Education
Commentary
Virtual Ventures Expand Choice for K-12 Students
Not long ago, online courses were programs only for universities and vocational schools. But today, online offerings at public elementary, middle, and high schools are gaining ground, bringing more choices to parents, students, and teachers in the world of K-12 education. Connections Academy, launched in 2002, has led the charge ...
Commentary
School districts illegally stockpiled millions of dollars
Sonoran Alliance (AZ), May 1, 2009 (STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX) – As the rest of the state struggles with devastating economic conditions with cuts, layoffs and the associated financial and emotional trauma, schools have been illegally and secretly stockpiling millions of dollars. “I am outraged at members of the education community ...
Commentary
Report Affirms Alternative Credentialing for Teachers
A new study released by the U.S. government reveals teachers credentialed through alternative programs do just as good a job in the classroom as those credentialed through teaching colleges. The Institute for Educational Science (IES) study, “An Evaluation of Teachers Trained through Different Routes to Certification,” released in February, provides ...
Commentary
Obama’s Credibility Chasm
Barack Obama’s stubborn refusal to re-think his opposition to the school-choice voucher program in Washington, DC is further evidence, as if we need any more, that the centrist-talking candidate of 2008 was a smokescreen for the ideologically liberal now president who’s unafraid to show his true colors. Throughout the campaign ...
Commentary
Fuzzy funding for L.A. County schools make little sense
CALIFORNIA’S fiscal outlook continues to worsen. Concern is now mounting over the impact the state’s budget deficit will have on education funding. The California Teachers Association, along with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, claims California’s per-pupil funding now ranks 47th nationally. Most experts agree California is around the ...
Commentary
Court Rules Tax-Credit Scholarship Program Constitutional
On April 21, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a tax-credit scholarship program remains constitutional under the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The ruling marks the latest failure by opponents of parental choice in education to halt the program and spells good news for California. Choice opponents ...
Commentary
A Proposition for Better Student Performance?
SACRAMENTO – The special election of May 19 is less than a month away and the California Teacher’s Association (CTA), the state’s most powerful union, is spending a lot of money to pass Propositions 1A and 1B. The measures, however, do nothing for education except make a complicated system more ...
Commentary
New California School Finance Center Database Brings Transparency to Public Education Finance
With the state’s budget deficit worsening, concern grows over the impact on school funding and Californians seek a way to make informed decisions about education policies affecting millions of school children each year. The just-launched California School Finance Center online database brings much-needed transparency amidst the charges and countercharges. The ...
Commentary
Education Achievement Has Declined Radically Since World War II
Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Publishers, 2009 206 pages, hardcover, ISBN: 978-0-86571-631-5, $24.95 John Taylor Gatto’s Weapons of Mass Instruction is an articulate, compelling description of the state of U.S. education, in which the author details the unnecessary and in fact ...
Commentary
President Obama’s Education Vision Falls Short
In early March, President Obama addressed the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on his vision for public education. The president promised that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan would move beyond party politics to use “only one test” when deciding how to use taxpayer money. That test would be “not whether an ...
Virtual Ventures Expand Choice for K-12 Students
Not long ago, online courses were programs only for universities and vocational schools. But today, online offerings at public elementary, middle, and high schools are gaining ground, bringing more choices to parents, students, and teachers in the world of K-12 education. Connections Academy, launched in 2002, has led the charge ...
School districts illegally stockpiled millions of dollars
Sonoran Alliance (AZ), May 1, 2009 (STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX) – As the rest of the state struggles with devastating economic conditions with cuts, layoffs and the associated financial and emotional trauma, schools have been illegally and secretly stockpiling millions of dollars. “I am outraged at members of the education community ...
Report Affirms Alternative Credentialing for Teachers
A new study released by the U.S. government reveals teachers credentialed through alternative programs do just as good a job in the classroom as those credentialed through teaching colleges. The Institute for Educational Science (IES) study, “An Evaluation of Teachers Trained through Different Routes to Certification,” released in February, provides ...
Obama’s Credibility Chasm
Barack Obama’s stubborn refusal to re-think his opposition to the school-choice voucher program in Washington, DC is further evidence, as if we need any more, that the centrist-talking candidate of 2008 was a smokescreen for the ideologically liberal now president who’s unafraid to show his true colors. Throughout the campaign ...
Fuzzy funding for L.A. County schools make little sense
CALIFORNIA’S fiscal outlook continues to worsen. Concern is now mounting over the impact the state’s budget deficit will have on education funding. The California Teachers Association, along with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, claims California’s per-pupil funding now ranks 47th nationally. Most experts agree California is around the ...
Court Rules Tax-Credit Scholarship Program Constitutional
On April 21, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a tax-credit scholarship program remains constitutional under the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The ruling marks the latest failure by opponents of parental choice in education to halt the program and spells good news for California. Choice opponents ...
A Proposition for Better Student Performance?
SACRAMENTO – The special election of May 19 is less than a month away and the California Teacher’s Association (CTA), the state’s most powerful union, is spending a lot of money to pass Propositions 1A and 1B. The measures, however, do nothing for education except make a complicated system more ...
New California School Finance Center Database Brings Transparency to Public Education Finance
With the state’s budget deficit worsening, concern grows over the impact on school funding and Californians seek a way to make informed decisions about education policies affecting millions of school children each year. The just-launched California School Finance Center online database brings much-needed transparency amidst the charges and countercharges. The ...
Education Achievement Has Declined Radically Since World War II
Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Publishers, 2009 206 pages, hardcover, ISBN: 978-0-86571-631-5, $24.95 John Taylor Gatto’s Weapons of Mass Instruction is an articulate, compelling description of the state of U.S. education, in which the author details the unnecessary and in fact ...
President Obama’s Education Vision Falls Short
In early March, President Obama addressed the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on his vision for public education. The president promised that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan would move beyond party politics to use “only one test” when deciding how to use taxpayer money. That test would be “not whether an ...
