While Parents Across America is a non-partisan organization that does not advocate for any political party, I wanted to nevertheless offer what the community is saying in Denver about equity in schools.  This was originally posted at www.defensedenver.com, a Denver-based organization to push for democratically-run schools and equitable education for all Denver students. by Ed Augden, Retired Denver Public Schools Teacher and Community Activist Alexander Ooms may be right in his viewpoint expressed in the Denver Post on July 25, … →

By Pamela Grundy I have never met anyone who loves books and reading more than Margaret Hollar, our Shamrock media specialist. That love shows in her face whenever she picks a book up from her desk, looks at the cover, then pages intently through, searching for a favorite passage.  It fills her voice as she expounds on characters or turns of phrase or the many different lessons she believes stories can teach. And it is shining at full force this … →

by Dora Taylor For Arne Duncan’s record, I  would recommend going through Catalyst’s In-Depth report of his Renaissance 2010, the plan that he rolled out as CEO of the Chicago Public School system. He heralded his plan as a success and his appointment to Secretary of Education was based on this so-called “success”. He then took that model of Renaissance 2010 and projected it onto school districts around the country, re-titling it “Race to the Top”. The results of this … →

Pamela Grundy ‘Seen from the ‘Rock (http://seenfromtherock.blogspot.com/) This spring, along with the dogwoods and the pollen, Mecklenburg County has been hit by waves of standardized tests. It’s the season of pay for performance, the latest fad in a long line of efforts to change American education from the top down. State standardized tests already consume a good chunk of the school year, when you count the weeks of focused preparation, the drawn-out process of making sure that every child is … →

From: National Journal Online By Richard Rothstein Last week, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates published an op-ed in the Washington Post, “How Teacher Development could Revolutionize our Schools,” proposing that American public schools should do a better job of evaluating the effectiveness of teachers, a goal with which none can disagree. But his specific prescriptions, and the urgency he attaches to them, are based on the misrepresentation of one fact, the misinterpretation of another and the demagogic presentation of a third. … →

From: Huffington Post By Rita Solnet It wasn’t just the type of slingshot or the shape of rock David used when he defeated Goliath. . . .What helps you win when all the power and the money and legislative rule is stacked against you? Read more.

From: Living in Dialogue By Peggy Robertson When I was twelve I read a book that changed my life. Read more.

From: Seen from the ‘Rock By Pamela Grundy “Can you give us a quote from Shakespeare?” the girl asks. Her classmates crowd around, notebooks and pencils in hand, eyes expectant. Read more.

From: Huffington Post By Sue Peters The current crowd of education reformers like to dismiss any of us who disagree with their agenda as “defenders of the status quo.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Read more.