In mid-2010, the Alliance began "Education News from Washington, DC," a new series of interactive one-hour webinars that focus on the latest federal happenings around education reform.

The webinars include a short presentation on the topic at hand, followed by a question-and-answer session featuring questions from viewers around the country.

To access archived audio or video from one of the webinars, click on its title from the list below:

While You Were Out: Looking Back at the 2010 Lame Duck Session and Looking Ahead to Possible ESEA Reauthorization in 2011
January 7, 2011

While some of us were well on our way to Grandma's house for the holidays, members of Congress were still trying to come to an agreement on final appropriations bills that would determine 2011 spending levels for the U.S. Department of Education and other federal agencies. During a January 7 webinar, the Alliance hosted an interactive webinar that reviewed the 2010 lame duck session in greater detail and previewed possible congressional action on reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 2011.

Looking Back at the Current Congress and Looking Ahead to the New Congress of 2011
October 25, 2010

On October 25, the Alliance hosted an interactive webinar that looked ahead to the November “lame-duck” session scheduled for after the congressional elections, as well as the new Congress, which begins in January. The webinar featured a roundtable discussion with Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor and congressional representative of West Virginia, and representatives from the Alliance’s federal advocacy team. The discussion was followed by a question and answer session driven by questions from webinar participants.

The Federal Role in Confronting the Crisis in Adolescent Literacy
October 19, 2010

On October 19, the Alliance for Excellent Education hosted the latest in its series of interactive webinars on education news in Washington, DC. This webinar focused on the crisis in adolescent literacy, as well as state and federal efforts to improve reading and comprehension skills of America’s older students. The webinar included a short presentation followed by a question and answer session driven by questions from webinar participants.

A Primer on High School Graduation Rates
September 8, 2010

For the first time, states will be required to accurately report how many students graduate on time with a regular diploma at the end of the 2010–11 school year. For the 2011–12 school year, states will be required to set graduation rate goals and be held accountable for making improvements toward those goals. During the September 8 webinar, Alliance President Bob Wise gave a short overview on high school graduation rates, new reporting requirements for graduation rates, as well as some of the policies that states have put into place. Gov. Wise, along with Alliance Vice President of Federal Advocacy Phillip Lovell, took answered questions submitted by viewers from across the country.

An Update on Federal Education Spending
July 29, 2010

During the July 29 webinar, Alliance President Bob Wise gave a short overview of the federal education budget, as well as the process by which the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives allocate funding to the U.S. Department of Education. He also discussed President Obama's proposed 7.5 percent increase in discretionary spending for the U.S. Department of Education and the reaction it received from members of Congress who set funding levels for individual education programs. Gov. Wise also outlined funding levels for Title I, IDEA, and other education programs and reviewed federal funding that's available to middle and high schools.

Voters Want Federal Action on High School Reform
July 14, 2010

Improving the quality of public high schools through the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is a voting issue for over eight in ten voters, according to a new national poll released on July 14, 2010 by the Alliance for Excellent Education. The July 14 webinar featured Alliance President Bob Wise and pollsters Celinda Lake and Christine Matthews, who discussed the results of the poll and answered questions from viewers.

Can School Improvement Grants Save the Nation's Lowest-Performing High Schools?
July 1, 2010

Nationwide, approximately 12 percent of high schools account for more than half of the nation's nearly 1.3 million dropouts. In these schools, less than 60 percent of freshmen will graduate with their peers in four years. During the July 1 webinar, Ann Whalen, special assistant to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Alliance Vice President of Federal Advocacy Phillip Lovell discussed the role that School Improvement Grants (SIG) can play in turning around these lowest-performing schools and answered questions from viewers.

An Update on ESEA Reauthorization
June 15, 2010

Why does ESEA need to be reauthorized? How have congressional hearings on ESEA moved reauthorization forward? Why is it imperative that Congress reauthorize ESEA in 2010? Alliance President Bob Wise answered these questions, as well as other questions from viewers, during the June 15 webinar.