Oh gosh. I’m “outdated”.

I think that means I’m old. (Or was it a statement about my clothes??)

Wait a minute. Was it an anti-woman comment?? How many times does a man get called outdated? Maybe I need to call the National Organization for Women. I’ve never felt discriminated against before, but wow, maybe this is what the feminist fuss is all about!

Let me explain. I’ve been focused on the education field for more than 25 years. Exclusively. In other words, for 25 years I’ve woken up every day (and also many a time never went to bed until the light was out) and did nothing but read, study, write and manage education reform outcomes. That is, besides raising my kids. I know. Boring, right? It’s true. Just ask my kids, who say I have to move my chin from my computer to look in their eyes when they talk! (I thank God for kids like that, who have helped me keep a bigger focus on them!)

The organization I founded has been around 16 of those 25 years. And one of the group’s main accomplishments has been not just the advocacy, but the creation of a majority of the nation’s charter school laws. From that exercise we’ve learned what works and what doesn’t. From that exercise we’ve interviewed, studied, and communicated with literally tens of thousand of people engaged in the process who have shown us first hand how policy effects people and process, how policy works (and how it doesn’t). And from all these activities, we’ve created and sustained a darn good ranking system of the nation’s charter laws that has informed and galvanized thousands more in pursuit of great charter laws - laws that put control and accountability back into the hands of people who are most closely affected by our schools. That’s why, more than just charters, CER focuses on engaging and enlightening parents, policymakers and the media to appreciate and advance all education reforms.

More “Outdated?”

Q: And how many charter schools are there in the country about?

SECRETARY DUNCAN: I don’t have a hard number for you. We can get you that number.

Q: Thousands?

SECRETARY DUNCAN: Yes, thousands, thousands. Yes.

(Press gaggle aboard Air Force One en route to Madison, WI - 11/4)

4,578.

That’s the answer you were looking for aboard Air Force One yesterday, Mr. Secretary. We’ve counted it, reported it, documented it. Sorry it wasn’t at your fingertips.

4,578 charter schools.

Thanks for supporting good charters. We actually support great charter schools, and we know that most are great, through scores of studies and reports over recent years. We also know by seeing who attends them, who waits to attend them, who escapes bad alternatives when they are available.

But we also support great charter laws, because without great laws, you can’t have great schools.

The small percentage of schools that some data suggest aren’t working are compromised by two things - first, bad charter laws that leave the same bureaucracies in control of the schools that are in control of the other bad public schools, and second, political opposition that sucks the energy and resources of the average charter school leader working on a shoestring budget with no PR department to fight the lies that are often spread about them.

Yes, good charter schools are right. There are boatloads of them.

And bad charter schools get closed.

657 of them have been closed over the course of the movement’s history.

How many bad public schools have closed? Not many.

Help us make all charter schools great, Mr. Secretary. Push for more than lifting caps and start talking about how most of them are really good. We can give you that data, too…