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The Unlocking the World community is the perfect place to ask questions, discuss ideas and exchange information with other teachers and our program consultants.
Doodle 4 Google 2011 is open! Your Future Australia doodle
July 29, 2011
Lucinda Barlow, Head of Marketing, Google Australia and New Zealand, July 25, 2011
Today I'm so excited to announce that we're running our third Doodle 4 Google in Australia. We're inviting school students in years 1-10 to sharpen their pencils, use their imagination and artistic talent to create a Google doodle depicting their vision for "My Future Australia". The winning doodle will be shown on the Google homepage for a day for millions of Australians to enjoy.
... judges will select finalists across four age groups: Grades 1-3; Grade 4-6; Grades 7-8, and Grades 9-10, whose doodles will be shown online and hung in the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. We'll ask the public to vote on their favourite doodles from each age group and the winners will receive fantastic technology prizes for themselves and their schools, including laptops, interactive whiteboards and $10,000 worth of technology for the National winner's school. Google's original doodler, webmaster Dennis Hwang, will select the overall national winner to be shown on the homepage.
During July, Google is sending out information packs to every Australian school. To take part, please register your school by 26 August, and all doodles must be submitted by 23 September.
Read more: http://google.com.au/doodle4google.
Characteristics of school districts that are exceptionally effective in closing the achievement gap
April 28, 2011
Characteristics of school districts that are exceptionally effective in closing the achievement gap
Leadership and Policy in Schools
Volume 9 Number 3, July 2010; Pages 245–291
Kenneth Leithwood
Education policy in the USA has increasingly emphasised the role of the school district and its leaders in helping schools to meet accountability demands. A literature review of 31 articles has examined the characteristics of school districts that have been successful in significantly improving outcomes for their student populations. Almost all these districts serve disadvantaged communities. The districts worked to develop a clear and consistent vision of student achievement, which was used to guide strategic planning. They established achievement benchmarks, and aligned curriculum, instruction and assessment with these standards. They made widespread and effective use of data, developing efficient information management systems and ensuring that school staff not only had access to relevant data, but had the skills to interpret them. Additional achievement data were gathered to supplement state-level accountability data; the districts also drew on evidence-based research regarding best practices when responding to data. Building a sense of collective efficacy amongst staff was seen as a key element of their reforms, with districts working to provide appropriate professional development opportunities in order to help staff develop expertise relevant to the district's goals. Effort was made to support the learning of teachers and administrators by encouraging job-embedded professional development, as well as the development of professional learning communities and positive staff relationships. The districts also worked to build close ties with the wider school community, local businesses and other local organisations. Another element of the districts' success was the investment in instructional leadership. Principals, who were largely held accountable for their school's instructional quality and academic achievement, were given training and opportunities to improve their skills and to develop ways to distribute leadership roles, and were provided with a range of external resources and expertise, such as access to coaching, conferences and buddy groups. The districts approached school improvement in phases, building on established structures and procedures in a coherent step-by-step manner. They also engaged in a strategic manner with government policy and requirements, and worked to align infrastructures such as budgetary and personnel allocations with their vision of school improvement