Fix Public Education Reaches Boiling Point! (Education Opportunity Network and the Opportunity to Learn Campaign)

The Fight to Fix Public Education Has Finally Reached a Boiling Point

A new declaration for reform is uniting education advocates who don’t always agree.

Will a declaration for change put students first? (Photo: USDAgov/Creative Commons via Flickr)

An education alarm is sounding in the United States.

Forty-six respected educators and policy advocates have signed a declaration that demands sweeping changes to our country’s education system. They agree that too many standards, tests, and financial cuts have resulted in students attending “uncreative, joyless institutions.”

“This spring we saw educators, parents, and students stand up in Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia and in communities around the country, and what they’ve said is, ‘enough is enough,’ ” John Stocks, National Education Association executive director, told TakePart. “Enough with standardized testing. Enough with closing neighborhood schools. Enough of the status quo. We want something different in our community, and the declaration captures the changes many seek.”

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The declaration, organized by the Education Opportunity Network and the Opportunity to Learn Campaign, was signed by such high-profile names as Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, Diane Ravitch, an education historian, and Robert B. Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton.

“A new approach is needed to improve our nation’s economic trajectory, strengthen our democracy, and avoid an even more stratified and segregated society,” it states. “To rebuild America, we need a vision for 21st-century education…”

It lists seven components, including equality in education, engaging and relevant learning, and fair discipline policies. It also shows that the group is not necessarily happy with President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s agenda, citing Washington has too much control over education.

“It’s time to create a new narrative about improving education and engage more people to speak up and demand a change in direction,” Stocks said. “We’re seeing more and more educators, parents, and students fighting back against the corporate education agenda that isn’t working and isn’t in students’ best interests.”

He said that blogger Jeff Bryant is referring to this revolution as an “Education Spring” movement.

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This public-edication overhaul the group is seeking is complex.

They cite a need for more “fair and sufficient school funding freed from over-reliance on locally targeted property taxes, so those who face the toughest hurdles receive the greatest resources.”

They want self-centered supports, which are “personalized plans or approaches that provide students with the academic, social, and health supports they need for expanded and deeper learning time.” Schools need “recruitment, training, and retention of well-prepared, well-resourced, and effective educators and school leaders.”

The NEA signed on, Stocks said, because the group is not satisfied with “the status quo in education.” They feel too many students are being left behind.

“Right now, the current debate about how to improve education is too narrow and is focused on the wrong things,” he said. “We need to focus on equity and expanding opportunities.”