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.

According to the New York Times, the number of New York City teachers without a permanent assignment is at its lowest point in several years, solidifying the faith of city and union officials in an agreement on the teacher reserve pool implemented at the beginning of the school year.

Lastly, the Hechinger Report notes that federal teacher evaluation mandate’s impact is being felt all across the country. Elliott Elementary in Lincoln, Nebraska, struck off on its own last year when it became the only school in the city to win money through the federal School Improvement Grant program. Winning wasn’t something to be proud of, though: It meant the school qualified as one of the worst in the nation. About a third of fifth-graders at Elliott were proficient on state reading tests when the reforms began, compared to 80 percent in Lincoln as a whole.