A Call to Action to Protect and Strengthen Public Education

BOULDER, CO (September 6, 2017) – Headed for the start to a new academic year, the threats to public education are increasing. As education deans we cannot remain silent.

Building on the Declaration of Principles that was released in January of this year, the Education Deans for Justice and Equity (EDJE), in partnership with the National Education Policy Center, have prepared a new statement, Our Children Deserve Better.

Signed by 205 education deans and endorsed by 17 national education and civil-rights organizations and centers, Our Children Deserve Better details the values that underlie our vision for education in a democratic society: protecting and nurturing our children, empowering educators, and investing in public schools.

We join with countless others in demanding a better future for our children and our country, and we stand ready to collaborate with federal leaders and all who care about public education as we work to bring this vision into reality.

Our Children Deserve Better: A Call to Resist Washington’s Dangerous Vision for U.S. Education, including the list of signatories and endorsements, can be found on the NEPC website at http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/children-deserve-better

READ MORE HERE: A Call to Action to Protect and Strengthen Public Education | National Education Policy Center

U.S.-trained militaries more likely to overthrow their governments

The American military trains officers from around the world. Back at home, they are nearly twice as likely to attempt a coup than officers who do not receive U.S. training.

READ MORE HERE: U.S.-trained militaries more likely to overthrow their governments – Journalist’s Resource

Minority students are less likely to be placed in special education

The odds of a black child being identified as disabled and placed in special education are 56 percent lower than that of an otherwise similar white child, a new study suggests.

READ MORE HERE: Minority students are less likely to be placed in special education – Journalist’s Resource

CREDO Report Fails to Build Upon Prior Research in Creating Charter School Classification System

BOULDER, CO (September 7, 2017) – Charter Management Organizations 2017, written by James Woodworth, Margaret Raymond, Chunping Han, Yohannes Negassi, W. Payton Richardson, and Will Snow, and released by Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), assessed the impact of different types of charter school-operating organizations on student outcomes in 24 states, plus New York City and Washington, D.C.

The study finds that students in charter schools display slightly greater gains in performance than their peers in traditional public schools, especially students in charter schools operated by certain types of organizations.Gary Miron and Christopher Shank of Western Michigan University reviewed the report and found CREDO’s distinctions between organization types to be arbitrary and unsupported by other research in the field.

This raises concerns about the practical utility of the CREDO findings.In addition, Miron and Shank contend that CREDO researchers made several dubious methodological decisions that threaten the validity of the study.

A number of these problems have been raised in reviews of prior CREDO studies. Specifically, CREDO studies have been criticized for:Over-interpreting small effect sizes;Failing to justify the statistical assumptions underlying the group comparisons made; Not taking into account or acknowledging the large body of charter school research beyond CREDO’s own work;Ignoring the limitations inherent in the research approach they have taken, or at least failing to clearly communicate limitations to readers.

These problems have not only gone unaddressed in Charter Management Organizations 2017, but have been compounded by the CREDO researchers’ confusing and illogical charter organization classification system.

As a result, the reviewers conclude that the report is of limited value. Policymakers should interpret the report’s general findings about charter school effectiveness with extreme caution, but might find CREDO’s work useful as a tool to understand how specific charter school management organizations perform relative to their peers.Find the review, by Gary Miron and Christopher Shank, at:

http://nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/review-CMOsFind Charter Management Organizations 2017, by James Woodworth, Margaret Raymond, Chunping Han, Yohannes Negassi, W. Payton Richardson, and Will Snow, published by CREDO, at:https://credo.stanford.edu/pdfs/CMO FINAL.pdf

READ MORE HERE: CREDO Report Fails to Build Upon Prior Research in Creating Charter School Classification System | National Education Policy Center

Americans largely support using nukes, even against civilians

Americans have lived without the fear of nuclear war for decades. As North Korea challenges this coziness, new research finds Americans largely ready to push the nuclear trigger.

READ MORE HERE: Americans largely support using nukes, even against civilians – Journalist’s Resource