Category: Educational Consultants

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Project Based Elementary School Pivots To Teacher-Led/Parent-Owned Model: Could It Work For Your Child?

Project Based Elementary School Pivots To Teacher-Led/Parent-Owned Model: Could It Work For Your Child?

(This is a guest post by Amanda Reeves Fellner, Ed.D. Amanda is a mom of a first grader at Portfolio School and is committed to project-based learning as a method for elementary education. She is also a Lecturer in the Early Childhood Program at Teachers College, Columbia University where she works with pre-service teachers and studies children’s interactions in their school and outdoor environments.)

Project Based Learning is a model of schooling that prioritizes hands-on curricular experiences where students explore academic concepts through larger projects. Students in project-based classrooms have been shown to demonstrate growth in academic areas, as well as increased motivation and engagement (Duke et al., 2021).

When looking for schools for my child, I was searching for a small, project-based school where I knew my child would be seen and heard. Portfolio School [https://www.portfolio-school.com/], located on Hudson Street in Tribeca, is where I found it. Originally launched in 2016, Doug Schachtel and Babur Habib (founders of Portfolio School) sought to transform the traditional model of education by focusing on integrated, project-based learning. See more about their vision for schooling here:

Few schools in NYC carry out the project based model of learning and the parents of Portfolio feel strongly that a school like this should exist.

In a Project Based Learning environment, children’s ideas are met with seriousness and they are given the tools to successfully bring them to life. What they don’t realize is that the teachers are carefully and thoughtfully embedding academic concepts and teaching them to solve the problems of the future. Through relationships with teachers, and one another, our children found a place where they know their voice matters and where they learn to be in community with others. This is what Project-Based Learning is all about, agency in learning.

In an effort to ensure Portfolio School and the Project-Based model of learning remains at the forefront of educational change, the school has begun a transition to a Teacher-Led, Parents-Owned school. What this means is that our school will be governed by a board made up of parents, educational leaders, and the founders of the school while the head of school and teachers take ownership of the curriculum. This novel way of thinking about school governance allows the best of both worlds; parent involvement at a high level while maintaining the educational autonomy of the teachers and school administrators.

The co-operative model, primarily used in preschools, has been established as a way to build long lasting connections between parents, students, and teachers while also lowering school tuition costs. It is less common in elementary schools, especially here in New York City, but we’re here to change that. Moving to a Teacher-Led, Parents-Owned model gives parents an opportunity to be hands-on in their children’s education. From volunteering at the front desk to recommending after-school programming to actively engaging in events, parent involvement is at the crux of how the school operates. Each parent or caregiver comes with their own assets and supports the school in the way that they are able. When parents are involved in the day-to-day operation of the school, they know what is happening in the classroom and are better able to support their students. The school community also benefits from the diverse array of perspectives parents bring, leading to diverse experiences for the students.

As parents, we’ve worked with the school’s existing founders, teachers, and educational consultants as we’ve begun the shift to a Teacher-Led, Parent-Owned Cooperative School. Our board will include three parents, in addition to one of the founders of the school, and leading educational experts in Project-Based Learning. And while parent involvement is central to our model, we also prioritize the teacher-led component. Teachers and the head of school will have autonomy over the classroom curriculum and parents will support that vision. We believe that teachers are experts and with the guidance of an educational director/head of school, they are empowered to do good work.

If you want to learn more about our model, sign-up for an Open House here. We’re happy to share our process of moving towards a Co-Op model of education.

References:

Duke, N. K., Halvorsen, A. L., Strachan, S. L., Kim, J., & Konstantopoulos, S. (2021). Putting PjBL to the test: The impact of project-based learning on second graders’ social studies and literacy learning and motivation in low-SES school settings. American Educational Research Journal, 58(1), 160-200.

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It’s Your Business has Mammoth, Shawnee County Parks, Stormont Vail

It’s Your Business has Mammoth, Shawnee County Parks, Stormont Vail

Hires

Michelle McCormick, LMSW, will join the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence as its new executive director on Feb. 20. McCormick has a background in victim advocacy and intervention with deep experience working with and serving survivors of domestic and sexual violence. She joins KCSDV from the Office of the Kansas attorney general, where she was the director of the victim services division and the victim rights’ coordinator. She has a bachelor of science in sociology from Emporia State University, and a master of social work from the University of Kansas. McCormick takes the reins from longtime executive director Joyce Grover who led KCSDV for 11 years. Grover announced her Feb. 3 retirement in November.

Mammoth announced athletics consultants Kurt Patberg and Tim Selgo, formerly of Athletics Staffing & Consulting, are joining the modern master build firm to provide success strategies and growth plans for educational institutions nationwide. Patberg and Selgo will work closely with Mammoth chief business officer Brian Morris, with their focus to provide custom solutions exclusively for NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA institutions. Selgo has 40 years of successful college athletics experience, including 20 years as athletics director at Grand Valley State University, where he led the school to the top of the NCAA Division II. He’s a graduate of the University of Toledo, where he was also a graduate assistant, assistant men’s basketball coach and head women’s basketball coach. He’s the author of three books, including Competitive Greatness the Grand Valley Way. Kurt Patberg, Ph.D, has conducted more than 500 athletic job searches and 40 departmental reviews for more than 250 small colleges nationwide. He has 35 years of college athletic experience, serving in on- and off-campus roles. For 15 years, he served as a small college commissioner for the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, and Southern State Athletic Conference. His consulting expertise focuses on helping athletic departments and conferences operate more efficiently, boost enrollment and optimize management.

It’s Your Business has Mammoth, Shawnee County Parks, Stormont Vail

John Bell has been appointed parks superintendent for Shawnee County Parks + Recreation. Bell brings to the position 25 years of knowledge of its parks and facilities, including managing park assets and programs. Bell began his career with the former City of Topeka Parks and Recreation Department in 2004. He supervised the Gage Park mini-train and carousel from 2012-2016 and has supervised Old Prairie Town since 2010 and Great Overland Station since 2020. He has overseen the establishment of Tulips and Twilight and Ward-Meade Garden Glow, overseen the Apple Festival and took the department’s lead in preparing Great Overland Station for the Topeka Dino Days exhibit. He established the Friends of Ward-Meade to support Old Prairie Town and the WardMeade Botanical Garden. He helped the group establish two national display gardens and recently oversaw the addition of a Native American Encampment to Old Prairie Town. Bell has been named to Emporia State University’s Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department Alumni Hall of Honor. He was named one of Topeka’s 20 under 40 and has twice served as vice president of the Topeka Tourism Alliance.

Cory Hollar

Cory Hollar has joined Shawnee County Parks + Recreation as multimedia coordinator. Hollar will be responsible for social media, managing the department’s website, and photography and video production. He has spent the past 1.5 years with Cumulus radio doing social media, representing the radio stations at public appearances and supporting sports broadcasts. A Topeka native, Hollar has a degree in mass media from Washburn University.

Timothy Bergeron

Timothy Bergeron, MBA, MHA, FACHE, has accepted the position of regional director, operations/hospital administrator of Stormont Vail Health — Flint Hills. Bergeron will be returning to the Junction City area where he and his family resided twice during Bergeron’s long military service. He will begin his responsibilities at Flint Hills on April 3. Bergeron is a U.S. Army colonel who is transitioning from his 30-year military career. He has held leadership roles in multiple U.S. Army medical facilities across the country, most recently as chief operating officer at Evans Army Community Hospital, Colorado Springs. Bergeron has a master of health care administration from Baylor University, Waco, Texas, a master of business administration from the University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas, and a bachelor of science in business administration from Western New England University, Springfield, Mass. He also has a graduate certificate in Global Health Engagement from the Uniform Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, Md.

Promotions

Tracy Duran

Tracy Duran has accepted the position of acute care director/regional director of nursing at Stormont Vail Health — Flint Hills. Duran has been an integral transition team member at the Flint Hills campus. Her background includes acute care operations, regulatory and compliance work, virtual nursing, and emergency department nursing. Duran began at Stormont Vail in 2004 as a patient care technician while she was working toward her nursing degree and joined the organization as a registered nurse in 2008. Duran’s strengths include team building, nursing efficiencies and process improvements across our organization. Duran has a bachelor of science in nursing from Baker University School of Nursing and a master of science in nursing in Healthcare Administration from MidAmerican Nazarene University. She was honored as an Ingram’s Magazine Heroes in Healthcare in Nursing in 2019.

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Are our educational institutions becoming export-oriented units?

Are our educational institutions becoming export-oriented units?

In the name of academic freedom, if Western professors begin denigrating and launching vituperative attacks on Indians, their beliefs, traditions and values, then it gets to be required to teach them about the financial worthy of of each Indian scholar.

An invitation to produce an anti-prescription drugs awareness discuss in a prestigious faculty turned out to be a excellent eye-opener. The welcome speech and introduction by the principal, threw light on an insidious difficulty that is nonetheless to be publicly debated. The principal enthusiastically remarked that this is an elite establishment, meant for the monetarily well-off segment or much more correctly the nouveau riche, and proceeded to inform that all the students were entirely focused on going abroad by way of higher experiments and thereafter having up citizenship in Western nations around the world. As if to prove her terms, she requested the scholar-aspirants seeking to go overseas to raise their arms. Without the need of exception the around 200-solid learners of Courses X, XI and XII raised their hands with no hesitation. A worrisome pattern of trafficking in clever learners to the West has been likely on uninterruptedly for the previous 10 years or so. Outstanding youngsters of industrialists, bureaucrats, intellectuals, scholars, and professionals in assorted fields, are quietly flocking to Western nations as also to Australia and New Zealand.
Non-public instructional establishments, supported by an effective staff of educational consultants, representatives of American and Western universities, job steerage and academic steerage professionals, immigration professionals, offer conclude to conclude schooling expert services ranging from intercontinental education and learning counseling, admission, visa, guidance to scholarship, overseas schooling loans, forex trading, flight ticketing and lodging products and services. Students are extensively groomed and prepared to deal with any examination, be it IELTS, TOEFL, PTE, OET, ACT, GRE, GMAT, or SAT. There are rigid minimum amount slice-off marks that want to be attained in order to obtain entry to prestigious Ivy League universities and other effectively-recognized universities. There are no mark relaxations of any type for any local community or creed. Only the good are welcome.
The US embassy in India issued a file-breaking 82,000 college student visas until September 2022. Indian students gained much more US scholar visas than any other country. The British Substantial Fee granted 1.27 lakh student visas to Indians in the 12 months ending September 2022. For the duration of this time period, Australia gave all-around 9,000 scholar visas, when Canada been given close to 123,500 analyze permit programs in just the initially five months of 2022. Several modest European nations around the world, with no terrific keep track of file for good quality training, like Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, Malta, and quite a few extra have opened up to seize a piece of the pie.
High quality learners are currently being sent absolutely free of expense at the doorsteps of Western universities. The Indian pupils shell out for every little thing, ranging from language capability assessment costs, issue proficiency tests service fees, college processing service fees, visa expenses, consultancy costs, airline ticket prices, scholar hostel service fees, and 1st semester service fees. Each and every and each and every fee is exorbitant. The relocating of amazing students in Western international locations is currently being exploited to the hilt by biased Western organizations. With definitely zero financial investment, Western universities get the most excellent of Indian college students delivered at their doorsteps.
The price tag for these pricey education and learning is fulfilled by availing lender loans, mortgaging residence, providing jewellery, and other borrowings. The amazing just want to go away the country, no matter what be the price tag. There is a agency perception that there is no spot for merit in India. The outcomes of this frame of mind can have significantly reaching repercussions.
These days, numerous American universities have develop into a fertile floor for anti-India propaganda. Intelligence organizations, NGOs, media barons have cultivated the staff members and students to indulge in hostile propaganda towards their motherland. Focused fake propaganda is directed in opposition to India, and Hinduism in certain, apart from the typical vitriol about harassment by Indian stability forces in Kashmir. The intent of the “Dismantling Worldwide Hindutva” conference, which was phase-managed in a handful of American universities was to paint Hinduism black. Though the organisers of this celebration remained anonymous, they took good pains to portray Hindus as purveyors of extremism Hindu philosophy, assumed and social methods have been denounced as diabolical. An on the net conference, “Dismantling International Hindutva: Multidisciplinary Perspectives” was held on 10-12 September 2021. It was organised and co-sponsored by quite a few history, South Asian studies, human rights, political science, spiritual reports and other multi-disciplinary departments and centers at many US, European and Canadian universities, which includes Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, University of California at Berkeley, and University of Toronto. These universities depend on Indian pupils for their pretty survival and the employees for their bread and butter. The common tuition cost for the 2022-2023 academic calendar year at Harvard is $52,659, with no any financial support home and board and other charges provide the total cost tag to a whopping $76,763. Most of the Ivy League universities boast of comparable hefty cost tags.
The significant existence of Indian college students on American campuses need to suggest that they are dealt with with respect and dignity. In the name of educational freedom, if professors and the supporting instructing workers, begin denigrating and launching vituperative attacks on Indians, their beliefs, traditions and values, then it gets necessary to educate them about the monetary value of each Indian university student.
For this goal, the Government wants to make it obligatory for all overseas universities intending to recruit Indian pupils to sign-up with the Ministry of Schooling. Eligibility for student education and learning financial loans will be only for studies in these registered universities. These universities will need to have to guarantee that all college students will be addressed with regard and dignity, and that their campuses will not be used for any kind of anti-India packages, seminars and events. In the function of violation of this condition, Indian banking companies can be recommended not to entertain any financial loan software for analyze in that university. It will be curtains down for people rouge universities that persuade their premises for anti-India functions.
Nevertheless, the phenomenon of outstanding pupils leaving their motherland and relocating to Western nations is India’s unique issue. There is chat of “food security”, “energy security”, but hardly any one talks about “intellectual security”. If the brightest and smart youthful minds transfer absent from their motherland, can the country in long run be run by the mediocre? Can the country’s civil solutions, defence expert services, overall health products and services be entrusted to people of lower calibre? How do we make sure and safeguard the intellectual safety of the country? This wants a countrywide discussion and correct laws, for mental safety is an essential precondition for sustainable advancement. Purpose Variety 4 of the 17 Sustainable Growth Ambitions of the United Nations is about good quality training. Intellectual trafficking and talent trafficking on an annual basis are a grave impediment for the country’s upcoming growth. Fantastic young minds are regretably confident at a very tender age that a whole evaluation of their skills, creativeness and skills is not attainable in this country, thanks to a wide range of social, political and economic challenges. The authorities should really convene a meeting of educationists, directors, bankers and industrialists to find a way out of this impasse. Maybe a number of oases of brilliance will need to be set up, devoted for nurturing only intellectual giants, who can guideline and guide the country by the coming many years.

Dr G. Shreekumar Menon, IRS (Retd), PhD (Narcotics) is previous Director Common, Countrywide Academy of Customs, Oblique Taxes & Narcotics.

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North central Ohio teams earn top honors at academic challenge event | Education

North central Ohio teams earn top honors at academic challenge event | Education

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Vincennes University to host free inclusive teaching presentation for K-12 educators | Local News

Vincennes University to host free inclusive teaching presentation for K-12 educators | Local News

VINCENNES – The Vincennes University Range, Equity, and Inclusion Council in partnership with the VU Impressive Instructing Summit Workforce is web hosting a particular function for K-12 educators at 2 p.m (ET) on Tuesday, February 7, that will deliver useful perception and tactics for building inclusive and obtainable understanding environments.

VU is web hosting an academic presentation at the Purple Skelton Accomplishing Arts Centre showcasing Jennifer Pusateri, an professional on Common Style and design Mastering (UDL) and creator of “Transform Your Teaching with Universal Style and design for Discovering: 6 Ways to Jumpstart Your Apply.” Passionate about fostering obtainable and inclusive understanding environments, Pusateri will existing with a target on K-12 settings and other learning environments.

All K-12 educators, training consultants, and any person in an tutorial part will reward from these inclusive principles and are invited to attend.

Local K-12 partners, such as the Vincennes Group University Corporation, have generously contributed to this function.

“This function is a uncommon option to expose a significant physique of educators to the worth of inclusive and obtainable educating approaches and tactics,” VU Assistant Professor and party organizer Jessie Davis explained. “This session will deliver an overview of Universal Style and design for Discovering (UDL) and will offer viewers associates with tangible concepts for fostering an accessible and inclusive finding out ecosystem. We are thrilled to collaborate with our K-12 associates in this capacity.”

The Purple Skelton Performing Arts Heart is found at 20 W. Pink Skelton Blvd. on the Vincennes Campus. For issues or additional data, call Jessie Davis at [email protected] or 812-888-6816.

About Jennifer Pusateri

Pusateri is the author of “Transform Your Teaching with Universal Style and design for Mastering: Six Ways to Jumpstart Your Apply.” Her book will be offered for invest in at the function. She also serves as the Common Design Specialist for the College of Kentucky’s Center for the Improvement of Understanding and Teaching. She formerly served as the co-chair of the intercontinental UDLHE (UDL in Higher Ed.) Community, and proceeds to current at international UDL conferences throughout the U.S. She crafted an on the net UDL class in 2022 with In advance Eire (Association for Bigger Instruction Access and Disability) and has been highlighted in podcasts these kinds of as Think UDL and Instructing in Bigger Ed. As a member of the prestigious Cast Countrywide College, she routinely offers UDL workshops and webinars for faculty districts, faculty faculty, and point out boards of instruction throughout the United States. Right before arriving at the College of Kentucky, Pusateri worked for the Kentucky Office of Training (KDE) in which she served as an instruction advisor and professional in differentiated learning and Common Layout for Understanding (UDL). She taught Arts & Humanities for grades K-8 at a nationally acknowledged faculty for students with specific finding out disabilities (SLD) in Louisville, Kentucky. Pusateri received her undergraduate diploma from Indiana University’s Jacobs College of Audio, Master of Arts in Educating from the College of the Cumberlands, and she is in the ultimate weeks of crafting her dissertation for her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Kentucky.

About Vincennes College – Indiana’s Very first Faculty

VU is state-supported with campuses in Vincennes and Jasper, the Aviation Technologies Heart and American Indication Language method in Indianapolis, Early School Job and Technical Education Centers, and additional web-sites such as the Gene Haas Instruction and Training Center in Lebanon, the Logistics Training and Education and learning Heart in Plainfield, and the Gibson County Middle for Sophisticated Manufacturing and Logistics in Fort Branch. VU delivers on the internet levels and lessons to pupils who have to have accessibility to university courses and versatility through its Distance Schooling.

A leader in dual credit score and job and technological training statewide, VU also offers instruction at armed service websites throughout the nation.

In addition to supplying a huge assortment of affiliate degree and certificate programs, VU also presents bachelor’s diploma plans in engineering, homeland safety, nursing, health care expert services administration, secondary instruction applications in mathematics and science, and special schooling/elementary education and learning.

 VU enrolls pupils from all through Indiana, 35 other states, and 22 other international locations. Tuition and expenses are the least expensive among the Indiana campuses with home halls. VU is accredited by the Bigger Mastering Fee.

Started in 1801, VU is Indiana’s 1st college and is the only faculty in the country founded by an personal who would later on develop into President of the United States. William Henry Harrison, the ninth U.S. President, launched VU while serving as governor of the Indiana Territory. Much more information and facts is offered at www.vinu.edu.

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Independent auditors begin visiting FCPS special education classrooms | Seclusion and restraint in FCPS

Independent auditors begin visiting FCPS special education classrooms | Seclusion and restraint in FCPS

Consultants commenced viewing particular training lecture rooms throughout Frederick County Community Educational institutions on Tuesday as part of an impartial audit.

The audit arrives at the suggestion of FCPS’ Blue Ribbon Undertaking Force, which was fashioned in reaction to a U.S. Office of Justice investigation that exposed the district was systematically misusing seclusion and restraint versus college students with disabilities.