this page is for posting interesting or thought provoking news articles related to pursuits in education. if you come across anything you’d like to share, just post a comment with a link to the article.
here’s an article about a community school in chicago…
Little Village Lawndale High School
09.15.2008
here’s a page i found on another person’s blog concerning science issues and our current presidential campaigns. it offers news updates related to science and politics, video and transcripts of various interviews and debates, charts and statistics of polls, and a really great side-by-side analysis of each presidential candidate and their responses to the top 14 questions concerning science in our nation right now (the questions as determined by a committee of top university science scholars, scientific institutions, and the general public).
09.30.2008
this is a link to an article in the new york times today about the possible indictment by the UN of president hassan al-bashir of sudan. if you don’t know very much about the situation in sudan, in the darfur region, i also posted a link to the save darfur org page so that you can learn more.
accusations against leader of sudan fuel debate
10.22.2008
some info about chevron…bad company, basically. don’t buy your gas from them. or anything else. and read this.
http://www.crocodyl.org/wiki/chevron
11.07.2009
here’s an article about our school just before it opened…
by Robert Hightower
June 4, 2009
When Eastern University Academy Charter School opens its door in the fall students will be asked “to think big, live on purpose, and excel at life.” This may the school’s motto, be it’s a mantra CEO and Principal Omar Barlow believes will help the pupils to prosper.
“We will be one of the first early colleges in Philadelphia so we are excited about that,” he said.
Eastern University Academy Charter School, located at 3300 Henry Ave., will serve students in grades 7 through 12 in a college campus setting. The curriculum is a collaboration of the philosophy of the Big Picture Company and the Early College High School Initiative.
Educators Dennis Littky and Elliot Washor founded the Big Picture Company. Big Picture’s mission is to lead vital changes in education, both in the United States and internationally, by generating and sustaining innovative, personalized schools that work in tandem with the real world of the greater community.
The Early College High School initiative focuses on the premise that academic rigor, combined with the opportunity to save time and money, is a powerful motivator for students to work hard and meet serious intellectual challenges. The school will focus on preparing students for the college years. Students will have the opportunity to complete up to 60 credits of college-level work.
It will also offer small advisor-to-student ratio, focused individual learning plans, and continuity of advisor-student relationship throughout all four years. Constant informal assessment of learning plan goals will be instituted.
Because Barlow said he wants the students to be “globally competent” the school requires the students to take three trips outside of country called global experiences before they graduate. “Part of thinking big is helping students realize they are citizens of not just Philadelphia, but citizens of the world,” he said. For two days out of the week students will work an internship.
Barlow stated the school wants to get the students’ entire families involved in the learning process. “We enroll families,” he said. “The parents are a part of the learning plan. The parents are actually involved in accessing the students. It is very important to see mom or dad or a mentor from the family provide an assessment of how well their child has performed.”
Barlow added at the end of the day he wants the students to take away fulfilling experiences from the school, which he feels will make them better people. “Ultimately our mission is the get kids to think big live on purpose where they find a purpose in life,” he said.
I am a proud parent of a current student at ‘EUACS’ and his mind has been ‘stretched and stimulated’. His former school trained, not taught, him to memorize information–not to think.
Any parent that is willing to roll up their sleeves, cares about their childs impact on this world and feels that hard work=success, should try to get their child in this school.
No doubt, this school is not for slackers (student, nor parent) but you will see the difference in your child–whether its educationally, emotionally, compassionately or artsy.
I commend all faculty for expecting excellence from my child and educating him as if he were their own.
Submitted Respectfully With Gratitude
By: Shavette Sykes on April 23, 2010
at 11:01 pm