Booker High students score at national High School Jazz Fest

SARASOTA – For the fourth year in a row, the Booker High School Vocal Jazz Ensemble took top honors in its school-size category at the Berklee College of Music’s prestigious High School Jazz Festival. The event was held Feb. 9 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Mass. Booker High’s Jazz Combo also won its division for the second consecutive year. Both Booker High groups competed against the largest-enrollment high schools in the competition. Each winning ensemble received three 50 percent tuition scholarships to the Berklee Summer Jazz Camps.

“In one weekend our students won their two respective divisions at the largest jazz festival of its kind in the country, were awarded 43 superior ratings at the Florida Bandmaster’s Association Solo and Ensemble festival, and pianist Emily Charlson, winner of the Edward and Ida Wilcof’s Young Artists Concerto Competition, performed with the Florida West Coast Symphony,” said Ned Rosenblatt, Booker High School music department chair.

Some 3,000 students from as far away as the U.S. Virgin Islands participate annually in the Berklee event, the biggest festival of its kind in the country. Big bands, combos and vocal jazz ensembles perform and compete throughout the day. All ensembles are judged by a panel of Berklee's top faculty and receive a written critique of their performances. Ensembles can perform in competing categories determined by school size, or choose to participate in a non-competing category.

Top-ranked ensembles are awarded partial scholarships to Berklee's Summer Performance Program, and individual students are invited to audition for tuition scholarships toward the full-time college program or the Summer Performance Program. A Judge’s Choice Award is presented to one student from each class at the conclusion of the competition performance. In addition, one Superior Student Musician trophy, and three Outstanding Musicianship plaques are awarded in each class.

Individual students from the BHS Vocal Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo who were recognized include senior John Orr (bass guitar) from the Jazz Combo, who was awarded the Judge’s Choice Award. Senior Max Weinstein (drums) from the Vocal Jazz Ensemble was awarded the Judge’s Choice Award. Orr went on to win one of the three division Outstanding Musicianship Awards in the Vocal Jazz Ensemble class; Weinstein received the Superior Musicianship Award in the Vocal Jazz Ensemble class.

In another recent competition, Booker High School seniors Kaela Bratcher, Emily Miller and Max Weinstein were named as finalists for the 2008 Grammy Foundation Jazz Ensembles.

District hosts national ActivBoard conference

SARASOTA –Sarasota County Schools, with the world’s largest installation of interactive classroom presentation screens known as ActivBoards, was the site of a national conference about the technology Feb. 15 and 16 at Sarasota Middle School.

Promethean, a U.K.-based company with offices worldwide, developed the ActivBoard and related interactive technology. Because the Sarasota district is a leader in the use of ActivBoards as teaching tools, the company showcased the technology in county schools by holding the conference in the district. Promethean also held the related U.S. Education Research Summit 2008 in nearby St. Petersburg Feb. 12-14 at the Hilton St. Petersburg/Bayfront.

Some 3,000 ActivBoards were installed in all classrooms and in a number of teacher training facilities throughout the district in 2007. They allow students to experience information from the World Wide Web, interactive maps, photos, videos, teachers’ notes written directly on the screen with an electronic stylus, and much more. The touch-screen capabilities of the ActivBoards, combined with wireless ActiVote student response systems, allow educators to engage, educate, assess and motivate learners.

“We are pleased that educators from throughout the U.S. visited our schools to see ActivBoards in action, and that Promethean held its first two-day U.S. users conference in Sarasota,” said Mike Horan, director of Instructional Technology for Sarasota County Schools. “ActivBoards and related technology are helping our district respond to the needs of today’s digital learners — a key component of our NeXt Generation Learning initiative. Because we have embraced this technology for all of our classrooms, the district is recognized as a leader in interactive learning in Florida and nationwide.”

At the U.S. Education Research Summit 2008 in St. Petersburg Tuesday through Thursday, 125 education professionals and decision makers from 19 states and Puerto Rico networked and shared their vision and best practices for the use of technology in education. Following presentations on Tuesday and Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Summit attendees traveled to Sarasota on Thursday to see ActivBoards demonstrated by teachers in several elementary, middle and high schools.

The two-day users conference in Sarasota on Friday and Saturday was the first in the U.S. for Promethean. It connected 325 ActivBoard users, experts and staff for motivation, education and community, with 20 presenters from Sarasota County Schools and 40 from districts around the U.S. The event was an opportunity for educators and interactive technology experts to share best practices, build valuable relationships and explore new possibilities for the classroom.

The presentations by Sarasota County Schools educators and instructional technology experts at the users conference at Sarasota Middle School, and some of the presentations at the summit in St. Petersburg, showcased ways in which district educators are using ActivBoards and related technology to realize the goals of NeXt Generation Learning (NGL).

NGL is a strategic vision for Sarasota County Schools developed after a year of data-gathering, public engagement and district staff collaboration. NGL embraces the next generation of students with its diverse face, independent thinking and digital upbringing. It acknowledges that the traditional teaching style — “the sage on the stage” — is being replaced with interactive learning, facilitated by the teacher as a “guide on the side.”

Technology is a big part of this paradigm shift to prepare students for the highly collaborative, rapidly changing 21st century workforce. To help facilitate this paradigm shift for all students, the School Board of Sarasota County and Superintendent Gary Norris decided that equity was the key. Every classroom in the district would be equipped with an ActivBoard and every teacher in the county would be trained to use the technology effectively to help students engage in interactive learning.

More information about the district and NeXt Generation Learning is available on the district’s Web site at www.SarasotaCountySchools.net.

County schools celebrate National Career & Tech Ed Month

SARASOTA – Chances are, if you grew up calling Career and Technical Education classes “vo-tech,” you wouldn’t recognize today’s CTE programs. To focus national attention on these programs and the importance of preparing students of all ages for the rapidly changing demands of a global economy, Congress has recognized February as National CTE Month.

In Sarasota County, Career and Technical Education is an integral part of NeXt Generation Learning, the school district’s strategic plan to prepare students for the 21st century workplace. Rather than providing a “vocational-technical” alternative to academic courses, current CTE programs blend the academic curriculum with work-related instruction.

“Students apply the math and writing skills that they’re developing, for example, to their engineering and manufacturing courses,” said Mellissa Morrow, director of Career and Technical Education for Sarasota County Schools. “In today’s jobs, there is more collaboration and less compartmentalizing, so we try to give our CTE students the instruction and the opportunities to bring all their skills together on real-world projects.”

The district is not alone in renewing its emphasis on CTE. According to the Association for Career and Technical Education, there are more than 15,000,000 career and technical education students in the U.S. Nationwide there are over 10,000 secondary high schools and career tech centers and over 9,000 postsecondary institutions offering career and technical education programs. In Florida alone there are more than 700,000 CTE students at the middle school, high school and adult education levels.

Despite some of the “vo-tech” stereotypes that remain, students taking career and technical education courses have higher grade point averages in college, are less likely to drop out in high school and college, and have better employment and earnings outcomes than other students.

And the CTE trend is timely, because according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, nearly 75 percent of employers report severe conditions when trying to hire qualified workers and 40 percent say that applicants are poorly skilled. Career and Technical Education is helping to turn that tide and develop highly skilled, well-rounded individuals who are ready to be part of today’s — and tomorrow’s — workforce.

In Sarasota County Schools, introduction to the CTE concept begins as early as elementary school, where activities allow students to explore career areas and make connections between school and the world of work.

Middle school courses enable students to explore career pathways, determine career interests and aptitudes, and develop basic technical skills in a variety of career areas.

High school career-themed small learning communities provide career pathways and technical courses in nationally-recognized career clusters, including agriculture and natural resources; architecture and construction; the arts, audio-visual technology and communication; business, marketing and finance; health sciences; hospitality and tourism; human services, education and training; information technology; law, government and public safety; scientific research, engineering; and web design.

CTE programs are offered at seven middle schools and five high schools throughout Sarasota County. Students and adults also have the opportunity to attend a stand-alone facility, the Sarasota County Technical Institute (SCTI), and take some courses on-line.

In August, the district’s new Suncoast Polytechnical High School (SPHS), currently under construction on the SCTI campus on Beneva Road, will open to 150 freshman students from around the district. The 67,000-square-foot high school is being built to accommodate 600 students in 23 classrooms. A second career technical school for south county students is scheduled to open in Venice in 2009.

More information about CTE programs in Sarasota County Schools, as well as links to Web sites for SPHS, SCTI and other schools and resources, is available at www.ctesarasota.net.