Chief state school officers, district superintendents, principals, teachers and students will talk about how they have implemented Baldrige criteria and raised student achievement. Governors, state legislators, Board of Education members, and chief state school officers are invited to participate, as are superintendents, principals, teachers, members of the business community and others interested in education improvement efforts. The state's accountability system is based on test scores, attendance and dropout rates and ranks schools as exemplary, recognized, acceptable or low performing. While informal mentoring among teachers has occurred for years, formal mentoring programs are becoming more widespread. The POST reports that last year Virginia lawmakers made it mandatory for first-year teachers and teachers new to the state to participate in a teacher mentoring program.
Teaching is pretty tough.
Last summer, six teenagers who participated in MediaOne's Cub Reporters program joined a professional camera crew and traveled through Miami, Jacksonville, Atlanta and Richmond to interview kids about drugs. The documentary will be shown in 16 markets nationwide, including on MediaOne cable access channels in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Fewer charter schools are reporting that the lack of start-up funds is a major difficulty, according to a new study released by the U.S. Department of Education. The National Study of Charter Schools is the final in a four-year research program designed to document and analyze the charter school movement. Earlier this month, President Clinton released his fiscal year 2001 budget request for education.