DTE Energy MATH Enrichment Grant Program

DTE Energy MATH Enrichment Grant Program (Blog-site)
http://dtemath.blogspot.com

Uncover and Discover YOUR ........................

When The Thrill Is Gone, So Are They

by Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans

Do you help your employees find the work they love to do? It may not always be easy, and you may even risk losing some of them. But if you don’t partner with your talented employees to find work they are passionate about, you will no doubt lose them anyway.

Passion for work means that people find what they do to be so exciting that it sometimes doesn't even feel like work -- so exciting that it brings exhilaration, a "high." Granted, even those who have this passion seldom have it every day -- but they do know that feeling, and they know when they lose it.

Do you know what your employees are passionate about? Do you have any idea what gets each of them up in the morning feeling anticipation and eagerness about the day? When we asked dozens of people about their work passions, here is some of what we heard:

• "I love creating something new, something no one has ever seen or even imagined before."
• "I get a kick out of working on such an elite team. There is so much brilliance here."
• "I love drawing, welding, building something."
• "I love numbers. I'd rather work with them than with people."
• "I really get excited when I discover a new rule in math."
• "I love to help someone get better at something and get happier in the process."
• "I love managing others. What a kick it is to motivate and guide a team to do great things."
• "My passion is turnaround -- taking something that is broken and fixing it."

A common theme surfaces among these diverse answers: When people are doing what they love, they are at their best. If you help connect your employees' passions to their jobs, you and they will reap the rewards.

Passions are wired into the real world more directly than our workday routines are. If you love something, you'll bring so much of yourself to it that it will create your future -- Francis Ford Coppola.

Uncover and Discover

So what can you do to help people find work that engages them deeply? First, ask. Ask several ways because people respond differently to different words. Try, "What work do you really love to do?" or "What are you passionate about?" or "What gives you the greatest thrill or kicks at work?" As they answer, dig a little deeper. Then think creatively about how you might put their passions to work.

When one manager had the "passion conversation" with his em­ployee, here is how it went:

• Manager: What do you love to do? What are you passionate about?
• Tara: I've recently learned to use some desktop publishing software, and I've created brochures for my church. I'm having a ball with it.
• Manager: I wonder if there is a way we could use your talent and interest here at work.
• Tara: I've been thinking about it and wondered if I could take on the layout of the new company newsletter we've been talking about.
• Manager: How would that work out with your current heavy workload?
• Tara: I will definitely get my work done. You know that about me. This project will be above and beyond my current workload.
• Manager: Let's give it a try. Keep me posted as you work on the first issue. Let me know what's working and what's not.

Tara was feeling pretty bored with her job. She'd been doing the same work for years, and the thrill was gone. She had even been thinking of leaving. She poured herself into the new project, teamed with colleagues, and turned out a first-rate newsletter. Her teammates and boss praised her and were astounded at her accomplishment.

Since that event, Tara has expanded her job to include multiple graphic arts projects. Her boss worked with her to restructure her job so that some of her former duties went to other people. Tara's energy and productivity have soared, and she wakes up eager to go to work. The key to her renewed enthusiasm is that her boss collaborated with her to uncover and then capitalize on her passion.

Passion Igniters

Most managers need a little help building passionate teams. Here are a few passion igniters to consider:

Hire for Passion

Why not select for passion in the first place? Find out if the candidate has a passion for making a difference or for your company's product or service. What about a passion for the work your unit does or for working on a team? If you build a team of passionate people, they'll not only produce for you -- they'll actually help retain each other.

Show Your Passion

"I see a world of possibilities where people who approach their work with passion, who take calculated risks for the good of the company, and who dare to test their own limits will reap unparalleled benefits in terms of excitement, fun, and personal satisfaction."-- J.P. Garnier, CEO, GlaxoSmithKline

What would it be like to work in an organization where leaders at all levels shared this CEO's approach? Share the passion you have for the work with your team. Your actions model what you expect from others.

Share a Meaningful Mission

Why does your team or organization exist? What is your mission? Share that mission with your employees. Then, clearly link employees' work to the mission. Tell them how their work contributes to it. Tell them how critical they are to you, to the mission of the team, and to the or­ga­nization.

"I've been the janitor and maintenance expert here for 30 years. We take care of old people who need nursing care and help with their daily living. They deserve the best, after all they have done and given in their lives. I love my work. I help make this building beautiful and safe for the people who work here and the people who live here. The director here gave me an award for my service and told everyone how critical I am to serving our residents. That award hangs on my wall at home." -- Maintenance expert, nursing home.

This man is crystal-clear about the value of his work. He is inspired by the mission of the organization and the reason for his being there.

What prevents you from giving your employees different work or more of the kind of work they love? The list is often lengthy. You might think that in reality you don't have enough of the following:

• Time
• Money
• Staff
• Management support

These constraints may be real. But remember, if you don't help your talented employees find work they love in your organization, you will lose them. Do you have enough time, money, and staff to deal with their loss and replacement? People who do what they love usually do it very well. If passion is missing at work, your best people may not bring their best to work. So collaborate with them to uncover and discover what they love to do. Link them and their work to your mission, and help them remove the barriers to doing what they love. You'll gain enthusiastic employees who will stay engaged and productive -- and on your team.

Yeah, but really "what does the school of the future look like?" (Not Found Here!)

Building the School of the Future

Introducing Philadelphia's new high-tech high school

By Lindsay Oishi
URL: http://www.schoolcio.com/showArticle.php?articleID=192501205

Microsoft and the School District of Philadelphia have worked together for three years to create the School of the Future, an innovative model for incorporating technology into education that opens on September 7, 2006. Rob Stevens, the project’s architect for software solutions, and Mary Cullinane, group manager for Microsoft’s Partners in Learning program, spoke to School CIO about how IT leaders can learn from the School of the Future’s vision and approach.

Q. How much has the school cost so far?
A. The entire project is funded at $63 million, which is a traditional budget for the School District of Philadelphi. The money required toa operate a school is mostly spent on maintenance. But we’ve used LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification guidelines, so that the overall cost of maintenance will be less than the cost for schools that don’t follow these guidelines.

Q. What technologies are you providing students with?
A. Wherever these kids go, whenever there’s a learning opportunity, they have access to an infrastructure has been built to give them an appropriate environment. That means wireless throughout the school, experts from around the world coming in via streaming media, and infrastructure allowing them to communicate with teachers and parents. The collaborative environment will be very powerful. The other area that will be very powerful is the Virtual Teaching Assistant and Virtual Library. With these, we hope to foster a community of learning.

Q. Tell me more about the Virtual Teaching Assistant.
A. One of the principles of this school is to create an adaptive learning environment. When we went to school, every kid had to turn the page at the same time. With the Virtual Teaching Assistant, the class can have an individualized pace. As a teacher, you can put together a quiz, give it to your students, and immediately ascertain where your class is. The quiz comes up as a window on the students’ machines—they each have their own laptop computer. The results go back to the teacher right away, and if a student gets a certain pattern of questions wrong, the teacher can give them extra help in that area.

Q. How do you keep student data secure?
A. We’re relying entirely on credentialed access. Once you log into the operating system, we know who you are. You don’t have to remember multiple passwords. We have very secure passwords that allow, for example, parents to be identified only with their children, so parents will not be able to get information on another child. We’re not custodians of extremely sensitive information. But we do have the ability to protect it. It’s a well-bounded community of learners—people from the outside will have great difficulty getting information.

Q. Which technologies offer the highest return on investment?
A. First, the multimedia capabilities available through Windows Media services give students a wealth of resources that are visual and online. These are the most valuable in terms of the ultimate product, which is educational accomplishment. The Virtual Library, for example, is a repository for different types of digital media. It allows movies, documents, Web sites, and other content to be stored together. Second, we have automatic mechanisms for student enrollment. Whenever a student is added to the school, they automatically get a Windows account for school portals, e-mail, and a personal Web site. This translates into savings of time and administrative effort, which also reduces cost.

Q. How do school portals work?
A. The school has portals for students, the extended community, and faculty and staff. When you log in to your computer, you’re automatically logged in to your portal. If you’re a student, the portal knows what classes you have and shows you a picture of everyone in your classes. The extended community portals allow parents to be more familiar with their students’ teachers, and to find out what happened in the classroom. Faculty and staff can also use their private portal to communicate about students or even view pay stubs online.

Q. Do you have advice about making public-private partnerships work?
A. CIOs shouldn’t limit themselves to the most obvious asset a partner can bring to the table. When someone thinks about Microsoft, they think of software. But the School District of Philadelphia got to see how we hire people, motivate people, and create the culture of our organization. The other thing to remember is that money is great, but people are better. Individuals and their thinking are valuable resources. We’ve had over 45 people at Microsoft touch this project in various ways, and you can’t put a price tag on that.

Q. How can CIOs keep informed about the school?
A. Every step of the strategic planning has been documented on the Web site, for all schools that are interested in following a similar process. U.S. Partners in Learning will host quarterly briefings with schools across the country, and there is also an annual global forum where school leaders can get together and discuss the results of these innovations.

Lindsay Oishi is a graduate student in Learning Sciences and Technology Design at Stanford University.

© School CIO

ADD: Economics 101: Cheaper, Better, Faster! (Anymore?)

Nine Excellent Reasons for Technology in Education

By John Page
July 1, 2007
URL: http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.php?articleID=196604531

from Educators' eZine

Two events prodded me to write this. The first was my involvement in formulating a technology plan for a technologically advanced local school. During this process I became increasingly concerned that while the school intuitively knew it should improve in this area, it did not really know why.

The second event was an email I got from a teacher concerning my web site Math Open Reference. In it she said, to paraphrase: 'Thank you so much! Now I have something to do with those laptops they gave me!.' You can visualize the scene: a school decided to move technology into the classroom so it gave the teacher the computers. This is putting the solution before the problem. Again I wondered if this school really knew why they wanted the technology. In what way precisely would the education be better?

So here they are. Nine fundamental reasons why I think technology is important in education. Hopefully, they can act as the rationale for technology plans in schools. If you disagree, or find things missing, my contact information is at the end.

Reason 1. Expansion of time and place

In a typical high school a student has access to a teacher for one hour each day. That means she has access to the teacher approximately for 6% of a 16-hour waking day, and even that time is shared with 25 classmates. But she has access to the Internet 100% of the time. That's a lot better — some twenty times better. Yes, technology is no substitute for an inspiring teacher. However, on-line materials are FAR more available. As shown above, some twenty times more available.

Using the traditional textbook + classroom approach, the places where learning can occur are limited. A portable wireless computer has access to the teacher's course material and the entire Internet almost anywhere. And this is a vastly larger resource than can be practically carried on paper in a backpack.

Bottom line: information technology allows learning anywhere, anytime; not just in one particular classroom for one hour a day.

Reason 2. Depth of Understanding

Interactive simulations and illustrations can produce a much greater depth of understanding of a particular concept. When virtual manipulatives are used in a classroom setting they can go far beyond chalk and talk. Using a projector, the teacher can conduct onscreen investigations and demonstrate concepts far more easily than with just words and arm-waving. For example see Subtended Angle. Combine this class demonstration with access to the same tools over the web, and the student can reinforce the ideas by playing with the simulations themselves, any time, any where.

Reason 3. Learning vs. Teaching

Technology allows the tables to be turned. Instead of teaching (push), students can be given projects that require them to learn (pull) the necessary material themselves. Key to this is the ability to get the information they need any time anywhere, without being in the physical presence of a teacher. This project-based pull approach makes learning far more interesting for the student. I have seen firsthand how students cannot wait to get out of regular classes to go to the after-school robotics project.

Reason 4. New media for self-expression

In the old days, students could write in a notebook, and what they wrote was seen only by the teacher. Using modern technology, they can: make a PowerPoint presentation, record/edit spoken word, do digital photography, make a video, run a class newspaper, run a web based school radio or TV station, do claymation, compose digital music on a synthesizer, make a website, and/or create a blog.

Reason 5. Collaboration

A vital skill in the new digital world is the ability to work collaboratively on projects with others who may not be physically close. This can best be done using modern computer tools such as the Web, Email, instant messaging and cell phone. Rather than laboring alone on homework, students can work in small groups wherever they happen to be and at any time. They are doing this already – it can now be formalized and taught as a vital skill. Many university projects are undertaken by teams spread around the world. Your students need to be prepared for this.

Reason 6. Going Global

The worldview of the student can be expanded because of the zero cost of communicating with other people around the globe. The internet permits free video conferencing which permits interaction in real time with sister schools in other countries. From an educational viewpoint, what could be more important than understanding other cultures through direct dialog and collaboration?

Reason 7. Individual pacing and sequence

Students are, of course, all different. Information technologies can permit them to break step with the class and go at a pace and order that suits each student better. Without disrupting the class, they can repeat difficult lessons and explore what they find interesting. With time, it will become more like having a private tutor rather than being lost in a large class.

Reason 8. Weight

Three textbooks and three binders easily weigh over 25 pounds. A laptop computer weighs about 5 pounds and provides access to infinitely more material via its own storage and the Internet. A 40Gb hard drive can hold 2 million pages with illustrations; the Web is unfathomably large. Right now, students are getting back injuries lugging around a tiny subset of what they need in the form of black marks printed on slices of a substance not all that different from the papyrus used by the ancient Egyptians. And it's just static boring text.

Reason 9. Personal Productivity

Students need productivity tools for the same reasons you do. They need to write, read, communicate, organize and schedule. A student's life is not much different from that of any knowledge worker, and they need similar tools. Even if they are never used in the classroom, portable personal computers will make a student's (and teacher's) life more effective. To cash in this benefit, schools need to go paperless.

In summary, if education is about knowledge and intellectual skills, then information technology lies at the heart of it all. We have only just begun this transition. School will eventually look very different. Get ready.

Michigan House Representative, Tim Melton, District 29 (SPEAKS VOLUMES)

"SURRENDER" to the TRUTH! Or simply be terrified.

Young ad stars show old pros new tricks

By Gavin Haycock
Reuters
Sunday, July 1, 2007; 11:29 AM

LONDON (Reuters) - To court new generations of consumers, advertising executives are discovering that experience has become an impediment.

It is a far cry from the glory days of advertising, when newcomers spent years working their way to the top. But unprecedented change in media and technology has given teenagers and kids an advantage in forecasting what products will appeal to consumers.

Put simply, too many executives have grown up with traditional media -- television and newspapers -- which is now losing audience and revenue to Web sites, cell phones, chat rooms, social networking sites and online games.

"I would say you have experts at the age of 14 of fantastic value because those people are extremely intelligent, they have time and they produce a lot of very good counseling on technological issues," said Pierre Bellanger, chief executive and co-founder of Skyblog, Europe's top social network site.

Many of the most impressive bloggers are teenagers, with some particularly linguistic and tech-literate authors punching well above their weight at age 13, Bellanger told Reuters.

Jacques Veyrat, chief executive of Neuf Cegetel , France's second-largest fixed-line telecoms operator, says his company will often provide work to young programmers and developers.

"I always try to pick young, talented people and let them develop what they want to develop," he said, adding that many were happy to problem-solve and apply their creative talent on small or short-term ventures.

Some executives, particularly in advertising, find the changes taking place to be disconcerting as digital media plays an ever greater role in our lives. For the young, such shifts in popular culture and technology are just a fact of life.

"Teenagers ... think they are too sophisticated and they are immune to advertising messages. Of course nothing could be further from the truth," said Jeffrey Cole, a director at the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California.

HOLLYWOOD IN THEIR POCKET

Younger people spend more time online than watching television, have access to millions of on-demand content channels and are fueling a boom in video gaming, an industry that is bigger in terms of sales than Hollywood's box office.

As some media executives note, who needs Hollywood when almost every teenager carries a personalized film studio in a phone in their back pocket?

"The people coming into and out of college don't look at things in terms of media or marketing. They look at what is cool," said James Hilton, co-founder and executive creative director of advertising consultancy Akqa.

This was borne out at the Cannes' Advertising festival earlier this month, where thousands of advertising executives met to brainstorm on the next big idea.

Akqa held a creative competition at the festival inviting young talent to draft an ad campaign using tools not available five years ago.

Art director Todd Parker, 27, and copywriter Peter Trueblood, 26, picked up joint trophies for an Earth Day campaign using 3-D City-making imaging and Google mapping to show the future impact of global warming.

Interacting with the campaign triggered snow falls on mountain peaks to symbolize how action makes a difference.

"Technologic advances, changing media landscape and the way messages are consumed has turned convention on its head," the two said in an e-mail response. "There are only two possible reactions to this -- terror or excitement. We choose both, we're terrified about how excited we are."

Some ideas that didn't make it to the winners' podium owed more to science fiction and looked to be a little beyond the grasp of contemporary thinking.

Try selling a campaign to an account manager that involves cheoptic holograms -- a way of using free-floating video or haptic sensory technology, eye-tracking or brain scans.

David Brown, who studies at the Miami Ad School, picked up a trophy for an interactive campaign he created for Prevent Child Abuse America. One element of this showed a digital billboard whose image changed as donations were texted to a specified phone number, transforming a sad child into a happy one.

Although Brown is only 25, he looks to his teenage brother for inspiration.

"The scary thing is that, when I watch my younger brother and his friends, I'm amazed at the stuff they pull off with their camera phones and cutting video and editing and making songs," said Brown. "It's great to be in this industry now when you never know what's going to happen tomorrow."

YAPO Summer Program Students / YOUTH DAY Participants!

Local News

Posted: Wednesday, 11 July 2007 10:11AM Youth Day Draws Thousands to Belle Isle Scott Ryan, Ron Dewey Reporting

Detroit -- The 25th Metro Detroit Youth Day on Belle Isle brought thousands of kids to the island Wednesday. The event gives kids a chance to exercise their minds and bodies. Kathy Leach, who works in the Biology Department at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, told WWJ's Ron Dewey that she was there to encourage students to stay on the right path in life. "We want to encourage students to stay involved in school, perhaps intrigue someone into a science career," Leach said. Youth Day co-founder Ed Deeb said they also award students college scholarships. "Over the years now we've given out over 500 scholarships," Deeb said, adding that 45 more were being given out Wednesday. Counselors and mentors were also part of the fun, showing students positive ways to use their time and energy.

Focus Item (Collaboration with Pontiac Schools)

DTE Energy Foundation program targets middle school math achievement

The DTE Energy Foundation in Detroit has launched an initiative to improve Michigan students' math skills. The foundation's new competitive Math Enrichment Grant Program will offer up to $400,000 in grants to middle schools in the company's Michigan service territory.

Grants will be awarded for schools to implement innovative new programs or to expand existing programs with proven success. Public, non-public and charter schools within DTE Energy's Michigan service territory are eligible to apply. Applications may be submitted by teachers, principals and school district administers. Grants will range from $5,000 to $25,000, based on competitive merit.

Program success will be closely monitored through assessment tools, such as the MEAP (Michigan Education Assessment Program) or equivalent mathematics exams. The foundation plans to host an educational forum to share the best practices of its award recipients.

The application deadline is Aug. 3. Winners will be announced Aug. 20. Additional information and the application are available at www.dteenergy.com/mathgrant.

COMING to the YAPO Computer Learning Center SOON!

A CUTTING-EDGE CLASSROOM

Paul Quinn addition engages students, even from afar

12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, June 30, 2007

By JENNI BEAUCHAMP / The Dallas Morning News
jbeauchamp@dallasnews.com

Normally students and teachers don't want the summer to end. That's not the case at Paul Quinn College.

REX C. CURRY/Special Contributor

Kenneth Boston, a physical education major and student government president at Paul Quinn College, tries out some of the new classroom tools, including digital blackboards.

It's not the big homecoming game or school mixer that has students eager to get back to the school's Oak Cliff campus. Instead, it's a new schedule of classes offered in a state-of-the-art classroom equipped with digital blackboards, four projectors and a speaker system that will link Paul Quinn with students and classrooms from four other colleges in Texas.

"It is cutting edge," said Barbara Hawkins, executive director of the Texas Association of Developing Colleges, which includes Paul Quinn College. "This is a program that is able to expand, and that is what hurt education for so long, not being able to do that. This is giving our students new opportunities."

The new equipment features a large digital screen at the front of the classroom – known as a Thunder Virtual Flip Chart – that the teacher can write on. Another, larger board, also set up at the front of the class, displays up to eight screens with different notes that can come from the teacher's, students' or other schools' computers. Images and notes can also be scanned and projected on the screens. Students and teachers can even see when classmates log on to the system because icons with their names pop up and an alert is sounded.

In addition to Paul Quinn, the classroom is virtually linked to Huston-Tillotson University and Jarvis Christian College in Austin, Wiley College in Marshall and Texas College in Tyler. And some students will have the ability to log on from any computer with Internet access. The intricate speaker system allows students and teachers from one school to teach and talk with those at another in real time.

Whether students are sitting in an on-campus classroom or logged in from elsewhere, they can call the teacher and ask questions while the class is in session, using the speaker system to speak with any other students who are logged on at the time.

"Students don't even have to come to class," said Ms. Hawkins. "They can use this program from their home."

The program also allows for students to print everything that is displayed on the screens or save it to a USB drive. Even students who miss class – or attend and still miss the information – can benefit.

"To be able to sit in a classroom and to know that when you slept through it you can get all the notes is just amazing," Ms. Hawkins said.

Right now the only courses using the new system are for education majors, but that's just fine with 27-year-old Kenneth Boston Jr. A former architecture major at the University of Texas at Arlington, he transferred to Paul Quinn after realizing that his passion was teaching.

"When you think about education, a lot of students have a choice to go where they want to go, and they want to go where the new stuff is," said Mr. Boston, a fourth-year physical education major. "That's why they go to the large universities, because they feel like they have more resources there. When they see Paul Quinn, they may be interested when they see what we have here."

Even though he hasn't taken a course using the tools, he said he has experimented with the new equipment enough to know that it would be an asset in any teaching environment.

"This is something new, so it is something to be excited about because it is different," said Mr. Boston, president of the school's Student Government Association. "There are so many options outside of just an instructor and a blackboard. From a coach's standpoint, I can think of so many ways to use this. I can draw plays without having a pad in my hand and showing each player. If players are injured or at home, they can just log on to a laptop and see" the plays.

The system cost the college about $150,000. The majority of that funding came from the state Legislature for the teacher preparation program for TADC, said Ms. Hawkins.

"Normally, private schools don't get money from state appropriations, so this was very special," Ms. Hawkins said.

AT&T also gave the TADC two grants totaling $45,000 to be used specifically for the new education tools.

"This is a major investment for a small, private, African-American school," Ms. Hawkins said of Paul Quinn, which has an enrollment of about 800 students. "I can't even emphasize how major it is getting the funding and having this. It is the coolest thing I have ever seen."

Grand Opening Reception (Schedule of Events)

AIM for the SAME!

This special AIM Program issue focuses on trends, pressures, and evolutions shaping the future of education in all its forms, with particular consideration of the role of information technologies in creating that future.

The future of education; whether in public or private schools, colleges or universities, corporate training rooms, or other yet-to-be-imagined venues; is a vision dimly seen on an uncertain horizon.

Tectonic technological, social, economic, and political shifts, driven by the accelerating pace of information technology, globalization, and an evolving culture of knowledge, render already unstable futures largely unknowable.

Educational systems face even more immediate pressures arising from the increasing role of for-profit education providers, learner access to open content, and the growth of the "participation culture."

Change, even radical change, is unavoidable; tomorrow's education and training systems are not likely to resemble today's educational complex.

Whatever the future holds for education, information technologies will play a role. The creative use of information technology can enhance education processes, enabling educators to meet new challenges and reshape education's role in society. The technologies of education, and the use of technology in education, are both drivers of change and indicators of future directions.

Submissions for this special issue may address, but are not limited to, these key issues:

1. What does the "rise of the amateur" in media, music, and news industries suggest for education providers of the future?

2. What is the role of universities and colleges when the world's information is at the fingertips of learners, without the mediation of experts? Or when experts make those resources freely available through MIT's OpenCourseWare or Open University's OpenLearn?

3. Is a copyright system designed to protect physical objects; books, magazines, and journals; capable of serving the digital knowledge needs of the next generation?

4. How can technological tools be used by developed countries to assist emerging countries in educating their people?

5. How should governance and leadership be structured in educational institutions facing exponential change?

6. Are existing research agendas and methodologies capable of answering the knowledge needs of the next generation?

7. Do our existing theories of learning reflect how digital natives learn in the information age?

If you would like to submit a manuscript on this topic, please send it to the guest editor of this issue, George Siemans (gsiemens@elearnspace.org) and to me (jlm@nova.edu) no later than October 15, 2007.

Thanks!

Jim

NSF ITEST Grant / Michigan STEM Center

NGA STEM Center Grant RFP

http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/0702INNOVATIONSTEMRFP.PDF

NGA Awards $500,000 Grants to Six States to Improve STEM Education

Jul 2, 2007, News Report

Because the livelihood of today's workforce, as well as state economies across the country, rests on the ability to compete in today's global economy, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) today awarded Colorado, Hawaii, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia $500,000 grants to establish science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education centers in their states.

A new workforce of problem-solvers, innovators, and inventors who are self-reliant and able to think logically is one of the critical foundations that drive a state economy's innovation capacity. The grants will allow states to create new STEM centers, support the development of a network of STEM centers or repurpose existing STEM Centers. The centers will serve as the foundation for an improved workforce through:

• Aligning K-12 STEM education requirements with postsecondary and workplace expectations;
• Improving the quantity and quality of STEM teachers;
• Benchmarking state K-12 STEM standards, assessments and curricula to top performing nations in STEM education achievement and attainment;
• Garnering public will for change to implement a better aligned system; and
• Identifying best practices in STEM education and bringing them to scale.

"Governors recognize the links between a rigorous STEM education program and our leadership in the global economy," said Raymond C. Scheppach, executive director of the National Governors Association. "These grants will strengthen the economic competitiveness of the United States by improving our capacity for innovation."

STEM centers will help state K-12 education systems ensure all students graduate from high school with essential competencies in science, technology, engineering and math. These competencies are integral to improving overall high school graduation and college readiness rates and supporting a state economy's innovation capacity related to the businesses that operate within their leading economic clusters.

The STEM center grants are being awarded as part of NGA Chair Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano's Innovation America initiative. An independent national selection committee comprised of leading innovation and education experts selected the six states from submitted proposals. All states and U.S. territories were invited to apply for the grant and 24 applications were received.

The grants are made possible with the generous support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Intel Foundation.

YAPO "Small School" Computer Learning Center

July 6, 2007

Editorial

Smaller, Better High Schools

New York City is making impressive strides toward the goal of replacing large and often dysfunctional factory-style high schools with smaller schools where children have closer contact with faculty members. The small schools quickly improved attendance and promotion rates. And a new analysis by the city shows that the 47 new schools opened since 2002 have also achieved significantly higher graduation rates.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg made small schools a central part of his education reform program and has committed the city to opening at least 250. In contrast to traditional high schools that sometimes have more than 3,000 students, the new schools have a target size of fewer than 500. That allows them to bring down class size as well. The goal is to create an intimate learning environment where course offerings are both novel and rigorous and every student knows every teacher.

Critics worry that the new schools would handpick the most desirable and most easily educated students, leaving behind children with special needs or limited language skills. But the city insists that more and more of those students would be included as the schools build their faculties and capabilities. The city will need to make good on that promise.

When it comes to graduation rates the new small schools are already a clear improvement. Schools in poor neighborhoods that once graduated less than half of their students are now seeing graduation rates of 80 percent or even 90 percent. The city, which calculates its overall graduation rate at 60 percent, still has a long way to go, especially in impoverished, minority communities. But the data so far suggest that the small school movement is at least part of the solution.

Let FREEDOM Ring! Re-Tool, Re-School, Re-Invent (America's Competitiveness)

Published Online: July 3, 2007

NEA President Uses Economic Competitiveness to Strike at NCLB

By Bess Keller

Philadelphia

Tapping into widespread concern about the nation’s economic competitiveness, National Education Association President Reg Weaver charged here yesterday that the federal No Child Left Behind Act won’t “prepare [our children] to compete with children from India and China.”

In a keynote speech before more than 8,000 delegates to the teachers’ union annual Representative Assembly, Mr. Weaver contended that the nearly 6-year-old law is eroding the “excellent education” most public school students now get while doing little to effectively close the achievement gaps that disadvantage black, Hispanic, and American Indian children.

“The so-called ‘No Child Left Behind’ Act assumed that schools by themselves could close the achievement gaps. But we can’t close the achievement gaps without bridging other chasms in our society,” such as the ones caused by poverty and unemployment, Mr. Weaver said to cheers.

On the other hand, he continued, even children who are not behind on their basic skills lose out in the more important realms of problem-solving and independent thinking as teachers endlessly prepare them for tests.

The NEA president, soon to begin his sixth and final year at the helm of the 3.2-million member union, called on citizens and policymakers to invest in the “human capital our nation will need to remain strong and prosperous.” Such investments would include many longtime goals of the NEA, for example, universal preschool education, smaller class sizes, and better pay for teachers.

Couching the goals as “an education bill of rights for children” as he spoke in the city where the U.S. Constitution was written, Mr. Weaver said that among the rights was that to have “multiple measures”—and not a single test score—used to determine student learning. Since the NCLB law’s enactment, the union has criticized reliance on state standardized test scores both as a means to chart options for students and to determine a school’s standing under the federal law.

Many delegates reflected the popularity of Mr. Weaver’s message by wearing red T-shirts emblazoned with the NEA logo and bearing the slogan: “A Child Is More Than a Test Score.” Also highly visible, this time on the curtains around the hall, were references to the group’s 150th birthday. The union had its beginnings when 43 educators joined together in Philadelphia in 1857 with the purpose of promoting education nationally.

A Proposal

One part of Mr. Weaver’s speech, though, seemed aimed more at those in policy circles than at his immediate audience of teachers, education aides, cafeteria workers, and other union members. In a long passage that failed to grip listeners, the president set forth the outlines of a plan for “an economic-development extension service” that he said would help increase productivity in the high-tech sector in much the same way the agricultural extension service helped boost it among farmers.

In contrast to Mr. Weaver’s statements over the past several years that he didn’t “know or care” where the money would come from for big-ticket changes such as a minimum salary of $40,000 for every teacher, this proposal specifies bankrolling the proposed new service with about $50 million in tax breaks states now use to attract industry—about the same amount currently lost through “federal tax loopholes.”

The plan, though vague, is in line with the NEA’s promise to drop its naysaying and focus on a new “positive agenda.” It is also a recognition that, in a climate of economic volatility and skepticism about public spending, costly changes to education will be difficult to make and need a hard-nosed rationale.

Mr. Weaver contended that the money now being saved by businesses would be better spent on designating economic-development centers at major universities, which would in turn establish research stations dedicated to fostering innovation in the businesses “that will drive the 21st-century economy,” such as alternative energy and biotechnology. The knowledge developed there would be made available at local schools and more broadly through extension agents, the union leader said.

“A program like this would empower millions of entrepreneurs across the United States to start businesses and create jobs,” Mr. Weaver asserted. It would also allow new money to flow to schools as part of upgrading the preparation of future entrepreneurs, he said.

Election Critical

“Our approach to education funding has not changed significantly in at least 30 years,” the NEA president said. “But we won’t be able to provide a great public school for every child without adequate resources and investments.”

Mr. Weaver even took a swipe at the trillion dollars he said had been spend on the war in Iraq, contending that the spending—whatever its worth for national security—threatened the nation’s economic security.

Reminding his members of “elements in our nation today who would like nothing more than to use the challenges of our schools as an excuse to destroy” public education, the union president urged them to “demand a seat at the table” in every discussion of education and to engage in politics. He pointed to last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down voluntary school desegregation by race as a reason to elect the right president in 2008.

Delegates are expected to hear from eight presidential candidates this week, seven Democrats and one Republican. Yesterday, they heard from Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., along with John Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina and former vice presidential nominee. All three took the opportunity to criticize the NCLB law.

Returning to favorite themes to cap his speech, Mr. Weaver declared that “on our 150th birthday, there ain’t no stopping us now.” He said he expected the union to help elect a president who is “a friend of education” and will help close achievement gaps, reduce the dropout rate, and fix the No Child Left Behind Law.

Having FUN (LEARNING) is a REWARD in ITSELF!

---

July 2, 2007

Op-Ed Contributor

Money for Nothing

By BARRY SCHWARTZ

Philadelphia

NEW YORK CITY has decided to offer cash rewards to some students based on their attendance records and exam performance. Diligent, high-achieving seventh graders will be able to earn up to $500 in a year. The plan is the brainchild of Roland G. Fryer, an economist who has been appointed as “chief equality officer” of the city’s Department of Education.

The assumption that underlies the project is simple: people respond to incentives. If you want people to do something, you have to make it worth their while. This assumption drives virtually all of economic theory.

Sure, there are already many rewards in learning: gaining understanding (of yourself and others), having mysterious or unfamiliar aspects of the world opened up to you, demonstrating mastery, satisfying curiosity, inhabiting imaginary worlds created by others, and so on. Learning is also the route to more prosaic rewards, like getting into good colleges and getting good jobs. But these rewards are not doing the job. If they were, children would be doing better in school.

The logic of the plan reveals a second assumption that economists make: the more motives the better. Give people two reasons to do something, the thinking goes, and they will be more likely to do it, and they’ll do it better, than if they have only one. Providing some cash won’t disturb the other rewards of learning, rewards that are intrinsic to the process itself. They will only provide a little boost. Mr. Fryer’s reward scheme is intended to add incentives to the ones that already exist.

Unfortunately, these assumptions that economists make about human motivation, though intuitive and straightforward, are false. In particular, the idea that adding motives always helps is false. There are circumstances in which adding an incentive competes with other motives and diminishes their impact. Psychologists have known this for more than 30 years.

In one experiment, nursery school children were given the opportunity to draw with special markers. After playing, some of the children were given “good player” awards and others were not. Some time later, the markers were reintroduced to the classroom. The researchers kept track of which children used the markers, and they collected the pictures that had been drawn. The youngsters given awards were less likely to draw at all, and drew worse pictures, than those who were not given the awards.

Why did this happen? Children draw because drawing is fun and because it leads to a result: a picture. The rewards of drawing are intrinsic to the activity itself. The “good player” award gives children another reason to draw: to earn a reward. And it matters — children want recognition. But the recognition undermines the fun, so that later, in the absence of a chance to earn an award, the children aren’t interested in drawing.

Similar results have been obtained with adults. When you pay them for doing things they like, they come to like these activities less and will no longer participate in them without a financial incentive. The intrinsic satisfaction of the activities gets “crowded out” by the extrinsic payoff.

An especially striking example of this was reported in a study of Swiss citizens about a decade ago. Switzerland was holding a referendum about where to put nuclear waste dumps. Researchers went door-to-door in two Swiss cantons and asked people if they would accept a dump in their communities. Though people thought such dumps might be dangerous and might decrease property values, 50 percent of those who were asked said they would accept one. People felt responsibility as Swiss citizens. The dumps had to go somewhere, after all.

But when people were asked if they would accept a nuclear waste dump if they were paid a substantial sum each year (equal to about six weeks’ pay for the average worker), a remarkable thing happened. Now, with two reasons to say yes, only about 25 percent of respondents agreed. The offer of cash undermined the motive to be a good citizen.

It is as if, when asked the question, people asked themselves whether they should respond based on considerations of self-interest or considerations of public responsibility. Half of the people in the uncompensated condition of the study thought they should focus on their responsibilities. But the offer of money, in effect, told people that they should consider only their self-interest. And as it turned out, through the lens of self-interest, even six weeks’ pay wasn’t enough.

Obviously, the intrinsic rewards of learning aren’t working in New York’s schools, at least not for a lot of children. It may be that the current state of achievement is low enough that desperate measures are called for, and it’s worth trying anything. And we don’t know whether in this case, motives will complement or compete.

But it is plausible that when students get paid to go to class and show up for tests, they will be even less interested in the work than they would be if no incentives were present. If that happens, the incentive system will make the learning problem worse in the long run, even if it improves achievement in the short run — unless we’re prepared to follow these children through life, giving them a pat on the head, or an M&M or a check every time they learn something new.

Perhaps worse, the plan will distract us from investigating a more pertinent set of questions: why don’t children get intrinsic satisfaction from learning in school, and how can this failing of education be fixed? Virtually all kindergartners are eager to learn. But by fourth grade, many students need to be bribed. What makes our schools so dystopian that they produce this powerful transformation, almost overnight?

Barry Schwartz, a professor of psychology at Swarthmore College, is the author of “The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less.”

Something Worthy of Our Consideration

U.S. Innovative Teachers Forum

September 27-28, 2007

Updated: June 8, 2007

Forum links • Frequently Asked Questions • Forum Data Sheet (Adobe PDF, 645 KB) • Forum Criteria (Adobe PDF, 215 KB) • Innovative Teachers Home

Rewarding 21st century learning teams

The 2007 U.S. Innovative Teachers Forum will recognize and reward learning teams practicing the elements of 21st century learning in their own professional learning and then incorporating these skills into the student learning environment.

The 2007 Forum, supported by the National Staff Development Council and the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, will bring together exemplary K-12 learning teams for two days, September 27-28, 2007, on the Microsoft corporate campus in Redmond, Washington.

The Forum will provide learning teams with the opportunity to share expertise and engage collaboratively with their peers from around the country.

Apply for your learning team to have a chance to attend the 2007 U.S. Innovative Teachers Forum. Applications must be submitted using the online form by midnight Pacific time, July 11, 2007.

Top of page

Focusing on teaming and the elements of 21st century learning

The flattening forces driving change at an exponential rate have redefined the necessary skills required to be successful in the 21st century. In order for today's students to acquire these skills and be competitive in a still-evolving global economy, learning environments within schools must become seamless and emulate the characteristics and behaviors of the outside world. Furthermore, a learning environment which is conducive to enabling students to acquire 21st century skills must not only exist for the students but also for the educators tasked with preparing the students, as they themselves must be well versed in and practicing these skills as professionals. Given the norm in U.S. education where teachers are working alone in isolated classrooms, (behavior attributed to our factory-era schools), how are educators expected to acquire these skills, let alone infuse them into their teaching and learning with their students?

Microsoft, the National Staff Development Council, and the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future support the growing consensus that teaching, even good teaching, is better when teachers have the support of their colleagues and opportunities for continual reflection, inquiry, problem solving and learning together. Groups of teachers engaged in this kind of work on a regular basis are the learning communities that make good schools great and enable sustained professional growth for educators in the 21st century.

Top of page

About the 2007 U.S. Innovative Teachers Forum

An independent panel of nationally recognized education leaders will select up to 25 learning teams, based on team applications, to participate in the Forum. Up to three teachers plus a principal or vice-principal from each team will be invited to attend the Forum. The Forum will be held on the Microsoft corporate campus in Redmond, Washington, September 27-28, 2007.

Following the U.S. Forum, a subset of attendees will be selected to represent the United States at the Microsoft Worldwide Innovative Teachers Forum in Finland in November 2007.

Each learning team will be reviewed on the following criteria which demonstrate learning teams practicing the elements of 21st century learning in their own professional learning and then incorporating these skills into the student learning environment:

Application Criteria	Weight
21st Century Learning Teams Part I: About the Team	5 points
21st Century Learning Teams Part II: Goals and Team Time • Team goals • Common norms, agreements and learning beliefs • Team meeting time, duration and frequency • Team communication tools and strategies	10 points
21st Century Learning Teams Part III: Teamwork in Action • How does the team organize its work to stay focused on student achievement? • How does the team use best practice strategies to foster professional growth and student achievement?	20 points
21st Century Learning Teams Part IV: Team Success • How has the team directly contributed to improved student achievement? • What has been the most significant team learning thus far? • How has the team impacted the school structure and culture? • What are other indicators of success? • Team challenges and solutions • How does the team demonstrate 21st century skills? • Anything else that your team would like to share	15 points
Implementing 21st Century Projects Part I: Project overview	5 points
Implementing 21st Century Projects Part II: Project Development • Idea source and design steps • Concepts/themes • Essential questions • Core subject area integration • Standards • 21st century content • Learning and thinking skills • Life skills	20 points
Implementing 21st Century Projects Part III: Project Implementation • Student learning strategies • Required resources • Information and communication technology • Implementation steps • Implementation tips	10 points
Implementing 21st Century Projects Part IV: Project Results • Assessment strategies • Student products/performances • Students' most significant learning	10 points
Implementing 21st Century Projects Part V: Project Artifacts • Student work samples • Project descriptors and rubrics • Other key project files, links, etc	5 points
Total Value	100 points

Applications will be accepted through midnight Pacific Time, July 11, 2007. Learning teams selected to attend the 2007 U.S. Innovative Teachers Forum will be notified by August 15, 2007.

If you have questions about the Forum, please send e-mail to teachers@microsoft.com.

DIGITAL LEARNING CONTAINERS!

Banning Student "Containers"

By Alan November
June 15, 2007
URL: http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.php?articleID=196604487

from Technology & Learning

Education is digging in its heels against students' personal tools.

When my 17-year-old son, Dan, comes home from school he shouts hello, heads right to his laptop, and logs on to IM. His buddy list is maxed out. His syntax and grammar would make most English teachers recoil in horror. While he's sending quick notes to his friends he adds photos to his blog, checks the comments from his global audience, and snaps mini earphones into his iPod.

Later he switches his mini earphones for some serious sound-canceling ones, picks up his guitar, and Skypes with his buddy the drummer, who lives across town, for a live jam session. Both musicians can record the session on their own laptops for immediate feedback. (Skype certainly saves gas and the exhaustion of hauling amps or drums.) When he is not creating entertainment and publishing for the world, Dan taps YouTube for his favorite Monty Python skits. He is in his zone.

After playing and recording his music, Dan is allowed to play nonviolent video games. He studies the moves of his own draft picks on the soccer field in EA Sports FIFA07. Any adult would have to look twice to make sure it's not a live televised game—the animation is awesome. You can hear Dan from two floors down: "Did you see that goal?!" He is totally engaged and in charge. He even directs his own instant replays.

With Xbox Live he can play in online leagues with soccer fans anywhere in the world. He puts on his microphone and headset, signs on, and the games begin. Twenty-four hours a day, Dan can find players who would just love to beat him. While they play they share hot tips on movies and the latest CD releases. Getting to sleep with all of this stimulation is a problem.

FiveContainers

Dan has five basic tools, or digital containers, for managing his content, communicating with the world, and accessing his entertainment: blogs, his iPod, Instant Messenger, YouTube, and video games. Of course he also has a cell phone, which he often sneaks into school to text message me about how debate went that day. Otherwise, he has no access in school to the tools he loves to use. In fact, he has been taught that they have nothing to do with learning.

At home he picks his applications and easily moves from one to another. He is self-taught, self-directed, and highly motivated. He is locally and globally connected.

School as "Reality-Free" Zone

But it is safe to say that Dan is not totally engaged at school. He is not self-directed or globally connected. For instance, he isn't allowed to download any of the amazing academic podcasts available to help him learn, from "Grammar Girl" to "Berkeley Physics." He is not connected via Skype to students in England when he is studying the American Revolution, for example,which might create an authentic debate that could be turned into a podcast for the world to hear.

He cannot post the official notes that day so those who subscribe to his teacher's math blog via an RSS feed can read what's going on in his class. His assignments do not automatically turn into communities of discussion where students help each other at any time of the day. His school has successfully blocked the cool containers Dan uses at home from "contaminating" any rigorous academic content. It is an irony that in too many schools, educators label these effective learning tools as hindrances to teaching.

No Containers Allowed

What have we done? We, as educators, have decided that the tools or containers that Dan uses when he is home are inappropriate for school and learning. We have decided that because we do not like the content students produce on blogs without adult supervision we will not let them near a blog, even with adult supervision. What do we think would happen to student motivation if we actively tapped the containers our students want to use? Educators should co-opt them. What if we had blocked all use of paper at one point because, early on, a student had written some inappropriate content without a teacher's guidance?

If we could get past our fear of the unknown and embrace the very tools we are blocking (which are also essential tools for the global economy) then we could build much more motivating and rigorous learning environments. We also have an opportunity to teach the ethics and the social responsibility that accompany the use of such powerful tools. For example, many students do not realize that once something is on the Internet it has the potential to follow them for the rest of their lives.

The Movers

As is always true with breakthroughs, a few pioneers are leading the way. Log on to Bob Sprankle's Web site, where third-grade students inWells, Maine, are teaching the rest of us how to turn eight year olds into teams of powerful digital editors, researchers, and publishers—doing it all during snack time on Mondays. Darren Kurupatwa's pre-cal and calculus students at Douglas McIntire High School inWinnipeg, Manitoba, are authoring daily notes being accessed by people in six continents at pc40s.blogspot.com. NatalieWatt has taught her third graders in New Orleans how to deeply understand the inner-workings of Wikipedia by organizing the class to publish an article about a local historic mansion, the Pitot House, on the site. At Washington International School in Washington, D.C., a high school student spent a good part of his summer building an amazing three-dimensional computer model of the library being planned by the school. This is just a sampling of what happens when we tap the containers our students want to use.

The ability to harness the power of Web 2.0 tools wouldn't be as critical if it were not for the fact that we are educating our students to succeed in a globally connected economy. People around the world have access to our job market via the Internet (read The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman for more on this). We should all be feeling a sense of urgency.

As we provide our students with models of how to use their digital containers for learning, the role of the teacher will be more crucial than ever. The fact remains: These tools can be a major distraction from learning or they can be a major catalyst to it. It will be the courageous educator who works with students to explore the power of these tools and in turn empowers students to be lifelong learners and active shapers of a world we cannot yet imagine.

Alan November is an internationally known ed tech leader, author, designer, consultant, and speaker. For information on his Building Learning Communities Summer Conference, visit www.novemberlearning.com.

An END to a beginning.........and a NEW beginning with no end.....

Pontiac superintendent decides to retire

Report citing host of district failings raised pressure on chief

Of The Oakland Press
In a decision that brought neither fanfare nor outrage, the Pontiac Board of Education unanimously accepted a retirement notice from embattled superintendent Mildred Mason on Thursday.

Board members voted on the matter without discussion during an open meeting that began two hours later than scheduled. Attorneys representing both the board and Mason had accompanied them in a closed-session discussion that accounted for the delay.

"We're very excited about the opportunity to move the district forward," Board President Letyna Roberts said after the meeting.

Mason left the district administration building before the conclusion of the board meeting and was not available for comment concerning her decision to part ways with the district.

The superintendent had one year remaining on a three-year contract.

Roberts said attorneys are working on details of a settlement relative to how Mason will be compensated for that time. During the 2006-07 school year, she received a salary of just over $155,000.

Private discussions on Mason's future with the district have been taking place for months, and some board members have publicly called for her resignation, retirement or termination on several occasions.

During her nearly four-year tenure as superintendent, Mason oversaw curriculum alignment efforts that led to most district school buildings meeting state and federal requirements for improving student achievement levels.

At the same time, she has come under fire for alleged financial mismanagement, divisive operational management practices and still significantly lagging academic achievement.

Fran Fowlkes, co-founder of the Truth for Children education advocacy organization, said Thursday night's decision was critical to overcoming a host of problems that have long been criticized by people outside the district.

She argued that the board and others inside the district must have courage to address these problems earnestly.

"You came close, if this had not happened, to getting a double black eye."

Fowlkes also challenged district teachers and administrators to approach the coming school year with optimism and renewed commitment.

"When you go back to your job, I want to see new motivation," she said. "You will have more support that you've ever seen."

Roberts said the board has already agreed to use consultants with the Chartwell Educational Group to organize a nationwide search for Mason's replacement. The process is expected to take six to eight months.

Meanwhile, Assistant Superintendent for Business Services Calvin Cupidore has been appointed to serve as interim superintendent. He said he is looking forward to assisting the board in district management reform efforts during the search process.

Noting that he is not interested in pursuing the superintendent's position on a permanent basis, he said, "When that period is over, I'll look forward to coming back to my old position."
Click here to return to story:
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/062907/loc_20070629160.shtml

Pontiac Community Visits AIM Program in Detroit / DAY 3

Are WE Having ANY FUN YET?

Cultivating High Performance

by Gordon Quick

In larger organizations, how do you sustain the high performance magic that seems to come naturally in a well-managed entrepreneurial environment?

A number of years ago, I got a call from my friend Jack. Jack had started his own company and by the late 90s he had built a very successful $40 million business. It had grown very quickly and was profitable -- but Jack had begun to feel uneasy.

As we discussed his concerns, Jack's first words were "it just isn't fun anymore." When I replied -- "who said it's supposed to be fun"-- there was a long silence on both ends of the phone. The comment was intended half in jest, but we were both struck by its implications. It wasn't long before we had framed the question that would occupy our discussions for months to come: As a company grows, does it have to stop being fun?

Our early discussions focused on the point at which it stopped being fun for him. Although Jack could not identify the precise point at which it began to change, he clearly knew when he was enjoying it most. Despite the usual life and death struggles of an early stage company, he felt that the early years were the most fun. I can remember his words clearly, "Without a doubt," he said, "those were the most trying times -- but they were best times as well."

Having had a similar experience some years earlier in a company I built from a business plan, I knew exactly how Jack felt. We too had grown rapidly and were very profitable, but my unease was caused by something else. We had built our business through an intentional focus on continuous innovation. We were involved in a rapidly growing industry and we were constantly out in front of our customers in meeting their needs. Innovation propelled us to the dominant position in our market.

But as we approached $50 million in revenue, I sensed that we had lost the innovative edge that was the hallmark of our business. To recapture that magic, I tried a number of different things. And although we had some success, the results did not get us back to where I had hoped. As Jack and I discussed my situation, we wondered if his concern and mine were caused by the same problem.

At this point we began to frame the question more broadly: Do you have to be a small company to have that entrepreneurial spirit -- a spirit that makes it a fun place to work and where people's creative juices flow best? Yet we both knew of larger companies where that entrepreneurial spirit existed -- although it always seemed to be in a small, early stage division. The theme that seemed to be common in all these situations was the existence of a small, close-knit group of people tightly focused on a common objective.

Neither Jack nor I had a clear sense of the exact nature of the problem -- and we certainly didn't have all the answers. But from then on this issue was on my radar screen. As I read books and articles by the great minds of business, I found some good ideas and tried many of them. Yet I couldn't find what I felt was a complete description of the problem, much less a comprehensive framework for the solution -- if in fact there was a solution to this dilemma.

Years later I was thinking about this again when I remembered something Jack had said that didn't sink in at the time. We were talking about how he felt when he had just 30 employees. Jack believed that everyone knew what they were trying to achieve and everyone was a part of it. His comment was, "All the employees felt like it was their business as much as it was mine -- it was as personal for them as it was for me."

My most vivid recollection was of his comments about performance. He said, "Our performance as a group of 30 people was staggering. We were a well-oiled machine, producing at an exceptional level." Jack continued by using a sports analogy. "We felt like we were the underdogs in the NCAA Finals of basketball. We didn't necessarily have the best athletes, but we got the most out of every person, and as a team we were all focused on one thing -- winning the championship."

But the statement that resonated best with me was, "If I got proportionately as much out of the hundreds of people who work for me now as I did when we were 30 employees, our performance would be off the charts."

Bingo! Finally, I think I understood the nature of the problem that caused Jack to stop having fun and caused my company to lose some of its innovative edge. The problem is -- how do you create (or sustain) the high performance that seems to be a natural result of a well-managed entrepreneurial environment?

To address this problem, we first have to define what we mean by a high performance environment.

Jack's sports analogy suggested the answer -- a high performance environment is one in which every employee willingly and enthusiastically contributes the maximum of their energy and talent to the objectives of the company. While it sounds simple, this definition presents two fundamental challenges:

1. How do you get every employee to willingly and enthusiastically give his maximum effort -- and do it in a way that best capitalizes on his unique capabilities?
2. How do you align all those efforts toward achieving the goals of the company?

Now I am neither egotistical nor naïve enough to think that I have all the answers to these questions. But I am now convinced that it is possible to regain and sustain the magic that seems to come much more easily in an entrepreneurial environment. After much thought, I can confidently state that I believe there is a set of actions that will get any company very close to the ideal. However, the only person who can pull this off is the leader of the business -- whether that's the CEO, president, division president or whomever -- it is the person with overall accountability for the business.

But what does the CEO need to do to achieve this result?

Cultivating high performance is not about doing that one magical thing -- rather it is about putting all the pieces together in a way that allows you to most closely replicate the environment found in entrepreneurial organizations.

My model for cultivating high performance in larger, more complex companies has three principal elements: 1) creating an environment that draws out the best in people, 2) creating a clear and compelling roadmap that becomes the framework against which people's energies (and other resources) are applied, and 3) ensuring consistent execution against the roadmap.

If you think about the dynamics of an entrepreneurial organization, it's much easier to achieve the three elements noted above. First, the employees who sign on with a new company are always highly motivated and enthusiastically work to do whatever it takes. Second, the group is of such a manageable size and the goals so uncomplicated that everyone easily knows and understands what needs to be done. And third, having that shared vision and working in close proximity helps keep everyone on track. It's a natural environment for high performance.

But doing it in a larger organization is another matter.

Creating the ideal environment takes a CEO who is willing to lead by example -- one who follows a set of principles while instilling them throughout the rest of the organization -- top to bottom. Providing the framework for applying everyone's best efforts requires the CEO to lead his or her management team in the "thinking" part of managing a business -- these are the activities that produce the roadmap for the business. Then, with the roadmap explicitly defined, the CEO must focus on the "doing" part of managing the business -- shaping and motivating the team, defining the actions called for by the roadmap, ensuring that they are carried out and communicating all of this with the passion found in an entrepreneurial environment.

Cultivating high performance is not about some new magic bullet -- rather it is the discipline to put all the pieces together in a consistent, coherent manner. As companies grow everything gets more complex. And it is the subtlety of ensuring that all the pieces are in place that gets lost in the heat of battle -- that is what stops them from being fun places to work or causes them to lose their innovative edge.

In a series of articles in the coming months, I will explore each of these three elements in more detail. It is my hope that this series will help you identify some number of opportunities, both small and large, that will give your company that extra push toward creating a high performance environment. The good news is that the path is not complex -- you don't need an advanced degree to get there. What you do need is an open mind, thoughtful reflection, and a personal commitment to see it through.