Read: Ants March In Edition

Photo courtesy of the New York Times

What’s happening today in the dropout nation:

1. President Barack Obama’s further declaration of the administration’s efforts to turnaround failing schools — including a program called Grad Nation — is gaining the usual amount of coverage. Andy Rotherham and one of the other Ed Reform Andys (Smarick) each have their own thoughts. Let’s just say no one thinks school turnaounds are the sole silver bullet (if at all). Meanwhile, you can watch Obama’s speech on video and visit America’s Promise’s Web site for more information on Grad Nation
2. In the HuffPo, Trish Williams discusses how to develop indicators that show how turnaround academic performance in America’s middle schools, which help foster the nation’s dropout crisis. Tom Vander Ark already has his own answer: Get rid of them.
3. Speaking of graduation rates, Alabama is finally revising its calculation in order to better-reflect reality, according to NBC’s Birmingham television affiliate. And the reality? Just 65 percent of the state’s freshmen graduate in four years (instead of the 85 percent rate it currently reports).
4. And speaking of Obama, the Washington Post reports that the president annoyed the American Federation of Teachers with his remarks in support of the firing of 93 teachers in Central Falls, R.I., after they failed to get in line with a much-needed school turnaround program. AFT President Weingarten, whose Rhode Island affiliate is defending the teachers, argues that Obama’s views “don’t reflect the reality on the ground.” She’s right. It’s even worse: Most laggard teachers keep their jobs. They shouldn’t. Same for central office administrators, who, in most cases, negotiate teachers union contracts that don’t allow principals to remove poor performers (or keep tenured laggards out) of classrooms.
5. Doctoral candidate (and former administrator) Eric L. Waters — whose Twitter feed is a must-follow in my book — looks at the underlying causes of low graduation rates among young black women. As with black males, this is an important issue to address as part of solving the dropout crisis

Check out the Dropout Nation Twitter feed for constant news on the reform of American public education. Also listen to this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast on fostering “impromptu leaders” for school reform.

And for your first week of March, enjoy a little Dave Matthews:

Watch: Rod Paige on Black Leaders and The Achievement Gap

As black leaders figure out their mission in a Barack Obama America, former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige offers direction on what they should really concentrate on: Addressing the achievement gaps that have condemned far too many young black men and women to crime and poverty. Estimating that just a five-percent decline in the number of dropouts would result in $8 billion in additional economic productivity, Paige (now back in Houston) argues that the conventional focus of civil rights activists on institutional racism and disputes over flags are meaningless given that so few blacks can actually reap the gains.

Paige, whose book The Black-White Achievement Gap: Why Closing It Is the Greatest Civil Rights Issue of Our Time is now in print, offers some thoughts in the following short video, taped yesterday during his presentation at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute in D.C. Watch and consider (mobile viewers can also download the video).