Career Fair Learning Outcomes

Serving girls for 100 years

PITTSFIELD - For the past 100 years, there has been a special place for girls in Berkshire County.

Opened initially as the Young Women's Home Association in 1911, this hub for learning and growing has been known as the Girls League, Pittsfield Girls Club and now, Girls Inc. at the Gladys Allen Brigham Community Center.

Today, Girls Inc. serves 1,000 girls from 22 towns at 17 sites in Berkshire County, and is looking to continue to expand its outreach and services.

With each member from each generation comes a story of achievement, often as a result of facing adversity.

"I grew up there," said longtime Girls Inc. board member Sylvia Stein, who went to the organization's Camp Witawentin.

She's been a center patron for nearly fourfifths of the time it's been in existence.

"It was such a democratic organization. It was open to everybody at a time where some venues weren't open to everybody. I just found a home at the Girls Club," she said.

For Laurie Norton Moffatt, director and CEO of the Norman Rockwell Museum, the center was a place of firsts: her first swimming lesson, first mentorship, first job.

"It's deeply shaped my life," she said. "For me, it's particularly the mentorships that I remember. Having that other perspective really broadens your horizons."

Not only is Kelly Marion the current CEO of Girls Inc. and the Brigham Center, she's also an alumna.

Marion came to the center at age 11 with her sister after her father died. Her mother wanted her daughters to become involved in activities.

"I did some swimming and gymnastics, made some great friends and found great role models at an especially tough time in my life," she said.

Since the club's foundation and as the Girls Inc. national organization has grown, so has the local center's offerings of programs and services.

Today, Girls Inc.

Do the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET ...

The system should seek a middle ground in terms of making teachers jump through too many hoops versus not enough parameters. The program should be implemented without adding substantial, unnecessary work for administrators, principals or teachers. To be most effective, the program should be jointly governed by a team of teachers and administrators – input is crucial.

Does the system have buy in from teachers? Master and mentor teachers and coaches are expert instructional leaders with extensive knowledge of teaching practices. They have the ability to facilitate adult learning and coach teachers toward instructional improvement. These skills are critical to their success in developing professional learning communities, working with the principal to set academic goals and strategies, and coaching other teachers.

What establishes the National Institutes for Excellence in Teachings standards as consistent as “a valid measure on student academic growth? What research do they use to show a relationship between their rubric to student learning outcomes? Is that fair for students and teachers? It is only when educational practitioners–teachers as well as school and school system administrators–have a clear understanding of how they effect their students in the classroom that they can make informed decisions about what to change and what to maintain. Linking student outcomes to school, school system, and teacher effects can provide this invaluable information. (Sanders Horn, TVASS, p.255)

Will teachers want to teach in the system? The model should make it more likely that schools will be able to recruit qualified individuals into highneed fields like math, science and special education — or whatever a given district’s most pressing needs may be.

What is the independent evaluation of their rubric, model, and process based on? What research justifies their model? Is there a wide range of competing research conclusions?