It’s hard to believe that we are already starting the fourth week in June. Most C-FB ISD students and staff are on vacation, but just over 5,000 students are taking advantage of our summer school program. Most of our summer school programs will wrap the first part of July except for the second session of high school. That will go on until July 24.
Most people think that teachers take off and enjoy June, July and most of August. In reality, many C-FB ISD teachers are involved in all kinds of training and even working on curriculum and other materials in preparation for the new school year.
Speaking of the next school year, the district has lots of ways for parents and the community to stay informed over the summer and during the regular school year.
Here’s a sampling:
District Website – www.cfbisd.edu provides up-to-date event dates, news, accolades, Directory of Schools, School Locator, special alerts, school closing updates and information. The district website also links to campus and department websites. The website also provides some information in Spanish.
Twitter - We joined the Twitter “revolution” to communicate news items, information and accolades. Twitter is a free social networking and microblogging service that allows you to answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called "tweets", to your friends or "followers." Twitter members can set up 'tweets' to be sent to a cell phone via text messages (charges may apply, ask your carrier for details). There are also free applications for Blackberry, Android and iPhone that can be used to keep track of 'tweets' without using text messaging. Go to www.twitter.com/cfbisd to follow us on Twitter.
We also write e-newsletters which you can sign-up for by visiting www.cfbisd.edu. We edit them on a variety of topics; however, you receive them more often during the school year when C-FB ISD is in full swing.
We are known for podcasting so if you listen to podcasts check out our Podcast Station.
Our CFB-TV can be seen on www.cfbisd.edu or if you have cable TV on Time Warner or Verizon, you can tune in to Time Warner Cable Channel 98 or in Farmers Branch on Time Warner Cable Channel 95 or on Verizon Channel 38.
We want our parents and the rest of our community to be in the know about C-FB ISD because as our positioning statement says: “We have one purpose: learning.”
We are C-FB ISD: an innovative leader in learning.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
What A Great Academic Year!
“We value creativity, relevance and rigor in learning.”“We have one purpose: learning.”
Recent events really accentuate these two sentences from our positioning statement.
· Our high schools hold senior walks annually. These are events where the senior classes learn about college scholarships and other awards. These scholarships may be from such local organizations such the C-FB ISD Educational Foundation, Civic League, local Rotary Clubs or area businesses. Students also receive scholarships from colleges, universities, the military and other non-community sources. This year, our 2009 graduating class accepted $23,100,166 in scholarships. Nine C-FB ISD graduates received appointments to military academies, and 36 are joining the armed forces.
· For fourth time, C-FB ISD has been listed as a “Best Community for Music Education in America.” This national recognition comes from the N-A-M-M Foundation. This year’s the 124 Best Communities represent 21 states with a record amount of communities from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas.Ten Texas school districts made the list – C-FB ISD, Arlington, Denton, Hurst-Euless-Bedford (HEB), Katy, Klein, Midway, Northwest, Pasadena, and Plano.
· Preliminary TAKS scores are in, and the news is phenomenal. We believe all C-FB ISD elementary schools will be either recognized or exemplary under the Texas Education Agency (TEA) accountability rating system. That’s a first for us.
· When we look at our 2009 Projected TEA campus ratings, we are seeing a dramatic increase in the number of exemplary schools and notable decline in academically acceptable ratings. Take a look:
· Even better is news – we have more students who have made commended performance scores on their TAKS. What this means is that they scored considerably above the state passing standard and showed thorough understanding of the knowledge and skills at the grade level they were tested.
All in all, C-FB ISD has had an excellent year for learning. The support our community and others have given not only the Class of 2009 but to all our students is incredible. The $23 million-plus in scholarships is just an example of the financial support that our students have received thanks to their academic success.The achievement of our students on the Texas Academic Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) is something to celebrate.
It is an indication that all of us value creativity, relevance and rigor in learning.C-FB ISD: We innovate, lead and learn because we are innovative leaders in learning.
Recent events really accentuate these two sentences from our positioning statement.
· Our high schools hold senior walks annually. These are events where the senior classes learn about college scholarships and other awards. These scholarships may be from such local organizations such the C-FB ISD Educational Foundation, Civic League, local Rotary Clubs or area businesses. Students also receive scholarships from colleges, universities, the military and other non-community sources. This year, our 2009 graduating class accepted $23,100,166 in scholarships. Nine C-FB ISD graduates received appointments to military academies, and 36 are joining the armed forces.
· For fourth time, C-FB ISD has been listed as a “Best Community for Music Education in America.” This national recognition comes from the N-A-M-M Foundation. This year’s the 124 Best Communities represent 21 states with a record amount of communities from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas.Ten Texas school districts made the list – C-FB ISD, Arlington, Denton, Hurst-Euless-Bedford (HEB), Katy, Klein, Midway, Northwest, Pasadena, and Plano.
· Preliminary TAKS scores are in, and the news is phenomenal. We believe all C-FB ISD elementary schools will be either recognized or exemplary under the Texas Education Agency (TEA) accountability rating system. That’s a first for us.
· When we look at our 2009 Projected TEA campus ratings, we are seeing a dramatic increase in the number of exemplary schools and notable decline in academically acceptable ratings. Take a look:
| Rating | 2009 | 2008 | Change from 2009 |
| Exemplary | 19 | 8 | +136% |
| Recognized | 16 | 14 | +14% |
| Academically Acceptable | 3 | 14 | -79% |
| % Exemplary or Recognized | 92% | 61% | +31% |
· Even better is news – we have more students who have made commended performance scores on their TAKS. What this means is that they scored considerably above the state passing standard and showed thorough understanding of the knowledge and skills at the grade level they were tested.
All in all, C-FB ISD has had an excellent year for learning. The support our community and others have given not only the Class of 2009 but to all our students is incredible. The $23 million-plus in scholarships is just an example of the financial support that our students have received thanks to their academic success.The achievement of our students on the Texas Academic Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) is something to celebrate.
It is an indication that all of us value creativity, relevance and rigor in learning.C-FB ISD: We innovate, lead and learn because we are innovative leaders in learning.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Making the Vision Possible
In an earlier post, we talked about this sentence in our positioning statement:
“We are the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District.”
And, in that post, we wrote about our fabulous classroom teachers. In Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, they are the heart of our school system. We recognize many remarkable teachers through our Very Important Profession of Teaching program, or as we call it – the VIP program. Check out our VIP program.
While our teachers are the heart of Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, the backbone of our school district is another group --– team members classified as full-time auxiliary, paraprofessional, and non-campus based support professional team members.
They come to work each day to support our teachers so students can achieve to the highest level possible. This year, we began the MVP (Making the Vision Possible) program to honor these unsung heroes.
Starting in January, we asked any administrative team or School Board member to submit online MVP nominations. Others on our team could recommend a nominee to their supervisor.
By March, 46 individuals were nominated for exemplary service, leadership, innovation, cooperation, and teamwork. From those nominees, we randomly selected, 16 MVPs who will represent these 46 staff at two School Board meetings – June 4 and August 27.
All 46 team members have received MVP lanyards that we hope that they will wear proudly throughout next year. Click on this link to see the first MVPs of the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD.
We will be posting the photos of the MVPs who are honored at the Board meetings on our MVP page so here’s that link.
Plato wrote, “What is honored in a country will be cultivated there.” Although those words were written centuries ago, they reflect what I believe is so special about this district. C-FB ISD is an incredible public school system because we have a great team who truly cares about the education of all students.
Congratulations to the first class of our MVPs!
“We are the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District.”
And, in that post, we wrote about our fabulous classroom teachers. In Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, they are the heart of our school system. We recognize many remarkable teachers through our Very Important Profession of Teaching program, or as we call it – the VIP program. Check out our VIP program.
While our teachers are the heart of Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, the backbone of our school district is another group --– team members classified as full-time auxiliary, paraprofessional, and non-campus based support professional team members.
They come to work each day to support our teachers so students can achieve to the highest level possible. This year, we began the MVP (Making the Vision Possible) program to honor these unsung heroes.
Starting in January, we asked any administrative team or School Board member to submit online MVP nominations. Others on our team could recommend a nominee to their supervisor.
By March, 46 individuals were nominated for exemplary service, leadership, innovation, cooperation, and teamwork. From those nominees, we randomly selected, 16 MVPs who will represent these 46 staff at two School Board meetings – June 4 and August 27.
All 46 team members have received MVP lanyards that we hope that they will wear proudly throughout next year. Click on this link to see the first MVPs of the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD.
We will be posting the photos of the MVPs who are honored at the Board meetings on our MVP page so here’s that link.
Plato wrote, “What is honored in a country will be cultivated there.” Although those words were written centuries ago, they reflect what I believe is so special about this district. C-FB ISD is an incredible public school system because we have a great team who truly cares about the education of all students.
Congratulations to the first class of our MVPs!
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