By Paul Peterson | U.S. News & World Report

“The NAACP, at its national convention in Cincinnati, voted this July to support ‘a moratorium on the proliferation of privately managed charter schools.’ In Massachusetts, a local NAACP leader is campaigning against the charter-expansion referendum bill on the state ballot in November. Comparing charters to segregated schools, he shouted: ‘As Brown vs. the Board of Education taught us, a dual school system is inherently unequal.’

Why have a number of civil rights groups joined the teacher-union opposition to charter schools? Figuring that one out is, to borrow a phrase from Winston Churchill, like solving ‘a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.'”

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By The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board

“With less noise than it takes to close a book – or the door to an underperforming classroom – the movement to make it easier to fire incompetent teachers in California was put to rest on Monday, too quietly.

By a 4-3 decision, the California Supreme Court decided not to review Vergara v. California. Though a Superior Court judge had found in 2014 that teachers’ job protections in this state go so far that they violate students’ constitutional guarantees of equal treatment and ‘shock the conscience,’ an appellate panel had overruled him in April.”

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By Cathy Stephens | Medium

“As a parent living in a low-income community, it can sometimes feel like no one is listening to our point of view when it comes to education. That’s why it was so refreshing to participate in a panel this past weekend co-hosted by education reform organization StudentsFirstNY and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. The panel I participated in was part of a larger forum entitled, “A Community Conversation on Building Better Schools,” bringing together parent organizers like me with district and charter parents to discuss what we need to do to improve public schools in the Bronx.”

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By Bob McManus | City-Journal

“There’s good news from the New York State Education Department: Albany’s latest student reading-proficiency test showed significant improvements in big-city public-school performance. The bad news, alas, is that there is no reason to trust these numbers. Even state education commissioner MaryEllen Elia implicitly concedes that the books may have been cooked. If so, it wouldn’t be the first time.”

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Observer Editorial Board

“You could hear the sound of backs being slapped from the Tweed Courthouse—where the NYC Department of Education is housed—to the state capitol. The results from the statewide student proficiency exams in English and math just came in. And it appears, at first glance, that there were improvements in student performance across the state, especially among city children.

But appearances can be misleading. There were asterisks next to the 2016 results warning that the current proficiency numbers could not be compared to previous years’ results. That’s because the current tests were shortened, time limits were eliminated and more than 20 percent of kids opted out—they chose not to take the tests. So, to compare this year’s results with last year’s would have been akin to assessing a child’s ability to ride a bike—with and without training wheels.”

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By Sarah Favot | LA School Report

“As the California Supreme Court considers whether to take up an appeal of an appellate court ruling in Vergara v. California, which has been extended to Aug. 22, the advocacy group that brought the landmark case will be in a Northern California courtroom Friday for a hearing on a case involving teacher evaluations.

Last year Students Matter filed a lawsuit, Doe v. Antioch, against 13 California school districts, saying collective bargaining agreements in those districts violated the Stull Act by explicitly prohibiting the use of student standardized test scores in assessing teacher performance. LA Unified is not a party of the lawsuit.”

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By The 74 and Bellwether Education Partners

“The Veep-stakes are over! The pick is in. Mike Pence, the sitting Governor of Indiana, will run as Trump’s Vice President.

Although he has only been Governor for a few years, Pence also served in the U.S. House of Representatives. Putting those records together, Bellwether Education Partners’ Max Marchitello takes stock of what the Pence pick could possibly mean for the future of public education.”

By Citizen Stewart | Citizen Ed

“There are two things Americans do when they feel their rights are being violated. They either sue for a redress of their grievances, or they show up ala Daniel Shays with lit torches and demands for justice.

Given the indefensible results of public schools, both methods could be appropriate.

Four Minnesota parents who believe their children are being robbed of effective schools by laws that saddle them with the lowest quality teachers, and thus, the lowest quality instruction, are taking their Governor to court.”

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By Lillian Mongeau | The Hechinger Report

“In the last 20 years, Republican education policy has focused on expanding the choices granted to local communities, families and students. Where it will go next, with Donald Trump the presumptive leader of the Republican Party, is anyone’s guess.

‘It’s hard to know what the heck [Trump] thinks,’ said Fredrick Hess, director of education policy studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. ‘I don’t think he has thought deeply or long about education policy.'”

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