DECEMBER 2000	Accelerated Schools Project
INSIDE Page 1 Greetings from the Director, General Center Information, Concentrate on Teachers Page 2, Generate Ideas By Passing Them Along, Update on Training/Networking Opportunities, Define Consensus for Your Work Teams, Don't Miss These . . ., Second-Year Evaluation Summary Page 3 Powerful Learning Grant Winners, Update/News from . . .	Greetings from the Director
	Seasons Greetings to each of you! What a busy fall semester this has been! It has been wonderful seeing many of you either in training sessions, at networking meetings, or at your schools. It is wonderful seeing firsthand the multitude of exciting things that are occurring in our network of schools. I'd like to use this column to update you regarding a number of issues. First, our National Conference in Las Vegas is going to be great! As a part of the planning committee I had the privilege of helping review the proposals that were submitted and then to help organize the program. There are many stimulating sessions planned as well as some fun social events (e.g., Super Bowl party on Sunday, Our Network's Dessert Reception on Monday evening.) I look forward to seeing so many of you in one location! Second, the National Policy Advisory Board met recently and a major part of our discussion dealt with affiliation and accountability. As most of you are aware, we've instituted a nominal affiliation fee for our network of schools ($100). This fee helps defray the cost of our newsletters, but also serves as a way for schools to formally "stay connected" to our Accelerated School network. The affiliation with the Network keeps our schools accountable to upholding the name of "Accelerated Schools." Affiliation with the National Movement is important. Unfortunately, much of the work of our National Center goes unnoticed because it is "behind the scenes". For example, our National Center advocates for all of us on a national level, just as the Satellite Center advocates for you on a more local level with state departments and district offices. This is significant work and time consuming, but often unseen and often taken for granted. In the near future each school in our National network will receive a letter from Gene Chasin, our National Center executive director. Gene's letter will inform each school in more detail than I can here about some of the movement's directions for the future that impact all of us. Third, some of you will remember filling out an evaluation for our Satellite Center. I appreciate your diligence in this effort. We sent out 100 surveys and had a 48% return rate -- which by statistical standards is "significant." I think you'll be interested in our Center's Second Year evaluation results. This feedback is important to us as we continue to develop and evaluate the Center services and personnel. You will find the results in this newsletter. Finally, our Network's first Powerful Learning Lab was held November 6-8 and 13-17. I want to publicly thank Kinder Elementary in Miamisburg for hosting the Lab the week of November 13. Five schools in Middletown participated in the Lab. It was one of the most exciting and "powerful" learning experiences I've had the privilege of participating in. I think our participants and mentors would agree. I look forward to seeing many of you in Las Vegas and continuing our important work together in 2001.
Dayton Satellite Center for Accelerated Schools Dr. Julie K. Biddle, Director (Phone: 937-229-4517) (Julie.Biddle@notes.udayton.edu) University of Dayton Satellite Center for Accelerated Schools. The ASP Newsletter is published three times a year by the ASP Satellite Center at the University of Dayton. Vickie Hodges, Communications Coordinator (Phone: 937-229-3870) (Vickie.Hodges@notes.udayton.edu)
Concentrate on Teachers Source: "Doing things right or doing the right things?" by Tom Hoerr, Education Week, May 10, 2000. GOOD PRINCIPALS are teachers of teachers. It is with our teachers that we should concentrate our efforts. This means spending time with teachers, talking with them about their students, instruction, and curriculum, watching them teach, giving them feedback, and asking for their input on issues and feedback about our performance. Our job is to create an environment in which everyone in the building -- children and adults -- grows and learns. Sometimes that means being supportive and sometimes that means being challenging. Occasionally, it means confronting others. In all cases, though, it is doing what is needed to help teachers grow, so that students will learn.
Generate Ideas by Passing Them Along Source: Adapted from: Communication Solutions "Improving Performance Through Value-Centered Management" in Positive Leadership October 2000, Vol. 4, Issue 2, p 1. When you're trying to generate ideas or solutions in a meeting, use this technique: Have everyone write one sentence about the issue at the top of a sheet of paper. Then have everyone pass the paper to the next person at the table. That person should read the idea and then write down something more -- either a new idea or one that builds on the original thought. Once the papers have gone around the table, every person should read the best idea on his or her sheet. Chances are that the group will spark at least a couple of new approaches.
Update on Training/Networking Opportunities for 2000-001 Grant Writing -- February 6 & 7, 2001 Powerful Learning & Inquiry -- May 2, 3 & 4, 2001 Inquiry (for new schools) -- February 8 & 9, 2001 Principals' Institute -- March 29 & 30, 2001
Define Consensus for Your Work Teams Source: Adapted from an interview with team management expert Kristin J. Arnold, by Laura Tiffany, on the Entrepreneur magazine Web site. "Improving Performance through Value-Centered Management" in Positive Leadership, October 2000, Vol. 4, Issue 2, p. 3. When a work team agrees to make decisions by consensus, team members may not be clear on the definition of "consensus." You can define it this way: Not everyone needs to feel excited or enthusiastic about the decision, but everyone should be able to live with the decision and support it. Unless all the team members can accept that, you won't have true consensus.
D O N ' T M I S S T H E S E E X C I T I N G E V E N T S . . . at the Accelerated Schools National Conference in Las Vegas, NV January 28-31, 2001 Remember to arrive early on Sunday, January 28^th. Activities will begin at 1:30 p.m. with the keynote speaker, Carl Upchurch. The Super Bowl party will begin at 3:00 p.m. and there will be plenty of snacks and entertainment! More events to look forward to include a special breakfast on Monday morning, and the Dayton Satellite Center dessert reception on Monday, at 8:00 p.m. (Invitations for the dessert reception are being mailed directly to each school. Please RSVP no later than December 19, 2000 -- Call: (937) 229-3870 or email: Vickie.Hodges@notes.udayton.edu) . . . J O I N T H E F U N ! ! !
Dayton Satellite Center Second-Year Evaluation Summary for 1999-2000 Are center personnel Yes No available ? 46 0 approachable? 46 0 accommodating? 45 0 Training fees reasonable? 24 10 Include meals in fees? 43 1 Fees include materials? 45 1 Training held in Dayton? 28 14 Best training schedule 8:30-3:30? 41 3 Training - use Number of Participants Introduction to ASP 19 5-Day Coaches Training 42 Powerful Learning 30 Inquiry 30 Powerful Learning/Inquiry 16 Principals' Institute 25 Powerful Learning Labs 7
Powerful Learning Grant Winners Announced Ellen Hunter & Kathy Wolf (Lake Elementary, Hartville, OH), for "Pioneer Life." Their 5^th graders will study the colonies of the United States using their Social Studies textbook, books from their school library and computer work/internet activities, and many other activities to provide Pioneer experiences for all of the 265 5^th graders. Bonnie Calvin and Laura Horton-Eagan (Jefferson Accelerated School, Middletown, OH) for "Improving Self-Image and Academic Perception with the Possibility of College Considered." The aim is to have their students perceive themselves as "college material" by offering behavior awards consisting of bus trips to Miami University in Oxford, OH. Keith Armour (Taft Accelerated Elementary, Middletown, OH) for "Learning as a Family." The goal is to provide students with learning opportunities at home which extend the academic day, strengthening reading, writing, math and language art skills, providing positive social skills, reinforcing skills taught at school, and providing parents with materials and inservice training that will increase their own child's learning progress. Lynda Gallagher (Mayfield Accelerated Elementary, Middletown, OH) for "Reading/Study Groups Focused on Powerful Learning." The objective is to form teacher reading/study groups to collaborate on topics related to powerful learning. Mary Kay Eckhart , Josh Hobbs, & Carolyn Weiss (Kinder Elementary, Miamisburg, OH) for "Science Enrichment and Integrating Grade Levels Within School. This project will incorporate the five components of Powerful Learning. All students, regardless of academic abilities, will be involved in this learning process, and the science theme will flow from Kindergarten to 5^th grade in addition to flowing from subject area to subject area within each classroom. Caroline Derr, Rhonda J. Metcalf, Pam Styles, & Ruth Yvonne Wilson (WOW, Dayton, OH) for "Parent Involvement." The school's vision sees parent involvement as a vital mission as a community school. To encourage parent participation, better communication with parents about their children's activities will be accomplished through back and forth journals, and other methods, such as phone contact. Marva M. Lee (WOW, Dayton, OH) for "Making Teddies -- Lots of Stuff to Learn About." The Kindergarten/1^st and 2^nd/3^rd grade teachers will combine classes in the afternoons for a thematic unit on stuffed toy bears. One component of this unit will involve bears being raffled off with proceeds benefiting the community. Nancy Vogel (WOW, Dayton, OH) for "Life Cycles -- Growing and Changing." This project is a multi-disciplinary, year-long unit on life cycles focusing on growth and changes in humans, plants, and animals for 1st grade students.
Updates/News From . . . James Madison Elementary, South Bend, IN, reports that Accelerated School's groundbreaking ceremony for the addition of 10 new classrooms, new office spaces, and cafeteria, and complete building renovation is scheduled for Thursday, October 26, 2000, at 10:00 a.m. The Madison community has waited for this special day since the original feasibility plans were tabled in the summer of 1993. Special guests and dignitaries are invited to participate. The newly organized cadres are beginning their work on the curriculum, instruction, and assessment plans in the following areas: Language Arts (reading and writing), Mathematics, Science, and Social Skills. Standing committees have been formed to meet the needs in the following areas: Staff Care and Communication AND Community Partnerships. Oakdale Elementary, Cincinnati, OH, announces that Accelerated Schools is up and running for our second year. We have met in our "school as a whole" and decided upon eight cadres: Proficiency (which also covers language arts/math issues), Budgeting (to make decisions about grant money spending), Parent Involvement, Safety, Morale/Spirit, Technology/Communication, Inclusion, and Intervention Assessment. These all seem to be important issues to staff and parents. Our steering committee will begin meeting in November. Some special programs have started due to our cadre work and research from last year. We held a two-week half-day program for twenty-five incoming kindergartners who scored low on spring assessments. We called this program Ready Start, and the teachers have already seen a difference in these students in terms of their readiness for school. We are also trying one section of extended day kindergarten for twelve at-risk children. Children attend this small class in the morning and a regular half-day class in the afternoon. We hope that data will be provided to indicate these students will be more successful in school since they did the full-day school this year. The University of Michigan will begin their School Improvement Study on November 6^th with our kindergarten classes and our third-grade students. We are excited about this opportunity for our students. Of course, we continue to focus on our new visions statement: "Oakdale will promote life-long learning in a safe, caring environment by striving in partnership with families and the community to meet the unique needs of the whole child, engaging children in powerful learning, experiences, enabling students to value and improve the world they inherit, and developing a future focused curriculum that incorporates technology-related skills." Our kid friendly acronym is seen on many tee shirts here at Oakdale: Striving for Excellence in Education Daily (SEED). We believe we are headed in the right direction.

ASP WEBSITES

National ASP Center Dayton Satellite Center for Accelerated Schools www.acceleratedschools.net www.udayton.edu/edu/center/oasn/oasn.html

Dayton Satellite Center for Accelerated Schools

University of Dayton

300 College Park Drive

Dayton, OH 45469-0510