A weekly report on education news and commentary you won’t find anywhere else — from the nation’s leading voice on education innovation and opportunity.

SUMMER SLIDE... the phenomenon in which students lose key skills by not reading at the same intensity or pace as they do throughout the year - no doubt happens to adults too as we turn off of our constant focus on the issues in favor of more fun! So as to not have to return to the grind unequipped for a challenging year, here is a brief ‘Summertime Study Guide’ to Slow the Summer Slide! 

WHAT MAKES EDUCATION WORK? Lots of things, most notably making sure all students have the education that most fits their needs and ambitions. According to  Robert Robb, called “the Dean of Arizona political journalists” it's charter schools. Robb credits these edreform institutions for successful public schools in general in the Grand Canyon state. Taken alone,  he says, Arizona charter schools would rank among the highest performing school systems in the country. This helps all public schools he adds, because competition helps everyone. Arizona is on the front lines of the union’s continued and curious opposition against charter schools.

ARTISTS NEED CREDENTIALS NOW TO TEACH? Such is the conclusion of what we’d call a rather uninformed California Assemblyman, who believes that charters should lose their freedom to hire real artists to teach the arts, unless they have a teaching credential. That’s like saying we should require mathematicians to have a teaching credential to teach math… oh wait, we do…..which is why more than 60% of math teachers are not trained in math… and according to results on the Nation’s Report Card it shows! 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SCHOOLS HAVE FREEDOM AND FLEXIBILITY. For those who  prefer listening over reading on your summer slide study program, join our #SummertimewithCER series as we rewind the best conversations we’ve had this year with notable education leaders. This week, tune into Reality Check w/Jeanne Allen for A Conversation with Eva Moskowitz, CEO of the Success Academy Network and an innovator and the architect of a revolution. It’s not been without it bumps.  “I never felt before I got into education that I was living a Godfather movie,” says Eva – only half joking. Success Academy has been sued more than twenty times by unions. Union battles and political roadblocks have been a part of the landscape since she started her very first school with 150 kindergarteners and first-graders in 2006. But her passion is boundless and her commitment to educating not only her more than 100,000 students but parents and the general public through her book The Education of Eva Moskowitz. “We need everyone to be informed because the stakes are so high.”

ON ED INNOVATION, HIGHER ED AND CHILD CARE… Visual learners can stifle the summer slide by checking out these video highlights from our expanded focus on ensuring robust education opportunities for learners at all levels. Check out these brief TV appearances on Fox & Friends re: the candidates positions on child care and on The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino regarding higher ed; Or take a lesson or two on ed innovation by joining entrepreneurs and thought leaders from CER’s Road to Innovation Summit. 

Don’t let your mind slip this summer! Whether you read, listen or watch just be sure to engage, and while you’re doing it, let the children around you know you take learning seriously.

 As always, please drop us a line, with any input and suggestions.  

Founded in 1993, the Center for Education Reform aims to expand educational opportunities that lead to improved economic outcomes for all Americans — particularly our youth — ensuring that conditions are ripe for innovation, freedom and flexibility throughout U.S. education.

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