Tools and Strategies for a Smoth Transition to CCSS Standards

Upcoming professional development workshop! “Tools and Strategies for a Smoth Transition to CCSS Standards”. Monday Feb. 27 - Tuesday Feb. 28, 8:30-3:30. Register online: http://www.aspdgroup.com/. Questions? email help@aspdgroup.com or call 77.965.3276.

Career Academy in The Advocate

Career Academy students practiced the art of origami by creating ornaments for the school’s Christmas tree and were featured in the Dec. 23 issue of The Advocate. Read the story here: http://theadvocate.com/utility/homepagestories/1501197-129/geometric-christmas.html

Charles Lamar Family Foundation Donation

 The Charles Lamar Family Foundation made it possible for the LRCE Resource Library to collect animal welfare resources as well as materials about animals. The collection includes fiction and nonfiction titles, audio books, DVDs, and hands-on materials. Thank you to the Charles Lamar Family Foundation for the generous donation.

2011 Teacher Aid Garage Sale

The LRCE 2011 Teacher Aid Garage Sale was a success! Thank you to ExxonMobil for sponsoring the sale.

Teachers browsing the items at the garage sale.

ExxonMobil volunteer helping out the day of the sale.

Having fun at the garage sale!

ExxonMobil Community Summer Jobs intern handing out bags at the sale.

Thank you for supporting the Resource Library!

Annual Giving Luncheon

On March 31, donors, sponsors, board members and patrons were honored at the LRCE Annual Giving Luncheon.

Jason Bitting, Albermarle, presented LRCE Executive Director, Nancy Roberts with a $50,000 check from The Albermarle Foundation.

Pictured left to right: LRCE Executive Director Nancy Roberts; Guest Speaker Randy Borill, Central High School; LRCE Board Chairman Dan Bevan, The Huey & Angelina Wilson Foundation; and Annual Giving Luncheon Chairman, Eric Waechter, Merrill Lynch.

Pictured left to right: Ron Sutton, Baton Rouge Coca-Cola Bottling Co.; Kevin Reilly, Sr., Reilly Enterprises; and Jane Collins, Ph.D.

Kevin Reilly, Sr. was honored for his essential role in the start-up of LRCE, his continued support, and challenging the community to match a $100,000 gift donated by the Reilly Family Foundation.

Pictured left to right: Evelyn Ware Jackson, EBR School Board; Curt Soderbergh, CSRS; and Barbara Freiberg, EBR School Board President.

Pictured standing left to right: Henry Schexnayder, Tyronne Black, and Gary LaCombe, Shell Chemical.

Pictured seated left to right: Beverly Smiley, Solutions through Science; and Desiree Lemoine, Louisiana Chemical Association.

The Career Academy Charter School is open.

The Career Academy is an initiative of LRCE. Visit The Career Academy on Facebook!

Now enrolling students for 9th and 10th grades. For more information, call the Career Academy at 225-388-5252 or go to the Career Academy website.

Meeting Rooms Available

LRCE provides the use of its meeting rooms on a reserved basis to organizations, school districts and schools. Rooms may now be reserved by non-members of LRCE, as well as members. Contact Janet Smith at (225) 924-7600 or JanetS@LRCE.org for more information. If you would like to reserve your room online, please click here.

Can public education be saved?

LRCE’s Executive Director and CEO, Nancy Roberts discusses her concerns.

A recommendation from a past practitioner

To Whom it may Concern,

                My name is Keith Courville, a Chemistry and Physics teacher at Walker High School, and I am a graduate of LRCE’s alternative certification program from Summer 2009. I highly recommend LRCE for all those interested in obtaining the knowledge necessary to succeed in the classroom. Through the summer training, I gained practical knowledge within the classroom as well as experienced relevant seminars and workshops on a broad range of topics from pedagogy to classroom management. Furthermore, while teaching, I received bi-monthly content meetings, taught by a highly competent master teacher, which were both relevant to my subject area and a means of collaborating with others in my field. Simply put, whether it is my success within the classroom or completing career goals such as my M.Ed., the knowledge and skills taught to me at LRCE have been invaluable to my continuing development within my profession.

Motivating words from a past practitioner

This speech is from Erica Badeaux at the Annual Giving Luncheon in March 2010.

Good Afternoon.

            Two years ago I spent most of my hours each day drafting in front of a computer.  I’d earned my college degree, completed three years of an internship and was on my way to an architectural license. Yet even then, I was still discerning what I wanted to be when I grew up.  

            Currently I have a dream job.  Sherwood Middle has a way of driving every teacher to their fullest potential, but my position as a 6^th grade science teacher is really the end of a story that began many years ago.  You see, my father has been a drug addict for as long as I can remember.  The oldest of three, my childhood was wrought with memories of a single mother trying to survive the destruction of a marriage, the burden of financing a family without child support, the chaos of sleepless nights, and much emotional abuse.  My teachers have always been my extended family…and thank God for that.  Because their belief in me echoed my own mothers’ time and again, I developed a great sense of personal worth and self confidence.  My father’s drug addiction destroyed us in so many ways, but I believe I’m here today because of the silver lining to that very dark cloud.

            Where I’d been successful in school though, I watched as my younger siblings struggled.  Though I found them to be brilliant in their own way, they seemed to stagnate in a traditional school setting.  I couldn’t understand what was going on, or why something as simple as a personality difference could be so destructive academically.   It broke my heart that they grew to measure their own worth by the scores they received on standardized tests.  The words of my mother resonate in my mind even to this day…words I’d heard so many times before…”Don’t complain about the situation if you don’t intend to do anything to fix it” she’d advice….my brother and sister deserved the chance that I’d been given and like my own family, I understood the odds so many of today’s kids were up against faced with a troubled home life that inevitably led to difficulties in school.  I’d beaten all the odds that would have predicted me a failure, and I was intent on showing others the way.  Any person can claim to teach a self-motivated child, but it takes a person that can empathize to teach the average student.  After advice from a friend and a little research of my own, I soon realized that these beliefs were mirrored in the mission and goals of the LRCE program.

            I dialed their number in the spring of 2008.  As one among hundreds of practitioners during that summer program, I quickly realized I’d always be a name and never a number.  Each of us knew Nancy Roberts on a first name basis.  She’d drop in so often to check on us that it wasn’t until the end of July…after months of seeing her name plastered over every publication in the city- that we realized she’d always been too humble to admit just how important a person she was.  Nancy has a vision about the way education should be.  She, like so many other progressives in education, took action to pioneer a system that began to solve the hiring dilemma in Louisiana’s educational realm.  The lack of highly qualified teachers became even more of an issue with the effects of Hurricane Katrina and in turn the academic catch-up needed for thousands of displaced kids. 

            Thus, LRCE provided a seamless program enabling degreed professionals such as myself from a non-education curriculum to fast-track into a teaching position relevant to their own field of expertise.  In theory, it seems like such a simple solution, but then there is that very small hurdle…the terrifying reality that hits any person contemplating a career change.  I heard it time and again from my fellow practitioners…they spoke of the impossibility of being an adult with dependent children or aging parents having to leave a secure paycheck at a time of economic crisis when so few of us could have afforded to go back to college.  LRCE gave us another option.  The team had worked diligently to gain subsidies for practitioners and we entered the program knowing that over a third of our costs would be paid up front.  The seven week summer program was extremely efficient, each day filled with seasoned educators and experts speaking on such topics as child psychology, classroom management, differentiated instruction, and cooperative learning.  Support was provided in the way of job fairs, books recommendations for first-time teachers, contacts and peer directories, wiki chats, blogs, on and on.  We’d receive daily emails with local job openings by subject area, and had I not scheduled my own interviews, I often think Nancy might have done that for me too.

            Those in the education profession can relate to the patience and faith required waiting for a position to open…especially when the best case scenario is an opening by July 31^st and the worst case…being the day before school starts.  LRCE’s program prepared us for that possibility too, and I probably should list emotional support as one of the program’s assets.   

            I started teaching at Sherwood Middle Magnet with a strong foundation of practical literature, a slew of best practices, scheduled mentor meetings and a directory of contact numbers.  During that first year, our bi-monthly meetings provided a place to share our stories and create action plans to overcome our greatest challenges.  Many of those nights simply provided a place where we could be understood, in ways only teachers can.  The LRCE team continues to notify its former practitioners of highly sought after workshops and they seek out donor support to pay teachers for time spent outside the classroom.  The library housed in the LRCE building has enabled my forensics students to magnify evidence using the Scope on a Rope technology and LRCE driven funding has purchased many of our classroom supplies and our science reading station. 

             More important than the things we’ve received through this program is the way we are made to feel having been a part of it.  Our ideas and opinions are sought after via email surveys, written evaluations and group discussions, and the program continues to evolve each year as teachers strive to meet the needs of the modern student. 

            Speaking only for myself, I am grateful to have been chosen to participate in this alternate certification program, I am honored for this opportunity to speak today to the true movers and shakers of our city, and I am humbled every day for the trust so many parents place in me.        

            I began my first career in architecture with the intention of creating beautiful things.  As a teacher, I’ve learned that there is nothing quite like the smile on the face of a child who’s grown confident in their own inner strength.  I challenge anyone of us to create something more beautiful than that.

I love my job…and I am truly grateful for this amazing opportunity.

Thank you for listening.

Helping cut cancer: student wins chance to trim teachers hair

http://www.2theadvocate.com/features/105838118.html

One of LRCE’s practitioners, Michelle Perk, had student DéJah Joseph, 13, take a pair of scissors and snip off her ponytail as the culmination of a week’s worth of efforts at the school in the fight against breast cancer.

Donations welcome for Teacher Aid Store

Our Resource Library now has a Teacher Aid Store to help raise money. Come check it out! We are now accepting donations of children’s books, educational toys, teacher guides, classroom supplies and office supplies. Questions? Email janets@LRCE.org for more information!

We love getting mail. :)  Thank you, St. James Parish Public...

We love getting mail. :)  Thank you, St. James Parish Public School!

Dilworth asks businesses aid

School chief lauds partners

By CHARLES LUSSIER
Advocate staff writer
Published: Sep 29, 2010 – Page: 1B

East Baton Rouge Parish School Superintendent John Dilworth on Tuesday issued a challenge to businesses to get more involved in local public schools.

“If you want to be a part, you have to put some skin in the game. You have to do more than just talk,” Dilworth told an audience at D’Jon’s Restaurant in Baton Rouge.

The occasion was the Partners in Business luncheon hosted by the group Volunteers In Public Schools.

Dilworth said he’s grateful for the help the school system receives, highlighting several prominent partners such as LSU and Southern universities, several local churches and ExxonMobil.

“The business community &hellip honestly, we’ve got some work to do,” he said.

Dilworth said schools need a range of help, from mentors to reading volunteers. He made a special pitch for businesses willing to help make a success of the new Career Academy, set to open in fall 2011.

“Any city that wants to be great will make sure that the resources are provided, that our graduates are college- and work force-ready, and here’s a golden opportunity,” he said.

Angela Lau, VIPS’ coordinator for its partners in education effort, said VIPS is having some success. She noted about 1,000 people are volunteering to read or work on math with children, about 200 more than last year.

In addition, 329 groups had partnerships last year with an East Baton Rouge Parish public school, up from 247 the year before, Lau said. Nevertheless, 14 schools still have no partners, she said.

Earlier that day, Krystal Champlin, who works in the accounting department at Dudley DeBosier law firm in Baton Rouge, had her first meeting with her new reading buddy, A’Shyri Reed, 7, in the library at Bernard Terrace Elementary School. Champlin is one of seven employees the law firm releases from work at least once or twice a month to help children improve their reading skills.

On Tuesday, they read “Pigs At Odds,” a second-grade level book about pigs that go to a fair. Champlin said A’Shyri had some trouble at first, so Champlin read some of the book aloud with A’Shyri to give the girl some confidence.

Champlin said she relishes the chance to give back to the community and to do so in such a crucial area.

“I just think reading is such a foundational skill,” she said.

Dilworth said he loses sleep some nights over what he sees in his job.

“I see children every day who need help, and I ask myself, ‘Why does this happen in the 21st century and why does it happen in a city like Baton Rouge?’ ” he said.

Dilworth also that while he hasn’t made as many sweeping changes in personnel as some would like, he has made some changes that are “under the radar.”

He noted that he now strictly limits the ability of new teachers to transfer to other schools in the district during their first three years on the job. He pointed out his continuing work with District Attorney Hillar Moore to fight truancy and their efforts to develop a one-stop truancy center to help truant children transition back to school.

Dilworth also promised he will improve the quality of service that schools receive from the Central Office. Poor service, he said, contributes to employee discontent and weakens public perceptions of the school system.

“We’ll either fix it or we’ll get new people to fix it,” he said.

The superintendent also expressed disappointment at the unwillingness of many local leaders to move past old fights and work together.

“I’m so surprised that there were just 17 applicants for this job because I’ve met 50 people who think they can do it,” he said at one point, sparking laughter in the audience.

He said he plans to work to get more of the nay-sayers involved and focused on developing solutions.

“It’s going to take everybody, everybody to make this work, and shame on us if it doesn’t work, because our children deserve better,” he said.