Recess round-up: August 11, 2010

A daily dose of education news around the nation – just in time for a little mid-day break!

Edujobs: With state and local budgets still in flux, it’s hard to know exactly how many teachers will or won’t lose their jobs this year. But states not facing teacher layoffs get a piece of yesterday’s $10 billion pie anyway. (The Daily Caller)

However, there are strings attached to the money in Texas. If the Lone Star State wants $830 million in emergency federal assistance for Texas schools, it will have to use the aid to “‘to supplement and not supplant’ existing state funding for public education.” Last year, Texas diverted $3.2 billion in federal stimulus funds intended for education to balance the state budget.  (The Houston Chronicle)

Single-sex education: School districts in Kentucky and Louisiana want to open single-sex classrooms — but it won’t happen without a fight from the American Civil Liberties Union. (District Administration)

Election season: Backed by President Obama, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), who stepped in to succeed Ken Salazar (the administration’s interior secretary), won his state’s Democratic primary. It wasn’t a slam-dunk, however. (The Atlantic Wire)

Something’s gotta give: Nine schools in Kansas City, Kan. are slated for improvements. One — Central Middle School — has been on the list for ten years. Why? (Kansas City Star)

What’s a School Improvement Grant (SIG)? “In conjunction with Title I funds for school improvement reserved under section 1003(a) of the  ESEA[Early Secondary Education Act], School Improvement Grants under section 1003(g) of the ESEA [referred to as No Child Left Behind under President G.W. Bush’s administration]are used to improve student achievement in Title I schools identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring so as to enable those schools to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) and exit improvement status.

Appropriations for School Improvement Grants have grown from $125 million in fiscal year (FY) 2007 to $546 million in FY 2009. The ARRA provides an additional $3 billion for School Improvement Grants in FY 2009.” (ed.gov)

$10 billion teacher jobs bill passes, but the controversy isn’t over

(photo courtesy of Boris23)

President Obama has won his summer-long battle for a bill that will funnel to states $10 billion to save teachers’ jobs. The House of Representatives returned early from its summer recess yesterday to pass the measure, which totals $26 billion and also includes money for other public workers, and President Obama signed it almost immediately.

The bill’s journey to the president’s desk has been a roller coaster: It has been decried by Republicans and others as a gift to teachers’ unions, while a bid by House Democrats to snatch some money away from Obama’s signature Race to the Top competition nearly scuttled the bill completely. It was revived from the dead when the money to pay for it was found elsewhere, including, to some critics’ horror, by cutting back on food stamps for poor families.

At the same time, with state and local budgets still in flux, it’s hard to know exactly how many teachers were going to lose their jobs this year. Yesterday, Obama administration officials said 160,000 teacher jobs would have been lost due to the recession, the number of jobs that they say will be restored with the new infusion of money. Previously, however, the U.S. Department of Education estimated that as many as 300,000 teachers and other personnel could be laid off.

But many teachers who were sent pink slips over the summer haven’t necessarily lost their jobs. Lori Welch, a laid-off teacher from Perth Amboy, N.J. who stood with President Obama at a press conference on the bill, is a case in point. She apparently learned yesterday that she was going to be rehired – before the new money reaches her district. (Not that Perth Amboy isn’t in dire straits this year.)

A press release by the American Federation of Teachers, the country’s second largest teachers’ union, explained that the district was rehiring Welch to replace teachers who are retiring or leaving. This has been a trend in New Jersey, where possible changes to pension rules — intended to save the state money in the wake of the budget crisis — have led to a flood of teacher retirements.

New York City also presents an odd case: No jobs were lost because the mayor cut wage increases to save jobs, so it’s unclear what will happen with the new $200 million the city expects to receive.

There has also been concern that the money will arrive too late to rehire teachers, although U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has promised that the process for receiving the money will be streamlined. School districts can use the funds for positions other than teachers, Obama administration officials said yesterday, so in some places the focus may be on counselors, office staff, custodians and instructional coaches who were let go. The money must be spent by September 2012.

The White House has created an interactive map showing how much money is going to each state; it’s also in table format, if you prefer.

Obama’s sense of humor surfaces in Texas speech

By Casey Selix | MinnPost.com

Deep in the heart of President Obama’s address Monday in Austin, Texas, was a quip that ought to crack up anyone who has ever filled out a FAFSA.

While outlining his administration’s efforts to make college more accessible during a stop at the University of Texas, Obama touched on a nightmare for many college applicants and their parents: the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

“… We’re simplifying financial aid forms by eliminating dozens of unnecessary questions,” according to a recount of the speech including audience reaction on the White House’s website. “You should not have to take — you should not have to have a Ph.D. to apply for financial aid. (Applause.) You shouldn’t have to do it. (Applause.) I want a bunch of you to get Ph.D.s, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t want you to have to do it for your financial aid form. (Laughter.)”

Examples of streamlining:

“… If you’re married, for example, you don’t need to answer questions anymore about how much money your parents have made. If you’ve lived in the same place for at least five years, you don’t need to answer questions about your place of residency. Soon, you’ll no longer need to submit information you’ve already provided on your taxes. And that’s part of the reason why we’ve seen a 20 percent jump in financial aid applications, because we’re going to make it easier and make the system more accessible. (Applause.)”

This story is the product of a collaboration between The Hechinger Report and MinnPost.com. It can also be found here on the MinnPost site.

Recess round-up: August 10, 2010

a daily dose of education-news around the nation – just in time for a little mid-day break!

America Left Behind: A grim outlook on the nation’s future from President Clinton’s research and strategic consultant (Huffington Post)

Charter Schools: With just three weeks to go before it is scheduled to open, a Massachusetts charter school faces obstacles. (Gloucester Times)

Education Jobs Fund: As Congress prepares to pass the $10 billion measure to prevent thousands of teacher layoffs, some people ask if the money is being spent wisely. (NPR Morning Editon)

Graduation gap: Two Education Trust reports highlight colleges with the largest and smallest gaps in graduating African-American and Hispanic students within six Years. (Community College Spotlight)

Teacher compensation: A look at the effects of increased legislation in teacher governance. (Education Next)

Teacher quality: Red lights for California, New York and Ohio, among others, in the teacher quality department according to an analysis of the Race to the Top Round 2 finalists. (National Council on Teacher Quality)

Obama once again calls education the key to economic recovery

President Barack Obama has repeatedly called for more Americans to get college degrees, and on several occasions — including during a speech in Texas today — he’s pushed a more college-educated workforce as the key to economic recovery.

His speech at the University of Texas in Austin touted education “as an economic issue,”  but the president didn’t offer any new specifics of how the U.S.  will increase college-completion rates. His speech comes as the College Board and others have expressed concerns about the gap between the U.S. and other countries in degree attainment.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on higher education and the economy at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas August 9, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

“If we’re serious about making sure that America’s workers and America itself succeeds in the 21st century, the single most important step we can take is to make sure that every one of our young people – here in Austin, here in Texas, here in the United States of America – has the best education that the world has to offer,” Obama said.

Obama pledged to lift graduation rates, prepare graduates to succeed and make college affordable.  “That’s how we’ll reach our goal of once again leading the world in college graduation rates by the end of this decade,” the president said.

Many questions remain about how the U.S.  can accomplish those goals. Obama has noted repeatedly that only 40 percent of Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 now have college degrees, and he wants the number to be closer to 60 percent in a decade. Just a year ago, Obama pledged a new federal investment in community colleges as an answer to the country’s economic woes.

So just how will higher education — already out of reach for many in the recession — help rescue the troubled U.S. economy? Bill Gates last week predicted that self-motivated learners will soon be learning online for free, while others have questioned whether everybody really needs a college degree.

It’s an argument that the author Charles Murray has made several times in the past. Obama doesn’t buy it, though.

“From Beijing to Bangalore, from Seoul to Sao Paolo, new industries and innovations are flourishing,” Obama said in his speech. “Our competition is growing fiercer. And while our ultimate success has and always will depend on the incredible industriousness of the American worker and the ingenuity of American businesses and the power of our free market system, we also know that as a nation, we’ve got to pull together and do some fundamental shifts in how we’ve been operating to make sure America remains number one … we can retake the lead.”

Recess round-up: August 9, 2010

A daily dose of education news around the nation – just in time for a little mid-day break!

Standardized tests: Justin Snider, of The Hechinger Report, explains why skepticism and caution are warranted when it comes to making important decisions based on students’ standardized test scores.

G.I. bill: U.S. spending on veterans’ education will more than double this year to $9.5 billion, up from $4.2 billion in 2009 (Bloomberg)

Teacher training: A program out of Boston strives to support and retain urban teachers. (The New York Times)

Jobs: There was a time when teaching offered a sense of security. (Chicago Tribune)

Special education: Debates over the rise in austism and special-ed charter schools. (KENS-5 TV, San Antonio, Texas)

Funding: A South Carolina high school student seeks legislative support to fund education. (GoUpstate.com)

From the mouths of babes

Students taking a test, Florida Department of Education

It was interesting to learn about Justin Hudson, 18, who said in his graduation speech that he was grateful for his education at Hunter College High School – a highly selective public school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City – yet he voiced concern about the inequities inherent in education as we know it.

“More than anything else, I feel guilty. I don’t deserve any of this. And neither do you,” Hudson said, as reported in a front-page story by Sharon Otterman of The New York Times.

But wait a second – our children do deserve to be educated well. The trouble is, children in this country lack access to quality schools and aren’t educated equally.

This isn’t news. Jonathan Kozol, author of the 1991 bestseller Savage Inequalities, contends that decades after Brown v. Board of Education, many U.S. schools remain separate and unequal.

Little has changed since the publication of Savage Inequalities. A case in point is Jennifer Medina’s story in The New York Times last February about the lack of diversity in top city schools. And now, we’ve got Justin Hudson’s point of view.

Students admitted to Hunter are labeled gifted because of a test they passed “due to luck and circumstance,” in Hudson’s words. But what about the children who may be just as smart – but who, for whatever reason, didn’t take the test?

We’re back to Kozol, who writes that “equity in education represents a formidable threat to other values held by many affluent Americans. It will be resisted just as bitterly as school desegregation.” He speaks of children who are “favored by the accident of birth” and quotes Christopher Jencks, a professor of social policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government: “Despite a lot of pious rhetoric about equality of opportunity … most parents want their children to have a more than equal chance of success.”

Maybe so. But like Hudson the Graduate said, he’s one of the lucky ones – but guilty? Perhaps one young man’s insight into education is his redemption. Time will tell.

Recess round-up: August 6, 2010

A daily dose of education news around the nation – just in time for a little mid-day break!

Core curriculum: With the common standards now adopted by 34 states and the District of Columbia, what’s next? “ ‘We’ll never get ed policy right as long as we continue to conflate standards and curriculum,’ notes the Shanker Institute’s Eugenia Kemble.” (Jay P. Greene’s Blog and Core Knowledge )

Early ed: A take-away from the Early Childhood 2010: Innovation for the Next Generation conference earlier this week, hosted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Education: a policy board to improve the quality of early learning programs and outcomes for young children. (Board Buzz)

Ed reform: NewSchools launches a $100 million innovation fund. (Politics K-12)

Higher ed: A member of the Shoshone Bannock tribe sets her priorities. (Salt Lake City Globe)

Literacy: One Kindle per child? (The Wall Street Journal)

School Improvement Grants: Winners and losers in California. (Learning First Alliance)

Summer in the city: “… 13 young women and 12 young men spent the last three weeks at the Council on Foreign Relations listening to lectures and taking part in workshops on issues like global warming, China’s economic juggernaut, Darfur, child prostitution, international law and world trade. Playful things like that.” (The New York Times)

Charters and turnarounds do well in “Investing in Innovation” (i3) competition

A couple of themes run through some of the 49 successful “Investing in Innovation” (i3) grant applications announced yesterday by the U.S. Department of Education: Expanding charter schools and scaling up school-turnaround strategies.

The grant competition – which isn’t over, as applicants must still go through a couple of steps before they get the money – is meant to encourage projects with track records in “improving student achievement or student growth, closing achievement gaps, decreasing dropout rates, increasing high school graduation rates, or increasing college enrollment and completion rates.” Bearing in mind this goal, the appearance of several charter and turnaround-related projects among the winners is not necessarily surprising, especially since the Obama administration loves charter schools (high-performing ones, that is) and is in the process of sending out money to hundreds of school-turnaround projects around the country.

A relatively high number of winners — I counted at least five — fall into the turnaround category. Successful applicants ranged from the school districts in Los Angeles and Louisville, Ky. to Johns Hopkins University. The Obama administration is already investing a lot into the mission of turning around the country’s lowest-performing schools. In some ways, this remains a giant experiment. There have been some successes in turning around struggling schools, but it’s a difficult and quirky process that even many working in the turnaround business admit is hard to replicate. It will be interesting to watch how these i3 grant winners do over the next few years, and how much the models they are developing influence the turnarounds that are happening elsewhere (which is what the i3 competition is supposed to encourage).

As for the charters, the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) is a big winner – it could receive as much as $50 million – with a proposal to open more of its schools. The plan is to expand the number of KIPP schools by at least 50 percent over five years. (There are currently 82 KIPP schools nationwide.) Another winning project would expand to other states the New Orleans model of reopening struggling public schools as charters. This one might be a little more controversial, considering some of the criticism of charters in New Orleans.

IDEA Public Schools, a network of charter schools in Texas (where, bias alert, my brother happens to work) also won a grant, but this one doesn’t involve replicating itself. Instead, IDEA will help surrounding public schools by working with the district to train teachers for both charters and traditional public schools.

Early childhood advocates may not be pleased at the small number of winners in their category. Some had high hopes that more early learning projects would win, especially since the fate of the Early Learning Challenge Fund is still up in the air.

Three projects were chosen that focus on kids under the age of 5, but they weren’t big-ticket scale-up grants (the kind eligible for $50 million). One will focus on narrowing the school-readiness achievement gap by working with the parents of young children on Native American reservations. Another is a professional development project of the Erikson Institute in Illinois, which will train teachers of high-needs children from pre-k to third grade. And the third was the most highly rated application in the competition, from the AppleTree Institute, which proposed a data-driven preschool model that will be implemented in Washington, D.C.

Others have also looked for trends in the applications. The applications and winners’ scores will be posted this afternoon on the U.S. Department of Education website for those who want to dig more deeply into the details.

Recess round-up: August 5, 2010

A daily dose of education news around the nation – just in time for a little mid-day break!

Evaluating teachers: Aaron Pallas of The Hechinger Report‘s EyeOnEd blog looks at a D.C. teacher’s evaluation and continues his examination of IMPACT, the teacher-evaluation system in District of Columbia public schools, on Valerie Strauss’ “Answer Sheet” blog. (The Washington Post)

Jobs in education: A controversial bill to provide states with $10 billion to save education jobs sailed through the Senate yesterday. The money will be passed down to districts using the current school-aid formula. And how’s that formula working for schools? (Dow Jones via Albany Times Hearld-Record)

For-profit colleges: Senator Tom Harkin will examine the accreditation process of 30 schools after federal agents discovered deceptive practices in all 15 for-profits they investigated. (The New York Times)

Equal rights: A letter to the editor about civil-rights groups and the ed reform controversy from the executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Honestly, can’t we all just get along? (The Washington Post)

Ed reform: Although Washington state didn’t make the cut in round two of Race to the Top, the Seattle Public Schools are proposing a bold change that would tie teacher evaluations to student performance. (Seattle Times)

Innovation grants: Teach for America, Ohio State University, KIPP and Success for All are top finalists in the $650 million federal grant competition known as Investing in Innovation (i3). They must secure private-sector matching funds worth 20 percent of their grant, unless they get a waiver from the department by Sept. 8.  (AP and Education Week)

Pay to play: Amidst budget shortfalls, some Oregon high school athletes and their families have to pay to participate in after-school sports. (Clackamas Review)

Pre-k budgets slashed: “States are cutting hundreds of millions from their prekindergarten  budgets, undermining years of working to help young children — particularly poor kids — get ready for school.” (AP via UCLA/IDEA Newsroom)

Technology and education: The Learning, Design & Technology (LTD) program in Stanford’s School of Education encourages students to design technology-enhanced learning environments. (The Stanford Daily)