The violence taking place in Sudan is a tragedy—and it is a betrayal of the Sudanese people’s clear demand for civilian government and a transition to democracy. I join the peace-loving people of Sudan and leaders around the world in calling for a durable ceasefire between the belligerent parties. This violence, which has already stolen […]
The post Statement from President Joe Biden on the Conflict in Sudan first appeared on Social Gov.
Biannual meeting will showcase the technological importance of quantum optics and computing as emerging technician and trade fields. Co-sponsored by SPIE, ICO, Optica, and IEEE Photonics Society.
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The post IEEE Photonics Sponsors Education and Training in Optics and Photonics Conference May 15-18 first appeared on Social Gov.
Gossip Stone TV is thrilled to announce that Michele Guzy will be joining the jury in the upcoming season of Hypno Challenge, the hit reality show that puts contestants’ hypnotic abilities to the test. Guzy, an internationally known hypnotherapist, life coach, and motivational speaker, is regarded as one of the top hypnotherapists in Los Angeles […] 
AUSTIN, Texas, May 10, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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ScratchWorks, a collaborative to help school food professionals create a community to increase scratch cooking, held its first annual gathering in Austin, Texas, for more than 100 school district food service leaders from around the country.
The three-day event opened with remarks from founding member Nancy Easton, Executive Director of Wellness in the Schools, who stated, "We are not an organization, we are a collaborative; and this is not a conference, it is a gathering. There are no vendors here to sell you anything, only a space to connect and learn from each other."
ScratchWorks was conceived during the summer of 2019 when a group of nonprofits and school food service operators came together to consider what could be done to accelerate change in school food. ScratchWorks was born, a collective of school food professionals and non-profit organizations, developed by and for food service operators, committed to supporting school districts in cooking school meals from scratch using whole, fresh ingredients. Unique to this collective is its funding model — the donors, Life Time Foundation and Whole Kids Foundation, are also its partners who continually collaborate with the districts to meet their goals.
A significant component of support offered by this collective was the development of a multi-day professional development and networking event that brought together school food programs from across the country wanting to increase their scratch cooking practices. The inaugural event took place in Austin, Texas, on April 24-26, 2023. Representatives from over 100 school districts came together for this multi-day event, featuring nearly 20 educational sessions led by school food operation leaders from across the country. Sessions included topics such as Scratch vs. Speed Scratch, Message Development for Your Program, Policies and Legislation Supporting Scratch Cooking, Recipe and Menu Development and many more. Founding member and Minneapolis Public Schools Director of Culinary and Wellness Services Bertrand Weber commented, "You could feel how different this event was and how invigorated attendees were after the three days. Building these relationships will ensure we have a network to lean on when we have questions."
The event opened up with a keynote address by Chef Andrew Zimmern, TV personality, chef, writer and social justice advocate. Chef Zimmern applauded the attendees for pushing past the status quo and emphatically stated, "The question isn't can we afford to do this? The fact is we can't afford not to. It would cost us $17 billion to fully restore scratch cooking in our national public school system, including equipment, re-builds, product and staff. Sounds like a lot. But our federal budget is $6.3 trillion annually. So $17 billion is a rounding error when it comes to the cost; it's 0.0027% of the federal budget."
School food leaders from districts across 18 states and representing enrollment of over 1.1 million students shared in their excitement for a new kind of event. While there are many conferences that support a broad spectrum of school food operation topics, this gathering was the first national event to focus all of its educational sessions and experiences around scratch cooking in schools. It is well known that scratch cooking presents more complexities than serving packaged food and ScratchWorks believes that bringing leaders together to share their experiences and build relationships is one of the most significant things that can be done to increase scratch cooking in schools in the country.
The closing session was an interview with USDA's Food and Nutrition Services Administrator Cindy Long who offered up her philosophy on scratch cooking in schools. "What I feel like I've learned is that there is no one answer for every circumstance. Scratch cooking clearly offers benefits. You have much more control. You can tailor to your community. It supports engagement and connection with food."
When the floor was opened for questions, district leaders asked about the new proposed rule, particularly around more stringent sodium standards. Administrator Long emphasized that new proposed updates to the nutrition standards are to be executed over 10 years and they are applied to a menu cycle not a meal so with scratch cooking, there is more flexibility.
Since cooking and food were at the core of the experience, districts were encouraged to submit their recipes prior as event planners chose breakfast and lunch menus. Some of the favorites included a Chickpea Masala submitted by Bellingham Washington Public Schools and a Cambodian Lok Lak served at Lowell Public Schools in Massachusetts, which caters to its local Southeast Asian student population.
ScratchWorks is a collective of school food professionals and non-profit organizations committed to supporting school districts in cooking school meals from scratch using whole, fresh ingredients that provide students with the nutrition they need for their educational success, health and wellbeing. Founding members include Andrew Benson, Ann Cooper, Amy Maclosky, Ryan Mikolaycik, Stephen O'Brien and Bertrand Weber as well as Chef Ann Foundation, Life Time Foundation, Wellness in the Schools and Whole Kids Foundation.
Contact Information:
Nona Evans
512 289 9258
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Over 100 School District Food Service Leaders Gather in Austin, Texas, for the First National Gathering to Increase Scratch Cooking
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Gift Will Expand Technology Training, Innovation and Research in the Justice System
The Last Mile Classroom TLM students studying web development...
The post The Last Mile Announces $10 Million Gift From Citadel Founder & CEO Ken Griffin and Stand Together Foundation first appeared on Social Gov.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is pleased to announce the release of its AI Roadmap 2.0, which aims at taking the human-centric approach to the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in aviation one step further. The updated roadmap expands upon the initial proposal that was published in February 2020, drawing upon the experience […]
The post EASA Artificial Intelligence Roadmap 2.0 published first appeared on Reliable News.
On Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day, we remember the many lives shattered or lost, and commit to working with Native communities to find justice, keep families safe, and help them heal. Indian Country has been gripped by an epidemic of missing or murdered Indigenous people, whose cases far too often […]
The post A Proclamation on Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day, 2023 first appeared on Social Gov.
Via Teleconference 6:36 P.M. EDT MS. PATTERSON: Thanks, everyone, for hoping on today’s press call. Today, we’ll be discussing a new AI announcement from the Biden-Harris administration. On today’s call will be [senior administration official]. After she delivers remarks, we’ll open up the call for Q&A from reporters. As a reminder, this call is on background, attributable to […]
The post Background Press Call on New Artificial Intelligence Announcements first appeared on Social Gov.
ReadTheory, an adaptive reading comprehension platform used by 18 million students in schools worldwide, celebrates the success of their 2023 Teacher of the Year Award winners.
WILMINGTON, Del., May 9, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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The 2022-2023 school year was challenging for teachers, as students entered classrooms at more varying levels than any other school year. With teacher nominations spanning 31 countries, the six awardees come from different regions with varying specialties, but they have one thing in common - they rose to the occasion and made an incredible impact on student achievement - despite ongoing challenges posed by the pandemic's learning loss.
The 2023 awardees are:
Elementary School Teacher of the Year: Anne Stehly, CA
Middle School Teacher of the Year: Caitlyn Herron, TX
High School Teacher of the Year: Carrie Kirkland, GA
Special Education Teacher of the Year: Kelly Stehlik, IN
ESL Teacher of the Year: Kevin Jordan, CA
International Teacher of the Year: Michael Doherty, Spain
"This year's reading scores fell by the largest margin in over 30 years, but these teachers were determined to make a difference," said Ron Kirschenbaum, Co-Managing Partner at ReadTheory.
Anne Stehly, a 3rd-grade teacher, and awardee from Rio School District in CA, wanted to change the trajectory. While there are many ways to measure students' growth, she started charting her students' Lexile Levels. "My 3rd graders started with a class average of a 275 Lexile Level and we just made our 600 Lexile Level goal on ReadTheory. My students are never discouraged by challenging passages because they've seen so much growth already, they know they will reach their next reading goal," she shares.
With such limited classroom time and learning gaps to fill, teachers had to get creative this year. Carrie Kirkland, the Dougherty County, GA awardee, found it necessary to give each student unique intervention and personalized time. "My students spend 30 minutes, three times a week, practicing on ReadTheory. The fact that the system operates on its own allows me the chance to have 1:1s with them." Kevin Jordan, an awardee from Los Angeles Unified School District in CA, also holds 1:1s with his students and uses data to drive instruction, "ReadTheory allows me to have solid metrics, so when I meet with students, we know where to improve their skills for course completion."
These educators put immense energy, imagination, and effort into their instruction to leave students feeling inspired and transformed. "While ReadTheory is a powerful tool, it is exceptional teachers like Anne, Caitlyn, Carrie, Kelly, Kevin, and Michael who make the real difference in their students' learning," says Josh Capon, Co-Managing partner at ReadTheory.
About ReadTheory
ReadTheory's adaptive reading comprehension platform is used by 18 million students across the globe and is tailored for each. For more information on ReadTheory, visit www.readtheory.org.
Contact Information:
Courtney Gacona Cioci
Head of Marketing
Original Source:
Breaking Barriers: Six Teachers Honored for Achieving Dramatic Growth in Students' Reading
The post Breaking Barriers: Six Teachers Honored for Achieving Dramatic Growth in Students’ Reading first appeared on Social Gov.
Vice President Visits State Small Business Credit Initiative Recipient and Releases New Report Demonstrating Administration’s Support for Small Manufacturers Today, in celebration of National Small Business Week and in recognition of the critical role that small manufacturing businesses play in the economy, the White House released a report detailing how the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in […]
The post FACT SHEET: Vice President Harris Celebrates Small Business and Manufacturing Boom first appeared on Social Gov.
