MecklenburgACTS is handing out this information at the Democratic National Convention here in Charlotte, at events sponsored by groups that are proposing ineffective solutions to the challenges faced by American education, and which are diverting energy, attention and resources from the changes that will produce real improvements.

Students First, Parent Revolution and Democrats for Education Reform are pushing for education policies that have no track record of success:

• An expansion of high-stakes testing that turns schools into testing factories and drives families and top teachers away from public education.

• Relentless charter school expansion even though charter schools regularly perform less well than comparable public schools.

• School closings which disrupt families and communities and send most students to schools that perform no better than the ones they left.

• Parent trigger laws which divide parents and have yet to improve a single school.

We’ve seen here in Charlotte how these policies destabilize communities, anger parents and demoralize our best teachers. We call on President Obama and other Democrats to reject these policies and join parents and education experts in support of a more positive set of changes that includes small classes, a well-rounded curriculum, more meaningful parent involvement and greater investment in teachers and families.

Parents Across America has also produced an online toolkit with further suggestions for improving schools, as well as background on the parent trigger and the “Won’t Back Down” movie.

For a story of a high-poverty school that remade itself using the changes that we recommend, visit Pamela Grundy’s blog, Seen from the ‘Rock. Contact Pamela at shamrockparent@earthlink.net.