[ECP] K12 Newsletters
- From: "K.E." <admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: K12NewsLetters@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:55:13 -0500
ED REVIEW
January 8, 2010 (Happy New Year!)
...a bi-weekly update on U.S. Department of Education activities relevant to
the Intergovernmental and Corporate community and other stakeholders
FAFSA SIMPLIFICATION
Earlier this week, Secretary Duncan and Dr. Jill Biden, the wife of Vice
President Joe Biden and a long-time educator, joined students at Washington,
D.C.?s Benjamin Banneker Senior High School as they worked with counselors to
complete the new, streamlined Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
The 2010-11 FAFSA-on-the-Web has been redesigned to be shorter, simpler, and
more user-friendly. Questions are now asked only if relevant to the applicant;
low-income students, for example, are no longer asked for asset information,
and only returning students are asked about prior drug convictions because the
question does not apply to first-year students. Also, immediately after
submitting the FAFSA, applicants will now receive a confirmation email message
which indicates Pell Grant eligibility and links to information about the
schools they are applying to, such as graduation and transfer rates and a
detailed breakdown of costs and expected expenses associated with the schools.
Later this month, those applying for aid in the spring semester using the
2009-10 FAFSA will be able to retrieve and import their tax data from the
Internal Revenue Services (IRS). And, in summer 2010, those applying for aid
in the 2010-11 a year will also be able to access the IRS web site to retrieve
income information to complete the FAFSA.
President Obama has challenged the nation to have the world?s highest
percentage of college graduates by 2020. Simplifying the federal student aid
application process supports that goal by making it easier for students to
access financial support for postsecondary studies. Students could begin
filing FAFSAs for the 2010-11 academic year on January 1.
http://www.edgovblogs.org/duncan/2010/01/a-simpler-application-for-student-aid/.
APPROPRIATIONS BILL
On December 16, the President signed into law an omnibus appropriations bill
(H.R. 3288), Division D of which provides funding for the U.S. Department of
Education. Overall, the bill includes $63.7 billion in discretionary spending
for the agency?s education programs, about a 2% increase over Fiscal Year 2009,
excluding the $100 billion in education funding under the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA) which covers both FY 2009 and FY 2010. Specifically,
the bill includes:
$14.5 billion for Title I grants to local education agencies;
$11.5 billion for special education state grants;
$2.95 billion to help states improve the quality of their teachers and leaders;
$250 million for an expanded (PK-12) Striving Readers program; and
$17.5 billion in Pell Grants for low- and middle-income college undergraduates.
Among the key new items, there is $50 million for the High School Graduation
Initiative; $10 million for the Promise Neighborhood initiative; and a
technical change, sought by the Department, to expand school district
eligibility for the $650 million Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund created
under the ARRA. http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/news.html#10action.
ARRA OUTREACH
On December 24, the Department announced it will hold a second round of public
input meetings to listen and learn from assessment experts and practitioners.
To date, the Department has convened seven meetings in three cities (Boston,
Atlanta, and Denver), with 37 states joining agency leaders and nearly 700
members of the public to hear from experts in general assessment, high school
assessment, the role of technology in assessment, assessing students with
disabilities, and assessing English language learners. Three additional
meetings will be held in the Washington, D.C., metro area. As with the
previous meetings, the goals of the meeting are two-fold: to gather technical
input to inform development of a Race to the Top Assessment Competition and to
enable states -- who will be the grant applicants -- and the public to
participate in and learn from these events. Secretary Duncan has pledged to
reserve up to $350 million (of the $4.35 billion Race to the Top Fund) to
support consortia of states that are working to create new assessments tied to
a common set of standards. The grants would be distributed through a
competitive process this year.
The meetings will be held on January 13 (a full-day on project and consortium
management), 14 (a half-day on procurement in complex cross-state initiatives),
and 20 (a full-day on general and technical assessment issues).
All the meetings are open to the public. The official notice, along with
information on how to RSVP for the meetings, can be found online. The
Department also encourages the submission of written input (see instructions on
the submission process online) and plans to post transcripts of every meeting
session and all written input submitted to the agency. FOR MORE INFORMATION,
PLEASE GO TO http://www.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-assessment/.
Also:
The deadline for State Fiscal Stabilization Fund Phase II applications is
January 11, at 4:30 p.m.
http://www.ed.gov/programs/statestabilization/applicant.html.
The deadline for Race to the Top Phase I applications is January 19, at 4:30
p.m. ET. http://www.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/resources.html
Revised Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Department ARRA reporting
guidance, for the reporting period covering October 1 through December 31,
2009, is posted at http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/section-1512.html
EDUCATE TO INNOVATE
President Obama, as part of his Educate to Innovate campaign, has announced a
number of new and innovative partnerships involving companies, universities,
foundations, non-profit organizations, and government agencies, designed to
improve the participation and performance of America?s students in science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). These five public-private
partnerships -- Intel?s Science and Math Teachers Initiative, expansion of the
National Math and Science Initiative?s UTeach Program, a commitment by more
than 75 public university presidents to train 10,000 math and science teachers
annually by 2015, the PBS Innovative Educators Challenge, and Woodrow Wilson
Teaching Fellowships in Math and Science -- represent a combined $250 million
in financial and in-kind support, adding to the $260 million in support
announced in November 2009 at the launch of the campaign. Furthermore, the
President called on the 200,000 scientists and engineers working for the
federal government to engage in high-impact volunteering alongside STEM
educators. In response, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) is organizing a multiple-year ?Summer of Innovation? enrichment program,
in which NASA staff will work with thousands of students and teachers on
cutting-edge learning opportunities. At the same event, the President also
honored more than 100 outstanding math and science teachers, winners of the
Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching or the
Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering
Mentoring.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/educate-innovate
Teach Non Fear Based Internet Curriculum
"Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online?
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/IEC/teach-non-fear-based-net.html>http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/IEC/teach-non-fear-based-net.html,
a free guidebook produced through a partnership of over a dozen federal
agencies and the technology industry, is designed to help parents when talking
with children about Internet safety. Topics include safe use of social
networking web sites, cyberbulling, and protecting computers from viruses and
other malicious software.
FINANCIAL CAPABILITY
Meeting with students, educators, and community leaders, Secretary Duncan and
Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner recently announced the first step in an
effort to promote stronger financial capability among students: the National
Financial Capability Challenge. This non-monetary awards program challenges
students to take control of their financial future, by learning about personal
finance. It also challenges teachers and schools to incorporate personal
finance topics into instruction. Those teachers who sign up to participate
will receive a helpful teachers? toolkit. In March, students will take a
voluntary online exam to demonstrate what they have learned, assess their
financial knowledge, and learn more about why financial capability is
important. Top scoring students from each school will receive awards in April,
and outstanding teachers and schools will be recognized. FOR MORE INFORMATION,
PLEASE GO TO http://www.challenge.treas.gov/
Also: Financial literacy was among the topics covered when correspondent Hari
Sreenivsan interviewed the Secretary on ?The Rundown,? the PBS NewsHour?s
online webcast. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO
http://www.edgovblogs.org/duncan/2009/12/pbs-newshour-online-interview-with-secretary-arne-duncan/.
ODDS AND ENDS
A new Department video
(http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2009/12/12162009.html) tells the story of
three counselors in the Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools whose jobs were
saved by the ARRA.
"It?s time, once and for all, to make teaching the revered profession it should
be,? the Secretary writes in ?Elevating the Teaching Profession,? an article
published last month in both "NEA Today" and AFT?s ?American Educator." ?Our
guiding principle is simply that teachers should be treated as professionals:
they should have the support, tools, and opportunities to perform at their full
potential by having timely and accurate data about their students to inform
instruction; they should have time to consult and collaborate with their peers;
and they should be evaluated, compensated, and advanced based in part on
student learning."
http://www.edgovblogs.org/duncan/2009/12/elevating-the-teaching-profession/
"Educational Technology in Public School Districts: Fall 2008"
(http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010003), a report from the
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the Institute of
Education Sciences (IES), includes information on Internet capacity and
networks, technology policies, district resources, teacher professional
development, and district-level leadership.
"Now is the time to allocate resources to students -- not to banks -- so they
have access to college and other educational opportunities,? the Secretary
argues in ?Banks Don?t Belong in the Student Loan Business," an op-ed which ran
December 17 in the Wall Street Journal. ?We cannot in good conscience let $87
billion in subsidies go to banks, when our students desperately need financial
help to realize the dream of getting a college education."
http://www.edgovblogs.org/duncan/2009/12/wall-street-journal-op-ed-banks-dont-belong-in-the-student-loan-business/
"In September 2009, the Department?s Family Policy Compliance Office issued
important guidance for institutions of higher education pertaining to the
applicability of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to
disclosures to Census Bureau representatives in regard to the 2010 Census.
Consistent with that guidance, the office has also issued additional guidance
relating to the Bureau?s current American Community Survey (ACS).
http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/
UPCOMING EVENTS
January is National Mentoring Month, spotlighting the importance of mentors and
the need for every child to have a caring adult in his or her life. FOR MORE
INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO http://www.nationalmentoringmonth.org/
January 21-24, the Department will exhibit at the National Title I Conference
in Washington, D.C. If you are attending this event, please stop by the
Department?s booth.
sent by: Educational CyberPlayGround
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/>http://www.edu-cyberpg.<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/>com
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