Public Education News Wrap-Up (and what YOU, yes you, can do in 2014)

A great piece from @The Chalk Face by John Kuhn who covers both the year in review AND what to do in 2014. 

His queries for 2014:
Will the education reformers rebound from their numerous defeats this year? They still have the money, they still own the media and the US Department of Education, and they have fresh NAEP and PISA scores that “prove” whatever they want them to prove. (Tennessee and DC students showed major gains on NAEP, they enthuse, but then they conveniently forget to mention all the reform-friendly states that didn’t show gains at all. Asi es la vida.)

Will the Common Core be perceived by the masses as a sensible set of standards to guide instruction in 2014, or will progressives across America view it as another armament in the artillery trained on public education and teachers, while conservatives across the nation view it as a federal takeover of a traditional state responsibility and an attempt to brainwash the children?
 



His Five Resolutions:
1. Be active online, in the papers, and in your state capital.  In the blogosphere, in the halls of your legislative bodies, in the letters-to-the-editor section, and during every single election, public education supporters can’t afford to sit back. 

2. Be active locally.   The corporate reformers aren’t merely interested in statewide and national elections. They have found more bang for their buck at the local level.

3. Embrace your expertise.  I am a huge proponent of the Network for Public Education and The Educators Room because organizations like these put educators in places of engagement and efficacy. The motto of The Educators Room is “empowering teachers as the experts,” and that is exactly the thing that is needed.

4. Join others.  Relatedly, if you are serious about protecting the promise of public education, you have little choice but to join others in holding back the tide of corporate reform. There is diversity in the pro-public education camp. If you are progressive, there is a place for you.

5. Be great.  The best defense of the public education system is a strong public education system.