Here are some important questions that the media — and parents — should be asking candidates for the Presidency on down to local school board elections. Cross-posted at Nieman Watchdog By Diane Ravitch gardendr@gmail.com 1. Both Republican candidates and President Obama are enamored of charter schools—that is, schools that are privately managed and deregulated. Are you aware that studies consistently show that charter schools don’t get better results than regular public schools? Are you aware that studies show that, like … →

Dear all: As you know, the U.S. Department of Education is offering a “waiver” of NCLB requirements (ESEA flexibility) to those states that agree to specific requirements. Unfortunately, these new requirements may be as onerous and expensive, if not more so, than NCLB itself. States must adopt new curricula, new tests, new sanctions/supports for the 15 percent lowest scoring schools, must link teacher and principal evaluations to standardized test scores, and instead of all students being “proficient” by 2014, all … →

Dear all: As you know, the U.S. Department of Education is offering a “waiver” of NCLB requirements (ESEA flexibility) to those states that agree to specific requirements. Unfortunately, these new requirements may be as onerous and expensive, if not more so, than NCLB itself. States must adopt new curricula, new tests, new sanctions/supports for the 15 percent lowest scoring schools, must link teacher and principal evaluations to standardized test scores, and instead of all students being “proficient” by 2014, all … →

Press release * For immediate release January 31, 2012 Contacts: Julie Woestehoff, PAA co-founder, Parents United for Responsible Education, Chicago 773-715-3989 Leonie Haimson, PAA co-founder, Class Size Matters, New York City – 212-674-7320 Lorie Barzano, PAA, The Coalition to Strengthen Austin (TX) Urban Schools – 512-447-5577 Karran Harper Royal, PAA founder, Education advocate – 504-722-8174 Parents Across America releases a proposal for real parent empowerment in schools An antidote to phony “parental choice” Chicago, IL and other cities across the … →

This letter was written by Rita M. Solnet, one of the founders of Parents Across America, in response to a letter from Students First, asking her to support the so-called “Parent Empowerment Act,” a form of the Parent Trigger, which is really a stealth attack by charter industry to privatize our public schools.  See the PAA position paper on the Parent Trigger, here and here for the overwhelming rejection of this proposal by Florida parent groups. To:  Jeri Powell,  Students … →

See also NYC Parents for more on these damaging waivers; find out if your state is applying and if so, how you can provide comment. This column is cross posted from the Stamford Advocate. Last March, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan addressed Congress about the flaws in the No Child Left Behind Law. He called NCLB “fundamentally broken,” and said its “one-size-fits-all solutions” usurped the ability of local and state officials to tailor policies to individual schools or students. Moreover, … →

by Karran Harper Royal, Parents Across America- New Orleans This week is being promoted as “School Choice Week” by the supporters of charter school expansion.  They have chosen a video interview with a New Orleans parent to promote school choice, but instead it shows how charters are making children the victims of school choice, not its beneficiaries. In the video, the New Orleans parent admits: She was FORCED to access a charter school because there were no other parish schools available. She will be FORCED to further … →

By Caroline Grannan Parents Across America founding member, San Francisco The so-called Parent Trigger continues to be peddled nationwide as a cure for challenged schools, despite a track record of zero successes and a history of misrepresentation by its backers. The Parent Trigger is a process that allows parents who collect enough signatures on petitions to close their school or “force change,” including turning the school over to a charter operator. In the latest Parent Trigger twist, parents at Desert … →

Karran Harper Royal, long time parent advocate and one of the founding members of Parents Across America – New Orleans, reports from the front lines of school privatization, where already 75 percent of the public schools have been converted to charters, and possibly all the remaining public schools run by the Recovery School District will be charters within two years: I’ve been in so many meetings day and night with various community groups fighting off Recovery School District Superintendent John … →