Press
A high bar?
The US Department of Education will announce winners for the grants - totaling $4.35 billion - starting in April, with a second round of applications being considered this summer. The bar is set high and the number of winners in this first round is expected to be small, in the single digits, Secretary Duncan said. President Obama has proposed an additional $1.35 billion in his budget for a third round of such grants.
Continue reading "Race to the Top: Which states made the list of finalists?"....
Wisconsin's bid for Race to the Top funds fails
Loss of federal grant leads to finger-pointing
(From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 4, 2010)
By ERIN RICHARDS and AMY HETZNER
Wisconsin's failure to make it past the first cut in the national competition for $4.35 billion to improve schools launched a volley of finger-pointing Thursday between the governor, legislators and interest groups.
Gov. Jim Doyle criticized the state Legislature for not acting on reform measures the governor wanted in the state's application for the federal Race to the Top grant competition, namely allowing mayoral control of Milwaukee Public Schools and giving the state Department of Public Instruction enhanced powers to intervene in struggling schools.
He also criticized the MPS board for inaction on critical issues, including its inability to come up with its own reform agenda for drastically improving educational outcomes for children.
"Today's announcement should be a wake-up call to many," Doyle said Thursday. "U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has made it clear: The federal government will provide significant resources to states that are serious about reform. Milwaukee needs clear, consistent, accountable leadership focused on reform."
Wisconsin's loss, paired with Doyle's comments, reignited a war of words between Democratic legislative factions in Madison that have been paralyzed about how to address academic failures in the state's largest school district. Supporters for mayoral control said they could still act in the regular session, but the idea has long lacked enough votes to pass.
Republicans also capitalized on the news to criticize Democrats in control of the Legislature and governor's mansion for being too close to the state teachers union and unwilling to embrace education reform.
Continue reading "Wisconsin's bid for Race to the Top funds fails "....
February 24, 2010
Mass Firings At R.I. School May Signal A Trend
(From USA Today, February 24, 2010)
By GREG TOPPO
"This may be one school in one town, but it represents a much bigger phenomenon," says Andy Smarick of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington, D.C., education think tank. "Thanks to years of work battling the achievement gap and the elevation of reform-minded education leaders, we may finally be getting serious about the nation's lowest-performing schools."
President Obama was elected in 2008 with the support of teachers groups nationwide, but since then, he and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have taken up the cause of fixing the USA's most struggling schools. Duncan will soon release a list of 5,000 identified as most in need of reform.
Continue reading "Mass Firings At R.I. School May Signal A Trend"....
February 22, 2010
House Committee to Hold Hearings on New ESEA
(From Education Week, February 22, 2010)
By MICHELE MCNEIL
Congress plans to kick-start the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act this week with the first in a series of hearings in a key House committee, where members pledge a "bipartisan, open, and transparent" process in rewriting the version of the law enacted under President George W. Bush.
The finish line remains a long way off in a Congress bitterly divided over issues such as health care, hurtling toward the 2010 midterm elections, and still without a specific proposal from the Obama administration about how it would revise the ESEA, currently called the No Child Left Behind Act.
Still, in announcing the hearings last week, leading Democrats and Republicans on the House Education and Labor Committee declared that the NCLB act is "a law that we all agree is in need of major reform," and that the panel would "work to ensure an excellent education is available to every student in America."
The statement was issued by Reps. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the committee; John Kline of Minnesota, its ranking Republican; Dale E. Kildee, D-Mich., the chairman of the subcommittee on elementary and secondary education; and Michael N. Castle of Delaware, the senior Republican on that subcommittee.
Continue reading "House Committee to Hold Hearings on New ESEA"...
February 8, 2010
Virginia's Effort For Race To The Top Funds Modest So Far
(From The Washington Post, February 8, 2010)
By NICK ANDERSON
For a school reform derby with $4 billion at stake, Virginia is proposing experiments with teacher performance pay, a modest expansion of charter schools and other steps in line with the Obama administration's education agenda.
But analysts say the state still looks like a dark horse to win a share of Race to the Top funding -- an assessment state officials do not strongly dispute.
The legislature in Richmond, unlike others, passed no bills meant to improve Virginia's chances in the grant competition.
Other states are getting attention for provocative proposals to improve teaching and turn around low-performing schools. Florida, Louisiana and a handful of other states intend to make growth in student achievement count for at least 50 percent of a teacher's evaluation, which many teachers say raises questions about the fair use of test scores.
In California, a new law enacted in connection with the competition gives dissatisfied parents the power to shake up a school through petition. In the District, Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee also has drawn notice -- and criticism -- as she seeks to rejuvenate the troubled city schools by changing teacher tenure rules and other measures.
Continue reading "Virginia's Effort For Race To The Top Funds Modest So Far"....
February 5, 2010
As Education's Funding Cliff Nears, Anxieties Rise
(From Education Week, February 5, 2010)
By ALYSON KLEIN
It's a warning that's etched in the mind of every state and local education policymaker: Beware the funding cliff.
States and school districts are already bracing for the budget crunch that is almost certain to hit when the up to $100 billion in education aid made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act runs out starting later this year.
Aware that the fiscal picture in most states will likely remain bleak for the next few years, state and local leaders are trying to pinpoint new revenue sources for education, and are seeking ways to trim spending to blunt the impact of the stimulus aid's end--the so-called "funding cliff."
Since much of the funding under the economic-stimulus measure enacted by Congress a year ago was used to fill budget holes at the local level, many students, teachers, and administrators may not have been aware of just how much of a difference the money made in classrooms, said Jack Jennings, the president of the Center on Education Policy. His research organization, based in Washington, has been tracking the stimulus funds.
But educators are almost certain to feel the pinch once the money runs out.
Continue reading "As Education's Funding Cliff Nears, Anxieties Rise"...
January 28, 2010
Obama To Seek Up To $4 Billion Boost For Education
(From Education Week, January 28, 2010)
By ALYSON KLEIN
Despite a pledge to hold down spending on most domestic programs, President Barack Obama tonight called for greater investment in public schools in his State of the Union address as part of a push to renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
The president's fiscal year 2011 budget, slated to be released Monday, will seek a 6.2 percent increase to the U.S. Department of Education's budget, including up to $4 billion more for K-12 education. The department's discretionary budget for fiscal 2010 is roughly $63.7 billion.
A large piece of the increase, $1.35 billion, would be aimed at extending beyond this year the $4 billion in economic-stimulus program Race to the Top grants and opening up the competition--now limited to states--to school districts. The president highlighted the Race to the Top saying it had "broken through the stalemate between left and right," and pledged to expand the reform priorities of that competition--among them turning around failing schools and increasing the supply of effective teachers--to all 50 states.
"The idea here is simple," he said. "Instead of rewarding failure, we only reward success. Instead of funding the status quo, we only invest in reform--reform that raises student achievement, inspires students to excel in math and science, and turns around failing schools that steal the future of too many young Americans, from rural communities to inner cities."
Continue reading "Obama To Seek Up To $4 Billion Boost For Education"...
