Wednesday, August 4, 2010

49 finalists for US education innovation dollars

By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP, Associated Press Writer

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

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(08-04) 17:08 PDT Seattle (AP) --
The U.S. Education Department on Wednesday announced 49 finalists for a share of the $650 million it plans to give away to encourage innovation.
The finalists were chosen from nearly 1,700 applications to the Investment in Innovation program. They include one of the country's most successful charter school organizations, and a nonprofit group that trains topcollege students to teach in poor communities.
Finalists have until Sept. 8 to find a 20 percent private match to secure the federal grant. A group of private foundations has set up a website to help the grantees find matching dollars.
Grants of up to $50 million are being awarded for scaling up education programs with a

The top and bottom 15 elementary schools by test scores | GothamSchools

The top and bottom 15 elementary schools by test scores

by Anna Phillips

When test scores are released, individual schools often get lost in the big picture. To pull some out of the heap, I’ve created a way to look at each school’s results in a broad stroke: For every school in the city, I averaged the percentage of students who scored proficient across all the tested grade levels.
The following lists rank the highest- and lowest-scoring elementary schools in the city overall. It includes no charter schools and no screened schools. I did include schools with gifted and talented programs; they are denoted with a * next to their name.
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Remainders: Senate clears way to vote on $10 bill. edujobs bill

by Maura Walz

The Senate cleared the way for passage of the $10 billion “edujobs” bill. (Politics K-12)
Nancy Pelosi says she’ll call the House back next week to vote on the measure. (Politics K-12)
Here’s a timeline of edujobs’ roller-coaster ride through Congress. (Ed Money Watch)
The USDOE accidentally released innovation fund winners a day early. (Politics K-12)
New York City’s DOE, School of One, TFA and The New Teacher Project are among the winners.
How do two theories for and against charters hold up in a “school choice mecca”? Not well. (Eduwonk)
Sol Stern: it’s “dismaying” that David Abrams remains New York’s testing director. (National Review)
New York’s test score saga actually shows the value of meaningful tests, a blogger says. (New Republic)
A principal says if schools try to create well-rounded students, proficiency will follow. (InsideSchools)
Public Advocate Bill deBlasio should boost his role as spokesman for public school parents. (NYCPSPB)
The Chicago teachers union sued the city to prevent layoffs. (Teacher Beat)
Fox News’ headline for Chancellor Joel Klein’s appearance last week? “Eduation Matters.” (sic) (TruTV)

School Tech Connect: The Abashed Blogger

The Abashed Blogger

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

It appears that I missed the real story in Edujobs. I was only looking at the edcuts, instead of the truly gross parts of it. This is what happens when you're only looking at your own slice of the pie, and this is why I avoid national legislation; I never have a handle on how awful the sausage-making really is. I can't believe I asked people to call for cuts to food stamps. I bet

School Tech Connect: The Details of the Deal

The Details of the Deal

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

Ok, some updating. The Republican unified blocking of keeping teachers in classrooms (filibuster) was broken by both of Maine's Republican senators, Collins and Snowe. Well, good for them. Snowe is the Queen of the senate, apparently. She certainly was during the health care debacle. The offsets were a condition for their votes. Let us remember in the future that Senators Snowe and Collins require programs to be paid for by cuts to other programs.

I'm not sure if any Democrats voted it against it. We'll see. You would think I could do the math in my head, but I

City uses emergency power to proceed with charter expansion | GothamSchools

City uses emergency power to proceed with charter expansion

by Maura Walz

The city will forge ahead with a plan to give a Lower East Side charter school more space — even though the state ruled this week to throw that plan out.
The move takes advantage of an “emergency” provision in state law and will allow Girls Prep Charter School to expand into middle school grades in a building the charter currently shares with two district schools.
Earlier this week, State Education Commissioner David Steiner threw out the city’s plan. Steiner ruled that the

EdWeek: DPS among federal ‘i3′ winners | EdNewsColorado

EdWeek: DPS among federal ‘i3′ winners

by Nancy Mitchell

The journal Education Week is reporting Denver Public Schools is among the 49 winners of the highly competitive Investing in Innovation federal grant contest.
DPS appears among the highest-rated of 1,698 entries for a portion of the $650 million in grant dollars. The district’s application seeks more than $25 million over five years for a project titled, “Collaborative Strategic Reading Colorado” or CSR-CO.
DPS’ partners in the effort are the University of Colorado’s BUENO Center and Padres Unidos or Parents United,

Hechinger Report | Teens and senior citizens learn together and thrive

Teens and senior citizens learn together and thrive

by Sarah Butrymowicz

Trying to educate students aged 16 to 67 poses a unique set of challenges, from dealing with child care to incorporating technology everyone can use. It’s all part of the day – and night – at Delaware’s James H. Groves Adult High School, which operates at six different sites throughout the state as well as online. The school also works with four Delaware prisons.

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New report highlights need for greater adult-education opportunities

The center is a bright spot in the strained world of adult education, where enrollment has shrunk nationally because of budget cuts, and many adults languish on wait-lists for a chance to brush up on skills they never mastered. The school is open to anyone 16 and older who is out of the traditional K-12 system but still wishes to

Evidence and the Civil Rights Group “Framework” � The Quick and the Ed

Evidence and the Civil Rights Group “Framework”

by Kevin Carey

A couple of weeks ago various civil rights groups released a new education agenda, and in doing so provided a useful primer on the selective use of evidence.
The six-prong “framework” (more on that later) begins with “1. Equitable opportunities for all” (more on that later, too) before moving to “2. Utilization of systematically proven and effective educational methods.” By this, they mean:

Rather than addressing inequitable access to research-proven methodologies like high quality early childhood education and a stable supply of experienced, highly effective teachers, recent education reform proposals have favored “stop gap” quick fixes that may look new on the surface but offer no

“The Power of the Parent Voice” | Engaging Parents In School...

“The Power of the Parent Voice”

by Larry Ferlazzo

The Power of the Parent Voice: Secretary Arne Duncan’s Remarks at the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Leadership Mega Conference is a long title for a speech that Secretary Duncan recently gave to a group that I assume included many parents of children with special challenges.
He spoke extensively abou

New Issue Of “The School Community Journal” Now Online

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“Community Organizing for Stronger Schools”

“Communities For Excellent Public Schools”

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My Most Popular Blog Posts On Parent Engagement (Over The Past Year)

by Larry Ferlazzo

I began my Engaging Parents In School blog about a year ago to support the publication of my book, Building Parent Engagement In Schools. I’ve written many posts over the past twelve months, and I thought readers might find it useful to see a list of which ones have been “clicked-on” the most:
Here, in order, are My Most Popular Blog Pots On Parent Engagement (Over The Past Year):

Recruitment and enrollment practices are about incentives � The Quick and the Ed

Recruitment and enrollment practices are about incentives

by Ben Miller

Gregory Kutz of the Government Accountability Office at today's U.S. Senate hearing on for-profit schools' recruitment practices

A few bad apples or a contaminated orchard? That was the question Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) posed as he wrapped up today’s Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on the recruiting practices of for-profit colleges.
The main draw of the hearing was a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which published

QUICK Hits � The Quick and the Ed

QUICK Hits

by Forrest Hinton

Quick Hits is a short compilation of question-raising news stories, blog posts, and video clips that Education Sector team members are reading and viewing each day.

Seriously—did you ever try to find anything useful on a university web site? (h/t The Educated Reporter)
Couldn’t she have just called in sick? What one teacher did to avoid a classroom observation. (NY Post)
What’s the science that explains how Wizards’ lottery pick player John Wall can make those astounding passes? (Sport Science)
Courts, charter schools, and the balance of power: How will Aspire overcome revoked charters from the 1st Court of Appeals? (The Educated Guess)

Senator Enzi Finds the Right Line of Attack

by Chad Aldeman

The Senate HELP Committee is holding a hearing this morning on for-profit colleges, which have been in the news a lot lately for their questionable recruitment practices. Follow this morning’s meeting on the Committee’s site or read Education Sector’s live commentary on Twitter.
What’s interesting is that Senator Enzi has hit on a really effective critique, asking, and I’m paraphrasing here, “Why are we focusing only on for-profit institutions when we should be scrutinizing all sectors of higher education? We should be asking the same questions of non-profit and public colleges.”

Schools Matter: Get Duncan a Tutor!

Get Duncan a Tutor!

by Kenneth Libby

Duncan is claiming a 26-point jump in average scores on state RTTT applications is evidence of extraordinary reform.

Any chance someone has some extra SES money to get this guy a stats tutor?

Michele McNeil explains a bit about why linking the 26-point jump to extraordinary reform is a bit silly. Comparing the average scores of round one applicants to round two applicants is hardly an apples to apples comparison - the struggling round one states didn't apply for round two, so it's not a surprise to see the average

NYC Public School #Parents: Let the Public Advocate advocate for a new direction for our schools

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Independent voices of New York City public school parents

NYC Public School Parents: Let the Public Advocate advocate for a new direction for our schools

Let the Public Advocate advocate for a new direction for our schools

by Leonie Haimson

As one of only three citywide elected officials, the Public Advocate can play an important role in articulating alternative policies from those carried out by the Mayor In perhaps no other area would this be more important than for the NYC school system. because it consumes 1/3 of the City budget, and because the Mayor has untrammeled statutory control to run the schools.

The current Public Advocate, Bill de Blasio, is especially qualified to play such a role, as a public school parent and a former school board member in District 15 in Brooklyn,who considers himself a progressive, community based activist.

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Elect Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler TDSB Trustee, St. Paul’s – Ward 11 #edu � Parents 4 democratic Schools #education

Elect Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler TDSB Trustee, St. Paul’s – Ward 11 #edu � Parents 4 democratic Schools

Elect Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler TDSB Trustee, St. Paul’s – Ward 11.

Dear Neighbour,

Like many of you, I’ve lived in St. Paul’s for most of my life. I was a student during the tumultuous Harris years and experienced firsthand what it was like to have an education system in turmoil. I worked with everyone from parents and students to teachers and trustees to make the best of that bad situation.

Having grappled with school closure, increased class sizes and labour strife, it made me resolve to do better for the next generation of learners.

Today I’m working to make St. Paul’s stronger. I’m the chair of the board of a local drop-in centre, a director on the Toronto Public Library Board and vice-chair of the community coalition that earlier this year saved the Winona/McMurrich swimming pool from closure and now offers swim classes for children.

I’m running for school trustee because I believe in the power of public education: its power to give our kids the push they need to get on the right track for life; its power to create strong and safe communities by using the local school as a central hub; and its power to build acceptance across our diverse communities through fostering mutual understanding and respect.

Strong public schools will help all our kids achieve their potential and keep our community vibrant. If you share this vision, I ask you to join me. Help me advance our shared vision by making a donation, volunteering on this campaign, or simply signing up for our email list.

I look forward to discussing my vision for public education with you over the coming months and hope you will share your vision with me. Together we can overcome the challenges that face our schools today.

Thank you for your support,

Adam

Secretary Duncan's Statement on $1.2 Billion Investment in Broadband Connections to Rural Schools, Students' Homes | U.S. Department of Education

Secretary Duncan's Statement on $1.2 Billion Investment in Broadband Connections to Rural Schools, Students' Homes

AUGUST 4, 2010

Contact:

Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov

Related Resources
	Broadband projects

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's funding announcement today of $1.2 billion for broadband infrastructure projects through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"Knowledge should have no boundaries and with broadband, educational opportunities can be available when, where and how students need them," Duncan said. "USDA's Recovery Act investment to connect communities, schools and homes with a broadband link to the Internet will create jobs today, while leveling the playing field for education in rural America.

"These investments will fund projects to improve connections to rural communities and Native American tribal lands, bringing broadband to more than 1,900 schools, serving 550,000 students, and many of the students' homes," Duncan added. "These projects will include more than 300 schools currently in unserved areas, providing the opportunity for a high-speed connection to 82,000 students for the first time."