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ASCD and 30 other education organizations across the nation are now partners in the U.S. Department of Education’s Teach to Lead Initiative. Representing millions of teachers and school leaders, these organizations have committed to engage their members in leadership work through such avenues as social media, leadership training, policy work, and advocacy opportunities. The initiative focuses on elevating the voice of teachers as leaders to enhance student learning and help teachers stay in the classroom while leading in the profession, and aligns with ASCD’s ongoing exploration of teacher leadership.
In addition to the new organizational support, Teach to Lead announced that Boston, Mass., Denver, Colo., and Louisville, Ky. will host the first regional Teacher Leadership Summits between December 2014 and early 2015. During the summits, educators will explore ideas and share best practices in developing teacher leadership. Following the summits, Teacher Leadership Labs will focus on implementing plans to help local districts leverage teacher leaders. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stated that the new collaboration “will be part of the solution to take teacher leadership to scale—using the ample existing body of work on this as a springboard for action.”
Learn more about Teach to Lead, and join the leadership conversation through Commit to Lead, the initiative’s online community where members can submit stories and collaborate on promising ideas to advance teacher leadership.
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For the sixth consecutive year, performance on the SAT Reasoning Test (SAT) has remained stagnant, with approximately 43 percent of takers meeting the test’s college- and career-ready benchmark. And while the number of minority students taking the exam increased, the percent of African American and Hispanic students that reached the desired benchmark (scoring at least 1550 out of 2400) dipped slightly. Students who hit the benchmark are less likely to need remedial courses during the first year in college and more likely to complete their degrees. The College Board—which administers both the SAT and Advanced Placement exams—released the combined 2014 results as part of an ongoing effort to “paint a more complete picture of student progress during high school.” Additionally, the College Board has announced that the SAT is being redesigned to focus on the skills and knowledge that matter most for college and career success. The College Board will administer the revamped test will for the first time in March 2016.
Microsoft, Amplify, and Edmodo are among the big names in education technology that have pledged to safeguard student privacy, specifically the collection, retention, and use of personally-identifiable student information. School service providers who signed the pledge will not sell student information or behaviorally target advertising to them, and they will support parental access to, and correction of errors in, their children’s information. As technology becomes more prevalent in the classroom, federal law has failed to keep up—legislation to amend the law that protects the privacy of student education records is pending—prompting education technology companies to fill the gaps. Privacy advocates, however, express concern that the pledge is optional (neither Apple nor Google have signed) and omits key protections by not requiring companies to give parents advance notice before collecting student data.
School leaders interested in extending their afterschool meal programs to holidays and weekends can learn more during the Food Research and Action Center’s upcoming conference call. The call will detail steps to connect with partners that can help your school provide the additional meals, thus enhancing afterschool programming as well as contributing to the health and well-being of students. Register now to participate in the call on Wednesday, October 15, at 2:00 p.m. ET.
And if you have lost track of the issues and politics in the school meal nutrition debate, you aren’t alone. The New York Times tackles the tug-of-war in a recent article. Read “How School Lunch Became the Latest Political Battleground” to learn about the now in-effect Smart Snacks rules and to find out whether Congress really considers pizza a vegetable.
After the resignation of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack are the only remaining members of President Barack Obama's original Cabinet.
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