Pray the Devil Back To Hell !

Subject: Pray the Devil Back To Hell, Earn Ron Brown Scholarship; DeVry Offers Free Classes to high School Juniors and Seniors; The More Math You Take, The More Money You Make; Rev. Catherine Jackson's Women's Leadership Conference.

Pray the Devil Back To Hell!!! Help end the war of youth violence that is killing our children in the streets of America.  If the women of Liberia can end violence by praying and acting, so can we.  Join the women of Chicago as they pray the devil of violence in Chicago back to hell. Pray The Devil Back to Hell! on Monday, December 5, 12, 19 and 26, 2011 Film: 6:30 pm  Discussion and Prayer: 7:30 pm at  The Black Star Project 3509 South King Drive, Suite 2B Chicago, Illinois $5.00 for members - $10:00 for non-members.  Space is limited. You must RSVP and arrive at least 10 minutes before film time to be guaranteed your seat. All seats will be sold starting 10 minutes before film time. Please call 773.285.9600 to RSVP your seat.   Being sick and tire of being sick and tired is not enough!  You must pray and you must act. On Monday, December 5, 12, 19 and 26, 2011, the women of Chicago will gather to see the powerful movement and documentary of women that brought peace to war torn Liberia, Pray the Devil Back to Hell.  And the women of Chicago will work to pray the devil of violence and despair that is in Chicago back to Hell! Join them.   African American High School Seniors Can Apply for Ron Brown Scholarships  by January 2012   Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown This program seeks to identify African-American high school seniors who will make significant contributions to society. Applicants must excel academically, exhibit exceptional leadership potential, participate in community service activities and demonstrate financial need. The applicant must be a US citizen or hold a permanent resident visa card. Current college students are not eligible to apply. Recipients may use the renewable scholarships to attend an accredited four-year college or university of their choice within the United States. Ron Brown Scholarships are not limited to any specific field or career objective and may be used to pursue any academic discipline. More than 200 students have been designated as Ron Brown Scholars since the inception of the Program. Award Amount: $10,000 Deadline: Usually in January Click Here to apply. Join Rev. Catherine Jackson for Her Leadership Conference  Chicago High School Workshops for Juniors and Seniors 2011-2012  Free College Level Courses for High School Students   Health Information Technology Day and Showcase Thursday, October 20, 2011, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Discover a field that works with administrators, physicians, nurses and other clinicians to achieve total health information solutions for patients and service providers. Hands-on activity and an employer panel.  Includes lunch. ACT Prep Review Saturday, December 3, 2011 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM The review session will help prepare students to take the ACT.  Math and Science sessions will be taught by DeVry professors using official ACT review materials.  Each student will receive an ACT review booklet, free of charge.  Includes lunch. Scholarship Workshop Saturday, December 10, 2011 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Discover how to develop plans for financing your education.  Gain an understanding of Federal Aid Programs and how to complete the FAFSA process.  Learn how to find and apply for scholarships.  Includes lunch. Forensic Accounting Workshop Friday, January 20, 2012 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM DeVry University, its Keller Graduate school of Management and Becker Professional Education invite you to attend the forensic accounting workshop where your students can discover the educational requirements, career paths, and participate in a hands-on experiment from experts in the forensic accounting field.  Includes lunch. Electronics / Engineering Day and Showcase Thursday, February 23, 2012 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM DeVry's degree programs in the electronics field are based on the fundamentals of the technology driving today's systems.  Through hands-on activities, students will explore basic electronics, telecommunications, biomedical technology, and controls and instrumentation. Includes lunch. Careers in Networking and Computer Information Systems Day Thursday, March 29, 2012 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Explore opportunities in technology careers. Students discover telecommunications and computer technology in hands-on sessions.  Includes lunch. HerWorld Thursday, March 15, 2012 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Women are strongly suited for careers in business and technology.  Explore the reasons why by viewing the multimedia presentation, participating in activities, and hearing advice from the panel of female professionals.  Includes meal. Imagine Showcase-Web Graphic Design Thursday, May 10, 2012 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Be part of a hands-on workshop and showcase that provides information on web site creation using design elements such as color, form, function and perspective.  Discover more about graphic design career opportunities. Includes lunch net.builders Monday, June 25 through Saturday, June 30, 2012 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM net.builders is a six-day summer scholars program that focuses on technology, career awareness and business skills.  Students will experience technology by exploring the Internet and learning to create a web site.  Professional skills are enhanced by learning and applying presentation skills.  Finale includes lunch. Other Offerings  Passport2College is a tuition-free program offered by DeVry University for qualified high school juniors to earn college credit in pre-approved business and technology courses.  Call 773-697-2002 for more information. Visit the Campus For an interactive workshop and tour or Crash a Class, please call 773-697-2002 for information.  Pre-registration required for all programs.  For more information contact: Karin Kushino at kkushino@devry.edu or 773-697-2002. We Need Teachers of Color "Increasing the number of teachers of color is not only a matter of a philosophical commitment to diversity in career opportunities. Teachers of color provide real-life examples to minority students of future career paths. In this way, increasing the number of current teachers of color may be instrumental to increasing the number of future teachers of color. And while there are effective teachers of many races, teachers of color have demonstrated success in increasing academic achievement for engaging students of similar backgrounds."   Few Minority Teachers In Classrooms, Gap Attributed To Bias And Low Graduation Rates    November 11, 2011 Photo provided by The Black star Project Minority students will likely outnumber white students in the next decade or two, but the failure of the national teacher demographic to keep up with that trend is hurting minority students who tend to benefit from teachers with similar backgrounds. Minority students make up more than 40 percent of the national public school population, while only 17 percent of the country's teachers are minorities, according to a report released this week by the Center for American Progress. "This is a problem for students, schools, and the public at large. Teachers of color serve as role models for students, giving them a clear and concrete sense of what diversity in education--and in our society--looks like," the report's authors write. "A recent review of empirical studies also shows that students of color do better on a variety of academic outcomes if they're taught by teachers of color." Using data from the 2008 Schools and Staffing Survey, the most recent data available, researchers found that more than 20 states have gaps of 25 percentage points or more between the diversity of their teachers and students. California yielded the largest discrepancy of 43 percentage points, with 72 percent minority students compared with 29 percent minority teachers. Nevada and Illinois had the second and third largest gaps, of 41 and 35 percentage points, respectively. In a second report, the CAP notes that in more than 40 percent of the nation's public schools, there are no minority teachers at all. The dearth of diversity in the teaching force could show that fewer minorities are interested in teaching or that there are fewer minorities qualified to teach. "Increasing the number of teachers of color is not only a matter of a philosophical commitment to diversity in career opportunities. Teachers of color provide real-life examples to minority students of future career paths," the researchers write. "In this way, increasing the number of current teachers of color may be instrumental to increasing the number of future teachers of color. And while there are effective teachers of many races, teachers of color have demonstrated success in increasing academic achievement for engaging students of similar backgrounds." This large discrepancy between minority teachers and minority students can be attributable to low graduation rates among many minority groups, according to the report. While high school graduation is a minimum requirement for the teaching profession, just over half of black, Latino and Native American students finish high school. College entrance and completion rates are similarly low -- with only 56 percent of black students and 64 percent of Latino high school graduates going on to college. Less than half of both black and Latino students finished college in 2007. In addition, the high cost of college also drives many minority students away from pursuing higher education. In an August Huffington Post report, Enrique Murillo, a professor of education at California State University, San Bernardino, said the disparity "has created a cultural and linguistic gulf" that especially hurts students who take English as a second language. Murillo is also commissioner of the California Student Aid Commission and executive director of Latino Education and Advocacy Days. "There's so few of us in general in the educational pipeline, so the pool is really small," Murillo told HuffPost. "It stems from the overall crisis in Latino education. The main crux here is that there's a mismatch between school and home, and Latino educators are bridge builders that help close that mismatch." CAP's paper reports several case studies of initiatives that aim to increase teacher recruitment and retention among those groups, including Teach for America and The New Teacher Project-Fellowship Programs. Among the center's recommendations for closing the teacher-student diversity gap: Increasing federal oversight of and increased accountability for teacher preparation programs. This is the first step in ensuring that minority teachers emerge from teacher preparation programs with the skills needed to be effective teachers. The federal government can also take the lead on requesting programs to report on diversity efforts. Creating statewide initiatives to fund teacher preparation programs aimed at low-income and minority teachers. Strengthening federal financial aid programs for low-income students entering the teaching field. Reducing the cost of becoming a teacher by creating more avenues to enter the field and increasing the number of qualified credentialing organizations. Strengthening state-sponsored and nonprofit teacher recruitment and training organizations by increasing standards for admission, using best practices to recruit high-achieving minority students, and forming strong relationships with districts to ensure recruitment needs are met.  The More Math You Take, The More Money You Make!   Higher Math in High School Means Higher Earnings Later    Research Brief - JULY 2001 ISSUE #48   There is a well-established correlation between years of schooling and labor market success. However, it stands to reason that it is not just years of education that affect future earnings. The curriculum-the kinds of courses a student takes-certainly must have an effect. For example, it seems reasonable that students who take more-advanced math courses in high school should be more likely to pursue postsecondary education and to have higher earnings. For a number of reasons, it is important to understand whether this is true. First, if high school curriculum does affect educational and labor market outcomes, policies aimed at encouraging students to take a more-advanced curriculum may be a way of increasing both college attendance and later earnings. Second, with the recent elimination of affirmative action programs in California, minority access to postsecondary education may have suffered. If so, this would have severe implications for income inequality between different ethnic groups. Encouraging minority students to take more math might improve their chances of enrolling in college. Third, if a more rigorous curriculum does affect the probability of going on to college and having higher earnings, perhaps more money should be spent on improving curriculum, as opposed to other options, such as spending designed to reduce class size. In Math Matters: The Links Between High School Curriculum, College Graduation, and Earnings, Heather Rose and Julian R. Betts find a strong relationship between taking advanced math courses in high school and earnings 10 years after graduation. For their analyses, they used data collected in the High School and Beyond survey of a representative sample of students who were in grade 10 in 1980. This survey includes detailed data from the students' high school transcripts, information about the highest educational degree the students attained, and information about earnings nearly 10 years after students should have graduated from high school. The survey also contains rich demographic data, as well as information about students' families and high schools, which allowed the researchers to account for many non-curriculum factors that may also be related to college graduation and earnings. Course-Taking Behavior and Long-Term Implications There was a great deal of variation in the course-taking behavior of the 1982 senior high school class. Twenty-six percent of students completed only vocational math courses and nothing more before leaving school. Another 8 percent stopped taking math courses after completing pre-algebra. Thirty-one percent took an algebra or geometry course, but nothing beyond, and 31 percent took a more-advanced algebra course. Only 4 percent completed a calculus course. This variation in course-taking behavior had long-term implications for these students, affecting how much education they obtained overall and how much they eventually earned in the labor force. Correlation or Causality?   Although the level of math courses a student takes is correlated with college graduation rates and earnings, correlation does not necessarily imply causation. To net out the true effects of curriculum, the researchers took into account as many other potentially contributing factors as the data would allow: the student's demographic characteristics, including ethnicity and gender; measures of student motivation and ability, such as grade point average; family background, including parental education and income; and high school characteristics, including school size, teachers' education level, and the percentage of disadvantaged students at the school. Through a series of statistical models, the researchers "washed out" each of these contributing factors until they had a pure mathematics effect. They found that the higher the level of the math course taken in high school, the greater the probability that a student would graduate from college. Math and Earnings The researchers' statistical models demonstrate that part of a math course's effect on earnings can be explained by its effect on the student's ultimate level of education. However, part is also explained by a cognitive effect that makes a student more productive. For example, students who take more-advanced math classes learn skills that may be directly applicable to certain jobs. They may also learn logic and reasoning skills that indirectly make them more productive.  Skills acquired through learning advanced math may also teach students how to learn, so that once they are on the job, they are promoted to more demanding and more highly paid positions than those who have acquired fewer "learning skills." Again accounting for all of the variables noted above, the researchers show-for each level of high school math course-how much of the total earnings increase results from the "cognitive effect" and how much from the "educational effect." For example, after controlling for the student's demographic, family, and high school characteristics, one extra course in algebra or geometry is associated with 6.3 percent higher earnings. Of this effect, 3.1 percent derives from the student's ultimate education level and 3.2 percent appears to be related to the direct cognitive effect.  Of this cognitive effect, 3.0 percent remains even after controlling for the student's ability. Conclusions and Caveat The main message of this study is that math matters. Another principal message is that it is not simply the number of math courses a student takes that is important; what matters more is the extent to which students take more demanding courses, such as advanced algebra and geometry. That said, the authors note that for a number of reasons it would be a mistake to suddenly require that all students take advanced courses such as calculus. Such a mandate might well need to be preceded by improved teacher training as well as curriculum intervention in middle schools or even elementary schools, so that high school students are prepared to undertake advanced coursework. In addition, it is likely that policies that force highly advanced math courses on students would increase dropout rates or result in watering down the work required to complete such courses.  What the authors do argue is that their statistical models show that the effect of math courses on earnings does not appear to vary much with respect to student or school characteristics and that a rigorous math curriculum at any school can benefit students of any type. Hence, it is important that schools have the resources to provide all students with an equal opportunity to take some of the more advanced math classes, and students should be encouraged to do so. Occupy The Hood from the Heartland - Columbia, Missouri   Columbia residents invited to 'Occupy the Hood' event  BY Hilary Niles Friday, November 18, 2011   COLUMBIA - Tyree Byndom wants everyone to know that while the "Occupy the Hood" gathering that will take place Saturday at his downtown home is about solidarity, it is even more so about action.    "It's a little different from Occupy Wall Street," said Byndom, a longtime Columbia resident and, increasingly, community activist. He said his three central questions for those who come to the open meeting will be: "What do you want to do? What do you need? And how do you want to get it done?" Nationally, Occupy the Hood is an off-shoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement that has gone global in the two-plus months since it took root in New York. Generally speaking, Occupy the Hood's aim is to integrate the burgeoning social movement with the faces and concerns of people of color, co-organizer Malik Rahsaan, a New York-based substance abuse counselor, told the Huffington Post. To Byndom, "it means the empowerment of po' folk." He said he wants to help people escape their lethargy, entropy and disenfranchisement to become active participants in the community. He learned of the movement from Philip Jackson, executive director of the Black Star Project out of Chicago. "Black people are used to suffering. So now that (other) people are stepping up to say, 'We're suffering,' it's a little different," Byndom said. He has once visited the Occupy COMO protest that has been ongoing at Liberty Plaza in front of Columbia City Hall since late September, and has invited its organizers onto his community radio program Kore Issues, which airs Saturdays on 89.5 KOPN. But, he suggested, Occupy COMO is not a forum that fits everyone who might otherwise like to join the movement.  "One of the things I've seen is that culturally, that's not something black people are going to do a lot," Byndom said, referring to his observation that Columbia's black population has not gotten involved in the protest. Byndom plans to cook "a big old pot of spaghetti," and invites others to bring their own culinary specialties and non-alcoholic drinks. He also plans to carve out a 30-minute block of time for meditation, prayer and poetry. He said he expects 30-40 people will show up, but that his house can hold 100. Anyone who cannot attend in person is invited to visit Byndom's Facebook page, where he has listed information about the gathering. It will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 501 N. Providence Road, across the corner from Douglass Park.   We need your support to continue our work. Our fundraising goal for this membership drive is $50,000 by January 31, 2012. All of the funds raised will go toward supporting the Saturday University and our programs to support Black men and boys. These initiatives need your support as a community of concerned citizens to continue the important work. If you value our efforts to reduce violence, rebuild families, and improve academic achievement, will you become a member today?     You can make a one-time donation online or you can set up monthly contributions.  And you can win prizes!!! This week there are two ways to win: 1) The first 5 people to become members will win 4 passes to see Shrek Live the Musical on Stage at the Rosemont Theater on Sunday, November 27th at 1:00 pm 5400 North River Road Rosemont, IL 60018 2) The raffle. For every $50 you donate before Sunday, November 27th at midnight, your name will be entered into a drawing. We will conduct the drawing each Monday and announce the winner and the next week's prize through an email on Tuesday.  This week's prize will be 5 hours of free tutoring or test preparation through The Black Star Project.       The winner of the autographed Chicago Bears football was Andris Baltins.  Mr. Baltins generously asked that the football be used as a prize for an essay competition among the participants in our Warrior, Healer, Scholar Mentoring Program.