AM News: USDE Withdraws SIG Report Due To Errors

U.S. Department of Education to Redo SIG Analysis Due to Contractor Error PoliticsK12: The analysis, which was released just a couple of weeks ago, excluded about half of the schools that entered the newly revamped SIG program in its first year (the 2010-11 school year) and about a third of the schools that started in the second year (the 2011-12 school year.) It's unclear if the do-over will significantly change those conclusions. 

Head Start funding partially restored in federal budget deal EdSource Today: Head Start lost about 57,000 slots for children, including more than 5,600 in California, because of cuts under federal sequestration, a program of automatically triggered, across-the-board spending cuts. These cuts have continued to ripple through Head Start operations month by month as they cycle through their federal grant processes.

Arrest Leads to Shake-Up of Alexander's Leadership Team PoliticsK12: Longtime Capitol Hill staffer and edu-nerd extraordinaire David Cleary, the GOP staff director for the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, has become the chief of staff to Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. Alexander, a former U.S. secretary of education, currently serves as the top GOP lawmaker on the Senate education committee. 

Mike Huckabee's "Common Core is Dead" Line Not What He Told State Chiefs State EdWatch:The former Arkansas governor said he is dissatisfied with the implementation of the common core and how it has become "hijacked" by other interests.

Charter Leader Denies Insider's Advantage WNYC: “I’m not suggesting that I don’t know anyone at Tweed, I do,” she said, referring to the D.O.E.'s headquarters. “So if you’re saying can I pick up the phone and call folks, yes, I can. But does that mean from a policy perspective I’ve gotten any advantages? Absolutely not.”

Lots more news below.

American Colleges Finding Ideals Are Tested Abroad NYT: Universities with programs in countries with autocratic governments are wrestling with how to respond to actions that fly in the face of democratic principles.

Kids Create Mobile Apps In the Classroom NPR: Some of the best new digital apps are coming from the youngest tech innovators. Middle school students Xavier Manning and Ciara Chase created apps that make their community better: from improving garbage collection to finding missing teens. Guest host Celeste Headlee talk to the students, and their guidance counselor Carletta Hurt.

 In A Small Missouri Town, Immigrants Turn To Schools For Help NPR:The once-sleepy tourist town of Noel, Mo., in the heart of the Ozark Mountains, is now home to hundreds of immigrants and newly arrived refugees, thanks largely to the huge Tyson Food Inc. poultry plant. And since the town lacks the infrastructure to serve these new residents, schools have become the de facto safety net.

Nevada teacher charged with kidnapping once worked for L.A. Unified LA Times: A former Nevada teacher charged with kidnapping a 16-year-old girl was previously an instructor in the Los Angeles Unified School District — which had moved to fire him and sought to have his teaching credentials revoked after allegations of sexual misconduct with students surfaced.

Boy, 6, suspended for kissing classmate Today: A 6-year old boy is returning to school after being suspended for “unwanted touching,” after he kissed a girl at school on the hand. 

How 'flipped classrooms' are turning the traditional school day upside down PBS:  What if you took the traditional school day and flipped it on its head, not literally, of course, but having lessons offered at night at home and homework done by day in the classroom? That's the experiment under way at Clintondale High School just outside Detroit, an area still reeling from the economic and social ills of the nearby city. The school serves many low-income families and faces tight budgets and declining enrollment.

 

Comments

[Bruce]

Re: the New York Times piece, "American Colleges Finding Ideals Are Tested Abroad": a better plan is to open colleges in the United States, or in other Western countries with similar protections for freedom of speech, that will appeal to the millions of Asian families attempting to escape repressive governments. Given that the definition of "college" is malleable throughout the English-speaking world, and that President Obama has recently begun promoting early college in the United States, our proposal at One World Lyceum to open such an (academic) early college in the United States has begun attracting notice from philanthropists, and we are actively seeking those who would like to contribute to our plan's realization.