On February 28, the House Education and the Workforce Committee approved (in a 23-16) vote GOP-backed legislation reauthorizing portions of ESEA. Two bills, introduced by Rep. John Kline (R) of Minnesota, scale back the role of the federal government in education and give states more wiggle room in designing K-12 policy. This is a dramatic Read more about House Panel Re-Authorizes Portions of ESEA[…]
The US Department of Education has announced the third round of Investing in Innovation (i3) grants. This is a competitive grant program designed for local education agencies, groups of schools and non-profits that are seeking funds to improve student results through innovative practices. The grant competition has been structured slightly differently this round than previously. Read more about New Round of i3 Announced[…]
The US Department of Education requested its FY2013 budget earlier this month; the key themes for funding are increasing college affordability/quality, “raising up” the teaching profession, aligning job training with workforce demands, and continuing reform. The request includes proposed funding levels for federal programs and agencies for the next ten years, but specifically asks for Read more about Proposed U.S. Department of Education FY 2013 Budget[…]
On February 9, the Department of Education announced that ten states received waivers from some of the stringent requirements of the No Child Left Behind law. Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Tennessee will now have the opportunity to use alternative methods to improving student achievement, and to gauge achievement Read more about 10 States Receive NCLB Waivers[…]
In the latest installment of the back-and-forth of Hawaii’s struggle to uphold its Race to the Top promises, members of the Hawaii State Teachers Association have rejected a contract that included a provision for a performance-based compensation system—one of the measures Hawaii promised to take under the grant. Had the contract been approved, a labor Read more about Fate of Hawaii’s RTT Grant Remains Uncertain[…]
The US Department of Education recently released progress reports on the 12 Race to the Top winners, outlining their successes and failures in upholding the commitments they made in their grant proposals. So where do the winners now stand? Delaware: ($120 million) Delaware had to delay rolling out their teacher-evaluation system for one year and Read more about RTT Winners Struggle to Meet Commitments[…]
The final budget for the Department of Education was finalized late last month, which will take the agency through September 30, 2012. Overall, the Department’s funding was cut by about $153 million over last fiscal year (total funding $71.3 billion), but President Obama was able to fend off the complete annihilation of programs such as Read more about Education and the FY 2012 Budget[…]
Winners of the second round of the Investing in Innovation (i3) Grant Program were announced Thursday, with 23 winners selected from a pool of 587 applicants. For this round of the competition, $150 million was available to applicants who are able to secure a private match for a portion of their grant total, ranging from Read more about Investing in Innovation Winners Announced[…]
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) released his draft proposal for the reauthorization of ESEA on October 11. To date, the proposal has been met with mixed reactions across the country. Civil rights groups assert that the proposal to scrap Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is a giant step backwards when it comes to accountability for poor and Read more about Harkin Releases Proposal for ESEA Reauthorization[…]
Last month, the Obama Administration released its plan for “recruiting, preparing, and retaining great teaching talent.” In his forward to the plan by Secretary Duncan writes: “Some of our existing teacher preparation programs are not up to the job. They operate partially blindfolded, without access to data that tells them how effective their graduates are Read more about Obama Administration Releases Plan for Teacher Education Reform and Improvement[…]
Last Wednesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved by a 16-14 vote a bill that keeps education stagnant in the next fiscal year. Unsurprisingly, the 16-14 vote fell along party lines, with Democrats being in favor and Republicans opposed. The bill aims to reverse some of the cuts made to K-12 education in the current fiscal Read more about Senate Appropriations Committee Approves Proposed FY 2012 Education Budget[…]
The time of reckoning has arrived: winners of the Race to the Top competition have entered the season where they must make good on their promises to link teacher evaluation with student performance. This process is not easy, given the volatile debates that are taking place nation-wide surrounding this issue. There are several other hurdles Read more about Race to the Top Winners Feel Heat on Teacher Evaluations[…]
Last week the Department of Education released the proposed requirements for the new round of Race to the Top (RTT) grants (not to be confused with the Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge, which is a separate competition). This year, $200 million is up for grabs, with only the finalists from the last Read more about Race to the Top Round Three[…]
The Department of Education has invited states and schools who were awarded a School Improvement Grant (SIG) to take some extra time to figure out the most crucial component: teacher evaluation. All of the schools and states eligible for the waiver are using the most popular, and arguably least rigorous, “transformational model” of school turnaround Read more about SIG Schools Get Extra Time for Teacher Evaluation Systems[…]
The Early Education Initiative (EEI), part of the New America Foundation, has compiled a wealth of data in an attempt to identify front-runners and possible contenders for the Department of Education’s Race to the Top—Early Learning Challenge grant competition. The data analyzed for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia included the presence of Read more about Already Ahead: Top Contenders in the RTT-ELC[…]
The Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grant applications became available August 23, causing a flurry of activity across the country. The purpose of RTT-ELC is to increase the quality of early childhood education in order to help close the achievement gap for low-income and disadvantaged children. The program has several priorities Read more about Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge[…]