No Education Reform Without Tackling Poverty, Experts Say

By Robert McNeely If many so-called education reformers really want to close the student achievement gap, they should direct their fire away from public school educators and take aim at the real issue—poverty. This was the consensus of a panel of policy advocates and academics that convened recently on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. to [...]

Report: The Opportunity Gap in Education Is Growing

By Tim Walker Students who live in disadvantaged areas should have access to the supports and resources they need to have a decent shot at a quality education. But the reality is much different. According to A Rotting Apple: Education Redlining in New York City by the Schott Foundation for Public Education, students of color who [...]

NEA Takes On Corporate Tax Loopholes

By Tim Walker As the deadline approaches for Americans to file their taxes, a significant portion of profitable corporations may not pay a dime. The reason? Corporate tax loopholes. Through a new campaign, the National Education Association is exposing the true cost of corporate tax loopholes…a shrinking middle class and the erosion of critical services, [...]

What Does High-Quality Early Childhood Education Look Like?

By Mary Ellen Flannery Some children arrive in kindergarten classrooms and they don’t recognize their own names above the coat hook. They struggle to hold a pair of scissors. They’re not sure how to flip the pages of a book. The sad truth is these children, born into poverty and deprived of a high-quality early [...]

How Corporate Tax Loopholes Defund the American Dream

By Amanda Litvinov and Dwight Holmes As more middle class Americans than ever before wring their weary hands over whether to pay down their student loans or make their next mortgage payment, corporations are also experiencing a history-making moment. They’re sitting on record profits, and are taxed at historically low rates. Between 2001 and 2010, [...]

Devastating Education Cuts Leave Trail of Consequences Across Pennsylvania

By Kevin Hart When cuts are deep enough, they can leave ugly scars. That’s the lesson being learned across Pennsylvania this year, as some of the state’s poorest districts try to cope with $860 million in funding cuts advanced by Governor Tom Corbett – cuts educators say are causing serious and permanent harm to the [...]

President Obama’s Budget Calls for Big Investment in Education

By Felix Perez Building on his top priority to boost the middle class and promote economic fairness, President Obama made clear in his Fy2013 budget that high-quality education is absolutely critical to rebuilding our economy and that a strengthened American workforce requires that we continue to invest in education. The President’s emphasis on education is [...]

NEA President: Leaving Chester Upland Students in Limbo a “Dereliction of Duty”

By Kevin Hart The students of the Chester Upland School District, one of the poorest districts in Pennsylvania, deserve the security of knowing that their schools will have the funding to remain open for the entire school year. That was the message delivered by National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel after a $3.2 million [...]

Biden and Duncan Talk College Affordability at Ohio High School

By Mary Ellen Flannery In Ohio, where Vice President Joe Biden visited a high school on Thursday to promote the issue of college affordability, more than two-thirds of college students borrow money to pay for their education. Last year, thanks to rapidly rising tuition costs, each owed an average $27,000-plus upon graduation—a record-setting, dream-shattering level [...]

Corporate Tax Loopholes Under Scrutiny

By Tim Walker As state governments struggle with bleak fiscal outlooks in 2012 and drastic budget cuts continue to take affect, many citizens still assume that lawmakers have tapped into every available source of revenue. Still, a creeping sense that not everyone has been paying their fair share has shifted the conversation. Widespread news coverage [...]

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