Position paper: Why PAA opposes mass school closingsPAA-New Orleans chapter protests charter school discrimination against disabled studentsParent “choice”: Schools choose – students loseParents VotePAA marchers begin the SOS March July 2011Founders speak at PAA kickoff forum, Feb. 8, 2011
Position paper: Why PAA opposes mass school closings
PAA-New Orleans chapter protests charter school discrimination against disabled students
Parent “choice”: Schools choose – students lose
Parents Vote
PAA marchers begin the SOS March July 2011
Founders speak at PAA kickoff forum, Feb. 8, 2011

Letter to N.C. Representatives on High-Stakes Testing

Posted on April 17, 2013 by pagrundy
testing

Here’s the letter MecklenburgACTS co-chair Pamela Grundy sent to the members of the N.C. House Education Committee, requesting that they support a moratorium on high-stakes testing. Find more on the North Carolina campaign at MecklenburgACTS.org. MecklenburgACTS also published a piece on tests and zombies in the Raleigh News and Observer this past Sunday. Dear Representative, On behalf of many, many North Carolina parents, I write to ask you to support HB 775, which would impose a one-year moratorium on state-mandated … →

Weekly Leg Fax for 4-17-13: Failure of market-based reform

Posted on April 17, 2013 by pureparents

Parent Voices Weekly Education Fax April 17, 2013  Fix our schools, don’t privatize them  This week’s update:Market-driven school reforms, mayoral control causing more harm than good A new study, “Market-oriented education reforms’ rhetoric trumps reality,” on the effects of market-driven reform in Washington, D.C., New York City and Chicago concludes that little has been accomplished and some harm has been done to students, especially the underprivileged…. Market-oriented education reform refers to a series of initiatives that include educator evaluations based … →

The Power of Play

Posted on April 17, 2013 by pureparents

Parents, teachers, children at Play-In call for less testing, more playing for young children in CPS Chicago, IL: Today, dozens of parents, children and educators attended a “Play-In” organized by More Than a Score to highlight their concern that testing has taken over the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) classrooms of our youngest children, pushing play-based learning out. The group set up play areas at CPS headquarters to demonstrate the power of play. Adults played side-by-side with children using blocks, bubbles, … →

Weekly Leg Fax: Charter school waiting lists

Posted on April 10, 2013 by pureparents

 Parent Voices Weekly Education Fax April 10, 2013 Oppose rapid expansion of charter schools  This week’s update:Charter waiting list numbers greatly exaggerated Local Chicago NPR station WBEZ-FM reported this week that the charter school waiting list figure cited by advocates“significantly overstates demand” and that “the 19,000 figure counts applications, not students, meaning if a student applies to four schools, he or she is counted four times. It includes kids who have turned down charter seats and are now enrolled in … →

Video by former TFA- message to education policymakers

Posted on April 8, 2013 by pureparents

A Former TFA teacher speaks PAA Board member Karran Harper Royal shared this video with the following comment: If another state or local education board votes to fund TFA after viewing this video, they should be arrested for conspiracy to commit child abuse. This video along with the Baye Cobb videos from Blackboard Wars shows how ineffective some of these young teachers can be. They should not be in a classroom as the only teacher in the room and should … →

Justice for the children of Atlanta

Posted on April 6, 2013 by pureparents

This article was written by PAA-Atlanta/GA/Atlanta Public Schools chapter leader Kimberly Brooks, whose children attended one of the schools where officials have been indicted for racketeering in connection with widespread standardized test cheating. **** My name is Kimberly Brooks, parent of two children that attended Parks Middle School in Atlanta, where the principal was recently indicted for cheating on state tests. For the past two years the Atlanta Public School system has gained the attention of the nation. The most … →

“The best and wisest parent”

Posted on April 6, 2013 by pureparents

“What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy.” John Dewey, The School and Social Progress That’s how PAA opened our position paper on ESEA. It’s also an apt description of our co-founder Leonie Haimson, who became the target of attack this week for having enrolled one of her children in a private … →

How is a standardized test like a zombie?

Posted on April 4, 2013 by pagrundy
TestingZombies3in

How is a standardized test like a zombie? They’re mindless, and they just keep coming.   The MecklenburgACTS.org “Stop Testing Madness in North Carolina” campaign is off to a great start, closing in on 600 signatures, and with almost half our state’s 100 counties represented. We’re talking to school boards, superintendents and other organizations about endorsements, and working on a piece of state legislation that would place a moratorium on state-imposed consequences tied to student test scores. This would include … →

A Virginia parent speaks truth to Arne Duncan

Posted on April 4, 2013 by pureparents

We welcome our first chapter in Virginia, PAA-Roanoke Valley, and its leader, Laura Bowman.Check out (and like!) their new Facebook page! Here’s the story Laura told us about why she wanted to start a PAA chapter: I think it’s so important to have a parent group in my area speaking up in support of our public schools, teachers, and students.  I believe that high stakes testing and the education reform movement have hijacked our schools and turned them into testing … →

Update on parent trigger proposal in Texas

Posted on March 28, 2013 by pureparents

From PAA Houston member Karen Miller: This morning the Senate Ed Comm did pass the parent trigger bill, SB 1263 with some amendments, one, by bill sponsor Sen Taylor would require the school to be defined as low performing for three years rather than two. Sen Lucio was concerned about governing body of open enrollment charter school cannot coerce, bribe or induce a parent to sign a petition for the parent trigger.  Intent is to assure this is grassroots parent … →

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