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Greetings!

As Thanksgiving approaches, we at Chalkboard are reflecting on the fact that we have much to be thankful for this year. In addition to the big win of the TIF grant, Chalkboard's parnters and schools throughout Oregon have experienced many other successes worthy of celebration.

Tillamook Title 1 School Recognized by ODE

Liberty Elementary School in the Tillamook School District, one of our CLASS districts, has been selected by the Oregon Department of Education to represent Oregon in the National Title I Distinguished Schools Program. The program is sponsored by the National Association of State Title I Directors.

Liberty has been selected to represent Oregon in Category 2 as a "school that has significantly closed the achievement gap between student groups." The school will receive a $5,000 award and will be honored at the National Title I Conference in Florida at the end of January.

According to a staff member in Tillamook, "Congratulations are in order for Donna Minard and her staff at Liberty from the last few years for this wonderful honor. Jennifer Guarcello (the Title I Coordinator at the time) should be recognized as well for managing the paperwork side of things and keeping us all in compliance."

Read more about the school's selection on the ODE website.

Tillamook's East Elementary was also recognized by the Oregon Department of Education for its work to close the achievement gap. Learn more here. 

Superintendent of the Year Announced

Nancy Golden, Superintendent of Springfield Public Schools, has been named the 2011 Superintendent of the Year by the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators (COSA). The award automatically puts her in the running for the National Superintendent of the Year Award from the American Association of School Administrators (AASA).


Nancy became Superintendent of Springfield in 2003. During her tenure she is credited with improving the district's focus on instructional leadership and strengthening community partnerships and support.


Congratulations to Nancy and good luck to her in the national competition!


You can learn more in the Springfield Public Schools' news release.


Local Company Earns Recognition for ChalkBloggers

Mambo Media, Inc., a Portland-based internet marketing and web design firm, helped Chalkboard with the creation of our new blog, ChalkBloggers.  Mambo was recently recognized for its work on ChalkBloggers by the Society for New Communications Research. Mambo received a Commendation of Merit in the Online Publishing & Blogging category, Nonprofit division of the SNCR Excellence in New Communications Awards program. Congrats, Mambo!


To learn more about the award, read Mambo's press release.


Visit ChalkBloggers to see Mambo's great work in action.


Recent posts include :

Successful TIF Kick-Off

On October 25th Chalkboard brought together all of our Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grant partners--including those from the federal level--for a very successful kick-off meeting in Portland.


Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. and the Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University will provide technical support to our partner districts in addition to conducting an evaluation of our work with Bend-La Pine Schools and the Greater Albany School District. Representatives from both organizations were on hand on October 25th to help explain the TIF process and requirements, and also to begin their study with Bend and Albany.


Chalkboard is excited not only to have the monetary support of TIF, but to be part of a national study on what is working in education reform. We believe this is a chance to help inform the national agenda - a belief that is strengthened by some things we have recently learned:

  •  We are one of the only grant awardees to be directly implementing our project with a consortium of districts rather than contracting a third-party to oversee implementation
  •  Our work with the CLASS Project is one of the more collaborative reform models being examined at the federal level 

You can learn more about our TIF grant by reading our award press release.


Learn more about our teacher-driven approach to reform by visiting www.educators4reform.org
Miller Foundation Offers Awards for New Teachers

The James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation is offering new high school teachers in Oregon awards up to $5,000 to further their professional development. The Foundation seeks to support teachers in their first five years in the profession who want to engage in activities that benefit their professional growth as well as the growth of their students. 


Principals must nominate an eligible teacher by December 1st.


Learn more on the Miller Foundation's Facebook page.

Our Voices, Our Schools

This month we spoke with Maryalice Russell, Superintendent of the McMinnville School District since 2002. She is President of the Oregon Association of School Executives (OASE). She also sits on the COSA Board of Directors.


This year a new Superintendents' group came together, a task force designed by COSA (Confederation of Oregon School Administrators), called the Education Vision and Policy Workgroup. Why did the group form and what is the group's mission?


Simply put, the group has formed to talk about strategies to forward academic achievement for all students in Oregon. Our mission is to support students to be competitive in the global economy and to ensure they receive a strong education to provide them and their future families with a positive quality of life. We think a well educated Oregon will make for a great Oregon.


As a long time educator in Oregon, what role do you think educators should play in the state policy process?


Educators should play a critical role in the policy process. As practitioners they know what works and doesn't work in the classroom. The educator's perspective is important to any policy change that is going to impact the field. If we want to do things to help students learn we should ask those invested in teaching every day what they think the best avenue might be to further any particular learning goal.


McMinnville School District was recently awarded $6.7 million in federal Teacher Incentive Fund dollars. What will the grant mean for the district?


The Teacher Incentive Fund grant will recognize teachers for the hard work they already do. Additionally, the grant will increase the opportunity for teachers to share successful strategies used in advancing student learning.

November 2010
In This Issue
Tillamook Title 1 School Recognized by ODE
Superintendent of the Year Announced
Local Company Earns Recognition for ChalkBloggers
Successful TIF Kick-Off
Miller Foundation Offers Awards for New Teachers
Our Voices, Our Schools
Thank You to Our Sponsors
Chalkboard Hiring, Seeking Evaluation Proposals
What's Next for Chalkboard
Thank You to Our Sponsors

Receiving the federal TIF grant was wonderful news, but our work would not be possible without the support of local foundations and individuals. We would like to thank our most recent donors, Pacific Power Foundation and Qwest.


Pacific Power Foundation has given dollars that will support the work of CLASS in Bend-La Pine Schools, Redmond School District, High Desert ESD, and Lebanon Community Schools.


Qwest's contribution is targeted to the 75,041 students and 4,215 teachers in the seven school districts in Qwest's service area recently awarded CLASS Project design grants: Bend La-Pine, Redmond, Sisters, Crook County, High Desert ESD, Salem-Keizer, and Oregon City.


Thank you,Pacific Power Foundation and Qwest, for supporting Oregon's teachers and students. 

Chalkboard Hiring, Seeking Evaluation Proposals

Our beloved Finance Specialist, John, will be leaving us for warmer weather in Arizona in the next few months. In order to allow for plenty of training time, we are starting our search for his replacement now. If interested, you can view the full job description here.


In addition to the federal TIF evaluation of Bend-La Pine and Albany school districts, Chalkboard is seeking a contractor to conduct a five-year comprehensive local evaluation of our work with all of our partner districts. You can download the RFP here. 

What's Next for Chalkboard...

Dec 2
Advisory Council Meeting

Dec 3
All CLASS Project Meeting

Dec 10
Oregon Leadership Network Fall Institute

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