PAA Portland OR leader Deb Mayer created this
great video, "Go Away and Stay Away TFA!" which has been posted on the Great Schools for America web site.
Teach for America, Inc. is the flagship of the education reform movement. The organization replaces professional teachers with unqualified college grads in the classrooms of some of our nation's most disadvantaged children. This practice harms students and the teaching profession. It must stop!
The
video is short. It's cute. It has snappy music. And it's completely serious. Please watch and share!
More good stuff to watchFriend of PAA Monty Neill of FairTest notes that an excellent documentary,
"Schools That Change Communities," is being re-broadcast on PBS World stations on Oct. 2 at 2 AM, 10 AM and 4 PM.
The schools are a mix of urban, suburban and rural, all focused on place-based education. If you have not seen it, look for it on your local PBS station.
"Defies Measurement": Film concept to consider supporting Documentary filmmaker Shannon Puckett recently wrote to PAA:
Hello! I am a huge fan of Parents Across America and I'm a great admirer of your effort to inform parents about the truths behind testing and for offering a place where parents can learn more about how to take action!!
So, I'm writing to you to let you know about a documentary I'm making about how high-stakes testing and the corporate reform agenda has been destroying our public schools. I have made a clip of the film and just launched a Kickstarter Campaign to get funding for completion. Featured in the clip are bits of interviews I have had with Diane Ravitch, Linda Darling-Hammond, David Berliner, David Kirp, teachers and students.... I think the people who follow (PAA) will be interested in the work that I'm doing....I have included two links you could use. The first is a link to my
Kickstarter page and the second is a
You Tube video of the same film clip I used on my Kickstarter page.