Afternoon Announcements: June 21, 2012

Hellooooo, Thursday! Welcome to your afternoon announcements! Although today’s introduction is peppy, some of the news we have today is less than chipper. Bear with us as we walk you through your education news for the day.

First up, Gallup says that “confidence in America’s public schools has hit a record low, with only 29 percent of respondents expressing ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a lot’ of confidence in them.” The previous low was 33 percent in 2007 and 2008. The Huffington Post has the news. How confident are you in America’s public schools? Let us known in the comments!

Stats That Stick: June 20, 2012

Time for your weekly dose of Stats That Stick! Here are some of the articles and their statistics that stuck in our minds this week.

Percent of 12^th grade students who were able to explain results and draw conclusions from data collected from experiments during NAEP 2009: 11%.
According to a report released Tuesday by the National Center for Education Statistics, American students had a lot of trouble coming to conclusions and explaining results of science experiments during the science portion of the National Assessment for Educational Progress 2009. This indicates that many American students may be lacking the deeper learning skills that they will need to succeed in college and a career. For more information about deeper learning skills, check out the Alliance’s report “A Time for Deeper Learning: Preparing Students for a Changing World.”

Afternoon Announcements: June 20, 2012

It's Wednesday, and it is very hot here in Washington, D.C. Why not cool down and read some of today's education news?

In an effort to get the presidential candidates to focus more on reforming education, the College Board yesterday set up 857 desks on the National Mall to represent the number of students who drop out each hour of every school day. The news on the "Don't Forget Ed!" Campaign comes from the Associated Press.

Mark Schneiderman: A Digital Learning Framework for Systems Change

The following blog post comes from Mark Schneiderman, senior director of education policy with the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). SIIA is a core partner of Digital Learning Day.

I had the great opportunity last week to speak to the CIOs of the Council of Great City Schools, representing the nation’s largest school districts. While their agenda and roles are traditionally focused on enterprise technologies, their summit focused last week on “Transforming Education through Digital Learning.”

Most CIOs recognized that their school systems were not adequately meeting the needs of students, and that technology and digital learning must be a core part of the solution. Many talked of a shift from print to digital content. Some highlighted the blending of formal and informal learning. Others were focused on online learning. All seemed to agree with the need to redesign the system through technology. 

Afternoon Announcements: June 19, 2012

Good afternoon and welcome to your Tuesday edition of the announcements. There’s a lot of news from a variety of sources today, so buckle in and get ready!

Education Week kicks us off today, as they so often do, with the news that the Senate appropriations committee recently passed a bill that would allow states and schools to use federal funds intended for after-school and summer learning programs to be used to lengthen the school day. The House of Representatives has not taken up the proposal yet. Up to $1.15 billion from the 21^st Century Community Learning Centers program would be available for schools to use toward school day lengthening.

Afternoon Announcements: June 18, 2012

 Happy Monday! In response to your question, yes, we are in the business of leading off blog posts oxymoronically. We hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend and are all set for a busy week of education news. Before we get into the announcements, you should know that the Alliance is hosting a briefing on Early Warning Indicator Systems with the Association for Middle Level Education, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, along with Honorary Cohosts Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) and Representative  Raúl Grijalva (AZ-7). More information about that event can be found here. If you can’t make it to the briefing, we’ll have a video of it a few days later! Alright, off to our announcements for the day!

Afternoon Announcements: June 15, 2012

Happy Friday and welcome to your afternoon announcements! It’s a beautiful day here in Washington, and we hope wherever you are it’s equally nice. We’ll keep Announcements short and sweet today so you can get your week wrapped up right!

First, some sobering news out of Reading, Pennsylvania from The Huffington Post, which is statistically one of America’s poorest cities. A low tax base and state education funding cuts have made it impossible for Reading to rehire positions left vacant by retirees and have also forced the district to issue pink slips and cut programs. Unfortunately, stories like this are prevalent across the country right now as state and local governments struggle to find ways to fund public education.

Afternoon Announcements: June 14, 2012

Hello and welcome to your Thursday announcements! No muss, no fuss, and no introduction. Away we go!

The big news in education today is that Gene Wilhoit, the executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), will be retiring. Gene has been a tireless advocate for better education in America. Read Alliance President Bob Wise’s thoughts and thanks for Gene here.