Afternoon Announcements: June 13, 2011

In an op-ed in today’s Politico, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said the Obama administration will be "prepared with a process that will enable schools to move ahead with reform in the fall" if Congress does not complete work on an ESEA reauthorization soon.

The New York Times quoted Duncan as saying, “We’re not going to sit here and do nothing. Our first priority is to have Congress rewrite the law. If that doesn’t get done, we have the obligation to provide relief in exchange for reform... What I want to see in the fall is real action. It’ll either come from Congress or from us. It’s got to happen in real-people time, not Washington time.” In the same article, Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate education committee, is quoted as saying, “The best way to fix the problems in existing law is to pass a better one. We are making good progress towards introducing a bill that will advance that goal. Given the bipartisan commitment in Congress to fixing No Child Left Behind, it seems premature at this point to take steps outside the legislative process that would address N.C.L.B.’s problems in a temporary and piecemeal way.”

Morning Announcements: November 3, 2010

Republican candidates for governor raced to victory, after campaigning on traditional conservative platforms that emphasized a return to local control over education and resistance to what they regarded as state and federal overreach in schools, Education Week reports. In state school superintendents’ contests, GOP candidates also fared well.

Inside Higher Ed writes about the shift in the statehouses after the mid-term elections and how it could impact higher education.

School leaders in Baltimore have mounted an offensive over the past three years to keep more students in school and on track, according to Education Week and last month, news came that the effort has produced a welcome dividend: Black male students are driving a marked increase in the district’s graduation rate and a decrease in its dropout rate, and showing improvement at a faster clip than the rest of the system.

USA Today examines a new teaching licensing system being tested in 19 states that includes filming student teachers in their classroom and evaluating the video. Candidates must also show they can prepare a lesson, tailor it to different levels of students and present it effectively.