News & Press

December 17, 2008

Past Network News - December 17, 2008

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AHSI NEWS & EVENTS

NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED
We are very proud to announce the launch of the new AHSI website – www.AHSI.org. Exciting features include: Organization Profile Pages, which can be updated with as much information a you like, as often as you like; News & Press, where we can share your successes as well as pertinent stories in the media; Work Groups, where you can stay connected with each groups’ work and progress; Events, where up coming convenings, work group calls, and important meetings will be posted; and Career Opportunities, where you can have job openings posted! Please send changes, updates, and stories to lsmock-randall@bigpicture.org.

2009 SPRING CONVENING DATES CONFIRMED
Mark your calendars! Gateway to College will co-host the 2009 Spring Convening in San Antonio, TX, March 31 – April 2, 2009. Watch for further details!

NEW & IMPROVED TOOL SHARE CALLS
When AHSI was first launched as a network, bi-annual convenings provided the only opportunity for in person meetings. In order to stay connected in between these events the monthly Tool Share Call was introduced and served as a great way to build relationships and to learn from one another. After five years we now have a variety of ways in which network members connect year-round through the internet, over the telephone, and in person. Through all of these interactions we want you to know that we are listening, and as a result we will be taking a new approach to the 2009 AHSI Tool Share Calls.

What will the New & Improved Tool Share Calls look like?

  • AHSI Coaches and Staff will review Intermediary Support Plans and identify common areas of interest specified by member organizations.
  • Once a topic is identified, Coaches will schedule the call with those Intermediaries requesting information on that topic, ensuring that a core group of people will benefit from the topic and commit to engaging in the call.
  • Network intermediaries will be encouraged to share their expertise on topics whenever applicable.
  • After confirming a time that is convenient for targeted participants, the call will be announced to the entire AHSI network, inviting everyone interested to join the call.
  • Online, web-based tools will be utilized when possible to engage participants in using various formats for exchanging information.
  • AHSI Coaches will be available for personalized follow-up support to help organizations integrate resources throughout their networks.

First New & Improved Tool Share Call Scheduled – Jan 28, 2009
Are you interested in learning more about using the new web-based communications technologies across your national network? The next AHSI Tool Share call is scheduled for Wednesday, January 28, 2009, 1:00pm – 2:30pm EST | 10:00am – 11:30am PST, and will offer an interactive session to explore ideas for employing web-based solutions to meet your communications and professional development needs. Facilitators/ presenters will include AHSI partners who have demonstrated technical expertise and have employed web-based technology in innovative ways. Service providers will also be invited to offer a demonstration that has been customized to meet the unique needs of our AHSI organizations. More information will be emailed out as the call nears; if you want to make sure you receive the call detail please send an email to lsmock-randall@bigpicture.org to make sure you are added to the Tool Share Call Email List. Don’t miss this one!

AHSI PRELIMINARY DRAFT CASE STATEMENT
In early December, AHSI co-conveners Big Picture Learning (BP) and the National League of Cities’ Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (NLC) submitted an AHSI Preliminary Draft Case Statement to Anh Nguyen and colleagues of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The case statement proposes a future direction for the Alternative High School Initiative and reflects ideas and perspectives held by AHSI Directors of organizations in the network. AHSI Directors convened in Houston immediately following the AHSI Fall Convening and agreed that the initiative is worth sustaining beyond BP and NLC’s current period of grant support from BMGF which will draw to a close in June/August 2009. The case statement provides a rationale for maintaining this national network of intermediaries managing high quality alternative schools and programs. It proposes that AHSI organizations cultivate a marketplace of opportunities for exchanging services, expertise, informational resources, and products among network members and in partnership with cities, school districts, state education agencies, and other interested parties. AHSI Directors have a copy of the AHSI Preliminary Draft Case Statement which was forwarded to BMGF along with the AHSI concept paper, “Expanding and Sustaining a National Support Network for Organizations Developing Alternative Schools,” July 2008, which describes the national context for our work. Early in January we look forward to receiving comments from Anh that will inform our course of action.

DATA WORK GROUP
We have made some good progress in obtaining the 2×2 data. All but two organizations have reported in to date, and the information is, as you might expect, as varied as our organizations. Many Data Work Group (DWG) representatives have indicated that they can provide retrospective data on the two common data elements, high school graduation and post high school success. Most are also able to provide one or more years of data on their own unique indicators. Charlie Mojkowski will get a summary report out to DWG representatives by mid-January.

The DWG plans to have a conference call in January to discuss the AHSI 2×2 data progress and new information from the BMGF regarding plans for the 2008-2009 Grant Knowledge system. The Gates Foundation has announced that the 2008-09 edition of Grant Knowledge will be ready “early in 2009.” We expect to have updated information from the Foundation before the mid-January conference call.

HIGH SCHOOL TO CAREER & COLLEGE WORK GROUP
Mini Convening Scheduled!
The High School to Career & College Mini Convening will be held January 28-30, 2009 in Indianapolis, IN. The focus will include models of MOUs and articulation agreements, partnerships with community based organizations, financial literacy, dual enrollment, and gap year programs.

Next Work Group Call Scheduled!
The next workgroup call is scheduled for January 14th, 1:30pm – 3:00pm EST.

Links of interest pertaining to recent news about YouthBuild USA’s college transition efforts:

MATH & QUANTITATIVE REASONING WORK GROUP
MINT Visits Scheduled!
The first of two MINT (Mixed Intermediary Numeracy Teams) Visits has been scheduled for Big Picture Learning’s Mapleton Early College High School, in Denver, Colorado, February 17-19, 2009. The second visit is still in the planning stages and is slated to take place at Diploma Plus’s Harlem Renaissance in New York some time in March 2009. More details will be forthcoming to workgroup members.

Please note that as these MINT visits are in lieu of a Math/QR mini-convening, we have available funding to include two intermediary representatives as participants at one of the MINT visits or one intermediary representative (can be the same person or two different people) to participate in each of the MINT visits. Each visit will be capped at 12 participants and in the event some intermediaries are not able to dedicate representatives to this process, opportunities will be presented to workgroup members to participate in more than one visit. Please also note that by the nature of this work, there will be time required of all participants to engage in a few pre-visit conference calls, review provided school information, and other related tasks in preparation for the customized visit. The site visit itself will be highly interactive with staff and students and may lead to some individual follow-up by members of the MINT participants. It is recommended that intermediaries send representatives that are highly interested and engaged in Math/QR work in their school(s) and/or organization.

Next Work Group Call Scheduled!
The next workgroup call is scheduled for Thursday, January 15th, 3:00pm – 4:30pm EST and will primarily focus on the upcoming MINT visit to Mapleton Early College.

PRINCIPAL TRAINING & SUPPORT WORK GROUP
RTES (Recruitment, Training, Evaluation & Support) Map of AHSI Intermediary Leadership Systems
The AHSI RTES instrument was created to collect data to map each organization’s training and support strategies, resources & strengths. This tool has been distributed to workgroup members. Most returned the data as requested. One-on-one follow up interviews are being conducted to collect data from other intermediaries and to build a support plan for each intermediary. Data from the RTES map assists in matching needs with areas of strength and to build consultancy groups around common capacity building goals. To schedule a 1-1 consultancy call, contact Lisa Leith at lisa.ahsi@gmail.com .

AHSI Core Competency Project
Research identifies specific leadership and professional competencies which correlate with principal efficacy, particularly in the alternative or at risk-setting. The AHSI Core Competency project focuses on identifying and defining those core competencies which are most critical for successful AHSI school leaders. Through an AHSI online survey and a review of the literature, eight competencies have been identified which can now inform the deployment of competency-focused recruitment and professional development strategies, resources and processes. Core Competencies are complete and available on IBackup.com. Ultimately, the project’s desired result is to strengthen each AHSI organization’s capacity to recruit, train and support effective, quality leadership across their networks.

Leadership Capacity Building Resource Bank on IBackup
AHSI intermediaries and workgroup leaders are populating this resource bank with published articles, literature reviews, Power Point presentations, and other training resources in the following categories: Communities of Practice/Learning Communities, Culturally Responsive Teaching & Learning, Relationship Building, Advocacy & Counseling, Data Driven Decision Making, and Academic Leadership. A folder on Peer Review Protocols will is under construction. New submissions to these folders are always welcome!

Peer Review and Self Evaluation Tools
Analysis of RTES data reveals that many intermediaries are interested in building or expanding their Leadership Evaluation systems to include a self evaluation and a peer review protocol. CIS has shared their currently employed self evaluation instrument for the purpose of improving the depth of data it yields. We are currently seeking access to other written protocols and planning a workgroup conference call discussion to add to knowledge bank around this topic.

Research Web Based Communications and Professional Development Delivery Options
Analysis of RTES data reveals that many intermediaries are interested in finding more powerful and effective systems for using communications technology to strengthen network leadership community of practice and to deliver remote, yet interactive, professional development. Many AHSI intermediaries have expertise in these areas, but have expressed need for further capacity building to make sense of the options available and to make optimum use of available online tools. AHSI intermediaries are invited to a Tool Share call on this topic to be held on Wednesday, January 28, 2009, 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. PT/ 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. MT/ 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. CT/ 1 p.m. - 2 p.m. ET.

The New Principal: Thriving through the First Year
Many intermediaries have reported that the lion’s share of their leadership support energy, time and resource is spent in orientation and mentoring of their first year principals. We are currently working to create a Training Progression around what first year principals need to know. Some potential topics: From the classroom to the principal’s office—what changes, what stays the same; Time management—prioritizing and delegating; and Motivating others to take responsibility for classroom quality and individual student outcomes.

Principal Training & Support Spring Mini-Convening
To be held in Denver, Colorado, February 19th-21st. More details available soon!

AHSI NEWS FROM THE NETWORK

STREETSCHOOL NETWORK™ IN CAIRO EGYPT – BY TODD GOBLE
It has barely been three weeks since my return from Egypt, and I am still trying to process all that I saw and experienced. Before I left, a friend who has been to Cairo told me it was a really big city, and they honked their car horns all the time. Well, I have been to New York City, which is a big city and the cabbies honk all the time, so I thought I knew what I was going to see. I had no idea. Cairo is a city of 19 million people, with another million or so commuting in and out every day. One section of the city is one square kilometer, and is home to 700,000 people. And the traffic! I become an obsessive student of Cairo traffic. There are no stop signs or traffic lights, and if there are, they are ignored. Everyone just merges, honking to signal a variety of messages to other drivers, who are driving two inches from each other! The amazing thing is that it actually works – they all are moving, but yielding and moving together, like huge schools of fish. The Cairo government hired Japanese traffic experts to study its traffic and recommend how to fix it. After a year and a half of study the experts said do nothing – it may be crazy, but it works, and any attempts to change this aspect of the culture would only make things worse.

I was in Egypt at the request of CITA, the Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation. This is the organization with which we work to accredit our Network schools in the U.S., and the same set of standards we use are used for accrediting the International schools. CITA asked me to be a presenter at two of their Five Star Conferences for teachers and administrators in the Middle East. In addition to Egyptian educators, we also addressed educators from Lebanon, Jordan, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia. One conference was in Cairo, with about 350 educators, and the other was in Alexandria, with about 125 educators. I was asked to speak about our experience with our approach to economic literacy, which not only teaches economic and financial literacy, but also increases student engagement and achievement. Every teacher is looking for increased student engagement and achievement, and these educators were no exception.

In the week between the conferences, I was a member of an accreditation review team for a private urban school in Cairo. In the middle of the city was this k-12 school, modeling itself on the American school system, and stating its mission was to be a model urban school in Egypt. How interesting, given what we are doing as AHSI. Though the instruction was “moving from book curriculum to standards based instruction and benchmarks”, this small school of 376 students was a melting pot of 24 nationalities, supporting the establishment of a middle class in a third world environment, and creating an oasis of student centered learning in the middle of a huge city of shockingly contrasting wealth and poverty. The climate of this school, warm, loving, personal, rigorous and supportive, was strikingly similar to the climate we try to establish in our AHSI schools.

It was during the accreditation review process at this school that I learned something interesting. Because they had some leadership turnover at the beginning of the year, and added some additional positions, their organizational chart and job descriptions weren’t quite accurate. My first reaction was to say they need to get them clarified and in line so that accountability would be stronger. But in interviewing the leadership and staff, it seemed that they had been very productive, even with the lack of structure that I thought was necessary. They reported that “everyone just filled in where it was needed, and working together they got it done”. It suddenly hit me that this collaborative effort was remarkably similar to the way this culture moved in traffic – no real structure to control actions, but a willingness to put egos aside and cooperate with each other for the benefit and movement of all. I still recommended that they clarify the organizational chart, but instead of recommending a hierarchy for accountability, I recommended a collaborative committee – who would work together to make sure that their improvement plans would happen. What a lesson for me in cultural sensitivity, and one that I hope to apply to my work with schools here.

Finally, I did have a great time getting my picture taken on a camel in front of the Pyramids of Giza. I thought I was on the set of an Indiana Jones movie, and loved every minute of it!

STREETSCHOOL NETWORK DATA - RESULTS TO BE THANKFUL FOR
Denver, CO – Members of the Board of Directors accepted and reviewed the performance of the network for the 2007-2008 school year at their November meeting and were pleased to see gains across the board against the benchmarks set for member schools.

Board Member Craig Spencer, Board Treasurer and VP of Discount PC remarked, “This data certainly represents something to be thankful for at this time of year. It provides critical evidence that the StreetSchool Network™ is succeeding at helping to combat the drop-out crisis and affirms the charity provides a great return on investment as well.”

According to Deb Cattin, Ph.D. who serves as a data consultant to the network, “In analyzing the data, I was especially excited to see the graduation rate (88%), the college/career transition rate of 95% and the increase in GPA of more than a grade point over a student’s previous school experience. All of these are indicators that the StreetSchools are on the right path in their efforts to serve students struggling to find educational success.”

Results are gathered through two different means: self reporting by member schools using a survey tool and data gathered through StreetSchool Tracker powered by RenWeb, the school management and data tracking system utilized by member schools. Next year, the NWEA’s Measures of Academic Progress will also be added to the data set.

“We are both proud of our schools for their efforts on behalf of our students and appreciative of the foundations who have invested in helping us to build data collection mechanisms and integrate data driven decision making practices across our network. The data validates that our ‘educational intensive care unit’ model elevates the achievement levels of students at-risk,” said Wendy Piersee, Network Co-founder and Exec. V.P.”

For data related questions, please contact Deb Cattin at debc@streetschoolnetwork.org. Visit http://streetschools.com/11stat/11stat.html to view the data in chart and graph form.

NEW – STREETSCHOOL TRAVEL
StreetSchool Network™ would like to introduce their new travel site– StreetSchool Travel! This is our very own Travelocity® with comparable prices, when matched to other popular travel sites. Your purchase on StreetSchool Travel will go to a great cause, so please use this site to support the StreetSchool Network™!
Please visit the StreetSchool Network™ travel site at www.StreetSchoolTravel.com

BIG PICTURE LEARNING PUBLISHES ARTICLE ON 12 YEAR LONGITUDINAL STUDY
The December 2008 / January 2009 issue of Educational Leadership features the article “Data: Now What? Data Beyond High School” written by Elliot Washor, Karen Arnold, and Charlie Mojkowski. Read an excerpt from the article below and go to http://www.ahsi.org/2008/12/big-picture-learning-publishes-article-on-12-year-longitudinal-study/ to view the article in its entirety.

“Schools affiliated with Big Picture adopt the philosophy of educating “one student at a
time within a community of learners.” Our schools are built on three basic principles: (1)
learning must be based on the interests and goals of each student, (2) curriculum must be relevant to people and places in the real world, and (3) students’ abilities must be
measured by the quality of their work.

Students at our schools predominantly come from low-income, urban, and minority
backgrounds. Many speak a first language other than English, and few of their parents
have attended college. In short, our students are members of demographic groups that
frequently struggle to complete high school or attain postsecondary degrees. Yet in Big
Picture schools that serve grades 9–12, the high school graduation rate is 92 percent, with 95 percent of graduates gaining acceptance to college. (See www.bigpicture.org for more information on the schools and our follow-up of alumni.)

Faculty at Big Picture schools define student success using measures beyond
standardized tests scores, grades, or even college graduation rates. We also view success
in terms of whether graduates show evidence of persistence in college, progress in their
careers, successful relationships, civic involvement, and happiness. And we measure
these life characteristics. In addition to collecting the student performance data that high
schools typically gather, Big Picture schools track our students’ trajectories for about 12 years after they graduate.

This long-term focus is unusual. In this era of heightened accountability, schools collect
more student performance data than ever. In addition to test scores, many administrators keep tallies on student retention, college readiness, and graduation rates. But most data collection stops at graduation, probably because schools have few resources to devote to gathering longitudinal data, and most principals’ time is packed with using current student data to improve practice. Learning about students’ lives a dozen years into the future is, understandably, a low priority.

But the long term is a priority at our schools. We use a longitudinal data system to help
us understand which conditions support students’ transitions to college and careers, to
inform school improvement, and to support the continued personal and professional
development of our alumni.”

POLICY AND PLACE-BASED PARTNERSHIPS

NEWARK-AHSI PARTNERSHIP LAUNCH & MEDIA EVENT – DEC 18
Newark Mayor and School Superintendent to Announce High School Initiative
Coming Together to Develop Multiple Pathways to Graduation
Newark, N.J. – Mayor Cory A. Booker and Newark Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Clifford B. Janey will announce Newark’s participation as one of three local sites in which the national Alternative High School Initiative (AHSI) and city partners team to raise graduation rates by providing a new range of high school options. Backers of the effort include the National League of Cities, AHSI and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Additionally, the signing of several agreements between the City, Newark Public Schools, Essex County College, Gateway to College National Network, Communities in Schools and other education and economic development groups will be announced. This event will take place on Thursday, December 18, 2:00pm – 3:00pm, at the J. Harry Smith Lecture Hall at Essex County College in Newark, New Jersey. Participants include: Mayor Cory A. Booker; Newark Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Clifford B. Janey; Essex County College President Dr. A. Zachary Yamba; NLC Institute for Youth, Education and Families Program Director, Education and Afterschool Initiatives Audrey Hutchinson; AHSI/Big Picture Learning Co-Founder and Co-Director Elliot Washor; The Nicholson Foundation Executive Director Mark Hoover; Gateway to College National Network Director of New Program Development Nick Mathern; as well as other local and national foundations (including the Wal-Mart Foundation).

MAYORS’ EDUCATION ADVISORS DISCUSS SCHOOL REFORM, EDUCATION PRIORITIES - BY KATIE MEADE
What can municipal leaders do to successfully advance school reform and ensure that every child graduates with a quality education?
Members of the Mayors’ Education Policy Advisors Network (EPAN) gathered in Washington, D.C., December 8-10, 2008 to discuss this question with District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, Dr. Pedro Noguera, co-chair of the “Broader, Bolder Approach to Education” initiative, members of President-Elect Barack Obama’s transition team and key congressional staff.

Sponsored by NLC’s Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF Institute) and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, EPAN is a national network of mayoral education advisors from the nation’s 75 largest cities. In addition to learning about the new Administration’s education priorities, EPAN members had the opportunity to share their knowledge and strategies for improving student achievement, lowering dropout rates and engaging the public in education reform.

Read more about this event: http://www.nlc.org/articles/articleItems/NCW121508/EPANmtg.aspx.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES & STORIES OF INTEREST

AHSI STUDENT LEADERSHIP UPDATE
Sam Seidel recently caught up with several of the students who have been involved in AHSI and in the founding of Organized Youth for Educational Alternatives (OYEA). Andre Bradley (graduate of YouthBuild Philadelphia) is approaching the completion of his first semester at Hampshire College. In addition to focusing on his academics, he performed in an original play and is planning to begin volunteering in the Amherst area. Matthew Brown (graduate of EdVisions school, High School for Recording Arts) is a full time Assistant Manager with Walgreens and has been traveling around Minnesota opening new stores for Walgreens. He is completing coursework toward a bachelor degree through online classes. Albert Saldana (graduate of Big Picture Learning school, The Met) is working full time at the Brown University Bookstore. He is planning on attending the Community College of Rhode Island this coming semester.

New student leadership resource: Student-Led Solutions to the Nation’s Dropout Crisis: A Report by Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE)

This report was forwarded to us by Anh Nguyen from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It is impressive and contains valuable information for educators, policy makers and others interested in engaging students who are being failed by traditional systems and concerned with the dropout (or as VOYCE found, inadvertent slide-out) problem. While the findings may not be shocking, the report is an important contribution and has already had influence–Chicago Public Schools announced a partnership with VOYCE that will provide a personalized four-year graduation plan for every high school freshman, proactive retreats for struggling students, and more opportunities for student voice in the city’s education reform.

While the original research conducted by the students (which includes surveying over 1,325 of their peers!) and the subsequent findings are based on their experiences in Chicago, the findings and recommendations are relevant to all of our work. Their research delves into the causes behind the dropout problem from the student perspective and their recommendations voice support for some of the key ideas behind AHSI schools and offer some additional promising ideas. Finally, the rigorous process they went through to create this report can be looked to as a model of student voice and leadership. For all these reasons, we encourage you to take a look at this report, if you have not seen it already!

To view the report online, please go to: http://www.voyceproject.org/wp-content/uploads/reports/voycereport111308.pdf

If you would prefer to receive a PDF version, please e-mail Sam Seidel at sseidel@bigpicture.org and he will send one to you.

2008 GUIDE TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE FUNDING
Substance abuse program providers seeking new private or federal funding in 2009 will find a wealth of leads and opportunities in the GRANTSEEKERS GUIDE TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE FUNDING, published by the editors of Substance Abuse and Disability Services Report, the continually-updated source of federal and private funding leads for substance abuse and disability program providers.

You can download the PDF version, with hotlinks to cited websites, by going to:
http://www.cdpublications.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=58

The Guide offers a comprehensive overview of funding opportunities from the major federal agencies for prevention programs in communities, school districts, employment services, roadway safety and more. It also includes details on an extensive list of private funders who fund addiction programs at the national, regional, state and local levels.

FUNDING NOTICE: FIELD-INITIATED GRANTS
The William T. Grant Foundation is now accepting letters of inquiry for their field-initiated grants program. Their Current Research Interests are understanding how social settings such as families, schools, peer groups, and organizations work; how they affect youth; and how they can be improved. Interests also focus on when, how, and under what conditions research evidence is used in policy and practice that affect youth, and how its use can be improved. Please see the attached funding announcement, at the end of this newsletter, for more information.
This announcement is for their field-initiated major grants program, but they have several other funding opportunities. Applicants interested in the William T. Grant Scholars Program can get more information here: http://www.wtgrantfoundation.org/info-url5243/info-url_show.htm?doc_id=646415. Those seeking more information on the Distinguished Fellows Program can visit this page: http://www.wtgrantfoundation.org/info-url5243/info-url_show.htm?doc_id=646416.

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