U.S. representative to visit LR school
U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, a Democrat and civil-rights leader from the 1960s, will be at the Little Rock School District’s Romine Elementary School on Monday to talk with pupils who recently read March: Book One, a graphic novel about Lewis.
Lewis, who is scheduled to be in Little Rock for the city’s annual literacy festival, was invited to Romine by fifth-graders Emarion Johnson and Kamaryn Bell, students of Renee Edmondson.
Andrew Aydin, co-author of the book, will join Lewis in the visit at Romine.
College-pick day set in El Dorado
Nearly 300 seniors at El Dorado High School will announce on Monday the 34 colleges and universities they plan to attend with help from El Dorado Promise Scholarships.
Gov. Mike Beebe will be the keynote speaker at the eighth annual El Dorado Academic Signing event.
The El Dorado Promise is a $50 million scholarship program funded entirely by Murphy Oil Corp. for graduates who have attended the school since at least ninth grade. The money is used to pay up to the full cost of college tuition and mandatory fees for the students.
The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville’s Office for Education Policy has published a new report on the Promise Scholarship, saying that since the scholarship was initiated in 2007, the El Dorado district’s enrollment has steadily increased, reversing years of decline.
Additionally, the researchers concluded that the 2,300 students who were in grades four through eight when the scholarship was announced “outperformed similar peers in similar districts on the Arkansas Benchmark Exam by 7 percentile points in literacy and 6 percentile points in math.”
The report also found that high-achieving students who are black and/or are from low-income families maintained and improved their test scores through middle school. The report is available online at officeforeducationpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/ El-Dorado-Promise-AER.pdf.
Conference to key on college, careers
Diplomas, Certificates and Degrees: Helping Arkansas Students Find their Ideal Careers is the title of this year’sUniversity of Arkansas’ Office for Education Policy annual conference set for May 15 at the Clinton Presidential Center.
The conference will highlight Arkansas high school programs that promote college and career readiness and discuss how best to prepare the future of Arkansas’ workforce.
National speakers at the conference will include Caesar Mickens from Jobs for the Future. He will provide an interactive workshop on Early College High Schools. The Early College High Schools program provides college-level credits and doesn’t charge tuition, enabling students to graduate with a high school diploma and college credit.
Raphael Rosenblatt of Year Up is also on the conference’s program. Year Up combines six months of intensive training and education with a six month corporate internship. Year Up connects young adults with businesses in need of talent, including American Express, Citi, Facebook and Google.
The conference is free for educators, policymakers and members of the public. The registration deadline is Thursday. More information about the program and registration is on the UA office website: officeforeducationpolicy.org/conferences.
Merit scholarships given to 6 in state
Six Arkansas high school seniors are among about 1,000 students nationally to be awarded corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship Program awards.
Most of the awards range from $500 to $10,000 a year and are renewable for up to four years of undergraduate study. Some provide a single payment of $2,500 to $5,000.
The Arkansas students, their high schools and the companies sponsoring their scholarships are:
Russell Bryan of Conway; Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts in Hot Springs; Snap-On Inc. Scholarship.
Benjamin J. Heil, Fayetteville High, Motorola Solutions Scholarship.
Arman D. Hemmati, Fort Smith Southside High, Ingersoll Rand Co. Scholarship.
Field M. Watts, Fort Smith Southside High, Rheem Manufacturing Co. Scholarship.
Tori L. Metheny, Rogers High, Kennametal Foundation Scholarship.
Jonathan L. Penn of Sherwood, LISA Academy-North charter school in North Little Rock, Dr. Joseph J. Jacobs Scholarship.
Additional 2014 National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced throughout the spring.
Arkansas, Pages 17 on 04/27/2014