IT'S FINALLY OPEN: Booker T. Washington musicians and dancers provided some of the entertainment as the brand-spanking-new BOK Center opened in downtown Tulsa with massive fanfare. Officials estimate twenty-thousand people attended the grand opening. Built at a cost of $178 million in public monies and an additional $18 million in private funds, the facility seats 19,199 people and is expected to draw top acts to T-town..
Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy
A five-day summer academy recently attended by a group of Tulsa instructors translates into better opportunities for professional development for educators in the Tulsa Public Schools system and will encourage district students to explore the fields of math and science.
The Tulsa Team - comprised of elementary math lead Terry Whisenhunt, elementary science lead Ava Howard, and eight classroom teachers—traveled to New Jersey for the 2008 Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy. The academy’s curriculum, instructors and other logistics were designed by the nation’s leading teacher-training organizations, Math Solutions Professional Development and National Science Teachers Association. Now the team is back and spreading the knowledge through the classroom.
“We are creating math and science leaders in our schools,” Howard said.
The Tulsa Team’s goal is to provide third-fifth grade teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary to motivate students to pursue careers in science and math. Some of the activities learned at the academy were stunning in their simplicity.
"The activities are very user-friendly,” Howard said. “Items such as string, washers, construction paper - we’re using it to perform high-end science.”
Invitations to attend the academy are traditionally extended to school districts based on golfer Phil Mickelson's PGA Tour schedule and major ExxonMobil work locations. This year academy officials opened the selection process to teachers from across the country. To learn more about how teachers can be nominated and apply, visit www.sendmyteacher.com.
TPS 88 Percent toward Student Achievement Goal
The Oklahoma Department of Education released its long‐awaited School Improvement List in Oklahoma City Thursday morning. After months of calculations and appeals, Tulsa Public Schools learned it had knocked 4 schools off the list. Of the District’s 89 schools, 11 remain on the state’s School Improvement List. Six of those schools could earn their way off the list by next year.
The first year of No Child Left Behind tracking (2003‐2004), TPS had 38 schools on the School Improvement List. Since then the District has focused in on its mission to provide a quality learning experience for each and every student by enhancing instructional technology, professional and curriculum development and leadership training.
“This is very good news,” said Roberta Ellis, Assistant to the Superintendent for Research and Accountability. “It is good to know we are on the right track and that all of our hard work is paying off.”
School Improvement Administrator Sharolyn Sorrels was responsible for filing a number of successful appeals with the state. Some of her suggestions corrected attendance rates, testing rates, graduation rates and other factors that would have negatively impacted some schools’ Academic Performance Index, used in determining NCLB compliance.
“Our schools and students work hard to do well on these tests every year,” Sorrels said after learning Thursday the state had accepted her suggestions. “I’m grateful for the state’s willingness to work with us. Those schools deserve credit for what they actually earned.”
Superintendent Dr. Michael Zolkoski said Tulsa Public Schools has plenty of good news ahead.
“By this time next year, TPS could have zero elementary and zero middle schools on the list,” Zolkoski said, adding that high schools on the list will benefit from the $12 million magnet programs that started this school year.
TPS’ current high school students were in 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades when No Child Left Behind became law. The first 3rd graders to be tested under NCLB are now in middle school. The latest published data shows 78 percent of those middle school students scored satisfactory or advanced in reading; 83 percent in mathematics. When they were 3rd graders, only about 45 percent of them scored satisfactory or advanced in reading; 44 percent were satisfactory or advanced in mathematics. Today, 85 percent of TPS’ 3rd graders make the grade in reading; 75 percent make it in mathematics.
TPS schools that remain on Oklahoma’s School Improvement List include: Jackson Elementary*, Wilson Middle*, Gilcrease Middle*, Webster High, Central High, East Central High, McLain High*, Hale High, Rogers High, Hamilton Middle*, Madison Middle*.
* Indicates school made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Schools that make AYP two consecutive years are removed from the School Improvement List.
