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Jennifer! I am so pleased and surprised our gala has brought you out into the light. I was, however, surprised to see your reservation to this event and to know that we share this agenda and a desire to celebrate with others whose life’s work has been about advancing the needs of students first, foremost and always. I’m touched by your change in heart and the contribution you are making to the cause of school choice. Read more »

I’ve gone back to school. For the first time in 25 years, I am in a classroom with people and a teacher/leader, getting used to the newness of the people, the lessons and the purpose of it all and anticipating papers, projects and much homework to achieve the doctorate I have set out to pursue […] Read more »

According to some public education advocates, charter school administrators target troublesome, learning-disabled, or otherwise low-performing students and suspend or expel them disproportionately in order to improve their school’s aggregate test scores. These fretful advocates mean well, but a new analysis from CER’s research team shows that they are ultimately misguided. When it occurs, this effect […] Read more »

Once upon a time, in this country, early in the last century hoards of Italians, (like me!), Irish, German, Jewish peoples and more descended on this land in search of something better. From the schools to the sweatshops, they took jobs that paid little and demanded much. Haste, greed and neglect soon became the norm […] Read more »

This week marks my second week being in Washington, DC and the first week of my senior year of college. After being at Arizona State University for three years, this cross-country trip to the nation’s capitol marks the first semester I will not be returning to Arizona. As part of ASU’s McCain Institute Policy & […] Read more »

There is a broad consensus on “if” student achievement should be used in teacher evaluations. It should – and a majority of states include it as the main factor in evaluating educators. 24 states, in fact, require student achievement to inform accountability for teachers, and 12 more include it with a number of other factors. […] Read more »

As a white person from Iowa, I am always hesitant to write about the racial aspects of ed reform and parental school choice. I feel it is always better to have others with more credibility speak of it. But this weekend I saw two things that compelled me to write. Read more »

The commemoration of the March on Washington (Aug 28,1963) this weekend is cause to remember that while struggles in economic and educational equity did and do exist, there were people who for years had been working to integrate schools, even before the Brown v Board of Education ruling in 1954. One such person was DC […] Read more »

The PDK annual poll on “The Public’s Attitudes Towards the Public Schools” is always intriguing but rarely an accurate assessment of what people think. Since I founded the Center for Education Reform, the poll has consistently defied commonly accepted polling practices that expect questions to be defined before they are asked. Thus year after year, […] Read more »

The Annual PDK poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools typically provides insights into how a limited number of Americans think about a limited number of issues in public education. This is the famous poll that reveals how Americans grade their own schools (with most parents giving their own schools As & Bs, […] Read more »