It’s the longest day of the year, and one the hottest. But heat can’t
slow Olivia Franklin down on her trip from home plate to first base.
Olivia’s
metallic green crutches flash in the evening sun as the tiny 8-year-old
sporting the number 5 on the back of her shirt sprints down the
baseline.
On the sidelines, her mom, Julie Franklin, cheers. So do her Cubs teammates. So do many of the rival Cardinals.
This,
sports fans, is the Miracle League, an extraordinary effort to help
kids with mental or physical disabilities feel perfectly ordinary for an
hour a week on the baseball diamond.
“Here,
they’re not a kid with a special need, they’re a baseball player,” said
Vicki Caine, director of the Miracle League of Mid-Michigan, who saw
her dream come true at the field’s dedication and first exhibition
inning in May.
“To see the excitement on their faces and to watch the parents in the stands, it was one of those goosebump moments,” she said.
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20120630/NEWS01/306300040/Miracle-League-Mid-Michigan-empowers-uplifts-kids
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Educators say Michigan Merit Exams, ACT tests reveal 'shameful' achievement gaps
State educators are celebrating scores on standardized tests offered
to high school students, but call achievement gaps between some student
groups “shameful.”
Those concerns are echoed by an education advocacy group’s analysis of last week’s Michigan Merit Exam and Act scores that show black and low-income students are falling even further behind the state’s white students.
While white student achievement has risen slightly over five years, scores for black and Hispanic students and students in poverty “remain grim,” according to the Education Trust-Midwest.
The state Education Department last week announced improvement on the MME, but gains come only when the scores are compared to past exams re-scored to reflect new, more difficult standards set in place this year.
State Superintendent Mike Flanagan applauded the fourth year of overall gains on ACT college-entrance exams, which are issued to most state juniors.
But Flanagan also expressed concern about the disparity in scores among groups.
http://www.mlive.com/education/index.ssf/2012/07/educators_say_michigan_merit_e.html#incart_river_default
Those concerns are echoed by an education advocacy group’s analysis of last week’s Michigan Merit Exam and Act scores that show black and low-income students are falling even further behind the state’s white students.
While white student achievement has risen slightly over five years, scores for black and Hispanic students and students in poverty “remain grim,” according to the Education Trust-Midwest.
The state Education Department last week announced improvement on the MME, but gains come only when the scores are compared to past exams re-scored to reflect new, more difficult standards set in place this year.
State Superintendent Mike Flanagan applauded the fourth year of overall gains on ACT college-entrance exams, which are issued to most state juniors.
But Flanagan also expressed concern about the disparity in scores among groups.
http://www.mlive.com/education/index.ssf/2012/07/educators_say_michigan_merit_e.html#incart_river_default
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