The Student:
 
• To identify starting points for monitoring year-to-year academic development
• To help develop a personalized learning plan
• To determine how best to adapt materials and instructional practices to address each student’s needs
• To identify academic strengths and weaknesses in order to guide the learning process toward achievement of curriculum goals, including possible early intervention strategies
• To track on-going skill development in incremental measures
 
The School Community:
 
• To obtain information on which to base instructional decisions
• To determine instructional gaps that need to be addressed
• To offer content and teaching strategies that will ensure student mastery of the school’s academic standards
• To use results as one of many sources of data collection by which to gauge   school effectiveness
• To promote student learning
 
What parents can do at home to prepare students for test taking:
 
1.  Talk to your child’s teacher often about your child’s progress;
2.   Make sure your child does his/her homework;
3.   Have a variety of age appropriate books and magazines at 
       home;
4.   Don’t be overly anxious about test scores, but use them as a
       point of reference;
5.   Make sure your child gets a good night’s sleep and is well-
       rested before test day;
6.   Make sure that your child eats a well balanced diet. Hunger can
       detract from a good  test performance;
7.   Encourage your child to prepare for tests by studying in a quiet 
       area, free from  distractions;
8.   Encourage your child to study over a period of time rather than
     “cram” the night    before;
9.   Encourage your child to ask questions about topics s/he
        doesn’t understand;
10.  If your child is nervous at test time, ask the teacher for tips on
         helping your child to relax;
11.  Make sure that your child is in school during the testing
        sessions. Do not plan any doctor or dental appointments on
        test dates;
12.  Encourage your child to listen carefully to all test-taking
      directions given by the teacher and to ask questions about any directions that are unclear;
13.  Make sure that you are aware of your child’s performance and that you can interpret the results when they become available
  

Special Note to Parents About Stress and Challenging Times:
 
Test times can be stressful times, even when students are well-prepared and parents have provided the best of support, as outlined above.  There’s something about the departure from “normal” classroom activities that makes even the calmest student a little anxious.  As we all know, there are many challenges in our world at large, as well.  Ongoing economic worries may be reason for sustained anxiety in some families, while personal connections to or extensive news about catastrophic events, such as the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, may impact others. Even in the best of times, families can experience periods of stress for any number of reasons.  During stressful times, it is important to think about the impact that parents’ anxiety has on children.  Some of the very techniques for helping students be well prepared for tests may be just the ticket for the whole family at these times, too! Creating that sense of normalcy and stability is more important than ever. Eating a healthy meal together at home and making sure you and your child get enough sleep are just two of the ways to maintain a healthy mind, body, and perspective. Why not check out books from the library and read together or sit and talk about your day instead of engaging in a pricey evening activity?  These activities help children find answers to questions that may worry them, so they feel both safe and empowered, and they contribute to a sense of stability at home, without tapping into the wallet. They also help boost academic achievement! Be sure to communicate with the school if you are experiencing challenges that may affect your student, as well.  This communication can help us provide appropriate support for students at school and help you make connections to needed services.  Remember that together, we can provide the stable and positive environment your child needs during test time and all the time!
 
The two websites below may be helpful to you whenever your family works through challenging times. The first site provides suggestions for families who are experiencing the effects of an economic crisis, but the ideas offered may be helpful during any time of heightened family stress.

www.nasponline.org/families/unsettlingtimes.pdf 
The next site provides excellent information on talking with your children and helping them cope during events such as global disasters.

www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/globaldisasters.pdf
 
Dawn D. Eidelman, Ph.D.
Chief Education Officer
Mosaica Education, Inc.

Paragon teaches to the whole mind with its integrated social studies, history, and humanities, hands-on program.  The design of Paragon prompts students to explore big or essential questions that invite them to dig deeper, think and rethink, and move beyond mere recall and into true understanding.  They will encounter rich content and develop indispensable skills that they will build on over a life time.  As they move through each of the eight units per school year, they will naturally make connections between units, across disciplines, and even to the concepts and ideas taught in other grade levels.  This happens because students in every grade level spiral through the same historical time period during the school year.  Additionally, at the end of each unit, the whole school comes together as students share their learning with each other and with you during Paragon Night performances!

Paragon propels student achievement in Mosaica Education schools; therefore, a cumulative understanding is best accomplished when your student continues with us throughout his or her elementary and middle school years.  At every grade level, the fundamental skills of reading, writing, listening, communicating, and presenting are integral and ongoing.  Paragon keeps building on prior knowledge so that your student will gain ground and accelerate achievement with each passing year, a trend that defies the odds in traditional public education.

In Middle School, students will delve into Paragon Humanities, which is organized into four quarter units, rather than the eight units found in the elementary grades.  This provides the opportunity for students to explore concepts and ideas in greater depth through research, primary source documents, literature, and hands-on learning.  Like the elementary grades, the units are structured around essential questions in world history, civics, geography, economics, and social studies.  Middle School students will also begin their studies of Paragon© World Literature.  Each quarter, they will read a novel, biography, myth, collection of folk tales, or another genre that corresponds to the content in Paragon Humanities.  The interdisciplinary connections make the learning engaging, meaningful, and memorable for students.

Mosaica network schools will highlight successes as well as the importance of school choice through town hall meetings, rallies, movie screenings, socials and group discussions. School choice benefits communities and families by providing educational opportunities such as public charter schools, online learning, scholarships, and tax credits.

Event Highlights

-Students at Atlanta Preparatory Academy will attend the School Choice Celebration and Rally on Jan. 25, 2011 at 10 am on the steps of the State Capitol Building. The event is hosted by the Georgia Charter Schools Association, Center for an Educated Georgia and several other community organizations.
-On Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011, Capital Area Academy in Lansing, Michigan will host a community meet and greet with Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and Barb Byrum, State Representative for District 6.
-Columbus Preparatory Academy in Columbus, Ohio will be highlighting the  benefits of charter schools through school choice videos from parents; videos will be posted on the school’s Facebook page.

Here are some things you can do to make a difference during National School Choice week:

• Participate in a Mosaica network school event- Find a school in your community by going to our charter school locator
• Host an event in your community
• Send a school choice support letter to your local school board and state representatives—Sample Letter
• Tell your friends and family about the importance of education reform and school choice options

About Mosaica Education

Mosaica Education, Inc. is a global education company that operates high-performing schools and provides related services in the United States and Internationally. The company manages 90 school programs in eight states, the District of Columbia and the Middle East. Mosaica-managed schools utilize a unique school design, which combines a proprietary curriculum called Paragon®, with state-of-the-art technology.

During February, students will learn about and celebrate African-American History through the implementation of Mosaica Education’s African-American History Guide.  In the first section, students learn why African Americans are honored in February, and are introduced to the genre of biography.  Students will learn the features of a biography and carry out an interview of a classmate to help them learn one way in which information is collected for a biography.  In Section 2, students will begin to apply the skills they learned in Section 1 by interviewing and writing a “personal biography” about someone in their lives whom they admire.  They will be responsible for interviewing this person, accessing at least one photograph of this person, and turning their notes into a short biography.  In the third section, students learn how to write a biography about a famous person who may not be living and/or whom they can not interview.  They will select an African American who particularly impresses them, carry out research, and complete a polished biography of this person.  By the end of the unit, students will have learned about many African Americans and how to write biographies. 
 
We invite you to extend this learning of biography to encompass George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and our current president, Barack Obama.          

More Power with Paragon: Identifying the Qualities of Great Leadership-Home Connections

Great leaders, remarkably creative individuals, extraordinarily courageous citizens, unsung heroes—people who have made a difference—all are integral to the Paragon Curriculum.  A major goal of the Paragon Curriculum is to showcase great people, past and present, and around the globe.  We want students to recognize the qualities of greatness, to identify the deeds and actions of great people, and to understand the societal and historical impact such people have had.  In doing so, we want students to see that they possess some of those same qualities, or that they are being raised under similar conditions, or that they too have a burning desire to right a wrong or make a big change.  We want them to recognize their own greatness and have the confidence to know they can positively impact their family, community, city, state, nation, or even the world!  Here are some ways in which you can share in your student’s learning: 
 
Biography
 
There are a number of activities you and your student may engage in to explore biography.  The first step is researching the individual, whether Washington, Lincoln, another American president, or any famous African-American (a partial list of websites is provided, but encourage your student to go beyond, as there are numerous available websites).  Here are some of the things you and your student may do after the research is completed:
 
Role-play an Interview.  Either you or your student takes on the persona of the person being interviewed and the other becomes the modern-day interviewer.  If possible, let your student dress up like Washington or Lincoln—have fun too!
 
Write a Poem or Song.  Invite your student to write a poem or a song about the person s/he researched.  Challenge him or her to try and capture the essence of the individual in a creative form.  Make sure your student reads aloud or sings his or her poem/song to you and your family.
 

On-the-Scene Reporter.  Ask your student to select one dramatic event in the life of the person s/he has researched.  Then, have him or her imagine s/he’s an on-the-scene reporter giving a detailed account of the event.  For example, maybe it will be Washington’s courageous encampment at Valley Forge and the commentary could begin like:  “This has to be the coldest, most bitter weather I have ever experienced in my life!  Yet, for two months now, General George Washington and his troops are …”
 
George Washington First President

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/georgewashington/

George Washington 
http://www.ushistory.org/ValleyForge/washington/index.html
Abraham Lincoln Online
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln.html
Lincoln Net
http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/
 
The White House:  Presidents 
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/

Speech.  Select an important and famous speech by Washington, Lincoln, or an African American and read it carefully with your student.  Discuss the message being conveyed, as well as the meaning of particular vocabulary and phrases.  Depending on your student’s age, challenge him or her to memorize the speech and present it.  Be sure to use props and encourage your student to infuse it with drama.  If possible, record your student’s rendering and play it back!  
 
American Rhetoric:  Top 100 Speeches

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html

Portraiture Art.  Leaders often have portraits painted of them, which capture the character of the person.  First, you and your student can explore American portraiture art at the following website: 
 
Smithsonian:  National Portrait Gallery  
http://www.npg.si.edu/

Then, explain to your student that s/he is going to do an art project that shows his or her favorite leaders from American history and captures the values and principles of our democracy.  Explain that s/he will be making a collage!  The collage may show one American leader or many, and the collage may include actual images of the people (downloaded and printed from the Internet or from magazines), symbols, and/or words.  Your student may set his or her collage within the shape of the United States, or select any other shape such as an oval (many portraits from the past were set in ovals), etc. 
 
Provide poster board, magazines for cutting, scissors, glue, and any other materials that would be useful.  When your student has finished his or her collage, ask him or her to present it to you and explain why s/he chose the images s/he did.  Hang the collage in your home for all to enjoy.
 

Analyzing Quotations  
 
Great people often say great things that are circulated and shared as memorable quotations.  Quotations have the quality of conveying something very important and inspiring with only a few words (quotations are usually one or two sentences in length).  Through the study of quotations, the reader can imagine the character of the speaker as well as the qualities s/he possesses.  With your student, read these famous quotations by George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and President Barack Obama.  Discuss their meanings and then abstract out the kind of person each speaker was/is.  What does each value?  Is he stating and upholding democratic principles?  Does his quotation provide other information about who he is?  If yes, what does it suggest?  Do you think these three men share any of the same leadership qualities?  If yes, what are they?    
 
“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.”
- George Washington
 
“Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can aspire.” 
- George Washington
 
“Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”
- George Washington
 
“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.  This expresses my idea of democracy.  Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.”
- Abraham Lincoln
 
“I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.”
- Abraham Lincoln
 
“Whenever I hear any one arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.”
- Abraham Lincoln
 
“There’s not a liberal America and a conservative America—there’s the United States of America.”
- Barack Obama 

“We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.”
- Barack Obama 
 
“Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?”
- Barack Obama  

May your student recognize his or her greatness through this exploration and celebration of President’s Day and African-American History Month! 

Dawn D. Eidelman, Ph.D.
Chief Education Officer
President, Paragon Division
Mosaica Education, Inc.

The education sector bias (and related legal prohibitions) against investment by private companies is remarkable in contrast to other public delivery systems. Innovations in health care, energy production and transmission, and transportation are often the product of private investment in government requested, sponsored, or incentivized projects. We don’t mind if textbook publishers update versions, but hackles go up when private operators propose school management. Most of this is just disguised job protection; the rest is historical bias.

Yesterday I visited Atlanta Preparatory Academy, a new school run by Mosaica, a private charter school operator. After only a month of access to an old school building, the place was updated, orderly, and clean. On day two of a new school, it was clear that a common instruction vision and curriculum framework were a guiding force. Classrooms were colorful and organized and featured products of the rich art and history curriculum. A talented principal (trained by New Leaders for New Schools) introduced me to an amazing teaching staff, some of whom had transferred from a Washington, D.C. Mosaica school. The instructional day was an hour longer than local schools, with 12 extra days of school each year.

You’d see the same at a National Heritage Academy, a privately operated network of 70 public charter schools. Mosaica and NHA are offering a service that is clearly superior to near by public schools and doing it for less money. They usually have to provide their own facility with no public funding. Yet they are prohibited from holding charters directly in most states. They find or construct a non-profit corporation which seeks a charter and then contracts with them for school management services. They run the risk of being kicked out of a school that they invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to open.

The $650 million Invest in Innovation Fund (i3) will soon be doled out primarily to school districts — folks with very little ability to invest in, manage, or scale innovation. Unlike the Department of Energy, public-private partnerships are prohibited. If the US Department of Education was able to invest half of i3 in private ventures, it would be multiplied several times over by private investment (10x in some cases), it would fund scalable enterprises with the potential for national impact, and the innovation would be sustained by a business model.

The barriers and prohibitions erected against for-profit companies in education weaken American competitiveness. Many of the interesting schools and learning tools are being developed internationally — all with private investment.

This isn’t a hypothetical argument for me. I spent the last year raising money, starting companies, and hiring staff (during the worst recession in 60 years). Worse than the recession are barriers to entry that inhibit the tools and schools that will mark the next generation of personalized learning.

We send our kids to privately run hospitals, we travel over privately constructed roads, and we buy power from private companies. Private sector investment and innovation should play a more important role in American education. Private companies have built-in incentives for speed, quality and scale. Visit Atlanta Prep or an NHA school if you want to see private capital providing a great service for less.

www.EdReformer.com