National Charter Schools Week 2019 Day 4Some of the earliest founded charter school advocacy groups had friends in their name, and for good reason. They wanted to be what most of us aspire to be in all walks of like – great friends to the new kid on the block.Friends of Choice in Urban Schools was the…

National Charter Schools Week 2019 Day 5The charter school movement, and many of its greatest initial and on-going successes, is rooted in its commitment to serving students who for whatever the reason have not been well-served by traditional public education. It’s greatest strength, in fact, is being able to serve students from fragile communities, in…

National Charter Schools Week 2019 Day 6This is a country built on innovation, but when it comes to education we are far too cautious. We do not need a thousand flowers to bloom, as the saying goes. What we need is to have a thousand (or tens of thousands) of seeds planted. Those that are watered…

by Jeanne AllenForbesMay 8, 2019America is the land of innovation, leading the world in technology, art and industry — yet we still have a 20th-century educational system. Our schools are stifled by regulatory overload, making it difficult to bring needed change to outdated ways of doing things. Fortunately for our nation’s children, enterprising individuals at…

by Jeanne AllenThe Post and CourierMay 6, 2019 Last week, teachers called out of school to protest at the South Carolina Statehouse — a fitting final act to a school year already defined by teacher strikes across the nation.Earlier in the year, teachers went on strike in Los Angeles, Denver, West Virginia and other areas. The…

The results of the National 2018 Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) assessment, focused on critical STEM, skills, are more hopeful than in prior years, but the results remain disappointing.The test of more than 15,000 8th grade students in almost 600 schools across the country shows that fewer than 50% are proficient. The test not only…

by Jeanne AllenForbesApril 25, 2019Felicity Huffman and 13 other defendants recently agreed to plead guilty to charges relating to the “Operation Varsity Blues” case, the recently uncovered college cheating scandal. Dozens of “elites” — folks at the top of our entertainment, finance and education systems — were implicated in a large-scale bribery scheme to help…

(Newswire, April 23, 2019)  THE NEA PLAYBOOK.  It’s right out of the playbook and it’s official.  This behavior - and that from DC, to NC to CA - is part of NEA’s very own book of plays designed to “help” the union and its members attack the charter school movement.  This is nothing new of course. For…

by Jeanne Allen Forbes March 28, 2019 “Not everyone should go to college,” screamed a recent editorial, penned, ironically, by a Ph.D. He joins the chorus of successful, highly educated people who insist that others should not aspire to similar paths. Here’s why they are wrong. First, creating different pathways for students requires that some…

Dear Friends,The news was blaring this weekend.  All the talk seemed to suggest that the nation was focused almost entirely on the release of the Mueller Report. It’s been that way for months. And now it’s out. We’re told the nation is riveted, waiting to learn what’s inside.And that does indeed seem to be the…