http://www.advanceillinois.org/blog Advance Illinois | Blog Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:26:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Congratulations to Illinois for being named one of the 16 Race to the Top finalists.  State leaders and lawmakers should be proud of their hard work and smart leadership over the past year. Good luck to the team going to do the finalist interview in Washington.  Here is the statement ... http://www.advanceillinois.org/blog/illinois-a-race-to-the-top-finalist Illinois was one of six states chosen for a new multi-state initiative to "clear hurdles that have hindered previous attempts to improve underperforming schools." Read more in EdWeek (article access compliments of edweek.org) or read the press release from MassInsight, which is leading the project. http://www.advanceillinois.org/blog/illinois-joins-six-state-turnaround-effort The Data Quality Campaign awarded 4 state education leaders the "State Policymakers of the Year" award for "their critical leadership role in supporting comprehensive legislation requiring the development of a statewide longitudinal data system."  Read more... http://www.advanceillinois.org/blog/illinois-education-leaders-win-national-award The Obama administration is proposing a sweeping overhaul of President Bush's signature education law, No Child Left Behind.  Read more in the New York Times and the National Journal. You can also read the U.S. Dept of Education press release and the budget page on ed.gov. http://www.advanceillinois.org/blog/obama-proposes-nclb-overhaul-in-2010 Illinois filed a strong application for "Race to the Top" Tuesday, following passage last week of 'groundbreaking' legislation.  You can download the 187-page application here, or read State Supt's Chris Koch's message here. You can also read the U.S. Dept of Education's news release. Locally, here's a helpful Q-and-A ... http://www.advanceillinois.org/blog/illinois-joins-40-states-applying-in-the-race-to-the-top Governor Pat Quinn today signed into law the Performance Evaluation Reform Act of 2010, a bill to implement new, rigorous evaluations for teachers and principals across the state. The new law boosts Illinois’ “Race to the Top” application by addressing one of the four priority areas outlined by the U.S. ... http://www.advanceillinois.org/blog/gov-quinn-signs-groundbreaking-reforms Congratulations to the General Assembly for passing groundbreaking legislation on teacher evaluation and alternative certification. The legislative process brought together all the education stakeholders to produce a forward-looking and durable set of reforms that will help Illinois school children for years to come and better position Illinois for up ... http://www.advanceillinois.org/blog/reform-bills-to-governors-desk A new report recommends Illinois state leaders take bold action to reform the state's school system, in order to win a chance to bring Illinois as much as $400 million being made available by the U.S. Department of Education. The report was released today by Advance Illinois, the statewide education advocacy ... http://www.advanceillinois.org/blog/advance-illinois-releases-race-to-the-top-report Congratulations to the new P-20 Council.  Gov. Quinn announced the council today in a press conference. The chair the council is Advance Illinois board member and Chicago City Clerk Miguel del Valle.  From the Gov's press release: "Governor Pat Quinn today made 25 appointments to the P-20 Council, a key ... http://www.advanceillinois.org/blog/gov-quinn-announces-p-20-council The U.S. Dept of Ed. released the application for the $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" fund today.  You can read all about it here.  The executive summary includes how many points each criteria area is worth (for example: Effective Educators are worth 138 points; Standards 70; Data Systems 47 ... http://www.advanceillinois.org/blog/race-to-the-top-application-released