Morning Announcements: June 23, 2011

Even though Hispanic students' NAEP scores have risen, they continue to trail their white, non-Hispanic counterparts by up to two grade levels on average, according to a National Center for Education Statistics report released today.

Education Week describes how students at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia are also the employees in a school-based production company that provides video services.

The New Jersey Examiner explains why minority students do not learn enough in college. 

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Stats That Stick: June 22, 2011

Home-schooling has grown to reach about 2 million children—or 3 percent of the school-age population, up from 850,000 in 1999.–New York Times 

1 in 15 elementary students throughout New York were absent on any given day this year, compared to 1 in 13 four years ago and 1 in 9 in 1995.–New York Times

So far in 2011, eighteen states have seen new schools chiefs come into office, and six other states are currently conducting searches for new leaders, according to the Council of Chief State School Officers.–Education Week

Large proportions of minority men aged 15 to 24 with high school diplomas were unemployed—34% of black men, 47% of Latinos, 39% of Native Americans and 30% of Asian Americans.–College Board

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Morning Announcements: June 22, 2011

After months of feuding and failed negotiations, lawmakers and governors in several states remain deadlocked on how to close budget shortfalls and pay for education and other services, according to Education Week.

According to the New York Times, of the 70 New York City high schools that earned an "A" under the education department's school assessment system and have at least one-third of graduates attending a City University of New York college, 46 posted remediation rates above 50%.

In his blog “School of Thought” Andy Rotherman asks, “Is it finally the beginning of the end for No Child Left Behind?”

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Getting Students Back on Track

There is one phrase that is among the most common to hear in a federal education policy conversation: the nation’s lowest-performing schools. In fact, I think I probably say it at least twice a day. There’s another phrase, though, that’s equally important yet far less common to hear: the nation’s most at-risk students.

Since the inception of No Child Left Behind, federal education has focused primarily on improving underperforming schools as its vehicle to boost the outcomes of struggling students. The most recent iteration of the federal School Improvement Grant program has only cemented this emphasis. Unfortunately, the school-centered focus has emerged without a parallel student-centered focus on those who are most at risk of dropping out of high school.

To be sure, both strategies are necessary—it’s important to improve struggling schools so as to prevent students from falling off track to graduation in the first place, but a student can fall off track at any high school, whether it is considered to be one of the nation’s worst or not.

In New York City, this point is not lost. As part of its nearly decade-long effort to transform its school system, the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) has balanced a dual emphasis on both its lowest performing schools and its most at risk students, or those who are off track to graduate from high school with their peers.

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Video from CHSE “Plan for Success” Event

On June 7, the Campaign for High School Equity (CHSE) held an event titled “Communities of Color Define Policy Priorities for High School Reform” in Washington, D.C. During the event, CHSE released a plan to ensure all students graduate from high school ready for college and a career, regardless of ZIP code, income, race or ethnicity. Phillip Lovell, Vice President of Federal Advocacy at the Alliance for Excellent Education, spoke at the event about accountability, school turnaround, and recommended policy frameworks.

Lovell opened his speech saying, “What we need for the reauthorization of Elementary and Secondary Education is to actually insert the secondary into the Elementary and Secondary Act. For too long ESEA has really focused almost exclusively on younger children and we need our kids to have a strong start. Early childhood and elementary investments are wise but those investments are not inoculations. We need to continue those investments and we need to make sure that we teach our kids how to do reading and math not just in the third grade but also when they are juniors in high school. Reading the Cat in the Hat is a little bit different than reading the Catcher in the Rye and we have to remember that as we are redoing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. ”

To learn more about CHSE’s Plan for Success visit: http://www.highschoolequity.org/#fbid=jyaa_AnWKdi.

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Morning Announcements: June 21, 2011

Education Week reports, “Right on the heels of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's announcement that it might be time to consider, maybe, possibly offering a package of waivers to states on aspects of the No Child Left Behind Act, 40 states and the District of Columbia have announced a new accountability road map.”

The Los Angeles Times covers a new College Board report finding that young black and Latino men lag behind their contemporaries in nearly every measure of educational attainment, with many failing to attend college or earn degrees and large numbers facing the prospect of unemployment or incarceration.

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Morning Announcements: June 20, 2011

States seeking relief from the requirements of the 9-year-old No Child Left Behind Act are taking a wait-and-see approach to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s plan to offer those that embrace his reform priorities wiggle room when it comes to the law’s mandates, Education Week reports.

In the Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson writes about the great jobs mismatch:

One puzzle of this somber economy is the existence of unfilled jobs in the midst of mass unemployment. You might think (I did) that with almost 14 million Americans unemployed — and nearly half those for more than six months — that companies could fill almost any opening quickly. Not so. Somehow, there’s a mismatch between idle workers and open jobs. Economists call this “structural unemployment.”

Just how many jobs are affected is unclear; there are no definitive statistics. Economist Harry Holzer of Georgetown University thinks the unemployment rate might be closer to 8 percent than today’s 9.1 percent if most of these jobs were filled. That implies up to 1.5 million more jobs. Economist Prakash Loungani of the International Monetary Fund estimates that 25 percent of unemployment is structural; that’s more than 3 million jobs. A recent survey of 2,000 firms by the McKinsey Global Institute, a research group, found that 40 percent had positions open at least six months because they couldn’t find suitable candidates.

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How Has American Education Fared Since the Boston Bruins' Last Title in 1972?

Earlier this week, the Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks for hockey's Stanley Cup. The championship was the Bruins' first since 1972. But how has the American education system fared during the Bruins' drought? As Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia, explains in the video below, about as well as the Bruins did--not good.

Forty years ago, the United States led the world in high school graduation rates and college graduation rates. Since that time, the U.S. has steadily slipped further down those rankings. Watch Gov. Wise's video to learn why America could take some lessons from Canada when it comes to preparing students for college and careers.

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Highlight Video Available from Blended Learning Event

On May 24, the Alliance hosted an event to showcase four school districts that demonstrate how digital learning and technology used in a blended-learning environment have played critical roles in turning around their schools.

Below is a highlights video of the event with clips from Hope Johnston, Distance Learning Advisor, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (North Carolina); Ron Montoya, Principal, Valley High School (Nevada); Rick Ogston, Executive Director, Carpe Diem Collegiate High School (Arizona); and Kecia Ray, Executive Director of Learning Technologies, Nashville Public Schools (Tennessee).

For more details about the webinar including speaker bios, event materials, and the full video, visit the Alliance's web site.

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Morning Announcements: June 16, 2011

Fox12 in Idaho reports on former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Alliance President Bob Wise coming together to help promote and guide the future of online learning in the state. (Watch video below.)

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