Overcoming Asperger’s, Becoming a Student Leader
Gage Schell led tours of the Informational Technology program at Kent Career Tech Center, articulately explaining the program to adult visitors. He served on the KCTC Leadership Team and taught as a volunteer instructor in digital animation and design for...
Area Schools Receive HEARTSafe Designation for Cardiac Preparedness
Kent Transition Center, the Tech Center, and Cedar Springs public schools are among the 40 Michigan schools to recieve recognition for the new MI HEARTSafe School designation by the Michigan Departments of Community Health (MDCH), Education (MDE), Michigan Alliance...
Kent ISD Superintendent Announces Retirement
Kent ISD Superintendent Kevin A. Konarska recently announced his plan to retire at the end of the current school year.
Konarska led Kent ISD through a period of change, extending student programming and business services to member districts as their...
Superintendent: ‘This is a Revolution. We Will be ‘The Region That Reads’
West Michigan teachers and administrators recently heard the five common practices that lead to success in reading, and many are ready to implement those findings to a whole new level at their own schools.
Dig deeper into data. "Own" every...
Teachers in Industry Helps Educators Connect Students with Careers
Will I ever use this information? The all-too familiar question asked by many students taking technical courses can stump some instructors, many of whom came straight to the head of the classroom after finishing college.
Programs such as Kent ISD's...
So You Think You Can Sub?
So you think you want to be a sub?
Billboards and other advertisements have been seemingly everywhere for months seeking substitute teachers in an attempt to fill a serious shortage. It's a situation being seen not only in Kent County,...
20 Districts, Many Ways to Add Five More Days
How do you add five days to the school year without disrupting family schedules, while increasing student learning and not starting before Labor Day?
Ask Ron Caniff and he’ll tell you: It’s not easy.
The superintendent of Kent ISD, which serves...
Superheroes Save the Day (Even Marriages) at ArtPrize
The superheroes from Kent Transition Center -- a few masked and caped, ready to explore all quarters of light and dark -- charged into the David D. Hunting YMCA, ready to perform their truth, observations and, well, superpowers.
To the...
Outdoor ‘classroom’ experience equips area teachers with hands-on projects
What once was a golf course became a classroom for area teachers the first week of August. The instructors were taking part in Groundswell’s Summer Institute at Blandford Nature Center, which is restoring the former Highlands golf course...
Student teacher cohort focuses on building network of support
The goal of the Leaders of Tomorrow program is to address Michigan’s teacher shortage by keeping new educators in Kent County and offering ongoing support so they stay in the profession...
Third-grade Reading Legislation Could Hold Back Thousands
Brown Elementary School students discussed the actions of a boasting rabbit and patient tortoise in Gayle Corey’s third-grade class as they considered characters, setting, problem and solution in Aesop’s classic fable.
Then Corey challenged them to write a summary.
“Go back,...
India Stewart Dunning: Survivor and Scholar
Her clothes are arranged by color.Like Pippi Longstocking, she sleeps upside down, with her head at the footboard and her feet at the headboard.
Ever since first meeting "Bucky" in the Disney flick "The Emperor's New Groove," she's been in...
State Poverty Numbers Grim, but Local Student Advocates See Signs of Hope
Lynn Heemstra has been working to improve the lives of Grand Rapids children since 1998. As executive director of Our Community’s Children, a nonprofit advocacy agency, Heemstra has seen some success in getting youths into after-school programs and other...
Who needs an early warning system? Just count students.
I have one word for those seeking insight from the new “early warning” system legislation signed into law by Gov. Snyder shortly after the July 4 holiday weekend.
Enrollment.
Student enrollment is the single most important element in the fiscal health...
Raising the Roof – Literally
The air is cold. The sun is just coming over the horizon. The metal scaffolding around the house has a light frost dusting and burns to the touch of the ungloved hand. And about 20 Kent Career Tech Center...
Taking on a Tough Topic: Severe Stress in Students
So many things in life can cause stress, including for teens and young people. School News Network reporter Charles Honey sees this first-hand. He writes about schools in the Kent County Intermediate School District and witnesses issues facing students...
Sponsorship
Sponsorship
