1. Technology Funds Available
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA (also known as the economic stimulus package) provided a one-time infusion of funding into the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program.
EETT grants improve student academic achievement through technology. The secondary goals are to assist students in becoming technologically literate by the end of eighth grade and to integrate technology with professional development and curriculum development. As with the regular EETT grants, the DPI will distribute 50 percent of Wisconsin's $9.1 million in ARRA funds via formula to districts, while the other half will be awarded through competitive grants.
The application deadline for the competitive grant is October 16.
More information can be found on the DPI ARRA Portal, which also includes recent updates on broadband funding and other programs.
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2. Wisconsin Promise Conference Registration
Registration is open for the 2010 Wisconsin Promise Conference at the beautiful Monona Terrace in downtown Madison, on January 12-13, 2010 (the pre-conference is January 11, 2010).
A new feature this year allows attendees to choose their conference sectionals when they register to allow for pre-planning their conference experience.
The theme for this year is Every Child, Every Day. The conference goal is to provide learning experiences to enable every educator to provide every child with high-quality learning every day, in every classroom, preparing them to succeed in school and in life.
The conference tracks are:
- Culturally Responsive Education
- Instruction and Intervention
- Instructional Leadership
- District and School Improvement
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3. WEOP Higher Education Day Events
During the week of Higher Education Day, the Wisconsin Educational Opportunity Programs (WEOP) will provide about 200 low-income students with fun and enriching experiences designed to bolster their ability to go to college.
WEOP is part of the DPI, with offices in Ashland, Eau Claire, Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee, Racine, and Wausau. It helps low-income students with college potential attend higher learning institutions, through programs such as GEAR UP, Early Identification Program (EIP), Talent Search, and Upward Bound.
About 100 students, mostly ninth-graders, participating in those programs through the Madison, Milwaukee, and Racine offices of WEOP will take part in a September 28 event in Madison, with tours of the Capitol and University of Wisconsin-Madison and presentations by UW staff. Another approximately 100 students from the four northern WEOP areas will meet in Eau Claire on September 30. They will attend presentations by First Lady Jessica Doyle and others followed by fun time at Action City entertainment center.
This is the first year WEOP has organized Higher Education Day activities. This year, Higher Education Day is Wednesday, September 30. The day raises awareness that higher education in Wisconsin is accessible and inspires students to reach for post-secondary education as a goal.
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4. Team-Building in Burlington
Subscriber Submission!
Staff at Edward G. Dyer Intermediate School in Burlington have decided community is a key element for raising achievement of their students. Perhaps taking a cue from the business world, they settled on a program of regular team-building exercises to nurture community.
Principal Joyce Uglow writes that the staff brainstormed an action plan to include both intervention for students at risk of failure and also "prevention to ensure success for all. Team building was the major component of our plan."
This school year, homerooms are spending time in team-building. As an example, one trust-building exercise has two concentric circles of students take turns answering questions about themselves, then moving in unison in a specificed direction.
Dyer's physical education/health teachers got training at Project Adventure, an experiential educational organization, and are using that knowledge to lead the staff.
This story was submitted by a DPI-ConnectEd subscriber! We are looking for your news of exciting programs, promising practices, initiatives that could benefit from publicity, or your questions about working with Wisconsin students. E-mail just a sentence or two to benson.gardner@dpi.wi.gov, with "Story Idea" in the subject line.
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