A new ESEA: What parents value and how Congress should act PAA recently published a position paper, “What is a Quality Education?,” which clearly describes the kind of education we want for our children. Here are our recommendations for changes in ESEA that will move us closer to making sure every child receives the kind of education that parents envision:  Downloadable version of this position paper here. Because a quality education is child-centered, a new ESEA should: Curb high-stakes use … →

This week, the Senate HELP committee held a hearing on “Supporting Teachers and School Leaders” to gather input on ESEA reauthorization in that area. They are still accepting public comment through February 2. You can find all the information, and submit comments, here. PAA has endorsed and submitted the following excellent statement by Michigan Parents for Schools, whose executive director, Steven Norton, is a PAA Board member. The focus of this piece is the inclusion of test-based measures of student … →

For Immediate Release January 26 2015 From: David Spring M. Ed., Elizabeth Hanson, M. Ed., & Susan DuFresne BA. Coalition to Protect our Public Schools RE: Washington State Democratic Party Passed Resolution Opposing Common Core On Saturday, January 24, 2015, the Washington State Democratic Party Central Committee became the first state Democratic Party in the nation to pass a resolution opposing Common Core State Standards (CCSS). A copy of this resolution is provided at the end of this press release. … →

PAA has faxed this position paper to all the members of the Senate and House education committees. Why not share it with your Congresspeople, too? (pdf version here) Polls and surveys show that the first choice of most parents is to send their child to a high-quality neighborhood school with adequate resources. Parents know by now that students in charter schools and voucher programs have not shown better academic progress than students in traditional schools. Parents do not want to … →

Well, it’s “Choice Week” again across the US, a time when the corporate reformers get our elected officials to dance to their tune. For real. From “Schoolchoiceweek.com: For the third year in a row, National School Choice Week is excited to announce an official song and dance moves! In previous years, schools, organizations and even public officials have learned the moves to the official dance… There are about 75 moves in this dance, which they claim is “easier than ever.” We’ll … →

We encourage you to subscribe to our e-mail newsletter, PAA Action News, by signing up four menu blocks down on the right >>>> But in case you missed it…here’s a link to the 1-22-15 newsletter and a brief summary: Action of the week: We urge you to continue to contact Congress about ESEA. This week and last we’ve focused on testing, where there are a couple of proposals we think are worth endorsing. In the next weeks, we will look … →

***Press release: For Immediate Release     January 15, 2015*** Parents support ESEA testing flexibility: call for an end to NCLB’s test-and-punish regime   Contacts: Dora Taylor, Seattle, Parents Across America President, 206-290-3400 Julie Woestehoff, Chicago, PAA Secretary, 773-715-3989 Pamela Grundy, Charlotte, PAA Treasurer, 704-806-0410 Parents Across America, a national network of public school parents, sent the following fax message to members of the House and Senate education committees today: Parents Across America calls on Congress to support the proposed shift from … →

By Julie Woestehoff, Parents United for Responsible Education How standardized tests harm children of color, and what we can do about it FairTest’s recent report on the growing national resistance to standardized testing suggested that the movement is composed primarily of white or privileged protesters, and that communities of color are more likely to be unconcerned about standardized testing or even to consider it a necessary tool for holding schools accountable. Civil rights organizations such as MALDEF and the NAACP, … →

Several of our members started writing this paper as part of a workshop they presented at PAA’s leadership conference last summer. This final paper is based on the workshop discussion and additional input from our members and others. Special thanks to Deb Mayer of Oregon Save our Schools, Danielle Arnold-Schwartz of PAA-Suburban Philadelphia, Lisa Fluke of PAA-Ventura County, and Julie Woestehoff, PAA Board secretary. No set of bullet points can fully capture the complexities of a quality education. We have … →

By Steven Norton, Michigan Parents for Schools The attack on community-governed public education is in full flower in Michigan, as the “lame duck” session of the state legislature sees frantic efforts to push through a number of bills while the voting public is busy thinking about the holidays. Some of these measures are carbon copies of similar bills pushed across the country. One measure would introduce a crude A-F “grading” of schools and districts, using a simplistic formula based solely … →