The Utah Women & Leadership Project (UWLP) has seven women and leadership announcements for this month:
First, we are releasing our 10th research and policy brief today; it is titled “The Status of Women Leaders in Utah Education: A 2017 Update,” with co-authors Elizabeth Goryunova and Ashlie Hew-Len. It looks at the progress since 2014 for women and leadership in both K-12 and higher education settings. There are some interesting findings!
Second, this is the last call for the UWLP free community event on September 14, 2017 (6:30- 8:30PM); we will have an evening event titled, “Strengthening the Impact of Girls & Women: Resilience, Social Media, and Unconscious Bias.” The keynote will be by Elaine Dalton (well-known author and speaker), and then attendees will choose from one of three workshops:
The event is designed for women (12 years and older), and influencers (including men) are welcome to join us too! RSVP Online Now. More details on the Utah Women & Leadership Project homepage. We plan to live stream/Facebook live the sessions.
Third, the second Utah Women’s Leadership Speaker & Dialogue Series event for this academic year is scheduled for November 2, 2017 (6:30-8:30pm) at Utah Valley University. It is the second annual “She Talks Utah” event and will feature five engaged, accomplished, and entertaining Utah women who will share their personal stories, ideas, and passions about finding both their voices and the courage to use them in influential ways (15-minutes each; like Ted Talks). Although we are still confirming three of the presenters this upcoming week, we wanted to announce that Jenny Oaks Baker (Grammy Nominated Violinist, Billboard No. 1 Performer and Recording Artist) and Shannon Hale (Best-Selling, Award-Winning Author) will be speaking. RSVP ONLINE HERE.
Fourth, we are a co-sponsor for the second annual Women Who Build summit that will be held on September 22, 2017. Attendees will work with a team to build a business in 3 hours. Women Who Build will be a great opportunity to pick up skills to help you start or build something and to get to know awesome women in our community in meaningful ways. At the end of the summit, each team will pitch their businesses to a panel of local entrepreneurs, followed by a keynote address by Chatbooks co-founder Vanessa Quigley. See http://www.women-who-build.com/
Fifth, check out the Utah Women and Leadership blog, including the latest posts titled Investing in Women is Investing in the Economy and Equal Means Equal: Closing Your Own Gender Pay Gap. If you are interested in contributing to this blog, contact Amber Thackeray (Amber.Thackeray@uvu.edu). In addition, if you are interested in volunteering at events or in other ways, contact Deirdre Miller (DeirdreM@uvu.edu). Also, contact Deirdre if you want to add your event to the Utah event calendar: http://www.uvu.edu/uwlp/events/ .
Sixth, the UWLP and YWCA Utah has also released the Impact Recommendations from a recent gathering of gender wage gap experts. It highlights the current resources/strengths, gaps/challenges, and also recommendations for potential interventions that may move things forward in Utah on the issue of the gender wage gap.
Finally, don’t miss the 29th Annual YWCA Leader Luncheon on Friday, September 29, 2017 from 11:30am-2:00pm at The Grand America Hotel. Details here.
Enjoy September!
Susan
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A weekly report on education news & commentary from the nation's leading voice on education innovation and opportunity
REINVENT IT. A lot of people still don’t know that the #edreform movement is supported by a varied group of actors: From researchers to practitioners; and, thought leaders to parents. Since its inception, the cause of school choice, in particular, has been a mutual affinity among left, right, center and none of the above. That’s why David Osborne’s latest contribution to the story of what and why we must reinvent education is a critical read.
First off, Osborne makes a compelling argument about what reinvention of education actually is and why it is critical. Second, by using charters as a lens about how to recreate the governance and incentives of education, Osborne is one of the few in the influencer class that actually recognizes that some comparisons of averages is meaningless in the presence of varying factors guiding each charter law. As Osbourne writes, “…[W]hen it comes to charter schools, ‘average’ has little meaning, because the 43 states (and the District of Columbia) with charters all have different laws.”
Each school is highly dependent on a startup tapestry, with unique operational and renewal processes that have become more complex over time, and have often been misapplied by human elements. (But that’s another story and one we have covered in Charting a New Course).
END OF AVERAGE. All the talk about misunderstanding averages reminds us: If you haven’t read “The End of Average” by Harvard Professor Todd Rose, run, don't walk, to your nearest bookstore or visit Amazon.com. You can also learn more about Rose’s work by visiting Center for Individual Opportunity.
STUCK IN AVERAGE? Both Osborne and Rose in their own way make the case against using snapshots, incompatible data and assumptions about average trends. The authors of two articles published today in the Washington Post and the New York Times would benefit a lot by reading the works from Osborne and Rose.
First, an op-ed authored by longtime ed reform opponent, Tom Toch, takes the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (DC OSP) to task for failing to meet Toch’s idea of success. Conveniently, Toch ignores parental support for the program, and while criticizing DC OSP, he disregards any of its successes as insignificant in size. But here are the undeniable facts: Nearly 90 percent of all DC OSP students graduate from high school and an estimated 90 percent of those graduates go on to attend college.
Meanwhile, Mark Binelli uses the New York Times to recycle a variety of falsehoods and misrepresentations to attack charter schools in Michigan. Like many critics of education reform, Binelli writes from a silo, disregarding the failure, corruption and existing struggles present in the traditional system – and in the case of his story, Detroit public schools. Instead, Binelli selectively picks and chooses which schools to highlight, while not sharing with readers that Detroit's public charter school students far outperform their peers in the city's traditional public schools. Furthermore, the data continues to pile up from MSTEP, U.S. News & World Report, Stanford University, and Temple University finding the highest performing high schools in Michigan are charter schools. Finally, like many of his peers in the anti-ed reform community – Binelli ignores the fundamental flaw in his argument – charters depend on parents making a choice, and overwhelmingly, more and more parents in Michigan are choosing charter schools over the traditional school because they’re tired of the broken one-size-fits-all model.
25 YEARS: CELEBRATING THE FIRST CHARTER SCHOOL: The Twin Cities Pioneer Press celebrated the 25th birthday of the nation’s first public charter school. City Academy opened as one school with only 100 students and so began a movement spirited by innovation, customization and personalization. Today there are 7,000 charter schools serving more than 3 million students nationwide. At CER, we are proud to have been championing and fighting for the expansion and growth in the charter movement, and we celebrate the achievements of City Academy and all operators of education opportunity working to serve the needs of every child.
OPINION JOURNAL: Jeanne Allen, CER’s founder and CEO, joined the Wall Street Journal’s Mary Kissel on Thursday to discuss the ramifications of Illinois’ education funding compromise. Signed into law last week by Governor Bruce Rauner, the new law creates the state’s first private school choice program, increased funding for public charter schools, support for teacher pensions and funds traditional public schools. The compromise demonstrates that even in the darkest of blue states, education reform remains a bipartisan issue.
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AND IN CASE YOU MISSED IT. Log onto EdReform.com for the latest on the AFT Chronicles or the ongoing effort by African-American leaders to show they have a different point of view on educational opportunity than many established organizations who claim to represent their views.
Charting A New Course: The Case for Freedom, Flexibility & Opportunity Through Charter Schools
The charter school debate will look very different in the years to come. For the first quarter century, the question was simple: you’re either for charter schools or against them. But now that the sector has matured, taken root, and gained broader public acceptance, the debate is shifting from whether to expand charter schools to how. Read on.
For more, check out the Media Bullpen.
Founded in 1993, the Center for Education Reform aims to expand educational opportunities that lead to improved economic outcomes for all Americans — particularly our youth — ensuring that conditions are ripe for innovation, freedom and flexibility throughout U.S. education.
The Center for Education Reform
1901 L Street, NW, Suite 705
Washington, DC 20036
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The Fine Folks Behind KMGMT Announce
ADVENTURE CAT RECORDS
First Signings Include
Capstan and Summer Wars
Check Out New Videos from Both Bands at http://www.adventurecatrecords.com/
Read All About It On AltPress
September 5th, 2017 - Los Angeles, CA - The management team behind some of your favorite bands including Neck Deep, 3OH!3, Tonight Alive, Creeper, As It Is, The Summer Set and more are proud to announce their newest venture, Adventure Cat Records. Bringing together expertise in management, writing, publishing, production, marketing, publicity and one darn cute kitty, Adventure Cat Records is set to make a splash in the independent record label scene with their first two signings - Capstan and Summer Wars.
Starting off fresh with Capstan, the band that calls themselves "Progressive Pop-Punk," are giving fans a taste of new music with the release of "Elysian Fields." North Carolina-based Summer Wars, one of Alternative Press' 2017 '12 Bands You Need to Know,' has released the track and video for "End of an Era." Check out both videos at http://www.adventurecatrecords.com/.
On beginning Adventure Cat Records with these two bands, President Michael Kaminsky shares "Sometimes you hear an act that inspires you to do more. In this case, it was two acts, and we started a record label just to work with them. As a company that is deeply rooted in the scene, we couldn't be more excited to work with Capstan and Summer Wars." For more information on Adventure Cat Records, please head to http://www.adventurecatrecords.com/.
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What happens when you mix a physics major, music producer, guitar virtuoso, profound lyricist and hockey enthusiast, all capable of drinking an absurd amount of beer? Capstan is formed. Voted world's best band by NASA two years in a row, Capstan is a high-energy mix of pop punk, prog, and post hardcore. Blending deeply emotional lyrics with high-energy technical instrumentals. Think "Progressive Pop-Punk." Drawing inspiration from acts like The Wonder Years, A Day To Remember, Every Time I Die and Between The Buried And Me, they've truly created a genre of their own. For more information on Capstan, please visit https://www.capstanband.com/.
Photo Credit - Evan Dell (Download Here)
Drawing influences from the likes of The Story So Far, The Wonder Years, and Jimmy Eat World, Raleigh, NC based Summer Wars has already taken 2017 by its horns with an invasion of the east coast on AS IT IS' recent tour. With a new EP produced by Seth Henderson (Knuckle Puck, Real Friends) the band easily lives up to their title as one of Alternative Press' 2017 '12 Bands You Need to Know.' The new EP is the follow up to 'Better Days,'' their pop punk musical debut as a band, which was hailed by Rock Sound Magazine as 'amongst the best we've heard in some time. For more information on Summer Wars, please head to https://www.facebook.com/summerwarsnc/.
Photo Credit - Brianna Stacey (Download Here)
For plenty of cat photos and more information on Adventure Cat Records, follow:
Website: http://www.adventurecatrecords.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AdvCatRecs
Facebook: http://facebook.com/AdventureCatRecords
Instagram: http://instagram.com/AdventureCatRecs
