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Illinois Loop: Personal Stories of Parents

From IllinoisLoop.org:

Listen to these personal stories from real parents, describing their experiences:

A mother tells of her experiences with her child's school in "The Value of Asking Questions." Excerpt:

"... Seeing all [the beautiful classrooms and wonderful] things, I couldn't believe my child's good fortune at being able to attend such a wonderful public school. I'd been told, 'Feel free to ask questions.' So, I did. 'Why don't the children use lined paper to print the alphabet?' I asked. The teacher's explanation had something to do with 'small motor skills' ... and 'developmental learning.' The jargon threw me off balance and made me ashamed to admit my ignorance. Like so many other parents, I just smiled and nodded my head. That was the beginning of my asking questions of the system."

Illinois Loop: School Committees and the Delphi technique

From IllinoisLoop.org:

"I never realized what it was at the time. At most I had a vague sensation that something was not quite right, but I could not figure out what it was."
-- a typical Delphi participant

"Viewers of the great 1973 movie The Sting, which introduced the concept of the Big Con, will recall that the secret of this ultimate confidence game is that the mark must never come to know that he was played. He must continue to believe the game was the real thing."
-- John Podhoretz

Many schools make heavy use of social engineering techniques in carefully constructing and nurturing a variety of "committees" whose purpose is to rubber-stamp pre-established conclusions. Of course, there is nothing intentionally nefarious or conspiratorial about all this; this is simply the set of techniques that are taught in ed school as means for being "agents of change" and "developing a consensus" of support for proposed changes.

About School Choice Illinois

We Believe
School Choice Illinois believes that allowing parents to choose a school empowers each parent to have a say in the future of the child. We address the desperate need for parents to have access to high-quality K-12 schools.

A Coalition of School Choice Supporters
School Choice Illinois works with parents, community activists, elected officials, business, civic and religious leaders and the general public by promoting school choice as a means to improve K-12 education throughout the State. Our coalition of school choice supporters come from diverse professional, political, ethnic, and geographic backgrounds ready to advance the school choice movement in Illinois. Those supporters include black and Hispanic leaders, educators and school officials, media, civic and business leaders, and political leaders. Read More

The "Delphi Technique" And How It Robs Parents of Control Over Their Child's Education

From the American Policy Center:

[M]any school administrators have been specially trained to deal with those who seek to question the education "reforms" that are rapidly replacing the teaching of basic academics. In most cases a school administrator has no intention of changing anything the parent finds troubling.

But he also knows that an angry group of parents can cause trouble for their plans. His job is to keep parents happy and quiet. He's been trained for just such a challenge. It's called the "Delphi Technique" and parents, who don't know they're being manipulated, haven't a chance against it.

An Interview with Jack Roeser, President and Founder of the Family Taxpayers Network

"My first involvement with a local school district took place back in the 1960s when I served as the president of a local homeowners group in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The local elementary school district, School District 59 based in Elk Grove Village, had put a referendum on the ballot to increase taxes. Our homeowners group then invited representatives of the district to one of our meetings to tell us why they wanted the tax increase." Read More

The Boston Tea Party on a Budget

By Jim Peschke

Spreading information is easy with a bottomless checkbook. The real trick is to produce results with minimal funds, available to middle-class Americans. Our group has been successful at this, and at teaching others to do the same in their communities. I’d like to share some of the strategies and pitfalls of these efforts. Read More

Taxpayer Advocacy Motivations

By Chris Jenner

What makes someone become an anti-tax activist? How do we persuade others that the tax burden is too high and we’re not getting our money’s worth? How do we persuade someone to participate in taxpayer advocacy activities? Read More

Suggestions from the Education Consumers ClearingHouse

One game plan for action for citizens at the local level is outlined by the Education Consumers ClearingHouse, which bills itself as:

“a subscriber supported, online forum that serves as a kind of Consumers Union for the consumers of public education. It affords subscribers an opportunity to consider education issues from a consumer's point of view.”

Moving the School Choice Debate Forward with Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor

Heartland Institute Senior Fellow George Clowes gives advice to those wanting to voice their opinion and spread the word about real school reform.

CER's Grassroots Action Center

The Center for Education Reform has a great web page for contacting your elected representatives to express your support for real school reform. Notes received via CER will help bring attention to the growing network of grassroots school reform organizations. Read More