Local School Topics

Prince George Public Schools is the second-largest school district in the state of Maryland and the 18^th largest district in the United States. The diverse student population consists of primarily African-American and Hispanic students, with less than five percent of Caucasian students included in the demographics. The diversity of the student body poses some challenges to the school district, but the adoption of a unique management model has made a positive impact.

What is the Comer School Development Program?

The Comer School Development Program was first created in 1968, in an effort to bring up the quality of education at two failing Connecticut elementary schools. The program was introduced through a partnership between the Yale University Child Study Center and New Haven Public Schools. The two New Haven schools in question were suffering from a variety of serious obstacles at the time, from test scores near rock bottom to staff morale that was just about as low.

The management model introduced a focus on child and adolescent growth, as well as interpersonal relationships. Through a careful integration of collaboration, problem solving and decision-making by consensus, the Comer School Development Program was proven to be effective in improving education quality through improvement of leadership within the public school system.

Three teams are assigned to oversee the Comer School Development Program at each school. Those teams include:

• School Planning and Management Team (SPMT)
• Student Staff and Support Team (SSST)
• Parent Team (PTO , PTSA)

These teams work together through

School districts across the country are grappling with less funding to go around, but one of the largest districts in Florida and the country may have found a solution to its financial woes. The Orange County Public Schools district has launched an aggressive and comprehensive fundraising effort to pump more money into its cash-strapped schools. From Fuel My School to 5K runs, this school district is finding ways to pay for the type of learning experience it wants for its students.

In Search of Money

Orange County Public Schools recently announced ambitious fundraising efforts with a goal of $26 million in sight. According to the Orlando Sentinel, in addition to the fundraising plan, the district has an idea of how they want to spend the money they raise, citing a number of priorities where they would focus funding. Those areas included:

• Addition of a staff nurse to every Orange County school
• Affordable computers for low-income students with their sights set on college
• Tutors for every child who had the lowest scores on standardized state tests
• All-day pre-kindergarten programs for more effective early childhood education
• Literacy programs, including reading clubs for students
• Addition of more STEM opportunities at every grade level
• Additional centers for students requiring a daily location during suspensions
• Expansion of the City Year “Near Peer” mentoring program

While $26 million is the estimate to fully fund all of these programs, district officials are expecting to introduce the funding – and the new and expanded programs –

Chicago schools are in for some major changes, thanks to the introduction of Common Core Standards coming to many of the schools in the city. Drafted by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Common Core Standards are an effort to make education standards more consistent from state to state. However, the rigors of the standards are also forcing school districts across the country devise to instructional strategies to bring students to the next level of learning. Chicago schools will be no exception in this endeavor, but the success of Common Core Standards in at least one of the city’s schools fuels efforts to improve education throughout Chicago Public Schools.

What are Common Core Standards?

The Common Core Standards were developed in response to the need for consistent educational standards that could effectively span state lines to impact schools throughout the country. The standards offer benchmarks that help ensure students are gaining the knowledge, experience, and education they need to succeed in college and the workplace. Common Core Standards are also designed to allow schools, districts, and states to share information and success stories to help other schools and districts find similar success for their students.

The Common Core Standards were not created to tell teachers how to teach, but those who have begun working with the standards explain that their curriculum and teaching style has been modified according to the new standards. Leslie Roach, a fifth-grade teacher in Chicago,

Fairfax County Public Schools, located in Fairfax County, Virginia, is one of the largest and oldest school districts in the United States. Founded directly after the Civil War, this district serves more than 181,000 students in nearly 200 schools. The district boasts a long, sometimes controversial history and is currently known for high student spending and a tradition of academic excellence.

Early History of Fairfax County Public Schools

According to Wikipedia, Fairfax County Public Schools was formally established in 1870, after the Civil War. It was the same year that Virginia was readmitted to the Union and boasted significant economic growth directly in Fairfax County. The Fairfax County Government website lists Thomas Moore as the very first superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools, with his appointment dating September 18, 1870. This was the first free public school system that was available to students in that area. Prior to that time, students could only attend private institutions.

Like other school districts in the country, Fairfax County Public Schools was a segregated district from its creation to the middle of the 20^th century. The Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board of Education changed segregation laws in this country in 1954, but Fairfax County did not participate in desegregation until 1960. Two years later, in 1962, the largest high school in the county and the state, W.T. Woodson High School, opened its doors.

This video offers a look at the history of the

Dallas Independent School District is one of the largest school districts in the United States. In recent years, it has received plenty of publicity regarding its high dropout rates, which reached the seventh-highest figures in the country in 2008. The numbers are even more concerning since the districts with higher dropout rates than Dallas tend to be in much smaller cities. Since those numbers were released, the district has been implementing programs to reduce the dropout rate, and thus far, schools are seeing a measurable amount of success.

A Brief History of Dallas Independent School District

Schools in the Dallas area were officially coordinated into the Dallas school district in 1884. This came at the same time a statewide system for public schooling was established, breaking the state into individual school districts, each assigned a unique number and system of governance that was accountable to state overseers.

Like other southern school districts, the Dallas Independent School District went through an extended period of segregation, designating some schools for black students and others for white students. Desegregation began in 1960, according to Wikipedia, six years after the Supreme Court’s ruling on Brown v. Board of Education. The desegregation process was completed in Dallas in 1967. In 1996, the Dallas Independent School District went through a major rezoning upheaval that again moved many students into different schools based on the new zoning boundaries.

Since then, the number of white students in Dallas has slowly and steadily