US Tennis Association in Worcester

The T&G caught some fun photos* from yesterday's USTA Kids Day down at the DCU Center. There were over 300 kids from three city schools down there for the afternoon, learning racquet skills and meeting players, who also seemed to be enjoying themselves.**It was very well run, and entirely covered by USTA (including at least six buses, which don't come cheap!).
Many thanks!

*including Governor Patrick returning a volley to Venus Williams. Alas, it appears no one caught Superintendent Boone, who was also there, wielding a racquet!
**I personally intend to start cheering for Sloane Stephens, who was incredibly patient and fun with the kids. She's an up-and-comer: watch for her!

Speaking of parent power!

Parents Across America is proposing a school governance structure based on Chicago's Local School Councils:

To provide the opportunity for such authentic parent involvement at the local school level, PAA recommends adoption of a school governance model based on Chicago’s Local School Councils. 
LSCs are duly elected, parent-majority bodies at nearly every Chicago public school. They have real power – including hiring, evaluating and firing a school’s principal. LSC’s oversee a school wide process of program and budget evaluation, planning, and monitoring that offers the kind of collaborative effort researchers say is needed to make local reform succeed.

 (Briefly: this are a bit like Massachusetts site councils, except they are thoroughly duly elected, majority-parent boards, with broader powers, including evaluating the principal.)

Remember the principal in Dallas

who pushed her teachers to only teach reading and math?
She was fired in Dallas. She's just been hired in D.C. 

Transportation isn't only about cars

...but you'd think that was all that matters from the current Transportation bill before the House.
Speaking as a School Committee in a community where we have entire schools that get there by walking, this is insane. 
Please get in touch with your reps and tell them that walking and biking are transportation, too. Ask them to support the Petri amendment.

Federal government seeking ways to stop cheating on standardized tests

The federal Department of Education is seeking information on preventing cheating on standardized tests.
From the Federal Register:

For these reasons, this RFI seeks solutions; advice; technical information; legal, regulatory, and policy approaches; and other input from the public regarding best practices for the prevention, detection, and investigation of alleged or actual testing irregularities. Through this RFI, the Department also seeks to gather information and suggestions for SEAs and LEAs on how they can address these issues.

(RFI= Request for Information; SEA=State Education Agency; LEA=Local Education Agency)
Comments are due February 16. The specific questions they'd like answered are here, though you do not have to answer any or all of them.  You can submit them electronically here, or send them in to:

Mr. Carlos Martinez
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
Attention: Testing Integrity RFI
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue SW., room 3W104
Washington, DC 20202-6132

And do remember that public comments in response to an RFI become part of the public record, so make sure you write only what you'd be comfortable seeing in the public media (and speaking from personal experience, commenting on in the press).

WPS FY13 budget updates now online

You will now find all the Worcester Public Schools FY13 budget updates online here.
It will be updated as we go.

Worcester School Committee meeting Thursday

The Worcester School Committee meets Thursday at 7 pm at Worcester Technical High School. You can find the agenda here.

The report of the superintendent this week is on the curriculum review process. The idea here is that each subject will periodically have a curriculum review; we'll be starting with math. We are in very early days, as yet on this (they're looking at data right now in math), so much more to come. This is partly pushed by Massachusetts moving to the Common Core, but it is also is a chance to look at what we're teaching, why, and how that's going. If you have any interest in curriculum and how it's working, Thursday's report is a place to start.
There's a series of requests for information and reports that are going to administration and various subcommittees, including a request on working windows, third grade reading, information on school profiles, the ever-popular Read Across America day, and secondary report card comments.Also, guidance counselor course load, ninth grade course selections, and career and technical education month.
We're also being asked to accept a grant from the Greater Worcester Community Foundation for ESL classes around the city (particularly for parents); the plan is for ten more classes. Also, a grant from Target for pre-schoolers and kindergarteners from Canterbury Street to go to Heifer Project at Overlook Farm for a field trip (how cool is that?).

I know there was great angst about the meeting not being broadcast live last time (no, I am not kidding). I know that they've been working on it.