Greetings!

Educator mentoring grants available

A new mentoring program for beginning teachers and administrators in Oregon will launch soon, thanks to a law passed last year by the Oregon Legislature. Enough money was included in the state budget to support about one-third of eligible educators during the 2008-09 school year. The goal of the program is to help recruit and retain high-quality educators in Oregon’s public schools.

School districts may apply to the Oregon Department of Education for competitive grants to fund mentors. Up to $5,000 is available for teachers, principals and superintendents with less than two years’ experience. The grant application deadline is April 11, 2008.

For more information about the mentor grants and the grant application process, please visit the ODE Web site and scroll down to the “Mentoring” headline.

Traveling I-84? Check out Chalkboard!

Since the beginning of the year, Chalkboard has been featured prominently on an I-84 billboard as you’re heading westbound into the city of Portland (near the Halsey interchange). The billboard – and its message to “get involved for better schools” – will remain up through the end of this month.

Chalkboard offers stipends for parent involvement training

Chalkboard has created a two-part toolkit called Running Start to help schools and families better communicate with each other. To help spread the use of these materials, we’re offering stipends of up to $400 to public schools and non-profit organizations that would like to conduct a training session on how to use the Running Start toolkit. This financial support is made possible by a generous grant from Bank of the West.

For more information or to apply for a stipend, contact Kristin Bryant at kristin@chalkboardproject.org or visit the Chalkboard Web site.

Chalkboard undertakes achievement gap research

This spring, Chalkboard is sponsoring a research project led by the Black Parent Initiative, a Portland-based non-profit helping parents take action to close the educational achievement gap that too often exists between African American students and their white peers.

The research will explore African American student achievement in Multnomah County, looking at test scores and other characteristics of each metro-area school. Chalkboard and BPI expect to see some patterns emerge that indicate what high-performing schools are doing differently to close the achievement gap. We plan to have this research ready for release in October.

Learn more about the Black Parent Initiative

Legislature hears bill on teacher professional development

The Oregon Senate Education Committee took testimony during the Legislature’s special session this month on a bill to improve professional development for Oregon teachers. While Chalkboard did not support this particular bill, we do believe the issue is of critical importance, and plan to work collaboratively with other education groups to propose legislation in 2009.

Take the Open Book$ Survey

Since we first launched our Open Book$ Web site in 2006 to provide Oregonians with easy-to-understand information about school spending, we’ve added new information, such as student demographics and per-student spending data. How can we continue expanding Open Book$ to make it more useful to you? Let us know by taking a short survey – we appreciate your comments!

Click here to take the survey.

First school district business practices report coming soon

Chalkboard has partnered with the Oregon Association of School Business Officials to conduct reviews of business practices at five volunteer school districts this year. The goals are to develop a set of “best business practices” that can be shared statewide, and help identify ways districts can become more efficient in their business operations.

The Beaverton School District volunteered to be the first to undergo such a review, and the findings are nearly complete. Look for an announcement of results in March, along with a list of the remaining districts that will participate in the reviews.

In the News: Visit our "In the News" section to read news articles about Chalkboard initiatives from around the state.
www.chalkboardproject.org: Check out our website for more in-depth information on who we are and what we do.



	Greetings! Educator mentoring grants available A new mentoring program for beginning teachers and administrators in Oregon will launch soon, thanks to a law passed last year by the Oregon Legislature. Enough money was included in the state budget to support about one-third of eligible educators during the 2008-09 school year. The goal of the program is to help recruit and retain high-quality educators in Oregon’s public schools. School districts may apply to the Oregon Department of Education for competitive grants to fund mentors. Up to $5,000 is available for teachers, principals and superintendents with less than two years’ experience. The grant application deadline is April 11, 2008. For more information about the mentor grants and the grant application process, please visit the ODE Web site and scroll down to the “Mentoring” headline. Traveling I-84? Check out Chalkboard! Since the beginning of the year, Chalkboard has been featured prominently on an I-84 billboard as you’re heading westbound into the city of Portland (near the Halsey interchange). The billboard – and its message to “get involved for better schools” – will remain up through the end of this month. Chalkboard offers stipends for parent involvement training Chalkboard has created a two-part toolkit called Running Start to help schools and families better communicate with each other. To help spread the use of these materials, we’re offering stipends of up to $400 to public schools and non-profit organizations that would like to conduct a training session on how to use the Running Start toolkit. This financial support is made possible by a generous grant from Bank of the West. For more information or to apply for a stipend, contact Kristin Bryant at kristin@chalkboardproject.org or visit the Chalkboard Web site. Chalkboard undertakes achievement gap research This spring, Chalkboard is sponsoring a research project led by the Black Parent Initiative, a Portland-based non-profit helping parents take action to close the educational achievement gap that too often exists between African American students and their white peers. The research will explore African American student achievement in Multnomah County, looking at test scores and other characteristics of each metro-area school. Chalkboard and BPI expect to see some patterns emerge that indicate what high-performing schools are doing differently to close the achievement gap. We plan to have this research ready for release in October. Learn more about the Black Parent Initiative Legislature hears bill on teacher professional development The Oregon Senate Education Committee took testimony during the Legislature’s special session this month on a bill to improve professional development for Oregon teachers. While Chalkboard did not support this particular bill, we do believe the issue is of critical importance, and plan to work collaboratively with other education groups to propose legislation in 2009. Read a recent editorial on this topic in The Oregonian Read a guest column by Chalkboard’s president Read a guest column by Chalkboard’s board chair					Take the Open Book$ Survey Since we first launched our Open Book$ Web site in 2006 to provide Oregonians with easy-to-understand information about school spending, we’ve added new information, such as student demographics and per-student spending data. How can we continue expanding Open Book$ to make it more useful to you? Let us know by taking a short survey – we appreciate your comments! Click here to take the survey. First school district business practices report coming soon Chalkboard has partnered with the Oregon Association of School Business Officials to conduct reviews of business practices at five volunteer school districts this year. The goals are to develop a set of “best business practices” that can be shared statewide, and help identify ways districts can become more efficient in their business operations. The Beaverton School District volunteered to be the first to undergo such a review, and the findings are nearly complete. Look for an announcement of results in March, along with a list of the remaining districts that will participate in the reviews.


	In the News: Visit our "In the News" section to read news articles about Chalkboard initiatives from around the state. www.chalkboardproject.org: Check out our website for more in-depth information on who we are and what we do.