First Person Singular: Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education

First Person Singular: Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education

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Sunday, August 29, 2010

This work for me is very, very personal. It goes back to my mother's work in a church basement starting in 1961, trying to make a huge difference, through education, in the lives of kids that had a very, very tough time. Her after-school program was literally a mile and a half from where we lived -- but it was a different world.

I grew up in Hyde Park, this middle-class, diverse community around the University of Chicago. There was a 47th Street border; no one else crossed over, but we were this crazy family that did. Growing up in a different community, a different world, is life-transforming; it shaped us. And I couldn't begin to do what I'm doing today had I not had that opportunity every day for years.

Literally, from the time we were born, we grew up with children who happened to be African American,

NorthJersey.com: Lautenberg: Feds to release video of N.J. 'Race to the Top' presentation

NorthJersey.com: Lautenberg: Feds to release video of N.J. 'Race to the Top' presentation

Lautenberg: Feds to release video of N.J. 'Race to the Top' presentation

Thursday, August 26, 2010

BY LISA FLEISHER

STATE HOUSE BUREAU

STATE HOUSE BUREAU

The U.S. Department of Education plans to release video Thursday of New Jersey’s Race to the Top presentation earlier this month in Washington, D.C., said Caley Gray, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

This is the presentation during which the Christie administration says it learned of a key error that cost the state critical points in the competitive grant process.

Governor Christie said Wednesday the state tried to fix the error in the interview – attended by state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler and four others – but

U.S. officials to release video of N.J. Race to the Top presentation | NJ.com

U.S. officials to release video of N.J. Race to the Top presentation | NJ.com

U.S. officials to release video of N.J. Race to the Top presentation

Published: Thursday, August 26, 2010, 5:57 PM Updated: Thursday, August 26, 2010, 5:57 PM

Lisa Fleisher/Statehouse Bureau
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A video screen grab from New Jersey's interview during the Race to the Top process where the state was hoping to get $400 million. In this clip the panel has just asked for the 2008-09 budget numbers and no one on the panel is able to provide the information. Pictured from left to right are Executive Assistant of Innovation and Change at Newark Public Schools Daniel Gohl, Assistant Commissioner Rochelle Hendricks, Commissioner Bret Schundler, Assistant Commissioner Willa Spicer, and Deputy Commissioner Andrew Smarick.

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TRENTON — The U.S. Department of Education plans to release video today of New Jersey’s Race to the Top presentation earlier this month in Washington, D.C., said Caley Gray, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

This is the presentation during which the Christie administration says it learned of a key error that cost the state critical points in the competitive grant process.

Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday the state tried to fix the error in the interview – attended by state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler and four others – but the reviewers would not accept the fix after the June 1 deadline.

“When we went in for the personal interview, two weeks before the decision was made they raised the issue with us,” Christie said Wednesday during a press conference. “Commissioner Schundler gave them, in the interview, the numbers for ’08 – ’09 because the

U.S. Department of Education Senior Official to Deliver Keynote Address at American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence | U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Education Senior Official to Deliver Keynote Address at American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence | U.S. Department of Education

Media Advisories

AUGUST 27, 2010

Under Secretary Martha Kanter to Speak at Southern Vermont College

U.S. Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter will address the incoming class of 2010 at Southern Vermont College at the school’s Orientation Bookends Ceremony on Friday, August 27, at 1:00 p.m.

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• Media Advisories

AUGUST 27, 2010

U.S. Department of Education Senior Official to Deliver Keynote Address at American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence

U.S. Department of Education Deputy Assistant Secretary Carl Harris will deliver the keynote address at the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence’s Teacher of the Year Awards Ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 27, in Washington, D.C.

Why Colorado Lost Out On Race to the Top Money � The Quick and the Ed

Why Colorado Lost Out On Race to the Top Money � The Quick and the Ed

QUICK Hits [image: Quick Hits]*Quick Hits is a short compilation of question-raising news stories, blog posts, and video clips that Education Sector team members are reading or viewing each day.* - Are social networks “the new white pages?” (The New York ...

Why Colorado Lost Out On Race to the Top Money Reformers are wondering why Colorado lost out on Race to the Top money, especially after it enacted a particularly strong teacher evaluation bill just before the application deadline. It turns out that the state apparently didn’t have time to ...

Voucher movement is alive, growing in PA | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Voucher movement is alive, growing in PA | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Voucher movement is alive, growing in PA

by Frank Murphy

The progress of the voucher movement in Pennsylvania reminds me of an old adage that my neighbor shared with me the first time I planted ivy in my garden. Ivy sleeps when you first plant it. After a while it starts to creep. Eventually it leaps all over your garden. Like ivy, the voucher movement’s roots have begun to take hold and gain attention in the future landscape of Pennsylvania schooling.

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Like ivy, vouchers are creeping back into the political landscape.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/jordanfischer/

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This Week In Education: Funding: "American Idol" For School Fundraising

This Week In Education: Funding: "American Idol" For School Fundraising

Funding: "American Idol" For School Fundraising

by Alexander Russo

It's easier to get thousands of people to give $10 than to get a few to give thousands. Or at least that's the idea. Once limited to American Idol and the Haiti relief effort, mobile phone voting and donating technology is now spreading to universities and K12 school systems. Check out this brief interview I did for Scholastic Administrator with one of the pioneers behind the approach.

Catalyst Notebook :: College-prep for all no guarantee of higher achievement

Catalyst Notebook :: College-prep for all no guarantee of higher achievement

Catalyst writers and editors share their perspectives, analyses and the news behind the news on improving Chicago area public schools. Our on-the-ground reports will tell you what’s happening in schools and education circles here and elsewhere. Our views will tell you what to make of it.

College-prep for all no guarantee of higher achievementDo more rigorous courses raise student achievement? Not necessarily, according to a study by the Consortium on Chicago School Research. A new policy brief from the Consortium, in effect, sounds a warning about the national push for tougher learning standards for all students.
Continue Reading College-prep for all no guarantee of higher achievement »

Posted By: Lorraine Forte On Thu Aug 26, 2010 In High Schools
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In the News: 'Two worlds' at school board meeting; support for Obama's education agenda slippingThe Sun-Times reports on the "two different worlds" of Wednesday's Chicago School Board meeting, as board officials calmly insisted they would be ready to open schools Sept. 7 with a balanced budgets and hundreds of jobs restored — while teachers and principals called CPS budget-balancing chaotic. The president of the Chicago Principals Association also said the idea of asking principals to retire in January — eight weeks before critical state tests are given — is "stupid."

Continue Reading In the News: 'Two worlds' at school board meeting; support for Obama's education agenda slipping »

Posted By: Cassandra West On Thu Aug 26, 2010 In In the News
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CPS passes budget, union demands rehiring of laid-off teachers

At Wednesday’s board meeting, CPS officials announced plans to restructure some of the district’s debt obligations to balance the system’s budget, rather than draining all of the district’s stabilization reserve funds, as had earlier been proposed.

Continue Reading CPS passes budget, union demands rehiring of laid-off teachers »

National PTA Joins Nationwide Discussion on Teacher Quality

PTA | For Immediate Release

National PTA Joins Nationwide Discussion on Teacher Quality

Supports transparency, accountability system with multiple measures

ALEXANDRIA, VA. (August 26, 2010) – A series of articles on teacher quality recently published by the Los Angeles Times and comments this week by U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan drew attention to the national conversation on teacher quality. National PTA® believes that high-quality teachers are needed to provide the excellent education that all students deserve. As the student population becomes more diverse, teachers also need to be diverse and prepared to meet the needs of today’s students and help close the achievement gap. National PTA agrees with Secretary Duncan that “the responsibility for educating our children does not fall to teachers alone.” Educating our nation’s students is a shared responsibility between families, schools, and the community. “Since its founding in 1897, improving education for all children has been at the core of PTA’s work,” said Charles J. “Chuck” Saylors, National PTA President. “To be true partners in closing the achievement gap, parents need data about student performance and teacher quality to support learning at home and drive education reform.” National PTA supports a balanced accountability system that uses multiple measures in order to improve academic achievement. We agree with Secretary Duncan’s remarks this week when he said, “By requiring

Tale of the Bronx Fires Perfect for Mayor Bloomberg’s Kindle - August 26, 2010 - The New York Sun

Tale of the Bronx Fires Perfect for Mayor Bloomberg’s Kindle - August 26, 2010 - The New York Sun

Tale of the Bronx Fires Perfect for Mayor Bloomberg’s Kindle

By ANDREW WOLF, Special to the Sun | August 26, 2010

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How did we get to a point where the academic performance of our children hasn’t improved despite the fact that expenditures for our schools have soared to $21 billion a year from $13 billion?

The answer can be found in a new book, written by Joe Flood, "The Fires," recently published by Riverhead Books. This is not a book about education, but rather a study of how the top-down management techniques favored by the administration of Mayor Lindsay was responsible for the devastating damage by the fires that the city suffered during his administration and those immediately following.

It’s a hot topic (forgive the pun), because the study in errors of governance could as well have been about the way our schools have been managed under Mayor Bloomberg.

RTT Scoring: Throw out the Russian Judge – Same Results � The Quick and the Ed

RTT Scoring: Throw out the Russian Judge – Same Results � The Quick and the Ed

RTT Scoring: Throw out the Russian Judge – Same Results

by Rob Manwaring

As you would expect, now that some of the details on the Race to the Top scoring have been released, there is much discussion about some of the outlier judges. Especially in the case of Colorado, the range of scores is significant (there was a difference of 111 points between its high score and low score). This is a huge range given four states were within 10 points of the lowest scoring winner. There were also large discrepancies among the judges in three other states –

Schools Matter: Does "value-added" have any value?

Schools Matter: Does "value-added" have any value?

Does "value-added" have any value?

by skrashen

Does "value-added" have any value?
Sent to the Los Angeles Daily News, August 25, 2010
Ramon Cortines and Arne Duncan are convinced that using increases in standardized test scores for evaluating teachers is a good idea ("Cortines: LAUSD's success depends on continued embracing of reforms," August 25).
But these "value-added" evaluations are unstable. Teachers' ratings based on previous years are weak predictors of test scores at the end of a year with new students; a teacher who succeeds in boosting scores with one group will not necessarily succeed with others. Also, different tests result in different value-added scores for the same

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: Bay Area KIPP schools

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: Bay Area KIPP schools

Bay Area KIPP schools BAY AREA KIPP SCHOOLS LOSE 60% OF THEIR STUDENTS, STUDY CONFIRMS, September 17, 2008, San Francisco (CA) Education Examiner A new study of the five Bay Area KIPP schools by the respected research firm SRI International confirms what we already knew: ...

Alliance School of Milwaukee *CHARTER SCHOOL TEACHER ARRESTED FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT,* July 20, 2010, TMJ4 (WI) MILWAUKEE – Officers arrested a teacher Monday suspected of sexually abusing a girl at the Alliance School of Milwaukee. The 17-year-old student told investigators the man ...

Schools Matter: Kaplan and Phoenix: Make Way for Stephen Colbert "University"

Schools Matter: Kaplan and Phoenix: Make Way for Stephen Colbert "University"

Kaplan and Phoenix: Make Way for Stephen Colbert "University"

by Jim Horn

href='http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/351585/august-25-2010/stephen-colbert-university---andrew-hacker'>Stephen Colbert University - Andrew Hackerwww.colbertnation.com