NATIONAL ESSA NEWS
New workshop: Sensory Storytime Programs
ALA Publishing eLearning Solutions announces an exciting new workshop, Sensory Storytime Programs with Jennifer Roy. This workshop will last 90 minutes and take place at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30 Central/12:30 Mountain/11:30am Pacific on Wed., July 25, 2018.
read moreTrump Ed. Dept. Announces New Career and Technical Education Grants
Got an idea for supporting the transition for high school Career and Technical Education students into post-secondary education and the workforce? The U.S. Department of Education wants to hear from you.
read moreWhat Would a Merged Education and Labor Department Look Like?
EDUCATION WEEK — …congressional Democrats overwhelmingly panned the proposal, which would almost certainly need their votes to pass. Republicans said the idea is worthy of consideration but haven’t introduced legislation to make it a reality.
read moreNNPA, New Journal and Guide Host National Black Parents’ Town Hall in Norfolk
The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) recently hosted its second National Black Parents’ Town Hall Meeting on Educational Excellence at the Gethsemane Community Fellowship Church in Norfolk, Va.
read moreOPINION: We Must Reform Obama’s School Discipline Policies for the Safety of Our Children
…in 2014, the Departments of Education and Justice put public schools on notice. If they suspended or expelled students of any racial group more than any other, they could face a federal investigation. In place of discipline to punish bad behavior, they were urged to use positive reinforcement instead.
read moreAP World History course is dropping thousands of years of human events and critics are furious
Since 2002, the AP World History course has covered thousands of years of human activity around the planet, starting 10,000 years back. But now the College Board, which owns the Advanced Placement program, wants to cut out most of that history and start the course at the year 1450 — and some teachers and students are appalled.
read moreHow Do Districts Plan to Use Their ESSA Block Grant Money?
Many districts are about to get a big boost in funding for the most flexible piece of the Every Student Succeeds Act: the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants, better known as Title IV of the law. The program just got a big, $700 million boost from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2018, bringing its total funding to $1.1 billion.
read moreCan Districts Use ESSA Funds to Buy Crossing Guard Signs?
Our next question comes Nick Scott, who works for an Arizona-based company that manufactures LED crossing guard signs for school districts. Scott wants to know, essentially, if districts can use their Every Student Succeeds Act dollars to purchase crossing guard signs. Scott noted that his company has evidence it can point to that these signs really work. (ESSA is all about evidence-based practices.)
read moreHouse Votes to Cut Children’s Health Insurance Funding as Advocates Keep Watch
Last week, the House of Representatives voted to approve a package revoking about $7 billion in funding reserved for the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The decision hasn’t gone over well in the children’s advocacy community. But what’s next for this controversial proposal?
read morePresident’s Education Awards Program: A Celebration of Student Achievement and Hard Work in the Classroom
This year, PEAP provided individual recognition to nearly 3 million graduates (at the elementary, middle and high school level) across the nation at more than 30,000 public, private and military schools from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Outlying Areas — American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands — and American military bases abroad.
read moreU.S. Department of Education Announces New Website to Assist State Education Policy Makers Access ESSA Resources
The U.S. Department of Education is pleased to announce the launch of the Comprehensive Center Network (CC Network) website. The CC Network website brings together a compilation of more than 700 resources developed by 23 Comprehensive Centers and over 200 projects currently underway in states across the country and makes searching by state or topic easier.
read moreA Better Way to Talk About Education
Standardized test scores have been the driving force in U.S. education for more than two decades. But across the country, parents concerned about the psychic toll of high-stakes testing on their children have been “opting out” of testing programs.
read moreMay is Children’s Mental Health Month
CAPITAL OUTLOOK — According to The American School Counselor Association (ASCA), School Counselors are to help students focus on academic, career, social and emotional development, so they achieve success in school and are prepared to lead fulfilling lives as responsible members of society.
read moreWhat’s in ESSA’s Big Flexible-Spending Pot – Education Week
The Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants—better known as Title IV of the Every Student Succeeds Act—is one of the most flexible federal programs around. And it just got a huge increase, from $400 million in the 2017-18 school year to $1.1 billion for the 2018-19 school year. The program is closely watched by advocates and district officials alike, in part because the dollars can cover such a wide array of needs—from school safety training to drama clubs to science programs to suicide prevention.
read moreVIDEO: RISE 2018 — Luncheon Conversation: Every Student Succeeds Act
This luncheon plenary conversation will explore federal priorities in education, including the ways in which the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was conceptualized, developed, and put into action. The discussion will also delve into the progress and process of reauthorizing the Higher Education Act. Finally, the conversation will illuminate areas where we have made progress in achieving excellence for our students and areas of opportunity for continued collaboration.
read moreTexas 8th-Grader Karthik Nemmani Wins 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee
THE WASHINGTON INFORMER — Although Karthik, 14, didn’t win his regional spelling bee nor his county bee, he withstood the pressure of 18 rounds of back-to-back spelling in Thursday night’s finals at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Md., where he correctly spelled “koinonia” (Christian fellowship or communion, with God or, more commonly, with fellow Christians).
read moreTrump Administration Considering ESSA Spending Guidance, Advocates Say – Politics K-12 – Education Week
DeVos and company have made it their mission to “right-size” the department, which they say became too powerful and too intrusive during the Obama and Bush years. For that reason, they’ve been reluctant to issue new guidance on a variety of topics.
read moreHow Are States Handling Testing Opt-Outs Under ESSA? – Politics K-12 – Education Week
Now, under ESSA, states must figure low testing participation into school ratings, but just how to do that is totally up to them. And states can continue to have laws affirming parents’ right to opt their students out of tests (as Oregon does). ESSA also requires states to mark non-test-takers as not proficient.
read moreNew Study Finds Disparities Among College Graduates
THE AFRO — A new study investigates inequity beyond college doors, showing that even Black and Hispanic students who earn tertiary degrees face disparities.
read moreCOMMENTARY: We Should Teach Math Like It’s a Language
“Young people in this country are struggling to attain the proficiency necessary to pursue the careers our economy desperately needs. Universities bemoan students’ inability to complete college-level math.”
read moreAt Trump School Safety Panel’s First ‘Field Hearing,’ Plenty of Focus on School Climate, Not Guns
Representatives of President Donald Trump’s school safety commission, which is charged with making recommendations to combat school violence in the wake of February’s massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
read moreSchool counselors keep kids on track. Why are they first to be cut?
How Colorado is betting on counseling to vault low-income kids into good jobs and post-secondary education.
read moreIs Silicon Valley Standardizing ‘Personalized’ Learning? – Education Week
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s seemingly helpful support of technology-driven personalized education represents a different kind of monopolizing threat that we shouldn’t overlook.
read moreCan Districts Use the SAT or ACT for School Accountability Without State OK?
Do districts need state permission to take advantage of new ESSA flexibility to substitute a nationally recognized, college-entrance exam (like the SAT or ACT) instead of the state test for high-school accountability purposes?
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