Posts tagged education
Graduating seniors give CU Boulder high marks
0May 8, 2013
About four in five respondents reported satisfaction with their CU-Boulder education. A similar proportion would recommend CU-Boulder to a friend and nearly 98 percent of the seniors reported that their program of study met their educational goals.
The 2012 study is the latest edition of the senior survey, conducted 11 times since 1985 by CU-Boulder’s Office of Planning, Budget and Analysis, or PBA.
“The survey data clearly demonstrate that these students, from their perspective as seniors, judge the university in overwhelmingly positive terms,” said Michael Grant, CU-Boulder associate vice chancellor for undergraduate education. “CU-Boulder routinely invests a lot of time and energy in polling our senior students about their experiences, academic and otherwise, in order to continuously work toward improving those experiences.”
The online questionnaire was sent to 7,646 degree-seeking seniors and was completed by 2,890, or 38 percent, of the recipients. Comprising about 200 scaled items, plus four open-ended questions, the survey collected a massive amount of information including nearly 7,900 written comments.
The 2012 seniors’ ratings of CU-Boulder advising services were higher than those from any previous senior survey. The seniors’ satisfaction with numerous other CU-Boulder services, from libraries to information technology, was high and generally comparable to that of earlier cohorts.
“We use the survey results extensively to look at what’s popular and working well, to set goals to improve services, and even to pass along advice,” said Jim Davis Rosenthal, CU-Boulder director of orientation and director of the Office of Student Affairs Assessment. “Based on one of the survey questions, we are able to let incoming freshmen know what outgoing seniors wished they had gotten involved in. Other departments also use the results to encourage students to try opportunities they might not otherwise have considered. In a way, it’s like older siblings giving advice to their younger siblings.”
Large proportions of seniors said that if they were to start over at CU-Boulder, they would put more effort toward or spend more time on interacting with faculty (60 percent), career exploration (51 percent), and campus-related research projects, internships and applied experiences (45 percent).
Nearly two-thirds of seniors who expected to graduate by summer 2012 reported that their principal activity in fall 2012 was most likely to be paid employment, either full time (48 percent) or part time (15 percent). A combined 15 percent said they were most likely to be enrolled in graduate studies, professional school or other coursework. A combined 13 percent expected to go into military service, or pursue volunteer service, an internship, student teaching or travel.
The thousands of student comments included praise for various aspects of their major programs, suggestions for ways to enhance and improve major programs, and descriptions of ways in which their major program did or did not meet their educational goals.
One student wrote, “I feel that I am prepared to be an exceptional teacher after I graduate. The school had a lot to do with my preparedness.” Another wrote, “Excellent material, mostly great professors, and fantastic facilities all add up to a well-rounded education.”
The survey collects information on seniors’ satisfaction with their educational experiences at CU-Boulder and about their post-graduation plans. The survey’s findings are used primarily to provide systematic information for academic and service units to use in planning and improvement, and for use by prospective and current students, their advisers, and their families.
Preliminary results for the Seniors’ Future Plans Survey, which is separate from the comprehensive senior survey and which has been conducted each year since 2009, show a jump in full-time employment expectations. The initial data show that 54 percent of CU-Boulder seniors in 2013 expect full-time employment to be their principal activity after graduation, an increase from 48 percent in 2012. Expectations for part-time employment were reported by 15 percent of the 2013 seniors.
The 2012 questionnaire and comprehensive data from the senior survey, including summary reports from students in each of CU-Boulder’s schools and colleges and nearly 50 departments, are available athttp://www.colorado.edu/pba/surveys/senior/12/index.htm.
-CU-
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Noxious weeds on the city’s “hit” list
0May 2, 2013
As a result of a state mandate to eliminate “List A” noxious weed species from all public and private property in Colorado communities, the City of Boulder is proposing an update to its existing weed ordinance to require property owners to remove the weeds from all properties.
“List A” weed species, as provided in the Colorado Noxious Weed Act, are plants that have yet to be well established in Colorado but are either present in small populations or are invasive in nearby states. There are two species of “List A” weeds that are of most concern within Boulder’s city limits: myrtle spurge and Japanese knotweed. The city was awarded a grant through the Colorado Department of Agriculture Noxious Weed Management Fund to assist in an educational plan.
“Early detection and eradication of these particular species can prevent them from becoming a major problem in Colorado,” said city Integrated Pest Management Coordinator Rella Abernathy. “Most of these plants are ‘escaped’ ornamental plants and many residents may not realize that they present a threat to the natural lands surrounding Boulder and are illegal to grow here.”
These noxious, invasive plants can negatively impact biodiversity, threaten endangered species, degrade native habitat, displace wildlife, increase soil erosion, damage streams and other wetlands and increase the risk and frequency of wildfires if allowed to spread. Boulder is in compliance with the Colorado Noxious Weed Act on city-owned properties but has not been enforcing the statue on private property.
The city will focus on education and outreach to notify the public of the requirements and to provide information for identification, environmentally-sound weed removal and suggested replacement plant options.
“A soft enforcement approach is being implemented with voluntary compliance being the goal and enforcement action being a last resort,” said Code Enforcement Supervisor Jennifer Riley. “However, ticketing is possible if property owners do not comply with repeated requests from officers to address illegal weeds.”
Education will begin with a “Purge Your Spurge” event on May 18 where residents are encouraged to pull their myrtle spurge and exchange it for free native plants. This event will occur as part of Boulder Community Day at the East Boulder Community Center, 5660 Sioux Drive, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Other education efforts will include a webpage; fact sheets; media engagement; outreach to nurseries, landscapers and lawn care companies; and code enforcement officers who assist with education in the field.
“Identifying and removing noxious weeds from private property can take some effort, but it’s important to prevent these weeds from spreading to our neighbors’ yards and ultimately to natural areas,” said Abernathy. “Fortunately, only two of the weeds from the list are widespread within the Boulder city limits, myrtle spurge being the most common. We want to make sure people can easily identify the weeds, know how to remove them safely and know what native plants can be used to replace them.”
Myrtle spurge has been commonly used as a decorative plant. People should be aware that it contains a white sap that can cause skin irritation including blistering if touched. Those removing it should wear long sleeves, long pants, gloves and eye protection. Removing at least four inches of the root is recommended to prevent its return. It should be placed in a plastic bag and tightly fastened. DON’T compost noxious weeds as that will cause the weed to spread.
The city’s weed ordinance is expected to be modified through a City Manager rule change, which will be published in the Daily Camera on May 3, as well as on the city’s website. Public feedback will be accepted until May 20. The rule is anticipated to go into effect on June 1, 2013.
For more information or to provide feedback on the proposed City Manager’s rule, contact Rella Abernathy at 303-441-1901.
– CITY OF BOULDER NEWS RELEASE –
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Irish delegation studies Boulder’s Open Space access for people with disabilities
0April 15, 2013
The City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) department hosted
a delegation from Ireland on Thursday, April 11. The group came to Boulder and Denver to examine issues of access for people with disabilities in education, housing and the workplace.
Ten leaders in several fields including education, human services, policy and architecture, arranged the tour to learn more about what OSMP has done to provide accessible trails that enable people in wheelchairs and those with other disabilities to enjoy and experience nature. OSMP has developed several trails, facilities and fishing areas designed to be used for people with disabilities.
The delegation was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the Irish Institute at Boston College, whose mission is to support the peace and reconciliation process between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
For questions about trail access for people with disabilities on OSMP properties, please call 303-441-3440 or visit www.OSMP.org.
City of Boulder media affairs
–CITY–
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CU business school endowed with $2.25 million chair to promote global enterprise
0April 3, 2013
Advancing global enterprise at the university level by a billionaire seems to make excellent sense.
A better understanding of the core drivers that help great leaders innovate — and avoid failure — is key to advancing global enterprise. The Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder is now better equipped to advance this understanding, thanks to a new $2.25 million gift from the Thomas Stix Guggenheim family to establish an endowed faculty chair aimed at educating new generations of entrepreneurs on the core drivers of successful business design and innovation.
This prestigious faculty post was made possible by Thomas Stix Guggenheim and his wife Pedie, of Cincinnati and Snowmass Village, Colo., and his four children, each of whom also attended CU-Boulder.
The new chair will enhance business education at the Leeds School by offering a broader exploration of the factors that allow some firms to succeed while others fail.
The chair also advances key Leeds priorities, as it will help aspiring innovators develop the critical thinking skills that result in creative solutions to diverse and complex challenges. “Our business experience has demonstrated there is as much, if not more, to learn from business failures as from successes,” Guggenheim said. “One main aspect of our endowed chair is to case-study this belief.”
David Ikenberry, dean of the Leeds School, said the creation of the Thomas Stix Guggenheim Family Endowed Chair in Business Design and Innovation is emblematic of the school’s mission. “We have embarked on an innovation agenda that will enable graduates to evolve in a rapidly changing business climate and ensure their ability to drive value,” he said. “We are fortunate and grateful for the family’s generous support as we pursue this great challenge.”
The concept of business design is an emerging area of business education — exploring the interaction of factors such as strategy, product or service design, and entrepreneurial leadership to solve complex problems and drive economic innovation and successful business creation.
With Leeds and CU’s long-standing reputation for entrepreneurship education along with Boulder’s identity as one of the nation’s most entrepreneurial and creative cities, the new chair is a logical fit for Colorado and its economy.
The Thomas Stix Guggenheim Family Endowed Chair in Business Design and Innovation is a tribute to the successful career and outstanding leadership of the chair’s namesake. After graduating from CU-Boulder in 1950 with a degree in marketing, Guggenheim went on to lead two successful hosiery (sock) businesses.
“It’s exciting to see CU-Boulder graduates giving back to the university in such an important way so future generations of students can succeed in their entrepreneurial endeavors,” said Chancellor Philip DiStefano.
A longtime donor to CU-Boulder, Guggenheim has supported the Center for Education on Social Responsibility, which integrates ethics education across the Leeds School curriculum to develop values-driven leaders, and a popular freshman-level course titled “Profiles in American Enterprise,” which invited top executives to discuss relevant business issues.
An endowed chair gift provides a reliable and perpetual stream of funding for a senior faculty position. It is a public indicator of a program’s prestige and it helps universities recruit and retain top talent.
A global search will launch immediately to identify a candidate to serve as the first Guggenheim Family Endowed Chair. The goal is to fill the tenured post, to be housed within the school’s Division of Management, for the start of the fall semester in 2014.
The gift is one of more than 275,000 gifts made to date during Creating Futures, a $1.5 billion fundraising campaign to enhance CU education, research, outreach and health programs benefiting citizens throughout Colorado and beyond. Visit http://www.cufund.org for more information.
-CU Press Release-
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CU -Boulder to update 20-year-old groundbreaking STEM study with $4.3 million grant
0February 26, 2013
Early next month, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder will begin the painstaking process of interviewing hundreds of undergraduates in an effort to understand why the rates of students switching out of science, technology, engineering and math majors has remained troublingly high over the last couple of decades despite widespread efforts to address the problem.
The five-year, $4.3 million project, undertaken in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, replicates and expands on a study begun by a couple of CU-Boulder researchers two decades ago and published in 1997 as a book. “Talking About Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences” has since become a seminal text in the field of STEM education.
“Part of the reason why we’re undertaking this study is that the rates of students switching out of STEM majors has remained so persistent,” said Anne-Barrie Hunter, co-director of Ethnography and Evaluation Research at CU-Boulder and principal investigator for the Colorado research team. “Here we are now, 20 years on, and the rates are still roughly the same. They’re very, very stubborn.”
The study, which is being funded by the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is the first to be run out of CU-Boulder’s new Center for STEM Learning.
When the original study began in the early 1990s, the high rates of students leaving STEM majors — between 40 and 60 percent, depending on the discipline — were known, but the reasons for the switching were just conjecture. Some thought that the students who switched didn’t have the necessary ability to succeed in tough science classes, while others blamed teaching assistants with difficult-to-understand accents or the lack of experience of teaching assistants in general.
CU-Boulder researchers Nancy Hewitt and Elaine Seymour set out to determine whether any of the speculation was true by asking those who should know: the students. The pair led a research team that interviewed more than 400 undergraduates, both “switchers” and “persisters.”
“Our evidence didn’t support what they thought,” said Seymour, who is also involved with the new study. “We were really surprised.” As it turned out, “switchers” and “persisters” were equally bright and teaching assistants were often a much-needed lifeline for struggling students. In fact, both sets of students faced the same set of challenges, the largest of which was the way science classes were taught.
“What we discovered was that an incoming interest in the sciences was dissipated over the course of the first two years by the way the courses were taught,” Seymour said. “The teaching in those days was predominantly stand-and-deliver lecturing.”
Since Seymour and Hewitt’s book was published, there has been a nationwide effort to improve the quality of undergraduate science education. “Change is going on all across the country,” Seymour said. “But it may not be sufficient to move the needle.”
For “Talking About Leaving Revisited,” the researchers will interview undergraduates at the seven institutions that hosted the original study to find out if the reasons for switching have changed. But the new study will also go further by interviewing course instructors, observing classroom teaching practices and analyzing the transcripts of students across institutions to look for patterns among switchers and persisters. When the study is concluded, the research team plans to publish another book.
Talking About Leaving Revisited is one of the inaugural grants affiliated with CU-Boulder’s Center for STEM Learning, which was officially formed in December. The center, which was organized over four years with the backing of a $1 million institutional transformation grant from the National Science Foundation, aims to provide an infrastructure that will support the more than 75 existing STEM education programs on campus and allow them to more easily collaborate.
“We will provide a network and support structure designed to catalyze and provide links among these people, ideas, tools and resources,” said physics Professor Noah Finkelstein, one of the people who helped lead the effort to create the new center.
The Center for STEM Learning, which will also strive to be a state, regional and national resource, has three main thrusts: to transform the way STEM classes are delivered, to support research into the best practices for STEM education, and to help recruit the brightest to become STEM teachers.
For more information on the study visit http://wceruw.org/projects/projects.php?project_num=956.
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Lively fight waged against sex ed bill
0February 21, 2013
by Ron Baird, news editor
in News
by Todd Engdahl on Feb 19th, 2013. | Copyright © EdNewsColorado.org
Already hyped up from nearly two days of gun-control debate, the Colorado House Tuesday leapt into a morning-long wrangle over sex education.
Rep. Crisanta Duran, D-Denver
The Democratic-controlled House gave preliminary approval to House Bill 13-1081, but not before Republicans tried a blizzard of amendments to remedy what they see as the bill’s weaknesses.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, would create an expanded set of standards for human sexuality education that schools and districts would have to follow if they used grants from a fund that also would be created by the bill. The new requirements wouldn’t affect districts that continue to use existing health and sex education standards. Parents would have to be informed about use of the new program and could opt their children out of classes.
Do your homework
Pre-amended text of the bill
Memo explaining the bill
EdNews coverage of Feb. 7 committee hearing on the bill
Supporters believe current sex-education efforts are not as effective as they could be and that stronger programs are needed to reduce teen pregnancy and the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases.
The measure is supported by groups such as Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains; One Colorado, a LGBT advocacy group; the Colorado Association of School Nurses; and Denver Health.
It’s opposed by such groups as Colorado Family Action, the Colorado Catholic Conference and the Douglas County schools.
Republican opponents of the bill were unhappy with what they see as insufficient emphasis on abstinence (referred to during the debate as “sexual risk avoidance”), a lack of review mechanisms for the program’s effectiveness, a possibly biased oversight board and a lack of parent representation on the board. Some Republicans also are uncomfortable with the bill’s requirement that sex education be inclusive of gay and lesbian students.
Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Monument and a former policy analyst for Focus on the Family, led the charge against the bill. She repeatedly challenged Duran, often in a snide tone.
At one point Stephens referred to a Duran statement as “gobbledygook.”
During another exchange, Duran said, “Representative Stephens, I answered your question.”
“No you didn’t, no you didn’t,” Stephens responded.
Late in the debate, Duran just stopped answering Stephens’ questions (as is allowed by House rules).
Here are some other sound bites from the nearly four hours of debate:
Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Monument
“This is just a Planned Parenthood jobs bill,” Stephens said. It’s an outrage of epic proportions.”
Defending the bill’s inclusiveness, Rep. Sue Schafer, D-Wheat Ridge, said she was speaking as “a gay mother and a gay grandmother.”
Arguing against sex education in early primary grades, Rep. Kevin Priola, R-Henderson, said, “Don’t take away the innocence of children.” At another point Priola said, “As a practicing Catholic I feel it abhorrent that birth control is even used.”
“First-graders should not be taught sex in our public schools,” agreed Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch.
“There’s a radical individualism in this bill. … It undermines the natural rights of parents,” said Rep. Stephen Humphrey, R-Severance.
“I’m amazed that in 2013 … we’re going on and on about this issue. I think we need adult sex education,” said Rep. Joann Ginal, D-Fort Collins, who holds a doctorate in reproductive endocrinology from Colorado State University.
The debate also was marked by multiple parliamentary time-outs as House leaders decided whether various amendments and maneuvers were within House rules. At several points Republican members were making substitute amendments for changes proposed by their own colleagues.
Three amendments were passed, all with Democratic approval. One clarifies that the bill doesn’t change state health education standards and the second would add one parent to the oversight board created by the bill. As a nod to McNulty, Duran also allowed what she saw as a meaningless amendment about sex ed for students in early grades.
The bill will need a final House roll call vote before moving the Senate.
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0
February 8, 2013
School health data system gets $3 million
Written by Ann Schimke on Feb 7th, 2013. | Copyright © EdNewsColorado.org
Kaiser Permanente and the Colorado Legacy Foundation on Thursday announced a $3 million, five-year plan to create a comprehensive data reporting system for school health and wellness indicators.
Students eating lunch at a Boulder elementary school where there has been an emphasis on healthy offerings. EdNews file photo
The new School Health Policy and Practice Data Collection Program will help demonstrate the link between health and education and provide feedback to schools to help them improve programming. The project is a collaboration between Kaiser, which will provide the funding, and the Colorado Legacy Foundation, the Colorado Department of Education and the Colorado Coalition for Healthy Schools.
Helayne Jones, president and CEO of Colorado Legacy Foundation, said part of the current problem is that “we don’t know what is working because we haven’t had a consistent way of measuring health and wellness practices.”
Currently, some Colorado schools report on some health indicators, but there is no uniform collection system in place. Data on nine indicators is collected through the state’s March Report Card. Other health data is collected intermittently through assessments like the Colorado Healthy School Champions Score Card, the School Wellness Policies Assessment tool, the School Environment and Policy Survey and Healthy Schools Colorado Database.
The new School Health Policy and Practice Data Collection Program is intended to simplify and streamline the collection process for schools. Once it is up and running, comprehensive health indicator data will be available through the Colorado Department of Education’s online SchoolView platform.
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Colorado Ed. News: Parent trigger bill pops up; Medcaid vs. Education; Gun rights in the schools
0February 1, 2013
by Ron Baird, news editor
in News
Written by Todd Engdahl on Jan 31st, 2013. | Copyright © EdNewsColorado.org
A group of 10 Republican lawmakers has introduced a measure that would allow parents to petition the State Board of Education for conversion of struggling schools.
The “parent trigger” proposal introduced Thursday, House Bill 13-1172, is similar to a 2012 bill that passed the House but died in a Senate committee (see story).
But this year’s version comes with a twist – it also proposes to convert the state’s district and school rating categories to a system of A-F letter grades.
The trigger portion of the bill is fairly mild. It would allow parents of students at schools that have been tagged with the lowest ratings – “priority improvement” or “turnaround” – for two or more years to petition the state board to take action. The board could deny the petition, direct the local school board to act or defer a decision for a year.
Capitol roundup
The state’s current accreditation law requires the state board to act on schools that have been listed in those two categories for five consecutive years. Such schools can be closed, converted to charters or otherwise converted. The system enters its fourth year next July, and the conversion clock is ticking louder for several schools around the state. (See this EdNews story about the latest district ratings andthis article for details on school ratings.)
The current system assigns five rating categories to districts and four to schools. Both would be converted to letter grades by the bill.
Letter grades for schools are a touchy issue in education. Some education reformers and conservative lawmakers think they are easier for parents to understand and would generate more public pressure for improvements, while many educators resist them as simplistic and punitive.
In Colorado the business-related group Colorado Succeeds, along with other organizations, runs a shadow rating system that uses Department of Education data to put schools into a letter-grade system. (SeeColorado School Grades.)
Medicaid vs. educationLast year’s parent trigger bill – without the A-F grades – had a prominent Democratic sponsor – Sen. Mike Johnston, D-Denver and a leading education reform voice. This year’s bill currently has only Republicans backing it. The prime sponsors are GOP Rep. Kevin Priola of Henderson and Sen. Scott Renfroe of Greeley.
Medicaid vs. education
Many Republican lawmakers don’t like “Obamacare,” including its expansion of the Medicaid program. They’re concerned that in the years ahead the state could find itself picking up the tab for that expansion, putting the squeeze on other state programs such as education. Expansion critics are unhappy with Gov. John Hickenlooper’s announcement earlier this month that Colorado would participate in Medicaid expansion. (See this Associated Press story for details.)
Republicans have expressed their dissatisfaction by introducing two bills.
The first, Senate Bill 13-006, would have banned state spending on Medicaid expansion if that caused a reduction of K-12 spending.
Sen. David Balmer, R-Centennial, made his best pitch Thursday to the Senate Education Committee, but the outcome wasn’t in doubt. The panel’s Democratic majority killed the bill on a 5-4 vote.
“I appreciate the spirit in which you brought this,” Johnston told Balmer. “I think this bill is really a debate about Medicaid rather than education. … I feel like this bill is asking us to hit a nail with a saw.”
“Sorry you didn’t have the happiest outcome, but we had a nice conversation,” committee chair Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Westminster, said to Balmer after his bill was “postponed indefinitely,” to use the the legislative term for what happened.
As it happened, another Medicaid-education bill was introduced on Thursday, but it would take a different bite of the apple.
House Bill 13-1175 would ban any state spending on Medicaid expansion until state support of higher education reaches $747 million a year. It’s currently about $513 million, plus another $100 million for financial aid. The bill’s sole sponsor is Rep. Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland.
Speaking of trying again
Also introduced Thursday was House Bill 13-1176, a Republican-sponsored measure that would allow income tax credits for private school tuition and for donations to private school scholarships.
If this sounds familiar, you’re thinking of Senate Bill 13-069, which was introduced earlier this month and proposes the same thing.
Duplicate bills are introduced periodically, usual by minority party members who know their original proposal will be killed but who want to at least have the debate in both houses, even though they know the second version of the bill also is doomed. Legislative procedures require that every bill get at least one committee hearing.
Another clone bill was introduced Wednesday. House Bill 13-1170 would allow individual school boards to decide whether to have staff members carry guns at school, if those employees hold concealed-carry permits. The Senate Judiciary Committee killed Senate Bill 13-009, the original version of that idea, on Monday (see story).
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Boulder Valley School District makes AP honor roll
0November 26, 2012
by Ron Baird, news editor
in News
BVSD Placed on College Board’s 3rd Annual AP® District Honor Roll for Significant Gains in Advanced Placement® Access and Student Performance
[Boulder, CO] – Boulder Valley School District is one of 539 school districts across 44 of the 50 states in the U.S. and Canada being honored by the College Board with placement on the 3rd Annual AP® District Honor Roll for simultaneously increasing access to Advance Placement® course work while increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP Exams. Achieving both of these goals is the ideal scenario for a district’s AP program because it indicates that the district is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are likely to benefit most from rigorous AP course work. Since 2010, BVSD has increased the number of students participating in AP by 7 percent while improving the percentage of students earning AP Exam scores of 3 or higher by 1 percent.
“It’s an honor for our district to be recognized for the important work that our educators are doing and a testament to how hard many of our students are willing to work to achieve academic success,” said Dr. Bruce Messinger, BVSD Superintendent.
Helping more students learn at a higher level and earn higher AP scores is an objective of all members of the AP community. More than 90 percent of colleges and universities across the U.S. offer college credit, advanced placement or both for a score of 3 or above on an AP Exam – which can potentially save students and their families thousands of dollars in college tuition.
About the College Board
The College Board is a mission-driven-not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of over 6,000 of the world’s leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. For further information, visit www.collegeboard.org.
BVSD Placed on College Board’s 3rd Annual AP®
District Honor Roll for Significant Gains in Advanced Placement® Access and
Student Performance
[Boulder, CO] – Boulder Valley School District is one of 539 school districts across 44 of the 50 states in the U.S. and Canada being honored by the College Board with placement on the 3rd Annual AP® District Honor Roll for simultaneously increasing access to Advance Placement® course work while increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP Exams. Achieving both of these goals is the ideal scenario for a district’s AP program because it indicates that the district is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are likely to benefit most from rigorous AP course work. Since 2010, BVSD has increased the number of students participating in AP by 7 percent while improving the percentage of students earning AP Exam scores of 3 or higher by 1 percent.
“It’s an honor for our district to be recognized for the important work that our educators are doing and a testament to how hard many of our students are willing to work to achieve academic success,” said Dr. Bruce Messinger, BVSD Superintendent.
Helping more students learn at a higher level and earn higher AP scores is an objective of all members of the AP community. More than 90 percent of colleges and universities across the U.S. offer college credit, advanced placement or both for a score of 3 or above on an AP Exam – which can potentially save students and their families thousands of dollars in college tuition.
About the College Board
The College Board is a mission-driven-not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of over 6,000 of the world’s leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. For further information, visit www.collegeboard.org.
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CU :$20 million instrument package set for integration on Mars spacecraft
0November 19, 2012
A $20 million remote sensing instrument package built by the University of Colorado Boulder, which is leading a 2013 NASA mission to understand how Mars might have lost its atmosphere, has been delivered to Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colo., for spacecraft integration.
The remote sensing package designed and built by CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics consists of the Imaging UltraViolet Spectrograph, or IUVS, as well as its electronic control box, the Remote Sensing Data Processing Unit, or RSDPU, both under contract to NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Known as the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN, or MAVEN, the $670 million NASA mission set for launch in November 2013 is being led by CU-Boulder Professor Bruce Jakosky. The mission is designed to explore and understand how the loss of atmospheric gas has changed the climate of Mars over the eons, said Jakosky, also associate director of LASP.
“With the delivery of this package, we are shifting from assembling the basic spacecraft to focusing on getting the science instruments onto the spacecraft,” said Jakosky, also a professor in the geological sciences department. “This is a major step toward getting us to launch and then getting the science return from the mission.”
According to David Mitchell, MAVEN project manager from NASA Goddard, “The remote sensing package team built a system that meets all technical requirements and delivered it on schedule and on budget. I look forward to the instrument’s next level of integration onto the spacecraft and ultimately the science it will provide.”
The IUVS collects UV light and spreads it out on a spectra that is recorded using imaging detectors, said Mitchell. As the “brains” of the instrument package, RSDPU receives and executes commands telling the IUVS when and where to point.
“As the ‘eyes’ of the remote sensing package, the IUVS allows us to study Mars and its atmosphere at a distance by looking at the light it emits,” said Nick Schneider, a LASP research associate and lead IUVS scientist for MAVEN. “Ultraviolet light is especially diagnostic of the state of the atmosphere, so our instrument provides the global context of the whole atmosphere for the local measurements made by the rest of the payload,” said Schneider, also a faculty member in the APS department.
The CU-Boulder remote sensing package will be turned on for its initial checkout 21 days after launch, said NASA officials. Later, in the “cruise phase” of the mission from Earth to Mars, the package will be powered on twice more for “state-of-health checks” and in-flight calibration.
MAVEN will be the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian atmosphere, with a goal of determining the history of the loss of atmospheric gases to space through time, providing answers about Mars climate evolution. By measuring the current rate of gas escaping to space and gathering enough information about the relevant processes, scientists should be able to infer how the planet’s atmosphere evolved over time.
The MAVEN spacecraft will carry two other instrument suites. The Particles and Fields Package, built by the University of California Berkeley Space Science Laboratory with support from LASP and NASA Goddard, contains six instruments that will characterize the solar wind and the ionosphere of the planet. The Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, provided by NASA Goddard, will measure the composition and isotopes of neutral ions.
“Three of the big milestones in an instrument builder’s life are the day you get selected to fly on a mission, the day you deliver the instrument to the spacecraft to get ready for launch, and the day that it gets where it’s going and data starts flowing back from space,” said Mark Lankton, the remote sensing package program manager at LASP. “The remote sensing team is really happy to have gotten to the second milestone, and we can hardly wait to reach the third.”
CU-Boulder also will provide science operations and lead the education and public outreach efforts. NASA Goddard manages the project and is building two of the science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin is building the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., provides navigation support, the Deep Space Network, the Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations.
“Our CU-Boulder IUVS instrument will be the most capable ultraviolet spectrometer ever sent to another planet,” said LASP instrument scientist William McClintock. “Data from the IUVS will help planetary scientists rewrite the textbooks about the upper atmosphere of Mars, and we are fortunate to have a top-flight engineering team here at LASP that allowed us to design and develop such a sophisticated instrument.”
Clues on the Martian surface, including features resembling dry lakes and riverbeds as well as minerals that form only in the presence of water, suggest that Mars once had a denser atmosphere that supported liquid water on the surface, Jakosky said. CU-Boulder’s participation in Mars exploration missions goes back to 1969 when NASA’s Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 missions launched.
MAVEN is slated to slide into orbit around Mars in September 2014, and, after a one-month checkout period, will make measurements from orbit for one Earth year. The MAVEN science team includes three LASP scientists from CU-Boulder heading instrument teams — Schneider, Frank Eparvier and Robert Ergun — as well as a large supporting team of scientists, engineers and mission operations specialists.
MAVEN also will include participation by a number of CU-Boulder graduate and undergraduate students in the coming years. Currently there are more than 100 undergraduate and graduate students working on research projects at LASP, which provides hands-on training for future careers as engineers and scientists, said Jakosky.
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Louisville Middle School Hosts 4th Annual “Souper Supper” November 14 to Benefit Sega Girls School in Tanzania
0November 8, 2012
LOUISVILLE, CO – Louisville Middle School (LMS) students are getting ready to host their fourth annual “Souper Supper” to benefit the Sega Girls’ School in Tanzania. The school-sponsored fundraiser will be held 5:00-7:00 p.m. Wed., Nov. 14, at 1341 Main Street in Louisville.
“This wonderful event allows for our community to come together during the Thanksgiving Season and give thanks for our beautiful school, all while helping children half way around the world receive an education,” said Lori Llerandi, art teacher at Louisville Middle School and board member for the Nurturing Minds in Africa organization.
Tickets are available for $5 each and can be purchased Monday-Friday from 8:30-11:30 a.m. at the school, as well as on the night of the event.
In addition to the sale of hand-glazed bowls from Lori Llerandi’s art students ($12 each), Tanzanian bracelets will be available ($5 each) and chances to win a variety of door prizes such as massages, spa packages, chef’s aprons and restaurant cards. Entertainment will be provided by Dave Crowder and Becky Bragg with some of their band members from “Bamboche” (African drumming) and “Chapungu” (marimba).
This year’s Souper Supper is being provided with delicious food by: Breadworks, Conor O’Neils, Huckleberry, The Melting Pot, Mimi’s Café, Old Santa Fe and The Sink.
Additional fundraising for the Sega Girls School is being provided by LoCo FroYo in Louisville which is donating 15 percent of all their sales (when the customer mentions the SEGA Girls School) each Friday during the month of November
Last year’s Souper Supper raised $5,600, which furnished a new dorm at the SEGA Girls’ School with 30 new beds, mattresses and linens for their new dorm room. Some of these girls had never slept in a bed before!
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Vote Polis, Proud to Be a Boulderite By Scott Hatfield
0October 31, 2012
by Boulder Channel 1
in News
Vote Polis, Proud to Be a Boulderite
By Scott Hatfield
For too long, our Rep in CD 2 has downplayed their connections to Boulder even though Boulder County might make up 55% of the voters. We now have a Congressman who is proud to be from Boulder and to represent our values. Folks here should appreciate being embraced rather than shrugged and support Polis at the polls. Jared Polis grew up in the City of Boulder and was extremely well known in town personally even before running for Congress.
Jared Polis formed his core values protesting Rocky Flats with his parents while growing up. Given his stated priority for the morality of stopping an ever escalating nuclear arms race, there is a reasonable expectation that he cares about the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) more than most Democratic Reps. The NPT has been the cornerstone of foreign policy for many nations, not just the USA and Russia. The NPT obliges its signatories to work in good faith toward a nuclear weapon free world as well as guaranteeing the right to nuclear energy and uranium enrichment. As the President has stated, that includes Iran. While knowing and publicly stating that Iran is not attempting to produce a nuclear weapon and simultaneously beating the drums of war over the guaranteed right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, elements in the USA and Israel could be more interested in undermining the NPT. The nuclear weapons industrial complex is very powerful and wants its profits back. We need a Congressman who can stand up to these entrenched interests. A strong NPT makes the world a safer place for all nations.
Education has been a cornerstone of Jared’s priorities for a long time as well. He was on the Colorado School Board for 6 years and founded five schools. His work to get more kids headed to college should serve the University of Colorado and its role in Boulder well. He believes that education is the single most meaningful investment America can make in its economic future and in its people. Having the University here in town puts the role of the educational system into great prominence locally.
Jared Polis also prides himself on being a champion for environmental issues which has been a CD 2 legacy.
Scott Hatfield has been a member of the Central Committee of the Colorado Democratic Party and the Executive Committee of the Boulder Democratic Party since 1996.
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Boulder renewed as a Platinum Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists
0October 19, 2012
Across the U.S., bicycling is on the rise – thanks in part to communities like Boulder taking steps to make riding easy, accessible and safe. Today, the League of American Bicyclists (LoAB) announced the latest round of Bicycle Friendly Communities (BFC) and renewed Boulder’s standing as a Platinum Bicycle Friendly Community. The Platinum award recognizes Boulder’s continued commitment to improving conditions for bicycling through investments in education, infrastructure, policies and promotion.
“We are excited that Boulder recognizes that simple steps to make biking safe and comfortable pay huge dividends in civic, community and economic development,” said League President Andy Clarke. “Bicycling is more than a practical, cost-effective solution to many community challenges – it’s a way to make Boulder a place where people don’t just live and work, but thrive.”
The BFC program is revolutionizing the way communities evaluate quality of life, sustainability and transportation networks by allowing them to measure their progress toward improving bicycle-friendliness. The free program provides a roadmap for building a Bicycle Friendly Community and the application process itself has become a rigorous educational tool.
In September, the league announced the “Diamond” level designation to raise the bar for communities like Boulder to move beyond Platinum. The LoAB will visit Boulder in December to conduct an audit and work with the local cycling community on creating clear goals to achieve Diamond status. The primary measure of Diamond designation is the number of people riding and community satisfaction. The five levels of the award – diamond, platinum, gold, silver and bronze – provide a clear incentive for communities to continuously improve.
“Boulder’s Platinum designation renewal recognizes many years of sustained effort by the community, city staff and local policy makers,” said Director of Public Works for Transportation Tracy Winfree. “It is a great accomplishment and celebrates the community’s commitment to bicycle friendliness. Given the City of Boulder’s ethic of ‘continuous improvement,’ we appreciate the league’s challenge for communities like Boulder to reach beyond Platinum to the new Diamond designation.”
Since the BFC program’s inception, more than 500 communities have applied and there are now 242 Bicycle Friendly Communities in 47 states across America. To learn more about the Bicycle Friendly Communities, visit www.bikeleague.org/community.
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Boulder 24 hour Shoot Out top ten
0October 16, 2012
The Shoot Out 24 Hour Filmmaking Festival Boulder October 19-21, 2012 – 9th Year
Since the Shoot out is coming again we thought we would show you some of the top ten favorites films. Stupid but funny.
Tickets available for the Top 10 screening on October 21st at noon at eTown Hall. True to eTown’s 21-year commitment to green education and “doing the right thing”, eTown Hall, converted from an old church facility, is quite possibly the greenest music and media center in Colorado! This unique intimate downtown Boulder venue will be the host for the 9th annual Top 10 Film.
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Reports: CU degree as good as gold
0October 15, 2012
CU-Boulder degree rated highly
nationally for return on investment
When it comes to landing “good paying” jobs and receiving a high return on investment, University of Colorado Boulder graduates are in good shape nationally, according to two recent reports.
CU-Boulder ranked in the top 20 in a recent report released by SmartMoney that rated the return on investment for 50 of the nation’s priciest colleges for out-of-state tuition. CU-Boulder, at No. 19, finished just behind Princeton University and ahead of Harvard University, Cornell University and Yale University in the rankings, which compared starting tuition (class of 2009) to recent and mid-career median salaries of graduates.
CU-Boulder also fared well in PayScale.com’s mid-career salary ranking, coming in at No. 35 out of 452 state schools ranked for return on investment.
“This is good news for our graduates,” said CU-Boulder Provost Russell Moore, the chief academic officer of the Boulder campus. “It is good news for the constituents of the state of Colorado and the parents of students who attend the University of Colorado.”
The median salary for recent CU-Boulder graduates (out of school three years) is $45,000, while the mid-career (out of school 15 years) median salary is $87,100, according to figures compiled by PayScale.com.
“What this shows us is the return on investment for our out-of-state students is very good, but for our in-state students, who receive the same median salary coming out of school, the return is even better because they don’t have to put as much money in up front,” said Lisa Severy, director of CU-Boulder’s Career Services office.
There are several reasons for CU-Boulder graduates excelling in the job market, according to Moore.
“For a large research university, we engage undergraduates in experiential learning,” Moore said. “Our students have significant opportunities to engage in cutting-edge research, creative work and studio activities. We engage them at a higher frequency than most other public research universities, in fact, I would argue, many private research universities.”
The interdisciplinary nature of the curriculum at CU-Boulder also plays a role, according to Severy.
“We have a lot of programs that are multidisciplinary,” Severy said. “Since the world of work is multidisciplinary, this training is especially marketable when you graduate, because our students are used to working with other people outside their specific areas of study.”
While proud of the recent rankings, Moore expects the bar to be even higher in the years to come.
“We think we bring a lot of value to higher education and we are very excited about some of our innovative programs that will move the bar even higher,” Moore said.
