Education in State of the Union Address Last week, President Obama spent significant time during the State of the Union address discussing his administration's vision for American education. "Teachers matter," said President Obama in beginning his education remarks. "Instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo let's offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren't helping kids learn."

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After another successful National School Choice Week celebration, AAE is pleased to present our new full-length video showcasing teacher choice in action!Teacher's Choice presents portraits of four American educators who've selected non-standard paths. Teachers at a charter school, an online school and a parochial school are all featured, as well as a teacher at a traditional district school who declined membership in the local union. Their journeys have only one thing in common -- the options less traveled.   Continue Reading...

This week is National School Choice Week – a national movement of grassroots organizations calling for more educational options. Here at AAE, we support National School Choice Week because we support educators in all settings and encourage teachers to pursue the school and setting best suited to their needs and interest.As part of National School Choice Week, AAE has profiled teachers throughout the country to showcase their own unique setting and choice. Today we are profiling Ms. Debbie Gleeson, a Catholic elementary school teacher in New Jersey.   Continue Reading...

This week is National School Choice Week – a national movement of grassroots organizations calling for more educational options. Here at AAE, we support National School Choice Week because we support educators in all settings and encourage teachers to pursue the school and setting best suited to their needs and interest.As part of National School Choice Week, AAE has profiled teachers throughout the country to showcase their own unique setting and choice. Today we are profiling Mr. Ronnie Flowers, a traditional district public school teacher at a high school in Arkansas.   Continue Reading...

This week is National School Choice Week – a national movement of grassroots organizations calling for more educational options. AAE supports National School Choice Week because we support educators in all settings and applauds their individual choices about where they practice their profession.   Continue Reading...

AAE Executive Director Gary Beckner op-ed on school choice options as featured on the Washington Times website:   Continue Reading...

As a growing number of teachers see the need to make their teaching more relevant to today's technology generation, there's a good chance that one of the most popular education buzz-phrases this year will be "flipped classroom." This increasingly popular educational trend reverses the traditional pattern of classroom instruction followed by homework activities. With the flipped classroom model, students gain insight into the material—and control the pace of their learning—through viewing introductory videos of the information at home. Students then come to the classroom prepared to tackle an activity related to what they learned the night before. In the classroom, students have more time for hands-on activities, and they are able to get immediate assistance from the instructor and their peers when they face challenges in solving complex problems.   Continue Reading...

AAE is pleased to present our new video showcasing teacher choice in action!Teacher's Choice presents portraits of four American educators who've selected non-standard paths. Teachers at a charter school, an online school and a parochial school are all featured, as well as a teacher at a traditional district school who declined membership in the local union. Their journeys have only one thing in common -- the options less traveled.   Continue Reading...

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivered his annual State of City address this week, and in it, described a new bold vision for education in the Big Apple. As the largest school system in the United States with over one million teachers and students, the plan is being hailed as a big step that will likely usher in a new era of reform in the city.   Continue Reading...

The Education Intelligence Agency, a popular education research blog run by union-watchdog Mike Antonucci, has analyzed the NEA's 2010-11 financial disclosure report and discovered that the largest teachers union in the country has given nearly $19 million of teacher dues, some collected by force, to advocacy groups and primarily left-leaning causes. Up $5 million from the previous year, the NEA has increased their advocacy spending despite a climate of declining membership and harsh budget realities.   Continue Reading...

Reformers and education advocates for years have touted the key to success for students, regardless of grade level, is whether they have access to an effective teacher. Study after study has shown that with effective teachers, students are not only put in positions to succeed, but can potentially make tremendous gains in closing achievement gaps.   Continue Reading...

NCLB Turns 10  After years of controversy, headaches in states and districts, and heated rhetoric from politicians on all sides, No Child Left Behind, the cornerstone piece of federal education legislation turned 10-years-old this week. What began as one of the nation's largest and most publicized pieces of bi-partisan legislation championed by then President George W. Bush and unlikely liberal ally, the late Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) has produced mixed results and long delays in reform for American students and teachers.   Continue Reading...

AAE Executive Director Gary Beckner letter to the editor as featured on the The Connecticut Post website:   Continue Reading...

AAE will once again join with other like-minded groups in signing on to National School Choice Week this January 22-28, 2012. Here at AAE, we recognize that School choice is a vital component of the education reform movement. Every education setting is a choice. AAE applauds that there are more career options than ever for teachers, allowing educators to match their vision of education with schools that share that same vision.   Continue Reading...

According to a new study by the Center on Education Policy, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C., estimates by the Obama administration regarding failure rates under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) have been grossly overstated. The research group, which often sides with the reforms touted by Department of Education and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, claim that 48 percent of the nation's 100,000 public schools will be labeled failures under current federal education law. This figure is far below the 82 percent Secretary Duncan had been mentioning for months while advocating for the department's NCLB waiver plan and congressional action.   Continue Reading...

AAE's Colorado state partner, the Professional Association of Colorado Educators (PACE), announced today that the organization is signing on with other like-minded groups in promoting a new website called Colorado School Grades, a new online tool that will help parents, students, educators, and community members better understand how their local schools are performing.   Continue Reading...

A new report by the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington sheds light on the status of charter school unionization nationwide. In a climate where charter schools laws are changing dramatically and teacher union membership is declining, the prospect of charter schools unionizing has become a very real threat to the flexible, innovative environments these schools were meant to cultivate. This report attempts to analyze the status of unionization by examining why teachers unionize and the diverse collective bargaining agreements of unionized charters, however it misses the mark in addressing the disconnect between the charter movement and bargaining agreements in general.   Continue Reading...

With the debate over No Child Left Behind taking a partisan turn, Director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute Frederick Hess and Stanford Education Professor Linda Darling-Hammond penned an op-ed this week in The New York Times.   Continue Reading...

With the overhaul of No Child Left Behind taking longer than expected, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the Obama administration introduced an NCLB waiver plan back in September that would allow states to apply for regulatory relief in exchange for key reforms. In the months following, while 11 states applied for the waivers, over half of the proposals did not outline specific teacher evaluation components.   Continue Reading...

Chicago has been an education reform epicenter ever since newly elected Mayor Rahm Emanuel took the reins in January. The debate over length of school day and improving outcomes for students have been hot topics of late, however a speech by Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis and her inappropriate comments regarding Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have been gaining national headlines this week.   Continue Reading...