As we all prepare to enjoy our nation’s annual birthday celebration, we hope you’ll take a few moments between the cookouts, ballgames, parades, and fireworks to truly consider what Independence Day means to us collectively, as a nation, and individually as citizens. Collectively it defines us as a country; it symbolizes our role as a leading…

AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMIN’. As the unions anxiously await the Supreme Court’s decision on Janus, the lawsuits keep piling up in lower courts around the country, this time in the U.S. District Court in Camden, NJ where a South Jersey teacher who doesn't want anything to do with the state's largest teachers'…

COUNTDOWN TO CER’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY SUMMIT… it may seem early, but October will be here before you know it, so make your plans now to join CER on October 25-26 in Miami for its Silver Anniversary Summit & Celebration “The Road to Innovation for ONE America.” One of the features of the gathering will be…

MASS MILESTONE. Recalling amazing milestones in educational change (something that all too many today think is too hard to pursue) the Pioneer Institute reminds of the 25th anniversary of the landmark 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA), the act which ushered in standards, testing and charter schools. “People should remember Governor Weld's extraordinary K-12 education…

POLITICS AS UNUSUAL.“A subterranean divide among Democrats between backers of teachers unions and those of charter schools and other education innovations is helping shape key gubernatorial primaries…” so reports the AP. Charter schools and edreform have long been backburner issues in political campaigns, but in some places a tipping point has been reached.  In Colorado, for example, tension…

GUBERNATORIAL RACES PUT ED FRONT-AND-CENTER. Who are the education innovation and opportunity candidates? With 36 gubernatorial races at stake, and CER’s ED50 ramping up to serve you in the generals, your CER NEWSWIRE will highlight key races & what opportunity voters should know about each candidate from now until the final election day. CALIFORNIA. In the Golden state,…

PRIMARY DAY. It’s a great reminder of what’s at stake, and a time for all to exercise their right to vote, not to mention their responsibility to know what it is they are voting for. A little civics knowledge courtesy of the Bill of Rights Institute might help you or your class, now and in the future to…

REFLECTIONS. Last week America celebrated National Charter Schools Week. In the 27 years since the founding of the charter school movement, tremendous progress has been made in the number of schools established, and in the wealth of innovative opportunities they offer to children, families, teachers and communities. Each day of NCSW, schools, educators, advocates and thought leaders…

INNOVATION GOES TO CAPITOL HILL. Education Innovation. We’ve been talking about it since early 2016 and its necessity as part of the larger equation – Innovation PLUS Opportunity = Results. For several months CER has introduced education innovation to Washington in individual meetings and provided guidance to federal officials on who they might want to listen to…

UNIONS STAGE WALKOUTS. In case you hadn't heard, the national teachers’ unions are staging/pushing for teacher walk outs across the country. In case theyhadn't heard, the nation's report card says less than 50 percent of our kids are proficient in the basics – with the percentages being dramatically less if you're a minority or at-risk…