Laura Waters
Blogger
Education Writer, Parent, School Board Member
Lawrence Township, New Jersey
Featured Blog: NJ Education Report
RECENT POSTS
Posted Apr. 10, 2021
EXPLAINED: The American Rescue Plan Gives a Huge Boost to School Funding
What is the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021? You may have heard it as the “second big COVID stimulus,”…
Posted Feb. 24, 2021
Meet Newark’s Own Amanda Gorman, Seventh Grade Poet Makayla Brown
A month ago, as Amanda Gorman shared her beautiful prose during President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ inauguration, students at…
Posted Feb. 1, 2021
As a Mom of a Son With Multiple Disabilities, I Have the Receipts on Remote Instruction
Here at brightbeam, our North Star is “How Are The Children?” As parents look back over the last nine months…
Posted Jan. 20, 2021
Amanda Gorman Is Climbing That Hill. Now if Only The Rest of Us Would Join Her.
Today at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s inauguration, Amanda Gorman stole the show. Lady Gaga? J-Lo? Garth…
Posted Jan. 8, 2021
Was DeVos Really the ‘Worst Secretary of Education Ever’?
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned last night, citing Wednesday’s putsch at the Capitol, Trump’s incitement of violence, and her concern…
Posted Dec. 22, 2020
Will Biden’s Pick for Education Secretary Work for All Kids?
“We want to support you so that you can get to the great work of helping kids. You have to…
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…
