DFER News Roundup
DFER Seen & Heard:
- DFER Policy Director Charles Barone commented in the Washington Post on the retirement of Rep. George Miller, a leading Democratic voice on education.
- DFER-WI’s Jarett Fields criticized phony attacks on the state’s public charter school expansion bill in a Madison.com column.
- The Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss highlighted Barone and Policy Analyst Mac LeBuhn’s blog post on Eric Cantor’s recent school choice remarks.
- New America Foundation Policy Analyst Anne Hyslop cited Barone’s blog post about No Child Left Behind in Washington Monthly.
Advocacy, Policy Briefs & Such:
- Statement | Democrats for Education Reform Commends Spokane School District for Approving Washington State’s First Charter School.
- Statement | Democrats for Education Reform commends Senator Patty Murray and Representative Jared Polis for IN-STATE Act of 2014.
DFER Blog:
- “Denver’s Mayor Michael B. Hancock was on fire when he spoke about education reform at the U.S. Conference of Mayors last night,”wrote DFER-CO’s Jen Walmer.
- “A key test of DiBlasio’s leadership will be whether he does what’s right for New York City’s schoolchildren’s opportunities they need to succeed in K-12 or instead lets his antagonism toward charter schools compromise that agenda.”
- DFER-WA’s Tania de Sa Campos: “Washington Leads on Common Core, Smarter Balanced Assessments for Students.”
- DFER Policy Analyst Mac LeBuhn writes, “Superintendents Describe a Changing School System in ‘Quality Counts.'”
- Walmer recognizes Governor John Hickenlooper and Speaker of the House Mark Ferrandino for their dedication to education reform in the upcoming General Assembly.
In Related News:
- “The Spokane School District appears likely to authorize Washington state’s first charter school on Wednesday.” (AP)
- “Supporting two charter school bills, IPS signals a new direction,” writes ChalkBeat Indiana’s Scott Elliott.
- TNTP’s Dan Weisberg: “What’s happening in New York is an important lesson for leaders across the country: If you’re serious about education reform, be prepared to fend off a steady stream of political attacks from both sides of the aisle, even after your policies have been adopted.”
- StudentsFirst released their 2014 State Policy Report Card.
Fun With Infographics & More:
- Infographic | Sen. Patty Murray, Rep. Jared Polis Introduce Bill to Provide In-State Tuition for DREAMer Students.
- We are DFERs… Words of inspiration hanging in our New York office.
- Infographic | Teacher Prep: Why we need innovative reforms.
- Fourteen-year-old Kiara Molina, a student at Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academy, knocked her introduction of President Obama out of the park and reminded us all why we’re DFERs.