[School Reopening]
Jeanne Allen: “It shouldn’t take a pandemic to prompt novel ideas for ensuring all students have access to the education they deserve.”
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As districts announce confusing and convoluted school reopening plans, parents are demanding answers and responses to how they can ensure their children get educated this school year.
In her latest Forbes article, CER’s 9 (Center for Education Reform) Founder & CEO Jeanne Allen recommends three action steps policymakers can take to support families and ensure the nation is supporting only the education that is meeting their needs:
Tie new federal stimulus funding to universal education delivery and distribute funds to schools only if they can offer effective, proven online and on-ground solutions to every parent.
Require school districts or individual LEAs (Local Education Agency) that do not meet parents’ needs to pay the provider of the parent/taxpayer’s choice to deliver education. That should include microschools, private tutors and the new “Pandemic Pods.”
Open up the teaching profession to interested, qualified people. Requirements for certification should be suspended during this pandemic. Individuals who want and can teach, who are highly qualified in their field, should be permitted to work in schools for commensurate pay.
“It shouldn’t take a pandemic to prompt novel ideas for ensuring all students have access to the education they deserve. But it has,” Allen wrote.
Founded in 1993, the Center for Education Reform aims to expand educational opportunities that lead to improved economic outcomes for all Americans — particularly our youth — ensuring that conditions are ripe for innovation, freedom and flexibility throughout U.S. education.
