Education: Media Appearances and Press Releases

MaryEllen McGuire in The National Journal | 'What's At Stake: Education'

Articles — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 13:08:00 -0400

New America in the News:

After this Congress's failure to renew the six-year-old law, Obama and McCain will face the same grassroots pressure to act. No Child Left Behind requires states to set increasingly tough annual standards to ensure that all students are proficient in reading and math by 2014. With the deadline closing in and standards getting higher, more schools are failing and consequently more teachers, parents, school administrators, and state officials are pressing for an overhaul.

"Congress as a whole is committed to [reauthorizing] NCLB. This is on people's mind," said MaryEllen McGuire, director of the nonpartisan New America Foundation's Education Policy Program. "I think Obama will be more proactive, but ultimately it will get done regardless of who is president."

"The tricky piece for Obama will be teachers unions," McGuire added. The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers are spending millions of dollars to elect Obama, and they will push him to ease the law's testing requirements and harsh sanctions, and not to use students' test scores to award merit pay to teachers. LINK

New America Foundation Report Exposes Erroneous and Misleading Information on Federal Student Loan Costs

Communications — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:44:00 -0400

Today the New America Foundation's Education Policy Program released "Cost Estimates for Federal Student Loans: The Market Cost Debate," by the program's Research Director Jason Delisle. This paper exposes misleading and erroneous information published by student loan industry trade associations and government agencies regarding the cost of federal student loan programs. The report comes at a time when disruptions in the credit markets and a presidential race could set the stage for changes in student loan policy. Many budget experts and stakeholder… more

Michael Dannenberg in the Associated Press | ' Campaigns Differ on How to Help with College Costs'

Communications — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:16:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Michael Dannenberg, senior fellow with the New America Foundation and a former adviser to Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., says Obama's proposals take the problem of college affordability more seriously than McCain's. And he calls the tax credit a significant innovation.

"McCain's message when it comes to increased tuition is, 'You're on your own,'" said Dannenberg, who has not worked for Obama's campaign. "Obama's message to families is, 'We'll give you more financial aid to help you with college costs, but your kids are going to have to help others.'" LINK

Jason Delisle in The Chronicle of Higher Education | 'Higher-Education Funds in Limbo as Congress Prepares to Head Home'

Communications — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:22:00 -0400

New America in the News:
That policy change has made it less appealing for Congress to postpone paying for the Pell Grant program, says Jason Delisle, a former senior analyst on the Republican staff of the Senate Budget Committee who now works for the New America Foundation, a public-policy institute. LINK (subscription required)

Education Policy Program in New University | 'Bill of Education Passed'

Communications — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:20:00 -0400

New America in the News:
The financial aid provisions of the Higher Education Opportunity Act have also come under scrutiny. In particular, the New America Foundation has accused Congress and the media of mischaracterizing the provision that will simplify the FAFSA. According to the New America Foundation, the new two-page EZ FAFSA form will only be available to students from families that already qualify for expedited review. As such, most applicants will still have to go through the same review process. LINK

New America Foundation Essay Contest Highlights the Need for Increased Focus on America's Children

Communications — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:19:00 -0400

The New America Foundation's Workforce and Family Program is announcing a contest for high school seniors to provide their views on the best way to improve the lives of America's young people. New America will be offering $2,500 to the student who best answers the question, "You have just been elected the President of the United States. What is the most important thing you will do to improve the lives of America's children?" This is the second year of the contest, which is… more

Sara Mead in The Morning News - Arkansas | 'Parenting Matters In Achievement Of Boys, Girls'

Communications — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:08:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Mandara was joined by Sara Mead, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation, for a public discussion on the education of boys as part of the University of Arkansas education reform department lecture series. About 30 parents and teachers attended the discussion at the Jones Center for Families.

The pair will also discuss their research findings on the achievement gap today with graduate students and faculty in the College of Education and Health Professions.

In a 2006 report report, titled "The Trust About Boys and Girls," Mead wrote scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress do not show boys lagging behind girls in achievement. LINK

Michael Dannenberg in the American Prospect | 'Another Student Loan Crisis?'

Communications — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:19:00 -0400

New America in the News:
"The vast majority of our schools report a very small number of students who still need loans at this time," says Richard Doherty, who heads the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts. According to an August AICUM poll, 70 percent of their members have had less than 15 students experience difficulties in obtaining private loans. Only a "tiny percent" reported over 50 students with similar problems.

To be honest, says Doherty, the notion of a student loan "crisis" was "perhaps overplayed" by the media.

Michael Dannenberg, Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, agrees. "People were running around, saying the sky is falling, that kids are going to go without federal student loans, but the DOE never said that," says Dannenberg. "Quite the opposite. Because, in truth, there never was a real crisis for students when it came to federal student loans."

"There was, however, a real crisis for some lenders who weren't able to access capital at the same low rates they'd been used to," he adds. LINK

Sara Mead on NPR's On Point with Tom Ashbrook | 'Beyond 'No Child''

Communications — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:36:00 -0400

New America in the News:

How to improve under-achieving schools in America’s poorest communities has vexed policy makers for generations. President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law insists on accountability. But critics charge it encourages teaching to the test at the expense of real learning.

The law still sparks a loud argument -- but as one of our guests today writes in the current issue of Harper’s magazine, there’s debate that test-prep companies such as Kaplan are profiting handsomely from the federal mandate to test, and test, and test again.

Featured Guests:

Jeremy Miller, a high school science teacher in Denver. His article “Tyranny of the Test: One year as a Kaplan coach in the public school” appears in the September issue of Harper’s.

Seppy Basili, senior vice president of Learning and Assessment at Kaplan, a $2 billion company that prepares students for standardized tests.

Sara Mead, senior research fellow in the Education Policy Program and Workforce and Family Program at the New America Foundation, where she also writes for the Early Ed Watch blog.

Jordan Meranus, partner at NewSchools Venture Fund, a venture philanthropy firm that makes investments in organizations serving K-12 public education.

LINK to audio

Jennifer Washburn in The New York Times | 'When Academia Puts Profit Ahead of Wonder'

Communications — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 08:06:00 -0400

New America in the News:

The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 started out with the best of intentions. By clearing away the thicket of conflicting rules and regulations at various federal agencies, it set out to encourage universities to patent and license results of federally financed research. For the first time, academicians were able to profit personally from the market transfer of their work. For the first time, academia could be powered as much by a profit motive as by the psychic reward of new discovery...

...“Bayh-Dole tore down the taboos that existed against universities engaging in overtly commercial activity. Universities really thought that they were going to make it rich,” said Jennifer Washburn, author of “University Inc.: The Corporate Corruption of Higher Education” (Basic Books, 2005). “Each school was convinced that if they came up with that one blockbuster invention, they could solve all their financial problems.”

Ms. Washburn says that was “extremely wrong-headed.” Initially reacting to the law by slapping patents on every possible innovation, universities quickly discovered that patents were an expensive proposition. The fees and legal costs involved in obtaining a single patent can run upward of $15,000, and that doesn’t count the salaries of administrative staff members. Instead of bringing home the bacon, university tech transfer offices were throwing money into the void with little hope of returns. LINK

Michael Dannenberg in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer | 'Bergeson Offers Fix for 'No Child Left Behind''

Communications — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:56:00 -0400

New America in the News:

With the presidential election still more than two months away, experts say it's too soon to tell how the law might be reformed.

But there's likely to be a continued march toward national academic standards, and one national test, said Michael Dannenberg, an education expert with the New America Foundation, a centrist nonprofit public policy institute. LINK

Sara Mead in Education Week | ' Congress Approves New HEA'

Communications — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:58:00 -0400

New America in the News:

The bill would reauthorize the Higher Education Act, which was last renewed in 1998 and has been due for an overhaul since 2003. The HEA governs a broad swath of federal student-aid and other college-level programs.

In addition to tweaking the law’s teacher-training elements, the bill simplifies the main federal student-aid application from seven to three pages and alters eligibility and evaluation components of the college-access programs known as TRIO.

Congress approved the bill on July 31, two days after a conference committee hammered out remaining differences between the House and Senate versions. The bill next heads to the president, who is expected to sign it.

Observers noted that the stiffer teacher-college accountability pieces constitute one of the few parts of the bill to focus on a concrete student-outcome variable, such as test scores.

“The vast majority of the [higher education accountability] debate is focused on college costs and money—the finance piece, rather than focusing on the outcomes we’re getting for that money,” said Sara Mead, a policy analyst at the New America Foundation, a Washington think tank. LINK (subscription required)

Education Program event in the Chronicle of Higher Education | 'Higher Education and the 2008 Candidates'

Communications — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:12:00 -0400

New America in the News:

(Chronicle U.)-Sen. John McCain’s chief education adviser, Lisa Graham Keegan, found herself in a tough spot Thursday when asked by the moderator of a New America Foundation forum to lay out the Republican presidential nominee’s agenda for higher education.

“I can’t do that because the Senator hasn’t done that yet,” Ms. Keegan said. “I apologize for the timing.”

“I am going to let him do that when he wants to,” Ms. Keegan said, “and simply say that he has been a long-term supporter and enthusiast about the idea that we have to connect kids in high schools immediately into their postsecondary experience, whatever that’s going to be. That transition is so fragile mostly because we are not doing a good job in the K-12 system.”

It was not like Ms. Keegan had nothing at all to say about education. The forum on John McCain and Barack Obama’s education plans focused mainly on how the two presidential candidates would improve public education from kindergarten through 12th grade, and she had plenty to say about Senator McCain’s plans to try to get more good teachers into schools through alternative certification. LINK to Article

Education Program event in Education Week | 'Obama/McCain Advisers Debate'

Communications — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:01:00 -0400

New America in the News:
(Campaign K-12)-Today the forum was the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think tank and the advisers were the Ubiquitous Lisa Graham Keegan, a former Arizona schools chief, appearing on behalf of Sen. John McCain's campaign, and Jon Schnur, who heads up New Leaders for New Schools and is informally advising the Sen. Barack Obama's campaign (along with just about every other Education Dem).

Neither covered much new territory on K-12 education, and neither one seemed eager to address the 800- pound gorilla in the room: No Child Left Behind. At one point, Keegan sounded incredulous that nearly every question she's asked on the campaign trail "pivots around NCLB" as if that is "the universe of education."

For an inside-the-Beltway education reporter like me, the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act pretty much is the "universe of education" since that's the main federal lever for shaping K-12 policy. But maybe I'm too Washington-focused or maybe it's just too complex or too much of a political hot potato to talk about on the campaign trail. Anyway, there were no mentions today of deadlines, or sanctions, or staggered testing, or anything else for which the devil is in the details. But both reiterated their candidate's support for some federal accountability based around testing, and Schnur talked up Obama's plans to improve the quality of assessments. LINK to Blog

Higher Ed Watch blog post in Inside Higher Ed | Quick Takes: Where Is Matteo Fontana?

Communications — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:21:00 -0400

New America in the News:

(Quick Takes) - “Where in the World is Matteo Fontana?” That’s the question posed by Higher Ed Watch, a blog of the New American Foundation, about the former general manager of the Financial Partners Division of the U.S. Department of Education student aid department, who was placed on leave last year after the blog revealed that he held stock in a loan company at the center of last year’s loan scandals — at a time he would have played a role in regulating the company. The blog noted that it had been 459 days since Fontana was placed on leave (a few more days have since passed), and asked why there had been no resolution to the investigation, after so much time, and said that the Education Department appeared to be working at a slower pace even than vacation-generous European governments. Inside Higher Ed asked the Education Department if it had an answer for the long time in analyzing the situation. Samara Yudof, a spokeswoman, answered: “Matteo Fontana is on administrative leave. As you may be aware, the U.S. Department of Justice is handling this matter. As soon as Justice’s investigation is completed, we will take appropriate action.” ... LINK to article

Jason Delisle in San Antonio Express | 'College aid law offers partial relief for students'

Communications — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:58:00 -0400

New America in the News:
...In addition to financial aid, the law will also dole out matching grants aimed at boosting the number of first-generation and low-income college students, and will give $510 million to Hispanic, black and other minority-serving institutions.

Overall, the measures will relieve some pressure on students and families — but not too much, said Jason Delisle, an education researcher at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. Lawmakers would have liked to do more, but they had a limited pot of money available after cutting the lender subsidies.

“Basically, they did that because they couldn't afford to do it any other way,” Delisle said... LINK

Stephen Burd in St. Petersburg Times | 'Castor Seeks Checkups on College Lenders'

Communications — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:47:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Experts say Castor's proposed changes [to the federal student loan industry] are sorely needed, and could be made without putting an undue burden on government regulators...

Such fixes would be a "common-sense solution" to lax oversight by the federal government, said Stephen Burd, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation...LINK

Michael Dannenberg in Los Angeles Times | 'Expand College Grants'

Communications — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:50:00 -0400

New America in the News:
..."If you really want to improve access for low-income kids, you have to reduce the amount people have to borrow and increase grant aid," says Michael Dannenberg, who directs education policy at the New America Foundation..." LINK

New Resource for Journalists: EdBudgetProject.Org

Communications — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:44:00 -0400

The New America Foundation is pleased to announce a new online resource for journalists covering education, student loans, education-related tax policy, and the federal budget in general. The Federal Education Budget Project (FEBP) is an independent, authoritative source of easily accessible information on the size, distribution, effectiveness, and efficiency of federal education funding. To access the website, please visit www.EdBudgetProject.org.

How it Works: EdBudgetProject.Org

Our website provides downloadable funding, demographic, and achievement data at the state and district level for all 50 states and over 14,000 public school districts in the nation. Additionally, it includes basic information and analyses on different aspects of the federal education budget, such as No… more

Sara Mead in Politico | "Hopefuls' Education Plans Show Divides"

Communications — Tue, 27 May 2008 07:28:00 -0400

New America in the News:

If McCain proposes an ambitious school voucher program, as he did in 2000, it will underline stark philosophical differences between the GOP and Democratic presidential candidates on education policy. . .

Clinton and Obama share many policy goals but often differ on the means to achieve them. For instance, both have committed to spending an additional $10 billion annually on programs for children under 5. That would mean doubling the current federal investment in early childhood education.

But their approaches diverge sharply. While Clinton has proposed universal pre-kindergarten for all 4-year-olds, Obama would offer Early Learning Challenge Grants — modeled after an Illinois program — for states to use in a variety of ways.

“These proposals reflect two competing strains of thought in the early education advocacy field,” said Sara Mead, an education expert at The New America Foundation.

Clinton’s approach is largely favored by educators. Obama’s is preferred by most child care advocates, who “think universal pre-k is too late and insufficiently focused on poor kids, and we need to work to improve quality and access across the birth-through-5-year-old spectrum,” said Mead. . .

Full story here