Earlier this year, forty states and the District of Columbia submitted applications to receive federal assistance for education through the Race to the Top competition.  And now, sixteen finalists have been selected by a panel of outside experts.

All four of our Education Voters affiliate states made the finals!

Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio made the cut because of their ongoing commitment to reforming public education, and because dedicated activists have consistently helped to make sure that education is a priority and demanded that our leaders develop forward-looking plans at the state and national levels to ensure every child a quality education.

The Race to the Top is just the beginning.  These states were selected not just because of the great strides that they’ve already made, but because they are committed to planning for and providing a better future for our kids.  We need to be sure our leaders follow through on their promises.

Each state’s representatives will be in Washington later this month to make a last push for the Race to the Top grant.  Education Voters will continue to stay involved, keep you informed, and be a champion for both the policies and the resources we need to get results.

There’s an exciting new way for students to help guide education reform in America.

Last month, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge.

The challenge encourages schools to show how they are making great strides on personal responsibility, academic excellence and college readiness. In your application, tell us why your school is special and why it should be a model for other schools around the country.

…The President will select a national winner from these three finalists and visit the winning high school to deliver the commencement address to the class of 2010.

Click here to learn more about the challenge, then pass this message along to the high school students, teachers, parents, faculty, or community leaders in your life.

Commencement Challenge applications must be written by students, detailing the ways their schools are helping them prepare for success in the classroom, in the job market, or in college. Finalists will be selected based on how well their schools are helping students prepare for the future, and then the public will be able to weigh in, and judge which schools are making the most progress in the fight to reform public education.

2010 will be the year to wipe the slate clean on the so-called “No Child Left Behind” law.  And in today’s Washington Post, education writer Jay Mathews — who supported the law — says it’s time to “kill NCLB.”

The anniversary of the signing of the No Child Left Behind last Friday reminded me that my long support for that landmark bipartisan law needs revision. The law has served its purpose. Instead of amending it, as the Obama administration and the Congress seem likely to do, let’s dump it and try something different.

I wouldn’t make such a radical suggestion if I didn’t think the law’s main elements would survive without it. All the states have been forced to establish annual testing that identifies which schools are not serving their students, particularly those with family and personal disadvantages. Any politician who tries to junk those tests is going to lose the next election to an opponent who asks the simple question: “Don’t you think our schools should be accountable?”

What we should do instead of No Child Left Behind is a more difficult question.

Click here to read the rest of Mathews’ thoughts on the options for replacing No Child Left Behind.

As the year is winding down, and we are spending more time with family and friends, there is one last message we need to send to our senators about fighting for students.

In September, the House of Representatives passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), which would help the United States produce more college graduates by 2020 than any other country, while also helping states improve early-childhood education and job-training programs. This bill helps students at some of the most crucial stages in their education, when spiraling costs can have the most detrimental effects on their futures.

Three months have passed and the Senate has done nothing to pass this extraordinary bill. In any other year, such a wide-ranging and innovative investment in our future would be cause for big headlines, and politicians would be working around the clock to take a leadership role in getting it passed. But as 2009 comes to an end, this huge boost for our education system faces an uncertain future in the U.S. Senate.

Click here to send a message to your senators. Tell them to support the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, and to do whatever they can to make sure the bill is sent to President Obama.

SAFRA would provide $87 billion in assistance to students, making college affordable and transforming the way our student loan programs operate. It would expand quality early education opportunities, putting more children on the path to success in school. It would strengthen community colleges and training programs to help build a highly-skilled, innovative, 21st-century workforce ready for the rigors of a global economy. And it would even take steps to reduce the deficit.

Click here to tell your senators to send help NOW to the kids that need it most. SAFRA helps students at every level, and helps our communities by spending – and saving – education funds efficiently.

We all know how important the next year is going to be for the fight to reform education in America. Let’s start 2010 by making sure that Congress finishes what it started in 2009.

A few weeks ago, we asked you to tell us what needs to be done in your communities in order to ensure that every child has access to a quality education. Here are a few quick examples of the thought-provoking responses we received:

Rebecca reminds us that parental involvement goes beyond occasional parent-teacher meetings:

…a major factor impairing my teaching is students who come to school unready to learn. When children come to school tired from being up all night, hungry, worried about covering the fact that they don’t actually live in the district, they can’t learn. When children come to school without a clue as to how to respect adults, they can’t learn. When children have everything at home done for them by helicopter parents who blame the teachers when the children misbehave, they can’t learn. Parents have to get serious about education so their children can learn.

Barbara talks about the recent trend of treating technology as a cure-all:

My only concern to share is that everyone needs to know that expensive computers ARE NOT the answer to every educational problem! Sometimes it’s pencil and paper, sometimes it’s one-on-one time with an adult educator, sometimes a mnemonic song to help with memorization, sometimes it’s a meal/snack, sometimes its a quiet nap…

Ron makes a great case for better involvement from the broader community:

Broaden the base of support for education reform by emphasizing the economic benefits for all. Businesses are retained in the community, new businesses are attracted, standard of living improves, property values increase, talented workforce becomes available, etc.

If you haven’t already, check out the rest of the discussion here.

And many of your comments echo what we’ve been hearing elsewhere: that it’s time to wipe the slate clean on “No Child Left Behind.” Without a doubt, that’s the number-one priority for Education Voters of America in 2010.

In fact, hundreds of education voters have already told President Obama that reforming education has to be a top national priority, and that the work must start with a top-to-bottom overhaul of “No Child Left Behind.” After watching a speech he gave last year in Dayton, Ohio, it seems like the upcoming State of the Union address is the perfect opportunity for the president to set us on the track for real reform. Click here if you’d like to add your voice.

We don’t have to tell you that there’s a lot of work to be done. But with a president in the White House who appreciates the value of a good education, and with the energy and ideas of a motivated national network, we have a real chance to make 2010 the Year of Education.

In communities across America, education voters have been fighting to make sure that elected officials don’t short-change our children. We’re demanding that our leaders do whatever it takes to provide America’s children with the skills they need to meet tomorrow’s challenges. And in 2010, our impact will be greater than ever.

We want to know what you think is important, and let you know how important education – and education voters like you – will be in 2010. Working with activists, community leaders, and elected officials all across the country, you can make 2010 the year of education.

We’d like you to know our goals for 2010. In the coming year, Education Voters will:

• Support President Obama’s pledge to transform public education in America.
• Fight to reform the so-called “No Child Left Behind” law so that teachers don’t have to spend all their time teaching to the test.
• Persuade elected officials at every level to put kids first, and hold them accountable when they don’t. Cutting school funding to plug a short-term hole in a state budget is simply not acceptable.
• Advocate for policies that will prepare every child to succeed in the 21st century. That means making sure that every child who graduates is ready for college, and is ready to face tomorrow’s job market.
• Listen to you, and make sure your voices are heard by elected officials from City Hall to the State House to the White House. There are thousands of education voters from all walks of life. This is a community issue, and all deserve to have our voices heard.

We’ll be asking for your help every step of the way, and we’re going to start by asking for your input. Tell us what education issue is a priority in your community. Tell us what a dedicated group of activists could do in 2010 to help.

Last week, the Department of Education announced the final rules and deadlines for the Race to the Top, which will send $4 billion to help education in states that have a demonstrated commitment to reform and providing a quality education.

The guidelines encourage a comprehensive approach to reform, and set up a competition where individual states receive federal grants as a reward for improving student achievement and demonstrating an ongoing commitment to building a better education system.

In deciding which states should receive grants, the U.S. Department of Education will consider whether a state is:

• Establishing standards to prepare students for college and the workplace
• Building data systems that measure student progress, and using that information to constantly improve educational programs
• Recruiting and retaining effective teachers and school officials
• Making real improvements to the schools that need it most

The Department of Education has been clear that the states should look to the Race to the Top guidelines as a roadmap for improving all aspects of education, and that they would like all states to work toward the goals outlined in the Race to the Top.

Click here to learn more about the Race to the Top funds.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke yesterday at the University of Delaware about the need to reform education in America:

Education secretary calls for end to infighting
Duncan says bold plans will get stimulus funding
By EDWARD L. KENNEY • The News Journal • October 28, 2009

Stakeholders competing for $4.35 billion that the U.S. Department of Education will award to states with bold plans to improve student performance will stand a better chance if they stop fighting within their own educational systems.

“You’re not going to agree on everything, but keep coming together, stay at the table,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told a sold-out audience at an education conference Tuesday at the University of Delaware.

Only half the problem in education is the lack of investment, he said, the other half is that people spend too much time fighting each other.

Disagreements aside, he rated Delaware as a good candidate for a chunk of the federal pie.

“Delaware has a chance, I think, to lead the country. This is a state of manageable size. … Delaware can help lead us where we need to go,” said Duncan, who spoke as part of the university’s “Creating Knowledge-Based Partnerships” conference, the fifth in a series designed to spotlight opportunities for partnerships among UD, government and business leaders.

Duncan prefaced his remarks by saying the United States has an unacceptable 30 percent drop-out rate, with 1.2 million leaving school each year before they graduate.

Many of those people are doomed to failure because there are simply not enough jobs out there for them, he said.

“Many other countries have passed us by, and collectively we pay a price,” he said.

Duncan listed a set of priorities that he believes will help turn things around educationally.

Click here to read the full article.

A college education has been growing more and more expensive in recent years.  At the same time as we’re working to make sure high schools prepare our children for college, rising costs are preventing many of those struggling students from even thinking about the next stage of their education.

According to an article in the Washington Monthly, the solution to rising college costs isn’t flashy or controversial.  In fact, Maryland has been holding down college costs without resorting to cuts in service, complicated funding schemes, or piling on the debt.  It all came down to having an efficient plan, and listening to the public:

How did Maryland manage to hold the line on tuition for four years in a row, when no other public university system was able to do so? The system’s board of regents insisted on some modest long-term operational efficiencies, and the universities’ administrators and faculty actually complied. Then elected officials, responding to political pressure, agreed to increase funding for higher education. It’s not a terribly shocking tale—unless you work in academia, in which case you talk about the Maryland example the way soldiers discuss the Battle of Thermopylae. Indeed, what’s astonishing about this story is not so much what happened as the fact that in other states, such things almost never do.

Maryland provides us with a great example of what we can accomplish with smart planning and a strong political will.

Click here for the full article.

As states struggle to fully fund education while dealing with myriad budget crises, local education agencies have been spending more and more time seeking alternate sources of funding.  We think a lot of people will be interested in learning about the new i3 grants that were just announced by the Department of Education.  The Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund will provide grants to expand innovative education programs that have a track record of improving student achievement.

These grants will be open to local education agencies in all 50 states plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, and are designed to enhance successful, innovative programs that have made a difference for students and communities.  The Department of Education will begin accepting applications for these grants in early 2010.

Click here to learn more about the i3 grants.