$1.6 Billion in 2010 Census Savings Returned
WASHINGTON, /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ --The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that it is returning $1.6 billion in 2010 Census operational savings. The savings occurred because the American people stepped up -- 72 percent of households returned the questionnaire by mail so there were lower costs in following up on households; because contingency funding set aside for disasters or major operational breakdowns was not tapped; and a more productive workforce completed assignments more efficiently.
"This is a significant accomplishment, and I would like to thank the American public for responding to the census and the more than 255,000 private and public sector partners who joined with us in making the 2010 Census a success," Census Bureau Director Robert Groves said.
"The 2010 Census was a massive undertaking with great risk for operational problems and cost overruns," U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said. "But with the leadership of Dr. Groves and his team at the Census Bureau we had an incredibly successful count that came in on time and well under budget."
Approximately $800 million in savings are realized in the contingency funding set aside in case of natural disasters or operational breakdowns. No significant events disrupted major census operations that took place earlier this year.
Another $650 million in savings were realized in the labor intensive, door-to-door, follow-up operation because 72 percent of households returned the questionnaire by mail, meaning fewer homes had to be visited to obtain census answers. Furthermore, the 565,000 census workers used in this operation were more productive than in the previous census, resulting in lower labor costs.
An additional $150 million in savings were realized because a number of other census operations, such as counting the population in Alaska and on tribal lands, came in at a lower cost.
The savings represent 22 percent of 2010 Census costs this fiscal year.
Census operations continue throughout the summer with a number of planned, rigorous quality assurance checks to ensure an accurate and complete count.
"The Census management team, along with a dedicated census workforce, worked diligently to ensure we keep the census on track and on schedule while being vigilant with taxpayer dollars," Groves said. "Early data are showing improvements in the quality of the field work even as we achieved these savings. We will remain focused until all 2010 Census operations are completed."
The Census Bureau is required by law to report by the end of the year the nation's population and apportionment of seats to each state in the U.S. House of Representatives. ∆

EPA Proposes Rules on Clean Air Act Permitting for Greenhouse Gas Emissions
 
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing two rules to ensure that businesses planning to build new, large facilities or make major expansions to existing ones will be able to obtain Clean Air Act permits that address their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the spring of 2010, EPA finalized the GHG Tailoring Rule, which specifies that beginning in 2011, projects that will increase GHG emissions substantially will require an air permit. Today’s rules will help ensure that these sources will be able to get those permits regardless of where they are located.

The Tailoring Rule covers large industrial facilities like power plants and oil refineries that are responsible for 70 percent of the GHGs from stationary sources. The proposals announced today are a critical component for implementing the Tailoring Rule and would ensure that GHG emissions from these large facilities are minimized in all 50 states and that local economies can continue to grow.

The Clean Air Act requires states to develop EPA-approved implementation plans that include requirements for issuing air permits. When federal permitting requirements change, as they did after EPA finalized the GHG Tailoring Rule, states may need to modify these plans.

In the first rule, EPA is proposing to require permitting programs in 13 states to make changes to their implementation plans to ensure that GHG emissions will be covered. All other states that implement an EPA-approved air permitting program must review their existing permitting authority and inform EPA if their programs do not address GHG emissions.
    
Because some states may not be able to develop and submit revisions to their plans before the Tailoring Rule becomes effective in 2011, in the second rule, EPA is proposing a federal implementation plan, which would allow EPA to issue permits for large GHG emitters located in these states. This would be a temporary measure that is in place until the state can revise its own plan and resume responsibility for GHG permitting. 

States are best-suited to issue permits to sources of GHG emissions and have long-standing experience working together with industrial facilities.  EPA will work closely and promptly with states to help them develop, submit, and approve necessary revisions to enable the affected states to issue air permits to GHG-emitting sources. Additionally, EPA will continue to provide guidance and act as a resource for the states as they make the various required permitting decisions for GHG emissions.     

EPA will accept comment on the first proposal for updated state implementation plans for 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.  EPA has scheduled a hearing on the second proposal for the federal implementation plan on August 25, 2010, and will accept comment for 30 days after that hearing. The agency is working to finalize these rules prior to January 2, 2011, the earliest GHG permitting requirements will be effective.

Time to Build a System for Developing Highly Effective Teachers, Says New Alliance Brief

WASHINGTON, DC – This is a critical time for expanding the current discussion on teacher evaluation systems beyond simply focusing on identifying “good” and “bad” teachers for purposes of reward or dismissal, according to a new policy brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education. The nation must also make sustained investments to build the teacher profession and focus more intently on redesigning schools to support teachers and student learning.

“To date, a great deal of policy debate on teacher effectiveness has centered on the use of student test scores for determining whether teachers receive merit pay or are fired,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. “However, these strategies alone will not help to ensure that all students have access to a great teacher.”

According to the brief, Call for Action: Transforming Teaching and Learning to Prepare High School Students for College and Careers, unevenness in teaching quality and effectiveness leads to vast disparities in student learning and outcomes across all levels—especially among low-income students and students of color who are traditionally underserved by the American public education system. The problem is exacerbated at the secondary level, where large numbers of out-of-field teachers, limited support for professional learning, and unfavorable working conditions are combined with large, factory-model schools to create even more challenging learning environments for students.

The brief argues that students will be adequately prepared for college and careers only if they have teachers who (1) have the knowledge and skills to make sure courses are truly challenging and (2) have the ability to elicit levels of student engagement and performance that are in line with postsecondary expectations.

Unlike higher-performing nations, however, the United States has not sustained focused investments in a stable, well-prepared teaching force. As the brief points out, federal and state attention to investing in educators has waned since the 1980s.

Demographic trends such as the influx of the millennial generation and the departure of the baby boom generation make the need to act even more urgent. One third of young teachers leave schools within the first few years while half are gone within five years. At the same time, “baby boomer” teachers are leaving schools with high levels of education and decades of teaching experience. In twenty states, more than half of current teachers are over the age of fifty. (Click here to see what percentage of your state’s teachers are fifty or older).

While some schools and districts have launched innovative programs, most remain at the margins of a system that is still not designed to ensure high levels of educational attainment for all young people. Moreover, research shows that teaching has been constrained by the design of state standards and tests that reinforce twentieth-century schooling, where the teacher merely serves as a transmitter of a fixed body of knowledge and information. Teaching 2.0, in contrast, must focus not on what is taught but on what is learned, and it must draw upon advances over the last several decades in cognitive science, technology, and assessment.

The challenge for secondary school teachers is especially difficult, notes the Alliance brief. For example, many middle and high school teachers receive meager training and support to help students develop high-level literacy skills. These teachers are also ill equipped in using regular classroom assessments that measure student progress and can inform the teacher’s instruction on how to better help widely diverse students reach high achievement levels. Teachers also fail to receive training needed to work successfully with students from diverse populations, such as English language learners and students with disabilities.

Call to Action notes that the pending reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, currently known as No Child Left Behind, offers an opportunity to address the widespread inconsistencies between what students are expected to achieve and the knowledge and competencies teachers must possess to ensure their success. The brief offers several recommendations on how the federal government can support educator development:

·         Support the state-led adoption and thoughtful implementation of common standards and aligned assessments toward advancing college and career readiness.
·         Encourage states working with practitioners to create standards of practice that define quality teaching based on what teachers need to know and be able to do to elicit targeted student performances embodied in common standards and assessments.
·         Support the development of robust teacher performance assessments that incorporate observational measures of teaching for the purpose of evaluating, developing, and recognizing teacher effectiveness and informing professional preparation and development.
·         Direct states and districts to develop coherent, performance-based human capital systems based on core practices that address career-long professional growth and advancement.
·         Build and use longitudinal data systems to track teacher and student growth data, and link teacher and student performance with programs responsible for preparing and providing professional development.

The complete brief is available at http://www.all4ed.org/files/TransformingTeachingAndLearning.pdf.