Visits Piper Elementary to Show How Educational Technology
Can Help Students Achieve and Succeed

BERWYN - February 28, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today called on lawmakers, administrators, teachers and parents across Illinois to recognize the critical role technology plays in educating the next generation of students. Just a day after President Obama asked governors across America to protect and invest in education even during tough budget times, Governor Quinn championed his plans to continue investing in Illinois' education during a visit to Piper Elementary. The Governor was joined by Riverside Village President Michael Gorman, 2nd graders and their teacher Maureen Gorman, who demonstrated how their class uses technology to improve learning.

"The most valuable investment we can make is in the education of our children," Governor Quinn said. "Preparing our students for a 21st century economy starts with making sure their classrooms use the technology that will be vital to their success in high school, higher education and their careers."

Piper Elementary, part of District 100 in Berwyn, is making strong progress in narrowing the achievement gap that hurts too many Illinois students. District 100 is 79% Hispanic and 74% low income. However, Piper students are showing real progress thanks to strong parent and teacher cooperation and administrators investing in 21st century educational technology like smart boards, multimedia labs and tablet computers.

83% of Piper students met or exceeded standards in state testing in 2011 and District 100 as a whole rose to the top 49% of districts statewide, following three years at the mid-60% level. Piper has made adequate yearly progress (AYP) under No Child Left Behind every since it was enacted - one of only 7 elementary schools of similar combined demographics and incomes to achieve this progress.

Governor Quinn has reiterated his commitment to education, jobs and economic growth in his proposed budget by maintaining funding for K-12 and higher education and increasing early childhood funding by $20 million, as well as a $50 million increase for the state Monetary Award Program (MAP), which provides college scholarships for needy students. Governor Quinn also recently announced $623 million in Illinois Jobs Now! capital funding to help dozens of school districts statewide make critical repairs, additions and technology updates to classrooms. Combined with local dollars, the funding will allow school districts to complete projects totaling more than $1.2 billion. In his budget address, Governor Quinn renewed his commitment to continued capital construction funding for school construction.

In his recent remarks to the National Governors Association, President Obama challenged the states' chief executives to invest in American economy built to last by doing their part to ensure American students and workers have the education and training they need to be prepared for the jobs of the 21st Century. Governor Quinn intends to meet the President's challenge and urge lawmakers to pass his education blueprint, which will help avert teacher layoffs, make college more affordable through targeted tax relief and reigning in student loan rates, securing funding for Pell Grants and taking steps to double the number of work-study jobs over the next 5 years to help students who are working their way through school.

Statement by Chris Bern, President of the Iowa State Education Association

on Iowa's Application for a Waiver to the No Child Left Behind Law

DES MOINES, IA (02/28/2012)(readMedia)-- At this time, the Iowa State Education Association (ISEA) is not signing on in support of Iowa's application for a waiver to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. While we understand the need to move away from the one-size-fits-all approach to testing and school accountability under NCLB, the ISEA still has questions about the specifics of this application that need to be addressed.

One area of concern for educators is tying student achievement data to teacher evaluations. As frontline professionals, our members need to be at the table when those decisions are made and the state should be cautious when proceeding with this large policy shift.

In addition, we are concerned that implementation of the waiver application will require resources and education funding decisions are still a long way off in the legislative session. From its inception the education community has realized that NCLB did not provide states the resources to meet the demands of the law. As Iowa applies for the waiver, we do not need to trade in one unfunded mandate (NCLB) for another.

The ISEA remains deeply committed to the success of every child and is ready and willing to work with all of the partners in the education community; teachers, administrators, parents, and policymakers, to ensure our education policies place students at the center. Until our members have had adequate time to review and contribute to the NCLB waiver discussion, the ISEA will not be lending its support to Iowa's application at this time.

The ISEA is a private, professional organization made up of over 34,000 educators who are dedicated to promoting and preserving public education for all Iowa students. Great Education. It's an Iowa Basic.

Capone's Whiskey: The Story of Templeton Rye Hits Theaters March 2nd

(Des Moines, IA) - Greetings from Modern American Cinema! We are proud to announce that Kristian Day's documentary Capone's Whiskey: The Story of Templeton Rye will begin its theatrical run starting this Friday in Iowa City, IA and will continue the run in select theaters until the end of September. Most cities will only be offering a one or two day showing and a small number of theaters have been selected to include film maker Q&A sessions after the screenings.

"This film uncovers a part of Iowa's history that has been kept in the dark for almost a hundred years," says Day. "I wanted to tell a story of survival and community spirit without taking away the mystique that it has carried with it for so long."

Theaters who are interested in booking Capone's Whiskey: The Story of Templeton Rye should contact Kristian Day and Modern American American Cinema, LLC directly at kristianday@gmail.com.

This movie is the third movie in Day's MADE IN IOWA documentary series, which has previously included Brent Houzenga: Hybrid Pioneer (available on DVD) and Templeton Rye: Iowa's Good Stuff (30 minute short), which aired along side the Ken Burns' series Prohibition on Iowa Public Television this past October and is currently available on Amazon's Video On Demand. The ongoing series tells the stories of the innovative people, places and ideas that have influenced Iowa's culture.

Modern American Cinema, LLC is an independent film production & distribution company based in Des Moines, Iowa. Founded in 2010, the company specializes in creating full-feature narratives and educational documentaries for international distribution.

Important Links:

Official Film Trailer

Facebook Fan Page

Templeton Rye Spirits

The statistics are overwhelming and irrefutable: The less education a person has, the more likely he or she will end up in jail or prison.

Once in prison, the more education an inmate receives, the greater the chance he or she will remain free once released.

"The correlation is so dramatic, I can't understand why we as a nation are more interested in building and filling prisons than in educating people who haven't finished high school or could benefit from post-secondary school," says advocate Adam Young, citing a recent Huffington Post news story about Corrections Corporation of America. The business is attempting to buy prisons across the nation - with the stipulation that states agree to keep them 90 percent full.

Young, www.communityservicehelp.com, partners with charities to help people sentenced to community service get credit for taking classes like algebra and English instead of picking up trash. He says it just makes sense to take advantage of any opportunity to educate people who've already had a brush with the law.

"About 40 percent of all U.S. prison inmates never finished high school, and nearly 44 percent of jail inmates did not complete high school," he says, quoting from a 2003 Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report. "More current data shows that hasn't changed. In Washington, D.C., for instance, 44 percent of Department of Corrections inmates are not high school graduates. Less than 2 percent had 16 years or more of schooling.

"Isn't it better for all of us, for both economic and public safety reasons, if we help educate people so they can get jobs?" he asks.

The trend of budget-strapped states looking to economize by selling their prisons to Corrections Corporation worries Young. As the business cuts expenses to boost profits, prison-run GED and college degree programs will likely be among the first on the chopping block, he says.

"If states really want to save money, they should address recidivism through programs that include education," Young says. "There's a 2011 Pew Center study that found the 10 states with the highest recidivism rates could save $470 million a year, each, if they lower those numbers by just 10 percent."

Those states are Alaska, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.

A widely cited 2006 study of two groups of inmates in three states found that those who participated in education programs in prison were less likely to be arrested again within three years of their release, and more likely to be employed. Of the inmates tracked, 31 percent of those who did not take classes were back in prison within three years compared with 21 percent of those who did study.

Arizona, South Carolina and Nevada all have recently passed laws that allow inmates to cut their sentences or shorten their probation by doing things like taking classes, Young noted.

"In early February, there was an interesting conversation about education and crime on Real Time with Bill Maher," he says. "Maher said, 'If you spent the money you were spending to send people to prison on schools, those people wouldn't wind up going to prison.'

"He's 100 percent correct on that."

About Adam Young

Adam Young is a longtime internet marketing professional who launched his educational community service alternative in January 2011. He was inspired by a minor brush with the law when he was an 18-year-old; the community service hours he received cost him his job and nearly caused him to drop out of college. Through his website, offenders have logged more than 300,000 hours of self-scheduled schooling that allows them to remain employed while completing service hours. Young advocates education as the most cost-effective tool for rehabilitating offenders.