Morning Announcements: January 10, 2011

Education Week reports that the federal government plans to pay for states to work together to create English-language-proficiency tests for the Common Core State Standards Initiative. EdWeek also reports on how cyber students are learning the value of social skills.

The Washington Post reports on D.C.’s and Maryland’s progress in implementing common standards.

Next month, the College Board, the nonprofit organization that owns the A.P. exams as well as the SAT, will release a wholesale revamping of A.P. biology as well as United States history — with 387,000 test-takers the most popular A.P. subject, according to the New York Times. A preview of the changes shows that the board will slash the amount of material students need to know for the tests and provide, for the first time, a curriculum framework for what courses should look like.

Morning Announcements: January 3, 2011

In an op-ed in today’s Washington Post, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan writes, “In the past two years, I have spoken with hundreds of Republican and Democratic mayors, governors and members of Congress. While we don't agree on everything, our core goals are shared - and we all want to fix NCLB to better support reform at the state and local level.”

The Houston Chronicle writes about a former high school dropout that is now a high school graduation coach: Craig Zeno grew up in public housing in southeast Houston believing he had three options in life. "I was told I was either going to be dead, in jail or on drugs," Zeno recalls. "I didn't want that." So, he fought for more. Zeno became a college graduate whose job now is to inspire struggling high school students with his own story of perseverance.

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.

Report Round-Up: November 19, 2010

The 2010 Campus Computing Survey from the Campus Computing Project. This survey suggests budget woes and internal politics are more likely to impede the growth of online programs at colleges than skepticism and regulation.

Formative Assessment and Next-Generation Assessment Systems: Are We Losing an Opportunity? from the Council of Chief State School Officers. This report argues that we are at risk of losing the promise that formative assessment holds for teaching and learning.

Not prepared for class: High Poverty Schools Continue to Have Fewer In-Field Teachers from Education Trust. According to this report nearly a decade after federal law was enacted to ensure that low-income students and students of color had a fair shot at being assigned to strong teachers, students in high-poverty schools are still disproportionately taught by out-of-field and rookie teachers.

Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning by Evergreen Education Group. This report finds that online instruction continues to grow quickly overall but the shape and pace of this growth remains uneven throughout the U.S., and two states—Delaware and New York—still don’t offer any opportunities for K-12 students to take classes online.

Stats That Stick: November 17, 2010

To graduate one million more students by 2020 without increasing costs, degree productivity needs to improve by 23 percent.
-McKinsey & Company

Approximately 5.6 million students were enrolled in at least one online college course in fall 2009, the most recent term for which figures are available.
-The Sloan Consortium

260,327 students studied abroad for credit during the academic year 2008/09, compared to 262,416 the previous year, a modest decline of 0.8%.
-Institute of International Education

And several great stats from a recent report by the National Center for Education Statistics:

Morning Announcements: November 11, 2010

The Chicago Tribune editorial board writes about the lowest performing schools in Illinois and the need to reauthorize No Child Left Behind: “We've strongly supported the goals of No Child. But these latest scores reveal more than faltering schools. They expose a law that needs an overhaul to be more effective.”

Education Week reports on the Obama administration’s National Education Technology Plan that was released Tuesday. As part of the action plan, U.S. Department of Education intends to pay for research to study online professional-collaboration communities for teachers and other educators.

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof explains the state of education in Pakistan, writing, “One reason Pakistan is sometimes called the most dangerous country in the world is this: a kindergarten child in this country has only a 1 percent chance of reaching the 12th grade, according to the Pakistan Education Task Force, an official panel.”

Morning Announcements: November 10, 2010

The New York Times reports on Joel Klein’s resignation as school chancellor of the New York City school system and the appointment of Cathleen Black to be his successor.

Education Week releases a special report examining teacher professional development.

The Wall Street Journal covers a new report from the Brookings Institute that finds workers with less than a high school diploma were more likely to keep their jobs during the recession if they lived in a handful of metro areas with the highest concentrations of employees with college degrees.

Inside Higher Ed examines data analytics, the method of warehousing, organizing and interpreting data accrued through student information systems in hopes of learning more about what makes students successful, then giving instructors the chance to nudge those students accordingly.

Morning Announcements: November 8, 2010

A story in Education Daily explains how although a bipartisan compromise on an ESEA reauthorization bill next year will be difficult, it could provide political benefits for both parties. Bob Wise, president of the Alliance, is quoted as saying, “I'm somewhat bullish that education can be an issue in which both parties can come together. Unlike 1994, when Republicans did not know how to be in the majority, and Democrats didn't know how to be in the minority, folks have learned how to switch. Both sides have had training. Presumptive House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and the House Republican leadership team are much more ready to hit the ground running. 2011 can be in education what welfare reform was in 1994.”

In an op-ed in the Washington Post, Jim Simons, a mathematician and retired founder of Renaissance Technologies, writes, “Whatever is happening during high school, the result is that too few of our kids who go on to college are prepared or inspired to major in math, science or engineering, the bedrock of the new economy.”

The New York Times reports on the rising number of college applications that selective schools receive and asks when is enough enough?

Report Round-Up: November 5, 2010

Expanding Career Readiness Through Online Learning from the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE). In this study ACTE officials describe the significance of online courses and how the career and technical education community is supporting the growth of virtual education in the U.S.

A Growing Movement: America's Largest Charter School Communities by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. This study finds that New Orleans, the District of Columbia, Detroit, and Kansas City are the top cities in the nation for charter school penetration.

Common Ground: Education and the Military-Meeting the Needs of Students by the National Association of State Boards of Education. According to this report, partnerships between state education officials and industry and military leaders can increase student achievement and help stem the nation's dropout rate. Note this report is $16 for purchase.

Introducing Alliance Highlight Videos

After the Alliance hosts an event we usually post the full event video on our Web site within a few days. Now we are also offering video highlights of our events so viewers can tune-in for a shorter video summary. These highlight videos also break the content up into easily viewable sections based on speaker and topic area.

This video highlight is from a September 17th event that the Alliance co-hosted with the Center for Teaching Quality to discuss the emerging realities facing the nation—the funding crisis, the teacher shortage, and new technologies—that will reshape learning environments and expectations for the teaching profession.