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Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is a New York City-based political action committee whose mission is to encourage a more productive dialogue within the Democratic Party on the need to fundamentally reform American public education. DFER operates on all levels of government to educate elected officials and support reform-minded candidates for public office.
New from DFER
April 23, 2008DFER Notable Quotes
-- NY Times Columnist Bob Herbert."Ignorance in the United States is not just bliss, it's widespread."
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March 27, 2008Sara Mead: Why Can't Pre-K And Charter Schools Get Along?
Democrats for Education Reform today released a new policy briefing memo by DFER board member Sara Mead called Partners In Closing The Achievement Gap: How Charter Schools Can Support Quality Universal Pre-K. (You can download a PDF copy here.) Mead, director of the Early Education Inititiative at the New America Foundation, writes that these two movements (the early childhood and charter school movements) have the potential to become important partners in improving education for America's children. She writes: But despite their similarities and shared goals, these movements generally operate on separate tracks, with little cooperation or exchange of ideas between the two sectors. That’s unfortunate, because both sectors face similar challenges such as building capacity and ensuring high quality across diverse providers, and could help one another develop solutions. For instance, charter schools offer a potential source of new pre-k capacity. And, by the same token, policies to incorporate charter schools into state pre-k programs could support growth and quality in the charter movement. Because achievement gaps are in place long before children start kindergarten, charter schools seeking to narrow achievement gaps must be able to begin working with children in pre-k. Mead's specific policy recommendations include: -- Eliminating state policies barring charter schools from offering Pre-K -- Allowing public charter schools to access per-pupil funds to educate 3- and 4-year-olds -- Build charter authorizer capacity and expertise in early education -- Allow charter schools to access state and federal Pre-K funds -- Ensure adequate Pre-K funding to ensure quality -- Include Pre-K charters in the Federal Charter Schools program -- Eliminate caps on the number of charter schools which may serve children Give the report a read. Sara does a much job making her case than I do in highlighting the juicy parts. It would seem that two of the most significant concerns with many Pre-K programs - namely wide disparities in perceived quality and a sometimes glaring disconnect between early childhood programs and elementary schools - could be addressed head-on by tapping into the accountability measures and structural flexibility that charter schools provide.
Why Keeping NCLB Strong Is Inherently Democratic
Trying to understand why the details matter in the current battles over the reauthorization of NCLB? In this DFER Briefing Memo, Charles Barone explains what the fuss is all about - particularly in terms of what changes to the law might do to its legislative soul. Barone, a former staffer to Rep. George Miller (D-California) and the top Democratic staff member for the House Education and Labor Committee in 2001 when NCLB was passed, traces current federal education policies back to both Brown v. Board of Education and the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. He notes how NCLB, for all its problems, represented a significant attempt to eliminate some of the original (and amended) shortcomings in Title I, and highlights the historic importance of disaggregating student performance data by student type. The memo underscores how damaging it could be if a reauthorized NCLB actually took us backward in terms of equality and accountability. Writes Barone: Disaggregation is the key to comparability. Comparability is the key to assessing equal opportunity. Equal opportunity is the key to closing achievement gaps. Disaggregation is, in fact, the single most important linchpin in the federal law to leverage both the 1954 goals of the Supreme Court and the 1965 goals of the original ESEA. Dowload a copy of "Keeping Achievement Relevant" here.
Recent Blog Posts
May 7, 2008Isn't There A Deal Here Somewhere?
The NY Daily News has the latest on the finger-pointing in the $81 million teacher reserve mess in Gotham. For those of you not keeping score, a firestorm erupted recently after The New Teacher Project released a report showing that...
Continue reading "Isn't There A Deal Here Somewhere?"....
May 6, 2008Play 'Spot The Blogger,' Win A Book
Loyal blog reader JK of Baltimore, MD, came up to me at the big Renaissance 2010 pow-wow in Chicago today and did one of those "You're the guy with the blog, right?"Made me think this blog needs an ongoing contest...
