President Bill Clinton Mentions A+ Schools on C-SPAN

Former President Bill Clinton and Bill Gates were interviewed by Tamron Hall about debt, taxes, health care costs, immigration, and education.

President Clinton cites A+ Schools as a group successfully graduating K-12 students.

"Shaping America's Future" Major Trends, New Ideas, and Big Decisions" was part of the Peterson Foundation "2013 Fiscal Summit: Facing the Future."

Recorded on May 7, 2013

Becoming Part of Louisiana A+ Schools, a Teacher's Perspective

Please enjoy this post by our guest blogger Natalie Sonnier

Epiphany Day School

Hi! My name is Natalie Sonnier and I am very enthusiastic about being a part of the Louisiana A+ Schools network.  I have been in the teaching profession for a year and a half. I started teaching a month after graduation. I graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette with a Bachelor of Science: Early Childhood Education and a certification in Middle School Mathematics.  I taught Middle School Mathematics from January 2012 to May 2012 at a Lafayette Parish Public School. I was accepted into Graduate School and started my studies in Educational Technology Leadership in July 2012. The past school year, 2012-2013, I have been a Kindergarten teacher assistant at Episcopal School of Acadiana while working on my graduate coursework. I will begin teaching at Epiphany Day School in August 2013. I will be teaching second grade, my favorite grade as a child, and finishing up my Master’s Degree in the fall. I will be graduating on December 7^th, 2013 in Educational Technology Leadership from the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

Second Grade Teacher Natalie Sonnier

I truly love my profession and couldn't be more blessed to work with children every day. My calling to teach started when I was about five years old. I sat my sister down in our pretend classroom and taught her the skills I was learning in Kindergarten.  I knew from a very young age that teaching was my passion and thank my past teachers for making a difference in my life. I hope to make a lasting impression on my students and instill the importance of education. I love creating fun and meaningful lessons, teaching life skills that are necessary, building relationships with parents and other faculty, and being a vital part of a child’s life. 

I am thrilled that Epiphany Day School has been chosen to participate in Louisiana A+ Schools. The 8 Essentials seem to be an excellent resource and foundation for the school. I am anticipating that my future classroom, planning, relationships with others will touch on all eight components.  I think the 8 Essentials that A+ Schools values are truly important to the school setting. I hope that the second grade curriculum and lessons I create will foster experiential learning, are adaptive to each learner, value multiple intelligences, and integrate art components.  Also, in regards to planning and relationships I hope the collaboration between teachers is effective and the climate is positive and fun for both students and teachers. I really think the foundation for A+ Schools gives the school resources and a foundation for a school that can make a huge difference in the community.

George Rodrigue Foundation Executive Director Jacques Rodrigue,
Epiphany Day School Principal Kathleen O'Shaughnessy and
Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne

The primary Essential that I would like to focus on is the arts. I am a very creative person in regards to creating fun and meaningful lessons and activities for the students, but I tend to lack confidence when creating visual arts. I believe that a teacher should be an example and it is hard for me to create art work that I am comfortable with. I know children are very creative, but I have struggled with this creative aspect my whole life. Also, I think curriculum is another Essential that I would like to focus on this upcoming school year. I have taught at the middle school level, but the first time teaching an elementary grade. I plan to focus on the curriculum and create a solid foundation for the second grade level. The lessons that I create from the curriculum will have solid objectives, expectations, evaluations of content, and focus on differentiation for all learners in the classroom.  I believe that throughout my first year teaching at Epiphany Day School I can grow in these two essential component areas and make a difference to the students, the school community, and to my profession. Hopefully, at the end of the 2013-2014 school year I can be an “A+ teacher.” 

Louisiana Announces Their First A+ Schools

After years of hard work and the help of fellow member of the National A+ Schools Consortium, Louisiana A+ Schools is proud to announce their first seven members!

Any school (public, private, charter, urban, suburban, rural, PreK3 through 12) can be a member of the Louisiana A+ School network.   LAA+ chose the following seven schools to join their network in 2013 after an intense application process.  If you want your school join their network, we encourage you to learn more!  They will be adding 5 - 10 schools to the network every year.

1.  South Highlands Elementary Magnet - Shreveport - Public - PreK - 8

2.  Grace Episcopal School - Monroe - Private - PreK - 8
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3.  Epiphany Day School - New Iberia - Private - PreK3 - 5
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4.  The Dufrocq School - Baton Rouge - Public - PreK3 - 5
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5.  Riverside Academy - Reserve - Private - PreK3 - 12
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6.  Homer A. Plessy Community School - New Orleans - Charter - K - 2
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7.  Martin Behrman Academy of Creative Arts and Sciences - New Orleans - Charter - PreK - 8