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Sacramento Schools are the epitome of the problems and concerns held by all public schools in the state of California. Recent and ongoing debates about funding arts education, construction costs, and new initiatives play out in Sacramento Schools daily. The most recent fuel to the fire was added when a study titled Getting Down to the Facts was released: it’s an evaluation of the adequacy and efficiency of the current funding of California’s public schools. The study was conducted by a California non-profit educational think tank, Pacific Research Institute (PRI). Given the state’s poor reputation in regards to education, most educators in Sacramento Schools weren’t surprised by the study’s conclusion that the state’s current educational funding system is dysfunctional. However, sensational reports claiming that even an investment of $1 trillion couldn’t fix the problems of California and Sacramento Schools ruffled the feathers of administrators trying to get money for their initiatives. Dr. Vicki Murray, senior fellow in Education Studies at PRI, explained that the report did not say that the problems could not be fixed with large amounts of money, rather, “It found what research and common-sense have told us for a long time: spending more money on more of the same won’t reverse California’s race to the bottom. California’s infrastructure is so poor; it’s nearly impossible to know where education funding goes or what programs are effective. We shouldn’t spend more if we don’t know what’s working. . . reform must be our first priority. “What will this mean for Sacramento Schools? It depends what politicians do with this information. Two of the big issues have been in arts education and construction costs. Currently local districts like Sacramento Schools fund 50% of monies for new building and school renovations. The state covers the rest. Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed upping the local commitment to 60%. Opponents claim this places an even greater burden on at-risk and low-income Sacramento Schools. In the arts arena, however, the Governor made a splash with administrators in Sacramento Schools by granting the largest ever state allotment of funds for the arts in the summer of 2006. $500 million was committed to equipment for arts, music and physical education programs, while $105 was earmarked for hiring and training qualified arts teachers. Sacramento Schools rejoiced at this news because of the strong correlation between arts education and high academic achievement, especially in low-income children. So even though educators and administrators in Sacramento Schools may agree that the educational system is dysfunctional, the lack of vision regarding the solution makes them nervous. Depending on the reforms proposed it’s likely that arts education could again lose funding (a common trend in Sacramento Schools). The report may also makes it difficult for Sacramento Schools to get the funding they want to support existing programs. And with both California and Sacramento Schools at the bottom of the educational barrel in national scores, that has everyone concerned.

Neighborhood schools are quickly becoming a thing of the past. With such things as school rankings, school “grades” for each school, and the No Child Left Behind act, simply sending our children to the grade school down the street is going the way of the dodo bird.

Today, Phoenix Schools’ parents have the option of sending their children to almost any school they wish within the district serving Phoenix Public Schools. While some may indeed choose to stick with the neighborhood learning institution many, if not most, parents are enrolling their children in specialty schools that reflect their child’s interests, strengths, or just the style of education they want for their student.

Phoenix Schools now offer various Magnet Schools to meet the growing demand for school choice. Called “Signature Schools”, these Phoenix Schools offer numerous options for students attending a Phoenix Schools magnet program.

There is a downside to the Phoenix Schools magnet program. By sending children to schools further away from home families now need to import playmates or drive their kids across town to visit friends. Families in the Phoenix Schools need to balance their desire for the strengths of a magnet with the burden of travel time and being more spread out.

If you are interested in the magnet programs offered by Phoenix Schools here’s a partial list:

Montessori – This program serves Phoenix Schools students in PreK through 8th grade. It follows the international curriculum developed by Maria Montessori.

Performing Arts – Phoenix Schools students in 7th and 8th grades have the opportunity to participate in the performing arts throughout the school year with an emphasis on drama, dance, choir and instrumental music. Kindergarten through 6th grade students also participate in these disciplines.

Math, Science & Technology – Phoenix Schools 7th and 8th grade students focus specifically on math, science and technology. The science campus at Lowell offers special benefits to prekindergarten through 6th grade students, as well.

Traditional & Balance the Basics – Prekindergarten through 8th grade Phoenix Schools students engage in a heavy emphasis on reading, math and writing.

Global Community or Donde Vivo – Donde Vivo students in 7th and 8th explore their global community through an interdisciplinary curriculum. Each year the students have the opportunity to experience their global community by traveling abroad.

Second Language Acquisition – Second Language Acquisition is the focus of a program at Herrera School for students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Students are immersed in both Spanish and English in all subject areas.

Science Investigations – Phoenix Schools students in 7th and 8th grades engage in physical and life sciences during their regular science classes, as well as through an after school club with mentors from Arizona State University.

Magnet Schools offer options, but they’re not perfect. Most Phoenix Schools house magnet programs in less desirable parts of the city in an effort to draw more affluent and educated parents. But you and your child might find that it’s the right place for you.

Myyearbookbuilder Next Generation Technology for the School Yearbook from OdysseyInteractive. com     Introduction   The high school yearbook has been a cherished tradition for more than 150 years. It serves as a snap shot in time of the high school experience. It is a treasured memoir that gets more valuable with time and is a delight for future generations who want to see how mom or dad looked “back in the day. ”  The ritual of students signing each others yearbooks and wishing one another a bright future or recalling a memorable story is a custom that makes the yearbook more than a collection of images and text.   A Revolution in Yearbook Design   For as long as the modern high school yearbook has been in use, there have been very few improvements on its features or content. Most yearbooks focus primarily on the school activities. Each student gets a head shot, usually in black and white that is not a whole lot bigger than a passport photograph.   Only the most active, successful or lucky students are in more than one photograph.   The yearbook is organized by a yearbook committee but does not allow individual participation by all students.     With the revolution in on-line production, digital photography, compressed digital and audio files and the accessibility of home, school and library computers, an opportunity now exists to make the high school yearbook a significantly more dynamic archive of precious memories. Yearbooks are no longer constrained by the cost of color photographs, physical size of the year book or production schedules that prematurely end the recording of school year events. The removal of these constraints has unleashed yearbook creativity. The yearbook can now be delivered in CD or DVD format where students can navigate to their favorite experiences, classes, friends or activities.   Customization   Myyearbookbuilder by Odysseyinteractive. com is unique in that it is a true yearbook with all of the features we have come to expect. It is not merely a collage of photographs on a CD set to music.   It is a fully navigable book on CD or DVD that includes all of the school organizations, activities and events that took place during the year. In addition, each student has a profile page where they can upload their own color photographs and share their own unique experience. They can describe their favorite subject, favorite moment and other notable experiences.   In addition, they can invite others to join their network of buddies and allow selected friends to sign their pages.   Multimedia   The availability of audio recorders, digital cameras and handheld camcorders has greatly increased the range of material that is available for use when recording memories.   Myyearbookbuilder by OdysseyInteractive. com allows school administrators, teachers and students to upload video clips of key events such as the game winning touchdown, a Shakespearian soliloquy or a solo performance in the school play.   Audio files of best wishes, debate footage or the school song can also be posted.   High quality color photos can be uploaded and can be stepped through for a more complete picture of the students’ year.   Double-clicking pictures allows them to be expanded and printed at any time in the future.   Allowing students to personalize and expand their involvement in the yearbook creation process is a surefire way to boost the number of students that will purchase a yearbook at the end of the school year.   Production Schedules   The timeline for traditional yearbook for most schools usually ends in the February or March time frame.   This is due to the time it takes to print a traditional yearbook.   This does not allow inclusion of spring sports and other significant events such as prom.   In addition, it places the yearbook committee in a time crunch, forcing them to work hard at the start of the year instead of allowing them to spread the workload over the entire year.   On-line production, coupled with CD or DVD distribution, allows for significantly more material to be delivered in a much faster timeframe and for a significantly lower cost.   Yearbooks can be mass produced in 2-3 weeks, allowing the yearbook committee additional months to market the yearbook, sell advertising to local businesses and include more events of the school year up to and including graduation, if desired.   In addition, schools will not have to make minimum order commitments and quantities can be adjusted at any time.   Fundraising   One of the most important aspects of the yearbook has been its use as a fundraising too. However, the traditional yearbook has ceased to be an effective fundraiser. Increasing production costs have forced schools to either raise the cost of the yearbook or cut back on the number of color photographs or size of the yearbook.   This has resulted in reduced sales and with that, a decreased ability to sell advertising to local businesses. Significant commitments are required by the printing houses, sometimes leaving the school with a supply of books for which there are no buyers.   Myyearbookbuilder by Odysseyinteractive. com generates a very appealing, high-impact, personalized product that has significantly more full color content than the traditional yearbook.   Allowing the students to construct their own pages increases their interest in the project and assures the school that these actively engaged student will in fact purchase a yearbook.   A variety of full-color advertising options are available to local businesses that will allow them to be showcased many times throughout the yearbook.   The school runs no risk of being left with unsold copies as there is no minimum commitment and the quantity can be changed up until the day before CDs or DVDs are produced.   In addition, extra or replacement CDs or DVDs can be produced at any time in the future, a feature unheard of with traditional yearbooks.   The school never has too many or too few!  While advertising revenue had traditionally been used to offset the production costs of the yearbook, it now can be a true fundraiser.   The cost of producing a yearbook online is significantly less than a traditional yearbook.   The cost to the school for a finished CD or DVD with all of these features is $25, for 1 or 1,000.   This allows the school to sell these to their students for $35-45 and make between $10 and $20 per CD or DVD.   When paired with the advertising revenue, this is a significant fundraising opportunity.   Security   Myyearbookbuilder by Odysseyinteractive. com is first and foremost a secure environment for students and faculty to capture memories and experiences.   An in-progress yearbook has a number of security features.   Only the students and administrators of a yearbook can access the website hosting their school yearbook.   The students can edit only their own pages.   However, they can view the entire yearbook in progress and can see the pages of other students as they are being constructed.   The administrators have access to all of the school’s common pages to populate them with photos, text and video.   In addition, administrators can view and edit any student page.   Students can post pictures to their pages, but they are placed in quarantine and are not viewable until they have been approved by the administrator.   When the administrator logs in, they can immediately see all of the pictures that have been submitted.   A simple click approves or rejects each of the pictures.   In the same fashion, the administrator can approve all video clips and all audio files.   Students can sign each others yearbooks but a signature must be approved by the receiving student before it will be displayed on their page.   Students can forward inappropriate signatures to the administrator for action.   All text on all pages is monitored by a sophisticated content management filter that screens for inappropriate language.   This filter is state of the art and is updated on a constant basis to be current with all new terms.   Summary   In twenty years, when today’s student sits down with his or her family to view their yearbook, they will have a true time capsule of how they looked and acted, who their friends were, how they spoke and who they were as students.   They will have access to a wealth of content that allows them to revisit their high school days in full color.   Learn more about Myyearbookbuilder at OdysseyInteractive. com.