the Mississippi state legislature and wanted to share them. I have a friend involved in their creation at the Center for Education Innovation, and I thought that they may peak some broader interest.

Website: http://mscei.com/community-engagement/education-scorecards/

Scorecards: https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=def63b8d677741ff&id=DEF63B8D677741FF%21411&authkey=!AMwJyo8Ji-1WHpQ 

No Mandatory Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients

The 4th Amendment and (good) social policy have a joint win with 1 stone:   the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida has struck down a Florida state law requiring welfare applicants to be drug tested. The case is a Lebron v. Secretary of the Florida Department of Children & Families, Case No. 6:11-CV-01473-MSS-DAB (M.D. Fla. Jan. 2, 2014)


According to recent reports (see here), the Florida law

required parents to undergo and pay for urine tests for illegal drugs when they applied for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, a federal-state program that helps poor people with children pay for food, shelter and necessities.

The penalty for refusal to take the required test was a denial of the benefits.  Said another way, an applicant was required to submit themselves for screening by the government to help get help paying for food.  The justification for the law was in the interests of the public.

According to the Federal Court's decision, the Florida law was temporarily halted back in October 2011 until a federal court could sort the whole thing out.

More after the break...

Goodbye 2013

From Blue Ribbon to a Black School, Hapeville to Harvard to Law... this is my journey, and it'll move on still.

Winners! This Round of Race to the Top Goes to ...

Houston (TX), Clarksdale (MS), Clarendon Co. (SC), Kentucky Valley (KY), Springdale (AK).

According to yesterday's news in Edweek:

• Clarendon County School District Two, a consortium of four rural districts in central South Carolina that describes itself as "very diverse." It encompasses districts with both rural and urban poverty, districts with a high percentage of minority students, and districts with a burgeoning population of English-learners. Winnings: $25 million.
• Clarksdale Municipal School District in the Mississippi Delta, a mostly black district with 3,350 students. Winnings: $10 million.
• Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative, a consortium of 18 rural districts, that narrowly missed winning last time around. Winnings: $30 million.
• Springdale School District in the northwest corner of Arkansas. This district near the Tyson Foods headquarters enrolls 20,500 students, including many English-learners. Interestingly, the city of Springdale has one of the largest populations of Marshall Islands immigrants in the country. Winnings: $25.9 million.
• Houston is a 200,000-student urban district and two-time Broad Prize winner.

I am happy to resources going to the South and rural places where they are certainly needed.  Now, to track the applications from these winners...

Debriefing the 2013 Atlanta-Fulton Co. Election results

• one of my favored city councilpersons no longer has a seat (pretty bummed about that),
• a new member of the school board will be representing "me" (though was completely unimpressive/uninspiring when we spoke one-on-one),
• the mayor is still the mayor (silver lining), 
• municipal judges running unopposed (hmmmm.....), 
• FOUR former TFA'ers are now on the APS school board (#onedayall)
• turnout for my polling place was below 15%--shesh.

Full results can be found here: http://www.fultoncountyga.gov/county/election/results/ 

Kellogg Foundation chooses its Next CEO and President: Ms. Tabron aspires to change the world for vulnerable kids

Ms. Tabron is many things:  an employee of the company for 26 years, a woman who grew up in Detroit, the current the executive vice president of operations and treasurer, the organization's 12th leader since its founding in 1930, a Michigan alumna, and the company's first African American leader and first female leader in its history.

After conducting and international and U.S. wide search, Tabron was the best candidate for the job.  She will replace Sterling Speirn, "who announced he will step down this year after heading the organization for nearly eight years."

For more:  http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20131021/NEWS01/310210017/Kellogg-Foundation-looks-within-new-CEO?nclick_check=1

Research from Boston Public Schools: Student Achievement Scores over Art/Science Offerings

A recent report from a Harvard Kennedy School researcher analyzed parents' school preferences for Kindergarten, Sixth Grade, and Ninth Grade to determine which factors made the most differences.  In his new paper, the researcher, Edward Glaser, found:

"parents favor closer schools and schools with higher levels of academic achievement (as measured by the MCAS test). It also finds that certain school structures -- K1 (over K2 only) schools and K-8 (over K-5) schools – are preferred. . . .
Overall school size, computer facilities, and gyms did not have a significant impact. Art, music, and science lab facilities had minimal or no impact."

For the abstract and more on the paper, see here: https://research.hks.harvard.edu/publications/workingpapers/citation.aspx?PubId=9043&type=WPN 

An agriculture degree instead of a finance degree--makes some sense to me

A recent article by Alex Rosenberg (of course forwarded to me by my father who retired from agriculture field), argues that real goods are going to be much more important than speculative goods in the future.  Precisely, Rosenberg argues that fields like finance are going to be less pivotal than fields like agriculture. He captures this in his article:

 "We are going to be trying to feed 9 billion people by 2050 with the same number of acres of arable land," said Timothy Burcham, dean of agriculture and technology at Arkansas State University. Calling that task "overwhelming," Burcham notes that "the opportunities for a person that has a graduate degree in agriculture are great now, but they are going to be really, really excellent going into the future."

The article (and the argument) have some staying power with me.  By my own admission, I have always thoughts that great mind power should be applied to public policy issues:  education policy (of course), food policy, energy policy . . .

Anyway, for your reading pleasure: Jim Rogers: Skip the MBA, get an agriculture degree

UPDATE 1/8/2014:

From reports in England, it seems that His Royal Highness Prince William is prepping to study agriculture at Cambridge soon.  Hat tip to him.

Interested in Education Leadership in New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville, Hartford, Dallas, Houston? See Education Pioneers below.

This came across my email, so I thought I would share it with everyone:

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On the heels of Education Pioneers’ incredible 10^th anniversary celebration, our work is underway to realize our bold vision to transform education into the best led and managed sector in the U.S., with 10,000 pioneers working full-time in the sector by 2023.

To get there, we need your help to identify new emerging leaders and organizations that need top talent for our 2014 programs:

• Do you know top emerging leaders who could make an impact in the education sector? Please refer the leaders you know or forward this message to them to encourage them toapply for an Education Pioneers Fellowship today.

For our Fellowships, we are seeking over 500 talented emerging leaders from diverse academic, professional, and personal backgrounds.  Specifically, we are interested in recruiting people who:

• Are skilled in data analysis, strategic planning, and finance and operations;
• Are interested in working in our high-priority cities, including New Orleans, LA; Memphis and Nashville, TN; Hartford, CT; and Dallas/Ft. Worth and Houston, TX;
• Have roots in and ties to the communities where we work.

We also remain committed to engaging and supporting emerging leaders of color; 55% of our 2013 Graduate School Fellowship cohort identified as a person of color.

• If you work in the education sector, does your organization need more talented leaders, managers, and analysts for mission-critical work?  Apply to partner with Education Pioneers and let us find the talent you need.

Applications for the 2014 Graduate School Fellowship (10-week summer and yearlong placements) and 2014 Partnerships are now open; please encourage the emerging leaders and the education organizations in your network to apply!  (Applications for the 2014 Analyst Fellowship will open later this year.)

Thank you for helping our 2014 Fellowship and Partner recruiting season be our best yet!

Sincerely,

Frances McLaughlin
President