This week's teaching & learning tidbits

District 6 seeks community members for Citizens Academy

Community members in Greeley and Evans who are interested in learning more about the operation of local schools and the school district are invited to participate in the 2011-12 District 6 Citizens Academy.

Academy members will meet six times during the school year to tour elementary, middle and high schools, the administration building, and other support service offices. Participants will learn about school finance and administration, curriculum and instruction, safety and positive behavior supports, facility maintenance, student achievement results, school bus service, student nutrition and more.

The academy will meet from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the following Mondays during the 2011-12 school year. The meetings will be held at various schools and support offices across the district.

There is no cost to attend the academy, and participants will receive lunch during the meetings. The class size will be small, in order to allow in-depth discussions, questions and answers.

To register for the academy, please contact Roger Fiedler, D6 communications director, at 348-6003 or feedback@greeleyschools.org .

Schools chief  Arne Duncan says teachers ‘desperately underpaid’

ANN ARBOR — U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is looking to remake American education, and figures the best ways to do that is by reinventing the teaching profession. Read more in the Kalamazoo Gazette.Troubled schools try mimicking the charters

HOUSTON — Classrooms are festooned with college pennants. Hallway placards proclaim: “No Excuses!” Students win prizes for attendance. They start classes earlier and end later than their neighbors; some return to school on Saturdays. And they get to pore over math problems one-on-one with newly hired tutors, many of them former accountants and engineers. Read more in the New York Times.

Colorado State using grant to boost math teachers

Colorado State University-Pueblo is launch- ing a new scholarship program that school officials hope will calculate to an increase in secondary math teachers.

The university will rely on a $1.26 million grant from the National Science Foundation   to  provide  scholarships and stipends to help persuade students and professionals in math, science, engineering and technology fields to become math teachers. Read more in the Pueblo Chieftain.

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