Inside the Annenberg Challenge Spring 2001

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Spring 2001

Inside this issue Inside the Annenberg Challenge highlights recent accomplishments in the eighteen sites across the country that were awarded funds under Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg's $500-million "Challenge to the Nation" to improve its public schools, especially for underserved urban and rural students.

Up Front

Impacting Students, Schools & Systems

Building Expertise & New Partnerships

Collaborating Across Projects

"The high performance of students at PS 20 is a direct result of the inclusion of the arts into the curriculum."

-Dr. Leonard Golubchick, principal, PS 20, Manhattan: The Anna Silver School for Technology and the Arts

"Clearly, the work of improving public schools in Los Angeles is ongoing. While the Annenberg Challenge helped advance many promising practices in the short term, the most important legacy may well be the trio of successor organizations that will carry on for the long run."

-Maria Casillas, President, LAAMP

Up Front

The Bay Area School Reform Collaborative (BASRC) announced in February that it has received $40 million in new funding from the Hewlett and Annenberg foundations and plans to raise $60 million more for public school reform. The new BASRC grants will be awarded in six Bay Area counties to as many as 300 public schools that will be working in small K-12 school groups with a school district and/or supporting organization and engaged in an "inquiry-based, data-driven approach to school reform." A portion of the funds will underwrite BASRC's continued direct support to schools, school districts and supporting organizations, which had been scheduled to phase out in June. Tel: (415) 348-5500; Web: www.basrc.org.

Three successor organizations will sustain the promising efforts supported by the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project (LAAMP), which sunsets in March 2001.

Los Angeles County Alliance for Student Achievement - a new public policy and advocacy organization - has been created by LAAMP and the Los Angeles Education Alliance for Restructuring Now (LEARN) to work with community leaders, educators, and policy makers to strengthen policy and practice for public schools in Los Angeles County.

Families in Schools will build on the promising efforts of LAAMP's Parents as Learning Partners initiative, forging effective partnerships between schools, families, and communities in support of student learning and achievement.

The Los Angeles Educational Partnership
(LAEP), which has a long history of successful support for quality teaching and learning initiatives, will take over management of the DELTA initiative to scale up promising practices for teacher preparation.

For information on the successor organizations: Tel: (213) 580-8888; Web: www.laamp.org.

The Center for Arts Education (CAE) in New York City announced on March 15 that it has received a new $12-million grant from the Annenberg Foundation and a $2.5-million commitment from the New York City Board of Education to continue the restoration of the arts in the city's public schools. The two new grants form the nucleus of CAE's new five-year, $21.5-million campaign to extend arts education to all of the children in the city's schools. The new campaign will identify and disseminate model programs; expand internships in the arts for students and professional development for teachers and administrators; foster greater parent involvement; and continue to promote partnerships among schools, cultural organizations and the city's businesses. Tel: (800) 721-9199; Web: www.cae-nyc.org.

Impacting Students, Schools & Systems

"There is a quiet revolution taking place in Detroit as a result of our Annenberg Challenge. It is the beginning of a fundamental shift in the actions of our community on behalf of children and schools. It signals a change in the notions and structures of power in education. It comes from a vital interaction among people and institutions. It is called public engagement."

-Pamela James, Executive Director, Schools of the 21st Century, in New Directions, New Partnerships: A Report to the Community

"If you demand and invest in quality public education, you'll get it."

-from How to Grow Healthy Schools, a publication of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge

"This collaborative has allowed us, the three superintendents, to each work with one another to plan with our boards. It builds a strength among the schools."

--Donna Elder, superintendent for the San Bruno Park Elementary School District, on participation in a BASRC pilot program teaming five Leadership Schools with their three districts

The Chicago Annenberg Challenge has published a summary of key findings from over five years of grant making and research in effective school improvements. Recommendations in "How to Grow Healthy Schools: A Guide to Improving Public Education" include providing sustained professional development that emphasizes classroom teaching practices as well as intellectually challenging work for all students; furthering interactive teaching practice; and supporting and building school relationships with external partners. Tel: (312) 413-5869; Web: www.chi-challenge.org.

Student achievement and parent participation have improved at the 42 schools receiving grants from Detroit's Challenge-funded Schools of the 21st Century. MEAP scores improved in several grade levels between the 1998-99 and the 1999-2000 school years: fourth-grade math and reading scores and fifth-grade science scores improved at more than 65 percent of the schools; and fifth-grade writing scores improved in nine out of ten schools. Parent participation improved at 24 of the schools, with at least 75 percent of parents attending one or more parent-teacher conferences. Several high schools exceeded the district's average graduation rate of 65 percent, with one school reaching 90 percent. Tel: (313) 871-3515; Web: www.s21c-detroit.org.

The Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project (LAAMP) has released a new evaluation report examining the organization's role as a catalyst for school reform. The report includes three main findings: LAAMP strengthened the civic coalition that supports public school reform in Los Angeles; created school families, a powerful and potentially lasting innovation for organizing the school district; and helped focus attention on student outcomes as the legitimate measure of reform. "The Impact of the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project on Public Education Reform" also places LAAMP's work in the context of the history of school reform in Los Angeles, as well as other recent state and local reforms. Tel: (213) 580-8888; Web: www.laamp.org.

The Boston Plan for Excellence-Boston Annenberg Challenge has launched a new publication for elementary school parents on how to help their children with reading, writing, and math. A collaboration with the Boston Public Schools and an education advocacy group, "Extra Credit" is produced five times a year in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese and features information and activities to do at home. The colorful, easy-to-read newsletter is sent home with students, made available in all public libraries, and distributed through social service and other agencies. The cost of the publication is underwritten by FleetBoston Financial. Tel: (617) 227-8055; Web: www.bpe.org.

In December, the Center for Arts Education in New York City announced the fourth round of "Parents as Arts Partners Grants." The grants, totaling $280,000, were awarded to 56 public schools in all five boroughs to support arts education activities for parents and families of children in the Center's school partnership program. Tel: (800) 721-9199; Web: www.cae-nyc.org.

In January the Houston Annenberg Challenge kicked off its Distinguished Lecture Series with Dr. Terrence Deal speaking on how leaders can harness the power of school culture to build a lively, cooperative spirit and a sense of school identity. The event was sponsored by the 28 principals in the John P. McGovern, M.D., Leadership Academy, which was created by the Houston Challenge. The year-round program provides ideas, motivation, and support to principals to ensure ongoing reforms and changes in individual schools. When a second class of principals enters the Academy in June 2001, graduates from the first class will serve as mentors. Tel: (713) 658-1881; Web: www.houstonaplus.org.

Several schools in the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative (BASRC) have received honors for educational excellence:

Three BASRC Leadership Schools - Irvington High School, Stanley Intermediate School, and Castillero Middle School - were among 198 schools recognized nationally by the U.S. Department of Education as Blue Ribbon Schools for 1999-2000. Winning schools must excel in teaching and teacher development and significantly improve student achievement.

Five BASRC schools have been nominated for Blue Ribbon status in 2001: Belle Air and Lomita Park elementaries and West, North and South Hillsborough elementaries.

Irvington High School has also been named a New American High School by the US Department of Education, one of only 58 schools to receive NAHS status since the program began in 1996.

For information, Tel: (415) 348-5500; Web: www.basrc.org.

Building Expertise & New Partnerships

"We have all been through those nights when we are tired after a long day and our children want to watch TV before bed. Please turn off the TV and read with your child. It can be a magazine, the Bible, the newspaper, or a favorite book. It can be a story on tape that you listen to together. Whatever it is, the experience of reading with you and the joy that can be found in a book will stay with your child forever."

--Allie Bledsoe, Parent Liaison at Patrick O'Hearn Elementary School in Dorchester, in Extra Credit, a parent newsletter produced by the Boston Plan for Excellence-Boston Annenberg Challenge.

"Rural kids, their schools, and their communities do matter. And in many states, action on behalf of rural schools needs to be an urgent priority."

--From Why Rural Matters, a publication of the Rural Trust.

The Chicago Annenberg Challenge played a lead role in launching the new Chicago Public Education Fund (CPEF), a permanent public foundation to ensure the investment of time, leadership and money for ongoing reform efforts in Chicago's public schools. The Challenge office recently completed its transition to CPEF, which over the past year has invested over $1.5 million in programs to improve principal and teacher leadership. Programs include recruitment and development of new principals and teachers and a Fund-created Give-Back Incentive to financially reward teachers who achieve National Board Certification and mentor others through the process, as well as schools that successfully support groups of teachers through certification. For information on CPEF, Tel: (312) 263-5333; Web: www.cpef.org.

The Chattanooga/Hamilton County Public Education Fund has received a $5-million grant from the Benwood Foundation to facilitate improvements in student achievement in the county's low-performing elementary schools. Up to nine elementary schools will be invited to develop their own strategies for increasing student achievement and submit proposals for funding in late spring 2001. The initiative will challenge schools to show a 100 percent gain in all five subject areas (reading, language arts, mathematics, science, social studies) on the Tennessee Value Added Assessments. Tel: (426) 265-9403.

The Rural School and Community Trust has published a statistical snapshot of rural education in each of the 50 states. Why Rural Matters: The Need for Every State to Take Action on Rural Education is the first report to compile and analyze data on rural America from a wide variety of sources. Geared to state-level education policy makers and the rural people they serve, the report suggests that specific policy attention to this often-neglected segment of American public education is critical in many states. In addition, the Trust's documentation and assessment team at the Harvard Graduate School of Education has published Assessing Student Work, a guide to alternative assessment methods. Copies of both reports are available from the Rural Trust's National Office, Tel: (202) 955-7177; Web: www.ruraledu.org.

The Boston Plan for Excellence-Boston Annenberg Challenge (BPE-BAC) has received a $3-million, three-year Comprehensive School Reform grant from the U.S. Department of Education to fund additional literacy "coaching" for schools; continued work with the district on removing central obstacles to reform; and another three years of qualitative evaluation by the group's independent evaluator, Education Matters. BPE-BAC was the only local school reform group to be awarded a grant; other grants went to national reform models and universities. Tel: (617) 227-8055; Web: www.bpe.org.

The Houston Annenberg Challenge is the lead organization for the Partnership for Quality Education, a collaboration that received a $3.9-million, five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop and implement programs to improve teacher preparation in Houston-area schools. These programs will be put in place at four universities that together provide the majority of teachers to the six school districts targeted by Houston Annenberg Challenge. The Partnership project will join local universities, the largest local community college system and six school districts in a unified effort to improve teaching in grades K-16. For more information, contact the Houston Challenge at (713) 658-1881, or visit their website at www.houstonaplus.org.

New York Networks for School Renewal has launched eNEST, a comprehensive web site and tool for new teachers, which includes an interactive bulletin board, information about upcoming professional development opportunities, and general support. The site is a work in progress, designed to grow and evolve through online teacher communication. eNEST is the online partner of the New Educator Support Team (NEST), a project that strives to help develop multi-layered professional development programs for teachers in their first through fifth years. For more information, contact NYNSR at (646) 486-4141, or visit their website at www.nynetworks.org.

The Boston, Chattanooga and Houston Challenge sites are among ten district-community partnerships to receive $250,000 planning grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The fifteen-month grants, awarded in June of 2000, are part of Schools for a New Society, a large-scale reform initiative designed to support system-wide excellence in high school education. Each partnership will collaboratively develop a visionary strategic plan for improving all of the high schools within the partnership district. Upon completion of the plans, five of the ten partnerships will be invited into the second phase of the initiative, which includes funding for plan implementation. The ten partnerships were selected on the basis of their records of district and civic leadership for school reform and potential to overcome obstacles to change and identify creative solutions to chronic problems.

Collaborating Across Projects

"All the work to date to reform public schools will be for naught if our teachers are not prepared for the classroom of the new century."

--Arthur K. Smith, president of the University of Houston-main campus and chancellor of the University of Houston System, and Linda Clarke, executive director of The Houston Annenberg Challenge.

The Directors of all the Annenberg Challenge sites met for two days in January for a working session on accountability. Kate Nolan, the Annenberg Institute's Director for Rethinking Accountability, guided a session to define and explore the conditions that schools must cultivate in order to establish strong systems of accountability. The group also planned four smaller cross-site meetings to be convened in the coming months: on literacy (in Boston): effective practices, including observations in schools; on professional development (in Houston): professional learning communities, alignment of professional development with needs and standards; on communications (at BASRC): mentoring across a full range of audiences, shaping a message for public policy; and on parent and community involvement (at LAAMP): successful community partnerships, creating action plans to facilitate involvement.

The three Challenge Arts projects are the subject of a cross-site research program to identify common themes and publicize the sites' work. In November 2000, the Annenberg Institute convened directors and evaluators from the three sites - Minneapolis, New York City, and Transforming Education through the Arts - to discuss the progress of each site and suggest ways to report the arts work to a wider audience. A final report by the principal researcher, Dennie Palmer Wolf of Harvard, will highlight cross-cutting observations and themes common to the three projects.

Educators from Annenberg Challenge projects gathered in Providence in October 2000 for a two-day cross-site meeting on literacy and learning. Nearly one hundred participants attended workshops on a variety of literacy topics to address the needs of K-12 students, including strategies and supports for reading in the content areas, writing for academic and other purposes, coaching models, and school-community partnerships that support literacy development for students.

Robert Rothman has been hired to write and edit the Challenge Journal and consult on the Annenberg Foundation's Lessons and Reflections report on the Challenge, as well as provide writing and editing services to the Annenberg Institute. Mr. Rothman is a senior project associate for Achieve, Inc., and a program officer for the National Research Council. He replaces Kathleen Cushman, who has left the Challenge national office to pursue independent writing assignments.

Inside the Annenberg Challenge