This follows up the earlier post re: education and the budget.  So the stimulus plan that Congress passed last week contains a sizeable amount for education; at $150 billion, it’s more than double the current budget of the Dept. of Education.  It’s a two year investment, and some schools wonder how such considerable amounts of money will get spent in such a short amount of time.  The government’s role will increase though, which has garnered its fair share of criticism and critics.  But overall seems like a good thing to me, especially in light of the economic climate and the laying off of teachers and other education spending cuts.  I think Obama sees education as very important and it seems like the stimulus package reflects that.  Now we’ll see if it makes it through the Senate. 

Stimulus Plan Would Provide Flood of Aid to Education , By SAM DILLON 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/education/28educ.html?ref=education 

I wanted to share this email campaign.  Basically it’s asking President Obama to use some of the money of the economic stimulus to invest in innovative school reform and public schools.  We all know that education is very critical and important, as a nation, and for its people.  That’s what everyone seems to say, including politicians.  But yet when it comes to actual federal funding, education is not as a high a priority as we would like it.

 Perhaps its time for the government to not just talk the talk, but walk the walk.  Please join the campaign, and send a message to President Obama to fund education in ways beyond the norm, in order that public education benefits all children:

http://www.votervoice.net/Core.aspx?AID=581&IssueID=15958&atid=12785&siteid=0&App=GAC&target=true&isVisited=true&targetID=27873196

Hopefully the link will work.  If not, it’s through EdVoice: http://www.edvoice.org/

Join the Coalition of Essential Schools for a set of learning opportunities designed to increase understanding of CES practices and to develop educators’ capacity to effect change within the public education system. In February, CES will offer the following three separate activities during which participants will have an opportunity to interact with fellow practitioners from the CES Small Schools Network and the broader school community. Participation is open to both CES affiliates and non-affiliates.

Please click here for more detailed information about these opportunities.

Conversion Summit
SeaTac, Washington
February 4 - 6, 2009

A two day summit at the new Tyee Educational Complex that explores the challenges and enormous changes that resulted from the conversion of a comprehensive high school into three small, autonomous CES schools.

CES Affiliate Fee: $450.00
Non Affiliate Fee: $500.00

Click here to register and for more detailed information about the Conversion Summit.

CES School Study Tour
Greater Boston Area
February 9 - 11, 2009

A study tour of several exemplary CES small schools in the greater Boston area that provides new insight into CES best practices and offers tools and skills for practitioners to use in their own schools.

CES Affiliate Fee: $450.00
Non Affiliate Fee: $500.00

Click here to register and for more detailed information about the CES School Study Tour.

Horace on the Hill: Educating Our Lawmakers
Washington, D.C.
February 24 - 25, 2009

A two day activity that increases our understanding of national education policy and strategies to educate policymakers, culminating in visits to legislative offices on Capitol Hill and a school visit to a new, small CES high school in Washington, D.C.

CES Affiliate Fee: $200.00
Non Affiliate Fee: $250.00
Horace on the Hill Training/Hill Visits Only: $100

Click here to register and for more detailed information about Horace on the Hill.

All CES Learning Opportunities are designed for a limited number of participants. Please register early. Please note that participants are responsible for travel and lodging costs.

As you may know, CES collaborates closely with the Forum for Education and Democracy, an education think tank that works to restore the public purpose of public education. On January 6, the Forum released a short web film (and accompanying website) that launches a national effort to elevate the needs of children during President-elect Barack Obama’s first 100 days (and beyond). The goal is to build on the optimism of the recent presidential campaign (”Yes We Can”), address the shared anxiety about our uncertain future (”Will We Really?”), and turn those feelings into the promise of collective action (”Yes We Will”).

The website features an online petition, through which signers will commit to work with Obama to honor four promises that must be fulfilled if we are serious about supporting young people and public schools:

• Every child deserves a 21st Century education.
• Every community deserves an equal chance.
• Every child deserves a well-supported teacher.
• Every child deserves high-quality health care.

We encourage you to take part in this campaign and be active as the new President and a new Congress take on key educational issues in the coming months. Please visit the website now to view the film, sign the petition, and find out what else you can do to be involved.

From the Obama-Biden Education Team: the Obama-Biden Education Plan. It’s below in full, and you can read it in its natural habitat here. When you go there, there’s a link for your comments and thoughts. Our suggestion: comment here, and then cut and paste and tell it like it is–or how you would like it to be–to the incoming administration.

The Obama-Biden Education Plan

Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that our kids and our country can’t afford four more years of neglect and indifference. At this defining moment in our history, America faces few more urgent challenges than preparing our children to compete in a global economy. The decisions our leaders make about education in the coming years will shape our future for generations to come. Obama and Biden are committed to meeting this challenge with the leadership and judgment that has been sorely lacking for the last eight years. Their vision for a 21st century education begins with demanding more reform and accountability, coupled with the resources needed to carry out that reform; asking parents to take responsibility for their children’s success; and recruiting, retaining, and rewarding an army of new teachers to fill new successful schools that prepare our children for success in college and the workforce. The Obama-Biden plan will restore the promise of America’s public education, and ensure that American children again lead the world in achievement, creativity and success.

Early Childhood Education
Zero to Five Plan: The Obama-Biden comprehensive “Zero to Five” plan will provide critical support to young children and their parents. Unlike other early childhood education plans, the Obama-Biden plan places key emphasis at early care and education for infants, which is essential for children to be ready to enter kindergarten. Obama and Biden will create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state Zero to Five efforts and help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school.

Expand Early Head Start and Head Start: Obama and Biden will quadruple Early Head Start, increase Head Start funding, and improve quality for both.

Provide affordable, High-Quality Child Care: Obama and Biden will also increase access to affordable and high-quality child care to ease the burden on working families.

K-12
Reform No Child Left Behind: Obama and Biden will reform NCLB, which starts by funding the law. Obama and Biden believe teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests. They will improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college and the workplace and improve student learning in a timely, individualized manner. Obama and Biden will also improve NCLB’s accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them.

Support High-Quality Schools and Close Low-Performing Charter Schools: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will double funding for the Federal Charter School Program to support the creation of more successful charter schools. The Obama-Biden administration will provide this expanded charter school funding only to states that improve accountability for charter schools, allow for interventions in struggling charter schools and have a clear process for closing down chronically underperforming charter schools. Obama and Biden will also prioritize supporting states that help the most successful charter schools to expand to serve more students.

Make Math and Science Education a National Priority: Obama and Biden will recruit math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession and will support efforts to help these teachers learn from professionals in the field. They will also work to ensure that all children have access to a strong science curriculum at all grade levels.

Address the Dropout Crisis: Obama and Biden will address the dropout crisis by passing legislation to provide funding to school districts to invest in intervention strategies in middle school — strategies such as personal academic plans, teaching teams, parent involvement, mentoring, intensive reading and math instruction, and extended learning time.

Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities: Obama and Biden will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve one million more children.

Support College Outreach Programs: Obama and Biden support outreach programs like GEAR UP, TRIO and Upward Bound to encourage more young people from low-income families to consider and prepare for college.

Support College Credit Initiatives: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will create a national “Make College A Reality” initiative that has a bold goal to increase students taking AP or college-level classes nationwide 50 percent by 2016, and will build on Obama’s bipartisan proposal in the U.S. Senate to provide grants for students seeking college level credit at community colleges if their school does not provide those resources.

Support English Language Learners: Obama and Biden support transitional bilingual education and will help Limited English Proficient students get ahead by holding schools accountable for making sure these students complete school.

Recruit Teachers: Obama and Biden will create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location.

Prepare Teachers: Obama and Biden will require all schools of education to be accredited. Obama and Biden will also create a voluntary national performance assessment so we can be sure that every new educator is trained and ready to walk into the classroom and start teaching effectively. Obama and Biden will also create Teacher Residency Programs that will supply 30,000 exceptionally well-prepared recruits to high-need schools.

Retain Teachers: To support our teachers, the Obama-Biden plan will expand mentoring programs that pair experienced teachers with new recruits. They will also provide incentives to give teachers paid common planning time so they can collaborate to share best practices.

Reward Teachers: Obama and Biden will promote new and innovative ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them. Districts will be able to design programs that reward with a salary increase accomplished educators who serve as a mentors to new teachers. Districts can reward teachers who work in underserved places like rural areas and inner cities. And if teachers consistently excel in the classroom, that work can be valued and rewarded as well.

Higher Education
Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit: Obama and Biden will make college affordable for all Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students. Recipients of the credit will be required to conduct 100 hours of community service.

Simplify the Application Process for Financial Aid: Obama and Biden will streamline the financial aid process by eliminating the current federal financial aid application and enabling families to apply simply by checking a box on their tax form, authorizing their tax information to be used, and eliminating the need for a separate application.

This coming February, CES will offer the following three separate activities during which participants will have an opportunity to interact with fellow practitioners from the CES Small Schools Network and the broader school community. Participation is open to both CES affiliates and non-affiliates.

These Learning Opportunities are designed for a limited number of participants. Registration is now open and we encourage you to register early. Breakfast and lunch will be provided; participants are responsible for travel and lodging costs.

For more details, visit here and keep reading!

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Conversion Summit
SeaTac, Washington
Tyee Campus of CES Small Schools
February 4-5, 2009

A two day summit at the new Tyee Educational Complex that explores the challenges and enormous changes that resulted from the conversion of a comprehensive high school into three small, autonomous CES schools. Hear first hand accounts about the nuts and bolts of the conversion process from educators, students, and parents from each of the campus schools: Academy of Citizenship and Empowerment; Global Connections High School; and Odyssey: the Essential School.

CES Affiliate Fee: $450.00
Non-Affiliate Fee: $500.00

Click here to register and for more detailed information about the Conversion Summit.

—————————-

CES School Study Tour
Greater Boston Area
February 9-11, 2009

A study tour of several exemplary CES small schools in the greater Boston area that provides new insight into CES best practices and offers tools and skills for practitioners to use in their own schools. Following an overview of the influence of CES and the small schools movement on the region’s reform efforts, participants will visit two small schools over two days. The tour involves a day-long visit at each school with classroom observations; discussions with principals, teachers, parents, and students; student exhibitions; and more.

The Boston Arts Academy/Fenway High School, Francis Parker Charter Essential School, The Met, Peace Street Campus in Providence Rhode Island, Samuel Mason Elementary, and Mission Hill Elementary are among the schools confirmed for the tour.

CES Affiliate Fee: $450.00
Non-Affiliate Fee: $500.00

Click here to register and for more detailed information about the CES School Study Tour.

—————————-

Horace on the Hill: Educating Our Lawmakers
Washington, D.C.
February 24-25, 2009

A two day activity that increases our understanding of national education policy and strategies to educate policymakers. Following a training session for how to engage legislators, participants will make visits to legislative offices on Capitol Hill to advocate for equitable small schools and the needs of the students and families we serve. This activity concludes with a school visit to a new, small CES high school in Washington, D.C., to see first-hand how a school can become a platform for educating policy makers on the needs of innovative schools.

CES Affiliate Fee: $200.00
Non-Affiliate Fee: $250.00

Click here to register and for more detailed information about Horace on the Hill.

The current edition of Ed Week headlines President-Elect Obama’s choice of Linda Darling-Hammond as head of his transition team’s federal education policy review team. The full article is here.

We believe that this means that Darling-Hammond is closer to the Secretary of Education position. What we know, for now and for sure, is that a strong leader who understands how policy affects the progress of each child in our schools; who stands up for experienced, effective educators; and who will be able to shape the federal education policy to create better conditions for teaching and learning for all in and affected by our public schools is currently in place.

The Coalition of Essential Schools urges President-Elect Obama to continue on the course he has set and choose Linda Darling-Hammond as the next Secretary of Education.

–

Want more? Read Linda Darling-Hammond on “The Deep Irony of No Child Left Behind” in Horace Winter 2007, Volume 23, Number 1

High schools respond to new reality and Schools think small for big results appeared under the byline of David Dresslar, Executive Director of the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning (CELL), laying out the school transformation work that’s taken place in Indianapolis recently–a commitment to small schools that support initiatives such as New Tech and Early College–and citing data that make it clear that schools as they were are failing kids and communities.

The data was drawn from the Alliance for Excellent Education’s September 2008 “Dropouts, diplomas, and dollars: U.S. high schools and the nation’s economy” report. Here’s an excerpt:

United States:
• This fall, more than 4 million students entered ninth grade in the U.S. In the next four years, a third of them will drop out before attaining a diploma; another third will graduate without the skills and knowledge to succeed in work or postsecondary education.
• Of every 100 ninth-grade students, only 40 enroll in college immediately after high school and only 18 graduate from two-year colleges within three years or four-year colleges within six years.
• Ninety percent of new high-growth, high-wage jobs will require some postsecondary education.
• While about 70 percent of U.S. high school students graduate in four years, only 57.8 percent of Hispanic, 55.3 percent of African-American and 50.6 percent of American Indian students graduate on time compared to 77.6 percent of white students.
• If high schools and colleges were able to raise the graduation rates of Hispanic, African-American and American Indian students to levels of white students by 2020, the potential increase in personal income would add more than $310 billion to the U.S. economy.
• The U.S. educational system produces more than 1.2 million dropouts each year.
• Nearly 75 percent of state prison inmates, 60 percent of federal inmates and 70 percent of jail inmates did not complete high school, a 2003 Bureau of Justice Statistics report found.

CES connection: “Indianapolis’ Commitment to Small High Schools: Finding New Ways to Say Yes,” featured in “District Change to Support Essential Schools,” Horace 21.3, features Dresslar and others discussing the powerful influence of CES’s work in Indiana on the implementation of the city’s school transformation work.

Today, October 1st, is the last day to register for Fall Forum at the early-bird rates ($375 for CES National Affiliates, $450 for non-Affiliates). Please register before then to receive the discount. To register for the conference, visit here .

What’s Fall Forum? Glad you asked! It’s our annual conference gathering thousands of K-12 educators, students, parents, and other leading thinkers who are changing lives through learning. Fall Forum features guest speakers, school visits, intensive day-long pre-conference sessions, and an extraordinary offering of practitioner-led sessions.

This year’s Fall Forum, with the theme Live It, Learn It, Change It, will take pace in Charlotte, North Carolina from November 6-8. Don’t miss the early bird discount registration rates: sign up today!

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