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Remarks by the President on Education Reform at the National Urban League Centennial Conference
on Jul 29, 2010 by The White House
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Everybody, please have a seat. Have a seat. Take a load off. (Applause.) Thank you.
Good morning, Urban Leaguers.
AUDIENCE: Good morning.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. It is wonderful to be here with all of you. It is wonderful to be here. And let me begin by congratulating Marc Morial for his outstanding leadership, his great friendship. (Applause.) I want to thank the entire National Urban League on your centennial. From your founding, amid the great migration, to the struggles of the civil rights movement, to the battles of today, the Urban League has been on the ground, in our communities, working quietly -– day in, day out -– without fanfare; opening up opportunity, rolling back inequality, making our union just a little more perfect. America is a better place because of the Urban League. And I'm grateful to all of you for the outstanding contributions that you’ve made. (Applause.)
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Categories: Education News
19 States Named as Finalists for Race to the Top
on Jul 27, 2010 by U.S. Department of Education
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that 19 states are the finalists for more than $3 billion available in the second round of funding in the Race to the Top program.
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Categories: Education News Press Releases
White House Announces Race to the Top Finalists
on Jul 27, 2010 by The Wall Street Journal
The Obama administration on Tuesday named 18 states and the District of Columbia as finalists in the race for federal money to help overhaul troubled schools.
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Categories: Education News
National Journal - “Parent Empowerment”
on Jul 20, 2010 by Ellen Winn & Ben Austin
Parental involvement is no longer the typical site council (i.e., get three parents to sign a grant request) non-involvement. Today, parental involvement is defined by a real transfer of political power to parents – empowerment is a more apt word than involvement.
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Categories: Education News
Don’t Gut Education Reform
on Jul 08, 2010 by Michael Johnston and Jared Polis
Last week, the U.S. House passed legislation with a provision that threatens the immense progress we have made under this president and Congress toward improving educational outcomes for all children.
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Categories: Education News
The Civil Rights Heritage of Public Charter Schools
on Jun 23, 2010 by Joe Nathan
Rosa Parks, Bill Clinton, the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, Governor Rudy Perpich and Howard Fuller – all strong civil rights advocates and public charter school supporters – would reject the false history of charters now being distributed by Diane Ravitch and other opponents. Support from Parks, Clinton, et. al. for chartered public schools came out of a belief in the importance of empowering low-income families and giving educators the chance to create more effective schools. Parental choice didn’t originate in forced segregation academies of the 1950’s or in the work of Milton Friedman, as Ravitch suggests. Knowing our history is vital as we plan our future…a future that should include more highly effective charter public schools.
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Categories: Education News
Report finds KIPP students outscore public school peers
on Jun 22, 2010 by Bill Turque
Middle school students in the Knowledge Is Power Program, a charter school network with a major footprint in the District and other cities, significantly outperform their public school peers on reading and math tests, according to a new study.
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Categories: Education News
Shooting for Stars: Cross-Sector Lessons for Retaining High-Performing Educators
on Jun 17, 2010 by Joe Ableidinger and Julie Kowal
Education actually has lower turnover rates than most other professions. Our real shortcoming has been the failure to retain more high performers. When high-performing teachers across the country leave our classrooms each year, 750,000 children find themselves assigned to a less-effective teacher in each subsequent year. How could education leaders reduce this outflow?
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Categories: Education News
Opportunity at the Top: How America’s Best Teachers Could Close the Gaps, Raise the Bar
on Jun 17, 2010 by Bryan C. Hassel and Emily Ayscue Hassel
"Will our nation’s bold efforts to recruit more top teachers and remove the least effective teachers put a great teacher in every classroom?” We ran the numbers and discovered a disappointing answer: No. Even if these reforms were wildly successful, nearly two-thirds of classrooms still would not have great teachers. Why does this matter? Only great teachers – those in the top quartile – achieve the student learning progress needed to close our nation’s achievement gaps and raise our bar to internationally competitive levels. Others do not.
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Categories: Education News
The Littlest Schoolhouse
on Jun 16, 2010 by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Brainy but easily distracted, the author barely made it through high school and dropped out of college. Would a program like New York’s new School of One, which uses technology to tailor learning to each student’s style and pace, have made all the difference?
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Categories: Education News Press Releases
