New White House Rural Council Intended to Coordinate support for Rural Communities
The first White House Rural Council was created to build on the Obama Administration’s rural economic strategy and improve the implementation of that strategy. This council will coordinate programs across various federal agencies to encourage public-private partnerships to promote further economic prosperity and quality of life in rural communities nationwide. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan … Continue reading
Technology is becoming increasingly integrated into the Classroom
PBS and Grunwald Associates have been tracking teachers’ use of media and technology for classroom instruction for eight years in a nationally representative, statistically valid study. They report that, teachers increasingly use, rely on, and value media and technology for classroom instruction. Some excerpts: Nearly all K-12 teachers reported in 2010 that they use some … Continue reading
GEAR UP! No, really. It’s time to apply for GEAR UP
The U.S. Department of Education published the Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for the 2011 Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) grant competition. Access information by clicking the following: State Grants and Partnership Grants on the Federal Register. While this year is similar to the 2009 GEAR UP grant competition, there are some important changes: New … Continue reading
Education news related to Texas’s Special Session
I do not have a front row seat at the Texas Legislature, but I do read Texas Tribune faithfully. The 6/10/2011 issue provides an overview of currently active legislation that would affect Texas Schools. Here is a quick summary, with a link to the article at the end. Pre-Kindergarten: Rep. Mark Shelton, R-Fort Worth has … Continue reading
eSchoolNews has a clear (and discouraging) story about Educational Finance
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/05/26/schools-struggle-to-recover-amid-years-of-cuts/ Among other things… Around the country, states are cutting education spending to close gaping budget holes, while school districts are running out of federal stimulus money that had prevented widespread job losses over the past two years. As budgets shrink and expenses grow, districts are laying off large numbers of teachers, raising class sizes, … Continue reading
The Condition of Education 2011 … How do you measure up?
Grant proposals need to be substantiated with data, preferably data that illustrates the gap between your beneficiary and a recognized norm or standard. The National Center for Education Statistics releases data annually regarding the condition of education nationwide. This can sometimes be useful data, although it is a bit dated by the time of release. … Continue reading
The Texas Appropriations Budget for Education … in a nutshell
OOPS alert – I did not have the final version. As soon as I do I will revise and repost — I am sorry for the confusion. In case you do not want to read all 854 pages of HB1, I have highlighted items that pertain to programmatic funding of Pk-12 education programs. If you … Continue reading
What about School Finance Reform? Texas SB 1581 update
The Texas House tabled SB 1581, a key education finance reform bill, which moves resolution of the issue to a conference committee. According to The Texas Tribune, Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen tabled the bill, saying, “I think we will park school finance where it is for a couple of years and come back. I … Continue reading
Projections for Budget Changes at District Level based on Final Approved Texas Budget. It’s kind of crazy!
The Texas Tribune has become one of my favorite sources for news. They have just updated their Interactive Projected School District Funding Cuts database (http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/school-district-funding-cut-projections/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=alerts&utm_campaign=News%20Alert:%20Subscriptions). I have been carefully watching for some of “my” school districts. The crazy thing is that one district, which is very high achieving and average for economic disadvantage, is getting … Continue reading
Grant Opportunity: The Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge
The Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge (Jobs Accelerator) is an inter-agency funding opportunity designed by the Taskforce for the Advancement of Regional Innovation Clusters (TARIC), in partnership with other Federal agencies and bureaus. TARIC recognizes that regions can benefit from coordinated, flexible, regionally customized investments with stronger goals and metrics that link economic development, workforce … Continue reading
The Grant Coaches 