Andy Rotherham spent his weekly real estate on Time.com describing his method of choosing a school for his children. Of particular note to redefinED are his comments on choice, equity and empowerment: … the amount of choice is still limited by administrators (who alone get to decide, for instance, whether[Read More…]
Parent Empowerment
The irony of the Save Our Schools rally
by Doug Tuthill and Adam Emerson Thirty-nine years ago, author and activist Jonathan Kozol reflected on an enterprise that began when a dozen parents of the children he taught in Boston convened in his kitchen to plan their own school outside the traditional public education system. “We were very much aware[Read More…]
School choice and the case for equity
Over at Dropout Nation, RiShawn Biddle has explored how school choice activists, particularly those on the left, can re-energize the legal case for equity in education spending. He writes, “If choice activists and civil libertarian groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union successfully take up such moves, it would[Read More…]
The rationale for choice and the greater good
The Sunday New York Times featured a front page story on the rise of charter schools in the suburbs and quoted one charter school opponent, Matthew Stewart, in Millburn, N.J., as stating, “In suburban areas like Millburn, there’s no evidence whatsoever that the local school district is not doing its job. So what’s[Read More…]
California board gives OK to parent trigger rules
From the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert: The State Board of Education today gave tentative approval to rules outlining how parents may petition to dramatically restructure their children’s low-performing schools. The nine-member board voted unanimously to provide a final 15-day comment period before they vote in September to officially adopt the[Read More…]
Julio Fuentes: Making the educational success of Latinos a top priority
Editor’s note: This guest column comes from Julio Fuentes, the president of the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options (HCREO), a national coalition dedicated to education reform that counts civil rights and Hispanic business leaders along with public school teachers and ministers among its supporters. The history of our education system is marked[Read More…]
An emerging centrist voice in school choice
It will take a centrist voice to advance the debate over school choice, and few individuals know that better than Jack Coons and Steve Sugarman of the University of California at Berkeley. The two law professors have thought more about parental empowerment in education during the last 41 years than[Read More…]
A leader who is changing the conversation of parental choice
Every good leader knows how to spot an individual capable of transformational change, and Howard Fuller saw that in Gerard Robinson nearly 10 years ago. Robinson displayed the conviction to empower poor families with the education options long enjoyed by wealthier households, and he had the fortitude to challenge the[Read More…]