We're Back...With a Back-to-School Clarion Call
Forza Has Clammed Up Long Enough
As children prepare to head back to school, there is no shortage of news, activity, and urgency. So rather than one long essay this week, consider this an inventory of what you need to know, read, share, and put on your calendar.
Because while summer may be winding down, the work of expanding opportunity for young people never takes a holiday. So don’t be like those clams. Open up your valves and take it all in.
We Have Become Far Too Comfortable With Failure
Imagine if only 22 percent of graduating military cadets met standards in strategic planning—or if only 35 percent of new pilots could demonstrate proficiency in reading flight instruments.
Surely, the nation would demand immediate action.
Yet when only 22 percent of America’s high school seniors are proficient in math and just 35 percent are proficient in reading, we barely blink.
That is the warning at the heart of my recent piece in The Hill. New national assessment results generated a few encouraging headlines, but the larger picture remains devastating. Older students remain far below pre-pandemic performance, American students trail many of their international peers, and we have become dangerously accustomed to outcomes that should be unacceptable.
The consequences extend far beyond the classroom. National security, economic competitiveness, technological leadership, and civic participation all begin with whether young people can read, write, reason, and calculate.
As students head back to school, this must be our clarion call: Stop managing decline. Stop explaining away failure. Demand excellence—and give families the freedom to find the education their children need.
Read “America Must Not Quietly Accept Educational Collapse” in The Hill.
Congress Had a Chance to Help Military Families. Why Did It Say No?
Military families already sacrifice control over where they live, when they move, and how often their children must start over.
Congress recently had the opportunity to test a modest pilot program that would have given those families greater educational flexibility—and rejected it.
My latest Forbes column explains why that was not simply a missed education opportunity. Family stability, recruitment, retention, and military readiness are inseparable. Those who sacrifice to defend our liberty should not be denied the freedom to find the right education for their children.
This issue needs far greater attention. Please read it—and share it.
A First Look at the 2026 Charter School Law Rankings
Here’s an early preview of CER’s 2026 National Charter School Law Rankings & Scorecard. Get the full scoop tomorrow at edreform.com/rankings.
Bringing the Conversation Home
I also had the good fortune to conceive and organize the Chatham inaugural Summer Salon, with the generous support of key members of a community where our family spends much of our year.
When a local friend offered to host an event around my forthcoming book, The Education Avengers, I suggested that we make it something larger than a book event.
Like so many places that are known for recreation, when the people leave, the local community gets their peace of mind back, but there are not always great opportunities for their youth to thrive. I wanted to bringing together local entrepreneurs, educators, healthcare leaders, business owners, and residents around conversations that shape a community’s future - with a few of my colleagues and even a couple of the actual Education Avengers, to share experiences and ideas.
And so, the Chatham Summer Salon was born.
For me, the evening was also a welcome return to the days when I was doing real grassroots—going into communities, bringing people together, and helping people engage with consequential issues that work, family, and daily obligations often leave them little time to explore.
The evening brought together an extraordinary array of people, including Cape Air founder Dan Wolf, Josh Cellars founder Joseph Carr, Michael Looney, former director of career and technical education for Mashpee Public Schools, and Lori Jewett, COO and chief nursing officer at Cape Cod Healthcare.
At the center of the conversation was the idea that runs through all 12 stories in The Education Avengers: ordinary people become extraordinary when they believe young people—and their communities—are worth the fight.
Young people remain in communities when they can envision a future there: meaningful work, opportunities to grow, mentors who believe in them, and a place where they know they belong.
Many guests generously observed that they had never before had an opportunity to convene for a conversation quite like it.
It was a powerful reminder that we must continue to inform, engage and educate, educate, educate.
See photographs and reflections from the inaugural Chatham Summer Salon on LinkedIn.
The Announcement You Have Been Waiting For
Next Wednesday, August 12, we will announce the 2026 Yass Prize Contenders, live from Forbes on Fifth in New York City.
These extraordinary education providers will vie for the $1 million Yass Prize—and will join a growing community of transformational leaders changing the lives of students across the country.
Each year since 2021, thanks to the vision and generosity of Janine and Jeff Yass, we have worked to find, reward, celebrate, and accelerate the nation’s best education providers.
Plan to follow along, watch the livestream beginning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, and meet the remarkable members of this year’s cohort.
You can also learn more about what motivates Janine Yass and her commitment to expanding educational opportunity in this recent Philadelphia Inquirer feature.
Speaking of Innovation…
We are also announcing the 2026 Power of Innovation Summit: The Power of Freedom, taking place October 6 in Philadelphia.
The brightest ideas and boldest visions for the future will come together at the intersection of education innovation and American progress.
With incredible participants, education disruptors, china breakers and leaders who can help them put it all together, you won’t want to miss this headline—or these headliners. Space is limited. Request your invitation at POISummit.org.
Back to School—and Back to the Work
These stories may appear different: collapsing academic standards, military families denied greater freedom, state laws that either permit or obstruct innovation, a Cape Cod community gathering, the search for the nation’s next great education providers, and a summit devoted to freedom.
But the through-line is the same.
Children flourish when adults refuse to accept the status quo. Communities flourish when people understand what is at stake and recognize the part they can play. America flourishes when freedom, excellence, opportunity, and human dignity are more than words.
School doors are opening again.
So must our eyes.
Forza! Jeanne
PS Pre-sales for The Education Avengers are on! Go to Amazon to buy today!