Daily News Roundup—March 17, 2010

EEP News

Yesterday, EEP made a public statement regarding the Administration’s ESEA blueprint. Overall EEP’s Co-Chairs -- Joel I. Klein, Chancellor, New York City Schools; Michael L. Lomax, Ph.D., President and CEO of UNCF (United Negro College Fund); and Janet Murguía, President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza – were pleased with the direction of the blueprint and its focus on equity but emphasized that the hard work is ahead of us as the Administration and Congress work to determine the critical details that will turn this blueprint into policy.

And in related news, EducationNews.org highlights EEP’s statement on the ESEA blueprint and Whitney Tilson showcase the open letter EEP and 17 other education, civil rights, advocacy, and policy groups sent to the President, Secretary, and Congress regarding ESEA Reauthorization.

EEP is helping to get the word out about a faith-based education event in New York City, sponsored by First Corinthian’s Baptist Church – “Write the Vision: Make It Clear” (March 27th, Teachers College, Columbia University). The event will feature a number of prominent leaders and EEP signatories including -- Peter Groff, President Obama’s appointed Director of the Center for Faith and Neighborhood Partnership for the US Department of Education, Harold Ford, and Tom Vander Ark.

Visit http://www.tc.edu/calendar/rsvp/writethevision.htm to register for this event. Please note space is limited, and lunch will be provided to those who RSVP.

National

EdWeek’s Politics K-12 blog has a top 10 list of the questions they’d like to see the House and Senate ask Secretary Duncan at his back-to-back hearings today.

With the partisan healthcare battle (maybe) coming to an end, TIME speculates that education reform may be one of the few remaining bipartisan issues.

In a Daily Beast exclusive, John Legend responds to Bill Maher’s recent attack on the president's education policies, and explains why he believes teachers are just so important to education reform. “. . . we do know that having a quality teacher in every classroom is the single most important tool we can use to improve student learning. It can override other challenges in a way that no other factor can.”

Facing intense resistance from teachers’ unions, the Obama administration has begun trying to persuade union leaders, teachers, and the public that its proposal for overhauling federal education policies are good for teachers and for public schools.

EdWeek reports on a new study released by the Center on Education Policy on gender differences in academic achievement. Overall girls and boys perform approximately the same on math (reversing historic trends in which boys typically out-scored girls), but across-the-board girls are out-performing boys in reading.

Former Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings (EEP Signatory) talks with NPR about the 2002 NCLB law, which she was instrumental in creating and implementing, telling listeners “it is ripe for retooling.”

This Washington Post’s editorial page is largely hopeful on ESEA reauthorization: “The details will be key, but it is heartening that the administration is mapping out a direction true to education reform. Let's hope Congress agrees to go along for the ride.”

The Washington Post reports that the Senate voted down a measure that would have reopened the DC Opportunity Scholarship to new students.

Paul Peterson, professor of government at Harvard and a senior fellow at Hoover, with an impassioned op-ed on charter schools’ potential to impact education writ large. “If the charter world continues to expand, the competition between them and district schools could prove to be transformative.”

From The States

California

The San Francisco Gate summarizes a new report released by the Brown Center of Education Policy (part of Brookings) that finds, over 20 years, 63% of low-performing CA schools (bottom quarter) stayed there and only 1.4% moved to the top quarter.

Colorado

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will visit Denver on Friday for a fundraiser for Sen. Michael Bennet (EEP Signatory) and other education-related stops, including a visit to a Denver school.

Minnesota

Secretary Duncan today announced that Minnesota will receive more than $34 million to turn around its persistently lowest achieving schools through the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program.

New Jersey

Approaching an $11 billion deficit, the NY Times reports on NJ Gov. Chris Christie calling for the layoff of 1,300 state workers.

Rhode Island

The Providence Journal reports on RI political and education leaders heading to Washington to present the state’s Race to the Top application to a panel of USDOE judges. RI’s chances were increased substantially as (yesterday), lawmakers passed a bill to expand the cap on charter schools from 20 to 35.

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