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September 24, 2011
Connect with advocates for quality public education across the country. Send us success stories, information to share, grassroots mobilizing stories, policy ideas and other news. Forward this newsletter to your networks and urge them to subscribe. |
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 OTL HIGHLIGHTS |
- Outside groups threaten to resegregate Wake County, N.C., schools
What was a nationally recognized success in public school integration is now under attack from the far right. Billionaires like the Koch brothers are buying school districts across the nation to dismantle public education and trap low-income students and students of color in underfunded and poorly resourced schools. Read more>
- KIDS COUNT data show more children in poverty
Child poverty increased by 2.5 million children in 38 states from 2000-2009, according to the most recent KIDS COUNT Data Book. Released annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Data Book ranks states on 10 measures of well-being. State-by-state information for each of the indicators is available through this online tool. Read more>
- Judge blocks Colorado district's voucher program
Citing concerns over public funding for private religious education, a Denver judge has ruled a pilot voucher program in Colorado unconstitutional. The program would have helped enroll 500 students in religious and non-religious private schools. The suit, brought by parents and several groups, including the ACLU, will now go to the Colorado Supreme Court. Read more>
- Public gives high marks to teachers in new PDK/Gallup Poll
Nearly three-quarters of Americans say they trust and have confidence in their public school teachers and an even higher rate wants to see high-achieving high school students become teachers. Those and other findings are part of this year's annual PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools. Read more>
| RESOURCES |
- Investing in early education for economic growth
In a new brief from the Pew Center on the States, Timothy Bartik argues that investing in early childhood helps with job creation in the short term and also creates a stronger future workforce. His comprehensive model combines well-designed business incentives with high-quality early childhood programs. Read more>
- Improve reading scores by investing in lowest achievers
Improving reading performance among the lowest achievers is critical to ensuring success for all students, finds a recent study of 26 countries by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The report also finds that countries in which schools frequently hold back or kick out students with low academic performance tend to have weaker, more expensive, and more socially inequitable education systems overall. Read more>
- College and career readiness in 2011
Using the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks and ACT test scores, The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2011 provides a series of graphical pictures highlighting the college and career readiness of the ACT-tested high school class of 2011. Read more>
| IN THE NEWS |
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