Local School Topics

A whole new type of technology is coming to two of the largest school districts in the country. Both Chicago and Boston Public Schools recently announced they will be adopting the BoomWriter Digital Education Platform to transform public school students of all ages into published authors. BoomWriter allows a classroom to collaborate on a story that will eventually go to print with the students’ names listed as authors of the book.

Adding BoomWriter to the Classroom

According to a press release at the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Public Schools will be introducing the BoomWriter Technology Heroes Program to public school classrooms next year, thanks to funding from Chicago-based CareerBuilder. The district will be able to utilize the technology in grades 3-12, to bring a whole new level of writing instruction and engagement to the classroom.

“The BoomWriter program motivates students,” Brian Donahue, vice president of sales strategy for CareerBuilder, told the Wall Street Journal. “We expect a great deal of excitement as they see their words in print. BoomWriter helps young people develop their writing skills for a rapidly changing, technology driven world. This program is a great way to invest in our community and future workforce.”

Boston Public Schools will also be introducing BoomWriter to students in the upcoming school year. Melissa Dodd, Chief Information Officer for the school district stated in the press release that the addition of BoomWriter coordinates with the district’s goals to promote college and career readiness

As the school year is winding down, many parents are faced with concerns over how to combat “summer learning loss.” This issue, which has been well documented through decades of research, affects low-income kids and students already lagging behind their peers academically the most. In the past, the School District of Philadelphia has offered a number of summer programs through the school system for these at-risk students. However, budget cuts have forced the district to pare down to the bare minimum, which is leaving some students in the cold for the summer months.

Programs Shut Down Despite Proven Benefits

The shutdown of summer programs can be traced to a lack of funding, rather than a lack of benefits. In November 2010, Philly.com did a report on how summer programs offered by the school district helped a record number of students improve their academic performance during the regular school year. During the 2010 summer, more than 60,000 students participated in summer programs through the district, which ranged from kindergarten through high school.

The district found through scores on math and reading tests administered to 3^rd-8^th graders found that students that attended the summer programs for 16 days or more made significant learning gains. Those that did not participate in summer programs actually lost academic ground during the summer months. In addition, the district’s program that allowed high school students to earn up to three credits in summer school resulted in a record number of

Chicago school officials may have made their decision to close 54 of the city’s schools official, but that hasn’t stopped the fight from teachers, students and parents who had direct stake in those schools. As recently as last week, students have staged protests over the closing of their schools, and members of the Chicago Teachers Union continue to make their voices heard through public protests and lawsuits. In the midst of the controversy, new information has surfaced suggesting Chicago Public Schools may not have been as forthcoming with information used to determine school closings as they could have been.

Protests Staged

The Grio reports that dozens of members of the Chicago Teachers Union were recently arrested during three days of protests that culminated in a march on City Hall. Protests began on the South and West sides of the city before the protestors turned their sights on the city’s capitol building. Those doing business at City Hall during the protests had to weave around teacher union members to arrive at the offices they needed. It was when protestors began to block elevator entrances throughout the building that arrests were made on trespassing charges.

Members of the teachers union, as well as parents, students and other in the Chicago community have voiced concerns over school closures. One of the primary worries is over students having to cross gang lines to get to their newly assigned schools. Some school board members have also

Hawaii Public Schools, one of the largest school districts in the country, is seeing improvements in the number of students who are college bound. The district attributes the positive numbers to various factors, including their ability to better track student progress in recent years. With more students showing readiness for higher education endeavors after high school, the state is confident it can boost the number of college graduates statewide within the next two decades. What is their secret? It appears a number of factors are contributing to the state’s success.

College and Career Readiness Indicators

The Honolulu Civil Beat reports that recent positive numbers from Hawaii Public Schools can be found in the latest College and Career Readiness Indicators report. The new reports were released by Hawaii P-20 Partnerships for Education and the Hawaii Department of Education. The reports use a range of metrics to evaluate college readiness for high school students in the state. According to the most recent numbers, it appears students in the Islands are making strides in nearly every indicator.

According to a press release from the Hawaii Department of Education, the recent report included the following findings:

• College Enrollment – the state saw a slight increase in college enrollment, from 53 percent in 2011 to 54 percent in 2012
• College-Level Courses – the number of students enrolling in college-level English and math courses increased by four percent each between 2011 and 2012
• Remedial Courses – the number of students requiring

It wasn’t that long ago that the state of athletics in Boston Public Schools was downright dismal. Teams did not have a fully equipped field to practice. Some were even left to run practice drills in alleyways because space was not available on school property. There were not enough uniforms to go around, leaving teammates swapping sweaty shirts with one another in the midst of competitions.

But when the sports weren’t available, even in this less than ideal state, high school and middle school students were left with too much empty time on their hands when school got out. Pay-to-play, an option seen in many of the wealthier suburban school districts nearby, simply didn’t cut it in a district where 75 percent of the student population lives below the poverty level. The quandary seemed to be growing deeper and deeper – until two Good Samaritan organizations stepped in.

This video reports on the Boston Scholar Athletes Academic Zone.

Boston Scholar Athletes Focus on Athletics, Academics

In 2009, Boston Globe reporter Bob Hohler did a series on the miserable state of affairs in Boston Public Schools athletic programs across the city. After visiting every school in the district, Hohler found that many of the problems within the system boiled down to a lack of money, according to a report at WBUR. After the reports were published, Boston Schools Superintendent Carol Johnson began