Post by title1parent on Jul 28, 2010 5:44:11 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/2539332,6_NA27_Schools-chief-says-dealing-with-state-.article
Schools chief says dealing with state can be the Dickens
July 28, 2010 Sun
By SUSAN FRICK CARLMAN scarlman@stmedianetwork.com
Dr. Darlene Ruscitti invoked Dickens on Tuesday morning in her opening comments to the DuPage County Board.
In a nod to the best- and worst-of-times comments that open the novelist's "A Tale of Two Cities," the superintendent of the DuPage County Regional Office of Education provided her semiannual update on the state of the county's schools.
Both could be on the horizon for the local education network as well, cautioned Ruscitti -- who perhaps overlooked the words that follow in Dickens' classic work: "... it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness ..."
Foolish decisions could forbode the worst of times if the state doesn't come through with funding for some of the initiatives that have been identified as important to residents, including those aimed at child safety, early childhood education and reducing truancy rates. Ruscitti said the county schools' funding picture remains far from clear.
Most of the administrator's comments were focused on the best of times. Ruscitti itemized some of the schools' successes in the past year, relating that her office was the first non-urban, non-rural educational entity to host a national-level listening tour. At Ruscitti's invitation, U.S. Secretary of Education and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan came to the area for a county-wide forum in early February.
Also on Ruscitti's list of recent achievements for the regional schools was administrators' successful advocacy for the awarding of funds to schools that demonstrate high achievement levels on standardized tests, to maintain the high standards, rather than offering assistance just to those that need to improve. The county office was chosen to write the leadership portion of the Race to the Top initiative, part of an effort to win $400 million in federal aid for the state's schools. The regional office also helped pave the way for the 23rd annual National Dropout Prevention Conference -- a gathering designed to maximize high school graduation rates -- to be held in Illinois for the first time.
Schools chief says dealing with state can be the Dickens
July 28, 2010 Sun
By SUSAN FRICK CARLMAN scarlman@stmedianetwork.com
Dr. Darlene Ruscitti invoked Dickens on Tuesday morning in her opening comments to the DuPage County Board.
In a nod to the best- and worst-of-times comments that open the novelist's "A Tale of Two Cities," the superintendent of the DuPage County Regional Office of Education provided her semiannual update on the state of the county's schools.
Both could be on the horizon for the local education network as well, cautioned Ruscitti -- who perhaps overlooked the words that follow in Dickens' classic work: "... it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness ..."
Foolish decisions could forbode the worst of times if the state doesn't come through with funding for some of the initiatives that have been identified as important to residents, including those aimed at child safety, early childhood education and reducing truancy rates. Ruscitti said the county schools' funding picture remains far from clear.
Most of the administrator's comments were focused on the best of times. Ruscitti itemized some of the schools' successes in the past year, relating that her office was the first non-urban, non-rural educational entity to host a national-level listening tour. At Ruscitti's invitation, U.S. Secretary of Education and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan came to the area for a county-wide forum in early February.
Also on Ruscitti's list of recent achievements for the regional schools was administrators' successful advocacy for the awarding of funds to schools that demonstrate high achievement levels on standardized tests, to maintain the high standards, rather than offering assistance just to those that need to improve. The county office was chosen to write the leadership portion of the Race to the Top initiative, part of an effort to win $400 million in federal aid for the state's schools. The regional office also helped pave the way for the 23rd annual National Dropout Prevention Conference -- a gathering designed to maximize high school graduation rates -- to be held in Illinois for the first time.