National Policy Watch

Romney issues his first statements on class sizes, and education policy, with changes to how Title I and IDEA money is spent. He names his George Bush-era potential education advisors.

Obama issues rebuttals, pushback on expansion of vouchers and big class sizes under Romney.

Take Action

United Opt Out [ongoing]

Save Our Schools March/Conference, August 3-5, 2012

Best Practices

See our Early Childhood Education Group for recommendations against Race to the Top guidelines by members of the Defending the Early Years coalition.

New recommendations to the states on Learning Disability diagnoses from the National Center for Learning Disability in our Parents of Disabled Children Group.

Arts Education -- we all know it's good for kids. Why do we treat it like an "extra"?

Authentic Parent Engagement -- examples from PEPs, the Colorado Parent Information and Resource Center.

Project Based Learning, what is it? A quick video exploration and more resources.

Go to the Best Practices Group for more.

State Surveys

Watch this space! Join as a member and you'll have a vote and a voice on education issues you care about.

End Corporal Punishment in Schools: Grassroots Efforts Meet A Movement From the Fashion World

Posted on by cynthia

Twenty states still allow children to be beaten (paddled) as a form of school discipline. The disproportionate numbers of African American boys and girls, and children with disabilities who are hit by teachers calls into question whether–and if–corporal punishment can be used fairly at all.

Go Read It: Columbia Journalism Review–"Tested: Covering Schools in the Age of Micro-Measurement"

Posted on by cynthia

Release of “value-added” student achievement scores as a way to measure teachers in the Los Angeles Times (and an attempt to release them in the NY Times) has roiled the discussion on education policy as shaped by billionaire philanthropists and business-minded school superintendents. The Columbia Journalism Review exhaustively documents editorial debates over the release of the data.

Go Read It: NYT Editorial, "Fairness in Firing Teachers"

Posted on by cynthia

The NYT’s editorial on determining fair standards for identifying effective and ineffective teachers: during times of budget crisis, layoffs shouldn’t pit new teacher effectiveness against costlier senior teachers as is the case under existing “last hired, first fired” rules. Most troubling: defining teacher effectiveness through student performance. (How about raising revenue and cutting elsewhere first?)