Roland Martin’s Plans to Spread Quality Charters to Smaller Cities Post-NAACP

The NAACP made headlines last weekend when its national board officially ratified a resolution calling for a moratorium on charter schools. Leading up to the vote, more than 160 black education leaders asked the NAACP board to reconsider its position, and several major newspaper editorial boards argued against the charter freeze.

Adding to the conversation was Roland Martin, who recently hosted a panel discussion at Howard University in Washington, D.C., with black education leaders holding diverse perspectives on whether charter schools and vouchers ultimately hurt or help kids of color. Martin posed a provocative question to the panelists: Is school choice the black choice? It is for Martin, but the discussion revealed the decades-long chasm in the black community over the issue.

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Maine's Virtual Charter Schools Begin to Smooth Out Some of the Bumps in Year Two

Across the state, about 800 middle and high school students wake up every morning, log on to their computers, and take all of their classes completely online. They’re enrolled in to Maine’s two virtual charter schools. This year, that same, online approach is also being used by brick-and-mortar schools, as well. The track record for online and blended learning is mixed nationally. The question now is if Maine’s schools can buck the trend.

For Tiffany Jones, teaching English only requires a computer and an internet connection.

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Online public school rescues this Redondo Beach student's GPA

In the mornings, Josh Edwards and his freshman sister wake up, and get ready for school.

As their father Jim drives her to Redondo Union, Josh sits in front of his computer, to start his day at California Connections Academy at Capistrano. The academy, which covers students in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, is an online charter school, which runs through Capistrano Unified School District.

At California Connections, Josh finishes his school day around noon and often doesn't have homework. He's also had the opportunity to take classes such as 3D modeling, Java and AP computer science.

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How Education Savings Accounts Changed the Life of This Child With Down Syndrome

Giving parents control over their child’s education through personalized education savings accounts has transformed the lives of numerous underserved students.

The story of Faith Kleffel exemplifies the promise of enabling children to access the type of education options that meet their learning needs.

Faith, who has Down syndrome, uses an education savings account (ESA)—known as a Gardiner Scholarship in her home state of Florida—to access learning options that work for her.

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Press Tuned In to the School Choice Split in the Black Community — and That’s a Good Thing

This summer’s dual repudiation of education reform policy and charter schools by the NAACP and the Movement for Black Lives Coalition is a story that hasn’t gone away. In fact, it’s a pivot that will come to a head later this week in Cincinnati, when the NAACP takes up a resolution supporting a national moratorium on charter schools.

The significance of such a resolution should be lost on no one.

In a rare and interesting turn, however, the press has repeatedly engaged on this policy matter in depth over the past several months. Even NPR, normally above the fray on these sorts of contentious education tilts, has chimed in (complete with illustrations).

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EDUCATIONCOMMENTARY Millennial Cluelessness About Communism’s Massacres Demonstrates the Need for School Choice

American education is failing thousands of students every year. But this crisis is not just about poor scores in math and reading. It is a deeper failure, leaving entire generations of Americans without the most basic knowledge of the country’s past and its civic institutions.

As The Daily Signal reported, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation’s first “Annual Report on U.S. Attitudes Towards Socialism” showed that just 42 percent of millennials view capitalism favorably compared to 64 percent of Americans over 65.

Perhaps more disturbingly, a third of millennials believe that more people were killed under former President George W. Bush than under notorious Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, and just 37 percent of millennials had a “very unfavorable” view of communism.

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Caledonia, Wisconsin Mom Says Thank You For School Choice

Why do I believe in school choice? Because parents should have the right to choose the best school for their child. We are taxpayers and we are paying for a service. If I am not satisfied with the service, I should have the option to go out and explore other opportunities. School choice means competition, which helps to raise the bar for both public and private schools.

I am thankful and support Representative Robin Vos, who is also a strong advocate of school choice.

I have always desired to send my children to private school because it seemed that the public schools in Racine were not a good fit for my children. It was an answer to my prayers when HOPE Via opened in Racine. The HOPE Christian Schools are known for their college acceptance rate — 100 percent for the past 5 years.

I am grateful for school choice in Racine. My children are being taught how to conduct themselves in school and in the world. The moral compass that HOPE Via builds in scholars is unique and rooted in the Christian faith. Thankfully, students at HOPE Via are given examples of strong character through the Bible that they can learn from, in addition to the amazing staff at school.

Without school choice, my students would not have access to receive a Christian education. Representative Robin Vos is making this possible for more and more students across Racine.

Judith Mitchell, Caledonia

School choice should be up to parents, not government

For too long our failing public school system has set the rules for which students go to which schools. And we’ve seen the results.

That’s why I strongly believe in school choice, which means it should be a child’s parents — not the government — who decide what school the child attends, be it public or private.

I follow the principle that “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. But if it is broken, get rid of it.”

Now is the time for us to look for alternative ways to educate our children. Besides putting deciding authority into the hands of the most important stakeholders, the parents, we also need to ensure that our education tax dollars follow the child to whatever school the parents choose.

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Nevada Connections Academy fighting back against threat of closure

The online Nevada Connections Academy charter school is staging a legal fight against the threat of closure, pushing back after the State Public Charter School Authority flagged it for a low graduation rate.

The school is one of two in Las Vegas that the charter authority could close at the end of this academic year because of graduation rates below 60 percent.

Both Nevada Connections Academy and Beacon Academy of Nevada offer online courses, with 2015 graduation rates at roughly 36 and 53 percent, respectively. Those rates slightly increased to 37 and 55 percent this year.

At issue is the state’s ability to take over the school or replace its board of directors.

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NAACP Tells Black Parents To Keep Their Kids In Crappy Schools As Leverage For Tax Hikes

Despite public resistance by black leaders across the political spectrum against this impending decision, the NAACP Saturday released yet another resolution condemning school choice and calling for a nationwide ban on new charter schools.

“The NAACP opposes privatization of public schools and public subsidizing or funding of for-profit or charter schools,” the organization said in a statement. “Privatization of public schools” is survey-tested union talk attempting to manipulate people into disliking the idea of a more diverse ecosystem of publicly funded education through mechanisms such as vouchers, education savings accounts, and charter schools. These allow all families to have the same opportunities to attend schools of choice, as rich families do.

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