Word: duncan
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...strategy supported by both President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and cities and states are experimenting with various approaches. Cincinnati, Ohio, for example, in June started giving students in the city's 13 most persistently failing public schools the option of an extra month (a "fifth quarter") of classes. And Ohio Governor Ted Strickland hopes to phase in a similar 20-day extension at all schools statewide. (See pictures of a public boarding school...
...Duncan, as the nation's educator in chief, has repeatedly plugged a longer school day and year. He views today's standard six-hour, 180-day calendar as way too old school, a holdover from not only 19th century agrarian society but also mid-20th century Donna Reed-style parenting. "Our children are no longer working in the fields," Duncan says. "And Mom isn't waiting at home at 2:30 with a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. That just doesn't happen in many American families anymore." (Read an interview with Duncan...
Those lost jobs are why Education Secretary Arne Duncan declared in March that two-year schools "will play a big role in getting America back on its feet again." Obama tapped two former community-college officials for top posts in the Education Department and in May announced a p.r. campaign - headed by Jill Biden, the Vice President's wife and a longtime community-college professor - to raise awareness about the power of these schools to train new and laid-off workers. (See pictures of the college dorm's evolution...
...rate on new federal loans, arrive at a moment of seemingly runaway college costs on one end and a dismal economic outlook on the other. The Obama Administration is trying to lessen the pressure on aspiring students in ways both big and small. Last week, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced a plan to simplify the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) - the form to apply for federal dollars - cutting at least 20% of the questions and making it easier to fill out online. For months now, Duncan has discussed the possibility of making Pell Grants an entitlement or guaranteed...
Zitzner, for one, is at least pleased by Duncan's overture, indicative as it is of possible ways that the charter industry could more closely work with school districts. "A lot of us feel that we're the redheaded stepchildren of the education industry, and only recently are some of us starting to get embraced by traditional educators," says Zitzner. "So if they want to work with us, if they want to give us facilities, and renovate those facilities, and give us full funding, and full autonomy, I would love to help do some turnarounds...