Morning Announcements: February 16, 2012

Thursday can be frustrating. It’s so close to the weekend that it tempts you to waste time contemplating about fun activities. But then Thursday reminds you that it’s not the weekend when all the work from Monday through Wednesday that you procrastinated in doing piles up on your desk. Clear some space and get caught up on the latest in education news.

States around the country are backing away from previous laws and initiatives that ranked each public school by a grading system and New Mexico is following suit. As the Associated Press reports, New Mexico is becoming the latest state to free itself from an unpopular federal system of rating public schools.

According to Education Week, states that are looking to become exempt from provisions within the No Child Left Behind Act now have a third deadline to submit waiver applications. Additionally, states that need more time to develop their proposal for a waiver under the No Child Left Behind Act can now request a one-year freeze in their annual achievement targets to keep the list of schools not making adequate yearly progress from growing.

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Stats that Stick: February 15, 2012

Percent of students who didn’t take an AP Exam despite being deemed qualified: 60

Even though their PSAT scores showed they could perform well on one, 60 percent of students of those students did not take an AP Exam. This is according to a College Board report released last week. The report also indicated that Black, Latino and Native American students were less likely to take AP exams than their White and Asian counterparts. The Alliance for Excellent Education explored the results of the report and what it means for students and parents in this article.

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Morning Announcements: February 15, 2012

Happy Wednesday! Hopefully you were able to get in a morning workout to balance the abundance of chocolates and sweets consumed for Valentine’s Day. Or you’ve distracted yourself with an abundance of work to strategically forget yesterday even existed. There, now your diet is intact. Here are the last stories from the world of education.

President Obama, for his 2013 fiscal budget, has announced a proposed program would seek to bring together officials, union leaders and educators to address issues such as tenure and salaries. According to the New York Times, the $5 billion grant aims to overhaul teaching.

Startling news last week regarding the achievement gap between rich and low income students highlighted the large disparity in opportunities for educational advancement. But as the New York Times notes, many affluent foreign-born parents in New York City are sending their children to public schools in much greater proportion than native-born parents with the same incomes.

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Achievement Gap Results Not From an Empty Cupboard of Solutions, but Empty Cupboard of Will

Have you ever watched a movie you’re really into, only to be completely disappointed by its ending? If you have, you can commiserate with me after you read the recent New York Times article, “Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Say.”  The piece has sparked needed conversation on the achievement gap including the segment on NPR’s program, Talk of the Nation, on Monday. The article effectively highlights the rising educational achievement gap between rich and poor students and directly challenges two of the most important tenets of American society:  equal opportunity and upward mobility.  Read Entire Post

Afternoon Announcements: February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day! Love is in the air all around the country, including here at the Alliance for Excellent Education. We thank you for checking in daily to get your fix for education news. As a token of our appreciation we got you a nice picture of a box of chocolate (sorry, the mall was closed.)

The Huffington Post brings you an in-depth look at what the Alliance reported on last week. Results of the class of 2011’s Advanced Placement enrollment and testing are available and while more high school students are taking the Advanced Placement exams and succeeding, most students who should be taking the exams aren't.

Alternative schools are popping up everywhere, including online. But National Public Radio enlightens you to the growing trends of schools in shopping centers. In traditional schools, many students struggle with bad grades or have discipline problems, and others choose to drop out. A few school districts are opening up specialized schools inside shopping malls as an alternative and some students are taking advantage.

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Obama Releases Fiscal Year 2013 Budget

Released this morning at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia, President Obama's budget for Fiscal Year 2013 proposes $47 billion in discretionary spending (excluding Pell Grants) for the U.S. Department of Education, an increase of 3.8 percent over the current funding level of $45.3 billion.

"We ... know that education and lifelong learning will be critical for anyone trying to compete for the jobs of the future," Obama wrote in the message that accompanied the budget. "That is why I will continue to make education a national mission. What one
learns will have a big impact on what he or she earns: the unemployment rate for Americans with a college degree or more is only about half the national average, and the incomes of college graduates are twice as high as those without a high school diploma."

According to the U.S. Department of Education Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Summary and Background Information document, the three major initiatives for Fiscal Year 2013 are (1) improving affordability and quality in postsecondary education; (2) elevating the teaching profession to the same high status it enjoys in nations with the highest-performing education systems, and (3) strengthening the connections between school and work and better aligning job training programs with workforce demands. 

[Photo via Washington Post]

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Afternoon Anouncements: February 13, 2012

Good afternoon. Here are the latest top stories in education news.

The New York Times documents a North Carolina school district which has discretely emerged as a model digital school. Projects that make them so technologically advanced include thousands of laptops being issued to students. As a result, test scores are up across the board.

Effort to ensure reading comprehension of all elementary-age students is creating a buzz. A proposal by lawmakers in at least four states to consider legislation that would make students repeat the third grade. According to the Wall Street Journal, if a student can't pass state reading exams, the student will be required to repeat. The initiative is reviving debates about whether retaining students boosts achievement or increases their odds of dropping out.

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