ASBO International's Economic Recovery Blog

Your Wish Is GrantED

A coalition of foundations is offering half a billion in grants to encourage education reform.

This group of foundations that includes Carnegie Corporation of New York and and the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is investing $506 million, a portion of which is for a matching fund for the $650 million federal government grant program, called Investing in Innovation.

"This is how we should be working together. This is how sectors should collaborate," Secretary Duncan said. "If this goes well, think of the possibilities going forward."

With a May 12 deadline looming, hurry and find out how you can send some of this cash to your district.

The Tortoise and the Owl

Slow and wise decisions. That’s Utah’s strategy for the spending the stimulus dollars.

By carefully weighing the options, the state is still looking at big pot of money. Officials in Utah have only spent about one-tenth of the $5.9 million in stimulus dollars the state received for special education.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that officials in those districts "say they're trying to find a balance between spending the money quickly to help revive the economy and spending it wisely to best help students." Keith Bradford, business administrator for the Canyons school district, said, "I think really what the spirit of the law is, is not to just go out and spend money to spend money, but it's to make sure the money is being spent for the benefit of kids."

Now Boarding: Maryland’s School Boards

Maryland’s school boards are lining up for reform. But will the teachers’ unions get onboard too?

While two-thirds of Maryland’s school boards agree to education reforms to make the state competitive for more federal aid, the teachers’ unions are not so sure. According to The Baltimore Sun, “Teachers are wary of the plan because it includes sweeping changes to how they are evaluated and the length of time it takes to get tenure, measures recently approved by the General Assembly.” Teachers also note that they were not involved in the plans.

Without support, though, Maryland may lose its edge. Both winners from the first round of Race to the Top, Delaware and Tennessee, garnered union backing.

Tech Talk: Webinars on the Details of Stimulus Reporting

When the Risk Management Service (RMS) in the U.S. Department of Education hosts Recovery Act Technical Assistance webinars, you want to be there. It’s ED’s details people talking with our details people. Watch this page for the 2010 RMS series to be announced soon.

And there’s more where that came from. Check out the full schedule of upcoming ED Recovery Act webinars.

Still looking for more? Subscribe to ED Review, a bi-weekly newsletter produced by ED’s Office of Communication and Outreach.

Ballroom or Battlefield?

As you’re out there proposing major refunds to capture funds from the Race to the Top, are you learning new dance moves to bring together your stakeholders or preparing for battle?

For many states, overhauling their teacher pay and evaluations is stirring up some Dancing with the Stars drama.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), whose state was penalized in the first round for proposing an overhaul of teacher pay and evaluation that many union affiliates and local districts would not support, was quoted in the Washington Post: "This is a battle. It's not a waltz."

To Turn Around or Not to Turn Around

 “Because we know that about 12% of America’s schools produce 50% of America’s dropouts, we’re going to focus on helping states and school districts turn around their 5,000 lowest-performing schools in the next five years,” said President Obama at the America's Promise Alliance Education Event on March 1, 2010.

Turning around our lowest-performing schools would improve our education system, but can it be done effectively?

Looking for inspiration to make it happen? Watch the Department of Education's video, It Can be Done: Turing Around America’s Lowest Achieving Schools. Or do you think that the turnaround model is upside down?

Re-Test Our Tests?

Do your state education tests accomplish the following goals?

a) Accurately measure how much a child has learned
b) Ensure that the student is ready for college or a career after high school
c) Depict what the student knows and can do

If all of the above apply, your state might be able to score 100% on its tests—and earn some cash. The Department of Education “is looking to hand out up to $350 million” in stimulus funds “to states willing to revamp how they test students, reports the AP.

In Politics K-12, a blog for Education Week, Michele McNeil writes that the Education Department "has given the green light to the $350 million Race to the Top assessment competition, which will award grants to groups of states to create rigorous common tests to complement the common standards effort already underway."