Afternoon announcements: Despite gains in high school graduation rate, achievement gaps persist

The D.C. State Board of Education has proposed changes to the high school graduation requirements. If approved, the changes would require students to study more art, music, physical education and complete a thesis project. Washington Post

Our friends over at Eduwonk have compiled a list of education-related issues to watch out for in 2013. The list, expectedly, includes Common Core State Standards and teacher evaluations. Eduwonk

Yesterday, high school graduation rates on the rice was all the buzz. But what about the minority students who still lag behind? An achievement gap persists. High School Notes

And yet…

Despite the persisting achievement gap, Latino students experienced the largest boost in numbers in terms of high school graduation rates. The rate raised by 10% over the past decade. Huffington Post Read Entire Post

Afternoon announcements: High school graduation rates highest in 40 years

After stagnating for three decades, the high school graduation rate has reached its highest level in almost 40 years, according to federal data released this morning. The National Center for Education Statistics estimates that 78 percent of all high school students across the country earned a diploma. Washington Post

Obama mentioned education three times in his second-term inauguration address yesterday. See here for the quotes. Washington Post

We’ve been hearing a lot about the new reading standards in the Common Core State Standards. Reading scores for American students are dropping, and the new standards could be a solution. NPR

In order to make proactive, informed decisions about where to attend college, students and parents need to know how much to expect to pay and how much financial aid they will receive. The University of Dayton in Ohio may be the first college to tell prospective students the cost of a four-year degree and lock it in. Chronicle of Higher Education

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Afternoon announcements: November 1, 2012

The chilly weather and abundance of hot cider at every cafe and coffeeshop in town can only mean one thing - it's November! Hope you're staying warm and dry.

Many of us in the education sector advocate strongly for increased digital learning in the classroom. But recent surveys say that many teachers believe using digital technology in the classroom is a recipe for a shortened attention span and an excuse for distractions. The researchers emphasize that those are subjective opinions and not definitive evidence or proof. What we can know for sure is that technology is changing how students learn. New York Times

Romney is officially back on the campaign trail post-Sandy. He appeared in Tampa for the second time in five days earlier this week. Romney gave a shout-out to Gov. Jeb Bush, who joined him at the rally, saying Bush is the source of his education proposals. Tampa Bay Online

Mayland is seeing a rise in their high school graduation rates, according to information released by the State Department of Education on Wednesday. They found that 83 percent of students who began high school in 2007-2008 graduated in 2011, up from 82 percent in 2010. Baltimore Sun

Students in New York City will be out of school for the remainder of the week, due to the flooding and damage from superstorm Sandy. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a press conference that he hopes schools will reopen by Monday. 1.1 million students are out of school Huffington Post

Obama has said in his campaign education platform that he wants to recruit 100,000 new science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers by 2022. Is that enough? An opinion writer breaks down the numbers and the nation’s need. Washington Post

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Morning Announcements: August 3, 2011

The Washington Post reports that the domestic spending cuts contemplated in the debt-ceiling deal are sure to compound the dire fiscal situation confronting the states, which already are reducing jobs and slashing once-untouchable programs to balance their budgets.

The Christian Science Monitor features an article along the same lines, saying that federal spending cuts mean fewer dollars will flow to the states for unemployment benefits, education, health care, and other state-run programs.

The California Dream Act offers a young illegal immigrant a morale boost, writes the Los Angeles Times.

Kentucky reports a 76 percent high school graduation rate, according to the Bowling Green Daily News.

According to the Denver Post, major education groups in Colorado back proposed state tax hike for K–12 education.

Connecticut education officials are considering seeking a waiver to requirements of the No Child Left Behind law, reports the Connecticut Mirror.

 

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Morning Announcements: July 21, 2011

In the aftermath of the Atlanta cheating scandal and recent cheating allegations in other school districts across the country, the Washington Post’s “On Leadership” convened a roundtable on how best to approach teacher incentives in the U.S. education system. Respondent U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan indicates despite the cheating scandals, testing and teaching are not at odds.

Education Week writes about how the fallout from the debt debate could affect education.

California has more homeless students than any other state in the nation. In 2009, nearly one-third of all homeless students nationwide lived in California, according to the U.S. Department of Education; and those students are struggling academically, reports California Watch.

For homeless students who go on to college, every expense is a mountain to be climbed; the Washington Post asks readers for thoughts on how to make it work.

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A different spin on degrees and dollars

It was serendipitous timing that as I was busy preparing for the release of the Alliance’s most recent projections on the economic benefits of improving the graduation rate (due out March 22) I ran across Paul Krugman’s recent column in the New York Times titled “Degrees and Dollars.”  However, as I read the piece I realized that he was arguing just the opposite of what its title had led me to expect.

Krugman maintains that pushing more students to earn college degrees may give us less bang for our buck than we expect because increases in technology have “hollowed out” the job market, replacing middle-wage workers and leaving only low-wage and high-wage jobs. He gives the example of computer programs that can analyze legal documents, replacing the need for lawyers and paralegals who do research.

But there is another side to this story. While on one hand, innovation produces technologies that can mimic workers’ skills and thus replace them, it also creates technologies that are “complementary” to workers’ skills. These “complementary technologies”, discussed in the same Autor, Levy, and Murnane article that Krugman references in his column and in research conducted by Dr. Daron Acemoglu of MIT, support but do not replace the work that we do. Think, for example, of MRIs or even smart boards in classrooms. These technologies support the work that is already being done but are not replacing anyone’s job, per se. Often they can even create additional jobs – radiology technicians or programmers for smart board functionality, for example – for which there was no need before these tools were invented.

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Morning Announcements: January 28, 2011

ESEA Renewal May See New Momentum according to Education Week reporter Alyson Klein. She writes, “Education leaders in Congress are signaling that they’re prepared to collaborate with the White House on a long-stalled reauthorization of the main federal law for K-12 education, after President Barack Obama sought to move education back to the top of the national agenda in his State of the Union address this week.”

The Detroit News tells the story of Sultan Jennings and his successful journey through the Detroit Public School system.

Washington Post columnist Valerie Strauss explains how one Ohio school district is using online learning to combat snow days.

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Morning Announcements: January 4, 2011

The high school graduation rate is up in Utah — up to about 90 percent for last school year, according to the state Office of Education. However, the Salt Lake Tribune reports that rate could significantly drop this school year when Utah will be required to change the way it calculates graduation rates. "Starting with the Class of 2011, however, the rates are likely to change. The federal government will make all states use the same formula and rules to calculate graduation rates in an effort to make sure rates aren’t inflated and to make comparisons between states easier."

The Wall Street Journal reports that Illinois lawmakers are debating sweeping legislation that would change how teachers are evaluated, writing, “The fight in Illinois is a microcosm of the shifting sands in national education policy.” Here are a few of the components of the proposed measure:

• Teachers would not earn tenure until they've been rated "proficient" or "excellent" by their principals for four years using the new evaluations. Now, public-school teachers in Illinois, like their colleagues across the U.S., get the job protection almost automatically after a few years. 
• Teacher performance—instead of seniority—would be the driving factor in school layoff decisions. 
• Teachers' power to strike would be limited. Now, teachers can strike after negotiations fail. But the proposal would mandate that the two sides go before a mediation panel and give the local school board the final say on whether to accept the mediators' proposal or to impose its own settlement.

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Morning Announcements: November 30, 2010

The New York Times and TIME magazine write about a new report from America’s Promise Alliance that finds that US high school graduation rate is on the rise. According to the analysis, the U.S. graduation rate increased from 72 percent in 2002 to 75 percent in 2008 and that the number of “dropout factory” high schools fell by 13 percent – from 2,007 in 2002 to 1,746 in 2008.

Yesterday, Cathleen Black, a publishing executive, was approved as Chancellor of New York City public schools with a waiver from the state education commissioner that said her inexperience in education would be offset in part by the appointment of a chief academic officer to serve by her side, according to the New York Times. The editorial board weighs in on the appointment of Ms. Black’s chief academic officer - Shael Polakow-Suransky, a respected, hard-driving educator who has worked his way from middle school math teacher, to high school principal, to his most recent post as the school system’s accountability officer. On a related note, the Christian Science Monitor asks “Have business-savvy officials improved big-city schools?”

The New York Times editorial board also writes about how the Dream Act, the immigration bill that opens a path to legalization for undocumented young people who go to college or serve in the military, has a shot at passing the lame-duck Congress.

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Morning Announcements: September 24, 2010

USA Today’s Kindness section picks up on America’s Promise Alliance, “100 Best Communities for Young People List”.

The Washington Post reports that when Mayor-elect Vincent Gray met with Chancellor Michelle Rhee yesterday, they talked about schools not her future in the job.

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive and a founder of Facebook, has agreed to donate $100 million to improve the long-troubled public schools in Newark, according to the New York Times.

In an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle, David W. Gordon, Sacramento County superintendent of schools, writes, “As a school superintendent, I am acutely aware that preparing our 6.4 million students to compete in a global economy is vital for their personal success and the success of our state and nation. And as a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), I am equally aware of how far we have to go.”

New Jersey parents will soon get to see teacher evaluations online, according to the Associated Press.

The Washington Post editorial board commends DC Public Schools’ IMPACT system which in its first implementation year rated 662 teachers, or 16 percent of the District's teaching force as highly effective and awarded them with bonuses ranging from ranging from $3,000 to $25,000.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Illinois has improved the quality of its preschool programs but lags behind other states in grades K-12 and does not adequately prepare students to succeed in college and the work force, according a report released Thursday.

The Courier-Journal reports that even as state-wide test results showed more Kentucky schools falling behind, there’s more bad news — only a third of last spring's high school graduates were prepared for college or careers.

Looking to boost a 72.9 percent high school graduation rate, the Cape Girardeau School District is beefing up its attendance policy and putting parents on the hook for student absences, according to the Southeast Missourian. 

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