A Spring Break with TFA

By Nina Gokhale

I spent my spring break in Memphis, Tennessee as a participant in Maximum Impact: Alternative Spring Break with Deloitte and Teach for America. Over a period of four days, I was able to witness first hand the struggles of this community. We spent our first evening exploring Memphis, where only 4% of students graduate college-ready. The next three days we worked with TFA members and school administrators at various schools. Following are my reflections on each day’s events.

Sunday:

Beale Street is like a smaller version of New Orleans’ Bourbon Street. Bars with neon signs line the street. Live music pours from open doors. There was a fair number of people out for a Sunday evening, but as we ventured out, the scenery changed. Historic landmarks and office buildings are heavily interspersed with boarded up structures. Few cars drove by. For the largest city in the state, it seemed far too empty.

Monday:

I spent my day doing landscaping and secretarial work. The work I did was mundane, but somehow, I’ve still come away feeling satisfied. I’ve long been troubled by the fact that the work I do does not seem to make a long-lasting difference. And I’ve heard it a lot, but I’m really starting to see that small amounts of time can help. One hour from thirty-five of us can greatly reduce a teacher’s work outside of the classroom. A morning in the dirt can create an environment where students are proud and excited to come to each day. The gratitude everyone expressed is truly remarkable and has shown me that my efforts can be the highlight of another’s day, week, or month. 

Tuesday:

We spent the following day at a middle school. Here I had the opportunity to work with small groups on math problems. For a few, it clicked. In other cases, however, I felt like I was merely speaking at the students, unable to tell whether they had any grasp of what I was saying. Only when I began to work on more personal levels with my groups of six, addressing individual issues, did I see any progress. But I struggled running around even with this small few. I cannot even begin to understand how teachers are expected to work with classes of 30 and address the various levels of students’ understanding. I always assumed that children slipping between the cracks was due to lack of care on part of the teachers, but I am seeing it’s a lot more complicated than this.

Wednesday:

During a college Q&A, one student asked about paying for college. I gave the classic answer, about scholarships, financial aid, loans, etc. But it was difficult, giving them this broad answer, when many do not have the resources necessary to understand the complicated processes to finance their educations. And even with aid, there are still significant out of pocket expenses. A TFA corps member told us afterwards that he encourages his students to go to community college prior to attending a university. While a necessary move for many, this increasing long and expensive process will unfortunately make a college degree even less attainable for these students.

Thursday:

The idea of TFA terrifies me. Being the force that is supposed to motivate students and put them on track is an incredible amount of pressure. Yet for some reason, this new found fear is not driving me further from the idea of being a corps member, but closer to it. The hours of frustrations and failures are worth it, even if only a few achieve their potential. It’s scary, but the cause is worth fighting for.

How Government Agencies will Adopt Cloud Services

While most commentary about managed cloud services tend to focus on the advances in commercial enterprise applications, government agencies are also making noteworthy progress. In particular, the advent of regional community cloud hubs is a phenomenon that's worthy of further exploration.

According to their latest market study and related report, IDC Government Insights believes regional cloud hubs will significantly change the way state and local governments procure online computing services.

These regional cloud hubs, defined as one government agency offering computing and storage services to other government agencies, have proven successful in the State of Michigan and State of Utah. In addition, the IDC's research provides a framework for building similar regional cloud solutions.

According to Shawn McCarthy, research analyst, IDC Government Insights, "We believe that cloud hubs will see rapid growth, since the first multi-agency efforts have already shown a positive return on investment and solid service levels for cloud solutions subscribers."

Cloud computing is rapidly changing the way government organizations consume computing resources. This comes at a time when virtualized servers and efforts towards application standardization have merged many government solutions.

IDC says that as solutions merge, less data center space is needed. In fact, by the end of 2012 close to 40 percent of federal data centers will be shuttered. Many state governments are following a similar path, often combing multiple data centers into one or two large statewide operations. Remaining data centers often serve as a shared computing and storage resource for multiple departments.

Why State Government is Leading the Way

While any level of government can, in theory, offer services to any other government office, state-level governments are often most qualified to serve as regional hosts -- offering government-to-government services to other state agencies or to local municipal government entities.

Local governments are already looking for trusted cloud providers -- and for ways to significantly reduce their growing IT costs. Through these cooperative arrangements, the government sites are able to leverage private cloud services including software as a service, infrastructure as a service, online storage, and security as a service, among others.

Being able to purchase services through high volume state contracts can give local governments a substantial pricing edge. In addition, moving to a shared service environment also helps local governments conform to broader data standards and gain access to streamlined reporting tools that can be hosted right on the shared system.

"In general, the larger government operations that already manage complex IT systems will evolve as the most likely regional hosts," said McCarthy. "Smaller government agencies may choose to get out of most IT hosting and management operations, as long as they can find reliable, affordable and privately hosted solutions through the cloud."

Business Model for Regional Cloud Hubs

According to IDC, these managed cloud solutions often require zero to moderate capital expenditures and are developed in-house or are commercially developed private clouds -- dedicated to government use and designed to meet specific government standards.

As a result, this evolution has the potential to trigger the following game-changing consequences:

• For the host facility, it can turn a government agency cost center into a revenue center. By selling cloud solutions to other government organizations, host agencies can offset their own IT costs.
• Local governments can buy cheaper cloud solutions than they might find on their own and they may be able to reduce capital expenditures and overhead costs.
• Cloud services will replace internal client/server systems as the main model for government application delivery. The race is on to build shared regional data centers and the largest portfolios of government solutions.

The IDC Government Insights report features two U.S. states, Michigan and Utah, both well on their way to building cloud hubs that can be used by multiple government agencies at various levels of government. In addition, the report highlights several regional multi-state cloud computing efforts.

A Summary: The New Haven Experiment by Nicholas D Kristoff

By Paul Bucala 

This article addresses the conflict of interests between teacher’s unions and school reform in America and how New Haven, a small city in Connecticut, has taken steps to make teacher unions part of the solution, rather than the problem. The author of this op-ed, Nicholos Kristoff, opens this article with a couple of anecdotes that illustrate how teacher unions prevent incompetent teachers from being fired by school administers. For example, Kristoff tells the story how an L.A. union helped a teacher keep his job after he allegedly mocked one of his students. But as Kristoff states “that’s what makes an experiment under way [in New Haven] so jaw-dropping. New Haven has arguably become ground zero for school reform in America because it is transforming the system with the full cooperation of the union. After all, as Kristoff states, good teachers are a must for reforming America’s ailing public school system but the current anti-teacher union sentiment certainly does not attract talented young people into teaching.  A few years ago, the New Haven school district established a “revolutionary contract” with teachers. In exchange for job security, pay and benefits would rise. A new evaluation system was  also established that would be based off standardized test scores and other measures of learning.  Evaluated teachers would be fully protected by a transparent process Last year, administrators fired 34 teachers (2% of teachers)  and this year is 50 more are scheduled to be fired. The surprising thing is that both Administers and Teacher Unions support this new contract. Davic Cicarella, president of New Haven Federation of Teachers states “ We all recognize that we need to do something. Tenured teachers who are ineffective- that is an issue. We want to do something about it. But it is not fair to blame all the teachers. “ Fair and transparent accountability is welcome, Cicarella states but notes that it is “Not ok any more to just spray and pray.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/opinion/kristof-the-new-haven-experiment.html

Taking a Semester off: The Life of a DC Reads Non-Tutor

 By Caroline Seabolt

After tutoring for 2 straight semesters for DC Reads, accepting an Internship at the Phillips Collection made me feel like a sell-out.  Being in the classrooms helping teachers and students this fall brought me pure joy and I loved every second of it, so the decision was incredibly difficult to make.  I accepted the internship because it was in the Education Department and I would be working with grades K-12. I definitely miss tutoring, but I know that my involvement with DC Reads is going nowhere.  I still attend weekly Advocacy meetings, and am planning to attend some seminars this semester as well.

There is a common misconception that one cannot be involved in DC Reads without tutoring.  However our various committees are open to anyone with an interest in education on campus and the DC Community.

There are a lot of different ways to teach, and I am learning how to do that bye using art.  I plan to use the teaching skills that I am acquiring from observation and practice at the museum and apply them to DC Reads when I come back to tutor next semester.  I can’t wait to come back!

Virgin Media Deploys Online Talent Networking Solution

Market leading companies are embracing enterprise talent networking practices -- to gain a competitive advantage within their industry. While Online collaboration tools have been readily available for some time, few IT managers proactively combine them into a cohesive strategy to advance their organization's productivity.

That being said, it's been the tech-savvy forward-thinking executives that have led the cause to date -- enabling their organization to join the ranks of the early-adopters, and paving the way for others to follow.

Cisco announced that Virgin Media, the UK's top entertainment and digital communications company, is deploying the powerful combination of Cisco Quad, Cisco WebEx and Cisco Unified Communications to its eager employee base.

The solutions are part of the Virgin Media progressive "Flexible Working Initiative" that will enable thousands of employees to collaborate and work remotely -- utilizing video calls and shared documents, all easily accessible via notebook PCs, business tablets and mobile smartphones.

Sharing Tacit Knowledge Across the Enterprise

Cisco Quad will become a virtual knowledge bank that helps support online communities of practice, bringing together talent with common skills and interests. The platform enables the sharing of files or videos with co-workers across projects and workstreams -- offering instant WebEx conferencing sessions or instant messaging chat sessions -- all possible via the browser-based solution.

Quad allows users to quickly find resources or skills, prioritize work and team activities more easily. This platform will incorporate real-time decision making within WebEx conferencing sessions, through communities, activity feeds and watch lists -- all accessible via any browser or through mobile apps.

Finding and Connecting the Unique Talent Assets

Quad essentially allows Virgin Media employees to discover and participate in discussions with relevant internal groups that may have been previously unknown to them. This new capability will support their vision for a truly collaborative and flexible working environment.

"The ability of social media to actively engage audiences is proven, and we're making the most of Cisco's collaboration software to bring new ways of working to Virgin Media," said Elisa Nardi, chief people and services officer at Virgin Media.

Virgin Media will soon roll out the solution to its managers and staff that are working across teams and on company-wide projects.

Highlights of the deployment include:

• Collaboration applications will offer greater flexibility to co-work from a variety of Virgin Media office locations and from participating employee homes.
• The rich media capabilities extended through WebEx high-definition video help engage workers with a more face-to-face online experience.
• Cisco WebEx can help shorten the time to make key business decisions -- just in time -- via quick and easy video chat conversations.
• Cisco Quad can providing rapid access to information and people through its enterprise search capability -- which helps employees find relevant subject matter experts, content and active communities.

Market Insights on the Pending Business Tablet Invasion

Here's the scenario, you're a busy executive working away from your office and you just want to quickly research something on the Web. You turn on the company-provided notebook computer and you wait the standard 3-6 minute delay, before you can actually use it.

The corporate IT department has numerous mandatory processes that must load first -- such as virus protection, data backup, system and app software updates, etc. -- on a typical Windows system. That's often dozens of processes running at start-up, and some will consume 100 percent of the available processing power.

That automated cycle can temporarily incapacitate a notebook PC. Don't bother attempting to load a web browser while this PC start-up sequence is in motion. What's the alternative? If you have a media tablet, simply use it instead and you're on the Web in a matter of seconds.

Mobile Workers and Their Virtual Workspace

Is your company prepared for the pending business tablet invasion that will likely raise the bar of expectations for corporate mobile computing? Ready or not, this trend is already in motion. Cisco announced findings from a global survey of IT managers' perceptions about tablet form-factor mobile devices in the enterprise.

Cisco commissioned Redshift Research to perform a market study to assess attitudes, fears and hopes for media tablets in the workplace from a survey of more than 1500 IT managers and executives in the U.S., Canada, UK, France, Germany and Spain. While it's still considered a nascent market, this year we'll surely see an increase in the adoption of business-oriented tablet computing.

Key findings from the market study include:

Media Tablet Demand

• Tablets vs. smartphones: which win? Globally, IT departments report employees place one tablet request for every three smartphone requests today.
• Which countries lead? Of the countries surveyed, the US and France are tied for tops -- each report a tablet is requested by 21% of the workforce. Senior executives are most likely to be issued a tablet in the US (38%) and least likely to be issued one in the UK (27 percent).
• Who's most excited? Spain tops the list, with 90% of IT managers believing the tablet will become more popular in the next two years.
• "Uber-connected sales guys". Tablets are significantly more prevalent among salespeople in Germany (31%) than in all other countries (21% on average).

IT Manager Fears And Wants

• Tops in security concerns? The U.S., the country with the most experience managing tablets, also ranks #1 on the "security issue": 75% of US IT managers said new rules must be established around security and device usage.
• What about app access? Nearly half (48%) of all IT managers surveyed agree that access to company applications should be restricted for all employees. Canada and UK were the top countries in wanting to see restricted access on tablet form-factor devices (55% and 56 %, respectively).
• Custom apps? IT managers universally agree that custom tablet applications would benefit their business.
• Top "want list" features? Globally, three-quarters of IT managers indicated email and document sharing are "must haves". About half agreed or strongly agreed that these are desirable: video conferencing, IM, access to company databases and seamless synchronization with other business devices.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

• Turning a blind eye to BYOD. Globally, 48% said their company would never authorize employees to bring their own devices to work, yet 57% agreed that some employees use personal devices without consent.
• 51% of the respondents reported the number of employees bringing their own devices to work is on the rise.
• Using personal devices without consent was highest in the US (64%) and lowest in Germany (49%).
• Access to company servers was highlighted as a "huge problem" of the "bring your own device" to work phenomena as was lost/stolen devices (64% globally).
• Globally, 44% say that handling BYOD issues diverts IT attention from other important projects.

"Mobile workers and virtual workspaces are here to stay -- but so are the demands on IT to continue to ensure enterprise-grade security, manageability and interoperability. 2012 promises to be an exciting year and IT leaders are a critical component in unleashing innovation and enabling organizations to take advantage of the next wave of business growth and opportunity. Cisco is keenly focused on helping its customers navigate the post-PC era and transform their business," said Tom Puorro, director of product management, IPCBU, Cisco Systems.

Survey respondents were from a wide variety of global companies and are either primary IT decision makers or play a key role in the procurement process. Sole proprietors were excluded from the study. Field work was conducted in late 2011.

Managed Cloud Service Provider Deployment Plans

 As more multinational business executives and IT managers consider embracing managed cloud service offerings, many are wondering how the service provider landscape is evolving -- and where providers plan to differentiate their capabilities.

Much of the initial market insight focused on the key emerging trends, but now we're starting to see more detailed analysis.

A new market study by Infonetics Research details operator plans for managed cloud services -- including their strategies and approaches to offering services, how services will be delivered now and in the future, and top applications of each type of cloud service including: Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS).

Their latest worldwide study resulted in the report entitled "Cloud Service Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey," where Infonetics analysts interviewed 20 incumbent telco, competitive, data center operators, and cable operators that offer cloud services -- now, or they plan to by 2013.

Investing in New Service Delivery Platforms

"Service providers around the world have embraced the cloud concept in earnest and are heavily investing in new services and service delivery platforms based on their particular areas of expertise. Internet content providers are leading with SaaS, data center and co-location operators are adding IaaS to their product portfolios and investing in additional infrastructure facilities, and traditional telcos are building on their existing networks and adding a range of services," said Sam Barnett, Infonetics Research's directing analyst for data center and cloud.

Highlights from the Cloud Service Survey Include:

• 70 percent of respondent operators are investing in cloud services in anticipation of demand.
• The top operator strategies for offering cloud services are bundling cloud services with network connectivity services and offering cloud services over Ethernet or IP VPN services.
• Many of the smaller data center providers participating in Infonetics' survey plan to keep their business uncomplicated by moving from simple collocation support offerings to IaaS via the addition of computer and storage hardware, rather than getting into the complexities of offering OS software platforms.
• 95 percent of respondent operators offer IaaS now.
• More sophisticated offerings like platform as a service, or PaaS (formed by the addition of server operating systems such as Windows, Linux, and Unix) and software as a service, or SaaS (such as e-mail and security services offered by telcos and ICPs like Google) are currently offered by fewer operators, but will grow significantly by 2013.

All the Infonetics survey respondents are knowledgeable purchase decision-makers at service providers in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), Asia Pacific, and North America that together represent 20 percent of the world's telecom carrier revenue and 21 percent of the world's telecommunications service provider capital expenditure (capex).