Afternoon Announcements: January 11, 2012

It’s the middle of the week so you can wave goodbye to Monday and Tuesday  and finish up Wednesday strong and in the know with the latest in education news.

Teacher Beat reports that the U.S. Department of Education has selected the panelists who will write new regulations for the reporting requirements for teacher preparation programs. The is a step in the education reform process that will readdress teacher preparation and evaluations.

Earlier the Alliance mentioned the tension brewing between teacher unions and school districts that may put schools in jeopardy of losing federal funding. According to the New York Times, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a blistering statement, saying "the forces that protect this bureaucracy have stymied reform at every turn." The governor urged both sides to come to an agreement.

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Afternoon Announcements: January 10, 2012

The Alliance wishes you a productive (and quick) Tuesday. As you speed through the afternoon take in the latest in education news.

The state of New York has yet to comply with the goals it set when applying for financial assistance through the federal Race to the Top program. According to the New York Times, the state is one of three on the federal government’s watch list and therefore may be in jeopardy of losing federal aid.

The Los Angeles Times reports that federal reforms to address quality and accountability concerns are forcing more than 130 Head Start agencies to compete for funding. The report analyzes potential risks for the agencies.

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Afternoon Announcements: January 3, 2012

Happy New Year! The Alliance wishes you a prosperous and eventful 2012 and will continue to bring you new information and developments in the world of educational policy and reform.

Peer pressure and fear of ridicule is common for school-aged students, especially for those from lower economic backgrounds. The Chicago Tribune reports that, based on a new study, pressure and fear may also prevent many working-class students from asking questions in class. The study finds that kids from working-class families are less likely to ask questions in class than their middle-class peers.

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Stats That Stick--November 30, 2011

Here are this week's "Stats that Stick," courtesy of Alliance Policy Intern Bill DeBaun:

Number of states that have made midyear cuts to K-12 education: 18. State budgets are improving, but not quickly enough to avoid cuts to education, says Education Week. In the 2010-11 school years, 39 states made overall reductions and 35 made midyear budget cuts. The article reports that "the total size of state general fund budgets in fiscal 2012, $666.6 billion, is still 3 percent below prerecession levels."

Number of counties in the United States that saw significant increases in child poverty since 2007: 653. A recent US Census Bureau report reveals that child poverty is much more prevalent now than pre-recession year 2007, according to the Christian Science Monitor. The 653 counties represent just under 21% of all of the counties in the United States. Across the country, only 8 counties saw a decrease in child poverty between 2007 and the present.

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Stats That Stick: November 23, 2011

Here are this week’s Stats That Stick, courtesy of Alliance Policy Intern Bill DeBaun.

Consolation prize up for grabs for nine runner-up Race to the Top finalists: $200,000,000
Education Week reports that the U.S. Department of Education will accept proposals from nine runner-up states for a chance to win some of a $200 million prize dedicated to improving STEM education. This money is the third round in the Race to the Top series, which has been an education focal point for the Obama administration.

Number of students the average school counselor was responsible for in 2009–10, according to the American School Counselor Association: 459
Ed Sector's "Quick and the Ed" offers this post about the importance of guidance counselors in high schools, especially for helping to ensure students are college and career ready. Randy A. McPherson, 2011 ASCA Counselor of the Year, says, “In some aspects, my role looks like a college recruiter or a career placement director.”

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Five Myths About the Common Core State Standards

Writing for the Harvard Education Letter, Alliance Senior Fellow Robert Rothman explores five myths about the Common Core State Standards, which have been adopted by forty-five states and the District of Columbia.

To hear more from Rothman on the common standards, register for the book release party the Alliance is hosting for him on October 18 in Washington, DC. Alternatively, you can order a copy of his new book, Something in Common: The Common Core Standards and the Next Chapter in American Education, at http://www.hepg.org/hep/book/146/SomethingInCommon.

Rothman's five myths about the Common Core State Standards appear below:

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Morning Announcements: September 28, 2011

President Obama took his "pass the jobs bill" campaign to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado yesterday, according to USA Today, telling a crowd at a Denver high school that his plan will put people back to work by building roads, bridges, and other projects that include upgraded schools. "There are construction projects like these all across this country just waiting to get started," Obama told a supportive crowd at Abraham Lincoln High School in Denver. "And there are millions of unemployed construction workers who are looking for jobs." And in his message to students at Washington’s Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, Obama delivered  the message that “the nation is counting on you for the future.”  He encouraged students to work hard in their classes, according to the Associated Press.

The New York Times reports on a new study that found ignorance  by American students of the basic history of the civil rights movement has not changed — in fact, it has worsened, according to a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The report says that states’ academic standards for public schools are one major cause of the problem. The report assigns letter grades to each state based on how extensively its academic standards address the civil rights movement. Thirty-five states got an F because their standards require little or no mention of the movement, it says.

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Morning Announcements: September 13, 2011

According to the Wall Street Journal, a new report shows that middle-class public schools --which educate the majority of U.S. students-- pay lower teacher salaries, have larger class sizes and spend less per pupil than low-income and wealthy schools. The report, "Incomplete: How Middle-Class Schools Aren't Making the Grade," also shows middle-class schools’ national and international test scores are underachieving in addition to only 28 percent of their graduates earning a college degree by age 26, compared to 17 percent for lower-income students and 47 percent for upper-income students.

President Barack Obama released his American Jobs Act plan to Congress yesterday – and today, he is pushing for the bill at the Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School in Columbus, Ohio. There, according to Education Week, he will emphasize the importance of the bill’s $25 billion aimed at revamping school facilities, plus another $5 billion for retooling community colleges.

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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

Morning Announcements: September 8, 2011

The National Education Association is waiting anxiously to hear President Obama’s jobs creation plan tonight. According to Education Week, the president spoke with Dennis Van Roekel, president of the NEA, and told him school modernization and jobs will be highlights of the speech tonight. It is unclear how much money will be awarded to education.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan continued his bus tour of the Great Lakes region, speaking first in Pittsburgh, a city he called a national model for school reform. He traveled to Ohio yesterday, will be in Detroit and Indiana today, and then will move on Wisconsin and Illinois. According to the Huffington Post, Duncan is trying to spread his message of teacher accountability, pushing education reform in the face of massive state budget cuts and his own recent decision to unilaterally waive components of the federal No Child Left Behind education law

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