Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The MCPS All-Starrs will perform to raise money for black educators group.
Putting aside school matters for a moment, Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr will take to the stage for a fundraiser this weekend. Along with the, ahem, MCPS All-Starrs, the superintendent will perform at Saturday's fundraiser for the Montgomery County Alliance of Black School Educators at Richard Montgomery High School, The Gazette reported. The rest of the All-Starrs are Dana Tofig on vocals, Wayne Whigham on guitar, Erick Lang on the keyboard, Eric Minus on bass, Kisheena Wanzer on the drums, Jeanie Dawson on saxophone, Bennie Green at trumpet, and Phillip Barnes on trumpet and saxophone. The minimimum donation is $15, and the show starts at 5 p.m.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Request will go to the county executive in March.
The Montgomery County Board of Education voted to approve a $2.13 billion fiscal 2013 budget request Tuesday, asking for a 2 percent increase from 2012. The extra $41 million is the smallest request in more than decade, Superintendent Joshua Starr said, and will mostly go toward handling enrollment growth, covering employee benefits and purchasing materials. The fiscal 2013 request includes about $8 million for employee raises, which Starr said is needed after staff has forgone cost-of-living and step increases for the past few years. MCPS is asking for $1.39 billion of the total from Montgomery County, matching 2012's per-student spending of $9,759 per pupil. That number falls in line with Maryland's Maintenance of Effort law, which …
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
While no seats are left, you can join the discussion online.
There are no seats left for Superintendent Joshua Starr's book club event Tuesday night, but you can still tune in on TV or online. Starr will discuss Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink, and the author will join him to answer questions. The event starts at 7 p.m. at the Carver Educational Services Center, and it will be broadcast on MCPS TV and available for streaming on McpsBookClub.org. The Barnes & Noble in Bethesda will also host a watch party in its café, and you can RSVP to the event by e-mailing Crm2750@bn.com. During the discussion, Starr will answer questions from members of the audience and from viewers at home using e-mail and Twitter, tweeting as @MCPS. In Drive, Pink argues that the key to …
Friday, January 27, 2012
Schools would put $230K to other uses.
Superintendent Joshua Starr wants to stop administering the TerraNova 2 test to second graders next year, planning to use the money saved to fund other school programs. The proposed cut is part of Starr's proposed amendments to his fiscal year 2013 budget request, and he will present the additions to the Board of Education on Feb. 14. Montgomery County Public Schools already administers three assessments per year to all students from kindergarten to second grade, and eliminating TerraNova 2 will allow MCPS to put the $230,000 saved each year on programs like pre-kindergarten education and staff engagement, Starr said. “While the TerraNova does provide some useful information, I believe we can assess student progress with existing tools and…
Thursday, December 29, 2011
The superintendent has chosen Drive, by Daniel Pink.
Superintendent Joshua Starr will host his second book club on Jan. 31, discussing Drive by Daniel Pink. The discussion starts at 7 p.m. at the Carver Educational Services Center, and it will be broadcast on MCPS TV. During the event, Starr will answer questions from members of the audience and from viewers at home using e-mail and Twitter, where he tweets under @mcpssuper. In the book, Pink argues that the key to motivating people is not simply rewarding success but instead engendering a sense of autonomy and purpose. This is the second of three book club events planned for the school year, and Starr has said that the discussions give him a chance to reach out to the schools' community, students and staff. "The book clubs will provide a …
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Superintendent is asking for $41.4 million more than last year.
Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr is asking for $2.128 billion in school funding for fiscal year 2013, a 2 percent increase over the previous year. Starr outlined his budget request before hundreds of people Wednesday night at a presentation at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, saying the increase in funds is necessary to handle MCPS's growing enrollment. The requested 2 percent is the smallest increase an MCPS superintendent has asked for in 12 years, Starr said, and most of that $41.4 million would go toward handling enrollment growth, covering employee benefits and purchasing materials. Starr said he intends to focus on professional development, interventions for struggling students and community …
Friday, November 25, 2011
The superintendent is reading and discussing books to share his educational philosophy.
Superintendent Joshua Starr will host his first book club event Nov. 29, when he'll discuss Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck. The discussion starts at 7 p.m. at the Carver Educational Services Center, and it will be broadcast on MCPS TV. Dweck will join the discussion via Skype, and Starr will answer questions from members of the audience and from viewers at home using e-mail and Twitter. This is the first of three book club events planned for the school year, and Starr has said that the discussions give him a chance to reach out to the schools' community, students and staff. "The book clubs will provide a less formal way for us to have a conversation about education and will provide an opportunity for me to share …
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
School will start on Aug. 27.
The Board of Education voted this morning to approve a school calendar for next year, with fall classes slated to start Aug. 27. Superintendent Joshua Starr said in his recommendation to the Board that his staff responded to input from parents and teachers by trying to schedule days off on Mondays and Fridays when possible. Spring break is set for March 25-29. You can view the full calendar on MCPS's website.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Superintendent says the law has outlived its utility.
Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr appeared on NBC Nightly News on Friday, addressing the recent roll-back of No Child Left Behind. President Barack Obama announced Friday that his administration will waive some of the law's accountability requirements, a move he said will free teachers from having to "teach to the test." Starr said that while the law was initially beneficial in some respects, it is now outdated. "No Child Left Behind has outlived its usefulness," he said. "We need to start looking at 21st-century skills, and we need to be more innovative." In the past, Starr has said that while test scores can be telling, assessing a school's progress requires more in-depth study. "There's no one answer," Starr …
Friday, September 16, 2011
Starr joined the Kojo Nnamdi show today and took calls from listeners.
Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr joined WAMU's Kojo Nnamdi Show to talk about standardized tests, school budgets and teacher accountability with hosts Nnamdi and Tom Sherwood today. Starr also took calls from listeners, answering questions about environmental education, language-immersion programs and school renovations. He stressed that MCPS is committed to providing every child in the county with a first-class education. "We don't have a student-learning problem in America today; we have an adult-learning problem," Starr said. "We're trying to teach kids new and different things in new and different ways." You can listen to the interview on WAMU's website, and Starr's segment starts about 6:20 into the clip.
Sean
8:48 pm on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
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