education – LAUNCH Flagstaff

Flagstaff Community Town Hall on Funding pre-K – 12…

October 1, 2017September 4, 2017
by Paul Kulpinski

Flagstaff Community Town Hall on Funding pre-K – 12 Education

LAUNCH Flagstaff has partnered with the Arizona Town Hall organization to convene a Flagstaff Town Hall event on October 1, 2017 at Coconino Community College. This half-day event will bring together one hundred and eighty community leaders, policy makers, educators, students and other community members around the topic of Funding for preK-12 Education. The results of our event will help inform the state-wide 110^th Arizona Town Hall in November.

Participation requires pre-registration.

Flagstaff Town Hall Tentative Agenda: October 1, 2017

12:30-1:00 pm Check-In and Networking

1:00-5:00 pm Town Hall Process

Welcome by Coconino Community College President, Dr. Colleen Smith
Presentation of Colors by Girl Scouts Arizona Pine Cactus Council
Education overview and background by NAU President, Dr. Rita Cheng
Overview of the process by AZ Town Hall staff
Small group discussions (10-12 people) and creation of action-plans
Small group reports with full group discussion
Final action steps and consensus building
Closing by Flagstaff Mayor Coral Evans

5:00 – 6:30 pm Post event dinner

As a result from the promotion of and participation in the Flagstaff Town Hall, community members will be more informed about the issues impacting our educational system related to public funding of preK-12 education in Arizona. Additionally, the community will be more aware of the collective impact efforts of the LAUNCH Flagstaff partnership in creating a communitywide culture of world-class education for all Flagstaff’s children and youth. With this awareness, community members will be better prepared to take action not only at a local level, but also a state level when it comes to educating Arizona’s future.

$25* Registration (dinner included)

*limited scholarships available for students and teachers

Major funding provided by:

with additional support from:

American Teacher

September 28, 2017September 8, 2017
by Paul Kulpinski

American Teacher uses a large collection of teacher testimonies and contrasts the demands of the teaching profession alongside interviews with education experts and education reform news from around the country. There are four principal characters in the film whose lives and careers are closely portrayed over the course of several years. Alongside the stories of these four characters is interwoven a mixture of interviews with teachers, students, families, and education leaders, as well as animation conveying startling facts surrounding the teaching profession.

American Teacher also features interviews with US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Deputy Secretary of Education Brad Jupp, the founder of The Equity Project Charter School Zeke Vanderhoek, Stanford Professor of Education Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford economist Eric Hanushek, and several regional and national teachers of the year. The film is produced by Ninive Calegari, Dave Eggers, is produced and directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Vanessa Roth, and co-directed and edited by filmmaker Brian McGinn. The film is narrated by actor Matt Damon with music composed by San Francisco musician Thao Nguyen.

Tickets are available at:

The Orpheum Box Office, Rainbow’s End, and online at OrpheumFlagstaff.com

Ticket proceeds to benefit LAUNCH Flagstaff

FREE Education Film Series – Rise Above the Mark

September 20, 2017September 8, 2017
by Paul Kulpinski

Rise Above the Mark is a documentary that explores what happens when politics enters the classroom. Public schools are boxed in by current corporate reforms. Rules and regulations restrict vision, depreciate funding, demoralize teachers, and turn students into test-taking machines, robbing them of time to foster creativity. Experts discuss how America can make positive changes to provide an exceptional public school system for all children.

Watch the trailer

After the film stay for a question and answer session with a panel of local experts who understand the political forces impacting the education of our children in Flagstaff.

Seating is limited so please reserve your ticket now.

Major funding for this film series is provided by:

with additional support from:

LAUNCH 101

September 19, 2017August 18, 2017
by Paul Kulpinski

LAUNCH Flagstaff seeks to raise the bar and create a culture of world-class education for all our children, from the time they are born through their career.

The problem is that Flagstaff is program rich and infrastructure poor. We have many good programs and organizations often working in silos in a way that produces mixed results. The data shows that this lack of infrastructure has created opportunity gaps and disparities that prevent our kids from reaching their full potential.

We invite all constituent groups and individuals to join LAUNCH Flagstaff in working together to improve the educational outcomes for all Flagstaff children. Learn where you fit into the solution by attending our next one-hour LAUNCH 101 presentation.

FREE Education Film Series – Paper Tigers

September 15, 2017September 8, 2017
by Paul Kulpinski

Paper Tigers follows a year in the life of an alternative high school that has radically changed its approach to disciplining its students, becoming a promising model for how to break the cycles of poverty, violence and disease that affect families.

Watch the trailer

After the film stay for a question and answer session with local experts on how Flagstaff is addressing chronic stress in our youth.

Seating is limited so please reserve your ticket now.

Major funding for this film series is provided by:

with additional support from:

FREE Education Film Series – Beyond Measure

September 8, 2017September 8, 2017
by Paul Kulpinski

By putting research and innovative models into practice, groundbreaking school communities are transforming how and what they teach. In chorus with experts including Sir Ken Robinson, Linda Darling-Hammond, Yong Zhao, Alison Gopnik, Jo Boaler and Daniel Pink, the change makers in Beyond Measure prove that both a new vision and a higher purpose are within reach for American education.

Watch the trailer

After the film stay for a question and answer session with a panel of local education experts on how Flagstaff is creating a culture of world-class education.

Seating is limited so please reserve your seat now.

Major funding for this film series is provided by:

with additional support from:

Kindergarten Readiness CAN

September 5, 2017September 4, 2017
by Paul Kulpinski

Agenda:

Introductions

Discussion: Do we want to refer to our group as the Kindergarten or School Readiness CAN?

Approve Parent Questionnaire draft to send to LAUNCH data for review

Purpose: Find out what supports are most helpful to families? Are they choosing preschool? Why or why not? What is their understanding of kindergarten readiness skills?
Are these the right questions to get the answers we want?

Discuss Methodology

Paper/tablet?
Focus Group at various K sites?
In K registration packets (FUSD, other?)
Do we want to partner with other community programs to obtain surveys? (Healthy Families, WIC, Head Start, Parents As Teachers)

Discuss our role in developing collaboration among local preschool and kindergarten teachers

Inviting to participate, especially to our next meeting on October 17^th
Adopting a community wide K readiness assessment tool
K Transition plan template
Feedback on training and resource needs/assets

Review annual work plan and provide feedback

Summer

(June, July, August)

Schedule KDI presentation
Finalize Parent Questionnaire

Fall

(September, October, November)

Invite Prek-K teachers and admin to:

Ø LAUNCH for October’s KDI presentation

Ø ASCC Early Childhood Symposium, Saturday November 4^th: LAUNCH presentation on the Community Wide K Transition Plan template

Ø Connect to and participate in LAUNCH School Readiness CAN

September: Finalize parent questionnaire and methodology AND Invite Prek-K teachers and admin to LAUNCH for October’s presentation
October: KDI Presentation
November: KDA and Head Start Data

Reflect on data and common threads of “K Ready”

Winter

(December, January, February)

Invite programs to connect to and participate in K Readiness CAN

Promote K registration

Parent Questionnaires in registration packets

· December: Invite Prek-K teachers and admin to participate in a LAUNCH 101- School Readiness potluck

· January: Discuss preference for common K readiness assessment tool; outreach plan to advocate for wide spread use

· February: Transition Plan Template Intro (goals, feedback, current strategies, needs)

Spring

(March, April, May)

Promote K registration

Parent Questionnaires in registration packets

Connect programs to training on (adopted) kindergarten readiness tool

· March: Review of transition plans being used in our community: strategies, training needs and requested resources; Brainstorm strategies to address needs

April: Provide training requested on transition plans
May: Provide training requested on transition plans
June: Celebratory potluck for a year of good work!

Next Steps:

Next meeting:

Tuesday October 17^th 3:30-5pm, Family Resource Center. NOTE DATE CHANGE

News

Expect More Excellence Tour – LAUNCH Flagstaff

August 3, 2017August 3, 2017
by Paul Kulpinski

LAUNCH Flagstaff, Aims to Improve Education Outcomes Cradle Through Career

From the Expect More Arizona Excellence Tour

The quality of education in any community has a dramatic impact on everyone’s quality of life, whether they have children in the schools or not. It has an effect on tax revenues and the capacity of local governments to provide services, the local employment rate and the ability of cities and towns to attract new businesses, among other things. Read more “Expect More Excellence Tour – LAUNCH Flagstaff” →

Post-Secondary CAN Meeting

August 3, 2017July 24, 2017
by Paul Kulpinski

Normally, this CAN meets on the 2nd Thursday of each month, but given that the 2nd week of August is the first week of the 2017-2018 school year, network members decided to meet the week prior.

Meeting Agenda

1. Update on High-School Counselor initiative
2. FAFSA Completion Goal
– Update on College and Career Readiness Survey
– A – F Accountability implications
– Next Steps
3. Discussion regarding Dual Enrollment Goal (we have our FAFSA goal rolling, this would be another focus/goal)
4. Discussion Regarding other Goals
5. Next meeting: September 14th.

Kindergarten Readiness CAN Meeting

August 1, 2017July 20, 2017
by Paul Kulpinski

Agenda

Introductions/ Attendance

Update:

LAUNCH data sharing agreement with FUSD and Head Start

Task:

Provide feedback to parent questionnaire draft

Communication with other CAN:

Request data team to review and provide feedback on parent questionnaire
Discuss with data team who/how to conduct parent interviews and/or focus group

Next steps:

FUSD implements KDA within first 2 weeks of school
Data team reviews andanalyzes data to identify number of children entering kindergarten “ready”

Proposed timeline:

September: KDI (state tool) presentation
October: Review KDA and TSG data; Conduct parent interviews and/or focus groups
November- January: Identify commonalities among those who were identified as “kindergarten ready”(Data CAN)
November–January: LAUNCH K Readiness CAN works to build collaboration among public,charter and private preschool and kindergartens-
Encourage all programs to utilize the K Transition Plan template (continuing the work of the Flagstaff Community Wide Kindergarten Transition Team)as a means to strengthen the Prek-K transition and share supports and resources necessary for successful transitions into school for children, parents and teachers.
Further the discussion of a common K readiness tool
February: Promote K registration
March-June: LAUNCH K Readiness CAN works to build collaboration among public,charter and private preschool and kindergartens-
Determine common readiness tool

Next Meeting:

September 5, 2017 3:30-5:00 Family Resource Center

Tag: education

Flagstaff Community Town Hall on Funding pre-K – 12 Education

$25* Registration (dinner included)

Major funding provided by:

After the film stay for a question and answer session with a panel of local experts who understand the political forces impacting the education of our children in Flagstaff.

Seating is limited so please reserve your ticket now.

Paper Tigers follows a year in the life of an alternative high school that has radically changed its approach to disciplining its students, becoming a promising model for how to break the cycles of poverty, violence and disease that affect families.

After the film stay for a question and answer session with local experts on how Flagstaff is addressing chronic stress in our youth.

Seating is limited so please reserve your ticket now.

After the film stay for a question and answer session with a panel of local education experts on how Flagstaff is creating a culture of world-class education.

Seating is limited so please reserve your seat now.

LAUNCH Flagstaff, Aims to Improve Education Outcomes Cradle Through Career