• Is your local candidate a serious education reformer, or someone who just says what you want to hear, while catering to the status quo? CER's Candidate Education Meter questionnaire offers tough, specific questions to help you evaluate your candidates' understanding of and dedication to education reform.
  

• UN-BUSINESS AS USUAL: Striking Out -- Philadelphia Teachers Vote to Deliver Bare Minimum as Students Prepare to Come Back to School.

• A CLOSER LOOK AT STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: Both the latest SAT scores and the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) confirm that American students are making minimal academic progress. Despite the PR buzz of high stakes and high standards, US achievement remains at unacceptably low levels. Recent changes to the SAT have only served to obscure the problem further. See also, SAT Score Trends, NAEP Score Trends, and Watered Down Version: SAT losing credibility as Yardstick , by Jeanne Allen, Atlanta Journal 9/20/00.
  

• PAIN, NO GAIN: Scores are not good enough, said Jeanne Allen, founder of the Center for Education Reform, a Washington advocacy group. "We would expect our college-bound kids to master math and verbal skills, if not show major gains year after year," Allen said. "Particularly recognizing they have not learned as much as they needed to in primary years, and these things are required in college." See full AP Wire Story.

• LIES, DAMN LIES, AND STATISTICS: With the annual poll season about to begin amidst the Back-to-School and election flurry, the Center for Education Reform has reviewed major polls both nationally and in the states about these issues. The conclusions are for you to draw, but the important fact to remember is that what it appears the public believes is often seriously affected by how the question is asked.
  

• FULL GALLUP: CER reviews perhaps the most publicized of the polls, Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup's annual poll on the public's attitude toward education. The findings: the public is highly dissatisfied with the state of schools, although that is not how PDK is presenting the results. As CER's Jeanne Allen told ABCNews.com, PDK's “questions are geared to solicit answers they want. They represent groups that support status quo and not reform and it is not a valid gauge of people’s attitudes toward education.” 
  

• CHOICE CHECKUP: The most recent Harvard school choice study, on students in New York City, Dayton, Ohio and Washington, DC, confirms once again that students -- often those most in need with the fewest alternatives -- prosper given an opportunity for school choice. 

THE CHARTER SCHOOL CONNECTION

• PROGRAM NOTE: CHARTER SCHOOLS: Beginning in late September, and throughout the fall, PBS will be airing "Charter Schools that Work," an hour-long documentary hosted by Pulitzer Prize Winner Clarence Page and completed with assistance from The Center for Education Reform. Click here for local air dates and more program information.
  

• COUNT ON IT: The numbers are in and the story is simple: charter schools are sweeping the nation. This fall 2,069 charter schools will be educating a half million students in 33 states and Washington, DC. 
  

• MAPPING CHARTER ACTION: Get all the numbers, and more, on charter schools in your state. · Is there a law? Is it any good? · How many schools, serving how many students? · Who's there to help? · Get all the stats and resources, links to schools and and support websites, as well as history and late breaking developments. Surf to your state from CER's Charter School Map USA.

• To lend you a hand with the start of the new school year, we've put the entire August 2000 Back to School issue here online. Start with our cover story checklist that helps you determine: Is your school great? And find out about how to evaluate teacher quality ... and finally, how to decipher just what those state-issue, stat-packed school report cards really mean about the state of your neighborhood, district and state schools. 

INFORMATION: Stay in the loop with CER's Newswire, a regular email newsletter on the latest in education reform. Subscribe here.

CONNECTION: And check out the hundreds of local reform organizations, started by parents, professionals, policy makers and researchers that can help you find the information and individuals to advance your education reform cause. To find one in your community, check out THE EDUCATION NETWORK: Local Education Reform Resources and Organizations, with full contact information and many web links.

ACTION: The School Reform Handbook
Here's everything you ever needed to know about how to improve our schools, from making community-based changes to far reaching state reforms. Learn the real scoop on:  what you need to know about your schools; who's really in charge; how to best present your ideas to the school and the community; how to talk to the media; how to organize a meeting; and hundreds of other important points to help an effective reformer. 

HELPLINE: The Center for Education Reform is here to help. Send us e-mail or contact us at (800) 521-2118.  

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