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Part I: Elements of Innovative Pathways to School Leadership
The six innovative programs in this study evolved in response to school districts' frustration in finding and keeping adequate numbers of well-prepared school principals who are willing and able to lead challenging schools to high performance. In each case, the founders of these "grow-your-own" programs determined that existing ways of attracting and preparing principals for these jobs were falling short of what was needed in their particular context.
These pioneering programs seek to recruit successful and experienced leaders from both within and without public education and prepare them to be ready to succeed as leaders in challenging public school settings. To do so, each program has started with a clear vision of the kinds of leaders needed to meet the needs of its constituent districts and regions. In addition, each has developed rigorous recruiting and candidate selection criteria, a meaningful and relevant program of coursework and fieldwork, and processes for building and sustaining the program over time.
Guiding Vision of Powerful School Leadership
Driving the development of each program was a compelling belief in the importance of highly committed and high-performing school leaders—individuals who were prepared to successfully mobilize the necessary knowledge, skills, resources, and energy to challenge and overcome institutionalized barriers to student achievement and to generate conditions in which all students achieve successful outcomes. Each of the six programs began with a clear and highly focused vision of the kinds of leaders needed within its specific context, and each continues to relentlessly pursue that vision through its program structure and design.
The vision of Kentucky's Principals Excellence Program (PEP), which serves rural districts, exemplifies the deliberation that characterizes each program: "The Principals Excellence Program will transform the principalship in underserved rural school districts from school management to visionary instructional leadership that assures high-quality learning for all rural students." That vision permeates all facets of PEP's program and is the basis for decisions about program design and refinement. Eight program objectives define PEP's path to achieve the vision.
Focusing the Program: What Makes a Great Principal?
Extensive research over the last two decades has contributed to our understanding of what it takes to be—and to develop—an effective principal.8 Analysis of these data yields a clear picture of what effective principals do, what they know, what they believe about student learning, how they interact with teachers, and how they reach out to parents and the broader community. The most significant and instructive finding emerging from the research is this: Leadership matters—a lot. Simply stated, it takes an effective principal to make a successful school. When leaders mobilize action by declaring a focus on learning and then lead from a set of fundamental values and beliefs about learning and about students' ability to achieve, their schools are more likely to identify, set, and achieve ambitious goals for student learning.
While it's clear that good school leaders share common characteristics, it's equally clear that effective leaders are deeply attuned and responsive to the environment in which they operate. It makes sense that productive community outreach and parental engagement are likely to look very different in the hills and hollows of rural Kentucky than in the densely packed urban neighborhoods of Boston, Chicago, or New York City.
Similarly, successful instructional leadership and teacher development may require a different approach in a high-turnover district where a significant percentage of teachers each year are new to the profession as compared to a district with large numbers of veteran educators and an active mentoring program. So while all six sites highlighted in this guide have grounded their program development and goals in the significant body of research about effective school leadership, each has interpreted that research against the backdrop of the districts it serves. The aim is to prepare the next generation of leaders to be able to step in and do well by any school but, most of all, to be effective in each program's constituent district or districts, able to engage with the district's vision of school improvement, and ready to undertake the hard work required to realize it. Operating on the belief that "great principals lead great schools," the New Leaders for New Schools program defines a great principal as one who coaches and inspires teachers to reach and teach every child and collaborates with students' parents, families, and communities to make schools work. The program boldly aspires to transform American education by creating a critical mass of such principals in urban school districts.
The Boston Principal Fellowship Program (BPF) evolved from the district's ambitious whole-school reform initiative and its superintendent's conviction that school leadership is the single most important factor in each school's success. In support of that conviction, he allocated district funds and other resources to create an internal leadership development program to enhance the skills of the district's current principals, preparing them to carry out their critical role in Boston's whole-school reform plans. The superintendent also launched a "grow-your-own" preparation program—Boston Principal Fellowship Program (BPF)—that immerses participants in the daily work of effective principals and then places them in some of the city's neediest schools. The program's driving vision is that principals are "instructional leaders who effectively improve the teaching and learning process in their schools." (See figure 3 for Boston's competencies of effective principals.)
Figure 3. Boston Principal Fellowship's Competencies of Effective Principals
|Boston School Leadership Institute
Competencies of Effective Principals
Effective Principals:
Moving Forward in a Focused Direction
New Jersey's EXCEL (Expedited Certification for Educational Leadership) program intends to prepare its candidates to be "visionary leaders with the knowledge, skills, dispositions, and readiness for them to be effective agents of change and improvement and effective instructional leaders who actively advocate for and guide the achievement of high academic standards by all students."
The concept of the principal as a "change agent" also guides the First Ring Leadership Academy in Cleveland, which defines an effective principal as "a change agent able to lead a school community to improve instruction so that all students in First Ring schools achieve at high levels." Similarly, Chicago's LAUNCH identifies a highly qualified principal as one who is "ready to lead the school to high achievement by continuously improving teaching and learning so that every child realizes his or her educational potential." Each of these programs delineates—in a set of standards—the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors one needs to grow into the role of instructional leader, and then structures selection criteria, curricula, an apprenticeship, and performance measures around those standards.
A Powerful, Guiding Vision:
The critical importance of the program vision in these six programs is illustrated in the many significant ways their visions have provided a clear focus and sense of purpose for them. LAUNCH incorporates its vision and focus into a standards-based assessment program. Twenty-four indicators of effective leadership serve as the foundation for both its instructional program and its formative assessment of candidates' leadership competencies.
Invest in Being Selective
All six programs offer an accelerated pathway to becoming a principal. While the programs differ from one another in design and structure, they share such characteristics as a rigorous curriculum, demanding fieldbased projects, and an expedited timeline. All of the featured sites agree that their programs do not have the luxury of time to shape a candidate's belief system about student learning or to develop foundational leadership skills. Candidates must come with these qualities fully developed. In short, they need to be able to hit the ground running. Furthermore, each program invests substantially in its candidates. (Figure 1 details the cost per participant in each program.) Ensuring a good return on that investment is a high priority.
All programs strongly emphasize that they are not remedial; instead, they aim to transform individuals with a proven track record of leadership into school principals who can effectively promote great instruction and learning in their schools. They say the secret to their success is not so much the specifics of their instructional program—important as that effort is—as it is to enroll the right candidates.
Each program deliberately screens and selects participants who are already equipped with the appropriate experiences and dispositions to become powerful principals. And each provides those participants with an accelerated program whose every element powerfully radiates from its vision.
Each of the six programs defines the ideal candidate slightly differently, but the personal traits and leadership competencies sought are similar in all. The programs seek people with a passionate and demonstrated commitment to academic improvement for every student, a genuine belief that all children are intelligent and will learn and make progress, given the right circumstances. They want self-aware individuals who understand great teaching and learning, are creative problem solvers, and have strong communication and collaboration skills. To that end, each program starts with a comprehensive screening process based on program-specific criteria that reflect its guiding vision of powerful school leadership. (See figure 4 for an example of screening criteria from New Leaders.)
All programs require at least a bachelor's degree; in New Jersey and Chicago, candidates must have a master's degree. All require professional experience, including some teaching, although Boston accepts those with a youth development background. In some instances, programs are designed specifically to develop new principals; others also look to further develop individuals who are already working as principals or assistant principals.
Beyond such basic requirements, the programs also look at more qualitative factors. Boston, for example, asks candidates to articulate their personal theories of leadership. New Leaders seeks people with an unrelenting commitment to ensuring that every child achieves at high levels. Its selection criteria (see figure 4) are based on its vision of effective school leadership that consists of high expectations and respect for every child, instructional leadership, school-family-community partnerships, data-driven decisions, collaboration and distributed leadership. The PEP screens its candidates for a strong knowledge of instruction, curriculum, and assessment, along with an understanding of Kentucky's statewide reform program. PEP looks for a commitment to improving rural schooling conditions and an appreciation of Kentucky's rural culture; it also screens for a belief in the capacity of every student to achieve Kentucky's academic standards.
The starting place for attracting good candidates, as well as for dissuading those not qualified, is the recruitment process. Program directors spoke of beginning a year ahead of their start dates to publicize and promote the opportunity. Chicago's LAUNCH, for example, issued 3,200 brochures in November 2003 to spread the word to prospective 2004 participants about what the program is, who might qualify for admission, and where the application could be found online. New Jersey's EXCEL relies largely on word-of-mouth generated by its graduates, but also recruits via the publications of its parent organization, a statewide principals and supervisors association.
Tested Recruiting Strategies:
FIGURE 4. New Leaders for New Schools Candidate Selection Criteria
|New Leaders for New Schools Selection Criteria (listed alphabetically)
New Leaders for New Schools targets its marketing and recruitment in hopes of attracting not just those currently working in a school system, but also those who have led community organizations, nonprofits, and youth development programs. It utilizes an executive search-style approach of creating local, regional, and national networks. As a result, more than half of the new leaders are considered "nontraditional" in that they were from outside the public school systems with which New Leaders works, although all participants have strong K-12 experience. For its first 150 fellowships, New Leaders received over 2,600 applications representing a selection rate of 6 percent.
Several programs, such as LAUNCH and PEP, seek nominations from school or district administrators. In Cleveland, participants are handpicked by participating superintendents based on their perceived potential as schools leaders or, in the case of assistant principals or officially designated teacher-leaders, their actual performance. Program staff report that this recruitment approach has the added bonus of sending a message that the districts value the capacity development of their own staff.
The Screening Process
Each program has structured a clearly defined and multiphased process for screening applicants. The first phase may be the application itself, designed in some cases to help ensure that candidates self-select based on rigorous criteria. Succeeding phases involve interviews and, in some programs, performance assessments.
In New Leaders, the application is a weeding tool. It defines criteria (e.g., skills in project management, communication, listening, relationship-building) and requires would-be candidates to answer 14 complex questions designed to reveal how well their backgrounds, experiences, and personal qualities meet the criteria. Similarly, Chicago and Boston applicants receive prompting questions for which they must develop essay responses that are scored by program teams.
An Effective Selection Process:
In most programs, the screening process is followed by an interview phase. The most intensive and elaborate of these is New Leaders. The roughly 50 percent of applicants who make it through the first screening must then participate in a second screening that includes an hour-long interview with two staff members and requires applicants to produce a written analysis of a case study. About half of the applicants are successful. These individuals then go on to a full-day interview with staff and program mentors, which includes role-playing and the evaluation of a simulated classroom lesson.
In Boston, teams of principals, teacher-leaders, district administrators, and higher education faculty interview candidates, who are also rated on a performance assessment in which they are asked to conduct a teacher observation and assessment at a designated school. Chicago uses a similar panel approach (theirs consists of principals, administrators, and staff from Northwestern University) for interviewing the 30 percent of candidates who make it past the initial application screening. New Jersey's screening requires candidates to formally present a professional portfolio, complete a writing sample that includes a statement of their educational philosophy and personal vision for school leadership, and respond to problem-based scenarios.
Design a Meaningful, Relevant Program
For all these programs, six key elements help to ensure an experience that is meaningful for candidates and relevant to the needs of their students and schools: 1) knowledgeable, committed leadership within a partnership structure; 2) a standards-based curriculum incorporating clear performance indicators; 3) instructional design based on adult learning theory; 4) an intensive, focused induction; 5) a supportive cohort structure; and 6) a school-based practicum, involving expert mentors.
Create a Partnership Structure
All of the programs studied operate as partnerships between a school district or multiple school jurisdictions and other entities, notably universities and foundations. Such partnerships often support the initial costs of program staffing, design, and development, and they contribute to the program's long-term sustainability.
Cleveland's First Ring Leadership Academy, for example, is led by a collaboration of the 13 school districts that encircle the city. Their superintendents, working in partnership with Cleveland State University, launched the academy in response to the critical shortage and high turnover of qualified principals in their districts. Figure 5 is the interview guide that academy staff used to identify the superintendents' program priorities. Each superintendent commits to identifying two or more promising leaders for each academy cohort and supporting them through the academy, then sharing the pool of academy graduates across First Ring districts to fill principal vacancies. The university is committed to customizing the program for participants and making personalized services and resources available to them so that they have every opportunity to become effective school leaders.
The New Leaders national team is a diverse mix of social entrepreneurs and leaders from education, business, and public policy. They staff a program that operates as a partnership of five metropolitan school districts—in New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Memphis, and the San Francisco Bay Area—and several of the nation's leading venture philanthropists. Further support comes in the form of strategic consultancy from the Monitor Group, a leading strategy firm, and pro bono legal assistance from Kirkland and Ellis, a major New York City law firm. New Leaders provides the framework for public and private sector leaders to join together and commit time and resources to transforming public school leadership.
FIGURE 5. Interview Guide to Identify First Ring Superintendents' Priorities
Creating the First Ring Leadership Academy
|Asking the Right Questions - First Ring Superintendent Interviews
|Mission and Purpose
|Content and Design
|Morin 1/25/04
Boston's and Chicago's district-based programs also benefit from partnerships. Boston's operates as a collaboration of the Boston Public Schools and the University of Massachusetts. Chicago's LAUNCH is operated by the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association in collaboration with Chicago Public Schools and Northwestern University. NJ EXCEL partners with the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association and the Association's Foundation for Educational Administration. Kentucky's PEP is a dynamic partnership between the Pike County School District, a deeply rural Appalachian community, and the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
Develop a Standards-Based Curriculum
Across all six programs, standards guide the structure and sequence of the leadership curriculum and establish indicators of effective practice. In each case the curriculum derives from local- or state-adopted performance-based standards, such as the New Jersey Professional Standards for School Leaders. All of them delineate what school leaders need to know and be able to do at various points in their careers, and all of them draw from the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Standards developed by the Council of Chief State School Officers in 1996.9
In each case, overarching leadership standards are integrated with the specific kinds of knowledge and skills the particular program was founded to develop. Boston, for example, focuses on effective practices as defined by Boston's six Essentials of Whole School Improvement (see figure 6), which emphasize principals' need to deeply understand instruction and organize the entire school enterprise to improve student learning. Likewise, New Leaders focuses on 12 essential competencies that reflect research on the practices of urban school principals who have successfully turned around low-performing schools. Chicago's program is guided by the seven leadership proficiencies in that district's educational improvement plan.
The First Ring Leadership Academy (FRLA) in Cleveland developed its curriculum by identifying and prioritizing the recurring and challenging issues and concerns that the next generation of leaders will encounter in the schools FRLA serves. From a priority-setting process that used a focus group consisting of a cross section of district and community leaders, five persistent leadership challenges emerged as critical: increasing student diversity; parent and community involvement; communication; legislati on and politics; and the need to balance priorities. FRLA then cross-checked these five themes with the ISLLC standards to ensure that they were embedded in all learning experiences. The end result is a curriculum scope that integrates FRLA contextual issues with the ISLLC standards and indicators.
FIGURE 6. Boston Public Schools' Essentials of Whole School Improvement
Six Essentials of Whole School Improvement
Essential 1: Effective instructional practice and a collaborative school climate lead to improved student learning.
Essential 2: Student work and data drive instruction and professional development.
Essential 3: Investments in professional development improve instruction.
Essential 4: Shared leadership sustains instructional improvement.
Essential 5: Resource use supports instructional improvement and improved student learning.
Essential 6: Schools partner with families and community to support student learning.
Base the Instructional Design on Adult Learning Theory
The structure and focus of the instructional part of each program varies, but each involves a combination of coursework and fieldwork, and each is organized around a cohort and small groups. This approach is in keeping with adult learning theory, which holds that significant learning results from experiences that allow adults to: 1) engage with meaningful content; 2) socially process the information; and 3) construct their own meaning through a self-regulated process.
Begin With an Intensive and Highly Focused Induction Experience
Most of the programs initiate candidates with a rigorous induction experience designed to help participants develop a strong conceptual framework for understanding—and later applying—a deep knowledge of the leadership theory that drives the program. Whether it is a summer residency or an accelerated course sequence, these experiences demand an intense commitment, leading candidates to describe them variously as a "drop-everything-else dedication" and "the most challenging and powerful learning experience I've ever had." They serve multiple purposes, including testing a participant's commitment and drive to take on the challenging role of being a fully invested and effective school leader and arming candidates with the conceptual knowledge and informational resources that they will need on the job. In effect, these induction experiences serve as a final screening. Participants who cannot or do not want to make such a commitment opt out.
The New Leaders program, which aims to equip participants to be catalysts of urban change, starts with a six-week summer institute at the Wharton School of Management in Philadelphia where the group focuses on developing instructional, transformational, and operational leadership skills. At this early stage, bonding and network-building are valuable natural outcomes. Chicago holds a five-week summer leadership academy at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management, emphasizing instructional leadership. Skills are built around the school district's principal leadership competencies, including creating a studentcentered climate, improving teaching and learning, and increasing parent involvement and community partnerships. During this beginning phase, the fellows in the program have opportunities to build an "urban network" that offers networking connections for fellows throughout their careers.
NJ EXCEL initiates candidates during a demanding twoweek summer residency. This expedited learning experience introduces candidates to the rigorous theory- and research-based curriculum and the action-research projects they will be expected to complete. At this point, candidates also begin to assess their knowledge and skills against specific standards and criteria.
Develop a Supportive Cohort Structure
All programs use a cohort group structure and all report that participants find cohort interactions to be the most valuable element of the program. Cohorts allow participants to proceed through the program with the safety and support of a learning community. Members of the cohort construct meaning and make sense of new contexts by comparing experiences, and they generalize theories of action by sharing individual successes and failures. In short, over the course of their time together, they adopt new identities, in essence "becoming" principals. Together, they evolve from teacher or other professional into an accountable educational leader who knows how to manage a school and improve teaching and learning. Far from disbanding at program completion, the cohort tends to be an ongoing source of support as people progress in their careers.
In the Principals Excellence Program, the cohort of approximately 15 is a uniquely defined community of learners that remains intact throughout the entire program year. Early and ongoing community-building strategies help to create a sense that the cohort is a safe haven for problem solving and brainstorming. Boston's fellows report that this kind of ongoing interaction led them to recognize the expertise of their colleagues and allowed them to benchmark their own progress with that of other cohort members.
Cleveland's program puts a premium on developing trust and reliance among cohort members as a means of creating a strong network of new leadership within the 13 First Ring school districts. The expectation is that cohort members will sustain and support each other as they begin and continue through their careers as school principals, directors, and superintendents.
New Jersey's cohort structure develops collegiality, collaboration, and peer support as candidates engage in a range of program activities. All candidates participate in regional inquiry groups, which meet regularly and continually communicate online to discuss readings, problem-based activities, and day-to-day challenges. Members of each regional inquiry group also support one another with peer reviews and feedback related to action research and school-based projects. Each group works with an "e-mentor" who facilitates the group's activities and serves as its primary advisor. (See figure 7 for a description of e-mentor responsibilities.)
FIGURE 7. NJ EXCEL e-Mentor Responsibilities
e-MENTOR RESPONSIBILITIES
|Coordinating and Guiding Inquiry Group Meetings
and Other Ongoing Activities
|Providing Individual and Group Guidance, Support,
and a Collegial Environment
|Candidate Assessment and Recordkeeping
|Participation in Other NJ EXCEL Activities
|(Revised February 2004)
Include a School-Based Practicum With Expert Mentors
Participants in all six programs identified their fieldwork—a school-based internship, or residency—as second only to cohort interactions in effectiveness in engendering powerful professional learning. In most of the programs, participants are paired with mentor principals—professional experts committed to sharing successful practices and supporting the development of effective new principals. These programs use specific practices for identifying and selecting mentors. Several have published guidelines for mentoring and require mentor training that is focused on key instructional components, expectations, and program beliefs and value systems.
In Boston, the residency is the primary framework for learning. Each fellow has a paid, yearlong residency, four days a week, with one of Boston's most effective principals. As with all of these programs, Boston puts forth great effort into ensuring that theory and practice are integrated. Therefore, a course on learning theory, for example, is coupled with classroom observations of students and teachers during the residency. These observations are guided by the mentor principal to hone the fellows' skills in understanding students' learning processes and the instructional strategies of effective teachers. As one former fellow said, "The school was my classroom, and my teacher was my mentor principal. He identified what I needed to know by having me do the real work, and then he gave me feedback." That kind of mentoring helps the fellows construct meaning from the theory they are learning in their 70 days of coursework.
Since the fellow-mentor relationship is the linch-pin of the program, great care is taken to identify excellent mentors based on demonstrated leadership and mentoring skills, their schools' success in implementing the six Essentials of Whole School Improvement, and raising student achievement. Equal care is then taken in matching a fellow to a mentor.
Chicago's fellows begin a yearlong paid internship (again, with exemplary mentor principals) that includes both an elementary and secondary experience. Mentor principals are selected through an application and screening process. They are required to attend a half-day session at the summer leadership academy as well as seminars on coaching and feed back. Fellows and mentors sign a contract for each site experience—one elementary and one secondary—that explains each person's role in working to develop the fellow's skill in Chicago's principal leadership competencies. (See figure 8 for the mentor contract.)
New Leaders residents enter into a formal yearlong, full-time relationship with a successful mentor principal who shares his or her knowledge and experience and creates opportunities for the resident to take the lead in multiple aspects of the urban principal's role. The most direct support, however, is provided by a specially trained leadership coach who visits each resident and mentor at least once a week. Working with no more than 10 residents, coaches help structure the re sident-mentor relationship, as well as assist residents in integrating theory from course work into their day-to-day leadership challenges. Coaches are recruited from a pool of outstanding, retired urban principals, and they undergo their own training as a cadre in addition to attending the residents' summer coursework and seminars.
FIGURE 8. Principals Excellence Program Self-Assessment
Build and Sustain Over Time
Each program studied conducts ongoing evaluations on several levels, using evaluation findings to continuously improve program performance and outcomes in ways that will help to sustain the program over time. The progress of each participant is tracked for both formative and summative purposes. Systematic monitoring of overall program effectiveness yields data used to guide program improvements.
Assessing Candidate Performance
The intent of candidate assessment in the six programs is to prepare candidates for success as principals in challenging schools. Indeed, each sees assessment as a learning tool. Rather than casting blame when assessment identifies the need for improvement, this system of intelligent accountability rewards learning and continued effort. The programs also recognize the need for public accountability, using assessment to verify and validate candidates' competency and readiness to take charge in a real school with the education of real students at stake.
In addition to serving as the foundation of each program's curriculum, the Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Standards provide a framework for assessing candidates' performance and are the gauge by which candidates and program staff alike assess a candidate's professional growth over time. Each program has contextualized the ISLLC standards and aligned them with program performance goals. For example, NJ EXCEL's School Leader Standards Framework includes the six ISLLC standards and adds a seventh for technological leadership, a key program goal aligned with Technology Standards for School Administrators. NJ EXCEL inducts candidates into its program by developing their understanding of the standards-based requirements, expectations, and performance criteria against which their success in the program is measured. At the start of their program experience, candidates assess themselves against the program's standardsbased performance indicators. EXCEL then uses data from those assessments to guide instructional, mentoring, and coaching efforts. It also publishes for each cohort group a summary of program requirements, the timeframe for completing the requirements, a description of the assessments, and an indication of who will assess their performance. To prepare candidates for success, EXCEL provides them with exemplars of the types of work products and performances that have been judged as meeting the standards and have contributed to effective leadership on the job.
A Successful School Leadership Program:
Chicago's LAUNCH program aspires to develop leaders capable of transforming ineffective schools into organizations that work for all students. LAUNCH has translated the ISLLC standards into its own Principal Competencies, which form the foundation of the program's standardsbased curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
Its five standards and 24 performance indicators represent the goals that successful LAUNCH candidates will achieve. To facilitate their success, the program provides candidates with an assessment tool that they are expected to monitor throughout their program experience. To this end, LAUNCH has created a clear and focused assessment guide with a structure that lays out its standards and performance indicators in a page-by-page format. Each page presents one of the five standards with its related performance indicators, a description of the indicators at their highest level of performance, a list of competency-based learning opportunities, and a four-stage rubric that describes four developmental stages of competency (rudimentary, emerging, competent, and transformative).
That assessment guide enables candidates to continuously assess their progress, and it provides a focus for coaching and mentoring. Candidates use the feedback information to develop their own professional growth plan, and then use that plan as a tool for setting developmental goals. They document their work in a professional portfolio that is assessed by LAUNCH staff members, coaches, mentors, and others, using a rubric with which candidates have been familiarized.
Other programs follow a similar process. In Boston, fellows begin the program by completing a self-assessment on the district's 11 competencies of effective principals. Based on this assessment, the fellows work with their mentors and program staff to develop a personal learning contract that provides a map for their first four months. At the end of that period, both fellow and mentor review the contract, benchmark progress made toward its goals, and revise or set new goals for the balance of the program.
When participants begin Kentucky's PEP, they complete a comprehensive six-part survey that enables them to establish baseline data about their leadership skills. It also asks them to develop their own vision of the kind of leader they want to be. (Figure 9 displays one page of the 10-page survey.) The completed survey serves as a self-assessment and goal-setting tool that participants can use throughout their PEP experience to monitor their leadership development.
Every program maintains a rigorous academic gauge of candidate performance and publishes a grading or rubric system that is used for assessing the quality of candidates' coursework assignments, projects, and other work products. Most programs use a portfolio system as a cumulative file of projects, products, assessments, and observation records that document and verify candidates' professional growth and their readiness to successfully assume the role of leader in a difficult school.
The most telling data about a program's performance are those that portray its ability to reach its goals. In the case of school leadership preparation programs, data about the performance of graduates in leadership roles will provide a lens for assessing program effectiveness. Most of the programs in this study are not far enough along in their development to use this lens. Nonetheless, Chicago's LAUNCH program, which initiated its first cohort in 1998, is taking a courageous look at student performance on standardized tests in the schools where its graduates are serving as principals. LAUNCH has compiled five-year profiles of these schools to track student performance on the district's mandated standardized tests from 1999 through 2003. Each year these schools have made an average gain, with the highest gains in math. By tracking their graduates using school performance data, LAUNCH intends to investigate the relationship between its school leadership preparation program and improvements in student learning.
In Chicago, a public education fund has supported several external evaluations of LAUNCH's progress and outcomes relative to its goals. Findings indicate that LAUNCH principals perform more like veteran principals than their non-LAUNCH counterparts. Indeed, their leadership actions demonstrate that they understand the complexities of the principal's role and are able to guide instructional improvement from the outset of their principalship. In addition, findings show that LAUNCH has been able to recruit and place Latino principals, who traditionally have been underrepresented in Chicago public schools and that LAUNCH graduates appear to be more active than either other new leaders or veteran principals in obtaining professional development for themselves and their faculties.
Every program in the study relies on many partners and multiple measures to help evaluate and continuously improve itself. Feedback from candidates and mentors, as well as candidates' progress-as evidenced by their portfolios, for example-help gauge program and faculty effectiveness and guide mid-course and annual improvements. The First Ring Leadership Academy (FRLA) in Cleveland and PEP in Pike County use "barometer" surveys and focus groups to help identify perceptions about program responsiveness and effectiveness.
FRLA is also partnering with the Batelle Memorial Institute, a third-party evaluator, to establish a program evaluation protocol that will be used to collect field data about FRLA's graduates working in new leadership positions. The protocol process will collect observational and interview data that FRLA staff plan to use to identify program-wide strengths and weaknesses. Batelle evaluators will also use data collected by Academy staff, conduct surveys and observations, and establish a control group of non-participating first-year principals for comparison purposes.
In keeping with its core philosophy, New Leaders puts a major emphasis on using data analysis to determine program effectiveness. Data on candidate success, for example-during and after the program-provide feedback on the selection process. The program also tracks candidate placement rates and monitors student achievement results over time in schools led by program graduates. New Leaders' strategy of ongoing assessment ensures the development of outstanding principals, while also creating key learning to continuously improve the program model and to share with the field.
New Jersey EXCEL annually evaluates its program design and effectiveness against six program standards and related performance rubrics that are aligned with national accreditation standards for universities (see figure 10). The evaluation data are used to make formative adjustments in the program and they feed in to EXCEL's five-year evaluation plan that will report the program's long-term effectiveness.
FIGURE 10. NJ EXCEL Program Standards and Performance Rubric (page 1 of 2)
|Program Evaluation Design and Standards
|NJ EXCEL's Program Evaluation Design and Standards are aligned with the program accreditation process and standards utilized by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the National Policy Board for Educational Administration (NPBEA) to ensure that NJ EXCEL's program effectiveness will be measured according to professional expectations for high quality leadership preparation. Six (6) Program Standards are applied to the NJ EXCEL Program. Program Standards #1 and #2 focus on candidate performance outcomes, and Program Standards #3 through #6 address the components of a coherent program that supports candidate learning and performance. Together, the six Program Standards are designed to present strong evidence about the coherence, effectiveness, and results of the NJ EXCEL Program. A description of data sources for Program Standards 1, 3, 4 and 5 is attached. Program Evaluation Rubrics are designed to delineate the elements of each standard and describe three levels of program effectiveness for each element (Unacceptable, Acceptable, Target).
|Program Standard #1
Candidate Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions (for New School Leaders)
Candidates know and demonstrate the professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to function as school leaders who have the ability to effectively create an environment that supports student learning and guide instruction that results in high achievement for all students. Assessments indicate that candidates meet performance standards aligned with NJ Standards for School Leaders and ISLLC national school leader standards and Technology Standards for School Administrators(TSSA).
|Program Evaluation Rubrics:
Candidate Knowledge and Skills (including Technology)
Candidate Dispositions and Ethical Behavior (including Diversity)
Candidate Application to Practice: Performance
|Program Standard #2
Assessment System and Program Evaluation
The program's assessment system collects and analyzes data on applicant qualifications, candidate and graduate performance, and program implementation to evaluate and continually improve the program.
|Program Evaluation Rubrics:
Assessment System
Data Collection, Analysis, & Evaluation
Use of Data for Program Improvement
|(Rev. March 2004 Manual Section 1)
All of the programs have demonstrated a culture of continuous improvement and professional excellence. Each defines success differently, but all show relentless energy in striving to achieve it.
The six leadership preparation programs in this study are distinct strategic responses to one underlying crisis: the pervasive need to identify, recruit, prepare, and place high-quality principals in our nation's schools. While this crisis is most acutely experienced in challenging urban and rural areas, the problem of an insufficient applicant pool or pipeline of effective school principals is spreading into every region of the United States. Without more innovative pathways to leadership certification, the problem is likely to worsen with 40 percent of current school principals eligible for retirement in the very near future.10
Common Features Across the Six Innovative Programs:
Simultaneously, across the country, elected officials, policymakers, parents, and educators themselves are pressing schools for higher returns on the public investment. This press for improvement reflects discontent with the results our schools are yielding and our understanding that, as a society, we are not yet meeting our responsibility for ensuring that every child achieves academic success. A growing body of research suggests that we will only be able to do that when we improve the ability of principals to skillfully remove barriers to learning and put in place conditions for academic success.11
Each program had a unique creative approach that enabled it to move beyond traditional structures. Every program started with a profound belief that what currently existed was insufficient for meeting the urgent need. An ability to work both with and around existing structures, leaving them intact and building relationships with them, allowed the innovative new programs to gain some footing, then some traction, and, ultimately, make sure-footed progress.


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i heard the nba wants to exapnd internationally.. is the 1st team going to be in Palestine ??
Read what Peter Vescey and others have to say: "David Stern wilted...had Isiah in his croos hairs", etc.
Mardy Collins committed a hard but not dirty foul, not a heinous act. Nothing Charles Oakley, Alonzo Mourning, Bill Lambeer or Ed Pinckney did not regularly do.
But the right-wing sports pundits have still not forgiven Isiah for dethroning the Bird era Celtics. They still deny Spike Lee's right to be a prominent basketball fan, just as they deny the right of Palestine to exist as a viable state, and slander Hugo Chavez as a tin-pot dictator when the reality is that a majority of the still-functioning private Venezuela press supported the 2002 coup, as did most of the opposition candidates in the 2006 election (some dictator!!).
Knick fans need to wake up to the subtext of the press hostility to the bonding of the Knicks into a real team. This team still has a long way to go, but not so much on the raw talent road, as on the bonding, on learning how to play together, smarter, more effectively, correcting fundamentals, etc.
Keep this core together and they will get better. Compare the reaction of the press, for example, to the Celtics, who threw away Chauncey Billups and Joe Johnson to keep Antoine Walker - oh but those were white executives. The Knick debacle is about Dolan and Layden, not Isiah.
Has every move Isiah made worked out? No. So what? Some moves work, some don't. At least he had the courage to revamp the team he inherited.
David Lee for example is a still very young player (not even a regular starter yet) who ranks 25th in the league in ESPN's PER statistic. That ranks him as an unheralded superstar by objective standards. And Isiah found him at the 30 spot (in the draft).
i heard the nba wants to exapnd internationally.. is the 1st team going to be in Palestine ??
do you really wana open this can of worms buddy?? Lets stop this thread before it gets Ugly
Too late! Hahaha. Well you have a point i suppose but you kind of went off on a tangent. I would have focused more on the Bird vs Thomas thing. But Starks is right. This is a real nasty can of worms. Although your point about the hard fowl was right on point.
what am i missing here???. i read vesey's column.. where is it ' Racist '.
can someone explain what am i missing..
And if you cannot translate that world view to the analysis of basketball then the concept of metaphor represented in the works of Thomas Pynchon is quite simply beyond you.
How's that for a "can of worms"?
I want a Reckoning that makes the Russian and French Revolutions look like Mary Poppins.
So an NBA brawl hardly shocks or scares me.
What steve francis said hit the nail right on the head. Baseball players have brawls and hockey has fights every day but the NBA has it's first fight this year and it's on every national network in the U.S. Only question I have to ask is why?
Yikes, I'm gona stay away from Huey P. Newton here. (look him up)
And I'm a fan of Fidel Castro to. (My grandad fought for him during the revoloution)
I think you have the wrong site bro, we are all just Knick fans here. Some of us ANGRY, some positive... but no one wants to talk about sociology on a basketball forum (isnt' school over anyway? lol)
All I'll say on race is this. Read John Entite's book called Taboo. And then ask yourself, "If I had a chance to get paid millions of dollars to be an athlete, but might get a slight unfavorable image from the press because of a particular appearance, would I still want in?" Answer: Where Do I Sign? It beats getting the same, if not worse, treatment for my appearance at Burger King
Huey P Newton: Co-Founder and Leader of the Black Panthers. Your welcome everyone, I just saved you all a google. I've read the The original vision of the Black Panther Party. It's an interesting read.
Back to the Topic:
I was happy that I didn't state this first, I do however believe this to be the case. Ultimately someone going to say stop playing the race card. To which I'm relpying in advance: The race card will stop being played when all races don't have have to worry about racial discrimination. Francis is right. That's what I've surmised for the longest time. That's probably why so many people want Isiah to fail. To some, it bothers them that IT is at the top pf such a prominent and storied franchise. The fire Layden chants came well after he traded Ewing for a hill of beans, traded argueably the Knicks best guard at the time in Latrell Sprewell, fired Van Gundy, signed Shandon Anderson to a near 50 mil contract, and essentially destroyed the franchise. IT on the has already got us into the playoffs with what most would agree was a below average roster, yet most folks here still scream for his head. Look inside and ask yourself, what your motivation? As poster nixon7 said it best, Isiah at least has the stones to try something. Too bad no one wants to allow things to develop. Sometimes, I wonder to myself, why?
Starks I heard you on the Basketball or Burger King thing, and I agree. The unfortunate thing is that that is a choice human beings are still faced with in 21 century. What everyone needs to understand is that there is frustration when one feels disenfranchised. Hence the riots in Watts '68 and Los Angeles '92. Jim Crow still exists in 2006.
Last edited by dr.carpy; Dec 20, 2006 at 02:36.
I think that you might want to think before posting, I look at Spike lee the same way that I look at LA Jack, they are great fans and are at every game...
Calling everything that doesnt go your way or makes you look bad a form of racism is just plane dumb, if that is how you think then you your self are filled with racism
Weltanshaung ,Mestiza genocide ,Huey P. Newton ,John Entite
what does huey got to do with this??... isn't he a rock and roller??
I just calls them like I sees them so I am not gonna keep the "sociology and Marxism" out of my posts. But I do promise the focus (on this forum) will mostly be basketball. However, if you don't think race and class stratification are part of basketball, then I suggest you go to a game and compare the upper and lower sections of the arena.

subset: commoncrawl


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The board met in special session Wednesday evening last week.
CBC President Dr. Beatriz Espinoza proposed a rollback tax rate of $.17738 per $100 property valuation, which would garner the college almost $2.9 million — an additional $400,000.
The proposed budget, however, presented at a workshop Aug. 4, was based on last year's tax rate of $.17388.
The proposed rate is just below the state limit that would require public hearings and an election.
"I'm proposing we don't go back to the taxpayers," Dr. Espinoza said, then told the trustees one of the main reasons for asking for the higher rate was to raise salaries.
"It's the first raises they would have received in three years," she said.
Under her plan, employees making up to $25,000 a year would get a 5 percent raise; those making $25,000 to $50,000 would see a 3 percent raise; and those making more than $50,000 would receive a 2 percent raise.
Total raises would be around $225,000.
"Does that include you?" Trustee Laura Fischer asked Espinoza.
"In the category," she replied.
One-half of the tax-rate revenue would be dedicated to increasing the facility's debt service reserves.
The increase would mean a homeowner with a $100,000 home would annually pay an additional $15.75.
The board then proposed a fiscal 2015 budget of $23,632,775 based on a 100 percent tax return — although the expected return is 95 percent.
The proposed budget is broken down into:
•State funding — $6.3 million
•Operating grants — $3.4 million
•Tuition — $7.4 million
Tuition rates should remain constant throughout the year, based on an estimated enrollment of 3,500.
The estimated revenues of $23.6 million against estimated expenses of $22.6 million (with $1 million placed in reserve) prompted Fischer to praise Espinoza not only for presenting a balanced budget — a task Fischer thought improbable — but for placing $1.45 million into the depleted debt service reserve.
"You missed the goal by three-and-one-third percent," she chided. "But I didn't think you would get 50 percent! I am just blown away."
The college president quietly patted herself on the back. "I'm happy to exceed your expectations," she replied.
"Our fund balance was completely depleted," she said. "We, as a board, set a goal to replace our fund balance in two fiscal years to the tune of $1.5 million each year....My thoughts were that was a real stretch."
Making CBC financially viable — an absolute requirement if the college was to receive its re-accreditation from Southern Association of Schools and Colleges (SACS) — resulted in more than a year of stringent belt tightening and staff reductions with echoes that continue to reverberate.
Those adjustments, Fischer noted, caused "a lot of pain and agony on everyone's part, but were necessary."
She added, "We need to show our gratitude to Dr. Espinoza and her staff for setting us on the path of solvency, for without solvency, we do not have a college....I'm really still in disbelief that she actually accomplished it."
Public hearings on the budget and tax rate are at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 25 and Sept. 3; the final vote to adopt a tax rate and budget is Sept. 17.
Bill Clough is a reporter at the Bee-Picayune and can be reached at 358-2550, ext. 122, or at email@example.com.


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The Golden Temple, Harmandir Sahib, is the holiest Sikh site. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Temple .
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Tack sharp! Very "Worthy" Gigapan! Please check mine, it was taken in Beirut, Lebanon: gigapan.org/gigapans/67894/
Excellent Panorama - you can't see all this when you phisically stand there.
Excellent Panorama - I haven't been here but I have heard a lot about it - Hopefully in my next trip back home I will be able to go there


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Plastic Bags
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Domestic violence Outreach urged in wake of killings
Police and anti-domestic violence advocates in Rutland County say theyre working on strategies to prevent lethal incidents of domestic assaults like one in Pittsford last week in which a man allegedly killed his 32-year-old girlfriend.
Less than a week after Christopher Sharrow, 35, allegedly killed Kristen Parker inside the home they shared with their three young children, members of four law enforcement agencies in Rutland County along with the head of the Rutland County Womens Network and Shelter said they want to reach out to victims of domestic violence who could be in similarly life-threatening situations.
We want to get the message out so people can get help and if a neighbor, co-worker, employer or friend knows whats going on we want them to pick up the phone too, Rutland Police Chief James Baker said. This kind of thing is everyones responsibility.
The last month has witnessed a number of brutal domestic-related killings in Vermont including what police say was a murder-suicide in Peacham and the death of a Charlestown, N.H., woman who police say was killed by her estranged husband from Saxtons River.
Two of the recent domestic violence-related killings have happened in Rutland County where Parker was killed on July 5 and Aaron Allen, 28, of Hudson Falls, N.Y., was shot and killed while allegedly stabbing his ex-girlfriend in Danby on June 17.
Rutland County is also home to the states second largest domestic violence shelter which RCWNS executive director Marianne Kennedy said provides 3,000 bed nights a year to women and children seeking shelter from abusers at home.
The numbers have gone up dramatically in the last three years, Kennedy said Wednesday during a press conference in Rutland attended by members of four Rutland County law enforcement agencies.
To lower the chance of future homicides and to give victims greater access to agencies that can help them leave abusive relationships, the countys law enforcement, prosecutors, related state agencies and RCWNS are seeking a $1 million U.S. Department of Justice grant that planners want to use to start a special domestic violence task force.
Kennedy and Baker, who have been spearheading the effort, found out in March that Rutland County was one of just 12 sites in the country selected to receive about $200,000 in Justice Department funds that planners are using to study every aspect of domestic violence policing, prosecution and advocacy in the county.
Officials in Rutland County are hoping the results of that self-analysis will convince Justice Department officials to invest in a plan that Kennedy and Baker hope will serve as a template for rural communities everywhere.
The task force concept Rutland County officials hope to adopt has been used to good effect elsewhere, including in Newburyport, Mass., where members of law enforcement, domestic violence advocates, state agencies such as the Department of Corrections, and others have worked together to help victims of domestic violence leave before situations turn lethal.
Domestic violence homicides are one of the few homicides that have a history, Baker said.
The Rutland police chief and Kennedy hope to pair the task force concept with the use of a domestic violence survey already used in the city by police investigating domestic complaints. By asking 12 questions posed on the survey including questions such as Does he/she have a gun? and Do you have a child that he/she knows is not his/hers? police can determine whether a domestic violence victim is in high danger of being killed.
For those in danger, officers can contact domestic violence advocates who can help victims with the economic and logistical problems posed by leaving an abusive relationship.
The law enforcement representatives who gathered at the Rutland Police Department on Wednesday said the task force and survey concepts could eventually be used statewide to prevent domestic violence homicides but they stopped short of saying the tools could have prevented the two most recent killings in Rutland County.
Vermont State Police Maj. Edward Ledo, who was part of the investigation in Pittsford last week, said he wasnt sure the new techniques would have made a difference in the recent cases in Rutland County or the killings in Peacham, where police say a New Hampshire man killed the husband of his ex-wife before taking his own life.
But he said the outreach and educational aspects of both techniques being explored in Rutland are essential to breaking through the wall of silence that surrounds many domestic violence cases.
Abusers want to maintain control and isolate their victims from friends and family, Ledo said. When people see whats going on they need to reach out to law enforcement. In the year 2013 we as a society need to do a better job. Its about educating people that these arent just dirty little family secrets.
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I was very pleased how fast the order came... And when I came home one day, postman came to me and said "this wont fit into our postbox" so he gave it to my hand and I had no idea what it was until i opened it, I didnt expect it. I ordered Skin for my ps3. I'm living in Finland and I thought it wont come any day soon. Gonna order skin for that iPad if I win it :PKonsta Siitari, Finland


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NY, PA politicians on bin Laden
May 2, 2011 —
The news that Osama bin Laden was shot dead by a special forces team of US military personnel reverberated around the world on the evening of May 1, after President Barack Obama announced it on national television.
US authorities had been seeking to capture or kill bin Laden for years, since well before the infamous attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and the accompanying fatal incidents at the Pentagon and on a field in Somerset County, PA. Bin Laden's deeds against the country had earned him a spot on the home page of the FBI as the Most Wanted Terrorist.
Politicians in New York and Pennsylvania were quick to issue statements about the news.
Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey: "Osama bin Laden's death is heartening news and an important event for our nation and the war on terror. I commend the president, his national security team and our military forces for this successful operation … Osama bin Laden is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent lives, and his death is a testimony that America will not tolerate brutal acts of terror on its people."
Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey: "Today, U.S. forces have killed bin Laden and exacted justice for his terrible crimes which killed thousands." He added, "While today's development does not mean an end to terrorism or the need to remain relentlessly vigilant, the death of bin Laden has enormous significance in American and world history."
Congressman Tom Marino: "Let the word go forth that the elimination of this cold-blooded murderer sends a distinct message to the terrorists around the world that the United States of America will track down and eliminate those cowards who think they can create an atmosphere of horror and get away with it."
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett: "Nothing we say today can come close to matching the eloquence with which the actions of our armed forces spoke last night. Americans remember. There is no waiting them out. What happened on Sept. 11, 2001, will not be forgotten. The message remains: the injustice of terror will be answered by the justice of American response.
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: "I congratulate President Obama, our brave men and woman in uniform and our intelligence community for binging Osama bin Laden to Justice. This is a tremendous victory for the world community in the fight against Al Qaeda that it both deeply satisfying and historic. But we must remain vigilant. We can not take our eye off the ball in regards to security here at home or from emerging threats in other regions."


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since the little asian guy and the old lady quit all in one episode i'm sure they decided to pull this at some point down the road. personally, i'd rather they have done this twice than bring Raul back cuz he was an awful designer/tailor
you don't pay for all that air time and set your commercial quota only to let some quirky characters with low self esteem undercut your bottom line
it's a business and this season will have 14 episodes
… and i was just as disappointed when they announced that Dmitry was merely safe; his look was one of the strongest even if it didn't fit well with the rest of the line. i wanted to punch someone when they announced Elena as top four and Alicia as safe
those two should count their blessings
If they're going to call Chris out on his shredding technique, they need to call Ven out on his floral arrangements. He does it EVERY WEEK. It's getting so old, and that combined with the general terribleness of his personality has me rooting for him to fail in a big way. Since I work late nights at Dish, I never get to watch this show live anymore. I always have to make sure I'm caught up in time to talk about it with my sister; we've both been fans for years! Thankfully, my Hopper always records it for me, and I watch it the minute I get home every Thursday night. Next week looks like it'll handily make up for the relatively low level of drama in last night's episode. Team challenges tend to have that effect.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought Dmitry should have won. They even fooled me into thinking they were calling out the top and bottom designers since Sonjia's dress was a mess and honestly Ven's could have easily been in the top (because it's perfectly made and oh so pretty and blah blah blah) or bottom (because he's done that same flower a bajillion times, it is placed oddly on top of her boobs, and it doesn't work all that well in that fabric). Just from my perspective the top were Dmitry, Christopher, and Melissa, while Sonjia, Gunnar, and Alicia make a fine bottom 3, with Alicia taking an overdue flight home.
As for Elena, I'm just glad it didn't end up as a little black dress with gladiatorial shoulderpads. Now that I think about it, this season is kind of filled with one-trick ponies. Maybe Elena, Christopher, and Ven can get together to make a shredded chiffon shoulderpad in the shape of a flower. The judges would go wild.


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Meltdown! Comet LINEAR continues to disintegrate and could
disappear completely within a few days.
31, 2000 -- Astronomers around the world continue to monitor
the unexpected disintegration of comet
C/1999 S4 (LINEAR). Intense solar heating apparently triggered
a massive disruption of the comet's fragile icy core when it
passed close to the Sun last week. It is still bright enough
to see through small telescopes so even amateur astronomers can
watch the comet as it dissolves. If you do plan
to look, don't wait. Experts think that comet LINEAR might
disappear completely in a few days.
Above: This R-filtered image of comet LINEAR was captured on July 28, 2000, by M. Kidger at the Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope, Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma, Canary Islands. The innermost coma is elongated and rapidly fading.
The break up of a bright comet is unusual but not unprecedented. For example, comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL-9) broke up before it struck Jupiter in 1994. SL-9 was discovered after it fragmented, so there is no record of what happened as it came to pieces. With comet LINEAR, astronomers have a ringside seat for the entire show.
"We have observed a few comets in the process of breaking up -- comet West in 1976, comet Ikeya-Seki in 1965 and others -- but never with so much detail as we're seeing in comet LINEAR," says Mark Kidger, an astronomer at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. Comet LINEAR's demise seems to be a bit unusual. "Cometary splittings rarely ever lead to the rapid disappearance of a comet like this - in fact, I don't know of another case"
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"At perihelion there are very rapid aspect changes as regions of the nucleus previously in shadow are suddenly subjected to intense heating," continued Kidger. "This causes strong thermal stresses" that may have been a primary cause of LINEAR's breakup.
Something was already amiss the day before Comet LINEAR reached perihelion at a distance of 114 million km (0.74 AU) from the Sun.
"The very first images on July 25th were enough to show me that something odd was going on," recounts Kidger. "The comet's inner coma was no longer teardrop-shaped (the solar wind flowing around the comet's head causes this shape). It had a shape like a short, fat cigar. My first thought was 'Shoemaker-Levy.' It looked just like those first images of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 after it was discovered."
Kidger's images on subsequent nights confirmed that something
dramatic was happening and he announced his findings in an International
Astronomical Union (IAU) Circular (IAUC
#7467) on July 27, 2000. As news of the breakup spread, astronomers
around the world trained their telescopes on the comet. In another
IAU Circular (IAUC
# 7468) published July 28th, three teams of observers reported
that they too saw evidence of a major event in the comet's nucleus.
Left: The breakup of Comet LINEAR. Contours represent lines of constant brightness in Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope R-band images of the comet (credit: Mark Kidger). This 5-frame sequence spanning the interval from July 23rd to 27th shows the progressive elongation and disruption of the comet's core. Each contour map is 40 arcseconds on a side centered approximately on the core of the comet. (Mark Kidger notes that "the unusual aspect of the innermost contours on the July 23rd frame is because this region was so bright that it saturated completely in the images in a 5 second exposure. On subsequent nights the comet was nowhere near saturation."
Unlike comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which broke into many well-defined bright fragments, comet LINEAR seems to be dissolving into an amorphous haze of gas and dust.
"There is some similarity of appearance to the two comets," says Brian Marsden of Harvard's Minor Planet Center. "An observation by Ian Griffin in New Zealand on July 29th shows the nucleus of C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) extended into a long, bright string. However, it does not seem to show discrete nuclei in that string, as D/1993 F2 (SL-9) did."
The differences between comets SL-9 and LINEAR result from
their different sizes and distances from the Sun.
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was larger than comet LINEAR, and it broke apart as the result of tidal stresses it experienced when it passed less than 100 thousand kilometers from Jupiter (within 1.4 Jupiter radii from the planet's center). SL-9 was far from the Sun (812 million km) when it fragmented and solar heating was not the primary cause of the break up. In fact, SL-9 wasn't even orbiting the Sun. The comet had been captured by the gravitational pull of Jupiter and was orbiting the giant planet instead.
Above: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, pictured
here in a Hubble Space telescope image, was broken into many
pieces during a close encounter with the planet Jupiter in 1992.
Two years later it came so close to the planet that the fragments
actually plunged into Jupiter's atmosphere. [more
Comet LINEAR is a much smaller object that has been losing mass rapidly during its approach to the Sun. The Hubble Space Telescope recorded a house-sized fragment blowing away from the core on July 5th and powerful jets of gas vaporized by solar radiation have been pushing the comet to and fro. Solar heating is a more important factor in its breakup than gravitational effects. [more information]
"The small size of comet LINEAR and its exposure to solar radiation is causing a more complete and rapid dissolution than we saw in Shoemaker-Levy 9," continued Marsden. "The initial break-up of SL-9 was surely caused by tidal forces from Jupiter. If they had not later collided with Jupiter, several of those fragments would presumably still exist. C/1999 S4 (LINEAR), on the other hand, will probably have completely dispersed in a week or so."
Comet LINEAR may still be bright enough for amateur astronomers to view in small telescopes, but it's fading fast. On July 27th, binocular observers in South America and Europe estimated the comet's visual magnitude to be +6.6 [ref]. That's almost bright enough to see with the unaided eye from dark-sky observing sites. Two days later, an experienced amateur in the Canary Islands reported a visual magnitude of +8.3, a factor of 6 decline in brightness.
"The surface brightness of the innermost coma is fading fast," says Kidger. "This should translate to a somewhat slower fade of the outer coma [that binocular and small telescope observers see] as the gas and dust in it disperses and is not replenished. Typically a comet may take several weeks for the coma to expand and fade down to the brightness of the sky background."Â
Above: On July 23rd, the Comet LINEAR's gaseous halo was bright and centrally condensed. Since then it has steadily faded as the core disrupts into an elongated train of debris. Credit: Mark Kidger, Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope.
Many well-known annual meteor showers, including the Perseids, Leonids and Geminids, are caused by dusty debris from comets burning up in the atmosphere of Earth. Such displays are harmless and beautiful. Unfortunately for meteor lovers, the orbit of comet LINEAR comes no closer to our planet than 28 million kilometers (0.18 AU). There will be no "Linearid" meteor shower. When comet LINEAR finally disappears from view in a few days or weeks, this memorable visitor from beyond the orbit of Neptune will be gone forever.
The nucleus of a comet is an irregular
ball of ice and dust typically 1 to 10 km in diameter. When the
nucleus approaches the Sun, sunlight warms the surface and the
solid ice sublimes (turns to vapor). The resulting cloud of water
vapor and carbon dioxide surrounding the nucleus is called the
coma. Most comets come from the most distant reaches of
the solar system, far beyond the orbit of Pluto. By the time
they are as close to the Sun as the Earth, the coma can be larger
than Jupiter. Together the coma and the nucleus form the head
of the comet.
Elements of C/1999 LINEAR S4
- from the Harvard Center for Astrophysics
Daily Ephemeris for C/1999 LINEAR S4 - from the Harvard Center for Astrophysics
CometLinear.com -pictures, updates, and a discussion board for observers of comet Linear.
Comet LINEAR's Summer Show - from Sky & Telescope,
includes detailed finder charts and ephemerides.
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DS Trading: Position Update (DTO, SDS, VXX)Jun 29th, 2010 | By Rob
Positions currently held at DS Financial are SDS, DTO, and VXX. Refer to our DS Trading Ledger, a new page where you can track the results of calls we've made, to see the entry points on these three positions. As of Monday's close our positions are as follows:


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Police, FBI raid Bennington massage parlorsMay 07,2013BENNINGTON - Local police and agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided two massage parlors on Tuesday in what they said was an investigation into possible human trafficking and prostitution.
While no arrests were made on Tuesday, police said the execution of search warrants at the Green Spa on Main Street and at the Cozy Spa on North Street might lead to arrests in the future.
Police said they had been investigating the businesses for almost two years, conducting surveillance and doing interviews.
Detective Sgt. David Rowland, of the Bennington Police Department, said the FBI was involved because of the possibility that there was human trafficking taking place at the massage parlors. Rowland said he spoke with three women who he said were originally from China. While he said he confirmed one was in the United States legally, he said the status of the other two women was not as clear.
While he said he couldn't provide details, Rowland said he believed some of the material seized on Tuesday, which included business records and electronic devices, was evidence of illegal activity.MORE IN This Just InMONTPELIER A new report from a commission that studied the cost, availability and quality of... Full StoryVermont fish hatchery changes focus, looks inland
BETHEL, Vt. Full StoryHONOLULU (AP) A group of Hawaii musicians and a Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant provided... Full Story
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"Thank you for being out there. You are a source of joy, help, and hope for me."
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"Between heresy and schism there is this difference, that heresy perverts dogma, while schism, by rebellion against the bishop, separates from the Church. Nevertheless there is no schism which does not trump up a heresy to justify its departure from the Church."


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Difference between revisions of "Lawsuits against the Peace Corps"
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Pailes v. United States Peace Corps (2009)
Plaintiff alleges that he sustained an injury in March 1989 while working in Mali as a volunteer with the United States Peace Corps ("Peace Corps"). See Compl. at 3, 23. Generally, he alleges that the Peace Corps failed to provide him adequate medical treatment and subsequently inserted false information into his medical file pertaining to his diagnosis, see id. at 3, 22-23, placing his "record in false light before the public and within the agency," id. at 28, and "besmirching and impugning [his] character," id. at 27. For reasons that are not clearly articulated in the complaint, plaintiff alleges that he was "officially coercively discharged with an inaccurate medical separation." Id. at 27; see id. at 55. The false information in the medical file allegedly prevents him from securing employment, particularly employment with the federal government or a government contractor. See id. at 23-25, 72.
It appears that plaintiff brings this action against the Peace Corps under the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 794, the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. § 12111, et seq., the Federal Employment Compensation Act ("FECA"), 5 U.S.C. § 8101 et seq., the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), 5 U.S.C. § 552, the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, and the Federal Tort Claims Act ("FTCA"), 28 U.S.C. § 2671, et seq. Among other relief, plaintiff demands compensatory damages and injunctive relief. Compl. at 59, 63, 65-67.
Horowitz v. Peace Corps (2005)
After choosing to resign from his position as a Peace Corps volunteer and thereby avoid the filing of an Administrative Separation Report (ASR) detailing allegations of sexual misconduct, pro se appellant Dr. Michael Horowitz challenges the district court's order allowing the Peace Corps to withhold the draft ASR from release under Exemption 5 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Horowitz also appeals the district court's denial of his request for access to the same document under the Privacy Act. Finally, the Peace Corps appeals the denial of its attempt to protect the name of the complainant under FOIA Exemption 6.
We conclude the district court properly exempted the draft document from release under FOIA Exemption 5 and properly found the document was not part of a system of records subject to disclosure under the Privacy Act. However, we conclude FOIA Exemption 6 also applies; therefore, the name of the alleged victim is not subject to release as a segregable fact.
Jeanette M. Rebuth v. United States Peace Corps (1991)
Jeanette M. Rebuth appeals pro se the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of her former employer. She contends that the district court erred in concluding that she failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination or retaliation under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-5 (1988) (Title VII), or age discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-634 (1988) (ADEA). She also contends that the district court erred by granting summary judgment on her due process claims and her claims under the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a (1988). Finally, she asserts that the district court should have appointed her counsel and should have fully allowed her motions to compel discovery. We reject all of these contentions and we affirm.
Wood v. Ruppe (1987)
"Peace Corps policy does not prohibit private speech by its volunteers on matters of political expression, although volunteers are admonished to portray their opinions as their own, and not as representative of the Peace Corps or the U.S. Government's position. ... It is only in situations ... where there has been a direct threat to the interest of the Peace Corps, that speech is prohibited; thus, the policy is narrowly tailored to restrict speech no more than is necessary to protect a compelling government interest."


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And what was once 50 dumped tires has now grown to upwards of 20,000.
Commissioner Eloy Rodriguez asked his fellow court members Monday if there was anything they could do to get the mess cleaned up and the responsible people prosecuted or at least bought to court.
Right now the case is in the hands of District Attorney Jose Aliseda.
Commissioner Ken Haggard said, "If that means calling him every other day until it hits the docket, that it is something that has to be done."
Judge David Silva volunteered to call Aliseda but said that was all he could do.
"I can take the responsibility of talking to Mr. Aliseda as far as making him aware of the urgency of this," Silva said.
The problem
At issue is a mound of used tires in the area of Second and Third streets.
And while cleanup sounds simple, it isn't.
Commissioner Dennis DeWitt said, "Any time something sounds real easy, it turns out it is not.
"Tires are a special kind of critter."
Environmental rules state that a person cannot have more than 500 tires on one's property without a permit.
One person has volunteered to take the tires; however, because of the number, it would make it illegal for him to do so.
"He cannot without violating the law," DeWitt said. "And then we are going to violate the law if we take them.
"We are not an authorized tire transporter. If we transport those tires we violate the law again. Our hands are kind of tied with what we can and cannot do."
Health and Safety
Commissioner Carlos Salazar questioned why the county could not clean up the area under the umbrella of maintaining "health and safety" of the residents.
Neighbors in the audience on Monday told commissioners that the area is infested with rodents and tires are a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
"Under the umbrella of health and safety for our county residents, is there nothing we can do?" Salazar asked.
He said that the county could request reimbursement later from whoever is convicted of the dumping.
However, the other commissioners agreed that in this case, the county cannot clean up private property; however, they could at least schedule more frequent mosquito spraying.
How it began
Commissioner Rodriguez, in whose precinct the tires are located, said that the county was first contacted about the problem back on April 27, 2011.
Ron Fritz, who heads the county's community affairs office, told the court that at the time it was Code Enforcement Officer Johnny Carabajal who approached the man living on the property about the tires. The man was being paid to take tires from a local business. At this time, it was only a relatively small amount.
"He was made aware verbally at that time what he was doing was illegal," Fritz said.
Carabajal returned to the property on May 5, 2011.
"Again (he) was made verbally aware that he was in violation," Fritz said.
On May 10, 2011, Carabajal took stronger measures.
"At that point we followed up with a warning letter," Fritz said.
After 30 days, the time given to clean up the tires, the case was prepared and taken to the justice of the peace.
From there it was sent to the county attorney, who transferred it to the district attorney as a felony.
Citing financial concerns, commissioners cut the code enforcement officer position during a vote in September 2011 when they approved their budget.
Family matters
Rosie Ramirez, sister of the man living on the property and owner of the land, said that she has been trying to stop the dumping of the tires since it was first reported.
"...When I saw the stockpile getting a little larger, I said, 'You have to stop doing that. That is not something I want on my property,'" she said. "When I noticed he didn't do it, I said, 'You need to stop or you need to move.'"
In November 2011 she went to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality hoping it could help.
"Everybody was telling me they were doing the best we can."
She said that she has tried to stop the growing pile since it was only 50 tires high.
"I knew it was illegal," she said. "I saw it coming.
"I really would like to receive some help from y'all.
"I feel like the system failed me.
"I went to the police to prevent things from getting out of hand.
"It was like a constant dead end."
Failed system
Rodriguez said that he wants to know why the business that was disposing the tires on the property hasn't been prosecuted.
"The business was letting (the man) take these tires knowing he wasn't certified," Rodriguez said.
"Of course he was paying a lot less to (him) than if he would have done it legally."
Fritz said that his office was not able to gather enough evidence to present a case against the business – only the person receiving the tires.
Ramirez said that an investigation done by TCEQ all pointed to one tire shop as the source of the rubber.
"Shortly after he was investigated, he made arrangements and got the disposal means at his shop.
"The investigation has led back to that tire shop and I think there should be some accountability..."
Jason Collins is the editor at the Bee-Picayune and can be reached at 358-2550, ext. 121, or at email@example.com.


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ALA Annual 2014
The OCLC Symposium on Internet of Things, recorded at ALA Annual 2014 in Las Vegas. is available for viewing.
This event has passed.
At ALA Annual, OCLC hosted a number of events and information sessions, including our popular Symposium, which was held Friday, June 27, 2014 at Las Vegas Hotel.
The Internet of Things: Coming Soon to Everywhere
Speaker: Daniel Obodovski, co-author of The Silent Intelligence: The Internet of Things
The keynote address was followed by an open discussion on what the Internet of Things will mean for libraries.
Start Date
27 June 2014
End Date
30 June 2014
Las Vegas, Nevada


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Freedom New Mexico
Proposition 19, an initiative to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, was soundly defeated in the November election after California's political establishment, Democratic and Republican, came out strongly against it. We had concerns with a provision related to the ability of employers to combat marijuana use at the workplace, but we are glad to see that advocates are planning to take another stab at the issue for the November 2012 election.
It really is time to look at ways to reduce the drug war and all the costs, injustices and assaults on individual liberty that this war entails. A starting point could be marijuana legalization, given its wide use and nonaddictive nature, although the devil always is in the details.
The Marijuana Regulation and Tax Act of 2012 would "repeal all California state laws that prohibit marijuana possession, sales, transportation, production, processing and cultivation by people 21 years of age and older." It does not repeal laws regarding "driving a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana; using or being under the influence of marijuana in public or in the workplace; smoking marijuana in the presence of, or providing, transferring or selling marijuana to, a person under the age of 21."
Opponents in the Prop.19 debate mainly argued that marijuana legalization would lead to widespread drug use and spark a crime wave. As advocates for a freer society, we do not believe that government action — legalization or prohibition of substances — is the key to determining how people behave. If government bans produced improved behavior, then alcohol Prohibition would have been a rousing success and all the many efforts by the environmental community to ban things (plastic bags, etc.) would be legislative models for action.
Furthermore, marijuana use essentially is already decriminalized in California, which defangs the idea that legalization will take us into some new and dangerous territory.
Beyond the freedom issue, there are practical reasons for legalizing marijuana, and other drugs for that matter. We don't condone drug use but, instead, recognize that government bans drive up the cost of these products and thereby create strong incentives for the most brutal crime syndicates to become involved in their production and distribution.
That point was rarely discussed during the Prop. 19 debate. Another missing point, made eloquently by the late conservative writer William F. Buckley, was that the drug war leads to wanton violations of civil rights and procedures — civil forfeiture, for example — typically found in less-free nations. We recall a National Review editorial from editor Buckley's days : "(I)t is our judgment that the war on drugs has failed, that it is diverting intelligent energy away from how to deal with the problem of addiction, that it is wasting our resources, and that it is encouraging civil, judicial and penal procedures associated with police states. We all agree on movement toward legalization, even though we may differ on just how far."
We're glad to see the new proposition circulated in the hope that some of the above issues can be seriously debated.


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-Governor Mike Pence
Governor Pence will lead a delegation of Hoosier business and community officials on a jobs and economic development mission to the United Kingdom from July 12 to 16, which will include attending the Farnborough International Airshow. During the job hunting trip, he will attend the inauguration of the Indiana booth at the airshow and meet with executives from some of the world's most influential aviation and aerospace companies, highlighting the many advantages of doing business in Indiana.
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