Like St. Paul on the way to Damascus, many of us undergo a “conversion” experience.
We enter the world full of lofty goals, high-minded principles and some complex vocabulary. Sometimes, we even attempt to make those goals real, entering the “real world” to “inspire young minds” and “do some good in the world.”
Yet when the cold backhand of reality comes crashing across our faces, the sting often exposes a greater truth
St. Louis Fed Unveils Video Series To Help Teach Economics
ST. LOUIS –The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis unveiled today the first of its Economic Lowdown Video Companion series, designed to help high school educators teach economics, Advanced Placement economics and business courses. The first episode, which explores the concept of supply, is available free of charge on the St. Louis Fed’s YouTube Channel and web site at www.stlouisfed.org/education_
The Economic Lowdown Video Companion series helps high school students better understand economics. These brief videos use clear, simple language and graphic elements so that students can better visualize the economic concepts being presented. In the end, they will see how economic principles affect the choices they make in their everyday lives.
Additional videos, explaining the concepts of demand and market equilibrium, will be available in the fall.
These videos are part of the St. Louis Fed’s ongoing effort to improve the economic and personal finance knowledge of students across the country. In 2010, lesson plans and course materials developed by the Bank were downloaded by teachers 384,015 times. In addition, nearly 34,000 students from 43 states were enrolled in online economic courses provided by the Bank.
For more information on the St. Louis Fed’s economic education programs, see www.stlouisfed.org/education_
“We’re still hopeful that Congress can continue its work this fall. In the meantime, states and districts have an opportunity to move forward,” said Secretary Duncan in a statementearlier today announcing the Obama Administration’s plan to provide a process for states to receive flexibility under the federal education law known as No Child Left Behind. While more details on the flexibility plan are forthcoming, here is a list of the top five questions about the announcement we are hearing.
1. Why now?
Reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)—currently known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB)—is four years late. The Obama administration introduced its Blueprint for Reform sixteen months ago, and President Obama called on Congress in March to finish a bill before the start of the new school year. States, districts, schools and most importantly students cannot wait another school year for this broken law to be fixed.
2. Does the administration’s plan replace Congressional reauthorization?
No, the plan to provide flexibility does not replace a comprehensive reauthorization from Congress. The administration’s plan will provide flexibility to districts and schools to improve student achievement by raising standards while Congress continues to work on reauthorization.
3. Does this regulatory flexibility package offer blanket flexibility to states and districts?
While all states will be eligible for this regulatory flexibility, only states that agree to meet a high bar will receive the flexibility they need to improve education on the ground for students. States granted flexibility would be expected to maintain rigorous accountability, including for subgroups of students.
4. Is there legal authority for the Department to allow this flexibility?
Section 9401 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act) allows the Secretary to waive certain statutory or regulatory requirements of the ESEA.
5. When will this flexibility have an impact on the ground?
We will continue to gather ideas from states in the coming month and plan to roll out details of the package in mid-September. We anticipate that this flexibility will begin to have an impact at the end of the 2011-2012 school year and have the most significant impact beginning in the 2012-2013 school year.
NEW YORK -- More than three dozen celebrities, including Nicole Kidman and Robin Williams, athlete Carmelo Anthony and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor (SOHN'-ya soh-toh-my-YOR') , are set to appear on the new season of "Sesame Street."
"Sesame Street" begins its 42nd season on PBS on Sept. 26.
PBS said Monday the focus of the preschool educational series will be on science, math and
The first half of John Merrow's "The 'Alien Structure of Education, and Other Thoughts" could have been written by a leader of the Save Our Schools March. In fact, Merrow recounts fond memories of the wisdom of SOS leader Deborah Meier, and eloquently criticizes the amount of standardized testing in today's schools and how it is corrupting our educational values. But then Merrow inexplicably changes the subject from a rally that was not about unions and asserts that they are a "huge part" of our educational problem. Merrow cites a wonderful comment by Grant Wiggins that could
Arne Duncan made one guy happy with his decision to override NCLB guidelines as he sees fit. Former Florida governor, turned test-based reformer Jeb Bush wrote an op-ed in POLITICO urging Duncan to do just that:
Some state leaders have responded to Washington’s inaction (On NCLB) by announcing they will ignore the law’s provisions. Others have simply lowered exam passing thresholds to technically – but shamefully – comply. Reductions of this sort are tragic, since many state standards are already too low.
Without reauthorization, Education Secretary Arne Duncanshould use existing waiver authority
Lansing — Michigan has removed about 30,000 college students from its food stamp program — close to double the initial estimate — saving about $75 million a year, says Human Services Director Maura Corrigan.
Federal rules don't allow most college students to collect food stamps, but Michigan had created its own rules that made nearly all students eligible, said Brian Rooney, Corrigan's deputy director. As a result, the number of Michigan college students on this form of welfare made the state a national leader. For example, Michigan had 10 times the number of students on food stamps as either Illinois or California, Rooney said.
Cutting off the students is part of what Corrigan says is an effort to change the culture of the state's welfare department and slash tens of millions of dollars of waste, fraud and abuse.
"Maybe (students) could go get a part-time job — that's what I did," said Corrigan, a former justice of the
DOVER — Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., is calling on the federal government to reconsider its pending but potentially costly new school lunch requirements.
A bill, HR 2112, would implement new nutritional standards in the school breakfast and lunch programs nationwide and has been approved by the House of Representatives and is on its way to the Senate.
The proposed rule, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, would update the nutrition standards for meals served through the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs as part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.
Implementation would increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fat-free and low-fat milk in school meals.
While a May report directs the Department of Agriculture to issue a proposed rule that would not require an increase in the cost of providing school meals, several local school officials have
As it turns out, a News Corporation division has twice come under significant civil and criminal investigations in the United States, but neither inquiry went anywhere. Given what has happened in Britain with the growing phone-hacking scandal, it is worth wondering why.Both cases involve News America Marketing, an obscure but lucrative division of the News Corporation that is a big player in the business of retail marketing, including newspaper coupon inserts and in-store promotions. The company has come under scrutiny for a pattern of conduct that includes below-cost pricing, paying customers not to do business with competitors and accusations of computer hacking.News America Marketing came to control 90 percent of the in-store advertising business,
(Chicago Tribune) — On top of hefty charges for textbooks, technology, bus rides, sports and clubs, school districts are hitting up parents to pay fees for hundreds of individual courses, from French I to American literature, history, foods and furniture-making. The so-called course or lab fees can range from $10 or $20 to more than $100 per class, depending on the school, records show, pumping up parents’ bills and adding to the rising cost of a public school education in the Chicago region. ”This is like private school,” said parent Gio Chavez, who walked out of Oak Lawn Community High School’s registration this week shellshocked. The final tally for her sophomore son’s classes: $665.
"We risk the creation of an engorged generational underclass born of a culture that has less income equality and fewer prospects for mobility than the previous generation." -- The Decade of Lost ChildrenSusan Klonsky
Perhaps Mayor Emanuel should go out for a few nights with the city workers who know where to look — up in the deep recesses beyond the chain link fences under bridges, along
Some schools that are on a year-round schedule are back in session this morning.
Many suburban districts, including my own, are back in session in two weeks.
By the day after Labor Day, everybody will be back at work.
Except for the 1,000 teachers that Rahm Emanuel laid off, I mean redefined, this summer.
When last we looked at what was going on in Springfield, we had beaten back the plan of Republican House Leader Tom Cross, Democratic Speaker Mike Madigan and Civic Committee President Ty Fahner to destroy teacher pensions.
Thousands of emails, letters and phone calls flooded the offices of Illinois General Assembly members in an
Chait, like so many other psuedo-libs, knows for a fact that there are bad, tenured teachers; he just won't say how many there are, or how big of an impact they make, especially compared to other factors. So he says, "aIt's certainly nice that Damon wants to defend teachers. But, first of all, the fact is that not all teachers are dedicated and good. A few are lazy and bad. Their badness and laziness has serious consequences for children, because it is extremely hard in practice to fire even obviously incompetent teachers.
08/ 8/11 11:27 AM ET