Oklahoma HSTW March Updates

RESOURCES

FOLLOW UP SURVEY OF 2008 GRADUATES OPERATIONAL
SREB indicates the HSTW Follow-Up Survey of 2008 Graduates is up and running. Your patience and assistance with the new web-based format is appreciated. All schools can now use the postcards to contact graduates to inform them of the survey if you have not already done so.

As of Friday, March 6, 300 graduates had responded to the survey. However, it is critical that you provide graduates with their Assessment ID number and their school's HSTW Site Code. If you do not, the graduates' surveys will be unusable (the school will not receive the results nor will SREB be able to use them). Please be sure to provide these two numbers. You can quickly find these numbers by referring to the roster form that was included in your mailing from SREB. The survey will be available for graduates to complete until May 29.

Additional copies of the administration materials can be found on our website:
http://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/Assessment/assessindex.asp#Follow-up

SREB PUBLICATIONS
High Schools That Work (HSTW) presents the sixth in a series of eight newsletters highlighting best practices presented at the 2008 HSTW Staff Development Conference in Nashville. These newsletters provide successful actions to prepare students for the challenges of the 21st-century workplace and further studies.

The sixth newsletter, Guidance and Advisement Programs Are Proof That Schools Want Their Students to Succeed, contains nine stories of high schools, technology centers and school districts that are helping more students recognize their interests and achieve their goals through effective guidance and advisement programs.

Access this newsletter and others by clicking on this link:
http://www.sreb.org/publications/2008/newsletters/08SummerConferenceNewsletter.asp.

SURVEY MONKEY
Piedmont High School realized after last years technical assistance (TA) visit their communication with parents needed improvement to allow them a voice in improving the school. Teacher 'focus groups' were formed, with a teacher on each focus group. One group developed a parent survey and incorporated some interview questions asked during the TA visit parent interview using survey monkey. They couldn't believe how easy it was to design and set up the questions, email the survey to parents for feedback and compile the results. Their cost was only $20.00 for a month worth of time to get results.
To learn more about this amazing tool go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/ or contact Clay McDonald, Piedmont HSTW site coordinator at 405.373.5011 or clay.mcdonald@piedmontschools.org.

EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS FRAMEWORK (E/E FRAMEWORK)
The International Center for Leadership in Education states that while educators anticipate an infusion of federal economic stimulus dollars, these one-time funds will not completely eliminate the fiscal challenges they face as they seek to improve the performance of all students. The E/E Framework guide school and districts in allocating their limited resources to those tools, strategies, and procedures that will result in the most efficient and effective use of dollars. The E/E Framework compares the efficiency (cost) and effectiveness (student performance) of a wide variety of tools, strategies, professional development programs, organizational configurations, and procedural decisions that schools make. Learn more about the E/E Framework as well as other practices, tools and strategies at http://www.leadered.com/MaximizingResources.html.

If you are aware of other best practices and resources that conserve time and money please pass it along for us to share with everyone.

http://www.okcollegestart.org/home.aspx
Check out the website. It's the transcript exchange powered by XAP and is free to all high schools. The site also allows students to set up an account to plan for college, explore colleges, access a career center, learn about college costs, get test prep help and develop personal portfolio with their search information.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

REGISTER NOW—23rd Annual HSTW Staff Development Conference
http://www.sreb.org/summerconference/index.asp

DIGITAL PRAIRIE WORKSHOP
If you are a Digital Prairie novice and your school is not using these valuable online resources, register for the workshop that will demonstrate EBSCO, a general periodicals database, SIRSDiscoverer, a children's product, and R.R. Bowker's Books In Print. In a time of financial crisis schools can access these online full-text magazines, atlases, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and more at no charge.

The “free” Digital Prairie workshop is conducted by The Library Media/ITV section of SDE. Seating is limited so register early. The workshop will be held on Thursday, April 30, 2009 at the Oklahoma State Department of Education, 2500 N. Lincoln Blvd., Room 215 computer lab from 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Register online at http://www.sde.state.ok.us/Teacher/LibraryMedia/prairie.html, or contact Vickie Hale at vickie_hale@sde.state.ok.us or (405) 521-2956.

TEACHERS AS ADVISORS WORKSHOP
Pre-registration is required for the June 3, 2009 Oklahoma Department of CareerTech (ODCTE) Teachers As Advisors Workshop. Team attendance (i.e., administrator, secondary counselor, career and technology teacher, academic teacher) is encouraged. A $20 registration fee per person provides a continental breakfast, breaks, lunch, and materials. To help offset travel costs up-to-four stipends will be paid per district/school when participants complete stipend forms at the end of the workshop.Registration will not be available until April 22 and close on May 20, 2009, by following the link:
http://www.okcareertech.org/cac/Pages/bulletin_board/bulletin_board2.htm


GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

HP Innovations in Education Seeks Proposals From Secondary School Districts
Grants valued at more than $270,000 in HP technology, cash, and professional development will be awarded to U.S. school districts or school systems working to enhance learning in pre-engineering, mathematics, science, and computer science.
Learn more at:
http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/rfp_item.jhtml?id=242000026.
Deadline: March 30, 2009
Posted: January 26, 2009