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Celebrating
the Season: With the help of CER, folks from Fannie Mae share the spirit
of the holidays with students from Washington DC's SouthEast Academy of
Scholastic Excellence.
PRESIDENT JEANNE ALLEN'S MONTHLY
LETTER TO FRIENDS, No. 72, Holiday 2001:
Reading, 'Riting and Common Sense·
On School Choice ·
On Standards and Testing
·On Charters
·Mea Culpa
·More Reasons Why We Need Reform
RAND reports school choice benefitsRAND reports school choice benefits: A new RAND study identifies charter school and voucher program successes. Their conclusion -- expand choice options for further assessment.
CER URGES U.S. SUPREME COURT TO SUPPORT SCHOOL CHOICE: CER, joined by 27 individuals and organizations, filed a friend of the court brief urging the High Court to support parental choices for quality education for children enrolled in Cleveland program. November 9, 2001
November 2001: Read all about building a great school culture,
and the entire November issue of Parent
Power!, now online. Then sign up
to receive your full issue in the mail, or sign up to receive free,
instant electronic notification when each issue of Parent Power! is posted to
the website.
Charter Laws Ranked: CER's 5th annual ranking scorecard finds new trends and weakened laws in its analysis of the nation's 38 charter school laws. Click here for the Introduction and for the Ranking Chart 2001.
PRESIDENT JEANNE ALLEN'S MONTHLY
LETTER TO FRIENDS: No. 71, October
2001: Mom, Apple Pie and the Schools ·
On School Choice · On
the Trenches · A Funny
Thing Happened on the Way to the Summit ·
Advice from Bill Gates ·
Short Takes
Mom, Apple Pie and the Schools. It's hard to believe in light of all that's happened that there is
actually a debate about patriotism in our schools. But there is. CER has
created a new section of our website to help you find ideas for bringing the
American ideal alive to your children and others, so they will understand
without a doubt what it is that's worth preserving in this, "the last best
hope of man on earth."
October 2001: Read all about the challenge of
recruiting and retaining good teachers, and the entire October
issue of Parent
Power!, now online. Then sign up
to receive your full issue in the mail, or sign up to receive free,
instant electronic notification when each issue of Parent Power! is posted to
the website.
Can Students Survive on Junk Food? Eighteen years ago, A Nation At Risk warned of a "rising tide of mediocrity" in American schools. This updated report examines how little progress has been made, and looks at recent and alarming trends in school standards, from local measurement to international standings. Here, you'll find both general and a subject-by-subject look at student achievement.
CER's BACK TO SCHOOL ALERTS:
PRESIDENT JEANNE ALLEN'S MONTHLY
LETTER TO FRIENDS, No.
70, Back to School 2001:
Who me, worry? · From
the Trenches ·On Teachers ·
On Charters · The
State of American Education ·Building The Grassroots
·
New and Improved from CER!
CHARTER RIPPLE & ACCOUNTABILITY Progress and positive impact for children and traditional public school districts are key findings in two Dept. of Education charter school studies just released.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, DISTRACTION: CER offers a Play- by- Play Analysis of PBS' skewed tale of School: The Story of American Public Education, September 4, 2001.
Back to School 2001: Read all about how to help your
kids get off to a good start this year,
and the entire Back to School issue of Parent
Power!, now online. Then sign up
to receive your full issue in the mail, or sign up to receive free,
instant electronic notification when each issue of Parent Power! is posted to
the website.
TESTING HELPS TEACHING: "There's a charge, made by people who feel that testing is somehow external to teaching, that that students will be "tested to death" by state and national standardized tests. But testing is simply the other side of the teaching coin. If you don't assess where you are, what the students have learned or not learned, you're teaching in the dark. Do you every hear anyone saying we're teaching them to death?" By CER President Jeanne Allen, July 23, 2001.
CLASSROOM CONQUEST OF WORLD HISTORY, June 13, 2001, By Gilbert T. Sewall, Education Week. Who gets "dumped" when new figures get added to history texts? In order to make room for new people and subjects, erstwhile heroes such as Hannibal and Wellington have disappeared from classrooms. So have their epic stories.
MORE COMMENTARY FROM CER:
NOT YOUR MOM'S PTA. The name "PTA" may conjure up images of moms working closely with schools, increasingly, that image comes not from PTA's, but from "PTO's" or Parent Teacher Organizations. By Jeanne Allen, Scripps Howard News Service, July 9, 2001
PRESIDENT JEANNE ALLEN'S MONTHLY
LETTER TO FRIENDS: No. 69, Summer 2001:
Educating the Future ·
I'm Not Making This Up! ·
The Testing Wars ·
School Choice Champions ·
Looking Ahead at "Back to School" Time ·
A View from the Blob
COMMENTARY FROM CER:
PARENTS' CHOICE That parents have the right to make educational choices for their children is the basis of a petition filed with the Supreme Court, who will be asked to decide on the fate of the Cleveland Scholarship Program. May 24, 2001.
FLAWED TEXTBOOKS: CER looks at how flawed statewide textbook adoption processes are weakening the quality and accuracy of K-12 textbooks, and hurting the education American children are receiving.
Report of the Charter Schools Strategic Options Project adopted by the Pennsylvania State Education Association. The real charter issue for school employee unions is who controls education. A confidential union report notes: "If we lose our grip on the labor supply to the education industry, we will bargain from a position of weakness."
PRESIDENT JEANNE ALLEN'S MONTHLY
LETTER TO FRIENDS: No. 68, May 2001:
Parents Talk, Schools Walk ·
From the States · Where the Fat Lady has sung · Where the Fat Lady has yet to sing
· Where the Fat Lady has clearly started warming up · You Know It's Time for Reform When
· The School Employee Unions · Worth Mentioning
·
Top Ten True Statements ·
On Content
State by State Summary of
Charter School Laws Passed May 2000- April 2001
May 2001: Read all about Support for Testing Remains Stong Amidst Debate, and all of the May
issue of Parent Power!, now online. Then sign up
to receive your full issue in the mail, or sign up to receive free,
instant electronic notification when each issue of Parent Power! is posted to this website.
THE LEARNING GAP WIDENS, The results of the Reading 2000 Report Card for 4th graders in the United States offer yet another reason for dramatic reforms.
Indiana has the chance to pass the nation's 38th charter school law.
Currently a bill is pending that would make Indiana a national leader, while
another option provides few opportunities for charter school development.
See Jeanne Allen's commentary in the Indianapolis Star, April 4, 2001.
INDIANA LEGISLATURE PASSES CHARTER SCHOOL LAW. The Senate voted 34-12 on April 19 to pass a bill authorizing the creation of charter schools in the Hoosier State. Education Week, April 25, 2001, By Jessica L. Sandham.
EDISON SCHOOLS PUT ON PROBATION; BOOSTERS ENRAGED: The firm that operates a charter school in S.F. has 90 days to fix problems found by the board of education. By Colleen Valles, Associated Press, March 29, 2001.
SCORE GOES UP FOR CHARTERS STUDIES SHOW ACADEMIC GAINS AMID GROWING PAINS: By Tamara Henry, USA Today, March 28, 2001.
PARENT INVOLVEMENT GETS POOR GRADE FROM PTAS: Too-busy adults, apathy blamed for drop in interest in school volunteerism. By Kim L. Hooper, Indianapolis Star, March 24, 2001.
FOUR BERGEN DISTRICTS CHAFE AT CHARTER SCHOOL PROPOSAL, By Jean Rimbach, The Bergen Record, Wednesday, March 14, 2001.
April 2001: Read all about Support for Testing Remains Stong Amidst Debate, and all of the April
issue of Parent Power!, now online. Then sign up
to receive your full issue in the mail, or sign up to receive free,
instant electronic notification when each issue of Parent Power! is posted to this website.
CER'S LEADERS
FORUM March 28, 2001, showcasing grassroots successes in action. Get
the details.... Special Thanks to Our Lead Sponsor School Specialty.
And check out our slide show of last year's Leaders Forum
tour of Edison-Friendship Public Charter School Chamberlain
campus.
NATIONAL CHARTER SCHOOLS WEEK!
April 30 to May 4, 2001. CER has created a "toolkit" to help schools and parents plan the celebration!
CONGRESS AGAIN JOINS NATIONWIDE CELEBRATION. Find out about the
Congressional Salute to Charter Schools.
PRESIDENT JEANNE ALLEN'S MONTHLY
LETTER TO FRIENDS:
No. 67, Feb - March 2001:
Will Education Reform Come to Washington ... ·
The Response·
On School Choice· Let the Sunshine ·
Everybody's talking about a new way of walking ·
On Charters · Quality Counts·
The School Board Network·Empty the Trough · Coming Attractions
15 QUESTIONS: CER poses hard
questions to the recent gathering of the National School Boards Association.
HARD QUESTIONS: Do your school board members do what they say and say what they do?
CER provides 15 ways to evaluate their effectiveness in advancing reform and accountability in your schools.
...
GIVE CHARTERS A CHANCE
Passing a charter school law doesn't guarantee charter schools.
Here's the history of what local school boards will do when its left up to them.
February 2001: Read all about The
Growing Support for Single Sex Schools, and all of the February
issue of Parent Power!, now online. Then sign up
to receive your full issue in the mail, or sign up to receive free,
instant electronic notification when each issue of Parent Power! is posted to this website.
ANALYZE THIS:
CATCH A WAVE:
New, path-breaking research has found a major ripple effect from the establishment of the
state's A+ school choice program. "Schools receiving a
failing grade from the state in 1999 and whose students would have been offered
tuition vouchers if they failed a second time achieved test score gains more
than twice as large as those achieved by other schools." Link to: full
report.
TEST MESS: An analysis of the Maryland School
Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) does not bode well for Maryland students or those who want higher standards.
"MSPAP sends the strong message to
students, teachers and schools in Maryland that knowledge of subject matter has
little value." Link to full analysis.
POLICY
PROPOSAL: In front of leading education reformers and the media,
President Bush unveiled his plan to improve schools. CER
has summarized the key provisions expected to be heavily debated in the
coming weeks. The race is on, and now it’s time to see whether the term
"bi-partisan" means watering things down or having
the courage to stick to one's guns, no matter what the opponents
say. See also Washington
Post, Seattle
Times, and MSNBC
articles
and Jeanne
Allen's National Review Online commentary on the subject.
COURT
REPORT:
GOOD NEWS: Utah's charter law is indeed constitutional, declared the state's Supreme Court. The high court called the challenge by
the school board association "unreasonable," making it the 12th law to
be upheld by a state's high court against the wishes of that state's school boards
associations. More details...
BAD NEWS: The U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has struck down the Cleveland Scholarship
Program, dealing a devastating blow to the educational futures of the nearly
4,000 Ohio children, but paving the way for sending the case to the
nation's highest court.
PRESIDENT JEANNE ALLEN'S MONTHLY
LETTER TO FRIENDS: Special Holiday Edition,
No. 66, December 2000 - January 2001:
For Seven Years, Making Schools Work Better ... ·
The Year 2000 at CER: Highlights
·
A Toast to Some Dynamic Reformers
·
Business Delivers Better Schools,
CER's Second Annual Leader's Forum ·
Education Reform: The Future Looks Bright:
The Annual Meeting of the Education Leaders Council
·
The School Board Network: Uniting Local
Board Leaders for Change ·
A Toast to the Media that
"Get-It" ·
Dear Santa: CER Christmas Wish List
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WHAT'S NEW ARCHIVE 1998
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