TKA Grad – Future Olympian?

Jaclyn Yacomes (‘06) has been working hard on the ice practically her whole life.

She’s in the clip below:

U.S. House Poised to Regulate Private Schools U.S. House Bill 4247

February 9, 2010 — The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote soon on legislation governing elements of a school’s disciplinary policy and practice. The House Education and Labor Committee cleared the measure February 4 by a vote of 34 to 10.

This bill threatens to place various mandates regarding pupil restraint, seclusion, staff training, reporting upon any private school who receives benefits from federally funded programs.

Please read more about this legislation at CAPE’s Website at: http://www.capenet.org/new.html

You can express your opposition to this bill at CAPE’s Legislative Action Center:
http://capwiz.com/cape/issues/alert/?alertid=14668476

You can also view CAPE’s letter regarding this legislation at the following site:
http://www.capenet.org/pdf/CAPEHR4247.pdf

Take the Annual TKA Satisfaction and Referral Survey

Here is a chance to tell us what you really think! Your opinions voiced in the annual TKA Referral and Satisfaction Survey gives us a lot to work on every year.

Your opinions and suggestion, both positive and…shall way say, constructive….have caused us to improve our service over the past couple years. We know that there are things that we don’t see that are obvious to you…so we need you to point things out to us!

This survey is completely anonymous and only takes 5 – 7 minutes to complete…so, before you go out to tackle the driveway (or after you get back in and get warmed up!), click on the link below to take the survey!

Take this survey

Thank you for your participation in the goal of continual improvement to train leaders in knowledge, wisdom and godly character!

Pictures from the trip to Lion of Judah Academy

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They’re Home!

After a 15 hour bus ride, a flight to Belgium, then to Philly, our team is on the ground and excited about their life-changing trip…and glad to be home.

Africa Trip is Concluding

Our team in Africa has faced some challenges this week. Two students contracted malaria, were treated immediately and are both doing well.

One of the team’s goals was to get LOJA’s soccer field in playable condition. This started with Headmaster Mtebe’s visit to The King’s Academy last year. The students decided they were going to raise the money to build this soccer field.

Well, not only did they raise the money, they went over to help them build! It was graded when they arrived, and they got to work preparing the field, building goal posts, etc.

They worked feverishly to complete the goal posts and, as they were completing the cement work, the referees blew the whistle to start the tournament championship game.

The team will board a bus tomorrow and make the 13-16 hour ride from Bulima to Nairobi. They will spend a day and a half in Nairobi, then fly back to the States, arriving on Tuesday.

Please pray for safe travels, health and an ongoing impact made on LOJA through the relationships that have been formed or solidified.

Africa Team Quickly Forming Bonds

The Africa team is quickly forming bonds with the African students at Lion of Judah Academy.  At the end of their first day, they were all very excited and happy with how things are progressing.

Our team will be bringing a student namd Abia Shinyanga home with them to experience The King’s Academy firsthand.  As part of our International Program, Abia will engage the American culture and teach our students about hers.

The Noble family will be her hosts while she is in America.  This will be a good fit, since Mrs. Noble and her two daughters (both TKA students) are on the team and will meet her either tonight or tomorrow morning!

Africa Team on the Ground

The team of adults and students on their way to the Lion of Judah Academy in Bulima, Tanzania, Africa have made it safe and sound and have just finished their first work day.  The team is happy with the progress of the first day and have already begun forming relationships with the students and team member from another organization.

The LOJA campus is located on the southern banks of Lake Victoria. It is quite hot there this time of year, but the team is enjoying the rugged beauty of the land.

Private/Public School Teacher Satisfaction

Here is an interesting piece of research done on teacher’s responses to their work environment in private vs. public schools.  Below is an exerpt from capenet.org.

“These are eye-opening data on how America’s public and private school teachers view their work and their schools,” said Greg Forster, one of the authors of the study.

“The results here highlight the professional differences felt by teachers from public and private schools,” said Christian D’Andrea, the study’s co-author. “While public school teachers are faced with more hassles inside and outside the classroom, private school teachers have much more freedom to teach. These private school teachers report having better working environments and stronger networks of staff support.”

According to the report’s executive summary…

• Private school teachers are much more likely to say they will continue teaching as long as they are able (62 percent v. 44 percent), while public school teachers are much more likely to say they’ll leave teaching as soon as they are eligible for retirement (33 percent v. 12 percent) and that they would immediately leave teaching if a higher paying job were available (20 percent v. 12 percent).
• Private school teachers are much more likely to have a great deal of control over selection of textbooks and instructional materials (53 percent v. 32 percent) and content, topics, and skills to be taught (60 percent v. 36 percent).
• Private school teachers are much more likely to have a great deal of influence on performance standards for students (40 percent v. 18 percent), curriculum (47 percent v. 22 percent), and discipline policy (25 percent v. 13 percent).
• Public school teachers are much more likely to report that student misbehavior (37 percent v. 21 percent) or tardiness and class cutting (33 percent v. 17 percent) disrupt their classes, and are four times more likely to say student violence is a problem on at least a monthly basis (48 percent v. 12 percent).
• Private school teachers are much more likely to strongly agree that they have all the textbooks and supplies they need (67 percent v. 41 percent).
• Public school teachers are twice as likely as private school teachers to agree that the stress and disappointments they experience at their schools are so great that teaching there isn’t really worth it (13 percent v. 6 percent).
• Public school teachers are almost twice as likely to agree that they sometimes feel it is a waste of time to try to do their best as a teacher (17 percent v. 9 percent).
• Nearly one in five public school teachers has been physically threatened by a student, compared to only one in twenty private school teachers (18 percent v. 5 percent).
• Nearly one in ten public school teachers has been physically attacked by a student, three times the rate in private schools (9 percent v. 3 percent).

“Documenting existing teacher working conditions is a first step in helping the nation’s educational system – both private and public schools – improve working conditions and the overall profession,” said Robert Enlow, President and CEO of the Friedman Foundation.