Education News from Washington Post

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is under way in the nation's capital with something new: For the first time in the event's 86-year-old year history, there is a vocabulary component to the competition.That means finalists will not only have to spell words like "guetapens" -- which was the winning word in last year's national event -- but also know what it means (ambush, snare, trap).

Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III apologized Tuesday for surprising residents and state lawmakers with his plan to take over the county’s struggling schools but said he does not regret offering the proposal.

Record numbers of Hispanic students are staying in high school, graduating and enrolling in college, but they lag behind other groups in preschool attendance, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Wednesday morning.

If you follow the education policy debate at all, you know that critics are often called "defenders of the status quo" by people pushing market-based school reforms. Here is a piece about why it is actually the reforms that are preserving the status quo -- and what real reform would actually look like. It was written by Arthur H. Camins, director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. His writing can be accessed at http://www.arthurcamins.com/.

University of Virginia Professor Daniel Willingham is well known in ed circles for applying cognitive science to K-16 education. One topic to which he has written and returned is the notion of different "learning styles" and whether there is any real evidence for them. In 2009, for example, he wrote in a post on this blog:

Two dozen Virginia elementary schools, including one in Alexandria, have applied for waivers from the state Board of Education to free schools from mandatory state testing requirements in science and social studies for third-graders so they have more time to develop reading skills.

Fresh off his loss in April’s at-large D.C. Council race, Matthew Frumin is returning to his roots as an education activist.

Frumin is seeking to organize a new advocacy group devoted to unifying and amplifying the voice of parents in shaping D.C. schools policy. It’s a voice that’s too often been missing in debates about the future of public education in the city, he said.

When incoming Fairfax County superintendent Karen Garza begins her term July 1, she will be paid $265,000 a year through June 30, 2017, according to a copy of her contract.

Garza will replace Jack D. Dale, whose nine-year tenure ends in about a month. Since early May, Dale has been at home recuperating from emergency cardiovascular surgery after suffering an aortic aneurysm at work.

Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) will host a community forum Tuesday night at the South Bowie Branch Library to discuss the new governance structure of the school system.

The forum will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Amber D. Stanley, a Prince George’s County honors student who was gunned down in her home in August, will receive her high school diploma posthumously Tuesday.

Briant Coleman, a spokesman for the school system, said a diploma will be presented to Stanley’s family at the Charles H. Flowers High School graduation ceremony at the Comcast Center.

Graduation season is underway in Montgomery County, which means high school students will hear speeches from a variety of community members before receiving their diplomas. Athletes, political figures, and business leaders are all on tap to inspire grads with words of wisdom.

(Correction: Fixing publication date for book, and removing quote attributed to book)

Here is a provocative piece from Leslie T. Fenwick, dean of the Howard University School of Education and a professor of education policy, about what is really behind urban school reform. It's not about fixing schools, she argues, but, rather, about urban land development. Fenwick has devoted her career to improving educational opportunity and outcomes for African American and other under-served students.

Here's a piece on exit exams from P.L. Thomas, an associate professor of education at Furman University in South Carolina. He edited the 2013 book "Becoming and Being a Teacher," and wrote the 2012 book, "Ignoring Poverty in the U.S.: The Corporate Takeover of Public Education." This was published on his blog, the becoming radical.

Montgomery County sent home a new elementary school report card this year, with ES as the top mark, officially representing “exceptional” work. But parent Chuck Thomas thinks there is a different meaning for ES. “Elusive Secret,” he said. “That is probably more accurate.”

In the hush of quiet prayers, in a bugler’s strains of taps, in a widow’s vigil at her husband’s grave and a president’s caution not to forget a war that has not ended, the country on Monday remembered its fallen troops.

Memorial Day, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, is a holiday for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle.

"The tests our children take should support learning, not just accounting."

That's what then-Sen. Barack Obama said back in May 2008 when he was running for president and stopped by to talk to students Mapleton Expeditionary School for the Arts in Thornton, Colo.

Adrion Howell has strong connections to the Prince George’s County public school system. The 43-year-old lobbyist’s mother taught in the schools for 35 years, and Howell attended school there and worked as a substitute teacher in the county before going to Howard University Law School.

Greg Barlow did not want his fourth-grade son to take the Standards of Learning math test, but he did not know what would happen if he refused. Would his son get a failing grade? Would it go on his permanent record?

Darril Phillips was ready to be pampered. ¶ The 82-year-old sat patiently in the basement of Sarah’s Circle, a nonprofit senior citizen’s center in Adams Morgan. She watched as the team of beauticians unpacked their boxes, revealing fruity-smelling facial scrubs and nail polish in every color of the rainbow. ¶ And she kept her neck craned for the barber who had cut her hair the last time: Lavonte Bracey, a 17-year-old senior at the District’s Options Public Charter School. ¶ “He was patient with me,” said Phillips. “He treated me very nice.” ¶ Students in cosmetology and cooking classes at Options have begun making monthly trips to Sarah’s Circle to share their skills.