News We're Following

Two years after Congress approved nearly $100 billion in education funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the effect of the program remains unclear. ARRA grant initiatives such as Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation helped avert widespread teacher layoffs, prompted significant reforms and stimulated momentum for improving failing schools. However, it is unclear whether stimulus funding is improving student achievement, and many sweeping changes are now being threatened by political battles and nationwide budget shortfalls.

Read More at Education Week

Schools must remove barriers that prevent teachers from becoming leaders and allow them to take on hybrid teaching roles that combine classroom teaching with leadership work, writes Kristoffer Kohl, a member of the Teacher Leaders Network Forum. "In addition to measurable student impact, teachers that lead schools are better equipped to guide their own professional development, share their expertise, and develop explicit and implicit systems of accountability ..." writes Kohl, who has taken on such a role in his district.

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The fifth annual Haas Education Leadership Case Competition takes place on Feb. 18 and Feb. 19. It's supported by Education Pioneers and organized by Haas Education Leadership Club President Jason Dolan (Bay Area '10).

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Cathleen P. Black can become New York City schools chancellor if her second-in-command is a career educator.

Read more at the New York Times

Much-maligned standardized tests are still the best way to measure what students are learning in school, writes Miki Litmanovitz, a former Teach for America educator who taught middle-school math in San Jose, Calif. She argues, however, that standardized tests should be more rigorous and should encompass questions that measure the type of skills students need to pursue careers in the real world.

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The U.S. Department of Education confirmed the 10 winners of the second round of the Race to the Top competition late this morning as the news trickled out state by state from members of Congress, who were notified first.

Read More at Education Week

A system used to rate schools in Los Angeles and some other districts across the country may be overlooking important data that could make the ratings more meaningful. The Academic Performance Index has been shown to mirror students' advantages and disadvantages outside of school, rather than any progress the school is fostering. "We're measuring who is in schools rather than how effective the schools are," a Duke University testing expert said. Some say student progress may be better measured by value-added methods that look at individual students' performance from year to year.

 

Read More at the L.A. Times

Today, the President took bold action, signing important legislation to provide urgent fiscal relief to school districts across the country to maintain our education system, and to enable 160,000 teachers to keep their jobs.

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In an address at the University of Texas, President Obama set a goal for the US education system to produce 8 million more graduates by 2020, which would position the US to once again have the highest percentage of college graduates in the world. 

Read More at The New York Times

Teach For America positions have become a major resume booster, and as the economy continues to languish is increasingly a viable option for a solid paycheck for recent graduates.

But increased interest has made the program more competitive, with applicants facing a process almost as daunting and exclusive as Ivy League college admissions.

Read More at The New York Times