Finally! A state school report card for public school allies!

We are so used to hearing about the education-related report cards the corporate reform world is always giving out. Achieve just released its state-by-state "honesty gap" report comparing state test scores with NAEP national test scores. ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, gives the best report card grades to states that privatize schools, test students often, and fire a lot of teachers. These reports are simply not helpful, serving only to promote the graders' anti-public education political agenda.

Fortunately, the Network for Public Education has brought a new and progressive perspective to this exercise in a report card founded on the values of us public school allies. The grades in "Valuing Public Education: a 50 State Report Card" reflect the values that they and we believe in -- stability in the teaching force, a rejection of high stakes testing, small class sizes, integrated schools, pre-school education, a recognition that poverty matters and a sound rejection of charters, vouchers and other forms of privatization.

While expressing a reluctance to give out a single overall letter grade, NPE does just that, inviting you to look more deeply into the report to see the various factors behind each state's result. We do the same:

 

Here's what NPE executive director Carol Burris asks us to do to get the word out about this great new resource: 

• Bring the report card to the attention of your local media; 
• Encourage local media to contact the Network for Public Education;
• Share it with friends and colleagues;
• Write an letter to your local media and talk about the report card;
• If you are a blogger-write a blog about its content (here's PAA's post);
• Give us feedback so we can make it even better next year;
• Support NPE and persuade at least five new members to join. Our strength is in our numbers, and your support helps make efforts like this happen.