Charter Schools Highlight the Inequity of Traditional Public Education

By RiShawn Biddle
03/06/2017
There have been, and no doubt, are now taking place, many studies of how the results obtained by the nation’s public charter schools differ from those of other public schools with similar student populations. Depending on the study you cite, either charter schools do better than traditional districts in improving student or do no better....

TAGS: Charter schools, Dropout Nation, public education, RiShawn Biddle

The National Education Association's Stagnant Finances

By RiShawn Biddle
12/18/2015
As Dropout Nation reported last week, National Education Association has had to deal with declining rank-and-file numbers as well as prop up affiliates struggling with pension woes and other issues. None of this, by the way, includes the nation’s largest teachers’ union’s own virtually-insolvent defined-benefit pension. Yet as NEA has shown in its 2014-2015 financial...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Dropout Nation, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, National Education Association, RiShawn Biddle, Service Employees International Union, U.S. Department of Labor

The National Education Association's $131 Million Influence Buying Spree

By RiShawn Biddle
12/04/2015
The National Education Association just filed its latest financial disclosure with the U.S. Department of Labor, and as you would expect, it spent big on its efforts to preserve its influence over education policymaking. The union spent $131 million on lobbying and contributions to what are supposed to be like-minded organizations in 2014-2015, just slightly...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Center for Popular Democracy, Democracy Alliance, Dropout Nation, National Education Association, RiShawn Biddle

Exposing Teachers Union Front Groups Against Minority Kids

By RiShawn Biddle
07/08/2015
Hope remains eternal — at least among those who want Congress to pass a reauthorized version of the No Child Left Behind Act being considered by the Senate this week. Even as the likelihood of passage remains as unlikely as it was back in March, when House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline’s...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Dropout Nation, education reform, National Education Association, No Child Left Behind

Leonie Haimson: Teacher Union Advocate

By Larry Sand
04/09/2013
Is it okay for a “parent advocate” to send her kids to a private school while maintaining that your kids remain in a failing government run school? Last week, via the blogosphere, we learned that education reform leader Michelle Rhee sends one of her two kids to a private school. One post asks the question,...

TAGS: Democrats for Education Reform, Diane Ravitch, Dropout Nation, Joe Williams, Larry Sand, Michelle Rhee, National Education Association, RiShawn Biddle, StudentsFirst, teachers union