Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
The newly-opened Bush Library includes a section on education, and NBC's Chuck Todd interviewed former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings about the Bush education legacy.
Last week I told you about my failed attempt to slog through "House of Cards" and how much the show reminded me of a clunky retelling of the 2000 authorization of NCLB.
This week, Politics K-12 has a review / recap of the series (Congress Won't Reauthorize ESEA, So Netflix Will Do It For Them) penned by someone named Ross Brenneman.
While disappointingly unaware of my take on the show ( Netflix Show Revisits 2000's ESEA Authorization), Brenneman provides a couple of helpful tidbits, including a reminder that The West Wing also focused heavily on education and some reassurance that teachers aren't portrayed negatively (at least not in comparison with the anti-hero Democratic Congressman played by Kevin Spacey). This is no "Won't Back Down" in regards to its portrayal of union leaders, though I understand that there's a bigger role for them in the second half of the show which I didn't see.
If, like me and a few others, you spent all or part of the weekend watching episodes of Netflix's new dramatic series, House of Cards, you emergef from your cave this chilly Monday morning tired and edgy. Perhaps you went back and tried again once the week started. According to Atlantic.com, a Netflix marathon often leads to a Netflix hangover.
Why a hangover? Well, like many shows these days -- Dexter, House, Breaking Bad, etc. -- the central characters here (Kevin Spacey as a Southern Congressman, Kate Mara as an ambitious journalist) aren't particularly admirable or moral human beings.
What makes the show watchable -- in addition to the never-ending concerns about whether the characters will do more awful things (they will!) or get caught (mostly not!) -- is that it's got negotiations over an education bill as a backdrop.
Yes, like Season 4 of The Wire and Won't Back Down and a raft of recent shows, education reform is the high-stakes backdrop for this Washington DC thriller.
But is it realistic, or any good? To tell you a little more about this -- which I must (otherwise I watched four and a half episodes in vain) -- involves revealing a fair number of plot points (ie, spoilers). So read below without any expectation of my keeping secrets.
Continue reading "House Of Cards: Netflix Show Revisits 2000's ESEA Authorization" »
The long-awaited (and -dreaded) Ravitch profile is out in the new New Yorker.
Called Public Defender, features this somber picture of Ravitch.
One interesting line from the article jumps out:
Ravitch says that she still receives letters from teachers who can’t forgive her for her past reform advocacy:
“I feel I have to make up for the damage I’ve done.”
Ravitch's role in creating the reform movement, and her subsequent reversal, has long been an issue and a concern for me (see Ravitch's Stunning Certainty).
This is the first time I've seen or heard her say something this simple and apologetic.
Hard to believe it, but NCLB and "The Wire" are about the same age. NCLB was enacted in January 2002, and The Wire's first season began a decade ago this past Saturday.
Beyond that, the similarities end. NCLB was briefly popular, and then increasingly less so. The Wire was obscure and unpopular for most of its five seasons. Most people who came to know and love it never saw it "live" on HBO.
For a long history of the series (not much education in there) go here.
Thinking back on the show and my countless blog posts about it, I feel like "The Wire" wasn't particularly helpful on education issues but it captured the mind-blowing dysfunction the can happen in large bureaucracies, the chronic mistreatment of poor urban minorities, and the difficult interplay between idealism and political pragmatism.
Three education-related 9/11 moments, and an update: In Farenheit 9/11, Michael Moore showed us the video of the event during which the Commander In Chief seemed stunned and uncertain as the Twin Towers were being attacked. The New Yorker then told us about the story (The Pet Goat) that students were reading. A SF blogger named Peter Smith had discovered the story was actually a reading exercise in a Direct Instruction textbook (text here). Now there's a pretty fascinating AP story about what happened that day in that school and what's happened to the educators and students -- now high school seniors --since then.
I'm counting on one of you hard-working types to pick up a copy of GWB's new book, Decision Points, and find out what if anything he has to say about NCLB.
His eventual Education Secretary, Margaret Spellings worked on the legislation her spot at the White House DPC and recently argued against the idea it should be gutted -- advocating not only for the retention of AYP but (did I hear that correctly?) also for the 2014 goals.
Check out the video here and don't forget to find me a copy of the table of contents for the Bush book and any other snippets.
Responding to the question of why Michelle Rhee disregarded the instructions of the D.C. Council to cut $9 million from summer school, Jay Mathews wrote "Anyone who has looked at the data on summer learning loss would have to say Rhee was right, and the council was wrong." What?!?! Because high-quality, engaging summer programs are valuable, Mathews did not need to question the effectiveness of D.C.’s summer schools before proclaiming Rhee is right? When commenters complained that D.C.’s summer schools were still the same old test prep, fig leaf for social promotion, Mathews responded "I know it (summer school) has been bad in the past, but I was told that the plan was to do better in 2010. ... If it turns out to be a zoo, then you are right, I'm an idiot."
Sounds like low expectations for Op Ed writers to me. If I believe that Rhee has plans to improve summer learning, then I can believe that Rhee believes the incredible testimony that she provided to the Council. (Follow the link and see what it really takes to stem summer loss.)
Worst, Mathews explained away alleged age discrimination based on
Continue reading "Thompson: Summertime and the Opinions are Hazy" »
Still catching up from last week:
If the Obama girls can't move into the Blair Residence January 5, how are they supposed to start school on time?
And if they can't start school on time, how are they supposed to fit in and get a good education?
NYT: Sorry, We’re Booked, White House Tells Obamas (via Wonkette).
The establishment is owned in part by the brother of Spelling's Press Secretary, Samara Yudof (Hospitable treatment).
Thanks to Texas education blogger Kimberly Reeves for digging this one up.
Former USDE official and current University of Michigan education researcher Susan Neuman has a book out this week that identifies a handful of programs that she says are proven to be effective.
But they're not the ones that you might think. There's no KIPP, no Harlem Children's Zone. Instead there are things like the Nurse Family Partnership program (which you may recall from Kate Boo's Swamp Nurse article in the New Yorker a few years back.)
It's a pretty controversial view of things, especially for those coming from the reformy / accountability hawk side of things. (Earlier this week, David Whitman called her view "defeatist.")
On the HotSeat, Neuman dishes about Margaret Spellings (they're apparently not Facebook friends), describes how poverty "trumps everything," talks about Minessota's experience using her research as part of a program review, and says she wants to be on Oprah.
Click below for all her answers. Or go check out the book: Seven Essential Principles of Educational Programs that Break the Cycle of Poverty.
Continue reading "HOTSEAT: Former USDE Official Dishes On Spellings, Popular Reforms" »
Lots of news outlets are telling us about the Bush administration's push to get out "midnight regulations" that would take effect even after Obama takes office (Google News), but no one has told us yet whether there are any regs getting pushed out the door that affect education.
Any last-minute rule changes or definitions they're trying to sneak by us? I'm counting on you OMB watchers and lobbyists to tell us what's going on.
UPDATE: I'm being reminded that the USDE issued a big batch of Title I regs last month (New federal regulations on graduation rates have school officials ...) that might, depending on your definition (90 vs 60 days), be described as midnight regulations.
UPDATE 2: ProPublica is tracking midnight regs but doesn't seem to have included any education ones (here). Maybe the October education regs are only considered to be "twilight" regs? But that hasn't stopped folks from complaining about them -- see the NEA's press release from a few weeks back.
EdWeek has the story that NCES Commissioner Mark Schneider is headed to AIR (Head of Ed. Dept. Statistics Agency Stepping Down).
But I'm told that Russ Whitehurst (pictured) is headed to Brookings even sooner than that.
Secretary Spellings is headed your way on Thursday.
During her visit she will "tour classrooms, visit with students and teachers, deliver remarks and participate in a question and answer session about higher education and the Department’s newly launched website, College.gov, at a school assembly at Charlestown High School."
Is it too early to call it a farewell tour?
Kudos to Spellings for showing off her TedStrong wrist bracelet and talking about her admiration for Ted Kennedy. Colbert suggested the idea federally mandated spanking. "Maybe we oughta try that," remarked Spellings. Colbert came back at her with the idea that school sanctions don't work -- we should go straight to bombing them. Spellings said that she didn't like the word "sanctions" but remained suspiciously silent on the whole bombing idea. It was light, as expected, but I guess she did OK. What did you think?
UPDATE: Now there's video. Hooray.
Secretary Spellings' pop culture thing wore off on me a long time ago -- though apparently I'm alone. She's slated to be on Colbert tonight. Here's a link to her Daily Show appearance, based on which we can predict that on tonight's show she will ham it up to show that she's in on
the joke and flirt with the host to distract him from the hard question he's trying to ask-- including salacious lip-licking at key moments.
Not only does ECS still exist for some reason, it's even having a conference. Held in Austin this year, it features EdSec Spellings (natch!), plus Kansas Gov Sebelius. Details here. Not to be outdone, the Aspen Institute is having its annual ideas festival. Spellings will be there, too, conversing with Eli Broad about the state of American education. Details here.
"The federal role in education for the last 40-plus years has been on behalf of the nation's neediest kids. As such, No Child Left Behind is written primarily around their needs. I would say those are the kids who are being grossly underserved in our schools."
Q&A: Education secretary: Challenge assumptions about time, teachers
Des Moines Register
After a couple of weeks of not doing much by way of public events, EdSec Spellings is headed to San Diego early in the week and then to a "national summit on education reform" at...Disney World.
Click below for details.
The Secretary's public schedule has been pretty slow these past few weeks:
But at least there have been fewer "recalls" this way.
Is RTI ("Response To Intervention") the best thing since sliced bread, or just a new name for something old, or -- worst case scenario -- a fancy-sounding way to overburden mainstream classroom teachers and save districts some cash by delaying SPED referrals? I don't really know.
I just started hearing about RTI last year -- you probably heard about it much earlier. But it had been a while since I'd heard about anything "new" and of course that made me curious. Here's an article by the Washington Post's Michael Allison Chandler from this past winter (Waiting Too Late to Test) that raises some of these questions.
I like the notion of putting in a systematic screening system that makes sure kids don't just fall through the cracks -- rather than relying entirely on teachers' instincts. And I'm curious about the potential for small interventions that might make a difference. But I'm skeptical about teachers' willingness to do all the formative assessments and ability to make a series of subtle adjustments. Maybe that's why it's mostly being implemented in better-off districts.
Previous Posts: Could "Checklists" Improve Academic Outcomes?
The most interesting part of Patrick Riccards' post on who should be the next EdSec is his description of the previous EdSec, Rod Paige. In essence, Riccards says Paige has gotten a raw deal. Indeed, it may be true, especially given that by many accounts Paige was operating under such close orders from the White House DPC, where then-unknown Margaret Spellings was housed. It's something that I wrote about a while back in an NRO piece about Spellings' about-face on NCLB once she became EdSec.
Unlike with Obama-Clinton, it's Spellings who's the charismatic light-footed one, what with her waivers and pilot programs and TV appearances, while Paige comes off as the plodding, humorless careerist who was overly strict about implementing NCLB. As with Obama-Clinton, the public narrative may be substantially different from the underlying truth.
PS -- I have never seen a picture of them together, and can't find one on Google Images.
First, everyone said that Reading First was the best thing since sliced bread -- early intervention on literacy to reach kids that Title I sometimes missed. Then came lots of accusations about conflicts of interest, and the departure of that Doherty guy from the USDE. But still, there were reports that the program was popular and considered effective by states and districts that had implemented it. Now, USA Today's Greg Toppo is reporting that a new study from IES, the research arm of the USDE, shows that Reading First is... ineffective. Doh! Read all about it.
U.S. to Require States to Use a Single School Dropout Formula NYT
The
adoption of a federal graduation formula would correct one of the most
glaring weaknesses of the federal No Child Left Behind law.
'Crisis' graduation gap found between cities, suburbs USA Today
The likelihood that a ninth-grader in one of
the nation's biggest cities will clutch a diploma four years later
amounts to a coin toss — not much better than a 50-50 chance, new
research finds.Cross into the suburbs, and the odds improve dramatically.
Report: Urban students face rough road to graduation CNN
Seventeen
of the nation's 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates
lower than 50 percent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in
Detroit, Michigan; Indianapolis, Indiana and Cleveland, Ohio, according
to a report released Tuesday.
Tomorrow's news, today: "Secretary
Spellings will make an announcement during remarks on the need for a more comprehensive and precise definition of
“graduation rate” at a press conference hosted by America's Promise Alliance
and State Farm in the Columbus Club at Union Station. Other speakers at the press conference on
the America’s Promise Alliance’s Dropout Prevention Campaign will include General Colin L. Powell, USA
(Ret), founding chair, America’s Promise Alliance; Alma Powell, chair,
America’s Promise Alliance; and Edward J. Rust, Jr., chief executive officer,
State Farm."
EdSec Spellings finally won on NPR's Wait, Wait--Don't Tell Me -- perhaps the easiest game show out there -- but she can't stop talking about rejecting Karl Rove back in the day (Let's Just Be Friends).
We've all sent out an email that we didn't mean to send. But for most of us it doesn't happen all the time. However, one out of two email announcements from the USDE's Office of Public Affairs these days seems to be followed within a few minutes with a "recall" message. Here's today's example:
The sender would like to recall the message, "U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION MARGARET SPELLINGS HIGHLIGHTS NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND IN RALEIGH".
With the occasional exception, I don't bother trying to figure out what was wrong with the first message -- wrong city? wrong time? But these email recalls have gotten so frequent that it's hard not to notice them and wonder whether this is an example of ineptitude or how little anyone cares about emails sent to the press. My friends on the EWA listserve -- knowing how easily persuaded I am to do their dirty work -- have been hectoring me to point this out.
Back in the day when federal education funding was much less of a big public deal, being Director of the Title I program was sort of a big deal. (Remember Mary Jean LeTendre?) These days, the prominence is gone -- in part because higher-ups (Assistant Secretaries and up) have taken over the issue.
But someone's still gotta make sure the $14B train runs on time. The new man for the job is NC native Zollie Stevenson Jr. [Nice earring!] Stevenson was deputy director -- doing state audits among other things -- and before that he worked in Baltimore, DC, and Charlotte-Mecklenberg.
Congrats, condolences. Read below for the rest of the details.
Continue reading "USDE Names New, Earring-Wearing Title I Director Named Zollie " »
There's rumors on the Interwebs that the USDE unintentionally revealed its proposed FY09 budget proposals a few days ahead of time, though I can't vouch for any of it. Click below to see what's rumored to be proposed on Monday. Make of it what you will. Thanks to them who sent this. Fun!
UPDATE: Here is the spreadsheet with the FY09 figures still "hidden" it, courtesy of the eagle-eyed Jason Sakran at the Committee On Education Funding. Sakran apparently was first to spy the USDE's mistake and post the news on CEF's website and to its members last week, which is how it got spread around. Smart guy that he is, Sakran kept a version of the old spreadsheet, which has the new numbers. [Remember, though, that these are totally unofficial and unconfirmed. Could be just a Spellings plot to make you waste time this weekend.] Note to self: join CEF.
Download department_of_ed_state_by_state_funding_with_an_unofficial_fy2009_estimate.xls
Continue reading "FY09 Budget Proposal Might Be Out A Little Early" »
I'm still looking for pics of EdSec Spellings at the SOTU for you check out, but in the meantime thanks to readers for sending in these close-but-not-quite submissions (interpretations?) of the Spellings outfit:
On the left, you have the polar bear from Golden Compass. This one seems a little harsh. Spellings looked scary that night, but not quite so ferocious.
On the right, that's starlet Jessica Alba at the Sundance Film Festival (I think). Again, not quite a fair comparison, though the high-necked design does have a resemblance to the Spellings outfit.
Troubled still by the President's assertion that NCLB is working? The folks at FactCheck.org say that he's not all wrong:
"He was mostly correct in describing progress in test scores since his No Child Left Behind Act was passed, but he overlooked some recent backsliding in reading scores and the fact that some test scores were on an upward trend before the new law went into effect."
Harsh. Click here (Facts of the Union 2008) for more details.
UPDATE: Over at NPR, Larry Ambramson has something to say that many of you will like hearing better:
"Many educators dispute the effectiveness of No Child Left Behind NCLB . Teachers in particular say they re being asked to meet unrealistic standards, and have demanded more flexibility.... [Bush] didn't mention that reading scores in those grades have stagnated, despite No Child Left Behind...What he did not say is that the achievement gap between whites and minorities remains very large."
The Alliance for Excellent Education (no idea) is determined to make a week out of the President's State Of The Union speech tonight, first by demanding that education be a big part of his speech (it won't) and second by encouraging us to play SOTU Bingo (sure, why not?).
Click below for the Alliance's talking points. Click here for the Bingo thing (via Fritzwire).
Extra points for anyone who can explain what the Alliance is, how it's different from all the other education groups in DC, and why we need it.
A few days ago EdSec Spellings sent a letter out to the state education chiefs (Download letter.tif) telling them that the USDE is going to explore legal remedies -- no word on a specific route of appeal. Foregoing Sundance this year, Spellings is nonetheless headed to Davos, Switzerland for the annual confab of economic powers and thinkers.
It's just three two weeks until the (last) GW Bush state of the union and the rollout of the FY09 budget, but this year there won't be the usual line of folks waiting for their copies of the budget documents, says Fritz of the Fritzwire: "For the first time, hard copy versions of the Administration’s budget proposal will not be available to the public, but will be accessible in a paperless “E-Budget” format online at www.budget.gov. The online version will be fully searchable and available for downloading."
Secretary Spellings is headed West this week for a slew of Washington, Oregon, and California events, according to her press folks:
Wednesday, January 16:
8 a.m. PST Secretary Spellings and Governor Gregoire will host an education policy roundtable with, state legislators, educators and business leaders at Roosevelt Elementary School. A media availability will follow.
OPEN PRESS Olympia, Wash.
Thursday, January 17: 9 a.m. PST Secretary Spellings will deliver remarks on No Child Left Behind before the Oregon State Board of Education at the Public Services Building. A media availability will follow. OPEN PRESS Salem, Ore. 10:45 a.m. PSTSecretary Spellings will visit Auburn Elementary School with Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Castillo and tour classrooms, visit with students and teachers and deliver remarks at a school assembly. A media availability will follow. OPEN PRESS Salem, Ore. 1:10 p.m. PST Secretary Spellings will host a Hispanic Roundtable with local Hispanic leaders at the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. OPEN PRESS Portland, Ore.
Friday, January 18: 10:30 a.m. PST Secretary Spellings and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will tour classrooms and visit with students and teachers at Otay Elementary School. A media availability will follow. OPEN PRESS San Diego, Calif.
EdSec Spellings gave a speech today on NCLB, including the lines:
We’re in the midst of a profound and often uncomfortable transition. ..Today, we’re taking an honest look at our schools. ..We have to ask, which comes first, politics or kids?
I'll try to get video or audio of the speech, or someone's description of the event. In the meantime, you can click below to see the full text, as written.
There's also a new(?) webpage from the USDE called Mapping The Nation's Progress, which includes state- and national-level data from the past six years of NCLB. I'll give a dollar to anyone who can compare how states do on the USDE site to how they do on the EdWeek report that's just out, Quality Counts.
Continue reading ""A Profound And Uncomfortable Transition"" »
From this picture, it almost looks like President Bush is teaching class. Imagine:
"Now, class," said President Bush as he strode to the other side of the blackboard.
"Pay attention. Like I explained yesterday, here's what you need to know about calculating volumes and surface areas."
Then, a moment later: "Xavier, give Tesha her pencil back."
This is so delicious it's hard to believe it's true. According to the Tribune's Washington DC blog,
President Bush is coming to Chicago on Monday to celebrate NCLB's many
achievements -- and enjoy some pizza. I guess Chicago has become sort of mecca for NCLB
implementation? How this decision got made, I
have no idea. It's going to be a week after the Iowa caucus and the
day before the New Hampshire primary. I guess going to New York City is out for political reasons. White House press secretary
Dana Perino joked that the motivation for the visit was to have some deep dish.
EdSec Spellings makes it to Number Four on Time Magazine's list of T-Shirt Worthy slogans for 2007 with this instruction apparently given to incoming White House spokesperson Dana Perino on the occasion of her getting the job.
This sounds to me like a female, Texas version of the now-ubiquitous instruction that is given to "man up."
Of course, there are many women who man up more often than men, and several men I can think of who really need to put their big-girl panties on.
The NY Times editorial page jumps into education waters with this strangely mis-timed clunker on national testing (Test and Switch). In it, the Times calls for various baby steps towards a rigorous and comparable national test -- a NAEP-created test offered to states, a national list of states using weak homegrown versions. That's all well and good, I suppose, except for the fact that NAEP is having its own uniformity and rigor problems. According to the NY Sun and... no one else ... some districts are handing out NAEP accommodations like those
cheap Frisbees they give out when a new bank branch opens on the corner. Maybe NAEP should handle that one before we give it a broader scope of work? Or maybe I just woke up on the wrong side again.
He isn't the first, and he won't be the last.
What high-level communications guru with what Wonkette readers once called a "porn name" is leaving the USDE for the Big Apple?
Check here at the new wiki page for communications folks to find out -- and feel free to add or correct or edit anything you'd like.
You communications people move around like hummingbirds, always jumping to the next best job.
Our travel-loving EdSec (apparently known to her boss as "Margarita") is off to Germany this week, with public events in Bonn on Wednesday and Thursday.
"Wednesday, November 21 3:40 p.m. CET Secretary Spellings will deliver remarks at the Ministerial Panel on "Relevance and Quality – What are the Challenges?" during the Third Ministerial Meeting on Education of the Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) countries and the Group of Eight (G8). On Thursday, November 22 9 a.m. CET Secretary Spellings will be attending the Third Ministerial Meeting on Education of the Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) countries and the Group of Eight (G8)."
Germany in November -- is that a trip all her staff want to go on (side trip to Berlin!) or no (week of Thanksgiving!). I'm thinking no.
Want to know how the major papers covered the release of the urban NAEP scores yesterday? Here you go:
Urban students' scores improve AP
National praise for ATL test scores AJC
Students up in math, but not reading LAT
National data show Chicago students lagging Tribune
Little Progress for City Schools NYT
Scores on Urban NAEP Inch Up EdWeek
The new urban NAEP scores aren't supposed to be out until later this morning, but there's at least one story out already on the new results:
City Students Stalled on National Education Tests NY Sun
In the city, 41% of
eighth-graders cannot perform basic reading, up from 38% in 2003, the
first year scores were reported, and above the percentages in Houston
and Chicago, 37% and 39% respectively. On the math test, 43% of
eighth-graders scored below basic, compared with 46% in 2003.
The full results for 11 districts will be out later, and the EdSec is doing an event in Atlanta.
No, that's not a depiction of her in the poster.
*Apparently the embargo wasn't broken. Under the somewhat made-up sounding rules of journalism, an embargo is only good if both sides agree to it ahead of time. (That is, if you send me something under embargo but I haven't agreed ahead of time, the embargo is no good.) Not it!
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in This Week In Education are strictly those of the author and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Scholastic, Inc.
