E-NEWS
NCEA Secondary Schools Department
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Kindly distribute E-News to others in your school community.
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Dear Catholic Secondary School Educator
Welcome to the mid-April edition of E-News. The information supplied in this newsletter aims to inform Catholic high school administrators, faculty, staff, and students on professional development opportunities, curriculum resources, and relevant news stories.
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A School Where STEM Is King
By Andrew Trotter
A selective, specialized high school in Baltimore uses an interdisciplinary approach that enables students to experience STEM as a way of life.
Teachers and students at Poly, as it is known here, gather up knowledge and information because they have a use for it. The focus on applied information is a clue to the bigger purpose at this public school on the northern end of the Baltimore school district: To be a caldron for the blending disciplines known as STEM--science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
STEM "is blending practice with theory," says Barney J. Wilson, the energetic leader of the school. "Folks talk about STEM as if it were in a box, but it's a way of thinking and living. To really understand it, you have to live it."
For the past two decades, the high school--which for more than a century was organized around manual arts and, later, vocational technology--has remolded itself around STEM.
Today, with STEM education on the lips of national and business leaders and a growing cadre of educators, the 1,350-student school finds itself in a position of leadership.
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It can be a tall order for many schools to help students excel in stem subjects. But the Baltimore district has gotten a hand from a foundation-led initiative aimed at doing just that. The $1 million-per-year Ingenuity Project, begun in 1992 and led by the locally based Abell Foundation, supports about 500 selected students in grades 6-12 at two middle schools and a high school. Goals include succeeding on Advanced Placement tests and excelling in elite national competitions in mathematics, science, engineering, technology, and related fields. Students apply to take part in middle school; all must reapply for 9th grade. Students are grouped together for science and math, but are blended into regular classes for other subjects. At Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, a stem-focused high school that draws students from across the city, Ingenuity students in grades 9-12 take part in independent research projects in science lasting two or three school years, including work in the summers. "They can dig into something, learning things not in a textbook but on the cutting edge," says Dolores Costello, the executive director of the Ingenuity Project.
David Nelson, the research director at Poly, whose position is funded by the project, helps students find their research topics and a Baltimore-area scientists to mentor them at an outside facility. "We try to give students as much autonomy and responsibility to make their own decision to define their own interests," Nelson says. "It is valuable for the student to go through that process."
—Andrew Trotter
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Summer Workshop for Science and Technology Educators Attend workshops on advanced transportation and alternative energies along with general science and technology topics. These workshops will illustrate how educators can use these themes to convey STEM (science, technology, engineering, technology) concepts to students. Conference cost is only $25 and many of the presentations provide FREE hands-on activities and materials that educators implement in their own classrooms. More information is available at http://csats.psu.edu/GREATT/stw/STW_Home.htm and at http://csats.psu.edu/GREATT/ *This is event is sponsored through a grant from the National Science Foundation and hosted by the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute of the Pennsylvania State University. |
Who Will Save America's Urban Catholic Schools?
In the past two decades 20% of U.S. Catholic parochial schools have been closed. This fact not only jeopardizes whether children in U.S. cities can access high quality education, but will likely cost taxpayers more than $20 billion to accommodate the additional students that public schools have absorbed.
Scott Hamilton from The Thomas B. Fordham Institute recently edited, "Who Will Save America's Urban Catholic Schools?" The Thomas B. Fordham Institute is a nonprofit organization that conducts research, issues publications, and directs action projects in elementary and secondary education reform at the national level. The report is based on findings from a national survey in addition to case study findings.
The case studies focused on:
- Diocesan and Archdiocesan leadership in Wichita, Memphis and Denver
- Independent religious order networks such as Nativity Miguel and Cristo Rey
- Public support for Catholic Schools such as the voucher program in Milwaukee and the proposed conversion to charter schools in Washington, DC
- Support from Catholic higher educational institutions such as the ACE program operated by the University of Notre Dame
- Make Catholic education affordable for all Catholic children.
- Make educating the poor a signature Church mission once again.
- Revive some by closing the other urban parochial schools.
- Turn excess school facilities over to charter school networks with a proven track record of educating poor students.
- Overcome nostalgia and face these problems head-on.
- Answer the call from bishops who make education their priority.
- Create and support new networks of Catholic schools.
- Grow and replicate ACE -- the Teach For America for urban Catholic schools.
- Promote efforts to collect data, foster transparency and astutely "market" Catholic schools.
- Find ways beyond Title I services and school lunches to provide (federal, state and local) financial assistance to urban Catholic schools and needy children who attend them.
(Scott Hamilton, "Who Will Save America’s Urban Catholic Schools?", The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, April 10, 2008).
The full report is available for download online. The pdf can be accessed at http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/catholic_schools_08.pdf
Do your students know how to manage credit cards, budget personal finances, or prepare savings plans?
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in partnership with Operation Hope offers a free 8-module curriculum for young adults, ages 12 to 20 called Money Smart. This computer-based curriculum program is FREE to you as an NCEA member. Volunteer instructors are provided and are located across the country to ensure that every school can benefit from this curriculum Your regional representative can help set up the course at your school. Check here for your regional representative's contact information http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/community/offices.html
Money Smart enables students to complete the educational curriculum at their own pace and anywhere they have access to a computer. The FDIC’s updated version is easy to use and incorporates improvements to the curriculum in areas such as shopping for a mortgage, avoiding identity theft, and saving money for the future. It also reflects recent changes in law and industry practices. The English version is available now, and the Spanish version will be released in mid-2008. (To visit or order the new CBI version online go to: http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/moneysmart/mscbi/mscbi.html.)
This program is truly worth the investment of time and scheduling as it will provide your students with the sensibility and knowledge about personal financesl needed to navigate the tenuous national economy that is our reality today and the near future.
Resources, news and information from the Papal visit available.
"The Holy Father's visit to the United States was certainly an historic occasion and especially memorable for those of us fortunate enough to have participated in some of the events. As educators we can be grateful both that Pope Benedict XVI personally encouraged us in our ministries and that Father David O'Connell and the rest of The Catholic University of America community welcomed us so graciously.
As you share your experiences with family, friends and colleagues, I want to make sure you know about some of the resources related to the Holy Father's visit to the United States. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has posted streaming videos of each of the public events of Pope Benedict's visit. These, including the address to Catholic educators, can be accessed at http://www.uspapalvisit.org/video_audio.htm. They are all in Windows Media format. If you are looking for the text of any of the Holy Father's addresses while he was in the United States, these are all available at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2008/april/index_en.htm You can even pick the language you care to read!"
- Marie A. Powell, Executive Director, Secretariat of Catholic Education, USCCB
Due to the outstanding success of Saint Joseph Academy in Cleveland, Ohio in hosting a teacher from China, Catholic high schools have been specifically requested to apply to host teachers from China or Egypt for one year. All expenses are fully covered by the Teachers of Critical Language Program, which is funded by the State Department. The exchange teacher will come from either China or Egypt and will help to develop curricula, instruct language teachers and students, and to establish school partnerships.
The program has doubled in size and is looking for schools interested in developing a Chinese or Arabic language program. Applications are due May 16th, 2008 and require minimal work to complete. Applications are available at http://www.americancouncils.org/TCLP/application.php . If you have any questions, you are encouraged to contact Ben Dunbar who will be more than happy to assist you through the process. Ben can be reached at (202) 833-7522 / (202) 833-7523 (f), dunbar@americancouncils.org
* For more information about Saint Joseph Academy’s participation, please see the Secondary Schools Department website, or see the February/March 2008 Momentum Magazine.
Host a teacher from Mexico or Turkey at no cost and reap the rewards of introducing another culture to your students! The Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program currently has several opportunities to host international teachers for yearlong one-way exchanges. The exchanges are free of cost to the host schools because the participants receive their home school salaries in addition to a maintenance allowance from the U.S. Department of State. Host school application is available at http://www.americancouncils.org/TCLP/. You are encouraged you to investigate, consider, and apply to the program. We anticipate an application deadline of mid-May. Contact Program Officer William Heaton at HeatonWE@state.gov.
Sr. Mary Frances Taymans, SND, Executive Director
Sr. Mary E. Tracy, SNJM, Associate Executive Director
Mr. Gary Meyerl, Assistant Executive Director
Ms. Christiane Connors, Director of Special Projects
Mr. Michael Conroy, Administrative Assistant
Mrs. Kelley Endreola, Administrative Assistant
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