Skip to main content

Home/ ARRA/Economic Stimulus Plan for Education/ Group items tagged teachers

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Anne Bubnic

A School Windfall That Set Off a Whirlwind of Controversy - 0 views

www.voiceofsandiego.org/...822stimulus051709.txt

arra_education stimulus school_reform

shared by Anne Bubnic on 28 May 09 - Cached
  • Morris said that schools had to hurry so that the plans could be brought to the school board before unrolling any major changes, such as changing the school calendar, which could take time to put together before next school year. The budget deadline is June 30. No final decisions have been made, the school board has yet to weigh in, and it is unclear when the final plans will be chosen
  • The teachers union plans to file a charge that San Diego Unified violated labor law when patching together the plans, alleging that it dodged the union on issues that must be bargained, such as how many days teachers work. It contends that such changes can only be brought to the union, not directly to teachers, just as individual schools cannot ask teachers to change their salaries without going to the bargaining table.
  • While Grier has earned praise for his fast pace and passion for change, that same speediness has sparked criticism for failing to get input from parents and teachers on his plans. And with millions in stimulus money at stake, those arguments are even more pressing, especially as tension builds between the stimulus goals of doing new things and saving jobs that already exist.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • "There needs to be community input and participation. That doesn’t happen extremely quickly," said school board member John Lee Evans. He added, "It is a quandary in terms of, 'Here is some quick stimulus money to hold things together, and we want you to be innovative, and we want your ideas to be well thought out and based on research.' There are a lot of contradictions there."
  • Every principal there was excited about the possibility of doing something different," Allen said. "But they were concerned about getting the buy-in on the ideas."
  • Technology is also touted in plans from Lincoln, Crawford and San Diego High, several of which push for digital whiteboards and laptops for every student. Other ideas include adding more counselors, nurses and social workers to schools around Crawford, emphasizing writing at all the schools that lead into San Diego High, and creating a district-run middle school that leads into Lincoln, where many surrounding middle schools are charter schools that are independently run with public funding
  • Both the Lincoln and Crawford plans include extending the school year for four more weeks, which costs money because schools must pay teachers more for the extra time. Some reformers like the idea because it gives children more time in the classroom, which has been shown to benefit disadvantaged students who tend to backslide during breaks. But changing schedules is logistically tricky and sometimes unpopular with parents.
  • Parents charged with overseeing federal money complain that they were not included in the plans that were hastily drafted by schools last week. Teachers and their union say the superintendent has sidestepped them. The school district refused to share the draft plans with the media on Friday. And some of the brief plans hashed out by schools, obtained from other sources by voiceofsandiego.org, raise a barrage of new questions, from whether schools can mandate that teachers stay in one area to curb turnover to how lengthening the school year would work.
  • Anne Bubnic on 28 May 09
     
    This article about San Diego Unified School District paints an honest picture of the classic struggle that many school districts and counties will face in trying to get together an Economic Stimulus action plan so quickly that favors school reform ideas put forth by Arne Duncan. Union negotiations, feedback from teachers, parents and community will all stall the process.
Anne Bubnic

New Jersey Program Turning Unemployed Finance Professionals Into Math Teachers - NYTime... - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...10tradersnj.html

ARRA_Education teachers

shared by Anne Bubnic on 09 May 09 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 09 May 09
     
    In March, the State Legislature approved a pilot program that seemed tailor made for her situation. Called Traders to Teachers, it is designed to turn unemployed finance professionals into math teachers in three months. Successful candidates, who are not required to have been math majors, will attend classes free at Montclair State University.
Anne Bubnic

Education Dept. Grants Aim To Attract Professionals to Teaching in High-Need Schools - 0 views

www.thejournal.com/24337

ARRA_education Transition_to_Teaching stimulus

shared by Anne Bubnic on 07 May 09 - No Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 07 May 09
     
    The United States Department of Education has announced $6.86 million in grants to help attract professionals and recent college graduates (with degrees in disciplines other than education) to careers in K-12 teaching. Dubbed "Transition to Teaching," the program will help "mid-career" professionals and recent grads to become teachers and obtain certification. The grants are being awarded to universities, school districts, and other organizations to "develop and implement comprehensive efforts to train, place and support teacher candidates, either through existing or alternative paths to teacher certification," according to the Education Department. through alternative means.
Anne Bubnic

Ways School Districts May Use ARRA Funds for Special Education - 0 views

www.disabled-world.com/...arra-funds.php

ARRA_Education federal_funding IDEA stimulus

shared by Anne Bubnic on 03 May 09 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 03 May 09
     
    Suggestions for use of special education ARRA funds are:\n\n1. Teacher salaries and salaries for other trained educators. Possible use could also be trained para professionals that will help a child benefit from an inclusive placement.\n\n2. Scientifically research based curriculums in the areas of reading and math, which are required by No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Many school districts are continuing to use outdated curriculums that are not proven to help children learn reading and math. Once a school district purchases the curriculum and trains their teachers the benefits will continue for years to come.\n\n3. Obtain state of the art assistive technology devices and also provide training in their use to enhance access to the general curriculum for students with disabilities.\n\n4. Provide intensive district wide professional training for regular and special education teachers, that focuses on research based curriculums and strategies in the areas of reading, math, writing, and science.\n\n5. Provide intensive district wide professional development in the area of positive behavioral supports and plans to improve outcomes for children with disabilities. Many children with disabilities are continuing to be suspended and expelled for behavior that is part of their disability; though this is not allowed under IDEA. School wide use of positive behavioral supports and plans will benefit all children not just those with disabilities.\n\n6. Hire transition coordinators to work with employers in the community to develop job placements and training for youths with disabilities. This will ensure that children graduating will have a job and a future!\n\n
Anne Bubnic

Update USDOE | K-12 ARRA Implementation - 0 views

stimulus.k12partners.org/...zation-guidance-states-april-1

ARRA_Education stimulus SFSF teacher_jobs school_reform

shared by Anne Bubnic on 24 Apr 09 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 24 Apr 09
     
    While the Stabilization Fund will help relieve our immediate economic crisis, it is also intended to boost student achievement, so to access this money, we seek your commitment to the following four essential areas of reform: * Making improvements in teacher effectiveness and ensuring that all schools have highly qualified teachers; * Making progress toward college and career-ready standards and rigorous assessments that will improve both teaching and learning; * Improving achievement in low-performing schools, by providing intensive support and effective interventions in schools that need them the most; * Gathering information to improve student learning, teacher performance, and college and career-readiness through enhanced data systems that track progress.
Anne Bubnic

Mary Ann Wolf: The Importance of Teacher Professional Development - 0 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...tance-of-teacher_b_191259.html

ARRA_Education ATTAIN technology_funding stimulus

shared by Anne Bubnic on 29 Apr 09 - Cached
  • ATTAIN builds upon the successful education technology programs that began with No Child Left Behind and focuses more on systemic school redesign through the innovative use of technolog
  • A stand-alone workshop has less than a 5% chance of actually changing teacher practice in the classroom. However, if you add on-going and embedded professional development, provide professional learning communities where teachers interact with their colleagues, and ensure on-going support from coaches and administrative staff, the chance of really affecting teaching and learning increases dramatically -- to nearly 90%
  • y using online resource hubs and other tools for collaboration, i.e. blogs and discussion boards, and including virtual or in-school coaching and mentoring, schools, districts, and states are beginning to see gains in teaching quality and student achievement. The greatest successes are seen with professional development that includes high-quality content, is tailored to the needs of students, takes advantage of the assets of technology, and is embedded in professional learning communities to enable teachers to actively participate.
  • Anne Bubnic on 29 Apr 09
     
    Earlier this month, the Senate introduced their bill to reauthorize the Enhancing Education Through Technology Act of 2001 -- The Achievement Through Technology and Innovation Act (ATTAIN). ATTAIN builds upon the successful education technology programs that began with No Child Left Behind and focuses more on systemic school redesign through the innovative use of technology. I am pleased to see that there is an increased focus on teachers and funding for sustainable and ongoing professional development.
Anne Bubnic

Turning Around Troubled Schools - 0 views

www.usnews.com/...g-around-troubled-schools.html

arra_education stimulus duncan school_improvement

shared by Anne Bubnic on 28 May 09 - No Cached
  • If we turn around just the bottom 1 percent, the bottom thousand schools per year for the next five years, we could really move the needle, lift the bottom, and change the lives of tens of millions of underserved children,"
  • Besides being unpopular, school overhauls are costly and don't always produce the desired results. One of the main challenges is finding enough experienced teachers who are willing to work at a struggling school.
  • Anne Bubnic on 28 May 09
     
    To save the school, he fired the entire staff and put a nonprofit group in charge. New principals and teachers were brought in to set the school on the right path. "Sometimes it takes a fresh start," says Don Feinstein, executive director of the Academy for Urban School Leadership, the nonprofit group that took over Howe in September and now runs a total of eight "turnaround" schools along with six teacher-training academies in the city.
Anne Bubnic

Stimulus money puts teachers in layoff limbo - 0 views

www.csmonitor.com/...p02s07-usgn.html

ARRA_Education stimulus teacher_jobs funding_ideas

shared by Anne Bubnic on 02 May 09 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 02 May 09
     
    An unprecedented $100 billion in federal stimulus money is starting to flow to school districts. Educators welcome the aid, but with most districts just starting to get estimates of how much they'll receive, it's adding complexity to an already confusing budget cycle. Particularly challenging - and emotional - are decisions about how many teachers' jobs to fund for next year. Deadlines have been coming up for renewing contracts, yet many state and local education budgets are in flux. That's putting tens of thousands of teachers into layoff limbo.
Anne Bubnic

Stimulus money may fund summer school, teacher pay - 0 views

www.google.com/...b2846meWCIAJArK1w2HmAD97OMVD80

ARRA_Education stimulus technology funding_ideas professional_development economic_stimulus education charter_schools

shared by Anne Bubnic on 25 Apr 09 - Cached
  • You can identify your best teachers and pay them to coach their colleagues who are having trouble," Duncan said in prepared remarks. "You may have to scale this down after two years, but it can really help your younger teachers get up to speed."Duncan also recommended adding afternoons, weekends and summer days to the school calendar: "Our school day, week and year is too short as it is. Many kids just need more time on task," he said.
  • Anne Bubnic on 25 Apr 09
     
    Education Secretary Arne Duncan has some suggestions for how schools can spend their windfall from the economic stimulus law, including summer school and extra pay for teachers to coach struggling colleagues. The nation's schools will get an unprecedented amount of money - about $100 billion, double the amount of education spending under President George W. Bush - over the two-year life of the new stimulus law.
Anne Bubnic

Stimulus Funds for Educational Technology - 0 views

stimulus.k12partners.org/...federal-requirements

ARRA_Education Title_IID EETT stimulus

shared by Anne Bubnic on 07 May 09 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 07 May 09
     
    For the first time in many years, regular Title IID funding under NCLB was not eliminated in the President's budget. It has been made clear that with the stimulus funding, there is a need to clearly demonstrate that federal Ed Tech funding is making a difference. Across the US, states are collaborating on focusing the stimulus funding on 21st Century technology rich classrooms and professional development. The end goal is to have students who have attained 21st Century Skills, teachers have access to 21st Century professional development and the effective instructional strategies for engaging students using educational technology. There is an expectation that we are more targeted programs with targeted professional development that changes the way that teachers teach and students learn.
Anne Bubnic

Duncan has $5 b for education transformation. What should he do? - 0 views

www.chicagotribune.com/...educationmay03,0,5576687.story

ARRA_Education data_system RaceToTheTop student_achievement assessment stimulus

shared by Anne Bubnic on 02 May 09 - Cached
  • Making progress toward rigorous college- and career-ready standards and assessments that are valid and reliable for all students, including English language learners and students with disabilities;
  • Establishing prekindergarten to college and career data systems that track progress and foster continuous improvement;
  • Making improvements in teacher effectiveness and in equitable distribution of qualified teachers for all students, particularly students who are most in need;
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Providing intensive support and effective interventions for the lowest-performing schools.
  • First, every state should have a comprehensive data system that tracks student progress from one year to the next.
  • a class of test scores can tell whether a teacher is effective, and an entire state of test scores can tell whether a policy is working. When empirical data replace emotion as the basis for developing policy, America will be able to transform the quality of education into a world-class system of learning.
  • If a state needs educators to teach students who are gifted or disabled or learning to speak English, let's create the market that attracts their expertise.
  • A meaningful bump in pay -- $1,000 a month or more -- would provide an incentive for educators to teach tough subjects such as physics and trigonometry or to teach in schools with a high population of students living in poverty. Moreover, giving a bonus to teachers for every one of their students who pass an advanced placement test in science and math will create an incentive for success and generate American intellectual capital in critical fields. Third, low-performing schools must be fixed. It is morally wrong to consign students to schools that consistently fail to educate them. Let's help those schools be successful with whatever assistance it takes. Where schools don't improve, we believe parents should have the option of sending their children to public charter schools whose leadership has proved it can prepare students for the next grade and beyond.Finally, let's stop tinkering around the edges of reform and really revolutionize the way we deliver knowledge to students. Learning is no longer local, yet we still operate in a system ruled by traditional course work and antiquated textbooks. Our education system is an eight-track tape deck living in the high-speed digital age.
  • An online campus also would create an economic way to customize education for every child in America. Students wouldn't be limited by what was offered at their particular school. With the click of a mouse they could take Chinese at one virtual academy, geometry at another and 18th Century poetry at another. They could learn at their own pace, whether it is faster or slower than their peers.
Anne Bubnic

State Fiscal Stabilization Fund - 0 views

www.ed.gov/...stabilization-fund.html

ARRA_Education SFSF stimulus

shared by Anne Bubnic on 01 May 09 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 01 May 09
     
    The State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) program is a new one-time appropriation of $53.6 billion under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Of the amount appropriated, the U. S. Department of Education will award governors approximately $48.6 billion by formula under the SFSF program in exchange for a commitment to advance essential education reforms to benefit students from early learning through post-secondary education, including: college- and career- ready standards and high-quality, valid and reliable assessments for all students; development and use of pre-K through post-secondary and career data systems; increasing teacher effectiveness and ensuring an equitable distribution of qualified teachers; and turning around the lowest-performing schools.
Anne Bubnic

$3.1-billion economic stimulus windfall offers a chance to reform California schools, t... - 0 views

ow.ly/3llg

ARRA_Education stimulus teacher_jobs school_reform special_education Vocational_rehab funding

shared by Anne Bubnic on 25 Apr 09 - No Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 25 Apr 09
     
    As California received billions of dollars Friday to stave off widespread teacher layoffs, the state's highest elected education official pledged to reform schools, aligning academic standards with other states, rewarding teachers who work in the most challenging classrooms and improving student assessments.
Anne Bubnic

Teacher Magazine: Stimulus Funds May Not Get to Teachers - 0 views

www.teachermagazine.org/...lalayoffdelay_ap.html

ARRA_Education stimulus

shared by Anne Bubnic on 01 May 09 - Cached
  • he law was written so broadly that most of the stabilization dollars can be spent on just about anything — carpet, wallpaper, playground equipment, even new school construction — which may bother Senate moderates who insisted on dropping a new school construction program before they would vote for the bill.
  • That's because school districts can spend the money as federal impact aid, a relatively small program for poorly funded districts. By contrast, most federal education dollars are supposed to be spent on teacher salaries or academics.
Anne Bubnic

Leading the Charge for Real-Time Data - 0 views

www.edweek.org/...33dataleader_ep.html

ARRA_education stimulus data_systems

shared by Anne Bubnic on 17 Jun 09 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 17 Jun 09
     
    Well before the idea of using data to manage schools gained prominence on the national stage, Oklahoma's Western Heights school district had made the ideal of real-time, data-driven decisionmaking a reality. Back in 2001, Superintendent Joe Kitchens was already being spotlighted for his focus on creating a longitudinal-data system that would give teachers in the 3,400-student district the ability to make quick decisions to improve student learning, while reducing the time spent compiling reports.
Anne Bubnic

Federal Recovery Dollars for Title I & Special Ed [California] - 0 views

www.cde.ca.gov/...yr09rel68.asp

ARRA_Education IDEA Title_I special_education stimulus

shared by Anne Bubnic on 07 May 09 - Cached
  • Establishing a system for identifying and training highly effective teachers to serve as instructional leaders in Title I school wide programs and modifying the school schedule to allow for collaboration among the instructional staff. Providing new opportunities for Title I school-wide programs for secondary school students to use high-quality, online coursework as supplemental learning materials for meeting mathematics and science requirements. Developing and expanding longitudinal data systems to drive continuous improvement efforts focused on increased achievement in Title I schools. Districts are also encouraged to consider using these funds to support and improve preschool and early childhood development programs which are an existing allowable use for Title I.
  • Obtain state-of-the art assistive technology devices and provide training in their use to enhance access to the general curriculum for students with disabilities, including online professional development, online student courses and learning opportunities, and electronic records management for student progress monitoring and data-based decisions for instruction/intervention. Provide intensive district-wide professional development for special education and regular education teachers that focuses on scaling-up, through replication, proven and innovative evidence-based school-wide strategies in reading, math, writing and science, and positive behavioral supports to improve outcomes for students with disabilities. Develop or expand the capacity to collect and use data to improve teaching and learning. Expand the availability and range of inclusive placement options for preschoolers with disabilities by developing the capacity of public and private preschool programs to serve these children. Hire transition coordinators to work with employers in the community to develop job placements for youths with disabilities.
  • . The ARRA SFSF funds provide an opportunity to jump start school reform and improvement efforts while also saving and creating jobs and stimulating the economy. California received $2.56 billion in SFSF for K-12 LEAs.
  • Anne Bubnic on 07 May 09
     
    May 4 09: State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today released California Department of Education (CDE) calculations of the amount of Title I funds that local educational agencies (LEAs) in California will receive, as well as the amount of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B funds that Special Education Local Plan Areas (SELPAs) will receive under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
Anne Bubnic

White House seeks input on education law - 0 views

www.google.com/...Xxeatrlfd2NT42NqfMCxgD98070382

ARRA_education NCLB school_reform stimulus

shared by Anne Bubnic on 07 May 09 - Cached
  • Whatever the administration decides to do, it needs the approval of Congress, which passed the law with broad bipartisan support in 2001 but deadlocked over a rewrite in 2007.
  • Yet Duncan has many criticisms of No Child Left Behind, and he has plenty of company. Opponents insist the law's annual reading and math tests have squeezed subjects like music and art out of the classroom and that schools were promised billions of dollars they never received.Critics also say the law is too punitive: More than a third of schools failed to meet yearly progress goals last year, according to the Education Week newspaper.That means millions of children are a long way from reaching the law's ambitious goals. The law pushes schools to improve test scores each year, so that every student can read and do math on grade level by the year 2014.
  • "What No Child Left Behind did is, they were absolutely loose on the goals," Duncan told the Education Writers Association meeting in Washington. "But they were very tight, very prescriptive on how you get there."I think that was fundamentally backwards," he said.Duncan said the federal government should be "tight" on the goals, insisting on more rigorous academic standards that are uniform across the states. And he said it should be "much looser" in terms of how states meet the goals.
  • Anne Bubnic on 07 May 09
     
    Embarking on a "listening tour," Education Secretary Arne Duncan asked teachers, parents and students Tuesday how they would improve No Child Left Behind, the controversial education law championed by former President George W. Bush.
Anne Bubnic

Arne Duncan Launches Nat'l Discussion on Education Reform [Photo_Video] - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

ARRA_Education teacher_quality school_reform early_childhood duncan stimulus

shared by Anne Bubnic on 07 May 09 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 07 May 09
     
    Secretary Arne Duncan will travel to 15 or more states in the coming months to solicit feedback from a broad group of stakeholders around federal education policy in anticipation of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The tour will gather input on the Obama administration's education agenda, including early childhood, higher standards, teacher quality, workforce development, and higher education.
Anne Bubnic

Guidelines on State Fiscal Stablization Fund Program [PDF] - 0 views

www.ed.gov/...guidance.pdf

ARRA_Education SFSF capital_expenditures teacher_quality stimulus

shared by Anne Bubnic on 07 May 09 - No Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 07 May 09
     
    This new document from the US Dept of Education outlines capital spending and teacher-quality reporting expectations, with more capital-spending flexibility of ARRA funds than initially expected. Lots of great Q & A's in here that help clarify program uses.
Anne Bubnic

First Education Stimulus Aid Flows to States - 0 views

www.edweek.org/...28guidance.h28.html

ARRA_Education SFSF School_construction capital_expenditures teacher_quality stimulus

shared by Anne Bubnic on 07 May 09 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 07 May 09
     
    The first of $44 billion in economic-stimulus aid for education began flowing out to states last week-along with new teacher-quality reporting requirements for states and districts, and significantly more spending flexibility on school construction than many administrators had expected.
1 - 20 of 28 Next ›
Showing 20▼ items per page