I look forward to blogging again in the fall. Please enjoy the articles and comments previously posted, but remember that we do not accept comments on past entries.
Summer Hiatus
June 25th, 2010Harry Burke Awards
June 14th, 2010I had the honor last Thursday to attend the Harry Burke awards ceremony, sponsored by the Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC), which recognizes our talented and dedicated special education teachers. This year’s winners for Outstanding Achievement in Special Education are Dawn Lucas, from George Mason, at the primary level, and Francis C. Hammond’s Melvin Stallings at the secondary level. Both are outstanding educators and excellent role models for their students and fellow teachers. Read the rest of this entry »
The Work Starts With Us
June 1st, 2010At the May 20 School Board meeting, four former School Board chairmen (Ferdinand Day, Mark Eaton, Melvin Miller and Connie Ring) spoke eloquently about how the future of Alexandria’s children depends not just on the schools, but on the support they receive through the City and in the community. These leaders represent a larger group of former School Board chairs who are developing a campaign to encourage civic action on behalf of our City’s youth. It was so humbling to hear these men, who have already given so much to our schools and to this City, asking the community to pull together and transform the way we prepare our children to be happy, healthy and engaged citizens. It does, in fact, take a village. Read the rest of this entry »
The Right Way to Teach Writing
May 17th, 2010In case you missed the recent announcement in the Daily Digest, I am very pleased to share the good news about our preliminary Spring 2010 SOL writing scores:
- The unadjusted pass rates of 13 of 19 schools are up from the previous year.
- Thirteen of 19 schools have adjusted pass rates of 90 percent or above, including five schools at 95 percent or higher.
- All five middle schools had higher unadjusted pass rates in Spring 2010 than did their predecessor school in 2008 and 2009.
- Jefferson-Houston K-8 School and Matthew Maury Elementary School show unadjusted percentage point increases of 20 or more over the previous year.
Teacher Appreciation Week
May 3rd, 2010“Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.”
John F. Kennedy
Our nation celebrates Teacher Appreciation Week this week, although we would probably all agree that outstanding teachers should be celebrated year-round. Teachers like: Read the rest of this entry »
