• A Collaborative Grant at Work: World Languages and Special Ed
• Jack & Jordan Trust Litchman Fund: Science Enrichment for Grade 3
• Library Fund Honors Joan Tieman
• The Todd Saker Endowment: Author to Visit Schools
• Brookline Educational Equity Project: Addressing the Achievement Gap
• The Brookline Education Foundation Announces The Green Apple Society
• Urban Improv Comes to Driscoll and Lincoln Schools
• The Foundation Co-Sponsors Program Series on Asperger's Syndrome
• Gelfand Fellow Travels to High Desert

Learning a world language can be interesting, educational and a lot of fun. For students with IEPs and 504 plans, however, acquiring a new language can be extremely challenging. Last year, Brookline High School changed its graduation requirements to include two years of world language. To help all BHS students successfully meet this requirement, teachers in the World Language and Special Education Departments applied for and received a grant from the Brookline Education Foundation for a series of collaborative planning and development workshops.

During the spring and summer, teachers from both departments shared their knowledge of how different types of students learn languages and identified teaching methods that might particularly help students with learning disabilities. According to Agnes Alberola, and Cathy Heller, Curriculum Coordinators for World Languages and Special Education, respectively, this is seminal work that once again puts Brookline at the educational forefront!

Much has been accomplished in the early phases of this project. World Language teachers better understand how to make accommodations for some students. Special education teachers better understand the ways in which BHS language instruction already incorporates multiple presentation methods, providing students with many ways to grasp the material.

This school year, teachers from both departments will observe each other’s classes. They will then meet again to analyze and further refine the support services students need.

The Brookline Education Foundation is pleased to announce the newly established “Jack and Jordan Trust Litchman Fund,” which will support science programs in the Brookline Elementary Schools. This fund is intended as a lasting tribute to the memory of Jack and Jordan Trust Litchman, twin babies who died prematurely. The babies’ parents, Laura Trust and Alan Litchman, established the fund to support the Brookline Public Schools, which Jack and Jordan would have attended.

The initial grant will finance ocean and tidepool studies at the third grade level in all eight Brookline elementary schools, including an annual visit to each school by the New England Aquarium’s Traveling Tidepool exhibit. It also will fund professional development classes at the Aquarium for interested teachers, aides and interns.

The Brookline Education Foundation was chosen by the Trust Litchman family as the recipient of this fund in recognition of its support of the Brookline Public Schools. It is the family’s hope that this fund will honor the memory of Jack and Jordan by growing and continuing to support the Brookline Public School’s Science curriculum over many years to come.

A special fund honoring Joan Tieman and administered by the Brookline Education Foundation was established last spring on the occasion of Joan’s retirement from 40 years of teaching. The monies from the fund are being used to enhance the library collections at the Driscoll and Lawrence schools, where Joan taught for many years, and to support children's book author visits to the two schools. A broad selection of books—poetry, fiction, biography and history—featuring a specially designed Joan Tieman bookplate will soon appear on the Driscoll and Lawrence library shelves.

David J. Smith, author of If the World Were A Village: A Book about the World’s People, will visit all eight elementary schools this winter to share his experience as an author, to discuss the writing process, and to inspire a future generation of writers. David Smith's visits will be funded by The Todd Saker Endowment, which was established by a generous gift from Linda and Wayne Saker to honor the memory of their son, who was a voracious reader.

If the World Were A Village reduces the world to a village of 100 people. Who lives in the village, what languages are spoken, and how fast the world is growing are among the issues the book examines. Horn Book Magazine described the book as "thought-provoking and highly effective” in the way in which it introduces children to a “wider view of our planet.” The book has won numerous awards and recognitions. A former teacher who is now an educational consultant, Mr. Smith lives in Cambridge.

Last year, the Brookline Education Foundation awarded its largest grant ever to a town-wide leadership team addressing the racial achievement gap in the Brookline schools. A formal plan of action, called “ Brookline Educational Equity Project: Taking Action, Getting Results,” evolved from this process. The Equity Project plan identifies actions within six strategic areas of focus believed to be most effective in eliminating educational inequities.

This year, the Foundation allocated a follow-up grant of $24,000 to continue our support of the Equity Project. This grant will provide facilitation skills training for the coordinating team and diversity training for some members of the action team. The grant will also initiate a longitudinal study on the effectiveness of the project.

For more information about the Equity Project, please go to http://bec.brookline.mec.edu/publicschools/teachingandlearning/teachlearn.htm and click the Brookline’s Educational Equity Project link on the left side of the page.

The Brookline Education Foundation announces the creation of the Green Apple Society, whose donors' extraordinary generosity and leadership strengthens our ability to fund collaboration among teachers and schools, professional development for educators, and experiences that will enrich students in all 9 Brookline Public Schools.

For information on how you can join the Green Apple Society, please call (617) 232-3846.

The Brookline Education Foundation grant is funding training for the Driscoll and Lincoln faculties on how to use structured theater improvisation in their classrooms to help students confront and discuss serious social issues.

A Brookline Community Fund grant is underwriting an eight-session Urban Improv program for Driscoll 7th grade classes this fall, while a private benefactor is financing an assembly for Lincoln 7th and 8th students. The PTOs and the Brookline Community Fund are also covering the cost of offering similar workshops for Driscoll and Lincoln parents.