Education Trust News

Strategic Staffing Initiative Sparks Change

Three years ago, two Charlotte-Mecklenburg elementary schools, Ashley Park and Devonshire, were among the lowest performing in the district—less than half of their students proficient in reading, math, and science.

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Strategic Staffing Initiative Sparks Change

Three years ago, two Charlotte-Mecklenburg elementary schools, Ashley Park and Devonshire, were among the lowest performing in the district—less than half of their students proficient in reading, math, and science.

Bruited Budget Cuts Could Hurt Neediest

A  three-week stopgap spending bill passed by the U.S. Senate, and on its way to the President for signature, freezes K-12 education programs.  This bill only postpones what’s expected to be a bitter showdown between House Republicans and Senate Democrats over spending priorities for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends September 30. 

D.C. Vouchers a Stumbling Block to ESEA Renewal

A third of our fourth-graders lack even basic reading skills, and less than one-third are proficient. Internationally, we no longer lead: In the most recent PISA examinations assessing academic achievement for 15-year-olds across the developed world, America ranked 25th among nations in mathematics, 17th in science, and 12th in reading.

All of this data says the same thing: We must act quickly to ratchet up the quality and rigor of education in America.

Set Bar High for School Accountability

When President Obama delivered a recent speech aimed at spurring action on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), he picked Arlington, Va.’s Kenmore Middle School as his venue. It’s a school that he said is “making extraordinary progress” but has been wrongly identified as “failing” under the current law’s accountability system.  

But Kenmore’s data reveal some deep problems, too.

‘Last in, First out’ Cheats Low-Income Kids

If you are a teacher in one of 14 states, your school can (and, in fact, must) lay you off without even considering your work performance. According to The New Teacher Project, a total of 1.25 million teachers—nearly 40 percent of the nation’s total—live in one of these states.

But educators aren’t the only ones who suffer from the consequences of layoffs based solely on seniority.

Invest in the Future—Keep Funding Education

Almost 78 percent of voters have said they do not want cuts in education spending.  Is Congress listening?  We’ll know by March 18, when another stopgap measure to fund the government for the 2011 fiscal year expires.

Ed Trust to Senate: Rein In For-Profits

The Education Trust has called for more rigor in federal oversight of for-profit college companies. On Capitol Hill this week, José Cruz, Ed Trust’s vice president for Higher Education Policy and Practice said the for-profit field has grown fast, posts poor academic results, costs more than public alternatives, and gets an outsized share of federal financial aid. That’s why the organization is urging its supporters to send e-mails to the Senate through a petition on Change.org.