Duncan on Parent Involvement and Fixing NCLB | ED.gov Blog

Duncan on Parent Involvement and Fixing NCLB | ED.gov Blog:

Duncan on Parent Involvement and Fixing NCLB

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Cameron Brenchley

Secretary Duncan recently sat down to respond to a few comments he received on hisFacebook page. Duncan describes the importance of parents in a student’s education, and he says that it’s important we do “everything we can do to get parents more engaged, to have them be full and equal partners with teachers, to be part of the solution.”

Secretary Duncan also responded to comments about the No Child Left Behind Law (NCLB), by noting that “the current law, as I’ve said repeatedly, is far too punitive, far too prescriptive, [and] has led to a “dumbing down” of standards, [and] to a narrowing of the curriculum.”

Since the beginning of the Obama Administration, Secretary Duncan has been working with Congress to obtain a bipartisan fix to NCLB, but Congress hasn’t acted yet. Later this week, President Obama will announce additional details on the Administration’s plan to give great teachers and great schools the flexibility they need to improve education outcomes.

Read the Top 5 Questions About NCLB Flexibility, and sign up to receive email updates on reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

Click here for an alternate version of the video with an accessible player.

Wisconsin's Selling Of School Choice, Walmart Family Heirs And Others Changing Education:

Wisconsin's Selling Of School Choice, Walmart Family Heirs And Others Changing Education

Bill Lueders First Posted: 9/20/11 01:13 PM ET Updated: 9/20/11 01:18 PM ET

This piece comes to us courtesy of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.

This is the first of a three-part series by Bill Luedersexamining the forces behind the tremendous success of the school choice movement in Wisconsin.

Part One explores the role of contributors such as the Walton family, heirs to the Walmart fortune, and others who support the use of public money for private schools. Part Two, to publish Wednesday, looks at the role of the Legislature and the array of well-connected individuals lobbying for changes in law and policy. Part Three, to publish Saturday, focuses on the expansion of the school choice voucher program to Racine and proposals to extend the program in other ways.

Public schools in Wisconsin will have to make do with $800 million less from the state over the next two years, under the budget passed by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-led Legislature. But state

Brooklyn College Faculty Condemn NYPD Infiltration of Muslim Student Groups « Student Activism

Brooklyn College Faculty Condemn NYPD Infiltration of Muslim Student Groups « Student Activism:

Brooklyn College Faculty Condemn NYPD Infiltration of Muslim Student Groups

by Angus Johnston

The faculty council of New York City’s Brooklyn College has unanimously condemned NYPD’s spying on their campus’s Muslim student organization, saying it has a “chilling effect” on academic freedom.

Documents made public earlier this month indicate that the New York Police Department has been monitoring Muslim student groups at seven local colleges – City, Baruch, Queens, Brooklyn, LaGuardia Community College and St. John’s. At Brooklyn and Baruch, the department sent undercover police officers to spy on the groups directly. St. John’s college is private, while the rest of those targeted are part of the City University of New York.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District Wins Prestigious Broad Prize - US News and World Report

Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District Wins Prestigious Broad Prize - US News and World Report:

Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District Wins Prestigious Broad Prize

The North Carolina district improved the most over the past three years among large, urban systems

By JASON KOEBLER

September 20, 2011 RSS Feed Print

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan with officials from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district at the 2010 Broad Prize event. The district won the 2011 prize.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg public school district won the 2011 Broad Prize for Urban Education today for showing the greatest academic gains in a large, urban school district. The district will receive $550,000 in college scholarships to give out to its graduating seniors.

"Charlotte-Mecklenburg is a model for innovation in urban education," U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: School Board Races Getting Tough

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: School Board Races Getting Tough:

School Board Races Getting Tough

by Melissa Westbrook

In a hard opening salvo for the School Board elections, the SEA voted no confidence in Board President Steve Sundquist. The word is that it centers around his unwavering support for TFA.


In other news, a raft of school board candidate forums have popped up so here's an update (please let me know if I missed anything):


Tuesday, September 27th, Special Education PTSA School Board forum, JSCEE, 7 p.m.


Wednesday, September 28th - Town Hall at 7:30 p.m., 1119 8th Avenue (at Seneca) The Stranger's forum with

Seeking a Diversity of Voices

by Charlie Mas

I would really like to hear from folks who disagree with me. They may be cautious about commenting here on this blog. No one likes to feel like they have been shouted down, attacked, or had their integrity or intelligence insulted. So I would like to create a safe space for people who have another perspective so we can discuss these things in a civil, courteous, and respectful manner.

Towards that end, I'm going to try an experiment. Here at Save Seattle Schools, we delete spam comments and unsigned, anonymous ones, but it is not our practice to edit or censor comments for content. This is a free forum. On this thread - just this one - I will remove any comments that are not civil, courteous, and respectful. I want to create a safe space for people to disagree. We'll see how it goes.

In particular, I would like to hear from people who either support any of the School Board incumbents for re-

Milwaukee Labor Press Article Spells Out Need for Voucher Tax Transparency « Larry Miller's Blog

Milwaukee Labor Press Article Spells Out Need for Voucher Tax Transparency « Larry Miller's Blog:

Milwaukee Labor Press Article Spells Out Need for Voucher Tax Transparency

by millerlf

Put truth of voucher tax on city bill, MPS asks

By Dominique Paul Noth
Editor, Labor Press
Posted September 18, 2011

The Milwaukee Public Schools board is requesting another group of elected officials, the leaders of the city of Milwaukee, to engage in a flagrant act of truth in advertising and transparency in government.

They are asking for city property tax payers to be told that 17% of what they think they are paying to MPS is never seen by MPS and is actually filling the gaping financial hole the state — with all its revenue streams – left in the private school voucher program.

MPS supporters of the idea emphasize that it’s not a case of raising taxes but telling the public where their tax

Walmart Family Support of Right Wing and Vouchers in Wisconsin « Larry Miller's Blog

Walmart Family Support of Right Wing and Vouchers in Wisconsin « Larry Miller's Blog:

Walmart Family Support of Right Wing and Vouchers in Wisconsin

Filed under: Right Wing Agenda,Vouchers — millerlf @ 11:01 am

The selling of school choice

Posted on September 18, 2011

Walmart family heirs and others are changing the face of education in Wisconsin

Heirs to the Walmart fortune, including Alice and Jim Walton, have given thousands to Wisconsin political candidates since mid-2008. Photo courtesy of Walmart Stores

By Bill Lueders
Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Public schools in Wisconsin will have to make do with $800 million less from the state over the next two years, under the budget passed by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-led Legislature. But state spending on programs that provide public dollars to private schools will see a net increase of nearly $17 million.

Top individual donors to Wisconsin Legislators, 2009-2010

Education Research Report: Both social media use and First Amendment appreciation are growing among high school students

Education Research Report: Both social media use and First Amendment appreciation are growing among high school students:

Both social media use and First Amendment appreciation are growing among high school students

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

While social media have been blamed for teen ills from narcissism to cyberbullying, a new study offers an inspiring perspective: as social media use has grown in the United States, so has students’ appreciation for the First Amendment. The national study was released to coincide with the celebration of Constitution Day.

The Future of the First Amendment study found:

Both social media use and First Amendment appreciation are growing among high school students. More than three-quarters of students use social media several times a week to get news and information. Meanwhile, the percentage of students who believe “the First Amendment goes too far” in protecting the rights of citizens has dropped to a quarter (24 percent) in 2011 from nearly half (45 percent) in 2006.

There is a clear, positive relationship between social media use and appreciation of the First Amendment. Fully

Average Performance of U.S. Students Relative to International Peers on the Most Recent International Assessments in Reading, Mathematics, and Science

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

Ω

See complete report

The most recent U.S. results on international assessments of reading, mathematics, and science literacy are those from the 2006 PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), the 2007 TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study), and the 2009 PISA (Program for International Student Assessment).

The following analysis used the International Data Explorer, a web-based data tool on the NCES website that allows users to produce their own statistical analyses online, to compare the average scores of U.S. students in

John Thompson: Should Schools Grade Students' Moral Character? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

John Thompson: Should Schools Grade Students' Moral Character? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

John Thompson: Should Schools Grade Students' Moral Character?

by Anthony Cody

Guest post by John Thompson. Part two of two.

Last week I read Paul Tough's New York Times Magazine article, "What if the Secret to Success is Failure?," about the approach being taken by the KIPP schools and others, inspired by the work of Martin Seligman. Two big issues came up for me. The first were some practical concerns, regarding what happens when public schools attempt to implement a "no excuses" model. The second were some larger philosophical questions about the moral lessons being taught, and the roles our schools play in this arena. Yesterday's post addresses the first set of issues. Today, part two addresses the second set.

Let's just say it is the 1990s and you are a young educator pioneering methods for overcoming poverty. You have developed a system of rewards and demerits designed to train middle school students not only in fractions and algebra but also in "perseverance and empathy." Wouldn't the next step be obvious? After all, once they move on, who will care about 8th grade test scores? Clearly, your students' future will be determined by their "grit,"

PTA Advocacy: A Legacy in Leadership | PTA

PTA Advocacy: A Legacy in Leadership | PTA:

PTA Advocacy: A Legacy in Leadership

National PTA is proud to announce the release of the video, PTA Advocacy: A Legacy in Leadership. Each PTA state/congress will receive one DVD copy of PTA Advocacy: A Legacy in Leadership by November 2011. In addition, the video has been uploaded here for PTA members to view and share!

Options | MAXILAMBA

PTA Advocacy: A Legacy in Leadership can be used by state, council, and local PTAs to educate and recruit potential PTA members, increase the advocacy capacity of current PTA members, and increase sponsorship dollars.

For more information on this new PTA advocacy history DVD, please contact Tiffany Knight, National PTA advocacy specialist attknight@pta.org.

FL DOE recommends Virtual Schools become District of its own-There goes budget $. | StateImpact Florida

Florida Education Board Could Suggest Changing School Ratings | StateImpact Florida:

Florida Education Board Could Suggest Changing School Ratings

September 19, 2011 | 1:23 PM

By John O'Connor

• Comment
• Email
• Share

FLORIDA DOE

The Florida Board of Education could recommend lawmakers revise the state school performance system at a meeting tomorrow.

School districts have complained the system sets higher standards for the state’s lowest-rated schools. For a low-rated school to pull itself off a watch list the district must improve more rapidly than other state districts.

The result is that a district on a state watch list could earn a failing grade, school officials have said, while the same performance might earn another district a ‘C’.

The recommendations trim the number of schools improvement categories to 4 from 6. Only schools earning an ‘F’ grade could be considered

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: "Dollars and Cents, & Common Sense" :: Frederick M. Hess

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: "Dollars and Cents, & Common Sense" :: Frederick M. Hess:

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: "Dollars and Cents, & Common Sense"

by Frederick M. Hess • Sep 20, 2011 at 9:09 am
Cross-posted from Education Week

Print

Send

RSS

Share

L.A.'s straight-talking mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, a former teacher union organizer, one of the nation's most influential Hispanic officials, and very likely a future governor of California, visited AEI yesterday to discuss the challenges of urban school reform. I thought it to be exceptionally good stuff; he was vague on key particulars, but I thought he gave admirably honest answers and did a terrific job of modeling how state and local leaders can push past the ideological slogans that soak up most of the oxygen in DC. You can see his remarks here.

What most impressed me was the way Villaraigosa made the case for new school spending. He said, "Schools are starved for dollars and cents, and schools are starved for common sense." He added, "Democrats, and I like to consider myself a progressive, with a labor background, have to be willing to challenge teachers; just as

What I Did Last Summer, Part Two - Bridging Differences - Education Week

What I Did Last Summer, Part Two - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

What I Did Last Summer, Part Two

by Diane Ravitch

Dear Deborah,

Okay, I promise, this is the last time I will give you a report on what I did last summer. But this event was so remarkable that I couldn't help but tell you about it. You would have enjoyed being there.

I was invited to participate in a panel discussion about the achievement gap by my friend Henry Louis Gates Jr., who directs the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University. "Skip," as he is known, is certainly the premier African-American scholar in the United States today, and he is also witty and funny. The moderator of the discussion was Charlayne Hunter-Gault, and the other members of the panel were Angel Harris of Princeton University, James Comer of Yale University, Michelle Rhee of StudentsFirst, and Lawrence Bobo of Harvard University. The event was held at the Old Whalers' Church in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. The church is a beautiful 18th century structure, and it was a packed house of about 500 people.

This was one of the most exciting and informative panel discussions in which I have ever participated. Happily,

An Oral History Project Aims to Make it Trendy to Celebrate Teachers - Education - GOOD

An Oral History Project Aims to Make it Trendy to Celebrate Teachers - Education - GOOD:

An Oral History Project Aims to Make it Trendy to Celebrate Teachers

by Liz Dwyer

Celebrating teachers is having a well-deserved moment. This summer we saw Matt Damon expose the hypocrisyof anti-teacher sentiment at a national rally and a social media campaign to publicly thank teachers kicked off last week. Now StoryCorps, the national nonprofit oral history project, which has recorded the experiences of over 70,000 people, has launched the National Teachers Initiative, an effort to celebrate "the brilliant and courageous work of public school teachers across the country."

Throughout this academic year, the organization plans to interview a diverse sampling of 625 teachers in 10