The struggle to save our schools

Chicago teachers took to the streets of downtown to demand a fair contract

Public education is under attack, the target of an offensive led by some of the most powerful people in the U.S. Supporters of corporate school reform are pushing for privatization and the testing mania--while scapegoating teachers and blaming their unions for the deep-seated problems caused by lack of funding, inequality and racism. SocialistWorker.org has collected our coverage exposing the attack on public education, plus accounts of the crisis from teachers and students, and reports on the struggle to save our schools.

Showdown in Chicago

Comment: Lee Sustar

What the CTU accomplished

The winning strike by Chicago teachers can be an opening wedge against corporate school "reform"--and a fighting example for other unions.

Speech: Kirstin Roberts

We stood up to the bullies

A Chicago teacher describes what she learned about her coworkers, her students and their parents during her union's nine days on the picket line.

Comment: Elizabeth Schulte

A victory for solidarity

Chicago teachers are standing proud after their bold struggle against Rahm Emanuel's assault on their jobs, their union and their schools.

Comment: Alan Maass

On strike for all teachers

Tens of thousands of striking teachers and their supporters pack the streets of downtown Chicago (Mario Cardenas | SW)

Striking Chicago teachers have a lesson for the whole world to learn: When you're attacked by a bully, you have to stand up and fight back.

Roundtable

The meaning of our struggle

Teachers, parents and activists explain what's at stake in the Chicago Teachers Union's showdown with Rahm Emanuel and the school deformers.

Analysis: Lee Sustar

A struggle for education justice

The showdown between the Chicago Teachers Union and Mayor Rahm Emanuel is over nothing less than the future of public education in the city.

Defending teachers

Comment: Peter Lamphere

Behind the evaluation frenzy

Teachers around the country weren't surprised to learn that evaluations based on testing were a key issue in Chicago showdown.

Comment: Lee Sustar

Is the AFT up to the fight?

With a possible teachers' strike in Chicago coming amid unprecedented attacks on public education, will AFT leaders break from their strategy of "partnership"?

Roundtable

Answering the attacks

With Barack Obama praising efforts to bust a Rhode Island teachers' union, rank-and-file teacher activists are fighting to defend public education.

Comment: Megan Behrent

Still waiting for the truth

The "documentary" Waiting for Superman is the latest installment in the campaign to smear teachers as the main obstacle to better public schools.

Analysis: Adam Sanchez

Standing for union-bashing

The real agenda of corporate-backed education "reform" groups like Stand for Children is union-busting and austerity.

Comment: Sarah Knopp

Needed: A national movement

Teachers were at the center of the worker rebellion in Wisconsin--and their counterparts across the U.S. want to continue the fight.

The new witch-hunt

Comment: Peter Rachleff

Defending public-sector labor

The public employees and their supporters defying Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker are showing us the stakes for the whole labor movement.

Comment: Petrino DiLeo

Their lies about public workers

SocialistWorker.org looks at seven myths about public-sector compensation and government deficits--and provides the facts to counter them.

The attack on public education

Analysis: Lee Sustar

The racist school closings

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to shutter 54 schools is the latest in a century of racist education policies in the city.

Comment: Brian Jones

The wrong reforms for schools

We don't want public schools organized around Corporate America's priorities for how our children should be educated.

Comment: Susan Ohanian

The truth about Common Core

The latest corporate school reform scheme is a step toward national testing--and puts kids on a treadmill to be obedient workers.

Analysis: Elizabeth Schulte

A decade of kids left behind

The No Child Left Behind law ushered in a new era in our schools—an era of high-stakes testing, school closures and attacks on teachers’ unions.

Analysis: Peter Lamphere

Bitter fruits of Race to the Top

New York school officials and teachers union leaders reached a deal that cements the basic logic of all tests, all the time.

Fighting the testing mania

Comment: Jesse Hagopian

Why we're boycotting the MAP

Garfield's teachers are preparing students for real-life tests--and so we reject multiple-choice rituals that fail to measure progress or anything else.

Interview: Wayne Au

Why testing fails our kids

The pledge by Seattle teachers to boycott the MAP test is part of a groundswell of opposition and activism against high-stakes standardized testing.

Charter schools

Column: Brian Jones

The charter school charade

At a fancy gala thrown by the Harlem Success Academy, I heard charter school supporters use the legacy of civil rights struggles to sell privatization.

Analysis: Emily Giles and Bill Linville

A charter invasion of Harlem

P.S. 123 ranks as a success among New York City public schools--but officials still took an entire floor this school year to give to a charter school operator.

The Privatizers' Agenda

Comment: Danny Katch

Arne Duncan's twisted vision

Education Secretary Arne Duncan (Ralph Alswang)

Education Secretary Arne Duncan stooped to a new low when he declared that Hurricane Katrina was "the best thing that happened" to New Orleans schools.

Column: Brian Jones