The wrong war The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (aka No Child Left Behind or NCLB) was designed as an integral part of the War on Poverty. The law has warped into a tool to undermine and privatize public education and do away with teachers unions. This “war on public schools,” meanwhile, has failed to significantly raise student achievement or narrow achievement gaps. In fact, students made greater gains prior to NCLB. It remains to be seen if the newly- … →

Several PAA leaders have been stepping up to the plate of public service lately, and we are SO proud! PAA founding member Helen Gym has already taken office as councilwoman-at-large in Philadelphia. Helen ran on a platform of support for well-funded, democratically-run public schools. Can’t wait to see what she does! Former PAA Board of Directors member Dawn Collins is running for school board in East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with this platform: I support the expansion of sensible, research-based reforms … →

Laura Bowman, leader of PAA-Roanoke Valley in Virginia, recently published an excellent essay in the Roanoke Times which was picked up by other news organizations, and resulted in an invitation from the Fairfax Education Association to testify with them at the General Assembly and participate in a press conference. Laura wrote, There is a reason for the proliferation of charter schools in this country, and it has little to do with the education and well-being of children, and much to … →

From John Harris Loflin, a leader of PAA Indianapolis affiliate Parent Power: Like PAA members and supporters, the B&LPI and Parent Power in Indianapolis know the importance of viable and authentic parent-teacher relationships to school success. This is why we are working with the IUPUI School of Education to bring in Dr. Edward Olivos. He has a unique way of looking at teacher-parent relationships and participation the community must consider. The Black & Latino Policy Institute (www.bl-pi.org) will present a … →

The news was so bad last week for privatizers and the testing industry that we had to make sure our representatives in Congress didn’t miss any of it as they move to finalize ESEA. Thanks to Jeff Bryant of the Educational Opportunity Network for pulling these news items all together in one place for us. We sent the following fax out to the full Congress. You can cut and paste it from here or download a pdf here to share … →

On Monday, President Obama published an open letter to parents and teachers about testing. The letter introduced his administration’s new Testing Action Plan which is supposed to fix the problems of excessive testing. The plan defines a set of testing principles for states and school districts to follow to make for “fewer and smarter” tests. The President invited us to respond to this plan. We shared our response today (see below or download our letter here). We agree with Diane … →

Hi Folks- If you missed our Oct. 25 webinar on the Washington State Supreme Court ruling that charter school funding in the state is unconstitutional, you can watch the 45-minute video here and review the full slide show presentation here. Many thanks to panelists Dr. Wayne Au and the League of Women Voters – WA State’s Catherine Ahl for sharing their expertise with our audience. PAA President Dora Taylor moderated the meeting and shared lots of good information as well. … →

Join us on Sunday, October 25, to talk about the Washington State Supreme Court ruling declaring charter schools  unconstitutional! Parents Across America invites you to a webinar about the Washington state court case that declared state funding of charter schools unconstitutional in the state. Hear from PAA President Dora Taylor, a key advocate for the effort, along with winning plaintiffs, education professor Dr. Wayne Au and League of Women Voters education chair Catherine Ahl.  Topic: How Washington State activists nixed … →

Can you believe that McDonald’s enlists teachers to sell junk food to their students? On “McTeacher’s Nights” across the country, teachers “work” behind the counter selling burgers, fries, and soda to their students and their students’ families. It’s a marketing ploy disguised as a school fundraiser. McDonald’s is exploiting the hard-earned trust, respect, and popularity of teachers to sell junk food to kids and create brand loyalty. It’s shameful that McDonald’s is using the tragic underfunding of our public schools as … →

PAA-Roanoke Valley leader Laura Bowman shared this excellent model letter prepared by her PAA chapter for parents to bring to school at the beginning of the school year:   Dear_____________, Parents are concerned with the number of standardized tests their children take each year. In addition, parents believe the time spent preparing for the tests is excessive and they see the emotional fallout from the pressure from standardized testing on their children and on their children’s teachers. The expense of … →