Inauguration: Remembering Four Years Ago

Four years ago:

*President Obama was talking education in his Inaugural Address, noted EdWeek

*Chairman Miller was the only one who thought his education remarks were good.

*Arne Duncan was the easily-confirmed appointee to be Education Secretary... obviously less fiery that New York City's Joel Klein (who clearly wanted the job but was thrown under the bus by the reform community he'd helped lead to prominence) but still much more reformy than progressives' pick, Linda Darling-Hammond.

*To little effect, Chicago news outlets tried to give a reality check on Duncan's actual accomplishments.  Then again, Duncan did sign his kids up for public school, shaming his boss (not for the first time).

*NCLB was just seven years old.

*Eduwonkette was penning her last blog posts.

*Park Slope's John Jay HS still had poor minority kids.

*There was still such a thing as winter, and snow days.

*The education provisions in the Stimulus were being gushed over in the media and examined by DFER's Charlie Barone and AEI's Rick Hess.  Little did we know at the time how misguided the charter school cap removal, among other aspects, would seem just a few months later.  Little did the 12 states that eventually won what would become Race to the Top would appreciate the money and regret the promises they made to get it.

*The Obamas had chosen Sidwell Friends for their daughters but were going to make a socioeconomically diverse charter school, Capital City, the first school they visited as President and First Lady. 

What else was there?  I'm sure I'm leaving good stuff out.

AM News: Obama Administration Floats $10B Universal Preschool Proposal

Obama Evaluating Early Childhood Education Push In Second Term HuffPost: According to sources close to the administration, Duncan and the Department of Health and Human Services are outlining a $10 billion plan to create universal pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds from low- and some middle-income families -- approximately 1.85 million children. 

Chris Christie: NRA Ad Referencing Obama's Daughters 'Reprehensible' Huffington Post:  The Obama administration cites that with technical assistance from the Department of Education, 18,000 schools have already put evidence-based strategies to improve school climate into action. Through executive action, the administration proposes a new ...

Duncan: Hard to teach kids scared of being killed AP:  Duncan says it's tough to prepare students for college when they're more worried about being killed than making it to graduation.

In Pursuit of Safety, Schools' Paths Diverge WSJ: A month after a gunman massacred 20 students in Newtown, Conn., school districts nationwide are struggling with safety issues and taking widely divergent approaches. In one rural Ohio district, ...

Seattle High School's Teachers Toss District's Test NPR: The teachers say the test, which evaluates their performance as well as the students', is a waste of time. The district is planning review of the test's effectiveness but still expects that it will be administered. As protests against standardized tests percolate nationwide, Seattle may cause a greater ripple effect.

No Deal on New York City Teacher Evaluations; State and Federal Money at Risk NYT: The United Federation of Teachers and the Bloomberg administration blamed each other for talks breaking down even as a midnight deadline approached.

Green Dot charter group to reorganize Locke High LAT: In a move to address the slumping academic performance of incoming ninth-grade students, charter school operator Green Dot Public School is proposing to reorganize Locke High School in Watts.

Education Secty. Arne Duncan coming to launch pioneering Providence school ... Providence Journal: Education Secretary Arne Duncan will help launch United Providence, drawing national attention to the first-of-its-kind collaboration between a school district and teacher union to improve struggling schools.

Morning Video: NRA Brings First Daughters Into School Gun Debate

Here's the NRA ad that the White House and others find objectionable. Slate: White House Calls NRA Ad "Cowardly"

AM News: Schools React To Obama School Safety Initiatives

How to tackle violence and mental illness in schools Washington Post: The White House wants $50 million to train new mental health professionals, $25 million for school-based trauma treatment and violence prevention programs, $25 million for state-based mental health programs targeting youths ages 16 to 25, $15 million to train teachers to deal with mental illness, and $40 million to help school districts direct students to the mental health services they need.

Obama Proposes Host of School Safety, Mental Health Programs PoliticsK12: The administration hasn't always been supportive of federal funding targeted directed exclusively at hiring school counselors and school resources officers. Obama has proposed eliminating the $53 million Elementary and Secondary Counseling Program, in favor of a broader funding stream that schools could use for counselors, but also for activities aimed at improving school climate and safety.

What do Obama's executive orders on gun control mean for schools? The Courier-Journal: Obama says he wants to create a safer climate at schools across the country. The White House document says that with technical assistance from the Department of Education, 18,000 schools have already put in place evidence-based strategies to improve ...

Reaction of education groups to Obama gun proposals AJC: President Barack Obama proposed universal background checks and prohibitions on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines like the ones used in the Newtown where a gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children.

DC leads nation in strength of charter school laws, report says Washington Post: The District leads the nation in terms of the strength of its public charter school laws and their implementation, according to a new report issued Wednesday by a national group that ...

Video: Couple’s commitment to Kenyan slum leads to trailblazing schoolNBC News: The Kibera Slums are home to Nairobi’s so-called forgotten children. Kennedy Odede, who grew up in Kibera, and his American wife, Jessica, have started a school that is providing 100 girls living in the Kenyan slum with their best chance of beating hopelessness. Rock Center Special Correspondent Chelsea Clinton’s full report airs Thursday, Jan. 17 at 10pm/9CDT on NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams. (Rock Center)

How Math Got Its Groove Back PBS NewsHour: Carrie Lewis and Kelly Steele's fifth grade students slide and spin across the classroom floor. They do the hustle, the robot and the running man. While it may look at first glance like goofing off, these students are actually dancing for a higher cause... math.

Photos: Will This Time Be Any Different For Guns?

The Atlantic thinks so. Photo via Whitehouse.gov.

Update: White House Muzzling Duncan On School Safety

Read this EdWeek story (Chicago Years Inform Ed. Secretary's Views on Gun Violence) and you get the clear impression that the White House is reining in EdSec Duncan on gun control right now. Usually unconstrained on policy issues, open to the press, and Obama's go-to guy, Duncan's post-Sandy Hook Elementary remarks have been muted (and pre-scripted).  He won't talk to EdWeek.  Why not?  He's known as a fan of gun control and an enemy of the NRA, which makes him somewhat toxic right now.  

Obama II: What He's Going To Focus On (Vs. What He Should)

Inauguration is fast approaching, and so folks are starting to get around to thinking about what Team Obama should and will do on education during a second term (as well as how to get Inauguration tickets and whether it's worth flying in).   There's no shortage of ideas in addition to hot-button topics like school safety and immigration: 

One contingent of folks think that the focus should be on promoting universal preschool, which is one of the most noncontroversial ideas out there (for now at least).  I have no real objection to that priority, though I'd also love to see something on universal full-day kindergarten, which is surprisingly unusual and has the added convenience of being part of the K-12 system.  Preschools aren't fully linked to the K12 system in most districts, and are funded through HHS and USDE in Washington.  Seriously:  universal full-day Kindergarten, NOW.  

Another contingent -- among them Michelle Rhee -- think that the big push should be to refocus NCLB and its funding streams on innovation and effectiveness rather than accountability and student demographics, which are its current guiding lights.  Think a one-time infusion of $3.4 billion brought on a lot of changes nationally? Imagine what $15-20 billion PER YEAR could do.  Or at least so the thinking goes.  (Personally I think they should just sign schools schools into a Hunger Games-like video game and fund them according to how many points/kills they rack up.)

The best idea, really -- mine -- is for Team Obama to focus some serious attention and funding on mixed-income, mixed ability schools and neighborhoods.  Name Petrilli and Kahlenberg and -- I don't know -- Linda Darling-Hammond to co-head a Transitional/Diversity/Gentrification Initiative, provide some funding and support for communities going through gentrification so that the new and old communities don't tear each other apart, and do something that folks outside the ghetto (education and real-world) will care about.  Incentivize charters to serve mixed-income, mixed-ability groups of students while you're at it.  

Thompson: Carmel Martin As "Candide"

During the Fordham Institute’s recent panel discussion, Turnaround Merry-Go-Round: Is the Music Stopping?, the Department of Education’s Carmel Martin reminded me of Voltaire’s Candide.

Like Candide, Martin bravely endured a devastating critique by Fordham’s Andy Smarick of the Duncan administration’s School Improvement Grant outcomes. She countered that it is wrong to compare decades of failed turnarounds with today’s turnarounds.  Her evidence was that Secretary Duncan meets with a lot of state leaders, and those talks make him optimistic.

Martin gamely responded to critiques of NCLB-type accountability schemes, citing the political pressures that produced such flawed metrics. Finally, Martin faced the question of unintended results of data-driven accountability.  In order to boost graduation rates, systems resorted to credit recovery gimmicks and, in order to raise test scores, they adopted assessments with easier questions. So, has that not undermined the transition to more challenging instruction required by Common Core? 

Martin replied, “Again, it’s an area where I’m going to take the optimistic view instead of the pessimistic.”-JT(@drjohnthompson) Image via.           

People: StudentsFirst Comms Guru Has Left The Building

Former DNC spokesman and District of Columbia man about town Hari Sevugan has parted ways with StudentsFirst -- at his own behest, I'm being told but have not been able to confirm on the record one way or the other.  

Sevugan was brought on board to help beef up Rhee's communications operation and to bolster its Democratic bona fides.  The DREAM Act endorsement and the antibullying thing were likely Sevugan pushes. Maybe even the neutral earth tones Rhee sometimes used instead of all black outfits.  Needless to say, Sevugan was loathed by his counterparts at the AFT and NEA for attempting to humanize Rhee.  

Anyway, Sevugan isn't the first senior level person to leave StudentsFirst in recent months -- and the departures aren't necessarily a bad thing -- but I'll leave that to another day or to someone else who's more energetic than I am.  It's job-changing time in Washington and elsewhere around the country. Cue the Mariachi music.

Previous posts:  Rhee Group Begins To Address Experience Gap, "The Best Bomb Thrower In Politics"

Funding: Details About The Fiscal Cliff Deal

Here's some facts from the Committee on Education Funding's Joel Packer (not pictured).  

UPDATED SUMMARY: SEQUESTER REVISIONS IN HR 8

• Delays the date of the FY 13 sequester order by two months, from January 2, 2013 to March 1, 2013. 

• Reduces the total amount of the sequester by $24 billion, reducing the total from $1.2 trillion to $1.176 trillion. 

• Pays for this $24 billion reduction 50% through spending cuts and 50% by increased revenues. It reduces the discretionary spending caps by $12 billion and raises revenues from a provision concerning Roth IRAs by $12 billion.

• The $12 billion in discretionary cuts is achieved by cutting defense spending by $6 billion and nondefense discretionary (NDD) spending by $6 billion. This $12 billion cut is achieved by reducing the current discretionary cap over two years for both defense and NDD.  The caps are cut by $2 billion each in FY 13 and by $4 billion each in FY 14.

• For FY 13 ONLY, the discretionary spending caps revert to the original split between “security” and “nonsecurity”. The Budget Control Act had originally set separate spending caps for “Security” (which included not just DOD but also discretionary appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Nuclear Security Administration, the intelligence community management account and all budget accounts in budget function 150 (international affairs)) and “nonsecurity”.  The failure of the Supercommittee automatically redefined those categories so that “security” is now just DoD and nonsecurity (nondefense discretionary (NDD)) is everything else.

Continued below

People: NSVF's Schorr Joining Duncan Communications Team

According to an unconfirmed but seemingly authentic email  passed along by a friend, longtime NewSchools Venture Fund external relations guru Jonathan (@jonathanschorr) Schorr is leaving California to join the Duncan communications team in Washington, "taking responsibility for the Department’s speechwriting and website, and working with an extraordinary team dedicated to communicating President Obama’s and Sec. Duncan’s education agenda and ideas to the country."

Schorr is, among other things, a TFA alum and the son of longtime NPR journalist Daniel Schorr.  The annual invitation-only NSVF Summit -- somewhat the creation of Schorr and the way many of us came to know about the organization and through which we have watched the evolution of the school reform movement -- is scheduled for the end of April in San Francisco.  Schorr isn't the first NSVF staffer to join the Obama administration, which includes Joanne Weiss and I'm guessing a few others. 

Related posts:  Offspring Of The Famous, Dynasties In The Making, Preview Of NewSchools Summit 2012.

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Charts: Funding (And Reforming) Head Start

Here's a chart showing federal funding for Head Start via New America's info page: New Resources on Head Start:

HHS is obviously pushing to fix and change the program, which is all well and good, and everybody loves the pre-K kids, but as I keep asking this week: what about regular old Kindergarten? How can it be that Kindergarten's not already universal and full-day?

Newtown: The Importance Of Single-Issue Advocacy

The real lesson of the Newtown tragedy for educators, foundations, and reform groups is how clearly it highlights the importance of single-issue advocacy efforts conducted at the national level:

As many have noted, the NRA has for decades blocked gun control measures, becoming one of the most effective single issue advocacy operations in the country (along with the anti-tax folks, perhaps, and AARP).

NYC Mayor Bloomberg's "Demand A Plan" initiative, including 34 shooting victims sending videos to the Obama White House over this past weekend, has already arguably had an impact on the Administration's decision to move forward (however tentatively).

In this National Journal article, Adam Cohen discusses the possibility of a "parent lobby" that would, like the NRA or AARP or anyone else, focus on child safety and welfare issues. (The chart shows just how cheap it is to have an impact.)

And what about in education?  The teachers unions and education associations are well-established. The Children's Defense Fund and NAACP used to perform some of these functions on behalf of poor children and families.  Short-run efforts such as Ed in '08 and that College Board thing this summer revealed the power and challenges.  While powerul at the policy level, state-level advocacy networks are limited politically when things get big and struggle with command and coordination issues among different states. 

Twenty-odd years into school reform (and at least five into my blathering about the need for such a thing) there's still no national education reform advocacy group or PAC.  

Quotes: Half-Day Kindergarten, The Forgotten Problem

Children enrolled in half-day kindergarten receive less instructional time, likely experience a narrowed curriculum, have less time for experimentation and exploration, and enjoy fewer opportunities for play. - New America's Laura Bornfreund

Morning Video: Fordham Panel On Turnarounds

Carmel Ninety-minute video of Monday's panel featuring Carmel Martin, Checker Finn, Andy Smarick, Jean-Claude Brizard (here)

Morning Video: LA Board Members Demand Grant Approval

 

Here's a dramatic three-minute clip of LAUSD school board members debating last week whether or not they should be allowed to approve competitive grant applications such as TIF or RTTTD before they are submitted. Via LA School Report. See also: Grant Approval Varies In Other Districts.

Quotes: Bloomberg Critiques Obama On Education

The president could’ve done a lot more [on education]. But he did stand up to a typical Democratic constituency, the teachers union—somewhat—and certainly has a secretary that the unions don’t like. - NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg

 

Charts: Fiscal Cliff Impacts On IDEA, Title I

The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary seems to have prompted some sort of break in the fiscal cliff logjam, but just in case:  Via PBS

Photo: Duncan Tour Of Staten Island Schools

EdSec Arne Duncan spent last Thursday morning touring  the school-related damage on Staten Island with UFT head Mike Mulgrew -- and Gothamschools was there: Staten Island schools affected by Sandy get high-profile visitors.

Duncan doesn't look too worse for wear after a long night partying with the Rolling Stones at the 21212 Sandy Relief concert the night before (Duncan Attended Sandy Relief Concert). 

Image via Gothamschools.

Charts: 7 States With Trigger Laws - Federal Proposal To Come

Think the trigger has come and gone?  Think again.  Maybe you heard Claudio Sanchez's NPR segment this morning on the parent trigger law (here), talking about how powerful if untested an idea it is, and here's the map that goes along with the seven states Sanchez mentioned, courtesy of KC MO News (here):

"As of June, the National Conference of State Legislatures said about 13 other states had considered but did not approve trigger laws." Click the link to get to a clickable link. I'm starting a pool over how long into the new Congress we get before a member introduces a federal trigger proposal.

Events: Duncan Attended Sandy Relief Concert

Colleagues looking a little ragged this morning?

Everybody who was anybody was there at NYC's Madison Square Garden last night for the Sandy Relief benefit concert, watching Kanye West strut around in a leather skirt and The Who's Roger Daltry take off his shirt -- including I'm told several educationistas.

One reason for the education connection was that the event was being coordinated by the Robin Hood Foundation, a cabal of NYC do-gooders who  also apparently do storm relief work.

Another reason for the presence of at least one tall thin Obama cabinet member in the VIP section was that there's an education event out at PS38 on Staten Island this morning, so it probably just made sense to come in early and take in the show.  

AM News: US Dept. of Ed Focus on English-Learners Waning

Ed. Department Focus on English-Learners Seen Waning EdWeek: As the number of English learners continues to grow faster than that of any other group in the nation's public schools, concerns are mounting that the distinctive needs of those students and the educators who work with them are receiving diminishing attention from the U.S. Department of Education.

K-12 Education May Not Benefit From Brighter Fiscal Outlook HuffPostEdu: Despite some positive signs that could help school budgets, states are still facing a shaky financial environment as they head into the new year--a circumstance that could disappoint advocates hoping that even sluggish economic progress could give K-12 funding a boost.

States Faulted Over Teacher Pension Shortfall Wall Street Journal: U.S. states carry a total of about $325 billion in unfunded teacher pension liabilities, according to a report that says efforts by lawmakers to tinker with vesting periods or shave benefits are falling far short of the overhaul ...

Tony Bennett selected as new Florida education commissioner OrlandoSentinel: Tony Bennett, who lost his job running Indiana schools in an election last month, will become Florida's new education commissioner. The State Board of Education unanimously voted today to hire Bennett to oversee Florida's public schools and colleges.

Rural After-School Efforts Must Stretch to Serve EdWeek: Despite increasing national attention to the potential for out-of-school programs to enhance school offerings and provide academic enrichment, leaders in rural areas mostly agree that their troubles, exacerbated by the economic crisis of recent years, aren't getting easier.

School Absences Translate to Lower Test Scores, Study Says EdWeek: Missing even a few days of school seems to make a difference in whether 8th graders perform at the top of their game, according to a new analysis of results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Reform: Disaster Economics, Education-Style

As New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut try and wrest $80 billion in Hurricane Sandy recovery funding out of Washington, it's worth noting that they face much the same challenges as advocates for federal education programs: it's easier to get Congress to approve funding for post-disaster recovery than it is to get Congress to approve funding for pre-disaster prevention.

The dynamics are illustrated in last week's New Yorker article, Disaster Economics, which points out that big-ticket items like dams and raised highways are unlikely to get much attention from lawmakers in Washington no matter what the economic or political situation the nation faces.  

Reading the piece it occurs to me that education is in much the same situation, fighting tooth and nail for roughly $50 billion in annual federal education funding that most of it goes towards recovery.  Title I (NCLB) dollars are essentially poverty recovery funding, right? 

It would take at least another $50 billion a year, for at least ten years, to mount a universal preschool effort nationwide, but, as with disaster recovery, Congress prefers to wait until the damage is done and pay for it afterwards -- even if the costs are much much larger than they have to be.  And reformers and teachers both seem to prefer to fight over relatively minor policy issues rather than focusing on big things they agree on but don't benefit them directly.

Congress: "Technical Amendments" In The Fiscal Cliff Deal?

Officially, there's not much going on in Washington DC right now other than departing lawmakers, arriving ones, and the fiscal cliff debate.  But it was two years ago in December, during contentious negotiations about the debt limit or something along those lines that Congress passed the (in)famous "codification" of the Bush-era highly qualified teacher regulations that I wrote about in my paper on NCLB, HQT, and alternative certification.

  

At that time, since it was a continuing resolution, the amendments were called variances discordances or or something like that. But the language was just a couple of sentences long -- that's all it takes: 

(a) A ‘highly qualified teacher’ includes a teacher who meets the requirements in 34 CFR 200.56(a)(2)(ii), as published in the Federal Register on December 2, 2002. (b) This provision is effective on the date of enactment of this provision through the end of the 2012–2013 academic year.

This makes me wonder if there must be at least a handful of education-related bits of business that the Administration, Hill leaders, or others are pushing to get included along with the fiscal cliff deal that if history is our guide will be passed late at night the Friday before Christmas or something ridiculous like that.

Do I know what these items to get slipped in might be? No idea. That's your job. They could be in the category of language needed to smooth NCLB waiver oversight or implementation, or some small but key business related to Common Core. What unfinished business out there needs getting done and has enough friends to get it on a short list of "technical amendments"? Figure it out now, or read about it when it's already been signed into law.  

People: Hamilton's Gone, Briscoe Remains

Finally, that guy Justin Hamilton is gone, following Cunningham out the door of the Duncan communications shop.

But Daren Briscoe is still around, and apparently staying put.

Is he on OKCupid, too?  I'm happy to ask.

His mustache is gone, as this recent road picture attests.  (Click to zoom)

No, you still can't call him "The Briscoe Kid." 

Budget: A Funding Cliff -- For NCLB

I'm not particularly worried about the fiscal cliff, which makes for great post-election theater but seems unlikely to happen in any form that would be disastrous. But I *am* worried about the overall federal education budget in the next cycle, and one big reason is the NCLB waiver scheme.  

Federal funding for K-12 education went up a bunch during the NCLB era, a fact that many seem not to know or conveniently forget.  And a new reauthorization of any law, including education, usually generates funding increases since lawmakers want to see their votes and efforts succeed.  

But we don't have an NCLB reauthorization to spring off of, thanks to the whiners at the Chiefs and the lazybones at the USDE (and CAP?) who got us into this waiver mess.  And it seems unlikely to me that lawmakers are going to manage much enthusiasm for a program that (a) isn't new and (b) essentially operates outside their control. 

So don't worry about the fiscal cliff that everyone's talking about now.  Worry about the fiscal cliff that NCLB could be about to fall off of in February and March.  

NCLB: The Reauthorization We Could Be Having [Now]

As this lame duck Congress wraps up and energy builds towards a new Congress and a second Obama term in office, I can't help but wishing that reauthorizing NCLB was something that was on everyone's first order of business for January and February. Instead, the states are running off  into the woods with their NCLB waivers, Duncan chasing behind them with letters reminding them of their vague promises to uphold the spirit of NCLB.

Of course, the Obama folks didn't know if they'd get another term, and nobody knew whether the NCLB reauthorization that came out of the current (old) Congress would be any good. To be fair, the same thing got done to the DREAMers, who are now in the same kind of political and policy limbo as NCLB.

But still, it could have been different -- should have been, I'd argue.  

RTT-D: Finalists List Released (You're Probably Not On It)

Here's the list of RTTT-District finalists, which USDE somehow came up with just a couple of weeks after receiving nearly 400 district applications (via @joy_resmovits at HuffPost).  Did your district make it?

Pictures: Down In Tampa, They Call Him "Velvet"

“I’m not planning on doing this forever," said Secretary Duncan.  "Just until all 49.8 million kids in our public elementary and secondary schools can graduate." Secretary Of Education Forced To Take Up Stripping To Put Nation Through School via The Onion

AM News: Cunningham Leaves - Weiss & Whalen To Follow?

Cunningham To Leave U.S. Dept. of Ed. PoliticsK12: Already, Karen Cator, the department's education technology director, has announced she's leaving. In August, federal special education chief Alexa Posny departed. I'm curious to see how long Joanne Weiss, Duncan's chief of staff, and Ann Whalen, the department's director of implementation, stick around.

Today's Tests Seen as Bar to Better Assessment EdWeek:The use of testing in school accountability systems may hamstring the development of tests that can actually transform teaching and learning, experts from a national assessment commission warn.

The Downside Of A High-Tech Classroom StateImpact: As Florida works its way toward the digital transition in classrooms by 2015, a publication is questioning whether the potential health hazards are worth it.

NCLB Reauthorization Debate Likely To Continue In Obama Second Term HuffPostEdu: In 2008, Barack Obama campaigned on the promise that his administration would oversee the rewriting of the expired No Child Left Behind Act. But four years later, education experts and legislators don't see any end to the negotiations with and within Congress.

Michigan Board Of Education Discusses Legislative Proposals For School Choice HuffPostEdu: Among them is the Michigan Public Education Finance Act, which would allow per-pupil funding to follow students to any district willing to accept them, according to to the Associated Press. Currently the state’s students can only attend schools of choice in adjacent districts.

People: Chief Duncan Message-Master Leaving The Team

Peter "Cowboy" Cunningham is leaving the Duncan education team and heading back to Chicago, according to an email sent last night. He doesn't say what he's going to do but I could imagine him doing something with David Axelrod's new University of Chicago Institute of Politics.

Cunningham oversaw a four-year period in which Duncan started out and remained a White House favorite. There were only a few mis-steps -- the flareup over the Obama back to school speeches, the infamous Duncan line about New Orleans having benefitted from Hurricane Katrina. Cunningham oversaw the quick arrival and departure of PG County's John White as press secretary, and kept Justin Josh Hamilton and Sandra Abreveya in some sort of balance as co-press secretaries. 

A colorful-for-Washington character who loves live music and always seems to do his job without taking it too seriously (or necessarily believing what he's selling), Cunningham first came to education "fame" when he coined "Renaissance 2010," the Duncan inititiave in Chicago that was theoretically a big plan about opening more schools but was really a small plan about closing them -- then pulled off much the same trick in Washington, convincing credulous journalists and then state officials that Race to the Top was going to be worth it despite its obvious flaws (lack of funding, a straight removal of the charter cap, ridiculous timelines).

Thompson: What Obama Will Do, Vs. What He *Should* Do

In her recent piece, Obama Education Policy: Second Term Still Not Clear, the Huffington Post’s Joy Resmovits cites Alexander's past pattern of retaining the “reluctant allegiance of teachers” while balancing our interest with those of reformers.

Indeed, many teachers were appalled by the President's education policy.  But we had no reluctance in supporting his reelection, and, as the election unfolded, we were pleased when he stopped promoting anti-teacher policies.  

Hechinger's Sarah Butrymowicz Obama Re-Elected: What Four More Years Means for Education cites Jeff Henig's analysis that Race to the Top will remain “not just an education program but a philosophy about how you wield influence from Washington, D.C."

Before continuing the philosophy of using competitive grants to drive school improvement, however, we should ask whether RttT worked.  President Obama should appoint John Q. Easton, or an equally proven scholar, to lead a comprehensive cost benefit analysis of whether his experiment improved schools.  In the meantime, rather than perpetually pitting one Democratic constituency against another, the president should listen to NEA's Dennis Van Roekel and focus on early education and higher education affordability, which do not divide the Administration's base.-JT(@drjohnthompson) Image via.

Campaign 2012: Teacher In Hot Water For "Food Stamp" Comment

Yikes.  A South Carolina math teacher is in trouble for tweeting to complain about her students celebrating the Obama win because it would allow them to keep their food stamps.  Via Jezebel

Decision 2012: Big Win For Obama's Hybrid Agenda

Folks on both sides of the education divide are going to spend a lot of time today trying to make the case that last night's election was a decisive victory for or against school reform -- Mike Petrilli's A not-so-great night for education reform is an early example -- as is the Charter School Alliance email "Public Charter Schools Win Big in Election" -- but I think they're overstating the case.  

A few reform-oriented ballot initiatives and candidates, and a few lost.  A few education spending initiatives won and lost. But none of those was decisive or numerous enough in any given direction to constitute a clear win or less.

The big story from last night's election is support for the Obama administration's hybrid agenda of both funding education and reforming it at roughly the same time -- and that the divide between unions and Democrats is real but not so large, or widespread, or lacking in pragmatism that it prevents unions and Democrats from coming together when it comes election time.  

If the pushback against reform was as big and real as some have made it, then Obama wouldn't have won the way he did, and organized labor wouldn't have done all it did to ensure that the Democrats kept the Senate and didn't lose ground in the House, and the Latino community wouldn't have come out so strongly for Obama.

The takeaway for reform critics?  People may agree with some of the points you make but not enough or in large enough numbers to change their votes. The takeaway for reformers?  Support resources as well as reform if you want to broaden your appeal.

Here's a link to the DFER 2012 Wins-Losses. Below is the 50CAN Action Fund list.  Still waiting on the StudentsFirst and STAND brag sheets.

Morning Video: Watch President Obama Speak Spanish

Since a big factor in the Obama re-election victory was the increase in turnout (and support) from Latino voters, let's watch Obama speak Spanish in this campaign ad.

 

What's he saying? "I'm sorry about the whole NCLB waivers idea -- it was Arne's fault -- but I'll try and clean up the mess during my second term."

Race To The Top: Chicago, Fresno, Las Vegas Submit Applications

While several big-name districts like LAUSD weren't able to win union approval for their Race to the Top applications, this LA School Report post (Districts Compromise To Win Union Support) notes that neither the outcome nor the reactions were uniform nationwide. Chicago, Las Vegas, and Fresno were able to come to an agreement.  Editorial pages in LA were divided over whether to lay blame at the feet of the union alone or at the feet of both the union and the school district. The USDE hasn't yet released a final list of districts that have applied for the competition - or at least not to me.

School Life: Weak Antibullying Advice From The POTUS

Here's President Obama's letter in response to a girl's complaint about being teased at school for having two dads.  Sure, it's nice.  But the advice he gives her is pretty weak, if you ask me. Let's hope he's not planning on using it to deal with House Republicans if he gets a second term.  

Campaign 2012: Feisty Los Angeles vs. Cooperative Chicago

Districts like Portland and Los Angeles haven't been able to get union support for their Race to the Top grant applications, with LAUSD superintendent John Deasy pushing the envelope as far as possible in terms of reminding everyone that the obstacle is the union.  (He didn't really think that the USDE would accept an application without union support.)

Meanwhile, Chicago -- yes, Chicago -- has apparently come to agreement and is submitting a grant application with union approval (LA School Report).  Whether it will meet muster or not with the reviewers in Washington is another question.  Chicago's grant application that's being submitted is much different from some of the earlier versions, focusing on professional development and middle school instruction rather than performance pay and other signature RTTT elements. Just a few days before Election Day, with Mayor Emanuel making fundraising calls to labor groups, the political and financial priorities in Chicago are different from the ones in Los Angeles. 

Campaign 2012: Eighty Candidates Endorsed By StudentsFirst

Last week, you learned that the NEA and AFT were funding a handful of Republican candidates in and among all the Democratic races that they were supporting. Kinky? I know. 

Yesterday, you learned about DFER's candidate endorsements.  They were pretty boring.  Maybe not your favorite in the primaries, but at least they're all Democrats.  (DFER Candidate Slate Looks Pretty Mainstream)

Today's installment comes from Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst, which on its website lists roughly 80 endorsements for six states (Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri and Tenn).   

Click the "elections" tab to see each state's list. This being StudentsFirst, I'm guessing but too lazy to check that there are a few -- gasp! -- Republicans among those endorsed.  

This being the wacky world of Citizens United, StudentsFirst also has independent expenditure (IE) groups active in roughly a dozen races (such as the CT race with Brandon McGee). No details on where the IEs are active, but let's assume that they're in a state where SF already operates and has endorsed candidates.  

A couple more states are in the works, I'm told. The selections are made through a survey and screening process (everybody does it this way).  An endorsement doesn't necessarily mean that there's a campaign contribution.

I've also asked Stand For Children and 50Can for their candidate endorsement / contribution lists, and will report back to you when they report back to me.

AM News: IL Is Last State Left Unable To Set Disparate Goals By Race

Idaho Wins NCLB Waiver EdWeek: This leaves Illinois' request as the one that's languished in NCLB waiver purgatory the longest. (I'm not counting Iowa, whose request was basically rejected, or California, which is going the not-likely-to-succeed, do-it-yourself route.) Seven other states applied more recently, and still await word.

Florida Officials Defend Racial and Ethnic Learning Goals NYT: Setting different goals for student achievement in reading and math by race and ethnicity is just an interim step, calculated as part of a waiver granted by the federal government, officials say.

Contraception, Pell Grants 'In Context' After Debate WBEZ: We're taking a closer look at two issues that came up during Tuesday's presidential debate — contraceptive coverage and funding for higher education. Robert Siegel talks with Julie Rovner and Claudio Sanchez to put the candidates' comments in context.

Closure Of Six Charter Schools In St. Louis Costs $250,000 HuffPost: The schools boasted 3,333 students — about 89 percent of whom transferred to St. Louis Public Schools after the state voted last spring to close the Imagine network of St. Louis charter schools following years of academic and financial management issues.

Online auction to liquidate surplus school items AP: Tennis rackets, at least two pianos, science lab microscopes and a battery-powered scooter are among dozens of surplus items that will be auctioned off from Detroit's closed Southwestern High School....

Five Best Blogs: States Race To The Bottom Via Duncan Waivers

States struggling to lower standards without getting accused of well, lowering standards ow.ly/eu3QA @PoliticsK12

The economic value of effective supervisors & the surprising ways they make workers more effective - Slate ow.ly/etYh4 

Proposition 32 Divides California's Education Reformers ow.ly/euLG6

Moving beyond our vacuous education reform discussions | Reihan Salam ow.ly/eu2fb 

A Premortem for Professional Development (Part 2)ow.ly/euKPu @breakthecurve

Want to Ruin Teaching? Give Ratings nyti.ms/PxsCym via @Larryferlazzo

From Jay Mathews: Reforming a nation of bad note-takers: I have never learned how to take lecture notes. bit.ly/W99Fnq

People: Race To The Top Guru Leaves USDE

Earlier this week, Mike Dannenberg has left the USDE for a job at the Education Trust. 

Matt Gandal (right) has left the USDE for a job at Education Strategy Group.

Gandal was at Achieve for a long time, and before that the AFT.   More recently, he was heading the USDE's Race To The Top implementation group.  

No word yet on how the Department is going to handle that key activity going forward.  Amanda Whalen?  Maybe it's already happened, or they're waiting until after the election.

 

Afternoon Video: Documentary About Arne's Mom

 

Some Northwestern alums are making the documentary about the tutoring Arne's mom has been involved with for 50 years, and using Kickstarter to try and fund it.  Thanks to JP for the tip.

Morning Video: Watch The Obama Education Ad Against Romney

Via EdWeek

NCLB: NYT Covers Waiver Questions & Concerns

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A couple of weeks ago at Education Nation (see video above), EdSec Duncan claimed that states "dummied down" state standards in response to NCLB, and I went predictably ballistic (Duncan Cherry-Picks NCLB History). Over the weekend, in an NYT article about questions surrounding NCLB waivers, Duncan made essentially the same claim and again it went unchallenged. But the moment seems closer when concerns and questions about the rationale for the waivers become better-known.

Campaign 2012: "I Want To Hire Teachers"

The best line from SNL's debate spoof was from the Obama impersonator, who at one point proclaims how he would solve the nation's economic problems: "I want to hire teachers, millions and millions of teachers."  

Campaign 2012: Obama Broke 2 Of 31 Education Promises

PolitiFact has a long, interesting look at Obama's education record (Grading Obama on education reform) that includes some curious findings -- just two of 31 campaign promises broken (funding for charter schools and IDEA), and just five promises stalled.  Take a look -- for what did they give too much (or too little) credit?

Afternoon Video: Duncan Talks Textbooks, Teachers, Election

Morning Video: Daily Show Mocks "School Lunch Rebellion"

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Via the Atlantic Wire, which notes that this is also being used as a way to slam the Obama administration: "The protests are really about Michelle Obama's push to make government-subsidized lunches healthier and, of course, big government. "

Pictures: Four Secretaries Of Education

I know this makes me a sentimental geek, and I have issues with at least some of the policies they all pursued, but I thought it was great to see the last four education secretaries together onstage earlier this week at Education Nation. (Riley's chair should have been a little higher than the others' given he served two terms, no?)  Courtesy NBC News.