Big Education Ape

Friday, January 29, 2010

Rush to create charter high schools in New York City is recipe for cash scams

Hours after rebuffing parents and voting to shut 19 public schools, education officials announced plans to end most programs at Alfred E. Smith High in the Bronx and replace them with a charter school.

That charter school, however, has its own troubled history.

It's called the New York City Charter High School for Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industries (AECI), and it has been in operation fewer than two years.

Last June, a Manhattan federal grand jury charged its founder and chairman, Richard Izquierdo Arroyo, with stealing more than $200,000 from a nonprofit South Bronx housing organization.

Prosecutors say Izquierdo spent the money on designer clothes, fancy restaurants and trips to the Caribbean for his grandmother, state Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo, and his aunt, City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo.

Another board member of the school, Margarita Villegas, an employee of the housing group, was indicted with Izquierdo. Both have pleaded not guilty. They immediately resigned from AECI's board and from the board of the South Bronx Charter School, where Izquierdo was chairman.

Virtually all the teachers who began at AECI when it opened its doors in September 2008 resigned within the first year.

This month, 17 of the 19 new staff members at the school filed a state labor petition to have the United Federation of Teachersrepresent them.

State Education Department eyes closure of Newtown High School

More Queens high schools are facing the axe - this time, wielded by the state.

But, students, alumni and community members vowed on Wednesday to fight the possible closure of Newtown High School in Elmhurst - one of 10 Queens high schools the state Education Department has deemed "persistently lowest achieving."

"This is not a done deal," vowed state Sen. Hiram Monserrate (D-East Elmhurst), who rallied the crowd at an impassioned meeting in the 113-year-old school's auditorium.

Those on the state's hit list of 34 schools citywide have four options: They can be turned around by replacing the principal and half of the staff; transformed by rewarding staff who boost student achievement; become charter schools or simply shut down.

"We identified those schools whose performance in English, language arts and mathematics were the lowest in the state and failed to show progress or schools who have had graduation rates below 60%," said Ira Schwartz, the state Education Department's assistant commissioner for accountability.

City school kids are drinking more of the healthier milk variety and cutting down on calories and fat intake - NYPOST.com

City school kids are drinking more of the healthier milk variety and cutting down on calories and fat intake - NYPOST.com:

"Don't cry over skimmed milk.

City public-school students were spared 4.6 billion calories and 422 grams of fat last year by the replacement of whole milk with lower-fat options on school lunch menus, a new study has found.

This means that kids were offered 25 percent fewer calories and 81 percent less fat through school milk in 2009 compared with 2004, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study also put to rest fears that kids would simply drink less milk if they lacked the yummier whole-milk option.

Milk consumption per student rose 1.3 percent in the period."

Experts Say a Rewrite of Nation’s Main Education Law Will Be Hard This Year - News Analysis - NYTimes.com

Experts Say a Rewrite of Nation’s Main Education Law Will Be Hard This Year - News Analysis - NYTimes.com:

"In his State of the Union address, President Obama held out the hope of overhauling the main law outlining the federal role in public schools, a sprawling 45-year-old statute that dates to the Johnson administration."

But experts say it would be a heavy lift for the administration to get the job done this year because the law has produced so much discord, there is so little time and there are so many competing priorities.
In 2001, when Congress completed the law’s most recent rewrite, the effort took a full year, and the bipartisan consensus that made that possible has long since shattered. Today there is wide agreement that the law needs an overhaul, but not on how to fix its flaws.
Since it was recast into its current form by the second Bush administration — and renamed No Child Left Behind — it has generated frequent, divisive debate, partly because it requires schools to administer far more standardized tests and because it labels schools that fail to make progress fast enough each year as “needing improvement.” That category that draws penalties and has grown to include more than 30,000 schools.

Haiti Takes the Measure of the Task of Rebuilding - NYTimes.com

Haiti Takes the Measure of the Task of Rebuilding - NYTimes.com:

"PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — More than two weeks after the earthquake that devastated much of this country’s southern half, the capital remains a city of teetering walls, dangling electrical wires and precariously balanced heaps of jagged cinder block and wrought iron, all rattled daily by aftershocks."

Bulldozers and excavators are few and far between. Even as tent cities here swell, aid groups say an estimated 10 percent of the city’s residents (a number that may be vastly understated) are camping in yards and streets next to their homes, marking off what they hope is a safe distance in case the structures fall in the next aftershock. Others trek by daily to see if their houses are still standing and wonder if they will ever be able to move back in.
“It’s dangerous, but what can we do?” Orpha Brinach, 38, said after a night on a mattress in a narrow street lined by damaged homes. “We can’t go to the tent cities because robbers will steal everything we have.”

Oakland School Budget Cuts Pit Primary Vs. Adult Education. Category: News from The Berkeley Daily Planet - Thursday January 28, 2010

Rigoberto Alvarado says he’s living the American Dream. He came to the United States with very little money and no knowledge of English and worked his way up to a manager position at Oakland’s Waterfront Hotel.

Alvarado says he owes his ascent to Oakland’s adult education program. However, due to budget cuts, the next immigrant seeking to obtain job skills might not be so fortunate.

The Governing Board of the Oakland Unified School District was expected to approve a $4.5 million cut to the funding of adult education in their annual budget at Wednesday night’s regular meeting. The cuts are part of an effort to absorb a $27 million shortfall in this year’s budget without significantly impacting primary education. While adult education might be the only educational program that faces dramatic cuts this year, the impact could be detrimental for a large segment of the city’s population.

“Nobody gets involved in education to make cuts,” said Superintendent Tony Smith as he presented his budget recommendations at the school board’s Dec. 16 meeting. “Our primary goal is to protect K–12 education.”

The cuts are the most recent in a series of hits to Oakland’s adult education program that will see its budget reduced by 50 percent since the 2008–09 school year.

Obama Gets Rare Praise From GOP On Education Policy

Obama Gets Rare Praise From GOP On Education Policy:

"WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 28) -- For all of the partisan rancor surrounding President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, there was one domestic area where the president could claim legitimate bipartisan achievement: education.

During his first year in office, Obama has drawn praise from conservatives like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for his approach to improving the nation's schools. The administration's centerpiece initiative, a program called Race to the Top, has been lauded by some reform activists for injecting competition into the federal grant process. It also has been credited with nudging states to adopt higher standards and more accountability for schools.
Read the whole story: AOL News"

'Too White' Berkeley Science Labs May Be Cut - HUMAN EVENTS

'Too White' Berkeley Science Labs May Be Cut - HUMAN EVENTS:

"The Berkeley (CA) Board of Education will consider, at its February 3 meeting, whether or not to cancel before and after school Science Labs for Advanced Placement Science classes at Berkeley High School because the classes are attended largely by white students. The proposal is aimed at addressing 'Berkeley's dismal racial achievement gap'

According to published reports, the proposal to cancel the science labs and re-allocate the money for five teaching positions to an unspecified program of 'equity grants' to help struggling 'minority' students comes from Berkeley High School Principal Jim Slemp and the school's Governance Council."

Supermajority's not-so-golden rule - Sherry Bebitch Jeffe - POLITICO.com

Supermajority's not-so-golden rule - Sherry Bebitch Jeffe - POLITICO.com:

"Congratulations, Sen.-elect Scott Brown. Welcome to Sacramento on the Potomac.

Californians have lived through years of government gridlocked by rules that require a supermajority to pass bills in a Legislature ripped by partisanship.

Washington could now mirror the Golden State’s breathtaking dysfunction.

Look what California’s supermajority rules, coupled with ideological rigidity, have led to. Last year’s state budget had to cut roughly 30 percent of the General Fund, slashing health, welfare, education, transit and more. California’s once-unparalleled system of “free” higher education had to hike student fees (32 percent at the University of California) and force faculty layoffs. The state’s celebrated roadways are ranked second-worst in the nation. Its credit rating tanked."

How legislative 'reforms' undermined Sacramento

How legislative 'reforms' undermined Sacramento:

"Sacramento suffers from a disease called hardening of the categories. What are the causes and effects of the gridlock affecting the California Legislature and what can be done about it? Start with just one effect: a 30,000 percent increase in some education fees at the University of California. In the 1950s and 1960s, fees (no tuition) averaged about $100 per year for all programs; room and board ran about $125 per month. Fifty years later, undergraduate tuition is now $10,000 and some graduate programs total $30,000-plus per year - a 10,000 percent and 30,000 percent increase, respectively, dictated by the state.

This is a parent tax, a massive, progressive tax on middle-class parents whose students do not qualify for university aid. Don't blame the regents; the tax is really imposed by the Legislature."

An Act of Democracy for the State - The Daily Californian

An Act of Democracy for the State - The Daily Californian:

"The California Democracy Act, a non-partisan constitutional amendment authored by UC Berkeley Professor George Lakoff, consists in its entirety of a mere 14 words:

'All legislative actions on revenue and budget must be determined by a majority vote.'

California is one of the only states in the nation to constitutionally give a 34 percent minority of its state representatives direct control over all such legislation-thereby ensuring the budget and revenue gridlock we are experiencing.

California is in the middle of an unprecedented economic crisis requiring fundamental new approaches for resolution. Creativity is essential as we are currently unable to implement more obvious solutions to resolving the crisis. For example, we are also one of the only significant oil producing states that fails to charge oil companies an extraction tax on the oil they pump-even Governor Sarah Palin prided herself on taxing Alaska's oil profiteers."

Bob Samuels: How America's Universities Became Hedge Funds

Bob Samuels: How America's Universities Became Hedge Funds:

"In August 2009, just one month after the state of California cut over a billion dollars from its higher education budget, the University of California (UC) turned around and lent the state $200 million. When journalists asked the UC president, Mark Yudof, how the university could lend millions of dollars to the state, while the school was raising student fees (tuition), furloughing employees, canceling classes, and laying off teachers, Yudof responded that when the university lends money to the state, it turns a profit, but when it spends money on salaries for teachers, the money is lost."

Race to the Top: Unions Asked to Play Ball for Education Dollars | Labor Notes

Race to the Top: Unions Asked to Play Ball for Education Dollars | Labor Notes:

"With all eyes on Obama’s fraught health care push, his plans to overhaul public education have sped along with relative ease. The first leg of the federal 'Race to the Top' competition finished January 19 when 40 states sent applications for a piece of the $4.35 billion in stimulus funds.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan stands ready to dole the cash out to states that most closely model his prescriptions: seeding new charter schools, opening up to alternative certification programs like Teach for America, tying teacher evaluations more closely to student test scores, and instituting merit pay provisions. States and local districts also score points in Duncan’s book by outlining plans to close or hand over schools with low test-score performance to charter operators—forcing entire teaching staffs to re-apply for their jobs in the process.

The contest, says Obama, puts education funding “in competition,” and will award 15 states in April. Round two of the contest will begin in June."

Study Shows Public Funding Contributes to Family Success - PR.com

Chatsworth, CA, January 29, 2010 --(PR.com)-- A new study released by the Child Care Resource Center (CCRC) examines the vital importance of child care subsidies for families and their communities. The report, funded by the California Department of Education, illustrates that publicly funded programs allow lower income parents to work and contribute to the economic stability of their family and community while fostering important child outcomes such as school readiness.

This supports President Obama's proposal to nearly double the child care tax credit for families earning less than $85,000 - a proposal that would lower taxes families owe to the government. This is good news for California's working families who often struggle to afford safe housing, quality child care and nutritious meals.

The quasi-experimental study was conducted by examining two groups - those waiting to receive help paying for child care and those already receiving financial assistance. Sample group participants represent families in Northern Los Angeles County and the study results indicate statistically significant differences between the two groups. Dr. Susan Savage, Director of Research for the Child Care Resource Center, says, "Positive impacts are seen in economic and social stability, as well as child development outcomes. This confirms what we have always believed - subsidized child care programs provide opportunities for families that would not otherwise have been possible."

Although still low income, having their child care paid for allows families to find and retain employment, be the

www.sfgate.com Fixing our failing schools

Fixing our failing schools:

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed legislation to make California eligible for President Obama's 'Race to the Top' funding. The president's plan rewards states that have 'innovative' educational programs with funding for schools."

California's bill places parents in the driver's seat in terms of where their child attends school, focuses on the creation of charter schools and gives parents greater say in the hiring and retention of school staff.
Herein lies one of the principal reasons why California's educational programs have gone from No. 1 in the nation to 48th in the past four decades. Those who are the furthest removed from the classroom are the ones who create laws that impact our children's learning. Think tanks, special interest groups and politicians are the ones who have created one failed program after another over the past 40 years.
"Scientific research" and "education experts" have served to justify the "new math" of the 1960s, the "relevant education" of the 1970s, the "whole language" approach to reading of the 1980s, and the experiments with "higher learning expectations for children," charter schools, "high stakes testing," and small schools since the 1990s.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/28/ED4C1BP3TJ.DTL#ixzz0e0TofrUy

Gov. Schwarzenegger plugs Abel Maldonado on brink of his California lieutenant governor confirmation - San Jose Mercury News

Gov. Schwarzenegger plugs Abel Maldonado on brink of his California lieutenant governor confirmation - San Jose Mercury News:

"SAN JOSE — State Sen. Abel Maldonado, who is bidding to become California's lieutenant governor, got another blessing from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday at a gathering of top Silicon Valley business leaders.

'I love this guy,' said the governor, casting his fellow Republican as a pragmatic, middle-of-the-road lawmaker who can help steer the state through its financial straits. 'He is a great, great leader... He only works for what's best for the people of California, not for his party.'"

Poll: Should California's inmates be shipped to Mexico? | inmates, prisons, mexico - News - The Orange County Register

The state's prison officials are mulling over the idea of possibly shipping some inmates to Mexico after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested the idea earlier this week.

"We can do so much better, in the prison system alone, if we can go and take inmates – for instance, the 20,000 inmates that are illegal immigrants that are here – and get them to Mexico," Schwarzenegger said,according to the Sacramento Bee.

"We pay them to build a prison down in Mexico and then we have those undocumented immigrants be down there in the prison," he added. "Half the cost to build the prisons and half the cost to run the prisons. That is money, again, a billion dollars right there that can go into higher education. That is an example of one of the things we do that is unnecessary spending."

Just to be clear, there are no such plans in the works now, state prison officials said.

However, the governor had said the state could save money by working with the Mexican government to create and operate prisons for some California inmates.

Study accuses California's higher education systems of poor coordination | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

Study accuses California's higher education systems of poor coordination | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times:

"California’s three systems of public higher education need to coordinate better, eliminate duplicate programs and make it easier for students to transfer from community colleges to Cal State or University of California campuses, according to a report released today by the state Legislative Analyst's Office.

The study suggested more statewide oversight to ensure that UC, Cal State and community colleges don’t take steps that harm the other systems. For example, the report says that Cal State’s recent move to cancel spring admissions is causing a backlog of students needlessly staying at community colleges and that the upcoming UC changes in admissions standards may cut into Cal State’s enrollment."

Inventors Digest - The Invention Magazine for Idea People

2010 Hydrogen Student Design Contest

There’s still time to register for the 2010 Hydrogen Student Design contest.

Organized by the theHydrogen Education Foundation, this year’s Contest challenges university-level students to plan and design the basic elements of a hydrogen community in Santa Monica, CA. Students will design the major components of one scalable hydrogen fueling station, identify renewable hydrogen sources in the community, and identify customers for early market hydrogen applications.
Grand Prize
This year, the Grand Prize winning team will be invited to present its design in a general session of the National Hydrogen Association’s Hydrogen Conference and Expo in Long Beach, California (May 3-6, 2010) and in a session of the World Hydrogen Energy Conference in Essen, Germany (May 17-18, 2010). A stipend of up to $12,500 will be provided for travel to both events.
Register/More Information

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Education Reform: Teachers' Unions Failing U.S. Schools - TIME

Education Reform: Teachers' Unions Failing U.S. Schools - TIME:

"A remarkable thing happened in New York recently: the state legislature, in effect, turned down the chance to win $700 million in federal money. No one does that, except extremely conservative Southern governors (who inevitably relent and take the money) — oh, and occasionally teachers' unions. A few years ago, I wrote here about the Detroit union that forced the local government to reject a $200 million philanthropic gift to build 15 charter schools using a model that was already succeeding in the city. And now we have New York's United Federation of Teachers (UFT), a storied"

The Educated Guess � Charter summit Saturday in San Jose

If you’re within 50 miles of San Jose on Saturday, consider attending the Charter Summit at the Santa Clara County Office of Education. Along with fostering frank dialogue between charter leaders and district officials on the issues that divide and could potentially unify them, the summit will include a return to California appearance by keynote speaker Russlynn Ali, President Obama’s assistant secretary of education for civil rights and former director of Education Trust-West, along with remarks by Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell and state Secretary of Education Glen Thomas.
County school trustees have organized the event, which will include panel discussion and breakout sessions on charter school facilities and finances, the role of competition and flexibility in public education and best practices that district and charter schools can share.
The goal is a better understanding and collaboration between what’s often viewed as rivals. More than 200 people are expected to attend.
The summit will run from 8:30 to 4 p.m. at the county office, 1290 Ridder Park Drive, in San Jose (right off Interstate 880 in North San Jose).
The cost is $40. Go here for a schedule and details. You can register online or at the door. I’ll be moderating one of the panel discussions.

By John Fensterwald on January 28th, 2010

Head of charter school set to close fires back at teachers, DOE | GothamSchools

The head of the Brooklyn charter school whose charter could be revoked is firing back at the Department of Education and the former teachers who reported her.

In a letter sent to parents on Tuesday, Sheila Joseph, superintendent of the East New York Preparatory school, called the DOE’s allegations that she artificially inflated her salary, violated its charter by shortening the school year and expelled nearly 50 low-performing students before they took state tests “unfounded and untrue.” Joseph also argued in the letter that the school’s high faculty turnover rate was necessary to preserve high standards for the students.

“No one enjoys faculty turnover, but just as we have high and uncompromising standards for our students we also will not compromise on faculty performance,” she wrote. Between the end of last school year and the beginning of this one, the school lost every teacher it had.

“Some of our best teachers are now here because others had to be let go,” Joseph continued. “I don’t take lightly the fact that there has been turnover. However, I will never allow your children to have anything less than the absolute best.”

Former teachers at the school reacted angrily to Joseph’s explanation to parents.

“She’s lying,” said one former teacher who was

Oregon Voters Deliver Game-Changing Victory | California Progress Report

Oregon Voters Deliver Game-Changing Victory | California Progress Report:

"Pundits like to claim California voters are anti-tax. Of course, we've raised various kinds of taxes at the state level, including the Prop 10 cigarette taxes in 1998, and the Prop 63 millionaire's tax for mental health programs passed in 2004. Still, even though our reputation remains, we've got nothing on Oregon, where no tax has been approved by statewide voters since 1930.

Until now.

Yesterday Oregon voters delivered a huge victory for progressives by approving Measures 66 and 67, raising taxes on incomes over $250,000 and large corporations to generate $733 million to close the state's budget deficit. The Oregon legislature had approved the taxes last summer, but a corporate/teabagger alliance organized to put it to voters in a referendum."

Cut Prison Spending, Spare Schools, Worried Californians Say | California Progress Report

Cut Prison Spending, Spare Schools, Worried Californians Say | California Progress Report:

"Public Policy Institute of California

Most Californians would be willing to pay higher taxes to maintain current funding for public schools and most favor spending cuts in prisons and corrections, according to a survey released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) with funding from The James Irvine Foundation.

But while majorities want to protect K–12 schools and cut spending on prisons, Californians are as divided as their leaders on the overall strategy to deal with the state’s $20 billion budget deficit: 41 percent favor a mix of spending cuts and tax increases and 37 percent favor mostly spending cuts (9% favor mostly tax increases). They are in more agreement when it comes to asking the federal"

Education Research Report: Effects of Bullying on Depression in African American Youth

Education Research Report: Effects of Bullying on Depression in African American Youth:

"In one of the few studies to examine bullying among African American youth, Kevin Fitzpatrick and colleagues identify risk and protective factors associated with symptoms of depression and point the way to further study.

“By removing race/ethnicity from the current analysis, we examined intra-racial behavior among youth in a way unlike the majority of bullying research has over the past several decades,” the researchers wrote.

Furthermore, they concluded that the study “has clearly helped to disentangle the effects of bullying behavior on the mental health of an understudied population.”

In an article in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Fitzpatrick and colleagues Akilah Dulin and Bettina Piko examined the relationship between symptoms of depression, group membership and risk and protection among African American youth. Their data came from surveys of 1,542 low-income African American youth from a heavily African American urban school district in Alabama."

L.A. groups bid to run 30 schools - latimes.com

L.A. groups bid to run 30 schools - latimes.com:

"Groups from inside and outside L.A. Unified have been making presentations on how they would operate 12 low-performing and 18 new campuses. The school board will decide before March."

So you think you can run a Los Angeles school? Make your case. You've got 10 minutes.

Would-be school operators are taking part in a kind of Los Angeles Unified School District reality contest, presenting proposals this month at forums on campuses across the district.

It's the next step in an unfolding process through which groups inside and outside the system are bidding to operate 12 low-performing schools and 18 new campuses, serving some 40,000 students.

The Board of Education approved the strategy in August, and the winners for each school will be chosen before March.

Amid intense competition, the bidders are determined to add popular support to their portfolios. Parents will vote for their favorite bidders, although their choices won't be binding on district officials.

At Jefferson High south of downtown, at least 400 people braved last week's storms to hear staff members offer their plans for revamping the campus. They are competing against L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's team.

And at Strathern Street Elementary in North Hollywood, five groups jousted before a standing-room-only crowd of 200 over the $62-million Julie Korenstein Elementary School, scheduled to open next fall in Sun Valley.

Three bidders want to run it as a charter school -- an irony, considering that retired school board member Korenstein was a critic of charters. Charters are independently managed and free from many of the restrictions that govern traditional schools, including union contracts.

Aprende Team Executive Director Rebeca Rodriguez presented her charter group as already expert in teaching the low-income minority students who will attend the school. She heads nearby Montague Charter Academy, a converted traditional school in Pacoima where teachers remain affiliated with the L.A. teachers union.

Magnolia Science brought a founder

Washington Post Blog Post Critical of Washington Post Disappears from Web Site - City Desk - Washington City Paper

The Washington Post on Wednesday evening deleted from its Web site a sizzling and brilliantly constructed blog post that criticized the paper's editorial board. Metro education reporter Bill Turque, in a Wednesday afternoon item on washingtonpost.com, explained to readers why they might have noticed an anomaly in the paper's coverage of a high-profile hubbub centering on D.C. public schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee.

Rhee, as the entire city knows, got herself in big trouble last week when comments she'd made to Fast Company magazine surfaced on the Web. Among other things, Rhee stated that a round of controversial layoffs last October had dumped teachers who had had sex with DCPS children.

It was an unsubstantiated charge that demanded elaboration, and that's where the local media comes in. Turque pushed as hard as anyone for details, badgering Rhee and her lieutenants for specifics on the abusive teachers. But in the end, he got scooped---not by theExaminer or Washington City Paper, but an in-house competitor:Jo-Ann Armao, another bulldog reporter and a member of the paper's editorial board.

Education Research Report National Assessment of Educational Progress Resources

Education Research Report

National Assessment of Educational Progress Resources

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2010 assessments are now being administered to students in grades 4, 8, and 12 in public and private schools across the country. From January 25 through March 5, students will take NAEP assessments in civics, geography, and U.S. history, and the NAEP website has a wealth of resources to help those selected students, parents, teachers and schools who are participating.

Are you participating in NAEP this year? The NAEP website offers a broad range of resources:

* The new Student pages have answers to frequently asked questions, student videos, games, study tools, and more for students of all ages!

* The Parents' page offers a broad range of resources designed specifically for families of NAEP students:

* Usted también puede visitar la página para familias en español:

* The Selected Schools pages feature

An 'Alliance' on ESEA Reauthorization? - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Good news for fans of overhauling high schools: Two veterans of the Alliance for Excellent Education, whose signature issues include boosting graduation rates and high school quality, are likely to play key roles in helping lawmakers craft the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Bethany Little already serves as the top education adviser on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Now, Jamie Fasteau has been hired by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, as a senior education policy adviser. The position was left vacant when Alice Johnson Cain left the committee to work on teacher quality issues for the Hope Street Group.

Most recently Fasteau, whose bio you can find here, served as a vice president at the alliance. Before that, she worked for Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., focusing on legislation affecting children and families. And she was a senior lobbyist for the National PTA, as well as a government-relations manager for the American Association of University Women.

The alliance, which is headed by former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, a Democrat, has been instrumental in shining a spotlight on schools with very high dropout rates, and in helping to champion legislative remedies such as these bills. Having Little and Fasteau in such important staff positions could give a boost to those efforts.

Can ESEA Renewal Be Bipartisan? - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Yesterday, Obama administration officials made it clear that a) they want reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to happen this year and b) they want it to be bipartisan.

So do key Republicans on the House Education and Labor Committee think that's possible? Back in 2007, the panel attempted to reauthorize the ESEA, whose current version is the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, but never gained much traction.

Sounds like the picture is mixed this time around. Here's a snippet from a statement that Rep. John Kline of Minnesota, the top Republican on the House education committee put out right after the speech:

There is no doubt we need to reform our federal education laws, and Republicans are anxious to enact policies that empower parents, teachers, and communities to provide a quality education for all our nation's students. The President and Education Secretary Duncan have indicated a surprising willingness to take on the education special interests. For too long, unions and advocacy groups have stood in the way of meaningful reform. I am ready to stand alongside this Administration in their efforts to loosen the grip of special interests on our schools and put parents and communities back in control of education.

The statement goes on to chide the administration for its student-loan proposal, which was generally a partisan issue in the House.

And last night, after the speech, I caught up with Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., the top Republican on the subcommittee that oversees K-12 eduction policy. (Along with Kline, he's one of the "Big 8" the administration is meeting with about the bill. Also, he's running for the Senate.)

CBC News - Books - Catcher in the Rye author J.D. Salinger dies

American author J.D. Salinger, long acclaimed for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, has died at 91 in New Hampshire.
Salinger, who celebrated his birthday on Jan. 1, died of natural causes at his home, according to a statement from his literary representatives, citing the author's son.
The reclusive writer had not published a new work since 1965. But his coming-of-age fiction influenced generations of young men and women, and is now hailed as a classic of postwar American literature.
Jerome David Salinger was born in New York in 1919, and raised in an affluent Manhattan neighbourhood. He began writing short stories in high school and had several stories published before he served with the U.S. army in the Second World War.
Drafted into the infantry, he took part in the invasion of Normandy and was involved in one of the bloodiest episodes of the war, the Battle of Hurtgen Forest in Germany.
Salinger's first and only published novel, The Catcher in the Rye, was an immediate success upon publication in 1951. The story of 16-year-old Holden Caulfield, who runs away from his school to New York to find himself, gave voice to a generation of frustrated youth who longed to escape the strictures of postwar U.S. society.

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