Education

Commentary

School choice is the key to improving education

Los Angeles Daily News, July 7, 2010 Throughout the nation, among the 20 private-school scholarship programs now in existence, many of the most successful have been aimed at special-needs children. A June 30 study by the Pacific Research Institute has shown that a scholarship program for California families welcoming foster ...
Commentary

What Canada can teach the U.S. about education

Canadians, particularly those of conservative persuasion, love to compare Canada with the United States, which has a lot to learn in the key area of K-12 education. As the United States struggles with mounting deficits and debt, Americans would be well served to look north if they want to raise ...
Commentary

Viewpoints: School test scores mask failure

With graduation season in full swing, the cover story in the June issue of Sacramento Magazine rates the 66 high schools in and around California’s capital. The ratings rely on the state’s school-performance scoring system which, unfortunately, masks a key reality. The “best” schools, largely in middle-class or affluent neighborhoods, ...
Education

Fostering Opportunity and Improving Achievement: The Benefits of a Foster-Care Scholarship Program in California

Fostering Opportunity and Improving Achievement: The Benefits of a Foster-Care Scholarship Program in California, by Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D., PRI associate director of Education Studies, and Evelyn B. Stacey, policy fellow, finds that adopting a Florida-style foster-care scholarship program in California would have no negative impact to state and public-school ...
Commentary

Making the Pieces Fit

New Study Finds Foster-Care Scholarship Program is an Academically and Fiscally Responsible Reform —Would Benefit Students, Public Schools, and the State— San Francisco— Today, the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based public policy think tank, released a policy brief on improving education opportunities for foster-care children in California. Fostering Opportunity ...
Education

Race to the Top Proves that Competition Works

Race to the Top Proves that Competition Works By Evelyn Stacey, policy fellow in Education Studies SACRAMENTO—In the first round of Race to the Top (RTTT), California placed 27th out of 41 states that applied and failed to gain a one-time federal grant. Now California is trying again in Phase ...
Education

The Overton Window

Essentially, if you put policy options for a given area on a spectrum ranging from freest to least free, there is a very small window of options that will be considered politically feasible. That is, there are relatively few policy options a politician will support in order to garner public ...
Commentary

The real lesson in Obama’s education policies

In a recent column, David Brooks, who fills the center-right slot on the New York Times opinion page, asserts that the Obama administration’s education agenda adheres to a “measured vision of a limited but energetic government.” Citing the president’s $4.5 billion Race to the Top (RTTT) education-funding program, Mr. Brooks ...
Education

Foster-Care Scholarship Program is an Academically and Fiscally Responsible Reform

Foster-Care Scholarship Program is an Academically and Fiscally Responsible Reform By Vicki Murray, associate director of Education Studies May was national Foster-Care Month, intended to raise awareness of a population among the most at-risk academically. The consensus of a recent statewide California Education Summit was that the Golden State does ...
Charter Schools

N.Y. Times misses the real lesson of charter schools

A recent lengthy New York Times article on charter schools, which are deregulated publicly funded schools of choice, came to the conclusion that the record of these schools was mixed, with some charters doing better than regular public schools, while others perform about the same or worse. That’s no surprise ...
Commentary

School choice is the key to improving education

Los Angeles Daily News, July 7, 2010 Throughout the nation, among the 20 private-school scholarship programs now in existence, many of the most successful have been aimed at special-needs children. A June 30 study by the Pacific Research Institute has shown that a scholarship program for California families welcoming foster ...
Commentary

What Canada can teach the U.S. about education

Canadians, particularly those of conservative persuasion, love to compare Canada with the United States, which has a lot to learn in the key area of K-12 education. As the United States struggles with mounting deficits and debt, Americans would be well served to look north if they want to raise ...
Commentary

Viewpoints: School test scores mask failure

With graduation season in full swing, the cover story in the June issue of Sacramento Magazine rates the 66 high schools in and around California’s capital. The ratings rely on the state’s school-performance scoring system which, unfortunately, masks a key reality. The “best” schools, largely in middle-class or affluent neighborhoods, ...
Education

Fostering Opportunity and Improving Achievement: The Benefits of a Foster-Care Scholarship Program in California

Fostering Opportunity and Improving Achievement: The Benefits of a Foster-Care Scholarship Program in California, by Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D., PRI associate director of Education Studies, and Evelyn B. Stacey, policy fellow, finds that adopting a Florida-style foster-care scholarship program in California would have no negative impact to state and public-school ...
Commentary

Making the Pieces Fit

New Study Finds Foster-Care Scholarship Program is an Academically and Fiscally Responsible Reform —Would Benefit Students, Public Schools, and the State— San Francisco— Today, the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based public policy think tank, released a policy brief on improving education opportunities for foster-care children in California. Fostering Opportunity ...
Education

Race to the Top Proves that Competition Works

Race to the Top Proves that Competition Works By Evelyn Stacey, policy fellow in Education Studies SACRAMENTO—In the first round of Race to the Top (RTTT), California placed 27th out of 41 states that applied and failed to gain a one-time federal grant. Now California is trying again in Phase ...
Education

The Overton Window

Essentially, if you put policy options for a given area on a spectrum ranging from freest to least free, there is a very small window of options that will be considered politically feasible. That is, there are relatively few policy options a politician will support in order to garner public ...
Commentary

The real lesson in Obama’s education policies

In a recent column, David Brooks, who fills the center-right slot on the New York Times opinion page, asserts that the Obama administration’s education agenda adheres to a “measured vision of a limited but energetic government.” Citing the president’s $4.5 billion Race to the Top (RTTT) education-funding program, Mr. Brooks ...
Education

Foster-Care Scholarship Program is an Academically and Fiscally Responsible Reform

Foster-Care Scholarship Program is an Academically and Fiscally Responsible Reform By Vicki Murray, associate director of Education Studies May was national Foster-Care Month, intended to raise awareness of a population among the most at-risk academically. The consensus of a recent statewide California Education Summit was that the Golden State does ...
Charter Schools

N.Y. Times misses the real lesson of charter schools

A recent lengthy New York Times article on charter schools, which are deregulated publicly funded schools of choice, came to the conclusion that the record of these schools was mixed, with some charters doing better than regular public schools, while others perform about the same or worse. That’s no surprise ...
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