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9 Indicted for Snooping on Obama Records

Workers accused of checking student loan info

(Newser) - Nine employees of a contractor for the Education Department have been indicted on federal charges of illegally accessing President Obama's student loan records over a 2-year period beginning in the summer of 2007. The accused, including a supervisor at the Iowa consulting firm, face up to a year in jail...

Del., Tenn. Only States to Qualify for Education Stimulus Prize

Union support helps 'Race to Top' winners

(Newser) - With $4 billion in stimulus funds up for grabs in an initiative to improve US schools, only two states of the 41 that applied scored high enough to get a piece. Delaware and Tennessee will each get $600 million, from the “Race to the Top” program, the Department of...

Fire Bad Teachers&mdash;Now
 Fire Bad Teachers—Now 



OPINION
Mar 8, 2010 2:30 PM CST

Fire Bad Teachers—Now

But for some frustrating reasons, that's almost impossible

(Newser) - The American education system has been falling behind for a while, and the reason is obvious: Teachers can't be fired. Recent studies have shown that teacher quality is one of the top predictors of a student’s success, write Evan Thomas and Pat Wingert in Newsweek . Yet education unions are...

Schools Win; NASA Loses



Schools Win; 
 NASA Loses  
budget ANALYSIS
Feb 1, 2010 5:31 PM CST

Schools Win; NASA Loses

First look at proposed 2011 budget shows sharp break between haves and have-nots

(Newser) - President Obama delivered his proposed 2011 budget to Congress today, and the Washington Post drills down to find the winners and losers. Winners first:
  • K-12 education: The Department of Education's budget will increase by 6%, or $3 billion.
  • Research: The proposal pumps up the Energy Department's budget 7%, or $2
...

'No Child Left Behind' Overhaul in the Works

2014 deadline for bringing all students to proficiency to be ditched

(Newser) - The Obama administration is planning a sweeping overhaul of the Child Left Behind law to create a new model for how schools are judged to be succeeding or failing. The White House plans to change parts of the law educators have found most objectionable and award more federal money based...

Right's New Quarry: Gay Ed. Appointee
Right's New Quarry: Gay
Ed. Appointee
ANALYSIS
Oct 2, 2009 9:30 PM CDT

Right's New Quarry: Gay Ed. Appointee

Fox et al. say Kevin Jennings didn't act on 1980s statutory rape

(Newser) - One of President Obama’s appointees to the Department of Education has become the latest target for conservatives emboldened by the departures of green-jobs adviser Van Jones and others. Assistant deputy secretary Kevin Jennings is accused of neglecting to report a statutory rape case when he was a teacher in...

Obama Wants More School, Less Summer Break

Wants to give US kids boost globally, idea 'not popular' with Sasha, Malia

(Newser) - Well, Barack Obama’s approval rating just plummeted in the K-12 demographic. The president is calling for longer school days and a shorter summer break, arguing that it’s a necessary step to catch up with kids from around the world. The president admits they’re “not wildly popular...

School Speech Uproar Shows Country Divided
School Speech Uproar Shows Country Divided
Analysis
Sep 4, 2009 12:44 PM CDT

School Speech Uproar Shows Country Divided

In addressing kids, Bush 41 didn't have problems like Obama's

(Newser) - When George HW Bush gave a televised address to a public school in 1991 and urged schools around the country to show it in class, no one much cared. When President Obama announced plans to do the same, he drew outrage and comparisons to Chairman Mao. That’s America in...

Online Colleges: Ready for Some Respect

Department of Ed. study shows e-learning is effective

(Newser) - The educational establishment has been slow to accept online colleges as serious teaching institutions—programs like the University of Phoenix are commonly dismissed as “diploma mills.” But a new study by the Department of Education shows that, in many cases, students perform better with e-learning than in a...

Ooops: Chicago Schools Not the Miracle Obama Claimed

(Newser) - Arne Duncan isn’t quite the miracle worker Barack Obama made him out to be, according to a new study from a Chicago civic group. When Obama introduced his nominee for education secretary, he boasted that Duncan had boosted elementary school test results “From 38% of students meeting the...

Obama Razes 'No Child Schoolhouse'
Obama Razes 'No Child Schoolhouse'
Jun 23, 2009 4:05 AM CDT

Obama Razes 'No Child Schoolhouse'

Bush-era name ditched as administration seeks to overhaul education law

(Newser) - A model of a little red schoolhouse used to promote the launch of the federal policy "No Child Left Behind" is no more, the Washington Post reports. In a highly symbolic move, the structure at the entrance of the Department of Education and policy logos of the Bush administration...

Obama Kicks Off Radical College Aid Revamp

The administration's goals are both ambitious and controversial

(Newser) - President Obama’s education proposals have taken a backseat to the economy and health care, but the changes he proposes in student lending are about to ignite a fierce lobbying battle, the Washington Post reports. Obama’s plan to move all federal funds for student lending to the Department of...

Duncan to Schools: Uncle Sam Is Watching
Duncan to Schools: Uncle Sam Is Watching
OPINION
Apr 22, 2009 12:11 PM CDT

Duncan to Schools: Uncle Sam Is Watching

Education sec says they'd better spend bailout money wisely

(Newser) - States should be careful when spending their stimulus education windfall, because Uncle Sam will be watching, the US education secretary writes in the Wall Street Journal. “We will require an honest assessment of key issues like teacher quality, student performance, college readiness, and the number of charter schools,”...

$150B Stimulus to Double Education Budget

$150B spending expected to permanently expand government's role in education

(Newser) - The stimulus plan before Congress today more than doubles the Department of Education's budget, reports the New York Times. An unprecedented extra $150 billion in federal aid would provide funds for nearly every aspect of education, from school construction to college grants. Opponents and backers alike agree that the injection...

32M Lack Basic Reading Skills
 32M Lack Basic Reading Skills 
Jan 9, 2009 8:18 AM CST

32M Lack Basic Reading Skills

Study says Illiteracy crisis getting worse

(Newser) - One in seven American adults in the US—about 32 million people—have such low literacy skills that they cannot read a newspaper story or a prescription bottle, a new federal study says. "They really cannot read paragraphs (or) sentences that are connected," says an Education Department researcher....

Caroline Ducked $$$ Disclosure in Schools Job

City exempt Kennedy, but isn't exactly sure why

(Newser) - Unlike other New York City employees—including billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg—Caroline Kennedy skirted the practice of disclosing her finances when working for the city, the New York Times reports. To reduce conflicts of interest, city regulations require high-level staff to file disclosures, and that would include Kennedy, who ran...

Obama on Ed Pick: Gifted Leader (and Great Jump Shot)

Also promises reform and stuff

(Newser) - Barack Obama introduced Arne Duncan as his secretary of education pick today, lauding the Chicago educator's accomplishments in reforming the country's third-largest school district, and noting that he's also a longtime basketball buddy who has a better jump shot than the president-elect. “I didn't pick Arne because he's a...

PBS Unleashes Martha for Vocab Help

(Newser) - What if the family dog ate alphabet soup by mistake? Susan Meddaugh answered her 7-year-old son’s question by writing a book, Martha Speaks, which has now become a PBS show about the talking dog. PBS hopes it will teach challenging vocab—"diminish," "concoct," and "...

States Hide Big High School Dropout Rates

They send 1 set of numbers to DC, keep another set at home

(Newser) - Many states report rosy high school graduation rates to Washington but publicize much lower figures at home, the New York Times reports. The higher rates often fail to account for the nation's growing legion of dropouts, but states are leery to give the feds bad numbers in part because of...

Bush Officials Killed Proposal For Student Loan Reform

Education Department under Bush is cozy with the loan industry, critics say

(Newser) - Bush officials killed a proposal to clamp down on sleazy practices in the student loan industry in 2001, the Washington Post reports. The proposals, drafted under Clinton and circulated to the Bush team, was aimed at curbing the kind of abuses now being investigated, in which loan companies pay universities...

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