Morning Announcements: March 9, 2012

Happy Friday! In only a matter of hours you will be free to hang out and enjoy the weekend. (If you haven’t already done so.) For now, catch up with the latest in education news.

According to the Huffington Post, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) will introduce an early education bill to help the economy. The plan stems from when the Senator asked a panel of education experts at a committee hearing how they would improve the country's public schools. He was surprised by the fact they didn't mention early learning.

We’ve been following the battle over teacher tenure in Virginia for quite some time and now the fight may have finally drawn to a close. The Washington Post reports that Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell’s bill to eliminate tenure-style job protections for public school teachers died yesterday at the hands of the Republican-led Senate.

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Morning Announcements: March 2, 2012

Happy Friday! Take in some education news before your afternoon nap.

For the fourth day in a row, Virginia’s Senate put off voting whether to eliminate teacher tenure. According to the Washington Post, the continued delay is because the Senate suggests that Governor Robert F. McDonnell may not yet have secured enough votes to pass the measure.

One-fifth of new principals leave within a year or two, and their schools continue on a downward academic slide, according to the RAND Corp. As Education Week reports, the study suggests that quick principal turnover bodes poorly for schools overall.

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Morning Announcements: February 22, 2012

Enjoy the middle of the week fatigue, but before exhaustion sets in, take in the latest headlines in education!

Education Week brings you a new report by the New Teacher Center. The report scrutinizes states’ teacher-induction policies and finds as there are more and more novice teachers in the ranks of the profession, states' teacher induction policies are generally disorganized.

Teachers continue to be the focus of educational reform. According to the Associated Press, Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy is pushing for tightening teacher tenure rules, contending that the state has some teachers who "don't belong" in the classroom. Tough words for tough reform.

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Morning Announcements: February 15, 2012

Happy Wednesday! Hopefully you were able to get in a morning workout to balance the abundance of chocolates and sweets consumed for Valentine’s Day. Or you’ve distracted yourself with an abundance of work to strategically forget yesterday even existed. There, now your diet is intact. Here are the last stories from the world of education.

President Obama, for his 2013 fiscal budget, has announced a proposed program would seek to bring together officials, union leaders and educators to address issues such as tenure and salaries. According to the New York Times, the $5 billion grant aims to overhaul teaching.

Startling news last week regarding the achievement gap between rich and low income students highlighted the large disparity in opportunities for educational advancement. But as the New York Times notes, many affluent foreign-born parents in New York City are sending their children to public schools in much greater proportion than native-born parents with the same incomes.

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Afternoon Announcements: February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day! Love is in the air all around the country, including here at the Alliance for Excellent Education. We thank you for checking in daily to get your fix for education news. As a token of our appreciation we got you a nice picture of a box of chocolate (sorry, the mall was closed.)

The Huffington Post brings you an in-depth look at what the Alliance reported on last week. Results of the class of 2011’s Advanced Placement enrollment and testing are available and while more high school students are taking the Advanced Placement exams and succeeding, most students who should be taking the exams aren't.

Alternative schools are popping up everywhere, including online. But National Public Radio enlightens you to the growing trends of schools in shopping centers. In traditional schools, many students struggle with bad grades or have discipline problems, and others choose to drop out. A few school districts are opening up specialized schools inside shopping malls as an alternative and some students are taking advantage.

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Afternoon Anouncements: February 13, 2012

Good afternoon. Here are the latest top stories in education news.

The New York Times documents a North Carolina school district which has discretely emerged as a model digital school. Projects that make them so technologically advanced include thousands of laptops being issued to students. As a result, test scores are up across the board.

Effort to ensure reading comprehension of all elementary-age students is creating a buzz. A proposal by lawmakers in at least four states to consider legislation that would make students repeat the third grade. According to the Wall Street Journal, if a student can't pass state reading exams, the student will be required to repeat. The initiative is reviving debates about whether retaining students boosts achievement or increases their odds of dropping out.

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Morning Announcements: February 9th, 2012

Don't fret, a weekend is near. You're almost there so reward yourself with a healthy dose of education news.

Last year states were allowed the opportunity to apply to be exempt from some provision of the No Child Left Behind act. Now the Associated Press reports that the Obama administration has announced through this report which states have received approval. Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee are the first states to reach exemption status. The Wall Street Journal also documents that while the law has received harsh criticism from both political parties, it has also been the catalyst for school changes nationwide.

As we reported yesterday, Detroit is making increased efforts to get parents involved in the academic development of their children. An important element in the initiative is addressing truancy. Detroit Public Schools are at risk of losing funding in part because of chronic truancy of students. As NPR reports the city has launched an assault and if the parent is willfully not sending their child(ren) to school they face legal reprimand.

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Afternoon Announcements: January 25, 2012

It's ok. We know you were up late causing havoc at State of the Union watch parties; but hopefully you won our State of the Union Bingo. So as you sluggishly trod your way through Wednesday, ease through the afternoon with news on education.

Across the country, changes in teacher evaluation have meant that teacher tenure is no longer a guarantee. As the Associated Press reports, a few states have essentially nullified tenure protections altogether. An analysis released by the National Council on Teacher Quality shows that qualifications for teacher tenure are getting a makeover.

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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 20, 2011

According to a new report from Pew Charitable Trusts, Philadelphia’s school closing plan probably won't raise much revenue, writes the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The New York Times reports that he Learning Network is celebrating National Day on Writing today by offering a host of ways for parents, teachers, and students to share their writing.

According to a recent report by the American Institutes for Research, students who drop out of community college before their second year have cost taxpayers nearly $1-billion annually, writes the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Education officials in Tennessee are taking flak from teachers and unions for rushing the implementation of a new teacher-evaluation system that will eventually undergird tenure decisions—a move, some worry, that could undermine redesigns of evaluation in other states, writes Education Week.

The Christian Science Monitor asks, “Can new No Child Left Behind law pass before 2012 elections?”

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