President Obama today shared with the nation’s governors his plan to include college- and career-ready standards in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (aka No Child Left Behind). Here are the bulleted policiesObama and his educrew would like to see integrated into ESEA: “Require all states to adopt and certify that they have college- [...]
If you were hiding under a rock last night, you missed two great things.
January 28, 2010 By
1) Obama stated his commitment to making community colleges across the country more affordable 2) the Bus held Olympia in a Can (part 1 of 3)! The first three weeks of the legislative session have been a whirlwind of topics: the budget, pre-kindergarten, the budget, race to the top, umm the budget, new revenue sources, [...]
SBE adopts accountability framework legislation
January 4, 2010 By
The State Board of Education adopted legislation related to its accountability framework today in a special meeting in Olympia. The approved legislation now goes to the Legislature for its approval during the 2010 session beginning next week. If passed by the Legislature the SBE will implement a system of identifying and assisting low-performing schools and [...]
The House passes the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act!
September 17, 2009 By
Hooray! Thanks to your hard work, the House of Representatives has passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act by a vote of 253-171! Struggling to come up with the cash for college? House leadership, with the Obama administration’s support, wants to cut out the middle man from federal student loan programs and give students [...]
A strong case for including early learning in Race to the Top
September 4, 2009 By
If you are reading our blog, chances are you know that we support our state applying for a federal Race to the Top (RTT) grant. Call us fanboys if you want – but we have a historic opportunity to use federal ARRA funds and expertise to accelerate and expand state reforms. The 2009 education reform [...]
Education is hot, debt is not.
September 3, 2009 By
Today, the Wall Street Journal published an article stating that student loan borrowing grew 25% in the last year (and has been steadily rising for some time now). “Today, two-thirds of college students borrow to pay for college, and their average debt load is $23,186 by the time they graduate.” For many of us, this [...]
July 28 conference call
July 30, 2009 By
We hosted a conference call about the current education landscape Tuesday night. Many thanks to those of you who joined us. For those that missed it, we now have a recording of the call. Since it’s a 4MB file, we recommend you email the link rather than the actual file. Also, to help you follow [...]
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TAKE ACTION: A bold proposal from the other Washington
July 27, 2009 By
Can you think of a win-win for both young and older kids? We can. It’s the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which would make a landmark investment in our nation’s future by preparing young children for success in school and young adults for the workforce. Washington State’s delegation in the House of Representatives will [...]
Additional ARRA guidelines released
July 24, 2009 By
In addition to Race to the Top, the following guidelines are also out today: Second round of State Fiscal Stabilization Fund grants Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems grants Guidelines for the Investing in Innovation Fund, Teacher Incentive Fund, Title I School Improvement Grants and State Educational Technology Grants will be released in the coming weeks, according [...]
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July 15, 2009 By
Hot off the federal edu-news presses. This morning, Rep. George Miller (CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, introduced the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act. Here are two reasons why this legislation had me at hello: 1) Tackling the Student Loan Problem If you ask me, students these days are way [...]
