School Board News » NSBA Opinions and Analysis

NSBA Director writes about “Debunking the ‘reform’ agenda’” for ASBJ

In the June issue of American School Board Journal, National School Boards Association Executive Director Thomas J. Gentzel writes about the importance of a strong public education system and the forces that make false promises through “reforms” such as vouchers. Read his “Last Word” column here: No human enterprise is perfect, and we all are [...]

NSBA board member reflects on testing and Teacher Appreciation Week

Neil Putnam, a member of the National School Boards Association’s Board of Directors, writes about Teacher Appreciation Week for his hometown newspaper in Mitchell, S.D. In “Teachers are more than tests,” he reflects on his past teachers and how teachers now must look for ways to teach skills beyond the rote memorization needed for some [...]

NSBA board members find lessons in Finland’s schools

Three members of the National School Boards Association’s board of directors saw the well-regarded education system in Finland on a recent academic trip. And while the two countries have major differences, there are some important lessons school boards can take away from the Scandanavian schools, said NSBA President C. Ed Massey. Massey joined a group [...]

Video: NSBA discusses school safety on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal”

Francisco M. Negrón Jr., General Counsel of the National School Boards Association, was featured on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” on Dec. 19 discussing school safety and how school boards across the U.S. develop and implement emergency plans.

School boards can help NSBA lobby to avoid fiscal cliff

Political pundits are already warning President Barack Obama and members of Congress not to spend too much time basking in their Nov. 6 victories. Beginning next week, Congress and the White House will start the tough negotiations to deal with the process of sequestration, which is the cancellation of budgetary resources. The Budget Control Act [...]

Won’t Back Down gets panned by critics, movie goers–and NSBA

Last week the National School Boards Association’s former Executive Director Anne L. Bryant gave a review dismissing the new film “Won’t Back Down,” which opened in theaters across the country this weekend. She noted, “While we wouldn’t expect a Hollywood production about public schools to be grounded in research-based facts, there are many reasons to be concerned [...]

Three numbers that could alter the 2012 elections: 92, 37 and 6

August 26th is Women’s Equality Day, marking the 92nd anniversary of the constitutional amendment that granted women the right to vote. While much work remained in the 20th century to assure that everyone could exercise their right to vote, the 19th amendment was an important threshold. It is particularly significant for local school boards, as [...]

NSBA shows how Race to the Top hurts small districts

Lucy Gettman, director of federal programs at the National School Boards Association (NSBA), recently spoke to The Atlantic about the recent announcement of the Race to the Top federal grants for school districts. Gettman noted that the competitive grant program tends to put small, high poverty, and rural school districts at a disadvantage with its [...]

NSBA: Fordham survey misses the mark on school funding

The National School Boards Association Executive Director Anne L. Bryant was asked to comment on a new survey by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation that shows how members of the public would cut funding for public schools. The survey found that many would prefer to downsize the ranks of administrative staff rather than teachers, freeze [...]

Washington group analyzes K-12 initiatives and predicts future steps

Obama administration initiatives such as the Race to the Top (RTTT) competitive grant program and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)/Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) waivers have generated more innovation in a shorter time than any other K-12 education reform in recent memory, according to an influential Washington group. The Center for American [...]

NSBA President speaks on unfunded mandates

The National School Board Association’s (NSBA) President C. Ed Massey, a member of the Boone County, Ky., school board, spoke to his local Rotary Club about the need to relieve local school systems from inflexible federal laws that do not come with enough funding to successfully implement. Massey explained the need for local school board [...]

CPE names “10 Good Things About Public Education”

Can you name 10 good things about public education? Patte Barth, director of NSBA’s Center for Public Education, recently wrote about the many successes in public education for American School Board Journal, and she also gave her suggestions for ways schools can improve. For instance, she notes, fourth-graders have improved their reading skills by six [...]

NSBA leaders share “Five things I’ve learned”

NSBA’s Executive Director Anne L. Bryant and Director of Education Technology Ann Flynn give their insights on policy and practice for a new feature of the Pearson Foundation’s website, “The Five Things I’ve Learned.” This new media project shares personal lessons learned and practical reflections from researchers, policymakers, and leaders in the education realm. Bryant, [...]

NSBA president praises mission of National PTA

The National School Boards Association (NSBA) President C. Ed Massey spoke at the National PTA’s annual conference, held June 21 to 25 in San Jose, Calif., and says he was inspired by the organization’s energy and enthusiasm. In his remarks to the conference’s 1,300 attendees, he asked PTA members to join with school board members [...]

Bryant: “Virtual Schools Need a Grounding in Reality”

NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant wrote a blog, “Virtual Schools Need a Grounding in Reality,” for “Transforming Learning,” published by Education Week. Her commentary is based on the new groundbreaking report by NSBA’s Center for Public Education, “Searching for the Reality of Virtual Schools.” Bryant notes that, “Until we take a hard look at [...]

School board leader’s letter to Obama on the need to rethink public education gets national attention

Mary Broderick’s, the 2011-2012 president of the National School Boards Association (NSBA), open letter to President Barack Obama has had far reach. Broderick shared the letter during her speech Sunday, April 22 at NSBA’s Annual Conference. The letter noted that “public education in the U.S. is on the wrong track” and encouraged Obama to convene a national [...]

Arizona school district showcases education technology innovation in action

Arizona’s Dysart Unified School District recently hosted a National School Boards Association‘s (NSBA) Education Technology Site Visit and was featured in Phoenix’s The Republic and a segment of 12 News. BoardBuzz recommends you check out the video from 12 News, as it truely captures the sucessful technology innovations happening in that Dysart Unified School District that are serving as [...]

NSBA’s Center for Public Education reviews AJC’s investigation on school cheating

The following was also posted on the National School Boards Association’s Center for Public Education’s blog, The EDifier. Last week I showed that the data from the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s (AJC) investigation on cheating, while certainly accurate, was not evidence of a widespread epidemic. Yes, there certainly was evidence that cheating was likely taking place in some [...]

Arizona school board leader advocates for quality education for all students

BoardBuzz recommends you check out this insightful op-ed in The Arizona Republic by Tim Ogle, Executive Director of the Arizona School Boards Association, on our need to support our local public schools. Ogle notes: Work-arounds and alternatives aren’t the answer to ensuring a strong and secure future for our nation and its citizens; they leave [...]

Bryant: Time to make our voices louder for public education

Strong public schools are the best investment Congress can make—and it’s time for advocates to raise their voices even louder, the National School Boards Association’s (NSBA) Executive Director Anne L. Bryant says in a commentary for District Administrator. The extremely slow process to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and a sense that Washington [...]