Race to the Top Round 2 Winners

On Tuesday, the Department of Education announce the 10 winners of Round 2 of the $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition. The winners, selected from a group of 19 finalists, are as follows: District of Columbia, FL, GA, MD, MA,NY, NC, OH and RI.  There were only two state winners in Round I: Delaware and Tennessee.  Massachusetts received the highest points in the scoring, followed by New York.  Many people in the education reform arena are suprised and disappointed that the states of CO and LA were not selectes as winners, since they had noticeably and dramatically changed elements of their state education policies partially in the hopes of receiving this grant.  Many had also hoped CA would win, since the state could certainly use the projected $700 million it would have received for Race to thet Top, given the state's dire fiscal crisis. 

For more information on the Race to the Top Round 2 winners, access the following links:  Watch a video announcement from Secrectary Duncan:  http;//www.ed.gov/blog/2010/08/race-to-the-top-winners/.

Read the press release: http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/nine-states-and-district-columbia-win-second-round-race-top-grants.

Review state's applications: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/phase2-applications/ondex.html

President Obama's Annual Back to School  Speech Scheduled for September 14

President Obama will address students nationwide in his second annual "Back to School" speech on September 14.  Though we do not yet know where Obama will deliver his speech, it will be televised nationally and schools will be enouraged to broadcast it live to students during the school day.  Last year Obama's Back to School speech addressed the importance of hard work and personal responsibility, and the idea that students can be anything they want to be if they work hard now and follow through on their dreams.

Secretary Duncan's Bus Tour to Recognize Champion Schools

Yesterday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan kicked off a two-week, 800 mile bus tour across America to headline a Back to School tour with the theme "Courage in the Classroom:Honoring America's Teachers."  During this "road trip" Secretary Duncan will visit schools that are facig challenges but are beating the odds and are showing success. He will chat with teachers about how they ensure student achievment and how the federal government can play a more helpful role to educators. 

The tour began in the South yesterday at Central High School in Little Rock, a school that became a focal point for the issue of desegregation in 1957 when President Eisenhower called upon the National Guard to ensure that nine recently enrolled African-American students could safely attend the school. The bus then travels to Lousianan, Mississippi and Alabama, followed by a northeastern rout beginning August 30 that includes stops in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

Read more about Duncan's bus tour here (http://www.ed.gov/blog/topic/bustour) or "follow" Duncan on Facebook and Twitter.  Look for updates from the road each day, along with photos and video from events and gehind the scenes.

Articles of Interest

"Drive to Overhaul Low-Perfoming Schools Delayed," New York TImes, August 23: The Obama Administration's $3.5 billion commitment to turning around the nation's lowest-performing schools faces delays and confusion from the challenging negotiations between federal, state, and local officials to implement turnaround plans.

hhtp://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/education/24schools.html?_r=1&ref=education.

Update August 20, 2010

On the heels of the passage of the ed jobs bill on August 10, the Department of Education swiflty posted the application for states to complete for funding, and nine states have already applied: CA, GA, IL, KS,NV, NM, NY, CT, and SD.  The application and guidance to complete it can be found on the Department of Ed's website here: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/educationjobsfund/applicant.html

The deadline for submitting the application is September 9, 2010. While the funds have to be distributed to LEAs for use in the 2010-11 school year, there is no specific deadline by which states must do so - the application simply requires a state assurance it will do so on a "timely basis".

Allowabel uses of funds by LEAs "includes, among other things, salaries, performance bonuses, health insurance, retirement benefits, incentives for early retirement, pension fund contributions, tuition reimbursement, student loan repayment assistance, transportation subsidies, and reimbursement for childcare expenses."  Other allowable uses are "to restore reductions in salaries and benefits and to implement salary increases for the 2010-2011 school year . . . (or) for any additional salary and benefits costs associated with the elimnation of furlough days that had been scheduled for the 2010-2011 school year."

Though the intent of this funding is for schools to use the money immediately(for the 2010-2011 school year), schools are allowed to spend it throught September 2012.

Inaugural Bullying Summit

Taken from the Department of Education's Office of OUtreach and Communications:

Last week, the Department held the firest-eer National Summit on Bullying.  The summit gathered a range of non-govermental organizations, corporate leaders, and state and local officials, as well as the members of the Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention Working Group.  "Bullying is undeniable," Secretary Duncan explained, dispelling multiple myths about bullying.  "It has a common definition, and a legal definition in many states.  Effective prevention programs work to reduce bullying.  And bullying is ver much an education priority that goes to the heart of school performance and school culture."  FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osdfs/news.html. (Note: The Secretary's remarks are available at hhtp://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/myths-about-bullying-secretary-arne-duncans-remarks-bullying-prevention-summit.)

Meanwhile, a new web site, http://www.bullyinginfo.org/, is a "one-stop" site for parents, educators, and community members seeking federal resources on bullying.  The Department's reinvigorated Office of Civil Rights(OCR) has also stepped up enforcement in the last year, vigoroulsy investigatin complaints of bullying and harassment.  In addition, many federal agencies(Education, Agriculture, Defense, Health and Human Services, Interior and Justice) have been -- and will continue-- collaboration to combat bullying.

Over the past year, the Department has stepped up its efforts to adress bullying to include a new $27 million Safe and Supportive Schools grant program (http://www2.ed.gov/programs/safesupportiveschools/), a pilot that will enable states to measure school safety at the building level and to provide federal funds for interventions in those schools with greatest needs.  Moreover, the Department's proposed blueprint for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) calls for a dramatic increase in appropriations for the Successful, Safe and Healthy STudents grans program. (http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/successful-safe-hearlthy.pdf).

You may recall that NASSP has been involved in the discussion of bullying prevention, specifically with the testimony of one of our Board members and a middle school principal, B.J. Paris, at a Congressional hearing on cyberbulling in June. (You can read more about MS. Paris'and others' testimonies from our report on this hearing on our website, www.principals.org)

Additionally, NASSP is a member of the Safe Schools Partnership, a coalition of organizations promoting safety in schools.  We made Hill visits this month, led by staff of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network(GLSEN) to promote the School Safety and Improvement Act that had been introduced in the House but recently(August 5) was introduced in the Senate by Senator Robert Casey(D-PA).

Hearing Scheduled to Examine Companies that Contract for School Turnaround

If you remember fromthe update last week, the New York Times featured an article on the concerning issue of myriad companies, many with very little credibility, that are awarded contracts to turn around some of our nation's lowest performing schools ("Inexperienced Companies Chase U.S. School Funds," http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/education/10schools.html?ref=education).

In response to the growing concern over the credibility of these companies, House Committee on Education and Labor Chairman George Miller (D-CA) has announced a  Congressional hearing on this topic to inspect the contracting process of these companies more closely.  The hearing will likely take place soon after the House returns in mid- September. Read a press release from the House Committee on Education and Labor about this hearing here: http://edlabor.house.gov/newsroom/2010/08/chairman-miller-announces-hear.shtml#more.

August 13, 2010 News

Education Jobs Bill

It passed!!! I have so many exclamation marks because it truly is a cause for celebration, given that it sometimes seemed doomed to fail. Victoriously, however, the House came back from recess this past Tuesday to pass this amendment to save roughly 160,000 education jobs, and President Obama quickly signed it into law the same day. As you recall, the amendment (#4575) provides $10 billion to save education jobs and $16.1 billion to aid states in rising Medicaid costs for a $26.1 million total package. The funds are intended to be received as quickly as possible: states must apply by September 9, and the Department of Education will award funds to states within two weeks of receiving the application. Funds are available for compensation and benefits to recruit, retain, hire, or recall any school-level personnel; to eliminate furlough days or pay cuts; and to allot premium pay for hard-to-staff schools or subjects, extended school days and/or summer school. Local education agencies (LEAs) with already-approved applications under the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund do not need to apply to receive funding, and LEAs will have until September 30 2010 to spend the funds, though they are intended for the 2010-2011 school year.

See how your state benefits from this bill by viewing a table released by the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities showing the combined state by state impact of this $26.1 billion package: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3258&emailView=1. Also, read my blog about this much-welcomed bill here: http://www.principalspolicyblog.org/blog/.

Thank you again for those of you who sent an action alert via our Principals’ Legislative Action Center to your Senators and/or Representatives in the past few weeks to urge their support of this bill—I know the collective advocacy from us and other groups made a difference!

One thing I would be remiss not to mention, however, is one offset (cut) to fund this bill that NASSP is very unhappy about: $50 million from the Striving Readers Program, which seeks to raise the reading levels of struggling middle and high school students. NASSP will do what we can with other literacy groups to salvage this invaluable funding.

NASSP a Partner in Two of 14 School Leadership Program Grants Announced

The Department of Education just announced the 14 winners of its 2010 School Leadership competitive grant program, and NASSP is a program partner in two grants: for Lehigh University and for California State University Dominguez Hills. The School Leadership program offers grants to “innovative programs to recruit, train, and mentor principals (including assistant principals) for high need LEAs” (local education agencies.)

Lehigh University’s program, titled the Allentown Principal Leadership Initiative, will receive $3 million over five years and intends to increase student achievement in the Allentown School District through the development of 14 aspiring and 50 practicing school leaders who possess strong transformational and entrepreneurial skills. California State University Dominguez Hills’ program, titled Charter and Autonomous School Leadership Academy, was awarded $9 million over five years to recruit 90 aspiring and current principals and assistant principals to earn preliminary administrative credentials and/or master's degrees. These new and veteran school leaders will then improve teaching practice and student achievement in public charter schools and independently operated public schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Check the Principals’ Policy Blog next week at http://www.principalspolicyblog.org/blog/ to read more about NASSP’s specific involvement in these two programs.

To read descriptions of the 14 awardees’ programs, along with other information including eligibility and performance criteria, visit the Department of Education’s website at http://www2.ed.gov/programs/leadership/2010awards.html.

Other Education News of Interest

Because I feel badly that this is such a short update and I opened this letter by promising you’d be smarter, I wanted to direct your attention to two interesting articles that both came out in the New York Times this week:

“Inexperienced Companies Chase U.S. School Funds”. Opening paragraph: “With the Obama administration pouring billions into its nationwide campaign to overhaul failing schools, dozens of companies with little or no experience are portraying themselves as school-turnaround experts as they compete for the money”: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/education/10schools.html?ref=education.

“Schools Are Given a Grade on How Graduates Do,” which describes the New York City Department of Education’s attempt to track how high school graduates fare in their college courses, and then to share this information with their high schools to increase pressure for more rigorous standards where needed: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/education/10remedial.html?ref=education.