This post by Erika Sanzi originally posted on Good School Hunting. “Comparing FTC students with demographically and academically similar students who remained in public schools, we find a positive impact on college enrollment in every sector.” – Urban Institute They say that “If it bleeds, it leads” and perhaps that’s the explanation for such anemic […]
Schools Are Not Churches and Corcoran Is Not The Devil
Did you hear? Florida has just hired a fox to guard the public school henhouse and the newspapers are lamenting the impending death of “public education” in the Sunshine state. If you’re confused, or if you’re simply not so melodramatic, all they’re saying is that the former Speaker of the House, Richard Corcoran, just got […]
More Proof Florida Schools Are On The Right Track
Last night I was up way too late checking Twitter when I noticed a tweet from Florida’s education department. Great News, Florida! Quality Counts has ranked Florida 4th in the nation for K-12 student achievement! We are so proud of the work our educators and students are doing in the classroom. 😁📚 #FLedu Find out […]
Florida Needs Another Path For Charter Schools
This post appeared originally on The Capitolist. Amendment 8 may not be on the ballot come November, but we can’t ignore the issue it was trying to address. Charter schools have a legitimate place in our state. They’re written into our laws because they give families a public-school option (and hope) when their zoned school […]
I won’t be part of a Democratic Party that bashes school choice
This post written by Catherine Durkin Robinson originally appeared on the RedefinED blog. I’ve been a militant advocate, organizer and member of the Democratic Party for 30 years. A few months ago, I quit identifying as a Democrat. It had been building within me for a while. I could no longer stomach the Democratic Party’s support […]
Choice for All Must Include Special-Needs Students
It seems like schools are always strapped for resources. They’re being asked to do more with less. The result: We get a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching that actually doesn’t fit most students at all, especially not the ones I work with. As a special education attorney, I help families, educators, and the students they represent […]
Think Your School’s Preparing Your Child for College? Probably Not Like This
What’s your elementary or middle school doing to get your kid ready for college? If you said something like, “teaching them stuff,” or “I don’t know,” don’t feel bad, you’re in good company. If you said AP classes, IB programs, or dual enrollment, I’d just remind you I said, elementary and middle school, not high […]
No Parents, No Progress
Just as parents should be involved in classrooms, so should we be involved when those doors have to close. In a recent panel discussion on school choice in D.C., Robin Lake describes leaving parents out of the conversation of school choice as an “huge unnecessary liability.” I completely agree, but her comment still left me […]
“Let’s Be Clear: ‘Brown v. Board’ Was About School Choice As A Civil Rights Issue”
Not being born in this country makes me even more curious about why things came to be the way they are. Lack of teachers of color in the classroom, higher suspension rates for brown students (even in preschool), and…why the NAACP’s call for a moratorium on charter schools smells reeeal fishy. Matt Halvorson and I are both […]
Who Is Responsible When Your Child Fails?
Now that states are allowed to measure the success of schools by their own state-specific standards, who is responsible when they fail your kids across the board? I’m perplexed by the rainbow of fruit flavors that’s going into measuring how well schools are doing their job. If we don’t speak a common language, how will we […]