The editorial staff of ASBJ were in D.C. last weekend, covering NSBA’s annual leadership and Federal Relations Network conference, when school leaders have an opportunity to directly speak with and learn effective strategies on lobbying their Congressmen. But there was no rest for us when we got back (deadlines, deadlines), and a new face to our publications team; spring intern Tricia Smith, who hit the ground running with her fresh insight on the federal Race to the Top program. Speaking of opinions, resident snark, er, Senior Editor Del Stover, tells us what he thinks of a recent poll of DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee’s performance. Oh, don’t hold back, Del. Read these entries and more from this week’s Leading Source, especially if you’ve been hit by snowmaggedon (snowcopalyse, SnOMG, Thunder Snow, take your pick) because we know you have time on your hands. Happy reading and we’ll see you next week.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan has apologized for his off-the-cuff statement that Hurricane Katrina was the best thing that could have happened to the New Orleans school system— though the state superintendent says, Duncan was right. While it’s made progress since then,  the Crescent City seems like it still has work to do on setting its priorities, as officials signaled the likelihood of school closure on Monday (kids couldn’t possibly be expected to be present and alert the day after the Super Bowl, after all)— a decision,  John Merrow typifies in his blog, Taking Note, as “irresponsible behavior on the part of adults.”

While we’re talking about Duncan, did anybody catch that New Yorker profile of the top school’s chief? Kevin Carey’s Quick and the ED  and Andrew Rotherham over at Eduwonk did and both disagreed with the author’s simple division of education reformers into two camps: free market types and liberal traditionalists. What’s your take?

Speaking of take, it’s all or nothing when it comes to national common core standards, says the point people for the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association, the two organizations that have spearheaded the initiative, which 48 states have signed on to.  Currently, the first draft is being rewritten based on feedback that the English standards were unclear. Indeed, the folks over at Core Knowledge were so displeased with the first draft, they decided this week to make their K-8 curriculum available for free.

What to do with that extra $35?

Photo courtesy of Stockvault

What am I to make of a recent Washington Post poll that says D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s popularity has fallen—yet people are happier with the state of their schools?

It makes no sense to me that her “performance rating” has fallen from 59 percent last year to 43 percent this year. Or that her disapproval rating is 62 percent among African-Americans.

Test scores are up. Violence and crime are down. The quality of textbooks and other instructional materials has improved. Bad teachers are being taken out of the classroom.

This is exactly the progress that Washington, D.C., residents have wanted to see for the past 30 years, a period when a revolving door of superintendents and a variety of school governance models ensured that every step toward improvement was disrupted by political infighting and a sharp turn in policy direction.

Certainly Rhee is no saint. She’s made some questionable decisions. She’s also made her share of public relations blunders. She’s challenged the politically powerful teachers union and annoyed some parents with her willingness to make unpopular decisions, like closing their low-performing neighborhood schools.

But if concrete results are being seen, do people have to approve of how she’s doing things?
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When I think of homelessness, I think of post-earthquake Haiti or New Orleans circa 2005. But your city, state, or nation doesn’t have to suffer physical destruction to render families — and schoolchildren — homeless. Economic recession can do much the same thing.

Driving home that point is a new report from First Focus that says nearly 800,000 students were homeless during the 2007-08 school year. Since the beginning of what the nonprofit aptly dubs “the Great Recession,” “more than 26 states collectively report an increase of over 221,000 homeless students, or 50 percent.” This increase has also had a profound impact on school districts in the hardest hit areas, which are struggling with massive budget problems of their own.

To meet this growing need, First Focus is calling on Congress to include $100 million to retain school jobs in the jobs bill now under consideration — money that could be appropriated through the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program or through a set-aside portion of the jobs bill.

The impact of homelessness on students — on their academic achievement, their self-image, their very future  — can be great, as Senior Editor Naomi Dillon and I reported in last June’s ASBJ. Let’s hope Congress passes a comprehensive jobs bill soon so that districts can continue serving these vulnerable students.

Lawrence Hardy, Senior Editor

Photo courtesy Stockvault

When it comes to school work, everyone loves a shortcut.  Whether it’s renting the movie instead of reading the book, surfing Spark notes or letting your high-tech calculator handle most of the work, virtually every student has found some way to lighten their workload and still make the grade.

But now it looks as if state departments of education want in on the game too. President Obama’s new Race to the Top initiative aims to motivate schools to improve the way they measure student success, prepare students for college and recruit and retain effective teachers. 

It may be that schools that were not meeting these standards before were being held back because the states lacked money to implement necessary changes. Or it may just be laziness. 

Daniel Willingham, author of the book Why Don’t Students Like School?, sides with the latter. He wrote in the Washington Post’s The Answer Sheet:

“Here’s the problem. States are not really committed to the reforms the administration envisions. If they were, they would have implemented them, or at least they would have been making a game attempt to do so.  When you pay people to do something, they don’t become motivated to do it. They become motivated to be able to defend that they are doing it. States will do their best to make it appear that they are complying.”
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ASBJ editors have been working this weekend covering the National School Board Association’s Leadership Conference and Federal Relations Network (FRN) Conference in Washington, D.C.

Read our conference updates and breaking news stories at School Board News Today Conference Daily edition.

Coverage runs through Tuesday and upcoming highlights include Arne Duncan’s address to school boards, Race to the Top information, and a look at President Obama’s proposed education budget. 

Kathleen Vail, Managing Editor

Don’t you just love the protocol for the State of the Union Address? Okay, maybe “love” is a little strong. But I always find it amusing how one side stands and cheers at practically everything the president says (that would be the Democrats) while the other side (the GOP) sits in obvious discomfort, like captives at a party they wished they’d never attended.

But then, sometimes, in the true spirit of bipartisanship, both sides come to life, standing and cheering madly for policies they both seem to agree on  – Obama’s embrace of offshore drilling and nuclear power, for example  – or for one of those ubiquitous “are-we-a-great-people-or-what?” lines.

And how about education, which the president discussed in his speech? How will it fare in the Obama Administration’s Year Two? Newspapers last week reported a $4 billion addition to the President’s 2011 education budget, but Rob Manwaring of the Quick and the Ed is skeptical about whether that really is an increase.

Speaking of skeptical, Frederick Hess, of the American Enterprise Institute, isn’t trilled about the Obama’s administration’s idea of “transparency” when it comes to awarding Race to the Top Funds: He calls the process downright secretive. However, Eduwonk seems to be OK with it.

Finally, we turn to one pol who hasn’t been nearly secretive enough about his rather antediluvian views. I’m referring to Andre Bauer, the lieutenant governor of South Carolina, who recently likened the federal government’s free and reduced lunch program to feeding “stray animals.” Apparently, he added, they just go on to “breed.” As humorist Dave Barry likes to say:  “I am not making this up.” Indeed, you can see the clip of Bauer’s statements on Jon Stewart’s ever-topical Daily Show, which blogger Alexander Russo has helpfully provided.

No, you can’t make this stuff up.

Lawrence Hardy, Senior Editor

Two thousand parents, teachers, and students appeared at a public meeting this week to protest a proposal by New York City school officials to close 19 struggling schools.

That’s as clear an example as any of why school reform is so tough.

Every year, national polls reveal the same reality: People like their local school, yet they think that other schools aren’t doing well. Many say low-performing schools need to be closed.

Just not their school. If someone’s school is having problems, it’s assumed that the school can be turned around with enough love and attention. Rarely will you find a school community who thinks their school should suffer the ultimate sanction.

I understand that reaction. It’s human nature to be loyal to the familiar. And schools are an important part of any community.

So the scene that unfolded at Brooklyn Tech High School is no surprise. There, amongst the crowd, “some pleaded, some jeered. Some rationally cited statistics, while others flew off the handle . .  . as members cast their votes, the crowd shouted, ‘Shame on you!’”

Such outrage, as described by the New York Post, will be familiar to school officials in numerous urban school systems that have closed schools because of budget deficits, declining enrollments, or plain-and-simple poor performance.

But I don’t share this story because New York City officials had a tough day. Nor do I have an opinion about whether officials made the right decision.
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Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the White House announced today that education is the big exception to President Obama’s plan to curb federal spending and get the federal budget back in order.

In a conference call this afternoon, Duncan said that education would receive a 6 percent increase for the next fiscal year—adding up to $4 billion to the bottom line–in the administration’s budget proposal. That would include $1 billion to overhaul the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which he also said would be a legislative priority in the second session of Congress.

Where would that money go? College access and affordability as well as prekindergarten education will be a top priority for Obama. While we won’t get the full picture until this evening’s State of the Union and the budget proposal released on Monday, here’s what we gleaned:

In his conference call, Duncan stressed that Obama sees education—“from cradle to career”—as the critical factor to our economy’s revival and the nation’s long-term success.

What’s changing, though, is not just the amount of federal money going schools (in many cases supplanting declining state budgets), but also a shift from discretionary funds to competitive grants. Obama has already announced plans for another $1.35 billion going to the Race to the Top program to spur innovative programs.

Duncan also said that six programs will be eliminated—all of those were either duplicative or ineffective—and 38 programs will be consolidated into 11. No more details on that teaser will be available until Monday.

We do know, though, that programs to improve underperforming schools will be addressed.

For more news on the administration’s budget proposal, including Politico’s exclusive interview with Duncan, check out the headlines in School Board News Today. And School Board News will be reporting live from NSBA’s Federal Relations Network conference, beginning on Friday (Duncan will be speaking there on Monday afternoon, just after the release of the budget proposal). Stay tuned.

-Joetta Sack-Min, associate editor

The debate over sex education in schools has flared up again with the release of a new survey that shows a conclusive increase in the rate of teen pregnancies. Prominent experts—including the Guttmacher Institute, the nonpartisan think tank that commissions the annual survey—blame the rise on the Bush-era abstinence-only programs. Meanwhile, faith-based groups are promoting the abstinence-only programs and hope to disprove those theories. And in other news, Florida’s governor and Republicans are asking voters to reconsider the state’s expensive class-size reduction mandate in light of budget shortfalls. Read these stories and more in School Board News Today.