The nation’s high school graduation rate, which declined in the latter part of the 20th century, may have hit bottom and begun to rise, according to a report to be issued Tuesday by a nonprofit group founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell. “The United States is turning a corner in meeting the high school dropout epidemic,” General Powell and his wife, Alma J. Powell, wrote in a letter introducing the report.  The report cites two statistics. The national graduation rate increased to 75 percent in 2008, from 72 percent in 2001. And the number of high schools that researchers call dropout factories — based on a formula that compares a school’s 12th-grade enrollment with its 9th-grade enrollment three years earlier — declined to about 1,750 in 2008, from about 2,000 such schools in 2002.  The article is in The New York Times.

Angela Collins writes in Education Week: The ongoing focus on school reform has led to broad consensus on at least one point: Improving training and support for teachers is key to improving student learning. Indeed, many districts are investing heavily in professional development and emphasizing collaboration among educators. But do these strategies provide enough of the right kind of support for new teachers, especially in high-demand areas such as science, technology, and math? Lost in the encouraging news about increased investment in professional development is a sobering fact: The opportunities for teachers to engage in sustained professional learning and collaboration have actually declined in the last decade.

Thomas Friedman writes in The New York Times: We need teachers and principals who are paid better for better performance, but also valued for their long hours and dedication to students and learning. We need better parents ready to hold their kids to higher standards of academic achievement. We need better students who come to school ready to learn, not to text. And to support all of this, we need an all-society effort — from the White House to the classroom to the living room — to nurture a culture of achievement and excellence. Global competition is stiffer. And as the education systems of China, India, Singapore, Poland and Vietnam continue to improve, and more of their cream rises to the top and more of their young people apply to Ivy League schools, it is only going to get more competitive for American men and women at every school.

President Obama, in a nationally broadcast interview to reinvigorate his education agenda sought to bemoan America’s widespread decreasing global educational competitiveness.  He started the school week with a call for a longer school year and said the worst-performing teachers have got to go if they do not improve quickly.At the same time, the president acknowledged that many poor schools don’t have the money they need, defending to provide federal need to them. But Obama said, higher standards must be set and achieved by students and teacher alike.

The president admitted that his own daughters, Malia and Sasha, couldn’t get the same quality education at a Washington, D.C. public school that they currently get at their private school. The Obama girls attend Sidwell Friends School, an elite private school in the Washington area.

Read More on EdWeek.org

In a bold push to get all students college-ready, the Board will vote next month on a plan that will require most North Carolina students to take the ACT college entrance exam before graduation. The board has two reasons for wanting to require the national tests. One, ACT scores will be used as a tool for measuring school effectiveness and two, low performing students can be identified and prepared to take ACT compass. The ACT Compass is a test that some community colleges use to place students in appropriate courses. The state would continue its practice of paying for students who take the preliminary SAT, and would exempt 10th-graders who do well on the SAT or ACT from taking the ACT the next year with their classmates. The state would not pay for 10th-graders who take a college entrance exam. Read more on The Examiner.

One of the objections that’s often raised to using test scores in teacher evaluations is that students are not randomly assigned to teachers. A teacher may be assigned a large number of troubled students because she is especially good at helping such students. Comparing her students’ test scores to those of an honors class obviously wouldn’t be fair. Instead, the systems tend to be based on the amount of progress children make over the course of the year, comparing their end-of-year test scores one year with their end-of-year scores the prior year. Read more on The New York Times Blog..

With support for charter schools mounting across America, some teaching and advocacy groups are bringing on policymakers and educators to give more deliberation to how charter schools can do an improved job of helping the nation’s increasing population of English-language learners. Last month, two such Washington-based groups— The National Council of La Raza and the Center for American Progress—spelled out a report on  how state governments can change their policies to ensure charter schools serve ELLs well. They advocated to tailor their programs for the needs of such students. The report features two charter schools that are part of a network of about 100 supported by the National Council of La Raza and two charter schools that aren’t part of the network considered to be successful with ELLs. The article is in Education Week.

Last Week New York emerged as a clear winner capturing $700 million worth as school grants from the State. Stiff competition had pushed the Legislature to enact changes for a dozen states that helped them secure the money. However, there is a great debate as to whether the Eastern states dominate yet again for reasons beyond outlining the boldest plans for their school systems. A consensus was noted on: Common Geography.

In the two-part grant initiative awarded by the Obama Administration, 11 states who have won major grants are east of Mississippi and others include Florida, Georgia in the South, New York and Massachusetts in the North all embracing the East Coast. Hawaii was the lone geographic exception. Many of rural states do not have the funds or workforce to write sophisticated grant applications. States earned points if they raised their standards and the rigor of standardized tests. Seemingly, still competition rules favored the densely populated Eastern States…..Read more in the New York Times