Morning Announcements: December 17, 2010

Education Week discusses Michelle Rhee’s newly launched advocacy group Student First. According to Rhee, the group has signed up more than 100,000 members and collected more than $700,000 through its website alone.

Sexual offenders are finding jobs in American schools, sometimes carrying with them glowing letters of recommendation from officials who knew of inappropriate behavior, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has asked the state attorney general to investigate alleged intimidation of parents trying to use a new state law to shut down their children’s low-performing elementary school and reopen it as a charter campus.

According to Delaware education officials, just over 1,500 of the roughly 39,000 students enrolled in Delaware high schools last year dropped out. That represents a dropout rate of 3.9 percent, compared to 5.1 percent the previous year, when almost 2,000 students quit school.

The Miami Herald asks how a Florida high school went from scoring a “D” last year on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests to a “B” this year without making significant improvements?

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has selected former New York City schools official Christopher Cerf to be his next commissioner of education, the Wall Street Journal reports.