Open Letter to the President, Secretary of Education, and Congress on ESEA Reauthorization

Below is an "Open Letter to the President, Secretary of Education, and Congress on ESEA Reauthorization" by the Education Equality Project (EEP) and 17 other education and civil rights groups, including DFER of course, and importantly the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights, the National Council of La Raza, and UNCF (United Negro College Fund) (it's nice to see at least a few civil rights organizations on the right side of the civil rights issue of our time).  Please read it carefully if you want to get up to speed on how ESEA/NCLB needs to be fixed and strengthened, rather than gutted.

Overall, the group endorses the direction the Obama Administration is taking on school reform. The signees ask the Administration and Congress to maintain and elaborate the bright lines in federal law around accountability and teacher quality and effectiveness, and couple that with a competitive grant strategy that invests in and rewards states that are ready, willing, and able to take on the courageous work of education reform, including reconstituting, restarting, converting, or shutting down the most chronically low-performing schools.

The letter also makes recommendations about other key areas including extended learning time, school finance, professional development, and human capital and school leadership.

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http://www.edequality.com/press/archive/open_letter_to_the_president/