Announcements

Ten States Receive NCLB Waivers

From NASSP’s Principal’s Policy Blog: “The U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced on February 9 that ten states—Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Tennessee—are approved to waive certain requirements from the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in exchange for raising standards, improving accountability, and undertaking reforms to improve educator effectiveness. New Mexico was the only state to apply for and not receive a waiver, but ED will continue to work with the state to improve its application. An additional 28 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have also indicated their intent to apply for waivers later this month.” Read the rest of the blog here and read about the reactions of various education groups in the News section below.

FY 2013 Education Funding: President Obama to Release FY 2013 Budget 2/13

On Monday February 13, President Obama will release his Fiscal Year 2013 budget request, which outlines proposed funding for all government agencies and further, for certain programs, and gives a sense of the President’s priorities for spending in the year ahead. NASSP staff will keep you updated on the proposed budget for education overall and by particular program, but for a preview of what might be in the President’s budget, access this article: Budget Cheat Sheet: What to Watch. On February 13, budget materials will be posted online at http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget13/.

ESEA Reauthorization

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman Kline on Thursday formally introduced his two bills to reauthorize ESEA that address accountability and teacher quality: The Student Success Act (HR 3989) and The Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act (HR 3990). He spoke about these bills at a briefing that morning hosted by the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC, and a video of the briefing can be accessed here. NASSP sent a joint letter with NAESP to Congressional offices outlining areas we favor in these two bills and areas that cause serious concern: http://www.nassp.org/Content.aspx?topic=NASSP_and_NAESP_Letter_on_School_Leadership_Provisions_in_House_ESEA_Bills. NASSP and NAESP are most concerned about the diminished role of professional development in the bills’ language, when instructional leaders already struggle to obtain that funding under Title II in current regulations. Chairman Kline will hold a committee hearing on these two ESEA bills next Thursday February 16 and is expected to hold a mark-up on the bills the week of February 27. Follow NASSP staff on Twitter (@akarhuse and @kingston_m) as well as on NASSP’s Principal’s Policy Blog for the latest developments on these two bills.

White House STEM Announcement

On Tuesday, the President announced new proposals on STEM education. Among the proposals is that “The President’s upcoming budget will request $80 million for a new competition by the Department of Education to support effective STEM teacher preparation programs, such as those that allow students to simultaneously earn both a STEM degree and a teaching certificate, and provide undergraduates with early and intensive experiences in the classroom honing their skills.”

AFT Endorses President Obama for 2012

From the AFT website: “Declaring that President Obama is the only candidate who will fight to preserve and expand the middle class, close the inequality gap and ensure everyone has a “fair shot” at success, the 1.5 million strong American Federation of Teachers announced today its endorsement of President Obama and Vice President Biden for re-election.” Read more here.

News

NASSP Urges Support for Homeless Children and Youth Act

This week, NASSP staff sent an action alert to all NASSP members urging them to contact their House Representatives to vote for the Homeless Children and Youth Act (HR 32). This legislation amends the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) definition of homelessness to include children, youth, and their families who are verified as homeless by federal program personnel from four federal programs: school district homeless liaisons designated under the education subtitle of the McKinney-Vento Act; Head Start programs; Runaway and Homeless Youth Act programs; and Early Intervention programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part C.

The Homeless Children and Youth Act creates a streamlined, efficient referral process for homeless children and youth to access HUD homeless services. It stands in contrast to HUD’s current regulations on the definition of homelessness, which impose requirements for multiple moves and long periods of homelessness, as well as extensive documentation and recordkeeping, before a family or youth receives HUD homeless assistance. The simplicity of the Homeless Children and Youth Act is modeled on successfully implemented provisions of the Child Nutrition Act and the College Cost Reduction and Access Act.

NASSP asks you to send the form letter here to your Representatives for their support of this important legislation. Even better, include a few sentences about how this legislation would help homeless students in your school or community. A personal note from a constituent like you is very powerful!

Millions Participate in Digital Learning Day

From A U.S. Department of Education email newsletter: “Thirty-six states and Washington, D.C., 18,000 teachers, and 1.7 million students participated in the first-ever Digital Learning Day on February 1, which aimed to demonstrate how technology is improving teaching and learning across the nation.  The day kicked-off with web sessions focused on leadership and innovation, instruction, and professional learning and teacher effectiveness before attendees viewed a national town hall webcast featuring Secretary Duncan, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski, and video conferences with teachers and students from exemplary schools across the nation.  “We have to do everything we can to foster education and to help us move from print to digital as fast as we can,” the Secretary said, noting that while technology has transformed business and government around the world, it has only slightly changed the way most U.S. schools operate.  “We have to move from being a laggard to being a leader.”  Next month, the Department and the FCC will convene a meeting with policymakers and stakeholders to develop real action plans.  FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO http://www.digitallearningday.org/.  (Note: During the town hall, a collaborative of business and education leaders presented the “Digital Textbook Playbook” [http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/digital-textbook-playbook], a guide to help K-12 teachers and administrators leverage broadband technology and develop rich digital learning experiences.)”

Research

What Parents and Educators Want from K-12 Assessments

From the NWEA website: “Produced by NWEA and Grunwald Associates LLC, For Every Child, Multiple Measures: What Parents and Educators Want From K-12 Assessments gauges the assessment needs of parents, teachers and district administrators – those with the most practical and personal experience with the day-to-day impact of assessments and accountability. The study comes at a pivotal time, as policymakers are considering a new blueprint for education improvement and significant education reform initiatives are currently underway.”

The nationally representative study summarizes which assessments parents and educators find most useful, most relevant and most cost effective.

Key findings from the study include:

1. Child-centered teaching and learning is a top priority for parents and educators.
2. Parents, teachers and district administrators think it’s important to measure student performance in a full range of subjects—and in the “thinking” skills that will be critical in life.
3. Parents, teachers and district administrators agree on local decision-making about teaching and learning.
4. Formative and interim assessments are perceived as more valuable by parents and educators.
5. Many parents, teachers and administrators question the money, time and stress spent on assessment.

Access the report and executive summary here: http://www.nwea.org/every-child-multiple-measures

Resources

Report Describes the Process of Six States in Implementing Common Core

Based on interviews with state officials in the six Southeast Region states, this study describes state processes for adopting the Common Core State Standards (a common set of expectations across states for what students are expected to know in English language arts and math) and plans for implementing the common standards and aligning state assessment systems to them. Access the report and summary here.

Events

Tuesday February 21, 2-3 pm EST: Want to Know More About What Is At Stake for the Fiscal Year 2013 Federal Education Budget? Attend this free webinar hosted by NASSP coalition partner Committee for Education Funding. This information is important for school leaders to know-we strongly encourage you to attend!

Register at: http://eo2.commpartners.com/users/acte/session.php?id=8479

Announcements

NASSP Recognizes “Digital Principals”

Congratulations to the 2012 NASSP Digital Principal Award winners: Michael King of Dodge City (KS) Middle School, Patrick Larkin of Burlington (MA) High School, and Eric Sheninger of New Milford (NJ) High School. Read more about the winners!

The Digital Principal Award is an opportunity to honor principals who exhibit bold, creative leadership in their drive to harness the potential of new technologies to further learning goals. The award also allows us to showcase models of leadership that encourage the use of technology in instruction and for principals’ own professional use.

ESEA Reauthorization

NASSP Government Relations staff has heard of the possible schedule regarding House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman Kline’s recently released ESEA bills. It is speculated that the committee could hold a hearing on the bills the week of February 13 and a mark-up the week of February 27. NASSP staff will keep you updated with the latest news on this front, but recall that Chairman Kline’s bills are very partisan in the House and the Senate doesn’t want to move its ESEA bill unless the House can produce a bipartisan bill. Also read more about Chairman Kline’s ESEA draft bill on accountability in the News section below.

House Floor Agenda

This week House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) issued a memo setting forth the issues that the House will consider in the first quarter of this year. Though the memo lists the plan to pass a budget resolution by the end of March, interestingly, there is no mention of ESEA reauthorization in this quarter.

News

38 Groups Decry House Republicans’ ESEA Draft Bill on Accountability

A coalition of education, business and civil rights groups sent a letter last week to Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the ranking member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, expressing their grave disapproval of Chairman Kline’s draft bill on accountability, the Student Success Act. The signed organizations, including the American Federation of Teachers, the NAACP, the National Council of La Raza, the National Urban League, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, stated that

“The draft bill is not an update; it is a roll­back…It under­mines the core American value of equal opportu­nity in education embodied in [Brown v. Board of Education, 107 LRP 36247, 347 U.S. 483, (1954)]. Specifically, it abandons accountability for the achievement and learning gains of subgroups of disadvantaged students who for generations have been harmed by low academic expectations.” The letter goes on to state that the committee’s proposal “also eliminates performance targets, removes parameters regarding the use of federal funds to help improve struggling schools, does not address key disparities in opportunity such as access to high-quality college preparatory curricula, restricts the federal government from protecting underprivileged students, and fails to advance the current movement toward college-and career-ready standards.” NASSP has similar concerns about the issue of neglecting accountability for disadvantaged students, as expressed in our January 9 blog post. Look for a joint statement from NASSP and other education groups on the Principal’s Policy Blog soon outlining favored provisions in the draft language along with our concerns, many of which resonate with those expressed in this group’s letter.

Report Finds Progress Among States on Teacher Quality Measures

The National Council of Teacher Quality (NCTQ) recently issued its annual “State Teacher Policy Yearbook” and found that in 2011 states made significant gains in teacher quality, but still earned only an overall grade of D+ in their efforts to improve teacher evaluation systems and policies to identify effective teachers and to help remove ineffective ones. With Race to the Top serving as part of the momentum for change, NCTQ assessed that “new state policies for identi­fying effective teachers and exiting ineffective ones contributed to the highest Yearbook grades NCTQ has given to date.” State specific information is available at www.nctq.org/stpy.

Few States’ Science Standards Are High Quality

A report published by the Washington, DC think tank Thomas Fordham Institute finds that in analyses of the rigor and quality of state science standards, 75 percent of states scored a C or lower on an A-F scale, and just five states and the District of Columbia earned an A or an A-minus. Reviewers used a common grading metric to evaluate the science standards for content, completeness, accuracy, and clarity. Kathleen Porter-Magee, senior director of the High Quality Standards Program at the Fordham Institute, said states should use these reviews to determine the specific strengths and growth areas of their own standards against the Next Generation Science Standards, which 26 states and Achieve is currently designing. See how your state fared and read the full report here: http://www.edexcellence.net/publications/the-state-of-state-science-standards-2012.html.

Research

Center for American Progress Reports

1) On Chairman Kline’s ESEA Bills: “House Republicans’ Education Plan Would Shortchange Disadvantaged Students and Schools.” Part of the report analyzes the impact of the proposed formula change for ESEA Title II funds.

Access the report here: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/02/cut_and_run.html.

2) On Spending by Category that Contributed to the Federal Deficit: What Caused This Year’s Deficit?: Hint: It Wasn’t an Obama ‘Spending Binge’. The report notes that nondefense discretionary spending only resulted in 9% of the increased deficit since 2009.

Resources

New Website Focusing on Achievement Gaps

Educational Testing Service (ETS), the world’s leading measurement and research organization, has created a new website to draw attention to achievement gaps among students, provide resources to those studying the issue and highlight success stories.

The site looks at why and where achievement gaps exist; the impact they have on students, teachers, families, communities and national competitiveness; and most importantly how they can be narrowed and eventually closed. The ETS Achievement Gap website is: www.ets.org/achievement_gap.

Events

Chairman Kline ESEA Event: Chairman Kline will speak about his ESEA bills at an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) event on February 9. For details and to register (and to view the video of the event if you are not within the Washington, DC area): Chairman Kline Unveils GOP Vision to Fix No Child Left Behind

Announcements

NASSP Releases Statement on President Obama’s State of the Union Address

“We call on the President to renew his pressure on Congress to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and fix what is not working for all schools in No Child Left Behind. While the current law did some good in highlighting the achievement gap, the law’s high-stakes testing and onerous AYP provisions do little to reduce the gap. If education is indeed to become our national mission, the commitment must begin with a fairer and more flexible federal law.” Read the rest of NASSP’s statement here.

President Obama’s FY 2013 Budget to Be Released Monday, February 13

President Obama will lay out his FY 2013 budget proposal on February 13, which will reflect his priorities for spending for the next fiscal year. NASSP is actively involved in the Committee for Education Funding, a coalition of over 90 education organizations that advocates for adequate federal funding, and that publishes and distributes on the Hill a budget response book (in response to the President’s budget) outlining the conditions and needs for various federal programs, including school leadership. We will take part in the same effort this year to ensure that as the Congressional budget and appropriations committees draft their FY 2013 budget proposals, they are aware of the need to invest in education. Go here to see CEF’s budget response for FY 2012: http://cef.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Budget-Response-FY-12-FINAL.pdf.

News

President Obama Delivers State of the Union (SOTU) Address

The text of the speech and additional materials are available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/25/president-obama-state-union. Also see the Department of Education blog post: An America Built to Last and the Blueprint for An America Built to Last (pdf). Senate Democrat leaders said on Wednesday they plan to bring pieces of President Obama’s economic “blueprint” unveiled in his State of the Union speech to the floor in coming months. In the President’s Blueprint that follows much of his SOTU address, there aren’t many specific proposals for education. Below, however, are the excerpts from the Blueprint on proposals related to K-12 issues:

Attract, prepare, support, and reward great teachers to help students learn: Teaching is a profession and should be treated like one. The latest research says a great teacher could increase the lifetime income of an entire classroom by hundreds of thousands of dollars. The President is fighting to protect our schools from being hurt by the recession by providing states and communities with funds to prevent teacher layoffs, and avoid increases to class sizes or decreases in the number of school days. The President is also asking for a new competitive program that will challenge states and districts to work with their teachers and unions to comprehensively reform the teaching profession by:

• Reforming colleges of education and making these schools more selective;

• Creating new career ladders for teachers to become more effective, and ensuring that earnings are tied more closely to performance;

• Establishing more leadership roles and responsibilities for teachers in running schools; improving professional development and time for collaboration among teachers; and providing greater individual and collective autonomy in the classroom in exchange for greater accountability;

• Creating evaluation systems based on multiple measures, rather than just test scores;

• Re-shaping tenure to raise the bar, protect good teachers, and promote accountability.

Keep students in high school: The President challenged state governments to live up to their responsibilities by calling on every state to do what 20 states have already done: require students to stay in school until they graduate or turn 18. Studies show that stronger dropout laws keep students in school longer and increase their lifetime earnings as a result. Raising compulsory school requirements, in conjunction with the Administration’s historic investments in low-performing schools, will curb the high school dropout crisis and set students down a path of academic and career success.

See statements from leading members of Congress in response to the President’s address:

Kline Responds to State of the Union Address

Rhetoric vs. Action: State of the Union Promises and the House Republican Agenda

Harkin Statement on President Obama’s Third State of the Union Address

Rehberg Response to President Obama’s State of the Union

DELAURO RESPONSE TO STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

Enzi response to President’s State of the Union address

Miller Statement on President Obama’s State of the Union Address

President Obama Proposes a Race to the Top Program for Higher Education

In a speech President Obama delivered this morning at the University of Michigan, he proposed a $1 billion competitive grant for states to improve their higher education systems.

As stated in Education Week, “To snag the grants, states would have to smooth the transition between K-12 and college education by aligning entrance and exit standards between the two systems. That proposal would appear to build on an incentive in the original, $4 billion Race to Top for K-12 (Race to the Top Classic), which rewarded states for many things, including if they signed onto the Common Core State Standards Initiative—an effort by states to create more uniform, rigorous standards that prepare students for post-secondary education.

That may be a tall order in the current cloudy economic forecast, in which nearly every state has squeezed funding for post-secondary education in recent years.” Read the entire article here: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2012/01/white_house_proposes_new_race.html.

More States Encouraging Students to Graduate Early

More states are increasing the pace of high school curriculum and giving college scholarships as strategies to encourage students to graduate early in order to save district money and allow students to start their post-secondary careers or education sooner. New scholarship programs for early high school graduates are being introduced in Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, and South Dakota, while legislation is pending in other states.

As quoted in Education Week, “Still, the model can face opposition when state money to districts walks with the departing students. And others are skeptical that students can be truly ready for college a semester or two early. With a growing emphasis on individual and online learning, as well as continued budget pressures, experts anticipate that the option of graduating early will continue to be debated in statehouses in the new legislative sessions.” Read the rest of the article here: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/01/25/18graduation_ep.h31.html?tkn=PLRFiP4FV0m%2FB%2B7SDbe4P7FQdSVDqNgVEUBp&cmp=clp-edweek.

Center on Education Policy Report Finds Progress with Common Core Implementation but Challenges with Budgetary Constraints

In a report published this Wednesday, Center on Education Policy staff report on the progress of implementing common core standards now that efforts are in year two. While the report finds that the “vast majority of survey states are taking steps to familiarize state and district officials with the new standards and to align curriculum and assessments,” most of the states surveyed for the report do not expect to implement the standards until the 2014-2015 school year or later. Further, most states prophesied the challenge of adequate resources to fully implement the standards. Read the report here: http://www.cep-dc.org/displayDocument.cfm?DocumentID=391.

Research

States Vary on Special Education Enrollment: “An analysis of Department of Education data shows that the percentage of students in special education varies widely among states. While Rhode Island tops the country at 18%, Texas, at 9%, is at the bottom. The average percentage across all states is 13%.” See: State Special Education Rates Vary Widely

Resources

CEP Report: The Center on Education Policy recently issued: A Public Education Primer: Basic (and Sometimes Surprising) Facts about the U.S. Education System, 2012 Revised Edition.

ECS Report: 12 for 2012: Issues to Move Education Forward in 2012

Events

Chairman Kline ESEA Event: Chairman Kline will speak about his ESEA bills at an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) event on February 9. For details and to register: Chairman Kline Unveils GOP Vision to Fix No Child Left Behind

Announcements

President Obama to Deliver the State of the Union Address January 25

President Obama will give his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress next week on Tuesday, January 25 at 9 pm EST. White House staff have indicated that to get a sense of the themes that will likely be in the speech, to look at the speech President Obama recently gave in Osawatomie, Kansas. White House staff has also indicated that this speech will be the policy and message guide for the White House for this year. Read the speech here: Remarks by the President on the Economy in Osawatomie, Kansas.  The word “education” is mentioned 11 times and “school” 6 times.

FY 2012 Budget and Appropriations

The following articles will give you a good sense of the political outlook for this 2^nd session of the 112^th Congress:

GOP returns with New Year’s hangover,

On the Hill, the worst is yet to come,

House GOP Looks to Regroup After Short Workweek and

2012 Budget Debate: Like “The Hangover, Part II”

News

Duncan Implies Most of FY 2012 Race to the Top Funding Will Go to Districts

In the final FY 2012 appropriations bill that includes education spending, the competitive grant Race to the Top received $550 million (down from $700 million in FY 2011). U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan indicated that most of this FY 2012 money will award districts this time around, instead of states. Secretary Duncan said in an Education Week interview last week, “You can do different things. You can do early childhood as a piece of that, or STEM [science, technology, engineering, and math] as a piece of that…I don’t want to commit, but the bulk of the money will go through districts. … What we’ll be asking of districts is still very much up for consideration.” Read the full article here.

Apple Unveils E-Textbook Strategy for K-12

Apple has created a partnership with three major textbook publishers-McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt-to move into the K-12 space and offer interactive textbooks at its iBooks store priced at $14.99 or less. According to Education Week, “The textbooks feature multimedia elements, including video, three-dimensional graphics, and photo galleries. They also allow students to highlight text to create flashcards and search within a glossary.” Read more about Apple’s move into e-textbooks here.

Secretary Duncan Sits Down For a Comprehensive Interview

This week U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sat down with an Education Week reporter to discuss many issues, including waivers, Race to the Top, reauthorization, and the election. On the topic of waivers, here is one of the questions and Secretary Duncan’s response: “Q. How does the Education Department monitor dozens of different, sophisticated state accountability systems?

A. I think about that a lot. Part of the business we should be in is managing a portfolio of states. And so it’s 50 relationships. It’s not insignificant, but I think it’s really manageable. … And then the other thing, just like Race to the Top, I’m not promising anyone we’re going to bat 1,000. We may grant a waiver to a state that makes its commitments in good faith, but doesn’t keep them. And just to be very clear, and just as in Race to the Top, if we need to revoke the waiver six months from now, a year from now, two years from now, because folks can’t deliver on what they said, we’re more than prepared to do that.” Read the entire interview here.

Research

Editorial Projects in Education (EPE)

“The EPE Research Center is a division of Editorial Projects in Education, the non-profit organization that publishes Education Week.

The Research Center conducts annual policy surveys, collects data, and performs analyses that appear in the Quality Counts and Diplomas Count annual issues of Education Week. The Center also manages the Education Counts database of state policy indicators, releases periodic special reports on a variety of topics, and contributes data and analysis to coverage in Education Week.” Explore their research here: http://www.edweek.org/rc/?intc=thed.

Resources

Center on Education Policy Releases Public Education Primer

The Center on Education Policy (CEP) has released the new and updated version of its popular Public Education Primer. The Primer packages national data about students, teachers, school districts, schools, and other areas of elementary and secondary education. It includes easy-to-read facts and figures on the distribution of students, student demographics, funding, student achievement, teachers, and much more.

CEP’s Public Education Primer uses the most recent data available. In many cases, data are compared over the past decade or projected into the future.

Click here to access the full report, which is available for free.

ED Strategic Plan: The Department of Education has posted its draft strategic plan for fiscal years 2011 through 2014 on its website for public comment.  From January 13-27, 2012, the Department is seeking comments on the content of the document.  Any comments can be sent to strategicplancomments@ed.gov before the period closes on Friday, January 27^th. The draft plan can be found here: www.ed.gov/about/reports/strat/index.html.

Jobs Council Report: The President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness this week “released “Road Map to Renewal,” a year-end report addressing the broader factors influencing American prosperity and competitiveness in a global age.” A large section of this report deals with education and life-long learning issue

Announcements

NASSP News

Reminder: New NASSP Digital Principal Award Applications Are Due Tuesday, January 17!

The Digital Principal Award is an opportunity to honor principals who exhibit bold, creative leadership in their drive to harness the potential of new technologies to further learning goals. The award also allows us to showcase models of leadership that encourage the use of technology in instruction and for principals’ own professional use.

NASSP will honor three NASSP member principals in schools that cover any subset of grades K—­12.

Learn more and apply here, or encourage an outstanding “digital principal” you know to apply (deadline is this Tuesday January 17!): http://www.nassp.org/awards-and-recognition/digital-principal-award

New Legislation

ESEA: Last Friday, House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) released his final two ESEA bills: one on accountability and the other on teacher quality. Kline also provided these fact sheets on the bills, but please be sure to read more about the bills in the News section below.

Part 1: Ten Years Later, A Better Way Forward for K-12 Schools

Part 2: Ten Years Later, A Better Way Forward for K-12 Schools

Part 3: Ten Years Later, A Better Way Forward for K-12 Schools

News

NASSP, Other Education Organizations Weigh in With Initial Review of House ESEA bills on Accountability, Teacher Quality

NASSP has formulated an initial summary and analysis of the over 500 combined pages of legislation in House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline’s (R-MN) two bills on accountability and teacher quality for ESEA reauthorization. NASSP’s initial analysis of the two bills is the following: “Though both bills call for some provisions in alignment with NASSP advocacy agenda including the elimination of the school turnaround models; comprehensive residency, induction, mentoring, and professional development programs for school leaders; and the consideration of student growth and multiple measures in teacher evaluations; we have numerous initial concerns about many other provisions. Also seemingly absent from the bills are any specific mention of middle and high schools or of a federal literacy program such as the Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy program that NASSP feels is invaluable in preparing students for college- and career-readiness.

Further, the inclusion in these bills of two bills we continue to oppose (HR 2445 and HR 1891) makes it difficult for us to conceptualize a means to support these bills unless language from these prior bills is removed.”  Go here to read the rest of this blog entry which includes a summary of the bills.

Also read about initial reactions from other education groups here.

Race to the Top Report

On Tuesday, the Department of Education released “state-specific reports profiling first-year progress on comprehensive education reform under Race to the Top.” The states profiled were the 12 states that received funding in 2010 in the competition’s first two phases: Delaware, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Tennessee. Said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, “Race to the Top states have made tremendous strides in this first year…These twelve states have acted with courage and commitment in taking on ambitious education reform. Their year one work has helped lay the foundation for long-term, statewide improvements centered on doing what’s best for students.”Read the press release and access the state reports here.

Reflections on NCLB on its 10^th Anniversary

Several education experts and practitioners weighed in last week on the 10^th anniversary of NCLB, which was signed into law January 8, 2002, about where NCLB has taken us as an education system and where we need to go from here. Says U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, “The question today is how to build on NCLB’s success and fix its problems. Fortunately, states are leading the way. In Washington, we need to do everything we can to support their work.” Read the rest of his op-ed that appeared in the Washington Post here: http://www.ed.gov/blog/2012/01/after-10-years-it%E2%80%99s-time-for-a-new-nclb/. Read others’ reflections, including those of members of Congress and educators, here.

Research

Graduation Rate Accountability in State Waiver Applications

NASSP coalition partner the Alliance for Excellent Education has recently released a paper analyzing how graduation rates are incorporated into the accountability indexes being proposed by states as a part of their waiver applications. Below, please find a link to the paper along with a brief description of the analysis. “Waving away graduation rate accountability”: http://www.all4ed.org/files/WaivingAwayAccountability.pdf

Resources

AEI Education Event on What the Election Year Will Mean for Education Policy

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is hosting a forum on February 1: Education 2012: What the Election Year Will Mean for Education Policy.  For details and to RSVP (you can also access a video recording if you are not in the Washington, DC area to attend): http://www.aei.org/events/2012/02/01/education-2012-what-the-election-year-will-mean-for-education-policy/

Summer Jobs for Low-Income Youth

Under Summer Jobs+, the federal government and private sector are committed to creating nearly 180,000 employment opportunities for low-income youth in the summer of 2012, with the goal of reaching 250,000 employment opportunities by the start of summer, at least 100,000 of which will be placements in paid jobs and internships.  For more information, go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/01/05/we-cant-wait-white-house-announces-federal-and-private-sector-commitment.

NASSP Webinar on Cutting-Edge Technology to Use in the Classroom

Want to learn more about cutting-edge technology initiatives used every day in the classroom? View this archived webinar that took place this Wednesday: Melinda Maddox discusses ALSDE’s highly regarded technology initiatives. Then Craig Bates provides a principal’s perspective on how these initiatives work on the ground in schools, and what impact they are having on student achievement and engagement. Access the recorded webinar and all other archived webinars here.

Announcements

NASSP Information

Reminder: NASSP Digital Principal Award

From the NASSP website: The Digital Principal Award is an opportunity to honor principals who exhibit bold, creative leadership in their drive to harness the potential of new technologies to further learning goals. The award also allows us to showcase models of leadership that encourage the use of technology in instruction and for principals’ own professional use.

NASSP will honor three NASSP member principals in schools that cover any subset of grades K—­12. Applications due January 17- apply now!

Sign up for NASSP webinar next week on cutting-edge technology

Wednesday, January 11, 2012 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST

Want to learn more about cutting-edge technology initiatives used every day in the classroom? Join Melinda Maddox, Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) Director of Technology Initiatives, as she discusses ALSDE’s highly regarded technology initiatives. Then listen as Craig Bates, principal of Winterboro High School in  Alpine, AL, provides a principal’s perspective on how these initiatives work on the ground in schools, and what impact they are having on student achievement and engagement. Register now!

New Legislation

House Education Committee Chairman Kline Releases ESEA Bills on Teacher Quality and Accountability

Today at 3 pm, House Education and the Workforce Chairman John Kline released his final 2 ESEA bills (#4 and 5): The Student Success Act addresses accountability, and the Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act addresses teacher quality. Read Chairman Kline’s press release and access the bills here. Also go here for an initial Education Week summary of the bills. NASSP will post a summary of these bills on the Principal’s Policy Blog on Monday, so stay tuned.

News

NCLB Turns 10: Reflections and Commentaries on NCLB from Legislators, Educators and Experts

On January 8, NCLB will turn 10 years old. This web page on Education Week gives you access to several resources about NCLB: brief overviews of its key components, and reflections and commentaries from legislators, educators, and experts. Access the web page here.

Virtual Charter Schools’ Performance Lags behind That of Traditional Schools

A report by the National Education Policy Center found that 27% of for-profit companies operating virtual schools met the adequate yearly progress standards of the federal No Child Left Behind law, compared with 48% of traditional charter schools and about half of all public schools.

One of the researchers, Gary Miron, said it’s perplexing why so many virtual schools are not meeting adequate yearly progress. “These are not highly impoverished schools. … These schools should be more likely to meet adequate yearly progress,” he said. However, some of the providers of online education claim that it is unfair to use adequate yearly progress to measure the performance of a school. Says Jeff Kwitowski, spokesman for the company K12 Inc,”It’s not a reliable measure. The secretary of education has said that the AYP measure under (No Child Left Behind) is broken and unfairly labels schools as failing.” Read the rest of the article here.

Out-Of-School-Time Activities Draw Girls to STEM

According to a U.S. Department of Commerce report released last year, women hold less than 25 percent of STEM jobs even though they make up about half the nation’s workforce. Many out-of-school-time programs are attempting to remedy this inequity through offering girls opportunities like engineering “design challenges” through California Bay Area’s Techbridge program, and other programs offering exposure to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.) Read more about the growing momentum of girls involved in STEM programs here.

Research

What Are the Key Actions of Effective Principals?

Check out a Wallace Foundation report on the 5 Key Elements Exercised by Effective Principals

Effective Teachers Help Students Long-Term in Significant Ways

From a New York Times article published January 6, 2012: “Elementary- and middle-school teachers who help raise their students’ standardized-test scores seem to have a wide-ranging, lasting positive effect on those students’ lives beyond academics, including lower teenage-pregnancy rates and greater college matriculation and adult earnings, according to a new study that tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years.” Read the full article here.

Resources

Federal Education Budget Resource: Education Appropriations Guide for Fiscal Year 2012

This week, the New America Foundation’s Federal Education Budget Project (FEBP) released the ”2012 Education Appropriations Guide,” which details and explains fiscal year 2012 funding for the U.S. Department of Education.

The guide includes:

• An analysis of funding for major education programs;
• An explanation of the key steps in the budget process, including the Budget Control Act, which shaped final fiscal year 2012 appropriations;
• An explanation of Pell Grant funding and changes to eligibility rules;
• A timeline of congressional action taken during the fiscal year 2012 budget process; and
• A table comparing 2012 spending levels to 2011 levels, the president’s budget request, and House and Senate spending proposals.

To view the full brief, please click here.