Education
Commentary
Give Parents a Choice
President Obamas new push for universal government-run preschool may not be what parents and children want or need. A major 2005 study by Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley gathered data from more than 14,000 kindergarteners, their parents and teachers, and measured social behavior and skills, like aggression and ...
Commentary
We Can Be Leaders in E-Learning
Expanding virtual learning opportunities is a critically important step for New Mexico. Virtual schooling was a critical component of the Florida Model for education reform, which helped transform achievement across student subgroups there from nearly worst to first within a decade. The Florida reform model has since been adopted by ...
California
How’s ‘Jerry Brown’s charter school’ doing?
In the state Capitol, bills hostile to charter schools, which are deregulated public schools independent of school districts, have snaked their way through the Legislature. If they reach Jerry Brown’s desk, it will be interesting to see what the governor decides to do, since he founded a successful charter school, ...
California
California Ignores Parents, Empowers Reactionaries
Many states are passing progressive legislation to empower parents and students with choice in education. California, on the other hand, is considering legislation that ignores the needs of students and makes the most powerful anti-choice force in the state even more powerful. In the nation’s capital, Congress has revived the ...
Commentary
Education theft versus pension theft: lessons for California
In Ohio and Connecticut, two African-American single mothers have been charged with “stealing education” for enrolling their children in a school district where they didn’t live. California can learn from these cases, but must proceed with caution. Tonya McDowell used the address of a baby sitter to register her 6-year-old ...
Commentary
Virtual School Plan Praised
A virtual school would give students in rural and low-performing schools access to honors, enrichment and remediation courses, improving achievement and graduation rates at a lower cost than traditional classroom instruction, according to a report by the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy. Virtual schools offer other advantages over bricks-and-mortar ...
Commentary
Look for Alternatives to Tuition Hikes
Tuition at the University of California could be going up again. At the system’s recent Board of Regents meeting, reported the Contra Costa Times, “Administrators presented four budget scenarios … to help the Board of Regents plan future budgets. Under the rosiest scenario – which is unlikely, given the state’s ...
Commentary
Teachers Unions using our kids as props to take home more pay
Last week teacher union activists descended upon the Capitol, but education reform was not on their agenda. The priority was lobbying legislators to vote in favor of Gov. Jerry Browns tax extensions and avoid a vote of the people on the tax increases. The activists also targeted two education reform ...
Commentary
Unions say, ‘Shut up and pay us’
Yet another report confirms the enormous liabilities that California taxpayers must endure to pay for pensions for public employees. The study, released May 5 at a Pension Boot Camp for elected officials held near Sacramento by the reform group Californians for Fiscal Responsibility, echoed the points made by the watchdog ...
Commentary
Lesson from Wisconsin
As Wisconsin government-employee unions protested against Gov. Scott Walkers budget-balancing proposals, teachers union members walked out of class, depriving thousands of children of their right to an education.The teachers callous, selfish actions demonstrate the need to give parents the ability to bypass the unionized government-monopoly school system. Mr. Walker wants ...
Give Parents a Choice
President Obamas new push for universal government-run preschool may not be what parents and children want or need. A major 2005 study by Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley gathered data from more than 14,000 kindergarteners, their parents and teachers, and measured social behavior and skills, like aggression and ...
We Can Be Leaders in E-Learning
Expanding virtual learning opportunities is a critically important step for New Mexico. Virtual schooling was a critical component of the Florida Model for education reform, which helped transform achievement across student subgroups there from nearly worst to first within a decade. The Florida reform model has since been adopted by ...
How’s ‘Jerry Brown’s charter school’ doing?
In the state Capitol, bills hostile to charter schools, which are deregulated public schools independent of school districts, have snaked their way through the Legislature. If they reach Jerry Brown’s desk, it will be interesting to see what the governor decides to do, since he founded a successful charter school, ...
California Ignores Parents, Empowers Reactionaries
Many states are passing progressive legislation to empower parents and students with choice in education. California, on the other hand, is considering legislation that ignores the needs of students and makes the most powerful anti-choice force in the state even more powerful. In the nation’s capital, Congress has revived the ...
Education theft versus pension theft: lessons for California
In Ohio and Connecticut, two African-American single mothers have been charged with “stealing education” for enrolling their children in a school district where they didn’t live. California can learn from these cases, but must proceed with caution. Tonya McDowell used the address of a baby sitter to register her 6-year-old ...
Virtual School Plan Praised
A virtual school would give students in rural and low-performing schools access to honors, enrichment and remediation courses, improving achievement and graduation rates at a lower cost than traditional classroom instruction, according to a report by the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy. Virtual schools offer other advantages over bricks-and-mortar ...
Look for Alternatives to Tuition Hikes
Tuition at the University of California could be going up again. At the system’s recent Board of Regents meeting, reported the Contra Costa Times, “Administrators presented four budget scenarios … to help the Board of Regents plan future budgets. Under the rosiest scenario – which is unlikely, given the state’s ...
Teachers Unions using our kids as props to take home more pay
Last week teacher union activists descended upon the Capitol, but education reform was not on their agenda. The priority was lobbying legislators to vote in favor of Gov. Jerry Browns tax extensions and avoid a vote of the people on the tax increases. The activists also targeted two education reform ...
Unions say, ‘Shut up and pay us’
Yet another report confirms the enormous liabilities that California taxpayers must endure to pay for pensions for public employees. The study, released May 5 at a Pension Boot Camp for elected officials held near Sacramento by the reform group Californians for Fiscal Responsibility, echoed the points made by the watchdog ...
Lesson from Wisconsin
As Wisconsin government-employee unions protested against Gov. Scott Walkers budget-balancing proposals, teachers union members walked out of class, depriving thousands of children of their right to an education.The teachers callous, selfish actions demonstrate the need to give parents the ability to bypass the unionized government-monopoly school system. Mr. Walker wants ...
