This Week In Education: Reform: The Problem With "Parents Across America"

This Week In Education: Reform: The Problem With "Parents Across America":

Bruno: A Partial Defense Of Parents Across America

by Paul Bruno

About Alexander's post on Parents Across America, I find myself liking it more than agreeing with it.
On the one hand, while my experience with PAA is pretty limited, at least some of its members seem perfectly willing to question the legitimacy of their opponents based on the interests they appear (or are assumed) to represent.
The tendency of at least some PAA members to operate that way is annoying exactly because it's so fallacious. I take some pleasure, then, in watching Alexander turn that same hypercritical, guilt-by-affiliation lens back on them. 
At the same time, while Alexander was criticizing PAA in roughly the same way they can criticize others, the fact is that PAA shouldn't be making those attacks in the first place and I don't think anything is gained by sinking to that level.
Alexander's argument boils down to the fact that "PAA is mostly not from the low-income minority communities or the dysfunctional schools that are the the focus of so much reform attention," so "it's not at all clear that have

Update: A Young Reformer Loses Faith, Returns To Teaching

by Alexander Russo

It's been a tough secret to keep but the news is finally out -- Seth (Chicago School Wonks) Lavin -- the guy who figured out who the real @mayoremanuel was last spring during his 2nd year as a TFA teacher -- is going back into the classroom in the fall, and shutting down his year-old weekly email newsletter as of this past Friday.
As Lavin explains in his "so long" email (below), it's been an eye-opening year for the former consultant during his year of writing (during which he was out of education). The experience hasn't wrung all optimism out of him, but it's certainly been confusing and disappointing: "Now, after a disastrous year of clumsiness, spin and buffoonery, it frightens me how intractably I’ve come to mistrust Brizard and this entire first attempt at Rahm-style Chicago school reform."
Speaking for myself, it's been a pleasure to get to know Lavin a little bit and to read his work and follow his thinking as it has evolved. I haven't agreed

AM News: Obama Moves On Immigration, Lags On Dropouts

by Victoria Pang

Obama's Immigration Decision Has Impact at College Level HuffPostEdu: Obama’s historic announcement on Friday has far-reaching implications for upwards of 800,000 undocumented immigrants, but what does it mean for college students specifically?
Obama Proposal To Raise School Dropout Age Fall Flat AP: At least 13 states considered legislation this year to raise the age, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, although the bills weren't necessarily introduced in response to Obama.
Senate Appropriations Committee Adds School Improvement Option  Politics K-12: The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill