Mar 17 2020

Supporting Parents Through Conferencing and Newsletters During the Coronavirus School Closures

With thousands of students home from school because of the coronavirus, schools are hosting conference days for parents by phone and online. Through these meetings, parents meet with teachers to learn how they can support their children’s academic success at home. To prepare for these conference days, teachers compile diagnostic reading and math data and portfolios of students’ work to show the parents what their children need to learn and what they have achieved to date. We also provide parents with guidance on how they can help their children at home. [Read more…]

Danielle Gentry

Danielle’s first step in education did not begin with education at all. It began with her first love for science. She received a B.S. in Biological Science, with a concentration in Molecular Biology. Her five years of experience as a chemist in the biotech industry at SYVA and Dade Behring Diagnostics include both areas of quality control and research and development. Her contributions were qualifying products for release to sell to the diagnostic market as well as developing new diagnostic technology for immunoassay detection. Danielle’s subtle transition to discovering her passion for education was through the birth of her daughter. She became a stay at home mom. Her uber volunteerism at her daughter’s elementary school gained her access to her path of education. She now holds a multiple subject teaching credential and M.A. in Education from National University. She has over ten years of experience at Sakamoto Elementary School as an educator in kindergarten, sixth grade, second grade, and a 2/3 combination class. Her teaching is rooted in a constructivist model while fostering independence and accountability in the classroom.

Dec 24 2019

Snuggle Time to Support our Kid’s Reading Skills

Snuggle Time to Support Our Kids’ Reading Skills

During the holiday season, it is important to take the time to snuggle with our children and reflect on all that is good in our lives. We can also help our children increase their reading readiness abilities by developing the following daily practices with each child: [Read more…]

Danielle Gentry

Oct 15 2019

What Works in Urban Charter Schools?

What Works in Urban Public Charter Schools?

Youth Policy Institute Charter Schools (YPI) in Los Angeles County has met major growth achievements during the past two years. When preparing for our charter petition renewal, the leadership team analyzed extensive data and feedback from key stakeholders to identify what was working in YPI schools.

Best Practices

We identified the following five best practices:

Our newly hired teachers are highly qualified with 15 – 20 years of teaching experiences and added years of professional experiences beyond teaching.
Our teachers provide differentiated reading support and literacy instruction based on each student’s tested reading level. We have closed up to six years of grade level reading gaps in shorter amounts of time.
Our teachers and students review grade level performance data daily to identify their strengths and weaknesses. This analysis helps students identify what they learn each day.
Parents are critically important to their school’s success through varied levels of leadership involvement and engagement.
Parents and their students are taught how to support each other in preparing for a specific career path that will include college and career preparation.

[Read more…]

Yvette King-Berg, College Readiness

Yvette King-Berg, is the Executive Director of Youth Policy Institute’s Charter Schools. She was the former California Charter Schools Association Vice-President of School Development and Outreach-Southern California. Ms. King-Berg has over thirty years of experience working with teachers, students, parents, and organizations in a variety of positions including Director, Assistant Director, Curriculum Advisor, Bilingual, and Title 1 Coordinators, classroom teacher (K-12) in Pasadena and LAUSD. She has been married for twenty-three years, and is the proud mother of her son, EJ, who attends UC Berkeley.

Oct 08 2019

How Public Charter Schools Can Partner with Your Kids’ Schools

Public charter schools first originated in the 1990s throughout the United States to meet the needs of underperforming students. These first charter schools were either:

Modified from existing public schools that were struggling to meet the needs of diverse students
Created independently through approved charter petitions from school districts, county offices of education, or the state

Current Challenges

In the last five years, public charter schools have challenged traditional school district schools in maintaining adequate services for all. Examples include:

Many charter schools have inadequate school buildings due to rigorous facility school district use and policies.
Traditional public schools have been challenged with declining enrollments that have jeopardized the service delivery for all students.
Private industry has tried to partner effectively with charter schools with bittersweet success.

[Read more…]

Mary Ann Burke, Digital Education Expert

Mary Ann Burke, Ed.D., Digital Education Expert, is a substitute distance learning teacher for Oak Grove School District in San Jose, California and the author of STUDENT-ENGAGED ASSESSMENT: Strategies to Empower All Learners (Rowman & Littlefield: 2020). Dr. Burke creates digital language arts and substitute teaching K – 12 activities for teachers and parents. She is the Cofounder of the Genparenting.com blog. Burke is the former Director II of Categorical & Special Projects for the Santa Clara County Office of Education that supports 31 school districts serving 272,321 students in Santa Clara County. She is also a previous Director – State & Federal Compliance for Oakland Unified School District, the former Director – Grantwriter for the Compton Unified School District, and was the initial VISTA Director for the Community Partnership Coalition in southern California. Much of her work focuses on creating innovative digital trainings and partnership programs for teachers and families to support students’ learning. These programs were featured as a best practice at a National Title I Conference, California’s Title I Conferences, AERA Conferences, an ASCD Conference, the NASSP Conference, and statewide educator conferences.

Feb 12 2019

How We Can Support Our Children’s School Success

At this time of year, we become overwhelmed with our children’s busy school schedules and the increasing demands for homework projects. For example, our children must complete research writing assignments, complex math problems, and science fair projects. Summarized below are ten effective strategies for helping you balance your children’s daily lives:

Teach your children how to be responsible.
Nurture independence.
Model resilience and conflict resolution.
Guide your children’s spiritual and moral development.
Schedule physical fitness and enrichment activities.
Encourage healthy eating habits.
Manage allowances.
Support career exploration.
Organize family activities, play dates, sporting events, and vacations.
Convene family meetings.

[Read more…]

Mary Ann Burke, Digital Education Expert