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Despite all the rhetoric that the unions are finally ready to embrace reform, AFT union prez Randi Weingarten took to the podium Friday at her group’s national convention in Detroit to lambast those who would dare challenge the status quo and to instill fear in her dwindling membership that there is a “new normal” that […] Read more »

I read with some interest and a lot of frustration this Washington Post article, taking as gospel the findings of a flawed study conducted by The National Education Policy Center (NEPC). The study “found” K12 Inc. lags behind traditional public schools. Once again we have good reporters getting snookered by “research” based on un-comparable data […] Read more »

In his book, Renewal: Remaking America’s Schools for the Twenty-First Century, Harold Kwalwasser, former general counsel of the L.A. Unified School District, offers a comprehensive examination of what it takes to move America’s school systems into the 21st century. He urges a shift away from remnants of the Industrial era (seniority, tenure, single salary schedule) […] Read more »

Today at the Govs’ summer meeting — an annual event of all US Governors — Ed Secretary Arne Duncan shared new data indicating that America continues to lose ground internationally when it comes to producing college graduates. College attainment rates have risen nominally (1/2 percentage point), but America still lags far behind on the world […] Read more »

“Why Romney, Obama are education twins” suggests that teachers unions are not standing in the way of education reform, saying they “tolerate” charter schools and are more open to teacher evaluations. I have to respectfully disagree with this assessment. Read more »

It was encouraging to see ed reform being talked about in this campaign season. We agree that school choice is where Mitt Romney and President Obama’s education plans differ the most and believe that it could be a defining issue in the campaign. Read more »

"Public Money Finds Back Door to Private Schools” (front page, May 22) doesn’t mention facts and data showing that more choices in education lead to increased student achievement without doing harm to traditional public schools. Read more »

Coverage of Candidate Romney's education plan received varying reviews. His agenda aside, newspapers also reported that Romney appointed an advisory team which included former Education Secretary Rod Paige. Yet rather than tell the readers something about Paige's past accomplishments, the only thing numerous newspapers felt worthy to use as a descriptor is that Paige once called the NEA a "terrorist organization." Read more »

A driving passion to create for students a school that meets, even exceeds, standards she had for her own children’s schools is what drove Deborah Kenny to jump headfirst into the raging sea of opening a charter network, the Harlem Village Academies. In a storytelling-style book, Born to Rise, Kenny offers not only her personal […] Read more »

Whether one questions college and high school national rankings or not, everyone grabs for U.S. News & World Report’s issues that rate schools nationwide.  We may quibble with which one is assigned top dog and which comes in third, but overall there is a sense that somehow the rating does justice to the service provided. […] Read more »