LEGISLATIVE UPDATEThe 2010 Louisiana Legislative session ended Monday, June 21st. Please see HERE for the full recap of the session, including bills that directly affected charter schools.
Later this summer, we will release our annual legislative report that details the entire session, as well as voting records.
BESE UPDATEBESE is
scheduled to meet Tuesday, June 29th to July 1st, 2010. The most
significant agenda item includes consideration of charter extensions for schools
finishing their third year of operation. We will update you
on the results of the BESE meeting upon it's conclusion.
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3rd Annual Louisiana Charter Schools Conference
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****Register by July 15, 2010 to take advantage of our early bird rates!****
Registration is officially open for the 3rd Annual
Louisiana Charter Schools Conference to be held October 15-16 at the
Hilton Riverside Hotel in New Orleans.
Special conference rates at the hotel are $149/nt. (Limited
availability; Rate available until
on September 10th). Click HERE to reserve a room.
The Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools
is soliciting proposals for speakers to present
breakout sessions at the 2010 conference. Please take the opportunity
to share your knowledge, expertise, and best practices with your
charter school peers. Deadline for submission is July 15, 2010. See the online submission form HERE.
Award Ceremony Nominations
We are pleased to
announce the 2nd Annual LAPCS Charter School Awards.
These awards are designed to recognize the contributions of school
leaders, teachers, board members, schools, and community leaders in
their efforts to advocate for, support, or enhance Louisiana's public
charter schools. Nominate a charter school leader, board, teacher,
student, and champion to be honored at this year's event. Also, we
have added a "vendor" category this year so you can share with your
fellow charter schools who the best company in Louisiana is that you
work with! Click HERE to access the online submission form. Deadline for nominations is September 15, 2010.
Exhibit / Sponsor
Interested
on sponsoring or exhibiting at the conference? Register today, as
there are only 25 exhibit table left available! Click HERE to access our Sponsorship/Exhibit packet.
Stay tuned for keynote speakers and presenters!
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Questions? Contact Elizabeth Garrett at [email protected] or 504-274-3651
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Louisiana Association
of Public Charter Schools Partners with the Cowen Institute to Examine
School Transportation and Identify Better Practices
The Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools is
working with the Cowen Institute at Tulane University and other public
education stakeholders to study school transportation in New Orleans.
Two main outcomes are expected from this collaboration:
First, we will have a better understanding of school
transportation on a city-wide basis, including:
- How far students are traveling to school and for
how long.
- How much schools are spending on transportation
and what are they getting in return.
How schools and bus vendors are designing and
organizing their routes.
Second, we want to identify possible areas for increasing
the efficiency, quality, and accessibility of school transportation.
The LAPCS will begin this collaboration with a meeting on
school transportation where we will invite you to share your thoughts and
concerns about transportation as well as ideas for potential solutions that
might be tested through the study.
We will follow up in mid-July with more information about
the meeting. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact Michael
Schwam-Baird at [email protected] or Andrea Chen at
[email protected].
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ACSA Holds 1st Annual Educational Practitioners Symposium
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On Friday, May 21st, from 7:30a.m. to 3:00p.m., the Algiers Charter Schools Association (ACSA) held its 1st
Annual Educational Practitioners Symposium at the Sheraton New Orleans
Hotel for all ACSA employees (school administrators, school teachers,
school support staff, school clericals, and all central services
staff). This year's theme was: Nine Schools Sharing One Vision for
Quality Education in ACSA Schools.
Over 550 employees attended the
event....that's representation from ACSA Central Services and all of the
ACSA network schools, with the exception of O. Perry Walker High School
who's staff attended the funeral of one of their faculty members on
that day.
The Symposium provided employees
with an opportunity to research and learn best practices across the
association, like ACSA's Positive Behavior Support model, ACSA's
Response to Intervention model, the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP)
System in ACSA, and Public Leadership in ACSA. After breakfast and an
Opening Session, employees participated in three Concurrent Sessions,
which were lead by a panel of experts from across the association, and
they listened to ACSA's Chief Executive Office, Dr. Andrea
Thomas-Reynolds, provide the key-note address during lunch.
This was an excellent
opportunity for employees in the ACSA network of schools to gather
together to share and learn best practices from each other. There was
plenty of positive feedback from ACSA staff members who said they look
forward to ACSA's 2nd Annual Educational Practitioners Symposium.
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| Job Listings On LAPCS Website |
Please note that the LAPCS website now has a statewide job vacancy posting page on our website. Please let your HR or recruiting staffer know that this resource is available. To access the page, click HERE.
The Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools also has a New Orleans job vacancy page available. To access this site, click HERE. |
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Discovery
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Education2020
(e2020) helps districts provide self-paced digital instruction for
grades 6-12. Our courseware is aligned to state and national standards
and has helped students recover credits since 1998. With our web-based
model, on-demand video lectures, and customizable settings, e2020
allows you to individualize instruction for every student. Visit www.education2020.com.
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The LAPCS is pleased to bring you a comprehensive list of grant opportunities that may be of interest to Louisiana's charter schools. The list is updated daily with new and interesting grant opportunities, so check back often! To visit the list click HERE.
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Members Advisory Council MeetingsNew Orleans Members Advisory Council Meeting
August TBA
Baton Rouge Members Advisory Council Meeting
August TBA
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On July 21st, the Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives at Tulane and the Center for Urban and Public Affairs at the University of New Orleans
will host a statewide summit. This event is part of the Helping Johnny
Walk to School project of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The
purpose of the summit is to investigate a wide variety of issues
related to school siting decisions and look for ways to help schools in
Louisiana make the best school siting decisions.
The
summit is open to anyone who interested in this issue, so please
forward the attached flyer to any of your contacts who might want to
attend.
Please see the attached flyer and look for more information about the summit in the coming weeks.
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Read MTI is excited to announce that they have joined the
Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools. The LAPCS' mission is to increase student achievement by
supporting, promoting, and advocating for quality charter schools in Louisiana. Read MTI is a
non-profit organization that works primarily but not exclusively, with Title 1
and disadvantaged schools. They have successfully teamed up with parishes
throughout the state of Louisiana
in closing the achievement gap in early reading and look forward to bringing that
same success to the charter school members.
If you look at the illiteracy rates for adults, high school
graduates, and 4th graders nationwide, you will notice an important
similarity. They are all about the same. Approximately 1 out of 3 cannot read functionally.
What happens in 4th grade is a transition from 'learning to read to
reading to learn.' By 4th grade a student should be fully proficient
at reading but at a minimum, reading at 'Basic' or better. The key to reading
success by 4th grade can be predicted by 1st grade and
must be taught at the foundational level. Not coincidentally, 1 out of 3
students have speech sound issues that directly lead to reading difficulties or
failures.
In support of LCSA and its members, Read MTI has donated one
school support training program to the organization. Although school support
programs are usually customized to the needs and culture of the school
district, one of the most popular formats will be duplicated for this donation.
Reading Foundations School Support will consist of working with an elementary
school within the association and providing instructional strategies via
Reading Foundations, data assessment training, in-classroom practicum support
and follow up online support for their teachers and reading support teams. The
LCSA will be conducting a competitive essay contest to determine the best
candidate to receive the donation. To qualify, a school must have in place a
literacy team or an administrative liaison responsible for implementation,
progress monitoring, and data collection.
Qualifying schools should write a brief narrative describing
how Reading Foundations would align with their current literacy initiative and
goals and how this project would benefit their students. The best response will
be determined by the LCSA.
An informative overview session will be held online prior to
the selection process so that school members may learn more about Reading
Foundations and the benefits of addressing speech sound issues when creating
the foundational skills necessary for reading success. Reading Foundations
focuses on the 1st of the 5 pillars of reading success as defined by
reading research, the National Reading Panel and the National Early Literacy
Panel. That first pillar is critical because it is the keystone to all the
subsequent interlocking components. The difference between low achieving and
high achieving schools is in recognizing and addressing their students with
speech sound issues.
If any school is reviewing data researched, proven best practices
for closing the achievement gap, then this is a must attend event.
For more information or questions please contact:
Andrea Chen 504
274-3651 [email protected]
Ronn Dimitrik 866-732-3684 [email protected]
Online informational session scheduled dates:
Wednesday, July 7th at 11:00 AM CST
Tuesday, July 13th at 4:00 PM CST
To participate, ON
THE DAY OF THE SESSION, click on the link below and join the meeting.
Access Code: 4445193
Dial in phone #: 866-740-1260
http://www.readytalk.com/
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"Education: Tackling the Turnaround Challenge"
Social Innovation Conversations
January 2010
With large percentages of children nationwide performing below state
levels in K-12 schools, school turnarounds have become an important
activity of many states and school districts. In this panel discussion,
moderated by Jordan Meranus, a state and district school leader-one in
Louisianna, one in Maryland-field questions on school turnaround
challenges. They spoke at Driving Dramatic School Improvement: Strategies for Turning Around Our Nation's Failing Schools, a conference at Stanford University cosponsored by FSG Social Impact Advisors and the Stanford Social Innovation Review.
Read More...
"Public Financing Supports Growth of Online Charter Schools"
New York Times
June 3, 2010
Laura Drews has converted a corner of her San Jose dining room into a
public school. Every weekday, she guides her first-, fifth- and
eighth-grade children through their class assignments, delivered
through textbooks and desktop computers.
Read More...
"Storming the School Barricades"
The Wall Street Journal
June 5, 2010
'What's funny," says Madeleine Sackler, "is that I'm not really a
political person." Yet the petite 27-year-old is the force behind "The
Lottery"-an explosive new documentary about the battle over the future
of public education opening nationwide this Tuesday.
Read More...
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MISSION
The mission of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools (LAPCS) is to increase student achievement by supporting, promoting, and advocating for the quality charter school movement.
WHO WE ARE
Caroline Roemer Shirley, Executive Director
Andrea Chen, Membership & Programs Director
Elizabeth Garrett, Communications Director
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| GOOD NEWS! | Patty McMurray Receives Outstanding Volunteerism Award from Louisiana State Bar Association
Mrs. McMurray, one of the founding board members of Children's Charter School and attorney for Adams & Reese received the award for her work in education.. Congratulations! Read More...
Lusher and Edna Karr students get summer scholarships to study at Berklee College of Music
New Orleans teens Philip Sylve, and Alfred
Jordon, Jr., were recently awarded full Berklee City
Music Summer Scholarships to attend Berklee College of Music's
Five-Week Summer Performance Program for high school students in Boston. Read More...
Lanier Elementary School to be featured on NBC's new show "School Pride"
The school, part of the ADVANCE Baton Rouge Network, was chosen to be on NBC's new prime time show which will makeover the school. Congratulations!
Read the article on The Advocate about the show HERE.
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Interested in saving 15-85% off the list-price on office and classroom supplies?
Learn more about our STAPLES Statewide Charter Schools Buying Program open to all LAPCS members! Click HERE!
Questions? Email | | [email protected] | |
| BECOME A FAN ON
| Click HERE to become a fan of the LAPCS Facebook Page!
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