Student?s Winning Design Will Honor World War II Hero

The Tuskegee Airmen were a dedicated and heroic group of young African-American men who volunteered to become America?s first black military airmen. Although they distinguished themselves with their skill and bravery during World War II, these young Americans did not receive the honor they deserved when they returned home after the war ended in Europe in 1945. Instead they found they had returned to face the same bigotry of the past.

In recent years, however, the heroic achievements of the Tuskegee Airmen have increasingly been recognized, and today they have achieved legendary status. Now a young career tech student will have the opportunity to play a role in honoring one of these World War II heroes.

Secundus K. Johnson, a first-year commercial art student at Metro Technology Centers in Oklahoma City, was named the winner of the citywide design competition for Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.?Oklahoma?s Charles B. Hall Chapter.

Charles B. Hall, a member of the World War II, 99th Fighter Squadron, fought in the April 1943 aerial war over North Africa, Sicily and Europe. His squadron and other African-American squadrons later became a part of the 332nd Fighter Group. Hall is credited with being the first African-American pilot to down an enemy aircraft in World War II.

In recognition of the achievements of this highly decorated fighter pilot, on June 18, Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma renamed one of its parks the Charles B. Hall Memorial Air Park. Johnson?s design will be constructed in the park as a permanent memorial to Hall.

Comparing Administrators? Salaries to Teachers? Salaries

What is the difference between the salary of a relatively new administrator and an experienced teacher? Not much according to a study recently released by the Educational Research Service (ERS).

There is as little as a four percent difference in salary for new assistant principals and a 23 percent difference for principals over relatively experienced teachers. The study, Salaries and Wages Paid Professional and Support Personnel in Public Schools, 2001-2002, found that the difference between highly experienced teachers and new administrators is even smaller and, ?in some cases, does not reflect any significant increase.?

According to the report, the median average salary paid for teachers is $42,300, with a median average number of contract days being 186. New elementary assistant principals earn an annual salary of $50,865 but work an average of 202 days.

?It is difficult to determine the relative impact the daily pay rate has on candidates? decisions to move into the administrator ranks, but lack of monetary incentive could play a significant role,? notes Dr. Alicia Williams, ERS director of survey research.

?Salary may not be the only incentive for teachers to move to administrator positions in a district?but it is an important one,? says ERS Board Chairman and Executive Director of the American Association of School Administrators Dr. Paul D. Houston. ?The changing role of the administrator?challenges and expectations?is not reflected in the slight salary increase. If fact, if we look at the highly experienced teachers (at the 75th percentile), which are typically the pool from which new administrators are recruited, the average daily pay rate is actually more than that of a beginning administrator.?

This study collected and analyzed the salaries of 23 professional and 10 support positions from a total of 687 districts that submitted data. Copies of the 100-page study are available for $150 plus shipping and handling from: Educational Research Service, 2000 Clarendon Blvd., Arlington, VA 22201; telephone number 800-791-9308; e-mail ers@ers.org.

IBM Initiative to Improve Teacher Training

A $15 million grant program from IBM is intended to help improve the quality of teacher training for U.S. public school teachers. The new grant program is part of IBM?s Reinventing Education Initiative that currently serves 65,000 teachers and six million students. The new program brings the company?s investment in the Reinventing Education Initiative to $70 million.

According to IBM, the new grants pave the way for teachers at 27 leading schools of education in nine states to receive training and professional development to assist the states in meeting the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. The goals are to bring innovative technologies into schools of education and build connections between teacher education programs and the schools they serve.

?It?s obvious that the schools have little chance of achieving at world-class levels if we can?t equip and sustain a world-class teaching force,? says IBM President and CEO Samuel J. Palmisano. ?This initiative will help our students by helping their teachers?with better training, professional development and technology deployment for the people we?re asking to lead in every classroom.?

Each of the nine Reinventing Education grant teams?the urban school district and/or state education department, plus one or more colleges of education?will receive approximately $1.5 million in resources from IBM in the form of research and technical expertise, technology and cash. The grantees in each state?including teachers in training, college faculty, classroom teachers and school administrators?will work together in creating methods of continuous teacher training. The grant recipients will be provided with a web-based instructional platform called Riverdeep Learning Village, which was developed by IBM researchers and teachers.

For more information, visit www.ibm.com.

Phi Beta Lambda National Officers Visit OVAE

Each year, when the Phi Beta Lambda National Officers (the college division of FBLA?the Future Business Leaders of America) visit the organization?s headquarters in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Reston, Va., they go to the U.S. Department of Education to meet with department officials.

In August, the 2002-2003 Phi Beta Lambda National Officers had the opportunity to meet newly appointed Division of High School, Postsecondary and Career Education Director Dr. Richard LaPointe at the Office of Vocational and Adult Education. The officers used the opportunity to introduce LaPointe to Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) and their value in today?s school curriculum.

Castrol GTX Will Honor Top Automotive Service Students

Eight of the country?s most talented automotive service students will have the unique opportunity to serve as honorary members of John Force?s Castrol GTX Funny Car crew at designated National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) races. The Castrol GTX Top Techs program will recognize and honor the winning students in eight metropolitan areas across the country. In addition to the race-day perks, the eight winners will also receive a Mac Tools toolbox filled with $1,000 in new MS100 Starter Service Set tools. Their schools will get $500 worth of Castrol GTX motor oil and $500 worth of Castrol GTX High Mileage motor oil.

The Top Tech, as national grand-prize winner, will also receive a $7,500 scholarship to continue his or her automotive service education, as well as a trip that includes travel and hotel accommodations to the prestigious Car Craft awards banquet in Indianapolis in August 2003.

The Castrol GTX Top Techs program is open to automotive service students who are at least 16 years of age and are participating in high school, college or career tech programs. Registration began September 1, 2002, at the program?s website (www.GTXTopTechs.com). The student must complete an entry form and an essay explaining why he or she is most qualified to be a Castrol GTX Top Tech. All entries must be received before midnight February 1, 2003. According to Castrol GTX, winners will be chosen based upon the uniqueness and strength of their automotive service talent and experience, as well as their academic, vocational and community achievements.

Mark Kerstens, director of brand management for Castrol North America, says that the Castrol GTX Top Techs program, ?recognizes automotive service students who require the diagnostics skills of a doctor, the dedication to craftsmanship and quality of a fine carpenter and the entrepreneurial skills of the savviest business leader.?

Kersten also recognizes the important role of career and technical education in keeping the industry staffed with skilled and well-trained technicians. ?It?s no secret that we?re facing a huge shortage of automotive technicians,? he acknowledges. ?The only way we?ll overcome that shortage is by encouraging more students to consider automotive service as a career and then giving them the skills they need to succeed. Teachers are the ones that ultimately make all that happen.?

I-CAR Training and Test Sites

I-CAR has announced that new Enhanced Delivery training programs and welding test sites will become available in winter 2002-03.

Steel GMA (MIG) welding qualification test sites to open in winter 2002-03 are:

? Chippewa Valley Technical College, Eau Claire, Wisc.

? Gloucester County Institute of Technology, Sewell, N.J.

? Honolulu Community College, Honolulu, Hawaii

? Kirkwood Community College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

? Louisiana Technical College, Hammond, La.

? Erie Community College, Orchard, N.Y.

Aluminum GMA (MIG) welding qualification test sites to open in winter 2002-03 are:

?Career Institute of Technology, Easton, Pa. ? Santa Monica Community College, Santa Monica, Calif.

?Macomb Community College, Warren, Mich. ? Walker Career Center, Indianapolis, Ind.

I-CAR also will be releasing updated schedules on recently completed programs as well as those in development. Among these are plastic repair and structural straightening steel.

In July, I-CAR presented a plastic repair course in Show Low, Ariz. The two-unit course was made available for free to students in the local area, which had been affected by the devastating forest fires of this past summer.

For a complete list of Enhanced Delivery courses and welding testing dates and locations, visit www.i-car.com.

North Carolina Teacher is AAFCS National Teacher of the Year

Barbara Somers Cannon of Olympic High School in Charlotte, N.C., was named the 2002-2003 American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) National Teacher of the Year at the 93rd AAFCS Annual Convention & Exposition that was held in June in Dallas, Texas. The award recognizes outstanding educational programs, methods, techniques and activities that give visibility to family and consumer sciences elementary and secondary education.

Each participating state affiliate of AAFCS selects a teacher of the year and submits its entry to the national competition. From those entries, the Top Ten Teachers are selected, and one of those teachers is then awarded the honor of Teacher of the Year.

According to AAFCS, Cannon?s program, Culinary Academics, won the attention of the awards committee because of its innovative approach to integrating all of the educational disciplines. Through her program, Cannon introduces a more intense approach to raising the standards of learning for high school students by integrating culinary arts with the core curricula of language arts, science, mathematics and social sciences. Not only has enrollment in culinary arts increased by 30 percent over the past five years, but her school?s overall rating by the state has also progressed from low performing to exemplary in recent years.