Afternoon Announcements: August 4, 2011

In a recent Education Week blog post, the author asks, “Are 82 percent of schools ‘failing’ under NCLB, as Duncan warned?” According to the post, so far, most states that have released their results are not coming close to this number.

The New York Times reports that the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, in a blunt acknowledgment that thousands of young black and Latino men are cut off from New York’s civic, educational and economic life, plans to spend nearly $130 million on far-reaching measures to improve their circumstances.

In California and around the United States, the public, private, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors alike are investing resources and forging new partnerships to address America's glaring education crisis in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) (Huffington Post)

Education Week reports that at least twenty-three states have approved cuts to K–12 education for the coming year, reductions that will shrink or eliminate a broad array of school programs and services, particularly those serving the neediest communities.

Yesterday, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, released draft content frameworks for common standards for public review. (Education Week)

According to the Huffington Post, Denver Public Schools officials say standardized testing results released yesterday show a small performance bump in middle school students and are a sign that its controversial school turnaround plan is working.

The Kansas City Star reports that Missouri school districts can take a measure of consolation after unpacking sobering test scores released yesterday, saying change is coming.

Read former Gov. Jeb Bush's (FL) opinion piece in Politico titled, “Lead or Get Out of the Way on Schools.”

Ed Daily reports on the Alliance for Excellent Education’s new policy brief and corresponding webcast, through which leaders of the Alliance evaluate the potential for digital learning and technology in U.S. schools, and offer federal policy recommendations to help leverage new innovations in the classroom.