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Holidays – Holy Days –  and busy days are here. So as not to interrupt for too long we’ll be brief with a few suggestions for both columns of Santa’s list.

NUMBER ONE AMONG THE NAUGHTY would have to be former President of the National Education Association (NEA) Lily Eskelsen García — a fierce opponent of education excellence and choice, even for low income kids and parents — who has the gall to think she would make a good Secretary of Education.

• The important whys and wherefores of why she would be a disastrous choice are forcefully spelled out in Jeanne Allen’s column in Forbes.

• Don’t just take our word for it — a coalition of organizations that represent students with disabilities, their families and educators penned a letter to President-elect Joe Biden‘s transition team on Thursday expressing serious concern about Eskelsen García, saying while at the NEA Eskelsen García “had the opportunity to steer the organization toward equity and access for students with disabilities but failed to do so.“

• You can join the fight against what would be a travesty of a nomination for U.S. Education Secretary by signing the petition by spokespeople for children of color  opposing her nomination. But don’t stop there ! Please also sign up in CER’s Take Action Center to tell your U.S. Senator to oppose union leaders in a position that should ensure kids are always first. Make sure Senators hear Vox Populi!

• You can get a sample of Vox Populi yourself in just a small sampling of the national firestorm on this issue. (See below and follow @edreform on Twitter) Our favorite is from Dr. Steve Perry pointing out that if Eskelson García had been Secretary during COVID, “…no kids would’ve had the opportunity to go to school, teachers would’ve been on strike and not even the option to learn on line would’ve been present. How do YOU SPELL #EducationDarkAges?”

RUNNING A CLOSE SECOND ON THE NAUGHTY LIST is the broad range of teachers unions manufacturing out of thin air excuses for keeping schools closed. Their “default” position is “safety,” which sounds nice but has no empirical evidence to support it. A detailed report exposing the unions’ mendacity says “teachers unions largely won’t explain why they want to keep public education virtual, even though studies have suggested that schools aren’t coronavirus super-spreaders as originally expected and that students’ performance have suffered in remote environments.” And a recent study by Johns Hopkins University says keeping schools closed “means that children will miss out on vital opportunities for educational, social and emotional development.”

COAL FOR THE OHIO EDUCATION ASSOCIATION which says “we want more than anything to be educating our children face to face.” But won’t. Here’s a hint for the union — if you want to be educating children face to face — show up in the classroom.  The kids will be there!

NEW U.S. SCORES VS. THE WORLD ARE DEFINITELY NOT NICE. The Trends In International Mathematics  and Science Study (TIMMS) is an international comparative study that measures trends in mathematics and science achievement at the 4th and 8th grades every 4 years. Sadly — the results are the same old story — mediocrity prevails. Poor kids once again declined and overall, 4th grade math, 8th grade math, as well as 4th grade science and 8th grade science scores are well behind  the countries that count — all of our competitors in Asia, Russia and England.

MOST DEFINITELY IN THE NICE COLUMN were the leading pioneers of education opportunity who helped kick off the 4th season of Reality Check. Listen to the inspiration of these five leaders who made choice famous, from AZ to DC, from the Badgers to the Wolverines: Lisa Graham Keegan, Kevin Chavous (@kevinpchavous), Howard Fuller (@HowardLFuller), J.C. Huizenga (@nhaschools), and Mickey Revenaugh (@mickeyrevenaugh).

LOTS OF NICENESS. We’ll end this somewhat abbreviated Newswire — you’ve got plenty to do in the next 10 days — with more candidates for the “nice” column.​

• Salt Lake City students know where learning takes place — in the classroom. They made sure their voices were heard at a rally asking that their classrooms be open so they can learn. Out of the mouths of babes!


• Wisconsin parents echoed the sentiments of the kids in Salt Lake as they sued the city of Racine after the city closed its schools, defying a Wisconsin Supreme Court restraining order preventing the city from closing the schools. Seems the city elders of Racine need a lesson in civics.


• How about some niceness for all the other parents who are leading protests demanding officials in Oregon,  Nashville, New York City, West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, as well as Michigan, Texas, Washington, and Oklahoma open their schools. The unions’ excesses and power grabs have awakened a sleeping giant.  And a giant “hooray” to that !


• A Washington Post column asking the relevant question: If charters do more with less, why can’t traditional schools do the same?  An examination of charter school achievement effects in 41 large metropolitan areas showed that urban charters consistently boosted student achievement and the gains made by students from disadvantaged backgrounds have been large,” said the University of Arkansas study authors, citing research by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes.”