Daily News Roundup—March 3, 2010

EEP News

Today, the Education Equality Project (EEP) joined a coalition of 18 education advocacy, civil rights, and policy organizations who submitted a set of recommendations to the President, Secretary of Education, and Congress regarding the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

The signing organizations are: Citizen Schools, Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights, Civic Builders, Colorado Succeeds, Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCan), Democrats for Education Reform, Education Equality Project, Education Reform Now, Hope Street Group, Mass Insight Education and Research Institute, The Mind Trust, National Council of La Raza, Parent Revolution, Rhode Island Mayoral Academies, Rodel Foundation of Delaware, State of Black Connecticut Alliance, Texas Institute for Education Reform, and UNCF (United Negro College Fund).

Overall, the group endorses the direction the Obama Administration is taking on school reform. The signees ask the Administration and Congress to maintain and elaborate the bright lines in federal law around accountability and teacher quality and effectiveness, and couple that with a competitive grant strategy that invests in and rewards states that are ready, willing, and able to take on the courageous work of education reform, including reconstituting, restarting, converting, or shutting down the most chronically low-performing schools.

Click here for full text.

Tom Vander Ark (EEP signatory) weighs in on the Open Letter as well as EEP’s recent memo (created with Democrats for Education Reform) on the accountability provisions within the current No Child Left Behind law.

EEP welcomes two new signatories – Daniel J. McKee, Mayor of Cumberland, RI, Co-founder and Chair of Rhode Island Mayoral Academies and Dr. Michael Magee, Co-founder and CEO of Rhode Island Mayoral Academies – to our group of signatories. We are thrilled to have McKee and Magee on-board, their efforts to close the achievement gap in RI are tremendous, they are creating a new model for education reform.

National

This morning, Secretary Duncan testified before the House Education and Labor Committee to discuss how strong and innovative education reforms can help rebuild the U.S. economy and restore our competitiveness. Secretary Duncan discussed President Obama’s education agenda, including his budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2011, which called for Congress to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and pass the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act. Read Duncan’s full statement.

As a warm-up for his testimony, Secretary Duncan appeared on Morning Joe and The Today Show earlier today, fielding questions about Race to the Top, ESEA Reauthorization, and President Obama.

Today, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Scholastic, Inc. released the largest national survey of teachers ever completed. Called “Primary Sources: America’s Teachers on America’s School,” the survey included 40,000 K-12 teachers and found that US teachers are more interested in school reform and student achievement than their paychecks. The Associated Press and the Washington Post covered the story.

The Wall Street Journal and Politics K-12 re: the ramp up to the Race To the Top announcement tomorrow (11:30am EST Thursday). (Watch our Twitter Feed for the latest news on the announcement -- twitter.com/EdEquality.)

EdWeek’s Curriculum Matters blog comments on the long-awaited draft of grade-by-grade common standards for K-12 education that will be coming out for public comment next week.

Cynthia Gordy, Washington correspondent for Essence Magazine sits down with Secretary Duncan discussing issues ranging from teacher accountability to charter schools.

This week’s Dropout Nation Podcast attempts to comb through school desegregation efforts in this past century to show how school reformers can foster new leaders from unusual places.

From The States

California

After having their LA campus bids swallowed by unions, this LA Times editorial stresses the need for LA Unified to understand that they need the charters, just as much as the charter schools need them.

News10 reports on the growing momentum for charter schools in CA, especially when nearly 20% of charter schools statewide are scoring in the top 10% of all public schools in the state.

This LA Times editorial has strong words from LAUSD’s School Board: “The Los Angeles Unified school board looked transformation in the eye -- and blinked. By overriding several recommendations of its top experts and cutting three of the region's most respected charter organizations out of the picture, the board sadly demonstrated once again that it is devoted more to the politics of running schools than to the education of students.”

Colorado

The Denver Daily News writes about a new report released by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, showing that Denver children are unable to access high-performing schools within the Denver Public Schools system.

Connecticut

CTPost reports on growing support from CT parents for the “parent trigger.” Parents are latching on to this concrete way of turning around their children’s schools.

ConnCAN, the YouTube king in the education reform community, releases another video making great use of the web to push education reform in Connecticut.

Illinois

This Chicago Tribune editorial voices their support for state Sen. James Meeks’ (EEP signatory) proposal to give education vouchers to kids who attend some of the worst schools in Chicago.

Maryland

This Baltimore Sun editorial believes that replacing failing schools with charter schools only works if we can ensure that the new schools are better than their predecessors.

Michigan

The Education Report reads the tea leaves on Race to the Top and does not see MI.

Pennsylvania

The Notebook reports on the Renaissance School project in Philadelphia, one of the most aggressive and fast-tracked school turn-around projects in the nation.

Virginia

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on the growing support in VA for the opening of Richmond’s first charter school.

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Categories: Daily News RoundUp