YOU KNOW WHEN THE NEA AND THE PRESIDENT AGREE it must be serious, but that’s precisely what happened today when both said students must go online to continue their learning. So here’s your news wire to help you comply with what everyone agrees needs to happen…
THE CRISIS. It’s here, it’s everywhere, and we offer our support, gratitude and concern to all those enduring the worst. We may only be an education opportunity group, but we are doing what we can to both Flatten the Curve of Covid and to flatten its impact on education.
NEW! FLATTEN THE IMPACT. They say the more you can create predictability the better off your kids are. But what about adults, too? There’s no question that it’s hard to stay focussed when there’s not a rhythm or a plan — for all of us! To help build predictably around learning — during the current Covid crisis and hopefully for long after — starting today CER is putting its team, time and resources at your disposal to help you navigate and turn that unpredictability on its head. The virus has given us plenty of lemons — so we’re making some lemonade. Starting with…
COUNTERING COVID: DON’T LET EDUCATION FALL IN THE CURVE. CER has put up an extensive resource page listing the tools and services available to students, families and educators everywhere. We’ll be keeping tabs on those who are keeping tabs, sharing the best of the aggregators, product providers, media sources and above all — the real
Newswire – March 10, 2020
Virus or No Virus, Education Needs to Advance
Education technology that delivers great content, engages students and teachers has never been more important. While the many education systems have resisted changing their 150 year old structure, necessity now compels it to do what ailing student achievement could not. We’re excited to be part of it and know many of the thousands of entrepreneurs and innovations that can help our students — at every level — keep moving in their educational journey no matter where this virus disruption takes them. While we are all upset by this global problem, we can and we must overcome it. Here’s our part to do just that:
REINVENT EDUCATION. Every challenge is an opportunity, they say, and now the opportunity to reinvent how we “do” school has never been more possible, nor more necessary. There are copious tools and services that can and should be focussed on ensuring that students don’t miss a beat in their learning. While most of the major accomplishments in ed tech serve to improve the educational experiences of student, instructor or manager, fewer are intended to ensure the educational experience can continue solo, on one’s own, in the event of choice — or necessity. While advances in delivering highly adaptive and interactive programs online abound in postsecondary education (think ASU), other parts of the system have lagged, unless open minded states or communities permit online or virtual schools that have been most prevalent in the charter movement (think K12) or in some statewide
Newswire – March 3, 2020
MAKING SUPER TUESDAY SUPER. It’s that day when the citizens of 14 states begin to turn the presidential elections toward the more likely candidate. We remain deeply concerned for the Republic that discussing education — the critical link for our security and prosperity — is altogether missing in a substantive way from the campaign trail (as Jeanne opines this week in Forbes). Let’s make this Super Tuesday super again. Let’s use it to mark a departure from failure to address the most critical domestic policy issue of our time, to a full out debate about why we must accelerate transformational changes — today.
CHARTER SCHOOLS MAKE THE DEBATE. A bright spot in the Charleston Debate was when CBS News Anchor Bill Whitaker asked a question about a topic that had been ignored during the previous NINE debates: charter schools! (Whitaker also courageously mentioned how low South Carolina’s NAEP scores are — also a first for a presidential debate!) The question was for former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg about his long-time support, and whether he’d seek to expand charter schools nationwide. Sadly Bloomberg softened his stance saying “I’m not sure they’re appropriate every place.” Oh please.
@SAVECHARTERS MAKES THE EVENING NEWS. Hundreds of families seeking to protect the opportunity to choose charter schools rallied once again outside the debate, attracting the attention of candidates and the media. The Freedom Coalition for Charter Schools made the evening news (Families & Activists
Newswire – February 25, 2020
CHOICE WORDS FOR THE DEBATE
#WHATABOUTUS? Tonight in the Palmetto State at the Democratic Debate, the most interesting activity is likely to be outside, not inside, if Vegas is any guide. Activists led by the Freedom Coalition for Charter Schools and civil rights leader Dr. Howard Fuller are already gathering at Wragg Mall, 382 Meeting St., just a few blocks from the Debate Stage, to engage the media and the candidates in Charleston, starting at 3 PM, to demonstrate that they — together with thousands more across the country — are not going away until the kids they care about have equal access to education opportunity. They couldn’t be more well placed. The motto of SC is, “While I breathe, I hope.” Join and support the work from your desk! PLEASE RETWEET ALL YOU SEE ABOUT THIS @edreform @HowardLFuller, @SaveCharters and @WearePPN.
BY THE NUMBERS. With the overwhelming amount of data showing widespread bipartisan support for charter schools and school choice across the country, it’s a wonder that both the 2020 candidates, and the people who most directly deal with our students and our education system seem so adamant in their quest to drown out the voices of parents, who really matter. And there’s much more than anecdotal support for options in education— “A recent EdChoice public opinion survey found that 78% of Democrats agreed with 78% of Republicans and 77% of independents” in support
Newswire – February 19, 2020
WASHINGTON TO LINCOLN TO ?
“The best means of forming a manly, virtuous, and happy people will be found in the right education of youth. Without this foundation, every other means, in my opinion, must fail.” – George Washington
“Education is the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in.” – Abraham Lincoln
The week started with President’s Day, in honor of two of our most distinguished citizens — let alone Presidents. They both had strong opinions on the importance of education to the formation and preservation of our Republic. We’ll be picking their successor later this year, but let’s honor them year round by keeping their ideals and sacrifices in mind.
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES GAMBLE ON VEGAS. The remaining Democrat candidates for President – former Vice President Joe Biden, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg along with Senators Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren – will gather tonight for the latest debate but not before a vocal crowd of thousands of diverse families and students rally for the freedom to best direct their children’s education. Nevada charter school families and the Freedom Coalition for Charter Schools are taking the choice of the next president seriously. They will be gathering at 4 pm just a few miles
Newswire – February 11, 2020
In honor of St. Valentine, we’re sending hearts for love, but reserving darts for those who disappoint…
A SPECIAL VALENTINE. An Unfinished Journey; Education & The American Dream, by CER’s Founder and CEO Jeanne Allen. Inspired by love of country, her Italian heritage, and this nation’s ongoing quest to raise its children to aspire and achieve their greatest dreams, Unfinished Journey challenges us to think big about the education of our youth. Covering students, parents, politics, and culture, it gives the reader a “you are there” feel for the joys, heartbreaks, wins and losses that we’ve all experienced. As Jeanne writes, “We must not be still or silent when generations are at stake. And education — varied by person, location, needs, skills, and aspirations and not tied to any one approach, system, or agency — is the key.” Get your copy today.
400 MILLION LESS VALENTINES… appear in the Trump Education budget for charter schools. A typically choice-friendly Administration gets darts not hearts from us today for collapsing the charter grant program into a proposed “block grant” that would expect state education department bureaucracy to actually support and advance charter schools. Read CER’s statement to understand the intricacies of this issue.
LOVING BLOOMBERG’S ENTRY TO THE DEBATE STAGE. Here’s why.
HEARTS, FLOWERS AND CHOCOLATES TO OK GOV. The corn may be as high as an elephant’s eye, but that hasn’t obscured Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s vision. His newly released
Newswire – February 4, 2020
STATE OF THE UNION’s BIPARTISAN THEME. Tonight’s State of the Union address by President Donald J. Trump will very likely include more than a passing reference to education reform, as Jeanne shared with the Washington Post the other day, and specifically, the Administration’s effort to enact education freedom scholarships to help low-income students choose the schools they’d prefer to attend outside of their attendance zone. Tonight will not be the first time, nor the last, that a president makes a national pitch for giving parents like Stephanie Davis, one of the president’s guests tonight, more power to direct the education of their children, a right that the U.S. Supreme Court has validated time and time again. From Reagan, to Clinton to Bush to Obama, edreform has always had a bi-partisan appeal. Read CER’s statement here.
CUOMO STEPS UP FOR CHARTERS. Showing once again that support for innovation and opportunity in education is a bi-partisan issue, New York Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo’s new budget calls for opening 15 more charter schools and that charters would get a boost in funding. What a breath of fresh air compared to NY City Mayor Bill deBlasio’s “hating” of charters and their supporters. And what great news for the thousands of New York kids trapped in underperforming schools. Mille Grazie Governatore! Okay — that’s Italian — our way of sneaking in mention of the U.S. Italia Education Innovation Festival. CER is co-sponsoring
Newswire – January 28, 2020
What’s Inside: Parents – and their power — are front and center as of late, from the august chambers of the Supreme Court to the streets of the Big Easy, and throughout the country this week, with over 50,000 local events for National School Choice Weekbeing held. Catch up on nationwide Parent Power efforts here!
FREE AT LAST? Just days after the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, the most important education related court case in 50 years, Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue, was heard in the Supreme Court on January 22nd. Not since the landmark Brown v. Board of Education has a case been so clearly focused on ending discrimination in education. At issue is the rights of parents to direct the education of their children. Learn about it in CER’s “Amicus Brief,” or for shorter summaries, check out this edition of “Fox and Friends,” Time and the Washington Post’s excellent explanation. Or listen to lead plaintiff Kendra Espinoza discuss the stakes and the long journey that brought her to the Supreme Court on Reality Check. There’s just too many sources of information out there for you and everyone you know not to be well schooled about this important case. Be sure to visit the CER “Blaine on Trial” webpage for all you need to know, leading up to the
Newswire – January14, 2020
In brief, what you need to know about Mrs. Robinson’s “candidate debate” tonight in Des Moines, the latest candidate positions, the upcoming US Supreme Court case and teacher ed… all in your favorite weekly report from CER – Newswire!
EYE ON IOWA. The remaining Democratic candidates gather tonight in Des Moines, Iowa for the last debate before the caucuses in the Hawkeye State. Look for talk of “free money,” for college and debt relief, with Senator Elizabeth Warren announcing she will bypass Congress to cancel 95% of student debt if elected. (Darn why the heck did we pay ourselves??!) And just in time for tonight’s cattle call, Senator Bernie Sanders can moo about his big union endorsement by the Clark County (Las Vegas) Education Association, which with 19,000 members is the 800 lb gorilla of Nevada politics.
NO FLIP FLOP GOES UNPUNISHED. Many once hopeful education reformers thought Cory Booker would boldly defend his long term support for educational freedom, excellence and other attempts to unfurl students from the status quo. But before the cock could crow in Iowa, Booker instead denied three times his support, then tried to walk it back, and despite it all, he never had a chance at the union endorsement. So yesterday he ended his presidential campaign. His story is a pity. As Mayor of Newark and Senator he
Newswire – January 7, 2020
A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN ALL NEIGHBORHOODS. “Can Mr. Rogers nostalgia help cure today’s culture”? Erica Komisar, a psychoanalyst in New York City thinks yes, it can. “Rogers rejected the old-fashioned idea that children are to be seen and not heard. He believed adults should lead them with love and understanding, not fear and punishment.” Closely related to the potential for an overturned Blaine Amendment to provide access for parents to enroll their students in religious schools if they so desire, the independent Komisar makes a compelling case on why religious faith is the underpinning of much successful child-rearing and educational success. An important read.
WHAT WE’RE READING TODAY. An alarming article from the Associated Press that some think high school is enough. Meanwhile employers want students to have more training… and the options are plentiful, but are they enough? Finally, the cause for equity and justice gets a boost from Washington, where poor kids are given another few years to enjoy attending the kinds of private schools that many of us reading can already afford.
AND THEY’RE OFF! It’s the start of another Presidential Derby. And there’s no need to peruse dozens of websites, blogs, columns, harangues, etc., to find out where education opportunity and choice stand in the race at the moment. CER’s new Education 2020 section lays it out for you. While most of the current candidates defy the polls of
SHARE IT…
Follow us on twitter, FB and instagram, and email edspresso@edreform.com to tell us your stories/solutions. Whatever we get from you on social media — or directly via an email — will be shared, utilized in tele-townhalls, conferences and provided to the media. So please keep us informed by sending us what you know — so we can keep everyone informed.
