Why Companies Like Achieve Inc Now Want You To Opt Out Of State Assessments – Exceptional Delaware

Why Companies Like Achieve Inc Now Want You To Opt Out Of State Assessments – Exceptional Delaware:

Why Companies Like Achieve Inc Now Want You To Opt Out Of State Assessments

A blog called NYC Public School Parents published the results of a survey about testing and opt out a couple of days ago.  The findings were a bit bizarre in my opinion.  The fact that it came from Achieve Inc. is very troubling.  For the past couple years, maybe longer, parents have been opting their children out of the state assessment.  That’s a good thing.  But the fact that Achieve Inc. would publish findings that show parents are presumably getting sick of testing and more suburban moms know about opt out is a bit of a farce in my opinion.  At this point, Achieve wants you to opt out.  They want you to complain about too much testing.  They want you, the parents of America, to make such a loud noise that the feds and the states will be forced to change testing environments.  Yes, one of the biggest corporate education reform companies in America is finally in agreement with what we’ve been saying all along!  Finally!  But guess what… this was the plan all along.

If you are royally confused, follow me.  Achieve Inc. helped to set up the Common Core, way back when.  There are some who say they took the work of the Common Core steering committees, ditched it, and came up with their own set of standards.  You know how so many people say “Common Core sucks” and “It’s federal intrustion” and all that stuff?  They are right.  I believe it was intentionally designed to be messed up.  And the tests based off it, like the Smarter Balanced Assessment and PARCC?  They were designed to be bad tests.  No one will say this officially.  But they wanted enough parents to opt out to make some noise.  Not a full-blown, everyone opts out noise.  But enough to draw attention to the subject of assessments.  And they responded.  Florida, Delaware, and many other states conducted Assessment Inventories.  In Delaware, ours was initiated by, who else, Achieve Inc.  These inventories served a double purpose.  It kept the subject of “too many assessments” in the minds of those who followed this type of thing.  It also helped to stop some states from moving forward with opt out legislation.  I’ve seen a Delaware Department of Education email stating our Senate Joint Resolution #2 was a solution against opt out.

You’re still confused.  I understand.  It’s hard to explain this in any way that makes sense.  The Common Core-High Stakes Testing era of corporate education reform is coming to an end.  Very soon.  But that was just a phase.  It allowed the states to get all their data systems in place.  It allowed career & technical education initiatives to get their start.  But the biggest thing Common Core and the state assessments did was open the door to something else.  We are now entering the next phase and the groundwork was laid a long time ago.

Welcome to the Competency-Based Education era!  Instead of your child advancing through grade levels, they will now advance once they master the material.  Don’t get me wrong.  The state assessments will still be there.  But parents most likely won’t even know when their child is taking it.  Because it won’t be the same test.  It won’t be students cooped up taking the same test over a period of weeks in the Spring.  It will be all year.  The same tests, that we have loved to hate, they will still be here.  They may tweak them up a bit, but they aren’t going anywhere.  They laid the trap, and we all fell in it.

How is this even possible?  Through modern technology.  Through personalized learning.  Don’t be fooled by the term personalized learning.  There are actually two kinds.  The concept has been around for decades.  More one-on-one instruction from teachers, Why Companies Like Achieve Inc Now Want You To Opt Out Of State Assessments – Exceptional Delaware:

‘For black lives to matter, black #education has to matter.’ - The Washington Post

‘For black lives to matter, black #education has to matter.’ - The Washington Post:

‘For black lives to matter, black #education has to matter.’

A demonstrator holds up a Black Lives Matter sign near the Capitol on Thursday as a protest march on police brutality arrived after having started near the White House. (Paul Holston/AP)

"For black lives to matter, black #education has to matter." @JessedHagopian #Peoplesmarch16 #SaveOurSchools @BadassTeachersA #TBATs

— undercoverBAT (@undercoverBAT) July 8, 2016

It would be easy on a Friday so dominated by news of deadly violence in different parts of the country to ignore everything else, but there is an event in Washington that shouldn’t be overlooked.

It’s the annual conference of Save Our Schools, a coalition of educators, parents, students and concerned citizens fighting against corporate school reform and for the health of America’s public education system.

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It is one of several conventions now being held every year by public education activist groups, including United Opt Out and the Network for Public Education — all of which illustrate the growing effort among activists to strategize together to achieve greater impact on the education debate in this country.

Activists over the last several years have been successful in bringing national attention to problems with high-stakes standardized testing, the Common Core State Standards Initiative, elements of the school choice movement and other key issues in the world of education. And with achievement gaps still gaping, some 22 percent of American children living in poverty, and schools being more segregated today than they have been since the 1960s, these activists have consistently pressed federal officials and legislators to focus their reform efforts on bringing educational equity to all students.

The tweet above says it all rather succinctly. The author is identified as “undercoverBAT,” a reference to a teacher who is a member of the Badass Teachers Association, a group of thousands of teachers who are highly vocal about their discontent with reform and who are participating in the Save Our Schools convention Friday and Saturday. The author stays unidentified because of a desire “to stay employed,” according to the user’s Twitter bio.

These are the stated goals of Save Our Schools, which held its first gathering in Washington in 2011, an event at which actor Matt Damon spoke in defense of public schools and teachers:

[Matt Damon’s clear-headed speech to teachers rally]

• Equitable funding across all public schools and school systems
• An end to high-stakes testing used for the purpose of student, teacher, and school evaluation
• Teacher, family and community leadership in forming public education policies
• Curriculum responsive to and inclusive of local school communities
• Professional, qualified and committed teachers in all public schools‘For black lives to matter, black #education has to matter.’ - The Washington Post:

Judge rules in favor of SN&R in Kevin Johnson lawsuit - Sacramento News & Review

Judge rules in favor of SN&R in Kevin Johnson lawsuit - Page Burner - July 8, 2016 - Blogs - Sacramento News & Review:

Judge rules in favor of SN&R in Kevin Johnson lawsuit

It’s been a long time coming.

In March of 2015, SN&R’s Cosmo Garvin filed a Public Records Act request for emails related to Mayor Kevin Johnson and the National Conference of Black Mayors. The City of Sacramento didn’t release them all, and a legal battle ensued. Read the most recent updates here and here.

Finally, SN&R and the mayor’s lawyers at Ballard Spahr LLP met today in court. The mayor’s lawyer requested a re-examination of several emails, resulting in a fairly exasperated Judge Christopher Krueger.

“Every document an attorney has seen doesn’t become a legal document,” Krueger said, adding that a “talismanic invocation” of attorney-client privilege doesn’t make it so.

With the exception of one redaction, Krueger ruled that most of the remaining emails will be turned over to SN&R. Ballard Spahr has until July 18, but it is still possible that they’ll file an appeal.

What does this mean for SN&R? The mayor? How the city will deal with Public Records Act requests in the future? Nick Miller will dive into all of that in next week’s SN&R.Judge rules in favor of SN&R in Kevin Johnson lawsuit - Page Burner - July 8, 2016 - Blogs - Sacramento News & Review:

Court orders release of Mayor Kevin Johnson’s emails

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson testifies in the arena court trial on Tuesday, June 30, 2015 in Sacramento, California. The City of Sacramento must release more than 50 emails relating to Mayor Kevin Johnson’s controversial takeover of an embattled black mayors group in 2013, Sacramento Superior Court judge Christopher Krueger ruled on Friday, July 8, 2016. Hector Amezcua hamezcua@sacbee.com

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article88605127.html#storylink=cpy

The city of Sacramento must release more than 50 emails relating to Mayor Kevin Johnson’s controversial takeover of an embattled black mayors group in 2013, a judge ruled on Friday.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Christopher Krueger said the contested communications should be considered public records and must be turned over within 10 calendar days.

Scott Humphreys of law firm Ballard Spahr argued on behalf of Johnson and the National Conference of Black Mayors that the emails, many between city staff working for Johnson, should be covered by attorney-client privilege.

Krueger admonished that attorney-client privilege required more than “talismanic citation of those words,” and that after a close review, the emails and attachments did not meet the standard of communicating legal advice, opinions or analysis. In some cases, he pointed out that they did not appear to be legal in nature at all, such as one memo suggesting exit interview questions for an employee that Humphreys argued had been reviewed by his firm.

“Every document an attorney has ever seen does not become attorney-client privilege,” Krueger said.

The legal case stems from Johnson’s bitterly contested seizure of power at NCBM and its subsequent bankruptcy. An investigation by The Sacramento Bee, including more than 6,100 pages of emails and 16 documents obtained through the Public Records Act, outlined years of work by Johnson’s paid city staff and volunteers to solidify Johnson’s leadership of the organization after years of mismanagement had diminished its stature.

A spokeswoman for the mayor’s office said he would not fight the ruling. “Since the beginning we’ve always contended that whatever emails the judge ruled were not privileged should be released,” said spokeswoman Crystal Strait.Court orders release of Mayor Kevin Johnson’s emails

Anita Chabria: 916-321-1049, @chabriaa

Stanford's Michael Kirst, an innovator for education | News | Palo Alto Online |

Stanford's Michael Kirst, an innovator for education | News | Palo Alto Online |:

Stanford's Michael Kirst, an innovator for education
Longest serving state Board of Education president and longtime professor has played key role in giving local school districts more control

Revolutionary change in public education is rare.

Yet California's public school districts are today in the midst of a sea change, due largely to the efforts of Michael Kirst, the longest serving state Board of Education president and a longtime professor at Stanford University's Graduate School of Education.

Kirst, close to 80 years old, is now in his 52nd year of an uncommon career in education policy. Despite an intimidating CV that spans decades of education experience, from the White House to the California school board, the retired professor conveys neither self-importance nor pretensions. Mild-mannered and affable, Kirst seems at home in his comfortable Stanford office, reflecting on years past while sitting beneath a ceiling-high wall of books (some of which he's authored) and a black-and-white photograph of his younger self shaking hands with President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. On a recent summer afternoon, a single large window was thrown open to let in the breeze and the sounds of campus visitors.

Despite the late stage of his career, Kirst recently shepherded through a dramatic shift in how California school districts operate -- from government-driven, top-down budgeting to an emphasis on local autonomy and community involvement. He has been called the "key architect" of the state's new Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), which since 2013 has required California school districts to develop three-year Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAP), which spell out how they will spend funding to improve education for all students. When Gov. Jerry Brown signed this bill into law on July 1, 2013, he called it "truly revolutionary."

"We are bringing government closer to the people, to the classroom where real decisions are made, and directing the money where the need and challenge is greatest," he said. "This is a good day for California, it's a good day for school kids, and it's a good day for our future."

While the governor and many others have championed the new funding formula as a historic reform for California's encumbered public school system, it has also been criticized by some advocacy groups who worry more local flexibility and less accountability could hurt high-needs students. However, independently conducted studies of the local-control formula that have uncovered concerns about transparency and accountability are nonetheless optimistic about this next era in California education.

The Local Control Funding Formula set uniform funding rates based on districts' average daily student attendance across particular grades. It aims to help the districts that need the most aid by providing supplemental funding for certain student subgroups, such as English language learners, low-income students and foster youth, and concentration funding for districts whose English-learner and low-income populations exceed 55 percent of their enrollment. It eliminated approximately 75 percent of special state programs created to serve needs not met by general fund regular education programs, known as categorical programs. Now only 14 are left.

This was "almost an 180-degree turn" for a system entrenched in decades of categorical programs and incremental funding, Kirst said in an interview with the Weekly.

"You were stage managing the local," he said. "It was, as I call it, a historical accretion with no underlying rationale and no linkage to student needs. For every categorical program that helped low-income students, they passed one for the middle-income (students). It was very complex.

"That spurred the idea that we need to move back to some simple principles, pass these simple principles, unload the past and start with a new paradigm," he said.

Welcome to the new paradigm. Three years in, school districts across the state are adjusting to the new formula, which provides districts dollars based on the demographic profile of the students they serve. Despite representing a step back for the government, it also put in place "enhanced" accountability requirements, Kirst wrote with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson in an August 2013 letter to superintendents and charter school administrators about the impending changes. Among other criteria, the formula requires strong parent involvement -- a requirement that has spurred new levels of community participation in what was a previously opaque, inaccessible budgeting process, Kirst told the Weekly.

Asking districts to create multi-year budget plans that are updated each year with the help of the community has also led to improved long-term planning while also encouraging transparency, Kirst said.

Despite the fact that Palo Alto Unified is among 15 percent of school districts in the state, according to the California Legislative Analyst's Office, that do not receive additional revenue through the new funding formula due to its high per-pupil funding rates, the district is still required to follow the LCFF process. Palo Alto must hold public meetings to collect feedback and input as it annually updates its Local Control Accountability Plan, measuring itself against past years and setting goals for the future. The Palo Alto Board of Education approved this update at its last meeting of the school year on June 21.

---

It's hard to believe that Kirst, one of California's leading education policy analysts, fell into the field by happenstance.

Kirst, who grew up near Reading, Pennyslvania, was recruited by Dartmouth College as a high school football player. He attended the private New Hampshire college on a need-blind scholarship, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1961. Attracted to public Stanford's Michael Kirst, an innovator for education | News | Palo Alto Online |:

California Reaches Settlement With K12 Over False Claims Allegations - WSJ

California Reaches Settlement With K12 Over False Claims Allegations - WSJ:

California Reaches Settlement With K12 Over False Claims Allegations
The online charter-school operator was accused of violating advertising and competition rules

California Attorney General Kamala Harris said Friday her office reached a $168.5 million settlement with K12 Inc., a remote-learning, charter-school operator that was accused of violating advertising and competition rules.

The settlement also covered 14 nonprofit schools known as the California Virtual Academies, or CAVA schools, affiliated with K12. The company manages 15 nonprofit virtual charter schools throughout California serving about 13,000 K-12 students, the attorney general said in a press release announcing the settlement.

As part of the agreement, the attorney general’s office maintains that K12 will forgive about $160 million in debt accrued by the nonprofit schools it manages, which was a result of the fee structure in the K12 contract. The company also will pay $8.5 million to address all claims.

The attorney general’s office alleged that K12 and the CAVA Schools published misleading advertisements about students’ academic progress, class sizes and hidden costs, among other aspects of the schooling.

The attorney general’s office added that authorities were informed by a whistleblower that K12 inflated attendance figures to collect more state funding than was due.

K12 said in response that the attorney general’s office “mischaracterized” the settlement and the company added that it has made no admission of wrongdoing. According to the Herndon, Va., company’s statement, the $168.5 million figure cited by California authorities was “flat wrong.” The company said that the settlement was only $2.5 million.

“K12 will be making an $8.5 million payment to the state,” it said. “Of that amount, $6.0 million is to defray the cost to taxpayers of the Attorney General’s investigation, and $2.5M are settlement costs related to the separate private lawsuit alleging misreporting of attendance at the CAVA schools.”

K12 said the implication that it was paid $160 million by the California schools is false.

“CAVA schools have not paid that money to K12 and K12 never expected to receive it given California’s funding environment,” said Stuart Udell, K12’s chief executive.

A representative for the attorney general’s office said it stood by its earlier statement.

California authorities also said the agreement with K12 calls for the company to reform its contracts, undergo independent reviews of its services for students with disabilities and ensure accuracy of all advertisements, among other changes.

Write to Ezequiel Minaya at ezequiel.minaya@wsj.comCalifornia Reaches Settlement With K12 Over False Claims Allegations - WSJ:

National PTA Calls for Federal Designation of LGBTQs as 'Protected Class’

National PTA Calls for Federal Designation of LGBTQs as 'Protected Class’:

National PTA Calls for Federal Designation of LGBTQs as 'Protected Class’

(CNSNews.com) – A resolution passed by The National PTA at its 2016 Annual Convention & Expo in Orlando last weekend calls for “explicit federal statutory protections” for gay and transgender individuals in addition to those that “currently address discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, [and] disability.”

The National PTA supports “legislation that specifically recognizes LGBTQ as a protected group and addresses discrimination based upon sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression,” according to the resolution, which is entitled Recognition of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) Individuals as a Protected Class.

A “protected class” is a group of people with common characteristics who are legally protected from discrimination under federal and state laws.

The resolution, which originated in Burbank, California, directs PTA leaders to “encourage states and school districts to incorporate inclusive policies and practices that create and maintain safe learning environments for all students.”

It also calls for the creation of “updated health education standards that deal with the issues of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.”

Such standards should incorporate “age-appropriate, medically accurate and culturally sensitive information on LGBTQ issues into existing health and other appropriate curricula,” the resolution states.

The non-profit group, which calls itself “the nation’s oldest and largest child advocacy association,” is encouraging “state, councils and local units nationwide to review district and school policies that address bullying and support revisions and amendments to these policies that specifically discuss sexual orientation and gender identification/expression as they relate to harassment and discrimination.”

"National PTA delegates have taken a stand to push for policies and protections for LGBTQ youth to make sure they have positive school experiences,” saidNational PTA president Laura Bay.

According to the group’s website, “all resolutions were brought forward to National PTA for consideration in the fall of 2015,” and were then “reviewed and passed by National PTA’s Resolutions Committee and the National PTA Board of Directors.”

However, a May 17 Rasmussen poll found that a majority parents with school-aged children are opposed to allowing transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that do not conform to their biological sex, and just 24 percent said the federal government should be setting bathroom policies for elementary and secondary schools.

“Did parents, teachers and other PTA members get to discuss and debate the resolution before it was submitted?” CNSNews.com asked spokeswoman Heidi May Wilson.

“A collaborative group of volunteer PTA leaders developed the LGBTQ resolution,” Wilson replied in an email.

“The group consisted of National PTA’s vice president of advocacy; representatives from California State PTA, Florida PTA, Indiana PTA and Massachusetts PTA; and a representative from each of the following National PTA committees: Diversity, Inclusion and Outreach; Health and Safety; and Legislation.

“The resolution was shaped by PTA volunteers and elected leadership representing 26 states across the country.  

“Once it was developed and submitted by the collaborative group, the resolution National PTA Calls for Federal Designation of LGBTQs as 'Protected Class’:

Big Education Ape Is On Vacation

Big Education Ape Is On Vacation

Will Return to Regular Posting after the 4th 

Happy the 4th of July - The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

"But the educated citizen knows how much more there is to know. He knows that "knowledge is power," more so today than ever before. He knows that only an educated and informed people will be a free people, that the ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all, and that if we can, as Jefferson put it, "enlighten the people generally ... tyranny and the oppressions of mind and body will vanish, like evil spirits at the dawn of day." And, therefore, the educated citizen has a special obligation to encourage the pursuit of learning, to promote exploration of the unknown, to preserve the freedom of inquiry, to support the advancement of research, and to assist at every level of government the improvement of education for all Americans, from grade school to graduate school." John F. Kennedy

Russ Walsh’s MUST READ book - A PARENT’S GUIDE TO PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY - Wait What?

Russ Walsh’s MUST READ book - A PARENT’S GUIDE TO PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY - Wait What?:

Russ Walsh’s MUST READ book – A PARENT’S GUIDE TO PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY

A Parent's Guide to Public Education in the 21st Century: Navigating Education Reform to Get the Best Education for My Child: Russ Walsh: 9781942146339: Amazon.com: Books - https://www.amazon.com/Parents-Guide-Public-Education-Century/dp/1942146337

Russ Walsh, an educator, public education advocate and fellow education blogger has written a new MUST READ book.

Every parent or prospective parent of a public school student, along with every elected official, should take the time to read Russ Walsh’s “A Parent’s Guide to Public Education in the 21st Century.”

Russ Walsh’s well-researched, substantive and accessible description of the state of public education and the very serious threat posed by the charter school industry and its corporate education reform allies, serves as a powerful guide for those who seek to advocate on behalf of their children and the children of their community.

The knowledge and tools Russ Walsh provides his readers serve as the antidote to the rhetoric and false narrative that is being spewed by the corporate education reformer movement and those who seek to privatize public education.

Available at local bookstores, , on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and as an Ebook, A Parent’s Guide to Public Education in the 21^st Century provides parents with extremely important information about what is taking place in the nation’s public schools.

The nation’s federal, state and local officials would also find Walsh’s book a useful primer for what to do and not to do if they are truly dedicated to supporting a comprehensive public education system that  ensure that every child has access to an education that allows that to live broader and more fulfilling lives.

As Carol Burris, the Executive Director of Diane Ravtich’s Network for Public Education wrote in her review of the book;

“When a parent walks their kindergartener through a schoolhouse door for the first time, their heart goes with them. They want to feel secure that they are entrusting their child to a learning environment in which they will thrive. As they listen to sensational reports about ‘failing schools’, it is no wonder that many parents feel doubt. That is why Russ Walsh’s Parent’s Guide is a must read for any parent who is trying to make the best educational decision for their children. It is a clear, thoughtful response that will give parents wisdom, confidence and ease. Walsh is not only a professional, life-long educator, he is a beautiful writer whose style is thoughtful, clear and easy to read. A Parent’s Guide is the best guide for anyone who cares about public schools.”

– Carol Corbett Burris, Executive Director of the Network for Public Education.

And Garn Press, the publisher of A PARENT’S GUIDE TO PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY adds;

What is a parent to make of the current narrative about public education in the United States? We hear that our public schools are mediocre at best and dysfunctional and unsafe at worst. We hear politicians and pundits arguing that the country will fall behind economic competitors like China and Japan, if our schools do not improve. We hear education reformers, well-funded by corporate lions like Bill Gates and the Walton family, suggesting a smorgasbord of solutions from school choice to more rigorous standards and from increased standardized tests to test-based teacher accountability.

What is education reform and how will it impact schools, children and parents? What are charter schools and should I send my child to one? What is the impact of standardized testing on my child? Should I opt my child out of standardized testing? How can I make sure my child gets a good teacher? What does good reading and writing instruction look like? How should technology be used in the schools and at home?

A Parent’s Guide to Public Education in the 21st Century is written to answer these questions and help today’s parents sort through the weeds of educational reform to make informed decisions designed to get the best possible education for their children. The book starts from the point of view that public education is a vital institution, central to our democracy and economic independence, and then suggests ways that parents can not only get the best of education for their own children, but also support policies that will make the institution of public education stronger for future generations.

Russ Walsh’s MUST READ book - A PARENT’S GUIDE TO PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY - Wait What?:

Context, Local Control, Democracy, and Public Schools | The Patiently Impatient Teacher

Context, Local Control, Democracy, and Public Schools | The Patiently Impatient Teacher:
Context, Local Control, Democracy, and Public Schools

photo credit: Mika Twietmeyer @mikajhunter

Context matters. It is pretty simple idea. One of the most solid indictments of the education reform movement is the fact that they advocate blanket policies that impact all schools, all districts, and all states based on experience in just a few districts. From an analysis of a few urban centers, generally in the Northeast, assumptions have been made, policies have been written, and lines have been drawn in the sand. From reading the ed reform blogosphere, it would appear that New York State is an assumed to be an analog for the entire country—urban, suburban, and rural. The conversation about rural poverty is slim, often based on wrong assumption that rural poverty does not impact students of color or that issues in rural schooling are similar to those in urban settings. The constant discussion and debate about teacher’s unions ignores the large number of non-unionized teacher work forces in this country. Also ignored are the varying histories of segregation and desegregation in different regions or the existence (or lack thereof) of a traditional presence of private schooling.

More concerning that the ignorance that education reform advocates seem to have about important structural and contextual factors is the fact that many seem to simply not care. Whatever they perceive is the “crisis” in public education is the only thing that matters. Everyone else be damned, even if we can clearly demonstrate the negative consequences of those blanket education policies on disadvantaged students in other contexts. Perhaps they don’t believe the evidence. Perhaps they play moral equivalency games and decide that these students over here are somehow more worthy or somehow more vulnerable than students over there. Maybe it is simply a game of “out of sight, out of mind” and they just choose to ignore the problems that aren’t visible to them every day.

Given that, it is refreshing when someone in the ed reform camp can drop a little of the arrogance and spend some time contemplating larger implications of their policy positions. Andy Smarick does that just a bit in this article, while simultaneously demonstrating the many flaws within education reform logic.

Many education reformers once thought that parental choice was the “ultimate local control.” When opponents of choice programs defended the district monopoly system by rhetorically Context, Local Control, Democracy, and Public Schools | The Patiently Impatient Teacher:

NEA Delegates Arrive in Washington, DC, for 154th Annual Meeting - 2016 NEA Annual Meeting

NEA Delegates Arrive in Washington, DC, for 154th Annual Meeting - 2016 NEA Annual Meeting:

NEA Delegates Arrive in Washington, DC, for 154th Annual Meeting

By: Celeste Busser and Maya Elie

It’s about that time again, when thousands of delegates will arrive in our nation’s capital for the 154th NEA Annual Meeting and 95th Representative Assembly. Embracing this year’s theme of “Unite. Inspire. Lead!: Harnessing the Power of Our Diversity,” more than 7,500 delegates will gather to vote on major issues surrounding public schools, students and teachers and to create an enhanced learning environment nationwide. The decisions made will impact the entire NEA body of nearly 3 million members.

2016 National Teacher of the Year Jahana Hayes will address delegates to the Representative Assembly.

The NEA Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly (RA), also known as the world’s largest democratic deliberative body, takes place this year June 27 – July 4  at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Delegates will collectively vote on a strategic plan and budget, resolutions and ways to advance NEA’s legislative program, as well as NEA’s organizational policies. Sessions and workshops will also be available to educators for tackling issues that will help them provide a better learning experience for their students regardless of race, gender, class, immigration status, disability and sexuality.

The NEA  2016 Joint Conference on Concerns of Minorities and Womenbegins June 30, surrounding what is likely the most provocative presidential election in United State’s history from a political standpoint. There, prominent social justice activists Maria Elena Durazo (widely considered one of the nation’s most powerful and savvy organizers) and Dahkota Kicking Bear Brown (the youngest person to serve as the White House’s Indian Education advisor) will speak. Following the speeches, NEA will present the award for Social Justice Activist of the Year. The awardee will be an exceptional NEA member, who possesses the qualities of leadership and organization, as well as the ability to engage parents, educators and their community in advocating for social justice issues that impact students, fellow teachers and those who dwell in their surroundings.

NEA Student Program Chair Chelsey Jo Herrig at the 2015 Legacy Project.

The NEA Student Program will present its second annual LEGACY Project on Friday, July 1, when student member volunteers take part in a series of service projects, including the filling of backpacks with school supplies and encouraging notes, and assist in building 25 “Little Free Libraries” that will be donated to under-served communities.

On Saturday, July 2, and Sunday, July 3, NEA will host aRead Across America “Reading Lounge” at the ballpark during Nationals games. Young Nats fans will have the opportunity to take a selfie with The Cat in the Hat in the photo booth. NEA President Lily Eskelsen García will deliver the national anthem on July 3, before the Nationals take on the Cincinnati Reds. NEA members have the opportunity to purchase discounted ticketsto Nationals games from now until July 6.

Educators raise their hands at the 2015 Empowered Educators Day event.

Sunday, July 3, is Empowered Educators Day, where attendees will engage in breakout sessions focused on family-community engagement and policy leadership in regards to the Every Student Succeeds Act. Later that evening, 13 human and civil rights leaders within the organization will shine a light on their current activism at the Human and Civil Rights Awards Dinner. The 50th anniversary of NEA’s merger with the American Teachers Association, which represented Black teachers in segregated schools, will also be celebrated. ATA originally created the Human and Civil Rights Awards Dinner that has honored many civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and César Chavez. When NEA and ATA merged in 1966, NEA chose to carry on this important tradition.

NEA President Lily Eskelsen García will open the RA with the keynote address on July 4, beginning four days of democratic debate and policy-setting for the Association.

It’s an election year in the nation’s capital, and Secretary Hillary Clinton, presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee, will address delegates on Tuesday, July 5. In October, NEA educators recommended Secretary Clinton in the Democratic Primary.

RA delegates will also be addressed by NEA Executive Director John Stocks, who will speak on the need to give educators an elevated voice in issues affecting teaching and learning; NEA’s Education Support Professional of the Year paraeducator Doreen McGuire-Grigg and the National Teacher of the Year Jahana Hayes.

NEA will also present its highest honor the Friend of Education Award to U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) for their work to pass the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Visit http://ra.nea.org/ra-media/ for regular updates from the meeting. For a full agenda go tohttp://ra.nea.org/agenda/.

NEA Delegates Arrive in Washington, DC, for 154th Annual Meeting - 2016 NEA Annual Meeting: