'We have more expectations than any group I've ever seen, but they ...

Metcalfe County High School Principal Kelly Bell talks with students in the library. ?We?re trying to make reading a wonderful, life-long pleasure for them (students),? she said.
Photo by Amy Wallot, May 17, 2013

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Metcalfe County High School Principal Kelly Bell was furious as she looked at the test. A student answered ?B? to every question, knowing he only needed a C or better to pass the class. Instead, he didn?t even try to pass ? just to spite a teacher he didn?t like.

?This is a highly intelligent young man. But if you do not have relationships with these students, and that teacher has not built the inner love of learning and wanting to be here, they?re going to flunk a test big as Pete. People can say, ?Yada, yada, yada, relationships, culture ? it?s not that big a deal.? It is the missing piece to the puzzle,? the third-year principal said.

Wait, what? Bell?s upset with the teacher, not the student? Melissa Smith, a health sciences teacher, said Bell?s attitude that teachers must build relationships with students to inspire them to do their best has permeated the school.

?You can give these kids everything that they need in that classroom ? the knowledge, the skills, the training ? but when they sit down to take that test, they?ve got to want to perform: one, for the school and, two, for themselves,? she said.

It is that change in attitude and school culture that has seen Metcalfe County High transition from a persistently low-achieving school to more than doubling its college- and career-readiness rate in in just three years, state and local educators said.

In February 2011, KDE secured the Commonwealth Commitment from all districts to increase the college and career readiness rate of their high school graduates by 50 percent between 2010 and 2015.

Jenny Todd, research analyst with the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), studied districts like Metcalfe County that exceeded college- and career-readiness targets the past two years. The department wanted to know how some districts exceeded those annual targets, so they went to Metcalfe County last fall and interviewed district and school administrators, and teachers from all five schools.

Todd said Metcalfe County High shows what schools can do when leaders are willing to make difficult decisions and change a school?s culture.

?They?re really sticking out as a prime example of a Priority School that is doing exceptionally well,? she said.

Todd and teachers at the school all pointed to Bell, the school?s ?firecracker? principal for setting the school on a new path.

?She may have three biological children, but she?s got 400 other kids that she comes to school to every day,? said Anita Love, Advanced Placement (AP) psychology teacher and media specialist.? ?This lady loves every one of these kids.?

Smith said Bell greets every child when they get off the bus and keeps the door open ? even in 10-degree weather ? to create a welcoming environment. Bell makes everyone in the building believe they are a family, Smith said.

?In order for them to want to perform and do their best, they have to believe that they can do it,? Smith said. ?They?re only going to believe people that they love and respect and that they know have love and respect for these kids.?

Bell said the school community may be some students? only family.

?We?re not a prison, we?re a home that people call school. We had graduates that would not leave. They wanted me to promise them that they could come back next year and visit. That?s how kids should feel at their graduation, not ?How fast can I get to my car and make black marks on the road as I leave,?? she said. ?We have teachers that are in that classroom, and every corner of that classroom radiates how they feel about those kids and how they believe in them. You want to talk about rigor, relevance and relationships ? my teachers have it tattooed on their hearts.?

While teachers focus on building positive relationships with students, they also concentrate on their academics, Bell said.

?I have knowledgeable, very highly trained teachers, and we have a formula here that is an intentional plan to teach standards at a proficient and above level, to assess, use the data from those assessments and work individually to make sure each and every student is touched emotionally and academically every day,? she said. ?I have intelligent teachers that not only are really knowledgeable in their content area, they flat out know how to teach it. ?Have you met a lot of smart people that couldn?t teach a dog to bark? My teachers could teach a giraffe to bark.?

But Bell is demanding, requiring teachers to perform ?non-negotiables? that may not be required in other schools.

Whitney Choate, an Algebra 2 and AP Calculus teacher, said teachers must complete a failure-intervention plan every three weeks for students who are not meeting performance expectations and contact parents no fewer than three times until they discuss the plan. Other non-negotiables include submitting lesson plans every Friday, completing pacing guides, giving at least two grades per week, and bringing data from mathematics and reading formative assessments to guided planning meetings.

Love said, ?We have more expectations than any group I?ve ever seen, but they?re all good. That?s our change, that?s been the change in culture.?

An emphasis on reading also has led to the turnaround. Bell said students participate in a 30-minute reading intervention four days per week. Students take Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests three times a year in reading, mathematics, science and language arts, she said. Those performing above grade level attend enrichment, while those reading below grade level choose which teacher they want to work with and what they want to read to improve.

It seems to be working. Students improved their ACT reading scores by 2.5 points in one year, Bell said.

Before the school began its turnaround efforts, students felt they couldn?t excel academically because they were from Metcalfe County, Love said.

?Our kids have taken a different view, because now they think they can do it because they?re from Metcalfe County,? she said. ?That has been the best things to see with these kids ? to believe that they can compete with anybody, and they?re proving that they can.?

MORE INFO?

College and Career Readiness Delivery Plan

Kelly Bell, kelly.bell@metcalfe.kyschools.us, (270) 432-2481

Karen Nunn, karen.nunn@metcalfe.kyschools.us, (270) 432-2051

Jenny Todd, jennifer.todd@education.ky.gov, (502) 564-4201

?

Source: http://www.kentuckyteacher.org/features/2013/07/we-have-more-expectations-than-any-group-ive-ever-seen-but-theyre-all-good/

national grid LIPA Garcinia Cambogia Little Things One Direction Bob Ross Hurricane Categories Hurricane Sandy

Leah Remini on Scientology Retaliation: I Will Not Shut Up!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/07/leah-remini-on-scientology-retaliation-i-will-not-shut-up/

Staten Island Trick or Treat Amy Weber Happy Halloween! Star Wars Episode 7 jfk airport faith hill

Beautiful wedding veil ( Ottawa ) $100.00

Offers: Ads with a price may include the option to make an offer to the poster. Offers made are non-binding. The poster receives offer details once it is made. The poster may or may not respond to an offer.

Notifications: While making an offer, you can choose to receive a daily notification if more offers are made on the ad. You can choose to not receive these notifications by un-checking the check box.

Source: http://ottawa.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-other-Beautiful-wedding-veil-W0QQAdIdZ508073733

Taylor Swift Red Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 2 Medal of Honor Warfighter Richard Mourdock d t p

Sports Clip Of The Week: Ortiz Snaps + Andre Berto Gets KO.. Career Ender?

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhOCxGq9Uet84sd9ZC

jackie evancho plane crash plane crash UFC 162 Asiana Airlines Kerry Washington magna carta

Readers Respond to "The Low-Cost Ticket to Space"

April 2013

Image:

PRIVATIZATION'S PERIL

While S. Alan Stern rightly identifies ?the advent of new, reusable suborbital vehicles? and technologies designed ?with an eye to simplicity? as keys to cheaper spaceflight in ?The Low-Cost Ticket to Space,? he fails to explain why the same revolutions in technology could not be incorporated into traditional, governmental space programs. He ignores the fact that the leaps made by private space companies are largely attributable to inordinate investment by their starry-eyed and deep-pocketed backers. For the most part, they have not proved their financial sustainability.

Also, despite Stern's enthusiasm, space researchers should be wary of relinquishing control of technological developments. Privatizing spaceflight means the market will shape the field's evolution. And market forces are likely to pull spaceflight toward manned missions, which are more profitable but limited in scientific value.

Zachary Miller
Fleetwood, Pa.

ENERGY COSTS OF FUELS

?The True Cost of Fossil Fuels,? by Mason Inman, gives measurements of the energy return on investment (EROI)?a calculation of energy provided per unit of energy spent?for fossil fuels and renewables.

It appears to me that issues with renewables that were not quantified are significant. For example: the need for storage or backup capabilities for wind and solar; the need for new transmissions systems to handle the typically remote locations for large-scale solar or wind projects; or the impact of battery production for electric vehicles. I wonder how the charts would look if they had been so modified.

Peter Gartman
Media, Pa.

Unlike the entry for corn, the calculation of the EROI for biodiesel from soy does not appear to include fertilizer as energy consumed during production. I raise soybeans on my farm, and although soy requires little or no nitrogen, full amounts of phosphorus and potassium are needed for reasonable yields, which would lower soy's EROI. Also, the production biodiesel from canola is worthy of much greater consideration. Canola produces about the same average yield per acre as soy, but whereas soy contains about 16 percent oil, canola contains about 44 percent.

David C. Brown
Shoemakersville, Pa.

NEUTRINO MASS

?Ghostly Beacons of New Physics,? by Martin Hirsch, Heinrich P?s and Werner Porod, describes the search for the fundamental neutrino particle.

One of the difficulties in further characterizing the elusive neutrino is the question of its mass. As the article shows, observed beta decay results in emission of a single electron and antineutrino (or two when two decays occur simultaneously).

This, combined with the difficulty in obtaining an accurate measurement of the mass of the particles involved, leads me to wonder how accurate current measurements of the masses of the neutron, proton and electron are. If the mass measurements of these particles were accurate enough, a simple equation would result in the mass of the antineutrino.

If the current mass measurements of these basic particles are not sufficiently accurate, can a more accurate measurement be made with today's equipment?

Carl Gruel
Kilmarnock, Va.

P?S REPLIES: Indeed, nuclear beta decay is being used to search for the neutrino mass. According to special relativity, though, energy and mass are equivalent. So the mass of the emitted antineutrino is not simply given by the neutron mass minus the proton and the electron mass; in addition, the kinetic energies of the emitted antineutrino and the electron enter the equation. What experimentalists do, then, is look at the maximum possible energy of the electron and check whether it can carry away all the missing energy in the budget above. If it doesn't, the difference corresponds to the neutrino mass.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/~r/sciam/basic-science/~3/7ahYJtickT8/article.cfm

bo jackson hanukkah justin tv justin tv Sarah Savage Jaimie Alexander Army Navy Game

Signs point _ finally _ to end of Europe recession

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) ? After a year and a half of recession, Europe's battered economy could finally be showing signs of life.

It's not the kind of recovery that calls for a big celebration. Any upswing will be a slow and arduous climb ? up a slope strewn with high unemployment and scarce credit for businesses.

But signs of improvement are there. On Thursday, a German index of business confidence rose for the third month in a row. Meanwhile, surveys of purchasing managers in the euro area indicate manufacturing activity edged back into growth territory in July for the first time in 18 months.

And there are other indications that Europe has bottomed out.

Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, says the country's economy ? Europe's biggest ? expanded "strongly" in the April-June period. Automaker Daimler AG says it expects to see the continent's sagging car market start to recover toward the end of the year. In the No. 2 euro economy, France's Insee index of consumer confidence ticked up in July to 82 from 79 the month before.

News like this has raised hopes that economic growth figures could be flat or slightly positive when they come out for the April-June period on Aug. 14.

That would end a string of six straight quarters of contraction in the 17 European Union countries that use the euro currency.

"Contrary to widespread market perceptions, the eurozone recession ended when the snow melted last Easter," Berenberg Bank chief economist Holger Schmieding wrote in a note Thursday. He is forecasting 0.2 percent growth for the second quarter and 0.3 percent for the current, third, quarter.

The eurozone is the second-largest economy after the United States, with 9.5 trillion euros ($12.5 trillion) in economic output last year. It's a major trading partner with the U.S., close neighbor Britain and with Asia. Losses in Europe have been a drag on otherwise stellar earnings for U.S. carmakers. Ford Motor Co. lost $348 million there in the second quarter and General Motors lost 110 million euros ? high but still smaller than earlier quarters.

An improvement can't come fast enough for the auto industry. Even low unemployment of only 5.3 percent of hasn't moved Germans to buy new cars. Sales fell 8.1 percent over the first six months of the year.

What's needed is a better consumer mood that can outweigh negative headlines and fears about the future, says Fritz Kuckartz, who runs his family's 60-year-old Renault dealership in Aachen.

"Purchase decisions don't just depend on the unemployment number," Kuckartz said. "It depends on the person's situation and the entire political and news media environment. The key factors in our experience are disposable income and the general outlook for the future. "

Manufacturers have cut their prices "and the customers still can't decide. "

Only a "better fundamental mood" can outweigh negative headlines and worries, he said.

The signs of stabilization come a year after European Central Bank head Mario Draghi did much to halt the financial market crisis in Europe with a forceful statement on July 26, 2012 at a London investor conference that the bank would "do whatever it takes" to save the euro and that "believe me, it will be enough."

The bank followed with a plan to purchase unlimited amounts of government bonds issued by indebted governments. The aim was to drive down the borrowing costs that threatened Spain and Italy with financial collapse. No bonds have been bought. But the mere prospect of central bank purchases sent interest costs lower. Yields on Spanish 10-year bonds have fallen to 4.65 percent from over 7 percent ahead of Draghi's speech.

That cut financing costs for indebted countries such as Spain and Italy and reduced the threat they would need a bailout Europe couldn't afford.

European leaders also started work last summer on centralizing the regulation of banks to prevent bailouts from adding to government debt.

As a result, the market crisis eased. But the slack economy remained.

It stagnated as governments cut spending and raised taxes to reduce debt. Now, much of the cutting is done ? and chastened eurozone leaders are now willing to let countries such as France and Spain balance their budget more slowly.

Nonetheless a real recovery ? enough to cut into the eurozone's unemployment rate of 12.2 percent ? would need economic growth of 1.5 percent a year or more. And that isn't in view yet. Ernst & Young forecasts 11.6 percent unemployment ? out as far as 2017.

For real growth, several obstacles will need to be cleared away.

Consumers remain downcast and unable to spend in the hardest-hit countries such as Spain and Greece, with jobless rates of 26.9 percent and 26.8 percent, because of the threat to their jobs from high unemployment. And there are fears that the slowdown in China, a key export market, will worsen.

As a result, businesses ? even those in more prosperous Germany ? are remaining skeptical they will suddenly have lots of new customers ? and so they are not investing in new factories and production.

It is this investment that gives a recovery its legs, as consumer demand feeds expansion and that boosts orders for equipment and facilities.

Credit remains tight in places most affected by the debt crisis. The ECB has cut its benchmark rate at which it loans to banks to a record low 0.5 percent. The low rates aren't being passed on in the trouble countries because banks there have shaky finances. They can only borrow from the ECB and don't have money to lend to new customers. Companies in Spain and Italy pay several percentage points more than German companies for loans.

The European Union has had two rounds of stress tests to try to force banks and governments to deal with the problem by closing or restructuring zombie banks or putting more money into them. The ECB will try again next year to purge bad banks with a review of their investments and loans before it takes over as the EU's new banking supervisor.

Unless those things improve ? jobs, credit for businesses, willingness to invest in hope of profit ? a recovery may meet the statistical definition recovery: Output that is more than zero.

But it won't feel much different than the current recession.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/signs-point-finally-end-europe-recession-170451557.html

Samantha Steele Dec 21 2012 doomsday Is The World Going To End Mayans camilla belle instagram

Man accused of tweet-stalking Ashanti in NYC

NEW YORK (AP) ? An Illinois man who served jail time for stalking R&B singer Ashanti has been indicted in New York for again stalking and harassing the Grammy Award-winner.

Prosecutors say Devar Hurd was indicted Friday in state Supreme Court in Manhattan. Prosecutors say he violated an order of protection when he sent more than 100 tweets to the singer's Twitter account between Sept. 2012 and last weekend.

His bail was set at $750,000. He is expected to be arraigned sometime next month.

In Feb. 2010 the 35-year-old was sentenced to two years in jail for sending a battery of text messages and photos to Ashanti's mother. Prosecutors said Friday some of his tweets were sexually explicit.

Hurd's attorney did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/man-accused-tweet-stalking-ashanti-nyc-002254614.html

The Wolverine Alfonso Soriano Danica McKellar Lincoln Memorial JJ Cale Kidd Kraddick jimmy fallon