Open to the Public: The Public Speaks Out on No Child Left Behind - A Summary of Nine Hearings September 2005-January 2006

Between September 2005 and January 2006, Public Education Network (PEN) held a series of public hearings to give students, parents, and community members -- audiences very much affected by the law, but usually left out of the policy debate -- an opportunity to tell their side of the NCLB story.While education organizations and Congress hold forums and hearings to solicit feedback from educators and school administrators about the impact of NCLB, they seldom look beyond schools to see the impact of the law on the public and on communities. But because schools play such a critical role in community life, understanding how the law affects students, families, and the broader community is critically instructive to policymakers and to others who are trying to make sure the law meets its goals.The hearings serve four purposes: They provide venues through which a public record of the local capacity to implement NCLB can be compiled. They serve as a means to inform and mobilize the public on issues pertaining to public education and what it takes to improve its quality. They give PEN and its national partners the information needed to bring public voices and concerns into the debate about reshaping NCLB. And, finally, they create a public "resume" for review by policymakers in the context of the law's reauthorization

Open to the Public: How Communities, Parents and Students Assess the Impact of the No Child Left Behind Act 2004 - 2007

For three years, Public Education Network (PEN) has listened to parents, students, business and community leaders testify about what the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act means to their lives and aspirations. Their message is consistent, from Boston to San Francisco:It is right to hold public education accountable for adequately educating every child to his/her full potentialIt is wrong to believe NCLB can achieve its goals unless far deeper and systemic changes are made in resources, capacities and will

Communities Working for Better Schools

This report is a call to action for community organizations, reformers, and funders to ensure that communities have the information and resources to create sustainable school and community partnerships that result in high-quality, equitable education for all students

Assessing the quality of water quality assessments: An analytical quality control protocol for benthic diatoms

In this paper, the background to the development of an analytical quality control procedure for the Trophic Diatom Index (TDI) is explained, highlighting some of the statistical and taxonomic problems encountered, and going on to demonstrate how the system works in practice. Most diatom-based pollution indices, including the TDI, use changes in the relative proportions of different taxa to indicate changing environmental conditions. The techniques involved are therefore much simpler than those involved in many studies of phytoplankton, for example, where absolute numbers are required

Tones of Grey

Non-fiction by Anne Lewi

No Child Left Behind in Ohio: But Communities Are Feeling Left Out - Reports from the 2005 Public Hearings (Short Version)

Between September 2005 and January 2006, Public Education Network (PEN) held a series of public hearings to give students, parents, and community members -- audiences very much affected by the law, but usually left out of the policy debate -- an opportunity to tell their side of the NCLB story. State reports are available for California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas