Anti-Union Group StudentsFirst Launched Astroturf Campaign to Undermine Teachers | Alternet

Anti-Union Group StudentsFirst Launched Astroturf Campaign to Undermine Teachers | Alternet:

Anti-Union Group StudentsFirst Launched Astroturf Campaign to Undermine Teachers

Michelle Rhee's group is sneakily trying to rebrand itself to advance its anti-union agenda.

StudentsFirst, the organization founded by Michelle Rhee to battle teachers unions over education policy, has seen better days – having pulled back its chapters in several states and laid off staff. Many are associating its advocacy with being reflexively against the rights of teachers and reflexively for school privatization, a trend in education policy that is starting to wane.

One way for an organization that is starting to lose its base is to rebrand, or to disguise its activities. An email Alternet has obtained shows StudentsFirst emailing individuals in New Mexico (and reportedly other states) offering to pay them to blog and social media comment in favor of its preferred anti-teachers union policies. Here's a copy of the email we received from a source who says it appeared over the summer:

The Truth Campaign for Teachers (TCT) is looking for:

·3-5 New Mexicans who are willing to blog at least twice/week on a variety of pro-reform issues

·3-5 New Mexicans who are willing to comment on/promote content on social media

Bloggers

Ideal candidate is passionate about education reform and is willing to be vocal about issues like the ones StudentsFirst supports.

·TCT would supply them with:

-Daily emails with suggested content and they would choose which topics to write on

-Before posts are final, a TCT write will provide feedback on post to form a compelling blog post

-(Help set up blog if person does not have one yet)

·Prefer that individual is willing to be named but we can work with anonymous bloggers as well

·Trying to get as many volunteers as possible

Social Media Commenters

·Ideal candidates are passionate about education reform

·Have the ability to respond quickly

·Preferred that they a twitter following but not mandatory

            This is not a StudentsFirst initiative but if they are interested, we will connect them with partners at the Truth Campaign for Teachers.

Although this email tries to distance itself from StudentsFirst, it echoes tactics the organization used in other states – for example, in Florida, it promised gift cards to people who commented on blogs in support of its ideology. It's also worth noting that the 501(c)3 organization where the “Truth Campaign for Teachers” is registered is the address of OutsideEyes, a firm owned by Matt S. David who has worked with StudentsFirst.

Since the emails went out, a number of new blogs, including a couple of blogs and twitter accounts in New Mexico, have popped up, all aimed at supporting the StudentsFirst agenda.

It's impossible to prove where funds from this front group have gone, unless it – and StudentsFirst – decide to provide transparency and come clean.Anti-Union Group StudentsFirst Launched Astroturf Campaign to Undermine Teachers | Alternet:

Beware of AstroTurf Ed Reformers 

Just Like Michelle Rhee's Students first only BETTER

Astroturf lobbying refers to political organizations or campaigns that appear to be made up of grassroots activists but are actually organized and run by corporate interests seeking to further their own agendas. Such groups are often typified by innocent-sounding names that have been chosen specifically to disguise the group's true backers

Just Like Michelle Rhee's

 Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better) 

Other Astroturf lobbying groups

Just Like Michelle Rhee's

 Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better) 

¡Si Se Puede Take the Test! | EduShyster

¡Si Se Puede Take the Test! | EduShyster:

¡Si Se Puede Take the Test!



 Test takers who are still learning English get a special treat this time of year...

Pssst: did you know that there is a connection between how well one speaks English and how well one performs on a test conducted in English? If your answer was *no,* *I don’t understand the question,* or *charter schools,* an exciting leadership opportunity awaits. It’s time for another round of Let’s Take Over a District. This season’s lucky winner: scenic Holyoke, Massachusetts. We’re headed west, young reader, and there’s not a moment to spare.

Good luck with that
Shall we begin with a bit of context? Readers who reside outside of the Bay State’s 10,555 square miles (note: includes water) might be surprised to learn that the state consists of more than Kennedys, Bradys, Wahlbergs and Bulfinches. In fact, Massachusetts is home to an astonishing diversity of immigrants who come from all over the world to enjoy our 10 months of winter. Many of these newest residents reside in what are known as *Gateway Cities* like Holyoke. And the newest, newest residents—those young enough to go to school—receive an extra special welcome this time of year: a bilingual dictionary, a sharpened pencil, and a standardized test given in English.

We’re number one (year)
But wait—there’s more, or rather, mas in this case. You see, back in 2002, Massachusetts voters voted to get rid of bilingual education in favor of a speedier system that would require students to learn English in a year because, well, ¿how hard can it really be to learn another language? For school districts like Holyoke, where close to 30% of students are still learning English, this presents something of a challenge, especially since the state, which is now poised to take over the Holyoke schools for persistently low test scores, has found that the *one-year and you’re mainstreamed* policy leads to proficiency for just 20% of English Language Learners. Oh, and that ELL students are three times more likely to drop out of school, which I’m pretty sure is also one of the reasons why the state is now considering serving papers on Paper City.

¿Comprende? Perhaps Holyoke student Jose Dominicci who arrived in the US at the age of 10 and took seven years to learn English en route to becoming a valedictorian can help us understand why the state’s policy doesn’t make any sense. Jose: take it ¡Si Se Puede Take the Test! | EduShyster:

Thousands Likely To Sit Out New York English, Math Tests:

Thousands Likely To Sit Out New York English, Math Tests

 BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Parent leaders of the movement to boycott New York's standardized tests say opting children out could do more for their education than the tests themselves.

As English assessments are given Tuesday through Thursday to more than 1 million third- through eighth-grade students, tens of thousands of others are expected, with their parents' permission, to refuse to take them with the hope of eventually changing state policy.

Parent critics and teachers unions say the tests and time spent preparing for them take away from creative instruction and that tying results to annual teacher and school rankings has only worsened the problem.

"The connection between these tests and the teacher evaluations and the school evaluations has changed the entire culture of what our kids are experiencing in school," said parent Eric Mihelbergel, whose fourth- and seventh-grade daughters will sit out the tests in the Kenmore-Tonawanda school district outside Buffalo. "Instead of the focus being on the student in school, now the focus is on the test."

Last year, about 49,000 students did not take the ELA test and about 67,000 sat out the math tests, according to the state Education Department. About 1.1 million students took each test. This year's math tests are scheduled for next week.

Mihelbergel, a member of New York Allies for Public Education, said Monday the group's goal this year is 250,000 opt-outs, or enough to dilute their usefulness in teacher evaluations. State tests count for between 20 and 40 percent of a teacher's mandatory Annual Professional Performance Review under the current statewide formula.

But authorities warn there may be financial implications, as well. Federal law requires states to assess students in grades 3-8 each year and mandates that 95 percent of students in each school participate or risk losing federal funding, the New York State School Boards Association advised districts in a recent legal memo.

Although there were districts that fell short of the threshold last year, none have been sanctioned, state officials said.

"Any sanctions must be decided on a case by case basis, taking into account the degree and length of time the district has failed to meet participation rate requirements and the reasons for such failure," the Education Department said in an email.

Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the policy-setting Board of Regents, has said the Thousands Likely To Sit Out New York English, Math Tests:

The Assault on Public Education Continues in North Carolina - The K-12 Contrarian - Education Week

The Assault on Public Education Continues in North Carolina - The K-12 Contrarian - Education Week:

The Assault on Public Education Continues in North Carolina

 Down in North Carolina, a revolution is afoot. The revolution appears to have begun in 2008, when a little known senator from some northern state managed to get himself on the ballot as the nominee of one of the two major parties (the one that's not so popular down in North Carolina) for president. That was bad enough, but then he went out and won more votes than the guy he was running against that year. Even worse, he won more votes in North Carolina. And that, apparently, has had more than a few people in that state's government running scared ever since.

That senator, of course, was Barack Obama. His election seems to have set off a counterrevolution in the Tar Heel state that has unfolded like a tragi-comic farce: comedic in the sense that his opponents can't seem to stop falling all over themselves to undo any and everything that they think may have resulted in his election, tragic in the sense that so much of what they are doing had little to do directly with his election in the first place. Worse than that, much of what they're undoing had helped make North Carolina one of the most sought-after places in the country, a place that attracted educated people drawn to its varied geography, great barbecue, rich cultural traditions, and mild climate. Oh, and its reasonably progressive approach to things like education and public works.

Indeed, North Carolina used to be known as a "vale of humility between two mountains of conceit"—a sometimes surprisingly progressive state tucked between more haughty, and more conservative, neighbors to the north and south.  North Carolina never boasted the most generous teacher salaries but it did offer opportunities for professional development in higher education, at a mix of top-flight public universities and top-flight private ones, too, and a growing economy centered on its famous "Research Triangle." As of 2013, North Carolina still had the largest number of teachers certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards—there were more than 20,000 of them, almost 20% of the total number in the whole country. North Carolina was right on the verge of entering the 21st century. It seemed to be turning the page on a past that wasn't always a past to be proud of.

Instead, it appears that North Carolina's Republican government is determined to dial it back past the 20th century all the way to the 19th. Draconian voting laws intended to keep people from the polls, cuts to education funding, a relentless assault on teachers—none of it, apparently, is enough to get the legislature's foot off the gas. More than most states, North Carolina seems intent on making sure that no one like Barack Obama—and by that I don't an African American man or one-term U.S. senator; I mean a Democrat—ever wins the state's electoral votes again. Apparently that means dismantling anything that was ever done to support the common good. 

And now comes this: news of another bill circulating in the legislature (Rebecca Schuman atSlate has already said most of what needs to be said about this, but I couldn't help piling on) that would require all professors in the state's public universities to teach eight classes per year. I'm not just whistling Dixie when I say this is a terrible idea that, if it becomes law, would have far-reaching consequences. This bill would not bring integrity to the state's university system, as its sponsors claim; it would water that system down, make it worse, put it on uneven footing with private colleges and universities, and drive those pesky college professors—who, if you didn't know it already, don't tend to vote for Republicans—all the way out of North Carolina for good. At the very least, it would get them off the payroll. As Jay Schalin, of the conservative Pope Center on HIgher Education Policy, put it: "The university system is not a jobs program for academics, and whether a bill reduces or increases the number of jobs is irrelevant." Did you know North Carolina Republicans were job killers, not job creators? 

And kill jobs is what this bill would do—not just the ones held by those troublesome professors, but the ones created by their research—even as it eviscerated the state's public system of higher The Assault on Public Education Continues in North Carolina - The K-12 Contrarian - Education Week:

Teachers Have Had Enough! | M. Shannon Hernandez

Teachers Have Had Enough! | M. Shannon Hernandez:

Teachers Have Had Enough!

BATs Demand Change of Direction

Badass Teacher (BAT) Association

WELCOME TO THE BAT CAVE

Badass Teacher Association Web Site

 I've been watching my social media feeds. Teachers are banding together like never before on Twitter and Facebook and using their voices to speak the truth about what is happening in our public schools. We are organizing ourselves for demonstrations and rallies, and we are forming advocacy groups, at the local, state, and national levels.

We have realized that there is strength in numbers.

We have realized that if an entire nation of teachers speaks, it's hard to pin-point one or two "trouble-makers."

We have realized that we share the same concerns and struggles from state-to-state, and that talking about it, publicly, educates the public.

Teachers have had enough. The evidence can be seen across the nation, as teachers stand up to the unrealistic demands that are being handed down to them from education policy makers and corporate reformers.

We've had enough of the testing, the scripted, fake curriculum, and the crowded, underfunded classrooms.

We've had enough of the lies -- being told that our students can't do the work, aren't proficient, and don't have what it takes to succeed in public schools.

We've had enough of the bullying -- being told, over and over again, that we are "bad" teachers, and that the students are failing because we aren't doing our jobs.

And now, it's time for change. Because we know some things...

We know that our nation's youth deserve the countless hours we invest, outside of our classrooms, to fight for what is theirs -- a public school experience that exceeds their needs, and one that is filled with love and compassion, and is built on engaging, meaningful, and passionate instruction.

After all, we are the professionals. We are the people walking into our classrooms, day in and day out, building relationships with students, and inspiring minds to reach higher and think bigger. We are the very individuals who know exactly what our schools need so we can continue doing the work we have been called to do.

And yet, most often, teachers are not asked about the topics being debated across the nation. How is it that the very professionals who have been trained to work with a variety of learners, are never asked, "What do you think will make the greatest impact in our schools?"

And now...for the truth...

The truth is that our voices do matter in public education reform. We are seeing the results when we use social media to organize ourselves, begin blogging on our own websites, opt-out of the testing madness, or voice our concerns at the faculty meeting. There are numerous ways that we can continue fighting for our public schools.

I invite you to join another platform where your voice matters, big time. TheTransforming Public Education Podcast is a weekly show which highlights all the wonderful things happening in public schools It is a place where educators, parents, and students have a voice in what is working in our schools -- and what isn't. It is a Teachers Have Had Enough! | M. Shannon Hernandez:

‘Congratulations to me. I have been offered a position as a professional scorer by Pearson.’ - The Washington Post

‘Congratulations to me. I have been offered a position as a professional scorer by Pearson.’ - The Washington Post:

‘Congratulations to me. I have been offered a position as a professional scorer by Pearson.’

 Jennifer White is a parent and former elementary school teacher who taught Grades 1-4 over the course of 15 years. She lives in Basking Ridge, N.J., and has four children — ages 8, 10, 12 and 14 — who go to school in the Bernards Township School District.  White has a permanent New Jersey teaching license; a masters degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, in reading, specializing in learning disabilities; and an M.Ed in educational leadership from Bank Street College.

In recent months, White has become an activist against the Common Core PARCC test, which students in New Jersey and a number of other states are taking this spring. In an e-mail, she wrote:

“Throughout my years of teaching, I administered standardized tests. I believe tests can be important tools for assessing student performance. I am not anti-testing but I am anti PARCC.”

White co-created a Facebook group for parents to help them educate each other about the PARCC exam and  discuss the future of public education in their township. Hundreds of parents have joined the forum, expressing concern about student stress and anxiety surrounding the PARCC test and extensive test prep, lost instructional time, the use of student test scores on PARCC to evaluate teachers, and the loss of local control over their public schools.

White wanted to find out about the company that created the PARCC exam — Pearson, the world’s largest education company. She decided to apply for a position as a professional scorer for the 2015 PARCC Spring Operational Grade 4 English Language Arts test. This post is her report on her hiring experience. Following that is a comment I requested from Pearson, and then the letter she received from Pearson offering her the job.

By Jennifer White

Congratulations to me. I have been offered a position as a professional scorer by Pearson for the 2015 PARCC spring Operational Grade 4 English Language Arts exams.

Pearson PLC, the company that has its hands in our children’s education, is a multinational for-profit education and publishing company, headquartered in London, and traded on the London and New York Stock Exchanges. Pearson Education, part of Pearson PLC, is the largest educational assessment provider in the United States, according to its website. New Jersey awarded NCS Pearson, a subsidiary of Pearson Education, a multi-year $108 million contract to create and administer the Common Core test PARCC (though there are different pricing options that could mean the state pays less).

You might wonder how I came upon this wonderful opportunity. I was curious about who would be scoring the exams said to be able to tell if my children are college- and career-ready, so I filled in an on-line application for a Pearson’s scorer’s job. (If you too are interested in a position, Pearson advertises on Craigslist and Facebook, as I learned when these were two of the options listed on my application as to how I heard about the job opening.)

Pearson’s offer of employment came to me even though I never actually spoke to anybody at the company. The offer is conditional upon verification of my college degree, completed project training and signature on a confidentiality waiver. The company, valued at well over $10 billion, did not verify my information before its offer of employment, and seems interested only in verifying my college degree.

If I accept, I will be able to earn $10.10 an hour for training. When actually grading tests, I would be required to work a minimum 20 hours a week and would earn $12 an hour with the possibility of additional earned incentives for consistent productivity. Therefore, if I were to be very speedy at scoring your children’s tests (which could impact their school placement, future education, and their teachers’ jobs), I would have the potential to earn ‘Congratulations to me. I have been offered a position as a professional scorer by Pearson.’ - The Washington Post:

Common Core consequences: “What currently passes for reform’ has caused considerable collateral damage to schools and teachers” - Salon.com

Common Core consequences: “What currently passes for reform’ has caused considerable collateral damage to schools and teachers” - Salon.com:

Common Core consequences: “What currently passes for reform’ has caused considerable collateral damage to schools and teachers”

California flipped education-reform script, knowing sanctions/test-driven accountability helps no one. Here's how

 Politicians from across the political spectrum have made public schools and schoolteachers the favored whipping post of the day.

In blue state New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has vowed to “bust up” public education “monopolies” and has bullied through new laws that unfairly evaluate teachers based onwildly unreliable measures. These actions recently drove thousands of New Yorkers into the streets to protest the new mandates.

In red state Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback has made massive budget cuts to that state’s public schools, spurring parents and school children to openly protest his plan. Another conservative leader, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, has taken a meat cleaver to higher education budgets, igniting a strong backlash from voters.

In virtually every state, there’s a massive resistance to standardized testing that now dominates education practices. And rollouts of new Common Core standards continue tospark strong anger from teachers and parents of all political persuasions.

However, at least one state seems to have missed the war on public schools.

---

---

Instead of taking massive budget cuts to public schools, California is flowing more money into schools and has taken steps to ensure school funding is more equitable. Instead of tormenting teachers with shoddy evaluations, many California school principals areresisting the policy of using standardized test scores to judge teacher performance. And the state recently refused to include a teacher evaluation system based on student test scores in its application for a waiver from the mandates of No Child Left Behind laws.

Although the state is implementing the Common Core, the adoption has proceeded relatively problem-free. Recently two education experts that don’t always agree – Stanford professor Linda Darling-Hammond and Paul Hill of the Center on Reinventing Public Education – took to the pages of The Hill to declare the Golden State had reached a satisfactory “consensus” to “education accountability.”

What’s going on in America’s “Left Bank?” Could it be that California is solving the raucous education debate? Has the state found an alternative to the “reform” path that has created so much discontent elsewhere?

To answer that question, Salon tracked down an expert on California education policy, former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Bill Honig.

Honig, who now heads up the Consortium on Reading Excellence (CORE), served as California school chief in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In a state that was still under the trance of Reaganism, Honig was odd man out in insisting on higher levels of education funding. He frequently sparred with conservative governors George Deukmejian, thenPete Wilson, who were intent on slashing state education spending in a state that used to rank in the top 10 in financial support for public schools. In 2013, the state ranked 49th on school spending.

In addition to shoring up support for education, Honig was determined to implementreforms – including new curriculum frameworks, more robust student achievement assessments, and innovations in teacher professional development that became national models.

Honig’s relations with Republican state leaders reached their lowest point during the Wilson administration when the State Board of Education actually took Honig to court to dilute his powers.

Then the state put Honig on trial for conflict of interest over $337,509 in state Department of Education contracts connected to his wife. A judicial hawk presiding over the caserefused the defense to present its case and instructed the jury in such a narrow way to practically assure conviction.

Honig’s conviction automatically barred him from serving in state office, so he resigned. He eventually had the felony convictions reduced to misdemeanors. But he never completely left the education scene, tirelessly pushing the education ideas he believes in.

Now, it appears state leaders in California may be listening to those ideas. So we asked Honig if California is on an education path that is an alternative to what the rest of the nation is doing.

For quite some time, most federal and state education policy has been dominated by what’s often called a “reform” agenda. Anyone opposed to that is accused of supporting the “status quo.” How do you see the debate?

That accusation is a transparent debating ploy. People opposed to the “reforms” understand the need to improve our schools but contend that the high-stakes, test-driven Common Core consequences: “What currently passes for reform’ has caused considerable collateral damage to schools and teachers” - Salon.com:

Charter Schools Failing on Their Promises | Al Jazeera America

Charter Schools Failing on Their Promises | Al Jazeera America:

Time for a moratorium on charter schools

Charters have failed to deliver, and their expansion should be put on hold

 Charter schools are everywhere. Not long ago, these publicly funded but privately run institutions were a relative rarity. Those that existed served mostly as experimental academies whose successful lessons could be applied elsewhere in their host school districts. But in the last 15 years, swaths of the U.S. public education system have been turned over to charters. In fact, they are being used as a means to crush teachers’ unions and to pursue high-stakes testing.

Charter advocates justify this ascent by promising an antidote to the disappointing outcomes of traditional public schools in segregated and underfunded urban districts. But the research is in: Charter schools have failed to deliver on their promises.

It is time lawmakers freeze their growth and consider how to provide the best education possible for all students.

Underwhelming performance

There are recent precedents for a moratorium on charter schools. Philadelphia, which issued dozens of charter licenses before 2008, did not allow any new ones from 2008 to 2015. The Chicago School District declared a freeze on charters for the 2015–16 school year. Connecticut and Delaware are considering similar actions. Other school boards and states should follow suit.

As a bevy of recent studies prove, charter schools are not substantially outperforming neighborhood public schools. In Arizona, for example, “on average, charter schools in Arizona do no better, and sometimes worse, than the traditional public schools” according to a study by the Brookings Institution. A similar study in Ohio showed that public schools were producing better results than their charter peers in most parts of the state. In Illinois the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity found that Chicago’s charter schools are “less likely to be racially or ethnically diverse” than and “consistently underperform” their public school peers.

That charter schools are not doing better than traditional public schools is particularly disturbing, since they have a host of advantages. Notably, many charters cherry-pick their students. A 2013 study by Reuters found that charter schools employ complicated screening mechanisms to admit only students who are most likely to succeed. This ensures that students from deeply impoverished families or households where English is not spoken at home are less likely to gain admission. These methods include using English-only documents, demanding proof of citizenship (which is illegal) and narrowing application windows to a few hours.

Charters also regulate the composition of their student bodies through expulsions. In 2014 the Chicago School District reported that public schools expelled 182 students out of 353,000. By contrast, charter schools booted 307 students out of 50,000. The expelled students end up back in the public schools, which become the institution of last resort. Charter schools should in theory register superior test scores, since they are not serving some of the highest-need students. Yet that has not been the case on the whole.

Charters have fallen short in terms of transparency and accountability too. A 2010 review from the Philadelphia controller’s office found that the city’s charter schools had little oversight from the understaffed and underfunded school district. Numerous charter operators have been charged with corruption and misuse of funds.

A national moratorium on charter schools would stop the hemorrhaging of funds from traditional public schools.

A 2014 report by two anti-education-privatization organizations, the Center for Popular Democracy and Integrity in Education, found $136 million in fraud and abuse in 15 states. A follow-up study (PDF) in Pennsylvania revealed “charter school officials have defrauded at least $30 million intended for Pennsylvania schoolchildren since 1997.” Some of the questionable dealings may not be illegal because of the intricacies of state laws, but there is little doubt that public money is being wasted.

A recent review of charter school scandals in Florida and Michigan by The Washington Post listed numerous cases of real estate flipping, in which charter schools were used as vehicles for exorbitant profits. Michigan’s largest charter operator, National Heritage Academies gets a 16 percent return on its investment in rent from the state — nearly twice what most commercial properties receive.

A nationwide moratorium

Chicago and Philadelphia provide good examples for setting moratoriums on charter schools, but the freeze has been limited in both cities. Philadelphia’s School Reform Commission did not approve a new charter school in the last seven years. But the number of students enrolled at the existing charters continued to grow, doubling from 2007 to 2015. This year the commission approved five new charters — a regrettable reversal of the moratorium.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has declared that no new charter schools will be funded during the 2015–16 year. However, there is good reason to believe that he is simply playing politics and that he will not extend the moratorium. He faced a tough re-election battle, and the temporary halt was seen as an attempt to lure supporters of public education back into his camp. His poll numbers plunged in 2013 when he closed 50 neighborhood public schools, mostly in black and Hispanic neighborhoods that turned out for him in the 2011 election. His attempts to use the moratorium to appeal to disaffected voters shows that black and Latino parents, whom advocates of the charter industry insist want more charter schools, are hardly as enamored with charters as previously thought.

Nationwide, the expansion of charter schools continues unabated. Charter advocates report that 500 new charter schools opened during the 2014–15 school year, enrolling 348,000 students. One in 20 American students is enrolled in a charter school.

It is time for this to stop.

Charter advocates claim that they are data-driven technicians who pay attention to evidence of what works. But research does not support their preferred education policies. A national moratorium on charter schools would stop the hemorrhaging of funds from traditional public schools. It would also allow time to address the corruption that has plagued the charter industry. This would create an opportunity for some reflection on what actually works best for educating our children. 

Amy B. Dean is a fellow of the Century Foundation and a principal of ABD Ventures, a consulting firm that works to develop innovative strategies for organizations devoted to social change. She is a co-author, with David Reynolds, of “A New New Deal: How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement.”

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera America's editorial policy.Charter Schools Failing on Their Promises | Al Jazeera America: