Improving Policy
We work in partnership with education leaders, parents, students and other stakeholders from across the state to remove policy barriers and strengthen opportunities for students.
We help plug community members into opportunities to engage their state and local leaders and we share testimony, attend meetings, write letters and much more. Over the years, we’ve advocated on behalf of a wide variety of issues, including fairer school funding and facilities access, higher academic standards and aligned assessments, preschool expansion, repeal of the teacher residency requirement and charter school regulatory changes, to name a few. Our work has helped advance dozens of issues, including:
- Our contributions to the My Child, My Choice campaign and ongoing advocacy efforts in Newark to raise awareness about how Newark’s charter schools are giving parents and students more options for exceptional places to learn;
- Our work as a member of We Raise NJ coalition to protect New Jersey’s commitment to academic standards and continued use of aligned assessments; and
- Our collaboration on statewide efforts to expand access to high-quality preschool for children who need it most.
We are also passionate about creating diverse pathways for New Jerseyans to participate in education policymaking and discussions and elevating their ideas and voices. For example, we have seen firsthand the immense power of hearing directly from parents about the need for and benefits of charter schools. Over the past year, alongside our partners, we have worked to bring two sets of parents to Trenton to meet with lawmakers to share their personal charter school experiences and underscore the positive impact these schools are having on their children’s lives. Our blog also serves as a platform for local leaders to weigh in on opportunities and challenges in education through sharing their own personal ideas and experiences.