On March 6, the 110th Congress adopted a continuing resolution because members were unable to come to agreement with former President Bush about how much money the government should spend in the current fiscal year. The House of Representatives had previously adopted an omnibus spending bill to finally resolve these differences and inform all federal agencies of how much money they will have for the remaining months of the budget year that began on Oct. 1, 2008. Unfortunately, the debate on the omnibus bill in the Senate hit several bumps in the road, and final action has been delayed once again.

The Senate debated the bill for several days. The points of disagreement focused on the overall cost of the legislation, $410 billion, and the number of earmarks found throughout the bill. Despite the best efforts of appropriators to make the earmarking process transparent this year, opponents to this type of spending continue to rail against the bill and the process. President Obama criticized earmarking on the campaign trail and insisted he would change the budgeting and appropriation process to reduce or eliminate this kind of spending. He will wait until FY 2010, however, to state his case, hoping that Congress will finish this last piece of business from the previous Congress without his intervention.

Because of the intense disagreements among members on both sides of the aisle, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was forced to file a cloture motion to end debate on the bill. When he realized he was still one vote shy of the necessary 60, he decided to postpone final action. Rumor has it that some modest changes will be made to secure the magical 60 "yea" votes when the bill comes up again in the Senate on Tuesday, March 10. Education advocates are hopeful the bill will pass, as the alternative would mean a continuing resolution for the entire 2009 fiscal year, which would result in a loss to education funding of approximately $500 million.

On March 5, the Center for Education Policy (CEP) held a briefing on the federal role in improving teaching in elementary and secondary education. Michigan State University professor Gary Sykes, Ph.D., was commissioned to write a paper on the last 50 years of federal teacher policy and its impact on schools. The bulk of federal teacher policy is authorized under the two primary federal education laws - the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the Higher Education Act (HEA).

Teacher recruitment policy, which includes service payback programs, loan forgiveness programs, and grants and fellowships, has for many years enjoyed political support and funding. Yet the policy has gone virtually unstudied. "We found no studies that illuminate the effects or impact of this family of policy on teacher recruitment or retention, especially in shortage areas," Sykes writes in the report. Likewise, the federal government has spent a great deal of money on professional development programs, such as NCLB's Improving Teacher Quality State Grants, even when efforts to gauge their effectiveness have "proven elusive and difficult to study."

Sykes reported that while alternative route teaching programs like Teach for America, Troops to Teachers and Transition to Teaching "offer an innovation on the recruitment front, they have failed by and large to deal with teaching's retention problem, especially in high need schools and districts." Furthermore, Sykes cautioned that because alternative route programs are unregulated by the federal government, the quality of the teachers is uneven. That said, evidence suggests that the programs are good at recruiting minorities into the profession and that teachers in such programs "often produce comparable learning results in comparison with entrants from traditional college programs."

Sykes' paper also discusses teacher incentives, teacher accountability policies, district and school working conditions and policy management issues. The report recommends a number of strategies for attracting and retaining qualified teachers for high-need schools and high-priority fields and for improving teacher effectiveness. The paper is not yet available but will be posted on the CEP Web site shortly.

ED Posts New ARRA Resources and Guidance: The Department of Education has posted new information on its Web site containing guidance as to how schools can use funds allocated via the stimulus package. The Status of the School Funding Stimulus page provides explanations of how ARRA funds may be used. The National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities site highlights how school districts can use stimulus dollars to modernize schools and includes practical guidance as to what schools should do now in order to be ready to wisely spend new funds.

NEA Kicks Off Read Across America Day: On March 2, the National Education Association (NEA) kicked off its 11th annual Read Across America Day. NEA's Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on March 2, the birthday of children's author Dr. Seuss. Aimed at raising awareness about the importance of reading, the event included special appearances by Dr. Seuss' the Cat in the Hat at thousands of Read Across America Day events across the country. The event included a celebrity read-in, Cat-a-Van reading tours, Spring Training read-ins with professional baseball players, U.S. Senate resolutions and community reading celebrations at Target stores. More info.

ETS Holds Briefing on Reading Assessments: On March 3, the Educational Testing Service (ETS) held a research forum titled, "Toward the Next Generation of Reading Assessment." ETS scientist Randy Bennett described current accountability assessment as "grounded in an outdated scientific model for conceptualizing proficiency, teaching it and measuring it." He believes current reading assessments and teacher professional development are "emulating the less desirable characteristics of the accountability tests." ETS has devised the conceptual framework for a comprehensive, practical and balanced system that documents what students have achieved, helps identify how instruction should be planned and adjusted and is a worthwhile educational experience for students and teachers in and of itself. Unlike the current assessment system, the ETS model administers assessments periodically over the year, thereby allowing it to cover content standards in greater depth and preventing a single bad performance from being determinative. ETS is currently collaborating with the Maine Department of Education and teachers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania to test the model. More info.

Addressing Children's Issues in the 111th Congress: The National Collaboration of Youth and the United Way brought together 10 child advocates and three Hill staffers on March 3 to discuss a wide range of issues facing the 111th Congress that affect children and youth. The first panel on Education featured Lindsay Hunsicker, senior education policy advisor to Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee ranking member, along with advocates from the early childhood, high school reform and youth employment sectors. Hunsicker outlined the major bills before the committee, which include the reauthorization of the Corporation of National Service the Workforce Investment Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Other issues important to Enzi include a focus on literacy, especially in the early grades; early childhood education; high school reform; and key improvements to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. In response to Hunsicker's comments and the reality of the many other issues facing this Congress, Bethany Little, vice president of policy and federal advocacy at the Alliance for Excellent Education, noted that K-12 issues are going to have to "fight for some oxygen" to get their issues on the table. The second panel focused on out-of-school time and featured David Johns, senior education policy advisor to Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), HELP Committee chairman, along with advocates from the after-school, community schools and youth service sectors. Johns urged advocates in the room to continue to reach out and educate all congressional staff on issues of importance to children, youth and families and to do it in an ongoing manner. In addition, he noted issues of importance to Kennedy, including passage of the Serve America Act, school nutrition reauthorization and the We Care Act. More info.

Senate Agriculture Committee Holds Hearing on Child Nutrition: The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee held a hearing on March 3 titled, "Improving Nutrition for America's Children in Difficult Economic Times." The hearing addressed issues of child nutrition and health, both in and out of school. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), committee chairman, stated, "USDA's child nutrition programs are a tremendous opportunity to make a lasting impact on the nutrition and eating habits of our children. A stronger, targeted investment in those programs must be a part of a comprehensive federal response to poor nutrition among our children." Harkin praised President Obama's recently released budget for FY2010, which includes an additional $1 billion per year in funding for child nutrition, saying that it is a "strong indication of how serious the new administration is about ending childhood hunger and teaching healthy eating habits at an early age so that kids are more likely to grow up to be healthy adults. Now, Congress must make good on this proposal by dedicating real resources in our budget." Read witness testimony.

House CJS Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Science Education: On March 4, the House Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing examining the state of science education and featured Bill Nye, "The Science Guy" and a former president of the National Science Teachers Association. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.), subcommittee chairman, opened the hearing with remarks on the importance of the country's science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education programs. He said the subcommittee is holding a series of hearings this week to hear testimony on the state of the country's science enterprise before taking on the development of a spending bill for FY 2010 that allocates resources to a number of agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Nye urged the subcommittee to support efforts allowing teachers the time and flexibility to "inspire" young would-be scientists, repeatedly emphasizing that students must be interested in science before the age of 11 to pursue it as a career. Nye also commented on the No Child Left Behind Act and its effects on science education and teachers. He said science teachers are being held accountable "in exhausting ways" and that they must be paid enough to encourage them to be and stay in the classroom vs. pursuing other lucrative options. He also strongly supports national standards in science. More info.