5/19/2008 - U.S. Department of Education Launches Website to Generate Discussion of Education in America
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings marked the 25th anniversary of the groundbreaking report on education, A Nation at Risk by releasing an issue paper entitled A Nation Accountable, which analyses America's response to the warnings made in the former report. The USDE has also launched a web site in order to create a dialogue about the state of the education system in America.
Click here to view the report and participate in the national dialogue on education in America.
5/13/2008 - MENC "Asks" Pertaining to the U.S. Department of Education Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Regulations for No Child Left Behind
1. The U.S. Department of Education's new Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) contains a proposal for the standardization of graduation rates and new reporting requirements for rates directly associated with annual yearly progress (AYP). In response to this idea, MENC is asking that members nationwide advocate on behalf of the inclusion of the following additional language in the Title 1 reforms: "Strategies crafted to aid with the reform of schools not currently achieving AYP will encompass information pertaining to the various manners in which music education programs have been associated with a rise in graduation rates and other forms of success, as noted in the findings of multiple recent Harris Interactive polls.
2. "In response to the U.S. Department of Education's proposal for the creation of a National Technical Advisory Council (TAC) comprised of standards, assessments and accountability system experts, MENC asks that members advocate on behalf of including on this council the opinions of not only those individuals representing subjects tested for AYP, but also from ALL core academic subjects (including music and the other arts).
3. MENC recommends that members advocate on behalf of expanding the U.S. Department of Education's Supplemental Educational Services (SES) focus to include tutoring and other forms of assistance for students struggling in ANY core academic subject, so long as the evaluation is conducted as required and standards for reporting on the monitoring of effectiveness be complied with.
Please visit www.regulations.gov/search/index.jsp, enter Docket ID ED-2008-OESE-0003, to share your thoughts.
5/1/2008 – "The Presidential Candidates’ Domestic Policy Plans"
On April 29th, The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, with the New America Foundation, American University and the Tax Foundation, held a discussion on the domestic policy plans of the presidential candidates’. Panels of experts discussed climate change, health care reform and tax reform. A fourth panel was made of the candidates’ economic advisers, who gave remarks on the candidates’ stances on the major domestic policy issues discussed.
Click here to read a full summary of the event.
5/1/2008 – Discussion Highlights “Innovation in Alternative Teacher Certification”
On April 28th The Center for American Progress hosted an event entitled “Thinking Outside of the University: Innovation in Alternative Teacher Certification.” The discussion centered on improving teacher certification standards in order to increase teacher quality and therefore teacher performance. While many new options for teacher certification have been developed in recent years, these programs differ little from the standard programs. Discussion panelists included, Steven Farr of Teach for America, Sharon Robinson of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and Jesse Solomon of the Boston Teacher Residency Program.
Click here to read the full report.