Obama’s education leaders have been busy
President Barack Obama’s education policies are moving forward at lightning speed as billions of dollars of stimulus money is being released to states.
In addition, several new key leaders with very fancy titles were recently appointed by Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
“Robert Shireman is deputy undersecretary and Massie Ritsch is deputy assistant secretary for External Affairs and Outreach at the U.S. Department of Education,” stated Duncan.
In addition, Secretary Duncan Peter Groff is Director for the Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Center in the Office of the Secretary, and Glenn Cummings is Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Vocational & Adult Education.
For more information on these people and their roles, click here.
In addition to the new leaders, the White House has been posting announcements as each state applies for and receives stimulus funds.
“$1.4 billion is now available for Illinois, and $85.4 million is now available for South Dakota under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009,” according to the US Department of Education website.
It all sounds so wonderful, doesn’t it? Here’s how the press release worded the funding requirements:
“In order to receive today's funds, state xyz provided assurances that they will collect, publish, analyze and act on basic information regarding the quality of classroom teachers, annual student improvements, college readiness, the effectiveness of state standards and assessments, progress on removing charter caps, and interventions in turning around underperforming schools.
“State xyz is also required by the U.S. Department of Education to report the number of jobs saved through Recovery Act funding, the amount of state and local tax increases averted, and how funds are used.”
For more information on the stimulus money as well as the new appointees, click here.