I thought readers might be interested in reading the latest update from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. As you will see, they are about to have a big national conference. The newsletter comes from Nina Rees. Nina has a long history as a reformer: she worked as a domestic policy advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney where she was involved in crafting No Child Left Behind and worked in the U.S. Department of Education during George W. Bush’s administration.
Dear Friends,
With June marking the kickoff for this year’s National Charter Schools Conference, we are excited to see many of you in person in our nation’s capital very soon! The largest gathering of the year for the public charter school movement, this year’s conference runs from June 30-July 3 and will feature more than 4,000 attendees as well as fantastic speakers, panels and sessions.
To stay updated on all of our activities and happenings in the public charter school sector, follow me on Twitter along with @charteralliance and #NCSC13 for conference tweets, subscribe to The Charter Blog, and make sure to sign up for our mailings—including news clips, press releases and other important announcements.
Best regards,
Nina Rees
President and CEO
@Ninacharters
Conference Update—Welcoming Pitbull
As a sign of the broad reach and resonance of the public charter school movement, worldwide music superstar Mr. Armando “Pitbull” Pérez will kick off this year’s National Charter Schools Hall of Fame induction ceremony. A globally successful musician, performer, business entrepreneur, fashion icon and actor whose career sales exceed five million albums and 40 million singles worldwide, Mr. Pérez will join us to talk about his decision to open a charter school this fall in Miami called SLAM (Sports Leadership and Management) Charter School.
SLAM’s mission is to innovatively and deeply prepare students for secondary studies and beyond. Through an emphasis on preparation for sports-related careers, SLAM’s teaching philosophy centers on the “3 Rs”: rigor, relevance and relationships. Operating a middle and high school, the school’s first cohort of students will begin classes in the fall of 2014.
Mr. Pérez is one of the most powerful voices speaking out today on behalf of young Americans and communities. The National Alliance applauds his leadership in drawing attention onto the need to give all young people access to good public schools. You can read more about Mr. Pérez and our other keynote speakers on our website.
ESEA—Reauthorization Sooner is Better than Later
As many of you know, the potentially long process of reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)—the federal statute that governs the majority of federal investments in K-12 education—has begun. I recently put forward a few reasons why Congress and the Administration should focus on reauthorization sooner, rather than later.
First, many of the Administration’s most effective programs—such as Race to the Top, Investing in Innovation Funds (i3) and the Charter School Replication and Expansion Grants—are not etched into law yet. If ESEA is not reauthorized, these programs may fall by the wayside, which would mean that countless future charter schools may never come to pass.
Second, we have seen overwhelming bipartisan agreement on a host of ESEA reforms,such as strengthening the Charter Schools Program, which passed the House with strong majority. Despite disagreement over some other key aspects of reauthorization, because the House and Senate have already been through this reauthorization exercise twice, putting together a strategy that would get a bill to the finish line would be challenging, but would be well within reach.
Finally, if media attention around the Common Core is any indication, America may be ready to have a more substantive discussion about education policy. You can read more here.
To learn more about ESEA reauthorization, read the National Alliance white paper: Free to Succeed: Public Charter Schools & the Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
ESEA—Tests taken, lessons learned through NCLB Sanctions
This past month, the National Alliance participated in a forum held by the American Enterprise Institute which explored a new analysis from Duke University that indicates certain NCLB sanctions have proven more effective than others. Specifically, this analysis found that the threat of significant school restructuring raised student achievement in underperforming schools. You can watch the forum in its entirety here.
ESEA Legislation
The Senate HELP Committee approved the Strengthening America’s Schools Act; and on June 19, the House Education and Workforce Committee started its consideration of H.R. 5, The Student Success Act. Both bills would make changes to the federal Charter Schools Program. In particular, both would increase the number of entities eligible to apply for grants from the Department of Education. We are analyzing the bills very closely on a number of important issues related to charter school quality, growth and innovation. We are working with Congressional staff in the Senate and House, and we’ll continue to keep you apprised of what’s going on in Washington, D.C. as these bills advance.
Click here to view a chart that compares select provisions from the ESEA bills introduced by Senator Harkin, Senator Alexander and Chairman Kline against current law and ESEA Waivers.
STEM
According to the responses to our recent national survey, over 20 percent of public charter schools indicated a STEM or math/science instructional focus. Given the prominence of a STEM-focus in public charter schools, the National Alliance was recently invited to join two important dialogues on STEM Education – POLITICO’s Pro Technology team discussion on the current state of STEM education and U.S. News’ STEM Solutions conference.
At the POLITICO forum, I had the pleasure of joining Tom Kalil, White House deputy director for technology and innovation, Becky Pringle, NEA secretary-treasurer, and Eric Schwarz, co-founder and CEO of Citizen Schools, for a conversation focused on the implications of STEM on the American workforce as well as what to expect for STEM policy in the year to come.
POLITICO’s Jessica Meyers (left) and Tony Romm (right) are joined by Eric Schwarz (second from left), Nina Rees (third from left), Becky Pringle (third from right) and Tom Kalil (second from right).
I also joined a fantastic team at the STEM Solutions conference, which included Maria Klawe, Harvey Mudd College president, Arthur Levine, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation president, Camsie A. McAdams, U.S. Department of Education Senior Advisor on STEM Education, Leland Melvin, NASA Associate Administrator for Education, and Richard Middleton, regional vice president of the southwestern region at the College Board, to address the question: ‘Are we moving too slowly?’
About the National Alliance
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is the leading national nonprofit organization committed to advancing the charter school movement. Our mission is to lead public education to unprecedented levels of academic achievement by fostering a strong charter sector.
© Copyright 2006 – 2013, The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
OMG. Pitbull?
Yes, Pitbull is getting in on the charter action!
Hey, DC people–some of you please go, acting as our “flies on the wall.” I want to hear more about this!
This abominable letter rhetorically flexes the muscles of privatizers to assure their insiders and those on the fence that they are strong and confident–like, the future belongs to them(“resistance is futile”). It shows some of the high-level coalitions already assembled for the (unacknowledged) corporate takeover of public assets(euphemized abstractly as “bettering America’s schools, giving all children access to great schools” to disguise the privatization project it is). Upbeat rhetoric and name-dropping advertise a confident mood to attract wavering folks in the face of our own growing opposition to their campaigns. We too have muscle-flexers in the brilliant bloggers Gary, Mercedes, Tim, Ken, Arthur, Mark, and most of all Diane, and now with the Badass Teacher viral phenom(don’t mess with BATs!)–our capacity for opposition against their capacity for imposition. More local mtgs and actions help, more charismatic ventures like Badass. And, Diane on the road in the fall for her new book, great opportunities to come out in big numbers. Wherever Diane goes, good opportunity to schedule a before or after strategy mtg to consolidate local folks.
“Diane on the road in the fall for her new book, great opportunities to come out in big numbers. ”
Big agree.
Somebody, please tell me that this is really an EduShyster article. Actually, I don’t think that even EduShyster could make this stuff up.
We live in times that reality surpasses surreality.
And to paraphrase the comedian Lewis Black “I took acid when I was younger to prepare myself for times like these.”
I support public charter schools and think they can be a good thing for students who have been trapped in failing schools. But Pitbull?!?!? To quote John McEnroe “You cannot be serious!!!” He knows as much about educating children as I do about making crappy rap songs. What he is setting up looks like a football factory disguised as a public charter school. This is everything wrong with charter schools. This Cheney flunky should be ashamed.
Seems like I’m in the minority, but I think it’s kind of cool. I would not have expected much civic engagement from Pitbull but he did a lot to register Latino voters and help the Obama campaign in Florida. I’d rather have more high-profile people engaged in this work. And we won’t know if the school has any promise until it actually opens, right?
“Specifically, this analysis found that the threat of significant school restructuring raised student achievement in underperforming schools.”
Anyone who works with children knows that threats don’t work. Oh, they modify behavior in the short term. But they leave behind a mass of anger, resentment, and passive aggressiveness. When the word threat is used in any conversation about children and education I wonder who are these people that use this word so casually? I read the list of panelists for the upcoming conference. They all seem like respectable, hardworking, professional people. I’m sure some of them are parents, or grandparents, or aunts and uncles. I would encourage them to take a minute to reflect on this: when you look into the eyes of a child that you have just threatened, even if the threat is “for their own good”, you see fear and hurt.
I work in an underperforming school. If you look into my eyes you will no longer see fear, but you will see hurt. And resolve.
You’re certainly right that “threat” is a word that’s best avoided. There does need to be some pressure on school leaders to innovate and do a great job educating our kids, though. Taken to an extreme, that’s a problem (like most things), but charter schools have done a great job of raising academic achievement for a lot of kids–and that’s in no small part because of their structure and the high-quality leaders that they attract as a result.
Have any of you actually read the over 500 page “The Student Success Act?” It is Common Core with nicer terms! Same thing.