Seth Leibsohn talks education and accountability with Jeanne Allen, touching on presidential candidates, the federal government, the economy, and teacher quality.

"The problem is how we operate schools, and that is what charters are one solution to," Jeanne Allen, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Education Reform, told The Clarion-Ledger.

Legislators tend to make a common mistake of "trying to be all things for all people," said Jeanne Allen, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Education Reform. They try to push for charter schools, but not full funding, and expect those schools to take on the most disadvantaged students anyway, she said.

The creation of great new public charter schools in Maryland requires just one simple thing, according to Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform, an advocacy organization.

Tying teacher evaluations to student test scores is vital to determine how educators enhance achievement, said Jeanne Allen, president of the Washington-based Center for Education Reform.

February 16, 2012 CER President Jeanne Allen discusses teacher evaluations and teacher abominations on CNN Headline News.

“In more disadvantaged areas, whether suburban or urban, [charter schools] are being welcomed,” said Jeanne Allen, president of the pro-charter Center for Education Reform in Washington. “More and more people who live outside big cities are recognizing that this is a solution for some of their issues too.”

Jeanne Allen, the president for the Center for Education Reform who participated in the FGCU forum, believes schools should cut down barriers and open their doors to parents. She said disadvantaged families, particularly those who don’t speak English, don’t know how to help their children learn how to read because they never got that training.

“This is a big step in the right direction that puts New York up there in the top tier of states that have already begun down the road of codifying an evaluation system with some portion based on student test scores,” Allen said. “It’s terrific that we have people from both parties finally recognizing that…

Jeanne Allen, president of the pro-charter Center for Education Reform, said she is not a fan of adding dozens of new nonprofits as authorizers, but she does support expanding the authorization power beyond local school boards and state education boards.