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Education Newsletter
Education Reports

Dismantling a Community

Dismantling a Community, a new publication from the Center, chronicles the selling-off of New Orleans Schools in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Rather than build the first-class public education system that New Orleans kids have deserved for decades, Federal Government officials and right-wing advocates used this tragedy as fertile ground for social experimentation on a grand scale.

Thousands of seasoned teachers have been let go and teacher's unions have been decimated while some $40 million has been spent to turn the New Orleans education system into a complex web of individually operated schools where parents have to vie for a quality education for their children.

Dismantling a Community tells the consequences of the ongoing assault that privatization advocates have unleashed on the fragile neighborhoods of New Orleans.

Click here to download the report

Dismantling a Community is available in hard copy for $5
--To order your hard copy online through our friends at Teaching for Change, Click here

--To order your hard copy by check payable to the Center for Community Change, send your request to:

Center for Community Change
attention Leigh Dingerson
1536 U Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009

--To inquire about bulk orders, contact Leigh at ldingerson@communitychange.org or call (202) 339-9349.

Education Newsletter

Education Organizing Newsletter
This is CCCs free quarterly newsletter on school reform organizing. Each issue includes stories of ongoing campaigns, federal policy updates and news from across the nation.

Education Reports

Organizer's Guide to No Child Left Behind
(2004) This is an extensive guide that explains key topics within the law such as "adequate yearly progress", standardized tests, and class size. It is written with community groups in mind. Available online only.

Action Guide for Education Organizing
(2004, 75 pages) This Action Guide is aimed at experienced community organizers, new to the arena of school reform. The Action Guide will set the context for campaigns, provide sources for research and information, and it will offer examples of campaigns, issues, strategies, and tactics.

26 Conversations about Organizing, School Reform, and No Child Left Behind:
(2004, 48 pages) Twenty-nine organizers from 26 grassroots organizations in 14 states and the District of Columbia take a look at recent school reform activity and the relevance of No Child Left Behind to solving the problems they confront in their local schools.

Briefing Papers
Four short papers on specific aspects of the new federal education law. Center for Community Change, 2003. Available in Education Organizing Issue 11, Winter 2003.

School Improvement (pdf)
School Report Cards (pdf)
Teacher Quality (pdf)
Bilingual Education (pdf)

Saved by an Education: A Successful Model for Dramatically Increasing High School Graduation Rates in Low-Income Neighborhoods
(2001, 64 pages) This report explains how a 3-year demonstration program helped nearly all high school age students in five public housing developments stay in school, improve their grades and test scores, graduate and go on to college or career-oriented training programs.

Individual School Report Cards: Empowering Parents and Communities to Hold Schools Accountable
(2000, 28 pages) This report provides an overview of states' use of individual school report cards to keep parents informed about school climate, teacher quality and other important indicators of school success.