Today's earlier blog post announced the release of NGA and CCSSO's draft K-12 ELA and Math Standards as part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, as well as the process for submitting your feedback.

In addition to sharing your feedback with NGA and CCSSO, via the provided on line survey, please send a copy of your comments to AASA's Policy and Advocacy team. We're really interested in what our members think of the draft standards. Are they harder or easier? Higher or lower? How easy will they be to use to develop curriculum and instructional materials? Are they truly aimed at preparing students to be college and career ready?

Please take the time to carefully review the standards. Work through them with your curriculum directors and consider the implications the draft standards will have in your district. The Common Core project has a lot of momentum behind it, and decisions are going to continue to be made. Make sure your voice--and the concerns of your district--are heard and reflected in the final standards.

You have until Friday, April 2 to submit your response to NGA and CCSSO. Once you submit your comments to NGA/CCSSO, please make sure to share them with us at AASA. You can email Bruce (bhunter@aasa.org), Mary (mkusler@aasa.org) or myself (nellerson@aasa.org).

Earlier this morning, the National Governor's Association and Council of Chief State School Officers released the first official public draft of the K-12 standards as part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. So far, NGA and CCSSO have received feedback from national organizations, including AASA. Any individual or organization interested in the standards is encouraged to provide further feedback by Friday, April 2, 2010 at www.corestandards.org.

You can access the draft standards at the link above; click on 'K-12 standards' in the hyperlink of the first line. From there, you will be able to read/review the draft ELA and Math standards. At the bottom of the website is a link to submit your responses, which are collected via an online survey tool. Rather than an open-ended response, the survey tool is a series of structured questions looking to address, through likert scale items, how much you agree/disagree with statements about the clarity, focus and appropriateness of the various standards.

They do provide text boxes for more detailed responses; please take advantage of the opportunity to submit detailed responses about what you do or do not like in the draft standards. You may want to consider sharing the draft with your curriculum coordinators.

These standards seek to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare students for college and the workforce. This comment period is your opportunity to make sure the standards do just that, and suggest any changes that you feel would better support this lofty task.

A Cliff Hanger: How America’s Public Schools Continue to Feel the Impact of the Economic Downturn is the 7th survey in AASA’s series on the impact of the economic downturn on public schools.

The results of these surveys have been well-received not only by AASA members, but also on and around Capitol Hill and in the media. Your feedback to these surveys is very helpful in helping Congress, the Department of Education and the general public understand the obstacles public schools are facing in light of the current economic situation.

This survey includes key questions from previous surveys, to provide benchmarking, as well as questions examining the role of competitive funds, given the proposed FY11 budget which calls for a significant increase in the proportion of discretionary education dollars distributed through competitive grants and not formulas.

Please take a few moments to complete this survey. It should take no more than 10-15 minutes. You can access the survey here.

Has accountability become mechanistic and antithetical to good education? Are charter schools sucking the best students and committed parents from both the public and parochial systems? According to Diane Ravitch, the answer to both questions is “yes”. Ravitch, a conservative and highly respected educational historian, is now critical of reform initiatives for which she once was a strong proponent. This is clearly evident in her recently released book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System.

As the assistant secretary of education in the first Bush administration, Ravitch had advocated for national academic standards, promoting testing, accountability, choice and markets. This is no longer the case. Having reversed her opinion on much of what she stood for, she now believes that government backed charter schools are killing the public and parochial systems, and that accountability and other market based reforms will destroy public education if left unfettered. Once a strong supporter of No Child Left Behind, she now believes its requirements for testing in math and reading have squeezed vital subjects out of classrooms and believes a broad national curriculum with top notch art and music education needs to be developed. Believing K-12 education should recapture the strength of the traditional public school system and operate like a family, she is now critical of competition and believes there should not be an educational marketplace.

Ravitch’s desires for a reform do-over comes during an interesting time. The notion of undoing charter laws, performance based pay, testing and results based accountability certainly provokes interesting conversations in light of the current reform efforts driving education today. Certainly her changing perspective is worth reflecting upon as educators begin competing amongst each other in the race to the top.

 Lisa Fry, Grant Wood AEA, Cedar Rapids IA

16 Finalists Announced in Phase 1 of Race to the Top Competition Finalists

From U.S. Department of Education:

"Today the Department of Education announced that 15 states and the District of Columbia will advance as finalists for phase 1 of the Race to the Top competition. Race to the Top is the Department's $4.35 billion effort to dramatically re-shape America's educational system to better engage and prepare our students for success in a competitive 21st century economy and workplace.

"States competing for Race to the Top funds were asked to document past education reform successes, as well as outline plans to: extend reforms using college and career-ready standards and assessments; build a workforce of highly effective educators; create educational data systems to support student achievement; and turn around their lowest-performing schools.

"The phase 1 finalists are:

Colorado
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Kentucky
Louisiana
Massachusetts
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee

"These states are an example for the country of what is possible when adults come together to do the right thing for children," Secretary Arne Duncan said.

"'Everyone that applied for Race to the Top is charting a path for education reform in America" Duncan continued. "I salute all of the applicants for their hard work. And I encourage non-finalists to reapply for phase 2.'

"The 16 finalists were chosen from among the 40 states and the District of Columbia that submitted applications for phase 1. Winners for phase 1 will be chosen from among the 16 finalists and announced in April. Applications for phase 2 will be due on June 1 of this year, with finalists announced in August and winners in September. The only states prohibited from applying in phase 2 are those that receive awards in phase 1.

How Finalists Were Chosen

"Panels of 5 peer reviewers independently read and scored each state's application. The panels then met in February to finalize their comments and submit scores. Each state's score is the average of the five independent reviewers' scores.

"The Department arranged the applications in order from high to low scores and determined which applicants were the strongest competitors to invite back based on 'natural breaks'—i.e. scoring gaps in the line-up. The top 16 applications were then selected as finalists. All 41 applicants from phase 1 will receive their peer reviewers' comments and scores after the winners are announced in April. The Department will post the scores and applications on its Web site.

Choosing Winners from Among the Finalists

"The finalists will be invited to DC in mid-March to present their proposals to the panel that reviewed their applications in depth during the initial stage, and to engage in Q&A discussions with the reviewers.

"The purpose of the finalist stage is to allow reviewers to ensure that the state has the understanding, knowledge, capacity, and the will to truly deliver on what is proposed. The presentations will be videotaped and posted for viewing on the Department's website at the end of Phase 1.

"At the conclusion of the presentations, the reviewers will meet again to discuss each application, finalize scores and comments, and submit them to the Department. Again, the final score for each application will be an average of the five peer reviewers' scores. The scores will be arranged in order from high to low and presented to Secretary Duncan for final selection.

Number of Winners & Award Sizes

"The number of phase 1 winners will be determined by the strength of the applications. While the department does not have a predetermined amount of money to award in each phase of the competition, we expect no more than half of the money will be awarded in phase 1 to ensure a robust competition in phase 2.

"'We are setting a high bar and we anticipate very few winners in phase 1. But this isn't just about the money. It's about collaboration among all stakeholders, building a shared agenda, and challenging ourselves to improve the way our students learn. I feel that every state that has applied is a winner—and the biggest winners of all are the students,' Duncan said.

"Of the $4.35 billion in Race to the Top funds provided under the Recovery Act, the Department will distribute approximately $4 billion directly to states to drive education reform and $350M to consortia of states that compete in a separate competition to create new college and career-ready assessments. The assessment competition is still in the design phase.

"Based on Race to the Top's early positive effect on national education reform, President Obama proposed to continue the program next year by requesting $1.35 billion in the Administration's FY 2011 budget."

The U.S. Department of Educacton will hold its monthly conference call for state and local elected officials, school board members and superintendents on Tuesday, March 9, from 3 to 4 p.m. ET. Sec. Duncan and senior officers will provide a quick update on three American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant programs: School Improvement Grants, the Teacher Incentive Fund, and the Investing in Innovation Fund.

Also, staff will introduce the Department’s Open Innovation Portal, where funders, innovators and practitioners can spotlight areas of need, propose and suggest improvements to solutions, and fund, implement and improve these solutions in and outside of the classroom. The Open Innovation Portal is at https://innovation.ed.gov/.

Call-In #: 1-888-989-8174

Passcode: EDUCATION (given verbally)

RSVP: Please reply to Adam.Honeysett@ed.gov by COB Monday, March 8, if you or a designated representative will be able to join the call.

NOTE: In order to accommodate a large number of participants, please only use one line per office. Also, please call-in 10-15 minutes early. There will be time reserved for questions.

Harris Interactive, Inc., a national market research firm engaged by the FCC, sent out online surveys last week to a randomly selected group of FY 2008 E-rate applicants. The survey, which includes a number of questions on the applicants, their Internet facilities, and E-rate funding, is part of an FCC effort to address the educational and technological needs of schools and libraries in connection with the FCC's National Broadband Plan.

Completion of the survey is voluntary, but we would encourage selected applicants to respond. Harris Interactive estimates that a survey can be completed in less than 20 minutes. The following is a brief outline of the questions posed in the survey:

1. Applicant information
1. Type of applicant, e.g., school, district, library, or consortium
2. For schools: number of students (and students/computer)
3. For libraries: number of registered borrowersUrban vs. rural
4. E-rate funding in FY 2008
5. Position of person completing the survey
6. Types(s) of Internet access connection(s)
1. Dial-up, T-1, DSL, fiber, wireless, etc.
2. Bandwidth: current and needed
7. Equipment used, e.g., PCs, laptops, E-books, smart phones, etc.
1. Networking, if any, with local, regional, and government entities
2. Internet usage 
1. Applications, current and future
2. Barriers to effective usage, e.g., outdated computers, lack of staff training, unavailable bandwidth, costs, etc.
3. E-rate funding 
1. Services supported by E-rate, with focus on Telecommunications and Internet access services
2. Funding history and discount rate
3. Funding received in FY 2008 by category and service types
4. Use of outside consultants

Although the survey is relatively straight-forward, the following two points should be noted:

1. When asking about FY 2008 funding, the survey does not clearly indicate whether the amount "received" is meant to apply to all funds awarded or to actual funds disbursed. Our recommendation is to report the amount of funds actually used - estimating, if appropriate, any discounts that have not yet been invoiced, but that are expected to be used and received. The easiest way to review an applicant's funding history is to use E-Rate Central's Funding Quick Search tool located in the upper left-hand corner of the appropriate State Information page.
2. Individual applicant surveys have been e-mailed to the associated contact people. In some cases, however, these contacts (e.g., consultants) may be responsible for multiple applicants. Unfortunately, there is no indication in the e-mails identifying the specific applicants — a critical factor if the results of these random surveys are to be statistically valid. Contacts in these situations should seek additional clarification from Harris Interactive.