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Frustrated Educators Aim to Build Grassroots Movement

Says Kaye Thompson Peters, an English teacher from St. Paul, Minn., "I think it's time someone said the emperor has no clothes. You need to stand up and you need to fight back, and that's where we are right now."

—Genevieve Ross for Education Week

By Erik W. Robelen

Thousands of educators, parent activists, and others are expected to convene in the heat and humidity of Washington in late July for a march protesting the current thrust of education policy in the United States, especially the strong emphasis on test-based accountability.

Organizers say the effort aims to galvanize and give voice to those who believe policymakers, including U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and state governors, have gone astray in their remedies for improving American schools. Leaders of the march—current and former educators among them—say they’re determined to build a grassroots movement that has staying power beyond the gathering this summer and “restores” a central role for educators, parents, and communities in policy decisions.

How widespread such sentiments are in the K-12 workforce is hard to quantify. The nation has more than 3 million public school teachers, and they’re a diverse bunch. And a lot of teachers may not pay much attention...