| June & July News Articles |
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The following news articles contain information on educational issues.The views in these articles are not
necessarily those of the Commonwealth Education Organization, but are posted for your information.
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July 31, 2009
Federal Technology Funds Available
"The U.S. Department of Education has released new guidance for the Enhancing Education Through Technology (Ed Tech) program as funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)....This unprecedented amount of funding is intended to 'help ensure that every student is technologically literate' and to 'encourage the effective integration of technology with teacher training and curriculum development.' Under the Ed Tech program, states and school districts that receive funds must ensure that expenditures for children attending religious and independent schools are equal (taking into account the number of students) to expenditures for children attending public schools."
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July 30, 2009
Achievement Test Results and Education Spending
Allegheny Institute for Public Policy brief discusses the PSSA results and what they mean.
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July 27, 2009
Pa. students' test scores jump in all categories
"Pennsylvania students registered improved math and reading scores for all seven grade levels that take the state's standardized tests, an achievement state education officials called 'unprecedented' on Monday."
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July 24, 2009
Education Reform's Moon Shot
Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, discusses President Obama's announcement concerning the drafting of guidelines for applying for the $4.35 billion Race to the Top fund -- by far the largest pot of discretionary funding for K-12 education reform in the history of the United States.
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About the Education ‘Moon Shot’
Andy Smarick, an adjunct fellow at AEI and a distinguished visiting fellow at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, shares some things to know about the new education reform program.
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July 24, 2009
The Case for Maintaining Abstinence Education Funding
"The President's budget for Fiscal Year 2010 would eliminate abstinence education funding. The Obama Administration has instead requested the creation of yet another comprehensive sex education program, the 'Teen Pregnancy Prevention' program. The House of Representatives has included this request in their annual appropriations bill that is now moving through Congress."
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July 14, 2009
Common Core Standards: Secretive, expensive and wrong
"The U.S. Department of Education has already overstepped its role in public education. Despite constant assurances that the CCS movement is “state-led,” it has long-term federal taxpayer money and federal fingerprints all over it."
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July 13, 2009
Reforming and Improving Federal Preschool ...Without Increasing the Deficit
"American taxpayers will spend more than $25 billion on federal programs for early childhood education and child care this year. Instead of creating a new federal preschool program, Congress and the Obama Administration should eliminate, consolidate, and reform existing federal programs to improve their effectiveness and maximize the benefits provided to American children."
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July 8, 2009
Tax Marijuana to Pay for Teachers?
"...people feel that education is important; that the more teachers we have, the better; and that you can never spend too much on the children. But it clearly isn’t that simple. Government failure is very, very real – especially with a government monopoly as monstrous as public schooling – and sooner or later you have to pay the price for constantly doing the same crippling thing just to make yourself feel good."
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July 7, 2009
Duncan’s Donut: The Ed. Sec.’s Impact on Chicago Student Achievement Was Near Zero
"For seven months, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the media have bombarded us with tales of how Duncan dramatically boosted student achievement as leader of Chicago Public Schools. Based on two new independent analyses, Duncan’s real impact appears to have been near zero."
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July 7, 2009
Arts thrive as region bucks national trends in education
"Western Pennsylvania is bucking a national trend depicted in a recent study showing a lackluster picture of arts education, advocates say. 'Pittsburgh routinely outperforms national trends in arts participation,' said Mitch Swain, CEO of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. 'This area has been great at recognizing that the arts is key to the development of creative skills.' "
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July 6, 2009
Education Department to fund unified student data systems
"Backed by a strong and unprecedented federal investment in education, the Obama administration has identified multiple objectives intended to help revamp the nation's education system--and a persistent use of student data to improve instruction is one of those objectives."
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| July 6, 2009
Is 'Mayoral Control' The Answer For Urban Schools?
"While test scores in some cities have risen under mayoral control, it isn't clear-cut that the governance structure has been the reason. And mayoral control takes many different forms in the cities. What kinds of restrictions or oversight should accompany mayoral control, if any? What is the appropriate mix of authority and accountability that allows for bold leadership from the mayor while preserving the legitimate right of parents, teachers, school administrators and citizens to have a say in the education of the city's children? Are there other, better models for providing direction to troubled urban school systems?"
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| July 6, 2009
U.S. Supreme Court ruling gives priority to special education
"A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that forced an Oregon school district to reimburse parents of a special-needs student for private tuition opens doors for students in other states, education officials say."
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July 6, 2009
NEA Votes to Undermine Marriage
"The National Education Association (NEA) has passed an action item that amounts to an endorsement of same-sex marriage — as well as a call to oppose national laws protecting one man, one woman marriage. Jeralee Smith, founder of the NEA Conservative Educators Caucus, explained that the resolution will not stop at just endorsing gay unions."
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| July 5, 2009
NEA, Abortion & Family Planning or The Secret Ballot Illustrated
"Every year that I can remember, a group of pro-life conservative NEA delegates, with the assistance of less ideologically minded delegates who think the union’s positions on social issues are a detriment to recruiting, introduce the same motion in different forms. They want NEA to state categorically that it has no position on abortion and family planning."
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July 2, 2009
Race to the Top, or Political Slush Fund?
"US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, is about to issue rules and guidance on how he will distribute $4 billion (that's billion with a "b"!) to states as incentives for reforms the stimulus act deems important to improving education and closing the achievement gap. These funds are intended to cause "a Race to the Top" among the states."
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June 29, 2009
Education Stimulus Watch
At this point the enthusiastic predictions about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s contributions to K-12 education reform should be approached with skepticism. The law’s provisions and their interpretation by the Department of Education erect significant barriers to reform. Moreover, additional conditions on the ground make those obstacles even higher. At this early date, it appears that we must adjust our expectations about the ARRA’s ability to generate the types of improvements our schools so urgently need.
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June 29, 2009
Critical Likability
"As we approach the end of the first decade of the first century of the third millennium of the Christian Era, the corporate members of the new and influential Partnership for 21st Century Skills have begun to look beyond and behind and beneath their earlier commitment to the education of our students in critical thinking, collaborative problem solving, and global awareness."
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June 24, 2009
Dollars don't always spell learning
"Politicians who care more about campaign contributions from education lobbyists than they do about children should be thrown out of office and replaced with people who put children first and allow them and their parents to choose better schools for a better future."
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Summer
Tackling the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Crisis
A report by the National Council on Teacher Quality:
Five steps your state can take to improve the quality and quantity of its K–12 math and science teachers
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June 11, 2009
National Standards, National Curriculum Dangerous
"State, district and especially parent rights must be preserved – for the people. Our children depend on educators to provide them with a proper education, but their minds and their futures are our ultimate responsibility. Parents must take back the reins of their children’s education."
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June 11, 2009
Keep Uncle Sam Away from Toddlers: The Case Against Government Funding for Preschool
"There is little evidence that suggests that a universal preschool program will improve educational outcomes for the general population of students."
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June 10, 2009
Parents, Pennsylvania lawmakers weigh in on proposed sex ed changes
Pittsburgh city schools moving away from abstinence based sex education.
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June 6, 2009
Education's New Angle
"You can't attain understanding without knowledge, and you can't acquire knowledge without mastering facts. You can't skip the grunt work, even if it's often dull and painstaking. That's true in any discipline. Our children need to realize and accept this. So do the experts who mastermind our schools. So do we all. That's the new angle on teaching and learning that we desperately need. More gimmicks won’t help."
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June 18, 2009
Programs encourage male presence in schools
There has been "an increasing number of programs in Howard County and across (Maryland) that are bringing men into the classroom, helping overcome a traditional bias about gender roles in schools and exposing children to a wider range of role models and mentors."
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June 18, 2009
Students say using tech to cheat isn't cheating
A new poll has revealed that students using cell phones and the internet to cheat. It also shows that parents are unaware of the problem. "The results of this poll show the huge need for a national discussion on the concept of digital ethics. Kids have always found ways to cheat in school, but the tools they now have at their disposal are more powerful than ever."
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June 16, 2009
U.N. protocol used to regulate homeschoolers
"A British plan to allow local authorities 'the right of access to the home' and 'the right to speak with each child alone' in order to evaluate homeschooling families and make certain they do what the government wants is a warning about what could happen in the United States, according to the world's largest homeschool advocacy organization."
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June 15, 2009
Rigid Athletic Tracking
"Nevertheless, when educators are more committed to diversity and equality of outcomes in classrooms than they are in academic achievement, they have eliminated academic tracking and set up mixed-ability classrooms."
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June 11, 2009
Pennsylvania graduation exams: Another unfunded mandate
"Last year, hundreds of school boards statewide passed resolutions in opposition to the governor's proposal to mandate a statewide curriculum and standardized state-developed end-of-course exams as graduation requirements for all students, tests which were then termed "graduation competency assessments."
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June 5, 2009
Next Test: Value of $125,000-a-Year Teachers
If you pay educators extremely well, will that translate into success for students?
A school set to open in New York in September may answer that question....
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June 4, 2009
Bill Gates' Latest Education Fad
Nothing will ever take the place of a teacher who uses consistent discipline, is supported by the administration, has deep knowledge in his subject area, teaches quality curriculum, knows how to engage the students with targeted interaction, realizes the importance of students learning foundational skills to the automaticity level, is creative and does not utilize the "canned" approach, demonstrates organization and time-management skills, and is a positive role model.
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June 3, 2009
Dumbest Generation Getting Dumber
"Any long-term solution to our education problems requires the decnetralization that can come from competition."
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June 3, 2009
Senate Education Committee votes to block contract with testing company
"A high school graduation exam drew fierce opposition Tuesday from members of the Senate Education Committee, who voted unanimously to block a $201 million contract with a Minnesota testing company."
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June 1, 2009
Do Student Rights Interfere with Teaching and Learning in Public Schools?
"We have unwittingly transformed K-12 schools from places where educators are expected to shape character, set boundaries, and foster respect to ones where they are hesitant and unsure of their authority."
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June 1, 2009
46 States, D.C. Plan to Draft Common Education Standards
"Forty-six states and the District of Columbia...(announced) an effort to craft a single vision for what children should learn each year from kindergarten through high school graduation, an unprecedented step toward a uniform definition of success in American schools."
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Summer 2009
Educating the Public
"Most people express strong opinions about public education. But only a few know the basic facts about the public schools: how much they spend, how well teachers are paid, and what schools can and cannot do."
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