LITTLE ROCK — County students all must register
All students who will attend schools in the Pulaski County Special School District, regardless of whether they previously attended district schools, must register.
They should sign up at the school they will be attending, with the exception of two schools that are undergoing construction.
Registration is being conducted this week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday.
The call for all students to register this year is because of the district’s move to use an upgraded data-collection system called e-schoolPLUS. The district is piloting the new system at the request of the Arkansas Department of Education, which is funding it.
Secondary school students will not receive a class schedule if they fail to register before the start of classes.
To register their children, parents will be asked to show proof of residence, such as a utility bill, and they’ll be asked for any updated contact information.
The two schools that will host off-site registration are Pine Forest Elementary School in Maumelle, which will host registration at the Jess Odom Community Center, and Robinson Middle School, which will register students in the cafeteria of Robinson High School.
More information about school registration is available through the Office of Equity and Pupil Services at (501) 490-6215 or (501) 490-6219.
LR OKs director of early education
The Little Rock School Board has approved the appointment of Karen James to be the district’s new director of early childhood education and literacy, succeeding Glenda Nugent, who retired.
James has been a Reading Recovery teacher leader in the district since 2008.
The board also appointed Stephanie R. Pickett-England to be the principal at Watson Intermediate Elementary School, where she was formerly the assistant principal. She replaces Betty Mosely,who resigned.
Karisa Nichols was promoted to assistant principal at Hall High where she has worked since 2004. Frank T. Williams was named assistant principal at Cloverdale Aerospace Technology Charter Middle School. He was a math teacher at Watson Intermediate School.
Common core tops state, study says
On the heels of the Arkansas Board of Education joining with more than 20 states in adopting Common Core State Standards for math and English/language arts, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education policy organization, has now compared eachstate’s existing standards with the new standards.
In Arkansas’ case, the institute concluded that the common core standards are preferable to the state’s 2003 and 2006 standards in English and its 2004 standards in math.
Arkansas’ English standards received a grade of D while the common core standards received a B+ grade from the institute.
Arkansas’ math standards received a grade of a C while the common core standards in the same subject received an A- grade.
The study can be viewed at the following website: www.edexcellence.net/index. cfm/news_the-state-ofstate-standards-and-thecommon-core-in-2010.
Arkansas, Pages 21 on 07/25/2010