Afternoon Announcements: August 16, 2012

It’s Thursday, better known as Friday Eve here at the Alliance. The weather here in Washington is beautiful, perfect for getting a beach chair, applying suntan lotion,  and…sitting on the sidewalk on Connecticut Avenue reading the following education policy announcements.

Education Week’s Michele McNeil asks “Will Small Districts Even Bother Competing in New Race to Top?” and answers her own question with “Odds are, probably not.” The new district-level Race to the Top competition opened up on Sunday. In the 76 days before applications for the $400 million in funds are due, how many districts will find the time and energy to complete the 116 page application? McNeil analyzes what might keep small districts from getting into the Race.

Afternoon Announcements: July 31, 2012

******SPOILER ALERT******

 Today is the last day of July.

Bet you thought we were going to give you some information about Michael Phelps’s race or the women’s gymnastics performance. We wouldn’t do that to you. What we would (and will) do, however, is give you some afternoon announcements!

The New Teacher Project has released a report titled, “The Irreplaceables: Understanding the Real Retention Crisis in America’s Urban Schools.” According to The Washington Post, the reportt “looked at four urban districts with 90,000 teachers. The researchers discovered that only 47 percent of high-performing teachers said they were praised by their bosses for their good work. Only 26 percent were encouraged to take leadership roles. And just 37 percent were urged to stay when contemplating other assignments.” These numbers are especially concerning considering the high rates of teacher turnover in America.

Afternoon Announcements: July 2, 2012

Well, that was an eventful weekend. Raise your hand if you knew what a “derecho” weather pattern was on Friday afternoon? No one? Join the club. We hope you made it through the weekend unscathed by any kind of bad weather or utility outage. You may be surprised to find out that education news kept right on going through the weekend, meteorological messes and all. We’ve picked some stories for you here.

First, if you missed it, be sure to read Alliance policy and advocacy associate Ace Parsi’s write-up on our Early Warning Indicator Systems event with the Association for Middle Level Education, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform that was co-hosted by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) and Rep. Raúl Grijalva (AZ-7).

Afternoon Announcements: June 29, 2012

Go ahead and give yourself a high five. You made it to Friday. The weekend is ahead of you, and if you’re in the DC area, that means sitting in front of a fan and trying desperately to find relief from this heat wave. Actually, looking at the weather map, there’s a lot of places across the country at the moment where you could be reading this in front of a fan. In any event, we have a bunch of pieces of news for you today to close your week out properly.

Five more states are free from key requirements of the No Child Left Act today because the Department of Education has granted waivers to Arkansas, Missouri, South Dakota, Utah, and Virginia. This brings the count of states that have been granted waivers up to 24. The Associated Press via Education Week has more on the implications of this story.

Afternoon Announcements: June 6, 2012

Today is the busiest news day of the week so far. Lots of talk about college costs and high school grads with various successes and failures. Without further ado, here we go!

The Huffington Post reports on high school graduates who didn’t attend college not having full-time jobs. A study out of Rutgers found that 75% of students like Elizabeth Pedigo of Toledo, Ohio who haven’t completed a postsecondary program but do have a high school degree aren’t employed full-time.

Morning Announcements: April 24, 2012

From USA Today, There is increasing support to bring arts education back to public schools around the country, Particularly, politicians, business leaders, educators, artists and parents are making a big push to restore the arts to California public schools. And the Associated Press reports that celebrities such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Kerry Washington and Forest Whitaker are adopting some of the nation's worst-performing schools and pledging to help the Obama administration turn them around by integrating arts education.

From Education Week, a bipartisan group of senators wants to make sure the Obama administration doesn't leave rural schools out in the cold when it crafts the next generation of the Race to the Top competition, which is aimed at districts and could be funded at as much as $417 million.

Morning Announcements April 17, 2012

It's Tax Day! If you were one of the millions of Americans who dilligently filed their taxes early or online, kick back and relax. If not, hurry up and get your returns filed before the post offices close! Here are your latest headlines in education news.

The Alliance for Excellent Education continues its discussion on the limits of teacher privacy and personal life. The Huffington Post  poses the question of whether students and teachers should be allowed to interact via text messaging. This year has already seen a slew of controversial incidents involving teachers texting students. Earlier this month, Pennsylvania teacher Timothy Moll was accused of texting one of his students and offering good grades for naked pictures.

Morning Announcements April 16, 2012

Hello! The majority of the country is enjoy usually warm temperatures so while you’re “working” on the beach or enjoying a “sick-day” at the amusement park, take a quick and productive break to catch up on education news.

The struggle for teachers throughout the country continues as many cities are on the offense when it comes to reform, targeting key issues important to teachers. In Cleveland, Mayor Frank Jackson is determined to improve failing schools, and according to the Associated Press he’s willing to take on teacher unions to do so. The mayor's proposals, the subject of lengthy negotiations that led to a compromise agreement last week, would limit the right of teachers to block reassignments based on seniority, a cherished prerogative of the longest-serving teachers.

Morning Announcements: February 27, 2012

Greetings! We hope you enjoyed your weekend and are ready to get back into the trenches advocating for quality education for all. To help you get started, take a look at some of the latest headlines.

In New York City, the United Federation of Teachers is seeking to politically capitalize on a recent legal setback after the rankings of more than 18,000 teachers were made available to the public. As the New York Times reports, the hotly contested move is actually helping to galvanize members and mobilize allies on the left.

The Baltimore Sun is reporting that the state of Maryland is set to join the growing number of states seeking exemption from certain elements of the No Child Left Behind act through waivers. The application claims schools should cut achievement gaps in half in the next six years.

Afternoon Announcements: November 17, 2011

Wednesday afternoon is here, and so are your afternoon announcements! As the days shorten and the weather gets colder, isn’t it encouraging to know that you can warm up with a little education news?

Education Daily discusses a study from Civic Enterprises that praises early-warning systems. The article notes that Dr. Robert Balfanz of Johns Hopkins University’s Everyone Graduates Center said at a recent Alliance for Excellent Education event, “In essence, these systems come down to a seemingly simple action: making a list of the students who are predicted to need support, and acting on the list.” In 2010, the Alliance had a part in establishing the Grad Nation campaign to address America’s dropout crisis. The Civic Enterprises report notes that the Grad Nation Civic Marshall Plan was an early adopter of early-warning systems.

Bill Tucker of Education Sector’s "The Quick and the Ed" blog brings us this handy post about recent digital learning reports. After checking out some of these reports, be sure to stop by the Digital Learning Day website to find out even more about this cutting-edge and very important topic!