Articles tagged with Tennessee

NSBA announces 2010-11 Recognition Program honorees

NSBA recently announced the recipients of the 2010-11 School Board Member Recognition Program, which allows state school boards associations to recognize exemplary school board members from their states on a national level. The nominees chosen must meet criteria that include having made a significant contribution to the advancement of education as evidenced by leadership at or beyond the local level. Nominees also must have regularly attended regional, state, and national conferences for four consecutive years.

Following is a list of the 2010-11 recipients:

Alabama

Florence Bellamy, Phenix City Board of Education

Steven Foster, Lowndes County School District

Suzanne Helms, Madison City Schools

Katy Smith-Campbell, Macon County Board of Education

Alaska

Melissa Borton, Kodiak Island Borough School District

Jolene Edenshaw, Hydaburg City School District

Willard Hand, Copper River School Distrct

Pete Hoepfner, Cordova City School District

Tiffany Jackson, Aleutians East Borough School District

Carol Kelly, Haines Borough School District

Sherry Lestenkof, Pribilof School District

Mike Swain, Jr., Bristol Bay Borough School District

Colleen Vague, Matanuska-Suitna Borough Schools

Charles W. Wilson, Annette Islands School District

Georgia

David Johnson, Floyd County School District

Vernon Payne, Clarke County School District

Joseph White, Mitchell County School District

Illinois

Donald Clayberg, Sycamore Community Unit School District #247

Juanita R. Jordan, Prairie-Hills Elementary School District #144

Theresa L. Kelly, Proviso Township High School

Anna Klimkowicz, Township High School District #211

Alva J. Kreutzer, Township High School District #214

Dr. Maria P. Smith, Ridgewood Community High School District 234

Louisiana

Ellis A. Alexander, Saint Charles Parish Public Schools

Joel J. Dugas, Iberia Parish School Board

Victoria Krutzer, Monroe City School System

Yolanda Laws, Iberville Parish School District

Melvin Lodge, Iberville Parish School District

A. J. Nickens, Ascension Parish School Board

Michigan

Ronald Gnatkowski, Saginaw Intermediate School District

Thomas Owczarek, Fitzgerald Public Schools

Ohio

JoAnn W. Feltner, Franklin City School District

Tawana Lynn Keels, Princeton City School District

Susan Lawson, Tri-County Educational Service Center

Donna J. Myers, Springfield-Clark Career Technology Center

Warren S. Stevens, Urbana City School District

David H. White, Fort Frye Local School District

Charlie Wilson, Worthington School District

 

Oregon

Beth Gerot, Eugene School District 4J

Kris Howatt, Gresham-Barlow School District 10

Annette Mattson, David Douglas School District #4

Pennsyvlania

Robert Bold, Lehigh Career & Technical Institute

Frederick Botterbusch, II, Dallastown Area School District

Karen Brennan, Athens Area School District

Shauna D’Allesandro, Allegheny Intermediate Unit

Idette Groff, Conestoga Valley School District

Robert Lumley-Sapanski, Bellefonte Area School District

Roberta Marcus, Parkland School District

Marianne Neel, West Jefferson Hills School District

Michael Paston, Upper Dublin School District

Donald Raifsnider, Muhlenberg School District

Jody Sperry, Conneaut School District

Eric Wolfgang, Central York School District

Donald Yoder, Jr., Dallastown Area School District

Tennessee

Robert Alvey, Jr., Jackson-Madison County Board of Education

Roger Greene, Sr., Hamblen County Department of Education

Janice Haun, Hamblen County Department of Education

Carolyn Holt, Hamblen County Department of Education

Clyde Kinder, Hamblen County Department of Education

Susan Lodal, Kingsport City School System

Amy Martin, Bedford County School District

Kent McNish, Franklin Special School District

Horace Murphy, Jr., Clarksville-Montgomery County School District

Patrice Robinson, Memphis City Schools

State associations are allowed to nominate up to 1 percent of the members of their membership. If you would like to submit nominations, please contact Valarie Carty at (703) 838-6168 or via e-mail at vcarty@nsba.org.

 

Joetta Sack-Min|July 13th, 2011|Categories: Announcements, NSBA Recognition Programs, School Board News, School Boards|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

A rich vocabulary, useful in any context

the-power-of-wordsHow many eighth graders can explain the meaning of the word oligarchy? What about antebellum, or insurrection? These are words that eighth-grade students should be familiar with when it comes to their social studies curriculum, and a new plan in Tennessee is working to make sure that this happens, according to the Washington Post.

The purpose of the Academic Vocabulary Project is to close the gap between students from low-income families and their more financially stable peers. The former often lag behind in many areas of school, and vocabulary is an especially stubborn problem.

Two things about this program make it stand out to me: that it was established well before the state came out as a winner last month in the “Race to the Top” program, and that it is not specifically designed to increase standardized test performance. In an education system where federal funding is the Holy Grail, and test scores seem to be the best way to get to it, it’s refreshing to see a program that is truly innovative in its focus on something other than test preparation.
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Naomi Dillon|April 15th, 2010|Categories: American School Board Journal, Curriculum, Governance, Student Achievement|Tags: , , |

The Week in Blogs

1386-0902-0318-0632The announcement that Delaware and Tennessee won the jackpot — $100 million and $500 million, respectively— in the first round of the federal Race to the Top program was this week’s big news. As could be expected, ED’s picks (which Duncan explained was predicated on each state’s willingness to draft new legislation to support federal goals and accompanying statewide support for those changes) naturally elicited some commentary and criticism.

Another big issue brewing this week, which Washington Post‘s Answer Sheet advises everyone to pay attention to, even if you don’t live in Florida, is the furor state legislators have sparked with a proposed bill that would revamp the way teachers are compensated, tying evaluations, salary, and job security to student performance. The bill goes to the state’s house education policy council on Monday, when the series of organized protests that have go on throughout the state will reach a fever pitch, with groups planning to line U.S. 1 from Miami to Fernandina.

Staying on the subject of high expectations, blogger Robert Pondiscio leads us out with an intriguing riff on a new study published in the latest American Sociological Review that asks the question: Is there a downside to shooting for the stars? Look for it on our Facebook page.

Naomi Dillon|April 2nd, 2010|Categories: American School Board Journal, Week in Blogs|Tags: , , , |
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