Laura Waters
Blogger
Blogger, Parent, School Board Member
Lawrence Township, New Jersey
Featured Blog: NJ Left Behind
RECENT POSTS
Posted Dec. 10, 2020
Good Luck Finding an Education Secretary Who Can Help Kids and Make Unions Happy, Mr. President-Elect
President-Elect Joe Biden may be setting himself up for a confrontation between two of his top advisors. Perched on one…
Posted Nov. 24, 2020
Civil Rights Groups Insist on Testing: ‘You Cannot Improve What You Do Not Measure.’
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. In this case, the clock is soon-to-be-Ex-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos,…
Posted Oct. 28, 2020
Q&A: Chris Cerf on Fighting COVID Learning Loss With Great Teaching
Last March schools across the country closed and typical live instruction morphed into erratic meetings on Zoom. Many of us…
Posted Oct. 26, 2020
I Thought Vouchers Were Wrong, But Now I Realize They Helped My Son
Recently I wrote that a residency hearing with two children, Kayla and Tasha, represented to me our deeply-embedded structural inequities in…
Posted Oct. 23, 2020
Khaliah Fitchett on Going From Handcuffs to Running for Congress
One afternoon in March 2010, Khaliah Fitchette, a 16-year-old student at Newark’s University High School, was riding home on a…
Posted Oct. 15, 2020
Think Your Vote Doesn’t Matter? Then Vote Local.
National media is entirely preoccupied by Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s ongoing barroom brawl. But there are 95,000 other seats…
Posted Oct. 14, 2020
Karega Rausch Says Charter Schools Get Better Outcomes for Kids When They Listen to Communities
With all the ruckus around charter schools, it’s easy to forget they can’t be painted with a broad brush. Each…
Posted Oct. 1, 2020
You Can Hate Trump and Support School Choice
Every time Donald Trump says, “school choice is the civil rights issue of our time,” I cringe. It’s hard to…
Posted Sep. 24, 2020
After a Decade of Opposing Voucher Programs, I’m Wondering If I Was Wrong
I smiled at the two little girls seated across the table in the school board conference room but only six-year-old…
Posted Sep. 23, 2020
We Must Vote for the Candidates Who Will Implement the Right Policies for Our Kids
I first met Shennell McCloud when she was Director of Recruitment, and then as Director of Advocacy for KIPP New…
