The John Dewey Project on Progressive Education is pleased to announce that we have awarded grants to several  organizations and individuals for media projects that focus on placing stories and commentaries in the popular and independent media that promote progressive perspectives on education and educational policy within the United States.

With the recent bi-partisan passing of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, educators around the country are expressing concerns about the Bush Administration's effect on good practices and democratic ideals. A U.S. Department of Education official was quoted as saying that the administration wants to put an end to "creativity in the classroom." These views are backed up by the NCLB mandates for student testing in every grade from 3 to 10. School districts and states are scrambling to make sense of the new federal mandates, raising concerns about the costs of a heavy testing regime on budgets and teacher and student morale. Calls for accountability are ringing throughout public education, in what is often touted as a new era in education.

The criticism of the educational system has been relentless, and propagated by an intricate network of conservative think tanks and marketing firms have teamed with a number of conservative philanthropic foundations to support the proliferation of the conservative perspectives and to promote a conservative educational agenda that includes: the privatization of public schools, high stakes testing, the commercialization of education, the characterization of unions as bad for education, and, most recently, an organized attack on the merits of teacher education programs.

Within this charged context, very little media attention is being given to alternative stories concerning effective teaching and learning: teaching practices that take into account the whole child and diverse learning styles, while attending to a student's social development as well as academic achievement. At stake is the future of the educational system in the United States and its role in sustaining a free, open and democratic society.

These  media projects will include:

• Efforts to increase or generate editorial and op-ed pieces criticizing current educational policies and/or promoting progressive ones.
• The placement of stories about progressive education ideas and successes in the popular media.
• The generation of press releases for educational journalists and news outlets announcing research findings that support progressive education and/or refute conservative policies and practices.
• Efforts to inform social activists about conservative assaults on education, thereby linking the need for progressive education to wider social movements.

Funds for the Democratic Education Media Fund come from a grant from the New Visions Foundation. No state or federal funds or student tuition dollars are being used in the administration of this program.