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S.T.O.P. – AND START – WITH A COOL MILLION BUCKS. What if we told you that organizations and individuals who went above and beyond for kids during Covid qualify for a $1 million prize? If you hadn’t heard, CER is administering the new S.T.O.P. Award for Education – to reward one best-in-class provider who delivered outstanding education when it was most needed. STOP embodies the mission of a new fund CER is administering that seeks to scale K-12 education opportunities that are Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding, and Permissionless. “We are proud to highlight the type of innovative work that will chart the future for sustainable and transformational opportunities for students — in permissionless settings,” said CER’s Jeanne Allen.

INNOVATION vs BUREAUCRACY. If you have any doubt about why S.T.O.P. and other incentives for innovative thinking are more vital today than ever, consider that the beneficiary of some $122 billion to date seems to be the Bureaucracy (capital B, or the Blob, for short). It had all summer to ensure a smooth first day of school for our kids. But it just couldn’t do it. Many districts, including behemoths like San Francisco, Miami and Dallas, still don’t have quarantine policies. Parents, therefore, are kept in the dark, and confusion abounds. “Last year, we were new at this game,” says Wall Street Journal’s Jason Riley, “and the people in charge arguably deserved some slack. Not anymore.” Time to put a S.T.O.P. to this.

MASK DROP. The head of the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) has shocked the public, media and pundits with this bombshell of a mask drop, where she argued that students haven’t had any learning loss, and on the contrary, “it’s okay our babies (whose, we wonder?) may not have learned all their times tables…” because she says… “they’ve learned “the difference between a riot and a protest. They know the words insurrection and coup.”revealing what is important to her union. The sheer ignorance from this so-called union leader, Cecily Myart-Cruz is astounding. Not only is math a gateway course that by 3rd grade can predict a student’s graduation rates and college or career attainment, but fewer than 20 percent of the students in the schools their unions control aren’t even proficient in math by 4th grade. Los Angeles students were lower than 20 other urban districts and higher than only 5. Only 43 percent are AT basic knowledge of math and 37 percent below. Ms. Myyart-Cruz, we guarantee you that not only do they not know math, their knowledge of what a protest is or could be is ankle-deep.

THE UTLA SHOULD VISIT PHOENIX, and the Black Mothers Forum in particular founded by dynamo Janelle Wood, who the Governor just awarded $3 million to, for developing 50 micro-schools to be centered around the needs of minority children – like mastering the educational core. We’re especially proud of Ms. Woods and the other black mothers who jumped into the fray on the heels of the disastrous consequences of Covid on their babies, and on their partnership with Prenda one of our favorite providers of personalized learning.

YET MORE JUSTICE for kids is happening through the Center for Black Educator Development, another of CER’s innovative grantees, whose leader Sharif El-Mekki is dedicated to ensuring that not only will children of color learn all they need to be successful, but will do so by ensuring that more teachers of color are trained, recruited and retained. Sharif’s Freedom Schools Literacy Academy offers teaching apprenticeship opportunities while tutoring students – no doubt in math. The UTLA’s Myart-Cruz should be required to write their motto 100 times on the blackboard: “There’s no social justice without educational justice.”

IN PIAZZA. We may not be face-to-face, but bring your thoughts, wine optional,  and join CER’s Jeanne Allen and GSV’s Michael Moe in Piazza, and delve into what matters in innovation, education and culture. . Where else can you hear Paul Ryan talk about economic freedom for the poor, as well as banter about football in the same show? Or Netflix’s Reed Hastings on all manner of issues, with education of course front and center. Media pundit Carlos Watson passionately tells why he does what he does, as does NC’s Catherine Truitt, born to be an educator and now running a system. So catch up on your listening before the next season brings you everyone from authors Todd Rose and JD Vance to Rick Hess, British Robinson, and others!