Education
California
State must reveal, not conceal, school aptitude
San Francisco Chronicle, November 24, 2009 This year marks the 10th anniversary of California’s Public Schools Accountability Act, an early legislative triumph of then-Gov. Gray Davis. While some good things have come out of the law, the act has failed in its two key missions: to inform parents and the ...
Commentary
Give “American Education Week” Some Real Meaning
This week the National Education Association is sponsoring American Education Week. According to the NEA’s website, the purpose of the week is to emphasize, “the importance of providing every child in America with a quality public education from kindergarten through college, and the need for everyone to do his or ...
Commentary
Public schools mask poor performance, students suffer
The Examiner (Washington, D.C.), December 18, 2009 Recent revelations indicate that Virginia’s public schools aren’t performing as well as educators claim, a classic example of the smoke screen phenomenon. In states across the country, officials hide the real performance of schools and students from the prying eyes of parents and ...
Charter Schools
Chalk Another One Up for Charter Schools
Traditional public schools also respond positively to competition from charter schools according to a new Manhattan Institute report. Overall, “for every 1 percent of public school students who leave for a charter, reading proficiency among those who remain increases by about 0.02 standard deviations. Math performance is unaffected. However, the ...
Education
Obama-Ed “Reforms” are Old News
What the president plans to do, however, is neither exciting, nor innovative. Put simply, Obama-ed is simply common sense with a much a higher price tag. Basically the president explained to these Madison middle schoolers that he wants better standards, better teachers, better data to help identify the better teachers, ...
Commentary
L.A. Loosens Reins on School Administration
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has decided to allow outside groups, including for-profit charter school organizations, to run one-third of the district’s schools and possibly open 50 new ones of their own creation. As a result, more than 60,000 Los Angeles students could be getting more opportunities for ...
Commentary
North Carolina Group Sues for Equal Funding for Charters
School choice advocates have brought a lawsuit in North Carolina seeking funding equity in public education. The North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law filed a complaint on September 21 on behalf of seven charter schools challenging the state’s funding formula, seeking the ability to request money from the state in ...
Commentary
Race To The Top is About More Than Money
SACRAMENTO – California is scrambling for federal Race to the Top grants but there is more at stake than money according to state Sen. Gloria Romero, who held an informational hearing on October 14. “I’m open to having discussions on accountability and what works,” said Sen. Romero in the hearing. ...
Commentary
The U.S. Army honors PRI’s Lance T. Izumi
The U.S. Army honors PRI’s Lance T. Izumi with awards for his parachute jump with the Army’s Golden Knights high-performance jump team. The event was held at the Army’s Southern California Advisory Board meeting on October 23rd in Fullerton. The two officers standing next to Lance are Lieutenant Colonel Miguel ...
Commentary
Faulty data on unruly students stuns Moreno Valley school district
Administrators say the expulsion and suspension data that Moreno Valley Unified School District submitted last June to the state is entirely incorrect, and that’s why many of its schools seemed to fare poorly in a just-released safety report by a think tank. Earlier this week, the Sacramento-based Pacific Research Institute ...
State must reveal, not conceal, school aptitude
San Francisco Chronicle, November 24, 2009 This year marks the 10th anniversary of California’s Public Schools Accountability Act, an early legislative triumph of then-Gov. Gray Davis. While some good things have come out of the law, the act has failed in its two key missions: to inform parents and the ...
Give “American Education Week” Some Real Meaning
This week the National Education Association is sponsoring American Education Week. According to the NEA’s website, the purpose of the week is to emphasize, “the importance of providing every child in America with a quality public education from kindergarten through college, and the need for everyone to do his or ...
Public schools mask poor performance, students suffer
The Examiner (Washington, D.C.), December 18, 2009 Recent revelations indicate that Virginia’s public schools aren’t performing as well as educators claim, a classic example of the smoke screen phenomenon. In states across the country, officials hide the real performance of schools and students from the prying eyes of parents and ...
Chalk Another One Up for Charter Schools
Traditional public schools also respond positively to competition from charter schools according to a new Manhattan Institute report. Overall, “for every 1 percent of public school students who leave for a charter, reading proficiency among those who remain increases by about 0.02 standard deviations. Math performance is unaffected. However, the ...
Obama-Ed “Reforms” are Old News
What the president plans to do, however, is neither exciting, nor innovative. Put simply, Obama-ed is simply common sense with a much a higher price tag. Basically the president explained to these Madison middle schoolers that he wants better standards, better teachers, better data to help identify the better teachers, ...
L.A. Loosens Reins on School Administration
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has decided to allow outside groups, including for-profit charter school organizations, to run one-third of the district’s schools and possibly open 50 new ones of their own creation. As a result, more than 60,000 Los Angeles students could be getting more opportunities for ...
North Carolina Group Sues for Equal Funding for Charters
School choice advocates have brought a lawsuit in North Carolina seeking funding equity in public education. The North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law filed a complaint on September 21 on behalf of seven charter schools challenging the state’s funding formula, seeking the ability to request money from the state in ...
Race To The Top is About More Than Money
SACRAMENTO – California is scrambling for federal Race to the Top grants but there is more at stake than money according to state Sen. Gloria Romero, who held an informational hearing on October 14. “I’m open to having discussions on accountability and what works,” said Sen. Romero in the hearing. ...
The U.S. Army honors PRI’s Lance T. Izumi
The U.S. Army honors PRI’s Lance T. Izumi with awards for his parachute jump with the Army’s Golden Knights high-performance jump team. The event was held at the Army’s Southern California Advisory Board meeting on October 23rd in Fullerton. The two officers standing next to Lance are Lieutenant Colonel Miguel ...
Faulty data on unruly students stuns Moreno Valley school district
Administrators say the expulsion and suspension data that Moreno Valley Unified School District submitted last June to the state is entirely incorrect, and that’s why many of its schools seemed to fare poorly in a just-released safety report by a think tank. Earlier this week, the Sacramento-based Pacific Research Institute ...
