Reversing Generational Poverty

EEP & Signatory News

  • Evan Stone and Sydney Morris, founders of Educators 4 Excellence (and EEP signatories), are featured in the Wall Street Journal today. The article, entitled “Teachers Break Union Ranks,” highlights e4e’s efforts to find city “educators committed to amplifying authentic teacher voices that are not yet being heard in order to improve the education system to benefit our students.”  Great read!
  • The Washington Post reports that EEP board member Michelle Rhee and signatory Geoffrey Canada taped an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show, which will air next Monday, 9/20.  The show focuses on education, and will feature the upcoming education documentary “Waiting for Superman” and philanthropist Bill Gates.
  • NBC’s Education Nation, a nationally broadcast, in-depth discussion about improving education, starts September 28.  EEP is a featured resource on the site!  We’re very excited to be a partner, and we are looking forward to the week-long event!

National

  • President Obama will address America’s schoolchildren in his second back-to school speech Tuesday in at 1 p.m. EST at Julia R. Masterman School, a middle and high school magnet in Philadelphia.
  • EdWeek reports that Investing in Innovation (i3) grant winners tried to meet the challenge of matching 20% their grant awards through donations of cash, equipment and services, and by rechanneling previous grant funds.  40 of the 49 have submitted acceptable matches, according to the Department of Education, with the remaining nine applications awaiting approval.
  • NPR (audio, text) features a great piece today on black male graduation rates, following up on a recent Schott Foundation study that found that only 47 percent of black males graduate high school.
  • This week’s National Journal education blog question focuses on education research, and asks contributors if too much shoddy research on education policy ends up in the hands of policymakers and the media.
  • EdWeek reports that Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., who has long been a critic of the current version of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, introduced a three Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) -related bills over a two-day period last week.  The bills range from increasing parental voice in the use of School Improvement Grants (SIG), to alternative accountability models for states.
  • An EdWeek op-ed by Catherine Lewis looks to Japan for lessons about successful common core standards implementation.
  • Thomas Friedman writes in the New York Times about the generational shift in attitude about sacrifice and responsibility, and its role in America’s fall from the top of international education leader boards.

From the States
California
Caitlin Flanagan, writer for the Atlantic Monthly, writes and powerful op-ed in the Daily News about the Inner City Education Foundation in California, a successful charter school network that is struggling to keep its lights on, mostly due to opposition by the local teachers union. Flanagan urges the union to get behind schools like these in California and across the country, because she believes that they are an essential part of closing the achievement gap.
Louisiana

  • NPR reports that New Orleans parents are pushing for more diversity in public schools, which are overwhelmingly African American.
  • EdWeek reports that a new proposal by Louisiana’s superintendent, Paul Pastorek (EEP Signatory) may clear the way for some New Orleans schools to return to local control, rather than spend another five years in the state’s recovery school district.

Massachusetts
An editorial in the Boston Globe examines what makes a great school, offering two examples of successful schools with budgets on opposite sides of the spectrum.
New York

  • The New York Post reports that Harlem Success charter-school CEO Eva Moskowitz has launched her own political action committee to back candidates for elected office who support substantial reforms of the public schools.
  • The Daily News features a piece on Renaissance Charter High School, the third in an occasional series about the first charter school in East Harlem.  The article discusses the fresh start that the school is giving to students as they enter Renaissance from failing and/or unsafe schools.
  • The New York Times reports on the two sides of the charter school debate that are dramatically influencing this year’s primaries across the state, from Brooklyn to Albany.

North Carolina
EdWeek reports that Charter school advocates are still displeased by North Carolina’s commitment to charter schools, despite the state’s recent victory in the Race to the Top competition.
Ohio
The Columbus Dispatch reports that forty new charter schools have opened this year across Ohio, a boom that is attributed to schools luring dropouts in the state’s eight largest urban districts to finish school.
Pennsylvania
EdWeek reports that Pa. school districts are considering extending the school year and day  in order to improve student achievement.
Washington D.C.

  • The Washington Post reports that D.C. schools officials detailed for the first time Friday how teachers can qualify for the performance-based pay increases that could vault them into the ranks of the country’s best-paid public school educators. EdWeek provides additional coverage.

·         Courtland MIlloy writes for the Washington Post that, despite DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s (EEP board member) tough road to reform, her commitment for equal education for all is inspiring.  Milloy comments on a commentary written by Rhee, in which she wrote, “I believe we can solve the problems of urban education in our lifetimes and actualize education’s power to reverse generational poverty.”

Getting Smart Staff

The Getting Smart Staff believes in learning out loud and always being an advocate for things that we are excited about. As a result, we write a lot. Do you have a story we should cover? Email [email protected]

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