CPSR - Other Sites

Name

Comment

The Education Industry Association

This organization (formerly AEPP) draws together a variety of people interested in providing goods and services to schools. They hold an annual conference called EdVentures. EIA was, at one time, engaged, with the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University on an initiative called "Teachers Want Choices Too." That initiative sought to promote new professional avenues of autonomy, ownership and accountability for teachers.

Center for Re-Inventing Public Education

Directed by Paul Hill at the University of Washington. Hill is the principal author of Reinventing Public Education (U. of Chicago Press, 1997). This book is a "must read" for both proponents and opponents of school choice. Interest areas include: Choice & Charters; Finance & Productivity; Teachers; Urban District Reform; Leadership; State & Federal Reform. Lots of thought-provoking material.

Center for Teaching Quality

The organization's motto is "where teachers are central to improving schools" a sentiment with which CPSR wholeheartedly agrees. In CTQ's words "Teachers possess vital knowledge about students – and because of this knowledge they can provide much needed leadership for the changes needed to improve public education. ... Our public schools need more teachers who act as change agents in their schools and for their communities having the knowledge and skill to push and pull an often-calcified school organization. ... The IEL panel said it best: It is time for our best teachers to 'get in the game.'"

National Charter School Alliance

Formerly the Charter Friends National Network, this organization supports accountability, facilities financing, and contracting projects, as well as several other charter-related initiatives (national conference, networking, media relations, outreach, and federal policy development).

Andrew Coulson

A former Microsoft employee with an interesting slant on school choice. Author of Market Education: The Unknown History (Transaction Publishers, 1999).

Democratic Leadership Council

This organization is supported by many centrist (sometimes called "third way") Democratic politicians and endorses school choice options for public education, especially charter schools.

Education Commission of the States

ECS is a non-profit, non-partisan organization whose mission is "to help state leaders ... promote improved performance of the education system." ECS released recommendations on the governance of education called Governing America's Schools: Changing the Rules. The recommendations strongly support the establishment of independently operated, publicly accountable schools (like charter schools).

Education| Evolving

Another education reform organization out of Minnesota. E|E is a joint venture of the Center for Policy Studies and Hamline University in St. Paul. Ted Kolderie, a well-known early charter school proponent is a senior associate. Many new and interesting reform ideas can be found here.

Education Week

Weekly newspaper on education, with links to most established education organizations. Often contains articles on school choice and other school reform issues.

EdVisions Cooperative

This organization helps educators interested in forming cooperatives where teachers can assume new professional roles and become directly involved in owning and operating educational entities. They currently run the Minnesota New Country School. EdVisions' schools are examples of teacher-led schools.

National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education

Started in 1999 by Henry Levin (developer of the Accelerated Schools Project) and based at Teachers College, Columbia University, the Center provides comprehensive information on the movement to privatize a growing array of public education services.

Progressive Policy Institute

PPI has been described as a politically center-left organization interested in many issues, among them public education. Representing what is often called "the third way," it supports that part of the Democratic Party inhabited by the likes of Bill Clinton and John Kerry. PPI supports school choice through its 21st Century Schools Project.

Public Agenda Foundation

This organization engages in survey research projects and related activities on a variety of public policy topics. Education is a major interest area for them and they have produced several important and enlightening studies in recent years.

The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation

This organization, headed by former Reagan Education Dept. official Chester Finn, provides a solidly pro-choice, pro-testing, informative perspective on all things to do with public education. While a little too conservative for our taste on some issues, they dish out their views with panache, and have generally held the very sensible view that everyone, even charter schools, needs to be scrutinized for what they claim to be doing. Their 2006 Fund The Child proposal gives strong support to decentralization of districts.

US Charter Schools

Funded by USDOE. Contains a great deal of information on charter schools around the country, with links to many other related sites.