It’s January, 2015, and K-12 News Network has been doing ground-breaking, people-powered public education news covered from the classroom up for FOUR years now! Thank you, readers, bloggers, and activists, for being folks actively making a new kind of education news. Some highlights from our first four years: In August, 2010, when the LA Times […]
Fix Education Testing and Accountability to Reauthorize No Child Left Behind
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) is now chair of the education committee in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension committee, and has officially opened the door to reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB, also known as the ESEA, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act). He’s seeking emails and letters talking about testing and accountability […]
A Teacher's Letter to President Obama: Apartheid Still Exists in Some U.S. Schools
This is part of a series of letters written by practicing teaching professionals in classrooms around America. These teachers have daily direct contact with schoolchildren. K12NN is proud to present Letters to President Obama. Letters were delivered to President Obama as part of an overall conviction by many teachers that federal education policies, as currently […]
Why This "Suburban Mom" Thinks Arne Duncan's All Wrong
Cynthia Liu is the founder of K12NN. Last week, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said “white suburban moms” oppose Common Core State Standards because they’ll find out “their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were, and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they [sic] were.” SO. MUCH. FAIL. Where to […]
Open Letter to President Obama — The One Book You Should Read on Public Education: Reign of Error, By Diane Ravitch
by Cynthia Liu Dear President Obama, You must read Professor Diane Ravitch’s latest book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools. You won’t like it. No one likes reading about their failures. And that’s exactly WHY you should read it. Your legacy is at stake. You […]
August 20, 2013 LAUSD School Board Meeting Notes
By Karen Wolfe, LAUSD parent leader. Special to K12NN Parent Watch: Some notes on yesterday’s LA School Board happenings Parent representatives met with the Mayor’s office last week to express our concerns about the appointment of Melendez de Santa Ana. We pointed out that her political views and policy agenda conflict with the parents’ agenda, […]
Melendez Choice By Mayor Garcetti Only Deepens Questions Surrounding His Education Agenda
UPDATED, August 23, 2013: The OC Register reports that Melendez did not in fact file for retirement upon leaving Santa Ana Unified School District. This is despite her own blog post on her retirement, which cites wanting to spend more time with her aged parents as a reason for her early departure. Why the conflicting […]
No Teachers With Guns, No Police In Schools
On December 30, 2012, President Obama said he doubted arming school police with guns will prevent future school shootings, but then January 11, 2013’s EdWeek hints that he may yield to local law enforcement officers and communities if it has “bipartisan” support. While President Barack Obama said recently that he would be skeptical that more […]
The Biggest Test Americans Could Fail Isn't Multiple Choice
Since that fateful day on December 14, 2012, we’ve been grieving with the rest of the nation over the senseless deaths of children and their teachers at Newtown, Connecticut. While harder to summon, even pity and empathy must be extended to the obviously disturbed young man Adam Lanza and his mother, who inadvertently armed her […]
Miss the #KidsNotCuts Twitter Party? Here's the Recap
In case you missed the #kidsnotcuts Twitter party with our expert Lily Eskelsen (@NEAToday) as the featured guest, I’ve collected some of the tweet highlights. Good morning, all! Let’s get #kidsnotcuts Twitter Party started! Thanks for joining us Lily. Use @neatoday 2 any Qs u have re fed school $ — K-12 News Network (@K12NN) […]