Valuing Public Education: A 50 State Report Card

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Valuing Public Education: a 50 State Record Card, is an evaluation of how well our states and the District of Columbia support public schools.

It’s the first in-depth, nonpartisan report card to grade states according to whether their current policies and laws make public schools vibrant and strong or undermine them. It stands in stark contrast to report cards released from conservative political organizations like The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and StudentsFirst that wrongly rank states based on their willingness to privatize public education and weaken the status of the teaching profession.

Our report card is different. Our grades reflect the values that we believe in—stability in the teaching force, a rejection of high stakes testing, small class sizes, integrated schools, pre-school education, a recognition that poverty matters and of course a sound rejection of charters, vouchers and other forms of privatization.

You may not always agree with our grades—some you may think are too high and others too low. But we hope you will agree with the goals they represent. The point after all is to ignite the kind of public debate we have all been longing for, and to spread a message about what we must do to truly improve our public schools.

Share this report with friends and policymakers.

Here is how you can help:

• Bring the report card to the attention of your local media;
• Encourage local media to contact the Network for Public Education;
• Share it with friends and colleagues;
• Write a letter to your local media and talk about the report card;
• If you are a blogger—write a blog about its content;
• Give us feedback so we can make it even better next year;
• Support NPE and persuade at least five new members to join. Our strength is in our numbers, and your support helps make efforts like this happen.