Press
December 23, 2009
'Race To Top' Driving Policy Action Across States
(From Education Week, December 23, 2009)
By ERIK W. ROBELEN
As governors and state legislators gear up for a new year of budget action and policymaking, the federal Race to the Top competition is helping to drive a flurry of measures nationwide aimed, at least in part, at making states stronger candidates for a slice of the $4 billion in education grants.
Those efforts emerge as a priority in the 2010 legislative season, even as many cash-strapped states face the prospect of tough spending decisions--including school budget cuts--on top of the midyear cuts they enacted in recent months.
Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee earlier this month called on his legislature to hold a special session in January to consider a package of education measures, including a requirement that student-achievement data be used in teacher evaluations, and a proposal he said would strengthen provisions allowing the state to intervene in chronically low-performing schools.
"The whole Race to the Top just provided a focal point for a whole range of things that might have been difficult to do in other times," Gov. Bredesen, a Democrat, said of the discretionary grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The money is intended to encourage states' efforts to improve education.
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December 21, 2009
Fed Cash Spurs Michigan Lawmakers On Education Reforms
(From The Detroit News, December 21, 2009)
By KAREN BOUFFARD
Lansing -- A monumental education reform package designed to win federal funding is headed to the governor's desk and will dramatically change K-12 education in Michigan.
Bills passed by state lawmakers Saturday link teacher pay and job security to student achievement, allow for state takeovers of failing schools, raise the high school dropout age to 18 and create fast-track certification of teachers.
It's a strong five-bill package experts say is likely to make Michigan a top contender among states vying for federal money as part of the $4.35 billion Race to the Top program.
"(Michigan's reform bills) represent exactly what the federal government want states to be doing," said Joe Williams, executive director of the national Democrats for Education Reform.
Provisions, however, were not included to address Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb's request for an academic takeover of the district, and the legislation allows limited expansion of charter schools, rather than opening the floodgates as Illinois, Indiana and some other states have done to win the money.
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December 20, 2009
Alabama Voices: Embrace School Change
(From the Montgomery Register, December 20, 2009)
By STEVE FRENCH and MICHAEL CIAMARRA
Alabama has a tremendous opportunity to quickly improve the quality of education in the state. If we want to answer the questions "What does Alabama have to do to succeed in the next five to 10 years?' and "What do we want our education outcomes to look like in five to 10 years?" with bold vision, it is obvious we need to take dramatic actions.
Preparing our students for meaningful lives and 21st Century challenges cannot be accomplished within the constraints of our current one-size-fits-all public school model. We must trust the experience in other states, where leading educators have come together to start more challenging schools with a new set of rules focused on success for students vs. security for adults. They have done this by creating laws that enable the creation of public charter schools.
We think this is the right step at the right time. In 2010, we will lead the legislative effort to create innovative public charter schools focused on boosting student learning and empowering public school leaders. For our state, which consistently places toward the bottom nationally in academic achievement, this will be a step in the right direction.
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December 16, 2009
Lawmakers Form Education PAC
(From The Detroit News, December 16, 2009)
By KAREN BOUFFARD
Lansing -- House and Senate Democrats chided their Democratic colleagues today to get on board with sweeping education reforms needed to win up to $400 million in federal Race to the Top funds.
The comments by state Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills, and Sen. Buzz Thomas, D-Detroit, came as the lawmakers announced formation of a political action committee, Michigan Democrats for Education Reform.
The committee was announced as lawmakers work to hammer out details of a reform package that must be passed before they break for the holidays at the end of Thursday's legislative session if Michigan is to meet a Jan. 19 deadline to apply for the money.
Bills passed in the House, which is dominated by Democrats, and in the Republican-led Senate, would link teacher pay to test scores, open more charter schools, and include other reform measures opposed by teachers' unions and many pro-union Democrats.
"What's been terrible for me the last few years is watching the communities that are most affected by this, that are Democratic districts, and Democrats seem to be the ones that don't want to stand up and say enough is enough," said Melton, chair of the House Education Committee. "Well, enough is enough.
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Lobbying Group Opens An Outpost In Michigan
(From Gotham Schools, December 16, 2009)
By ANNA PHILLIPS
The lobbying group Democrats for Education Reform got its start in New York, but is spreading fast. Its latest branch is in Michigan, where it's going by MDFER (a bit of a mouthful). With chapters in five states, the organization is halfway to its goal of being in 10 states by 2011.
DEMOCRATS FOR EDUCATION REFORM ESTABLISHES MICHIGAN BRANCH TO ADVANCE STATE'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS AND APPLICATION FOR "RACE TO THE TOP" FEDERAL FUNDING
LANSING, MICH - December 16, 2009 - A new political action committee, Michigan Democrats for Education Reform (MDFER), was formed today by Michigan Democrats who believe systematic reform and innovative approaches are essential to solving the state's most serious education challenges. MDFER recognizes that a unified effort is required to provide Michigan families with better opportunities for quality public education, while improving the state's chances of winning up to $400 million dollars in "Race to the Top" federal funding.
"Many of us throughout Michigan are fed up with the status quo education system and believe our children deserve better," said new Michigan DFER director, Harrison Blackmond. "We want to recognize and support legislators like Senator Buzz Thomas, who are willing to rise above traditional political posturing and present innovative legislation that improves the quality of education. MDFER wants to send a strong message to other legislators throughout our great state that help is on the way."
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Mayoral Control Opponents, Supporters Lobby In Madison Today
(From the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, December 16, 2009)
By ERIN RICHARDS
Representatives from several Milwaukee-area groups gathered in Madison today to oppose legislation that would allow the city's mayor to choose the superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools, said Bob Peterson of the Coalition to Stop the MPS Takeover.
Meanwhile, another group of organizations and individuals called Education Reform Now Advocacy headed to Madison today to try to advance SB 405, also known as the Milwaukee TEACH Act, said Katy Venskus, the state director of Democrats for Education Reform Wisconsin.
Though legislators said Tuesday that they would not take a vote on two education reform bills Gov. Jim Doyle had wanted lawmakers to pass Wednesday - the bill that would give the mayor the power to control MPS and another that would give the state superintendent extra power to intervene in low-performing schools - Peterson said delegations from the coalition still wanted to lobby legislators.
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December 7, 2009
Poor Schools Or Poor Kids?
(From Education Next, Winter 2010/Vol. 10, No. 1)
By JOE WILLIAMS and PEDRO NOGUERA
Since the run-up to the 2008 election, the Democratic Party has been home to two prominent and very different reform wings. One, spearheaded by the group Democrats for Education Reform and notable school-district chiefs like New York's Joel Klein and Washington, D.C.'s Michelle Rhee, is the Education Equality Project (EEP). The other, A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education (BBA), is a coalition of education scholars and Democratic thinkers, including Duke University's Helen Ladd, former president of Columbia University's Teachers College Arthur Levine, and New York University professor Pedro Noguera.
The Education Equality Project champions accountability, pay reform, and school choice, while the Broader, Bolder coalition insists we must attend to health care, preschool, and parenting skills if students are to succeed in school. The Obama administration must negotiate this split in pursuing education reform; indeed, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was the only individual to serve as a founding member of both groups.
In this forum, president of Democrats for Education Reform Joe Williams speaks for the Education Equality Project and Pedro Noguera offers the Broader, Bolder perspective on improving K-12 schooling, the early record of the Obama administration, and the challenges that lie ahead.
Education Next: What principles unify the signers of the coalition [Education Equality Project or A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education]? Can you explain the key reforms the coalition is calling for?
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