Afternoon Announcements: February 8, 2012

Happy Wednesday, here are the latest headlines in education news. Enjoy.

During a science fair held at the White House yesterday, President Obama declared that the nation was in need of more “tinkerers and dreamers.” According the New York Times, the President announced new federal and private-sector education initiatives to encourage student engagement and development in STEM curriculum.

Principals and assistant principals in Tennessee have traveled to thousands of classrooms in the state an to spend at least an hour annually observing and rating every teacher, guidance counselor, social worker and librarian. But as the Hechinger Report notes, the new methods of teacher evaluation have come across a bump in what will be a long road ahead.

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Afternoon Announcements: January 6, 2012

Good Afternoon!

We hope you enjoyed the Super Bowl and the enormous amounts of food and fun at watch parties in your area. Thanks to the big game, today is the most commonly called-out “sick-day” in the United States. So if you’re working from home because you enjoyed one too many chicken wings or drinks, kick back in bed and get caught up with these stories on education news.

States continue to develop measures that would render them exempt from the No Child Left Behind Act. In New Hampshire, two bills are being drafted in the state House of Representatives that would withdraw the state from the law. But according to the Boston Globe, the cost would be an estimated $61.6 million loss in federal money tied to the law.

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Afternoon Announcements: January 27, 2012

It you haven't already high-tailed yourself out of the office for the 3-day lunch break, take in some education news to close out your week.

Teacher tenure and evaluations remain a key issue in educational reform around the country and witin the federal government. The New York Times reports that teachers are petitioning the city of New York and the teacher union to reach an agreement on a new evaluation system that would meet requirements for a federal grant and free up $58 million that the state has been withholding.

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Morning Announcements: January 23, 2012

It’s been quite some time since the Morning Announcements were actually in the morning, so why not brighten your cold, dreary day with a little bit of sunshine? Get up to speed with some of the latest in education news.

Technology is the word of the day and as we quickly approachDigital Learning Day, brought to you by the Alliance, we bring to you more stories related to the benefits and obstacles of applying technology based education in the classroom.

From CNN, technology giant IBM is hoping to solve their own unemployment crisis. Despite a large database of unemployed Americans ready to get back to work, IBM executives say they are having a hard time filling those positions because few candidates have the backgrounds in math and science to qualify. So the company is hoping to change that by fostering future employees among high school students.

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Afternoon Announcements: January 9, 2012

It's the beginning of another work week, so between anxiously awaiting another weekend and praying for a snow day, take in the latest in education news.

Parents in the Atlanta suburb of Norcross, Georgia are fuming over the response of the Gwinnett County school district after they complained that a math worksheet sent home to elementary school students contained inappropriate references to slavery. According to the Atlantic Journal-Constitution, school officials assured parents that the principal at Beaver Ridge Elementary School, where most of the students are minorities, would work with teachers to develop more appropriate lessons. Parents, however, felt the response was not enough and are demanding an apology and diversity training for the teachers and staff. The worksheet contained questions such as: “Each tree had 56 oranges. If 8 slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?” and “If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in 1 week?”

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Afternoon Announcments: December 15, 2011

Good Afternoon, it's almost the weekend so hurry through your evening. But don't rush through the latest in education news.

It looks like someone in the Department of Education needs to reassess their calculation skills. According to the New York Times, a new study by the Center for Educational Policy found that the Secretary of Education largely overstated the percent of schools nationwide that are failing under the No Child Left Behind act. While Secretary Arne Duncan initially reported 82 percent of schools are failing, it turns out that in reality, it is slightly above half of that- 48 percent.

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Afternoon Announcements: November 7, 2011

The Washington Times reports that key lawmakers and educators are growing increasingly pessimistic that Congress can pass a massive overhaul of federal education policy before the 2012 election-year battles doom any hopes for major bipartisan legislation. To that point, Alliance President Bob Wise is quoted, saying, “Education is really about the only issue left that has not managed to make itself totally toxic. If Congress really resents the waiver proposal, then they have an obligation to act now. It’s not fair to states to begin implementing significant changes and then suddenly change all of the rules on them. The longer Congress waits, the more the waivers take effect.”

Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board, writes about education and the 2012 election in a Huffington Post op-ed.

Middle and high school science classes are holding kids’ interests; surveys show the number of college freshmen interested in majoring in a STEM field (science, technology, engineering, and math) is on the rise. But as these new coeds fight their way upstream through a flood of calculus, physics, and chemistry in lecture halls with hundreds of other students, the excitement quickly wanes leaving many swimming for shore. Read more in the New York Times about on why science majors change their minds.

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Morning Announcements: November 4, 2011

It's Friday again! This weekend marks the end of Daylight Savings Time for most of the country. Remember to turn your clocks back an hour on Saturday night, which will give you an extra hour to catch up on education news!

The Indiana State University newsroom reports that of the 2010 high school graduating class in Indiana, 12 percent, or more than 10,000 students, left high school without a diploma. ISU and community groups from across the state continue to combat those statistics one child and one school at a time.

With concentrated poverty on the rise, the Hechinger Report wonders if education reformers should be worried, referencing a Brookings Institution report out yesterday: “After declining in the 1990s, the population in extreme-poverty neighborhoods—where at least 40 percent of individuals live below the poverty line—rose by one-third from 2000 to 2005–09.”

The Fiscal Times covers a Center for Budget and Policy Priorities report that shows nearly all the top ten toss-up states in next year’s presidential election have sharply curtailed their education budgets since the recession began in 2008.

Tennessee’s Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman will ask the state Board of Education today to modify the new teacher evaluations, hoping to relieve time-pressured principals of some requirements and better ensure assessments are fair, reports the Tennessean.

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Afternoon Announcements: October 26, 2011

In a special report to The Hill, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan writes, “Over the past two weeks, the Senate has held two votes on President Obama’s American Jobs Act. Both times, every Senate Republican voted to block a bill that would put more money in the pockets of middle-class families and keep hundreds of thousands of teachers in the classroom, instead of in unemployment lines. Our nation’s schools are facing the toughest fiscal pressures in our lifetime. … The path to prosperity, the way to win the future, is to invest wisely in schools, remembering that children get only one chance at an education.” Read the full special report.

WRAL.com reports that the number of students attending secondary school around the world is increasing dramatically and governments are struggling to meet the rising demand, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a U.N. report released Tuesday.

A U.S. News & World Report blog post discusses the use of cell phones by teachers in the classroom.

The Wall Street Journal covers a new report that finds nearly two-thirds of states have overhauled policies in the last two years to tighten oversight of teachers, using techniques including tying teacher evaluations to student test scores, linking their pay to performance or making it tougher to earn tenure.

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Afternoon Announcements: October 25, 2011

The Huffington Post recaps last Monday night’s Republican primary debate: “There were 15 questions (and answers) on tax reform, 2 on energy and jobs, one heated back-and-forth on health care, 12 questions and responses on immigration, 5 on the home-mortgage crisis, 3 on the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, 4 on religion and values, 4 on the budget deficit, one on terrorism, 4 on foreign policy and a final question on who is the best candidate in general to win the race. How many questions and responses were there on the public education crisis and education reform? Zero.”

The New York Times reports on new A-through-F high school report card that finds only one in four students who enter high school in New York City are ready for college after four years, and less than half enroll.

Education Week reports that in less than three weeks, states will begin turning in their applications for waivers under No Child Left Behind, and then it will be up to a cadre of peer reviewers to help Education Secretary Arne Duncan decide who gets a waiver, and who doesn’t.

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