| The Common Core is not an upgrade! |
 Jerry Mintz
First lets make one thing clear: The Common Core is not an educational upgrade. It does not make education more rigorous except in the sense of rigor mortis. The only reason I think that the Common Core is great is because it is so negative and destructive that it has finally done what we in our organization have been unable to do in the last 20 years: galvanize students, parents and teachers into a formidable force to resist top-down disempowering education. This is what I said yesterday to a large group of protesters who had gathered in bitterly cold weather outside Mineola High School, where New York State Education Commissioner John B. King was delivering his defense of the state's regime of testing and the imposition of the, possibly unconstitutional, Common Core Curriculum.
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New Membership Option for Schools and Organizations
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We are excited to announce a brand new enhanced membership option for schools, groups, and organizations. In addition to the typical school and organization member benefits, such as having your school listed on our website, we are offering a featured banner ad on our site for one full year! This banner will appear in the state, province, or country section of your school on our member schools and organizations list and will help draw attention to those looking for alternatives in your area. This list receives thousands of hits each month and is our most popular page on the website.
We've decided to offer this enhanced membership for $200 which will include one full year's membership (worth $75). However, for this week only, we will be offering the enhanced membership and one full year's membership (extended for one year if you're already a member) for only $100! If you do the math, you'll realize that we're essentially offering a banner ad on the member schools list for only $25 beyond what you would already pay for membership!
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Ed. note: This is written by Alan Berger, founder of Brooklyn Free School and AERO board member. The post was featured on a new blog by Chris Mercogliano, former director of Albany's Free School, author of several books including In Defense of Childhood and Teaching the Restless
, AERO board member, and an instructor with AERO's start a school course.
 One of the major factors driving educational policy in the U.S. is ramped up concern over student performance on standardized tests in math, science, and literacy compared with students in other countries. The latest case in point is a recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (O.E.C.D.) that The New York Times covered in their lead editorial on October 23, 2013 with the headline "The United States, Falling Behind." In case you missed it, the study spanned 24 countries and measured the proficiency of people ages 16 - 65 in literacy, numeracy, and problem solving using computers. Consistent with other studies of its kind, the U.S. scored at or below the international average.
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In Memoriam: Glenna Plaisted
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Chris Mercogliano
My acquaintance with Glenna Plaisted began with an email telling me she liked my book In Defense of Childhood so much that she bought copies for the staff of her school and insisted that they read it. Then she asked if I would be willing to spend a day at the school, which I wasn't familiar with, and lead a faculty workshop after the kids went home.
When I surfed the Riley School's website to find out more about it, I immediately liked what I saw. There was an opening quote from Piaget about the importance of education being to learn how to learn, so that our development continues far beyond school. I also loved the school's small size-80 students ages 4-14, and its location-25 acres of fields and forest on the Maine coast where they do things like make maple syrup and learn about salt water marshes by tramping around in them all day.
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From Columbine to Newtown
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Chris Mercogliano
Almost two years have passed since the kindergarten massacre in Newtown, CT, and now that all the hype has settled and the horrific event is fading into memory, I decided to collect all my thoughts about school shootings in one place. See what you think:
Soon after the Columbine massacre I published an emotional essay called "The Teachings of Tragedy," in which I implored us all to dig beneath the media hype and the obvious causes of school shootings until we grasp the deeper reasons why they keep happening. Because only then can we stop this gut wrenching form of child-on-child violence.
Thirteen years and scores of such tragedies later, clearly we're still not getting the message.
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Do you have a news or resource item you think Education Revolution newsletter readers would find useful? Send it to [email protected].
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Thank you for your ongoing support. With your help, we will make learner-centered alternatives available to everyone!
Sincerely,
Jerry Mintz
Executive Director
Alternative Education Resource Organization
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