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It's
Our Time!
MA Youth Advocates Featured in Film About Opportunity to
Learn for Girls of Color
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StudentsFirst "report", we've produced a badge that
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opportunity, not privatization.
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UPCOMING
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Monday, Feb. 11th, 2013
New York State Museum, Albany, NY
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OTL
HIGHLIGHTS |
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5
Ways the StudentsFirst Report Puts Students Last
Michelle Rhee's pro-privatization
lobbying group StudentsFirst recently released a 50-state
report card that left us appalled. Rather than measure
states based on students' well-being or achievement, the
"report" assigned states a letter grade based on their
adherence to StudentsFirst policies like high-stakes
testing, value-added measures in teacher evaluations,
merit pay, and support for charter schools. Here are 5
reasons why this State Report Card is a recipe for
failure. Read
more>
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Early
Childhood Ed Is Bipartisan, Fiscally Smart &
Creates Jobs
Expanding access to early childhood care
and education is one of the most
staring-you-in-the-face-obvious best investments our
society could make in education reform. In an open letter
to President Obama Elaine Weiss, the National Coordinator
for the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education, and Cassie
Schwerner, Senior VP at the Schott Foundation for Public
Education, detail the all-around benefits of investing in
and expanding access to ECE. It secures our childrens' as
well as our nation's future. Read
more>
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As
National Momentum Grows, Advocates' Voices Ring Out on
Capitol Hill
By Lori Bezahler, President,
Edward W. Hazen Founation
I first heard the phrase "school-to-prison pipeline"
twelve years ago in a meeting with a small group of
Mississippi parents. Today, the movement to end school
pushout has grown so strong that hundreds of advocates and
organizers flocked to the first-ever U.S. Senate public
hearing on the school-to-prison pipeline in December. The
hearing alone was not the victory these advocates and
organizer seek, but it was an important win on the road to
implementing policies that keep students in school and
learning, not lost in a maze of suspensions, expulsions,
and court referrals. Read
more>
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AR
OTL Summit & Student Essay Contest Winners!
The Arkansas Opportunity to Learn
Summit was a fantastic weekend of trainings, workshops and
networking for over 200 education organizers and
advocates. A big thank you to everyone who turned out! And
for those of you who couldn't join, read on for a recap of
the summit and pictures! Read the winning essays from the
student essay contest, "Why an Opportunity to Learn Is
Important to Me." Read
more>
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OTL
Applauds CA Gov. Brown's Leadership on Fair Funding
As other states have made cuts in
education budgets that have had disastrous impacts on
children and schools, California's governor is emerging as
a champion of public education – and of equitable
funding for the state's poorest districts. His proposed
budget for 2013-2014 includes a sizable increase in state
funding for education, and the governor is pushing for a
weighted funding formula with more going to schools
serving low-income students. Read
more>
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MA
ECE Funding Decreased $175 Million Over Decade
Just as Massachusetts Governor
Deval Patrick unveiled a new education spending plan that
calls for increased investment in and universal access to
high-quality early childhood care and education, our
allies at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center
released a report on the decline in spending on ECE in the
state over the past decade. Their report makes clear that
while the governor deserves commendation for his new focus
on ECE, there is a lot of ground to make up for when it
comes to ensuring our youngest children enter school ready
to succeed. Read
more>
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Ed
Week Features PA Allies in Rise & Fall of
Zero-Tolerance
Education Week devoted a special
section of its 2013 annual report to school discipline,
chronicling the injustices and ineffectiveness of
zero-tolerance and its connection to the school-to-prison
pipeline, and highlighting the rising number of advocates
and organizers trying to reform harsh discipline policies.
The report features some of our youth allies in
Pennsylvania as well as our Solutions Not Suspensions
initiative! Read
more>
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Resources
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Stopping
Out-of-School Suspensions: State Policy Guide
Need some help developing or
advocating for policies in your state to tackle school
pushout and end the school-to-prison pipeline? Then look
no further than this newly released state policy guide
from the Opportunity to Learn Campaign! The guide provides
advocates and policymakers with recommendations for ending
the ineffective and discriminatory practice of
out-of-school suspensions, which contribute to our
national pushout crisis. The guide also provides a summary
of the significant action and legislative proposals that
are already underway in states to address this crisis. Read
more>
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IN
THE NEWS |
- How
to Get Nowhere Fast: Jeff Bryant, Associate Fellow
at Campaign for America's Future, describes the
StudentsFirst report as "the ultimate roadmap to
nowhere" because it focuses too much on education
outputs while neglecting crucial inputs like money,
materials, personnel, and training. For insight into the
ills of our education system, Bryant turns to economist
Paul Krugman "who observed this week that the 'big fail'
in economic policy has not been due to a dearth of
well-known remedies but, rather, a continuous emphasis
on the wrong ones." Read
more>
- Gifted
and Talented and Education Redlining in NYC:
Gifted and talented classrooms are predominantly full of
White students, suggesting that students of color are
being systematically locked out of the better-resourced
learning opportunities, what the OTL Campaign calls
"education redlining." Read
more>
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