Education
Commentary
Prop 13 and the education-funding blame game
North County Times (Escondido, CA), August 31, 2008 Sacramento Union, September 17, 2008 Under today’s complicated system: schools with poor results rewarded more than those with good results Earlier this summer California marked the 30th anniversary of the passage of Proposition 13, the historic ballot measure to limit property taxes. ...
Commentary
On the Democratic Convention: Will Obama Keep His Promise on Merit Pay for Teachers?
In this first installment of Education Watch, Bruce Fuller and Lance T. Izumi discuss what was and wasn’t said in Denver about our school system. And Sandra Tsing Loh weighs in on her perspective. Go to Mr. Fuller’s post and Ms. Loh’s post. Lance T. Izumi, a senior fellow in ...
Commentary
Court Re-Connects with Reality in Homeschool Reversal
SACRAMENTO – Earlier this year, California’s Second District Court of Appeal shocked parents and lawmakers by effectively banning the homeschooling of children. In my column “Court Out of Touch with Reality in Homeschool Decision ,” I pointed out that the court had ignored a longtime state practice that gave approval ...
Commentary
Push Algebra on Eighth-Graders?: YES: Don’t accept failure as the standard
The state Board of Education recently unveiled a plan to require all eighth-graders to take algebra by 2011. That sparked opposition from education officials, including state schools superintendent Jack O’Connell, who said the move was “irresponsible” and “setting up schools for failure.” That might strike parents as odd, like a ...
California
A New Lesson for California School Superintendent
When middle-class parents in California opened their newspapers recently and read that the leviathan Los Angeles Unified School District had overpaid their employees by $53 million, many likely took comfort in the belief that at least the school districts in their own cozy suburban neighborhoods were well managed. These parents, ...
Commentary
What Bill Gates says “Isn’t Supposed to Happen” – Did
Bill Gates, one of the most successful men in history, has weighed in on a problem that will prevent others from achieving success like his. American students now languish near the bottom on international rankings. “This isn’t supposed to happen,” Bill Gates told Oprah Winfrey on an August 7, 2008, ...
Commentary
Expel ‘Promote Now, Pay Later’
Last month, Californians were stunned to learn that around one in four high school students drops out, almost twice as many as the state previously reported. In districts like Grant Joint Union High, more than one in three dropout. Yet even when students stay in school, the question is how ...
Commentary
Florida Low-Income and Minority Students Outperform Average California Students
San Francisco—The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, today released a report showing that a disadvantaged socio-economic background does not necessarily consign students to poor academic performance. According to Demography Is Not Destiny: Reform Lessons from Florida on Overcoming Achievement Gaps, low-income students in Florida ...
Commentary
Why is The Budget Always Late?
Systemic Problems Cause Budget Woes Longtime California residents may have noticed a trend in state politics: The California State Budget is almost never passed by the constitutionally-mandated deadline, July 1. This year is no different. In fact, the state budget hasn’t been passed on time for three years, and the ...
Education
Demography Is Not Destiny: Reform Lessons from Florida on Overcoming Achievement Gaps
The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, today released a report showing that a disadvantaged socio-economic background does not necessarily consign students to poor academic performance. According to Demography Is Not Destiny: Reform Lessons from Florida on Overcoming Achievement Gaps, low-income students in Florida consistently ...
Prop 13 and the education-funding blame game
North County Times (Escondido, CA), August 31, 2008 Sacramento Union, September 17, 2008 Under today’s complicated system: schools with poor results rewarded more than those with good results Earlier this summer California marked the 30th anniversary of the passage of Proposition 13, the historic ballot measure to limit property taxes. ...
On the Democratic Convention: Will Obama Keep His Promise on Merit Pay for Teachers?
In this first installment of Education Watch, Bruce Fuller and Lance T. Izumi discuss what was and wasn’t said in Denver about our school system. And Sandra Tsing Loh weighs in on her perspective. Go to Mr. Fuller’s post and Ms. Loh’s post. Lance T. Izumi, a senior fellow in ...
Court Re-Connects with Reality in Homeschool Reversal
SACRAMENTO – Earlier this year, California’s Second District Court of Appeal shocked parents and lawmakers by effectively banning the homeschooling of children. In my column “Court Out of Touch with Reality in Homeschool Decision ,” I pointed out that the court had ignored a longtime state practice that gave approval ...
Push Algebra on Eighth-Graders?: YES: Don’t accept failure as the standard
The state Board of Education recently unveiled a plan to require all eighth-graders to take algebra by 2011. That sparked opposition from education officials, including state schools superintendent Jack O’Connell, who said the move was “irresponsible” and “setting up schools for failure.” That might strike parents as odd, like a ...
A New Lesson for California School Superintendent
When middle-class parents in California opened their newspapers recently and read that the leviathan Los Angeles Unified School District had overpaid their employees by $53 million, many likely took comfort in the belief that at least the school districts in their own cozy suburban neighborhoods were well managed. These parents, ...
What Bill Gates says “Isn’t Supposed to Happen” – Did
Bill Gates, one of the most successful men in history, has weighed in on a problem that will prevent others from achieving success like his. American students now languish near the bottom on international rankings. “This isn’t supposed to happen,” Bill Gates told Oprah Winfrey on an August 7, 2008, ...
Expel ‘Promote Now, Pay Later’
Last month, Californians were stunned to learn that around one in four high school students drops out, almost twice as many as the state previously reported. In districts like Grant Joint Union High, more than one in three dropout. Yet even when students stay in school, the question is how ...
Florida Low-Income and Minority Students Outperform Average California Students
San Francisco—The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, today released a report showing that a disadvantaged socio-economic background does not necessarily consign students to poor academic performance. According to Demography Is Not Destiny: Reform Lessons from Florida on Overcoming Achievement Gaps, low-income students in Florida ...
Why is The Budget Always Late?
Systemic Problems Cause Budget Woes Longtime California residents may have noticed a trend in state politics: The California State Budget is almost never passed by the constitutionally-mandated deadline, July 1. This year is no different. In fact, the state budget hasn’t been passed on time for three years, and the ...
Demography Is Not Destiny: Reform Lessons from Florida on Overcoming Achievement Gaps
The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, today released a report showing that a disadvantaged socio-economic background does not necessarily consign students to poor academic performance. According to Demography Is Not Destiny: Reform Lessons from Florida on Overcoming Achievement Gaps, low-income students in Florida consistently ...
