Foundations, teachers, parents aim to model DPS on what works
BY CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY and ROBIN ERB
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITERS
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100306/NEWS01/3060358/-1/WEATHER0802/A-plan-for-Detroit-schools&template=fullarticle

In less than a decade, public schooling as we know it in Detroit could be transformed. In what one think tank calls the biggest educational movement since the state adopted a charter-school law, a group of local foundations has teamed up on a $200-million plan to start 70 new schools for Detroit kids.

Led by the Skillman Foundation, the group expects to announce details of its education plan on Thursday.

One organization, Michigan Future Schools, already was given enough money to start up seven new high schools through 2012, with a goal of opening 35 new high schools in all by 2018. The first school is to open in the fall.

The plan to replace low-performing schools with high-performing ones apparently has the support of Robert Bobb, the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools. The district got a $50,000 planning grant from Michigan Future Schools to study the feasibility of a new science and medical high school.

"If we can do this, it's a game-changer," said Lou Glazer, president of Michigan Future Inc., a nonpartisan think tank that started Michigan Future Schools. "Most of the schools Detroit kids go to -- whether it's charter, DPS or a suburban school -- are not quality schools. We want to change the whole system."

The plan, reaction

The group is planning to offer start-up funds to attract organizations and educators capable of opening high-quality public, charter or private schools in Detroit or neighboring suburbs accessible to Detroit students.

What's driving the initiative is low achievement in many of Detroit's public and charter schools. About half of the high schools on the state's draft list of the lowest-performing schools in Michigan are in Detroit Public Schools, in addition to some charter schools.

"This is definitely not about trying to replace the Detroit Public Schools," said Tonya Allen, vice president of program for the Skillman Foundation, a nonprofit that has invested millions in Detroit-area schools. "It's about figuring out how we scale up as many good schools as possible. It's about trying to replicate what we know works."

The group expects to release details of its education plan on Thursday.

It sounds good to parents

But already parents say the idea sounds worthwhile.

David Smith, a short-haul truck driver, said his 11-year-old son, Kyle, has struggled in the three schools he has attended, one a DPS school, the other two charter schools.

Since his sixth-grader did his best work at a DPS school, Smith said that any new school should be part of the existing district.

Still, the idea of new schools is exciting because it would re-energize students, teachers and parents.

"It's like getting a new car. You take care of it. You wash it," he said. "It would attract new students and parents."

DPS is on board with the part of the plan that calls for 35 new high schools. It was granted $50,000 to study opening a new science and medical high school.

"To dream, plan and actualize a quality high school where students thrive academically and graduate prepared for success in college can serve as a model for new school development throughout the city and beyond," said Barbara Byrd-Bennett, chief academic and accountability auditor for DPS.

$13 million committed

Four of the foundations that have joined the partnership -- Skillman, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Kresge Foundation and the McGregor Fund -- have already committed $13 million to Michigan Future Inc., an Ann Arbor-based think tank that plans to start up 35 of the 70 new schools as college preparatory high schools.

That initiative, called Michigan Future Schools, plans to ultimately raise $38 million more to help open the schools by 2018. The $13 million will be given to educators who apply for and get the grants to open the first seven high schools by 2012.

The first grant -- $850,000 -- was given to the Detroit Edison Public School Academy to open a high school this fall.

Michigan Future wants to fund schools that follow a similar model to that of the University Preparatory Academy. To win a Michigan Future grant, applicants must be able to prove their school will graduate at least 85% of students, send at least 85% to college and provide a counselor to help at least 85% of graduates get a college degree.

The organization was involved in starting University High in Ferndale and wanted to do more, an official said. The new high schools will be small -- 500 students at the most -- and located south of 12 Mile Road and east of Telegraph Road so that Detroit students can easily attend them.

"We don't care if they're public, charter or private," said Lou Glazer, president of Michigan Future Inc. "As long as they can convince us it's going to be quality."

A look at the future

Doug Ross, founder of the University Preparatory Academy charter school and a new charter school that opened a campus in the Detroit Science Center last fall, said the plan represents the future of city schools.

"Making the old ones better doesn't work," Ross said. "They need to be closed and new schools created by people with track records."

The Skillman Foundation has been leading the Excellent Schools Detroit effort, which convened six community meetings since the fall and surveyed about 600 residents on problems and solutions to the city's educational crisis. The group includes such organizations as United Way for Southeastern Michigan, Think Detroit PAL, New Detroit Inc., Detroit Regional Chamber and the Detroit Parent Network.

Talks about the education plan -- prompted by Skillman -- were under way in December when the sobering test results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress were released, said David Campbell, president of the Detroit-based McGregor Fund, one of the initiative's major supporters.

Detroit's students had tested the lowest of any district in the U.S.

Though they were "devastating news," the scores also added to the urgency, Campbell said.

"We recognize the educational outcomes for Detroit kids need to be improved if we're going to make progress in economic development and in reducing the need for human services," he said.

A focus on the educational foundation for metro Detroit children, in addition to the collaboration from so many different sources, will mean sweeping and lasting change under the new plan, said W.K. Kellogg Foundation spokeswoman Joanne Krell.

"This is a measured, intelligent approach to transforming education in Detroit. I think there's a lot of good reason to look forward," Krell said.

Waiting on specifics

Both Campbell and Krell declined to discuss money or specifics of the plan.

Otis Mathis, president of the DPS board, said he had not heard about the plan until contacted by the Free Press late Friday, but said he was not surprised.

The attention to DPS's woes has drawn plenty of plans and ideas. But as in too many of those plans, the DPS board once again had been left out of those discussions, he said.

Contact CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY: 313-223-4537 or cpratt@freepress.com

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, InTheNews

From the Ed.gov blog:

More than 250 community leaders, government officials, educators, parents and students discussed turning around the Detroit area's lowest-achieving schools with Director of Community Outreach Alberto Retana at two local summits Feb. 24, hosted by United Way of Southeastern Michigan's Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund.

The visits were part of Retana's community engagement tour throughout the U.S. to strengthen grassroots support for transforming America's lowest-performing schools, and to inform communities about Title I School Improvement grant funding available for those efforts.

This spring, ED will award states a total of $3.5 billion in Title I School Improvement grants to turn around their lowest-performing schools. The funds will be awarded by formula to states, which will then make competitive grants to local education agencies (LEAs). Michigan is eligible to receive $135.9 million to turn around its lowest-performing schools.

Retana said that strong community support is required to ensure success of school transformation efforts.

"It's not enough to have funding, it's not enough to have charismatic leaders, and this is not just about opening another charter school," Retana said to the morning session's crowd at Detroit's Cody Academies. "It's also about community mobilization. We need a movement of people to stand up and say, 'we will no longer accept low expectations for our children.'"

Retana also brought a similar message to Melvindale High School in suburban Detroit. Both Cody Academies and Melvindale High School are undergoing turnaround efforts supported by funding through the Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund. Both sessions also included panel discussions with educators and students that generated dialogue about what is and isn't working with their respective transformations.

Click here to see pictures from both the Cody High School and Melvindale High School events.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness

From Annemarie Harris, Director of Early Childhood Initiatives

My son, Tommy, is 5 and in kindergarten at Monteith School in the Grosse Pointe School District. This week, I learned that the School Board approved all day kindergarten for all students, beginning in 2010-2011. That's a good thing - studies show that all day kindergarten improves academic outcomes for students beyond kindergarten. Grosse Pointe Schools isn't perfect, but it does provide a quality learning experience for children. Tommy is in a class with 22 other children. His teacher, Mrs. DiVirgil has an aide, Mrs. Farnsworth, who supports the classroom throughout most of the day. The children follow high curriculum standards (Tommy can count to 100 by 2!), time for play, specials (library, art, gym, music) and access to high quality learning materials.

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Annemarie_Harris, Educational_Preparedness, Employee Voices

Originally published February 2010
ASE's Everything People
http://www.aseonline.org/images/everythingpeopleFebruary10.pdf

By Joe DeSantis and Mary E. Corrado

An Eagle Eye Interview With Mike Brennan of United Way for Southeast Michigan

All HR professionals know why they need to care about social issues in their communities. There is a widely accepted business case for good corporate citizenship, particularly when the social issues are extreme, as they are today in Southeastern Michigan. Persistent and high levels of unemployment in a region, and the fallout from that unemployment-widespread poverty, failed school systems, failed local governance-eventually bounce back on local businesses, especially in the long term. Clearly, social awareness and good corporate citizenship are sound long-term business strategies.

Yet we all sense, down deep, that the business case isn't really enough; there needs to be more to it than that. Thankfully, there is. In the end, the best business people care about social issues not just because it is good business but also because they are human. When they are surrounded by human suffering and they have the wherewithal to do something about it, the simple human impulse to act, or at least support those who act, kicks in.

We are seeing that impulse deployed on a massive scale today in Haiti. But the earthquake in Haiti was a traumatic event that made the travails of that destitute country unimaginably worse all at once. Here in Southeastern Michigan, the troubles have had more of a creeping character, going from sad to grim to desperate incrementally, over the course of a full generation or longer. No earthquake here; instead a corrosive, metastatic disease that over time has claimed the lives, both literally and figuratively, of people and institutions as well.

That is why we have organizations like United Way for Southeastern Michigan. About 3½ years ago the Eagle Eye interviewed Mike Brennan, United Way's CEO. At that point in time, United Way had just made a strategic decision to become more than simply a collector and dispenser of funds, and head cheerleader, to various human service agencies in the area. The social problems were becoming too acute. United Way decided it needed to identify the most acute problems in the area and put its hands more directly on them by more aggressively "aligning resources with needs," as Mike put it. They decided it was time to lead from the front, rather than merely supply financial wherewithal and encouragement from behind.

Last month the Eagle Eye sat down again with Mike and invited him to update us on how things have gone since then, when, as he told us, United Way "bet the farm" on adopting a new leadership role and making it work.

Brennan: Four years ago we bet the farm on the direction of the organization. We took two 100-year-old organizations, dissolved them, had 150 Board members resign, formed a new one and seated a new 30-member Board in a mission that said we are going to define success not by how much money we raise but by how much progress we make on key social issues.

We had always been in a kind of a call-and-response mode, where you simply aggregate financial resources and distribute them to a set group of non-profits. But what was happening was, first, the value proposition of that was not enough in terms of attracting financial resources, and second, we weren't seeing measurable progress on key social issues in our community. We were finding that simply taking financial resources and forwarding them to non-profit organizations that did good work is not a very efficient way to effect social change. You have to take a more holistic approach.

I have long viewed United Way not as a charity and not as a recipient organization, which is how it has been most defined. I view United Way as a leadership organization. And when we put money into something, it should be something that gives us the ability to get things done.

Now, are we interested in growing the private contributions that are given to the community through the United Way? Absolutely. We work every day on that. It is a piece of the puzzle. But what we are betting the farm on is more actively aligning those resources with what we know to be the community's most urgent social needs, and measuring our success by whether or not we see changes in those conditions.

Where has this new approach taken you?

Brennan: Once we decided on that strategy, we went about the task of finding out what was most important in the community. We did a large survey of residents in the tri-country area, basically asking, of all the things that we could put energy into, what would be most important to you? Where do you think we could make the greatest progress? And out of that, along with looking at best practices across the country and interviewing other stakeholders, we formed our Agenda for Change. That agenda centered around three issues: education, financial stability (i.e., building financial assets in families), and third, basically a safety net.

On the education front, we really landed on two areas. One is early childhood development, meaning having kids ready for school by age five. Do you know that 80% of your mind was developed by age three? There is no more powerful place where you can put your dollars than early childhood development. For every dollar you put there, you see $17.00 on the other end of the line in reduced incarceration rates, better health metrics, etc. But we found that early childhood development is the least organized area of the community and of the state. We felt we could go about that in a better way, and today we have five Early Learning Centers established around the area, designed to give caregivers in the home access to early childhood training materials, early childhood tools, ageappropriate reading materials, and so on. The idea is to better prepare childcare-givers to change the quality of childcare that is taking place in the home.

The other area is high school graduation rates. Do you know that in just the tri-county area, there are 30 high schools that have dropout rates of 40% or more? Now, map that in your mind... Where did you map it? The fact is that one-third of those schools-ten of them-are outside the city of Detroit. There is a 20/10 split going on there. We've got a really important initiative that we've put in place to help address that issue.

Regarding family financial stability, as you have families going from the old economy to the new economy with the huge workforce displacement that we have had, there are fundamental capabilities that are simply missing in households and individuals and in communities. We can bring those to bear for families if we organize and work better together. For us, financial stability is families going from negative net worth to positive net worth. Our work in this area is about finding the best ways to help individuals and families navigate their financial framework in a better, more meaningful way and a more productive way.

Let me just give you an example-in the state of Michigan we have $900,000,000 that gets left on the table every year. This is public benefit money that is available to individuals who qualify for it but fail, for various reasons, to access it.

And then there is the safety net. The last time we talked, we had relatively recently put in the 211 help line. I think the most important development with the 211 of late is that it has documented a very clear shift in the need priorities of our callers. In an earlier study we had identified that there were about 600,000 people in the tri-county area who are "food insecure," meaning they know where one meal is coming from, but they don't know where the second or third meals are going to come from. We projected that number to grow to 900,000 by the time we get to 2011 and 2012. For 3½ years running, the number one reason people were calling into the 211 was for utility assistance. But then, two quarters ago, 211 data confirmed for us that a shift had happened. The number one reason people are now calling in is for food.

If someone asked me eight months ago to describe the local food system, the carrying system of food that comes into a community, I-and I would consider myself fairly knowledgeable on the topic-I would describe probably first and foremost the Gleaners, Forgotten Harvest, pantry systems, Focus Hope, Salvation Army, etc. One of our critical learnings was that of all the food that gets distributed to those who need it in the region, the food distribution system that I just described represents about 7% of the total; 50% of it comes through public benefit, federal benefit mostly, things like Food Stamps, women and their children (WIC), free and reduced lunch, breakfast programs. Another 20% is just the informal network of friends and family and neighbors that just help one another. So 7%, 50%, 20%, and then you had this gap. We estimate about a 120,000,000 pound gap of food on an annual basis.

You can improve the 7% part. We are working with great partners like Gleaners and Forgotten Harvest and others. We learned from the 211 data that instead of bricks and mortar, we needed to run a more mobile strategy. So we partnered with Ford Motor Company, which has given us five transit vehicles that can run 24 hours a day and move an extra 2,000,000 pounds throughout the region. But if you are going to make a really significant impact, you have to improve this uptake of the state and federal benefit, this 50%. And so as I said, you have $900,000,000 of untapped resources every year in that public benefit; the same thing was true on food access. We had pretty good penetration of individuals using things like food stamps but, for example, breakfast programs that are available to children at schools, in some cases only have an 8-10% take up rate. So you can impact a lot of families, a lot of kids, by just improving that.

When the new economy hits its stride, Michigan employers will need to draw their workers from Michigan's own citizenry. You can only import so much talent, and you cannot survive in the long run without a well-supplied pipeline of top-notch local talent. It means that Michigan's educational system has to prepare Michigan's students for employment in the new economy. It is not news that, on the whole, the state's K-12 schools are not meeting that challenge right now. United Way has targeted a particularly devastating aspect of the problem, drop-out rates, and begun a concentrated, cooperative initiative to do something about those rates, starting with three of the most troubled high schools in Southeast Michigan.

Brennan: Over two years ago we invited the 30 high schools that had that low performance to a Turnaround Summit. These were basically 30 drop-out factories. We brought in the very best turnaround agents in the country. These are intermediaries that specialize in working with large high schools to improve their performance from graduation rates of 20%, 30%, 40% to 60%, 70% and 80% and above. The Gates Foundation has put a lot of money into a whole range of intermediaries. We invited in the highest performing group, a group called the Institute for Student Achievement (ISA). ISA is a consulting group that works specifically with large high schools, typically in urban areas where there is high density of poverty, to change the performance rate.

These are people with a proven track record and a proven methodology. We introduced them to these 30 non-performing high schools. We also went out and raised $5,000,000 and created a Detroit Venture Fund, which is private money raised to be invested in the intermediaries to work with the high schools.

We invited the 30 schools to apply for a grant out of the Venture Fund that could be used to purchase the services of the intermediary. In essence, we would take Venture Fund money and give it to the intermediary, not to the school, to work and partner with the school. About a dozen schools applied and out of that, five got selected and three are on the clock right now. So, we have Cody and Osborn in the city of Detroit and Melvindale High in Melvindale. These are schools that spent a year getting ready-you can't just flick a switch at a school like Cody, with 2,000 kids, and all of a sudden be in a ready state.

In each of these schools we moved from one school to four academies, each one targeted to specific interest areas like technology, health, etc., and instead of one principal over 2,000 kids, you now have four principals, each over a class of 100. So, the incoming (current) class is just 9th grade, next year it will be 9th and 10th grade, the third year it would be 9th, 10th and 11th grade, the fourth year it would be 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th. At that point Cody as a single entity of 2,000 students will be gone and there will be four academies standing there, all inside the physical plant that was Cody High School.

Currently there is still a principal over the upper school, but over time that is just going to phase out.

Each academy principal had the right to choose the teachers for his or her school, working with the union.

That is part of the deal. They had to have the buy-in from the union, to allow the principals to select their teachers, in order to sign on with the intermediaries. Yes, there was a lot of turnover among teachers, but that was part of the arrangement. Today, all the teachers at Cody and Osborn are all members of DFT (Detroit Federation of Teachers, the teachers' union in the district).

One really important aspect of this is that Robert Bobb is a close partner in this project. When Mr. Bobb spoke to United Way Board 60 days ago, he said that what he saw going on at Cody and Osborn is what he wants going on in every high school in the city of Detroit. So, he is very supportive of the work. From the get-go we have had the administration, we have had the principals, we have had the union involved with it, and we have had parent networks involved, because that is the only way you get to a changed result.

That is the proof of concept here-that Robert Bobb wants to accelerate this concept into the other Detroit schools.

Now, these are not charter schools, this is not a charter strategy, it is not just a turnaround strategy of the DPS, it is the collective. It is not just having a Robert Bobb, who is probably a once-in-a-generation leader to arrive in that role, but you have to also have community organizations like United Way, and champions like Skillman Foundation (which has been on our Board for 20 years) and the Detroit Parent Network. Changing the education of our children requires a full community response. And that is complicated work. But it does us no good for us to say "Boy, this is really complicated, it is really hard." So what. That is our job.

We wanted to know if the national United Way organization has adopted the same approach that the Southeast Michigan organization has.

Brennan: Yes, we have adopted this strategy at the national level as well. Remember that I spent several years with the national-that is where I came from. We have been very intentional nationally on a transformation effort, aligning resources against set targets. You could go to a lot of United Ways and you would see the same kind of realignment taking place. I think, though, most United Ways would agree that our work here in Southeast Michigan has been bolder, and there is a rigor in how deep we are going. It is not just like a rewrap of the old organization; I mean we dissolved the old organization, so it has been a robust change here.

In all of this, what has happened to the annual campaign that we are all so familiar with?

Brennan: Of course we continue to run our annual campaign. And we are eager to widen it and expand it. We have about 100 non-profits that are funded partners for us. But the difference today is that those partners are aligned against the change result. So, one of the shifts that happened four years ago is that instead of asking what the agencies need, the question that now comes down into the center of the table for our Board is "What does the community need?... Let's get clear about that, and let's get clear about the strategies that we think can accomplish it, and then let's find the very best partners that can help us accomplish it." So the partners, the 100 non-profits that we work with today, help us get to this change condition. In the old days we used to refer to the process as "suck and blow'" where you "suck" in the resources as through a straw and then aim the straw at someone else and "blow" those resources to them. No more of that; today the agencies we work with are aligned in terms of impact on the issues that are most critical to the area.

You know, when someone is entrusting us with a discretionary dollar, my job is to make sure that it is the most impactful gift they can ever give. If we can't say that, then they should give the dollar somewhere else. But I say it now, and you have heard me say it publicly, I really don't think there is a more powerful gift someone can give right now than to the United Way, and if you do know of where there is, then I would say give the money there and the only thing I ask is tell me where that is, because then I want to go learn from that. But if I were to walk you through a 211 center, if I were to walk you through the work that is being done to put more food on the streets for individuals, if I were to walk you through a Center for Working Families, or a turnaround at a high school, or one of our Early Learning Centers, you would be able to see that your investment helped drive that. I don't believe there is another place where you could give your discretionary dollar that could come close to that.

Labels: basic needs, Educational_Preparedness, Financial Stability, InTheNews, Michael_Brennan

By Annie Dunsky, Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs Manager, IBM

As the chair of Leadership Next's Educational Preparedness Committee, I am proud of the commitment we have made to United Way's High School Turnaround efforts. As a group, we've decided to focus our energy and time to support Cody High School, one of the five turnaround schools funded by United Way and the Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund. [Click here to continue reading.]

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, leadership_next, monthly enewsletter

Support United Way's High School Turnaround Program with a night at the Palace of Auburn Hills on March 31. Bring your friends and family and watch the Detroit Pistons take on the Miami Heat. Tickets are $20 and half of the ticket price will help United Way purchase classroom resources for its turnaround schools. Click here to learn more.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, leadership_next, monthly enewsletter

United Way's Early Learning Communities (ELC) have already improved the care that 1,000 caregivers provide for approximately 4,000 children through the program's series of workshops and events. Now, with the help of the Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC), that number will skyrocket. [Click here to continue reading.]

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, monthly enewsletter

Panera Bread and United Way for Southeastern Michigan Team Up to Host FREE Family Fun Days every second Saturday of the month. I took the kids to the kickoff event at the Rochester location on Adams and they had a great time. (See list below for upcoming dates and locations.) The event was well run and the staff truly enjoyed being with the kids, and they were so incredibly kind and helpful. They read stories to the kids and helped them at each of the craft stations. All with smiles and genuine kindness.

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness

Before the holidays, a group of Leadership Next members and United Way staff traveled to Lansing to advocate for the education reform proposals championed by Leadership Next. The legislation and language that we advocated for was part of the Race to the Top reform package proposed by the Michigan Legislature in order to compete for a portion of the federal Race to the Top grant.

The legislation we advocated for includes mandates that allow the state to take over failing schools and language supporting alternative teacher certification.

Click here to read more.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, leadership_next, monthly enewsletter

Posted by TIME.com Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 2:16 pm
http://detroit.blogs.time.com/2010/01/26/will-teach-for-america-come-back/

Teach for America, which came blazing into town in 2002 and promptly quit the city two years later, may be bracing for another shot at Detroit. “All eyes are now on Detroit,” says Ify Offor, vice president of new site development for the organization, which places college graduates and professionals in low-income school districts to teach for two years. “There's leadership that wants to take on this issue of education reform.”

Offor says he has met with officials in Governor Granholm's office, along with the Detroit Federation of Teachers and the United Way. “Our goal is to simply make Detroit a center for education reform and Teach for America is an integral part of that reform, as the place to come to do the very best work,” says Michael Tenbusch, vice president of education preparedness at United Way of Southeastern Michigan. As for the union, Offor's aim is to ensure that relations get off on a better foot than they did last time, when the Detroit Public School was facing budget issues and beginning to lay off certified teachers—creating resentment toward TFA members who had not completed Michigan's long and arduous certification process. (Tenbusch of the United Way successfully pushed the Michigan legislature to pass a bill allowing for a quicker certification process in certain cases.) With the lack of support, Teach for America had no choice but to finish its two-year commitment until 2004 and then withdraw.

If TFA does come back to Detroit, don't expect it to have a major impact. Start with the numbers: TFA had 35 teachers back in 2002. DPS employs a total of 6,000 teachers. Furthermore, TFA has a host of critics. Some contend that it's little more than a pit stop for Ivy League grads looking to boost their resume before moving onto their corporate careers. Former TFA teacher Nate Walker says that what he calls the organization's “number-driven” approach, which is focused on raising test scores, is too limited to deliver major change. Walker is one of many Detroiters working on alternative charter schools. His, called the Boggs Educational Center, would place more emphasis on having the kids create student portfolios and self-reflections, and apply skills taught in class to real‑life situations. “The models that we're working on, they build community,” says Walker. “We value kids for who they are and whatever they do regardless if they decide to go to Harvard or be a plumber.”

Still, DPS needs whatever help it can get. Detroit's fourth- and eight-graders recently scored abysmally on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a standardized exam that measures math, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography and U.S. history. “As we look at the low NAEP scores for Detroit's children, it is clear that this is a problem that we can and must, in fact, address,” Offor says. “We look at Teach For America as one critical source of talent in helping to address this problem.” —Mariem Qamruzzaman

Mariem Qamruzzaman is a life-long resident of metro Detroit and a 2009 graduate of the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. She has written for the Detroit Free Press, South Bend Tribune, and worked for Michigan Radio. Currently, she is freelancing and volunteering with non-profit organizations.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, InTheNews, Michael_Tenbusch

Investments in school readiness over the past 25 years helped Michigan realize cost savings and revenue of $1.15 billion, according to the Wilder Research Study, "Cost savings analysis of school readiness in Michigan," commissioned by Early Childhood Investment Corporation.

Where did we see those savings? In K-12 Education ($221 million), Reduced Govt Spending and Increased Tax Revenues ($594 million), and Reduced Social Costs to Public ($347 million).

Continue reading.

Labels: Annemarie_Harris, Educational_Preparedness, Employee Voices

Panera Bread is supporting United Way for Southeastern Michigan's Early Learning Communities program by hosting FREE Family Fun Days on the second Saturday of each month during the school year.

From 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. on select dates, children will participate in educational crafts and reading activities. While the children play, parents will have the opportunity to learn about the Early Learning Communities program and how to best prepare children for school. The events are open to all ages.

The Early Learning Communities is a network of neighborhood-based hubs providing free training and resources to parents and caregivers of children aged birth to five. Research shows that the first three years of life are critical to a child's ultimate success in school and in life, making it an important time to intervene to guarantee long-term achievement. The Early Learning Communities was started to ensure that all children enter kindergarten ready to succeed.

United Way for Southeastern Michigan is Panera Bread's Operation Dough-Nation® partner in metro Detroit. For all donations made to Panera's Community Breadbox, located near the registers, Panera matches a portion back to UWSEM.

Panera Family Fun Day dates and locations:

Feb. 13 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera location:
Rochester Hills, 2508 S. Adams Rd.
[Download a flyer: PaneraFeb.pdf]

March 13 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera location:
Southgate, 13665 Eureka Rd.

April 10 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera locations:
Dearborn Heights, 26580 Ford Rd.
Sterling Heights, 36808 Van Dyke Ave.
Livonia, 37091 Six Mile Rd.
Farmington Hills, 37611 Twelve Mile Rd.
Allen Park, 3112 Fairlane Dr.

May 8 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera location:
Roseville, 31960 Gratiot Ave.

June 12 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera location:
Southfield, 23719 Greenfield Rd. (between 9½ Mile and Greenfield, located in a shopping plaza)

Sept. 11 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera locations:
Woodhaven, 23061 Allen Rd.
Troy, 823 East Big Beaver Rd. (located in the Troy Commons Plaza)

Oct. 9 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera location:
Livonia, 28551 Schoolcraft Rd.

Nov. 13 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera location:
Farmington Hills - KT Plaza, 34635 Grand River Ave.

Dec. 11 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera locations:
Orion, 4804 S. Baldwin Rd.
Canton, 41950 Ford Rd.

Labels: Annemarie_Harris, Educational_Preparedness, Employee Voices

In Michigan, 65,000 children in poverty are supported by the child care subsidy program. 65% of these children are being cared for by family, friends and neighbors. In Metro Detroit, we have about 15,000 FFN subsidy providers.

They (FFNs) have an important job - providing high quality early learning development opportunities for the children in their care, setting the foundation for success in both school and life. The problem is, most of them aren't aware of this most important role. They see themselves as helping out their daughter, friend or neighbor who's looking for or is working. In addition, they are at a significant disadvantage - in poverty, undereducated, in crisis - to focus on being a quality caregiver.

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Annemarie_Harris, Educational_Preparedness, Employee Voices

Click here to read the other posts in the Digital Meet 'n' Greet series.

"Walk faster."

That's how my interview with Mike Tenbusch began.

He had ten minutes between back-to-back meetings, a lunch to finish, more than his fair share of emails and phone calls to return and thousands of kids to graduate from high school. The only time he could squeeze in for an interview with me was while walking between meetings. And it was when Mike began to answer my first question that he stopped, mid-sentence, asked me to walk faster, and then promptly picked up where he left off.

Mike is clearly a man with no time to waste.

Mike is United Way for Southeastern Michigan's Vice President of Education, working to ensure that kids enter school ready and that they stay in school. He'll be the first to tell you that everything he does, he does with the mind-set of serving the kids first. It's up to you to decide if he's talking about the thousands of metro Detroit school-aged children that aren't getting the education he knows they deserve, or if he's talking about his three kids at home – the kids that he makes a point to eat dinner with and read to every night (along with his "lovely" wife), no matter how busy he is.

And, just in case I haven't made it clear, Mike is very busy. Always has been... [continue reading]

Labels: DigitalMeetNGreet, Educational_Preparedness, Michael_Tenbusch, Ursula_Adams

Amber Arellano
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091215/OPINION03/912150310/Detroit-Charter-Schools--new-accountability-movement-targets-low-performing-charter-academies

As a black parent frustrated with the Detroit Public Schools, Chris White saw charter schools as the answer for better public education for Detroit's African-American and Latino families.

He helped organize charter schools. He worked hard to successfully convince black Detroiters to believe in them.

Now he has a very different mission: to clean up a charter system that he sees is as corrupt and troubled as the Detroit Public Schools.

"Charters have been reduced to being a decentralized system of fiefdoms that are not held accountable," says White, a leader of the city activist group, Coalition to Restore Hope.

White reflects a movement afoot in Detroit. Some foundations, non-profits, political leaders and grassroots activists are convinced rigorous academic accountability has to be made a part of all schools' governance and management systems to improve performance, including charter schools.

Detroit's charter schools have been like a younger sibling who has many of the serious problems of his older brother, the Detroit Public Schools. Big brother grabs so much attention that the young sibling of charters and their students often get ignored.

Detroit's devastating national test scores underscore the point. The National Assessment of Educational Progress reported last week that Detroit's fourth-grade math test score was the lowest among all big cities -- and not even close to the second lowest-performing city.

Charter schools performed just as poorly as traditional public schools in the city. A Michigan State University study of the latest state Michigan Educational Assessment Program test scores shows Detroit charter school student achievement is just as tragic. If Detroit charter students had taken the NAEP test, experts expect they would have performed just as badly, says Sharif Shakrani, co-director of the Education Policy Center at Michigan State University.

"I often hear Lansing lawmakers say we should close down the Detroit Public Schools," Shakrani says. "They are mistaken. The charter schools are also troubled. The quality problem in Detroit education is across the board."

That's why a coalition of city stakeholders -- from the United Way of Southeastern Michigan to the NAACP, to charter school leaders such as University Prep Academy's Doug Ross and a host of foundations -- are working to build public support for greater accountability among all schools.

Racial, capacity, challenges

The question they have delved into for months is: What has gone wrong with most charters?

While a few charter schools in the city are academically strong and financially well-managed, such as Detroit Edison Preparatory Academy, city leaders and activists cite a common concern about charter school corruption. White speaks for many when he says the same culture in the Detroit Public Schools is at work in charters. Some charter school developers see these academies as an opportunity to create jobs for their friends and families.

State charter leaders and authorizers also have expressed how difficult it is sometimes to close low-performing charter schools, especially when the schools' leaders use the issues of race and ethnicity to prevent shutdowns.

"I've watched charter operators who have been ordered to shut down due to violations, and they would open anyway and not tell the parents," says White, who helped found Detroit's charter Sankore Emerging High School Academy. "Then when the agency moves to shut them down, the leaders would say to parents, 'These white racists are trying to shut down your black academy. They don't care about educating black kids!' The families go nuts."

Capacity and competence are also big problems, says Carol Goss, president of the Detroit-based Skillman Foundation.

"Charters have greater autonomy, but they need great principals, great teachers, strong curriculum and instruction," said Goss, whose foundation funds both strong charters and traditional public schools. "Really, there is no one place to ensure the quality of charter schools or accountability in Detroit or in Michigan."

Will to change

Goss argues that New York City provides a model for more accountability. In New York, the Mayor's Office has an Office of Education that provides accountability and standards, and has the power to shut down chronically failing schools of all kinds.

White worries the city's corruption culture and tradition for selective enforcement of laws would undermine its accountability work. He is exploring the option of federal receivership for the city's schools.

What is striking is that, for the first time since the 1980s, Detroiters and Michigan education leaders are nearing a consensus about the problems and needs of urban schools.

Goss remains hopeful the perennially divided Detroit may come together around a comprehensive city education plan that the ExcellentSchoolsDetroit coalition will present to Detroit Mayor Dave Bing in February.

"For the first time, there's the right leadership, the alignment and the will," Goss says. " I think the community really wants change."

Amber Arellano is a Detroit News editorial writer who covers education policy. Find her columns at www.detnews.com/arellano. E-mail her at aarellano@detnews.com

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, InTheNews

By Sherri Begin Welch

The Early Childhood Investment Corp. has awarded a $2.8 million grant to United Way for Southeastern Michigan as part of $10 million in federal pass-through funding to improve the quality of early childhood care providers in the state.

ECIC is a public entity created in 2005 by Gov. Jennifer Granholm to coordinate an early childhood system for the state that would provide better access to professional development for providers of early childhood care.

With the grant, United Way plans to expand the early childhood provider professional development programs it launched in July, 2008.

“This is allowing us to fully cover Metro Detroit and increase the number of caregivers served, and ultimately, the number of children in their care,” said

Annemarie Harris, director, early childhood initiatives at United Way.

United Way will serve as one of 10 resource centers for early childcare providers in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, providing them with ongoing training in first aid, CPR, early childhood development and other relevant topics through subcontract with a number of community agencies.

The centers will host training to help early child care providers meet state requirements, along with further professional development goals, Harrison said.

United Way currently is subcontracting professional development for providers from five community agencies: Starfish Family Services Inc., Southwest Solutions in Detroit, Detroit-based Development Centers Inc., Leaps & Bounds Family Services in Warren and Oakland County Childcare Council.

United Way plans to subcontract five additional community agencies to expand its training across the region.

The new state grant builds on $1 million United Way has secured for early childhood provider training this year from a number of foundations: Ford Fund, General Motors Foundation, High Scope Educational Research Foundation, PNC Foundation, Kresge Foundation, Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation, Skillman Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Labels: Annemarie_Harris, Educational_Preparedness, InTheNews

Mayor Bing has made fixing schools a top priority. Emergency Financial Manager Bobb is bringing some real accountability to the system. Some public and public charter schools are modeling excellence.

Let's build on that momentum.

Help us develop a comprehensive citywide education plan to transform our schools. For all kids... all neighborhoods. Choose from one of six community meetings:

• Mon., Nov. 30 Osborn High School, 11600 E. 7 Mile Rd.
• Tues., Dec. 1 YouthVille, Detroit, 7375 Woodward
• Wed., Dec. 2 Southeastern High School, 3030 Fairview St.
• Thurs., Dec. 3 Most Holy Redeemer Church, 1721 Junction St.
• Mon., Dec. 7 Henry Ford High School, 20000 Evergreen Rd.
• Tues., Dec. 8 Detroit Community High School, 12675 Burt Rd.

Free dinner (5:30 - 6:00) and child care, plus $300 worth of Visa gift cards, including an early-bird raffle.

All meetings from 6 - 8 p.m. No speeches or lectures, just small group discussions to get your input.

Learn more and take our online survey at http://www.excellentschoolsdetroit.org/.

Click the following links for a downloadable event flyer in English or in Spanish to share.

A partnership of Arise Detroit, City of Detroit, Detroit Edison Public School Academy, Detroit Parent Network, Detroit Public Schools, Kellogg Foundation, Kresge Foundation, McGregor Fund, Michigan Future, Inc., New Detroit, New Urban Learning and University Prep, Skillman Foundation, Think Detroit PAL and United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness

Support our high school turnaround efforts. Advocate for policy changes that can turn around our poor performing schools and make us competitive for federal funding. Write a letter today.

Labels: advocate, Educational_Preparedness, monthly enewsletter

Hundreds of high school freshmen in Detroit and Warren are entering a more supportive learning environment this academic year with the help of United Way. These environments include nine "small schools" and three learning communities, launched as part of the first round of investments made by The Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund.

The Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund was created by United Way to turn around our region's 30 schools with dropout rates of 40 percent or more. With the help of United Way, participating schools will attain an 80 percent graduation rate within five years. The Fund provides support to schools who are approved partners and includes funding from AT&T, Ford Motor Company Fund, the Skillman Foundation, and United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

United Way's turnaround efforts are based on a proven model that has had success in other communities. The model centers on three components critical to creating high performing schools in high poverty areas:

• Changing conditions within the schools so that administrators have control over their staff, students, and budget.
• Providing a network of schools locally and nationally who are committed to the work and share best practices for success.
• Increasing capacity of schools by bringing in an intermediary with turnaround experience to support the school and ensure it succeeds.

The launch of the small schools and learning communities is a step that changes conditions within the school environment to provide increased attention per student. In a typical school, many students may feel lost in the crowd and without a watchful eye, may falter. In the turnaround model, the smaller schools allow at least one teacher to mentor and advocate for each student for the duration of his or her high school career, increasing the student's chances for success. In addition, the schools employ hands-on, project- and inquiry-based instruction which helps students develop deeper critical thinking skills and apply their knowledge to the real world.

The new small schools in Detroit are:

• Academy of Critical Thinkers at Cody High School
• Detroit Institute of Technology at Cody High School
• Academy of Medicine and Community Health at Cody High School
• Academy of Public Leadership at Cody High School
• Osborn Evergreen Academy of Design & Technology Academy
• Osborn University of Science, Mathematics, & Technology Academy
• Osborn College Preparatory Academy

In Warren, Van Dyke Public Schools are offering smaller learning environments through three learning communities. Lincoln High School is now made up of three small learning communities which consist of:

• Design and Technology
• Sports Medicine
• Performing Arts

Each of these schools or communities has a dedicated principal who leads and guides the educational process within the individual school and is accountable for making sure students achieve. With passionate principals and faculty at the helm, there is a renewed commitment among the schools to this new personalized and rigorous learning environment that has proven so effective in other cities.

If you're interested in learning more about K-12 education reform and the success it's had in other cities, please join United Way and others on Nov. 2 for a screening of The Providence Effect, a movie that tells the amazing story of an inner-city school in Chicago. You can attend a preview and discussion from 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., or attend the movie screening at 7 p.m.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness

There's a great study that was released this week by the University of California, Berkley and covered by the New York Times, Hispanic Immigrants' Children Fall Behind Peer Early, Study Finds.

What researchers discovered is that while Hispanic children are born healthy and on par with other American children, by age 2 they fall behind - and stay behind academically. What makes this so? Poverty is, of course, a factor. Another is that Hispanic mothers tend to have less formal schooling.

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Annemarie_Harris, Educational_Preparedness, Employee Voices

All the bleak news coming out of the state Capitol only heightens the role of Michigan-based private and community foundations, which — while facing their own financial challenges — are rethinking their strategies for rebuilding lives and communities.

A big part of their efforts is directed at public schools.

The United Way of Southeastern Michigan has totally re-invented itself to focus on core priorities, including schools. It and the Skillman Foundation are key partners in an effort to turn large “drop-out factories” into smaller high schools where students are cared about and teachers are supported and held accountable.

Click here to read the whole story.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness

Michigan is facing one of the most difficult budget crises our state has ever seen. There have been several proposals on how our state can solve this $2.8 billion shortfall, but no matter what, difficult cuts must be made. While Senate Democrats realize this, we also understand that with these devastating cuts, Michigan would not be able to successfully compete with other states in the region and our already-struggling families would continue to suffer. A budget that is only focused on slashing valuable programs will do more harm than good, and the Legislature should also be considering serious reforms.

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Annemarie_Harris, Educational_Preparedness, Employee Voices

Dear Editor: Kudos to the Free Press editorial board for finally saying what a lot of Michigan’s working parents already knew: That the state Senate’s budget plan “would have cut too deeply in core state services such as Medicaid and early childhood learning.”

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Annemarie_Harris, Educational_Preparedness, Employee Voices

I was waiting in the checkout line at Meijer's on Sunday with my daughter, Abby. There was a woman in front of us busy buying her items. Her infant daughter was with her, hanging out in her car seat in the grocery cart.

Staring right at me, I couldn't help but start talking to her. I commented on all the groceries her mom had to buy, asked her whether she had any brothers or sisters, if she was enjoying the nice weather, and so on. She began waving her hands a little bit and I could see the corners of her mouth trying to move. She had so much she wanted to say!

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Annemarie_Harris, Educational_Preparedness, Employee Voices

Press Release

AMERICAN EXPRESS LAUNCHES YEAR-LONG PARTNERSHIP WITH UNITED WAY FOR SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN – INCLUDING REVITALIZATION PROJECTS AT DETROIT’S OSBORN COLLEGE PREPARATORY ACADEMY

DETROIT – (September 1, 2009) – As American Express expands its presence in Detroit as the official Credit Card provider for the newly merged Delta and Northwest Airlines, the company is enhancing its long-standing commitment to the metro Detroit area through the launch of a year-long philanthropic program. The program, entitled “Travel with Your Mind,” is designed to help revitalize one deserving local school, Osborn College Preparatory Academy, through a series of transformational projects and multi-cultural initiatives. The first project at Osborn will take place on Friday, September 11, 2009 from 3 to 7 p.m.

American Express will work with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, an affiliate of HandsOn Network, the largest volunteer network in the nation, to implement the organization’s signature HandsOn Schools program, which aims to reestablish schools as the focal point of the community. Throughout the school year, American Express will engage its employees, Delta and Northwest employees, as well as the broader community to perform a series of “Travel with Your Mind” projects at the Osborn College Preparatory Academy. The “Travel with Your Mind” theme was selected to help expose students to the new possibilities travel creates through a series of travel-related projects and multicultural initiatives – without the students ever leaving their own backyard.

“We know that schools are at the heart of every community and a resource that our Cardmembers care deeply about,” says David Rabkin, vice president, Delta Co-brands, American Express. “As more consumers in Detroit switch to the Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card, we want to support a cause that is near and dear to them. At American Express, we have a long history of supporting causes that are important to our Cardmembers so partnering with the United Way of Southeastern Michigan is a perfect fit.”

For the first project, American Express, Delta and Northwest employees are inviting local parents, students, teachers and other community members to help perform a variety of transformational activities at Osborn. The school will receive everything from travel-related murals to freshly painted classrooms, book shelves and outdoor beautification. Realizing that many students may have never had the opportunity to travel, the renovations highlight the world beyond these communities and encourage students to be global thinkers and citizens.

“As we focus on turning around local high schools that have graduation rates of 60 percent or less, we know lasting change will only be possible through powerful partnerships,” said Mike Tenbusch, vice president of Educational Preparedness at United Way for Southeastern Michigan. “We are excited about the spark of imagination that the ‘Travel with Your Mind’ projects will give the students of Osborn.”

The projects for Osborn were decided upon in advance at a “Design Day” meeting at which key community members discussed and selected proposed revitalization projects based on the school’s needs. Two additional projects are scheduled to take place at Osborn during the winter and spring semesters, which will be announced in early 2010.

In addition to Detroit, American Express is also working with HandsOn Network to bring the “Travel with Your Mind” program to Memphis, Minneapolis and Seattle, where similar projects will be executed throughout the year. Overall, American Express’ “Travel with Your Mind” program in all four cities is expected to deliver more than 500 volunteers, 1,500 volunteer hours and contributions totaling more than $350,000.

Anyone interested in volunteering for the first project at Osborn College Preparatory Academy on Friday, September 11, 2009 from 3pm to 7pm can register at http://volunteer.united-e- way/uwsem/volunteer.


Delta SkyMiles Credit Card -- The Official Credit Card of Delta
American Express offers several Delta Co-Branded Credit Cards, including the premium Gold and Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Cards, and Delta Reserve Credit Card. These Cards offer rich, added benefits including the ability to add miles from Credit Card purchases to SkyMiles mileage balances and redeem miles for any seat on any Delta- or Northwest-operated flight at any time, starting at only 10,000 miles. Cardmembers also earn double miles on all Delta- or Northwest-operated flight purchases and receive a complimentary companion certificate every year upon Card renewal. For additional details on the offer and Card benefits visit 1800skymiles.com.

American Express Company (www.americanexpress.com) is a leading global payments and travel company founded in 1850.

About United Way for Southeastern Michigan
United Way for Southeastern Michigan mobilizes the caring power of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties to improve lives in measurable and lasting ways throughout the region. The organization is led by a diverse group of volunteers from business, labor, government, human services, education and the community. United Way provides opportunities to invest in the metropolitan Detroit community through its annual Campaign and is a leader in convening partners to impact local residents each year by increasing economic self-sufficiency, protecting children and youth at risk, strengthening families, empowering neighborhoods and communities, and promoting health and wellness. Additional information is available at www.LiveUnitedSEM.org.

About HandsOn Network
HandsOn Network, the volunteer-focused arm of Points of Light Institute, is the largest volunteer network in the nation and includes more than 250 HandsOn Action Centers that reach more than 83% of the nation's population and extend to ten countries. HandsOn includes a powerful network of more than 70,000 corporate, faith and nonprofit organizations that are answering the call to serve and creating scaled impact. In 2008, the network delivered approximately 30 million hours of volunteer service valued at $615 million. For more information, visit http://wwwhandsonnetwork.org.

Founded on the belief that communities can make a positive change, HandsOn Schools applies an innovative approach to school revitalization. By uniting the collective resources of parents, communities, and corporations, HandsOn Schools aims to reestablish schools as the focal point of the community.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, Press_Releases, Volunteering

In July, President Barack Obama and Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, announced guidelines for the Race to the Top Fund. This fund is a $4.3 billion competitive grant program rewarding states that have invested in education reform in the past and incentivizing states that want to create education reform initiatives in the future.

To receive a grant, states must meet certain guidelines:

• Adopt internationally-benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace
• Recruit, develop, retain, and reward effective teachers and principals
• Build data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve
• Turn around our lowest-performing schools

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: advocate, Educational_Preparedness, monthly enewsletter

People caring for young children have a new playgroup to choose from in Wayne County. And a full array of childcare resources and workshops to go with it. In partnership with Starfish Family Services, United Way’s Early Learning Communities (ELC) have expanded to the first site in Wayne County that's located outside of Detroit. The newest ELC will serve Inkster and the surrounding communities.

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, monthly enewsletter

PBS Between the Lions will be filming in Detroit on September 16 and 17. They are looking for children, ages three to seven, to be part of their program. Please share with teachers and parents -- we want to show off our region's literacy stars!

Labels: Annemarie_Harris, Educational_Preparedness, Employee Voices

Who knew that singing silly songs, marching in a circle and playing with musical instruments was developing [my daughter's] reading and math skills?

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Annemarie_Harris, Educational_Preparedness, Employee Voices

Janet, grandmother of Jordyn, age 5, and Evan, age 3, is an early childhood educator. No, she doesn't have a degree in it or teach in a classroom, but she's an educator just the same.

Janet is caring and educating her two grandchildren while her daughter is at work. Janet is the first to tell you she’s a fabulous caregiver – having successfully raised her daughter as well as a host of nieces and nephews. But when she began caring for her grandchildren a generation later, she thought maybe – just maybe – she could use a refresher. That’s when she found United Way’s Early Learning Community in Brightmoor. These communities provide free training and resources for individuals like relatives, neighbors, and childcare aides caring for young children.

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Annemarie_Harris, Educational_Preparedness, Employee Voices

Starfish Family Services is partnering with United Way for Southeastern Michigan to become the first neighborhood hub in western Wayne County to offer United Way's Early Learning Community program.

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness

Providing proper developmental support to children ages 0-5 is critical to their long-term success. Research shows that 90 percent of the brain develops in the first three years of life, making it the best time to reach a child and provide a solid foundation.

Yet, the Michigan Senate has proposed making deep cuts to Michigan’s early education programs as the legislature works through the difficult task of balancing the state's 2010 budget. The legislature is in no envious position; they are faced with a crippling budget deficit, and balancing it isn't going to be easy.

A lot of tough choices must be made, but they can't be made at the expense of our children.

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: advocate, Educational_Preparedness, monthly enewsletter

Studies show 90 percent of the brain develops in the first three years of life. Providing proper education opportunities in those critical years is important to a child’s long-term success.

However, the Michigan Senate has proposed eliminating critical early education programs as the legislature works through the difficult task of balancing the state’s 2010 budget.

A lot of tough choices must be made, but they can’t be made at the expense of Michigan’s children.

How you can help
Contact your legislators and urge them to avoid cuts to early education programming.

Labels: advocate, Agenda_for_Change, Educational_Preparedness

President Obama said Monday that he wants to close down 1,000 schools and reopen them with a new principal and staff in each of the next five years. Such a bold move is an extension of the game plan that the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, employed as CEO of Chicago Public Schools, in which he closed failing schools and opened new ones through a competitive process with higher standards and accountability.

Duncan was in Detroit Wednesday at the United Way’s national conference, and talked about what states can do to win hundreds of millions of additional dollars to close the achievement gap. As part of the stimulus legislation, Duncan was given authority over $5 billion in discretionary funding– an astonishing amount of money in comparison to the $17 million that his predecessor had before him. It’s intended as a lever for transformation—not just “school reform”—and he intends to use it.

[Click here to continue reading]

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, Michael_Tenbusch

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, Michael_Tenbusch

Fans are encouraged to bring a new or gently used pre- or early reader book to Final Four Friday as part of the Men's Final Four's first-ever Legacy Program. All donations will benefit the United Way for Southeastern Michigan's Early Learning Communities, which enhances school readiness for pre-school age children by providing training and resources for children and their caregivers. Stations to collect books will be available at Ford Field at Gates A, B and G.

Click here to learn more.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness

Taking a page from his friend and fellow billionaire Warren Buffet, Bill Gates has begun writing an annual letter to discuss candidly the success and failure of his foundation’s grant-making efforts each year. Having spent more than $2 billion in nine years to transform urban education, he has arrived at some conclusions we would do well to take heed of.

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, Michael_Tenbusch

It's got to be Derek Jeter, is what I thought when I heard a few years ago that a philanthropist who wanted to remain anonymous was donating millions of dollars to support the Kalamazoo Promise.

The Promise provides college tuition for residents of that west Michigan city who graduate from high school and head off to a college. An incredibly generous donor, supported by some other people with substantial cash to spare, anted up enough money to cover the cost of tuition at any Michigan community college or university for Kalamazoo high school graduates -- in perpetuity, according to administrators.

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, Rodd_Monts

I overheard a friend of a friend recount an interesting story about the difficulty he and his wife were having trying to provide a quality education for their child.

They live in suburban Detroit, and wanted their child to go to a school in a well-regarded district. The problem was their district of choice was not the one they lived in, but rather a district with a top-rated high school that happened to be located a few municipalities away.

That was okay, they figured, they would rent an apartment in their targeted district thereby establishing residency. Well, sort of. In actuality they were merely securing an address, for which they paid somewhere in the ballpark of $7,000-$10,000 a year. They figured it was worth that much to send their child to a school that they were certain would provide a quality education.

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, Rodd_Monts

Do you believe that ALL children can achieve 80% mastery of state standards? Or all children except [fill in blank with segment of student population].

Sometimes, I wonder who really believes that ALL children can achieve academic excellence?

To me, a region that believes all its students can succeed would not allow for 30 high schools in a three county region to graduate fewer than 60% of their students. But in Southeastern Michigan, that is our reality.

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, Julie_Updyke

When Pontiac native Nathaniel Abraham entered a guilty plea recently to felony drug possession charges I wondered, what if? What if he had gotten the help he needed early in his life, would he have ended up on another path. Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, Employee Voices, Rodd_Monts

What we face in Michigan is a dilemma faced by all 49 other states. Schools that have increasing numbers of kids in poverty have decreasing numbers in student achievement. But some schools are beating those odds, and the question is, how can we bring schools like them to scale? Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, Employee Voices, Michael_Tenbusch

I would like to provide an update on Operation ABC, an early education initiative United Way launched in January. There are now 43 schools in Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne counties participating in the program! And that's not the only good news: Operation ABC is evolving to better serve the needs of schools and their students. Click here to continue reading.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, Employee Voices, Tommy_Scott

Today, the Detroit Free Press published an article on the importance of play for young children. What I've found is that parents and other adults have one of two reactions: 1) "But of course, let children be children!" or 2) "What? Children need to study, have structure, rules, etc." I submit that play falls in between these two beliefs. What might generally not be known is that play fosters learning. It also promotes confidence and social skills. All of these characteristics are required for children to be successful in school and in life.

Continue reading.

Labels: Annemarie_Harris, Educational_Preparedness, Employee Voices

The dropout epidemic has been defined by John McCain and others as the civil rights issue of our time. Why then, do those of us fighting for that right spend so much time in conferences trying to get consensus on what to do?

Continue reading.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, High_School_Turnaround, Michael_Tenbusch

Recently we brought a small bus load of 15 people on an Impact Tour of our work for the Venture Fund. On the 20 minute ride to Cody 9th Grade Academy, I painted a picture of what high-performing, high-poverty high schools look like, and then walked into the school to see how it would compare. It was amazing.

Dr. Gabriela Gui, the school's infectiously enthusiastic leader, greeted us with smiles and a lot of high-octane energy. She explained that she is an immigrant from Romania: "I started out here as a substitute…No that's not right. I started out here cleaning toilets and sleeping in my car. But then I became a substitute, then a teacher, an assistant principal and a principal…I can tell you that the new Cody High School is going to be one of the best high schools in all of Michigan."

Read more.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, High_School_Turnaround, Michael_Tenbusch

As the Research Department continues to analyze the recently released Graduation/Dropout data from the State of Michigan (a report will appear on the web next week), I wanted to tell you the good news about Detroit schools.

A total of 32 high schools (out of 204) in the tri-county area (graduating at least 20 children) achieved an on-time graduation rate of 95 percent or better. The City of Detroit School District accounted for 6 of these schools, two of which - Renaissance and Cass - placed in the Top 7 in the region. The other districts with multiple entries were Bloomfield Hills (3), Grosse Pointe (2), Rochester (2), Troy (2), and Utica (3).

Detroit is also well represented on the other end of the graduation spectrum - those with graduation rates below 60 percent. While a significant number of the schools with the lowest graduation rates were Alternative Education institutions, and thus not necessarily relevant to our high school initiative, the Detroit Public School District did have a number of entrants. Among the "regular" public high schools in Detroit that had graduation rates below 60 percent were:

• Northern High School 56.9%
• Detroit City High School 56.4%
• Mackenzie High School 56.3%
• Southwestern High School 56.0%
• Central High School 55.9%
• Finney High School 53.5%
• Chadsey High School 52.0%
• Redford High School 48.0%

A final report, including results for all tri-county high schools, along with additional data will be forthcoming.

Kurt Metzger
Research Director, United Way for Southeastern Michigan
kurt.metzger@LiveUnitedSEM.org

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, Research

The State released newly calculated graduation and dropout rates earlier this week. This marks the first time that the state has used the 4-year cohort method, a method that will be used by all states and thus lend some consistency to data reporting. It is also the first time that the State has been able to track students moving in and out of districts, as well as those obtaining GEDs, as a result of the new Single Student Record Database.

The Detroit News headline was: Michigan Graduation rates: 25 Percent Don't finish in four years

The Detroit Free Press stated: New formula yields good news on Detroit graduate rate (new calculations show that to be 58% - a number below previous state estimates but well above numbers coming out of recent national studies).

One of UWSEM's prime agenda items is that of keeping kids in school and seeing that they graduate. To support this effort, the UWSEM Research Department will be doing a thorough analysis of the data for schools in our region.

One of the other important components of the new data is the ability to look at graduation rates by race, ethnicity and gender. Studies have long shown racial/ethnic achievement gaps and many United Ways across the country have made a goal of reducing those gaps - Dane County being the preeminent example.

I took a look at statewide statistics on graduation rates by race/ethnicity and gender and the gaps are both startling and disturbing (see attached Powerpoint chart: Graduation%20Gaps.ppt). Among the findings:

• Males graduate at lower rates than females for all race/ethic groups
• African American males have the lowest graduation rate of any subgroup - 48.4 percent - and show the biggest difference with their female comparison group
• African American females have a higher rate (64.8%), but are second lowest among females (the Hispanic female rate is 63.5%)
• Hispanic males have the second lowest graduation rate at 52.3 percent
• Asian and Pacific Islanders have the highest graduation rates for both males and females, just ahead of whites
• Native Americans and students identifying themselves as Multi-Racial fall between the extremes

The high school graduation initiative is critical for our region. As Lou Glazer of Michigan Future Inc, says of our state and our region - "We must get younger and more educated or get poorer." Helping to increase graduation rates and decrease the gaps is an agenda that we must all get behind.

Kurt Metzger
Research Director, United Way for Southeastern Michigan
kurt.metzger@LiveUnitedSEM.org

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, Research

PRESS RELEASE

For more information, contact:

Cara I. Belton
313-226-9484 or 313-520-8454
or
Laura L. Rodwan
313-226-9484 or 313-477-2750
United Way for Southeast Michigan

Joe Steele
313-223-9759
AT&T

Grant will support Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund

DETROIT, August 4, 2008 – AT&T (NYSE:T), today announced a $1 million contribution to the United Way for Southeastern Michigan Greater Detroit Area Venture Fund. The Venture Fund was created to support school turnaround efforts in high schools that have low graduation rates, based on best practices that have proven effective in other cities nationwide.

"We're pleased to present United Way with the largest gift we’ve ever given of this kind in Michigan," said Gail Torreano, president of AT&T Michigan. "We are proud to be a catalyst for the Venture Fund, and hope AT&T’s contribution will inspire many more companies and individuals to come forward and contribute to support our local students who are the future leaders in Michigan."

The launch of the Venture Fund is an example of United Way for Southeastern Michigan’s commitment to becoming an impact-driven organization in order to better meet the needs of the communities it serves. The Fund is a $10 million initiative to transform high school education in the region.

“As part of our re-alignment into a community-impact organization through the Agenda for Change, United Way will continue to take the lead in unprecedented, innovative work throughout the region,” said Mike Brennan, president and CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan. "Through the generosity of AT&T, we will lay the groundwork for long-term success in turning around southeastern Michigan’s low-performing schools.”

Currently, there are 2,000 high schools in America that have graduated less than 60% of their freshmen class for three consecutive years. More than 30 of those schools are located in Southeastern Michigan.

The Venture Fund’s purpose is to turn around the low graduation rates at high schools in the region with dropout rates of 40 percent or higher.

The Venture Fund will financially support partnerships between high schools and proven educational intermediaries working together to create small, personalized learning environments.

In April 2008, AT&T unveiled the “AT&T Aspire” program through which the company and the AT&T Foundation will commit $100 million over the next four years toward high school success and workforce readiness initiatives.

With more than 12,000 employees in Michigan and over 300,000 employees worldwide, AT&T is uniquely positioned to take on this challenge and lead the way in supporting students and schools in our local communities. By focusing on education and workforce readiness, AT&T is looking beyond today, because our nation’s prosperity depends on investing in and supporting the next generation.

United Way president and CEO Mike Brennan accepted the $1 million gift from Torreano on the first day of a two-day school turnaround forum, “Conversations with Intermediaries,” held at Lawrence Technological Institute in Southfield. Representatives from AFT Michigan (AFL-CIO), the Skillman Foundation, and other corporate and community partners are at the forefront of this effort, and are providing generous support to The Venture Fund.

After acknowledging AT&T’s contribution, Brennan expressed the continued need for education reform in our community. “Now, more than ever, the success of the region in the 21st century will require a renewed commitment to a culture of achievement in our schools and communities.”

Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund Funding Partnerships for Turnaround Schools Q & As

What is the Venture Fund?
The Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund (“the Venture Fund”) was created to support eligible school turnaround efforts in high schools that have low graduation rates. These turnaround efforts are based on best practices that have proven effective in other cities nationwide.

The Purpose of the Venture Fund IS NOT:

• to create charter schools
• take over schools
• to break up unions
• limited to schools only in the city of Detroit

Where did the idea for the Venture Fund originate?
A recent Johns Hopkins study identified 78 high schools in Michigan (more than 30 of which are in Southeastern Michigan) as “dropout factories,” meaning that less than 60% of the students graduated with their class for at least three years in a row. Yet since 2001, a wave of urban high school transformation efforts has swept across the country, and some cities and intermediary organizations have shown amazing results.

Who is involved in the Venture Fund?
The AT& T Foundation, the Skillman Foundation and the United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

Why has the United Way for Southeastern Michigan created the Venture Fund?
The issues facing families and individuals in our communities have become greater in number and more acute. As a result, the United Way for Southeastern Michigan is changing the way it does business in order to meet the needs of the communities it serves. The Venture Fund is a part of that change. United Way’s shift in function and focus is an agile, swift response to rapidly changing community needs, including the area of education.

How is United Way changing the way it is doing business?
United Way has implemented its Agenda for Change and is transforming into an impact-driven organization seeking to create measurable and lasting change in the areas most critical to the well being of Southeastern Michigan communities. The Agenda’s three impact areas are:

• Educational Preparedness
• Financial Stability
• Basic Needs

What is role of United Way in the Venture Fund?
In addition to creating the Venture Fund, United Way will act as its fiduciary, marking a non-traditional role and progressive approach by the organization. As part of its re-alignment into a community-impact organization, United Way will continue to take the lead in unprecedented, innovative work throughout the region.

What is the goal of the Venture Fund?
The Fund will financially support partnerships between high schools and proven educational intermediaries working together to create small, personalized learning environments.

Why the need?
There are 2,000 high schools in America that have graduated less than 60% of their freshmen class for three consecutive years—and more than 30 of those schools are in Southeastern Michigan. The schools listed below have been invited (via school district leaders) to submit a School Turnaround Proposal.

How will the funds be allocated?
Grants up to $80,000 per year per small high school (500 students or fewer) or $320,000 per large high school (1,500 to 2,000 students) will be made to support comprehensive turnaround efforts. Grants are renewable for up to five years based on annual performance objectives. Funds will be paid directly to the intermediaries identified by the school.

Will the Funds go directly to the schools?
No. Funds will be paid directly to the intermediaries identified by the school.

Which schools are eligible?

Academy for Business and Tech.	East Detroit	Osborn
Cass Technical	Ecorse	Pershing
Central	Finney	Pontiac Central
Chadsey	Hamtramck	Pontiac Northern
Cody	Hazel Park	Redford
Communication & Media Arts	Henry Ford	River Rouge
Cooley	Kettering	Southeastern
Davis Aerospace	Lincoln Park	Southwestern
Denby	Melvindale-Northern Allen Park	Van Dyke Lincoln
Detroit School of Industrial Arts	Northwestern	Western International

What is an eligible intermediary?
An educational intermediary is a non-profit organization that partners with a school district to help its leadership and teachers improve student achievement. Intermediaries eligible for funding must have a proven record of improving student achievement and graduation rates in high poverty high schools, as measured by an external evaluator.

What is the strategy behind the Venture Fund school turnaround efforts?
Other cities have shown that urban school districts, union leadership, and community members can transform large, failing high schools into smaller, successful ones. The purpose of the Venture Fund is to incentivize those partnerships and best practices to turn around schools in Southeastern Michigan. This includes the following key components:

• Changing Conditions
  Conditions in the lowest-performing schools must be changed so that school leaders have the authority to make decisions in the best interests of the students. Changing conditions also means being accountable for increased achievement rates.
• Increasing Capacity
  Increasing capacity means that one lead external partner (or “intermediary”) works with the school district and school staff to implement proven school turnaround and student engagement strategies.
• Creating Clusters
  To be effective, school turnaround cannot occur in small, isolated pockets. School leaders and teachers involved in turnaround need both collaboration and competition.

What are the criteria that indicate success in school turnaround efforts?

• If a school’s district office is supportive of the turnaround efforts.
• The school has a plan for effective site-based management.
• The school has selected a partner with a proven record of improving graduation rates.

There have been failed efforts in the past. How is this different?
In the last few years we have begun to see the development of successful strategies for improving low graduation rates throughout the country. The strategies will create the foundation for change in our failing schools. In addition, The Venture Fund is unique in that labor and school leaders, as well the corporate and philanthropic community, are working together to tackle this critical issue.

About United Way for Southeast Michigan
United Way for Southeastern Michigan mobilizes the caring power of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties to improve lives in measurable and lasting ways throughout the region. The organization is led by a diverse group of volunteers from business, labor, government, human services, education and the community. United Way provides opportunities to invest in the metropolitan Detroit community through its annual Campaign and is a leader in convening partners to impact local residents each year by increasing economic self-sufficiency, protecting children and youth at risk, strengthening families, empowering neighborhoods and communities, and promoting health and wellness. Additional information is available at www.uwsem.org.

About Philanthropy at AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is committed to advancing education, strengthening communities and improving lives. Through its philanthropic initiatives and partnerships, AT&T supports projects that create learning opportunities; promote academic and economic achievement; and address community needs. In 2007, AT&T contributed more than $164 million through corporate-, employee- and AT&T Foundation-giving programs. AT&T and the AT&T Foundation, the corporate philanthropy organization of AT&T, combine more than $1.9 billion of historic charitable commitment to communities across the country.

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world's most advanced IP-based business communications services and the nation's leading wireless, high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of its three-screen integration strategy, AT&T is expanding its TV entertainment offerings. In 2008, AT&T again ranked No. 1 on Fortune magazine’s World’s Most Admired Telecommunications Company list and No. 1 on America’s Most Admired Telecommunications Company list. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com.

© 2008 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other AT&T marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Note: This AT&T news release and other announcements are available as part of an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness