Comments from Satisfied Clients at recent trainings
conducted by The Urban Learning and Leadership Center:
"I am very proud of the outstanding accomplishments of the students
at North Glen 
Elementary. Dr. Harvey Perkins of ULLC helped my staff
and I to hone our skills of data analysis, refine our instruction to
the standards of NCLB, and to believe in ourselves and the children.
Thank you ULLC!"
Maurine Larkin
Principal
North Glen Elementary
(Click here to view full article from WashingtonPost.com)
Dr. Perkins has worked with the Arundel High School staff for the
past year. I attribute my ability to increasing teacher leadership
and to
engaging teachers in my collegial work to him. We began the school
year with Dr. Perkins facilitating a full day of defining our core
values.
This work was critical to my development of a professional learning
community at Arundel High School. Our staff enjoyed Dr. Perkins
lecture mixed with
activities, video and songs. He had credibility with these veteran
teachers and many remarked that it was best in-service they had
ever experienced!
As a staff, we referred to the core values in everything we did
including modeling, teaching, and praising examples of staff and
student behavior
that exemplified our values. Then, Dr. Perkins worked with the
core content teams with data. He collected more specific data from
MSDE
than was available
to me as the principal of the school. The data was reviewed and
drilled down to identifying specific content strands that we taught
and learned
well and those that still need improvement. These content team
leaders shared their experience with their teams and immediately
planned for improvement for this year's state test. In fact., two teachers
visited
a middle school and after observing classes, made the remark
that
the math department needed Dr. Perkins to help them drill down
their data
to revise instruction. Dr. Perkins again returned in the spring
to
facilitate a book club. Twenty six teachers joined the book club
to read and explore
Tomlinson's book, How to Differentiation Instruction in a Mixed
Ability Classroom. As a result of this book club, two things have
happened. As the only school in Anne Arundel County, we have a mandatory
summer reading
for all students from functional life skill classes to AP classes.
The second is that I will implement a differentiated staff development
plan for 05-06. John facilitated a student leadership conference
during the
first week in June. Students were selected by their teachers
to attend a day long school improvement conference. As a result of
their
participation,
several student led activities are now in our school plan. ULLC
has made a difference at Arundel High School by providing an unbiased
consultant
who had experience in the high school who worked with teachers.
You empathized,
supported and got real with the teachers. As a result, my teachers
are presenting at other high schools, at the Leadership Conference
for the
county's administrators, and at the state level for MSDE and
PBIS. We are truly developing into that professional learning community
that I
have envisioned and that teachers are enjoying!!
Sharon Stratton
Principal
Arundel High School
Maryland
The Urban Learning and Leadership Center has provided outstanding leadership
training to the Aspiring School Leaders program in Newport News Public
Schools. The training is focused on the ISLLC standards and the day-to-day
practical aspects of school leadership. It is this type of training that
will better prepare aspiring school leaders to meet the challenge of
improving schools in this era of heightened accountability.
Phillip Hamilton
Coordinator, Staff Development
Newport News Public Schools
Member, VA House of Delegates
Mr. Hodge has been invited to Franklin High School located in Franklin,
VA on two occasions to be the keynote speaker for the Annual Academic
Awards Ceremony. His message was extremely inspiring and motivational
to students and adults. He was able to convey a powerful but realistic
reality for students as it relates to academic success or failure. He
also provided outstanding tips to parents on how they can support their
children not only academically, but in all endeavors. Students and adults
need to understand the importance of doing well in school. Mr. Hodge
relates to his audience extremely well, which was evident by their attentiveness
to his every word. The audience was captivated by his candidness and
concern for children. We in Franklin City were very pleased and would
recommend Mr. Hodge without reservation to present his inspirational
message. In closing, thanks for your time and have a great day.
Sincerely,
Walter R. Clemons
Assistant Superintendent
“ John Hodge and Harvey Perkins guided our staff in the analysis and interpretation
of assessment data, recognized the impact of environmental
influences on student performance, and accordingly, assisted us to modify our
educational practices in order to meet the diverse needs of all of our
students.
The work of the Urban Learning and Leadership Center, Inc.
provided us
with the support needed to meet our state standards in a school
with challenges unlike any other in our district.”
Julie Little-McVearry
Assistant Principal
Van Bokkelen Elementary School
Maryland
Good Afternoon Dr. Perkins,
Hope all is well. We are dancing here at Carrsville after receiving
our SOL scores for this spring. The preliminary results are:
3rd Grade:
English -- 90%
Math -- 85%
Science -- 92%
Social Studies -- 92%
5th Grade:
Writing -- 97%
English/Reading -- 100%
Math -- 79%
Science -- 100%
Social Studies -- 100%
Needless to say, we are celebrating!
If you are working with our district this year, we would like you
to come to Carrsville and do a "Now What?" kind of workshop.
Many of our scores were advanced and some were perfect 600s. Now what
should
we do? I'm sure you and John have some sage advice for us.
Do you have any time available at the beginning of the school year?
Thanks for all you have done to help me grow.
Claire Born
Principal
Virginia
“I truly like the resiliency training. I would like to have
more information on this program.”
“Minority Student Achievement – Speaking Green – Etiquette
is not dead Great Conference!”
“Do this again!
All of the sessions were wonderful. The presenters were lively, informative,
and well prepared. I enjoyed this conference tremendously.”
“I enjoyed every day of the conference. I was able to take some
valuable information from each speaker. Please have again! Thanks.”
“Leadership strand was extremely useful. …John was a great
facilitator. Topics were meaningful and useful. Extremely relevant topics.
Well planned – well executed. Kudos!! All presenters were passionate.
Would like to bring this to our school division.”
“This learning institute was the best! The presenters were not
only knowledgeable but passionate about their subject. Please, Please
have this institute again. I would like to send more teachers.”
“Mr. John Hodge opened the conference in a very positive upbeat
way. The examples he gave were and will be extremely helpful. I looked
forward to the conference and it definitely met my needs. Kudos to Dr.
Perkins for all of his insightful reports and latest information. The
presenters were all outstanding. Mr. Grimes and Ms. Whitaker gave us so
much helpful information as well as Paula and Lorie. I know the 8 strategies
for closing the gap will help us make strides with SOL skills if we follow
through… I have truly learned a great deal and cannot wait to share
it with my colleagues and staff personnel. Thanks for all the research,
articles, and strategies. Continue with your mission of achieving the
dream, “our dream!” I’m hoping our school will have
an opportunity to visit the school. Keep on keeping on for our children!!
Thank you.
