Blog Archive

Morning Announcements April 30, 2012

Happy Monday (or at least pretend to be happy, soon it’ll be over). Here are the top headlines in education news. Enjoy!

The Chicago Tribune reports that the cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools is racing to spend about $16 million in federal tutoring grants by the end of the summer to avoid losing the money in a program plagued by dwindling participation and financial missteps.

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Report Round-Up: April 27, 2012

Education Reform for the Digital Era- Thomas B. Fordham Institute

In this report, experts examined how policymakers can make digital learning a tool to improve American education, gleaning insights from papers which they wrote to form the new book.

Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools 1999-2000 and 2009-2010- National Center for Education Statistics

This report finds that the number of public secondary and elementary schools offering visual arts, dance, and drama/theater has declined in the last 10 years, but music classes remain available to students in an overwhelming majority of schools.

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Morning Announcements April 27, 2012

Congratulations, it’s another Friday. You’ve made it through a tiring, hectic work week and are now free to relax and kick back or party hard, whichever you prefer. But not just yet. Until the work day officially ends, you’re stuck here. You might as well take in some education news in the meantime.

The Wall Street Journal reports that some local Head Start programs for the first time will have to compete for a share of $7.6 billion in federal funding under a plan aimed at weeding out low-performing preschool centers.

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Afternoon Announcements: April 26, 2012

Happy Thursday, you’re almost at the weekend. Don’t fret, it’s coming. For now, get caught up with the latest education news headlines.

High school drops continue to be the focus here at the Alliance for Excellent Education and is drawing increasing attention from various media outlets. From PBS, learn how Shelbyville Indiana fixed its dropout problem with “Dropout Nation:’ Turnaround. Six years later, Shelbyville's graduation rate jumped to 90 percent, but how did they turn things around?

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Stats that Stick: April 25, 2012

Number of public schools at risk of closure in Philadelphia: 64

Philadelphia School District is nearly insolvent, lags behind most other urban districts in academics, and loses students to charters because parents believe it does not keep their children safe. So Chief Recovery Officer Thomas Knudsen announced a plan that would essentially blow up the district and start with a new structure.

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Morning Announcements April 25, 2012

Happy Wednesday, here are your latest education headlines. President Obama is drawing more attention to legislation that will double the interest rates of Stafford loans for college students in July. The bill would add an additional thousand dollars in expense for students who are looking to advancing their education. The President stopped by Late Night with Jim Fallon to voice his opposition in an unconventionally smooth way. President Barack Obama slow jams the news. Take a look at the video above!

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Morning Announcements: April 24, 2012

From USA Today, There is increasing support to bring arts education back to public schools around the country, Particularly, politicians, business leaders, educators, artists and parents are making a big push to restore the arts to California public schools. And the Associated Press reports that celebrities such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Kerry Washington and Forest Whitaker are adopting some of the nation's worst-performing schools and pledging to help the Obama administration turn them around by integrating arts education.

From Education Week, a bipartisan group of senators wants to make sure the Obama administration doesn't leave rural schools out in the cold when it crafts the next generation of the Race to the Top competition, which is aimed at districts and could be funded at as much as $417 million.

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Morning Announcements April 23, 2012

Good Monday Morning, but if you’re following the national forecasts, it’s probably not so good of a morning. After an unusual heat wave that had much of the nation experiencing above-average temperatures, old-man winter decided to have one more rendezvous with our winter coats. Bundle up, bring an umbrella, and don’t forget to get caught up on the latest education news of the day.

The Boston Globe that low-income school districts in Boston are most likely to place students in special education programs for mild and sometimes questionable disabilities, a practice that has swelled Massachusetts’s special education population to one of the highest levels in the nation. According to a study commissioned by the state, the finding debunks a long-held belief that it is the well-heeled parents in wealthier districts that have been pushing up special education rates as they demand advantages for their children.

From the Washington Post, the U.S. Department of Education is seeking to bring test-based assessment to teacher prep programs. The Obama administration wants to expand the use of standardized test scores as an accountability tool from K-12 into higher education.

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