OBAMA RELEASES FY 2014 BUDGET PROPOSAL: Budget Would Fund New High School Redesign Competition and Preschool Program for Low-Income Four-Year-Olds Article
April 22, 2013Released April 10, President Obama’s education budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 proposes new grant competitions focused on high school redesign and college completion and includes a $75 billion plan to provide access to high-quality preschool programs.
DEVELOPING ASSESSMENTS OF DEEPER LEARNING: New Report Examines Costs of Current Students Tests, Calls for Exams More Closely Aligned with College and a Career Article
April 08, 2013School districts and states must find affordable and feasible ways to improve student assessments so that they measure high-level skills and knowledge, a new report from the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education finds.
Feedback on Accreditation Standards for Educator Preparation Due March 29 Article
March 25, 2013As the new national accreditor for educator preparation, the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) is seeking public comments on the draft of the next generation of accreditation standards for educator preparation developed by the CAEP Commission on Standards and Performance Reporting.
College- and Career-Ready Standards
MASSIVE ONLINE OPEN COURSE FOR EDUCATORS: Alliance for Excellent Education and Friday Institute for Educational Innovation Offer First-of-Its-Kind Online Course for School District Leaders Article
March 25, 2013On March 19, the Alliance for Excellent Education and Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University opened enrollment for a first-of-its-kind Massive Online Open Course for Educators (MOOC-Ed).
KEEPING COLLEGE WITHIN REACH: Alliance for Excellent Education Higher Education Expert Testifies Before House Education and the Workforce Committee on Fixing Federal Student Aid Article
March 25, 2013Federal student aid spending increased to nearly $237 billion this year, but students entering college find the system obtuse and financial support difficult to obtain.
STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESSES: Governors Focus on Digital Learning, College Completion, and Reducing High School Dropout Rates Article
March 11, 2013Believing an investment in digital learning will improve public education in the state and bring it up to date, O’Malley proposed new investments in technology to accelerate the state’s transition to digital learning, including iPads, laptops, and Smart Boards.
STATE OF THE UNION: Obama Announces Competition for High Schools in Address to Congress, Nation Article
February 25, 2013In his February 12 State of the Union address centered on a “growing economy that creates good, middle-class jobs,” President Obama outlined several education proposals, including high-quality preschool available to every child, greater access for high school students to take college courses, and a new competition to redesign America’s high schools.
STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESSES: Spotlighting Governors’ Speeches in Alaska, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, and New Mexico Article
February 11, 2013In his state of the state address on January 16, Alaska Governor Sean Parnell (R) set a goal of raising Alaska’s high school graduation rate from under 70 percent—where it stands now—to 90 percent by 2020.
REMEDIAL COURSETAKING: Percentage of First-Year College Students Taking Remedial Courses on the Decline, New NCES Report Finds Article
January 28, 2013From 1999–2000 to 2007–08, the percentage of first-year undergraduate students who reported enrolling in remedial courses dropped from 26 percent to 20 percent, according to a report released this month by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
College- and Career-Ready Standards
GOOD NEWS FOR GRADUATION RATES: Nation’s High School Graduation Rate Highest Since 1974 Article
January 28, 2013On January 22, the U.S. Department of Education released new data showing that the nation’s high school graduation rate rose 2.7 percentage points to 78.2 percent, the highest level in more than three decades based on a measurement called Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate (AFGR).