Dr. Elaine Free, a nationally recognized consultant to public school foundations, will be the featured speaker at a free, regional meeting for school foundation volunteers slated from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. March 3 at the Clinton High School Media Center, 2130 Gary Blvd. in Clinton. The event is open to all school foundation volunteers, school administrators or anyone interested in learning about best practices for new and established education foundations.
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The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence is seeking nominations for its Outstanding Program Awards for Local Education Foundations (LEFs). Recognized programs may include but are not limited to: mentoring, arts integration, student leadership development, curriculum enhancement, student scholarships, professional development for teachers, public relations and fundraising. Nominations for recognition may come from any member of a community served by the foundation or from anyone knowledgeable about the foundation, including its board members. Nominators may nominate only one program for recognition.

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Times are tough, money is tight, and fundraising is difficult. What are we to do? It simply depends on one thing: Do you love your customer? To answer that question, you need to know who your customer is. Is it the district, the administration, the teachers, the students or could it be all of the above?

Local education foundations made two significant gains in the 2008 legislative session with House Bill 2935 and Senate Bill 1956.

As an organization that recognizes and encourages academic excellence in Oklahoma's public schools, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence wants to inform you about a unique online teacher grant program that is providing thousands of dollars to help support Oklahoma schools.

Ron Clark, who has gained national acclaim for his out-of-the-box teaching techniques and his ability to help at-risk students become high achievers, gave the keynote address at the 20th annual Fall Forum for Local Education Foundations on Oct. 23, engaging participants with song, dance and inspiring classroom stories. Clark spoke to nearly 400 local education foundation leaders, educators and future teachers at the Fall Forum, which was presented by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence.
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Fifty-eight Ardmore and Plainview (Ardmore) educators shared $110,000 in performance bonuses courtesy of the Ardmore Chamber of Commerce Cornerstone program. The recognition of outstanding teachers is the result of over two year's work by Cornerstone committees to develop the criteria and process for rewarding outstanding performance by educators.

 

Cornerstone is a unique private sector funded education initiative started by the Ardmore Chamber of Commerce to improve student achievement. The program also includes funding for summer school, benchmark testing, signing bonuses for quality teachers in hard to place subject areas, and the implementation of a data warehouse system for immediate and comprehensive feedback on student and teacher performance.

 

Dr. Karen Rose
Director of LEF Outreach
Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence
120 N. Robinson, Suite 1420-W
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
(918) 743-5533
E-mail krose@ofe.org
 

 

Our outreach efforts continue to expand across Oklahoma. We have added 21 new LEFs to our list in the past three years. Cathy Render's leadership as chair of our Outreach Committee played a major role in supporting and promoting local foundations during these years. We are very grateful to Cathy for her dedication, persistence, and vision. We are fortunate that she will remain actively involved on the committee as Suzanne Thompson takes over the chair position. 
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