Category Archives: Education

In The News …

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Welcome to Wednesday, DMV folks! Just passing along some mid-week news …

Student Test Scores Show US Science-Education Deficiency — The results from the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress were released this week and, according to the Wall Street Journal, may well “reinvigorate the national debate over America’s future competitiveness in science and technology.” Possible reasons for the science deficiency “included shortages of qualified science educators and of advanced science classes in low-income and rural schools” and many teachers “blamed the lackluster showing on No Child Left Behind.” While the results are a cause for concern, do they clearly indicate that science education is lacking? Or rather, could they suggest that standardized tests are the wrong medium for assessing that education — or fairly assessing ability for students of all backgrounds?

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7 Questions – Steve Park (Little Lights Urban Ministries)

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Many Catalogue cheers for Steve Park, Executive Director of Little Lights Urban Ministries! Dedicated to the children of the Potomac Gardens public housing complex in Ward 6, Little Lights provides homework help, SAT practice, after-school activities, and Camp Heaven in the summer — and it all works. Last year, 100% of their students stayed in school.

1. What was your most interesting recent project, initiative, partnership, or event?

Just this week, we opened up our Little Lights Family Center located right on the grounds of Potomac Gardens Public Housing in Capitol Hill. We fully renovated a dilapidated apartment unit into a high-tech computer lab and resource/employment center. We will also be providing adult education classes and workshops in the space as well. We have also even agreed with the principal of the nearby elementary school to have some office hours in our space to do outreach to the parents.

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In The News…

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In focusing on world-wide philanthropy news this week, I both wanted to share the following items and give a shout-out to Catalogue’s international non-profits. Definitely check them out to learn more about making a difference all around the world.

Haiti, one year later — For the 1-year anniversary of the 7.0Mw earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the Big Picture on boston.com paid tribute last week to the “12 months of struggle and heartache [with] photos of (and by) Haitians as they continue to cope with the aftermath of such a massive disaster.” These images certainly transcend words, so do look for yourself.

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MLK Avenues

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If you have not already, do check out this piece in yesterday’s Post. “Taking to roads to find Martin Luther King’s legacy” highlights the years-long journey of a group of DC students with a simple yet ambitious goal: gaining a deeper understanding of Dr. King’s life and work by exploring the streets named for him — including DC’s own Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE:

Eight teenagers from five D.C. high schools crisscrossed the country with two mentors and video cameras, visiting more than a dozen “MLK streets.” Their driving tours in 2008 coincided with the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, putting the students between a history they barely knew and history in the making.

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7 Questions – Aleta Margolis (Center for Inspired Teaching)

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Let’s give a great Catalogue welcome to … Aleta Margolis, Executive Director of the Center for Inspired Teaching! Through in-depth training programs and even annual principal and teacher institutes, Inspired Teaching advocates for true educational reform by challenging how teachers understand their students, their teaching, and themselves. Check out her insights on education and why great teachers are profoundly essential to our communities:

1. What was your most interesting recent project, initiative, partnership, or event?

Center for Inspired Teaching is in the process of opening a school: the Inspired Teaching Demonstration School. This school will be a DC public charter school and will open in August, and it will serve as a model for how we believe all teachers should teach and all students should learn. It will also be home to a teacher residency where new teachers will train alongside master teachers. We’re very excited!

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Literacy City

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As the Post reported yesterday, “DC residents rank as the nation’s most well-read” according to a new study from Central Connecticut State University. The America’s Most Literate Cities study “ranks the largest cities (population 250,000 and above) in the United States [focusing] on six key indicators of literacy: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment, and Internet resources.”

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Power of 8: AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation

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Good morning, Greater Washington — we hope that you had a great Christmas! As you know, leading up to 2011, we will be featuring the awesome winners of our Power of 8: Part 2 contest here on GoodWorks.

For December 26-27, we welcome AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation. Committed to strong language and literacy education for 3- and 4-year-olds, AppleTree creates pre-school centers of excellence and ensures that early childhood teachers receive the best training and professional development. For a quick glimpse of all they do, check this out:

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7 Questions – Cara Leidy (Higher Achievement)

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It’s double “7 Questions” week! Please welcome … Cara Leidy, Manager of Development at Higher Achievement Program, which offers rigorous academic classes for motivated middle schoolers during the “gap hours:” 3:30 to 8:00 PM during the school year and all day in the summer months. (Get this: in 2008, 100% of their graduates advanced to college-prep high schools!) Read on for some great development insight and cools news about Higher Achievement.

1. What was your most interesting recent project, initiative, partnership, or event?

Our most recent event at Higher Achievement was our GoingPlaces! Benefit that raised over $550,000 for our local program. The highlight was watching 5th and 6th grade scholars from Ward 8 perform a step routine on stage at the Warner Theatre — awesome. Afterwards, our scholars were on the dance floor doing the electric slide with local real estate moguls! It was a memorable night.

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Three, Two, One … Non-Profits!

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Good morning, Washington! We’ll have more mid-week news coming your way on Wednesday, but I just wanted to share this one unusual item today. First, it honestly made me smile. But moreover, I wondered if it might mark the beginning of an intriguing partnership between the public and non-profit sector — and whether it signaled a growing awareness of the power inherent in cross-disciplinary collaboration.

As Popular Science reported this weekend: “NASA Plans to Put Non-Profit Group in Charge of International Space Station Experiments:”

As NASA prepares to put the finishing touches on the International Space Station — just as soon as space shuttle Discovery can make one last visit — the space agency is looking to outsource its science experiments.

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In The News …

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Happy Wednesday, Greater Washington! Are you avoiding the rain? Are you stuck indoors? Just spend some extra time on the Catalogue blog. We have our Mid-Week News today, plus more 7 Questions coming your way tomorrow! We’ve also created a 7 Questions archive. So if you’re like me and enjoy poking through blog histories, you now easily can peruse past interviews.

[ UPDATE: Okay. So I woke up this morning and, lo and behold, gorgeous fall weather. So enjoy the sunshine and then catch up on some non-profit news! ]

Celebrities Hire Philanthropy Consultants to Guide Their Giving — We actually had a blog post about this yesterday, so do check out both that (tell us what you think!) and the LA Times article from this past Sunday. The article examines the “attempt by celebrities to display a deep commitment to issues beyond their next movie or album” and the rising demand for multi-skilled philanthropic advisers who can facilitate just that. Continue reading →