American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Report: Summary of Programs and State-by-State Data
U.S. Department of EducationNovember 2009
U.S. Department of EducationNovember 2009
Victor Bandeira de Mello, Charles Blankenship, and Don McLaughlinNational Center for Education StatisticsOctober 2009
Consortium on Chicago School ResearchUniversity of Chicago Urban Education InstituteOctober 2009
Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan C. HasselPublic ImpactOctober 2009550px;height:500px">
Arne Duncan may continue lambasting teacher preparation programs nation-wide, but Texas could soon give him something to smile about. The State Board for Teacher Certification recently gave initial approval to a proposal authored by veteran state Senator Florence Shapiro that would impose stricter standards on the state’s 177 traditional and alternative teacher prep programs.
In perhaps the worst decision since the resurrection of the legwarmer, the North Carolina General Assembly has effectively granted retroactive diplomas to scores of high school seniors who failed graduation tests.
“I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep…Those numbers completely changed my professional life,” says Sarah Fanning, referring to 1999 test scores that revealed a full third of freshmen at Buckhorn High School in New Market, Alabama, where Fanning oversees curriculum and instruction, read at or below the seventh-grade level. In response, Buckhorn became an earl
Call before you print--that’s the lesson for Linda Vista Elementary School in Yorba Linda, California. That school’s PTA recently made tee-shirts for a student jog-a-thon that featured the school mascot (a lion) and an inspiring seven-letter slogan transformed into a 1-800 number.
Education schools are under attack--yet again. But don’t yawn and assume that this, too, shall pass. For unlike innumerable previous assaults, which these institutions withstood with awesome obstinacy, this one may actually crack their fortified walls. That’s no sure thing, of course, given the history of failed attempts at reform in this area.
When the Gates Foundation announced in July that it would give up to $250,000 grants to fifteen states to help them with their Race to the Top applications, it was exercising the right of a private organization to be selective with its funds. But then the neglected 35 cried “unfair.” And the financial floodgates opened.
The Parent Revolution in Los Angeles continues to bring home the bacon, having managed to put organized parents squarely in the center of local education politics.
Last week’s editorial “Remembering Ted Sizer” misidentified the outreach program at Harvard Graduate School of Education as "Outward Bound," a well-known outdoors program.
You can now watch the live webcast of our event on national education standards . No registration required. The webstream will work on both PCs and Macs.