WP: Arne Duncan - ESEA Reauthorization/WP: Stephen Krashen - Response to Arne Duncan/Inky - Gureghian background/"Highly Qualified" - Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Washington Post January 3, 2011

School reform: A chance for bipartisan governing

By Arne Duncan

With a new Congress set to begin, key members on both sides of the aisle are poised to rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

In fact, the work has been underway for much of the past year, and few areas are more suited for bipartisan action than education reform.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/02/AR2011010202378.html

LAF - Stephen Krashen is a regular contributor on the  Schools Matter blog

Washington Post Answer Sheet Blog

Posted at 2:00 PM ET, 01/ 3/2011

A response to Arne Duncan

By Valerie Strauss

Stephen Krashen, professor emeritus at the University of Southern California, wrote the following as a response to a column written by Education Secretary Arne Duncan in today's Washington Post.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/education-secretary-duncan/a-response-to-arne-duncan.html

Here's more background on Vahan Gureghian, operator of the state's largest charter school and member of the Corbett Education Transition Team:

Inky - Posted on Mon, Jan. 3, 2011

Montco GOP struggling with money and mission

By Jeremy Roebuck

Inquirer Staff Writer

GOP stalwarts look back fondly on the Montgomery County Republican Committee's fund-raisers of old…..

"The committee has more than $90,000 of debts - some as old as two years - to printers, caterers, political consultants, and other vendors.

And it has become increasingly dependent upon the benevolence of one man - Gladwyne lawyer, educator, and billboard company owner Vahan Gureghian, who operates the state's largest charter school.

His $93,000 in contributions make up more than a quarter of the money the Montgomery County GOP has taken in this year, according to its latest financial filings with the Department of State."

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/112792004.html

Scholastic Administrator – Alexander Russo's This Week in Education, January 3^rd, 2011

Congress: "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" About Highly Qualified Teachers*

http://scholasticadministrator.typepad.com/thisweekineducation/2011/01/congress-dont-ask-dont-tell-about-highly-qualified-teachers.html

Here's a little additional info (albeit from 2002) on calling folks with no experience "Highly Qualified":

Defining "Highly Qualified Teachers": What Does "Scientifically-Based Research" Actually Tell Us?

by Linda Darling-Hammond and Peter Young

http://aera.net/uploadedFiles/Journals_and_Publications/Journals/Educational_Researcher/3109/3109_ResNewsComment.pdf