Brightprogram2018

I am a big proponent of work readiness.  Some students may not aspire to go to college and the rigor of the traditional classroom may be too much for them.  College is not for everyone, but should be available to everyone.  Just because a student elects not to go to college does not mean they can't have a career or earn a decent wage.   High school students now have 49 more industry-recognized credentials at their fingertips, thanks to the input of companies and industries throughout the state. The Ohio Department of Education added the credentials to guide career-based program development and help students understand and prepare for Ohio’s in-demand jobs and careers. Some students go right into the workforce after earning credentials. For others, the credentials allow students to earn money to help finance college. One way students can earn a high school diploma is by earning an industry-recognized credential and achieving a workforce readiness score...

The Atlantic recently released a really interesting article, " Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? " The article describes members of the "iGen" generation as those born between 1995 and 2012, which will include most of the students that we are teaching this year. Here is a portion from the article that sums up its main point nicely: "The aim of generational study, however, is not to succumb to nostalgia for the way things used to be; it’s to understand how they are now. Some generational changes are positive, some are negative, and many are both. More comfortable in their bedrooms than in a car or at a party, today’s teens are physically safer than teens have ever been. They’re markedly less likely to get into a car accident and, having less of a taste for alcohol than their predecessors, are less susceptible to drinking’s attendant ills. Psychologically, however, they are more vulnerable than Millennials were: Rates of teen depression and suicide h...

As the opiate abuse crisis creates the need for more out-of-home placements of children all over the state, we will be encountering more youth who are increasingly challenged to know who they are and where they came from. While relative placements are legally preferred over foster care, many kids in the recent wave of removals from home are going into foster placements. Child-placing agencies try to match children with culturally-appropriate caregivers, but this is often hard to achieve. Some children get split up from siblings in this process, especially if the number of siblings is large, or if the age separation is great, or if there are special needs involved. Some children get placed at a substantial geographical distance from home, if local placements are not available. Some youth get repeated changes of placement, which often involves multiple transitions into and out of very disparate schools and communities. Many addicted parents don't visit their children very often, inc...

My eight-year-old son came home from his school, where kids are from 39 different countries, and asked me, "Dad, what is a fag? Cesar said my dads are going to hell because they're fags." That's my first "the talk" I remember having. You're going to hear your dads called nasty names. What will you do? Another time, he said they were making Mother's Day presents at school. He told him a boy told him, "You have to have a mom. Everyone has a mom." That was the next talk. Your family has a different look than others. Who's the "mom" you want to celebrate in your life? What are "The Talks" you all have addressed?

Early Warning System(EWS) as a tool to transform schools. Teachers have been talking about students for a long time, but it often stopped at the complaining. Using an EWS to help identify at risk students and intervene on their behalf as soon as possible. An essential element to the Early Warning System is having metrics to help identify the students you need to intervene on immediately. We also had common planning time built in to the schedule to meet daily and a shared At my previous school we looked at Attendance, Behavior and Course Performance(ABC's). We put the students into three different groups within each ABC except behavior(2): at-risk(red), warning(yellow), good standing(green). Attendance Red: ADA < 85%  Yellow: ADA 86- 89.9% Green: ADA 90% > Behavior: Red- 1 or more suspensions Green- No suspensions Course Performance(ELA and Math grades) Red: F Yellow: C or D Green: A or B In order to be put on the focus list for the quarter, you had to hav...

Cohort 2, For your information.  The Requirements for graduation has changed from points accumulated on end of course tests, ACT/SAT scores,  and Advance Placement Scores, totally 17 points or 18 points I believe, to the following; 120 internship hours some of which can be via employment. 93% Attendance Rate for their Senior year Earn a 2.5 G.P.A. in their Senior year. Complete a Senior Capstone Project Earn a score of 3 on an A.P. Test Earn 3 College credits from college credit plus courses I believe that the students have to meet 2 or 3 of the aforementioned benchmarks to earn graduation status. What are your thoughts?

One of the challenges I'm considering in preparing to be an instructional leader is  how to develop and foster a strategy to make content relevant for students and making professional development and other meetings relevant for my staff. In my experience as an educator I know the power choice can have in teaching more meaningfully in the classroom. I want to bring choice to my school. How can I bring this to my instructional leadership? There are two parts to this: How can I make student choice a part of what I expect from my teachers? How can I model choice in my professional development and leadership of teacher teams? These are questions I want to consider carefully in addition to all I am required to do by BRIGHT, my classes, and my school as I prepare to be a fully-credentialed leader in the future. I have questions for you: What do you know about making things relevant? What effective ways have you tried or observed to incorporate child and adult choice? What are ...