- Michelle Obama joins D.C. students for their march to mail college applications [Capital City PCS mentioned]
- Jonetta Rose Barras: A shake-up on the D.C. Council
- Rating teacher preparation programs is a plus for students and teachers
Michelle Obama joins D.C. students for their march to mail college applications [Capital City PCS mentioned]
The Washington Post
By Michael Alison Chandler
December 5, 2014
The seniors at Capital City Public Charter School experienced the usual wave of relief and anticipation after mailing off college applications Friday, as well as an added surprise: a hug from Michelle Obama.
The first lady came to their school in Northwest Washington to take part in what has become an annual tradition at some schools across the country — the College March.
Before she arrived, the seniors paraded through the hallways with college applications in hand while underclassmen cheered them along. At most schools, the march culminates at a nearby mailbox or post office. On Friday, the seniors at Capital City dropped their applications in a mailbox set up on a stage in the gymnasium, where Obama greeted them.
“Seniors, we are so incredibly proud of you,” she told the Class of 2015. “I know that it took a lot to get to this day, and there’s still more to do.”
To the younger students in the room, she said: “This is where you want to be. . . . These seniors stuck with it.”
Obama was promoting her “Reach Higher” initiative to encourage more students to go to college and earn a degree.
The president has set a goal for the United States to regain its position as a world leader in its share of college graduates by 2020. The White House hosted a summit this week to promote new efforts underway to make college more accessible and affordable, through better counseling, more seamless transitions and other reforms.
On Friday, Obama used her life story to encourage students at the high-poverty-level school to commit to higher education. She said she grew up like many of them, with parents who did not make a lot of money and living in a neighborhood where few adults had college degrees. Her path to success? “I worked my — heart out,” she said to laughter. “Some other things, too.”
Friday marked the first lady’s second trip to the charter school. She and the president visited in 2009 to tour the high-performing school and read a book to a second-grade class.
Capital City was founded in 2000 for preschool through eighth grade and opened a high school in 2008. The school now serves 975 students in pre-
kindergarten through 12th grade.
Capital City has an “expeditionary learning” approach, which emphasizes project-based education and character development. Seniors must complete an in-depth research project culminating in a paper and a presentation before they can graduate.
Obama told the students that she was returning to the school because of its strong record in college attainment.
Since its first class graduated in 2012, 100 percent of seniors have been accepted to college, according to school officials.
This year, each of the 75 seniors has submitted at least one college application, and nearly half of the students have already been admitted to at least one school, officials said.
“Here at Capital City, every student is college material,” Obama said. “This should be the reality and the model for every school in this country.”
Obama said college has become necessary in today’s economy, but she urged students not to think of it as a burden.
“Higher education is your ticket to a good job, but it’s also one of the most fun, exciting and challenging experiences you will ever have in your life,” she said.
Jonetta Rose Barras: A shake-up on the D.C. Council
The Washington Post
By Jonetta Rose Barras
December 4, 2014
Ward 6 resident and education advocate Peter MacPherson lamented to me about the potential loss of a D.C. Council Committee on Education: “Have you heard that [Chairman Phil] Mendelson is thinking about returning it to the Committee of the Whole?”
I was incredulous. Everyone agreed that when the issue was buried inside that committee, which includes all 13 members of the council, it received very little attention. Recognizing that problem, Mendelson established a separate Committee on Education and Libraries almost two years ago and appointed David A. Catania (I-At Large) as chairman.
But Catania ran for mayor and lost. That means he won’t come back to the council next year. It’s favorable testimony to his stewardship, however, that parents and advocates are lobbying to maintain the current committee structure.
Mendelson declined to discuss his plans with me when I called him about restructuring the council for the next legislative period, which begins in January. He said: “I don’t think anyone knows what I am going to do. I don’t even know what I am going to do.”
“I’m in the process of talking with members,” he added.
No one is questioning whether Mendelson, who chairs the Committee of the Whole, would provide adequate oversight. But, as council chairman, he has to manage the institution’s business, including the budget and all related matters. That’s a handful.
How much time would he have to visit schools personally, as Catania did? Could Mendelson immerse himself in ever-evolving education policies to understand how they might affect District children?
Mendelson should retain a separate committee to ensure that traditional schools, charters, the University of the District of Columbia, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education and the deputy mayor for education receive the attention warranted by the more than $1 billion in public funds spent. At-large council member David Grosso (I) is the right person to be chairman.
Grosso has spent hours in schools, in meetings with parents, poring over proposed legislation and sitting through dozens of public hearings and town hall meetings. In other words, he has mastery over the terrain, knows the key players and has the respect of many parents. He’s ready to lead the Committee on Education.
Mendelson’s job of assigning committee chairmanships is no easy feat. The legislature is being remade. Catania is leaving, as is Ward 6’s Tommy Wells, who failed to secure the mayoral nomination in the Democratic primary. Ward 1’s Jim Graham (D) lost his reelection bid. Ward 4’s Muriel Bowser (D) is now mayor-elect. Ward 8 council member Marion Barry (D) died last month. (A special election will be held in April to fill the Barry’s and Bowser’s unexpired terms.)
Translation: Next year, five council members will be freshmen. That could result in a shift in quality and philosophy. We’ll have to wait and see.
Several people told me that Mendelson has said privately he’s not inclined to give freshman legislators — at-large council member Elissa Silverman (I), Ward 6’s Charles Allen (D) and Ward 1’s Brianne Nadeau (D) — committee chairmanships. That rule didn’t make sense two years ago when he implemented it, and it makes less sense today.
It’s not as if he is grappling with a two-party legislature. All the freshmen are Democrats; Silverman changed her affiliation to improve her chances of victory. Further, implementing such a decision could overload incumbents and negatively affect the oversight process.
Mendelson should adopt an all-hands-on-deck approach, identifying each legislator’s strengths and making assignments accordingly. He might consider creating a subcommittee on libraries and recreation and making Allen its chairman. Anita Bonds (D-At Large), who was elected to her first full term after completing an unexpired term, has demonstrated an interest in housing and homelessness. She could prove an effective chairman of a new committee on housing, which could focus on affordability and homelessness prevention.
A new committee on community development could be created by merging employment and human services. Silverman would offer strong leadership as its chairman. A former staffer with the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, she has demonstrated a keen understanding of these issues and how the government might more successfully serve the needs of the city’s more vulnerable residents.
Ward 5’s Kenyan McDuffie (D), a rising star on the council, should be named chairman of the Committee on Economic Development. He works hard, is ethical and has proved he can’t be bought. He’s primarily interested in what’s best for District residents — not realizing developers’ sometimes-outlandish fantasies.
At-large council member Vincent Orange (D) could be shifted to the Committee on Government Operations, which is vast and needs a seasoned legislator to provide oversight. A subcommittee on business and consumer regulations could be headed by Nadeau, a former advisory neighborhood commissioner.
If the chairman is a glutton for punishment and wants more work, he could assume responsibility for the Judiciary and Public Safety committee, areas for which he once successfully provided oversight. That move would ensure Mendelson would be the person turning off the lights in the John A. Wilson Building most nights.
Rating teacher preparation programs is a plus for students and teachers
The Washington Post
Editorial Board
December 6, 2014
RESEARCH HAS shown that the single most important factor in helping children learn is the quality of their teachers. So it is a big problem when graduates of teacher education programs are ill-prepared to deal with the demands of the classroom. The Obama administration’s move to develop new standards of accountability for teacher preparation programs is a step in the right direction that will help both students and teachers.
The federal Education Department announced recently a proposal that would require states to measure how well colleges and universities are preparing teachers. Criteria for the rating systems, which would also apply to alternative programs like Teach for America, would include job placement and retention rates of graduates, feedback from new teachers’ employers and the academic performance of their students.
“This is nothing short of a moral issue,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said as he announced the proposed rules. “All educators want to do a great job for their students, but too often they struggle at the beginning of their careers and have to figure out too much on the job by themselves.” Deficiencies in teacher preparation programs have long been the worst kept secret of American education. A report last month by the National Council on Teacher Quality found education majors able to rack up more A’s than other majors, suggesting a lack of rigor in the programs.
That there was immediate pushback to Mr. Duncan’s announcement from the teachers unions and institutions of learning came as no surprise given their record of resisting any and all accountability initiatives. Contrary to claims of overreach by the federal government, the proposal, now subject to public comment, vests with the states the ability to develop appropriate rating systems. States would be given plenty of time to develop systems, since the first report cards won’t be required until April 2019. No state would be forced to participate, but states that don’t would be ineligible for certain federal grants.
The administration has at times been wobbly in following through on promises to bring accountability to education reform, so its perseverance on this critical issue is all the more commendable. As Mr. Duncan said, “Nothing in school matters as much as the quality of teaching our students receive.”