Daily News RoundUp—July 30, 2010

EEP & Signatory News

• President and CEO of UNCF (and EEP co-chair) Michael Lomax praised President Obama’s address to the National Urban League yesterday, saying, “President Obama's speech on education to the Urban League was both a stirring call to action and a reminder that nothing less than our national economic vitality and competitiveness are at stake. The president is focusing on the right things and headed in the right direction. His education agenda embodies the best hope for enacting the most powerful set of education reforms in more than a generation.”  The full release can be found on the EEP and UNCF websites.
• From EEP signatories Evan Stone and Sydney Morris, co-founders of Educators 4 Excellence: Are you ready to create change? Educators 4 Excellence is a new organization of current and former educators who seek to provide an independent teacher voice in the education reform debate - a voice that puts the needs of students first. E4E has recently started assembling Policy Teams of educators to make issue-specific recommendations on topics such as teacher evaluation, pay structure, layoff policies and targeted professional development. If you are interested in getting involved, become an E4E member by signing their Declaration of Teachers' Principles and Beliefs and then sign up to join a Policy Team! 

National

• The Washington Independent reports that Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) attached an amendment with $10 billion in funding to preserve teachers’ jobs to a Federal Aviation Administration bill.  This new amendment does not include any cuts to education reform spending.
• The New Republic breaks down President Obama education speech to the National Urban League yesterday. “The president is right to get, and stay, fired up about education. Is it naïve to hope that others will, too?”
• American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten weighs in on Obama’s speech on EdWeek, saying, "The Race to the Top has proven something really important: that the federal government knows how to be a lever for change."  
• Ruth Marcus pens an op-ed in the Washington Post, saying that civil rights groups “are picking the wrong fight” with President Obama and his education reform initiatives.  “Obama comes to the education debate from the perspective of a community organizer who saw, firsthand, children who were not learning in schools that were failing them. His mission, as president, to change this situation is one that civil rights groups should be cheering, not picking apart.”
• A new Education Sector report examines teacher pensions and details the problems facing current state pension programs.
• The Rodel Foundation writes on the evolution of philanthropy’s role in education, saying, “[the hope of] this new approach to education philanthropy is to inspire other donors to “actively guide the change they hope to see in their communities.”
• Eduwonk highlights the Race to the Top finalist states that have governors’ races this fall.

From the States

California

• The San Francisco Chronicle reports that failing charter schools across California could be shut down by the state Board of Education under a major policy shift aimed at ensuring that the alternative public schools fulfill their role as models of academic innovation.  Ben Austin, Executive Director of the Parent Revolution and California Board of Education member (and EEP Board member), is quoted in the article, saying, "We need to be holding charter schools to at least the same standard as regular schools, if not higher."
• The LA Times reports that Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerry Brown unveiled an education reform plan Wednesday that calls for a wholesale restructuring of California's public school system, from changing the way schools are funded to revamping the state's higher education system.

Colorado

A Denver Post editorial explains that Colorado could greatly benefit from winning Race to the Top funds, as further budget cuts would derail the state’s education reform agenda.

Florida

The Ledger reports that the Polk County Charter School Association filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Polk County School District, asking a Circuit Court judge to stop the district's plans to cut certain services to charter schools.

Louisiana

The Scott S. Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives at Tulane University releases a briefing, The State of Public Education in New Orleans: Five Years after Hurricane Katrina (pdf), to provide journalists, policymakers, community leaders, and the public with information, context, and thoughtful analyses about the reform efforts that have taken place in the K-12 public education system in the five years since the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Michigan

The Detroit Free Press reports that the Detroit City Council voted against placing a question on the Nov. 2 ballot asking voters whether they wanted the mayor and the council to have authority over the troubled Detroit Public Schools.

New Hampshire

New Hampshire plans to make education reforms without federal help, after missing out on federal Race to the Top funding twice, EdWeek reports.

New York

• Gotham Schools reports on the reality that many students are facing after realizing that they actually failed last year’s state reading and math tests, after the standards for passing were adjusted.  GS also provides a memo to teachers written by Chancellor and EEP Co-Chair Joel Klein, which urges teachers to provide extra attention to the students who were promoted despite actually failing the tests.
• The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reports that more NYC public school teachers were denied tenure this year, a sign that principals are starting to get rid of ineffective teachers before they earned job protection.

North Carolina

EdWeek reports that as the Wake County diversity debate continues to heat up (for background on the issue in Wake County, click here), and the board moves toward a model of ‘controlled choice’, members of the board are split on the ultimate outcome of the change. “Those in the minority hope such a model will help keep school populations more demographically balanced; those in the majority hope the approach will give parents more choice and allow for school system growth.”

Tennessee

The Education Consumers Foundation provides a report on the Race to the Top-winning state’s current student achievement, as it prepares to put the $600 million in funding to work in its school districts.

Vermont

The Burlington Free Press pens an editorial that urges Vermont to continue to compete with other states for excellence in education, and warns that the state’s decision to opt-out of the Race to the Top competition may have serious consequences in the future.

Public Schedule of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
The Week Ahead: Monday – Sunday, July 26-August 1

Information/Schedule Subject to Change

Monday, July 26

No public events

Tuesday, July 27

1:00 p.m.
The Secretary will make a major speech on education reform at the National Press Club, 529 14th St., N.W., Washington, D.C.

Wednesday, July 28

1:10 p.m.
The Secretary will address the National Center for Education Statistics' Summer Data Conference, Hyatt Regency Hotel, 7400 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, Md.

2:45 p.m.
The Secretary will deliver remarks at the National Urban League's Centennial Town Hall: the Past 100 Years of Black Education, Washington Convention Center, 801 Mt. Vernon Place, Washington, D.C.

4:00 p.m.
The Secretary will meet with the Education Department's 15 new Teaching Ambassador Fellows, LBJ Bldg., (ED Headquarters), 400 Maryland Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C.

Thursday, July 29

11:00 a.m.
The Secretary will participate in a town hall meeting with some 30 teachers, as well as call-in questions from listeners, on the Sirius/XM Satellite Radio Network, details to follow.

Friday, July 30

Noon
The Secretary will read to local school children at the fifth event of the Department's "Let's Read. Let's Move." summer reading program. Actor Quinton Aaron, who portrayed Michael Oher in the movie "The Blind Side" will also participate.

Saturday, July 31

No public events

Sunday, August 1

No public events

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