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An open letter to charter schools, your staffs and your parents, and, most importantly, your students –

This weekend the late night British comedian John Oliver parodied charter schools, poking fun at politicians and celebrities who support them, serving up misstatements and lies about their success & drawing from anti-charter sentiment that is all too prevalent today.

Highly credible researchers and organizations have dismissed his poor taste as just the rantings of a comedian, as satire, which is “his job.” But tens of thousands that find their employment in the organizations you challenge gloated, tweeted and sent their combined millions of members to view and further promote.

Worse, highly credible news sources, including TIME Magazine, the Washington Post, and popular rags like Rolling Stone, carried and repeated the Oliver jokes on charters.

The problem is, it’s no joke what you do every day, and it’s no laughing matter that people who have never experienced bad education think it’s funny to mock those who desperately need a good education for themselves.

The response from the teachers union and others who are currently engaged in a WAR on charter schools is nothing short of coronation for John Oliver. In Massachusetts, hundreds of anti-charter forces working to prevent the more than 32,000 students on waiting lists to achieve their dreams cackled over social media all night and day about the parody, trying to intimidate voters who might otherwise want to vote to lift their charter cap.

You know what it’s like to be in your community and be criticized for doing the hard work it takes to demonstrate results year after year under a microscope, with higher standards and fewer resources than other public schools.

You know what it’s like to teach children who come into your

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On Thursday, July 14^th, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker stood in front of the  State House among families, students, legislators, and residents to advocate for the importance of expanding educational opportunities for children.

Students and their families — likely some of the more than 32,000 on charter school wait lists — echoed throughout the downpour of rain as they chanted, “lift the cap!” in support of lifting current limitations — or a “cap” — on charter schools in the Bay State. Currently, there are limits on the number of charter schools allowed to open in Massachusetts, the number of students allowed, and funding limitations.

Recently, Question 2 was added to November’s election ballot as a way to give residents a voice in whether authorizing either the approval of up to twelve new charter schools or the expansion of student enrollment in existing charter schools would provide more opportunities for students to succeed academically.

During the rainy rally, Governor Baker stated that “for too many families and too many kids, the skies have not cleared, the sun has not shined…too many do not get the chance and opportunity to go to the school of their choice and to have the chance to fulfill their dream that most kids and their families do in the Commonwealth.”

"We're here to make sure every kid in MA gets the education they need." @MassGovernor #LiftTheCap pic.twitter.com/oYVr4DvmqE

— Center for Ed Reform (@edreform) July 14, 2016

As Governor Baker and the families behind him rallied for greater parent power through charter schools, the skies cleared and the sun began to shine possibly signifying that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is ready for a bright change of opportunities.

By Liza McFadden

My great-grandparents emigrated from Westport, Ireland and I’ve traveled to see the home they left. In the summer it’s a charming, whitewashed building with a picturesque view of the harbor that belies the hunger and hardship that motivated its residents to seek a better life across the ocean.

I’m reminded of this image daily in my work as a literacy advocate. Not too long ago, myself and Doro Bush Koch, Honorary Chair of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, visited families in our Rockville, Maryland program, most of whom had come to America seeking relief from dire poverty in Guatemala. One mother cried when sharing with us that due to funding constraints, she would have to leave the program when her son turned four and went to preschool.

Despite our knowledge that a mother’s educational level is the number one determinant of a child’s likelihood to graduate from high school, we’re going backwards. Enrollment in adult literacy and English Language Learning programs has declined by 27% since 2001. The recession steamrolled dreams: in Los Angeles alone there was a decline of over 800,000 students served from 2008 to 2013, and local adult literacy waiting lists are in the thousands.

I believe in order to address these problems, it is time to consider all options that increase access and opportunity. Why aren’t innovative education reform models found in the K-12 system more prevalent in adult education? I believe we could benefit from studying both successful and emerging implementations of these models. For example:

• Sonia Gutierrez,who is considered both a Hispanic rights activist and literacy leader, championed the rights of adult literacy students, and in 1998 the Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School was awarded the first adult charter

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by Steven Guttentag, President of Connections Education

On Wednesday June 15th, I attended a lunch at the National Press Club at the invitation of Jeanne Allen, founder and CEO of the Center for Education Reform, and a long-time, tireless and effective supporter of choice and charters. At this event, Jeanne unveiled The New Opportunity Agenda, a manifesto for renewed energy, strategy and action around education innovation and opportunity.

In a nutshell, Jeanne and the panel argued that the progress made over the last 25 years around creating educational choices for all parents (not just the privileged few who can afford private schools) and the development of new educational models, practices and pedagogy, is starting to wane. In some cases, it seems to be even going backwards. She provided a wake- up call to education reformers and asked all of us, across the ideological spectrum, to find common ground around the “twin values of opportunity and upward mobility.”

As someone who has been on the front lines of education reform my entire career, first as a teacher in the District of Columbia Public Schools, then as an administrator in the School District of Philadelphia and now as a co-founder and president of Connections Education, a company supporting K-12 online and blended learning in schools and school systems across the country for 15 years, this was a message for which I had been waiting. Attempting to innovate within our public education system is a constant battle to fit a square peg into a round hole—to justify, to explain, to try to comply with antiquated rules and regulations.

Joining Jeanne at the front of the room in support of this change agenda was John Engler, Former Governor of Michigan, David Levin, President and CEO of McGraw-Hill Education, and

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Thirty-six million Americans can’t read.

Low-literacy skills are directly linked to higher unemployment, less earned income and poor health. The result is a lack of social mobility and greater inequality for millions of families.

On June 8, the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy convened entrepreneurs, investors, technology leaders, futurists, visionaries, policy makers, and NGO’s to envision transformational ideas for the next 25 years of literacy.

Here are eight important ideas captured under the event’s #AdultEdu hashtag about the bold ideas and innovative thinking that can help alleviate our nation’s literacy crisis:

@LIZAmcfadden addresses #adultedu symposium. “We believe that education is a civil right, no matter one’s age.” pic.twitter.com/ZmrpGqWQHH

— Barbara Bush Fdn (@BarbaraBushFdn) June 8, 2016

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Allen says we’re constrained by too many rules that prevent us from disrupting #adultedu. Adult charters can help. pic.twitter.com/WAyswNgZfm

— liza mcfadden (@LIZAmcfadden) June 8, 2016

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. @BriyaPCS & #AdultEdu w/ their students – @JeanneAllen says why aren’t there more #charterschools & others like it?! @BarbaraBushFdn

— Tracy Young (@TracyYoungTX) June 8, 2016

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Need access to digital learning opportunities, digital literacy, use of tech for personal empowerment. #AdultEdu pic.twitter.com/Vfv9zkvnro

— liza mcfadden (@LIZAmcfadden) June 8, 2016

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This generation will embark on 15 different careers in their lifetime. Requires a new way of learning. #adultedu pic.twitter.com/8hZYxCfAIK

— liza mcfadden (@LIZAmcfadden) June 8, 2016

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Uvin says we need new service delivery infrastructure to serve more people. Supplement face to face model w/ distributed tech. #adultedu

— liza mcfadden (@LIZAmcfadden) Read More …

As you’ve probably heard, charter schools celebrated their foundational birthday this month. All the tributes remind us of an episode of This is Your Life, in which numerous people pay tribute to the icon being celebrated.

So today, we join those celebrating charter schools again, because of their long history of successfully changing the paradigm of education in this nation, showing how public schools can be different, and how they can achieve for kids at much greater rates, given the flexibility to do so.

Take a trip down memory lane with us, then, in this video of How Charter Laws Really Got Started. Long before most of today’s reformers were around, there were pioneers fighting for the right to do public education differently.

That they succeeded is the reason we are celebrating today.

Happy Birthday, Charter Schools.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 8, 2016

CONTACT:

Josiane Martinez
[email protected]
857-­‐222-­‐0800

Eileen O’Connor
[email protected]
617-­‐806-­‐6999

More Than 80 Latino Leaders – Joined by Governor Charlie Baker – Call on State Legislature to Lift the Cap on Public Charter Schools

EAST BOSTON – More than 80 Latino leaders from across Massachusetts gathered today at Excel Academy in East Boston to urge immediate legislative action to lift the cap on public charter schools in the Commonwealth. Governor Baker also attended the launch event, and echoed the urgent call for a legislative solution to increasing access to public charter schools.

CLICK HERE TO READ LETTER FROM COALITION

The Latino leaders – which include state legislators, city councilors, school committee members, non-­‐profit leaders, business leaders and community activists from Boston and Gateway Cities – joined the Great Schools Massachusetts Coalition and announced a public information campaign, “Justicia en la Educación: Latinos Unidos por Escuelas Públicas Charter,” which will focus on educating Latino parents and community members about the benefits that public charter schools have provided Latino children across the state.

“Massachusetts’ public charter schools have provided kids, parents and families in our communities with a student-­‐centered approach critical to the success of children who face additional barriers to a great education,” said Governor Baker. “I am proud to join these leaders to call for raising the cap in low-­‐income communities of color so that all children, regardless of zip code, can share in this success.”

“This legislation is something that our community wants and perceives it needs – and we await the leadership of our legislators at the State House to deliver it,” said Samuel Acevedo, Executive Director of the Boston Higher Education Resource Council and Pastor of Leon de Juda church.

“Public charter schools

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