For less than $20, you can learn everything you need to know about the Gulen (aka Charter/Harmony/etc.) chain of charter schools and the Turkish imam behind the largest charter school network in the United States. The Killing Ed film is now available on dvd online. Our wonderful founding member, Sharon Higgins, is truly the star of this important documentary. Her brave and persistent digging into the Gulen movement and its power strategy was critical to public exposure of the sinister … →
Are they hiding unfair, harmful testing practices? May 19, 2016 The following letter was sent to all members of the US House and Senate education committees: Parents Across America is very concerned about recent threats of legal action by the PARCC testing company* against an anonymous teacher and social media users who shared and discussed parts of a fourth grade PARCC reading selection.** The text was two grade levels above the test-takers’ grade and the questions seemed inappropriately complicated for … →
A teacher exposes the unfair levels of difficulty of the PARCC test Copied in below is the original blog post from the Outrage on the Page blog written by an anonymous teacher who offers a detailed and critical analysis of three specific questions on the recent PARCC 4th grade language arts test. Several advocates, including Diane Ravitch and PAA co-founder Leonie Haimson, linked to this post on social media. Diane’s post was hacked and removed; Leonie’s tweets were removed by … →
We had a wonderful time in Raleigh NC at the Network for Public Education (NPE) conference. It’s always great to see the friends and heroes we work with, and to hear about the many wonderful things people are doing around the US. You can watch many of the speeches and panels at http://www.schoolhouselive.org/2016-npe-videos.php We were also really happy with the workshop we presented, which you can view using the livestream video here: As part of the session, we asked attendees … →
Another way to show appreciation for teachers is to participate in Screen Free Week, an event sponsored by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) that starts today. PAA supports this event for many reasons, but first and foremost because we hope to help raise awareness of the misuse and overuse of computer-based programs and testing and the excessive screen time our children are being exposed to in our schools. How do we support teachers when we challenge the take-over … →
…when the flowers bloom, the workers march, and the president tries to make everyone happy by proclaiming this week both National Teacher Appreciation Week and National Charter School Week. A Parents Across America appreciation of teachers comes in two forms. The first is below, the second is in the next blog post. PAA Teacher Appreciation Week Contribution #1 (a well-deserved slap at charter schools…): A reminder of a recent charter school scandal uncovered in March by the Chicago Sun-Times, which … →
Just how scared is the Big Testing cartel? Scared enough, apparently, to think it makes sense to make “examples” out of parents who speak out against the misuse and overuse of standardized tests. We told you last month about how Heather Hicks, the leader of PAA-Ocean County NJ, became the target of an entire cautionary presentation by the COO of iNACOL (the International Association of K-12 Online Learning) at a Pearson conference. The gist of the presentation was that “these … →
Parents Across America agrees with recent articles (in Blooomberg Views here and the Nation here for example) that the lack of attention to K-12 education policy in the current election campaign is a major concern, especially given the disappointing results of recent independent national achievement tests which make it clear that years of corporate-driven education “reform” have failed our children. The Nation interview with Jane Sanders, wife of candidate Bernie Sanders, touched on some of PAA’s major concerns. However, we … →
Heather Hicks, leader of our newest PAA chapter, PAA-Ocean County NJ, has just posted a devastating video showing how the chief operating officer of iNACOL (the International Association of K-12 Online Learning) gave a workshop at a Pearson conference focusing on her as the prime example of how parents must be managed so that they don’t get in the way of the blended learning steamroller. Here’s Heather’s story: As a mother and an elementary special education teacher, I became … →
The Network for Public Education conference set for April 16 and 17th in Raleigh, NC, is looking great. The wonderful speaker line up includes Diane Ravitch, Chicago Teachers’ Union president Karen Lewis, Moral Monday founder the Rev. William Barber, Jesse Hagopian, Karran Harper-Royal and others. You can still register here. PAA is presenting an important workshop on Saturday morning, 4/16, at 11:35 am, “Parent Voices on the Impact of Race and Poverty on Educational Opportunity: A Call to Action”. That … →
