Save the date! Monday November 17, 6 - 8 pm at Scutra's. Hear about our exciting new initiatives in the Arlington Elementary Schools at ASF's annual fundraiser.
This issue of the Arlington Schools Foundation newsletter is dedicated to RESULTS. ASF supports innovative programs and projects designed to produce long-term sustainable improvements in the Arlington Public Schools. There are lots of ways to measure the results of our efforts, and we highlight three here.
External Recognition
For the last three years, ASF has funded the High School Improvement Grants Program ArlingtonSchoolsFoundation at Arlington High School (AHS). So how is AHS doing? Fabulously, according to US News and World Report US News and World Report.
Their most recent survey of America's best high schools awarded Arlington High School a Silver Medal! Only 29 high schools in Massachusetts received Gold or Silver medals, which were awarded to just 505 of the 18,790 schools surveyed across the country. The criteria for the medals included student academic performance and college readiness. ASF is proud to support our award-winning high school!
Tangible Products
It is often difficult to quantify results when you are funding a process, like the High School Improvement Grants Program, that is designed to lay the foundation for improving communication, clarifying mission, and enhancing a sense of community. The mural "River of Hands" is one tangible product that emerged from this process.
"River of Hands" was created during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years and unveiled in January. 100 AHS teachers and administrators and 121 students created clay sculptures of their hands, and 21 students from the Advanced Ceramics class designed and put together the mural, which also includes over 7,000 hand-made tiles. Both a symbolic and an actual demonstration of collaboration and community, the mural will signal the core values of AHS to generations of students to come. ASF is proud to be part of promoting those values!
New Forms of Collaboration
When Kerry Dunne, Arlington's new Social Studies Coordinator, decided that her staff needed the best professional development around, she turned to Primary Source PrimarySource, a nationally renowned organization that, according to its mission statement, "promotes history and humanities education by connecting educators to people and cultures throughout the world." Dunne knew that Arlington's teachers--classroom, history, English Language Arts, music, art and more--and students--elementary, middle, and high school--would benefit immeasurably from Primary Source's workshops, seminars, curriculum materials, and publications, but she also knew she could not afford Primary Source's services on her own. So ASF and the Arlington Educational Enrichment Fund (AEEF) stepped in.
Arlington's two educational organizations have traditionally had complementary but separate missions. While ASF works with the schools to promote long-term improvements, AEEF funds innovative school projects proposed by teachers, organizations, and individuals. But the two groups agreed that funding Primary Source, in collaboration with the Arlington Public Schools, met both missions and advanced their shared goal: to support our schools in their efforts to give Arlington's students the best education possible. ASF is proud to be collaborating with AEEF to provide new opportunities for Arlington's teachers and students, opportunities that would not have been possible without our support!
Contact Information Arlington Schools Foundation P.O Box 80 Arlington MA 02476
