Education
Commentary
Statement from PRI Senior Director of Education Studies Lance Izumi on Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association
January 11, 2015 – The Pacific Research Institute issued the following statement by Senior Education Studies Director Lance Izumi on today’s U.S. Supreme Court oral argument on Friedrichs v. the California Teachers Association: “The admission by the attorney for the State of California that the collective bargaining contract negotiated by ...
Pacific Research Institute
January 12, 2016
Commentary
Freedom, not union, key to teachers’ case
Almost everybody agrees that an employee – public or private – should be judged on his or her individual qualifications and performance. Yet, for many of the nation’s teachers, their freedom to be treated as individuals is barred by a collective bargaining process that treats them as a group. This ...
Lance Izumi
January 7, 2016
California
Rebecca Friedrichs: Challenging Compulsory Union Dues and Standing Up for Freedom
In March 2015, PRI filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA) -a major case challenging compulsory union dues that nearly all California teachers are required to pay. The case, spearheaded by the Center for Individual Rights (CIR), was brought by ...
Pacific Research Institute
January 6, 2016
Commentary
Report: Majority Of Middle-Class Public High Schools In Colorado Underperform
A large majority of “middle class” public high schools in Colorado had half or more of their students fail to reach proficiency on at least one state math or reading exam, according to a recent report from the Pacific Research Institute. Middle class schools were defined by the study as ...
Ali Meyer
December 8, 2015
California
California Public Employees Unions Join Forces To Oppose Charter Growth
Teachers unions in Los Angeles (LA) and other public employee unions formed a coalition to fight the expansion of charter schools in California. The expansion effort, led by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation (BF), aims at more than doubling the number of students attending public charter schools in Los ...
Chris Neal
November 23, 2015
Commentary
Middle-class Colorado students underperform on federal testing
Are the Colorado public schools that serve mostly middle-class students performing well? Lots of parents seem to think so. They may believe that student performance problems are limited to places like poor areas in Denver. But the public schools serving many middle-class Colorado students are not performing as well as ...
Lance Izumi
November 3, 2015
California
What do the Common Core Test results Really Tell Us?
When the California Department of Education recently released the results of the 2015 Common Core math and English tests, officials attributed the low student scores to the increased rigor of both the new standards and the new test. However, the real reasons are not so simple, and much more worrying. ...
Lance Izumi
October 13, 2015
Education
Not As Good As You Think: Colorado
Read the Study Many middle-class Coloradoans think that most low-performing schools are located in poor inner cities such as Denver, not in their nice neighborhoods or in their smaller towns. They need to think again. Based on a variety of indicators, many Colorado public schools with predominantly non-low income middle ...
Pacific Research Institute
September 23, 2015
Blended Learning
Impact Magazine — Summer 2015
As we look forward to a busy summer, PRI remains committed to its mission of championing freedom, opportunity, and personal responsibility for all individuals by advancing market-based policy solutions. I can’t help but be proud of the impact we have made on the public policy debate and I hope you ...
Pacific Research Institute
August 10, 2015
Commentary
Are suburban schools as good as parents think?
Are the Michigan public schools that serve mostly middle-class students performing well? Lots of parents think so. But many middle-class, suburban schools are not as good as parents think. That’s the finding of a new study from the Pacific Research Institute, which found evidence of widespread underachievement in Michigan. The ...
Lance Izumi
August 7, 2015
Statement from PRI Senior Director of Education Studies Lance Izumi on Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association
January 11, 2015 – The Pacific Research Institute issued the following statement by Senior Education Studies Director Lance Izumi on today’s U.S. Supreme Court oral argument on Friedrichs v. the California Teachers Association: “The admission by the attorney for the State of California that the collective bargaining contract negotiated by ...
Freedom, not union, key to teachers’ case
Almost everybody agrees that an employee – public or private – should be judged on his or her individual qualifications and performance. Yet, for many of the nation’s teachers, their freedom to be treated as individuals is barred by a collective bargaining process that treats them as a group. This ...
Rebecca Friedrichs: Challenging Compulsory Union Dues and Standing Up for Freedom
In March 2015, PRI filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA) -a major case challenging compulsory union dues that nearly all California teachers are required to pay. The case, spearheaded by the Center for Individual Rights (CIR), was brought by ...
Report: Majority Of Middle-Class Public High Schools In Colorado Underperform
A large majority of “middle class” public high schools in Colorado had half or more of their students fail to reach proficiency on at least one state math or reading exam, according to a recent report from the Pacific Research Institute. Middle class schools were defined by the study as ...
California Public Employees Unions Join Forces To Oppose Charter Growth
Teachers unions in Los Angeles (LA) and other public employee unions formed a coalition to fight the expansion of charter schools in California. The expansion effort, led by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation (BF), aims at more than doubling the number of students attending public charter schools in Los ...
Middle-class Colorado students underperform on federal testing
Are the Colorado public schools that serve mostly middle-class students performing well? Lots of parents seem to think so. They may believe that student performance problems are limited to places like poor areas in Denver. But the public schools serving many middle-class Colorado students are not performing as well as ...
What do the Common Core Test results Really Tell Us?
When the California Department of Education recently released the results of the 2015 Common Core math and English tests, officials attributed the low student scores to the increased rigor of both the new standards and the new test. However, the real reasons are not so simple, and much more worrying. ...
Not As Good As You Think: Colorado
Read the Study Many middle-class Coloradoans think that most low-performing schools are located in poor inner cities such as Denver, not in their nice neighborhoods or in their smaller towns. They need to think again. Based on a variety of indicators, many Colorado public schools with predominantly non-low income middle ...
Impact Magazine — Summer 2015
As we look forward to a busy summer, PRI remains committed to its mission of championing freedom, opportunity, and personal responsibility for all individuals by advancing market-based policy solutions. I can’t help but be proud of the impact we have made on the public policy debate and I hope you ...
Are suburban schools as good as parents think?
Are the Michigan public schools that serve mostly middle-class students performing well? Lots of parents think so. But many middle-class, suburban schools are not as good as parents think. That’s the finding of a new study from the Pacific Research Institute, which found evidence of widespread underachievement in Michigan. The ...