January 2009 Archives

From guest blogger Stephen Sawchuk

Education Secretary Arne Duncan made his first big staffing announcement late Friday (interesting timing). Carmel Martin will become the assistant secretary for planning, evaluation, and policy development, a position most recently held by William Evers.

Martin has an extensive background in education policy but she was most recently chief education adviser to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the chairman of the Senate education committee.

It's hard to tell where she stands on policy priorities. In 2007, Martin was fairly tight-lipped during the failed attempt to reauthorize the NCLB law, and it was never clear where Kennedy was headed on debates about "multiple measures" for accountability, for instance, or performance pay for teachers.

Since Duncan, Obama, and Obama adviser Linda Darling-Hammond have been reluctant to engage in the "Broader, Bolder" v. "Education Equity Project" debate, it seems like Martin will fit right in.

Peter Cunningham, a communications consultant who worked for Duncan and the Chicago Public Schools, was announced as assistant secretary for communications and outreach. Alexander Russo predicted this was coming not long ago over at This Week in Education.

Darling-Hammond remains a wild card, but perhaps that will change next week. See some thoughts on this here at Teacher Beat (scroll to the bottom of the post.)

Posted by Stephen Sawchuk at 5:54 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Is the Senate stimulus anti-ed reform?

Mike Petrilli thinks so, but Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who oversees the subcommittee that crafts education spending bills, indicates that's not the case.

The bill doesn't include the $200 million for the Teacher Incentive Fund grants, $250 million for state data systems, and separate funding for charter school facilities. Those provisions are in the House version of the measure and are embraced by many in the pro-accountability, no-excuses crowd.

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, who many consider the ultimate Democrat for Education Reform, is hoping those provisions make it through conference. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said they are "hugely important" to him.

And just this week, some folks suggested that the stimulus would be a great vehicle for pushing through education redesign.

But Harkin seems to have a good argument for not including the programs in his chamber's version of the economic stimulus package—namely the bill is moving too fast to craft good policy and it's not palatable politically.

“The economic recovery bill should not be the vehicle for reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act," said Harkin in a statement emailed to Politics K-12. "That process will require many months, multiple hearings, and much debate to do the job right. Our deadline for completing this bill is President’s Day. It would be foolhardy, not to mention politically impossible, to try to enact major education reforms in that kind of timeframe."

And on those TIF funds, he said that it doesn't make sense to include the money for the program in a two-year stimulus since the grants under the program are doled out over five years

“I have no objection to this program," Harkin said in the statement. "I have included funding for TIF in the [education spending] bill for several years. And that’s where Congress should fund future increases for TIF – in regular appropriations bills, not the stimulus. TIF grants last 5 years. The stimulus bill covers just 2 years. If we increase funding for TIF in the stimulus, that gives us problems [later on], when we still have to cover continuation costs, but the stimulus money is gone. It makes more sense to fund an increase through the regular appropriations process.”

Posted by Alyson Klein at 2:46 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

Unlike Barack Obama, who really had no choice but to move his family to 1600 N. Pennsylvania in the District of Columbia, new ed sec Arne Duncan can move wherever he wants in the area. And since he has two school-age kids, Duncan is probably like a lot of parents who consider the quality of public schools as key in house-hunting.

So while it's not surprising that Obama would choose private schools over the D.C. public schools for his kids, it's also not surprising that Duncan—who is now a prominent, national leader for America's public schools —is choosing public schools for his own children. In his interview with Alyson today, he told her he will send his kids to public school and was zeroing in on the northern Virginia area, which is known for its very good public schools.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 4:02 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

Arne Duncan, the brand-new Secretary of Education, said today that he would consider using $15 billion in proposed federal incentive grants to reward states for setting more "rigorous" standards. The money would be available to him under a broad $819 billion stimulus package that passed the House, with no GOP support, last night.

"There's a series of things we're looking for," in allocating those funds, Duncan told me, in the first of a round of one-on-one interviews he gave to reporters. He indicated that the Department would want states that receive the funds to have a comprehensive data system, strong assessments, and rigorous standards. "With this fund, we really have a chance to drive dramatic changes, to take to scale what works, invest in what works."

Given his emphasis on standards, I asked him whether he might use the fund to push for national or more uniform, rigorous standards. He left the door open for that. "Sure, absolutely," he told me (though without committing himself.) "Lots of folks are already thinking this way. We want to reward rigor and challenge the status quo."

—Christopher Powers/Education Week

I asked him about some of the reform-oriented programs in the stimulus package. He wasn't specific about which items the administration had pushed for until I brought up the $200 million for the Teacher Incentive Fund in one version of the bill, which doles out grants to districts for alternative pay programs, the $25 million for charter school facilities, and the $250 million state data systems.

"That stuff's hugely important to me,"Duncan said.

Those provisions were included in the House version of the stimulus package, but not in the Senate measure, to the consternation of some folks in Edu-Think-Tank Land.

Duncan was largely viewed as a compromise candidate who could bring together two disparate groups in the Democratic party. Some say there is one faction led by the unions and other education organizations, and another led by civil rights groups and some urban superintendents. (You can read more about the perceived division here.)

"The press likes controversy, pitting folks against each other," Duncan said. "We have to dramatically increase our [academic] expectations" he said, but he also talked about addressing children's social needs as a part of a boosting achievement. "If they're hungry we need to feed them, if they don't have clothes you need to give them clothes. ...We need to absolutely push as hard as we can on both of these agendas. These are not in competition with each other. They are absolutely complementary."

I also asked him whether he might be interested in revisiting the broad new Title I regulations put in place by Secretary Margaret Spellings during her last year on the job. He said he wasn't ready to talk about that yet.

And, unfortunately, I wasn't able to get him to spill the names of any folks who might be coming into the Department in sub-cabinet positions, such as Deputy Secretary of Education. He said he was looking for "folks who are absolute innovators, who are visionaries." He said the personnel "picture would get a whole lot clearer over the next two weeks." So stay tuned on that, I guess.

Before our interview, Mr. Duncan told me he is considering sending his children to a public school in Northern Virginia. Greg Toppo, over at USA Today, has more.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 12:06 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

The House of Representatives just passed its version of the stimulus package, which would provide some $120 billion for education programs, by a vote of 244-188. There weren't any significant changes to the education provisions in the bill, a Democratic congressional staffer told me. We wrote about the spending provisions of the bill here.

As part of the tax portion of the $819 billion measure, $22 billion in school construction bonds is to be spread out over fiscal years 2009 and 2010. And it includes a $1.4 billion expansion of the Qualified Zone Academy Bond program, which helps finance school construction.

During floor debate, Republicans said it would not do enough to provide an immediate jolt to the sputtering economy. Not a single Republican voted in favor of the bill, and just 11 Democrats opposed it.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 7:09 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

From guest blogger Stephen Sawchuk

Senate Republicans have a lot to be grouchy about these days, it seems. And, as I discovered this morning, some of them aren't just irritated by the Democrats' handling of the stimulus proposal, but also at the Bush Administration's handling of the No Child Left Behind Act in the administration's final days.

In remarks at a conference on federal-education priorities sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute and others, Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander's top aide, David Cleary, had some choice comments about the new and old administrations.

"I didn't realize how much we liked Arne Duncan until we gave him $15 billion to play with," Cleary said, referring to the state education incentive fund in the Senate stimulus bill. "We never gave Margaret Spellings that much to play with, thank God."

Apparently, Spellings' tendency to waive portions of the NCLB law and append other requirements through rulemaking didn't sit well with some Republican members. "Spellings has shown us that the law doesn't matter, you can just create [reforms] out of whole cloth," Cleary said.

Both Democrats and Republicans face serious disagreements within their own parties on NCLB, and perhaps that's one reason why Cleary added that he expects the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to pick up bills to enhance national community service programs, create reforms to early-childhood education, and increase college affordability before it tackles NCLB.

Those are some hefty pieces of legislation. So it sounds like we'll be waiting a while.

Posted by Stephen Sawchuk at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

As the House of Representatives debated the $825 billion stimulus measure, which members are expected to vote on tonight, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, held a conference call with reporters to talk about the money for education in the stimulus package.

Republicans, including the Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon of California, the top GOP member of the House education panel, have expressed concern that it might be tough to take programs like Title I and spending for students in special education back down to their current levels after the record increases in the stimulus.

Miller didn't say a permanent funding increase absolutely wouldn't happen. Instead he deferred to the Obama administration.

"The administration is telling us not to anticipate that this [increased amount] will be the baseline," he said.

And he told us that those ed-reformy programmatic choices—including a $200 million boost for the Teacher Incentive Fund, which doles out grants for performance pay, $250 million for state data systems, and a $25 million fund for charter school facilities—were sought by the Obama administration.

Those provisions didn't make it into the Senate bill, a development Mike Petrilli over at Flypaper bemoaned yesterday.

But Miller seems to think they'll stay in through conference.

"These are the priorities of President Obama," Rep. Miller said. "I believe they'll make it through and I hope they'll make it through.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved some $125 billion on education programs as part of a mammoth $825 billion economic stimulus package.

The bill was approved on a 21-9 vote, with some more moderate Republicans crossing over to vote with the Democrats. Other GOP lawmakers, however, argued that they were shut out of the process of crafting the bill and that the measure would do little to stimulate the stumbling economy.

The education provisions in the Senate bill are pretty similar to those in the House version of the measure, as I detailed here. Additionally, there's $16 billion for K-12 school construction and $2.1 billion for Head Start. You get can more details in this story on the Senate Appropriations meeting.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama was up on Capitol Hill today to meet with GOP lawmakers to address their concerns with the bill.

It's likely to be tough sledding. Just yesterday, Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon of California, the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, released a statement lambasting the stimulus package, saying that it wouldn't do much to generate economic growth.

"American workers, families, and businesses desperately need an economic stimulus package. Unfortunately, that’s not what congressional Democrats are offering,” said Rep. McKeon in a statement. “Instead, their package is nothing more than a mega-sized supplemental spending bill that will saddle future generations with almost unimaginable debt."

And he argued that education programs, such as Pell Grants and Head Start, would see a major drop in funding after the money in the measure has been doled out.

Expect other Republicans, and maybe even some conservative Democrats, to make similar arguments when the full House of Representatives considers their version of the stimulus measure tomorrow.

Update: Mike Petrilli has a good post over at Flypaper saying that many of the provisions sought by "reform" minded lawmakers in the House version of the stimulus didn't make it into the Senate bill. And he makes an interesting point there.

The Senate measure doesn't contain money for the Teacher Incentive Fund, as we reported in our web story. And it doesn't include the $250 million for state data systems as in the House bill. And there isn't a separate $25 million fund for charter school facilities.

Does this spell a major split within the Democratic party, as Mike suggests in his post? Possibly. But Democrats helped put together the House measure in which all these programs originally appeared. So it may say more about differences in the House and Senate priorities than anything else. What do you think?

Posted by Alyson Klein at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Late last Friday night the Senate Appropriations Committee released highlights of its version of an economic-stimulus package. For the most part, it's pretty similar to the bill that passed the House Appropriations Committee this week, on a strictly party-line vote, at least in terms of the education provisions.

The Senate bill would provide about $125 billion for education programs, according to the committee's summary.

Like the House version, the Senate bill would provide $13 billion spread over fiscal years 2009 and 2010 for Title I grants for disadvantaged students and for students in special education.

And, as in the House version, there would be $39 billion to help schools and colleges avert layoffs and other cuts. There would also be $15 billion for "incentive grants" for states that met certain performance measures. Another $25 billion in state and local aid would be more flexible. It could be used for state and local priorities, like public safety, but could also go to schools and colleges.

There was some pushback on the House stimulus measure from congressional Republicans last week, who are worried that not enough of the money goes into programs that will have a direct and immediate impact on the economy.

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio and others met with President Barack Obama Friday to discuss the bill. Boehner, who used to be chairman of the education committee and was a key author of the No Child Left Behind Act, is hoping for more of the money to be directed towards tax cuts, which he says will provide a more immediate jolt to the economy. You can check out his statement on the White House meeting here.

Some congressional Republicans, including Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon of California, the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, are also worried that increasing education funding so dramatically might make it difficult to take programs like Title I back down to their current levels, even after the economy improves, according to this Associated Press story.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 9:42 AM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

Sen. John McCain of Arizona may have lost the White House but he got the next best thing: A seat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

For a guy who barely ever mentioned schools on the campaign trail and included a program already in law as a key part of his pre-K plan, McCain has been surprisingly visible on education issues lately.

Of course, senators take seats on the HELP committee for a variety of reasons. Some are much more excited about working on health and labor legislation than on school issues, so it's tough to say if McCain joined specifically to focus on K-12 policy.

Other new members on the HELP committee include Sen. Robert Casey, Jr., D-Pa., a pre-K proponent, and Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C. (You can check out her fairly detailed education plan from the campaign here). There's also one vacancy, which I'm guessing will go to newly sworn in Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, the former Denver schools chief.

On the other side of the Capitol, Democratic Reps. Marcia Fudge of Ohio, Pedro Pierluisi of Puerto Rico, Jared Polis of Colorado, Dina Titus of Nevada, and Paul Tonko of N.Y., have joined the House Education and Labor Committee. (Alexander Russo seems to be getting a kick out of Fudge's name).

Democrats for Education Reform hearted Polis way back during his contested primary.

Joining on the Republican side of the aisle are Reps. Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Tom McClintock of California, Duncan D. Hunter of California, and Phil Roe of Tennessee. Guthrie has won the College Board's "State Education Leader of the Year" award.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 7:53 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

We don't know yet who is going to serve in the U.S. Department of Education under brand-new Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, but we do know the names of some "acting" staff, thanks to an email sent out by Fritz Edelstein, formerly a senior adviser at the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

According to Edelstein, Duncan held a meeting this morning with:

Matt Yale, who will be Deputy Chief of staff and worked with him in Chicago
Peter Cunningham who has worked 6 years with him in Chicago and will be Assistant Secretary for Communications and Outreach
Margot Rogers, who will be the Senior Counselor to the Secretary; she has worked in DC for 17 years
Melanie Munzer, who will be the White House liaison responsible for arranging political appointments
Tony Miller, who will be Chief Operating Officer; he has worked at McKinsey consulting and most recently for a private equity firm in Los Angeles
Ann Whalen. who will be his Special Assistant as she was in Chicago
Jonathan Schnur. who has been working on the stimulus legislation; he now heads the New Leaders for New Schools; he worked under Secretary Riley and also at the White House under President Clinton

There's been a lot of speculation that Schnur, who has been accompanying Duncan to events around town, may be tapped for chief-of-staff. This list certainly gives credence to those rumors.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 2:48 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

I'm sitting in the House Appropriations Committee's markup on the $825 billion federal stimulus package and it looks like it's going to be a very late evening.

Republicans say they are concerned about how quickly the legislation is being pushed through. They say there hasn't been much bipartisan cooperation and that members haven't had a lot of time to ask questions about the measure, which includes some $122 billion for education.

But Rep. David R. Obey, D-Wis., the appropriations committee's chairman and a key author of the legislation, argued that the committee has gotten input from anyone who offered it, and that the economic crisis requires lawmakers to move much more quickly than they normally would.

"This is an extraordinary circumstance," he said.

So far, there's been very little discussion of education and other domestic programs financed under the bill. There has, however, been a lot of talk about whether the measure will really get the economy moving again.

Republicans on the panel point out that a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the bill concludes that a relatively small slice of the money will go towards "shovel-ready" projects, meaning infrastructure projects that just need the dollars in order to get started and can put people to work immediatly. And Republicans are worried that distributing so much money so quickly would lead to poor decision-making on the part of states and local governments.

"I don't question the urgency of this package. I question [some of] the priorities and the price tag," Rep. Jerry Lewis of California, the top Republican on the panel, said. And he worried that "large increases in domestic programs could create unrealistic expectations in future spending."

But Obey has argued that one of the major purposes of the bill was to help local and state governments avert major budget cuts, including teacher layoffs. And he left open the possibility for even more money to spur the economy down the road.

"This package may undershoot the mark and we may have to make adjustments down the road," Obey said.

There's just been one brief exchange so far on the $20 billion school construction proposal in the bill, $14 million of which would go to K-12 facilities.

Rep. John A. Culberson, R-Texas, said,"The federal government has never gotten into the business of [financing] brick-and-mortar" for schools. He said he worried that school districts might look to Congress to continue funding school construction into the future.

But Obey said he didn't expect such programs to continue when the economic outlook brightens.

"That program is easily dialed back," he said.

Right now, it looks like the bill is headed for passage, although I don't know how many Republicans are going to support it. One education lobbyist told me not to expect major changes to the school provisions.

Updated: The bill cleared the committee on a partisan vote, 35-22.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 7:53 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

The Senate confirmed former Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan as U.S. Secretary of Education yesterday. The confirmation isn't a surprise, given the warm reception Duncan got from the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. But, now that Duncan is officially in place, we may start hearing about some of the other positions in the Department of Education.

In the meantime, this afternoon the House Appropriations Committee is going to consider the $825 billion stimulus package, which would provide more than $120 billion for education programs. Check back at edweek.org, and this blog for the latest.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 10:26 AM | Permalink | 3 Comments | Recommend

From guest blogger Stephen Sawchuk

If you're on the National Mall waiting for the inaugural parade, or planning to catch it on TV from the warmth of your living rooms, keep your eyes peeled for hats, gloves, and scarves bearing the National Education Association's logo: More than 40 NEA members will be part of a pro-labor ensemble in the parade.

Those 40 members are part of the 3.2 million-member union's executive committee. The ensemble, which includes marchers and a float, is the only worker-oriented unit in the parade, NEA officials say. It will include members from the AFL-CIO and Change to Win, two labor coalitions, and will count about 265 officials between marchers and float.

It's an interesting move for the NEA, which has traditionally struggled a bit with its identity as both a professional association and a labor union. Though not a member of the AFL-CIO, in 2006 the two groups struck an agreement to allow NEA members to sit on local AFL-CIO councils. Perhaps this engagement is a sign that new NEA president, Dennis Van Roekel, wants this relationship to flourish.

I checked in briefly with John I. Wilson, the organization's executive director, about NEA's participation in the festivities. "Oh my gosh, they got all my tickets," he joked, when I asked how many NEA-affiliated members came to town. "It's hard to turn down the teacher coming from California with her grandchildren."

Between 700 and 1,000 NEA members in total attended an inauguration reception, according to Wilson, so it's probably safe to assume that at least that many are out on the Mall right now. Over 60 NEA staff members were deployed to provide support for those members, Wilson said.

Posted by Stephen Sawchuk at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

From guest blogger Stephen Sawchuk

In his inaugural address, the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, made few explicit references to education. But his speech expounded upon themes of both public and personal accountability that are likely to influence his policy positions on education reform.

Obama described a nation "in the midst of crisis" due to an economy weakened by greed, irresponsibility, and "our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the national for a new age."

"Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many," Mr. Obama said, in one of just two references to education in the 17-minute speech.

"Everywhere we look, there is work to be done," he continued. "...We will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age."

Both the government and individual citizens will play a vital role in rebuilding the country, Obama said. The government must support those programs that help Americans and cull ineffective programs. But its success also depends on citizens participating in "a new era of responsibility."

This personal responsibility reflects Obama's campaign rhetoric, particularly his emphasis on the role parents play in their children's education and development.

While it's unknown yet how these themes will influence Mr. Obama's visions for education policy, the new president has supported the accountability provisions in Title I of the No Child Left Behind law, the federal government's main program for helping disadvantaged students. But he has argued that the law should be tweaked to improve annual assessments and foster improved teaching.

Posted by Stephen Sawchuk at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

As I was walking to the swearing-in ceremony this morning, I happened to come across a reception for education in the Rayburn House Office building, just a stone’s throw away from where Obama will soon be taking the oath of office.

At the reception, I ran into Michael Johnston, the principal of Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts in Thornton, Colo., where President-elect Obama gave his most prominent education speech of the campaign. Johnston, who is also an informal adviser to Obama, said he had “been incredibly impressed by his commitment to do what he thinks is best for kids.”

Johnston pointed to the fact that Obama was willing to talk about charter schools and merit pay, issues that would not necessarily endear him to the teachers’ unions, who are key players in the Democratic primaries, when he was some 25 points down in the polls. “I don’t see him shying away now,” he added.

Obama has a good grasp of education policy, Johnston said, and is able to talk about complicated issues such as college financial aid off the cuff.

I also ran into Jim Kohlmoos, president of the Knowledge Alliance. “It’s a great day today, there’s a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of energy,” he said.

As for the huge economic stimulus package introduced last week by U.S. House Democrats, which included some $122 billion for K-12 and higher education, Kohlmoos said, “It’s really amazing how much focus there was on education in the stimulus.”

More specifically, the $1.5 billion for school improvement in the stimulus package may be “a huge boon” for the education research community, he said, given that some of the money could be directed to research. The research community is also hoping to help ensure the productive and effective use of the money set aside in the stimulus bill for school construction, for instance in making the best use of education technology.

I also ran into Steve Robinson, who is Obama’s top education staffer. He couldn’t speak on the record, but he was all smiles.

The other people I ran into included Andy Rotherham of Education Sector, who predicted that Obama would say little about education in his inaugural address. But Rotherham was all smiles, as was Bethany Little, a lobbyist for the Alliance for Excellent Education. “It’s a great day for education,” she said.

—Alyson Klein

Posted by at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Arne Duncan, President-elect Barack Obama's pick for U.S. secretary of education, joined the woman he'll be replacing, Margaret Spellings, at an event this afternoon hosted by the Education Equality Project, an organization headed by New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and the Rev. Al Sharpton that calls for a "no excuses" approach to education redesign.

"I'm thrilled to be passing the baton at the U.S. Department of Education to my good friend and fellow reformer, Arne Duncan," Spellings told the crowd gathered at the District of Columbia's Cardozo High School. "President-elect Obama made a very courageous choice in choosing this man."

"I've learned so much from Secretary Spellings," Duncan said. There are schools across the nation that are doing an exemplary job of raising student achievement, he said. "Our challenge is to take those pockets of excellence and make that the norm, rather than the exception."

The gathering, a celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, framed education overhaul as a civil rights issue. It was a Who's Who of big-city mayors, urban superintendents, civil rights leaders, and even some big-name Republicans, including Sen. John McCain of Arizona, Obama's opponent in the November election. McCain has supported Klein and Sharpton's effort. (You can read more about the role that the Education Equality Project played in the presidential campaign here.)

McCain got a rousing reception from the mostly African-American crowd, many of whom were wearing Obama buttons and T-shirts. They rushed forward to take his picture when he came on stage.

"Friends, this issue must unite us," McCain said. "This issue is the uniting factor that should drive us in the twenty-first century and in the next four years. We must join together."

Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, N.J., a Democrat, challenged his party to stand up to "special interests" that he said have halted progress in closing the achievement gap.

"I'm in the mood for a movement in America. I feel it spreading from coast to coast, from north to south, from people who say 'no excuses,' " he said. "As a Democrat, we have not always been right on education. As a Democrat, there are forces in our party that sometimes pull us the wrong way on education. ... I am no longer concerned with right and left. I just want to go forward."

The crowd heard from more than a dozen prominent speakers, including former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, who headed ED in '08, an effort to raise the profile of education during the 2008 campaign; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Kevin Chavous, a former D.C. councilman and a founder of Democrats for Education Reform, a political action group; Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia; Mayor Kevin Johnson of Sacramento; and philanthropist Eli Broad, whose foundation gives a coveted award for urban school districts (and is underwriting an Education Week series pegged to the 25th anniversary of A Nation at Risk).

One of the final speakers was Michelle Rhee, the chancellor of the D.C. schools, who has clashed with some parents and teachers in implementing an ambitious plan to overhaul the chronically troubled system.

"A lot of people have said that we are trying to move too fast," Rhee said. "It is not possible to move fast enough."

But when she told the crowd that "a lot of people benefit from the fact that we are dysfunctional" as a school district—an apparent reference to the local teachers' union—one woman in the back of auditorium shouted, "That's not true!"

Tiko L. Jackson, a Washington resident whose son goes to Cardozo High, said the speakers were "right on point," particularly in calling for parents to get more involved in their children's education.

So far, she's been happy with Rhee, Jackson said, and is glad that the chancellor is committed to removing ineffective teachers from the system.

"We're starting to see some real change," she said.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

From guest blogger Stephen Sawchuk

That it wasn't going to be an ordinary field trip was apparent from the moment that 12 students from the KIPP Academy of Opportunity in south Los Angeles, plus leaders of the charter school, stepped on to a Metrobus headed downtown to the Lincoln Memorial.

Within minutes of boarding at around 10:15 a.m. today, the 5th through 8th graders were absorbed in a historical novel about George Washington's spies in Revolutionary War, a text keyed to a planned visit to the International Spy Museum here in Washington. Although that particular activity was derailed by a burst pipe at the museum, school director Ian Guidera was undeterred from his goal of ensuring that the students connect every experience here to the lesson he's set for the trip: how to lead, and how to be an agent for change.

Once we reached the Lincoln Memorial, Mr. Guidera taught a short unit exploring the connections between the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, and President-elect Barack Obama's speech yesterday on the same steps. It incorporated earlier history, too: Black speakers at the monument's dedication in 1922 were segregated from their white peers, the students learned.

Then it was their turn. "What are you going to do after you go to college?" Mr. Guidera queried.

"What I would like to do is plant more trees and make natural gas for cars, and make newer technology for the world," said Nasser, a 5th grader. (Mr. Guidera had told me on the bus ride that the students were fascinated by D.C.'s transit system after growing up in car-choked Los Angeles.)

Education was also a big one. Elexis, a 7th grader, said she wants to be a lawyer so she can make money and make sure students don't have to share textbooks. Other students said their goal is to improve teaching and have more young professionals enter the field to prevent students of color from dropping out of high school.

I asked Mr. Guidera to surmise why education stood out as an issue for his students.

"[They] understand the status of schools in their communities," he said. "They have friends and family who go to other schools. And they've heard Obama speaking about recruiting an army of new teachers."

Mr. Guidera told me that the trip's itinerary was set by the students themselves, who had to do the research on the sites and events they wanted to include and convince their peers of how those choices tied back to the theme of leadership. Also on this week's list are visits to the National Holocaust Museum, Georgetown and George Washington universities, a photography exhibit on women leaders at the National Geographic Society's headquarters, and even a trip to meet the founder of CakeLove, a popular Washington bakery chain started by an erstwhile lawyer whose leadership and entrepreneurial skills led him to baking and motivational speaking.

What will they learn from him? Find out at the students' own blogs here. Check in tonight and later this week, as they'll surely have lots to say about their adventures.

And on Wednesday, our crackerjack online-media team will have a multimedia package on the KIPP students' visit to Washington, right here at www.edweek.org.

Posted by Stephen Sawchuk at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

From guest blogger Stephen Sawchuk

The drinks flowed, the sushi rolled, and the head of President-elect Obama's education-policy review team, Linda Darling-Hammond, sparkled in an elegant bronze silk gown for a reception held in her honor tonight at a swank downtown Washington hotel.

Speaking in her honor were representatives of McGraw-Hill and the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education, which helped sponsor the event; Dan Domenech, the executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, and ... New York City schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein.

Klein's appearance WAS a bit of a surprise, given the supposed "split" among Democrats in the education-policy community. During the vetting of potential education secretary candidates, Klein, a signer of the Education Equality Project manifesto, was viewed as belonging to a group that supported stronger accountability for teachers and administrators. Alternatively, a second coalition, "Broader Bolder," argued that districts needed more support for wraparound services in public schools and that schools alone shouldn't be held responsible for closing achievement gaps. Darling-Hammond was viewed as belonging to the latter group.

But Klein debunked this supposed split as a media fabrication. "They say there's one camp here and another camp here," he said. "Well let me tell you, in education sometimes people don't even agree with what they [themselves] are saying."

Darling-Hammond has long said that skin color, zip code, and family income should not determine the quality of a child's education, Klein noted. Working together under Barack Obama, leaders can finally deliver the promises of Brown v. Board of Education for the nation's urban schoolchildren, he concluded.

Klein apparently left soon after speaking, so I didn't have a chance to follow up on these remarks with him. But is the "war" really over? Hard to say: There weren't a whole lot of EEP signers in attendance—no Michelle Rhee, for instance. And a woman just to my right groaned, "Oh, God!" and buried her head in her companion's arms when Klein was announced as a speaker.

But if there are two things that can bring everyone in education policy together, at least for a while, they are arguably Obama and money. The event was as much a pre-party for Obama's inaguration as it was a celebration of Darling-Hammond's work, and there was a palpable feeling of excitement from the crowd.

"It's almost like a breath of fresh air has blown through the capital," said Jan Harp Domene, the president of the National PTA.

And everyone I spoke with credited Darling-Hammond and her education team's advocacy for winning K-12 education the largest share of cash of any policy area in the House's proposed stimulus package ($122 billion, according to my colleague Alyson Klein).

"This is an administration that gets education," Darling-Hammond told me in a brief interview. "It understands how to leverage improvement and reform while dealing with fiscal needs." Examples of that, she said, include the additional funds for teacher performance pay and for improving teacher preparation, both of which were key ideas in the Obama campaign platform (read more about this here at Teacher Beat).

As to the "camps" in the Democratic party, Darling-Hammond agreed with Mr. Klein's assessment. "All of us talk to each other" after stories on the "split" run in the newspapers, she added with a smile.

She wouldn't comment, though, on whether she'll have a place in the administration.

But whether Darling-Hammond gets a formal position or not may not matter, said Bob Wise, the president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, a high-school reform nonprofit organization. "Whether official or not," he said, "she is clearly one of the foremost advisers to the new president."

Other notables in attendance: Michael Casserly, the executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools; Tom Carroll, the president of the National Council on Teaching and America's Future; Anne Bryant, the executive director of the National School Boards Association; and Cindy Brown, the head of the education-policy shop at the Center for American Progress.

Posted by Stephen Sawchuk at 8:53 PM | Permalink | 2 Comments | Recommend

More than 2,000 participants from all over the country showed up at the Historical Society in downtown D.C. today for the "Children's Inaugural Ball."

Instead of champagne flutes and string quartets, this "ball" had cotton candy, hot dogs, story time, and a puppet theater. Kids got their faces painted and their pictures taken with cutouts of President-elect Obama and Vice-President-elect Biden.

The event was sponsored by the Every Child Matters Education Fund, a nonprofit organization that works to make children's issues a national priority.

Michael Petit, the fund's president, said he was pleased with the just-introduced $825 billion stimulus package, crafted by the incoming administration and House Democrats.

"It's very kid-friendly legislation," he said. He thinks increasing spending on programs like children's nutrition, Head Start, and prekindergarten will help jump-start the sluggish economy and invest in the future.

Obama understands the investment behind pumping federal money into children's programs, he said. "I don't think he's going to have to be talked into it."

The kids are also looking forward to Obama's presidency.

"I think he's going to end the war peacefully and lower taxes," said Brooke Stewart, 8, who came from Clemmons, N.C., which is near Winston-Salem.

Imani Robinson, a 10-year-old who goes to SAIL Public Charter School in DC, said her class has been talking a lot about the connection between Martin Luther King Jr. and Obama.

"Lots of people said that some black people couldn't be president and he proved them wrong,"
she said.

We also ran into Debbie Phelps, mother of gold-medal-winner Michael Phelps, and a principal at a middle school in Baltimore County, Md. She said she thinks President Obama is going to reach out to all races and religious backgrounds. "It's been a historic election," she said. "It just sends shivers up my spine."

For more from Petit, Phelps, and the kids, check out the video of the event that we'll be posting here at edweek.org later this evening.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 3:04 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

D.C. isn't an easy place to get around this weekend, so I don't envy whoever is doing logistics for the Junior Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference.

The group, which has been working on inaugurations since 1985, brought a record 15,000 students—from grade 5 through college age—to D.C. this week to be part of the inaugural festivities and participate in a sort of weeklong social studies class that will include discussions at the University of Maryland on leadership, government, and the presidency. Helping out will be almost 1,000 staff members, many of whom are teachers.

The kids, who come from all over the country, will be able to hear from, and ask questions of, former Vice President Al Gore, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers, and others.

The students, who were nominated by their teachers and have an interest in leadership and civics, had some prep work to do before they came to Washington. They had to watch one of the debates and figure out where the candidates stood on a variety of issues, then choose the "winner" of the debate.

Just to give you an idea of how crowded D.C. has become, it took the kids about an hour and a half to get to downtown from a Maryland suburb, a trip that usually takes about a half an hour. The program made good use of the time, though. On the bus ride over, as an ice-breaker, the students had to use information about one another to choose a "running mate."

Later this week, the students will read about former presidents when they were teenagers and discuss what kinds of leadership qualities they had. And they'll take a look at past inaugural speeches and try to make guesses about what might come up in President-elect Barack Obama's address. They'll also learn about the oath of office, and write their own oaths.

My colleague, Jennifer Neidenberg, will be following one of the students, Loizos Karaiskos, a 5th grader at Silvermine Elementary School in Norwalk, Conn. This is only his second time in D.C., but his career goal might involve him spending a lot more time here: He wants to be Secretary of State.

Of course, he's especially excited about seeing Colin Powell.

"I want to be like him when I older," he said.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Is right here at Politics K-12.

Education Week reporters and bloggers are breaking out their tuxedos—and their long underwear—to bring you live coverage of the celebration of President-elect Barack Obama's historic inauguration, including pictures and video. We'll be chatting with student groups, education advocates, and maybe even some of Obama's K-12 advisers.

This evening, we'll be dining with kids at the Junior Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference, a gathering of honor students from around the country.

On Sunday, we'll drop by the Children's Inaugural Ball, sponsored by the Every Child Matters Fund, which advocates for making children's issues a national public-policy priority. We'll be sure to ask them for their take on that $122 billion stimulus proposal for education.

Then we're off to a reception sponsored by the National Urban Alliance honoring Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford education professor who served as a key adviser to the Obama transition team. Her involvement generated quite a debate on the editorial pages of major newspapers. Joel Klein, the New York City schools chancellor, who has often clashed with some of Darling-Hammond's supporters, is invited to attend, along with Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research, and others.

On Martin Luther King Day, we'll be hanging out with kids participating in what the Obama team hopes will be a national day of service. And we'll be visiting with students from KIPP Academy of Opportunity in Los Angeles, who made the cross-country trip to witness history and blog about it.

Then, on Tuesday, we'll bring you coverage of the inaugural speech and live reaction from the National Mall. And that evening, my colleague, Andrew Trotter, will be whooping it up over at the Bytes and Books Ball.

In the meantime, you can check out this great video featuring students from Democracy Prep Charter School in Harlem. They stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial yesterday and recited King's iconic "I Have a Dream" speech. And my colleague, Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, has a great story previewing events around town and examining how schools are turning the inauguration into a hands-on civics lesson.

Be sure to check back often!

Posted by Alyson Klein at 2:21 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

I have to admit, I was pretty surprised yesterday.

Even though state lawmakers and advocates for schools were asking for some pretty big money for education, and even though I was hearing rumors about it, I never expected to see such a huge chunk of the proposed stimulus going to education. It's somewhere in the neighborhood of $120 billion to $141 billion, for both K-12 and higher ed. (The full bill, and some helpful explanatory language, is on the House Appropriations Committee's Web site).

It's absolutely staggering, especially when you consider that the entire budget for the Department of Education, including money for student loans and other mandatory programs was $68 billion in fiscal year 2008, the most recent budget. So, the stimulus would almost double that. Wow.

It seems that, even though it didn't get much play on the campaign trail, the incoming administration and the new Congress see education as a priority. Often, education plays second fiddle to health care and other programs in the appropriations process, but not this time. I haven't done a full analysis of the bill myself, but according to this story, education got the biggest chunk.

The stimulus, though, is more than just a huge, huge spending bill. It's our very first indication of the direction that the incoming Obama administration and the new beefed-up congressional Democratic majority might take education spending and policy.

It's no surprise that special education and Title I money for disadvantaged kids were the big winners among K-12 programs, with a proposed $13 billion apiece. But some of the smaller appropriations might give us an indication about the new administration and Congress' thinking. For instance:

- The Teacher Incentive Fund, which doles out pay-for-performance money to districts would get $200 million, more than double its funding for in fiscal 2008. My colleague, Steve Sawchuk, has a post over at Teacher Beat on that provision.

But what I found interesting was that the TIF, as it's known, actually got twice as much money as the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants. Those grants finance the teacher residency programs that were a key part of candidate Obama's platform. The TQE was still a big winner, with $100 million proposed, compared with its $33 million in fiscal 2008. But the difference in those two programs might say something about the new Congress and administration's thinking on teacher quality. Do they prefer performance pay over residency programs?

- There's $250 million proposed for state data systems to track student progress. The data is supposed to be studied to figure out ways to boost student achievement. Although that figure is dwarfed by the funding for IDEA and Title I, it's still a pretty big chunk of change.

- Mike Petrilli has a great post calling the stimulus Christmas in January, in part because there's so much money with almost no strings for schools and states.

Actually, there are a few strings, although they're attached to a relatively small slice of the money. I'm still looking into this, but they seem to show that the Obama administration and Congress don't appear to be backing down (at least not yet) on some NCLB requirements.

Under the stimulus bill, in order to qualify for $15 billion in grants for education, states would have to show they are making progress on some NCLB-related goals, including:

- Addressing inequities in the distribution of teachers in low and high poverty schools

- Establishing a state longitudinal data system

- Complying with the requirements in NCLB related to improving assessments, including those for students with disabilities and English language learners

Will all this actually pass? Some of it will, but we're still pretty early in the process and no one should expect House Republicans (and maybe even some conservative Dems) to swallow so much spending without a fight. House Minority Leader John A. Boehner's comment on the bill, according to the Post's story:

"Oh my God," he told reporters. "My notes here say that I'm disappointed. I just can't tell you how shocked I am at what I'm seeing."

Posted by Alyson Klein at 3:00 PM | Permalink | 2 Comments | Recommend

The House of Representatives Appropriations Committee released its stimulus package today. And education programs are a big winner:

Hot off the presses, here's a copy of the House Education and Labor Committee's release on the education section of the bill:

EDUCATION FOR THE 21st CENTURY
We will put people to work building 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries to help our kids compete with any worker in the world.

21st Century Classrooms
• School Construction: $20 billion, including $14 billion for K-12 and $6 billion for higher education, for renovation and modernization, including technology upgrades and energy efficiency improvements. Also includes $100 million for school construction in communities that lack a local property tax base because they contain non-taxable federal lands such as military bases or Indian reservations, and $25 million to help charter schools build, obtain, and repair schools.
• Education Technology: $1 billion for 21st century classrooms, including computer and science labs and teacher technology training.

Higher Education: Tuition is up, unemployment is up, and as a result more people are choosing to go to school to upgrade their skills and more of these students need student aid. This investment addresses those short term needs while investing in our nation’s future economic strength.
• Pell Grants: $15.6 billion to increase the maximum Pell Grant by $500, from $4,850 to $5,350.
• College Work-Study: $490 million to support undergraduate and graduate students who work.
• Student Loan Limit Increase: Increases limits on unsubsidized Stafford loans by $2,000.
• Student Aid Administration: $50 million to help the Department of Education administer surging student aid programs while navigating the changing student loan environment.

K-12 Education: As states begin tackling a projected $350 billion in budget shortfalls these investments will prevent cuts to critical education programs and services.
• IDEA Special Education: $13 billion for formula grants to increase the federal share of special education costs and prevent these mandatory costs from forcing states to cut other areas of education.
• Title I Help for Disadvantaged Kids: $13 billion for grants to help disadvantaged kids in nearly every school district and more than half of all public schools reach high academic standards.
• Statewide Data Systems: $250 million for competitive grants to states to design and develop data systems that analyze individual student data to find ways to improve student achievement, providing teachers and administrators with effective tools.
• Education for Homeless Children and Youth: $66 million for formula grants to states to provide services to homeless children including meals and transportation when high unemployment and home foreclosures have created an influx of homeless kids.
• Improving Teacher Quality: $300 million, including $200 million for competitive grants to school districts and states to provide financial incentives for teachers and principals who raise student achievement and close the achievement gaps in high-need schools and $100 million for competitive grants to states to address teacher shortages and modernize the teaching workforce.

Early Childhood Development
• Child Care Development Block Grant: $2 billion to provide child care services for an additional 300,000 children in low-income families while their parents go to work. Today only one out of seven eligible children receives care.
• Head Start: $2.1 billion to provide comprehensive development services to help 110,000 additional children succeed in school. Funds are distributed based on need. Only about half of all eligible preschoolers and less than 3 percent of eligible infants and toddlers participate in Head Start.
• IDEA Infants and Families: $600 million for formula grants to help states serve children with disabilities age 2 and younger.

There will also be a $79 billion fund to help prevent cut backs to key services. Of that, $39 billion can go to local school districts, public colleges and universities. Another $25 billion can go to other state priorities, such as public safety, but could also be given to schools.

Democratic congressional staff tells me that the Senate numbers are similar for theTitle I and IDEA. Beyond that, there are some differences. It's unclear whether the Senate will release its bill today or not.

Also, note that the highly qualified teacher section looks suspiciously similar to performance pay. Interesting, no?

Posted by Alyson Klein at 11:57 AM | Permalink | 3 Comments | Recommend

For those wishing and hoping for some federal aid for schools in the stimulus package, it looks like your prayers may be answered, at least in part.

There's going to be an $80 billion fund, the majority of which will be earmarked specifically for education, Democratic congressional staff say. It's unclear, though, whether it will flow to states or districts.

The other big news? There's going to be money for Title I and students in special education in the stimulus, separate from the fund, Democratic congressional staff told me. No word on yet on just how much, though.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 3:45 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

Apparently there is a letter writing campaign underway to express concerns to the transition team and members of Congress about Wendy Kopp, CEO of Teach for America, Jon Schnur, co-founder of New Leaders for New Schools, and Andrew Rotherham, co-director of Education Sector as potential choices for top jobs at the Department.

This was written by Sharon Robinson, the president of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, to education lobbyists and others and passed to me by a source (not Robinson):

It has come to our attention that Education Secretary Designee Arne Duncan has proposed a leadership team for ED that includes Wendy Kopp, Jonathan Schnur, and Andy Rotherham. I do not know the exact position in each instance, but we can safely assume positions such as deputy, under-secretary, and chief-of-staff are strong probabilities.

Significantly, Linda Darling-Hammond, who has directed the education policy team for the Transition, is not on Duncan’s list for any position in the Administration. It is imperative that we act quickly to let the Transition Team know that Wendy, Jonathan, and Andy are unacceptable for these roles. They have evidenced a constant and intense disregard for working with the organized education community, and there is no reason to expect them to behave differently as agents of the Department of Education. In the case of Wendy and Jonathan, their appointments would signal expansion for organizations that promote the revolving door of under-qualified teachers as the best answer for poor children. The proposed team, if appointed, would be a grave disappointment for those of us who are hoping to change the education system in the interest of students. Fast-track teachers, scripted instruction, and lots of testing is not an adequate response for low-income students. That is what Kopp and Rotherham are promoting. This is not just a time to simply offer support for Linda Darling-Hammond. This is a moment when we need to let the Transition Team know that the circulated names of Kopp, Schnur, and Rotherham are not acceptable.

Does the letter writing campaign mean that Kopp, Rotherham, and Schnur really are being considered for top jobs for the Department? Not neccessarily, but it's clear that some folks are trying to head off the potential appointments at the pass. The letter urges recipients to contact the transition team and members of Congress to express their discontent.

This shows that folks in the education world are still trying to figure out where President-elect Obama stands. His rhetoric on education on the campaign trail straddled the line between the two camps within the Democratic party, which include civil rights groups and some urban school superintendents on one hand, and members of some education organizations on the other. Duncan was widely viewed as a compromise choice for Education Secretary.

It looks like folks are really looking to these sub cabinet positions to try to figure out where the incoming Obama administration is going to take education policy.

Update: Michael J. Petrilli, a vice-president at the Fordham Institute, told me in an e-mail that he's skeptical that Kopp, Schnur, and Rotherham will all get top positions, for a variety of reasons:

"I heard that rumor too," he wrote. "I’d love to believe it but I’m skeptical. Partly because a clean sweep of reformers is unlikely. Partly because none of them have higher ed experience. Partly because [none] of them are seen as inside-the-department managers, and you need at least one of those."

Posted by Alyson Klein at 1:02 PM | Permalink | 2 Comments | Recommend

Arne Duncan had glowing praise for Wendy Kopp, CEO and founder of Teach for America, and Jonathan H. Schnur, the co-founder of New Leaders for New Schools, in his confirmation hearing yesterday.

Sources have mentioned to me that they are hearing that both are being considered for top positions at Department of Education, along with Andrew Rotherham, a co-director of Education Sector and author of one of my favorite blogs, eduwonk. Sounds like Sherman Dorn is hearing the same thing.

Is this true? Well, it also sounds like the list is far from being finalized yet, and there certainly were a lot of names floated for Secretary of Education before Duncan finally emerged as the pick. So stay tuned, I guess.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Arne Duncan, Obama's nominee for Secretary of Education, got flowers and chocolates from the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee at his confirmation hearing this morning.

Well, okay, not really...but it wouldn't have surprised me.

Every senator, from liberal Democrat Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland to Sen. Tom Coburn, a small government conservative, went out of their way to say that Duncan was extremely qualified and would be a great Secretary of Education. In the hearing, they praised everything from Duncan's record in Chicago to his jump shot to his children's good behavior.

And Duncan lived up to his reputation as a compromise nominee. It seems he's mastered President-elect Obama's approach of answering questions on education policy without going too far into the weeds or tipping his hand in one direction or the other.

He endorsed merit pay, but said it needs to be done in collaboration with unions. He said he'd re-examine teacher quality and student assessment, but that he supports accountability and standards and has high expectations for all students.

The only thing he said that may have angered the NEA or the AFT is that he supports the Teacher Incentive Fund, which doles out grants to districts to create alternative pay programs. He said it was one of Secretary Spellings' greatest achievements. NEA thinks the program needs to be tweaked so that teachers and unions have more input into the plans (they did in Chicago, under Duncan).

Duncan also praised "education entrepeneurs" such as Wendy Kopp of Teach for America and Jon Schnur of New Leaders for New Schools and said that the Department needs to be willing to "challenge the status quo" if it isn't working. Some might say that's more in line with some civil rights groups and urban school superintendents than with organizations for practioners.

But you had to read between the lines to catch that...and it's tough to say yet how it will translate into policy or personnel.

Either way it looks like there's very little chance that Duncan won't sail through the confirmation process.

You can view the fireworks-free hearing here.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Barack Obama isn't the only one transitioning into a new gig.

This blog is going through a transition of its own. About the time Barack Obama gets sworn in, this blog will be re-named Politics K-12 to reflect its new mission. Our musings, analysis, breaking news, sass and spunk won't be reserved just for the campaigns anymore. The politics of public schools—whether at the local, state or federal level—will become the expanded theme of the blog. And expect the country's dire financial straits to be a focal point for the new Politics K-12, which will closely monitor the states' and the federal budgets. After all, money makes schools go 'round.

Launched in September 2007, this blog was thought to be a temporary gig—a venue to talk about the 2007 and 2008 election season, and mostly, the presidential race. On this blog, we took you to the campaign trail in Indiana and South Carolina, to the convention floors of Denver and St. Paul, and inside the political rhetoric of the many debates. Along the way, we beat everyone to the news that Arne Duncan was the ed sec pick (edging out the New York Times by a single minute), irritated ED in '08 so much at one point that the group canceled an interview with me, went toe-to-toe with Flypaper over portfolios, and asked this prophetic question way back in January 2007: John McCain on Education: Where Art Thou?

Our traffic, comments, and feedback from you—the reader—have been fantastic, and so we're gonna keep on blogging. The blog is staying right here, so the url will stay the same and your bookmarks and email subscriptions will still work. If you have any ideas on what we should be blogging about in the weeks and months ahead, please feel free to leave a comment or email us using the links under our pictures.

So as Obama navigates his first term in office, as the country muddles through a nasty recession, and as schools weather the fallout from the fiscal storm, stay tuned to Politics K-12 for the latest.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 3:06 PM | Permalink | 2 Comments | Recommend

President Bush gave his very last policy speech as chief executive ever today—and he picked education as the topic.

Here in Philadelphia, Mr. Bush extolled the virtues of the No Child Left Behind Act, his signature domestic achievement, in a speech at the racially and socio-economically diverse Gen. Philip Kearny Elementary School, a school that has made adequate yearly progress under NCLB every year since 2003.

He didn't say anything new or surprising. He talked about how NCLB has helped expand access to choice, raised student achievement, provided parents with more information, and helped shine a light on groups of students and schools that were long ignored. You can read the transcript of his speech here. And he called on the incoming Congress and the new administration to keep the law's core principles in place during reauthorization.

It's obvious that President Bush sees NCLB as an important part of his legacy, and whether you like or hate the law, or like or hate the President, he's certainly right in claiming the law has reshaped American education, and its effects will continue to be felt in schools long after he's left office.

But, given Bush's rampant unpopularity, this may not have been the smartest move. If he truly wants the law to stay more-or-less intact, making such a high profile speech about it may not have been the best way to accomplish this. It's true that NCLB will, inevitably, always be associated with Bush. This big speech might give Democrats even more motivation to scrap the law.

And I'm not sure whether Obama's pick for Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, bristled or smiled or both when he heard this from Mr. Bush:

I have seen the resolve for reform and the belief in high standards in Chicago, where reading and math scores are soaring, and where every child still has time to study a foreign language and the fine arts. The school in Chicago we went to, like other schools across the city, have benefited from the vision and leadership of a person named Arne Duncan. And he is going to be the next Secretary of Education. And we are fortunate he has agreed to take on this position. And we wish him all the very best.

The students and staff seemed thrilled with the presidential visit. But I overheard that some kids were disappointed that the visit wasn't from President-elect Barack Obama, who won Pennsylvania and trounced his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, in heavily-Democratic Philadelphia.

Also...I overheard that Secretary Spellings lost her wallet at the school. After I file this, I'll have to take a look around here. I bet if I'm the one to return it, she'd owe me an exclusive for sure...

Posted by Alyson Klein at 3:26 PM | Permalink | 9 Comments | Recommend

President-elect Barack Obama delivered a major speech today to urge "dramatic action" to jump-start the economy.

In addition to highlighting his plans to use an estimated $775 billion in federal stimulus money to expand Internet broadband, computerize medical records, and double the production of alternative energy, Obama is pledging to use part of the money (it's unclear how much) to modernize school classrooms, labs, and libraries—and to modernize teacher training. This is music to the ears of education groups.

"To give our children the chance to live out their dreams in a world that’s never been more competitive, we will equip tens of thousands of schools, community colleges, and public universities with 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries," Obama said in the speech at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. "We’ll provide new computers, new technology, and new training for teachers so that students in Chicago and Boston can compete with children in Beijing for the high-tech, high-wage jobs of the future."

In addition, Obama indicated that his overall stimulus package will help education in another way—by helping states deal with growing budget deficits that are leading to big cuts in K-12 education.

"Our plan will save the jobs of teachers, cops, and firefighters," he said.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 11:10 AM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

He'll have to share the spotlight, though, with Hillary Clinton, whose confirmation hearing as Secretary of State is the same day.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 4:51 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

....Chicago Public Schools for creating a human shrine to the president-elect. Actually, it will be a shrine of humans (in the form of 800 CPS students), mulch, driftwood, bottles, cans, and snow!

According to the press release announcing tomorrow's event, "students dressed in red, black and white become human 'drops of paint' to form a 150-foot living portrait of Barack Obama. The event is the culmination of a five-day Art for the Sky educational program by aerial artist Daniel Dancer."

There's no word on whether CPS chief Arne Duncan, Obama's choice for education secretary, will be one of those human drops of paint.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican who helped usher in a strong standards-and-accountability system in his state (which included letter grades for schools and vouchers), will not run for the U.S. Senate, he just announced in a statement.

This puts to rest speculation that he would seek the seat being vacated by Sen. Mel Martinez.

In the statement, Bush says there's no "greater calling than education reform." Since leaving the state's highest office, he's been helping pursue the education reform agenda he started in his state through two foundations he now runs. That includes his continuing pursuit of vouchers.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 3:48 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

So a Chicago Tribune blog is reporting that Peter Cunningham has been hired to run the communications operation for Secretary of Education-designate Arne Duncan. Apparently, the strategic consultant who currently works for Duncan in the Chicago school system is quite the musician.

The Tribune blog isn't specific about what position at the Department of Education Cunningham will be taking, but with experience as a communications consultant, my guess is he'll be shaping strategy, not fielding e-mails from reporters.

If that's the case, that sounds to me like more or less the role that Lauren Maddox, the assistant secretary for communications and outreach, has right now. Over the past few years, the department has capitalized on Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings' folksy, friendly personality. She's let her Texas show in nearly ever speech she's given. And, in the past year, the department has sent her around the country to hold events on the No Child Left Behind Act to help garner public support, and local media coverage, for the school improvement law.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

The Minnesota State canvassing board officially declared comedian Al Franken the winner of the country's most hotly contested Senate race yesterday. Franken defeated Sen. Norm Coleman by just 225 votes.

Still, don't expect to see the former Saturday Night Live comedian up on Capitol Hill today, getting sworn in with the rest of the 111th Congress. Coleman is expected to file a lawsuit contesting the decision. So the North Star State might have just one senator for a while.

We've written before that Coleman and Franken couldn't be further apart when it comes to education, particularly the No Child Left Behind Act, which Franken rather wonkily criticized on late night television.

So if Franken really does enter the Senate, what does that mean for education?

Regardless, he would have gotten to Washington with a razor-thin margin of victory. So unless things change drastically, he's almost certain to face an uphill battle for re-election and he'll need all the money and grassroots support he can get, including the support of his state's teachers' unions.

So I wouldn't expect him to back away much from his stance that NCLB needs to be scrapped or very significantly reshaped, unless he gets lots of political cover from other Democrats, especially President-elect Obama.

And, with Coleman's departure, the moderate, pro-accountability Republicans will lose yet another important voice, meaning that a greater majority of the remaining Republicans will fall into the Scale Back the Federal Role in Education camp, as exemplified by this piece of legislation.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

So he may not have gotten picked for education secretary, but it looks like Denver schools chief Michael Bennet is headed to Washington anyway, at least according to the Rocky Mountain News. Apparently, he's been tapped by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, a Democrat, to fill the Senate seat being vacated by Ken Salazar, who is President-elect Barack Obama's choice for Interior Secretary.

Fans of merit-pay programs are probably knocking back champagne flutes to celebrate the news. In Denver, Bennet presided over what is considered a model pay-for-performance program - with teachers' union buy-in.

Of course, it's too early to say for sure whether Bennet will continue to work on education issues once he's in the Senate. But, if he's interested, there should be at least two vacancies on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that he can fill: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's and Obama's.

Obama released a statement today, giving the choice a thumbs up.

"Michael Bennet perfectly reflects the qualities of the ruggedly independent state he has been chosen to serve," he said. "His breakthrough work at the helm of Denver's schools has reflected that commitment, and established Michael as one of the nation's leading education reformers. .. He will be a breath of fresh air in Washington."

UPDATED: And the reform-minded Democrats for Education Reform gave the pick a double thumbs up: "Bennet has been part of a growing movement around this country which understands that saving public education requires a major transformation in the way we think about schooling. That kind of fresh approach extends beyond education. The boldness he brought to the superintendent's office in Denver will make him an important player in a Washington which has been put on notice by American voters. It is hard to think of a more appropriate leader to question 'business as usual' than Michael Bennet."

Posted by Alyson Klein at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend