•New Charlotte Chief, p.4 • Big-City Winners, p.6 • New Standards, p.9 LEGISLATIVE Fund Flexibility Needed, p.10 The Nation’s Voice for Urban Education May 2012 Vol. 21, No. 4 www.cgcs.org New Superintendents U.S. News Ranks Top High Schools Named to Seven Districts Seven schools in districts represented by publication’s last three editions. the Council of the Great City Schools rank Other urban schools in the Council that As the 2011- in the top 25 of 500 of the leading public ranked in the top 25 of the 500 schools 2012 school high schools in the nation, the Urban Edu- awarded gold medals are: year draws to cator found in a review of the recent U.S. a close, several News’ fourth edition of America’s “Best Green Valley High Schools in the Clark big-city school High Schools.” County School District in Las Vegas, districts have On May 8, the newsmagazine, also No. 13; made changes known as U.S. News & World Report, re- at the helm, or leased its 2012 edition of the top-perform- Design & Architecture Senior High will be making ing high schools after evaluating nearly School in Miami, No. 16; changes. 22,000 public high schools in 49 states and Mike Miles in Dallas There willthe District of Columbia. The Baccalaureate School for Global be new leaders in In the national rankings, two urban Education in New York City, No. 21; school districts in Dallas, Charlotte, San schools ranked first and third, respectively, Francisco, Seattle, Baton Rouge, Rochester in the same city. City Honors School at Fosdick-Masten and Providence. The School for the Talented and Gifted Park in Buffalo, No. 23; and Mike Miles is a West Point gradu- in the Dallas Independent School District ate and former Army Ranger, who served received the highest ranking among the High School for Dual Language and in the Army’s elite Ranger Battalion and U.S. News “Best High Schools,” followed Asian Studies in New York City, No. 25. commanded an Infantry Rifle Company. by Thomas Jefferson High School for Sci- He will now be leading more than ence and Technology in Virginia’s Fairfax U.S. News teamed up with the Ameri- 157,000 students and 20,000 employees County Public Schools and the School of can Institutes for Research to establish as the new superintendent of the Dallas Science and Engineering Magnet in Dal- the methodology for ranking the schools. Independent School District. He succeeds las. “Schools were awarded gold, silver or interim superintendent Alan King. Ranked fifth in 2009, whenU.S. News bronze medals based on state proficiency After serving in the Army, Miles worked published its last rankings, Dallas’ School standards, how well they prepare students as a diplomat in Moscow and Warsaw at for the Talented and Gifted this year topped for college, and other factors,” the news- the end of the Cold War. In 1995, he be- Thomas Jefferson High School for Science magazine pointed out. gan his career in education as a high school and Technology in Virginia’s Washington, A number of urban school districts won teacher at a school district in Colorado and D.C. suburbs, which had ranked first in the medals in the U.S. News national rankings. rose through the ranks, holding positions such as assistant superintendent for cur- riculum and instruction. ‘Influential’ Leader For six years, he was the superintendent of Colorado’s Harrison School District Newark Public Schools Superinten- Two, where under his leadership, academic dent Cami Anderson has been named achievement improved and graduation one of TIME magazine’s 100 most in- rates increased. fluential people in the world. See story on page 5. New Superintendents continued on page 4 INSIDE THE COUNCIL MAY 2012 NYC Middle School Wins High School Chess Championship Winning tournaments is nothing new for the chess team at Intermediate School 318 Eugenio Maria De Hostos in Brook- lyn, N.Y. In fact, they have won so many championships that their coach can’t even remember how many. But it is pretty much guaranteed that the team’s most recent championship will not be forgotten. They placed first at the United States Chess Federation’s National High School Chess Championships, be- coming the first middle school to win the first-place trophy. “This is the greatest achievement we’ve ever had and probably ever will have,” said one of their coaches, John Galvin, in athe New York Times. The nation’s best scholastic chess team is composed of mostly eighth-graders, in- Justin Williams, James Black, Isaac Barayev and Matthew Kluska, members of the chess team at I.S. cluding two students, Justus Williams and School 318 in Brooklyn, hold the first-place trophy they won at the United States Chess Federa- tion’s National High School Chess Championship. They were the first middle school students to James Black, who are certified chess mas- win the competition. Photo Credit: I.S. School 318 ters at only 13-years-old. According to the New York Times, more schools in the country. Last year, the team chess classes. In addition, all sixth-grad- than 60 percent of the students at I.S. 318 placed second in the high school champi- ers take weekly chess classes and are able come from families with incomes below onships. to continue taking chess as an elective for the federal poverty level. Yet, its students Chess is ingrained in the school’s the next two years. The school also has a routinely win chess tournaments against culture, with approximately half of the Chess Championship continued on page 3 students from some of the most exclusive school’s 1,600 students participating in Executive Director Editor Associate Editor Michael Casserly Henry Duvall Tonya Harris [email protected] [email protected] Council officers A newsletter published by the Council of the Great City Schools, representing 67 of the nation’s largest urban public school districts. Chair Winston Brooks Albuquerque Charlotte East Baton Rouge Los Angeles Oakland Sacramento Superintendent, Albuquerque Anchorage Chicago Fort Worth Louisville Oklahoma City San Diego Chair-elect Atlanta Cincinnati Fresno Memphis Omaha San Francisco Candy Olson Austin Clark Co. Greensboro Miami-Dade Orange Co. Santa Ana Board Member, Hillsborough Baltimore Cleveland Houston Milwaukee Palm Beach Seattle County (Tampa) Birmingham Columbus Indianapolis Minneapolis Philadelphia Shreveport Boston Dallas Jackson Nashville Pittsburgh St. Louis Secretary-Treasurer Bridgeport Dayton Jacksonville Newark Portland St. Paul Eugene White Broward Co. Denver Kansas City New Orleans Providence Tampa Superintendent, Indianapolis Buffalo Des Moines Little Rock New York City Richmond Toledo Charleston Detroit Long Beach Norfolk Rochester Washington DC Wichita All news items should be submitted to: Urban Educator Council of the Great City Schools 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Suite 702 • Washington, DC 20004 (202) 393-2427 • (202) 393-2400 (fax) 2 | URBAN EDUCATOR URBAN EDUCATOR | 3 MAY 2012 INSIDE THE COUNCIL White House Selects Urban Schools for New Arts Program At Roosevelt School in Bridgeport, Luther King, Jr. School in Portland, Ore., Conn., a band program was recently start- were selected to participate in the initiative ed for the first time in 17 years. And at among districts represented by the Council Orchard Gardens K-8 School in Boston, of the Great City Schools. first-graders traveled to the White House The schools were chosen through a to recite Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have highly competitive national selection pro- A Dream” speech for President Barack cess and had to demonstrate need and op- Obama earlier this spring. portunity, strong school leadership and a Research has found that art education commitment to arts education. opportunities such as these are critically Selected schools also had to rank among Students at Findley Elementary in Des Moines important for students, yet many school the lowest-achieving 5 percent of schools paint in art class. The school was selected to districts lack the resources to implement in their state and qualify for School Im- participate in a new White House arts initiative. these programs. provement Grants given by the U.S. De- Photo Credit: Des Moines Public Schools In an effort to fufill that need, the partment of Education to low-performing President’s Committee on the Arts and schools. Recent studies by the U.S. Department Humanities, an advisory committee to As part of the program, schools will re- of Education and the National Endow- the White House on cultural issues, re- ceive professional development; arts sup- ment for the Arts have found that access to cently selected eight public elementary and plies, musical instruments and programs; arts education increases students’ academic middle schools to participate in its new and have opportunities to partner with improvement and leads to higher gradua- Turnaround Arts Initiative. The aim of the community arts education and cultural or- tion and college enrollment rates. program is to narrow the achievement gap ganizations. and improve student engagement through In addition, each of the schools will be Memphis Launches the arts. adopted by a member of the President’s In addition to Roosevelt and Orchard Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Career Program Gardens, Findley Elementary School in They include actors Kerry Washington, Des Moines, Iowa; Noel Community Sarah Jessica Parker, Alfre Woodard and For Disabled Students Arts School in Denver; Savoy Elementary Forest Whitaker; dancer Damian Woetzel; School in Washington, D.C.; and Martin and cellist Yo-Yo Ma; who will work with Memphis City Schools, along with the the schools and communities to highlight University of Memphis Institute of Dis- the success of the program. ability, recently launched a program to aid Chess Championship continued from page 2 “Working with Findley El- high school seniors with mild to moderate ementary School over the next two learning disabilities in their transition from full-time chess teacher.