To be eligible for a garden grant, applicants must be a ... nonprofit K-12 school that is developing or currently maintaining a school garden project that will help children engage with fresh fruits and vegetables. Garden projects may be at any stage of development; planning, construction or operation."

At the conference there were a number of schools interested in the work being done by Peter and Tom. This might be good "seed" money to start similar programs.

"The Rowland Foundation: Teacher Workshops 2011-2012" In order to sustain and extend the conversations from the Conference on High School Transformation, The Rowland Foundation will offer the following workshops during the 2011-2012 school year. By limiting enrollment to about 20 participants, these workshops are designed to provide more participatory discussion and greater detail than that which was offered at the Sept. 22 conference. In each case the host school and its Rowland Fellow will be able to illustrate in practice the principles being discussed. These workshops are offered in two parts: a session in fall and one again in the spring to enable participants to engage in conversations while working to implement changes in their own schools. We look forward to furthering the conversations that were started in Burlington.

"...site provides information about systems theory and describes an effective way to view school systems - by looking at them as consisting of three domains. Using this perspective can help you simplify the complexity of school systems, adopt multiple ways of viewing them, and better understand the interconnectivity of their various parts. "

I think that as educators we often become so engrossed with opportunities to implement change and our own vision of what that change should look like that we sometimes forget that we need to think systemically. How does our vision fit within the school as a whole? And, when we determine what change is necessary...how do we determine how to implement that change in a sustainable way? Too often we become experts in Programs, but have little understanding of Planning and Process. What do you think? Once we identify the need for change and the means to address that need, how do we make that change happen and stick?

"...the DOE Weekly Field Memo, a compilation of the messages sent to principals and superintendents in a single, concise format." This is a great way to keep up on coming events, courses, workshops, topics being explored at the state level, grant opportunities, and in general what is happening in education.

Susan, A few years ago Moosalamoo Center at Otter Valley started the process of moving towards narrative report cards. At this same time we were moving to a more heterogeneously mixed group of students...some of which were the "academic all stars" of the school. With that, there was some concern about the perception of the program by college admissions offices if we went away from traditional grades.

To find out, I surveyed 19 Vermont colleges and received responses back from 8. Here is a copy of the responses from those Vermont colleges which responded. I've deleted my own reflections and conclusions...I don't want to present any bias.

Hope you find this interesting. Here is a link to view it in PDF.

Narrative Report Cards - Perceptions

"The perceived 'soft' service component actually raises the learning challenge in a course. Service-learning students must not only master academic material as in traditional courses, but also learn how to learn from unstructured and ill-structured community experiences..."

"...research demonstrates service-learning's success as a youth engagement tool. It enhances students' sense of self-efficacy, improves self-esteem, and decreases their likelihood to engage in at-risk behavior. Service-learning has the potential to improve attendance. -percent of students at low-performing schools said their feelings would be more positive if they were engaged in service-learning at school."

"Principals report that service-learning has a positive impact on teacher satisfaction, school climate, academic achievement, and school engagement."

Authentic Assessment: A Handbook for Educators by Diane Hart is a great introduction to Authentic Assessment for those just getting in on the ground level.

And...I loved the youtube clips!

Service-Learning can… 1. Improve character values and responsible behavior. 2. Improve academic outcomes for students. 3. Promote a sense of connectedness to the school and the community 4. Promote social-emotional skills. 5. Promote civic participation.

"…service-learning inherently teaches the kind of thinking skills and knowledge application necessary for success outside academia. Student products of service-learning, including comprehensive projects and analytic journals, require demonstration of critical thinking and problem solving skills in multiple contexts. In addition, service-learning often provides the right balance of challenge and support to foster intellectual growth and development (Eyler & Giles, 1999)."

"Service-learning can help students improve their standardized test scores because it makes learning interesting and real - in a word - exciting. Research has shown that involvement in quality service-learning projects makes students more engaged in the classroom, less likely to skip class, more apt to discuss school outside of the classroom, and understand the importance of hard work (Morgan and Streb, 1999; Melchior, 1998)."

Improved Academic Achievement Improved Student Engagement Enhanced Civic Engagement and Citizenship Enhanced Personal and Social Skills

"...research indicates that service learning can: *increase students' personal, interpersonal and social development (Billig 2000) *increase motivation, student engagement, and school attendance (Billig 2000) *and, lead to new perspectives and more "positive lifestyle choices and behavior." (Civic Literacy Project 2005)"

"Beyond the young people the organizations directly involve, community-based service-learning benefits the people served, their communities, and, ultimately, society..."

Often in groups such as this multiple variations of a tag topic are created by different users. To help ensure that our collective bookmarks are easily searchable, here is a list of preferred tags for the Rowland Foundation Group's library. When entering a tag that is more than one word, please use "quotes" around that tag. This will keep your tag singular, such as Achievement Gap rather than separating them into Achievement and Gap. Preferred Tags Achievement Gap Authentic Assessment Collaborative Teaching Community Partnerships Confrence document Experiential Education External Learning Opportunities Family and Parent Partnerships Formative Assessment Grant Opportunity PDF Place-based Education School Change Service Learning Sir Ken Robinson Student Voice Thematic Instruction video

Awesome animation of KR talk on changing education paradigms.

"In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning -- creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish."

"Ken Robinson believes that everyone is born with extraordinary capability. So what happens to all that talent as we bump through life, getting by, but never realizing our true potential? For most of us the problem isn't that we aim too high and fail - it's just the opposite - we aim too low and succeed."

The creativity guru shares his vision for a new way of educating children.