Ever since John Bel Edwards’ upset victory in the gubernatorial race last fall, education reform supporters have worried that the Governor would try to roll back many of the policies that have helped raise student achievement across the state. After all, during his tenure in the Louisiana House of Representatives, Edwards opposed Common Core and […] More
Apparently some folks haven’t gotten the memo, so let me reiterate something: The war over Common Core in Louisiana is over. Yep, kaput. Done. Finito. The ship has sailed. The curtain has fallen. Louisiana’s citizens have spoken through their elected representatives in the legislature, who have rejected every single bill – and there have been […] More
I’ll admit, I had a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ride on Twitter on Monday. It all started when I saw this tweet, which made me angry: Hillary Clinton is planning a huge break with Obama on education: https://t.co/95vi3UPyqW pic.twitter.com/9DZAgdhWCN — Vox (@voxdotcom) November 17, 2015 However, when I saw this tweet, I was hopeful […] More
It’s been a nerve-rattling couple weeks for those of us who identify as pro-reform Democrats. It all started with Arne Duncan’s surprise announcement that he was stepping down as Secretary of Education at the end of the year. As President Obama noted, “Arne’s done more to bring our educational system — sometimes kicking and screaming […] More
A couple weeks ago, I had the honor of sitting down with blogger, activist, and New Orleans native Chris Stewart (a.k.a., Citizen Stewart) in an interview for his podcast, Rock The Schools. Over the course of our conversation, we reflected on the progress New Orleans has made in public education since Hurricane Katrina and the challenges we encountered along […] More
Well, we knew this was coming. After the American Federation of Teachers spent almost $450,000 last fall (significantly more than was raised by all 19 candidates combined) to get pro-union candidates elected to the Jefferson Parish School Board (JPSB), it was clear that the Jefferson Federation of Teachers (JFT) would use their newly elected influence […] More
The website of the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) went down Monday morning after the state Department of Administration (DOA) failed to pay the site’s annual $280 domain fee. By midday, LDOE’s website was back online after DOA officials scrambled to make payment on the past-due bill. While DOA Communications Director Meghan Parrish attributed the […] More
Peter Cook