Current News

Pennsylvania educators who provide special education services to students with disabilities will receive professional development through a $6.5 million, five-year federal grant awarded to the State Department of Education.

Guam Education Superintendent Jon Fernandez announced that his department was awarded a $20.6 million grant by the U.S. Department of Education from the Title V, Part A Consolidated Grants program. The island plans to use the money to improve student achievement through local reform efforts that support statewide education reforms; implement promising educational reform programs and school improvement programs based on scientific research; provide a continuing source of innovative and educational improvement; implement programs meeting the educational needs of all students, including at-risk youth; and implement education programs to improve school, student, and teacher performance.

About 28 educators across Delaware received a $10,000 bonus under the state's Talent Cooperative program that identified teachers, assistant principals, and school leaders who helped raise student test scores. The bonuses were offered to teachers who agreed to remain at the same school for at least two years.

School accountability reports for 2012 have been issued by the Arkansas Department of Education, the first under a new system in which student achievement, student growth, and high-school graduation rates are used to gauge performance, and individualized targets apply only to a specific school and its students. Under the old system, schools competed against others in their district and those across the state.

Chiefs and their key staff met last week in Savannah, GA for CCSSO’s Annual Policy Forum. Discussion topics focused on the importance of leadership in policy areas such as educator preparation and evaluation, ESEA reauthorization and school choice. Chiefs heard from panels of colleagues, experts and practitioners. Speakers included Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute, and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

The Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC) has selected the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to develop and administer the Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators® (GACE®) to assess the knowledge and skills of prospective Georgia public school educators.

Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers recently proposed a $615 million increase -- an increase of 2.4 percent in 2013 and a 5.5 percent increase for 2014 -- for public schools over the next two years by redirecting money from the popular school levy tax credit program. Nearly $47 million would be used to meet specific needs of schools, including raising graduation rates and increasing funds for a high percentage of non-English speaking students.

Following the final task force meeting, Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman said the recommendations will provide Gov. Bill Haslam with options for a school voucher program. "There are some areas where there is a pretty broad range of views on how to do it," he said. The group agreed that a voucher program should be limited to low-income students, and that private schools should be screened for eligibility and held accountable if they participate in the program.

The South Carolina Department of Education released data that shows more students graduated on time in 2012 than in 2011, with the rate increasing from 73.6 percent to 74.9 percent. The graduation rates of black, Hispanic, and subsidized school-meal students are at their highest levels since the department began releasing subgroup performance data in 2004. The graduation rate gap between white and black students declined by 0.2 percent in 2012, while the gap with Hispanic students declined 5.1 percent since 2004.

New York State Education Commissioner John King, Jr., reports that 500 of 700 school districts across the state have submitted plans for the new state-mandated teacher evaluations. School districts have until Jan. 17, 2013, to submit their plans, and without those plans, they will forfeit a scheduled increase in state aid. About 200 school districts have approved plans.