E-Update for July 23, 2014
E-Update for July 23, 2014
Updates
The full House of Representatives will consider four higher education bills Wednesday, July 23. The docket includes two of the three bills approved by the Education and the Workforce Committee during last week’s markup, including H.R. 3136: “Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project Act of 2013” and H.R. 4984: “Empowering Students through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act.” In addition, the House will consider two tax bills that were approved by the Ways and Means Committee at the end of June, including H.R. 4935: “Student and Family Tax Simplification Act” and H.R. 3393: “Child Tax Credit Improvement Act of 2014.” To review the bill, see the House Rules Committee website.
EducationCounsel News
EducationCounsel’s Art Coleman contributed an article entitled “Remembering the Fundamentals about Diversity” to the most recent edition of the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ (AAC&U) Liberal Education (Vol. 100, No. 2). Coleman’s article encourages colleges and universities not to lose sight of core diversity fundamentals such as clear goals, research to support policies and practices, and wide-ranging dialogue as they assess implications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions on Fisher v. University of Texas (June 2013) and Schuette v. BAMN (April 2014). Coleman’s article can be found on the AAC&U website.
Events
On Tuesday, July 22, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) hosted a webinar, “An Introduction to the Common Education Data Standards.” During the webinar, staff from the CEDS project funded by the National Center for Education Statistics provided an overview of the work and preview tools developed for states. The CEDS project is a national collaborative effort to develop voluntary, common data standards for a key set of education data elements to streamline the exchange, comparison, and understanding of data within and across P-20W institutions and sectors. This webinar was the first in a two-part series to learn more about the CEDS project, the tools being developed, and the future of the project in which states can provide input and assist in the development.
The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), Discovery Education, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Education hosted the Great Leaders Summit beginning on Tuesday, July 22 and running for five days.Great Leaders Summit attendees will participate in interactive sessions led by school leadership and educational technology experts who will explore a variety of topics, including: leading school culture change, making strategic decisions, examining the future of technology in schools, and integrating technology and digital content into classroom instruction.
On Wednesday, July 23, Educational Testing Service hosted a research forum on “Accessibility, Standards, and Emerging Technologies for Assessment.” During the presentation, Dr. Mark Hakkinen (Research Scientist, Educational Testing Service) will focus on the importance of accessibility standards and will discuss how assistive technologies are currently used to provide access to test takers with disabilities; emerging trends in both assistive technology and accessible standards; and the innovative research being carried out at ETS to improve access to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) materials for students with visual impairments.
On Thursday, July 24, the Senate HELP Committee will host a full committee hearing on “The Role of States in Higher Education. The hearing will take place at 10AM in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Witnesses will include Dr. Eric Kaler (President, University of Minnesota), Teresa Lubbers (Commissioner, Indiana Commission for Higher Education), Lisa Madigan (Attorney General, State of Illinois), and Dr. Laura Perna (Professor and Chair of the Higher Education Division, University of Pennsylvania).
The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a conversation with House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan entitled “Expanding Opportunity in America” on Thursday, July 24 at 9AM at AEI’s Washington headquarters. Chairman Ryan will unveil a new set of policy reforms aimed at reducing poverty and increasing upward mobility throughout America. Chairman Ryan’s plan seeks to reconnect struggling Americans with their local communities and give social-services programs the flexibility to better serve individual needs. Leading poverty and economic mobility experts, including Stuart Butler (Heritage Foundation), Ron Haskins (Brookings Institution), and Bob Woodson (Center for Neighborhood Enterprise), will then discuss the policy implications of Chairman Ryan’s plan. RSVP here to attend.
U.S Department of Education
Education Department Names Seasoned Team to Monitor Corinthian Colleges:Today, the U.S. Department of Education took additional steps to ensure Corinthian Colleges’ students and the American taxpayer are protected by announcing that Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates, under the leadership of former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, has been selected to take on the role of monitoring various aspects of the career college company. As part of an operating agreement reached earlier this month with Corinthian, the Department required that an independent monitor oversee Corinthian’s actions moving forward as the company begins to sell and wind down its campuses over the coming months.
July 18, 2014
U.S. Department of Education Expands Innovation in Higher Education through the Experimental Sites Initiative:As part of the President and Vice President’s new actions to provide more Americans with the opportunity to acquire the skills they need for in-demand jobs, today, the Department is announcing a new round of “experimental sites” (ex-sites) that will test certain innovative practices aimed at providing better, faster, and more flexible paths to academic and career success. “This initiative will enable institutions to try some of their best ideas and most promising practices to provide more students with the opportunity to pursue a higher education and become equipped for success in today’s workforce,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said.
July 22, 2014
New Legislation
H.R.5127 : To allow funds under title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to be used to provide training to school personnel regarding how to recognize child sexual abuse.
Sponsor: Rep Takano, Mark [CA-41] (introduced 7/16/2014)
Committees: House Education and the Workforce
Latest Major Action: 7/16/2014 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
H.R.5134: To extend the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity and the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance for one year.
Sponsor: Rep Foxx, Virginia [NC-5] (introduced 7/17/2014)
Committees: House Education and the Workforce
Latest Major Action: 7/17/2014 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
H.R.5151: To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require certain information be included in loan disclosure statements prior to disbursement, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Murphy, Patrick [FL-18] (introduced 7/17/2014)
Committees: House Education and the Workforce
Latest Major Action: 7/17/2014 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
H.R.5155 : To prohibit the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide funds to carry out the Popular Romance Project or any similar project relating to love or romance.
Sponsor: Rep Salmon, Matt [AZ-5] (introduced 7/17/2014)
Committees: House Education and the Workforce
Latest Major Action: 7/17/2014 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
H.RES.671 : Recognizing the 100th anniversary of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
Sponsor: Rep Lewis, John [GA-5] (introduced 7/16/2014)
Committees: House Education and the Workforce
Latest Major Action: 7/16/2014 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
National and State Headlines
Waiverless Washington State’s Request for New NCLB Flexibility Denied: The Evergreen State is already the first (and so far, the only) state to lose its NCLB flexibility, and return to accountability provisions of the outdated NCLB law. And now the U.S. Department of Education has rejected Washington’s request to get from under a key requirement of NCLB: notifying parents in writing if their school is failing to meet the law’s achievement targets known adequate yearly progress, or AYP.
Education Week
July 21, 2014
Maryland, Idaho Receive NCLB Waiver Extensions: Maryland and Idaho became the seventh and eighth states to see their waivers extended, for one additional year. Both states will have to continue to work with the U.S. Department of Education on their teacher evaluation systems, per the department’s decision to let states keep their flexibility even if they are still hammering out the details on that tricky piece of NCLB waiver implementation.
Education Week
July 18, 2014
Federal Role in Standards Sought by Utah Gov. Herbert: Gov. Gary R. Herbert called for expert and public review of education standards while addressing other issues of growing concern in education. Utah will take action to move forward in resolving growing concerns by issuing a legal review and report from the Attorney General’s Office in regards to Utah’s adoption of the Common Core Standards in mathematics and English language arts, working with Utah experts in mathematics and English language arts to evaluate education standards in mathematics and English language arts from a higher ed perspective to ensure they will prepare students for postsecondary success, and engaging parents, teachers, community members and organizations across the state review current standards and give feedback.
July 17, 2014
Governor Scott Walker Calls on the State Legislature to Pass Legislation to Repeal Common Core:Governor Scott Walker released the following statement calling for the Wisconsin State Legislature to repeal Common Core: “Today, I call on the members of the State Legislature to pass a bill in early January to repeal Common Core and replace it with standards set by people in Wisconsin.”
July 17, 2014
Publications
New America Foundation Report: Common Core Goes to College: Building Better Connections Between High School and Higher Education:New America investigates how higher education policies and practices are leading to many detours for students navigating the path from high school to college. The report calls for five top-level actions, including allowing students to demonstrate proficiency with college- and career-ready assessment scores, providing greater clarity and consistency between assessment scores and preparation for specific higher education coursework, and ensuring that teacher preparation programs provide comprehensive instruction on how to effectively instruct using college- and career-ready standards.
July 21, 2014
University of Virginia EdPolicy Works Working Paper: Freshman Year Financial Aid Nudges: An Experiment to Increase FAFSA Renewal and College Persistence: This paper investigates the impact of a low-touch intervention in which college freshman were sent a series of personalized text message reminders related to FAFSA re-filing. The paper notes that the intervention produced large and positive effects among freshmen at community colleges. Specifically, text recipients at community colleges were nearly 12 percentage points more likely to persist into their sophomore year of college compared to community college freshmen who did not receive this outreach.By contrast, the intervention did not improve sophomore year persistence among freshmen at four-year institutions, among whom the rate of persistence was already high.
June 2014
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Report: Measuring Innovation in Education: A New Perspective: This new OECD report shows that a number of countries outrank the U.S. when it comes to innovation in the classroom, meaning educators in the U.S. are less likely to try different approaches to teaching and learning and practices are less likely to change. Countries ranked poorly along with the U.S. include Czech Republic, Austria and New Zealand. Countries with the most innovation include Denmark, Indonesia, Korea and the Netherlands.
2014