Morning Announcements: September 26, 2011

The New York Times reports that “parent trigger laws” are facing challenges. Such legislation -- which is being considered by several states -- would allow, if enough parents signed a petition, their children’s struggling school to be shut down and replaced with a charter school. Similar legislation has passed in Texas, Ohio and Connecticut and is being considered in nearly a dozen more states — but California, the earliest adopter, is furthest along.

With his declaration on Friday that he would waive the most contentious provisions of a federal education law, President Obama effectively rerouted the nation’s education history  after a turbulent decade of overwhelming federal influence, reports Education Week. Obama decried the state of American education, calling the law an admirable but flawed effort that has hurt students instead of helping them.

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President Announces Waivers For No Child Left Behind, Time For Congress To Get Back In The Boxing Ring

President Barack Obama announced today sweeping changes in his administration’s plan for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, commonly known as Child Left Behind. He unveiled that the Department of Education will begin to issue waivers to states from NCLB if they follow general guidelines.

In his latest video, Alliance President Bob Wise — former governor of West Virginia — compares Obama’s latest move to a punch in a boxing ring. Obama said he is allowing waivers because Congress has refused to act.

Wise said waivers are a step forward but the only real solution is for Congress to pass full legislation necessary for education reform.

“The Executive Branch has chosen to move forward with waivers because Congress hasn’t acted,” Wise said. “So here's the challenge — Congress, climb back in the ring, duke it out. Pass the legislation that truly leads to education reform and takes away the need for waivers. When you do that, you score a knock out for our kids. There's still time'

 

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Report Round-Up: September 23, 2011

Check out this week's education-related reports! Read Entire Post

Morning Announcements: September 23, 2011

The New York Times reports President Obama on Friday will offer to waive central provisions of the No Child Left Behind law for states that embrace his educational agenda, essentially ending his predecessor’s signature accountability measure. In a White House speech, Mr. Obama plans to invite states that agree to overhaul low-performing schools and adopt more rigorous teacher evaluation systems to apply for relief from the Bush-era law’s 2014 deadline for bringing all students to proficiency in reading and math, as well as other unpopular provisions, senior administration officials said Thursday, according to the Times.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander wants Education Secretary Arne Duncan to show restraint in granting waivers to states on the No Child Left Behind Law, according to the Republic. Duncan announced the waivers last month and said in order to get one, states must agree to education reforms the White House favors — from tougher evaluation systems for teachers and principals to programs helping minority students.

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Morning Announcements: September 22, 2011

President Obama is poised to broaden federal influence in local schools by scrapping key elements of No Child Left Behind, the Bush administration’s signature education law, and substituting his own brand of school reform, according to the Washington Post. While unpopular with Republicans in Congress and some in the educational establishment, the move is drawing applause from governors around the country struggling to meet the demands of the nine-year-old law.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced it will fund more charter school-district collaborations, benefiting schools in Boston, Central Falls, R.I., and Sacramento, Calif, among others.The districts still have to formally apply for the Gates funding, but they can win up to $100,000 once they do, according to Education Week.

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September 19 Issue of Straight A's Is Available

The September 19, 2011 issue of Straight A's, the Alliance's biweekly newsletter, is now available. This week's issue focuses on recent congressional activity on NCLB, two new Alliance reports, a study on the United States' global competitiveness, and more.

Individual articles from this week's issue are listed below, or you can download a .pdf of the entire newsletter here.

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Morning Announcements: September 20, 2011

Education Week took a look at who in the education world has given a lot of money to the legislative supercommittee, made up of Democrats and Republicans who are tasked with coming up with finding at least $1.2 trillion in savings over the next decade. The nation's largest teachers' union, the National Education Association, comes in 32 for biggest donors to the supercommittee members – giving $297,650 between 1989 to 2011. The American Federation of Teachers wasn't far behind at 68th on the list of top 100 donors. While hefty, these donations are tiny in comparison to other organizations, including more than $1 million in campaign contributions from the Club for Growth, a political action committee that supports candidates who favor low-taxes and slimmed down government.

The Chicago Tribune reports on Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel angering the city’s teacher’s union by offering teachers a bonus pay if they waive union contract provisions and agree to lengthen the school day at their schools. City officials and the teacher’s union have been battling over pay in relation to a longer school day for the past month.

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Afternoon Announcements: September 15, 2011

The New York Times reports that average scores on the SAT fell across the nation this year, with the reading score for the high school class of 2011 falling three points to 497, the lowest on record. This information comes from a report by the College Board, which administers the exams. The report shows the average writing score dropped two points, to 489, and the math score was down one point, to 514. The College Board attributed the decline to the increasing diversity of the students taking the test. For example, about 27 percent of the nearly 1.65 million test-takers last year came from a home where English was not the only language, up from 19 percent a decade ago.

A group of key U.S. Senate Republicans—led by Sen. Lamar Alexander, of Tennessee, a former U.S. secretary of education—are going their own way on reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, according to Education Week. Back in January, the top lawmakers on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee pledged to work together on a bipartisan, comprehensive bill to fix NCLB, the current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. But almost eight months later, those talks haven’t resulted in a bill.

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Morning Announcements: September 9, 2011

In his address before Congress yesterday evening, President Barack Obama laid out a jobs plan that included plans for $30 billion in new money to stave off teacher layoffs, along with another $30 billion to revamp decaying school facilities and community colleges. The proposals are a part of the Americans Jobs Act – a $447 billion legislative package expected to be introduced into Congress next week – that Obama told lawmakers to pass “right away.” According to Education Week, K-12 schools could get up to $25 billion for renovations, which administration officials estimate could pay for makeovers of at least 35,000 public schools. That construction money could be used for emergency repairs and renovations, energy efficiency updates, and asbestos removal. Schools also could use the money to build new science and computer labs, and to update technology. These proposals have greatly pleased America’s two largest teachers unions, according to the Huffington Post. Read Entire Post

Going Digital in Alabama

This past week I spent a few days with district teams in Florence, Alabama to learn about the state’s ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide) Program and how it is changing high schools throughout Alabama. These dedicated state and local professionals are undertaking major transformation of middle and high schools in the face of declining fiscal revenues and concerns about improving student performance in the shadow of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Dr. Melinda Maddox, director of technology initiatives for the Alabama Department of Education, orchestrated a series of regional meetings with superintendents, principals, local board members, and information technology specialists to coordinate and support profound changes in the way secondary schools do business. It is becoming increasingly clear that effective classrooms in the twenty-first century will depend on engaging learners in acquiring, refining, and applying deep content knowledge to analyze and solve problems in a digital, connected world. By providing flexible time, pace, and place for instruction, educators can customize the educational environment so every student learns in his or her own style and at his or her own pace.

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