News
Basic Needs Holiday Drive
The holiday season is a special time of year for goodwill and giving to those who need us the most. Our Basic Needs Holiday Drive can be a meaningful and simple project that can help teach your kids the importance of giving, or can provide a quick and easy campaign at your workplace or place of worship.
The lack of basic needs items has an immeasurable impact on students’ daily lives, both socially and academically. Each morning, nearly 70% of our students arrive at school without eating breakfast. Many wear clothes outside of dress code and will be sent home, missing a day of classes. Problems from the lack of daily necessities - including the embarrassment of not having deodorant or being unable to afford breakfast - shouldn't stand in the way of any child's education.
Please help us meet the basic needs of our students this holiday season!
If we can fulfill these needs, we can bring students closer to succeeding in school. Our Basic Needs Holiday Drive hopes to solve these problems by providing our students with every day items that will help them succeed. Our goal is to meet the needs of 300 students this holiday season.
It's as easy as three simple steps:
- Fill out the form by clicking here and return it to Abigail Howard by mail at CIS of Durham, 3412 Westgate Drive, Suite 301, Durham, NC 27707, or by email at devintern@cisdurham.org.
- Go shopping! Use the check-list we provided in the packet as a suggested shopping list.
- Deliver your items to CIS of Durham, located at 3412 Westgate Drive, Suite 301, Durham, NC 27707, on Tuesday, December 13th, between 7:30am-7:30pm.
You can also participate in our Basic Needs Holiday Drive by mailing or delivering gift cards or by making a contribution to support this drive by making a donation.
For more information, please contact Abigail Howard at (919) 403-1936, ext. 28, or by email at devintern@cisdurham.org.
Learning Curve
Durham Magazine, Written by Matt DeesWe had the distinct honor of being invited to a meeting of some of Durham's best and brightest to discuss the obstacles to success facing our public schools.
Organized by Communities in Schools of Durham, the gathering was held at the home of Gordon Caudle, vice chair of the CIS board.
"This is the most important social justice issue in our community," said Jon Fjeld, chair of the CIS Board and a professor at Duke's Fuqua School of Business.
"And from the standpoint of our competitiveness, it's also important for our economy. There's really nothing that's more important."
Among those in attendance were:
- Education leaders, including Superintendent Eric Becoats, his chief of staff, Dr. Lewis Ferebee and Minnie Forte-Brown, chair of the Durham School Board;
- Political leaders, including Rep. Mickey Michaux and Commissioner Ellen Reckhow;
- Business leaders, including Bill Shore of GlaxoSmithKline;
- Community activists, including Ivan Parra of Durham CAN;
- And many members of the CIS board and staff, including Executive Director Bud Lavery.
After libations and hors d'oeuvres furnished by Wine Authorities, Triangle Brewing Co. and Parker and Otis, we gathered in the Caudles' living room for a discussion moderated by WUNC's Frank Stasio.
To read more, click here
Graduate: ‘It’s just like a dream’
The Herald Sun
mbutts@heraldsun.com; 419-6684
DURHAM — Standing in line with fellow Durham Performance Learning Center graduates, minutes away from receiving her high school diploma, Jacqueline Aguilar was radiating joy Friday.
“It’s like a dream,” said the 18-year-old mother of two. “I didn’t think I would make it.”
Juggling her schoolwork with a 6 p.m.-midnight warehouse job and caring for her 1- and 3-year-old daughters wasn’t easy, Aguilar said. But it’s all been worth it.
“I’ll be the first [in the family] to graduate, potentially giving my daughters more than I had,” she said, describing her plans to either study medical transcription or become a certified nursing assistant.
Aguilar was one of 20 students to graduate from DPLC, a nontraditional high school that serves students who haven’t excelled in a traditional school setting or are at risk of dropping out. Part of the Durham Public Schools system, it is run in partnership with education organization Communities in Schools of Durham.
What makes DPLC so special is flexibility and a sense that the teachers and staff members really care, several of the graduates said Friday.
Kellen Corley, who’s been at the school for about three years, said DPLC forces students to take responsibility for their futures, since students can take as many classes as they want, as quickly as they’d like. Coursework is completed online at the Holton Career and Resource Center facility, and staff members are on hand to offer one-on-one attention.
“You work at your own pace,” Corley said. “You can get done whenever you want to get done. If you work fast, it’s going to get done fast. If you work slow, it’s going to get done slow.”
Fellow graduate Tori Pickett said she owes much of her success to the DPLC staff.
“There’s a good support system with the teachers and faculty,” she said. “They actually care.”
During Friday’s graduation ceremony, DPLC’s services coordinator Sarah Carucci said staff members have worked to carry out the school’s motto: “Every child, every day, any way.” They’ve done everything from make daily wake-up phone calls and text messages to luring students out of bed with sausage biscuits and rides to school, she said.
“We hope today that the message is clear,” she said. “To the graduating Class of 2011, we love and are so proud of each and every one of you, and if any one of you hadn’t made it to the finish line, this day would be incomplete.”
Monday’s graduation ceremony reflected the school’s emphasis on individualized attention, with each of the 20 graduates’ walk across the stage preceded by Carucci speaking about his or her successes, obstacles and plans for the future. Each graduate was accompanied across the stage by a person — mothers, grandmothers, fathers, siblings and even Aguilar’s 3-year-old daughter were escorts — who helped him or her make it to the milestone.
Along with earning their diplomas, each graduate earned a computer — either a laptop or desktop, depending on post-high school plans — donated by Communities in Schools and the Kramden Institute, a Durham-based nonprofit that collects and refurbishes machines.
Miyoshi Juergensen, a former DPLC teacher who’s earning her doctorate at Emory University, delivered a commencement address that stressed the importance of making good choices.
“Today, you are experiencing the fruit of good choices” like coming to DPLC, doing homework and helping classmates, she said. She urged them to continue choosing wisely.
“Choose to believe that the sky is the limit, for you and for everybody else,” Juergensen said.
Read more: heraldsun.com
Durham PLC visit by Education Secretary Duncan and Roundtable Discussion with Sen. Kay Hagan
Event Date 1: May 02, 2011 10:50 am - 11:50 am
Education Secretary Arne Duncan will join Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) for a discussion focused on turning around low-performing schools during a visit to Durham, N.C., on Monday, May 2. Duncan and Hagan will tour the Durham Performance Learning Center, a nontraditional high school that partners with local businesses to provide students with the opportunity to earn their high school diploma through internships, job shadowing and mentoring programs. While at the school, Duncan and Hagan will also visit a classroom and host a roundtable discussion with community leaders, students and teachers about the need for education reform. Following the roundtable, Duncan and Hagan will hold a media avail. Hagan will announce her plans to introduce legislation to turn around low-performing schools.
North Carolina is one of just 12 recipients of Race to the Top funds after being awarded $400 million in the second phase of the competition. Race to the Top, the Obama administration's groundbreaking education reform program, is designed to reward states that are leading the way in comprehensive, coherent, statewide education reform, which includes turning around its lowest achieving schools.
For more information click here.
Evaluation Ranks Communities In Schools as Most Effective Dropout Prevention Organization in America
Largest and Most Comprehensive Evaluation of Dropout Prevention Programs Ever Completed
February 25, 2011
Washington, DC – Communities In Schools, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to empowering students to stay in school and achieve in life, today released the results of a five- year comprehensive longitudinal evaluation, conducted by one of the nation’s foremost social science evaluation firms.
After five years of detailed evaluation underwritten by The Atlantic Philanthropies, the evaluation concluded that Communities In Schools' model resulted in the strongest reduction in dropout rates of any existing fully scaled dropout prevention program that has been evaluated; that Communities In Schools is unique in having an effect on both reducing dropout rates and increasing graduation rates; and that the Communities In Schools model is effective across states, school settings, grade levels and student ethnicities. Importantly, analyses indicate that the more fully and carefully the model is implemented, the stronger the effects.
The study, the largest and most comprehensive evaluation of dropout prevention programs ever completed, was designed with eight distinct interlocking phases, including:
- An implementation study that examined results from 1,766 Communities In Schools sites nationwide;
- A quasi-experimental study that compared results from 602 Communities In Schools sites against 602 matched sites without a Communities In Schools presence;
- A “deep dive” study of 368 Communities In Schools sites to identify best practices; and
- Three randomized controlled trials, the gold standard in social science evaluation, studying 573 students at nine sites.
“This comprehensive, multi-level multi-method study has provided important information about the effectiveness of the Communities In Schools approach, and I am pleased that Communities In Schools is using the findings to make their model consistent and strong across hundreds of sites,” commented Kristin Moore, Ph.D., senior scholar, Child Trends, and member, Communities In Schools National Evaluation Advisory Committee.
In comparing the results to over 1,600 studies screened by the Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse, the evaluation concluded that the Communities In Schools model is associated with the strongest reduction in dropout rates among all existing fully scaled dropout prevention programs in the United States. Specific findings included:
- Communities In Schools’ positive effect on both dropout rates and graduation rates is unique among dropout prevention programs;
- The higher the level of fidelity to the Communities In Schools model, the greater the effects, which validates the power of the model;
- Positive effects accrued to schools across states, settings (urban, suburban, rural), grade levels and ethnicities; and
- The Austin randomized controlled trial, which demonstrated a reduction in student dropout rates that was nearly three times the What Works Clearinghouse’s threshold for “substantively important” effects.
“The Communities In Schools model is a powerful tool to help turn around low performing schools. In partnership with teachers, principals and superintendents, Communities In Schools is achieving impressive results in some of the most economically disadvantaged areas of our country,” said Dan Domenech, executive director, American Association of School Administrators.
The results from the evaluation are already being translated into improved service delivery by Communities In Schools local affiliates. Based on the mid-point results from the Implementation Study and the Quasi-Experimental Study, Communities In Schools codified a set of program and business standards that the research revealed had the greatest effect on student improvement, and then drove those practices back into the network through an accreditation process. Approximately 108 affiliates have been accredited or are in the process, with all affiliates on track for accreditation by 2015.
“The research findings have fueled an even greater sense of urgency within our network – a commitment that we need to bring the strongest, most evidence-based and rigorously evaluated practices to the young people we serve, and that we need to do it immediately,” said Daniel Cardinali, president of Communities In Schools.
In addition to taking this research to practice, Communities In Schools has identified several areas for further study, and is currently developing plans for future phases of research. “We have an obligation to the young people we serve and to the field we lead to continue to grow the body of evidence that informs our work,” said Cardinali.
N.B. In conducting this research, the evaluators adhered to the approach of the What Works Clearinghouse in measuring program effects, which recognizes the practical importance of understanding the magnitude of effects (as measured by effect size) as opposed to relying solely on statistical significance.
A copy of the final evaluation report is available here.
Watch a video of the official press conference below.
White House Recognizes Communities In Schools as a Model Program
On Monday, March 1, 2010, President Obama spoke to a group of national education leaders at an event sponsored by America's Promise Alliance, and he recognized Communities In Schools as a model program.
"Most high school dropouts in a recent study said the reason they dropped out was that they weren't interested in class and they weren't motivated to do their work," said President Obama. "So that's why we'll build on the efforts of places like Communities In Schools that make sure kids who are at risk of dropping out have one-on-one support."
Bills Gates Highlights Durham PLC
Bill Gates highlighted the transformative power of the Durham PLC in his 2010 Annual Letter on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's website.
Following is an excerpt from the 2010 Annual Letter by Bill Gates:
"Melinda and I visited a number of schools in North Carolina during the fall and had a chance to see some amazing principals and teachers... In Durham, we visited a special high school called the Performance Learning Center, which is for kids who have dropped out of a typical public school but want to get their high school degree. One reason we visited them was to see how they use online learning. There are no lectures, and kids can move ahead at their own pace. A lot of the kids start out making progress more slowly than they would in a traditional class, but with the support of the teachers in the school and as they get used to the online approach, almost all of them move through the courses a lot faster than normal classes would let them. This is very motivational to the kids because they can do more than a year's worth of schoolwork in a single year."
Events
Dine Out for Kids® Durham
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011.
Wear red and dine out at one of our 23 participating restaurants who are graciously donating a portion of their day's sales to benefit CIS of Durham! Simply by treating yourself to a good meal and wearing red, you will help empower at-risk youth to succeed in school and in life.
Mark your calendars! Schedule your morning meetings on March 22nd! Make lunch dates with co-workers! Or make it a fun family night! Come out and show your community support!
“This meal can help make a difference for some of Durham’s most vulnerable students,” said Bud Lavery, Executive Director of CIS of Durham. “We’d like to see everyone go out and have dinner – and dessert – on March 22nd to help out kids.”
Thank you to our 2011 Event Sponsors!
- Square 1 Bank
- Verizon
- WTVD
- Red Hat
- DocuSource of NC
- News and Observer
- Vicki Johnson - Graphic Designer
2011 Participating Restaurants!
Links below are hyperlinked to Google maps.
- Blue Seafood and Bar
- Blue Corn Café
- The Broad Street Café
- Carino's Italian - Fayetteville Road
- Carino's Italian - Brier Creek
- Carolina Ale House
- Elmo's Diner - Durham
- Joe Van Gogh
- Mad Hatter's Café & Bake Shop
- Mez Contemporary Mexican
- Parker and Otis
- Pop's
- Rick's Diner
- Rue Cler
- Saladelia
- Satisfaction Restaurant
- Sitar Indian Cuisine
- Spartacus
- Toast
- Torero's - W. Main
- Torero's - Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd.
- Tyler's Taproom Durham
- Watt's Grocery
2011 Dine Out for Kids Volunteers
A sincere thank you to our volunteer groups! United Way of the Greater Triangle Area's Young Leaders Society, Duke University's Delta Gamma Sorority and Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity!
