Afternoon Announcements: TEDTalks Education

Coursera, a well-known provider of massive open online courses (MOOCs), announced this week that they’ll be partnering with several publishers to provide some textbooks for free for student-use while taking the courses. The textbooks would be available on e-readers. Washington Post

A one-hour TED Talks Education program aired this week, bringing together teachers and education advocates who each delivered short, high-impact talks on the theme of teaching and learning. You can watch the program online. PBS

The Texas Senate approved a bill this week that will dramatically reduce the number of standardized tests that students need to take in order to graduate high school. The House passed a different version of the bill that also reduces the number of tests. The two bills will have to be reconciled. Huffington Post

Increasing numbers of cities and school districts are surveying their teachers to find out if they feel prepared to begin teaching to the Common Core State Standards. The newest is Sacramento; the results are broken down into school districts. Sacramento Bee Read Entire Post

Afternoon Announcements: Must Close the Opportunity Gap to Close the Achievement Gap

Some state legislators in Texas are pushing a bill that would allow low-income students across the state access to free breakfast at public schools. Senate Bill 376 would require schools where 80 percent or more of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals to offer breakfast to their students at no cost. New York Times

In a new book, education scholars argue that closing the achievement gap depends on closing the opportunity gap first – ensuring that students have access to quality early childhood education, day care, good teachers, and rich curricula. Politics K-12

11-year-old Sylvia Todd is a science star in the making. She hosts her own YouTube show, “Sylvia’s Super-Awesome Maker Show,” and attends speaking engagements and visits maker fairs. She won a silver medal at an international robotics competition and participated in Monday’s White House Science Fair. New York Times

The Minnesota Senate approved  an education funding bill that calls for all-day kindergarten and switches to a new testing system focused on college and career goals. Opponents say getting rid of graduation test requirements will lessen the importance of a high school diploma. Star Tribune Read Entire Post

Afternoon announcements: Texas working to lower graduation testing requirements

Texas high school students currently take 15 end-of-course exams to graduate. State lawmakers are working to lower that number to 5. Education Week

The NRA recommends schools consider a training program for staff who would like to be armed. This recommendation and others came with the release of the National School Shield report. It coincides with a series of bills on gun-related violence the Senate will consider. USA Today

A new study looks at academic achievement and progress among 8th graders and 12th-graders. Those who struggle in math early on rarely catch up. ACT

American middle schoolers are lagging behind their peers globally. On the brighter side, there are individual American schools that are outperforming every other country. Opinion writer Thomas L. Friedman talks about his “Little (Global) School.” New York Times Read Entire Post

Afternoon announcements: Sequestration cuts hit Native American schools hardest

There are two paths to implementing the Common Core State Standards – one that resembles No Child Left Behind and the other that transforms teaching and learning. Ensuring that the Standards are adopted and utilized in a way that benefits students and teachers is essential. Education Week

The across-the-board federal budget cuts, or sequestration cuts, are disproportionately affecting Native American schools. Most Native reservation school campuses receive federal Impact Aid intended for schools that can’t collect local property taxes. USA Today

Chicago city school officials announced the planned closures of 53 elementary schools and one high school. This amounts to 11% of elementary schools closing. Wall Street Journal

The Texas House has put up a budget plan that would add $1 billion to education funding. If approved, it would make up about half of the funding lost two years ago. Houston Chronicle Read Entire Post

Afternoon announcements: New Jersey teachers union sues charter school over blended learning

Merit Prep is a charter school in New Jersey with the mission of improving the academic achievement of low-income minority students. It utilizes technology, combined with traditional classroom teaching, or blended learning. A teachers union in the state is suing to shut the school down. Hechinger Report

A new Texas state law that goes into effect this year mandates a financial literacy program for high school students, that will teach them how to apply for and pay for higher education. One of the program’s goals is to ensure every high school senior completes the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Star-Telegram

Admissions decisions just got tougher for M.B.A. candidates. Some programs are bringing in career-services staff to analyze prospective candidates in terms of their job potential and set expectations for what the school can offer. Wall Street Journal

A new face will lead the House Education subcommittee on K-12 policy in Congress this term. Representative Todd Rokita, a republican from Indiana, will take on the powerful position in education policy. Politics K-12
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Stats That Stick: July 26, 2012

These stats were so unbelievably sticky that we couldn’t even get them off of our hands yesterday. We worked all night using all kinds of solvents, and finally, FINALLY, had some success this morning. Here are the numbers we just couldn’t let go of this week!

Percent of domestic spending, including education, that will be cut if sequestration occurs on January 2: 7.8.

At a hearing yesterday in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee, Senator Tom Harkin discussed the “sequestration” cuts on the slate due to the Budget Control Act of 2011. Senator Harkin said that if Congress strikes a deal that exempts the defense budget from cuts, the amount cut from domestic programs like education could be as high as an estimated 17.6 percent, equal to billions of dollars from the Department of Education’s budget.

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Afternoon Announcements: July 23, 2012

Monday, you’re back so soon! It seems like we just saw you so recently…alas. In any event, we’ve got some afternoon announcements for you today, and here they are!

The New York Times picked up an article from The Texas Tribune on the Lone Star state’s dropout rate. School districts in Texas have been reporting rising graduation rates for three to four years. For example, the state’s second largest district, Dallas Independent, increases graduation rates by 14 percentage points since 2007. Good news!

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Afternoon Announcements: July 12, 2012

Today’s afternoon announcements cover college completion, standards-based grading, how the health-care ruling might affect education, and getting dropouts to come back to school. There’s a little something for everyone, unless you’re looking for the latest news on Olympic water polo, in which case we’ve got nothing for you. Away we go.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will announce tomorrow in Williamsburg, Virginia that the United States had about 100,000 more postsecondary graduates in 2010 than in 2009. Census data show that the percentage of adults aged 25 to 34 with a postsecondary degree increased half a percentage point between 2009-2010. This is an extremely slow increase in the number of degrees, to be sure. The Huffington Post has more.

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Afternoon Announcements: July 6, 2012

Welcome to Friday! Hooray, you made it! There’s just this and our Report Round-up standing between you and the weekend, so let’s make these afternoon announcements quickly!

No Child Left Behind waivers are coming at a fast and furious rate from the Department of Education now. Education Week and The Huffington Post have separate takes on waivers for Washington and Wisconsin. 26 states have now been approved for waivers from the accountability system that is the core of the current iteration of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

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Afternoon Announcements: June 28, 2012

Welcome to Thursday’s announcements. It’s a bit of a slow news day in terms of education policy today because of all of the national news surrounding Supreme Court decisions, Contempt of Congress hearings, and University President reinstatements. Here’s just a few bits of news for you today.

First, from Education Week, comes the news that Iowa, in the wake of its waiver request being rejected by the U.S. Department of Education, is requesting that it receive a one year freeze in NCLB state targets. This is new territory in the process because  Iowa was the first state to have its waiver application rejected. As NCLB targets continue to increase toward 100% proficiency demanded in 2014, more states who haven’t received waivers may have to request target freezes.

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