The Leading Edge

In their latest press release, House Education and the Workforce Committee Republicans cite AASA President-Elect Benny Gooden, pulling from his testimony last September:

“The sanctions and models for turnaround mandated for schools which fail to reach the arbitrary Adequate Yearly Progress goal are quite narrow and present no real choices in some communities. Washington does not know best in addressing low performance. The state education agencies can and must hold local schools accountable for improving student academic progress… However, what is best for a school in rural Arkansas may be vastly different from the remedy for a school in urban Chicago. Selecting remedies is not something easily done from Washington.”

• Dr. Benny Gooden, Superintendent, Fort Smith Public Schools, Arkansas
  Hearing on “Education Reforms: Ensuring the Education System is Accountable to Parents and Communities,” September 21, 2011

Check out the full press release.

AASA joined six other national education organizations in sending a joint letter of response to the recently released House draft legislation to reauthorize ESEA.

While not endorsing the bills outright, the letter commends the committee for its work in reauthorizing ESEA and supports ongoing dialogue and effort to make improvements where needed. There were several areas of shared concern, all outlined in the letter.

AASA was joined by Association of Education Service Agencies, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Rural Education Advocacy Coalition, National Rural Education Association, and National School Boards Association.

Read the letter.

In follow up to a blog post from earlier this week, Superintendent John Kuhn exmaines causality between inputs and outcomes. John is Superintendent of Perrin-Whitt Independent School District in Texas.

He is the guest blogger on the Education Week Living in Dialogue blog.

You can read part one, or skip right to part two.

The Food Family Farming Foundation is excited to announce the launch of the Healthy Breakfast 4 Kids Grant Program.

The Healthy Breakfast-4-Kids (HB4K) goal is to create and improve access to breakfast in schools nationwide as a means to lessen the huge negative impact of hungry children across our nation. In 2012 Food Family Farming Foundation (F3) and Walmart Foundation are partnering to grant 117 $2500 equipment grants to rural high needs schools for the purpose of implementing universal breakfast in the classroom programs. Grant awardees will be able to order $2500 worth of food service smallwares or equipment for establishing universal breakfast programs via an online order with our partner Tundra Specialties. As part of the grant program, F3 will create universal breakfast implementation resources to be available to all schools via our program, The Lunch Box.

To find out more and/or apply, visit our site: http://www.foodfamilyfarming.org/html/grants.html

AASA is proud to be involved in a grant called Closing the Gap: Turning Data into Action, along with the Consortium of School Networking and Gartner, Inc. The project is funded through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

We are pleased to share the latest resource AASA is providing its members, the Closing the Gap website.

Overview of Closing the Gap: In the current era of accountability, educators are increasingly called upon to make classroom-level data available, usable and relevant to inform and improve instructional practices. Student information systems (SIS) and learning management systems (LMS) are often viewed as the tools to provide the identified data elements and to generate the reports and analysis. Closing the Gap: Turning SIS/LMS Data into Action produces resources that provide education agencies with a vision of how to best review, procure and deploy SIS and LMS solutions to maximize their positive impact on instructional planning and practice.

Today, thirty-nine states, 15,000 teachers, and 1.7 million students will participate in the first-ever national Digital Learning Day, a national awareness campaign spearheaded by the Alliance for Excellent Education showcasing how technology can take learning in the United States to a much higher level and provide all students with experiences that allow them to graduate from high school prepared for college and a career.

“Technology has made nearly everything in modern life more efficient, accessible, richer, and faster, yet students are frequently asked to check their smart phones, laptops, and other devices at the door when they enter a classroom,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. “It is time we stop asking students to ‘power down’ when they go to school and instead to ‘power up’ and use their interest in technology as a new way to learn.”

The marquee event for Digital Learning Day is the virtual National Town Hall, which will air from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. (ET) on February 1 at http://wpc.1806.edgecastcdn.net/001806/aee/aee020111.html. It will feature a joint announcement and roundtable discussion with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski on transitioning K–12 schools to digital learning.

“We’re focused every day on the ways to harness technology and broadband to improve and expand educational opportunity for as many kids as possible,” said Genachowski. “With digital learning technologies, teachers, students, and parents can connect in new ways, tailoring lessons on an individualized basis to student interests and needs; students in multiple classrooms can connect with teachers and with each other, and heavy backpacks of outdated textbooks can be replaced by a digital learning device with constantly updating tools.”

The National Town Hall will feature live interaction with school sites around the country, profile teachers who effectively use technology to deliver instruction, and focus on successful education innovation projects that demonstrate how technology can be used in the classroom to improve student outcomes. Via Skype, the Town Hall will give voice to teachers, students, and leaders from Englewood Schools (CO); Mooresville Graded School District (NC); Klein Independent School District (TX); and New Tech West High School (OH), who will talk about how they are using technology in new ways to improve learning. (A complete list of featured teachers, schools, and districts is available at http://www.digitallearningday.org/events/national-events/town-hall-meeting).

“The President and I are convinced that with technology, we have an extraordinary opportunity to expand educational excellence and equity, and personalize the experience for students,” said Duncan. “Technology can enable the high-quality teaching and learning that today’s students need to thrive as citizens, workers, and leaders in the digital age, and the globally competitive knowledge economy.”

Digital Learning Day celebrations will also be conducted within participating states, districts, and schools. Examples of activities include a proclamation from the state governor, a showcase of student work through digital learning, lesson plan contests for teachers, announcements of digital learning projects, and highlights of promising practices within and among states. To contact the person leading the Digital Learning Day event(s) in your state, visit http://www.digitallearningday.org/events/state-events#Hosting.

In addition to the National Town Hall, the Alliance will air programming celebrating innovative teachers and highlighting instructional practices that use technology to strengthen teaching and personalize learning for all students.

From 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (ET) on February 1, the Alliance will air an extensive, in-depth webcast demonstrating how digital learning is already being used in classrooms around the country at http://www.DigitalLearningDay.org. During the webcast, educators will share innovative approaches designed to ensure that students graduate from high school prepared for college and a career. A live chat feature will allow individuals interested in learning more about digital learning to engage in an online, real-time conversation with leaders in education technology. (A complete schedule, including the highlighted schools and educators is available at http://www.digitallearningday.org/events/national-events/dldwebcast).

“Digital Learning Day is not about technology for technology’s sake—simply slapping a netbook on top of a textbook will not move the education needle very much,” said Wise. “Instead, it’s about recognizing the great potential that effective technology has to transform the world of learning when combined with powerful teaching and rigorous content.”

From 3:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. (ET), the Alliance will rebroadcast the morning webcast at http://www.DigitalLearningDay.org. Although the video content will be the same, the Alliance will conduct an entirely different live chat in the afternoon session to allow individuals who are interested in learning more about digital learning to engage in an online, real-time conversation with leaders in education technology.

Digital Learning Day has received support from

• twenty-five core partners made up of national membership organizations, and a broad array of stakeholder groups, including principals, school board, content area specialists, and instructional technology professionals;
• thirty-nine states that are planning their own statewide celebrations;
• twenty-six instructional technology experts who are hard at work developing toolkits and resources to support educators at all the state, district, school, and classroom levels; and
• nationally known companies, such as Intel Corporation, Google, SMART Technologies, and USA Today.

The thirty-nine states participating in Digital Learning Day on February 1 represent 88 percent of the nation’s students and include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Washington, DC has also signed up to participate. For contact information for the person leading the efforts in your state, visit http://www.digitallearningday.org/events/state-events#Hosting.

###

The Alliance for Excellent Education is a Washington, DC-based national policy and advocacy organization that works to improve national and federal policy so that all students can achieve at high academic levels and graduate from high school ready for success in college, work, and citizenship in the twenty-first century. For more information about the Alliance for Excellent Education, please visit http://www.all4ed.org.

To learn more about Digital Learning Day, visit www.DigitalLearningDay.org and follow the action at www.twitter.com/DLDay2012 or with the #DLDay hashtag.

Sasha and I are on the hill all day today with the National Rural Education Advocacy Coalition, who is in town for their annual legisative meeting.

As we are talking with hill staffers, two really interesting articles caught my eye, and I wanted to share them with you.

Tight Budgets Put Some Superintendents on Part-Time Status (Ed Week) featuring comments from AASA's Dan Domenech, as well as several of our state affiliates.

One Room School Also One-Student School (NYTimes) An interesting story detailing a one-student school house in rural Montana, and the realities of operating a one-room school house in today's political, education and fiscal climates.

John Kuhn is the Superintendent of Perrin-Whitt Independent School District in Texas.Today, he is the guest blogger on the Education Week Living in Dialogue blog.

In his thought provoking entry, Mr. Kuhn examines the Texas state school funding mechanism and starts to dissect the correlations between funding levels and results.

Check it out. It was one of the better blog posts I have read in the last six months.

Better late than never.....this ran on the Policy page and should have been cross-posted here.

Check out the ESEA letters AASA sent to both the House and Senate education committees, outlining the good and less-than-good in their respective changes proposed legislation.

Susan Poling is the Technology Coordinator at Shelby County Schools in Alabama. This thought-provoking blog post (from last November) poses some very intriguing questions and proposals for the FCC-run E-Rate program, which provides school districts with discounts for connecticity.

I (Noelle) have copied and pasted her five thoughts/recommendations. The full blog post is even more informative, but copying the images over proved a bit tricky. I strongly urge you to read the full post: Check it out!

From Susan Poling's blog:

So how can the E-Rate program more effectively and equitably meet its goals? Here are a few suggestions:

Suggestion #1: Ensure that Priority I requests are reasonable and restrict the definition of Priority I services to ones that school systems identify as their highest priority needs. The SLD should examine the possibility of creating service level matrix which places caps on WAN and ISP bandwidth that funded for each year based on need. Because learning environments use diverse tools, this matrix should be developed by individuals who thoroughly understand how school district networks are used. For instance, using the number of computers in a school may not be an appropriate metric to use given the growing trend of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Schools promoting BYOD may require robust indoor wireless and more bandwidth to the building that the number of computers alone would justify.In addition, the SLD should ensure that school districts are the primary consultant as to any expansion or redefining of Priority I services. Adding services that are not essential to school districts into the Priority I category will result in making less money available for Priority II purchases. Schools need equipment just as much, particularly during the recent economic downturn which has led to a steadily aging ‘fleet’ of classroom computers nationwide.

Suggestion #2: Distribute Priority II money via a formula that benefits ALL public schools.The current practice of reviewing Priority II applications by starting at the highest poverty level districts and working down practically ensures that schools with lower than 80% on the E-Rate matrix will not receive funding awards. This acts to discourage districts below this level from applying for funding in this category. Then, they find themselves caught off guard in the occasional year where lower levels are funded. If the “Two-in-Five” rule was meant to create opportunities for schools at lower levels of the matrix to receive Priority II funding, it has not worked. The SLD should consider developing a formula for block grants based on enrollment and number of buildings or some other reasonable metric. If a method such as this had been for Priority II awards over the last dozen years, the SLD would have distributed of $4.5M per year to all school systems rather than distributing 98% of this money to just the top ranked districts. If these discounts were available to all schools every year, more school districts would apply for Priority II funding.

Suggestion #3: Expand the definition of Priority II. The ESL should allow for discounts on the purchase of any technology that can be used by students and teachers to connect to the Internet. Such a move would assist the SLD in responding to Congress’s request that the FCC “check that schools are receiving the advanced communications tools they need.” Currently, thousands of schools and libraries are filled with outdated computers. Yet, technologies such as Skype, desktop VOIP, email, blogs, and other interactive applications, which require end user equipment, can easily fit into the category of “advanced communication tools.” Continually increasing bandwidth cannot compensate for outdated end user devices. By expanding this definition, and allowing school systems to have input on the ESL in this regard, the FCC will more effectively live up to its claim that it helps “schools and libraries obtain access to state of the art services and technologies at discounted rates.”

Suggestion #4: Use block grants for Priority I and implement a year-round ‘window.’ The SLD should award Priority I services in block grants and allow schools to apply for their portion at anytime during the program year. After more than a decade, the SLD must have enough data on which to base block grants for basic Priority I services. The SLD could apply a sliding scale of funding that takes poverty, rural/urban, and regional telecom pricing into account, but is primarily based on the number of students and buildings being served. Surely, a government that can mastermind all the worksheets and charts used by the Internal Revenue Service can come up with some method for taking $750 million annually and distributing it appropriately to schools and libraries. In addition, the SLD could implement an application schedule with a ‘window’ for each group of applicants. Just like county governments ask their residents to apply for new automobile tags in a given month according to first letter of their last names, the SLD could group states or districts so that the application process went throughout the year. I’m from Alabama, so we might be first, but if block grants are applied, then there will still be plenty of money left for Wyoming when their ‘window’ comes around.

Suggestion #5: Use 40% of the total fund each year for Priority II and start processing these applications immediately. If the Priority I funding is distributed in block grants, then this suggestion should be easy to implement. Inform every district what their Priority II portion is and then have them go through whatever bidding process is required. Finally, have them submit evidence that the funding is being used for eligible items before the money is released. As a bonus, this suggestion would allow the SLD to do away with its “Two-in-Five Rule.”

The timing is not coincidental. With digital learning day just around the corner, AASA is pleased to release the results from its latest policy study Education Technology: Gauging School Connectivity, which looks at school connectivity and the need for education technology.

Education technology, telecommunications and connectivity are crucial resources to school districts as they work to prepare America's students for an increasingly global and competitive work place. Recent policy and funding trends at the federal level have failed to demonstrate an adequate commitment to education technology. In an effort to gauge how connected America's schools are and how connected they need to be, AASA conducted a survey of its members. Questions in the survey asked administrators what type of connectivity their schools have, what type of connectivity needs their districts have, what cost implications there are for connectivity, and about E-Rate participation.

Summary: The responses to this survey indicate that schools, for the large part, feel that their connectivity needs are met with current connectivity levels. While there is an expressed interest in expanded connectivity, the results do not necessarily indicate it as a necessity. In an interesting disconnect, though, the theme of having enough—as echoed in the multiple choice questions—was absent in the open-ended survey items. In fact, given the opportunity to expand on issues and concerns related to connectivity, the open-ended items garnered themes around needing to be able to provide a one-to-one learning environment and the implications for connectivity in and out of school, reliability of connections, pipe size/traffic management, and anticipated growth in demand as online testing and curriculum expands. The reality of connectivity in our nation’s schools—as reported in this survey—is one of ‘not missing what you don’t have’, and that is an unfortunate reality for educating our students if they are to emerge from these schools ready to succeed in an increasingly global and competitive 21st century economy.

Check out the full report.

AASA member Bart Goering, superintendent of Spring Hill Unified School District in Kansas, has his district participating in Digital Learning Day. AASA is a partner in the first ever DLD, and we are happy to share a blog post Bart contrinuted to the DLD blog.

Check it out!

As mentioned in an earlier blog post, the Rural School and Community Trust recently released Why Rural Matters: 2011-12, the sixth in a series of biennial reports analyzing the contexts and conditions of rural education in each of the 50 states.

In releasing the report and in an effort to raise awareness on Capitol Hill to the importance of—and important changes in—rural schools, RSCT is hosting a briefing. AASA is happy to be co-hosting, and we invite anyone in the area to attend. If you are unable, we ask that you please share the information with your Congressional delegation. All hill staff are invited, and it’s a great way to get a state-specific look at rural education.

You’re Invited to a
Hill Briefing for

Why Rural Matters: 2011-12 Edition
as published by the Rural School and Community Trust

Tuesday, January 31, 2012
9 am – 11 am
Capitol Visitors Center S212

Join us for a briefing on Why Rural Matters: 2011-12, the sixth in a series of biennial reports analyzing the contexts and conditions of rural education in each of the 50 states. The report calls attention to the need for policymakers to address rural education issues in their respective states, whether through federal or state policy. Key findings from the latest report:

• Nearly 10 million students are enrolled in rural schools districts in the US, representing over 20 percent of all of the nation's students.
• Of those attending rural schools:
• Two in five live in poverty (an increase of nearly a third in nine years!);
• One in four is a child of color; and
• One in eight has changed residence in the last 12 months.
• Between the 1999-00 and 2008-09 school years, rural districts' enrollment increased by more than 1.7 million students (growth of more than 22%).
• Over the same period, non-rural enrollment grew by only 1.7 percent.

Dr. Jerry Johnson, report author, will lead discussion and review of the report findings,
including the upsurge in rural student poverty rates, diversity and enrollment.

For more information email Rob Mahaffey.
(Robert.Mahaffey@ruraledu.org)

Hosted in conjunction with:
American Association of School Administrators
National Rural Education Advocacy Coalition

A bevy of reports have come out this week, that I want to share with you all:

• State Special Education Rates Vary Widely
• Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education: Strategic Planning Needed to Better Manage Overlapping Programs
• OECD Report Education Indicators in Focus
• A Public Education Primer: Basic (and Sometimes Surprising) Facts About the US Education System (2012 Revised Edition)
• 12 for 2012: Issues to Move Education Forward in 2012

In case you missed it, all you need to know about the President's annual State of the Union address from last night:

• Text of Speech
• Blueprint for an America Built to Last
• Enhanced Graphics (see slides 33-42)

When it comes to education, the address was light on proposals specific to education. Here is the education excerpt from the Blueprint:

• Forge new partnerships between community colleges and businesses to train and place 2 million skilled workers: Many industries have difficulty filling jobs requiring specific technical skills, even with many Americans still looking for work. In coming years, America will need to fill millions of mid- and high-level skilled positions in industries from healthcare to advanced manufacturing, clean energy to information technology. The President proposed a new initiative to train and place two million Americans in good jobs through partnerships between businesses and community colleges that give workers the skills employers explicitly need. The program is modeled on efforts by employers and community colleges from Charlotte and Chicago to Orlando and Louisville. To address future workforce needs, the President will support partnerships between high schools and industry to create more career academies, which combine instruction in academic subjects and industry skills.
• Attract, prepare, support, and reward great teachers to help students learn: Teaching is a profession and should be treated like one. The latest research says a great teacher could increase the lifetime income of an entire classroom by hundreds of thousands of dollars. The President is fighting to protect our schools from being hurt by the recession by providing states and communities with funds to prevent teacher layoffs, and avoid increases to class sizes or decreases in the number of school days. The President is also asking for a new competitive program that will challenge states and districts to work with their teachers and unions to comprehensively reform the teaching profession by:
• Reforming colleges of education and making these schools more selective;
• Creating new career ladders for teachers to become more effective, and ensuring that earnings are tied more closely to performance;
• Establishing more leadership roles and responsibilities for teachers in running schools; improving professional development and time for collaboration among teachers; and providing greater individual and collective autonomy in the classroom in exchange for greater accountability;
• Creating evaluation systems based on multiple measures, rather than just test scores;
• Re-shaping tenure to raise the bar, protect good teachers, and promote accountability.
• Keep students in high school: The President challenged state governments to live up to their responsibilities by calling on every state to do what 20 states have already done: require students to stay in school until they graduate or turn 18. Studies show that stronger dropout laws keep students in school longer and increase their lifetime earnings as a result. Raising compulsory school requirements, in conjunction with the Administration’s historic investments in low-performing schools, will curb the high school dropout crisis and set students down a path of academic and career success.
• Double work-study jobs and take steps to hold down college costs for middle-class families: College costs are escalating at an unsustainable pace. Even after adjusting for inflation, the average published cost of tuition and fees at a four-year public university has increased by 136% in the last 20 years. This Administration has made college more affordable by continuing to increase the maximum Pell Grant award by more than $800 and creating the American Opportunity Tax Credit worth up to $10,000 over four years of college. The President called on Congress to help keep college costs within reach for middle-class families by:
• Keeping tuition from spiraling too high: The President is proposing to shift some Federal aid away from colleges that don’t keep net tuition down and provide good value.
• Preventing student loan interest rates from doubling: The President called on Congress to stop the interest rate on subsidized Stafford student loans from doubling on July 1 of this year, so young people don’t have as much debt to repay.
• Doubling the number of work-study jobs: The President wants to reward students who are willing to work hard by doubling over five years the number of work-study jobs for college students who agree to work their way through school.
• Permanently extending tuition tax breaks that provide up to $10,000 for four years of college: The President is proposing to make the American Opportunity Tax Credit permanent, maintaining a tax cut that provides up to $10,000 for tuition over four years of college.

In a blog post yesterday, I shared some recent reports related to FY12 and sequestration (the fancy-schmancy term for the across-the-board cuts the economy will face as of Jan. 2013, because the Super Committee was unable to identify $1.2 trillion in revenues/spending cuts).

Anyways, armed with that report, there is work to be done, work that we can do. Join in, and help speak out about sequestration cuts to education. There is increasing concerns about the impact of the sequester on education.

Just this week alone, there has been a marked increase in media attention detailing efforts by Republicans to step up their efforts to exempt defense from the sequester. Exemption of any sector is at the direct expense of any other sector, including education.

It becomes important, then, that we are reaching out to Congress---Senate and House, Democrats and Republicans---to let them know that cuts to education are totally unacceptable and will be harmful to jobs, children, the economy and our nation's future. Reiterate that any effort to exempt defense simply compounds the cuts for education and is unacceptable and unfair. Let your entire Congressional delegation know that their actions to enact a balanced deficit reduction plan would avoid sequestration altogether.

Shoot me an email if you'd like some talking points to support the conversations.

Check out this summary of the Republican Presidential Candidates' views on education.

Budget Overhaul Bills Endorsed by Rules and Budget Committees: The House Budget Committee approved three measures that would overhaul the congressional budget process. The panel approved 21-12 an amended version of a bill (HR 3578) that would stop the Congressional Budget Office from incorporating inflation increases into its projected spending baselines. The committee approved 21-11 an amended version of a bill (HR 3582) to require the CBO to take into account the effect that bills might have on economic growth, a calculation often referred to as dynamic scoring. The committee also approved 21-10 a third amended bill (HR 3581) that would require changes in budget accounting, including using fair value accounting for federal credit programs.

Delisle Nominated: Last night the President announced his intent to nominate Deborah Delisle, for Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of Education: “Deborah Delisle served as the State Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Ohio Department of Education from 2008 to 2011. Previously, Ms. Delisle worked in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District in Ohio, first as Associate Superintendent from 2001 to 2003, then as Superintendent from 2003 to 2008. Since beginning her career as an elementary teacher in Connecticut in the 1970s, Ms. Delisle has served in a variety of roles at the school district level in Ohio, including as Director of Academic Services, Director of Curriculum and Professional Development, and Coordinator of Gifted and Talented Programs. Ms. Delisle has served on several education boards, including the Governing Board of the Minority Student Achievement Network, Executive Board of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, and the Council of Chief State School Officers Executive Board. Ms. Delisle is a recipient of the Betsy Cowles Women in Leadership Award and the Buckeye Association of School Administrators Distinguished Service Award. She holds a B.S. from Springfield College and an M.Ed. from Kent State University.”

Sequestration Reports

• OMB issued two reports relating to FY 12 appropriations and sequestration.
• Within seven days after enactment of a discretionary spending bill, OMB is required to submit a report to Congress “estimating the change in budget authority and outlays for each fiscal year through 2021 resulting from that legislation”. This report includes separate analyses of each of the appropriations bills included within the omnibus bill. The Labor-HHS-Education section starts on page 30. See page 31 for discussion of Pell changes.
• The second is the Final Sequestration Report for FY 2012 (January 2012). This shows that the total FY 12 discretionary spending was within the caps established by the Budget Control Act. In fact, nonsecurity discretionary budget authority is almost $2 billion below the adjusted cap.
• CBO issued its Final Sequestration Report for Fiscal Year 2012. The CBO reports notes that due to the failure to enact at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction, the Budget Control Act automatically revised the categories between nonsecurity and security. There are now separate caps through FY 2021 for defense and nondefense (with defense defined to include only spending in Budget Function 050, whereas the nonsecurity category also included homeland security and parts of international affairs). The total FY 13 cap (before adjustments) is $1.047 trillion, with $501 billion of that for nondefense spending. It is important to note that this new nondefense cap for FY 13 is LOWER than the comparable FY 12 level of $505 billion.

Tip of the Day: Awesome Ideas from Teachers Like You!

We are getting great ideas from teachers like you about what they are doing to celebrate Digital Learning Day with their students. What an amazing groundswell of activities and ideas that have already been submitted! Take a look at a sampling of these ideas found at http://www.digitallearningday.org/toolkits/teachers/awesome_ideas.

If you have a document that should be shared as a model for other teachers, please send it to digitallearningday@all4ed.org in Word or a PDF (typo free with no personal information). Please also submit a two sentence description of the resource. We can’t guarantee to post your idea before February 1^st, but there will be plenty of opportunities after the event to highlight your celebrations as well.

LIVE TOWN HALL: Registration is now open for the National Town Hall Meeting. Make sure to register at http://digitallearningday.eventbrite.com/ if you plan to watch the live webcast on February 1 at 1:00 PM Eastern Time.

12 Days and Counting…

Check out Two New Toolkits for Digital Learning Day!

Check out, pass on, and Tweet the two new toolkits for Digital Learning Day! Building upon the interest and resources in the Teacher & Classroom, School Leader, District, and State Toolkits, the Alliance has developed the following:

· Beyond the Classroom Toolkit: The Alliance for Excellent Education encourages all programs that interact with young learners, both in and out of school, to explore and learn more about the power of digital learning. This toolkit highlights several programs from across the country. http://www.digitallearningday.org/toolkits/beyond_the_classroom

· Parent Toolkit: The parent toolkit provides resources, sample letters, and recommendations on how parents can participate in Digital Learning Day and learning more about technology and digital learning as it relates to their students. http://www.digitallearningday.org/toolkits/parents

Make Your Own Poster: We have brand new original Digital Learning Day artwork that you can use to make your own posters, fliers, and emails. Check them out at http://www.digitallearningday.org/toolkits/artwork.

President Obama will release his FY13 budget on February 13, according to an adminsitration official.

AASA will release an analysis and response shortly there after. Nothing says love like some pre-Valentine budget analysis, right?

13 Days and Counting…

Learn from the Experts: Understanding How Students View Their Own Learning, Implementing Instructional Strategies, and Making Learning Relevant

Check out these thought-provoking and instructional video clips on instructional strategies and learning.

How Students View Their Own Learning

Julie Evans, Chief Executive Officer, Project Tomorrow, shares insights from the national Speak Up survey into how students view their own learning in contrast to how they learn in school.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlwFKHFi9VA

Instructional Strategies

High Level Teaching Practices for Engagement and Critical Thinking

Yvette Jackson, Chief Executive Officer, National Urban Alliance for Effective Education and author of the Pedagogy of Confidence: Inspiring High Intellectual Performance in Urban Schools, identifies the high-level teaching practices that elicit students’ deep engagement and critical thinking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjm136Yv-AU

Critical Thinking Skills for ELA and Mathematics Common Core State Standards

Yvette Jackson talks about the integration of critical thinking skills within the English language arts and mathematics common core state standards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdVNLckvi_M

Importance of Feedback to Advance Learning

Yvette Jackson talks about the importance of feedback to advance student learning.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ6Refh5Ims

Making Learning Relevant:

Yvette Jackson discusses making learning relevant to the student.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls-1SsTKncY

Julie Evans discusses the results of the national Speak Up survey and why digital learning makes learning more relevant for today’s students.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKI4iSuY970

Today the U.S. Department of Education’s (Department) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Dear Colleague letter concerning the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (Amendments Act). The letter and accompanying Frequently Asked Questions document (FAQ) provide additional guidance on the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504) in elementary and secondary schools, given the changes to those laws made by the Amendments Act.

This is a critical read for every school administrator as it may require you to revise your policies and procedures regarding the determination of coverage and provision of services under Section 504 and Title II. Specifically, the Amendments Act:

• directs that the ameliorating effects of mitigating measures may not be considered in determining whether an individual has a disability.
• clarifies that an impairment that is episodic or in remission is a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active; and 
•  clarifies how the ADA applies to individuals who are "regarded as" having a disability.

For example, under the Amendments Act, a student who has an allergy and requires allergy shots to manage that condition would be covered under Section 504 and Title II if without the shots, the allergy would substantially limit a major life activity (e.g. breathing).  Similarly, a student with bipolar disorder would be covered if, during manic or depressive episodes, the student is substantially limited in major life activity (e.g. thinking, concentrating, etc). In both these examples, a student’s medication does not mitigate the fact that he/she would be limited in major life activities if he/she did not take their medication. Therefore, that child is now covered under Section 504 and Title II.

In addition, a student who is “regarded as” having a disability can be covered under Section 504. For example, a nondisabled student whose mother is a well-known AIDS activist is harassed by another student who mistakenly assumes he has AIDS. This student, who is regarding as having an impairment, would be covered by the ADA and Section 504.

Last week, our friends at the Rural School and Community Trust released Why Rural Matters 2011-12, the sixth in a series of biennial reports analyzing the contexts and conditions of rural education in each of the 50 states. The report calls attendtion to the need for policymakers to address rural education issues in their respective states, whether through federal or state policy.

• Nearly 10 million students are enrolled in rural schools districts in the US, representing over 20 percent of all of the nation's students.
• Of those attending rural schools:
• Two in five live in poverty (an increase of nearly a third in nine years!);
• One in four is a child of color; and
• One in eight has changed residence in the last 12 months.
• Between the 1999-00 and 2008-09 school years, rural districts' enrollment increased by more than 1.7 million students (growth of more than 22%).
• Over the same period, non-rural enrollment grew by only 1.7 percent.

You can read the full report on the RSCT website:

• Press Release
• Full Report 

Tip of the Day– Check out the English Language Arts Resources, Lesson Plans, and Ideas in the Teacher & Classroom Toolkit

Literacy and language arts are often viewed as content areas that are addressed across the curriculum. We have added many new resources, tools, and links to the Language Arts section of the Toolkits at http://www.digitallearningday.org/toolkits/lessons/language-arts/, which include:

· A Smattering of Writing Resources Dr. Scott McLeod, Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE) has compiled these links and resources related to writing. Lesson plans, links to magazines and publications, news, comics, student blogs, and other educational tools are all included here.

· American Association of School Librarians (AASL) These "Top 25" websites foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover. Websites are broken down into: Media Sharing, Digital Storytelling, Manage and Organize, Social Networking and Communication, Content Collaboration, Curriculum Sharing, and Content Resources: Lesson Plans and More.

Literacy, ELL, and Digital Storytelling Life Academy High School/Bay Area Writing Project (Oakland, CA) is highlighted in this video that documents a semester-long, project-based learning unit focused on immigration led by National Writing Project high school teachers Cliff Lee and Yumi Matsui. As part of this project, students created digital stories portraying the immigration experience of a family member or friend. The video shows the project from the beginning stages to the end, when students show their work at an Exhibition Night in front of families and peers.

This is a little different from the type of information we normally share on the blog, but I thought you might find it interesting. School of Thought is a report by the US Department of Health and Human Services that looks at relationship education for our nation's students.

From the report's executive summary:

From 2006-2011, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) funded 15 demonstration Healthy Marriage grants to organizations across the country whose specific focus was to deliver relationship education services to high school-age youth. These organizations reached thousands of high school-age youth with group-based, relationship education services. Based on these program’s experiences with high school-age youth, OFA produced a report entitled, “School of Thought: Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Matters to Our Youth.”

Despite the geographic and organizational diversity of these programs, five common themes emerged from their demonstration projects:

• Youth desire information about healthy relationships.
• Young people need facilitators they can relate to and trust.
• Participants are able to develop a vision about what a healthy relationship is, and what it is not.
• Relationship education can be a powerful change agent within youth relationships.
• Young people are receptive to positive money management/budgeting strategies.

This report pulls from the experiences of the 15 organizations that provided relationship education services to high school-age youth and summarizes their common knowledge and evaluation findings. It also focuses on how these programs were designed and structured to reach high school-age youth. The suggested influence of these demonstration programs is highlighted through quotes and links to video clips of the experiences of youth and program operators.

The AASA Executive Committee met on in mid-January to develop the 2012 AASA Legislative Agenda. After meeting with House and Senate Republican and Democratic staff as well as representatives of the US Department of Education, the Executive Committee then began deliberations leading to the development of the 2012 AASA legislative agenda.

Read the 2012 Legislative Agenda put forth by the Executive Committee. This agenda will be finalized pending Governing Board approval in February.

Read the Executive Committee's statement on the House and Senate ESEA bills. The Executive Committee believes both bills represent a step in the right direction. While the Senate bill was released in November, the House Education Committee released a draft of their ESEA re-write two weeks ago.

As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Bruce Hunter (bhunter@aasa.org)
Noelle Ellerson (nellerson@aasa.org)
Sasha Pudelski (spudelski@aasa.org)

Tip of the Day: Character Development Content to Celebrate Martin Luther King’s Legacy

Using robust digital content in conjunction with language arts, social studies, and character development activities can help bring important issues to light to improve school environments. I want to call your attention to the Power, Prejudice and Preventing Ethnic Conflict site found at http://www.digitallearningday.org/index.php?cID=122. It is a free resource offered by Ripple Effects that is a multimedia, skill building program, which includes compelling true stories and an engaging game.

Martin Luther King's legacy is to endure, we need to empower today's young people, not only with his vision of personal transformation and political change, but with the practical abilities needed to translate that vision into an ever deepening social reality. That includes understanding the relationship between power, prejudice and ethnic conflict and how stereotypes can work as the justifying rationale for social injustice.

I’m passing this along as a free resource to the Digital Learning Day community in celebration of MLK day.

House Education and the Workforce Committee Republicans recently released two pieces of draft legislation designed to rewrite elementary and secondary education law, currently known as No Child Left Behind. The Student Success Act and the Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act are commonsense proposals that will help raise the bar on student learning and put more decisions back in the hands of state and local education leaders. In a five-part series titled Ten Years Later: A Better Way Forward for K-12 Schools, the Committee released a set of fact sheets related to the bills. I've pulled all five together here:

• Part I: New Republican Proposals Advance Education Reform
• Part II: Returning Responsibility for Student Achievement to State and Local Leaders
• Part III: Supporting Effective Teachers in Every Classroom
• Part IV: Ending the Secretary's Overreach
• Part V: Reviewing the Facts

Countdown to Digital Learning Day: District and School Perspectives

Wednesday, January 18, 2012
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., ET

Panelists
Karen Collins, Principal, Mountain View Elementary School, Morgantown, WV
Noelle Ellerson, Assistant Director, Policy Analysis & Advocacy, American Association of School Administrators
Michelle Meehan, Teacher, Kenmore Middle School, Arlington, VA
Eric Sheninger, Principal, New Milford High School, Bergen County, New Jersey
Bob Wise, President, Alliance for Excellent Education

Technology has the power, when used strategically and systemically as part of whole-school reform, to accelerate improvement in schools. Progress has been too incremental and fragmented. Now is the time to ensure that all students have access to the connected content and great teaching that a strategic, systemic use of digital learning can bring. To raise awareness, encourage innovation and celebrate great teaching, the Alliance for Excellent Education is hosting Digital Learning Day. In less than a few weeks, dozens of states, over a thousand educators, and hundreds of thousands of students will participate.

On Wednesday, January 18 from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. (ET), the Alliance for Excellent Education will hold a webinar featuring the perspective of districts as well as elementary, middle, and high schools on the power of digital learning and how to participate in Digital Learning Day. The webinar will feature members of the Educator Working Group and representatives from Core Partners that support the Alliance’s Digital Learning Day efforts. They will discuss how they have seen digital learning make a difference in the lives of students and teachers. They will also share their plans for Digital Learning Day and describe how anyone can get involved.

Digital Learning Day is the flagship event of the Alliance’s Center for Secondary School Digital Learning and Policy. For more information on Digital Learning Day, visit http://www.digitallearningday.org.

Register and submit questions for the webinar online at http://media.all4ed.org/registration-jan-18-2012.

Please direct questions concerning the webinar to alliance@all4ed.org.

NOTE: If you are unable to watch the webinar live, an archived version will be available at http://www.all4ed.org/webinars, usually a day or two after the event airs.

Tip of the Day! A Quick Read with Great Insight for Teachers and Other Education Leaders…

Hear directly from teachers and other education leaders implementing digital learning in recent Alliance and Digital Learning blogs! These are quick views into the world of educators who are making it happen!

Learning Stations To Reach Every Student
Kim Sharp, an English teacher at Klein Forest High School in Houston, Texas, shares how learning stations help her meet the needs of individual students in her class.

It's More About Learning than Digital for LFA
Cheryl Williams, the executive director of the Learning First Alliance, discusses the importance of how a teacher relates to students, engages their interest, and opens the world of intellectual curiosity and how technology and digital learning can help a teacher make this happen.

iEngage- Digital Learning Every Day, All Day
Robert Craven, an educator from Saddleback Valley Unified School District with a technology obsession, discusses his journey to ensure that teachers and students in his districts are able to maximize the potential of digital learning all day every day.

Digital Learning with the NCTAF STEM Learning Studio
Melinda George, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future’s (NCTAF), shares how rethinking the way that schools are organized and taking advantage of collaborative learning teams make a real difference for teachers and students.

What a School Librarian Can Do For You
Robyn Young, school librarian at Avon High School and the Avon Advanced Learning Center in Avon, Indiana, emphasizes how school librarians can help teachers integrate technology and digital learning into instruction.

School Culture is Critical to Sustaining Digital Learning
Eric Sheninger, principal of New Milford High School in New Jersey, specifically talks about how several teachers in his school, across the content areas, are using technology to meet the needs of students.

Kentucky Teachers Using Technology
Jill Griebe, District Literacy Coach for Eminence Independent Schools in Eminence, Kentucky, discusses how the Literacy Team in her district helps teachers use technology to improve student outcomes.

A little bit of this and that from the last week or so.....

• New America Foundation Report on 2012 Appropriations: 2012 Education Appropriations Guide provides a nice summary of the FY12 education appropriations bills and the FY12 appropriations process.
• Sequestration Report: The Center on Budget Policy & Priorities issued a brief report comparing the impact of sequestration on defense versus non-defense spending: Coming Reductions in Discretionary Funding Will Be Larger For non-Defense Programs
• ESEA Flexibility: USED issued an addendum to their FAQ for the ESEA waivers/flexibility plans.
• Child Poverty Report: The Brookings Institution released The Recession's Ongoing Impact on America's Children. One finding of concern: child poverty has risen by a percentage point or more for each of the last four years.

AASA has completed review and analysis of the Student Success Act (Bill Text; Bill Summary) and the Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act (Bill Text; Bill Summary), the final two pieces of the House ESEA reauthorization effort.

At this point, AASA has neither endorsed nor opposed the legislation and instead welcomes the opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue and discussion to strengthen the parts of the bill that work and improve those that give us pause.

As a point of reference, AASA's Executive Committee will be meeting in DC this week to establish AASA's 2012 legislative agenda, and will guide any additional/final points of clarification in AASA's response to (and position on) this bill.

Read AASA's Analysis.

Late last week, Ed Week ran a fascinating column marking (note, I did not say celebrating!) 10 years of No Child Left Behind. Reflecting on the law's anniversary, EdWeek asked a range of K12 education leaders, politicians, teachers and child advocates for their thoughts. I've linked to the whole article, and point you to AASA member Thelma Melendez, Superintendent of the Santa Ana Unified School District in California.

I encourage you to check it out. The timing was impeccable, given the introduction of the House's latest ESEA reauthorization efforts.

U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce Chairman John Kline (R-MN) today released two pieces of draft legislation to reform current elementary and secondary education law, known as No Child Left Behind. The proposals will improve accountability, increase flexibility, and support more effective teachers in the classroom.

Read the full press release and access the bills here. I am traveling today, but will have an analysis and write up posted to the blog later tonight.

Tip of the Day: Look at these Instructional Tools & Ideas That Educators like You Use and Recommend!

Many teachers share websites, tools, and resources that they use on a regular basis as part of their instructional strategies to meet the needs of students. You can view several recommendations that can be used immediately at http://www.digitallearningday.org/toolkits/lessons/.

A few of the tools and resources highlighted include:

• Animoto: This site allows students to create videos. The students upload photos and music, or they can choose some from the site. It also has the option to add your own video clips. http://animoto.com/
• Glogster: Glogster is an online animated poster. Students can be creative by upload music, pictures, and videos along with adding graphics and text. http://edu.glogster.com/
• Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators: Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators contains links to websites and best practice in using digital sources. http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/
• Landmark Websites for Teaching and Learning (AASL): http://www.ala.org/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/bestlist/bestwebsiteslandmark
• Readwritethink.org (IRA, NCTE): Along with lesson plans and information for teachers, this site has many interactive graphic organizers and tools for students to use. http://www.readwritethink.org
• Top Tools 2011 Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies produces this for the Top Tools 2011. http://c4lpt.co.uk/top-100-tools-for-learning-2011/
• Voicethread: Voicethread allows students to post pictures or video clips while commenting and/or annotating on each slide. http://voicethread.com/

Taking advantage of his appearance on the radio show 'Morning in America', Chairman Kline indicated that the house will act (as soon as this week) to release bills related to teacher quality and accountability.

For a broader overview of ESEA, check out the EdWeek Politics K12 blog.

In a new report released today, the Wallace Foundation reviewed more than 10 years of its own research and projects in school leadership to describe five key practices of principals who focus on improving teaching and learning.

Check it out: The School Principal as Leader: Guiding Schools to Better Teaching and Learning

The Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS) has released NextEd: Transforming Connecticut's Education System, a package of unusually bold changes that are being advanced by the association.

Under NextEd, the current system would be replaced with a learner-centric program that begins before kindergarten. It would include a host of options for parents (including charter and magnet schools) and would provide for assessment as developmentally appropriate, not merely a requirement to test all students at the same time.

CAPSS Executive Director Joe Cirasuolo was quoted in an extensive article featuring NextEd in this week's edition of Education Week.

Rick Hess, from American Enterprise Institute, has released the 2012 Edu-Scholar Public Presence rankings. The ranking looks at university-based academics who are contributing to public databases about schools and schooling. The roster includes 121 academics, with Linda Darling Hammond, Diane Ravitch, Eric Hanushek, Larry Cuban and Richard Arum leading the pack.

Scoring was driven by three components: articles and academic scholarship; book authorship and current book success; and presence in new and old media. (Check out his earlier blog post explaining the scoring rubric).

Tip of the Day: Check Out Showcases for Elementary, Middle, and High School Schools and Librarians

The Digital Learning Day website highlights several educators utilizing technology in instruction to make a difference for students available at http://www.digitallearningday.org/showcase/:

• In the High School section, listen to Abel Real's story about how the access, collaboration, and opportunities afforded through instructional strategies using technology changed his high school career and future. Jim Allder, a WV band instructor, talks about how the interactive, project-based learning network, Globaloria.org, helps students build their STEM and the deeper learning skills needed for the 21st century; and High Tech High demonstrates how using technology for project based learning is increasing relevance and student-centered approaches to learning. 
• In the Middle School showcase section, Andrew Smiley, from Center Grove Middle School North in Indiana shares a video he created utilizing animoto as an instructional tool with students; and Eminence Middle & High School demonstrates how teachers and students use technology in the classroom with a specific emphasis on the connection between literacy and technology.
• In the Elementary School showcase section, Radford University iLearning provides videos highlighting how teachers utilize mobile technologies, including this first grade teacher from Southwestern Virginia who is using mobile technologies to increase differentiation and time on task in her classroom. Saddleback Valley Unified School District shares how educators have implemented an extensive mobile technologies initiative which is changing teaching and learning to improve student achievement. Manor ISD teacher Ms. Burrell of Decker Elementary engages her students in a project about the Gulf Oil Spill using 21st technology with a focus on broadcast journalism and cross-curricular content areas.
• In the Librarian showcase section, you can see videos created by students for the American Library Association Learning4Life in My School, Library Student Video Contest that demonstrate how technology is being used in libraries to improve student outcomes and opportunities.
  

There are only four weeks left until the first Digital Learning Day, scheduled for February 1, 2012. Starting today, as part of our partnership with the Alliance for Excellent Education and the other core partners in the Digitial Learning Day campaign, we will have a daily quick tip that will help you (DLD participants!) implement your plans.

Join the wave of innovation being created to celebrate teachers and promote innovation through Digital Learning Day on February 1, 2012. Sign up TODAY to learn more and get updates on this important awareness campaign at http://www.digitallearningday.org.

You can also “like” Digital Learning Day on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NationalDigitalLearningDay and follow the discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #DLDday.

The fact that we have to defend U.S. public education in the first place is puzzling, AASA Executive Director Dan Domenech writes in his January eSchool News column. “Our travels reinforce our belief that we have the best system of education in the world, but at the same time we have observed many practices that would strengthen our programs.” To learn about these practices, see full column.

It seems fitting, as the calendar year draws to a close, to use one blog post to wrap-up what happened in Congress over the past 12 months as it relates to things AASA follows and advocates for.

It was a tense year on Capitol Hill, with Congress scoring a hat trick when it comes to bringing the federal government to the brink of shutdown: over FY11 appropriations in the spring, over the debt ceiling in the summer, and over a tax increase just before the holidays. Perhaps not coincidentally, Congress currently enjoys exceptionally low (single-digit) approval ratings. As the blog has reported over the year, the Republican-led House and Democrat-led Senate found little common ground, meaning legislation from one chamber was, more often than not, dead on arrival across the hill. This, for all intents and purposes, meant that the radical class of House GOP freshmen made little ground on their push to roll back health care and banking laws. Delving closer to the issues that AASA follows, though, let’s take a look at budget, appropriations and education.

Budget: Much of the conversation around budget in 2011 was tied up in the debt ceiling and super committee. The federal debt ceiling, which is actually raised on a somewhat regular basis, became a lightning rod this summer, when a partisan showdown dragged the debate to the 11^th hour. The Budget Control Act of 2011 provided for an increase of the debt ceiling, and required the formation of a 12-member bipartisan, bicameral committee that would identify an additional $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years. If the so-called ‘Super Committee’ were to fail to identify the full $1.5 trillion, then sequestration (across-the-board cuts) would be triggered. While the Super Committee did engage in intense discussions around spending cuts and additional revenues, Republicans and Democrats were ultimately unable to agree on a $1.5 trillion plan, and the automatic sequestration cuts will take effect in January 2013. It should be noted that the Budget Control Act also established federal spending caps for the next ten years, starting with a $1.043 trillion cap for FY12 and $1.047 trillion cap for FY13. OMB Watch has a pretty good FAQ related to the Budget Control Act, including a chart of the spending caps.

Appropriations: The FY11 appropriations process (the dollars you see in the 2011-12 school year) can be described as a hot mess. Congress adjourned at the end of 2010 having passed none of the 12 appropriations bills, setting the stage for a partisan showdown when the new Congress convened in January 2011. Through a record-setting series of 7 continuing resolutions (including unprecedented funding cuts within CRs!), Congress dragged the FY11 appropriations process into the seventh month of FY11 before finally agreeing on a funding package that provided $1.055 trillion in budget authority, a reduction of $39.9 billion from current law. $12 billion of the cuts came from the initial continuing resolutions, funding mechanisms that until this point had simply been used to level-fund government. The final appropriation included a 0.2% across the board cut, though AASA reported that ‘across the board’ took on different meanings in different programs. The FY11 appropriations package included a series of policy riders (let’s not get started about using appropriations bills to move authorizing/policy language). Anyways, one of the relevant policy riders was related to the DC Opportunity Scholarship (VOUCHER!) program. The compromise bill includes $15.5 million for vouchers in FY11, and removes the bar on new students. Even more frustrating, it includes the SOAR Act in its entirety, which would extend the voucher for 5 more years.

When it comes to FY12, Congress did a bit better, completing the FY12 appropriations process only 11 weeks behind schedule, the earliest finish in seven years. Congress passed a three-bill mini-bus in November and followed up with a nine-bill omnibus in December. FY12 had two short-term CRs before Congress passed the second of two funding packages. The final FY12 package is compliant with the $1.043 trillion spending cap from the Budget Control Act of this summer. Looking more closely at the LHHS-Education appropriation, the Department of Education was essentially level funded. Check out an earlier AASA blog post for more detail, including a pretty succinct program-by-program chart for education funding levels.

Education Policy: The big game in town re: education policy could be considered the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, though not as much for the actual progress that was made in terms of getting schools the relief they need, but in how the legislative process is entering its fifth year and reauthorization in 2012 still seems a slim reality.

President Obama had indicated that if Congress were unable to reauthorize ESEA before the start of the 2011-12 school year, his administration would take action to provide schools with relief (see the last paragraph to see how this unfolded).

In October, the Senate moved its bipartisan, comprehensive reauthorization out of committee, though there are not expectations for the bill to move to the Senate floor any time soon. AASA analysis ran on the blog.

Earlier in the summer, the House introduced three pieces of legislation, moving all three out of committee and one (the charter bill) through the full house. It is expected that a partisan process will drive the remaining two piece expected from the House, with a piece related to teacher evaluation and accountability being introduced as soon as February. For more detail: House Charter Bill; House Funding Flexibility Bill; House Program Eliminations Bill.

Honestly, when it comes to getting schools relief they need from a law widely recognized as ‘in need of improvement’, the Administration’s ESEA waivers are the most popular bet, with 40 states expressing interest in adopting policy priorities in exchange for key flexibilities. While AASA opposes the conditional nature of the waivers, we agree with the areas identified for flexibility and think the policy priorities warrant further conversation, albeit within the construct of the traditional legislative process. Full details are in this earlier blog post.

Starting next month, the School Administrator will have a new look! In the works for more than a year, AASA's monthly publication will debut its new layout and design, with more modern aesthetics and additional color.

There are content changes, as well:

• The Ethical Educator: a monthly ethical dilemma with four expert analyses
• Best of the Blogs: Short, pithy excerpts from our members' own blog postings
• State of the Superintendency: an info-graphic capturing an important finding from AASA's 2010 superintendent study
• Legal Brief: practical counsel on a legal matter with a direct connection to a superintendent

The online-version of the magazine (including the new content!) will be available starting January 3. Make sure to check it out online (and in person....mailed copies have already been sent).

Happy New Year!

Last week, the Department of Education was on an awarding spree, announcing winners in three programs: Race to the Top, Investing in Innovation and Promise Neighborhood.

The news is a bit delayed due to the holidays, but relevant none the less. Here are the details:

Race to the Top: Seven states (runners-up in last year's $4 billion RttT competition) will share $200 million in consolation money. In large part, this latest round of awards funds smaller pieces of their original plans, and many of the winning states will focus on common standards and teacher evaluation systems with their small pot of funding. The winning states (Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey and Pennsylvania) will receive an award ranging from $17 million to $43 million. Details on how each state will use the Race to the Top winnings can be found in this department document.

Investing in Innovation: 23 winners will split $150 million in i3 funding. Nearly 600 applications were received, and applicants had to meet a relaxed matching requirement (5%, down from 15%) in this round of funding. Applications aimed at improving STEM and/or rural received a boost in scoring this round, with nearly one-third of the $150 million going toward proposals that identified STEM as an absolute priority. You can read the department's press release, which includes a roster of award winners.

Promise Neighborhood: Five awardees will each receive up to $6 million to implement grants received under the Promise Neighborhoods Program. Winners are: Westminister Foundation (Buffalo, NY); Berea College (Kentucky); United Way of San Antonio (Texas); California State University (California); and Northside Academy (Minnesota).

Have you signed up to participate in Digital Learning Day? On February 1, 2012, the Alliance for Excellent Education, along with AASA and other collaborating partners, will host the first ever national Digital Learning Day! You can tailor your participation and celebration to meet the needs of your district. This is more than a DAY. We know that learning should be happening with digital learning and technology EVERY DAY, so the Alliance will be creating a drumbeat highlighting teachers, innovative practices, and the effective uses of technology starting now and culminating in a national town hall meeting in DC on February 1st and then followed up with several months of awards and special recognition.

Register: We invite you and your principals, teachers, librarians, students, and parents to register at: http://www.digitallearningday.org/.

Toolkits: You can find a Digital Learning Day Toolkit for district leaders like you at http://www.digitallearningday.org/toolkits/district-administrators/, and a Teacher & Librarian Toolkit, full of ideas, resources, lesson plans, and project based learning frameworks and developed with input from an expert Educator Working Group, at http://www.digitallearningday.org/toolkits/teachers.

What You Can Do: Sign Up, Make a Proclamation, Encourage Schools to Participate, Write a Blog

We want each host district to feel free to use this national celebration to call attention to the need for digital learning in your district in whatever way you see fit. A district can craft its Digital Learning Day to suit internal resources, time commitments, and scope, including:

• Proclaim February 1st as Digital Learning Day
• Send periodic emails to principals, school educational technology professionals, and teacher leaders to garner excitement in the district
• Hold a district strategy meeting with principals, central office staff, and other coaches and leaders
• Offer a printable certificate of achievement signed by your superintendent (provided by the Alliance)
• Sponsor a showcase at your district office highlighting your innovative teachers and students
• Award a teacher, school, or student with a district specific Digital Learning Day Award (sample parameters are being developed
• Write a blog highlighting your plans and/or write a blog for the Alliance for Excellent Education to publish in anticipation of Digital Learning Day
• Encourage teachers to be innovative and try something new around Digital Learning Day
• Watch and/or Participate in the national town hall meeting on February 1st with colleagues and students in your district.

Please Sara Hall, the Director for the Center for Secondary School Digital Learning and Policy, at the Alliance at shall@all4ed.org, or me know if you have any questions or specific ideas you would like to share.

Digital Learning Day is rapidly approaching! As a core partner in DLD (a culminating event in a year-round national awareness campaign to improve teaching and learning for all children), we hope you will sign your district up for the February 1 event.

If you haven't already done so, sign up to participate and to receive technology-related toolkits and resources.

Already, more than half of all states have signed up as partners in support of the first-ever Digital Learning Day. On Digital Learning Day, a virtual national town hall meeting will be broadcast live from Washington, DC, and will highlight four to six satellite locations. The town hall meeting boasts support from

• twenty-five core partners made up of national membership organizations, and a broad array of stakeholder groups, including principals, school board, content area specialists, and instructional technology professionals;
• twenty-seven states that are planning their own statewide celebrations;
• twenty-six instructional technology experts who are hard at work developing toolkits and resources to support educators at all the state, district, school, and classroom levels; and
• nationally known companies, such as Intel Corporation, Google, and SMART Technologies.

Currently, the following states are signed up as partners for Digital Learning Day: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

The celebration of Digital Learning Day will be tailored within each participating state. Some activities these states are planning include a proclamation from the state governor, a showcase of student work through digital learning, lesson plan contests for teachers, announcements of digital learning projects, and highlights of promising practices within and among states.

For example, on Digital Learning Day, the Indiana Department of Education will kick off the state’s twenty-nine-day “Web 2.0 Challenge.” Then, on each day in February, it will introduce a new resource complete with tutorials and tips on its blog. The challenge is for educators to explore the shared tools and post thoughts and ideas about how they could use them to enhance student learning. Additionally, the state will encourage districts to post a three-minute video telling their own Digital Learning story to the Indiana Department of Education YouTube channel.

Full details available here.

The IDEA Partnership organizations have completed the Collection of tools introducing the Common Core. This Collection includes: six tools to build understanding ; a Ready-to-Use workshop with Presenter Guide and three Dialogue Guides to begin conversation around important documents. The Collection is completely downloadable from the Partnership website. Short video clips describe the purpose of each tool in the Collection. This is the first installment in the Partnership Collection on Common Core. The second installment of the Common Core Collection will focus on new assessments . The partners will begin developing this tool in January at their annual meeting.

Check out the Common Core Collection!

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), chairman of the Senate Education Committee, introduced legislation on Friday that would prohibit the use of seclusion and restraint in schools for all students. Specifically, his legislation would prohibit the use of seclusion and mechanical, physical or chemical restraints from being included in any IEP, behavioral intervention plan or IFSP.

Restraints can be used in emergency situations by trained personnel, but only when the child is at risk of imposing “serious bodily injury” on himself or others. Applying the “serious bodily injury” standard when determining whether seclusion and restraint can be used by a trained educator or paraprofessional is problematic because seclusion and restraint techniques are most often used in order to prevent the risk of injury, not to determine the extent of the injury in the aftermath of the incident. AASA believes it will be difficult for school personnel to determine whether a child is at risk of inflicting “serious bodily injury” to himself or to another individual or whether the child is only at risk of inflicting “bodily injury,” particularly if they are fearful for themselves or the student. AASA is deeply concerned that a court or hearing officer that uses this high standard could find that the teacher or the student was only risking “bodily injury” rather than “serious bodily injury’ when they chose to intervene and engage in restraint or seclusion. This could mean that a court or hearing officers’ finding that the injury was only “bodily” and not “serious bodily” would enable a parent or student to take legal action against the school for the inappropriate use of physical restraint or seclusion.

In addition, school personnel imposing physical restraint must be trained and certified by a State approved crisis intervention program which could lead to considerable costs for school personnel especially since no funding is associated with this requirement. Limiting training to “state-approved’ programs, districts in rural and small communities could be forced to spend more funds on crisis intervention training for districts if the only state-approved crisis intervention center is located far away from the school district and/or is more expensive than their current training. Because some crisis intervention centers do not allow a train-the-trainer approach, this could mean that consultants would have to be contracted every time for multiple training sessions which would unduly increase costs to districts.

School districts need to establish procedures to ensure that after the imposition of physical restraint upon a student, all school personnel in the proximity of the student immediately before and during the time of the restraint, in addition to the parent, the student, appropriate supervisory and administrative staff, and IEP team members, are gathered for a debriefing session. This debriefing session must occur within five days of the incident and parents must receive verbal or electronic communication the day of the incident and formal written notification within 24 hours of the incident. Moreover, when a student attends a debriefing session, information communicated by the student may not be used against the student in any disciplinary, criminal or civil investigation. For example, if the student admits to being on illegal substances or in violation of any other school codes of conduct, no sanctions or appropriate intervention by law enforcement can occur.

In addition, there is burdensome data collection mandates associated with this legislation. Every school within a district must report the following information to the State the number of incidents in which physical restraint was imposed upon a student disaggregated by 1) the number of incidents that resulted in injury to student or school personnel, 2) that resulted in death, 3) in which the school personnel were not trained or certified to perform restraint, 4) age of student, disability category, race, ELL status, socio-economic status, gender.

Denial to comply with this legislation means that there is a denial of FAPE.

AASA will be working hard to oppose this legislation and will keep you informed as we will need intensive grassroots advocacy to ensure this legislation does not move forward.

The House has passed the omnibus by a vote of 296-12. They also passed the separate disaster aid bill, HR 3672 by a vote of 351 – 67. They also passed HConRes94 (which includes the 1.83% across-the-board cut). The Senate is expected to vote on Saturday, passing the omnibus and the disaster aid bill and rejecting the disaster aid offsets bill.

On a related note: Given the cumbersom size/nature of the megabus and that it could take a few days to reach the President's desk, the House also passed two short-term CRs: HJRes94 would last one day and HJRes95 would last through Dec. 23.

Clarifying the 1.5% from the first CR with the new 0.189% cut: At this point, USED has confirmed that the 1.5% cut is now gone; the only cut to those advanced appropriations in the current school year will be the 0.189% cut applied to all four programs.

The White House announced that nine states will receive grant awards from the $500 million RTT-ELC fund, a competitive grant program jointly administered by the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services. Thirty-five states, D.C. and Puerto Rico submitted plans for the Challenge, and at an event earlier today Secretary Duncan announced the nine winners: California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Washington state.

Earlier today, House Republicans released the text of the FY12 omnibus. The text for all 9 appropriations bills included in the megabus is available on the House Rules Committee website. LHHS is Division F. Education starts on page 98. The House Appropriations page includes a summary statement from Chairman Hal Rogers.

Getting in to the mitty-gritty:

Highlights of the LHHS Appropriations:

• The LHHS appropriation includes a 0.189% across the board cut, in compliance with the budget caps resulting from the budget control act. Here are funding levels for selected programs BEFORE the application of the ATB cut:
• Head Start: additional $424 million
• Title I: additional $60 million
• IDEA: additonal $100 million
• RTTT funded at $550 million
• School Improvement Grant: $534.6 m
• Literacy: $160 million (restoration from FY11)
• Impact Aid: $1.294 billion
• Title II set aside in the competitive grant for professional development increases from 15 to 1.5%
• Investing in Innovation: $149.7 million
• REAP: $180 million
• Teacher Incentive Fund: $300 million
• Promise Neighborhood: $60 million
• ESEA Title III: $733.5
• Career/Tech: $1.739 billion
• Funding Table: This table was prepared by our friends at the Committee for Education Funding. The omnibus numbers all have been calculated to include the effect of the 0.189% across-the board-cut included in the Labor-HHS-ED section, They do not include the 1.83% cut included in the separate disaster aid offset bill, because that bill will not be accepted by the Democrats. Please note that the line-item funding levels might be slightly off.

House Republicans actually filed three appropriations bills:

• HR 3671 is the omnibus
• HR 3672 is the disaster aid bill
• H.Con.Res. 94 is an offset for the disaster aid bill

Why do you need to know about all three? The offset included in HConRes94 translates in to an across-the-board cut of 1.83% for ALL FY12 appropriations bills (with the exception of Defense and the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Acts). At this point, with Democrats not willing to accept the 1.83% across the board cut, it looks the only cut to endure (of impact to LHHS) is the 0.189% one mentioned above. Applied to the entire ED department, that would translate into a cut of roughly $86 million (and this would be in addition to any cuts specifically articulated in the bill).

How does this interplay with the 1.5% cut from the earlier CR? At this point, it seems the 0.189% cut would take precedent, meaning most (though not all) of the $329 million cut from Title I, Title II, IDEA and Perkins in October will be reinstated.

Stay tuned as this process moves forward. It is very malleable and subject to change!

From our friends at the National Education Research Center:

A federal project designed to help schools “do more with less” relies overwhelmingly on speculative theorizing and other work that falls far short of the high-quality research available in the field, according to a new policy brief published today by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) at the University of Colorado Boulder. The brief, entitled Productivity Research, the U.S. Department of Education, and High-Quality Evidence, concludes that although the current federal effort is fatally flawed, a well-done project of this type could be helpful. The brief offers recommendations for how the Department could move forward.

A new report by the Center for Education Policy finds that 48% of the nation's schools failed to make AYP in the 2010-11 school year, an all-time high and a marked increased from 39% in 2009-10.

Access the full report and press release.

Public Agenda recently released "What's Trust Got to Do With It? A Communications and Engagement Guide for School Leaders Tackling the Problem of Persistently Failing Schools."

The report offers a blueprint for education leaders on how to engage communities in transforming persistently failing schools so that they create the conditions under which teachers and students can succeed. The report includes best outreach practices culled from education, communications and engagement experts that hold varying perspectives on how to approach school reform. It helps leaders understand some of the primary ways in which communities react to various school turnaround efforts – and why – and offers eight clear and actionable steps to help leaders effectively communicate with and engage communities facing school turnaround. Check out the full report at the link above.

Education technology, telecommunications and connectivity are crucial resources to school districts as they work to prepare America's students for an increasingly global and competitive work place. Recent policy and funding trends at the federal level have failed to demonstrate an adequate commitment to education technology.

In an effort to gauge how connected America's schools are and how connected they need to be, AASA has put together a brief survey. Please take a few moments to complete this survey, or to forward it to the relevant IT person in your district. AASA's advocacy team will use this information as we move forward with ESEA reauthorization, E-Rate discussions, and general dialogue related to education technology and connectivity.

Take the survey!

Thank you, in advance, for taking the time to complete this survey. Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me (nellerson@aasa.org).

The Senate defeated (by a vote of 21-79) the first of two balanced-budget amendments it is voting on today. SJRes 24 proposed a balanced budget and would take social security receipts and outlays off the books for purposes of the amendment and would prohibit Congress from passing any tax cut for millionaires if the cut would yield a deficit.

The second amendment (SJRes10) is also expected to fail, and would establish a two-thirds threshold in both chambers for tax increases and establish a cap for federal spending at 18 percent of the economy’s annual output.

While child farm labor laws and the Fair Labor Standards Act are not usually points within the AASA advocacy agenda, several AASA members have reached out to the advocacy team with inquiries about a recent proposed rule making related to more strict child farm labor laws.

RIN 1235-AA06 Child Labor Regulations, Orders and Statements of Interpretation: Violations-Civil Money Penalties was released earlier this fall, and the comment period closed December 1. The proposed revisions, issued by the U.S. Department of Labor, include changes to the child labor regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), particularly related to agriculture occupations and work experiences. Throughout the proposed regulations, many of the student learner exemptions are eliminated, which would severely limit or eliminate opportunities for students to participate in the experiential learning aspects of school agriculture programs.

AASA did not file comments on the proposed rule making. Our colleagues at the Association for Career and Technical Education collaborated with a host of organizations to file comments. Check out their response, with a focus on the student learner exemption section that starts on page 10.

Though the comment period has closed, activities are still underway to stop the changes from going  in to effect:

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (Kansas) and U.S. Senator Ben Nelson (Nebraska) have prepared a "Dear Colleague" letter regarding the proposed rulemaking on the child labor laws. It is important that you contact your U.S. senators' offices immediately and ask them to sign on to the Moran/Nelson Dear Colleague letter regarding the child labor laws pertaining to agricultural labor. You can access the letter and a copy of the 12-page letter that the Senators submitted to the Department of labor. Please reach out to your Senators and urge them to sign on to the Nelson/Moran letter. The deadline for signing on is this Friday, December 16.

Action Needed:

• Contact your two U.S. senators (not your U.S. Representative at this time, just your two senators) and ask them to sign on to the Moran/Nelson Dear Colleague letter regarding the child labor laws pertaining to agricultural labor.
• You can reach your senators by calling the Senate switchboard at 202-224-3121 and requesting to be transferred to your senator's office (you'll have to call twice ... once for each of your two U.S. senators).
• You can ask to speak to the staff person that handles agricultural issues, or leave your message with the person who answers the phone in your senators' offices.
• Identify yourself as a constituent and then say: "I request the senator to sign on to the Moran/Nelson Dear Colleague letter regarding the child labor laws pertaining to agricultural labor."
• If you are asked for additional information, you can refer to the text of the Dear Colleague letter and the 12-page supporting letter.
• You can also tell your senators' offices that the contact person in Senator Moran's office is Aaron Popelka (aaron_popelka@moran.senate.gov  and the contact person in Senator Nelson's office is Erick Lutt (erick_lutt@bennelson.senate.gov).  

Tomorrow, the Senate will start consideration of its balanced budget amendment, as required by the Budget Control Act. As you'll recall, the House voted on--and defeated--its balanced budget amendment last month. Please call your Senators and urge them to oppose the balanced budget amendments. Debate starts tomorrow and the vote is expected on Wednesday.

When it comes to appropriations, the current continuing resolution expires this Friday. At this point, it appears the House has reached a compromise on a megabus with all 9 remaining appropriations bills (including LHHS). It is expected the text will be available tomorrow, which means a vote could be held as early as the 15th. Details, at this point, are few and far between and subject to change, though it looks like IDEA and Title I receive increases. Stay tuned!

Lastly, two relevant articles:

• The Unaddressed Link Between Poverty & Education -NYTimes, Dec. 11
• A Superintendent Calls School Reformers' Bluff - Washington Post, Dec. 12

From Rep. Roybal-Allard's press release:

Today Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard introduced H.R. 3614, the Achievement Through Technology and Innovation Act of 2011 (ATTAIN Act) to help prepare students to meet the needs of 21st century employers.

"I introduced this legislation because I believe that whether students are preparing for college or planning to go straight into the workforce, we must provide them with the high tech skills employers increasingly demand to meet the challenges of the 21st Century," said Rep. Roybal-Allard. "My bill will help to ensure that students are more engaged, eager to learn, and ultimately better prepared to meet the challenges of today’s high-tech and competitive global workforce.”

The ATTAIN Act would amend the current “Enhancing Education Through Technology” program in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to better target federal education technology resources to raise student achievement, ensure high quality teaching and improve our education system while ensuring our students are college and career ready and prepared to compete in the digital economy. The bill authorizes up to $1 billion in annual funding to train teachers, purchase education technology hardware and software, and to support student technological literacy.

Under the bill’s provisions, if Congress appropriates more than $300 million annually for ATTAIN, 60 percent would be used to purchase new technology and train teachers on how to effectively use these new tools.

The remaining 40 percent of ATTAIN funds would be distributed through competitive grants that encourage schools to undertake comprehensive, technology based reform initiatives that have been proven to increase student achievement.

However, should Congress appropriate $300 million or less for this program annually, the Secretary of Education would allocate the entirety of the funding to conduct a competition and award grants to those states with the most promising initiatives to improve K-12 education through the use of technology. This provision is intended to ensure that there is adequate funding to impact student outcomes during lean fiscal years.

It is my hope that through this competition states and districts across the country will be compelled to evaluate their technology use and work to integrate it effectively throughout all classrooms, and especially those that are currently underserved by education technology.

The Department has released a new report, Analysis of State Bullying Laws and Policies, which summarizes the anti-bullying efforts currently at work in the vast majority of states across the country.

Check out the report and the related press release.

AASA is a proud partner of the Pre-K Coalition, a collaboration among the nation’s most influential education groups to develop common principles for pre-k policy within federal legislation and build national awareness about the importance of pre-k.

ARRA Spending Reports: As of 11/25 only $8.53 billion of the $97.4 billion in ARRA funds remain unspent. Almost all of this unspent money is in the competitive grant programs (RTTT, I3, SIG, TIF, and SLDS). The information is available by state (MS Excel (242K)) or by program (MS Excel (217K)).

EdJobs Spending: As of 12/2. $3.2 billion of the $10 billion remains to be outlaid. The deadline for doing so is 9/30/12. This information is available by state: MS Excel (594K)

House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan released a package of ten bills to change the budget process. Click here for further information. Several of these bills would result in significant additional spending cuts. Here is a very brief preliminary take on a few of them.

The Spending Control Act:“Establishes binding limitations on federal spending and deficits – all enforced by a sequester of no more than 4 percent of programs – within each category if the program is growing faster than inflation.”  This bill creates global spending caps and new deficit caps, all enforceable by sequestration. It also appears to remove Pell grants (among other programs) from the list of programs exempt from sequestration.

The Government Shutdown Prevention Act: “If Congress fails to enact appropriations bills by the beginning of the fiscal year (Oct. 1), provides automatic authority to fund programs at a slightly reduced rate from the previous year’s level.” For any appropriations bill not enacted by the start of the Fiscal year, an automatic CR would kick in at the previous year's level minus a 1% across-the-board cut. After every three months without a regular appropriations bill, the cut increases by another 1%.

The Review Every Dollar Act : "Removes all direct spending provisions from Pell Grants and moves all funding to the discretionary spending category”. It appears to provide for an adjustment in the discretionary cap to accommodate such a transfer, but we are not yet sure exactly what the impact would be. 

The Balancing our Obligations for the Long Term Act: Establishes long-term global spending caps enforceable by sequestration. Also appears to take Pell off of the list of exempt programs.

The Budget and Accounting Transparency Act : Reforms the Credit Reform Act to incorporate Fair Value accounting principles.” – This would impact the scoring of Direct Student Loans.

FY12 CONTINUING RESOLUTION: Before adjourning for the Thanksgiving recess, Congress passes a second short-term continuing resolution to fund the government. The current CR runs through December 16, and Congress is expected to pass the remaining 9 appropriations bills (including LHHS) as part of a single package (minibus). There are now 9 days until the current CR expires. Reaching agreement on the remaining nine appropriations bills will be very difficult in that short time span.Various scenarios are floating around (odds favor scenario '5', at this point):

1. Actually complete the provisions of all nine bills in one omnibus by Dec. 16
2. Pass a one-week CR until 12/23 to provide more time on completing the omnibus.
3. Complete some of the bills and extend the CR until next year (February?) for the rest in one omnibus
4. Extend the CR for everything until next year.
5. Pass a megabus with 8 of the appropriations bills (all but LHHS) and treat LHHS as a stand-alone long-term CR

Call to Action: More pressing is an issue from the first CR (which expired Nov. 18): The FY11 funding allocations for Title I, Title II, IDEA and Perkins (funds that became available October 1) were unexpectedly reduced. Due to unprecedented language in the CR, programs that receive advanced appropriations saw their funding reduced by 1.5 percent. As a result, school districts across the nation are faced with the task of adjusting current school year budgets to the tune of $329 million. AASA has been working on Capitol Hill and within the education community to remove the problematic language. We need your help in making the case to reinstate the funding. While we don’t believe the cuts will be applied in the final appropriations for FY12, the fight is still on to urge Congress to reinstate the $329 million that was cut from the four programs. Please take a few moments to visit the AASA blog and fill out an excel-drive invoice that you can send to your Congressional delegation, urging them to reinstate the $329 million.

SUPERCOMMITTEE DEFICIT COMMISSION: The Super Committee charged with identifying more than $1 trillion in savings over the next ten years failed to introduce a plan. Sequestration will be triggered on Jan. 1, 2012 and those cuts will take effect on January 1, 2013. It remains to be seen exactly what (if any action) Congress will take in 2012 to hobble together a plan and avoid sequestration. It should be noted that sequestration is more damaging to education than any of the details that had been made available about the super committee’s discussions. That said, there are entire portions of the federal budget that fare better under sequestration. As this process moves forward, please make sure your congressional delegation not only understands the importance of education funding, but will vote for a super committee plan and oppose sequestration.

Now that there isn’t any supercommittee plan, there are several major budget related items that Congress will have to deal with by the end of the year. Among those are the expiration of the Social Security payroll tax cut (expires at the end of 2011), the extension of extended Unemployment Insurance (also expires at the end of 2011), and the pending cuts to Medicare physician reimbursement rates, known as the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (ditto on expiration) and a host of other expiring tax provisions such as the teacher tax deduction. All of the “Bush” tax cuts expire at the end of 2012, right before sequestration is scheduled to kick in.

HOUSE DEFEATS BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT: The House rejected H.J.Res. 2, the balanced budget Constitutional amendment, by a vote of 261-165 (2/3rds majority required). 25 Democrats voted in favor and four Republicans voted against it. The Senate is expected to take its vote next week, December 14. Please urge both your Senators to oppose any balanced budget amendment.

Data from the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show that students from large cities nationally have made gains since 2009 at both grades 4 and 8 in mathematics and at grade 8 in reading. The Nation’s Report Card: Mathematics 2011 TUDA and The Nation’s Report Card: Reading 2011 TUDA present results for public school students from 21 participating urban districts and from large cities nationally.

Key results from the 2011 NAEP TUDA mathematics and reading assessments include:

In MATHEMATICS in 2011

• Only one of the 21 participating districts (Atlanta) saw higher scores for both fourth- and eighth-grade students in 2011 than in any previous mathematics assessment.
• Three districts have made gains since 2009 at grade 4 only (Austin, Baltimore City, and Philadelphia) and five districts have made gains since 2009 for grade 8 only [Charlotte, Chicago, Detroit, the District of Columbia, and Jefferson county (KY)]. 
• Six districts recorded higher scores at both grades 4 and 8 than the averages for large city schools nationally: Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Hillsborough County (FL), Houston, and San Diego. 
• Two districts recorded higher scores than the average for large city schools at grade 4 only: Jefferson County (KY) and Miami-Dade.

In READING in 2011:

• Although the average score for fourth-grade students in large city schools remained unchanged from 2009, it was higher than in 2002.
• The average score for eighth-graders in large city schools was higher in 2011 than both 2009 and 2002.
• None of the participating districts made gains at grade 4 since 2009; only one district (Charlotte) made gains at grade 8 compared to 2009 scores. 
• Five districts recorded higher scores at both grades 4 and 8 than the averages for large city schools nationally: Austin, Charlotte, Hillsborough County (FL), Jefferson County (KY), and Miami-Dade.

Find complete results and sample questions, and download copies of the reports at http://nationsreportcard.gov.

The Nation’s Report Card is a product of the National Center for Education Statistics at the Institute of Education Sciences, part of the U.S. Department of Education.

To view the full mathematics report for urban districts, please visit
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2012452

To view the full reading report for urban districts, please visit
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2012455

A recent policy paper by the Center for Budget Policy and Priorities finds that the Senate's Balanced Budget Amendment would require extreme budget cuts. 

"The constitutional balanced budget amendment (BBA) that the Senate is expected to consider this month would, like any version of a BBA, risk serious harm to the economy by requiring that the budget be balanced even during an economic downturn. But this BBA, in particular, would do far more damage because it also would prevent the federal government from meeting the nation’s basic needs even when the economy is healthy." -Authors Richard Kogan and Kelsey Merrick

Read More: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3637

Thanks to ongoing efforts by education advocates and education leaders like yourself, more than 100 Representatives have signed on to the Fix America's Schools Today (FAST) Act.

Please take a few moments to reach out to your Representative to urge them to sign a Dear Colleague letter being circulated (text below) by Representative DeLauro. The push is on, with support from Reps. George Miller and Jan Schakowsky, to call on Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor to bring the FAST Act to the floor for a vote.

While we would love to have any and all Representatives sign the letter, the focus is on the legislation's cosponsors, listed here.

Dear Colleague:

Republicans have held the majority in the House for over 300 days and have yet to put forward a clear jobs agenda. We therefore urge you to join us in calling on Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor to begin bringing legislation to the House floor before the end of the year that addresses the jobs crisis, beginning with a key component of President Obama’s American Jobs Act, the Fix America’s Schools Today (FAST) Act, which will likely see a vote in the Senate soon.

The FAST Act would provide a Federal investment toward enhancing the condition of K-12 schools and community colleges across the country immediately putting hundreds of thousands of Americans most hurt by the jobs crisis- including construction workers, building technicians, boiler repairmen, electrical workers, roofers, plumbers, and painters-back to work rebuilding and modernizing schools across the country. Funds provided through the FAST Act could be used for a range of modernization, maintenance and repair projects, including work on roofs, electrical wiring, water systems, lighting, windows, ceiling and floors, heating and air conditioning systems, asbestos removal, energy efficiency upgrades, and new science and computer labs.

Investing in school facility improvements can create jobs, strengthen the economy, and save school districts utility costs while boosting teacher and student morale and performance. We therefore hope you will join us in calling on the Republican Majority to bring the FAST Act (H.R. 2948) to the floor for a vote. For more information or to co-sign the letter, please contact Dan Zeitlin (DeLauro) by phone at 5-3661 or by email at daniel.zeitlin@mail.house.gov.

Sincerely,

ROSA L. DeLAURO
Member of Congress

GEORGE MILLER
Member of Congress

JAN SCHAKOWSKY
Member of Congress

Dear Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor,

We are deeply disappointed that you have held the majority in the House for over 300 days and you have yet to put forward a clear jobs agenda. Accordingly, we write to urge you to begin bringing legislation to the House floor before the end of the year that addresses the jobs crisis beginning with a key component of President Obama’s American Jobs Act, the Fix America’s Schools Today (FAST) Act (H.R. 2948).

The average U.S. public school building is 40 years old, with conservative estimates of the needed school maintenance and repair nationwide amounting to at least $270 billion. Yet, school districts across the country have been delaying such school improvements for years, even as student enrollment levels continue to rise, a problem exacerbated during this historic recession as state and local governments have been forced to cut budgets and lay off employees.

The FAST Act would provide a Federal investment toward enhancing the condition of K-12 schools and community colleges immediately putting hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work rebuilding and modernizing schools across the country. Such an investment would create jobs for those most hurt by the jobs crisis-including construction workers, building technicians, boiler repairmen, electrical workers, roofers, plumbers, and painters- improving the health and safety of our schools with positive ripple effects throughout the economy.

Funds provided through the FAST Act could be used for a range of modernization, maintenance and repair projects, including work on roofs, electrical wiring, water systems, lighting, windows, ceiling and floors, heating and air conditioning systems, asbestos removal, energy efficiency upgrades, and new science and computer labs. Along with creating jobs and strengthening the economy, such investments in school facility improvements would boost teacher and student morale and performance in classrooms across the country.

It is precisely because such an investment would both create jobs and provide an environment that allows our children and grandchildren to develop the skills needed to compete in the 21st century economy that an overwhelming majority of Americans support new federal investments to create jobs by rehabilitating public schools. It is for these reasons that we are urging you to immediately bring the FAST Act to the House floor for a vote.

We are committed to pushing policies that reflect the priorities of the American people-creating jobs, strengthening the middle class, encouraging entrepreneurs, and helping small businesses grow and hire. We hope you will join us in this effort.

Thank you for your consideration.

I went a little overboard today with blog posts, and there are more new posts today than can appear on the blog home page. To make it easier, I'm adding one more blog post with a list of all this week's postings so you can navigate to the ones most relevant to your work:

• Re-Post: Call to Action to Restore $329 million Cut from Title I, Title II and IDEA
• National Coverage for Formula Fairness Campaign
• Urge Your Representative to Sign Dear Colleague Letter for Title I and IDEA Funding (Act by Dec. 2!)
• Digital Learning Day Toolkits Available
• Webinar Opportunity: Deepening and Strengthening Teacher Education
• DQC Releases 7th Annual State Analysis: Data for Action 2011
• USED Releases Final FERPA Regs
• Federal Education Update Slideshow: AESA Conference
• USED Conference Call Dec. 5: SIG and TIF
• Webinar: Will Expanded Learning Time = Better Outcomes?
• NCES Releases New Stats on Distance Learning
• AASA Comments on Dept. Changes to Medicaid Parental Consent Regs

Earlier this week, the Title I Monitor ran a feature piece on the Formula Fairness campaign and its legialtive priority, the All Children Are Equal (ACE) Act.

Initial coverage can be found at the Title I-derland blog, and more extensive coverage can be found in the most recent edition of the Title I Monitor, which has kindly been made available in non-password protected format.

As you peruse the Title I Monitor, make sure to read all three articles related to the Formula Fairness and Title I number weighting issue:

• Formula Fairness Campaign Would Shift More Title I Funds to Highest-Poverty-Rate Districts (starting on page 1)
• How Poverty Concentration is Defined in the Title I Allocation Formulas (starting on page 3)
• A Look at the Mish-Mash of Title I Formulas (starting on page 11)

Earlier today, AASA sent a message to the full House of Representatives, urging them to sign on to a Dear Colleague letter, addressed to the House Appropriations Committee leaders, expressing support for the largest possible increase for formula-driven education programs such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in the final FY2012 Labor, HHS, Education Appropriations bill.

Representatives have until COB tomorrow (Dec. 2) to sign on to the letter. Please reach out to your representative and encourage them to sign on!

We are two months away from Digital Learning Day. AASA is pleased to be a core partner in DLD, a culminating event in a year-round national awareness campaign to improve teaching and learning for all children. DLD is scheduled for February 1, 2012.

The first tool kits are now fully operational: http://www.digitallearningday.org/toolkits/

Beyond those already listed, additional toolkits targeted at parents, students and community/afterschool groups are in development.

Take a few moments to check out the toolkits and to sign up to participate in Digital Learning Day, if you haven't done so already! 

Deepening and Strengthening Teacher Education

Thursday, Dec. 8, 12 to 1 p.m. ET

Also available "on demand" 24 hours after the event.

Free registration is now open.

University-based teacher education remains the engine of teacher preparation in the United States. Long criticized, it has come under increasing scrutiny in recent months—from outside reviewers, from the U.S. Department of Education, and even from accreditation bodies—all of whom are pushing for changes. This webinar will introduce participants to the approaches taken by two teacher education schools to make the student-teaching experience more relevant and to emphasize the specific teaching skills the teachers they produce are expected to acquire and demonstrate.

Guests:

• Mari Koerner, dean, Mary Lou Fulton College of Education, Arizona State University
• Deborah Loewenberg Ball, dean, School of Education, University of Michigan

This webinar will be moderated by Stephen Sawchuk, assistant editor, Education Week.

Register for this free webinar.

As a supporting partner of the Data Quality Campaign, AASA is happy to share information about DQC's annual state analysis of state progress toward increasing capacity toward building and using data systems.

DQC today released Data for Action 2011, showing that while states have made strong progress increasing their capacity to build and use data systems, they aren’t yet helping educators, parents, and other education stakeholders use the data to inform decisions to improve student achievement.

“States have worked so diligently to build their capacity to collect and use quality education data, but we will see improved student achievement only when all stakeholders—from parents to policymakers—actually use these data to make informed decisions,” said Aimee Guidera, executive director of the Data Quality Campaign. “The need is urgent: state policymakers are right now in the process of allocating scarce resources based on what works to help students, and they cannot do that well without data.”

More states than ever—36, up from zero in 2005—have implemented all of DQC’s 10 Essential Elements of Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems, and 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have implemented eight or more. This means that, without exception, every state in the country has robust longitudinal data extending beyond test scores that could inform today’s toughest education decisions.

Yet no state has taken all of the 10 State Actions to Ensure Effective Data Use, which create a culture in which stakeholders use the rich data states now collect. For example: Few states can inform conversations about preparing citizens for jobs because 41 states do not link K–12 and workforce data, and 38 states do not link postsecondary and workforce data.38 states have not established policies around sharing data across agencies, and 36 states have not identified their critical questions to guide cross-agency data efforts.42 states do not require data literacy for both program approval and teacher and principal certification.46 states do not share teacher performance data with teacher preparation programs.However, some states are doing cutting-edge work, proving that these challenges can be addressed now: Arkansas leads the nation with 9 of 10 State Actions and providing cutting-edge, real-time data access and reporting.Texas connects K–12 and workforce data to provide feedback information to districts regarding the employment of their graduates and non-graduates after they leave the district.Maryland ensures transparency and accountability while developing a system to answer the state’s critical policy questions through a P–20 governance body.North Carolina shares teacher performance data with the state’s teacher preparation programs and uses its program approval authority to require data literacy training in pre-service programs.

For more information on the Data Quality Campaign, to read the full report, and to access individual state fact sheets, please visit the DQC website at http://www.dataqualitycampaign.org/.

The U.S. Department of Education has released final regulations amending the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) regulations.

You can view an advance copy of the notice at http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2011-30683_PI.pdf. The regulations will be published in the Federal Register tomorrow, Friday, December 2.

These regulations are effective January 3, 2012. The Department has issued a press release announcing the publication, which you can view at http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-education-department-announces-new-measures-safeguard-student-privacy.

Please visit the Department’s Family Policy Compliance Office (FPCO) web site (http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/) to view important documents that are being released with the new regulations, including “Guidance for Reasonable Methods and Written Agreements” and updated model notifications for LEA and postsecondary officials.

Here are two overview documents about the changes to the regulations: “Revised FERPA Regulations: An Overview for SEAs and LEAs” and “Revised FERPA Regulations: An Overview for Parents and Students.” Should you have any questions about the issues raised in these final regulations, you may email the FPCO at FERPA@ed.gov.

I am in Colorado Springs, CO today for the AESA annual conference. Here is the powerpoint presentation from today's federal education update session.

The U.S. Department of Education invites you to the latest regular conference call for superintendents and district staff on Monday, December 5, at 2:30 PM EDT. During this call, USED Staff (including Michael Yudin) will host district-level staff to present on their work with School Improvement Grants (SIG) and the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF). There will be time for questions and discussion.

CONFERENCE CALL/WEBINAR INFORMATION

DATE: Monday, December 5, 2011

TIME: 2:30-3:30 p.m. EST / 1:30-2:30 p.m. CST / 12:30-1:30 p.m. MST / 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. PST

WEBINAR ACCESS: Go to https://educate.webex.com/educate/k2/j.php?ED=174651652&UID=1237676232&HMAC=0a48400c9c9bd17887dd5577cf2de6847886a4c4&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D and enter your name and email address.

WEBINAR PASSWORD: Welcome

CALL IN #: 1-800-857-4869

PASSCODE: EDUCATION (given verbally)

RSVP: Please RSVP to Intergovernmental@ed.gov by COB Friday, December 2 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.

Will Expanded Learning Time = Better Outcomes?

Webinar to explore the impacts of Waiver 11

Thursday, December 8, 3:00PM ET - 4:00PM ET

Register now

The U.S. Department of Education has established a waiver process to help states obtain additional flexibility in meeting No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) performance standards. States across the nation have begun to apply for these new waivers, which were issued this fall. The waivers give educators as well as state and local leaders greater flexibility in exchange for developing clear and rigorous plans to improve educational outcomes.

The Department of Education's proposal includes a package of 10 mandatory waivers. But the "optional flexibility" choice, also known as Waiver 11, has captured the attention of leaders in education agencies, schools and community-based organizations. Waiver 11 gives states the option to use funds from the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) to support expanded learning opportunities during the school day. A lack of clarity on how the waiver will be implemented has left leaders wondering whether quality afterschool programming will be sacrificed in the name of a slightly longer school day.

How should states implement Waiver 11 to effectively improve expanded learning opportunities as well as student academic success?

Three members of the Ready by 21 National Partnership - the Forum for Youth Investment, American Association of School Administrators and United Way Worldwide - seek to answer this question in the upcoming webinar. Hear what the education and youth development communities have to say about Waiver 11's implications for school districts and community-based organizations.

Presenters:

• Michele McNeil, Assistant Editor, Education Week
• Mary Ronan, Superintendent, Cincinnati Public Schools
• Lindsay Torrico, Manager, Public Policy, United Way Worldwide
• Nicole Yohalem, Director of Special Projects, the Forum for Youth Investment

Moderated by Elizabeth Gaines, Director of Policy, the Forum for Youth Investment.

Read the letter that urges Secretary Arne Duncan to provide more guidance on Waiver 11, written by United Way Worldwide, the Forum for Youth Investment and others.

According to a new NCES survey of school districts from 2009-2010 school year, 55% of public school districts  reported having students enrolled in distance education courses. Among those districts, 96%  reported having students enrolled in distance education courses at the high school level, 19% at  the middle or junior high school level, 6% at the elementary school level. You can read the complete report here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012008.pdf  A few interesting findings from the report are listed below.

• 22% of districts with students enrolled in distance education courses reported that students enrolled in regular high school programs could take a full course load in an academic term using only distance education courses, while 12% reported that students could fulfill all high school graduation requirements using only distance education courses
• 62% of districts reported that the types of distance education courses in which students enrolled were credit
  recovery
• 90% of districts with distance education enrollments reported having students enrolled in
  distance education courses delivered over the Internet. Among those districts, 92% reported that students accessed internet-delivered courses at school, 78% reported that students accessed these courses at home, and 15% reported that students accessed these courses at some other location (e.g., public library or community center)
• About three-quarters (74%) of the districts with distance education enrollments in 2009–10 indicated that they planned to expand the number of distance education courses offered in the next 3 years
• 14% of the districts reported that they delivered distance education courses to students not regularly enrolled in the district (e.g., students from other districts, private school students, or homeschooled students)

Do these stats match what's happening in your school district? Are you encountering problems with how distance learning programs are working in your school district? If so, email Sasha with any feedback on distance learning in your district that you care to share.

On September 28, 2011, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services posted a proposed regulation in the Federal Register that will change the IDEA regulation requiring schools to obtain parental consent prior to billing Medicaid for health-related IEP services. The proposed regulation can be found at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-09-28/pdf/2011-22784.pdf

Today, AASA submitted comments on the parental consent changes proposed by OSERS. AASA believes the changes outlined in these amended regulations will ensure more school districts are able to obtain reimbursement for Medicaid-eligible services. However, AASA firmly believes that the Department of Education lacks the authority to regulate how school districts receive reimbursement for Medicaid-services, and should eliminate the requirement for school districts to receive written parental consent for Medicaid reimbursement entirely, or replace the written consent requirement with newly drafted written notification requirements. Click here to read the comments.

All AASA members are encouraged to weigh in on the proposed changes. The deadline to submit comments in December 12th.

The deficit supercommittee has officially folded. In a statement released Monday shortly after U.S. financial markets closed, co-chairs Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) announced that they had "come to the conclusion today that it will not be possible to make any bipartisan agreement available to the public before the committee's deadline."

Tying up some loose ends:

• Balanced Budget Amendment: The House voted on--and defeated--the balanced budget amendment. By a vote of 261-165, the House rejected a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, falling about 20 votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed. Thank you to everyone who reached out to their Representative, urging them to vote 'no'
• FY12/Continuing Resolution: President Obama signed the first FY12 spending package into law. The 'minibus' included three of the usual 12 annual appropriations bills (agriculture, commerce-justice-science and transportation-HUD). The measure also included a continuing resolution that keeps the federal government running through December 16 (the previous CR expired 11/18).

Today, the Center for Education Policy released an updated link to it's NCLB/ES Waiver Watch webpage. The newest addition? The waiver applications submitted by nine of the eleven states that met the November 14th deadline. Check 'em out!

Earlier this week, AASA launched a grassroots effort to urge Congress to reinstate $329 million that was cut from Title I, Title II, IDEA and Perkins as part of the FY12 CR. You'll recall that the FY11 funding allocations for Title I, Title II, IDEA and Perkins (funds that became available October 1) were unexpectedly reduced. Due to unprecedented language in the CR, programs that receive advanced appropriations saw their funding reduced by 1.5 percent. As a result, school districts across the nation are faced with the task of adjusting current school year budgets to the tune of $329 million. (Full details? See this AASA letter.)

AASA created an excel-driven invoice that school districts can use to calculate the impact of the 1.5% across-the-board cut in their districts, and then send the invoice to their Representative and Senators. Full details on how to use the invoice and how to contact your Congressional delegation are available here.

Beyond use by AASA members, the invoice has also been circulated by the Association for Career and Technical Education, the Council for Administrators of Special Education, PTA, and the Council for Chief State School Officers, among others.

Thank you to those who have already completed the invoice. If not, please take a few moments today!

Relevant Links:

• Invoice
• 'How To' one-pager
• Find your representative

First, a thank you to everyone who has already submitted an invoice to their Congressional delegation, urging Congress to reinstate the $329 million that was cut from Title I, Title II, IDEA and Perkins in the current CR. AASA created the invoice for member use, and it has also been circulated by the Association of Career and Technical Education, Council of Chief State School Officers, and the Council of Administrators of Special Education. If you have yet to complete the invoice, it takes less than ten minutes. Full details are here.

Second, the House votes TODAY on it's balanced budget amendment. Please take 5 minutes to call or email your Representative and urge them to oppose the measure. To refresh your memory on the talking points, check out the letter AASA sent to the House earlier this week.

Third, the Super Committee discussions continue, though there is still a ways to go for if 7 of the 12 members are to agree to a deal by the rapidly-approaching November 23 deadline. Republicans have ceded some willingness to the inclusion of revenues and Democrats have given some ground around restructuring entitlement programs. That said, both sides think the other should give a little more. The deal would need to be agreed to by November 21 in order for it to be scored and ready for vote on the 23rd.

Fourth, the House and Senate are expected to vote on the conferenced version of the first minbus, which includes three appropriations bills, including agriculture. While this is NOT the LHHS appropriation that funds most of the education programs we advocate for, it is germane because the ag appropriation bill is the one that funds the child nutrition program, and the conferenced bill includes the Collins/Udall amendment AASA worked on earlier this fall, to prohibit the use of FY12 dollars to implement certain components of the reauthorized school lunch program. A win!

And finally, the Department released rules yesterday outlining the requirements for the remaining $200 million available for Race to the Top runners-up. (You'll recall that the final FY11 budget included $700 million for RttT, $500 of which went to an early learning challenge. The remaining $200 million is available for runner-up states that did not win in the first two rounds of competition.) To be eligible to qualify, a state must:

• Submit an application signed by the governor, president of the state board of education, and the state school chief.
• Meet nine requirements (assurances):
• Be in compliance with Edu Jobs maintenance of effort requirements
• Be in compliance with the data-system requirements stemming from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund
• Not have any obstacles/firewalls between student/teacher data
• Maintain commitment to improving the quality of assessments
• Maintain conditions for reform described in initial RttT applications
• Maintain commitment to four assurances under ARRA (Basically, no backtracking on original RttT applications!)
• Select activities that are consistent with commitment to reform/innovation, with emphasis on STEM
• Comply with accountability/transparency/reporting requirements
• Comply with requirements program evaluation
• Awards will range from $12 million to $49 million and will be awarded based on the state's student population.

The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) today launched a multimillion dollar program to increase the number of already eligible children who actually receive breakfast at school. The program, funded with a generous grant from the Walmart Foundation, seeks to expand the reach of existing federal school breakfast programs in four districts.

“Across the country, more than 19 million children qualify to receive free or reduced-price lunch at school, but less than half of them get breakfast at school—even though programs exist to feed them,” said AASA executive director Daniel A. Domenech in announcing the grant. “No child can learn well on an empty stomach,” he added. “We intend to do something about that.”

The purpose of the AASA breakfast initiative is to significantly increase the participation of needy children in already existing federal school breakfast programs. Studies have shown that children are not participating in these programs for a number of reasons—because their school does not provide the program, their parents do not have sufficient information about the program or understand that they are eligible to participate, or transportation to get the child to school in time for breakfast is not available.

The AASA initiative will create broad awareness and support among school district and community leaders for the programs and share effective and sustainable program models with school districts.

“Superintendents are key in this effort,” said AASA Associate Director Sharon Adams-Taylor, who heads the AASA Children’s Program Department. “We need to be sure that they understand the programs and know how to access funding for their students.

“Equally important, we will be building new connections between local school superintendents and state hunger and advocacy non-profits that will help ensure the sustainability of the program. This is definitely a win-win situation.”

Program funds necessary to expand and enhance existing school breakfast programs will be granted to four districts in three states:

• Brentwood Union Free School District (NY). Joseph Bond, superintendent. 
• Cincinnati Public Schools (OH). Mary Ronan, superintendent.
• Riverside Unified School District (CA). Rick Miller, superintendent.
• Syracuse City School District (NY). Sharon Contreras, superintendent.

The school districts were selected by an expert panel from among interested districts across the country. Beginning in January, the program will serve 65,000 eligible K-12 students within these four districts.

Elementary students will be offered breakfast in the classroom; secondary students will have a “Grab and Go” meal. All the breakfasts will include milk, a fruit/vegetable option, grains and protein.

“Our job,” said Domenech, “is to help these districts get their programs off the ground and be examples for other districts around the country.

“We are building a broad support system for these districts to ensure the program’s success. The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK) and AASA state affiliates are partners in the effort. Each of these organizations has a large state-based network and will provide on-the-ground mentors in each of the four districts.”

Additional organizations supporting the program are the National School Boards Association’s Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE), the National PTA, the National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE), the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (ALAS), the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), and state child hunger state advocacy groups. Experts in food service and nutrition and in program development will be available to assist the participating districts.

Program evaluation results will be shared with the Walmart Foundation. Project findings and lessons learned will be disseminated to a wide range of stakeholders.

“This program allows AASA to walk the talk,” concluded Domenech. “Bottom line, the superintendent’s job is to make things work for kids. Thanks to Walmart, this initiative allows us to add a major component to the well-being of children all across the nation.”

Later this week, as part of the budget control act, the House will vote on HJRes 2, a constitutional balanced budget amendment. AASA is opposed to balanced budget amendments.

AASA sent a letter to the full house urging them to oppose HJRes 2. Read the PDF Version.

Please call your Representative and urge them to vote 'no' on HJRes 2.

As covered in earlier blog posts, the FY11 funding allocations for Title I, Title II, IDEA and Perkins (funds that became available October 1) were unexpectedly reduced. Due to unprecedented language in the CR, programs that receive advanced appropriations saw their funding reduced by 1.5 percent. As a result, school districts across the nation are faced with the task of adjusting current school year budgets to the tune of $329 million.

AASA has been working on Capitol Hill and within the education community to remove the problematic language. We need your help in making the case to reinstate the funding. While we don’t believe the cuts will be applied in the final appropriations for FY12, the fight is still on to urge Congress to reinstate the $329 million that was cut from the four programs. AASA and other education groups have heard from the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Education that if the new continuing resolution, expected to be enacted later this week, does not include language on reductions in advanced appropriations, then the funds cut in October will be reinstated to states and then to school districts.

The more we can raise awareness about the impact of these cuts, the better. Please take a few moments to let your Congressional delegation (Senators and Representatives) know how these cuts affect your district. Even more importantly, if you happen to be represented in the House or Senate by someone who sits on the appropriation committee, please make an extra effort to weigh in with them, as they are well positioned to have an impact on getting these dollars restored.

AASA has created a form that will help you to communicate the impact of these recent cuts with your members of Congress. AASA has made the forms available to other education organizations, as well, in an effort to expand our impact. Here’s how you can help:

1. Forward this information to the administrator(s) in your district responsible for the Title I, Title II, IDEA and Perkins budget and ask them to fill out the form for their respective program.
2. If you are the person with this budget information (or the person provided the information for purposes of completing the invoice form), download this Excel spreadsheet.
3. Enter the amount you received for each of the four programs (Title I, Title II, IDEA and Perkins) in October. You can view instructions on how to fill out the form. If you have any questions, email Noelle at nellerson@aasa.org.
4. Send the completed invoice form to your Representatives and Senators.

Things to Note:

1. Not sure who your representative or senators are? Check here.
2. Priority: While we urge everyone to contact their Congressional delegation, if you have to choose, the priority would be for Senators and Representatives who sit on the appropriations committees. You can check here for the House roster and the Senate roster.
3. For additional information on the 1.5 percent cut, please see this letter to the hill, where AASA partnered with the Association for Career and Technical Education. You can also read this letter from the Committee for Education Funding.
4. While the U.S. Department of Education has indicated these cuts might be restored if Congress passes a full-year appropriations bill without the 1.5% cut, nothing is guaranteed and it is important for Congress to hear from their local schools/educators.
   

AASA is a supporting partner of the Data Quality Campaign and its ongoing efforts to support the development of robust longitudinal data systems at the state and local level that support student instruction and staff development. Over the past year, AASA has been actively involved in a DQC-developed paper detailing ways that states can support district and local data use.

Today, DQC released From Compliance to Service: Evolving the State Role to Support District Data Efforts to Improve Student Achievement. Check out the full report and the summary.  States have made significant progress developing statewide longitudinal data systems that follow individual students over time. To get the most out of their data systems, states must implement policies and practices to ensure data are not only collected but also used to improve student achievement. This requires a culture change at the state level—evolving from the traditional focus on compliance to also focus on services that meet the diverse needs of every district. State data systems will not replace district systems, but they can enhance the data, tools, and information currently available in districts, regardless of district capacity.

Visit the DQC website to access the webinar and slideshow related to the release of this paper!

There is no greater superintendent challenge than increasing the capacity of a school’s key leaders. Check out AASA's new website, AASA Connect, and read how Westfield Washington Superintendent Mark Kean employed five strategies to dramatically improve leadership development in his district.

While you're there, you may want to check out our Ask The Experts section where Assessment Expert Rob Smith gives a detailed outline for what the common core consortia are doing and the caution school leaders should take as they revamp their school's curricula to match these tests.

Don't forget to stop by our Research Library where we have archives of past articles from the School Administrator Magazine on topics ranging from best HR Practices, to Superintendent Evaluations and Board Relations.  

UPDATED at 3:30 11/10. Updates in italics.

Supercommittee: While different plans are becoming available, the most recent Democratic proposal has been rejected by Republicans. This is all while the clock ticks steadily down to the November 23 voting deadline. Actually, the Committee must provide the CBO score on its plan 48 hours before the Nov. 23 vote, meaning everything must be finalized by November 21.

Appropriations: The FY12 appropriations process has reached the 'minibus' stage, with appropriations bills being bundled and moved together. THe first minibus is still in conference and is expected to be wrapped as early as next week. It is also expected it will carry the next CR, so it has to be passed by Nov. 18. Today, the Senate is expected to invoke cloture on the second minibus (Energy and Water, Financial Services, and State/Foreign Operations). After the cloture vote today, it is expected the Senate will work on this second minibus next week with the hope of passing it prior to Thanksgiving. As for LHHS, no news. The possible scenarios remain the same with no clear frontrunner: paired with defense in another minibus; gets added in conference to the 2nd minibus; or a year-long CR. The Senate voted for cloture on the second minibus, meaning they can start debate on Monday.

School Modernization:Senator Sherrod brown indicated that he expects his Fix America's Schools Today (FAST) Act to be taken up by the Senate shortly after Thanksgiving. Please urge your Senators to support the FAST Act (S 1597).

Balanced Budget Amendment: As part of the budget control act (deal to raise the debt ceiling) both the House and the Senate have to take a vote on a balanced budget amendment before the end of the calendar year. The House is expected to take it's vote next week. House leadership has yet to indicate which version it will bring to the floor. The options are H.J.Res. 1, the more conservative version that includes a global spending cap and a supermajority to raise revenues or H.J.Res. 2, a so-called clean version without those provisions. AASA is opposed to both. Read our letter here. It appears the House will be considering H.J.Res. 2, the 'clean version'. That said, please call your representative and urge them to oppose the balanced budget amendment.

The House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education is holding a hearing next week, "Education Research: Identifying Effective Programs to Support Students and Teachers". Witnesses to be announced. 11/16 at 10:00 a.m. in room 2175 Rayburn.

AASA is a proud partner of Digital Learning Day (scheduled for February 1, 2012). It is in conjunction with the Alliance for Excellent Education, and is designed to celebrate innovative teaching and highlight practices that make learning more personalized and engaging for students.

The work around the project is well under way, with toolkits already available for state-level stakeholders. The finishing touches are being put on the school-district level toolkits, and AASA wanted to make sure our members were aware of the opportunity to participate. Participants will have access to targeted toolkits outlining ideas and ways to plan their Digital Learning Day celebration, as well as updates, informational videos, webinars, and other resources. No matter the approach, no matter the grade level, no matter the subject or geographic location, no matter a teacher’s specific comfort with using technology, this campaign will challenge education professionals and policy makers at all levels to start a conversation, make a proclamation, improve a lesson, or create a plan.

Then, on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 a national town hall meeting will be held to highlight and celebrate participants across the nation. Schools, libraries, community programs and classrooms are invited to showcase how they are using digital media to improve teaching and learning! The campaign is a movement that will help provide a quality education for EVERY child. Change is up to YOU – we hope you will help build this wave for innovation, personalized learning, and great teaching by participating in the Digital Learning Day campaign effort.

You can sign up at www.digitallearningday.org. Also, shoot me an email (nellerson@aasa.org) so we can keep track of the school districts and administrators that are participating.

A press release from earlier today:

The agreement will strengthen each association’s financial position and influence.

The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) and the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) announced today that the two organizations have formalized their agreement for AASA to purchase space at NAESP’s headquarters and to consolidate carefully identified functions and resources. The signing follows actions by each organization’s Board of Directors last February authorizing the executive directors to negotiate the details of the arrangement.

NAESP Executive Director Gail Connelly and AASA Executive Director Daniel Domenech describe the agreement as a mutually beneficial partnership to strengthen each association’s financial position and influence. Both executives emphasize that the agreement is not a merger but rather a plan for the “functional consolidation” to reduce overall operating costs. Both organizations retain their individual names and independent missions, governance structures, and bylaws, and both continue to serve distinct memberships.

“NAESP is very pleased to formally enter into this innovative partnership with our friends and colleagues at AASA,” Connelly said. “It strengthens NAESP’s financial outlook by building the Association’s reserves and affords us the opportunity to reduce costs and achieve efficiencies in some areas of operation over time. It also enables our two associations to collaborate more strategically on select federal policy and regulatory issues that most affect public education, school leaders, and the children they serve,” Connelly added.

“This agreement only builds on the positive, ongoing relationship that already exists between the two organizations,” said Domenech. “We have had a long history of informal collaboration on a wide range of issues and projects. Advocacy on educational issues is of prime importance to all our members and our students. Working together can only make us stronger. “We hope that our emerging partnership will serve as a model for other education groups and national associations with related constituencies.”

AASA is scheduled to take ownership of one-half of the building at 1615 Duke Street, Alexandria, Virginia, in mid-November. The two organizations will immediately consolidate some administrative operations and expenses, such as purchasing supplies, contracting for service agreements, staffing a central reception area, and handling building maintenance, and will explore the possibilities of consolidating other back-office operations.

My apologies for the slower pace of blogging over the past week. I will be resuming the updates at our normal pace, and am starting with a comprehensive update on AASA advocacy items.

While I normally break the updates in to three or four smaller blog posts, this one is so long and detailed that I am instead loading it as a word document that you can print off. Further, given the positive feedback I receive from making advocacy slideshows available, I have also included a November 2011 advocacy slide show.

Enjoy!

AASA Advocacy Update

AASA Advocacy Slideshow

As reported back in October, the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee will hold a hearing on the ESEA reauthorization bill it passed out of committee.

Beyond NCLB: Views on the Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization Act was part of a compromise reached between Senate HELP leadership and Senator Rand Paul, who had exercised Senate procedural rules to halt last month's mark up. Sen. Paul felt he did not have enough time to read/analyze/discuss the bill before it moved through committee.

Today's hearing features a cross-cutting of education stakeholders, including teachers, administrators, and other education stakeholders. Full hearing details are available online.

Please join White House officials on November 10^th and 14^th for our next round of State specific Conference Call. White House officials will provide a series of updates, including the American Jobs Act, the Fiscal Year 2012 Budget, and President Obama’s “We Can’t Wait” series of Executive actions.

Please RSVP to OPERSVP@who.eop.gov with your name, organization, and city, state.

A former AASA employee is now working over at Education Week, and covered an event hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, looking at whether or not teachers are overpaid.

Read her write up of the very interesting (and perhaps not completely well-rounded) session here.

Francesca Duffy worked as an editorial assistant on The School Adminsitrator magazine.

Data from the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) find that our nation’s eighth-grade students have made gains in both mathematics and reading since 2009. The Nation’s Report Card: Mathematics 2011 and The Nation’s Report Card: Reading 2011 present results from the 2011 NAEP assessments administered to students at grades 4 and 8 across the country. These reports present results for the nation—all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Department of Defense Schools.

Key findings from the 2011 mathematics and reading Report Cards include:

In MATHEMATICS

• Both fourth- and eighth-grade students scored higher in 2011 than on any previous mathematics assessment.
• Higher percentages of students at both grades 4 and 8 performed at or above Proficient than in any previous assessment. At grade 4, higher percentages of students also performed at or above Advanced.
• Four states and jurisdictions have made gains at both grades since 2009; five states made gains in grade 4 only and nine states made gains in grade 8 only. One state at grade 4 and one state at grade 8 had lower scores in 2011 than in 2009.

In READING:

• Although the average score for fourth-grade students remained unchanged from 2009, it was higher than in 1992.
• The average score for eighth-graders was higher than in both 2009 and 1992.
• Also at grade 8, the percentage of students scoring at or above Proficient was higher than in 2011 or 1992. 
• Two states made gains since 2009 at both grades 4 and 8; two states made gains at grade 4 only; eight states made gains at grade 8 only. Two states had lower scores at grade 4 in 2011 than in 2009.

Find complete results and sample questions, and download copies of the reports, at The Nation’s Report Card: Mathematics 2011 and The Nation’s Report Card: Reading 2011.

AASA's Advocacy & Policy team is pleased to share Policy Insider, a policy-focused periodical written by the policy team for AASA's members.

Policy Insider delves further in to the analysis and evaluation of the policy issues and priorities that are at the heart of AASA's advocacy agenda. In our debut edition, we look at teacher evaluation and AYP. Sasha Pudelski writes about the ins and outs of teacher evaluation, with a focus on the unique realities that warrant consideration when evaluating special education teachers. Noelle Ellerson looks at AYP and the alarming rate at which our nation’s schools are caught in the crosshairs of the broken accountability system and being labeled as failing. Enjoy!

This is an opt-in newsletter. To add yourself to the distribution list, email Noelle (nellerson@aasa.org).

Our friends at the National Education Policy Center have the Education Review, an open-access (free-to-read) journal that publishes reviews of books in edcuation, and has done so since 1998. Check it out!

Earlier today, AASA sent a letter to the House and Senate appropriations committees, urging them to make continued and increased investments in education in the final FY12 bills. We also reiterated the need to address the 1.5% cut initiated in the CR that expires November 18. Read the letter.

The current CR, which expires Novermber 18, includes a 1.5 percent across-the-board cut. While education programs, especially forward-funded programs like Title I, Title II, IDEA and Perkins have always been exempted from such provisions, this CR includes specific language that means the four programs take a $329 million cut, with potential implications for year-long cuts and a lower overall baseline funding level.

AASA sent a joint letter (with the Association for Career and Technical Education) urging the Senate and House LHHS Subcommittees to fix the error, reinstating the $329 million and ensuring that there aren't long-term implications.

PDF Version

AASA is a member of a Pre-K coalition that is hosting a webinar you might find interesting:

One Size Can't Fit All: Developing Smart Policies to Evaluate PreK-3 Teacher Effectiveness: Teacher effectiveness has emerged as a critical – and intensely-debated – issue in education reform. In particular, the notion of including student growth data as one major component of teacher evaluations has caught policymakers’ attention. According to Education Week, eight states passed laws to make such practice a requirement in 2011. More are likely to follow suit in 2012. But what does this mean for the early grades, from pre-k through third grade? While student growth data can be derived in 4th through 8th grades from standardized tests, schools and districts cannot rely on this data in the untested grades and subjects, which by one estimate, account for about 70% of students.

This webinar will highlight research and examples of new approaches, especially from the early learning field, that can inform state policies related to assessments of Pre-K-3 teacher effectiveness. After the discussion, participants will understand important guiding principles and critical factors to consider when crafting these policies. We invite governors’ education advisors, Pre-K-12 administrators at the state and local levels, and education advocates to join this conversation.

Tuesday, November 8, 3-4 pm ET

Register today!

The Senate HELP Committee has released text of all the amendments filed for last week's ESEA hearing. You can check them out on the Senate HELP website.

Part Four of a four-part series of guest posts from Kim Kengor, National School Nutrition Manager for the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

With the release of the USDA final rule on nutrition standards for school meals just a few months away, a common concern of school nutrition professionals and administrators is providing healthy foods that kids will actually eat. Help has arrived with Let’s Get Cooking!—a new collection of school lunch recipes that are school tested and kid approved!

Television personality, author and founder of the Yum-o! organization Rachael Ray and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation have collaborated to create healthy school food recipes that are: 

• Made for schools. Recipes are created specifically for easy preparation in a school setting. 
• Nutritious and delicious. The recipes meet the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s school nutrition guidelines, which meet or exceed USDA guidelines. 
• Taste-tested and approved. The recipes were tested in real school kitchens with real kids.

Parents, school administrators and food service professionals can access recipes from Rachael Ray & Yum-o! by visiting the Alliance’s website at www.healthiergeneration.org.

Part Three of a Four-Part series of guest posts by Kim Kengor, National School Nutrition Manager for the Alleiance for a Healthier Generation.

School nutrition professionals support healthier meals for students but often ask, “How do we get kids to eat the healthy foods we serve?” Students who are used to fast food and convenience foods higher in fat, sugar and salt may reject the healthy fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lower fat, lower sodium entrees offered at school. When this happens, students miss out on the nutritional benefits of school meals, plate waste increases and meal programs lose participation and revenues.

Research conducted by the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition shows that the food choices of both children and adults are not always based on rational thinking such as cost and nutrition. Unconscious emotional and environmental factors, such as the appearance, placement and naming of foods, the variety of foods offered and the method of payment also play a role.

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a non-profit organization with the goal of reducing the incidence of childhood obesity, supports schools across the country in their efforts to create healthier environments through the Healthy Schools Program. The Alliance encourages schools and districts to apply these behavioral economics principles to nudge students toward healthier food choices at school through its Healthy Schools Program Framework, a set of science-based best practices which schools follow as a roadmap to becoming a healthier school.

The Cornell Center has produced a set of case studies and helpful tips to subtly guide students to choose more fruits, vegetables and other healthy options without curtailing freedom of choice. These resources and many others are available to participating schools and individual members of the Healthy Schools Program. Membership in the Healthy Schools Program is free and includes access to a searchable resource database, toolkits, electronic newsletters, success stories and a full time staff of expert consultants.

To learn more about the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and to join the Healthy Schools Program, visit www.healthiergeneration.org.

Part Two of a Four-Part series of guest posts by Kim Kengor, National School Nutrition Manager for the Alleiance for a Healthier Generation.

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation was founded in 2005 by the American Heart Association and William J. Clinton Foundation with the goal of reducing the prevalence of childhood obesity.

Following the January 2011 release of the USDA proposed rule for nutrition standards for schools meals, many school nutrition professionals and administrators have expressed concern about the cost of implementing the new meal requirements. The Alliance for a Healthier Generation has also recently updated its Healthy Schools Program Framework of best practices to incorporate these and other recommendations from the 2009 Institute of Medicine report on school meals. The reaction across the board has been: “We love our students and want to feed them the best possible meals. But how can we afford it?”

Help is on the way. Leading food manufacturers, group purchasing organizations (GPOs) and technology companies have agreed to help America’s schools serve healthier meals at more affordable prices through agreements brokered by the Alliance. Now resources and tools are available that will make the experience of obtaining and offering more nutritious options easier. The agreements, announced in January 2011, will help school nutrition programs:

• Find Products: Leading school food manufacturers have agreed to develop, market and competitively price healthier school meal choices.
• Save Money: Group purchasing organizations negotiate with hundreds of manufacturers to secure a competitive price for items including food, beverages and supplies. A GPO also negotiates and contracts with a distributor for delivery of those items to school districts. If your school joins a GPO, you can see savings of up to 20 percent.
• Simplify the Bid Process: In an effort to improve the bidding process, a free technology solution is available to identify healthier school meal ingredients. The tool also electronically sends your bid to distributors in your area.

Check out the new tools now and share them with your school food service director or anyone who makes school meal purchasing decisions. Healthier school meals are literally a click away on the Alliance website. A recorded webinar on these tools is available.

These resources and many others are available to participating schools and individual members of the Healthy Schools Program to assist you in creating a healthier school environment. Membership in the Healthy Schools Program is free and includes access to a searchable resource database, toolkits, electronic newsletters, success stories and a full time staff of expert consultants.

To access all of the Alliance resources for schools, join the Healthy Schools Program at www.healthiergeneration.org/schools. It’s fast, easy and free.

Part One of a Four-Part series of guest posts by Kim Kengor, National School Nutrition Manager for the Alleiance for a Healthier Generation.

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation was founded in 2005 by the American Heart Association and William J. Clinton Foundation with the goal of reducing the prevalence of childhood obesity.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Act of 2010 reauthorizes several child nutrition programs and makes significant changes. Administrators, educators and school nutrition professionals have expressed concerns about their ability to implement the new requirements of this law with existing resources. The following provides an overview of the required changes and resources the Alliance for a Healthier Generation provides to help schools with implementation:

School Meals

• Adds an increase of six cents per meal to help schools meet new meal standards for healthier school meals (the President and some Senators requested ten cents per meal)
• Directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop model product specifications for USDA commodity foods used in school meals
• Allows only lower-fat milk options to be served, as recommended in the Dietary Guidelines
• · Provides $5 million a year in mandatory funding for farm-to-school programs

The USDA proposed rule for school meals, released January 2011, includes:

1. Increased amount of fruit at breakfast
2. Increased amount of vegetables at lunch
3. Requirement for specific weekly amount of orange and dark green vegetables and legumes
4. A one cup per week limit on starchy vegetables
5. Requirement for half of all grains to be whole grain at implementation. All grains must be whole grain within two years after implementation
6. Milk offerings limited to 1% fat or skim plain and skim flavored
7. Trans fats must be listed as zero on nutrition labels
8. Limitations on sodium content of meals to be phased in over a ten year period

Alliance Support: The Alliance has incorporated elements of both the USDA rule and the Healthier US Schools Challenge into its Framework of best practices. We provide Healthy Schools Program participating schools with a wide array of resources, including toolkits, training materials, recipes, newsletters, a large online resource database and access to a team of experts. Our agreements with food manufacturers, group purchasing organizations and technology companies make obtaining healthier school foods easier and more affordable. Additional links to tools and resources can be found at www.healthiergeneration.org/schoolmeals.

Competitive Foods and Beverages

• Gives the Secretary of Agriculture the authority to establish national nutrition standards for all foods sold on the school campus throughout the school day

Alliance Support: The draft standards are expected for public consideration by December 2011 with another 12-18 months proposed for finalization. The Alliance will continue to support implementation of its School Beverage and Competitive Foods Guidelines, or stricter standards, in schools across the country via:

1. Electronic and telephonic technical assistance
2. Online tools such as the Healthy Schools Product Navigator® at www.HealthierGeneration.org/productnavigator and the Product Calculator at www.HealthierGeneration.org/productcalculator
3. Live and recorded webinars
4. Dedicated websites for:
• Competitive foods and beverages – www.HealthierGeneration.org/snacksandbeverages
• Healthier fundraisers – www.HealthierGeneration.org/fundraisers
• Alternative practices in celebrations and rewards – www.HealthierGeneration.org/celebrations
• Student engagement and education – www.HealthierGeneration.org/studenttools and www.HealthierGeneration.org/care2eat and www.HealthierGeneration.org/readb4ueat

The tools and services noted above can also help schools meet – and exceed – the following HUSSC award levels as they relate to the Alliance Guidelines:

• The School Beverage Guidelines are best aligned with the HUSSC Gold Award with the addition of calorie limitations for milk and juices and extra nutrients for juices. 
• The Competitive Foods Guidelines are best aligned with the HUSSC Gold Award of Distinction, especially for high schools where the 200 calorie allowances match.

Before and Afterschool Programs

• Expands the Afterschool Meal Program to all states
• Effective Oct. 1, 2010, all institutions participating in the at-risk afterschool care component of CACFP were eligible to claim reimbursement at the free rate for up to one snack and one meal served to each eligible participant per day. At-risk afterschool meals and snacks must be served free of charge and are reimbursed at the applicable free rates. 
• USDA provides reimbursement for meals and snacks served in afterschool programs that:
• Are located at sites where at least half of the children in the school attendance area are eligible for free and reduced price school meals. 
• Offer educational or enrichment activities, after the regular school day ends or on weekends and holidays, during times of the year when school is in session. 
• Serve nutritionally balanced meals and snacks that meet USDA’s nutrition standards.

Alliance Support: The Alliance will continue to support implementation of the Student Wellness Criteria relating to afterschool snacks/meal and programming by:

1. Electronic and telephonic technical assistance 
2. Cohosting webinars with the Food and Action Research Center (FRAC) and the Healthy Out-of-School Time Coalition (HOST) to provide an overview of the changes made to the USDA’s reimbursable snack and meal program. 
3. Provide updates to Afterschool Providers through the Alliance’s eNewsletters and Student Wellness webpage as well as links to the afterschool snack and meal section of USDA’s website. For additional information on the law’s afterschool meal and snack provisions, view FRAC’s recorded webinar, “What You Need to Know about Afterschool Meals.”

Policy and Systems

The Alliance Framework of best practices strengthens local school wellness policies by updating the requirements of the policies, and requiring opportunities for public input, transparency and an implementation plan. The Alliance Policy and Systems criteria include:

• School is implementing the district wellness policy and providing feedback to the district regarding its progress annually
• Family members, guardians and students have the opportunity to provide input to the implementation of wellness policy activities
• The status of wellness policy implementation at the school level is communicated annually to the school staff, students and families
• School wellness council/committee recommends new or revised health or wellness policies and activities to the district
• School’s wellness goals are integrated into the overall School Improvement Plan

The Alliance will continue to provide technical assistance and resources including updates and articles on the Policy and Systems webpage at www.HealthierGeneration.org/policy. Go to the webpage to find links to the Policy and Systems Toolkit and the School Wellness Council Toolkit. The Alliance also provides webinars on the Policy and Systems criteria that are available to all Healthy Schools Program schools.

To access all of the Alliance resources for schools, join the Healthy Schools Program at www.healthiergeneration.org/schools. It’s fast, easy and free.

The current FY12 continuing resolution (CR) expires on November 18. Before adjourning for recess last week, the Senate failed to complete action on a three-bill appropriations mini-bus. Because the Senate is on recess this week, it is scheduled to complete action on this bill November. It is now almost certain that there will need to be another CR extending past November 18, and it is possible that this minibus will be the vehicle for moving the second CR.

Also before adjourning for recess, the Senate defeated a small piece-meal portion of the President’s American Jobs Act. The Senate had previously defeated the full jobs package, and this was the first in what is expected to be several smaller jobs-related pieces. The Teachers and First Responders Act (S 1723, introduced by Senators Casey (D-PA), Harkin (D-IA), Reid (D-NV), and Stabenow (D-MI) was put to a cloture vote on Thursday night, and defeated 50-50. No additional news on whether there will be a second attempt.

The Supercommittee is holding its first public meeting this week, on discretionary spending. Dr. Doug Elmendorf (Director of the Congressional Budget Office) will testify at the hearing, entitled Overview: Discretionary Outlays, Security and Non-Security, this Wednesday.

Check out this blog forum I contributed to for Learning Matters, as part of a conversation on the most effective model for school funding.

UPDATED: This bloig was updated Close of Business on 10/21 to reflect three small changes to the document.

FULL ANALYSIS

Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee held a mark up for its draft reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Over the course of 12.5 hours, the committee reviewed 53 amendments (144 had been filed). The table below is a quick representation of the number of amendments that were filed and the number that were subsequently considered, adopted, defeated, or withdrawn. The right side of the table corresponds to an AASA letter supporting/opposing specific amendments and how those 19 amendments fared. You can read that letter here.

A quick overview of the hearing/markup itself: The mark-up was held over two days. On the first day, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) exercised a technical Senate rule that forbids any committee from meeting for more than two hours at a time while the Senate floor is ‘live’. This halted all reauthorization activity for the day. The hearing reconvened on Thursday morning, and Senator Paul had already filed a similar objection for that day as well, meaning the hearing would be adjourned at 12. Mid-morning, a compromise was met and the hearing that started at 8 am lasted all day, finally adjourning just before 9 that evening. As part of that compromise, Senator Paul will host a hearing on the marked-up bill, tentatively scheduled for November 7.

In the marathon mark up on October 20, the Senators considered 53 amendments of the 144 that had been filed, adopting 23, defeating 10, withdrawing 20 and ignoring 92. Those that were withdrawn or ignored can still be brought to the floor when/if the bill goes to the full Senate. Ultimately, the bil1 was passed out of committee by a vote of 15-7, along party lines, with the exception of Republican Senators Enzi, Alexander and Kirk, who all supported the bill.

AYES: Harkin, Mikulski, Bingaman, Murray, Sanders, Casey, Hagan, Merkley, Franken, Bennett, Whitehouse, Blumenthal (R), Enzi (R), Alexander, Kirk (R)

NAYS: Burr, Isakson, Paul, Hatch, McCain, Roberts, Murkowski

RELATED MATERIALS

• Thursday morning Blog post with opening statements

• Edu Groups Letter: AASA joined four other national education organizations, including the National Education Association, National School Boards Association, National Association of Elementary School Principals and National Association of Secondary School Principals, in a letter to Senators Harkin and Enzi in response to the initial legislative proposal, which included problematic requirements around teacher evaluation systems. Please note the problematic areas re: teacher evaluation systems were removed in the Manager’s Amendment released October 17.

• AASA Response Letter: This letter, dated October 17, is AASA’s response to the initial legislation and the Manager’s Amendment. Note that AASA has neither endorsed nor opposed the legislation at this point. While there are some good aspects in the law, there is enough in it that gives us concern so as to keep us from supporting the legislation. We are also waiting to see what amendments are offered this week, as they will undoubtedly shape the final version of the law.

• AASA Summary: A quick overview of what is included in the bill.

• AASA Wishlist: As much as the manager’s amendment includes very important improvements, there remain several areas of concern. Use this list to drive a conversation with your Senators, asking them to make the changes we have outlined here.

• From the Senate Website:

  • Initial Legislation (Oct. 11)
  • Section by Section Analysis (Oct. 11)
  • Manager’s Amendment (Oct. 17)
    
• AASA Response to ESEA Amendments

35 states, DC and Puerto Rico applied for this $500 million competitive grant program. Awards are expected in mid—December.

The Senate on Thursday night blocked a $35 billion bill for states and localities to hire teachers and first responders, marking the second defeat for President Barack Obama's jobs agenda in less than two weeks. The bill, which failed in a 50-50 vote, marked the first attempt by Senate Democrats to move pieces of the president's American Jobs Act that was defeated by a Senate filibuster last week.

The Senate Education Committee agreed to an amendment by Senator Franken that would require state education and welfare agencies to create a plan for how children in foster care can remain in their school of origin. This plan would include deciding who would pay for transportation to/from school for children in foster care.

AASA had great concerns with this amendment because we believe that child welfare should be solely responsible for paying for transportation to and from school for children in foster care. Given that child welfare receives 50% of its funding from the federal government and that child welfare is responsible for every other cost associated with a child in foster care, we see a federal requirement to provide adequate transportation for a child in foster care to be the responsibility of child welfare, not schools. Moreover, no funds have been associated with this amendment which could mean this could be an unfunded mandate for school districts.

In addition to the transportation requirements, the amendment would compel school districts to disaggregate student outcomes by foster care status. It would also mandate the school to appoint someone in the district (essentially a liaison) who would be the point of contact for foster care students when child welfare agencies needed information, records, etc.

Note: AASA worked vigorously to try and defeat this amendment and after considerable debate, Sen. Franken almost withdrew the amendment without a vote. However, his staff pushed him to call a roll-call vote where the amendment passed by 13-9.

Yesterday and today the Senate Education Committee had a heated debate about an amendment from Sen. Isakson (R-GA) that would have allowed for the use of modified assessments for students with disabilities, including students with the most significant disabilities. These tests, often referred to by the caps of students who can take them—1 percent for significant disabilities and 2 percent for less severe disabilities—have been a problem for school administrators for years. AASA has firmly believed that these caps are arbitrary and prevent school districts from properly assessing students and holding them to realistic content standards. The Isakson amendment would have allowed the IEP team to decide what assessment a student should take (regular, 2% or 1%) and not capped the number of students who could take each test. Unfortunately, this amendment failed to pass committee by a vote of 14-8. Two Republicans, Mark Kirk (Ill.) and Lisa Murkowski (AK) voted to defeat the amendment (along with all the Democrats on the committee).

The re-authorization language as it stands now does not allow for the 2% test at all; instead, all students except those with the most significant disabilities must take the general education assessment. The bill only allows 1% of students with the most significant disabilities to take a modified assessment with modified standards.

If we had to point to a silver lining it would be that the current computer-adaptive tests being built by the common core consortia groups are designed to gauge progress for all but the 1% of students with the most significant disabilities. If these tests work as they should, then measuring growth—however minimal—for students with disabilities should be possible.

Today is the second day of the Senate HELP Committee hearing. Yesterday could loosely be described as the first day, though, because the hearing was halted, prematurely, by a technical objection.

We reconvened this morning, and the manager's amendment is being considered in the context of 150 proposed amendments. 74 were proposed by Senator Paul (R-KY), who has now withdrawn all but 7. This should, in theory, speed up the process, but we have taken two breaks today for votes.

I will be posting an excel spreadsheet of all proposed amendments, including sponsor and a summary, along with a final verdict (whether they were adopted, denied, or withdrawn). In the meantime, here are the available opening statements issued by different committee members:

Alexander: “There’s No Reason Congress Can’t Fix No Child Left Behind and Send it to the President by Christmas”

Bennet: Bipartisan NCLB Fix an Encouraging First Step

Casey: Bipartisan Proposal Positive Starting Point to Overhauling No Child Left Behind

Enzi: ESEA Bill Represents Good Starting Point in Legislative Process

Hagan On This Week’s Markup of No Child Left Behind

Mikulski Calls for Collaborative Approach to Elementary and Secondary Education

Murkowski Fighting to “Alaskanize” No Child Left Behind

ESEA: Senator Murray Education Priorities Included in Bipartisan Reauthorization Bill

Sen. Rand Paul on Occupy Wall Street, Repealing No Child Left Behind

Sen. Paul Issues Dear Colleague Letter Urging Deliberation and Transparency on ESEA Reauthorization

The Policy and Advocacy Webpage (including this blog!) has its own RSS feed, meaning you can receive an update in your inbox every time something new is posted.

If you're interested in AASA Advocacy's latest and greatest, here's the RSS: 

http://www.aasa.org/PolicyAndAdvocacy.aspx?action=rss

In follow up to a blog post yesterday featuring AASA's response to the Senate HELP Committee's recent ESEA draft reauthorization, AASA has compiled its response to the top-priority amendments the committee will consider in mark-up, starting today. Read our response.

UPDATE: The bill is S. 1723, The Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act, and is expected for a vote as soon as tomorrow. Call your senators and urge them to support!

Senators Menendez, Stabenow, Casey, Reid, and Harkin have introduced the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act. The bill includes the teacher and first responder stabilization provisions from the American Jobs Act and is offset with the surtax on income over $1 million. Check out the bill and summary.

Check back for details on when this is expected for a vote.

Here it is, all in one spot: the information you need to understand not only what is in the proposed ESEA reauthorization as released by Senators Harkin and Enzi over the last week, but also an analysis of how the legislation will impact your district and what AASA is asking for.

AASA Response Materials

Edu Groups Letter: AASA joined four other national education organizations, including the National Education Association, National School Boards Association, National Association of Elementary School Principals and National Association of Secondary School Principals, in a letter to Senators Harkin and Enzi in response to the initial legislative proposal, which included problematic requirements around teacher evaluation systems. Please note the problematic areas re: teacher evaluation systems were removed in the Manager’s Amendment released October 17.

AASA Response Letter: This letter, dated October 17, is AASA’s response to the initial legislation and the Manager’s Amendment. Note that AASA has neither endorsed nor opposed the legislation at this point. While there are some good aspects in the law, there is enough in it that gives us concern so as to keep us from supporting the legislation. We are also waiting to see what amendments are offered this week, as they will undoubtedly shape the final version of the law.

AASA Summary: A quick overview of what is included in the bill.

AASA Wishlist: As much as the manager’s amendment includes very important improvements, there remain several areas of concern. Use this list to drive a conversation with your Senators, asking them to make the changes we have outlined here.

From the Senate Website:

• Initial Legislation (Oct. 11)
• Section by Section Analysis (Oct. 11)
• Manager’s Amendment (Oct. 17)
  

The Council of Great City Schools released Facility Needs and Costs in America's Great City Schools. “Of its 65 member big-city school systems, the Council projects that urban school districts need approximately $20.1 billion in new construction, $61.4 billion in repair, renovation and modernization, and $19 billion in deferred maintenance, totaling some $100.5 billion in facilities needs.”

Our friends over at the National Journal Education Experts blog are running a piece today related to the Senate ESEA bill. AASA’s Executive Director, Dan Domenech, is one of the experts who weighed in. Check out his response, and the full feature, here.

Earlier today, five national education organizations representing education stake holders across the nation sent a joint letter to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, urging them to slow the raced-pace of reauthorization so that the statute is done right and not rushed.

The American Association of School Administrators was joined by the National Education Association, National School Boards Association, National Association of Elementary School Principals and National Association of Secondary School Principals in a letter that was sent to Senate HELP Committee, committee staff, and the personal offices of the committee members.

'On behalf of teachers, principals, school board members and school administrators, we all recognize the importance of improving current law, now four‐years past due. We also recognize, more importantly, that we must get it right. As the national organizations representing the education stakeholders who will implement the bill, it is important that we have adequate opportunities to respond to any and all comprehensive proposals both in terms of individual provisions as well as the overall impact on student achievement, the direction of education, school district operations, and implications for fiscal burden.'

Read the full letter.

We want to call your attention to the national Speak Up survey which just opened October 10, 2011. This survey, developed by Project Tomorrow, provides a critical opportunity for local stakeholder voices – students, teachers, parents, administrators, and technology leaders – to directly impact national efforts to promote positive, effective use of technology to transform teaching and learning! By participating, we will have targeted data made available to us to promote our local efforts at developing and advocating for programs and initiatives that improve our ability to prepare students for the world they live in today.

Here are a couple of reasons we would like to encourage participation in this specific survey:

• A KEY differentiator between the annual Speak Up survey, and others, is that districts and organizations receive their targeted data back to them to assist with tailoring programs and initiatives specific to their needs at the local level. This data WILL NOT simply go into an abyss, without significant use. Project Tomorrow collects this data as a service to schools and districts around the nation to create a collective, authentic snapshot of what is needed to improve educational outcomes for all children.
• This survey provides the direct opportunity for the necessary local voice to also impact national policies and funding regarding educational technology. This helps national advocacy efforts significantly.
• Localized data results will be provided back to us by early spring 2012! We will receive localized information to assist our efforts in developing relevant and effective programs for our specific student populations. This is valuable!
• High participation also qualifies districts and organizations for FREE webinars provided by Project Tomorrow to discuss Speak Up data results and facilitate discussions pertinent to our local issues.

We know how busy the school year is for everyone! Therefore, we are working with Project Tomorrow to make participation as easy as possible. Attached is a flyer providing information and details about how to participate in Speak Up. We encourage you to share this information with your colleagues.

Thank you, again, for helping us collect this important information. We appreciate your time and efforts and look forward to working with each of you to utilize this data effectively to transform our classrooms and school communities.

Take the survey!

SPEAK UP DETAILS

WHO can participate? 

• All K-12 schools and districts including private, parochial, virtual and charter schools are eligible to participate.

WHAT Speak Up includes? 

• Surveys for: K-12 students, teachers, librarian media specialists, parents, school site and district administrators. 
• Survey topics include: learning and teaching with technology, math instruction and STEM career exploration, professional development, school-to-home communications, digital citizenship and emerging technology topics such as mobile devices, online learning, social media, e-textbooks and digital content.
• New questions this year for online assessments, education technology funding and online reading comprehension.

WHY participate?

• There is no fee to participate, or limit on the number of respondents. All information is 100% confidential. The surveys take less than 20 minutes to complete 
• Each participating institution receives a free online report in February 2012 aggregating all local data with national data to use for comparative benchmarking and local advocacy. 
• Use your local Speak Up data to: advocate for policies, programs & funding, as input into local plans, support grant proposals, engage your community, and learn about the ideas of your students, staff and parents. 
• Lend your voice to national advocacy efforts and help improve educational opportunities for ALL kids!

WHEN & WHERE to participate?

• Learn more about Speak Up (and how to register) @ www.tomorrow.org/speakup
• Online surveys open from October 10th through December 23rd. 
• Results available by spring 2012.
  

AASA is a partner in the Data Quality Campaign, a national, collaborative effort to encourage and support state policymakers to improve the availability and use of high-quality education data to improve student achievement. As a partner, AASA participates in regular meetings, and is involved in the drafting and revision of policy/position papers the Campaign works on/is involved in.

On November 10, from 3-4 pm EST, DQC will host a webinar. Moving Beyond Compliance: Four Ways States Can Support District and Local Data Use will feature the release of a paper and related framework that offer four guiding principles for state policymakers as they enhance their collaborative data efforts with their districts to support each other’s complementary roles to transform education into a data-driven enterprise.

AASA is pleased to host, along with our colleagues at Broader, Bolder Approach to Education, “Federal Funding for a Broader Bolder Approach to Education”, on Thursday, October 20.

Join us as high-level panelists explore the benefits of a comprehensive approach to education policy and highlight opportunities to promote such a strategy at the federal level. As Congress moves forward with its efforts to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, this conversation couldn’t be more relevant.

Leaders from the Coalition for Community Schools, the Forum for Youth Investment Ready by 21 project, the ASCD Whole Child Initiative, and the National Assembly for School-Based Health Care will explain how their efforts help break down silos and bring together multiple funding streams to provide coordinated, comprehensive supports for the children who need them most.

October 20, 2011
10:00-11:30 am
Economic Policy Institute
1333 H St. NW, 3^rd Floor
Wellstone Conference Room

You can rsvp here. We look forward to seeing you on October 20.

AASA is pelased to announce the release of a new website, AASA Connect, where school leaders connect to success.

We know that school administrators have a lot on their plates and are eager to learn from each other about what works and how to make a difference in your own district. This site gives you that opportunity! We’ve compiled news articles, blogs and other resources that you review and that you can easily put to use in your own community. AASA Connect is a clearinghouse for all that is right in public education, and is designed to provide school system leaders with access to resources, ways to promote your district, and access to experts on a variety of education topics.

This is a brand new site, and will continue to be updated with even more information in the next weeks! Check it out.

Sorry for the very short notice, but I just received this. The White House has announced another round of state calls on the American Jobs Act. All of the calls listed below are for tomorrow. I believe all times listed below are EDT.

The White House Office of Public Engagement is holding a series of State specific calls to update community leaders on the American Jobs Act and preview what's at stake in the FY2012 budget fight.

Please feel free to forward the list below of the remaining calls for this week to your members or affiliates in these states. We will send around information on more calls as we have it. All of the calls below are for tomorrow, Friday, October 14th.

Virginia American Jobs Act Call; 11am; (800) 230-1092

Texas American Jobs Act Call; 12pm; (800) 288-8960

Ohio American Jobs Act Call; 2pm; (800) 230-1059

Pennsylvania American Jobs Act Call; 3pm; (800) 230-1074

New Jersey American Jobs Act Call; 4pm; (800) 230-1085

California American Jobs Act Call; 5pm; (800) 230-1074

Montana American Jobs Act; 6 pm; (800) 230-1059

Please contact your senators to support the Collins/Udall amendment to defund onerous child nutrition standards, that is expected to be offered today.

The details: Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Tom Udall (D-UT) sponsored an amendment supporting school district flexibility in providing school meals. This amendment needs your support!

The amendment would prohibit the Dept of Agriculture from expending funds to implement school meal standards that are overly prescriptive and limit school district flexibility in offering fruits and vegetables.

AASA strongly supports the amendment as an important step toward eliminating unfunded mandates in the child nutrition reauthorization and restoring school district flexibility.

The message: Please ask your senators to co-sponsor and vote for this bipartisan amendment to HR. FY 2012 appropriations for the Department of Agriculture

Capitol Switchboard - 202.224.3121.

The 860-page bill is now available: http://help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/ROM117523.pdf

Supposedly a summary and other documents will be posted shortly at: http://help.senate.gov/hearings/hearing/?id=b4d24a56-5056-9502-5d73-a45a120b096b and then see “Related Files” on the bottom right.

Happy Columbus Day! To those of you with a long weekend, I hope your weather is as gorgeous as it is here in DC! Just a few bits of information I wanted to pass along before we all resume the abbreviated work week:

Updated Super Committee Fact Sheets: An overview for each member of the Super Committee, including the number of constituents on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, Pell/Head Start, and poverty numbers, food hardship data, and the uninsured.)

NEW ESEA Flex Documents: The Department posted two new documents related to its ESEA flexibility package: Flexibility Review Guidance and Flexibility FAQs.

One item of interest concerning funding is the item in the FAQs that states that SEAs and LEAs can only transfer funds under the transferability provision among those programs that are currently funded. That means at the local level, funds cannot be transferred into the Title V Innovative grant program or into Safe and Drug-Free Schools grant program, because they are not currently funded. ED says that LEAs can still transfer funds into or out of Education Technology state grants because there are remaining funds unspent in that program. However under ED’s interpretation, once those funds are spent, LEA transferability (which the flexibility waivers increase from 50% to 100%) would only allow LEAs to transfer funds out of Title II into Title I.

At the SEA level, states can transfer non-administrative funds again just among currently operating (funded) programs, which means that once ED Tech funds are spent, states can only transfer funds between Title II and after school or from those programs into Title I.

More State Budget Cuts: The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities issued an updated analysis of state budget cuts affecting education. An alarming number of states have school funding levels below those of 2008. Read the report: Update: New School Year Brings Steep Cuts in State Funding for Schools

Today's guest blog post comes from AASA member Hal Kwalwasser.

We love to talk about teachers – good teachers, bad teachers. Our entire narrative about schools seems to revolve around finding good teachers and firing bad ones.

In a way, it’s not surprising. We love to reduce complex issues to “people stories,” especially when we can paint one kind of people with white hats and pin black ones on somebody else.

As appealing as it is, there are two problems with the “good teacher, bad teacher” narrative. The first is that it plants certain unspoken images in our heads, which we often wind up accepting as true without examination. We unthinkingly know what we know – to our peril.

One of these unarticulated assumptions that takes root as a result of the “good teacher, bad teacher” narrative is that teachers are either naturals – or they’re not. The number one strategy, then, is to find and retain the “right” people.

The result in this case? We have wound up betting many of our reform dollars on things like pay for performance, where we are going to pay wonderful teachers whose kids do well on standardized tests. That is going to get us thousands of new and better teachers and motivate the best of the educators already in the schools. We persist in believing this idea is fundamental, even though virtually every recent study on pay for performance based on student achievement has failed to find any improvement in scores.

Similarly, several states have adopted school reform legislation where one of the centerpieces is ending tenure. The unspoken part of the narrative is something like: We’ll now be able to fire lots of bad teachers and replace them with better ones. Unfortunately, there is no great pipeline of new, brilliant teachers waiting in line to be hired. If we fired just 10% of the current public school faculty, we would need a wopping 320,000 teachers to replace them. We don’t have that, and even if we had the numbers, we would have no assurance any of the new recruits would be more effective than those they are replacing.

Which leads me to the second great problem with having a narrative like “good teacher, bad teacher” dominate our thinking. Policy-making can be a “zero sum” game. By doing one thing, you don’t do another. Sometimes it is an intentional choice of preferring “A” over “B,” but sometimes it is the inadvertent result of never even allowing “B” onto the radar screen in the first place.

That is the true tragedy of the preoccupation with the “good teacher, bad teacher” narrative; we don’t think about another narrative, and, since we are not thinking about it, we don’t do anything to act on it.

So let me give a voice to what has been an alternative narrative, which, thus far, has largely been voiceless. I want to speak on behalf of the “system.” The very use of the word explains why it has been face-less, emotion-less, and therefore voiceless.

The “good teacher, bad teacher” narrative invites us to ignore most of the context in which these teachers operate. But the truth is that changing fundamental aspects of the way schools operate – the system - will more likely move the needle on student achievement than will the policies that obsess about the “good teacher, bad teacher” narrative.

For example, study after study shows that between one-third and one half of new teachers voluntarily leave schools within five years because of poor training, no support, inadequate curriculum, and a host of other working condition issues. Low salaries turn out to be one - but only one – reason. In fact only a minority of departing teachers claim low salaries as the primary reason for leaving.

In schools and districts that have supported better teacher training, better mentors, and higher quality administrators, retention rates are higher, particularly among better-qualified recruits. The lesson learned: Putting our attention and money on these sorts of working conditions is more likely to support the goal of having lots of good teachers than pay for performance and other like ideas that have been the focus up to now.

Similarly, we have made great strides in our ability to follow closely how well kids are mastering material and quickly intervening to help those who are struggling. This strategy is one of the hallmarks of many high performing schools. But to make this strategy work, we need new information technology that can support frequently assessing kids, and longer school days and school years where we actually have time to provide the assistance required.

We do provide small pots of money for such things, but just small pots. That won’t change unless lawmakers come to see this strategy as far more important than they do now. And that won’t change without a better appreciation that it is not enough to have good people. If one wants improved results, one wants a system that supports and enhances what good people are trying to do, not one that is an obstacle for them to overcome.

A message from the voiceless in the education debate….

Here's a handy dandy chart, from our friends at the Committee for Education Funding, that compares FY11 appropriations levels with those of the FY12 proposals from the President, Senate Committee, and House Bill.

Enjoy!

Today, the White House released a report, Teacher Jobs at Risk, outlining how the Administration’s efforts – including the American Jobs Act - will keep teachers in the classroom, strengthen our schools and improve the local economy in communities across the country. The American Jobs Act will support nearly 400,000 education jobs, preventing layoffs of educators and allowing thousands more to be hired or rehired. In addition, the President’s plan will modernize at least 35,000 public school buildings and community college campuses while putting construction workers back to work.

“Here in America, we are laying off teachers in droves. It makes no sense, and it has to stop. This bill will prevent up to 280,000 teachers from losing their jobs – and support almost 40,000 jobs right here in Texas,” said President Obama. “Congress should pass this jobs bill so we can put our teachers back in the classroom where they belong.”

America’s education system has always been one of our greatest sources of strength and global economic competitiveness, as well as the engine of incredible progress in science, technology, and the arts. We cannot expect to train our children for the high-skilled jobs of today, or for the opportunities of the future, without investments in a world-class education system.

But the severe recession from which we are still recovering has caused serious budget problems for many state and local governments, which fund the vast majority of the costs of public elementary through high school education. What this means is that school districts have been forced to make difficult decisions. Over the past twelve months, despite private-sector job growth of 1.7 million, local governments have reduced the number of teachers and education personnel they employ by nearly 200,000 people, about two thirds of all local government job losses during this period.

And in the coming school year, without additional support, many school districts will have to make another round of difficult decisions. As a result of state and local funding cuts, as many as 280,000 teacher jobs could be at risk in the coming year. Unless they receive federal assistance, many school districts will be forced to reduce the number of teachers in their classrooms, or turn to other measures such as shortening the school year or cutting spending on schoolbooks and supplies.

President Obama believes that America cannot win the future if its teachers are not where they belong—at the chalkboards or the Smart Boards in our classrooms, teaching our nation’s children. That’s why he put forward a plan – the American Jobs Act – that will prevent further cuts and more than offset these layoffs, providing support for nearly 400,000 education jobs – enough for states to avoid harmful layoffs, rehire tens of thousands of teachers who lost their jobs over the past three years, preserve or extend the regular school day and school year, and support important after-school activities.

Today, the President will travel to Eastfield College, a community college in Mesquite, Texas, to tour the campus’ Children’s Laboratory School and meet with students and teachers before delivering remarks urging Congress to pass the American Jobs Act now to keep teachers in the classroom and rebuild our schools across the nation. In addition, Vice President Biden will visit Oakstead Elementary School in Land O’Lakes, Florida, a public school which lost teachers due to budget cuts and has seen class sizes balloon as a result.

To view the full report, click here.

Last month, President Obama announced the American Job Act. I covered the education-related aspects in an earlier post.

The House has indicated it is unlikely to take up the bill for consideration. The Senate is expected to bring it to the floor sometime next month, subject to a 60 vote, which will likely prove elusive. As much as President Obama is actively advocating for his jobs plan, the fact is that the votes may not be there.

That said, there is something you can do. The education-related components of the President's jobs plan--including $30 billion for educator jobs and $25 billion for school modernization/renovation--have been pulled into a stand alone bill, Fix America's Schools Today (FAST) Act. it has been introduced in both chambers, by Rep. DeLauro (HR 2948) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (S 1597).

What can you do? Urge your delegation to support the FAST Act. Call them today and let them know how crucial those dollars would be for saving/retaining educator jobs and for providing needed funds for school repairs.

Last Thursday (sorry for the delay!) the House Appropriations Committee released a draft version of the FY12 Labor-HHS-Education Approprations bill. It is not clear whether the subcommittee will hold a markup; we suspect this is more of a marker bill, meaning it is not likely to go to markup. Overall, the bill reduces funding for ED by $2.378 billion, or 3.3 percent.

• Press Release
• Bill Text
• Detailed funding table

Six programs are increased:

• Title I grants to LEAS = +$1 billion (+6.9%)
• Impact Aid Basic Support Payments = +$35 million (+3.1%)
• Rural Education = +$25.5 million (+14.6%)
• Indian Education = +$5 million (+3.9%)
• IDEA Part B State grants = +$1.223 billion (+10.7%)
• Regional Education Labs = +$12.1 million (+21.1%)

Thirty-one programs are eliminated:

• School Improvement Grants = -$534.6 million
• High School Graduation Initiative = -$48.9 million
• Mathematics and Science Partnerships = -$175.1 million
• Foreign Language Assistance = -$26.9 million – also eliminated in Senate bill
• Race to the Top = -$698.6 million
• Investing in Innovation Fund = -$149.7 million
• Teaching of Traditional American History = -$45.9 million
• School Leadership = -$29.2 million
• Arts in Education = -$27.4 million
• Excellence in economic education = -$1.4 million – also eliminated in Senate bill
• FIE programs of national Significance = -$12 million
• Ready-to-Learn television = -$27.2 million
• Advanced Placement = -$43.3 million
• Promise Neighborhoods = -$29.9 million
• Alcohol Abuse Reduction = -$6.9 million – also eliminated in Senate bill
• Elementary and Secondary School Counseling = -$52.4 million
• Carol M. White Physical Education Program = -$78.8 million
• Civic Education = -$1.2 million – also eliminated in Senate bill
• Special Olympics Education programs = -$8.1 million
• Vocational rehabilitation Demonstration and Training programs = - $6.5 million
• Vocational rehabilitation Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers = -$1.9 million
• Strengthening Predominantly Black Institutions = -$9.6 million
• Strengthening Asian American Pacific Islander Institutions = -$3.2 million
• Strengthening Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions = -$13.4 million
• Strengthening Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions = -$3.2 million
• Strengthening Tribal Colleges = -$26.8 million
• International Education and Foreign Language Overseas Programs = -$7.5 million
• Institute for International Public Policy = -$1.6 million
• Fund for the Improvement of Postsec. Ed. (FIPSE) = -$18.6 million
• Postsecondary Program for Students with Intellectual = -$11 million
• Javits Fellowships = -$8.1 million

Nine programs are cut:

• Title I Evaluation = -$3.2 million (-38.7%)
• State Grants for Improving Teacher Quality = -$24.7 million (-1%)
• Education for Native Hawaiians = -$14.2 million (-41.6%)
• Alaska Native Education Equity = -$6.2 million (-18.8%)
• Comprehensive Centers = -$43.2 million (-84.4%)
• Safe and Drug-Free Schools National Programs = -$54.2 million (-45.5%)
• Pell Grants = -$2.303 billion (-10.0%), but maintains the $5,550 maximum award. 
• Hispanic Serving Institutions = -$87 million (-83.3%)
• Strengthening Historically Black Colleges (HBCUs) =-$85 million
  (-35.9%)
  
  

So, as you may recall, AASA has been working with our friends at Broader, Bolder on our proposal for accountability and assessment in ESEA. My colleague at Broader/Bolder, Elaine Weiss, recently penned her first post for working economics, the Economic Policy Institute blog. She's writing about the impact of poverty on education. Check it out!

She also has an article in this month's The School Administrator. In The Elusive Value in 'Value Added', Weiss writes about the technical and practical obstacles that contribute to unreliability and bias, and complicate the sorting of teachers on the basis of student performance.

I just wanted to share a quick link to the 2011 edition of the Education Policy Analysis Archives.

It's a rich edition, but I wanted to draw your attention to a few articles in particular:

• Teacher Community in Urban Elementary Schools: The Role of Leadership and Bureaucratic Accountability
• P-20 Education Policy: School to College Transition Policy in Washington State
• Education Reform, Equal Opportunity, and Educational Achievement: Do Trend Data Adequately Report Progress?

Since the establishment of the White House Rural Council in June, President Obama and a number of senior Administration officials have held meetings in rural communities throughout the country to better understand the challenges and opportunities facing rural America. A summary published today of where they been and what they heard found that education was the #1 issue discussed during these visits. Specifically, the Administration heard from rural communities about the need to:

• Encourage vocational training
• Improve rural education
• Focus on research
• Reform No Child Left Behind
• Address the Brain-drain: educated individuals moving out of rural communities
• Focus on science & technology
• Focus on education geared toward entrepreneurship

The White House Rural Council will continue to hold meetings (you can see all the places they’ve visited by clicking here) and we need to continue to focus them on the need to prioritize funding and resources for rural schools in every discussion they have around the country.

AASA sent a letter to the House Committee on Natural Resources in support of their efforts to preserve the Secure Rural Schools Program which ensures a predictable payment to those counties impacted by federally-impacted forest counties.

AASA also joined several other education organizations in asking Senate and House appropriators to preserve funding for Perkins CTE in this year’s budget. Last week, both Senate and House appropriators chose to level fund Perkins! This is great news as it was cut by 11% or $140 million last year.

Earlier this month, AASA's Pennsylvania affiliate, the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, partnered with the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials to examine state-level impact of budget cuts and overall economic woes.

The report, New School Year Begins with Reduced Learning Opportunities for Students, found that PA school districts began the school year with 14,000 fewer education positions, counting both layoffs and vacant spots. Further, three-quarters of districts report higher class sizes in 2011-12, 44 percent have reduced electives, and 35 percent have reduced or eliminated programs designed to provide extra help or tutoring for struggling students.

Seventy-six local, state, and national organizations representing education, youth development, health and social services, community development, and higher education, announced a set of recommendations today to inform the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

These Coalition for Community Schools partners believe that the education of our children and youth is a shared responsibility among schools and communities. "The new ESEA must unleash the innovation and problem-solving capacity of America's communities, so we can create the conditions that will enable all children to succeed", said Ira Harkavy, Coalition Chair and Director of the Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania. The principles that undergird the community school accomplish just this.

Community schools are a vehicle for bringing together family, school, and community partners and resources so that every student has the learning opportunities and support they need to succeed. Community schools, using resources more effectively and efficiently, are getting results in more and more diverse places such as Cincinnati, Tulsa, Nashville, Kansas City (MO), Los Angeles, Lehigh Valley (PA), and Portland (OR).

With increased federal recognition, these communities—and many more like them—can do more. The Coalition's ESEA Authorization Statement offers recommendations which reflect the best principals of successful community schools across the nation.

Specifically, we recommend that the Community School Strategy be a permissible intervention for schools in need of improvement. S. 616, the Supporting Community Schools Act, proposes just that. Additionally, the Coalition proposes greater incentives for public/private school and-community partnerships; development of a comprehensive accountability framework that goes far beyond test scores and improves access to data on multiple indicators of student well-being; stronger emphasis on family and youth involvement; and better coordination and more effective and efficient use of dollars across federal agencies.

"Surely our schools need effective principals and teachers, but just as surely, our young people and their families need more connections, more support, and more opportunities to be successful. We must do both and we can only do that if communities and schools work together. On behalf of America’s youth and families, we urge Congress to reauthorize ESEA so that it supports the development of more and more effective community schools," said Martin Blank, Director of the Coalition for Community Schools and President of the Institute for Educational Leadership.

Leaders from the major Coalition partners echo Blank and offer their public support for these recommendations:

American Association of School Administrators: "Schools and communities both play a crucial role in helping our nation’s young people develop into tomorrow’s leaders and our nation’s future. The community school recommendations for ESEA give schools and communities the leverage and resources they need to support their efforts in getting students ready to succeed. It is crucial that ESEA reauthorization discussions include and reflect student health and well-being for the important role they play in student learning." ~ Daniel Domenech, Executive Director

American Federation of Teachers: "While good teaching is crucial to student learning, too many children come to school with needs that are beyond a teacher’s control and that impede their ability to succeed academically. Community schools—that can include in-school medical, dental and counseling services—help level the playing field for disadvantaged children. The community school recommendations for ESEA will help schools and communities provide needed services so the most vulnerable students can succeed." ~ Randi Weingarten, President

American Public Health Association: "High school completion is an educational issue and a public health issue. Educational success starts with healthy students, and students who complete high school are more likely to have a lifetime of better health and economic opportunities. As this framework describes, the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act must recognize health and well-being as the essential element for learning success and ensure its presence to not only reduce school dropout but health disparities, as well." ~ J. Alan Baker, Interim Executive Director

First Focus: "Our nation needs, and our children deserve, a comprehensive approach to education. In order to ensure that every student has the opportunity to reach his or her full potential, we must address the needs that our children bring into the classroom. A child who is hungry, in poor health, or experiencing instability at home may struggle academically and it is our collective responsibility – parents, communities, and schools – by incorporating a community schools strategy into ESEA reauthorization, we encourage all stakeholders to work together and guarantee that each child has an opportunity to learn and succeed. These ESEA recommendations build a collaborative framework that builds community ownership for change, and strengthens results for children and youth across the country." ~ Bruce Lesley, President

National Assembly on School Based Health Care:"I believe that these recommendations for ESEA reauthorization will help ensure that Federal education reform will support programs that are proven to help students achieve. School-based health centers have a track record of keeping students healthy and learning." ~ Tamara Copeland, President

National Education Association:"Teachers and support professionals know that students deserve the best in their classrooms.But learning does not stop there. To do well in school,students need good nutrition, dental and medical services, and counseling programs so they are ready to learn when they enter school and every day thereafter. The community school recommendations for ESEA will help disadvantaged students access the supports they need to succeed. It is past time for Congress to recognize that students don’t succeed by test scores alone." ~ Dennis Van Roekel, President

National Human Services Assembly and National Collaboration for Youth:"The Coalition’s statement presents comprehensive solutions that would go a long way in improving our nation’s education system. Community schools are a proven strategy for improving academic achievement. Policymakers would be well-advised to take note of these timely recommendations." ~ Irv Katz, President and CEO

Public Education Network: "We know from experience, evidence and best practice that when schools and communities converge around the needs of the child, our students succeed both academically and in life. In this period of economic strain and declining resources, if we are to increase the number of poor and disadvantaged children prepared for college, Congress must require greater integration, coordination, and collaboration." ~ Wendy D. Puriefoy, President

Earlier today, the Department announced its plan to reform and improve teacher training programs. The plan has three core elements: reducing reporting requirements on schools of education and states; $185 million for a teaching fellows program to support rigorous state-level policies and scholarships; and support for institutions that prepare high-quality teachers from diverse backgrounds.

ED Press Release

ED Report: Our Future, Our Teachers: The Obama Administration's Plan for Teacher Education Reform and Improvement

Because one can never have enough social media......

I've had a twitter account for a while now, though I am a passive participant, only consuming information.

It's time to step up the game, though, and my twitter account will be increasingly active, with tweets about the daily ins and outs of AASA advocacy, from meetings on the hill and travels to state affiliates to the latest legislation and other random fun facts.

Follow me (@Noellerson), as well as the general AASA twitter account, @AASAHQ.

Just a little update, though I wish I had better news.

On the plus side, Congress acted in time to avoid a government shut down. While they did not pass their full budget, they did pass a continuing resolution that (when fully adopted) will fund the government through November 18.

In a general sense, the CR level funds the federal government at FY11 levels minus 1.503%. Initially, it was thought that education programs, being level funded, would not be subject to this reduction because they wouldn't receive their funding until July 2012, when a final CR was running the show. Unfortunately, though, based on information from the Department today, the language for how the cut impacts advanced appropriations differs from that in previous CRs. The Department is interpreting the language to mean that allocations/obligations made on Oct. 1 to states for programs that have advanced appropriations from the FY11 bill will be subject to the 1.5% cut. Bottom line, that means the following programs will be cut:

• Title I grants to LEAs ($10.841 billion)
• Title II Teacher Quality State Grants ($1.681 billion)
• IDEA Section 611 grants to states ($8.592 billion)
• Career and Technical Education State grants ($791 million)

Please note that the 1.5 % cut applies just to the advanced apportions amount, not the entire allocation, and the reduced amounts are listed in the parenthetical above. Stay tuned to the blog. Unless Congress provides the $329 million in cuts in the final FY12 bill, it is possible that states and locals could feel cuts in the 2011-12 school year. Even if the funding is restored, there is a possibility it wouldn't be until the final bill, which wouldn't take effect till July 2012.

The Pre-K Coalition, a collaboration of the nation’s leading K-12 membership organizations—the American Association of School Administrators, American Federation of Teachers, Council of Chief State School Officers, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Association of State Boards of Education, National Education Association, and the National School Boards Association—to develop consensus on pre-kindergarten policy goals, cordially invites you to attend a briefing on its new report, Ensuring America’s Future: Policy Statements and Recommendations from National Education Organizations.  

WHEN: 10:00 – 11:30 on Tuesday, October 4, 2011

WHERE: U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, room SVC 209-08*

The briefing will center on how the federal government can help to better support state and local early education efforts, particularly in the areas of access, workforce quality, program quality, P-3 alignment, and program coordination. Speakers will include:

• David Johns, Senior Education Advisor, Senator Harkin, Senate HELP Committee
• Ed Massey, President-elect, National School Boards Association and member, Boone County Board of Education, Hebron, KY
• Amy Mandel, preschool teacher, Edmund Hmieleski Early Childhood Center, Perth Amboy, NJ
• Jon Millerhagen, Principal, Washburn Elementary School, Bloomington, MN
• Brenda Welburn, Executive Director, National Association of State Boards of Education, Arlington, VA

The event will also feature live webcasts from two pre-k classes. To learn more, please visit: http://prekcoalition.org. To RSVP for the event, please email Chrisanne Gayl at cgayl@nsba.org.

* Please allow ample time for check-in due to security screening at the Visitor Center.

The White House has announced a line-up of state-by-state calls related to the President's American Jobs Act. as soon as today and spanning through December.

To RSVP for your state's call, please email OPERSVP@who.eop.gov with your name, organization, city and state. 

After reading the latest report by the National Center on Time and Learning on how school leaders in, Buffalo,NY; Pittsburgh, PA; and Volusia County, FL  have comprehensively transformed some of their persistently low-performing schools through expanding either the school year, school day, or both, I wanted to recommend AASA members consider attending their national conference on October 25th and 26th in Boston, MA. NCTL is waiving all registration fees for AASA members because they really want to spread the gospel on the benefits of expanding the school day. Details are here.

This blog post comes from AASA President Pat Neudecker, who is in Volos, Greece attending the 3rd Annual conference on Women Leading in Education (WLE).

When individuals with a common purpose unite, amazing things can happen. Such is the case as 42 individuals representing 10 countries from 4 continents are meeting in Volos Greece from September 25-28 for the 3rd Annual conference on Women Leading in Education (WLE). The event is coordinated by Virginia Commonwealth University, the University Council of Educational Administration, the University of Thessaly, Greece and the American Association of School Administrators. This year’s conference was made possible through the generous support of Pearson Education, Farmer’s Insurance, ING, and the City of Volos and the Volos Park Hotel.

WLE explores the status and reality of women in leadership across the continents by investigating the movers and barriers to empowered, representative leadership.

AASA members attending this year’s event include Sharon Adams-Taylor who continues as an original member of the planning committee, MaryAnn Jobe, presenting the AASA National Superintendent Ten Year Study, Diane Reed presenting research findings on resilient leadership, and Pat Neudecker, AASA President.

Participants share their passion and professional work focused on the development of leadership to promote social justice. Conference attendees have an opportunity to hear amazing, personal stories from the Solomon Islands to Ghana, from Brazil to Australia, from the UK to the US, from Greece to New Zealand, from Germany to Pakistan, and beyond.

Volos Greece is a seaside community and home to the University of Thessaly, about 3 hours north of Athens. Conference hosts have extended their hospitality in making every participant feel welcome in Greece. Everyone has learned and shared experiences through stories of educational leadership success and challenges from around the world.

Plans are underway for the 4^th annual Conference to be held in 2013, with a location yet to be determined. Several conference participants expressed interest in hosting the biannual event in their country. The commitment to social justice will certainly continue as this group fanes those flames with their research, work, and passion.

UPDATED: Check out some of Pat's pictures!

The department has announced its next stakeholder meeting, to discuss the ESEA waivers. The meeting will take place on Thursday, September 29^th, 2011, from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m., Eastern time, in the LBJ Building’s Barnard Auditorium, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, in Washington, DC. Secretary Duncan and members of his senior staff will be on hand to answer your questions about ESEA flexibility, announced by President Obama last Friday.

To register, please send an e-mail to EDStakeholder@ed.gov with your name, title, and organization/affiliation; you will receive a confirmation e-mail in return.

For anyone who is unable to attend Thursday's forum in person, there area number of ways to access the information that will be provided:

• The event will be webcast live on the Department's UStream channel, and the video will be archived for later viewing.
• A transcript of the forum will be posted on the forum webpage http://www2.ed.gov/news/events/forum.html and on ED.gov's ESEA flexibility page.
• Materials from the forum will be posted on ED.gov's ESEA flexibility page.

In addition, questions about ESEA flexibility, both now and following Thursday’s forum, can be submitted to the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education via ESEAflexibility@ed.gov.

Education Week is hosting a free webinar on Sept. 27 at 2 pm: The Economic Stimulus and K-12 Education—Where Did It Hit the Mark and Where Did It Fall Short?

Guests:

• Benny L. Gooden, superintendent of schools, Fort Smith Public Schools, Fort Smith, Ark.
• Joanne Weiss, chief-of-staff to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and architect of the Race to the Top competition, U.S. Department of Education.
• Ann Whalen, special assistant, Office of the Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Education. This webinar will be moderated by Alyson Klein, staff writer, Education Week.

Register for this free webinar.

On Friday, two notices were posted in the Federal Register. One extended the deadlines for ARRA reporting requirements to January 2012 (and made some additional changes to ARRA assurances). The second proposed revisions to data collection and reporting requirements for State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) reporting requirements, including the deadline for implementing statewide longitudinal data, and proposed a new priority for future discretionary grant programs.

Sasha found this related article in today's EdWeek.

Friday morning, the administration released details related to its proposal for regulatory relief from ESEA. AASA has long advocated for direct, targeted regulatory relief, and was pleased to see the direction the department is moving, but remains concerned by the conditional (or quid-pro-quo) nature of the waivers. You can read AASA’s official statement in an earlier blog post.

The waivers will be made available to states that commit to adopting and implementing certain policy priorities. While the waivers will not be a competition, it remains to be seen how many waivers will be granted, and over how many rounds of application. The waivers will, well, waive some of the cornerstone requirements from NCLB, including the 2014 AYP proficiency deadline. The waivers are available ‘en suite’, meaning states have to apply for all of the waivers. No picking and choosing.

States will receive flexibility in ten areas (listed below) if they adopt three policy priorities (also listed below):

Flexibilities for SEAs:

1. Flexibility Regarding the 2013–2014 Timeline for Determining Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP): An SEA would no longer need to follow the procedures for setting annual measurable objectives (AMOs) to use in determining AYP. Instead, an SEA would have flexibility to develop new ambitious but achievable AMOs in reading/language arts and mathematics in order to provide meaningful goals that will be used to guide support and improvement efforts for the State, local educational agencies (LEAs), schools, and student subgroups.
2. Flexibility in Implementation of School Improvement Requirements: An LEA would no longer be required to comply with the requirements to identify for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring, as appropriate, its Title I schools that fail, for two consecutive years or more, to make AYP, and neither the LEA nor its schools would be required to take currently required improvement actions; however, an SEA may still require or permit an LEA to take such actions. An LEA would also be exempt from all administrative and reporting requirements related to school improvement under current law. 
3. Flexibility in Implementation of LEA Improvement Requirements: An SEA would no longer be required to comply with the requirements to identify for improvement or corrective action, as appropriate, an LEA that, for two consecutive years or more, fails to make AYP, and neither the LEA nor the SEA would be required to take currently required improvement actions. An LEA would also be exempt from all associated administrative and reporting requirements related to LEA improvement under current law.
4. Flexibility for Rural LEAs: An LEA that receives Small, Rural School Achievement Program funds or Rural and Low-Income School Program funds would have flexibility to use those funds for any authorized purpose regardless of the LEA’s AYP status. 
5. Flexibility for Schoolwide Programs: An LEA would have flexibility to operate a schoolwide program in a Title I school that does not meet the 40 percent poverty threshold in ESEA if the SEA has identified the school as a priority school or a focus school, and the LEA is implementing interventions consistent with the turnaround principles or interventions that are based on the needs of the students in the school and designed to enhance the entire educational program in the school, as appropriate.
6. Flexibility to Support School Improvement: An SEA would have flexibility to allocate ESEA section 1003(a) funds to an LEA in order to serve any priority or focus school, if the SEA determines such schools are most in need of additional support. 
7. Flexibility for Reward Schools: An SEA would have flexibility to use funds reserved under ESEA section 1117(c)(2)(A) to provide financial rewards to any reward school, if the SEA determines such schools are most appropriate for financial rewards.
8. Flexibility Regarding Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) Improvement Plans: An LEA that does not meet its HQT targets would no longer have to develop an improvement plan and would have flexibility in how it uses its Title I and Title II funds. An SEA would be exempt from the requirements regarding its role in the implementation of these plans, including the requirement that it enter into agreements with LEAs on the uses of funds and the requirement that it provide technical assistance to LEAs on their plan. This flexibility would allow SEAs and LEAs to focus on developing and implementing more meaningful evaluation and support systems. 
9. Flexibility to Transfer Certain Funds: An SEA and its LEAs would have flexibility to transfer up to 100 percent of the funds received under the authorized programs designated in ESEA section 6123 among those programs and into Title I, Part A. 
10.  Flexibility to Use School Improvement Grant (SIG) Funds to Support Priority Schools: An SEA would have flexibility to award SIG funds to an LEA to implement one of the four SIG models in any priority school.

Policy Priorities: Adopt college and career ready standards; state-developed differentiated accountability system; and adopt a teacher/principal evaluation model.

Timeline: SEAs will have multiple opportunities to submit requests for flexibility. SEAs interested in flexibility by the end of the current school year will have two windows to submit their request: November 14 (for December peer review) and mid-February for a Spring 2012 review.

Questions? All inquiries or questions should be directed to ESEAflexibility@ed.gov

Related Info

• EdWeek Politics K-12 Blog had a great series of posts late last week. 
• The Department has posted all available materials on their website
• President’s Remarks
• Press Release
• FAQ/Q&A
• Flyers/one-pagers: Looking Back and Moving Forward; Supporting State and Local Progress 
• Duncan Letter to Chief State School Offices
• ESEA Flexibility (description of flexibilities and policy priorities)
• Flexibility Request (application forms/papers)

Daniel A. Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, released the following statement in response to President Obama’s announcement today of NCLB waiver relief:

"For several years now AASA has, on behalf of our members, been urging the Obama administration to provide our school districts with regulatory relief from the provisions of No Child Left Behind. The administration had refused to do so on the grounds that they were hoping that ESEA would be reauthorized. So were we, and we would still prefer the reauthorization of ESEA. Unfortunately, it has become readily apparent that a divided Congress is not about to reach agreement on a new ESEA bill in a timely manner. Schools need relief this academic school year as NCLB punishments ramp ever higher.

"The Obama flexibility plan released today will provide waivers to states that apply for them with assurances that they will meet certain conditions. We are pleased with the plan’s intent to relieve districts from these regulations. However, we continue to object to a waiver process that requires the meeting of specific conditions.

"If we all agree that the regulations that are to be waived are onerous and an impediment to real change in our schools, then they should be waived for all schools, not just the ones in states that apply for and receive the waivers. We regret that many schools in the states that do not apply for waivers will still be identified as failing, when they are not. These schools will be forced to spend much-needed dollars on solutions that have not worked and continue to labor under a law that everyone admits is an impediment to progress.

"We continue to urge relief for schools via regulatory relief, the suspension of AYP and the 2014 targets, the ability of states to design their own accountability system and the removal of the 20% set-aside for SES and choice.

Later this morning, I will be attending a meeting at the White House where the President and Secretary Duncan will be announcing their plans for ESEA flexibility. Included here is the text from the White House press release, as well as a link to a fact sheet on the proposal:

In an effort to support local and state education reform across America, the White House today outlined how states can get relief from provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act – or No Child Left Behind (NCLB) – in exchange for serious state-led efforts to close achievement gaps, promote rigorous accountability, and ensure that all students are on track to graduate college- and career-ready.

States can request flexibility from specific NCLB mandates that are stifling reform, but only if they are transitioning students, teachers, and schools to a system aligned with college- and career-ready standards for all students, developing differentiated accountability systems, and undertaking reforms to support effective classroom instruction and school leadership.

“To help states, districts and schools that are ready to move forward with education reform, our administration will provide flexibility from the law in exchange for a real commitment to undertake change. The purpose is not to give states and districts a reprieve from accountability, but rather to unleash energy to improve our schools at the local level,” President Obama said.

Release of this package comes nearly a decade after NCLB became law, and four years after it was due to be rewritten by Congress. NCLB shined light on achievement gaps and increased accountability for high-need students, but it also encouraged states to lower standards and narrow curriculum, focused on absolute test scores instead of student growth and gains, and created one-size-fits-all federal mandates.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said, "We want to get out of the way and give states and districts flexibility to develop locally-tailored solutions to their educational challenges while protecting children and holding schools accountable for better preparing young people for college and careers."

In recent months, states have led a “quiet revolution” to move beyond NCLB’s vision. States have taken the lead in pursuing reform and innovations, including widespread adoption of college- and career-ready standards, development of new assessments, and other reforms in areas including teacher and principal evaluation and support, and turning around low-performing schools.

The ESEA flexibility package announced today, developed with input from chief state school officers from 45 states, will spur momentum across America to implement a new educational system aligned to college- and career- readiness, even as the more comprehensive reforms outlined in the President’s Blueprint for Reform await Congressional reauthorization of the ESEA.

This flexibility package was developed under the waiver authority explicitly granted to the U.S. Department of Education under the ESEA, and has been exercised under the previous Administration. The flexibility will begin to have an impact during the 2011-2012 school year and will have increasing impact in subsequent years.

For a fact sheet on the details of the flexibility announcement click HEREIn an effort to support local and state education reform across America, the White House today outlined how states can get relief from provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act – or No Child Left Behind (NCLB) – in exchange for serious state-led efforts to close achievement gaps, promote rigorous accountability, and ensure that all students are on track to graduate college- and career-ready.

States can request flexibility from specific NCLB mandates that are stifling reform, but only if they are transitioning students, teachers, and schools to a system aligned with college- and career-ready standards for all students, developing differentiated accountability systems, and undertaking reforms to support effective classroom instruction and school leadership.

“To help states, districts and schools that are ready to move forward with education reform, our administration will provide flexibility from the law in exchange for a real commitment to undertake change. The purpose is not to give states and districts a reprieve from accountability, but rather to unleash energy to improve our schools at the local level,” President Obama said.

Release of this package comes nearly a decade after NCLB became law, and four years after it was due to be rewritten by Congress. NCLB shined light on achievement gaps and increased accountability for high-need students, but it also encouraged states to lower standards and narrow curriculum, focused on absolute test scores instead of student growth and gains, and created one-size-fits-all federal mandates.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said, "We want to get out of the way and give states and districts flexibility to develop locally-tailored solutions to their educational challenges while protecting children and holding schools accountable for better preparing young people for college and careers."

In recent months, states have led a “quiet revolution” to move beyond NCLB’s vision. States have taken the lead in pursuing reform and innovations, including widespread adoption of college- and career-ready standards, development of new assessments, and other reforms in areas including teacher and principal evaluation and support, and turning around low-performing schools.

The ESEA flexibility package announced today, developed with input from chief state school officers from 45 states, will spur momentum across America to implement a new educational system aligned to college- and career- readiness, even as the more comprehensive reforms outlined in the President’s Blueprint for Reform await Congressional reauthorization of the ESEA.

This flexibility package was developed under the waiver authority explicitly granted to the U.S. Department of Education under the ESEA, and has been exercised under the previous Administration. The flexibility will begin to have an impact during the 2011-2012 school year and will have increasing impact in subsequent years.

For a fact sheet on the details of the flexibility announcement click HERE

On Wednesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved along party lines, 16-14, a draft fiscal 2012 Labor-HHS-Education spending bill that would provide nearly $726 billion in total budget authority, including $158 billion in discretionary funding. The bill’s discretionary total is $308 million less than the fiscal 2011 level.

Title I and IDEA are level funded. Promise Neighborhoods receives an additional $31 million, up to $60 million for FY12. 

In a move that is very frustrating, Race to the Top once again receives additional funding, receiving $700 million. The funds can go to district-level competition (not just states) or, once again, toward early learning. Another competitive program receiving funding is the Investing in Innovation program, funded at nearly $150 million.  

AASA strongly believes that the federal funding priority should be focused on leveling the playing field for disadvantaged students. Specifically, we are concerned by the continued focus on funding competitive programs while IDEA remains underfunded and schools continue to operate with increasingly smaller budgets.

Read a summary of the FY12 LHHS Appropriations Bill.

AASA Member Testifies: AASA President-elect and school superintendent, Benny L. Gooden testified on Sept. 21 before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by Rep. John Kline (R-MN), on issues related to the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Governing board member Amy F. Sichel previously testified before the committee.

Read Gooden’s written testimony.
Learn more about this hearing.

House Defeats CR: The House rebuffed, 195-230, a stopgap spending bill (HR 2608) that would fund the federal government through Nov. 18. It would keep government spending at an annualized rate of $1.043 trillion, in accordance with the fiscal 2012 budget caps set by the debt limit agreement (PL 112-25). Lawmakers need to clear a continuing resolution (CR) before Oct. 1 to avert a government shutdown.

UPDATED: On Wednesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved along party lines, 16-14, a draft fiscal 2012 Labor-HHS-Education spending bill that would provide nearly $726 billion in total budget authority, including $158 billion in discretionary funding. The bill’s discretionary total is $308 million less than the fiscal 2011 level.

A few developments from the Hill related to education funding.

Senate: The Senate LHHS Subcommittee reported its FY12 bill along a 10-8 party line vote. You can read the committee press release, and the bill and report will be available after the full committee markup, scheduled for Wednesday. Overall, total discretionary funding for ED is $68.43 billion (an increase of $80 million, or 0.1%).

At this point, it appears that Title I and IDEA are level funded, as is REAP. Here are additional details:

• The following programs are eliminated: Foreign Language Assistance Program; Civic Education; Alcohol Abuse Reduction; and Voluntary Public School Choice.
• These following programs were cut: Teacher Incentive Fund (reduced to $300 million, a $99.2 million/24.8% cut); Transition to Teaching (reduced to $20 million, a $21 million/51% cut); and Safe and Drug Free Schools (Reduced to $79.2 million, a $40 million/33.6% cut).
• The following programs received increases: Promise Neighborhoods, IDEA Part C, and Striving Readers. It should also be noted that the set-aside out of Title II (Supporting Effective Educator Development) was increased from 1% to 5%, an increase of $123 million.  

An on the house side, the FY12 CR is scheduled for the House floor. The across-the-baord cut would be roughly 1.5 percent. There is not a guarantee, at this moment, that the CR will pass. Stay tuned!

One of the two consortia that are creating assessments for the common core, SMARTER Balanced, is asking for feedback on their revised content specifications for English language arts/literacy by next Tuesday, September 27th.. The final ELA/literacy content specifications will be posted in October.  Once finalized, the content specifications for math and ELA/literacy will serve as the basis for the SMARTER Balanced system of summative and interim assessments and formative assessment support for teachers.

The ELA/literacy content specifications materials are available at: http://www.smarterbalanced.org/Resources.aspx. Instructions on how to provide feedback are posted at the same location. If you live in one of the 29 states that will be adopting the SMARTER Balanced tests, it's advisable you weigh in right away.

I was up on the hill yesterday, meaning I am a bit delayed in getting you information related to the President's deficit plan, announced yesterday.

Entitled Living Within Our Means and Investing in the Future: President’s Plan for Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction, the plan outlines those areas the President targets in helping to reign in the nation's deficit. For our purposes, please note that the President does not propsoe any cuts to education.

• Fact Sheet – AML
• Fact Sheet – Flood Insurance
• Fact Sheet – Health Care 
• Fact Sheet – Low-income
• Fact Sheet – Retired Military
• Fact Sheet – Rural
• Fact Sheet – Seniors
• Fact Sheet – Federal Workers

A copy of the report may be found here. The plan overview is available here. 

The Senate LHHS Subcommittee will be marking up the LHHS appropriations bill today, which includes funding for education. Early information is hard to come by, though I do have an indication that IDEA funding is left alone. This is good, in that IDEA won't be cut, but problematic in that there is not additional money to help the federal government meet it's chronically underfunded commitment of 40%. It also appears there is no new money for Race to the Top, or Race to the Top Early Learning Funds.

UPDATE: The Appropriations committee passed the LHHS bill, which DID include funding for RttT, while level-funding Title I and IDEA.

The full Senate Appropriations Committee will mark up the LHHS bill tomorrow.

Last week, the Department of Education launched a unique public-private partnership called Digital Promise. Digital Promise is a nonprofit center created via the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 with the purpose of advancing the widespread adoption and use of effective, innovative digital approaches to improving education, teaching, and learning.

Digital Promise will work with leading educators, researchers, technology firms, and entrepreneurs on three key challenges: identifying breakthrough technologies, learning faster what's working and what's not, and transforming the market for learning technologies. According to the Dept, “Digital Promise can help ameliorate problems such as local school officials lacking access to good information about the effectiveness of various educational technology products, and prospective product developers' difficulties reaching customers on an economically valuable scale.”

In partnership with Digital Promise, leading schools, school districts, and networks such as High Tech High in San Diego, are coming together to launch a League of Innovative Schools. The League will be a coalition of schools dedicated to innovation in learning technologies and significant improvements in educational outcomes. The League will explore key steps it can take to help the learning technology market, including: rapid testing of promising new technologies, creating a buyers’ consortium to demand better prices and higher quality and encouraging entrepreneurs to develop game-changing innovations by promising to buy them.

A factsheet on Digital Promise is available here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/15/fact-sheet-digital-promise-initiative

Released by the Department of Education last week:

“The Department has released final regulations under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). These final regulations will help improve early intervention services and outcomes for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. Part C is a $436 million program administered by states that serves infants and toddlers -- through age 2 -- with developmental delays or who have diagnosed physical or mental conditions with high probabilities of resulting in developmental delays.

“The final Part C regulations incorporate provisions in the 2004 amendments to Part C of the IDEA. Also, they offer states with flexibility in some areas, while ensuring state accountability to improve results and providing needed services. The regulations focus on measuring and improving outcomes for the around 350,000 infants and toddlers served by the Part C program, with the goal of ensuring that such children are ready for preschool and kindergarten.

“Additionally, the Department has released a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend regulations under Part B of the IDEA, regarding when a state or district seeks to use a child’s or parent’s public benefits or insurance (for example, Medicaid) to pay for special education services. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/news.html.”

Earlier this week, Senators Alexander, Burr, Isakson and Kirk released five legislative proposals related to ESEA. Generally, the proposals re-establish the foundation of ESEA, re-aligning the role of the federal government in education to one of supporting partner, a role consistent not only with constitutional authority, but also in closer proportion to the amount of funding the federal government provides. The legislative package is a strong step in the right direction, putting state and local education agencies in charge of the crucial decisions—especially relating to assessments, standards, and accountability—that impact the day-to-day operation and performance of the nation’s public schools.

There are five pieces of legislation and one PDF document that includes ALL of the one-pagers that go with each piece of legislation, as well a one-pager for the package as a whole.

• S 1571: Elementary and Secondary Education Amendments Act of 2011 (Alexander and Isakson)
• S 1569: Empowering Local Education Decision Making Act of 2011 (Burr)
• S 1567: Teacher and Principal Improvement Act of 2011 (Alexander and Isakson)
• S 1566:Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act of 2011 (Kirk)
• S 1568: State Innovation Pilot Act of 2011 (Alexander)
• Overviews/One-pagers

Elementary and Secondary Education Amendments Act of 2011: This is the Title I piece. Keeping with the general concept of reducing the role of the federal government, this bill puts state and local education agencies in charge of determining what accountability and assessments look like. While there is still an annual testing schedule and states have to collect disaggregated results, the proposal overhauls the role of the federal government. States, using their own accountability and assessment metrics, will rank their local education agencies. The bottom five percent will be subject to federal intervention, while the top 95 percent are left alone. Those schools in the bottom five percent would have to adopt one of six turnaround models. While the six models include the four turn around models supported by the current administration, there are two additional models that give states and locals the flexibility they need in making school improvement/turn around work. In addition to transformation, turnaround, closure, and restart, the GOP proposal includes a state-determined strategy and a waiver strategy. In the state-determined strategy, states can create an alternative turnaround model (as approved by the Secretary) to be used by LEAs. In the waiver model, any REAP-eligible (rural) district can adopt any of the four models (NOT the state-determined model) but waive one aspect of the model.

Looking ahead, we want to make sure that any final statute or the guidance/regulations that accompany the law do not codify the 2 percent assessment cap for students with disabilities. Further, we hope that as this process moves along, the language will be clarified so that we do not see a continued reliance on one-time, snapshot testing. We urge the GOP to revise any language to reflect that multiple sources of valid and reliable information are used to measure achievement, including various types of assessments (adaptive, formative, performance, portfolio, etc…) as well as other indicators (attendance, high school graduation rates). We are concerned that failure to clarify the important role of multiple measures in identifying schools in the bottom five percent will result in false positives, where non-bottom performing LEAs find themselves in the bottom five percent.

Empowering Local Education Decision Making Act of 2011: Senator Burr’s bill consolidates 59 programs into two flexibile foundational block grants. While AASA welcomes the flexibility this approach provides to state and local education agencies, we point to the history of Title II, as well as the 1982 Reagan Chapter Grants, and the subsequent issues with determining the efficacy and efficiency of the programs, as well as making the case for continued investment. We hope that the shift to a block-grant approach is used as a stepping stone to make the case for more flexibility as well as continued and increased investment. As you looks at the programs that are consolidated, please note that in large part, the specific allowances/allowable uses are carried through. That is, you will be able to use the funding for the programs as you have in the past (actions will continue to be an allowable use).

The two programs Burr’s legislation creates are the:

• Fund for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning
• Increase the capacity of LEAs, teachers and principals to provide a complete education
• Increase the number of teachers/principals who are effective in improving student achievement
• Ensure that low-income students are served by effective teachers/principals
• Safe and Healthy Students Block Grant
• Increase capacity of LEAs to create safe, hleathy and drug-free environments
• Carry out program designed to improve school safety and promote the wellness of a ‘whole’ child

It should be noted that under this proposal, LEAs will be aboe to move up to 100% of their funding under these two programs between the two as well as in to Title I part A.

Among the programs repealed: Reading First, Early Reading First, Even Start, Literacy Through School Libraries, Advanced Placement, Transitions to Teaching, Troops-to-Teachers, Math-Science Partnerships, National Writing Project, Civic Education, Teaching of Traditional American History, Enhancing Education Through Technology, Ready to Learn TV, Close-Up, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, State Innovative Grants, School Counselors, Smaller Learning Communities, Reading is Fundamental, Gifted/Talented, Ready to Teach, Foreign Language Assistance Program, Physical Education, Arts in Education, Parent Information Resource Centers, Women's Educational Equity Act.

Teacher and Principal Improvement Act of 2011: This is the second teacher-related piece. Unlike the Burr bill, it doesn’t do consolidating. Rather, it takes an approach more akin to that in the Title I piece, giving states and locals more control over how they recruit, retain, develop, and evaluate their educators. SEAs and LEAs have to complete a needs assessment to determine needs for teacher/principal training. States lead the development of evaluation systems. There is still a teacher incentive fund which would move competitive grants to states, districts, and partnerships with private organizations (think Teach for America or the like).

Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act of 2011: Senator Kirk’s bill is essentially a mirror image of HR 2218, the House ESEA charter proposal that was passed earlier this week. You can read AASA’s concerns with the legislation here.

State Innovation Pilot Act of 2011: This final piece clarifies the ability of the Secretary of Education to provide/deny waivers. The main jist of the bill is that the idea of waivers is to be lead by state and local requests, not Washington mandates.

AASA Response to Senate GOP ESEA Proposal

A new report by the Center on Education Policy was released this week on the challenges school districts face in adopting and implementing common core state standards. AASA wants to hear what YOU think about the findings in the report and whether the report’s analysis matches up with your district is experiencing.

Of particular interest to AASA were findings in the CEP report that two-thirds of districts participating in the adoption of CCSS cite “inadequate or unclear state guidance on the CCSS as a major challenge.” In particular, many districts stated that they received unclear state guidance about
• modifying teacher evaluation systems to hold teachers accountable for students’ mastery of the standards,
• creating local assessments aligned with the CCSS, and
• aligning the content of educator induction programs to the CCSS.

Additionally, 47% of districts cited inadequate curriculum materials to support integration of the CCSS in classroom instruction as a major challenge.

If your district is experiencing similar problems as those participants in the report outlined, let us know. Or, if your district is having a relatively easy time adopting to CCSS, tell us why.

The AASA Policy & Advocacy Team is pleased to release the 2011 AASA Legislative Advocacy Toolkit. It was released earlier this month to coincide with the start of the new school year and Congress' return from their August recess.

The toolkit is a great guide for you to use on Capitol Hill as well as at home when advocating for high-quality education on behalf of all children in your district. I hope you'll take a few minutes to look it over; I am certain you will find some helpful resources.

As I mentioned in the kick-off blog post of today’s blogging bonanza, I was lucky enough to spend the last two weeks in Peru (one week in Lima, one week in Cusco/on the Inca Trail). It was a fantastic vacation, steeped with history and culture. As I flew back to DC, though, I was struck by how much learning made its way into vacation. Beyond that, there were a handful of parallels to, and contrasts with, current education policy.

• The public schools I attended while growing up were staffed with teachers, administrators and educators who were in the business of not merely getting kids to graduation, but instilling in us two lessons that were echoed, crystal clear, on the Inca Trail: the world is a classroom and learning is a lifelong endeavor. I had heard each of these adages before, the trek simply reminded me of the important task educators face each day. Each day, the setting changed as we trekked a different path, reached a different passage, scaled another hill. Regardless, there was always another story to be told, a history to bring to life, a lesson to learn. Much of the same applies in today’s schools and classrooms.
• Placement matters, though the ultimate goal is to have all placements be high quality. There are a smattering of trek companies that provide trek tours to Inca Trail hikers. You pick your trek, are assigned to a trek team, and are off. I had an excellent trek leader, a former middle school teacher who had mastery of his content, steeped with a passion and zeal for his ancestors’ Peruvian and Quechuan history. I could have just as easily been placed in a trek group with a more junior tour guide, a tour guide less passionate about the content, or a guide lacking the content knowledge. It was a strong parallel to the discussions we hear on the hill about teacher quality, and it reinforced the importance of having the ability for local school districts to recruit, retain, develop and assign educators as they see fit to best meet the needs of the students they serve.
• I am pretty certain that the Inca children weren’t all that concerned about testing and that the educators of the community weren’t focused on reaching proficiency or meeting an AYP target. Yet, their civilization managed to produce huge works of architectural, scientific, and mathematical accomplishment. The impeccable sculpting and laying of stone in a tremble-prone valley; the Inca Calendar; the meticulous design of the Temple of the Sun that aligns its windows perfectly with the sun’s rays for the June/December solstices. These are all clear feats that the Inca population mastered, without, one can presume, a mandated standardization. I am sure to be glossing over the intricacies of how the Inca people provided education. My point is more simply, though is that education, accomplishment and achievement can be demonstrated in ways that go beyond a test, and can/should last beyond the end of the task.
• I was struck by the irony that while I was absorbing Inca ruins and learning how the infrastructure of the Inca civilization (buildings and paths) came to be, our President was unveiling his jobs plan, which includes a heavy dose of funding for infrastructure, including schools renovation and modernization. The Inca structures took generations to build, and Machu Picchu itself took over 50, and was actually never completed. The similarity, though, is about the role that construction plays in not only putting a society to work, but serving a greater need in providing buildings/structure.
• And, on a lighter note, the sounds, textures and culture of Peru and the Andes are very hard to capture on film. That said, I’ve pulled some of my favorite pics to share.

House Appropriations Chairman Rogers introduced the text of the FY12 Continuing Resolution.

As anticipated in a blog post earlier today, the CR runs through 11/18/11. Though the proposed FY12 CR provides funds for programs equal to FY11 CR levels, all funding levels are reduced by 1.409% to bring funding down to the BCA level of $1.043 trillion.That last bit is a little confusing, and is related to the debt ceiling discussion/activity. For all intents and purposes, what we need to know is that a 1.409% cut to total ED discretionary = a cut of $962 million. At this point, there are not any policy riders included in the CR.

Last week, while I was busy channeling my inner-Inca, Washington was all a buzz over President Obama's proposed jobs package. My colleague Sasha shared preliminary information on the package on this blog, including a statement by AASA  Executive Director Dan Domenech.

General Information: Here's the detail I have for you now (this is not a short post). First, I am going to link to a list of resources related to the Jobs Package:

• Text of the Bill, as drafted by the White House and submitted to Congress (The education information is located on pages 13-26 of the full bill, and is divided among two programs: teacher stabilization and school renovation/modernization.)
• Message from President to Congress
• Section-by-Section Analysis and Explanation
• Highlights of the Jobs Act
• Complete Overview of the Jobs Act
• Impact of the Jobs Act in Each State

Education Specific: Here are the education-specific details.

• Teacher Stabilization
• $30 billion
• ED allocates funds to states in manner similar to SFSF and EduJobs (60% on share of school aged population, 40% on overall population)
• MOE language allegedly stronger
• Up to 10% of State allocation can be set aside for state-funded early-learning programs
• LEAs have until 9/30/13 to obligate funds
• School Modernization
• $25 billion
• ED allocates funds to state a la Title I share
• 40% of funds are directly allocated by ED to 100 LEAs with the largest number of children in poverty (NOT including Hawaii, DC, or Puerto Rico)
• State allocation reduced by aggregate amount of funds directly received by LEAs in that state in the ‘Top 100’ list
• Of remaining state funds, at least 50% must be distributed based on LEAs relative share of Title I, with minimum award of $10,000
• Remaining funds allocated through awards (competition?!) with priority for rural
• Funds can NOT be used for new construction, routine maintenance or stadiums
• LEAs have 36 months to obligate funds

Handy Summaries/Analyses:

• Education Commission of the states put together this 4-page analysis, looking at the edcuation portions of the American Jobs Act.
• This 6-page analysis by the Department of Education looks at estimated jobs impact by state for both teachers and modernization projects, state allocations for both modernization and teacher funding, as well as a list of the Top 100 Largest High-Needs districts.
• State allocations for the education jobs fund, along with estimates of the number of jobs supported (total of 392,800).
• K-12 School modernization total state allocation, along with how many jobs could be supported (total of 325,000).
• K-12 School modernization state allocation broken down by amount directly to states (total of $14.85 billion) and cumulative amount to the LEAs within that state that are among the 100 largest high-need LEAS (total of $9.9 billion).
• Allocations to each of the 100 largest high-need LEAs.
• Estimated state allocation for the $5 billion for Community College Modernization.

Here are few of the articles/reports/headlines I have read this week that I thought you might find interesting:

• Yesterday, the Census Bureau today released “Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010”, documenting that poverty is increasing.. Among the findings are:
• The nation's official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 percent, up from 14.3 percent in 2009 ─ the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate. There were 46.2 million people in poverty in 2010, up from 43.6 million in 2009 ─ the fourth consecutive annual increase and the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published.
• Between 2009 and 2010, the poverty rate increased for children under age 18 (from 20.7 percent to 22.0 percent)
• Title I Monitor: This is nothing new to many of you, but if you (or someone in your district) doesn't receive this well-written, concise monthly newsletter, I think you might want to look in to subscribing. I read the September edition yesterday, and it was helpful, as usual, touching on a host of issues:
• The latest on the Equity and Excellence Commission, looking at funding issues in education
• How State Chiefs Can Help SEAs Overcome Reform Challenges
• A look at the initial and long-term potential impacts of the Debt Commission's impact on education
• Don't Count Us Out: In this report, released last month, Public Agenda and the Kettering Foundation look at how an overreliance on accountability could undermine the public's confidence in schools, business, government, and more. Broken in to three parts, the report examines the different ways that leaders and the public perceive accountability, a fleshed out examination of the public's version/perception of accountability, and (perhaps most germane) a case-study approach to three separate scenarios about the different perspectives leaders and the public bring to accountability issues (one of the case studies is education-focused, related to the decision to close schools). Jay Mathews covered the report in a late August blog post.
• Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators: Across OECD countries, governments are having to work with shrinking public budgets while designing policies to make education more effective and responsive to growing demand. The 2011 edition of Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators enables countries to see themselves in the light of other countries’ performance. It provides a broad array of comparable indicators on education systems and represents the consensus of professional thinking on how to measure the current state of education internationally. The indicators show who participates in education, how much is spent on it, and how education systems operate. They also illustrate a wide range of educational outcomes, comparing, for example, student performance in key subjects and the impact of education on earnings and on adults’ chances of employment.
  
  

Not a ton of new stuff here, just two quick bits:

• The Supercommittee now has its own website.
• The Supercommittee held its first hearing on Tuesday, “The History and Drivers of Our Nation’s Debt and Its Threats”. The only witness was CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf. In his written statement Elmendorf said:
• “Other government programs, such as funding for grants to increase access to college education, may raise long-term productivity by enhancing people’s skills. Reducing spending in those areas might reduce potential output… spending for basic research and education may affect output only after a number of years, but once those investments begin to boost output, they may pay off over more years than would the average investment in physical capital (in economic terms, they may have a low rate of depreciation).”

As I sit here blogging lots of quick updates, it occurred to me that you all might find it helpful to have all of the information in one spot. I'm working in the airport, on my way back from the Florida Association of State and Federal Education Program Administrators meeting. Here's the slide deck I used in my presentation this morning.

As you'll recall, prior to the August recess, the House had been moving along like trains on schedule, sticking to its stated agenda of moving nine of the 12 appropriations bills prior to the August recess. They got through eight, pulling the ninth from the schedule just before the recess. What was the ninth one? The Labor, Health, and Human Services Appropriation (LHHS), from which education is funded. While I would love to think the bill was pulled because they want to add funding to it, I can't be that naive, and there is a sense that perhaps the bill was pulled from the process to save House members from having to take heat from cuts to LHHS programs over the August recess.

Now that they are back, the House has yet to act on the LHHS bill, but they have indicated that they will be releasing their first continuing resolution (CR) for FY12 (remember, FY12 starts October 1). While the House has moved on 8 appropriations bills, and the Senate has moved almost the same amount, there are still at least 4 bills to go in each chamber. Brace yourselves for some deja vu, a la back-to-back CRs and some heated debate.

In fact, the House is expected to release its CR as early as today, so as to ready it for floor action next week. it is expected the CR would run through 11/18. On a positive note, it looks like House Republicans may be backing off their calls to fund below the funding cap levels.

On the Senate side, as indicated above, they have moved a number of appropriations bill. The Senate LHHS subcommittee will hold its markup next Tuesday, September 20 at 2:30. Details forthcoming.

In the Blogging Bonanza post, I said I would have quick quips for updates. While the House ESEA update was a bit longer than a quip, the Senate ESEA update is indeed a very quick quip.

The Senate was also quiet during recess, and we didn't get any sense of immediate activity coming from the Senate House, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee at the reconvening of Congress. So, there's not much more to say, other than we hear that negotiations are ongoing (though we get different accounts of who is involved and to what degree) and that efforts are still for a comprehensive approach (though we are skeptical of exactly how 'comprehensive' the bill will end up being, given that if it were widely bipartisan, it would have been introduced by now). My bet would be on some activity within the next week or so. As it becomes available, you know we'll post it here.

The recess was very quiet, though as the end of August drew near, it became clear that the House would hit the ground running on ESEA activity. And by running, we could almost say 'sprinting'.

They announced two hearings (one with the full Education and the Workforce Committee, one with the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education) related to standards and accountability. As mentioned in the previous post, AASA provided two witnesses to testify, providing a clear message from the superintendent/administrator's point of view.

In the full committee hearing, titled Education Reforms: Examining the Federal Role in Public School Accountability,  Dr. Amy Sichel (Superintendent, Abingdon School District, Pennsylvania) shared her story with Congress, using the example of her school district to demonstrate that school administrators don't fear or question the need for accountability, but they do question the wisdom of not allowing states and locals to have a large role in defining what the accountability metric/framework looks like. In a concise statement, Dr. Sichel features her district's locally-developed Opportunities to Learn program, detailing its structure and, most importantly, how it helped shrink performance gaps.

Other witnesses in the full committee hearing included Secretary Hanna Skandera (NM Public Education Department), Alberto Carvahlo (Superintendent, Miami-Dade County Public Schools), and Blaine Hawley (Principal, Bel-Air, Maryland).

Next week, the House Subcommittee on Early CHildhood, Elementary and Secondary Education will host Education Reforms: Ensuring the Education System in Accountable to Parents and Communities. While the full list of witnesses is not yet available, AASA President Elect Benny Gooden (Superintendent, Fort Smith, Arkansas) will provide testimony before Congress. Check back next week to read his statement.

And, the full house voted yesterday to pass its first piece of ESEA reauthorization, HR 2218, the Empowering Parents Through Quality Charter School Act. You will recall this is the same bill that was passed out of committee in the middle of June. AASA remained silent on the vote before the whole house, though we had initially opposed the legislation, given the unequal treatment of charters and traditional public schools. You can read our original letter, as shared with the House committee, in an earlier blog post. This bill is the closest thing the House committee has to bi-partisan support when it comes to ESEA (to date, the other two pieces, relating to program elimination and flexibility, are a far cry from being bi-partisan. The bill passed 365 to 54.

Happy September, all! I am recently back from two weeks in Peru and will spend the better part of this afternoon catching the blog up on everything that did (or didn't) happen in the education policy world while I was cruising through Lima and hiking the Inca Trail (more on that later). The posts that appeared in my name the last two weeks had been previously uploaded and scheduled to appear.

In a nutshell, Congress has returned from their August recess, President Obama announced his Jobs Package (which includes funds for school modernization and educator jobs), the House is scheduled to move on its first CR for FY12, the Senate will mark up its LHHS appropriations bill, the full House passed it's first piece of ESEA reauthorization (the charter bill), the House is holding two hearings on standards/accountability (and AASA has a witness at each) and we anticipate some ESEA action from the Senate soon. Quite soon, perhaps!

I am breaking the blog posts down in to quick quips, so start with this one and scroll up!

On Tuesday afternoon, the House passed the Empowering Parents Through Quality Charter Schools Act by a margin of 365 to 54. Forty-one Democrats and thirteen Republicans voted against the bill.

An amendment by Steve King (R-IA) that would have allowed charter schools with no record of improving achievement for students from historically disadvantaged groups, like students with disabilities, students from low-income and minority backgrounds, and students who are non-native English speakers, to be eligible for federal funds was overwhelmingly defeated.

An amendment by Rush Holt (D-NJ) that would encourage the Secretary of Education to include a priority for green school building practices in the application for states seeking funds for charter schools, was more narrowly defeated by a vote of 195-220. The measure is the first in a series of GOP bills aimed at rewriting pieces of the NCLB to reach the House floor.

A group of moderate Democrat Senators sent a letter Friday to Sec. Duncan urging him to incorporate their education policy ideas into his waiver proposal, such as requiring the poorest-performing schools in each state to adopt one of four turnaround models, and creating competitive grants to encourage more effective teachers and better reporting of how schools use federal funds. The same group of Democrats released a document of education policy principles in March that included rewarding teachers based on student growth and creating new accountability models that reward high achievers. The group is led by Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Michael Bennet of Colorado, but include Herb Kohl (D-WI), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Thomas Carper (D-DE), Mark Begich (D-AK), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Mark Udall (D-CO). If you have the opportunity to connect with these offices, make it known to their staffs how you feel about tying these reforms into NCLB relief.

AASA strongly and consistently opposes conditional waivers for NCLB relief. Duncan is set to release his proposal this Friday, and we hope that he realizes that many of the reforms touted by these Senators and by the Obama Administration generally, are not feasible for the majority of states that need relief from NCLB’s most punitive provisions. To read more about our position on the waivers, click here.

On Thursday, Congressman Steve King (R-IA) introduced an amendment which would strike a key provision that defines a "high-quality charter school" as one that is showing achievement gains for students from historically disadvantaged groups, including students with disabilities, students from low-income and minority backgrounds, and students who are non-native English speakers. This would mean funding from the $300 million worth in grants that would be distributed under this legislation to “high quality” charter schools could go to schools not committed to serving these students. AASA cannot support legislation that would send critical education dollars to schools that do not have to serve the most challenging and expensive to serve students.

Fortunately, both House Education Committee Chairman John Kline and Ranking Member George Miller spoke out against the amendment on the floor and it was defeated by voice-vote later Thursday afternoon. Mr. King called for a recorded vote, which we anticipate will happen on Tuesday afternoon. Encourage your member of Congress to be on the record in supporting strong accountability and fair practices for public charter schools.

On Thursday afternoon, the House debated the first bi-partisan bill passed by the House Education Committee known Empowering Parents Through Quality Charter Schools Act (H.R. 2218), which would increase the number of charter schools by promoting the replication and expansion of successful models. AASA did not take an official position opposing or supporting this legislation, but we generally support public school choice and charter schools that operate under the governance of local public school boards as long as these charter schools are not exempt from the same regulatory burdens, accountability and assessment systems and discrimination provisions that traditional public schools have to abide by. Passage of the legislation is expected when the House meets again next week.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) announced its intent to amend regulations to eliminate the requirement for LEAs to obtain parental consent “each time” the LEA seeks to access a student’s Medicaid benefits. School districts would still need to seek written consent in order to bill for reimbursement before billing, but this only needs to be done at the time of the initial enrollment of a child into special-education or once during the child’s education in district. After consent is gained, the LEA must provide parents with written notice they will be seeking Medicaid reimbursement for Medicaid-eligible students, that there will be no cost to parents for any related services a child receives, and that parents have a right to refuse to consent to Medicaid reimbursement or withdraw consent at any time and this will not affect the services a child receives.

During his address to Congress Thursday evening, President Obama outlined his plan to send $25 billion to K-12 schools for renovations and construction that could be used for emergency repairs and renovations, energy efficiency updates, asbestos removal, and building new science and computer labs. Administration officials estimate these funds could pay for makeovers of at least 35,000 public schools. States would have until Sept. 30, 2012, to decide how to spend the construction money and money would be directed to states based on need, but the biggest 100 districts would get a direct grant. Within states, half the construction money would be competitive, with special priority for rural schools, and the rest would go out by formula. Obama also called for an expenditure of $30 billion to prevent teacher layoffs that would be spent over two years. Administration officials estimate this funding infusion would save approximately 280,000 educators' jobs. AASA Executive Director, Dan Domenech, praised Obama’s proposal saying that “keeping teachers in our classrooms is essential to meeting the educational needs of our students [and] creating jobs that will make much needed repairs to our schools is a win-win situation. We urge Congress to move towards the immediate passage of the American Jobs Act.” To see how your state would benefit from the proposal click here, and ask your members of Congress to support the American Jobs Act.

According to a new report on education funding in 24 states by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 21 of the 24 states they analyzed are providing less funding per student to local school districts in the new school year than they provided last year.

Specifically:

• 17 of the 24 states have cut per student funding by more than two percent
• Eleven of the 24 states have cut per student funding by more than five percent
• In 10 of these 24 states, per student funding is down by more than 10 percent from pre-recession levels, with three states — South Carolina, Arizona, and California — reducing per student funding to K-12 schools by more than 20 percent.
• Of the states surveyed, the three states that reduced per student funding the most since last year are Illinois, Texas, and Wisconsin. Illinois cut per student spending by 13 percent, while Ohio and Texas imposed cuts of about 10 percent
• The just-ended school year was the worst yet for school district layoffs, with a net reduction in local education employment (mostly K-12) totaling 156,000 nationally — more than triple the total in the previous year

The report contains much more detail than what’s described above, so check it out:  http://www.cbpp.org/files/9-1-11sfp.pdf

Earlier this year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (the organization affiliated with PISA) released Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education: Lessons from PISA for the United States. It is a long document, but definitely work a look. When I was in Oklahoma at the end of August, it was something that was being talked about, especially in the context of what the US can learn about the reality of students in poverty and how other countries utilize competition. Speaking generally, so as to not ruin your reading fun, one thought of the paper is that every country has poor students; the US is not unique in that some student have and others do not. What sets us apart, however, is the way the students are funded (when it comes to education) and perhaps most concerning, the fact that the US gap in funding between poor and non-poor students is so pronounced.

As for competition, the report identifies that other countries use competition in their funding and makes multiple references to Race to the Top. Reading the report, however, you will find that the execution and implementation of Race to the Top (and other competitive programs?) was cumbersome and clumsy and in fact undermined the original intent of the program, in way unseen in other countries.

AASA is a partner in the Data Quality Campaign, a national, collaborative effort to encourage and support state policymakers to improve the availability and use of high-quality education data to improve student achievement. As a partner, AASA participates in regular meetings, and is involved in the drafting and revision of policy/position papers the Campaign works on/is involved in. It has been a while since we had a DQC update, and there has been a flurry of recent activity with information you may find helpful:

• DQC has completed three of four regional meetings [Boston, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles, with Atlanta left to go] during which we gathered state teams to discuss the imperative to continue building and using data systems and also focused particularly on teacher effectiveness and college and career readiness. Access materials from the meetings.
• Of specific interest to you all may be the following: Using Data to Improve Teacher Effectiveness: A Primer for State Policymakers
• DQC created an interactive PDF examining the questions ‘what is data?’, ‘how will it help?’, and ‘what do we do now?’. This is a great resource for explaining the issue and the value proposition for various stakeholders.
• DQC now has a youtube channel where you will find 4 videos posted. One is the ‘Data is Power’ video that explains the importance of collecting and using quality data to improve student achievement. The other three were produced to highlight the stories of DQC’s 2010 Recognition Program award winners – Governor Martin O’Malley (MD), Georgia CIO Bob Swiggum, and Jason Martinez from Denver Public Schools. Please watch, link, and use these videos!

As a part of their ongoing series Economic Recovery Watch, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities featured a recent Congressional Budget Office Report citing that up to 2.9 million people owe their jobs to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

In other words, between 1.0 million and 2.9 million people employed in June owed their jobs to the Recovery Act. This estimate, by Congress' non-partisan economic and budget analysts, is more comprehensive than the 550,000 jobs that ARRA recipients reported in July, CBO explains.

While the report focuses primarily on the second quarter of 2011, CBO also includes new projections of the Recovery Act's jobs impact through 2012. It finds that in the current quarter (the third quarter of 2011), there are 0.8 million to 2.5 million more people employed because of ARRA.

Welcome back from the Labor Day weekend! This week, both the House and Senate reconvene from their month-long August recess. The debt ceiling and super committee budget cuts will likely dominate the conversation this week, and we anticipate a house vote on the charter bill this week, as well. Looking to the next two weeks, you can expect both the House and Senate LHHS appropriations subcommittees to mark up their FY12 bills. Stay tuned for updates!

Getting to the point of the blog post title, though: Last week, the National School Boards Association released an updated voucher brief. AASA works alongside NSBA in the National Coalition for Public Education, a coalition of education and secular groups dedicated to supporting public dollars for public education. THe NSBA is a very concise, yet thorough, overview of the voucher debate and will give you good talking points to use with both your state and federal representatives.

We do anticipate another voucher fight in Congress this fall, likely another stab at the twice-defeated vouchers for military families with students with learning disabilities.

Earlier this month, Pre-K now released a new brief regarding Pre-K as a school turnaround model. School districts and policymakers across the country and looking for strategies to turnaround low-performing schools and school districts. In many communities, school officials are looking at the front end of the educational system in order to improve under-performing schools and ultimately to increase student success in the later grades. The brief, Pre-K as a School Turnaround Strategy, highlights five local efforts in California, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina and Pennsylvania in which district leaders have embedded high-quality early education in school reform efforts. The promising results from these efforts highlight the need to ensure that the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) should designate pre-k as an option for turning around low-performing schools and school districts.

On a related note, you can check out the website for the Pre-K Coalition that AASA is a member of. The coalition, just over six months old, has been busy, scheduling meetings on and around Capitol Hill, as well as drafting several statements related to early education. Take a few moments to peruse the site, and share your thoughts with Noelle (nellerson@aasa.org). Thanks!

Earlier today, AASA submitted comments in response to a Department of Agriculture interim rule relating to the recently-reauthorized National School Lunch Program. in particular, this rule outlines the establishment of a national paid lunch price. AASA opposed reauthorization of the law, as written, given the sizeable federal overreach and unfunded nature of many of the programmatic expansions. The opposition continues with this rule, especially when we consider the fact that this law puts more funding pressures on state and local budgets while also taking away local control in establishing a paid meal price. You can read the full document here.

Comments are due by September 15. You can also access a related memo on the paid meal pricing.

John White, ED’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Rural Outreach, will host the agency’s first Twitter Rural Forum at #EDRuralChat on Wednesday, Aug. 31st from 3:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT. You can submit questions on rural education to the Deputy Assistant Secretary using the above hash tag. Don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions. More information can be found at the link below.

http://www.ed.gov/blog/2011/08/join-eds-john-white-for-edruralchat/

A few random items and the August recess comes to a close.....

Jobs Package: As we've written about in an earlier post, President Obama is expected to announce a jobs package after Labor Day. It is anticipated to be centered around infrastructure and include funds for education, which would likely take the form of school construction dollars. Further details aren't yet available, but I did want to alert you to two recent bills that are somewhat related:

• Rep. Miller (D-CA) introduced the Local Jobs for America Act (HR 2828). The text is virtually identical to the bill text of last Congress, and includes $23 billion for an education jobs fund. As a point of reference, earlier data collection by AASA during early ARRA discussions identified more than $22 billion in shovel-ready construction/modernization projects, a figure that is strikingly similar to that of the MIller bill. You can read more on the Democratic Committee page.
• Rep. Schakowsky will introduce the Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act. The bill will include $100 billion for school construction and $850 million for work study. The bill text is not yet available.

Debt Ceiling: Last week, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) released a joint statement on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.

FAQ on Duncan Waivers: Our friends at the Center for Education Policy have compiled a list of frequently asked questions related to Secretary Duncan's efforts around providing states/local waivers for ESEA.

PISA in Focus: The latest PISA study finds that countries frequently holding back/kicking out students with low academic performance tend to have weaker, more expensive and more socially inequitable education systems overall. Check out the full (4-page) report.

This week, a letter was sent to Chief State School Offices and State Child Welfare Directors instructing them to begin informing LEAs about  federal legislation known as the The Fostering Connections Act. This is a great victory for AASA because it means that child welfare advocates’ propaganda that schools were intentionally thwarting efforts to build good relationships with local child welfare agencies was rejected by officials in HHS and ED. More importantly, superintendents have been given a rare opportunity by Capitol Hill to try and address the problem of educational stability for children in foster care autonomously and it is clear that if school districts do not take strong and immediate action to create MOUs and other plans for improving educational stability, LEAs will be hit with an unprecedented level of federal mandates and requirements in the future.

Now that a good-faith effort has been made by the Dept of Ed to inform school districts about the need to work more closely with child welfare agencies, it’s essential that AASA members do their part to find ways of working with their local child welfare affiliates to increase educational stability for children in foster care. If you have not done so already, please make it a priority to have your staff engage with local child welfare agencies to design a plan of action or MOU for how transportation and record-sharing for children in foster care will work in your district

Transportation Cost Clarification

Unless your state has adopted legislation regarding transportation for children in foster care, you currently do not have any federal obligation to pay for transportation for children in foster care to and from school. See www.fosteringconnections.org for a list of states and state laws that have passed laws regarding children in foster care.

When it comes to children “awaiting foster care placement,” there is a federal obligation to provide transportation to and from school for these students under McKinney Vento. However, the definition of “awaiting foster care placement” is very vague and you can determine that this means children who are in between placements for periods less than 48 hours or be more expansive in your definition.

Right now you have choices. AASA urges you to take advantage of the opportunity to craft a solid plan with your state welfare agency on how you should serve children in foster care. For examples of what your plan could look like, check out National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections at Hunter University.

Earlier this week, the Obama Administration announced the final application and selection criteria for competitive grants under the Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC). This competition will provide up to $500 million in State level grants to improve early learning and development programs.

Overall, RTT-ELC will focus on five key areas of reform: establishing successful state systems of early learning; defining high-quality, accountable early learning programs; promoting early learning and development outcomes for children; supporting a great early childhood education workforce; and measuring outcomes and progress to determine whether kindergartners are entering elementary school ready to succeed.

Visit the ED website to read the full press release, the final application, and additional information about the program.

I just received word that the White House Office of Public Engagement has scheduled calls for people in the states listed here: California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.

The White House has scheduled a special call to talk with individuals from these states about the federal budget deficit/debt deal. There will be an opportunity to ask questions. We hope you'll be able to join in. It would be helpful to thank White House officials on the call for the President's advocacy for education funding while reiterating the importance of continuing to hold strong in their fight for increased investments in education, especially Title I and IDEA. The fight will carry on in both the FY12 federal appropriations discussions, as well as in the proposals from the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction. You may also want to urge the White House to include funds for education (such as infrastructure and school modernization and funds to prevent additional layoffs of educators) in the President's new jobs plan.

Below is a list, with Eastern time and local time for each call.

• California Call - Wednesday, Aug 24th, 2:30PMEST, 11:30 PDT, (800) 288-8967
• Colorado Call - Wednesday, Aug 24th, 5:00PM EST, 3pm, MDT, (800) 230-1093
• Florida Call - Thursday, August 25th, 1:00PM EST, (800) 230-1951
• Illinois Call - Thursday, August 25th, 2:00PM EST, 1pm CDT, (800) 230-1093
• Michigan Call - Thursday, August 25th, 3:00PM EST, (800) 288-8960
• North Carolina Call - Thursday, August 25th, 4:00PM EST, (800) 230-1951
• Ohio Call - Friday, August 26th, 11:00AM EST, (800) 288-8960
• Pennsylvania Call - Friday, August 26th, 1:00PM EST, (800) 230-1074
• Texas Call - Friday, August 26th, 2:00PM EST, 1pm CDT, (800) 230-1093
• Wisconsin Call - Friday, August 26th, 4:30PM EST, 3:30pm CDT,(800) 230-1093

If you dial in, the passcode for your respective call is "State Name White House Budget Update". For example, "California White House Budget Update' or 'Colorado White House Budget Update'.

Last month, AASA responded to a request for information from USED around analysis of existing regulations. In our response, AASA identified specific actions USED could take to review existing regulations and '...modify, streamline, expand or repeal those regulations that are outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome.'

Now, less than one month later, USED has released it's Plan for Retrospective Analysis of Existing Regulations. USED received 30 responses (including AASA's). You can access all of the responses at www.regulations.gov by searching for 'ED-2011-OGC-0004'.

The 18 page document doesn't say much. It reiterates that the Department will undertake a process of reviewing existing regulations and clarifies that when ED does decide to amend any of its regulations, the amendments will be published for public comment. Beyond that, though, it's truly more a plan than anything of action.

• The notice outlines areas of recent retrospective review (Freedom of Information Act regs, Education Department Acquisition regs, Federal TRIO Program, Program Integrity regs, and FAFSA Burden Reduction).
• It lists those areas currently under regulatory review (Transitioning FFEL to the Direct Loan Program, Discretionary Grant Process Improvements, Safeguarding Privacy and Using Data Effectively, IDEA Part B Program, Gainful Employment regs, ESEA flexibility, and Minority-Serving Institutional Development Programs).
• AASA submitted comments on the Student Privacy regs, and is opposed to the conditional nature of the ESEA flexibility and will submit comments once the proposed changes are publicly available.
• It lists potential areas of review over the next two years (IDEA Part B reporting requirements, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research regs, State Vocational Rehabilitation Unit In-Service Training PRogram regs, Career and Tech Ed Program regs, International Education regs, Federal Student Aid Program regs, and Gainful Employment regs).

Every Friday this summer, through August 26^th, the White House will open its doors to community leaders from around the country to take part in our Community Leaders Briefing Series.

The briefing series is a unique opportunity for grassroots leaders to come to Washington to hear directly from White House officials on the issues that are affecting communities across the country and learn more about the President’s priorities and initiatives from the people that work on them every day. In return, Administration staff will get to hear what’s going on in cities and towns across the country directly from the experts – you.

We’re looking for those local leaders who are currently involved in their cities and towns at the grassroots level – in their neighborhoods, schools, churches, non-profit organizations, environmental group