Salazar, Perrelli applaud final approval of Cobell settlement

Salazar, Perrelli applaud final approval of Cobell settlement

Salazar, Perrelli applaud final approval of Cobell settlement

Written by White House Media Affairs OfficeMonday, 20 June 2011 17:36

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WASHINGTON – Today, the Departments of Justice and Interior applauded the final approval by U.S. Senior District Judge Thomas F. Hogan of Cobell v. Salazar, a long-running and contentious individual American Indian trust class-action lawsuit. Unless the decision is appealed, the court’s approval of the $3.4 billion settlement paves the way for payments to be made to as many as a half-million individual American Indians who had Individual Indian Money accounts or an interest in trust or restricted land managed by the Department of the Interior. The suit has been pending for 15 years.

Reaching a final settlement of Cobell has been a priority of the Obama administration.

“The judge’s finding that the settlement is fair and reasonable is a major milestone in the Administration’s effort to reach a resolution of litigation that has cast a cloud over the government’s relationship with American Indians,” said Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli, who has twice

Action Alert: H.R. 1891 WOULD PERMANENTLY ELIMINATE FEDERAL ARTS EDUCATION PROGRAMS / HOUSE PANEL VOTES TO ELMINATE ARTS EDUCATION

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Action Alert: H.R. 1891 WOULD PERMANENTLY ELIMINATE FEDERAL ARTS EDUCATION PROGRAMS / HOUSE PANEL VOTES TO ELMINATE ARTS EDUCATION

Action Alert: H.R. 1891 WOULD PERMANENTLY ELIMINATE FEDERAL ARTS EDUCATION PROGRAMS / HOUSE PANEL VOTES TO ELMINATE ARTS EDUCATION

CALIFORNIA ALLIANCE FOR ARTS EDUCATION ACTION ALERT | NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF STATE ARTS AGENCIES LEGISLATIVE ALERT| HTTP://BIT.LY/K7JABD

Mon, Jun 20, 2011 1:30 pm - After a contentious battle over the federal budget this Spring, lawmakers reached a compromise which, thanks to the strong, steady lobbying efforts of arts advocates, included funding for both the NEA and Arts Education programs.

But now, arts education programs are threatened by a new piece of federal legislation, the “Setting New Priorities in Education Spending Act” (HR 1891), which calls for the elimination of 43 existing federal education programs, including Arts in Education.

Oppose HR 1891

This bill is more serious than the annual funding measures that threaten to de-fund arts education because it would permanently strip policy language from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

The full House of Representatives may vote on HR 1891 prior to their August Congressional Recess. Visit Americans for the Arts Action Center, where you can send a

CCSSO Releases Roadmap for Accountability - Politics K-12 - Education Week

CCSSO Releases Roadmap for Accountability - Politics K-12 - Education Week

CCSSO Releases Roadmap for Accountability

by Alyson Klein

Right on the heels of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's announcement that it might be time to consider, maybe, possibly offering a package of waivers to states on aspects of the No Child Left Behind Act, 40 states and the District of Columbia have announced a new "accountability road map."

The roadmap has been in the works for a year-and-a-half, long before the department's announcement. It is basically a list of principles and parameters that states think should be included in accountabilty systems, ideally through the reauthorization fo the No Child Left Behind Act.

These "next-generation" accountability systems would include the establishment of college-and-career-ready standards, the measurement of graduation rates, and a requirement that states help build district and school capacity to turnaround the lowest- performing schools. Schools would be given more detailed feedback than just making or not making progress under the law.

And if Congress doesn't act, CCSSO says that states will begin proposing their own, new accountability models

In NAACP lawsuit, settlement details emerge then quickly retract | GothamSchools

In NAACP lawsuit, settlement details emerge then quickly retract | GothamSchools

In NAACP lawsuit, settlement details emerge then quickly retract

by Geoffrey Decker

An optimistic press release that was later retracted is the latest sign that discussions to settle a lawsuit over charter school co-locations are intensifying in advance of the suit’s first day in court.

On Friday, the NAACP announced an agreement with the Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott to remove three schools from its lawsuit against the Department of Education. The announcement did not explain the changes, but indicated that the same solution could potentially be applied to each of the 19 charter schools listed in the suit.

“Our conversations with the Department of Education are beginning to bear fruit,” NAACP CEO Ben Jealous said in a statement from the press release. ”Resolution on these three schools gives us hope. It allows us to focus on reaching the same agreement with regard to other schools.”

But education department officials said they were caught off guard by the press release, which was later

Educational Forum: Obama and the Future of Immigration Reform - Hispanically Speaking News

Educational Forum: Obama and the Future of Immigration Reform - Hispanically Speaking News

Educational Forum: Obama and the Future of Immigration Reform

Hear from experts and participate in a conversation about the status of immigration policy reform and where is this issue going. Tuesday June 21 6:30 Chicago

Published in Has Oido

Monty Neill on the choice of the frying pan or the fire: NCLB vs. RTTT « Parents Across America

Monty Neill on the choice of the frying pan or the fire: NCLB vs. RTTT « Parents Across America

Monty Neill on the choice of the frying pan or the fire: NCLB vs. RTTT

by leoniehaimson

Cross -posted at the National Journal .

If US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has his way, states will have to “choose” between the frying pan of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the fire of Race to the Top (RTTT). Or so it seems from his vague language.

The frying pan: Under NCLB, ever more schools will face “in need of improvement” (INOI) status and then ever-escalating sanctions as they fail to make “adequate yearly progress.” Once in that status, schools must spend money on “supplemental services” that haven’t proven to help and student transfers that are rarely available. Should they fail to make the ever-increasing AYP requirements, they’ll move on to additional mostly ineffective options – ones Duncan

Rhee’s erasure guy quits. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Rhee’s erasure guy quits. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Rhee’s erasure guy quits.

by Fred Klonsky

Claiming he was looking “forward to the opportunity to pursue new options and old interests,” former DC schools boss Michelle Rhee’s Instructional Superintendent quit his job.

Wayne Ryan gained national fame for being the fall-guy for Rhee. Sudden increases in test scores, that Rhee claimed were the result of her amazing leadership, turned out to be the result of Ryans amazing ability to change the answers on the test scantron sheets.

Bill Turque in the Washington Post:

Ryan became a literal poster boy for D.C. school reform under former Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee after DC CAS scores spiked dramatically at Noyes from 2007 to 2009. The District ran principal recruitment ads with his picture asking “Are you the next Wayne Ryan?” Rhee promoted Ryan in 2010 to instructional

Text of H.R.1821 as Introduced in House: Family Engagement in Education Act of 2011 - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress

Text of H.R.1821 as Introduced in House: Family Engagement in Education Act of 2011 - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress

MEDIA ADVISORY	Contact:	Binta Cisse
		202.296.2002 x129
		bdc@ecius.net
Raising Readers: Why Educators and Congress are Advocating for Greater Family Engagement in Education
Media teleconference hosted by: The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
When: Tuesday, June 21 10:30-11:30 a.m. EDT Where: Dial 888-390-3983 to participate. Please call in 5-10 minutes before the conference is scheduled to begin. Why: Learn why family engagement in education is an important contributor to early literacy development and later academic success, Learn more about the new bipartisan Family Engagement in Education Act of 2011 (S.941/H.R.1821) and what it will mean if it is passed, Hear about a cost-effective, evidence-based early childhood literacy and parent engagement model that is producing results across the country, and Find out what a large urban school district is doing to get parents more involved in their children’s education. *Media will have the opportunity to ask questions in this interactive, media-only audio call. Who: Caroline Hendrie, Executive Director, Education Writers Association (moderator) Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, (D-NY4) (tentative) Elizabeth Burke Bryant, Executive Director, Rhode Island KIDS COUNT and advisor to The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading Gabrielle Miller, Ed.D, National Executive Director,Raising A Reader Tomas Hanna, Associate Superintendent of Academic Support, Philadelphia Public Schools Please RSVP by Friday, June 17 via email to: kathleen@thehatchergroup.com

Netroots Nation Musings Part 1: The Wisconsin Story at Netroots Nation - blue cheddar blog

Netroots Nation Musings Part 1: The Wisconsin Story at Netroots Nation - blue cheddar blog

Netroots Nation Musings Part 1: The Wisconsin Story at Netroots Nation

by bluecheddar

To those saying, “What is Netroots?” I’d reply about 2,400 progressive or left wing bloggers, activists, political leaders, and curious citizens that convene yearly to talk politics. It’s kind of a big deal.

I had the good fortune to be invited by Melissa Ryan of NOI to speak, and so I went. But it was not only hard to leave Wisconsin when I went to Netroots in Minneapolis, it was awkward. I left the state’s side as she lay on her sick bed. The conservative majority state supreme court had just slayed collective bargaining rights as they were told to and right on schedule. The Republicans was pushing the state budget into Walker’s hands faster than a luge at the winter olympics. The Walkerville encampment pulled up stakes while I was gone and left.

The Wisconsin Story at Home vs. Netroots

The mood back home was down. On the blogosphere and social media spaces, folks fighting Walker reassured

Principal of highest erasure DC school resigns

Principal of highest erasure DC school resigns

Written by Bill Turque, for the Washington Post. Read the original here.

“Instructional superintendent Wayne Ryan, the former principal at Noyes Education Campus who drew acclaim from DCPS for dramatic test score gains and then investigative scrutiny for suspicious levels of answer sheet erasures, has resigned.

In an e-mail to colleagues Friday evening, Ryan did not specify a reason for his departure, effective Monday.

“I am looking forward to the opportunity to pursue new options and old interests,” he said. He

Andy Ford: Why the FEA is suing the State of Florida | Gainesville.com

Andy Ford: Why the FEA is suing the State of Florida | Gainesville.com

Andy Ford: Why the FEA is suing the State of Florida

Published: Monday, June 20, 2011 at 3:10 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, June 20, 2011 at 3:10 p.m.

This week, the Florida Education Association joined with other groups to file a lawsuit to challenge the actions of the Legislature in mandating that 3 percent of the pay of the 655,000 teachers, law-enforcement officers, firefighters and other workers who serve the citizens of our state. We didn’t take this action lightly, but we believed we had no other choice.

When the Legislature mandated that active members of the Florida Retirement System must give up 3 percent of their salary as

Changes on the horizon for NCLB | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Changes on the horizon for NCLB | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Changes on the horizon for NCLB

by April Lin

With the deadline to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (more commonly known as No Child Left Behind) fast approaching, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has promised revision and reform of the controversial policy before the start of the next school year. Should Congress fail to meet this deadline, Duncan has said that he is prepared to work with states and issue waivers exempting them from the "perverse incentives" and sanctions they face under NCLB.

read more

Schools Matter: Old News Missed But Worth Noting

Schools Matter: Old News Missed But Worth Noting

Old News Missed But Worth Noting

by Jim Horn

When Broadie poster boy, Peter Gorman, came out with his plan in the spring for 52 new tests for Charlotte-Mecklenburg students to choke down more than once during coming school years, some called Gorman a visionary, while some called him the corporate whore. As if to prove the latter correct, Gorman has signed on at NewsCorp with Klein and Klein's former NYC Schools COO, Kristen Kane, to run Rupert Murdoch's edu-adventures. The Press Release is too good not to be shared:

. . . . Ms. Kane will become Chief Operating Officer of the group, responsible for driving operations and strategy. Dr. Gorman will be named Senior Vice President and work with school districts to implement the division's programs, as well as review their integrity and effectiveness.

News Corporation's Education Division is focused on individualized, technology-based content and learning opportunities that support world class student and teacher performance, as well as digital assessment tools for K-12 students in the United States that help eliminate the achievement gap.

Thank You Will - Weblogg-ed » 10 Years of Blogging: Time for a Change and a Book

Weblogg-ed » 10 Years of Blogging: Time for a Change and a Book

10 Years of Blogging: Time for a Change and a Book

by Will Richardson

So last week it marked 10 years since my first blog post, a full decade of writing and sharing online. As I’ve said many times before, it’s been an amazing journey. I don’t think I could have imagined the many ways that blogging was going to change my life, in a learning sense, in a professional sense, and in a personal sense. I still find all of it strangely bizarre, like I’ve been pulled along on this most excellent ride that has simply been a privilege to experience. I’m so very fortunate to be doing something that I love, something that constantly challenges me and keeps me on the edge of my brain, and something that connects me to such passionate and smart people both online and offline on a regular basis. I am, in a word, humbled. Thanks to all of you who have supported my learning these last 10 years.

That said, I’ve been thinking for quite a while now that I need to change things up a bit in terms of the way I’m sharing with the world. It’s become a struggle to blog in long form here. Yet I’ve not found the short form of Twitter to be anywhere close to a substitute for the extended conversations that take place here. (And to be honest, Twitter is a totally crappy archive of reading and thinking.) While I’ve tried to like it, Facebook just is not

THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: The Gulen movement, charter schools, Turkey’s ruling party, the Muslim Brotherhood, The Nation, and American Thinker.

THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: The Gulen movement, charter schools, Turkey’s ruling party, the Muslim Brotherhood, The Nation, and American Thinker.

The Gulen movement, charter schools, Turkey’s ruling party, the Muslim Brotherhood, The Nation, and American Thinker.

by The Perimeter Primate

I’ll leave the sorting-it-all-out up to you. As you read this entry, just know that:

#1: The Gulen movement is operating 120 U.S. charter schools (with more opening soon), as well as a whole host of what-they-present-as “Turkish cultural” and “interfaith dialog” organizations. One of the Gulen movement’s favorite activities has been to lobby politicians and other community leaders. Members of the Gulen movement lavish gifts, dinners, and awards on people whom they've targeted, including their charter school families. One of the biggest propaganda programs they sponsor for people around the world is sponsoring free or greatly subsidized (by members of the movement), Gulenist-guided trips to Turkey. Texas politicians are just now being

Voucher schools have created a separate, unequal system - JSOnline

Voucher schools have created a separate, unequal system - JSOnline

Voucher schools have created a separate, unequal system

Journal Sentinel files

A special-education teacher helps a student read a lunch menu at Audubon Middle School in Milwaukee in this file photo.

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By Courtney Bowie, Karyn Rotker, Jeffrey Spitzer-Resnick

June 18, 2011 |(22) COMMENTS

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• Bowie, Rotker and Spitzer-Resnick: Voucher schools have created a separate, unequal system
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Private voucher schools are failing Milwaukee children with disabilities. When these voucher schools ignore their obligations to educate and accommodate children with disabilities, they force Milwaukee Public Schools to pick up the slack - while giving MPS fewer resources to do so. Voucher schools' large-scale exclusion of children with disabilities has led to a segregated environment with a disproportionate share of children with disabilities attending MPS.

Indeed, if the state Legislature and governor have their way and expand the voucher program, the separation and exclusion of children with disabilities will only get worse.

That is why civil rights groups have filed the first systemic disability