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Greetings!
It's officially "college acceptance season" at Uplift Education. We've had the first of what we're sure will be hundreds of college acceptance letters come in for our students, and scholarship awards are quickly tallying as well.
We are trying to raise $4 million for our Road to College program to support
our students dreams of attending college through end of year college
trips, test preparation and Road to College counselors. You can contribute to this fund by donating online and designating your gift toward Road to College.
We're also excited to share that Uplift recently received a five-year, $9 million grant award from the Department of Education's Teacher Incentive Fund. This is great news, as we will be able to strengthen our rewards program for teachers who are already advancing student achievement and producing high test scores among their students. It means that we can do more to keep great teachers in our classrooms and in high needs areas.
With Heights Prep and Laureate Prep having officially celebrated their openings, Uplift is now moving into the planning phase for the schools we will open next summer. Your support as we move forward on our road to serving 10,000 students is always appreciated.
Shine through,
Yasmin Bhatia, CEO
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News & School Highlights |
| · Uplift awarded $9 million Teacher Incentive Fund grant from Dept. of Education
Uplift
Education has been awarded a five-year, $9 million "Teacher Incentive
Fund" (TIF) grant from the Department of Education. We were the only
charter school in Texas to receive TIF funding. These funds will go towards Uplift's
reward and recognition program that includes incentive pay, Dynamic Day
in Dallas, Master Teachers, and our launch of common formative
assessments.
| · North Hills Prep joins prestigious list of K-12 IB World Schools
Congratulations to North Hills Prep on the accreditation of their Middle Years Programme. The school now offers the full K-12 IB continuum.
· Texas' top charter schools demand more from students, parents, teachers
Read The Dallas Morning News story here.
· Uplift opens new schools, Heights Prep and Laureate Prep, for 2010-2011
Check out the stories from The Dallas Morning News, DMN Opinion Blog, TXA 21 and Downtown Dallas Inc.
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 The Class of 2011: College Acceptances
First college acceptance letter comes in and 72 AP Scholars named
The honor of first college acceptance of the year goes Summit International Prep student Ricardo Morales. He has been accepted to Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo., and offered an $11,000 per year scholarship! He also plans to apply to Temple University, Fordham University, Syracuse, and University of Pittsburgh.
Click here to see a short video we shot with Ricardo the day he submitted his application to Rockhurst last month. The Class of 2011 has also had 72 students to-date named as AP Scholars (or higher) by the College Board. We're expecting this number to go up, with a few campuses still waiting on final notifications. AP Scholar: 33 Uplift students Granted to students who receive scores of 3 or higher on three or more AP Exams.
AP Scholar with Honor: 17 Uplift students
Granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams.
AP Scholar with Distinction: 22 Uplift students Granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams.
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 Pledge to see Waiting for "Superman"
Showtimes at the Magnolia, Angelika and Northeast Mall
A new documentary, Waiting for "Superman," is out in theaters that examines the crisis of public education in the United States through multiple interlocking stories. The film follows a handful of students and their families, as well as educators and reformers trying to find lasting solutions within a broken education system.
You can see the film locally at the following theaters:
Monday, October 4-Thursday, October 7 in Dallas
The Magnolia 11:45am I 12:30 I 2:15 I 3:00 I 4:45 I 5:30 I 8:00 I 9:45 I 10:30
The Angelika 11:00am I 12:30 I 1:30 I 3:00 I 4:30 I 7:00 I 8:00 I 9:30
Friday, October 8-Sunday, October 10 in Hurst
Northeast Mall 11:00am I 1:45 I 4:30 I 7:15 I 10:00
Join the thousands of supporters who have pledged to see this important film.
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 From a Leader's Perspective: North Hills Prep
Our campus and school leaders share about their schools
Shawn Stover joined Uplift Education this year as the senior director of North Hills Prep. This month, he shares about himself, his vision for North Hills Prep, and the exciting things happening at Uplift's oldest campus.
Here are some fast facts about Shawn Stover:
First Teaching Job: Part of the first Teach for America corps
Years Working in Education: 20 years
Dream Job as a Kid: Astrophysicist
Favorite Way to Spend Free Time: Spending time with his wife and two sons, doing puzzles, following Carolina sports
Best Advice for Students: We all have our mountains to climb. The most important thing you can do is climb that mountain and not give up.
Click here to see Shawn talk about what it's like to be the senior director at North Hills Prep.
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 Teachable Moments: Hampton Prep
Justin Houston, Hampton Prep teacher, keeps foreign languages relevant in middle school with hip hop
Mr. Houston's 6th grade introductory Spanish class loves learning the basics of a new language because their teacher uses creative ways to keep it interesting and relevant to their lives. They practice translating numbers by taking down phone numbers in Spanish and learning the ABCs to the theme of a popular hip hop song.
The ABCs are a class favorite because they get to perform them to the tune of Usher's hit song OMG. The students get to dance along to the track as long as Mr. Houston can hear the ABCs coming through loud and clear.
Click here to watch clips from Mr. Houston's Spanish class.
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Results Driven: Peak Preparatory and the Uplift model
Uplift's oldest urban campus showcases the success of the Uplift model with stellar Commended scores from its sixth year of operation
Now in it's sixth year of operation, Peak Preparatory showcases how the Uplift model, started in North Hills Prep, translates to substantial advances in student achievement in our urban campuses. In the 2010 TAKS administration, Peak Prep students outpaced neighboring schools' Commended rates on 26 of 27 subject-grade combinations. We see our second generation urban schools (Hampton, Summit International and Williams) moving toward this level of achievement as they move out of their initial start-up phase and into their fourth year of operations.
Looking at the percent of Peak Prep students achieving Commended status by subject-area, you see that they are doing far better on these tests than their peers in traditional public schools.
% Commended by Subject
When looking at individual tests, we see Peak Prep students achieving Commended status by significantly larger margins than their peers in 8th grade and high school. Areas of noteworthy student performance include the following:
Percent Commended by Test
- 8th Grade
- Math: Peak 46%, Neighboring School 10%
- Reading: Peak 66%, Neighboring School 35%
- Science: Peak 58%, Neighboring School 18%
- 9th Grade
- Math: Peak 56%, Neighboring School 15%
- 10th Grade
- Math: Peak 38%, Neighboring School 15%
- Social Studies: Peak 68%, Neighboring School 29%
- 11th Grade
- Math: Peak 38%, Neighboring School 18%
- English/Language Arts: Peak 61%, Neighboring School 7%
- Social Studies: Peak 72%, Neighboring School 38%
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| Bottom Line |
100 percent of Uplift Education seniors graduate and are accepted to college. |
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