DFER News Round Up
DFER Staff Wishes Everyone A Happy Holiday Season!
By Devin Boyle, Director of Communications
DFER Seen & Heard:
- Liam Kerr writes, “Continued effort needed to improve Salem’s schools” for The Salem News
- “Parents face felony charges for sending daughter outside their district”; DFER’s Romero weighs in (WFMZ)
- DFER offers support to a Philadelphia family; read, “Time to End Zip Code Education: A Philadelphia Story” for the details
- Charlie Barone tells Ed Week, “It’s incumbent on the administration to come up with an equity agenda for a second term”
- DFER’s Gloria Romero writes, “Bill’s ‘death by silence’ costs legislator” (OC Register)
- Liam Kerr pens, “Obama, education reform a Nixon-to-China moment” for The Berkshire Eagle
- DFER’s Gloria Romero speaks on Mcintyre in the Morning about CA ed reform and Students Matter lawsuit
DFER Press Releases:
- Coalition Gathers to Demand Reforms in Support of Parents Arrested for Protecting Child’s Education (Read here)
From DFER’s Blog:
- “Dear Self-Anointed Defenders of Public Education …” by DFER MA State Director Liam Kerr
- Joe Williams asks readers to “Have a Rock and Roll Holiday Season”
- DFER’s Development Manager Molly Thelosen writes “Bay Area Blended Learning Policy Tour: Bringing policymakers to the forefront of innovation in education“
- “The Fight for Reform: The Education Achievement Authority” by DFER’s Harrison Blackmond
- “Charters Schools are Beyond an Experiment” by DFER MA State Director Liam Kerr
In Related News:
- “Giving teachers more power helps in turnaround of Boston schools” (HechingerEd)
- Definitely worth a read: “Disability Treaty Debacle & Republican Education Agenda” by Dana Goldstein
- Dept of Ed announces the 16 winners of the Race to the Top District Competition
- DFER ♥ King County Race to the Top – On December 3rd, the Seattle Times gave a well-deserved rave review to the King Co. Road Maps Consortium’s Race to the Top proposal, which we’ve been rooting for from the start. This week, Arne Duncan announced that Road Map was one of only 16 national winners. What a year for ed reform in the Evergreen State. (See here)
- U.S. students making progress on international exams but still lag behind other nations (WSJ)
- Students fall flat in NAEP vocabulary test reports WSJ
- Five states secure Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge funding (US DOE)
- Teacher evaluation stalemate could force cuts in NY reports WSJ
- Ed Week’s Sara Mead reports “New Data Show Why We Need to Start Early to Keep Kids From Falling Behind”
- Duke University professor testifies that teacher salaries are too low and threaten student achievement (Houston Chronicle)
- “New ideas from a new generation of teachers” from the Washington Post
- AFT Calls for Teacher ‘Bar Exam,’ reports Ed Week
- Five states to increase class time by 300 hours (Huff Post)
- The Atlantic reports, “Extra Pay for Great Teachers: Newark’s Simple Idea Is a Breakthrough”
Fun with Infographics & More:
- Infographic: Newark Charter Schools Shine
- Photos from DFER’s Bay Area Blended Learning Policy Tour
- Infographic: Five States Increase Class Time
If you support our efforts, please donate to Little Kids Rock this holiday season!
Happy Holidays and Have a Great Weekend!